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To investigate the association of the sarcopenia index (SI, serum creatinine value/cystatin C value × 100) with 3-year mortality and readmission among older inpatients, we reanalyzed a prospective study in the geriatric ward of a teaching hospital in western China. Older inpatients aged ≥ 60 years with normal kidney function were included. Survival status and readmission information were assessed annually during the 3-year follow-up. We applied Cox regression models to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of sarcopenia for predicting mortality and readmission. We included 248 participants (mean age: 81.2 ± 6.6 years). During the follow-up, 57 participants (23.9%) died, whereas 179 participants (75.2%) were readmitted at least one time. The SI was positively correlated with body mass index (BMI) (r = 0.214, p = 0.001), calf circumference (CC) (r = 0.253, p < 0.001), handgrip strength (r = 0.244, p < 0.001), and gait speed (r = 0.221, p < 0.001). A higher SI was independently associated with a lower risk of 3-year all-cause mortality after adjusting for potential confounders (HR per 1-SD = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.63–0.97). The SI was not significantly associated with readmission (HR per 1-SD = 0.97, 95% CI: 0.77–1.25). In conclusion, the SI is associated with 3-year all-cause mortality but not readmission in a study population of hospitalized older patients.

Background The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of sarcopenia and investigate the associations between sarcopenia and long‐term mortality and readmission in a population of elderly inpatients in acute care wards. Methods We conducted a prospective observational study in the acute care wards of a teaching hospital in western China. The muscle mass was estimated according to a previously validated anthropometric equation. Handgrip strength was measured with a handheld dynamometer, and physical performance was measured via a 4 m walking test. Sarcopenia was defined according to the recommended diagnostic algorithm of the Asia Working Group for Sarcopenia. The survival status and readmission information were obtained via telephone interviews at 12, 24, and 36 months during the 3 year follow‐up period following the baseline investigation. Results Two hundred and eighty‐eight participants (mean age: 81.1 ± 6.6 years) were included. Forty‐nine participants (17.0%) were identified as having sarcopenia. This condition was similar in men and women (16.9% vs. 17.5%, respectively, P = 0.915). During the 3 year follow‐up period, 49 men (22.7%) and 9 women (16.4%) died (P = 0.307). The mortality of sarcopenic participants was significantly increased compared with non‐sarcopenic participants (40.8% vs. 17.1%, respectively, P < 0.001). After adjusting for age, sex and other confounders, sarcopenia was an independent predictor of 3 year mortality (adjusted hazard ratio: 2.49; 95% confidential interval: 1.25–4.95) and readmission (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.81; 95% confidential interval: 1.17–2.80). Conclusions Sarcopenia, which is evaluated by a combination of anthropometric measures, gait speed, and handgrip strength, is valuable to predict hospital readmission and long‐term mortality in elderly patients in acute care wards.

A new term, malnutrition-sarcopenia syndrome (MSS), was recently coined to describe the clinical presentation of both malnutrition and sarcopenia. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between MSS and long-term mortality in older inpatients. We conducted a prospective study in acute geriatric wards of two local hospitals in China. Muscle mass and malnutrition were estimated by anthropometric measures and the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). Of the 453 participants, 14 (3.1%) had sarcopenia with normal nutrition, 139 (30.7%) had malnutrition risk without sarcopenia, 48 (10.6%) had malnutrition risk with sarcopenia, 25 (5.5%) had malnutrition without sarcopenia, and 22 (4.9%) had MSS at baseline. Compared with non-sarcopenic subjects with normal nutrition, subjects with MSS and subjects with malnutrition risk and sarcopenia were more than four times more likely to die (hazard ratio [HR], 4.78; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.09–10.97; and HR, 4.25; 95% CI, 2.22–8.12, respectively); non-sarcopenic subjects with malnutrition risk were more than two times more likely to die (HR, 2.41; 95% CI, 1.32–4.39). In conclusion, MSS may serve as a prognostic factor in the management of hospitalized older patients.

Background The purpose of this study was to retrospectively assess the clinical and radiographic outcomes of unilateral biportal endoscopic discectomy (UBED) in treating patients with single-level lumbar disc herniation (LDH) and concomitant grade I stable degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis (DLS). Methods We reviewed patients diagnosed with single-level LDH and concomitant grade I stable DLS who underwent UBED from June 2021 to June 2023. Preoperative and postoperative slippage percentage, disc height (DH), visual analogue scale (VAS) for back pain and leg radiation pain, and Oswestry disability index (ODI) were compared by a paired-sample test. Demographics and postoperative slip progression were recorded. Results A total of 32 patients with a mean age of 72.16 ± 8.07 years were enrolled. 27 underwent L4/5 UBED, 4 underwent L5/S1 UBED, and 1 underwent L3/4 UBED. The postoperative mean vertebral slip percentage increased significantly and the mean DH at the surgical level decreased significantly at the last follow-up. VAS scores for back and leg pain reduced significantly after surgery, and ODI scores improved significantly postoperatively. Only one patient suffered postoperative slip progression. Two cases of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leakage were reported. Conclusions The application of UBED to treat LDH and concomitant grade I stable DLS demonstrated effective pain relief and improved quality of life for patients, with a low incidence of postoperative slip progression. UBED is a safe and effective surgical technique for treating older patients with LDH and concomitant grade I stable DLS.

Background Residual back pain (RBP) following vertebral augmentation negatively impacts clinical satisfaction and compromises both the physical and psychological well-being of affected patients. This meta-analysis aimed to identify risk factors associated with RBP after vertebral augmentation in patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCF). Methods We searched literature in the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library. PRISMA guidelines were followed in this review. The Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS) were used to evaluate the quality of included studies. Odds ratio (OR), mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of potential risk factors were calculated via RevMan5.4. Results A total of 11 studies and 3290 patients were included in this meta-analysis. 12 risk factors were assessed and the outcome showed that lower BMD (MD = 0.39, 95% CI 0.27 ~ 0.52, p  < 0.01), lower BMI (MD = -1.22, 95% CI -2.38 ~ -0.06, p  = 0.04), depression (OR = 2.72, 95% CI 1.48 ~ 5.01, p  < 0.01), adjacent vertebral fracture (OR = 2.53, 95% CI 1.42 ~ 4.50, p  < 0.01), posterior fascia injury (OR = 3.94, 95% CI 3.10 ~ 5.00, p  < 0.01), intravertebral vacuum cleft (OR = 2.33, 95% CI 1.56 ~ 3.50, p  < 0.01), severe paraspinal muscle degeneration (OR = 6.25, 95% CI 4.09 ~ 9.53, p  < 0.01), facet joint violation (OR = 7.71, 95% CI 3.50 ~ 17.00, p  < 0.01), unsatisfied bone cement distribution (OR = 2.82, 95% CI 1.67 ~ 4.76, p  < 0.01), less bone cement volume (MD = -0.24, 95% CI -0.45 ~ -0.03, p  = 0.02), less recovery rate of anterior vertebral height (MD = -3.46, 95% CI -6.22 ~ -6.09, p  = 0.01), less postoperative local kyphosis correction rate (MD = -4.74, 95% CI -6.43 ~ -3.06, p  < 0.01) were associated with postoperative RBP in OVCF patients. Conclusion Lower BMD, lower BMI, depression, adjacent vertebral fracture, posterior fascia injury, intravertebral vacuum cleft, severe paraspinal muscle degeneration, facet joint violation, unsatisfied bone cement distribution, less bone cement volume, less recovery rate of anterior vertebral height, and less postoperative local kyphosis correction rate were associated with an increased risk of RBP after vertebral augmentation in OVCF patients. Early identification and targeted management of high-risk patients may help reduce RBP incidence.

The passive estimation of harmonic sound source depth is of great significance for underwater target localization and identification. Passive source depth estimation using a single hydrophone with an unknown seabed geoacoustic property is a crucial challenge. To address this issue, a harmonic sound source depth estimation algorithm, seabed independent depth estimation (SIDE) algorithm, is proposed. This algorithm combines the estimated mode depth functions, modal amplitudes, and the sign of each modal to estimate the sound source depth. The performance of the SIDE algorithm is analyzed by simulations. Results show that the SIDE is insensitive to the initial range of the sound source, the source depth, the hydrophone depth, the source velocity, and the type of the seabed. Finally, the effectiveness of the SIDE algorithm is verified by the SWellEX-96 data.

Objective To investigate the biomechanical effects of percutaneous vertebroplasty combined with cement pedicle plasty (PVCPP) on the unstable osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OVFs) through finite element (FE) analysis. The study compares the biomechanical stability of finite element models between percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) and percutaneous vertebroplasty combined with cement pedicle plasty. Methods Two patients with unstable OVFs underwent computed tomography (CT) examination at the thoracolumbar vertebral body levels, respectively. The CT images were reconstructed into three-dimensional finite element models to simulate stress conditions across six dimensions and to evaluate the vertebral von Mises stress before and after bone cement reinforcement. Results The study found that stress distribution differed between groups mainly at the pedicle base. In the surgical vertebral bodies, the maximum stress in the PVP group decreased during flexion and left bending, while it increased in other states. In the PVCPP group, all maximum stresses decreased. In the inferior vertebral bodies, the maximum stress in the PVP group generally increased, while it decreased in the PVCPP group. In the superior vertebral bodies, postoperatively, the maximum stress in the PVP group generally increased, while it almost remained unchanged in the PVCPP group. PVP group had higher cement stress and displacement. Conclusion PVCPP is an effective treatment method for patients with unstable OVFs. It can quickly relieve pain and enhance the stability of the three columns, thereby reducing the risk of some complications.

Background Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are characterized by sustained inflammation and/or ulcers along the lower digestive tract, and have complications such as colorectal cancer and inflammation in other organs. The current treatments for IBDs, which affect 0.3% of the global population, mainly target immune cells and inflammatory cytokines with a success rate of less than 40%. Results Here we show that berberine, a natural plant product, is more effective than the frontline drug sulfasalazine in treating DSS (dextran sulfate sodium)-induced colitis in mice, and that berberine not only suppresses macrophage and granulocyte activation but also promotes epithelial restitution by activating Lgr5 + intestinal stem cells (ISCs). Mechanistically, berberine increases the expression of Wnt genes in resident mesenchymal stromal cells, an ISC niche, and inhibiting Wnt secretion diminishes the therapeutic effects of berberine. We further show that berberine controls the expression of many circadian rhythm genes in stromal cells, which in turn regulate the expression of Wnt molecules. Conclusions Our findings suggest that berberine acts on the resident stromal cells and ISCs to promote epithelial repair in experimental colitis and that Wnt-β-Catenin signaling may be a potential target for colitis treatment.

Matched field processing (MFP) is an established technique for source localization in known multipath acoustic environments. Unfortunately, in many situations, imperfect knowledge of the actual propagation environment and sidelobes due to modal interference prevent accurate propagation modeling and source localization via MFP. To suppress the sidelobes and improve the method’s robustness, a linear frequency-difference matched field processing (LFDMFP) method for estimating the source range is proposed. A two-neighbor-frequency high-order cross-spectrum between the measurement and the replica of each hydrophone of the vertical line array is first computed. The cost function can then be derived from the dual summation or double integral of the high-order cross-spectrum with respect to the depth of the hydrophones and the candidate sources of the replicas, where the range that corresponds to the minimum is the optimal estimation. Because of the larger modal interference distances, LFDMFP can efficiently provide only one optimal range within the same range search interval rather than some conventional matched field processing. The efficiency of the presented method was verified using simulations and experiments. The LFDMFP unambiguously estimated the source range in two experimental datasets with average relative errors of 2.2 and 1.9%.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of composite flux on the interfacial reaction, wettability, and shear strength evolution of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC305) solder joint; the ultrasonic vibration (USV) was performed to the solder joint during reflowing. Cu-modified graphene nanosheets (Cu-GNSs)-doped flux were prepared by chemical modification. It was found that the wettability of the solder was enhanced after the addition of Cu–GNSs, and the wetting angle was reduced up to 14.43%. While, the presence of Cu–GNSs could reduce the thickness of the intermetallic compound (IMC) layer and the size of IMC grain within the solder joint by 4.15% and 3.19%, respectively. Interestingly, the solder joint was prepared with 0.1 wt% Cu–GNSs-doped flux which had the optimal effect on enhancing the wettability of the solder and inhibiting the growth of the IMC layer. The application of USV during reflow could enhance the wettability of the solder and decrease the thickness and grain size of IMC within the solder joint. Shear test results stated that the employment of Cu–GNSs and USV made the shear strength of Cu/SAC305/Cu solder joint enhanced by up to 9.34% and 9.76%, respectively. Furthermore, as the content of Cu–GNSs doped in the flux increased, the fracture type of solder joints without USV treatment gradually changed from the ductile–brittle mixed type to the ductile type, whereas, the fracture type of all the solder joints-relayed USV treatment was the ductile type.