Search

Abstract The rodent running‐wheel recording apparatus is a reliable approach for studying circadian rhythm. This study demonstrated how to construct a simple and intelligent running‐wheel recording system. The running wheel was attached to the cage's base, whereas the Hall sensor was attached to the cage's cover. Then, the RJ25 adaptor relayed the running signal to the main control board. Finally, the main control board was connected to the USB port of the computer with the USB connection. Data were collected using the online‐accessible, self‐created software Magturning. Through Magturning, generated data were saved and exported in real time. Afterward, the device was validated by collecting data on the locomotor activities of mice under different light conditions. In conclusion, this new device can record circadian activity of rodents. Our device is appropriate for interdisciplinary investigations related to biological clock research.

Dispositions of inhalable particles in the human respiratory tract trigger and exacerbate airway inflammatory diseases. However, the particle deposition (PD) in airway of subjects with tracheal bronchus (TB) and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) is unknown. We therefore propose to clarify the disrupted PD associated with TB and COPD using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. Totally nine airway tree models are included. Six are extracted from CT images of different individuals (two with TB, two with COPD, and two healthy controls (HC)). The others are the artificially modified models (AMMs) generated by the virtual lesion. Specifically, they are constructed through artificially adding a tracheal bronchus or a stenosis on one HC model. The deposition efficiency (DE) and deposition fraction (DF) in these models are obtained by the Euler-Lagrange approach, analyzed, and compared across models, locations, and particle sizes (0.1-10.0 micrometers). It is found that the PD in models with TB and COPD has been disrupted by the geometrical changes and followed airflow alternations. DE of the tracheal bronchus is higher for TB models. For COPD, the stenosis location determines the effects on DE and DF. Higher DF at the trachea is observed in TB1, TB2, and COPD2 models. DE increases with the particle size, and DE of the terminal bronchi is higher than that of central regions. Combined with AMMs, the CFD simulation using realistic airway models demonstrates disruptions of DP. The methods and findings might help understand the etiology of pulmonary diseases and improve the efficacy of inhaled medicines.

Acetaminophen (paracetamol) is a first-line treatment for mild and moderate pain. A twice-daily sustained-release (SR) formulation may be more convenient for chronic users than standard immediate-release (IR) acetaminophen. This randomized, 3-way crossover study evaluated pharmacokinetics and safety of single-dose 1500- and 2000-mg SR acetaminophen formulations and 2 doses of IR acetaminophen 1000 mg given 6 hours apart in healthy adults (n = 14). Primary outcome was time that plasma acetaminophen concentration was ≥4 μg/mL (T C≥4μg/mL ). Key secondary outcomes were area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) from time 0 to time t, when plasma acetaminophen was detectable (AUC 0-t ), AUC from 0 to infinity (AUC 0-inf ), and maximum plasma acetaminophen concentration (C max ). T C≥4μg/mL from 2000-mg SR acetaminophen was similar to that from 2 doses of IR acetaminophen, whereas T C≥4μg/mL for 1500-mg SR acetaminophen was significantly shorter than that for IR acetaminophen (P = .004). The extent of acetaminophen absorption from 2000-mg SR and 2 doses of the IR formulation was similar and within bioequivalence limits with regard to AUC 0-12 , AUC 0-t , and AUC 0-inf . The extent of acetaminophen absorption from 1500-mg SR was significantly lower than that from IR acetaminophen. The 2000-mg SR represents a potential candidate formulation for 12-hour dosing with acetaminophen., (© 2017, The American College of Clinical Pharmacology.)

Acetaminophen (APAP; paracetamol), a widely used analgesic and antipyretic, is available in modified-release and immediate-release (IR) formulations requiring 3- or 4-times-daily dosing. This phase 1 open-label crossover study compared pharmacokinetic profiles of single 2000-mg doses of 4 different sustained-release (SR) formulations of APAP (designed to allow twice-daily dosing) against two 1000-mg doses (taken 6 hours apart) of standard IR APAP in 14 healthy volunteers. The primary end point was duration of time that plasma APAP concentration exceeded a plasma concentration (T C ) of 4 μg/mL. Of the 4 SR APAP formulations studied, a single 2000-mg dose of a bilayer SR formulation had the longest mean T C>4μg/mL (8.1 hours), similar to that of 2 doses of IR APAP (8.3 hours). Mean T C>4μg/mL was 7.3 hours with a single-layer SR APAP, 7.5 hours with another single-layer SR APAP formulation using a different excipient, and 7.1 hours with an enteric-coated SR APAP coupled with a fast-dissolving IR APAP. Secondary pharmacokinetic analyses showed a similar extent of absorption and lower peak concentration for the bilayer SR formulation compared with IR APAP. Adverse events were all mild. Based on these results, the bilayer SR APAP formulation was selected for further development., (© 2017, The American College of Clinical Pharmacology.)

Purpose: To develop a four-dimensional MRI (4D-MRI) technique to characterize the average respiratory tumor motion for abdominal radiotherapy planning., Methods: A continuous spoiled gradient echo sequence was implemented with 3D radial trajectory and 1D self-gating for respiratory motion detection. Data were retrospectively sorted into different respiratory phases based on their temporal locations within a respiratory cycle, and each phase was reconstructed by means of a self-calibrating CG-SENSE program. Motion phantom, healthy volunteer and patient studies were performed to validate the respiratory motion detected by the proposed method against that from a 2D real-time protocol., Results: The proposed method successfully visualized the respiratory motion in phantom and human subjects. The 4D-MRI and real-time 2D-MRI yielded comparable superior-inferior (SI) motion amplitudes (intraclass correlation = 0.935) with up-to one pixel mean absolute differences in SI displacements over 10 phases and high cross-correlation between phase-resolved displacements (phantom: 0.985; human: 0.937-0.985). Comparable anterior-posterior and left-right displacements of the tumor or gold fiducial between 4D and real-time 2D-MRI were also observed in the two patients, and the hysteresis effect was shown in their 3D trajectories., Conclusion: We demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed 4D-MRI technique to characterize abdominal respiratory motion, which may provide valuable information for radiotherapy planning., (© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Introduction: Bambusa tuldoides Munro, a bamboo species, is used as a health food, dietary supplement and folk medicine in China, and produces lignans that can be used to supplement other natural sources., Objective: To simultaneously separate eight stereoisomers of a particular type of oxyneolignan by chiral chromatography., Methods: Ninety-five per cent ethanol extracts of B. tuldoides Munro were analysed using HPLC/UV with a chiral column. The structures and configurations of isolated compounds were elucidated using NMR and circular dichroism (CD)., Results: Four diastereoisomers were characterised and given the names oxyneolignans A, B, C and D. Furthermore, each oxyneolignan occurred as a pair of enantiomers. The oxyneolignans A-D consisted of the erythro-diastereoisomer of oxyneolignan at C7 and C8., Conclusion: The chiral chromatography combined with the analysis techniques of NMR and CD reported here were reliable methods for discovering and separating the enantiomers., (Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Lung cancer causes serious health problems. Clinical diagnosis of lung cancer relies on histopathological evalution of tissue specimen. However, extensive knowledge of the metabolic biochemistry of tumors can potentially provide important information for accurate diagnosis of lung cancer. High resolution magic-angle spinning NMR spectroscopy has emerged and be widely acknowledged as an excellent tool in investigating tissue metabolism. Moreover, the combination of high resolution magic-angle spinning NMR technique and multivariate data analysis has become an important metabonomics platform for studying the intact biological tissues. This study reported the metabonomic characteristics of 51 lung tissues from 17 patients with lung cancer using the high resolution magic-angle spinning 1H NMR spectroscopy and the multivariate data analysis methods including principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis. Clear differences among the metabonomic characteristics of lung cancer tissues at various sites were disclosed. Compared with the adjacent noninvolved tissues, the lung cancer tissues had significantly high levels of aspartate, phosphocholine, glycerophosphocholine and lactate but significantly low levels of glucose and valine. Furthermore, significantly positive (or negative) correlations were observed between the levels of some metabolites such as lactate, fatty acids, valine, phosphocholine, and glycerophosphocholine., (Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)