Off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting using a bilateral internal mammary artery Y graft

Objective To evaluate the outcome of off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting （OPCABG） using a bilateral internal mammary artery （BIMA） Y configuration graft to achieve total arterial myocardial revascularization. Methods From October 2002 to December 2008, 208 patients （196 males and 12 females） underwent OPCABG using a BIMA Y configuration graft. The average age of the patients was 56.5 ± 11.3 years, with an age range of 33-78 years. A total of 167 （80.2%） cases had triple-vessel disease. Left main stem disease was found in 33 （15.9%） cases, and double-vessel disease was found in 8 （3.9%） cases. The semi-skeletonization technique was used to harvest the two internal mammary arteries （IMAs）, and then the free right internal mammary artery was connected end-to-side to the left internal mammary artery （LIMA） in situ to complete the Y configuration graft. Off-pump and sequential anastomosis methods were used to perform coronary artery bypass surgery in all patients. Graft patency was assessed intm-operatively with the HT311 transit time flowmeter. Results A total of 728 distal anastomoses were performed in 208 patients, with the average being 3.5± 1.3 per person. No one died or experienced recurrent angina within 30 days after the operation. Conclusions OPCABG using the BIMA Y graft was safe and effective to achieve total arterial revascularization. This method avoids surgical operation on the ascending aorta and other incisions.

Sequential Monte Carlo Method Toward Online RUL Assessment with Applications

Online assessment of remaining useful life(RUL) of a system or device has been widely studied for performance reliability, production safety, system conditional maintenance, and decision in remanufacturing engineering. However,there is no consistency framework to solve the RUL recursive estimation for the complex degenerate systems/device.In this paper, state space model(SSM) with Bayesian online estimation expounded from Markov chain Monte Carlo(MCMC) to Sequential Monte Carlo(SMC) algorithm is presented in order to derive the optimal Bayesian estimation.In the context of nonlinear & non-Gaussian dynamic systems, SMC(also named particle filter, PF) is quite capable of performing filtering and RUL assessment recursively. The underlying deterioration of a system/device is seen as a stochastic process with continuous, nonreversible degrading. The state of the deterioration tendency is filtered and predicted with updating observations through the SMC procedure. The corresponding remaining useful life of the system/device is estimated based on the state degradation and a predefined threshold of the failure with two-sided criterion. The paper presents an application on a milling machine for cutter tool RUL assessment by applying the above proposed methodology. The example shows the promising results and the effectiveness of SSM and SMC online assessment of RUL.

SOD mimicAEOL-10150 improve lifespan and delay brain aging via inhibition of senescence-associated secretory phenotype in SAMR1 strain

OBJECTIVE To observe the anti-aging effects of SOD mimic AEOL^(-1)0150 in antisenescence accelerated mouse resistant 1(SAMR1)strain.METHODS The lifespan of SAMR1 mice were observed by subcutaneous injection AEOL^(-1)0150 2 mg·kg-1once a week.Morris water maze,new object recognition,nesting and forced swimming were used to observe the behavioral changes of animals.Lymphocyte subgroups and ROS were measured by Flow cytometry.The cytokines levels were determined by Luminex method.The number of DCX+neurons in brain tissue was observed by immunofluorescence.RESULTS The results showed that AEOL^(-1)0150 could prolong the mean lifespan of SAMR1 mice,but it had no obvious effect on maximal lifespan.What′s more,AEOL^(-1)0150 could significantly improve the spatial learning memory of aged mice,but it could not increase the number of DCX+neurons in the hypothalamic MBH and hippocampal DG regions.Then,we observed the effects of AEOL^(-1)0150 on peripheral blood lymphocyte subgroups and cytokines.We found that AEOL^(-1)0150significantly modulated the lymphocyte subgroups and cytokine release.Especially,AEOL^(-1)0150 can dose-dependently inhibit plasma levels of SASP related inflammatory cytokines TNF-αand IL^(-1)7.CONCLUSION The results indicate that AEOL^(-1)0150 has anti-aging effects,and the effects are closely related to modulating immunity and inhibiting SASP production.

Combining Cubic Spline Interpolation and Fast Fourier Transform to Extend Measuring Range of Reflectometry

The reflectometry is a common method used to measure the thickness of thin films. Using a conventional method,its measurable range is limited due to the low resolution of the current spectrometer embedded in the reflectometer.We present a simple method, using cubic spline interpolation to resample the spectrum with a high resolution,to extend the measurable transparent film thickness. A large measuring range up to 385 m in optical thickness is achieved with the commonly used system. The numerical calculation and experimental results demonstrate that using the FFT method combined with cubic spline interpolation resampling in reflectrometry, a simple,easy-to-operate, economic measuring system can be achieved with high measuring accuracy and replicability.

Optimal Timing and Recycling Operation Mode for Electro-Mechanical Products Active Remanufacturing

The uncertainties of remanufactured products in multi-life cycle service, such as injury and restoration process route, are comprehensively analyzed in the present study from perspectives of cost and the environment. Based on life cycle assessment method and the life cycle cost analysis, the optimal timing model of active remanufacturing for electro-mechanical products is established considering these uncertainties. In addition, regarding the active remanufacturing as its guidance, this study explores the economic efficiency and corresponding operation mode of electro-mechanical products when recycling in the optimal timing. To validate the optimal timing model for electro-mechanical products active remanufacturing, a specific type of product is taken as a case study with mathematical statistics method and Monte Carlo simulation.

An Alternating Direction Approximate Newton Algorithm for Ill-Conditioned Inverse Problems with Application to Parallel MRI

Analternating direction approximateNewton(ADAN)method is developed for solving inverse problems of the form min{φ(Bu)+(1/2)||Au−f||^(2)_(2)},whereφis convex and possibly nonsmooth,and A and B arematrices.Problems of this form arise in image reconstruction where A is the matrix describing the imaging device,f is the measured data,φis a regularization term,and B is a derivative operator.The proposed algorithm is designed to handle applications where A is a large dense,ill-conditioned matrix.The algorithm is based on the alternating direction method of multipliers(ADMM)and an approximation to Newton’s method in which a term in Newton’s Hessian is replaced by aBarzilai–Borwein(BB)approximation.It is shown thatADAN converges to a solution of the inverse problem.Numerical results are provided using test problems from parallel magnetic resonance imaging.ADAN was faster than a proximal ADMM scheme that does not employ a BB Hessian approximation,while it was more stable and much simpler than the related Bregman operator splitting algorithm with variable stepsize algorithm which also employs a BB-based Hessian approximation.