The use of prosthetic meshes in the surgical treatment of inguinal hernia: the costs and profits for the local health screening unit]

BACKGROUND: The appropriate timing of elective coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remains uncertain. It is hypothesized that a waiting period allows the myocardium to recover prior to revascularization, thus decreasing morbidity and mortality. This study was designed to determine if a waiting strategy is justified following AMI in patients requiring elective CABG. METHODS: Between 1994 and 1996, 214 patients underwent isolated, nonrepeat, elective CABG. Three groups were evaluated: group I, control, 155 patients with no AMI; group 11, 39 patients with nontransmural AMI; and Group III, 20 patients with transmural AMI. Demographics, intraoperative, and postoperative variables were collected and compared among all groups. RESULTS: Groups were well-matched demographically: group I, patients waited an average of 2.3 days in hospital prior to operation; group II, an average of 4.2 days; and group III, an average of 5.2 days. Except for the use of inotropes, group I 34%, group 11 39%, and group III 70% (P = 0.007), and the intra-aortic balloon pump, group I 0%, group 11 8%, and group III 25% (P = 0.001). There were no differences in complications. Importantly, there was no difference in mortality or postoperative length of stay. The mortality in group I was 2.6%, in group 11 2.6%, and in group III 0%. The length of stay in groups I and II was 8.5 days, and in group III, 8.1 days. CONCLUSION: A waiting period of 3 to 5 days after a nontransmural AMI and 5 to 7 days after a transmural AMI can produce similar postoperative results to non-AMI patients undergoing CABG. Thus, a waiting strategy to allow the myocardium to recover is justified.     

Clinical application of quiet breathing airway resistance

The article traces the historical development of the prophylactic drug treatment of affective disorders. Prior to the introduction of lithium, standard anti-depressant drugs were used for maintenance treatment. Historically, lithium did not introduce prophylactic treatment. It did, however, dramatically advance the concept and administration of the prophylactic treatment of affective disorders. Specific criteria must now be developed to determine the duration of prophylactic treatment in terms of individual illness profiles. Therapeutic goals and clinical problems in the administration of treatment represent a main part of the paper.     

IgM and IgG Immunoreactivity of SARS-CoV-2 Recombinant M Protein

Diagnostic evaluation of specific antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus is mainly based on spike (S) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins. Despite the critical functions in virus infection and contribution to the pattern of immunodominance in COVID-19, exploitation of the most abundant membrane (M) protein in the SARS-CoV-2 serology tests is minimal. This study investigated the recombinant M protein’s immunoreactivity with the sera from COVID-19 convalescents. In silico designed protein was created from the outer N-terminal part (19 aa) and internal C-terminal tail (101–222 aa) of the M protein ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"YP_009724393.1","term_id":"1796318601","term_text":"YP_009724393.1"}}YP_009724393.1) and was recombinantly produced and purified. The designed M protein (16,498.74 Da, pI 8.79) revealed both IgM and IgG reactivity with serum samples from COVID-19 convalescents in Western blot. In ELISA, more than 93% (28/30) of COVID-19 sera were positive for IgM detection, and more than 96% (29/30) were positive for specific IgG detection to M protein. Based on the capacity to provoke an immune response and its strong antigenic properties, as shown here, and the fact that it is also involved in the virion entry into host cells, the M protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as a good antigen has the potential in diagnostic purposes and vaccine design.     

The effects of nanoparticle shape and orientation on the low frequency dielectric properties of nanocomposites

In this paper, we examine the effects of aspect ratio and orientational order of nanoparticles on the dielectric properties of nanocomposites. The motivation is to clearly establish the effects of orientational order, since ambiguities exist in the literature. We focus on metallic nanoparticles, and show that, in the dilute concentration limit, theory, experiments and numerical simulations all unequivocally indicate that the effective dielectric constant increases with increasing aspect ratio and increasing degree of alignment of rod-like nanoparticles when they orient in direction of the electric field.     

OLED显示技术的专利分析

介绍了OLED显示的工作原理、发展历程及关键技术,通过对涉及OLED显示技术的中国专利申请进行检索,对检索结果在申请数量时间分布、专利申请类型、主要申请人、申请人国家/地区分布以及技术领域等几方面进行了统计分析,从统计结果可以看出OLED显示技术以日本和韩国占主导地位,并自2000年来专利申请量一直保持着逐年上升的趋势.     

Enhancement of experimental colon cancer by genistein

Several phytochemicals and micronutrients that are present in fruits and vegetables are known to exert cancer chemopreventive effects in several organs, including the colon. Among them, the soybean isoflavonoid genistein received much attention due to its potential anticarcinogenic, antiproliferative effects and its potential role in several signal transduction pathways. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of genistein on azoxymethane (AOM)-induced colon carcinogenesis and to study its modulatory role on the levels of activity of 8-isoprostane, cyclooxygenase (COX), and 15-hydroxyprostaglandin F2alpha dehydrogenase (15-PGDH) in the colonic mucosa and colon tumors of male F344 rats. At 5 weeks of age, groups of male F344 rats were fed control (AIN-76A) diet or a diet containing 250 ppm genistein. Beginning 2 weeks later, all animals except those in the vehicle-treated groups were given weekly s.c. injections of AOM (15 mg/kg body weight) for 2 successive weeks. All rats were continued on their respective dietary regimen for 52 weeks after AOM treatment and were then sacrificed. Colon tumors were evaluated histopathologically. Colonic mucosae and tumors were analyzed for COX, 15-PGDH, and 8-isoprostane levels. Administration of genistein significantly increased noninvasive and total adenocarcinoma multiplicity (P < 0.01) in the colon, compared to the control diet, but it had no effect on the colon adenocarcinoma incidence nor on the multiplicity of invasive adenocarcinoma (P > 0.05). Also, genistein significantly inhibited the 15-PGDH activity (>35%) and levels of 8-iosoprostane (50%) in colonic mucosa and in tumors. In contrast, genistein had no significant effect on the COX synthetic activity, as measured by the rate of formation of prostaglandins and thromboxane B2 from [14C]arachidonic acid. The results of this investigation emphasize that the biological effects of genistein may be organ specific, inhibiting cancer development in some sites yet showing no effect or an enhancing effect on the tumorigenesis at other sites, such as the colon. The inhibition of 8-isoprostane levels by genistein indicates its possible antioxidant potential, which is independent of the observed colon tumor enhancement, yet this agent may also possess several biological effects that overshadow its antioxidant potential. The exact mechanism(s) of colon tumor enhancement by genistein remain to be elucidated; it is likely that its colon tumor-enhancing effects may, at least in part, be related to inhibition of prostaglandin catabolic enzyme activities.     

Wayside system for wheel–rail contact forces measurements

The system for assessment of the wheel–rail contact forces can be used for multiple purposes, among them for estimation of the train running safety, for train axle load measuring or wheel flats detection, as well as for the other research analyses. As the wheel–rail rolling contact moves along the track during train motion, it is very difficult to establish a reliable and accurate system for measuring of contact forces. Measurement principle of the wayside system, presented in this paper, is based on rail strains measurements using strain gauges, connected into the Wheatstone bridges in a smart way, in order to achieve signal proportional to applied load. This principle uses independent component analysis (ICA) model in combination with system calibration for successful separation of vertical and lateral contact forces from recorded strain signals. In addition, the system provides identification of the contact point position on the rail during train passing over it, which further expands the possibilities of its application to wheel–rail wear analysis, contact geometry optimization etc.     

The impact of fullerenol nanoparticles on the growth of toxigenic Aspergillus flavus and aflatoxins production in vitro and in corn flour

Antifungal and antimycotoxigenic activity of fullerenol nanoparticles (FNPs) were investigated on Aspergillus flavus growth isolated from a real food sample and aflatoxins (AFs) (AFB₁ and AFB₂) production. The final FNPs concentrations in in vitro and in commercial corn flour after the stationary incubation period of 7 and 14 days were in the range 0.16–80 µg/mL and 0.16–80 µg/g, respectively. Nanocharacterization of FNPs revealed an average size of 5–20 nm and a zeta potential of −35 mV. The highest degree of A. flavus mycelium growth inhibition (28%) after 7 days was observed for applied FNP concentration of 8.0 µg/mL, while after 14 days FNP concentration of 0.32 µg/mL led to the maximal inhibition of A. flavus mycelium growth (36%). Spearman's correlations analysis revealed a strong positive correlation between AFB₁ and AFB₂ concentrations in YES broth after 7 (R = 0.994, p < 0.05) and 14 days (R = 0.976), as well as between AFs concentrations and A. flavus mycelium mass after 7 (R = 0.786 for AFB₁ and R = 0.766 for AFB₂) and 14 days (R = 0.810 for AFB₁ and R = 0.833 for AFB₂). Paired samples t-test showed the existence of a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the produced AFs concentrations after the incubation of 7 and 14 days. Regarding the artificially inoculated corn flour the lower applied FNP concentrations (0.16–0.8 µg/g) achieved a reduction of AFB₁ up to 42% and 60% after 7 and 14 days, respectively.