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Background: In December 2023, our hospital confirmed a case of finger infection with Mycobacterium marinum. The patient sought medical attention at our hospital due to a hard scratch on her left middle finger, which was red, swollen, and ulcerated for one month. Physical examination: A lesion of approximately 1.5 cm x 2 cm in the patient's left middle finger, surrounded by redness and swelling, unclear boundaries, surface rupture, partial scabbing, and no tenderness during compression. She was treated at the previous clinic, common infectious diseases were considered, and was given intravenous infusion treatment: cefotaxime and clarithromycin, and erythromycin ointment was applied externally. She came to our hospital after poor treatment results. The patient has had hypertension for 3 years, no other systemic diseases, no similar medical history among family members, no history of drug or food allergies. Methods: Clean the wound and remove the scab from the affected area, and use a surgical blade to scrape off necrotic tissue. Send the scraped tissue for pathogen testing: tissue bacterial culture+identification (matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, MALDI-TOF), tissue acid fast staining, and tissue metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS). Other auxiliary examinations: blood routine, urine routine, blood fat, liver function, and kidney function. Results: Tissue bacterial culture+identification: growth of Mycobacterium marinum; Acid fast staining of tissue: positive; Tissue mNGS: Mycobacterium marinum. Clinical treatment plan: clarithromycin 0.5 g bid po+rifampicin 0.45 g qd po+5-aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) qw+boric acid wash wet compress tid. After 14 days of treatment, the area of redness and swelling significantly decreased, and the degree of redness and swelling was significantly reduced compared to admission. The degree of ulcer edge protrusion was also reduced compared to admission. There was a small amount of exudation from the wound, and no necrotic tissue was observed. The patient improved and was discharged. Conclusions: This article reports a case of finger infection with Mycobacterium marinum. Mycobacterium marinum was quickly and accurately identified by mNGS, and reasonable treatment measures were adopted clinically. The patient improved and was discharged. This study has important reference significance for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of Mycobacterium infection. In addition, mNGS as a novel detection method has considerable prospects for rapid diagnosis of pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to determine the effective dose 50% (ED50) value of remifentanil in inhibiting coughing during extubation in children with snoring.Methods: The subjects were children who scored a grade I in the American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) metric and who were undergoing tonsillectomy (with or without adenoidectomy) under general anesthesia. Using Dixon’s up-and-down sequential method, the initial infusion rate of remifentanil was 0.06 μg/kg/min, and the difference between the infusion rates of the two adjacent groups was 0.01 μg/kg/min. If a child had no cough response during extubation, the infusion rate for the next child was reduced by 0.01 μg/kg/min. If that child had cough response, the infusion rate for the next child was increased by 0.01 μg/kg/min, and the test was terminated when seven pairs of children with positive-negative alternating results were obtained. The ED50 value and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated by probit regression. The times for extubation, awakening, agitation, and respiratory complications after extubation were compared between the two groups.Results: 1) The ED50 value of a continuous infusion of remifentanil required to inhibit the cough response of children during extubation was 0.042 μg/kg/min, and the 95% confidence interval was 0.025–0.062 μg/kg/min. 2) The total dosage and infusion rate of remifentanil in the cough suppression group were higher than those in the cough group (p < 0.05), but the differences in the times for extubating and awakening between the two groups were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). 3) There was no correlation between the infusion rate of remifentanil and the time for extubating and awakening in the cough suppression group; the r values were 0.13 and 0.12, respectively, and p > 0.05. 4) The differences in postoperative respiratory complications between the two groups were not statistically significant (p > 0.05).Conclusion: The ED50 value of a continuous infusion of remifentanil required to inhibit the cough response of children during extubation after tonsillectomy (with or without adenoidectomy) was 0.042 μg/kg/min, and a low-dose infusion of remifentanil does not affect the times for awakening and extubating in children.

In this paper, a transmissive reconfigurable polarization converter (RPC) based on an active metasurface is proposed, which can regulate the ideal plane wave and the spherical wave as a cladding of the horn antenna. The metasurface unit is composed of a single-layer F4B dielectric substrate and two double-cross metal strips with a p–i–n diode on the top and seven vertical metal strips on the bottom. One RPC prototype with 15 × 15 units has been fabricated and measured when it regulates an ideal plane wave. By controlling the states of diodes, the RPC can realize the linear-to-circular polarization conversion (LCPC) or the linear polarization maintaining (LPM) function from 2.5 to 3.64 GHz. Furthermore, the RPC is used as the cladding of a horn antenna for high integration in practical applications. The measured results show that this RPC-antenna system can still achieve LCPC or LPM function from 3.1 to 4.5 GHz. It is worth mentioning that the 3 dB axial ratio beam width of RPC can cover from −65° to 65° in LCPC. The proposal has advantages of a wideband, simple biasing network, and easy fabrication and integration, which can be widely applied in modern wireless communication systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Sweet sorghum juice is a typical production feedstock for natural, eco-friendly sweeteners and beverages. Clostridium tyrobutyricum is one of the widely used microorganisms in the food industry, and its principal product, bio-butyric acid is an important food additive. There are no published reports of Clostridium tyrobutyricum producing butyric acid using SSJ as the sole substrate without adding exogenous substances, which could reach a food-additive grade. This study focuses on tailoring a cost-effective, safe, and sustainable process and strategy for their production and application. Methods: This study modeled the enzymolysis of non-reducing sugars via the first/second-order kinetics and added food-grade diatomite to the hydrolysate. Qualitative and quantitative analysis were performed using high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometer, full-scale laser diffraction method, ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, the cell double-staining assay, transmission electron microscopy, and Oxford nanopore technology sequencing. Quantitative realtime polymerase chain reaction, pathway and process enrichment analysis, and homology modeling were conducted for mutant genes. Results: The treated sweet sorghum juice showed promising results, containing 70.60 g/L glucose and 63.09 g/L fructose, with a sucrose hydrolysis rate of 98.29% and a minimal sucrose loss rate of 0.87%. Furthermore, 99.62% of the colloidal particles and 82.13% of the starch particles were removed, and the concentrations of hazardous substances were effectively reduced. A food microorganism Clostridium tyrobutyricum TGL-A236 with deep utilization value was developed, which showed superior performance by converting 30.65% glucose and 37.22% fructose to 24.1364 g/L bio-butyric acid in a treated sweet sorghum juice (1:1 dilution) fermentation broth. This titer was 2.12 times higher than that of the original strain, with a butyric acid selectivity of 86.36%. Finally, the Genome atlas view, Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and evolutionary genealogy of genes: Non-supervised Orthologous (eggNOG) functional annotations, three-dimensional structure and protein cavity prediction of five non-synonymous variant genes were obtained. Conclusion: This study not only includes a systematic process flow and indepth elucidation of relevant mechanisms but also provides a new strategy for green processing of food raw materials, improving food microbial performance, and ensuring the safe production of food additives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the production, the fluid in the vicinity of the directional well enters the wellbore with different rates, leading to non-uniform flux distribution along the directional well. However, in all existing studies, it is oversimplified to a uniform flux distribution, which can result in inaccurate results for field applications. Therefore, this paper proposes a semi-analytical model of a directional well based on the assumption of non-uniform flux distribution. Specifically, the direction well is discretized into a carefully chosen series of linear sources, such that the complex well trajectory can be captured and the nonuniform flux distribution along the wellbore can be considered to model the three-dimensional flow behavior. By using the finite difference method, we can obtain the numerical solutions of the transient flow within the wellbore. With the aid of Green's function method, we can obtain the analytical solutions of the transient flow from the matrix to the wellbore. The complete flow behavior of a directional well is perfectly represented by coupling the above two types of transient flow. Subsequently, on the basis of the proposed model, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of the pressure transient behavior of a directional well. The computation results show that the flux variation along the direction well has a significant effect on pressure responses. In addition, the directional well in an infinite reservoir may exhibit the following flow regimes: wellbore afterflow, transition flow, inclined radial flow, elliptical flow, horizontal linear flow, and horizontal radial flow. The horizontal linear flow can be observed only if the formation thickness is much smaller than the well length. Furthermore, a dip region that appears on the pressure derivative curve indicates the three-dimensional flow behavior near the wellbore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The engine hood cover should not only consider the structural strength, stiffness and stability, but also meet the service temperature and weight reduction requirements, so the high temperature bismaleimide resin matrix composite is selected to manufacture the engine hood cover. CCF800H/QY260E, a high-temperature cured bismaleimide high-strength carbon fiber prepreg, was used to prepare a large curvature and complex stiffened mouth cover by co-curing and secondary bonding process, which can serve for a long time at 230 °C. The molding technology of high temperature resin matrix composite parts, the method of laying closed ring reinforced edges and the positioning mode of stringer and reinforced edges with high efficiency and low cost were studied. The optimal selection of process auxiliary materials, tooling structure and materials, autoclave equipment and accessories for high temperature resin matrix composite parts was completed, and the high temperature resistant large curvature stiffened complex structure flap parts were successfully prepared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have reshaped healthcare, including psychiatric nursing, to address the limitations of traditional approaches and meet escalating mental health challenges. A scoping review analyzed 48 articles examining the application of AI in psychiatric nursing across different technologies and topics, noting trends in publications and countries involved. The articles covered different aspects of mental health using AI technologies such as machine learning and robotics, and primarily explored AI applications in mental health, specifically dementia, autism and schizophrenia. These studies highlighted the role of AI in personalized care plans, symptom monitoring and risk assessment. AI is promising, but faces challenges such as data bias and ethical concerns. Future research needs to focus on long-term studies, diverse populations, patient interaction and personalized treatments for practical integration into psychiatric nursing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degradation of intrinsic properties of graphene during the transfer process constitutes a major challenge in graphene device fabrication, stimulating the need for direct growth of graphene on dielectric substrates. Previous attempts of metal-induced transformation of diamond and silicon carbide into graphene suffers from metal contamination and inability to scale graphene growth over large area. Here, we introduce a direct approach to transform polycrystalline diamond into high-quality graphene layers on wafer scale (4 inch in diameter) using a rapid thermal annealing process facilitated by a nickel, Ni thin film catalyst on top. We show that the process can be tuned to grow single or multilayer graphene with good electronic properties. Molecular dynamics simulations elucidate the mechanism of graphene growth on polycrystalline diamond. In addition, we demonstrate the lateral growth of free-standing graphene over micron-sized pre-fabricated holes, opening exciting opportunities for future graphene/diamond-based electronics.