•The superior cutting plane plays an important role in the stability of the TTO.•The configuration of two parallel downward screws provides the best stability.•The configuration of two parallel ...upward screws is not recommended for the fixation of TTO.
To date, the effects of various screw configurations on the stability of tibial tubercle osteotomy (TTO) are not completely understood. Hence, the first aim of this study is to evaluate the stability of TTO under various screw configurations. The second aim is to evaluate the internal stresses in the bone and the contact forces on the bone fragment that are developed by the tibia and screws in response to the applied load after the equilibrant is revealed.
To calculate the biomechanical responses of the bone and screw under loading, finite element (FE) method was used in this study. Six types of screw configurations were studied in the simulation: two parallel horizontal screws placed at a 20 mm interval, two parallel horizontal screws placed at a 30 mm interval, two parallel upward screws, two parallel downward screws, two trapezoid screws, and two divergent screws. The displacement of the bone fragment, contact forces on the fragment, and the internal stress in the bone were used as indices for comparison.
Among all configurations, the configuration of two parallel downward screws yielded the highest stability with the lowest fragment displacement and gap opening. Although the maximum displacement of the TTO with the configuration of two parallel horizontal screws was slightly higher than that of the downward configuration, the difference was only 0.2 mm. The configuration of two upward screws resulted in the highest fragment displacement and gap deformation between the fragment and tibia. The stress of the osteotomized bone fragment was highest with the configuration of two upward screws.
Based on the present model, the current configuration of two parallel horizontal screws is recommended for TTO. If this is inappropriate in a specific clinical scenario, then the downward screw configuration may be used as an alternative. By contrast, the configuration of two parallel upward screws is least suggested for the fixation of TTO.
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•Eu-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrothermal method.•Eu-TiO2 catalyst was used for photocatalytic CO2 reduction with H2O under visible light irradiation.•The ...optimized photocatalyst demonstrates much higher CH4 and CO yields than TiO2.
The Eu-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were successfully prepared by a simple sol-gel method. The properties of the catalysts were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), N2 adsorption-desorption, UV–vis diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The results indicated that Eu-TiO2 catalysts had a high specific surface area, enhanced visible light response and low recombination rate of electron-hole pairs. The photocatalytic performances of Eu-TiO2 catalysts for CO2 reduction were investigated under 9 h irradiation of a 300 W Xe arc lamp. The maximum yields of CH4 and CO over the optimized Eu-TiO2 catalyst were 65.53 μmol/g.cat and 42.91 μmol /g.cat, respectively, which were approximately 13 times and 1 times higher than that of pure TiO2. The enhanced photocatalytic performance could be ascribed to the high-efficiency separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs.
La1?x Sr x FeO3 (x = 0.0a1.0) nanoparticles have been synthesized by a sol-gel method. The samples are characterized by thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), X-ray diffraction ...(XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The La1?x Sr x FeO3 (x = 0.0a1.0) materials have been sintered at 650 degree C. Both the structural properties and phase transitions with increasing strontium content in La1?x Sr x FeO3 are presented by analysis of XRD data. Formaldehyde gas-sensing properties of La1?x Sr x FeO3 have been investigated. The experimental results show that the optimum operating temperatures of La1?x Sr x FeO3 varies with Sr content of x. Among all the samples, La0.7Sr0.3FeO3 shows a maximum response to formaldehyde. Finally, the formaldehyde gas-sensing mechanism has been presented.
Cardiac fibrosis is a primary contributor to heart failure (HF), and is considered to be a targetable process for HF therapy. Cardiac fibroblast (CF) activation accompanied by excessive extracellular ...matrix (ECM) production is central to the initiation and maintenance of fibrotic scarring in cardiac fibrosis. However, therapeutic compounds targeting CF activation remain limited in treating cardiac fibrosis. Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (eIF5A), upon being hypusinated, is essential for the translation elongation of proline-codon rich mRNAs. In this study, we found that increased hypusinated eIF5A protein levels were associated with cardiac fibrosis and heart dysfunction in myocardial infarction (MI) mouse models. Ciclopirox (CPX), an FDA-approved antifungal drug, inhibits the deoxyhypusine hydroxylase (DOHH) enzyme required for eIF5A hypusination. Results from preventive and reversal mouse models suggest that CPX treatment significantly reduced MI-driven cardiac fibrosis and improved cardiac function. In vitro studies of isolated mouse primary CFs revealed that inhibition of eIF5A hypusination using CPX significantly abolished TGFβ induced CF proliferation, activation, and collagen expression. Proteomic analysis from mouse CFs reveals that CPX downregulates the expression of proline-rich proteins that are enriched in extracellular matrix and cell adhesion pathways. Our findings are relevant to human heart disease, as increased hypusinated eIF5A levels were observed in heart samples of ischemic heart failure patients compared to healthy subjects. Together, these results suggest that CPX can be repurposed to treat cardiac fibrosis and ischemic heart failure.
In order to induce unreduced pollens, microsporogenesis and male flower bud (MFB) development were compared in rubber tree clone RRIM 600. We observed strong asynchronism in different MFBs in an ...inflorescence. Asynchronism of microsporogenesis in different microsporangiums from a MFB was also observed. The relationship between microsporogenesis and external morphology was examined, which was used to estimate microsporogenesis stages of MFBs. Unreduced pollen was successfully induced by high temperature exposure in this study, with the highest production ratio of about 20.17% at 44 °C. Our findings showed that diplotene to metaphase I may be the most effective stage for unreduced pollen induction, and 42–44 °C may be the suitable treatment temperature in rubber trees. Thus, microsporogenesis of MFBs has been elucidated in detail in the rubber tree clone RRIM 600 and will provide a reference for future breeding studies of rubber trees.
A novel technique for generating RF sources for mobile communications based on dual Mach-Zehnder modulators and high-power charge-compensated modified unitraveling carrier (CC-MUTC) photodiodes is ...presented. A system model is developed and used to establish and mitigate nonlinearities attributed to its constituent components, i.e., waveform generators, amplifiers, modulators, and photodiodes. In particular, digital predistortion is used to improve source linearity. Extensive experiments are conducted to characterize the proposed system, using a commercial 5 MHz local thermal equilibrium signal. Optimal results are achieved with a CC-MUTC photodiode to attain an RF power greater than 12.5 dBm and an adjacent channel leakage ratio lower than -63.5 dBc.
Depression is a multicausal disorder and has been associated with metabolism regulation and immuno-inflammatory reaction. The anorectic molecule nesfatin-1 has recently been characterized as a ...potential mood regulator, but its precise effect on depression and the possible mechanisms remain unknown, especially when given peripherally. In the present study, nesfatin-1 was intraperitoneally injected to the rats and the depression-like behavior and activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis were evaluated. The plasma concentrations of nesfatin-1, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and C-reactive protein (CRP); and the hypothalamic expression levels of nesfatin-1, synapsin I, and synaptotagmin I mRNA were evaluated in nesfatin-1 chronically treated rats. The results showed that both acute and chronic administration of nesfatin-1 increased immobility in the forced swimming test (FST), and resulted in the hyperactivity of HPA axis, as indicated by the increase of plasma corticosterone concentration and hypothalamic expression of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) mRNA. Moreover, after chronic nesfatin-1 administration, the rats exhibited decreased activity and exploratory behavior in the open field test (OFT) and increased mRNA expression of synapsin I and synaptotagmin I in the hypothalamus. Furthermore, chronic administration of nesfatin-1 elevated plasma concentrations of IL-6 and CRP, which were positively correlated with despair behavior, plasma corticosterone level, and the hypothalamic mRNA expression of synapsin I and synaptotagmin I. These results indicated that exogenous nesfatin-1 could induce the immune-inflammatory activation, which might be a central hug linking the depression-like behavior and the imbalanced mRNA expression of synaptic vesicle proteins in the hypothalamus.
Nitrogen (N) is a crucial nutrient for soil biota, and its cycling is determined by the organic carbon decomposing process. Some endophytic fungi are latent saprotrophs that trigger their ...saprotrophic metabolism to promote litter organic matter cycling as soon as the host tissue senesces or dies. However, the effects of endophytic fungi on litter and soil N dynamics in vitro have rarely been investigated. In this study, we investigated N dynamics (total and mineral N) in both litter and soil in incubations of a pure culture of an endophytic fungus Phomopsis liquidambari with litter and following soil burial of the litter. Soil enzymes and microbial communities participating in the N transformations were also investigated. A pure culture of P. liquidambari released litter NH 4 + -N in the initial stages (10 days) of the incubation. However, following soil burial, the presence of both P. liquidambari and soil ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) resulted in an increase in soil NO 3 - -N. These results indicate that the endophytic fungus P. liquidambari in vitro stimulates organic mineralization and promote NH 4 + -N release. Such effects triggered soil AOB-driven nitrification process.
Quarantine policies introduced in the context of COVID-19 are affecting business operations and slowing down the flow rate of the overall economy. Different degrees and types of threats occur in both ...the living environment and the working environment during the epidemic prevention, which causes many additional uncertainties. The impact on employees is the identity threat from environment and organizations. This is different from the related research on the identification and impact of the threat before the occurrence of COVID-19. However, in the post-pandemic period, companies continue to strengthen important factors that can increase innovation and recovery, including the role of employee knowledge sharing. The organizational inequity and lack of organizational justice bring about the threat of internal identification in organizations. In order to ensure their own interests in organizations, employees may think twice when sharing knowledge. Therefore, this study explores the relationship among employees' identity threat, social capital and knowledge sharing behavior from the perspective of organizational behavior. In this study, a sample of high-tech employees was conducted, and a total of 434 questionnaires were obtained. The research results show that employees' perception of identity threat has a negative impact on knowledge sharing behavior and positively affects social capital; employees' social capital positively affects their knowledge sharing behaviors; and organizational reward system moderates the relationship between identity threat and knowledge sharing behavior. Based on the comprehensive research findings, this research proposes corresponding theoretical and practical implications.
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