Preparation of Aerogel-like Silica Foam with the Hollow-Sphere-Based 3D Network Skeleton by the Cast-in Situ Method and Ambient Pressure Drying.

Silica aerogels have incomparable advantages among thermal insulation materials because of their ultralow density and thermal conductivity, but cumbersome production processes, high cost, and low mechanical stability limit their practical application. In this study, a novel aqueous process to prepare lightweight aerogel-like silica foams (ASFoams) through the cast-in situ method and ambient pressure drying was proposed with multiblock polyurethane surfactant as the vesicle template. ASFoams possess a unique loose stacking morphology of the silica hollow sphere with a 3D network structure as the skeleton, which endues ASFoams with a low density of 0.059 g/cm3, low thermal conductivity of 36.1 mW·k-1·m-1, and pretty good mechanical properties. These properties make ASFoams a promising option for thermal insulation in industrial, aerospace, and other extreme environmental conditions. In addition, the micromorphology of ASFoams can be adjusted by changing the reaction conditions, which may provide a facile method for the preparation of a silica aerogel-like foam with adjustable microstructure.

Ionic liquid-based vortex-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction of organophosphorus pesticides in apple and pear.

An ionic liquid-based vortex-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) was developed for the analysis of trace amounts of six organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) in apple and pear coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography. During the DLLME, the effect of some experimental factors including extraction solvent and its volume, dispersion solvent and its volume, vortex time, salt addition, and pH on the extraction procedure were investigated. Under the chosen extraction conditions, the analytes were enriched more than 300-fold and the limits of detections were greatly dropped to 0.061-0.73 µg/kg. The linearity relationship was observed in the range of 2-100 µg/kg with the correlation coefficients (R(2)) ranging from 0.9967 to 0.9983. The relative standard deviations varied from 2.3 to 5.7% (n = 6). Mean recovery values of the OPPs were in the range of 69.8-109.1% with a relative standard deviation lower than 7.0%. Based on these above, it could be concluded that 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C(8)MIM][PF(6)]) was a good extraction solvent and the proposed [C(8)MIM][PF(6)]-based vortex-assisted DLLME method was suitable for the effective extraction of the OPPs in apple and pear.

Chemotherapy with a TP Regimen in Combination with Stereotactic Radiotherapy Could Significantly Optimize the Clinical Efficacy of NSCLC Treatment.

The changes in lifestyle and bad living habits have a significant impact on the health of people, resulting in an increasing prevalence of lung cancer. The most prevalent kind of lung cancer is nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which accounts for around 80% of all cases. Chemotherapy is a common treatment method in clinical practice with certain negative effects. The primary goal of this study is to investigate the clinical efficacy of stereotactic radiotherapy in combination with a docetaxel plus cisplatin (TP) chemotherapy regimen in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and their impact on the levels of cytokeratin fragment 21-1 (CYFRA21-1) and metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) in NSCLC patients. Eighty patients who were admitted to the hospital between November 2016 and November 2019 were recruited and assigned to receive either chemotherapy with a TP regimen (the control group) or chemotherapy with a TP regimen plus stereotactic radiotherapy (the observation group). The WHO response evaluation criteria (REC) for solid tumors were adopted to analyze short-term efficacy, and the Karnofsky performance status (KPS) score was used to assess the quality of life by recording adverse reactions in the blood system, kidney, gastrointestinal tract, bladder, nervous system, and heart. The levels of CYFRA21-1 and MALAT1 in serum before and after the treatment were determined and compared. As a result, the observation group showed higher total efficacy and MALAT1 level, better quality of life, and lower CYFRA21-1 level than the control group (P < 0.05). Stereotactic radiotherapy plus TP regimen chemotherapy resulted in significantly better progression-free survival, overall survival, survival rate, and long-term prognosis versus chemotherapy alone. Moreover, combined therapy was associated with a lower incidence of hemoglobin reduction, gastrointestinal reaction, and renal impairment versus TP regimen chemotherapy (P < 0.05). Therefore, we concluded that stereotactic radiotherapy plus chemotherapy with a TP regimen significantly optimizes the clinical efficacy of the NSCLC treatment.

Centromere protein N promotes lung adenocarcinoma progression by activating PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

BACKGROUND: As an important member of centromere family, centromere associated protein N (CENPN) was abnormally expressed in varied malignant tumors. OBJECTIVE: This paper aimed to analyze the expression and related mechanism of CENPN in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). METHODS: The expression of CENPN in LUAD was analyzed by Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) database. The mRNA expression, protein expression, cell viability, cell invasion, cell apoptosis, cell stem like characteristics were detected by RT-PCR, western blot, CCK8 assay, transwell assay, flow cytometry and spheroidization assay, respectively. Finally, the pathological changes of xenograft were estimated by H&E staining, and the expression of proteins was detected by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: GEPIA analysis showed that the CENPN expression in LUAD was significantly higher than that in normal lung tissue, which was negatively correlated with the prognosis. These results were consistent with our clinical data. Besides, CENPN was highly expressed in LUAD cell lines. In addition, the upregulation of CENPN amplified the cell viability, stemness and invasive ability in PC9 cells. However, the knockdown of CENPN inhibited the cell activity, stemness, invasive ability with increased cell apoptosis in A549. Furthermore, CENPN could positively regulate the phosphorylation of PI3K and AKT. The PI3K inhibitor, 740Y-P, could reverse the effect of CENPN silencing on the expression of Ki-67, cleaved caspase 3, OCT4, and snail 1. Finally, the downregulation of CENPN restrained the growth of xenograft and inactivated the PI3K/AKT pathway. CONCLUSION: CENPN was abnormally overexpressed in LUAD, and promoted tumor progression of LUAD by affecting PI3K/AKT pathway.

Application of Apriori Improvement Algorithm in Asthma Case Data Mining.

In Chinese medicine, asthma cases contain a large amount of empirical data which are obtained from the clinical diagnosis of doctors throughout the year. Data correlation analysis method is among the common mechanisms which are used to mine association between the (1) prescriptions and prescribers (doctors in this case) and (2) symptoms and medications for a particular disease in the hospitals. In this paper, initially, a thorough analysis of expected performance and shortcomings of the Apriori algorithm in mining of medical case data is presented. Secondly, we propose an extended version of the traditional Apriori algorithm which is primarily based on the fast response of computer to bit-string logic operation. A comparative evaluation of the proposed and existing Apriori algorithms is presented particularly in terms of running time, mining of frequent items set and strong association rules. Both experimental and simulation results have proved that the proposed extended Apriori algorithm has outperformed existing algorithms when it is applied to asthma medication and combined symptom-medication data for the association analysis. Furthermore, the association relationship between mind asthma case data and medication is effective in the analysis of asthma case data with significant application value which is verified by the experimental data and observations.

Acupuncture for acute low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Acupuncture has been widely used for acute low back pain (LBP), yet there remains continued controversy regarding its efficacy. Therefore, we aimed to critically evaluate the evidence for acupuncture as an effective treatment for acute LBP. METHODS: English and Chinese databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that involved acupuncture for acute LBP published up to May 2020. Data on the outcomes of pain intensity, functional status, and analgesic use were extracted. The meta-analysis was performed using the Cochrane Collaboration's RevMan 5.3, and pooled data were expressed as mean differences (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Of the 13 eligible RCTs identified, 11 RCTs (involving 707 patients) provided moderate-quality evidence that acupuncture has a statistically significant association with improvements in VAS (visual analog scale) score [MD: -1.75 (95% CI: -2.39, -1.12)]. Two studies indicated that acupuncture did not influence the RMDQ (Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire) scores more than the control treatment [MD: -2.34 (95% CI: -5.34, 0.67)]. Three studies suggested that acupuncture influenced the ODI (Oswestry Disability Index) scores more than the control treatment [MD: -12.84 (95% CI: -23.94, -1.74)]. Two studies suggested that acupuncture influenced the number of pills more than the control treatment [MD: -3.19 (95% CI: -3.45, -2.92)]. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture treatment of acute LBP was associated with modest improvements in the VAS score, ODI score, and the number of pills, but not the RMDQ score. Our findings should be considered with caution due to the low power original studies. High-quality trials are needed to assess further the role of acupuncture in the treatment of acute LBP.

Implementing sequencing-based surveillance in developing countries: findings from a pilot rollout for hepatitis A in China.

BACKGROUND: The emergence of SARS-Cov2 variants has highlighted the need to implement sequencing-based surveillance in developing countries for early response to mutant viruses of concern. However, limited information on how to implement sequencing-based surveillance is available, and the feasibility and performance of this new type of surveillance are still in question. METHODS: To understand the challenges with the implementation and to promote sequencing-based surveillance, we reported findings from a pilot for hepatitis A (HepA) in five sentinel provinces in China as an example of sequencing-based surveillance implementation. The performance of the surveillance system was evaluated by indicators related to acceptability, data quality, simplicity, utility, and timeliness. We use a scale from 1 to 3 was used to provide a score for each aspect. RESULTS: During the pilot, 306 cases of HepA were reported, and 49.79% of samples were available for sequencing. Eleven genomic clusters were found, of which seven clusters were potentially related to a foodborne outbreak oyster based on identical viral sequence and epidemiologic investigations. The greatest strength of the system was its simplicity (Score: 2.63). The acceptability (Score: 2.0) and utility (Score: 2.33) were modest, but data quality (Score: 1.75) and timeliness (Score: 1.75) were the main challenges. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the system performed satisfactorily and proved to be useful for virological characterization of cases and early outbreak detection, with a great potential for scale-up. Further efforts are required to address financial and human resource constraints and inadequate support among physicians. Education should be given to health care professionals to improve the data quality. The establishment of decentralized surveillance networks can be an approach to improve timeliness for emerging infections.

Formate-Selective CO2 Electrochemical Reduction with a Hydrogen-Reduction-Suppressing Bronze Alloy Hollow-Fiber Electrode.

Electroreduction carbon dioxide into formate has been regarded as a hopeful measure to relieve global warming. Copper-based hollow fibers demonstrated good performances on converting carbon dioxide in previous researches. Herein Cu-Sn alloy hollow fibers were synthesized in an innovative way, combining the structure advantages of hollow fiber and high selectivity towards formate on η' bronze. Tests under different gas injection conditions were conducted to analyze the contribution of the hollow fiber structure on suppression of hydrogen evolution and promotion on kinetics. Strikingly, Cu-Sn45 % hollow fiber, the optimal catalyst in this work, achieved a highest faradaic efficiency towards formate of 90.96 % at a lower potential of -0.75 V vs. RHE than most non-noble catalysts, and the FE of H2 was below 4 %.

Construction of Ti3+-TiO2-C3N4por compound coupling photocatalysis and Fenton-like process: Self-driven Fenton-like process without extra H2O2 addition.

An efficient heterogeneous photocatalytic process coupling photocatalysis and Fenton-like process was carried out, where the Fenton-like cycle could be driven by self-produced H2O2 rather than extra H2O2 addition. It was revealed that C3N4por exhibited good performance at H2O2 production in pure water, which was enhanced up to eight times than bare g-C3N4. Fenton-like cycle was constructed in Ti3+-TiO2-C3N4por as C3N4por severed as H2O2 donator, while the Ti3+-TiO2 was able to provide photoinduced electrons for the Fenton-like process, resulting in the generation of much more OH radical. In addition, ESR spectra were performed to confirm the promotion of the Fenton-like cycle and much more OH radical was detected in Ti3+-TiO2-C3N4por than Ti3+-TiO2-C3N4 due to the great improvement in H2O2 production of C3N4por. What's more, the feasible photocatalytic mechanism of Ti3+-TiO2-C3N4por composite was also proposed.

Experience of N-acetylcysteine airway management in the successful treatment of one case of critical condition with COVID-19: A case report.

RATIONALE: The new coronavirus pneumonia Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic. Patients with critically COVID-19 usually require invasive respiratory support, and the airway management is particularly important and the prognosis is poor. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 64-year-old man with an anastomotic fistula after radical treatment of esophageal cancer and right-side encapsulated pyopneumothorax was admitted with cough and dyspnea. DIAGNOSIS: The patient was diagnosed with novel coronavirus pneumonia and right-side encapsulated pyopneumothorax by pharyngeal swab nucleic acid test in combination with chest computed tomography (CT). INTERVENTIONS: The patient was treated with antibiotics, antiviral and antibacterial medications, respiratory support, expectorant nebulization, and nutritional support. But he expressed progressive deterioration. Endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation were performed since the onset of the type - respiratory failure on the 13th day of admission. The patient had persistent refractory hypercapnia after mechanical ventilation. Based on the treatment mentioned above, combined with repeated bronchoalveolar lavage by using N-acetylcysteine (NAC) inhalation solution, the patients refractory hypercapnia was gradually improved. OUTCOMES: The patient was cured and discharged after being given the mechanical ventilation for 26 days as well as 46 days of hospitalization, currently is surviving well. LESSONS: Patients with severe conditions of novel coronavirus pneumonia often encounter bacterial infection in their later illness-stages. They may suffer respiratory failure and refractory hypercapnia that is difficult to improve due to excessive mucus secretion leading to small airway obstruction. This study provided a new insight on the proper treatment severe COVID-19 patients. The use of reasonable antibiotics and symptomatic respiratory support and other treatment, timely artificial airway and repeated bronchoalveolar NAC inhalation solution lavage, expectorant and other airway management are essential for such patients.

[Simple screening table for primary osteoporosis in senior people].

OBJECTIVE: To develop a simple screening table for primary osteoporosis (POP) in senior men and women. METHODS: Questionnaires were designed to obtain the risk factors associated with osteoporosis and bone mineral density (BMD), which were measured in 146 community residents over 60. The multiple stepwise regression was used to find out the risk factors and establish the screening index. Then the cut-off point of sensitivity and specificity were obtained. Simple screening table for POP in senior people was established according to the screening index and the cut-off point. Validity and reliability of the simple screening table for POP in senior people were testified by 61 outpatients whose BMD was measured with dual energy X-ray (DEXA). RESULTS: Percentage of the height loss,body weight, age, and gender were selected with multiple stepwise regression.Percentage of height loss and body weight were selected to develop the simple screening table for POP in senior people. The cut-off point was 270, sensitivity was 88.9 %, specificity was 75.7 %, the agreement rate was 75.4%,and the Kappa value was 0.489. CONCLUSION: The simple screening table for POP in senior people based on the percentage of height loss and body weight is simple, economic, suitable for both men and women, and is useful in basic public health.