Pharmacological treatment of inhalation injury after nuclear or radiological incidents: The Chinese and German approach

Inhalation injury is often associated with burns and significantly increases morbidity and mortality. The main toxic components of fire smoke are carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, and irritants. In the case of an incident at a nuclear power plant or recycling facility associated with fire, smoke may also contain radioactive material. Medical treatments may vary in different countries, and in this paper, we discuss the similarities and differences in the treatments between China and Germany. Carbon monoxide poisoning is treated by 100% oxygen administration and,if available, hyperbaric oxygenation in China as well as in Germany. In addition, antidotes binding the cyanide ions and relieving the respiratory chain are important. Methemoglobin-forming agents(e.g., nitrites, dimethylaminophenol)or hydroxocobalamin(Vitamin B12) are options. The metabolic elimination of cyanide may be enhanced by sodium thiosulfate. In China, sodium nitrite with sodium thiosulfate is the most common combination. The use of dimethylaminophenol instead of sodium nitrite is typical for Germany, and hydroxocobalamin is considered the antidote of choice if available in cases of cyanide intoxications by fire smoke inhalation as it does not further reduce oxygen transport capacity. Systematic prophylactic use of corticosteroids to prevent toxic pulmonary edema is not recommended in China or Germany. Stable iodine is indicated in the case of radioiodine exposure and must be administered within several hours to be effective. The decorporation of metal radionuclides is possible with Ca(DTPA)or Prussian blue that should be given as soon as possible. These medications are used in both countries, but it seems that Ca(DTPA) is administered at lower dosages in China. Although the details of the treatment of inhalation injury and radionuclide(s) decorporation may vary, the general therapeutic strategy is very similar in China and Germany.

A SVM-Based Feature Extraction for Face Recognition

Social computing, a cross science of computational science and social science, is affecting people’s learning, work and life recently. Face recognition is going deep into every field of social life, and the feature extraction is particularly important. Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) is an effective feature extraction method. However, the traditional LDA cannot solve the nonlinear problem and small sample problem existing in high dimensional space. In this paper, the method of the Support Vector-based Direct Discriminant Analysis (SVDDA) is proposed. It incorporates SVM algorithm into LDA, extends SVM to nonlinear eigenspace, and optimizes eigenvalue to improve performance. Moreover, this paper combines SVDDA with the social computing theory. The experiments were tested on different face datasets. Compared with other existing methods, SVDDA has higher robustness and optimal performance.

Corrosion evaluation and resistance study of alloys in chloride salts for concentrating solar power plants

Thermal energy storage(TES)systems based on molten salt are widely used in concentrating solar power(CSP)plants.The investigation of the corrosion behavior of alloy materials in molten salt is crucial for the correct selection of alloy materials and the design of TES systems.In this study,the corrosion behavior of 304,310S,316,and In625 alloys in molten chloride salts(27 mol%NaCl-22 mol%KCl-51 mol%MgCl,)was investigated.The evolution of mass loss of the alloy samples with corrosion time and temperature and the analysis of the experimental results by scanning electron microscopy(SEM),energy dispersive spectrometer(EDS),and X-ray diffraction(XRD)revealed the corrosion mechanism of the alloy samples in molten chloride salts.The main factors affecting the corrosion of the alloy samples were further analyzed.It was found that the loose multi-layer corrosion was formed on the surface of the corroded alloy samples with the increase in corrosion degree.Moreover,the experimental results.showed that Mo played a positive role in improving the corrosion resistance of the alloy samples because the presence of Mo could inhibit the outward diffusion of alloying element Cr.This work enriches the molten salt corrosion database and provides a reference for the selection of alloy materials for TES systems with potential application in CSP plants.