Effect of Tangweian Jianji on upper gastrointestinal remodeling in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

AIM:To investigate the effect of Tangweian Jianji(TWAJJ) on the biomechanical and morphometrical remodeling of the upper gastrointestinal tract in diabetic rats.METHODS:Diabetes was induced in 27 rats by injecting streptozotocin(40 mg/kg body weight),the animals were then divided into three groups(n = 9 in each group),i.e.,diabetic control(DM);high dose(10 g/kg,T1) and low dose(5 g/kg,T2).Another 10 rats acted as normal controls(Control).TWAJJ was administered by gavage once daily.Blood glucose and serum insulin levels were measured.Circumferential length,wall thickness and opening angle were measured from esophageal,duodenal,jejunal and ileal ring segments.The residual strain was calculated from the morphometric data.Step-wise distension was carried out on esophageal and jejunal segments.The obtained data on the length,diameter and pressure changes were then used to calculate the circumferential and longitudinal stresses and strains.Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the receptor of advanced glycation end-products(RAGE) mRNA level in jejunal tissues.RESULTS:At the end of the experiment,the blood glucose level was significantly higher and the serum insulin level was significantly lower in DM,T1 and T2 groups than in the control group(Glucose:30.23 ± 0.41 mmol/L,27.48 ± 0.27 mmol/L and 27.84 ± 0.29 mmol/L vs 5.05 ± 0.04 mmol/L,P = 1.65 × 10-16,P = 5.89 × 10-19 and P = 1.63 × 10-18,respectively;Insulin:1.47 ± 0.32 g/L,2.66 ± 0.44 g/L,2.03 ± 0.29 g/L and 4.17 ± 0.54 g/L,P = 0.0001,P = 0.029 and P = 0.025,respectively).However,these levels did not differ among the DM,T1 and T2 groups.The wet weight per unit length,wall thickness and opening angle of esophageal and intestinal segments in the DM group were significantly higher than those in the control group(from P = 0.009 to P = 0.004).These parameters in the T1 group were significantly lower than those in the DM group(wet weight,duodenum:0.147 ± 0.003 g/cm vs 0.158 ± 0.001 g/cm,P = 0.047;jejunum,0.127 ± 0.003 g/cm vs 0.151 ± 0.002 g/cm,P = 0.017;ileum,0.127 ± 0.004 g/cm vs 0.139 ± 0.003 g/cm,P = 0.046;wall thickness,esophagus:0.84 ± 0.03 mm vs 0.94 ± 0.02 mm,P = 0.014;duodenum:1.27 ± 0.06 mm vs 1.39 ± 0.05 mm,P = 0.031;jejunum:1.19 ± 0.07mm vs 1.34 ± 0.04 mm,P = 0.047;ileum:1.09 ± 0.04 mm vs 1.15 ± 0.03 mm,P = 0.049;opening angle,esophagus:112.2 ± 13.2 vs 134.7 ± 14.7,P = 0.027;duodenum:105.9 ± 12.3 vs 123.1 ± 13.1,P = 0.046;jejunum:90.1 ± 15.4 vs 115.5 ± 13.3,P = 0.044;ileum:112.9 ± 13.4 vs 136.1 ± 17.1,P = 0.035).In the esophageal and jejunal segments,the inner residual stain was significantly smaller and the outer residual strain was larger in the DM group than in the control group(P = 0.022 and P = 0.035).T1 treatment significantly restored this biomechanical alteration(P = 0.011 and P = 0.019),but T2 treatment did not.Furthermore,the circumferential and longitudinal stiffness of the esophageal and jejunal wall increased in the DM group compared with those in the control group.T1,but not T2 treatment,significantly decreased the circumferential wall stiffness in the jejunal segment(P = 0.012) and longitudinal wall stiffness in the esophageal segment(P = 0.023).The mRNA level of RAGE was significantly decreased in the T1 group compared to that in the DM group(P = 0.0069).CONCLUSION:TWAJJ(high dose) treatment partly restored the morphometric and biomechanical remodeling of the upper gastrointestinal tract in diabetic rats.

Accuracy of optimized Sirius ray-tracing method in intraocular lens power calculation

AIM:To evaluate the accuracy and predictability of ray tracing-assisted intraocular lens(IOL) calculation function in Sirius internal software and further improve the accuracy by optimizing the calculation of predicted lens position(PLP).METHODS:This retrospective study recruited 52 eyes of 49 patients.All of the cases with cataract had undergone phacoemulsification combined with IOL implantation.SRK-T,Haigis formula,and Sirius ray-tracing method were all used for each eye’s IOL calculation.The mean absolute value of prediction error(prediction error=predicted refraction-postoperative refraction) was defined as mean absolute prediction error(MAPE) and was determined for each method.Calculation of PLP was optimized by effective lens position(ELP).Optimized PLP was entered to Sirius internal software again to verify whether the method was improved.RESULTS:Compared with SRK-T and Haigis formulas,less accuracy was shown in Sirius ray-tracing method(P=0.001).The ELP of the IOL moved forward compared to PLP(P<0.001).The MAPE of the ELP-inputted Sirius ray-tracing method was reduced.ELP and PLP were well correlated.Taking ELP as y and PLP given by Sirius soft as x,a linear regression formula y=0.1637 x+3.1741 was concluded(R^(2)=0.1066,P=0.018).It was shown that the optimized Sirius ray-tracing method(optimized PLP entered),compared with SRK-T and Haigis formulas,worked with the same accuracy(P=0.038).CONCLUSION:The original Sirius ray tracing method is not satisfactory enough.However,in normal eyes,the optimized Sirius ray-tracing method in IOL calculation was as accurate as SRK-T and Haigis formulas.

Magnetic properties and special morphology of barium ferrite via electrospinning

Barium ferrite micro-/nanofibers with special morphology,nanowires with diameters of 100 nm,nanoribbons with diameters of 1μm,and nanotubes with outer diameter of about 300 nm while inner diameter of 100 nm were successfully prepared via electrospinning using different solvents（dimethyl formamide（DMF）,solutions of deionized water and ethyl alcohol,and solutions of deionized water and acetic acid,respectively）.The barium ferrite micro-/nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscope（SEM）,X-ray diffraction analysis（XRD）,and vibration sample magnetometer（VSM）.The results demonstrate that the pure BaFe12O19 ferrite phase is successfully formed.And the SEM results show excellent morphologies.The magnetic hysteresis loops demonstrate that their magnetic properties are quite different with different morphologies.The specific saturation magnetization is approximately the same（46.12-49.17 A·m^2·kg^-1）,but the coercivity of the BaFe12O19 increases from wires（190.08 kA·m^-1）,ribbons（224.16 kA·m^-1） to tubes（258.88 kA·m^-1）.

Preparation of ZnO_(1-x) by peroxide thermal decomposition and its room temperature gas sensing properties

The excessive concentration of NO_(2) in the atmosphere has gained considerable attention due to its damage to the environment and human health. Gas sensor technology has important application prospects in detecting atmospheric NO_(2) concentration. Restricted by its wide bandgap, pristine ZnO needs additional energy to power the electronic transition as a gas sensing material.

On Double Degenerate Quasilinear Parabolic Variational Inequalities

We deal with the existence of weak solutions of double degenerate quasilinear parabolic inequalities with a Signorini-Dirichlet-Neumann type mixed boundary condition, which may degenerate in certain subset of the boundary or on a segment in the interior of the domain and in time. The main tools in our study are the maximM monotone property of the derivative operator with zero-initial valued conditions and the theory of pseudomonotone perturbations of maximal monotone mappings.