Sophorae Flavescentis Radix (Kuh-seng, SFR), a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), is widely used alone or within a TCM formula to treat pruritus, especially histamine-independent intractable ...itching. In the previous study, potential antipruritic active components of the SFR were screened based on cell membrane immobilized chromatography (CMIC), revealing oxymatrine (OMT) as an antipruritic agent. However, the low oral bioavailability (OB) of OMT cannot explain the antipruritic effect of SFR when administered orally in clinic. In this study, we investigated the antipruritic effects and underlying mechanisms of orally administered SFR.
A network pharmacology and molecular docking were employed to screen the active components of SFR and predict their binding to disease-related target proteins, while the potential mechanisms were explored with Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. The binding energy between components and target proteins was calculated by molecular docking.
The SFR-components-targets-intractable itching Protein-Protein Interactions (PPI) network was established, and 22 active components and 42 targets were screened. The GO enrichment analysis showed that the key target genes of SFR were related to nuclear receptors, transcription factors, and steroid hormone receptors. The results of the KEGG enrichment pathway analysis include Hepatitis B, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance, advanced glycation end product (AGE)-receptor for AGE (RAGE) signaling pathway in diabetic complications, etc. Molecular docking showed that three key target proteins in the network, the vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and caspase-3 (CASP3), have higher binding activities with inermine, phaseolin and kushenol O, respectively; the binding energy of each pair is stronger than that of the target protein-corresponding inhibitors.
The complexity of the SFR-components-targets-intractable itching network demonstrated the holistic treatment effect of SFR on intractable itching. The partial coherence between results screened by CMIC in the previous study and network pharmacology demonstrated the potential of network pharmacology in active component screening. Inermine screened from both CMIC and network pharmacology is a VEGFA inhibitor, which possibly accounts for the antipruritic effect of orally administered SFR.
Based on the detailed laboratory experiments and theoretical analysis, a new three-layer model is proposed to predict the vertical velocity distribution in an open channel flow with submerged ...vegetation. The time averaged velocity and turbulence behaviour of a steady uniform flow with fully submerged artificial rigid vegetation was measured using a 3D Micro ADV, and the vertical distribution of velocity and Reynolds shear stress at different vegetation height, vegetation density and measuring positions were obtained. The results show that the velocity profile consists of three hydrodynamic regimes (i.e. the upper non-vegetated layer, the outer and bottom layer within vegetation); accordingly different methods had been adopted to describe the vertical velocity distribution. For the upper non-vegetated layer, a modified mixing length theory combined with the concept of ‘the new vegetation boundary layer’ was adopted, and an analytical model was presented to predict the vertical velocity distribution in this region. For the bottom layer within vegetation, the depth average velocity was obtained by numerically solving the momentum equations. For the upper layer within vegetation, the analytical solution was presented by expressing the shear stress as a formula fitted to the experimental data. Finally, the analytical predictions of the vertical velocity over the whole flow depth were compared with the results obtained by other researchers, and the good agreement proved that the three-layer model can be used to predict the velocity distribution of the open channel flow with submerged rigid vegetation.
High-quality gallium nitride etching is highly desirable in electronic device fabrications. For the GaN base devices, the electronic properties largely depended on the etching induced surface ...damages. To overcome this, a controllable GaN etching method was developed using inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) by controlling radio frequency (RF) power, and DC bias. The etching rate, DC bias, and root-mean-square surface roughness were measured as a function of bias power under different RF, 40 and 13.56 MHz. The effects of ICP power and chlorine to argon percentage were systematically studied. An extremely slow etching rate and low-damage surface were achieved by reducing DC bias power to 25 W under RF 40 MHz. Ni|Au Schottky diodes were fabricated and characterized. The diode fabricated on the 40-MHz RF etching GaN surface has a much lower ideality factor and higher barrier height than non-etched GaN and RF 13.56 MHz etching GaN.
Millions of incidents of hand, foot and mouth disease occur annually in China, with EVA71 and CVA16 as two major causative pathogens. A provincial surveillance system has been implemented in ...Guangdong for almost 5 years to analyze the aetiological spectrum and epidemic changes. An unusual enterovirus type, CVA6, was identified as the predominant serotype associated with an HFMD epidemic from late 2012 to 2013. In contrast to virus strains isolated before, all CVA6/CHN/2012–2013 strains segregated into one major genetic cluster. This study suggested that one cluster of circulating CVA6 strain had emerged as a new and major cause during a continuing HFMD epidemic in Guangdong, China.
The distribution of machining-induced residual stresses has significant effects on the fatigue life, corrosion resistance, and precision durability of parts. An analytical model is presented to ...reveal the evolution regularity of residual stresses in workpiece for micro-end-milling. Considering the characteristics of tool rotation and interrupted cutting, the process of cutting entry and exit of each flute is treated as one cut, and sequential cuts effect is taken into account in the proposed model. The stress state caused by the previous cut is taken as the initial condition for the current cut. In order to improve the prediction efficiency, a new methodology which supposes the tool makes reverse movement is developed to determine the initial cutter position for residual stress calculation. The theoretical model is validated by machining NAK80 steel under different flank wear widths on a 3-axis ultra-precision micro-milling machine. Residual stresses are tested by means of X-ray diffraction. The computed results show that residual stresses are compressive and present a hook-shaped distribution, which is consistent with experimental results. Moreover, the effects of feed rate and radial depth of cut on residual stresses are theoretically investigated. This work can be further applied to optimize cutting conditions to achieve better surface integrity.
Background: Surgical and medical treatments are applied to pulmonary cryptococcosis (PC) in the real world, while the prognosis of different therapies is uncertain. This study investigated diagnosis, ...real-world therapy, follow-up outcomes, and prognosis factors, aiming to deepen our understanding of PC. Methods: Patients pathologically diagnosed with PC were retrospectively reviewed and followed up. Further comparisons and subgroup analyses were conducted in surgical and nonsurgical treatment individuals. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression methods were used to explore the risk factors associated with treatment failure. Results: One hundred and sixty-three patients were included in this study, of whom 92 underwent surgical removal of VATS or open lung surgery (68 of them received postoperative antifungal treatment) and 71 got antifungal drugs only. Compared with nonsurgical patients, surgical patients were more immunocompetent (73 79.3% cases vs 33 46.5%), showed milder symptoms and more limited pulmonary lesions. Although they had instant treatment response owing to lesions resection, there is no significant advantage in the rate of treatment failure. Multivariable regression showed independent predictive factors associated with treatment failure were polymorphonuclear (PMN)>6.30 x 10.sup.9/L, albumin (Alb) <40g/L and antifungal dosage <400mg/d. Further analysis among patients with different immune statuses or symptoms demonstrated that sufficient antifungal dosage could reduce the rate of treatment failure. Conclusion: PC showed variable and nonspecific clinical features. PC patients with limited nodules/masses and mild symptoms often led to misdiagnosis and unnecessary lung resections. The potential risk factors including higher PMN and hypoalbuminemia could help clinicians to identify PC patients with poor treatment efficiency at an early stage. To note, sufficient antifungal dosage may improve the treatment outcomes. Keywords: pulmonary cryptococcosis, diagnosis, antifungal treatment, clinical features, surgery
Summary
A high mortality rate of approximately 20% in pregnant women with hepatitis E has been reported in previous studies. However, other studies showed no difference between pregnant and ...nonpregnant women in the severity of hepatitis E. To determine the effects of HEV infection on pregnancy, we successfully established HEV infection in six pregnant rabbits (PR) and six nonpregnant rabbits (NPR) with a rabbit HEV isolate, taking three PR and one NPR without HEV infection as controls. Tests for HEV RNA by RT‐PCR, anti‐HEV antibodies by ELISA and HEV antigen via immunohistochemistry and histopathology were carried out. Two of six infected PR miscarried and three of the remaining four PR died which may be attributed to severe liver necrosis caused by HEV infection. Moreover, vertical transmission was found to be associated with the replication of HEV in placenta, indicated by the presence of HEV RNA and antigen in placenta from the infected PR. Our findings strongly suggest that HEV infection could lead to adverse outcomes in pregnancy and vertical transmission, suggesting the necessity for pregnant women at risk of HEV infection to be vaccinated.
Direct evidence for size‐dependent chemical and magnetic ordering in L10‐FePt nanoparticles is obtained by measuring monodisperse nanoparticles prepared by the “salt‐matrix annealing” technique. ...Quantitative correlations show that the long‐range chemical‐ordering parameter, Curie temperature (see figure), and saturated magnetization drop significantly with decreasing particle size.
New and novel cement-based piezoelectric composites were fabricated using lead zirconate titanate (PZT), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and Portland cement (PC). Dielectric constant (ε33), ...piezoelectric charge coefficient (d33) and piezoelectric voltage coefficient (g33) of the PZT–PVDF–PC composites with 50vol% PZT and 1–20vol% PVDF content were investigated. The results indicated that PVDF as a third phase was found to enhance piezoelectric properties where piezoelectric charge coefficient (d33) and piezoelectric voltage coefficient (g33) increased to 24pC/N and 25.7×10−3Vm/N respectively when PVDF was added at 5 vol%. Moreover, a significant reduction in the poling time was found when PVDF was incorporated in the 0–3 composites.
•Novel cement based/PVDF/PZT composites were fabricated.•Significant reduction in poling time was found in 0–3 composites.•Increased piezoelectric charge coefficient was found at 5% PVDF.•High and increased piezoelectric voltage coefficient was found.
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