Revascularization-first strategy versus central repair-first strategy for acute type A aortic dissection complicated with mesenteric malperfusion syndrome: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The optimal therapeutic strategy for acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD) accompanied by mesenteric malperfusion syndrome (mMPS) has not been fully elucidated. The intent of this meta-analysis was to analyze the effectiveness and safety of the revascularization-first strategy among patients with ATAAD complicated with mMPS through comprehensive comparisons with the central repair-first strategy. METHODS: Studies relevant to the comparison of the outcomes of early reperfusion combined with delayed proximal aortic repair and initial central repair in the treatment of ATAAD complicated with mMPS, were systematacially searched using PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Embase up to June 30, 2022. And the primary outcome was early mortality, with mesenteric complications, adverse aortic events and hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA) time served as the secondary outcomes. Screening of the relevant studies, data extraction, and assessment of the included studies were conducted by two authors independently. Standard statistical procedures provided in Review Manager 5.3 were used to perform all statistical analyses. RESULTS: Five studies comprising 72 patients in total were included into the quantitative synthesis. In-hospital/30-day mortality was significantly reduced in patients receiving the revascularization-first strategy than in those with the central repair-first strategy, with a pooled risk ratio (RR) of 0.46 (p = .04, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.22-0.95). The revascularization-first strategy resulted in a lower incidence of mesenteric complications compared with the central repair-first strategy, with a pooled RR of 0.15 (p = .0002, 95% CI: 0.05-0.41). Moreover, no significant difference was found in the comparison of the revascularization-first strategy and central repair-first strategy regarding adverse aortic events (p = .31, 95% CI: 0.44-12.78). Compared with central repair-first, a longer HCA time was observed in revascularization-first with mean difference of 9.91 (p = .02, 95% CI: 1.34-18.48). CONCLUSIONS: The revascularization-first strategy presented a lower in-hospital/30-day mortality and mesenteric complications than the central repair-first strategy without increasing the incidence of adverse aortic events. However, the revascularization-first strategy indicated a longer HCA time than the central repair-first strategy.

Aromatin D-J: Seven previously undescribed labdane diterpenoids isolated from Blumea aromatica.

Blumea aromatica is a traditional Chinese medicine used for treating various diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, eczema, and pruritus. Previous studies on B. aromatica used a mass defect-filtering strategy via the ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry and reported the presence of several labdane diterpenoids (LADs). To determine the actual structures of these LADs and investigate their biological activities, seven previously undescribed LADs (aromatin D-J) were isolated from the whole B. aromatica herb. The structures of these isolated compounds were characterized using high-resolution mass spectrometry and extensive 1D and 2D NMR analyses. In addition, the absolute configurations of these compounds were determined by comparing the experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra as well as using X-ray crystallographic analysis. All isolated compounds were evaluated for their ability to activate adenylate cyclase by measuring the levels of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) in rat ventricular tissue. Aromatin E, F, and J showed moderate activities with an increase in cAMP levels by 67%, 69%, and 64%, respectively, compared with the control group.

High-Temperature-Annealed Flexible Carbon Nanotube Network Transistors for High-Frequency Wearable Wireless Electronics.

Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are potential active materials for fast-growing flexible/wearable applications with low-power dissipation, especially suitable for increasingly important radio-frequency (RF) wireless biosensor systems. However, the operation frequency of the existing flexible carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNT-FETs) is far below the current state-of-the-art GSM spectrum frequency band (typical 850 MHz) for near-field wireless communication applications. In this paper, we successfully conduct a 900 °C annealing process for the flexible CNT-FETs and hence significantly improve their operation frequency up to 2.1 gigahertz (GHz), making it possible to cover the current GSM spectra for integrated wireless sensor systems. The high-temperature annealing process significantly improves the electrical characteristic of the flexible CNT-FETs by removing the surfactant impurities of the SWNT materials. The obtained flexible CNT-FETs exhibit record transconductance (gm) as high as 48 µS/µm. Despite an applied strain level of 2%, a characteristic frequency of over 1 GHz is observed. Further demonstration of GHz performance is also exhibited for flexible RF integrated circuits (ICs) such as frequency multipliers and mixers, which are the fundamental components for wireless applications. This work offers a new pathway for realizing SWNT-based wearable wireless GHz sensor systems with power efficiency.

[Current quality standards of Andrographis Herba of different countries and regions].

Andrographis Herba is a commonly used plant medicine, and has been recorded in pharmacopeias of different countries. However, there are some differences in the quality standards. Based on this, this paper compare the quality standards of Andrographis Herba between Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards, United States Pharmacopoeia, European Pharmacopoeia and Indian Pharmacopoeia, including origin, botanical characteristics, identification(microscopic identification and chromatographic identification), content determination, specific test(such as impurities, loss on drying, extractives, pesticides, heavy metals, mycotoxins, and other items) and storage requirements, so as to provide a reference for studying international quality standards of Andrographis.

The reuse of waste glass for enhancement of heavy metals immobilization during the introduction of galvanized sludge in brick manufacturing.

The mixing of galvanized sludge in fired clay brick manufacturing has been regarded as an alternative approach for the consumption of galvanized sludge. Decreasing the surface area and porosity of fired brick definitely lowers the risk of heavy metal release. In this study, a novel method is proposed to reduce the surface area and porosity of bricks and promote heavy metal immobilization by adding waste glass. The introduction of waste glass enhanced the physical and mechanical performances of fired clay bricks and resulted in an increase in bulk density and compressive strength and a decrease in water absorption. Microstructure analysis showed that the texture of the bricks turned from porous to smooth and homogeneous due to the introduction of waste glass. Porosity analysis showed that surface area and pore volume of fired brick were substantially reduced. When the added waste glass amount exceeded 15 wt%, the heavy metal concentrations that leached from bricks containing 10 wt% galvanized sludge fired at 950 °C met the regulatory requirement. These results demonstrate that waste glass can be reused to enhance the stabilization/solidification of heavy metals, during the mixing of hazardous waste in bricks and ceramics manufacturing process.

An Improved Large Signal Model for 0.1 µm AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) Process and Its Applications in Practical Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) Design in W band.

An improved empirical large signal model for 0.1 µm AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) process is proposed in this paper. The short channel effect including the drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL) effect and channel length modulation has been considered for the accurate description of DC characteristics. In-house AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with a gate-length of 0.1 µm and different dimensions have been employed to validate the accuracy of the large signal model. Good agreement has been achieved between the simulated and measured S parameters, I-V characteristics and large signal performance at 28 GHz. Furthermore, a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier from 92 GHz to 96 GHz has been designed for validation of the proposed model. Results show that the improved large signal model can be used up to W band.

Structural characterization and immunomodulating activities of a novel polysaccharide from Nervilia fordii.

Nervilia fordii (Hance) Schltr. has been widely used as a medicinal and edible herb in Southwest China and Southeast Asia. In this study, NFP-1, a new water-soluble polysaccharidewith a purity of 97.8%, was purified from water extract of Nervilia fordii by DEAE-cellulose and Sephadex G-100 chromatography. NFP-1 has a relative molecular weight of 950 kDa determined by high performance gel-permeation chromatography (HPGPC). Its monosaccharide compositions were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) after pre-column derivatizing its hydrolysate with 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone (PMP). NFP-1 mainly consists of galactose, arabinose, rhamnose, and galacturonic acid. Based on FT-IR, methylation and GC-MS analysis, and NMR, the structure unit of NFP-1 was established as →4)-α-Rhap-(2→ 4)-α-GalpA-(1→2)-α-Rhap-(1→2)-α-Rhap-(4→1)-ß-Galp-T containing two branch chains of →2,4)-α-Rhap-(1→5)-α-Araf-(1→3)-α-Araf-(1→, and →2,4)-α-Rhap-(1→4)-ß-Galp-(1→. The immunomodulatory assays revealed the dual-functionalities of NFP-1. NFP-1 could significantly induce the secretion of nitric oxide (NO), and promote the secretions of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1ß in RAW264.7 macrophages. NFP-1 could also significantly inhibit the production of NO, depress the secretions of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1ß in RAW264.7 macrophages activated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and promote the production of IL-10 meanwhile. Our study suggested that Nervilia fordii could be an ideal medicinal or functional food due to its dual immunomodulatory activities.

[Effects of Niaoduqing granule on urine metabolic profile in chronic renal failure rats].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of Niaoduqing granule on the urine metabolic profile in chronic renal failure (CRF) rats. METHODS: Thirty six male SD rats were divided into the normal control group, the model group, and the Niaoduqing group with 12 rats in each group. The CRF was induced by gavage of 250 mg·kg-1·d-1 adenine for 21 d. UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS technique was used in combination with principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) to analyze the urine metabolic profiles in three groups. The endogenous substances with the variable importance projection (VIP)>1 and P<0.05 were screened as the potential biomarkers for CRF, and enrichment analysis of metabolic pathways was carried out. RESULTS: Compared with the normal control group, the model group had lower body weight, higher kidney coefficient, higher serum creatinine and urea nitrogen levels (all P<0.01), while the above indexes in the Niaoduqing group were ameliorated compared with the model group (all P<0.01). Fifteen potential biomarkers were found in the urine of the model group, which were involved in 9 metabolic pathways including phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis, arachidonic acid metabolism, cysteine and methionine metabolism, tricarboxylic acid cycle, glycerophosphatide metabolism, tryptophan metabolism and tyrosine metabolism. CONCLUSIONS: Niaoduqing granules has therapeutic effect on rats with CRF, which may be related to the regulation of amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism and energy metabolism.

Evaluation of a 12-week targeted vitamin D supplementation regimen in patients with active inflammatory bowel disease.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Vitamin D at serum 25(OH)D concentrations above 100 nmol/L is associated with disease remission in patients with IBD, suggesting targeted dosing might be anti-inflammatory. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness, safety and predictors of a 12-week regimen of vitamin D supplementation to achieve such a target in patients with active disease. METHODS: In a pilot study, patients with active colitis and a serum 25(OH)D concentration <75 nmol/L were prescribed oral liquid vitamin D supplementation over 12 weeks using a specific protocol with dose adjusted 4-weekly to aim for a target level of 100-125 nmol/L. RESULTS: Five patients each with Crohn's colitis or ulcerative colitis (UC) had mean 25(OH)D concentration 52 (range 27-73 nmol/L). Five reached the targeted level and four 89-95 nmol/L. One withdrew after 4 weeks (88 nmol/L). Target dose was met only in those with BMI <30 kg/m2 and total dose inversely correlated with initial serum 25(OH)D. One patient had developed a high level at 8 weeks (146 nmol/L) and another new hypercalciuria. There were no serious adverse events attributable to the therapy. Clinical disease activity consistently declined, but faecal calprotectin and circulating markers of inflammation did not. CONCLUSIONS: A specified oral vitamin D regimen successfully and safely achieved target or near-target levels, improved symptom-based activity scores, but did not alter objective measures of intestinal or systemic inflammation. A modified version of this dose-escalating regimen would be suitable for a randomised placebo-controlled trial, but does require regular safety monitoring.