Novel Hydrogel Adjuvant of Chinese Medicine External Preparations for Accelerated Healing of Deep Soft Tissue Injuries.

Traditional Chinese medicine external prescriptions have displayed excellent clinical effects for treating deep soft tissue injuries. However, the effects cannot be fully utilized due to the limitations of their dosage forms and usage methods. It is still a challenge to develop a satisfactory adjuvant of traditional Chinese medicine external prescriptions. Herein, a hydrogel adjuvant was prepared based on gallic acid coupled ε-poly-l-lysine and partially oxidized hyaluronic acid. The resulting adjuvant shows great physicochemical properties, low hemolysis rate (still much less than 5% at 5 mg/mL), excellent antibacterial ability (about 95% at 2 mg/mL), strong antioxidant ability (1.687 ± 0.085 mmol FeSO4/(g hydrogel) at 1 mg/mL), as well as outstanding biocompatibility. A clinically used Chinese medicine external preparation was selected as an example to investigate the effectiveness of the adjuvant in treating deep soft tissue injuries. The results show that the prescription can be evenly dispersed in the adjuvant. Moreover, the introduction of the prescription has not significantly changed these advanced properties of the adjuvant. Importantly, the hydrogel adjuvant significantly improves the effectiveness of the prescription in treating deep soft tissue injuries. This work offers an alternative approach to the development of a new-type adjuvant of Chinese medicine external preparations and also provides a new strategy for the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and hydrogel to treat clinical diseases.

Analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine Constitution Types Among Adult Urolithiasis Patients in Wuhu, China.

Objective: This study aims to analyze the correlation between urinary calculi formation and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) constitution among individuals in Wuhu. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at our hospital from December 2020 to December 2021. A total of 140 cases were selected for the study population. The patients underwent thorough clinical and statistical analysis, and their TCM constitution classification was determined based on TCM constitution theory. Additionally, the study assessed the urinary stone composition of these 140 patients using the SUN-3G intelligent stone analyzer. Results: Among the 140 patients, the largest group comprised patients with a peaceful constitution, accounting for 36.43%. The second largest group, at 23.57%, included patients with constitution type A (peaceful + any other TCM constitution). Following that, patients with constitution type A G (Yang deficiency + any other TCM constitution) represented the third largest group at 7.14%. Conclusions: The majority of patients demonstrated a constitution characterized by peace and substance. Therefore, it is imperative to allocate medical resources strategically to enhance the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine syndrome differentiation in treatment.

Nutrient Removal by Floating Treatment Wetlands Under Different Spatial Arrangement Modes: a Field Study.

Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) are a management method to improve urban rivers, but most studies have been carried out at laboratory, micro, and meso levels, so it is necessary to study full-scale FTWs as a method to improve urban water bodies. In this experiment, the purification effects of water temperature (WT), dissolved oxygen (DO), ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N), nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N), total phosphorus (TP), chemical oxygen demand (CODMn), and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) under staggered arrangement (SA) and centered arrangement (CA) were evaluated. It was found that the DO concentration and removal rate of CODMn, Chl-a, and TP in the SA were significantly higher than those in the CA in months with heavy rainfall. However, interestingly, for TP, August showed the opposite trend. The removal rates of NH4+-N and NO3--N were significantly different throughout the test period. The biomass growth values of shoots and roots of plants in the FTWs were 0.40 ± 0.03 kg/m2 and 1.38 ± 0.07 kg/m2 in the SA and 0.32 ± 0.07 kg/m2 and 1.26 ± 0.30 kg/m2 in the CA. The increments of N absorbed by plants in the SA and CA were 7.08 ± 0.49 g/kg and 6.83 ± 0.07 g/kg, respectively, and the increments of P were 0.57 ± 0.02 g/kg and 0.32 ± 0.07 g/kg, respectively, which indicated that the growth status of plants in the FTWs in the SA was slightly better than that in the CA. In summary, the hybrid-constructed FTWs of both arrangements can effectively improve the water quality of urban rivers, and the effect of the SA was greater than that of the CA. The purification effect of in situ tests under different arrangement modes of hybrid-constructed FTWs was evaluated, which provides guidance and support for the field layout of FTWs in rivers in the future.

Fuzzy fault tree assessment based on improved AHP for fire and explosion accidents for steel oil storage tanks.

Fire and explosion accidents of steel oil storage tanks (FEASOST) occur occasionally during the petroleum and chemical industry production and storage processes and often have devastating impact on lives, the environment and property. To contribute towards the development of a quantitative approach for assessing the occurrence probability of FEASOST, a fault tree of FEASOST is constructed that identifies various potential causes. Traditional fault tree analysis (FTA) can achieve quantitative evaluation if the failure data of all of the basic events (BEs) are available, which is almost impossible due to the lack of detailed data, as well as other uncertainties. This paper makes an attempt to perform FTA of FEASOST by a hybrid application between an expert elicitation based improved analysis hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy set theory, and the occurrence possibility of FEASOST is estimated for an oil depot in China. A comparison between statistical data and calculated data using fuzzy fault tree analysis (FFTA) based on traditional and improved AHP is also made. Sensitivity and importance analysis has been performed to identify the most crucial BEs leading to FEASOST that will provide insights into how managers should focus effective mitigation.

Reperfusion brain injury: focus on cellular bioenergetics.

Energy production for the maintenance of brain function fails rapidly with the onset of ischemia and is reinstituted with timely reperfusion. The key bioenergetic organelle, the mitochondrion, is strongly affected by a cascade of events occurring with ischemia and reperfusion. Enhanced production of reactive oxygen species, disruption of calcium homeostasis, and an inflammatory response are induced by reperfusion and have a profound effect on cellular bioenergetics in reversible stroke. The impact of perturbed bioenergetics on cellular homeostasis/function during and after ischemia are discussed. Because mitochondrial function can be compromised by derangements at more than one of the susceptible sites on this organelle, we propose that a combination therapy is needed for the restoration and maintenance of cellular bioenergetics after reperfusion.

The effect of acetyl-L-carnitine and R-alpha-lipoic acid treatment in ApoE4 mouse as a model of human Alzheimer's disease.

We measured age-dependent effects of human ApoE4 on cerebral blood flow (CBF) using ApoE4 transgenic mice compared to age-matched wild-type (WT) mice by use of [(14)C] iodoantipyrene autoradiography. ApoE4 associated factors reduce CBF gradually to create brain hypoperfusion when compared to WT, and the differences in CBF are greatest as animals age from 6-weeks to 12-months. Transmission electron microscopy with colloidal gold immunocytochemistry showed structural damage in young and aged microvessel endothelium of ApoE4 animals extended to the cytoplasm of perivascular cells, perivascular nerve terminals and hippocampal neurons and glial cells. These abnormalities coexist with mitochondrial structural alteration and mitochondrial DNA overproliferation and/or deletion in all brain cellular compartments. Spatial memory and temporal memory tests showed a trend in improving cognitive function in ApoE4 mice fed selective mitochondrial antioxidants acetyl-l-carnitine and R-alpha-lipoic acid. Our findings indicate that ApoE4 genotype-induced mitochondrial changes and associated structural damage may explain age-dependent pathology seen in AD, indicating potential for novel treatment strategies in the near future.

Adenosine treatment delays postischemic hippocampal CA1 loss after cardiac arrest and resuscitation in rats.

Resuscitation from cardiac arrest results in reperfusion injury that leads to increased postresuscitation mortality and delayed neuronal death. One of the many consequences of resuscitation from cardiac arrest is a derangement of energy metabolism and the loss of adenylates, impairing the tissue's ability to regain proper energy balance. In this study, we investigated the effects of adenosine (ADO) on the recovery of the brain from 12 min of ischemia using a rat model of cardiac arrest and resuscitation. Compared to the untreated group, treatment with adenosine (7.2 mg/kg) initiated immediately after resuscitation increased the proportion of rats surviving to 4 days and significantly delayed hippocampal CA1 neuronal loss. Brain blood flow was increased significantly in the adenosine-treated rats 1 h after cardiac arrest and resuscitation. Adenosine-treated rats exhibited less edema in cortex, brainstem and hippocampus during the first 48 h of recovery. Adenosine treatment significantly lowered brain temperature during recovery, and a part of the neuroprotective effects of adenosine treatment could be ascribed to adenosine-induced hypothermia. With this dose, adenosine may have a delayed transient effect on the restoration of the adenylate pool (AXP = ATP + ADP + AMP) 24 h after cardiac arrest and resuscitation. Our findings suggested that improved postischemic brain blood flow and ADO-induced hypothermia, rather than adenylate supplementation, may be the two major contributors to the neuroprotective effects of adenosine following cardiac arrest and resuscitation. Although adenosine did not prevent eventual CA1 neuronal loss in the long term, it did delay neuronal loss and promoted long-term survival. Thus, adenosine or specific agonists of adenosine receptors should be evaluated as adjuncts to broaden the window of opportunity in the treatment of the reperfusion injury following cardiac arrest and resuscitation.