Impact of Intensive Care Unit Critical Care Management on Patients Diagnosed with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

Objective: To investigate the impact of critical care management on patients diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) during their stay in intensive care units (ICU). Methods: A total of 62 ARDS patients admitted to the ICU of our hospital between March 2020 and March 2023 were enrolled as research participants. The patients were randomly assigned to either the research group (n=31) receiving critical care management or the control group (n=31) receiving routine care. Key parameters, including the duration of ICU stay, mean hospital length of stay (HLOS), duration of mechanical ventilation, and the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), were recorded. Additionally, changes in the Self-rating Anxiety/Depression Scale (SAS/SDS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE), and Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score (CPIS) were assessed before and after the intervention. A self-designed questionnaire was employed to evaluate nursing quality and patient satisfaction. Results: In comparison to the control group, the research group exhibited significantly shorter durations of ICU stay, mean HLOS, and mechanical ventilation, along with a reduced incidence of VAP (P < .05). Moreover, the SAS, SDS, PSQI, APACHE II, and CPIS scores in the research group were lower than those in the control group, while the quality of care and satisfaction scores were notably higher (P < .05). Conclusions: ICU critical care management demonstrates the potential to enhance the rehabilitation of ARDS patients and decrease the incidence of VAP, suggesting its clinical applicability.

Design and evaluation of sifuvirtide, a novel HIV-1 fusion inhibitor.

Enfuvirtide (T20) is the first and only HIV-1 fusion inhibitor approved for clinical use, but it can easily induce drug resistance limiting its practical application. A novel anti-HIV peptide, termed sifuvirtide, was designed based on the three-dimensional structure of the HIV-1 gp41 fusogenic core conformation. Here we report its in vitro anti-HIV potency, its mechanism of action, as well as the results from Phase Ia clinical studies. We demonstrated that sifuvirtide inhibited HIV-1-mediated cell-cell fusion in a dose-dependent manner and exhibited high potency against infections by a wide range of primary and laboratory-adapted HIV-1 isolates from multiple genotypes with R5 or X4 phenotypes. Notably, sifuvirtide was also highly effective against T20-resistant strains. Unlike T20, sifuvirtide could efficiently block six-helix bundle formation in a dominant negative fashion. These results suggest that sifuvirtide has a different mechanism of action from that of T20. Phase Ia clinical studies of sifuvirtide (FS0101) in 60 healthy individuals demonstrated good safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic profiles. A single dose regimen (5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 mg) by subcutaneous injection once daily at abdominal sites was well tolerated without serious adverse events. Pharmacokinetic studies of single and multiple administration of sifuvirtide showed that its decay half-lives were 20.0 +/- 8.6 h and 26.0 +/- 7.9 h, respectively. In summary, sifuvirtide has potential to become an ideal fusion inhibitor for treatment of HIV/AIDS patients, including those with HIV-1 strains resistant to T20.

Observation on therapeutic effects of red-hot needle therapy on nodules of breast of the type of stagnation of liver-qi and phlegm coagulation / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare therapeutic effects of red-hot needle therapy and filiform needle therapy on nodules of breast of the type of stagnation of liver-qi and phlegm coagulation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Six hundred cases were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group, 300 cases in each group. The treatment group were treated with red-hot needle pricking at the proliferative parts and Ashi points as main, and the control group with filiform needle therapy.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the treatment group, 240 cases were cured, 58 cases improved and 2 cases were not cured with an effective rate of 99.3%; and in the control group, 113 cases were cured, 165 cases improved and 22 were not cured with an effective rate of 92.7%, with a significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The therapeutic effect of red-hot needle therapy is better than that of filiform needle therapy on nodules of breast of the type of stagnation of liver-qi and phlegm coagulation.</p>