Spermatic Cord Metastasis of Primary Hepatocellular Carcinoma Presenting as an Inguinal Mass: A Case Report

Most spermatic cord masses are benign, and malignant spermatic cord tumors are uncommon. Spermatic cord metastases originating from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been previously reported in the English language literature as determined by a PubMed search. We report a male patient who presented with a painful palpable mass in the right inguinal area. The patient was diagnosed with HCC in 2004 and undertook a nonsurgical approach to control the cancer. A radical orchiectomy was performed, and the pathological report showed metastatic HCC in the spermatic cord. The patient received palliative radiation therapy because of a positive surgical margin. No recurrence was noted after 6 months of followup

Self-Cleaning Interfaces of Polydimethylsiloxane Grafted with pH-Responsive Zwitterionic Copolymers

International audienceSelf-cleaning surfaces allow the reversible attachment and detachment of microorganisms which show great promise in regards to their reusability as smart biomaterials. However, a widely used biomaterial such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) suffers from high biofouling activity and hydrophobic recovery that results in decreased efficiency and stability. A current challenge is to modify and fabricate self-cleaning PDMS surfaces by incorporating antifouling and pH-sensitive properties. To address this, we synthesized a zwitterionic and pH-sensitive random poly(glycidyl methacrylate-co-sulfobetaine methacrylate-co-2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) polymer, poly(GMA-co-SBMA-co-DMAEMA). In this work, chemical modification of PDMS was done by grafting onto poly(GMA-co-SBMA-co-DMAEMA) after surface activation via UV and ozone for 90 min to ensure the formation of covalent bonds necessary for stable grafting. The PDMS grafted with G20-S40-D40 exhibit antifouling and pH-sensitive properties by mitigating fibrinogen adsorption, blood cell adhesion, and releasing 98% adhered E. coli bacteria after immersion at basic pH. The grafting of poly(GMA-co-SBMA-co-DMAEMA) presented in this work shows attractive potential for biomedical and industrial applications as a simple, smart, and effective method for the modification of PDMS interface

Protective effects of Scoparia dulcis L. extract on high glucose-induced injury in human retinal pigment epithelial cells

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major cause of vision loss in diabetic patients. Hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress and the accumulation of inflammatory factors result in blood-retinal barrier dysfunction and the pathogenesis of DR. Scoparia dulcis L. extract (SDE), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been recently recognized for its various pharmacological effects, including anti-diabetic, anti-hyperlipidemia, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidative activities. However, there is no relevant research on the protective effect of SDE in DR. In this study, we treated high glucose (50 mM) in human retinal epithelial cells (ARPE-19) with different concentrations of SDE and analyzed cell viability, apoptosis, and ROS production. Moreover, we analyzed the expression of Akt, Nrf2, catalase, and HO-1, which showed that SDE dose-dependently reduced ROS production and attenuated ARPE-19 cell apoptosis in a high-glucose environment. Briefly, we demonstrated that SDE exhibited an anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory ability in protecting retinal cells from high-glucose (HG) treatment. Moreover, we also investigated the involvement of the Akt/Nrf2/HO-1 pathway in SDE-mediated protective effects. The results suggest SDE as a nutritional supplement that could benefit patients with DR

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Removal torque and tissue reaction of titanium screw treated by sandblasting in comparison with sandblasting adding laser and dual acid etching in the animal model

摘要 目前人工牙根植體材料的製作是以鈦金屬為主流，外科醫師及組織工程學者嘗試利用不同方法對鈦金屬表面改質。過去的文獻證明，如果能增加鈦金屬表面的粗糙度，不但可增加與骨頭的機械性互扣力也能使骨性接合力增強。我們將一種商用純鈦金屬，經過Al2O3噴砂、Nd-YAG雷射及雙酸蝕以增加其表面的粗糙度，利用動物實驗模式將植體植入大白兔的脛骨，並以Al2O3噴砂處理植體為對照組植入，12週後進行犧牲，發現植入實驗組的植體，其扭力值在統計學上明顯優於對照組，組織切片亦顯示對照組於植體周圍鈣化現象比實驗組少，且意外發現對照組骨骼血管中有嗜酸性白血球增加的現象，推論這種噴砂植體在製程中存在有細微的粉礫殘留，造成動物體內的異物免疫反應，此種反應對植入體的骨整合應有一定程度的影響。因此改質的噴砂加上雷射雙酸蝕處理牙根植體在移除扭力值及骨性接合方面優於只有噴砂處理牙根植體，未來將以人體實驗證明其在外科手術上的應用優於其他改質植體。Abstract The main material used for dental implants is titanium at present. Surgeons and tissue engineers try to make different kinds of dental implants. From the paper review and animal studies, surface modification can make the dental implant surface rougher, which was proven to lead to better mechanical interlocking and osseointegration. A rough dental implant made of commercial pure titanium treated by Al2O3 sandblasting, Nd-YAG laser and dual acid etching (TA) was embedded in tibia of experimental rabbits. The control group was the implant treated by sandblasting only (TS). The rabbits were sacrificed at twelve weeks after implantation. The removal torque values in TA group were found significantly larger than those in TS group. Histological studies showed that bone calcium deposition in peri-implant areas of TA group was more abundant. Furthermore, eosinophils infiltration was unexpectedly found in the vessels of TS group. The foreign body reaction of eosinophils infiltration in TS group may have been induced by remnant particles of sandblasting and may have prevented the implant site from osseointegration. In conclusion, the dental implant of pure titanium treated by sandblasting, laser and dual acid etching had larger removal torque as well as better osseointegration. Clinical trials will be performed in the future to prove its superiority to other commercial materials.目錄 第一章 緒論…………………………………………………….…….1 1-1 研究動機及目的……………………………………………….…..1 1-2 研究設計…………………………………………….……………..3 第二章 文獻回顧……………………………………………………..4 2-1 缺牙的主要致病原因……………………………………...………4 2-1.1 齲齒……………………………………………………….…….4 2-1.2 牙周病…………………………………………………………..7 2-1.3 意外損傷落牙……………………………………………..……8 2-2 醫學上解決缺牙的途徑……………………………………...……8 2-2.1 傳統方法………………………………………………………..9 2-2.2人工植牙……………………………………………………..….9 2-3 鈦金屬的特性………………………………………………...…..14 2-4 種植體常見之種類…………………………………………...…..16 2-4.1 純鈦植體………………………………………………..……..16 2-4.2 鈦電漿噴覆植體………………………………………...…….16 2-4.3 氫氧磷灰石覆蓋質體…………………………………………17 2-4.4 圓珠狀燒結覆蓋植體……………………………………..…..17 2-5 植體的現況與趨勢……………………………….………..……..17 2-6 植體表面粗糙度與細胞貼附的關係…………………....……….20 2-7 植體的動物實驗………………………………………….………21 2-8 植體的人體臨床實驗……………………………………....…….23 2-9 利用生物機械測試來評估骨和植體交介面的強度……....…….25 第三章 實驗材料與方法……………………………….…..……….27 3-1 測試材料名稱………………………………………….…………27 3-2 實驗目的………………………………………………….………29 3-3 實驗材料…………………………………………………...……..29 3-4 實驗方法………………………………………………….………30 3-4.1 試驗依據……………………………………………….……..30 3-4.2 動物測試系統…………………………………………….…..30 3-4.3 植入程序…………………………………...…………………31 3-4.4 取出程序……………………………………………..……….32 3-4.5 力學測試………………….…………………………………..32 3-4.6 力學測試評估方法…………………………………..……….32 3-4.7 組織切片……………………………………….……….…….33 3-4.8 組織切片評估方法………………………………..…….……33 第四章 結果與討論…………………………………………………35 4-1 扭力試驗結果………………………………………………...…..35 4-2 切片試驗結果…………………………………………………….35 4-3 實驗結果討論…………………………………………………….36 第五章 結論與未來展望……………………………………..……..38 第六章 參考文獻………..…………………………..………………40 表目錄 表一 傳統假牙與人工植牙比較表……………………………….….49 表二 不同種類的動物模式比較不同鈦金屬表面的組織型態學差 異性文獻………………………………………………………..46 表三 不同種類的動物模式測試不同表面處理的鈦植體其扭力研 究文獻整理………………………..……………………………47 表四 扭力試驗的結果………………………………………..………49 表五 扭力測試統計表………………………………………………..50 表六 切片結果……………………………………………………..…51 圖目錄 圖一 酸蝕後(TA)的人工牙根及噴砂(TS)的人工牙根………….…..55 圖二 扭力測試扳手………………………………………….……….55 圖三 手術鑽頭………………………………………………………..56 圖四 植牙手機…………………………………………………..……56 圖五 植入時鑽孔……………………………………………………..57 圖六 TA植入兔子脛骨的情形………………………………..……..57 圖七 兔子犧性後，TS的情形……………………………….……...58 圖八 剝離表面軟組織露出植體………………………………….....58 圖九 兔子犧性後，取下脛骨，作扭力測試前，裝上 IMPLANT MOUNT…………………………....………………59 圖十 組織切片圖……………………………………………….…….5

Active Fault Tolerant Control of Wind Turbines Using Identified Nonlinear Filters

This paper presents a scheme for accommodating faults in the blade pitch, rotor speed and generator torque control sensors of a wind turbine nonlinear system. These measured values are important both for the controller performance as well as the supervisory module of the wind turbine. The proposed control accommodation scheme is based on identified nonlinear filters, which can be also exploited to diagnose these faults. In particular, a nonlinear dynamic system estimation scheme is proposed to obtain these disturbance decoupled nonlinear filters, which provide the on–line estimate of the fault signals. The scheme is tested on a high–fidelity wind turbine simulator, in the presence of disturbance and measurement errors, along nominal operating conditions, including also different realistic fault situations. Tests on this simulated model show the the reliability features of the proposed active fault tolerant control scheme