Development of the real-time double-ring fusion neutron time-of-flight spectrometer system at HL-2M

A real-time double-ring neutron time-of-flight(TOFII) spectrometer system has been proposed to achieve plasma diagnosis on HL-2M tokamak with a relatively high count rate and sufficient energy resolution.The TOFII system is in its development stage,and this work describes its characteristics in terms of design principle,system structure,electronic system design,preliminary tests,and neutron transport simulation.The preliminary test results illustrate that the TOFII system can demonstrate the realtime dynamic spectrum every 10 ms.The results also show that based on the support vector machine method,the n-γ discrimination algorithm achieves the discrimination accuracy of 99.1%with a figure of merit of 1.30,and the intrinsic timing resolution of the system is within 0.3%.The simulated flight time spectrums from 1 to 5 MeV are obtained through the Monte Carlo tool Geant4,which also provide the reasonable results.The TOFII system will then be calibrated on mono-energetic neutron sources for further verification.

Identification of tRNA-derived Fragments and Their Potential Roles in Atherosclerosis

Objective Atherosclerosis(AS),a chronic inflammatory disease,is the basis of cardiovascular disease(CVD).Although the treatment has been greatly improved,AS still imposes a large burden on human health and the medical system,and we still need to further study its pathogenesis.As a novel biomolecule,transfer RNA-derived fragments(tRFs)play a key role in the progression of various disease.However,whether tRFs contribute to atherosclerosis pathogenesis remains unexplored.Methods With deep sequencing technology,the change of tRFs expression profiles in patients with AS compared to healthy control group was identified.The accuracy of the sequencing data was validated using RT qPCR.Subsequently,we predicted the potential target genes of tRFs by online miRNA target prediction algorithms.The potential functions of tRFs were evaluated with Gene Ontology(GO)and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)pathway analyses.Results There were 13 tRFs differentially expressed between patients with AS and healthy controls,of which 2 were up-regulated and 11 were down-regulated.Validation by RT-qPCR analysis confirmed the sequencing results,and tRF-Gly-GCC-009 was highly up-regulated in the AS group based on the results of sequencing which was confirmed by RT-qPCR analysis.Furthermore,GO enrichment and KEGG pathway analyses indicated that 10 signaling pathways were related to tRF-Gly-GCC-009.These pathways might be physiopathological fundamentals of AS,mainly involving in Apelin signaling,Notch signaling and calcium signaling.Conclusion The results of our study provide important novel insight into the underlying pathogenesis and demonstrate that tRFs might be potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for AS in the future.

High-precision and wide-range real-time neutron flux monitor system through multipoint linear calibration

The neutron flux monitor(NFM)system is an important diagnostic subsystem introduced by large nuclear fusion devices such as international thermonuclear experimental reactor(ITER),Japan torus-60,tokamak fusion test reactor,and HL-2 A.Neutron fluxes can provide real-time parameters for nuclear fusion,including neutron source intensity and fusion power.Corresponding to different nuclear reaction periods,neutron fluxes span over seven decades,thereby requiring electronic devices to operate in counting and Campbelling modes simultaneously.Therefore,it is crucial to design a real-time NFM system to encompass such a wide dynamic range.In this study,a high-precision NFM system with a wide measurement range of neutron flux is implemented using realtime multipoint linear calibration.It can automatically switch between counting and Campbelling modes with variations in the neutron flux.We established a testing platform to verify the feasibility of the NFM system,which can output the simulated neutron signal using an arbitrary waveform generator.Meanwhile,the accurate calibration interval of the Campbelling mode is defined well.Based on the above-mentioned design,the system satisfies the requirements,offering a dynamic range of 10~8 cps,temporal resolution of 1 ms,and maximal relative error of 4%measured at the signal-to-noise ratio of 15.8 dB.Additionally,the NFM system is verified in a field experiment involving HL-2 A,and the measured neutron flux is consistent with the results.

The DIRECT consortium and the REST-meta-MDD project:towards neuroimaging biomarkers of major depressive disorder

Despite a growing neuroimaging literature on the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder(MDD),repro-ducible findings are lacking,probably reflecting mostly small sample sizes and heterogeneity in analytic approaches.To address these issues,the Depression Imaging REsearch ConsorTium(DIRECT)was launched.The REST-meta-MDD project,pooling 2428 functional brain images processed with a standardized pipeline across all participating sites,has been the first effort from DIRECT.In this review,we present an overview of the moti-vations,rationale,and principal findings of the studies so far from the REST-meta-MDD project.Findings from the first round of analyses of the pooled repository have included alterations in functional connectivity within the default mode network,in whole-brain topological properties,in dynamic features,and in functional lat-eralization.These well-powered exploratory observations have also provided the basis for future longitudinal hypothesis-driven research.Following these fruitful explorations,DIRECT has proceeded to its second stage of data sharing that seeks to examine ethnicity in brain alterations in MDD by extending the exclusive Chinese original sample to other ethnic groups through international collaborations.A state-of-the-art,surface-based preprocessing pipeline has also been introduced to improve sensitivity.Functional images from patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia will be included to identify shared and unique abnormalities across diag-nosis boundaries.In addition,large-scale longitudinal studies targeting brain network alterations following antidepressant treatment,aggregation of diffusion tensor images,and the development of functional magnetic resonance imaging-guided neuromodulation approaches are underway.Through these endeavours,we hope to accelerate the translation of functional neuroimaging findings to clinical use,such as evaluating longitudinal effects of antidepressant medications and developing individualized neuromodulation targets,while building an open repository for the scientific community.