Novel β-lactam antibiotics versus other antibiotics for treatment of complicated urinary tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Novel β-lactam antibiotics as well as other kinds of antibiotics have been used to treat complicated urinary tract infections (cUTIs); however, their efficacy and safety remain controversial.

Objective: We conducted a systematic review with meta-analysis to explore the efficacy and safety of novel β-lactam antibiotics versus other antibiotics against cUTIs.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched systematically from inception through 15 March 2024 for clinical trials comparing novel β-lactam antibiotics with other antibiotics for treatment of cUTIs.

Chinese Anesthesiology Milestones in Resident Evaluation: Reliability, Validity, and Correlation with Objective Examination Scores: a Cross-sectional Study.

Background: Evaluating competency acquisition during residency training is crucial. The Anesthesiology Milestones have been implemented in the United States. The China Consortium of Elite Teaching Hospitals for Residency Education has also developed the Chinese Resident Core Competency Milestone Evaluation System.

In vitro antioxidant and protective effects of the extract of Broussonetia papyrifera leaves on imiquimod-induced skin lesions in psoriasis-like mice.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory immune-related skin disease. According to literature reports, the leaves of Broussonetia papyrifera exhibit antioxidant, immune-enhancing and antibacterial effects. These leaves are not only used clinically for the treatment of superficial fungal infections and hepatitis, but also used in the development of health food.

Naoxintong capsule accelerates mitophagy in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury via TP53/PINK1/PRKN pathway based on network pharmacology analysis and experimental validation.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: The incidence and mortality of cerebrovascular diseases are increasing year by year. Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (CIRI) is common in patients with ischemic stroke. Naoxintong (NXT) is composed of a variety of Chinese medicines and has the ability to treat CIRI.

High-flow nasal cannula oxygen reduced hypoxemia in patients undergoing gastroscopy under general anesthesia at ultra-high altitude: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Hypoxemia can occur in people at ultra-high altitude (above 3500 m) even at rest, and patients undergoing gastroscopy under general anesthesia have higher risk of hypoxemia. Supplementary oxygen via standard nasal cannula (SNC) is the standard of care for most patients who undergo gastroscopy under general anesthesia, which provides oxygen flow up to 15 L/min. High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) could deliver oxygen at a rate up to 60 L/min, which is recommended by the American Society of Anesthesiologists Practice Guidelines.

Differences between resident self-assessments and faculty- assessments on Anesthesiology Milestones and associated factors: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Accurate self-assessment is crucial for the professional development of physicians. There has been sparse data on the accuracy of self-assessments on Anesthesiology Milestones. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences between resident self-assessments and faculty-assessments on Anesthesiology Milestones and the associated factors.

Individualized rotation of left double lumen endobronchial tube to improve placement success rate: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: In conventional practice, the left double lumen tube (DLT) is rotated 90° counterclockwise when the endobronchial cuff passes glottis. Success rate upon the first attempt is < 80%, likely owing to varying morphology of the bronchial bifurcation.

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare 90° counterclockwise rotation versus individualized degree of rotation in adult patients undergoing elective thoracic surgery using left DLT.

Partial Substitution of Whey Protein Concentrate with Spray-Dried Porcine Plasma or Soy Protein Isolate in Milk Replacer Differentially Modulates Ileal Morphology, Nutrient Digestion, Immunity and Intestinal Microbiota of Neonatal Piglets.

Appropriate protein sources are vital for the growth, development and health of neonates. Twenty-four 2-day-old piglets were randomly divided into three groups and fed isoenergetic and isonitrogenous diets. The experimental diets included a milk replacer with 17.

Carbapenems β-lactam and β-lactamase inhibitors for treatment of nosocomial pneumonia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Carbapenems and β-lactam and β-lactamase inhibitors (BLBLIs) have been used empirically in nosocomial pneumonia, but their efficacy and safety are controversial.

Objective: We carried out a systematic review with meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of carbapenems versus BLBLIs against nosocomial pneumonia.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CNKI, Wangfang, VIP and Sinomed were searched systematically through April 29, 2023 for clinical trials comparing carbapenems with BLBLIs for treatment of nosocomial pneumonia.

What we have learned from a patient with partial tracheal rupture caused by penetrating neck injuries: a case report.

Background: Airway management of patients with direct airway trauma caused by penetrating neck injuries is always challenging. When a failed airway occurs and surgery access is difficult, it is crucial to find the optimal approach to save the life. We propose the concept "Cannot intubate, Cannot oxygenate, Difficult surgery access" to describe this emergency scenario.

Gastrodin ameliorates learning and memory impairment in rats with vascular dementia by promoting autophagy flux via inhibition of the Ca/CaMKII signal pathway.

Vascular dementia (VD) is a common disease that occurs during human aging. Gastrodin (GAS) has potential benefits for the prevention and treatment of VD. In the present study, we investigated the effects of GAS on cognitive dysfunction in rats with VD induced by permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAO) and explored the underlying mechanism.

Low-Dose Mitomycin C Decreases the Postoperative Recurrence Rate of Pterygium by Perturbing NLRP3 Inflammatory Signalling Pathway and Suppressing the Expression of Inflammatory Factors.

A pterygium is generally believed to be a chronic inflammatory lesion caused by external stimuli that develops from the conjunctiva and grows onto the cornea. Simple bare sclera excision is the most commonly used method to treat pterygium. However, the high postoperative recurrence rate of pterygium remains a persistent challenge.

Direct electron-beam patterning of transferrable plasmonic gold nanoparticles using a HAuCl/PVP composite resist.

Reliable fabrication of gold nanoparticles with desirable size, geometry and spatial arrangement is essential for plasmonic applications. A common fabrication flow usually involves electron-beam lithography and a vacuum-evaporation-based lift-off process or etching. In this work, we evaluate an alternative approach to directly fabricate a plasmonic gold nanoparticle array without involving the vacuum evaporation process by using a chloroauric acid/poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (HAuCl4/PVP) hybrid as a functional electron-beam resist.

Sensitive SERS detection at the single-particle level based on nanometer-separated mushroom-shaped plasmonic dimers.

Elevated metallic nanostructures with nanogaps (<10 nm) possess advantages for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) via the synergic effects of nanogaps and efficient decoupling from the substrate through an elevated three-dimensional (3D) design. In this work, we demonstrate a pattern-transfer-free process to reliably define elevated nanometer-separated mushroom-shaped dimers directly from 3D resist patterns based on the gap-narrowing effect during the metallic film deposition. By controlling the initial size of nanogaps in resist structures and the following deposited film thickness, metallic nanogaps could be tuned at the sub-10 nm scale with single-digit nanometer precision.

Bronchial suction does not facilitate lung collapse when using a double-lumen tube during video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Bronchial suction through the lumen of a bronchial blocker has been reported to accelerate lung collapse. The aim of the current study was to examine whether bronchial suction could also facilitate lung collapse when using a double-lumen tube (DLT).

Methods: Eighty patients scheduled for elective video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for lung cancer using a DLT for one-lung ventilation (OLV) were randomised into an arm that received bronchial suction and an arm that underwent spontaneous collapse (n=40 per arm).

Direct patterning of highly-conductive graphene@copper composites using copper naphthenate as a resist for graphene device applications.

We report an electron-beam lithography process to directly fabricate graphene@copper composite patterns without involving metal deposition, lift-off and etching processes using copper naphthenate as a high-resolution negative-tone resist. As a commonly used industrial painting product, copper naphthenate is extremely cheap with a long shelf time but demonstrates an unexpected patterning resolution better than 10 nm. With appropriate annealing under a hydrogen atmosphere, the produced graphene@copper composite patterns show high conductivity of ∼400 S cm.

Polarization independent subtractive color printing based on ultrathin hexagonal nanodisk-nanohole hybrid structure arrays.

Structural color printing based on plasmonic metasurfaces has been recognized as a promising alternative to the conventional dye colorants, though the color brightness and polarization tolerance are still a great challenge for practical applications. In this work, we report a novel plasmonic metasurface for subtractive color printing employing the ultrathin hexagonal nanodisk-nanohole hybrid structure arrays. Through both the experimental and numerical investigations, the subtractive color thus generated taking advantages of extraordinary low transmission (ELT) exhibits high brightness, polarization independence and wide color tunability by varying key geometrical parameters.

Sensitive Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Detection Using On-Demand Postassembled Particle-on-Film Structure.

Highly sensitive and low-cost surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates are essential for practical applications of SERS. In this work, we report an extremely simple but effective approach to achieve sensitive SERS detection of molecules (down to 10 M) by using a particle/molecule/film sandwich configuration. Compared to conventional SERS substrates which are preprepared to absorb analyte molecules for detection, the proposed sandwich configuration is achieved by postassembling a flexible transparent gel tape embedded with plasmonic nanoparticles onto an Au film decorated with to-be-detected analyte molecules.

Three-dimensional donut-like gold nanorings with multiple hot spots for surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy.

Seeking for the best possible substrates for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is of great interest for single-molecule-level detection applications. Lithographic plasmonic nanostructures are supposed to enable uniform enhancement and thus have attracted extensive interest in the past decade. In this work, we propose and demonstrate a lithographic three-dimensional (3D) donut-like gold nanoring array as a SERS substrate with an enhancement factor (EF) up to 3.

An anti-ultrasonic-stripping effect in confined micro/nanoscale cavities and its applications for efficient multiscale metallic patterning.

We report a method to reliably and efficiently fabricate high-fidelity metallic structures from a ten-nanometer to a millimeter scale based on an anti-ultrasonic-stripping (AUS) effect in confined micro/nanoscale cavities. With this AUS effect, metallic structures, which are surrounded by the pre-patterned closed templates, could be defined through selectively removing the evaporated metallic layer at the top and outside of the templates by ultrasonic-cavitation-induced stripping. Because only pre-patterned templates are required for exposure in this multiscale patterning process, this AUS-based process enables much smaller and more reliable plasmonic nanogaps due to the mitigated proximity effect and allows rapid fabrication of multiscale metallic structures which require both tiny and large structures.

Optimization of the particle density to maximize the SERS enhancement factor of periodic plasmonic nanostructure array.

Low-cost surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate with the largest possible enhancement factor is highly desirable for SERS-based sensing applications. In this work, we systematically investigated how the density of plasmonic nanostructures affects the intensity of SERS signal. By directly depositing of metallic layer on electron-beam-lithography defined dielectric nanoposts, plasmonic structures array with different densities were reliably fabricated for SERS measurements.

Low-voltage-exposure-enabled hydrogen silsesquioxane bilayer-like process for three-dimensional nanofabrication.

We report a bilayer-like electron-beam lithographic process to obtain three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures by using only a single hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) resist layer. The process utilizes the short penetration depth of low-energy (1.5 keV) electron irradiation to first obtain a partially cross-linked HSQ top layer and then uses a high-voltage electron beam (30 keV) to obtain self-aligned undercut (e.

"Sketch and Peel" Lithography for High-Resolution Multiscale Patterning.

We report a unique lithographic process, termed "Sketch and Peel" lithography (SPL), for fast, clean, and reliable patterning of metallic structures from tens of nanometers to submillimeter scale using direct writing technology. The key idea of SPL process is to define structures using their presketched outlines as the templates for subsequent selective peeling of evaporated metallic layer. With reduced exposure area, SPL process enables significantly improved patterning efficiency up to hundreds of times higher and greatly mitigated proximity effect compared to current direct writing strategy.

Surface enhanced Raman scattering of gold nanoparticles supported on copper foil with graphene as a nanometer gap.

Gaps with single-nanometer dimensions (<10 nm) between metallic nanostructures enable giant local field enhancements for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Monolayer graphene is an ideal candidate to obtain a sub-nanometer gap between plasmonic nanostructures. In this work, we demonstrate a simple method to achieve a sub-nanometer gap by dewetting a gold film supported on monolayer graphene grown on copper foil.