Weightlessness in the space environment affects astronauts' learning memory and cognitive function. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation has been shown to be effective in improving cognitive dysfunction. In this study, we investigated the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on neural excitability and ion channels in simulated weightlessness mice from a neurophysiological perspective. Young C57 mice were divided into control, hindlimb unloading and magnetic stimulation groups. The mice in the hindlimb unloading and magnetic stimulation groups were treated with hindlimb unloading for 14 days to establish a simulated weightlessness model, while the mice in the magnetic stimulation group were subjected to 14 days of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. Using isolated brain slice patch clamp experiments, the relevant indexes of action potential and the kinetic property changes of voltage-gated sodium and potassium channels were detected to analyze the excitability of neurons and their ion channel mechanisms. The results showed that the behavioral cognitive ability and neuronal excitability of the mice decreased significantly with hindlimb unloading. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation could significantly improve the cognitive impairment and neuroelectrophysiological indexes of the hindlimb unloading mice. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation may change the activation, inactivation and reactivation process of sodium and potassium ion channels by promoting sodium ion outflow and inhibiting potassium ion, and affect the dynamic characteristics of ion channels, so as to enhance the excitability of single neurons and improve the cognitive damage and spatial memory ability of hindlimb unloading mice.
Animals ; Mice ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ; Hindlimb Suspension ; Neurons ; Cognitive Dysfunction ; Brain

Patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) often need to have various catheters placed on their bodies due to their severe condition. In order to prevent the occurrence of unplanned extubation, patients' hands should be restrained appropriately. The current restraint gloves used in clinical practice have problems such as improper restraint, easy falling off of oxygen saturation monitoring probes, and pressure injury of hands. Therefore, department of critical care medicine, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine designed a wrist restraint glove suitable for restless patients, and obtained the national utility model patent (ZL 2020 2 1612453.7). The device is composed of restraint gloves and restraint rings, which can not only restrain patients, but also continuously monitor the changes of blood oxygen saturation in patients with restfulness. This device is convenient to use, low cost, comfortable to wear, and can prevent the occurrence of device-related pressure injuries, which is suitable for clinical application.
Humans ; Wrist ; Intensive Care Units ; Critical Care ; Hand ; Upper Extremity ; Restraint, Physical

Quality evaluation of Chinese medicinal decoction pieces is vital for the development of the downstream industries, and is an important channel for implementing the strategy of "higher quality, higher price, and priority for the high quality" for traditional Chinese medicine. At the moment, the quality of Chinese medicinal decoction pieces is mainly evaluated based on chemical component examination. Considering the weak preliminary research foundation and poor research conditions, traditional experience-based evaluation is undervalued in the quality rating of Chinese medicinal decoction pieces. However, traditional experience is a summary of the quality of Chinese medicinal materials based on clinical experience, which thus can be a potential basis for the quality evaluation of the decoction pieces. It is a challenge in the evaluation of Chinese medicinal decoction pieces to objectify the traditional experience-based evaluation from multiple aspects such as chemistry, effect, and characterization via modern techniques. Therefore, this study developed the "experience-ingredients-activity-electronic sensing" evaluation system for Chinese medicinal decoction pieces on the basis of experience-based assessment, chemical ingredients that can truly reflect the traditional experience, biological effect assessment, and electronic sensory evaluation, which is expected to quantify the traditional experience of quality evaluation of Chinese medicinal decoction pieces via chemistry, biology, and sensory simulation. The evaluation system can serve as a reference for clinical experience-based quality evaluation of Chinese medicinal decoction pieces.
China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Electronics ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Restraint, Physical

As a traditional animal drug, Hirudo is slightly toxic and has the effects of breaking blood stasis, dredging meridians, expelling stasis, and resolving mass. It has a long history of processing, and the early boiling records can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. More than ten processing methods such as frying, roasting, and lime processing appeared later. After processing, Hirudo is deodorized and modified in taste and becomes crispy, which is conducive to crushing and clinical application. At present, the reported components in Hirudo mainly include protein polypeptides, pteridines, and lipids, which have anti-coagulant, anti-thrombotic, anti-atherosclerotic, anti-tumor, and other pharmacological effects. This study reviewed the processing history evolution, chemical consti-tuents, and pharmacological effects of Hirudo to provide a reference for the related research on Hirudo.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Evolution, Chemical ; Leeches ; Thrombosis ; Restraint, Physical

Animals ; Cognitive Dysfunction/therapy* ; Maze Learning ; Mice ; Protein Phosphatase 2 ; Restraint, Physical ; Stress, Psychological/therapy*

Background: Physical restraint is any measure or technique that prohibits an individual’s body movement. Although physical restraint is one of the most common methods used to ensure patient safety in the intensive care units, its usage is an arguable practice. Involuntary immobilisation of a patient challenges patient’s rights while over usage of physical restraints can lead to possible harm to the patients. Critical care nurses especially should make accurate decisions regarding the use of physical restrains if they are to ensure patient safety. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practices of critical care nurses on usage of physical restrainer in a private hospital in Klang Valley. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, quantitative descriptive study using the Physical Restraint Questionnaire (PRQ) to collect data from 103 registered nurses through simple random sampling in the Critical Care Unit of a private hospital. Results: A total of 103 critical care nurses participated in this study. The nurses had moderate level of knowledge of physical restraint usage, 43.96 ± 4.05 (36 to 53), positive attitude towards the use of physical restraint, 30.47 ± 2.96 (24 to 39) and good practices on usage of physical restrainers, 38.88 ± 2.73 (29 to 43). Conclusion Findings revealed that majority of critical nurses have moderate knowledge, positive attitude and satisfactory practices on usage of physical restraint. However, continuous updates on usage of physical restraint and its legal implications are highly recommended to ensure critical care nurses are better informed before deciding to use physical restraint on their patients.
Knowledge ; Attitude ; Restraint, Physical

Humans with chronic psychological stress are prone to develop multiple disorders of body function including impairment of immune system. Chronic psychological stress has been reported to have negative effects on body immune system. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been clearly demonstrated. All immune cells are derived from hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) in the bone marrow, including myeloid cells which comprise the innate immunity as a pivotal component. In this study, to explore the effects of chronic psychological stress on HSC and myeloid cells, different repeated restraint sessions were applied, including long-term mild restraint in which mice were individually subjected to a 2 h restraint session twice daily (morning and afternoon/between 9:00 and 17:00) for 4 weeks, and short-term vigorous restraint in which mice were individually subjected to a 16 h restraint session (from 17:00 to 9:00 next day) for 5 days. At the end of restraint, mice were sacrificed and the total cell numbers in the bone marrow and peripheral blood were measured by cell counting. The proportions and absolute numbers of HSC (LinCD117Sca1CD150CD48) and myeloid cells (CD11bLy6C) were detected by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis. Proliferation of HSC was measured by BrdU incorporation assay. The results indicated that the absolute number of HSC was increased upon long-term mild restraint, but was decreased upon short-term vigorous restraint with impaired proliferation. Both long-term mild restraint and short-term vigorous restraint led to the accumulation of CD11bLy6C cells in the bone marrow as well as in the peripheral blood, as indicated by the absolute cell numbers. Taken together, long-term chronic stress led to increased ratio and absolute number of HSC in mice, while short-term stress had opposite effects, which suggests that stress-induced accumulation of CD11bLy6C myeloid cells might not result from increased number of HSC.
Animals ; Antigens, Ly ; metabolism ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; CD11b Antigen ; metabolism ; Cell Proliferation ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; cytology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Restraint, Physical ; Stress, Psychological

OBJECTIVE: Sequelae of behavioral impairments associated with human traumatic brain injury (TBI) include neurobehavioral problems. We compared exploratory, cognitive, and depressive-like behaviors in pediatric and adult male mice exposed to controlled cortical impact (CCI).METHODS: Pediatric (21 to 25 days old) and adult (8 to 12 weeks old) male C57Bl/6 mice underwent CCI at a 2-mm depth of deflection. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was performed 3 to 7 days after recovery from CCI, and injury volume was analyzed using ImageJ. Neurobehavioral characterization after CCI was performed using the Barnes maze test (BMT), passive avoidance test, open-field test, light/dark test, tail suspension test, and rotarod test. Acutely and subacutely (3 and 7 days after CCI, respectively), CCI mice showed graded injury compared to sham mice for all analyzed deflection depths.RESULTS: Time-dependent differences in injury volume were noted between 3 and 7 days following 2-mm TBI in adult mice. In the BMT, 2-mm TBI adults showed spatial memory deficits compared to sham adults (P < 0.05). However, no difference in spatial learning and memory was found between sham and 2-mm CCI groups among pediatric mice. The open-field test, light/dark test, and tail suspension test did not reveal differences in anxiety-like behaviors in both age groups.CONCLUSION: Our findings revealed a graded injury response in both age groups. The BMT was an efficient cognitive test for assessing spatial/non-spatial learning following CCI in adult mice; however, spatial learning impairments in pediatric mice could not be assessed.
Adult ; Animals ; Brain Injuries ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Hematoxylin ; Hindlimb Suspension ; Humans ; Learning ; Male ; Memory ; Mice ; Rotarod Performance Test ; Spatial Learning ; Spatial Memory

PURPOSE: This study estimated the incidence of delirium and associated risk factors and outcomes in ICU patients with acute poisoning. METHODS: Data were collected from ICU patients over 18 years of age that were admitted via the emergency center after presenting with poisoning from 2010 to 2015. Delirium was assessed retrospectively using the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC). Risk factors were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: A total of 199 patients participated in this study and 68 (34.2%) were diagnosed with delirium based on the ICDSC score. The delirium group showed a significantly higher association with prolonged length of stay in the hospital and ICU in comparison with the non-delirium group. The delirium group was associated with greater use of physical restraint. A statistically greater number of patients with pharmaceutical substance poisoning developed delirium over a short period of time than those with non-pharmaceutical substance poisoning. There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to age, sex, past history, GCS score, vital signs, application of ventilator care and renal replacement therapy. CONCLUSION: The finding that the delirium group had a greater length of stay in both the hospital and the ICU is consistent with the results of previous worldwide studies of the effects of delirium on the prognosis of patients who were admitted to the ICU, suggesting the possibility for domestic application. Additionally, use of physical restraint was positively related to the incidence of delirium. Thus, interventions for minimizing the use of physical restraints and considering alternatives are needed.
Checklist ; Critical Care ; Delirium ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intensive Care Units ; Length of Stay ; Mass Screening ; Multivariate Analysis ; Poisoning ; Prognosis ; Renal Replacement Therapy ; Restraint, Physical ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Ventilators, Mechanical ; Vital Signs

OBJECTIVE: To introduce a modified protocol for generating the simulated weightlessness rat model by hindlimb unloading. METHODS: Ninety male adult SD rats were randomly divided into three groups: the control group, classical suspension group and modified suspension group (n=30/group). In the classical suspension group, a strip of medical adhesive tape was attached to the tail, with horizontal filament tape wrapping. A piece of gauze was wrapped around the tail at the outermost layer and the tail was suspended for hindlimb unloading. In the modified suspension group, a layer of plastic net was added between the horizontal filament tape and the gauze to reduce the squeeze on the tail as a buffer zone and ensure proper circulation of the tail. After 4 weeks of suspension, damage to the tail and sheath detachment were observed. Meanwhile the body weight and right soleus wet weight of rats were measured. RESULTS: The ratio of right soleus wet weight to body weight was decreased significantly in both the classical suspension group and the modified suspension group compared with the control group, while there was no difference in body weight among the three different groups. Importantly, the incidence of tail ischemia and necrosis (13.3% vs 40.0% in the classical suspension group) and the incidence of sheath detachment from tail (3.3% vs 26.7% in the classical suspension group) were significantly lower whereas the success rates of model (33.3% vs 83.3% in classical suspension group) was significantly higher in the modified suspension group. CONCLUSION The modified protocol decreases the incidence of tail necrosis and sheath detachment in the rat tail suspension and increases the success rate of the hindlimb unloading rat model, with improved simplicity and practicability.
Animals ; Hindlimb Suspension ; Male ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Weightlessness Simulation ; methods