Strategies to limit dysmyelination during secondary degeneration following neurotrauma

Following trauma to the central nervous system （CNS）, cells in the lesion site die rapidly. In addition, neurons and glia be- yond the initial lesion are vulnerable. These cells can undergo delayed death due to metabolic events that follow the initial trauma, via mechanisms thought to he triggered by gluta- mate-induced excitotoxicity and Ca2＋ overload, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction, associated with increased oxida- tive stress （Camello-Almaraz et al., 2006; Peng and Jou, 2010）. The resultant death of areas of grey and white matter adjacent to the lesion site is termed secondary degeneration, and is a feature of brain and spinal cord injury （Park et al., 2004; Gi- aume et al., 2007）. Secondary degeneration contributes sub- stantially to functional loss following neurotrauma （Profyris et al., 2004; Farkas and Povlishock, 2007） and rescuing this intact, but vulnerable, tissue is considered critical to mini- mising adverse sequelae and improving long term functional outcomes after CNS trauma （Fehlings et al., 2012）. However, our understanding of many of the metabolic events thought to contribute to secondary degeneration is based largely on in vitro studies （Khodorov, 2004; Tretter et al., 2007; Peng and Jou, 2010） and there is a need to confirm the relevance of these mechanisms in vivo, as well as their structural and func- tional consequences.

A Similarity Comparison Based Pilot Protection Scheme for VSC-HVDC Grids Considering Fault Current Limiting Strategy

In the voltage source converter based high-voltage direct current(VSC-HVDC)grids,fast and reliable protections are the key technologies.The traditional protection schemes are easily affected by fault resistance,line distributed capacitance,etc.Meanwhile,the influence of fault current limiting strategy(FCLS)has not been fully considered.In this paper,the fault characteristics under FCLS and the feasibility of traditional travelling wave protections are analyzed.To improve the reliability and sensibility,a similarity comparison based pilot protection scheme is proposed,which focuses on the relationship between the fault characteristics and the state of the protected transmission line,with the establishment of a precise frequencydependent transmission line model.The criteria based on the similarity comparison calculated by cross-wavelet can identify the fault effectively.Meanwhile,the protection scheme can also endure the influence of error synchronization.Finally,the protection performance is verified in the PSCAD/EMTDC under different fault conditions.

Pharmacokinetics of enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium in Chinese renal transplantation recipients

Background Mycophenolic acid （MPA） as an anti-proliferative immune-suppressive agent is used in the majority of immunosuppressive regimens in solid organ transplantation. This study aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetic （PK） characteristics of enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium （EC-MPS） and area under the curve （AUC） from 0 to 12 hours with limited sampling strategies （LSSs） in Chinese renal transplant recipients. Methods This study was conducted in 10 Chinese renal transplant patients receiving living donor and treated with EC-MPS, cyclosporine, and corticosteroids. MPA concentrations were measured by enzyme multiplied immunoassay technique （EMIT）. Whole 12-hour PK profiles were obtained on Day 4 after operation. LSSs with jackknife technique, multiple stepwise regression analysis, and Bland-Altman analysis were developed to estimate MPAAUC. Results The mean maximum plasma concentration, the mean time for it to reach peak （Tmax）, and the mean MPA AUC were （11.38±2.49） mg/L, （4.85±3.32） hours, and （63.19±13.54） mg.h.L1, respectively. Among the 10 profiles, MPA AUC of four patients was significantly higher than that of the other six patients, and the corresponding Tmax was significantly longer than that of the other six patients. No patient exhibited a second peak caused by enterohepatic recirculation. The best models were as follows： 27.46＋0.94C3＋3.24C8＋2.81C10 （f2=0.972）, which was used to predict AUC of fast metabolizer with a mean prediction error （MPE） of -0.21% and a mean absolute prediction error （MAE） of 2.59%; 36.65＋3.08Ce＋5.30C10-4.04C12 （r2=0.992）, which was used to predict AUC of slow metabolizer with a MPE of 0.58% and a MAE of 1.95%. Conclusions The PKs of EC-MPS had a high variability among Chinese renal transplant recipients. The preliminary PK data indicated the existence of slow and fast metabolizer. These findings may be associated with the enterohepatic rec.irculation.

An efficient aerodynamic shape optimization of blended wing body UAV using multi-fidelity models

This paper presents a novel optimization technique for an efficient multi-fidelity model building approach to reduce computational costs for handling aerodynamic shape optimization based on high-fidelity simulation models. The wing aerodynamic shape optimization problem is solved by dividing optimization into three steps—modeling 3D（high-fidelity） and 2D（lowfidelity） models, building global meta-models from prominent instead of all variables, and determining robust optimizing shape associated with tuning local meta-models. The adaptive robust design optimization aims to modify the shape optimization process. The sufficient infilling strategy—known as adaptive uniform infilling strategy—determines search space dimensions based on the last optimization results or initial point. Following this, 3D model simulations are used to tune local meta-models. Finally, the global optimization gradient-based method—Adaptive Filter Sequential Quadratic Programing（AFSQP） is utilized to search the neighborhood for a probable optimum point. The effectiveness of the proposed method is investigated by applying it, along with conventional optimization approach-based meta-models, to a Blended Wing Body（BWB） Unmanned Aerial Vehicle（UAV）. The drag coefficient is defined as the objective function, which is subjected to minimum lift coefficient bounds and stability constraints. The simulation results indicate improvement in meta-model accuracy and reduction in computational time of the method introduced in this paper.