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Most toughening methods for epoxy resins are usually used at the expense of other properties. Some polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSSs) with both a rigid Si-O-Si structure and flexible organic chain segments could be expected to be effective toughening agents. In this study, three reactive polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes with a thiol group (OMPPS), a carboxyl group (OCOPS), and an epoxy group (OGCPS) were synthesized and characterized. They were utilized as modifiers to toughen 3-(oxiran-2-ylmethoxy)- N , N -bis(oxiran-2-ylmethyl)aniline (AFG-90MH)/4,4'-methylenebis(2-ethylaniline) (MOEA) (epoxy resin) with different molar ratios to obtain hybrid resins named OMPPS-EP-i, OCOPS-EP-j, and OGCPS-EP-k. The effects of the amount of modifier added and the length of the organic chain on the cage structure on various properties of the hybrid resins were investigated. The results show that all three modifiers show good compatibility with the epoxy resin. The hybrid resins have a low viscosity at 45~85 °C and can be cured at a low temperature (110 °C). The cured hybrid resins display improved toughness. Typically, the critical stress intensity factor (K IC ) and impact strength of OGCPS-EP-0.6-C are 2.54 MPa∙m -1/2 and 19.33 kJ∙m -2 , respectively, which increased by 58.75% and 22.48% compared with the pristine epoxy resin, respectively. In addition, the glass transition temperature and flexural strength of the hybrid resins are basically unchanged.

Background: To systematically evaluate the relationship between the expression level of long noncoding RNA NEAT1 and the clinical characteristics and prognostic value of rectal cancer patients., Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library database and case-control studies on the correlation between abnormal expression of lncRNA NEAT1 and prognosis of rectal cancer patients published by the American clinical trials registry before May 1, 2023 were searched. The search time was from the establishment of the database to May 30, 2023., Results: A total of 7 case-control studies were included, including 1063 cancer patients. The results of meta-analysis showed that the high expression of lncRNA NEAT1 was significantly correlated with the degree of differentiation [or=0.45, 95%CI=0.32-0.63, P<0.01], tumor size [or=0.59, 95%CI=0.42-0.82, P<0.01], and overall survival [HR=1.34, 95%CI=1.21-1.48, P<0.001]; However, it was not associated with gender [or=1.23, 95%CI= 0.88-1.72, P=0.23] and lymph node metastasis [or=0.87, 95%CI=0.45-1.66, P=0.67]., Conclusions: The high expression of lncRNA NEAT1 may be a risk factor for poor prognosis in patients with malignant tumors, and lncRNA NEAT1 can be used as a potential biomarker to evaluate its prognosis., Competing Interests: All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest in this work., (2024 Qiyi Lin, Jianpeng Pan, Huaishuai Wang, Yinlin Li, Yixiang Zhuang, Zhicong Cai, Gaofeng Lin, Weibo Liu, Guoxi Xu, published by CEON/CEES.)

Osteosarcoma is the most common type of primary malignant bone tumor. Due to the lack of selectivity and sensitivity of chemotherapy drugs to tumor cells, coupled with the use of large doses, chemotherapy drugs often have systemic toxicity. The use of modern sequencing technology to screen tumor markers in a large number of tumor samples is a common method for screening highly specific and selective anti-tumor drugs. This study aims to identify potential biomarkers using the latest reported gene expression signatures of oncogene-induced replication stress (ORS) in aggressive cancers, and potential anti-osteosarcoma drugs were screened in different drug databases. In this study, we obtained 89 osteosarcoma-related samples in the TARGET database, all of which included survival information. According to the median expression of each of six reported ORS gene markers (NAT10/DDX27/ZNF48/C8ORF33/MOCS3/MPP6), we divided 89 osteosarcoma gene expression datasets into a high expression group and a low expression group and then performed a differentially expressed gene (DEG) analysis. The coexisting genes of 6 groups of DEGs were used as replication stress-related genes (RSGs) of osteosarcoma. Then, key RSGs were screened using LASSO regression, a Cox risk proportional regression prognostic model and a tenfold cross-validation test. GSE21257 datasets collected from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were used to verify the prognostic model. The final key RSGs selected were used in the L1000PWD and DGIdb databases to mine potential drugs. After further validation by the prognostic model, we identified seven genes associated with ORS in osteosarcoma as key RSGs, including transcription factor 7 like 2 (TCF7L2), solute carrier family 27 member 4 (SLC27A4), proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 5 (PCSK5), nucleolar protein 6 (NOL6), coiled-coil-coil-coil-coil-helix domain containing 4 (CHCHD4), eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 subunit B (EIF3B), and synthesis of cytochrome C oxidase 1 (SCO1). Then, we screened the seven key RSGs in two drug databases and found six potential anti-osteosarcoma drugs (D GIdb database: repaglinide, tacrolimus, sirolimus, cyclosporine, and hydrochlorothiazide; L1000PWD database: the small molecule VU-0365117-1). Seven RSGs (TCF7L2, SLC27A4, PCSK5, NOL6, CHCHD4, EIF3B, and SCO1) may be associated with the ORS gene signatures in osteosarcoma. Repaglinide, tacrolimus, sirolimus, cyclosporine, hydrochlorothiazide and the small molecule VU-0365117-1 are potential therapeutic drugs for osteosarcoma., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the associations between body composition and temporal eating patterns, including time of first eating occasion, time of last eating occasion, eating window, and eating jet lag (the variability in meal timing between weekdays and weekends)., Methods: A total of 131 participants were included in the study. Temporal eating pattern information was collected through consecutive 7-day eat timing questionnaires and photographic food records. Body composition was assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis. Multiple linear regression models were used to evaluate the relationships of temporal eating patterns with body composition, and age was adjusted. Eating midpoint was additionally adjusted in the analysis of eating window., Results: On weekdays, both later first eating occasion and last eating occasion were associated with lower lean mass, and longer eating window was associated with lower body fat percentage. On weekends, both later first eating occasion and last eating occasion were associated with lower lean mass, and longer eating window was associated with higher FFMI. Longer first eating occasion jet lag was associated with lower lean mass., Conclusion: Our study suggested that earlier and more regular eating patterns may have a benefit on body composition., (© 2024. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Tidal flats are of great importance to coastal residents and environments, which are recently facing unprecedented challenges due to massive urban expansions. While some case studies have been conducted in small areas, it is yet to come a picture to examine the issue at the nationwide level. To fill this void, it is necessary to reconsider whether the analytical and statistical methods used in the previous studies are still appropriate to the larger scales, which accordingly needs to be refined and updated. Aiming at this issue, this study implemented a justification for the conterminous United States, in which nearly 70 % of the counties by the seashore with intensified tidal flats in 1985 were selected to conduct a comprehensive assessment. Based on the 156 selected counties, this paper firstly analyzed the spatiotemporal change patterns of tidal flats and urban extents from 1985 to 2015, and then combined these results and implemented a series of correlation assessments between tidal flat loss and urban expansion. As a result, we found that urban expansions in the conterminous coastal United States have not only substantially squeezed the space of tidal flats, but also significantly affected the surrounding tidal flat environments during the three decades., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Quantifying the uncertainty of stormwater inflow is critical for improving the resilience of urban drainage systems (UDSs). However, the high computational complexity and time consumption obstruct the implementation of uncertainty-addressing methods for real-time control of UDSs. To address this issue, this study developed a machine learning-based surrogate model (MLSM) that maintains high-fidelity descriptions of drainage dynamics and meanwhile diminishes the computational complexity. With stormwater inflow and controls as inputs and system overflow as the output, MLSM is able to fast evaluate system performance, and therefore stochastic optimization becomes feasible. Thus, a real-time control strategy was built by combining MLSM with the stochastic model predictive control. This strategy used stochastic stormwater inflow scenarios as input and aimed to minimize the expected overflow under all scenarios. An ensemble of stormwater inflow scenarios was generated by assuming the forecast errors follow normal distributions. To downsize the ensemble, representative scenarios with their probabilities were selected using the simultaneous backward reduction method. The proposed control strategy was applied to a combined UDS of China. Results are as follows. (1) MLSM fit well with the original high-fidelity urban drainage model, while the computational time was reduced by 99.1%. (2) The proposed strategy consistently outperformed the classical deterministic model predictive control in both magnitude and duration dimensions of system resilience, when the consumed time compatible is with the real-time operation. It is indicated that the proposed control strategy could be used to inform the real-time operation of complex UDSs and thus enhance system resilience to uncertainty., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Copy number variation (CNV) is associated with progression of esophageal cancer (EC), a common gastrointestinal neoplasm., Methods: Using sequencing data, CNV data, and clinical data of EC transcriptome samples obtained from public databases, we performed differential expression analysis on sequencing data. Differentially expressed CNV-driven lncRNAs were screened using the chi-square test, and CNV-driven lncRNA-associated miRNAs and mRNAs were predicted. Cytoscape software was then used to construct ceRNA networks. Gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses were performed to investigate biological functions of mRNAs in the ceRNA network. Survival curves were plotted to explore correlations between lncRNAs in the ceRNA network and overall survival of CNV patients. Multiple databases were used to predict lncRNAs-related drugs., Results: A dysregulated lncRNA-associated ceRNA network driven by CNV in EC, including 11 lncRNAs, 11 miRNAs and 159 mRNAs, was constructed. Downstream enrichment of mRNAs was related to biological processes such as extracellular matrix organization, indicating that these mRNAs mainly participate in intercellular exchange between tumor cells. Additionally, expression of all lncRNAs in the ceRNA network, except LINC00950, LINC01270 and MIR181A1HG, was correlated with patients' CNV. In addition, none of the 11 lncRNAs was significantly correlated with overall survival of CNV patients. CH5424802 and PD-033299CNV mainly affected the RTK signaling pathway and the cell cycle of tumor cells via RP11-180N14.1 and RP11-273 G15.2 in the ceRNA network., Conclusions: This study identified 11 CNV-driven lncRNAs that might affect EC development, 2 of which have promising effects if applied to drug treatment. These findings might assist in identifying novel treatments for EC.

The imbalanced development between deep learning-based model design and motor imagery (MI) data acquisition raises concerns about the potential overfitting issue-models can identify training data well but fail to generalize test data. In this study, a Spatial Variation Generation (SVG) algorithm for MI data augmentation is proposed to alleviate the overfitting issue. In essence, SVG generates MI data using variations of electrode placement and brain spatial pattern, ultimately elevating the density of the raw sample vicinity. The proposed SVG prevents models from memorizing the training data by replacing the raw samples with the proper vicinal distribution. Moreover, SVG generates a uniform distribution and stabilizes the training process of models. In comparison studies involving five deep learning-based models across eight datasets, the proposed SVG algorithm exhibited a notable improvement of 0.021 in the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). The improvement achieved by SVG outperforms other data augmentation algorithms. Further results from the ablation study verify the effectiveness of each component of SVG. Finally, the studies in the control group with varying numbers of samples show that the SVG algorithm consistently improves the AUC, with improvements ranging from approximately 0.02 to 0.15.

Objective: Previous studies on osteoporotic vertebral fractures are usually based on the neutral posture of spine; however, the fractures are usually associated with the flexion posture of spine. Therefore, we aimed to ascertain the relationship between vertebral compression fractures and thoracolumbar hyperflexion Cobb angles (TLHCobb) and determine the clinical cut-off of the TLHCobb angle., Methods: In this retrospective case-control study, TLHCobbs were collected from 154 postmenopausal women (67.45 ± 6.68 years) with vertebral compression fractures (study group) and 310 postmenopausal women (66.57 ± 8.22 years) without vertebral compression fractures (control group) from June 2017 to July 2019. Demographic data, clinical data, and quantitative computed tomography (QCT) findings were compared between the groups. Chi-squared tests, unpaired t-tests, and Mann Whitney U were used to assess the group characteristics and proportions. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between vertebral compression fractures and TLHCobb. The cut-off of the TLHCobb was determined by ROC curve and Youden's index., Results: Fracture prevalence was higher in the higher TLHCobb study group than that in the control group [OR = 2.81 (2.15-3.67)] after adjusting for age, BMI, and QCT findings. TLHCobbs at and >20.05° were associated with an increased fracture prevalence and ORs of 2.79 (1.82-4.27) and 4.83 (3.24-7.20), respectively. TLHCobb, disk height (semiquantitative grading score) and QCT values differed between the study and control groups (p < 0.001 for all three). There were no significant differences in body mass index (BMI), or coronal TLCobb between the two groups., Conclusion: There was an association between the prevalence of vertebral compression fractures and TLHCobbs in postmenopausal women, and a TLHCobb > 20.05° can be an indicator of vertebral fracture., (© 2022 The Authors. Orthopaedic Surgery published by Tianjin Hospital and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

The active control of urban drainage systems (UDSs) is playing an increasingly important role in the world threatened by urban flooding and associated disasters caused by insufficient drainage capacity. However, little research has recognized the importance of the optimal use of in-pipe storage space. To address this issue, the use of the in-pipe storage capacity was optimized in this study. A novel approach, that is, dynamic programming with successive approximation considering the time lag of flow routing (DPSA-TL), was developed to determine the control policies, in addition to the commonly used passive, rule-based control (RBC), and evolutionary algorithm (EA) strategies. A real-life urban catchment considering flooding control and combined sewer overflow (CSO) reduction was used as the case study. First of all, the potential benefit of maximizing the use of in-pipe storage space was tested using the four control strategies in three storm events, including a 3-year, 2-hour design (46.5 mm), a 5-year, 2-hour design (56.0 mm) and a 7-h historical (152.5 mm) storm events. Results indicate that DPSA-TL performed best in all cases. Without compromising the goal of flooding control, it provided 16.5%, 12.6%, and 3.0% reductions in CSO volume for the three storm events when compared with the passive strategy. Due to the limited capacity of in-pipe storage, the relative improvement diminished as the total rainfall depth increased. Then, control strategies were further applicated to the real-time operation. DPSA-TL was found to be the best alternative for CSO control, with the CSO volume reduced by 14.7%, 11.4%, and 2.5% in the three storm events, respectively. The findings suggest that the performance of UDS can be significantly improved by optimizing the use of in-pipe storage capacity, and the proposed method is effective in the offline optimization and real-time control of UDSs., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper first explores spatial distributions and patterns of COVID-19 case rates (cases/100,000 people) and mortality rates (deaths/100,000 people) and their disparities between urban and rural counties in the contiguous US. A county-level social vulnerability index was created using principal component analysis. Social vulnerability components were regressed against both county case and mortality rates. Results suggest that hotspots of case and mortality rates are clustered in Midwest and Upper-Midwest US. We found substantial disparities in case and mortality rates between urban and rural counties. County social vulnerability was positively correlated with both case and mortality rates suggesting counties with higher social vulnerability had higher case and mortality rates. Relationships between social vulnerability components and case and mortality rates vary across the conterminous US. Additionally, counties with increased racial and ethnic minorities, higher percentages of minors, and lower median household income are associated with higher COVID-19 case and mortality rates.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a primary malignant tumor of the bone characterized by poor prognosis due to chemotherapy resistance and high recurrence rates. DJ-1 (PARK7) is known as an oncogene and its abnormal expression is related to the poor prognosis of various types of malignant tumors. It was found in this study that upregulated expression of DJ-1 was closely correlated with the prognosis of OS patients by promoting the proliferation, migration and chemotherapy resistance of OS cells in vitro through regulating the activity of CDK4 but not through the oxidation mechanism or AKT pathway. The combination of DJ-1 and CDK4 promoted RB phosphorylation, leading to the dissociation of E2F1 into the nucleus to regulate the expression of cell cycle-related genes. The tumor xenograft mouse model demonstrated that DJ-1 knockout suppressed tumor growth in vivo . All these findings indicate that DJ-1 can affect the occurrence and progression of OS by regulating the CDK/RB/E2F1axis, suggesting a novel therapeutic opportunity for OS patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Han, Wang, Wang, Zhang, Bi, Zheng, Liu, Bai, Wang, Wan, Ma, Cai, Liu and Jia.)

Low back pain (LBP) seriously affects human quality of life. Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is the main pathological factor that leads to LBP, but the pathological mechanism underlying IVDD has not been fully elucidated. Neuropathic pain caused by IVDD is an important pathological factor affecting people's daily lives. Therefore, it is very important to identify therapeutic drugs to ameliorate IVDD and secondary neuropathic pain. Hydroxytyrosol (HT) is a natural compound derived from olive leaves and oil and has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antitumor activities and other properties. In this study, TNF- α -stimulated human nucleus pulposus cells (HNPCs) were used to simulate the local inflammatory microenvironment observed in IVDD in vitro to explore the role of HT in alleviating various pathological processes associated with IVDD. A rat needle puncture model was used to further explore the role of HT in alleviating IVDD. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used to stimulate microglia in vitro to comprehensively explore the role of HT in alleviating neuropathic pain, and a rat model involving chronic compression of the dorsal root ganglion (CCD) was established to simulate the neuropathic pain caused by IVDD. This study suggests that HT reduces the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), the NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs-4 (ADAMTS-4) and matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13); inhibits the production of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS); and maintains mitochondrial homeostasis. Thus, HT appears to reduce the rate of apoptosis and mitigate the loss of major intervertebral disc components by inhibiting the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF- κ B) signaling pathway. Moreover, HT inhibited the secretion of COX-2, tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF- α ), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1 β , and iNOS and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in microglia by inhibiting the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) and extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK) signaling pathways. In conclusion, HT plays a protective role against IVDD and secondary neuropathic pain by inhibiting the NF- κ B, PI3K/AKT, and ERK signaling pathways., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Haichao Yu et al.)

Background: The surgical efficacy and prognostic outcomes of patients with unspecific malignant bone tumors (UMBTs) remain unclear. The study is to address: 1) What are the clinicopathological features and prognostic determinants for patients with UMBTs? 2) Can a nomogram be developed for clinicians to predict the short and long-term outcomes for individuals with UMBTs? 3) Does surgery improve outcomes for UMBT patients who received radiotherapy or chemotherapy after balancing the confounding bias?, Methods: 400 UMBT patients were filtrated from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database to assess the clinicopathological features, treatments, and factors affecting prognosis. The optimal cutoff values of continuous variables were identified by the x-tile software. Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate Cox proportional hazard modeling were performed to evaluate the independent prognostic factors. Nomogram was further developed by using R software with rms package. The surgical efficacy was further assessed for patients receiving radiotherapy or chemotherapy after performing propensity score matching., Results: The enrolled cohort included 195 (48.8%) female and 205 (51.2%) male patients. The 2- and 5-year cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) rate were 58.2 ± 3.0%, 46.8 ± 3.2%, and 46.5 ± 2.6%, 34.4 ± 2.5%, respectively. Nomogram was finally developed for CSS and OS according to the identified independent factors: age, tumor extent, primary tumor surgery, tumor size, and pathology grade. For UMBT patients who received radiotherapy or chemotherapy, surgical intervention was associated with better CSS (pr = 0.003, pc = 0.002) and OS (pr = 0.035, pc = 0.002), respectively., Conclusions: Nomogram was developed for individual UMBT patient to predict short and long-term CSS and OS rate, and more external patient cohorts are warranted for validation. Surgery improves outcomes for UMBT patients who received either radiotherapy or chemotherapy., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

In this article, a dynamic-neighborhood-based switching PSO (DNSPSO) algorithm is proposed, where a new velocity updating mechanism is designed to adjust the personal best position and the global best position according to a distance-based dynamic neighborhood to make full use of the population evolution information among the entire swarm. In addition, a novel switching learning strategy is introduced to adaptively select the acceleration coefficients and update the velocity model according to the searching state at each iteration, thereby contributing to a thorough search of the problem space. Furthermore, the differential evolution algorithm is successfully hybridized with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to alleviate premature convergence. A series of commonly used benchmark functions (including unimodal, multimodal, and rotated multimodal cases) is utilized to comprehensively evaluate the performance of the DNSPSO algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate that the developed DNSPSO algorithm outperforms a number of existing PSO algorithms in terms of the solution accuracy and convergence performance, especially for complicated multimodal optimization problems.

The literature has provided inconsistent findings on the relationship between interleukin IL-1 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted. Online electronic database searches were performed for relevant research published as of May 2021. Meta-analysis was performed to compare alleles and multiple genetic models (including dominant, recessive, heterozygous, and homozygous models) using random-effects models to reduce the impact of heterogeneity. A 95% confidence interval (95% CI) odds ratio (OR) was used to assess potential relationships. Nineteen studies including 6235 patients with AS and 5919 healthy controls were recruited. IL-1A-889 (rs1800587) had statistical significance in the allelic model (OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.08-1.77, P = 0.010) (I 2  = 51%.1, P = 0.0001); homozygous model (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.27-2.89, P = 0.002); heterozygous model (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.02-2.17, P = 0.163); dominant genetic model (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.05-2.24, P = 0.026); and recessive model (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.04-2.28, P = 0.031). Further stratified analysis showed that the allele model (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.08-1.69, P = 0.008), heterozygous model (OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.07-1.96, P = 0.017), and dominant model (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.11-1.99, P = 0.007) in the English population and allele model (OR 2.21, 95% CI 1.45-3.37, P = 0.0001), homozygous model (OR 3.85, 95% CI 1.38-10.76, P = 0.010), heterozygous model (OR 3.42, 95% CI 1.85-6.32, P = 0.0001), and dominant model (OR 3.49, 95% CI 1.93-6.30, P = 0.001) in Tunis were significantly associated with susceptibility to AS. Analysis of the IL1F7 exon 2 (rs3811047) showed that the G allele frequency was higher in the normal population than in the AS population (OR 0.76, 95% CI (0.64, 0.91)). Further stratified analysis concluded that the allele model was significantly associated with AS susceptibility in Canadian (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.61-0.94, P = 0.011) and Chinese patients (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.41-0.98, P = 0.041). The meta-analysis showed that the IL-1 gene polymorphism IL-1A-889 (rs1800587) increases the risk of AS in English and Tunisian populations. IL1F7 exon 2 (rs3811047) is negatively correlated with susceptibility to AS in Canadian and Chinese populations, but additional studies are needed for further exploration., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: To compare the efficacy and safety of retaining the posterior longitudinal ligament (PLL) with resecting the PLL in inside-out percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal discectomy (PETD) surgery for lumbar disc herniation (LDH)., Method: A total of 135 patients with symptomatic LDH who were treated by inside-out PETD surgery from January 2015 to January 2017were included in this retrospective analysis. There were 38 males and 30 females in the PLL resection group (mean age = 52.40 ± 8.73 years) and 35 males and 32 females in the PLL retention group (mean age = 53.50 ± 9.24 years). The visual analogue scale (VAS) score, Oswestry disability index (ODI), and modified MacNab criteria were used to evaluate clinical outcomes. Operation time, blood loss, recurrence of LDH, and complications were recorded. Three months after surgery, magnetic resonance imaging was performed to confirm that nerve root compression was relieved., Results: The VAS and ODI scores improved significantly immediately after surgery, at 1 month after surgery, at 3 months after surgery, and at last follow-up compared with those before surgery (P < 0.01). The scores also improved significantly between immediately after surgery and 1 month after surgery in the two groups (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis indicated that age ≥ 50 years (odds ratio (OR) = 6.33, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.64-21.98, P = 0.014), pain duration ≥6 months (OR = 4.68, 95% CI: 1.29-6.51, P = 0.025), pre-ODI score ≥ 40% (OR = 5.97, 95% CI: 2.41-14.86, P = 0.003) were all associated with poor functional outcomes. There was no significant difference in the excellent/good ratio between the two groups and the mean operation time of the retention group was 71.5% of that of the resection group (82.7 ± 18.5 min vs 115.6 ± 24.6 min, P < 0.01). In the patients, no serious complications, such as dural tear, wound infection, or persistent nerve root injury, were observed during the follow-up period. There was no significant difference in the complication rate between the two groups (6/68 vs 6/67, P = 0.979). Although the recurrence rate was higher in retention group, there was no significant difference between the two groups (1/68 vs 2/67, P = 0.551)., Conclusion: The PLL is recommended to be retained for inside-out PETD surgery., (© 2022 The Authors. Orthopaedic Surgery published by Tianjin Hospital and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

Purpose: The Fremantle back awareness questionnaire (FreBAQ) was recently developed as simple and quick tool to assess back-specific body perception in Low back pain (LBP) patients. The aim of the present study was to translate and cross-culturally adapt the Fremantle back awareness questionnaire (FreBAQ) into a Simplified Chinese version (FreBAQ-C), and evaluate the reliability and validity of the FreBAQ-C in patients with non-specific Chronic Low back pain (CLBP)., Methods: The FreBAQ was translated into Chinese according to established methods. Internal consistency was assessed according to Cronbach's alpha. Test-retest reliability was estimated by Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Construct validity was evaluated by correlations between the FreBAQ-C and Visual analogue scale (VAS), Roland-Morris disability questionnaire (RDQ), Pain catastrophizing scale (PCS), Tampa scale for kinesiophobia (TSK) as well as Hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS)., Results: A total of 105 participants (38 males and 67 females) were included in this study with the mean age of 54.1 ± 15.6 years, mean duration of LBP of 6.8 ± 4.6 years. The FreBAQ-C total scores were well distributed, with no floor or ceiling effects. Internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach's alpha = 0.833). ICC of test-retest reliability was good (0.897, 95% confidence interval: 0.852-0.929). The limits of agreement (LOA) ranged from - 5.8 to 6.3. The Standard error of measurement (SEM) and Minimum detectable change (MDC) were 2.16 and 5.99. Construct validity was confirmed by significant correlation of The FreBAQ-C and VAS during motion (r = 0.274, p = 0.005) and rest (r = 0.243, p = 0.012), RDQ (r = 0.377, p < 0.001), PCS (r = 0.439, p < 0.001), and TSK(r = 0.311, p = 0.001)., Conclusions: The FreBAQ-C was demonstrated to have acceptable reliability and validity for patients with non-specific CLBP in Chinese mainland. It will allow evaluating body preception of the back in the Chinese population with CLBP., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a sarcoma with high rates of pulmonary metastases and mortality. The mechanisms underlying tumour generation and development in OS are not well-understood. Haematopoietic cell kinase (HCK), a vital member of the Src family of kinase proteins, plays crucial roles in cancer progression and may act as an anticancer target; however, the mechanism by which HCK enhances OS development remains unexplored. Therefore, we investigated the role of HCK in OS development in vitro and in vivo. Downregulation of HCK attenuated OS cell proliferation, migration and invasion and increased OS cell apoptosis, whereas overexpression of HCK enhanced these processes. Mechanistically, HCK expression enhanced OS tumorigenesis via the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MEK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway; HCK upregulation increased the phosphorylation of MEK and ERK and promoted epithelial-mesenchymal transition, with a reduction in E-cadherin in vitro. Furthermore, HCK downregulation decreased the tumour volume and weight in mice transplanted with OS cells. In conclusion, HCK plays a crucial role in OS tumorigenesis, progression and metastasis via the MEK/ERK pathway, suggesting that HCK is a potential target for developing treatments for OS., (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Predicting and mapping high water table elevation in coastal landscapes is critical for both science application projects like inundation risk analysis and engineering projects like pond design and maintenance. Previous studies of water table mapping focused on the application of geostatistical methods, which cannot predict values beyond an observation spatial domain or generate an ideal pattern for regions with sparse measurements. In this study, we evaluated the multiple linear regression (MLR) and support vector machine (SVM) techniques for high water table prediction and mapping using fine spatial resolution lidar-derived Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data, and designed an application protocol of these two techniques for high water table mapping in a coastal landscape where groundwater, tide, and surface water are related. Testing results showed that SVM largely improved the high water table prediction with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.22 feet and root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.22 feet compared to the application of the ordinary Kriging method which could not generate a reasonable water table. MLR was also promising with a MAE of around 2 feet and RMSE of around 3 feet. The study suggests that both MLR and SVM are valuable alternatives to estimate high water table elevation in Florida. Fine resolution lidar DEMs are beneficial for high water table prediction and mapping., (© 2020 National Ground Water Association.)

In this paper, a novel particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is put forward where a sigmoid-function-based weighting strategy is developed to adaptively adjust the acceleration coefficients. The newly proposed adaptive weighting strategy takes into account both the distances from the particle to the global best position and from the particle to its personal best position, thereby having the distinguishing feature of enhancing the convergence rate. Inspired by the activation function of neural networks, the new strategy is employed to update the acceleration coefficients by using the sigmoid function. The search capability of the developed adaptive weighting PSO (AWPSO) algorithm is comprehensively evaluated via eight well-known benchmark functions including both the unimodal and multimodal cases. The experimental results demonstrate that the designed AWPSO algorithm substantially improves the convergence rate of the particle swarm optimizer and also outperforms some currently popular PSO algorithms.

Background: Adolescents with scoliosis consistently demonstrate lower body weight, lean muscle mass, and bone mineral density than healthy adolescent counterparts. Recent studies have focused on understanding how leptin and ghrelin signaling may play a role in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). In our current study, we aim to evaluate the serum levels of leptin, soluble leptin receptor (sOB-R), and ghrelin in AIS patients through systematic review and meta-analysis., Methods: We conducted our systematic review by searching the keywords in online databases including PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Elsevier, Springer, and Web of Science from the time of database inception to January 2020. Inclusion criteria were studies that measure leptin, soluble leptin receptor (sOB-R), and ghrelin levels in AIS patients. Selection of studies, assessment of study quality, and data extraction were performed by two reviewers independently. Then, data was analyzed to calculate the mean difference and 95% confidence interval (CI)., Results: Seven studies concerning leptin/sOB-R and three studies concerning ghrelin were qualified for meta-analysis (one study concerning both leptin and ghrelin). Serum leptin of patients with AIS were significantly lower when compared with healthy controls, with the weighted mean difference (WMD) of - 0.95 (95% CI - 1.43 to - 0.48, p < 0.0001) after reducing the heterogeneity using six studies for meta-analysis, while sOB-R and ghrelin level was significantly higher in AIS group when compared with control group, with the WMD of 2.64 (95% CI 1.60 to 3.67, p < 0.001) and 1.42 (95% CI 0.48 to 2.35, p = 0.003), respectively., Conclusion: Our current meta-analysis showed that serum level of leptin in AIS patients was significantly lower when compared with control subjects, while serum sOB-R and ghrelin levels were significantly higher in AIS patients. More clinical studies are still required to further validate the predictive value of leptin or ghrelin for the curve progression for AIS patients.

Background: A number of recent studies have investigated the optimal dosage and timing of dexamethasone in total hip arthroplasty (THA) but have inconsistent findings. Therefore, we designed the randomized controlled research to look for the optimal intravenous dexamethasone dose for the treatment of early postoperative pain after the THA., Methods: The Declaration of Helsinki principles was followed and the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials guidelines for randomized controlled trials was adhered in this study. The First Medical Center in People's Liberation Army General Hospital approved the study (2020-089). After written informed consent was obtained, patients aged between 18 and 80 years with Physical Status I to III of American Society of Anesthesiologists, scheduled for primary unilateral THA, were included in this present work. Randomization is the use of a computer-formed list via a secretary, at a ratio of 1:1:1. The major end points were pain scores at 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours after surgery, with visual analog scale (VAS) utilized at rest, and at 45 degrees passive hip flexion. The secondary outcomes involved the total consumption of morphine, opioid-related side effects, hip range of motion, inflammation markers, and the length of hospital stay., Results: We assumed that the patients who received 3 doses of dexamethasone intravenously possessed the best postoperative results compared to those who received 1 or 2 doses of the dexamethasone., Trial Registration: This study protocol was registered in Research Registry (researchregistry5864).

Background: Radical resection is the first-line option in managing cervical primary chondrosarcoma. Favorable anterior reconstruction is challenging after multilevel total spondylectomy in the cervical spine., Objective: To illustrate the application of piezoelectric surgery and three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques in spine surgery., Methods: A 27-yr-old patient was referred to our center with complaints of nocturnal neck pain and right upper extremity weakness. A 2-stage radical tumor resection was conducted using piezoelectric surgery with pathologically tumor-free margins. A 3D-printed titanium microporous prosthesis (3D-PTMP) was designed to reconstruct the anterior column of the cervical spine between C1 and T1 for stability., Results: The whole intraoperative blood loss was 2300 mL over the 2 procedures. The patient had an uneventful recovery, regaining ambulatory status 3 wk after the 2 operations without ventilator support or other severe complications. By the final 14-mo follow-up, the patient had achieved marked pain relief and favorable neurological improvement; a postoperative computed tomography scan indicated a good position of the 3D-printed construct between the endplates with no sign of tumor recurrence or implant subsidence., Conclusion: The applications of piezosurgery in total spondylectomy and in 3D-PTMP in reconstruction can be a favorable alternative for managing multilevel cervical spinal tumors. Further studies are warranted to validate this surgical strategy., (Copyright © 2019 by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.)

Migraine comorbid with depression is common and is often encountered in clinical practice. The comorbidity may lead to more serious conditions with other symptoms and a longer duration of treatment and it may impose heavy economic and social burdens, directly or indirectly, on patients and their families. Numerous studies have been published on the association of migraine with depression. Numerous literature have showed that the comorbidity may have a common complicated pathogenic mechanism involving biopsychosocial characteristics, including abnormal brain development and shared genetic basis, as well as neurotransmitters, sex hormones and stress. In addition, some studies have identified the multiple, bidirectional relationship between migraine and depressive disorder. We searched the literature for the possible common mechanisms between migraine and depression and classified the research results., (© 2019 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine.)

Study Design: A retrospective study., Objective: To describe a new surgical technique for total en bloc spondylectomy (TES) of the fifth lumbar (L5) tumor and evaluate the efficacy and safety of this new technique., Summary of Background Data: TES has been considered an optimal treatment for tumor, including certain spinal tumors, but it requires a combined posterior-anterior approach, which is often complicated by a long operation time, considerable blood loss and severe trauma., Methods: Seven patients with primary or solitary metastatic tumors of L5 were treated with this new technique in our center between March 2014 and November 2017. The critical points were fabrication of the iliac graft, dissection, resection, and reconstruction. Other parameters including surgical time, blood loss, complications, pre- and postoperative neurological function, tumor control, and overall survival (OS) were presented and analyzed., Results: All the included patients received one stage TES. The mean surgical time was 365.7 minutes with an average blood loss of 2514.3 mL. No serious perioperative complication was observed or reported during the mean follow-up period of 27.4 months. Wound disruption occurred in one patient and numbness of the left lower limb in another, but both recovered rapidly after appropriate management. Adventitial avulsion of the abdominal aorta occurred during dissection in one patient. Two patients died during the follow-up period due to advanced malignancy. One patient was alive but developed a newly diagnosed thoracolumbar tumor in 40 months. The other four patients recovered well without evidence of disease. All patients were able to walk independently 3 to 4 weeks after operation, with satisfied fusion of the iliac grafts in a mean period of 6.7 months after operation. No evidence of internal fixation failure occurred., Conclusion: This new technique offers satisfactory surgical exposure, total en bloc spondylectomy, reliable reconstruction, and good tumor control for certain L5 tumors through the posterior-only approach., Level of Evidence: 4.

The Chinese space station will be built around 2020. As a national space laboratory, it will offer unique opportunities for studying the physiological effects of weightlessness and the efficacy of the countermeasures against such effects. In this paper, we described the development of countermeasure systems in the Chinese space program. To emphasize the need of the Chinese space program to implement its own program for developing countermeasures, we reviewed the literature on the negative physiological effects of weightlessness, the challenges of completing missions, the development of countermeasure devices, the establishment of countermeasure programs, and the efficacy of the countermeasure techniques in American and Russian manned spaceflights. In addition, a brief overview was provided on the Chinese research and development on countermeasures to discuss the current status and goals of the development of countermeasures against physiological problems associated with weightlessness.

Background: Reconstruction of thoracolumbar structural stability is a formidable challenge for spine surgeons after vertebral body tumor resection. Various disadvantages of the currently used expandable or nonexpandable cages have limited their clinical applications. We sought to develop a novel prosthesis for clinical use and assess its preliminary clinical outcome in reconstruction of thoracolumbar structural stability after spinal tumor resection., Methods: Using data obtained from a retrospective analysis of the morphological characteristics of the thoracolumbar vertebrae and endplates in previously reported studies, we modified the nano-hydroxyapatite/polyamide-66 (n-HA/PA66) strut into a novel height-adjustable vertebral body. A retrospective study was performed of 7 patients who had undergone reconstruction of thoracolumbar structural stability with this novel prosthesis from August 2016 to January 2017., Results: A novel height-adjustable vertebral body (AHVB) composed of n-HA/PA66 with 2 separate components with a 163° contact surface at each end was manufactured. The height-adjustable range was 28-37 mm. No significant implant-related complications were observed in the process of operation. All patients experienced a significant reduction in pain, with the visual analog scale score decreasing from 7.9 to 4.0. Neurological improvement was assessed using the Frankel grading system after surgery. Postoperative radiographic and computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging findings indicated that the operated segment was stable, the outcome of kyphosis correction was good, and no prosthesis subsidence or dislocation was observed., Conclusion: This novel prosthesis has many advantages in the reconstruction of height, lordosis, and alignment after thoracolumbar spinal tumor resection and has a favorable prospect for clinical application., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Lung cancer leads to the largest number of cancer-related deaths worldwide and is usually accompanied with metastasis which is the primary cause of those death and correlated with poor prognosis. However, the mechanism of lung cancer metastasis is still lack of definition., Methods: We compared the primary lung adenocarcinoma (AD) and its metastasis tissues induced by overexpression of Kras G12D and inactivation of P53 in mouse lungs by analyzing GSE40222 about the differentially expressed genes (DEGs), pathways and hub genes. And human lung AD databases are used to verify the conversed changes of identified key gene and then followed functional studies are performed to explore the functions of key gene., Results: We identified 165 genes differentially expressed in lung AD metastasis compared to primary AD. Pathway analysis identified 649 GO biological processes and 8 KEGG pathways, such as ECM-receptor interaction. Biological network interaction identified the hub genes during lung adenocarcinoma metastasis, such as the up-regulated COL5A1, a novel gene in AD metastasis. We found it's also increased in human AD and advanced stage. Knockdown of COL5A1 in human AD metastatic cells inhibited cell growth and invasion, and induced cell apoptosis. Notably, higher expression of COL5A1 was observed in the lung AD patients with recurrence and short survive., Conclusion: By analyzing mouse lung AD and its metastases, we identified the potential key genes and pathways regulating lung AD metastasis, such as COL5A1. The following analysis of COL5A1 in human AD database and cells explores its functions, holding the implications of target therapy in AD metastasis and also providing more clues for future studies., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Osteosarcoma is a mesenchymally derived, high-grade bone sarcoma that is the most frequently diagnosed primary malignant bone tumor. Today, chemoprevention is regarded as a promising and realistic approach in the prevention of human cancer. Previous studies have suggested ellagic acid (EA) and Sennoside B have potential in this regard. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the anti-osteosarcoma effects of EA and Sennoside B by using Saos-2 and MG63 osteosarcoma cells. It was identified that EA or Sennoside B treatment could inhibit the growth, migration and invasion of the cells, and induce G 1 cell cycle arrest by repressing the transcription of c-Jun. These results may provide a cellular basis for the application of EA or Sennoside B in the treatment of patients with osteosarcoma.

Purpose: Multi-level reconstruction incorporating the chest wall and ribs is technically demanding after multi-segmental total en bloc spondylectomy (TES) of thoracic spinal tumours. Few surgical techniques are reported for effective reconstruction. A novel and straightforward technical reconstruction through posterior-lateral approach was presented to solve the extensive chest wall defect and prevent occurrences of severe respiratory dysfunctions after performing TES. The preliminary outcomes of surgery were reviewed., Methods: Multi-level TES was performed for five patients with primary or recurrent thoracic spinal malignancies through posterior-lateral approach. The involved ribs and chest wall were removed to achieve tumour-free margin. Then titanium mesh with allograft bone and pedicle screw-rod system were adopted for the circumferential spinal reconstruction routinely. Titanium rods were modified accordingly to attach to the screw-rod system proximally, and the distal end of rods was dynamically inserted into the ribs., Results: The mean surgery time was 6.7 hours (range 5-8), with the average blood loss of 3260 ml (range 2300-4500). No severe neurological complications were reported while three patients had complaints of slight numbness of chest skin (no. 1, 3, and 5). No severe respiratory complications occurred during peri-operative period. No implant failure and no local recurrence or distant metastases were observed with an average follow-up of 12.5 months., Conclusions: The single-stage reconstructions incorporating spine and chest wall are straightforward and easy to perform. The preliminary outcomes of co-reconstructions are promising and favourable. More studies and longer follow-up are required to validate this technique.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of long-term bisphosphonate treatment on reducing local recurrence of sacral giant cell tumors (GCTs) after nerve-sparing surgery. METHODS Thirty-five consecutive patients with sacral GCTs who received treatment in Shanghai Changzheng Hospital between January 2000 and December 2010 were included in this study. Between January 2007 and December 2010, 19 patients received bisphosphonates following nerve-sparing surgery. Before January 2007, 16 patients received nerve-sparing surgery alone, and these cases were included as the control group. The difference in clinical data between the groups was compared by Student's t-test and 2-tailed chi-square or Fisher's exact test. The postoperative recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared between the groups by log-rank test. A p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS All of the patients had relatively good nerve function. The clinical data were homogeneous between the groups. The local recurrence rate was 10.53% (2 of 19) in the bisphosphonate treatment group and 43.75% (7 of 16) in the control group. The log-rank test showed that the 3-year RFS and 3-year OS in the bisphosphonate treatment group were significantly higher than those in the control group (RFS 89.5% vs 56.3%, p = 0.04; OS 100% vs 81.3%, p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The long-term use of bisphosphonates after nerve-sparing surgery is a viable option for the treatment of sacral GCTs. This approach could reduce local recurrences while preserving nerve function.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the alterations of cortical connectivity in first-episode schizophrenia (FES) with auditory hallucinations at early response of antipsychotics., Methods: This was a nonexperimental control of medication study. We measured the cortical activity of 20 medicated patients with FES (medicated group), 19 nonmedicated patients with FES (nonmedicated group), and 22 healthy controls using electroencephalogram during eye-open resting state. Source reconstruction analysis was performed to determine the brain regions that showed significant group difference. A dynamic causal modelling (DCM) analysis was used to estimate the effective connectivity between sources., Result: Both FES groups expressed increased activity in the right middle frontal gyrus (RMFG) and left/right superior temporal gyrus (L/RSTG) relative to that in the controls (p<0.05), and the nonmedicated group presented even higher activity than the medicated group (p<0.05). The effective connectivity from RMFG to LSTG was weaker in the nonmedicated group relative to that in the medicated group (p<0.01), although patients in the medicated group showed no difference with healthy controls in RMFG to L/RSTG connections. The Bayesian model selection analysis found modulatory lateralization in the nonmedicated group., Conclusion: The patients with FES showed frontotemporal hyperactivity and disconnectivity. The effective connections accompanied with modulation were improved when hallucination diminished at early response of routine medication., Significance: This study provided the first evidence of early drug response-related alterations in effective brain connectivity., (Copyright © 2017 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Gitelman syndrome(GS) is a rare inherited tubular disorder which is characterized by hypokalemia, metabolic alkalosis, hypomagnesemia, and hypocalciuria. Here, we report a case of schizophrenia-like psychosis concomitant with GS and related literatures are reviewed., Case Description: An 18-year-old male patient with 1-week history of auditory hallucinations, sense of insecurity, delusions of reference and feelings of being followed and controlled by others unknown, insomnia was admitted to Psychiatry department in December, 2013. Hypokalemia and hypomagnesemia were noted. He was diagnosed as schizophrenia-like psychosis. Treatment with paliperidone at the dose of 6 mg/day and magnesium and potassium supplementations was commenced. However, electrolyte disturbances failed to improve following psychosis remission. Therefore, other underlying diseases resulting in electrolyte disturbances were suspected. Along with hypokalemia and hypomagnesemia, additional investigation showing metabolic alkalosis, hypocalciuria, renal loss of potassium, were consistent with GS. Gene analysis revealed this patient carried out c. 2687 G > A homozygous mutation of exon 23 in the SLC12A3 gene which led to p.Arg896Gln. Eventually, GS was identified. Thus, additional spironolactone (40 mg/day) combined with increased doses of oral potassium chloride sustained-release tablets (3.0 g/day) and potassium magnesium aspartate (0.3 g/day) were administered. During next half a year, fatigue resolved, paliperidone gradually tapered and eventually discontinued while psychosis maintained complete remission. His serum potassium was near normal (3.2-3.5 mmol/L), hypomagnesemia significantly improved (0.57-0.67 mmol/L)., Discussion and Evaluation: Electrolyte abnormalities secondary to GS might cause or contribute to development of neuropsychiatric symptoms. In turn, hypokalemia was common among acute psychiatric inpatients. As a consequence, when concomitant with psychosis, GS was readily concealed., Conclusion: Electrolyte disturbances are common in acute psychiatric patients. However, when electrolyte disturbances are not improved following psychosis remission, other underlying diseases such as GS should be considered.

We develop a novel dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) system with a meshed water electrode to generate stable square superlattice patterns (MSSP) in Ar/air mixture in a wide range of experimental environments. Discharge scenarios with the applied voltage increasing in the meshed DBD and ordinary DBD are presented respectively under the same experimental conditions. It is found that a square pattern and MSSP can be obtained stably and easily in meshed DBD, while no pattern emerges in ordinary DBD. MSSP can be formed when the Ar content is from 0% to 70%, and the corresponding applied voltage decreases with Ar content increasing. Results based on optical methods show that MSSP is generated by artificially designed electrodes together with nonlinear characteristics of DBD, which may account for why patterns in meshed DBD exist in a wide range.

Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) is a rare, transmissible prion disease of the brain, characterized by prominent neurological symptoms and progressive dementia. Early psychiatric manifestations as an initial or sole symptom of sCJD are relatively rare. The current report describes an elderly female patient with sCJD demonstrating anxiety as an initial symptom. The present patient was initially diagnosed with adjustment disorder and anxiety; however, the rapid deterioration of the patient's cognitive and neurological functioning led to a diagnosis of sCJD. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance images of the brain supported a diagnosis of sCJD, and it was posited that the abnormalities of gray matter that were observed within the bilateral cingulate cortex may be the pathophysiological basis of the anxiety associated with this case of sCJD. The patient eventually succumbed to inhalational bronchopneumonia 5 months after anxiety onset. The present case report emphasizes the importance of secondary causes of anxiety symptoms in elderly patients, and indicates that brain DWI is a non-invasive and useful examination in the early diagnosis of sCJD.

Study Design: A prospective, randomized, controlled clinical study., Objective: To determine the efficacy of bipolar sealer device in reducing perioperative blood loss and transfusions in degenerative lumbar scoliosis patients undergoing primary posterior spinal fusion., Background: It has recently been used successfully in pediatric spine surgery, particularly in idiopathic and neuromuscular deformities. However, there is a dearth of literature on prospective study of the efficacy of bipolar sealer device in reducing perioperative blood loss and transfusions in patients undergoing degenerative lumbar scoliosis surgery., Methods: A total of 100 consecutive degenerative lumbar scoliosis patients who had undergone primary decompression and posterior spinal fusion with segmental spinal instrumentation between June 2010 and June 2012 were prospectively randomized into 1 of 2 groups according to whether bipolar sealer device for intraoperative/postoperative blood management was used or not. Demographic distribution, perioperative blood loss, blood transfusion rate, the length of stay, and postoperative complications were analyzed., Results: The operation time was significantly shorter in the study group than in the control group, 223.4 versus 248.9 minutes (P=0.026). There was significantly lower intraoperative estimated blood loss in the bipolar sealer group, 407 versus 696 mL (P=0.000). Of the patients with the use of bipolar sealer device, the mean red blood cell transfusion requirement during hospitalization was significantly less than the control group, 0.4 versus 1.1 U/patient (P=0.003). Furthermore, significant difference existed in allogenic blood transfusion rate between the 2 cohorts. Within the study group (with the use of bipolar sealer device), the entire perioperative allogenic blood transfusion rate was 18.0% compared with 40.0% of the control group (P=0.015). There were no complications related directly to the use of the bipolar sealer., Conclusions: Utilization of a bipolar sealer during correction of lumbar degenerative scoliosis may offer comparable hemostatic effects, without prohibitive cost or adverse drug-related risks.

Lithium intoxication can cause serious cardiac toxicity and is associated with electrocardiogram (ECG) changes. This paper described a case of a 76-year-old man who was lithium intoxicated and showed a variety of ECG abnormalities including sinus bradycardia, rapid atrial fibrillation, second-degree atrioventricular block and T wave changes. We monitored his ECGs during the after 3 days consecutively. After hemodialysis, his ECG abnormalities partially eased along with his serum lithium concentration decreased.

This study was to investigate the association of psychological characteristics and functional dyspepsia treatment outcome. 109 patients who met the criteria for FD were enrolled. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL90), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used to measure personality, psychological symptoms, and sleep quality in our patients. Leeds Dyspepsia Questionnaire (LDQ) was used to assess dyspeptic symptoms at baseline and after eight weeks of treatment. The LDQ scores change after therapy, and the degraded rate of LDQ was used to assess the prognosis of patients. Logistic regression model was used to assess the effect of the personality, psychological symptoms, and sleep quality on the prognosis of patients. Our result revealed that poor sleep quality (OR = 7.68, 95% CI 1.83-32.25) and bad marriage status (OR = 1.22, 95% CI 1.10-1.36) had the negative effect on the prognosis of FD, while extroversion in personality traits (OR = 0.86, 95% CI 0.76-0.96) had positive effect on the prognosis of FD. We should pay attention to the sleep quality, the personality, and the marriage status of FD patients; psychological intervention may have benefit in refractory FD.

Idiopathic basal ganglia calcification (IBGC) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the deposition of calcium in the brain and variable combinations of movement disorders, gait impairment and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Few reports have described psychiatric manifestations as early symptoms of IBGC. The present study reports the case of a middle-aged man with schizophrenia-like psychosis and obsessive-compulsive symptoms as the first manifestations of IBGC. The response of the patient to olanzapine and fluoxetine suggests that low-dose olanzapine is effective and should be increased cautiously to avoid worsening parkinsonism and that fluoxetine is an effective drug for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in IBGC.

Gravity is one of the important environmental factors that influence the physiologies and behaviors of animals and humans, and changes in gravity elicit a variety of physiological and behavioral alterations that include impaired movement coordination, vertigo, spatial disorientation, and perceptual illusions. To elucidate the effects of gravity on human physiology and behavior, we examined changes in wrist and trunk activities and heart rate during parabolic flight and the activity of wrist and trunk in water immersion experiments. Data from 195 person-time parabolas performed by eight subjects revealed that the trunk motion counts decreased by approximately half during ascending legs (hypergravity), relative to the data acquired before the parabolic flights. In contrast, the wrist activity remained unchanged. The results from the water immersion experiments demonstrated that in the underwater condition, both the wrist and trunk activities were significantly decreased but the latter decreased to a much lower level. Together, these data suggest that gravitational alterations can result in differential influences on the motions of the wrist and the trunk. These findings might be important for understanding the degeneration of skeleton and muscular system and performance of astronauts in microgravity.

Delusions of schizophrenia have been found to be associated with alterations of some brain regions in structure and task-induced activation. However, the relationship between spontaneously occurring symptoms and spontaneous brain activity remains unclear. In the current study, 14 schizophrenic patients with delusions and 14 healthy controls underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) scan. Patients with delusions of schizophrenia patients were rated with Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Characteristics of Delusional Rating Scale (CDRS). Regional homogeneity (ReHo) was calculated to measure the local synchronization of the spontaneous activity in a voxel-wise way. A two-sample t-test showed that ReHo of the right anterior cingulate gyrus and left medial superior frontal gyrus were higher in patients, and ReHo of the left superior occipital gyrus was lower, compared to healthy controls. Further, among patients, correlation analysis showed a significant difference between delusion scores of CRDS and ReHo of brain regions. ReHo of the left medial superior frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with patients' CDRS scores but not with delusional PANSS scores. These results suggested that altered local synchronization of spontaneous brain activity may be related to the pathophysiology of delusion in schizophrenia.

The study focused on the predictive value of baseline metabolite ratios in bilateral hippocampus of first-episode schizophrenia by using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H MRS). (1)H MRS data were acquired from 23 hallucination and 17 non-hallucination first-episode schizophrenia patients compared with 17 healthy participants. Clinical characteristics of patients were rated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) before and after 3-month treatment. The schizophrenia patients showed lower NAA/Cr ratio than healthy participants respectively (p=0.024; p=0.001), and non-hallucination patients had even lower NAA/Cr ratio than hallucination patients (p=0.033). After 3-month treatment, hallucination patients had greater improvement in negative symptoms than non-hallucination patients (p=0.018). The reduction of PANSS total score and negative factor score was positively correlated with the left NAA/Cr in both group patients (p<0.05). Given that the bilateral hippocampal baseline NAA/Cr had predictive value for the whole treatment response, and the left hippocampal NAA/Cr can predict the prognosis of negative symptoms during acute phase medication in first-episode schizophrenia., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is a rare subtype of extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is limited to the central nervous system. Few studies are available reporting psychiatric symptoms as the initial and dominant presentation of PCNSL. The current study reports the case of a PCNSL patient with a history of major depressive disorder and coexisting rheumatoid arthritis (treated with methotrexate), who initially presented with recurrent depressive disorder that showed no response to antidepressant drug therapy. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed multiple mass lesions in the brain, and pathological examination of the biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of diffuse large B cell lymphoma of the central nervous system. The present case demonstrated that PCNSL may affect mood in the early stages of the disease and thus, clinicians must be aware of this manifestation in patients with depressive disorder co-existing with immunosuppressive conditions, as early detection and appropriate treatment are important prognostic factors for PCNSL.

Avian embryo experiments proved an ingrowth model for the coronary artery connections with the aorta. However, whether a similar mechanism applies to the mammalian heart still remains unclear. Here we analyzed how the main coronary arteries and their orifices form during murine heart development. Apelin (Apln) is expressed in coronary vascular endothelial cells including peritruncal endothelial cells. By immunostaining, however, we did not find Apln expression in endothelial cells of the aorta during the period of coronary vessel development (E10.5 to E15.5). As a result of this unique expression difference, Apln(CreERT2/+) genetically labels nascent coronary vessels forming on the heart, but not the aorta endothelium when pulse activated by tamoxifen injection at E10.5. This allowed us to define the temporal contribution of these distinct endothelial cell populations to formation of the murine coronary artery orifice. We found that the peritruncal endothelial cells were recruited to form the coronary artery orifices. These cells penetrate the wall of aorta and take up residence in the aortic sinus of valsalva. In conclusion, main coronary arteries and their orifices form through the recruitment and vascular remodeling of peritruncal endothelial cells in mammalian heart.

Objective: To investigate the correlation of neurochemical metabolism in hippocampus with memory function in young adult patients with first-episode depression., Methods: Twenty patients with first-episode depression (patient group) and fifteen health subjects (control group) were enrolled in the study. The neurochemical metabolism, including the levels of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), Choline (Cho), Creatine (Cr), Myoinositol (mI) were measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscope (1H-MRS) in bilateral hippocampus. Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) were used to examine the memory function in both groups., Results: The memory quotient (89.15 ±6.62) of patient group was significantly lower than that of controls (P <0.01),the scores of long-term memory,short-term memory and immediate memory in patients were also lower than those of controls (P<0.05 or 0.01). In patient group, the ratio of NAA/Cr (1.34 ±0.08) in the left hippocampus was significantly lower than that of control group (P<0.01); and the ratio of mI/Cr in the bilateral hippocampus [(0.63 ±0.13) in left and (0.6 ±0.1) in right] was significantly higher than those in control group (P<0.05). In patient group,the ratio of NAA/Cr in the left hippocampus was positively correlated with WMS scores (P<0.01), and the ratio of mI/Cr in the left hippocampus was negatively correlated with WMS scores (P<0.05)., Conclusion: The memory deficit and abnormal metabolism function of neuron cell in hippocampus coexist in young adult patients with first-episode depression, and the lower NAA/Cr and higher mI/Cr ratio in the left hippocampus may result in the memory deficit.

Methylphenidate (MPH) is one of the most commonly used stimulants for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Although several studies have evaluated the effects of MPH on human brain activation during specific cognitive tasks using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), few studies have focused on spontaneous brain activity. In the current study, we investigated the effect of MPH on the intra-regional synchronization of spontaneous brain activity during the resting state in 18 normal adult males. A handedness questionnaire and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale were applied before medication, and a resting-state fMRI scan was obtained 1 h after medication (20 mg MPH or placebo, order counterbalanced between participants). We demonstrated that: (1) there were no significant differences in the performance of behavioral tasks between the MPH and placebo groups; (2) the left middle and superior temporal gyri had stronger MPHrelated regional homogeneity (ReHo); and (3) the left lingual gyrus had weaker MPH-related ReHo. Our findings showed that the ReHo in some brain areas changes with MPH compared to placebo in normal adults, even though there are no behavioral differences. This method can be applied to patients with mental illness who may be treated with MPH, and be used to compare the difference between patients taking MPH and normal participants, to help reveal the mechanism of how MPH works.

Cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis (CTX) is an autosomal recessive, lipid storage disorder which is extremely rare in the Chinese population. It is characterized by progressive neurologic dysfunction and enlargement of tendon xanthomas, and is often accompanied with neuropsychiatric symptoms. Few reports are available regarding depression and antidepressant medication in CTX patients. Here, we report a Chinese case of CTX associated with fluoxetine-responsive major depression., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Mood disorders are chronic, recurrent psychiatric disorders with high morbidity rates that cause severe disability. Researchers have used molecular imaging extensively in studies of mood disorders. In this article, we concisely and selectively review the major findings of positron emission tomography studies of patients with mood disorders. Specifically, we describe findings from cerebral blood flow, cerebral glucose/oxygen metabolism, and radioligand studies in both cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations. Patients with mood disorders have mood-correlated regional metabolism changes and molecular abnormalities in several neurotransmitter systems. Although the findings of these studies are not completely consistent and confounding factors, including drug effects and specific methodology, should be strictly controlled, these results reveal the pathophysiology of mood disorders and aid the development of novel treatment approaches for mood disorders. Future positron emission tomography research will benefit greatly from the development of better radioligands to simultaneously identify multiple neurotransmitter systems in the specific brain region and the integration of more detecting methods in specifying the neurobiological predictors of treatment response in patients with mood disorders. Understanding the molecular mechanisms in underlying mood disorders will result in aetiological diagnosis and individualization of treatment of these disorders.