Anthocyanins, Phenolics, and Antioxidant Capacity of Vaccinium L. in Texas, USA

Berries of Vaccinium spp. have long been an important source of food and pharmaceutical ingredients and are considered to have high antioxidant potential. Growing blueberries in Texas, United States is a substantial industry, but there is no report on their antioxidant capacity, total phenolics, and anthocyanins. This study evaluates antioxidant capacity and contents of total phenolics and anthocayanins in both fruits and leaves of 19 genotypes including five commercial cultivars and 11 selections of rabbiteye blueberry (V. ashei) and southern highbush (V. corymbosum hybrids), and three native species (V. darrowii, V. arboreum, and V. fuscatum) grown in Nacogdoches, Texas. Significant variations in antioxidant capacity (as measured by FRAP) and contents of total phenolics and anthocyanins in fruit were observed among different species, cultivars or selections with less variation observed among individual plants of the same genotype. Our data from rabbiteye blueberry selections and cultivars support the hypothesis that antioxidant capacity is more highly correlated to total phenolics than anthocyanins. The analysis of five species indicates that antioxidant activity decreased during ripening but total phenolics contents tended to increase with maturity. Antioxidant capacity, total phenolics, and anthocyanin content did not change significantly during storage at 4ºC or -20ºC for two weeks but decreased significantly when berries were oven dried at 65ºC for 48 h. Antioxidant capacity and total phenolics content in leaves of each genotype were 3 to 15 times higher than those in fruits

Rational Reprogramming of Fungal Polyketide First Ring Cyclization

Resorcylic acid lactones (RAL) and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid lactones (DAL) represent important pharmacophores with heat shock response and immune system modulatory activities. The biosynthesis of these fungal polyketides involves a pair of collaborating iterative polyketide synthases (iPKSs): a highly reducing iPKS (hrPKS) whose product is further elaborated by a nonreducing iPKS (nrPKS) to yield a 1,3-benzenediol moiety bridged by a macrolactone. Biosynthesis of unreduced polyketides requires the sequestration and programmed cyclization of highly reactive poly-β-ketoacyl intermediates to channel these uncommitted, pluripotent substrates towards defined subsets of the polyketide structural space. Catalyzed by product template (PT) domains of the fungal nrPKSs and discrete aromatase/cyclase enzymes in bacteria, regiospecific first-ring aldol cyclizations result in characteristically different polyketide folding modes. However, a few fungal polyketides, including the DAL dehydrocurvularin, derive from a folding event that is analogous to the bacterial folding mode. The structural basis of such a drastic difference in the way a PT domain acts has not been investigated until now. We report here that the fungal versus the bacterial folding mode difference is portable upon creating hybrid enzymes, and structurally characterize the resulting unnatural products. Using structure-guided active site engineering, we unravel structural contributions to regiospecific aldol condensations, and show that reshaping the cyclization chamber of a PT domain by only three selected point mutations is sufficient to reprogram the dehydrocurvularin nrPKS to produce polyketides with a fungal fold. Such rational control of first ring cyclizations will facilitate efforts towards the engineered biosynthesis of novel chemical diversity from natural unreduced polyketides

Femoral neck system vs. cannulated screws on treating femoral neck fracture: a meta-analysis and system review

ObjectiveThis meta-analysis aimed to compare the relative safety and efficacy of cannulated compression screw (CCS) and femoral neck system (FNS) in treating patients with femoral neck fractures and to provide evidence-based medical evidence for FNS in treating femoral neck fractures.MethodsPubMed, Embase, Cochrane, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases were searched to collect outcomes related to femoral neck fractures treated with FNS and CCS, including time to fracture healing, incidence of non-union, incidence of osteonecrosis of the femoral head, incidence of failure of internal fixation, rate of femoral neck shortening, Harris hip score, Barthel index, operative time, intraoperative blood loss, fluoroscopy frequency, and complications. A meta-analysis was performed using RevManv5.4 (The Cochrane Collaboration) and Stata v14.0 software.ResultsThis analysis included 21 studies involving 1,347 patients. The results showed that FNS was superior to CCS in terms of fracture healing time [mean difference (MD) = −0.75, 95% CI = (−1.04, −0.46), P < 0.05], incidence of bone non-union [odds ratio (OR) = 0.53, 95% CI = (0.29, 0.98), P = 0.04], incidence of osteonecrosis of the femoral head [OR = 0.49, 95% CI = (0.28, 0.86), P = 0.01], incidence of internal fixation failure [OR = 0.30, 95% CI = (0.18, 0.52), P < 0.05], rate of femoral neck shortening [OR = 0.38, 95% CI = (0.27, 0.54), P > 0.05], Harris hip score [MD = 3.31, 95% CI = (1.99, 4.63), P < 0.001], Barthel index [MD =  4.31, 95% CI = (3.02, 5.61), P < 0.05], intraoperative bleeding [MD = 14.72, 95% CI = (8.52, 20.92), P < 0.05], fluoroscopy frequency [OR = 0.53, 95% CI = (0.29, 0.98), P = 0.04], and complications [OR = 0.31, 95% CI = (0.22, 0.45), P < 0.05]. The difference between FNS and CCS in operative time was not statistically significant [MD = −2.41, 95% CI = (−6.88, 2.05), P = 0.29].ConclusionFNS treatment of femoral neck fracture can shorten the fracture healing time; reduce the incidence and translucent rate of bone non-union, osteonecrosis of the femoral head, and internal fixation failure; reduce intraoperative blood loss and postoperative complications; and improve hip joint function and activity. We are confident in the findings that FNS, an effective and safe procedure for internal fixation of femoral neck fractures, is superior to CCS

Deep Learning Reservoir Parameter Prediction Based on Seismic Attribute Reduction: Take Ledong Area of Yinggehai Basin as an Example

As an important indicator to describe reservoir characteristics, reservoir modeling and fluid model, the accurate estimation of reservoir physical parameters can provide a powerful reference for reservoir prediction, but the traditional inversion method of reservoir physical parameters can not give consideration to inversion accuracy and spatial continuity. To solve the above problems, this paper introduced seismic attributes as input of deep learning algorithm. Aiming at the information redundancy among seismic attributes, random forest-recursive elimination method was used to reduce the seismic attributes, thus a prediction method of reservoir physical property parameters based on seismic attribute reduction was finally established. The actual data test results showed that the prediction results of reservoir physical parameters by deep learning based on seismic attribute reduction presented good accuracy and lateral resolution, which confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method

Comparison of Fourier-Domain and Time-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography in the Measurement of Thinnest Corneal Thickness in Keratoconus

Objective. To compare fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) and time-domain OCT (TD-OCT) in the determination of thinnest corneal thickness (TCT). Methods. This study included 55 keratoconus patients and 50 healthy volunteers. The RTVue-OCT (FD-OCT) and Visante-OCT (TD-OCT) were used for the measurement of the TCT. Three consecutive scans were performed. The comparison and agreement between the two modalities were analyzed by paired t-test, the Pearson correlation, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and Bland-Altman plots. intraobserver repeatability was analyzed by the intraobserver within-subject standard deviation (S(w)), coefficient of variation (CV(w)), and ICC. Results. The TCT value of normal corneas was higher by RTVue-OCT (530.4 ± 19.7 μm) than Visante-OCT (521.5 ± 18.3 μm) (p<0.001). For keratoconus eyes, the TCT was 425.0 ± 58.2 μm and 424.4 ± 55.7 μm (difference being 0.6 ± 10.2 μm, p=0.604). Strong correlation (r = 0.938∼0.985) (ICC = 0.915–0.984) was observed between the two OCTs, and each OCT exhibited excellent repeatability in determining the TCT in all subjects (ICC = 0.984–0.994). Conclusions. The values of TCT obtained from RTVue-OCT and Visante-OCT were highly correlated; however, the two values were different. Both OCT instruments exhibited good intraobserver reliability. The existence of systematic differences suggested that the two instruments cannot be used interchangeably

The reconstruction of fingertip injury by mini hallux toenail flap pedicled with the hallux transverse artery and toe pulp vein transplantation technique based on the equivalent design theory

Abstract Introduction How to reconstruct the damaged fingertip is a clinical problem. Our team propose the theory of equivalent design and use the mini toenail flap pedicled with the hallux transverse artery and toe pulp vein transplantation technique to reconstruct Allen’s type II fingertip injury. Thus, we perform the retrospective study to evaluate the effects of this technique on fingertip injury. Materials and methods A retrospective analysis was performed on 56 patients admitted to our hospital from January 2015 to January 2020 who used equivalently designed miniature hallux toenail flaps for the plastic repair of fingertip damage. We recorded the size of the miniature hallux toenail flap, operation time, intraoperative blood loss, and complications and calculated the survival rate of the transplanted miniature hallux toenail flap. During routine follow-up after surgery, we recorded nail growth time and observed finger appearance. At the last time of follow-up, we recorded Semmes-Weinstein evaluating tactile sensation and Two-point discrimination testing (TPD). The efficacy was evaluated by Zook score evaluation. Results The size of the mini hallux toenail flap was 0.71 cm × 1.22 cm to 0.88 cm × 1.71 cm. The operation time was (3.54 ± 0.58) hours, the intraoperative blood loss was (20.66 ± 4.87) ml, and the survival rate of mini hallux toenail flaps was 100%. The postoperative follow-up time was (30.82 ± 11.21) months, and the total nail growth time was (9.68 ± 2.11) months. The average tactile sensation evaluated by the Semmes-Weinstein test was (0.32 ± 0.14) g, and the average TPD was (7.33 ± 1.02) mm. According to Zook score, the curative effect of fifty-six cases were all excellent or good with 100% excellent and good rate, and all patients had beautiful appearances and good function of damaged fingertips. Conclusions Based on the equivalent design theory, the mini hallux toenail flap pedicled with the hallux transverse artery and toe pulp vein transplantation technique is an effective method to reconstruct Allen’s type II fingertip injury with a beautiful appearance and good function. Type of study/level of evidence Therapeutic IV

A Broadband Enhanced Nodal-Order Reduction Methodology for Large-Scale Equation Sets of 3-D Transient Field Problems

International audienceA broadband enhanced nodal-order reduction (ENOR) methodology is proposed to reduce the order of equation sets of 3-D transient field problems. The proposed reduction method is validated by using the numerical results on a thermal problem of a classic 7-layer insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) module in terms of computation times and accuracies