Three-dimensional echocardiographic virtual endoscopy for the diagnosis of congenital heart disease in children

Virtual endoscopy (VE) is a new post-processing method that uses volumetric data sets to simulate the tracks of a “conventional” flexible endoscope. However, almost all studies of this method have involved virtual visualizations of the cardiovascular structures applied to computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) datasets. This paper introduces a novel visualization method called the “three-dimensional echocardiographic intracardiac endoscopic simulation system (3DE IESS)”, which uses 3D echocardiographic images in a virtual reality (VR) environment to diagnose congenital heart disease. The aim of this study was to analyze the feasibility of VE in the evaluation of congenital heart disease in children and its accuracy compared with 2DE. Three experienced pediatric cardiologists blinded to the patients’ diagnoses separately reviewed 40 two-dimensional echocardiographic (2DE) datasets and 40 corresponding VE datasets and judged whether abnormal intracardiac anatomy was present in terms of a five-point scale (1 = definitely absent; 2 = probably absent; 3 = cannot be determined; 4 = probably present; and 5 = definitely present). Compared with clinical diagnosis, the diagnostic accuracy of VE was 98.7% for ASD, 92.4% for VSD, 92.6% for TOF, and 94% for DORV, respectively. Diagnostic accuracy of VE was significantly higher than that of 2DE for TOF and DORV except for ASD and VSD. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for VE was closer to the optimal performance point than was the ROC curve for 2DE. The area under the ROC curve was 0.96 for VE and 0.93 for 2DE. Kappa values (range, 0.73–0.79) for VE and 2DE indicated substantial agreement. 3D echocardiographic VE can enhance our understanding of intracardiac structures and facilitate the evaluation of congenital heart disease

Effect of Tryptophan Hydroxylase-2 rs7305115 SNP on suicide attempts risk in major depression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Suicide and major depressive disorders (MDD) are strongly associated, and genetic factors are responsible for at least part of the variability in suicide risk. We investigated whether variation at the tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (TPH2) gene rs7305115 SNP may predispose to suicide attempts in MDD.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We genotyped TPH2 gene rs7305115 SNP in 215 MDD patients with suicide and matched MDD patients without suicide. Differences in behavioral and personality traits according to genotypic variation were investigated by logistic regression analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were no significant differences between MDD patients with suicide and controls in genotypic (AG and GG) frequencies for rs7305115 SNP, but the distribution of AA genotype differed significantly (14.4% vs. 29.3%, <it>p </it>< 0.001). The G-allele frequency was significantly higher in cases than control group (58.1% vs.45.6%, <it>p </it>< 0.001), but the A-allele carrier indicated a decreased trend in MDD with suicide behaviors than control group (41.9% vs.54.4%, <it>p </it>< 0.001). The multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that TPH2 rs7305115 AA (OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.22-0.99), family history of suicide (OR 2.98, 95% CI 1.17-5.04), negative life events half year ago (OR 6.64, 95% CI 2.48-11.04) and hopelessness (OR 7.68, 95% CI 5.79-13.74) were significantly associated with the suicide behaviors in MDD patients.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The study suggested that hopelessness, negative life events and family history of suicide were risk factors of attempted suicide in MDD while the TPH2 rs7305115A remained a significant protective predictor of suicide attempts.</p

A High Precision and Multifunctional Electro‐Optical Conversion Efficiency Measurement System for Metamaterial‐Based Thermal Emitters

In this study, a multifunctional high-vacuum system was established to measure the electro-optical conversion efficiency of metamaterial-based thermal emitters with built-in heaters. The system is composed of an environmental control module, an electro-optical conversion measurement module, and a system control module. The system can provide air, argon, high vacuum, and other conventional testing environments, combined with humidity control. The test chamber and sample holder are carefully designed to minimize heat transfer through thermal conduction and convection. The optical power measurements are realized using the combination of a water-cooled KBr flange, an integrating sphere, and thermopile detectors. This structure is very stable and can detect light emission at the μW level. The system can synchronously detect the heating voltage, heating current, optical power, sample temperatures (both top and bottom), ambient pressure, humidity, and other environmental parameters. The comprehensive parameter detection capability enables the system to monitor subtle sample changes and perform failure mechanism analysis with the aid of offline material analysis using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Furthermore, the system can be used for fatigue and high-low temperature impact tests

Identification of BC005512 as a DNA Damage Responsive Murine Endogenous Retrovirus of GLN Family Involved in Cell Growth Regulation

Genotoxicity assessment is of great significance in drug safety evaluation, and microarray is a useful tool widely used to identify genotoxic stress responsive genes. In the present work, by using oligonucleotide microarray in an in vivo model, we identified an unknown gene BC005512 (abbreviated as BC, official full name: cDNA sequence BC005512), whose expression in mouse liver was specifically induced by seven well-known genotoxins (GTXs), but not by non-genotoxins (NGTXs). Bioinformatics revealed that BC was a member of the GLN family of murine endogenous retrovirus (ERV). However, the relationship to genotoxicity and the cellular function of GLN are largely unknown. Using NIH/3T3 cells as an in vitro model system and quantitative real-time PCR, BC expression was specifically induced by another seven GTXs, covering diverse genotoxicity mechanisms. Additionally, dose-response and linear regression analysis showed that expression level of BC in NIH/3T3 cells strongly correlated with DNA damage, measured using the alkaline comet assay,. While in p53 deficient L5178Y cells, GTXs could not induce BC expression. Further functional studies using RNA interference revealed that down-regulation of BC expression induced G1/S phase arrest, inhibited cell proliferation and thus suppressed cell growth in NIH/3T3 cells. Together, our results provide the first evidence that BC005512, a member from GLN family of murine ERV, was responsive to DNA damage and involved in cell growth regulation. These findings could be of great value in genotoxicity predictions and contribute to a deeper understanding of GLN biological functions

Research on Temperature Compensation of Optical Fiber MEMS Pressure Sensor Based on Conversion Method

The characteristics of optical fiber MEMS pressure sensors are easily affected by temperature, so effective temperature compensation can improve the accuracy of the sensor. In this paper, the temperature characteristics of optical fiber MEMS pressure sensors are studied, and a temperature compensation method by converting the wavelength is proposed. The influence of target temperature and data point selection on the compensation effect is studied, and the effectiveness of the method is verified by the temperature compensation of sensors before and after aging. When the converted target temperature is 25 &deg;C, the pressure measurement accuracy of the sensor is improved from 1.98% F.S. to 0.38% F.S. within the range of 5&ndash;45 and 0&ndash;4 MPa. The method proposed in this paper can not only improve the accuracy but also make the regular calibration more operable

New analytical equations for productivity estimation of the cyclic CO2-assisted steam stimulation process considering the non-Newtonian percolation characteristics

Abstract The research course in the estimation of productivity of cyclic steam stimulation wells can be divided into three stages: (a) the mobility of heavy oil in the cold area is neglected, (b) the mobility of heavy oil in the cold area is considered—however, it is Newtonian fluid seepage, and (c) it is conserved as non-Newtonian fluid seepage in the cold area. However, the distribution of the value of starting pressure gradient in the heated area where heavy oil is still non-Newtonian fluid is neglected. In this paper, a new model is developed for productivity estimation of cyclic steam stimulation wells with consideration of the non-Newtonian fluid flow behaviors in the heated area where the temperature is higher than the turning point. New percolation equations are developed based on the new proposed concept of “the transition region” in the heated area. The results show that: (1) when the non-Newtonian fluid characteristic is neglected, the predicted results from the new model match the results from the numerical simulator perfectly, and (2) in oil field, the non-Newtonian fluid characteristic cannot be neglected. When the non-Newtonian fluid characteristic is considered in the model, the average oil production in each cycle can match the filed data better than Yang et al.’s model. This new model laid a basic reference for oil companies and researchers involved in the area when they are designing the well pattern, spacing or estimating the productivity of oil wells

Research on Temperature Compensation of Optical Fiber MEMS Pressure Sensor Based on Conversion Method

The characteristics of optical fiber MEMS pressure sensors are easily affected by temperature, so effective temperature compensation can improve the accuracy of the sensor. In this paper, the temperature characteristics of optical fiber MEMS pressure sensors are studied, and a temperature compensation method by converting the wavelength is proposed. The influence of target temperature and data point selection on the compensation effect is studied, and the effectiveness of the method is verified by the temperature compensation of sensors before and after aging. When the converted target temperature is 25 °C, the pressure measurement accuracy of the sensor is improved from 1.98% F.S. to 0.38% F.S. within the range of 5–45 and 0–4 MPa. The method proposed in this paper can not only improve the accuracy but also make the regular calibration more operable