Serum zinc levels in 368 patients with oral mucosal diseases: a preliminary study

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the serum zinc levels in patients with common oral mucosal diseases by comparing these to healthy controls. Material and Methods: A total of 368 patients, which consisted of 156 recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) patients, 57 oral lichen planus (OLP) patients, 55 burning mouth syndrome (BMS) patients, 54 atrophic glossitis (AG) patients, 46 xerostomia patients, and 115 sex-and age-matched healthy control subjects were enrolled in this study. Serum zinc levels were measured in all participants. Statistical analysis was performed using a one-way ANOVA, t-test, and Chi-square test. Results: The mean serum zinc level in the healthy control group was significantly higher than the levels of all other groups ( p < 0.001). No individual in the healthy control group had a serum zinc level less than the minimum normal value. However, up to 24.7% (13/54) of patients with AG presented with zinc deficiency, while 21.2% (33/156) of patients with RAS, 16.4% (9/55) of patients with BMS, 15.2% (7/46) of patients with xerostomia, and 14.0% (8/57) of patients with OLP were zinc deficient. Altogether, the zinc deficiency rate was 19.02% (70/368) in the oral mucosal diseases (OMD) group (all patients with OMD). The difference between the OMD and healthy control group was significant ( p < 0.001). Gender differences in serum zinc levels were also present, although not statistically significant. Conclusions: Zinc deficiency may be involved in the pathogenesis of common oral mucosal diseases. Zinc supplementation may be a useful treatment for oral mucosal diseases, but this requires further investigation; the optimal serum level of zinc, for the prevention and treatment of oral mucosal diseases, remains to be determined

Effects of the endoparasitoid Cotesia chilonis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitism, venom, and calyx fluid on cellular and humoral immunity of its host Chilo suppressalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) larvae

AbstractThe larval endoparasitoid Cotesia chilonis injects venom and bracoviruses into its host Chilo suppressalis during oviposition. Here we study the effects of the polydnavirus (PDV)-carrying endoparasitoid C. chilonis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitism, venom and calyx fluid on host cellular and humoral immunity, specifically hemocyte composition, cellular spreading, encapsulation and melanization. Total hemocyte counts (THCs) were higher in parasitized larvae than in unparasitized larvae in the late stages following parasitization. While both plasmatocyte and granulocyte fractions and hemocyte mortality did not differ between parasitized and unparasitized hosts, in vitro spreading behavior of hemocytes was inhibited significantly by parasitism throughout the course of parasitoid development. C. chilonis parasitism suppressed the encapsulation response and melanization in the early stages. Venom alone did not alter cellular immune responses, including effects on THCs, mortality, hemocyte composition, cell spreading and encapsulation, but venom did inhibit humoral immunity by reducing melanization within 6h after injection. In contrast to venom, calyx fluid had a significant effect on cell spreading, encapsulation and melanization from 6h after injection. Dose–response injection studies indicated the effects of venom and calyx fluid synergized, showing a stronger and more persistent reduction in immune system responses than the effect of either injected alone

Research on vibro-acoustic characteristics of the aluminum motor shell based on GA-BP neural network and boundary element method

Firstly, the paper established a finite element model for a steel motor shell and computed related modals, vibration velocities, stress and strain respectively. Computational results show that the flange and end shield of the motor shell had the maximum vibration velocities and strain because these locations lacked the reinforcing ribs, while the maximum stress was mainly at joints between different structures. Secondly, the steel material was replaced by the aluminum alloy. Mechanical parameters of the motor shell were recomputed and compared with those of the steel structure. Results show that modal frequency on each order increased, which is good for avoiding the structural resonance. In addition, the maximum stress of the structure decreased by 4.4 MPa, and the maximum strain decreased by 0.27 mm, which could effectively improve the fatigue characteristics of the motor shell under long-term excitation. Then, the boundary element method was used to compute radiation noises of the motor shell in far field, where the radiation noise presented an obvious directivity. Finally, the paper proposed a GA-BP neural network model to predict the radiation noise of the motor and compared the prediction results with the boundary element. In the whole analyzed frequency band, the maximum difference between the neural network prediction and the real values did not exceed 5 dB, indicating that it is feasible to predict radiation noises of the motor by the neural network. Additionally, experiments were also conducted and compared with two kinds of numerical methods. Methods proposed in this paper provide some references for realizing the rapid noise reduction and light weight of motors

SUPRASPECIFIC TAXA OF THE BIVALVIA FIRST NAMED, DESCRIBED, AND PUBLISHED IN CHINA (1927–2007)

A total of 209 bivalve generic (subgeneric) and 19 familial (subfamilial) names first proposed by Chinese palaeontologists and published in China are treated herein as an annotated database. The present paper is designed especially for the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Bivalvia revision project, because access to bivalve taxa published by Chinese authors in China has been difficult for non-Chinese researchers. The original diagnoses of these taxa, including the original descriptions and explanation of figures of all the type species, have been translated from Chinese into English, so that non-Chinese colleagues can more easily have access to them

Trigger efficiencies at BES III

Trigger efficiencies at BES III were determined for both the J/psi and psi' data taking of 2009. Both dedicated runs and physics datasets are used; efficiencies are presented for Bhabha-scattering events, generic hadronic decay events involving charged tracks, dimuon events and psi' -> pi+pi-J/psi, J/psi -> l+l- events (l an electron or muon). The efficiencies are found to lie well above 99% for all relevant physics cases, thus fulfilling the BES III design specifications.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Maskless Generation of Single Silicon Vacancy Arrays in Silicon Carbide by a Focused He+ Ion Beam

Precise generation of spin defects in solid-state systems is essential for nanostructure fluorescence enhancement. We investigated a method for creating single silicon vacancy defect arrays in silicon carbide using a helium-ion microscope. Maskless and targeted generation can be realized by precisely controlling the focused He+ ion beam with an implantation uncertainty of 60 nm. The generated silicon vacancies were identified by measuring the optically detected magnetic resonance spectrum and room temperature photoluminescence spectrum. We systematically studied the effects of the implantation ion dose on the generated silicon vacancies. After optimization, a conversion yield of ~ 6.95 % and a generation rate for a single silicon vacancy of ~ 35 % were realized. This work paves the way for the integration and engineering of color centers to photonic structures and the application of quantum sensing based on spin defects in silicon carbide