[Effectiveness of dorsal perforator flap of cross-finger proper digital artery in treatment of high-pressure injection injuries of the finger].

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of dorsal perforator flap of cross-finger proper digital artery in the treatment of finger soft tissue defect caused by high-pressure injection injury. Methods: Between July 2011 and June 2020, 14 cases of finger soft tissue defect caused by high-pressure injection injury were repaired with dorsal perforator flap of cross-finger proper digital artery. All patients were male, with a mean age of 36 years (range, 22-56 years). The defects were located on the index finger in 8 cases, middle finger in 4 cases, and ring finger in 2 cases. The causes of injury include 8 cases of emulsion paint injection, 4 cases of oil paint injection, and 2 cases of cement injection. The time from injury to debridement was 2-8 hours, with a mean time of 4.5 hours. The soft tissue defects sized from 4.0 cm×1.2 cm to 6.0 cm×2.0 cm. The flaps sized from 4.5 cm×1.5 cm to 6.5 cm×2.5 cm. The donor site of the flap was repaired with skin graft. The pedicle was cut off at 3 weeks after operation, and followed by functional exercise. Results: All flaps and skin grafts at donor sites survived, and the wounds healed by first intention. Twelve patients were followed-up 16-38 months (mean, 22.6 months). The texture and appearance of all flaps were satisfactory. The color and texture of the flaps were similar to those of the surrounding tissues. The two-point discrimination of the flap was 10-12 mm, with a mean of 11.5 mm. There were different degrees of cold intolerance at the end of the affected fingers. At last follow-up, the finger function was evaluated according to the Upper Extremity Functional Evaluation Standard set up by Hand Surgery Branch of Chinese Medical Association, 3 cases were excellent, 8 cases were good, and 1 case was poor. Conclusion: The dorsal perforator flap of cross-finger proper digital artery can effectively repair finger soft tissue defect caused by high-pressure injection injury. The operation was simple, and the appearance and function of the finger recover well.

Rhizosphere bacteria regulated arsenic bioavailability and accumulation in the soil-Chinese cabbage system.

The accumulation of arsenic (As) in Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis) has recently been a source of concern for a potential risk to human health. It is unknown whether natural variations of As accumulation in different genotypes of Chinese cabbage are related to rhizobacterial characteristics. Experiments were conducted to investigate the mechanisms of rhizobacteria involving in As fates in a soil-Chinese cabbage system using various genotypes using high-throughput sequencing and quantitative PCR. There were significant differences in As accumulation in cabbage leaves between 32 genotypes, and genotypes of low-As-accumulation (LSA) and high-As-accumulation (HSA) were identified. The As concentrations in the shoots of LSA were 23.25 %, 24.19 %, 15.05 %, and 70.69 % lower than those of HSA in seedling stage (SS), rosette stage (RS), heading stage (HS), and mature stage (MS), respectively. Meanwhile, the relative abundances of phyla Patescibacteria (in RS), Acidobacteria and Rokubacteria (in HS) in the rhizosphere of LSA were 60.18 %, 28.19 %, and 45.38 % less than those of HSA, respectively. Additionally, both shoot-As and As translocation factor had significantly positive or negative correlations with the relative abundances of Rokubacteria or Actinobacteria. In LSA rhizosphere, the relative abundances of genera Flavobacterium (in SS), Ellin6055 and Sphingomonas (in HS) were 128.12 %, 83.69 % and 79.50 % higher than those of HSA, respectively. This demonstrated that rhizobacteria contribute to the accumulation and translocation of As in HSA and LSA. Furthermore, the gene copies of aioA and arsM in LSA rhizosphere were 25.54 % and 16.13 % higher than those of HSA, respectively, whereas the gene copies of arsC in LSA rhizosphere were 26.36 % less than those of HSA in MS, indicating that rhizobacteria are involved in As biotransformation in the soil. These results provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between characteristics of rhizobacterial communities and As variations in Chinese cabbage genotypes.

[Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment of Cadmium, Lead, and Arsenic Accumulation in Leafy Vegetables Planted in a Greenhouse].

In recent years, dust pollution has occurred frequently in spring and haze or fog in autumn and winter. The inhalable particulate matters in the atmosphere, especially PM2.5, loaded in heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, and arsenic, are easily taken up by leafy vegetables and accumulate in the edible parts. It is not clear whether the accumulation of heavy metals in the edible parts of leafy vegetables in greenhouses is also affected by atmospheric deposition. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted to explore characteristics and health risk assessment of cadmium, lead, and arsenic accumulation in leafy vegetables planted in a greenhouse using six types of common leafy vegetables (spinach, leaf lettuce, lettuce, pakchoi, Chrysanthemum coronarium, and fennel) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The results showed that C. coronarium, pakchoi, and spinach are the leafy vegetables with a low accumulation of Cd, Pb, and As, respectively. Fennel is the leafy vegetable with a low accumulation of Cd and Pb. In the greenhouse, Pb concentrations in PM2.5 were 42.6 and 8.4 times of Cd and As, respectively. Moreover, PM2.5-Pb contributed on average 36.5% to the edible parts of six kinds of leafy vegetables, which indicated that the Cd, Pb, and As accumulated in leafy vegetables were mainly derived from the soil. Meanwhile, the concentrations of Cd, Pb, and As in the edible parts of vegetables did not exceed the safety limitations of three heavy metals (GB 2762-2017), and Pb accumulation in leafy vegetables does not pose a health risk to humans. However, Cd in the leafy vegetables could threaten the health of adults and children, except for the intake of fennel. Conversely, As in the C. coronarium could threaten the health of adults and children.

Bioimaging of Pb by LA-ICP-MS and Pb isotopic compositions reveal distributions and origins of Pb in wheat grain.

Atmospheric heavy metal deposition in agroecosystems has increased recently, especially in northern China, which poses serious risks to crop safety and human health via food chain. Wheat grains can accumulate high levels of Pb even when wheat is planted in soils with low levels of Pb. However, the influence of atmospheric deposition on the accumulation and distribution of Pb in wheat grain is still unclear. A field survey was conducted in three districts (A: a district with industrial and traffic pollution; B: a district with traffic pollution; and C: an unpolluted district) in Hebei Province, North China. The grain of wheat cultivated in district A accumulated more Pb from soil and atmospheric deposition than those in other districts, and the bran from district A contained 3.50 and 2.04 times more Pb than those from districts B and C, respectively. The Pb distribution pattern in wheat grain detected by laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was characterized by accumulation mostly in the pericarp and seed coat rather than in the crease, embryo and endosperm. Furthermore, Pb isotopic data showed that airborne Pb was the major source (>50%) of Pb in wheat grain. Interestingly, average contributions of Pb from atmospheric deposition to white flour (78.22%) were higher than its contributions to bran (56.27%). In addition, wheat flag leaves were exposed to PbSO4 at the booting stage, and much greater Pb accumulation (0.33-0.48 mg/kg) was observed in exposed wheat grain than in the control (P < 0.05), PbSO4 constituted most (82.80-100%) of the Pb in the wheat grain. In summary, the results confirmed the efficient foliar Pb uptake and transfer from atmospheric deposition into wheat grain. It would be a new sight for understanding the contribution of airborne Pb to Pb accumulation in wheat grains.

Mechanism of Pb accumulation in Chinese cabbage leaves: Stomata and trichomes regulate foliar uptake of Pb in atmospheric PM2.5.

Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis) is one of the most popular and frequently consumed leafy vegetables. It was found that atmospheric PM2.5-Pb contributes to Pb accumulation in the edible leaves of Chinese cabbage via stomata in North China during haze seasons with high concentrations of fine particulate matter in autumn and winter. However, it is unclear whether both stomata and trichomes co-regulate foliar transfer of PM2.5-Pb from atmospheric deposition to the leaf of Chinese cabbage genotypes with trichomes. Field and hydroponic experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of foliar uptake of PM2.5-Pb on Pb accumulation in leaves using two genotypes of Chinese cabbage, one without trichomes and one with trichomes. It was verified that open stoma is a prominent pathway of foliar PM2.5-Pb transfer in the short-term exposure for 6 h, contributing 74.5% of Pb accumulation in leaves, whereas Pb concentrations in the leaves of with-trichome genotype in the rosette stage were 6.52- and 1.04-fold higher than that of without-trichome genotype in greenhouse and open field, respectively, which suggests that stomata and trichomes co-regulate foliar Pb uptake of from atmospheric PM2.5. Moreover, subcellular Pb in the leaves was distributed in the following order of cytoplasm (53.8%) > cell wall (38.5%)> organelle (7.8%), as confirmed through high-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS). The Leadmium™ Green AM dye manifested that Pb in PM2.5 entered cellular space of trichomes and accumulated in the basal compartment, enhancing foliar Pb uptake in the edible leaves of cabbage. The results of these experiments are evidence that both stomata and trichomes are important pathways in the regulation of foliar Pb uptake and translocation in Chinese cabbage.

[Effectiveness of combined tissue transplantation to repair serially damaged injuries on radial side of hand].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of combined tissue transplantation for repair of serially damaged injuries on radial side of hand and function reconstruction. METHODS: Between May 2013 and May 2017, 34 cases of serially damaged injuries on radial side of hand were treated. There were 29 males and 5 females; aged 17-54 years, with an average of 32.1 years. There were 23 cases of crushing injuries, 5 cases of bruising injuries, 4 cases of machine strangulation injuries, and 2 cases of explosion injuries. The time from injury to admission was 40 minutes to 3 days, with an average of 10 hours. According to the self-determined serially damaged injuries classification standard, there were 1 case of typeⅠa, 2 cases of typeⅠb, 10 cases of typeⅡa, 5 cases of type Ⅱb, 3 cases of type Ⅱc, 1 case of type Ⅱd, 7 cases of type Ⅲa, 3 cases of type Ⅲb, 1 case of type Ⅲc, and 1 case of type Ⅲd. According to the classification results, the discarded finger, nail flap, the second toe, anterolateral thigh flap, ilium flap, fibula flap, and other tissue flaps were selected to repair hand wounds and reconstruct thumb, metacarpal bones, and fingers. RESULTS: After operation, 2 cases of flaps developed vascular crisis and survived after symptomatic treatment; the other transplanted tissue survived smoothly. All cases were followed up 1 to 7 years, with an average of 2.4 years. The average fracture healing time was 7.4 weeks (range, 5.3-9.0 weeks). At last follow-up, the reconstructed fingers and the grafted flaps recovered good sensory function, with a two-point discrimination of 5 to 11 mm (mean, 9 mm). According to the evaluation standard of the upper limb function evaluation of the Chinese Medical Association Hand Surgery Society, the reconstructed thumb was rated as excellent in 24 thumbs, good in 8 thumbs, and fair in 2 thumbs; the reconstructed finger was rated as excellent in 18 fingers, good in 2 fingers, and fair in 1 finger. CONCLUSION: For the serially damaged injuries on radial side of hand, according to its classification, different tissues are selected for combined transplantation repair and functional reconstruction, which can restore hand function to the greatest extent and improve the quality of life of patients.

Contribution of PM2.5-Pb in atmospheric fallout to Pb accumulation in Chinese cabbage leaves via stomata.

Foliar uptake of Pb is especially important when Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa spp. pekinensis), having a large leaf surface area, is cultivated in North China during seasons with heavy haze. However, the mechanisms of foliar Pb uptake via stomata by Chinese cabbage exposed to atmospheric fallout are unclear. A field experiment was conducted to explore the impacts of Pb in particulate matter with sizes ≤ 2.5 µm (PM2.5-Pb) from atmospheric fallout to Pb accumulation in cabbage leaves through stomata. Cabbage varieties with low-Pb-accumulation (LPA) and high-Pb-accumulation (HPA) were examined using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. The 206Pb/207Pb and 208Pb/207Pb ratios of PM2.5, plants, and soil demonstrated that the major source of Pb in cabbage leaves was PM2.5. The average width and length of the stomatal apertures were 7.14 and 15.61 µm for LPA cabbage and 8.10 and 16.64 µm for HPA cabbage, which are large enough for PM2.5-Pb to enter the leaves. The HPA cabbage had significantly higher stomatal width-to-length ratios than the LPA cabbage, indicating that the former trapped much more PM2.5-Pb and accumulated more Pb. These results clarify the contributions of the stomatal characteristics to PM2.5-Pb accumulation in the edible parts of Chinese cabbage.