OBJECTIVE To preliminarily investigate the antiasthmatic effect and mechanism of Ephedrae Herba-Armeniacae Semen Amarum herb pair on the respiratory center. METHODS Male SD rats were randomly divided into blank group， model group， dexamethasone group （positive control）， and Ephedrae Herba-Armeniacae Semen Amarum 2∶1， 1∶1 and 1∶2 groups. Rats in each group were administered different ratios of the herb pair decoction [all at 18 g （crude drug）/kg]， dexamethasone suspension （0.5 mg/kg）， or normal saline intragastrically twice daily for seven consecutive days. Forty minutes after the last administration， medicated cerebrospinal fluid was collected to determine the content of effective components entering the brain. One and a half hours after the last administration， the nucleus tractus solitarius （NTS） was located using a stereotaxic apparatus. Histamine phosphate （1 μL） was injected into the NTS region at a constant rate of 1 μL/min using a 10 μL microsyringe to induce excitation of the respiratory center in rats； the blank group was injected with normal saline. The contents of neurotransmitters [nerve growth factor （NGF）， substance P （SP）， norepinephrine （NA）， 5-hydroxytryptamine （5-HT） and acetylcholine （Ach）] in the medulla oblongata brain tissue were detected. The mRNA expressions of neurokinin-1 receptor （NK-1R）， p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase （MAPK）， and c-fos in the medulla oblongata， as well as the protein expressions of NK-1R， p38 MAPK， and c-fos in the NTS region， were determined. RESULTS The main active components of Ephedrae Herba-Armeniacae Semen Amarum herb pair entering the brain were ephedrine， pseudoephedrine， and methylephedrine. Compared with blank group， the contents of NGF， SP， NA， 5-HT and Ach， and the relative expression levels of NK-1R， p38 MAPK， and c-fos mRNA and protein were significantly increased in the model group （ P ＜0.01）. Compared with model group， Ephedrae Herba-Armeniacae Semen Amarum herb pair groups with different ratios significantly reduced the neurotransmitter contents and the relative expression levels of NK-1R， p38 MAPK， and c-fos mRNA and protein （ P ＜0.01）， with the 2∶1 Ephedrae Herba-Armeniacae Semen Amarum herb pair and 1∶1 mass ratios showing relatively better effects. CONCLUSIONS Ephedrae Herba alkaloids are the main active components in affecting the function of the respiratory center. The herb pair groups with a larger proportion of Ephedrae Herba exhibit stronger effects. Ephedrae Herba-Armeniacae Semen Amarum herb pair can reduce the excitability of the respiratory center by down-regulating the expression of the NK-1R/MAPK/c-fos pathway in the NTS and decreasing the abnormal release of neurotransmitters such as NGF and SP.

Objective:To investigate the relationship between oxygen consumption (VO 2), carbon dioxide production (VCO 2), and Oxygen Consumption/lactate (VO 2/Lac) with risk of death in patients with severe ARDS. Methods:A retrospective cohort study method was used, and the study subjects were hospitalized for >5 days adult patients with severe ARDS in the central intensive care unit of Henan Provincial People's Hospital from 1 March 2020 to 30 June 2023. The following patients were excluded: IC test was not completed on the 4th day of ICU admission, IC test results were unreliable, mechanical ventilation duration had exceeded 48 h at the time of ICU transfer or admission, palliative care patients and pregnant and parturient women. Using indirect calorimetry to determine VO 2 and VCO 2 values on the 4th day of admission, reviewing medical records to obtain general condition, disease information, blood gas analysis (including lactate value), diagnostic and therapeutic measures, and following up deaths by telephone and time of death. The primary outcome measure was death at 90 days, and the secondary outcome measure was death at 28 days, length of stay in ICU, total length of stay, and total hospitalization cost. Cox regression analysis and linear regression analysis were used to investigate the relationship between VO 2, VCO 2, VO 2/Lac and primary and secondary outcome indexes. Results:A total of 216 patients were enrolled, 78 patients (36.1%) died and 138 patients (63.9%) survived at 90 days. After correction for confounders, the results of multifactorial Cox regression analysis suggested that compared with the Q4 group, HR (95% CI) for 90-day risk of death in the VO 2 Q1 and Q2 groups was 3.21 (1.38, 7.49) and 3.24 (1.42, 7.38), and HR (95% CI) for 90-day risk of death in the VCO 2 Q1, Q2 and Q3 groups was 5.88 (2.33, 14.84), 4.26 (1. 60, 11.34) and 3.54 (1.34, 9.35), respectively, and the HR (95% CI) for 90-day risk of death in the VO 2/Lac Q1, Q2 and Q3 groups were 8.72 (3.01, 25.25), 8.43 (2.91, 24.47) and 4.04 (1.34, 12.17) respectively. P-trends were all <0.05, indicating that VO 2, VCO 2 and VO 2/Lac were linearly and negatively associated with the risk of 90-day mortality. In addition, VO 2, VCO 2, and VO 2/Lac were negatively associated with 28-day risk of death and higher VO 2/Lac was negatively associated with length of ICU stay. Conclusions:VO 2, VCO 2 and VO 2/Lac were negatively associated with 90-day mortality risk and 28-day mortality risk in patients with severe ARDS and may be independent risk factors predicting mortality risk of such patients.

Objective:To analyze the status of anemia at the beginning of dialysis in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) adult patients, and to explore the relationship between early dialysis anemia and early survival and long-term survival.Methods:It was a retrospective cohort study. The baseline demographic and clinical data of newly admitted MHD patients from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the hemoglobin (Hb) level at the beginning of dialysis, the patients were divided into high Hb group (Hb≥110 g/L), middle Hb group (80 g/L≤Hb<110 g/L) and low Hb group (Hb<80 g/L). The baseline data among the three groups were compared, and the changing trend of Hb level in MHD patients during the 8 years was analyzed. The follow-up ended at peritoneal dialysis, kidney transplantation, death or on December 31, 2021. All-cause death event within 6 months after the initiation of dialysis was defined as early death, while all-cause death event more than 6 months after the initiation of dialysis was defined as long-term death. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to analyze the survival rate, and log-rank test was used to compare the survival rates among the three groups. Multivariate Cox regression analysis model was used to analyze the association between anemia (Hb<110 g/L) at the beginning of dialysis and both early and long-term mortality.Results:A total of 36 216 MHD patients were included in this study, with age of (61.3±15.5) years old and 22 163 males (61.20%). The Hb at the beginning of dialysis was (89.33±20.89) g/L. The compliance rate of Hb (≥110 g/L) was 16.43% (5 952/36 216). There were 12 232 patients (33.78%), 18 032 patients (49.79%), and 5 952 patients (16.43%) in low Hb group, middle Hb group, and high Hb group, respectively. There were statistically significant differences in gender distribution, age, serum creatinine, blood phosphorus, blood calcium, C-reactive protein, intact parathyroid hormone, blood leukocytes, platelets, serum albumin, triglyceride, total cholesterol, and proportions of chronic glomerulonephritis, diabetic nephropathy, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, tumors, emporary catheter, long-term catheter and autologous arteriovenous fistula among the three groups (all P<0.05). During the 8-year period, the Hb level had an increased trend steadily each year, and Hb was (88.48±22.07) g/L, (88.52±21.43) g/L, (87.86±21.29) g/L, (88.93±20.69) g/L, (88.87±20.69) g/L, (90.03±20.47) g/L, (90.74±20.31) g/L and (90.31±20.54) g/L year by year. There were 2 176 early deaths (6.01%), and 6 557 long-term deaths (18.10%) by the end of follow-up. Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that early survival rate of low Hb group was significantly lower than those of high Hb group (log-rank test, χ2=57.115, P<0.001) and middle Hb group (log-rank test, χ2=49.918, P<0.001), and long-term survival rates of low Hb group (log-rank test, χ2=107.097, P<0.001) and middle Hb group (log-rank test, χ2=47.430, P<0.001) were significantly lower than that of high Hb group. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that Hb<80 g/L at the beginning of dialysis was an independent influencing factor of early death (Hb ≥110 g/L as a reference, HR=1.307, 95% CI 1.096-1.559), and 80 g/L≤Hb<110 g/L and Hb<80 g/L at the beginning of dialysis were the independent influencing factors of long-term death (Hb≥110 g/L as a reference, HR=1.108, 95% CI 1.021-1.203; HR=1.228, 95% CI 1.127-1.339, respectively) in MHD patients. Conclusions:The compliance rate of Hb at the beginning of dialysis in MHD patients is low. Hb <80 g/L at the beginning of dialysis is an independent risk factor of early death, and Hb <110 g/L at the beginning of dialysis is an independent risk factor of long-term death in MHD patients.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2022.06.016.].

OBJECTIVE To analyze the clinicopathological features of laryngeal squamous carcinoma tumors and their correlation with prognosis in order to improve the understanding and diagnosis of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.METHODS The clinical and pathological data(including gender,age,stage,differentiation,immunohistochemistry,etc.)of 179 patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma[171 males,8 females,aged 30-84(61.53±8.02)years]who were treated in Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery,The First and Second Clinical Medical Schools of Ningxia Medical University from January 2015 to December 2022 were retrospectively studied,and the effects of various factors on prognosis were analyzed.RESULTS Among the 179 patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma,the male-to-female ratio was 21.4:1,and the incidence was high in the age group of 60-79 years old(58.7%),and the youngest age of onset was 30 years old.The main clinical manifestations were hoarseness 138 cases(77.1%),sore throat 16 cases(8.9%)and pharyngeal foreign body sensation 13 cases(7.3%).Glottic type was more common in the primary site 135 cases(75.4%),and 31 cases were accompanied by cervical lymph node metastasis(17.3%).The degree of differentiation was more common in the moderately differentiated type 80 cases(44.7%).The positive rates of immunohistochemistry markers p16,EGFR(epidermal growth factor receptor),PD-1/PD-L1 and VEGF(vascular endothelial growth factor)were 20.3%,96.4%,36.4%and 77.3%,respectively.Univariate Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the site of disease,lymph node metastasis,and tumor stage were significantly correlated with disease recurrence.Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the clinical stage of the tumor was an independent risk factor for the prognosis of the disease(HR=3.715,95%CI:1.519-9.088,P=0.04).CONCLUSION The stage of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma,the site of the disease,and the metastasis of the lymph nodes are the main factors affecting the prognosis.The high positive expression rate of immunohistochemistry markers EGFR and VEGF is worth paying attention to Targeted therapy for patients with positive PD-1/PD-L1 testing is a promising research direction.

Objective:To investigate the occurrence rate and distribution pattern of three-rooted mandibular molars in children using CBCT.Methods:CBCT images of 206 children aged 4-11 years were retrospectively analyzed.The root numbers of the bilateral man-dibular first and second deciduous molars,and the permanent mandibular first molars were recorded.A chi-square test was used to de-tect the gender and side difference.Spearman correlation test was used to analyze the relation between the bilateral homologous teeth and the mandibular first and second deciduous molars on each side.Results:The occurrence rate of three-rooted mandibular first and second deciduous molars and mandibular permanent first molars was 10.9％(19/175),25.1％(46/183)and 28.4％(57/201)for individuals,respectively(x2=18.543,P＜0.01),and 8.7％(32/366),19.0％(73/384)and 23.6％(95/402)for teeth(x2=30.692,P＜0.01),re-spectively.Gender difference was not detected for each tooth type(all P＞0.05),while side differences were detected in mandibular sec-ond deciduous molars and the frequency of three-rooted molar on the right and left side was 23.7％and 14.2％(P＜0.05),respectively.The concurrence rate of bilateral three-rooted mandibular deciduous first and second molars and mandibular permanent first molars was 57.9％(11/19),47.8％(22/46)and 66.7％(38/57),respectively,and the rho was 0.710,0.597 and 0.745,respectively(all P＜0.01);between the three-rooted deciduous first and second molars on the left side,rho=0.188(P＜0.05)and on the right side,rho=0.304(P＜0.01).Conclusion:The occurrence rate of three-rooted mandibular molars in children increases in the following sequence:first deciduous molars＜second deciduous molars＜first permanent molars.They frequently occur bilaterally and exhibit a moderate to high degree of correlation.However,the correlation was very weak between the mandibular deciduous first and second molars.

Objective To investigate the effects of berberine on UCP2 expression and the mitochondrial dy-namics in skeletal muscle and kidney in mice with ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) of lower limb.Methods Thirty male Kunming mice were randomly divided into the negative control group,the positive control group,and low,medium and high doses berberine intervention groups.The mice in all experimental groups constructed the ischemia reperfusion injury model of lower limbs by tourniquet,different doses of berberine solution were injected intraperitoneally for intervention,while the ischemia repeating supply group used normal saline for re-placement.The HE staining was used to detect the pathological conditions of skeletal muscle and kidney,PCR and Western blot were used to detect the gene and protein expression levels of UCP2,FIS1,DRP1,Mfn1 and Mfn2,and the changes of SOD,MDA and GSH were detected by kit.Results After IRI intervention in the both lower extremities,the inflammatory cell infiltration occurred in both skeletal muscle and kidney,and the cell structure of skeletal muscle showed the damage changes.Meanwhile,the gene and protein expressions lev-els of UCP2,FIS1 and DRP1 and the levels of GSH and SOD in skeletal muscle were significantly increased (P<0.05),while the gene and protein expression levels of Mfn1 and Mfn2 and the levels of MDA were signif-icantly decreased (P<0.05).The increase of UCP2 and DRP1 gene and protein expression levels in kidney was different (P<0.05).Berberine could up-regulate the UCP2 gene expression in skeletal muscle and the pro-tein expression in skeletal muscle (P<0.05).At the same time,DRP1 gene and protein were significantly inhibited in the kidney tissue (P<0.05),but which in skeletal muscle had no significant change.Conclusion IRI of skeletal muscle of lower extremity in mice leads to severe oxidative stress injury,mitochondrial dynamic imbalance and inflammatory damage of kidney in the injured parts.The therapeutic effect of berberine on skeletal muscle and kidney IRI may be achieved by inhibiting oxidative stress injury,in which its protective effect on kidney may also be related to inhibit the expression of DRP1 after UCP2 up-regulation,thus limit the mitochondrial fission and slow down the development of injury.

Objective:To evaluate the curative effect of Sun's procedure using sutureless artificial blood vessel replacement technique on acute type A aortic dissection.Methods:Retrospective analysis was performed on 40 patients with acute type A aortic dissection who underwent Sun's procedure in The First People's Hospital of Nanning from May 2019 to April 2023. According to the surgical method, the patients were divided into sutureless group (20 cases) and traditional group (20 cases).The time of stopping circulation, cardiopulmonary bypass, recovery time, intubation time, blood loss 12 h after operation, cerebral infarction and acute renal failure were compared between the two groups.Patients older than 70 years, patients with preoperative malperfusion syndrome, or patients who did not undergo Sun's procedure were excluded.Results:The time of stopping circulation[( 13.6±3.3)min vs. ( 28.2±5.6)min, P<0.001] and the time of cardiopulmonary bypass[(116.0±34.8)min vs.(219.1±46.3 )min, P<0.001]and blood loss at 12 h after operation[( 474.5±301.0)ml vs. (422.7±389.8)ml, P<0.001] in the sutureless group were significantly lower than those in the traditional group.All patients survived and were discharged from hospital. There were no significant differences in recovery time, intubation time, cerebral infarction and acute renal failure between the two groups. Conclusion:Sutureless artificial blood vessel replacement technique can significantly shorten the time of stopping circulation and cardiopulmonary bypass, effectively protect the function of the whole body organs, and reduce the occurrence of postoperative complications.Moreover, it is easy to carry out in primary hospitals, and it is a safe and effective new surgical strategy for treating acute type A aortic dissection with Sun's surgery.

Objective To compare the consistency between the estimated values of nine common resting energy expenditure estimation equations and the measured values among the elderly population in pension institutions. Methods A total of 181 elderly individuals from Henan Guangda Ouan Leling Nursing Center were recruited as study objects through cluster sampling. The differences between the estimated values of nine common equations and the measured values obtained by indirect calorimetry were compared, and subgroup analyses were conducted to compare their consistency across different subgroups. Results Among the nine equations, the Cunningham equation and the Owen equation showed relatively small deviations from the measured values, with no significant differences (deviation rates of -1.9% and -2.0%, root mean square errors of 222.7 kcal/d and 239.4 kcal/d, and coincidence rates of 48.4% and 47.5%, respectively). In subgroups stratified by gender and body mass index (BMI), the Cunningham equation showed no significant difference compared with the measured values. The Owen equation showed no significant difference compared with the measured values only in some subgroups [males with BMI of 20~ < 27 kg/m² and ≥27 kg/m², and females with BMI < 20 kg/m²]. Conclusion The Cunningham equation, which utilizes body composition data, can assess the resting energy expenditure of the elderly in pension institutions with relatively high accuracy and speed, demonstrating strong applicability in this population.

A protective device was designed that can be worn on the elderly, which consists of protective airbag, control box and protective mechanism. The combined acceleration, combined angular velocity and human posture angle are selected as the parameters to determine the fall, and the threshold algorithm and SVM algorithm are used to detect the fall. The protective mechanism is an inflatable device based on CO₂ compressed air cylinder, and the equal-width cam structure is applied to its transmission part to improve the puncture efficiency of the compressed gas cylinder. A fall experiment was designed to obtain the combined acceleration and angular velocity eigenvalues of fall actions (forward fall, backward fall and lateral fall) and daily activities (sitting-standing, walking, jogging and walking up and down stairs), showing that the specificity and sensitivity of the protection module reached 92.1% and 84.4% respectively, which verified the feasibility of the fall protection device.
Humans ; Aged ; Monitoring, Ambulatory ; Activities of Daily Living ; Wearable Electronic Devices ; Walking ; Acceleration ; Algorithms