Triterpenoids from the fruiting bodies of Ganoderma lucidum and their inhibitory activity against FAAH.

Seventeen triterpenoids including four new lanostane triterpenoids (1-3 and 5) were isolated from the fruiting bodies of Ganoderma lucidum by various chromatographic techniques. Their chemical structures were determined by extensive spectroscopic data, including 1D-NMR, 2D-NMR, and HRESIMS. In addition, the spectral data of compound 4 was reported for the first time. In an in vitro bioassay, most isolated triterpenoids could inhibit the hydrolysis activity of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH). Furthermore, there is no cytotoxicity observed for these isolated triterpenoids. Therefore, G. lucidum showed the potential application for anti-neuroinflammation and more FAAH inhibitors may be explored from G. lucidum.

Prevalence and Related Factors for Myopia in School-Aged Children in Qingdao.

PURPOSE: To investigate the prevalence and related factors for myopia in school-aged children in the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Qingdao, Eastern China. METHODS: A total of 4890 (aged 10 to 15 years) students were initially enrolled in this study. 3753 (76.75%) students with completed refractive error and questionnaire data were analyzed. The children underwent a comprehensive eye examination. Multiple logistic regression models were applied to assess possible factors associated with myopia. RESULTS: The prevalence of myopia increased as the children's grade increased (χ2 = 560.584, P < 0.001). Low myopia was the main form of myopia in adolescent students (30.22%). With the growth of age, students spent significantly more time on near work (P = 0.03) and less time on outdoor activity (P < 0.001). In multivariate models, only the following variables were significantly associated with myopia: age, two myopic parents, outdoor activity time, and continuous near work without 5 min rest. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of myopia increased as the grade increased. Age, two myopic parents, and continuous near work time without 5 min rest were risk factors for myopia. Outdoor activities had protective effect for myopia.

Efficacy and safety of intravitreal ranibizumab with panretinal photocoagulation followed by trabeculectomy compared with Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation in neovascular glaucoma.

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) with panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) followed by trabeculectomy compared with Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) implantation in neovascular glaucoma (NVG). METHODS: This was a retrospective comparative study. We reviewed the cases of a total of 45 eyes from 45 NVG patients among which 23 eyes underwent AGV implantation and the other 22 underwent trabeculectomy. The causes of neovascular glaucoma included: diabetic retinopathy (25 eyes), and retinal vein occlusion (20 eyes). All patients received preoperative IVR combined with postoperative PRP. The mean best-corrected visual acuities (BCVA) were converted to the logarithms of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) for the statisitical analyses. Intraocular pressure (IOP), the logMAR BCVA and surgical complications were evaluated before and after surgery. The follow-up period was 12mo. RESULTS: A total of 39 cases showed complete regression of iris neovascularization at 7d after injection, and 6 cases showed a small amount of residual iris neovascularization. The success rates were 81.8% and 82.6% at 12mo after trabeculectomy and AGV implantation, respectively. In the trabeculectomy group, the logMAR BCVA improved at the last follow-up in 14 eyes, remained stable in 6 eyes and decreased in 2 eyes. In 4 cases, slight hyphemas developed after trabeculectomy. A shallow anterior chamber developed in 2 cases and 2 vitreous hemorrhages. In the AGV group, the logMAR BCVA improved in 14 eyes, remained stable in 5 eyes and decreased in 4 eyes. Slight hyphemas developed in 3 cases, and a shallow anterior chamber in 3 cases. The mean postoperative IOP was significantly lower in both groups after surgery (F=545.468, P<0.05), and the mean postoperative logMAR BCVA was also significantly improved (F=10.964, P<0.05) with no significant difference between two groups. CONCLUSION: It is safe and effective to treat NVG with this combined procedure, and we found similar results after IVR+AGV implantation+PRP and IVR+trabeculectomy+PRP in eyes with NVG.

The Safety and Efficacy of Adjustable Postoperative Position after Pars Plana Vitrectomy for Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment.

Purpose. To report the safety and efficacy of adjustable postoperative position for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). Methods. Retrospective review of 536 consecutive RRD eyes that underwent vitrectomy surgery for retina repair from year 2008 to 2014. The retinal breaks were divided into superior, lateral (nasal, temporal, and macular), and inferior locations, according to the clock of breaks. Patients with superior and lateral break location were allowed to have facedown position or lateral decubitus position postoperatively, while patients with inferior break location were allowed to have facedown position. Results. 403 eyes of 400 patients were included. The mean follow-up interval was 22.7 ± 21.3 months. The overall primary retinal reattachment rate was 93.3%. There were 24 (6.0%), 273 (67.7%), and 106 (26.3%) patients with superior, lateral, and inferior break location, respectively. The primary reattachment rate was 95.8%, 92.3%, and 95.3% accordingly. After further divided the break location into subgroups as a function of duration of symptom, postoperative lens situation, number of retinal breaks, and different vitreous tamponade, the primary reattachment rates were all higher than 82%. Conclusion. Adjustable postoperative positioning is effective and safe for RRD repair with different break locations. Choosing postoperative position appropriately according to retinal break locations could be recommended.

Effect of different breathing patterns on nonlinearity of heart rate variability.

We studied the effects of different respiratory patterns, namely, spontaneous breathing, paced breathing (at a rate of 10 breaths/min and at their mean spontaneous breathing frequency) and breath holding, on the nonlinear characteristics of heart rate variability (HRV). The results showed that paced breathing at both rates significantly diminished the nonlinearity of HRV detected by the Volterra-Wiener series method in comparison with spontaneous breathing, while breath holding increased it. These findings indicate spontaneous breathing rate is probably optimum to maintain cardiopulmonary coupling nonlinearly, and thus to minimize the influence on cardiovascular variabilities.