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The Sixth Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled (FESPIC) was inaugurated on Sep 4, 1994, with a grand opening ceremony performed before a 70,000-strong stadium audience. Several prominent persons, including Chinese Premier Li Peng, President of the International Paralympic Committee Robert Steadward and President of the FESPIC Games Harry Fang, attended the performance. About 1,400 athletes from 42 nations participated in the games.

A novel surface-imprinting polymer (MIP/K2Ti6O13) was prepared using potassium hexatitanate whiskers (K2Ti6O13) as the carrier employing electrostatic interaction and π-π interaction between the template molecule [dibenzothiophene (DBT)] and the functional monomer [4-vinylpyridine (4VP)]. The synthetic polymer was characterized via Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, surface area and porosity analysis, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Static adsorption experiments were conducted to evaluate the adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms and adsorption selectivity of MIP/K2Ti6O13. Adsorption kinetic studies revealed that a contact time of 300 min was necessary to attain equilibrium. Adsorption isotherm studies indicated that the capacity of MIP/K2Ti6O13 towards the adsorption of DBT at 298 K, 308 K and 318 K was 16.18 mg/g, 22.74 mg/g and 29.89 mg/g, respectively. Selectivity experiments showed that the adsorption capacity of DBT on MIP/K2Ti6O13 was greater than for the other three analogues, while the imprinting factor towards DBT (α) was 2.06. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Malignant cerebral edema (MCE) is a life-threatening complication of ischemic stroke. Few studies have evaluated MCE in patients with acute basilar artery occlusion (BAO) receiving endovascular treatment (EVT). Therefore, the authors investigated the incidence, predictors, and functional outcomes of MCE in BAO patients undergoing EVT., Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of the Endovascular Treatment for Acute Basilar Artery Occlusion (ATTENTION) trial, a prospective, randomized, multicenter clinical trial that compared endovascular treatment with conventional care of patients with BAO at 36 centers in China. Brain edema was retrospectively assessed using the Jauss score for all available follow-up scans, and patients with a Jauss score ≥ 4 were classified as having MCE. Clinical functional independence was defined as a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 0-2, and a good outcome was defined as an mRS score of 0-3 at the 90-day follow-up. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to explore the predictors of MCE and the impact of MCE on prognosis., Results: A total of 189 patients were analyzed, and 13.2% of patients developed MCE. Multivariate analysis showed that the baseline Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score (OR 0.722, 95% CI 0.548-0.950; p = 0.020) and the number of procedures (OR 1.594, 95% CI 1.051-2.419; p = 0.028) were significantly associated with MCE. After adjusting for confounding factors, the presence of MCE was significantly associated with a lower rate of functional independence (OR 0.115, 95% CI 0.023-0.563; p = 0.008), a lower rate of good outcome (OR 0.092, 95% CI 0.023-0.360; p = 0.001), and a higher rate of mortality (OR 5.373, 95% CI 2.055-14.052; p = 0.001) at the 90-day follow-up., Conclusions: MCE is not uncommon in BAO patients undergoing EVT and is associated with poor outcomes. Baseline GCS score and the number of procedures were predictors of MCE. In clinical practice, it is crucial that physicians identifying MCE after EVT in patients with BAO and identification of MCE will help in the selection of an appropriate pharmacological treatment strategy and close monitoring.

Aiming to enhance the ns-LIBS signal, in this work, we introduced orbital angular momentum to modulate the laser phase of the Gaussian beam into the vortex beam. Under similar incident laser energy, the vortex beam promoted more uniform ablation and more ablation mass compared to the Gaussian beam, leading to elevated temperature and electron density in the laser-induced plasma. Consequently, the intensity of the ns-LIBS signal was improved. The enhancement effects based on the laser phase modulation were investigated on both metallic and non-metallic samples. The results showed that laser phase modulation resulted in a maximum 1.26-times increase in the peak intensities and a maximum 1.25-times increase in the signal-to-background ratio (SBR) of the Cu spectral lines of pure copper for a laser energy of 10 mJ. The peak intensities of Si atomic spectral lines were enhanced by 1.58-1.94 times using the vortex beam. Throughout the plasma evolution process, the plasma induced by the vortex beam exhibited prolonged duration and a longer continuous background, accompanied by a noticeable reduction in the relative standard deviation (RSD). The experimental results demonstrated that modulation the laser phase based on orbital angular momentum is a promising approach to enhancing the ns-LIBS signal.

Background and Purpose: The purpose of our study was to analyse endovascular treatment (EVT) in patients presenting acute anterior circulation ischemic stroke with large-vessel occlusion (AIS-LVO) during the pandemic and post-epidemic periods., Methods: Patients with AIS-LVO of the anterior circulation who underwent EVT were enrolled. According to the times of Wuhan closure and reopening, patients were divided into a pre-pandemic group (from November 8, 2019, to January 22, 2020), pandemic group (from January 23, 2020, to April 8, 2020) and post-epidemic group (from April 9, 2020, to June 24, 2020). The primary endpoints were the time delay among symptom onset to arriving hospital door, to groining puncture and to vascular reperfusion. Secondary endpoints were the functional outcomes evaluated by 90-day modified Rankin scale (mRS) score., Results: In total, the times from onset to reperfusion (OTR, median 356 min vs. 310 min, p = 0.041) and onset to door (OTD, median 238 min vs. 167 min, p = 0.017) were prolonged in the pandemic group compared to the pre-pandemic group, and the delay continue in the post-epidemic period. In the subgroup analysis, the time from door to imaging (DTI) was significantly prolonged during the pandemic period. Interestingly, the prolonged DTI was corrected in the directly admitted subgroup during post-epidemic period. In addition, the functional outcomes showed no significant differences across the three periods., Conclusions: Total time and prehospital time were prolonged during the pandemic and post-epidemic periods. Urgent public education and improved in-hospital screening processes are necessary to decrease time delays.

Patients with thyroid dysfunction (31 hypothyroid, 32 subclinical hypothyroidism, 34 hyperthyroid, and 30 subclinical hyperthyroidism) and 37 euthyroid control subjects were recruited and performed the attention network test (ANT), which can simultaneously examine the alertness, orientation and execution control of the participants. Patients with hypothyroidism had abnormalities in the alerting network, and those with hyperthyroidism had impairments of the alerting and executive control networks. No attention networks deficit existed in patients with subclinical hyperthyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism. The anxiety and depression scores of patients with thyroid dysfunction were significantly higher than those of the healthy control group. Covariance analysis demonstrated that interactions between group and Hamilton Anxiety Scale scores, group and HAMD score were not significant, but there was a significant main effect for group when analyzing the difference in values of the alerting network between groups. Further, the efficiency of the executive control network was negatively correlated with the T4 level in the hypothyroidism group, and positively correlated with the T4 level in the hyperthyroidism group. T4 or T3 level and efficiencies of the executive control network had a significant quadratic U-shaped relationship in all participants. In summary, the patients with four kinds of thyroid dysfunction exhibited different characteristics of ANT performance. Patients with thyroid dysfunction had various degrees of anxiety and depression disorders, but anxiety and depression disorders had no effect on the differences in the executive control network between the groups., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Whether the topography of fluid-attenuated inversion recovery hyperintense vessel sign (FHVs) can serve as a measure of cerebral hemodynamic stress remains unclear. We hypothesized that FHVs topography represents different cerebral hemodynamic status, as assessed by CT perfusion (CTP)., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 75 patients with acute middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion who underwent MR imaging and CTP. The FHVs topography included FHVs inside the diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) lesion (FHVs in-group), FHVs outside the DWI lesion (FHVs out-group), and FHVs distributed inside and outside the DWI lesion (FHVs all-group). FHVs scores were assessed by the Alberta stroke program early computed tomography score (ASPECT) territories. Cerebral hemodynamic status was evaluated by relative (r) CTP parameters. Cerebral hemodynamic status was analyzed with respect to different FHVs topographies and FHVs scores., Results: Hemodynamic impairment was present in all patients, with the following mean rCTP parameters: rCBF, 0.77 ± 0.23; rCBV, 1.06 ± 0.32; and rMTT, 1.52 ± 0.60. Comparison of the rCTP parameters among the three groups, rCBF and rCBV (rCBF, P < 0.001; rCBV, P < 0.001) in the FHVs out-group and the FHVs all-group (rCBF, P = 0.001; rCBV, P < 0.001), were significantly higher than that in the FHVs in-group. Similarly, CTA collateral grade in the FHVs in-group was significantly lower than those in the FHVs out-group and FHVs all-group (P < 0.001). No significant difference was found in rCTP parameters between different FHVs scores., Conclusion: The different FHVs topographies represented different cerebral hemodynamic status. FHVs topography may serve as a surrogate for patient selection for reperfusion therapy whenever perfusion data are unavailable.

Background: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder with a core feature of cognitive impairments. Previous studies showed that patients with focal epilepsy have deficits in both theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF). However, there are few studies of ToM in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE), especially in populations with pediatric epilepsy. The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of ToM and EF, including some of their subcomponents, and explore the relationship between them in Chinese children with IGE., Materials and Methods: We recruited 54 children and adolescents with IGE as the experimental subjects and 37 typically developing children and adolescents as control subjects. Both groups completed ToM tests, namely, second-order false belief tasks (FBTs) and faux pas tasks (FPTs). Their caregivers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) at the same time., Results: Children and adolescents with IGE displayed worse performance on some of the FBTs and FPTs than healthy controls (p<0.01). They also exhibited widespread EF deficits, comprising eight subcomponents (p<0.05). Pearson's correlation analysis revealed that several subcomponents of EF (inhibition, emotional control, initiation, working memory, and monitoring) were unequally correlated with FBT and FPT. Regression analysis showed that ToM had associations with inhibition, working memory, and duration of seizures. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that children with newly diagnosed epilepsy displayed significant deficits in FBT, FPT, and distinct subscales of EF., Conclusions: Our results revealed significant impairments in ToM and EF in children and adolescents with IGE compared with healthy controls. We found significant correlations between ToM and two subcomponents of EF (inhibition and working memory) in children with IGE. Additionally, the duration of seizures affected ToM in patients but was a less powerful predictor than the two subcomponents of EF. Even for children with new-onset seizures and without medication, the deficits in ToM and some distinct subscales of EF were apparent. This result has clinical implications for both nonpharmaceutical therapies and cognitive rehabilitation., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: As well as being a very common neurological disease worldwide, epilepsy significantly impairs patients' emotional, behavioral, and cognitive functioning. Sleep disturbances are the most frequent complaint in patients with epilepsy. The present study assesses the impact of a range of affective symptoms on subjective sleep quality and sleep disturbances in Chinese adults with epilepsy., Methods: Adults with epilepsy who visited our epilepsy clinic from July 2015 to March 2016 were enrolled in our study. Both patients and healthy controls completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE). Subjective sleep quality and sleep disturbances were examined with regard to self-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety, seizure-related factors, and demographic factors., Results: The PSQI scores and ISI scores of patients were significantly higher (indicating lower quality sleep and more serious insomnia) than those of the control group. Symptoms associated with depression and anxiety were independently related to impaired subjective sleep quality and insomnia. Affective symptoms explained more of the variance in PSQI scores and ISI scores than did seizure-related or demographic variables. In addition, these variables also seemed to be less powerful contributing factors to subjective sleep quality and insomnia than affective symptoms, several seizure-related factors, such as seizure control, partial seizures and duration of epilepsy, which are also significantly associated with subjective sleep quality and insomnia. In addition, use of lamotrigine (LTG) was also associated with insomnia and use of clonazepam (CZP) and phenobarbital (PB) with daytime sleepiness in patients with epilepsy., Conclusion: Chinese adults with epilepsy have poorer self-reported subjective sleep quality and a higher prevalence of insomnia than the control group. Depressive- and anxiety-related symptoms independently exert an adverse effect on the subjective sleep quality and insomnia of patients. In addition, seizure control, partial seizures, and the duration of epilepsy affect the quality of sleep and insomnia in patients, but seem less powerful predictors of sleep quality and insomnia than affective symptoms. Early identification and treatment of affective symptoms is of great importance in improving the sleep quality and insomnia of patients with epilepsy., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Clozapine is an atypical antipsychotic drug used in the treatment of schizophrenia, which has been shown to reverse behavioural and dendritic spine deficits in mice. It has recently been shown that deficiency of 14-3-3ζ has an association with schizophrenia, and that a mouse model lacking this protein displays several schizophrenia-like behavioural deficits. To test the effect of clozapine in this mouse model, 14-3-3ζ KO mice were administered clozapine (5mg/kg) for two weeks prior to being analysed in a test battery of cognition, anxiety, and despair (depression-like) behaviours. Following behavioural testing brain samples were collected for analysis of specific anatomical defects and dendritic spine formation. We found that clozapine reduced despair behaviour of 14-3-3ζ KO mice in the forced swim test (FST) and altered the behaviour of wild types and 14-3-3ζ KO mice in the Y-maze task. In contrast, clozapine had no effects on hippocampal laminar defects or decreased dendritic spine density observed in 14-3-3ζ KO mice. Our results suggest that clozapine may have beneficial effects on clinical behaviours associated with deficiencies in the 14-3-3ζ molecular pathway, despite having no effects on morphological defects. These findings may provide mechanistic insight to the action of this drug., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)