The causal relationship of human blood metabolites with the components of Sarcopenia: a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis.

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia is a progressive loss of muscle mass and function. Since skeletal muscle plays a critical role in metabolic homeostasis, identifying the relationship of blood metabolites with sarcopenia components would help understand the etiology of sarcopenia. METHODS: A two-sample Mendelian randomization study was conducted to examine the causal relationship of blood metabolites with the components of sarcopenia. Summary genetic association data for 309 known metabolites were obtained from the Twins UK cohort and KORA F4 study (7824 participants). The summary statistics for sarcopenia components [hand grip strength (HGS), walking pace (WP), and appendicular lean mass (ALM)] were obtained from the IEU Open GWAS project (461,089 participants). The inverse variance weighted method was used, and the MR-Egger, weighted median, and MR-PRESSO were used for the sensitivity analyses. Metabolic pathways analysis was further performed. RESULTS: Fifty-four metabolites associated with sarcopenia components were selected from 275 known metabolites pool. Metabolites that are causally linked to the sarcopenia components were mainly enriched in amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism, galactose metabolism, fructose and mannose metabolism, carnitine synthesis, and biotin metabolism. The associations of pentadecanoate (15:0) with ALM, and 3-dehydrocarnitine and isovalerylcarnitine with HGS were significant after Bonferroni correction with a threshold of P < 1.82 × 10- 4 (0.05/275). Meanwhile, the association of hyodeoxycholate and glycine with the right HGS, and androsterone sulfate with ALM were significant in the sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSION: Blood metabolites from different metabolism pathways were causally related to the components of sarcopenia. These findings might benefit the understanding of the biological mechanisms of sarcopenia and targeted drugs development for muscle health.

Perfect cooperative pest control via nano-pesticide and natural predator: High predation selectivity and negligible toxicity toward predatory stinkbug.

The improper use of synthetic pesticides has caused adverse effects on global ecosystems and human health. As a part of sustainable pest management strategy, natural predators, along with nano-pesticides, have made significant contributions to ecological agriculture. The cooperative application of both approaches may overcome their limitations, substantially reducing pesticide application while controlling insect pests efficiently. Herein, the current study introduced a cationic star polymer (SPc) to prepare two types of nano-pesticides, which were co-applied with predatory stinkbugs Picromerus lewisi to achieve perfect cooperative pest control. The SPc exhibited nearly no toxicity against predatory stinkbugs at the working concentration, but it led to the death of predatory stinkbugs at extremely high concentration with the lethal concentration 50 (LC50) value of 13.57 mg/mL through oral feeding method. RNA-seq analysis revealed that the oral feeding of SPc could induce obvious stress responses, leading to stronger phagocytosis, exocytosis, and energy synthesis to ultimately result in the death of predatory stinkbugs. Then, the broflanilide and chlorobenzuron were employed to prepare the self-assembled nano-pesticides via hydrogen bond and Van der Waals force, and the complexation with SPc broke the self-aggregated structures of pesticides and reduced their particle sizes down to nanoscale. The bioactivities of prepared nano-pesticides were significantly improved toward common cutworm Spodoptera litura with the corrected mortality increase by approximately 30%. Importantly, predatory stinkbugs exhibited a strong predation selectivity for alive common cutworms to reduce the exposure risk of nano-pesticides, and the nano-pesticides showed negligible toxicity against predators. Thus, the nano-pesticides and predatory stinkbugs could be applied simultaneously for efficient and sustainable pest management. The current study provides an excellent precedent for perfect cooperative pest control via nano-pesticide and natural predator.

The agreement of different techniques for muscle measurement in diagnosing sarcopenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The measurement or estimation of muscle mass plays an important role in the diagnosis of sarcopenia. Beside dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), several modalities, including bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have helped to provide imaging or electrical biomarkers for muscle mass. This study was aimed at summarizing the diagnostic performance of different techniques on muscle assessment for sarcopenia. Methods: Studies on the assessment of muscle mass by different techniques (compared with DXA), published from inception to 12 October, 2023 were retrieved from 4 electronic databases: the Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, and Web of Science. The quality assessment of included studies was conducted using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QUADAS-2). The sensitivity, specificity, Cohen's kappa coefficient (κ), and Pearson correlation coefficient (r) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled and presented via forest plots. The area under the curve (AUC) with 95% CI was pooled and presented via summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) curve. Results: A total of 28 studies involving 4,926 participants were included. Compared with DXA, the pooled sensitivity and specificity, AUC, and Cohen's κ were 0.79 (95% CI: 0.71-0.86, P<0.001), 0.95 (95% CI: 0.82-0.99, P<0.001), and 0.88 (95% CI: 0.85-0.90), and 0.61 (95% CI: 0.51-0.72) for BIA. The pooled r value between DXA and BIA or US or MRI was 0.94 (95% CI: 0.92-0.96, P<0.001), 0.69 (95% CI: 0.54-0.80, P<0.001), and 0.96 (95% CI: 0.95-0.97, P=0.21), respectively. No qualified original study in relation to CT was included. Conclusions: BIA, US, and MRI would provide acceptable diagnostic accuracy for sarcopenia by evaluating muscle mass in terms of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and their higher correlations with DXA. Further investigation is required to elucidate the value of CT in diagnosing sarcopenia.

Transcriptomic Analysis of Human Skeletal Muscle in Response to Aerobic Exercise and Protein Intake.

This study aimed to provide a more comprehensive molecular insight into the effects of aerobic exercise (AE), protein intake (PI), and AE combined with PI on human skeletal muscle by comparing their transcriptomic profiles. Fourteen published datasets obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were used. The hub genes were identified in response to acute AE (ACTB, IL6), training AE (UBB, COL1A1), PI (EZH2), acute AE combined with PI (DDIT3), and training AE combined with PI (MYC). Both FOS and MYC were upregulated in response to acute AE, and they were, respectively, downregulated by higher PI and a combination of AE and PI. COL1A1 was upregulated by training AE but was downregulated by higher PI. Results from the gene set enrichment analysis (p < 0.05 and FDR < 25%) showed that AE and PI delivered their impacts on human skeletal muscle in analogous pathways, including aerobic respiration, mitochondrial complexes, extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, metabolic process, and immune/inflammatory responses, whereas, PI may attenuate the response of immune/inflammation and ECM remodeling which would be promoted by AE, irrespective of its types. Compared to PI alone, acute AE combined with PI would further promote protein turnover and synthesis, but suppress skeletal muscle contraction and movement.

Epidemiological updates of post-traumatic related limb osteomyelitis in china: a 10 years multicentre cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Post-traumatic related limb osteomyelitis (PTRLO) is a complex bone infection. Currently, there are no available microbial data on a national scale that can guide appropriate antibiotic selection, and explore the dynamic changes in dominant pathogens over time. This study aimed to conduct a comprehensive epidemiological analysis of PTRLO in China. METHODS: The study was approved by the Institutional Research Board (IRB), and 3526 PTRLO patients were identified from 212 394 traumatic limb fracture patients at 21 hospitals between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2017. A retrospective analysis was conducted to investigate the epidemiology of PTRLO, including changes in infection rate (IR), pathogens, infection risk factors and antibiotic resistance and sensitivity. RESULTS: The IR of PTRLO increased gradually from 0.93 to 2.16% (Z=14.392, P <0.001). Monomicrobial infection (82.6%) was significantly higher than polymicrobial infection (17.4%) ( P <0.001). The IR of Gram-positive (GP) and Gram-negative (GN) pathogens showed a significant increase from the lowest 0.41% to the highest 1.15% (GP) or 1.62% (GN), respectively. However, the longitudinal trend of GP vs. GN's composition did not show any significance (Z=±1.1918, P >0.05). The most prevalent GP strains were Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) (17.03%), Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (10.46%), E. faecalis (5.19%) and S. epidermidis (4.87%). In contrast, the dominant strains GN strains were Pseudomonas Aeruginosa (10.92%), E. cloacae (10.34%), E. coli (9.47%), Acinetobacter Baumannii (7.92%) and Klebsiella Pneumoniae (3.33%). In general, the high-risk factors for polymicrobial infection include opened-fracture (odds ratio, 2.223), hypoproteinemia (odds ratio, 2.328), and multiple fractures (odds ratio, 1.465). It is important to note that the antibiotics resistance and sensitivity analysis of the pathogens may be influenced by complications or comorbidities. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the latest data of PTRLO in China and offers trustworthy guidelines for clinical practice. (China Clinical Trials.gov number, ChiCTR1800017597).

Comparative mitogenomes reveal diverse and novel gene rearrangements in the genus Meteorus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).

Meteorus Haliday, 1835 is a cosmopolitan genus within Braconidae (Hymenoptera). They are koinobiont endoparasitoids of Coleoptera or Lepidoptera larvae. Only one mitogenome of this genus was available. Here, we sequenced and annotated three mitogenomes of Meteorus species, and found that the tRNA gene rearrangements in these mitogenomes were rich and diverse. Compared with the ancestral organization, only seven tRNAs (trnW, trnY, trnL2, trnH, trnT, trnP and trnV) were conserved and trnG had its own unique location in the four mitogenomes. This dramatic tRNA rearrangement was not observed in mitogenomes of other insect groups before. In addition, the tRNA cluster (trnA-trnR-trnN-trnS1-trnE-trnF) between nad3 and nad5 was rearranged into two patterns, i.e., trnE-trnA-trnR-trnN-trnS1 and trnA-trnR-trnS1-trnE-trnF-trnN. The phylogenetic results showed that the Meteorus species formed a clade within the subfamily Euphorinae, and were close to Zele (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Euphorinae). In the Meteorus, two clades were reconstructed: M. sp. USNM and Meteorus pulchricornis forming one clade while the remaining two species forming another clade. This phylogenetic relationship also matched the tRNA rearrangement patterns. The diverse and phylogenetic signal of tRNA rearrangements within one genus provided insights into tRNA rearrangements of the mitochondrial genome at genus/species levels in insects.

Contamination characteristics of heavy metals in a small-scale tanning area of southern China and their source analysis.

Tanning industry has been identified as a significant source of heavy metals; however, heavy metals contamination in farmland soil due to small-scale tanning activities remains unstudied. Here, samples from topsoil, profile soil, water and sediments in the vicinity of a small-scale tanning area in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southern China, were collected to explore the contamination characteristics and source apportionment of Cd, Cr, Hg, As, Cu, Pb, Ni and Zn. The results show that the farmland soil was mainly contaminated by Cr and its content was 33.40-3830.00 mg kg-1. The highest level of Cr, Cd and Hg was above their thresholds, while the average contents of Cd, Cr, Pb and Hg exceeded the corresponding background levels. Moreover, enrichment of Cr in soil profiles and stream sediments were also observed, whose concentrations varied from 11.50 to 2590.00 mg kg-1 and 738.00 to 11,200.00 mg kg-1, respectively. Concentrations of Cr in top soils and soil profiles from farmland surrounding the stream were significantly higher than those from other areas, and the soils surrounding the stream were moderately to heavily polluted. The multivariate statistical analysis indicated that the heavy metals originated from traffic (Cu, Ni, Zn, Hg, and Pb), agriculture (Cr and Cd) and nature (As). Source apportionment with PMF model results showed that the relative contribution rates of heavy metals by traffic, tanning, agriculture, other industrial activities and natural sources were 16.00%, 18.88%, 20.88%, 22.04% and 22.20%, respectively. These findings indicate that small-scale tanning activities could also lead to heavy metal accumulation in the surrounding environment, which requires decision-makers to pay more attention and to develop effective remediation procedures.

Improving removal rate and efficiency of As(V) by sulfide from strongly acidic wastewater in a modified photochemical reactor.

Employing ultraviolet light to enhance the removal of As(V) by sulfide (S(-II)) from strongly acidic wastewater is a potential method. However, we found the arsenic trisulfide (As2S3) and elemental sulfur (S8) particles formed in this method not only vastly hinder light transmission in the wastewater but also undergo light-induced redissolution, leading to a decrease in removal rate and efficiency of As(V). Herein, As(V) removal by sulfide from strongly acidic wastewater was performed in a modified photochemical reactor to weaken the effect of the formed particles on As(V) removal. It was found that in this study, the formed particles could be efficiently removed from the photoreactor by three operations, i.e. circulation-filtration, septum setting, and lamp sleeve cleaning. The removal of As(V) was approximately 11-fold faster than that without three operations, saving 90.9% of the reaction time and 89.4% of energy consumption. The removal efficiency of As(V) also increased through weakening the light-induced redissolution of the formed particles. This study facilitates the practical application of the UV light promoted As(V) removal technology and also provides a new method to lessen the light-blocking effect in the particle-forming photochemical reaction systems.

A Scalable Heat Pump Film with Zero Energy Consumption.

Radiative cooling is an effective technology with zero energy consumption to alleviate climate warming and combat the urban heat island effect. At present, researchers often use foam boxes to isolate non-radiant heat exchange between the cooler and the environment through experiments, so as to achieve maximum cooling power. In practice, however, there are challenges in setting up foam boxes on a large scale, resulting in coolers that can be cooled below ambient only under low convection conditions. Based on polymer materials and nano-zinc oxide (nano-ZnO, refractive index > 2, the peak equivalent spherical diameter 500 nm), the manufacturing process of heat pump film (HPF) was proposed. The HPF (4.1 mm thick) consists of polyethylene (PE) bubble film (heat transfer coefficient 0.04 W/m/K, 4 mm thick) and Ethylene-1-octene copolymer (POE) cured nano-ZnO (solar reflectance ≈94% at 0.075 mm thick). Covering with HPF, the object achieves 7.15 °C decreasing in normal natural environment and 3.68 °C even under certain circumstances with high surface convective heat transfer (56.9 W/m2/K). HPF has advantages of cooling the covered object, certain strength (1.45 Mpa), scalable manufacturing with low cost, hydrophobic characteristics (the water contact angle, 150.6°), and meeting the basic requirements of various application scenarios.

Additive Manufacturing of Dense Ti6Al4V Layer via Picosecond Pulse Laser.

Ultrashort pulse laser shows good potential for heat control improvement in metal additive manufacturing. The challenge of applying ultrashort pulse laser as the heat source is to form a fully melted and dense microstructure. In this study, a picosecond pulse laser is introduced for fabricating single layer Ti6Al4V samples. The results, by examining through X-ray computed tomography (X-CT), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), show that highly dense Ti6Al4V samples were fabricated with optimized process parameters. The analysis of the cross section presents a three-zones structure from top to bottom in the sequence of the fully melted zone, the partially melted zone, and the heat-affected zone. A semi-quantitative study is performed to estimate the thermal efficiency of melted pool formation. The mechanical properties of the samples are tested using nano-indentation, showing an elastic modulus of 89.74 ± 0.74 GPa. The evidence of dense melted pool with good mechanical properties indicates that the picosecond laser can be integrated as the heat source with the current metal additive manufacturing to fabricate parts with accuracy control for the smaller size of thermal filed.

Chemical solidification/stabilization of arsenic sulfide and oxide mixed wastes using elemental sulfur: Efficiencies, mechanisms and long-term stabilization enhancement by dicyclopentadiene.

Large amounts of hazardous arsenic sulfide (As2S3) wastes are generated in many industries. These wastes, which are extremely unstable and can partially transform into highly soluble arsenic oxide (As2O3) and then transform into As2S3 and As2O3 mixed wastes (ASOW), are difficult to be solidified/stabilized using common binders. This study proposed a thermally initiated copolymerization method employing elemental sulfur (S8) to chemically solidify/stabilize ASOW. Under thermal conditions (140-200 °C), the elemental sulfur rings break and polymerize into diradical polymeric sulfur chains (•S-(S)m-S•). The ASOW is solidified/stabilized not only by transforming As2S3 into poly(As2S3-r-S) copolymers through copolymerization of •S-(S)m-S• with As2S3 but also by transforming As2O3 into As2S3 in the presence of poly(As2S3-r-S) copolymers. However, the sulfur chain in poly(As2S3-r-S) copolymers gradually crystallizes into S8 after long-term aging, resulting in the depolymerization of copolymers. Dicyclopentadiene (DCP) greatly improves the long-term stability of the solidified body through maintaining the sulfur chain form by forming highly stable poly(As2S3-r-S-r-DCP) copolymers. The solidified body showed high compressive strength (25.7 MPa) and low leaching concentration of arsenic (<1.2 mg L-1) even after 732 days of aging. This study provides a theoretical foundation for the S8-based chemical solidification/stabilization of ASOW as well as other sulfide-containing wastes.

Easy Way to Achieve Self-Adaptive Cooling of Passive Radiative Materials.

Passive radiative cooling includes using the atmospheric window to emit heat energy to the cold outer space and hence reduce the temperature of objects on Earth. In most cases, radiative cooling is required in summer and suppressed in winter for thermal comfort. Recent radiative cooling materials cannot self-adjust cooling capacity according to season and environment, thus limiting their applications. In this study, we have designed a temperature-controlled phase change structure (TCPCS). The TCPCS benefits radiative coolers to adjust their cooling ability according to the ambient temperature. In the outdoor test, the TCPCS can help the cooler to turn off at low temperatures and turn on at high temperatures automatically; the coolers with and without TCPCS have maximal temperature differences of 9.7 and 19.6 °C, respectively, in a whole day. Furthermore, we have further improved and designed a V-shaped TCPCS that can simultaneously achieve the dual functions of cooling in summer and heating in winter. The TCPCS assembled here is a simple, feasible, and scalable structure for self-adaptive cooling.

Catalytic Ozonation of Organics in Reverse Osmosis Concentrate with Catalysts Based on Activated Carbon.

Acid-washed activated carbon (AC-A), nitric acid modified activated carbon (AC-NO2), aminated activated carbon (AC-NH2) and cerium-loaded activated carbon (Ce/AC) were prepared and characterized by BET procedure, Boehm titration and SEM. Their performances were investigated for the ozonation of p-chlorobenzoic acid (p-CBA) in its solution and organic compounds in reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC). Nitration and amination had little effect on the surface area of catalyst, but increased the concentration of surface acid and basic functional group respectively. After loading Ce, the surface area of the catalyst decreased, and amount of Ce particles were agglomerated on the surface of activated carbon. All the four catalysts can improve the removal rate of the organics in water. Among the four catalysts, Ce/AC shows the highest catalytic activity. The removal rates of p-CBA, TOC and three target pollutants (e.g., tetracycline, metoprolol, atrazine) are 99.6%, 70.38%, 97.76%, 96.21% and 96.03%, respectively. Hydroxyl radical (·OH) was proved to be the core of catalytic reaction mechanism for Ce/AC, with the contribution rate to p-CBA removal of 91.4%. The surface groups and the Ce loaded on AC were the initiator for the rapid generation of ·OH. Electron transfer between electron-rich structures and cerium oxide might be a synergistic effect that can increase catalytic activity of Ce loaded on AC. Catalytic ozonation with Ce/AC is a promising ROC treatment technology due to its efficiency and possibilities for improvement.

Thermoelectric Generator Using Space Cold Source.

Most of the renewable and sustainable natural energy is distributed uneven on the earth in time and space. Here we proposed a new kind of thermoelectric generator, which can use the temperature difference caused by passive cooling via the atmospheric window. This generator can continuously output electric energy anywhere 24 h a day independent of the existence of any natural or manmade energy resource. A test generator with two couples of n-p thermoelectric legs has been prepared. The created average temperature difference is 4.4 K and average voltage is 1.78 mV in a whole day. This design paves a path to the pollution-free and sustainable power generation which is not restricted by time and space and not consuming any existing energy resource.

UV light irradiation improves the aggregation and settling performance of metal sulfide particles in strongly acidic wastewater.

Tiny metal sulfide particles are usually generated in the metal sulfide precipitation process, and residual dissolved sulfide (H2S, HS- and S2-) generally makes the aggregation and settling performance of these particles worse. In this work, under strongly acidic conditions with 0.102 M H2SO4, the characteristics of CuS, CdS and mixed metal sulfide particles (CuS and CdS) produced in strongly acidic wastewater by H2S were initially studied. Then, UV light irradiation was employed to improve the aggregation and settling performance of the metal sulfide particles, and relevant mechanisms were investigated. The results showed that the residual H2S in suspension can deteriorate the settling performance of metal sulfide particles. After H2S was removed, CuS particles exhibited good settling performance, but the settling performance of CdS and mixed sulfide particles remained poor. Subsequent studies showed that UV light irradiation effectively improved the aggregation and settling performance of CdS and mixed metal sulfide particles in the presence of H2S. After 30 min of UV irradiation, the average hydrodynamic diameter of CdS particles increased approximately 166-fold in the presence of 131.40 mg/L H2S, and that of mixed sulfide particles increased approximately 105-fold with the existence of 129.30 mg/L H2S. Further study revealed that H2S in suspensions played an important role in the aggregation of metal sulfide particles under UV irradiation. HS• generated by the photolysis of H2S oxidized a portion of S2- on the surface of CdS particles and a portion of S2- and Sn2- on the surface of mixed sulfide particles to S22- and S0, which resulted in a decrease of negative charge and an enhanced aggregation of these particles. Finally, this study showed that the settling performance of CdS and mixed sulfide particles was effectively improved at high initial H2S concentrations under UV irradiation. This study provides a clean and effective method to improve the metal sulfide precipitation process for strongly acidic wastewater treatment.

UV-Light-Induced Aggregation of Arsenic and Metal Sulfide Particles in Acidic Wastewater: The Role of Free Radicals.

The removal of arsenic and metals by sulfide (S(-II)) from acidic wastewater is an efficient method. However, the small sulfide particles formed in such a process make solid-liquid separation difficult, which greatly hinders its application. This study investigated the aggregation behavior of different sulfide particles (As2S3, CuS and CdS) under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. In the dark, the aggregation rate of the arsenic sulfide (As2S3) particles was extremely slow. However, under UV irradiation, the growth of the As2S3 particles was significantly enhanced. A possible mechanism of UV-light-induced aggregation of As2S3 particles was proposed. The HS· and ·OH radicals formed by a series of photochemical reactions can efficiently attack the S(-II) in the As2S3 particle, leading to the formation of an intermediate species, [As2S2-S·]+. Then, two [As2S2-S·]+ species combine to form [As2S2-S-S-S2As2]2+. The formation of [As2S2-S-S-S2As2]2+ results in the attenuation of the electronegativity and the rapid aggregation of the sulfide particles. In addition, the small S0 particles generated in irradiated As2S3 system can efficiently coalesce into As2S3 particles. The CuS and CdS particles should have similar aggregation mechanisms. This study proposed a potential method for sulfide particle aggregation and provided a theoretical foundation for the development and application of UV-light-induced sulfide particle aggregation technology.

High-capacity optical long data memory based on enhanced Young's modulus in nanoplasmonic hybrid glass composites.

Emerging as an inevitable outcome of the big data era, long data are the massive amount of data that captures changes in the real world over a long period of time. In this context, recording and reading the data of a few terabytes in a single storage device repeatedly with a century-long unchanged baseline is in high demand. Here, we demonstrate the concept of optical long data memory with nanoplasmonic hybrid glass composites. Through the sintering-free incorporation of nanorods into the earth abundant hybrid glass composite, Young's modulus is enhanced by one to two orders of magnitude. This discovery, enabling reshaping control of plasmonic nanoparticles of multiple-length allows for continuous multi-level recording and reading with a capacity over 10 terabytes with no appreciable change of the baseline over 600 years, which opens new opportunities for long data memory that affects the past and future.

Complete Genome Sequence of Bacillus subtilis GQJK2, a Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacterium with Antifungal Activity.

Bacillus subtilis GQJK2 is a plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium with antifungal activity which was isolated from Lycium barbarum L. rhizosphere. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of B. subtilis GQJK2. Ten gene clusters involved in the biosynthesis of antagonistic compounds were predicted.

Evaluation of femtosecond laser damage to gold pulse compression gratings fabricated by magnetron sputtering and e-beam evaporation.

In this study, two kinds of Au-coated gratings (ACGs) with a period of 1740 lines/mm were fabricated and evaluated. For these ACG samples, magnetron sputtering and e-beam evaporation were used as the gold deposition process, and the samples had a bandwidth of at least 170 nm, with the -1st-order diffraction efficiency exceeding 90% around the center wavelength of 800 nm. The one-on-one damage threshold of ACGs fabricated by magnetron sputtering and e-beam evaporation measured at a pulse width of 60 fs was 0.59 J/cm2 and 0.43 J/cm2 in the case of the beam normal fluence, respectively. The typical damage morphology of the former type of samples was melting of the gold film, whereas those of the latter type were blisters and peeling off of the gold film. In theory, the electromagnetic field, temperature field, and thermal stress field distribution in the ACGs were calculated using the finite element method. We demonstrated that the adhesion between the gold film and the photoresist played an important role in determining the damage behavior. Thus, the laser resistance of ACG can be improved by enhancing the adhesion between the gold film and the photoresist, and magnetron sputtering was an alternative method to obtain ACGs with much better adhesion.

[Tibiotalar or tibiocalcaneal arthrodesis using the ilizarov technique in the presence of infected nonunions of ankle joints].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the results of managing the infected nonunions of distal tibial fractures combined with talar fracture and calcaneal fracture with tibial bone transport, tibiotalar or tibiocalcaneal arthrodesis using the hybrid external fixator. METHODS: A retrospective review of 26 patients who underwent either tibiotalar arthodesis or tibiocalcaneal arthodesis using an hybrid external fixator for infected nonunions of distal tibial fractures, talar and calcaneal fractures after tibial bone distraction was made. Each patient had a debridement of all infected and nonviable bones, the wound area were 2 cm×4 cm-4 cm×8 cm. The bony surfaces of distal tibia and talus were prepared for the fusion followed by application of an Orthofix's hybrid external fixator. RESULTS: The remaining 18 patients undertook debridement at the docking sites, and 14 of them had autogenous bone grafting. There was a mean follow-up of 32 months (22-38 months). All the patients had successful fusions. There were no recurrent deep infections or amputations. Two patients had 6° of varus deformity at the docking site. CONCLUSION: Tibiotalar or tibiocalcaneal arthrodesis using the Ilizarov technique is viable alternative to amputation in patients with infected nonunions,especially if there is a large bone loss of the tibias, talus and calcaneus.