African swine fever virus I73R is a critical virulence-related gene: A potential target for attenuation.

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a large, double-stranded DNA virus that causes a fatal disease in pigs, posing a threat to the global pig industry. Whereas some ASFV proteins have been found to play important roles in ASFV-host interaction, the functional roles of many proteins are still largely unknown. In this study, we identified I73R, an early viral gene in the replication cycle of ASFV, as a key virulence factor. Our findings demonstrate that pI73R suppresses the host innate immune response by broadly inhibiting the synthesis of host proteins, including antiviral proteins. Crystallization and structural characterization results suggest that pI73R is a nucleic-acid-binding protein containing a Zα domain. It localizes in the nucleus and inhibits host protein synthesis by suppressing the nuclear export of cellular messenger RNA (mRNAs). While pI73R promotes viral replication, the deletion of the gene showed that it is a nonessential gene for virus replication. In vivo safety and immunogenicity evaluation results demonstrate that the deletion mutant ASFV-GZΔI73R is completely nonpathogenic and provides effective protection to pigs against wild-type ASFV. These results reveal I73R as a virulence-related gene critical for ASFV pathogenesis and suggest that it is a potential target for virus attenuation. Accordingly, the deletion mutant ASFV-GZΔI73R can be a potent live-attenuated vaccine candidate.

Excessive dietary L-tryptophan regulated amino acids metabolism and serotonin signaling in the colon of weaning piglets with acetate-induced gut inflammation.

L-Tryptophan (Trp) was shown to improve the gut barrier and growth of weaning piglets. However, whether excessive dietary Trp regulates amino acids (AAs) metabolism and gut serotonin (5-HT) homeostasis in piglets with gut inflammation is not clear yet. We hypothesize that excessive dietary Trp alleviates acetate-induced colonic inflammation and gut barrier damage in weaning piglets partially through the regulation of colonic AAs metabolism and 5-HT signaling. Fifty-four 21-day-old weaned piglets were divided into six groups: control, acetate, 0.2%Trp, 0.2%Trp + acetate, 0.4% Trp, and 0.4%Trp + acetate. Piglets were fed a basal diet supplemented with 0%, 0.2%, or 0.4% of Trp throughout the 12-day experiment. During days 0-7, all piglets had free access to diet and drinking water. On day 8, piglets were intrarectal administered with 10 mL of 10% acetate saline solution or 0.9% saline. During days 8-12, all piglets were pair-fed the same amount of feed per kg bodyweight. Results showed that excessive dietary Trp alleviated acetate-induced reductions in daily weight gain and increase in feed/gain ratio. Trp restored (P < 0.05) acetate-induced increase in concentrations of free aspartate, glutamate/glutamine, glycine, 5-HT, and 3-methylindole in the colon, downregulation of zonula occludens-1 and 5-HT reuptake transporter (SERT) expression and upregulation of IL-1ß, IL-8, TLR4, and 5-HT receptor 2A (HTR2A) expression, and the increase in ratios of p-STAT3/ STAT3 and p-p65/p65 in the colon. The above findings suggested that excessive dietary Trp in the proper amount regulated colonic AAs metabolism, 5-HT homeostasis, and signaling that may contribute as important regulators of gut inflammation during the weaning transition.

Characterization of the metabolic fate of sinapic acid in rats.

Sinapic acid (SA) is ubiquitously distributed in the plant kingdom as a free organic acid and more frequently as a biosynthetic pioneer for SA derivatives, e.g., SA esters. Broad biological and pharmacological activities have been disclosed for SA. Because of the metabolism lability property, metabolites instead of the parent compound should be the primary forms after oral treatment of SA, and those metabolites should also be rapidly observed from SA following administration of SA derivative. Hence, the metabolites might provide a primary contribution to the pharmacological properties of SA; however, the metabolite profile remains unclear. Here, our efforts were devoted to addressing this issue through deploying online energy-resolved mass spectrometry (ER-MS) to accomplish isomer identification which is the key issue hindering metabolite identification, notably those conjugated metabolites. After recording breakdown graphs of concerned fragment ions with online ER-MS, the positive correlations between optimal collision energy (OCE) and bond dissociation energy (BDE) were applied to assign candidate structures to isomeric signals. Moreover, in vitro metabolism with liver cellular subfractions, UV-triggered cis-/trans-configuration transformation, and wet-chemistry hydrogenation were carried out to justify the structures. As a result, sixteen metabolites (M1-M16) were found and confirmatively identified in rat plasma and urine following SA administration, and sulfation, glucuronidation, demethylation, reduction, and dihydroxylation served as the primary metabolic channels. Noteworthily, greater distribution occurred for sulfation and glucuronidation products while inferior distributions were observed for phase I metabolites, and the half-life (T1/2) of most metabolites was greater than that of SA. This study provides a comprehensive insight into the metabolic fate of SA. More importantly, the fortification of online ER-MS and quantum structure calculation to the conventional LC-MS program is eligible to achieve unambiguous identification of isomeric metabolites.

Comparing the efficacy of thyroglobulin and thyroglobulin/ thyroid-stimulating hormone ratio models in predicting a successful response to radioactive iodine therapy.

BACKGROUND: The thyroglobulin (Tg)/ thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) ratio has manifested to be a reliable marker for predicting prognosis in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of Tg and Tg/TSH ratio models in predicting a successful response to radioactive iodine therapy. METHODS: One thousand six hundred forty-two DTC patients receiving 131I radiotherapy were finally enrolled in this retrospective study. The patients were divided into a training set (n = 973) and a validation set (n = 669) by the patient consultation time (July 2019). A receiver-operating characteristic curve was constructed for Tg and the Tg/TSH ratio to establish their cutoffs. Then, the variables were screened by univariate logistic regression and incorporated into logistic prediction models by stepwise regression, where Tg/TSH was excluded from model 1 and Tg was excluded from model 2. RESULTS: In 1642 enrolled DTC patients, the first 131I radiotherapy had an excellent response in 855 patients. The cut-offs for Tg level and Tg/TSH ratio were 3.40 ng/ mL [area under the curve (AUC): 0.789] and 36.03 ng/mIU (AUC: 0.788), respectively. In addition, the AUC of the model including Tg was higher than that of the model including Tg/TSH in both the training set (0.837 vs 0.833) and the testing set (0.854 vs 0.836). CONCLUSIONS: Both Tg and Tg/TSH ratios could be considered predictors of the effects of the first 131I ablative therapy. However, the prediction model including Tg performed better than the model including Tg/TSH.

Utilization and Effectiveness of a Message-Based Tobacco Cessation Program (mCessation) in the Chinese General Population: Longitudinal, Real-world Study.

BACKGROUND: Randomized controlled trials on text message interventions for smoking cessation have shown they are effective and recommended for tobacco control. However, the effectiveness in real-world settings is largely unknown, especially in low- and middle-income countries. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to provide real-world evidence about the utilization and effectiveness of a message-based tobacco cessation program (mCessation) in China. METHODS: From May 2021 to September 2022, 16,746 people from the general population participated in the mCessation program provided by the World Health Organization. All participants received text messages on smoking cessation via instant messaging for 6 months, and they were also required to report smoking status. We randomly selected 2500 participants and interviewed them by telephone to determine the 7-day point prevalence abstinence rate at 6 months. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze population characteristics and abstinence rate. Logistic regression analysis was performed to explore risk factors for the abstinence rate. RESULTS: Among the 2500 participants, the mean age was 35 years, and most (2407/2500, 96.20%) were male. The prevalence of tobacco dependence and light degree of tobacco dependence were 85.70% (2142/2500) and 89.10% (2228/2500), respectively. For respondents (953/2500, 38.10%), the 7-day point prevalence abstinence rate at 6 months was 21.90% (209/953). Participants older than 40 years or with tobacco dependence had significantly higher abstinence rates than those who were younger than 30 years old (odds ratio [OR] 1.77, 95% CI 1.06-3.29) or without dependence (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.08-2.51), respectively. However, married people or heavily dependent smokers tended to find it more difficult to successfully quit smoking compared with unmarried people (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.34-0.93) or lightly dependent smokers (OR 0.16, 95% CI 0.02-0.98), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In a real-world setting, mCessation China was generally acceptable to men and lightly dependent smokers, and it could help 1 in 5 smokers aged 18 years to 67 years quit smoking. However, strategies to increase awareness of young and married adults may improve implementation and abstinence rates.

Relationship of Intraoperative SpO2 and ETCO2 Values with Postoperative Hypoxemia in Elderly Patients after Non-Cardiac Surgery.

Elderly patients are at higher risk of postoperative hypoxemia due to their decreased respiratory function. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of intraoperative oxygen saturation (SpO2) and end-expiratory carbon dioxide (ETCO2) values with postoperative hypoxemia in elderly patients. The inclusion criteria were: 1) patients aged≥75 years; 2) underwent general anesthesia in non-cardiac surgery; 3) operative time longer than two hours; and 4) admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) following surgery performed between January and December 2019. Intraoperative SpO2 and ETCO2 values were collected every minute for the first two hours during surgery. The 253 patients were divided into two groups: SpO2≥92% and SpO2<92%. The time-weighted averages of intraoperative SpO2 and ETCO2 were used to compare differences between the two groups. The incidence of postoperative hypoxemia was 22.5%. For similar ventilator settings, patients with postoperative hypoxemia had lower intraoperative SpO2 and higher ETCO2 values. Sex, ASA classification, and intraoperative SpO2 were independent risk factors for postoperative hypoxemia. In conclusion, postoperative SpO2<92% was a frequent occurrence (> 20%) in elderly patients who underwent major non-cardiac surgery. Postoperative hypoxemia was associated with low intraoperative SpO2 and relatively higher ETCO2.

[Rapid flavonoid-focused sub-chemome characterization of Draconis Sanguis using UPLC-Q-TOF-MS in combination with molecular weight imprinting and mass defect filtering].

Draconis Sanguis is a precious Chinese medicinal material for activating blood and resolving stasis, and its effective components are flavonoids. However, the structural diversity of flavonoids in Draconis Sanguis brings great challenges to the in-depth chara-cterization of its chemical composition profiles. To clarify the substance basis of Draconis Sanguis, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) was used in this study to acquire MS data of Draconis Sanguis. The molecular weight imprinting(MWI) and mass defect filtering(MDF) were developed for rapid screening of flavonoids in Draconis Sanguis. Full-scan MS and MS~2 were recorded within the mass range m/z 100-1 000 in positive ion mode. Accor-ding to previous literature, MWI was employed to hunt for reported flavonoids in Draconis Sanguis, and the mass tolerance range of [M+H]~+ was set as ±10×10~(-3). A five-point MDF screening frame was further constructed to narrow the screening range of flavonoids from Draconis Sanguis. Combined with diagnostic fragment ions(DFI) and neutral loss(NL) as well as mass fragmentation pathways, 70 compounds were preliminarily identified from the extract of Draconis Sanguis, including 5 flavan oxidized congeners, 12 flavans, 1 dihydrochalcones, 49 flavonoids dimers, 1 flavonoids trimer and 2 flavonoid derivatives. This study clarified the chemical composition of flavonoids in Draconis Sanguis. Moreover, it also showed that high-resolution MS combined with data post-processing methods such as MWI and MDF could achieve rapid characterization of the chemical composition in Chinese medicinal materials.

[Effective components and mechanism of Qijiao Shengbai Capsules based on fingerprinting and network pharmacology].

Qijiao Shengbai Capsules(QJ) can invigorate Qi and replenish the blood, which is commonly used clinically for adjuvant treatment of cancer and leukopenia due to chemoradiotherapy. However, the pharmacological mechanism of QJ is still unclear. This work aims to combine the high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) fingerprints and network pharmacology to clarify the effective components and mechanism of QJ. The HPLC fingerprints of 20 batches of QJ were established. The similarity evaluation among 20 batches of QJ was performed by using Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of Traditional Chinese Medicine(version 2012), resulting in a similarity greater than 0.97. Eleven common peaks were identified by reference standard, including ferulic acid, calycosin 7-O-glucoside, ononin, calycosin, epimedin A, epimedin B, epimedin C, icariin, formononetin, baohuoside I, and Z-ligustilide. The "component-target-pathway" network was constructed by network pharmacy, and 10 key components in QJ were identified, such as ferulic acid, calycosin 7-O-glucoside, ononin, and calycosin. The components were involved in the phosphoinositide 3 kinase-protein kinase B(PI3K-Akt), mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK), and other signaling pathways by regulating potential targets, including EGFR, RAF1, PIK3R1, and RELA, to auxiliarily treat tumors, cancers, and leukopenia. The molecular docking conducted on the AutoDock Vina platform confirmed the high binding activity of 10 key effective components with core targets, with the binding energy less than-5 kcal·mol~(-1). In this study, the effective components and mechanism of QJ have been preliminary revealed based on HPLC fingerprint and network pharmacology, which provided a basis for quality control of QJ and a refe-rence for further study on its mechanism.

Tryptophan regulates bile and nitrogen metabolism in two pig gut lactobacilli species in vitro based on metabolomics study.

Research has demonstrated that tryptophan (Trp) regulated the composition and metabolism of the gut microbiota. However, the detailed mode of action of Trp on the metabolism of intestinal commensal lactobacilli has not been well characterized. This study aimed to compare the effects of Trp concentration (0.2, 0.4, 0.6 mmol/L) in the media on the metabolism of Lactobacillus amylovorus and Limosilactobacillus mucosae isolated from the small intestine of piglets in vitro by high-performance liquid chromatography and metabolomics study. Results showed that increased Trp concentration increased (P < 0.05) net utilization of lysine, methionine, tryptophan, asparagine/aspartate, glutamine/glutamate, however, increased net production of glycine and taurine in Lac. amylovorus. In contrast, increased Trp concentration decreased (P < 0.05) net utilization of leucine, phenylalanine, and serine and increased (P < 0.05) net utilization of arginine and net production of ornithine and glycine in Lim. mucosae. Targeted metabolomics analysis showed that increased Trp concentration promoted (P < 0.05) the production of indole-3-lactic acid and 3-indoleacetic acid in the two lactobacilli strains. Increased concentration of Trp increased (P < 0.01) glycochenodeoxycholic acid metabolism in Lim. mucosae and glycocholic acid and taurocholic acid metabolism in Lac. amylovorus. Untargeted metabolomics analysis showed that metabolic pathways related to phenylalanine and tryptophan metabolism, and nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism were regulated by Trp in Lim. mucosae. These findings will help develop new biomarkers and dietary strategies to maintain the functionality of the gut microbiota aiming at improving the nutrition and health of both humans and animals.

Molecular characterization of a novel subgenotype of lumpy skin disease virus strain isolated in Inner Mongolia of China.

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of Lumpy skin disease (LSD) in cattle caused by LSD virus (LSDV) was first reported in August 2019 in China. Since then, several LSD outbreaks have been reported in seven different provinces of China. Until now, several Lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) strains from China have been reported and sequenced including LSDV/Xinjiang/2019 (MN598005.1), China/GD01/2020 (MW355944.1), and LSDV/Hongkong/2021 (MW732649.1). In October 2020, more than 1,700 cattle imported from Chile arrived in Xilingol, Inner Mongolia, and were diagnosed with LSD. Currently, limited data on the origin of the virus is available. METHODS: Nucleotide sequences of the ORF11, ORF36, ORF74, ORF117, ORF126 genes and the complete genome of LSDV strains and isolates were downloaded from NCBI database. MEGA7.0 was used to perform phylogenetic analysis with Neighbor-Joining (NJ). DNASTAR software is used to analyze homologous comparison analysis with related genes of reference strains included in Genbank. RESULTS: Compared with other strains isolated from China, the results of full genome sequence analysis showed the LSDV/NMG/2020 strain belonged to the recombinant strains. The LSDV/NMG/2020 strain is different from the current LSDV field isolates in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the newly emerged LSDV Russia variants. Based on the identities of P32, RPO30, EEV, GPCR and LSDV117 genes (99.8%, 99%, 99.8%, 99% and 98.7%), the sub-cluster recombinant containing LSDV/NMG/2020 strain is phylogenetically closer to the Russia strain (Saratov/2017). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we reported a new isolated LSDV strain named LSDV/NMG/2020. The results of genomic characterization and phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that the LSDV/NMG/2020 isolate was a vaccine-like recombinant strain.

Cortical Plasticity Mechanism and Efficacy Prediction of Repeated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the Treatment of Depression with Continuous Short Bursts of Rapid Pulse Stimulation (cTBS).

In order to further explore the therapeutic effects of high-frequency and low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on depression and cognitive function in the elderly, this paper proposed a study on cortical plasticity mechanism and efficacy prediction of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation based on continuous short pulse fast pulse stimulation (CTBS). This paper selected 92 patients with depression in a hospital from January to December 2020 as the research object and divided them into control group, low-frequency group, and high-frequency group, 31 cases, 29 cases, and 32 cases, respectively. The continuous short pulse rapid pulse stimulation (CTBS) mode was used to explore the effect of brain network on patients' emotional processing. After clinical treatment contrast, there was no significant difference in HAMD-24 scores and RBANS scores before treatment (P > 0.05), and there was a significant negative correlation between factors of cognitive impairment in patients and RBANS scores (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05), so it was proved that the repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS) could be used as an effective treatment for depression.

A validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of l-hyoscyamine in human plasma: Application in a clinical study.

Atropine is a racemic mixture of d- and l-hyoscyamine, but only l-hyoscyamine is the effective ingredient. In this study, a new, sensitive, stable, and selective LC/MS assay was developed for the determination of l-hyoscyamine and applied to a clinical study. The parent-product (m/z) transition pair of l-hyoscyamine was 290.1 → 124.1. Chromatographic separations were performed using a chiral MZ column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5.0 µm) by a stepwise gradient elution mode with n-hexane, isopropanol, and diethylamine as mobile phases. l-Hyoscyamine in human plasma was extracted by liquid-liquid extraction. This assay displayed a good linearity over a concentration range of 20.0-400 pg/mL for l-hyoscyamine. The accuracy of the validation assay for l-hyoscyamine ranged from -2.7% to 4.5%, and the precision was within 6.3% coefficient of variation. l-Hyoscyamine in human plasma remained stable at different storage conditions. The method has been successfully applied to plasma samples obtained from a safety study in humans.

Correlation between Mean Arterial Pressure and Regional Cerebral Oxygen Saturation on Cardiopulmonary Bypass in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery.

Some pediatric cardiac patients might experience low regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2) during surgery. We investigated whether a pediatric patient's mean arterial pressure (MAP) can affect the rSO2 value during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). We retrospectively analyzed the cases of the pediatric patients who underwentcardiac surgery at our hospital (Jan. -Dec. 2019; n=141). At each MAP stage, we constructed line charts through the mean of the rSO2 values corresponding to each MAP and then calculated the correlation coefficients. We next divided the patients into age subgroups (neonates, infants, children) and into cyanotic congenital heart disease (CHD) and acyanotic CHD groups and analyzed these groups in the same way. The analyses of all 141 patients revealed that during CPB the rSO2 value increased with an increase in MAP (r=0.1626). There was a correlation between rSO2 and MAP in the children (r=0.2720) but not in the neonates (r=0.06626) or infants (r=0.05260). Cyanotic CHD or acyanotic CHD did not have a significant effect on the rSO2/MAP correlation. Our analysis demonstrated different patterns of a correlation between MAP and rSO2 in pediatric cardiac surgery patients, depending on age. MAP was positively correlated with rSO2 typically in children but not in neonate or infant patients.

The effectiveness of emergency knowledge training of pediatric medical workers based on the knowledge, skills, simulation model: a quasi-experimental study.

BACKGROUND: Basic life support and advanced life support are essential emergency management skills for medical workers, and pediatricians' first aid skills can be improved through emergency knowledge training. METHODS: A controlled pre-post-intervention quasi-experimental study design was used. The study setting was a tertiary children's hospital in China. In November 2019, a KSS model of emergency knowledge learning was developed and tested, and pediatric medical workers (N = 1448) were trained with it. The outcome measures were based on an emergency knowledge questionnaire devised by the authors that measured the effectiveness of training by comparing the pre-and post-training scores of the particpants. RESULTS: Pediatric medical workers scored significantly higher in total emergency knowledge after the training course than before [75.00 (62.50, 85.00) versus 100.00 (95.00, 100.00); P = 0.00]. Basic life support and advanced life support knowledge score significantly improved after training. Teamwork scores were significantly higher after the training than before [5.00 (5.00, 10.00) versus 10.00 (10.00, 10.00); P = 0.00]. Scores were significantly higher after the training (P < 0.001), especially for case analysis questions (P = 0.00). The attitudes of the medical workers towards the training were all positive and affirmative. CONCLUSION: The KSS model was shown to be effective in improving the emergency knowledge of pediatric medical workers. Future research will be to explore the effectiveness of the model with different participants and at other hospitals or other institutions such as schools, encouraging more people to participate in and evaluate the model to promote its optimization. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Hunan Children's Hospital, HCHLL-2018-03.

Diagnosis, treatment and genetic analysis of 11ß -hydroxylase deficiency caused by CYP11B gene mutation.

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is an autosomal recessive hereditary disease, and the 11ß- hydroxylase deficiency is the second most common syndrome in different types of CAH. The occurrence of 11ß- hydroxylase deficiency is related to the mutation of CYP11B gene on human autosome 8. In this report, we detected the gene mutation sites of a 14-year-old patient with 11ß-hydroxylase deficiency by whole exon sequencing (WES), verified the suspected mutation by Sanger sequencing, and analyzed its characteristics. Gene sequencing revealed that homozygous missense mutation of c.1226C>T appeared on the 8th exon of CYP11B1 gene, which resulted in the mutation of the encoding protein Ser409 to phenylalanine (p. Ser409Phe), affecting the binding of heme and enzyme and resulting in the loss of CYP11B1 enzyme activity and a series of clinical symptoms. This mutation has not been reported at home and abroad. This case enriches the variation spectrum of CYP11B1 gene and provides clinical data and genetic resources for further research on the pathogenesis of 11ß-hydroxylase deficiency.

Integrated Strategy Drives Direct Infusion-Tandem Mass Spectrometry as an Eligible Tool for Shotgun Pseudo-Targeted Metabolomics of Medicinal Plants.

Direct infusion (DI) has an extraordinary high-throughput advantage. Pseudo-targeted metabolomics (PTM) has been demonstrated integrating the merits of both nontargeted and targeted metabolomics. Herein, we attempted to implant DI into the PTM concept to configure a new strategy allowing shotgun PTM. First, a versatile MS/MSALL program was applied to acquire MS1 and MS2 spectra. Second, online energy-resolved MS (online ER-MS) was conducted to obtain breakdown graph as well as optimal collision energy (OCE) for each ion transition paired by precursor ion and the dominant product ion. Third, selected reaction monitoring (SRM) was responsible to output a quantitative dataset with a constant length. Moreover, breakdown graph also served as orthogonal structural evidence when matching MS2 spectra between DI-MS/MS and an in-house library to strengthen structural annotation confidence. To evaluate and illustrate the utility of the new strategy toward shotgun PTM of medicinal plants, in-depth chemome comparison was conducted within three Cistanche species, all of which are edible medicinal plants and playing essential roles for turning the deserts into the oases. A total of 185 variables participated in the quantitative measurement program. Each diagnostic ion pair was featured with an OCE. Significant species differences occurred, and echinacoside, acteoside, isoacteoside, 2'-acetyl-acteoside, tubuloside B, mannitol, sucrose, betaine, malate, as well as choline were found to be confirmative chemical markers offering primary contributions toward the species discrimination. After cross-validation with LC-MS/MS, DI-MS/MS fortified with the new strategy is an eligible tool for shotgun PTM, beyond Cistanche plants.

[Rapid chemome profiling of Cistanche salsa using DI-MS/MS~(ALL)].

The current study aims to rapidly and comprehensively profile the chemical composition of Cistanche salsa using direct infusion coupled with MS/MS~(ALL)(DI-MS/MS~(ALL)). The C. salsa extract was directly imported into electrospray ionization(ESI) source of quadrupole time-of-flight(Q-TOF) mass spectrometer with an infusion pump at a flow rate of 10 µL·min~(-1). Acquisition program was applied under negative ionization polarity to collect one MS~1 spectrum(m/z 50-1 200), followed by 1 150 MS~2 spectra with precursor isolation window(m/z 1) amongst mass range m/z 50-1 200. After each MS~2 spectrum was matched to its precursor ion, putative identification was conducted through matching mass spectral data with literature and database. A total of 31 components were identified from C. salsa, including 9 phenylethanoid glycosides, 2 iridoids, 4 saccharides, 9 organic acids, and 7 other compounds, similar to those from C. tubulosa and C. deserticola. In conclusion, DI-MS/MS~(ALL), a facile and reliable analytical tool, can be employed for qualitative analysis of chemical constituents in C. salsa. The research offers a promising strategy to achieve rapid chemome profiling of herbal medicine and provides an alternative source of Cistanches Herba.

Direct Infusion-Three-Dimensional-Mass Spectrometry Enables Rapid Chemome Comparison among Herbal Medicines.

Direct infusion-mass spectrometry (DI-MS) currently serves as an alternative analytical tool for metabolomics owing to the unique high-throughput advantage. Except the inherent shortcoming at a significant matrix effect, there are two other primary technical obstacles dampening its wide applications, such as data alignment and structural annotation. To address these two obstacles, a novel strategy termed as DI-three-dimensional-MS (DI-3D-MS) was proposed here, and chemome comparison among several confusing herbal medicines (HMs) belonging to the Umbelliferae family was conducted as a proof-of-concept. Each test sample was directly infused into Qtrap-MS. In the first dimension, stepwise multiple ion monitoring (MIM) program was implemented to universally acquire the quantitative information on all HMs and to generate aligned data files. In the second dimension, MS2 spectra were universally recorded by enhanced product ion (EPI) experiments that were triggered by MIM via an information-dependent acquisition algorithm. In the third dimension, online energy-resolved MS (ER-MS) was programmed to yield breakdown graphs for all MIM items. Moreover, a data library was built to aid structural identification by involving MS2 and CE50 features that were obtained by well-developed LC-MS methods. Qualitative and quantitative potentials of DI-3D-MS were validated toward metabolomics study. Significant species differences were observed, and all materials were grouped into three clusters. After matching MS2 spectra and breakdown graphs between DI-3D-MS and those in the data library, coumarins ubiquitously existed in each HM, and angular-type pyranocoumarins, linear-type pyranocoumarins, angular-type furanocoumarins, along with ligustilide derivatives offered primary contributions for the classification pattern. Above all, DI-3D-MS is an eligible choice for rapid metabolomics of HMs and other matrices as well.

Compliance with aspirin in paediatric CHD post-percutaneous transcatheter occlusion: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Predictors of compliance with aspirin in children following cardiac catheterisation have not been identified. The aim of this study is to identify the caregivers' knowledge, compliance with aspirin medication, and predictors of compliance with aspirin in children with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) post-percutaneous transcatheter occlusion. METHODS: A cross-sectional explorative design was adopted using a self-administered questionnaire and conducted between May 2017 and May 2018. Recruited were 220 caregivers of children with CHD post-percutaneous transcatheter occlusion. Questionnaires included child and caregivers' characteristics, a self-designed and tested knowledge about aspirin scale (scoring scale 0-2), and the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (scoring scale 0-8). Data were analysed using multivariate binary logistic regression analysis to identify predictors of compliance with aspirin. RESULTS: Of the 220 eligible children and caregivers, 210 (95.5%) responded and 209 surveys were included in the analysis. The mean score of knowledge was 7.25 (standard deviation 2.27). The mean score of compliance was 5.65 (standard deviation 1.36). Child's age, length of aspirin use, health insurance policies, relationship to child, monthly income, and knowledge about aspirin of caregivers were independent predictors of compliance with aspirin (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Caregivers of children with CHD had an adequate level of knowledge about aspirin. Compliance to aspirin medication reported by caregivers was low. Predictors of medium to high compliance with aspirin were related to the child's age and socio-economic reasons. Further studies are needed to identify effective strategies to improve knowledge, compliance with medication, and long-term outcomes of children with CHD.

ECCM Schemes against Deception Jamming Using OFDM Radar with Low Global PAPR.

In this paper, a type of effective electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) technique for suppressing the high-power deception jamming using an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) radar is proposed. Concerning the velocity deception jamming, the initial phases of the pulses transmitted in a coherent processing interval (CPI) are designed to minimize the jamming power within a specific range, forming a notch around the jamming in the Doppler spectrum. For the purpose of suppressing the range deception jamming and the joint range-velocity deception jamming, the phase codes of the subcarriers belonging to the OFDM pulses are optimized to minimize the jamming power, distributing some specific bands in the range and the range-velocity domain, respectively. According to Parseval's theorem, the phase encoding, acting as the coding manner of the OFDM subcarriers can ensure that the energy of each OFDM symbol stays the same. It is worth noticing that the phase codes of the OFDM subcarriers can influence the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). Thus, an optimization problem is formulated to optimize the phase codes of the subcarriers under the constraint of global PAPR, which can regulate the PAPRs of multiple OFDM symbols at the same time. The proposed problem is non-convex; therefore, it is a huge challenge to tackle. Then we present a method named by the phase-only alternating direction method multipliers (POADMM) to solve the aforementioned optimization problem. Some necessary simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed radar signaling strategy.