Elements characteristics and potential environmental risk assessment of jarosite residue and arsenic sulfide residue based on geochemical and mineralogical analysis.

The waste slag known as jarosite residue (JR) and arsenic sulfide residue (ASR) were produced following the creation of zinc by hydrometallurgical procedures. The increasing annual zinc mining has led to growing pressure to dispose of the resulting JR and ASR from zinc smelting, making it crucial to assess their environmental impact and feasibility for utilization. The main components, distribution characteristics of elements, and potential environmental risks of zinc smelting wastes are studied through toxicity leaching tests, sequential extraction procedures, and various characterization technologies such as XRF, XRD, and SEM-EDS. The mineral compositions of JR are natrojarosite, franklinite, and gunningite, and zinc mainly adheres to the crevices of the natrojarosite mineral. Meanwhile, the ASR of flocculent structures is composed of orpiment, greenockite, arsenic oxide, and calvertite, and As appears in the form of the S-As-O phase. The Zn, Cu, and Cd in JR were dominated by exchangeable bound (81.53-96.6 %), and the main form of As, Cd, Se, and Tl in ASR was organic matter bound (87.0-99.21 %). The Risk Assessment Code (RAC) method confirmed the risk of Cd, Cu, Zn, and Mo in JR is high, while the risk of Cd, Pb, and Cr in ASR is moderate. Compared to the standard value of "Identification Standard for Toxicity of Hazardous Waste Leaching (GB5085.3-2007)", the leachate concentrations of Zn in JR as well as Cd and As in ASR were exceeded, suggesting that the JR and ASR were in the type of hazardous waste and posed an environmental risk. The study provides theoretical guidance for the future rational management and effective utilization of hazardous waste.

Increased formation of neutrophil extracellular traps in patients with anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor encephalitis.

Background: Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) have been found to play an important role in several nervous system diseases. However, their role in anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the possible role of NETs in anti-NMDAR encephalitis. Materials and methods: Eleven patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis and ten healthy participants were enrolled. Plasma NETs levels were detected using an immunofluorescence assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Additionally, we examined 10 plasma cytokines in patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis and analyzed the correlation between citrullinated histone 3 levels and cytokine release. Results: Peripheral blood neutrophils from patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis were more susceptible to NET generation. When compared with controls, cases of anti-NMDAR encephalitis showed elevated levels of IL-1 α, IL-6, IL-8, IL-13, MCP-1, and TNF-α (p < 0.05). Moreover, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α levels were positively correlated with H3Cit levels. Conclusion: We provide evidence that NETs may play a role in anti-NMDAR encephalitis, providing clues for elucidation of the pathogenesis of this disease.

Role of Increased Syncytin-1 Expression in Pathogenesis of Anti-N-Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptor Encephalitis.

Purpose: Syncytin-1 may play a role in several neuropsychiatric disorders, but its function in anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis is unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the possible mechanism of action of syncytin-1 in patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis. Patients and Methods: Twenty patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis and eight controls were recruited. The protein levels of syncytin-1 in serum were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the transcript levels of syncytin-1 were determined using real-time quantitative PCR. Flow cytometry was used for peripheral blood lymphocyte subset detection. Further, the relationship between syncytin-1 levels and clinical features of anti-NMDAR encephalitis and peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets was analyzed. Results: Compared with those in controls, higher syncytin-1 levels and percentage of B cells (CD3-CD19+) were observed in patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis. Among anti-NMDAR encephalitis patients, the level of syncytin-1 positively correlated with the proportion of B cells and modified Rankin scale score at onset and after immunotherapy and negatively correlated with the proportion of CD3+ T cells. Conclusion: An increased expression of Syncytin-1 is associated with the pathogenesis of anti-NMDAR encephalitis, providing evidence for elucidating the pathogenesis of the disease and suggesting novel therapeutic targets. Further, this study clarifies the role of syncytin-1 in neuroimmune disorders.

Analysis of Thoracic Aorta Injury in 27 Road Traffic Accident Deaths / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To analyze the characteristics of thoracic aorta injury in road traffic accidents, to provide data reference for forensic identification.@*METHODS@#The data of 27 traffic accident death cases with thoracic aorta injury were analyzed according to relevant parameters including sex, age, mode of transportation, and thoracic aorta injury.@*RESULTS@#Aortic injury in traffic accidents was significantly more in males than females, and 74.1% cases were in the age range of 31-70 years. The most common mode of transportation was the motorcycle, followed by electric bike, most of which crashed with trucks. Most cases were accompanied by rib fractures and lung injuries. Thoracic aorta injury was the most common in ascending aorta, followed by aortic arch and thoracic aorta. Ascending aorta injury was most likely to occur in the range of 0-<1.6 cm from the aortic valve, while it was rare over 2.6 cm. Taking the aortic valve as the reference, the most common locations of injury were the anterior semilunar valve, followed by the right posterior semilunar valve and the left posterior semilunar valve. Thoracic aortic rupture occurred in 63.0% cases, and intima and media lacerations only occurred in 37.0% cases. A few deceased had aortic diseases.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The proximal part of the ascending aorta is prone to be injured because of the large external force of traffic accidents. The medical examiner should carefully examine the aortic injury in traffic accident deaths, and evaluate the relationship between the injury and the disease according to the condition and degree of aortic injury.

Early increase of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts 30-day mortality in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.

AIMS: To examine whether early rise of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) after patient hospitalization correlates with 30-day mortality in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). METHODS: This retrospective study included all patients receiving treatment for spontaneous ICH between January 2015 and September 2016 at the Jiading District Central Hospital Affiliated Shanghai University of Medicine & Health Sciences in Shanghai, China. NLR was determined at admission (T1), at 24-48 hours (T2) and 5-7 days (T3). NLR and clinicopathologic features were compared between those who survived for >30 days vs not. Multivariate regression was used to identify risk factors for 30-day mortality. RESULTS: A total of 275 subjects were included in the analysis: 235 survived for at least 30 days; the remaining 40 subjects died within 30 days. The patients who died within 30 days had higher ICH score, larger ICH volume, and lower GCS score (all P < 0.05). In comparison with the baseline (NLRT1 ), NLR at 24-48 hours (NLRT2 ) and 5-7 days (NLRT3 ) was significantly higher in patients who died within 30 days (P < 0.05), but not in patients surviving for >30 days. In the multivariate analysis, the 30-day mortality was associated with both NLRT2 (OR 1.112, 95%CI 1.032-1.199, P = 0.006) and NLRT3 (OR 1.163, 95%CI 1.067-1.268, P = 0.001). Spearman correlation analysis showed that both NLRT2 and NLRT3 correlated inversely with GCS score and positively with ICH score and ICH volume at the baseline. CONCLUSIONS: Early rise of NLR predicts 30-day mortality in patients with spontaneous ICH.

Strategy of the Causes of Death of Dependents / 法医学杂志

Objective To discuss the methods and strategies to identify the causes of dependents' deaths, as well as provide the experiences that can be used for reference and scientific basis for the forensic identification of the potentially growing deaths of the same kind in the future. Methods The 13 cases concerning death of dependents accepted by Sun Yat-sen University Forensic Center were collected, and the basic information of the dependents were statistically described. The nutritional status, environmental condition and medical care condition were evaluated according to dietary energy, living space, environment and medical treatment condition. Results Among the 13 dependents, there were 11 males and 2 females, with the oldest 74 and the youngest 9 and dwelling time was from 0.4 to 5.6 years. Forensic pathological examination showed that 13 dependents had infectious diseases and 11 were severely dystrophic. There were no fatal mechanical injuries or poisoning in dependents. Molecular pathological screening of 4 cases revealed no pathogenic variants of sudden death susceptible genes. The poor status of the diet, nutrition, living environment and medical care of these dependents were discovered. The direct cause of death of all 13 dependents was identified to be disease. The lack of nutrition, poor living environment and lack of medical care were thought to play a dominant role in causing the deaths of 12 dependants. Conclusion The death identification should follow the judicial procedure. In identification of the causes of death and analysis of the proportion of the affecting factors resulting in death, all factors, including nutrition,environment, medical care, injury and diseases, need to be considered.

Chemical constituents from Illicium brevistylum and their anti-inflammatory activities / 中成药

AIM To study the chemical constituents from Illicium brevistylum A.C.Smith and to evaluate their anti-inflammatory activities.METHODS The n-BuOH fraction of 80％ ethanol extract from I.brevistylum was isolated and purified by silica,ODS and Sephadex LH-20,the structures of obtained compounds were identified by spectral data.Then their anti-inflammatory activities were screened.RESULTS Nine compounds were isolated and identified as (7S,8R)-3,3',5-trimethoxy-4',7-epoxy-8,5'-neolignan-4,9,9'-triol (1),methylabieta-8,11,13,15-tetraen-18-oate (2),majusanin A (3),pubeside C (4),(+)-lyoniresinol-3a-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (5),junipercomnoside D (6),lyoniside (7),nudiposide (8),rhyncoside A (9).The inhibition rates of compounds 2,6,9 on NF-κB were 47.81％,37.33％,33.37％,respectively.CONCLUSION Compounds 1,5,7-9 are isolated from genus Illicium for the first time,and compounds 2,6,9 exhibit good anti-inflammatory activities.

Chemical constituents from Illicium brevistylum and their anti-inflammatory activities / 中成药

AIM To study the chemical constituents from Illicium brevistylum A.C.Smith and to evaluate their anti-inflammatory activities.METHODS The n-BuOH fraction of 80％ ethanol extract from I.brevistylum was isolated and purified by silica,ODS and Sephadex LH-20,the structures of obtained compounds were identified by spectral data.Then their anti-inflammatory activities were screened.RESULTS Nine compounds were isolated and identified as (7S,8R)-3,3',5-trimethoxy-4',7-epoxy-8,5'-neolignan-4,9,9'-triol (1),methylabieta-8,11,13,15-tetraen-18-oate (2),majusanin A (3),pubeside C (4),(+)-lyoniresinol-3a-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (5),junipercomnoside D (6),lyoniside (7),nudiposide (8),rhyncoside A (9).The inhibition rates of compounds 2,6,9 on NF-κB were 47.81％,37.33％,33.37％,respectively.CONCLUSION Compounds 1,5,7-9 are isolated from genus Illicium for the first time,and compounds 2,6,9 exhibit good anti-inflammatory activities.

Research on fast Fourier transforms algorithm of huge remote sensing image technology with GPU and partitioning technology.

Fast Fourier transforms (FFT) is a basic approach to remote sensing image processing. With the improvement of capacity of remote sensing image capture with the features of hyperspectrum, high spatial resolution and high temporal resolution, how to use FFT technology to efficiently process huge remote sensing image becomes the critical step and research hot spot of current image processing technology. FFT algorithm, one of the basic algorithms of image processing, can be used for stripe noise removal, image compression, image registration, etc. in processing remote sensing image. CUFFT function library is the FFT algorithm library based on CPU and FFTW. FFTW is a FFT algorithm developed based on CPU in PC platform, and is currently the fastest CPU based FFT algorithm function library. However there is a common problem that once the available memory or memory is less than the capacity of image, there will be out of memory or memory overflow when using the above two methods to realize image FFT arithmetic. To address this problem, a CPU and partitioning technology based Huge Remote Fast Fourier Transform (HRFFT) algorithm is proposed in this paper. By improving the FFT algorithm in CUFFT function library, the problem of out of memory and memory overflow is solved. Moreover, this method is proved rational by experiment combined with the CCD image of HJ-1A satellite. When applied to practical image processing, it improves effect of the image processing, speeds up the processing, which saves the time of computation and achieves sound result.

Investigation of cataract surgery in Leshan, Sichuan Province / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

AIM: To comprehensively investigate the current status of cataract surgery in Leshan city, and find the existing problems according to the survey results as a guide to cataract prevention and treatment in future. METHODS: We surveyed the status of cataract surgery containing equipments, surgeons and surgery conditions in 17 ophthalmology departments of general hospitals from Leshan including 6 counties, 1 county-level city and 4 districts during 2012. Cataract surgery methods, according to various surgery financial resources, surgical performances and surgical incision, were divided into phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation ( Phaco + IOL ) , extracapsular cataract extraction and intraocular lens implantation ( ECCE + IOL ) , and each method contained 2 groups. We analyzed the outcomes following preoperative examination, surgeons, surgical methods, surgical equipments, types of IOL, surgical quantity, surgical results, and intraoperative complication. RESULTS: In whole city there were 16 operating microscopes, 43 slit lamp microscopes, 12 non-contact tonometers, 1 intraocular lens Master, 8 optical A/B type ultrasonic examination systems, 4 YAG lasers and 12 phacoemulsification instruments. There 15 doctors could complete cataract surgery independently, and 5 of them were phacoemulsification surgeons. The total number of completed cataract surgeries reached 6 211 eyes, containing 3 564 eyes for Phaco+IOL ( 57%) ( preoperative visual acuity ≥0. 3 in Phaco+IOL1 were 1 520 eyes, 24%) and 2 647 eyes for ECCE+IOL ( 43%) ( 1 533 eyes in ECCE+IOL1, 25%). In various groups, off-blindness rate was 94. 80%-100%, off-disability rate was 90. 41%-100%, and 94. 96% - 100% received intraocular lens implantation, intraoperative complication rate was 1. 00%-15. 10%. CONCLUSION: The distribution of surgeons and equipments in the whole city is unbalanced, and the utilization rate of phaco equipment is low. The levels are different in various hospitals on surgical technique, surgical quantity and surgical results. Phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation is considered as the main therapy for cataract, and as a transition to dioptric and personalized cataract surgery. The surgical condition of the city is good, but the proportion of cataract surgery for prevention of blindness in Leshan city is low, and the surgical technique remains to be further improved.

Development of three Drosophila melanogaster strains with different sensitivity to volatile anesthetics / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>The mechanisms of action for volatile anesthetics remain unknown for centuries partly owing to the insufficient or ineffective research models. We designed this study to develop three strains derived from a wild-type Drosophila melanogaster with different sensitivities to volatile anesthetics, which may ultimately facilitate molecular and genetic studies of the mechanism involved.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Median effective doses (ED(50)) of sevoflurane in seven-day-old virgin female and male wild-type Drosophila melanogaster were determined. The sensitive males and females of percentile 6 - 10 were cultured for breeding sensitive offspring (S(1)). So did median ones of percentile 48 - 52 for breeding median offspring (M(1)), resistant ones of percentile 91 - 95 for breeding resistant offspring (R(1)). Process was repeated through 31 generations, in the 37th generation, S(37), M(37) and R(37) were used to determine ED(50) for enflurane, isoflurane, sevoflurane, desflurane, halothane, methoxyflurane, chloroform and trichloroethylene, then ED(50) values were correlated with minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) values in human.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>From a wild-type Drosophila melanogaster we were able to breed three strains with high, median and low sevoflurane requirements. The ratio of sevoflurane requirements of three strains were 1.20:1.00:0.53 for females and 1.22:1.00:0.72 for males. Strains sensitive, median and resistant to sevoflurane were also sensitive, median and resistant to other volatile anesthetics. For eight anesthetics, ED(50) values in three strains correlated directly with MAC values in human.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Three Drosophila melanogaster strains with high, median and low sensitivity to volatile anesthetics, but with same hereditary background were developed. The ED(50) are directly correlated with MAC in human for eight volatile anesthetics.</p>

Tuberculosis versus non-Hodgkin's lymphomas involving small bowel mesentery: evaluation with contrast-enhanced computed tomography.

AIM: To evaluate the specific computed tomography (CT) imaging criteria for differentiating tuberculosis involving the small bowel mesenteric lymph nodes from lymphomas. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the anatomic distribution, CT enhancement patterns of lymphoma in 18 patients with mesenteric tuberculosis and 22 with untreated non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) involving small bowel mesentery (SBM). Of the 18 patients with tuberculosis, 9 had purely mesenteric tuberculous lymphadenopathy (TL), and 9 had mesenteric TL accompanied with tuberculous mesenteritis (TLM). RESULTS: CT showed that tuberculosis and NHL mainly affected lymph nodes in the body and root of SBM. Homogeneously enhanced lymph nodes in the body and root of SBM were found more often in the NHL (P < 0.05). Homogeneously mixed peripheral enhanced lymph nodes in the body of SBM were found more often in mesenteric TL and TLM (P < 0.05). Peripheral enhanced lymph nodes in the root of SBM were found more often in mesenteric TL and TLM (P < 0.01). "Sandwich sign" in the root of SBM was observed more often in NHL (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Anatomic lymph node distribution, sandwich sign and specific enhancement patterns of lymphadenopathy in SBM on CT images can be used in differentiating between tuberculosis and untreated NHL involving SBM.