ABSTRACT Introduction: Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) is a new noninvasive myocardial protection strategy that uses blood pressure cuf inflation to simulate transient non-fatal ischemia to protect the myocardium and reduce ischemia-reperfusion injury. Sulfonylureas may mask the effects of RIPC due to their cardioprotec-tive effect. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate whether RIPC, in the absence of sulfonylureas, reduces troponin release in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials to determine whether RIPC can reduce postoperative troponin release in cardiac surgery patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass without treatment with sulfonylureas. The data were normalized to equivalent units prior to the analysis. A random-effects model was used to provide more conservative estimate of the effects in the presence of known or unknown heterogeneity. Results: Six studies with a total of 570 participants were included. The analysis showed that troponin release was lower in the RIPC group than in the control group at six hours (test of standardized mean differences = 0, Z=3.64, P<0.001) and 48 hours (Z=2.72, P=0.007) postoperatively. When the mean of cross-clamping time was > 60 minutes, RIPC reduced troponin release at six hours (Z=2.84, P=0.005), 24 hours (Z=2.64, P=0.008), and 48 hours (Z=2.87, P=0.004) postoperatively. Conclusion: In cardiac surgery patients who are not taking sulfonylureas, RIPC can reduce troponin release at six and 48 hours postoperatively; hence, RIPC may serve significant benefits in certain cardiac surgery patients.

ABSTRACT The application of intelligent materials in drilling fluids has greatly reduced the investment of human resources and effectively made up for the shortcomings of traditional drilling fluids, such as insufficient directivity, poor adaptive ability and difficult monitoring. Therefore, the research of intelligent drilling fluids is a valuable direction for the future oil and gas industry. In this study, the temperature-sensitive modified bentonite NIPAM-B developed by Pan Yi et al. was used as the drilling fluid base slurry, and the drilling fluid additives were optimized to complete the modulation of the intelligent drilling fluid inspection system. In addition, the rheology, filtration, shale wellbore stability and stability of the intelligent drilling fluid inspection system will be evaluated. The results show that the intelligent drilling fluid has good temperature-sensitive thickening performance, and the rheology is not affected by temperature changes, which can realize intelligent heating and thickening. In addition, compared with the original bentonite drilling fluid system, the intelligent drilling fluid has good fluid loss reduction ability and shale borehole wall protection ability, and the shale rolling recovery rate reaches more than 95 %.

ABSTRACT Introduction: Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) is a new noninvasive myocardial protection strategy that uses blood pressure cuf inflation to simulate transient non-fatal ischemia to protect the myocardium and reduce ischemia-reperfusion injury. Sulfonylureas may mask the effects of RIPC due to their cardioprotec-tive effect. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate whether RIPC, in the absence of sulfonylureas, reduces troponin release in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials to determine whether RIPC can reduce postoperative troponin release in cardiac surgery patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass without treatment with sulfonylureas. The data were normalized to equivalent units prior to the analysis. A random-effects model was used to provide more conservative estimate of the effects in the presence of known or unknown heterogeneity. Results: Six studies with a total of 570 participants were included. The analysis showed that troponin release was lower in the RIPC group than in the control group at six hours (test of standardized mean differences = 0, Z=3.64, P<0.001) and 48 hours (Z=2.72, P=0.007) postoperatively. When the mean of cross-clamping time was > 60 minutes, RIPC reduced troponin release at six hours (Z=2.84, P=0.005), 24 hours (Z=2.64, P=0.008), and 48 hours (Z=2.87, P=0.004) postoperatively. Conclusion: In cardiac surgery patients who are not taking sulfonylureas, RIPC can reduce troponin release at six and 48 hours postoperatively; hence, RIPC may serve significant benefits in certain cardiac surgery patients.

ABSTRACT Agricultural measures for cotton (Gossypium spp.) cultivation generally adopt a traditional and uniform management method in the reclamation area of the abandoned salt pan on the southern coast of Laizhou Bay, without considering spatial variability of the soil’s physical environment. This method might lead to overfertilization in some high-nutrient plots and poor fertilization in other low-nutrient plots, which will cause high heterogeneity of crop yields and low profits. The objectives of this study were to delineate and to assess the suitability of the resulting site-specific management zones by describing spatial variability in soil attributes and crop yields. A 4.8 ha field of reclamation area in the coast was selected as the research object. A total of 12 soil attributes representing the physio-chemical attributes of soil (0-20 cm) and aboveground biomass (AGB) of cotton on 48 sampling locations were chosen from the study area. Principal component analysis and the fuzzy k-means clustering method were used to determine optimal clustering number of the study area and identify management zones. Results showed that the number of reasonable management zones were two, and confidence levels of soil organic matter (SOM) and AGB were significantly different at a probability level p < 0.01, while total N, available N, available K, cation exchange capacity, and soil salinity showed significant differences at p < 0.05. Management zones determined based on the selected soil attributes and crop AGB provide farmers with the opportunity to perform specific site management in cotton fields to achieve precision agriculture and provide a reference for formulation of a reclamation strategy for the salt pan.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of Dengzhan Shengmai capsule combined with donepezil hydrochloride on cognitive function, daily living ability, and safety in patients with Alzheimer's disease. METHODS: A total of 294 patients with Alzheimer’s disease were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group, 147 cases each group. The control group was given oral donepezil hydrochloride 5 mg once a day, and the treatment group was given oral Dengzhan Shengmai capsule 0.36 g three times a day, based on the control group. RESULTS: At 3 and 6 months of treatment, the ADAS-cog score of the treatment group was 48.69±6.23 and 44.24±5.53; for the control group, 45.48±5.94 and 41.57±5.10. The difference between the two groups is statistically significant (p<0.05). At 3 and 6 months of treatment, the NO level in the treatment group was (46.28±6.68) umol/l, (43.55±7.92) umol/l, and the control group was (42.95±7.92) umol/l, (38.89±5.93) umol/l. The differences between both groups were statistically significant (p<0.05). At 3 and 6 months of treatment, ET levels in the treatment group were (156.08±17.39) ng/l, (144.91±17.60) ng/l, and the control group was (150.48±22.94) ng/l, (135.04±10.08) ng/l. Correlation analysis showed that ADAS-cog score was negatively correlated with NO and ET (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Dengzhan Shengmai capsule combined with donepezil hydrochloride can improve cognitive function and the living capacity of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, reduce the production of neurotoxic substances NO and ET, and provide higher safety.

Abstract The current study was designed to investigate the effects and the mechanism of catalpol on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (MI/R) injury in a diabetic rat model. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into DM + sham, DM +I/R, and DM +I/R + C groups and diabetes was induced using single injections of streptozotocin (STZ; 70 mg/kg; i.p). After confirming the induction of diabetes, rats were administered physiological saline and catalpol (10 mg/kg; i.p.) daily for 28 days. Subsequently, rats were subjected to left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery occlusion for 30 min followed by reperfusion for 2 h. Haemodynamic parameters were recorded throughout surgery, and following sacrifice, hearts were isolated for biochemical, histopathological, and molecular analyses. Catalpol treatment significantly ameliorated MI/R injury by improving cardiac function, normalizing myocardial enzyme activities and markers of oxidative stress, and by maintaining myocardial architecture. Furthermore, expression levels of the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 were decreased in biochemical and immunohistochemical studies. Additionally, the cardioprotective effects of catalpol were partly related to reductions in myocardial endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS). In conclusion, catalpol exerts cardioprotective effects in diabetic rats by attenuating inflammation and inhibiting ERS.

Abstract INTRODUCTION Anopheles stephensi is the main malaria vector in Southeast Asia. Recently, plant-sourced larvicides are attracting great interests. METHODS: The essential oil was extracted from the leaf of Cinnamomum camphora (L.), and a bioassay was conducted to determine the larvicidal efficacy. The chemical composition of the essential oil was determined by GC-MS analysis. RESULTS: The oil showed strong, dose-dependent larvicidal activities. The onset of larvicidal efficiency was rapid. The LC50 and LC95 were determined as 0.146% and 1.057% at 1 h, 0.031% and 0.237% at 12 h, 0.026% and 0.128% at 24 h, respectively. The oil contains 32 compounds. CONCLUSIONS The essential oil of C. camphora leaf has an excellent larvicidal potential for the control of A. stephensi.

ABSTRACT Phytoene synthase (PSY) is the rate-limiting enzyme for carotenoid biosynthesis. To date, several studies focused on PSY genes in the context of abiotic stress responses. In this study, two phytoene synthase encoding genes, IbPSY1 and IbPSY2, were identified from a published transcriptome and bioinformatic analysis showed that they shared conserved domains with phytoene synthases from other plants. The IbPSY1 gene was cloned and carefully characterized. Digital gene expression profiling (DGE) showed that the highest transcription level of IbPSY1 was in young leaves, and the lowest level was in stems. In vivo expression levels of IbPSY1 under abiotic stress were observed to be highest in stems at day 11. Over-expression of IbPSY1 in Escherichia coli and yeast cells endowed the cells with better growth under salt and drought stress than the control cells. This study demonstrated that IbPSY1 not only played an important role in vivo, but also in E. coli and yeast to improve tolerance to salinity and drought stress. Thus, IbPSY1 may be aid in the development of transgenic plants with enhanced stress tolerance.

Rapid solidification of the super high-temperature Al2O3/ZrO2 melt was studied by a novel method. The melt was prepared by explosion reaction using Al and Zr(NO3)4 as raw materials and then sprayed to Cu-plate. The heat transfer during the solidification process was analyzed by one-dimensional Finite Element Analysis. The cooling rate of the melt decreased with the increasing distance from the Cu-plate. According to the microstructure evolution, the coating can be divided into four areas: amorphous, nano-crystalline, cellular and dendrite crystal layer. The amorphous and nano-crystalline (50~100 nm) layers can be obtained at the cooling rate of about 1.68~7.76 × 105K/s and 0.48~1.68 × 105K/s, respectively, while the cooling rate of the cellular and dendrite crystal layers were about 0.26~0.48 × 105K/s and 0.14~0.26 × 105K/s, respectively. The microstructure of the hypoeutectic ceramics shows that the nano-crystalline, cellular and dendritic crystals of the Al2O3 phases were embedded in the Al2O3/ZrO2 eutectic matrix.

In this work, a series of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) blend films with different PAN mole contents were prepared by casting the polymer blend solution in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). Surface morphologies of PVA/PAN blend films were analyzed by Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Thermal, mechanical, and chemical properties of PVA/PAN blend films were investigated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Tensile Tests, and Surface Contact Angle Tests. The results showed that the introduction of PAN could exert marked effects on the properties of PVA films.