Visible wide-angle view imaging system for the first plasma on the HL-2M tokamak.

The wide-angle view imaging system, in terms of a tangential view diagnostic with field of view (FOV) of 56.8° and a downward-looking diagnostic from the top of the machine with FOV of 94.7°, has been newly constructed for the first plasma of the HL-2M tokamak achieved in December 2020. Its mission in this stage is to monitor the plasma evolution during its startup, sustainment, and disruption in the visible spectral range as well as the plasma-wall interaction. For the latter ultrawide view diagnostic, nearly three-quarters of the divertor region and half the area of the inner wall are in the view range. Both the diagnostics are characterized by a similar optical structure, i.e., the light emission from the plasma is collected by a front-end lens and transferred through an imaging fiber bundle to the camera. This optical structure is suitable for application in the complex tokamak environment mainly because the fiber bundle is flexible. Photos of glow discharges are acquired prior to the first plasma for testing the FOVs in the vacuum vessel. The spatial resolution is ∼4mm for the tangential view diagnostic and ∼10mm for the downward-looking diagnostic. The temporal resolutions, ranging from 90 to 360 Hz by changing the region of interest or binning acquisition mode of the color camera, are applied to record the plasma evolutions and/or dust creation events during the first plasma campaign.

[The distribution of blood eosinophils and the related clinical characteristics in chronic obCOPD patients].

Objective: To analyze the distribution of blood eosinophils (EOS) in COPD patients in the community and outpatient clinics, and to study the clinical characteristics and influencing factors of COPD patients with high EOS counts. Methods: This study included 237 patients with stable COPD, of which the median age was 68 years and males accounted for 81.2%. There were 45 community patients from the China Pulmonary Health study conducted in 2012-2013 and another 192 outpatients who attended the Respiratory Department of Peking University Third Hospital from August 2013 to November 2014 or from September 2015 to May 2018. Taking 100 cells/µl as the cut-off value, it was divided into high EOS group (146 people, 61.6%) and low EOS group (91 people, 38.4%). We compared demographic characteristics, respiratory symptoms, acute exacerbation, lung function, inflammation, imaging and other indicators. Results: The median EOS count of community patients was 110.4 cells/µl, and that of outpatients was 110.0 cells/µl. There was no statistically significant difference in the distribution of blood EOS among community and outpatients. The median EOS count of the general population was 110.0 cells/µl, and the median percentage was 1.8%. EOS≥300 cells/µl accounted for 11.4%. In the high EOS group, the percentage of male gender was higher (85.6% vs 74.7%), the GOLD grade was more severe, and the percentage of neutrophils was lower (61.70% vs 64.70%) (P<0.05 for these three characteristics). After multivariate analysis, the high EOS group was closely related to older age (OR=1.035, 95%CI:1.004-1.067, P=0.029), heavier GOLD grade (P=0.015) and lower percentage of neutrophils (OR=0.956, 95%CI:0.923-0.991, P=0.015). Conclusion: The distribution of blood EOS of COPD patients between the community and the outpatient clinics is not significantly different. About 60% of COPD patients have blood EOS≥100 cells/µl, which is associated with advanced age, male, severe airflow limitation, and low neutrophils.

[Incidence and management of cesarean scar pregnancies after in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer].

Objective: To explore the incidence, clinical characteristics, management strategies and reproductive outcomes of cesarean scar pregnancies (CSP) after in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET). Methods: The patients who were diagnosed with CSP followed IVF/ET in the Center for Reproductive Medicine of Peking University Third Hospital between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2020 were included. The clinical data of each patient were analyzed retrospectively. Results: There were a total of 1 441 patients with secondary infertility complicated with a history of cesarean section and achieved clinical pregnancy after IVF-ET treatments, of which CSP accounted for 1.94% (28/1 441). The average age of CSP patients was (34±3) years old, and 50.0% (14/28) of the patients had a history of artificial abortion. The incidence of CSP in embryo transfers at the cleavage stage had no significantly difference from transfers at the blastocyst stage (1.74% vs 2.20%, χ(2)=0.408, P=0.523), and the incidence of CSP in fresh embryo transfers had no significantly difference from frozen-thawed embryo transfers (1.77% vs 2.23%, χ(2)=0.372, P=0.542). The average gestational age at diagnosis was (47±6) days. According to the classification based on imaging examination during early pregnancy, a case of type Ⅰ CSP received expectant treatment and achieved live birth at third trimester of pregnancy. Two cases of heterotopic cesarean scar pregnancy underwent transvaginal selective reduction of CSP, and intrauterine pregnancies were followed by live births at third trimester of pregnancy. One case of type Ⅲ CSP underwent laparoscopic CSP excision and uterine repair, and 24 patients with type Ⅰ or type Ⅱ CSP underwent hysteroscopic CSP excision with/without uterine artery embolization. After CSP treatment, 5 patients achieved clinical pregnancy through embryo transfer, all of which were normal intrauterine pregnancy followed by term live birth. Conclusions: Color ultrasonography should be performed during early pregnancy to confirm the occurrence of CSP in patients receiving IVF-ET after previous cesarean section. Treatment of CSP should be individualized, and patients with Type Ⅰ CSP who are strictly selected have the opportunity for expectant treatment.

Genetic variability of ERCC1 and ERCC2 genes involved in the nucleotide excision repair pathway influences the treatment outcome of gastric cancer.

We conducted a prospective study to investigate whether ERCC1 rs11615 and rs3212986 and ERCC2 rs13181 and rs1799793 gene polymorphisms could serve as potential biomarkers for the prognosis of gastric cancer. Between January 2010 and December 2012, 246 patients with pathologically proven gastric cancer who were receiving platinum-based chemotherapy were recruited from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University. The genotyping of the gene polymorphisms was conducted using the polymerase chain reaction coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism. By logistic regression analysis, we found that the AA genotype of ERCC1 rs3212986 was associated with lower rates of complete remission and partial remission following chemotherapy in gastric cancer patients, and the OR (95%CI) was 0.19 (0.06-0.60). We found that the AA genotype of rs3212986 was correlated with higher risk of death from gastric cancer according to the Cox proportional hazards model, and the adjusted HR (95%CI) was 1.60 (0.81-3.16). However, we found no association between ERCC1 rs11615, ERCC2 rs13181, and ERCC2 rs1799793 and overall survival of gastric cancer. In conclusion, the results of the present retrospective study indicate that the ERCC1 rs3212986 gene polymorphism has a significant effect on the pharmacokinetics and treatment outcome of gastric cancer.