Trends in water balance modelling at field scale using Richards’ equation

<div><p>Background</p><p>Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) is an effective surgery for lumbar degenerative disease. However, this fusion technique requires resection of inferior facet joint to provide access for superior facet joint resection, which results in reduced lumbar spinal stability and unnecessary trauma. We have previously developed extraforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (ELIF) that can avoid back muscle injury with direct nerve root decompression. This study aims to show that ELIF enhances lumbar spinal stability in comparison to TLIF by comparing lumbar spinal stability of L4–L5 range of motion (ROM) on 12 cadaveric spine specimens after performing TLIF or ELIF.</p><p>Methods</p><p>12 cadaveric spine specimens were randomly divided and treated in accordance with the different internal fixations, including ELIF with a unilateral pedicle screw (ELIF+UPS), TLIF with a unilateral pedicle screw (TLIF+UPS), TLIF with a bilateral pedicle screw (TLIF+BPS), ELIF with a unilateral pedicle screw and translaminar facet screw (ELIF+UPS+TLFS) and ELIF with a bilateral pedicle screw (ELIF+BPS). The treatment groups were exposed to a 400-N load and 6 N·m movement force to calculate the angular displacement of L4-L5 during anterior flexion, posterior extension, lateral flexion and rotation operation conditions.</p><p>Results</p><p>The ROM in ELIF+UPS group was smaller than that of TLIF+UPS group under all operating conditions, with the significant differences in left lateral flexion and right rotation by 36.15% and 25.97% respectively. The ROM in ELIF+UPS group was higher than that in TLIF+BPS group. The ROM in the ELIF+UPS+TLFS group was much smaller than that in the ELIF+UPS group, but was not significantly different than that in the TLIF+BPS group.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Despite that TLIF+BPS has great stability, which can be comparable by that of ELIF+UPS. Additionally, ELIF stability can be further improved by using translaminar facet screws without causing more tissue damage to patient.</p></div

They show that only L5 superior facet joint was removed by ostetome.

<p>They show that only L5 superior facet joint was removed by ostetome.</p

The L4–L5 range of motion (ROM) in different groups under six operating conditions were compared by using one way analysis of variance.

<p>The L4–L5 range of motion (ROM) in different groups under six operating conditions were compared by using one way analysis of variance.</p

Effect of Alkyl Side Chains of Conjugated Polymer Donors on the Device Performance of Non-Fullerene Solar Cells

The influence of the chemical structure of conjugated polymers on the nanophase separation and device performance in fullerene-based solar cells has been widely studied, while this is less investigated in non-fullerene solar cells. In this work, we design three conjugated polymers with different length of side chains, and we find that the length of side chains has little influence on the quantum efficiencies of non-fullerene solar cells. As a comparison, the length of side chains has a significant effect on the quantum efficiencies of fullerene-based solar cells. This indicates that morphology of the blended thin films in non-fullerene solar cells is rather independent of the length of the donor side chains, and the mechanism for morphology evolution in the non-fullerene system is completely different from that in the fullerene system. Our conclusion is confirmed by a variety of advanced characterization techniques. The studies reveal that in blended thin films based on the non-fullerene material the donor polymers with different side chains have a similar coherence length of π–π stacking, crystal size and domain purity, giving rise to similar internal quantum efficiency and power conversion efficiency of the solar cells