Therapeutic effect of Xuezhitong capsule on microvascular angina

Purpose: To determine the therapeutic effect of Xuezhitong capsule in patients with microvascular angina (MVA), and its impact on vascular endothelial function.Methods: In total, 172 MVA patients treated in Beijing City Fengtai District Nanyuan Hospital from September 2017 to September 2019 were selected and randomized into control group which received conventional treatment, and treatment group which received Xuezhitong capsules plus. There were 86 patients in each group. Therapeutic effect, levels of inflammatory factors, i.e., high-sensitivity C- reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-(IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and vascular endothelial factors such as nitric oxide (NO), thromboxane B2 (TXB2) and endothelin (ET), were determined.Results: Markedly higher total treatment effectiveness was observed in the treatment group than in the control group (89.53 % vs. 72.94 %; p < 0.05). In both groups, treatment reduced the levels of hs-CRP, IL-6, TNF-α, TXB2 and ET, but elevated NO, with better results for treatment group than the control group (p < 0.05). Better optimizations of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TGs), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were observed in the treatment group, relative to the control group (p < 0.05). Patients in the treatment group experienced fewer (8.14%) adverse reactions than those in control group (21.18 %, p < 0.05).Conclusion: Xuezhitong capsule, when combined with conventional treatment, exerts high therapeutic effectiveness and safety in MVA patients by inhibiting inflammatory reactions, optimizing endothelialfunction, reducing blood lipid levels, and decreasing the incidence of cardiovascular adverse events. Thus, the combination therapy is a potentially superior therapeutic strategy to the conventional approach for the management of MVA patients

A standing Leidenfrost drop with Sufi-whirling

The mobility of Leidenfrost drop has been exploited for the manipulation of drop motions. In the classical model, the Leidenfrost drop was levitated by a vapor cushion, in the absence of touch to the surface. Here we report a standing Leidenfrost state on a heated hydrophobic surface where drop stands on the surface with partial adhesion and further self-rotates like Sufi-whirling. To elucidate this new phenomenon, we imaged the evolution of the partial adhesion, the inner circulation, and the ellipsoidal rotation of the drop. The stable partial adhesion is accompanied by thermal and mechanical equilibrium, and further drives the development of the drop rotation.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Non-destructive testing for carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) using a novel eddy current probe

Abstract(#br)Carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) is of low conductivity and has a layered structure. High-frequency transmitter-receiver (T-R) probes are widely chosen to inspect CFRPs using eddy current testing (ECT). However, in these works, the variation in the distance between the probe and test sample can cause a larger signal than that caused by defects and may cover up the defect. The detection sensitivity was also reduced by random noise resulting from lift-off change. To address these issues, it is meaningful to design a probe which can overcome the effect of lift-off variation and meanwhile offer high sensitivity to defects in CFRPs. In this study, a T-R probe with a special structure for detection of CFRPs was developed. The probe contains an 8-shaped transmitter coil (TX coil) and a circular receiver coil (RX coil), which is placed on a line equidistant from the two parts of the transmitter coil. Theoretically, regardless of how the lift-off changes, the output signal is always 0 if the azimuth of the probe agrees with one of the fiber orientations of an intact CFRP. Experimental studies demonstrate that the proposed probe is insensitive to lift-off compared with a traditional T-R probe and offers high sensitivity to defects. For defect detection, in-plane waviness can be detected with the proposed probe. Quantitative experiments for crack detection were performed. The cracks were clearly visualized in the scanning images. The length and location of the cracks can also be estimated from the scanning images

Intracellular ROS Mediates Gas Plasma-Facilitated Cellular Transfection in 2D and 3D Cultures

This study reports the potential of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) as a versatile tool for delivering oligonucleotides into mammalian cells. Compared to lipofection and electroporation methods, plasma transfection showed a better uptake efficiency and less cell death in the transfection of oligonucleotides. We demonstrated that the level of extracellular aqueous reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by gas plasma is correlated with the uptake efficiency and that this is achieved through an increase of intracellular ROS levels and the resulting increase in cell membrane permeability. This finding was supported by the use of ROS scavengers, which reduced CAP-based uptake efficiency. In addition, we found that cold atmospheric plasma could transfer oligonucleotides such as siRNA and miRNA into cells even in 3D cultures, thus suggesting the potential for unique applications of CAP beyond those provided by standard transfection techniques. Together, our results suggest that cold plasma might provide an efficient technique for the delivery of siRNA and miRNA in 2D and 3D culture models

In Situ OH Generation From O2- and H2O2 Plays a Critical Role in Plasma Induced Cell Death

Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species produced by cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) are considered to be the most important species for biomedical applications, including cancer treatment. However, it is not known which species exert the greatest biological effects, and the nature of their interactions with tumor cells remains ill-defined. These questions were addressed in the present study by exposing human mesenchymal stromal and LP-1 cells to reactive oxygen and nitrogen species produced by CAP and evaluating cell viability. Superoxide anion (O2-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were the two major species present in plasma, but their respective concentrations were not sufficient to cause cell death when used in isolation; however, in the presence of iron, both species enhanced the cell death-inducing effects of plasma. We propose that iron containing proteins in cells catalyze O2- and H2O2 into the highly reactive OH radical that can induce cell death. The results demonstrate how reactive species are transferred to liquid and converted into the OH radical to mediate cytotoxicity and provide mechanistic insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor cell death by plasma treatment