The Follow-up Report of MRI After Transforaminal Endoscopic Surgery of Lumbar Disc Herniation with Spinal Stenosis

Objective: To observe the imaging changes of MRI in the responsible disc area after modifed TESSYS foraminal scopy in pa-tients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH), and to explore the postoperative repair time of the responsible disc area, so as to provide imaging reference for the rehabilitation plan of the patients. Materials: To investigate the VAS score and MRI imaging of patients with lumbar disc herniation and spinal stenosis after transforaminal endoscopic surgery, which to lay the foundation for the rehabilitation plan. Methods: Ten patients with lumbar disc herniation (L4/5, L5/S1) with spinal stenosis were collected and followed up by MRI and the VAS score on 1 week, 1 month, 4 months and 6 months after transforaminal endoscopic surgery. Results: The VAS score were signifcantly lower than those before operation (P 0.05) on 1 month and 6 months after operation. The high signal could be seen around the intervertebral foramen and nerve roots on the operation site on 1 week, 1 month and 4 months after operation Which disappeared at 6 months after operation. Con-clusion: The symptoms of low back and leg pain in patients with lumbar disc herniation and spinal canal stenosis disappeared after 1 month, while the infammatory reaction symptoms of intervertebral foramen and nerve root were disappeared on 6 months

Facile synthesis of carbon-11-labeled sEH/PDE4 dual inhibitors as new potential PET agents for imaging of sEH/PDE4 enzymes in neuroinflammation

To develop PET tracers for imaging of neuroinflammation, new carbon-11-labeled sEH/PDE4 dual inhibitors have been synthesized. The reference standard N-(4-methoxy-2-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl)benzamide (1) and its corresponding desmethylated precursor N-(4-hydroxy-2-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl)benzamide (2) were synthesized from (4-methoxy-2-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)methanamine and benzoic acid in one and two steps with 84% and 49% overall chemical yield, respectively. The standard N-(4-methoxy-2-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl)-1-propionylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (MPPA, 4) and its precursor N-(4-hydroxy-2-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl)-1-propionylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (5) were synthesized from methyl 4-piperidinecarboxylate, propionyl chloride and (4-methoxy-2-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)methanamine in two and three steps with 62% and 34% overall chemical yield, respectively. The target tracers N-(4-[11C]methoxy-2-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl)benzamide ([11C]1) and N-(4-[11C]methoxy-2-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl)-1-propionylpiperidine-4-carboxamide ([11C]MPPA, [11C]4) were prepared from their corresponding precursors 2 and 5 with [11C]CH3OTf through O-[11C]methylation and isolated by HPLC combined with SPE in 25–35% radiochemical yield, based on [11C]CO2 and decay corrected to end of bombardment (EOB). The radiochemical purity was >99%, and the molar activity (AM) at EOB was 370–740 GBq/μmol with a total synthesis time of 35–40-minutes from EOB

Radiosynthesis of carbon-11 labeled PDE5 inhibitors as new potential PET radiotracers for imaging of Alzheimer's disease

To develop PET tracers for imaging of Alzheimer's disease, new carbon-11 labeled potent and selective PDE5 inhibitors have been synthesized. The reference standards (5) and (12), and their corresponding desmethylated precursors (6) and (13) were synthesized from methyl 2-amino-5-bromobenzoate and (4-methoxyphenyl)methanamine in multiple steps with 2%, 1%, 1% and 0.2% overall chemical yield, respectively. The radiotracers ([11C]5) and ([11C]12) were prepared from their corresponding precursors 6 and 13 with [11C]CH3OTf through O–11C-methylation and isolated by HPLC combined with SPE in 40–50% radiochemical yield, based on [11C]CO2 and decay corrected to EOB. The radiochemical purity was >99%, and the molar activity (Am) at EOB was in a range of 370–740 GBq/μmol

Unraveling the Complex Trait of Harvest Index with Association Mapping in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Harvest index is a measure of success in partitioning assimilated photosynthate. An improvement of harvest index means an increase in the economic portion of the plant. Our objective was to identify genetic markers associated with harvest index traits using 203 O. sativa accessions. The phenotyping for 14 traits was conducted in both temperate (Arkansas) and subtropical (Texas) climates and the genotyping used 154 SSRs and an indel marker. Heading, plant height and weight, and panicle length had negative correlations, while seed set and grain weight/panicle had positive correlations with harvest index across both locations. Subsequent genetic diversity and population structure analyses identified five groups in this collection, which corresponded to their geographic origins. Model comparisons revealed that different dimensions of principal components analysis (PCA) affected harvest index traits for mapping accuracy, and kinship did not help. In total, 36 markers in Arkansas and 28 markers in Texas were identified to be significantly associated with harvest index traits. Seven and two markers were consistently associated with two or more harvest index correlated traits in Arkansas and Texas, respectively. Additionally, four markers were constitutively identified at both locations, while 32 and 24 markers were identified specifically in Arkansas and Texas, respectively. Allelic analysis of four constitutive markers demonstrated that allele 253 bp of RM431 had significantly greater effect on decreasing plant height, and 390 bp of RM24011 had the greatest effect on decreasing panicle length across both locations. Many of these identified markers are located either nearby or flanking the regions where the QTLs for harvest index have been reported. Thus, the results from this association mapping study complement and enrich the information from linkage-based QTL studies and will be the basis for improving harvest index directly and indirectly in rice

Adaptive Parameter Approaching Law-Based Sliding Mode Control for Wheeled Robots

A method combining adaptive parameter approaching law with Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural network hierarchical sliding mode control is proposed to address the issues of low accuracy and significant oscillations during the trajectory tracking process of wheeled inverted pendulum robots (WIPR) with nonlinear underactuation characteristics. Compared to the traditional approach of combining approaching law with neural network sliding mode control, the innovation lies in the adaptive adjustment of the velocity of the motion point based on its distance to the sliding mode surface. By integrating the advantages of hierarchical sliding mode control and neural networks, the method effectively tracks the target trajectory. For the control system of multivariable complex robots, it is decomposed into second-order underactuated subsystems and first-order fully actuated subsystems, and the stability of the designed system is verified using Lyapunov functions. Simulations and comparative experiments are conducted using Matlab/Simulink. The results indicate that, compared to the method combining exponential approaching law, saturation approaching law, and RBF neural network hierarchical sliding mode control, this method exhibits better tracking performance and effectively suppresses oscillations generated during the motion process, demonstrating improved stability when the system is subjected to disturbances