Background Unilateral biportal endoscopic discectomy (UBE) is a rapidly growing surgical method that uses arthroscopic system for treatment of lumbar disc herniation (LDH), while percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) has been standardized as a representative minimally invasive spine surgical technique for LDH. The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes between UBE and PELD for treatment of patients with LDH. Methods The subjects consisted of 54 patients who underwent UBE (24 cases) and PELD (30 cases) who were followed up for at least 6 months. All patients had lumber disc herniation for 1 level. Outcomes of the patients were assessed with operation time, incision length, hospital stay, total blood loss (TBL), intraoperative blood loss (IBL), hidden blood loss (HBL), complications, total hospitalization costs, visual analogue scale (VAS) for back and leg pain, the Oswestry disability index (ODI) and modified MacNab criteria. Results The VAS scores and ODI decreased significantly in two groups after operation. Preoperative and 1 day, 1 month, 6 months after operation VAS and ODI scores were not significantly different between the two groups. Compared with PELD group, UBE group was associated with higher TBL, higher IBL, higher HBL, longer operation time, longer hospital stay, longer incision length, and more total hospitalization costs. However, a dural tear occurred in one patient of the UBE group. There was no significant difference in the rate of complications between the two groups. Conclusions Application of UBE for treatment of lumbar disc herniation yielded similar clinical outcomes to PELD, including pain control and patient satisfaction. However, UBE was associated with various disadvantages relative to PELD, including increased total, intraoperative and hidden blood loss, longer operation times, longer hospital stays, and more total hospitalization costs.

After a self-organized TiO 2 nanotube film on a Ti substrate was fabricated through anodic oxidation, SnO 2 nanoparticles were deposited on the film by a facile ultrasonic assisted deposition method. The photoelectrochemical performances of the prepared SnO 2 -TiO 2 nanotube composite films were evaluated by measuring their incident photon to current conversion efficiencies, transient photocurrents, and photopotentials.The results demonstrated that the deposited SnO 2 nanoparticles could greatly enhance the photoelectrochemical performance of the TiO 2 nanotube film. The SnO 2 -TiO 2 nanotube composite films were highly sensitive to white light illumination. A maximum incident photon to current conversion efficiency of 89.98% at 335 nm 2 wavelength and a maximum photocurrent density of 75.4 μA cm -2 were achieved for the composite film prepared by 20 min ultrasonic deposition. The composite film could be applied in photoelectrochemical anticorrosion, and could provide a better photocathodic protection effect on stainless steel in a corrosive NaCl solution than that provided by the pure TiO 2 nanotube film.

To further understand the localized corrosion of magnesium alloy, various in situ electrochemical techniques and ex situ electron microprobe analysis and SEM were used to monitor the corrosion process of Mg-1.0Ca alloy in 0.9 wt% sodium chloride solution. The results indicated that the localized corrosion was accompanied by the formation and thickening of a corrosion product film on the Mg-1.0Ca alloy. A localized corrosion of the alloy initiated selectively on the eutectic micro-constituent zones, then enhanced with the exposure, developed in depth with ring-shaped corrosion products accumulated around and finally formed a volcanic-like pitting. Based on the measurements, an electrochemical corrosion model was proposed accordingly to describe the formation mechanism of the volcanic-like pitting on the alloy in 0.9 wt% sodium chloride solution.

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The use of iodoacetamide (IAA) and N-methyliodoacetamide (MIAA) as labeling agents for the relative measurements of proteins using MALDI-MS is described herein. These reagents, which alkylate the thiol groups of cysteine residues in proteins, were introduced during the alkylation step of a common protein denaturation and digestion process. This approach is simpler and cheaper than those involving isotope labeling agents. The labeling agents described herein displayed good dynamic ranges and correlation coefficients for protein quantification analyses when the proteins were treated through either in-solution or in-gel digestion. The best dynamic ranges (in the molar ratio) for proteins lysozyme, transferrin, and BSA (in-solution digestion) are 0.1-10, 0.1-8, and 0.1-8, respectively. The corresponding correlation coefficients are greater than 0.99. The IAA/MIAA labeling is a useful method for the relative quantification of peptides and digested proteins when the chromatographic isotope effect is not a major concern.