Acute shoulder infection following acupuncture—A report of three cases

Worldwide, acupuncture is a popular alternative medicine for releasing pain, treating diseases, or promoting health. Although it is generally considered safe, a few complications have been reported. These complications ranged from minor side effects, such as pain, local hematoma formation, or the aggravation of symptoms, to serious complications including mechanical injuries, such as pneumothorax and severe infection requiring surgical treatment. In orthopedic clinics, reports of complications caused by acupuncture are rare. We present three cases who developed severe infection following acupuncture, leading to irreversible osteoarthritic changes in their glenohumeral joints. All of them mentioned a history of acupuncture therapy before their shoulder became swollen and hot and no other infection source could be detected. Possible explanations included: (1) breakdown of the sterile technique; (2) no consensus of acupoint or how deep the needle should be inserted; (3) patient’s comorbidities, such as diabetes mellitus or previous shoulder pathology, were not considered. Although these three patients underwent debridement and proper management with antibiotics according to the culture data, eventually, they still progressed to severe glenohumeral joint destruction. Strict infection control guidelines should be established to lower this type of life-threatening complication.     

Management of unilaterally deep impacted first, second, and third mandibular molars

Simultaneous impactions of first, second, and third permanent molars comprises a very rare clinical situation with diverse therapeutic approaches and is a difficult challenge for dentists. Early diagnosis and treatment of eruption disturbances contributes to optimal outcomes. This article reports the treatment of a teenager with severe impaction of right mandibular first, second, and third molars, which hinders the masticatory function and dental arch integrity. A decision-making process and a simple orthodontic technique are described. To shorten the treatment time and simplify the procedures, the impacted right mandibular third and second molars were orthodontically uprighted with an innovative tip-back cantilever. Subsequently, the deeply impacted right mandibular first molar was extracted with minimal obstacles. The combined surgical-orthodontic approach resolved a challenging clinical problem and eliminated the need for prosthetic or dental implant replacement of the impacted molars. Good occlusion, normal function, and a healthy periodontium of the patient were also achieved.     

Parameter control and property analysis in the preparation of platinum iodide nanocolloids through the electrical spark discharge method

This study employed the electrical spark discharge method to prepare platinum iodide nanocolloids at normal temperature and pressure. Wires composed of 99.5% platinum were applied as the electrodes, and 250 ppm liquid iodine was employed as the dielectric fluid. An electric discharge machine was applied to generate cyclic direct current pulse power between the electrodes. Five sets of turn-on and turn-off time (T_on–T_off) parameters, namely 10–10, 30–30, 50–50, 70–70, and 90–90 μs, were implemented to identify the optimal nanocolloid preparation conditions. An ultraviolet-visible spectroscope, a Zetasizer, and a transmission electron microscope were used to examine the nanocolloids'' properties. The results revealed that the T_on–T_off parameter set of 10–10 μs was the most ideal setting for platinum iodide nanocolloid preparation. With this parameter set, the characteristic wavelengths of the nanocolloid were 285 and 350 nm, respectively; its absorbance values were 0.481 and 0.425, respectively; and its zeta potential and particle size were −30.3 mV and 61.88 nm, respectively. This parameter set yielded maximized absorbance, satisfactory suspension stability, and minimized nanoparticle sizes for the nanocolloid.

This study employed the electrical spark discharge method to prepare platinum iodide nanocolloids at normal temperature and pressure.     

Damage and the repeated bout effect of arm,leg, and trunk muscles induced by eccentric resistance exercises

This study compared nine resistance eccentric exercises targeting arm, leg, and trunk muscles in one session for changes in maximal voluntary isometric contraction strength (MVC), delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), plasma creatine kinase (CK) activity, and myoglobin (Mb) concentration after the first and second bouts. Fifteen sedentary men (20‐25 years) performed 5 sets of 10 eccentric contractions with 80% of MVC load for the elbow flexors (EF), elbow extensors (EE), pectoralis, knee extensors (KE), knee flexors (KF), plantar flexors (PF), latissimus, abdominis, and erector spinae (ES) in a randomized order and repeated the same exercises 2 weeks later. MVC decreased at 1 (16%‐57%) to 4 (13%‐49%) days, DOMS developed (peak: 43‐70 mm), and CK activity (peak: 23 238‐207 304 IU/L) and Mb concentration showed large increases after the first bout. The magnitude of decrease in MVC was greater (P < 0.05) for EF, EE, and PEC than others and for KF than KE, PF, and ES. DOMS was greater (P < 0.05) for EF, EE, and ES than others. Changes in all measures were smaller (P < 0.05) after the second than the first bout, and the magnitude of the repeated bout effect was similar among the muscles. Plasma CK activity and Mb concentration did not increase significantly after the second exercise bout. It was concluded that muscle damage was greater for arm than leg muscles, and muscle proteins in the blood increased to a critical level after unaccustomed whole‐body resistance exercises, but the magnitude of damage was largely attenuated for all muscles similarly after the second bout.     

Changes in ADC and T2-weighted MRI-derived radiomic features in patients treated with focal salvage HDR prostate brachytherapy for local recurrence after previous external-beam radiotherapy

PurposeTo explore the changes in T2-weighted (T2w) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) magnetic resonance imaging -derived radiomic features of the gross tumor volume (GTV) from focal salvage high-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy (HDRB) and to correlate with clinical parameters.Materials and MethodsEligible patients included those with biopsy-confirmed local recurrence that correlated with MRI (T2w, ADC). Patients received 27 Gy in 2 fractions separated by 1 week to a quadrant consisting of the GTV. The MRI was repeated 1 year after HDRB. GTVs, planning target volumes, and normal prostate tissue control volumes were identified on the pre- and post-HDRB MRIs. Radiomic features from each GTV were extracted, and principle component analysis identified features with the highest variance.ResultsPre- and post-HDRB MRIs were obtained from 14 trial patients. Principle component analysis showed that 18 and 17 features contributed to 93% and 86% of the variance observed in the T2w and ADC data, respectively. Sixteen T2w features and 1 ADC GTV feature were different from the control volumes in the pre-HDRB images (p < 0.05). Ten T2w and 7 ADC GTV post-HDRB features were different from those of pre-HDRB (p < 0.05).ConclusionsExploratory analysis reveals several radiomic features in the T2w and ADC image GTVs that distinguish the GTV from healthy prostate tissue and change significantly after salvage HDRB.     

Sequence analysis of a duck picornavirus isolate indicates that it together with porcine enterovirus type 8 and simian picornavirus type 2 should be assigned to a new picornavirus genus

In a 1990 outbreak, a virus isolated in Taiwan from the intestines of ducks showing signs of hepatitis was tentatively classified as a picornavirus on the basis of physical, chemical, and morphological characteristics. The virus was cloned and then found not to be type 1 duck hepatitis virus (DHV-1) or a new serotype of duck hepatitis virus (N-DHV) by serum neutralization. Complete genome sequencing indicated that the virus genome had 8351 nucleotides and the typical picornavirus genome organization (i.e., 5' untranslated region (UTR)-L-P1 (VP 4-2-3-1)-P2 (2A-B-C)-P3 (3A-B-C-D)-3' UTR-poly A). One open reading frame encoded 2521 amino acids, which makes this virus one of the largest picornaviruses, second only to equine rhinitis B virus of the genus Erbovirus. Its L protein was the largest within the family Picornaviridae (451 amino acids) and suspected to be a trypsin-like protease. The 235-nucleotide 3' UTR region was of intermediate size, quite long compared to other picornaviruses but shorter than other picornaviruses of duck-origin (DHV-1 and N-DHV) and had four regions of secondary structure. The 2A protein was composed of only 12 amino acids, which is the shortest of any member of the family Picornaviridae. Phylogenetic analysis of the polyprotein and 3D sequences indicated that this virus (named duck picornavirus [DPV]) together with porcine enterovirus type 8 virus and several simian picornaviruses form a distinct branch of the family Picornaviridae and should be assigned to a new picornavirus genus.     

Predicting Enzyme Functional Surfaces and Locating Key Residues Automatically from Structures

Locating functionally important protein surfaces and identifying the catalytic site residues are critical for studying enzyme functions. Here, we present a method for predicting and characterizing catalytic sites of enzymes that is fold-independent. By extract atomic patterns of catalytic residues in surface pockets computed geometrically, we develop a library of atomic patterns on protein functional surfaces of ca 700 structures. Together with propensities of secondary structures and residue occurrence in active sites, we develop a method to identify functionally important surfaces on protein structures and to locate key residues. We discuss application of our methods to amylase, dioxygenase, deaminase, dehalogenase, and hydratase. A large scale cross-validated prediction study shows that our method is sensitive and specific. Our method can used to study enzyme function, drug design, and engineering novel biochemical function.