Hydrogenation of Furfural over Biomass-Based Electron-Deficient Co-NC Nanotube Catalyst.

The conversion of furfural to furfuryl alcohol is one of the most significant reactions from industrial-scale produced biomass platform molecules to value-added chemicals. In this work, biomass-based chitosan was used as both a carbon source and nitrogen source to synthesize nitrogen-doped carbon. With the addition of cobalt, the optimized 7.5Co-NC-900 catalyst had the largest surface area and the graphite nanotube structure with the least defects. It was employed for the hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol and reached a nearly full conversion and an equivalent yield at 130 °C in 4 MPa initial H2. The structure-function relationship study indicated that the N could interact with the neighbor Co in this catalyst and formed an electron-deficient Co center which was in favor of the adsorption of furfural in the nanotube and had high catalytic activity. The interactions between Co and N stabilized the catalyst so that it could remain stable in five runs of catalytic reactions.

[Clinical characteristics and treatment analysis of three cases of congenital ulnar collateral flexor contracture of the forearm].

Objective: To report the clinical characteristics and treatment analysis of 3 cases of congenital ulnar collateral flexor contracture of the forearm and take a reference for clinic. Methods: A total of 3 patients with congenital ulnar collateral flexor contracture of the forearm were admitted between February 2019 and August 2021. Two patients were male and 1 was female, and their ages were 16, 20, and 16 years, respectively. The disease durations were 8, 20, and 15 years, respectively. They all presented with flexion deformity of the proximal and distal interphalangeal joints of the middle, ring, and little fingers in the neutral or extended wrist position, and the deformity worsened in the extended wrist position. The total action motion (TAM) scores of 3 patients were 1 and the gradings were poor. The Carroll's hand function evaluation scores were 48, 55, and 57, and the grip strength indexes were 72.8, 78.4, and 30.5. Preoperative CT of case 2 showed a bony protrusion of the flexor digitorum profundus tendon at the proximal end of the ulna; and MRI of case 3 showed that the ulnar flexor digitorum profundus presented as a uniform cord. After diagnosis, all patients were treated with operation to release the denatured tendon, and functional exercise was started early after operation. Results: The incisions of 3 patients healed by first intention. Three patients were followed up for 12, 35, and 12 months, respectively. The hand function and the movement range of the joints significantly improved, but the grip strength did not significantly improve. At last follow-up, TAM scores were 3, 4, and 4, respectively, among which 2 cases were excellent and 1 case was good. Carroll's hand function evaluation scores were 95, 90, and 94, and the grip strength indexes were 73.5, 81.3, and 34.2, respectively. Conclusion: Congenital ulnar collateral flexor contracture is a rare clinical disease that should be distinguished from ischemic muscle contracture. The location of the contracture should be identified and appropriate surgical timing should be selected for surgical release. Active postoperative rehabilitation and functional exercise can achieve good hand function.

Developing an early warning system for detecting sepsis in patients with trauma.

The purpose of this study was to analyse the risk factors for sepsis in patients with trauma and develop a new scoring system for predicting sepsis in patients with trauma based on these risk factors. This will provide a simple and effective early warning method for the rapid and accurate detection and evaluation of the probability of sepsis in patients with trauma to assist in planning timely clinical interventions. We undertook a retrospective analysis of the clinical data of 216 patients with trauma who were admitted to the emergency intensive care unit of the emergency medicine department of the Hebei Medical University Third Hospital, China, between November 2017 and October 2022. We conducted a preliminary screening of the relevant factors using univariate logistic regression analysis and included those factors with a p value of <0.075 in the multivariate logistic regression analysis, from which the risk factors were screened and assigned, and obtained a total score, which was the sepsis early warning score. The incidence of sepsis in patients in the intensive care unit with trauma was 36.9%, and the mortality rate due to sepsis was 19.4%. We found statistically significant differences in several factors for patients with sepsis. The risk factors for sepsis in patients with trauma were the activated partial thromboplastin time, the New Injury Severity Score, growth differentiation factor-15 levels, shock, mechanical ventilation and the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the sepsis early warning score for predicting sepsis in patients with trauma was 0.725. When the cutoff value of the early warning score was set at 5.0 points, the sensitivity was 69.9% and the specificity was 60.3%. The incidence of sepsis in patients with trauma can be reduced by closely monitoring patients' hemodynamics, implementing adequate fluid resuscitation promptly and by early removal of the catheter to minimize the duration of unnecessary invasive mechanical ventilation. In this study, we found that the use of the sepsis early warning score helped in a more accurate and effective evaluation of the prognosis of patients with trauma.

Ferric Single-Site Catalyst Confined in a Zeolite Framework for Propane Dehydrogenation.

Non-oxidative dehydrogenation of propane is a highly efficient approach for industrial preparation of propene that is commonly catalyzed by noble Pt or toxic Cr catalysts and suffers from coking. In this work, ferric catalyst confined in a zeolite framework was synthesized by a hydrothermal procedure. The isolated Fe in the framework formed distorted tetrahedra, which were beneficial for the selective dehydrogenation of propane and reached over 95 % propene selectivity and over 99 % total olefins selectivity. This catalyst had a silanol-free structure and was oxygen tolerant, hydrothermally stable, and coke free, with a deactivation constant of 0.01 h-1 . This study provided guidance for the synthesis of structural heteroatomic zeolite and efficient propane non-oxidative dehydrogenation over early transition metals.

The future trajectory of carbon emissions in the process of carbon neutrality in South Korea.

The excessive use of fossil energy in industrialization has caused the frequent occurrence of global warming and environmental pollution issues, which seriously threaten the sustainable social and economic development of South Korea and other countries. In response to the international community's call to effectively address climate change, South Korea has announced achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. In this context, this paper takes the carbon emission of South Korea from 2016 to 2021 as a sample and focuses on using the GM(1,1) model to predict the carbon emission change trajectory of South Korea in the process of achieving carbon neutrality. The results show: first, in the process of carbon neutrality, South Korea's carbon emissions show a downward trend, with an average annual rate of 2.34%. Second, by 2030, carbon emissions will decline to 502.34 Mt CO2e, down about 26.79% from the 2018 peak. By 2050, South Korea's carbon emissions will decline to 312.65 Mt CO2e, down about 54.44% from the 2018 peak. Third, it is difficult for South Korea to achieve its carbon neutrality target by 2050 based solely on its forest carbon sink storage capacity. Therefore, this study is expected to provide a reference for improving the carbon neutrality promotion strategy in South Korea and strengthening the construction of relevant systems of carbon neutrality, and so can provide some reference for other countries, including China, to improve policy design to promote the green and low-carbon transformation of the global economy.

China's economic development quality grows faster than economic quantity.

It is known that the rapid progress of the Chinese economy is perceived to be aligned more towards increasing the economic quantity (GDP) rather than its quality primarily owing to a large amount of carbon emission, increased environmental pollution, and high resource consumption. However, such perception comes with no single evidence or study that compares growth rates between the quantity and quality of China's economic development. Such a comparative study could provide useful information to the Chinese government and concerned agencies to manage and promote sustainable economic development in China. Here we developed a comprehensive economic development quality evaluation indicator system to study China's progress on economic quality from 1978 to 2017 and compare it with GDP growth rates over the same period. Results indicate that during the period 1978-2017, China's economic development quality index has increased significantly, higher than the average annual growth rate of GDP during the same period. This higher growth rate of Chinese economic development quality could be attributed to the country's achievements in tackling environmental pollution, narrowing the income gap, promoting technological progress and innovation, improving economic efficiency, maintaining social stability, and improving social welfare. We suggest the world re-evaluate China's economic development achievement and growth patterns that can provide a reference for other developing countries.

Fibrinogen, albumin-to-globulin ratio, and fibrinogen to albumin-to-globulin ratio may be potential diagnostic biomarkers for infected tibial nonunion.

AIM: The accurate preoperative diagnosis of infected tibial nonunion remains challenging. Hence, we evaluated the diagnostic potential of novel biomarkers for infected tibial nonunion. METHODS: This single-center retrospective study was conducted in 252 patients divided into two groups: infected tibial nonunion (67 patients) and aseptic tibial nonunion (185 patients). The preoperative clinical biomarkers included D-dimer, fibrinogen, albumin, globulin, total protein, and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels; albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR); erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR); and white blood cell (WBC) count. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, sensitivity, and specificity were utilized to compare the biomarkers' diagnostic potential. RESULTS: The area under the curve (AUC) values for fibrinogen and AGR were 0.829 and 0.821, respectively, suggesting similarly good diagnostic potentials for infected tibial nonunion. Fibrinogen and AGR were better diagnostic biomarkers for infected tibial nonunion than the WBC count; ESR; D-dimer, albumin, globulin, CRP, and total protein levels, whose AUC values were 0.623, 0.684, 0.741, 0.797, 0.765, 0.715, and 0.554, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of fibrinogen with a cut-off value of 3.35 g/L were 71.64% and 84.86%, respectively. The corresponding values for AGR with a cut-off value of 1.33 were 73.13% and 86.49%. Moreover, the fibrinogen-AGR (FAGR), i.e., the combination of fibrinogen and AGR, had the highest diagnostic accuracy for infected tibial nonunion (AUC = 0.906). The optimal FAGR cut-off was 2.69, with fair sensitivity (74.63%) but the highest specificity (94.59%). CONCLUSION: Fibrinogen, AGR, and FAGR are promising biomarkers for the diagnosis of infected tibial nonunion.

The spatial panel econometric diagnosis of the influence of green finance on Chinese economic ecologization.

Green finance has the obvious impetus function to economic ecologization development. Through the test of the spatial agglomeration degree of China's green finance and ecological economic development index from 2001 to 2017 (30 provinces except for Hong Kong, Tibet, Taiwan, and Macao), this paper analyzes the spatial correlation of the green finance index and the ecological economic development index. It uses the spatial panel econometric regression analysis model to reveal the impact of Green Finance on China's economic ecology. Results show that (1) the development level of green finance and economic ecologization in China has improved to varying degrees in different periods. However, there are still noticeable regional differences between the eastern, central, western, and northeast regions; (2) green finance plays a positive role in promoting economic ecologization. Developing green finance in one province can promote its economic ecologization and positively impact on economic ecologization of surrounding provinces. (3) Economic ecologization also has a positive spillover effect. The improvement of the ecological economic level of a province can drive the improvement of the ecological economic level of other provinces. Therefore, improving green finance across the country has become a meaningful way to promote economic ecology and promote China's high-quality development.

Combination of albumin-to-globulin ratio and plasma fibrinogen is a sensitive tool for preoperative screening of infected nonunion in patients undergoing reoperation after open reduction and internal fixation: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Accurate preoperative diagnosis of infected nonunion remains a challenge. Here, we evaluated the diagnostic potential of novel biomarkers for infected nonunion. METHODS: A cohort of 275 patients who underwent surgery for suspected septic nonunion after open reduction and internal fixation were enrolled. Preoperatively analyzed clinical parameters included white blood cell (WBC) count, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), albumin, globulin, albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR), plasma D-dimer, plasma fibrinogen, platelet count (PC), monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, sensitivity, and specificity were utilized to compare the diagnostic potential of those biomarkers. RESULTS: The WBC count and levels of CRP, ESR, NLR, MLR, PLR, PC, plasma D-dimer, plasma fibrinogen, and globulin in infected nonunion patients were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those in aseptic patients. The albumin and AGR levels of the infected nonunion group were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than the aseptic group. The ROC curve analysis showed that the diagnostic accuracy of AGR and plasma fibrinogen was good. The combination of AGR with plasma fibrinogen had the highest area under the curve (AUC) (0.916). The sensitivity and specificity were 70.27% and 91.04% for AGR, and 67.57% and 84.08% for plasma fibrinogen, respectively. The combination of AGR with plasma fibrinogen showed a sensitivity of 86.49% and specificity of 92.54%. In patients with comorbidities, the diagnostic accuracy of the combination of AGR with plasma fibrinogen was also good. CONCLUSIONS: AGR and plasma fibrinogen are promising biomarkers to improve the diagnosis of infected nonunion. The combination of AGR with plasma fibrinogen is a sensitive tool for screening infected nonunion.

The influence of finance on China's green development: an empirical study based on quantile regression with province-level panel data.

Finance has a strong role in promoting green development; however, there are very few studies quantifying this relationship. To this end, based on the official green development indicator system of the Chinese government and province-level data from 2006 to 2017, the quantile regression model was used to analyze quantitatively the impact of finance on green development. The results show that financial development contributed significantly to green development, and furthermore, financial efficiency and green finance have a strong positive effect with the increase of the quantile, and financial scale also has a significant positive effect, but a diminishing marginal effect. In addition, the impact of financial development on green development has regional differences. In the eastern region, the finance factors can promote green development, but the financial scale and the green finance promotion function weaken along with the quantile increase. The financial scale and green finance do not support green development significantly in the central region. Financial scale, efficiency, and green finance support green development in the west region.

Diagnostic value of platelet indices in infected nonunion: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: The diagnostic value of platelet indices has been evaluated in various infectious diseases but not in infected nonunion. The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of platelet indices for diagnosis of infected nonunion after open reduction and internal fixation. METHODS: This retrospective study was performed in patients who underwent primary fracture nonunion revision surgeries from January 2016 to December 2021. A total of 297 patients were included in the study: 96 with infected nonunion (group A) and 201 with aseptic nonunion (group B). Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate diagnostic value of each index. Area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated and compared. RESULTS: Demographic characteristics were comparable between the two groups. White blood cell (WBC) count, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), plasma fibrinogen, plasma D-dimer, platelet count (PC), plateletcrit, and ratio of platelet count to mean platelet volume (PC/MPV) were significantly higher, and MPV and platelet distribution width (PDW) significantly lower, in group A than in group B (P < 0.05). ROC analysis showed PC/MPV and plasma fibrinogen to have better diagnostic value than the other coagulation indicators (AUC of 0.801 and 0.807, respectively). The combination of ESR, plasma fibrinogen, and PC/MPV had good sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis of infected nonunion. PC/MPV had better diagnostic value than ESR and plasma fibrinogen in the subgroup of patients with coagulation-related comorbidities. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma fibrinogen and PC/MPV ratio might be useful parameters for early diagnosis of infected nonunion.

Protective effect and mechanism of microRNA-146a on ankle fracture.

The present study investigated the expression and role of microRNA-146a (miR-146a) on ankle fracture, and explored the underlying mechanism. miR-146a levels in the blood of patients with ankle fracture was measured using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Expression of pro-inflammatory factors in the peripheral blood of ankle fracture patients was also detected using ELISA. Oxidative stress biomarkers including malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were additionally investigated. The role of miR-146a in ankle fracture was investigated in vitro where MG-63 cells were transfected with miR-146a mimic or miR-146a inhibitor for 2 h, then treated with 1 µg/ml bradykinin for 24 h. An MTT assay was then performed to assess cell viability and pro-inflammatory factors were detected via RT-qPCR and western blot analysis. Finally, activation of the TNF receptor associated factor 6 (TRAF6)/NF-κB pathway was determined via western blotting and RT-qPCR. The results demonstrated that miR-146a was significantly downregulated in the blood of patients with ankle fracture. The protein levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1ß and IL-6 were significantly upregulated in patients with ankle fracture. In addition, MDA content significantly increased, and SOD and CAT activity significantly decreased in patients with ankle fracture. In vitro experiments demonstrated that miR-146a overexpression significantly enhanced cell viability. miR-146a mimic suppressed BK-induced upregulation of TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6 and MDA, and increased SOD and CAT activity. Finally, miR-146a mimic inhibited activation of the TRAF6/NF-κB pathway whilst miR-146a inhibitor had the opposite effect. In conclusion, miR-146a may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of ankle fracture by inhibiting the inflammatory response and attenuating oxidative stress.

[Turning over rough surface of aponeurosis of gastrocnemius with fascia lata graft for Achilles tendon rerupture].

OBJECTIVE: To explore clinical effects of turning over rough surface of aponeurosis of gastrocnemius with fascia graft for Achilles tendon rerupture. METHODS: From July 2013 to April 2017, 11 patients with Achilles tendon reruptures were repaired by turning over rough surface of aponeurosis of gastrocnemius with fascia graft, including 10 males and 1 female aged from 25 to 48 years old. The patients were all manifested weakness of plantar flexion strength injured foot, and positive of single heel rise test before operation. Postoperative complications was observed, and AOFAS score at 6 months after operation was applied to evaluate clinical efficacy. RESULTS: All patients were followed up for 6 to 11 months. All wound were healed at stage I without skin necrosis, wound infection, deep vein thrombosis and rerupture. The length of tendon defect ranged from 4 to 7 cm, the full weight-bearing time ranged from 8 to 11 weeks. Postoperative AOFAS score at 6 months was for 79 to 100, and 9 patients got excellent results, and 2 good. CONCLUSIONS: For patients with recurrent ruptures of Achilles tendon, turning over rough surface of aponeurosis of gastrocnemius with fascia graft has advantages of stable repair, less complications and good recovery of function.

A weakly basic Co/CeOx catalytic system for one-pot conversion of cellulose to diols: Kungfu on eggs.

A controlled, weakly basic Co/CeOx catalyst was designed for one-pot conversion of cellulose to ethylene glycol (EG) and 1,2-propylene glycol (1,2-PG) to achieve near-equivalent yield. The efficiency is mainly attributed to Con+-Ox-Ce3+ base-acid pairs that hindered humin formation by ensuring a precise balance across the various steps of the reaction.

Anomalous shear band characteristics and extra-deep shock-affected zone in Zr-based bulk metallic glass treated with nanosecond laser peening.

The effects of nanosecond laser peening on Zr41Ti14Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 metallic glass were investigated in this study. The peening treatment produced an extra-deep shock-affected zone compared to crystal metal. As opposed to the conventional shear bands, numerous arc shear bands appeared and aggregated in the vertical direction of the laser beam, forming basic units for accommodating plastic deformation. The arc shear bands exhibited short and discrete features near the surface of the material, then grew longer and fewer at deeper peened layer depths, which was closely related to the laser shock wave attenuation. An energy dissipation model was established based on Hugoniot Elastic Limit and shear band characteristics to represent the formation of an extra-deep shock-affected zone. The results presented here suggest that the bulk modification of metallic glass with a considerable affected depth is feasible. Further, they reveal that nanosecond laser peening is promising as an effective approach to tuning shear bands for improved MGs ductility.

Selective Hydrodeoxygenation of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-Dimethylfuran over Heterogeneous Iron Catalysts.

This work provided the first example of selective hydrodeoxygenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) over heterogeneous Fe catalysts. A catalyst prepared by the pyrolysis of an Fe-phenanthroline complex on activated carbon at 800 °C was demonstrated to be the most active heterogeneous Fe catalyst. Under the optimal reaction conditions, complete conversion of HMF was achieved with 86.2 % selectivity to DMF. The reaction pathway was investigated thoroughly, and the hydrogenation of the C=O bond in HMF was demonstrated to be the rate-determining step during the hydrodeoxygenation, which could be accelerated greatly by using alcohol solvents as additional H-donors. The excellent stability of the Fe catalyst, which was probably a result of the well-preserved active species and the pore structure of the Fe catalyst in the presence of H2 , was demonstrated in batch and continuous flow fixed-bed reactors.

A Network Meta-analysis of Outcomes of 7 Surgical Treatments for Distal Radius Fractures.

To determinate the optimal treatment for distal radius fractures (DRF) by comparing the pin-track infection (PTI) rates in patients treated with 7 surgical techniques [bridging external fixation (EF), nonbridging EF, K-wire fixation, plaster fixation, dorsal plating, dorsal and volar plating, and volar plating]. After an exhaustive search of electronic databases for relevant published studies, high-quality randomized controlled trails were selected for the present network meta-analysis based on predefined selection criteria. Statistical analyses of the extracted data were conducted using Stata 12.0 software. After careful selection, 19 randomized controlled trails were included in our network meta-analysis and contained a combined total of 1805 subjects who underwent various surgical procedures. The network meta-analysis results showed that compared with bridging EF for treating DRF, the nonbridging EF, plaster fixation, volar plating, and dorsal and volar plating showed statistically significant differences in PTI rates. Importantly, the surface under the cumulative ranking curve values of the surgical interventions revealed that the PTI rates of plaster fixation and of dorsal and volar plating were the lowest, suggesting that these 2 surgical techniques are optimal for DRFs treatment, compared with the other methods. Our results suggest that plaster fixation and dorsal and volar plating are the best surgical treatments for DRFs compared with 5 other most common techniques. Thus, plaster fixation and dorsal and volar plating emerge as the most effective and credible treatments in consideration of PTI rates.

Antibiotic-impregnated cement spacer as definitive management for osteomyelitis.

BACKGROUND: Osteomyelitis is a challenge for orthopaedic surgeons. There is a lack of scientific evidence to guide treatment. The purpose of this study was to report the clinical outcome of unplanned retention of antibiotic-impregnated cement spacer (ACS) in the management of osteomyelitis. METHODS: Eight patients (7 with tibial infections and 1 with a calcaneal infection) with osteomyelitis received radical debridement and insertion of an ACS into the bone defect as the definitive management. The mean follow-up period was 2 years (6 months to 4 years). All of these patients had a cement spacer in place. RESULTS: No patient exhibited radiographic evidence of excessive bone loss. The patients reported no or occasional mild pain and exhibited complete weight-bearing abilities, with the exception of one patient who required a crutch because of a spinal cord injury. Signs of recurrence of the osteomyelitis were not noted in any of the patients, and no fractures occurred at last follow-up. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that a proportion of patients with unplanned retention of ACS appear to function well without necessarily requiring further surgical intervention.

MicroRNA-26b inhibits cell proliferation and cytokine secretion in human RASF cells via the Wnt/GSK-3ß/ß-catenin pathway.

BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic auto- immune disease characterized by joint synovitis. Recent evidence suggests that rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts (RASFs) promote joint destruction. In this study, we investigated the role of microRNA-26b (miR-26b) in cell proliferation and inflammatory cytokine secretion using patient-derived Rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocyte (RAFLS) to understand pathways influencing rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: RAFLS were cultured in vitro and transfected with miR-26b mimics (experimental group) and negative sequence (control group). The protein levels of Wnt4, Wnt5ɑ, GSK-3ß, CyclinD1, Ser9-GSK-3ß and ß-catenin were detected by western blot analysis. Tumor Necrosis Factor-ɑ (TNF-ɑ), IL- 1ß, and IL-6 levels were quantified by Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). RAFLS proliferation and apoptosis were measured by 3-[4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and flow cytometry, respectively. RESULTS: GSK-3ß and CyclinD1 expression levels were lower in miR-26b mimic group compared to Mock group and negative control (NC) group. Conversely, GSK-3ß and CyclinD1 expression levels were markedly higher in the miR-26b inhibitor group compared to Mock and NC group (P < 0.05). Transfection of miR-26b mimics significantly increased the, levels of Ser9-GSK-3ß and ß-catenin in comparison to Mock and NC groups, while transfection of miR-26b inhibitors showed the opposite effect. In miR-26b mimic group, TNF-α, IL- 1ß and IL-6 levels were lower than the Mock and NC groups, while in miR-26b inhibitor group, these cytokine levels were higher than the Mock and NC groups (P < 0.05). Transfection of miR-26b mimics significantly reduced the cell proliferation of RAFLS, compared to the Mock and NC groups, and miR-26b inhibitors increased the proliferative capacity of RAFLS compared to Mock and NC groups (P < 0.05). The miR-26b mimic group exhibited higher RAFLS apoptosis rate compared to Mock and NC group and miR-26b inhibitor group showed significantly lower RAFLS apoptosis rate compared to Mock and NC groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: MiR-26b regulates ß-catenin and CyclinD1 levels by inhibiting GSK-3ß expression, which in-turn alters the Wnt/GSK-3ß/ß-catenin pathway to lower RAFLS proliferation and elevate cell apoptosis and the secretion of TNF-α,IL-1ß and IL-6 cytokines. Therefore, our results show that miR-26B plays a central role in inhibiting the inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis. VIRTUAL SLIDES: The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/9063056861547150.

A retrospective study of end-to-side venous anastomosis for free flap in extremity reconstruction.

INTRODUCTION: The success of end-to-side (ETS) venous anastomosis primarily depends on several mandatory factors including recipient vessel selection and reconstruction site. This retrospective study was designed to analyze the success rate of ETS venous anastomosis for free flap extremity reconstruction. METHODS: Between 2009 and 2011, ETS venous anastomosis was performed in 117 patients to reconstruct soft tissue defects of extremity at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital. The patients were divided into three groups: (1) only one large recipient vein left, (2) two deep venas, (3) one deep vein and one superficial vein. Medical records and the follow-up data were retrospectively reviewed. The success rates of the three groups were compared with Chi-squared test. RESULTS: Totally, 5, 52, and 60 patients were included in Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3, respectively. The overall surgery success rate was 96.6% (113/117) with four failures: zero in Group 1, two in Group 2 (2/52, 3.8%) and two in Group 3 (2/60, 3.3%), due to venous thrombosis. The re-anastomosis rate in re-exploration in Group 1, 2 and 3 was 0%, 1.9% (1/52), and 1.7% (1/60), respectively. No complication was observed during the operation. DISCUSSION: No statistical difference was observed in flap failure rate among the three different types of ETS anastomosis. This suggests that differences of the ETS anastomosis surgical site might not affect the surgery success rate. CONCLUSION: These results confirmed that the success rate of ETS anastomosis was not affected by the local conditions of surgery site.