蒜氨酸抗菌机制研究

目的 检测蒜氨酸最低抑菌浓度（MIC）与最低杀菌浓度（MBC），探讨蒜氨酸体内外抗菌机制。方法 体外微量稀释法检测蒜氨酸MIC和MBC，荧光显微镜观察菌体表面蒜氨酸，探讨蒜氨酸抗菌机制。体内蒜氨酸和青霉素分别治疗金葡菌感染家兔脓肿，检测脓汁标本中细菌存活情况，探讨体内蒜氨酸抗菌作用。结果 蒜氨酸对大肠杆菌、伤寒杆菌、金黄色葡萄球菌、白色葡萄球菌的MIC分别为3.047 μg·mL^-1、6.094 μg·mL^-1、0.386 μg·mL^-1、0.386 μg·mL^-1，蒜氨酸体外无杀菌活性。浓汁标本：死菌率蒜氨酸治疗组显著高于阴性对照组（P < 0.01），与青霉素治疗组无明显差异（P > 0.05）；活菌率蒜氨酸治疗组显著低于阴性对照组（P < 0.01），与青霉素治疗组无明显差异（P > 0.05）。结论 蒜氨酸与菌体蛋白、细菌酶蛋白结合阻断细菌与环境物质交换，抑制细菌生命活动，具有较强的抑菌作用，无杀菌活性；蒜氨酸体内代谢成大蒜素，具有较强杀菌作用。     

益气通脉饮联合西药治疗气虚血瘀型冠心病心绞痛90例临床疗效观察

目的:探讨益气通脉饮治疗气虚血瘀型冠心病心绞痛的临床疗效。方法:选取2017年10月—2019年2月烟台业达医院收治的气虚血瘀型冠心病心绞痛的患者90例作为研究对象,根据随机数字表法将所选患者均分为两组,每组各45例,两组的一般资料经统计学方法,差异无统计学意义(P>0.05),因此具有可比性。对照组给予常规西药进行治疗,观察组在对照组治疗基础上给予益气通脉饮治疗,1个月后比较两组临床的疗效,评估治疗前后中医证候、心绞痛症状分级和血脂水平。临床检测的数据通过统计产品与服务解决方案(Statistical Product and Service Solutions,SPSS) 19.0软件进行分析和处理,计量的数据使用平均数±标准差(x±s)表示,采用双侧t检验,计数的数据采用χ~2检验,以%表示,以P<0.05为差异有统计学意义。结果:治疗后,对照组和观察组都有一定疗效,但观察组的改善中医证候总有效率95.56%(43/45),高于对照组的82.22%(37/45),两组比较具有统计学意义(P<0.05);心绞痛的症状总有效率观察组为93.33%(42/45),对照组为77.78%(35/45),两组比较差异有统计学意义(P<0.05);与治疗前相比较,两组治疗后的三酰甘油(Triglyceride,TG)、血清总胆固醇(Serum Total Cholesterol,TC)、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇(High Density Liptein Cholesterol,HDL-C)水平均降低(P<0.05),且观察组治疗后低于对照组(P<0.05),两组治疗后的HDL-C升高(P<0.05),组间比较,差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论:益气通脉饮治疗气虚血瘀型冠心病心绞痛的疗效显著,值得临床进一步研究与推广应用。     

Measuring the appropriateness of carbamazepine and valproic acid prescribing and utilization using a newly implemented online system in the Tabuk Region of Saudi Arabia

Epilepsy is a common neurologic disorder, which is efficiently treated with carbamazepine and valproic acid. Moreover, Saudi Ministry of Health implemented a new E-system for Poison Control Centers called Awtar to enhance technology utilization in ensuring patients’ satisfaction and to improve treatment outcomes. Therefore, we conducted this study to assess appropriateness of indication of requests and therapeutic levels of carbamazepine and valproic acid in Tabuk area, North West Saudi Arabia. This is a retrospective observational study conducted in Poison Control & Forensic Chemistry Center, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Patients’ data were obtained for years 2018 and 2019. The blood levels of carbamazepine and valproic acid were measured by Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) Unit. We selected patients treated with either valproic acid or carbamazepine alone without any history of drug allergy. Data of 264 patients were extracted from Awtar E-system. Serum carbamazepine levels were within therapeutic range in 114 patients (75.50%), above-therapeutic range in 13 patients (8.61%) and sub-therapeutic levels in 24 patients (15.89%). Regarding serum valproic acid, it is within therapeutic range in 62 patients (54.87%), above-therapeutic range in 11 patients (9.73%) and sub-therapeutic levels in 40 patients (35.40%). In conclusion, this study gives information about partial appropriateness of usage of carbamazepine and low level of appropriateness of valproic acid. However, more efforts are needed to improve results of appropriateness of indication of antiepileptic drugs.     

Internet of things-based health monitoring system for early detection of cardiovascular events during COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has currently caused the mortality of millions of people around the world. Aside from the direct mortality from the COVID-19, the indirect effects of the pandemic have also led to an increase in the mortality rate of other non-COVID patients. Evidence indicates that novel COVID-19 pandemic has caused an inflation in acute cardiovascular mortality, which did not relate to COVID-19 infection. It has in fact increased the risk of death in cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients. For this purpose, it is dramatically inevitable to monitor CVD patients’ vital signs and to detect abnormal events before the occurrence of any critical conditions resulted in death. Internet of things (IoT) and health monitoring sensors have improved the medical care systems by enabling latency-sensitive surveillance and computing of large amounts of patients’ data. The major challenge being faced currently in this problem is its limited scalability and late detection of cardiovascular events in IoT-based computing environments. To this end, this paper proposes a novel framework to early detection of cardiovascular events based on a deep learning architecture in IoT environments. Experimental results showed that the proposed method was able to detect cardiovascular events with better performance (95.30% average sensitivity and 95.94% mean prediction values).     

Food-grade titanium dioxide decreases hematocrit and hemoglobin and increases compulsive-like behavior in male mice

Food-grade titanium dioxide (E171) is widely used as a food additive, and it is known that after oral consumption, E171 is translocated into the bloodstream reaching the highest titanium level at 6 h. E171 is accumulated in some organs triggering toxicity, but the effects on the blood parameters after oral consumption have been less studied. Recently, evidence shows that oral exposure to E171 induces behavioral signs of anxiety and depression. The relation between blood alterations and psychiatric disorders has been previously demonstrated. However, the oral exposure to E171 effects on alterations in blood parameters and effects linked to alterations in animal behavior has not been explored. In this short communication, we aimed to investigate the effects of E171 on specific blood parameters (hematocrit, hemoglobin, number of erythrocytes, and leukocytes) and anxiety and compulsive-like behavior in males and females orally exposed to ~5 mg/kg for 4 weeks. The results showed that E171 decreased hematocrit and hemoglobin in male but not in female mice while leukocyte and erythrocyte count remained unaltered. Oral consumption of E171 decreased the levels of anxiety-like behavior in females but not in male mice, while compulsive-like behavior was increased in both male and female mice.     

A new aspect of in vitro antimicrobial leukocyte- and platelet-rich plasma activity based on flow cytometry assessment

The current literature suggests that the antibacterial effect of leukocyte- and platelet-rich plasma (L-PRP) is directly related to platelet and leukocyte concentrations. The aim of this study was twofold: first, to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of L-PRP against selected bacterial strains in vitro, and second, to correlate this effect with leukocyte and platelet content in the final concentration. Blood was collected from 20 healthy males, and L-PRP, acellular plasma (AP), and autologous thrombin were consecutively prepared. Flow cytometry analysis of the blood, L-PRP, and AP was performed. The L-PRP gel, liquid L-PRP, and thrombin samples were tested in vitro for their antibacterial properties against seven selected bacterial strains using the Kirby–Bauer disk-diffusion method. There was notable antimicrobial activity against selected bacterial strains. No statistically significant correlations between antimicrobial activities and the platelet concentration in L-PRP were observed. Statistically significant positive correlations between selected leukocyte subtypes and antimicrobial activity were noted. A negative correlation was found between elevated monocyte count and antimicrobial activity of L-PRP against one bacterial strain studied. L-PRP possesses antimicrobial activity and can be potentially useful in the fight against certain postoperative infections. The bactericidal effect of L-PRP is caused by leukocytes, and there exists a relationship among selected leukocyte subtypes and L-PRP antimicrobial activity.     

Tibial acceleration and shock attenuation while running over different surfaces in a trail environment

ObjectivesIncreased tibial axial acceleration and reduced shock attenuation are associated with running injuries and are believed to be influenced by surface type. Trail running has increased in popularity and is thought to have softer surface properties than paved surface, but it is unclear if trail surfaces influence tibial acceleration and shock attenuation. The purpose of this study was to investigate peak triaxial and resultant tibial acceleration as well as axial and resultant shock attenuation among dirt, gravel, and paved surfaces.DesignFifteen recreational runners (12 females, 3 males, age = 27.7 ± 9.1 years) ran over dirt, gravel, and paved surfaces in a trail environment while instrumented with triaxial tibial and head accelerometers.MethodsDifferences between tri-planar peak tibial accelerations (braking, propulsion, axial, medial, lateral, and resultant) and shock attenuations (axial and resultant) among surface types were assessed with one-way ANOVAs with Bonferroni post-hoc tests.ResultsNo significant differences were found for tibial accelerations or shock attenuations among surface types (p > 0.05).ConclusionsDirt and gravel trail running surfaces do not have lower tibial accelerations or greater shock attenuation than paved surfaces. While runners are encouraged to enjoy the psychological benefits of trail running, trail surfaces do not appear to reduce loading forces associated with running-related injuries.