Effects of Silybum marianum, Pueraria lobate, combined with Salvia miltiorrhiza tablets on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in adults: A triple-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Background & Aims: Several medicinal plant extracts have demonstrated hepatoprotective effects. However, data are scarce regarding their combined effects on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This study aimed to investigate the effects of tablets containing Silybum marianum, Pueraria lobata, and Salvia miltiorrhiza (SPS) on NAFLD progression in Chinese adults.

Lidocaine pretreatment attenuates inflammatory response and protects against sepsis-induced acute lung injury via inhibiting potassium efflux-dependent NLRP3 activation.

Objective: Sepsis may often result in acute lung injury (ALI), with a high mortality and morbidity. Available evidence indicates that activation of NLRP3 inflammasome to induce macrophage inflammation plays a crucial role in the inflammation progression of ALI and lidocaine can attenuate inflammatory responses. We hypothesized that lidocaine may attenuate inflammatory response and sepsis-induced ALI by inhibiting potassium efflux-dependent NLRP3 activation.

Prospective, randomized comparison of two supplemental oxygen methods during gastroscopy with propofol mono-sedation in obese patients.

Background: Hypoxemia is a common complication in obese patients during gastroscopy with sedation. The Wei nasal jet tube (WNJT) is a new special nasopharyngeal airway with the ability to provide supraglottic jet ventilation and oxygen insufflation its built-in wall channels. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of the WNJT a nasal cannula for supplemental oxygen during gastroscopy with propofol mono-sedation in obese patients.

Comparison of two supplemental oxygen methods during gastroscopy with propofol mono-sedation in patients with a normal body mass index.

Background: Hypoxemia due to respiratory depression and airway obstruction during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with sedation is a common concern. The Wei nasal jet tube (WNJT) is a new nasopharyngeal airway with the ability to provide supraglottic jet ventilation and oxygen insufflation its built-in wall channel. The available evidence indicates that with a low oxygen flow, compared with nasal cannula, the WNJT does not decrease the occurrence of hypoxemia during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with propofol sedation.

Polar Solvent Induced Lattice Distortion of Cubic CsPbI Nanocubes and Hierarchical Self-Assembly into Orthorhombic Single-Crystalline Nanowires.

Despite the recent surge of interest in inorganic lead halide perovskite nanocrystals, there are still significant gaps in their stability disturbance and the understanding of their destabilization, assembly, and growth processes. Here, we discover that polar solvent molecules can induce the lattice distortion of ligand-stabilized cubic CsPbI, leading to the phase transition into orthorhombic phase, which is unfavorable for photovoltaic applications. Such lattice distortion triggers the dipole moment on CsPbI nanocubes, which subsequently initiates the hierarchical self-assembly of CsPbI nanocubes into single-crystalline nanowires.

Ginsenoside Rb1 Attenuates Isoflurane/surgery-induced Cognitive Dysfunction via Inhibiting Neuroinflammation and Oxidative Stress.

Objective: Anesthetic isoflurane plus surgery has been reported to induce cognitive impairment. The underlying mechanism and targeted intervention remain largely to be determined. Ginsenoside Rb1 was reported to be neuroprotective.

Updated incidence rates and risk factors of esophageal cancer in Nan'ao Island, a coastal high-risk area in southern China.

Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most common cancers in China. The purpose of this study was to investigate the updated incidence rates and risk factors of EC in Nan'ao Island, where the EC incidence rate was chronically the highest in southern China. To calculate the annual incidence rate, data on 338 EC cases from Nan'ao Cancer Registry system diagnosed during 2005-2011 were collected.

Ginsenoside Rg1 Attenuates Isoflurane-induced Caspase-3 Activation via Inhibiting Mitochondrial Dysfunction.

Objective: The inhalation anesthetic isoflurane has been shown to induce mitochondrial dysfunction and caspase activation, which may lead to learning and memory impairment. Ginsenoside Rg1 is reported to be neuroprotective. We therefore set out to determine whether ginsenoside Rg1 can attenuate isoflurane-induced caspase activation via inhibiting mitochondrial dysfunction.

PB/PANI-modified electrode used as a novel oxygen reduction cathode in microbial fuel cell.

This study focuses on the preparation of a new type of Prussian Blue/polyaniline (PB/PANI)-modified electrode as oxygen reduction cathode, and its availability in microbial fuel cell (MFC) for biological power generation. The PB/PANI-modified electrode was prepared by electrochemical and chemical methods, both of which exhibited good electrocatalytical reactivity for oxygen reduction in acidic electrolyte. The MFC with PB/PANI-modified cathode aerated by either oxygen or air was shown to yield a maximum power density being the same with that of the MFC with liquid-state ferricyanide cathode, and have an excellent duration as indicated by stable cathode potential for more than eight operating circles.

Relationship between depth of anesthesia and effect-site concentration of propofol during induction with the target-controlled infusion technique in elderly patients.

Background: There are few studies to assess whether the effect-site concentration of propofol can predict anesthetic depth during the target-controlled infusion (TCI) induction in elderly patients. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between effect-site concentration of propofol and depth of anesthesia during the TCI induction in elderly patients.

Methods: Ninety patients (60 - 80 years) with an American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status of 1 - 3, undergoing scheduled abdominal and thoracic surgery under general anesthesia were randomly allocated into one of three groups, Group S1, S2 and S3 (30 patients in each group).

Conjugation of a water-soluble gadolinium endohedral fulleride with an antibody as a magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent.

Water-soluble gadofullerides exhibited high efficiency as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. In this paper, we report the conjugation of the newly synthesized gadofulleride, Gd@C82O6(OH) 16(-)(NHCH2CH2COOH)8, with the antibody of green fluorescence protein (anti-GFP), as a model for "tumor targeted" imaging agents based on endohedral metallofullerenes. In this model system, the activity of the anti-GFP conjugate can be conveniently detected by green fluorescence protein (GFP), leading to in vitro experiments more direct and facile than those of tumor antibodies.

TINY, a dehydration-responsive element (DRE)-binding protein-like transcription factor connecting the DRE- and ethylene-responsive element-mediated signaling pathways in Arabidopsis.

Dehydration-responsive element-binding proteins (DREBs) and ethylene-responsive element (ERE) binding factors are two major subfamilies of the AP2/ethylene-responsive element-binding protein family and play crucial roles in the regulation of abiotic- and biotic-stress responses, respectively. In the present work, we have reported a previously identified DREB-like factor, TINY, that was involved in both abiotic- and biotic-stress signaling pathways. TINY was capable of binding to both DRE and ERE with similar affinity and could activate the expression of reporter genes driven by either of these two elements in tobacco cells.

[Comparision of different interventional therapies for primary liver cancer].

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of different interventional therapies for primary hepatic cell cancer (HCC).

Methods: 1126 HCC patients before or after hepatectomy were treated by different kinds of interventional therapies: transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE), TACE and radio-frequency ablation (RFA), Chinese traditional medicine and biotherapy after TACE or the transcatheter arterial infusion (TAI). The results of liver function, alpha-fetoprotein, imaging, color-ultrasonography and survival rate were reviewed.

Comparison of therapeutic effectiveness of combined interventional therapy for 1126 cases of primary liver cancer.

Aim: To verify the effect of combined interventional therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: The clinical data of 1126 HCC patients who received combined interventional therapy for transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) before or after hepatectomy, TACE and radio-frequency ablation (RFA), Chinese medicine treatment and biotherapy after TACE or transcatheter arterial infusion (TAI), were reviewed according to the results of their liver function, alpha-fetoprotein, image data, color-ultrasonography finding and survival rate.

Results: A total of 874 patients were followed up for a period of 2 to 63 mo.

Study of fibrinogen adsorption on self-assembled monolayers on Au(111) by atomic force microscopy.

The adsorption of plasma protein fibrinogen on the self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of n-hexadecyl mercaptan and citrate was investigated with atomic force microscopy (AFM). On the basis of the preparation of these two flat SAMs on Au(111), high-resolution AFM images of bovine fibrinogen were obtained with different protein concentrations. The results indicated that the surface chemical composition significantly affected the adsorption behavior of fibrinogen.

Electrochemical scanning tunneling microscope imaging of self-assembled monolayer of double-stranded DNA on Au(111).

Self-assembled monolayer of a double-stranded DNA, which was formed by a 20-nt 5'-thiol-modified oligonucleotide at the interface of Au(111)/solution, has been imaged and studied with electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy (ECSTM). The results showed that the preferred directions of the adsorbed DNA were <110> and <112>. The measured width of the DNA stripes was 0.