Search

Pleural effusion affects gas exchange, hemodynamic stability, and respiratory movement, thereby increasing the failure rate of intensive care unit discharge and mortality. Therefore, it is especially important to diagnose pleural effusion quickly to make the appropriate treatment decisions. The present review discusses the role of ultrasound in the diagnosis and puncture/drainage of pleural effusions and highlights the importance of lung ultrasound techniques in this patient population. We searched on PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases for articles from establishment to October 2022 using the following keywords: “lung ultrasound”, “pulmonary ultrasound”, “pleural effusion”, “ultrasound-guided” and “thoracentesis”. Lung ultrasound not only helps clinicians visualize pleural effusion but also to identify its different types and assess pleural effusion volume. It is also very important for thoracentesis, not only to increase safety and reduce life-threatening complications, but also to monitor the amount of fluid after drainage of pleural effusion. Lung ultrasound is a simple, noninvasive bedside technique with good sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis and treatment of pleural effusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

– Despite the guidance of aseptic technology applied, bacterial meningitis seems to be an unavoidable obstacle in the process of neurosurgery, with high rates of disability and mortality. The diagnosis of post-neurosurgical bacterial meningitis (PNBM) mainly depends both on clinical symptoms and laboratory outcomes. Due to the excessive neuro-inflammatory reactions which are evoked by the primary brain disease or the craniotomy operation, the symptoms derived from the infection and aseptic may not be easily distinguished. On the other hand, the low positive rate and time-consuming character restrict the clinical practical values of bacterial culture. Therefore, it is always difficult to make a definite diagnosis of post-neurosurgical bacterial meningitis. Here, we reviewed the established literature about the diagnostic biomarkers for the PNBM and analyzed the potential obstacles in both clinical and scientific studies. Given the obstacle which has negative impacts on further investigation about the biology of PNBM, we only find relatively small numbers of study on PNBM. In this review, we summarize the established diagnostic methods and biomarkers for PNBM. Meanwhile, we also propose some potential investigation prospects. This review may help to better understand the character of PNBM in both clinical diagnosis and scientific investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To study the inflammatory factors in donor livers and its effect on recipient myocardial injury after liver transplantation recipients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: E ighteen p atients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantations between January 2014 and December 2015 in our hospital were selected. A portion of the hepatic venous blood of donor's livers was preserved in heparinized tubes after partial resection. The concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), and the activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in serum were measured. The concentrations of TNF-α, IL-6, cTnI, and CK-MB, and the activity of LDH in serum from the central venous blood of recipients were measured at several time points. RESULTS: Persistent myocardial injuries were found in five patients, six experienced a transient increase of cardiac markers after surgery and returned to normal levels 24 h after surgery, and the others were normal. The comparison of the levels of inflammatory factors in serum between the five donors and recipients at different stages showed that the levels of myocardial markers of the donor livers which were supplied to the five cardiac injured patients were all significantly higher than those of other donor's livers, while the levels of serum inflammatory factors in recipients showed no changes during the T0-T2 stage but increased significantly during T3-T5 (p < 0.05). The cardiac function after surgery was significantly different from that before surgery and that of the recipients without myocardial injury (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Blood pressure changes before surgery may affect the levels of inflammatory factors in donor's liver and cause postoperative myocardial injury in recipients. Proper hypotensive therapy for donors before partial liver resection can prevent postoperative myocardial injury in recipients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Osteosarcoma (OS) is a commonly diagnosed bone malignancy in children and adolescents. Nuclear division cycle 80 (NDC80) is a crucial regulator of the cell division cycle that has recently been identified as a novel oncoprotein in various solid tumors; however, its role in OS remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate correlations between NDC80 expression in OS patients and clinicopathological features and prognosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We began this study by determining NDC80 expression in sarcoma patients using the Oncomine Platform. Then, we measured NDC80 mRNA expression by RT-PCR in 26-paired fresh OS and adjacent normal samples. Finally, we analyzed NDC80 expression by immunohistochemistry in a retrospective cohort of 154 OS patients. RESULTS: NDC80 mRNA was abnormally overexpressed not only in OS, but also in other sarcomas including liposarcoma, myxofibrosarcoma, and leiomyosarcoma. In the retrospective analysis, NDC80 expression was significantly correlated with TNM stage (p=0.023) and distant metastasis (p=0.008). OS patients with high NDC80 expression had a significantly worse OS-specific (p=0.002) and disease-free survival (p=0.001) compared with those with low NDC80 expression. Furthermore, univariate and multivariate analyses suggested that NDC80 expression together with TNM stage, distant metastasis and preoperative chemotherapy response are significant independent prognostic factors affecting OS-specific and disease-free survival (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlighted a novel insight into the clinical significance of NDC80 expression in OS patients and suggested its potential as a clinically actionable biomarker for prognostic prediction and therapy decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simplified pore network model, which divided pore structure into cube lattices, was developed based on the digital core extracted from micro computerized tomography (µ-CT) in this study. It rolled the complex topology and connectivity of pore structure into adjacent cubes. The static property of each cube was determined by the statistic CT data. The connectivity of adjacent cubes and flow regime were determined by the capillary pressure difference which is a function of tunnel size, interfacial tension, wet contact angle, and external pressure gradient. In this simplified pore network model, the flow capacity properties are determined by number and size distribution, mobile tunnels, and fluid viscosity. The flow velocity and sweep efficiency are non-linear as mobile tunnels increase nonlinearly with increasing driving force before all tunnels start flowing. The critical pressure gradient that changed the non-linear flow to linear flow was performed as the threshold pressure gradient. The dynamic mobile performance of Oil In Place (OIP) is determined by the number of mobile tunnels and their diameter distribution for different pressure gradients. The relationship of microscopic sweep efficiency, water cut, and pressure gradient to oil recovery can be quantified by flow simulation in this pore network model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electromagnetic properties including ac conductivity, permittivity, and permeability of percolative Fe/Al2O3 composites, which were prepared by in-situ synthesis process, are investigated in the radio frequency range. There is an obvious percolation transition with the increase of iron contents. When iron content is beyond but near the percolation threshold, the negative permittivity and permeability are simultaneously obtained from 631MHz to 1GHz in sample FA30. Further increasing iron content, the Fano-like resonances are observed, and the resonance frequency where the permittivity changes from negative to positive shifts to lower frequency. In addition, the frequency region of negative permittivity and negative permeability are not overlapped any more. Hopefully, the percolative Fe/Al2O3 composites with tunable negative permittivity and negative permeability can be used as electromagnetic wave absorber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To observe the serum inflammatory and coagulation factors changes and clinical significance following carotid artery stenting. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expressions of serum inflammatory factors including IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, sICAM-1, hs-CRP, and TNF-α and serum coagulation factors including prothrombin time (PT), active partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen (FIB), D-dimer (DD), and fibrin degradation products (FDP) were determined in 92 patients who had undergone carotid artery stenting before, 24h, 48h, 3 days and 1 week after the surgery. As well, 92 subjects who did not receive stenting were enrolled in the angiography group, amongst whom the same variables were determined. RESULTS: In the stenting group, the expressions of hs-CRP, TNF-α, sICAM-1, IL-6, IL-8, FIB, and DD were significantly increased after the surgery (p < 0.05): hs-CRP reached a peak 48h after the surgery; TNF-α, sICAM-1, and IL-6 maintained at high levels at days 3-7; and FIB and DD increased 48h and 3d after the surgery. Compared with the angiography group, the expressions of hs-CRP, TNF-α, sICAM-1, and IL-8 (24h after the surgery) as well as FIB and DD (48h and 3d after the surgery) were significantly higher in the stenting group. CONCLUSIONS: The hs-CRP, TNF-α, sICAM-1, IL-8, FIB, and DD increased after carotid artery stenting and, therefore, can serve as important factors for monitoring for acute postoperative complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Radix Polygalae (“Yuan Zhi”, the roots of Polygala tenuifolia Willd., YZ) is an important herb used in traditional Chinese medicine to mediate depression. The present study was designed to verify the antidepressant effects of the standardized YZ ethanol extract (YZE) and its four fractions YZ-30, YZ-50, YZ-70 and YZ-90 on the tail suspension (TST) and forced swimming test (FST). Furthermore, the standardization of the fractions obtained from the separation procedures was carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-fingerprint. The YZ-50 fraction (Oligosaccharide esters –enriched, oral (200mg/kg) showed a significant anti-immobility like effects. The data of YZ-50 on the corticosterone-induced injure of SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cell indicated that YZ-50 may have biological effects on neuroprotection. Proliferation of cell lines was assessed by dimethylthiazoldiphenyltetrazoliumbromide (MTT) and 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation assays. It was found that YZ-50 and its two bioactive compounds, 3,6′-di-o-sinapoyl-sucrose (DISS) and tenuifoliside A(TEA) showed protection activities in SY5Y cells from the lesion. By using bioassay-screening methods, our results indicate that the presence of oligosaccharide esters such as DISS and TEA in this herb may be responsible for the cytoprotective activity effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The accurate analysis on temperature field of material or component is an engineering problem. Combining the interpolating reproducing kernel particle method and boundary integral equations of heat conduction, the boundary particle method to calculate homogeneous material temperature fields has been formed. The numerical examples which have been solved by this new method have shown the advantage of meshless method and greater precision and have proved that this new method is an effective numerical algorithm to solve the temperature fields of homogeneous material components as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]