h. li

This paper compares the cavitation of a pump-jet propulsor under different launch conditions and discusses the effects of cavitation on the performance and noise of the pump-jet propulsor rotor blade. At the same time, the load and deformation of the rotor blade under the conditions of cavitation are studied via the one-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) approach. The results show that the cavitation of the pump-jet propulsor decreases with increasing launch depth and speed. The performance decreases with increasing launch speed at large depths, whereas the performance improves with increasing launch speed at small depths due to the improvement of the cavitation on the rotor blades. Increasing launch speed and depth increase the noise caused by the rotor of the pump-jet propulsor, and the increase in flow rate caused by the improvement of cavitation also increases the noise level. Moreover, increasing launch depth increases the overall load of the blade and produces a larger deformation, while the speed affects the distribution of the load on the blade. In addition, with the improvement of cavitation caused by increasing launch speed, the deformation of the blade decreases.

The centrifugal pump holds significant prominence as a widely adopted power machinery in mechanical industries. This study aims to uncover the influence of blade trailing edges on the energy performance of centrifugal pumps. Sixteen types of blade trailing edge models, including Bezier trailing edges, rounded pressure side, cut suction side, and original blade trailing edges, are examined both numerically and experimentally. Entropy production power and energy loss for each domain with different trailing edge models are computed using entropy production theory and the pressure drop method, respectively. The correlation between them and the interaction of energy loss in various domains are determined through Spearman correlation analysis. Furthermore, the energy loss and efficiency of the centrifugal pump are decomposed and explored. Finally, the impact of different trailing edges on each component of shaft power is analyzed. The study findings indicate that increasing the radius of the trailing edge leads to higher head, while a thinner trailing edge enhances efficiency. Consistent trends are observed in entropy production and energy loss across different blade trailing edges. Modifying the impeller trailing edge significantly affects not only the impeller but also the cavity, diffuser, and outlet chamber, with minimal impact on the inlet chamber. Thinning the blade trailing edge can decrease energy loss and entropy production. Proper design of the blade trailing edge can effectively reduce the pressure pulsation near the impeller outlet in the stator. This study serves as a valuable reference for the design and research of centrifugal pump blade trailing edges.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have crucial roles in human cancers. Many studies have certified that miRNAs are implicated in tumor progression via exosomes. Nevertheless, whether miRNA-339 is derived by exosomes and its effects in gastric cancer (GC) presents obscure. Therefore, our study attempted to clarify the functional role and molecular mechanism of miRNA-339 in GC.

In this research, the potential of miRNA-339 in GC was verified through miRNA-339 elevation with cell function assays. Bioinformatics analysis together with mechanical assay was implemented for assessing the regulatory relation between miRNA-339 and zinc finger protein 689 (ZNF689). Moreover, the existence of exosomes was determined via transmission electron microscopy together with nanoparticle tracking analysis.

miRNA-339 presented significant down-regulation in GC. miRNA-339 elevation suppressed GC cell proliferation, invasion along with migration while elevated GC cell apoptosis. miRNA-339 targeted ZNF689 3’UTR to repress ZNF689 expression, thereby hindering GC progression. Finally, miRNA-339 was majorly incorporated into exosomes to hinder GC progression.

In summary, exosome-delivered miRNA-339 may act to be a tumor repressor in GC by targeting ZNF689, which might be an underlying therapeutic target for GC.

To investigate the role of pregnant-associatedplasma protein A (PAPP-A) and uterine artery Doppler ultrasound in predicting fetal growth restriction (FGR).

In total, 120 pregnant women diagnosed with FGR in Shijiazhuang Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital from January 2021 to December 2023 were selected as the FGR group, and 120 normal pregnant women were selected as the control group during the identical time frame. Maternal serum pregnancy-related protein A combined with uterine artery Doppler ultrasonography was performed during the period from the 11th, to the 13th+6 weeks of pregnancy. The course of pregnancy was observed in both groups of pregnant women.

The FGR group exhibited significantly reduced rates of vaginal delivery and fetal survival compared to the control group, while experiencing higher rates of preterm delivery and cesarean section, with statistical significance (P<0.001). The pulsatility index of the uterine artery (UtA-PI) and the resistance index of the uterine artery and the FGR group exhibited a higher proportion of early blood diastolic incisors compared to the normal group, with statistical significance noted at a level of P<0.001. The concentration of PAPP-A was lower than that of normal group (P<0.001). The sensitivity of combining UtA-PI and PAPP-A to predict FGR was 81.6%, and the sensitivity of combining UtA-PI and PAPP-A is 82.9%, which is 1.3% higher, but there was no statistically significant distinction between the two approaches (P>0.05).

The implementation the combination between PAPP-A and Doppler ultrasound is an effective method to predict FGR.

In this experiment, we intend to investigate the relationship between ER-α36 expression and endometrial cancer.

A total of 172 healthy control and endometriosis patients were selected from our hospital. These included 43 cases of normal endometrium (NE group), 43 cases of endometrium without atypical hyperplasia (EH group), 43 cases of atypical hyperplasia (AH group) and 43 cases of endometrial cancer (EC group). The expression of ER-α36 in these tissues was detected by immunohistochemical methods.

The positive rate of estrogen receptor (ER-α36) in each group was 4.24%±5.02%, 5.74%±6.34%, 9.69%±9.42%, and 11.78%±10.39%, respectively. The expression of ER-α36 demonstrated a notably higher level in the AH and EC groups compared to the EH and NE groups. A statistically significant difference was observed between the NE group and the AH group (P=0.0112). The NE group was statistically different from the EC group (P=0.0001).There was a statistical difference between the EH group and the EC group (P=0.0040). Among endometrial cancers, the mean positive rate of ER-α36 expression was 11.67%±6.74% in highly differentiated endometrial cancers, 9.45%±11.38% in moderately differentiated, and 14.82%±11.35% in poorly differentiated. Comparison between the two groups showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the expression positivity rate of ER-α36 in endometrial cancer of different degrees of differentiation (P>0.05).

ER-α36 has a certain diagnostic efficacy for endometrial cancer and can be used as an auxiliary judgment tool for pathological examination.

To investigate the success rate and quality of automatic airway segmentation using ultra-low dose CT (ULD-CT) images of different reconstruction algorithms.

Fifty two children who underwent chest ULD-CT were divided into three groups for analysis based on age: group A (n=13, age, 1-2years), group B (n=19, age, 3-6years) and group C (n=20, age, 7-13years). CT images were reconstructed with filtered back-projection (FBP), 50% adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction-Veo (50%ASIR-V), 100%ASIR-V, deep learning image reconstruction (DLIR) with low (DLIR-L), medium (DLIR-M), and high (DLIR-H) strengths. Subjective image quality was evaluated using a 5-point scale. CT value, noise, and sharpness of the trachea were measured. The VCAR software was used to automatically segment airways and reported the total volume. Segmentation success rates were recorded, and segmentation images were subjectively evaluated using a 6-point scale.

The average tracheal diameters were 8.53±1.88mm, 10.69±1.65mm, and 12.72±1.97mm, respectively for groups A, B, and C. The segmentation success rate depended on patient groups: group C reached 100%, while group A decreased significantly. In group A, 100%ASIR-V had the lowest rate at 7.69%, while DLIR-M and DLIR-H significantly improved the rate to 38.64% (P=0.03). For the segmented images, DLIR-H provided the lowest noise and highest subjective score while FBP images had the highest noise and 100%ASIR-V had the lowest overall score (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the total airway volume among the six reconstructions.

The airway segmentation success rate in ULD-CT for children depends on the tracheal size. DLIR improves airway segmentation success rate and image quality.

Pulmonary Aspergillus has a high incidence and mortality rate, but is difficult to be diagnosed. It is mainly caused by Aspergillus fumigatus. Pulmonary Aspergillus caused by Aspergillus oryzae is rare. This case reports an 8-year-old male patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who was found to have pulmonary Aspergillus oryzae infection by NGS of alveolar lavage fluid.

Case Summary: 

The patient had ALL and received induction remission chemotherapy. During chemotherapy, the patient developed severe agranulocytosis and severe pneumonia. The treatment was performed accordingly. The second-generation sequencing of alveolar lavage fluid identified the pathogen as Aspergillus oryzae. After combined antifungal treatment with caspofungin and voriconazole, pneumonia was absorbed and improved. One week later, spontaneous fluid pneumothorax accompanied by massive hemoptysis occurred, and the patient received rescue therapy, which was successful. Finally, the patient recovered after pulmonary lobectomy and purulent moss stripping.

Early diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary Aspergillosis are very important. Aspergillus oryzae infection has only rarely been reported in humans. Second-generation sequencing of alveolar lavage fluid is an accurate and effective detection method to assist diagnosis of microorganism infection. Combination of caspofungin and voriconazole is an effective method to treat severe Aspergillus pneumonia.

To investigate the use of uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (U-VATS) in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

A total of 82 patients with early NSCLC in our hospital from May 2019 to January 2021 were enrolled to this study. Forty-one patients treated with spontaneous breathing U-VATS were the research group (RG), and 41 with conventional thoracoscopy were the control group (CG). Fasting peripheral blood was drawn from patients before (T0), one (T1) and three days after surgery (T2), respectively. White blood cells (WBC), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and T-lymphocyte subsets were measured in the blood. In addition, we counted the conversion rate to open chest and tracheal intubation in the RG, and compared the operation time, intraoperative bleeding, chest drainage, chest tube retention time, antibiotic application time, postoperative hospital stays and complications between groups. Finally, a 1-year prognostic follow-up was performed to record overall survival, chemotherapy rate, and recurrent metastasis rate.

At T1, WBC, IL-6, TNF-α, and MMP-9 were lower in the RG than in the CG, while immune function was better in the RG at T1 and T2 (P<0.05). Complication rates were lower in the RG than in the CG when compared (P>0.05). The prognosis of 1-year overall survival, chemotherapy rate, and recurrence rate were not different between the two groups (P>0.05).

Spontaneous breathing U-VATS can effectively reduce the inflammation and enhance the stability of immune function in NSCLC patients undergoing surgery.

Ethephon was widely used in rubber tree plantation to stimulate latex production. Numerous studies demonstrated that ethephon treatment prolongs the flow of the latex and promotes latex regeneration in the trunk of mature rubber tree seedlings. However, how rubber tree leaves responded to ethephon treatment on the trunk is still unknown. We used rubber tree seedlings to detect the physiological response of leaves after the trunk treatment with ethephon. The photosynthetic rate, the sugar and starch content, as well as the enzyme activities involved in sugar metabolism were measured after 0, 12, 24, 36 and 48 hours with 0.6% ethephon treatment. The result demonstrated that ethephon treatment increased latex production on the trunk, while the net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, and stomatal conductance in leaves were significantly reduced. At the same time, sucrose decreased significantly with concomitant slight increase in glucose and fructose. Also, the enzymatic activities of Sucrose Phosphate Synthase (SPS), Sucrose Synthase (SS) and Neutral/alkaline Invertase (NI) increased significantly after ethephon treatment. Ethephon treatment affected the starch content, but did not change the composition of starch in rubber tree seedlings leaves; the overall starch changing pattern was similar to that of sucrose in leaves. It can be concluded that ethylene-stimulated latex production in rubber tree seedlings is partly due to the alteration of sucrose metabolism in leaves, and ethylene has an adverse physiological effect on rubber trees.

This work is devoted to the development of a new model for the non-atomizing sprinkler irrigation jet, for calculating the trajectories and landing positions of water droplets. The novelty of the proposed model is that the secondary breakup of the droplets can be calculated during the spraying process. For irrigation jet with a second wind-induced breakup regime, the model is optimized based on the ballistic theory by considering the secondary breakup of droplets and the jet breakup length. The wave-breaking model is used to determine the secondary breakup of the droplets. The output of this model is the water application rate that is calculated by using the cumulative volume of droplets along the radial spraying direction. A comparison of the results obtained using the proposed model with experimental data is conducted to verify the accuracy and reliability of the proposed model. The results show a good agreement of the peak water application rate between the optimized model and the experimental data, with an average error ranging within 6%. The droplets in the front spraying area usually have a diameter of 0-2 mm. This is computed by using the droplet secondary breakup sub-model, resulting in a considerably improved accuracy of the optimized model in the prediction of the water application rate of a sprinkler.

Intramuscular hemangioma is a rare type of hemangioma. Ossification of an intramuscular hemangioma is even rarer. This study reports the case of a young man admitted to our hospital with complaints of pain and swelling in the right buttock. We were unable to confirm the type of tumor on evaluation of X-ray, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, and needle biopsy examination. The mass was excised and histopathology confirmed the diagnosis of an ossified intramuscular hemangioma with immature ossification. This case report demonstrates that the diagnosis of an immature ossified intramuscular hemangioma should be considered as differential diagnosis in patients presenting with a soft tissue tumor.

The hypersonic transient flow pass a blunt cone under three types of pulse disturbances is calculated using DNS. The response characteristic of hypersonic boundary layer among different types of pulse disturbance is compared. The distribution and evolution characteristics of disturbance modes are investigated by mode analysis. Results indicate that the receptivity characteristics induced by freestream pulse wave have both similarities and differences with that induced by freestream continuous wave. The interactions of different types of pulse waves with boundary layer and bow shock present different characteristics. The boundary layer thermodynamic characteristics under pulse fast acoustic wave are sensitive to mainstream disturbance wave, and that under pulse slow acoustic wave are sensitive to residual reflection wave. The type of pulse disturbance wave has a great influence on the production and mode distribution of boundary layer disturbance wave. In general, the disturbance amplitude in the pulse fast acoustic wave situation is the largest, the case of entropy wave is the second, and the case of slow acoustic wave is the smallest. For regional influence, the type of pulse disturbance has a huge impact on the disturbance modes in both the head and the non-head. For the three cases of pulse wave, the main mode group attenuation phenomenon which narrows the disturbance frequency band exists in the boundary layer. This group attenuation is the fastest for freestream slow acoustic wave, followed by entropy wave, and then fast acoustic wave. Under the action of pulse slow acoustic waves, the disturbance wave evolution of each order mode in the boundary layer along the streamwise is relatively stable, followed by entropy wave, and the case of fast acoustic wave is the most active.

Generalized trapezoidal fuzzy numbers (GTFNs) have been widely applied in uncertain decision-making problems. The similarity between GTFNs plays an important part in solving such problems, while there are some limitations in existing similarity measure methods. Thus, based on the cosine similarity, a novel similarity measure of GTFNs is developed which is combined with the concepts of geometric distance, center of gravity, area and perimeter after analyzing the limitations of previous methods. Then comparative analysis is conducted with existing similarity measures, and the results show that the novel similarity measure has better distinguishability and lower invalidity. Furthermore, a general process, which combines the new similarity measure of GTFNs with compromise methods, is developed to deal with multi-attribute group decision making (MAGDM) problem. Finally, we combine fuzzy VIKOR with the general process as illustrated example, which proves the superiority of the developed similarity measure in solving MAGDM problem.

This paper explores the use of Two-Dimensional sinusoidal surface features to delay transition and/or reduce drag. The authors, in this paper demonstrated that the presence of low amplitude sinusoidal surface features might damp the disturbances in the laminar boundary layer, reduce wall shear stress and maintain laminar flow for longer than a conventional flat plate. The hypothesis of the paper is inspired by the simplification of the dermal denticle on the surface of the shark-skin. Simulations are carried out using the Transition SST model in FLUENT based on the evidences of the transition model being suitable for a wider variety of high curvature scenarios. The surface waves are simulated for different amplitudes and wavelengths and their impact on transition onset and drag reduction are quantified at different velocities. Results presented in this paper indicate that a transition delay of 10.8% and a drag reduction of 5.2% are achievable. Furthermore, this paper adds credence to the notion that biomimicry is a very promising avenue for future drag reducing methods.

The aim & objective of this study is to evaluate the health hazards of the general public from the existence of the radioactive nuclides in soil of North Waziristan and to establish a reference line for future work on radioactivity concentration in this locality. Methods and Materials: A highly background radiation shielded HPGe system is used to measure radioactivity in the collected samples of the geographical study area.

The radioactivity concentration is found to be in the range 42.6–106.3 Bq/kg for Ra-226, 4.0–93.8 Bq/kg for Th-232, 49.9–645.5 Bq/kg for K-40, and 2.6–8.33 Bq/kg for Cs-137. The external and internal hazards indices (Hext & Hint), absorbed γ- dose rate (ADR) and average effective dose (AED) are estimated from the computed activities and determined the average Hext ~ 0.75 and Hint ~ 0.94. The mean absorbed dose rate was found to be 101 nGy/h. The Radium equivalent activity of Datta Khel (422.081 Bq/kg), Khaisur forest (407.938 Bq/kg), Jani Khel (379.213) specific regions and the corresponding outdoor annual effective dose rate was found to be 0.15 mSv/yr, which is higher than the world’s mean value of 0.07 mSv/yr.

A strong possitive correlation amongst the radioactive nuclides and, corresponding radiological variables at P ≤ 0.01confirmed that Ra-226 and Th-232 were the significant contributors to γ-radiation emission. Radioactivity concentrations and corresponding radiometric parameters were found to be higher in the specific areas of North Waziristan compared to the world’s mean values poses possible radiological risks for the residents of those areas.