Efficacy of bone ring grafts for the reconstruction of alveolar ridge deficiencies: A systematic review. Part I: Clinical trials.

BACKGROUND: Bone ring (BR) grafts have been introduced to reconstruct alveolar ridge defects with simultaneous implant placement, but its clinical effectiveness remains undetermined. This systematic review aimed to comprehensively investigate BR grafts in diverse scenarios of ridge defect with simultaneous or staged implant placement. METHODS: Electronic retrieval of MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library(CENTRAL), Web of Science, Scopus, and citation search until August 3, 2023, was used to identify relevant clinical articles that utilized BR grafts for ridge defect reconstruction. The quality of evidence in the studies reviewed was assessed with the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tool. The protocol was registered in Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42023453943). RESULTS: Fourteen studies with 251 BRs were identified, of which 8 studies were for alveolar ridge augmentation, 4 studies were for extraction socket augmentation, and 2 studies were for sinus floor elevation. Reported sources of BRs included autografts, allografts, and xenografts. The follow-up period ranged from 4 months to 4.7 years. Regarding the primary outcomes, the utilization of BR grafts demonstrated favorable bone gain along with acceptable graft absorption and marginal bone loss. Regarding the secondary outcomes, satisfactory bone mineral density and implant stability were confirmed, accompanied by a recorded incidence of postoperative complications (20 cases) and an implant failure rate of 5.58%. CONCLUSIONS: BR grafting with simultaneous or staged implant insertion is an effective approach for reconstructing alveolar ridge deficiencies. The BR grafts demonstrate favorable bone remodeling and osteointegration with the alveolar bone and implant; however, its success may be compromised by complications. Future studies should further investigate the clinical efficacy of BR grafting comparing to other bone augmentation techniques in diverse scenarios.

Occupational low back pain prevention capacity of nurses in China: A multicenter cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Nurses have a high prevalence of occupational low back pain, especially since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased the nurses' workloads. It has brought a huge burden on nurses and their professional development. Nurses' occupational low back pain prevention capacity is the logical starting point and core of interventions to prevent its occurrence. To date, there is no study investigating it with a scientific scale. Therefore, a multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted to explore the current status of nurses' capacity in occupational low back pain prevention and its influencing factors in China. Methods: Using a two-stage, purposive and convenience mixed sampling method, 1331 nurses from 8 hospitals across 5 provinces (Hubei, Zhejiang, Shandong, Henan, and Sichuan) in the southern, western, northern, and central areas of mainland China were involved in this study. The demographic questionnaire and occupational low back pain prevention behavior questionnaire were used for data collection. The descriptive analysis, univariate analysis, and multiple stepwise linear regression were used for data analysis. Results: The results showed that the occupational low back pain prevention behavior questionnaire score was 89.00 (80.00, 103.00) [M (Q1, Q3)], which indicated that nurses' ability was at a moderate level. Participation in prevention training before, perceived stress at work, and working hours per week were predictors for nurses' occupational low back pain prevention capacity. Discussion: To improve nurses' prevention ability, nursing managers should organize various training programs, strengthen regulations to reduce nurses' workload and stress, provide a healthy workplace, and offer incentives to motivate nurses.

Hospice Care Preferences and Its Associated Factors among Community-Dwelling Residents in China.

Hospice care is a comprehensive approach addressing patients' physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs at the end of life (EoL). Despite the recognition of its effectiveness in improving the quality of EoL care, little is known about hospice care in mainland China. In this study, we aimed to examine the preferences for hospice care and its related factors among community-dwelling residents in mainland China. Participants were recruited using a convenience sampling method, and 992 community-dwelling residents responded to an online survey from June 2018 to August 2019. The majority (66.7%) of the participants were female, and the mean age was 48.4 years. Approximately 28% of the participants had heard of hospice care, and 91.2% preferred to receive hospice care if diagnosed with a terminal illness. Participants who had heard of hospice care, and with higher levels of education (bachelor's degree or above) and health insurance coverage were more likely to accept hospice care than their counterparts. Community-based education on hospice care is imperative to improve public knowledge and the acceptance of hospice care. Meanwhile, there is a need to develop policies to integrate and expand hospice care into clinical settings.

Rapid and Label-Free Prenatal Detection of Down's Syndrome Using Body Fluid Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy.

Down's syndrome (DS) is the leading genetic cause of intellectual disability. In this work, the surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) was used for the detection of amniotic fluid and plasma from pregnant women with DS fetus for the first time. High-quality and characteristic spectral features of amniotic fluid and plasma samples from DS groups can be obtained in comparison to normal group. Moreover, principal component analysis with linear discriminant analysis was applied to generate the efficient diagnostic model, achieving accuracies of 94.3% and 88.5% for the DS detection with amniotic fluid and plasma samples, respectively. This preliminary study would provide a novel, convenient and accurate prenatal test based on blood SERS technology for clinical DS screening.

Advance directives and end-of-life care preferences among adults in Wuhan, China: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about advance directives (ADs) and end-of-life (EOL) care preferences among the general population in Mainland China. This study aimed to describe knowledge and attitudes of ADs and EOL care preferences, and to explore factors related to preferences for ADs among Chinese adults. METHODS: The sample included 1114 adult participants in Wuhan, Mainland China. A brief message including the link to the online survey was sent to local residents who were registered at household registration management centers in Wuhan. The questionnaire included information regarding demographics, self-rated health, views on ADs and EOL care. Bivariate analyses and binary forward logistic regression were conducted to examine factors related to ADs preferences of Chinese adults. RESULTS: The average age of the sample was 48.0 years and more than half of the sample was female. 81.8% had never heard of ADs, but 86.6% indicated that they might create one after learning what ADs were. 58% would choose hospice care if they were terminally ill whereas 48.7% of the participants wanted to die at home. 92.3% would want to know their diagnosis and prognosis if ill; however, if their family members were diagnosed with an incurable disease, 50.5% would not tell their ill family member the actual diagnosis and prognosis. Those who had heard of ADs (OR = 1.567, p < 0.001), earned an associate's degree (OR = 2.448, p < 0.001) or a bachelor's degree or higher (OR = 2.382, p < 0.001), and self-rated their health as very poor/poor (OR = 1.002, p = 0.001) were more likely to be willing to make an AD than their counterparts. However, those who were single (OR = 0.149, p < 0.001) or widowed /divorced/separated (OR = 0.405, p = 0.001) were less likely to be willing to make an AD than the married ones. CONCLUSIONS: Chinese adults showed positive attitudes towards ADs. There is an urgent need to promote more educational initiatives and raise awareness on the importance of ADs. It is important to develop more policies and legislation about ADs to improve the quality of EOL care in Mainland China.

Application Progress of Nano Silver Dressing in the Treatment of Diabetic Foot.

Diabetic foot is a serious infection of the lower limbs. It is caused by diabetic neuropathy and vascular disease. It is also the primary cause of disability and death in patients with severe diabetes, so prompt treatment is essential for positive outcomes. The clinical use of nano-silver dressings can be considered to further optimize the treatment process and improve the treatment efficacy in diabetic foot patients. Nano-silver dressings have a larger contact surface and a stronger bactericidal effect when compared to ordinary silver dressings. Besides, it can be disinfected repeatedly to better wound infection control and promote wound healing. The current article discusses the pathogenesis of diabetic foot, diabetic foot dressing treatment, the application of nanotechnology in diabetic foot treatment, the efficacy evaluation of different dressings, and the practical prospects of adopting nanotechnology in the treatment of diabetic foot.

Erratum: Assessment of radiotherapy effect for nasopharyngeal cancer using plasma surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy technology: errata.

[This corrects the article on p. 3413 in vol. 9, PMID: 29984106.].

Human blood test based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy technology using different excitation light for nasopharyngeal cancer detection.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a kind of squamous cell carcinoma, occurs in the top and the side wall of nasopharyngeal, which harms human health and life. In this study, a novel blood test (SERS) was carried out for 30 NPC patients and 30 normal ones. Using multi-variate statistical analysis for spectral data, the diagnostic sensitivities of 89.3% (50/56) and 85.7% (48/56) can be achieved for 633 and 785 nm exciting wavelength, respectively. Also corresponding specificities are 71.4% (41/56) and 78.6% (44/56), respectively. These results demonstrated that the two kinds of excitation wavelength all have the feasibility of obtaining high-quality SERS spectra to differentiate cancer from normal samples. Furthermore, the performance of the SERS test with 785 nm wavelength excitation is nearly equal to the SERS experimental effect under 633 nm wavelength excitation for NPC detection.

A novel urine analysis technique combining affinity chromatography with Au nanoparticle based surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy for potential applications in non-invasive cancer screening.

Modified nucleoside in urine samples is one of the most common biomarkers for cancer screening. Therefore, we developed a novel detection method for modified nucleoside detection in human urine. In this work, the modified nucleoside from real cancer patient's urine samples was first separated and purified using the affinity chromatography (AC) technology relying on its specific adsorption capacity. Then, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technology with the capability of single molecular detection was used to sensitively characterize the biomolecular features of modified nucleoside. A total of 141 high-quality SERS spectra of urinary modified nucleoside can be obtained from 50 gastric cancer patients and 43 breast cancer patients, as well as 48 healthy volunteers. Using principal component analysis combined with linear discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA), the diagnostic sensitivities for identifying gastric cancer vs normal, breast cancer vs normal, gastric cancer vs breast cancer were 84.0%, 76.7% and 82.0%, respectively, and the corresponding diagnostic specificities for each combination were 95.8%, 87.5% and 90.7%, respectively. These results show that this novel method based on urinary modified nucleoside detection combining AC and SERS technologies holds promising potential for developing a specific, non-invasive and label-free tool for cancer screening.

Assessment of the radiotherapy effect for nasopharyngeal cancer using plasma surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy technology.

Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is a malignant tumor of the head and neck, which is extremely sensitive to radiotherapy. The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of a label-free nanobiosensor based on plasma surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to assess the radiotherapy effect in NPC. Here, SERS measurements were performed on plasma samples from 40 pre-treatment and post-treatment NPC as well as 30 healthy volunteers. Results demonstrate that the spectral characteristic of post-treatment samples is obviously different from that of pre-treatment ones, owing to the changes of biomolecules in plasma induced by radiotherapy. Classification sensitivities of 83.3%, 61.8% and 95.1%, and specificities of 91.2%, 67.4% and 93% can be achieved for separating pre- and post-treatment samples, post-treatment and normal samples, and pre-treatment and normal samples, respectively, suggesting the great potential of plasma SERS method as a rapid and convenient tool for radiotherapy assessment and cancer screening in NPC.

Calibration method for projector-camera-based telecentric fringe projection profilometry system.

By combining a fringe projection setup with a telecentric lens, a fringe pattern could be projected and imaged within a small area, making it possible to measure the three-dimensional (3D) surfaces of micro-components. This paper focuses on the flexible calibration of the fringe projection profilometry (FPP) system using a telecentric lens. An analytical telecentric projector-camera calibration model is introduced, in which the rig structure parameters remain invariant for all views, and the 3D calibration target can be located on the projector image plane with sub-pixel precision. Based on the presented calibration model, a two-step calibration procedure is proposed. First, the initial parameters, e.g., the projector-camera rig, projector intrinsic matrix, and coordinates of the control points of a 3D calibration target, are estimated using the affine camera factorization calibration method. Second, a bundle adjustment algorithm with various simultaneous views is applied to refine the calibrated parameters, especially the rig structure parameters and coordinates of the control points forth 3D target. Because the control points are determined during the calibration, there is no need for an accurate 3D reference target, whose is costly and extremely difficult to fabricate, particularly for tiny objects used to calibrate the telecentric FPP system. Real experiments were performed to validate the performance of the proposed calibration method. The test results showed that the proposed approach is very accurate and reliable.