Objective: This study aimed to investigate developmental changes of the thymus and intrathymic IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α expression in weaned Sprague-Dawley rats induced by lipopolysaccharide.Methods: Forty healthy weaned rats aged 26 days and weighing 83±4 g were randomly and equally divided into two groups.The lipopolysaccharide group was treated daily with a single injection of lipopolysaccharide for 10 consecutive days, and the saline group was treated with an equal volume of sterilized saline.On the 1 st , 4 th , 7 th and 10 th day, histological changes and distribution of IL-1β-, IL-6-and TNF-α-positive cells were detected in the thymus by hematoxylin-eosin and immunohistochemistry staining, respectively.Subsequently, the expression levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α were evaluated in the thymus by the ELISA method.Results: Thymus weight and index were significantly smaller in lipopolysaccharide-treated rats than in saline-treated rats (p<0.05),but no substantial changes were found in the thymus microstructure after lipopolysaccharide induction.Moreover, a large number of IL-1β-, IL-6-and TNF-α-positive cells were observed with brownish-yellow color and mainly distributed in the thymus parenchyma, both integrated optical density and average optical density increased significantly in lipopolysaccharide-treated rats than those in saline-treated rats.Compared with the saline group, most of the thymic homogenates had higher levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in the lipopolysaccharide group on different days. Conclusion:These findings indicate that the thymus atrophied after lipopolysaccharide induction in weaned Sprague-Dawley rats, and excessive production of intrathymic IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α was probably involved in the atrophic process.
Rabies is an acute zoonotic infectious disease caused by rabies virus. In 2015, the World Health Organization proposed the goal of eliminating dog-induced human rabies by 2030. In response to this goal positively, China has been dedicated to the control and elimination of rabies mainly caused by dogs, for nearly 10 years. By applying infectious disease dynamics, in this paper, we establish a dog-human rabies transmission model to forecast future epidemic trends of rabies, assess whether the goal of eliminating dog-induced human rabies cases in China can be achieved in 2030, and further evaluate and suggest the follow-up sustained preventive measures after the elimination of human rabies. By analyzing and simulating above dynamic model, it is concluded that rabies has been well controlled in China in recent years, but dog-induced human rabies cannot be eliminated by 2030 according to current situation. In addition, we propose to improve rabies control efforts by increasing the immunization coverage rate of rural domestic dogs, controlling the number of stray dogs and preventing the import of rabies virus in wild animals. Immunization coverage rate of rural domestic dogs which is currently less than 10% is far from requirement, and it needs to reach 50%-60% to meet the goal of 2030. Since it is difficult to immunize stray dogs, we suggest to control the number of stray dogs below 15.27 million to achieve the goal. If the goal of eliminating human rabies is reached in 2030, the essential immunization coverage needs to be maintained for 18 years to reduce the number of canine rabies cases to zero. Lastly, to prevent transmission of rabies virus from wild animals to dogs, the thresholds of the number of dogs and the immunization coverage rate of dogs after eliminating canine rabies cases are also discussed.
We present a multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (MDRL) framework for tackling the train timetabling problem (TTP) in this paper. A multi-agent learning environment is proposed to model the TTP as a multi-agent Markov decision process (MA-MDP) and incorporate a new function to predict inevitable train conflicts in the future caused by some seemingly good or feasible actions in the present. This innovative function prevents the environment from producing deceptive experiences, which affects agent training efficiency. We use a novel MDRL algorithm called multi-agent transformer (MAT), which combines cutting-edge deep learning (DL) and reinforcement learning (RL) theorems and technologies such as the Sequence-to-sequence (Seq2seq) architecture, the self-attention mechanism, the multi-agent trust region theorem, and the multi-agent advantage decomposition lemma. Based on these theorems and technologies, MAT solves the TTP sequentially and with a guarantee of monotonic improvement. On single-track train timetabling cases, we ran extensive experiments to compare our approach to several benchmarks. The benchmarks were chosen for their relevance to the TTP as well as their availability in the literature. Experimental results showed a significant performance improvement of our approach against benchmarks by nearly 85% in the small-scale case and nearly 45 % in the large-scale case in terms of computational efficiency, demonstrating its effectiveness.
China luggage and parcel express special train is a new kind of railway cargo express. With the increasing demand of fast goods transportation, it's urgent to develop a method of making plan for the Luggage and parcel express special train. The paper proposes a constraints programming model with the objective of maximizing the transportation firm's profit. A numerical example is conducted, and the case result demonstrates the effectiveness of the model.
In recent years, with the accelerating process of urbanization, urban rail transit have been rapidly developing in China's megacities. From the experience of construction and operation of rail transit in our country at this stage, the transfer behavior between lines accounts for a great proportion in the total trip amount undertaken by rail transit due to the limitations of rail network coverage. Meanwhile, the consideration of coordinated transfer is comparatively insufficient. In this paper, In response to the characteristics of urban rail transit's transfer, and taken the convenience of the transfer between lines into consideration, the train operation plan of rail transit in non-peak period is optimized targeting on minimum cost of system transfer. And the optimization model of rail transit's train operation plan in non-peak period is obtained by proposing the computing method of total transfer cost. After checking the validity of the model, the new optimized train operation plan shows significant reduce of passenger's transfer time in non-peak period. The study can be used as reference to the optimization of train operation plan.
The effects of propofol on glucose metabolism in different cerebral regions were observed, using positron emission tomography (PET) technology, to determine a possible cerebral target region. Seven healthy volunteers were injected with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose developing agent for PET scanning whilst awake (control group T1), during sedation (induced by 1.5 microg/ml propofol administered by target controlled injection [TCI], group T2) and when unconsciousness (induced by 2.5 microg/ml propofol administered by TCI, group T3). Whole brain glucose metabolism was reduced during propofol anaesthesia; this was initially observed in the cortical areas at the lower dose of propofol (group T2) but extended to the subcortical regions, especially the thalamus and hippocampus, at the higher dose (group T3). This suggests that these regions of the brain might be important targets that are susceptible to propofol.
This paper proposes an optimisation model for an urban rail transit line timetable considering headway coordination between the mainline and the depot during the transition period. The model accounts for the tracking operation scenario of trains inserted from the depot onto the mainline and related train operation constraints. The optimisation objectives are the number of trains inserted, maximum train capacity rate and average headway deviation. Second-generation non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm is designed to solve the model. A case study shows that optimisation achieves a total of 25 trains inserted, a maximum train capacity rate of 0.975 and an average headway deviation of 9.5 s, resulting in significant improvements in train operations and passenger satisfaction. Compared with the current train timetable before optimisation, the average dwell time and the maximum train capacity rate at various stations have been reduced after optimisation. The proposed model and approach can be used for train timetabling optimisation and managing the operations of urban rail transit lines.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of a combination of dexmedetomidine and fentanyl on peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) and hemodynamic stability in patients undergoing flexible bronchoscopy. One hundred patients undergoing elective flexible bronchoscopy were randomized into either a propofol-fentanyl group (PF group; n=50) or a dexmedetomidine-fentanyl group (DF group; n=50). SpO2 values, heart rate (HR), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), patients' cough scores and discomfort scores as determined by patients and bronchoscopists, levels of sedation, number of times that additional lidocaine was required, elapsed time until recovery, and adverse events were recorded. The mean SpO2 values in the DF group were significantly higher than those in the PF group (P<0.01), and HR, SBP and DBP were significantly lower in the DF group than in the PF group (P<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of cough scores or discomfort scores, sedation levels, or number of times that additional lidocaine was required (P>0.05). Elapsed time until recovery in the DF group was significantly longer than in the PF group (P=0.002). The incidence of hypoxemia was significantly lower in the DF group than in the PF group (P=0.027), but the incidence of bradycardia was significantly higher in the DF group than in the PF group (P=0.037). Dexmedetomidine-fentanyl was superior to propofol-fentanyl in providing satisfactory SpO2. Furthermore, dexmedetomidine-fentanyl attenuated hemodynamic responses during bronchoscopy and maintained hemodynamic stability in the early stage of the procedure.
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