Efficacy of different strategies for reducing labor pain: A Bayesian analysis.

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of different medical interventions in managing labor pain has yielded mixed results. Therefore, this systematic review and network meta-analysis aimed to provide a comprehensive summary of the available evidence on the impact of different strategies for reducing labor pain. METHODS: We systematically searched 3 English databases (Pubmed, Embase and the Cochrane Library) from inception to January 2023. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or controlled clinical trials that investigating the effects of different strategies for reducing labor pain were included in this network meta-analysis. Risk of bias (ROB) was assessed using the Cochrane ROB tools. Network meta-analysis was performed using the R software (version 4.2.1) with gemtc package. RESULTS: A total of 9 studies involving 823 patients, including 9 treatments (acupressure, birth ball exercise, Bonapace method, distraction techniques, ice pressure, LI4 acupressure, lidocaine spray, smartphone-based music intervention and placebo). The surface under the cumulative ranking (SUCRA) shows that Bonapace method ranked first (SUCRA, 79.5%), LI4 acupressure ranked second (SUCRA, 65.6%), distraction technique ranked third (SUCRA, 57.6%), birth ball exercise ranked fourth (SUCRA, 51.8%). CONCLUSIONS: According to the results of the network meta-analysis, among the different strategies examined, the Bonapace Method stands out as the most effective nonpharmacological intervention for reducing labor pain. The results of this meta-analysis can aid both patients and healthcare professionals in choosing the most effective techniques to reduce labor pain.

Evaluation Value of Allergy in Adenoid Hypertrophy Through Blood Inflammatory Cells and Total Immunoglobulin E.

Objective: Previous reports have indicated the close association of allergy with adenoid hypertrophy (AH). The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the inflammatory cells and total immunoglobulin E (IgE) in blood could be useful in the diagnosis of allergy in AH. Methods: Two hundred thirty-four children who underwent adenoidectomy were retrospectively enrolled in this study. Blood routine parameters were recorded, and total IgE as well as specific IgE (sIgE) of common allergens were tested perioperatively. The diagnostic utility of blood inflammatory cells and total IgE compared with serum sIgE testing was assessed. Results: In our study, 35.47% of AH children were atopic. Dermatophagoides farinae (d2), Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (d1), and mold (mx2) were the most common sensitizing allergens. Significantly elevated eosinophil count, eosinophil to lymphocyte value, and total IgE were found in allergic AH children. As a result of receiver operating characteristic analysis, systemic total IgE could be a method to diagnose allergy in AH with a cutoff value of 46.55 and higher (area under curve [AUC] = 0.837; P < 0.001). Peripheral eosinophil count and eosinophil to lymphocyte were also able to predict positive allergy test result in AH children, with a cutoff value of 0.295 (AUC = 0.721; P < 0.001) and 0.082 (AUC = 0.685; P < 0.001), respectively. Conclusion: The presence of allergy can be distinguished by looking at peripheral total IgE and/or blood eosinophils in AH, which will guide us to the precise treatment of AH and also reduce the cost considerably.

Platinum-Based Nanocomposite Pt@BSA as an Efficient Electrochemical Biosensing Interface for Rapid and Ultrasensitive Determination of Folate Receptor-Positive Tumor Cells.

Developing a cytosensing strategy based on electrochemical approaches has attracted wide interest due to the low cost, rapid response, and simple instrumentation. In this work, an electrochemical cytosensor employing the Pt@BSA nanocomposite as the biosensing substrate along with the covalent cross-linking of targeting molecules folic acid (FA) was constructed for highly sensitive determination of folate receptor (FR)-positive tumor cells. The prepared Pt@BSA nanocomposite revealed excellent biocompatibility for cell adhesion and proliferation, which was confirmed by cell viability evaluation using thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) colorimetric methods. Due to the satisfactory electrical conductivity originating from Pt@BSA and the high binding affinity of FA to FR on the cell surface, an ultrasensitive and specific cytosensing device was designed for rapid and quantitative determination of HeLa cells (a model system) by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) tests. This proposed cytosensor resulted in a wide HeLa cell determination range of 2.8 × 101-2.8 × 106 cells mL-1 with a low DPV detection limit of 9 cells mL-1. The developed cytosensing approach exhibited highly specific recognition of FR-positive tumor cells, excellent inter-assay reproducibility with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 4.7%, acceptable intra-assay precision, and favorable storage stability, expanding the application of electrochemical measurement technology in the biomedical field of early detection and diagnosis of cancers.

Majorbio Cloud: A one-stop, comprehensive bioinformatic platform for multiomics analyses.

The platform consists of three modules, which are pre-configured bioinformatic pipelines, cloud toolsets, and online omics' courses. The pre-configured bioinformatic pipelines not only combine analytic tools for metagenomics, genomes, transcriptome, proteomics and metabolomics, but also provide users with powerful and convenient interactive analysis reports, which allow them to analyze and mine data independently. As a useful supplement to the bioinformatics pipelines, a wide range of cloud toolsets can further meet the needs of users for daily biological data processing, statistics, and visualization. The rich online courses of multi-omics also provide a state-of-art platform to researchers in interactive communication and knowledge sharing.

Tissue Cytokine Adenoid Experssion in Hypertrophic Adenoid Gland in Children with Allergic Rhinitis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the inflammatory pattern in terms of inflammatory cells and cytokines expression in children with adenoid hypertrophy (AH) and coexistent allergic rhinitis (AR). STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional analytical study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Shandong Provincial ENT Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong P. R. China, from October 2018 to August 2020. METHODOLOGY: A sample of 102 children with AH, who underwent adenoidectomy were enrolled. They were divided into two groups of AH, alone and AH with AR (AH+AR). A routine complete blood count, and the number of eosinophils in adenoid tissue was measured using hematoxylin-eosin staining. The tissue expression of cytokines was carried out using real-time quantitative PCR. RESULTS: Forty-eight children (47%) were diagnosed with AR. The number and percentage of eosinophils in peripheral blood and adenoid tissue were statistically (p <0.05) higher in the group of AH+AR than AH alone. Furthermore, in patients with AH+AR, the mRNA expression levels of IL-12 and IFN-γ decreased, while IL-4, IL-8, IL-18, IL-33, H2R, LTR1, LTR2 and GCR all increased in adenoid tissue. CONCLUSION: The pathological mechanism underlying adenoid hypertrophy in children with comorbid allergic rhinitis can be involved with predominant tissue eosinophilia and type 2 (or Th 2) inflammation. Key Words: Adenoid hypertrophy, Allergic rhinitis, Inflammatory features, Cytokines, Eosinophils.

Long noncoding RNA SLC9A3­AS1 increases E2F6 expression by sponging microRNA­486­5p and thus facilitates the oncogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Long noncoding RNA SLC9A3 antisense RNA 1 (SLC9A3­AS1) plays a central role in lung cancer; yet, its functions in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) have not been elucidated. The present study revealed the roles of SLC9A3­AS1 in NPC and dissected the mechanisms downstream of SLC9A3­AS1. SLC9A3­AS1 levels in NPC were assessed by applying RT­qPCR. The modulatory role of SLC9A3­AS1 interference on NPC cells was examined using numerous functional experiments. High expression of SLC9A3­AS1 was observed in NPC samples. Patients with NPC with a high level of SLC9A3­AS1 experienced a shorter overall survival than those with a low SLC9A3­AS1 level. Loss of SLC9A3­AS1 reduced NPC cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion but induced cell apoptosis in vitro. Animal experiments further revealed that the depletion of SLC9A3­AS1 hindered NPC tumour growth in vivo. As a competitive endogenous RNA, SLC9A3­AS1 sponged microRNA­486­5p (miR­486­5p), consequently upregulating E2F transcription factor 6 (E2F6). Finally, the effects of SLC9A3­AS1 silencing on NPC cells were reversed by inhibiting miR­486­5p or overexpressing E2F6. In summary, SLC9A3­AS1 exerted carcinogenic effects on NPC cells by adjusting the miR­486­5p/E2F6 axis. Accordingly, the newly identified SLC9A3­AS1/miR­486­5p/E2F6 pathway may offer attractive therapeutic targets for future development.

Voltage Cycling-Induced Pt Degradation in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: Effect of Cycle Profiles.

To understand the processes of voltage cycling-induced catalyst degradation, influence of cycle profiles on Pt degradation is investigated using a mathematical method. Results show that the electrochemical surface area (ECSA) loss rate increases significantly with longer dwell time at the upper potential limit (UPL), which is mainly attributed to the enhanced Pt mass loss. The scan rate is also found to have little impact on the ECSA loss in the range of 1-37.5 mV/s as a lower scan rate will increase the Pt mass loss but mitigate Ostwald ripening. However, too long dwell time at the UPL or too slow scan rate would promote the formation of a more steady-state Pt oxide coverage, which is speculated to mitigate Pt dissolution. Decreasing cycle number has also been demonstrated to be the main contributor to the lower ECSA loss due to Ostwald ripening. Additionally, Ostwald ripening and Pt mass loss have comparable contributions to catalyst degradation at the UPL ≤ 0.9 V, while Pt mass loss contributes more at a higher UPL, which suggests that different load cycling strategies should be proposed for mitigating catalyst degradation at different UPLs.

Promoting Effects of Au Submonolayer Shells on Structure-Designed Cu-Pd/Ir Nanospheres: Greatly Enhanced Activity and Durability for Alkaline Ethanol Electro-Oxidation.

Rationally engineering the surface physicochemical properties of nanomaterials can improve their activity and durability for various electrocatalytic and energy conversion applications. Cu-Pd/Ir (CPI) nanospheres (NSs) anchored on N-doped porous graphene (NPG) [(CPI NSs/NPG)] have been recently demonstrated as a promising electrocatalyst for the alkaline ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR); to further enhance their electrocatalytic performance, the NPG-supported CPI NSs are coated with Au submonolayer (SML) shells (SMSs), through which their surface physicochemical properties can be tuned. CPI NSs/NPG is prepared by our previously developed method and possesses the special structures of composition-graded Cu1Pd1 and surface-doped Ir0.03. The Au SMSs with designed surface coverages are formed via an electrochemical technology involving incomplete Cu underpotential deposition (UPD) and Au3+ galvanic replacement. A distinctive volcano-type relation between the EOR electrocatalytic activity and the Au-SMS surface coverage for CPI@AuSML NSs/NPG is revealed, and the optimal CPI@Au1/6ML NSs/NPG greatly surpasses commercial Pd/C and CPI NSs/NPG in electrocatalytic activity and noble metal utilization. More importantly, its electrocatalytic durability in 1 h chronoamperometric and 500-cycle potential cycling degradation tests is also significantly improved. According to detailed physicochemical characterizations, electrochemical analyses, and density functional theory calculations, the promoting effects of the Au SMS for enhancing the EOR electrocatalytic activity and durability of CPI NSs/NPG can be mainly attributed to the greatly weakened carbonaceous intermediate bonding and properly increased surface oxidation potential. This work also proposes a versatile and effective strategy to tune the surface physicochemical properties of metal-based nanomaterials via incomplete UPD and metal-cation galvanic replacement for advancing their electrocatalytic and energy conversion performance.

Improving the High-Current-Density Performance of PEMFC through Much Enhanced Utilization of Platinum Electrocatalysts on Carbon.

We report an effective approach to the synthesis of high-content and high-dispersion Pt nanoparticles (NPs) on XC-72 carbon black as a cathode electrocatalyst with improved high-current-density performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). While exceptionally high catalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was reported based on the rotating disk electrode (RDE) technique, such catalysts do not deliver nearly the same level of performance in PEMFC due to the lack of optimized design of catalyst structures on carbon support. We recently developed a synergistic synthesis method to make exceptionally high-content and finely dispersed Pt catalysts, which showed the highest Pt-electroactive surface area and the highest Pt mass activity for ORR among the electrocatalysts tested. More importantly, the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) made with this catalyst showed excellent performance at current densities higher than 1200 mA cm-2 in a hydrogen-air PEMFC measurement. 195Pt NMR was used to analyze the molecular structures of the metal precursors and to understand the mechanisms of the formation of Pt catalysts at high dispersity and uniformity.

CxNy particles@N-doped porous graphene: a novel cathode catalyst with a remarkable cyclability for Li-O2 batteries.

Despite the intrinsic advantages of ultra-high theoretical capacity and energy density of lithium-O2 batteries, there remain several critical issues to be resolved, especially the two concerning poor cyclability and rate capability. In this work, CxNy particles@N-doped porous graphene (CxNy@NPG) with a novel three-dimensional architecture is successfully synthesized via a simple template method and employed as the cathode catalyst of Li-O2 batteries. It is surprisingly found that the as-synthesized CxNy@NPG cathode not only demonstrates a remarkable cycling performance of 200 cycles at 1000 mA g-1 but also an intriguing high-rate capability with 8892 mA h g-1 at 1000 mA g-1, both of which can be attributed to a synergistic effect between the unique 3D porous structure and an effective N-doping. Specifically, it is believed that the unique porous 3D structure will, on one hand, build numerous microchannels, thus facilitating rapid O2 diffusion, and on the other hand, provide sufficient storage space to accommodate adequate discharge products. Indispensably, it is also believed that the N-doped porous graphene enables improved bifunctional catalytic activities towards both oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), thus decreasing the discharge/charge overpotential, and reducing undesired side reactions. It is anticipated that the new 3D porous CxNy@NPG provides an inspiring route to design long cycling and high-rate performance cathodes for Li-O2 batteries.

Icosahedral Pt-Ni Nanocrystalline Electrocatalyst: Growth Mechanism and Oxygen Reduction Activity.

Engineering the structure of Pt alloy offers an effective way to the design of high performance electrocatalysts. Herein, we synthesize a sandwich-structured, icosahedral Pt2.1 Ni catalyst through a hot injection method. Its growth involves three steps: 1) burst nucleation of Pt atoms to form a Pt-enriched core, 2) heterogeneous nucleation of Ni atoms onto the Pt core to form a Ni-enriched interlayer, and 3) kinetic controlled growth of a Pt-enriched shell. The Pt-enriched core protects the nanostructure from collapse and mitigates the strain change caused by lattice mismatch, and thus enhances the stability of the structure. The Ni-enriched interlayer induces the electronic modification of the outermost Pt shell, and in turn tunes the activity. The Pt-enriched shell provides more active sites through the exposure of (1 1 1) facets and retards the dissolution of Ni atoms. As a result, this sandwich-structure enables impressive electrocatalytic activity (0.91 mA cm-2 and 0.32 AmgPt-1 @ 0.9 V) and duability.

The respective effect of under-rib convection and pressure drop of flow fields on the performance of PEM fuel cells.

The flow field configuration plays an important role on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). For instance, channel/rib width and total channel cross-sectional area determine the under-rib convection and pressure drop respectively, both of which directly influence the water removal, in turn affecting the oxygen supply and cathodic oxygen reduction reaction. In this study, effects of under-rib convection and pressure drop on cell performance are investigated experimentally and numerically by adjusting the channel/rib width and channel cross-sectional area of flow fields. The results show that the performance differences with various flow field configurations mainly derive from the oxygen transport resistance which is determined by the water accumulation degree, and the cell performance would benefit from the narrower channels and smaller cross sections. It reveals that at low current densities when water starts to accumulate in GDL at under-rib regions, the under-rib convection plays a more important role in water removal than pressure drop does; in contrast, at high current densities when water starts to accumulate in channels, the pressure drop dominates the water removal to facilitate the oxygen transport to the catalyst layer.

Soft-Templated Self-Assembly of Mesoporous Anatase TiO2/Carbon Composite Nanospheres for High-Performance Lithium Ion Batteries.

Mesoporous anatase TiO2/carbon composite nanospheres (designated as meso-ATCCNs) were successfully synthesized via a facile soft-templated self-assembly followed by thermal treatment. Structural and morphological analyses reveal that the as-synthesized meso-ATCCNs are composed of primary TiO2 nanoparticles (∼5 nm), combined with in situ deposited carbon either on the surface or between the primary TiO2 nanoparticles. When cycled in an extended voltage window from 0.01 to 3.0 V, meso-ATCCNs exhibit excellent rate capabilities (413.7, 289.7, and 206.8 mAh g(-1) at 200, 1000, and 3000 mA g(-1), respectively) as well as stable cyclability (90% capacity retention over 500 cycles at 1000 mA g(-1)). Compared with both mesoporous TiO2 nanospheres and bulk TiO2, the superior electrochemical performance of the meso-ATCCNs electrode could be ascribed to a synergetic effect induced by hierarchical structure that includes uniform TiO2 nanoparticles, the presence of hydrothermal carbon derived from phenolic resols, a high surface area, and open mesoporosity.

Tetrahydroindeno[1',2':4,5]pyrrolo[1,2-a]imidazol-5(1H)-ones as novel neonicotinoid insecticides: reaction selectivity and substituent effects on the activity level.

Tetraheterocyclic tetrahydroindeno[1',2':4,5]pyrrolo[1,2-a]imidazol-5(1H)-one derivatives as novel neonicotinoid candidates were designed and prepared by selective etherification, chlorination and esterification of ninhydrin-heterocyclic ketene aminals adducts. Some of the designed compounds showed excellent insecticidal activity against cowpea aphids (Aphis craccivora), brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens), and armyworm (Mythimna separata). In particular, the activity against armyworm (Mythimna separata) improved a lot in contrast with that of imidacloprid and cycloxaprid. The research here provides a novel neonicotinoid chemotype for further development.

Enzyme-labeled Pt@BSA nanocomposite as a facile electrochemical biosensing interface for sensitive glucose determination.

Electrocatalytic reactions of glucose oxidation based on enzyme-labeled electrochemical biosensors demand a high enzymatic activity and fast electron transfer property to produce the amplified signal response. Through a "green" synthesis method, Pt@BSA nanocomposite was prepared as a biosensing interface for the first time. Herein we presented a convenient and effective glucose sensing matrix based on Pt@BSA nanocomposite along with the covalent adsorption of glucose oxidase (GOD). The electrocatalytic activity toward oxygen reduction was significantly enhanced due to the excellent bioactivity of anchored GOD and superior catalytic performance of interior platinum nanoparticles, which was gradually restrained with the addition of glucose. A sensitive glucose biosensor was then successfully developed upon the restrained oxygen reduction peak current. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was employed to investigate the determination performance of the enzyme biosensor, resulting in a linear response range from 0.05 to 12.05 mM with an optimal detection limit of 0.015 mM. The as-proposed sensing technique revealed high selectivity against endogenous interfering species, satisfactory storage stability, acceptable durability, and favorable fabrication reproducibility with the RSD of 3.8%. During the practical application in human blood serum samples, this glucose biosensor obtained a good detection accuracy of analytical recoveries within 97.5 to 104.0%, providing an alternative scheme for glucose level assay in clinical application.

Bis(2,2',2''-nitrilo-triacetamide-κ(3)O,N,O')nickel(II) dinitrate tetra-hydrate.

In the title compound, [Ni(C(6)H(12)N(4)O(3))(2)](NO(3))(2)·4H(2)O, the Ni(II) cation is located on an inversion center and is N,O,O'-chelated by two nitrilo-tris-(acetamide) mol-ecules in a distorted octa-hedral geometry. The complex cations, nitrate anions and lattice water mol-ecules are connected by O-H⋯O and N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming a three-dimensional supra-molecular structure.

[Modern documentary research on disease menu of acupuncture-moxibustion for mental and behavioral disorder].

OBJECTIVE: Dominant disease menu of mental and behavioral disorder of acupuncture therapy was summarized and obtained in this article. METHODS: Literatures on clinical treatment of mental and behavioral disorder with acupuncture were picked up from CBMdisc and CNKI during 1978 to 2007. Types of mental and behavioral disorder and report frequency of each disease treated with acupuncture were counted. And dominant diseases which were favorable to be treated with acupuncture were acquired through analysis and inductive method. RESULTS: Twenty-nine diseases of mental and behavioral disorder are favorable to be treated with acupuncture which were mentioned in totally 1967 related documents. It is found that the number of reports of sleep disorder, depression, hysteria aphronesia, dementia and sexual disorder are ranked as the top five. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that the preponderant diseases of mental and behavioral disorder treated by acupuncture are dementia, withdrawal syndrome, mental retardation, obsessive-compulsive disorder, sleep disorder, gastrointestinal neurosis (gastrointestinal disorders), depression, alcoholism and globus hystericus.