Acupressure Therapy for Acute Ankle Sprains: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background

Ankle sprains occur frequently among young and active people, accounting for almost 2 million injuries per year. Previous reports suggest that acupressure therapy for acute ankle sprains may shorten the recovery time.

Adsorption activity of coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) cake dietary fibers: effect of acidic treatment,cellulase hydrolysis,particle size and pH

The effects of acidic treatment, cellulase hydrolysis, particle size distribution and pH on the adsorption capacity of defatted coconut cake dietary fibers (DCCDF) were studied. The results demonstrated that cellulase hydrolysis could significantly improve the soluble dietary fiber content, water holding ability and adsorption ability of DCCDF on cholesterol, bile and nitrite ions. Acidic treatment enhanced the oil holding capacity and adsorption ability in cholesterol and nitrite ions. Moreover, the adsorption ability of DFs in cholesterol, nitrite and bile all increased with reduced particle size (250 to 167 μm), and DCCDF demonstrated a higher adsorption capacity at pH 2.0 than at pH 7.0. The change in adsorption capacity of DCCDF might be suitable for application in the food industry as a low-calorie and cholesterol lowering functional ingredient.

This paper provides valuable information on the effects of cellulase hydrolysis, acidic treatment, particle size distribution and pH on the adsorption activity of coconut cake dietary fibers.     

Sources,symptoms and characteristics of childhood lead poisoning: experience from a lead specialty clinic in China

Objectives: This study explored the sources of lead exposure, identified patients’ geographic distribution and evaluated the symptoms of children with elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) referred to a pediatric lead specialty clinic in China.

Material and methods: Data were collected from 515 consecutive outpatients attending the Pediatric Lead Poisoning Clinic in Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai, China, between 2011 and 2016, referred for BLLs ≥5?μg/dL. Atomic absorption spectrometry was used to measure venous BLLs.

Results: The mean?±?standard deviation age of the patients was 4.1?±?3.2 years. Their BLLs ranged from 5 to 126?μg/dL. The geometric mean and median BLLs were 24 and 26?μg/dL, respectively. Two hundred and twenty-two children (43.1%) were exposed to industrial lead pollution—mainly from Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hunan, Henan and Anhui provinces; whereas, 41.4% (213 cases) were induced by folk medicines used widely throughout China. Other nonindustrial sources of lead exposure included lead-containing tinfoil and tin pots. Household lead paint was a rare source. Most patients exhibited nonspecific symptoms, such as hyperactivity, attention difficulty, aggressiveness, constipation and anorexia.

Conclusions: Industrial pollution and folk medicines are important sources of lead exposure in China. Childhood lead poisoning may be difficult to diagnose clinically as symptoms are nonspecific. Thus, blood lead screening may be necessary to identify children at high risk of exposure. Education to raise the awareness of potential sources of exposure resulting in their elimination would be expected to decrease the incidence of children with elevated BLLs.     

Analysis of anomalous origin of coronary arteries by coronary angiography in Chinese patients with coronary artery disease

With the development of coronary angiography for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease, its clinical significance in detecting coronary artery anomalies and evaluating the seriousness is attracting more attention. In the study we aimed to assess the prevalence of anomalous origin of coronary arteries in a Chinese population who underwent coronary angiography for coronary artery disease, and explore any patterns in the common variants and typical anomalies, especially the potentially serious ones. Patients who underwent coronary angiography from January 2013 to December 2016 in Fuwai Hospital were included. Baseline characteristics and angiographic data were collected, the incidence of anomalous origin of coronary arteries was calculated, and the typical patterns were analyzed. Comparisons between the present results and those of existing reports were also conducted. A total of 110,158 patients were included in the study, among which 0.76% (835 cases) had anomalous origin of coronary arteries. Among the anomalies, the incidences of anomalous origin of the right coronary artery (RCA), the left coronary artery (LCA), both the RCA and LCA, single coronary artery (SCA) and dextrocardia were 76.76% (641 cases), 14.61% (122 cases), 1.80% (15 cases), 4.67% (39 cases) and 2.16% (18 cases), respectively. Moreover, 47.54% (397 cases) of the anomalies were shown to be potentially serious, and an RCA arising from the left sinus of Valsalva (LSV) was the most common subtype (39.28%, 328 cases). Although anomalous origin of coronary arteries is not quite common, more clinical attention should be paid to this condition due to the potential risk of serious sequelae.     

Research advances on the mechanism of biofilm formation in Acinetobacter baumannii北大核心CSCD

[No abstract available]     

Daptomycin therapy in 6 cases of left-sided infective endocarditis and literature review北大核心CSCD

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of daptomycin in the treatment of left-sided infective endocarditis after failing to respond to vancomycin. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted for 6 cases of infective endocarditis. Results Five of the six infective endocarditis patients were complicated with paravalvular abscess (artificial valve in 3 cases, native valve in 2 cases). Their disease deteriorated even under vancomycin treatment. Four of these patients received emergency valve replacement surgery but still febrile after operation. The antimicrobial therapy was switched to daptomycin at dose of 6 mg/kg daily for 2 to 4 weeks. The patients responded satisfactorily to daptomycin. The infection was controlled to some extent in the fifth patient after switching to daptomycin, but recurred later, and died suddenly on day 21 after reoperation. The sixth patient had infective endocarditis of native valve, and had treated with piperacillin-tazobactam for 2 weeks and vancomycin for 3 weeks, but responded poorly. The patient still had fever and enlarged vegetation. Switching to daptomycin reduced the body temperature and vegetation. Serum creatine kinase elevated moderately in one patient, and normal in the other 5 patients. No other apparent adverse reaction was reported. One patient died and the other five patient survived well for 18 months to 5 years. Conclusions Preliminary observation demonstrates the efficacy of daptomycin salvage treatment in a few cases of left-sided infective endocarditis after failing to respond to vancomycin therapy. © 2018, Editorial Department of Chinese Journal of Infection. All rights reserved.     

Enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction activity of hydrogen-annealed vertical MoS2 nanosheets

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) is a promising electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but only edges and S-vacancies are catalytic active sites for the HER. Therefore, it is crucial to increase edge sites and S-vacancies for enhancing the HER activity of MoS₂. Here, we report an enhanced HER activity of MoS₂ by combing vertical nanosheets and H₂ annealing. Compared to horizontal MoS₂ nanosheets, pristine vertical MoS₂ nanosheets showed better HER activity due to a larger amount of edges. H₂ annealing further enhanced the HER activity of vertical MoS₂ nanosheets remarkably. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to elucidate the enhanced HER activity by H₂ annealing. SEM images showed that H₂ annealing roughened the MoS₂ edges, leading to more edge sites. XPS data revealed the smaller S : Mo ratio after H₂ annealing, meaning more S-vacancies. Meanwhile, EIS measurements showed that charge transfer was accelerated by H₂ annealing. These findings elaborated the H₂ annealing induced enhancement of the HER activity, which were further confirmed by the subsequent re-sulfurization experiment.

Vertical configuration and H₂ annealing enhanced the hydrogen evolution reaction activity of MoS₂ nanosheets.     

Four 3D coordination polymers based on layers with single syn–anti carboxylate bridges: synthesis,structures, and magnetic properties

Four novel coordination polymers (CPs) based on a new 4-(3,5-dicarboxylphenyl) picolinic acid ligands (H₃L), [M₃(L)₂(H₂O)₆]·4H₂O (M₃ = Mn₃, 1; Co₃, 2; Ni₃, 3, Co_1.01Ni_1.99, 4), have been hydrothermally synthesized, and structurally and magnetically characterized. In these isomorphous CPs, octahedrally coordinated metal ions are linked by the single syn–anti carboxylate bridge (μ-COO) to give linear trinuclear motifs. The motifs are connected through the other single syn–anti carboxylate bridge (μ-COO) to give a 2D (4,4) layer, and the layers are interlinked by the L ligands into 3D frameworks. Magnetic measurement indicates that antiferromagnetic interactions between metal ions are mediated through the single syn–anti carboxylate bridges in 1 and 2, while the same carboxylate bridges in 3 transmit ferromagnetic couplings. The bimetallic CP 4 shows interesting complicated magnetic behaviors due to the competition effect of Co(ii) and Ni(ii) ions.

Four 3D carboxylate-bridged metal(II) compounds were prepared. Mn(II) and Co(II) compounds show AFM interactions, while FM coupling is found in Ni(II) compound. The bimetallic shows interesting competition effect of FM and AFM interactions.     

Hypothesis testing for two‐stage designs with over or under enrollment

Simon's two‐stage designs are widely used in cancer phase II clinical trials for assessing the efficacy of a new treatment. However in practice, the actual sample size for the second stage is often different from the planned sample size, and the original inference procedure is no longer valid. Previous work on this problem has certain limitations in computation. In this paper, we attempt to maximize the unconditional power while controlling for the type I error for the modified second stage sample size. A normal approximation is used for computing the power, and the numerical results show that the approximation is accurate even under small sample sizes. The corresponding confidence intervals for the response rate are constructed by inverting the hypothesis test, and they have reasonable coverage while preserving the type I error. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

84% efficiency improvement in all-inorganic perovskite light-emitting diodes assisted by a phosphorescent material

A novel mixed perovskite emitter layer is applied to design all-inorganic cesium lead halide perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) with high electroluminescence (EL) performance, by combining CsPbBr₃ with iridium(iii)bis[2-(4′,6′-difluorophenyl)pyridinato-N,C²′]-picolinate (FIrpic), where FIrpic is a phosphorescent material with very high internal quantum efficiency (IQE) approaching 100%. The CsPbBr₃:FIrpic PeLEDs show a maximum luminance of 5486 cd m⁻², and an external quantum efficiency of 0.47%, which are 1.84 and 1.76 times that of neat CsPbBr₃ PeLEDs, respectively. It is found that FIrpic molecules as an assistant dopant can efficiently transmit energy from the excitons of FIrpic to the excited state of the CsPbBr₃ emitter via a Förster energy transfer process, leading to enhanced EL efficiency in the CsPbBr₃:FIrpic PeLEDs.

Remarkable EL performance is achieved in CsPbBr₃:FIrpic perovskite light-emitting diodes assisted by a phosphorescent material.