Background: To explore the efficacy and optimal modality of three-dimensional (3D) MRI sequences in the preoperative detection of neurovascular compressions (NVCs) in patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN). Materials and Methods: Forty-nine cases of typical unilateral TN had undergone 3D time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (3D-TOF MRA), 3D fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition (3D-FIESTA), and contrast-enhanced 3D spoiled gradient-recalled sequence (3D-SPGR) on a 3 Tesla MR scanner. Neurovascular relationships (including neurovascular contact and position and the nature of the offending vessels) on MR images were reviewed by a neuroradiologist who was unaware of the clinical findings. Subsequently, microvascular decompression (MVD) surgery was performed on all patients. Comparison was made between the imaging results and surgical findings. Results: MVD verified NVC in 48 (98%) symptomatic nerves, while 3D-TOF MRA, 3D-FIESTA, and 3D-SPGR revealed NVC in 38 (78%), 48 (98%), and 47 (96%) cases, respectively. Agreement between the position of NVC, as defined by 3D-FIESTA (κ = 0.86) or 3D-SPGR (κ = 0.83) and surgical findings, was excellent. Moreover, excellent agreement was confirmed between the nature of compressing vessels as defined by 3D-FIESTA in combination with 3D-TOF MRA (κ = 0.95) or contrast-enhanced 3D-SPGR in combination with 3D-TOF MRA (κ = 0.92) and surgical findings. Conclusions: NVCs were visualized with good sensitivity and specificity with 3D MRI sequences in TN. We propose that 3D-FIESTA combined with 3D-TOF MRA is a safe, convenient, and efficacious MRI sequence for revealing NVCs and is crucial for the preoperative diagnosis and surgical planning of MVD.

This paper develops a Stackelberg game model for a retailer-led secondary low-carbon supply chain (L-CSC) comprising a manufacturer and a retailer. Then, a two-part pricing contract is designed to investigate the product pricing, carbon reduction, and sales effort decision problems, and relevant management insights are obtained through numerical analysis. The study shows an efficiency loss in decentralized decision making compared to centralized decision making. Considering the sales effort improves the efficiency of the supply chain, retail price, carbon emission reduction (CER), sales effort level, and supply chain profit positively relate to product low carbon preference and sales sensitivity coefficients. The designed two-part pricing contract can increase the profit of the entire L-CSC and optimize the decision level under centralized decision making.

The new retail focuses on the high integration between online and offline channels. The main problems faced by the development of the new retail are the interest balance of all decision subjects, the pricing strategy, and the coordination of online and offline channels. This paper considers the effect of the new retail firms’ delivery time and establishes a two-part tariff contract to study the decision-making and coordination of the new retail fresh products supply chain. This paper constructs cooperative and non-cooperative models and employs the cooperative model as the benchmark case to realize the coordination. It is found that when the delivery time has little effect on the market demand, the offline store often should pay more fixed charges to the new retail firm. With the increased impact of delivery time on market demand, the fixed charges paid by the offline store become smaller. Under the coordination decision model, the offline store pays fixed charges to compensate for the new retail firm’s early delivery costs, but its interests still increase compared with the decentralized decision model. This study models the time-dependent demand for fresh products and proposes an incentive mechanism to coordinate the new retail fresh products’ supply chain; further, it demonstrates that the prices can be significantly decreased with the designed contract, and all the supply chain members can benefit from Pareto improvement.