Pain management of nalbuphine and sufentanil in patients admitted intensive care unit of different ages.

Background: Pain relief for patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) can improve treatment outcomes and reduce the burden on doctors and nurses. This study aims to report the clinical analgesic and sedative effects of nalbuphine and sufentanil on ICU patients.

Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 87 critically ill patients who received nalbuphine or sufentanil infusion in the ICU, including demographic data, diagnosis, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II, Critical Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT), Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate and blood oxygen saturation (SpO).

NFAT Overexpression Correlates with CA72-4 and Poor Prognosis of Ovarian Clear-Cell Carcinoma Subtype.

Current biomarkers did not overcome the limitations of clinical application due to the heterogeneity of ovarian tumors. The role of nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) in the prognosis of different histological subtypes of ovarian cancer remains unclear. NFAT expression was analyzed in 302 ovarian tumors from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset and was further confirmed by 88 ovarian tumor specimens, including 30 clear-cell carcinoma, 34 serous carcinoma, and 24 papillary serous cystadenocarcinoma.

Higher expression of calcineurin predicts poor prognosis in unique subtype of ovarian cancer.

Background: The role of calcineurin/NFAT signaling in ovarian cancer has been unknown. NFAT was significantly overexpressed in ovarian cancer tissues and that overexpression of NFAT was significantly associated with metastasis and poor prognosis on clinical tissue level. To investigate whether NFAT upstream protein, calcineurin (CN), affects the prognosis in various histological subtype of ovarian cancer (OC).

Autophagy Enhancing Contributes to the Organ Protective Effect of Alpha-Lipoic Acid in Septic Rats.

Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) reportedly has protective effects against sepsis, which is a leading cause of mortality worldwide and is associated with multiple organ dysfunction. The present study aimed to investigate further the possible action mechanisms of ALA. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) in order to establish a sepsis model.

MIP-1α induces inflammatory responses by upregulating chemokine receptor 1/chemokine receptor 5 and activating c-Jun N-terminal kinase and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways in acute pancreatitis.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the association of macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α (CCL3) expression with the severity of acute pancreatitis (AP).

Methods: The patients with AP were selected and divided into mild AP (MAP), moderately severe AP (MSAP), and severe AP (SAP) groups according to the severity of AP. The pancreatic acinar cell line Ar42 j was treated with cerulein to induce in vitro cell AP model.

microRNA-542-5p protects against acute lung injury in mice with severe acute pancreatitis by suppressing the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway through the negative regulation of P21-activated kinase 1.

Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) is a condition associated with high rates of mortality and lengthy hospital stays. In the current study, SAP mouse models were established in BALB/c wild-type and P21-activated kinase 1 (PAK1) knockdown mice with the objective of determining the expression of microRNA-542-5p (miR-542-5p) and the subsequent elucidation of the mechanism by which it influences acute lung injury (ALI) by mediating mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling and binding to PAK1. The targeting relationship between miR-542-5p and PAK1 was verified using the bioinformatics prediction website and by the means of a dual-luciferase reporter assay.

MicroRNA-339-3p alleviates inflammation and edema and suppresses pulmonary microvascular endothelial cell apoptosis in mice with severe acute pancreatitis-associated acute lung injury by regulating Anxa3 via the Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.

Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) is a disease with a high mortality. Patients with SAP may also be complicated with acute lung injury (ALI). So far the therapy for SAP-ALI is still limited.

[Effect of vitamin D on the severity and prognosis of patients with sepsis: a prospective randomized double-blind placebo study].

Objective: To observe the relationship between vitamin D and the severity as well as prognosis in patients with sepsis, and to explore whether exogenous vitamin D can improve the prognosis in patients with sepsis.

Methods: A prospective randomized double-blind placebo study was conducted. Fifty-seven patients with sepsis admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) of Shengjing Hospital Affiliated to China Medical University from March to November in 2015 were enrolled.

The neutrophil elastase inhibitor, sivelestat, attenuates sepsis-related kidney injury in rats.

Sepsis-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) represents a major cause of mortality in intensive care units. Sivelestat, a selective inhibitor of neutrophil elastase (NE), can attenuate sepsis-related acute lung injury. However, whether sivelestat can preserve kidney function during sepsis remains unclear.

Rosiglitazone attenuates renal injury caused by hyperlipidemic pancreatitis.

Hyperlipidemic pancreatitis (HP) is a serious inflammatory disease with very high mortality and multiple organ injuries including renal injury. Rosiglitazone (Ros), an agonist of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ), was reported to show a protective role against pancreatitis. However, whether Ros has an effect on renal injury caused by HP is not yet clear.

When to initialize enteral nutrition in patients with severe acute pancreatitis? A retrospective review in a single institution experience (2003-2013).

Objective: The present retrospective study aimed to analyze the optimal time to initiate enteral nutrition (EN) in patients with severe acute pancreatitis at a single Chinese institution (China Medical University Hospital).

Methods: A total of 1196 patients with severe acute pancreatitis were admitted in the intensive care unit between November 2003 and June 2013; 1092 patients were selected and were divided into the early and delayed EN groups, according to their initial timing of EN.

Results: Five hundred sixty-six patients were administered with the delayed EN, and 526 with the early EN.

Alpha-lipoic acid exerts anti-inflammatory effects on lipopolysaccharide-stimulated rat mesangial cells via inhibition of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway.

Sepsis is often initiated by invasive infection, characterized by overwhelming induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The incidence and mortality of sepsis and the associated development of acute kidney injury (AKI) remain high, and lines of research into potential treatments are needed. This study was conducted to investigate effects of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) on septic AKI in vitro.

[The effects of preconditioning and postconditioning with isoflurane on focal cerebral ischemi/reperfusion injury in rats].

Objective: To investigate the effects of preconditioning and postconditioning with isoflurane on pro-inflammatory cytokines and lipid peroxidation in focal cerebral ischemic/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats.

Methods: Thirty-two Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups: control group, model group, isoflurane preconditioning group and isoflurane postconditioning group, with 8 rats in each group. Rats in control group did not receive any challenge.

Integrin alphavbeta6 is involved in measles protein-induced airway immune suppression.

Background And Aims: Measles infection causes immune suppression that contributes to morbidity and mortality of the patients; the mechanism is poorly understood. Regulatory T cells (Treg) play a critical role in immune suppression. Integrin alphavbeta6 (avb6) is associated with Treg's function.

Total enteral nutrition in prevention of pancreatic necrotic infection in severe acute pancreatitis.

Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the effects of total enteral nutrition and total parenteral nutrition in prevention of pancreatic necrotic infection in severe acute pancreatitis.

Methods: One hundred seven patients were enrolled in the study between 2003 and 2007. In the first week of hospitalization, they were randomized to feeding by either total parenteral nutrition (54 patients) or total enteral nutrition (53 patients).

Increased superoxide radical with a decrease in vascular endothelial growth factor and inducible nitric oxide synthase level leads to the progression of left ventricular hypertrophy in a pressure-overload rat heart model.

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the relationship among free radicals and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) during the progression of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in pressure-overload rat heart.

Methods: Hypertrophied rat heart created by abdominal aortic banding at the age of 4 weeks was studied at the ages of 14, 15, 18, 21, 26, and 30 weeks (n=5 in each group). Free radicals were detected by an electron spin resonance (ESR) method using LV tissue.

Preoperative evaluation of the right gastroepiploic artery using abdominal ultrasonography.

Preoperative evaluation of the right gastroepiploic artery was performed by abdominal ultrasonography to determine whether the graft was adequate for coronary artery bypass. The gastroepiploic artery was used when the graft diameter was greater than 2 mm with pulsatile flow. Postoperative angiography revealed the gastroepiploic artery dominant, and the graft diameter measured by angiography was almost the same size as that of abdominal ultrasonography.

Platelet preservation with a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor in a porcine cardiopulmonary bypass model.

Background: We tested whether administration of FK633, a short-acting glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor, before median sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass was able to interrupt the platelet activation loop and thereby preserve platelet number and function.

Methods: This study investigated 16 pigs that underwent median sternotomy and 120 minutes of normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (100 mL/kg) adding pericardial blood to the perfusate. FK633 was administered with heparin to one group (group F, n = 8), whereas only heparin was administered to the control group (group C, n = 8).

Surgical repair for chronic traumatic thoracic aneurysm after 12-year follow-up.

A 39-year-old man underwent surgical repair of chronic traumatic thoracic aneurysm after 12-year follow-up at our hospital. Eighteen years prior to surgery, he had been involved in a traffic accident, suffering a left hemopneumothorax. Chronic traumatic thoracic aneurysm is extremely rare that few guidelines for surgical intervention exist for this disorder.