Diabetes remission and nonalcoholic fatty pancreas disease.

This editorial focuses on the relationship between nonalcoholic fatty pancreas disease (NAFPD) and the development and remission of type 2 diabetes (T2D). NAFPD is characterized by intrapancreatic fatty deposition associated with obesity and not associated with alcohol abuse, viral infections, and other factors. Ectopic fat deposition in the pancreas is associated with the development of T2D, and the underlying mechanism is lipotoxic ß-cell dysfunction. However, the results on the relationship between intrapancreatic fat deposition (IPFD) and ß-cell function are conflicting. Regardless of the therapeutic approach, weight loss improves IPFD, glycemia, and ß-cell function. Pancreatic imaging is valuable for clinically monitoring and evaluating the management of T2D.

[Network Meta-analysis of Chinese patent medicines in treatment of chronic pulmonary heart disease].

Network Meta-analysis was performed to compare the efficacy and safety of Chinese patent medicines in treating chronic pulmonary heart disease. CNKI, VIP, Wanfang, SinoMed, PubMed, Web of Science, EMbase, and Cochrane Library were searched for randomized controlled trial(RCT) of treating chronic pulmonary heart disease with Chinese patent medicines with the time interval from inception to December 2023. The Cochrane risk-of-bias tool was used for quality assessment of the included articles. RevMan 5.4 and Stata 17.0 were employed to establish the risk of bias map and perform the network Meta-analysis, respectively. Ultimately, a total of 95 RCTs involving 8 787 cases and 11 different Chinese patent medicines were included. Network Meta-analysis yielded the following results based on the surface under the cumulative ranking curve(SUCRA).(1)In terms of cardiac function improves clinical total effective rate, SUCRA the top three were Wenxin Granules + conventional western medicine, Tongxinluo Capsules + conventional western medicine, and Qishen Yiqi Dropping Pills + conventional western medicine.(2)For improving forced expiratory volume in the first se-cond(FEV1), SUCRA the top three were Danting Feixin Granules + conventional western medicine, Tongxinluo Capsules + conventional western medicine, and Bufei Huoxue Capsules + conventional western medicine.(3)Regarding increasing the FEV1/forced vital capacity(FVC%) value, SUCRA the top three were Qili Qiangxin Capsules + conventional western medicine, Shexiang Baoxin Pills + conventional western medicine, and Qishen Yiqi Dropping Pills + conventional western medicine.(4)In terms of increasing the partial pressure of oxygen(PaO_2), SUCRA the top three were Qili Qiangxin Capsules + conventional western medicine, Qishen Yiqi Dropping Pills + conventional western medicine, and Shexiang Baoxin Pills + conventional western medicine.(5)In terms of reducing the partial pressure of carbon dioxide(PaCO_2), SUCRA the top three were Tongxinluo Capsules + conventional western medicine, Qishen Yiqi Dropping Pills + conventional western medicine, and Shexiang Baoxin Pills + conventional western medicine.(6)In terms of increasing left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF), SUCRA the top three were Bufei Huoxue Capsules + conventional western medicine, Qishen Yiqi Dropping Pills + conventional western medicine, and Shexiang Baoxin Pills + conventional western medicine.(7)In terms of decreasing brain natriu-retic peptide(BNP), SUCRA the top three were Compound Danshen Dropping Pills + conventional western medicine, Qili Qiangxin Capsules + conventional western medicine, and Tongxinluo Capsules + conventional western medicine.(8)In terms of improving the hematocrit level, SUCRA the top three were Qishen Yiqi Dropping Pills + conventional western medicine, Compound Danshen Dropping Pills + conventional western medicine, and Tongxinluo Capsules + conventional western medicine. In terms of safety, 26 RCTs reported adverse reactions, which primarily involved the circulatory and digestive systems. The combination of Chinese patent medicines with conventional western medicine has demonstrated enhanced therapeutic effects on chronic pulmonary heart disease. However, due to the varying quality and sample sizes of included studies and the absence of direct comparisons between Chinese patent medicines, the conclusions should be further validated by multicenter studies with larger sample sizes and higher methodological rigor.

A Report of Two Cases of Meningoencephalitis Caused by Streptococcus intermedius.

Objective: In this paper, we analyzed the clinical data of patients with meningoencephalitis caused by Streptococcus intermedius to understand better the clinical characteristics of the disease and recommend auxiliary diagnostic mode as well as treatment experience. Methods: We reviewed the clinical data of two patients admitted to our department in 2019 with meningoencephalitis caused by S. intermedius. Results: Two female patients were examined, one of whom had a history of radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma while the other had no underlying disease. These two patients were admitted with symptoms of meningoencephalitis. Cerebrospinal fluid examinations revealed elevated levels of leukocytes and protein. After treatment with meropenem, the condition improved for a brief time, but then worsened with a decline in mental status and limb movement. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures demonstrated the absence of pathogenic bacteria, while genome sequencing of cerebrospinal fluids revealed the presence of S. intermedius. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging revealed multiple cerebral abscesses (CAs). After coadministration of linezolid as an anti-infective, clinical symptoms gradually improved, and the CAs shrank on follow-up imaging. The condition exhibited a pattern of improvement-deterioration-improvement. Conclusion: Meningoencephalitis caused by S. intermedius is complex and prone to fluctuation and formation of multiple CAs. The definitive clinical diagnosis of this disease can be aided by genome sequencing technology, and early clarification of the etiology combined with the use of potent antibiotics is effective.

Mining flotation reagents: Quantitative and robust analysis of metal-xanthate complexes in water.

Xanthates, common mining flotation reagents, strongly bind thiophilic metals such as copper (Cu), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and zinc (Zn) and consequentially change their bioavailability and mobility upon their discharge into the environment. However, accurate quantification of the metal-xanthate complexes has remained elusive. This study develops a novel and robust method that realizes the accurate quantification of the metal-xanthate complexes resulted from single and multiple reactions of three typical xanthates (ethyl, isopropyl, and butyl xanthates) and four thiophilic metals (Cu, Pb, Cd, and Zn) in water samples. This method uses sulfur (S2-) dissociation, followed by tandem solid phase extraction of C18 + PWAX and subsequent LC-MS/MS analysis. It has a wide linearity range (1-1000 µg/L, R2 ≥ 0.995), low method detection limits (0.002-0.036 µg/L), and good recoveries (70.6-107.0 %) at 0.01-10 mg/L of xanthates. Applications of this method showed ubiquitous occurrence of the metal-xanthate complexes as the primary species in flotation wastewaters, which the concentrations were 4.6-28.9-fold higher than those previously determined. It is the first quantitative method established for the analysis of metal-xanthate complexes in water samples, which is of great importance to comprehensively understand the fate and risks of xanthates in the environment.

[Rules of prescriptions for heart failure of dilated cardiomyopathy based on latent structure model and association rules].

The latent structure model and association rules analysis were employed to explore the compatibility rules of prescriptions for heart failure of dilated cardiomyopathy, with a view to providing theoretical support for the clinical treatment of this disease based on syndrome differentiation and the formulation of guidelines. The articles about the treatment of heart failure of dilated cardiomyopathy were retrieved from CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, and SinoMed. The database was established in Microsoft Excel 2019. Lantern 5.0 and Rstudio were used to analyze the latent structure and association rules of Chinese medicine with the frequency greater than 4.00%. Furthermore, the frequency structure model was used to mine the rules of prescriptions for heart failure of dilated cardiomyopathy. The study included 175 traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) prescriptions, involving 128 Chinese medicines, with the cumulative frequency of 1 847. High-frequency medicines included Astragali Radix, Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Poria, Cinnamomi Ramulus, Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, with the main effects of tonifying, activating blood, resolving stasis, and releasing exterior. A total of 17 hidden variables, 34 hidden categories, and 6 comprehensive cluster models, along with 15 core prescriptions, were obtained. According to the prescriptions, the patients mainly had the syndromes of heart-Yang and Qi deficiency, Qi deficiency and blood stasis, heart-kidney Yang deficiency or Qi-Yin deficiency. Fifty-four strong association rules were obtained through association rule analysis. The highest degree of support was observed for the combination of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma-Astragali Radix, while the highest degree of confidence was found for the combination of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma-Cinnamomi Ramulus-Ophiopogonis Radix-Astragali Radix. The heart failure of dilated cardiomyopathy, characterized by internal deficiency and excess manifestations, is attributed to deficiency, stasis, and water. These factors are closely associated with the heart, lung, and spleen. The treatment should follow the principle of invigorating Qi and warming Yang, and meanwhile the method of activating blood and resolve stasis or moving Qi and promoting urination can be adopted according to the specific syndrome of patients.

Recycled PET/PA6 Fibers from Waste Textile with Improved Hydrophilicity by In-Situ Reaction-Induced Capacity Enhancement.

Due to the increasing amounts of textile waste, textile to textile recycling is of prime concern. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) represents the most extensively used type of chemical fiber. Its spinnability suffers from impurities and degradation in the processing, which limits its recycling to new fibers. Here, recycled polyester is blended with a small amount of recycled nylon, and the regenerated fibers, which demonstrated good mechanical properties, were obtained via a melt spinning machine. The mechanical properties, thermal properties, rheological properties, and chemical structure of the modified recycled fibers were investigated. It was found that when compared with rPET-T fibers, the elongation at break of rPET-Ax fibers increased to 17.48%, and the strength at break decreased to 3.79 cN/dtex. The compatibility of PET and PA6 copolymer were enhanced by copolymers produced by in-situ reaction in the processing. Meanwhile, the existence of PA6 increases the crystallization temperature and improves the hydrophilicity of the fibers. This study realized the high-value recycling of waste PET fabric to new fibers, which opens a door for the large utilization of waste textiles.