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Silicon-based materials are significant candidates for electronic and optoelectronic applications because of their high electron and hole mobility. Si1-xGex, Si1-xSnx and Ge1-xSnx are currently hot materials in the field of fabricanting silicon-based light-emitting sources. At present, GeSn has been experimentally proved to have a direct band gap structure and achieve photoluminescence. But the more practical electroluminescence has not been realized. There are two reasons of these: one is the cost of experiment is high, which makes it impossible to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth study on these materials; Additionally, the variational laws of the lattice constants have not been reported due to the lack of theoretical and experimental data. In this paper, the lattice constants and bowing factor of Si1-xGex, Si1-xSnx and Ge1-xSnx have been studied by the first-principles method based on density functional theory (DFT) combined with the Special Quasirandom Structures (SQS) and hybrid function of Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof (HSE) functional correction. Comparing the calculated data with the reported theoretical and experimental data, the results show our method is more accurate. In addition, the lattice constant fitting formulas of Si1-xGex, Si1-xSnx and Ge1-xSnx are given, it shows Si1-xSnx can reduce the lattice mismatch when Si1-xSnx as the buffer between Si and GeSn alloy.

Group-IV SiGeSn ternary alloy is a hot spot in the field of fabricating high-efficient Si-based light source due to its large lattice constant and bandgap variation range. However, due to the high cost and low speed of experimental and computational research, it is difficult to obtain their lattice constants comprehensively and quickly. Machine learning prediction based on statistics is an advanced method to solve this problem. In this paper, based on the existing data of group IV alloys, three machine learning methods such as Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Regression (SVR) and Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (GBDT) have been built to predict the lattice constants of SiGeSn. Firstly, the lattice constants of Group-IV alloys are collected to construct data set; Then, the data set are used to train the machine learning models which describe the quantitative relationship between concentrations and lattice constants; Finally, the prediction performance of these models are compared with each other, and the concentrations with appropriate lattice constants are predicted. The results show the comprehensive performance of SVR model is better than the other two, which means the SVR model can be used to directly predict the lattice constants of SiGeSn.

Low nutritional value and digestive efficiency restrict the feeding application of brewer's spent grain (BSG). Bacillus velezensis has been increasingly considered a promising fermenting agent in feed production. This study aimed to investigate the fermentative characteristics of Bacillus velezensis K8 on degrading lignocellulose and increasing soluble sugar and protein in BSG. The lignocellulose contents (including cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) decreased by 36.85 % and 27.68 % in BSG and ultrasonic-pretreated BSG (UBSG), respectively. The reducing sugar contents increased by 226.8 % and 198.1 %, and the soluble protein contents increased by 260.7 % and 258.3 % in BSG and UBSG, respectively. The arabinose, cellobiose, xylose, glucose, fructose, and xylooligosaccharides contents were significantly increased, indicating effective conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose into soluble sugars. High cellulase activity was obtained in BSG fermentation, especially CMCase and filter paper activities. Protease secretion increased but cellulase decreased, and the activities of xylanase and fructofuranosidase remained stable in UBSG fermentation. Genome analysis revealed that B. velezensis K8 possessed more amino acid-metabolism genes than carbohydrate-metabolism genes, illustrating that B. velezensis K8 preferentially utilized protein nutrients but left more sugars. These results provide a promising strategy for improving the value of grain residue in food and feed industrial applications.

In this study, citrus pulp residue were treated to improve their nutritional compositions through solid-state fermentation using Candida utilis and Bacillus subtilis. The crude and soluble protein contents increased by 54.83 % and 866.50 %, reaching 242.50 ± 6.50 mg/g and 39.53 ± 1.77 mg/g after fermentation, respectively. The contents of essential amino acids and nonessential amino acids significantly increased by 230 % and 402 %, especially leucine and phenylalanine (8.3 % and 5.1 %, based on total protein). Moreover, antinutritional factors, such as pectin and crude fiber, were reduced by 43.10 % and 20.21 %, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that the activities of fiveenzymes, including acid protease, neutral protease, pectinase,xylanase and cellulase, were significantly correlated with the variation in the contents of soluble protein, total sugars and reducing sugars (p

Propofol and opioids are commonly used in anaesthesia, but are highly susceptible to haemodynamic instability, thereby threatening the patient's surgical safety and prognosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictors of haemodynamic instability and establish its predictive model.A total of 150 Chinese patients undergoing thyroid or breast surgery participated in the study, with target-controlled infusion concentrations of propofol, opioids dosage, heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and Narcotrend Index recorded at key points throughout the procedure. The Agena MassARRAY system was used to genotype candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms related to pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of propofol and opioids.Among nongenetic factors, baseline HR (R = -.579, P .001) and baseline MAP (R = -.725, P .001) had a significant effect on the haemodynamic instability. Among genetic factors, the CT/CC genotype of GABRB1 rs4694846 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -11.309 to -3.155), AA/AG of OPRM1 rs1799971 (95%CI: 0.773 to 10.290), AA of CES2 rs8192925 (95%CI: 1.842 to 9.090) were associated with higher HR instability; the AA/GG genotype of NR1I2 rs6438550 (95%CI: 0.351 to 7.761), AA of BDNF rs2049046 (95%CI: -9.039 to -0.640) and GG of GABBR2 rs1167768 (95%CI: -10.146 to -1.740) were associated with higher MAP instability. The predictive models of HR and MAP fluctuations were developed, accounting for 45.0 and 59.2% of variations, respectively.We found that cardiovascular fundamentals and genetic variants of GABRB1, GABBR2, OPRM1, BDNF, CES2 and NR1I2 are associated with cardiovascular susceptibility, which can provide a reference for haemodynamic management in clinical anaesthesia.

Introduction Postoperative pain remains incompletely controlled for decades. Recently, multimodal analgesia is emerging as a potential approach in the management of postoperative pain. Therein, S(+)-ketamine is appealing as an adjuvant drug in multimodal analgesia due to its unique pharmacological advantages. This pragmatic clinical trial (SAFE-SK-A trial) is designed to investigate the analgesic effect and safety of S(+)-ketamine for acute postoperative pain in adults and explore the optimal strategy of perioperative intravenous S(+)-ketamine in a real-world setting. Methods and analysis This multicentre, randomised, open-label, positive-controlled, pragmatic clinical trial (SAFE-SK-A study) is planned to conduct in 80 centres from China and recruit a total of 12 000 adult participants undergoing a surgical procedure under general anaesthesia. Patient recruitment started in June 2021 and will end in June 2022. Participants will be randomised in a ratio of 2:1 to either receive perioperative intravenous S(+)-ketamine plus conventional anaesthesia or conventional anaesthesia only. Given the pragmatic nature of the study, no specific restriction as to the administration dosage, route, time, synergistic regimen or basic analgesics. Primary endpoints are the area under the broken line of Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) scores for pain intensity and the total opioid consumption within 48 hours postoperative. Secondary endpoints are postoperative NRS scores, the anaesthesia recovery time, time of first rescue analgesia, the incidence of rescue analgesia, the incidence of postoperative delirium, patient questionnaire for effect, changes from baseline in cognitive function and anxiety and depression, as well as the adverse events and pharmacoeconomic outcomes. The general linear model will be used for the primary endpoint, and appropriate methods will be used for the secondary endpoints. Ethics and dissemination This trial has been approved by the local Institutional Review Board (S2021-026-02) and conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki. Results of this trial will be publicly disclosed and published in scientific journals. Trial registration number NCT04837170; Pre-results.

Most cases of acute liver failure are caused by acetaminophen (APAP) overdose. Oxidative stress is a key factor in APAP toxicity. Although augmenter of liver regeneration (ALR) has both antioxidative and antiapoptotic effects, its therapeutic potential in APAP hepatotoxicity remains unknown. The current study assessed the protective effects and associated mechanisms of ALR against APAP-induced acute liver injury in female BALB/c mice. We found that serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels, intrahepatic hemorrhage and necrosis were increased at 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h after 600 mg/kg APAP i.p. injection. During the early stages (before 12 h) of acute liver injury, ALR levels increased significantly, followed by a decrease to control level at 24 h after APAP administration. ALR treatment increased autophagosomes, promoted the conversion of LC3 I to LC3 II, and the degradation of p62. ALR attenuated APAP-stimulated increases in ALT, AST, myeloperoxidase (MPO), malondialdehyde (MDA), and reactive oxidative species (ROS) levels; intrahepatic hemorrhage; and necrosis as well as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Glutathione (GSH) depletion. We found that APAP caused release of the mitochondrial intermembrane proteins apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) and cytochrome c and that ALR inhibited this change. Meanwhile, ALR decreased expression of cleaved-caspase 3 and apoptotic cells. Subsequently, we investigated the significance of autophagy in APAP-induced acute liver injury by treatment with 3-methyladenine (3-MA), which were classical pharmaceuticals for suppressing autophagy. ALR directly induced autophagy flux; and the inhibition of autophagy reversed the beneficial effects of ALR on hepatotoxicity. Our findings suggest that ALR protects against APAP hepatotoxicity by activating the autophagy pathway.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is the second most common haematological malignancy and remains an incurable disease, with most patients relapsing and requiring further treatment. Augmenter of liver regeneration (ALR) is a vital protein affecting fundamental processes such as energy transduction, cell survival and regeneration. Silencing ALR inhibits cell proliferation and triggers apoptosis in human MM U266 cells. However, little is known about the role of 15-kDa-ALR on MM. In the present study, the role of 15-kDa-ALR in human MM cells was investigated. Blocking extracellular 15-kDa-ALR with an anti-ALR monoclonal antibody (McAb) decreased the proliferation and viability of U266 cells. However, the results of flow cytometry revealed no changes in apoptosis, and the expression levels of Bax, Bcl-2, caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-3 were not affected. However, combined treatment with anti-ALR McAb and epirubicin increased the apoptosis of U266 cells. RNA sequencing results indicated that the ERK1/2, JNK-MAPK and STAT3 signaling pathways, as well as the cell cycle, were associated with the mechanism of action of the anti-ALR McAb, and PCR, western blotting and cell cycle analysis confirmed these results. The present findings suggested that blocking extracellular 15-kDa-ALR in U266 cells with an anti-ALR McAb decreased cell proliferation via the MAPK, STAT3 and cell cycle signaling pathways without increasing apoptosis. Thus, 15-kDa-ALR may be a new therapeutic target for myeloma.

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) leads to life-threatening acute hypoxemic respiratory failure in clinic and usually requires mechanical ventilation. Low tidal volume ventilation is now universally accepted as management treatment for this condition. However, recruitment maneuvers (RM) and positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) remain controversial. Therefore, we performed a network meta-analysis to identify the RM and PEEP levels of patients with ARDS.Methods: We searched PubMed, OVID, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Central) databases. The primary outcome was death in the 28th day, and the secondary outcomes included death in hospital, ventilator-free days, and barotrauma. Data for study characteristics, methods, and outcomes were extracted. The relative effect sizes were estimated by risk ratios (RRs) for binary variables and standard mean difference (SMD) for continuous variables. Relative ranking of the interventions was conducted using surface under the cumulative ranking. Multiple intervention comparisons based on the Bayesian and frequentist frameworks were performed to integrate the efficacy of all included strategies.Results: Thirty randomized controlled trials comprising 4410 patients were included in the network meta-analysis. None of the ventilation strategies was significantly superior over others for all outcomes. According to the relative rank probabilities, low PEEP showed the lowest probability of harming death in the 28th day, whereas RM+low PEEP showed the highest probability of benefitting death in hospital and ventilator-free days. Low PEEP showed the highest probability of benefitting barotrauma. The overall quality of the evidence per grade was moderate to low.Conclusions: No ventilation strategy is significantly superior over others. RM+low PEEP has the highest probability of benefitting survival. The evidence has low overall quality and should be further studied.

This report introduced and summarized the nursing care experience for a senior patient with lung cancer and developed programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy-related myocarditis combined with coronary heart disease (CHD) after receiving said treatment. In this case, immune myocarditis with CHD occurred shortly after implementing the PD-1 immunotherapy, yet the patient presented no clinical symptoms. Frequent nursing attention and close observation are so required for monitoring the patient's status and updating the physicians for a swift control of the myocarditis. For this case, nursing care procedures vital for the successful recovery of the patient included condition observation, position management, pre- and postcoronary angiography care, infection prevention, hemorrhage prevention, venous access port maintenance, pain care, trachea care, psychological care, diet care, environment management, and health education. After receiving effective, successful treatment and care, the patient was discharged after 13 days of treatment with generally satisfying overall conditions.

BACKGROUND Circulating cardiac troponin levels are powerful predictors of prognosis in many clinical settings, but their association with outcomes after noncardiac surgery is unclear. OBJECTIVES The aim of this systematic review was to summarise current evidence on the association of pre-operative troponin elevation with postoperative major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and mortality in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery. DESIGN Systematic review of observational studies with meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES PubMed, EMBASE and Science Citation Index Expanded (ISI Web of Science) from their inception to 1 October 2017. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA Observational studies reporting the associations between pre-operative troponin levels and MACE and all-cause mortality after noncardiac surgeries were included. RESULTS Ten studies met the eligibility criteria. The entire body of evidence addressing the research question was based on a total of 10 371 patients: 4.7 to 68.3% (median 23.8%) of patients had elevated troponin levels before surgery. Elevated pre-operative troponin was significantly associated with short-term MACE (seven studies, 5180 patients: odds ratio (OR) 6.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.85 to 12.42), short-term mortality (five studies, 6103 patients: OR 4.23, 95% CI 2.27 to 7.89) and long-term mortality (two studies, 760 patients: OR 2.51, 95% CI 1.47 to 4.29). The associations remained significant when only multivariate-adjusted results were analysed. Overall, the reviewers' certainty about the summary estimates of the associations was very low. CONCLUSION Current evidence suggests that pre-operative high troponin levels are significantly associated with adverse cardiac events and mortality after noncardiac surgery. TRIAL REGISTRATION This systematic review was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (Centre for Reviews and Dissemination 42017077837).

In order to improve the efficiency of solar module, we have designed the Fresnel lens concentrated system and charging system, their schematic diagrams are depicted detailed in this paper. The experimental data show that adding Fresnel lens parts can improve the solar panels' power from 130% to 200% and incident angle can affect solar panels' voltage current characteristic deeply. All of these results can give some support to design the tracking system.

Objective The mortality of critically ill patients associated with intestinal ischemia/reperfusion remains very high, which results from multiorgan dysfunction or failure due to intestinal injury induced by intestinal ischemia/reperfusion. This study was carried out to investigate whether intestinal ischemia/reperfusion can cause cerebral injury and concomitant memory dysfunction, and explore the potential mechanisms. Design Prospective, controlled, and randomized animal study. Setting University research laboratory. Subjects Male, adult Sprague-Dawley rats (weighing 250-300 g). Interventions Intestinal ischemia/reperfusion was established by clamping the superior mesenteric artery for 90 mins followed by different reperfusion durations (2, 6, 12, 24, or 48 hrs). The sham surgical preparation including isolation of the superior mesenteric artery without occlusion was performed as control. Measurements and main results In comparison with sham control, intestinal ischemia/reperfusion caused severe intestinal injury, accompanied by notable cerebral damage evidenced by increased wet-to-dry brain weight ratio reflecting brain edema and neuronal cell apoptosis manifested by increased apoptotic cell number and cleaved caspase-3 protein expressions. All these changes were concomitant with reduced survival rates as well as impaired memory function determined by Morris water maze test at 24 and 48 hrs after reperfusion. In addition, intestinal ischemia/reperfusion resulted in significant increases in the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 both in the serum and in cortices and hippocampal Cornu Ammonis area 1 regions, concomitant with the activation of microglia, a key cellular mediator involved in neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration, which was evidenced by increased protein expressions of ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1. Furthermore, the releases of reactive oxygen species evidenced by increased malondialdehyde levels and decreased superoxide dismutase activities in cortices and hippocampal Cornu Ammonis area 1 regions were found after reperfusion. Conclusions These findings indicate that intestinal ischemia/reperfusion-induced intestinal injury can lead to cerebral damage and memory dysfunction partly via microglia activation which further facilitates oxidative injury, inflammatory response, and neuronal cell apoptosis.

We calculate the phase velocity(V), power flow angle(PFA) and electromechanical coupling factor(k2) on X,Y,Z-cut of Sr3NbGa3Si2O14(SNGS),Sr3TaGa3Si2O14 (STGS), Ca3NbGa3Si2O14(CNGS) and Ca3TaGa3Si2O14(CTGS)crystal,. The calculated results are in excellent agreement with the experimental results. As these crystals are denser than quartz, they have lower phase velocity. The results also indicates that they have high k2 and cuts of zero PFA. Taking various SAW properties into consideration, some typical propagation directions like 167.5° of X-cut SNGS ,0 of Y-cut SNGS, 170° of X-cut STGS, 0 of Y-cut STGS,11 of X-cut CNGS, 0 of Y-cut CNGS, 175.0 of X-cut CNGS and 0 of Y-cut CTGS are selected, which can be used in the application of SAW devices.

Learning-induced changes of synaptic ultrastructure have long been proposed as a mechanism that may contribute to support memory formation. Although recent studies have demonstrated that the interpositus nuclei (IN) play critical role in acquisition and retention of trace conditioned eyeblink responses (CRs), there is now limited evidence associating trace eyeblink conditioning with changes of synaptic ultrastructure in the IN. Here, we investigated this issue using a transmission electron microscope. Adult guinea pigs were randomly allocated to either a trace-paired, delay-paired, unpaired or exposure-only condition. The IN tissue was taken for morphological analysis 1 h after the completion of the tenth training session. Serial section analysis of synaptic ultrastructure revealed that trace eyeblink conditioning induced increases in the thickness of excitatory PSD. Classification of the synapses into shape subtypes indicated that the increased thickness of excitatory PSD was mainly attributable to increase in the concave- and convex-shaped synapses. On the contrary, trace eyeblink conditioning resulted in decreases in the thickness of inhibitory PSD. Specifically, these significant changes of PSD thickness were limited to occur in the animals with good behavioral performance. Further analysis of correlations between the trace CR performance and synaptic ultrastructural modifications showed that the thickness of excitatory PSD within the IN correlated with the peak amplitude of trace CRs, whereas the thickness of inhibitory PSD correlated with the onset latency. The present findings suggest that trace eyeblink conditioning induces structural plasticity in the IN, which may play a crucial role in acquiring and executing adaptive eyeblink movements.

This paper presents a Fit Degree based Two-step Lookahead algorithm (FDTL) for the NP hard container loading problem. Several evaluation criteria, the fit degrees, are defined to construct different initial solutions as well as to explore different portions of the search space. Then a two-step lookahead tree search procedure is incorporated for the sufficient search such that the algorithm could find better layouts compared to a one-step lookahead tree search procedure. FDTL is tested on two sets of typical instances: 800 instances as proposed by Bischoff and Ratcliff (1995), and 15 instances as proposed by Loh and Nee (1992). Experiments show that this new algorithm improves among the known algorithms on the space utilization.

Background Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) has been identified as an early biomarker for prediction of acute kidney injury (AKI). However, the utility of NGAL to predict the occurrence of AKI in septic patients remains controversial. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the evidence on diagnosis of sepsis AKI and the prediction of other clinical outcomes. Method The MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Wanfang, and CNKI databases were systematically searched up to August 19, 2015. Quality assessment was applied by using the Quality Assessment for Studies of Diagnostic Accuracy (QUADAS-2) tool. The diagnostic performance of NGAL for the prediction of AKI in sepsis was evaluated using pooled estimates of sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio, and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), as well as summary receiver operating characteristic curves (SROC). Results Fifteen studies with a total of 1,478 patients were included in the meta-analysis. For plasma NGAL, the pooled sensitivity and specificity with corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were 0.83 (95 % CI: 0.77 − 0.88) and 0.57 (95 % CI: 0.54 − 0.61), respectively. The pooled positive likelihood ratio (PLR) was 3.10 (95 % CI: 1.57 − 6.11) and the pooled negative likelihood ratio (NLR) was 0.24 (95 % CI: 0.13 − 0.43). The pooled DOR was 14.72 (95 % CI: 6.55 − 33.10) using a random effects model. The area under the curve (AUC) for SROC to summarize diagnostic accuracy was 0.86. For urine NGAL, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, DOR, and AUC values were 0.80 (95 % CI: 0.77 − 0.83), 0.80 (95 % CI: 0.77 − 0.83), 4.42 (95 % CI: 2.84 − 6.89), 0.21 (95 % CI: 0.13 − 0.35), 24.20 (95 % CI: 9.92 − 59.05) and 0.90, respectively. Significant heterogeneity was explored as a potential source. There was no notable publication bias observed across the eligible studies. NGAL for prediction of renal replacement therapy (RRT) and mortality associated with AKI in septic patients were also evaluated. Conclusion To a certain extent, NGAL is not only an effective predictive factor for AKI in the process of sepsis, but also shows potential predictive value for RRT and mortality. However, future trials are needed to clarify this controversial issue.

Identification accuracy of traditional Chinese medicine is crucial for the traditional Chinese medicine research, production and application. DNA barcoding based on the mitochondrial gene coding for cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), are more and more used for identification of traditional Chinese medicine. Using universal barcoding primers to sequence, we discussed the feasibility of DNA barcoding method for identification commonly-used medicinal snakes (a total of 109 samples belonging to 19 species 15 genera 6 families). The phylogenetic trees using Neighbor-joining were constructed. The results indicated that the mean content of G + C(46.5%) was lower than that of A + T (53.5%). As calculated by Kimera-2-parameter model, the mean intraspecies genetic distance of Trimeresurus albolabris, Ptyas dhumnades and Lycodon rufozonatus was greater than 2%. Further phylogenetic relationship results suggested that identification of one sample of T. albolabris was erroneous. The identification of some samples of P. dhumnades was also not correct, namely originally P. korros was identified as P. dhumnades. Factors influence on intraspecific genetic distance difference of L. rufozonatus need to be studied further. Therefore, DNA barcoding for identification of medicinal snakes is feasible, and greatly complements the morphological classification method. It is necessary to further study in identification of traditional Chinese medicine.

Enlightened by the law of interactions among objects in the physical world, we propose a heuristic algorithm for solving the three-dimensional (3D) off-lattice protein folding problem. Based on a physical model, the problem is converted from a nonlinear constraint-satisfied problem to an unconstrained optimization problem which can be solved by the well-known gradient method. To improve the efficiency of our algorithm, a strategy was introduced to generate initial configuration. Computational results showed that this algorithm could find states with lower energy than previously proposed ground states obtained by nPERM algorithm for all chains with length ranging from 13 to 55.

A branch and bound algorithm is proposed for the two-dimensional protein folding problem in the HP lattice model. In this algorithm, the benefit of each possible location of hydrophobic monomers is evaluated and only promising nodes are kept for further branching at each level. The proposed algorithm is compared with other well-known methods for 10 benchmark sequences with lengths ranging from 20 to 100 monomers. The results indicate that our method is a very efficient and promising tool for the protein folding problem.

Objective: To analyze National Chinese Medicine Master Liu Shangyi’s prescription characteristics of clinical medicine for the treatment of cancer patients with stomachache. Methods: Data on prescriptions for cancer patients with stomachache between January 2014 and July 2016 were collected. The composing principles were analyzed by unsupervised data mining methods including Apriori algorithm in association rules and complex system entropy cluster. Results: Based on the analysis of 120 prescriptions, the frequency of each herb and association rules among the herbs were computed. Four core combinations and two new prescriptions were mined from the database. Compared to the before treatment, the clinical symptomatic grading of stomachache after treatment was lower (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Professor Liu has been successful in the treatment of cancer patients with stomachache by prescribing medication that aids in activating blood circulation, removing dampness, and alleviating pain.

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of various traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) approaches on the quality of life in patients with colorectal cancer. Methods: In this study, we systematically performed the screening of randomized controlled trials from Cochrane Library, Pubmed, Embase, Medline, and Web of Science. The data were extracted by two reviewers independently, and then risk assessment was performed. All the analyses were conducted using Review Manager 5.3. Results: A total of 18 eligible studies containing 1312 patients were included. Experimental group were treated with TCM combined with Western medicine or TCM alone (N = 688) and control group were treated with Western medicine treatment alone (N = 624). The results showed that the recent clinical efficiency between the two groups was not statistically significant (P = 0.06). KPS scores of the experimental group were higher than those in the control group [P < 0.001, WMD = 9.60, 95%CI = (5.62, 13.57)]. The toxicity comparison showed that the occurrence of toxicities, such as leucopenia, thrombocytopenia, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and neurotoxicity in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group [P < 0.001, OR = 0.31, 95%CI = (0.19, 0.50)], [P = 0.003, OR = 0.49, 95%CI = (0.31, 0.78)], [P < 0.001, OR = 0.30, 95%CI = (0.16, 0.54)], [P < 0.001, OR = 0.40, 95%CI = (0.27, 0.58)], and [P < 0.001, OR = 0.43, 95%CI = (0.30, 0.61)]. The immunological test comparison demonstrated that the immunological parameters (CD3, CD4, and CD4/CD8) showed higher values in the experimental group than those in the control group [P < 0.001, MD = 5.55, 95%CI = (4.83, 6.28)], [P < 0.0001, MD = 6.75, 95%CI = (5.25, 8.26)], and [P = 0.001, MD = 0.26, 95%CI = (0.10, 0.41)]. Conclusions: TCM did not show significant recent clinical efficiency. However, treatment with TCM showed increase in KPS scores in patients with colorectal cancer, alleviation of toxicity associated with chemotherapy, regulation of autoimmunity, and improvement in the quality of life of patients.

Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) may confer the protection in critical organs. The authors hypothesized that limb RIPC would reduce lung injury in patients undergoing pulmonary resection.In a randomized, prospective, parallel, controlled trial, 216 patients undergoing elective thoracic pulmonary resection under one-lung ventilation with propofol-remifentanil anesthesia were randomized 1:1 to receive either limb RIPC or conventional lung resection (control). Three cycles of 5-min ischemia/5-min reperfusion induced by a blood pressure cuff served as RIPC stimulus. The primary outcome was PaO2/FIO2. Secondary outcomes included other pulmonary variables, the incidence of in-hospital complications, markers of oxidative stress, and inflammatory response.Limb RIPC significantly increased PaO2/FIO2 compared with control at 30 and 60 min after one-lung ventilation, 30 min after re-expansion, and 6 h after operation (238 ± 52 vs. 192 ± 67, P = 0.03; 223 ± 66 vs. 184 ± 64, P = 0.01; 385 ± 61 vs. 320 ± 79, P = 0.003; 388 ± 52 vs. 317 ± 46, P = 0.001, respectively). In comparison with control, it also significantly reduced serum levels of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α at 6, 12, 24, and 48 h after operation and malondialdehyde levels at 60 min after one-lung ventilation and 30 min after re-expansion (all P0.01). The incidence of acute lung injury and the length of postoperative hospital stay were markedly reduced by limb RIPC compared with control (all P0.05).Limb RIPC attenuates acute lung injury via improving intraoperative pulmonary oxygenation in patients without severe pulmonary disease after lung resection under propofol-remifentanil anesthesia.

Allopurinol protects the heart against ischaemic events during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), possibly because of its antioxidant properties. This double-blind study was designed to investigate whether allopurinol (1 g), given before cardiopulmonary bypass and prior to the opening of cross-clamping, has an antioxidant effect in CABG patients by measuring plasma total peroxyl radical scavenging capacity.Twenty-seven patients with stabile angina were randomized into allopurinol (n = 14) or placebo (n = 13) groups.During 10 min reperfusion, plasma hypoxanthine and xanthine concentrations increased only in the allopurinol group, whereas uric acid concentrations decreased. Total peroxyl radical scavenging capacity (TRAP) decreased from the initial value at all measuring points in both groups.The reducing effect of allopurinol on free radical generation cannot be seen in TRAP values, obviously because the uric acid concentration of plasma decreases markedly. The positive clinical effects of allopurinol in CABG patients may arise from its direct oxygen free radical scavenging function.

Objectives To investigate the postoperative adverse outcomes among surgical patients with preoperative systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a nationwide population-based study. Methods We used Taiwan9s National Health Insurance Research Database to identify 4321 surgical inpatients with SLE and 17 284 sex- and age-matched controls receiving major surgery. Sociodemographic characteristics, preoperative comorbidities, postoperative 30-day in-hospital major complications and mortality were analysed among surgical patients with and without SLE. Results Surgical patients with SLE had a higher prevalence of preoperative coexisting medical conditions and postoperative major complications. The OR of 30-day postoperative mortality for surgical patients with SLE was 1.71 (95% CI 1.09 to 2.67) after adjustment. Surgical patients who had received more recent (within 6 months) preoperative SLE-related inpatient care had higher risks of 30-day postoperative acute renal failure (OR=7.23, 95% CI 4.52 to 11.6), pneumonia (OR=2.60, 95% CI 1.82 to 3.72), pulmonary embolism (OR=4.86, 95% CI 1.20 to 19.7), septicaemia (OR=3.43, 95% CI 2.48 to 4.74), stroke (OR=2.01, 95% CI 1.38 to 2.92), overall complications (OR=2.30, 95% CI 1.89 to 2.80) and 30-day postoperative mortality (OR=2.39, 95% CI 1.28 to 4.45) than surgical patients without SLE. SLE-related preoperative steroid injections showed a dose-dependent relationship with postoperative complications and mortality. Conclusions SLE significantly increased the risks of surgical patients for overall major complications and mortality after major surgery. Our findings demonstrated the need for integrated care and revised protocols for perioperative management to improve outcomes for surgical patients with SLE.