Kenaf has a high content of gum that is difficult to remove. Traditional chemical degumming process causes serious environmental pollution. To solve the problem, we developed a new method to degum kenaf. We pretreated the kenaf with steam explosion followed by ultrasonic treatment. We chose the single factor tests to select the ultrasonic frequency, sodium hydroxide concentration and processing time. Combined with orthogonal tests, we found that the optimum conditions were as follows: ultrasonic frequency was 28 kHz, sodium hydroxide concentration was 2%, and processing time was 60 min. Under these conditions, the residual gum of kenaf fiber was 9.72% and the fineness was 139.45 N(m). Steam explosion combined with ultrasonic method is effective in degumming of kenaf.
Hibiscus ; Plant Gums ; isolation & purification ; Sodium Hydroxide ; chemistry ; Steam ; Ultrasonics

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of cisplatin on outward delayed rectifier potassium currents (IKDR currents) in isolated spiral ganglion neurons cells and to analyze possible intracellular mechanism of this effects by using the patch-clamp technique. METHOD: The IKDR was recorded and measured before and after the application of 10 micromol/L cisplatin in external solution by using the whole cell patch-clamp technique. RESULT: Cisplatin could inhibit SGNs voltage-dependent potassium channels, the zero current potential and reversal potential of IKDR currents were both shift to polarizing directions by 10 micromol/L cisplatin. Moreover, the maximal magnitude of IKDR currents were decreased by 23.3% when giving the test pulse at +50 mV. Cisplatin's inhibition on IKDR has dose-dependence with cisplatin-concentration in extracellular fluid and the currents recovered completely after cisplatin being washed out. CONCLUSION This research explained the toxic mechanism of cisplatin through its action on keeping from spiral ganglion neuron's IKDR from the electrophysiological aspect and set a foundation for further research.
Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Cisplatin ; pharmacology ; Neurons ; drug effects ; Patch-Clamp Techniques ; Potassium Channels ; drug effects ; Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated ; drug effects ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spiral Ganglion ; cytology ; drug effects

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the protective effect of low dose ouabain on injury of cultured spiral ganglion neurons evoked by trophic factors deprived and to explore the mechanism. METHOD: Spiral ganglion neurons were cultured in vitro for 7 days, and then exposed to Neurobasal medium + B27 supplement, Neurobasal medium only or Neurobasal medium + 10 nmol/L ouabain, respectively. After 48 h exposed to different medium, spiral ganglion neurons were stained by FITC labeled Annexin-V and PI, then apoptosis index were calculated using fluorescent microscope and flow cytometry, respectively. In addition, spiral ganglion tissues were cultured for 48 h to evaluate dendrite growth of spiral ganglion neurons in each group. Immunocytochemistry were performed to detect the level of Bcl-2 in each group at 6 h and 12 h. RESULT: Spiral ganglion neurons exposed to Neurobasal medium +10 nmol/L ouabain have a similar apoptosis index compare with that of Neurobasal medium + B27 supplement, but a much lower apoptosis index than that of Neurobasal medium only. In addition, dendrite growth of spiral ganglion neurons exposed to Neurobasal medium +10 nmol/L ouabain was much longer than that of Neurobasal medium only. Bcl-2 level increased in spiral ganglion neurons exposed to Neurobasal medium + 10 nmol/L ouabain at 6 h. CONCLUSION Low dose of ouabain protects injury of spiral ganglion neurons evoked by trophic factors deprived in vitro. This effect may mediated by increasing the level of Bcl-2.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Ouabain ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spiral Ganglion ; drug effects ; pathology

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate diagnostic significance of the noninvasive and objective 320-slice CT scan in the high pharynx resilience in the patients with obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome. METHOD: Fifty patients with OSAHS and 10 patients with pharyngeal paraesthesia were included in the study. 320 slice CT scan was used to measure the sagittal diameters, transverse diameters and sectional area of the retropalatal region, retroglossal region. Calculating the pharynx wall resilience. Analyzing the correlativity of pharynx wall resilience, BMI and AHI. Fiber endoscope was used to assess the subsidence percentage of the pharynx wall. RESULT: Between OSAHS patients and pharyngeal paraesthesia patients, there was obviously difference in the retropalatal region and retroglossal region upper airway. The pharynx wall resiliences of retropalatal region were much more than that of retroglossal region. The later pharynx wall resiliences were much more than the fore-to-aft pharynx wall resiliences in the retropalatal region. BMI, AHI and the pharynx wall resilience were positive correlative to each other. But AHI and the pharynx wall resilience was nonlinear correlative. There was a good concordance between the pharynx wall resilience detected by 320CT and subsidence percentage of the pharynx wall detected by fiber endoscope. CONCLUSION 320 slice CT is a kind of simple, rapid and objective method to localize the high resilience area of upper respiratory tract, which can be benefit to the clinical diagnosis, the etiological study and the treatment of OSAHS. Based on physical examination, we propose that only one time of CT scan to the patients' upper airway at the Muller' stage is enough to localize the stenosis area, which can reduce radiation dosage dramatically.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Compliance ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Young Adult

Objective To investigate the changes of the regional homogeneity(ReHo)values of spontaneous brain activity in patients with idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia (ITN).Methods Left ITN (LITN)group (n=23)and the healthy control (HC)group (n=33)underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rs-fMRI)scans.The changes of ReHo values between the two groups were compared.Results Compared with HC group,LITN group yielded increased ReHo values in bilateral nucleus accumbens,bilateral caudate nucleus,right putamen, right precentral gyrus (M1),right supplementary motor area (SMA)and right anterior insula (P<0.01).Conclusion The rs-fMRI shows abnormal ReHo values of brain activity in several regions in ITN patients.The regions are related to pain processing-motion,emotion and endogenous regulation.The suggest that brain involves the developing and regulating mechanism of ITN as an importment factor.

Objective:To explore the classification performance of combined model constructed from CT signs combined with radiomics for discriminating COVID-19 pneumonia and other viral pneumonia.Methods:The clinical and CT imaging data of 181 patients with viral pneumonia confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in 15 hospitals of Yunnan Province from March 2015 to March 2020 were analyzed retrospectively. The 181 patients were divided into COVID-19 group (89 cases) and non-COVID-19 group (92 cases), which were further divided into training cohort (126 cases) and test cohort (55 cases) at a ratio of 7∶3 using random stratified sampling. The CT signs of pneumonia were determined and the radiomics features were extracted from the initial unenhanced chest CT images to build independent and combined models for predicting COVID-19 pneumonia. The diagnostic performance of the models were evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, continuous net reclassification index (NRI) calibration curve and decision curve analysis.Results:The combined models consisted of 3 significant CT signs and 14 selected radiomics features. For the radiomics model alone, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) were 0.904 (sensitivity was 85.5%, specificity was 84.4%, accuracy was 84.9%) in the training cohort and 0.866 (sensitivity was 77.8%, specificity was 78.6%, accuracy 78.2%) in the test cohort. After combining CT signs and radiomics features, AUC of the combined model for the training cohort was 0.956 (sensitivity was 91.9%, specificity was 85.9%, accuracy was 88.9%), while that for the test cohort was 0.943 (sensitivity was 88.9%, specificity was 85.7%, accuracy was 87.3%). The AUC values of the combined model and the radiomics model in the differentiation of COVID-19 group and the non-COVID-19 group were significantly different in the training cohort ( Z=-2.43, P=0.015), but difference had no statistical significance in the test cohort ( Z=-1.73, P=0.083), and further analysis using the NRI showed that the combined model in both the training cohort and the test cohort had a positive improvement ability compared with radiomics model alone (training cohort: continuous NRI 1.077, 95 %CI 0.783-1.370; test cohort: continuous NRI 1.421, 95 %CI 1.051-1.790). The calibration curve showed that the prediction probability of COVID-19 predicted by the combined model was in good agreement with the observed value in the training and test cohorts; the decision curve showed that a net benefit greater than 0.6 could be obtained when the threshold probability of the combined model was 0-0.75. Conclusion:The combination of CT signs and radiomics might be a potential method for distinguishing COVID-19 and other viral pneumonia with good performance.

Objective: To investigate the clinical effect of diced cartilage in correcting nasal alar base depression after cleft lip surgery. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in 15 patients of nasal deformity after lip surgery from January 2018 to January 2019. All the patients were taken from autologous costal cartilage to reconstruct the outline of nasal malformation, and the remaining autologous costal cartilage was cut into 0.5-1.0 mm pieces and filled into the basilar lacunar space of the nasal alar by the 1 ml syringe whose anterior needle nipples was removed. The effects of visual images before and after operation were compared and analyzed by Adobe Photoshop CS6 software. The patients were followed up for 6-15 months (mean 10months). The satisfaction and complications of the patients were investigated. Results: The nasal alar base was significantly elevated and the outline of the nasal deformity was improved in 15 patients after operation. The overall effect was satisfactory and no obvious complications were found. No obvious absorption was found in the follow-up. Conclusions The application of diced cartilage to correct the nasal alar base depression after cleft lip surgery was a feasible method with important clinical value. It advanced in taking good use of the remaining cartilage and reducing the damage to both the donor and recipient area.

Objective To explore the value of T2-mapping imaging in assessment of lumbar dorsal extensors group (multifidus,longissimus and iliocostalis) function before and after exercises in healthy volunteers.Methods Totally 50 healthy young volunteers underwent T2-mapping imaging before and after exercises.T2 value and cross-section area (CSA) of multifidus,longissimus and iliocostalis were measured at the level of L3 and 14 superior border.Differences of CSA and T2 value were compared between left and right side muscles before and after exercises.The correlation between CSA difference and T2 difference before and after exercises was analyzed.Results At the level of L3 and L4 superior border,CSA and T2 value of bilateral multifidus,longissimus and iliocostalis increased after exercises (all P＜0.05).At the level of L3 superior border,CSA after exercises and CSA difference of left multifidus were higher than those of right side (all P＜0.05).Before exercises,there were statistical differences of T2 values on left and right side of longissimus and iliocostalis at the level of L3 superior border and the longissimus at the level of L4 superior border (all P＜0.05).Positive correlations were found between CSA difference and T2 difference on bilateral iliocostalis at the level of L3 and L4 superior border,as well as on bilateral multifidus at the level of L4 superior border (all P ＜0.05).Conclusion T2-mapping imaging can be used to assess the activity state of lumbar dorsal extensors group before and after exercises.

Purpose To investigate the relationship between fetal lateral ventricle dilatation complicated with malformation and chromosome abnormalities,so as to provide reference for clinical consultation.Materials and Methods The ultrasound images,karyotype analysis and high resolution microarray comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) results of 150 fetuses with lateral ventricular dilatation diagnosed by ultrasound were analyzed retrospectively.Results Among 150 lateral ventricular dilatation fetuses,81 cases were isolated lateral ventricle dilatation,30 cases were found complicated with fetal ultrasound soft index,22 cases with other CNS malformations and 17 cases with other malformations.Karyotype analysis of the above 4 groups showed 13 cases of abnormal karyotypes and 15 cases ofaCGH abnormalities.There was statistical significant difference (P＜0.05) in each group of abnormal chromosome and aCGH detection rate,in which the softer marker's group had a significantly higher rate than the isolated ventriculomegaly's group in abnormal chromosome and aCGH (P＜0.05).There was no statistical significant difference in any other groups (P＞0.05).Conclusion Fetal systems should be carefully examined when prenatal ultrasound reveals lateral ventricular dilatation.The probability of abnormal chromosome increases significantly when complicated with fetal ultrasound soft index or other structural abnormalities.Chromosomal abnormalities need to be excluded and regular ultrasound follow-up is necessary in fetuses with isolated lateral ventricles.

ObjectiveTo explore the clinical effectiveness and safety of stick-point sinew-soothing and bone-setting manipulation for scapulohumeral periarthritis. MethodsUsing prospective randomised controlled trial method， 60 cases of patients with scapulohumeral periarthritis were collected and randomly divided into 30 cases each in control group and trial group. Both groups of patients were orally treated with celecoxib， on the basis of which the control group was treated with traditional bonesetting manipulation once every other day for 14 days， while the trial group was treated with stick-point sinew-soothing and bone-setting manipulation once every 3~5 days for 14 days. Both groups were treated for 2 courses. The main observation indexes were pain visual analogue scale （VAS） score and shoulder pain and dysfunction index （SPADI）， which were evaluated once before treatment and after 2 and 4 weeks of treatment. The secondary effectiveness indicators included the university of California at Los Angeles shoulder rating scale （UCLA）， traditional Chinese medicine syndrome score （including symptom scores as joint pain， pain in a fixed place， activity limitation， local stiffness）， and serum interleukin （IL-6） and tumour necrosis factor α （TNF-α） levels before and after the treatment， in order to evaluate the clinical effectiveness， and to record the adverse reactions that occurred in the process of diagnosis and treatment. ResultsCompared with the groups before treatment， the pain VAS score， SPADI and scores of joint pain， pain with a fixed place， activity limitation and local stiffness were lower， UCLA score was higher， and serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels were lower at 4 weeks of treatment in the two groups （P＜0.05）. When comparing the two groups between the groups at 2 and 4 weeks of treatment， the pain VAS score， SPADI and TCM scores of each symptom in the study group were lower than those in the control group， the UCLA score was higher than those in the control group （P＜0.01）， and the serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels were lower than those in the control group at 4 weeks of treatment （P＜0.01）. The clinical effectiveness rate of the study group was 66.67%， which was significantly higher than that of the control group， which was 40.00% （P = 0.038）. No adverse reactions were seen in both groups during the study. ConclusionCompared with the traditional massage manipulation， the treatment of scapulohumeral periarthritis with stick-point sinew-soothing and bone-setting manipulation has more advantages in relieving pain symptoms， reducing inflammatory reaction， and promoting the recovery of shoulder joint function.