Trichinella spiralis -induced immunomodulation signatures on gut microbiota and metabolic pathways in mice.

The hygiene hypothesis proposes that decreased exposure to infectious agents in developed countries may contribute to the development of allergic and autoimmune diseases. Trichinella spiralis, a parasitic roundworm, causes trichinellosis, also known as trichinosis, in humans. T. spiralis had many hosts, and almost any mammal could become infected. Adult worms lived in the small intestine, while the larvae lived in muscle cells of the same mammal. T. spiralis was a significant public health threat because it could cause severe illness and even death in humans who eat undercooked or raw meat containing the parasite. The complex interactions between gastrointestinal helminths, gut microbiota, and the host immune system present a challenge for researchers. Two groups of mice were infected with T. spiralis vs uninfected control, and the experiment was conducted over 60 days. The 16S rRNA gene sequences and untargeted LC/MS-based metabolomics of fecal and serum samples, respectively, from different stages of development of the Trichinella spiralis-mouse model, were examined in this study. Gut microbiota alterations and metabolic activity accompanied by parasite-induced immunomodulation were detected. The inflammation parameters of the duodenum (villus/crypt ratio, goblet cell number and size, and histological score) were involved in active inflammation and oxidative metabolite profiles. These profiles included increased biosynthesis of phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan while decreasing cholesterol metabolism and primary and secondary bile acid biosynthesis. These disrupted metabolisms adapted to infection stress during the enteral and parenteral phases and then return to homeostasis during the encapsulated phase. There was a shift from an abundance of Bacteroides in the parenteral phase to an abundance of probiotic Lactobacillus and Treg-associated-Clostridia in the encapsulated phase. Th2 immune response (IL-4/IL-5/IL-13), lamina propria Treg, and immune hyporesponsiveness metabolic pathways (decreased tropane, piperidine and pyridine alkaloid biosynthesis and biosynthesis of alkaloids derived from ornithine, lysine, and nicotinic acid) were all altered. These findings enhanced our understanding of gut microbiota and metabolic profiles of Trichinella -infected mice, which could be a driving force in parasite-shaping immune system maintenance.

STAMENLESS1 activates SUPERWOMAN 1 and FLORAL ORGAN NUMBER 1 to control floral organ identities and meristem fate in rice.

Floral patterns are unique to rice and contribute significantly to its reproductive success. SL1 encodes a C2H2 transcription factor that plays a critical role in flower development in rice, but the molecular mechanism regulated by it remains poorly understood. Here, we describe interactions of the SL1 with floral homeotic genes, SPW1, and DL in specifying floral organ identities and floral meristem fate. First, the sl1 spw1 double mutant exhibited a stamen-to-pistil transition similar to that of sl1, spw1, suggesting that SL1 and SPW1 may located in the same pathway regulating stamen development. Expression analysis revealed that SL1 is located upstream of SPW1 to maintain its high level of expression and that SPW1, in turn, activates the B-class genes OsMADS2 and OsMADS4 to suppress DL expression indirectly. Secondly, sl1 dl displayed a severe loss of floral meristem determinacy and produced amorphous tissues in the third/fourth whorl. Expression analysis revealed that the meristem identity gene OSH1 was ectopically expressed in sl1 dl in the fourth whorl, suggesting that SL1 and DL synergistically terminate the floral meristem fate. Another meristem identity gene, FON1, was significantly decreased in expression in sl1 background mutants, suggesting that SL1 may directly activate its expression to regulate floral meristem fate. Finally, molecular evidence supported the direct genomic binding of SL1 to SPW1 and FON1 and the subsequent activation of their expression. In conclusion, we present a model to illustrate the roles of SL1, SPW1, and DL in floral organ specification and regulation of floral meristem fate in rice.

Z-Selective access to α-trifluoromethyl arylenes through Pd-catalysed fluoroarylation of 1,1-difluoroallenes.

The synthesis of stereo-defined α-trifluoromethyl arylenes is of great importance in medical chemistry, organic chemistry, and materials science. However, despite the recent advances, the Z-selective formation of α-trifluoromethyl arylenes has remained underdeveloped. Here, we describe a facile approach towards Z-α-trifluoromethyl arylenes through Pd-catalysed stereoselective fluoroarylation of 1,1-difluoroallenes in the presence of a bulky monophosphine ligand.

Blind Quality Assessment of Images Containing Objects of Interest.

To monitor objects of interest, such as wildlife and people, image-capturing devices are used to collect a large number of images with and without objects of interest. As we are recording valuable information about the behavior and activity of objects, the quality of images containing objects of interest should be better than that of images without objects of interest, even if the former exhibits more severe distortion than the latter. However, according to current methods, quality assessments produce the opposite results. In this study, we propose an end-to-end model, named DETR-IQA (detection transformer image quality assessment), which extends the capability to perform object detection and blind image quality assessment (IQA) simultaneously by adding IQA heads comprising simple multi-layer perceptrons at the top of the DETRs (detection transformers) decoder. Using IQA heads, DETR-IQA carried out blind IQAs based on the weighted fusion of the distortion degree of the region of objects of interest and the other regions of the image; the predicted quality score of images containing objects of interest was generally greater than that of images without objects of interest. Currently, the subjective quality score of all public datasets is in accordance with the distortion of images and does not consider objects of interest. We manually extracted the images in which the five predefined classes of objects were the main contents of the largest authentic distortion dataset, KonIQ-10k, which was used as the experimental dataset. The experimental results show that with slight degradation in object detection performance and simple IQA heads, the values of PLCC and SRCC were 0.785 and 0.727, respectively, and exceeded those of some deep learning-based IQA models that are specially designed for only performing IQA. With the negligible increase in the computation and complexity of object detection and without a decrease in inference speeds, DETR-IQA can perform object detection and IQA via multi-tasking and substantially reduce the workload.

Association between blood urea nitrogen and incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in a Chinese population: a cohort study.

To examine the association between blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) among Chinese adults, we performed an ongoing cohort study of 38578 Chinese adults (56.3% males; average age, 41.6 y) who underwent repeated health check-up examinations between 2009 and 2016 and without T2DM at baseline. During follow-up, incident T2DM cases were identified based on self-report, medication use, measurements of fasting plasma glucose, 2 h post oral glucose, or haemoglobinA1c. 2009 (5.2%) cases confirmed with incident T2DM were identified during median follow-up of 3.1 years. With increasing quartiles of BUN levels, the incidences of T2DM gradually increased with 0.69%, 1.11%, 1.53%, and 1.87% for quartile 1 to quartile 4 (p trend <0.001). Compared with quartile 1, the multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and its 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for T2DM risk were 1.16 (0.97-1.38) for quartile 2, 1.28 (1.07-1.51) for quartile 3, and 1.28 (1.08-1.52) for quartile 4 (p trend = 0.005). HR for per each standard deviation increase in BUN level was 1.10 (1.04-1.16) (p trend <0.001). This association tended to be more pronounced in those with a lower body mass index at baseline (p-interaction <0.001). Our results suggested that BUN levels were positively associated with incident T2DM risk among Chinese adults. Future prospective investigations in other populations are necessary to confirm our findings.

Five New Triene Derivatives from the Fungus Penicillium herquei JX4.

Five undescribed triene derivatives, pinophols B-F (2-6), together with one known compound, pinophol A (1), were obtained from the mangrove endophytic fungus Penicillium herquei JX4. The structures of compounds 1-6 were elucidated using IR, HR-ESI-MS, and NMR methods. The absolute configurations of compounds 1-6 were confirmed by comparing their experimental or calculated ECD spectra. Pinophols C and D (3 and 4) showed inhibitory activities against LPS-induced NO production.

Downregulation of microRNA let-7f mediated the Adriamycin resistance in leukemia cell line.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) has become the major cause of failure chemotherapy for leukemia and high mortality of leukemia. The study aimed to investigate whether the let-7f mediate the Adriamycin (ADR) resistance of leukemia, and to explore the potential molecular mechanism. Cell proliferation was examined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and the soft agar clone formation assay. Flow cytometry was performed to detected cell cycle and apoptosis. The targeted regulationship was analyzed by dual-luciferase assay. Real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot were used to measure the expressions of let-7f, ABCC5, ABCC10, cell cycle-related proteins, and apoptosis-related proteins. The xenograft mouse model was used to conduct the tumor formation assay in vivo. The results demonstrated that the expression of let-7f was lower in multidrug-resistant K562/A02 cell lines compared to that in K562, while ABCC5 and ABCC10 were upregulated. Overexpression of let-7f in K562/A02 cell lines downregulated the ABCC5 and ABCC10 expression, enhanced cell sensitivity to ADR, promoted cell apoptosis, and inhibited cell proliferation. let-7f was proved to negatively regulate ABCC5 and ABCC10. Tumor formation assay further determined that let-7f overexpression increased sensitivity to ADR. Taken together, the let-7f downregulation induced the ADR resistance of leukemia by upregulating ABCC5 and ABCC10 expression. Our study provided a novel perspective to study the mechanism of MDR and a new target for the reversal of MDR.

Pine Cone Detection Using Boundary Equilibrium Generative Adversarial Networks and Improved YOLOv3 Model.

The real-time detection of pine cones in Korean pine forests is not only the data basis for the mechanized picking of pine cones, but also one of the important methods for evaluating the yield of Korean pine forests. In recent years, there has been a certain number of detection accuracy for image processing of fruits in trees using deep-learning methods, but the overall performance of these methods has not been satisfactory, and they have never been used in the detection of pine cones. In this paper, a pine cone detection method based on Boundary Equilibrium Generative Adversarial Networks (BEGAN) and You Only Look Once (YOLO) v3 mode is proposed to solve the problems of insufficient data set, inaccurate detection result and slow detection speed. First, we use traditional image augmentation technology and generative adversarial network BEGAN to implement data augmentation. Second, we introduced a densely connected network (DenseNet) structure in the backbone network of YOLOv3. Third, we expanded the detection scale of YOLOv3, and optimized the loss function of YOLOv3 using the Distance-IoU (DIoU) algorithm. Finally, we conducted a comparative experiment. The experimental results show that the performance of the model can be effectively improved by using BEGAN for data augmentation. Under same conditions, the improved YOLOv3 model is better than the Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD), the faster-regions with convolutional neural network (Faster R-CNN) and the original YOLOv3 model. The detection accuracy reaches 95.3%, and the detection efficiency is 37.8% higher than that of the original YOLOv3.

Comparison of interleukin-6, interleukin-10, procalcitonin and C-reactive protein in identifying high-risk febrile illness in pediatric cancer patients: A prospective observational study.

The aim of this study is to systematically compare the performance of C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and serum cytokines in identifying pediatric cancer patients with high-risk infection. A prospective observational study was performed from January 2014 through December 2016. Consecutive pediatric cancer patients who experienced febrile illness during hospitalization were enrolled. The CRP, PCT, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interferon (IFN)-γ were determined within 6 h of fever onset. A total of 3118 episodes of febrile illness were included, with 13.1% episodes documented as bloodstream infection (BSI) and 3.5% diagnosed as septic shock. Patients with BSI presented much higher levels of PCT, IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α than patients with other types of fever and have much higher incidence of septic shock (11.2% vs. 2.3%, P < 0.001). IL-6 and IL-10 showed better performance in identifying patients with gram-negative bacteremia (GNB) and septic shock than CRP and PCT, respectively. The area under the curve (AUCs) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for septic shock prediction were 0.65, 0.78, 0.89 and 0.87 for CRP, PCT, IL-6 and IL-10, respectively. Furthermore, elevation of IL-6 and IL-10 were strongly associated with the development of GNB and septic shock. Our results indicate that BSI, especially GNB, is a high-risk form of infection which results in high incidence of septic shock. IL-6 and IL-10 performance better than CRP and PCT in identifying patients with high-risk febrile illness.

Integrated optomechanical analyses and experimental verification for a thermal system of an aerial camera.

The thermal control system based on a combination of passive and active methods for a compact aerial camera used in the unmanned aerial vehicle system is studied. Integrated analysis and an experimental method are developed to ensure both low-power limit and high image quality of the camera. For rapid estimation of thermal behavior, we develop a thermal mathematic model based on a thermal network method that also offers an initial design reference for the active control system; then we develop a more complex integrated analysis method to analyze and optimize the thermal system, which allows us to get performance insights such as internal temperature gradient and airflow of the compact system. We also focus on analyzing the optical surface errors under thermal disturbance. Comparisons of interferometer test records and thermal-elastic simulation results are presented, and this comparison shows that the integrated optomechanical analysis method contributes to the success of optomechanical system design by ensuring thermal disturbance will not deform the optical surfaces beyond allowable limits. Finally, the design method is verified through a thermo-optic experiment.

Intravenous and subsequent long-term oral tranexamic acid in enhanced-recovery primary total knee arthroplasty without the application of a tourniquet: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: To assess the efficacy and safety of intravenous and subsequent long-term oral tranexamic acid (TXA) following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) without a tourniquet. METHODS: In this double-blinded trial, 118 patients undergoing primary TKA were randomized into two groups: the patients in group A received intravenous TXA at 20-mg/kg 10 min before the surgery and 3 h postoperatively, and then oral 1 g TXA from postoperative day (POD) 1 to POD 14, and the patients in group B received intravenous TXA at 20-mg/kg 10 min before surgery and 3 h postoperatively, and then oral 1 g placebo from postoperative day (POD) 1 to POD 14. The primary outcome was total blood loss. Secondary outcomes included ecchymosis area and morbidity, postoperative transfusion, postoperative laboratory values, postoperative knee function and length of hospital stay. Complications, and patient satisfaction were also recorded. RESULTS: The mean total blood loss was lower in Group A than in Group B (671.7 ml vs 915.8 ml, P = 0.001). There was no significant difference in the transfusion rate between the two groups. Group A had a higher hemoglobin than Group B on POD 3 (106.0 g/L vs 99.7 g/L, P = 0.001). However, no significant difference was found for Hb or hematocrit on POD 1 or POD 14 between the two groups. Patients in Group A had less ecchymosis morbidity (7 vs 38, P = 0.001), smaller ecchymosis area (1.6 vs 3.0, P = 0.001) than Group B. The blood coagulation level as measured by fibrinolysis (D-Dimer) was lower in Group A than in Group B on POD 1 and POD 3 (4.6 mg/L vs. 8.4 mg/L, respectively, P = 0.001; 1.5 mg/L vs. 3.3 mg/L, respectively, P = 0.001). However, there was no significant difference on POD 14, and the fibrin degradation products showed the same trend. Patients in Group A had less swelling than those in Group B on POD 3 and POD 14. The circumference of the knee was 43.1 cm vs. 46.1 cm (POD 3, P = 0.001) and 41.4 cm vs. 44.9 cm (POD 14, P = 0.001) in Group A vs Group B, respectively. Nevertheless, the circumference of the knee in the two groups was similar on POD 1 and POD 3 M. No significant differences were identified in knee function, pain score, or hospital stay. No significant differences were identified in thromboembolic complications, infection, hematoma, wound healing and patients satisfaction between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Intravenous and subsequent long-term oral TXA produced less blood loss and less swelling and ecchymosis compared with short-term TXA without increasing the risk of complications. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( ChiCTR-IPR-17012264 ).

LncRNA MALAT1 promotes cell proliferation and imatinib resistance by sponging miR-328 in chronic myelogenous leukemia.

BACKGROUND: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a type of cancer that starts in certain blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. LncRNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1), a well known protooncogene, has be shown to be upregulated in various tumor types, including multiple myeloma. However, the biological function of MALAT1 in CML remains has yet to be explored. This study was designed to investigate the effects of MALAT1 on the physiological processes in CML and its underlying mechanisms, which will be helpful for us to have a better understanding of CML development and progression as well as improved therapeutic method. METHODS: Recombinant virus construction and infection was performed to overexpress or knockdown the expression of MALAT1. Dual luciferase reporter assay was applied to vetify the interaction between MALAT1 and miR-328. The cell viability and cell cycle were analyzed by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Quantitative real time PCR and western blotting assays were used to measure the expression of genes and proteins. RESULTS: The expression of MALAT1 was significantly increased in CML cells compared with peripheral blood cells from health donors. Silencing of MALAT1 significantly inhibited the proliferation and arrested cell cycle of CML cells by targeting miR-328. Moreover, MALAT1 knockdown enhanced imatinib sensitivity of K562 cells, while silencing of miR-328 abolished this effect. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that lncRNA MALAT1/miR-328 axis promotes the proliferation and imatinib resistance of CML cells, providing new perspectives for the future study of MALAT1 as a therapeutic target for CML.

Comparison of oral versus intra-articular tranexamic acid in enhanced-recovery primary total knee arthroplasty without tourniquet application: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Although randomized controlled trials have confirmed oral tranexamic acid (TXA) can provide similar blood-sparing efficacy compared with intravenous (IV) TXA in total knee arthroplasty (TKA), some concerns do remain about thromboembolic events after such systemic administration. Many studies have confirmed that intra-articular (IA) application of TXA can show similar blood-saving efficacy with minimal levels of systemic absorption compared with IV TXA. However, it remains unclear whether the efficacy and safety of oral TXA administration is equal to or less than that of IA administration in TKA without the use of a tourniquet and drain. Thus, this study was to verify non-inferior efficacy and safety of oral TXA compared with IA TXA in primary TKA. METHODS: A double-blind, randomized, controlled trial was performed to compare three oral doses of TXA (2 g of TXA 2 h before incision, and 1 g of TXA 6 and 12 h after surgery, respectively) with IA TXA (3 g of TXA in 100 mL of saline solution). One hundred forty-seven patients scheduled for TKA were randomized to one of the two interventions. The primary outcome was total blood loss. The secondary outcomes included reduction of hemoglobin concentration, clinical outcomes, blood coagulation values, thromboembolic complications, and transfusion rates. RESULTS: The mean total blood loss was 788.8 mL in the oral TXA group compared with 872.4 mL in the IA TXA group, with no statistical significance (p > 0.05). There were no significant differences in reduction of hemoglobin level, blood coagulation level, and clinical outcomes. The transfusion rates were 4% in oral group and 5% IA group, respectively. Also, no significant differences were identified in thromboembolic complications. CONCLUSION: Oral TXA according to the described protocol demonstrated non-inferiority for primary TKA, with no safety concerns and a greatly reduced cost, compared with the IA TXA. This randomized controlled trial supports the oral administration of TXA in TKA. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( ChiCTR-INR-17010968 ) dated 23rd March 2017.

Oral vs Intravenous vs Topical Tranexamic Acid in Primary Hip Arthroplasty: A Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled Study.

BACKGROUND: Tranexamic acid (TXA) has demonstrated efficacy in reducing blood loss, reduction in hemoglobin, and blood transfusion requirements in primary total hip arthroplasty (THA). The optimal mode of TXA administration for patients undergoing primary THA is unclear. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial is to determine whether oral administration of TXA was superior to intravenous or topical routes in these patients. METHODS: In this double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, patients undergoing primary THA were randomized to oral (2 g TXA orally 2 hours preoperatively), intravenous (20 mg/kg intravenous TXA bolus 5 minutes before the incision), or topical (2 g TXA applied topically) TXA groups. The primary outcome was the reduction in hemoglobin. Secondary outcomes included blood loss, transfusion rate, cost of TXA (Chinese yuan (¥); in 2017, ¥1 = $0.147), and adverse events. RESULTS: One hundred eighty patients were randomized into the 3 groups. Demographic characteristics were similar among the groups. The mean reduction in hemoglobin was similar among the oral, intravenous, and topical groups (3.48 ± 1.32, 3.58 ± 1.07, and 3.66 ± 1.26 g/dL, respectively). Similarly, the mean total blood loss did not differ significantly among the 3 groups. The oral group incurred the lowest TXA cost (¥480) compared with that in the intravenous (¥3329.28) and topical (¥3540) groups (P = .01). None of the patients sustained a deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, or an infection. CONCLUSION: The blood-sparing efficacy of oral TXA is comparable to that of the intravenous and topical forms. Oral TXA is recommended because of its cost-benefit superiority and ease of administration.

Prognostic factors of early death in children with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis is a rapidly progressing and fatal disease. Early identification of early death for HLH patients based on the laboratory findings at the time of diagnosis could improve the overall survival. A retrospective study was performed on 95 Chinese pediatric patients with HLH. Patients' data including clinical features and laboratory findings at diagnosis were collected. In a multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model analysis, albumin≤27.75g/L (hazard ratio (HR)=11.82, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.58-54.23; P=0.001), LDH≥3707.5 U/L (HR=4.15, 95%CI 1.43-12.01; P=0.009), and IL-10≥456pg/ml (HR=12.39, 95%CI 1.59-96.79; P=0.016) at diagnosis were independent prognostic factors of early death. The risk of early death was 33-fold increase in patients with three risk factors (HR=33.33; 95%CI 8.40-125.00; P<0.001), and 12-fold increase in patients with two risk factors (HR=12.80; 95%CI 2.34-69.80; P=0.002) when compared to it in patients with zero to one risk factor. Our results reveal that HLH patients with the risk of early death can be identified by laboratory findings at diagnosis, which may help guide the treatment decision making for this disease.

Monobloc implants in cementless total hip arthroplasty in patients with Legg-Calve-Perthes disease: a long-term follow-up.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate 10-year outcomes in cementless monobloc total hip arthroplasty (THA) in a group of hips with Legg-Calve-Perthes disease (LCPD). METHODS: We reviewed 71 patients (88 hips) who underwent cementless THA with a diagnosis of LCPD from 2003 to 2009. From the total of 71 patients, 34 men and 37 women with an average age of 49.94 years were included. The mean follow-up period was 10 years. RESULTS: The mean Harris Hip Score improved significantly from 46.42 to 89.70. Similarly, the postoperative range of motion, hip dysfunction and osteoarthritis outcome score and SF-12 score also significantly improved. The mean leg lengthening was 22.1 mm. During the follow-up, eight complications were noted, including two cases of intraoperative femoral fractures, two cases of sciatic nerve paralysis, two cases of heterotrophic ossifications, one case of thigh pain and one case of dislocation. One revision was conducted for a periprosthetic fracture, and the survivorship at 10 years was 98.3%. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that the monobloc stem can lead to satisfactory outcomes for clinical function, radiological evaluation, restoration of the normal limb lengths, complications, and survivorship among LCPD patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty.

Subtrochanteric shortening osteotomy during cementless total hip arthroplasty in young patients with severe developmental dysplasia of the hip.

BACKGROUND: This retrospective study was designed to determine complications, functional and radiographic results of transverse subtrochanteric osteotomy during cementless, modular total hip arthroplasty (THA) in a series of active patients younger than 45 years with Crowe Type-III or IV developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). METHODS: We followed 49 patients (56 hips) with DDH who were treated with cementless THA, where the acetabular cup was positioned in the anatomic hip center and where a simultaneous transverse femoral osteotomy was performed. Complication rate evaluation and clinical outcomes were measured by validated clinical scores and radiographic evaluation were performed at a mean follow up of 10 years (range, 4.8-14.3 years). RESULTS: The mean limb-length discrepancy was reduced from 4.2 cm to 1.1 cm (P < 0.01). The mean Harris hip score (HSS) significantly improved from 40.6 points to 87.4 points (P < 0.01). Similarly, severity of low back pain, modified MAP, HOOS, and SF-12 also showed significant improvement (P < 0.01). There were 3 cases of postoperative dislocation, 3 cases of transient nerve palsy, 2 cases of nonunion, and 4 cases of intraoperative fracture. At 10 years follow-up, the estimated survival rate with any component revision as end points was 92%. CONCLUSION: The cementless THA combined with transverse subtrochanteric osteotomy is a reliable technique with restoration of a more normal limb, satisfactory clinical outcomes, and mid-term survival of components.

Aquagenic cutaneous disorders.

Aquagenic cutaneous disorders, which include aquagenic urticaria, aquagenic pruritus, and aquagenic acrokeratoderma, are a group of rare diseases characterized by skin lesions or discomfort induced by brief contact with water. Aquagenic urticaria is characterized by pruritic wheals that occur at the sites of water contact, either immediately or within minutes, and disappear within 30-60 min after water removal. Aquagenic pruritus presents with severe pruritus or a stinging, tingling, or burning sensation without any visible skin changes. These symptoms occur immediately or within minutes after the skin is exposed to water, lasting for one hour or longer. Aquagenic acrokeratoderma usually presents with whitish papules and plaques, edema, and hyperwrinkling within 2-20 min after brief exposure to water; symptoms disappear within minutes to one hour after drying. The pathomechanisms of these diseases are not yet fully understood, and their diagnosis is primarily based on clinical features. Treatment remains a challenge. Herein, we review the literature regarding these unusual disorders.

Study on Color Quantitative Expression, Replication and Color Origin of Gray-Purple Nephrite from Qinghai, China Based on Spectroscopy Methods.

Color is one of the most important factors in evaluating the quality and price of jewelry. Quantitative research on color of jewels has been a hotspot in gemological science. Whether for jewelry industry or gems research, observing and describing the gems' color characteristics under transmission light is an essential method. This study focuses on building a research method to quantitatively characterize nephrite color, and to determine their color origin based on transmitted spectroscopy techniques. Natural gray-purple nephrite of Sanchahe mining, Qinghai, China was chosen as a typical subject due to its gradual-change color characteristic. We first quantitatively expressed and replicated the different color region on a gray-purple nephrite sample with given thickness (1.0 mm) with UV-Visible absorption spectra and 1976 CIE L*a*b* colorimetric parameters, as well as Adobe Photoshop software. The replicated color of light and dark color regions were both close to the transmitted color observed by naked eyes. It is inferred that the subtle color differences between naked eyes observation and transmitted spectroscopy replication may from the multiple effects of incident light in translucent polycrystalline structure, such as absorption, refraction, diffraction, scattering, and so on. As for the purple color origin, Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) showed an increase of the concentrations of manganese (Mn) as the nephrite color becomes darker. Moreover, the emission peak at 585 nm on Photoluminescence (PL) and absorption peak at 530 nm on Ultraviolet Visible (UV-Vis), and the sextet Mn2+ resonance peaks on Electronic Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) provide solid support to prove that Mn2+ should be the main factor contributing to the purple color. This work provides a specific experimental method on quantitative observing and describing the color of gems under transmitted light, and it also offers valuable information on determining the chromophores and color origin.