Ceria–terbia solid solution nanobelts with high catalytic activities for CO oxidation

Ceria–terbia solid solution nanobelts were prepared by an electrochemical route and tested as catalysts of high activity for CO oxidation

Combined abdominal heterotopic heart and aorta transplant model in mice

BACKGROUND: Allograft vasculopathy (AV) remains a major obstacle to long-term allograft survival. While the mouse aortic transplantation model has been proven as a useful tool for study of the pathogenesis of AV, simultaneous transplantation of the aorta alongside the transplantation of another organ may reveal more clinically relevant mechanisms that contribute to the pathogenesis of chronic allograft rejection. Therefore, we developed a combined abdominal heart and aorta transplantation model in mice which benefits from reducing animal and drug utilization, while providing an improved model to study the progressive nature of AV. METHODS: The middle of the infrarenal aorta of the recipient mouse was ligatured between the renal artery and its bifurcation. Proximal and distal aortotomies were performed at this site above and below the ligature, respectively, for the subsequent anastomoses of the donor aorta and heart grafts to the recipient infrarenal aorta in an end-to-side fashion. The distal anastomotic site of the recipient infrarenal aorta was connected with the outlet of the donor aorta. Uniquely, the proximal anastomotic site on the recipient infrarenal aorta was shared to connect with both the inlet of the donor aorta and the inflow tract to the donor heart. The outflow tract from the donor heart was connected to the recipient inferior vena cava (IVC). RESULTS: The median times for harvesting the heart graft, aorta graft, recipient preparation and anastomosis were 11.5, 8.0, 9.0 and 40.5 min, respectively, resulting in a total median ischemic time of 70 min. The surgery survival rate was more than 96% (29/30). Both the syngeneic C57Bl/6 aorta and heart grafts survived more than 90 days in 29 C57Bl/6 recipients. Further, Balb/c to C57Bl/6 allografts treated with anti-CD40L and CTLA4.Ig survived more than 90 days with a 100% (3/3) survival rate. (3/3). CONCLUSIONS: This model is presented as a new tool for researchers to investigate transplant immunology and assess immunosuppressive strategies. It is possible to share a common anastomotic stoma on the recipient abdominal aorta to reconstruct both the aorta graft entrance and heart graft inflow tract. This allows for the study of allogeneic effects on both the aorta and heart from the same animal in a single survival surgery

Combined abdominal heterotopic heart and aorta transplant model in mice

BACKGROUND: Allograft vasculopathy (AV) remains a major obstacle to long-term allograft survival. While the mouse aortic transplantation model has been proven as a useful tool for study of the pathogenesis of AV, simultaneous transplantation of the aorta alongside the transplantation of another organ may reveal more clinically relevant mechanisms that contribute to the pathogenesis of chronic allograft rejection. Therefore, we developed a combined abdominal heart and aorta transplantation model in mice which benefits from reducing animal and drug utilization, while providing an improved model to study the progressive nature of AV. METHODS: The middle of the infrarenal aorta of the recipient mouse was ligatured between the renal artery and its bifurcation. Proximal and distal aortotomies were performed at this site above and below the ligature, respectively, for the subsequent anastomoses of the donor aorta and heart grafts to the recipient infrarenal aorta in an end-to-side fashion. The distal anastomotic site of the recipient infrarenal aorta was connected with the outlet of the donor aorta. Uniquely, the proximal anastomotic site on the recipient infrarenal aorta was shared to connect with both the inlet of the donor aorta and the inflow tract to the donor heart. The outflow tract from the donor heart was connected to the recipient inferior vena cava (IVC). RESULTS: The median times for harvesting the heart graft, aorta graft, recipient preparation and anastomosis were 11.5, 8.0, 9.0 and 40.5 min, respectively, resulting in a total median ischemic time of 70 min. The surgery survival rate was more than 96% (29/30). Both the syngeneic C57Bl/6 aorta and heart grafts survived more than 90 days in 29 C57Bl/6 recipients. Further, Balb/c to C57Bl/6 allografts treated with anti-CD40L and CTLA4.Ig survived more than 90 days with a 100% (3/3) survival rate. (3/3). CONCLUSIONS: This model is presented as a new tool for researchers to investigate transplant immunology and assess immunosuppressive strategies. It is possible to share a common anastomotic stoma on the recipient abdominal aorta to reconstruct both the aorta graft entrance and heart graft inflow tract. This allows for the study of allogeneic effects on both the aorta and heart from the same animal in a single survival surgery

Uncertain Knowledge Reasoning Based on the Fuzzy Multi-Entity Bayesian Network

With the rapid development of the semantic web and the ever-growing size of uncertain data, representing and reasoning uncertain information has become a great challenge for the semantic web application developers. In this paper, we present a novel reasoning framework based on the representation of fuzzy PR-OWL. Firstly, the paper gives an overview of the previous research work on uncertainty knowledge representation and reasoning, incorporates Ontology into the fuzzy Multi Entity Bayesian Networks theory, and introduces fuzzy PR-OWL, an Ontology language based on OWL2. Fuzzy PR-OWL describes fuzzy semantics and uncertain relations and gives grammatical definition and semantic interpretation. Secondly, the paper explains the integration of the Fuzzy Probability theory and the Belief Propagation algorithm. The influencing factors of fuzzy rules are added to the belief that is propagated between the nodes to create a reasoning framework based on fuzzy PR-OWL. After that, the reasoning process, including the SSFBN structure algorithm, data fuzzification, reasoning of fuzzy rules, and fuzzy belief propagation, is scheduled. Finally, compared with the classical algorithm from the aspect of accuracy and time complexity, our uncertain data representation and reasoning method has higher accuracy without significantly increasing time complexity, which proves the feasibility and validity of our solution to represent and reason uncertain information

Methotrexate nanoparticle delivery system for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease in pediatric patients

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of methotrexate (MTX) nanoparticles in pediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).Methods: In this randomized, open-label clinical study, 28 pediatric patients with moderate to severe IBD were randomly assigned to treatment (MTX  nanoparticles,15 mg/week) or control (azathioprine, AZA, 2 mg/kg/day) group.  Nanoparticles were synthesized by adding calcium chloride to sodium alginate solution containing MTX, and was further treated with poly-L-lysine aqueous  solution. The nanoparticles were evaluated for particle size, zeta potential and drug encapsulation efficacy. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine transaminase, and disease activity scores were used to assess IBD remission.Results: Nanoparticle size, zeta potential and encapsulation efficacy were 164.4 ± 6.9 nm, -32.6 ± 3.7 mV, and 97.8 ± 4.2 %, respectively. After 12 weeks of therapy, the mean Pediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index (PCDAI) scores for control and treatment groups were 22.3 ± 2.14 and 16.8 ± 1.87, respectively, while mean Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Activity (PUCAI) Index scores were 24.3 ± 1.47 and18.7 ± 1.92, respectively. Eight patients in the treatment and five patients in the control group achieved remission. Biochemical parameters varied significantly between the groups.Conclusion: MTX nanoparticles are safe and more effective than standard first-line IBD therapy. However, further studies are required to determine the suitability of the formulation for therapeutic use.Keywords: Pediatric patient, Methotrexate nanoparticle, Inflammatory bowel disease, Azathioprin

Design of an FPGA Based High-Speed Data Acquisition System for Frequency Scanning Interferometry Long Range Measurement

Frequency Scanning Interferometry (FSI) has become a popular method for long-range, target based, distance measurements. However, the cost of developing such systems, particularly the electronic components required for high-speed data acquisition, remains a significant concern. In this paper, we present a cost-effective, FPGA-based real-time data acquisition system specifically designed for FSI, with a focus on long absolute distance measurements. Our design minimizes the use of third-party intellectual property (IP) and is fully compatible with the Xilinx FPGA 7 series families. The hardware employs a 160 MS/s, 16-bit dual-channel ADC interfaced to the FPGA via a Low Voltage Differential Signal (LVDS). The proposed system incorporates an external sampling clock, referred to as the K- clock, which linearizes the laser's tuning rate, enabling optical measurements to be sampled at equal optical frequency intervals rather than equal time intervals. Additionally, we present the design of a high-speed, 160 MS/s ADC module for the front-end analogue signal interface and the LVDS connection to the chosen FPGA. We demonstrate that the digitized data samples can be efficiently transmitted to a PC application via a USB interface for further processing

Fabric-GC: A Blockchain-based Gantt Chart System for Cross-organizational Project Management

Large-scale production is always associated with more and more development and interaction among peers, and many fields achieve higher economic benefits through project cooperation. However, project managers in the traditional centralized approach cannot rearrange their activities to cross-organizational project management. Thanks to its characteristics, the Blockchain can represent a valid solution to the problems mentioned above. In this article, we propose Fabric-GC, a Blockchain-based Gantt chart system. Fabric-GC enables to realize secure and effective cross-organizational cooperation for project management, providing access control to multiple parties for project visualization. Compared with other solutions, the proposed system is versatile, as it can be applied to project management in different fields and achieve effective and agile scheduling. Experimental results show that Fabric-GC achieves stable performance in large-scale request and processing distributed environments, where the data synchronization speed of the consortium chain reached four times faster than a public chain, achieving faster data consistency