The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the ester carbon chain length of curing agents modified by epoxidized oleic esters on the toughness of cured epoxy resins. An amine-terminated prepolymer (i.e., curing agent G) was synthesized from a bisphenol A type liquid epoxy resin and triethylene tetramine. The toughening curing agents (G1 and G2) were prepared by reactions of epoxidized oleic methyl ester and epoxidized oleic capryl ester, respectively, with curing agent G. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry was used to characterize the chemical structure of the curing agents. The effects of the carbon chain length of the oleic ester group in the curing agents on the toughness and other performances of the curing epoxy resins were investigated by analysis of the Izod impact strength, tensile strength, elongation at break, thermal properties, and morphology of the fracture surfaces of the samples. The results denote that the toughness of the cured epoxy resins increased with the introduction of oleic esters into the curing agents without a loss of mechanical properties and that the toughness and thermal stability of the materials increased with increasing ester carbon chain length. The toughness enhancement was attributed to the flexibility of the end carbon chains and ester carbon chains of the oleic esters in the toughening curing agents.
Recently, several drugs have been introduced for the first-line treatment of chemotherapy-naive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), but few studies have compared treatment outcomes directly. This indirect comparison among 10 clinical trials (n = 4870 patients) retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Collaboration, and ClinicalTrails.gov was performed to assess the safety and efficacy of docetaxel, cabazitaxel, abiraterone, enzalutamide, and sipuleucel-T for the initial treatment of mCRPC. No significant differences in primary outcome (overall survival) were found among initial treatments. However, docetaxel had the highest probability (37.53%) of being the most effective, but at the cost of more adverse events, while enzalutamide was associated with the best secondary outcomes (prostate-specific antigen response, progression-free survival, quality of life, and adverse event profile). Thus, docetaxel is recommended as the first agent used for the chemotherapy of mCRPC, while enzalutamide is recommended as the first nonchemotherapy treatment. Additional clinical trials are needed to confirm these findings and establish the optimal order for multidrug treatment of mCRPC.
Taking the same safety and effectiveness into consideration, TLN can be an alternative choice for experienced surgeons to deal with NTK. Also, further studies with a larger sample size should be performed to confirm this finding.
Objective
To review the prenatal and postnatal clinical characteristics and pathological subtypes, as well as the surgical outcome for congenital mesoblastic nephroma (CMN) cases.
Method
A retrospective review was performed in 11 cases with CMN prenatally diagnosed at a single center between 2015 and 2019. The clinical characteristics, surgical outcome, histopathology, and follow‐up were retrospectively obtained and reviewed.
Results
The median gestational age at which the sonographic diagnosis was made was 35 weeks. Polyhydramnios was found in four (36.4%) cases, and all resulted in a preterm birth. Nine infants had hypertension. Ten cases underwent radical nephrectomy, and one underwent radical nephrectomy and partial adrenalectomy. The pathological results showed that six tumors were classical variants, four mixed variants, and one was a cellular variant. Three cases presented as a stage I, eight as stage II, and no stage III or IV cases were diagnosed. All patients are alive so far. At a median follow‐up of 14 months, no local recurrence, or remote metastases were found.
Conclusion
The prognosis of prenatal CMN cases is excellent after early surgery.
This study aimed to assess the role of pre-designed route on computer tomography urography (CTU) in the ultrasound-guided percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) for renal calculus.From August 2013 to May 2016, a total of 100 patients diagnosed with complex renal calculus in our hospital were randomly divided into CTU group and control group (without CTU assistance). CTU was used to design a rational route for puncturing in CTU group. Ultrasound was used in both groups to establish a working trace in the operation areas. Patients’ perioperative parameters and postoperative complications were recorded.All operations were successfully performed, without transferring to open surgery. Time of channel establishment in CTU group (6.5 ± 4.3 minutes) was shorter than the control group (10.0 ± 6.7 minutes) (P = .002). In addition, there was shorter operation time, lower rates of blood transfusion, secondary operation, and less establishing channels. The incidence of postoperative complications including residual stones, sepsis, severe hemorrhage, and perirenal hematoma was lower in CTU group than in control group.Pre-designing puncture route on CTU images would improve the puncturing accuracy, lessen establishing channels as well as improve the security in the ultrasound-guided PCNL for complex renal calculus, but at the cost of increased radiation exposure.
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