Efficacy of co-administration of oxiracetam and butylphthalide in the treatment of elderly patients with hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage, and its effect on NIHSS and ADL scores

Purpose: To investigate the effect of combined use of oxiracetam and butylphthalide on hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (HICH) in elderly patients, and its influence on NIHSS and activities of daily living (ADL) scores of patients.Methods: Ninety (90) elderly patients with HICH who were admitted to Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China served as study subjects, and were randomly assigned to control and study groups, with 45 patients per group. The patients in the control group were treated with oxiracetam alone, while patients in the study group received a combination of oxiracetam and butylphthalide. Clinical efficacy, undesirable side effects and serum indices were determined. The NIHSS and ADL rating scales were used to evaluate cerebral nerve function and ADL score before and after treatment.Results: There were significantly higher total treatment effectiveness and lower incidence of adverse reactions in the study group than in control group, while tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) index, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) index and NIHSS score were reduced in study patients, relative to controls (p < 0.001). However, ADL score in the study group was higher than that in the control group (p < 0.001).Conclusion: Treatment of elderly patients with HICH using a combination of oxiracetam and butylphthalide improves various serum indices, cerebral nerve function and ADL, as well as clinical efficacy. Further research on the combined medication will help to establish a reliable treatment plan for these patients

The Promise and Limits of Cyber Power in International Law: Remarks

Hi, everyone. I am Monica Hakimi from the University of Michigan Law School, and I would like to welcome you to our panel on cyber power and its limits. The topic almost does not need an introduction. We all know just from reading the news that our collective dependence on cyberspace is also a huge vulnerability, and state and non-state actors exploit this vulnerability to do one another harm. They use cyber technologies not just to spy on one another, but also, for example, to interfere in national elections, to steal trade secrets or other valuable information, to disrupt the activities of political, military, or economic institutions, and at times to cause physical destruction or death. Moreover, because these technologies allow the perpetrators to obscure their identities or the full effects of their operations, the people and institutions that are affected do not always have the relevant information to protect themselves from future attacks or to respond

The cadmium–mercaptoacetic acid complex contributes to the genotoxicity of mercaptoacetic acid-coated CdSe-core quantum dots

Quantum dots (QDs) have many potential clinical and biological applications because of their advantages over traditional fluorescent dyes. However, the genotoxicity potential of QDs still remains unclear. In this paper, a plasmid-based system was designed to explore the genotoxic mechanism of QDs by detecting changes in DNA configuration and biological activities. The direct chemicobiological interactions between DNA and mercaptoacetic acid-coated CdSecore QDs (MAA–QDs) were investigated. After incubation with different concentrations of MAA–QDs (0.043, 0.13, 0.4, 1.2, and 3.6 μmol/L) in the dark, the DNA conversion of the covalently closed circular (CCC) DNA to the open circular (OC) DNA was significantly enhanced (from 13.9% ± 2.2% to 59.9% ± 12.8%) while the residual transformation activity of plasmid DNA was greatly decreased (from 80.7% ± 12.8% to 13.6% ± 0.8%), which indicated that the damages to the DNA structure and biological activities induced by MAA–QDs were concentration-dependent. The electrospray ionization mass spectrometry data suggested that the observed genotoxicity might be correlated with the cadmium–mercaptoacetic acid complex (Cd–MAA) that is formed in the solution of MAA–QDs. Circular dichroism spectroscopy and transformation assay results indicated that the Cd–MAA complex might interact with DNA through the groove-binding mode and prefer binding to DNA fragments with high adenine and thymine content. Furthermore, the plasmid transformation assay could be used as an effective method to evaluate the genotoxicities of nanoparticles

Effects of Functionalized Graphene Nanoplatelets on the Morphology and Properties of Phenolic Resins

Graphene nanoplatelets (Gnps) were covalently functionalized by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (KH550) and noncovalently functionalized by Triton X-100, respectively. The morphology and structure of KH550 modified graphene (K-Gnp) and Triton X-100 modified graphene (T-Gnp) were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron micrograph, and Raman spectrometer. The influences of K-Gnp and T-Gnp on thermal conductivity, fracture toughness, and thermal stability of the boron phenolic resin (BPR) were investigated. Both covalently functionalized K-Gnp and noncovalently functionalized T-Gnp not only improve the dispersion of Gnp in the polymer matrix but also increase interfacial bonding strength between the BPR matrix and Gnp, thus leading to the enhanced mechanical property and thermal stability of nanocomposites. Besides this, mechanical property and thermal stability of the BPR containing K-Gnp are superior to those of BPR containing T-Gnp

SiO2 nanoparticles induce cytotoxicity and protein expression alteration in HaCaT cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nanometer silicon dioxide (nano-SiO₂) has a wide variety of applications in material sciences, engineering and medicine; however, the potential cell biological and proteomic effects of nano-SiO₂exposure and the toxic mechanisms remain far from clear.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we evaluated the effects of amorphous nano-SiO₂(15-nm, 30-nm SiO₂). on cellular viability, cell cycle, apoptosis and protein expression in HaCaT cells by using biochemical and morphological analysis, two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) as well as mass spectrometry (MS). We found that the cellular viability of HaCaT cells was significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner after the treatment of nano-SiO₂and micro-sized SiO₂particles. The IC₅₀value (50% concentration of inhibition) was associated with the size of SiO₂particles. Exposure to nano-SiO₂and micro-sized SiO₂particles also induced apoptosis in HaCaT cells in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the smaller SiO₂particle size was, the higher apoptotic rate the cells underwent. The proteomic analysis revealed that 16 differentially expressed proteins were induced by SiO₂exposure, and that the expression levels of the differentially expressed proteins were associated with the particle size. The 16 proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF-TOF-MS analysis and could be classified into 5 categories according to their functions. They include oxidative stress-associated proteins; cytoskeleton-associated proteins; molecular chaperones; energy metabolism-associated proteins; apoptosis and tumor-associated proteins.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results showed that nano-SiO₂exposure exerted toxic effects and altered protein expression in HaCaT cells. The data indicated the alterations of the proteins, such as the proteins associated with oxidative stress and apoptosis, could be involved in the toxic mechanisms of nano-SiO₂exposure.</p

Phase change material heat storage performance in the solar thermal storage structure employing experimental evaluation

One of the most investigated and broadly used mediums in the solar thermal storage systems is using phase change materials. In this research, a comprehensive performance test bench for solar thermal utilization system using a controllable heater to substitute different levels of solar input was established. The test bench is not limited by the weather and equipped with alternative heat storage tanks for different PCMs. The heat storage structure and the performance of paraffin in low temperature system was examined using numerical simulation method. The results showed that the heating power received by PCM was stable at 6–8 kW under the heating condition of 85 °C. At the stage of incompletely melting, the temperature difference between the inside and outside was as high as 31.6, which can reduce the loss of heat to a great extent

Non-enzymatic oxalic acid sensor using platinum nanoparticles modified on graphene nanosheets

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [21175112]; Science and Technology Planning Project of Fujian Province, China [2012Y0052]An enzyme-free oxalic acid (OA) electrochemical sensor was assembled using a platinum nanoparticle-loaded graphene nanosheets (PtNPGNs)-modified electrode. The PtNPGNs, with a high yield of PtNPs dispersed on the graphene nanosheets, were successfully achieved by a green, rapid, one-step and template-free method. The resulting PtNPGNs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and an X-ray diffraction technique. Electrochemical oxidation of OA on the PtNPGNs-modified electrode was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry methods. Based on the results, the modified electrode exhibited high electrochemical activity with well-defined peaks of OA oxidation and a notably decreased overpotential compared to the bare or even the GNs-modified electrode. Under optimized conditions, a good linear response was observed for the concentration of OA and its current response was in the range of 0.1-15 mM and 15-50 mM with a detection limit (S/N = 3) of 10 mM. Furthermore, the electrochemical sensor presented good characteristics in terms of stability and reproducibility, promising the applicability of the sensor in practical analysis