Safety and efficacy of etomidate and propofol anesthesia in elderly patients undergoing gastroscopy: A double-blind randomized clinical study

The aim of the present study is to compare the safety, efficacy and cost effectiveness of anesthetic regimens by compound, using etomidate and propofol in elderly patients undergoing gastroscopy. A total of 200 volunteers (65–79 years of age) scheduled for gastroscopy under anesthesia were randomly divided into the following groups: P, propofol (1.5–2.0 mg/kg); E, etomidate (0.15-0.2 mg/kg); P+E, propofol (0.75–1 mg/kg) followed by etomidate (0.075-0.1 mg/kg); and E+P, etomidate (0.075-0.01 mg/kg) followed by propofol (0.75–1 mg/kg). Vital signs and bispectral index were monitored at different time points. Complications, induction and examination time, anesthesia duration, and recovery and discharge time were recorded. At the end of the procedure, the satisfaction of patients, endoscopists and the anesthetist were evaluated. The recovery (6.1±1.2 h) and discharge times (24.8±2.8 h) in group E were significantly longer compared with groups P, P+E and E+P (P<0.05). The occurrence of injection pain in group P+E was significantly higher compared with the other three groups (P<0.05). In addition, the incidence of myoclonus and post-operative nausea and vomiting were significantly higher in group P+E compared with the other three groups (P<0.05). There was no statistical difference among the four groups with regards to the patients' immediate, post-procedure satisfaction (P>0.05). Furthermore, there was no difference in the satisfaction of anesthesia, as evaluated by the anesthetist and endoscopist, among the four groups (P>0.05). The present study demonstrates that anesthesia for gastroscopy in elderly patients can be safely and effectively accomplished using a drug regimen that combines propofol with etomidate. The combined use of propofol and etomidate has unique characteristics which improve hemodynamic stability, cause minimal respiratory depression and less side effects, provide rapid return to full activity and result in high levels of satisfaction

Assessing the effectiveness of complex dietary candidate probiotics on growth performance, digestive enzyme activity, antioxidant capability, and intestinal microbiota of koi carp (Cyprinus carpio var. koi)

The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of three complex dietary candidate probiotics (LDJ, LAC, and LJD) composing different candidate probiotic combinations on the growth performance, digestive enzyme activities, antioxidant parameters, and intestinal microbiota in koi carp (Cyprinus carpio var. koi). After a 60-days feeding trial, samples from the control and three candidate probiotic groups were obtained and analyzed. The results suggested that all complex dietary candidate probiotic treatments (LDJ, LAC, and LJD) improved the growth performance, nutrition utilization, and intestinal digestive enzyme activities compared with the control group. Furthermore, a dietary supplement with LAC or LJD is more efficient in growth and digestive enzyme than LDJ. The antioxidant enzyme activities, including SOD (superoxide dismutase), CAT (catalase), and GPX (glutathione peroxidase), were intensively improved, the GSH (glutathione) contents increased, and the MDA (malondialdehyde) contents decreased to different extents depending on the tissues and kinds of candidate probiotics. Dietary candidate probiotics also regulated the intestinal microbiota composition: LDJ and LAC increased the proportion of potential candidate probiotics and reduced the level of pollutants reducing bacteria and geosmin producer Nannocystis. The LJD group had a similar pattern of the dominant bacteria to the control sample, suggesting a minor disturbance of the gut microbiota of koi carp. Overall, the multi-strain complex candidate probiotics LAC and LJD are more efficient in growth performance and digestive enzymes

Effects of temperature on a Chinese population of Amblyseius andersoni (Acari: Phytoseiidae) fed with Tetranychus urticae

International audienceThe development and fecundity of Amblyseius andersoni (Chant) fed with Tetranychus urticae Koch was studied at five different temperatures (17, 20, 25, 30 and 35 °C) and life parameters of the population were calculated. The development, reproduction, longevity, and life table parameters of A. andersoni were significantly affected by the different temperatures. The duration of the egg, larval, protonymph, deutonymph and total immature stages were reduced when the temperature increased. The total oviposition of A. andersoni was highest at 25 °C and lowest at 35 °C, and the daily average oviposition increased as the temperature increased, but few eggs were laid at 17 °C. The values of the intrinsic rate of increase (rm, 0.108--0.200), net reproduction rate (R0, 18.71--36.47) and the mean generation time (T, 14.68--29.73) significantly differed among the five temperatures. The highest net reproduction rate (R0 = 36.47) was obtained at 25 °C. The results of this study indicated that A. andersoni has a high inherent potential for the control of the T. urticae at certain temperatures

Protective effect of ginsenoside Rb1 against intestinal ischemia-reperfusion induced acute renal injury in mice

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Phosphocreatine Preconditioning Attenuates Apoptosis in Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury of Rat Brain

Phosphocreatine (PCr) is an endogenous compound containing high-energy phosphate bonds. It has been confirmed that PCr is effective in preventing and treating cardiac and renal ischemia-reperfusion injury. In this study, rat cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury models were constructed. Apoptotic cells in the cortex region were measured by TUNEL method. Malondialdehyde (MDA) content was detected by chromatometry, and calmodulin (CaM) activity was detected by ELISA. Compared with sham-operated group (sham group), TUNEL-positive cells, MDA, and level of CaM activity increased in ischemia-reperfusion group (I/R group) and PCr preconditioning group (PCr group); compared with I/R group, TUNEL-positive cells, MDA content, and level of CaM activity decreased in PCr group. This study indicated that PCr can decrease the morphological damage and the neuron apoptosis of the ischemia-reperfusion injury brain through attenuating abnormalities of calcium balance and production of oxygen free radicals

Shen-Fu Injection Preconditioning Inhibits Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in Diabetic Rats: Activation of eNOS via the PI3K/Akt Pathway

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether Shen-fu injection (SFI), a traditional Chinese medicine, could attenuate myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (MI/R) injury in diabetes. Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats were randomly assigned to the Sham, I/R, SFI preconditioning, and SFI plus wortmannin (a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor) groups. After the treatment, hearts were subjected to 30 min of coronary artery occlusion and 2 h reperfusion except the Sham group. Myocardial infarct size and cardiomyocytes apoptosis were increased significantly in MI/R group as compared with the Sham group. SFI preconditioning significantly decreased infarct size, apoptosis, caspase-3 protein expression, MDA level in myocardial tissues, and plasma level of CK and LDH but increased p-Akt, p-eNOS, bcl-2 protein expression, and SOD activity compared to I/R group. Moreover, SFI-induced cardioprotection was abolished by wortmannin. We conclude that SFI preconditioning protects diabetic hearts from I/R injury via PI3K/Akt-dependent pathway

Optimal Order Strategy in Uncertain Demands with Free Shipping Option

Free shipping with conditions has become one of the most effective marketing tools; more and more companies especially e-business companies prefer to offer free shipping to buyers whenever their orders exceed the minimum quantity specified by them. But in practice, the demands of buyers are uncertain, which are affected by weather, season, and many other factors. Firstly, we model the centralization ordering problem of retailers who face stochastic demands when suppliers offer free shipping, in which limited distributional information such as known mean, support, and some deviation measures of the random data is needed only. Then, based on the linear decision rule mainly for stochastic programming, we analyze the optimal order strategies of retailers and discuss the approximate solution. Further, we present the core allocation between all retailers via dual and cooperative game theory. The existence of core shows that each retailer is pleased to cooperate with others in the centralization problem. Finally, a numerical example is implemented to discuss how uncertain data and parameters affect the optimal solution