Volatility can influence the lifetime of particles in the atmosphere, and provide useful information on the formation of secondary aerosol. The previous studies generally utilized thermodenuder ( TD ) to investigate the volatility behavior of particles. Using TD, semivolatile species are vaporized at different temperature, and the vaporized gas is adsorpted by activated charcoal. However, carbon might be emitted from activated charcoal under high temperature or activated charcoal ageing. In this study, a new method was developed for the measurement of particle volatility by coupling a thermodiluter system to an online single particle aerosol mass spectrometer ( SPAMS) . Aerosol particles were passed into two different channels, and then analyzed by SPAMS. Through Channel 1, aerosol particles were heated to different temperature by heating tube, then non-volatile particles and volatile gas entered into the diluter. After diluting and cooling by diluent air, the non-volatile particles were analyzed by SPAMS. Through Channel 2, aerosol particles were analyzed directly by SPAMS without the heating process. Particle volatility was obtained by comparing the information ( particle size, particle number and mass spectrum ) of particles through Channels 1 and 2. Laboratory tests showed that the diluter could avoid the re-condensation of volatiles to the particles. This developed method was applied in the real time measurement of individual particle volatility in the spring of Guangzhou. The results showed that these particles were primarily comprised of highly volatile and moderate volatile species.

BACKGROUNDThe recurrence of pterygium after surgery is high. A variety of adjunctive treatment approaches have been developed to improve the clinical efficacy and many related articles have been published. This study aimed to determine the risk for postoperative pterygium recurrence comparing autologous conjunctival transplantation (ACT) versus mitomycin C (MMC).

METHODSRelevant literature published until December 2010 in Medline, Embase, Cochrane, Cochrane library, Science Citation Index, and Google Scholar were searched. Qualified random clinical trial (RCT) studies on the comparison of recurrence rate of pterygium after ACT and MMC treatment were included in this study.

RESULTSEight RCTs with 663 eyes entered the final analysis. The recurrent rate of pterygium was 8.7% (30/343) for ACT and 18.75% (60/320) for MMC. Using fixed-effect meta analysis, we found that the recurrence was significantly lower after ACT than MMC treatment (odds ratio (OR) = 0.40, 95% confidence index (CI), 0.25 - 0.63, P < 0.0001). In sensitivity analyses, we employed random-effects model and excluded studies of low quality or studies in which MMC was administrated after the operation. All the sensitivity analyses confirmed that ACT led to lower recurrence rates than MMC. Sub-group analysis revealed that the recurrence rate was 20.2% (20/99) and 27.65% (26/94) for conjunctival autograft (CA) and MMC respectively, and no significant difference in the recurrence rate was detected (OR = 0.65, 95%CI 0.33 - 1.28, P = 0.22). However, we found that conjunctival limbal autograft (CLA) had lower recurrence rate than MMC (OR = 0.26, 95%CI 0.14 - 0.48, P = 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONCLA has better therapy efficacy against the recurrence of pterygium than MMC.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Conjunctiva ; transplantation ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Mitomycin ; therapeutic use ; Pterygium ; therapy ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Transplantation, Autologous

OBJECTIVETo observe the therapeutic effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medicine (WM) treatments on mycoplasmal pneumonia in children and the changes in the serum cytokines.

METHODSNinety children with mycoplasmal pneumonia were randomly divided into the treatment group and the control group. TCM was given orally and azithromycin at the daily dose of 10 mg/kg was administered intravenously in the treatment group. In the control group, only intravenous azithromycin was given. After a 7-day treatment, the response rate, time of symptom disappearance, and serum levels of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-alpha were observed.

RESULTSThe total response rate was 93.33% in the treatment group and 73.33% in the control group, showing a significantly better therapeutic effect in the treatment group (P<0.05). The combined treatments also showed better effects in alleviating fever, coughing and rales (P<0.05), and resulted in more obvious reduction in the serum levels of cytokines (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONCombined treatment with TCM and WM produce good therapeutic effects in children with mycoplasmal pneumonia.

Azithromycin ; therapeutic use ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cytokines ; blood ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Phytotherapy ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma ; blood ; drug therapy ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUNDLittle quantitative evidence was available regarding the development of NICUs in China. The purpose of this survey was to evaluate the current situation of neurointensive care units (NICUs) across China.

METHODSThe directors of NICUs from 100 tertiary care hospitals across China were contacted and asked to complete a closed response questionnaire regarding their NICUs. Basic information, equipment, and technology information available in the units, as well as staffing information were investigated.

RESULTSSeventy-six questionnaires were returned (a 68% response rate). Of 76 NICUs, 43 units constituted the majority. The number of each NICU bed varied from 4 to 45, occupying 2%-30% of the total department beds. Over 70% of NICUs were equipped with many emergency treatment equipments as well as physiological and biochemical monitoring equipments, while 34%-70% of NICUs still lacked some kinds of equipments such as defibrillators. Some specialist equipments were still partially lacking in 62%-95% of NICUs. A vast majority of the NICUs were equipped with neurocritical care directors, full-time attending physicians, and head nurses, but full-time NICU residents and neurocritical care nurses were still lacking in nearly half (53%) and one-third (33%-37%) of NICUs, respectively. In 76 NICUs, full-time neurointensivists and nurses added up to 359 and 852, respectively. In addition, 78%-97% of all the surveyed NICUs were severely short of non-neurological professional staffs.

CONCLUSIONIn China, neurocritical care has developed rapidly, but there is still a shortage of well-equipped and well-staffed NICUs across the nation currently.

China ; Data Collection ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; manpower ; organization & administration ; statistics & numerical data ; Neurology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUNDSeverity scoring systems are useful tools for measuring the severity of the disease and its outcome. This pilot study was to verify and compare the prognostic performance of the Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (SAPS II) and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) in neuro-intensive care unit (N-ICU) patients.

METHODSA total of 1684 patients consecutively admitted to the N-ICU at Xuanwu Hospital between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2011 were enrolled in this study. The data-base included admission data, at 24-, 48-, and 72-hour SAPS II and GCS. Repeated measure data analysis of variance, Logistic regression analysis, the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit statistic, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic were used to evaluate the performance.

RESULTSThere was a significant difference between the SAPS II or GCS score at four time points (F = 16.110, P = 0.000 or F = 8.108, P = 0.000). The SAPS II scores or GCS score at four time points interacted with the outcomes with significant difference (F = 116.771, P = 0.000 or F = 65.316, P = 0.000). Calibration of the SAPS II or GCS score at each time point on all patients was good. The percentage of a risk estimate prediction corresponding to observed mortality was also good. The 72-hour score have the greatest consistency. Discriminations of the SAPS II or GCS score at each time were all satisfactory. The 72-hour score had the greatest discriminative power. The cut-off value was 33 (sensitivity of 85.2% and specificity of 74.3%) and 6 (sensitivity of 70.6% and specificity of 65.0%). The SAPS II at each time point on all patients showed better calibration, consistency and discrimination than GCS. The binary Logistic regression analysis identified physiological variables, GCS, age, and disease category as significant independent risk factors of death. After the two variables including underlying disease and type of admission were excluded, we built the simplified SAPS II model. A correlation was suggested between the simplified SAPS II score at each time point and outcome, regardless of the diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONSThe GCS scoring system tends to be a little weaker in the predictive power than the SAPS II scoring system in this Chinese cohort of N-ICU patients. The advantage of SAPS II scoring system still exists that it dose not need to take into account the diagnosis or diseases categories, even in the special N-ICU. The simplified SAPS II scoring system is considered a new idea for the estimation of effectiveness.

APACHE ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; China ; Female ; Glasgow Coma Scale ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; statistics & numerical data ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo assess the accuracy and reliability of the nest-PCR-sequence specific primer(SSP) method in HLA-A site genotyping of single blastomeres retrieved from human pre-implantation embryos.

METHODSBy nest PCR on HLA-A exon 2, the success rate of first-round amplification was estimated for single blastomeres. Based on the first-round amplification, the HLA-A genotype of every single blastomeres was analyzed by commercially available PCR-SSP kits.

RESULTSThe amplification of HLA-A exon 2 were performed to 120 blasotmeres retrieved from in vitro fertilization(IVF) surplus embryos donated by 10 couples. The average success rate of family 1-5 and 6-10 was 78.2%(43/55) and 93.8%(61/65), respectively. And 86.7%(104/120) in total. Eighty blastomeres were further tested by nest-PCR-SSP, among which 11 blastomeres failed to HLA-A exon 2 amplification and then failed to genotyping while the other 69 blastomeres succeed in HLA-A exon 2 amplification and succeed in genotyping. Except for 6 blastomeres that were uncertain for allele lost because of parents' homozygosity, the left 63 blastomeres had accurate HLA genotyping. Among these 63 blastomeres, 59 blastomeres had genotypes confirmed from their parents(93.6%), 3 blastomeres lost one of parents' alleles(4.8%), and only one blastomere had two more than parents' alleles(1.6%).

CONCLUSIONThe above research results indicated that based on the successful first round amplification of single blastomeres, nest-PCR-SSP strategy offers a convenient and reliable option for HLA genotyping on single blastomeres, which is a key process in pre-selecting HLA-identical sibling for allogeneic cord blood cell transplantation.

Base Sequence ; Blastomeres ; metabolism ; DNA ; analysis ; DNA Fingerprinting ; methods ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Female ; HLA Antigens ; analysis ; HLA-A Antigens ; analysis ; genetics ; Histocompatibility Antigens Class I ; analysis ; genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Single Person

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between post-stenting coronary thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow and plasma von Willebrand factor (vWF) and its cleaving protease (ADAMTS-13) levels in patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

METHODSSTEMI patients who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and stenting between September, 2007 and December, 2009 were enrolled. According to the post-stenting TIMI flow, patients were divided to TIMI ≤ 2 group (n = 43) and TIMI 3 group (n = 43). Patients with chest pain or dyspnea and normal coronary angiographic results served as control group (n = 43). The levels of vWF and ADAMTS-13 were measured by ELISA at three time points: immediately after admission, beginning of PCI and 1 week after PCI.

RESULTSLevels of vWF in STEMI patients at all 3 time points were significantly higher than in control patients, and the level of vWF was significantly higher in TIMI ≤ 2 group than in TIMI 3 group [at admission: (6721.83 ± 1380.58) U/L vs. (4786.12 ± 2362.01) U/L, P < 0.05; at the beginning of PCI: (5744.65 ± 1240.71) U/L vs. (3011.33 ± 2270.40) U/L, P < 0.05 and at 1 week after PCI: (2001.48 ± 931.70) U/L vs. (1365.17 ± 724.12) U/L, P < 0.05]. ADAMTS-13 levels were similar among groups at admission and at beginning of PCI, however, the level of ADAMTS-13 at 1 week after PCI was significantly higher in TIMI ≤ 2 group than that in TIMI 3 group [(406.93 ± 101.44) mg/L vs. (270.34 ± 115.12) mg/L, P < 0.001]. Logistic regression analysis showed that both vWF at admission (OR = 1.917, P < 0.01) and vWF at the beginning of PCI (OR = 2.016, P < 0.01) were risk factors of TIMI ≤ 2.

CONCLUSIONIncreased vWF during peri-PCI periods was associated with post-stenting coronary TIMI ≤ 2 after primary PCI in STEMI patients, and the imbalance between vWF and ADAMTS-13 may thus play an important role in the development of slow flow post PCI.

ADAM Proteins ; blood ; ADAMTS13 Protein ; Aged ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Case-Control Studies ; Coronary Circulation ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction ; blood ; physiopathology ; therapy ; von Willebrand Factor ; metabolism

Based on the literature study,the thoughts and possible therapeutic mechanism in treating male infertility from the perspective of spleen and kidney by regulating intestinal flora were explored.Disturbance of intestinal flora is one of the important factors leading to the development of male infertility,and the spleen and kidney have certain similarities to intestinal flora in the physiological function and pathological changes.Moreover,tonifying the kidney and strengthening the spleen can regulate the intestinal flora by fostering the growth of beneficial bacteria,inhibiting the reproduction of pathogenic bacteria,and protecting the barrier of the intestinal mucosa.Therefore,the possible therapeutic mechanisms in treating male infertility with the prescriptions for tonifying the kidney and strengthening the spleen to regulate intestinal flora are as follows:inhibiting the expression of inflammatory factors to reduce the inflammatory reaction of testicular tissues;improving the antioxidant capacity to alleviate the damage of spermatozoa caused by oxidative stress,and improving the bad mood to alleviate the impact of psychological stress on the reproductive system.The exploration of the thoughts for treating male infertility from the perspective of spleen and kidney by regulating intestinal flora may provide a new entry point for modern Chinese medicine clinical treatment of male infertility.

In summer in 2020, Pinellia ternata in many planting areas in Hubei suffered from serious southern blight, as manifested by the yellowing and wilted leaves and rotten tubers. This study aims to identify the pathogen, clarify the biological characteristics of the pathogen, and screen fungicides. To be specific, the pathogen was isolated, purified, and identified, and the pathogenicity was detected according to the Koch's postulates. Moreover, the biological characteristics of the pathogen were analyzed. Furthermore, PDA plates and seedlings were used to determine the most effective fungicides. The results showed that the mycelia of the pathogen were white and villous with silk luster, which produced a large number of white to black brown sclerotia. The pathogen was identified as Athelia rolfsii by morphological observation and molecular identification based on LSU and TEF gene sequences. The optimum growth conditions for A. rolfsii were 30 ℃ and pH 5-8, and the optimum conditions for the germination of sclerotia were 25 ℃ and pH 7-9. Bacillus subtilis, difenoconazole, and flusilazole were identified as effective fungicides with PDA, and their half maximal effective concentration(EC_(50)) was all less than 5 mg·L~(-1). The effective fungicides screened with the seedlings were hymexazol and difenoconazole. Based on the screening experiments, difenoconazole can be used as the main agent for the prevention and treatment of southern blight.
Pinellia/genetics* ; Fungicides, Industrial/pharmacology* ; Seedlings ; Bacillus subtilis ; Mycelium

This paper described a rapid and sensitive HPLC method to analyze (E)-3,5,4'-trimethoxystilbene (BTM-0512) in rat plasma and tissues. The analysis used a BDS Hypersil C18 analytical column (250 mm x 4.6 mm ID, 5 microm) and acetonitrile/water as the mobile phase. The UV detection wavelength was 319 nm. Proteins were precipitated with acetonitrile and diethylstilbestrol as internal standard. The method was validated according to State Food and Drug Administration of China and ICH of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use Guidelines. The limit of detection (S/N: 3/1) for BTM-0512 was 0.005 microg x mL(-1) for plasma. The method performances were shown to be selective for BTM-0512 and the linearity of the assay method was up to 10.0 microg x mL(-1) and 40.0 microg x g(-1) for plasma and tissues, respectively. At 0.1, 1 and 5 microg x mL(-1) (n=5), intraday and interday precision values (% RSD) were in the range of 2.6% - 5.1% and 2.4% - 4.8%, respectively. Mean accuracy and absolute recoveries of BTM-0512 ranged from 95.3% - 100.1% and 95.9% - 100.9% for plasma and tissues, respectively. This method can be quite useful for BTM-0512 pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution studies, for purpose which multiple plasma and tissue samples can be analyzed quickly with high reproducibility.
Angiogenesis Inhibitors ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Animals ; Anti-Allergic Agents ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Antineoplastic Agents ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reproducibility of Results ; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet ; methods ; Stilbenes ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Tissue Distribution