Overproduction of oxidants (reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species) in the human body is responsible for the pathogenesis of some diseases. The scavenging of these oxidants is thought ...to be an effective measure to depress the level of oxidative stress of organisms. It has been reported that intake of vegetables and fruits is inversely associated with the risk of many chronic diseases, and antioxidant phytochemicals in vegetables and fruits are considered to be responsible for these health benefits. Antioxidant phytochemicals can be found in many foods and medicinal plants, and play an important role in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases caused by oxidative stress. They often possess strong antioxidant and free radical scavenging abilities, as well as anti-inflammatory action, which are also the basis of other bioactivities and health benefits, such as anticancer, anti-aging, and protective action for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, obesity and neurodegenerative diseases. This review summarizes recent progress on the health benefits of antioxidant phytochemicals, and discusses their potential mechanisms in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.
In many countries, the combination of propofol and opioid is used as the preferred sedative regime during ERCP. However, the most serious risks of propofol sedation are oxygen deficiency and ...hypotension. Compared to midazolam, remimazolam has a faster onset and offset of hypnotic effect, as well as cardiorespiratory stability, and to achieve widespread acceptance for procedural sedation, remimazolam must replace propofol which is the most commonly used for procedural sedation. The objective of this study was to compare the safety and efficacy profiles of the remimazolam and propofol when combined with alfentanil for sedation during ERCP procedures.
A randomized, controlled, single-center trial.
The Endoscopic Centre of Tianjin Nankai Hospital, China.
518 patients undergoing elective ERCP under deep sedation.
Patients scheduled for ERCP were randomly assigned to be sedated with either a combination of remimazolam-alfentanil or propofol-alfentanil.
The primary outcome was the prevalence of hypoxia, which was defined as SpO2 < 90% for >10 s. Other outcomes were the need for airway maneuver, procedure, and sedation-related outcomes and side effects (e.g., nausea, vomiting, and cardiovascular adverse events).
A total of 518 patients underwent randomization. Of these, 250 were assigned to the remimazolam group and 255 to the propofol group. During ERCP, 9.6% of patients in the remimazolam group showed hypoxia, while in the propofol group, 15.7% showed hypoxia (p = 0.04). The need for airway maneuvering due to hypoxia was significantly greater in the propofol group (p = 0.04). Furthermore, patients sedated with remimazolam had a lower percentage of hypotension than patients sedated with propofol (p < 0.001). Patients receiving remimazolam sedation expressed higher satisfaction scores and were recommended the same sedation for the next ERCP. The procedure time in the remimazolam group was much longer than in the propofol group due to the complexity of the patient's disease, which resulted in a longer sedation time.
During elective ERCP, patients administered with remimazolam showed fewer respiratory depression events under deep sedation with hemodynamic advantages over propofol when administered in combination with alfentanil.
•The combination of propofol and an opioid is the preferred sedative regime during ERCP.•The major concerns with propofol sedation include oxygen desaturation and hypotension.•Patients administered with remimazolam showed fewer respiratory depression events and hemodynamic advantages over propofol.•These results may provide more options for ERCP sedation.
Autoimmune diseases (ADs) are a broad spectrum of disorders featured by the body's immune responses being directed against its own tissues, resulting in prolonged inflammation and subsequent tissue ...damage. Recently, the exposure to ambient air pollution has been implicated in the occurrence and development of ADs. Mechanisms linking air pollution exposures and ADs mainly include systemic inflammation, increased oxidative stress, epigenetic modifications induced by exposures and immune response caused by airway damage. The lung may be an autoimmunity initiation site in autoimmune diseases (ADs). Air pollutants can bind to the Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) to regulate Th17 and Treg cells. Oxidative stress and inducible bronchus associated lymphoid tissue caused by the pollutants can influence T, B cells, resulting in the production of proinflammatory cytokines. These cytokines stimulate B cell and dendritic cells, resulting in a lot of antibodies and self-reactive T lymphocytes. Moreover, air pollutants may induce epigenetic changes to contribute to ADs. In this review, we will concern the associations between air pollution and immune–inflammatory responses, as well as mechanisms linking air pollution exposure and autoimmunity. In addition, we focus on the potential roles of air pollution in major autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), multiple sclerosis (MS), and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).
•Air pollution is association with autoimmune diseases (ADs).•The lung may be an autoimmunity initiation site in ADs.•Air pollution can cause T cell imbalance, production of proinflammatory cytokines, local pulmonary inflammation, oxidative stress and methylation changes and ultimately involved in the onset and the exacerbation of these diseases.
The posttraumatic growth level of breast cancer survivors may decrease as time goes on.
A nurse-led MTCC programme facilitates significant improvements in the posttraumatic growth level of breast ...cancer survivors.
With the development of positive psychology, posttraumatic growth research on cancer patients has attracted increasing attention from researchers. It is immensely important to effectively increase the posttraumatic growth level of cancer patients and improve their quality of life.
To investigate the effectiveness of a nurse-led mindfulness-based Tai Chi Chuan (MTCC) programme for increasing posttraumatic growth (PTG) and decreasing the perceived stress and anxiety of breast cancer survivors.
A RCT was conducted. Participants were randomly assigned to either the MTCC group or the control group. The programme included 59 women with stage I-III breast cancer. Participants in the intervention group participated in a nurse-led 8-week, twice a week, one-hour per day mindfulness-based exercise programme. The effectiveness of the intervention was measured three times (T1 - before intervention; T2 - after intervention; T3 - one year after intervention) using validated scales, including the PTG inventory (PTGI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). A repeated-measure analysis of variance model was used to analyse the data.
Compared with the wait-list control group, the PTG level in the MTCC group was much higher after the 8-week intervention and the follow-up (F = 374.98, P < .000). The results showed that MTCC increased the level of PTG, and the effect persisted 1 year after intervention. In addition, PSS (F = 55.22, P < .000) and SAS (F = 148.92, P < .000) scores were significantly decreased at T2 and T3.
The research preliminarily revealed that the MTCC programme was simple, effective, and more suitable to clinical nurses which should be recommended to cancer survivors to promote their recovery.
The oxidative stress imposed by reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays an important role in many chronic and degenerative diseases. As an important category of phytochemicals, phenolic compounds ...universally exist in plants, and have been considered to have high antioxidant ability and free radical scavenging capacity, with the mechanism of inhibiting the enzymes responsible for ROS production and reducing highly oxidized ROS. Therefore, phenolic compounds have attracted increasing attention as potential agents for preventing and treating many oxidative stress-related diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, ageing, diabetes mellitus and neurodegenerative diseases. This review summarizes current knowledge of natural polyphenols, including resource, bioactivities, bioavailability and potential toxicity.
Microglia, the principal sentinel immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), play an extensively vital role in neuroinflammation and perioperative neurocognitive disorders (PND). Histamine, a ...potent mediator of inflammation, can both promote and prevent microglia-related neuroinflammation by activating different histamine receptors. Rat microglia express four histamine receptors (H1R, H2R, H3R, and H4R), among which the histamine 1 and 4 receptors can promote microglia activation, whereas the role and cellular mechanism of the histamine 2 and 3 receptors have not been elucidated. Therefore, we evaluated the effects and potential cellular mechanisms of histamine 2/3 receptors in microglia-mediated inflammation and PND.
This study investigated the role of histamine 2/3 receptors in microglia-induced inflammation and PND both in vivo and in vitro. In the in vivo experiments, rats were injected with histamine 2/3 receptor agonists in the right lateral ventricle and were then subjected to exploratory laparotomy. In the in vitro experiments, primary microglia were pretreated with histamine 2/3 receptor agonists before stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Cognitive function, microglia activation, proinflammatory cytokine production, NF-κb expression, M1/M2 phenotypes, cell migration, and Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4) expression were assessed.
In our study, the histamine 2/3 receptor agonists inhibited exploratory laparotomy- or LPS-induced cognitive decline, microglia activation, proinflammatory cytokine production, NF-κb expression, M1/M2 phenotype transformation, cell migration, and TLR4 expression through the PI3K/AKT/FoxO1 pathway.
Based on our findings, we conclude that histamine 2/3 receptors ameliorate PND by inhibiting microglia activation through the PI3K/AKT/FoxO1 pathway. Our results highlight histamine 2/3 receptors as potential therapeutic targets to treat neurological conditions associated with PND.
Acupuncture has been widely used in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA), but the selection of acupoints is indeterminate and lacks biological basis. The skin temperature of acupoints can ...reflect the state of local tissue and may be a potential factor for guiding acupoint selection. This study aims to compare the skin temperature of acupoints between KOA patients and the healthy population.
This is a protocol for a cross-sectional case-control study with 170 KOA patients and 170 age- and gender-matched healthy individuals. Diagnosed patients aged 45 to 70 will be recruited in the KOA group. Participants in the healthy group will be matched with the KOA group based on mean age and gender distribution. Skin temperature of 11 acupoints (ST35, EX-LE5, GB33, GB34, EX-LE2, ST34, ST36, GB39, BL40, SP9, SP10) will be extracted from infrared thermography (IRT) images of the lower limbs. Other measurements will include demographic data (gender, age, ethnicity, education, height, weight, BMI) and disease-related data (numerical rating scale, pain sites, duration of pain, pain descriptors, pain activities).
The results of this study will provide biological evidence for acupoint selection. This study is a precondition for follow-up studies, in which the value of optimized acupoint selection will be verified.
ChiCTR2200058867.
Roegneria yenchiana sp. nov. (Triticeae) is a new species collected from Shangri‐la of Yunnan Province in China based on morphological, cytological, and molecular data. It is morphologically ...characterized by one spikelet per node, rectangular glums, awns flanked by two short mucros in lemmas, distinguished from other species of Roegneria. The genomic in situ hybridization results indicate that R. yenchiana is an allotetraploid, and its genomic constitution is StY. Phylogenetic analyses based on multiple loci suggested that R. yenchiana is closely related to Pseudoroegneria and Roegneria, and the Pseudoroegneria served as the maternal donors during its polyploid speciation.
Roegneria yenchiana sp. nov. (Triticeae) is described as a new species collected from the Hengduan Mountain Region. Roegneria yenchiana contains the StY genomic constitution. Pseudoroegneria served as the maternal donors during the polyploid speciation of Roegneria yenchiana.
The objective of this study was using a statistical model to optimize the medium formula and liquid culturing conditions, which was employed to evaluate the potency of pine needles extract as ...nutritional component in basal medium for culturing Helvella lacunose in order to enhancing the production of mycelia and extracellular polysaccharides (EPS). The most proper carbon and nitrogen source, various fermentation parameters (i.e., initial pH in medium, fermentation time, and temperature) were investigated by single factor test. Based on the experimentation, the optimal concentrations of carbon and nitrogen sources were analyzed by response surface methodology (RSM). The results showed that the optimal medium formula and liquid culturing conditions were 1000 mL pine needles extract, 33.56 g glucose, 4.11 g peptone, 4.06 g YE, 1 g KH2PO4, 1 g NaHCO3, 0.5 g MgSO4, 0.01 g vitamin B1 for the accumulation of mycelial biomass (at pH 6.0, 25°C culturing of 7 days), and EPS (at pH 7.0, 25°C culturing of 10 days). Under optimized medium, the experimental production of mycelia and EPS were 11.78 g/L and 223.16 mg/L, which were 10.52 and 4.85 times than that of control (1.12 ± 0.52 g/L and 46.08 ± 1.18 mg/L, respectively). This data implied that statistical model is very useful tools for optimizing media components and fermentation parameters, and the screened media components and parameters have reference value for further large-scale production.
The medical literature is replete with the maxim 'primum non nocere', cautioning health care providers to avoid doing any harm to human subjects in their delivery of medical care. Sodium hypochlorite ...(NaOCl) is a well-established irrigant for root canal treatment because of its antimicrobial and organic tissue remnant dissolution capability. However, little is known about the deleterious effect of this strong oxidizing agent on the integrity of human mineralized dentin. Iatrogenically-induced loss of dentin integrity may precipitate post-treatment root fracture and has potential medico-legal complications. In the present work, transmission electron microscopy provided evidence for collagen destruction in the surface/subsurface of dentin treated with high NaOCl concentrations and long contact times. Size exclusion chromatography showed that the hypochlorite anion, because of its small size, penetrated the water compartments of apatite-encapsulated collagen fibrils, degraded the collagen molecules and produced a 25-35µm thick, non-uniform "ghost mineral layer" with enlarged, coalesced dentinal tubules and their lateral branches. Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy identified increases in apatite/collagen ratio in NaOCl-treated dentin. The apatite-rich, collagen-sparse dentin matrix that remained after NaOCl treatment is more brittle, as shown by the reductions in flexural strength. Understanding the deleterious effects of NaOCl on mineralized dentin enables one to balance the risks and benefits in using high NaOCl concentrations for lengthy periods in root canal debridement. Delineating the mechanism responsible for such a phenomenon enables high molecular weight, polymeric antimicrobial and tissue dissolution irrigants to be designed that abides by the maxim of 'primum non nocere' in contemporary medical practices.
The antimicrobial and tissue-dissolution capacities of NaOCl render it a well-accepted agent for root canal debridement. These highly desirable properties, however, appear to be intertwined with the untoward effect of collagen matrix degradation within mineralized dentin. Because of its small size, the hypochlorite anion is capable of infiltrating mineralized collagen and destroying the collagen fibrils, producing a mineral-rich, collagen sparse ghost mineral matrix with reduced flexural strength. Findings from the present work challenge the biosafety of NaOCl when it is used in high concentrations and for lengthy time periods during root canal treatment, and laid the background work for future biomaterials design in debridement of the canal space.
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