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Background: Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) surgery has become increasingly popular in the surgical treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases. The optimal structure for stable double-segment fixation remains unclear. Objective: To compare the biomechanical changes of unilateral fixation versus bilateral fixation in patients with lumbar degeneration undergoing double-segment TLIF surgery, and to explore the stability and feasibility of unilateral double-segment fixation. Methods: A three-dimensional finite element model of L3-5 was established based on CT data from a recruited young male volunteer, and the model was validated to have reasonable predictive capability. Surgical procedures were simulated by adjusting bony structures to create models of unilateral and bilateral fixation for double-segment TLIF. Under a pure moment of 10 Nm, range of motion (ROM), extension, lateral bending, axial rotation movements, as well as stresses on interbody fusion devices, internal fixation, and endplates were recorded and compared. Results: Unilateral fixation was fixed on the left side, with both groups performing flexion, extension, left lateral flexion, right lateral flexion, left rotation, and right rotation movements. All reconstructed conditions showed decreased motion from L3 to L5. Unilateral fixation had greater lumbar spine range of motion (ROM) in all directions compared to bilateral fixation. The greatest difference between the two occurred during right lateral flexion at the L3-4 segment, measuring 1.78°. During right lateral flexion at the L4-5 segment, the largest difference was 2.29°. Regarding stress on the fusion devices, unilateral fixation models exhibited higher stresses than bilateral fixation models, but no significant differences in stability were found. Terminal plate stress in unilateral posterior fixation was higher during flexion than in the bilateral model, showing a similar trend in stress changes. No significant difference was seen in internal fixation stress between the two groups during two-segment fusion, with the posterior internal fixation stress in unilateral fixation being 1.7 times higher during flexion and 1.9 times higher during left bending compared to bilateral fixation. Conclusion: Unilateral fixation in two-segment transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) surgery can increase stability compared to bilateral fixation, with no significant differences observed between the two models. Unilateral two-segment fixation allows for greater lumbar spine mobility than bilateral fixation, albeit with a slight increase in stress on the posterior fixation and fusion devices under the unilateral fixation mode. This provides some biomechanical evidence for selecting surgical approaches for elderly patients who cannot tolerate long surgeries, suggesting that two-segment unilateral fixation may be advisable. Clinical trial number: Not applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrate reduction represents a sustainable strategy for water denitrification. Herein we design an AuPt@ZIF-8 composite film, via coating a zeolite imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8) on a porous AuPt alloy, for an efficient electrocatalytic nitrate reduction. It exhibits a superior ammonia yield of (131.5 ± 3.4) μg h−1 mgcat−1, faradaic efficiency of (95.8 ± 3.0)% and selectivity of 96%, overcoming individual Au, Pt, ZIF-8, and other widely-used Au-based alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear energy is a competitive and environmentally friendly low‐carbon energy source. It is seen as an important avenue for satisfying energy demands, responding to the energy crisis, and mitigating global climate change. However, much attention has been paid to achieving the effective treatment of radionuclide ions produced in nuclear waste. Initially, advanced adsorbents were mainly available in powder form, which meant that additional purification processes were usually required for separation and recovery in industrial applications. Therefore, to meet the practical requirements of industrial applications, materials need to be molded and processed into forms such as beads, membranes, gels, and resins. Here, we summarize the fabrication of porous materials used for capturing typical radionuclide ions, including UO22+, TcO4−, IO3−, SeO32−, and SeO42−. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A two-dimensional porphyrin-MOF nanolayer was developed to construct an electrochemical aptasensor for monitoring oxytetracycline from 0.01 pg mL−1 to 0.1 ng mL−1. This aptasensor exhibited high sensitivity, outstanding selectivity, good stability, fine reproducibility, and quantitative detection ability in real samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Extended surgery with multi-visceral resection is the standard treatment for retroperitoneal liposarcoma (RLPS). Malnutrition tends to result in increased surgical complications and reduced survival. The aim of this study was to identify the prognostic role of nutritional status in patients with RLPS. Patients and methods: Data from 189 consecutive patients with RLPS who underwent surgical treatment at the Peking University Cancer Hospital Sarcoma Center between April 2011 and August 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. The following nutritional parameters were calculated: nutritional risk index, prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and Nutrition Risk Screening 2002. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (time-ROC) curve analysis was conducted to compare the prognostic utility of nutritional indicators. The associations between nutritional indicators and major complications, local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and overall survival (OS) were investigated. Results: Based on the time-ROC curve analysis, the PNI was superior to other nutritional indices at predicting OS. The optimal cut-off value of PNI was 41.2. The PNI was significantly inversely associated with tumor size, tumor grade, and histological subtype. Patients in the low PNI group (< 41.2) had significantly shorter LRFS and OS than those in the high PNI (≥ 41.2) group, with higher major morbidity and mortality rates. The PNI was found to be a unique nutritional predictor that independently predicted LRFS and OS in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion: The PNI is an effective tool for nutritional assessment in patients with RLPS. A low PNI value in patients with RLPS predicts worse survival outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Desmoid tumor (DT) is a rare monoclonal, fibroblastic proliferation characterized by a variable and often unpredictable clinical course. Initial active surveillance is recommended by current guideline, and surgery is one of the main therapies for DT. Predicting the prognosis and outcome of active surveillance for intra-abdominal DT is pressing issue. Methods: The study included eighteen patients with intra-abdominal DT. Metabolic tumor volume (MTV), total lesion glycolysis (TLG), and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) were measured. We analyzed their relationship with the outcome of active surveillance, as well as clinical, prognostic, and pathological data. Results: The MTV and TLG of recurrent DT were significantly higher than those of non-recurrent DT (P < 0.001 and P = 0.00, respectively). The ROC curve suggested that the appropriate cutoff values for distinguishing recurrent DT from non-recurrent DT were 760.8 for MTV (sensitivity = 1, specificity = 0.857 and AUC = 0.929), and 1318.4 for TLG (sensitivity = 1, specificity = 0.786, and AUC = 0.911). The cutoff values of MTV and TLG significantly correlated with PFS using the Kaplan–Meier method (P = 0.002 and P = 0.007, respectively). MTV and TLG could distinguish DTs with subsequent progression from stable ones (P = 0.004 and P = 0.004, respectively). The ROC curve suggested that the appropriate cutoff values for distinguishing DTs with subsequent progression from stable ones were 197.1 for MTV (sensitivity = 0.9, specificity = 1, and AUC = 0.900), and 445.45 for TLG (sensitivity = 0.9, specificity = 1, and AUC = 0.900). Conclusion: Volume-based 18F-FDG-PET can predict prognosis of intra-abdominal DT. MTV and TLG can predict the outcome of active surveillance for intra-abdominal DT. MTV and TLG can potentially be predictors of surgical risk and difficulty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Plant bacterial infections and plant viruses seriously affect the yield and quality of crops. Based on the various activities of tryptanthrin, a series of tryptanthrin analogues bearing F and piperazine moieties were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their biological activities against three plant bacteria and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). RESULTS: Bioassay results indicated that compounds 6a–6l displayed excellent antibacterial activities in vitro and 6a–6c and 6g exhibited better antiviral activities against TMV than commercial ribavirin. In particular, 6b showed the most effect on Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) with a half‐maximal effective concentration (EC50) of 1.26 μg mL−1, compared with the commercial pesticide bismerthiazol (BT; EC50 = 34.3 μg mL−1) and thiodiazole copper (TC; EC50 = 73.3 μg mL−1). Meanwhile, 6a also had the best antiviral activity at 500 μg mL−1 for curative, protection, and inactivation purposes, compared with ribavirin in vivo. CONCLUSION: Compound 6b could cause changes in bacterial morphology, induce the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, promote apoptosis of bacterial cells, inhibit the formation of biofilm, and block the growth of Xoo cells. Proteomic analysis revealed major differences in the bacterial secretory system pathways T2SS and T6SS, which inhibited membrane transport. Molecular docking revealed that 6a and 6g could interact with TMV coat protein preventing virus assembly. These results suggest that tryptanthrin analogues bearing F and piperazine moieties could be promising candidate agents for antibacterial and antiviral use in agricultural production. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

P53 gene mutation is one of the important causes in tumors. p53‐MDM2 (murine double minute 2) inhibitors can interrupt p53‐dependent gene transcription activity, and inhibit p53‐mediated apoptosis, block p53‐MDM2/MDMx interaction, and significantly reduce DNA formation. In this article, we focused on the synthesis methods about nutlins and other p53 small molecule inhibitors, in order to find potential new structure for novel p53 small molecule inhibitor synthesizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear industry spent fuel reprocessing and some radioactive contamination sites often involve high acidity and salinity environments. Currently developed and reported sorbents in 99TcO4− sequestration from the nuclear waste are unstable and show low adsorption efficiency in harsh conditions. To address this issue, we developed a post‐synthetic modification strategy by grafting imidazole‐based ionic liquids (ILs) onto the backbone of covalent organic framework (COF) via vinyl polymerization. The resultant COF‐polyILs sorbent exhibits fast adsorption kinetics (<5 min) and good sorption capacity (388 mg g−1) for ReO4− (a nonradioactive surrogate of 99TcO4−). Outstandingly, COF‐polyILs composite shows superior ReO4− removal even under highly acidic conditions and in the presence of excess competing ions of Hanford low‐level radioactive waste stream, benefiting from the stable covalent bonds between the COF and polyILs, mass of imidazole rings, and hydrophobic pores in COF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]