Effects of bundle-care interventions on pressure ulcers in patients with stroke: A meta-analysis.

We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the effects of bundle-care interventions on pressure ulcers in patients with stroke to provide a basis for clinical work. Randomised controlled trials on the effects of bundle-care interventions in patients with stroke were identified using computerised searches of the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP and Wanfang databases, from the time of inception of each database to July 2023, supplemented by manual literature searches. Two researchers independently retrieved and screened the articles, extracted the data and evaluated the quality of the included studies. After reaching consensus, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4. Twenty-four papers were included, involving 3330 patients of whom 1679 were in the intervention group and 1651 were in the control group. The results showed that, compared with standard care, bundle-care interventions significantly reduced the incidence of pressure ulcers (3.28% vs. 14.84%, odds ratio [OR]: 0.19, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.14-0.26, p < 0.001), and aspiration (5.60% vs. 18.84%, OR: 0.25, 95% CI: 0.17-0.39, p < 0.001), and improved patient satisfaction with nursing care (96.59% vs. 84.43%, OR. 5.45, 95% CI: 3.76-7.90, p < 0.001). Current evidence suggests that care bundles are significantly better than conventional nursing measures in preventing pressure ulcers and aspiration, and improving patient satisfaction with nursing care in patients with stroke, and are worthy of clinical promotion and application.

The effects of evidence-based nursing interventions on pressure ulcers in patients with stroke: a meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis evaluated the role of evidence-based nursing interventions in preventing pressure ulcers in patients with stroke. Computer systems were used to retrieve randomised controlled trials (RCTs) on evidence-based nursing interventions for patients with stroke and comorbid pressure ulcers from PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database and Wanfang Data from database inception until April 2023. Two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted the data and evaluated the quality of the included studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. RevMan 5.4 software was used for the meta-analysis. A total of 23 articles with results on 2035 patients were included, with 1015 patients in the evidence-based nursing group and 1020 patients in the routine nursing group. The meta-analysis results showed that evidence-based nursing interventions significantly reduced the incidence of pressure ulcers in patients with stroke (5.22% vs. 22.84%, odds ratio [OR]: 0.18, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.13-0.24, p < 0.001), delayed the onset of pressure ulcers (standardised mean difference [SMD]: 3.41, 95% CI: 1.40-5.42, p < 0.001) and improved patient quality of life (SMD: 2.95, 95% CI: 2.35-3.56, p < 0.001). Evidence-based nursing interventions are effective at preventing pressure ulcers in patients with stroke, delaying the onset of pressure ulcers and improving their quality of life. Evidence-based nursing should be promoted for patients with stroke. However, owing to differences in sample size between studies and the methodological inadequacies of some studies, these results should be verified by large, high-quality RCTs.

Analysis of the impact of peritoneal dialysis catheter tail-end design on catheter-related complications.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the impact of peritoneal dialysis catheter (PDC) tail-end design variations on PDC-related complications. METHOD: Effective data were extracted from databases. The literature was evaluated according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, and a meta-analysis was conducted. RESULTS: Analysis revealed that the straight-tailed catheter was superior to the curled-tailed catheter in minimizing catheter displacement and complication-induced catheter removal (RR = 1.73, 95%CI:1.18-2.53, p = 0.005). In terms of complication-induced PDC removal, the straight-tailed catheter was superior to the curled-tailed catheter (RR = 1.55, 95%CI: 1.15-2.08, p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: Curled-tail design of the catheter increased the risk of catheter displacement and complication-induced catheter removal, whereas the straight-tailed catheter was superior to the curled-tailed catheter in terms of reducing catheter displacement and complication-induced catheter removal. However, the analysis and comparison of factors such as leakage, peritonitis, exit-site infection, and tunnel infection did not reveal a statistically significant difference between the two designs.

LncRNA GIHCG promoted the proliferation and migration of renal cell carcinoma through regulating miR-499a-5p/XIAP axis.

BACKGROUND: Our previous study demonstrated that lncRNA GIHCG is upregulated in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and that knockdown of lncRNA GIHCG suppresses the proliferation and migration of RCC cells. However, the mechanism of lncRNA GIHCG in RCC needs further exploration. METHODS: The proliferation, cell cycle, migration, and apoptosis of RCC cells were tested using CCK-8, flow cytometry, wound healing and Annexin-V/-FITC/PI flow cytometry assays, respectively. Dual-luciferase reporter and RNA pull-down or RNA immunoprecipitation assays (RIPs) were performed to analyze the interactions among lncRNA GIHCG, miR-499a-5p and XIAP. A tumour xenograft study was conducted to verify the function of lncRNA GIHCG in RCC development in vivo. RESULTS: Knockdown of lncRNA GIHCG inhibited cell proliferation and migration and induced G0/G1 arrest while promoting apoptosis. Overexpression of lncRNA GIHCG led to the opposite results. LncRNA GIHCG sponged miR-499a-5p and downregulated its expression in RCC cells. MiR-499a-5p overexpression suppressed RCC cell growth. MiR-499a-5p targeted XIAP and inhibited its expression. LncRNA GIHCG knockdown reduced the growth of tumour xenografts in vivo and the expression of XIAP while increasing miR-499a-5p levels. CONCLUSION: LncRNA GIHCG accelerated the development of RCC by targeting miR-499a-5p and increasing XIAP levels.

DSCMF: prediction of LncRNA-disease associations based on dual sparse collaborative matrix factorization.

BACKGROUND: In the development of science and technology, there are increasing evidences that there are some associations between lncRNAs and human diseases. Therefore, finding these associations between them will have a huge impact on our treatment and prevention of some diseases. However, the process of finding the associations between them is very difficult and requires a lot of time and effort. Therefore, it is particularly important to find some good methods for predicting lncRNA-disease associations (LDAs). RESULTS: In this paper, we propose a method based on dual sparse collaborative matrix factorization (DSCMF) to predict LDAs. The DSCMF method is improved on the traditional collaborative matrix factorization method. To increase the sparsity, the L2,1-norm is added in our method. At the same time, Gaussian interaction profile kernel is added to our method, which increase the network similarity between lncRNA and disease. Finally, the AUC value obtained by the experiment is used to evaluate the quality of our method, and the AUC value is obtained by the ten-fold cross-validation method. CONCLUSIONS: The AUC value obtained by the DSCMF method is 0.8523. At the end of the paper, simulation experiment is carried out, and the experimental results of prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and colorectal cancer are analyzed in detail. The DSCMF method is expected to bring some help to lncRNA-disease associations research. The code can access the https://github.com/Ming-0113/DSCMF website.

Real-time monitoring and prediction of water quality parameters and algae concentrations using microbial potentiometric sensor signals and machine learning tools.

The overarching hypothesis of this study was that temporal microbial potentiometric sensor (MPS) signal patterns could be used to predict changes in commonly monitored water quality parameters by using artificial intelligence/machine learning tools. To test this hypothesis, the study first examines a proof of concept by correlating between MPS's signals and high algae concentrations in an algal cultivation pond. Then, the study expanded upon these findings and examined if multiple water quality parameters could be predicted in real surface waters, like irrigation canals. Signals generated between the MPS sensors and other water quality sensors maintained by an Arizona utility company, including algae and chlorophyll, were collected in real time at time intervals of 30 min over a period of 9 months. Data from the MPS system and data collected by the utility company were used to train the ML/AI algorithms and compare the predicted with actual water quality parameters and algae concentrations. Based on the composite signal obtained from the MPS, the ML/AI was used to predict the canal surface water's turbidity, conductivity, chlorophyll, and blue-green algae (BGA), dissolved oxygen (DO), and pH, and predicted values were compared to the measured values. Initial testing in the algal cultivation pond revealed a strong linear correlation (R2 = 0.87) between mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) and the MPSs' composite signals. The Normalized Root Mean Square Error (NRMSE) between the predicted values and measured values were <6.5%, except for the DO, which was 10.45%. The results demonstrate the usefulness of MPSs to predict key surface water quality parameters through a single composite signal, when the ML/AI tools are used conjunctively to disaggregate these signal components. The maintenance-free MPS offers a novel and cost-effective approach to monitor numerous water quality parameters at once with relatively high accuracy.

Detection of antibiotics in the urine of children and pregnant women in Jiangsu, China.

Exposure to low concentrations of antibiotics links to multiple health hazards, such as drug resistance of bacteria, and childhood obesity. In this study, seven antibiotics were measured in the urine of 107 children and 126 pregnant women in Jiangsu Province by ultra-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The overall urinary antibiotics detection rate was 38.6%. Most (98.3%) of the participants' antibiotics concentrations were no more than 10 ng/mL. Children had a significantly higher detection rate than pregnant women (47.7% vs. 31.0%, P = 0.009), as well as the concentration (95th percentile: 6.49 vs. 4.08 ng/mL, P = 0.002). The detection rates of individual antibiotics ranged from 0.4% to 15.0%, and the concentrations ranged from lower than the limit of detection (LOD) through up to 31.96 ng/mL individually. Two or more antibiotics were detected in 11.2% of the urines. Tetracyclines were more frequently detected than phenicols (30.9% vs.12.4%). Oxytetracycline was the most frequently detected (15.0%). Multivariate logistic regression showed that consuming puffed food every day was associated with a significantly increased likelihood of detection, and higher concentration of overall antibiotics, and of doxycycline. Children were more likely to be detected of doxycycline and florfenicol, and to have elevated concentration of doxycycline, compared with pregnant women. This study highlights the relatively heavier antibiotics exposure in children, and a possible impact of puffed food on it, which needs to be warranted in future studies.

Preliminary adipose removal did not prevent diet-induced metabolic disorders in mice.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a fundamental factor in metabolic disorders such as hyperlipidemia, insulin resistance, fatty liver, and atherosclerosis. However, effective preventive measures are still lacking. This study aimed to investigate different surgical protocols for removing partial adipose tissue before the onset of obesity and determine whether, and by which protocol, preliminary adipose removal could exert potent preventive effects against diet-induced metabolic disorders. METHODS: Male low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R) knockout (KO) mice were randomly divided into four groups and subjected to epididymal fat removal (Epi-FR) surgery, subcutaneous fat removal (suQ-FR) surgery, both subcutaneous and epididymal fat removal (Epi + suQ-FR) surgery, or sham-operation. After 1 week of recovery, all mice were given a high-fat diet (HFD) for 10 weeks to induce metabolic disorders. RESULTS: In the Epi-FR group and the sham-operated group, the mean numbers of the residual subcutaneous fat were 28.59 mg/g and 18.56 mg/g, respectively. The expression of relative genes such as Pparg, Cebpa, Dgat2, Fabp4 and Cd36 in the residual subcutaneous fat increased 2.62, 3.90, 3.11, 2.06, 1.78 times in the Epi-FR group compared with that in the sham-operated group. Whereas in the other fat-removal groups, the residual fat depots had no significant change in either size or gene expression, as compared with those of the sham-operated group. Plasma lipid and glucose levels and insulin sensitivity, as detected by the glucose tolerance test, were not significantly alleviated in the three fat removal groups. Liver mass or lipid content was not attenuated in any of the three fat removal groups. The atherosclerosis burdens in the entire inner aorta and aortic root did not decrease in any of the three fat removal groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that removal of epididymal adipose or subcutaneous adipose alone or in combination before the onset of obesity did not protect against hyperlipidemia, insulin resistance, fatty liver, or atherosclerosis in LDL-R KO mice fed with a HFD. Hence, adipose removal possibly does not represent a potential approach in preventing obesity-related metabolic disorders in the obesity-susceptible population.

LWPCMF: Logistic Weighted Profile-Based Collaborative Matrix Factorization for Predicting MiRNA-Disease Associations.

As is known to all, constructing experiments to predict unknown miRNA-disease association is time-consuming, laborious and costly. Accordingly, new prediction model should be conducted to predict novel miRNA-disease associations. What's more, the performance of this method should be high and reliable. In this paper, a new computation model Logistic Weighted Profile-based Collaborative Matrix Factorization (LWPCMF) is put forward. In this method, weighted profile (WP) is combined with collaborative matrix factorization (CMF) to increase the performance of this model. And, the neighbor information is considered. In addition, logistic function is applied to miRNA functional similarity matrix and disease semantic similarity matrix to extract valuable information. At the same time, by adding WP and logistic function, the known correlation can be protected. And, Gaussian Interaction Profile (GIP) kernels of miRNAs and diseases are added to miRNA functional similarity network and disease semantic similarity network to augment kernel similarities. Then, a five-fold cross validation is implemented to evaluate the predictive ability of this method. Besides, case studies are conducted to view the experimental results. The final result contains not only known associations but also newly predicted ones. And, the result proves that our method is better than other existing methods. This model is able to predict potential miRNA-disease associations.

Multi-Label Fusion Collaborative Matrix Factorization for Predicting LncRNA-Disease Associations.

As we all know, science and technology are developing faster and faster. Many experts and scholars have demonstrated that human diseases are related to lncRNA, but only a few associations have been confirmed, and many unknown associations need to be found. In the process of finding associations, it takes a lot of time, so finding an efficient way to predict the associations between lncRNAs and diseases is particularly important. In this paper, we propose a multi-label fusion collaborative matrix factorization (MLFCMF) approach for predicting lncRNA-disease associations (LDAs). Firstly, the lncRNA space and disease space are optimized by multi-label to enhance the intrinsic link between lncRNA and disease and to tap potential information. Multi-label learning can encode a variety of data information from the sample space. Secondly, to learn multi-label information in the data space, the fusion method is used to handle the relationship between multiple labels. More comprehensive information will be obtained by weighing the effects of different labels. The addition of Gaussian interaction profile (GIP) kernel can increase the network similarity. Finally, the lncRNA-disease associations are predicted by the method of collaborative matrix factorization. The ten-fold cross-validation method is used to evaluate the MLFCMF method, and our method finally obtains an AUC value of 0.8612. Detailed analysis of ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer in the simulation experiment results. So it can be seen that our method MLFCMF is an effective model for predicting lncRNA-disease associations.

Dual-network sparse graph regularized matrix factorization for predicting miRNA-disease associations.

With the development of biological research and scientific experiments, it has been discovered that microRNAs (miRNAs) are closely related to many serious human diseases; however, finding the correct miRNA-disease associations is both time consuming and challenging. Therefore, it is very necessary to develop some new methods. Although the existing methods are very helpful in this regard, they all present some shortcomings; thus, some new methods need to be developed to overcome these shortcomings. In this study, a method based on dual network sparse graph regularized matrix factorization (DNSGRMF) was proposed, which increased the sparsity by adding the L2,1-norm. Moreover, Gaussian interaction profile kernels were introduced. The experiments showed that our method was feasible and had a high AUC value. Additionally, the five-fold cross-validation method was used to evaluate this method. A simulation experiment was used to predict some new associations on the datasets, and the obtained experimental results were satisfactory, which proved that our method was indeed feasible.

Optimization of operation conditions for the mitigation of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from aerobic nitrifying granular sludge system.

The optimization of operation parameters is a key consideration to minimize nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in biological nitrogen removal processes. So far, different parameters have only been investigated individually, making it difficult to compare their specific effects and combined influences. In this study, we applied the Plackett-Burman (PB) multifactorial experimental design and response surface methodology (RSM) analysis to find the optimized condition for the mitigation of N2O release in a nitrifying granular sludge system. Seven parameters (temperature, pH, feeding strategy, C/N ratio, aeration rate, Cu(2+) concentration, and aeration mode) were tested in parallel. Five of them (other than chemical oxygen demand/nitrogen (C/N) ratio and Cu(2+) concentration) were selected as influential factors. Since the type of feeding strategies and aeration modes cannot be quantified, continuous feed strategy and anoxic/oxic aeration mode were applied for the following study. Influences of temperature, pH, and aeration rate on N2O emissions were tested with RSM analysis to further investigate the mutual interactions among the parameters and to identify the optimal values that would minimize N2O release. Results showed the minimum emission value could be obtained under the temperature of 22.3 °C, pH of 7.1 and aeration rate of 0.20 m(3)/h. Predicted results were then verified by subsequent validation experiments. The estimated N2O emission value of each design by RSM was also observed in good relationships with experimental result.

[The Development of Gene Knockout Technologies in Large and Medium Animal Models].

Technique of homologous recombination based gene targeting developed in the late 1980s and won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2007. However, this technique could only performed in mice which embryonic stem (ES) cells could keep in the potential of multifunction in vitro. Therefore gene knockout technology was difficult to be applied in other species of animals for a long time. Since 2008, with the development of the new technologies, such as the new ES cell gene targeting, zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) and clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/Cas9 (CRISPR/Cas9), building gene knockout in large and medium animals models which are similar to human in disease research becomes possible. This review describes some new gene knockout technologies in large and medium animal models for recent years.

Perchlorate reduction in microbial electrolysis cell with polyaniline modified cathode.

Excellent perchlorate reduction was obtained under various initial concentrations in a non-membrane microbial electrolysis cell with polyaniline (PANI) modified graphite cathode as sole electron donor. PANI modification is conducive to the formation of biofilm due to its porous structure and good electrocatalytic performance. Compared with cathode without biofilm, over 12% higher reduction rates were acquired in the presence of biocathode. The study demonstrates that, instead of perchlorate reduction, the main contribution of biofilm is involved in facilitate electron transfer from cathode to electrolyte. Interestingly, hairlike structure, referred as to pili-like, was observed in the biofilm as well as in the electrolyte. Additionally, the results show that pili were prone to formation under the condition of external electron field as sole electron donor. Analysis of microbial community suggests that perchlorate reduction bacteria community was most consistent with Azospiraoryzae strain DSM 13638 in the subdivision of the class Proteobacteria.

Effects of step-feed on long-term performances and N2O emissions of partial nitrifying granules.

This study used two anoxic/oxic sequencing batch reactors (A/O SBRs) respectively with pulse-feed (PF-SBR) and step-feed (SF-SBR) to investigate the effects of step-feed on partial nitrifying granules. The stable partial nitrification lasted 111 and 139 days in PF-SBR and SF-SBR, and then gradually switched to full nitrification. Granules in both reactors showed similar physical properties and excellent ammonia removal performances throughout 253 days operations. The SF-SBR had significantly higher total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency than the PF-SBR. Based on long-term monitoring, the N2O emissions in SF-SBR decreased 53.8% and 61.6% during partial and full nitrification as compared with that in PF-SBR. Although the removed TN was very limited, most of the N2O was emitted during oxic phases. The percentage of N2O emission to TN removed during oxic phases was 90.75% and 47.21% for PF-SBR, 55.09% and 29.55% for SF-SBR, respectively under partial and full nitrification modes.

Effects of step-feed on granulation processes and nitrogen removal performances of partial nitrifying granules.

Two anoxic/oxic sequencing batch reactors (A/O SBRs) were operated to investigate the effects of step-feed on granulation processes and performances of partial nitrifying granules (PNG). R1 was operated in a traditional single-feed mode, while a two-step-feed strategy was used in R2. Results showed that R1 had a faster granulation process and better performance in maintaining partial nitrification compared with R2, indicating that the step-feed mode had a negative effect of on formation of PNG. However, after full granulation, PNG in both reactors had similar properties in terms of suspended solids (MLSS), sludge volume index (SVI) and granule size. Moreover, mature granules in R2 had a higher nitrite accumulation rate than that in R1. Step-feed strategy was also observed to enhance denitrification and TN removal, as well as ammonia oxidation. It can be concluded that step-feed was unfavorable for cultivating PNG, but it significantly improved the nitrogen removal performance of PNG.

Enhanced aerobic nitrifying granulation by static magnetic field.

One of the main challenging issues for aerobic nitrifying granules in treating high strength ammonia wastewater is the long granulation time required for activated sludge to transform into aerobic granules. The present study provides a novel strategy for enhancing aerobic nitrifying granulation by applying an intensity of 48.0mT static magnetic field. The element analysis showed that the applied magnetic field could promote the accumulation of iron compounds in the sludge. And then the aggregation of iron decreased the full granulation time from 41 to 25days by enhancing the setting properties of granules and stimulating the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Long-term, cycle experiments and fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) analysis proved that an intensity of 48.0mT magnetic field could enhance the activities and growth of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). These findings suggest that magnetic field is helpful and reliable for accelerating the aerobic nitrifying granulation.

[MicroRNA expression profile and pathogenetic initial study in essential hypertension].

OBJECTIVE: To study the differential microRNAs expression between patients with essential hypertension and healthy controls. METHODS: Whole blood from 15 hypertensive patients and 5 controls healthies were separated into plasma at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes. MicroRNAs were harvested using kit, and stored at -80°C. MicroRNAs profiling were performed using Exiqon microRCURY(TM) LNA microRNAs array, and were quantitative RT-PCR for the differential microRNAs expression. In addition, we used a set of plasma samples from 24 hypertensive patients and 22 healthy donors to independently validate the expression of these signature microRNAs. RESULTS: MicroRNAs expression profile was found to be differentially in the essential hypertensive patients compared with the healthy donors. Of 1700 microRNAs detected on the microarray, 46 microRNAs were found to be differentially expressed in the essential hypertensive patient, 27 microRNAs were collected in Sanger microRNAs data-bank, the function of remaining 19 microRNAs were unknown. In the 27 microRNAs, 9 microRNAs were up-regulated in the hypertension patient samples, while 18 known microRNAs were down-regulated. MiR-296-5p (Fold change 0.47, P = 0.013) and miR-133b (Fold change 0.57, P = 0.033) were consistently down-regulated in the patient plasma, whereas let-7e (Fold change 1.62, P = 0.009) and hcmv-miR-UL112 (Fold change 2.72, P = 0.004), one human cytomegalovirus encoded microRNAs, were up-regulated in the patient samples. The microRNAs expression was independently validated using another sample. We showed that MHC class I polypeptide-related chain B (MHC class I polypeptide-related chain B, MICB) and Interferon regulatory factor 1 (Interferon regulatory factor 1, IRF1) were functional targets of hcmv-miR-UL112 by fluorescent reporter assays. CONCLUSIONS: The hypertensive patients have distinct microRNAs expression Profile. Hcmv-miR-UL112 may have important implications toward pathogenesis of essential hypertension.

Sorption and biodegradation of tetracycline by nitrifying granules and the toxicity of tetracycline on granules.

This paper examines the simultaneous sorption and biodegradation performance of tetracycline (TC) by the nitrifying granular sludge as well as the short-term exposure toxicity of TC. The removal of TC was characterized by a quick sorption and a slow process of biodegradation. The adsorption process fits pseudo-second-order kinetic model, with a complex mechanism of surface adsorption and intra-particle diffusion. Both temperature and mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS) influenced TC sorption to the granules. TC biodegradation was enhanced with the increase of COD and NH(4)(+)-N concentrations, with except of the NH(4)(+)-N concentrations higher than 150 mg/L. With the ATU addition, TC degradation was weakened remarkably, indicating a synergistic effect of multiple microbes. Results of the short-term exposure (12h) effects showed that the respirometric activities of the microbes decreased greatly. The addition of TC also decreased the rate of NH(4)(+)-N utilization considerably, with the half saturation constant (K(s)) increasing from 297.7 to 347.2 mg/L.

[Comparison of benazepril monotherapy to amlodipine plus benazepril in the treatment of patients with mild and moderate hypertension: a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, parallel-controlled study].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of the fixed combination of amlodipine 5 mg/benazepril 10 mg once-daily therapy, compared with benazepril, 10 mg, monotherapy in patients with mild and moderate hypertension, and to evaluate the 24 h antihypertensive efficacy and the duration of action by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. METHODS: In a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, parallel controlled trial, 356 cases of hypertensive patients after 2 weeks wash-out, and then given 4 weeks of benazepril 10 mg monotherapy, 220 patients with mean seated diastolic blood pressure (SeDBP) remained ≥ 90 mm Hg (1 mm Hg = 0.133 kPa) were randomly divided into benazepril 10 mg/amlodipine 5 mg (BZ10/AML5) fixed-dose combination therapy group (once a day, n = 113), and benazepril monotherapy group (daily 20 mg, n = 107). In the two groups the patients with SeDBP ≥ 90 mm Hg were doubled the dosage of the initial regimen at the end of 4-week treatment for additional 4 weeks, and the patients with SeDBP < 90 mm Hg remained the initial regimen for additional 4 weeks. The primary endpoint was to evaluate the improvement of SeDBP at the end of 8-week treatment. There were 74 patients (the combination therapy group n = 38, monotherapy therapy group n = 36) completed the 24 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring which was included in the final efficacy analysis. RESULTS: The randomized, double-blind treatment for 8 weeks, the mean value of SeDBP reduction, the reaching target blood pressure rate and total successful response rate to the treatment (a SeDBP < 90 mm Hg or a decrease of 10 mm Hg or more from baseline) were (11.7 ± 6.8) mm Hg, 65.7% and 88.5% in the combination therapy group, respectively, and were (7.7 ± 6.9) mm Hg, 35.5% and 65.5% in the monotherapy group, respectively. There were statistically significant difference between the combination therapy and the monotherapy groups in all the 3 indexs (P < 0.001). The fixed combination significantly reduced systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) values throughout the 24 h. The trough to peak ratios of DBP/SBP in the fixed compound of benazepril/amlodipine (10 mg/5 mg) and benazepril (20 mg) alone were 83.1%/76.0% and 85.8%/79.5%, respectively. Adverse events rates were 16.8% in the combination therapy group and 35.5% in the monotherapy group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The combination therapy with benazepril/amlodipine was superior to benazepril monotherapy and was well tolerated in patients with essential hypertension and allowing a satisfactory BP control for 24 hours.