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Medical Science Monitor : International... Jun 2024BACKGROUND Simethicone can improve bowel preparation quality, but the optimal timing of oral simethicone before colonoscopy has not been determined. This study aimed to...
BACKGROUND Simethicone can improve bowel preparation quality, but the optimal timing of oral simethicone before colonoscopy has not been determined. This study aimed to explore the effect of the time interval between oral simethicone and the start of colonoscopy (S-C) on bowel preparation quality. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 364 patients undergoing colonoscopy at our department from August 1, 2021 to November 30, 2021 were included in the training cohort, and 420 consecutive patients from December 15, 2021 to January 31, 2022 comprised the validation cohort. They were classified into short and long S-C groups according to the median S-C. Bowel preparation quality evaluated by the Boston Bowel Preparation Scale was compared between the 2 groups. Logistic regression analyses were performed to explore the correlation between S-C and bowel preparation quality, and we explored the effect of run-way time and time of starting colonoscopy on bowel preparation quality. RESULTS In the training cohort, 182 and 182 patients were classified into the short and long S-C groups, respectively; in the validation cohort, 210 and 210 patients were classified into the 2 groups, respectively. In the 2 cohorts, the short S-C group had a significantly higher rate of adequate/excellent bowel preparation than the long S-C group. Logistic regression analyses showed that shorter S-C, shorter run-way time, and colonoscopy in the morning were all correlated with adequate/excellent bowel preparation. CONCLUSIONS Bowel preparation quality may be affected by S-C, run-way time, and time of starting colonoscopy. S-C shortening should be given equal importance as run-way time shortening.
Topics: Humans; Colonoscopy; Male; Female; Simethicone; Middle Aged; Cathartics; Administration, Oral; Aged; Adult; Time Factors
PubMed: 38907516
DOI: 10.12659/MSM.943972 -
British Journal of Nursing (Mark Allen... Jun 2024Skin breakdown is common in the intensive care unit (ICU). This pilot evaluation aimed to determine whether a nurse-constructed urinary catheter securement device using...
AIMS
Skin breakdown is common in the intensive care unit (ICU). This pilot evaluation aimed to determine whether a nurse-constructed urinary catheter securement device using a silicone adhesive could reduce the complications of blistering and other skin breakdowns in a high-risk ICU population with Foley catheters.
DESIGN
A prospective, non-randomised performance improvement study using a convenience sample was carried out.
SUBJECTS AND SETTING
The study sample consisted of 29 patients with urethral Foley catheters and any degree of thigh oedema in a surgical ICU at an academic quarternary medical center.
METHODS
Patients were fitted with a standard acrylic-adhesive catheter securement device on one thigh and a nurse-constructed device on the contralateral thigh. At the beginning of each 12-hour shift, the nurse moved the Foley catheter from one securement device to the other; the nurse recorded the assessment findings at the end of the shift.
RESULTS
The average age of the 29 patients was 61±16 (range 20-87) years. Visible skin compromise occurred in 21% of the time with the standard acrylic securement device; an equal percentage of men and women developed skin breakdown. Oedema status was a significant factor related to skin breakdown. There was no visible damage to the skin associated with the nurse-constructed silicone-adhesive device.
CONCLUSIONS
A silicone adhesive urinary catheter securement device causes less skin damage than one with acrylic adhesive. One-step application, pain-free and atraumatic removal, and reliable securement are essential considerations in product development.
Topics: Humans; Female; Male; Middle Aged; Aged; Adult; Aged, 80 and over; Prospective Studies; Silicones; Urinary Catheterization; Adhesives; Urinary Catheters; Pilot Projects; Young Adult
PubMed: 38900658
DOI: 10.12968/bjon.2024.0157 -
Integrative Biology : Quantitative... Jan 2024Oxygen levels vary in the environment. Oxygen availability has a major effect on almost all organisms, and oxygen is far more than a substrate for energy production....
Oxygen levels vary in the environment. Oxygen availability has a major effect on almost all organisms, and oxygen is far more than a substrate for energy production. However, less is known about related biological processes under hypoxic conditions and about the adaptations to changing oxygen concentrations. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae can adapt its metabolism for growth under different oxygen concentrations and can grow even under anaerobic conditions. Therefore, we developed a microfluidic device that can generate serial, accurately controlled oxygen concentrations for single-cell studies of multiple yeast strains. This device can construct a broad range of oxygen concentrations, [O2] through on-chip gas-mixing channels from two gases fed to the inlets. Gas diffusion through thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) can lead to the equilibration of [O2] in the medium in the cell culture layer under gas cover regions within 2 min. Here, we established six different and stable [O2] varying between ~0.1 and 20.9% in the corresponding layers of the device designed for multiple parallel single-cell culture of four different yeast strains. Using this device, the dynamic responses of different yeast transcription factors and metabolism-related proteins were studied when the [O2] decreased from 20.9% to serial hypoxic concentrations. We showed that different hypoxic conditions induced varying degrees of transcription factor responses and changes in respiratory metabolism levels. This device can also be used in studies of the aging and physiology of yeast under different oxygen conditions and can provide new insights into the relationship between oxygen and organisms. Integration, innovation and insight: Most living cells are sensitive to the oxygen concentration because they depend on oxygen for survival and proper cellular functions. Here, a composite microfluidic device was designed for yeast single-cell studies at a series of accurately controlled oxygen concentrations. Using this device, we studied the dynamic responses of various transcription factors and proteins to changes in the oxygen concentration. This study is the first to examine protein dynamics and temporal behaviors under different hypoxic conditions at the single yeast cell level, which may provide insights into the processes involved in yeast and even mammalian cells. This device also provides a base model that can be extended to oxygen-related biology and can acquire more information about the complex networks of organisms.
Topics: Oxygen; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Single-Cell Analysis; Dimethylpolysiloxanes; Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; Equipment Design; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques; Microfluidics
PubMed: 38900168
DOI: 10.1093/intbio/zyae011 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024The advancement of flexible electrodes triggered research on wearables and health monitoring applications. Metal-based bioelectrodes encounter low mechanical strength...
The advancement of flexible electrodes triggered research on wearables and health monitoring applications. Metal-based bioelectrodes encounter low mechanical strength and skin discomfort at the electrode-skin interface. Thus, recent research has focused on the development of flexible surface electrodes with low electrochemical resistance and high conductivity. This study investigated the development of a novel, flexible, surface electrode based on a MXene/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/glycerol composite. MXenes offer the benefit of featuring highly conductive transition metals with metallic properties, including a group of carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides, while PDMS exhibits inherent biostability, flexibility, and biocompatibility. Among the various MXene-based electrode compositions prepared in this work, those composed of 15% and 20% MXene content were further evaluated for their potential in electrophysiological sensing applications. The samples underwent a range of characterization techniques, including electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), as well as mechanical and bio-signal sensing from the skin. The experimental findings indicated that the compositions demonstrated favorable bulk impedances of 280 and 111 Ω, along with conductivities of 0.462 and 1.533 mS/cm, respectively. Additionally, they displayed promising electrochemical stability, featuring charge storage densities of 0.665 mC/cm and 1.99 mC/cm, respectively. By conducting mechanical tests, Young's moduli were determined to be 2.61 MPa and 2.18 MPa, respectively. The composite samples exhibited elongation of 139% and 144%, respectively. Thus, MXene-based bioelectrodes show promising potential for flexible and wearable electronics and bio-signal sensing applications.
Topics: Electrodes; Wearable Electronic Devices; Biosensing Techniques; Humans; Dimethylpolysiloxanes; Dielectric Spectroscopy; Electric Conductivity; Electrochemical Techniques; Electric Impedance; Glycerol; Electrophysiological Phenomena; Monitoring, Physiologic
PubMed: 38894053
DOI: 10.3390/s24113260 -
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024The chemical industry explosion in the 20th century has led to increased environmental pollution, affecting fauna, flora, and waterways. These substances alter water's...
The chemical industry explosion in the 20th century has led to increased environmental pollution, affecting fauna, flora, and waterways. These substances alter water's taste, color, and smell, making it unfit for consumption or toxic. Agricultural water networks face threats from pollution before and after treatment. Some chemical contaminants, like pesticides, are embedded in natural biogeochemical cycles. In this study, we developed a simple and low-cost procedure for the fabrication of needles coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as an efficient sorbent for the microextraction of organic pollutant traces from water. The prepared needles were used as an alternative for commercial solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) devices in analytical chemistry. The PDMS polymeric phase was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetry (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The PDMS-coated needles were used for extraction of thirteen pesticides by direct-immersion solid-phase microextraction (DI-SPME) from contaminated waters, followed by determination with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The developed analytical method showed limits of detection (LODs) between 0.3 and 2.5 ng mL and RSDs in the range of 0.8-12.2%. The homemade needles were applied for the extraction of pesticides in surface and ground aqueous samples collected from an agricultural area. Several target pesticides were identified and quantified in the investigated water samples.
Topics: Solid Phase Microextraction; Pesticides; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Agriculture; Dimethylpolysiloxanes; Water; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Limit of Detection; Needles
PubMed: 38893504
DOI: 10.3390/molecules29112628 -
Harefuah Jun 2024Post-Covid Syndrome, Sick Building Syndrome, Silicone Breast Syndrome, Choric Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia -Autoimmunity to the Autonomic Nervous System.
Post-Covid Syndrome, Sick Building Syndrome, Silicone Breast Syndrome, Choric Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia -Autoimmunity to the Autonomic Nervous System.
Topics: Humans; Fibromyalgia; Female; COVID-19; Silicones; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome; Autonomic Nervous System; Breast Implants; Autoimmunity; Autonomic Nervous System Diseases
PubMed: 38884297
DOI: No ID Found -
Medicine Jun 2024To investigate the efficacy of 3 root canal sealants such as AH Plus, GuttaFlow and iRoot SP combined with warm gutta-percha vertical compression technique in the...
To investigate the efficacy of 3 root canal sealants such as AH Plus, GuttaFlow and iRoot SP combined with warm gutta-percha vertical compression technique in the treatment of dental pulp disease. This was a single-center retrospective study. 180 patients with dental pulp disease were divided into AH Plus group (n = 60), GuttaFlow group (n = 60) and iRoot SP group (n = 60) according to the different treatment methods. Patients in different groups were treated with corresponding root canal sealant combined with warm gutta-percha vertical compression technique. The quality of root canal filling, filling time, filling area ratio, the incidence of pain after operation, serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and efficacy at 6 months after operation were compared among the 3 groups, respectively. The filling time in the GuttaFlow group and the iRoot SP group was significantly shorter than that in the AH Plus group (P < .001). There were significant differences in pain grade (P = .015) and pain rate (P = .016) among the 3 groups, and the pain rate in the GuttaFlow group and the iRoot SP group was significantly lower than that in the AH Plus group (P = .016). The time-point effect, intergroup effect and time-groups effect of serum TNF-α and IL-6 were significantly different (P < .001), and the levels of the 3 groups after treatment were significantly lower than those before treatment (P < .05), and the levels were significantly lower in the GuttaFlow group and the iRoot SP group (P < .05). There were significant differences in efficacy grading and effective rate among the 3 groups (P = .028), and the effective rate of iRoot SP group was significantly higher than that of AH Plus group (P < .05). The iRoot SP or GuttaFlow as root canal sealant combined with warm gutta-percha vertical compression technique in the treatment of dental pulp disease is better than AH Plus, and the former one can shorten the filling time, relieve the postoperative pain and improve the inflammatory response, but the long-term apical sealing effect of iRoot SP is better than GuttaFlow.
Topics: Humans; Female; Male; Retrospective Studies; Adult; Root Canal Filling Materials; Gutta-Percha; Dental Pulp Diseases; Interleukin-6; Middle Aged; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; Treatment Outcome; Young Adult; Drug Combinations; Dimethylpolysiloxanes
PubMed: 38875398
DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000038414 -
BMC Ophthalmology Jun 2024The aim of this study is to elucidate the factors contributing to the occurrence of retinal detachment (RD) following prophylactic vitrectomy in cases of acute retinal...
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to elucidate the factors contributing to the occurrence of retinal detachment (RD) following prophylactic vitrectomy in cases of acute retinal necrosis (ARN) syndrome.
METHODS
A retrospective examination was undertaken, encompassing the medical records of patients diagnosed with ARN who underwent prophylactic vitreous intervention at the Ophthalmology Department of Wuhan University Renmin Hospital East Campus between October 2019 and September 2023. Subsequently, patients who manifested RD in the postoperative period were identified, and a comprehensive analysis was conducted to ascertain the factors underlying the occurrence of RD post-surgery.
RESULTS
This study comprised 14 cases (involving 14 eyes) of patients diagnosed with ARN who underwent prophylactic vitreous intervention. The findings revealed that 4 patients experienced postoperative RD, resulting in an incidence rate of 28.57%. Notably, among these cases, 3 cases of RD manifested in the presence of silicone oil, while 1 case occurred subsequent to the removal of silicone oil. All 4 cases of RD exhibited varied degrees of proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Following the occurrence of RD, all patients underwent a secondary vitreous intervention coupled with silicone oil tamponade, leading to successful reattachment of the retina. However, despite these interventions, there was no significant enhancement observed in postoperative visual outcomes when compared to preoperative levels.
CONCLUSION
RD following prophylactic vitrectomy in cases of ARN is not an infrequent occurrence and is primarily linked to the postoperative onset of proliferative vitreoretinopathy.
Topics: Humans; Vitrectomy; Retinal Detachment; Retinal Necrosis Syndrome, Acute; Retrospective Studies; Male; Female; Middle Aged; Adult; Visual Acuity; Postoperative Complications; Endotamponade; Aged; Young Adult; Silicone Oils; Incidence
PubMed: 38872161
DOI: 10.1186/s12886-024-03518-2 -
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces Jun 2024Herein, we report a dual-functional flexible sensor (DFFS) using a magnetic conductive polymer composed of nickel (Ni), carbon black (CB), and polydimethylsiloxane...
Herein, we report a dual-functional flexible sensor (DFFS) using a magnetic conductive polymer composed of nickel (Ni), carbon black (CB), and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The material selection for the DFFS utilizes the excellent elasticity of the PDMS matrix and the synergistic interaction between Ni and CB. The DFFS has a wide strain range of 0-170%, a high sensitivity of 74.13 (140-170%), and a low detection limit of 0.3% strain. The DFFS based on superior performance can accurately detect microstrain/microvibration, oncoming/contacting objects, and bicycle riding speed. Additionally, the DFFS can be used for comprehensive monitoring of human movements. Therefore, the DFFS of this work shows significant value for implementation in intelligent wearable devices and noncontact intelligent control.
Topics: Dimethylpolysiloxanes; Humans; Nickel; Wearable Electronic Devices; Microspheres; Soot; Movement; Electric Conductivity
PubMed: 38870327
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.4c04830 -
Environmental Science and Pollution... Jun 2024Oil spills in the ocean and the release of contaminated wastewater from industries cause significant harm to the ecosystem and water sources. To tackle this... (Review)
Review
Oil spills in the ocean and the release of contaminated wastewater from industries cause significant harm to the ecosystem and water sources. To tackle this environmental problem, oil-water mixture separation has been the subject of extensive research over the past few decades. Improving oil absorbents is crucial in removing organic contaminants from wastewater produced by industrial activities. To this end, there is an increasing need for materials that can efficiently and flexibly recover oils from contaminated ocean waters, industrial wastewater, and other sources. Silicones are often used for this purpose because of their exceptional mechanical and thermal durability, as well as their low toxicity. The materials produced from silicones, such as foam, sponge, or substrate, exhibit excellent oil-absorbing properties (maximum oil absorption range, 23.2-77 g/g) and outstanding compression cycles. This article review highlights the advancements in the manufacturing of silicone-based products that have been extensively researched for oil-water separation. Understanding the interdependencies that determine the structure, performance, and manufacturing strategy is essential to producing selective oil absorbents with more commercial potential in the future. Recycling of silicones has also become increasingly important as a goal for the circular economy.
Topics: Silicones; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; Petroleum Pollution; Wastewater; Water Pollutants, Chemical
PubMed: 38869805
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-33686-z