Despite hundreds of studies of pinning configurations for transverse supracondylar humerus fractures, very few studies have investigated the optimal pin configurations in the treatment of supracondylar humerus fractures with coronal medial obliquity. The aim of this study was to develop a model of supracondylar humerus fractures with coronal medial obliquity and compare the stability of three various pin configurations to provide an acceptable pin placement. Oblique cuts were made in synthetic humeri at the level of the coronoid and olecranon fossae to simulate a humeral supracondylar fracture with coronal medial obliquity. Each fracture was reduced and fixed using two 0.062 inch K-wires in three different configurations, and sequentially tested in extension, varus, valgus, and internal and external rotations using an MTS 858 Minibionix materials testing load frame. We performed analysis of variance to compare construction stiffness of different pin configurations and the standard level of significant (P-value ≤ 0.05) was used indicate statistical significance. In resistance to extension and valgus loading, there was no statistical difference between all the three pin configurations (P=0.22 and 0.130, respectively). During the varus loading condition, the greatest stiffness values were obtained with the two crossed pin configuration, followed by the two medial pins, and the two lateral pin configuration showed the lowest values. For resistance in internal and external rotation testing, although there was no statistical difference between the two medial pins and the two crossed pins configurations (P=0.06 and 0.75, respectively), they were significantly greater than that of the two lateral pin configuration (P=0.003 and 0.004; P=0.001 and 0.02, respectively). In a synthetic humerus model of supracondylar humerus fractures with coronal medial obliquity, the two crossed pin configuration provided statistically greatest or comparable stability in the varus, and internal and external rotation loading conditions.

TiO2 semiconductor photocatalysis is an effective technology for the treatment of wastewater containing organic dye pollutants, which has been received extensive focus. However, the problems in the recovery and reutilization process impede the large-scale applications of particulate photocatalytic materials. Herein, a macro sized hydrogel bead loaded with nano TiO2 powder was successfully prepared by taking advantage of the cross-linking and gel property of alginate salt, which could form egg-box structure naturally when Na+ ions in sodium alginate (SA) were replaced by divalent ions such as Cu2+, Co2+, and Sr2+ ions. The photocatalytic degradation rate of methyl orange (MO) solution in the presence of the hydrogel beads reaches 99% within 60 min under the ultraviolet light irradiation, which is competitive with that of TiO2 nano powder. Furthermore, the hydrogel beads prepared by this strategy maintain over 95% photocatalytic degradation rate after 10 cycles of degradation process. The results indicate that the network structure of alginate could immobilize and disperse TiO2 particle effectively, and it is readily for the spherical beads to contact and harvest the light, making the alginate beads have excellent photocatalytic functions. Also, the alginate based beads integrate good performance with high stability and excellent recyclability perfectly.

(1) Background: Continuous monitoring of tacrolimus (TAC), mycophenolic acid (MPA), and creatinine (Cre) after renal transplantation is vitally important. In this study, we developed a new method based on volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS) combined with Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) to simultaneously quantify three analytes including TAC, MPA, and Cre in whole blood. (2) Methods: The VAMS-based UPLC-MS/MS assay used a shared extraction and a single injection to simultaneously quantify the included TAC, MPA, and Cre. Development and validation were carried out following the Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency guidelines for the validation of bioanalytical methods. Moreover, clinical validation for the three analytes was performed in both dried blood spot (DBS) and VAMS. Furthermore, a willingness survey was conducted using the system usability scale (SUS) for renal transplant recipients. (3) Results: The assay was successfully validated for all analytes. No interference, carryover, or matrix effects were observed, and extraction recoveries and process efficiencies were >90.00%. Analysis was unaffected by hematocrit (0.20~0.60, L/L) and anticoagulants (EDTA-2K). Dried VAMS samples were stable for 7 days at ambient temperature and stable for at least 1 month at −20 °C. During clinical validation, the measured TAC, corrected MPA, and Cre concentrations of VAMS samples met the analytical standards (95.00%, 88.57%, and 92.50%). When more stringent clinical acceptance criteria were set, the results obtained by VAMS (90.00%, 71.43%, and 85.00%) better than DBS (77.50%, 62.86%, and 70.00%). Compared with DBS, the survey found that renal transplant recipients are more inclined to use VAMS. (4) Conclusions: A robust extraction and UPLC-MS/MS analysis method in VAMS tips was developed and fully validated for the simultaneous quantification of TAC, MPA, and Cre concentrations. This method provides analytical support for the one-sample remote monitoring of both immunosuppressive drug concentrations and renal function in allo-renal recipients. Based on the good consistency between this method and the routine detection of venous blood samples and higher patient satisfaction than DBS, we believe that VAMS sampling can be a better alternative to venous whole-blood sampling.

Aquaponics is a green and efficient agricultural production model that combines aquaculture and vegetable cultivation. It is worth looking into optimizing the proportion of fish and plants to improve the quality and yield. However, there is little non-destructive monitoring of plant growth in aquaponics monitoring systems currently. In this paper, based on the Internet of Things technologies, a monitoring system is designed with miniaturization, modularization, and low-cost features for cultivation-breeding ratio research. The system can realize remote monitoring and intelligent control of parameters needed to keep fish and plants under optimal conditions. First, a 32-bit chip is used as the Microcontroller Unit to develop the intelligent sensing unit, which can realize 16 different data acquisitions as stand-alone extensible modules. Second, to achieve plant data acquisition and upload, the Raspberry Pi embedded with image processing algorithms is introduced to realize edge-computing. Finally, all the collected data is stored in the Ali-cloud through Wi-Fi and a WeChat Mini Program is designed to display data and control devices. The results show that there is no packet loss within 90 m for wireless transmission, and the error rate of environment parameters is limited to 5%. It was proven that the system is intelligent, flexible, low-cost, and stable which is suitable for small-scale aquaponics well.