Inhaled therapy has become a crucial treatment option for respiratory diseases like asthma, cystic fibrosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), delivering drugs directly to bronchial and alveolar tissues. However, traditional static cell models, while valuable for studying pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD), fall short in replicating the dynamic nature of physiological breathing. In this study, we present a breathing lung chip model that integrates a dynamic breathing mechanism with an air-liquid interface (ALI) culture environment to overcome these limitations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSchizophrenia is a complex neuro-psychiatric disorder including positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and cognitive deficits. A key cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia is a deficit in visual working memory (VWM). VWM involves three distinct stages: encoding, maintenance, and retrieval.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Postoperative pain control is pivotal for surgical care; it facilitates patient recovery. Although patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) has been available for decades, inadequate pain control remains. Nurses' knowledge of and attitude toward PCA may influence the efficacy on clinic application.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHyperglycemia has deleterious effects on pancreatic β-cells, causing dysfunction and insulin resistance that lead to diabetes mellitus (DM). The possible causes of injury can be caused by glucose- or fructose-induced oxidative and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Hawthorn () fruit has been widely used as a hypolipidemic agent in traditional herbal medicine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe injury severity score (ISS) is used in daily practice to evaluate the severity of trauma patients; however, the score is not always consistent with the prognosis. After injury, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and compensatory anti-inflammatory response syndrome (CARS) are related to the prognosis of trauma patients. We aimed to evaluate the associations between the immune response and prognosis in trauma patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this study was to investigate the complementary effects of polyphenolic compounds from pine bark extract (PE) as a strong antioxidative substrate on the symptoms of inattention and impulsivity in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This was a randomized, double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled study that included two experimental units (4 weeks with PE supplementation and 4 weeks with placebo supplementation) separated by a 2-week washout period. ADHD participants were supplemented with 25 mg or 50 mg PE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLots of lithium ion battery (LIB) products contain lithium metal oxide LiNiCoMnO (LNCM) as the positive electrode's active material. The stable surface of this oxide results in high resistivity in the battery. For this reason, conductive carbon-based materials, including acetylene black and carbon black, become necessary components in electrodes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChondroitin sulfate synthases, a family of enzyme involved in chondroitin sulfate (CS) polymerization, are dysregulated in various human malignancies, but their roles in glioma remain unclear. We performed database analysis and immunohistochemistry on human glioma tissue, to demonstrate that the expression of CHSY1 was frequently upregulated in glioma, and that it was associated with adverse clinicopathologic features, including high tumor grade and poor survival. Using a chondroitin sulfate-specific antibody, we showed that the expression of CHSY1 was significantly associated with CS formation in glioma tissue and cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWork-related stress (WS) can result in considerable and extensive changes in physiological and psychological performance. WS beyond the optimal levels induces anxiety, confusion, exhaustion, and burnout. Chronic WS affects neurocognitive performance, particularly attention and visuospatial memory.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZhongguo Zhen Jiu
July 2014
Objective: To explore the clinical efficacy and action mechanism of acupuncture for premature ovarian failure (POF).
Methods: According to prospective cohort study design, 30 cases were included. Based on theory of regulating Chong and Conception Vessels as well as soothing the liver and calming the nerves, acupuncture at Guanyuan (CV 4), Dahe (KI 12), Taixi (KI 3), Taichong (LR 3), Baihui (GV 20) was applied, three times per week and 3 months were considered as one session.
Increasing evidence shows that acupuncture therapy may have a role in promoting fertilization. Authors of the present paper collected the related articles in English published from January 2003 to May 2013 in databases of Ovid Medline, Maternity and Infant Care and Medline (Pubmed), and made an analysis. Results of many randomized controlled clinical trials (RCT) indicated that acupuncture intervention had a positive role in raising pregnancy rate, fetus surviving rate of the transplanted embryo, and increasing the neuropeptide Y content in the ollicular fluid in patients experiencing embryo transplantation, and in raising survival rate of zygote, conception rate of embryo transplantation, and in improving azoospermia in patients undergoing in vitro fertilization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZhongguo Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi
February 2014
After searching for literature about the specificity of acupoints from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database (in Chinese) and MEDLINE (in English), published by Chinese scholars from June 2003 to June 2012, the authors made a systemic analysis on the retrieved papers. It was found that most Chinese scholars took a positive viewpoint about the specificity of acupoints in morphological structure, biophysical characters, pathological reactions, acupuncture stimulation-induced responses in different brain regions and therapeutic effects. However, the research methods and comprehensive analysis of abundant research results need being improved, and the conclusion should be validated extensively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To observe the influence of electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation of "Hegu" (LI 4) and "Sanyinjiao"(SP 6; a classical delivery-facilitating acupoint recipe) at different parameters on endocrine hormone levels of late-stage pregnant rats, so as to find the better stimulation parameters for delivery facilitation.
Methods: Ninety-six female Wistar rats were randomly divided into eight groups: normal control (normal), pregnancy (model), EA-15 Hz, EA-30 Hz, EA-50 Hz, EA-2 Hz/ 15 Hz, EA-2 Hz/30 Hz and EA-2 Hz/50 Hz, with 12 rats in each group except EA-30 Hz group (n = 10). EA stimulation (0.
Heterozygosity-fitness correlations (HFCs) provide insights into the genetic bases of individual fitness variation in natural populations. However, despite decades of study, the biological significance of HFCs is still under debate. In this study, we investigated HFCs in a large population of the sexually dimorphic lizard Takydromus viridipunctatus (Lacertidae).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To observe the mechanism of the optimized traditional acupuncture prescription for accouchement on cervical ripening based on the molecular biology by observing related indices of cervical ripening in late-stage pregnant rats.
Methods: Twenty initial pregnant Wistar rats were randomly divided into an electroacupuncture (EA) group (n = 10) and a model group (n = 10), and other 10 non-pregnancy female rats with same lot were selected as a blank control group. EA group was treated with the optimized traditional acupuncture prescription for accouchement on the 20th day of pregnant, which performed EA at bilateral "Hegu" (LI 4) for 20 min and then at bilateral "Sanyinjiao" (SP 6) for 5 min with 2 Hz/50 Hz sparse-dense wave, while the other groups without acupuncture intervention.
Through CNKI retrieval, 40 articles were selected from Medical Journals published between January 2003 and December 2011, and the study designs, intervention methods and conclusions of the articles were analyzed. It turned out that in the area of clinical research, the main usage of acupuncture was assist treatment of artificial abortion and drug-induced abortion: in artificial abortion, acupuncture can play a role in analgesia, artificial abortion syndrome relieving, and cervix dilating, while in the drug induced abortion, acupuncture can play a role in improving completed abortion rate, accelerating foetal sac release, decreasing side effects and regulating postoperative bleeding. In mechanism research, the effect of acupuncture on uterine tissue was revealed in terms of neuroendocrine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) at different frequencies on serum estradiol (E2), progesterone (P), thromboxance B2 (TXB2), 6-Keton-prostaglandin F 1 alpha (6-keto-PGF1alpha) contents in late pregnancy rats so as to study its mechanisms underlying labor promotion.
Methods: A total of 66 late-stage pregnant Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups: normal control, late-pregnancy model (model), 2 Hz-EA, 20 Hz-EA, 50 Hz-EA and 100 Hz-EA groups, with 11 rats in each group. On the 19th day after pregnancy, EA (2 Hz, 20 Hz, 50 Hz, 100 Hz, 0.
In the present review, the authors sumarrize current situations about application of acupuncture and moxibustion therapies in the maternity department in countries outside China in accordance with 68 articles in English published from 2000 to 2011. The clinical application includes: 1) dilivery processing, 2) lumbo-sacrodynia, 3) dilivery pain, 4) pregnancy problems, 5) problems of post-dilivery, 6) conversion of fetal breech presentation, 7) nausea and vomitting during early pregnancy, 8) safety, 9) depression during pregnancy, and 10) blood supply of fetus. In addition, the retrieved papers include 13 review papers, 4 survey papers and one animal study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBased on the retrieval of literatures at home and abroad from 2000 to 2011, the evaluation indices of acupuncture clinical trials for primary dysmenorrhea (PD) were analyzed. The results indicated that in domestic area the reports were more concerned with the improvement of clinical symptoms and signs while paid less attention on the objective evaluation methodology, on the other hand, the studies abroad generally took many kinds of scales as their evaluation indices and focused on the patients' quality and activity of daily life. The authors suggeste that our clinical research, according to the designed intentions, should combine the general indicators with the specific indicators of diseases to have a more comprehensive evaluation on the effects of acupuncture for PD in clinical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZhongguo Zhen Jiu
January 2012
Erwinia chrysanthemi is a devastating bacterial pathogen in Phalaenopsis amabilis and causes soft-rotting disease by secretion of cell wall-degrading enzymes. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the interaction of P. amabilis with E.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To select the most effective parameters of electroacupuncture (EA) at Hegu (LI4) and Sanyinjiao (SP6), a traditional acupuncture formula that induces labor, by comparing its effects on uterine contraction in late-stage pregnant rats, so as to improve the effects of acupuncture on induction of labor and its clinical maneuverability and provide the basis for further mechanism research.
Methods: One hundred and eight female healthy adult Wistar rats were randomly divided into eight groups including one non-pregnancy control group (normal control group) and seven pregnant groups. Pregnant rats were prepared by free mating and vaginal plugs observation method and were randomly divided into six EA groups and one no EA group (model group) according to the requirements of a 2×3 factorial design.
Zhongguo Zhen Jiu
October 2010
Using literature research in CNKI, VIP, and CBM from 2002 to 2008, sixty-five papers were retrieved. The results reveals that the research of acupuncture application in inducing labor focused on clinical practices, acupuncture has remarkable effectiveness and its advantages in facilitating contractions, shortening birth process, and elevating labor pain. However, the clinical trials demands large sample of multi-center randomized controlled trials, improved standard evaluation system, consistency in research, and further exploration in basic re search.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSignaling pathways, specifically calcium and calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK), have been implicated in the regulation of stress and developmental signals in plants. Here, we reported the isolation and characterization of an orchid, Phalaenopsis amabilis, CDPK gene, PaCDPK1, by using the rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE)-PCR technique. The full length cDNA of 2,310 bp contained an open reading frame for PaCDPK1 consisting of 593 amino acid residues.
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