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The giant magnetoimpedance (GMI) effect of CuBe/NiFeB and CuBe/insulator/NiFeB composite wires prepared by electroless-deposition was investigated. The results showed that geometry dimension has a significant influence on the GMI effect of CuBe/NiFeB composite wire. As the NiFeB layer thickness approaches the skin depth of the NiFeB layer, maximum GMI will be expected; it reaches -23 % at 1 MHz. After adding an insulator layer, the GMI ratios of CuBe/insulator/NiFeB composite wire were much higher than those of CuBe/NiFeB composite wire. The maximum GMI ratio of CuBe/insulator/NiFeB composite wire was 250 % at 500 kHz-1 MHz. This result is related to current redistribution under the external magnetic field and the electromagnetic interaction between the conductive core and the ferromagnetic layer, and also is related to the skin effect and eddy current of the sample. Index Terms--Composite wire, eddy current, electroless-deposition, giant magnetoimpedance (GMI).

In order to overcome the limitation of traditional foot orthopedic aids with reference to static plantar pressure data, a wearable dynamic plantar pressure measurement system was designed and developed. The flexible piezoresistive pressure sensor was used to design the insole. The STM32F103RCT6 microprocessor was used as the main control chip. The pressure signal conditioning circuit module, the analog-to-digital conversion module and the data processing module were used to complete the design of the lower computer. The data was transmitted to the host computer through the HC-05 bluetooth, to complete the display, preservation and processing of the data. Dynamic analysis of the distribution of plantar pressure during the gait cycle was performed. Experiments show that the standard deviation of the system is no more than 0.19 N. For volunteers of different body masses, the static foot pressure distribution is basically the same. The dynamic plantar pressure distribution increases with the increasing of the movement speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of early diagnostic maneuvers and effective pharmacotherapy for osteoarthritis (OA) is predominantly attributed to current limited understanding of its pathogenesis. In the present study, the alteration of synovial fluid (SF) proteome in OA were analyzed using SWATH-mass spectrometry (SWATH-MS) to further elucidate the pathogenesis of OA. SF samples were collected from 10 OA and 10 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients undergoing arthroplasty and 10 patients undergoing arthroscopy for traumatic arthritis (meniscus injury without cartilage lesion). According to the Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) radiographic grading criteria, all the OA and RA patients were classified as KL grade 4. SWATH-MS was applied to identify differentially expressed proteins specifically regulated in OA. Differentially expressed proteins identified by SWATH-MS were subjected to gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway annotation. Proteins of interest were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) following identification. With the use of SWATH-MS, 131 proteins were identified to be differentially expressed in OA, of which 93 corresponded to upregulation and 38 to downregulation. Complement C1r was the most significantly upregulated protein in OA. Twenty-eight out of the 131 proteins were specifically regulated in OA, of which 17 were upregulated and 11 were downregulated. Dickkopf-related protein 2 (DKK2) was one of the proteins specifically upregulated in OA. Furthermore, KEGG pathway annotation indicated that differentially expressed proteins in OA were enriched in complement and coagulation cascades. ELISA indicated that OA severity was positively correlated with the levels of complement C1r (r=0.549; P<0.001) and DKK2 (r=0.79; P<0.001) in the SF. The results indicate that complement and coagulation cascades are involved in the pathogenesis of OA. Differentially expressed proteins, including complement C1r and DKK2 may be used as potential biomarkers or drug targets, which may facilitate with intervention of OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This meta-analysis aimed to determine whether exercise interventions were effective in preventing fall-related fractures in older people. The treatment effects on rate of falls, leg strength and balance were also examined.Methods: An electronic database search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane library and PEDro up to 1 September 2015. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that conducted exercise interventions and reported fall-related fracture data in older people were included. The primary outcome was the treatment effects on fall-related fractures determined by relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). The treatment effects on falls, leg strength and balance were also reported using rate ratio (RaR) with 95% CI and standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% CI, respectively. Random effects models were used for meta-analysis.Results: Fifteen studies including 3136 participants met the inclusion criteria. Exercise had a beneficial effect on reduction of fall-related fractures, with pooled estimates of RR 0.604 (95% CI 0.453 - 0.840, P  = 0.003, I 2  = 0%). The rate of falls (RaR 0.856, 95% CI 0.778 - 0.941, P  = 0.001, I 2  = 45%) and leg strength (SMD 0.613, 95% CI 0.119 - 1.107, P  = 0.015, I 2  = 76.7%) were also potentially affected by exercise interventions. These only had a marginally beneficial effect on balance (SMD 0.468, 95% CI -0.011 - 0.947, P  = 0.055, I 2  = 93.6%).Conclusions: Our findings implied that exercise interventions were effective in preventing fall-related fractures and reducing risk factors of fall-related fractures in older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study investigates the associations and mediating pathways between grip strength, cognitive function, and depression in middle-aged and elderly individuals in China., Methods: Utilizing data from the 2011 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), we employed logistic regression and mediation analysis to examine the relationships and mediating factors between grip strength, cognitive function, and depression, while adjusting for potential confounders., Results: The study included 6,841 participants, of whom 1,734 (25.35%) exhibited symptoms of depression. Our findings indicate that weak grip strength is significantly associated with an increased risk of depression (OR: 1.57, 95% CI: 1.32-1.87) among the middle-aged and elderly population. Conversely, good cognitive function was found to be protective against depression (OR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.93-0.95). Grip strength indirectly affected depression through cognitive function, accounting for 9.4% of the total effect ( β  = -0.008, 95% CI [-0.013, -0.004]). This mediating effect was 23.8% in men ( β  = -0.013, 95% CI [-0.020, -0.007]); and 23.2% in those aged 60 years and over ( β  = -0.015, 95% CI [-0.022, -0.009])., Conclusion: This study highlights that weak grip strength increases risk of depressive symptoms, and adequate cognitive function can mitigate the association between weak grip strength and an increased risk of depression among middle-aged and elderly individuals in China. Psychological care for elder adults with weak grip strength and poor cognitive function should be strengthened., 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 © 2024 Wang, Wu, Zhou and He.)

Objective: To explore the factors affecting the successful rate of nano-carbon in sentinel lymph node biopsy.
, Methods: A total of 270 patients with breast cancer, who were treated in First Affilitated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology from January 2013 to March 2015, were chosen and given sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLN) with nano-carbon, and the influencial factors were examined by logistic analysis.
, Results: Successful rate of biopsy, accuracy, sensitivity and false negative rate was 92.2%, 97.6%, 93.1% and 6.8%, respectively. Age, primary tumor lesions, body mass index, axillary lymph node status, number of SLN and pathological grade were the factors affetcing successful biopsy (all P<0.05), and body mass index, age, and number of SLN were three independent factors affecting the successful rate of biopsy (all P<0.05). The history of biopsy, tumor location, affected sides, injection sites and chemotherapy showed little effect on the successful rate of biopsy (all P> 0.05).
, Conclusion: Nano-carbon tracer method is a reliable method in sentinel lymph node biopsy. The body mass index, age, and number of lymph node metastasis greatly impact the successful rate of biopsy.