The effects of cadmium stress on the growth, antioxidative enzymes and lipid peroxidation in two kenaf plants, Fuhong 991 and ZM412, were analysed under control (0.5-strength Hoagland's nutrient ...solution) or five levels of cadmium stress (0.5-strength Hoagland's nutrient solution containing different concentrations of Cd2+). The leaves and roots of control and cadmium-stressed plants were harvested after 3 wk. At the same Cd concentration, the Cd tolerance index of Fuhong 991 was higher than that of ZM412, indicating that Fuhong 991 may be more tolerant to Cd than ZM412. The superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase activity (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) activities fluctuated in the leaves of the Cd-stressed plants compared to the control, whereas the glutathione reductase activity (GR) was much larger than the control for Fuhong 991, ensuring that sufficient quantities of GSH were available to respond to the cadmium stress. In comparison to the control, the dynamic tendency of the SOD, CAT and POD activities in roots of the Cd-stressed plants all increased and then declined, but the POD activity of Fuhong 991 remained nearly unchanged at all of the stress levels. The increase in the enzyme activities demonstrated that Fuhong 991 was more tolerant to cadmium than ZM 412. The lipid peroxidation was enhanced only in the leaves of Cd-stressed ZM 412. These findings indicated that antioxidative activities may play important roles in Cd-stressed Fuhong 991 and ZM 412 and that the leaf and root cell membranes of Fuhong 991 have a greater stability than those of ZM 412. For pollution monitoring purposes, the GR activity in the roots and leaves may serve as a biomarker of Cd for Fuhong 991, whereas lipid peroxidation may serve as biomarker for ZM 412.
The intensive care unit (ICU) is designed to care for patients with high disease severity who require critical care and close monitoring. Patients in the ICU may be transferred to the general ward ...for further treatment following recovery from the acute phase. Transferring from the ICU to the general ward after acute phase recovery is a stressful event that may stress both the patient and their family, potentially resulting in relocation stress syndrome (RSS). RSS has been found to be closely related to unplanned ICU readmissions, prolonged hospitalization, and adverse events, affecting recovery to health and family peace of mind. Furthermore, RSS may result in ineffective disease coping, feelings of uncertainty, and poor treatment response, leading to prolonged hospitalization, reduced trust in medical staff, and decreased happiness and quality of life. In recent years, the nursing profession has attached increasing importance to holistic health care. This has encouraged critical care teams to map out customi
To investigate the effect of a simplified prevention bundle with alcohol-based, dual hand hygiene (HH) audit on the incidence of early-onset ventilation-associated pneumonia (VAP).
This 3-year, ...quasi-experimental study with interrupted time-series analysis was conducted in two cardiovascular surgery intensive care units in a medical center. Unaware external HH audit (eHH) performed by non-unit-based observers was a routine task before and after bundle implementation. Based on the realistic ICU settings, we implemented a 3-component bundle, which included: a compulsory education program, a knowing internal HH audit (iHH) performed by unit-based observers, and a standardized oral care (OC) protocol with 0.1% chlorhexidine gluconate. The study periods comprised 4 phases: 12-month pre-implementation phase 1 (eHH+/education-/iHH-/OC-), 3-month run-in phase 2 (eHH+/education+/iHH+/OC+), 15-month implementation phase 3 (eHH+/education+/iHH+/OC+), and 6-month post-implementation phase 4 (eHH+/education-/iHH+/OC-).
A total of 2553 ventilator-days were observed. VAP incidences (events/1000 ventilator days) in phase 1-4 were 39.1, 40.5, 15.9, and 20.4, respectively. VAP was significantly reduced by 59% in phase 3 (vs. phase 1, incidence rate ratio IRR 0.41, P = 0.002), but rebounded in phase 4. Moreover, VAP incidence was inversely correlated to compliance of OC (r2 = 0.531, P = 0.001) and eHH (r2 = 0.878, P < 0.001), but not applied for iHH, despite iHH compliance was higher than eHH compliance during phase 2 to 4. Compared to eHH, iHH provided more efficient and faster improvements for standard HH practice. The minimal compliances required for significant VAP reduction were 85% and 75% for OC and eHH (both P < 0.05, IRR 0.28 and 0.42, respectively).
This simplified prevention bundle effectively reduces early-onset VAP incidence. An unaware HH compliance correlates with VAP incidence. A knowing HH audit provides better improvement in HH practice. Accordingly, we suggest dual HH audit and consistent bundle performance does matter in quality-of-care VAP prevention.
An in‐house designed transmission X‐ray microscopy (TXM) instrument has been developed and commissioned at beamline BL18B of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF). BL18B is a hard (5–14 ...keV) X‐ray bending‐magnet beamline recently built with sub‐20 nm spatial resolution in TXM. There are two kinds of resolution mode: one based on using a high‐resolution‐based scintillator‐lens‐coupled camera, and the other on using a medium‐resolution‐based X‐ray sCMOS camera. Here, a demonstration of full‐field hard X‐ray nano‐tomography for high‐Z material samples (e.g. Au particles, battery particles) and low‐Z material samples (e.g. SiO2 powders) is presented for both resolution modes. Sub‐50 nm to 100 nm resolution in three dimensions (3D) has been achieved. These results represent the ability of 3D non‐destructive characterization with nano‐scale spatial resolution for scientific applications in many research fields.
A demonstration of full‐field hard X‐ray nano‐tomography for high‐ and low‐Z material samples is presented for the two TXM resolution modes developed at beamline BL18B at SSRF.
The structural and chemical evolution of battery electrodes at the nanoscale plays an important role in affecting the cell performance. Nano‐resolution X‐ray microscopy has been demonstrated as a ...powerful technique for characterizing the evolution of battery electrodes under operating conditions with sensitivity to their morphology, compositional distribution and redox heterogeneity. In real‐world batteries, the electrode could deform upon battery operation, causing challenges for the image registration which is necessary for several experimental modalities, e.g. XANES imaging. To address this challenge, this work develops a deep‐learning‐based method for automatic particle identification and tracking. This approach was not only able to facilitate image registration with good robustness but also allowed quantification of the degree of sample deformation. The effectiveness of the method was first demonstrated using synthetic datasets with known ground truth. The method was then applied to an experimental dataset collected on an operating lithium battery cell, revealing a high degree of intra‐ and interparticle chemical complexity in operating batteries.
A deep‐learning‐assisted image registration method is demonstrated for in situ X‐ray nano‐imaging of a composite battery cathode electrode with deformation. The method handles the challenges associated with electrode deformation by identifying and tracking isolated cathode particles separately. This approach could facilitate analysis of the correlation between intraparticle reaction heterogeneity and electrode deformation, which collectively affect the performance of real‐world batteries.
Background: Critical care nurses must often care for patients who are dying and their families. Thus, understanding the self-efficacy and life attitudes of nursing staff in the ICU in response to ...death is important to the development and provision of relevant education and training. Purpose: This study was designed to explore the self-efficacy of ICU nurses in response to death and related predictive factors. Methods: This was a cross-sectional research study. The subjects were 216 nurses in the adult ICU of a medical center in northern Taiwan. The research tools used included the death coping self-efficacy scale and the life attitude scale. Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression. Result: The results showed: 1. In terms of death coping self-efficacy, the mean score was 112.0 ± 14.3, with the highest scoring subscale, hospice care, earning a mean score of 51.1 ± 6.3. In terms of life attitude, the mean score was 128.9 ± 13.8, with the highest scoring subs
Severely ill patients often experience problems with sleep. Either acupressure or valerian aromatherapy are reported as helpful in promoting sleep.
The purpose of this study was to explore the ...effectiveness of valerian acupressure on the sleep of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU).
A randomized clinical trial.
A 42-bed adult intensive care unit.
Forty-one subjects in the experimental group and 44 subjects in the control group.
The measurement included observation, and actigraphy measures during 10pm–6am, and the Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS) measures on the next morning. Experimental groups received valerian acupressure on the Shenmen, Neiguan, and Yongquan acupoints between 7pm and 10pm of the second day while control groups received regular treatment. Heart rate was measured for 5min before and after valerian acupressure present for HR variability analysis to measure relaxation response.
The results indicated that after receiving valerian acupressure, patients’ sleeping hours increased, wake frequency reduced and SSS grades declined. The HR variability data indicated relaxation response immediately after valerian acupressure.
This study supports the hypothesis that valerian acupressure on the Shenmen, Neiguan, and Yongquan acupoints could improve the sleeping time and quality of ICU patients.
A novel test scheme for in situ measurement of temperature within a single polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is proposed, which possesses the following attractive features: measuring ...interference with the internal environment of the fuel cell is likely reduced to minimum; simultaneous measurements for local temperatures of both sides of the fuel cell are conducted with enough numbers of measurement locations; and the cell temperatures are controlled in relatively careful and stringent strategies. Thermal and electrical behaviors of the cell tested are investigated, including the local and averaged temperatures at the back sides of cathode and anode flow field plates (FFPs), the outlet currents, and their variations with the test time. It is found that both temperatures and outlet currents exhibit complex dynamic behaviors; and the rise of temperature and the non-uniformity of temperature distribution of the back sides of the two FFPs are not negligible.
► Temperatures present complex dynamic behavior changing with time. ► Outlet currents present complex dynamic behavior changing with time. ► There are some hystereses between temperatures and outlet currents. ► The rise of temperature both at back sides of FFPs is not negligible. ► The non-uniformity of temperature both at back sides of FFPs is not negligible.
Colorectal cancer (CRC), which frequently metastasizes to the liver, is one of the three leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Growing evidence suggests that a subset of cells exists ...among cancer stem cells. This distinct subpopulation is thought to contribute to liver metastasis; however, it has not been fully explored in CRC yet.
Flow cytometry analysis was performed to detect distinct subsets with CD133 and CXCR4 markers in human primary and metastatic CRC tissues. The 'stemness' and metastatic capacities of different subpopulations derived from the colon cancer cell line HCT116 were compared in vitro and in vivo. The roles of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stromal-cell derived factor-1 (SDF-1) in the metastatic process were also investigated. A survival curve was used to explore the correlation between the content of CD133(+)CXCR4(+) cancer cells and patient survival.
In human specimens, the content of CD133(+)CXCR4(+) cells was higher in liver metastases than in primary colorectal tumors. Clonogenic and tumorigenic cells were restricted to CD133(+) cells in the HCT116 cell line, with CXCR4 expression having no impact on the 'stemness' properties. We found that CD133(+)CXCR4(+)cancer cells had a high metastatic capacity in vitro and in vivo. Compared with CD133(+)CXCR4(-) cells, CD133(+)CXCR4(+)cancer cells experienced EMT, which contributed partly to their metastatic phenotype. We then determined that SDF-1/CXCL12 treatment could further induce EMT in CD133(+)CXCR4(+)cancer cells and enhance their invasive behavior, while this could not be observed in CD133(+)CXCR4- cancer cells. Blocking SDF-1/CXCR4 interaction with a CXCR4 antagonist, AMD3100 (1,10-1,4-phenylenebis(methylene)bis-1,4,8,11 -tetraazacyclotetradecane octahydrochloride), inhibited metastatic tumor growth in a mouse hepatic metastasis model. Finally, a high percentage of CD133(+)CXCR4(+)cells in human primary CRC was associated with a reduced two-year survival rate.
Strategies targeting the SDF-1/CXCR4 interaction may have important clinical applications in the suppression of colon cancer metastasis. Further investigations on how high expression of CXCR4 and EMT occur in this identified cancer stem cell subset are warranted to provide insights into our understanding of tumor biology.
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