Search

Inferior pole fractures of patella are notorious fractures where it is difficult to obtain rigid internal fixation by conventional methods. The objective of the study was to introduce the Hand Plating System (HPS), which was a novel surgical technique for inferior pole fractures of patella, and to report the radiological and clinical outcomes following the application of the surgical technique.The study was designed as a retrospective cohort study. Between July 2017 and December 2018, 30 patients who were diagnosed with inferior pole fracture of the patella without additional orthopaedic injuries were enrolled in this case series. After X-ray and 3D-CT examinations, all patients underwent open reduction and internal fixation by HPS with or without supplementary cannulated screw and lag screw stabilization. The bony union time, final range of motion (ROM), Bostman score, visual analog scale (VAS), and complications were measured as the clinical outcomes under a minimum of 12 months of follow-up.All of the operations went well with the mean operative time of 76.2 ± 15.3 min. Bony union achieved in all the cases at an average of 9.5 ± 1.4 weeks after surgery. There was no loss of reduction, fixative failure, or surgical implant removal during follow-up. The average range of motion 1 year postoperatively was 0°-123.3°. The mean Bostman Score at the last follow-up was 26.8 ± 2.1 with the satisfactory rate of 100%. The pain feeling during walking as measured by VAS averaged at 0.9 ± 1.3. No complications developed except for one case of poor incision healing, which healed eventually after surgical debridement.HPS was demonstrated as a secure fixation and as a kind of tension band for inferior pole fractures of the patella. Satisfactory recovery of knee function and low complication rate, including no need for hardware removal, could be expected.

The application of three-dimensional printed porous titanium implants (TIs) is compromised in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus (DM), which disturbs the normal process of implant osseointegration, resulting in fixation failure. It was possibly because of reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction at the bone-implant interface. A silk fibroin-based hydroxyapatite (SF/HA) hybrid material emerged as a novel biological material for accelerating new bone formation. We proposed that the SF/HA hybrid coated titanium implant (SHT) could mitigate DM-mediated impaired osseointegration, which had never been reported previously. To test this assumption and further elucidate the mechanisms, primary rabbit osteoblasts were seeded on TIs or SHTs and cultured with normal serum, diabetic serum (DS), DS + N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) (a potent ROS inhibitor), and DS + LY294002 (a specific PI3K/Akt inhibitor) for osteoblast behavior examinations. An animal study was performed on diabetic rabbits implanted with the two kinds of implants for osseointegration tests. DM-mediated ROS overproduction caused osteoblastic biological dysfunctions and apoptotic injury, associated with suppression of PI3K/Akt signaling in osteoblasts cultured on a TI substrate. Of note, the SHT substrate significantly suppressed ROS overproduction under diabetic conditions, improved osteoblast functional recovery including ameliorative osteoblast adhesion and morphology, improved cellular proliferation and differentiation, and abrogated apoptosis, which exhibited the same effect as NAC administration on the TI. The

Epitaxial GaAs-on-Si is an ideal material system for studying the physics of mismatched heteroepitaxy of a polar semiconductor layer grown on a non-polar substrate like silicon. Understanding and optimization of the initial nucleation of GaAs on silicon is the most crucial step in the success of GaAs/Si heteroepitaxy. Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technique has been used to deposit hetero-epitaxial GaAs thin-film on off-angle Si (100) substrate using the three-step growth method. After optimizing the growth parameters of low temperature (LT) buffer layer and high temperature (HT) epilayer, XRD analyses were performed. Characterization results of the GaAs (004) films which were not subjected to annealing, show a full-width half maximum (FWHM) of 760.1 arc sec and a root mean square (RMS) surface roughness of lower than 1 nm for a scanning area of 10 μm × 10 μm.

This study has been carried out to design environment friendly membranes prepared by an immersion method with bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) as a template, and chitosan (Ch) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as functional entities for high bacteriostasis and hydrophilicity, respectively. The BNC-Ch0.5-PVA membranes have more pronounced pores and looser three-dimensional structure than those of BNC, and the surfaces of the composites prepared with more Ch obviously became flatter and denser, observed using a scanning electron microscope. The Young's modulus and tensile strength of wet composite membranes decreased following Ch and PVA incorporation. Lower thermal stability and crystallinity index of composite membranes were observed than those of BNC. The composite BNC-Ch0.5-PVA2 membranes possessed much better hydrophilicity than pure BNC. The composites exhibited noteworthy antibacterial properties against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus compared to pure BNC which has no antibacterial ability. These results indicate that BNC-based composite membranes show excellent performance, especially a remarkable swelling capacity and bacteriostatic ability, and are claimed to be effective in various applications such as medical treatment as a wound dressing.

The feasibility of high-solids simultaneous saccharification and ethanol production was investigated using unwashed corncob residues (CRs) with tea-seed cake (TSC). Tea saponin of TSC could serve as an accelerant to enhance ethanol production and reduce the dosage of enzymes. The proteins of TSC could be the nitrogen resource for yeast. The effects of substrate concentration (10%, 15%, and 20% (w/w)), enzyme dosage (2.5–15 FPU/g-cellulose), and types of media on ethanol production were evaluated. An ethanol yield of 86.56% of the theoretical maximum could be obtained at a substrate concentration of 15% (w/w) with 10 FPU/g-cellulose. Furthermore, fermentations in different media showed that the surface tension (49.21 mN/m) and contact angle (42.6°) of the fermentation system with TSC were lower than those from the other systems. This study found that adding TSC to the fermentation system was an attractive strategy to achieve high ethanol yield without any pretreatment. Comprehensive utilization of CRs and TSC as feedstocks for ethanol production can reduce the cost of biorefineries with environmental benefits.

Percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy (PTED) has become the standard surgery for the patients of lumbar disc herniation with the advantages of less trauma and rapid recovery. But still some patients have poor prognosis after PTED. A major risk factor associated with the poor prognosis may be the unfit function exercise.To discuss the effect of overall functional exercise process for PTED.In January 2019 to June 2020, a single center randomized controlled trial was proceeded. The patients scheduled for PTED were randomly divided into the experimental group, which received overall functional exercise and the control group, which received routine process. The overall process included advance, whole-course exercise and integrating of traditional Chinese medical methods. The general information, visual analog scale (VAS) score and Oswestry Dysfunction Index (ODI) score at each follow-up point perioperative period were compared between the 2 groups.There were no significant differences in the general information, the preoperative VAS and ODI. On the 3rd day after operation, the VAS of low back pain and leg pain in the experimental group were lower than the control group. One month after operation, the VAS of low back pain in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group. One to 3 months after operation, the ODI scores of the experimental group were better than that of the control group. There was no significant difference in modified MacNab index between the experimental group and the control group.Function exercise is important for the prognosis of minimally invasive lumbar surgery. The overall function exercise process perioperative is helpful to relieve the short-term pain of the patients and significantly improve the prognosis.

Purpose Infected forearm nonunion remains a challenge for the hand surgeon. Autologous bone grafting within an induced membrane following implantation of a cement spacer, also known as the Masquelet technique, is a procedure used for addressing segmental bone defects . This report summarized our experience using this technique to treat the infected forearm nonunion. Methods We retrospectively reviewed a series of 32 patients treated for infected forearm nonunion by the 2-stage Masquelet technique between 2009 and 2018. There was an infected nonunion of the ulna in 28 patients and an infected nonunion of the radius in 4 patients. All patients had undergone an average of 2.7 procedures before presenting at our institution. Treatment involved a staged procedure in which an antibiotic-impregnated cement spacer was implanted into the bone defect following debridement without internal fixation. It was left in place for 4–6 weeks, during which time a membrane formed around the cement spacer. In the second stage , the induced membrane was incised, and the cement spacer was removed. The defect was then filled with cancellous autograft with the addition of internal fixation. Postoperative radiographs were taken for the evaluation of bone healing. The functional results of the affected forearm were evaluated for motion loss of elbow or wrist and rotation loss of forearm. Results All nonunions healed without recurrent infection or loosening of internal fixation at the time of final follow-up. All the patients showed substantial functional improvement, with excellent results in 14 patients, satisfactory results in 13, and unsatisfactory results in 5. Conclusions The induced membrane technique is an effective solution for infected forearm nonunion. Type of study/level of evidence Therapeutic IV.

Clinical evidence indicates the compromised application of titanium implants (TIs) in diabetics, associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction at the bone-implant interface. Silk fibroin (SF) has displayed impressive biocompatibility in the application of biomedical material and optimal anti-diabetic effects in oriental medicine. We proposed that SF-coated titanium implants (STIs) could alleviate diabetes-induced compromised osteointegration, which has rarely been reported before. To confirm this hypothesis and explore the underlying mechanisms, rat osteoblasts cultured on 3-dimensional (3D) -printed titanium implants (TIs) and STIs were subjected to normal serum (NS), diabetic serum (DS), DS with N-acetyl-L-cysteine (a ROS inhibitor) or SN50 (an NF-κB inhibitor). An in vivo study was performed on diabetic sheep with TIs or STIs implanted into bone defects on the crista iliaca. The results demonstrated that ROS overproduction induced by diabetes lead to osteoblast dysfunctions and cellular apoptosis on the TI substrate, associated with the activation of an NF-κB signaling pathway in osteoblasts. Importantly, the STI substrate significantly attenuated ROS production and NF-κBp65 phosphorylation, thereby ameliorating the osteoblast biological dysfunctions. These results were further confirmed in vivo by the improved osteointegration of the STIs, as evidenced by Micro-CT and histological examinations compared with those of TIs. These results demonstrated that the ROS-mediated NF-κB signaling pathway played a crucial role in diabetes-induced implant destabilization. Importantly, the SF coating, as a promising material for biomaterial-engineering, markedly improved the clinical treatment effect of TIs under diabetic conditions, possibly associated with the suppression of the NF-κB pathway.

Soil samples from four vegetation mini-patches (Artemisia scoparia, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Sophora alopecuroides, Astragalus melilotoides) in a desert steppe in central Ningxia were collected. Soil physico-chemical properties including soil particle-size distribution, organic matter, pH, EC, total N, total K, total P of three depths were measured. The fractal dimension of particle size distribution characteristics of soils derived from four different vegetation mini-patches and their correlations with soil physico-chemical properties were examined. The results showed that patch vege-tation distribution affected the distribution of soil particle size, with the A. melilotoides mini-patch being the highest (D=2.51) and G. uralensis mini-patch being the lowest (D=2.46). There were significant positive correlation between fractal dimensions and the contents of clay and silt, and nega-tive correlation between fractal dimensions and sand content. Fractal dimensions were positively correlated with pH value and EC, negatively correlated with the contents of soil organic matter and total N, and had no correlation with the contents of soil total K and total P. The patchy vegetation distribution had potential trends of salinization and degradation.采集宁夏中部干旱带荒漠草原4种植被(猪毛蒿、甘草、苦豆子、草木樨状黄芪)微斑块土壤剖面3个层次土壤,测定了各微斑块土壤颗粒粒级分布、有机质、pH值、土壤电导率(EC)、全氮、全磷和全钾等理化性质,探讨了不同植被微斑块土壤粒径分布的分形维数(

Assessing the biomechanical properties of trabecular bone is of major biological and clinical significance for the research of bone diseases, fractures and their treatments. Micro-finite element (µFE) models are becoming increasingly popular for investigating the biomechanical properties of trabecular bone. The shapes of µFE models typically include cube and cylinder. Whether there are differences between cubic and cylindrical µFE models has not yet been studied. In the present study, cubic and cylindrical µFE models of human vertebral trabecular bone were constructed. A 1% strain was prescribed to the model along the superior-inferior direction. E values were calculated from these models, and paired t-tests were performed to determine whether these were any differences between E values obtained from cubic and cylindrical models. The results demonstrated that there were no statistically significant differences in the E values between cubic and cylindrical models, and there were no significant differences in Von Mises stress distributions between the two models. These findings indicated that, to construct µFE models of vertebral trabecular bone, cubic or cylindrical models were both feasible. Choosing between the cubic or cylindrical µFE model is dependent upon the specific study design.

Background The clinical efficacy of acupuncture is a topic that has received worldwide attention. In recent years, the rise of evidence-based medicine has led to calls for the clinical curative effects of acupuncture to be tested through objective, standardized, systematic evaluation. The results of systematic reviews for clinical trials on the efficacy of acupuncture directly affect the development of acupuncture medicine. Because of its rigorous methods and its capability to provide the very latest results, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) is recognized worldwide as one of the most reliable sources for scientific evidence. Objective Assess the current system evaluation related to acupuncture in CDSR and the Cochrane Collaboration. Methods Based on the protocols described in the Cochrane library review and the Cochrane Collaboration, and considering the registered titles in the data base, the following key terms were selected: acupuncture, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, electroacupuncture, needle and acupressure. Results The 275 articles were retrieved. According to inclusion and exclusion criteria, 139 articles were eventually chosen for inclusion. We found a growing number of acupuncture related CDSR annual reviews and protocols on the overall Before 2014. The published acupuncture related reviews, protocols and registered titles concerning the subject involve 34 Cochrane Review Groups. Through analyzing the 84 reviews related to acupuncture, we concluded that these studies show a rather low rate of efficacy overall for acupuncture. Of the 84, 19(22.62%) concluded that there is evidence for the efficacy of acupuncture, 2(2.38%) showed acupuncture treatment were not more effective than controls and the remaining 63 (75.00%) showed that the efficacy of acupuncture were uncertain. Conclusions By analyzing and summarizing the acupuncture reviews published in the CDSR before 2014, we found that current research shows acupuncture treatment is most effective for treating pain and related symptoms (57.89%). However, studies showing lack of efficacy or uncertain results far outweighed the studies with positive results. We discuss the possible reasons for this and beleive it is related to the overall quality of research, poorly designed sham acupuncture, lack of standard procedures for locating points and needling, and lack of attention to individual differences.

The washing solution of Zhundong coal is a multi-ions mixed system, and the extraction reactions of the alkali and alkaline earth metal ions in the water washing solution with polymer material of dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6 were investigated. The results show that the content of Na in the washing solution is highest, followed by K. Dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6 has better extraction rate of K due to the diameter of K has the same size with the hole diameter of dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6, which enables it could effectively separate Na and K, while did not cause excessive pollution of aqueous solution. Alkali and alkaline earth metal ions were extracted by dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6 in the form of 1:1. Improving the concentration of dicyclohexyl-18- crown-6 in organic phase could effectively enhance the extraction rate. It is not conducive to the extraction reaction by increasing temperature, as the extraction reaction is exothermic.

Vegetation patch is one of the most basic characteristics of natural grazing grassland. To explore the effects of vegetation patch on soil microbial community, the changes of soil microbial biomass and community structure under four different vegetation patches in Ningxia desert steppe were quantified using phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis. The results showed that: 1) Soil microbial groups were abundant in vegetation patches, with the highest bacterial content, low fungal and actinomycete content, and the Gram-positive bacteria content being higher than that of Gram-negative bacteria in the patches of the four plant communities; 2) The total soil microbial biomass of Glycyrrhiza uralensis patch was significantly higher than that of Artemisia scoparia, Sophora alopecuroides, and Astragalus melilotoides patches; 3) Total PLFAs, Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, fungi, anaerobic bacteria and fungi/bacteria were significantly positively correlated with soil organic C, and significantly negatively correlated with soil pH, indicating that soil organic C and pH were important factors affecting the growth and development of soil microorganisms in desert steppe.植物群落斑块化是天然放牧草地最基本的特征之一.为探索植物群落斑块化对土壤微生物群落组成及多样性的影响,本研究以宁夏荒漠草原为研究对象,采用磷脂脂肪酸(PLFA)法对比分析了不同植物群落微斑块内土壤微生物生物量和群落结构特征的变化.结果表明: 1) 4种植物群落微斑块内土壤微生物种类丰富,且都表现为细菌含量最高,真菌和放线菌含量较少,革兰氏阳性菌含量高于革兰氏阴性菌;2)4种植物群落中,甘草微斑块的土壤微生物总量显著高于猪毛蒿、苦豆子和黄芪;3)冗余分析表明,磷脂脂肪酸总量、革兰氏阳性菌、革兰氏阴性菌、真菌、厌氧菌、真菌/细菌均与土壤有机碳呈显著正相关,与pH呈显著负相关,表明土壤有机碳、pH是荒漠草原土壤微生物生长和发育的重要影响因素.

A high failure rate of titanium implants in diabetic patients has been indicated in clinical evidences. Excessive oxidative stress at the bone-implant interface plays an important role in the impaired osteointegration under diabetic conditions. While the underlying mechanisms remain unknown and the targeted treatments are urgently needed. Ophiopogonin D (OP-D), isolated from Chinese herbal Radix Ophiopogon japonicus, is generally reported to be a potent antioxidant agent. In the present study, we hypothesized that OP-D exerted promotive effects on osteointegration against oxidative stress, and investigated the underlying mechanisms associated with alteration of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Rabbit osteoblasts incubated on titanium alloy implant were co-cultured with normal serum (NS), diabetic serum (DS), DS + OP-D, DS + NAC (a potent ROS inhibitor) and DS + OP-D + Dkk1 (a Wnt inhibitor) for examinations of osteoblast behaviors. For in vivo study, titanium alloy implants were implanted into the femoral condyle defects on diabetic rabbits. Results demonstrated that diabetes-induced oxidative stress resulted in osteoblast dysfunctions and apoptotic injury at the bone-implant interface, concomitant with the inactivation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Importantly, OP-D administration attenuated oxidative stress, directly reactivating Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Osteoblast dysfunctions were thus reversed as evidenced by improved osteoblast adhesion, proliferation and differentiation, and ameliorated apoptotic injury, exerting similar effects to NAC treatment. In addition, the positive effects afforded by OP-D were confirmed by improved osteointegration and oetogenesis within the titanium alloy implants in vivo by Micro-CT and histological analyses. Furthermore, the pro-osteogenic effects of OP-D were almost completely abolished by the Wnt inhibitor Dkk1. These results demonstrated, for the first time, OP-D administration alleviated the damaged osteointegration of titanium alloy implants under diabetic conditions by means of inhibiting oxidative stress via a Wnt/β-catenin-dependent mechanism. The OP-D administration would become a reliable treatment strategy for implant failure therapy in diabetics due to the optimal anti-oxidative and pro-osteogenic properties.

Chitosan (CS)-based hydroxyapatite (HA) composites have emerged as a novel strategy for promoting bone regeneration. Here nanophase HA/CS composite coated porous titanium implants (nCT) were fabricated and their biological behavior under diabetic conditions was investigated. We proposed that the focal adhesion kinase (FAK)-mediated BMP-2/Smad pathway played a role in mediating the promotive effect of nCTs on osteoblast adhesion and differentiation under diabetes-induced high reactive oxygen species (ROS) condition. To confirm the hypothesis, rat osteoblasts on bare titanium implants (Ti) and nCT were subjected to normal serum (NS), diabetic serum (DS), DS + NAC (a potent ROS inhibitor) and DS + cytochalasin D (an actin polymerization inhibitor). In vivo on diabetic sheep implanted with Ti or nCT showed that diabetes-induced ROS overproduction impaired osteoblast adhesion, evidenced by immunostaining of F-actin and vinculin and morphological observation through inhibition of FAK phosphorylation, which contributed to suppressed BMP-2-dependent Smad1/5/8 phosphorylation. nCT substrate reactivated the FAK-BMP-2/Smad pathway, thus reversing osteoblast dysfunction, which exerted a similar effect to NAC treatment on Ti. These effects were further confirmed by improved osteointegration within nCT in diabetic sheep, evidenced by micro-CT and histological examinations. Our study demonstrated that reactivation of the FAK-BMP-2/Smad pathway was involved in improving osteoblast adhesion and differentiation by nano-HA/CS composite coating, potentially directing biomaterial modification and biofunctionalization under diabetic conditions.

Because of the rapidly development of the tourism, the wetland has become the key resource for exploitation, which would result in variation of the factors and the wetland ecosystem. Among many ecological factors, herbaceous plant communities seem to be sensitive. Field investigation is an effective way to research the problems of the wetland. We analyzed the impacts on the herbaceous plant communities of the tourism exploitation in the Yellow River Wetland of Zhengzhou City based on the sample survey. It turns out: (1) Tourism activities affect the height of the herbaceous plant communities. The greater impact, the nearer the tourist route; (2) Tourism influence the coverage of the herbaceous plants; (3) It also effects the types and compositions of the herbaceous plant communities; (4) Tourism could promote the diversity of the herbaceous plant communities.

In order to explore the mechanism for the functions of acupuncture on nerve-endocrine-immune (NEI) network, authors carried out systematical analysis on the research progress of regulations on nerve-endocrine-immune network by acupuncture, and investigated current problems and future development tendency. It was found that NEI network was the biological basis for human body to maintain homeostasis and it utilized common medium for transmitting information, and the regulations by acupuncture may activate NEI network or its common medium. Science of acupuncture and moxibustion is the systematical science focusing on integrative regulations, and continuous development of system biology and omics techniques have enabled systematical assurance and comprehensive understanding of network regulatory effects and mechanisms by acupuncture to become new development tendencies.

On account of the ambiguity of the concept of eco-environmental quality and the incompatibility of evaluation, the paper takes regional eco-system as "Natural - Economic - Social" complex, with the using of Matter-element Analysis Method, selects the 2012 statistics data source of the study area, gives an effective eco-environmental evaluation of the hilly areas in Pingdingshan city by the calculating of Euclid approach degree. The evaluation results show: Euclid approach degree ρHj (City center) >ρHj (Lushan) >ρHj (Ruzhou) >ρHj (Baofeng), while the number is between 2 and 3. It showed that the eco-environment quality in Pingdingshan hilly areas is good, waiting for further improvement. It offers the scientific basis and countermeasures for the restoration and further development of the eco-environment in this area.

To elucidate whether ZFP580 is involved in the cardioprotective effects of intermittent hypobaric hypoxia (IHH) against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury.Thirty two male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 2 groups (n = 16): normoxia control group and IHH preconditioning group. Rats in IHH group were exposed in a hypobaric chamber (equivalent to an altitude of 5 000 m) for a 6 h period each day for 42 d. Plasma was collected and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) were measured after 2 h of myocardial I/R injury. ZFP580 protein expression in myocardial tissue was assayed by Western blot. Other 8 rats in each group were used to evaluate I/R-induced cardiac infarction by TTC staining. Lentivirus-mediated gene transfection was performed in H9c2 cells 72 h prior to simulated ischemia/reperfusion (SI/R) exposure. The degree of cell apoptosis was determined by annexin V/7-AAD staining and flow cytometry analysis.Compared with normoxia control group, adaptation to IHH attenuated infarct size and plasma leakage of LDH and CK-MB. In addition, ZFP580 expression in the myocardium was up-regulated by IHH. The results of gene transfection showed that ZFP580 overexpression significantly inhibited cells apoptosis induced by SI/R.Our findings demonstrate that the cardioprotective effect of IHH against I/R injury is mediated via ZFP580, a novel transcription factor, with anti-apoptotic roles in myocardial cells.