Treatment outcomes and cognitive function following electroconvulsive therapy in patients with severe depression

BACKGROUND Traditional treatments for major depressive disorder(MDD),including medication and therapy,often fail and have undesirable side effects.Electroconvulsive therapy(ECT)uses electrical currents to induce brief seizures in the brain,resulting in rapid and potent antidepressant effects.However,owing to misconceptions and controversies,ECT is not as widely used as it could and often faces stigmatization.AIM To evaluate the efficacy and safety of ECT compared to those of medication and/or therapy in patients with severe MDD.METHODS This prospective cohort study included 220 individuals with severe MDD who were divided into the ECT and non-ECT groups.The patients in the ECT group underwent bilateral ECT three times a wk until they either achieved remission or reached a maximum of 12 sessions.The non-ECT group received medication and/or therapy according to clinical guidelines for MDD.The primary outcome was the variation in the hamilton depression rating scale(HDRS)score from treatment/ECT initiation to week 12.In addition,patients’quality of life,cognitive abilities,and biomarkers were measured throughout the study.RESULTS Although both groups showed significant improvements in their HDRS scores over time,the improvement was more pronounced in the ECT group than in the non-ECT group.Additionally,the ECT group exhibited a more substantial improvement in the quality of life and cognitive function than those of the non-ECT group.Compared with the non-ECT group,the ECT group exhibited evidently lower variations in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF)and cytokine interleukin-6(IL-6)levels.The side effects were generally mild and comparable between the two groups.ECT is safer and more potent than medication and/or therapy in mitigating depressive symptoms,enhancing wellbeing,and bolstering cognitive capabilities in individuals with severe MDD.ECT may also affect the levels of BDNF and IL-6,which are indicators of neuroplasticity and inflammation,respectively.CONCLUSION ECT has emerged as a potentially advantageous therapeutic approach for patients with MDD who are unresponsive to alternative treatments.

Experimental study of the temporary plugging capability of diverters to block hydraulic fractures in high-temperature geothermal reservoirs

The effective plugging of artificial fractures is key to the success of temporary plugging and diverting fracturing technology,which is one of the most promising ways to improve the heat recovery efficiency of hot dry rock.At present,how temporary plugging agents plug artificial fractures under high temperature remains unclear.In this paper,by establishing an improved experimental system for the evaluation of temporary plugging performance at high temperature,we clarified the effects of high temperature,injection rate,and fracture width on the pressure response and plugging efficiency of the fracture.The results revealed that the temporary plugging process of artificial fractures in hot dry rock can be divided into four main stages:the initial stage of temporary plugging,the bridging stage of the particles,the plugging formation stage,and the high-pressure dense plugging stage.As the temperature increases,the distribution distance of the temporary plugging agent,the number of pressure fluctuations,and the time required for crack plugging increases.Particularly,when the temperature increases by 100℃,the complete plugging time increases by 90.7%.

Silver dissolution in a novel leaching system: Reaction kinetics study

Effective silver recovery is usually restricted by either environmental pollution or high recovery costs. To tackle the issues, this study introduces a novel method for the effective recovery of silver by utilizing the alkaline sodium thiosulfate-potassium ferricyanide leaching system. The reaction kinetics of silver dissolution in this system was investigated via the rotating disk electrode technology. The influences of important parameters, including the rotation speed, sodium thiosulfate concentration, potassium ferricyanide concentration, and temperature, on the silver dissolution rate were systematically investigated. The activation energy was measured to be 17.96 kJ·mol^(-1) when the silver dissolution was controlled by a diffusion process. When the silver dissolution was in the region of mixed control, the reaction orders of ferricyanide and thiosulfate were found to be 0.57 and 0.19, respectively, and the reaction orders of ferricyanide and thiosulfate were 0.55 and 0.22, respectively, when the silver dissolution was controlled by surface reaction. This study has great potential for the development of an environmentally friendly silver recovery process from end-of-life products.

Transition edge sensor-based detector:from X-ray to γ-ray

A transition edge sensor(TES)is extremely sensitive to changes in temperature,and combined with a high-Z metal of a certain thickness,it can realize high-energy resolution measurements of particles such as X-rays.X-rays with energies below 10 keV have a weak penetrating ability,hence,only gold or bismuth of a few micrometers in thickness can guarantee a quantum efficiency higher than 70%.Therefore,the entire structure of the TES X-ray detector in this energy range can be realized using a microfabrication process.However,for X-rays or γ-rays from 10 keV to 200 keV,submillimeter absorber layers are required,which cannot be realized using the microfabrication process.This paper first briefly introduces a set of TES X-ray detectors and their auxiliary systems,and then focuses on the introduction of the TES γ-ray detector with an absorber based on a submillimeter lead-tin alloy sphere.The detector achieved a quantum efficiency above 70% near 100 keV and an energy resolution of approximately 161.5 eV at 59.5 keV.

Flux-to-voltage characteristic simulation of superconducting nanowire interference device

Inspired by recent discoveries of the quasi-Josephson effect in shunted nanowire devices,we propose a superconducting nanowire interference device in this study,which is a combination of parallel ultrathin superconducting nanowires and a shunt resistor.A simple model based on the switching effect of nanowires and fluxoid quantization effect is developed to describe the behavior of the device.The current-voltage characteristic and flux-to-voltage conversion curves are simulated and discussed to verify the feasibility.Appropriate parameters of the shunt resistor and inductor are deduced for fabricating the devices.