Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoints Stimulation Improves Spontaneous Voiding Recovery After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

BACKGROUND: Facilitating the recurrence of spontaneous voiding is considered to be a way to prevent urinary retention after surgery, which is of great importance in cholecystectomy. This study aimed to assess the effect of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) on spontaneous voiding recovery after laparoscopic cholecystectom. METHODS: Participants who underwent elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomly assigned to either the TEAS group or the sham group. Active TEAS or sham TEAS at specific acupuncture points was conducted intraoperatively and postoperatively. The primary outcome was the recovery speed of spontaneous voiding ability after surgery and secondary outcomes included postoperative urinary retention (POUR), voiding dysfunction, pain, anxiety and depression, and early recovery after surgery. RESULTS: A total of 1,948 participants were recruited and randomized to TEAS (n = 975) or sham (n = 973) between August 2018 and June 2020. TEAS shortens the time delay of the first spontaneous voiding after laparoscopic cholecystectomy (5.6 h [IQR, 3.7-8.1 h] in the TEAS group vs 7.0 h [IQR, 4.7-9.7 h] in the sham group) (p < 0.001). The TEAS group experienced less POUR (p = 0.020), less voiding difficulty (p < 0.001), less anxiety and depression (p < 0.001), reduced pain (p = 0.007), and earlier ambulation (p = 0.01) than the sham group. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that TEAS is an effective approach to accelerate the recovery of spontaneous voiding and reduce POUR which facilitates recovery for patients after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Effect of grazing disturbance on floral display, pollen limitation and plant pollination efficiency in the desert steppe.

BACKGROUND: Grazing disturbance usually affects floral display and pollination efficiency in the desert steppe, which may cause pollen limitation in insect-pollinated plants. Effective pollination is essential for the reproductive success of insect-pollinated plants and insufficient pollen transfer may result in pollen limitation. Caragana microphylla Lam is an arid region shrub with ecological importance. Few studies have been conducted on how grazing disturbance influences pollen limitation and pollination efficiency of C. microphylla. Here, we quantify the effect of different grazing intensities on floral display, pollinator visitation frequency and seed production in the Urat desert steppe. RESULTS: In C. microphylla, supplemental hand pollination increased the seed set, and pollen limitation was the predominant limiting factor. As the heavy grazing significantly reduced the seed set in plants that underwent open-pollination, but there was no significant difference in the seed set between plants in the control plots and plants in the moderate grazing plots. Furthermore, there was a higher pollinator visitation frequency in plants in the control plots than in plants in the heavy grazing plots. CONCLUSIONS: We found that pollinator visitation frequency was significantly associated with the number of open flowers. Our findings also demonstrated that seed production is associated with pollinator visitation frequency, as indicated by increased seed production in flowers with higher pollinator visitation frequency. Therefore, this study provides insight into the effect of different grazing intensities on floral display that are important for influencing pollinator visitation frequency and pollination efficiency in desert steppes.

Carbon monoxide attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced lung injury by mitofusin proteins via p38 MAPK pathway.

BACKGROUND: The protective effects of carbon monoxide against the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced lung injury were attributed to maintenance of mitochondrial dynamics, but the mechanisms remain unexplored. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using a rat model of acute lung injury induced by LPS and the LPS attacking cell model, we investigated the effects of pretreatment of carbon monoxide molecule-2 (CORM-2) on the acute lung injury and expressions of mitofusin proteins that play a critical role in mitochondrial dynamics. RESULTS: We found that preadministration of CORM-2, not the inactive form of CORM-2, significantly reduced the lung injury, levels of inflammatory cytokines, and the degree of oxidative stress caused by LPS. What was more, it increased the expressions of mitofusin proteins. Similar findings were also found in LPS-stimulating cell model. However, when the cells were treated in combination with LPS, CORM-2, and SB203580, it completely abolished the protection of CORM-2, reflected by increased levels of inflammatory cytokines and malonaldehyde, decreased activities of superoxide dismutase, along with the lower expressions of mitofusin proteins and the ratio of p-p38 mitogen activated protein kinase to p38 mitogen activated protein kinase. CONCLUSIONS: Our observations suggest that pretreatment with CORM-2 could attenuate LPS-induced lung injury by inducing the expressions of mitofusin proteins via p38 mitogen activated protein kinase pathway.

Acupuncture reduced apoptosis and up-regulated BDNF and GDNF expression in hippocampus following hypoxia-ischemia in neonatal rats.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Acupuncture attenuates neuronal damages following ischemia. AIM OF THE STUDY: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the beneficial effects of acupuncture on hypoxia-ischemia induced brain damages in neonatal rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male postnatal 7 days rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: sham control (sham), hypoxia-ischemia (HI), and HI plus acupuncture treatment (HI+Acu). The rats in HI and HI+Acu groups were submitted to model of neonatal HI, established by occluding the left common carotid artery followed by a 3.5h period of hypoxia (8% O2-92% N2). At 24h after HI, animals were stimulated by acupuncture treatment once a day and the treatment continued during 4 weeks, 5days/week. Behavioral functions, learning and memory ability, and body weight were observed at different time-points after HI. DNA fragmentation assay were performed with TUNEL staining to evaluate apoptosis and expression levels of mitochondrial Bcl-2, mitochondrial Bax, Cleaved caspase 3, Cleaved caspase 9 in the damaged hippocampus were detected by western blotting 28 days following HI. GDNF, BDNF levels in hippocampus were also determined. RESULTS: The results showed that acupuncture significantly promoted growth and development, improved neurobehavioral function, learning and memory ability after 20 days' treatment. Furthermore, we obtained one interesting finding that acupuncture attenuated cellular apoptosis and up-regulated GDNF and BDNF levels in hippocampus. CONCLUSIONS: All of these results suggest that acupuncture as a potential treatment may exert neuroprotective effects via inhibiting cellular apoptosis, increased GDNF and BDNF expression levels in rat hippocampus experiencing HI.

Melatonin improves the reprogramming efficiency of murine-induced pluripotent stem cells using a secondary inducible system.

This study focused on the effect of melatonin on reprogramming with specific regard to the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Here, a secondary inducible system, which is more accurate and suitable for studying the involvement of chemicals in reprogramming efficiency, was used to evaluate the effect of melatonin on mouse iPSC generation. Secondary fibroblasts collected from all-iPSC mice through tetraploid complementation were cultured in induction medium supplemented with melatonin at different concentrations (0, 10(-6), 10(-7), 10(-8), 10(-9), or 10(-10 )m) or with vitamin C (50 µg/mL) as a positive control. Compared with untreated group (0.22 ± 0.04% efficiency), 10(-8) (0.81 ± 0.04%), and 10(-9 )m (0.83 ± 0.08%) melatonin supplementation significantly improved reprogramming efficiency (P < 0.05). Moreover, we verified that the iPSCs induced by melatonin treatment (MiPSCs) had the same characteristics as typical embryonic stem cells (ESCs), including expression of the pluripotency markers Oct4, Sox2, and Nanog, the ability to form teratomas and all three germ layers of the embryo, as well as produce chimeric mice with contribution to the germ line. Interestingly, only the melatonin receptor MT2 was detected in secondary fibroblasts, while MiPSCs and ESCs expressed MT1 and MT2 receptors. Furthermore, during the early stage of reprogramming, expression of the apoptosis-related genes p53 and p21 was lower in the group treated with 10(-9) m melatonin compared with the untreated controls. In conclusion, melatonin supplementation enhances the efficiency of murine iPSC generation. These beneficial effects may be associated with inhibition of the p53-mediated apoptotic pathway.

A non-element-enriched, non-lyophilized candidate rat serum reference material prepared for once use in determination of inorganic elements by ICP-MS.

A practice about preparing a once-used native state candidate rat serum reference material has been described for inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-MS) determination of inorganic elements in biological matrices, which is independently packed, easy to use, non-lyophilized, without element-spiking, and with stable quality. Various dispersing and storing factors influencing the serum quality have been investigated including container material, sampling volume, packing mode and storage time. The contents of twelve main elements in the rat serum have been not only evaluated by ICP-MS but also verified by other analytical techniques. The probation of this unconventional candidate serum reference material by different laboratories has given very similar contents of 12 main trace elements in the serum, and proven its applicability to support quality assurance of biological sample analyses.

[Determination of inorganic elements in rat serum, and vegetable and fruit ferment liquid by ICP-MS].

In the present paper, the contents of thirteen inorganic elements in rat serum, and vegetable and fruit ferment liquid (VFFL) were measured by ICP-MS in order to study the anti-tumor effect of VFFL. Serum or VFFL was digested in nitric and perchloric acids at room temperature and then heated until dryness. The residue was dissolved with 1% (phi) nitric acid prior to ICP-MS analysis. The element contents were quantitated by using 45Sc, 103Rh and 187Re as the internal standards, respectively, according to the rule of close mass number. Certificate references bovine serum (GBW(E)090006) and tea (GBW070605) were employed to validate the proposed method, and the analysis results of most elements in two certificate references were in agreement with their reference values. The intra-day and inter-day precisions of the method in terms of relative standard deviation (RSD) were mainly below 10% and below 15%, respectively. The spiked recoveries for most of studied elements were 80%-110% in rat serum and 90%-120% in VFFL. This method was rapid, highly sensitive, and especially suitable to being applied to small quantity of biological samples with greatly different elements contents. Therefore, we measured the content of thirteen elements in the sera of rats, where in were induced liver cancer by revulsant, and the rate were fed with different dosage of VFFL in intragastric infusion at the same time. It was preliminarily found that the concentrations of some elements in sera of different experiment groups of rats were significantly different, implying the potential anti-tumor effects of VFFL.

[Therapeutic effect of compositive rehabilitation on lumber disc herniation].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the curative effect of different physical rehabilitation techniques on patients with lumbar disc herniation. METHODS: Eighty-four patients were randomly divided into Group A, Group B and Group C. Group A were treated with the computerized pelvis traction and ultrashort wave, Group B were treated with the computerized pelvis traction only, while Groups C were treated with the computerized pelvis traction, the ultrashort wave and the traditional Chinese medicine iontophoresis. The outcome was measured with the Japanese Orthopaedics Association Score (JOA score) about lower back pain (LBP). RESULTS: Compared with before the treatment, the JOA score of all the 3 groups increase markedly after the treatment (P<0.001). Compared with group B, the JOA score of Groups A and Group C significantly increased (P<0.05). Compared with Group A, the JOA score in Group C significantly increased (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The curative effect of comprehensive rehabilitation on lumbar disc herniation is better than that of the single rehabilitation.

[Influence of Minkeqing oral liquid on IL-6, IL-8, ET-1, TX-B2 in blood and to observe bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of the rat with inhalating ovalbumin].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect on infantile allergic cough with Minkeqing oral liquid (Minkeqing) and to study its cell molecular biologic mechanism. METHOD: The rat model was induced by inhalating ovalbumin; then the effects of Minkeqing on IL-6, IL-8, ET-1, TX-B2 in the blood and the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of the animal model were observed. RESULT: Minkeqing could reduce the levels of IL-6,IL-8,ET-1,Tx-B2 in the blood and BALF of the animal model. CONCLUSION: Minkeqing has the significant function of inhibiting the release of inflammatory mediums.