Comparison of Lignocaine-Dexamethasone vs. Lignocaine-Triamcinolone for Preventing Post Spinal-Epidural Backache: A Randomized Study.

Background: The primary objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of lignocaine-dexamethasone and lignocaine-triamcinolone infiltration, along the spinal-epidural needle insertion pathway, to prevent backache after lower abdominal surgeries.

Methods: This prospective, double-blind randomized controlled study included a total of 150 patients, scheduled for elective lower abdominal surgery under combined spinal-epidural (CSE) anaesthesia. The patients were randomised into three groups Group L (Lignocaine, n=50), Group DL (Dexamethasone, Lignocaine, n=50), and Group TL (Triamcinolone, Lignocaine, n=50).

Assessment of a Single-Element Scanning System for Enhanced Photoacoustic Imaging of Brain Hemorrhage.

The use of photoacoustic brain imaging for hemorrhage detection holds significant clinical importance. This study focuses on the performance of sensitivity and detection capabilities of a single-element scanning system, considering the remarkable signal-to-noise ratio of photoacoustic signals generated by a single-element transducer. By employing blood vessel-like phantoms and ex vivo brain phantoms, we demonstrated the superior efficacy of the single-element scanning method over the transducer array system in the context of brain hemorrhage detection.

Default mode network functional connectivity as a transdiagnostic biomarker of cognitive function.

The default mode network (DMN) is intricately linked with processes such as self-referential thinking, episodic memory recall, goal-directed cognition, self-projection, and theory of mind. Over recent years, there has been a surge in examining its functional connectivity, particularly its relationship with frontoparietal networks (FPN) involved in top-down attention, executive function, and cognitive control. The fluidity in switching between these internal and external modes of processing-highlighted by anti-correlated functional connectivity-has been proposed as an indicator of cognitive health.

Adapting single-walled carbon nanotube-based thin-film transistors to flexible substrates with electrolyte-gated configurations using a versatile tri-layer polymer dielectric.

Flexibility has been a key selling point in the development of carbon-based electronics and sensors with the promise of further development into wearable devices. Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) lend themselves well to applications requiring flexibility while achieving high-performance. Our previous work has demonstrated a tri-layer polymer dielectric composed of poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(vinyl alcohol) with cellulose nanocrystals (PVAc), and toluene diisocyanate-terminated poly(caprolactone) (TPCL), yielding an environmentally benign and solution-processable n-type thin-film transistor (TFT).