Effects of hyperbaric oxygen on vascular endothelial function in patients with slow coronary flow

   Background: To improve therapy for slow coronary flow (SCF), the effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy on vascular endothelial function in SCF patients is the focus of this investigation. Methods: Ninety-eight patients who exhibited chest discomfort were retrospectively analyzed, and di­agnosed with SCF by coronary artery angiography at the Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China from 2014 to 2016. The patients were divided into two groups according to the following treatment: HBO group (n = 48) and the control group (n = 50). Patients in the control group were administrated with conventional treatment, while those in the HBO group were administrated HBO therapy for 4 weeks in addition to conventional treatment. To evaluate the effects of HBO on vas­cular endothelial functions, plasma levels of nitric oxide (NO), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), endothelin-1 (ET-1), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) as well as endothelial-dependent flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) of the brachial artery were measured in both groups before and after their respective treatments. Results: There were no significant differences in plasma levels of NO, ET-1, CGRP, hsCRP nor in FMD measurements between the two groups before treatment (p > 0.05). Moreover, the levels of all the parameters measured showed no significant changes before and after treatment in the control group. However, when comparing the control group, FMD and plasma NO and CGRP levels were significantly increased in the HBO group after treatment (p < 0.01), whereas hsCRP and ET-1 levels decreased dramatically (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The HBO treatment in addition to conventional therapy may significantly improve the vascular endothelial function in SCF patients. (Cardiol J 2018; 25, 1: 106–112

Prospective memory in non-psychotic first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia

Although a number of studies have found prospective memory (PM) impairment in patients with schizophrenia, very little is known about the PM performance in non-psychotic relatives of these patients. The current study aimed to explore the PM performance in non-psychotic first-degree relatives of these patients. Two groups of participants (26 non-psychotic first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients and 26 healthy comparison participants) were administered three PM tasks (time-, event-, and activity-based) and a set of neurocognitive tests. Results showed that the relatives performed significantly worse than the comparisons on most indices of the PM tasks, with a similar pattern of impairment found in other neurocognitive measures. Together with findings from previous studies, results of the current study suggest that PM may be a potential endophenotype for schizophrenia. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.</p

Mutual manipulation between a dark soliton and an Airy pulse at the optical event horizon

A fiber-optical analog of the event horizon is proposed via the collision dynamics between a dark soliton and an Airy pulse for the first time, under the effect of soliton-induced Kerr nonlinear effect. An Airy wave packet is more effective in manipulating the properties of a dark soliton than a Gaussian-like pulse in the regime of the optical event horizon since the Airy-soliton horizon can be regarded as the successively isolated horizon processes. Besides, the initial chirp and attenuation factor are two key regulators of the Airy pulse, which can not only adjust the flatness and width of the output spectrum during the collision process but also modify the properties of the output dark soliton. The interesting dynamic investigated in this work as a process of mutual manipulation can be considered as a promising candidate for frequency conversion and broadband supercontinuum generation, which proves the theory basis for further understanding of the light-by-light controlling in a more controllable manner

Efficient recovery and enrichment of rare earth elements by a continuous flow micro-extraction system

The excessive exploitation of rare earth elements (REEs) has caused major losses of non-renewable resources and damage to the ecosystem. The processes of mining and smelting produce massive amounts of wastewater with low concentrations of REEs. Consequently, the enrichment and recovery of low-concentration REEs from wastewater has significant economic and environmental value. For this purpose, operation under large phase ratios (the flow rate ratio between the aqueous phase and extractant) is more desirable and economically viable. However, the traditional REE extraction process suffers from the uneven dispersion of the extractant and the difficulty of phase separation, which leads to long extraction times and large consumption of extractants. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop a green and efficient technique to extract low concentrations of REEs from wastewater. In this work, a droplet-based microfluidic technique was used to continuously extract and recover low-concentration REEs at large phase ratios. Snowman-shaped magnetic Janus nanoparticles were added to the continuous phase as emulsifiers to facilitate uniform extractant dispersion and rapid phase separation. Several key factors affecting the extraction efficiency, including pH, residence time, and the amount of added Janus nanoparticles, were systematically investigated. Compared to batch extraction, droplet-based microfluidic extraction with the addition of Janus nanoparticles showed the advantages of a large specific surface area and fast phase separation during extraction. Meanwhile, the Janus nanoparticles exhibited good emulsification performance after three extraction cycles. In summary, the Janus nanoparticle-stabilized droplet generated by microfluidic methods provides a feasible path for the efficient enrichment and recovery of low-concentration REEs

Influence of growth temperatures on the quality of InGaAs/GaAs quantum well structure grown on Ge substrate by molecular beam epitaxy

Molecular beam epitaxy growth of an InxGa1-xAs/GaAs quantum well(QW) structure(x equals to0.17 or0.3) on offcut(100) Ge substrate has been investigated. The samples were characterized by atomic force microscopy, photoluminescence(PL), and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. High temperature annealing of the Ge substrate is necessary to grow GaAs buffer layer without anti-phase domains. During the subsequent growth of the GaAs buffer layer and an InxGa1-xAs/GaAs QW structure, temperature plays a key role. The mechanism by which temperature influences the material quality is discussed. High quality InxGa1-xAs/GaAs QW structure samples on Ge substrate with high PL intensity, narrow PL linewidth and flat surface morphology have been achieved by optimizing growth temperatures. Our results show promising device applications for III- V compound semiconductor materials grown on Ge substrates.?2011 Chinese Institute of Electronics

Design and optimization of evanescently coupled waveguide photodiodes

We present the design and optimization of evanescently coupled waveguide photodiodes(EC-WPDs) based on the coupling modes theory and the beam propagation method. Efficient focalization of the optical power in the absorber is achieved by an appropriate choice of index matching layers of EC-WPDs. Numerical simulation shows that high-speed(40 GHz), high quantum efficiency(81%) and high linearity photodiodes can be achieved, and EC-WPDs are promising devices for future optical communication systems.?2011 Chinese Institute of Electronics