Biomechanics evaluation of sacroiliac joint pain after lumbosacral fusion: A finite element analysis.

The sacroiliac joint (SIJ) constitutes the predominant pain source following lumbar or lumbosacral fusion. Although studies have investigated the biomechanical patterns of SIJ behaviors after lumbosacral fusion, the relationship between ligament strain and SIJ pain following lumbosacral fusion remains unclear. The present study developed a three-dimensional finite element model including L4, L5, sacrum, ilium, SIJ, and seven mainly ligaments. After successful validation, the model was used to investigate the biomechanics of SIJ and ligaments in simulating lumbosacral fusion process. Our results showed that small motion in a stable SIJ may significantly increases the contact pressure and stress of the SIJ, which increase the maximum contact pressure by 171%, 676%, 199%, and 203% and stress by 130%, 424%, 168%, and 241% for flexion, extension, bending, and axial rotation, respectively. An increase in contact pressure and stress in SIJ possibly causes pain at the SIJ, especially in extension and axial rotation. A comparison between the lumbosacral and intact models exhibited the maximum strain increase in the iliosacral ligament (ISL) and the ileal ligament (IL) under all loading conditions. The present study suggests that after lumbosacral fusion process, the ligament sudden increase or decrease is likely to lead sprain or strain ligament, especially ISL and IL thereby causing SIJ pain. This study may contribute to understand the relationship between SIJ ligaments and SIJ pain.

Integrated biomarker responses of the submerged macrophyte Vallisneria spiralis via hydrological processes from Lake Poyang, China.

Vallisneria spiralis, a widely distributed wetland plant, was used to reveal how the light intensity at the top of the plant, plant morphology and antioxidant enzyme activity respond to different hydrologic conditions from Lake Poyang, China. By designing a laboratory experiment simulating historical water levels of low, normal and high wetland plant submersion, this study aimed to elucidate the effects of different levels of flooding on growth and antioxidant enzyme activity for V. spiralis. The results showed that the plant crown light intensity of the treated group and control group (CG) first decreased and then increased along with the seasonal variation of the water level. The maximum and minimum values of the plant crown light intensity were observed in April and July, respectively. Similar to the CG, V. spiralis from the normal and low water level (LWL) groups was measured and had higher plant height growth in the flooding period from May to June, and the entire plant biomass also showed a steady growth trend in the same period. However, the plant growth of the high water level (HWL) group was lower during the whole simulation period, with negative growth in July. Antioxidant enzyme activities changed with the seasonal temperature, and the activity of the CG showed a rising trend. Compared with those of the CG, the antioxidant enzyme activities of the HWL group showed a 'bell shaped' trend, which was first significantly induced and then significantly inhibited. In addition, the peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) activities from the LWL group in April were also significantly induced. The integrated biomarker response (IBR) index showed that a comprehensive biological index could well reflect the effects of seasonal water levels in Poyang Lake on the growth of the wetland plant V. spiralis. This study indicated that high flooding levels had the strongest negative effect on the growth and enzyme activity of the submerged plant V. spiralis.

In vitro and in vivo characterization of a novel H1N1/2009 influenza virus reassortant with an NS gene from a highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, isolated from a human.

The triple-reassortant H1N1/2009 influenza A virus, which caused the first influenza pandemic of the 21st century, is generally associated with mild disease and a relatively low mortality rate comparable to that of seasonal influenza virus outbreaks. There is a growing concern about the potential for reassortment between the low-mortality H1N1/2009 and other high-mortality influenza viruses. Here, we describe and characterize a novel reassortant H1N1/2009 influenza virus, isolated from a human sample, that contained an NS gene from a highly pathogenic H5N1 virus. We evaluated the effect of the acquired NS gene on viral virulence both in vitro and in vivo and found that the novel NS-reassorted influenza virus replicated well in different cell lines and several organs of BALB/c mice without prior adaption and induced a cytokine imbalance. Therefore, there is a continued risk for further reassortment of the H1N1/2009 virus, and therefore, systematic surveillance should be enhanced to prepare for the next possible pandemic.

Quantitative investigation of ligament strains during physical tests for sacroiliac joint pain using finite element analysis.

It may be assumed that the stability is affected when some ligaments are injured or loosened, and this joint instability causes sacroiliac joint pain. Several physical examinations have been used to diagnose sacroiliac pain and to isolate the source of the pain. However, more quantitative and objective information may be necessary to identify unstable or injured ligaments during these tests due to the lack of understanding of the quantitative relationship between the physical tests and the biomechanical parameters that may be related to pains in the sacroiliac joint and the surrounding ligaments. In this study, a three-dimensional finite element model of the sacroiliac joint was developed and the biomechanical conditions for six typical physical tests such as the compression test, distraction test, sacral apex pressure test, thigh thrust test, Patrick's test, and Gaenslen's test were modelled. The sacroiliac joint contact pressure and ligament strain were investigated for each test. The values of contact pressure and the combination of most highly strained ligaments differed markedly among the tests. Therefore, these findings in combination with the physical tests would be helpful to identify the pain source and to understand the pain mechanism. Moreover, the technology provided in this study might be a useful tool to evaluate the physical tests, to improve the present test protocols, or to develop a new physical test protocol.

MDCK cell-cultured influenza virus vaccine protects mice from lethal challenge with different influenza viruses.

Influenza epidemics are major health concern worldwide. Vaccination is the major strategy to protect the general population from a pandemic. Currently, most influenza vaccines are manufactured using chicken embroynated eggs, but this manufacturing method has potential limitations, and cell-based vaccines offer a number of advantages over the traditional method. We reported here using the scalable bioreactor to produce pandemic influenza virus vaccine in a Madin-Darby canine kidney cell culture system. In the 7.5-L bioreactor, the cell concentration reached to 3.2 × 10(6) cells/mL and the highest virus titers of 256 HAU/50 µL and 1 × 10(7) TCID50/mL. The HA concentration was found to be 11.2 µg/mL. The vaccines produced by the cell-cultured system induced neutralization antibodies, cross-reactive T-cell responses, and were protective in a mouse model against different lethal influenza virus challenge. These data indicate that microcarrier-based cell-cultured influenza virus vaccine manufacture system in scalable bioreactor could be used to produce effective pandemic influenza virus vaccines.

Identification of B- and T-cell epitopes from glycoprotein B of herpes simplex virus 2 and evaluation of their immunogenicity and protection efficacy.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection is a major health concern worldwide. Evidence obtained from animals and humans indicates that B- and T-cell responses contribute to protective immunity against herpes virus infection. Glycoprotein B is a transmembrane envelope component of HSV-1 and HSV-2, which plays an important role in virion morphogenesis and penetration into host cells, and can induce neutralizing antibodies and protective T-cell response when it is used to immunize humans and animals. However, little is known about gB epitopes that are involved in B- and T-cell activities in vitro and in vivo. Thus, the HSV-2 gB sequence was screened using B- and T-cell epitope prediction systems, and the B-cell regions and the HLA-A*0201-restricted epitopes were identified. These B-cell epitopes elicited high IgG antibody titers in Balb/C mice, with a predominantly IgG1 subclass distribution, which indicated a Th2 bias. Specific IgGs induced by these two epitopes were evaluated as the neutralizing antibodies for virus neutralization. The predicted T-cell epitopes stabilized the HLA-A*0201 molecules on T(2) cells, and stimulate interferon-γ-secreting and cytotoxic CD8(+) T cells. Immunization with the predicted peptides reduced virus shedding and protected against lethal viral challenge in mice. The functional epitopes described herein, both B- and T-cell epitopes, are potentially implicated in vaccine development.

220 µJ monolithic single-frequency Q-switched fiber laser at 2 µm by using highly Tm-doped germanate fibers.

We report a unique all fiber-based single-frequency Q-switched laser in a monolithic master oscillator power amplifier configuration at ~1920 nm by using highly Tm-doped germanate fibers for the first time. The actively Q-switched fiber laser seed was achieved by using a piezo to press the fiber in the fiber Bragg grating cavity and modulate the fiber birefringence, enabling Q-switching with pulse width and repetition rate tunability. A single-mode polarization maintaining large core 25 µm highly Tm-doped germanate fiber was used in the power amplifier stage. For 80 ns pulses with 20 kHz repetition rate, we achieved 220 µJ pulse energy, which corresponds to a peak power of 2.75 kW with transform-limited linewidth.

Enhanced terahertz source based on external cavity difference-frequency generation using monolithic single-frequency pulsed fiber lasers.

We demonstrate a resonant external cavity approach to enhance narrowband terahertz radiation through difference-frequency generation for the first time (to our knowledge). Two nanosecond laser pulses resonant in an optical cavity interact with a nonlinear crystal to produce a factor of 7 enhancement of terahertz power compared to a single-pass orientation. This external enhancement approach shows promise to significantly increase both terahertz power and conversion efficiency through optical pump pulse enhancement and effective recycling.

Kilowatt-level stimulated-Brillouin-scattering-threshold monolithic transform-limited 100 ns pulsed fiber laser at 1530 nm.

We demonstrate a high-stimulated-Brillouin-scattering-threshold monolithic pulsed fiber laser in a master oscillator power amplifier configuration that can operate over the C band. In the power amplifier stage, we used a newly developed single-mode, polarization maintaining, and highly Er/Yb codoped phosphate fiber with a core diameter of 25 microm. A single-frequency actively Q-switched fiber laser was used to generate pulses in the hundreds of nanoseconds at 1530 nm. We have achieved peak power of 1.2 kW for 105 ns pulses at a repetition rate of 8 kHz, corresponding to a pulse energy of 0.126 mJ, with transform-limited linewidth and diffraction-limited beam quality.

High SBS-threshold single-mode single-frequency monolithic pulsed fiber laser in the C-band.

We report a high SBS-threshold, single-frequency, single-mode, polarization maintaining (PM) monolithic pulsed fiber laser source in master oscillator and power amplifier (MOPA) configuration that can operate over the C-band. In order to achieve a narrow transform-limited linewidth for pulses longer than 100 ns, we use a single-frequency Q-switched fiber laser seed, which itself can be seamlessly tuned up to 1.24 micros. The Q-switched pulses are amplified in the power amplifier stage of MOPA using a high SBS threshold single-mode PM large core highly Er/Yb co-doped phosphate glass fiber (LC-EYPhF). This seed and amplifier combination represents the first monolithic, all-fiber implementation of a single-frequency pulsed laser with the highest pulse energy of 54 microJ and peak power of 332 W for 153-ns pulses at 1538 nm.

Highly efficient high-power thulium-doped germanate glass fiber laser.

A 64 W fiber laser at 1.9 microm with a slope efficiency of 68% with respect to the launching pump power at 800 nm was demonstrated in a one-end pump configuration using a piece of 20 cm long newly developed thulium-doped germanate glass double-cladding single-mode fiber. A quantum efficiency of 1.8 was achieved. An output laser power of 104 W at 1.9 microm was demonstrated from a piece of 40 cm long fiber with a dual-end pump configuration.