[Reconstruction of anterior talofibular ligament and calcaneofibular ligament with autologous peroneus brevis tendon in the treatment of chronic lateral ankle instability].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical efficacy of reconstruction the anterior talofibular ligament and calcaneofibular ligament with autologous peroneus brevis tendon for the treatment of chronic lateral ankle instability. METHODS: The clinical data of 42 patients with chronic lateral ankle instability treated by anatomical reconstruction of anterior talofibular ligament and calcaneofibular ligament with autologous peroneus brevis tendon from July 2016 to July 2019 was retrospectively analyzed. Including 30 males and 12 females, age ranged from 25 to 46 years old with an average of (37.6±12.4) years. There were 15 cases of left foot and 27 cases of right foot, the time from injury to operation was 3 to 12 months with a mean of (7.4±2.8) months. And 14 patients had tenderness in lateral collateral ligament area, 28 patients complained of multiple ankle sprains while walking on the flat ground. At 12 months after operation, the talar tilt angle and visual analogue scale(VAS)were observed, ankle joint varus stress and anterior drawer test were performed to check the mechanical stability of the ankle joint, American Orhopaedic Foot and Ankle Society(AOFAS) was used to score the ankle and hindfoot functions and evaluate the curative effect. RESULTS: Forty patients were followed up for 12 to 48 months with an average of (28.3±10.0) months, 2 cases were lost. The VAS decreased from(4.50±0.93) scores before surgery to (1.10±0.30) scores at 12 months after surgery;the talar tilt angle was reduced from (12.26±1.13)° before operation to (4.60±0.45)° at 12 months after operation;the AOFAS score increased from (65.10±7.50)scores before surgery to (84.40±3.95) scores at 12 months after surgery;all the differences were statically significant(P<0.05). According to the AOFAS score, 27 cases got excellent results, 7 good, 5 fair, and 1 poor. One patient had the symptoms of sural nerve injury after operation, and the symptoms were relieved after oral Mecobalamin for 3 months. The remaining patients had no complications such as nerve injury, infection, and skin necrosis. There was no instability of ankle joint, and both ankle varus stress test and drawer test were negative. CONCLUSION: Autologous peroneal brevis tendon with double bone channel pass through the tendon (modified Chrisman-Snook operation) can anatomically reconstruct the anterior talofibular ligament and the calcaneofibular ligament, restore the stability of the patient's ankle joint, reduce postoperative complications, and restore ankle joint function well.

An Effective Hypoxia-Related Long Non-Coding RNAs Assessment Model for Prognosis of Clear Cell Renal Carcinoma.

Hypoxia is a significant clinical feature and regulates various tumor processes in clear cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC). Increasing evidence has demonstrated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are closely associated with the survival outcomes of ccRCC patients and regulates hypoxia-induced tumor processes. Thus, this study aimed to develop a hypoxia-related lncRNA (HRL) prognostic model for predicting the survival outcomes in ccRCC. LncRNAs in ccRCC samples were extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Hypoxia-related genes were downloaded from the Molecular Signatures Database. A co-expression analysis between differentially expressed lncRNAs and hypoxia-related genes in ccRCC samples was performed to identify HRLs. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to select nine optimal lncRNAs for developing the HRL model. The prognostic model showed good performance in predicting prognosis among patients with ccRCC, and the validation sets reached consistent results. The model was also found to be related to the clinicopathologic parameters of tumor grade and tumor stage and to tumor immune infiltration. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the hypoxia-lncRNA assessment model may be useful for prognostication in ccRCC cases. Furthermore, the nine HRLs included in the model might be useful targets for investigating the tumorigenesis of ccRCC and designing individualized treatment strategies.

Antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in patients with COVID-19.

We report acute antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in 285 patients with COVID-19. Within 19 days after symptom onset, 100% of patients tested positive for antiviral immunoglobulin-G (IgG). Seroconversion for IgG and IgM occurred simultaneously or sequentially. Both IgG and IgM titers plateaued within 6 days after seroconversion. Serological testing may be helpful for the diagnosis of suspected patients with negative RT-PCR results and for the identification of asymptomatic infections.

Characterization of an Amorphous Titanium Oxide Film Deposited onto a Nano-Textured Fluorination Surface.

The photocatalytic activity of an amorphous titanium oxide (a-TiOx) film was modified using a two-step deposition. The fluorinated base layer with a nano-textured surface prepared by a selective fluorination etching process acted as growth seeds in the subsequent a-TiOx deposition. A nanorod-like microstructure was achievable from the resulting a-TiOx film due to the self-assembled deposition. Compared to the a-TiOx film directly deposited onto the untreated base layer, the rate constant of this fluorinate-free a-TiOx film surface for decomposing methylene blue (MB) solution that was employed to assess the film's photocatalytic activity was markedly increased from 0.0076 min-1 to 0.0267 min-1 as a mechanism for the marked increase in the specific surface area.

Preparation and Characterization of Surface Photocatalytic Activity with NiO/TiO2 Nanocomposite Structure.

This study achieved a nanocomposite structure of nickel oxide (NiO)/titanium dioxide (TiO2) heterojunction on a TiO2 film surface. The photocatalytic activity of this structure evaluated by decomposing methylene blue (MB) solution was strongly correlated to the conductive behavior of the NiO film. A p-type NiO film of high concentration in contact with the native n-type TiO2 film, which resulted in a strong inner electrical field to effectively separate the photogenerated electron-hole pairs, exhibited a much better photocatalytic activity than the controlled TiO2 film. In addition, the photocatalytic activity of the NiO/TiO2 nanocomposite structure was enhanced as the thickness of the p-NiO film decreased, which was beneficial for the migration of the photogenerated carriers to the structural surface.