The aim of this study was to measure the movement of the cervical spine in healthy volunteers and patients with cervical spondylosis (CS) and describe the actual motion of the cervical spine using a ...three-dimensional (3D) CT reconstruction method. The results can enrich current biomechanical data of cervical spine and help to find the differences between the noted two groups.
20 healthy volunteers underwent CT examination ranging from the clivus of the occiput (Oc) to the top of first thoracic vertebrae (T1) in a neutral position with left or right maximal axial rotation, while 26 CS patients received the same CT scan procedures in the neutral position with left and right maximum rotation. Subsequently, the three-dimensional images of the occiput and every cervical vertebrae (C1-C7) were reconstructed using medical software. 3 virtual non-collinear markers were placed on the prominent structures of foramen magnum and every cervical vertebrae. Then, the 3D orthogonal spatial coordinates were defined with these anatomical markers to represent the orientation and position of every vertebra. Segmental relative motions were calculated using Cardan angles in the 3D spatial coordinates. Finally, the differences between the two groups were analyzed with statistical software SPSS.
The cervical spine exhibited complicated 3D movements, which could be adequately described using the three-dimensional CT reconstruction method. Reliability analysis of the 3D CT reconstruction method showed inter-rater ICC of 0.90-0.99 and intra-rater ICC of 0.91-0.98, suggesting very good consistency. Besides, the rotation at the upper cervical spine (Oc-C2) took up at least 60% of the total cervical rotation. The coupled lateral bending movement of the upper cervical spine was opposite to the major motion, while the movement of the lower cervical spine followed the same direction as that of the major motion. Oc to C5 segments were all coupled with the back-extension movement. The relative translations of all adjacent segments in each direction were minimal. CS patients showed a significant decrease in the movement of the C4-C5 segment compared with healthy volunteers.
The motion of the cervical spine was complicated and three-dimensional. The CT reconstruction method employed here was good at describing such movement. The 3D CT reconstruction method exhibited high reproducibility when measuring cervical spine movement. CS patients and healthy volunteers showed significant differences in the movement of some segments.
Substrate‐supported metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) films are desired to realize their potential in practical applications. Herein, a novel substrate‐seeding secondary‐growth strategy is developed to ...prepare composites of uniform MOFs films on aerogel walls. Briefly, the organic ligand is “pre‐seeded” onto the aerogel walls, and then a small amount of metal‐ion solution is sprayed onto the prepared aerogel. The sprayed solution diffuses along the aerogel walls to form a continuous thin layer, which confines the nucleation reaction, promoting the formation of uniform MOFs films on the aerogel walls. The whole process is simple in operation, highly efficient, and eco‐friendly. The resulting hierarchical MOFs/aerogel composites have abundant accessible active sites and enable excellent mass transfer, which endows the composite with outstanding catalytic activity and stability in both liquid‐phase CO2 cycloaddition and electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) process.
Metal–organic framework (MOF) thin films are coated onto the walls of aerogel giving MOFs/aerogel composites. These have abundant accessible active sites and excellent mass transfer ability, and thus a relatively high catalytic activity and stability in the CO2 cycloaddition and oxygen evolution reaction (OER).
Abstract
We explore a possible time variation of the fine structure constant (
α
≡
e
2
/
ℏ
c
) using the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect measurements of galaxy clusters along with their X-ray observations. ...Specifically, the ratio of the integrated Comptonization parameter
Y
SZ
D
A
2
and its X-ray counterpart
Y
X
is used as an observable to constrain the bounds on the variation of
α
. Considering the violation of the cosmic distance duality relation, this ratio depends on the fine structure constant of ∼
α
3
. We use the quintessence model to provide the origin of
α
time variation. In order to give a robust test on
α
variation, two galaxy cluster samples, the 61 clusters provided by the Planck collaboration and the 58 clusters detected by the South Pole Telescope (SPT), are collected for analysis. Their X-ray observations are given by the XMM-Newton survey. Our results give
ζ
=
−
0.203
−
0.099
+
0.101
for the Planck sample and
ζ
=
−
0.043
−
0.148
+
0.165
for the SPT sample, indicating that
α
is constant with redshift within 3
σ
and 1
σ
for the two samples, respectively.
Coronary heart disease (CHD), a cardiovascular condition that poses a significant threat to human health and life, has imposed a substantial economic burden on the world. However, in contrast to ...conventional risk factors, depression emerges as a novel and independent risk factor for CHD. This condition impacts the onset and progression of CHD and elevates the risk of adverse cardiovascular prognostic events in those already affected by CHD. As a result, depression has garnered increasing global attention. Despite this growing awareness, the specific mechanisms through which depression contributes to the development of CHD remain unclear. Existing research suggests that depression primarily influences the inflammatory response, Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA) and Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) dysfunction, platelet activation, endothelial dysfunction, lipid metabolism disorders, and genetics, all of which play pivotal roles in CHD development. Furthermore, the effectiveness and safety of antidepressant treatment in CHD patients with comorbid depression and its potential impact on the prognosis of CHD patients have become subjects of controversy. Further investigation is warranted to address these unresolved questions.
Previous observational investigations have indicated a potential association between relative dietary macronutrient intakes and atrial fibrillation and flutter (AF) risk. In this study, we employed ...Mendelian Randomization (MR) to evaluate the presence of causality and to elucidate the specific causal relationship.
We employed six, five, and three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as instrumental variables for relative carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake, identified from a genome-wide association study that included 268,922 individuals of European descent. Furthermore, we acquired summary statistics for genome-wide association studies on AF from the FinnGen consortium, which involved 22,068 cases and 116,926 controls. To evaluate the causal estimates, we utilized the random effect inverse variance weighted method (IVW) and several other MR methods, including MR-Egger, weighted median, and MR-PRESSO, to confirm the robustness of our findings.
Our analysis indicates a convincing causal relationship between genetically predicted relative carbohydrate and protein intake and reduced AF risk. Inverse variance weighted analysis results for carbohydrates (OR = 0.29; 95% CI (0.14, 0.59); P < 0.001) and protein (OR = 0.47; 95% CI (0.26, 0.85); P = 0.01) support this association. Our MR analysis did not identify a significant causal relationship between relative fat intake and AF risk.
Our study provides evidence supporting a causal relationship between higher relative protein and carbohydrate intake and a lower risk of atrial fibrillation (AF).
Acupuncture has been widely used in stroke and post-stroke rehabilitation (PSR), but there is no literature on the bibliometric analysis of acupuncture for stroke. This study aimed to characterize ...the global publications and analyze the trends of acupuncture for stroke in the past 40 years. We identified 1157 publications from the Web of Science Core Collection. The number of publications grew slowly in the first three decades from 1980 until it started to grow after 2010, with significant growth in 2011-2012 and 2019-2020. China, the USA, and South Korea are the top three countries in this field, and China has formed good internal cooperative relations. Early studies focused on the clinical efficacy of acupuncture for stroke. In the last five years, more emphasis has been placed on the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating sequelae and complications, combined with neuroimaging studies to explore the mechanisms of brain injury repair and neurological recovery. Acupuncture for stroke has a vast research potential, and researchers from different countries/regions and organizations still need to remove academic barriers to enhance communication and collaboration. Keywords: Acupuncture, Stroke, Bibliometric analysis, Global trends, Brain disease
Diabetic nephropathy (DN) represents a significant microvascular complication in diabetes, entailing intricate molecular pathways and mechanisms associated with cardiorenal vascular diseases. ...Prolonged hyperglycemia induces renal endothelial dysfunction and damage via metabolic abnormalities, inflammation, and oxidative stress, thereby compromising hemodynamics. Concurrently, fibrotic and sclerotic alterations exacerbate glomerular and tubular injuries. At a macro level, reciprocal communication between the renal microvasculature and systemic circulation establishes a pernicious cycle propelling disease progression. The current management approach emphasizes rigorous control of glycemic levels and blood pressure, with renin-angiotensin system blockade conferring renoprotection. Novel antidiabetic agents exhibit renoprotective effects, potentially mediated through endothelial modulation. Nonetheless, emerging therapies present novel avenues for enhancing patient outcomes and alleviating the disease burden. A precision-based approach, coupled with a comprehensive strategy addressing global vascular risk, will be pivotal in mitigating the cardiorenal burden associated with diabetes.
Despite being widely used as electron acceptor in polymer solar cells, commercially available PC71BM (phenyl‐C71‐butyric acid methyl ester) usually has a “random” composition of mixed regioisomers or ...stereoisomers. Here PC71BM has been isolated into three typical isomers, α‐, β1‐ and β2‐PC71BM, to establish the isomer‐dependent photovoltaic performance on changing the ternary composition of α‐, β1‐ and β2‐PC71BM. Mixing the isomers in a ratio of α/β1/β2=8:1:1 resulted in the best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.67 % for the polymer solar cells with PTB7:PC71BM as photoactive layer (PTB7=poly4,8‐bis(2‐ethylhexyl)oxybenzo1,2‐b:4,5‐b′dithiophene‐2,6‐diyl3‐fluoro‐2‐(2‐ethylhexyl)carbonylthieno3,4‐bthiophenediyl). The three typical PC71BM isomers, even though sharing similar LUMO energy levels and light absorption, render starkly different photovoltaic performances with average‐performing PCE of 1.28–7.44 % due to diverse self‐aggregation of individual or mixed PC71BM isomers in the otherwise same polymer solar cells.
Special blend: PC71BM has been isolated into three typical isomers, α‐, β1‐ and β2‐PC71BM, to optimize the best electron acceptor of ternary blends of isomeric PC71BM. A α‐β1‐β2 triangle “PCE phase diagram” (see figure) for polymer solar cells with the structure ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PTB7:PC71BM/Ca/Al has also been plotted for the first time.
Constructing metal nanoparticle (MNP) composites from metal–organic framework (MOF) precursors has attracted extensive attention as the MOF precursors provide an excellent porous matrix for the ...generation of MNP composites, which enables the direct fabrication of well-dispersed MNP composites. In this work, a novel strategy is proposed to fabricate MNP composites by slow chemical reduction (SCR) of MOF precursors at room temperature. The reduction process is skillfully slowed via using ethanol as the solvent, and the formation of MNP composites is then realized by the SCR process. Briefly, BH4 – slowly diffuses into an MOF precursor and in situ reduces metal ions to well-dispersed nanoscale MNP composites. Meanwhile, this SCR process breaks the coordination bonds from MOF precursors, leading to the generation of porous structures for the resulting composites. Interestingly, the composites inherit the morphology of MOF precursors well. Besides, this SCR strategy allows construction of MNP composites from different types of MOF precursors. The resulting Cu@HK-3 composites possess well-dispersed nanoscale Cu NPs and a porous architecture, which exhibit superior catalytic performance and stability in the Ullmann coupling reaction. This strategy provides a feasible, convenient, and energy-saving route to prepare MNP composites from MOF precursors with customizable morphology and well-dispersed MNPs.
An interesting reversible shape and structure transformation between two types of two-dimensional (2D) metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) has been successfully achieved by the spray method. The ability ...to precisely control the morphology and structure of 2D MOFs is also developed by altering the amount of MOF precursors and reversing the spray order. Meanwhile, the mechanism of the transformation between two MOFs is studied and conversion is induced by the change of the acidity in the reaction system. In addition, the prepared non-interpenetrate CuBDC twists exhibit more remarkable catalytic performance in C–S coupling reaction than Cu(BDC)(DMF) nanosheets owing to the more unsaturated coordination copper active sites from the non-interpenetrate structure. The catalytic result reveals the relationship between structure and function.
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