Preoperative Strength Training for Clinical Outcomes Before and After Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BackgroundThere is an increasing interest in preoperative strength training for promoting post-operative rehabilitation, but the effectiveness of preoperative strength training for clinical outcomes after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) remains controversial.ObjectiveThis study aims to systematically evaluate the effect of preoperative strength training on clinical outcomes before and after TKA.MethodsWe systematically searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases from the inception to November 17, 2021. The meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the effects of preoperative strength training on clinical outcomes before and after TKA.ResultsSeven randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included (n = 306). Immediately before TKA, the pooled results showed significant improvements in pain, knee function, functional ability, stiffness, and physical function in the strength training group compared with the control group, but not in strength (quadriceps), ROM, and WOMAC (total). Compared with the control group, the results indicated strength training had a statistically significant improvement in post-operative knee function, ROM, and functional ability at less than 1 month and 3 months, and had a statistically significant improvement in post-operative strength (quadriceps), stiffness, and WOMAC (total) at 3 months, and had a statistically significant improvement in post-operative pain at 6 months. However, the results indicated strength training had no statistically significant improvement in post-operative strength (quadriceps) at less than 1 month, 6, and 12 months, had no statistically significant improvement in post-operative pain at less than 1 month, 3, and 12 months, had no statistically significant improvement in post-operative knee function at 6 and 12 months, and had no statistically significant improvement in post-operative physical function at 3 months.ConclusionsPreoperative strength training may be beneficial to early rehabilitation after TKA, but the long-term efficacy needs to be further determined. At the same time, more caution should be exercised when interpreting the clinical efficacy of preoperative strength training for TKA

The transformation of the Human Rights-based economy in Europe : comments on the proposed corporate sustainability due diligence directive

Published online: 15 December 2022The authors consider that the proposed EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive will facilitate the transformation of the Human Rights-based Economy in Europe from voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility to a mandatory Due Diligence Obligation. The sustainable development of human rights and environment will become an essential element in the operation of market economy. Nonetheless, given that the proposed Directive will unilaterally set a high threshold for market access to trade and supply chains, the authors contend that it will be confronted with the legal challenges of incompatibility with EU law and some of its fundamental principles. Additionally, a regulatory gap may occur in implementing the proposed Directive among the member states. In terms of its external dimension, the proposed Directive embodies the technique of extraterritorial extension of EU law to third countries and foreign entities, which will extend its application to non-EU entities through the spill over effect of the supply chain. Moreover, the proposed Directive expands the jurisdictional basis of the member states’ courts to corporate accountability, which will further trigger jurisdictional conflicts between EU member states and third countries as it intervenes in the judicial sovereignty of the latter on human rights and environment. In conclusion, the authors suggest that the Chinese government take constructive measures to address the extraterritorial extension of the proposed Directive on China and Chinese companies

An Improved Clustering Algorithm of Tunnel Monitoring Data for Cloud Computing

With the rapid development of urban construction, the number of urban tunnels is increasing and the data they produce become more and more complex. It results in the fact that the traditional clustering algorithm cannot handle the mass data of the tunnel. To solve this problem, an improved parallel clustering algorithm based on k-means has been proposed. It is a clustering algorithm using the MapReduce within cloud computing that deals with data. It not only has the advantage of being used to deal with mass data but also is more efficient. Moreover, it is able to compute the average dissimilarity degree of each cluster in order to clean the abnormal data

Report on the development of EU law in 2022 : digital and green transition, supply chain law, and reciprocal market openness

Published: 5 December 2023The transformation of the EU advanced amidst crises and challenges in 2022. This report is an overview of the development of EU law in 2022, focusing on three dimensions: the digital and green transition, the supply chain law, and reciprocal market openness. In the area of digital transition, the EU strengthened the legal instruments to address emerging issues of competition and data barriers arising from data regulation and the digital market. With regard to green transition, the EU put forward a set of legislative proposals on the green economy in relation to climate objectives, such as the renewed EU Emission Trade System and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. In terms of the supply chain law, the EU relied on normative power to exert influence on global supply chains and introduced unilateral legal instruments infused with extraterritorial effects, including the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence legislation and the Forced Labour Ban. It also proposed the Single Market Emergency Instrument and the Chip Act to strengthen the resilience of the internal market and its supply chains. Besides, the EU emphasises reciprocal market openness based on level-playing competition in the internal market. The EU’s International Public Procurement Instrument and the Foreign Subsidies Regulation entered into force, reinforcing its regulatory toolkit and enhancing the thresholds for market access. For bilateral relations, the EU proceeded with the ongoing negotiations on free trade agreements with India and New Zealand, respectively. At the multilateral level, the EU participated in the concluded negotiation on modernising the Energy Charter Treaty, which was later on hold due to disagreements raised by some member states

Culturable bacterial endophytes of Aconitum carmichaelii Debx. were diverse in phylogeny, plant growth promotion, and antifungal potential

Medicinal plants harbor tremendously diverse bacterial endophytes that maintain plant growth and health. In the present study, a total of 124 culturable bacterial endophytes were isolated from healthy Aconitum carmichaelii Debx. plants. These strains were clustered into 10 genera based on full-length 16S rDNA sequences, among which Bacillus and Pseudomonas were the dominant genera. In addition, A. carmichaelii may capture 10 potential new bacterial species based on multi-locus sequence analysis of three housekeeping genes (gyrA, rpoB, and atpD). The majority of these bacterial endophytes exhibited plant growth-promoting ability through diverse actions including the production of either indole acetic acid and siderophore or hydrolytic enzymes (glucanase, cellulose, and protease) and solubilization of phosphate or potassium. A total of 20 strains inhibited hyphal growth of fungal pathogens Sclerotium rolfsii and Fusarium oxysporum in vitro on root slices of A. carmichaelii by the dual-culture method, among which Pseudomonas sp. SWUSTb-19 showed the best antagonistic activity. Field experiment confirmed that Pseudomonas sp. SWUSTb-19 significantly reduced the occurrence of southern blight and promoted plant biomass compared with non-inoculation treatment. The possible mode of actions for Pseudomonas sp. SWUSTb-19 to antagonize against S. rolfsii involved the production of glucanase, siderophore, lipopeptides, and antimicrobial volatile compounds. Altogether, this study revealed that A. carmichaelii harbored diverse plant growth-promoting bacterial endophytes, and Pseudomonas sp. SWUSTb-19 could be served as a potential biocontrol agent against southern blight

Effects of climate warming and human activities on the distribution patterns of Fritillaria unibracteata in eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Abstract Fritillaria unibracteata is an endangered medicinal material species endemic to the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, and belongs to the national Class III endangered plant. In addition to expelling wind and removing damne, it also warms menstruation and relieves pain in clinic use of tranditional Chinese medicine. In recent years, affected by the destruction of shrubs and climate change, the habitat of F. unibracteata wild resources has been seriously damaged, indicating of great significance to predict its potential suitable habitat using MaxEnt model. The AUC values without human activities were 0.983 ± 0.013–0.988 ± 0.001, while it is 0.982 ± 0.015–0.989 ± 0.000 with human activities, justifying their applications for predicting the potential areas of F. unibracteata. Without human activities, there were 8.47 × 104 km2 of highly suitable habitats in northern Sichuan, southern Gansu and southeastern Qinghai. But the poorly, moderately and highly suitable areas of F. unibracteata have decreased to 33.8 × 104 km2, 9.66 × 104 km2 and 6.64 × 104 km2 due to human activities. Environmental variables affecting F. unibracteata distribution included the minimum temperature in the coldest month (−16.89–−4.96 °C), annual precipitation (416.64–866.96 mm), temperature annual range (24.83–31.97 °C), elevation (2879.69–3981.82 m), human footprint (2.58–23.66) and mean UV-B of highest month (7381.92–8574.27 kJ/m2). In the 2050s and 2090s, human activities would significantly reduce the highly suitable habitats of F. unibracteata. Under SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios, the centroid would move to the low latitude area from the current position first, and then to a high latitude area. Wild resources of F. unibracteata in China can be effectively conserved based on our results

Quantitative structured illumination microscopy via a physical model-based background filtering algorithm reveals actin dynamics

Abstract Despite the prevalence of superresolution (SR) microscopy, quantitative live-cell SR imaging that maintains the completeness of delicate structures and the linearity of fluorescence signals remains an uncharted territory. Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is the ideal tool for live-cell SR imaging. However, it suffers from an out-of-focus background that leads to reconstruction artifacts. Previous post hoc background suppression methods are prone to human bias, fail at densely labeled structures, and are nonlinear. Here, we propose a physical model-based Background Filtering method for living cell SR imaging combined with the 2D-SIM reconstruction procedure (BF-SIM). BF-SIM helps preserve intricate and weak structures down to sub-70 nm resolution while maintaining signal linearity, which allows for the discovery of dynamic actin structures that, to the best of our knowledge, have not been previously monitored

GO annotation of DGEs in leaf development in response to <i>B</i>. <i>zeicola</i> infection.

<p>The Y-axis represents the percentage of targeted genes mapped by the GO term and represents the abundance of the GO term. The X-axis expresses the definition of GO terms.</p

Mapping read information to sense and antisense genes at the five successive stages of symptom development.

<p>Mapping read information to sense and antisense genes at the five successive stages of symptom development.</p

Dynamics of transcription factor accumulation profiles.

<p>(a) Dendrogram of transcription factors. Clustering of 527 transcription factors expressed at significantly different levels at the CK phase, during the transition from the CK to the DP phase, and the DP phase clustered into three lineages (G1, G2, and G3) using the self-organization tree algorithm (SOTA). (b) Distribution of transcription factor family proteins among G1, G2 and G3. (c) Distribution of transcription factor families that are expressed at different levels among the CK, CP, IP, PP and DP phases; of which, CP, IP, PP are the transition stage from CK to DP.</p