Clinical study of Microendoscopic Discectomy + Fibrous Ring Suture Versus Microendoscopic Discectomy alone in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation in young and middle-aged patients.

Objective: To compare the clinical efficacy of microendoscopic discectomy + fibrous ring suture versus microendoscopic discectomy alone in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) in young and middle-aged patients. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 66 young and middle-aged patients with single-segment LDH diagnosed in Orthopedic Hospital of Henan Province from October 2019 to October 2022. All patients were divided into two groups: the microendoscopic discectomy + fibrous ring suture group and the microendoscopic discectomy alone group, with 33 cases in each group. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores of the two groups were recorded before surgery and six and twelve months after surgery. Results: Both groups completed the surgery and postoperative follow-up successfully and showed no statistically significant differences in terms of incision length, duration of surgery, intraoperative blood loss and length of hospital stay (all P>0.05). VAS, ODI and JOA scores were significantly improved in both groups at 6 and 12 months after surgery compared with those before surgery (all P<0.05). The two groups were similar in terms of excellent and good rates of postoperative modified MacNab Evaluation Criteria, with no statistically significant differences. No serious complications were observed in the two groups during and after surgery. Conclusion: Both of the two surgical methods are effective in the treatment of LDH in young and middle-aged patients, and microendoscopic discectomy + fibrous ring suture in particular may be preferred because it results in significant improvement in patients' VAS and ODI scores.

[Fraction Characteristic and Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Surface Sediments of the Yellow River Mainstream].

Heavy metals(HMs) are highly toxic and do not easily degrade in the environment. They can accumulate in the human body through the food chain, with serious impacts on the ecological environment and human health. In this study, 14 sampling sites along the mainstream of the Yellow River were investigated, and the total content and chemical fractions of six heavy metals(As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in sediments were analyzed. The geo-accumulation index, potential ecological risk index, and risk assessment coding were used to assess the contamination level and bioavailability of HMs in sediment. Principal component analysis and redundancy analysis were used to identify the main sources of HMs. The results showed that the average content of heavy metals was in the order of Cr>Zn>Cu>Pb>As>Cd. Cd had the highest excess rate relative to the background value of each reach, reaching 85.7%. In the sediments, As, Zn, Pb, and Cu were predominantly in the oxidizable fraction(F3:sulfide and organic matter-bound), Cd was mainly occupied by the acid-soluble(F1:exchangeable and carbonate-bound) and a residual fraction(F4:mineral matrix-bound), and Cr was predominantly in the residual fraction. As, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn showed the lowest bioavailability in the upstream, increased in the midstream, and finally decreased in the downstream. The risk assessment showed that Cd, the element with the highest pollution risk level in the Yellow River, was prone to pose a serious threat to the ecological environment and should be prevented and controlled first. The PCA and RDA analyses revealed that fine sediment and total organic matter controlled HMs contamination. Therefore, the prevention and control of soil erosion and sediment migration should be emphasized to control HMs pollution in the Yellow River Basin.

Charge equilibration model with shielded long-range Coulomb for reactive molecular dynamics simulations.

Atomic description of electrochemical systems requires reactive interaction potential to explicitly describe the chemistry between atoms and molecules and the evolving charge distribution and polarization effects. Calculating Coulomb electrostatic interactions and polarization effects requires a better estimate of the partial charge distribution in molecular systems. However, models such as reactive force fields and charge equilibration (QEq) include Coulomb interactions up to a short-distance cutoff for better computational speeds. Ignoring long-distance electrostatic interaction affects the ability to describe electrochemistry in large systems. We studied the long-range Coulomb effects among charged particles and extended the QEq method to include long-range effects. By this extension, we anticipate a proper account of Coulomb interactions in reactive molecular dynamics simulations. We validate the approach by computing charges on a series of metal-organic frameworks and some simple systems. Results are compared to regular QEq and quantum mechanics calculations. The study shows slightly overestimated charge values in the regular QEq approach. Moreover, our method was combined with Ewald summation to compute forces and evaluate the long-range effects of simple capacitor configurations. There were noticeable differences between the calculated charges with/without long-range Coulomb interactions. The difference, which may have originated from the long-range influence on the capacitor ions, makes the Ewald method a better descriptor of Coulomb electrostatics for charged electrodes. The approach explored in this study enabled the atomic description of electrochemical systems with realistic electrolyte thickness while accounting for the electrostatic effects of charged electrodes throughout the dielectric layer in devices like batteries and emerging solid-state memory.

Antagonism of N/OFQ attenuates externalization of ß1-adrenergic receptor and ventricular arrhythmias in acute myocardial ischemia rat model.

Nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) and adrenergic activations play roles in promoting cardiac arrhythmia in acute myocardial ischemia but whether N/OFQ and ß1-adrenergic activities interact and how they interact in the arrhythmogenesis are still unknown. We designed this study to investigate the potential interaction of N/OFQ and ß1-adrenergic activities and the underlying mechanism in arrhythmogenesis in acute myocardial ischemia. Ventricular arrhythmia was evaluated in anaesthetized rats following permanent coronary artery occlusion (CAO), in presence and absence of UFP-101 (a selective antagonist of N/OFQ receptor). The changes of ß1-adrenergic receptor (ß1-AR) in plasma membrane of cardiomyocytes were quantitatively evaluated and the relations with the alterations of phosphorylated Raf kinase inhibitor protein (p-RKIP) and phosphorylated connexin 43 (p-Cx43) were investigated. The ventricular arrhythmia was 59% less in the animals pre-treated with UFP-101 than the placebo-treated control (difference of means = -2.41; 95% confidence interval (CI) -2.84 to -1.99; P < 0.001). Meanwhile, p-RKIP and membrane ß1-AR in the myocardium were downregulated by 59% and 24%, respectively (p-RKIP: difference of means = -6.91; 95% CI -8.38 to -5.45; P < 0.001; membrane ß1-AR difference of means = -27.06; 95% CI -29.89 to -24.23; P < 0.001). Artificial upregulation of RKIP by didymin significant increased ß1-AR in plasma membrane of the cardiomyocytes in the animals prone to ventricular arrhythmia. The findings may suggest that activation of N/OFQ receptor in acute myocardial ischemia induces upregulation of p-RKIP, externalization of ß1-adrenergic receptor and downregulation of p-Cx43 in the cardiomyocytes, which promotes ventricular arrhythmia.

Genetic Mutations in TNFSF11 Were Associated With the Chronicity of Hepatitis C Among Chinese Han Population.

Background: Recently, several studies have reported that the host immune response can be related to the RANKL/RANK/OPG signaling pathway. However, the associations of TNFSF11, TNFRSF11A, and TNFRSF11B gene polymorphisms in the RANKL/RANK/OPG pathway with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection outcomes remain unclear. Methods: In this case-control study, 768 persistent HCV infection and 503 spontaneous HCV clearance cases, and 1,259 control subjects were included. The Taman-MGB probe method was utilized to detect TNFSF11 rs9525641, TNFRSF11A rs8686340, and TNFRSF11B rs2073618 genotypes. The distribution of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genotypes was analyzed using stata14.0. Results: SNPs rs9525641, rs8086340, and rs2073618 genotype frequencies followed the Hardy-Weinberg natural population equilibrium (p = 0.637, 0.250, and 0.113, respectively). Also, rs9525641 was significantly associated with HCV chronicity risk in recessive (OR = 1.203, 95% CI: 1.018-1.420, p = 0.030) and additive models (OR = 1.545, 95% CI: 1.150-2.075, p = 0.004). The stratified analysis showed that rs9525641 variant genotypes were associated with HCV chronicity among people older than 50 years (OR =1.562, 95% CI: 1.079-2.262, p = 0.018), females (OR = 1.667, 95% CI: 1.145-2.429, p = 0.008), ALT <40 U/L (OR = 1.532, 95% CI: 1.074-2.286, p = 0.018), and AST < 40 U/L (OR = 1.552, 95% CI: 1.095-2.201, p = 0.014). Conclusion: TNFRSF11 rs9525641 was significantly associated with HCV chronicity in the Chinese population.

The neurotoxic effect of isoflurane on age-defined neurons generated from tertiary dentate matrix in mice.

INTRODUCTION: Recent animal studies showed that isoflurane exposure may lead to the disturbance of hippocampal neurogenesis and later cognitive impairment. However, much less is known about the effect of isoflurane exposure on the neurons generated form tertiary dentate matrix, even though a great increase of granule cell population during the infantile period is principally derived from this area. METHODS: To label the new cells originated from the tertiary dentate matrix, the mice were injected with BrdU on postnatal day 6 (P6). Then, the mice were exposed to isoflurane for 4 hr at 1, 8, 21, and 42 days after BrdU injection, and the brains were collected 24 hr later. The loss of newly generated cells/neurons with different developmental stage was assessed by BrdU, BrdU + DCX, BrdU + NeuN, or BrdU + Prox-1 staining, respectively. RESULTS: We found that the isoflurane exposure significantly decreased the numbers of nascent cells (1 day old) and mature neurons (42 days old), but had no effect on the immature (8 days old) and early mature neurons (8 and 21 days old, respectively). CONCLUSION: The results suggested isoflurane exposure exerts the neurotoxic effects on the tertiary dentate matrix-originated cells with an age-defined pattern in mice, which partly explain the cognitive impairment resulting from isoflurane exposure to the young brain.

Prevalence of heterophoria in a population of school children in central China: the Anyang Childhood Eye Study.

AIM: To investigate the prevalence of heterophoria and the relationship between heterophoria and refractive error in a school-based study conducted in central China. METHODS: A total of 2363 7th-grade children were recruited into the cross-sectional school-based Anyang Childhood Eye Study (ACES) by cluster sampling method. Heterophoria was examined using alternate cover and cover-uncover testing. The Maddox rod and prism test were conducted at 33 cm and 6 m distance fixation. Uncorrected viual acuity (UCVA) and best-corrected viual acuity (BCVA) were recorded as logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) with cycloplegic autorefraction by administrating of Mydrin-P and 1.0% cyclopentolate. Hyperopia was defined as the spherical equivalent (SE) refraction of +0.50 D or greater, and higher hyperopia was defined as +2.00 D or greater. Emmetropia was defined as the SE refraction in the range of -0.49 to +0.49 D, and myopia was in the SE refraction range from -0.50 D to less. RESULTS: Totally 2260 students in grade 7 were examined. Response rate among eligible children was 95.64%. Totally 486 children, 22.66% of the population, were diagnosed with heterophoria in which 479 were diagnosed with exophoria at near distance, and 6 with esophoria. Totally 89 (4.15%) children were diagnosed with heterophoria in which 82 had exophoria, and 7 had esophoria at far distance. Exophoria was common at near fixation (22.33%). Myopia was examined to be related to exophoria at near distance (OR 3.03, 95%CI 2.33-3.95) and far distance fixation (OR 1.90, 95%CI 1.09-3.32). CONCLUSION: Exophoria is a predominant heterophoria for 7th-grade junior school in central China. Significant associations are discovered between heterophoria and refractive error. Hyperopia is associated with esophoria, and myopia is associated with exophoria.

Synthesis, X-Ray Crystal Structure of Oxidovanadium(V) Complex Derived from 4-Bromo-N’-(2-hydroxybenzylidene) benzohydrazide with Catalytic Epoxidation Property.

A new oxidovanadium(V) complex, [VOL(OCH3)(CH3OH)], where H2L = 4-bromo-N'-(2-hydroxybenzylidene)benzohydrazide, has been synthesized and fully characterized on the basis of CHN elemental analysis, FT-IR, UV-Vis, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. Structures of the free hydrazone and the complex were further characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, which indicates that the V atom in the complex adopts octahedral coordination, and the hydrazone ligand behaves as a tridentate ligand. The catalytic epoxidation property of the complex was investigated.

Magnetic resonance imaging findings in sporadic Möbius syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Although neuroradiological findings of Möbius syndrome have been reported as a result of brain and brainstem abnormalities, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) now permits the direct imaging of the cranial nerve (CN) and branches in the orbits. This study presents the MRI findings in patients with sporadic Möbius syndrome. METHODS: Prospectively, CNs were imaged in the cistern using head coils and three dimensional fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition (3D-FIESTA), yielding a 0.5 mm(2) resolution in planes of 0.8 mm thickness in seven patients with sporadic Möbius syndrome. The cavernous and intraorbital segment of the CN and the extraocular muscles (EOMs) were imaged with T1 weighting in all patients. The cavernous segment was imaged in coronal planes, while the intraorbit in quasicoronal planes were imaged using surface coils. Intraorbital resolution was 0.16 mm(2) within 2.0 mm thick planes. RESULTS: In the seven patients, the CN were absent or showed hypoplasia in the cistern, cavernous sinus, and orbit. Abducens (CN VI) and facial (CN VII) nerves were absent on the affected sides. Unilateral CN IX (glossopharyngeal nerve) in two cases displayed dysplasia. Branches from the inferior division of CN III were observed to innervate the lateral rectus (LR) bilaterally in three cases and unilaterally in one case, and had intimate continuity with the LR muscle in two cases bilaterally and two cases unilaterally. Hypoplasia of EOMs was shown in five cases. Dysplasia of the medulla on the left side was found in one patient. CONCLUSIONS: Direct imaging of CNs and EOMs by MRI is useful in diagnosis of Möbius syndrome. It can directly demonstrate the abnormalities of the CN and orbital structures. The absence or hypoplasia of CN VI and CN VII may be the most common radiologic features in sporadic Möbius syndrome, and hypoplasia of CN IX may be an associated feature. The abnormality of EOMs and aberrant innervations in the orbit should be observed, and may be important for the study of the etiology.