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Man Feng,1 Lulu Wang,2 Jing Sun,2 Zheping Chen,2 Jia Fu,3 Dongyi Liu,3 Rumeng Zhang,3 Youqin Li,2 Yan Zhang,2 He Zhang,3 Weiquan Zhang,4 Chang Feng3 1Department of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, The third Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250000, People’s Republic of China; 2Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, 250033, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Anaesthesiology, The Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, 250033, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, 250033, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Chang Feng, Department of Anaesthesiology, The Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 247 Bei Yuan Street, Jinan, 250033, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 17660085521, Email fengc2016@126.comPurpose: To investigate the effects of ultrasound-guided thoracic paravertebral block combined with general anaesthesia or general anaesthesia alone for thoracoscopic lung adenocarcinoma surgery, and to provide new thoughts for improving the clinical outcomes.Methods: This was a retrospective study. Data were retrieved for 195 patients with lung adenocarcinoma undergoing elective radical lobectomy via video-assisted thoracoscopy between January 2018 and August 2019 in The Second Hospital of Shandong University, including 86 patients who received thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB) combined with general anaesthesia (group TG), and 109 patients who received general anaesthesia alone (group GA). All patients were given self-controlled intravenous analgesia pump for 48 h after surgery. The primary outcome was the recurrence-free survival 2 years postoperatively (the time between surgery and the earliest date of recurrence, metastasis or lung cancer-cause death). The secondary outcomes included the average numeric rating scale (NRS) scores within 48 h postoperatively, the first time of postoperative ambulation, duration of chest tube drainage, length of postoperative hospitalization, perioperative opioid consumption and the postoperative side effects.Results: There were no statistical differences in the recurrence-free survival 2 years postoperatively between groups (Multivariate hazard ratio 0.706, 95% CI 0.126– 3.941, P=0.691). The average NRS scores within 48 h postoperatively were significantly lower in group TG (P< 0.05). The first time of postoperative ambulation, duration of chest tube drainage, and length of postoperative hospitalization in group TG were significantly reduced (P< 0.05). Opioid consumption was significantly decreased in group TG (P< 0.01). Finally, the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) was significantly lower in group TG (P< 0.05).Conclusion: TPVB for thoracoscopic lung adenocarcinoma surgery did not improve the recurrence-free survival 2 years postoperatively compared with general anaesthesia alone, but it significantly enhanced the postoperative analgesia effect, reduced opioid consumption as well as side effects, and accelerated postoperative early recovery.Clinical Trial Registration Number: The Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR-2100050454).Keywords: lung adenocarcinoma, prognosis, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, thoracic paravertebral block, ultrasound guidance

Yongbin Wang,1 Chang Feng,2 Jia Fu,2 Dongyi Liu2 1Department of Respiratory Medicine, The Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Dongyi Liu, Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 247 Bei Yuan Street, Jinan, 250033, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-17660085565, Email dyjn2011@126.comPurpose: The aim was to investigate the time for intubation, adverse events and the comfort score of ultrasound-guided internal branch of superior laryngeal nerve block in patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) undergoing awake fibreoptic nasotracheal intubation.Methods: Sixty patients with COPD who needed awake fibreoptic nasotracheal intubation were randomly and evenly divided into the ultrasound-guided internal branch of the superior laryngeal nerve block group (group S) and the control group (group C). All patients received procedural sedation with dexmedetomidine and adequate topical anaesthesia of the upper respiratory tract. Then, bilateral block was performed (with 2 mL of 2% lidocaine or the same volume of saline) followed by fibreoptic nasotracheal intubation. The primary outcomes were time for intubation, adverse reactions and comfort score. The secondary outcomes were haemodynamic changes and serum norepinephrine (NE) and adrenaline (AD) concentrations immediately before intubation (T0); immediately after intubation to the laryngopharynx (T1); and immediately (T2), 5 min (T3) and 10 min (T4) after intubation between the groups.Results: Compared with group C, the time for intubation, the incidence of adverse reactions and the comfort score in group S were significantly lower (P< 0.01). Compared with T0, the mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), NE and AD were significantly higher at T1 - T4 in group C (P< 0.05), but were not obviously higher at T1 - T4 in group S (P> 0.05). MAP, HR, NE and AD at T1–T4 were significantly lower in group S than in group C (P< 0.05).Conclusion: Ultrasound-guided internal branch of the superior laryngeal nerve block can effectively shorten the time for intubation, reduce the incidence of adverse reactions, improve comfort score, maintain considerable haemodynamic stability and inhibit stress response in patients with severe COPD undergoing awake fibreoptic nasotracheal intubation.Keywords: COPD, awake fibreoptic nasotracheal intubation, the time for intubation, stress response, ultrasound-guided the internal branch of the superior laryngeal nerve block

This article is concerned with the controller design for distributed parameter systems with time delays in the boundary. An implementable control law is presented in light of a state predictor, and a feasible calculation scheme of this control law is provided based on the adjoint theory. The resulting closed-loop system is proved to be exponentially stable. As an application, a one-dimensional Schrodinger equation with a delay input is introduced and the numerical simulation verifies the feasibility of the suggested control law.

Ran Jiao,1 Shuai Peng,2 Lulu Wang,3 Man Feng,4 Youqin Li,3 Jing Sun,3 Dongyi Liu,5 Jia Fu,5 Chang Feng5 1Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Nursing, Yankuang New Journey General Hospital, Zoucheng, 273500, People’s Republic of China; 3Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, 250102, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, the Third Affiliated of Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250000, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Anaesthesiology, the Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, 250033, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Chang Feng, Department of Anaesthesiology, the Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 247 Bei Yuan Street, Jinan, 250033, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-17660085521, Email fengc2016@126.comPurpose: To investigate, in patients with gastric carcinoma undergoing laparoscopic radical gastrectomy, the effects of ultrasound-guided quadratus lumborum block (UG-QLB) combined with general anaesthesia (GA) on the postoperative recovery compared with GA alone.Patients and Methods: The retrospective study enrolled 231 patients with gastric carcinoma undergoing laparoscopic radical gastrectomy, including 119 patients who received UG-QLB combined with GA (Group QG), and 112 patients undergoing GA alone (Group GA). The primary endpoint was the postoperative 3-year recurrence-free survival (RFS). The secondary endpoints were the average visual analogue scale (VAS) scores within 48 h after surgery, the first time of postoperative ambulation, the first time of flatus, postoperative hospitalization, perioperative opioid requirement and adverse effects after surgery.Results: UG-QLB combined with GA did not affect the 3-year RFS in patients undergoing laparoscopic radical gastrectomy (HR 0.659, 95% CI 0.342– 1.269, P=0.212). However, the VAS ranking analysis implicated that it could significantly alleviate the postoperative pain in laparoscopic radical gastrectomy patients (P< 0.01). In addition, it dramatically facilitated the early recovery of postoperative ambulation and flatus, while shortening the duration of postoperative hospitalization (P< 0.01). The most important was it could remarkably reduce the opioid consumption (P< 0.01), which in the meanwhile, reduced the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) (P=0.01).Conclusion: Although UG-QLB combined with GA did not improve the 3-year RFS for patients with gastric carcinoma undergoing laparoscopic radical gastrectomy, it could provide satisfactory postoperative pain relief, reduce opioid consumption and adverse effects, which subsequently facilitates postoperative early rehabilitation.Keywords: gastric adenocarcinoma, prognosis, postoperative early recovery, laparoscopic radical gastrectomy, quadratus lumborum block, ultrasound guidance

This paper concerns the input-output L2-well-posedness and regularity of 1-d wave equations on a three-edge-tree-shaped network. The well-posedness of open-loop network system is verified by constructing appropriate multiplies. In light of an approximate estimation of the input-output transfer function of system, it is shown that the open-loop system is regular.

Surgical resection is the most common and effective option for the clinical treatment of lung cancer. Postoperative pain may activate surgically induced stress response, leading to a decrease in human immune function. However, conventional analgesics such as morphine and its derivatives have been reported to have immunosuppressive side effects. In the critical period after surgery, the immunosuppressive effect of analgesics on patients with lung cancer could promote postoperative cancer recurrence and metastasis. Therefore, it will be an ideal scenario for postoperative pain management to maximize pain relief while minimizing immunosuppression side effects. In this study, we found that a novel mixed agonist-antagonist opioid analgesic, dezocine, significantly promoted the morphological maturation of dendritic cells (DCs), and increase the expression of DCs-related surface markers in postoperative peripheral blood of patients with lung cancer. Furthermore, dezocine-matured DCs increased the general immune response by promoting the secretion of IL-12 and IL-6 cytokines and enhancing the proliferation and cytotoxicity of CD8+ T cells. Then genome-wide transcriptomic profiling analyses were performed to identify the specific gene expression of dezocine-matured DCs. The results of transcriptomic analysis as well as in vitro validation showed that the upregulation of CXCL10, CD3G, and GRB2 were significantly associated with dezocine-induced DCs maturation. Overall, our data showed that dezocine might exhibit unique properties by acting as an immunostimulant, which provides new evidence for its application in postoperative pain management of patients with lung cancer.

This paper describes the design of a helical dipole antenna for microwave ablation (MWA) based on substrate integrated coaxial line (SICL) technology. The dipole arm extending from the outer conductor is nine quarters of the wavelength, and it rotates around the other dipole arm extending from the inner conductor, the length of the dipole arm extending from the inner conductor is one quarter of the wavelength. The center frequency of this antenna is 2.45 GHz, and the shape of localized heating patterns is like a spherical which is the shape of many tumors. Measurement results showed good agreement with the simulations.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a severe disease for which effective drugs are still lacking at present. Forsythia suspensa is a traditional Chinese medicine commonly used to relieve respiratory symptoms in China, but its functional mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, forsythoside A (FA), the active constituent of F. suspensa, was studied in the present study. Inflammation models of type II alveolar epithelial MLE-12 cells and BALB/c mice stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were established to explore the effects of FA on ALI and the underlying mechanisms. We found that FA inhibited the production of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1/CCL2) in LPS-stimulated MLE-12 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, FA decreased the adhesion and migration of monocytes to MLE-12 cells. Furthermore, miR-124 expression was upregulated after FA treatment. The luciferase report assay showed that miR-124 mimic reduced the activity of CCL2 in MLE-12 cells. However, the inhibitory effects of FA on CCL2 expression and monocyte adhesion and migration to MLE-12 cells were counteracted by treatment with a miR-124 inhibitor. Critically, FA ameliorated LPS-induced pathological damage, decreased the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6, and inhibited CCL2 secretion and macrophage infiltration in lungs in ALI mice. Meanwhile, administration of miR-124 inhibitor attenuated the protective effects of FA. The present study suggests that FA attenuates LPS-induced adhesion and migration of monocytes to type II alveolar epithelial cells though upregulating miR-124, thereby inhibiting the expression of CCL2. These findings indicate that the potential application of FA is promising and that miR-124 mimics could also be used in the treatment of ALI.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a life-threatening disease without effective pharmacotherapies, so far. Forsythia suspensa is frequently used in the treatment of lung infection in traditional Chinese medicine. In search for natural anti-inflammatory components, the activity and the underlying mechanism of Forsythoside A (FA) from Forsythia suspensa were explored. In the present paper, BALB/c mice and murine RAW 264.7 cells were stimulated by LPS to establish inflammation models. Data showed that FA inhibited the production of TNF-α and IL-6 and the activation of STAT3 in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Additionally, FA increased the expression level of microRNA-124 (miR-124). Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of FA on STAT3 was counteracted by the treatment of miR-124 inhibitor. Critically, FA ameliorated LPS-induced ALI pathological damage, the increase in lung water content and inflammatory cytokine, cells infiltration and activation of the STAT3 signaling pathway in BALB/c mice. Meanwhile, FA up-regulated the expression of miR-124 in lungs, while administration with miR-124 inhibitor attenuated the protective effects of FA. Our results indicated that FA alleviates LPS-induced inflammation through up-regulating miR-124 in vitro and in vivo. These findings indicate the potential of FA and miR-124 in the treatment of ALI.

We prepared conceptually novel, fully rigid, spiro compact electron donor (Rhodamine B, lactam form, RB)/acceptor (naphthalimide; NI) orthogonal dyad to attain the long‐lived triplet charge‐transfer (3CT) state, based on the electron spin control using spin‐orbit charge transfer intersystem crossing (SOCT‐ISC). Transient absorption (TA) spectra indicate the first charge separation (CS) takes place within 2.5 ps, subsequent SOCT‐ISC takes 8 ns to produce the 3NI* state. Then the slow secondary CS (125 ns) gives the long‐lived 3CT state (0.94 μs in deaerated n‐hexane) with high energy level (ca. 2.12 eV). The cascade photophysical processes of the dyad upon photoexcitation are summarized as 1NI*→1CT→3NI*→3CT. With time‐resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectra, an EEEAAA electron‐spin polarization pattern was observed for the naphthalimide‐localized triplet state. Our spiro compact dyad structure and the electron spin‐control approach is different to previous methods for which invoking transition‐metal coordination or chromophores with intrinsic ISC ability is mandatory., A rigid, simple, spiro compact electron donor/acceptor (D/A) dyad shows a long‐lived triplet charge transfer (3CT) state (0.94 μs) with a high energy level (ca. 2.12 eV), based on a new electron spin‐control method using spin‐orbit charge transfer intersystem crossing (SOCT‐ISC) (1NI*→1CT→3NI*→3CT; NI=naphthalimide), without heavy atoms or chromophores with intrinsic intersystem crossing (ISC) ability.

In this study, waste tyre pyrolysis characteristic was investigated by a thermogravimetric analyzer combined with a mass spectrometer (MS). At the same time, the functional groups at the surface of residue char were also characterized by a Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer. The main components of the gas evolved from tyre pyrolysis process were H2O, CO, CO2, and hydrocarbon. According to MS and thermogravimetric (TG) curves, tyre pyrolysis could be divided into four stages. The first stage was due to water vaporization and plasticizer decomposition at the temperature below 320 °C. The secondary stage was attributed to natural rubber decomposition at 320–400 °C, and the third stage was related to the decomposition of synthetic rubber, which took place at 400–520 °C. The fourth stage was occurred above 520 °C. The variation of the functional groups on the residue char analyzed by FTIR also proved the above assumption.

Design of controller subject to a constraint for a Schrodinger equation is considered based on the energy functional of the system. Thus, the resulting closed-loop system is nonlinear and its well-posedness is proven by the nonlinear monotone operator theory and a complex form of the nonlinear Lax-Milgram theorem. The asymptotic stability and exponential stability of the system are discussed with the LaSalle invariance principle and Riesz basis method, respectively. In the end, a numerical simulation illustrates the feasibility of the suggested feedback control law.

Os(ii) complexes are particularly interesting for triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) upconversion, due to the strong direct S0→ T1 photoexcitation, as in this way, energy loss is minimized and large anti-Stokes shift can be achieved for TTA upconversion. However, Os(bpy)3 has an intrinsic short T1 state lifetime (56 ns), which is detrimental for the intermolecular triplet-triplet energy transfer (TTET), one of the crucial steps in TTA upconversion. In order to prolong the triplet state lifetime, we prepared an Os(ii) tris(bpy) complex with a Bodipy moiety attached, so that an extended T1 state lifetime is achieved by excited state electronic configuration mixing or triplet state equilibrium between the coordination center-localized state (3MLCT state) and Bodipy ligand-localized state (3IL state). With steady-state and time-resolved transient absorption/emission spectroscopy, we proved that the 3MLCT is slightly above the 3IL state (by 0.05 eV), and the triplet state lifetime was prolonged by 31-fold (from 56 ns to 1.73 μs). The TTA upconversion quantum yield was increased by 4-fold as compared to that of the unsubstituted Os(ii) complex.

Rational scheduling strategy is the key to play the economy of district heating and cooling (DHC) system. However, very limited studies have been conducted on it using a suitable model or based on actual operational data, which made the obtained results not realistic or feasible. This paper proposes an actual operational-based optimal scheduling strategy to minimize the daily operation cost of an energy station in Tianjin integrated with electric chiller (EC) system, ground source heat pump (GSHP) system, water thermal energy storage (WTES) system and combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) system under background of actual cooling load demand. Considering both nonlinear input-output characteristics and discrete working ranges of energy equipments, the mixed-integer nonlinear programming model is used to solve this problem. Results illustrate that the proposed optimal scheduling strategy can achieve zero waste of cooling energy and the cost saving ratio can reach to 24.3%, 34.2%, 47.3% and 63.9% under the load ratio of 75%, 60%, 45% and 30% respectively, compared with the existing scheduling strategy, which shows the cost saving effect is significant especially for the new-built energy station during the initial operation stage.

Properties of rock-cemented coal gangue-fly ash backfill (CGFB) bimaterials determine the effects of strip CGFB mining on controlling the surface subsidence in coal mines, which are affected by the coal gangue particle size in CGFB. In this paper, uniaxial compression tests were conducted on the coarse sandstone-CGFB composite samples with different coal gangue particle sizes, and their strength, acoustic emission (AE), and failure characteristics were investigated. The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and elastic modulus of the composite sample decreased with the coal gangue particle size. The strength of the composite sample is mainly dependent on that of CGFB in it, affected by interactions between CGFB and coarse sandstone. The deformation of the coarse sandstone weakened the damage accumulation within CGFB, resulting in the strength of the composite sample larger than that of CGFB. The average UCS values of composite samples with coal gangue particle sizes of 0∼5 mm, 5∼10 mm, and 10∼15 mm, increased by 10.78%, 14.98%, and 12.70% compared with CGFB in them, respectively. AE event signal regularity of the composite sample was divided into three stages: rising period, calm period, and active period. The intensity and frequency of AE event signals in three periods were strengthened with the coal gangue particle size. The calm period can be taken as the precursory information for the failure and instability of composite sample under loading, whose duration became shortly with the coal gangue particle size. The rebound deformation of coarse sandstone caused the fluctuations of AE event signals at the later stage of active period. The failures of the composite sample occurred within CGFB, and no obvious failures were found in the coarse sandstone. The CGFB mainly experienced the splitting failure accompanying by varying degrees of surface spalling failures. The broken degree of CGFB increased with the coal gangue particle size, and the largest weight ratio of CGFB fragments (chips) after failure was determined by the coal gangue particle size.

Dezocine is an opioid analgesic with both μ-receptor agonist and antagonist activities. Administration of opioids influences the immune system through immune cells. Dendritic cells (DC) play crucial functions in inducing T cell response and mediating immune functions. DC surface displays several different opioid receptors whose expression is induced during DC maturation. We aimed to explore the effects of dezocine on DCs and T cells, as well as on tumor treatment. Mice were intraperitoneally administrated with increasing doses of dezocine (0.75, 1.25 and 2.0 mg/kg). Mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) were then isolated from the bone marrow. The BMDC surface markers were evaluated by flow cytometry. T cell proliferation was assessed by the carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester assay. The number of mature DCs were increased by dezocine treatment in both human umbilical cord blood and mouse peripheral blood, suggesting that dezocine enhanced BMDC maturation. Dezocine-treated BMDCs promoted CD8+ T cell proliferation and cytotoxicity, while dezocine treatment inhibited tumor metastasis in mice. We therefore conclude that the administration of dezocine promotes BMDC maturation and inhibits tumor metastasis through elevating CD8+ T cell proliferation and cytotoxicity.

Cervical cancer is the fourth leading cancer type and the second most common gynecological malignancy among women worldwide. Silibinin (SB), a chief bioactive natural polyphenolic flavonoid of Silybum marianum L., has been used clinically for its hepatocyte protective effects. It also has anticancer effects via the induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. However, the effects of SB on cervical cancer cells through mitochondrial fission have not been studied. Here, we showed that SB markedly suppressed cervical cell proliferation by inducing G2/M cell cycle arrest via the activation of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), which in turn mediated the mitochondrial fission dysfunction both in vitro and in vivo. SB decreased the ATP content, mitochondrial membrane potential, and mtDNA copy number, as well as reduced the reactive oxygen species levels in cervical cells. Furthermore, SB induced excessive mitochondrial fragmentation and reduced tubule formation. Further study showed that knockdown of Drp1 abolished the SB-induced G2/M cell cycle arrest in cervical cancer cells by inhibiting the mitochondrial fission pathway. More importantly, SB inhibited Hela cell growth in vivo model. In conclusion, we are the first to demonstrate that SB induces cervical cancer cell G2/M cell cycle arrest by activating Drp1-dependent mitochondrial fission dysfunction. This study suggests the strategy of inducing Drp1-dependent mitochondrial fission for cervical cancer prevention and treatment.