Association between grip strength and walking pace with incidence of degenerative cervical myelopathy: a UK biobank observational study.

Purpose: This study investigates the association between handgrip strength, walking pace, and the incidence of degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) using the UK Biobank dataset.

Methods: We analyzed data from 364,716 UK Biobank participants without prior neurological conditions. Handgrip strength was measured with a dynamometer, and walking pace was self-reported.

Nationwide Big Data Analysis of Statin Use and Intracerebral Hemorrhage Risk in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients in Taiwan.

: Although statins are recommended for secondary prevention of acute ischemic stroke, some population-based studies and clinical evidence suggest that they might be used with an increased risk of intracranial hemorrhage. In this nested case-control study, we used Taiwan's nationwide universal health insurance database to investigate the possible association between statin therapy prescribed to acute ischemic stroke patients and their risk of subsequent intracerebral hemorrhage and all-cause mortality in Taiwan. : All data were retrospectively obtained from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database.

A causal examination of the correlation between hormonal and reproductive factors and low back pain.

Background: The relationship between hormonal fluctuations in the reproductive system and the occurrence of low back pain (LBP) has been widely observed. However, the causal impact of specific variables that may be indicative of hormonal and reproductive factors, such as age at menopause (ANM), age at menarche (AAM), length of menstrual cycle (LMC), age at first birth (AFB), age at last live birth (ALB) and age first had sexual intercourse (AFS) on low back pain remains unclear.

Methods: This study employed Bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) using publicly available summary statistics from Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) and FinnGen Consortium to investigate the causal links between hormonal and reproductive factors on LBP.

Genetically proxied PCSK9 inhibition is associated with reduced psoriatic arthritis risk.

Background: Lipid pathways play a crucial role in psoriatic arthritis development, and some lipid-lowering drugs are believed to have therapeutic benefits due to their anti-inflammatory properties. Traditional observational studies face issues with confounding factors, complicating the interpretation of causality. This study seeks to determine the genetic link between these medications and the risk of psoriatic arthritis.

Effect of mechanical stimulation on tissue heterotopic ossification: an experimental study.

Heterotopic ossification of tendons and ligaments (HOTL) is a common clinical condition characterized by the absence of discernible features and a lack of effective treatment. experiments have demonstrated that mechanical stimulation can induce cell differentiation toward osteogenesis, thereby promoting heterotopic ossification. Currently, there are few experimental designs aimed at inducing ligament stretching in mice, and the mechanism of heterotopic ossification may not entirely mirror that observed in clinical cases.

An innovative approach to assess spinal canal expansion following French-door cervical laminoplasty by intraoperative ultrasonography.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of applying intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS) to evaluate spinal canal expansion in patients undergoing French-door cervical laminoplasty (FDCL).

Materials And Methods: Twenty-five patients who underwent FDCL for multilevel degenerative cervical myelopathy were prospectively recruited. Formulae describing the relationship between laminoplasty opening angle (LOA) and laminoplasty opening size, the increase in sagittal canal diameter and the spinal canal area were deduced with trigonometric functions.

Quantitative Analysis of Brain Swelling Resolution With Regard to Cranioplasty After Decompressive Craniectomy.

Objective: Adequate brain swelling resolution prior to cranioplasty (CP) is an important yet loosely defined issue. Despite efforts to balance timely CP and patient safety, heterogeneous study methodologies have led to conflicting results. This study aims to standardize this issue through quantifying degree of brain swelling resolution using a proposed Visual CP Scale.

High-Speed Shift Register with Dual-Gated Thin-Film Transistors for a 31-Inch 4K AMOLED Display.

In this work, a promising dual-gated thin film transistor (TFT) structure has been proposed and introduced in the shift register (SR)-integrated circuits to reduce the rising time. The threshold voltage can be simultaneously changed by the top gate and the bottom gate in the proposed dual-gated TFTs. When the SR circuits start to export the scan signals in the displays, the driving currents in the SR circuits are increased by switching the working station of driving TFTs from the enhancement characterization to the depletion characterization.

Evaluation of the 10 Years' Association Between DXA Screening and Mortality in Patients Who Received Vertebroplasty in the Taiwan Population.

Background: Osteoporotic fractures are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality affecting population worldwide. All guidelines recommended vertebral fracture assessment by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). This study aimed at evaluation of any associated benefits of screening with DXA in patients who had received vertebroplasty in Taiwan.

Adjunctive Statin Therapy Reduces Mortality After Acute Hemorrhagic Stroke.

Background: Statin treatment improves clinical outcomes in patients with ischemic strokes, although there is no evidence regarding the safety of statin therapy in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). This study aimed at evaluating the effects of continuing statin treatment after ICH.

Methods: Data were obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan.

Patient-specific instrumentation improves functional kinematics of minimally-invasive total knee replacements as revealed by computerized 3D fluoroscopy.

Background And Objectives: Minimally-invasive total knee arthroplasty (MIS-TKA) has demonstrated very good short-term success, but its mid- to long-term results remain inconclusive. The success may be related to the tradeoff between a small incision and accurate positioning of the implant components. Patient-specific instrumentation (PSI) aims to improve the accuracy in restoring the knee axis and the clinical outcomes for MIS-TKA, but the results are yet to be confirmed by accurate assessment during functional activities.

Nonresectable Thoracic Rosai-Dorfman Disease: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Introduction: Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD) is a rare disease that can be triggered by either viral or bacterial infection. Several parts of the body can be involved, from the central nervous system to the pelvic regions had been reported. At present, there is a serious lack of guidelines as to how to treat cases of RDD involving the spine.

Inhibition of astrocytic differentiation of transplanted neural stem cells by chondroitin sulfate methacrylate hydrogels for the repair of injured spinal cord.

Neural stem cell (NSC) transplantation exerts a therapeutic effect on spinal cord injury (SCI) but is limited to an unregulated differentiation pattern by which NSCs preferentially differentiate into astrocytes, with relatively few neurons. It is well established that the increased NSC-derived astrocytes exhibit aberrant axonal sprouting associated with allodynia-like symptoms of the forepaws. Some strategies have been used to overcome this issue, such as regulation of major pathways, ex vivo gene transfer, and genetic overexpression.

Interaction of iPSC-derived neural stem cells on poly(L-lactic acid) nanofibrous scaffolds for possible use in neural tissue engineering.

Tissue engineering is a rapidly growing technological area for the regeneration and reconstruction of damage to the central nervous system. By combining seed cells with appropriate biomaterial scaffolds, tissue engineering has the ability to improve nerve regeneration and functional recovery. In the present study, mouse induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were generated from mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) with the non-integrating episomal vectors pCEP4-EO2S-ET2K and pCEP4-miR-302-367 cluster, and differentiated into neural stem cells (NSCs) as transplanting cells.

Charge-transfer and isomerization reactions of trans-4-(N-arylamino)stilbenes.

We studied the excited-state dynamics of trans-4-(N-arylamino)stilbenes with aryl = phenyl (p1H), 4-methoxyphenyl (p1OM), or 4-cyanophenyl (p1CN) in solvents of varied polarity and viscosity by using femtosecond transient absorption and time-correlated single photon counting techniques. In nonpolar solvents the decay is triexponential, in which the rapid component corresponds to vibrational cooling combined with solvation, the intermediate temporal component 41-120 ps to trans-cis isomerization, and the long one ∼1 ns to fluorescence decay of the S state. The S state has a delocalized geometry and charge-transfer characteristics, corresponding to a planar intramolecular charge transfer (PICT) state.

Conformational control of oligo(p-phenyleneethynylene)s with intrinsic substituent electronic effects: origin of the twist in pentiptycene-containing systems.

Dependence of the backbone planarity of oligo(p-phenyleneethynylene)s (OPEs) on the intrinsic electronic character of substituents and on the nature of the solvent has been experimentally demonstrated with a series of center-symmetrical five-ring systems, pentiptycene-pentiptycene-arene-pentiptycene-pentiptycene, differing in the substituents on the central arene. In frozen 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF), the adjacent pentiptycene units prefer to be in a mutually twisted orientation when the substituents are electron-withdrawing (F and amido), resulting in a TPPT or TTTT conformation, whereas a planarized PPPP backbone is favored in the case of electron-donating substituents (alkyl and alkoxy). The propensity to adopt the PPPP form is generally enhanced by replacing MTHF with either methylcyclohexane or mixed ethanol/methanol as solvent.

Multisite constrained model of trans-4-(N,N-dimethylamino)-4'-nitrostilbene for structural elucidation of radiative and nonradiative excited states.

A constrained model compound of trans-4-(N,N-dimethylamino)-4'-nitrostilbene (DNS), namely, compound DNS-B3 that is limited to torsions about the phenyl-nitro C-N bond and the central C═C bond, was prepared to investigate the structural nature of the radiative and nonradiative states of electronically excited DNS. The great similarities in solvent-dependent electronic spectra, fluorescence decay times, and quantum yields for fluorescence (Φf) and trans → cis photoisomerization (Φtc) between DNS and DNS-B3 indicate that the fluorescence is from a planar charge-transfer state and torsion of the nitro group is sufficient to account for the nonradiative decay of DNS. This conclusion is supported by TDDFT calculations on DNS-B3 in dichloromethane.

o-Amino conjugation effect on the photochemistry of trans-aminostilbenes.

The excited-state behavior of a series of trans-2-(N-arylamino)stilbenes (aryl = phenyl (o1H), 4-methylphenyl (o1Me), 4-methoxyphenyl (o1OM), and 4-cyanophenyl (o1CN)) and trans-2-(N,N-diphenylamino)stilbene (o2) in both nonpolar and polar solvents is reported and compared to that of the parent trans-2-aminostilbene and the corresponding meta- and para-isomers (m1R and p1R, where R = H, Me, OM, and CN, and m2 and p2). Two types of torsional motions, the D-A torsion that results in a nonfluorescent twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) state and the C═C torsion that leads to the cis isomers, account for the radiationless decays of o1R and o2. The relative efficiencies of these torsions can be readily evaluated from their quantum yields for fluorescence (Φ(f)) and trans → cis isomerization (Φ(tc)).

Isotruxene-derived cone-shaped organic dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells.

The synthesis, electronic properties, and performance in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) of four cone-shaped organic dyes (ITD, ITD-Th, ITD-Hx, and ITD-OM) containing the isotruxene π-scaffold are reported. Selective substitution of the unsymmetrical isotruxene core with two diarylamino donors and one cyanocarboxylic acid acceptor was achieved by using a prefunctionalized dibromoisotruxene building block. The ortho-para-branched isotruxene core allows strong electronic couplings among the donors and the acceptor, leading to red-shifted absorption profiles with significant charge-transfer character.

Effect of ground-state twisting on the trans --> cis photoisomerization and TICT state formation of aminostilbenes.

The synthesis, X-ray crystal structures, and photochemical behavior of a series of methyl- and ethylene-bridge-substituted trans-4-(N-(4-cyanophenyl)amino)stilbenes (3-8) are reported and compared to those of the parent compound 1CN. Aminostilbene 1CN displays dual fluorescence in polar solvents due to planar and twisted intramolecular charge-transfer (PICT and TICT) states. Alkyl substitution on the stilbene group of 1CN significantly perturbs its photochemistry, including fluorescence, trans --> cis photoisomerization, and TICT state formation.