Dialdehyde modified and cationic aerogel for efficient microplastics adsorption from environmental waters.

Recent reports had shown that microplastics could be transferred to organisms through various channels, severely and adversely affecting organisms' health and their physiological functions. Therefore, there remained an urgency to adopt an effective and environmentally friendly method to extract microplastics from water. In this paper, a cationic-modified d-DCPG aerogel with a three-dimensional network structure was successfully prepared by a directional freeze-drying technology in which double-aldehyde-modified cellulose nanofiber (CNF) was used as the matrix, betaine chloride hydrazide (GT) provided modification, and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) provided cross-linking function. Aerogels had an excellent adsorption capacity (145.05 mg/g) for microplastics in aqueous environment, and when the pH was from 10 to 4, it exhibited an excellent adsorption efficiency from 90.01 % to 97.61 %; an excellent adsorption efficiency after 8 cycles (>89 %); pseudo-second-order kinetics and Freundlich adsorption isotherm had a high fitting effects on the adsorption process and adsorption results, respectively. And ultraviolet analysis also verified the occurrence of adsorption behavior. These results showed that d-DCPG aerogels had an excellent application prospects in microplastics removal in river, lake, reservoir, and marine environments.

Three-Dimensional Anatomy of the Hypoglossal Canal: A Plastinated Histologic Study.

OBJECTIVE: To provide a precise description of the morphology and morphometry of the hypoglossal canal (HC) and its relationship with surrounding structures by using the epoxy sheet plastination technique. METHODS: Thirty human cadaveric heads were plastinated into 5 sets of gross transparent plastination slices and 43 sets of ultrathin plastination sections. The HC were examined at both macro- and micro levels in these plastination sections and the reconstructed 3-dimensional visualization model. RESULTS: The HC was an upward arched bony canal with a dumbbell-shaped lumen. According to the arched trajectory of its bottom wall, the HC could be divided into a medial ascending segment and a lateral descending segment. The thickness of the compact bone in the middle part of the HC was thinner than that at the intracranial and extracranial orifices. In 14 of 43 sides (32.6%), the posterior wall or the roof of the HC were disturbed by passing venous channels which communicated the posterior condylar emissary vein and the inferior petroclival vein. The trajectory of hypoglossal nerve in HC is mainly from anterosuperior to posteroinferior. The meningeal dura and the arachnoid extended into the HC along the hypoglossal nerve to form the dural and arachnoid sleeves and then fused with the nerve near the extracranial orifice of the HC. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge of the detailed anatomy of the HC can be helpful in avoiding surgical complications when performing surgery for lesions and the occipital condylar screw placement in this complex area.

Preparation of antifouling and highly hydrophobic cellulose nanofibers/alginate aerogels by bidirectional freeze-drying for water-oil separation in the ocean environment.

Oil spills frequently occur in the ocean, and adsorption is one of the effective ways to deal with oil spills. Compared with other adsorbent materials, biomass aerogel has superior selective adsorption capacity. CNF/SA aerogels with good mechanical properties (340 kPa at 90 % strain) and high adsorption capacity (88.91 g/g) were prepared by mixing cellulose nanofibers (CNF) with sodium alginate (SA) through bidirectional freeze-drying, ionic crosslinking, and surface modification to effectively solve the ocean oil spill problem. The bidirectional freeze-drying technology is a green and efficient technique for preparing layered microstructured composite aerogels. The prepared aerogels have a three-dimensional interpenetrating lamellar structure, low density (24.2 mg/cm3), high porosity (97.85 %), and high hydrophobicity (WCA = 144.5°), can be calibrated and used repeatedly. It has potential applications in water-oil separation and can be used as an absorbent for effectively treating oil spills in the ocean environment.

Myeloid cell interferon secretion restricts Zika flavivirus infection of developing and malignant human neural progenitor cells.

Zika virus (ZIKV) can infect human developing brain (HDB) progenitors resulting in epidemic microcephaly, whereas analogous cellular tropism offers treatment potential for the adult brain cancer, glioblastoma (GBM). We compared productive ZIKV infection in HDB and GBM primary tissue explants that both contain SOX2+ neural progenitors. Strikingly, although the HDB proved uniformly vulnerable to ZIKV infection, GBM was more refractory, and this correlated with an innate immune expression signature. Indeed, GBM-derived CD11b+ microglia/macrophages were necessary and sufficient to protect progenitors against ZIKV infection in a non-cell autonomous manner. Using SOX2+ GBM cell lines, we found that CD11b+-conditioned medium containing type 1 interferon beta (IFNß) promoted progenitor resistance to ZIKV, whereas inhibition of JAK1/2 signaling restored productive infection. Additionally, CD11b+ conditioned medium, and IFNß treatment rendered HDB progenitor lines and explants refractory to ZIKV. These findings provide insight into neuroprotection for HDB progenitors as well as enhanced GBM oncolytic therapies.

Deep learning-based image analysis for automated measurement of eyelid morphology before and after blepharoptosis surgery.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Eyelid position and contour abnormality could lead to various diseases, such as blepharoptosis, which is a common eyelid disease. Accurate assessment of eyelid morphology is important in the management of blepharoptosis. We aimed to proposed a novel deep learning-based image analysis to automatically measure eyelid morphological properties before and after blepharoptosis surgery. METHODS: This study included 135 ptotic eyes of 103 patients who underwent blepharoptosis surgery. Facial photographs were taken preoperatively and postoperatively. Margin reflex distance (MRD) 1 and 2 of the operated eyes were manually measured by a senior surgeon. Multiple eyelid morphological parameters, such as MRD1, MRD2, upper eyelid length and corneal area, were automatically measured by our deep learning-based image analysis. Agreement between manual and automated measurements, as well as two repeated automated measurements of MRDs were analysed. Preoperative and postoperative eyelid morphological parameters were compared. Postoperative eyelid contour symmetry was evaluated using multiple mid-pupil lid distances (MPLDs). RESULTS: The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) between manual and automated measurements of MRDs ranged from 0.934 to 0.971 (p < .001), and the bias ranged from 0.09 mm to 0.15 mm. The ICCs between two repeated automated measurements were up to 0.999 (p < .001), and the bias was no more than 0.002 mm. After surgery, MRD1 increased significantly from 0.31 ± 1.17 mm to 2.89 ± 1.06 mm, upper eyelid length from 19.94 ± 3.61 mm to 21.40 ± 2.40 mm, and corneal area from 52.72 ± 15.97 mm2 to 76.31 ± 11.31mm2 (all p < .001). Postoperative binocular MPLDs at different angles (from 0° to 180°) showed no significant differences in the patients. CONCLUSION: This technique had high accuracy and repeatability for automatically measuring eyelid morphology, which allows objective assessment of blepharoptosis surgical outcomes. Using only patients' photographs, this technique has great potential in diagnosis and management of other eyelid-related diseases.

Directional, super-hydrophobic cellulose nanofiber/polyvinyl alcohol/montmorillonite aerogels as green absorbents for oil/water separation.

Nowadays, the problem of oil spill and organic solvent pollution has become more and more serious, and developing a green and efficient treatment method has become a research hotspot. Herein, the preparation of porous super-hydrophobic aerogel by directional freezing with cellulose nanofibre (CNF) as the base material, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the cross-linking agent and montmorillonite (MMT) as the modifier and filler, followed by hydrophobic treatment with chemical vapour deposition is reported. The prepared composite aerogel presented three-dimensional inter-perforation network structure, low density (26.52 mg⋅cm-3 ), high porosity (96.1 %) and good hydrophobicity (water contact angle of 140°). Notably, the composite aerogel has a good adsorption effect on different oils and organic solutions, and its adsorption capacity can reach 40-68 times of its initial weight. After complete adsorption, the aerogel could be easily collected. More importantly, the composite aerogel had high strength, whose compressive stress at 70 % strain reached 0.15 MPa and could bear over 1290 times its weight without deformation after 2 weeks. A new, green, simple and efficient absorbent for the adsorption of oils and organic solvents is provided.

Interpretable survival prediction for colorectal cancer using deep learning.

Deriving interpretable prognostic features from deep-learning-based prognostic histopathology models remains a challenge. In this study, we developed a deep learning system (DLS) for predicting disease-specific survival for stage II and III colorectal cancer using 3652 cases (27,300 slides). When evaluated on two validation datasets containing 1239 cases (9340 slides) and 738 cases (7140 slides), respectively, the DLS achieved a 5-year disease-specific survival AUC of 0.70 (95% CI: 0.66-0.73) and 0.69 (95% CI: 0.64-0.72), and added significant predictive value to a set of nine clinicopathologic features. To interpret the DLS, we explored the ability of different human-interpretable features to explain the variance in DLS scores. We observed that clinicopathologic features such as T-category, N-category, and grade explained a small fraction of the variance in DLS scores (R2 = 18% in both validation sets). Next, we generated human-interpretable histologic features by clustering embeddings from a deep-learning-based image-similarity model and showed that they explained the majority of the variance (R2 of 73-80%). Furthermore, the clustering-derived feature most strongly associated with high DLS scores was also highly prognostic in isolation. With a distinct visual appearance (poorly differentiated tumor cell clusters adjacent to adipose tissue), this feature was identified by annotators with 87.0-95.5% accuracy. Our approach can be used to explain predictions from a prognostic deep learning model and uncover potentially-novel prognostic features that can be reliably identified by people for future validation studies.

Meckel's Cave and Somatotopy of the Trigeminal Ganglion.

BACKGROUND: The anatomy and spatial relationships of the dural sac comprising the Meckel cave (MC) and its ensheathed trigeminal ganglion (TG) are exceedingly intricate and complex. There are conflicting accounts in the literature regarding the dural configuration of the MC around the ganglion and the dual embryology of the MC and TG is still unclear. METHODS: A combined systematic and narrative literature review was conducted to collate articles addressing MC and TG anatomy, in addition to their embryology, role in tumor spread, somatotopy, and association with trigeminal neuralgia. RESULTS: Three key anatomic models by Paturet (1964), Lazorthes (1973), and Lang and Ferner (1983) have been put forward to show the arrangement of the MC around the TG. The TG is formed from both neural crest and placodal cells and drags the enveloping dura caudally to form the MC prolongation during development. Both a mediolateral and dorsoventral somatotopic arrangement of neurons exists in the TG, which corresponds to the 3 nerve divisions, of which V2 and V3 are prone to perineural tumor spread along their course. CONCLUSIONS: Sound knowledge concerning the dural arrangement of the MC and the trigeminal divisions will be invaluable in optimally treating cancers in this region, and understanding TG somatotopy will immensely improve treatment of trigeminal neuralgia in terms of specificity, efficacy, and positive patient outcomes.

Fine configuration of the dural fibrous network and the extradural neural axis compartment in the jugular foramen: an epoxy sheet plastination and confocal microscopy study.

OBJECTIVE: The extradural neural axis compartment (EDNAC) is an adipovenous zone that is located between the meningeal (ML) and endosteal (EL) layers of the dura mater and has been minimally investigated in the jugular foramen (JF) region. In this study, the authors aimed to explore the fine architecture of the EDNAC within the JF and evaluate whether the EDNAC can be used as a component for JF compartmentalization. METHODS: A total of 46 cadaveric heads (31 male, 15 female; age range 54-96 years) and 30 dry skulls were examined in this study. Twelve of 46 cadaveric heads were plastinated as a series of transverse (7 sets), coronal (3 sets), and sagittal (2 sets) slices and examined using stereomicroscopy and confocal microscopy. The dural entry points of the JF cranial nerves were recorded in 34 cadaveric skulls. The volumes of the JF, intraforaminal EDNAC, and internal jugular vein (IJV) were quantified. RESULTS: Based on constant osseous landmarks, the JF was subdivided into preforaminal, intraforaminal, and subforaminal segments. The ML-derived fascial sheath along the anteromedial wall of the IJV demarcated the "venous portion" and the "EDNAC portion" of the bipartite JF. The EDNAC did not surround the intraforaminal IJV and comprised an ML-derived dural fibrous network and an adipose matrix. A fibrovenous curtain subdivided the intraforaminal EDNAC into a small anterior column containing cranial nerve (CN) IX and the anterior condylar venous plexus and a large posterior adipose column containing CNs X and XI. In the intraforaminal segment, the IJV occupied a slightly larger space in the foramen (57%; p < 0.01), whereas in the subforaminal segment it occupied a space of similar size to that of the EDNAC. CONCLUSIONS: Excluding the IJV, the neurovascular structures in the JF traverse the dural fibrous network that is dominant in the foraminal EDNAC. The results of this study will contribute to anatomical knowledge of the obscure yet crucially important JF region, increase understanding of foraminal tumor growth and spread patterns, and facilitate the planning and execution of surgical interventions.

Deep learning-based survival prediction for multiple cancer types using histopathology images.

Providing prognostic information at the time of cancer diagnosis has important implications for treatment and monitoring. Although cancer staging, histopathological assessment, molecular features, and clinical variables can provide useful prognostic insights, improving risk stratification remains an active research area. We developed a deep learning system (DLS) to predict disease specific survival across 10 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We used a weakly-supervised approach without pixel-level annotations, and tested three different survival loss functions. The DLS was developed using 9,086 slides from 3,664 cases and evaluated using 3,009 slides from 1,216 cases. In multivariable Cox regression analysis of the combined cohort including all 10 cancers, the DLS was significantly associated with disease specific survival (hazard ratio of 1.58, 95% CI 1.28-1.70, p<0.0001) after adjusting for cancer type, stage, age, and sex. In a per-cancer adjusted subanalysis, the DLS remained a significant predictor of survival in 5 of 10 cancer types. Compared to a baseline model including stage, age, and sex, the c-index of the model demonstrated an absolute 3.7% improvement (95% CI 1.0-6.5) in the combined cohort. Additionally, our models stratified patients within individual cancer stages, particularly stage II (p = 0.025) and stage III (p<0.001). By developing and evaluating prognostic models across multiple cancer types, this work represents one of the most comprehensive studies exploring the direct prediction of clinical outcomes using deep learning and histopathology images. Our analysis demonstrates the potential for this approach to provide significant prognostic information in multiple cancer types, and even within specific pathologic stages. However, given the relatively small number of cases and observed clinical events for a deep learning task of this type, we observed wide confidence intervals for model performance, thus highlighting that future work will benefit from larger datasets assembled for the purposes for survival modeling.

Three-dimensional architecture of the neurovascular and adipose zones of the upper and lower lumbar intervertebral foramina: an epoxy sheet plastination study.

OBJECTIVE: Kambin's triangle and the safe triangle are common posterolateral approaches for lumbar transforaminal endoscopic surgery and epidural injection. To date, no consensus has been reached on the optimal transforaminal approach, in particular its underlying anatomical mechanism. The aim of this study was to investigate the 3D architecture of the neurovascular and adipose zones in the upper and lower lumbar intervertebral foramina (IVFs). METHODS: Using the epoxy sheet plastination technology, 22 cadaveric lumbar spines (12 female and 10 male, age range 46-89 years) were prepared as a series of transverse (11 sets), sagittal (8 sets), and coronal (3 sets) slices with a thickness of 0.25 mm (6 sets) or 2.5 mm (16 sets). The high-resolution images of the slices were scanned and analyzed. The height, area, and volume of 30 IVFs from T12-L1 to L4-5 were estimated and compared. This study was performed in accord with the authors' institutional ethical guidelines and approved by the institutional ethics committees. RESULTS: The findings were as follows. 1) The 3D boundaries of the lumbar IVF and its subdivisions were precisely defined. 2) The 3D configuration of the neurovascular and adipose zones was different between the upper and lower lumbar IVFs; zoning in the upper lumbar IVFs was much more complex than that in the lower lumbar IVFs. 3) In general, the infraneural adipose zone gradually tapered and rotated from the inferoposterolateral aspect to the superoanteromedial aspect. 4) The average height, area, and volume of the IVF gradually increased from the upper to the lower lumbar spine. Within a lumbar IVF, the volumes below and above the inferior border of the dorsal root ganglia were similar. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights differences of fine 3D architecture of neurovascular and adipose tissues between the upper and lower lumbar IVFs, with related effects on the transforaminal approaches. The findings may contribute to optimization of the surgical approaches to and through the IVF at different lumbar spinal levels and also may help to shorten the learning curve for the transforminal techniques.

Ultralight, highly compressible, hydrophobic and anisotropic lamellar carbon aerogels from graphene/polyvinyl alcohol/cellulose nanofiber aerogel as oil removing absorbents.

In increasingly serious marine pollution environment, environmentally friendly low-density aerogels have become potential oil-water separation materials. However, many reported aerogels have the drawbacks of low oil absorption, poor compressibility and flexibility, which limit their application. Herein, we reported a compressible, anisotropic lamellar hydrophobic and lipophilic graphene/polyvinyl alcohol/cellulose nanofiber carbon aerogel (a-GPCCA) prepared by directional freeze-drying and carbonization processes. The synthetic ultralight a-GPCCA had low density (6.17 mg/cm3) and high porosity (99.61 %). Moreover, directional freeze-drying resulted in a lamellar interpenetrated three-dimensional porous structure, which endowed it with high adsorption capacity (155-288 times of its weight), good compressibility (95 % recovery after repeating 15 cycles at 50 % strain in parallel to the freezing direction) and recyclability (oil retention rate reached 88.8 % after 10 absorption-compression cycles). Furthermore, carbonization provided it with excellent thermal stability and hydrophobic properties, resulting in oil-water selectivity and combustion cyclicity (the oil absorption capacity was reduced by only 10.2 % after 10 absorption-combustion cycles). Therefore, the a-GPCCA obtained in this study possesses a promising potential in the field of treatment of offshore oil spills and domestic industrial wastewater.

Anisotropic Cellulose Nanofibers/Polyvinyl Alcohol/Graphene Aerogels Fabricated by Directional Freeze-drying as Effective Oil Adsorbents.

Under the current situation of frequent oil spills, the development of green and recyclable high-efficiency oil-absorbing aerogel materials has attracted wide attention from researchers. In this study, we report a high-strength, three-dimensional hydrophobic cellulose nanofiber (CNF)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/graphene oxide (GO) composite aerogel with an anisotropic porous structure, which was fabricated by directional freeze-drying technology using anisotropically grown ice crystals as a template, followed by hydrophobic treatment with a simple dip coating process. The prepared composite aerogel presented anisotropic multi-level pore microstructures, low density (17.95 mg/cm3) and high porosity (98.8%), good hydrophobicity (water contact angle of 142°) and great adsorption capacity (oil absorption reaching 96 times its own weight). More importantly, the oriented aerogel had high strength, whose compressive stress at 80% strain reached 0.22 MPa and could bear more than 22,123 times its own weight without deformation. Therefore, the CNF/PVA/GO composite aerogel prepared by a simple and easy-to-operate directional freeze-drying method is a promising absorbent for oil-water separation.

Ultralight super-hydrophobic carbon aerogels based on cellulose nanofibers/poly(vinyl alcohol)/graphene oxide (CNFs/PVA/GO) for highly effective oil-water separation.

With the worsening of the oil-product pollution problem, oil-water separation has attracted increased attention in recent years. In this study, a porous three-dimensional (3D) carbon aerogel based on cellulose nanofibers (CNFs), poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized by a facile and green approach. The resulting CNF/PVA/GO aerogels were synthesized through an environmentally friendly freeze-drying process and then carbonized to yield CNF/PVA/GO carbon aerogels with low density (18.41 mg cm-3), high porosity (98.98%), a water contact angle of 156° (super-hydrophobic) and high oil absorption capacity (97 times its own weight). The carbonization treatment of the CNF/PVA/GO aerogel not only improved the hydrophobic properties but also enhanced the adsorption capacity and specific surface area. Given the many good performance characteristics and the facile preparation process of carbon aerogels, these materials are viable candidates for use in oil-water separation and environmental protection.

Facile synthesis of reduced graphene oxide/trimethyl chlorosilane-coated cellulose nanofibres aerogel for oil absorption.

A hydrophobic and oleophilic trimethyl chlorosilane/reduced graphene oxide-coated cellulose nanofibres (TMCS/rGO/CNFs) aerogel with a three-dimensional structure was fabricated through a facile dip-coating process. The prepared aerogel exhibited several advantageous properties for absorption and expulsion of oils from water surfaces, such as a high specific surface area, low density (6.78 mg/cm3) and good porosity (99.12％). In addition, the TMCS/rGO/CNFs aerogel demonstrated good absorption capacities up to 39 times its own weight over a short time (1.5 min) for a broad range of oils. This research suggests that practical application of TMCS/rGO/CNFs aerogel in the cleanup of an oil spill is feasible.

Denonvilliers' fascia in men: a sheet plastination and confocal microscopy study of the prerectal space and the presence of an optimal anterior plane when mobilizing the rectum for cancer.

AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the detailed, in situ, morphology of Denonvilliers fascia (DVF) in cadavers using sheet plastination and confocal microscopy and to review and describe the optimal anterior plane for mobilisation of the distal rectum.. METHOD: Six, male cadavers (age range, 46-87 years) were prepared as six sets of transverse (x2), coronal (x1) and sagittal (x3) plastinated sections which were examined under a confocal laser scanning microscope. RESULTS: In this study a consistent space between the anterior rectal wall and the posterior surface of the prostate and seminal vesicles above the level of the perineal body was termed the prerectal space. Within that prerectal space we identified fibres which take their origin from the external urethral sphincter (EUS), together with others from the longitudinal rectal muscle (LRM) and the connective tissue sheaths of neurovascular bundles. Neither the EUS- nor the LRM-originated fibres were continuous with the endopelvic fascia;they are interposed laterally and cranially by multiple neurovascular bundles. Further, our results suggest that the peritoneum does not descend deep within the prerectal space. CONCLUSION: This study reveals the undisturbed, in situ, structural detail of membrane-like structures in the prerectal space and confirms that the optimal plane for anterolateral mobilization of the rectum is posterior to the multilayered DVF. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

A 4 year retrospective survey of strabismus surgery in Tongren Eye Centre Beijing.

PURPOSE: To investigate the distribution pattern of the strabismus surgery undertaken at an eye centre in Beijing, China. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted including the data of all strabismus surgeries performed in Beijing Tongren hospital for the 4 year period from 2003 to 2006. The proportions of different surgery types and their association with patients' age and gender were analyzed. RESULT: During the study period, 8997 strabismus surgeries were performed. The number of the surgeries increased progressively each year from 1507 in 2003 to 2769 in 2006 (p < 0.05). Intermittent exotropia was the most common of all strabismus surgeries (27.9%). Superior oblique palsy was the most common type among the paralytic strabismus surgeries. The proportions of different types of strabismus showed no significant change between successive years. Among the patients, the number of surgeries performed in the population aged 0-12 years was significantly higher than other age groups and increased from 35.37% in 2003 to 42.80% in 2006 (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: There has been a continuous increase in the number of strabismus operations in our eye centre in Beijing, and this pattern is especially obvious in children. The distribution of surgery type remained relatively constant each year. Surgery for intermittent exotropia is the most common type of procedure.