Burn injuries pose a significant source of patient morbidity/mortality and reconstructive challenges for burn surgeons, especially in vulnerable populations such as geriatric patients. Our study aims to provide new insights into burn epidemiology by analyzing the largest national, multicenter sample of geriatric patients to date. Utilizing the National Electronic Injury and Surveillance System (NEISS) database (2004-2022), individuals with a "Burn" diagnosis were extracted and divided into two comparison age groups of 18-64 and 65+. Variables including sex, race, affected body part, incident location, burn etiology, and clinical outcomes were assessed between the two groups utilizing two proportion z-tests. 60,581 adult patients who sustained burns were identified from the NEISS database with 6,630 of those patients categorized as geriatric (65+). Geriatric patients had a significantly greater frequency of scald burns (36.9% vs. 35.4%; p<0.01), and third degree/full-thickness burns (10.4% vs 5.5%, p<0.01) relative to non-geriatric adult patients with most of these burns occurring at home (75.9% vs 67.4%; p<0.01). The top five burn sites for geriatric patients were the hand, face, foot, lower arm, and lower leg and the top five burn injury sources were hot water, cookware, oven/ranges, home fires, and gasoline. Geriatric patients had over two times greater risk of hospital admission (OR: 2.32, 95% CI: 2.17-2.49, p<0.01) and over five times greater risk of ED mortality (OR: 6.22, 95% CI: 4.00-9.66, p<0.01) after incurring burn injuries. These results highlight the need for stronger awareness of preventative measures for geriatric burn injuries.
This study aimed to investigate the long-term effects of and satisfaction with integrative Korean medicine treatment and motion style acupuncture treatment (MSAT) in patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH). We retrospectively analyzed medical charts and prospectively surveyed adult patients aged between 19 and 64 years treated for lumbar disc herniation for at least 6 days at three Korean hospitals from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2020. The primary outcome was the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for back pain. Secondary outcome measures included the NRS for radiating leg pain, the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and the European Quality of Life-5 Dimension-5 Level (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire. The NRS scores for low back pain decreased from 5.40 ± 1.58 to 2.92 ± 2.09, NRS for radiating leg pain from 5.57 ± 1.56 to 1.78 ± 2.36, and ODI from 46.39 ± 16.72 to 16.47 ± 15.61 at baseline and survey, respectively. The EQ-5D-5L increased from 0.57 ± 0.19 to 0.82 ± 0.14. In conclusion, Korean medicine and MSAT could be effective treatment methods for patients with LDH. The results of this study can be used as helpful information for clinicians who treat patients with LDH in real clinical settings.
Triboelectric nanogenerators have garnered significant attention as alternative power sources for wearable electronics owing to their simple structure, easy fabrication, low cost, and superior power output. In this study, a transparent, stretchable, and attachable triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is built with an advanced power output using plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-gel. The PVC-gel exhibit very high negative triboelectric properties and electrically insulating PVC became an electrically active material. It is found that a single layer of PVC-gel can act as a dielectric and as a conducting layer. The PVC-gel based single layer of triboelectric nanogenerator (S-TENG) creates output signals of 24.7 V and 0.83 µA, i.e., a 20-fold enhancement in the output power compared to pristine PVC-based TENGs. In addition, the S-TENG can stably generate output voltage and current under stretching condition (80%). The S-TENG can be implemented as a tactile sensor that can sense position and pressure without combining multiple elements or electrode grid patterns. This study provides new applications of power sources and tactile sensors in wearable electronics.
Nanotechnology , Polyvinyl Chloride , Electric Power Supplies , Electronics , Equipment Design
Existing soft actuators for adaptive microlenses suffer from high required input voltage, optical loss, liquid loss, and the need for assistant systems. In this study, we fabricate a polyvinyl chloride-based gel using a new synergistic plasticization method to achieve simultaneously a high optical transparency and an ultrasoft rubber-like elastic behavior with a large voltage-induced deformation under a weak electric field. By compressing the smooth gel between two sets of annular electrodes, a self-contained biconvex microlens is realized that is capable of considerable shape changes in the optical path. Each surface of the dual-curvature microlens can be independently adjusted to focus or scatter light to capture real or virtual images, yield variable focal lengths (+31.8 to -11.3 mm), and deform to various shapes to improve aberrations. In addition to simple fabrication, our microlens operates silently and consumes low power (0.52 mW), making it superior to existing microlenses.
OBJECTIVE: To compare the perioperative outcomes of transumbilical morcellation (TUM) and transvaginal morcellation (TVM) of a large uterus (≥500 g) during single-port-access total laparoscopic hysterectomy (SPA-TLH). METHODS: A total of 57 patients who underwent SPA-TLH for a large uterine myoma and/or adenomyosis (uterine weight ≥500 g) between March 2013 and July 2017 were included. For specimen retrieval, TUM was performed for 30 patients and TVM for 27 patients. RESULTS: Perioperative outcomes, including total operative time, tissue extraction time, extension of skin incision length, estimated volume of blood loss, changes in postoperative hemoglobin level, length of postoperative hospital stay, postoperative pain, and uterine weight, were compared between the 2 groups. No significant differences were observed in the baseline characteristics except for a history of cesarean section (TUM vs. TVM: 83.3% vs. 14.8%, P=0.002) and history of vaginal delivery (TUM vs. TVM: 6.7% vs. 88.8%, P=0.001). The total operative time, tissue extraction time, extension of skin incision length, estimated volume of blood loss, changes in postoperative hemoglobin level, length of postoperative hospital stay, and postoperative pain did not significantly differ between the two groups. The uterine weight was significantly higher for patients who underwent TUM than for those who had TVM (median [range]: 735 g [520-1,380 g] vs. 622 g [514-975 g]; P=0.042). CONCLUSION: TUM during SPA-TLH is a feasible technique for extracting large uteri weighing ≥500 g. This procedure is suitable for patients without a history of vaginal delivery or a narrow vaginal cavity.
A radio frequency (rf) compensation design using auxiliary double probes connected in parallel with a main measurement probe was developed for Langmuir probe diagnostics. This probe structure can reduce the sheath impedance of the main probe. In our probe design, the sheath capacitance of the probe can be increased and its sheath resistance can be decreased with increasing dc bias differential voltage between the auxiliary double probes. The I-V characteristic curve and electron energy distribution functions measured by our probe system had sufficient rf compensation performance in inductively coupled plasmas.
Dramatic solvent effect is observed during the cyclization of 1. Synthesis of 2 is achieved from the reaction of 1 with a hexamethylditin-catalyzed palladium complex followed by aldehydes in the presence of TMSOTf in THF, whereas 3 is formed in CH2Cl2. The method described herein is successful with various substrates 1 in good yields and high levels of diastereoselectivity.
A diastereoselective synthesis of cyclic hydrazines was achieved from a carbocyclisation of allene-hydrazones by the Pd-catalyzed distannylation of an allene moiety, followed by the transmetallation of allylic stannane intermediates with TiCl4.
