A Case of Prune Belly Syndrome

Prune belly syndrome (PBS) is a rare congenital disorder characterized by deficient abdominal wall muscles, urinary tract malformation, and, in males, cryptorchidism. We present a case of PBS in China. The patient was a newborn baby boy who had wrinkled, “prune-like” abdominal skin, bilateral cryptorchidism, and urinary system malformation, complicated with hypoplasia of the lung and branch of the coronary artery–right ventricular fistula. His kidney function was inadequate. The patient subsequently died at age 28 days due to septicemia from a severe urinary tract infection

Effects of matrine on collagen proliferation and TNF-α, TGF-β1 and CTGF in atrial tissues of dogs with persistent atrial fibrillation

目的 探讨苦参碱对犬心房颤动（房颤）心房肌组织中胶原合成以及肿瘤坏死因子（tumor necrosis factor alpha,TNF-α）、转化生长因子（transforming growth factor-β1，TGF-β1）和结缔组织生长因子（connective Tissue Growth Factor，CTGF）表达变化的影响。方法 健康比格犬10只采用快速右心室起搏造房颤模型，随机分成房颤组和房颤+苦参碱组各5只。采用天狼星红染色，计算胶原容积分数（collagen volume fraction，CVF）以测定纤维化程度；采用免疫组织化学法检测右心房TNF-α、TGF-β1和CTGF的蛋白表达情况；用逆转录-聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）技术检测TNF-α、TGF-β1和CTGF的mRNA水平表达情况。结果 与房颤组相比，房颤+苦参碱组纤维化程度降低，CVF明显下降（P＜0.05），TNF-α、TGF-β1和CTGF蛋白表达水平下降，且TNF-α和TGF-β1的mRNA表达水平显著下降（P＜0.05，P＜0.01）。结论 苦参碱可能通过抑制TNF-α、TGF-β1和CTGF的表达，抑制房颤心房肌胶原合成，改善心房组织纤维化程度。Objective:To study the effects of matrine (mat) on collagen synthesis and expression of tumor necrosis factoralpha (TNF-α), and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in atrial tissues of dogs with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods : Ten healthy beagle dogs were randomly divided into two groups: AF group (n=5) and AF/Mat group (n=5), using right ventricular pacing to establish AF model. The collagen volume fraction (CVF) in atrial tissue were detected by sirius red staining to determine the level of fabrication. The level of TNF-α, TGF-β1 and CTGF were detected by immunohisto-chemistry. The mRNA expression level of TNF-α, TGF-β1 and CTGF were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results:  Compared with the AF group, the fabriation level of AF/Mat was decreased obviously (P<0.05), the expression levels of TNF-α, TGF-β1 and CTGF were decreased, and the mRNA expression level were decreased significantly in atrial tissues (P<0.05 and P<0.01). Conclusion: Matrine may inhibits fabrosis in atrial tissues through inhibition collagen proliferation and expression of TNF-α, TGF-β1 and CTGF

Efficient frequency-domain channel equalisation methods for OFDM visible light communications

The authors present efficient frequency-domain channel estimation methods based on the intra-symbol frequency-domain averaging (ISFA), minimum mean squared error (MMSE) and weighted inter-frame averaging (WIFA) schemes for the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) visible light communications (VLC) system. OFDM-VLC with quadrature phase shift keying, 16- and 64-quadrature amplitude modulation mapping is experimentally demonstrated. Compared with the conventional least square channel estimation method, ISFA, MMSE and WIFA offer improved performance with MMSE offering the best performance in terms of the error vector magnitude but at the cost of high complexity. The authors show that the WIFA can improve the estimation accuracy of time-varying VLC optical channel

Analysis of 6 pediatric nephrotic syndrome cases with complications of cerebral sinovenous thrombosis and literature review

BackgroundCerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a rare but serious complication of nephrotic syndrome (NS) in children. To investigate the clinical characteristics of CVST in children with NS in order to timely diagnose this complication and reduce poor outcome.MethodsCollect and analyze clinical data and magnetic resonance venography (MRV) results of children with NS complicated with CVST.ResultsData of 6 patients with NS complicated with CVST were collected. 4 of the patients were steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) and 2 were steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS). The occurrence of CVST was observed within a time frame ranging from 12 days to 3 years following the diagnosis of NS. One patient had two episodes of thrombosis in three years, while the other five patients had only one episode of thrombosis. All patients had proteinuria at the time of episode of thrombosis. All patients presented with headache, and three of them had strabismus, seizures, and transient blindness, respectively. Neurological examination was negative. All patients were diagnosed with CVST by MRV within 3–16 days of the onset of headache. Two patients had TRPC6 gene mutation. All patients had resolution of neurological symptoms after anticoagulation treatment.ConclusionCVST may occur in the early stages of NS. There is currently a lack of specific diagnostic indicators to reliably identify the presence of CVST in patients with NS. Children with NS who have neurological symptoms should be promptly evaluated with imaging studies. Whether TRPC6 gene mutation is also a risk factor for CVST remains to be further studied

Planar Antennas

This article reviews the state of the art in broadband antennas for emerging UWB applications and addresses the important issues of the broadband antenna design for UWB applications. First, a variety of planar monopoles with finite ground planes are reviewed. Next, the roll antennas with enhanced radiation performance are outlined. After that, the planar antennas printed on PCBs are described. A directional antipodal Vivaldi antenna is also presented for UWB applications. Last, a UWB antenna for wearable applications is exemplifie

pts promoter influences antibiotic resistance via proton motive force and ROS in Escherichia coli

IntroductionGlucose level is related to antibiotic resistance. However, underlying mechanisms are largely unknown.MethodsSince glucose transport is performed by phosphotransferase system (PTS) in bacteria, pts promoter-deleted K12 (Δpts-P) was used as a model to investigate effect of glucose metabolism on antibiotic resistance. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry based metabolomics was employed to identify a differential metabolome in Δpts-P compared with K12, and with glucose as controls.ResultsΔpts-P exhibits the resistance to β-lactams and aminoglycosides but not to quinolones, tetracyclines, and macrolide antibiotics. Inactivated pyruvate cycle was determined as the most characteristic feature in Δpts-P, which may influence proton motive force (PMF), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and nitric oxide (NO) that are related to antibiotic resistance. Thus, they were regarded as three ways for the following study. Glucose promoted PMF and β-lactams-, aminoglycosides-, quinolones-mediated killing in K12, which was inhibited by carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone. Exogenous glucose did not elevated ROS in K12 and Δpts-P, but the loss of pts promoter reduced ROS by approximately 1/5, which was related to antibiotic resistance. However, NO was neither changed nor related to antibiotic resistance.DiscussionThese results reveal that pts promoter regulation confers antibiotic resistance via PMF and ROS in Escherichia coli

Design and Implementation of Recursive Model Predictive Control for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Drives

In order to control the permanent-magnet synchronous motor system (PMSM) with different disturbances and nonlinearity, an improved current control algorithm for the PMSM systems using recursive model predictive control (RMPC) is developed in this paper. As the conventional MPC has to be computed online, its iterative computational procedure needs long computing time. To enhance computational speed, a recursive method based on recursive Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm (RLMA) and iterative learning control (ILC) is introduced to solve the learning issue in MPC. RMPC is able to significantly decrease the computation cost of traditional MPC in the PMSM system. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been verified by simulation and experimental results

Signal optimization for UWB radio systems

Abstract This paper presents and studies three frequency-domain models for optimizing source pulses and detection templates in ultra-wideband radio systems. The optimization aims mainly at maximizing the EIRP band efficiency in the free space and the output of correlation detection at a receiver. These models are based on the Differential Evolution, an improved version of the Genetic Algorithm, and carried out on a set of UWB signals with given mathematical forms. As examples, these models are used to optimize the UWB signals for both narrowband thin-wire and wideband planar antenna systems. In addition, the optimized results are validated by non-optimization simulation

Association and interaction analysis of PPARGC1A and serum uric acid on type 2 diabetes mellitus in Chinese Han population

BACKGROUND: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1α (PPARGC1A/ PGC-1α) is a ligand-activated transcription factor belonging to the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily. The activity of PGC-1α or genetic variations in the gene encoding the enzyme may contribute to individual variations in mitochondrial function and insulin resistance or diabetes. The objective of this study was to assess the extent to which PPARGC1A (rs8192678) and serum uric acid (UA) and its interaction impact on T2DM susceptibility in Chinese Han population. METHOD: We conducted a study in a cohort that included 1166 T2DM patients and 1135 controls, and was genotyped for the presence of the PPARGC1A rs8192678 polymorphisms. Genotyping was performed by iPLEX technology. The association between rs8192678 or UA and T2DM was assessed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression (MLR) analysis controlling for confounders. The interaction between rs8192678 and UA for T2DM susceptibility was also assessed by MLR analysis. RESULTS: The generalized linear regression analysis failed to show an association between the PPARGC1A rs8192678 polymorphisms and T2DM. Interestingly, the present study provided data suggesting that the minor A-allele of PPARGC1A (rs8192678) had a protective effect against T2DM in subjects with higher level of UA (OR(int) =1.50 95% CI: 1.06-2.12 for allele and P = 0.02, OR(int) =1.63 95% CI: 1.17-2.26 for genotype and P = 0.004). CONCLUSION: The combination of higher level of UA and PPARGC1A (rs8192678) was an independent predictor for T2DM