MRI parameters predict central lumbar spinal stenosis combined with redundant nerve roots: a prospective MRI study.

Background: To observe changes in the cauda equina nerve on lumbar MRI in patients with central lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). Methods: 878 patients diagnosed with LSS by clinical and MRI were divided into the redundant group (204 patients) and the nonredundant group (674 patients) according to the presence or absence of redundant nerve roots (RNRs). The anteroposterior diameter of the spinal canal (APDS) and the presence of multiple level stenosis, disc herniation, thickening of ligamentum flavum (LF) and increased epidural fat were assessed on MRI. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to explore the predictors of LSS combined with RNRs. Results: Patients with LSS combined with RNRs had thicker epidural fat, smaller APDS and more combined multifaceted stenosis. Female patients and older LSS patients were more likely to develop RNRs; there was no difference between two groups in terms of disc herniation (p > 0. 05). Age, APDS, multiple level stenosis, and increased epidural fat were significantly correlated with the formation of LSS combined with RNRs (p < 0.05). Conclusion: A smaller APDS and the presence of multiple level stenosis, thickening of LF, and increased epidural fat may be manifestations of anatomical differences in patients with LSS combined with RNRs. Age, APDS, multiple level stenosis, and increased epidural fat play important roles. The lumbar spine was measured and its anatomy was observed using multiple methods, and cauda equina changes were assessed to identify the best anatomical predictors and provide new therapeutic strategies for the management of LSS combined with RNRs.

The risk and protective factors on the mental health of healthcare workers during the lockdown period due to covid-19 pandemic.

This study aimed to analyze the impact of the lockdown period due to COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health status of healthcare workers and identify the related risk factors of psychosomatic distress. We conducted an online questionnaire survey to investigate the general demographic characteristics, perceived stress level, adult attachment style (AAS), family cohesion and adaptability, social support, sleep state, emotional state, and physical health of healthcare workers during the lockdown period due to the pandemic in 2022. We compared the mental health status between doctors and nurses, and further analyzed the factors influencing sleep, emotions, physical symptoms, and severe psychosomatic distress separately. For factors that showed statistical significance in the univariate analysis, forward stepwise regression was used for logistic regression analysis to identify risk factors for the corresponding issues. A total of 622 healthcare workers participated in the survey. Among the participants, 121 (19.5%) reported sleep problems, 209 (33.6%) had negative emotional states, and 147 (23.6%) reported physical health problems. There were 48 (7.7%) healthcare workers with severe psychosomatic distress. Compared to the group of nurses, the group of doctors exhibit a higher prevalence of emotional issues, physical health problems and psychosomatic distress. Perceived stress was identified as a risk factor for sleep disturbance, while living with others during quarantine and family adaptability were identified as protective factors. Higher educational background and perceived stress were identified as risk factors for negative emotion, while subjective support was identified as a protective factor. Perceived stress and coming from a rural area were also identified as risk factors for physical health. Overall, for the comparison between the no psychosomatic distress and severe psychosomatic distress groups, perceived stress was identified as a risk factor for severe psychosomatic distress, while subjective support was identified as a protective factor. Healthcare workers' potential mental and physical health problems are related to their educational background, family cohesion and adaptability, perceived stress and social support. This makes it clearer on how to deal with and prevent adverse consequences when facing stressful situations.

Association between adult attachment and mental health states among health care workers: the mediating role of social support.

Background: To determine the relationships between attachment style, social support, and mental health states, as well as the mediation mechanism within this relationship, we conducted a survey among healthcare workers during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic quarantine. Methods: The survey assessed their mental health states, adult attachment style, social support, and some other relevant information. Mental health states were represented by the overall state of sleep, physical and emotional assessment. A multiple mediator model was used to explain how social support could mediate the relationship between attachment and mental health states during COVID-19 quarantine. Results: Our findings revealed that 33.3% of the participants experienced emotional issues, 8.5% had sleep problems, and 24.9% reported physical discomfort. The direct effect of adult attachment styles on mental health states during COVID-19 quarantine was significant (c' = -0.3172; p < 0.01). The total indirect effect also showed statistical significance (ab = -0.1857; p < 0.01). Moreover, the total effect of adult attachment styles on mental health states was -0.5029 (c = -0.5029; p < 0.01). Subjective social support and utilization of social support play mediating roles in the relationship between attachment style and mental health states, respectively (ab1 = -0.1287, 95% CI: -0.9120 to -0.3341, ab2 = 0.0570, 95% CI: -0.4635 to -0.1132). Conclusion: These findings highlight social support played a mediation role between attachment style and mental health states. Thus, offering social support during a crisis might be useful for those individuals with an insecure attachment.

Dual green hemostatic sponges constructed by collagen fibers disintegrated from Halocynthia roretzi by a shortcut method.

Recently, biomacromolecules have received considerable attention in hemostatic materials. Collagen, an ideal candidate for hemostatic sponges due to its involvement in the clotting process, has been facing challenges in extraction from raw materials, which is time-consuming, expensive, and limited by cultural and religious restrictions associated with traditional livestock and poultry sources. To address these issues, this study explored a new shortcut method that using wild Halocynthia roretzi (HR), a marine fouling organism, as a raw material for developing HR collagen fiber sponge (HRCFs), which employed urea to disrupt hydrogen bonds between collagen fiber aggregates. This method simplifies traditional complex manufacturing processes while utilized marine waste, thus achieving dual green in terms of raw materials and manufacturing processes. FTIR results confirmed that the natural triple-helical structure of collagen was preserved. HRCFs exhibit a blood absorption ratio of 2000-3500 %, attributed to their microporous structure, as demonstrated by kinetic studies following a capillary model. Remarkably, the cytotoxicity and hemolysis ratio of HRCFs are negligible. Furthermore, during in vivo hemostasis tests using rabbit ear and kidney models, HRCFs significantly reduce blood loss and shorten hemostasis time compared to commercial gelatin sponge and gauze, benefiting from the capillary effect and collagen's coagulation activity. This study provides new insights into the design of collagen-based hemostatic biomaterials, especially in terms of both raw material and green manufacturing processes.

A Review of Advanced Abdominal Wall Hernia Patch Materials.

Tension-free abdominal wall hernia patch materials (AWHPMs) play an important role in the repair of abdominal wall defects (AWDs), which have a recurrence rate of <1%. Nevertheless, there are still significant challenges in the development of tailored, biomimetic, and extracellular matrix (ECM)-like AWHPMs that satisfy the clinical demands of abdominal wall repair (AWR) while effectively handling post-operative complications associated with abdominal hernias, such as intra-abdominal visceral adhesion and abnormal healing. This extensive review presents a comprehensive guide to the high-end fabrication and the precise selection of these advanced AWHPMs. The review begins by briefly introducing the structures, sources, and properties of AWHPMs, and critically evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of different types of AWHPMs for AWR applications. The review subsequently summarizes and elaborates upon state-of-the-art AWHPM fabrication methods and their key characteristics (e.g., mechanical, physicochemical, and biological properties in vitro/vivo). This review uses compelling examples to demonstrate that advanced AWHPMs with multiple functionalities (e.g., anti-deformation, anti-inflammation, anti-adhesion, pro-healing properties, etc.) can meet the fundamental clinical demands required to successfully repair AWDs. In particular, there have been several developments in the enhancement of biomimetic AWHPMs with multiple properties, and additional breakthroughs are expected in the near future.

PNANet: Probabilistic Two-Stage Detector Using Pyramid Non-Local Attention.

Object detection algorithms require compact structures, reasonable probability interpretability, and strong detection ability for small targets. However, mainstream second-order object detectors lack reasonable probability interpretability, have structural redundancy, and cannot fully utilize information from each branch of the first stage. Non-local attention can improve sensitivity to small targets, but most of them are limited to a single scale. To address these issues, we propose PNANet, a two-stage object detector with a probability interpretable framework. We propose a robust proposal generator as the first stage of the network and use cascade RCNN as the second stage. We also propose a pyramid non-local attention module that breaks the scale constraint and improves overall performance, especially in small target detection. Our algorithm can be used for instance segmentation after adding a simple segmentation head. Testing on COCO and Pascal VOC datasets as well as practical applications demonstrated good results in both object detection and instance segmentation tasks.

Rational design of formamidine tin-based perovskite solar cell with 30% potential efficiency via 1-D device simulation.

As a promising photovoltaic technology, halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have recently attracted wide attention. This work presents a systematic simulation of low bandgap formamidinium tin iodide (FASnI3)-based p-n heterojunction PSCs to investigate the effects of multiple optoelectronic variations on the photovoltaic performance. The structures of the simulated devices are n-i-p, electron transport layer-free (ETL-free), hole transport layer-free (HTL-free), and inverted HTL-free. The simulation is conducted with the Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator (SCAPS-1D). The power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) dramatically decrease when the acceptor doping density (NA) of the absorber layer exceeds 1016 cm-3. For all devices, the photovoltaic parameters dramatically decrease when the absorber defect density (Nt) is over 1015 cm-3, and the best absorber layer thickness is 1000 nm. It should be pointed out that the Nt and the interface defect layer (IDL) are the primary culprits that seriously affect the device performance. When the interfacial defect density (Nit) exceeds 1012 cm-3, PCEs begin to decline significantly. Therefore, paying attention to these defect layers is necessary to improve the PCE. Furthermore, the proper conduction band offset (CBO) between the electron transport layer (ETL) and absorber layer positively affects PSCs' performance. These simulation results help fabricate highly efficient and environment-friendly narrow bandgap PSCs.

Kinesin-5 Contributes to Spindle-length Scaling in the Evolution of Cancer toward Metastasis.

During natural evolution, the spindles often scale with cell sizes to orchestrate accurate chromosome segregation. Whether in cancer evolution, when the constraints on genome integrity are relaxed, cancer cells may evolve the spindle to confer other advantages has not been investigated. Using invasion as a selective pressure in vitro, we found that a highly metastatic cancer clone displays a lengthened metaphase spindle, with faster spindle elongation that correlates with transiently elevated speed of cell migration. We found that kinesin-5 is upregulated in this malignant clone, and weak inhibition of kinesin-5 activity could revert the spindle to a smaller aspect ratio, decrease the speed of spindle pole separation, and suppress post-mitotic cell migration. A correlation was found between high aspect ratio and strong metastatic potential in cancers that evolved and were selected in vivo, implicating that the spindle aspect ratio could serve as a promising cellular biomarker for metastatic cancer clones.

Biodiesel production by in situ transesterification of municipal primary and secondary sludges.

The potential of using municipal wastewater sludges as a lipid feedstock for biodiesel production was investigated. Primary and secondary sludge samples obtained from a municipal wastewater treatment plant in Tuscaloosa, AL were freeze-dried and subjected to an acid-catalyzed insitu transesterification process. Experiments were conducted to determine the effects of temperature, sulfuric acid concentration, and mass ratio of methanol to sludge on the yield of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). Results indicated a significant interactive effect between temperature, acid concentration, and methanol to sludge mass ratio on the FAME yield for the insitu transesterification of primary sludge, while the FAME yield for secondary sludge was significantly affected by the independent effects of the three factors investigated. The maximum FAME yields were obtained at 75 degrees C, 5% (v/v) H(2)SO(4), and 12:1 methanol to sludge mass ratio and were 14.5% and 2.5% for primary and secondary sludge, respectively. Gas chromatography (GC) analysis of the FAMEs revealed a similar fatty acid composition for both primary and secondary sludge. An economic analysis estimated the cost of $3.23/gallon for a neat biodiesel obtained from this process at an assumed yield of 10% FAMEs/dry weight of sludge.

Fasting triglyceride is a major determinant of postprandial triglyceride response in postmenopausal women.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to examine the relative influences of fasting lipids, insulin resistance, and waist circumference (WC) on postprandial lipemia in postmenopausal women. DESIGN: Forty-nine naturally postmenopausal women were recruited for the study. Each woman underwent a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test to measure insulin resistance and a 1,000-kcal high-fat mixed meal test for postprandial triglyceride (TG) response. RESULTS: The participants were divided into three groups by tertiles of incremental TG response in the mixed meal test. The three groups were comparable in weight, WC, and fasting high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. There were significant differences in fasting TG and non-HDL-C concentrations among the three groups. The women in the high-tertile group were more insulin resistant than those in the low-tertile group, indicated by higher homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) values. The postprandial TG response was significantly correlated with Log(fasting TG), fasting non-HDL-C and Log(HOMA-IR), but not with WC, in univariate regression analyses. Log(fasting TG) was the only variable that remained significantly related to incremental TG response when all the above were entered into multiple regression models. Subsequently, we found that Log(HOMA-IR) and fasting non-HDL-C independently predicted the variance of Log(fasting TG) in stepwise multiple regression. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrated that the fasting TG level is a major determinant of postprandial TG response in postmenopausal women. Insulin resistance and non-HDL-C may contribute independently to the fasting TG level. The influences of WC on postprandial lipemia seemed to be insignificant.

Nalbuphine is effective in decreasing the rewarding effect induced by morphine in rats.

Nalbuphine, a kappa-opioid agonist and mu-opioid partial agonist, has been widely used as an analgesic or an adjuvant with morphine in clinics. In rats, it attenuates tolerance and physical dependence caused by morphine, when co-administered. In this study, we investigated the effect of nalbuphine on morphine reward. Using the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm in rats, we demonstrated that co-administration of nalbuphine (1mg/kg, i.p.) with morphine (5mg/kg, i.p.) during conditioning could completely block the CPP induced by morphine. However, in experiments examining locomotor activity in rats, nalbuphine showed no effect on the development of behavioral sensitization induced by reported morphine administration. In microdialysis experiments, morphine induced a significant increase in the dopamine metabolites 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and homovanillic acid in the shell region of the nucleus accumbens. Co-administration of nalbuphine blocked the increase in dopamine metabolites induced by morphine. These results may be due to the attenuating effect of nalbuphine on the dopaminergic activity of mesolimbic pathways. All of these results suggest nalbuphine could have a great potential as a pharmacotherapy for opiate abuse.