Strategy and Long-term Outcomes of Endovascular Treatment for Budd–Chiari Syndrome Complicated by Inferior Vena Caval Thrombosis

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate the strategy and long-term outcomes of endovascular treatment of Budd–Chiari syndrome (BCS) complicated by inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombosis.MethodsThe treatment strategy and outcomes of BCS complicated by IVC thrombosis were retrospectively evaluated in a single-center study. The treatment was aimed at the IVC thrombus, not hepatic vein occlusion. All 133 patients with BCS complicated by IVC thrombosis from February 2003 to March 2013 underwent endovascular treatment. For the fresh thrombus group (n = 75) recanalization was performed after transcatheter thrombolysis with urokinase. For the mixed thrombus group (n = 19) a small balloon pre-dilation of the IVC was performed first, followed by transcatheter thrombolysis using urokinase and a large balloon dilation of the IVC. For the old thrombus group (n = 39) a large balloon dilation or/and stent placement was performed directly. Pre- and post-treatment follow-ups were recorded.ResultsThe endovascular treatment was successful in 131 out of 133 patients (98.5%). Thirty seven patients had synchronous hepatic vein occlusion. The incidence of serious complications was 4.5% (6/133). Symptomatic pulmonary embolism occurred in three cases, cerebral hemorrhage in two, and cardiac tamponade in one. The cumulative 1-, 5-, and 10-year primary patency rate was 96.3%, 84.0%, and 64.6%, respectively. The cumulative 1-, 5-, and 10-year secondary patency rate was 99.0%, 96.1% and 91.3%, respectively. Segmental occlusion of the IVC and duration of anticoagulant therapy less than 6 months were independent risk factors for reocclusion.ConclusionsFor patients with BCS complicated by IVC thrombosis, an individualized treatment strategy based on the property of the thrombus can result in excellent long-term patency

Characteristics of regional new particle formation in urban and regional background environments in the North China Plain

Long-term measurements of particle number size distributions were carried out both at an urban background site (Peking University, PKU) and a regional Global Atmospheric Watch station (Shangdianzi, SDZ) from March to November in 2008. In total, 52 new particle formation (NPF) events were observed simultaneously at both sites, indicating that this is a regional phenomenon in the North China Plain. On average, the mean condensation sink value before the nucleation events started was 0.025 s−1 in the urban environment, which was 1.6 times higher than that at regional site. However, higher particle formation and growth rates were observed at PKU (10.8 cm−3 s−1 and 5.2 nm h−1) compared with those at SDZ (4.9 cm−3 s−1 and 4.0 nm h−1). These results implied that precursors were much more abundant in the polluted urban environment. Different from the observations in cleaner environments, the background conditions of the observed particle homogeneous nucleation events in the North China Plain could be characterized as the co-existing of a stronger source of precursor gases and a higher condensational sink of pre-existing aerosol particles. Secondary aerosol formation following nucleation events results in an increase of particle mass concentration, particle light scattering coefficient, and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration, with consequences on visibility, radiative effects, and air quality. Typical regional NPF events with significant particle nucleation rates and subsequent particle growth over a sufficiently long time period at both sites were chosen to investigate the influence of NPF on the number concentration of "potential" CCN. As a result, the NPF and the subsequent condensable growth increased the CCN number concentration in the North China Plain by factors in the range from 5.6 to 8.7. Moreover, the potential contribution of anthropogenic emissions to the CCN number concentration was more than 50%, to which more attention should be drawn in regional and global climate modeling, especially in the polluted urban areas

Aerosol particles at a high-altitude site on the Southeast Tibetan Plateau, China: Implications for pollution transport from South Asia

      Bulk aerosol samples were collected from 16 July 2008 to 26 July 2009 at Lulang, a high-altitude (>3300m above sea level) site on the southeast Tibetan Plateau (TP); objectives were to determine chemical characteristics of the aerosol and identify its major sources. We report aerosol (total suspended particulate, TSP) mass levels and the concentrations of selected elements, carbonaceous species, and water-soluble inorganic ions. Significant buildup of aerosol mass and chemical species (organic carbon, element carbon, nitrate, and sulfate) occurred during the premonsoon, while lower concentrations were observed during the monsoon. Seasonal variations in aerosol and chemical species were driven by precipitation scavenging and atmospheric circulation. Two kinds of high-aerosol episodes were observed: one was enriched with dust indicators (Fe and Ca2+), and the other was enhanced with organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), SO42−, NO3−, and Fe. The TSP loadings during the latter were 3 to 6 times those on normal days. The greatest aerosol optical depths (National Centers for Environmental Protection/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis) occurred upwind, in eastern India and Bangladesh, and trajectory analysis indicates that air pollutants were transported from the southwest. Northwesterly winds brought high levels of natural emissions (Fe, Ca2+) and low levels of pollutants (SO42−, NO3−, K+, and EC); this was consistent with high aerosol optical depths over the western deserts and Gobi. Our work provides evidence that both geological and pollution aerosols from surrounding regions impact the aerosol population of the TP

Early-life gut microbiome composition and milk allergy resolution

Gut microbiota may play a role in the natural history of cow’s milk allerg

First long-term study of particle number size distributions and new particle formation events of regional aerosol in the North China Plain

Atmospheric particle number size distributions (size range 0.003–10 μm) were measured between March 2008 and August 2009 at Shangdianzi (SDZ), a rural research station in the North China Plain. These measurements were made in an attempt to better characterize the tropospheric background aerosol in Northern China. The mean particle number concentrations of the total particle, as well as the nucleation, Aitken, accumulation and coarse mode were determined to be 1.2 ± 0.9 × 104, 3.6 ± 7.9 × 103, 4.4 ± 3.4 × 103, 3.5 ± 2.8 × 103 and 2 ± 3 cm−3, respectively. A general finding was that the particle number concentration was higher during spring compared to the other seasons. The air mass origin had an important effect on the particle number concentration and new particle formation events. Air masses from northwest (i.e. inner Asia) favored the new particle formation events, while air masses from southeast showed the highest particle mass concentration. Significant diurnal variations in particle number were observed, which could be linked to new particle formation events, i.e. gas-to-particle conversion. During particle formation events, the number concentration of the nucleation mode rose up to maximum value of 104 cm−3. New particle formation events were observed on 36% of the effective measurement days. The formation rate ranged from 0.7 to 72.7 cm−3 s−1, with a mean value of 8.0 cm−3 s−1. The value of the nucleation mode growth rate was in the range of 0.3–14.5 nm h−1, with a mean value of 4.3 nm h−1. It was an essential observation that on many occasions the nucleation mode was able to grow into the size of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) within a matter of several hours. Furthermore, the new particle formation was regularly followed by a measurable increase in particle mass concentration and extinction coefficient, indicative of a high abundance of condensable vapors in the atmosphere under study

A Coupled Electrical-Thermal-Mechanical Modeling of Gleeble Tensile Tests for Ultra-High-Strength (UHS) Steel at a High Temperature

International audienceA coupled electrical-thermal-mechanical model is proposed aimed at the numerical modeling of Gleeble tension tests at a high temperature. A multidomain, multifield coupling resolution strategy is used for the solution of electrical, energy, and momentum conservation equations by means of the finite element method. Its application to ultra-high-strength steel is considered. After calibration with instrumented experiments, numerical results reveal that significant thermal gradients prevail in Gleeble tensile steel specimen in both axial and radial directions. Such gradients lead to the heterogeneous deformation of the specimen, which is a major difficulty for simple identification techniques of constitutive parameters, based on direct estimations of strain, strain rate, and stress. The proposed direct finite element coupled model can be viewed as an important achievement for subsequent inverse identification methods, which should be used to identify constitutive parameters for steel at a high temperature in the solid state and in the mushy state

Hidden symmetry and knot solitons in a charged two-condensate Bose system

We show that a charged two-condensate Ginzburg-Landau model or equivalently a Gross-Pitaevskii functional for two charged Bose condensates, can be mapped onto a version of the nonlinear O(3) $\sigma$-model. This implies in particular that such a system possesses a hidden O(3) symmetry and allows for the formation of stable knotted solitons. The results, in particular, should be relevant to the superconducting MgB_2.Comment: This version will appear in Phys. Rev. B, added a comment on the case when condensates in two bands do not independently conserve, also added a figure and references to experimental papers on MgB_2 (for which our study is relevant). Miscellaneous links on knot solitons are also available at the homepage of one of the authors http://www.teorfys.uu.se/PEOPLE/egor/ . Animations of knot solitons are available at http://users.utu.fi/h/hietarin/knots/c45_p2.mp

Analysis and annotation of DNA methylation in two nonhuman primate species using the Infinium Human Methylation 450K and EPIC BeadChips

Aim: Nonhuman primates are essential for research on many human diseases. The Infinium Human Methylation450/EPIC BeadChips are popular tools for the study of the methylation state across the human genome at affordable cost. Methods: We performed a precise evaluation and re-annotation of the BeadChip probes for the analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in rhesus macaques and African green monkeys through in silico analyses combined with functional validation by pyrosequencing. Results: Up to 165,847 of the 450K and 261,545 probes of the EPIC BeadChip can be reliably used. The annotation files are provided in a format compatible with a variety of standard bioinformatic pipelines. Conclusion: Our study will facilitate high-throughput DNA methylation analyses in Macaca mulatta and Chlorocebus sabaeus.Host-parasite interactio

Observations of Coronal Mass Ejections with the Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter

The Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter (CoMP) measures not only the polarization of coronal emission, but also the full radiance profiles of coronal emission lines. For the first time, CoMP observations provide high-cadence image sequences of the coronal line intensity, Doppler shift and line width simultaneously in a large field of view. By studying the Doppler shift and line width we may explore more of the physical processes of CME initiation and propagation. Here we identify a list of CMEs observed by CoMP and present the first results of these observations. Our preliminary analysis shows that CMEs are usually associated with greatly increased Doppler shift and enhanced line width. These new observations provide not only valuable information to constrain CME models and probe various processes during the initial propagation of CMEs in the low corona, but also offer a possible cost-effective and low-risk means of space weather monitoring.Comment: 6 figures. Will appear in the special issue of Coronal Magnetism, Sol. Phy