Normal Activity Research Articles

DOCK2-deficiency causes defects in anti-viral T cell responses and impaired control of herpes simplex virus infection.

The expanding number of rare immunodeficiency syndromes offers an opportunity to understand key genes that support immune defence against infectious diseases. However, analysis of these in patients is complicated by their treatments and co-morbid infections requiring the use of mouse models for detailed investigations. Here we develop a mouse model of DOCK2 immunodeficiency and demonstrate that these mice have delayed clearance of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infections. We also uncovered a critical, cell intrinsic role of DOCK2 in the priming of anti-viral CD8+ T cells and in particular their initial expansion, despite apparently normal early activation of these cells. When this defect was overcome by priming in vitro, DOCK2-deficient CD8+ T cells were surprisingly protective against HSV-1-disease, albeit not as effectively as wild type cells. These results shed light on a cellular deficiency that is likely to impact anti-viral immunity in DOCK2-deficient patients.

Apatite (U-Th)/He Thermochronological Constraints on the Landscape Evolution Linked to the Normal Faulting in Taishan Mountain, Eastern China

Abstract Taishan Mountain in the eastern China is a normal-fault-controlled range that formed during the Meso-Cenozoic, in response to large-scale extension and lithospheric thinning of the North China Craton. However, constraints on the timing of the polyphase extensional events which formed the Taishan edifice remain poorly resolved, hindering a detailed understanding of the landscape evolution of this prominent mountain. Here, we conducted apatite (U-Th)/He dating on sixteen samples from three profiles perpendicular in the Taishan Mountain, with a major view to control structures in Taishan Mountain and to resolve the Meso-Cenozoic landscape evolution. The newly determined apatite (U-Th)/He ages show a wide variation range of ~113 to 30 Ma, indicating a slow and protracted cooling history. The inverse thermal history modeling results reveal two pulses of enhanced cooling at ~80 to 60 and 55 to 50 Ma, which we interpret as exhumation related to normal fault activity. Furthermore, one-dimensional modeling indicates that the magnitude of tectonic exhumation is constrained at ≥15 m/Myr across the Yunbuqiao, Zhongtianmen, and Taishan Piedmont faults. Integrating this study and published studies, we suggest that Taishan Mountain underwent four-stage evolution since 100 Ma: (1) the whole Taishan Mountain commenced a continuous and slow exhumation under a weaker tensional environment at ~100 to 80 Ma, (2) the joint growth and interactions within a normal fault system resulted in rapid uplift and promoted the formation of the Proto-Taishan Mountain at ~80 to 60 Ma, (3) the Taishan Mountain underwent exhumation at ~55 to 50 Ma, interpreted as a tectonic response to the Taishan Piedmont Fault, and (4) the last stage (~50 to 0 Ma), the Taishan Mountain experienced protracted exhumation related to normal faulting until now. We attribute the extensive normal faulting to the subduction and slab rollback of the Izanagi-Pacific Plates, which shaped the present-day geomorphology of Taishan Mountain.

Intrinsic factors behind long COVID: IV. Hypothetical roles of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein and its liquid-liquid phase separation.

When the SARS-CoV-2virus infects humans, it leads to a condition called COVID-19that has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, from no symptoms to acute respiratory distress syndrome. The virus initiates damage by attaching to the ACE-2protein on the surface of endothelial cells that line the blood vessels and using these cells as hosts for replication. Reactive oxygen species levels are increased during viral replication, which leads to oxidative stress. About three-fifths(~60%) of the people who get infected with the virus eradicate it from their body after 28 days and recover their normal activity. However, a large fraction (~40%) of the people who are infected with the virus suffer from various symptoms (anosmia and/or ageusia, fatigue, cough, myalgia, cognitive impairment, insomnia, dyspnea, and tachycardia) beyond 12 weeks and are diagnosed with a syndrome called long COVID. Long-term clinical studies in a group of people who contracted SARS-CoV-2have been contrasted with a noninfected matched group of people. A subset of infected people can be distinguished by a set of cytokine markers to have persistent, low-grade inflammation and often self-report two or more bothersome symptoms. No medication can alleviate their symptoms efficiently. Coronavirus nucleocapsid proteins have been investigated extensively as potential drug targets due to their key roles in virus replication, among which is their ability to bind their respective genomic RNAs for incorporation into emerging virions. This review highlights basic studies of the nucleocapsid protein and its ability to undergo liquid-liquid phase separation. We hypothesize that this ability of the nucleocapsid protein for phase separation may contribute to long COVID. This hypothesis unlocks new investigation angles and could potentially open novel avenues for a better understanding of long COVID and treating this condition.

Detection Model for Ambiguous Intrusion using SMOTE and LSTM for Network Security

In today's interconnected world, networks play a crucial role. Consequently, network security has become increasingly vital. To ensure network security, various methods are employed, including digital signatures, firewalls, and intrusion detection. Among these methods, intrusion detection systems have gained significant popularity due to their ability to identify new attacks. However, the accuracy of these systems still requires further improvement. One of the challenges is the potential bias introduced by using imbalance datasets that contains more information on normal activities than on attacks. To address it, SMOTE method was proposed and additionally, the study explores the use of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) for classification purposes. The experiments are conducted using two datasets: UNSW NB-15 and CICIDS 2017. The results obtained demonstrate that the proposed methods achieve an accuracy of 96% with the UNSW NB-15 dataset and 99% with the CICIDS 2017 dataset. These findings indicate an improvement of 3% and 1% respectively compared to existing literature.

Risk for testicular germ cell tumors and spermatogenesis failure in post-pubertal undescended testes.

Cryptorchidism is a well-defined risk factor for testicular germ cell tumors, whereas the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Surgical procedures to reposition undescended testicles into the scrotum (orchidopexy) in early childhood are recommended both to increase fertility potential and to reduce the risk of developing testicular tumors. However, treatment in the post-pubertal period is controversial. The aim of this study is to review the histopathology of orchiectomy specimens and determination of spermatogenesis in post-pubertal patients with non-treated cryptorchidism. Retrospective chart review was performed to assess the occurrence of TGCTs and determine spermatogenesis in post-pubertal individuals who underwent inguinal orchiectomy for undescended testis between January 2010 and December 2019. Age at the time of surgery, laterality, location of theundescended testis and pathology results were evaluated. All pathology specimens were reviewed by a blinded pathologist. There were 23 patients in the cohort with a mean age of 21years (range 13-46years). All testes were in the inguinal canal. Our results indicated that 1 patient had seminoma. In the histological evaluation of the remaining 22 patients in whom no tumor was detected, normal spermatogenesis was not observed in any patient. Further, seminiferous tubules were not found in 19 patients. Maturation arrest was detected in the remaining 3 patients. Testicular germ cell carcinoma was found in 4% of the patients who underwent post-pubertal orchiectomy. In addition, none of the undescended testes had normal spermatogenetic activity. Thus, orchiectomy should be considered in post-pubertal males with unilateral undescended testis that do not need the endocrinological activity of the testis.

Evaluation of the Effect of Ununion Percentage of Scaphoid on Stress and Displacement of Fragment Part of Scaphoid in Various Degrees of Wrist Extension with and without External Force

Abstract Background Scaphoid fractures are almost two-thirds of different kinds of carpal fractures. Surgeons usually have challenges in deciding if the wrist should be mobilized or immobilized for the patients with different percentiles of partial union of scaphoid. This study's aim was to investigate different percentiles of union (25–50–75) in waist and proximal pole of scaphoid fracture to find the union percentile which can tolerate normal daily activities to help surgeons in taking appropriate decisions in this regard. Method A model of wrist joint was developed in this study based on computed tomography scan images of wrist joint. Various percentage of union in waist and proximal poles of scaphoid with and without internal fixation were tested in this study. The stress applied on scaphoid and displacement of fragment parts were evaluated in Abaqus software during motion of wrist from neutral to 40 degrees of extension. Results Although Von Mises stress of scaphoid bone increased following use of external force, the difference was significant for conditions 3 and 6 (75% of union in middle and distal parts). The stress applied on scaphoid increased depends on conditions (ununion percentage of bone). Moreover, its stress depends on the angle of wrist extension. Use of internal fixation screw decreased stress of scaphoid in most of conditions. Conclusion The stress developed in scaphoid depends on the nonunion percentage of scaphoid and the amount of motion of wrist joint. It is better to use external fixation screw especially for conditions 3 and 6 (75% of union in middle and distal parts) to decrease the displacement of fragment parts and to decrease the stress applied on scaphoid in wrist extension. Type of Study and Level of Evidence Case study, level of evidence: III.

Expression and localization of HPG axis-related genes in Carassius auratus with different ploidy.

In the Dongting water system, the Carassius auratus (Crucian carp) complex is characterized by the coexistence of diploid forms (2n=100, 2nCC) and polyploidy forms. The diploid (2nCC) and triploid C.auratus (3n=150, 3nCC) had the same fertility levels, reaching sexual maturity at one year. The nucleotide sequence, gene expression, methylation, and immunofluorescence of the gonadotropin releasing hormone 2(Gnrh2), Gonadotropin hormone beta(Gthβ), and Gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor(Gthr) genes pivotal genes of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis were analyzed. The analysis results indicated that Gnrh2, follicle-stimulating hormone receptor(Fshr), and Lethal hybrid rescue(Lhr) genes increased the copy number and distinct structural differentiation in 3nCC compared to that in 2nCC. The transcript levels of HPG axis genes in 3nCC were higher than 2nCC (P<0.05), which could promote the production and secretion of sex steroid hormones conducive to the gonadal development of 3nCC. Meanwhile, the DNA methylation levels in the promoter regions of the HPG axis genes were lower in 3nCC than in 2nCC. These results suggested that methylation of the promoter region had a potential regulatory effect on gene expression after triploidization. Immunofluorescence showed that the localization of the Fshβ, Lhβ, and Fshr genes between 3nCC and 2nCC remained unchanged, ensuring the normal expression of these genes at the corresponding sites after triploidization. Relevant research results provide cell and molecular biology evidence for normal reproductive activities such as gonad development and gamete maturation in triploid C. auratus, and contribute to further understanding of the genetic basis for fertility restoration in triploid C. auratus.

Are Tai Chi and Qigong effective in the treatment of traumatic brain injury? A systematic review

BackgroundTraumatic brain injury (TBI) adversely affects both young and old and is a growing public health concern. The common functional, psychological, and cognitive changes associated with TBI and recent trends in its management, such as recommending sub-threshold aerobic activity, and multi-modal treatment strategies including vestibular rehabilitation, suggest that Tai Chi/Qigong could be beneficial for TBI. Tai Chi and Qigong are aerobic mind-body practices with known benefits for maintaining health and mitigating chronic disease. To date, no systematic review has been published assessing the safety and effectiveness of Tai Chi/Qigong for traumatic injury.MethodsThe following databases were searched: MEDLINE, CINAHL Cochrane Library, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, Wanfang Database, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database. All people with mild, moderate, or severe TBI who were inpatients or outpatients were included. All Types of Tai Chi and Qigong, and all comparators, were included. All measured outcomes were included. A priori, we chose “return to usual activities” as the primary outcome measure as it was patient-oriented. Cochrane-based risk of bias assessments were conducted on all included trials. Quality of evidence was assessed using the grading of recommendation, assessment, development, and evaluation (GRADE) system.ResultsFive trials were assessed; three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and two non-RCTs; only two trials were conducted in the last 5 years. No trial measured “return to normal activities” or vestibular status as an outcome. Four trials - two RCTs and two non-RCTS - all found Tai Chi improved functional, psychological and/or cognitive outcomes. One RCT had a low risk of bias and a high level of certainty; one had some concerns. One non-RCTs had a moderate risk of bias and the other a serious risk of bias. The one Qigong RCT found improved psychological outcomes. It had a low risk of bias and a moderate level of certainty. Only one trial reported on adverse events and found that none were experienced by either the exercise or control group.ConclusionBased on the consistent finding of benefit in the four Tai Chi trials, including one RCT that had a high level of certainty, there is a sufficient signal to merit conducting a large, high quality multi-centre trial on Tai Chi for TBI and test it against current trends in TBI management. Based on the one RCT on TBI and Qigong, an additional confirmatory RCT is indicated. Further research is indicated that reflects current management strategies and includes adverse event documentation in both the intervention and control groups. However, these findings suggest that, in addition to Tai Chi’s known health promotion and chronic disease mitigation benefits, its use for the treatment of injury, such as TBI, is potentially a new frontier.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO [CRD42022364385].

Anomaly Detection in CCTV Surveillance

CCTV surveillance systems are routinely utilized to maintain the safety and security of public and private locations. However, manually watching surveillance footage may be tiresome and time-consuming, making it difficult to recognize and respond to possible threats quickly. In this research, we offer a real-time danger detection system for CCTV monitoring that uses deep learning models to identify and categorize degrees of high movement in video frames. Our system is able to continuously monitor surveillance footage in real-time and identify potential threats such as abuse, burglaries, explosions, shootings, fighting, shoplifting, road accidents, arson, robbery, stealing, assault, and vandalism by treating videos as segments and defining anomalous (threatening) and normal (safe) segments. We conducted extensive tests on a huge collection of CCTV video to evaluate the effectiveness of our system and obtained encouraging findings. Our solution has the potential to greatly increase the efficiency and efficacy of CCTV surveillance, allowing for faster reaction times and improved individual security. We use multiple instance learning (MIL) to automatically develop a deep anomaly ranking model that predicts high anomaly scores for anomalous video segments by treating normal and anomalous films as bags and video segments as instances. In addition, we apply sparsity and temporal smoothness requirements in the ranking loss function to improve anomaly localization during training. In addition, we present a novel large-scale, first-of-its-kind dataset comprising 128 hours of video. It comprises of 1900 uncut real-world surveillance movies with 13 actual anomalies such as fights, car accidents, burglary, robbery, and so on, as well as typical activities. This dataset may be used for two different purposes. First, global anomaly detection, which takes into account all abnormalities in one group and all normal activity in another. Secondly, for identifying every one of the thirteen unusual actions. Comparing our experimental results to state-of-the-art methodologies, we find that our MIL method for anomaly detection produces a considerable increase on anomaly detection performance. We provide the findings from many recent deep learning baselines concerning the identification of aberrant behavior. These baselines' poor recognition performance indicates how difficult our dataset is, and it also provides additional room for investigation in the future.

Photo‐Induced Active Ion Transport‐Assisted Efficient Ionic Power Harvesting from Bioinspired Janus Dual‐Field Heterostructures

AbstractNatural organisms have developed various biological ion channels/transporters to maintain normal life activities to adapt to changing environments. Significantly, ion transporters with active ion transport property show much more controllability on these activities due to a variety of external stimuli, giving guidance to construct artificial counterparts for overcoming the issues in simple nanofluidic systems restricted by self‐diffusive ion transport. Herein, a 2D nanofluidic system based on a Janus membrane (i.e., JM) is constructed, which can achieve light‐driven active ion transport and do favor for ionic power harvesting in electrolyte systems with equal concentrations. The JM is obtained through sequentially assembled montmorillonite (MMT) decorated with photoelectric molecules (i.e., PMMT) and MXene nanosheets. Due to the formed intramembrane electric field and temperature gradient caused by the efficient charge separation and localized thermal excitation under light illumination, a photovoltaic‐driven force and thermo‐osmotic are generated for preferential ion transport. In addition, the unidirectional active transport is employed to harvest ionic power, showing an output power density of 2.0 mW m−2 and a high‐performance energy conversion efficiency of 8.3 × 10−4%. The effects of the light intensity, electrolyte concentration and species on energy conversion performance are investigated, showing the university for ionic power harvesting.

Function of MicroRNAs in Normal and Abnormal Ovarian Activities: A Review Focus on MicroRNA-21.

Some failures in ovary function, like folliculogenesis and oogenesis, can give rise to various infertility-associated problems, including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). PCOS influences 8 to 20% of women; while POI occurs in at least 1% of all women. Regrettably, the current therapies for these diseases have not sufficiently been effective, and finding a suitable strategy is still a puzzle. One of the helpful strategies for managing and treating these disorders is understanding the contributing pathogenesis and mechanisms. Recently, it has been declared that abnormal expression of microRNAs (miRNAs), as a subset of non-coding RNAs, is involved in the pathogenesis of reproductive diseases. Among the miRNAs, the roles of miRNA-21 in the pathogenesis of PCOS and POI have been highlighted in some documents; hence, the purpose of this mini-review was to summarize the evidences in conjunction with the functions of this miRNA and other effective microRNAs in the normal or abnormal functions of the ovary (i.e., PCOS and POI) with a mechanistic insight.

Genetic analysis and molecular basis of G6PD deficiency among malaria patients in Thailand: implications for safe use of 8-aminoquinolines.

It was hypothesized that glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency confers a protective effect against malaria infection, however, safety concerns have been raised regarding haemolytic toxicity caused by radical cure with 8-aminoquinolines in G6PD-deficient individuals. Malaria elimination and control are also complicated by the high prevalence of G6PD deficiency in malaria-endemic areas. Hence, accurate identification of G6PD deficiency is required to identify those who are eligible for malaria treatment using 8-aminoquinolines. The prevalence of G6PD deficiency among 408 Thai participants diagnosed with malaria by microscopy (71), and malaria-negative controls (337), was assessed using a phenotypic test based on water-soluble tetrazolium salts. High-resolution melting (HRM) curve analysis was developed from a previous study to enable the detection of 15 common missense, synonymous and intronic G6PD mutations in Asian populations. The identified mutations were subjected to biochemical and structural characterisation to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying enzyme deficiency. Based on phenotypic testing, the prevalence of G6PD deficiency (< 30% activity) was 6.13% (25/408) and intermediate deficiency (30-70% activity) was found in 15.20% (62/408) of participants. Several G6PD genotypes with newly discovered double missense variants were identified by HRM assays, including G6PD Gaohe + Viangchan, G6PD Valladolid + Viangchan and G6PD Canton + Viangchan. A significantly high frequency of synonymous (c.1311C>T) and intronic (c.1365-13T>C and c.486-34delT) mutations was detected with intermediate to normal enzyme activity. The double missense mutations were less catalytically active than their corresponding single missense mutations, resulting in severe enzyme deficiency. While the mutations had a minor effect on binding affinity, structural instability was a key contributor to the enzyme deficiency observed in G6PD-deficient individuals. With varying degrees of enzyme deficiency, G6PD genotyping can be used as a complement to phenotypic screening to identify those who are eligible for 8-aminoquinolines. The information gained from this study could be useful for management and treatment of malaria, as well as for the prevention of unanticipated reactions to certain medications and foods in the studied population.

Impact on health outcomes associated with changing the clock 1 hour during fall and spring transitions in the Southern Hemisphere.

Changing the clocks seasonally is potentially harmful because it interferes with normal daytime activities. Studies aimed at quantifying this association are scant. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of 1 year's worth of changing the clocks (fall and spring transitions) on healthy young men located in the Southern Hemisphere in South America. We performed an observational prospective study. Thirty healthy male university students were evaluated from 2 weeks before to 2 weeks after both the fall and spring transitions. We administered an overall sleep questionnaire, assessed quality of life, recorded 7-day wrist actigraphy, and had participants perform a psychomotor vigilance task. We defined the 1-hour clock change as the primary exposure and the change in psychomotor vigilance task lapses of 500 milliseconds or more in response time as our primary outcome. Changes were evaluated by the Wilcoxon rank test (significance: P < .05). After the fall transition, we found a significant worsening in psychomotor vigilance task performance (median [interquartile range], 9.9 [6.0-14.3] lapses of ≥ 500 milliseconds in response time at baseline vs 16.8 [8.2-28.0] after transition; P < .002). Additionally, we found a median loss of about 1 hour of total sleep time and time in bed after the fall transition. Furthermore, participants presented with insomnia. Performance on the psychomotor vigilance task was also affected after the spring transition (16.7 [10-23] vs 23 [12.2-32.2]; P < .001). A decrease in performance in neurocognitive tests was found after both time transitions. The transition led to insomnia and a significant worsening of sleep variables. Labarca G, Henriquez-Beltrán M, Sanhueza R, etal. Impact on health outcomes associated with changing the clock 1 hour during fall and spring transitions in the Southern Hemisphere. J Clin Sleep Med. 2024;20(6):887-893.

A Deep Learning-Based Platform for Workers' Stress Detection Using Minimally Intrusive Multisensory Devices.

The advent of Industry 4.0 necessitates substantial interaction between humans and machines, presenting new challenges when it comes to evaluating the stress levels of workers who operate in increasingly intricate work environments. Undoubtedly, work-related stress exerts a significant influence on individuals' overall stress levels, leading to enduring health issues and adverse impacts on their quality of life. Although psychological questionnaires have traditionally been employed to assess stress, they lack the capability to monitor stress levels in real-time or on an ongoing basis, thus making it arduous to identify the causes and demanding aspects of work. To surmount this limitation, an effective solution lies in the analysis of physiological signals that can be continuously measured through wearable or ambient sensors. Previous studies in this field have mainly focused on stress assessment through intrusive wearable systems susceptible to noise and artifacts that degrade performance. One of our recently published papers presented a wearable and ambient hardware-software platform that is minimally intrusive, able to detect human stress without hindering normal work activities, and slightly susceptible to artifacts due to movements. A limitation of this system is its not very high performance in terms of the accuracy of detecting multiple stress levels; therefore, in this work, the focus was on improving the software performance of the platform, using a deep learning approach. To this purpose, three neural networks were implemented, and the best performance was achieved by the 1D-convolutional neural network with an accuracy of 95.38% for the identification of two levels of stress, which is a significant improvement over those obtained previously.

The first record of leucism in the Rhabdophis tigrinus (Boie, 1826) (Squamata, Colubridae) in South Korea.

Leucism, in which pigmentation is lost over part or the entire body of an animal, has a range of possible genetic causes. Here, we report leucism in an individual tiger keelback (Rhabdophis tigrinus) found on Jeung Island, Shinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, South Korea, during a survey of the distribution of reptiles in the area. The individual was observed sunbathing in the bushes next to a pond. This individual exhibited ecdysis, thus it considered that have normal feeding activity. Our report represents the first observation of leucism in R. tigrinus, and thus, further analysis is needed of this phenotype to more clearly understand its impact on the species and its natural history.

Functional Outcome of Shaft of Femur Fracture Fixation with Elastic Nail in Children Between 05 to 10 Years of Age

Introduction: Femoral fractures are one of the most common issues in the childrens population. Between 6-16 age, there's no strong agreement as to the favored therapy. The therapy of femoral fractures in children has progressively changed towards a more operative tactic within the past two decades. This is because healthcare criteria demand more rapid mobilisation , early discharge and return to family with normal activity. Operative treatment results in short hospitalization and early mobilization, which has psychological, social, educational and economic advantages over conservative treatment. Aims &amp; Objectives: The aim of our study is to determine the frequency of functional outcome with Flynn’s criteria in shaft of femur fracture stabilization with elastic nails in pediatric population between 5 to 10 years of age presenting in a tertiary care hospital. Place and Duration of Study: We conducted ‘Descriptive case series’, in the unit of Orthopedic Surgery, Services Hospital, Lahore from 01-09-2021 to 01-03-2022. Material &amp; Methods: Sixty patients ranging from 5-10 yrs of age, fulfilling the selection criteria were enrolled after the informed consent in the study through the emergency of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Services Hospital, Lahore. Surgery for femoral fracture was performed in these patients under general anesthesia by a single surgical team with the assistance of the researcher. The children were followed up at 1, 2, 3, and 6 months. After 6 months, patients were evaluated according to Flynn’s criteria for femoral fracture outcomes with nailing and results were noted as excellent, satisfactory and poor. All the information was recorded in proforma. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version. 25.P-value ?0.05 was taken as significant. Results: Out of 60 patients, 23.3 % ( n=14) were in age group of 5-7 years and 76.7 %( n=46) were in age group of 8- 10years and mean age was 8.17±1.01years. 65.0 %( n=39) were male and 35.0 %( n=21) were females. Out of 60 patients, 21.7 % ( n=13) had road traffic accident, 63.3 %( n=38) had history of fall and 15.0 %( n=9) had miscellaneous cause of injury. The frequency of functional outcome according to flynn’s criteria was excellent in 51.7 %( n=31). Conclusion: We concluded that elastic nail is moderately simple to utilize and an compelling treatment for fractures of femoral shaft in legitimately chosen children by applying Flynn's criteria for functional outcome and can further be compared with other treatment modalities.

Employment of the population as a factor of ensuring social security

The purpose of the article is to determine the role of employment in ensuring social security. The essence of the "social security" concept has been clarified, and its content has been defined. It was concluded that security is a particular state of the system, determined by its ability to resist dangers, which involves not only the preservation of the existing situation but also the creation of opportunities for development under conditions of uncertainty and risk. It has been proven that the social security of society and the state begins with the social security of the individual - the guaranteed protection of a person from internal and external threats that may violate his vital interests, rights, and freedoms. This state includes ensuring normal life activities, improving material well-being, and creating conditions for development and self-realization. The role of employment in ensuring the individual's social security is considered the formation of income for the realization of material, social, and status needs and the need for self-development. The impact of employment on economic development, social stability, and the well-being of society is analyzed. It has been proven that solving employment problems is necessary for ensuring society's social security through the successful construction of a socially oriented market economy. The critical problems of employment and social security in Ukraine during the war are identified. Among them, the destruction and damage to the infrastructure of individual enterprises, the occupation of territories, general economic instability, which leads to a reduction in production and the deterioration of the financial condition of enterprises, a high level of unemployment with an insufficient number of highly qualified specialists, significant resettlement of the population, including refugees and internally displaced persons, which leads to disparities in labor markets in different regions. It has been proven that the issues of employment and socio-economic recovery in the conditions of a military conflict are highly complex and require a complex approach from the authorities, the public, and international organizations. Particular attention should be paid to developing support programs, training, and retraining to provide the population with opportunities to restore stability and everyday functioning in the labor market, which will positively affect social security. Keywords: social security, security factors, working population, employment, unemployment.

Large variation in postoperative rehabilitation protocols following operative treatment of osteochondral lesions of the talus: A systematic review and meta-analysis on >200 studies.

A treatment-specific rehabilitation protocol and well-defined return-to-play criteria guide clinical decision-making on return to normal function, activity, sports and performance after surgical treatment for osteochondral lesionof the talus (OLT). The optimal rehabilitation protocols in the current literature remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to explore the existing literature on rehabilitation protocols from the early postoperative phase to return to sport onwards after different types of surgical treatment of OLTs. PubMed, Embase, CDSR, DARE and Central were searched systematically from inception to February 2023 according to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. All clinical studies with a description of postoperative rehabilitation criteria after surgical treatment of OLTs were included. The primary outcome of this study is the extent of reportage for each rehabilitation parameter expressed in percentage. The secondary outcome is the reported median time for each parameter in rehabilitation protocols for all different treatment modalities (type of surgery). The median time, expressed as number of weeks, for each parameter was compared between different types of surgery. A total of 227 articles were included reporting on 255 different rehabilitation protocols from seven different types of surgery. Weight-bearing instructions were reported in 84%-100% and the use of a cast or walker was prescribed in 27%-100%. Range of motion exercises were described in 54%-100% whereas physical therapy was advised in 21%-67% of the protocols. Any advice on return to sport was described in 0%-67% protocols. A nonparametric analysis of variance showed significant differences between the different surgical treatment modalities for the following parameters between the treatment groups: time to full weight-bearing (p < 0.0003) and return to high impact level of sports (p < 0.0003). Subjective or objective criteria for progression during rehabilitation were reported in only 24% of the studies. An in-depth exploration of the current literature showed substantial variation in postoperative rehabilitation guidelines with an associated underreporting of the most important rehabilitation parameters in postoperative protocols after surgical treatment of OLTs. Furthermore, nearly all rehabilitation protocols were constructed according to a time-based approach. Only one out of four reported either objective or subjective criteria. Level IV, systematic review.

Impact of heterozygous ALK1 mutations on the transcriptomic response to BMP9 and BMP10 in endothelial cells from hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia and pulmonary arterial hypertension donors

Heterozygous activin receptor-like kinase 1 (ALK1) mutations are associated with two vascular diseases: hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) and more rarely pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Here, we aimed to understand the impact of ALK1 mutations on BMP9 and BMP10 transcriptomic responses in endothelial cells. Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) and microvascular endothelial cells (HMVECs) carrying loss of function ALK1 mutations were isolated from newborn HHT and adult PAH donors, respectively. RNA-sequencing was performed on each type of cells compared to controls following an 18 h stimulation with BMP9 or BMP10. In control ECFCs, BMP9 and BMP10 stimulations induced similar transcriptomic responses with around 800 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). ALK1-mutated ECFCs unexpectedly revealed highly similar transcriptomic profiles to controls, both at the baseline and upon stimulation, and normal activation of Smad1/5 that could not be explained by a compensation in cell-surface ALK1 level. Conversely, PAH HMVECs revealed strong transcriptional dysregulations compared to controls with > 1200 DEGs at the baseline. Consequently, because our study involved two variables, ALK1 genotype and BMP stimulation, we performed two-factor differential expression analysis and identified 44 BMP9-dysregulated genes in mutated HMVECs, but none in ECFCs. Yet, the impaired regulation of at least one hit, namely lunatic fringe (LFNG), was validated by RT-qPCR in three different ALK1-mutated endothelial models. In conclusion, ALK1 heterozygosity only modified the BMP9/BMP10 regulation of few genes, including LFNG involved in NOTCH signaling. Future studies will uncover whether dysregulations in such hits are enough to promote HHT/PAH pathogenesis, making them potential therapeutic targets, or if second hits are necessary.

ROLE OF WOUND DRAINS VS ABDOMINAL BINDER AND PERCUTANEOUS ASPIRATION AFTER OPEN REPAIR OF VENTRAL HERNIA USING POLYPROLENE MESH

Background: Abdominal wall hernias are among the most common of all surgical problems. Ventral hernia repair (VHR) is a commonly performed operation so hernia defect size affects operative time and surgical technique for repair of a ventral hernia. Incisional hernia is the most frequent postoperative complication following general surgery. Complications of ventral hernia repair include seroma, hematoma, wound infection, bowel injury, bowel obstruction, recurrence whether earlyorlate,the mostcommoncomplicationisseroma formation.New advances in the management of ventral hernias including different methodsofrepaireitheropenor laparoscopic and differentmesh types: non-absorbable partially absorbable and absorbable. Objectives: This study was done to review and assess thedifference between insertion of wound drain and the use of abdominal binder and percutaneousaspirationafteropenrepairofventralherniasanditseffect on postoperative outcome. Patients and Methods: A total of 100 patients with non-complicated abdominal wall (ventral) hernia were enrolled to review andassess the difference between insertion of wound drain and the use of abdominal binder and percutaneous aspiration after open repair of ventral hernias and its effect on postoperative outcome. Patients were divided into two groups: Group (A) includes 50 patients with insertion of wound drain. Group (B) includes 50 patients with application of abdominal binder immediately postoperatively for 2 weeks. Results: This study showed distribution of patients according to age, ranging from 27 years to 70 years with mean age of 49.2 years (±11.6 years).25% of patients below 39, 50 % of patients below 50 and 75% ofpatientsbelow59.75.Inourstudy,60%ofoperationswerecarriedout under spinal anesthesia and 40% of operations were carried out under general anesthesia. Out of 100 patients of our study, in 28 % of cases, the hernial content was intestine and in 72 of cases the hernial content wasomentum.Outof100patientsofourstudy,therewasdevelopingof significant seroma in (30%) of patients as follow: (17%) at group A (with drain)&amp; (13%) at group B (without drain). Significant seroma was not seen in (70%) of patients. Wound infection was developed in (18%)ofpatientsasfollow(12%)forgroupA(withdrain)and(6%)for groupB(withoutdrain).Woundinfectionnotseenin(82%)ofpatients. Out of 100 patients of our study, (2%)oftotalcountonlyshowing earlyrecurrencethatpresentat group B. (9%) of total count only complained of persistent postoperativepainasfollows, 6 cases fromgroup (A) and 3 casesfrom group (B). Mean hospital stay was 1.46 days for group (A) and 1.26 daysforgroup(B).Meanperiodbeforereturningto normalactivitywas 3.7weeksforgroup(A)and2.9weeksforgroup(B). Conclusion: Combined abdominal binder and percutaneous aspiration for selected caseswere superior to insertionof wound drains asregards seroma formation, wound infection and postoperativereturn to normal activity with no significant difference as regards hematoma, postoperative pain, hospital stay andpatientsatisfaction.