Patients (N = 53) were predominantly male (64.2%), mean age was 60.6 years old, and most had received emergency surgery (75.5%). After 7 days of toothbrushing with purified water, cumulative VAP rates were significantly lower in the experimental (17%) than in the control (71%; p <.05) group. The experimental group also had significantly better scores for oral health (p <.05) and plaque index (p <.01). CONCLUSION/IMPLICATION FOR PRACTICE: Findings suggest that, as an inexpensive alternative to existing protocols, toothbrushing twice daily with purified water reduces VAP and improves oral health and hygiene.

Therefore, BPTB autograft shows potential as an optimal choice for ACL reconstruction on the basis of earlier functional recovery and fewer graft failure.

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Abstract.Patients with spinal cord injuries can develop severe neurological damage and dysfunction, which is not only induced by primary but also by secondary injuries. As an evolutionarily conserved pathway of eukaryotes, the JAK-STAT pathway is associated with cell growth, survival, development and differentiation; activation of the JAK-STAT pathway has been previously reported in central nervous system injury. The JAK-STAT pathway is directly associated with neurogenesis and glia scar formation in the injury region. Following injury of the axon, the overexpression and activation of STAT3 is exhibited specifically in protecting neurons. To investigate the role of the JAK-STAT pathway in neuroprotection, we summarized the effect of JAK-STAT pathway in the following three sections: Firstly, the modulation of JAK-STAT pathway in proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells and neural progenitor cells is discussed; secondly, the time-dependent effect of JAK-STAT pathway in reactive astrocytes to reveal their capability of neuroprotection is revealed and lastly, we focus on how the astrocyte-secretory polypeptides (astrocyte-derived cytokines and trophic factors) accomplish neuroprotection via the JAK-STAT pathway.

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Flotation waste of copper slag (FWCS), neutralization sludge (NS), and arsenic-containing gypsum sludge (GS), both of which are difficult to dispose of, are major solid wastes produced by the copper smelting. This study focused on the co-treatment of FWCS, NS, and GS for solidification/stabilization of arsenic and heavy metals with minimal cement clinker. Firstly, the preparation parameters of binder composed of FWCS, NS, and cement clinker were optimized to be FWCS dosage of 40%, NS dosage of 10%, cement clinker dosage of 50%, mill time of 1.5 h, and water-to-binder ratio of 0.25. On these conditions, the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the binder reached 43.24 MPa after hydration of 28 days. Then, the binder was used to solidify/stabilize the As-containing GS. When the mass ratio of binder-to-GS was 5:5, the UCS of matrix can reach 11.06 MPa after hydration of 28 days, meeting the required UCS level of MU10 brick in China. Moreover, arsenic and other heavy metals in FWCS, NS, and GS were effectively solidified or stabilized. The heavy metal concentrations in leachate were much lower than those in the limits of China standard leaching test (CSLT). Therefore, the matrices were potential to be used as bricks in some constructions. XRD analysis shows that the main hydration products of the matrix were portlandite and calcium silicate hydrate. These hydration products may play a significant role in the stabilization/solidification of arsenic and heavy metals.

Surgical treatment might provide better clinical results in short term. More persuasive evidence is still needed to proof the effect of surgical management in long time.