Advances in Exosome-Based Therapies for the Repair of Peripheral Nerve Injuries.

Peripheral nerve injuries (PNIs) are the term used to describe injuries that occur to the nerve fibers of the peripheral nervous system (PNS). Such injuries may be caused by trauma, infection, or aberrant immunological response. Although the peripheral nervous system has a limited capacity for self-repair, in cases of severe damage, this process is either interrupted entirely or is only partially completed. The evaluation of variables that promote the repair of peripheral nerves has consistently been a focal point. Exosomes are a subtype of extracellular vesicles that originate from cellular sources and possess abundant proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, play a critical role in facilitating intercellular communication. Due to their modifiable composition, they possess exceptional capabilities as carriers for therapeutic compounds, including but not limited to mRNAs or microRNAs. Exosome-based therapies have gained significant attention in the treatment of several nervous system diseases due to their advantageous properties, such as low toxicity, high stability, and limited immune system activation. The objective of this review article is to provide an overview of exosome-based treatments that have been developed in recent years for a range of PNIs, including nerve trauma, diabetic neuropathy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), glaucoma, and Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). It was concluded that exosomes could provide favorable results in the improvement of peripheral PNIs by facilitating the transfer of regenerative factors. The development of bioengineered exosome therapy for PNIs should be given more attention to enhance the efficacy of exosome treatment for PNIs.

Extracellular Vesicles and Exosomes: Novel Insights and Perspectives on Lung Cancer from Early Detection to Targeted Treatment.

Lung cancer demands innovative approaches for early detection and targeted treatment. In addressing this urgent need, exosomes play a pivotal role in revolutionizing both the early detection and targeted treatment of lung cancer. Their remarkable capacity to encapsulate a diverse range of biomolecules, traverse biological barriers, and be engineered with specific targeting molecules makes them highly promising for both diagnostic markers and precise drug delivery to cancer cells. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis of exosomal content and biogenesis offers crucial insights into the molecular profile of lung tumors. This knowledge holds significant potential for the development of targeted therapies and innovative diagnostic strategies for cancer. Despite notable progress in this field, challenges in standardization and cargo loading persist. Collaborative research efforts are imperative to maximize the potential of exosomes and advance the field of precision medicine for the benefit of lung cancer patients.

XPM estimation and compensation in the WDM system based on a low-complexity inner FEC.

In this work, we focus on compensation of inter-channel nonlinearity in optical wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) systems. We consider pre-coding with a high-rate forward error correction (FEC) code and a low-complexity and low-latency decoding and equalization scheme at the receiver. The 2 × 2 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) recursive least square (RLS) equalizer is applied to reduce the inter-symbol interference (ISI) caused by the inter-channel nonlinearity, while the decoder improves the quality of the data feedback. Decisions based on feedback reliability have been implemented to prevent error propagation. We demonstrate that our system can readily utilize the inner FEC part of a mainstream concatenated optical FEC designs such as the 400ZR standard FEC. We evaluate the proposed algorithm for the dual-polarization 16QAM and 256QAM optical links. Based on our simulation results, the Q-factor has been increased by 0.36 and 0.67 dB for the 16QAM and 256QAM, respectively. The optimum launch power has been increased by 0.4 dB for both cases.

Neural network architectures for optical channel nonlinear compensation in digital subcarrier multiplexing systems.

In this work, we propose to use various artificial neural network (ANN) structures for modeling and compensation of intra- and inter-subcarrier fiber nonlinear interference in digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) optical transmission systems. We perform nonlinear channel equalization by employing different ANN cores including convolutional neural networks (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) layers. First, we develop a fiber nonlinearity compensation for DSCM systems based on a fully-connected network across all subcarriers. In subsequent steps, and borrowing from the perturbation analysis of fiber nonlinearity, we gradually upgrade proposed designs towards modular structures with better performance-complexity advantages. Our study shows that putting proper macro structures in design of ANN nonlinear equalizers in DSCM systems can be crucial in development of practical solutions for future generations of coherent optical transceivers.

Real-time measurement of a probabilistic-shaped 200Gb/s DP-16QAM transceiver.

Continuous real-time measurements are demonstrated from a 200Gb/s format configurable CFP transceiver that uses dual-polarization probabilistic-shaped 16QAM (DP-PS16QAM) modulation. Placed in a 50GHz coherent DWDM transmission system, DP-PS16QAM achieves a back-to-back 1.8dB OSNR gain over uniform DP-16QAM. It also transports over 1940km with EDFA-only amplification, thus doubling propagation distance of uniform DP-16QAM. Furthermore, a 1Tb/s super-channel consisting of five 200Gb/s DP-PS16QAM sub-carriers is placed in a 200GHz grid, and it achieves over 1600km transmission and 5b/s/Hz SE with a raw SE at 6.86b/s/Hz.

Prevalence of peri-implantitis in patients not participating in well-designed supportive periodontal treatments: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: This retrospective cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of biologic complications of implants in patients treated by fixed implant supported prosthesis without regular maintenance program. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred thirty-four patients with 478 implants, installed during a 10-year period (2001-2010), were recruited for clinical and radiographic follow-up examinations. The periodontal and implant health status were assessed to determine the prevalence of peri-implant diseases. RESULTS: The mean ± SD loading time for implants was 4.43 ± 2.25 years. Fifty-five percentage of the implants were tissue-level implants. Peri-implantitis was diagnosed in 20% of patients and 8.8% of implants. Subject-based and implant-based prevalence of mucositis amounted to 48.5% and 40%, respectively. Mean crestal bone loss in tissue-level and bone-level implants were 0.28 ± 0.53 mm and 1.37 ± 1.5 mm, respectively. Smoking and lack of keratinized mucosa was associated with peri-implantitis at an odds ratio of OR = 2.57 and 3.89, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: After a 5-year period of loading without any regular maintenance program, one out of five patients would experience peri-implantitis. Tissue-level implants had lower values of peri-implantitis prevalence and crestal bone loss.

Trellis-based feed-forward carrier recovery for coherent optical systems.

An efficient trellis-based phase noise mitigation algorithm is proposed to highly improve the performance of coherent transmission systems, especially in high order modulation formats. The proposed method targets the coherent optical systems where the performance is limited by various sources of phase noise including laser line-width, fiber non-linearity, and phase noise induced by phase-locked loop. Considering hardware limitations of ultra-high data rate processing in optical systems, a hardware-efficient parallelized and pipelined architecture is utilized. Experimental results in 200 Gb/s DP-16QAM co-propagated with 10-G channels demonstrate significant performance improvement over other existing methods.

The Impact of Allopurinol on Patients With Acute ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction Undergoing Thrombolytic Therapy.

Allopurinol may have protective effects over ischemic reperfusion injury and reduce infarct size. In this randomized study, we aimed to evaluate the impact of allopurinol in patients with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing thrombolytic therapy. Overall, 140 patients with STEMI were randomly assigned to receive 400 mg of allopurinol or placebo before treating with streptokinase. Then, study group received 100 mg of allopurinol daily for 28 days and placebo group received placebo for the same period. ST resolution rate in 90 minutes, in-hospital mortality, and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were compared. Compared to placebo group, patients receiving allopurinol had significantly higher rate of ST resolution rate ≥50% (68.8% vs. 50%, P = 0.04) and lower levels of peak Creatine kinase (CK) (P = 0.003), Creatine Kinase-MB (CK-MB) (P = 0.005), and Cardiac Troponin I (CTnI) (P < 0.001). Also, patients in allopurinol group had significantly lower rate of in-hospital MACE (P = 0.03), but there was no significant difference between groups regarding in-hospital mortality and cardiac events. In patients admitted with STEMI who are candidates of thrombolytic therapy, allopurinol is associated with better 90-minute ST resolution, lower enzymatically determined infarct size, and in-hospital MACE. More powerful studies are needed to determine the effect on mortality.

Effects of Immediate and Delayed Loading on the Outcomes of All-on-4 Treatment: A Prospective Study.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes of immediate and delayed rehabilitation of edentulous jaws by means of two straight and two tilted implants after one year of function. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty consecutive patients (16 males, 14 females) were enrolled in this study. Two anterior straight and two posterior tilted implants were placed in each patient. According to the implant insertion torque and the need for bone grafting, implants were loaded immediately (at 72 hours) or delayed (after four months) using a fixed metal resin prosthesis. RESULTS: One axial implant failed in the delayed group after one year of loading, resulting in cumulative implant survival rate of 99.3%. The mean marginal bone loss was 0.84mm. No significant difference was found between axial and tilted implants in the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results, immediate or delayed fabrication of final prosthesis on two tilted and two axial implants did not result in significant differences in survival rates or marginal bone loss.

Use of the Finnish method to quantify the ergonomic properties in an office environment among the workplaces in an Electricity Distribution Company in West Tehran Province.

BACKGROUND: The workplace plays an important role in workers' performances, but most workplaces have not been designed and equipped in keeping with primary ergonomic principles. Ignoring these principles can cause ergonomic risk factors, difficulties for workers, and damage to workers' health. The aim of this study was to identify acceptable ergonomic properties in workplaces in order to determine and investigate the aspects of workstations that cause occupational discomfort. To accomplish this aim, we used the Finish method to evaluate workstations in an electricity distribution company in Tehran. METHODS: This cross sectional study was conducted for all of the workstations in an electrical power distribution company using the census method. The desired information was collected through objective observation using the Finish checklist of ergonomic issues in the workplace. Then, we used SPSS version 16 to analyze the information. RESULTS: In 11.2% of the workstations, none of the ergonomic principles was considered, so workers' bodied were not situated appropriately while they were working. In 31% of the cases, lighting ranged between 10% and 50% of the recommended amount, and some of the workers appeared to be in a slight daze. In 42.3% of the cases, the temperature in the workplace was in the range of 25 to 27°C. In 42.3 and 52.3% of the cases, ratings of noise were 2 and 3, respectively, indicating that the noise levels were 60-70 dB and 70-80 dB, respectively. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study can be used to determine ergonomic deficiencies in workstations so they can be resolved. Based on our investigation, it was found that the workstations, first and foremost, had significant defects in terms of work components. Furthermore, there were some irritating problems concerning noise and concerning comfort levels related to the high temperature.

Analysis of electrical accidents and the related causes involving citizens who are served by the Western of Tehran.

BACKGROUND: Electrical burns account for a significant percentage of fatal accidents. Each year, a number of consumers in Iran suffer from electrical injuries due to technical problems, equipment failures, and the unauthorized use of electricity. The aim of this study was to examine the root causes of accidents that involved electricity in the district served by the Western Tehran Province Electricity Distribution Company. METHODS: This was a descriptive study in which incidents involving electricity-related injuries were investigated among customers served by the Western Tehran Province Electricity Distribution Company. Therefore, we collected and analyzed incident reports filed by citizens from 2005 through the first half of 2009 in the Distribution Company's coverage area, including Savejbolagh, Shahriyar, eastern Karaj, Qods City, southern Karaj, western Karaj, Malard, and Mehrshahr. The reported events were analyzed using SPSS software. RESULTS: Exposure of electricity lines and unauthorized construction of residential houses in areas where there were medium- and low-voltage lines were responsible for 37% of the injuries. The findings showed that the highest rate of accidents occurred in 2008 and the first half of 2009. The highest rate of accidents occurred among people with a mean age of 35. CONCLUSION: The results from investigating the causes of electrical accidents emphasized the necessity of developing a culture of safety in communities, especially among employees who are engaged in occupations related to electricity, construction workers, and school children to reduce the rate of such accidents.