Risk Assessment of Intermittent and Continuous Nasogastric Enteral Feeding Methods in Adult Inpatients: A Meta-Analysis

Diarrhea and pneumonia are common and serious complications in hospitalized patients requiring nasogastric enteral feeding. Our study aimed to compare the risk of diarrhea and pneumonia between intermittent nasogastric enteral feeding (IEF) and continuous nasogastric enteral feeding (CEF). We systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane for relevant articles published from August 9, 1992, to September 1, 2019. A total of 637 IEF and CEF patients were included in our meta-analysis. Odds ratios (ORs) with associated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to estimate the effects of diarrhea and pneumonia. We showed that hospital patients that required IEF had an increased risk of diarrhea compared with CEF. In the subgroup analyses, similar conclusions were identified in the non-China group and small sample size group (size < 100). However, our results showed no significant differences in the China group or large sample size group (size ≥ 100). Furthermore, our analysis showed that no significant association was observed for the risk of pneumonia between IEF and CEF patients. For inpatients requiring nasogastric enteral feeding, CEF is a better method of enteral nutrition compared with IEF, of which patients experience a significantly increased risk of diarrhea

Alamandine via MrgD receptor attenuates pulmonary fibrosis via NOX4 and autophagy pathway

Alamandine (ALA) and its receptor MrgD were recently identified as components of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), which confer protection against cardio-fibrosis and renal-fibrosis. However, the effects of ALA on pulmonary fibrosis are unknown. This study was designed to serve two goals: (1) to evaluate ALA/MrgD axis ability in the prevention of Angiotensin Ⅱ (Ang Ⅱ)-induced pulmonary fibrosis in fibroblasts. (2) to determine the effect of ALA in bleomycin (BLM) treated C57B/6 mice. In vivo experiments revealed that the treatment of C57B/6 mice with ALA prevented BLM-induced fibrosis and these findings were similar to those reported for pirfenidone. The anti-fibrosis actions of ALA were mediated via alleviation of oxidative injury and autophagy induction. In addition, in vitro studies revealed that ALA treatment attenuated Ang Ⅱ-induced α-collagen I, CTGF and α-SMA production in fibroblast which was blocked by D-Pro7-Ang-(1-7), an MrgD antagonist. This led to alleviation of oxidative injury and induction of autophagy similar to that reported for rapamycin. This study demonstrated that ALA via MrgD receptor reduced pulmonary fibrosis through attenuation of oxidative injury and induction of autophagy.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Measuring Spectral Inconsistency of Multispectral Images for Detection and Segmentation of Retinal Degenerative Changes

Abstract Multispectral imaging (MSI) creates a series of en-face fundus spectral sections by leveraging an extensive range of discrete monochromatic light sources and allows for an examination of the retina’s early morphologic changes that are not generally visible with traditional fundus imaging modalities. An Ophthalmologist’s interpretation of MSI images is commonly conducted by qualitatively analyzing the spectral consistency between degenerated areas and normal ones, which characterizes the image variation across different spectra. Unfortunately, an ophthalmologist’s interpretation is practically difficult considering the fact that human perception is limited to the RGB color space, while an MSI sequence contains typically more than ten spectra. In this paper, we propose a method for measuring the spectral inconsistency of MSI images without supervision, which yields quantitative information indicating the pathological property of the tissue. Specifically, we define mathematically the spectral consistency as an existence of a pixel-specific latent feature vector and a spectrum-specific projection matrix, which can be used to reconstruct the representative features of pixels. The spectral inconsistency is then measured using the number of latent feature vectors required to reconstruct the representative features in practice. Experimental results from 54 MSI sequences show that our spectral inconsistency measurement is potentially invaluable for MSI-based ocular disease diagnosis

Segmenting diabetic retinopathy lesions in multispectral images using low-dimensional spatial-spectral matrix representation

International audienceMultispectral Imaging (MSI) provides a sequence of en-face fundus spectral slices and allows for the examination of structures and signatures throughout the thickness of retina to characterize diabetic retinopathy (DR) lesions comprehensively. Manual interpretation of MSI images is commonly conducted by qualitatively analyzing both the spatial and spectral properties of multiple spectral slices. Meanwhile, there exist few computerbased algorithms that can effectively exploit the spatial and spectral information of MSI images for the diagnosis of DR. We propose a new approach that can quantify the spatialspectral features of MSI retinal images for automatic DR lesion segmentation. It combines a generalized low-rank approximation of matrices (GLRAM) with a supervised regularization term (SRT) to generate low-dimensional spatial-spectral representations using the feature vectors in all spectral slices. Experimental results showed that the proposed approach is very effective for the segmentation of DR lesions in MSI images, which suggests it as an interesting tool for assisting ophthalmologists in diagnosing, analyzing, and managing DR lesions in MSI

NO Removal from Simulated Flue Gas with a NaClO2 Mist Generated Using the Ultrasonic Atomization Method

In order to enhance the mass transfer efficiency between gas&ndash;liquid interfaces, NaClO2 mist generated by an ultrasonic humidifier was used to remove NO from simulated flue gas. The effects of some key parameters (the gas flow rate, the NaClO2 concentration in the solution, the inlet NO concentration, the NaClO2 solution pH) on NO removal efficiency were investigated preliminarily. The results showed that NaClO2 mist could oxidize NO with a much higher efficiency compared with other mists containing either NaClO or H2O2 as oxidants. With an increase in the gas flow rate from 1.5 to 3.0 L&middot;min&minus;1, the atomizing rate of the NaClO2 solution increased almost linearly from 0.38 to 0.85 mL&middot;min&minus;1. When the gas flow rate was 2.0 L&middot;min&minus;1, a complete removal of NO had been reached. NO removal efficiency increased obviously with an increase in the NaClO2 concentration in the solution. With an increase in the inlet NO concentration, the ratio of NO in the flue gas and NaClO2 in the mist increased almost linearly. Furthermore, the NaClO2 mist exhibited a relatively stable and high NOx removal efficiency in a wide pH range (4&ndash;11) of NaClO2 solutions. The reason for the high NO removal efficiency was mainly ascribed to both the strong oxidative ability of NaClO2 and the improved mass transfer at the gas-liquid interface

Transit Time Distributions and Apparent Oxygen Utilization Rates in Northern South China Sea Using Chlorofluorocarbons and Sulfur Hexafluoride Data

CFC-12 and SF6 data were used in combination to estimate the mean age of water in the northern South China Sea (NSCS), to explore oceanographic processes related to "time," including the transit time through the Luzon Strait (LS) with a three-layer circulation structure and the apparent oxygen utilization rates (AOUR). Significant differences in mean ages of water were observed at the same density level in the water columns on both sides of the LS, presented as a westward flow in the upper layer, eastward flow in the intermediate layer, and westward flow in the deep layer with transit times of 8 +/- 5, 39 +/- 22, and 20 +/- 18 yr, respectively. The AOUR was estimated to be 8.4 mu mol kg(-1) yr(-1) at about 100 m and decreased to approximately 0.66 mu mol kg(-1) yr(-1) at 1,500 m in the NSCS. The average organic carbon flux in the depth range of 100-1,500 m was 1.7 mol C m(-2) yr(-1) in the NSCS and 1.3 mol C m(-2) yr(-1) in the western Pacific Ocean (WP). The activation energy-derived using the Arrhenius equation-in the NSCS and WP (87.7-154.2 kJ mol(-1)) are close to those in the northern Pacific Ocean (60.8-133.5 kJ mol(-1)). These results suggest a conspicuous correlation between temperature and AOUR. The impact of climate change on the ocean and the feedback mechanism between ocean warming and oxygen consumption needs further investigation

Designer Functional Nanomedicine for Myocardial Repair by Regulating the Inflammatory Microenvironment

Acute myocardial infarction is a major global health problem, and the repair of damaged myocardium is still a major challenge. Myocardial injury triggers an inflammatory response: immune cells infiltrate into the myocardium while activating myofibroblasts and vascular endothelial cells, promoting tissue repair and scar formation. Fragments released by cardiomyocytes become endogenous “danger signals”, which are recognized by cardiac pattern recognition receptors, activate resident cardiac immune cells, release thrombin factors and inflammatory mediators, and trigger severe inflammatory responses. Inflammatory signaling plays an important role in the dilation and fibrosis remodeling of the infarcted heart, and is a key event driving the pathogenesis of post-infarct heart failure. At present, there is no effective way to reverse the inflammatory microenvironment in injured myocardium, so it is urgent to find new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies. Nanomedicine, the application of nanoparticles for the prevention, treatment, and imaging of disease, has produced a number of promising applications. This review discusses the treatment and challenges of myocardial injury and describes the advantages of functional nanoparticles in regulating the myocardial inflammatory microenvironment and overcoming side effects. In addition, the role of inflammatory signals in regulating the repair and remodeling of infarcted hearts is discussed, and specific therapeutic targets are identified to provide new therapeutic ideas for the treatment of myocardial injury