Effect of a combination of dexmedetomidine and either isoflurane or sevoflurane on elderly patients undergoing radical resection for gallbladder cancer

Purpose: To determine the efficacy of dexmedetomidine (DEX) plus either isoflurane or sevoflurane, in elderly gallbladder cancer patients given radical resection. Methods: A total of 278 elderly patients assessed for eligibility and scheduled for radical gallbladder cancer resection in Hunan Cancer Hospital, Changsha, China were recruited. They were randomly assigned at a ratio of 1:1 to receive either DEX plus isoflurane or DEX plus sevoflurane. These two groups were compared with respect to immune functions (CD3+, CD 4+, CD 8+, and CD4+/CD8+ T cells); inflammatory factors, and cognitive function scores.Results: The sevoflurane cohort had higher immune function indices, lower levels of inflammatorycytokines, and better oxidative stress indices, than the isoflurane cohort (p < 0.05). Postoperatively,cognitive function scores in both cohorts were reduced. At postoperative 12 and 24 h, sevofluranecohort had higher scores than the isoflurane group. Sevoflurane was more effective in stabilizinghemodynamic indices than isoflurane.Conclusion: DEX plus sevoflurane produces more significant improvements in the cognitive function ofelderly patients undergoing radical resection for gallbladder cancer, with milder immune functionimpairment, milder inflammatory response, and lower degree of oxidative stress, than isofluran

Geography-mediated institutionalised cultural capital: Regional inequalities in graduate employment

This article investigates how regional inequalities shape the employment seeking experiences and behaviour of graduates by drawing on the case of Chinese Master’s graduates under COVID19. Based on interviews with graduates who chose to work as the ‘targeted selected graduates’ (TSG) of University A, located in the underdeveloped regions of North-western China, we show how their employment seeking was jointly impacted by three different but inter-related fields, the national economic, higher education, and graduate employment fields. These students were situated in a unique juncture across these fields; while their elite credentials from University A qualified them for these elite TSG programmes, they were disadvantaged by being excluded from TSG recruitments at economically developed regions. Importantly, we highlight that institutionalised cultural capital in the form of academic credentials from elite HEIs does not work in a ‘straightforward’ manner, but it has to be considered in conjunction with the geo-economic locations of their HEIs. We, therefore, propose the notion of ‘geography-mediated institutionalised cultural capital’ to capture this significant but under-theorised aspect of the graduate employment scene. This conceptual innovation enlightens the analysis of regional differences in different countries by considering how official or unofficial regional authorities’ interventions shape graduate employment

Degradation of switchgrass by Bacillus subtilis 1AJ3 and expression of a beta-glycoside hydrolase

Increasing demand for carbon neutrality has led to the development of new techniques and modes of low carbon production. The utilization of microbiology to convert low-cost renewable resources into more valuable chemicals is particularly important. Here, we investigated the ability of a cellulolytic bacterium, Bacillus subtilis 1AJ3, in switchgrass lignocellulose degradation. After 5 days of culture with the strain under 37°C, cellulose, xylan, and acid-insoluble lignin degradation rates were 16.13, 14.24, and 13.91%, respectively. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) indicated that the lignin and surface of switchgrass were degraded after incubation with the bacterial strain. Strain 1AJ3 can grow well below 60°C, which satisfies the optimum temperature (50°C) condition of most cellulases; subsequent results emphasize that acid-heat incubation conditions increase the reducing sugar content in a wide range of cellulosic biomass degraded by B. subtilis 1AJ3. To obtain more reducing sugars, we focused on β-glycoside hydrolase, which plays an important role in last steps of cellulose degradation to oligosaccharides. A β-glycoside hydrolase (Bgl-16A) was characterized by cloning and expression in Escherichia coli BL21 and further determined to belong to glycoside hydrolase (GH) 16 family. The Bgl-16A had an enzymatic activity of 365.29 ± 10.43 U/mg, and the enzyme’s mode of action was explained by molecular docking. Moreover, the critical influence on temperature (50°C) of Bgl-16A also explained the high-efficiency degradation of biomass by strain under acid-heat conditions. In terms of potential applications, both the strain and the recombinant enzyme showed that coffee grounds would be a suitable and valuable substrate. This study provides a new understanding of cellulose degradation by B. subtilis 1AJ3 that both the enzyme action mode and optimum temperature limitation by cellulases could impact the degradation. It also gave new sight to unique advantage utilization in the industrial production of green manufacturing

An Optimization Method for the Remanufacturing Dynamic Facility Layout Problem with Uncertainties

Remanufacturing is a practice of growing importance due to increasing environmental awareness and regulations. Facility layout design, as the cornerstone of effective facility planning, is concerned about resource localization for a well-coordinated workflow that leads to lower material handling costs and reduced lead times. However, due to stochastic returns of used products/components and their uncontrollable quality conditions, the remanufacturing process exhibits a high level of uncertainty challenging the facility layout design for remanufacturing. This paper undertakes this problem and presents an optimization method for remanufacturing dynamic facility layout with variable process capacities, unequal processing cells, and intercell material handling. A dynamic multirow layout model is presented for layout optimization and a modified simulated annealing heuristic is proposed toward the determination of optimal layout schemes. The approach is demonstrated through a machine tool remanufacturing system