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Introduction: Nerve block is widely used for pain management after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). Thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB), erector spinae plane block (ESPB), serratus anterior plane block (SAPB), and intercostal nerve block (ICNB) are alternative treatments. Material and methods: Network meta-analysis based on Bayesian analyses was performed to obtain results for direct comparison, indirect comparison, and network comparison, and to make rankings based on probabilities. Covariates were adjusted to determine the effect of the covariates on results of this study. Results: The study identified 61 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (4468 patients). There were results of probability ranking for the first ("best" treatment): 24 h morphine consumption, TPVB > ESPB > ICNB > SAPB. Covariate adjustment allowed the four treatments to change somewhat in the likelihood of the best choice. Conclusions: TPVB ranks best in our analysis. ESPB is a viable alternative. SAPB and ICNB seem to play a limited role in postoperative pain management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the polyacrylonitrile monolayer/composite nanofibrous membranes were successfully fabricated at different processing parameters. As expected, compared with monolayer membranes, the composite membrane revealed high breaking strength, high breaking elongation, high porosity, and good filtration performance. The composite method used in this article also provides new ideas for designing filter materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work conducted an investigation on the water retention value (WRV) of pulp fibers measured by the conventional centrifugation method (with a screen filter) and the maximum content of fiber bonding water (MCFBW) measured by a headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC), a method with no fine loss, developed recently. The results showed there is an excellent correlation (R2 = 0.988) between these two methods. However, the WRVs measured by the centrifugation method are consistent lower than the MCFBWs from the HS-GC method and the absolute differences were significantly increases for the refined pulp fibers, i. e., about 50-70 compared to 30+ for the pulps without treatment. The information from this study provides the insight of the real WRVs of the pulps from different processes.

The water-retaining capabilities of bleached chemical pulps treated by the oven-, air-, vacuum-, and freeze-drying modes were determined with use of a reliable the headspace gas chromatographic method (HS-GC) developed recently. The results showed that reliable water retention data could be determined by the HS-GC method only in the case of air-dried pulp. This result was supplemented by observations of the surface morphology of the fibers from these drying processes. The present HS-GC method can be used for checking the differences of wettability (at a given equilibration time) of pulp specimens from different drying modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry working in multiple reaction monitoring mode, an analytical method has been established to simultaneously determine flavonol glycosides, terpene lactones, biflavones, proanthocyanidins, and ginkgolic acids in Ginkgo biloba leaves. Chromatographic separation was carried out on an Acquity BEH C18 column (100 mm x 2.1mm, 1.7 μm) with gradient elution of acetonitrile and 0.10% formic acid (v/v) at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min, and column temperature 30°C. The developed method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy, precision, stability, and sensitivity. The optimized method was successfully applied to analyze twenty-two G. biloba leaf samples of fruit cultivars collected from different places in China. Furthermore, hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) was performed to evaluate and classify the samples according to the contents of the twenty-four chemical constituents. All of the results demonstrated that the developed method was useful for the overall evaluation of the quality of G. biloba leaves, and this study was also helpful for the comprehensive utilization and development of G. biloba resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]