The Application of Analytical Techniques to Alpha-Synuclein in Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor symptoms such as tremors, rigidity, and bradykinesia, as well as non-motor symptoms including cognitive impairment and mood disorders. A hallmark of PD is the accumulation of alpha-synuclein, a presynaptic neuronal protein that aggregates to form Lewy bodies, leading to neuronal dysfunction and cell death. The study of alpha-synuclein and its pathological forms is crucial for understanding the etiology of PD and developing effective diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Analytical techniques play a pivotal role in elucidating the structure, function, and aggregation mechanisms of alpha-synuclein. Biochemical methods such as Western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are employed to detect and quantify alpha-synuclein in biological samples, offering insights into its expression levels and post-translational modifications. Imaging techniques like immunohistochemistry and positron emission tomography (PET) allow for the visualization of alpha-synuclein aggregates in tissue samples and in vivo, respectively, facilitating the study of its spatial distribution and progression in PD Spectroscopic methods, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, provide detailed structural information on alpha-synuclein and its isoforms, aiding in the identification of conformational changes associated with aggregation. Emerging techniques such as cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) and single-molecule fluorescence enable high-resolution structural analysis and real-time monitoring of alpha-synuclein aggregation dynamics, respectively. The application of these analytical techniques has significantly advanced our understanding of the pathophysiological role of alpha-synuclein in PD. They have contributed to the identification of potential biomarkers for early diagnosis and the evaluation of therapeutic interventions targeting alpha-synuclein aggregation. Despite technical limitations and challenges in clinical translation, ongoing advancements in analytical methodologies hold promise for improving the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of Parkinson’s disease through a deeper understanding of alpha-synuclein pathology.

The Application of Modern Art Techniques in T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land

The literature in 20th century is mainly characterized by irrationalism presented in modernism. Under the background, this paper aims to explore how Eliot attempts to use modern art techniques in The Waste Land to reveal a real life to readers.

基于CD-BSMOTE的D-S证据融合变压器故障诊断

针对变压器油中溶解气体数据集不均衡特性对故障诊断结果的影响,提出一种基于清除临界点改进的边界合成少数类过采样算法均衡数据集和Pearson冲突距离改进D-S证据融合的变压器故障诊断模型。首先,对少数类样本进行均衡化处理,根据K-means聚类结果清除处于临界位置的样本;其次,搭建梯度提升树、随机森林、BP神经网络的故障诊断模型,实现变压器故障初步诊断;接着引入Pearson冲突距离改进D-S证据融合模型,实现诊断结果的融合决策;最后,经实际算例分析,诊断精确率达到92.65%。结果表明,所建模型能有效解决数据不平衡对诊断结果的影响,提高故障诊断精度。

Imaging of the small bowel in Crohn's disease: A review of old and new techniques

The investigation of small bowel morphology is often mandatory in many patients with Crohn's disease. Traditional radiological techniques (small bowel enteroclysis and small bowel follow-through) have long been the only suitable methods for this purpose. In recent years, several alternative imaging techniques have been proposed. To review the most recent advances in imaging studies of the small bowel, with particular reference to their possible application in Crohn's disease, we conducted a complete review of the most important studies in which traditional and newer imaging methods were performed and compared in patients with Crohn's disease. Several radiological and endoscopic techniques are now available for the study of the small bowel; each of them is characterized by a distinct profile of favourable and unfavourable features. In some cases, they may also be used as complementary rather than alternative techniques. In everyday practice, the choice of the technique to be used stands upon its availability and a careful evaluation of diagnostic accuracy, clinical usefulness, safety and cost. The recent development ofinnovative imaging techniques has opened a new and exciting area in the exploration of the small bowel in Crohn's disease patients.

超声S-Detect技术联合乳腺简化MRI对早期乳腺癌的诊断效能

目的 探讨超声S-Detect技术联合乳腺简化MRI对早期乳腺癌诊断效能的分析。方法 选取2020年1月至2021年12月进行乳腺超声和MRI检查的85个病灶。患者年龄>14岁,且未进行手术及新辅助化疗治疗,肿瘤病灶直径≤2 cm,并进行穿刺或手术获得病理结果。以乳腺穿刺肿瘤病理结果为金标准,评估超声S-Detect技术、乳腺简化MRI及二者联合检查的诊断效能。结果 S-Detect、简化MRI及两者联合诊断的灵敏度分别为:69.5%,81.4%,98.3%,特异度分别为:88.5%,80.8%,76.9%,准确率分别为:75.3%,81.2%,91.8%,与病理一致性检验Kappa值分别为:0.50,0.58,0.80,AUC分别为:0.79,0.81,0.88。差异均有统计学意义(Z=1.979,P<0.05;Z=2.096,P<0.05)。结论 超声S-Detect与乳腺简化MRI技术联合对早期乳腺癌检查的灵敏度、准确率以及与病理一致性比单独使用S-Detect技术或简化MRI高,具有较高的诊断效能,可以对早期乳腺癌的早发现早治疗起到积极作用并为临床科室制定治疗方案提供有效帮助。

Magnetic resonance enterography in Crohn’s disease: Standard and advanced techniques

Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic autoimmune disorder that affects mainly young people. The clinical management is based on the Crohn's Disease Activity Index and especially on biologic parameters with or without additional endoscopic and imaging procedures, such as barium and computed tomography examinations. Recently, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has been a promising diagnostic radiologic technique with lack of ionizing radiation, enabling superior tissue contrast resolution due to new pulse-sequence developments. Therefore, MR enterography has the potential to become the modality of choice for imaging the small bowel in CD patients.

Evolving screening and surveillance techniques for Barrett's esophagus

Barrett's esophagus(BE) is a change in the esophageal lining and is known to be the major precursor lesion for most cases of esophageal adenocarcinoma(EAC).Despite an understanding of its association with BE for many years and the falling incidence rates of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus, the incidence for EAC continues to rise exponentially. In association with this rising incidence, if the delay in diagnosis of EAC occurs after the onset of symptoms,then the mortality at 5 years is greater than 80%. Appropriate diagnosis and surveillance strategies are therefore vital for BE. Multiple novel optical technologies and other advanced approaches are being utilized to assist in making screening and surveillance more cost effective. We review the current guidelines and evolving techniques that are currently being evaluated.

Manufacturing techniques of armor strips excavated from Emperor Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum,China

The chemical compositions and microstructures of the armor strips excavated from the Emperor Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum were examined systematically by using optical microscopy and electron microscopy.It was found that the armor strips were made of pure copper.Based on the morphology of α-Cu recrystal grain and copper sulphide(Cu2S) inclusions in the armor strips,the manufacturing techniques were proposed as follows:smelting pure copper,casting a lamellar plate,forming the cast ingots into sheets through repeated cold forging combined with annealing heat treatment,and finally cutting the sheets into filaments.Furthermore,through the deformation of copper sulphide(Cu2S) inclusions in the strips,the work rate during forging was evaluated and calculated to be close to 75%.

Tribological Behaviour of Aluminium/Alumina/Graphite Hybrid Metal Matrix Composite Using Taguchi’s Techniques

Tribological behaviour of aluminium alloy (Al-Si10Mg) reinforced with alumina (9%) and graphite (3%) fabricated by stir casting process was investigated. The wear and frictional properties of the hybrid metal matrix composites was studied by performing dry sliding wear test using a pin-on-disc wear tester. Experiments were conducted based on the plan of experiments generated through Taguchi’s technique. A L27 Orthogonal array was selected for analysis of the data. Investigation to find the influence of applied load, sliding speed and sliding distance on wear rate, as well as the coefficient of friction during wearing process was carried out using ANOVA and regression equations for each response were developed. Objective of the model was chosen as ‘smaller the better’ characteristics to analyse the dry sliding wear resistance. Results show that sliding distance has the highest influence followed by load and sliding speed. Finally, confirmation tests were carried out to verify the experimental results and Scanning Electron Microscopic studies were done on the wear surfaces.

An Analysis on the Discourse Cohesion Techniques in Children's English Books

Discourse cohesion techniques analysis attracts much attention both at home and abroad and many scholars have conducted their research in this field, however, few of them focus on children's English books which has its own characteristics and cohesion techniques and deserves our research.

Surgical treatment of inflammatory bowel disease:From the gastroenterologist’s stand-point

Treatment of ulcerative colitis(UC)and Crohn’s disease(CD)represents,in the majority of cases,a real challenge to the gastroenterologist’s abilities and skills as well as a clinical test concerning his/her levels of medical knowledge and experience.During the last two decades,our pharmaceutical arsenal was significantly strengthened,especially after the introduction of the so-called biological agents,drugs which to a large extent not only improved the results of conservative treatment but also changed the natural history of the disease.However,colectomy is still necessary for some patients with severe UC although smaller compared to the past,precisely because of the improvements achieved in the available conservative treatment.Nevertheless,surgeries to treat colon dysplasia and cancer are increasing to some extent.At the same time,satisfactory improvements in surgical techniques,the pre-and post-operative care of patients,as well as the selection of the appropriate time for performing the surgery have been noticed.Regarding patients with CD,the improvement of conservative treatment did not significantly change the need for surgical treatment since two-thirds of patients need to undergo surgery at some point in the course of their disease.On the other hand,the outcome of the operation has improved through good preoperative care as well as the wide application of more conservative surgical techniques aimed at keeping as much of the bowel in situ as possible.This article discusses the indications for surgical management of UC patients from the gastroenterologist’s point of view,the results of the emerging new techniques such as transanal surgery and robotics,as well as alternative operations to the classic ileo-anal-pouch anastomosis.The author also discusses the basic principles of surgical management of patients with CD based on the results of the relevant literature.The self-evident is emphasized,that is,to achieve an excellent therapeutic result in patients with severe inflammatory bowel disease in today’s era;the close cooperation of gastroenterologists with surgeons,pathologists,imaging,and nutritionists is of paramount importance.

Strength criterion of porous media: Application of homogenization techniques

The present paper aims at giving some general ideas concerning the micromechanical approach of the strength of a porous material. It is shown that its determination theoretically amounts to solving a nonlinear boundary value problem defined on a representative elementary volume(REV). The principle of nonlinear homogenization is illustrated based on the case of a solid phase having a Green’s strength criterion. An original refinement of the so-called secant method(based on two reference strains) is also provided. The paper also describes the main feature of the Gurson’s model which implements the principle of limit analysis on a conceptual model of hollow sphere. The last part of the paper gives some ideas concerning poromechanical couplings.

Non-Conventional MRI Techniques as an Alternative Role to the Clinical Diagnosis in Alzheimer’s Disease

Improved methods for early diagnosis and non-invasive surrogates for the diagnosis of disease severity in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are becoming the new challenge. Dementia can now be accurately determined through clinical evaluation, cognitive screening, basic laboratory evaluation and structural imaging. Magnetic resonance (MRI) techniques are being evaluated as possible surrogate measures to monitor disease progression. The purpose of this work is to correlate the results of combined advanced MR techniques with neuropsychological performance in order to identify a sensible and sensitive imaging approach to quantify neurodegenerative disease progression. One of the most relevant evidences in our study is the degeneration of the fibers of the corpus callosum in the pathogenesis of cognitive disorders in AD patients, as demonstrated by the relationship between altered neuropsychological tests and reduced FA (Fractional Anisotrophy) values of the corpus callosum in such patients. This data is also integrated by the evidence of anatomic reduction of the total volume of the corpus callosum assessed by FreeSurfer, thus supporting the hypothesis that the “brain disconnects” play a key role in the pathogenesis of AD. Statistical evaluation of regression consisting in the identification of different numerical coefficients that are multiplied by the thickness of the right fusiform value or by the volume of left inferoparietal region and left middle-temporal region, allows us to obtain the predictive numeric value of the related neuropsychological test. Combination of non-conventional magnetic resonance imaging, including morphometry, spectroscopy, MD (mean diffusivity) and FA evaluation, could be an alternative to clinic in the evaluation of neurodegeneration in AD.

Comparison of in Clinic-Based Fecal Microbiome Collection Techniques for Increase in Study Participation and Utilization of Microbiome Analysis

We compared the collection techniques of fecal specimens for DNA extraction and fecal microbiome analysis by utilizing the glove from a standard-of-care digital rectal exam (DRE) and the rectal swab from a pre-prostate biopsy bacterial rectal culture collected in clinical care settings. DNA yield from the swab technique compared to the glove technique yielded similar amounts of DNA (18.1 vs. 13.1 ng/μL, p = 0.06), slightly favoring the swab technique. However, utilizing DNA yield cutoffs of 15 ng/μL (37% vs. 29%, p = 0.18) and 30 ng/μL (15% and 9%, p = 0.16), we identified no differences in yield between the swab versus glove technique, respectively. Absorbance values for overall DNA quality were significantly different in favor of the glove technique (mean 1.6 vs. 2.0, p < 0.001). Using an absorbance value of 1.5 as an indication of DNA quality, only 26% (19/91) met the cutoff value using the swab group compared to 47.3% (53/112) if the glove technique was used (p < 0.001). Similar results occurred for the RNA quality with an absorbance value cutoff of 2.0 (2.2% vs. 30.4%, p < 0.001). To increase sampling feasibility and improve population sampling, gloves used from a DRE may be utilized as a consistent and efficient fecal DNA collection technique for fecal microbiome analysis. DNA yield and quality from the glove technique are comparable to—if not better than—rectal swab collection.

Acupuncture Techniques Handed Down from Dr.Zheng Kuishan's Family

It has been proved by the ancient and modemacupuncture practices that needling techniques are ofvital importance in the acupuncture treatment ofdiseases.At present,much has been reported aboutthe researches on acupuncture techniques,which canbe roughly divided into the following three types:reinforcing,reducing,and even methods.Throughlong years of study and clinical practice,Dr.

CNPC's New Progress in Well Cementing Techniques

Well cementing is an important step in petroleum engineering territory. Through many years study and research, China Nation Petroleum Corporation(abbreviated as CNPC) has made many good progresses in cementing process, and a series of cementing materials, cementing tools, and associated cementing techniques to them have been developed. Over the recent years, there have been significant improvements in application of single slurry system to super deep well, horizontal well, large displacement well and wells with large temperature span between cementing top and well bottom. Favorable results have been gained in field application of super high density cement slurry system and super low density cement slurry system. Application of conventional cementing tools and accessories has been the matured techniques, and breakthroughs have been made in liner hanger and swellable material.

Existence of Monotone Positive Solution for a Fourth-Order Three-Point BVP with Sign-Changing Green’s Function

This paper is concerned with the following fourth-order three-point boundary value problem , where , we discuss the existence of positive solutions to the above problem by applying to the fixed point theory in cones and iterative technique.

USING Hybrid Adaptive Techniques to Reduce Multipath Effects in S-PCN Mobile Terminals

Multipath signal processing is a promising technique for increasing the capacity of downlink frequency of satellite communication networks (S-PCN). The paper presents an approach to processing and reducing multipath signals received from S-PCN typified of mobile terminal users in clustered or mountainous environment. Use of hybrid linear adaptive antenna array technique and adaptive filtering technique provides improved performance by eliminating uncorrelated signal residing in antenna sidelobes.

Long-term results of the surgical treatment of Peyronie＇s disease with Egydio＇s technique： a European multicentre study

The long-term outcomes of 157 patients affected by Peyronie＇s disease （PD） who underwent penile straightening with Egydio＇s technique between January 2004 and December 2008 are reported. Only patients with PD who were stable for at least 6-12 months prior to surgery were enrolled in this study. Preoperative assessment included a dynamic echo colour Doppler ultrasound scan to evaluate the degree of penile deformity and the peak systolic velocity in the cavernosal arteries and an assessment of erectile function with the administration of the International Index of Erectile Function 5 （IIEF-5） questionnaire. Stretched penile length was recorded pre- and postoperatively. Surgical complications, cosmesis and sexual function, patient satisfaction and postoperative erectile function were assessed postoperatively at 3 months, I year and 2 years, respectively. After a median follow-up period of 20 months （range： 12-24 months）, we found that mild residual curvature （12%） and glans hypoesthesia （3%） were the only causes of partial dissatisfaction. No rejection of the graft was observed. All patients recovered their ability to penetrate with no difficulty. In addition, an intraoperative average increase of 2.5 cm （range： 1.7-4.1 cm） in stretched penile length was recorded, with all patients engaging in penetrative sexual intercourse. In conclusion, this procedure represents a safe and reproducible technique for the correction of penile curvature resulting from PD and yields excellent cosmetic and functional results.