h. liu

Five isonitrogenous and isoenergetic experimental diets of juvenile Pelteobagrus fulvidraco were formulated by replacing 0%, 15%, 30%, 45%, and 60% of fishmeal with cricket meal, named T0, T15, T30, T45, and T60, respectively. The experimental fish were cultured for 10 weeks. The results showed that with an increase in cricket meal content, the final body weight, weight gain rate, and specific growth rate of juvenile P. fulvidraco increased first and then decreased. The FBW, WGR, and SGR in T30 were significantly higher than those of T0, whereas the feed conversion ratio was significantly lower than those of T0 and T15. The hepatosomatic index in T30 was significantly higher than those of T0 and T15. The essential amino acid contents in juvenile P. fulvidraco muscle, arginine, and valine in T60 were significantly higher than those of T0. Compared with the T0, the content of glucose in the serum of T30, T45, and T60 had significantly increased, whereas the content of total cholesterol was significantly decreased. The activities of the serum superoxide dismutase and catalase in T30 and T60 were significantly higher than that of T0. In conclusion, these results suggested that replacing fishmeal with cricket meal has no effect on growth performance and muscle amino acid contents, and improves serum antioxidant capacity in juvenile P. fulvidraco.

To investigate the diagnostic value of head and neck computed tomography angiography (CTA) in combination with color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) in carotid artery stenosis in ischemic stroke (IS) patients.

DSA examination was performed on all patients, and they were separated into mild group, moderate group, as well as severe group (n=30) according to the degree of vascular stenosis. Head and neck CTA and CDUS were used to examine the plaque length, thickness, and quantity of each group. The total plaque area, carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), common carotid artery index (CCA), internal carotid artery index (ICA) as well as vertebral artery index (VA) were compared.

A total of 110 narrow blood vessels were detected by CTA combined with ultrasound, and had a higher accuracy rate. The total plaque area, length, thickness and number of plaques, the values of CCA, ICA and VA, and IMT in the moderate together with severe groups presented higher relative to the mild group, and those in severe group presented elevated relative to the moderate group (P < 0.05). The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the combined detection of head and neck CTA and CDUS in the diagnosis of vascular stenosis in IS patients were higher relative to the single detection (P < 0.05).

Head and neck CT angiography in combination with CDUS has a high application value in detecting carotid artery stenosis in IS patients, and provides an important reference value for the formulation of the next treatment plan and the assessment of patient prognosis.

The Conventional thoracic radiotherapy planning ignores regional pulmonary function changes. This study aimed to evaluate the beneficial effect of a new hybrid three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT)/intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) technique. Thirty patients with non-small cell lung cancer were included in this study. Four protocols were designed for each patient: anatomical IMRT (A-IMRT, based on the total lung), functional IMRT (F-IMRT), pure IMRT (O-IMRT) plan, and hybrid 3DCRT/IMRT plan (H-3DCRT/IMRT), which were based on the functional lung. The opposing pair of fields in the O-IMRT and H-3DCRT/IMRT protocols provide 2/9 and 1/2 of radiation dose, respectively. The planning target volume coverage, dose in both total and functional lungs, maximum spinal cord dose, mean esophagus dose, mean heart dose, homogeneity index (HI), conformity index (CI), and treatment monitor units (MUs) were compared in this study. The V5, V20, and mean dose (Dmean) of the both total and functional lungs in the H-3DCRT/IMRT protocol were the lowest among the four treatment regimes. For D2, D98, HI, and CI, the A-IMRT protocol was superior to the H-3DCRT/IMRT protocol. Compared with the A-IMRT protocol, the F-IMRT protocol achieved significantly lower V5, V20, and Dmean for functional lungs, but showed worse HI, CI, and maximum dose of spinal cord. The H-3DCRT/IMAT protocol significantly reduced the maximum spinal cord dose and MUs. The H-3DCRT/IMAT plan based on functional lung images appeared to be better than conventional F-IMRT in preserving functional lung without compromising on HI and CI in NSCLC patients.

To improve the overall performance of marine centrifugal pumps (MCPs), their vibration and noise performances were optimized using the hydraulic design of the volute casing parameters considering a constant hydraulic performance at a specific speed of 66.7. Numerical simulations of the full flow field, vibration, and noise were conducted for each of five volute base circle diameters. The impact of dynamic and static disturbances on the flow and vibration and noise characteristics were investigated. These results provide some theoretical and technical support for the design and application of MCPs. The flow pattern inside the volute becomes more uniform as the D3 increases, but the pressure pulsation decreases. The total vibration levels of the inlet flange, outlet flange, and pump base decreased by 8.3%, 7.9%, and 12.3% respectively. The sound pressure of the flow noise at each characteristic frequency showed a different degree of decreasing trend.

To explore the diagnostic value of digital 320-slice volume computed tomography (CT) scanning in gastrointestinal lipoma.

The clinical data and CT features of 21 gastrointestinal lipoma cases confirmed by pathology were analyzed retrospectively. The tumor location, size, density, and clinical manifestations were summarized.

Among 21 patients, nine, four, three, and three cases occurred in the duodenum, descending colon, stomach, and ascending colon, respectively; one case each occurred in the jejunum and sigmoid colon. Tumors located in the duodenum were asymptomatic, while those located in the colon presented with abdominal pain and diarrhea. CT images demonstrated round, oval, and short intestinal fat-like density masses in the gastrointestinal tract with varying sizes. The CT value was in the range of -80 to -120 HU. Routine enhanced scans revealed no enhancements. Three cases were accompanied by intussusception. Pathological examination showed prominent fibrovascular septa.

Digital 320-slice volume CT scans have advantages over other modalities in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal lipoma and may help evaluate the tumor and surrounding tissues, supporting clinical practice.

This study aims to investigate voxel-level dose calculation methods and improve its calculation efficiency in nuclear medicine that can consider animal-specific heterogeneous tissue compositions and radiopharmaceutical biodistributions simultaneously.

The voxelized mouse phantom was constructed from real mouse CT images and simulated using the Monte Carlo GEANT4 code. According to the dynamic PET images of real mouse, the real distribution of radiopharmaceutical activity was set in the Monte Carlo simulation. The sampling method to improve the calculation efficiency was proposed. Two voxel-level dose calculation methods were implemented in this study. The average absorbed dose in vital target organs and the tumor was calculated by the proposed voxel-level dose calculation methods and the traditional MIRD method respectively. The results of the average absorbed dose calculated by the two methods were compared. Based on the voxel-level dose calculation method, the three-dimensional dose distribution in organs and the tumor was obtained and evaluated.

The relative difference of average absorbed dose between the two voxel-level dose calculation methods was mostly less than 10%. The sampling method proposed to improve calculation efficiency for the voxel-level dose calculation can decrease the calculation time by ~34% with less deviation.

The results confirmed that the voxel-level dose calculation methods proposed in this study allow for more accurate and efficient assessment of the internal radiation dose.

Flow dynamics accurate prediction is critical for the early-stage design and performance optimization of the piezoelectric (PZT) printhead. To achieve this, the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method has been widely used. However, for accurate fluid simulation of the PZT printhead, the optimal parameters settings still need to be clarified, which will be discussed in full in this paper. The modelling work is divided into two sub-parts, namely, a three-dimensional (3-D) modelling for the ink chamber and a two-dimensional (2-D) modelling for the nozzle-air domain. Simulations of the 3-D ink chamber were carried out firstly, thereby the transient mass flow rate of the ink outflow from the chamber could be obtained, which will be set as the inlet boundary condition of the 2-D nozzle-air simulations. To ensure accuracy and convergence of 2-D simulations, independence tests of the mesh grid and time step were performed, where the Fine level mesh density and 1e-8 s time step were identified as the optimal choice. And this combination was adopted in the transient simulations of the droplet ejection process. For the model validation purpose, an experimental test rig was developed, and comparisons between the simulations and experimental tests show a good agreement, verifying the accuracy of the developed model. In addition, to validate the feasibility of the developed model, the effect of the ink viscosity on the droplet ejection process was tested, and the results were consistent with those produced by published literature, confirming the feasibility of the CFD model developed in this paper.

Centrifugal pumps often deviate from its design condi-tion during its operation and work at low mass flow conditions. Under such circumstances, unstable flow phenomena may be generated, affecting the efficient and stable operation of pumps. In this paper, a self-circulating casing treatment in U-tube shape is employed on a centrifugal pump to study its effects on the pump’s performance by computational and experi-mental studies. CFD results show that as the flow rate decreases, the back-flow in the inlet pipe of the studied pump without casing treatment increases in intensity and spreads over an growing distance, interfering with the main flow. CFD results also reveal that the casing treatment has a sucking function to the back-flow due to the blade loading of the pump, and when the inlet bleed of the U-tube is placed above (in front of) the leading edge of the blades, the sucking is the strongest, and the control of the back-flow and the improvement to the head coefficient under low mass flow conditions is the best, as the vortex blockage caused by the sucked back-flow in the U-tube is the smallest; when the bleed is under (after) the leading edge of the blades, the effect of the casing treatment is the second best; and when the bleed is across the leading edge of the blades, the blockage in the U-tube is most severe, and the sucking function is the weakest, so there is little improvement to the back-flow and head coefficient. Finally, the relia-bility of this study was demonstrated employing an open pump experimental system with the original pump and the same pump with the casing treatment whose bleed is located above the leading edge of the impeller.

A cavitator, with a structure of an annular conical aperture, a throat and a collapse cavity, was proposed to form a choking cavitation flow for pollutants degradation in wastewater treatment. Experiment was conducted in this new cavitator to investigate its flow characteristics and pollutant degradation ratio by employing Mythylene blue (MB) as a pollutant in pure water. It was found that choking cavitation flow appears in the throat by controlling the pump pressure and liquid flow rate in a rule. The pollutant degradation ratio in choking cavitation flow is much larger than that in normal cavitation flow, because plenty of cavitation vapours are born, grow up, and finally collapse in this cavitator in the choking cavitation condition. Gemetrical parameters also affect pollutant degradation ratio, and the optimal gemetrical parameters for this proposed cavitator are suggested.

The objective in this study was to create AAPM TG 119 test plans for Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), burst mode and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) in convolution study in order to investigate accuracy of the United Imaging Healthcarechr('39')s URT treatment planning system (URT-TPS).

The plans were delivered to the phantom using the United Imaging Healthcarechr('39')s URT-Linac 506C. For there treatment mode as IMRT, Burst Mode and VMAT, with two kind of beams as flattening filter (FF) photon beam and flattening filter free (FFF) photon beam, calculated by uRT-TPS Monte Carlo algorithm, the overall accuracy was measured, and analyzed with five test geometries provided in TG 119. The point measurements were measured by a Farmer type ion chamber and fluence measurements were done with film respectively.

For the FF photon beams, the difference between measured point doses and planned doses of static multi-leaf collimator (MLC), dynamic MLC, Burst Mode and VMAT were within±3.92%,±3.26%, ±4.11%and±3.31% respectively. Gamma passing rates of Static IMRT, Dynamic IMRT Burst Mode and VMAT were >93.08%, 90.93%, 90.40% and> 92.00% respectively. For the FFF photon beams, the deviation between measured point doses and planed dose of static MLC, dynamic MLC, Burst Mode and VMAT were within 1.84%, 3.36%, 2.65%and 3.11% respectively. Gamma passing rates of Static IMRT, Dynamic IMRT Burst Mode and VMAT were>92.60%, 94.07%, 93.54% and 94.39% respectively and all confidence limits of the TG 119 report were matched.

Based on this analysis which were performed in accordance with the TG 119 recommendations, it is evident that the URT treatment planning system and URT-Linac 506C have commissioned IMRT and VMAT techniques with adequate accuracy.

A preheating exchanger is developed for improving acidic water degassing. Reasonable optimization of dualinlet swirl heating tubes is analyzed by computations of the flow and heat transfer. The comparisons of the swirl number and circumferential average Nusselt number between isobaric injection and isokinetic injection are performed. Inlet area ratios ranging from 0.1 to 0.9 exhibit an important influence on the flow phenomena and the heating performance. A lower value of inlet area ratio leads to the tendency for the fluid passing through inlet 2 to move upstream of inlet 2 and results in more vortex pairs between inlets 1 and 2. An inlet area ratio value of 0.5 exhibits the largest global average Nusselt number, normalized Nusselt number, and thermal performance factor. The optimized inlet area ratio is suitable for improving the degassing efficiency

It remains unclear whether radiation-induced haemorrhage in the spleen causes iron accumulation, and subsequently, ferroptosis in splenic lymphocytes. In this study, we investigated the occurrence of ferroptosis in splenic lymphocytes of gamma-irradiated mice.

Mice were subjected to gamma radiation from a 137Cs source. Iron, Ferroportin 1, and iron regulatory protein (IRP) levels in the spleen, and serum iron and hepcidin levels in the blood were measured to study the change in iron metabolism of the irradiated spleen. After Ferrostatin 1/LDN193189 was intraperitoneally injected into mice post-irradiation, the viability of splenic lymphocytes and the splenic index were evaluated to investigate the mechanism of damage induction in splenic lymphocytes. The survival rate of mice was evaluated to identify the radiation mitigator based on the inhibition of ferroptosis.

Iron accumulation (up to 0.62 g/g) observed in the spleen of irradiated mice was due to haemorrhage-based haemosiderin. The iron accumulation triggered the IRP-ferroportin 1 axis to increase the level of serum iron to 121.65 mmol/l. LDN193189 was used to demonstrate that the iron accumulation decreased the viability of splenic lymphocytes in irradiated mice, which was subsequently demonstrated to attribute to ferroptosis with the use of Ferrostatin 1 and through detection of ferroptosis-related parameters. The survival rate of irradiated mice was improved upon Ferrostatin-1 (60% with a duration of 120 days) or LDN193189 (40% for the same duration) treatment.

Radiation-induced haemorrhage causes ferroptosis in splenic lymphocytes, and anti-ferroptosis is a potential strategy to alleviate immune damage in hematopoietic acute radiation sickness.

This paper aimed to analyze the output constancy of a medical linear accelerator using PTW QUICKCHECKwebline and studied the sensitivity of the PTW QUICKCHECKwebline.

 The paper statistically analyzed the output doses of 6 MV and 10 MV of photons and 6 MeV, 9 MeV, and 12 MeV of electrons from a medical linear accelerator measured before the daily treatment to assess the output stability of a medical linear accelerator. Some modifications were introduced by artificially altering the external irradiation conditions, and the percent variations from baseline values were noted. The gantry angle was changed and some deviations were established in the vertical, longitudinal and lateral directions to study the sensitivity of the PTW QUICKCHECKwebline. The beam flatness, symmetry, radiation quality and output energy of 6 MV of photon energy were statistically analyzed.

Among the measurements, no parameters exceeded the tolerance of ±3%. QUICKCHECKwebline was capable of detecting the variations in the central axis dose, flatness, symmetry and radiation quality under the testing conditions. Similar to the photon energy, electron energy measurements also confirmed that the detector was sensitive to a small variation in output introduced by the testing conditions. An important application of accelerator performance prediction in this study confirms the irreplaceable and important function of morning quality checks of a linear accelerator.

The output dose measured before daily treatment using PTW QUICKCHECKwebline to analyze the linear accelerator output constancy helps to decrease the system error, effectively reduces the errors of the accelerator system, and avoids serious mistakes.

Feeding ecology of Acrossocheilus yunnanensis, a dominant fish in the headwaters of the Chishui River, a tributary of the upper Yangtze River, was studied using the analysis of gut contents. From March 2015 to January 2016, a total of 543 individuals were collected and analyzed. The results showed that A. yunnanensis was an omnivorous fish mainly feeding on chlorophytes, diatoms, and aquatic insects. The trophic level was 2.69±0.62 (mean±SD), signifying A. yunnanensis as a primary or secondary predator. Dietary shifts were found among different ontogenetic stages and seasons. Specifically, young individuals fed primarily on aquatic insects and diatoms, whereas older fish fed mainly on chlorophytes. In spring, the preferred food item was aquatic insects and in other seasons, chlorophytes became the predominant prey. Diet composition showed no differences among individuals of different sex and diel periods. The feeding intensity of A. yunnanensis was not affected by diel periods, suggesting this species feeds continuously. However, its feeding intensity was significantly influenced by seasons. Pairwise comparison found that the feeding intensity was higher in spring and autumn than that in summer and winter, with minimum food intake in winter and maximum in spring. Analysis on Amundsen graph and niche breadth index indicated that A. yunnanensis might pursue an opportunistic and moderately generalized feeding strategy, which could explain why it has become the dominant fish species in our study area.

Headwater accident is a natural phenomenon that occurs in every flow channel, resulting in tremendous incidents that involve vulnerable lives and destruction of its surroundings. This study focuses on simulation of potential headwater accidents at Lata Kinjang waterfall (Perak, Malaysia) with the aim of understanding the behavior of headwater accidents from the hydraulic aspect. By deploying the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) for Shallow Water Flow with Turbulence Modeling (LABSWETM), a two-dimensional simulation was carried out to investigate the headwater condition of the study area. The outputs from the LABSWETM model simulation were presented in terms of water height progression and velocity profile. The water-height results showed a decrease in water level within the flow channel and an increase in downstream, while the velocity-profile results revealed an increase in velocity at downstream. Thus, under current hydraulic conditions, Lata Kinjang waterfall has a high potential for the occurrence of headwater accidents. Nonetheless, this study provide suggestions to mitigate the phenomenon efficiently.