Effects of antipsychotics on bone mineral density and prolactin levels in patients with schizophrenia: a 12-month prospective study

Objective: Effects of conventional and atypical antipsychotics on bone mineral density (BMD) and serum prolactin levels (PRL) were examined in patients with schizophrenia.Methods: One hundred and sixty-three first-episode inpatients with schizophrenia were recruited, to whom one of three conventional antipsychotics (perphenazine, sulpiride, and chlorpromazine) or one of three atypical antipsychotics (clozapine, quetiapine, and aripiprazole)was prescribed for 12 months as appropriate. BMD and PRL were tested before and after treatment. Same measures were conducted in 90 matched healthy controls.Results Baseline BMD of postero-anterior L1–L4 range from 1.04 ± 0.17 to 1.42 ± 1.23, and there was no significant difference between the patients group and healthy control group. However, post-treatment BMD values in patients (ranging from 1.02 ± 0.15 to 1.23 ± 0.10) were significantly lower than that in healthy controls (ranging from 1.15 ± 0.12 to 1.42 ± 1.36). The BMD values after conventional antipsychotics were significantly lower than that after atypical antipsychotics. The PRL level after conventional antipsychotics (53.05 ± 30.25 ng/ml) was significantly higher than that after atypical antipsychotics (32.81 ± 17.42 ng/ml). Conditioned relevance analysis revealed significant negative correlations between the PRL level and the BMD values after conventional antipsychotics.Conclusion The increase of PRL might be an important risk factor leading to a high prevalence of osteoporosis in patients with schizophrenia on long-term conventional antipsychotic medication.<br/

Photovoltage Detection of Edge Magnetoplasmon Oscillations and Giant Magnetoplasmon Resonances in A Two-Dimensional Hole System

In our high mobility p-type AlGaAs/GaAs two-dimensional hole samples, we originally observe the B-periodic oscillation induced by microwave (MW) in photovoltage (PV) measurements. In the frequency range of our measurements (5 - 40 GHz), the period ({\Delta}B) is inversely proportional to the microwave frequency (f). The distinct oscillations come from the edge magnetoplasmon (EMP) in the high quality heavy hole system. In our hole sample with a very large effective mass, the observation of the EMP oscillations is in neither the low frequency limit nor the high frequency limit, and the damping of the EMP oscillations is very weak under high magnetic fields. Simultaneously, we observe the giant plasmon resonance signals in our measurements on the shallow two-dimensional hole system (2DHS)

Properties of Schottky Contacts of Aluminum on Strained Si\u3csub\u3e1-x-y\u3c/sub\u3eGe\u3csub\u3ex\u3c/sub\u3eC\u3csub\u3ey\u3c/sub\u3e Layers

Schottky contacts of Al/Si1-x-yGexCy were fabricated using conventional Si technology. Effects of thermal processing of the alloys on the electrical properties of the Al/Si1-x-yGexCy Schottky diodes were investigated. Current–voltage (I–V), capacitance–voltage (C–V), and x‐ray diffraction measurements were performed. These thick alloy films (100–150 nm) experienced strain relaxation upon annealing at 700 °C. Nearly ideal I–V and C–V behaviors were obtained for strain‐compensated samples. I–V and C–Vcharacteristics show evidence of dislocation‐related traps for strain‐relaxed samples. Carbon incorporation improves the I–V and C–V characteristics by lessening the extent of lattice relaxation due to thermal processing

Induced Ferromagnetism at BiFeO3/YBa2Cu3O7 Interfaces

Transition metal oxides (TMOs) exhibit many emergent phenomena ranging from high-temperature superconductivity and giant magnetoresistance to magnetism and ferroelectricity. In addition, when TMOs are interfaced with each other, new functionalities can arise, which are absent in individual components. Here, we report results from first-principles calculations on the magnetism at the BiFeO3/YBa2Cu3O7 interfaces. By comparing the total energy for various magnetic spin configurations inside BiFeO3, we are able to show that a metallic ferromagnetism is induced near the interface. We further develop an interface exchange-coupling model and place the extracted exchange coupling interaction strengths, from the first-principles calculations, into a resultant generic phase diagram. Our conclusion of interfacial ferromagnetism is confirmed by the presence of a hysteresis loop in field-dependent magnetization data. The emergence of interfacial ferromagnetism should have implications to electronic and transport properties.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Implication of Production Tax Credit on Economic Dispatch for Electricity Merchants with Storage and Wind Farms

The production tax credit (PTC) promotes wind energy development, reduces power generation costs, and can affect merchants\u27 joint economic dispatch, particularly for electricity merchants with both energy storage and wind farms. Two common PTC policies are studied – in the first policy, a wind farm receives PTC by selling wind generation to the market and its storage can be used to store energy from the wind generation and energy purchased from the grid but the energy released from the storage cannot receive PTC; in the second policy, the energy released from the storage can also qualify for PTC but purchasing energy from the grid is not allowed. We then employ dynamic programming to study merchants\u27 optimal decision-making while considering PTC and the physical characteristics of storage systems. We analytically show that the state of charge (SOC) range can be segmented into different regions by SOC reference points under two PTC policies. The merchant\u27s optimal action can be conveniently and uniquely determined based on the region within which the current SOC falls. Moreover, this study illustrates that PTC could substantially alter the optimal scheduling policy structures by affecting reference points and their relationships. The results showed that the frequencies for charging and discharging storage decisions decreased with an increase in PTC subsidy. Last, we confirm that, although the first policy allows merchants to buy electricity from the market, the second policy can bring more profits when the PTC is large at the current PTC rates. The findings can provide multistage decision-making guidance to electricity merchants in the wholesale power market

Analytical method for magnetic field calculation in a low-speed permanent-magnet harmonic machine

Magnetic-gearing effect has become increasingly attractive when designing direct-drive low-speed permanent-magnet machines. The machines derived from the magnetic-gearing effect can be termed as harmonic machines. Unlike the conventional types, harmonic machines rely on the field harmonics to achieve energy conversion and transmission. The detailed knowledge of the field distributions in the air gap is vitally important for predicting and optimizing its performance. In this paper, we present an analytical approach to calculate the magnetic field distribution in a low-speed permanent-magnet harmonic machine. A series-slot model which is composed of a group of partial differential equations concerning the scalar magnetic potential is built up. Then, the field solutions are obtained by using the method of separating variables and analyzing the field boundary conditions. Finally, the flux densities are derived from the scalar magnetic potentials. All the results agree well with those obtained from the finite element method. © 2011 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Analytical method for magnetic field calculation in a low-speed permanent-magnet harmonic machine

Magnetic-gearing effect has become increasingly attractive when designing direct-drive low-speed permanent-magnet machines. The machines derived from the magnetic-gearing effect can be termed as harmonic machines. Unlike the conventional types, harmonic machines rely on the field harmonics to achieve energy conversion and transmission. The detailed knowledge of the field distributions in the air gap is vitally important for predicting and optimizing its performance. In this paper, we present an analytical approach to calculate the magnetic field distribution in a low-speed permanent-magnet harmonic machine. A series-slot model which is composed of a group of partial differential equations concerning the scalar magnetic potential is built up. Then, the field solutions are obtained by using the method of separating variables and analyzing the field boundary conditions. Finally, the flux densities are derived from the scalar magnetic potentials. All the results agree well with those obtained from the finite element method. © 2011 IEEE.published_or_final_versio