Hemoperfusion in combination with hemofiltration for acute severe organophosphorus pesticide poisoning: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Acute severe organophosphorus pesticide poisoning (ASOPP) is one of the major diseases that endanger human life and health. However, the effects of conventional therapy including gastric lavages, mechanical ventilation, muscarinic antagonist drugs, and cholinesterase reactivators were uncertain. This meta-analysis aims to investigate the safety and efficacy of hemoperfusion combined with hemofiltration besides routine therapy for ASOPP. Materials and Methods: A comprehensive search for candidate publications was performed through PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, WanFang, Chinese Biomedical Literature, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure from database inception to May 12, 2020. The retrieved studies were screened by the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data of important end points were extracted. The risk ratio (RR) and weighted mean difference (WMD) were pooled for categorical variables and continuous variables, respectively. Meta-analyses and publication bias were conducted by using STATA software version 15.1. Results: A total of 11 randomized controlled trials with 811 patients were included. Compared to conventional therapy group, patients in the hemoperfusion plus hemofiltration group were significantly superior with regard to mortality (RR 0.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.25, 0.57], P < 0.001), total atropine dosing (WMD -147.34 mg, 95% CI [-199.49, -95.18], P < 0.001), duration of mechanical ventilation (WMD -2.34 days, 95% CI [-3.77, -0.92], P < 0.001), cholinesterase recovery time (WMD -2.49 days, 95% CI [-3.14, -1.83], P < 0.001), and length of stay (WMD -4.52 days, 95% CI [-5.31, -3.73], P < 0.001). Conclusion: Combined hemoperfusion and hemofiltration was a very safe and effective treatment protocol for ASOPP, not only resulting in significantly decreased mortality but also resulting in reduced total atropine dosing, duration of mechanical ventilation, cholinesterase recovery time, and length of stay.

A comparison of the transillumination-assisted technique versus midline approach technique in novices: a prospective randomized controlled trial about the Bonfils intubation fiberscope.

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to compare the safety and efficacy for novices to conduct intubation with the Bonfils intubation fiberscope (BIF) using the transillumination-assisted or midline approach technique in patients with normal airways. METHODS: In this prospective randomized control study, 10 trainees were assigned to the transillumination-assisted technique group (T group) or the midline approach technique group (R group). Each trainee was required to conduct intubation in 50 patients. The primary outcome was intubation time. The secondary outcomes were success rate (%), number of attempts, and complications. RESULTS: Among the cases of successful intubation, the intubation time was not significantly different between the two groups (P > 0.05). The overall success rate of intubation was not significantly different between the two groups (P > 0.05). The intubation success rates at the first, second, and third attempts as well as the average intubation times were similar between the two groups (P > 0.05), but in patients receiving successful intubation at the second attempt, the intubation time was longer in the T group (P = 0.0006). The incidences of dry throat, sore throat, and hoarseness were higher in the T group (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: For patients with a normal airway, the transillumination-assisted technique was unlikely to increase the success rate of intubation with the BIF compared with the midline approach technique, but led to more complications. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ChiCTR-INR-16009967 , retrospectively registered on November 22, 2016.

[Protection of Electro-acupuncture for Gastric Mucosa of Patients Undergoing Endoscopic Sinus Surgery].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) on gastric mucosal oxygenation and systemic inflammatory response in patients undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery with controlled hypotension (CH), and to explore its protective effect on gastric mucosa. METHODS: Fifty-four patients, 18-65 years old, grade I-II of American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA), who were scheduled for endoscopic sinus surgery were randomly assigned to two groups, group A (general anesthesia group) and group B (general anesthesia combined EA anesthesia group), 27 in each group. Conrolled hypotension was executed during operation, and mean arterial pressure (MAP) was maintained at 55-65 mmHg. After tracheal intubation gastric tesiometer catheter was indwelled through nasal cavity or oral cavity. After successful indwelling, it was connected with gastric mucosa monitoring mode of multifunctional parameters monitor. Patients' MAP and heart rate (HR), pHi, partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PgCO2), arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (Pg-aCO2) and endtidal pressure of carbon dioxide (Pg-etCO2) were measured and recorded at T, (immediately before induced hypotension), T, (20 min following induced hypotension to target MAP), T2 (40 min following induced hypotension to target MAP), T3 (20 min after ending induced hypotension), and T4(40 min after ending induced hypotension). Blood samples were intravenously collected, TNF-alpha, IL-1, and IL-6 were detected by ELISA 24 h before operation, during operation (T3), and 24 h after operation. RESULTS: After hypotension was induced, Pg-CO2, Pg-aCO2 and Pg-etCO2 increased significantly (P < 0.01, P < 0.05), while pHi decreased significantly (P < 0.01) in both groups at T1-T4 than those at T0. During T1-T4, PgCO2, Pg-aCO2, and Pg-etCO2 were higher (P < 0.01, P < 0.05), while pHi was lower in group A than in group B (P < 0.01). Furthermore, TNF-alpha, IL-1, and IL-6 increased significantly in both groups during operation and 24 h after operation, when compared with those 24 h before operation (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). TNF-alpha and IL-1 in group A were higher than those in group B (P < 0.05) during operation and 24 h after operation, but with no significant difference in the plasma concentration of IL-6 (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: EA exerted obvious protective effect of gastric mucosal injury in endoscopic sinus surgery with controlled hypotension, which might be achieved by increasing gastric mucosal blood flow, maintaining oxygen supply and demand, inhibiting inflammatory response, and alleviating injury of gastric mucosal barrier.

Meningioma achieves malignancy and erastin-induced ferroptosis resistance through FOXM1-AURKA-NRF2 axis.

The oncogene Aurora kinase A (AURKA) has been implicated in various tumor, yet its role in meningioma remains unexplored. Recent studies have suggested a potential link between AURKA and ferroptosis, although the underlying mechanisms are unclear. This study presented evidence of AURKA upregulation in high grade meningioma and its ability to enhance malignant characteristics. We identified AURKA as a suppressor of erastin-induced ferroptosis in meningioma. Mechanistically, AURKA directly interacted with and phosphorylated kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (KEAP1), thereby activating nuclear factor erythroid 2 related factor 2 (NFE2L2/NRF2) and target genes transcription. Additionally, forkhead box protein M1 (FOXM1) facilitated the transcription of AURKA. Suppression of AURKA, in conjunction with erastin, yields significant enhancements in the prognosis of a murine model of meningioma. Our study elucidates an unidentified mechanism by which AURKA governs ferroptosis, and strongly suggests that the combination of AURKA inhibition and ferroptosis-inducing agents could potentially provide therapeutic benefits for meningioma treatment.

Aberrant expression of N-methylpurine-DNA glycosylase influences patient survival in malignant gliomas.

AIM: To examine the expression of N-methylpurine-DNA glycosylase (MPG) gene and protein in glioma samples with different WHO grades and its association with patients' survival. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry assay, quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot analysis were carried out to investigate the expression of MPG gene and protein in 128 glioma and 10 non-neoplastic brain tissues. RESULTS: MPG gene expression level in glioma tissues was significantly higher than that in non-neoplastic brain tissues (P < 0.001). Immunohistochemistry also showed that MPG protein was over-expressed in glioma tissues, which was consistent with the resutls of Western blot analysis. Additionally, the expression levels of MPG gene and protein both increase from grade I to grade IV glioma according to the results of real-time PCR, immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis. Moreover, the survival rate of MPG-positive patients was significantly lower than that of MPG-negative patients (P < 0.001). We further confirmed that the over-expression of MPG was a significant and independent prognostic indicator in glioma by multivariate analysis (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed the over-expression of MPG gene and protein in human gliomas, and also suggested for the first time that MPG be an unfavorable independent prognostic indicator for glioma patients.

Activation of peripheral blood CD3(+) T-lymphocytes in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common disease with a poorly understood pathophysiological mechanism. Increasing evidence indicates that AF may be associated with immunologic inflammation responses, but it remains unclear whether activation of peripheral blood CD3(+) T-lymphocytes plays a role in the pathogenesis of AF. The aim of this study was to evaluate this phenomenon. Fifty paroxysmal AF patients and 56 persistent AF patients who underwent successful electrical cardioversion were enrolled. The percentages of CD69 and human leukocyte antigen DR (HLA-DR) positive peripheral blood CD3(+) T-lymphocytes, which indicate T-lymphocyte activation, were examined by flow cytometric analysis in the patients and 51 healthy controls. The patient groups had higher levels of CD69 and HLA-DR than the healthy controls. During the 3-month follow-up, 37 patients had recurrence of AF (recurrence group) and 50 patients remained in sinus (sinus group). The CD69 and HLA-DR levels in the sinus group were all significantly down-regulated at follow-up compared with before cardioversion. However, there were no statistically significant differences between the CD69 and HLA-DR levels in the recurrence group at follow-up and before cardioversion. Our findings suggest that activation of peripheral blood CD3(+) T-lymphocytes was associated with AF, and might be a diagnostic or therapeutic marker.

Inhibition potential of glimepiride (gli) towards important UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) isoforms in human liver.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the inhibitory potential of glimepiride towards important UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) isoforms in human liver, which play a key role in the elimination of drugs. The recombinant UGT enzymes were used as enzyme source, and a nonspecific substrate 4-methylumbelliferone (4-MU) was utilized as substrate. The results showed that 100 microM of glimepiride inhibited UGT1A1, UGT1A3, UGT1A6, UGT1A9, UGT2B7 and UGT2B15 by 54.7%, 43.1%, 100%, 70.5%, 32.7 and 37.2%, respectively. Given that glimepiride exhibited strong inhibition towards UGT1A6, further inhibitory kinetic behaviour was determined. Glimepiride exerted concentration-dependent inhibition towards UGT1A6. Both Dixon and Lineweaver-Burk plots demonstrated that inhibition of UGT1A6 was best fit for noncompetitive inhibition type, and the inhibition kinetic parameter (Ki) was calculated to be 59.8 microM. Given that UGT1A6 plays a key role in detoxification of many drugs, more attention should be given when glimepiride was co-administered with the drugs mainly undergoing UGT1A6-mediated metabolism.

Advances in Research on Antiviral Activities of Sulfated Polysaccharides from Seaweeds.

In recent years, various viral diseases have suddenly erupted, resulting in widespread infection and death. A variety of biological activities from marine natural products have gradually attracted the attention of people. Seaweeds have a wide range of sources, huge output, and high economic benefits. This is very promising in the pharmaceutical industry. In particular, sulfated polysaccharides derived from seaweeds, considered a potential source of bioactive compounds for drug development, have shown antiviral activity against a broad spectrum of viruses, mainly including common DNA viruses and RNA viruses. In addition, sulfated polysaccharides can also improve the body's immunity. This review focuses on recent advances in antiviral research on the sulfated polysaccharides from seaweeds, including carrageenan, galactan, fucoidan, alginate, ulvan, p-KG03, naviculan, and calcium spirulan. We hope that this review will provide new ideas for the development of COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines.

Experimental study of the semi-active mass damper under impulse excitation.

Mass dampers usually aim to control the steady state vibration of harmonic excitation, but few efforts have focused on suppressing the transient vibration caused by impulse excitation. To obtain the optimum tuning parameters of the semi-active tuned mass damper (TMD) under impulse, optimization analysis of the transient vibration response is carried out. The analytical solutions of transient response are obtained. The transient response of the primary system is attenuated effectively by optimizing three parameters of the TMD, namely, the stiffness, initial displacement, and initial velocity. Three experimental setups are built to achieve different values of the parameters to verify the simulation results. The stiffness of the TMD is modeled analytically and experimentally, and the vibration magnitude denotes that there are several fluctuations when the stiffness of the TMD changes. The results also show that initial displacement and initial velocity of the TMD can lead to different transient vibration magnitudes for the primary system. The optimum parameters of the semi-active TMD can be obtained by the proposed method, and the transient response can be controlled by optimizing the stiffness, initial displacement, and initial velocity of the TMD.

Wind energy harvester using piezoelectric materials.

Wireless sensor networks play a very important role in environmental monitoring, structural health monitoring, smart city construction, smart grid, and ecological agriculture. The wireless sensor nodes powered by a battery have a limited service life and need periodic maintenance due to the limitation of battery capacity. Fortunately, the development of environmental energy harvesting technology provides an effective way to eliminate the needs and the replacement of the batteries. Among the environmental stray energy, wind energy is rich, almost endless, widely distributed, and clean. Due to the advantages of simple structure, miniaturization, and high power density, wind energy harvesters using piezoelectric materials (PWEHs) have attracted much attention. By the ways of principal exploration, structure design, and performance optimization, great and steady progress has been made in the research of PWEH. This Review is focused on the review of PWEHs. After introducing the basic principle of PWEHs, the structural performance and research status of PWEHs based on different mechanisms, such as a rotating turbine, vortex-induced vibration, flutter, and galloping, are analyzed and summarized. Finally, the development trend of PWEHs has been prospected.

A four parallel laser-based simultaneous measurement method for 6-degrees-of-freedom errors of rigid body with translational motion.

The measurement of six-degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) errors of rigid bodies can show the real and accurate spatial pose of those rigid bodies. It plays a major role in precision calibration, spacecraft docking, machining, assembly, etc. In this paper, a four parallel laser-based simultaneous measurement (FPL-SM) method is proposed for measuring 6-DOF errors of rigid bodies with translational motion. First, a FPL-SM device is introduced. Its four laser heads form a rectangle, which is perpendicular to the movement direction of the measured linear displacement. Second, identification formulas for all geometrical errors in rigid bodies with translational motion are presented based on the relative positions of the four lasers. Based on the readings of the four lasers, angular errors and corresponding straightness errors are calculated for the direction of motion around the other two linear motions. As the two parallel sides of the rectangle are in different planes, the straightness errors of the two planes are different. The rolling angular error in the direction is expressed as the difference between the straightness errors of the two planes divided by the distance between the two planes. Six fundamental errors for rigid bodies with translational motion are obtained by four lasers in a single setting of the device. For multiple rigid bodies with mutually perpendicular translational motion, the squareness error is calculated by fitting to the actual direction of motion. Finally, experiments were carried out on the SmartCNC_DRDT five-axis machine tool and 21 geometric errors were determined for three translational axes. Error compensation was carried out using the generated machine tool geometric error data to verify the effectiveness of the proposed FPL-SM method. In addition, geometric errors and thermal errors of the Z axis of the GTI-2740 machine tool are measured based on the FPL-SM method.

Rotational speed sensor based on the magnetoelectric effect of composite FeSiB/Pb(Zr,Ti)O3.

This paper proposes a rotational speed sensor based on the magnetoelectric coupling effect. The sensor is composed of a permanent magnet array and a magnetoelectric composite FeSiB/Pb(Zr,Ti)O3. The permanent magnet array rotates with the gear to provide a stable sinusoidal alternating magnetic field in its surrounding space, which is simulated and analyzed by using the finite element simulation software. Based on the magnetoelectric coupling effect, the composite FeSiB/Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 senses the magnetic field information and transforms it into electrical information so as to realize the rotating speed measurement. The experiments of sensing distance and linearity are carried out. The proposed sensor is compared and verified by a coil sensor. The results show that the proposed speed sensor has good linearity in the speed measured range, and the sensing distance can reach 15 mm. At the same time, it can be used for low-speed measurement. This kind of speed sensor has broad application prospects in the field of rotational speed measurement.

miR-133a-3p regulates the proliferation and apoptosis of intestinal epithelial cells by modulating the expression of TAGLN2.

Sepsis is one of the most common diseases in patients in intensive care units. Intestinal barrier dysfunction serves a critical role in the pathogenesis and progression of sepsis. Therefore, preservation of the intestinal epithelial barrier function is an area of ongoing research in the treatment of sepsis. The present study investigated the effects of miR-133a-3p on the proliferation and apoptosis of intestinal epithelial cells and the possible mechanism underlying its actions. miR-133a-3p was used to upregulate the intestinal epithelial FHs 74 Int cell line and cell proliferation and apoptosis were investigated. A luciferase reporter assay was used to determine whether the 3'-UTR of TAGLN2 mRNA was a binding target of miR-133a-3p. FHs 74 Int cells were transfected with TAGLN2 shRNA and the effects of TAGLN2 on the proliferation and apoptosis of intestinal epithelial cells were investigated. It was found that miR-133a-3p inhibited the proliferation and promoted the apoptosis of intestinal epithelial cells. A luciferase reporter assay confirmed that miR-133a-3p targeted TAGLN2 directly. In addition, low expression of TAGLN2 inhibited the proliferation and promoted the apoptosis of intestinal epithelial cells. The results of the present study suggested that the miR-133a-3p inhibition of proliferation and promotion of apoptosis occurred via the inhibition of TAGLN2. These results suggested that miR-133a-3p may be a promising therapeutic target for the diagnosis and treatment of gut-origin sepsis.

Over-expression of neuroepithelial-transforming protein 1 confers poor prognosis of patients with gliomas.

OBJECTIVE: Neuroepithelial-transforming protein 1 is a member of the guanine nucleotide exchange factor family, a group of proteins which are known to activate and thereby regulate Rho family members. Deregulation of neuroepithelial-transforming protein 1 expression has been found in certain types of human tumors. To investigate its prognostic value in human gliomas, which is currently unknown, we examined the correlation between neuroepithelial-transforming protein 1 expression and prognosis in patients with gliomas. METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect neuroepithelial-transforming protein 1 expression patterns in the biopsies from 96 patients with primary gliomas. Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox's regression analyses were performed to evaluate the prognosis of patients. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical analysis with anti-neuroepithelial-transforming protein 1 antibody revealed that neuroepithelial-transforming protein 1 was significantly associated with the Karnofsky performance scale score and World Health Organization grades of patients with gliomas. Especially, the positive expression rates of neuroepithelial-transforming protein 1 were significantly higher in patients with higher grade (P = 0.001) and lower Karnofsky's performance scale score (P = 0.005). The median survival of patients with high neuroepithelial-transforming protein 1 expression was significantly shorter than that with low expression and without expression (316, 892 and 1180 days, respectively). Cox's multifactor analysis showed that the Karnofsky performance scale (P = 0.01), World Health Organization grade (P = 0.008) and neuroepithelial-transforming protein 1 (P = 0.006) were independent prognosis factors for human glioma. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our study indicates for the first time that neuroepithelial-transforming protein 1 status may be a highly sensitive marker for glioma prognosis and suggest that the expression patterns of neuroepithelial-transforming protein 1 might be a potent tool for predicting the clinical prognosis of glioma patients.

Non-zero-crossing current-voltage hysteresis behavior induced by capacitive effects in bio-memristor.

Capacitive devices have drawn a beautiful application scene in electronic device systems ranging from touch sensors, energy storages and multifunction transistors, but serving as memristive term is still blank. Sweet potato peel (SPP) as function layer was employed to develop the memristive device with Ag/SPP/F-doped SnO2 (FTO) structure. A current-voltage (I-V) hysteresis, which is characterized by a typical capacitive behavior, is impressively observed in the developed device. Nonvolatile data storage is feasible using the non-zero-crossing I-V hysteresis because the resistance states can be well maintained. Charge transfer at the Ag/SPP and SPP/FTO interfaces, and the interplay between Ag+ ions and charges are responsible for this non-zero-crossing I-V hysteresis behaviors. This work possibly gives an insight into the data storage in terms of a new conception electronic device based on environment-friendly material.

Pretreatment with transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation to prevent postoperative ileus in patients undergoing laparoscopic colon surgery: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Postoperative ileus (POI), a common complication after surgery, severely affects postoperative recovery. It is unclear whether pretreatment with transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) can improve recovery from POI. This trial will evaluate the effects of pretreatment with TEAS on POI. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This will be a prospective, randomised controlled trial. American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status classification I-III level patients, aged 18-75 years and scheduled for laparoscopic colon surgery, will be included in the study. It is planned that 146 subjects will be randomised to the TEAS and sham TEAS (STEAS) groups. The groups will undergo two sessions of TEAS/STEAS daily for 3 days before surgery, with a final TEAS/STEAS treatment 30 min before anaesthesia. The primary endpoint of the study will be time to first defaecation. Secondary endpoints will include time to first flatus, time to tolerance of oral diet, GI-2 (composite outcome of time to first defaecation and time to tolerance of oral diet), time to independent walking, length of hospital stay, postoperative pain Visual Analogue Scale score on the first 3 days after surgery, analgesic requirements, complications and plasma concentrations of interferon-ß (IFN-ß), IFN-γ, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-1ß. Multiple linear regression will be used to identify independent predictors of outcome measures. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has been approved by the Chinese Registered Clinical Trial Ethics Review Committee (No. ChiECRCT-20170084). The results of the trial will be published in an international peer-reviewed journal. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: This study has been registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (No. ChiCTR-INR-17013184). TRIAL STATUS: The study was in the recruitment phase at the time of manuscript submission.

A sustainable resistive switching memory device based on organic keratin extracted from hair.

It is the consensus of researchers that the reuse of natural resources is an effective way to solve the problems of environmental pollution, waste and overcapacity. Moreover, compared with the case of inorganic materials, the renewability of natural biomaterials has great prominent advantages. In this study, keratin, which was first extracted from hair due to its high content in hair, was chosen as a functional layer for the fabrication of a resistance switching device with the Ag/keratin/ITO structure; in this device, a stable resistive switching memory behavior with good retention characteristic was observed. Via mechanism analysis, it is expected that there is hopping conduction at low biases, and the formation of a conductive filament occurs at high biases. Furthermore, our device exhibited a stable switching behavior with different conductive materials (Ti and FTO) as bottom electrodes, and the influence of Ag and graphite conductive nanoparticles (NPs) doped into the keratin layer on the switching performance of the device was also investigated. This study not only suggests that keratin is a potential biomaterial for the preparation of memory devices, but also provides a promising route for the fabrication of bio-electronic devices with non-toxicity, degradability, sustainability etc.

Effects of perioperative transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation on monocytic HLA-DR expression in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting with cardiopulmonary bypass: study protocol for a double-blind randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac surgery involving cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is known to be associated with a transient postoperative immunosuppression. When severe and persistent, this immune dysfunction predisposes patients to infectious complications, which contributes to a prolonged stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), and even mortality. Effective prevention and treatment methods are still lacking. Recent studies revealed that acupuncture-related techniques, such as electroacupuncture and transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS), are able to produce effective cardioprotection and immunomodulation in adult and pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery with CPB, which leads to enhanced recovery. However, whether perioperative application of TEAS, a non-invasive technique, is able to improve immunosuppression of the patients with post-cardiosurgical conditions is unknown. Thus, as a preliminary study, the main objective is to evaluate the effects of TEAS on the postoperative expression of monocytic human leukocyte antigen (-D related) (mHLA-DR), a standardized "global" biomarker of injury or sepsis-associated immunosuppression, in patients receiving on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). METHODS: This study is a single-center clinical trial. The 88 patients scheduled to receive CABG under CPB will be randomized into two groups: the group receiving TEAS, and the group receiving transcutaneous acupoint pseudo-electric stimulation (Sham TEAS). Expression of mHLA-DR serves as a primary endpoint, and other laboratory parameters (e.g., interleukin [IL]-6, IL-10) and clinical outcomes (e.g., postoperative infectious complications, ICU stay time, and mortality) as the secondary endpoints. In addition, immune indicators, such as high mobility group box 1 protein and regulatory T cells will also be measured. DISCUSSION: The current study is a preliminary monocentric clinical trial with a non-clinical primary endpoint, expression of mHLA-DR, aiming at determining whether perioperative application of TEAS has a potential to reverse CABG-associated immunosuppression. Although the immediate clinical impact of this study is limited, its results would inform further large-sample clinical trials using relevant patient-centered clinical outcomes as primary endpoints. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02933996. Registered on 13 October 2016.

[Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation on inflammatory response and intestinal permeability in perioperative period of laparoscopic intestinal surgery].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) on the inflammatory response and intestinal permeability after laparoscopic radical surgery for colon cancer, so as to explore the protective mechanism for perioperative organs. METHODS: Sixty patients with laparoscopic intestinal resection were randomly assigned into an observation group and a control group, 30 cases in each group. TEAS at Zusanli (ST 36), Neiguan (PC 6) and Hegu (LI 4) was used in the observation group on the day of operation and within 3 days after surgery, 2 Hz, within 2 mA. The interventions in the control group were the same as those in the observation group, except opening the current source. Central venous blood was collected before TEAS and 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h after surgery. The level of the inflammatory indexes of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and intestinal mucosal barrier response indexes of endotoxin (LPS) and D-lactate were detected. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the levels of IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-α decreased in the observation group 24 h, 48 h and 72 h after surgery (all P<0.05). The concentrations of D-lactate and LPS were not statistically different between the two groups (both P>0.05). CONCLUSION: TEAS can reduce the inflammatory reaction after laparoscopic radical surgery for colon cancer, but has no effect on the intestinal permeability.

The Impact of Small RNA Interference Against Homer1 on Rats with Type 2 Diabetes and ERK Phosphorylation.

The objective of the study is to evaluate Homer1 expression in rats with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and investigate the mechanism by which Homer1 influences the pathogenesis of diabetes through study on rat model with decreased Homer1 expression. Rat model of T2DM was constructed and blood insulin concentration was measured. Homer1 mRNA and protein expressions in rat pancreatic tissue were determined using RT-PCR as well as Western blotting. Homer1 expression in human monocytic THP-1 cells was interfered using short hairpin RNA, and its effect on phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) was assessed. Fasting glucose concentration in rat model of T2DM was significantly higher than that of normal rats (13.1 ± 2.4 vs 5.1 ± 1.1 mmol/L), and fasting blood insulin concentration of diabetic group was significantly lower than that of normal group (13.6 ± 1.9 18.3 ± 2.2 mIU/L) (P < 0.05). Homer1 mRNA and protein expressions in pancreatic tissue of rats with T2DM were significantly higher than those of normal rats (P < 0.05). Level of ERK phosphorylation in pancreatic tissue of rats with T2DM was significantly higher than that of normal rats. Homer1 mRNA level in rat pancreatic tissue of T2DM was positively correlated with the area of pancreatic islets (r = 0.526, P = 0.014). Homer1 mRNA level was significantly inhibited in high-glucose and high-fat stimulated human monotypic THP-1 cells with interfered Homer1. Compared with controls, P-ERK phosphorylation was significantly decreased in THP-1 cells with interfered Homer1 (P < 0.05). Homer1 can promote the progression of T2DM, which may be achieved through affecting ERK phosphorylation.