A novel auxiliary fixation technique of meshes in intraperitoneal onlay mesh procedures for incisional hernia repair

IntroductionMesh fixation is an important step in incisional hernia repair. Weak fixation possibly results in postoperative pain, and even hernia recurrence. We innovated an auxiliary fixation approach, the magnet attraction technique (MAT), to achieve better mesh fixation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of MAT in intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM) procedures for incisional hernia repair.MethodsHistorical patient records were analyzed according to the clinical data of 16 patients with incisional hernias. Among them, 5 patients have undergone IPOM repair procedures in combination with MAT to assist in mesh fixation. As a control, 11 patients treated with IPOM and mesh fixation via conventional suspension were included. The clinical data collected include patients' basic characteristics, intraoperative and postoperative conditions, and follow-up results in both groups.ResultsCompared with patients in the control group, patients in the MAT group were found to suffer from a larger hernia ring diameter and longer surgical duration, but shorter hospitalization length on average. And most importantly, no complication has been reported in the MAT group.ConclusionMAT in IPOM operation was regarded as a feasible and safe technique for patients suffering from incisional hernias

Biosynthesis of Iron Nanoparticles Using Tie Guanyin Tea Extract for Degradation of Bromothymol Blue

Facile synthesis of zero-valent iron nanoparticles has been developed using Tie Guanyin tea extract as reducing and stabilizing agent. The characterization carried out by UV-Vis, SEM, TEM, XRD, and FTIR techniques has identified the successful synthesis of the zero-valent iron nanoparticles. It is evident from the TEM result that spherical zero-valent iron nanoparticles with average size of 6.58±0.76 nm have been obtained through biological method in this study. FTIR spectrum demonstrates that the polyphenols play an important role in the synthetic process. Diffraction peak at 2θ of 44.9° and 49.1° in XRD spectrum explains the existence of the iron nanoparticles. Additionally, effect of concentration of iron nanoparticles and concentration of bromothymol blue on the kinetic rate constants during the degradation process was studied

Neurochemical Mechanism of Electroacupuncture: Anti-injury Effect on Cerebral Function after Focal Cerebral Ischemia in Rats†

We explored the neurochemical mechanism of electroacupuncture's (EA) protective effect on brain function in focal cerebral ischemia rats, using cerebral ischemia/reperfusion rats established by the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) method. Adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups: Sham, Sham+EA, MCAO and MCAO+EA. The rats in Sham+EA and MCAO+EA were accepted EA treatment at ‘GV26’ and ‘GV20’ acupoints for 30 min. Electric stimulation was produced by a G-6805 generator and neurological deficit scores were recorded. Mitochondria respiratory function and the activities of respiratory enzymes were measured by a computer-aided Clark oxygen electrode system. Results showed that EA treatment might reduce the neurological deficit score, and significantly improve respiratory control ratio (RCR), the index of mitochondrial respiratory function, and increase the activities of succinic dehydrogenase, NADH dehydrogenase and cytochrome C oxidase in the MCAO rats. Results suggest that EA might markedly decrease the neurological deficit score, promote the activities of respiratory enzymes and reduce the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in improvement of respiratory chain function and anti-oxidative capability of brain tissues in the infarct penumbra zone. This be a mechanism of EA's anti-injury effect on brain function in MCAO rats

Caloric restriction augments radiation efficacy in breast cancer.

Dietary modification such as caloric restriction (CR) has been shown to decrease tumor initiation and progression. We sought to determine if nutrient restriction could be used as a novel therapeutic intervention to enhance cytotoxic therapies such as radiation (IR) and alter the molecular profile of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which displays a poor prognosis. In two murine models of TNBC, significant tumor regression is noted with IR or diet modification, and a greater regression is observed combining diet modification with IR. Two methods of diet modification were compared, and it was found that a daily 30% reduction in total calories provided more significant tumor regression than alternate day feeding. At the molecular level, tumors treated with CR and IR showed less proliferation and more apoptosis. cDNA array analysis demonstrated the IGF-1R pathway plays a key role in achieving this physiologic response, and multiple members of the IGF-1R pathway including IGF-1R, IRS, PIK3ca and mTOR were found to be downregulated. The innovative use of CR as a novel therapeutic option has the potential to change the biology of tumors and enhance the opportunity for clinical benefit in the treatment of patients with TNBC

Diagenesis of the first member of Canglangpu Formation of the Cambrian Terreneuvian in northern part of the central Sichuan Basin and its influence on porosity

In this paper, taking the first Member of the Canglangpu Formation of the Cambrian Terreneuvian in the northern central Sichuan Basin as an example, the diagenesis and its influence on porosity are systemically studied based on the observations and identifications of cores, casts and cathodoluminescence thin sections. The results show that the rock types of the first member of Canglangpu Formation are various, including mixed rocks, carbonate rocks and clastic rocks. The specific lithology is dominated by sand-bearing oolitic dolomite, sandy oolitic dolomite, sparry oolotic dolomite and fine-grained detrital sandstone. At the same time, the Cang 1 Member has experienced five types of diagenetic environments, including seawater, meteoric water, evaporative seawater, shallow burial, and medium-deep burial diagenetic environments. Moreover, the main diagenetic processes under different diagenetic environments include cementation, dissolution, compaction, chemical compaction, dolomitization and structural fractures. According to the analysis, fabric-selective dissolution in meteoric water diagenetic environment, dolomitization in evaporative seawater environment, and non-fabric-selective dissolution, dolomitization and structural fractures in buried diagenetic environment are beneficial to the development of pores. However, cementation, compaction and chemical compaction in medium and deep burial environments, are unfavorable for the development of pores

Activated networking of platelet activating factor receptor and FAK/STAT1 induces malignant potential in BRCA1-mutant at-risk ovarian epithelium

Objectives It is essential to understand the molecular basis of ovarian cancer etiology and tumor development to provide more effective preventive and therapeutic approaches to reduce mortality. Particularly, the molecular targets and pathways involved in early malignant transformation are still not clear. Pro-inflammatory lipids and pathways have been reported to play significant roles in ovarian cancer progression and metastasis. The major objective of this study was to explore and determine whether platelet activating factor (PAF) and receptor associated networking pathways might significantly induce malignant potential in BRCA1-mutant at-risk epithelial cells. Methods BRCA1-mutant ovarian epithelial cell lines including (HOSE-636, HOSE-642), BRCA1-mutant ovarian cancer cell (UWB1.289), wild type normal ovarian epithelial cell (HOSE-E6E7) and cancerous cell line (OVCA429), and the non-malignant BRCA1-mutant distal fallopian tube (fimbria) tissue specimens were used in this study. Mutation analysis, kinase microarray, western blot, immune staining, co-immune precipitation, cell cycle, apoptosis, proliferation and bioinformatic pathway analysis were applied. Results We found that PAF, as a potent pro-inflammatory mediator, induced significant anti-apoptotic effect in BRCA1-mutant ovarian surface epithelial cells, but not in wild type HOSE cells. With kinase microarray technology and the specific immune approaches, we found that phosphor-STAT1 was activated by 100 nM PAF treatment only in BRCA1-mutant associated at-risk ovarian epithelial cells and ovarian cancer cells, but not in BRCA1-wild type normal (HOSE-E6E7) or malignant (OVCA429) ovarian epithelial cells. Co-immune precipitation revealed that elevated PAFR expression is associated with protein-protein interactions of PAFR-FAK and FAK-STAT1 in BRCA1-mutant ovarian epithelial cells, but not in the wild-type control cells. Conclusion Previous studies showed that potent inflammatory lipid mediators such as PAF and its receptor (PAFR) significantly contribute to cancer progression and metastasis. Our findings suggest that these potent inflammatory lipids and receptor pathways are significantly involved in the early malignant transformation through PAFR-FAK-STAT1 networking and to block apoptosis pathway in BRCA1 dysfunctional at-risk ovarian epithelium

Intranasal Diamorphine Population Pharmacokinetics and Dose Regimen Optimization in Pediatric Breakthrough Pain

Diamorphine hydrochloride (Pharmaceutical heroin) is licensed in the United Kingdom in Accident and Emergency department for breakthrough pain management. Intranasal diamorphine (IND) might represent an acceptable alternative for the pediatric population offering a less traumatic, effective, and expedient treatment. However, the current weight-based dose regimen of pediatrics IND is historical and empirical, relying on clinical expertise and the developmental Pharmacokinetics (PK) properties are poorly understood in children. This study aimed to (i). develop a population PK (pop-PK) model in adults following a single small dose of IND and (ii). extrapolate the model to the pediatric population with allometry (size) and maturation function (age), with the goal (iii). to devise a pediatric dosing regimen that yields a comparable morphine exposure to adults. The pop-PK analysis of plasma concentrations of diamorphine, 6-monoacetylmorphine, and morphine was conducted utilizing the software package Monolix (v2021R1). The development PK data was collected from two open-access reports of “snorted heroin” published by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Baltimore). Using nonlinear mixed-effect modeling, an integrated four-compartment pop-PK model with linear absorption and elimination provided an appropriate fit. The estimated IND relative bioavailability was ~ 52% with an indistinguishable first-order absorption rate constant compared to intramuscularly injected diamorphine. The external evaluations confirmed that the model is useful to extrapolate outside the development dataset scope incorporating the covariates of weight and age, which attains an acceptable average fold error for morphine Cmax (0.95) as well as for AUC0-t (0.80). More importantly, the predicted morphine concentration-time profiles were basically in agreement with the observed PK data in children after a single dose of IND (0.1 mg/kg). The model-based simulation showed that children cannot achieve a similar morphine exposure compared to adults using the current dosing regimen. Thus, we proposed a dosing scheme that uses optimal doses for different age groups based on PK examination, which recommended that infants less than 6 months should start with a low dosage of IND (0.085 mg/kg) while others require a higher initial dose (0.12-0.125 mg/kg). This PK-guided dosing equivalence using similar exposure at different ages could become a reasonable starting point for the clinical usage of nasal diamorphine spray, before individualized adjustments with the varying pain experience

Charmonium at BESIII

With large J/ψ and ψ(2S ) data samples, the BESIII Collaboration has performed many studies toward conventional charmonium states below energy 3.686 GeV, which provide information on the internal structure and the interactions of the mesons. In this proceeding, just a few of them, related to (1) OZI suppressed decay search or measurement, (2) “12% rule” test, and (3) theoretical different predictions test, is focused on

Microstructure and properties of spot welded joints of hot-stamped ultra-high strength steel used for automotive body structures

Hot-stamped ultra-high strength steels have been widely used in automobile structural parts. Considering the high splash tendency in resistance spot welding due to their extremely high hardness, in this work, microstructural characteristics and mechanical performance of the resistance spot welded ultra-high strength steels are investigated. The results indicate that the interface between the nugget and heat-affected zone (HAZ) is the weakest zone where fractures initiate. In tensile shearing tests, a qualified spot welding joint failed with a button-shaped fracture. Welding defects would significantly decrease the load-carrying capacity and lead to interfacial fracture, except for a button-shaped fracture. In spot welding, it was found that a specific mid-frequency alternating current (AC) input mode, in which a 6 ms cooling cycle was inserted between every two neighboring current pulses, can avoid the splash in the spot welding of hot-stamped hardened steels

Macro control tools and the effectiveness on housing price in China

In the passing 20 years, China’s urban housing market has been experiencing a rapid development period. As an essential pillar industry, the housing sector drives the development of over 60 industries and even contributes dramatically to the whole economy. The rapid development pace of the housing sector is mainly due to the rapid growth of the investment in housing industry, which leads to the significant rising of land price and housing price. However, the housing market is special compared with other markets. The unique characteristics of housing determine the housing market embodies its own special characteristics. Both of the special characteristics lead to the phenomenon of the simultaneous existing of market failure and policy failure. Hence, it is of great importance for the government to intervene in the housing market to achieve the policy goal of sustainable social development and equity chance of home ownership. Generally, there are 4 types of control tools that the government could take to regulate the housing industry, namely financial tools, fiscal tools, land policy and administrative policy, the mechanism and effectiveness of which is largely differentiated from each other. Firstly, as a capital-intensive industry, the supply and demand of housing are inseparable from financial support. The impact of financial policy on housing market is achieved by means of deposit rate and loan rate. However, since the financial tools is more obvious on housing supply and the expectation that continuous growing of housing price of residents is strong, the effectiveness of the financial control tools is not obvious on controlling the housing price. Secondly, fiscal policies, mainly tax, have an impact on the housing market, but there is a certain amount of time lag of the control tools of tax no matter in the regulation of the structure of housing market or in the regulation of the supply and demand of housing. The effectiveness of tax is obvious since it directly affects the cost of the developers and the buyers. Thirdly, land policy affects the housing market by controlling the amount of land supply or arranging different land uses to inhibit or encourage housing demand. However, from the practical effect of land policy on the control of housing price, the actual result is relatively poor because the land price doesn’t effectively control the housing price. Finally, administrative policy is the special characteristic of macro-control tools in China, and affects the housing market by controlling the development and transaction process. The effectiveness is direct and manifest but differs among the districts. Overall, due to the low efficiency of the government, the administrative interference in the housing market did not achieve the expected market reaction. The analysis of the macro control tools and the effectiveness on controlling the housing price in China could provide enlightenments for the further making and implementation of housing control tools.published_or_final_versionHousing ManagementMasterMaster of Housing Managemen