Improved strategy for post-traumatic hydrocephalus following decompressive craniectomy: Experience of a single center

BackgroundPatients with head trauma may develop hydrocephalus after decompressive craniectomy. Many studies have referred one-stage cranioplasty (CP) and ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) was applied to treat cranial defect with post-traumatic hydrocephalus (PTH), but the safety and efficiency of the procedure remain controversial.MethodsThis is a retrospective cohort study including 70 patients of PTH following decompressive craniectomy who underwent simultaneous (50) and separated (20) procedures of cranioplasty and VPS from March 2014 to March 2021 at the authors’ institution with at least 30 days of follow-up. Patient characteristics, clinical findings, and complications were collected and analyzed.ResultsFifty patients with PTH underwent improved simultaneous procedures and 20 patients underwent staged surgeries. Among the cases, the overall complication rate was 22.86%. Complications suffered by patients who underwent one-stage procedure of CP and VPS did not differ significantly, compared with patients in the group of staged procedures (22% vs. 25%, p = 0.763). The significant difference was not observed in the two groups, regarding the complications of subdural/epidural fluid collection (4%/6% vs. 0/2%, p = 1.000/1.000), epidural hemorrhage (6% vs. 4%, p = 0.942), dysfunction of shunting system (0 vs. 2%, p = 0.286), postoperative seizure (8% vs. 4%, p = 1.000), and reoperation case (0 vs. 2%, p = 0.286). No case of subdural hemorrhage, incision/intracranial/abdominal infection, shunting system dysfunction, or reoperation was observed in the group of simultaneous procedure. Complications including subdural/epidural fluid collection, subdural hemorrhage, and incision/intracranial infection were not shown in the case series of the staged procedure group.ConclusionThe improved simultaneous procedure of cranioplasty and VPS is effective and safe to treat cranial defect and post-traumatic hydrocephalus with low risk of complications

Polymeric immunoglobulin receptor expression is predictive of poor prognosis in glioma patients

Abstract: Although there have been recent advances in surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, the survival of patient with glioma remains poor. Increased expression of polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (pIgR) in tumor tissue has been detected in various cancer forms. However, the clinical relevance of pIgR in glioma remains unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic value of pIgR in patients with glioma after surgical resection. pIgR expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in paraffin-embedded glioma tissues from 146 patients. The relation between pIgR expression and clinicopathologic factors and long-term prognosis in these 146 patients was retrospectively examined. The prognostic significance of negative or positive pIgR exspression in glioma was assessed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and log-rank tests. Positive expression of pIgR was statistically significantly associated with poor prognosis of patients with glioma. Our results indicated that pIgR could be a novel predictor for poor prognosis of patients with glioma after surgical resection

Usage of neuronavigation system to treat a case of traumatic acute subdural hematoma after two-side ventriculoperitoneal shunt

Traumatic acute subdural hematoma is one of the most lethal causes of head injuries, which leads to high mortality. While combined diseases always make it more intractable for the treatment. We present a case of a 68-year-old female patient with traumatic acute subdural hematoma combined with hydrocephalus after ventriculoperitoneal shunt assisted by the neuronavigation system in January 12, 2017. She was undergone ventriculoperitoneal shunt 6 years and 5 months ago on two sides respectively because of hydrocephalus, with the ventriculoperitoneal shunt device on the right side out of work. The initial neurological examination showed a Glasgow Coma Scale of E2V1M5 with no papillary defect. A CT scan of the head revealed a left homogeneously hyperdense and subdural hematoma, with compression of the lateral ventricle (2.6 cm thick) and a 0.5 cm midline shift. To protect the ventriculoperitoneal shunt device, we used neuronavigation system to precisely mark the relative location of the device and “invisible” subdural hematoma, thus to design a perfect incision preoperatively. Subsequently, evacuation of the subdural hematoma was performed via craniotomy without damaging the ventriculoperitoneal shunt device. Postoperative CT of the head showed totally removing of the subdural hematoma. The patient recovered three months later. With the assistant of neuronavigation system, it is much easier for the preoperative planning and to reduce the surgical risk. Our case gives a clue that more approaches can be considered when encountering acute head trauma with the complicated combined diseases. Keywords: Neuronavigation, Acute subdural hematoma, Hydrocephalus, Ventriculoperitoneal shun

Functionalized carbon black nanoparticles used for separation of emulsified oil from oily wastewater

<p>Functionalized carbon black (F-CB) nanoparticles were synthesized by covalently grafting the polyvinyl alcohol on carbon black (CB) surfaces and used as demulsifier to separate the oil from the emulsified oily wastewater. The bottle test showed that the residual oil content in the separated water was as low as ∼50 mg/L corresponding to a demulsification efficiency of about 99.90% at an optimal condition within a few minutes. It was believed that the surface wettability of the carbon black could be tuned by modifying with the PVA molecules, which enables the F-CB nanoparticles to be readily migrated to the oil/water interface and have the opportunity to interact with and/or displace the stabilizers of the emulsion. As a result, the demulsification process was accomplished with the coalescence of the oil droplets promoted by the F-CB nanoparticles. The interaction behavior between F-CB nanoparticles and asphaltenes was investigated by quantum chemical calculations. The results showed that the F-CB nanoparticles have strong interaction with the asphaltene molecules in form of π−π and θ−π forces. The findings in present study are significant for understanding the demulsification mechanism and also provide a novel demulsifier for the demulsification of emulsified oily wastewater.</p

Alloying Iron into Palladium Nanoparticles for an Efficient Catalyst in Acetylene Dicarbonylation

Motivated by the prominent catalytic performance and durability of nanoalloy catalysts, the Pd-based bimetallic nanoalloy catalysts were prepared using an aqueous reduction method. The Fe-Pd bimetallic nanoalloy catalyst (nano-Fe/Pd) demonstrated 98.4% yield and 99.7% selectivity for the unsaturated 1,4-dicarboxylic acid diesters. Moreover, the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) analysis shows that the Pd leaching of the catalyst can be effectively suppressed by alloying Fe atoms into the Pd crystal lattice for acetylene dicarbonylation. The detailed catalyst structure and morphology characterization demonstrate that introducing Fe into the Pd nanoparticles tunes the electronic&ndash;geometrical properties of the catalyst. Theoretical calculations indicate that the electrons of Fe transfer to Pd in the nano-Fe/Pd catalyst, enhancing activation of the C&equiv;C bond in acetylene and weakening CO absorption capacity on catalyst surfaces. Alloying Fe into the Pd nanocatalyst effectively inhibits active metal leaching and improves catalyst activity and stability under high-pressure CO reactions

Revealing the Intermolecular Interactions of Asphaltene Dimers by Quantum Chemical Calculations

Understanding the nature of non-covalent interactions (NCIs) between asphaltene molecules is not only theoretically interesting but also important for practical application. We performed quantum chemical calculations to reveal the configuration feature and intermolecular interaction characteristics of asphaltene dimers using three representative asphaltene model compounds and their derivatives. The frontier molecular orbitals and electrostatic potential map of the model asphaltenes were analyzed to reveal the nature of interaction between the asphaltene monomers. The calculation of binding energies indicates that the stability of asphaltene dimers not only depends upon the number of aromatic rings but also relies on the presence of heteroatoms in the aromatic core and aliphatic side chains, which could change the electrostatic charge distribution on the molecular van der Waals surface. In addition, NCIs and the natural bond order analysis method were used to identify the interactions that promote the formation of asphaltene dimers. It was found that the reduced density gradient isosurfaces could clearly reveal the type of interactions between two asphaltene monomers in their dimers. The results indicate that various interactions possess either an electrostatic or a dispersive nature, including hydrogen-bonding, θ–θ, θ–π, and π–π interactions, among which the π–π stacking interaction is believed to be the major driving force for asphaltene aggregation

Astaxanthin as a Potential Neuroprotective Agent for Neurological Diseases

Neurological diseases, which consist of acute injuries and chronic neurodegeneration, are the leading causes of human death and disability. However, the pathophysiology of these diseases have not been fully elucidated, and effective treatments are still lacking. Astaxanthin, a member of the xanthophyll group, is a red-orange carotenoid with unique cell membrane actions and diverse biological activities. More importantly, there is evidence demonstrating that astaxanthin confers neuroprotective effects in experimental models of acute injuries, chronic neurodegenerative disorders, and neurological diseases. The beneficial effects of astaxanthin are linked to its oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptotic characteristics. In this review, we will focus on the neuroprotective properties of astaxanthin and explore the underlying mechanisms in the setting of neurological diseases