AIM: To study the transdermal permeability of ephedra extract. METHODS: With Valia Chien diffusion cell to the transdermal experiments are used to observe the effect of different factors on the transdermal permeability. RESULTS: Its transdermal resorption constant increased with the increase of the concentration of ephedrine and ephedra extract. pH value of the diffusioin medium could influence ephedrine permeability. CONCLUSION: The result can offer reference in preparation for Ephera (targeting drug delivery system) (TDS).

Objective To observe the clinical therapeutic effect of Astragalus injection combined with sub-hibernation therapy for treatment of patients with severe craniocerebral injury.Methods A retrospective research method was conducted, and 89 cases with severe craniocerebral injury admitted to the Department of Critical Care Medicine of the First People Hospital of Baiyin in Gansu Province from January 2010 to December 2016 were enrolled. Astragalus injection combined with sub-hibernation was applied for treatment of 45 patients in the observation group, and for another 44 cases assigned in the control group, simply conventional treatment was used. The Glasgow coma score (GCS), coma time, ratio of cripple, mortality, incidences of pulmonary infection and urinary tract infection were compared between the two groups.Results After treatment, GCS scores were significantly higher than those before treatment in both groups, but the degree of increase was more marked on the 30 days after treatment in the observation group than that in the control group (13.15±2.53 vs. 8.79±1.59,P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, coma time was obviously shorter (days: 5.79±1.89 vs. 13.65±2.73), ratio of cripple [13.33% (6/45) vs. 22.73% (10/44)] and mortality [17.78% (8/45) vs.31.82% (14/44)] were significantly lower in observation group (allP < 0.05); the incidences of pulmonary infection [22.44% (11/45) vs. 31.82% (14/44)] and urinary tract infection [28.89% (13/45) vs. 36.36% (16/44)] were lower in the observation group, but the differences between the two groups were not statistically significant (bothP > 0.05).Conclusions The treatment of Astragalus injection combined with sub-hibernation treatment can significantly improve the coma degree, shorten the time of coma, reduce the mortality and disability rate of patients with severe craniocerebral injury.

Objective:To explore the effect of self-made protective clothing in tracheal intubation for the patients with respiratory infectious diseases.Methods:Self-made protective clothing were made by adult model plastic raincoat with sleeve lets and goggles. A prospective randomized controlled study was conducted. Patients with severe respiratory infectious diseases who needed tracheal intubation admitted to the department of intensive medicine of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Gansu University of Chinese Medicine from January 1st 2018 to March 31st 2020 were enrolled. According to the random number table method, they were divided into two groups. The control group was wearing standard protective clothing, while the test group was wearing self-made protective clothing for endotracheal intubation. The wearing time, infection rate of operators and costs of protective clothing were compared between the two groups. The patients were sprayed with trypanosome blue diluent before tracheal intubation, and the whole body of the operator was photographed with fluorescence before wearing self-made protective clothing and after doing tracheal intubation to take off the self-made protective clothing, in order to evaluate the permeability resistance of self-made protective clothing.Results:A total of 86 patients were enrolled. There were 46 cases in the test group, included 28 cases of influenza A (H1N1) virus infection, 11 cases of influenza B virus infection and 7 cases of adenovirus infection. There were 40 cases in the control group, included 15 cases of H1N1 virus infection, 10 cases of influenza B virus infection, 10 cases of adenovirus infection and 5 cases of unknown pathogen. There was no significant difference in respiratory etiology between the two groups ( χ2 = 3.789, P = 0.435). The wearing protective clothing time of the control group was 11.6 times than that of the test group (minutes: 22.23±1.45 vs. 1.86±0.24, χ2 = 19.023, P < 0.001). The cost of standard protective clothing was 12.5 times than that of self-made protective clothing (Yuan/set: 500 vs. 40). Fluorescent photography showed that the whole body of the operator was not stained after tracheal intubation, indicating that the protective clothing had good anti permeability and achieved the protective effect. There was no operator infection in the test group and the control group. Conclusion:Self-made protective clothing has short wearing time, low cost and equivalent isolation effect compared with standard protective clothing, which is worthy of clinical promotion.

Objective: To explore the effects of different mild hypothermia therapy time on the efficacy and complications of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (STBI). Methods: A retrospective research method was used. 132 patients with STBI given mild hypothermia therapy admitted to the Third Affiliated Hospital of Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2010 to December 2018 were enrolled. According to the days of mild hypothermia therapy, the patients were divided into 2-day mild hypothermia treatment group, 5-day mild hypothermia treatment group and 14-day mild hypothermia treatment group. Glasgow coma score (GCS) after treatment of 10 days and 30 days, 30-day disability rate and mortality, coma time, prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen (Fib), D-dimer, and the incidence of complications such as decreased blood pressure, decreased gastrointestinal motility, infection, nonunion of scalp, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, etc. were compared among three groups. Results: Among the 132 patients with STBI, there were 44 cases in the 2-day mild hypothermia treatment group, 45 cases in 5-day mild hypothermia treatment group, and 43 cases in 14-day mild hypothermia treatment group. There was no significant difference in gender, age, GCS score before treatment or time from injury to admission among three groups. Compared with 2-day mild hypothermia treatment group, the GCS score 10 days and 30 days after treatment in 5-day mild hypothermia treatment group and 14-day mild hypothermia treatment group were significantly higher (11.61±2.23, 10.17±2.03 vs. 6.79±1.49; 13.15±2.53, 11.24±2.24 vs. 8.79±1.59), the coma time were shorten (days: 5.79±1.89, 5.45±1.72 vs. 13.65±2.73), and 30-day disability rate and mortality were significantly decreased [13.33% (6/45), 11.63% (5/43) vs. 22.73% (10/44); 17.78% (8/45), 16.28% (7/43) vs. 31.82% (14/44)], PT and APTT were reduced obviously (s: 20.14±4.12, 22.54±3.56 vs. 30.67±5.19; 35.14±12.41, 38.59±13.54 vs. 56.67±10.62), Fib rose obviously (g/L: 1.84±0.25, 1.98±0.27 vs. 0.67±0.12), and D-dimer reduced obviously (mg/L: 53.10±19.84, 49.20±20.13 vs. 102.60±20.13), with statistically significant differences (all P < 0.05). But there was no significant difference in above indicators between the 5-day mild hypothermia treatment group and 14-day mild hypothermia treatment group (all P > 0.05). The incidence of complications in 14-day mild hypothermia group was significantly higher than those in 2-day mild hypothermia group and 5-day mild hypothermia group [decrease of blood pressure: 55.56% (20/36) vs. 36.67% (11/30), 35.14% (13/37); weakening of stomach intestinemotive power: 72.22% (26/36) vs. 46.67% (14/30), 45.95% (17/37); urethral infection: 52.78% (19/36) vs. 36.67% (11/30), 35.14% (13/37); lungs infection: 47.22% (17/36) vs. 36.67% (11/30), 37.84% (14/37); disunion of scalp: 5.56% (2/36) vs. 0% (0/30), 0% (0/37); leak of cerebrospinal fluid: 5.56% (2/36) vs. 0% (0/30), 0% (0/37), all P < 0.05], but there was no significant difference between the 2-day mild hypothermia treatment group and 5-day mild hypothermia treatment group (all P > 0.05). Conclusions The optimal time frame for mild hypothermia treatment in patients with STBI is 5-day, which shortens the coma time, and reduces the mortality and the disability rate. The shorter mild temperature time cannot effectively prevent secondary brain injury. However, the prolonged period of mild temperature will affect the repair of the patient's injury tissue, which is not conducive to the recovery of patient's mechanical function and is prone to complications.

Objective To observe the role of Zhenqi Fuzheng granules in the treatment of patients with severe pneumonia respiratory failure. Methods A retrospective research was conducted, 96 patients with severe pneumonia admitted to the Department of Critical Care Medicine of the First People Hospital of Baiyin were enrolled, and they were divided into a western medical conventional treatment group (47 cases) and a combined traditional Chinese and western medicine treatment group (49 cases) according to the different treatment methods. A variety of conventional rescue treatments were carried out in the western medicine routine treatment group (conventional group); while in the combined traditional Chinese and western medicine conventional treatment group (combined group), based on the western medical therapies in the conventional group, at the same time, additionally Zhenqi Fuzheng granules 5 g dissolved in 20 mL warm boiled water were given by nasal feeding to the patients, 2 times daily, 7-10 days constituting a therapeutic course, and after 3 courses, the clinical therapeutic effects were evaluated. The mortality and changes of pre- and post-treatment levels of immunoglobulin, procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), course of disease, times of using antibacterial drug and ventilator, and changes in lung exudation before and after treatment, and incidence of pulmonary fibrosis were observed in the two groups. Results The mortality of combined group was significantly lower than that of the conventional group [14.29% (7/49) vs. 36.17% (17/47), P < 0.05]. After treatment, the levels of immunoglobulins were significantly higher than those before treatment, while the levels of PCT and CRP were significantly lower than those before treatment in both groups, and the changes after treatment in the combined group were more obvious than those in conventional group [IgG (g/L): 12.48±2.36 vs. 10.35±3.01, IgA (g/L): 4.16±1.08 vs. 3.18±1.13, IgM (g/L): 5.01±1.15 vs. 3.62±1.02, PCT (mg/L): 1.48±1.36 vs. 2.35±1.01, CRP (mg/L): 8.48±2.36 vs. 10.35±2.01, all P <0.05]. Compared with those in conventional group, the patient's disease course, times of using antibacterial drug and ventilator were significantly shorter in combined group [the course of disease (days): 10.86±2.64 vs. 14.38±3.02, time of using antibacterial drug (days): 11.29±3.54 vs. 13.96±4.21, time of using ventilator (days): 8.26±2.64 vs. 10.25±3.08, all P <0.05]; Compared with those in the conventional group, the cases with significant reduction of pulmonary exudation and the cases with complete absorption of pulmonary exudation were markedly increased, while the cases of pulmonary fibrosis were obviously decreased in the combined group (cases of reduction of pulmonary exudation:15 cases vs. 10 cases, complete absorption of pulmonary exudation: 16 cases vs. 9 cases; cases of pulmonary fibrosis:8 cases vs. 10 cases, all P < 0.05). Conclusion Zhenqi Fuzheng granules can significantly reduce the mortality and inflammatory factor levels, raise immunoglobulin, shorten the course of disease and times of using antimicrobial drugs and ventilator, reduce pulmonary exudation and incidence of pulmonary fibrosis obviously in patients with severe pneumonia.

Objective:To explore the clinical significance of negative fluid balance and infection management in the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by severe novel coronavirus infection.Methods:A retrospective survey was conducted. Patients with ARDS caused by severe novel coronavirus infection who were hospitalized in the department of critical care medicine of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Gansu University of Chinese Medicine and received non-invasive ventilator assisted ventilation were selected as the research objects. The fluid intake and output of all patients were accurately counted every day, and the fluid intake of the next day was adjusted according to the output of the previous day. According to the fluid negative balance, and whether the hospital infection management measures were complied with during the treatment and inspection of the patients, 45 patients with a negative fluid balance of more than 200 mL/d and strict management of nosocomial infection were taken as the observation group, and 48 patients with a negative fluid balance of less than 200 mL/d and no strict management of nosocomial infection were taken as the control group. The general data, weaning success rate, endotracheal intubation rate, mortality, as well as laboratory indicators such as white blood cell count (WBC), procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP) after treatment were compared between the two groups.Results:There were no significant differences in gender (male: 51.1% vs. 52.1%), age (years old: 66.31±15.92 vs. 67.50±13.59), acute physiology and chronic health evalution Ⅱ (APACHEⅡ: 18.98±4.81 vs. 18.54±4.35) between the observation group and the control group (all P > 0.05), indicating that the baseline data were balanced and comparable. Compared with the control group, the weaning success rate of the observation group significantly increased [53.3% (24/45) vs. 31.2% (15/48), P = 0.031], endotracheal intubation rate significantly decreased [22.2% (10/45) vs. 43.8% (21/48), P = 0.028], mortality significantly reduced [20.0% (9/45) vs. 41.7% (20/48), P = 0.024], laboratory indicators WBC, PCT and CRP levels were significantly reduced [WBC (×10 9/L): 8.085±4.136 vs. 16.898±7.733, CRP (mg/L): 82.827±52.680 vs. 150.679±74.625, PCT (μg/L): 3.142±2.323 vs. 7.539±5.939, all P < 0.01]. Conclusion:Fluid negative balance and infection management have significant clinical significance in the treatment of severe novel coronavirus infection with ARDS.

Objective: To explore the value of quantitative CT radiomics features in predicting the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) mutation status in lung adenocarcinoma patients. Methods: This retrospective study reviewed one hundred and ninety-five lung adenocarcinoma patients (including 60 patients with ALK mutation) whose ALK genetic test results were available from Nov 2015 to May 2018 in PUMCH. VOIs were labeled by an automatic pulmonary nodule detection and segmentation algorithm and were later revised and confirmed by two senior radiologists. The PyRadiomics tools were used to resample the labeled regions, followed by image pre-processing (Wavelet filter or Laplacian of Gaussian (LoG) filter) and feature extraction. Normalized features were selected based on their representativeness on Dr. Wise research platform. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to develop prediction models of ALK mutation gene based on different image pre-processing techniques and different radiomics feature types. The results were validated by ten runs of five-fold cross validation. ROC curve analysis and Delong test were used to compare the predictive performance among models. Results: Fifteen radiomics features with the highest representativeness were selected from the original 1 232 features. The prediction model based on these radiomics features showed good performance (AUC=0.88 in the training set and 0.78 in the validation set) and was not significantly different from the prediction models based on radiomics features of different pre-processing images (AUC=0.76, P=0.1, original CT images; AUC=0.75, P=0.3, Wavelet-filtered images; AUC=0.76, P=0.2, LoG-filtered images). Among the models built with radiomics features of different types, the one based on GLCM feature (a subtype of texture feature) showed the best performance in predicting ALK genetic status (AUC=0.83, accuracy=0.74, sensitivity=0.85 and specificity=0.69). The model based on first-order statistic features had an AUC of 0.80. Conclusion Quantitative CT radiomics features have a good potential to anticipate the expression of ALK fused gene in patients with lung adenocarcinoma.