Willis covered stent treatment for internal carotid artery pseudoaneurysm: A meta-analysis of efficacy and safety.

Background: Pseudoaneurysm (PSA) of internal carotid artery is a rare but severe cerebrovascular disease and difficult to repair surgically. A novel medical device called Willis covered stent (WCS) has been created especially for the treatment of complex cerebrovascular diseases. However, the efficacy and safety of WCS therapy for PSA are still debatable. Additional substantial proof is needed. Methods: To find research pertaining to WCS treatment for PSA, a systematic review of literature was conducted in the Medline, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang, and CBM databases. The results comprising the data of intraoperative situation, postoperative situation, and follow-up were then included in a meta-analysis. Results: The criteria were met by 11 noncomparative studies with 152 patients and 157 PSAs. Technical success rate was nearly 100 % (>0.999 (95 % confidence interval (CI), 0.958, 1.000)), complete occlusion rate was 97.8 % (95 % CI, 0.932, 1.000), and side branch occlusion rate was 0.5 % (95 % CI, 0.001, 0.045). The rates of acute in-stent thrombosis (<0.001 (95 % CI, 0.000, 0.013)) and hemorrhage (<0.001 (95 % CI, 0.000, 0.005)) were both less than 0.1 %. In postoperative situation, surgery-related mortality rate was less than 0.1 % (<0.001 (95 % CI, 0.000, 0.005)). The rates of recurrence (<0.001 (95 % CI, 0.000, 0.002)) and parent artery stenosis (<0.001 (95 % CI, 0.000, 0.008)) were both less than 0.1 %, while late in-stent stenosis occurred in 1.3 % (95 % CI, 0.000, 0.053) of patients. In the end, 98.5 % (95 % CI, 0.943, 1.000) of patients had a good outcome. Conclusion: The application of WCS could be effective and safe for PSAs. The findings of this study could serve as a reference for upcoming clinical trials.

A bifunctionalized NiCo2O4-Au composite: Intrinsic peroxidase and oxidase catalytic activities for killing bacteria and disinfecting wound.

A NiCo2O4-Au composite was fabricated following the calcination-reduction method and testified to exhibit the intrinsic high peroxidase- and oxidase-like activities. The composite could activate a low level of H2O2 (100 µM) to kill E. coli and S. aureus. NiCo2O4-Au composite could be easily separated by an external magnet from the media and reused several times. NiCo2O4-Au composite could also effectively damage the existing biofilms and prevent the formation of new biofilms. The electron spin resonance tests showed that NiCo2O4-Au composite catalyzed H2O2 into reactive oxygen species (ROS), mainly including OH, O2-, and 1O2; while the oxidase-like activity of NiCo2O4-Au also stemmed from the ROS formation in the absence of H2O2. The radical trapping experiment confirmed that OH and 1O2 were the main radicals in the antibacterial process for NiCo2O4-Au in the presence of H2O2. A NiCo2O4-Au based Band-Aid was also designed, which exhibited high anti-infective and wound-healing properties. This study has demonstrated that NiCo2O4-Au composite can be a promising antibacterial agent in environmental and clinical applications.

[Multi-scale spatial relations of PAHs and soil properties in Tianjin area].

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs) in soil have serious latent danger to our human health. Based on the sampling data, the spatial scale-dependent correlations of PAHs content and some soil properties are analyzed by Factorial Kriging for top soil in Tianjin area. Based on 1 88 topsoil samples in Tianjin area, pH, TOC, CLAY and sum of 16prior PAHs are tested. Resultsshow that significant difference on spatial correlations at different spatial scales between the PAHs content and soil properties such as pH, TOC and CLAY existed in the studies area.

[PAHs in airborne particles from Tianjin in winter season].

Total suspended particles (TSP) samples from 13 stations in Tianjin were collected and analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during 2002 winter. There was significant difference in total PAH concentration among 13 samples. TSP samples from the east Economic Development Area and mid-north districts had the highest contents of PAHs, while Dagang Oil Field had the lowest PAH content. The urban area, south district, and Jixian county had the moderate contents of PAHs. Based on the measured concentration of the PAHs, BaP equivalent (BaPeq) were derived based on Toxicity Equivalent Factors (TEFs) of the PAHs. The total BaPeq values were similar among the samples. The contribution of PAHs with five or six rings contributed 90% of the total toxicity, while they accounted for only 50% of the total concentration.

Multimedia fate model for hexachlorocyclohexane in Tianjin, China.

A level III fugacity model was applied to characterize the fate of gamma-HCH in Tianjin, China, before the 1990s when the contamination reached its maximum at steady state. Geometric means were used as model inputs. The concentrations of gamma-HCH in air, surface water, soil, sediment, crops, and fish as well as transfer fluxes across the interface between the compartments were derived under the assumption of steady state. The calculated concentrations were validated by independent data collected from the literature. There was generally good agreement between the estimated and the observed concentrations, and the differences were all less than 0.6 log units for air, water, soil, sediment, and fish and approximately 1 order of magnitude for crops. Around 97% of gamma-HCH accumulated in soil and sediment. Wastewater irrigation was not an important pathway for delivering gamma-HCH to soil as compared to the dominant source of agricultural application. Degradation and advective airflow carried much gamma-HCH out of the system. Sensitivities of the model estimates to input parameters were tested, and a coefficient of variation normalized sensitivity coefficient was defined for the test. The most influential parameters were degradation rates in sediment and soil, application rates, concentrations in wastewater, and adsorption coefficients. Monte Carlo simulation was conducted for model uncertainty analysis. The model was run 20 000 times using randomly generated data from predefined log-normal distribution density functions. All calculated concentrations and fluxes were log-normally distributed. The dispersions of the calculated and observed concentrations were compared in terms of coefficients of variation to distinguish between true variability and model uncertainty.

Fate modeling of phenanthrene with regional variation in Tianjin, China.

A multimedia fate model with spatially resolved air and soil phases was developed and evaluated. The model was used for calculation of phenanthrene concentrations in air, water, soil, and sediment in Tianjin area and transport fluxes between the adjacent bulk phases under steady-state assumption. Both air and soil phases were divided into 3113 individual compartments of 4 km2 each to assess the spatial variation of phenanthrene concentrations and fluxes. Independently measured phenanthrene concentrations in air, water, and soil were used for model validation. The spatial variation in soil was validated using a set of measured phenanthrene concentrations of 188 surface soil samples collected from the area. Most data used either for model calculation or for model validation were collected during the last 5 years. As the results of the model validation, the calculated mean values for phenanthrene concentrations in various bulk phases are in fair agreement with those independently observed and are very close to those calculated using the model without spatial variation. The absolute difference between the calculated and the measured mean concentrations are 0.14, 0.48, and 0.13 log-units (mol/m3) for air, water, and soil, respectively. The spatial distribution patterns of phenanthrene in both air and soil were well modeled. Spatially, however, the model overestimated the soil phenanthrene level at low concentration range and underestimated it at high concentration range. The calculated distribution of phenanthrene in the air matches well with the emission from fossil fuel combustion, while the calculated distribution pattern in the soil is similar to that observed.

[Multimedia fate modeling with spatial resolution for phenanthrene in Tianjin].

Behavior and fate of phenanthrene in various phases in Tianjin were calculated using a multimedia model with spatial resolution under steady-state assumption. Spatial variation of two parameters, namely soil organic carbon content and emission from fossil fuel combustion, were taken into consideration. Both soil and air phases were further divided into 3113 sub-compartments and 6226 equations in total were solved simultaneously under mass-balance assumption. A number of output parameters, therefore, were generated and were used for mapping of phenanthrene concentrations in soil and air, as well as transfer fluxes between compartments. The model was evaluated in two ways. 1. Comparison between the calculated and the observed average concentrations in bulk compartments, and 2. Comparison of spatial distribution of the calculated and the observed phenanthrene concentrations in surface soil. In both cases, the predicted results are in fair agreement with the independently measured values. As the results of the modeling, it was demonstrated that soil and sediment, especially the later, is the primary sink of phenanthrene in the area over 70% of the chemical accumulated in sediment. The spatial distribution pattern of phenanthrene in surface soil depends on content of soil organic matter which prevent the degradation of the material by bacteria. For distribution in ambient air, the dominant controlling factor is the emission.