Objectives: Periampullary diverticulum (PAD) is usually incidentally discovered during abdominal imaging, gastrointestinal endoscopy, and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). The influence of PAD on ERCP outcomes is unclear. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to provide an up-to-date evaluation of the impact of PAD on cannulation and ERCP-related complications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Emerging evidence suggests the potential of hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA, statins) as a therapeutic option for dementia.
Objective: The primary objective of this study is to assess the current state of research on statins use in dementia, with a focus on identifying pivotal questions within the field.
Methods: A systemic search for publications on statin use in dementia between 2007 and 2023 was conducted, utilizing the Web of Science Core Collection.
Background: Moderate to severe breast pain has major effects on the quality of life for patients. Patent Chinese medicines are widely used in the treatment of breast pain due to their stable dosage form and good efficacy.
Objective: To evaluate the beneficial effects and safety of Hongjin Xiaojie Capsule (HJXJC), a Chinese patent medicine, for the treatment of cyclical breast pain.
Flexible robotic systems (FRSs) and wearable user interfaces (WUIs) have been widely used in medical fields, offering lower infection risk and shorter recovery, and supporting amiable human-machine interactions (HMIs). Recently, soft electric, thermal, magnetic, and fluidic actuators with enhanced safety and compliance have innovatively boosted the use of FRSs and WUIs across many sectors. Among them, soft hydraulic actuators offer great speed, low noise, and high force density.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Vitamin deficiencies are linked to various eye diseases, and the influence of vitamin D on cataract formation has been noted in prior research. However, detailed investigations into the causal relationship between 25-(OH)D status and cataract development remain scarce.
Aim: To explore a possible causal link between cataracts and vitamin D.
Background: Although chronic erosive gastritis (CEG) is common, its clinical characteristics have not been fully elucidated. The lack of consensus regarding its treatment has resulted in varied treatment regimens.
Aim: To explore the clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and short-term outcomes in CEG patients in China.
The Yongdeng Qishan sheep (QS) is a sheep population found locally in China. To gain in-depth knowledge of its population characteristics, three control groups were chosen, comprising the Lanzhou fat-tailed sheep (LFT), TAN sheep (TAN), and Minxian black fur sheep (MBF), inhabiting the nearby environments. This study genotyped a total of 120 individuals from four sheep populations: QS, LFT, TAN, and MBF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study compared the clinical therapeutic efficacy of syringo-subarachnoid shunt placement with direct tube and T-tube via the dorsal root entry zone (DREZ) approach for treatment of eccentric syringomyelia.
Methods: A retrospective study was performed of 41 patients with idiopathic or secondary eccentric syringomyelia from November 2011 to December 2022. Syringo-subarachnoid shunt placement with direct tube or T-tube via the DREZ approach was performed.
Over the past few decades, flexible piezoelectric devices have gained increasing interest due to their wide applications as wearable sensors and energy harvesters. Poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE), as one of piezoelectric polymers, has caught considerable attention because of its high flexibility, high thermal stability, and biocompatibility. However, its relatively lower piezoelectricity limits its broader applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFlexible and implantable electronics hold tremendous promises for advanced healthcare applications, especially for physiological neural recording and modulations. Key requirements in neural interfaces include miniature dimensions for spatial physiological mapping and low impedance for recognizing small biopotential signals. Herein, a bottom-up mesoporous formation technique and a top-down microlithography process are integrated to create flexible and low-impedance mesoporous gold (Au) electrodes for biosensing and bioimplant applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGeitonogamy is inevitable in hermaphrodite and monecious. Even for self-incompatible species, the negative effects of self-pollen are unavoidable when geitonogamous or self-mating occurs. However, the influence of self-pollen on consecutive development of flowers (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe interface between structural electrodes and solid electrolytes plays a key role in the electrical-mechanical properties of energy storage structures. Herein, we present a surface functionalization method to improve the ion conduction efficiency at the interface between a structural electrode and a solid electrolyte that consists of a bi-continuous network of epoxy and ionic liquid (IL). Composite supercapacitors made with this electrolyte and carbon fiber (CF) electrodes coated with manganese dioxide (MnO) demonstrate that treating the electrodes with the silane can increase the areal capacitance by 300% without degrading the tensile strength.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPremise: Pollinator sharing of co-flowering plants may result in interspecific pollen receipt with a fitness cost. However, the underlying factors that determine the effects of heterospecific pollen (HP) are not fully understood. Moreover, the cost of stigma closure induced by HP may be more severe for plants with special touch-sensitive stigmas than for plants with non-touch-sensitive stigmas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Post-operative delirium (POD) is a serious complication which occurs after surgery, especially in the elderly undergoing abdominal surgery. Increasing evidence has revealed an association between the gut microbiota and psychological disorders involving the "brain-gut" axis. However, the association between the pathogenesis of POD after abdominal surgery in aging and composition of the gut microbiota remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The optimal treatment for pulmonary and mediastinal metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is still controversial, and the therapeutic effect is poor recently. In one case, we demonstrated a long-term survival after postoperative chemoradiotherapy combined with dendritic cell and cytokine-induced killer (DC-CIK) immunotherapy for pulmonary and mediastinal metastases from NPC.
Baseline Characteristics: A 53-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital in June 2008.
In recent years, the scale of shrimp ponds has rapidly increased adjacent to mangrove forests. Discharge of shrimp pond effluent has led to degradation of the surrounding environment and reduction of biodiversity in the estuary. But it remains poorly understood how shrimp pond effluent affects functional traits and functional diversity of mangroves.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWearable sensors are emerging as a new technology to detect physiological and biochemical markers for remote health monitoring. By measuring vital signs such as respiratory rate, body temperature, and blood oxygen level, wearable sensors offer tremendous potential for the noninvasive and early diagnosis of numerous diseases such as Covid-19. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made to develop wearable sensors with high sensitivity, accuracy, flexibility, and stretchability, bringing to reality a new paradigm of remote health monitoring.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEthnopharmacological Relevance: Fangji Huangqi Decoction (FHD) is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). FHD has been hypothesized to inhibit the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process, which may positively impact breast cancer prevention and treatment. However, its exact mechanism of action is still unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
September 2021
Stretchable electronics that can elongate elastically as well as flex are crucial to a wide range of emerging technologies, such as wearable medical devices, electronic skin, and soft robotics. Critical to stretchable electronics is their ability to withstand large mechanical strain without failure while retaining their electrical conduction properties, a feat significantly beyond traditional metals and silicon-based semiconductors. Herein, we present a review of the recent advances in stretchable conductive polymer nanocomposites with exceptional stretchability and electrical properties, which have the potential to transform a wide range of applications, including wearable sensors for biophysical signals, stretchable conductors and electrodes, and deformable energy-harvesting and -storage devices.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: To investigate the clinical application and effect of laparoscopic partial nephrectomy with renal artery branch occlusion in the treatment of early renal tumors.
Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 15 cases of renal tumor patients who underwent partial nephrectomy by laparoscopic selective renal artery branch occlusion in our department from January 2017 to January 2018. Nine male patients and 6 female patients were aged 46 to 65 years, with an average age of 54.
Stochastic point location deals with the problem of finding a target point on a real line through a learning mechanism (LM) with the stochastic environment (SE) offering directional information. The SE can be further categorized into an informative or deceptive one, according to whether p is above 0.5 or not, where p is the probability of providing a correct suggestion of a direction to LM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPoisoning is a type of accidental injury and it is considered a major public health problem worldwide. Oral drug poisoning in children is an important cause of accidental injury and even death. It is a common critical emergency in the field of pediatrics.
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