Treatment of Vertically Unstable Sacral Fractures with Pelvic External Fixation and Skeletal Traction

Objective: To determine the efficacy in treatment of vertically unstable sacral fractures with pelvic external fixation and skeletal traction. Patients and Methods: The pelvic external fixation and skeletal traction were applied on 12 cases of vertically unstable sacral fracture (eight males and four females, at age of 19 - 52 years, mean 35.2 years) including two cases of Denis Zone I, nine of Zone II, and one of Zone III. All patients were treated with the pelvic external fixation, and pre- and post-operational longitudinal skeletal traction. Results: The mean operation time, skeletal traction time, skeletal traction removal time and full weight bearing time were 38 min, 4.5 weeks, 8.5 weeks, and 10.3 weeks respectively. All these patients were followed up for 12 - 36 months (average, 22.5 months), which showed no associated complication. The function results were rated as excellent in four cases, good in six and fair in two, with a mean score of 84.4 points, according to Majeed scoring system. Conclusion: The anterior pelvic external fixation with continuous skeletal traction can reliably restore and stabilize the vertically unstable sacrum fracture with excellent functional and radiographic outcomes. It is an ideal method to treat unstably vertical sacral fracture.

Effect of different fertilization on spring cabbage (<i>Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata</i>) production and fertilizer use efficiencies

Just after transplanting, the vegetable has difficulty in nutrients uptake. To explore the effect of different fertilization on spring cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata) production and fertilizer use efficiencies, this experiment consisting of six treatments was implemented and divided into three groups: 1) no fertilizer (NF) and vegetable planting fertilizer (VPF);2) conventional fertilizer (CF) and conventional fertilizer + vegetable planting fertilizer (CVPF);3) reduced fertilizer application (RFA) and reduced fertilizer application + vegetable planting fertilizer (RVPF). The results of this experiment indicated that the yields of spring cabbage treated by VPF increased by 38.20% in VPF, 16.00% in CVPF and 20.40% in RVPF than their controls respectively. Additionally, the VPF helped improve the total and economic yields of the spring cabbage in all groups, and the economic benefits increased by 38.21% in VPF, 15.97% in CVPF and 20.42% in RVPF than their controls respectively. Finally, the VPF was of benefit to spring cabbage to exploit the soil nutrients and helped improve the chemical fertilizer use efficiencies. Therefore, it is an efficient, economical and ecological fertilization for vegetable production to apply chemical fertilizers in combination with VPF.

An Important Insect of the Genus Pseudips: Pseudips mexicanus Hopkins

At present, there are three species of Pseudips known in the world, and P. mexicanus is an important one. The paper mainly introduced the taxonomic status, morphological characteristics and biological characteristics of P. mexicanus, and provided a key to P. mexicanus and its allied species. There is no distribution of P. mexicanus in China, and the results can provide the reference for further study of the insect.

Study on Environmental Behavior of Urban Residents in Ningshan County

With the advance in urbanization,environmental problems become increasingly prominent,and environmental crisis has become a global issue. In this context,the ecological civilization has been put on the agenda. Taking Ningshan County in Shaanxi Province as an example,through questionnaire,this paper interviewed and studied environmental behavior of local urban residents. It carried out analysis on the environmental knowledge,environmental awareness,community environmental norms,environmental laws and regulations,and environmental behavior. In conclusion,with changes in environmental behavior,urban residents of Ningshan County should further strengthen their environmental awareness,and government should further improve the environmental improvement policies,make reasonable planning of communities,so as to promote improvement in the overall environmental awareness and changes in environment behavior.

输尿管导引鞘在Ⅲ度以上前列腺增生患者输尿管中下段结石清除术中的应用

目的探讨为避免同期或分期先处理前列腺增生,将输尿管导引鞘应用于Ⅲ度以上前列腺增生患者输尿管中下段结石清除术中的安全性和有效性。方法回顾性分析2018年4月至2020年12月于浙江衢化医院采用留置输尿管导引鞘+输尿管硬镜钬激光碎石取石术处理的27例Ⅲ度以上前列腺增生合并输尿管中下段结石患者的临床资料。患者均为男性,年龄(69.7±12.8)岁(范围:55~87岁),经直肠超声测量前列腺体积为(94.8±16.2)cm3(范围:85~186 cm3)。术中先留置输尿管导引鞘,再从导引鞘引入输尿管硬镜,进行钬激光碎石取石术,并记录术中术后并发症。术后1、2个月复查泌尿系X线片或CT尿路造影了解结石残余、输尿管狭窄等情况,评价临床疗效。结果27例患者均顺利一期留置输尿管导引鞘并在输尿管硬镜下行钬激光碎石取石术,术中及术后无输尿管撕脱穿孔、肾周血肿、感染性休克、严重血尿、尿潴留、医源性输尿管狭窄等重大并发症。术后1个月排石率92.6%(25/27),术后2个月排石率为100%(27/27)。2例患者由于术前结石最大径>20 mm,术后存在结石残余,接受体外冲击波碎石;1例结石排出,1例二期输尿管镜下取石。1例患者因输尿管结石息肉包裹较重,术后1个月诊断为输尿管狭窄,术后3个月行腹腔镜下输尿管狭窄段切除+吻合术。结论在Ⅲ度以上前列腺增生患者输尿管中下段结石清除术中,通过先留置输尿管导引鞘,能有效避免术中被迫处理前列腺增生,有助于顺利清除结石。

Mucosal vaccine delivery:A focus on the breakthrough of specific barriers

Mucosal vaccines can effectively induce an immune response at the mucosal site and form the first line of defense against microbial invasion.The induced mucosal immunity includes the proliferation of effector T cells and the production of IgG and IgA antibodies,thereby effectively blocking microbial infection and transmis sion.However,after a long period of development,the transformation of mucosal vaccines into clinical use is still relatively slow.To date,fewer than ten mucosal vaccines have been approved.Only seven mucosal vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) are under investigation in clinical trials.A representative vaccine is the adenovirus type-5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine(Ad5-nCoV) developed by Chen and coworkers,which is currently in phase Ⅲ clinical trials.The reason for the limited progress of mucosal vaccines may be the complicated mucosal barriers.Therefore,this review summarizes the characteristics of mucosal barriers and highlights strategies to overcome these barriers for effective mucosal vaccine delivery.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of TiC-Reinforced Al–Mg–Sc–Zr Composites Additively Manufactured by Laser Direct Energy Deposition

In order to refine the microstructure and improve the performance of direct energy deposited(DED)additively manufactured Al–Mg–Sc–Zr alloy,TiC-modified Al–Mg–Sc–Zr composites were prepared by DED and the effect of TiC content on the microstructure and performance was studied.In the absence of TiC particle,the microstructure of Al–Mg–Sc–Zr alloy prepared by DED consisted of fine grains with average size of 8.36μm,and well-dispersed nano-Al;(Sc,Zr)particles inside the grains and Mg;Si phase along the grain boundaries.With the addition of 1 wt%TiC,the microstructure of TiC/Al–Mg–Sc–Zr prepared by DED became finer apparently compared with that without TiC;while the further increase of TiC content to 3 wt%,the microstructure of TiC/Al–Mg–Sc–Zr prepared by DED became coarser with appearance of a new kind of needle-like(Ti,Zr);Si;phase.Also,the addition of TiC decreased the porosity of Al–Mg–Sc–Zr prepared by DED.Simultaneously,after the addition of TiC,the tensile strength increased from 283.25 MPa to 344.98–361.51 MPa,and the elongation increased from 3.61%to 9.58–14.10%.The potential mechanism of the microstructure evolution and strength improvement was discussed.This research will provide new insights into the available metal matrix composites by laser additive manufacturing(LAM).

In Situ Analysis for Herbal Pieces of Aconitum Plants by Using Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry

In this study,an extend application was developed to in situ analyze the herbal pieces of Aconitum plants by Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry(DART-MS).Nearly all aconitine-type alkaloids can be desorbed and ionized in this method,including diester diterpenoid aconitines(DDAs),monoester diterpenoid aconitines(MDAs)and some other diterpenoid aconitines.The spectra of in situ analysis for the herbal pieces of aconitum plants are similar with that of their extracts.Radix Aconiti and Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii can be distinguished from each other by the intensity differences of character fragment ions from MDAs,such as m/z 586,572,and 556.The qualified and unqualified herbal pieces can be also identified by the relative abundances of DDAs.The RSD of the relative abundances of some character ions at m/z 556,586,and 590 were 13.53%,4.03%,and 12.03%,respectively.So this in situ analytical method can identify both the types of Aconitum preparata and their quality.It provides the following advantages in the analysis of Chinese herbs:fast detection without much pretreatment,high-throughput analysis,and reduction of pollution without any organic solvent.

RIS-Assisted Over-the-Air Federated Learning in Millimeter Wave MIMO Networks

In this paper,we propose a reconfigurable intelligent surface(RIS)assisted over-the-air federated learning(FL),where multiple antennas are deployed at each edge device to enable simultaneous multidimensional model transmission over a millimeter wave(mmWave)network.We conduct rigorous convergence analysis for the proposed FL system,taking into account dynamic channel fading and analog transmissions.Inspired by the convergence analysis,we propose to jointly optimize the receive digital and analog beamforming matrices at the access point,the RIS phase-shift matrix,as well as the transmit beamforming matrices at transmitting devices to minimize the transmission distortion.The optimization variable coupling and non-convex constraints make the formulated problem challenging to be solved.To this end,we develop a low-complexity Riemannian conjugate gradient(RCG)-based algorithm to solve the unit modulus constraints and decouple the optimization variables.Simulations show that the proposed RCG algorithm outperforms the successive convex approximation algorithm in terms of the learning performance.

Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Al-Mg-Sc-Zr Alloy Additively Manufactured by Laser Direct Energy Deposition

An Al-Mg-Sc-Zr alloy was additively manufactured by laser direct energy deposition(DED)under different laser powers,and the microstructures and mechanical properties of the as-deposited samples were investigated.The samples showed a fully equiaxed grain structure with grain sizes of 2–30μm.Most of the blocky primary Al3(Sc,Zr)-precipitated phases(<5μm)were arranged along the grain boundaries.A small amount of fine granular secondary Al3(Sc,Zr)phases(<0.5μm)were precipitated owing to the cyclic heat treatment during the DED forming process.According to the EBSD(Electron backscatter diffraction)results,the texture index and strength of the sample were only slightly greater than 1,indicating that the material structure exhibited a certain but not obvious anisotropy.The sample in the horizontal direction had better yield strength,tensile strength,and elogation properties(399.87 MPa,220.96 MPa,9.13%)than that in the building direction(385.40 MPa,219.40 MPa,8.24%),although the sample in the〈XOZ〉plane had the finest equiaxed grains.The ductility of the〈XOZ〉sample deteriorated as the number of pores increased.