Search

Background: The differences in outcomes after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) between the sexes have not been concretely determined. This study aimed to evaluate the differences in epidemiology, outcomes, and risk factors between male and female patients with aSAH. Methods: We performed a multicenter, retrospective study of patients with aSAH from 2017 to 2020. We investigated the epidemiological differences between the two sexes. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to compare short-term outcomes between the sexes. Binary logarithmic regression was performed to investigate the odds ratio (OR) for dependent survival in patients of different sexes. Results: A total of 5,407 consecutive patients with aSAH were included in this study, and the female-to-male ratio was 1.8:1. The peak incidence of aSAH occurred in the 6th and 7th decades in males and females, respectively. There were more female patients with internal carotid artery or posterior communicating artery aneurysms (53.2%), and there were more male patients with anterior cerebral artery or anterior communicating artery aneurysms (43.2%). The incidence of multiple aneurysms was greater in female patients (21.5% vs. 14.2%, P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in outcomes before and after PSM at discharge. The dependent survival risk was related only to the clinical condition on admission in women. In addition, age > 50 years (OR 1.88, 95% confidence interval 1.17–3.02; P = 0.01) and hypertension (OR 1.81, 95% confidence interval 1.25–2.61; P = 0.002) were also risk factors for male patients. Conclusions: There were more female patients with aneurysms than male patients in this study. Most aneurysm locations were different between the two groups. There was no significant difference in discharge outcomes before and after PSM. The risk factors for dependent survival were different between female and male patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic cognitive impairment is a common complication in type 2 diabetes. Berberine (BBR) is an isoquinoline alkaloid that has been shown to have neuroprotective effects against diabetes. This study aimed to investigate the effect of BBR on the gray and white matter of the brain by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to explore the underlying mechanisms. The study used diabetic db/db mice and administered BBR (50 and 100 mg/kg) intragastrically for twelve weeks. Morris water maze was applied to examine cognitive function. T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) was performed to assess brain atrophy, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) combined with fiber tracking was conducted to monitor the structural integrity of the white matter, followed by histological immunostaining. Furthermore, the protein expressions of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/ protein kinase B (AKT)/ glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) were detected. The results revealed that BBR significantly improved the spatial learning and memory of the db/db mice. T2WI exhibited ameliorated brain atrophy in the BBR-treated db/db mice, as evidenced by reduced ventricular volume accompanied by increased hippocampal volumes. DTI combined with fiber tracking revealed that BBR increased FA, fiber density and length in the corpus callosum/external capsule of the db/db mice. These imaging findings were confirmed by histological immunostaining. Notably, BBR significantly enhanced the protein levels of phosphorylated AKT at Ser473 and GSK-3β at Ser9. Collectively, this study demonstrated that BBR significantly improved the cognitive function of the diabetic db/db mice through ameliorating brain atrophy and promoting white matter reorganization via AKT/GSK-3β pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The DOHaD theory suggests that adverse environmental factors in early life may lead to the development of metabolic diseases including diabetes and hypertension in adult offspring through epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation. Folic acid (FA) is an important methyl donor in vivo and participates in DNA replication and methylation. The preliminary experimental results of our group demonstrated that lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 50 µg/kg/d) exposure during pregnancy could lead to glucose metabolism disorders in male offspring, but not female offspring; however, the effect of folic acid supplementation on glucose metabolism disorders in male offspring induced by LPS exposure remains unclear. Therefore, in this study, pregnant mice were exposed to LPS on gestational day (GD) 15–17 and were given three doses of FA supplementation (2 mg/kg, 5 mg/kg, or 40 mg/kg) from mating to lactation to explore its effect on glucose metabolism in male offspring and the potential mechanism. This study confirmed that FA supplementation of 5 mg/kg in pregnant mice improved glucose metabolism in LPS-exposed offspring during pregnancy by regulating gene expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of lightweight, flexible, and stretchable energy storage systems is essential for state-of-the-art electronic devices. We propose a new and broad strategy to fabricate a stretchable and conductive GO/CNTs-TPU fiber electrode by direct wet spinning, from which a flexible fibrous supercapacitor is fabricated. The fibrous electrode exhibits a high strength of 11.68 MPa, high conductivity of 342 S/cm, and high specific capacitances (21.8 mF/cm, 36.45 F/cm3, and 95 F/g). The specific capacitance of the assembled all-solid-state hybrid fiber-shaped supercapacitor reaches 14.3 F/cm3. After 5000 charge-discharge cycles, 97% of the capacitance of the hybrid supercapacitor is maintained. These high-strength electrochemical electrode materials could be potential candidates for applications in practical and large-scale energy storage systems and textile clothes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To systematic review the effect of Chinese medicine (CM) on no or slow reflow after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in myocardial infarction (MI) patients. Methods: The PubMed, EMBASE databases, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese BioMedical Literature Database (CBM), Wanfang Knowledge Service Platform (Wanfang Database) and Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP) were searched up to December 2017. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which evaluated the effect of CM therapies on no or slow reflow after PCI in MI patients were included. The primary outcome was the effect of reperfusion. Secondary outcomes were left ventricular ejection fraction, incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events and adverse effect. Results: Ten RCTs covering 814 patients were included. Two studies revealed that the incidence of no or slow reflow was less in Shenmai Injection (参麦注射液) group than in the control group measured by thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) ⩽ 2 (risk ratio=0.55, 95% confidence interval 0.38 to 0.81, P=0.003, I2=37%). Two studies indicated that Salvianolate Injection showed no additional benefit on no or slow reflow measured by corrected TIMI frame count compared with the conventional treatment (mean difference −4.24, 95% confidence interval −13.03 to 4.54, P=0.34, I2=86%). In addition, Tongxinluo Capsules (通心络胶囊), Danhong Injection (丹红注射液) and Xuesaitong Injection (血塞通注射液) may have the potential to reduce no or slow reflow measured during or after PCI in individual studies. Conclusions: Current evidence from RCTs are not sufficient to evaluate the effect of CM adjuvant therapies on no or slow reflow after PCI for MI patients. The included studies are limited by small sample size and unclear baseline conditions. Further rigorously designed researches and verification studies with sufficient number of patients are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: Dissecting aneurysm; Child; Clip EN Dissecting aneurysm Child Clip 1427 1428 2 07/28/22 20220801 NES 220801 Chao Peng is the first author. In our case, there was thrombosis inside the aneurysm according to MRI and DSA. Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) showed middle cerebral artery (MCA) dilation (Fig. [Extracted from the article]

A thermal degradation study of chitosan in air atmosphere has been carried out in detail through Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, thermogravimetric (TG) analysis and differential thermal analysis (DTA) measurements. FTIR spectra reveal the variations of chemical structures of chitosan in the course of thermal degradation. The mass loss data were collected under the heating rates of 5-30 K min. Kinetic analysis of chitosan thermal degradation has been performed through isoconversional FWO, CR, MKN and Tang methods, and the calculated results are basically comparable for these four different methods. With the Arrhenius parameters obtained, the four methods have been attempted to reconstruct the temperature-dependent mass conversion curves and have resulted in generally acceptable results. The TG and DTA results suggest that two-stage thermal degradation processes may be better assumed. For more accurately describing the thermal degradation process of chitosan, the most probable reaction functions have thus been determined for these two stages, leading to greatly improved calculation performance over the entire conversion range. On the basis of the Arrhenius parameter values obtained, the changes in entropy, enthalpy and Gibbs free energy, and lifetime predictions have been estimated concerning the thermal degradation processes of chitosan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thermal features and decomposition kinetics of poly( l-lactide) (PLA) filled with β-zeolite have been studied through differential thermal analysis measurements and thermogravimetric analysis. The experimental data were collected under nitrogen atmosphere with the heating rates of 5-30 K min, and the thermal degradation of PLA/β-zeolite composites is observed to mainly occur in the temperature range of 550-675 K. The incorporation of β-zeolite has been found to make the onset thermal decomposition temperature of PLA obviously decrease. With the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa method, the activation energy E of the composites has been estimated and the β-zeolite composites have required higher E values for thermal decomposition reaction than pure PLA. The pre-exponential factor ln A can be readily obtained so as to establish the thermal conversion curves if the first-order mechanism is taken. Simulated results reflect that the first-order reaction mechanism has led to certain large deviations at the low conversion levels. By scanning the well-known 27 mechanism functions, the D mechanism of Zhuravlev, Lesokhin, Tempelman equation is found to be the most suitable mechanism for the description of the thermal decomposition of PLA and its β-zeolite counterparts. Along with the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa method, the D mechanism has performed excellently to establish all the conversion curves over the whole range, resulting in more satisfactory simulation results than the first-order reaction mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10H2DA) is suggested to be a potential medication for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by activation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) via mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways. The aim of the present work was to seek differentially expressed proteins in rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts (RASFs) treated with 10H2DA by comparative proteomics analysis. Two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and LC-MS/MS were performed to identify changes in protein expression after 24-h 10H2DA treatment. Differentially expressed proteins were identified by real-time PCR and Western blot analysis. Influence of down-regulation of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) expression on MMPs was studied by RNAi. Ten proteins were up-regulated and 9 proteins were down-regulated after 24-h 10H2DA treatment. A total of 19 differentially expressed proteins were identified and found to be associated with glycolysis, lipid metabolism, cell adhesion, ATP synthesis, oxidation reduction, and anti-apoptosis. CTGF, a member of the C-terminal cystein-rich proteins (CCN) family, was down-regulated after 24-h 10H2DA treatment. MMPs were down-regulated after RNAi (CTGFi). These results suggest that CTGF is a regulator factor in the expression of MMPs, and 10H2DA down-regulate the concentration of MMPs probably by down-regulating the expression of CTGF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of magnetic field-free space (MFFS) on the acoustic behavior of budgerigar ( Melopsittacus undulafus) is obvious. The daily frequency of their cries in uniform MFFS (UMFFS) and non-uniform MFFS (NMFFS) decreases by 44.7±10.0% as compared with that in the geomagnetic field (GMF) on the average. The occupation rate of protesting cries ( R op) in NMFFS decreases by 8.5%–20.3% as compared with that in GMF on the average and shows an adaptability variation. In 75% of the observation days, the R op in UMFFS increases by 16.2%–23.3% as compared with that in GMF. As for the effect of MFFS on the rhythmic habits of budgerigars, only the ending time of crying is affected to certain extent, 67 minutes earlier than in GMF on the average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]