Hawthorn Fruit (Crataegus spp.) Polysaccharides Exhibit Immunomodulatory Activity on Macrophages via TLR4/NF-κB Signaling Activation.

The immunostimulatory effects and the involved molecular mechanisms of polysaccharides from hawthorn fruit (Crataegus spp.) have not been well understood. In this study, the chemical composition, monosaccharide composition, uronic acid content, and structural features of hawthorn fruit polysaccharides (HFP) and the two collected fractions were analyzed. Both AF1-2 and AF2 have pectic-like structural features rich in galacturonic acid. AF2 showed superior proinflammatory effects on macrophages which significantly increased the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1ß, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α, but not AF1-2. AF2 was found to activate the nuclear factor-κB signaling pathway with suppressed expression of IκBα but up-regulated expression of p-IκBα and nuclear factor-κB P65. The surface binding site of AF2 on macrophage cells was characterized and toll like receptor-4 was responsible for AF2 induced activation of down-stream nuclear factor-κB signaling pathways. AF2 from hawthorn fruit could be potentially used as a natural source of immunomodulator in functional foods.

Wrist Arthroscopy-Assisted Reduction for Distal Radius Fracture and its Associated Injuries: Clinical Observation of Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex Injuries.

BACKGROUND: To compare the clinical effects between wrist arthroscopy-assisted open reduction plus internal fixation, using the triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) as an example, and simple open reduction plus internal fixation in the treatment of distal radius fractures (DRFs). The study aims to assess the efficacy of arthroscopic-assisted open reduction and internal fixation in treating distal radius fractures. METHODS: The study utilized a retrospective cohort research approach, involving 60 patients treated at Binzhou Medical University Hospital between August 2021 and October 2022. These patients met the specified criteria and underwent two distinct surgical procedures for DRFs. Prior to surgery, thorough communication was established with the patients to elucidate the advantages, risks, and associated costs of wrist arthroscopy, and informed consent was obtained. Subsequent to the surgeries, postoperative follow-up was conducted to evaluate the variances between the two treatment modalities. Postoperative analysis and assessment encompassed the patients' Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores, Cooney wrist scores, grip strength of the affected limb (in comparison with the healthy side), wrist range of motion, and the frequency of intraoperative fluoroscopy usage. RESULTS: No surgical complications were observed among all patients. They were followed up for an average duration of (12.1 ± 1.3) months postoperatively, during which all fractures healed successfully. Within the treatment group, arthroscopy detected 14 cases of TFCC tears during the operation, all of which were repaired under a microscope. Conversely, physical examination identified three cases of TFCC injury in the control group, which were treated via incision and suture. At the 3-month postoperative mark, the treatment group exhibited significantly superior comprehensive scores for wrist pain, grip strength, and wrist range of motion compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Cooney's comprehensive wrist joint scoring yielded the following results: treatment group - excellent in 21 cases, good in five cases, and moderate in four cases; control group - excellent in 16 cases, good in nine cases, and moderate in five cases. CONCLUSION: Wrist arthroscopy-assisted surgery facilitates precise reduction of the articular surface and alleviation of intraarticular congestion. Moreover, it enables evaluation and repair of concurrent intra-articular injuries such as TFCC tears and other tissue injuries, thereby reducing the likelihood of chronic wrist pain. Consequently, this technique should be deemed valuable in clinical practice owing to its outstanding clinical efficacy.

Research on Alternating Current Field Measurement Method for Buried Defects of Titanium Alloy Aircraft Skin.

Titanium alloys are extensively used in the manufacturing of key components in aerospace engines and aircraft structures due to their excellent properties. However, aircraft skins in harsh operating environments are subjected to long-term corrosion and pressure concentrations, which can lead to the formation of cracks and other defects. In this paper, a detection probe is designed based on the principle of alternating current field measurement, which can effectively detect both surface and buried defects in thin-walled titanium alloy plates. A finite element simulation model of alternating current field measurement detection for buried defects in thin-walled TC4 titanium alloy plates is established using COMSOL 5.6 software. The influence of defect length, depth, and excitation frequency on the characteristic signals is investigated, and the detection probe is optimized. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed detection probe exhibits high detection sensitivity to varying lengths and depths of buried defects, and can detect small cracks with a length of 3 mm and a burial depth of 2 mm, as well as deep defects with a length of 10 mm and a burial depth of 4 mm. The feasibility of this probe for detecting buried defects in titanium alloy aircraft skin is confirmed.

Quantitative Identification Method for Glass Panel Defects Using Microwave Detection Based on the CSAPSO-BP Neural Network.

To address the problem of the quantitative identification of glass panel surface defects, a new method combining the chaotic simulated annealing particle swarm algorithm (CSAPSO) and the BP neural network is proposed for the quantitative evaluation of microwave detection signals of glass panel defects. First, the parameters of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm are dynamically assigned using chaos theory to improve the global search capability of the PSO. Then, the CSAPSO-BP neural network model is constructed, and the return loss and phase of the microwave detection echo signal of glass panel defects are extracted as the input feature quantity of the network, from which the intrinsic connection between input and output is found through network training and testing to achieve the prediction of the depth and width of glass panel surface defects. The results show that the CSAPSO-BP network model can more accurately characterize the defect geometry of glass panels than the PSO-BP network model.

Design and Performance Research of a New Dual-Excitation Uniform Eddy Current Probe.

A dual-excitation uniform eddy current probe, composed of two excitation coils placed tangentially and one detection coil placed horizontally, is developed to solve the difficulties of detection rate and direction recognition of crack defect. Firstly, a probe simulation model is established using COMSOL Multiphysics, and the differences of eddy current distribution between the dual-excitation probe and the traditional probe are investigated. Then, the influence of the distance between excitation coils on sensitivity and the test capability for crack defects with different depths and directions are investigated. Besides, the sensitivity of the dual-excitation probe is compared to that of the traditional probe made of the same coils. Finally, a physical probe and an experimental system are developed, and the performance of the dual-excitation probe is tested. The experimental results show that the probe developed in this paper exhibits a slightly higher sensitivity than the traditional probe for crack defects with different depths in the range of 0.5 mm-4.0 mm; the measurement accuracy of crack length is about 3.0 mm and can avoid missing detection of crack defects with different directions. In testing, the detection signal can be compensated to achieve precision measurement by identifying the angle of crack defects. This dual-excitation uniform eddy current probe can be used for precise quantification and direction identification of crack defect in eddy current testing.

Mechanism of Magnetic Permeability Perturbation in Magnetizing-Based Eddy Current Nondestructive Testing.

DC magnetization is generally considered to suppress the usual local magnetic permeability variation and increase the penetration depth for magnetizing-based eddy current testing (MB-ECT) of ferromagnetic materials. In fact, such simple explanations lead to rough nondestructive evaluation and cause new neglected non-uniform magnetic characteristics. Hence, the "perturbation" of the internal magnetic field variation is analyzed using a magnetic dipole model and the mechanism of magnetic permeability perturbation in MB-ECT is revealed. The theoretical analysis and simulations show that a significant permeability perturbation always appears around a defect and presents opposite features with strong and weak magnetization. Furthermore, experimental results indicate that the hidden signal component arising from the local permeability perturbation is critical for both far-side surface and near-side surface defects in the MB-ECT method.

Research on Detection Mechanism of Weld Defects of Carbon Steel Plate Based on Orthogonal Axial Eddy Current Probe.

The uneven surface of the weld seam makes eddy current testing more susceptible to the lift-off effect of the probe. Therefore, the defect of carbon steel plate welds has always been a difficult problem in eddy current testing. This study aimed to design a new type of eddy current orthogonal axial probe and establish the finite element simulation model of the probe. The effect of the probe structure, coil turns, and coil size on the detection sensitivity was simulated. Further, a designed orthogonal axial probe was used to conduct a systematic experiment on the weld of carbon steel specimens, and the 0.2 mm width and 1 mm depth of weld defects of carbon steel plates were effectively detected. The experimental results showed that the new orthogonal axial eddy current probe effectively suppressed the unevenness effect of the weld surface on the lift-off effect during the detection process.

SPECT-CT versus MRI in localizing active lesions in patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the difference and consistency between single-photon emission computed tomography-computed tomography (SPECT-CT) and MRI in diagnosing osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) and identifying active lesions. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All 46 patients underwent SPECT-CT and MRI examinations. The pain vertebral body and pain sites were determined using both MRI and SPECT-CT during percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP). The differences before and after treatment were assessed using visual analog scale scores and evaluated using a paired t-test. Furthermore, the difference and conformity of SPECT-CT and MRI in diagnosing OVCFs were determined using the McNemar test and the κ-statistic, and by calculating the accuracy index of SPECT-CT diagnosis. RESULTS: Among all 46 patients, MRI showed 79 segments that fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for fresh OVCFs, whereas SPECT-CT showed 83 segments, and a total of 77 affected vertebral bodies were treated with PKP. Paired t-test evaluation showed that PKP was effective, suggesting that the affected sites were determined accurately (P<0.05). Furthermore, the κ-statistics indicated that these two methods were highly consistent (P<0.05) and the McNemar test indicated that the efficacy of these two diagnostic methods was closely correlated (P>0.05). In different stages of fractures, especially the acute phase, the consistency of SPECT-CT and MRI in the diagnosis of fresh OVCFs was high. CONCLUSION: SPECT-CT is the preferred method for imaging diagnosis when patients with suspected OVCFs have contraindications to MRI, particularly for patients with acute fractures.