Alzheimer's disease with depressive symptoms: Clinical effect of intermittent theta burst stimulation repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

BACKGROUND Alzheimer's disease(AD),characterized by the ongoing deterioration of neural function,often presents alongside depressive features and greatly affects the quality of life of individuals living with the condition.Although several treatment methods exist,their efficacy is limited.In recent years,repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation(rTMS)utilizing the theta burst stimulation(TBS)mode,specifically the intermittent TBS(iTBS),has demonstrated promising therapeutic potential in the management of neuropsychiatric disorders.AIM To examine the therapeutic efficacy of iTBS mode of rTMS for treating depressive symptoms in patients with AD.METHODS This retrospective study enrolled 105 individuals diagnosed with AD with depressive symptoms at Huzhou Third Municipal Hospital,affiliated with Huzhou University,between January 2020 and December 2023.Participants received standard pharmacological interventions and were categorized into control(n=53)and observation(n=52)groups based on treatment protocols.The observation group received iTBS mode of rTMS,while the control group received pseudo-stimulation.A comparative analysis evaluated psychological well-being,adverse events,and therapeutic at initiation of hospitalization(T0)and 15 days post-treatment(T1).RESULTS At T1,both groups exhibited a marked reduction in self-rating depression scale and Hamilton depression scale scores compared to T0.Furthermore,the observa-tion group showed a more pronounced decrease than the control group.By T1,the Mini-mental state examination scores for both groups had increased markedly from their initial T0 assessments.Importantly,the increase was particularly more substantial in the observation group than in the control group.Fourteen patients in the control group had ineffective treatment effects,while five patients in the observation group experienced the same.Additionally,the observation group experienced a substantially reduced incidence of ineffective treatment as compared to the control group(both P<0.05);there were no recorded serious adverse events in either group.CONCLUSION The iTBS model of rTMS effectively treated AD with depression,improving depressive symptoms and cognitive function in patients without serious adverse reactions,warranting clinical consideration.

Measurement of transient neutral gas puff pressure in the NUDT＿IPPTx by a fast ionization gauge

A gas injector was designed for the 400 J/pulse prototype of the planar inductive pulsed plasma thruster（IPPT） developed by the National University of Defense Technology（NUDT_IPPTx）.As the gas puff distribution over the coil surface is critical to the NUDT_IPPTx functioning efficiently, a fast ionization gauge was developed to investigate the neutral gas pressure profiles to seek the critical time when the thruster is ignited. The gauge was calibrated for argon by using a capacitance manometer. Time-resolved pressure profiles have been acquired in the condition of the gas puff mass matching with the discharge energy and the drive coil parameters of the NUDT_IPPTx. It is demonstrated that the gas injector can supply a gas puff with a sufficiently steep（dp/dt？≈？770 kPa s-1） leading and trailing edge, and the gas puff can be compressed against the drive coil as expected. The critical ignition moment is considered to appear at some instant between 525 μs and 650 μs after the valve trigger.

Temperature and electron density of soil plasma generated by LA-FPDPS

Electron temperature and electron number density are important parameters in the characterization of plasma. In this paper the electron temperature and electron number density of soil plasma generated by laser ablation combined with nanosecond discharge spark at different discharge voltages have been studied. Saha-Boltzmann plot and Stark broadening are used to determine the temper- ature and electron number density. It is proved that local thermal equilibrium is fulfilled in the nanosecond spark enhanced plasma. The enhanced optical emission, signal to noise ratio and the stability in term of the relative standard deviation of signal intensity at different spark voltages were investigated in detail. A relative stable discharge process was observed with use of a 10 kV discharge voltage under the carried experimental configuration.

A precision clock source design

Objective HEPS is a fourth-generation photon source under construction.HEPS adopts the magnetic focusing structure of 7BA,and the beam dynamics aperture is very small.HEPS injection scheme adopts the on-axis injection scheme.To minimize perturbation on adjacent bunches during on-axis swap out injection,a set of superfast kicker and high-voltage fast pulse power supply are needed.The high-voltage fast pulse power supply uses pulsed power stacking technologies,and the power supply needs the multichannel and low jitter clock signal.Therefore,it is necessary to develop a precise clock source.Method The clock source adopts FPGA controller with full digital control,and the output pulse mode of the system can be adjusted in real time.A detection module based on program control is used to check repetition rate and bottom width of input clock and output clock in real time.High-speed and precision clock signal output circuit is used to guarantee signal integrity and reduce clock signal jitter.Conclusion The prototype experiment proves that the output clock can well meet requirements of design.The minimum bottom width of the independent clock is 5 ns,the minimum time interval of the two groups of clocks is 5 ns,and the jitter of output clock is lower than 50 ps.The developed clock source can well meet the application requirements of high-voltage fast pulse power supply in HEPS injection system.

Analysis of trigger behavior of high voltage LDMOS under TLP and VFTLP stress

The physical mechanisms triggering electrostatic discharge （ESD） in high voltage LDMOS power transistors （〉 160 V） under transmission line pulsing （TLP） and very fast transmission line pulsing （VFTLP） stress are investigated by TCAD simulations using a set of macroscopic physical models related to previous studies implemented in Sentaurus Device. Under VFTLP stress, it is observed that the triggering voltage of the high voltage LDMOS obviously increases, which is a unique phenomenon compared with the low voltage ESD protection devices like NMOS and SCR. The relationship between the triggering voltage increase and the parasitic capacitances is also analyzed in detail. A compact equivalent circuit schematic is presented according to the investigated phenomena. An improved structure to alleviate this effect is also proposed and confirmed by the experiments.