Efficacy and safety of Xingnaojing injection for post-operative patients of intracerebral haemorrhage: a meta-analysis and systematic review

BackgroundIntracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) is the deadliest subtype of stroke. Surgery remains a vital measure for life-saving in emergency situations, however, the recovery of post-operative patients is not optimistic. This study aimed to evaluate the evidence of the efficacy and safety of Xingnaojing injection (XNJ) for post-operative patients of ICH.MethodsFrom inception to 31 January 2024, we searched eight representative databases for randomized controlled trials on post-operative patients of ICH treated with XNJ. A meta-analysis was conducted using R4.2.2, and the quality of the evidence was evaluated by GRADE criteria.ResultsThe results indicated that the combination of XNJ with conventional western medicine therapy improved the total efficiency rate (RR = 1.26; 95% CI [1.21 to 1.32]; p < 0.0001), reduced the all-cause mortality within 15 days (RR = 0.45; 95% CI [0.30 to 0.67]; p < 0.0001), decreased the volume of hematoma (MD = −4.72; 95% CI [-7.43 to −2.01]; p = 0.0006) and perihematomal edema (MD = −4.11; 95% CI [-8.11 to −0.11]; p = 0.0441), reduced the TNF-α levels (SMD = −1.61, 95% CI [−2.23 to −0.99], p < 0.0001), decreased neurological impairment (SMD = −1.44; 95% CI [-1.78 to −1.11]; p < 0.0001), improved the activities of daily living (SMD = 1.22; 95% CI [0.78 to 1.66]; p < 0.0001), and enhanced the consciousness level (MD = 2.08, 95% CI [1.22 to 2.93], p < 0.0001). In addition, the complications of the combination therapy group were lower (RR = 0.43; 95% CI [0.35 to 0.54]; p < 0.0001) and the adverse drug reactions were comparable to the control group (RR = 0.89; 95% CI [0.55 to 1.45]; p = 0.6521). The trial sequential analysis results showed that the sample size is sufficient.ConclusionCurrent evidence indicates that XNJ can enhance the efficiency, reduce mortality, and lower the incidence of complications, while demonstrating good tolerability of post-operative patients of ICH. However, the level of evidence from existing studies is relatively weak, and only prove short-term effects, and high-quality RCTs are needed to further verify the accuracy of these conclusions.Systematic Review Registration: identifier (PROSPERO 2024 CRD42024503006). https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42024503006, Identifier CRD42024503006

The mediating role of general academic emotions in burnout and procrastination among Chinese medical undergraduates during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

BackgroundAcademic procrastination has become more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic due to teaching/learning changes. This phenomenon induces academic burnout, which is already serious among medical students. However, the academic emotion, which is the factor most vulnerable to changes in the academic environment, is still unknown. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the mediating role of general academic emotions in procrastination and burnout among Chinese medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThis cross-sectional study enrolled 995 medical students from China Medical University. We applied the Chinese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Survey (MBI-SS), the Aitken Procrastination Inventory (API) and the General Academic Emotion Questionnaire for College Students (GAEQ) to evaluate the variables of interest. We examined the mediation effects of GAEs by hierarchical linear regression analysis.ResultsCorrelation analyses showed a significant positive correlation between procrastination and burnout. Procrastination and burnout positively and negatively correlated with negative academic emotions, respectively. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that procrastination had positive associations with negative academic emotions, while it had negative associations with positive academic emotions. The contributions (as mediators) of GAEs to burnout and procrastination were 21.16% (NAEs), 29.75% (PAEs), 54.25% (NDEs) and 23.69% (PDEs).ConclusionsThe results indicate that academic emotions had mediating effects on procrastination and burnout. Medical students' worries about the uncertainty of the learning environment may have exacerbated academic burnout. Targeted improvements in the teaching environment to communicate encouragement and reduce anxiety and helplessness among medical undergraduates for implementing medical education while preventing and controlling the infection

Targeting histone lysine demethylase KDM4A in Aggressive Variant Prostate Cancer

View full abstracthttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/leading-edge/1054/thumbnail.jp

Solar-thermal conversion and steam generation: a review

Recently, steam generation systems based on solar-thermal conversion have received much interest, and this may be due to the widespread use of solar energy and water sources such as oceans and lakes. The photo-thermal desalination system becomes attractive as it can convert absorbed solar light energy into thermal energy and realise the desalination and water purification of saline water through the evaporation process. In this paper, the research status of solar-thermal conversion materials such as metal-based materials, semiconductor materials, carbon-base materials, organic polymer materials, composite photo-thermal materials and their solar-thermal conversion mechanism in recent years are reviewed. The physical process and evaluation principle of solar-thermal conversion are both carefully introduced. The methods of optimising thermal management and increasing the evaporation rate of a hybrid system are also introduced in detail. Four main applications of solar-thermal conversion technologies (seawater desalination, wastewater purification, sterilisation and power generation) are discussed. Finally, based on the above analysis, the prospects and challenges for future research in the field of desalination are discussed from an engineering and scientific viewpoint to promote the direction of research, in order to stimulate future development and accelerate commercial application

Antibiofilm Activity of an Exopolysaccharide from Marine Bacterium Vibrio sp. QY101

Bacterial exopolysaccharides have always been suggested to play crucial roles in the bacterial initial adhesion and the development of complex architecture in the later stages of bacterial biofilm formation. However, Escherichia coli group II capsular polysaccharide was characterized to exert broad-spectrum biofilm inhibition activity. In this study, we firstly reported that a bacterial exopolysaccharide (A101) not only inhibits biofilm formation of many bacteria but also disrupts established biofilm of some strains. A101 with an average molecular weight of up to 546 KDa, was isolated and purified from the culture supernatant of the marine bacterium Vibrio sp. QY101 by ethanol precipitation, iron-exchange chromatography and gel filtration chromatography. High performance liquid chromatography traces of the hydrolyzed polysaccharides showed that A101 is primarily consisted of galacturonic acid, glucuronic acid, rhamnose and glucosamine. A101 was demonstrated to inhibit biofilm formation by a wide range of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria without antibacterial activity. Furthermore, A101 displayed a significant disruption on the established biofilm produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but not by Staphylococcus aureus. Importantly, A101 increased the aminoglycosides antibiotics' capability of killing P. aeruginosa biofilm. Cell primary attachment to surfaces and intercellular aggregates assays suggested that A101 inhibited cell aggregates of both P. aeruginosa and S. aureus, while the cell-surface interactions inhibition only occurred in S. aureus, and the pre-formed cell aggregates dispersion induced by A101 only occurred in P. aeruginosa. Taken together, these data identify the antibiofilm activity of A101, which may make it potential in the design of new therapeutic strategies for bacterial biofilm-associated infections and limiting biofilm formation on medical indwelling devices. The found of A101 antibiofilm activity may also promote a new recognition about the functions of bacterial exopolysaccharides

Preparation and Characterization of Graphene Oxide

Graphene oxide (GO) films with two-dimensional structure were successfully prepared via the modified Hummer method. It is proven that redox method is a promising way to synthesize GO films on a large scale. Comprehensive characterizations of the properties of GO films were conducted. TEM and DFM analyses showed that GO sheets prepared in this study had single and double lamellar layer structure and a thickness of 2~3 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was selected to measure the crystal structure of GO sheet. Fourier-transform infrared spectra analyzer (FT-IR) was used to certify the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups in GO films. The tests of UV-VIS spectrometer and TGA analyzer indicated that GO sheet possessed excellent optical response and outstanding thermal stability. Elemental analyzer (EA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS) analyzed the components synthetic material. Simultaneously, chemical structure of GO sheet was described in this study. Discussion and references for further research on graphene are provided

Analysis of the Government and Capital Market’s Response to Normalized Epidemic Prevention and Control Based on the Development of Smart Health Care

With the continuous prominence of medical problems, the construction of a smart medical system has received more and more attention. With coronavirus disease 2019 in a state of regular prevention and control, the epidemic prevention and control in China had produced favorable effects. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation of the emergency governance mechanism in China was crucial to epidemic prevention and control worldwide. This paper empirically analyzed the effects of epidemic prevention and control based on the dual perspective of epidemic governance and capital market, taking the daily outbreak data at the provincial level in China as the sample. The findings were as follows: (1) The accumulation of epidemic medical treatment experience in each province and city produced a positive emergency effect on preventing and controlling the dissemination of epidemic. The effective medical security mechanism was one of the most important mechanisms for the significant emergency effect, with the effective material security as a critical supplement. (2) Companies and corporations with stronger capabilities for emergency medical treatment received more positive responses from the capital market comparatively. Aiming at diversifying directions and measurements for the improvement of emergency governance, this paper provided theoretical bases for improving the emergency governance system against major public health emergencies by using the Chinese characteristics

Assessing professional behaviors: a self-administered scale for medical students during clerkships

Abstract Background Medical professionalism is a core competency for medical students during clerkships for further professional development. Given that the behavior-based framework could provide clear insight and is easy to assess, the study aimed to create a self-administered scale to measure the professional behaviors of medical students during their clerkships. Methods A comprehensive literature review on medical professional behaviors in English or Chinese and Delphi interviews were used to develop the initial version of the Self-Administered Scale for Professional Behavior of Medical Students During Clerkships. The reliability and validity analysis based on a survey of medical students from China, Cronbach’s α calculations, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) specifically were conducted to finalize the scale. The associations of professional behaviors with gender, medical programs, and clerkship duration were examined using Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. Results We included 121 studies and extracted 57 medical professionalism assessment tools, initially forming a pool of 48 items. To refine these items, eighteen experts participated in two rounds of Delphi interviews, ultimately narrowing down the item pool to 24 items. A total of 492 participants effectively completed the questionnaire. One item was removed due to its correlated item-total correlation (CITC) value, resulting in a final scale containing 23 items with six domains: Respect, Altruism, Communication and Collaboration, Integrity, Duty, and Excellence. The overall Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.98, ranging from 0.88 to 0.95 for each domain. The fit indices (χ2/df = 4.07, CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.08, and SRMR = 0.02) signified a good fit for the six-domain model. Medical students’ professional behavior was significantly associated with gender (p = 0.03) and clerkship duration (p = 0.001). Conclusion The scale was demonstrated to be reliable and valid in assessing the professional behaviors of Chinese medical students during clerkships

Complete mitochondrial genome of the spotted alfalfa aphid, Therioaphis trifolii (Hemipera: Aphididae)

The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Therioaphis trifolii is sequenced and annotated based on high-throughput sequencing method in the present study. It is a typical circular DNA molecule of 16,068 bp, with 37 genes and 82.6% A + T content. The gene order is the same as the putative ancestral arrangement of insects. Thirteen protein-coding genes (PCGs) start with an ATN codon and terminate with a TAA codon or a single T residue. All the 22 tRNAs, ranging from 64 to 73 bp, have the typical clover-leaf structure except for trnS1. The length of rrnL and rrnS genes are 1265 bp and 779 bp respectively. The control region is 856 bp in length with 85.2% A + T content. The phylogenetic tree supports the monophyly of Aphidinae and the sister relationship between T. trifolii and seven species of subfamily Aphidinae

Finite Element Simulation of Stainless Steel Porous Scaffolds for Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and Its Experimental Investigation

In recent years, bone defect and bone tissue damage have become common clinical diseases. The development of bionic bone has had an important impact on the repair and reconstruction of bone tissue. Porous scaffolds have the advantages of adjustable pore size and controllable shape, which can solve the problem of mismatch in the process of bone repair, but traditional processing methods cannot overcome the challenge of the preparation of complex porous scaffolds. Therefore, 316L porous stainless steel scaffolds with different pore sizes (200 μm, 300 μm, 400 μm and 500 μm, respectively) were prepared by selective laser melting. Stress and strain were simulated and analyzed by using a finite element simulation method. Combined with a heat treatment experiment, a hardness test, a metallographic observation and a compression test, porous scaffolds were studied. The mechanical properties and microstructures of the scaffolds were studied and analyzed, and the optimized porous scaffolds were obtained. With reasonable melting parameters, the porous scaffolds that could meet the mechanical property requirements of load-bearing bone restorations were prepared by SLM