[Arthroscopic transtendinous suture bridge (Speed Bridge) for the treatment of greater tuberosity fracture of humerus].

OBJECTIVE: To explore clinical effect of shoulder arthroscopic speedbridge technique in treating avulsion fracture of greater tuberosity of humerus. METHODS: From March 2014 to March 2020, 39 patients with avulsion fracture of greater tuberosity of humerus were treated with speedbridge technique under shoulder arthroscopy. There were 22 males and 17 females aged from 23 to 67 years old with an average of(46.0±11.9) years old. The courses of disease ranged from 3 to 11 days with an average of (3.9±2.4) days. Preoperative and postoperative at 12 months, Constant-Murley shoulder function score and University of California, Los Angeles(UCLA) score were used to evaluate clinical effect. RESULTS: All patients were followed up from 8 to 21 months with an average of (11.5±3.8) months. Fracture healing time ranged from 2 to 4 months with an average of(3.3±0.9) months. No complications such as poor incision healing and joint adhesion occurred. Constant Murley score of shoulder joint was increased from(56.20±1.50) preoperativly to(94.80±2.60) at 12 months after operation(t=-55.42, P<0.01), and 38 patients got excellent result and 1 good. UCLA score was increased from(9.24±1.48) preoperativly to(32.82±1.37) at 12 months after operation(t=-65.67, P<0.01), and 37 patients got excellent result, and 2 good. CONCLUSION: Arthroscopic suture bridge technique for the treatment of greater tuberosity fracture of humerus could significantly reduce pain and improve function of shoulder.

N,P-codoped carbon quantum dots-decorated TiO2 nanowires as nanosized heterojunction photocatalyst with improved photocatalytic performance for methyl blue degradation.

N,P-doped carbon quantum dots (N,P-CQDs) are deemed as a promising candidate to environmentally friendly materials owing to the inexpensive, biocompatible nature. TiO2 nanowire is a prospective photocatalyst because of its efficient migration of photoexcited carriers in wastewater treatment. However, the N,P-CQDs-decorated TiO2 nanowire (N,P-CQDs/NW-TiO2) photocatalysts have been rarely reported. In this study, we build N,P-CQDs on the surface of TiO2 nanowires via a simple deposition process. Our investigations demonstrate that N,P-CQDs/NW-TiO2 has a great photocatalytic degradation for methyl blue (MB) under irradiation. The degradation rate of can reach 93.6% within 120 min under proper conditions. The excellent degradation performance of N,P-CQDs/NW-TiO2 is ascribed to the mesoporous structure and high separation rate of photoexcited carriers. In addition, the N,P-CQDs/NW-TiO2 have outstanding recycled photocatalytic capability. After being recycled four times, the N,P-CQDs/NW-TiO2 still maintain 59.9% photocatalytic activity. The fabricated nanosized photocatalyst can be widely utilized in the field of photocatalysis for wastewater treatment.

Esterification modified starch by phosphates and urea via alcohol solvothermal route for its potential utilization for urea slow-releasing.

The natural starch (NS) is modified by an esterification process which is accomplished by reacting the NS and phosphate together with urea via a facile alcohol solvothermal method. After modification, a series of obvious variations can be easily confirmed for the resulted starch phosphate carbamides (denoted as SPC) compared with that of NS, such as the introduction of new groups of CO, PO, P-O-C and P-O-H together with new elements of N and P in starch molecular structure unit confirmed in FT-IR and XPS analyses and the decreased crystallinity along with formed surface defect demonstrated in XRD and SEM measurements. Furthermore, the formed SPC has a higher viscosity of 480 mPa.s-1 and lower gelatinization temperature of under 10 °C than that of the NS. More importantly, when the SPC is utilized as outer coating material together with ethylcellulose (EC) as inner coating material for preparing double-layer slow-release urea (denoted as EC/SPC based SRU), the EC/SPC based SRU has a desirable slow-release behavior with release percentages of 40.9% for 12 h in water and merely 59.6% for 20 day together with even exceeding 30 days in soil. Conclusively, this work provides a facile preparation approach for the SPC and its creative application for the preparation of SRU.

Low-frequency electromagnetic fields promote hair follicles regeneration by injection a mixture of epidermal stem cells and dermal papilla cells.

The bioeffects of low-frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) on a bio-engineered hair follicle generation had not been fully elucidated. This present study was designed to evaluat the therapeutically effective of low frequency EMF on hair follicles regeneration. In this experiment, epidermal stem cells (ESCs) and dermal papilla (DP) cells were isolated and culture-expanded. Then the mixture containing of ESCs and DP cells was implanted into the epidermal layer or corium layer of nude mice. Those mice were  divided at random into the control group and EMF group, 7 days or 14 days later, the skin specimens were harvested to assess for hair regeneration or a bio-engineered skin formation using H&E staining. After injection of the mixture into the epidermal layer of nude mice for 14 days, H&E staining showed that the new hair formed the correct structure comprising hair matrix, hair shaft, and inner root sheath, outer root sheath, and DP. Comparing to the control, the hair follicles erupted at a higher density in the EMF group. When the mixture was implanted into the corium layer for 7 days, comparing with the characteristics of new hair follicles in the control group, H&E staining also showed the mixture induced to form 4 ~ 6 epidermal layers with a higher density of hair follicle like-structures in the bioengineered epithelial layers after EMF exposure. Our results suggested that the injection of a mixture of ESCs and DP cells in combination with EMF exposure facilitated the induction of hair follicle regeneration and a bioengineered skin formation with hair follicle-like structures.

Preliminary studies of hair follicle regeneration by injections of epidermal stem cells and dermal papilla cells into nude mice.

The ultimate goal of organ regenerative therapy is to reproduce fully functional organs to replace which have been damaged as a result of diseases or injury. Although several studies claimed that using different types of cells in some animal models promote hair follicles regeneration, more researches can be done to develop a sufficient and efficient protocol to induce hair generation from different animal models. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potentials for hair follicle formation by injecting a mixture of epidermal stem cells and dermal papilla cells. Those cells were isolated and culture-expanded. Then we randomly allocated 8 nude mice into two groups. The experiment group received an injection of a mixture that containing of epidermal stem cells and dermal papilla cells. The control group received injection of keratinocyte serum-free medium. The hair follicles regeneration was observed and the injection area was harvested for HE staining. 14 day later, the regenerated hair shafts were observed and HE staining indicated that the newly hair follicle formed the correct structures in experiment group. Furthermore, the mixture injection induced a regular and multilayered stratified epidermis and the epidermis contained of hair follicle-likes structures. Our data showed that injection of a mixture of epidermal stem cells and dermal papilla cells could induce hair follicles regeneration and well-ordered epidermis formation. This study emphasized that the rearrangement of the interactions during seed cells and the niches of the seed cells is essential and necessary for tissue-engineered construct success.

Facile synthesis of N, P-doped carbon dots from maize starch via a solvothermal approach for the highly sensitive detection of Fe3.

Nitrogen/phosphorus-doped carbon dots (N, P-CDs) with a quantum yield as high as 76.5% were synthesized by carbonizing maize starch via a facile ethanol solvothermal approach. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurement shows that the as-prepared N, P-CDs displayed a quasi-spherical shape with a mean size of ca. 2.5 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy disclosed the presence of -OH, -NH2, -COOH, and -CO functional groups over the surface of N, P-CDs. On the basis of excellent fluorescent properties with strong blue fluorescence emission at 445 nm upon excitation at 340 nm, these N, P-CDs were adopted as a fluorescent probe towards the effective detection of Fe3+ ions in water. The limit of detection (LOD) was as low as 0.1 µmol L-1 and showed a better linear relationship in the range of 0.1 ∼ 50 µmol L-1. In conclusion, these synthesized N, P-CDs can be efficiently used as a promising candidate for the detection of Fe3+ ions in some practical samples.

[Evaluation of dental medical quality based on efficacy coefficient model].

PURPOSE: To evaluate the dental quality comprehensively by data model of efficacy coefficient based on the principle of multi-objective programming. METHODS: The correlation index of dental medical quality was selected by Delphi method, while the index weight was determined by the scale of the analytic hierarchy process. Then efficacy coefficient method was used to evaluate the dental quality of Shanghai Stomatological Hospital in a certain period. RESULTS: During the period of 2016-2017, the D value of the efficiency coefficient was 84.92, 83.41, 86.99 and 81.98, respectively, which demonstrated that the overall quality of the hospital was in good condition. CONCLUSIONS: The efficiency coefficient method can objectively reflect the comprehensive level of medical quality, which can provide a strong support for comprehensive evaluation and control of the quality of dental hospital.

Control synthesis, subtle surface modification of rare-earth-doped upconversion nanoparticles and their applications in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Rare earth doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are a new class of luminescent materials that can absorb long-wavelength near-infrared photons and emit short-wavelength UV-visible photons. UCNPs have little damage to biological tissues, have deep tissue penetration ability, have no background fluorescence noise interference, have high imaging sensitivity, and have no photobleaching effect. In the field of biomedicine, especially in the field of diagnosis and treatment of cancer, a wide range of research interests has arisen. In this paper, we briefly introduce the luminescent principle of rare-earth doped UCNPs, discuss several widely used control synthesis and modification methods, and focus on the research progress of UCNPs in detection of cancer cells, photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) field. We also summarize the application of UCNPs as a diagnostic and therapeutic integrated nanoplatform in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. At last, we explore the application challenge and prospect of UCNPs in oncology field.

Biological Applications of Organic Electrochemical Transistors: Electrochemical Biosensors and Electrophysiology Recording.

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are recently developed high-efficient transducers not only for electrochemical biosensor but also for cell electrophysiological recording due to the separation of gate electrode from the transistor device. The efficient integration of OECTs with electrochemical gate electrode makes the as-prepared sensors with improved performance, such as sensitivity, limit of detection, and selectivity. We herein reviewed the recent progress of OECTs-based biosensors and cell electrophysiology recording, mainly focusing on the principle and chemical design of gate electrode and the channel. First, the configuration, work principle, semiconductor of OECT are briefly introduced. Then different kinds of sensing modes are reviewed, especially for the biosensing and electrophysiological recording. Finally, the challenges and opportunities of this research field are discussed.

Kinetics and mechanism of photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange in water by mesoporous Nd-TiO2-SBA-15 nanocatalyst.

High-efficiency nanophotocatalysts with large specific surface areas have a broad range of application prospects in the catalytic oxidation treatment of organic pollutants in wastewater. A chemical method was used to synthesize a TiO2 nanophotocatalyst with a mesoporous structure upon which a rare earth metal (Nd) was deposited, namely Nd-TiO2-SBA-15 (NTS). The prepared NTS was characterized using X-ray diffractometry, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry. The photocatalytic mechanism was explored using scavenger experiments with photoinduced carriers combined with total organic carbon and UV-Vis measurements. At the same time, the kinetic properties of the NTS photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) were evaluated. The results showed that the deposition of TiO2 nanoparticles on the surface of the SBA-15 molecular sieve did not change the mesoporous structure, and Nd was uniformly distributed on the surface of the nanophotocatalyst. The photogenerated holes of the NTS played an important role in the photocatalysis process. In addition, the synthesized NTS had good adaptability in the range of pH 2-10. At pH 4, the reaction rate constant (k) of the MO photocatalytic degradation by NTS was 0.011825 mg·(L·min)-1, and the adsorption equilibrium constant (K) was 0.051359 L mg-1. In addition, the photocatalytic degradation rate of MO by NTS remained above 70%, even when the NTS was recycled four times. The NTS showed a good performance after recycling. This work provides a good foundation for the large-scale application of NTS.

Exposure to 50 Hz electromagnetic fields enhances hair follicle regrowth in C57BL/6 mice.

IMPACT STATEMENT: In this study, our experiments confirmed that 50 Hz EMF affected hair follicle regrowth, and 50 Hz EMF enhanced K15+ stem cells proliferation in the hair bulb and follicular outer root sheath of hair follicles. Those results indicated that 50 Hz EMF may be beneficial for functional healing of hair loss.

Study on the controlled synthesis and photocatalytic performance of rare earth Nd deposited on mesoporous TiO2 photocatalysts.

Nanosized TiO2 photocatalysis technology is one of the most promising technologies for the treatment of wastewater containing azo dyes. In this work, TiO2 was deposited on a mesoporous SBA-15 molecular sieve by chemical deposition, and rare earth (RE) metal neodymium (Nd) was further deposited on the surface of the catalyst to obtain an Nd-TiO2-SBA-15 photocatalyst. The prepared photocatalyst was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and N2 adsorption-desorption. The activity of the Nd-TiO2-SBA-15 photocatalyst was evaluated by using methyl orange to represent the azo dye. The effects of different Nd deposition amounts and different solution pH values on the photocatalyst performance were principally studied. The results show that the synthesized photocatalyst formed an anatase crystal with a mesoporous structure. The specific surface area and pore size of the photocatalyst are 548.2 m2/g and 6.5 nm, respectively. As the amount of Nd deposition gradually increases, the activity of photocatalyst undergoes a process of first rising and then decreasing. In addition, the photocatalyst maintains high photocatalytic activity in the pH range of 2-10, exhibiting good acid-base adaptability. This work demonstrates that the Nd-TiO2-SBA-15 nanophotocatalyst has broad practical application prospects on a large scale.

Preparation and photocatalytic application of a S, Nd double doped nano-TiO2 photocatalyst.

Nowadays, water pollution is getting more and more severe in society, and recently the rational use of photocatalytic technology to treat sewage has become a hot spot for research. Because of the low-cost and environmental friendliness of nano-TiO2, it has attracted widespread attention. In this paper, we dope sulfur and neodymium into nano-titanium dioxide via a sol-gel method. The synthesized S, Nd-codoped-TiO2 was characterized via transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, EDS and N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms. Then the real-life dye reactive red (X-3B) was used as the target degradant to compare the levels of practicality of single-doped and double-doped photocatalysts. The results showed that the photocatalytic activity of S, Nd-codoped-TiO2 was significantly higher than that of Nd-TiO2. The double-doped photocatalyst was transformed from anatase to rutile, and the bandgap was reduced considerably. The responding ability to visible light also increased, so S, Nd-codoped-TiO2 has obvious advantages and has better degradation efficiency for the target degradation products. Under xenon lamp irradiation and pH = 4 conditions, the degradation of reactive red using the new catalyst reached 93.2%. The new catalyst has high practicality and also indicates a new direction for wastewater treatment.

Correction: Preparation and photocatalytic application of a S, Nd double doped nano-TiO2 photocatalyst.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/C8RA06778C.].

[Stress distribution in abutment teeth and related tissues under different design of connector: three-dimensional finite element analysis].

PURPOSE: To compare the stress distribution in abutment teeth and related tissues under the same material and different loading between improved major connector design and traditional major connector design. METHODS: One 55-year-old male patient with unilateral maxillary first molar and second molar missing was chosen. The stress distribution in abutment teeth and related tissues were evaluated with spiral CT scanning, Mimics, Geomagic Studio software, a study model was built and finite element analysis was performed using ANSYS software. RESULTS: With the improved major connector design, the stress of abutment decreased significantly, the stress of periodontal decreased, the stress of edentulous mucosa increased significantly and became more balanced, the trend of stimulated absorption of alveolar bone decreased. CONCLUSIONS: For patients with distal free defect of dentition, the design of improved major connector has the effect of stress interruption, can protect the abutment better, detract the stress of the denture and has an good protective effect on the edentulous mucosa and alveolar bone.

The effects of adenoviral transfection of the keratinocyte growth factor gene on epidermal stem cells: an in vitro study.

Epidermal stem cells (ESCs) are characterized as slowcycling, multi-potent, and self-renewing cells that not only maintain somatic homeostasis but also participate in tissue regeneration and repair. To examine the feasibility of adenoviral vector-mediated keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) gene transfer into in vitro-expanded ESCs, ESCs were isolated from samples of human skin, cultured in vitro, and then transfected with recombinant adenovirus (Ad) carrying the human KGF gene (AdKGF) or green fluorescent protein gene (AdGFP). The effects of KGF gene transfer on cell proliferation, cell cycle arrest, cell surface antigen phenotype, and ß-catenin expression were investigated. Compared to ESCs transfected with AdGFP, AdKGFtransfected ESCs grew well, maintained a high proliferative capacity in keratinocyte serum-free medium, and expressed high levels of ß-catenin. AdKGF infection increased the number of ESCs in the G0/G1 phase and promoted ESCs entry into the G2/M phase, but had no effect on cell surface antigen phenotype (CD49f(+)/CD71(-)). The results suggest that KGF gene transfer can stimulate ESCs to grow and undergo cell division, which can be applied to enhance cutaneous wound healing.

Determination of paclitaxel in hyaluronic acid polymeric micelles in rat blood by protein precipitation-micelle breaking method: application to a pharmacokinetic study.

An efficient dissociation of paclitaxel (PTX) from the home-made hyaluronic acid-octadecyl (HA-C18) polymeric micelles formulation in rat blood could not be achieved using previously published PTX analytical methods. So, we intended to develop the micelle-breaking method to determine paclitaxel encapsulated in the HA-C18 polymeric micelles in blood. The pretreatment method of blood samples adopted a simple one-step protein precipitation-micelle breaking process with methanol as micelle-breaking and protein precipitant solvents for complete extraction of PTX from HA-C18 micelles in blood. The micelle breaking efficiency of methanol was as high as 97.7%. Separation was carried out by gradient elution on an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column with a mobile phase consisting of water (containing 0.1% formic acid) and acetonitrile. A total single run time was as short as 3.0min. Detection was performed by triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry with positive electrospray ionization as source ionization in multiple-reaction monitoring mode at m/z 854.3→286.2 for PTX and m/z 808.5→527.3 for the internal standard, docetaxel. The method demonstrated good linearity at the concentrations ranging from 20 to 10,000ng/mL. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations were less than 9.9%. The mean extraction recoveries of PTX and IS were 94.7% and 87.5%, respectively. In summary, the methanol protein precipitation-micelle breaking method could extract PTX completely from the polymeric micelles. Finally, the method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of the home-made PTX-loaded HA-C18 polymeric micelles and Taxol solution after intravenous administration in rats.

Effects of low frequency electromagnetic field on proliferation of human epidermal stem cells: An in vitro study.

To investigate the effects of low frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) on the proliferation of epidermal stem cells, human epidermal stem cells (hESC) were isolated, expanded ex vivo, and then exposed to a low frequency EMF. The test and control cells were placed under the same environment. The test cells were exposed for 30 min/day to a 5 mT low frequency EMF at 1, 10, and 50 Hz for 3, 5, or 7 days. The effects of low frequency EMF on cell proliferation, cell cycle, and cell-surface antigen phenotype were investigated. Low frequency EMF significantly enhanced the proliferation of hESC in the culture medium in a frequency-dependent manner, with the highest cell proliferation rate at 50 Hz (P < 0.05). Exposure to a low frequency EMF significantly increased the percentage of cells at the S phase of the cell cycle, coupled with a decrease in the percentage of cells in the G1 phase (P < 0.05) but the effect was not frequency dependent. The percentage of CD29(+) /CD71(-) cells remained unchanged in the low frequency EMF-exposed hESC. The results suggested that low frequency EMF influenced hESC proliferation in vitro, and this effect was related to the increased proportion of cells at the S phase.

Effects of 50 Hz pulsed electromagnetic fields on the growth and cell cycle arrest of mesenchymal stem cells: an in vitro study.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are capable of self-renew and multipotent differatiation which allows them to be sensitive to microenvironment is altered. Pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) can affect cellular physiology of some types of cells. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of PEMF on the growth and cell cycle arrest of MSCs expanded in vitro. To achieve this, cultured of normal rat MSCs, the treatment groups were respectively irradiated by 50 Hz PEMF at 10 mT of flux densities for 3 or 6 h. The effects of PEMF on cell proliferation, cell cycle arrest, and cell surface antigen phenotype were investigated. Our results showed that exposed MSCs had a significant proliferative capacity (P < 0.05) but the effect of PEMF for 3 and 6 h on cell growth was not different (P>0.05) at an earlier phase after PEMF treatment. Exposure to PEMF had a significant increase the percentage of MSCs in G1 phase compare with the control group, with a higher percentage of cells in G1 phase exposed for 6 h then that for 3 h. At the 16th hour after treatment, PEMF had no significant effect on cell proliferation and cell cycle (P>0.05). These results suggested that PEMF enhanced MSCs proliferation with time-independent and increased the percentage of cells at the G1 phase of the cell cycle in a time-dependent manner, and the effect of PEMF on the cell proliferation and cell cycle arrest of MSCs was temporal after PEMF treatment.

The structure of a new cardenolide diglycoside and the biological activities of eleven cardenolide diglycosides from Nerium oleander.

A new cardenolide diglycoside (1) was isolated from Nerium oleander together with ten known cardenolide diglycosides 2-11. The structure of compound 1 was established on the basis of their spectroscopic data. The in vitro anti-inflammatory activity of compounds 1-11 was examined on the basis of inhibitory activity against the induction of the intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1). Compounds 2-5 were active at an IC(50) value of less than 0.8 µM. The cytotoxicity of compounds 1-11 was evaluated against three human cell lines normal human fibroblast cells (WI-38), malignant tumor cells induced from WI-38 (VA-13), and human liver tumor cells (HepG2). Compound 3 was active toward VA-13 cells, and compounds 2-5 were active toward HepG2 cells at IC(50) values of less than 1.3 µM. The multidrug resistance (MDR)-reversal activity of compounds 1-11 was evaluated on the basis of the amount of calcein in MDR human ovarian cancer 2780AD cells in the presence of each compound. Compounds 1 and 8 showed moderate effects on calcein accumulation.