Search

Wheat bran was taken as raw material to extract bran starch by alkaline protease method and ultrasonic-assisted alkaline protease method respectively. After extraction conditions of the two methods were optimized, the granular structure and molecular structure of bran starch were analyzed. The results showed that the optimal extraction conditions by alkaline protease method were as follows: solid-liquid ratio 1∶10 (g∶mL), enzyme dosage 529.92 U/mL, enzyme reaction time 50 min, reaction temperature 45 ℃and pH 12. The yield of starch was 30.40% and its content was 59.24%, while the powder was light brown;the optimal conditions by ultrasonic-assisted alkaline protease method were as follows: solid-liquid ratio 1∶15 g/mL, ultrasonic power 150 W and ultrasonic time 15 min. The yield of bran starch was 21.06% and its content was 90.64%, while the powder was white. The purity and extraction rate of bran starch extracted by ultrasonic-assisted alkaline protease method were better than those by single alkaline protease method.Analysis results showed that branch/straight ratio of the wheat bran starch was 4.69 and broken starch content was 1.78%. The starch bran particles were ellipsoidal, with an average particle size of 15.86 μm and radial crystal structure of A-type.

Summary: The properties of pectin extracted by enzyme‐assisted nitric acid (EAE‐N) and pectin extracted by enzyme‐assisted oxalic acid (EAE‐O) were analysed and compared with pectin extracted by nitric acid (AE‐N) and pectin extracted by oxalic acid (AE‐O) systematically. The yield of pectin obtained by the enzyme‐assisted acid method (23.73% ~ 25.60%) was significantly higher than that by acid extraction method (19.75% ~ 20.60%). Monosaccharide analyses demonstrated that the enzyme‐assisted acid method was able to attain more branched rhamnogalacturonan I (RG‐I) regions (36.59% ~ 42.06%) than using acid solely (31.01% ~ 34.58%). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT–IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) analyses indicated that there was no obvious difference in the characteristic structure of pectin. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) images revealed that EAE‐N and EAE‐O had more short side chains and cross‐link compared with AE‐N and AE‐O. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) shows that EAE‐N and EAE‐O have good thermal stability. All pectin samples showed a shear‐thinning fluid flow behaviour and an elastic gel‐like behaviour. The results suggested that enzyme‐assisted acid provided a viable alternative method for the extraction of pectin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Semen Aesculi, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, has a long history of use for treating chest and abdominal pain with distension. In addition, the horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum L.) is another species of Aesculus in Europe and has notable clinical significance in alleviating chronic venous insufficiency, hemorrhoids, and postoperative edema. Thus, highlighting the comparative study of Semen Aesculi and horse chestnut may broaden clinical applications. Objectives: To conduct a comprehensive comparative analysis on the chemical profiling of these two varieties and determine whether they have equivalent clinical efficacy by integrating plant metabolomics and multivariate statistical methods. Methods: Initially, a comprehensive characterisation was performed using ultra‐performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC‐QTOF‐MS/MS) platform, and in total 44 active ingredients were identified. Then, untargeted metabolomics combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares‐discriminant analysis (PLS‐DA) was applied for the discrimination of a German species and three official Chinese species. Next, 24 marker compounds responsible for the discrimination of different species were screened out and used to predict the species of unknown samples by genetic algorithm‐optimised support vector machine (GA‐SVM) with a high prediction accuracy. Finally, a heatmap visualisation was employed for clarifying the distribution of the identified active ingredients. Results: The three species of Chinese Semen Aesculi showed distinct separation from each other, while European horse chestnut and Aesculus chinensis Bunge were similar in chemical composition. Conclusions: This work provided experimental evidence for further expanding the clinical application of Chinese Semen Aesculi and promoted the species identification and quality control of Semen Aesculi. Semen Aesculi has long been used as a Chinese herbal medicine. However, another species named horse chestnut, is more popular in Europe. To determine whether these two varieties are equivalent in clinical efficacy, a comparative analysis based on metabolomics and chemometrics were built for profiling. The result showed that the Chinese species showed distinct separation, while horse chestnut and Aesculus chinensis Bunge were resemblant in composition. This work provided evidence for further expanding the clinical application of Chinese Semen Aesculi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The acid heating extraction process is commonly employed to extract pectin from citrus peels, which results in the leaching of bioactive constituents into solvents. However, the discharge of these solvents represents a significant loss of valuable resources. To address this issue, this study aims to identify the composition and concentration of the bioactive constituents that escape into the solvents and propose an extraction process based on an ethanol‐salt aqueous two‐phase system (ATPS). The well‐designed ATPS enables the enrichment and recovery of the bioactive constituents, and the findings demonstrate that the ethanol/sodium citrate‐based ATPS can recover up to 80.61% of limonoids, 84.11% of flavonoids, and 88.09% of polyphenols that escape at an enrichment efficiency of 50.00%. Moreover, HPLC‐DAD and UPLC‐HRMS analysis of the ATPS extracts revealed the presence of nine bioactive constituents, including flavonoids, phenolic acids, and limonoids. Remarkably, in vitro antioxidant capacity studies indicate that the ATPS extracts exhibit superior antioxidant activity compared to the vacuum‐concentrated solution. Thus, these results suggest that the application of ATPS extraction is a feasible and promising strategy for the recovery of bioactive constituents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the energy utilization rate and the bond quality of explosive welding, the local water environment method is used in present study. In this paper, several groups of high‐quality Cu/Steel explosive composite pipes are prepared under local water environment. Optical microscope and mechanical property tests are conducted to analyze samples microstructure and mechanical properties. The results show that the waveform dimension of Cu/Steel bonding interface has a positive correlation with explosive layer thickness, and the miniature wavy bonding interface with the highest bonding quality is obtained by using the local water environment method. Compared with the traditional charge method, the consumption of explosives for the local water environment charge method is decreased about 60 % in the same case of experimental conditions. The local water enviroment method solves the problem of ablation damage at the contact surface between metal and explosives, and effectively reduces the diameter expansion phenomenon and end damage caused by boundary effect in the welding process. Through mechanical property tests, it was found that the yield strengths and compressive strengths of Cu/Steel specimens which created by the local water environment method are positively correlated with the explosive thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a novel tick-borne phlebovirus, which is listed in the most dangerous pathogens by the World Health Organization, and has 12–30% fatality rates. SFTSV antibodies were reported in minks that experienced abortion or reproductive failure. The aim of this study was to determine whether SFTSV infection causes an adverse pregnancy outcome in the fetus using a pregnant mouse model. Methodology/Principal findings: We found SFTSV in the fetus after infection in pregnant mice, and some dams showed adverse pregnancy outcomes after infection with SFTSV including placental damage, fetal reabsorption, and fetal intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). SFTSV had obvious tropism characteristics in the placenta, especially in the labyrinth. In early-gestation, pregnant mice infected with SFTSV had fetal IUGR and a high viral load in the fetus. The virus widely spread in infected fetuses, including the hindbrain, thymus, heart, spinal cord, and liver. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that SFTSV was vertically transmitted to the fetus through the placental barrier of immunocompetent mice, and resulted in adverse pregnancy outcomes. Author summary: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease discovered in rural areas of China in 2009, caused by a novel tick-borne phlebovirus, the SFTS virus (SFTSV). At present, SFTS reported cases are increasing, and the epidemic area of SFTSV is expanding. SFTSV is currently endemic in China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam, and has 12–30% fatality rates. This study demonstrated that SFTSV is vertically transmitted to the fetus through the placental barrier of immunocompetent mice, and can result in fetal damage. This study highlights the possible potential impact of SFTSV on pregnant women and livestock. The results suggested that we should actively monitor the pregnancy outcomes of women and livestock infected with SFTSV, and strengthen the study of the pathogenesis of fetal damage caused by SFTSV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common chronic condition that has a significant impact on the biopsychosocial aspects of the patient's life. There is currently no psychometrically validated patient‐reported outcome measure to assess the impact of this condition on the health‐related quality of life. We designed a novel instrument based on common patient statements, prioritized by patient preference. Sixty‐three patients with OSA and 33 participants with no symptoms of sleep‐disordered breathing were asked to complete a 20‐item initial questionnaire. The acceptability, reliability and validity of the instrument were assessed using known psychometric techniques. The instrument had strong acceptability and was completed within 180 s with no missing data. Five items were removed as they had a high ceiling factor. A further three items were removed as they did not represent the central construct uniquely. The final 12‐item instrument had high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.91), strong test–retest reliability (p =.83) and high discriminant validity when comparing mean total scores of controls (6.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.67–9.08) and those with OSA (31.39; 95% CI, 27.94–34.84) (p <.001). Further studies are planned to help validate this instrument for clinical use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on the willingness to receive institutional eldercare among the rural elderly are scarce. This study aims to explore factors associated with the willingness to receive institutional eldercare and community-based eldercare among the rural elderly. A cross-sectional study was conducted in three rural villages of Changde City, Hunan Province, China. A total of 517 elderly were recruited through multistage sampling from these villages. The dependent variable is the willingness to receive eldercare from family (as reference), institution, and community. The independent variables includes sociodemographic characteristics: having physical disease, depression, anxiety, and daily living activities, and concerns toward home-based, institutional, and community-based care, respectively. Results show that 78.3% of the elderly are willing to receive home-based eldercare, 10.8% institutional eldercare, and 8.5% community-based eldercare. The factors associated with the willingness to receive institutional eldercare are having concerns toward home-based (OR = 4.85, P<0.001) and institutional eldercare (OR = 5.51, P<0.001). The factors associated with community-based care is living alone (OR = 2.18, P = 0.034). Finally, the major concerns toward home-based eldercare are lack of care ability and separation of family members, whereas those toward institutional eldercare are unaffordable services and fear of being abandoned by the children. The major concerns toward community-based eldercare includes affordability and lack of necessary services. In summary, elderly having concerns toward home-based care and having no concerns about institutional care are willing to accept institutional eldercare. Elderly who are living alone is tend to accept community-based care. Unaffordable services and loss of contact with family members are the major concerns of institutional eldercare. Aside from the cost, the lack of necessary care services is also a serious concern of community-based eldercare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: No study has comprehensively evaluated the effect of postweaning isolation on the social and sexual behaviors of a certain strain of rodents in ethology. The present study aims to explore how and to what extent isolation rearing after postweaning affects the social and sexual behaviors of male CD-1 mice in adulthood systematically. Methods: Male CD-1 mice were randomly assigned to two groups: isolation reared (IS, one mouse per cage, n = 30) and group housed (GH, five mice per cage, n = 15). The mice underwent isolation rearing from postnatal day 23 to day 93. Then, social affiliation, recognition and memory were measured through selection task experiments. Social interaction under a home cage and novel environment were measured via resident–intruder and social interaction test, respectively. Furthermore, sexual preference, homosexual and heterosexual behaviors were measured. Results: Our study found that postweaning isolation increased the social affiliation for conspecifics (p = 0.001), reduced social recognition (p = 0.042) and impaired social memory. As for social interaction, isolated mice showed a remarkably increased aggression toward the intruder male in a home cage or novelty environment. For instance, isolated mice presented a short attack latency (p < 0.001), high attack frequency (p < 0.001) and long attack duration (p < 0.001). In addition, isolated mice exhibited further social avoidance. Contrastingly, isolated mice displayed a reduced sexual preference for female (IS: 61.47 ± 13.80%, GH: 70.33 ± 10.06%, p = 0.038). As for heterosexual behavior, isolated mice have a short mating duration (p = 0.002), long mounting latency (p = 0.002), and long intromission latency (p = 0.015). However, no association was observed between postweaning isolation and homosexual behavior in male CD-1 mouse. Conclusion: Postweaning isolation increased the social affiliation, impaired the social cognition and considerably increased the aggression in social interaction of adult male CD-1 mice. Postweaning isolation induced a decreased sexual preference for female in adulthood. Postweaning isolation extended the latency to mate, thereby reducing mating behavior. No association was observed between isolation and homosexual behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aim to assess the level of family burden of schizophrenia patients and identify its predicting factors in a rural community sample of China. A sample of 327 primary caregivers was recruited through a one-stage cluster sampling in Ningxiang County of Hunan province, China. Family burden was assessed using the Family Burden Interview Schedule (FBIS) of Pai and Kapur. Our results showed that the mean score of FBIS was 23.62±9.76 (range, 0–48), with over half (52%) caregivers reported their family burden being moderate and severe. Among the six domains of family burden, financial burden (76%) was the commonest burden, while disruption of family interactions (37%) was the least mentioned. A multivariate analysis of family burden revealed that patient being admitted for over 3 times, caregiver being female, having a middle school education, and with additional dependents, as well as higher care network function were positive predictors of family burden, while higher patient function and family function, and increasing patient age were negative predictors of family burden. Intervention to decrease family burden may be best served by improving family function and exploring alternative care model instead of hospitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to explore cut-off scores of the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and 2-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2) for depression screening in Chinese rural elderly. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 839 residents aged 60 years and above in rural areas of Liuyang County. PHQ-9 was adopted to evaluate depression. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID-I) was adopted to diagnose major depressive disorder (MDD) as a golden standard. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value, positive and negative likelihood ratio, Youden’s index and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were analyzed on PHQ-9 and PHQ-2. Results: The Cronbach's alphas of PHQ-9 and PHQ-2 were 0.82 and 0.76, respectively. The score of 8 of the PHQ-9 showed the highest Youden’s index of 0.85, with a sensitivity of 0.97 and specificity of 0.89 respectively, and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.97 (95% CI: 0.96–0.98). The score of 3 of PHQ-2 showed the highest Youden’s index of 0.79, with both sensitivity and specificity were 0.90 and the AUC was 0.94 (95% CI: 0.90–0.97). Conclusions: Both PHQ-9 and PHQ-2 are valid screening instruments for depression in the rural elderly in China, with recommended cut-off scores of 8 and 3 respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the relationship between birth weight and fat mass- and obesity-associated (FTO) gene expression and promoter methylation status in the Chinese population. Methods: Seventy-five neonates and their mothers were recruited from Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. Subjects were divided into three groups by birth weight: low (< 3,500 g, n = 20), medium (3,500-3,999 g, n = 30) and high (≥ 4,000 g, n = 25). Placental FTO transcript levels and promoter methylation were determined by quantitative PCR and Sequenom MassARRAY®. Results: Placental FTO mRNA expression was significantly increased in the high- and medium-weight groups compared to the low-weight group (p = 0.023). Methylation rates of CpG11 sites were significantly decreased in high-birth weight newborns (p = 0.018). Multiple linear regressions showed placental FTO mRNA, maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and CpG11 methylation rate were independently associated with increased fetal birth weight. Additionally, FTO mRNA expression was negatively associated with CpG6.7.8.9 methylation in mothers that underwent C-section. Conclusions: High placental FTO expression is associated with increased birth weight in Chinese neonates, and FTO promoter methylation level at a specific CpG site is negatively associated with birth weight. Further work is needed to determine the functionality of this CpG site in placentas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We aimed to investigate mental health help-seeking intentions and preferences of rural Chinese adults and determine predictors of the intentions. Methods: A total of 2052 representative rural residents aged 18–60 completed a cross-sectional survey by face-to-face interviews. The survey included seven questions asking about respondents’ help-seeking intentions and preferences, and a series of internationally validated instruments to assess self-perceived health status, depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse, mental health literacy, and attitudes towards mental illness. Results: Nearly 80% of respondents were willing to seek psychological help if needed, and 72.4% preferred to get help from medical organizations, yet only 12% knew of any hospitals or clinics providing such help. A multivariate analysis of help-seeking intention revealed that being female, having lower education, higher social health, higher mental health knowledge, and physical causal attribution for depression were positive predictors of help-seeking intention. Conclusion: A huge gap exists between the relatively higher intention for help-seeking and significantly lower knowledge of helpful resources. Predictors of help-seeking intention for mental problems in the current study are consistent with previous studies. Interventions to increase help-seeking for mental problems by Chinese rural adults may be best served by focusing on increasing public awareness of help sources, as well as improving residents’ mental health literacy and social health, with special focus on males and those more educated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The main treatment for locally-advanced, unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is radical radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy. Numerous trials have been performed, the results of which often disagree. Despite publication of several systematic reviews, there is not a consensus on practice, and outcomes are poor. To address this problem, we have applied a recently published evidence aggregation method to update the Cochrane systematic review (CSR) of lung chemo-radiotherapy. Method We extracted data on 28 trials consisting of 4352 patients treated using 54 different regimens. We aggregated trials involving heterogeneous outcomes (both effects and side-effects). Our method identifies the evidence for the “best” treatment using preference criteria over outcomes and criteria concerning evidence quality. Result Concurrent, platinum-based, conventionally fractionated chemo-radiotherapy was the most strongly supported option. 60 Gy in 30 fractions with concurrent cisplatin and vinblastine was superior under all combinations of preference criteria and evidence quality criteria that were considered. There was evidence for the use of concurrent and consolidation chemotherapy with conventionally-fractionated radiotherapy, but the choice of individual regimen was highly dependent on the choices for preference criteria over outcomes and for the criteria concerning evidence quality. Discussion Using evidence from the trials analysed in the CSR, together with some more recent studies, we identify a finer-grained recommendation than the CSR, though our findings are consistent with that of the CSR. Furthermore, we have identified individual regimens that may be optimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural changes and failure mechanism of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) during thermal shock cycling were investigated. TBCs consisting of bond coat and partially yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) top coat were deposited by atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) on a nickel-based alloy substrate and its thermal shock resistance performance was evaluated. TBCs were heated at 1100°C for 15 min followed by cold water quenching to ambient temperature. Microstructural evaluation and elemental analysis of TBCs were performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. The crack features of YSZ coatings in TBCs during thermal shock cycling, including those of horizontal (parallel to the substrate) and vertical cracks (perpendicular to the substrate), were particularly investigated by means of SEM and image analysis. Results show that horizontal and vertical cracks have different influences on the thermal shock resistance of the coatings. Horizontal cracks that occur at the interface of YSZ and thermally growth oxidation (TGO) cause partial or large-area spalling of coatings. When vertical and horizontal cracks encounter, network segments are formed which lead to partial spalling of the coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the problem of identifying motion blur length, motion blur angle and defocus blur radius in mixed blur image, a method for parameter identification for mixed blur image with motion blur and defocus blur was proposed. Firstly, the blur image was processed with Fourier transformation, then Radon transformation was adopted to identify motion blur angle. Secondly, filter was adopted for the spectrum, the amplitudes in the central region of the spectrum were summed, and the sum was inputted into the BP neural network. The amplitudes were summed up vertically when estimating motion blur length and were summed up circularly when estimating defocus blur length. The simulation results show that the error of parameter identifications of noise free mixed blur images is smaller than 6%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is the main pathogen that causes severe hand, foot, and mouth disease with fatal neurological complications. However, its neurovirulence mechanism is still unclear. Candidate virulence sites were screened out at structural protein VP1, but the function of these candidate virulence sites remains unclear. Several studies have shown that autophagy is associated with viral replication. However, the relationship between VP1 and autophagy in human neurons has not been studied. Methods: A recombinant virus—SDLY107-VP1, obtained by replacing the VP1 full-length gene of the SDLY107 strain with the VP1 full-length gene of the attenuated strain SDJN2015-01—was constructed and tested for replication and virulence. We then tested the effect of the recombinant virus on autophagy in nerve cells. The effect of autophagy on virus replication was detected by western blot and plaque test. Finally, the changes of mTOR signaling molecules during EV71 infection and the effect of mTOR on virus replication at the RNA level were detected. Results: Viral recombination triggered virulence attenuation. The replication ability of recombinant virus SDLY107-VP1 was significantly weaker than that of the parent strain SDLY107. The SDLY107 strain could inhibit autophagic flux and led to accumulation of autophagosomes, while the SDLY107-VP1 strain could not cause autophagosome accumulation. The synthesis of EV71 RNA was inhibited by inhibiting mTOR. Conclusions: Replacement of VP1 weakened the replication ability of virulent strains and reduced the level of autophagy in nerve cells. This autophagy facilitates the replication of virulent strains in nerve cells. VP1 is an important neurovirulence determinant of EV71, which affects virus replication by regulating cell autophagy. mTOR is a key molecule in this type of autophagy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The radioprotective effect of amitriptyline, an inhibitor of acid sphingomyelinase (ASMase), on radiation-induced impairment of hippocampal neurogenesis, loss of interneuron, and animal weight changes was investigated in BALB/c mice by immunostaining of biomarkers for cell division (Ki67), immature neurons (doublecortin or DCX), and interneurons (parvalbumin or PV) in the dentate gyrus (DG) of hippocampus. The results indicated that preirradiation (with 10 mg/kg, 2 times per day, for 7 consecutive days) or postirradiation (with 10 mg/kg, 2 times per day, for 14 consecutive days) treatment (pretreatment or posttreatment) with intraperitoneal injection of amitriptyline prevented the loss of newly generated neurons, proliferating cells, and interneurons in the subgranular zone of the DG. At the molecular level, pretreatment or posttreatment inhibited the expression of sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 1 (SMPD1) gene which codes for ASMase. The pretreatment for 7 days also prevented radiation-induced weight loss from 2 to 3 weeks, but not within 1 week after irradiation. On the other hand, the posttreatment with amitriptyline for 14 days could improve animal weight gain from 4 to 6 weeks after irradiation. The present study suggests that amitriptyline may be a promising candidate radio-neuroprotective drug to improve radiation-induced impairment of hippocampal neurogenesis and relevant neurological and neuropsychological disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) is indicated for treatment of nasolacrimal duct obstruction, which manifests as a watery eye. Endoscopic techniques have gained popularity in recent years compared to open DCR, which leaves a facial scar. Success rates have been reported to be between 65‐95%. We report the success rate of endoscopic DCR at our institution and analyze factors leading to revision surgery. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of endoscopic DCR performed at a district general hospital between August 2010 and December 2013. We perform this as a day case procedure using a DCR burr and leave silastic stents in situ. We do not routinely use anti‐mitotic agents. We collected and analyzed demographic data (age, co‐morbidity, medications), technical notes, rate of symptom resolution at follow‐up, and need for revision surgery. Results: A total of 33 endoscopic DCRs were performed in this time period. The overall success rate (satisfactory resolution of symptoms at minimum 3 months follow up) was 76%. Rate of revision surgery was 15%. In 50% of cases scar tissue obstructing the DCR opening was the cause of surgical failure. Previous surgery (external DCR/punctoplasty) was not associated with a higher rate of endoscopic DCR failure (P =. 616). Conclusions: Endoscopic DCR is a safe technique for treating nasolacrimal duct obstruction with local success rates of 76%. A common reason for failure is scar tissue obstructing the rhinostomy opening and greater attention is being given to surgical techniques that maintain wide patency of the opening, as this may reduce rates of failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: There has been recent controversy with regard to optimal postoperative pain control for tonsillectomy. Codeine is no longer recommended for children under the age of 12 years because of the risk of respiratory depression. Hence, identifying alternative/adjunct analgesia for post‐tonsillectomy pain is a high clinical priority. This is a protocol for a randomized controlled trial. The primary objective is to determine whether GeloRevoice throat lozenges (contain sodium hyaluronate) are effective as adjunct therapy to standard analgesia (paracetamol, ibuprofen, difflam spray) in post‐tonsillectomy pain. Methods: A total of 72 patients were randomized to 2 groups. Parents with children aged 6 to 18 years undergoing tonsillectomy were approached to participate in the study. The intervention group received GeloRevoice throat lozenges and the control group received a placebo. The study was subject to trust research and audit and safety reporting procedures, and ethical approval was applied for. Results: The primary endpoint was a pain score using a visual analog scale for pediatric populations. Pain scores were recorded on a diary card daily for 1 week postoperatively. Visual analog scale data were compared between 2 groups using a 2‐tailed t test where P <. 05 was considered to be statistically significant. Conclusions: This double‐blinded randomized controlled trial provides evidence on the safety and efficacy of GeloRevoice throat lozenges when used as adjunctive analgesia for post‐tonsillectomy pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]