Effects of foot reflexology massage on pregnant women: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies.

To explore the effects of foot reflexology massage on anxiety, pain, duration of labor, labor satisfaction, blood pressure, pulse rate and respiratory rate in pregnant women. We systematically searched eight databases for randomized controlled studies on the effects of foot reflexology massage on pregnant women. The inclusion criteria were as follow: participants were pregnant woman; the intervention is foot reflexology or foot massage; the control intervention is placebo, usual care, or no intervention; outcome indicators included pain, anxiety, birth satisfaction, duration of labor, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration; and study type was randomized controlled study. Studies that did not meet the above requirements were excluded. We assessed the quality of the included studies using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale, the risk of bias using the Risk of Bias 2.0 tool, and the level of evidence for the outcomes using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment Development and Evaluation. We used Review Manager 5.3 for data analysis and generated funnel plots to assess publication bias. In addition, sensitivity analysis was used to test the stability of the results. A total of 13 randomized controlled studies with 1189 participants were included in this study. Compared to the control group, foot reflexology massage reduced anxiety and pain in pregnant women, shortened the three stages of labor, and increased birth satisfaction. In addition, it also reduced the pulse rate and respiratory rate of pregnant women, but not for blood pressure. Foot reflexology massage can significantly reduce anxiety and pain, shorten the duration of labor, increase birth satisfaction, and stabilize vital signs in pregnant women. It is a safe and non-invasive form of complementary therapy.PROSPERO registered number: CRD42022359641. URL: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=359641 .

Maximum Spreading of Impacting Ferrofluid Droplets under the Effect of Nonuniform Magnetic Field.

This article investigates the maximum spreading of ferrofluid droplets impacting on a hydrophobic surface under nonuniform magnetic fields. A generalized model for scaling the maximum spreading is developed. It is observed that, if the magnetic field strength is zero, a ferrofluid droplet not only demonstrates similar spreading dynamics as the water droplet but also obeys the same scaling law for the maximum spreading factor. Therefore, this article emphasizes the effects of magnetic field strength. In this regard, a dimensionless parameter (Nm) is introduced as the ratio between inertial force and Kelvin force, with an assumption that the kinetic energy mainly transforms to thermal energy. This parameter allows us to rescale all experimental data on a single curve with the Padé approximant, which is applicable to a wide range of impact velocities and magnetic field strengths.

Circular RNAs: from biogenesis and function to diseases.

OBJECTIVE: Evidence suggests that various diseases may contribute to the circular RNAs (circRNAs) expression disorder. This review was aimed at looking for appropriate biomarkers for the treatment of diseases. DATA SOURCES: The comprehensive search used online literature databases including PubMed of National Center for Biotechnology Information and Web of Science. STUDY SELECTION: The study selection was based on the following keywords: circRNAs, biogenesis, biologic function, and disease. The time limit for literature retrieval was from the year 1976 to 2019, with language restriction in English. Relevant articles were carefully reviewed, with no exclusions applied to study design and publication type. RESULTS: CircRNAs are one of the critical non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), which are covalently closed continuous loops that do not possess 5' and 3' ends. This makes them resistant to exoribonuclease activity and potentially more stable than their cognate linear transcripts, thus making them ideal candidates for biomarker development. Due to the stable and extensive tissue-specific expression of circRNAs, they can function as microRNA sponges and bind to RNA-binding proteins, regulate transcription and splicing, and translate into proteins to participate in the regulation of physiologic and pathologic processes. Moreover, the expression disorders of circRNAs in diseases, such as neurodegenerative disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, make them have potential applications for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in circRNA expression profiles related to various diseases, and circRNAs often exhibit low expression in cancer tissues. In addition, circRNAs can be detected in patient's body fluids to indicate that circRNAs are effective biomarkers for disease diagnosis. These characteristics make circRNAs have potential applications as novel therapeutic targets for diseases.

[The role analysis of APX gene family in the growth and developmental processes and in response to abiotic stresses in Arabidopsis thaliana].

Oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is one of the major abiotic stresses in plants. Under adverse growth conditions, the incoordination of various metabolic processes in plant cells can result in increased hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), thus causing a variety of threats and injuries to plant cells. Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) is an important enzyme to remove H2O2 in plants. In Arabidopsis thaliana, there are eight APX gene family members, including APX1?APX6, sAPX and tAPX. In this study, we analyzed the expression patterns of the eight APX genes in the wild-type and apx mutant plants at different developmental stages and under different abiotic stress conditions. Meanwhile, the tolerance of each apx mutant to salt, drought and heat stresses was studied. qRT-PCR analysis showed that during development (from 4 to 8 weeks old), APX1 and APX2 exhibited the highest and lowest expression levels, respectively. In addition, the expression levels of APX4, sAPX and tAPX decreased during development, while the expression of APX6 increased with the maturity of the plants. Moreover, under different abiotic stress conditions, APX1, APX2 and APX6 were significantly induced by heat stress, sAPX actively responded to salt stress, and APX3 and APX5 exhibited obvious responses to salt, drought and heat stresses. Further tolerance analysis showed that the resistance of all apx mutants to salt and drought stresses was lower than that of the wild-type plant at both germination and maturity stages. At germination stage, all apx mutants were more sensitive to drought stress than to salt stress. At maturity stage, the apx1 and apx6 mutants were more sensitive to salt and drought stresses than the wild-type and other apx mutant plants. The physiological indexes indicated that the H2O2 content in all mutants, especially in the apx1, sapx and tapx, was significantly higher than that in the wild type 10 days after drought stress treatment, the malondialdehyde (MDA) content in all mutants was significantly higher than that in the wild type 5 days after salt stress treatment, while heat stress treatment for 2 h resulted in a significant increase in the contents of H2O2 and MDA in apx1, apx2 and apx6, especially in apx2. Taken together, our study revealed that all eight APX members of Arabidopsis participate in the growth and developmental processes and the abiotic stress responses, with some specific APXs playing a major role in a certain process.

Influence of risk factors on stomal recurrence after total laryngectomy for laryngeal carcinomas: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Total laryngectomy is preserved for those the most advanced larynx cancer and nonsurgical cases. However, stomal recurrence is frequently occurred and leads to high mortality. Herein, we aimed to determine the risk factors for the stomal recurrence after total laryngectomy (SRAL). METHODS: Databases such as PubMed and EMBASE were comprehensively searched using the keywords "stomal recurrence" and "total laryngectomy." Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, qualified studies would be incorporated in this meta-analysis, followed by quality evaluation and data extraction. Risk ratios (RRs) were used. RESULTS: A total of six studies were included in the meta-analysis, and the pooled RRs showed that subglottic location increased the incidence of stomal recurrence most among the four primary locations. Expectedly, advanced tumor stage before the laryngectomy was the risk factor for stomal recurrence, while lymph node metastases showed no difference in this meta-analysis. Further, preoperative tracheostomy increased two times more risk in the stomal recurrence compared with nonpreoperative surgery. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we proved that subglottic location, advanced tumor stage, especially T4 stage, and preoperative tracheostomy were risk factors for SRAL for larynx cancer. However, many other potential risk factors, such as surgical margins, could not be determined for inadequate records. Hence, more prospective trials should be designed to determine the risk factors for SRAL for larynx cancer.

[Expression regulation of plant ascorbate peroxidase and its tolerance to abiotic stresses].

Ascorbate peroxidase (APX), a type I heme peroxidase, catalyzes oxidation of ascorbic acid. It possesses a high degree of specificity to ascorbic acid. APX gene cluster consists of four sub-clusters: the gene clusters of cytosol, chloroplast, mitochondria, and peroxidase. As a key component of hydrogen peroxide detoxification system, the ascorbate-glutathione cycle, APX plays a vital role in the metabolism of H2O2 of plant cells. Studies showed that APX is one of the most important enzymes, which modulate the cellular H2O2 level in redox signaling system. The expression mechanisms of APX isoenzymes are quite complex. Briefly, cytosolic APX is regulated by a variety of signals; two chloroplastic APX isoenzymes are tissue-dependently regulated by alternative splicing. Generated APXs could regulate redox signaling in cells, which further boosts plants tolerance to abiotic stresses. This review focuses on recent advances concerning catalytic prop-erties, physiological function, and gene expressing regulation and abio-stress responding mechanism of APX.