Effects of Peripherally inserted Central Catheter (PICC) materials and designs on reduction of PICC-related complications: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Studies showed that integrating coating or valve into Peripherally Inserted Central (PICC) can prevent related complications. However, data regarding efficiency were controversial. Therefore, a systematic review was needed to analyse the effect of PICC materials and designs on reduction of PICC-related complications. We searched PubMed, Cochrane library, EMbase, grey literature and referent literature from inception to 5 August 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and case-control study were included. Two authors extracted data independently, using a predesigned Excel form, and assessed the quality of included RCTs according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews (V5.1.0), case-control study was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Data were analysed using Review Manager (v5.3.0). A total of 10 RCTs and one case-control study were included. Meta-analysis results showed that PICC designs reduce the incidence of obstruction, and at the critical value of PICC-associated bloodstream infection, but may have no effects on other complications. Based on the literature reviewed, we can only say PICC new materials did not reflect significant reduction on complications, what's more, the result needs more multicentre, large RCTs to support. We suggested clinicians combine descriptive research and cost-effect analysis to select appropriate PICC materials and designs for patients.

Transcatheter closure of extracardiac Fontan conduit fenestration using new promising materials.

Fenestration transcatheter closure is widely considered to eliminate persistent right-to-left shunt after Fontan surgeries. Three consecutive children with stage III-palliated univentricular hearts recently underwent successful endovascular fenestration closure using 43 mm/Large Optimus-CVS™ that were implanted using the new Altosa-XL™ PTA balloon catheters (AndraTec GmbH). The procedure was fast with no complication and patients were discharged the following day with complete shunt closure. One-month follow-up confirmed excellent outcomes. This report aims to highlight and discuss the competitive advantages of these promising new materials in this particular intervention.

Halogen in materials design: Chloroammonium lead triiodide perovskite (ClNH3 PbI3 ) a dynamical bandgap semiconductor in 3D for photovoltaics.

Methylammonium lead trihalides and their derivatives are photovoltaic materials. CH3 NH3 PbI3 is the most efficient light harvester among all the known halide perovskites (PSCs). It is regarded as unsuitable for long-term stable solar cells, thus it is necessary to develop other types of PSC materials to achieve stable PSCs (Wang et al., Nat. Energy 2016, 2, 16195). Because of this, various research efforts are on-going to discover novel lead-based or lead-free single/double PSCs, which can be stable, synthesizable, transportable, abundant and efficient in solar energy conversion. Keeping these factors in mind, we report here the electronic structures, energetic stabilities and some materials properties (viz. band structures, density of states spectra and photo-carrier masses) of the PSC chloroammonium lead triiodide (ClNH3 PbI3 ). This emerges through compositional engineering that often focuses on B- and Y-site substitutions within the domain of the BMY3 PSC stoichiometry. ClNH3 PbI3 is found to be stable as orthorhombic and pseudocubic polymorphs, which are analogous with the low and high temperature polymorphs of CH3 NH3 PbI3 . The bandgap of ClNH3 PbI3 (values between 1.28 and 1.60 eV) is found to be comparable with that of CH3 NH3 PbI3 , (1.58 eV), both obtained with periodic DFT at the PBE level of theory. Spin orbit coupling is shown to have a pronounced effect on both the magnitude and character of the bandgap. The computed results show that ClNH3 PbI3 may act as a competitor for CH3 NH3 PbI3 for photovoltaics. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Atypical formations of gintonin lysophosphatidic acids as new materials and their beneficial effects on degenerative diseases.

Fresh ginseng is prone to spoilage due to its high moisture content. For long-term storage, most fresh ginsengs are dried to white ginseng (WG) or steamed for hours at high temperature/pressure and dried to form Korean Red ginseng (KRG). They are further processed for ginseng products when subjected to hot water extraction/concentration under pressure. These WG or KRG preparation processes affect ginsenoside compositions and also other ginseng components, probably during treatments like steaming and drying, to form diverse bioactive phospholipids. It is known that ginseng contains high amounts of gintonin lysophosphatidic acids (LPAs). LPAs are simple lipid-derived growth factors in animals and humans and act as exogenous ligands of six GTP-binding-protein coupled LPA receptor subtypes. LPAs play diverse roles ranging from brain development to hair growth in animals and humans. LPA-mediated signaling pathways involve various GTP-binding proteins to regulate downstream pathways like [Ca2+]i transient induction. Recent studies have shown that gintonin exhibits anti-Alzheimer's disease and anti-arthritis effects in vitro and in vivo mediated by gintonin LPAs, the active ingredients of gintonin, a ginseng-derived neurotrophin. However, little is known about how gintonin LPAs are formed in high amounts in ginseng compared to other herbs. This review introduces atypical or non-enzymatic pathways under the conversion of ginseng phospholipids into gintonin LPAs during steaming and extraction/concentration processes, which exert beneficial effects against degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and arthritis in animals and humans via LPA receptors.

MD-GNN: A mechanism-data-driven graph neural network for molecular properties prediction and new material discovery.

Molecular properties prediction and new material discovery are significant for the pharmaceutical industry, food, chemistry, and other fields. The popular methods are theoretical mechanism calculation and machine learning. There is a deviation between the theoretical mechanism calculation results and the experimental data. Machine learning method provides a promising solution. However, the process is lack of interpretability, and the reliability and the generalization depend on the training data. In this paper, a mechanism correction model combined with graph neural network (GNN) model which is based on the fusion of graph embedding and descriptors vector is proposed as backbone network to proceed molecule properties prediction and new material discovery. The molecular structure is input to graph neural network and the abstracted features are fused with numerical features together for training. The experiment data and computing data are designed as label constructor, and then the theoretical computation (mechanism driven model) is fused with the output of GNN (data-driven model) to form a fused model to modulate the output for the molecular property prediction. Experiments for public data set are executed and the results show that Mechanism-Data-Driven Graph Neural Network (MD-GNN) can effectively make the predicted results more accurate. Nineteen molecules by different construction are designed for potential drug discovery, the prediction from the proposed MD-GNN model shows that there are 9 candidates are discovered.

Copper removal kinetic from electroplating industry wastewater using pulsed electrodeposition technique.

This study presents a kinetic determination of copper removal from a real jewelry industry wastewater, with removal reaching 82.49% at 37°C, using fast galvanic pulse electrochemical technique in a process lasting 115 min. In the temperature range from 20 to 40°C, the mathematical model of the pseudo-first-order irreversible rate equation, with a correlation coefficient of 0.99, described the process behaviour. In this same temperature range, the Arrhenius' equation described the system, in which the temperature increase favoured the reaction kinetics. The scanning electron microscope (SEM), with energy-dispersive X-ray detector (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results, and the mathematical model fitting at the temperatures of 10 and 50°C indicated the formation of copper oxide I.

Resonating moments: Exploring socio-material connectivity through artistic encounters with people living with dementia.

In this article, I introduce insights from new material feminist theories into the understanding of connectivity on the basis of an aesthetic analysis of artistic encounters with people living with dementia. I draw on data from a situated art intervention conducted within the Resonance Project at a residential care home in Northern Norway where researchers, artists, health-care professionals, people living with dementia and family members came together in co-creative music sessions. I analyse two resonating moments from the sessions by way of an abductive process, oscillating between theory, written notes, video recordings and my own embodied experiences in the field. I discuss the ways in which materiality, listening and the group matter when it comes to our ability to connect during the sessions. Based on these findings, I conclude that the notion of socio-material connectivity provides an entrance point for studying different ways of relating to people living with dementia and enquiring into relations that matter.

Interdisciplinary communication to efficiently develop integrated pharmacotherapeutic sessions.

INTRODUCTION: Integration of clinical, biomedical, social, administrative, and pharmaceutical sciences in a pharmacotherapeutics course is beneficial to student education. Unfortunately, the perceived increase in time, commitment, and workload required to produce integrated material often serves as a barrier to high level academic integration. This commentary discusses how interdisciplinary faculty communication started at the beginning of content development, using an initial brief planning session and ongoing unscheduled flexible methods, can efficiently produce integrated material without substantially increasing faculty workload compared to independently produced integrated course material. COMMENTARY: Content development can be streamlined during a short initial meeting to consider the relevant disciplines (e.g., pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, clinical sciences) for a topic and to collaboratively develop corresponding content outlines. To produce fully integrated material, collaborators should develop content using a cloud-based file sharing system and communicate using asynchronous, electronic means to ask questions and provide suggestions to collaborators. IMPLICATIONS: Interdisciplinary communication is the foundation of integrated pharmacotherapeutic sessions, but supplemental meetings in addition to already required faculty meetings are both challenging to schedule and time consuming. With proper planning and the deliberate use of both continuous file sharing and asynchronous electronic communication, educators can produce parallel content emphasizing key concepts across disciplines without substantially increasing faculty workload.

Novel Lead-Free Material Cs2PtI6 with Narrow Bandgap and Ultra-Stability for Its Photovoltaic Application.

Lead halide perovskite has in recent years gained widespread interest due to its excellent physical and chemical properties, as well as superior optoelectronic performance. However, some restrictions still preclude full industrialization of the material, in particular toxicity issues and instability as a result to sensitivity to humidity. Lead-free all-inorganic double perovskite materials have thus recently become a focus of research. Herein, a new narrow bandgap lead-free double perovskite solar cell with a high-quality Cs2PtI6 film is proposed. It exhibits an optical bandgap of 1.37 eV, absorption within a wide range of wavelengths, and a high absorption coefficient. Following optimization, the device displays a best power conversion efficiency of 0.72% with an open-circuit voltage of 0.73 V, a short-circuit current of 1.2 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 0.82. Crucially, it also demonstrates excellent stability when exposed to extreme conditions such as high humidity, high temperature, and UV-light irradiation. Stability tests show that the PSCs can retain almost 80% of the original efficiency over 60 days stored in ambient temperature without any encapsulation, boosting prospects for applications of lead-free perovskite solar cells.

The weight of (the) matter: A new material feminist account of thin and fat oppressions.

Critical feminist approaches to eating disorders and "obesity" have recently come under criticism for relying too heavily on textual- and image-based analyses of health, identity and body weight, shape, and size. In this article, we examine qualitative interviews with self-identified anorexic and "obese" women using a new material feminist lens-particularly the work of Karen Barad-to see what this perspective contributes to conceptualizations of weight-based oppressions. In addition to outlining how the material world actively participates in ongoing processes of oppression, we also highlight how the body presses back, offering up potentially less oppressive processes of materialization. The article concludes on a cautiously optimistic note, pointing to how a new materialist framework may draw attention to micropolitical processes of becoming otherwise.

Coronal and apical sealing ability of a new endodontic cement.

INTRODUCTION: This in vitro study aims to evaluate the coronal and apical sealing ability of gutta-percha (GP) root filling used with either mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA), new endodontic cement (NEC) or AH26 as filler/sealers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty eight single-rooted extracted teeth were selected, decoronated and then instrumented. Samples were randomly divided into three experimental (n=12) and two control groups (n=6). In group 1, root canals were filled using lateral condensation technique (L); while single cone technique (S) was used for groups 2 and 3. AH26, MTA and NEC were the root canal sealer/fillers in groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Samples were immersed in 1% methylene-blue dye and then independently centrifuged apically and coronally. The roots were split longitudinally and linear extent of dye penetration was measured with a stereomicroscope from apical and coronal directions. Data were analyzed using One-way ANOVA and T-test. RESULTS: No statistical differences in mean apical dye penetration between groups LGP/AH26, SGP/MTA and SGP/NEC were found; SGP/NEC group showed significantly less coronal dye penetration (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Considering the limitations of this in vitro study, it was concluded that the simple single cone technique with NEC can provide favorable coronal and apical seal.

Autogenous transplantation of mandibular third molar to replace tooth with vertical root fracture.

Autogenous tooth transplantation (ATT) can be considered when there is a hopeless molar tooth and suitable donor present. This report presents an unconventional case of successful ATT of a third molar replacing the adjacent fractured second molar in a 33 year old woman. This wisdom tooth had completely developed roots. Root-end filling with Calcium Enriched Mixture (CEM) cement was performed in the third molar. The second molar was extracted non-traumatically without any bone removal; the wisdom tooth was immediately transplanted into the recipient socket. No endodontic treatment was carried out either during or after the ATT. At six-month and 2-year clinical examination the patient was asymptomatic; the transplanted tooth was still functional, with no evidence of marginal periodontal pathosis. At the same follow ups, radiographic evaluation illustrated bone regeneration, normal PDL, and absence of external root resorption. Transplantation of mature third molar seems to be a promising method for replacing a lost permanent molar tooth and restoring aesthetics and function.

Ion release and pH of a new endodontic cement, MTA and Portland cement.

INTRODUCTION: This in vitro study measured and compared pH and phosphate and calcium ions release of a new endodontic material (CEM cement), mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA), and Portland cement (PC) using UV-visible technique, atomic absorption spectrophotometry methods, and pH meter, respectively. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Each material was placed in a plastic tube (n=10) and immersed in a glass flask containing deionized water. Half of the samples were tested for determining pH and released ions after 1h, 3h, 24h, 48h, 7d and 28d. Remaining samples (n=5), were evaluated after 28d. Data was analyzed using one way ANOVA and Tukey tests. RESULTS: Results indicated that all materials were highly alkaline and released calcium and low concentration of phosphate ions in all the time intervals. CEM cement released considerably higher concentration of phosphate during the first hour (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: This novel endodontic cement promoted alkaline pH in a similar manner to MTA and released calcium and phosphate. These conditions can stimulate the calcification process and explain the basic physico-chemical mechanisms of hard tissue regeneration of CEM cement.

Cytotoxic effect of a new endodontic cement and mineral trioxide aggregate on L929 line culture.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to compare the cytotoxicity of Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA) and a New Endodontic Cement (NEC) on L929 mouse fibroblasts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Different dilutions (Neat, 1/2, 1/10, 1/100) of fresh and set materials placed adjacent flasks of L929 in DMEM medium. Cellular viability was assessed using MTT assay in three time intervals (24, 48, and 72 h after mixing). Differences in mean cell viability values between materials were assessed by using the One-way ANOVA and Bonferoni post-test. Optical microscopic analysis of morphology of the untreated control and the cement-treated cell cultures were carried out in all experimental periods. RESULTS: It was indicated that there was not a significant difference in cytotoxicity among the materials of test and between them and the control group. However, there was a statistically significant difference between different time intervals within each group (P< 0.05) and between different concentration of test materials (P<0.05). In all samples, set materials showed better viability than fresh ones. CONCLUSION: According to results of this study, NEC and MTA have similar cytotoxic effect on L929 cell culture.