PRELIMINARY STUDY OF TRAINING COMPONENTS ON SENSORIMOTOR SYSTEM IN TAI CHI

The purpose of this study was to identify if Tai Chi (TC) movements are full with the training components on sensorimotor system by movement kinematics and electromyography (EMG) analysis. Two TC masters performed a typical TC movement "brush knees and twist steps" twice. Motion analysis showed that joint angles (ankles, knees and hips) of eight different postures, height and velocity of center of gravity (C.G.) of the whole movement had no significant difference in two trials. The results indicated that the TC masters had good awareness of joint position and movement and spatial position sense. Moreover, EMG analysis showed that muscles activated from full relaxation to vigorous contraction and the similar EMG patterns of each muscle in two trials suggested the good training effect of TC on muscle coordinative contraction

The relationship between triglyceride, cholesterol and lipoprotein levels, and immune responses to hepatitis B vaccine

Cholesterol homeostasis disorder and hypertriglyceridemia, as common metabolic conditions, have rarely been reported to affect the immune responses to the hepatitis B vaccine. Our study found that higher high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level showed a significant relationship with positive anti-HBs results (cOR = 1.479, 95% CI: 1.150, 1.901, p = 0.002; aOR = 1.304, 95% CI: 1.006, 1.691, p = 0.045), especially in individuals aged 18- to 40-year-old, female, smoking more than 100 cigarettes in life, and drinking more than 12 times every year. Lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level was associated with a negative anti-HBs result among participants aged 18- to 40-year-old, and participants who were obese. Higher level of HDL and lower level of LDL may be protective factors of better immune effect of hepatitis B vaccine. More research should be conducted to investigate the influence of the cholesterol level on the immune responses to the hepatitis B vaccine, and more in-depth research should be performed to uncover the mechanism

Oral Pathobiont Activates Anti-Apoptotic Pathway, Promoting both Immune Suppression and Oncogenic Cell Proliferation.

Chronic periodontitis (CP) is a microbial dysbiotic disease linked to increased risk of oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs). To address the underlying mechanisms, mouse and human cell infection models and human biopsy samples were employed. We show that the \u27keystone\u27 pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis, disrupts immune surveillance by generating myeloid-derived dendritic suppressor cells (MDDSCs) from monocytes. MDDSCs inhibit CTLs and induce FOXP3 + 

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Light scattering study of intrachain conformational relaxation of hyperbranched polystyrene chains in a marginal solvent

So far, much less attention has been paid to the dynamic behavior of branched polymers under marginal solvent condition. This work reports the first study of the intrachain conformational relaxation of hyperbranched polystyrene (PS) chains under the marginal solvent condition in the dilute regime. Specifically, the solvents of ethyl acetate (EA) and toluene (Tol) are selected for comparison. By a combination of static and dynamic light scattering measurements, a few findings have been revealed: 1) the weight average of molar masses (Mw) of hyperbranched PS chains are determined to be 7.33 × 107 and 8.02 × 107 g/mol in Tol and EA, respectively, implying the single chain state under both solvent conditions; 2）the value of reduced first cumulant (Γ*) at very high q-regime, i.e., Γ*(∞), is determined to be around 0.026 ± 0.002 in EA, which is not only smaller than the smallest Γ*(∞) ≈ 0.052 ± 0.002 reported for linear chains in literature under theta and good solvent conditions, but also much smaller than the reported Γ*(∞) ≈ 0.033 ± 0.003 for hyperbranched chains in literature under good solvent condition, and the result implies the reduced hydrodynamic interactions. Although the excluded volume effect is relatively weak in the marginal solvent, the present study supports that the existence of weak binary interactions between segments still influence the conformational behavior significantly

Effect of PEO on the hydrophilicity of PLLA ultrafine fibers

The Polyethylene oxide (PEO) / Poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA) ultrafine blend fibers have been prepared by electrospinning. The hybrid solvent of trichloromethane and ethanol was found to be the co-solvent for electrospinning. The PEO/PLLA blend solutions in various ratios were studied for electrospinning into ultrafine fibers. The morphology of the fibers was shown by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The hydrophilicity of fiber samples was characterized by determining their water contact angle. The spun ultrafine fibers are expected to be used in the native extracellular matrix for tissue engineering