The Effect of Emodin-Assisted Early Enteral Nutrition on Severe Acute Pancreatitis and Secondary Hepatic Injury

Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) characterized by atrocious progression and numerous complications often leads to a high mortality rate due to hypermetabolism, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), and multiple organs dysfunction syndrome (MODS). Studies have revealed that both early enteral nutrition (EEN) and emodin are potent agents in the management of SAP. However, whether the combined strategy is rational and more effective than either one alone remains unknown. In this regard, Wistar rats were treated with emodin-assisted EEN (EAEEN) through enteral nutrient tubes after induction of SAP by retrograde infusion of 5.0% sodium taurocholate into the common pancreatic duct. Serum levels of amylase, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), angiotensin II (AngII), maleic dialdehyde (MDA), glutamic pyruvic transaminase (ALT), glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (AST) and C-reactive protein (CRP), intestinal secretory IgA (SIgA), pancreatic and hepatic myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity as well as plasma levels of D-lactate and endotoxin were measured. In addition, pathologic alterations of pancreas and liver were observed microscopically. We found that EAEEN could significantly ameliorate these parameters and prevent pancreas and liver from serious damage. In conclusion, Our results indicated that EAEEN could exert beneficial effects on experimental SAP and obviously abate the severity of secondary hepatic injury. The combined strategy was safe and more effective than either one alone in the acute stage of SAP. This study also provided an experimental base for the clinical treatment of SAP patients with EAEEN

Ocean Solid Monitoring Temporal and Spatial Data Organization, Management and Application

In the ocean dynamical environment real-time solid monitoring system of Taiwan Strait and adjacent maritime region, multiple monitoring data including remote sensing data, structured data is produced by the solid monitoring net from airspace, ocean surface and under ocean surface. The storage, management, online analysis service of the monitoring temporal and spatial data is key part of the whole system. Aiming to resolve the data organization and integrated analysis service of the monitoring data, this paper studies the characteristics, design and application of the temporal and spatial data warehouse of ocean solid monitoring information. Firstly, the characteristics and application model of the data warehouse of ocean solid monitoring information is introduced from the aspects of spatial, temporal, subject-oriented, multiple resource and decision-making oriented. Then the subject classification, design of concept module of the data warehouse of ocean solid monitoring information is introduced. The Star Schema is used to demonstrate the multi-dimension character of the ocean monitoring information. At last, the data warehouse of ocean solid monitoring data based application in shipwreck salvation decision-making support system of Taiwan Strait is realized

Ocean Observing Data Web Service and Application in Shipwreck Salvation of Taiwan Strait

In the ocean dynamical environment real-time observing system of Taiwan Strait and adjacent maritime region, multiple observing data such as remote sensing data, structured data and so on are produced by the observing net from airspace, ocean surface, underwater space and ocean bottom. The data sharing and web service is a key part to influence the application efficiency of the whole system. According to the characteristics of the oceanic dynamical environment of Taiwan Strait, the construction scheme of the observing net is introduced in this paper firstly. Then the architecture of the observing data sharing and web service system is introduced, which includes four parts, i.e. the observing data acquiring module, the data integration module, the data processing and information production development module, the data sharing and web service module. Next, the user classification system and service content classification are introduced. The users are divided into five classes and the service content is divided into 4 layers. At last, the technology realization strategy and application in shipwreck salvation decision-making support system is introduced

Improving QCD with fermions: the 2 dimensional case of QCD with Sea Quarks

We study QCD in 2 dimensions using the improved lattice fermionic Hamiltonian proposed by Luo, Chen, Xu and Jiang. The vector mass and the chiral condensate are computed for various $SU(N_C)$ gauge groups. We do observe considerable improvement in comparison with the Wilson quark case.Comment: LATTICE98(improvement

Isolating hydrogen in hexagonal boron nitride bubbles by a plasma treatment

Atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is often regarded as an elastic film that is impermeable to gases. The high stabilities in thermal and chemical properties allow h-BN to serve as a gas barrier under extreme conditions.In this work, we demonstrate the isolation of hydrogen in bubbles of h-BN via plasma treatment.Detailed characterizations reveal that the substrates do not show chemical change after treatment. The bubbles are found to withstand thermal treatment in air,even at 800 degree celsius. Scanning transmission electron microscopy investigation shows that the h-BN multilayer has a unique aligned porous stacking nature, which is essential for the character of being transparent to atomic hydrogen but impermeable to hydrogen molecules. We successfully demonstrated the extraction of hydrogen gases from gaseous compounds or mixtures containing hydrogen element. The successful production of hydrogen bubbles on h-BN flakes has potential for further application in nano/micro-electromechanical systems and hydrogen storage.Comment: 55 pages, 33figure

Bitcoin and global financial stress: a copula-based approach to dependence and causality in the quantiles

We apply different techniques and uncover the quantile conditional dependence between the global financial stress index and Bitcoin returns from July 18, 2010, to December 29, 2017. The results from the copula-based dependence show evidence of right-tail dependence between the global financial stress index and Bitcoin returns. We focus on the conditional quantile dependence and indicate that the global financial stress index strongly Granger-causes Bitcoin returns at the left and right tail of the distribution of the Bitcoin returns, conditional on the global financial stress index. Finally, we use a bivariate cross-quantilogram approach and show only limited directional predictability from the global financial stress index to Bitcoin returns in the medium term, for which Bitcoin can act as a safe-haven against global financial stress

Association between investigator-measured body-mass index and colorectal adenoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 168,201 subjects

The objective of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the odds of colorectal adenoma (CRA) in colorectal cancer screening participants with different body mass index (BMI) levels, and examine if this association was different according to gender and ethnicity. The EMBASE and MEDLINE were searched to enroll high quality observational studies that examined the association between investigator-measured BMI and colonoscopy-diagnosed CRA. Data were independently extracted by two reviewers. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the summary odds ratio (SOR) for the association between BMI and CRA. The Cochran’s Q statistic and I2 analyses were used to assess the heterogeneity. A total of 17 studies (168,201 subjects) were included. When compared with subjects having BMI < 25, individuals with BMI 25–30 had significantly higher risk of CRA (SOR 1.44, 95% CI 1.30–1.61; I2 = 43.0%). Subjects with BMI ≥ 30 had similarly higher risk of CRA (SOR 1.42, 95% CI 1.24–1.63; I2 = 18.5%). The heterogeneity was mild to moderate among studies. The associations were significantly higher than estimates by previous meta-analyses. There was no publication bias detected (Egger’s regression test, p = 0.584). Subgroup analysis showed that the magnitude of association was significantly higher in female than male subjects (SOR 1.43, 95% CI 1.30–1.58 vs. SOR 1.16, 95% CI 1.07–1.24; different among different ethnic groups (SOR 1.72, 1.44 and 0.88 in White, Asians and Africans, respectively) being insignificant in Africans; and no difference exists among different study designs. In summary, the risk conferred by BMI for CRA was significantly higher than that reported previously. These findings bear implications in CRA risk estimation

A single residue substitution in the receptor-binding domain of H5N1 hemagglutinin is critical for packaging into pseudotyped lentiviral particles

© 2012 Tang et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background: Serological studies for influenza infection and vaccine response often involve microneutralization and hemagglutination inhibition assays to evaluate neutralizing antibodies against human and avian influenza viruses, including H5N1. We have previously characterized lentiviral particles pseudotyped with H5-HA (H5pp) and validated an H5pp-based assay as a safe alternative for high-throughput serological studies in BSL-2 facilities. Here we show that H5-HAs from different clades do not always give rise to efficient production of H5pp and the underlying mechanisms are addressed. Methodology/Findings: We have carried out mutational analysis to delineate the molecular determinants responsible for efficient packaging of HA from A/Cambodia/40808/2005 (H5Cam) and A/Anhui/1/2005 (H5Anh) into H5pp. Our results demonstrate that a single A134V mutation in the 130-loop of the receptor binding domain is sufficient to render H5Anh the ability to generate H5Anh-pp efficiently, whereas the reverse V134A mutation greatly hampers production of H5Cam-pp. Although protein expression in total cell lysates is similar for H5Anh and H5Cam, cell surface expression of H5Cam is detected at a significantly higher level than that of H5Anh. We further demonstrate by several independent lines of evidence that the behaviour of H5Anh can be explained by a stronger binding to sialic acid receptors implicating residue 134. Conclusions: We have identified a single A134V mutation as the molecular determinant in H5-HA for efficient incorporation into H5pp envelope and delineated the underlying mechanism. The reduced binding to sialic acid receptors as a result of the A134V mutation not only exerts a critical influence in pseudotyping efficiency of H5-HA, but has also an impact at the whole virus level. Because A134V substitution has been reported as a naturally occurring mutation in human host, our results may have implications for the understanding of human host adaptation of avian influenza H5N1 virusesThis work was supported by grants from the Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases of Hong Kong (RFCID#08070972), the Area of Excellence Scheme of the University Grants Committee (grant AoE/M-12/-06 of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China), the French Ministry of Health, and the RESPARI project of the Institut Pasteur International Network

Influences of Deqi on Immediate Analgesia Effect of Needling SP6 (Sanyinjiao) in Patients with Primary Dysmenorrhea in Cold and Dampness Stagnation Pattern: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Deqi, according to traditional Chinese medicine, is a specific needle sensation during the retention of needles at certain acupoints and is considered to be necessary to produce therapeutic effects from acupuncture. Although some modern researches have showed that Deqi is essential for producing acupuncture analgesia and anesthesia, the data are not enough. It is a paper of a multicenter, randomized controlled study protocol, to evaluate the influences of Deqi on acupuncture SP6 in Cold and Dampness Stagnation pattern primary dysmenorrhea patients, in terms of reducing pain and anxiety, and to find out the relationship between Deqi and the temperature changes at SP6 (Sanyinjiao) and CV4 (Guanyuan). The results of this trial will be helpful to explain the role of Deqi in acupuncture analgesia and may provide a new objective index for measuring Deqi in the future study. This trial is registered with ChiCTR-TRC-13003086