Effect of systemic lidocaine on postoperative quality of recovery, the gastrointestinal function, inflammatory cytokines of lumbar spinal stenosis surgery: a randomized trial.

Surgery is one of the most frequent and effective intervention strategies for lumbar spinal stenosis, however, one-third of patients are not satisfied with postoperative outcomes. It is not clear whether perioperative systemic lidocaine could accelerate the early postoperative quality of recovery in patients undergoing lumbar spinal stenosis surgery. 66 patients were enrolled in this trial. Lidocaine or placebo was administered at a loading dose of 1.5 mg/kg for 10 min and then infused at 2.0 mg/kg/hour till the end of surgery. Continued infusion by postoperative patient-controlled intravenous analgesia with a dose of 40 mg/hour. The primary outcome was the quality of recovery. Secondary outcomes included the time of the patient's first flatus, catheter removal time, underground time from the end of the surgery, pain score, levels of inflammatory factors (IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α), postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), sufentanil rescues, patients' satisfaction scores, and complications of lidocaine. Eventually, 56 patients were in the final analysis with similar age, Body Mass Index (BMI), duration of surgery and anesthesia, and median QoR-15 score (a development and Psychometric Evaluation of a Postoperative Quality of Recovery Score). The difference in median QoR-15 score in placebo versus lidocaine patients was statistically significant (IQR, 106 (104-108) versus 114 (108.25-119.25), P < 0.001). The Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) score at the 12th hour, median sufentanil rescue consumption, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) of patients treatment with lidocaine were lower. Nevertheless, patients given lidocaine had high satisfaction scores. Suggesting that lidocaine enhanced the postoperative quality of recovery, met early postoperative gastrointestinal function recovery, provided superior pain relief, lessened inflammatory cytokines, etc., indicating it may be a useful intervention to aid recovery following lumbar spinal stenosis surgery.

An adult female patient with single atrium and single ventricle undergoing appendectomy: A case report.

Appendicitis is one of the common diseases, and appendectomy is one of the most commonly performed procedures. Single atrium and single ventricle are rare heart diseases, and very few patients survive to adulthood. We report a patient with single atrial and single ventricles undergoing appendectomy with transverse abdominis plane block and dexmedetomidine sedation anesthesia with smooth postoperative appendectomy.

Imaging a defect in layered media with different shaped interfaces using reverse time migration without velocity model known a priori.

In this work, the highly accurate image of a defect in the layered media using a reverse time migration (RTM) is obtained without priori information of the interface geometry and acoustic velocity of the lower medium. The interface of layered media is reconstructed by RTM, and its profile is determined using the reconstructed image within the range of -6 to 0 dB. At the assumed acoustic velocity of the lower medium, the minimum variance of the possible position distribution of a defect is evaluated to be an acoustic velocity of the lower medium by processing the travel times of the defect scattered echoes. The velocity model of the layered media is reconstructed by the mapped interface and the calibrated acoustic velocity of the lower medium, and a defect in the layered media is imaged by RTM. The proposed method is verified by utilizing the silicone rubber-water layered media with horizontal, titled, and circular arc interfaces. The obtained results for the interface geometry, acoustic velocity of the lower medium, and location of defect are consistent with the actual values. Therefore, a defect in the layered media can be accurately located and imaged without the velocity model of layered media known a priori via the RTM method.

High Frequency Needle Ultrasonic Transducers Based on Lead-Free Co Doped Na0.5Bi4.5Ti4O15 Piezo-Ceramics.

This paper describes the design, fabrication, and characterization of tightly focused (ƒ-number close to 1) high frequency needle-type transducers based on lead-free Na0.5Bi4.5Ti3.975Co0.025O15 (NBT-Co) piezo-ceramics. The NBT-Co ceramics, are fabricated through solid-state reactions, have a piezoelectric coefficient d33 of 32 pC/N, and an electromechanical coupling factor kt of 35.3%. The high Curie temperature (670 °C) indicates a wide working temperature range. Characterization results show a center frequency of 70.4 MHz and a -6 dB bandwidth of 52.7%. Lateral resolution of 29.8 µm was achieved by scanning a 10 µm tungsten wire target, and axial resolution of 20.8 µm was calculated from the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the pulse length of the echo. This lead-free ultrasonic transducer has potential applications in high resolution biological imaging.

Sonolysis and mineralization of pentachlorophenol by means of varying parameters.

Degradation effect of organic pollutant on pentachlorophenol (PCP) is researched by ultrasound. PCP is treated by low frequency (16 kHz) and high frequency (800 +/- 1 kHz), and bi-frequency. The results of investigation on the ultrasonic destruction of PCP showed that the rate of PCP degradation at the same conditions is the highest at bi-frequency, and the lowest at 16 kHz. In the presence of Fenton type reagent the degradation rate of PCP is the highest at bi-frequency (20.93 times) as compared to the stirring system. This ratio is 4.91 and 1.06 at 800 kHz and 16 kHz, respectively. The studies showed the bi-frequency is an effective method for pollutants degradation, but it is need make further study. Taking 800 kHz for example, under the same conditions, the smaller pH of the solution, the higher is the reaction rate. A similar situation applied to TOC, but the TOC removal lags behind degradation of PCP. This indicated the PCP is not completely mineralized. The ultrasound is somewhat enhanced for degradation of PCP and mineralization with only addition of CuSO4, but the combination of ultrasound and Fenton type reagent is effective method for PCP degradation and mineralization. The rate of PCP degradation and TOC removal appeared to follow pseudo-first-order reaction kinetic law.