OBJECTIVE Distal biceps brachii tendon (DBBT) rupture is an uncommon but functionally significant injury given the loss of supination, flexion strength and pain that often result. Prompt surgical repair is preferred in most patients. Clinicoradiological post-operative follow-up is typically performed to assess DBBT repair integrity and function, frequently using ultrasound, though to date, no studies have described post-operative DBBT repair sonographic appearances. The purpose of this study was to evaluate post-operative DBBT sonographic appearances in the context of Endobutton repair with the following aimsi.Establish typical ultrasound appearances 12 months post-surgeryii.Establish the relationship between ultrasound appearances and clinical/functional outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty patients between February 2016 and October 2017 undergoing DBBT repair were prospectively recruited, all undergoing clinical and sonographic assessment 12 months post-surgery. Ultrasound data was collected on tendon inteciated with any significant difference in strength/ROM.Nanofibers were prepared from a nanocomposite consisting of polyacrylonitrile and a metal-organic framework of type MIL-53(Fe) by electrospinning. They are shown to be a viable sorbent for pipette-tip solid-phase extraction for the extraction of the benzodiazepine drugs nitrazepam and oxazepam. The nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The effects of sample pH value and volume, composition, and amount of electrospun nanofibers, the number of adsorption cycles and the type and volume of the eluent were optimized. Following extraction the drugs were quantified by HPLC. Under the optimized conditions, response is linear for both drugs in the 5.0-1000 ng mL-1 concentration range. The limits of detection for oxazepam and nitrazepam are 1.5 and 2.5 ng mL-1, respectively, and the relative standard deviations at the levels of 50, 100 and 250 ng mL-1 (for n = 3) are ≤7.6%. The method was successfully applied for determination of drugs in spiked wastewater and biological fluids. Graphical abstractSchematic representation of polyacrylonitrile/MIL-53(Fe) composite nanofiber synthesis by electrospinning, and the use of them as the sorbent in pipette-tip microsolid-phase extraction (PT-μSPE) for the preconcentration of Nitrazepam and Oxazepam before HPLC-DAD analysis.PURPOSE To explore the correlations between postoperative hip pain and spino-pelvic/hip parameters in adult scoliosis patients after long-segment spinal fusion. METHODS We retrospectively identified adult scoliosis patients who underwent long-segment spinal fusions between December 2009 and August 2015. The patients were divided into a pain group (PG) and a control group (CG) based on whether hip pain was reported at the end of follow-up. There were 34 cases in the PG and 42 in the CG. The visual analogue scale was employed to assess the postoperative hip pain in PG patients. Two sets of parameters were recorded one before and one after the surgery. RESULTS There were statistically significant differences in the variations in acetabular coverage and centre-edge (CE) angle between the two groups (p  0.05). CONCLUSION Postoperative hip pain among adult scoliosis patients after long-segment spinal fusion is significantly associated with the variation in acetabular coverage and CE angle, and the change in acetabular coverage is correlated with that in LL for those who develop hip pain after the surgery. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.The structure of the cotton uceA1.7 promoter and its modules was analyzed; the potential of their key sequences has been confirmed in different tissues, proving to be a good candidate for the development of new biotechnological tools. Transcriptional promoters are among the primary genetic engineering elements used to control genes of interest (GOIs) associated with agronomic traits. Cotton uceA1.7 was previously characterized as a constitutive promoter with activity higher than that of the constitutive promoter from the Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S gene in various plant tissues. In this study, we generated Arabidopsis thaliana homozygous events stably overexpressing the gfp reporter gene driven by different modules of the uceA1.7 promoter. The expression level of the reporter gene in different plant tissues and the transcriptional stability of these modules was determined compared to its full-length promoter and the 35S promoter. The full-length uceA1.7 promoter exhibited higher activity in different plant tissues compared to the 35S promoter. Two modules of the promoter produced a low and unstable transcription level compared to the other promoters. The other two modules rich in cis-regulatory elements showed similar activity levels to full-length uceA1.7 and 35S promoters but were less stable. This result suggests the location of a minimal portion of the promoter that is required to initiate transcription properly (the core promoter). Additionally, the full-length uceA1.7 promoter containing the 5′-untranslated region (UTR) is essential for higher transcriptional stability in various plant tissues. These findings confirm the potential use of the full-length uceA1.7 promoter for the development of new biotechnological tools (NBTs) to achieve higher expression levels of GOIs in, for example, the root or flower bud for the efficient control of phytonematodes and pest-insects, respectively, in important crops.Halococcus agarilyticus GUGFAWS-3 (MF425611) was isolated from a marine white sponge of Haliclona sp., inhabiting the rocks in the intertidal region of Anjuna, Goa, India. SU11248 Uniquely, the microbe simultaneously produces two halo-extremozymes in 25% NaCl, namely protease and lipase at 49.5 ± 0.4 and 3.67 ± 0.02 (U mL-1), respectively. The protease is constitutively produced in starch mineral salts medium with consistent 4 ± 1.0 mm zone of enzyme production, regardless of the non-availability of protein as substrate. The ethanol precipitated enzyme on dialysis and Sephadex G-200 gel filtration chromatography was partially purified to 12.26-fold and was active between 20 and 80 °C, 0-5 M NaCl, and pH 3-13. Optimum activity, however, was at 70 °C, 3 M NaCl, and pH 7. The enzyme was thermo stable at 70 °C with 50.26 ± 2.40% of relative enzyme activity at 75 min. Furthermore, it was stable in the presence of polar and non-polar organic solvents, detergents, and hydrocarbons. Several metal cations enhanced its activity in the order of Ca2+ > Ni2+ > Fe3+ > Co2+ > Mg2+ > Cu2+ > Mn2+.