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Background: Exploratory studies have shown that remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) has the potential to lower blood pressure (BP). We investigated whether chronic RIC reduces BP for hypertension. Methods: This is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, parallel-controlled trial. Patients with an office BP of 130/80 to 160/100 mm Hg and a 24-hour average BP ≥125/75 mm Hg not on antihypertensive medications were recruited. After a 1-week compliance screening phase, they were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive RIC or sham RIC twice daily for 4 weeks. The primary efficacy outcome was the change in 24-hour average systolic BP from baseline to 4 weeks. Safety events were assessed over the study period. Results: Ninety-five participants were randomly allocated to the RIC (n=49) and sham RIC (n=46) groups. In the intention-to-treat analysis, the reduction in 24-hour average systolic BP was greater in the RIC group than the sham RIC group (−4.6±9.5 versus −0.9±6.8 mm Hg; baseline-adjusted between-group mean difference: −3.6 mm Hg [95% CI, −6.9 to −0.3 mm Hg]; adjusted P =0.035). The per-protocol analysis showed that 24-hour average systolic BP reduced −5.9±8.6 mm Hg in the RIC group and −0.7±6.7 mm Hg in the sham RIC group (baseline-adjusted between-group mean difference: −5.2 mm Hg [95% CI, −8.5 to −1.9 mm Hg]; adjusted P =0.002). No major adverse events were reported in both groups. Conclusions: RIC is safe in patients with mild hypertension and may lower BP in the absence of antihypertensive medications. However, the effects of RIC on clinical outcomes in these patients require further investigation. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov ; Unique identifier: NCT04915313.

In this work, peptides were extracted from Silver carp (SC) scales via protease hydrolysis and separated using two membranes (M1 and M2). The results revealed that the water: SC scale ratios of 50.6 mL/g, alkaline protease 1 (AP1) dose of 2313.6 U/mL, and pH of 8.14 were the optimal hydrolysis conditions, and the peptide yield reached 88.77 ± 0.32%. The optimal conditions of peptide separation were clarified: the operating pressure of the M1 (M2) was 0.25 (0.4) MPa, the liquid temperature was 30°C, and the operation time was 65 min. In this case, the permeability of the M1 (M2) reached 91.73 ± 96% (79.83 ± 7.23%), and the average molecular weight of the peptides was 758 Da (576 Da). Compared with M1 peptides, M2 peptides contained more acidic and aromatic amino acids exhibiting free-radical scavenging and tyrosinase inhibition properties. It might provide a way to utilize SC scales as a promising material to produce bioactive peptides.

Admittance control of the robot is an important method to improve human–robot collaborative performance. However, it displays poor matching between admittance parameters and human–robot collaborative motion. This results in poor motion performance when the robot interacts with the changeable environment (human). Therefore, to improve the performance of human–robot collaboration, the human-like variable admittance parameter regulator (HVAPR) based on the change rate of interaction force is proposed by studying the human arm’s static and dynamic admittance parameters in human–human collaborative motion. HVAPR can generate admittance parameters matching with human collaborative motion. To test the performance of the proposed HVAPR, the human–robot collaborative motion experiment based on HVAPR is designed and compared with the variable admittance parameter regulator (VAPR). The satisfaction, recognition ratio, and recognition confidence of the two admittance parameter regulators are statistically analyzed via questionnaire. Simultaneously, the trajectory and interaction force of the robot are analyzed, and the performance of the human–robot collaborative motion is assessed and compared using the trajectory smoothness index and average energy index. The results show that HVAPR is superior to VAPR in human–robot collaborative satisfaction, robot trajectory smoothness, and average energy consumption.

Introduction: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-induced small intestinal damage is a serious and escalating clinical problem without effective treatment. Lafutidine (LAF) is a novel histamine H2 receptor antagonist with a mucosal protective action. This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of LAF on indomethacin (IND)-induced enteropathy in rats. Methods: Rats were treated with LAF for 10 days with concomitant IND treatment on the final 5 days. Changes in metabolism and hematological and biochemical parameters were measured, and intestinal damage was blindly scored. Intestinal mucosal tissue and luminal contents were collected for transcriptome and microbiota sequencing. Intestinal inflammation and barrier function were also evaluated. Results: LAF treatment prevented anorexia and weight loss in rats and ameliorated reductions in hemoglobin, hematocrit, total protein, and albumin levels. LAF reduced the severity of IND-induced intestinal damage including macroscopic and histopathological damage score. Transcriptome sequencing results indicated that LAF might have positive effects on intestinal inflammation and the intestinal mucosal barrier. Further research revealed that LAF decreased neutrophil infiltration, and IL-1β and TNF-α expression in intestinal tissue. Besides, the treatment increased mucus secretion, MUC2, Occludin, and ZO-1 expression, and decreased serum D-lactate levels. LAF treatment also ameliorates microbial dysbiosis in small intestine induced by IND and increased the abundance of Lactobacillus acidophilus. Conclusion: LAF may protect against NSAID enteropathy via enhancing the intestinal mucosal barrier, inhibiting inflammation, and regulating microbiota.

In patients with COVID-19-induced pneumonia, shear wave elasticity (SWE) was used to assess liver stiffness. This study included 48 cases of COVID-19-induced pneumonia and 48 cases of normal physical examination. Basic and clinical data, including aspartate aminotransferase (AST), were evaluated. Color ultrasonography was used to test the liver’s SWE. A biopsy of the liver was also performed. In patients with COVID-19-induced pneumonia, AST and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were higher than those in the control group. Liver SWE showed that liver stiffness is hard (8.745 ± 0.2104) compared with the control group (7.386 ± 0.1521) ( P

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV)-1 and PRRSV-2 have long been cocirculating in China. To date, all PRRSV-1 strains in China have been classified as subtype 1. We investigated the prevalence of PRRSV-1 in several areas of China from 2016 to 2022 and found that BJEU06-1-like strains comprised the main epidemic branch of PRRSV-1. Pathogenicity data for this subgroup are currently lacking. In this study, the Chinese BJEU06-1-like PRRSV-1 strain ZD-1 was isolated from primary alveolar macrophages (PAMs). ZD-1 has undergone no recombination and has a 5-aa discontinuous deletion in the Nsp2 protein, similar to other BJEU06-1-like strains; additionally, ZD-1 has a 26 aa C-terminal truncation in the GP3 gene. Pathogenicity studies revealed that ZD-1 causes obvious clinical symptoms: prolonged fever; reduced body weight; alveolar epithelial proliferation and moderate alveolar diaphragm widening in the lungs; diffuse lymphocytic hyperplasia in the lymph nodes; high levels of viremia in the serum; and elevated viral loads in the lungs, lymph nodes, and tonsils. These results suggested that the BJEU06-1-like PRRSV-1 strain ZD-1 is moderately pathogenic to piglets. This is the first study to evaluate the pathogenicity of the BJEU06-1-like branch in China, enriching the understanding of PRRSV-1 in China.

BACKGROUND: The limited number of hip prostheses users makes it less feasible to conduct amputee tests for prosthesis development in the clinic, which restricts the development efficiency of the intelligent prostheses. OBJECTIVE: This study proposes a hip disarticulation prostheses test system (HDPTS) to supplement the amputee tests for hip disarticulation prosthesis (HDP) evaluation, which would potentially facilitate the prosthesis evaluation safety and development efficiency. METHODS: The hip trajectory of an individual with normal gait was acquired and reproduced by calculating the corresponding movement joint angle of a manipulator. Then, an HDP was fit on an amputee and on the HDPTS respectively to obtain the hip and knee joint angles of the HDP during walking. Comparing the root mean square error (RMSE) of the expected and planned trajectory, the joint angles between the amputee test and HDPTS test, to verify the feasibility and accuracy of the HDPTS for prosthesis evaluation. RESULTS: The RMSE between the expected and planned trajectory value was less than 1.20 mm (< 0.19%). The RMSE of the joint angles between the amputee test and HDPTS test were 2.18∘ (1.8%) and 3.13∘ (5.92%) for hip and knee joint respectively. CONCLUSION: The HDPTS was found accurate in hip trajectory reproduction and feasible in gait simulation for the prosthesis evaluation, which could potentially supplement the amputee test for prosthesis design thus improving prosthesis test safety and development efficiency.