Jove-Journal of Visualized Experiments最新文献

While perioperative esketamine use has grown increasingly prevalent, evidence supporting its efficacy and safety in elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic prostate cancer surgery remains limited. This retrospective study evaluated intravenous esketamine's performance in this population by analyzing 186 elderly patients treated between 2021 and 2024, divided into a control group (n = 91; conventional anesthesia) and an esketamine group (n = 95; conventional anesthesia plus esketamine). Esketamine infusion was discontinued 30 min before surgery completion. Hemodynamic parameters-heart rate (HR) and mean arterial pressure (MAP)-were recorded at five time points: pre intubation (T1), 1 min post intubation (T2), 1 h intraoperatively (T3), skin closure (T4), and 5 min post extubation (T5). Secondary outcomes included anesthesia duration, extubation time, awakening time, analgesic use, Riker Sedation-Agitation Scale scores, visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores (immediately, and at 6 and 24 h postoperatively), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD), and adverse events. Compared with the control group, the esketamine group required significantly less remifentanil, propofol, and muscle relaxant (P < 0.05). Hemodynamically, HR and MAP were higher at T2 and lower at T3 in the esketamine group (P < 0.05). Postoperatively, esketamine prolonged awakening time slightly but reduced agitation and severe coughing (P < 0.05), shortened postanesthesia care unit (PACU) stay (P < 0.05), and improved VAS pain scores (P < 0.05). MMSE scores at 1 and 7 days post surgery were higher, and POCD incidence was lower (P < 0.05). The only notable adverse event difference was a higher rate of mild drowsiness (P < 0.05); other adverse events did not differ. These findings suggest that esketamine may help maintain hemodynamic stability and enhance postoperative recovery in elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, reducing anesthetic requirements and improving cognitive outcomes with minimal additional risk.

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) produced through in vitro or in vivo methods are highly effective biocontrol agents for insect pest management. In vivo mass-propagation systems result in high-quality nematodes but are often more labor-intensive and/or less cost-effective than commercial in vitro methods. Grower-oriented nematode propagation systems described to date are generally unreliable because they rely on external sources (industry or academic laboratories) to calibrate the inoculum. We designed novel grower-based systems where farmers can continuously produce their own nematodes after acquiring inoculum from established EPN production laboratories/companies. Here, we present two methods for farmers to mass-propagate EPNs as bio-insecticides. In the first method, we compared in vivo nematode production using the standard White trap method to a grower-oriented approach involving polyacrylamide gel as the nematode substrate. The grower-oriented method produced more nematodes than the standard method when culturing two commonly available EPN species (Steinernema carpocapsae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora). In the second method, two native nematode species (Oscheius onirici and Heterorhabditis georgiana) were mass-propagated within live beetle larvae (Tenebrio molitor) that were embedded between two layers of a polymer-coated cotton wool. Harvesting the emerged nematodes from the wool bilayer employed systematic irrigation of a tray, creating a nematode slurry ready for field applications. These grower-oriented systems hold promise for wide adoption by agricultural stakeholders because the approaches are technically simple and scalable for those who seek accessible, reliable methods to produce nematodes. By providing growers a means to create their own pest management tools, these methods should facilitate greater independence and profitability on US farms.

Electronic skin (E-skin) technologies emulate the tactile and sensory capabilities of human skin, enabling perception of pressure, strain, temperature, and other external stimuli for intelligent robots and wearable systems. This review summarizes recent progress in materials, structural designs, sensing mechanisms, and system-level integration that have advanced the performance and functionality of E-skin platforms. Particular attention is given to multimodal tactile sensing and embedded signal acquisition strategies that enable real-time recognition of tactile patterns and gestures. Advances in flexible architectures, hybrid-frequency sampling, and low-power data acquisition circuits have enhanced the reliability, scalability, and temporal resolution of modern E-skin systems. As a demonstration, a 36-channel hybrid-frequency tactile sensing platform was developed by the authors to illustrate the practical implementation of multimodal signal fusion and robotic interaction. Finally, current challenges and future directions-including large-area uniformity, intelligent calibration, and adaptive perception-are discussed to guide the transition from laboratory prototypes to deployable robotic skin applications.

Photosynthesis supplies energy not only for plant biomass production but also for symbiotic processes such as nitrogen (N) fixation. Whereas the potential for further genetic gains in productivity of major crops from improved light interception and harvest index has largely been exhausted, naturally occurring or induced genetic variation in photosynthetic traits still offers considerable potential for further yield improvement. However, since photosynthesis is highly dynamic under fluctuating field conditions, it is difficult to conduct a targeted selection for photosynthetic performance unless high spatial and temporal resolution data are available. To bridge this gap, we installed a light-induced fluorescence transient (LIFT) device on an autonomous field robot to measure the quantum efficiency of photosystem II (Fq'/Fm'), which has been shown to be well correlated with overall photosynthetic performance. The LIFT method uses sub-saturating flashes at a fast repetition rate to induce maximum fluorescence, enabling measurements in less than 1 ms from a distance of up to 1 m. The robot moves at a speed of 0.5 m s^-1, autonomously navigating the entire field based on global navigation satellite system (GNSS) coordinates. Spectral measurements and stereo red, green, and blue (RGB) cameras provide additional information about three-dimensional (3D) plant architecture-related traits, such as leaf angle and light intensity on the target leaf. The resulting high spatiotemporal resolution maps of photosynthetic efficiency provide detailed information about the growth performance of plants in agronomic field trials or plant breeding nurseries.

Visual recognition for automated cigarette inventory faces significant hurdles, including illumination changes, diverse box dimensions, and partial feature occlusion, which complicate brand verification and misplaced box detection. This article proposes an improved real-time detection model to deal with image recognition problems and improve accuracy. Firstly, an adaptive downsampling module is deployed to replace the downsampling convolution module in both the backbone and neck networks of YOLO series as the baseline or original detector, which effectively retains more feature details and realizes the lightweight of the model. Secondly, an inverted efficient multi-scale attention module is introduced to capture the spatial context information of different scales and generate a more accurate spatial attention map, which improves the prediction accuracy of the baseline model for complex features and occlusion targets. Finally, a dynamic detection head module replaces theoriginal detection head of the baseline model and performs multi-scale object detection on the feature map extracted from the backbone and neck networks to achieve accurate positioning and category division of the predicted target. To evaluate the performance of the improved model in the field, we constructed a visual dataset of the cigarette box brand. The dataset was augmented using region-specific copy-paste and traditional augmentation techniques, and the obtained dataset includes complex background, occlusion, and overlap, small target, and other factors. The experiment demonstrates that the improved model presented in this article effectively meets the requirements for real-time detection in the field. The proposed model achieves a mAP of 97.9%, with parameters and FLOPs of 1,849,679 and 5.1 G, respectively. Compared with the baseline model, the proposed model improves mAP by 0.9% while reducing parameters by 28.78% and floating-point operations by 1.4 G. Additionally, the model reaches an inference speed of 38.5 FPS, satisfying the requirements for real-time industrial detection.

Thrombosis is a pathological condition describing the abnormal accumulation of platelets and clotting factors in a blood vessel. While many works focused on platelet activation by soluble agonists as an underlying mechanism of thrombosis, it has often been overlooked that blood flow also facilitates thrombus formation. Especially, in the arteries, thrombosis is generally associated with arterial stenosis, which elevates the shear stress in the blood flow and facilitates the process of thrombogenesis, a phenomenon termed biomechanical thrombogenesis. For a long time, no bioassay was available to provide all-around and detailed insights into the process of biomechanical thrombogenesis. To address this, a thrombus profiling assay was developed by combining microfluidics with multi-color fluorescence imaging, which allows comprehensive characterization of biomechanical thrombogenesis with seven readouts covering the size and composition of the thrombus as well as platelet activation level. This thrombus profiling assay can be used to evaluate the prothrombotic tendency in humans and the efficacy of anti-thrombotic agents, and it is also useful for further understanding the mechanisms underlying arterial thrombosis.

Calcified lumbar disc herniation (CLDH) presents unique surgical challenges due to its hard texture and frequent adhesion to neural structures. This study compares the efficacy and safety of unilateral biportal endoscopic discectomy (UBE) and percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal discectomy (PETD) in treating single-level CLDH. An analysis was conducted on 107 patients, with 45 undergoing UBE and 62 PETD. Both techniques significantly improved postoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores. PETD demonstrated advantages in operative time, blood loss, incision length, and hospital stay, but required more intraoperative fluoroscopy. UBE was associated with higher early postoperative low back pain VAS scores and a higher incidence of dural tears (2 cases), whereas PETD resulted in one case of transient nerve root symptoms. While both methods effectively decompress neural elements, PETD offers less invasiveness and faster recovery, particularly beneficial for continuous central calcifications, though it demands specialized instruments and greater radiation exposure. UBE provides a broader operative field and familiar instrumentation but involves more tissue dissection. The findings support the use of either technique for CLDH, with selection influenced by lesion characteristics, surgical expertise, and resource availability. Future efforts should focus on standardizing training and indications to expand access to these minimally invasive options, especially in settings where traditional open surgery remains prevalent.

This study investigated the association between the ABCB1 (MDR1) C3435T (rs1045642) gene polymorphism and postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing hip replacement surgery. A total of 100 patients who underwent hip replacement in our hospital between January 2023 and January 2024 received postoperative patient-controlled intravenous analgesia with sufentanil. Preoperative serum samples were collected, and genomic detection was performed using the TaqMan SNP genotyping assay. According to the C3435T genotype, patients were classified into wild-type homozygotes (CC group), mutant heterozygotes (CT group), and mutant homozygotes (TT group). Clinical parameters, including baseline characteristics, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain scores, sufentanil consumption, serum pain mediators (prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), substance P (SP), and β-endorphin (β-EP)), Hamilton anxiety and depression scores, sleep quality, and the incidence of adverse events within 24 h after surgery were compared among groups. Baseline characteristics were similar across groups (p > 0.05). VAS scores, sufentanil dosage, and serum PGE2, SP, and β-EP levels at 24 h were significantly lower in CT and TT groups compared with the CC group (p < 0.05). The TT group also exhibited reduced Hamilton anxiety and depression scores relative to both CC and CT groups (p < 0.05), whereas the CT group showed higher anxiety and depression scores than the CC group (p < 0.05). Sleep quality and adverse event rates were not significantly different among groups (p > 0.05). These findings suggest a potential association between the ABCB1 (MDR1) C3435T (rs1045642) polymorphism and variability in postoperative analgesic efficacy. Patients carrying the TT genotype tended to experience better analgesia, lower sufentanil requirements, and improved psychological outcomes. Although these results are promising, they should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size and single-center design. Further large-scale studies are warranted to confirm these observations and evaluate their clinical applicability.

In the research on the pathogenesis of post-acute pancreatitis diabetes mellitus (PPDM-A), abnormal bidirectional communication between pancreatic acinar cells (PACs) and islet cells is a key focus. However, immortalized cell lines cannot replicate pathophysiological conditions, making the extraction of high-quality primary cells crucial. Current methods for extracting primary islets from mice mostly rely on in-vivo pancreatic perfusion via bile duct cannulation, which has a high technical barrier and is not conducive to operation by researchers without experience. This study modified the method, eliminating the need for complex, in-vivo perfusion. SPF-grade C57BL/6J mice (6-8-week-old) were anesthetized and euthanized, followed by pancreas isolation. The pancreas was digested in vitro with collagenase P; primary islets were separated via Ficoll density gradient centrifugation, and acinar cells were obtained through cell sieve filtration and centrifugation. Cell viability and function were evaluated using calcein/propidium iodide (Calcein/PI) staining, glucose-stimulated insulin secretion assay, and amylase activity detection. The results showed that the modified method was easy to operate: the yield per mouse was (120 ± 5) primary islets and 1.6-1.95 × 10⁷ acinar cells; the viability rates of islets and acinar cells were (97.52 ± 0.16)% and (96.55 ± 0.95)%, respectively. Moreover, the islets exhibited normal insulin secretion ability, and the acinar cells were sensitive to cerulein stimulation. This method is simple and reliable, providing a feasible framework for studying pancreatic exocrine-endocrine interactions and PPDM-A. However, it has limitations, such as an unvalidated application in rats.

This study investigates the interdependent dynamics of technological innovation, public health equity, and governance quality as catalysts for sustainable development in G7 economies. Employing a robust empirical methodology, including cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) and panel regression models, the analysis utilizes longitudinal data to disentangle short- and long-run relationships. The findings reveal that these factors form a synergistic triad, with governance quality acting as a critical moderator that amplifies the positive impact of digital infrastructure. A novel finding is the inverted U-shaped relationship between sustainable development performance and its outcomes, indicating diminishing marginal returns. The study further establishes public health and labor market efficiency as fundamental inputs for long-run resilience. The key implication is that siloed policy interventions are insufficient; achieving sustainable development requires integrated strategies that consciously align technological advancement with institutional strength and human capital investment. This study contributes a novel empirical framework for understanding the non-linear and conditional interactions that shape advanced economies' pathways towards sustainability.