Deep Learning Based Automatic Left Ventricle Segmentation from the Transgastric Short-Axis View on Transesophageal Echocardiography: A Feasibility Study.

Segmenting the left ventricle from the transgastric short-axis views (TSVs) on transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is the cornerstone for cardiovascular assessment during perioperative management. Even for seasoned professionals, the procedure remains time-consuming and experience-dependent. The current study aims to evaluate the feasibility of deep learning for automatic segmentation by assessing the validity of different U-Net algorithms. A large dataset containing 1388 TSV acquisitions was retrospectively collected from 451 patients (32% women, average age 53.42 years) who underwent perioperative TEE between July 2015 and October 2023. With image preprocessing and data augmentation, 3336 images were included in the training set, 138 images in the validation set, and 138 images in the test set. Four deep neural networks (U-Net, Attention U-Net, UNet++, and UNeXt) were employed for left ventricle segmentation and compared in terms of the Jaccard similarity coefficient (JSC) and Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) on the test set, as well as the number of network parameters, training time, and inference time. The Attention U-Net and U-Net++ models performed better in terms of JSC (the highest average JSC: 86.02%) and DSC (the highest average DSC: 92.00%), the UNeXt model had the smallest network parameters (1.47 million), and the U-Net model had the least training time (6428.65 s) and inference time for a single image (101.75 ms). The Attention U-Net model outperformed the other three models in challenging cases, including the impaired boundary of left ventricle and the artifact of the papillary muscle. This pioneering exploration demonstrated the feasibility of deep learning for the segmentation of the left ventricle from TSV on TEE, which will facilitate an accelerated and objective alternative of cardiovascular assessment for perioperative management.

Formic Acid Dehydrogenation through Ligand Design Strategy of Amidation in Half-Sandwich Ir Complexes.

A series of Cp*Ir (Cp* = pentamethylcyclopentadienyl) complexes with amidated 8-aminoquinoline ligands were synthesized and tested for formic acid (FA) dehydrogenation. These complexes showed improved activities compared to pristine 8-anminquinoline (L1). Specially, amidation changed the outer coordination sphere of the complex (3) bearing N-8-quinolinylformamide (L3), and 3 was proved to be a proton-responsive catalyst. Our experimental results and DFT calculations demonstrated that the deprotonated carbanion in L3 could interact with a water molecule to stabilize the transition states and lower the reaction energy barrier, which improved the reaction activity. A turnover frequency of 206250 h-1 was achieved by 3 under optimized conditions. This study presents a method to develop new ligands and modify the existing ligands for efficient FA dehydrogenation.

[Evaluation of Postoperative Residual Curarisation after Administration of Neostigmine or Sugammadex by Diaphragmatic Ultrasonography:A Randomized Double-blind Controlled Trial].

Objective To evaluate and compare the incidence of postoperative residual curarisation (PORC) after administration of neostigmine or sugammadex by diaphragmatic ultrasonography.Methods A total of 100 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists grade Ⅰ or Ⅱ who underwent elective joint replacement surgery from March to August in 2021 were randomly enrolled into the neostigmine+atropine group(N+A group,n=51) and sugammadex group(SUG group,n=49) according to a random number table.Muscle relaxation was monitored by train of four(TOF) stimulation of adductor pollicis muscle during anesthesia.The patients in N+A group were administrated with neostigmine 50 µg/kg + atropine 15 µg/kg and those in SUG group with sugammadex 2 mg/kg for reversing muscle relaxation.Endotracheal tube was removed only when TOF ratio≥0.9. Diaphragmatic ultrasonography was performed before surgery,10 min and 30 min after extubation.The right diaphragm excursion during deep breathing(DE-DB) and the diaphragm movement velocity during sniffing(V-S) were measured,with the low-frequency probe placed at the intersection of the right midclavicular line and the right costal margin.The diaphragmatic thickening fraction during deep breathing(TF-DB) was measured with the high-frequency probe placed at zone of apposition.The incidence of PORC was taken as the primary outcome,and DE-DB,TF-DB,and V-S as the secondary outcomes.Results When PORC was defined as TF-DB≤36%,the incidence of PORC in the SUG group was lower than that in the N+A group 10 min(4.3% vs.31.1%;χ2=11.541,P=0.001) and 30 min(0 vs.17.6%;P=0.001) after extubation.When PORC was defined as TF-DB≤36% or DE-DB≤4 cm,the incidence of PORC in the SUG group was also lower than that in the N+A group 10 min(8.2% vs.33.3%;χ2=9.543,P=0.002) and 30 min(0 vs.19.6%;χ2=8.608,P=0.003) after extubation.The DE-DB in the SUG group was higher than that in the N+A group 10 min[(6.5±1.6) cm vs.(5.6±1.4) cm;t=-3.185,P=0.002] and 30 min[(6.9±1.5) cm vs.(6.1±1.4) cm;t=-2.712,P=0.008] after extubation.The TF-DB in the SUG group was also higher than that in the N+A group 10 min[(60.1±18.8)% vs.(49.1±20.0)%;t=2.739,P=0.007] and 30 min[(65.0±20.1)% vs.(49.9±19.1)%,t=-3.686,P<0.001] after extubation.Conclusion Compared with neostigmine,sugammadex can significantly improve the postoperative diaphragm movement and decrease the incidence of PORC.

Comparison of the effects of neostigmine and sugammadex on postoperative residual curarization and postoperative pulmonary complications by means of diaphragm and lung ultrasonography: a study protocol for prospective double-blind randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative residual curarization (PORC) may be a potential risk factor of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs), and both of them will lead to adverse consequences on surgical patient recovery. The train-of-four ratio (TOFr) which is detected by acceleromyography of the adductor pollicis is thought as the gold standard for the measurement of PORC. However, diaphragm function recovery may differ from that of the peripheral muscles. Recent studies suggested that diaphragm ultrasonography may be useful to reveal the diaphragm function recovery, and similarly, lung ultrasound was reported for the assessment of PPCs in recent years as well. Sugammadex reversal of neuromuscular blockade is rapid and complete, and there appear to be fewer postoperative complications than with neostigmine. This study aims to compare the effects of neostigmine and sugammadex, on PORC and PPCs employing diaphragm and lung ultrasonography, respectively. METHODS/DESIGN: In this prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled trial, patients of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status I-III, aged over 60, will be enrolled. They will be scheduled to undergo arthroplasty under general anesthesia. All patients will be allocated randomly into two groups, group NEO (neostigmine) and group SUG (sugammadex), using these two drugs for reversing rocuronium. The primary outcome of the study is the incidence of PPCs in the NEO and SUG groups. The secondary outcomes are the evaluation of diaphragm ultrasonography and lung ultrasound, performed by an independent sonographer before anesthesia, and at 10 min and 30 min after extubation in the post-anesthesia care unit, respectively. DISCUSSION: Elimination of PORC is a priority at the emergence of anesthesia, and it may be associated with reducing postoperative complications like PPCs. Sugammadex was reported to be superior to reverse neuromuscular blockade than neostigmine. Theoretically, complete recovery of neuromuscular function should be indicated by TOFr > 0.9. However, the diaphragm function recovery may not be the same matter, which probably harms pulmonary function. The hypothesis will be proposed that sugammadex is more beneficial than neostigmine to reduce the incidence of PPCs and strongly favorable for the recovery of diaphragm function in our study setting. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05040490 . Registered on 3 September 2021.

[Head and Face Protection of the Health Care Workers in the Operating Room of Peking Union Medical College Hospital during the Corona Virus Disease-19 Pandemic].

Objective To investigate the understanding of the head and face protection of the health care workers in operating room of Peking Union Medical College Hospital during the corona virus disease-19(COVID-19) pandemic.Methods The knowledge of head and face protection of health care workers in the operating room was evaluated based on the non-registered questionnaires for protection measures collected on-line.Results The survey was conducted in two phases.In the first phase(COVID-19 outbreak),153 questionnaires were collected.In the second phase(when Beijing lowered the emergency response to level 3 and normalized the epidemic prevention and control),101 questionnaires were collected.The results showed that 98% of health care workers had used any form of protective devices during the pandemic and anesthesiologists had the highest usage rate(93.0%)of ear-loop face mask with eye shield.During the pandemic,health care workers mainly used goggles(71.2%)for protection to diagnose and treat the patients with fever and ear-loop face mask with eye shield(56.2%)for protection to diagnose and treat the non-fever patients.In the first-and second-phase survey,43% and 68% of health care workers still used protection,and they mainly used face shield(50.0% and 56.5%)and ear-loop face mask with eye shield(56.1% and 68.1%).Conclusions During the pandemic,more than 90% of the health care workers in the operating room of Peking Union Medical College Hospital were aware of head and face protection.Different healthcare workers in the operating room had different choices of head and face protection,and more than 40% of them would still keep such protection during the normalized stage of pandemic prevention and control.

Dilutional Hyponatremia during Hysteroscpic Surgery: Prevention and Treatment.

Dilutional hyponatremia caused by excess absorption of hypo-osmotic irrigation fluids is one of the severe complications during hysteroscopic surgery. Appropriate delivery system and distending media,proper distending pressure,and reducing destruction of uterine venous sinus may remarkably lower the morbidity. Meanwhile,early detection and timely treatment of moderate and severe hyponatremia to avoid the occurrence of secondary nervous system demyelination are particularly important during the surgery. This review summarizes the risk factors and the prevention and treatment strategies of dilutional hyponatremia during hysteroscopic surgery.

Advances in the Treatment of Neuropathic Pain.

Neuropathic pain is pain that arises as a direct consequence of a lesion or diseases affecting the somatosensory system. Treatments for neuropathic pain include pharmacological, nonpharmacological, and interventional therapies. Currently recommended first-line pharmacological treatments include antidepressants and anticonvulsants (gabapentin and pregabalin). However, in some cases, pharmacological therapy alone fails to give adequate control of the chronic pain. New techniques have been invented and have been proved effective on neuropathic pain, such as behavioral, cognitive, integrative, and physical therapies. In this review, we focused on the advances in the treatment of central neuropathic pain, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia, and cancer pain.

Regulatory effect of caffeine on the acute and the chronic pain and its possible mechanisms.

Caffeine,as an important component of refreshment beverage,has been used for a long history. In recent years,its effect on pain relief has been widely explored. As one of nonselective adenosine receptor blockers,caffeine plays different roles in the central and peripheral pain. This review explores the roles of caffeine in acute and chronic pain and the potential mechanisms.