Development of a core snubber for the neutral beam injector on EAST.

A 4-MW ion source was developed for the neutral beam injector (NBI) on Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). Breakdown nevertheless can happen during ion source conditioning and routine operations and is deleterious to the high-power ion source. To protect this ion source, a core snubber was designed to absorb the breakdown energy of the EAST-NBI ion source. A prototype core snubber was developed and tested using the ion-source test bed. The results show that with a core snubber, short-circuit currents at different high-power voltages were about one-tenth of the current without the snubber. The residual energy of the distributed capacitors had been absorbed successfully and the core snubber does protect the source from damage during breakdown. The results verified the successful development of a core snubber for the EAST-NBI.

Novel sorbicillin analogues from the marine fungus Trichoderma sp. associated with the seastar Acanthaster planci.

Two novel sorbicillinoid analogues, (4'Z)-sorbicillin (1) and (2S)-2,3-dihydro-7-hydroxy-6-methyl-2-[(E)-prop-1-enyl]-chroman-4-one (2), together with three known compounds, (2S)-2,3-dihydro-7-hydroxy-6,8-dimethyl-2-[(E)-prop-1-enyl]-chroman-4-one (3), sorbicillin (4), and 2',3'-dihydrosorbicillin (5), were isolated from the culture broth of the fungus Trichoderma sp. associated with the seastar Acanthaster planci. Their structures were determined by analysis of the NMR and MS data. Compound I was the first example with a Z-configuration of the C-4'/C-5' double bond in the sorbyl side chain. Compounds 2 and 3 were uncommon monomeric sorbicillinoids with a cyclic sorbyl chain. 2, 3 and 5 showed moderate cytotoxic activities against various cancer cell lines.

[Efficacy of Maixuekang capsule on reconvalescents of cerebral infarction and its impact on coagulation function].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical efficacy of Maixuekang capsule in reconvalescents of cerebral infarction and its impact on coagulation function. METHOD: One hundred and twenty cases of reconvalescents of cerebral infarction were randomly divided into treatment and control groups. The 50 cases in the control group were provided with conventional therapy, while the 70 cases in the treatment group were provided with the combination of conventional therapy and Maixuekang capsule for 3 months. Their neurological function and prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) clotting enzyme time (TT), fibrinogen (Fib) were measured before and after treatment. RESULT: After the treatment, PT, APTT and TT were prolonged compared with those before the treatment in the treatment group (P<0.05), whereas Fib, neurological deficit scores decreased (P<0.01) and significantly different from the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Maixuekang capsule is among safe and effective drugs in treatment of reconvalescents of cerebral infarction, and can improve the patient's coagulation state.

[Clinical study of combined treatment with compound Reinhartdt and Sea Cumber Capsule and donepezil for vascular dementia].

OBJECTIVE: To study the efficacy and safety of the combined treatment with compound Reinhartdt and Sea Cumber Capsule (RSC, a Chinese medicinal preparation consisted mainly of Reinhartdt and Sea Cumber) and Donepezil for vascular dementia (VD), and its effect on thyroid function axis. METHODS: Sixty-three patients with VD were treated respectively with RSC, Donepezil and the combined treatment. MMSE, ADAS-Cog and ADL scales were used to evaluate the condition of patients before treatment as well as at 3 months and 6 months after treatment. Meanwhile, levels of thyroid hormones, including (TSH, FT3, FT4, TT3, TT4) were measured with radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: As compared with the baseline, MMSE score increased, ADAS-Cog score and ADL score decreased significantly in all the three groups after 3 months and 6 months of treatment (P <0.05, P<0.01), the improvement in the Donepezil group was more significant than that in the RSC group after 6 months of treatment (P < 0.05), but the combined treatment group showed the best efficacy (P < 0.01). After 3 months of treament, the levels of FT3 and FT4 in the combined treatment group increased, but showed no statistical significance (P >0.05). However, significant changes were found at 6 months after combined treatment (P < 0.01). No significant changes were seen at all in levels of TSH, TT3 and TT4 (P > 0.05). FT3, FT4 increased without statistical significance after 6 months Donepezil treatment, TSH, TT3 and TT4 also showed no significant difference in the Donepezil group and no other significant changes of thyroid hormones was seen in patients treated with RSC (P > 0.05). No obvious adverse reaction occurred in any of the three groups. CONCLUSION: Combined treatment of RSC and Donepezil was effective and safe on VD patient, with the efficacy much better than either of them alone. No significant adverse reaction was observed. The regulation on thyroid hormones may one of the mechanisms of the combined treatment in improving cognitive function.

[Clinical study of Reinhartdt and sea cucumber capsule combined with donepezil in treating Alzheimer's disease].

OBJECTIVE: To study the efficacy and safety of Reinhartdt and sea cucumber capsule (RSC) combined with donepezil in treating Alzheimer's disease (AD), and its effect on thyroid function axis. METHODS: Sixty-eight patients were randomly assigned to the RSC group, the Donepezil group and the combined treatment group, who were treated for 3 and 6 months with RSC, Donepezil and RSC combined with Donepezil, respectively. The curative effect was evaluated by scoring according to Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), ADAS-Cog and ADL chart, and the level of thyroid hormones, including TSH, FT3, FT4, TT3 and TT4, were measured with radioimmunoassay before treatment, 3 and 6 months after treatment respectively. RESULTS: As compared with the baseline, MMSE score increased, ADAS-Cog score and ADL score decreased significantly in all the three groups after 3 months and 6 months of treatment (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01), but the improvement in the combined treatment group was more significant than that in the other two groups (P < 0.01). After 6 months of treatment, the levels of FT3 and FT4 in the combined treatment group were significantly changed (P < 0.01), but no significant change in all the thyroid hormones was found in the other two groups. No obvious adverse reaction occurred in all the three groups. CONCLUSION: RSC combined with Donepezil in treating AD is effective and safe with no evident adverse reaction, better than single drug treatment, which may be through influencing the metabolism of thyroid hormones to improve the cognition function of AD patients.