Clinical efficacy of a combination of propofol and etomidate in pediatric anesthesia, and its effect on vital indices in patients

Purpose: To study the clinical effectiveness of a combination of propofol and etomidate as pediatricanesthesia, and its influence on some vital factors in the patients.Methods: A total of 104 children who underwent appendectomy, hepatobiliary surgery and excision ofbone tumor in Xuzhou Children's Hospital, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China from June 2018 to June 2020, were selected for this retrospective study. The patients were divided into groups A, B and C. In group A, 40 patients received the combination of propofol and etomidate, 32 patients received propofol only, while group C comprised 32 patients who received etomidate only. Vital indices such asanesthesia induction time, wake-up time after surgery, anesthetic effect, and adverse reactions were determined.Results: In group A, the mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were improved; anesthesia induction time and wake-up time after surgery were shorter, and anesthetic effect was more obvious in children with grades I and II. However, there was no grade III anesthetic effect, although there was a lower incidence of adverse reactions in this group.Conclusion: The use of a combination of propofol and etomidate results in higher clinical efficacy of pediatric anesthesia than either propofol or etomidate alone. Furthermore, the combination produces better quality of vital indices in the patient

Analysis of contributions of herpes simplex virus type 1 UL43 protein to induction of cell-cell fusion

Purpose: To investigate whether UL43 protein, which is highly conserved in alpha- and gamma herpes viruses, and a non-glycosylated transmembrane protein, is involved in virus entry and virus-induced cell fusion.Methods: Mutagenesis was accomplished by a markerless two-step Red  recombination mutagenesis system implemented on the Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC). Growth properties of HSV-1 UL43 mutants were analyzed using plaque morphology and one-step growth kinetics. SDS-PAGE and Western blot was employed to assay the synthesis of the viral glycoproteins. Virus-penetration was assayed to determine if UL43 protein is required for efficient virus entry.Results: Lack of UL43 expression resulted in significantly reduced plaque sizes of syncytial mutant viruses and inhibited cell fusion induced by gBΔ28 or gKsyn20 (p < 0.05). Deletion of UL43 did not affect overall expression levels of viral  glycoproteins gB, gC, gD, and gH on HSV-1(F) BAC infected cell surfaces.  Moreover, mutant viruses lacking UL43 gene exhibited slower kinetics of entry into Vero cells than the parental HSV-1(F) BAC.Conclusion: Thus, these results suggest an important role for UL43 protein in  mediating virus-induced membrane fusion and efficient entry of virion into target cells.Keywords: Herpes simplex virus type 1, UL43 protein, Membrane fusion, Mutant viruses, Virion, Mutagenesi

Clinical efficacy of a combination of propofol and etomidate in pediatric anesthesia, and its effect on vital indices in patients

Purpose: To study the clinical effectiveness of a combination of propofol and etomidate as pediatric anesthesia, and its influence on some vital factors in the patients.Methods: A total of 104 children who underwent appendectomy, hepatobiliary surgery and excision of bone tumor in Xuzhou Children's Hospital, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China from June 2018 to June 2020, were selected for this retrospective study. The patients were divided into groups A, B and C. In group A, 40 patients received the combination of propofol and etomidate, 32 patients received propofol only, while group C comprised 32 patients who received etomidate only. Vital indices such as anesthesia induction time, wake-up time after surgery, anesthetic effect, and adverse reactions were determined.Results: In group A, the mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were improved; anesthesia induction time and wake-up time after surgery were shorter, and anesthetic effect was more obvious in children with grades I and II. However, there was no grade III anesthetic effect, although there was a lower incidence of adverse reactions in this group.Conclusion: The use of a combination of propofol and etomidate results in higher clinical efficacy of pediatric anesthesia than either propofol or etomidate alone. Furthermore, the combination produces better quality of vital indices in the patients

Food adulteration and traceability tests using stable carbon isotope technologies

Due to the fractionation of stable carbon isotopes in plant photosynthesis, bio-decomposition processes, environmental factors, plant physiology, geographical factors, climatic conditions and agricultural practices, different foods exhibit significant differences in stable carbon isotope ratios. Therefore, stable carbon isotope ratio analysis (SCIRA) presents an effective tool for detecting food adulteration and food traceability control. In addition, stable carbon isotopes can frequently be used as markers to identify veterinary drug residues, pesticide residues and toxic substances remaining in foods by isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS). The emphasis of this review, which will help readers to modify stable carbon isotope technologies more easily and extend their application in adulteration and traceability for foods, is on the characteristics of various instruments and the data processing methods in SCIRA and IDMS technologies. The latest research is also reviewed and highlighted. This paper reviews potential applications of these technologies to improve current food detection and protect consumers’ rights

Dietary Probiotic Bacillus licheniformis TC22 Increases Growth, Immunity, and Disease Resistance, against Vibrio splendidus Infection in Juvenile Sea Cucumbers Apostichopus japonicus

In this study we examined the effects of probiotic Bacillus licheniformis TC22 on growth, immunity, and disease resistance against Vibrio splendidus in juvenile sea cucumbers Apostichopus japonicus. For 30 days, sea cucumbers were fed diets with TC22 at 0 (control), 105, 107, and 109 CFU/g respectively. Results showed that dietary TC22 at 109 CFU/g significantly improved (P0.05). Dietary TC22 at 109 CFU/g significantly improved phagocytosis, and total nitric oxide synthase activity in sea cucumbers (P0.05). Respiratory burst in sea cucumbers fed dietary TC22 at 109 CFU/g was significantly higher than those fed dietary TC22 at 107 CFU/g (P<0.05). Cumulative mortality after V. splendidus challenge decreased significantly in the sea cucumbers fed with TC22 at 109 CFU/g (P<0.05). The present study confirmed dietary B. licheniformis TC22 at 109 CFU/g could significantly improve immunity and disease resistance in juvenile A. japonicus

Verrucisidinol and Verrucosidinol Acetate, Two Pyrone-Type Polyketides Isolated from a Marine Derived Fungus, Penicillium aurantiogriseum

The new secondary metabolites verrucosidinol (1) and its derivative verrucosidinol acetate (2), together with a potent neurotoxin verrucosidin (3), a congener norverrucosidin (4) and a mixture of two known phytotoxic metabolites terrestric acids (5 and 6), were isolated from the marine derived fungus Penicillium aurantiogriseum. Verrucosidinol has a ring-opened ethylene oxide moiety in the polyene α-pyrone skeleton, and verrucosidinol acetate is its acetate derivative. The chemical structures were determined by comparing with literature data and a combination of spectroscopic techniques, including high resolution mass spectrum and two-dimentional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analysis

Combined Transcriptome and Proteome Analysis of RpoS Regulon Reveals Its Role in Spoilage Potential of Pseudomonas fluorescens

Microbial contamination is considered the main cause of food spoilage. Pseudomonas fluorescens is a typical spoilage bacterium contributing to a large extent to the spoilage process of proteinaceous foods. RpoS is known as an alternative sigma factor controlling stress resistance and virulence in many pathogens. Our previous work revealed that RpoS contributes to the spoilage activities of P. fluorescens by regulating resistance to different stress conditions, extracellular acylated homoserine lactone (AHL) levels, extracellular protease and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) production. However, RpoS-dependent genes in P. fluorescens remained undefined. RNA-seq transcriptomics analysis combined with quantitative proteomics analysis based on multiplexed isobaric tandem mass tag (TMT) labeling was performed in the P. fluorescens wild-type strain UK4 and its derivative carrying an rpoS mutation. A total of 375 differentially expressed coding sequences (DECs) and 212 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified. The DECs were further verified by qRT-PCR. The combined transcriptome and proteome analyses revealed the involvement of this regulator in several cellular processes, mainly including polysaccharide metabolism, intracellular secretion, extracellular structures, cell wall biogenesis, stress responses, and amino acid and biogenic amine metabolism, which may contribute to the biofilm formation, stress resistance, and spoilage activities of P. fluorescens. Moreover, we indeed observed that RpoS contributed to the production of the macrocolony biofilm's matrix. Our results provide insights into the regulatory network of RpoS and expand the knowledge about the role of RpoS in the functioning of P. fluorescens in food spoilage

Association between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and risk of hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundExisting evidence indicates that exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) may increase the risk of hypertension, but the findings are inconsistent. Therefore, we aimed to explore the relationship between PFASs and hypertension through this systematic review and meta-analysis.MethodsWe searched PubMed, Embase, and the Web of Science databases for articles published in English that examined the relationship between PFASs and hypertension before 13 August 2022. The random effects model was used to aggregate the evaluation using Stata 15.0 for Windows. We also conducted subgroup analyses by region and hypertension definition. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to determine the robustness of the findings.ResultsThe meta-analysis comprised 15 studies in total with 69,949 individuals. The risk of hypertension was substantially and positively correlated with exposure to perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) (OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.14, 1.51), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) (OR = 1.16, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.26), and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) (OR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.09). However, perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) exposure and hypertension were not significantly associated (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 0.99, 1.17).ConclusionWe evaluated the link between PFASs exposure and hypertension and discovered that higher levels of PFOS, PFOA, and PFHxS were correlated with an increased risk of hypertension. However, further high-quality population-based and pathophysiological investigations are required to shed light on the possible mechanism and demonstrate causation because of the considerable variability.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/ PROSPERO, registration number: CRD 42022358142

Numerical simulation study on the effects of liquid water atomization on the flow field and performance of aluminum-based water ramjet engines

In order to investigate the effects of different water inlet droplet diameters on the performance of aluminum-based water ramjet engines, the internal flow field of the engine was analyzed through numerical simulation. The results showed that by selecting a suitable water droplet diameter at the water inlet and controlling the time required for water droplet evaporation and heat absorption, the working range of aluminum-water combustion reaction can be expanded and the specific impulse of the engine can be increased. In engine design and practical application, the design of the water injection nozzle upstream of the engine is critical, and the droplet diameter at the water inlet should be controlled within a suitable range. A diameter that is too large will reduce the evaporation efficiency and hinder the further diffusion of combustion reaction. Droplet sizes that are too small will rapidly evaporate, causing the temperature in the flow field to decrease rapidly, leading to a large range of low-temperature regions in the main reaction zone of the combustion chamber, thereby reducing the overall aluminum-water reaction rate of the engine. In addition, the variation of droplet diameter in the downstream water atomization nozzle has little effect on the aluminum-water reaction in the main combustion zone. However, reducing the droplet diameter can facilitate the downstream diffusion of the combustion reaction, further expanding the combustion range and increasing the specific impulse. Furthermore, it can also reduce the temperature near the wall, which is beneficial for reducing the overall thermal protection requirements of the engine