Discovery of New Isotopes

Using the fusion-evaporation reaction ^{106}Cd(^{58}Ni,4n)^{160}Os and the gas-filled recoil separator SHANS, two new isotopes _{76}^{160}Os and _{74}^{156}W have been identified. The α decay of ^{160}Os, measured with an α-particle energy of 7080(26) keV and a half-life of 201_{-37}^{+58} µs, is assigned to originate from the ground state. The daughter nucleus ^{156}W is a ß^{+} emitter with a half-life of 291_{-61}^{+86} ms. The newly measured α-decay data allow us to derive α-decay reduced widths (δ^{2}) for the N=84 isotones up to osmium (Z=76), which are found to decrease with increasing atomic number above Z=68. The reduction of δ^{2} is interpreted as evidence for the strengthening of the N=82 shell closure toward the proton drip line, supported by the increase of the neutron-shell gaps predicted in theoretical models.

[Pathogenic investigation of human respiratory syncytial virus infection in kindergarten children in Tongzhou District, Beijing City in 2023].

The study focused on individuals with influenza-like symptoms (fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, and other respiratory symptoms) in three kindergartens in Tongzhou District, Beijing City, in April 2023. Nasopharyngeal swab specimens were collected, and real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR was used to detect common respiratory pathogens in the collected specimens. Positive specimens were subjected to sequencing analysis of the highly variable region of human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) G protein, homology analysis and phylogenetic tree analysis. A total of 25 fever cases were collected from 3 kindergartens, aged 3-8 years old, with an age M (Q1, Q3) of 4 (3.5, 5) years old. Ten confirmed cases of HRSV positive were screened and detected using the fluorescent quantitative PCR method, with a total detection rate of 40% (10/25). Typing identification and sequencing analysis confirmed that the main epidemic type was HRSV subtype B, which was highly homologous and closely related to previous epidemic strains in the region. Through pathogen investigation and analysis, it was preliminarily determined that this epidemic was dominated by HRSV subtype B.

[Resistant hypertension and the risk of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events in outpatients].

Objective: To investigate the prevalence and associated risk of cardiovascular event of resistant hypertension in treated outpatients. Methods: This study was a nationwide multi-center prospective cohort study. The participants were treated outpatients enrolled in the China Nationwide Ambulatory and Home Blood Pressure Registry study of 42 hospitals in 19 provinces across the country from August 2009 to October 2017. Apparent resistant hypertension was defined as uncontrolled office blood pressure (≥140/90 mmHg, 1 mmHg=0.133 kPa) in spite of the use of three antihypertensive drugs or controlled office blood pressure (<140/90 mmHg) with four antihypertensive drugs or more. Subjects diagnosed with uncontrolled office blood pressure were further subdivided as pseudo-resistant hypertension and true resistant hypertension based on 24 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. The primary endpoint was fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, which was a composite endpoint consisting of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular death, ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, myocardial infarction, coronary artery revascularization, unstable angina, heart failure, and coronary artery stenosis≥50% confirmed by coronary angiography. Secondary outcomes included fatal and non-fatal stroke or cardiac events. Patients with controlled office blood pressure after taking only 1 or 2 antihypertensive drugs were included as control. Kaplan-Meier survival curves, log-rank test, and Cox proportional risk model were used to evaluate the risk of apparent refractory hypertension in relation to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular prognosis. Results: A total of 2 782 treated hypertensive patients, aged (58.1±12.3) years were enrolled, including 1 403 (50.4%) men. The prevalence of apparent and true resistant hypertension was 15.1% (420/2 782) and 10.5% (293/2 782), respectively. Among patients with apparent resistant hypertension, during a median of 5 years follow-up, the cumulative incidence rate was 28.2, 11.2 and 19.1 per 1 000 person-years for fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events (n=58), stroke (n=24) and cardiac events (n=40), respectively. The Kaplan-Meier curve and log-rank test showed that those patients with true resistant hypertension, had the highest cumulative incidence rate of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events, stroke, and cardiac events. Multivariable Cox regression analyses showed that true resistant hypertension was associated with a significantly higher risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events (HR=1.73, 95%CI 1.17-2.56, P=0.006) and stroke (HR=2.81, 95%CI 1.53-5.17, P=0.001). Conclusion: Resistant hypertension, especially true resistant hypertension, is associated with a higher risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiac and cerebrovascular events.

[Intraoperative neuromonitoring in surgery of cervical neurogenic tumors].

Objective: To investigate the application value of intraoperative motor nerve monitoring in cervical neurogenic tumor surgery. Methods: The efficacy of intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) was analyzed retrospectively in 18 patients, including 6 males and 12 females, aged from 15 to 74 years, treated in Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University from June 2019 to September 2022 who underwent total cystectomy of cervical neurogenic tumors under intraoperative nerve monitoring. Results: All 18 patients had complete tumor removal, including 8 patients with tumors from the vagus nerve and 10 patients with tumors from the brachial plexus nerve. Postoperative nerve functions were normal in patients with tumors from brachial plexus nerve, and incomplete vocal cord paralysis occurred in 2 patients with tumors from vagus vagus nerve. The total incidence of motor nerve injury was 11.1% (2/18). All patients were followed up for 6 to 45 months, with no tumor recurrence. Conclusion: Intraoperative neuromonitoring has significant values in surgery of cervical neurogenic tumors, which is helpful to remove completely the tumors on the basis of protecting the nerve functions to the maximum extent.

Photoionization process of the hydrogenlike carbon ion embedded in warm and hot dense plasmas.

Complicated many-body interactions between ions and surrounding particles exist in warm and hot dense plasmas. It will significantly alter the atomic structures and dynamic properties of the embedded ions. Recently, the atomic-state-dependent (ASD) screening model has been proposed and shown to be valid for investigating the screening effect in warm and hot dense plasmas over a wide range of electron densities and temperatures. By employing the ASD model, we investigate the photoionization process for the hydrogenlike carbon ion embedded in warm and hot dense plasmas with corresponding Coulomb coupling parameter ranges of 0.05 ≤ Γ ≤ 1.16, where Γ characterizes the ratio of the average potential to thermal energy. It is found that there are stronger plasma screening effects on the ionization energy and photoionization cross section due to the negative-energy electron distributions considered in the ASD model compared to those considering only free electrons. The present results from the ASD model show reasonable agreement with the classical Debye-Hückel (DH) model in weakly coupled plasmas. However, significant deviations of the ionization energy and cross section between these two models are observed in moderately and strongly coupled plasmas, due to the approximate treatment of the plasma-electron density distribution of the DH model. In the region of low photoelectron energies, the positions of the shape resonance peaks of the cross sections obtained from the ASD model differ significantly from those of the DH model due to the different screening effects.