[Risk factors of anxiety during anesthesia induction in children undergoing eye and ear-nose-throat surgery].

Objective: To explore the risk factors of anxiety during anesthesia induction in children undergoing eye and ear-nose-throat (ENT) surgeries. Methods: The clinical data of 930 children who underwent eye and ENT surgeries in the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University from January to December 2019 were collected. The outcome variable was the degree of anxiety during anesthesia induction. Demographic information about the children and their family members, anxiety scores and the usage of preoperative sedative drugs were collected as the exposure factors. The risk factors of anxiety during anesthesia induction were determined by logistic regression analysis. Results: A total of 930 children were included in the study, of which 56(6.0%) cases developed anxiety during the induction period. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that age (OR=0.72, 95%CI:0.61-0.86, P<0.001), anxiety grading of children by medical evaluation method (mild as the reference, moderate OR=5.42, 95%CI:2.92-10.07, P<0.001; severe OR=7.53, 95%CI: 2.54-22.29, P<0.001), Modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPAS) score at arrival in the preoperative waiting room (OR=1.05, 95%CI:1.02-1.07, P<0.001) and sedation score (OR=0.48, 95%CI: 0.30-0.76, P<0.001) were risk factors for the development of anxiety during the induction period. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that anxiety grading of children by medical evaluation method was a risk factor for affecting anxiety in the induction period (mild as the reference, moderate OR=4.08, 95%CI:1.81-9.18, P<0.01; severe OR=4.95, 95%CI:1.26-19.44, P=0.022). Conclusion: Anxiety grading of children by medical evaluation method is an essential risk factor for predicting anxiety during induction period.

NLRP6 suppresses the inflammatory response of human periodontal ligament cells by inhibiting NF-κB and ERK signal pathways.

AIM: To explore the function and mechanisms of NLRP6 (NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing 6) in the inflammatory response of human periodontal ligament cells (HPDLCs). METHODOLOGY: Tissues associated with apical periodontitis were obtained from three patients who underwent endodontic microsurgery. The expression of NLRP6 in 3 human apical periodontitis tissues and HPDLCs was examined by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence, respectively. The expressions of NLRP6, Phospho(p)- p65, p65, IκB-α, p- IκB-α, ERK, p- ERK, NLRP3, Pro interleukin (IL)-1ß, Pro caspase-1 and apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC) were examined by western blot. The gene expression and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines were detected using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data were analysed statistically with independent sample t-tests. RESULTS: NLRP6 was expressed in inflammatory periapical tissues and HPDLCs. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Escherichia coli induced NLRP6 in HPDLCs (P < 0.05). After silencing NLRP6, E. coli LPS-induced activation of NF-κB and ERK signalling was enhanced, which was also accompanied by elevated levels of IL-6 and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) (P < 0.05). Moreover, knockdown of NLRP6 led to up-regulation of NLRP3, Pro IL-1ß and Pro caspase-1 (P < 0.05), whereas down-regulation of ASC (P < 0.05), which may contribute to unchanged levels of IL-1ß in HPDLCs inflammation. CONCLUSION: NLRP6 was functionally expressed in inflamed periapical tissues and HPDLCs. NLRP6 negatively regulated the production of IL-6 and TNF-α in HPDLCs inflammation by inhibiting NF-κB and ERK signal pathways.

Effects of Replacement of Concentrate Mixture by Broccoli Byproducts on Lactating Performance in Dairy Cows.

The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of feeding pelletized broccoli byproducts (PBB) on milk yield and milk composition in dairy cows. In Trial 1, an in vitro gas test determined the optimal replacement level of PBB in a concentrate mixture in a mixed substrate with Chinese wild ryegrass hay (50:50, w/w) at levels of 0, 10%, 20%, 30%, or 40% (dry matter basis). When the concentrate was replaced by PBB at a level of 20%, no adverse effects were found on the gas volume or its rate constant during ruminal fermentation. In trial 2, 24 lactating cows (days in milk = 170.4±35; milk yield = 30±3 kg/d; body weight = 580 ±13 kg) were divided into 12 blocks based on day in milk and milk yield and randomly allocated to two dietary treatments: a basic diet with or without PBB replacing 20% of the concentrate mixture. The feeding trial lasted for 56 days; the first week allowed for adaptation to the diet. The milk composition was analyzed once a week. No significant difference in milk yield was observed between the two groups (23.5 vs 24.2 kg). A significant increase was found in milk fat content in the PBB group (p<0.05). Inclusion of PBB did not affect milk protein, lactose, total solids or solids-not-fat (p>0.05). These results indicated that PBB could be included in dairy cattle diets at a suitable level to replace concentrate mixture without any adverse effects on dairy performance.

Robust and tunable 16.375Gb/s dual-band optical OFDM transmissions over directly modulated VCSEL-based 200m OM2 MMFs.

Utilizing low-cost, 2.2GHz modulation bandwidth, uncooled and standalone directly modulated VCSEL (DM-VCSEL)-based real-time dual-band optical OFDM (OOFDM) transmitters, aggregated 16.375Gb/s transmissions of OOFDM signals having bandwidths approximately 3.8 times higher than the VCSEL manufacturer-specified modulation bandwidths, are experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, over 200m OM2 MMF links based on intensity modulation and direct detection. The aggregated signal transmission capacities of the aforementioned links vary by just 8% for various OM2 MMFs ranging from 100m to 500m, and by just 10% over a 1GHz passband carrier frequency detuning range. Such dual-band OOFDM adaptability-induced excellent performance robustness and large passband frequency tunability can significantly relax the requirements on VCSEL modulation bandwidth for achieving specific transmission performances for cost-sensitive application scenarios such as data centers.

Effects of prolonged anesthesia with dexmedetomidine, fentanyl, or remifentanil on the self-renewal of mouse embryonic stem cells.

Previous study has indicated that exposure to anesthesia in early development leads to neuro-apoptosis and is followed by long-term cognitive dysfunction. Given that larger numbers of pregnant women currently receive anesthesia during the first trimester, we wanted to mimic this process in vitro using mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) and to explore how different anesthetics affect the self-renewal of mESCs. In the present study, mESCs were exposed to dexmedetomidine, fentanyl, or remifentanil at clinical concentrations for 48 h. The mESCs were then analyzed for cell proliferation and apoptosis. Furthermore, we used flow cytometry to analyze the cell cycle and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction to detect the gene expression during the cell cycle as well as the relevant stemness markers. We found that prolonged anesthesia with dexmedetomidine or fentanyl significantly inhibited mESC proliferation, with fewer cell numbers as well as decreased expression of cyclin B and cyclin E mRNA compared to that in the control group; meanwhile, p21 and RB2 gene expression was increased. Additionally, increases or decreases in the proportion of cells in the G1 and S phases, respectively, were observed in the dexmedetomidine- and fentanyl-treated groups. These anesthetics also repressed the gene expression of mESC stemness makers such as Oct4 and Sox2. However, remifentanil seemed to have no significant influence on the self-renewal of mESCs. These results demonstrated that prolonged anesthesia with dexmedetomidine or fentanyl, but not remifentanil, inhibited mESC proliferation by blocking the G1 to S transition, and repressed the maintenance of mESC stemness.

Self-seeding-based 10Gb/s over 25km optical OFDM transmissions utilizing face-to-face dual-RSOAs at gain saturation.

Self-seeded passive optical networks (PONs) are currently attracting extensive research interest. In this paper, a novel self-seeded PON transmitter is, for the first time, proposed and experimentally demonstrated, which incorporates two face-to-face-positioned reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers (RSOAs) operating at their gain saturation regions: one RSOA directly driven by an upstream electrical signal and the other RSOA biased at a fixed current. Detailed experimental explorations are undertaken of the dynamic performance characteristics of the proposed transmitter. It is shown that, in comparison with previously reported self-seeded transmitters each employing a reflective mirror and a single electrical signal-driven RSOA, the proposed transmitter has a number of salient advantages including, considerably narrowed optical signal spectra, up to 16dB reduction in RINs of intensity-modulated optical signals, and residual intensity modulation crosstalk suppression as high as 10.7dB. The aforementioned features enable experimental demonstrations of real-time self-seeded 10Gb/s optical OFDM (OOFDM) transmitters. In particular, by making use of two low-cost RSOAs having their 3-dB modulation bandwidths as small as 1.125GHz, 10Gb/s over 25km adaptive OOFDM transmissions with power penalties of 0.6dB are experimentally achieved in the simple self-seeded IMDD PON systems.

Robust real-time 15.125 Gb/s adaptive optical OFDM transmissions over 100 m OM2 MMFs utilizing directly modulated VCSELs subject to optical injection locking.

Optical injection locking (OIL) is an effective approach for significantly enhancing the modulation bandwidths of VCSELs. The frequency responses of OIL-VCSELs are, however, very sensitive to the applied OIL conditions. This brings about strong difficulties in practically utilizing the OIL-enhanced modulation bandwidths to achieve highly robust transmission performances of directly modulated OIL-VCSEL-based multi-mode fibre (MMF) links for cost-sensitive application scenarios such as data-centers. In this paper, directly modulated OIL-VCSEL-based real-time dual-band optical OFDM (OOFDM) transceivers with tunability in both the electrical and optical domains are experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, utilizing DACs/ADCs at sampling speeds as low as 4GS/s. The transceivers can support 15.125 Gb/s adaptive OOFDM transmissions over 100 m OM2 MMF links based on intensity modulation and direct detection. More importantly, the adaptability and tunability of the demonstrated transceivers enable the achievement of excellent robustness of the aggregated OOFDM transmission capacity to OIL condition variations. It is shown that, over a large diversity of OIL conditions that give rise to significantly different system frequency responses, the aggregated OOFDM transmission capacity only vary by <11% in the aforementioned transmission link.

Free radical scavenging activity of Lactobacillus fermentum in vitro and its antioxidative effect on growing-finishing pigs.

AIMS: To evaluate the free radical-scavenging capacity of Lactobacillus fermentum and its effects on antioxidant enzyme levels in finishing pigs. METHODS AND RESULTS: The free radical-scavenging activity of Lact. fermentum was analysed in vitro. The tested Lactobacillus showed a high scavenging ability against DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl), superoxide and hydroxyl radicals which was dose dependent. Subsequently, 108 crossbred pigs weighing 20.67 BW, were allotted to dietary treatments including a basal diet or the basal diet supplemented with either aureomycin or 10.2 x 10(7) Lact. fermentum CFU g(-1) diet. Supplementation of Lact. fermentum increased total antioxidant capacity (P < 0.01) in serum from 50 kg pigs, while serum superoxide dismutase (P = 0.01) and glutathione peroxidase (P < 0.01) increased, and malondialdehyde levels decreased (P < 0.01) in 90 kg pigs. Hepatic catalase (P = 0.04), muscle superoxide dismutase (P < 0.01) and copper-zinc-superoxide dismutase were enhanced (P = 0.01), whereas malondialdehyde levels were reduced (P = 0.05) by Lact. fermentum. CONCLUSIONS: The free radical-scavenging capacity of Lact. fermentum was dose dependent and its supplementation improved the antioxidant status of pigs. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Lactobacillus fermentum could be used to alleviate oxidative stress and increase pig performance and improve pork quality.