Comparison of microendoscopic discectomy and open discectomy for single-segment lumbar disc herniation

BACKGROUND Lumbar disc herniation is a common disease.Endoscopic treatment may have more advantages than traditional surgery.AIM To compare the clinical efficacy and safety of microendoscopic discectomy(MED)and open discectomy with lamina nucleus enucleation in the treatment of singlesegment lumbar intervertebral disc herniation.METHODS Ninety-six patients who were operated at our hospital were selected for this study.Patients with single-segment lumbar disc herniation were admitted to the hospital from March 2018 to March 2019 and were randomly divided into the observation group and the control group with 48 cases in each group.The former group underwent lumbar discectomy and the latter underwent laparotomy and nucleus pulpectomy.Surgical effects were compared between the two groups.RESULTS In terms of surgical indicators,the observation group had a longer operation time,shorter postoperative bedtime and hospital stay,less intraoperative blood loss,and smaller incision length than the control group(P<0.05).The excellent recovery rate did not differ significantly between the observation group(93.75%)and the control group(91.67%).Visual analogue scale pain scores were significantly lower in the observation group than in the control group at 1 d,3 d,1 mo,and 6 mo after surgery(P<0.05).The incidence of complications was significantly lower in the observation group than in the control group(6.25%vs 22.92%,P<0.05).CONCLUSION Both MED and open discectomy can effectively improve single-segment lumbar disc herniation,but MED is associated with less trauma,less bleeding,and a lower incidence of complications.

Wireless Autonomous Soft Crawlers for Adjustable Climbing Actuation

Artificial soft actuators,featured with non-equilibrium internal circumstance and fast,programmable shape transformations,have attracted strong research interest recently due to their flexibility,highly controllable,and designability.However,wireless soft actuators,achieving the locomotion on different large slopes with multiple energy conversion,have been rarely reported.Herein,we create a asymmetric bilayer strategy to construct autonomous soft crawler via“breathing”moisture to motivate the mechanical deformation.The soft crawlers present conspicuous performances including periodic tumbler locomotion predicted via improved Timoshenko’s equation,multiple reversible shape-morphing(circle,helix,despiralization,etc.)determined by their fiber orientation,controlled drive mode(front drive and rear drive)and rapid climb speed(4.76 cm/min)at wide slope angles.Through architecture design,they can be series-wound or shunt-wound to construct multijoint complex actuators.Besides climbing,a intelligent soft ring-pull with admirable cycle performance for preventing overheating or something untouchable,has been proposed.The soft crawlers also realize multiple energy conversion to be actuated by light irradiation.We envision that this soft crawler system has an enormous potential in intelligent machine,microscopic diagnosis and treatment,biosensing,energy harvesting and conversion.

Long-term Thermo-oxidative Degradation Modeling of a Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polyimide Composite:Multistep Degradation Behaviors and Kinetics

This study aims to disclose the thermo-oxidative degradation behaviors and kinetics of a carbon fiber reinforced polyimide(CFRPI)composite for modeling of the Iong-term degradation process.The degradation behaviors were revealed through off-gas products analysis,and the overall kinetic interpretation was achieved from study of the mass-loss curves recorded under dynamic conditions.It was found that thermooxidative degradati on of the CFRPI composite was a multistep process,which in eluded four main reaction steps.Since most kinetic an alysis methods were derived from simple reactions described by a single kinetic triplet,they cannot be applied reliably to such a process.Therefore,we firstly separated the four overlapped reaction steps by peak fitting of derivative thermogravimetric curves using Fraser-Suzuki equation consider!ng the asymmetrical n ature of kin etic curves,and subsequently an a lyzed each in dividual reaction employing Friedma n method and experimental master-plots method.Four sets of kinetic triplets were determined to characterize the entire degradation process.The validity of four corresponding kinetic triplets was confirmed by perfect simulation of mass-loss curves recorded at both dynamic conditions used in kinetic analysis and entirely different isothermal conditions.Finally,modeling of Iong-term aging at 400°C of the CFRPI composite was successfully achieved based on these kinetic triplets.The predicted mass loss and flexural property correlated well with experimental results.This study can serve as a basis for rapid evaluation of the long-term durability of the CFRPI composite in various application environments.

PMDA/ODA型聚酰亚胺薄膜的热氧化降解动力学研究

聚酰亚胺薄膜热氧化降解为多步反应过程,仅通过单一动力学三要素(表观降解活化能E、反应模型f(α)以及指前因子A)无法充分反映其降解行为特性.本研究基于均苯四甲酸二酐/4,4'-二氨基二苯醚(PMDA/ODA)型聚酰亚胺薄膜线性升温条件下的热氧化失重微分曲线,采用Fraser-Suzuki方程进行分峰拟合,将降解过程中每个反应步骤对应的失重行为区分开来,而后通过Friedman方法以及Master-plots理论对每个反应过程单独进行动力学分析,确定相应的E,f(α),以及A值.动力学分析结果表明聚酰亚胺薄膜热氧化降解过程包含2个主反应,两者的E值分别为154.00和139.27 kJ/mol,lnA值分别为18.55和16.74 s−1,且这2个主反应均符合理论Avrami-Erofeev模型.在此基础上,通过以上动力学参数重建并预测了动力学分析过程中所采用的升温程序以内以及之外的热失重曲线,验证了动力学参数的有效性.