NIR-Triggered Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species and Photodynamic Therapy Based on Mesoporous Silica-Coated LiYF4 Upconverting Nanoparticles.

To date, the increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production for effectual photodynamic therapy (PDT) treatment still remains challenging. In this study, a facile and effective approach is utilized to coat mesoporous silica (mSiO2) shell on the ligand-free upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) based on the LiYF4 host material. Two kinds of mesoporous silica-coated UCNPs (UCNP@mSiO2) that display green emission (doped with Ho3+) and red emission (doped with Er3+), respectively, were successfully synthesized and well characterized. Three photosensitizers (PSs), merocyanine 540 (MC 540), rose bengal (RB), and chlorin e6 (Ce6), with the function of absorption of green or red emission, were selected and loaded into the mSiO2 shell of both UCNP@mSiO2 nanomaterials. A comprehensive study for the three UCNP@mSiO2/PS donor/acceptor pairs was performed to investigate the efficacy of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), ROS generation, and in vitro PDT using a MCF-7 cell line. ROS generation detection showed that as compared to the oleate-capped and ligand-free UCNP/PS pairs, the UCNP@mSiO2/PS nanocarrier system demonstrated more pronounced ROS generation due to the UCNP@mSiO2 nanoparticles in close vicinity to PS molecules and a higher loading capacity of the photosensitizer. As a result, the three LiYF4 UCNP@mSiO2/PS nanoplatforms displayed more prominent therapeutic efficacies in PDT by using in vitro cytotoxicity tests.

Application of artificial intelligence ensemble learning model in early prediction of atrial fibrillation.

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation is a paroxysmal heart disease without any obvious symptoms for most people during the onset. The electrocardiogram (ECG) at the time other than the onset of this disease is not significantly different from that of normal people, which makes it difficult to detect and diagnose. However, if atrial fibrillation is not detected and treated early, it tends to worsen the condition and increase the possibility of stroke. In this paper, P-wave morphology parameters and heart rate variability feature parameters were simultaneously extracted from the ECG. A total of 31 parameters were used as input variables to perform the modeling of artificial intelligence ensemble learning model. RESULTS: This paper applied three artificial intelligence ensemble learning methods, namely Bagging ensemble learning method, AdaBoost ensemble learning method, and Stacking ensemble learning method. The prediction results of these three artificial intelligence ensemble learning methods were compared. As a result of the comparison, the Stacking ensemble learning method combined with various models finally obtained the best prediction effect with the accuracy of 92%, sensitivity of 88%, specificity of 96%, positive predictive value of 95.7%, negative predictive value of 88.9%, F1 score of 0.9231 and area under receiver operating characteristic curve value of 0.911. CONCLUSION: In feature extraction, this paper combined P-wave morphology parameters and heart rate variability parameters as input parameters for model training, and validated the value of the proposed parameters combination for the improvement of the model's predicting effect. In the calculation of the P-wave morphology parameters, the hybrid Taguchi-genetic algorithm was used to obtain more accurate Gaussian function fitting parameters. The prediction model was trained using the Stacking ensemble learning method, so that the model accuracy had better results, which can further improve the early prediction of atrial fibrillation.

Prevalence and association of lifestyle and medical-, psychiatric-, and pain-related comorbidities in patients with migraine: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Migraine has been associated with many comorbidities. However, lifestyle factors and the presence of comorbid diseases have not previously been extensively studied in the same sample. This study aimed to compare the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle factors and comorbid diseases between patients with migraine and migraine-free controls with subgroup analyses to determine the pathophysiology and possible consequences. METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited 1257 patients with migraine between the ages of 20 and 65 years from a headache outpatient clinic in Taiwan and 496 non-migraine controls. All participants completed questionnaires regarding demographics, migraine diagnosis, sleep, headache burden, and medical, pain, and psychiatric conditions. Participants also underwent a structured interview. The associations between comorbidities and migraine were investigated and further stratified by sex and aura. RESULTS: Patients with migraine with aura had an unhealthier lifestyle compared with controls in the form of current smoking status (15.5% [67/431] vs. 11.5% [57/496], p = 0.013). Furthermore, medical- (e.g., thyroid disease; 7.2% [91/1257 vs. 2.8% [14/496]; p = 0.006), psychiatric- (e.g., depression; 6% [76/1257 vs. 2.6% [13/496]; p = 0.031), and pain-related (e.g., fibromyalgia; 8% [101/1257 vs. 3.2% [16/496]; p = 0.006) comorbidities were more prevalent in patients compared with controls. Subgroup analyses revealed that chronic migraine, migraine with aura, and female sex were associated with a greater number of significant comorbidities than episodic migraine, migraine without aura, and male patients with migraine, respectively. CONCLUSION: Individuals seeking treatment for migraine reported greater levels of smoking and medical, psychiatric, and pain conditions than non-treatment-seeking healthy controls who were recruited from the community. Understanding the relationship between migraine and comorbid diseases may improve medical care as well as the quality of life.

Subjective cognitive complaints and migraine characteristics: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: Subjective cognitive complaints by patients with migraine have been associated with memory impairment. However, whether the severity of memory impairment relates to migraine characteristics, such as attack frequency and aura, remains undetermined. We investigated the relationship between subjective cognitive complaints and migraine characteristics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited 669 clinic outpatients from Taiwan. We stratified them by migraine frequency and the presence or absence of aura, and we controlled the data for confounding variables. We performed multivariable linear and logistic regressions to investigate whether different migraine frequencies are associated with subjective cognitive complaints, which were evaluated by the subjective memory complaints scale and the Ascertain Dementia 8 (AD8) questionnaire. RESULTS: Total subjective memory complaints scores tended to increase with the migraine attack frequency (P = .022) in patients with migraine with aura; similar results were obtained for AD8 scores in women with migraine with aura. Poor sleep quality was associated with a higher total subjective memory complaint (B = 0.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.03-0.14) and AD8 (B = 0.07, 95% CI = 0.02-0.11) scores. In addition, more severe depression was associated with higher total subjective memory complaints and AD8 scores (B = 0.05, 95% CI = 0.02-0.09; B = 0.08, 95% CI = 0.05-0.11, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Subjective cognitive complaints tend to increase with the frequency of migraines with aura, and this interrelation is substantially influenced by depression severity and sleep disturbances.

Photo-polymerization properties of type-II photoinitiator systems based on 2-chlorohexaaryl biimidazole (o-Cl-HABI) and various N-phenylglycine (NPG) derivatives.

A series of p-substituted NPG derivatives (Cl-NPG, OMe-NPG and NO2-NPG) comprising different push-pull characteristics have been synthesized and characterized. The NPG derivatives have good thermal stability and red shifted absorption when compared with the original N-phenyl glycine (NPG) compound. These NPGs were selected in combination with 2-chlorohexaaryl biimidazole (o-Cl-HABI) for Type II free radical polymerization (FRP). Commercial NPG was also mixed with o-Cl-HABI for comparison. Their photo-polymerization properties were investigated by the gel fraction method in a nitrogen atmosphere. Electron transfer efficiencies for those Type II packages were studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and free energy change ΔG results.

Simply influenza A (H3N2)-associated encephalitis with seizure.

Influenza-associated acute encephalopathy (IAE) is more prevalent in children than in adults and often results in neurological sequelae or even death. Diagnosis of IAE is difficult as clinical presentation varies significantly and the influenza virus is rarely detected in cerebrospinal fluid. Moreover, seizures in adults due to influenza infection are rare. Herein, we describe the case of an adult presenting with both acute encephalitis and seizures. A 38-year-old female was admitted to the emergency department with acute respiratory symptoms and fever, followed by quick progression to stupor within 24 h. A rapid antigen test was influenza A-positive, and polymerase chain reaction of nasal secretions confirmed the H3N2 subtype. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed bilateral water restriction lesions at the thalamus and the cerebellum and an electroencephalogram showed frequent episodic generalized sharp-and-slow waves over the bilateral frontal region. Based on the neuroimaging and laboratory findings, we diagnosed the patient with adult influenza A (H3N2)-related encephalitis complicated by seizure. Treatment with oseltamivir and anticonvulsants led to complete neurologic recovery by day 14. This report describes two unusual neurological manifestations of influenza A, i.e., encephalitis and seizures, in an adult. We emphasize that, in adults presenting with acute viral encephalitis, clinicians should consider influenza infection as part of the differential diagnosis, and that typical neuroimaging in conjunction with laboratory detection of influenza virus and/or intrathecal antibody production suggestive of IAE, may help establish an accurate diagnosis.

Woman with acute onset involuntary limb movements.

CLINICAL INTRODUCTION: An 88-year-old woman presented with acute onset of involuntary limb movements for one day. Two days prior she had fallen a suffered a left hip contusion but no head trauma. There was no fever or difficulty breathing. Her heart rate was 72 bpm with blood pressure of 109/68 mm Hg. Physical examination revealed restricted left hip motion due to pain and a sustained twisted posture of the upper extremity without paresis. Glasgow Coma Scale was 15, and there was no evidence of Kernig's or Brudzinski's sign. She underwent a hip X-ray and non-contrast CT scan (figures 1 and 2).emermed;36/7/415/F1F1F1Figure 1Anteroposterior X-radiograph of the hip.emermed;36/7/415/F2F2F2Figure 2A non-contrast brain CT. QUESTION: What is the most likely cause of the clinical presentation?Acute meningitisCerebral fat embolismHaemorrhagic strokeHypertensive encephalopathy For answer see page 2 For question see page 1.

Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis in A Patient with Sjögren's Syndrome with Atypical Antibodies: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND: Although Sjögren's syndrome has been known to complicate with white matter lesions, encephalopathy, or stroke, reports of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis due to Sjögren's syndrome with atypical antibodies are rare. CASE REPORT: A 50-year-old woman was admitted to our neurological ward with nausea and vomiting following acute onset of severe headache in the left occipital region. Brain computed tomography revealed no abnormalities. The patient was fully conscious, with normal cognitive functioning, but exhibited unsteady tandem gait. Both magnetic resonance venography and computed tomography venography suggested left transverse sinus blockage. Intravenous enoxaparin, followed by oral warfarin, was initiated as treatment for cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. After investigation, Sjögren's syndrome was diagnosed and lupus anticoagulant antibody test was positive. The patient was treated with hydroxychloroquine, and appeared fully recovered at the 6-month follow-up, with no clinical or radiological signs of relapse. CONCLUSION: This case reports the relationship between cerebral venous sinus thrombosis and Sjögren's syndrome. It is necessary to screen autoimmune disorders in patients with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis that present with no common risk factors of venous thrombosis in order to prevent inappropriate management, and potentially adverse outcomes.

Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome Mimicking Brainstem Infarction: A Dilemma.

PURPOSE: We had recently reported one case at American Journal of Emergency Medicine about centralvariant posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) in an 84-year-old woman with an initial misdiagnosis as central pontine myelinolysis (CPM). Here, we introduce another case of centralvariant PRES in a 49-year-old man mimicking as acute brainstem infarction in the cranial computed tomography (CT) findings. CASE REPORT: A 49-year-old man was admitted to the emergency department with a 5-day history of vertigo, cognitive decline, and difficulty in walking. Neurologic examination revealed drowsiness with a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 12 (eye opening: 3, best verbal response: 4, and best motor response: 5), slow movement in pursuit and saccades, and gait instability with a Medical Research Council scale of grade 4-5. Non-contrast cranial CT showed hypodense lesions in the pons, and antiplatelet agent was initiated for presumed pons infarction. However, the brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated vasogenic edema in the corresponding area, consistent with the diagnosis of central-variant PRES. CONCLUSION: This case report raises the awareness that when hypodense brainstem lesions on brain CT in patients with progressive neurological dysfunction, the rare condition of central-variant PRES should be considered in the differential diagnosis to avoid inadequate management. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may help in diagnosis and dealing with of these patients with similar radiological and clinical abnormalities.

Case report: Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia complicated by acute cerebral venous thrombosis and hemorrhage after AstraZeneca vaccines followed by Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster and surgery.

Vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) is a well-known complication of adenoviral vector COVID-19 vaccines including ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AstraZeneca) and Ad26. COV2.S (Janssen, Johnson & Johnson). To date, only a few cases of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine such as mRNA-1273 (Moderna) or BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech)-induced VITT have been reported. We report a case of VITT with acute cerebral venous thrombosis and hemorrhage after a booster of mRNA-1273 (Moderna) vaccine in a patient previously vaccinated with two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. A 42-year-old woman presented with sudden onset of weakness of the right upper limb with focal seizure. She had received two doses of AstraZeneca vaccines and a booster with Moderna vaccine 32 days before presentation. She had also undergone a laparoscopic myomectomy 12 days previously. Laboratory examinations revealed anemia (9.5 g/dl), thrombocytopenia (31 × 103/µl), and markedly elevated d-dimer (>20.0 mg/L; reference value < 0.5 mg/L). The initial brain computed tomography (CT) was normal, but a repeated scan 10 h later revealed hemorrhage at the left cerebrum. Before the results of the blood smear were received, on suspicion of thrombotic microangiopathy with thrombocytopenia and thrombosis, plasmapheresis and pulse steroid therapy were initiated, followed by intravenous immunoglobulin (1 g/kg/day for two consecutive days) due to refractory thrombocytopenia. VITT was confirmed by positive anti-PF4 antibody and both heparin-induced and PF4-induced platelet activation testing. Clinicians should be aware that mRNA-1273 Moderna, an mRNA-based vaccine, may be associated with VITT with catastrophic complications. Additionally, prior exposure to the AstraZeneca vaccine and surgical procedure could also have precipitated or aggravated autoimmune heparin-induced thrombocytopenia/VITT-like presentation.

Dimethylimidazolium-Functionalized Polybenzimidazole and Its Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Membranes for Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells.

A quaternized polybenzimidazole (PBI) membrane was synthesized by grafting a dimethylimidazolium end-capped side chain onto PBI. The organic-inorganic hybrid membrane of the quaternized PBI was prepared via a silane-induced crosslinking process with triethoxysilylpropyl dimethylimidazolium chloride. The chemical structure and membrane morphology were characterized using NMR, FTIR, TGA, SEM, EDX, AFM, SAXS, and XPS techniques. Compared with the pristine membrane of dimethylimidazolium-functionalized PBI, its hybrid membrane exhibited a lower swelling ratio, higher mechanical strength, and better oxidative stability. However, the morphology of hydrophilic/hydrophobic phase separation, which facilitates the ion transport along hydrophilic channels, only successfully developed in the pristine membrane. As a result, the hydroxide conductivity of the pristine membrane (5.02 × 10-2 S cm-1 at 80 °C) was measured higher than that of the hybrid membrane (2.22 × 10-2 S cm-1 at 80 °C). The hydroxide conductivity and tensile results suggested that both membranes had good alkaline stability in 2M KOH solution at 80 °C. Furthermore, the maximum power densities of the pristine and hybrid membranes of dimethylimidazolium-functionalized PBI reached 241 mW cm-2 and 152 mW cm-2 at 60 °C, respectively. The fuel cell performance result demonstrates that these two membranes are promising as AEMs for fuel cell applications.

A robotized handheld smart tool for orthopedic surgery.

BACKGROUND: Handheld surgical robots offer functionalities, such as active guidance, tremor suppression and force reflection, for surgeons to enhance their skill in manipulating surgical tools during medical intervention. In orthopedic surgery, the robot additionally has to offer sufficient rigidity and power for bone machining. The size and weight of the mechanical design, together with the control behaviour associated with involuntary hand motion, navigation and reflected force to the human, all influence the overall performance of an orthopedic handheld robot. METHODS: The paper proposes a miniature and compact design for an embedded robot, which is a similar weight as a handpiece. Then, a shared controller is proposed to address the coupling among involuntary and voluntary hand motions, robot navigation, tool feedback forces and force artefacts from actuation. RESULTS: The handheld robot is able to stabilize the drill positioning by removing involuntary tremors as well as reduce force artefacts from motor actuation in experiments involving pedicle tunnelling on a porcine spine. CONCLUSION: The paper has successfully realized a compact handheld orthopedic robot which provides high performance of usability, tremor suppression and force reflection for bone drilling.

Clinical Features of Cluster Headache: A Hospital-Based Study in Taiwan.

Most previous studies on cluster headache (CH) focus on Western populations. This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of CH in a neurology outpatient population in Taiwan. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from July 2015 to June 2019 in a medical college affiliated with a tertiary care hospital (Tri-Service General Hospital) in Taiwan. All consecutive patients reporting headache as their chief complaint were asked to participate in a face-to-face interview with a qualified headache specialist and to complete a detailed self-administered questionnaire. The diagnosis of CH was made according to the Third edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders. The subjects comprised 80 consecutive new CH patients (13 women and 67 men; ratio, 1:5). The mean age at presentation was 36.0 ± 10.8 years (range, 16-64 years), mean age at onset was 27.2 ± 12.1 years (range, 5-65 years), and mean time lag before diagnosis was 9.3 ± 10.5 years (range, 0-46.4 years). Of the total CH patients, 25.3% reported feelings of restlessness during headache episodes. A seasonal predilection was reported by 18% of the CH patients. The use of tobacco was the most common (44/80 patients). Chronic CH was only observed in 5% of the patients and only one patient (1.3%) reported both a positive family history for CH and aura. Features of CH in Taiwanese patients differed from that of Caucasian patients; a lower prevalence of chronic CH, positive family history of CH, and occurrence of aura may be less common in the former than in the latter.

Preparation and Thermomechanical Properties of Ketone Mesogenic Liquid Crystalline Epoxy Resin Composites with Functionalized Boron Nitride.

In order to enhance the thermomechanical behaviors of epoxy molding compounds, the hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) fillers were incorporated in a ketone mesogenic liquid crystalline epoxy (K-LCE) matrix to prepare a high-performance epoxy composites. The h-BN was modified by surface coupling agent 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). The grafting of silane molecules onto the surface of BN fillers improved the compatibility and homogeneous dispersion state of BN fillers in the K-LCE matrix with a strong interface interaction. The surface-modified BN fillers were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The thermomechanical properties and morphologies of K-LCE/BN composites loading with different contents of modified BN fillers, ranging from 0.50 to 5.00 wt%, were investigated. These results show that modified BN fillers uniformly dispersed in K-LCE matrix, contributing to the enhancement in storage modulus, glass transition temperatures, impact strength and reduction in the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). The thermal stability and char yield of the K-LCE/BN composites were increased by increasing the amount of modified BN fillers and the thermal decomposition temperatures of composites were over 370 °C. The thermal conductivity of the K-LCE/BN composites was up to 0.6 W/m·K, for LC epoxy filled with 5.00-wt%-modified BN fillers. Furthermore, the K-LCE/BN composites have excellent thermal and mechanical properties compared to those of the DGEBA/BN composites.

Paralytic ileus as the presenting symptom for Guillain-Barré syndrome: a case report.

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acute neuroimmunological disorder characterized by rapidly ascending symmetrical limb weakness, areflexia, and sensory deficits. Approximately 65% of patients with GBS present with autonomic dysfunction, which commonly occurs in advanced stages. However, paralytic ileus, a sign of gastrointestinal dysautonomia, is rare as the presenting feature in GBS before motor weakness becomes evident. We report the case of a 54-year-old man admitted to the Emergency Department with paralytic ileus as the prodromal feature in early-stage GBS. Total parenteral feeding and prokinetic use were initiated, but no clinical improvement was observed. The patient showed rapid progression to quadriplegia, which was ultimately determined to be respiratory muscle failure requiring mechanical ventilation and intensive care unit admission. He underwent 5 days of intravenous immunoglobulin therapy and muscle strength was partially improved thereafter. However, the patient's enteral nutritional support was undesirable because of persistent poor gastric emptying complicated by fungemia and profound sepsis throughout the hospital course. Finally, he died 1 month after admission. Ignorance of this unusual prodrome to GBS could result in delayed treatment, along with potential progression to life-threatening events. Early recognition of GBS and prompt immunotherapy are critical for reducing morbidity and mortality.