The treatment of tuberculosis in the upper thoracic spine using the small incision technique through the third rib

BackgroundThe complex anatomical structure of the upper thoracic spine makes it challenging to achieve surgical exposure, resulting in significant surgical risks and difficulties. Posterior surgery alone fails to adequately address and reconstruct upper thoracic lesions due to limited exposure. While the anterior approach offers advantages in fully exposing the anterior thoracic lesions, the surgical procedure itself is highly intricate. Although there exist various anterior approaches for the upper thoracic spine, the incidence of upper thoracic spine lesions is relatively low. Consequently, there are limited reports on the treatment and reconstruction of upper thoracic spine lesions using the third rib small incision approach in the context of upper thoracic tuberculosis.MethodsWe collected data from four patients with upper thoracic tuberculosis who were admitted to our department between July 2017 and November 2022. The treatment for upper thoracic tuberculosis involved utilizing the third rib small incision approach, which included two cases of thoracic 3–4 vertebral tuberculosis, one case of thoracic 4 vertebral tuberculosis, and one case of thoracic 5 vertebral tuberculosis. Among the patients, three were positioned in the left lateral position, while one was positioned in the right lateral position. Prior to admission, all four patients received a two-week course of oral medication, consisting of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol. After the surgical procedure, they continued receiving anti-tuberculosis treatment for a duration of 12 months.ResultsThe average duration of the surgical procedure was 150 min, with an average blood loss of 500 ml. One patient exhibited symptoms of brachial plexus injury, which gradually improved after careful observation. All patients experienced primary wound healing, and no complications such as pulmonary infection, respiratory failure, or other adverse events were observed. Additionally, one patient showed elevated transaminase levels, leading to a modification in the anti-tuberculosis drug regimen from quadruple therapy to triple therapy.ConclusionThe treatment of upper thoracic tuberculosis through the third rib small incision technique is a very good surgical approach, which has the advantages of safety and effectiveness

Novel Swine Influenza Virus Reassortants in Pigs, China

During swine influenza virus surveillance in pigs in China during 2006–2009, we isolated subtypes H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2 and found novel reassortment between contemporary swine and avian panzootic viruses. These reassortment events raise concern about generation of novel viruses in pigs, which could have pandemic potential

Genetic characterization and mutation analysis of Qihe547 Aujeszky’s disease virus in China

Abstract Background Aujeszky’s disease virus (ADV) can cause neurologic disease in young pigs, respiratory disease in older pigs and abortion or birth of mummified fetuses or stillborn neonates. The re-emergence of Aujeszky’s disease (AD) in pig farms vaccinated with live vaccine (Bartha-K61) caused substantial economic losses to Chinese pig industry since late 2011. A field ADV, named Qihe547, was isolated from pigs that exhibited suspected AD clinical symptoms. To better understand the genetic characteristics and mutations of Qihe547 ADV, the whole genome was sequenced and analyzed. Results The genomic length of Qihe547 ADV was 143,404 bp, with 73.59% G + C contents. Phylogenetic analysis based on the whole genome of ADV strains revealed that Chinese ADV strains were located to one group with three subgroups. Qihe547 ADV was closely related to these novel ADV strains isolated in China since 2012. Qihe547 presented numerous hypervariable regions compared with oversea ADV strains. In 34 genes of Qihe547 ADV, amino acid (AA) insertion or deletion were observed. In addition, numerous AA mutations were found in the main protective antigen genes (gB, gC and gD genes). The differences of potential antigenic peptides in the main protective antigens between Qihe547 ADV and ADV Bartha were discovered in the dominant antigenic regions of gB (AA59-AA126, AA507-AA734),the extracellular region of gC and gD. Conclusion High diversity was observed between Qihe547 and foreign ADV isolates. The AA variations and the differences of potential antigenic peptides in the important functional regions of the main protective antigen (gB, gC and gD) of ADV Qihe547 may contribute to immune evasion of the virus and may be partial reason that the virus escapes from the vaccination of Bartha-K61 vaccine. In a word, the effect of the variations obviously requires further research

Saline-fresh water interface variation during the past 34 years in Shouguang City, China

1986-1994Present study consists the variations in the saline-freshwater interface in Shouguang, China during the past 34years. The results showed thethe groundwater level is directly proportional to the concentration of Cl- in groundwater monitoring wells, and groundwater exploitation induced differences in groundwater level between the northern and southern parts of the study area, resulting in increased saline water intrusion. The saline water intrusion area was 141.16km2in 1981, but 1164.25 km2 in 2014, accounting for approximately 58.5% of the total area of Shouguang. Additionally, the average intrusion rate is about 4.28 km2/a, ranging from 3.48 km to 7.48km

Numerical simulation for saltwater-freshwater interface movement of sandbox experiments

1995-2001Indoor sandbox experiments and the responding numerical simulations have been carried out. The results show that, the longer time saltwater intrusion, the more differences between saltwater level and freshwater level, lower velocity of the saltwater moving. From the transport rates of saltwater-freshwater interface, it could be seen that, the smaller differences between saltwater level and freshwater level, the earlier equilibrium state reach. Moving rates are different ascribe to the different concentration of saltwater, and the differences of moving rates becoming smaller over time. Impact of saltwater concentration on moving rate becoming smaller over time. Numerical simulation results show that, the established models could simulate the sandbox under different saltwater concentrations. The established models could be used to study the saltwater intrusion processes

Adjacency-Hash-Table Based Public Auditing for Data Integrity in Mobile Cloud Computing

Cloud storage, one of the core services of cloud computing, provides an effective way to solve the problems of storage and management caused by high-speed data growth. Thus, a growing number of organizations and individuals tend to store their data in the cloud. However, due to the separation of data ownership and management, it is difficult for users to check the integrity of data in the traditional way. Therefore, many researchers focus on developing several protocols, which can remotely check the integrity of data in the cloud. In this paper, we propose a novel public auditing protocol based on the adjacency-hash table, where dynamic auditing and data updating are more efficient than those of the state of the arts. Moreover, with such an authentication structure, computation and communication costs can be reduced effectively. The security analysis and performance evaluation based on comprehensive experiments demonstrate that our protocol can achieve all the desired properties and outperform the state-of-the-art ones in computing overheads for updating and verification

A Linear-Arc Composite Beam Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Modeling and Finite Element Analysis

To improve the output performance of the piezoelectric energy harvester, this paper proposed the design of a linear-arc composite beam piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH-C). First the nonlinear restoring force model of a composite beam was obtained by the numerical simulation method. Afterwards, the corresponding coupled governing equations were derived by using the generalized Hamilton principle, laying the foundation for subsequent in-depth research. After this, a finite element simulation was performed in the COMSOL software to simulate the output voltage, stress distribution, and resonance frequency of the PEH-C under different curvatures. In this way, the effect of curvature change on the PEH-C was analyzed. Finally, the PEH-C with a curvature of 40 m−1  was prepared, and an experimental platform was built to verify the correctness of the relevant analysis. The results showed that the resonant frequency of the PEH-C can be changed by changing the curvature, and that the stress on the composite beam will increase after the arc segment is introduced. When the curvature of the PEH-C was 40 m−1, the open-circuit output voltage was 44.3% higher than that of the straight beam

Vibration Characteristics and Experimental Research of Combined Beam Tri-Stable Piezoelectric Energy Harvester

Vibration energy harvesting technology is expected to solve the power supply and endurance problems of wireless sensor systems, realize the self-power supply of wireless sensor systems in coal mines, and promote the intelligent development of coal mine equipment. A combined beam tri-stable piezoelectric energy harvester (CTPEH) is designed by introducing magnetic force into the combined beam structure. In order to explore the vibration characteristics of CTPEH, a nonlinear magnetic model is obtained based on the magnetic dipole theory, and the dynamic equation of the system is established using the Lagrange theorem and Rayleigh–Ritz theory. The influence of the different magnet distances and excitation conditions on the static bifurcation characteristics and dynamic response characteristics of the system are analyzed by numerical simulation, and the simulation results are validated by the experiments. The research results show that the motion state of the CTPEH system has four transition forms from mono-stable to tri-stable with the change in magnet distance. The tri-stable system has three potential energy curves with different characteristic shapes. The appropriate starting excitation position and excitation frequency can make it easier for the system to realize a large-amplitude response state, thereby improving the output performance of the system. This research provides new ideas and methods for optimizing the performance of the combined beam piezoelectric energy harvester