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Background: Anaemia following major surgery may be associated with unplanned readmission to hospital. However, the severity-response relationship between the degree of anaemia at discharge and the risk of unplanned readmission is poorly defined. We aimed to describe the severity-response relationship between haemoglobin concentration at the time of discharge and the risk of unplanned readmission in a cohort of patients undergoing different types of major surgery., Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study in a single tertiary health service, including all patients who underwent major surgery (orthopaedic, abdominal, cardiac or thoracic) between 1 May 2011 and 1 February 2022. The primary outcome was unplanned readmission to hospital in the 90 days following discharge after the index surgical procedure. These complex, non-linear relationships were modelled with restricted cubic splines., Results: We identified 22,134 patients and included 14,635 in the primary analysis, of whom 1804 (12%) experienced at least one unplanned readmission. The odds of unplanned readmission rose when the discharge haemoglobin concentration was < 100 g.l -1 (p < 0.001). On subgroup analysis, the haemoglobin threshold below which odds of readmission began to increase appeared to be higher in patients undergoing emergency surgery (110 g.l -1 ; p < 0.001) compared with elective surgery. Declining discharge haemoglobin concentration was associated with increased odds ratios (95%CI) of unplanned readmission in patients undergoing orthopaedic (1.08 (1.01-1.15), p = 0.03), abdominal (1.13 (1.07-1.19), p < 0.001) and thoracic (1.12 (1.01-1.24), p = 0.03) procedures, but not cardiac surgery (1.09 (0.99-1.19), p = 0.07)., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that a haemoglobin concentration < 100 g.l -1 following elective procedures and < 110 g.l -1 following emergency procedures, at the time of hospital discharge after major surgery, was associated with unplanned readmission. Future interventional trials that aim to treat postoperative anaemia and reduce unplanned readmission should include patients with discharge haemoglobin below these thresholds., (© 2024 The Authors. Anaesthesia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association of Anaesthetists.)

Two cases of intractable chronic cough improved significantly with humidified high flow therapy (HHFT). A 59-year-old woman with Primary Sjogren's disease and interstitial lung disease, was trialled on a Fisher and Paykel myAIRVO™ system. She reported sustained benefits of uninterrupted sleep and increased socialization with tapering use of HHFT. A 67-year-old woman with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis also benefited from the use of myAIRVO™. She had relentless cough with minimal movement, and nocturnal cough causing fragmented sleep. Her cough subsided considerably with continuous HHFT, but recurred without. Both patients reported significant reductions in the cough visual analogue scale. The mechanisms by which HHFT improve intractable cough may include reducing airway dryness, inhibition of neutrophil inflammation and mucus obstruction, and splinting of the airways. HHFT significantly improved cough and health-related quality of life in two patients with interstitial lung disease. Further research is warranted to explore the role of domiciliary HHFT., Competing Interests: Nicole Goh is an Associate Editor of Respirology Case Reports and a co‐author of this article. She was excluded from all editorial decision‐making related to the acceptance of this article for publication., (© 2024 The Authors. Respirology Case Reports published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.)

This study aimed to explore the correlation between rhizosphere soil microorganisms of wild Arnebia euchroma and the content of medicinal components to provide guidance for the selection of the ecological planting base. The total DNA of rhizosphere soil microorganisms of wild A. euchroma was extracted, and the microbial community structure of rhizosphere soil microorganisms was analyzed by IlluminaMiseq high-throughput sequencing technology. The content of total hydroxynaphthoquinone pigment and β,β'-dimethylacrylalkannin in medicinal materials was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). The physicochemical pro-perties of rhizosphere soil of wild A. euchroma in main producing areas were determined, and the correlation of soil microbial abundance with index component content and soil physicochemical properties was analyzed by SPSS software. The results showed that the species composition of rhizosphere fungi and bacteria in A. euchroma from different habitats was similar at the phylum and genus levels, but their relative abundance, richness index(Chao1), and community diversity(Simpson) index were different. Correlation analysis showed that the content of available phosphorus in soil was positively correlated with the content of total hydroxynaphthoquinone pigment and β,β'-dimethylacrylalkannin, and the abundance of five fungal genera such as Solicoccozyma and six bacterial genera such as Pseudo-nocardia and Bradyrhizobium was positively correlated with the content of medicinal components in medicinal materials. The abundance of Bradyrhizobium was significantly positively correlated with the content of β,β'-dimethylacrylalkanin. The abundance of fungi such as Archaeorhizomyces was significantly positively correlated with the content of available phosphorus in rhizosphere soil, and Bradyrhizobium was significantly negatively correlated with soil pH. Therefore, the abundance of fungi and bacteria in the rhizosphere of A. euchroma has a certain correlation with the medicinal components and the physicochemical properties of the rhizosphere soil, which can provide a scientific basis for the selection of ecological planting bases in the later stage.

Pneumorrhachis is defined by the presence of air within the spinal cord. Spontaneous pneumorrhachis secondary to exacerbation of asthma is rare, and its management is rarely discussed. We present a case of spontaneous pneumorrhachis in the context of a viral exacerbation of asthma, followed by a systematic literature review of all available cases of pneumorrhachis in asthma exacerbation. A total of 25 case studies reported pneumorrhachis in 28 asthma patients, all of whom presented with concomitant pneumomediastinum. Investigation and exclusion for other potential aetiologies of pneumorrhachis such as trauma or infection occurred to varying extents and may depend on clinical presentation and degree of suspicion. No other contributing aetiologies were demonstrated in this review, and no patients required specific intervention for pneumorrhachis. Whilst pneumorrhachis is generally benign, management should revolve around standard care of asthma exacerbation, attention to potentially life-threatening differential diagnoses, and supportive care., Competing Interests: None declared., (© 2023 The Authors. Respirology Case Reports published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.)

In order to study the characteristics of atmospheric dry and wet deposition elements and the health risks of typical industrial and mining cities in central Yunnan, the atmospheric dry and wet depositions collected from June 2019 to July 2020 in Anning city were selected as the research object and measured. The contents of the 11 indexes TN, F, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, P, As, and Hg were determined, the annual atmospheric deposition flux was calculated, and the exposure risk model was used to assess the risk to human health. The results showed that:1 In addition to Cr, Ni, and As in the atmospheric dry sediments, the average contents of the elements F, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, and Hg were significantly higher than those of the surface soil in Anning City, which were 5.82, 3.00, 28.27, 57.53, 2.83, and 1.08 times higher, respectively. The average contents of F and total nitrogen in wet deposition exceeded the standard value of surface water V-class water. 2 The annual atmospheric deposition flux of total nitrogen was the highest, and the annual deposition flux of eight heavy metal elements from smallest to largest was Hg-6 , thus, there was little or no carcinogenic risk. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the strict control of atmospheric heavy metal emissions from industrial and mining enterprises in this region.

Terpenes possess a wide range of structural features and pharmaceutical activities and are promising for drug candidates. With the aim to find bioactive terpene molecules, eight new compounds were isolated from the medicinal plant Nepeta bracteata Benth., including seven new abietane-type diterpenoids (1-7) , along with a new ursane-type triterpenoid (8) . The structures of compounds 1-8 were elucidated through the detailed spectroscopic analyses of their 1D and 2D NMR and MS data, and the absolute configurations of compounds 1-7 were determined by comparing their experimental and calculated ECD spectra. Compound 1 was a novel degraded carbon diterpene with the disappearing of methyl signal at C-19, while compound 7 possessed a new norabietane-type diterpenoid carbon skeleton with the presence of five-membered lactone arising from ring rearrangement. The anti-inflammatory of all obtained isolates were evaluated on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells and the results of anti-inflammatory activity screening showed that compared with the LPS model group, all compounds were significantly down-regulation the TNF-α inflammatory factor at the specific concentration, except for compound 6 ., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Yang, Hou, Ma, Zou, Xu, Wu, Yang, Wei, Fan, Sun and Shi.)

Background: Capsule of alkaloids from leaf of Alstonia scholaris (CALAS) is a new investigational botanical drug (No. 2011L01436) for respiratory disease. Clinical population pharmacokinetics (PK), metabolomics and therapeutic data are essential to guide dosing in patients. Previous research has demonstrated the potential therapeutic effect of CALAS on acute bronchitis. Further clinical trial data are needed to verify its clinical efficacy, pharmacokinetics behavior, and influence of dosage and other factors., Purpose: To verify the clinical efficacy and explore the potential biomarkers related to CALAS treatment for acute bronchitis., Materials and Methods: Oral CALAS was assessed in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Fifty-five eligible patients were randomly assigned to four cohorts to receive 20, 40 or 80 mg, of CALAS three times daily for seven days, or placebo. Each CALAS cohort included 15 subjects, and the placebo group included 10 subjects. A population PK model of CALAS was developed using plasma with four major alkaloid components. Metabolomics analysis was performed to identify biomarkers correlated with the therapeutic effect of CALAS, and efficacy and safety were assessed based on clinical symptoms and adverse events., Results: The symptoms of acute bronchitis were alleviated by CALAS treatment without serious adverse events or clinically significant changes in vital signs, electrocardiography or upper abdominal Doppler ultrasonography. Moreover, one compartment model with first-order absorption showed that an increase in aspartate transaminase will reduce the clearance (CL) of scholaricine, and picrinine CL was inversely proportional to body mass index, while 19-epischolaricine and vallesamine CL increased with aging. The serum samples from acute bronchitis patients at different time points were analyzed using UPLC-QTOF in combination with the orthogonal projection to latent structures-discriminant analysis, which indicated higher levels of lysophosphatidylcholines, lysophosphatidylethanolamines and amino acids with CALAS treatment than with placebo., Conclusion: This is the first study to evaluate the clinical efficacy and explored the potential biomarkers related to CALAS therapeutic mechanism of acute bronchitis by means of clinical trial combined the metabolomics study. This exploratory study provides a basis for further research on clinical efficacy and optimal dosing regimens based on pharmacokinetics behavior. Additional acute bronchitis patients and CALAS PK samples collected in future studies may be used to improve model performance and maximize its clinical value., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

Objective: To evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of Neuroform EZ stent in the treatment of severe intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ICAS). Methods: A total of 36 patients with severe ICAS receiving Neuroform EZ stent angioplasty were retrospectively analyzed at Beijing Anzhen Hospital from July 2018 to January 2020. Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) before endovascular intervention confirmed the diagnosis. Follow-up information was reviewed by neurologists at 30 days and 6 months after the procedure. The primary endpoints were transient ischemic attack (TIA), ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke and death caused by any reason within 30 days. Results: The overall technical success rate was 100%. The median stenosis rate was reduced from 93.6%±4.5% to 18.8%±11.2% ( t =37.36, P <0.001).Primary endpoint event was not reported. During follow-up, one patient developed TIA and no death or ischemic stroke was observed. No in-stent restenosis at six months occurred. Conclusion: Neuroform EZ stent is safe and effective in patients with severe ICAS. However, perspective studies need to be operated for further validation via long-term follow-up.

Objective: To investigate a new noninvasive method for calculating left ventricular diastolic time constant (Tau) through a continuous-wave aortic regurgitation Doppler spectrum., Methods: According to ultrasound guidance, twenty-four animal models (beagles) of aortic regurgitation and acute ischemic left ventricular diastolic dysfunction were created. The left ventricular diastolic function was manipulated with dobutamine or esmolol and fifty-nine hemodynamic stages were achieved. Raw audio signals of the continuous-wave Doppler spectra were collected, and new aortic regurgitation Doppler spectra were built after reprocessing by a personal computer. The updating time of the spectral line was 0.3 ms. The new Doppler spectra contour line was automated using MATLAB (MATrix LABoratory, MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA), and two time intervals, (t2-t1) and (t3-t1) were measured on the ascending branch of the aortic regurgitation Doppler spectrum. Then, the two time intervals were substituted into Bai's equations, and Doppler-derived Tau (Tau-D) was resolved and compared with catheter-derived Tau (Tau-c)., Results: There is no significant difference between Tau-D and Tau-c (45.95 ± 16.90 ms and 46.81 ± 17.31 ms, respectively; P > 0.05). Correlation analysis between Tau-c and Tau-D suggested a strong positive relationship ( r = 0.97, P = 0.000). A Bland-Altman plot of Tau-c and Tau-D revealed fair agreement., Conclusions: This new calculation method is simple, convenient, and shows a strong positive relationship and fair agreement with the catheter method., (Copyright and License information: Journal of Geriatric Cardiology 2021.)

Objective: To study the effect and safety of vertebral artery stent implantation via femoral artery and radial artery. Methods: Twenty-four patients with vertebral artery stent implantation from December, 2017 to August, 2018 in Beijing Anzhen Hospital were randomized into 2 groups, one was research group with 12 patients, the other was control group with 12 patients. The research group underwent vertebral artery stent implantation via radial artery, the control group underwent vertebral artery stent implantation via femoral artery. The follow-up results of the two groups were analyzed. Results: The success rate of the first puncture in the research group was 100%, significantly higher than 83.33% of the control group, there was no statistical difference (χ(2)=2.528, P> 0.05).The implantation time of sheath tube in the research group was (3.2±0.3) min, significantly longer than that in the control group (2.4±0.2) min, the difference was statistically significant ( t= 7.713, P< 0.001). The time from sheath insertion to balloon dilation and bed rest time after operation in the research group were 17.3 (16.2-17.9) min, significantly less than the control group (27.1(26.1-28.3) min), the difference was statistically significant ( Z= -4.157, P< 0.001). The time of bed rest in the research group was 2.1 (2.0-2.2)h, significantly less than the control group (27.1(25.3- 28.9)h), the difference was statistically significant( Z= -4.167, P< 0.001). No cerebrovascular events occurred during the follow-up period. One patient in the control group developed complications of vagal reflex, no patient in the research group developed complications. Conclusions: Vertebral artery stent implantation via radial artery can significantly improve the success rate and safety of the operation. Radial artery approach is a better choice for vertebral artery stent implantation.

Continuous stirred-tank digesters with tetracyclines and sulfonamides were operated to investigate the impacts of antibiotic pressure on sludge anaerobic digestion. The versatile methanogen Methanosarcinales and strictly hydrogenotrophic methanogen Methanobacteriales increased and decreased by 21.1% and 10.9% under antibiotic pressure, respectively. KEGG analysis revealed that hydrogenotrophic and acetoclastic methanogenesis pathways were all affected. The decrease in abundance of function genes involved in lipid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, and fatty acid degradation, would lead to a reduction in methane production by 25%. Network analysis indicated positive associations among tetracycline residuals, abundance of resistance genes (ARGs), and specific member of potential hosts. Over 1000 ARG subtypes were widely detected in sludge, including macrolide (28%), tetracycline (24%), fluoroquinolone (20%), and peptide (20%) resistance genes. AD process exposed to long-term antibiotic would increase the diversity and abundance of ARG, enhance the association of ARG with specific microbes, and select bacteria able to perform chemotaxis mechanism., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To analyze the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of diffuse midline glioma (DMG) with H3K27M mutation. Methods: Thirty cases of DMG were collected in Guangdong Sanjiu Brain Hospital from October 2016 to May 2018. The patients' clinicopathological data including age, tumor site and histological grade, treatment and follow-up data were collected and analyzed. Results: There were 21 males and 9 females, with a mean age of 26 years (range 5-53 years). Fourteen tumors were located in thalamus, 12 in brainstem (one involved both thalamus and brainstem), and one each in hypothalamus, fourth ventricle, and sellar region, respectively. Two cases presented as diffuse intracranial lesions. Three cases (10.0%) were of WHO grade Ⅰ, 10 cases (33.3%) were grade Ⅱ, eight cases (26.7%) were grade Ⅲ, and nine cases (30.0%) were grade Ⅳ.All patients with gradeⅠ tumors were older than 20 years. Histologically, all were pilocytic astrocytoma-like. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated that all tumors were IDH1 negative. Twenty-eight tumors showed diffuse expression of H3K27M, and two showed focal expression. Twenty-one tumors(100.0%, 21/21) showed absent expression of H3K27me3. Sixteen tumors (57.1%, 16/28) showed strongly positive expression of p53, and ATRX was negative in eight tumors (38.1%, 8/21). The Ki-67 proliferation index ranged from 5% to 40%. Eight cases (including two cases of H3K27M expression of individual cells) showed K27M mutation in H3F3A gene. Intracranial and spinal cord dissemination occurred in six cases (20.0%, 6/30). Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 9.5 months and median overall survival (OS) was 34 months. Mean PFS was 11.2 months and mean OS was 24.3 months. Compared with adults (>20 years old), children/adolescents (no more than 20 years old) had significantly shorter median OS (8 months vs. 34 months, P= 0.013). There was no significant difference in PFS and OS between DMGs located in the brain stem/thalamus and other sites within midline ( P> 0.05). There was no significant difference in PFS and OS between WHO grade ⅠDMGs and WHO grade Ⅱ-Ⅳ DMGs ( P> 0.05). Conclusions: DMGs occur more commonly in children and adolescents with male predominance. DMGs present with WHO Ⅰ-Ⅳ tumors morphologically, and pilocytic astrocytoma-like lesions with WHO Ⅰ are more common in adults. Expression of H3K27M but not H3K27me3 is helpful for diagnosis of DMG. The prognosis of children/adolescents is significantly worse than that of adults, whereas histological grade and tumor location do not affect prognosis.

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the clinical effect of clinical practice guideline on traditional Chinese medicine therapy alone or combined with antibiotics for acute tonsillitis. The applicability and application of the Guideline were evaluated based on the clinicians by using the electronic questionnaire. Questionnaires about 538 on application evaluation and 502 questionnaires on applicability evaluation were completed from April 28 to July 9, 2018. The subjects in the questionnaires include the clinicians with junior title, intermediate title, and senior title that have used this Guideline. The descriptive statistical analysis of the collected questionnaire was carried out. In the applicability evaluation, according to the classification of professional titles, the application rate was highest in intermediate title clinicians (26.77%), followed by junior (23.98%) and deputy senior (19.33%) professional title clinicians. In the quality evaluation, the rationality of application scope (98.61%) and the terminology accuracy (98.81%) scores were higher, and the rationality of differentiation and classification (96.05%) was the lowest. The applicability evaluation suggested that clinicians believed this Guideline had high safety (98.42%), reasonable content (98.03%), significant effect (99.6%), reduced use of antibiotics in Western medicine (93.89%), and a high applicability ratio (96.44%). In the application evaluation, Department of lung disease showed the highest application rate (44.24%); rationality of the Guideline was more than 97% in treatment rules and prophylaxis except the syndrome differentiation (92.75%); a high ratio of clinicians believed the recommended scheme was good: curative effect 97.4%, safety 97.59%, and economy 93.87%. The study shows that the clinical practice guideline on traditional Chinese medicine therapy alone or combined with antibiotics for acute tonsillitis is of good quality, high clinical use and good effect. It can be used as a standardized treatment scheme for acute tonsillitis in traditional Chinese medicine. But there are some unsuitable contents and need to be further improved. The Guideline should strengthen the revision on differentiation of symptoms and signs as well as prophylaxis., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

Understanding of how anaerobic digestion (AD)-related microbiomes are constructed by operational parameters or their interactions within the biochemical process is limited. Using high-throughput sequencing and molecular ecological network analysis, this study shows the succession of AD-related microbiome hosting diverse members of the phylum Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Euryarchaeota, and Firmicutes, which were affected by organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT). OLR formed finer microbial network modules than HRT (12 vs. 6), suggesting the further subdivision of functional components. Biomarkers were also identified in OLR or HRT groups (e.g. the family Actinomycetaceae, Methanosaetaceae and Aminiphilaceae). The most pair-wise link between Firmicutes and biogas production indicates the keystone members based on network features can be considered as markers in the regulation of AD. A set of 40% species ("core microbiome") were similar across different digesters. Such noteworthy overlap of microbiomes indicates they are generalists in maintaining the ecological stability of digesters., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) originating from sewage sludge is highlighted as an eminent health threat. This study established a thermophilic anaerobic digester using one-step startup strategy to quickly remove tetracycline and sulfonamides resistance genes from sewage sludge. At least 20days were saved in the startup period from mesophilic to thermophilic condition. Based on the results of 16S rDNA amplicons sequencing and predicted metagenomic method, the successful startup largely relied on the fast colonization of core thermophilic microbial population (e.g. Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria). Microbial metabolic gene pathways for substrate degradation and methane production was also increased by one-step mode. In addition, real-time quantitative PCR approach revealed that most targeted tetracycline and sulfonamides resistance genes ARGs (sulI, tetA, tetO, tetX) were substantially removed during thermophilic digestion (removal efficiency>80%). Network analysis showed that the elimination of ARGs was attributed to the decline of their horizontal (intI1 item) and vertical (potential hosts) transfer-related elements under high-temperature. This research demonstrated that rapid startup thermophilic anaerobic digestion of wastewater solids would be a suitable technology for reducing quantities of various ARGs., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Clinical practice guideline (CPG) should be concise and readability, which can be possible to implement CPG into practice smoothly. A formal published CPG can't load its developing process and details. An editorial explanation of CPG is much useful to show details and logic process of developing CPG. Although there are many different standards for developing CPG, being nothing to do with process management of CPG. By referring to editorial explanation on international standards, a request for CPG was investigated in this study. An editorial explanation for clinical practice guideline should be transparency, logic and traceable. A good editorial explanation could make users or readers to learn what goes on behind the scenes. A standardized editorial explanation could supervise the GCP developing and improve the quality of GCP., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

To provide molecular evidence for medical material identification, we analyzed the nucleotide sequence of ITS2, psbA-trnH gene in Morus genus plants and commercial products which were obtained from different places in Xinjiang. The sequence of ITS2 and psbA-trnH in fifty-one samples were amplified and sequenced, MEGA 6.0 was used to analyze the intra- and interspecific K-2P distances, neighbor-joining (NJ) tree was used to constructing clustering tree. ITS2 sequence analyzed results showed that there is no intra-specific variation among Morus alba, M. alba var. tatarica and M. nigra, but 13 variations sites were exist between M. alba and M. nigra and their inter-specific K-2P distances was 0.04, which indicated that there had significant variation in them. We didn't find informative variation sites between Morus genus plants and commercial products, and we also found that M. nigra can be distinguished from other two species by NJ Tree. PsbA-trnH analysis results showed there was only one variation site between M. alba and M. nigra, but insertion or deletion variation were remarkable evidence among M. alba, M. alba var. tatarica and M. Nigra. Inter-specific variation was accordance with intra-specific variation of commercial products. So ITS2 and psbA-trnH gene were important marker for M. alba, M. alba var. tatarica and M. nigra identification. This study provided important evidence for Uygur medicine identification and market supervision., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

Though evaluation and analysis on the relevant literatures at home and abroad in recent years, the total number of retrieved literature was 2 664. According to the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria,the literatures were screened out, and the results were as follows：374 literatures. To analyse the advantages and evidence of Chinese medicine in the prevention and treatment of adult acute tonsillitis. It is found to be effective, convenient and practical for the treatment of acute tonsillitis by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) like treatment according to syndrome differentiation, Chinese patent drug, self Chinese medicine prescription and external treatment. TCM has obvious advantages in the prevention and treatment of acute tonsillitis, has the function of supplementing or substituting antibiotics, and has the function of regulating the defense function of organism., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

Objective: To investigate the association between the prevalence of varicocele and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)/lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in elder man in China., Methods: A total of 831 BPH/LUTS outpatients who were 40 years or older were recruited. The patients' age, total prostatic volume (TPV), International Prostate Symptom Score, total prostate-specific antigen, nocturia, and body mass index were recorded. The presence and grade of varicocele were diagnosed by physical examination in combination with scrotal color Doppler., Results: The total prevalence of varicocele was 53.0%. The prevalence values of varicoceles in patients were 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79 years old, and 80 or above were 43.0%, 42.4%, 54.0%, 59.5%, and 64.0%, respectively. When comparing with varicocele grade, TPV (P  =  .002) was found to be significantly different. Nocturia frequencies increased significantly in patients with varicocele (P  <  .01). There were no difference in terms of International Prostate Symptom Score, total prostate-specific antigen, and body mass index between patients with no varicocele and with grades 1, 2, and 3 varicoceles (P  >  .05)., Conclusion: For elderly patients, the prevalence of varicocele shows an increasing trend with aging. Higher-grade varicoceles are associated with higher TPV and nocturia levels. Varicocele, which may be a factor that affects BPH/LUTS, cannot be overlooked., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Early diagnosis have great positive effect on the treatment of gastric cancer patients. Raman spectroscopy can provide a useful monitor for hemoglobin dynamics. Besides, Raman spectroscopy has notable advantages in the fields of abnormal hemoglobin diagnosis, hemoglobin oxygen saturation deter mination and blood methemoglobin analysis. In this paper, novel silver colloid was synthesized by microwave heated method. The surface enhanced Raman spectrums of hemoglobin from 11 normal persons and 20 gastric cancer patients are measured and analyzed in order to obtain spectrums which are high repeatability and characteristic peaks protruding. By analyzing the assignations of the SERS bands, it found that the content of asparagine, tyrosine and phenylalanine in the hemoglobin are significantly lower than healthy people. Discussing the structure of hemoglobin, when hemoglobin combines with oxygen, Fe²⁺ is in a low spin state, ionic radius shrinks and moves 0. 075 nm and fall into the pore in the middle of the heme porphyrin ring plane. This spatial variation affects F8His connected with the iron, will narrow the gap between the globin in the two strands of the helix, as a result, HC2 tyrosine pushed out of the void. Using this mechanism, the absorption peak of 1 560 cm⁻¹ confirmed that the tyrosine content in patients with gastric cancer was lower than that of normal people. Principal component analysis(PCA) is employed to get a three-dimensional scatter plot of PC scores for the health and cancer groups, and it can be learned that they are distributed in separate areas. By using the method of discriminate analysis, it is found that the diagnostic algorithm separates the two groups with sensitivity of 90.0% and diagnostic specificity of 90.9%, the overall diagnostic accuracy was 90.3%. The results from this exploratory study demonstrate that, SERS detection of oxyhemoglobin combined with multivariate analysis would be an effective method for early diagnosis of gastric cancer.

Morphology and molecular identification technology were used to identify 3 original plants of Fructus Elaeagni which was commonly used in Uygur medicine. Leaves, flowers and fruits from different areas were selected randomly for morphology research. ITS2 sequence as DNA barcode was used to identify 17 samples of Fructus Elaeagni. The genetic distances were computed by kimura 2-parameter (K2P) model, and the Neighbor-Joining (NJ) and Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic trees were constructed using MEGA5.0. The results showed that Elaeagnus angustifolia, E. oxycarpa and E. angustifolia var. orientalis cannot be distinguished by morphological characteristics of leaves, flowers and fruits. The sequence length of ITS2 ranged from 220 to 223 bp, the average GC content was 61.9%. The haplotype numbers of E. angustifolia, E. oxycarpa and E. angustifolia var. orientals were 4, 3, 3, respectively. The results from the NJ tree and ML tree showed that the 3 original species of Fructus Elaeagni cannot be distinguished obviously. Therefore, 3 species maybe have the same origin, and can be used as the original plant of Uygur medicineal material Fructus Elaeagni. However, further evidence of chemical components and pharmacological effect were needed.

In this article, we present a high-precision image-processing algorithm for tracking the translational and rotational Brownian motion of boomerang-shaped colloidal particles confined in quasi-two-dimensional geometry. By measuring mean square displacements of an immobilized particle, we demonstrate that the positional and angular precision of our imaging and image-processing system can achieve 13 nm and 0.004 rad, respectively. By analyzing computer-simulated images, we demonstrate that the positional and angular accuracies of our image-processing algorithm can achieve 32 nm and 0.006 rad. Because of zero correlations between the displacements in neighboring time intervals, trajectories of different videos of the same particle can be merged into a very long time trajectory, allowing for long-time averaging of different physical variables. We apply this image-processing algorithm to measure the diffusion coefficients of boomerang particles of three different apex angles and discuss the angle dependence of these diffusion coefficients.

The Raman spectrums of hemoglobin from 20 normal persons and 21 esophageal cancer patients were measured and analyzed in the present paper, the results show obvious differences between the Raman spectrums of esophageal cancer patients and normal persons. Compared with normal persons, there are more iron ions in low spin state and less in high spin state in the hemoglobin of esophageal cancer patients. It indicates that some iron ions in high spin state turned to low spin state because of cancerization, and this experimental result coincides with the fact that hemolysis is more likely to occur in cancer patients. Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to get a three-dimensional scatter plot of PC scores for the health and cancer groups, and it can be learned that they are distributed in separate areas. By using the method of discriminate analysis, it was found that the diagnostic algorithm separates the two groups with sensitivity of 90.5% and diagnostic specificity of 95%, and the overall diagnostic accuracy was 92.7%. The results from this exploratory study demonstrate that Raman spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis would be an effective method for early diagnosis of esophageal cancer.

A new fungal strain with high laccase production was isolated from the agricultural waste composting. It was identified as Hypocrea lixii based on morphological analysis and ITS sequence. The partial laccase gene of the new strain was successfully amplified using the primer pair Cu1AF and Cu2R. After purification and cloning of the PCR product, a 148 bp fragment of laccase gene was obtained. The laccase activity of the strain reached a peak value of 67.5 U x mL(-1) in liquid medium. The molecular mass of the purified laccase was determined to be about 60 x 10(3). The optimum temperature and pH for enzyme activity were 35 degrees C and 4.0, respectively. The half-time of the enzyme was more than 1 h at 60 degrees C. Under standard assay conditions, K(m) values was 1.00 mmol x L(-1) towards ABTS. Laccase activity was inhibited by several metal ions, such as Na+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Pb2+ and Zn2+. This strain has a good potential for application as a bioaugmentation strain in the agricultural waste composting system.

Background: The aim of the study was to compare the survival of patients receiving laparoscopic vs. open radical resection for stage II colon cancer., Patients and Methods: Two hundred and twenty patients with stage II colon cancer were enrolled from Beijing Chaoyang Hospital of Capital Medical University from January 2000 to December 2009, including 61 patients in the laparoscopic radical resection group and 159 patients in the open radical resection group. The survival data in both groups were compared using the log rank test based on Kaplan-Meier survival curves., Results: There was no statistically significant difference in the 3-year survival (88.5% vs. 80.5%; X(2)=1.98, P=0.159) and the 5-year survival (81.9% vs. 69.2%; X(2)=1.98, P=0.159) between both groups. However, statistically significant difference was found in median overall survival (mOS), which was 102.6 (95% CI: 76.8-122.7) months in the laparoscopic group and 90.0 (95% CI: 70.4-109.6) months in the open radical resection group (X(2)=4.183, P=0.041). mOS was 96 (95% CI: 68.6-111.4) months and 92.6 (95% CI: 56.8-107.2) months in those with and without postoperative chemotherapy, respectively (X(2)=6.389, P=0.011). For patients older than 75 years the mOS was 90.0 (95% CI: 25.3-105.0) months and 83.4 (95% CI: 13.1-96.9) months in the laparoscopic and open group, respectively. The difference between the both groups was statistically significant (X(2)=6.191, P=0.013)., Conclusions: The mOS of patients receiving laparoscopic radical resection was better than open radical resection for stage II colon cancer, especially for patients over 75 years old.

The method of continuous thermophilic composting (CTC) remarkably shortened the active composting cycle and enhanced the compost stability. Effects of CTC on the quantities of bacteria, with a comparison to the traditional composting (TC) method, were explored by plate count with incubation at 30, 40 and 50°C, respectively, and by quantitative PCR targeting the universal bacterial 16S rRNA genes and the Bacillus 16S rRNA genes. The comparison of cultivatable or uncultivatable bacterial numbers indicated that CTC might have increased the biomass of bacteria, especially Bacillus spp., during the composting. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis was employed to investigate the effects of CTC on bacterial diversity, and a community dominated by fewer species was detected in a typical CTC run. The analysis of sequence and phylogeny based on DGGE indicated that the continuously high temperature had changed the structure of bacterial community and strengthened the mainstay role of the thermophilic and spore-forming Bacillus spp. in CTC run.

Actinomycetes degrade cellulose and solubilize lignin during composting. Changes in the diversity of the actinomycetal communities and the 16S rDNA copy numbers of actinomycetes were monitored by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and quantitative PCR (qPCR), respectively, during continuous thermophilic composting (CTC) and traditional composting (TC). qPCR indicated that the copy numbers from the CTC samples were 25-80% higher than those from the TC samples during similar phases of active composting and they were lower than 3×10(9) gene copies/g (dry weight) in the mature compost from both runs. DGGE showed a more diverse actinomycetal community in the CTC than in TC, averaging 16 bands as compared to 12 bands, at the post peak temperature phase. The study suggested that temperatures higher than 50 °C in CTC benefited the growth of actinomycetes., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Fewer and fewer municipal solid wastes are treated by composting in China because of the disadvantages of enormous investment, long processing cycle and unstable products in a conventional composting treatment. In this study, a continuous thermophilic composting (CTC) method, only a thermophilic phase within the process, has been applied to four bench-scale composting runs, and further compared with a conventional composting run by assessing the indexes of pH, total organic carbon (TOC), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), C/N ratio, germination index (GI), specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dehydrogenase activity. After composting for 14 days, 16 days, 18 days and 19 days in the four CTC runs, respectively, mature compost products were obtained, with quality similar to or better than which had been stabilized for 28 days in run A. The products from the CTC runs also showed favorable stability in room temperature environment after the short-term composting at high temperature. The study suggested CTC as a novel method for rapid degradation and maturation of organic municipal solid wastes.

Objective: To evaluate the value of dual time point 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) in differentiating malignant and benign superficial lymph nodes., Methods: Sixty-eight patients with ninety superficial lymph nodes were examined. Whole body 18F-FDG PET imaging was performed one hour (early) after FDG injection and repeated one hour (delayed) later but only for the interesting areas. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) was determined for each of the node on both early and delayed images (SUV early and SUV delayed, respectively). Retention index (RI) was then calculated. The cutoff values of SUV early, SUV delayed and RI were determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. The efficacy of each parameter was also analyzed by ROC analyses., Results: The histopathology examinations confirmed 51 malignant nodes and 39 benign nodes. The SUV early (x +/- s) for benign nodes and malignant nodes were 3.26 +/- 1.62 and 8.04 +/- 5.56, respectively (P=0.000). The SUV delayed for benign nodes and malignant nodes were 3.93 +/- 2.11 and 9.82 +/- 6.29, respectively (P=0.000). The RI for benign nodes and malignant nodes were 19.1 +/- 22.5 and 24.8 +/- 18.8, respectively (P=0.191). The cutoff values of SUV early, SUV delayed and RI were 4.3, 4.8 and 18, respectively. The cutoff values of SUV early, SUV delayed and RI produced a sensitivity of 71%, 78% and 63%, a specificity of 87%, 85% and 46%, and an accuracy of 78%, 80% and 57%, respectively. The ROC analyses illustrated that the diagnostic efficacy of SUV early, SUV delayed was higher than RI (P<0.001). However, there was no difference in diagnostic efficacy between SUV early, and SUV delayed (P=0.409)., Conclusion: Dual-time point 18F-FDG PET does differentiate benign and malignant superficial lymph nodes effectively.

In reality, colloidal particles often possess an arbitrary inhomogeneity profile. We present a first-principles approach to dielectrophoresis of such an inhomogeneous colloidal particle under an inhomogeneous field of an oscillating electric dipole moment. For numerical simulations, we treat the inhomogeneous particle as a specific graded one with a physically motivated dielectric model and conductivity profile. We find that both multipolar interactions and spatial fluctuations inside the particle can affect the dielectrophoretic spectrum of the particle significantly.

Phylogenetic relationships in Cornales were assessed using sequences rbcL and matK. Various combinations of outgroups were assessed for their suitability and the effects of long branches and outgroups on tree topology were examined using RASA 2.4 prior to conducting phylogenetic analyses. RASA identified several potentially problematic taxa having long branches in individual data sets that may have obscured phylogenetic signal, but when data sets were combined RASA no longer detected long branch problems. t(RASA) provides a more conservative measurement for phylogenetic signal than the PTP and skewness tests. The separate matK and rbcL sequence data sets were measured as not containing phylogenetic signal by RASA, but PTP and skewness tests suggested the reverse [corrected]. Nonetheless, the matK and rbcL sequence data sets suggested relationships within Cornales largely congruent with those suggested by the combined matK-rbcL sequence data set that contains significant phylogenetic signal as measured by t(RASA), PTP, and skewness tests. Our analyses also showed that a taxon having a long branch on the tree may not be identified as a "long-branched" taxon by RASA. The long branches identified by RASA had little effect on the arrangement of other taxa in the tree, but the placements of the long-branched taxa themselves were often problematic. Removing the long-branched taxa from analyses generally increased bootstrap support, often substantially. Use of non-optimal outgroups (as identified by RASA) decreased phylogenetic resolution in parsimony analyses and suggested different relationships in maximum likelihood analyses, although usually weakly supported clades (less than 50% support) were impacted. Our results do not recommend using t(RASA) as a sole criterion to discard data or taxa in phylogenetic analyses, but t(RASA) and the taxon variance ratio obtained from RASA may be useful as a guide for improved phylogenetic analyses. Results of parsimony and ML analyses of the sequence data using optimal outgroups suggested by RASA revealed four major clades within Cornales: (1) Curtisia-Grubbia, (2) Cornus-Alangium, (3) Nyssa-Camptotheca-Davidia-Mastixia-Diplopanax, and (4) Hydrangeaceae-Loasaceae, with clades (2) and (3) forming a monophyletic group sister to clade (4) and clade (1) sister to the remainder of Cornales. However, there was not strong bootstrap support for relationships among the major clades. The placement of Hydrostachys could not be reliably determined, although most analyses place the genus within Hydrangeaceae; ML analyses, for example, placed the genus as the sister of Hydrangeeae. Our results supported a Cornales including the systematically problematic Hydrostachys, a Cornaceae consisting of Cornus and Alangium, a Nyssaceae consisting of Nyssa and Camptotheca, a monogeneric Davidiaceae, a Mastixiaceae consisting of Mastixia and Diplopanax, and an expanded Grubbiaceae consisting of Grubbia and Curtisia, and two larger families, Hydrangeaceae and Loasaceae.

Objective: To determine the sintering temperature range and the best temperature of coloration of HN-97 porcelain stain,and matched porcelain powders., Methods: (1) The authors used prepared experiments of sintering temperatures and different sintering temperatures with different porcelain powders., Results: The results showed sintering temperature range of the stain was 820-955 degrees centigrade; (2)The stain can be matched with many porcelain powders (e.g.Vita,Densply. Shofu and Shanghai); (3)Surface of stain was smooth, colour was stable,integrate was good., Conclusion: The stain can be used once coloration and glaze for restoration of porcelain, autoglazing temperature of which is between 820-955 degrees centigrade and the operation is easy.

In this work the BP onsettimes of voluntary movement and instructed movement were compared. Our results show that there is no significant difference (P > 0.05) between BP onsettimes of the two kinds of movement and that BP occurs before the instruction of movement. The early component of BP, i.e. the negative wave before the presentation of instruction, had no relationship with movement preparation. For the analysis of the source of the BP early component, the BP onsettimes of unconscious eyeblink and instructed eyeblink or self-initiated voluntary eyeblink were compared. It was found that the BP onsettime of unconscious eyeblink was much shorter than that of the two kinds of conscious (P < 0.05) eyeblink. These results suggest that the BP early component is elicited by psychological factors, rather than the result of the preparatory processes of movements in the brain.

The fraction of total pyruvate dehydrogenase in the active, dephosphorylated form is much lower in the glucose-perfused isolated hearts of two myopathic strains of Syrian hamster (BIO 14.6 and TO-2) than in the hearts of healthy control animals (F1B). The myopathic hearts also develop significantly less pressure under these conditions. Experiments with isolated myocytes from the BIO 14.6 heart reveal that intramitochondrial free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]m), a positive effector of pyruvate dehydrogenase interconversion, rises much less in response to a protocol of increased frequency of electrical stimulation and adrenergic stimulation than does [Ca2+]m in cells from the healthy control animals (viz from 248 +/- 15 to 348 +/- 44 nM in BIO 14.6 vs. from 241 +/- 35 to 830 +/- 124 nM in F1B, at 4 Hz). As the concentration of Ca2+ that produces half-maximal activation of pyruvate dehydrogenase within mitochondria is 650 nM, this difference between strains is likely the mechanism of the altered enzyme interconversion. The lesser response of [Ca2+]m to electrical stimulation in the BIO 14.6 cells probably results mainly from smaller systolic transients in cytosolic free Ca2+ in response to excitation of single myocytes from the BIO 14.6 animal. Lowered values of [Ca2+]m within the range described would compromise not only pyruvate dehydrogenase activity, but also flux through the tricarboxylate cycle in the myopathic heart, owing to the sensitivity of 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase to Ca2+. This may explain the decreased activity of oxidative phosphorylation and performance of work in the myopathic heart.