Search

Enamel hypoplasia is a disease that results in enamel formation and mineralization abnormalities due to the effects of hereditary or environmental variables during tooth development. Affected teeth may appear to have an aberrant color and structural flaws. Patients often display clinical signs such as tooth defects, tooth sensitivity, and tooth discoloration. The disease can cause patients to feel physically and mentally uncomfortable and negatively impact their ability to chew, swallow, speak, and smile. In this review, the pathophysiology of enamel hypoplasia, which is caused by anomalies in gene regulation and changes in environmental variables, is summarized, along with a list of clinical diagnostic indicators based on the most commonly used disease classifications. The main points are as follows: ① enamel hypoplasia changes only the color and transparency of the affected teeth; ② lesions often occur symmetrically in groups; ③ the age at which systemic diseases or nutritional disorders occur during tooth development can be predicted based on the patient's impaired teeth; and ④ banded or pitted brown depression on the enamel surface can easily be confused with dental fluorosis. It also elaborates on the comprehensive application of tooth bleaching, desensitization, direct or indirect restoration and other treatment modalities according to unique chief complaints by different patients and suggests the use of multidisciplinary cooperative sequential treatment for critical infants and young children. The goal of this review is to provide professionals with the most recent information and advice about enamel hypoplasis. Current literature on this condition is primarily case reports. To further standardize the diagnostic and management approaches for this disease, additional high-quality clinical research and systematic reviews are required.

It is significant to investigate the calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation mechanism during the carbon capture process; nevertheless, CaCO3 precipitation is not clearly understood yet. Understanding the carbonation mechanism at the atomic level can contribute to the mineralization capture and utilization of carbon dioxide, as well as the development of new cementitious materials with high-performance. There are many factors, such as temperature and CO2 concentration, that can influence the carbonation reaction. In order to achieve better carbonation efficiency, the reaction conditions of carbonation should be fully verified. Therefore, based on molecular dynamics simulations, this paper investigates the atomic-scale mechanism of carbonation. We investigate the effect of carbonation factors, including temperature and concentration, on the kinetics of carbonation (polymerization rate and activation energy), the early nucleation of calcium carbonate, etc. Then, we analyze the local stresses of atoms to reveal the driving force of early stage carbonate nucleation and the reasons for the evolution of polymerization rate and activation energy. Results show that the higher the calcium concentration or temperature, the higher the polymerization rate of calcium carbonate. In addition, the activation energies of the carbonation reaction increase with the decrease in calcium concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dominant species occupy a pivotal role in plant community, influencing the structure and function of the ecosystem. The spatial distributions of dominant species can react to the effect of different grazing intensities, thereby reflecting their tolerance and adaptive strategies toward grazing. In this study, geostatistical methods were mainly used to study the spatial distribution characteristics of Stipa krylovii Roshev. and Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel. species at two interval scales (quadrat size 5 m × 5 m, 10 m × 10 m) and two treatments (free grazing, FG, 1.66 sheep·ha− 1·a− 1; control, CK, 0 sheep·ha− 1·a− 1) in typical steppe of Inner Mongolia. A systematic sampling method was used in each 100 m × 100 m representative sample plots to obtain the height, coverage, and density of all species in the community. The results showed that grazing altered the concentrated distribution of S. krylovii and the spatial mosaic distribution pattern of S. krylovii and L. chinensis while having no effect on the spatial clumped distribution of L. chinensis. It also found that the spatial distributions of dominant species are primarily affected by structural factors, and random factors such as long-term grazing led to a transition of S. krylovii from a concentrated distribution to a small patchy random pattern should not be overlooked. Our findings suggest that long-term grazing alters the spatial distribution pattern of dominant species and that adaptive strategies may be the key for maintaining the dominant role of structural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: posterior pedicle screw fixation is common method, one of the most severe complications is iatrogenic vascular damage, no report investigated association of different introversion angles (INTAs) and length of pedicle screw. The aims were to investigate the optimal introversion angle and length of pedicle screw for improving the safety of the operation, and to analyze the differences of vascular damage types at L1-S1. Methods: Lumbar CT imaging data from110 patients were analyzed by DICOM software, and all parameters were measured by new Cartesian coordinate system, INTAs (L1-L5:5°,10°,15°,S1: 0°, 5°,10°,15°), DO−AVC (the distance between the origin (O) with anterior vertebral cortex (AVC)), DAVC−PGVs (the distance between AVC and the prevertebral great vessels (PGVs)), DO−PGVs (the distance between the O and PGVs). At different INTAs, DAVC−PGVs were divided into four grades: Grade III: DAVC−PGVs ≤ 3 mm, Grade II: 3 mm < DAVC−PGVs ≤ 5 mm, Grade I: DAVC−PGVs > 5 mm, and N: the not touching PGVs. Results: The optimal INTA was 5° at L1-L3, the left was 5° and the right was 15° at L4, and screw length was less than 50 mm at L1-L4. At L5, the left optimal INTA was 5° and the right was 10°, and screw length was less than 45 mm. The optimal INTA was 15° at S1, and screw length was less than 50 mm. However, screw length was less than 40 mm when the INTA was 0° or 5° at S1. Conclusions: At L5-S1, the risk of vascular injury is the highest. INTA and length of the pedicle screw in lumbar operation are closely related. 3 mm interval of screw length may be more preferable to reduce vascular damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Previous studies have reported the potential impact of immune cells on kidney stone disease (KSD), but definitive causal relationships have yet to be established. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the potential causal association between immune cells and KSD by Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Methods: In our study, a thorough two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was performed by us to determine the potential causal relationship between immune cell traits and kidney stone disease. We included a total of four immune traits (median fluorescence intensity (MFI), relative cellular (RC), absolute cellular (AC), and morphological parameters (MP)), which are publicly available data. GWAS summary data related to KSD (9713 cases and 366,693 controls) were obtained from the FinnGen consortium. The primary MR analysis method was Inverse variance weighted. Cochran's Q test, MR Egger, and MR-Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier (MR-PRESSO) were used to assess the stability of the results. Results: After FDR correction, the CD8 on HLA DR + CD8br (OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.93–0.98, p-value = 7.20 × 10− 4, q-value = 0.088) was determined to be distinctly associated with KSD, and we also found other 25 suggestive associations between immune cells and KSD, of which 13 associations were suggested as protective factors and 12 associations were suggested as risk factors. There was no horizontal pleiotropy or significant heterogeneity in our MR analysis, as determined by the p-value results of our Cochrane Q-test, MR Egger's intercept test, and MR-PRESSO, which were all > 0.05. Conclusions: Our study has explored the potential causal connection between immune cells and KSD by Mendelian randomization analysis, thus providing some insights for future clinical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it is established that parental wh -questions, as a high-quality language input, are associated with child language outcome, less is known about the role of children's wh -questions in their language development. This study examines whether children's wh -questions during a dinnertime conversation are associated with their receptive and expressive language skills. The sample consists of a unique group of bilingual children: 32 Chinese preschoolers (aged 3–5 years) in Norway. At the onset of the study, parents self-recorded a dinnertime conversation with the target child and other family members present. Over the following year, we assessed children's receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, and narrative skills in Chinese three times. Individual growth modeling revealed that concurrently, the density of children's wh -questions was associated with children's expressive vocabulary and narrative skills, but the association faded when controlling for family demographics. Significantly, even when accounting for all control variables, children's wh -questions predicted their receptive vocabulary growth across one year. These findings underline children's active role in shaping their language learning and development. This study also contributes to our understanding of bilingual children's home language development. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the wavelength dependencies of the two-photon absorption coefficients β as well as the nonlinear refractive index n2 of undoped β-Ga2O3 single crystal in the spectral range 350–515 nm (0.51 < Ephoto/Eg < 0.75). Femtosecond Z-scan measurements show that n2 decreases monotonically toward the shortwave side, while the maximum value of n2 is 5.0 × 10−19 m2/W near half of the bandgap, Eg. Interestingly, a second upward trend in β was observed when the incident photon energy is larger than 0.6Eg, indicating the impact of additional inter-band transitions with higher energy. A higher-energy band-to-band transition around 6.0 eV was determined by both femtosecond nondegenerate two-photon absorption spectroscopy and ab initio calculations. Our results could provide guidance for designing nonlinear β-Ga2O3 photonic devices in the UV-visible spectral range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To introduce a novel hydrodynamic design for a flexible ureteroscope that can increase stone debris clearance. Methods: Based on hydrodynamics, the new design allowed the ureteroscope to have six water jets. Fluid gushed from the six jets and would ultimately converge into an eddy. The safety and stone debris clearance efficiency were tested in a 3D-printed kidney model. Stone fragments between 0.5 and 1 mm were used to mimic the debris. A ureteroscope already approved for marketing was used as a control. Results: The new design did not change the local renal pressure and did not raise the whole renal pressure under irrigation at 80 or 100 mL/min but slightly raised it under irrigation at 120 mL/min. The pressures in the 2 g stone clearance procedures were 26.0, 33.1, and 37.5 cmH2O for the new design and 25.1, 30.2, and 39.3 cmH2O for the current design; in the 4 g stone clearance procedures, the pressures were 30.1, 37.2, and 40.0 cmH2O for the new design and 26.9, 30.8, and 39.8 cmH2O for the current design, all under conditions of 80, 100, and 120 mL/min irrigation, respectively. The new design significantly improved the stone clearance rate by ∼10-fold. It effectively cleared 2 and 4 g stones within 900 seconds under the three irrigation rates. In contrast, the current design cleared <10% of the stone debris in all tests. Conclusion: The new hydrodynamic design significantly improved the stone debris clearance rate without causing obviously increased renal pressure, and the improvement was maintained under different irrigation pressures and stone burdens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advancement of information technology, energy consumption prediction models are widely used for various types of buildings (office, residential, and commercial buildings) as guidance during the design and management stages. This article will establish an efficient building energy consumption prediction model for hotel buildings. To achieve this, we collected 78 architectural drawings of high-rise hotel buildings to establish 6 kinds of typical energy consumption models in 2 standard floor layouts and 3 public area levels. Then, on this basis, we used the total energy consumption calculated by EnergyPlus as an indicator to conduct sensitivity analysis on geometric feature parameters, internal heat source parameters, and thermal parameters, respectively. Finally, we generated a building database with 5000 samples through the R programming language to calculate and verify the energy consumption. As a result, it was proved that the energy consumption of hotel buildings can be predicted accurately, and that quadratic polynomial regression, with the best accuracy and stability, is the most suitable optimization model for hotel energy consumption prediction in Guangzhou. These conclusions provide a good theoretical basis for the analysis, prediction, and optimization of energy consumption in high-rise hotel buildings in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decapterus maruadsi is one of the representative offshore fish in the Western Pacific. Since the last century, it has become a commercially valuable marine fishery species in the Western Pacific region. Despite its high economic value, there is still a lack of high-quality reference genome of D. maruadsi in germplasm resource evaluation research. Here we report a chromosome-level reference genome of D. maruadsi based on Nanopore sequencing and Hi-C technologies. The whole genome was assembled through 169 contigs with a total length of 723.69 Mb and a contig N50 length of 24.67 Mb. By chromosome scaffolding, 23 chromosomes with a total length of 713.58 Mb were constructed. In addition, a total of 199.49 Mb repetitive elements, 33,515 protein-coding genes, and 6,431 ncRNAs were annotated in the reference genome. This reference genome of D. maruadsi will provide a solid theoretical basis not only for the subsequent development of genomic resources of D. maruadsi but also for the formulation of policies related to the protection of D. maruadsi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]