ABSTRACT
Dayuanyin (DYY) has been shown to reduce lung inflammation in both coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and lung injury. This experiment was designed to investigate the efficacy and mechanism of action of DYY against hypoxic pulmonary hypertension (HPH) and to evaluate the effect of DYY on the protection of lung function. Animal welfare and experimental procedures are approved and in accordance with the provision of the Animal Ethics Committee of the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Science. Male C57/BL6J mice were randomly divided into 4 groups: control group, model group, DYY group (800 mg.kg-1), and positive control sildenafil group (100 mg.kg-1). The animals were given control solvents or drugs by gavage three days in advance. On day 4, the animals in the model group, DYY group and sildenafil group were kept in a hypoxic chamber containing 10% +/- 0.5% oxygen, and the animals in the control group were kept in a normal environment, and the control solvent or drugs continued to be given continuously for 14 days. The right ventricular systolic pressure, right ventricular hypertrophy index, organ indices and other metrics were measured in the experimental endpoints. Meantime, the expression levels of the inflammatory factors in mice lung tissues were measured. The potential therapeutic targets of DYY on pulmonary hypertension were predicted using network pharmacology, the expression of nuclear factor kappa B (NF- kappaB) signaling pathway-related proteins were measured by Western blot assay. It was found that DYY significantly reduced the right ventricular systolic pressure, attenuated lung injury and decreased the expression of inflammatory factors in mice. It can also inhibit hypoxia-induced activation of NF- kappaB signaling pathway. DYY has a protective effect on lung function, as demonstrated by DYY has good efficacy in HPH, and preventive administration can slow down the disease progression, and its mechanism may be related to inhibit the activation of NF-kappaB and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) by DYY.Copyright © 2023, Chinese Pharmaceutical Association. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain how aspects of institutional theory can be used to explain how tertiary educational providers must necessarily adopt the same features while competing in the market for students. Using new institutional sociology (NIS), the authors seek to explain this phenomena and how such diverse private providers have borrowed from the polytechnics and universities to share the same institutional features.Design/methodology/approachThis paper employs NIS to explain how tertiary educational providers must necessarily adopt the same features while competing in the market for students. In the last few decades, the Auckland tertiary market for overseas students has enjoyed strong growth before Covid-19.FindingsDecoupling provides a link between NIS and legitimacy theory in that it explains how symbolic strategies are aimed at some kind of legitimization rather than directed at technical efficiencies. It is argued that the public tertiary providers are more prone to decoupling than PTEPs because they are less attentive to costs due to their more monopolistic position in the market.Originality/valueOriginally, the market was dominated by the local universities and polytechnics with few private providers. Currently, private providers cater for a large share of the certificate and diploma market and have a growing stake in the degree market. As these changes came about so, more diverse private providers entered the market. This paper explains how these diverse entrants came to share the same organizational features.
ABSTRACT
As cruise ships call at many ports and passengers come from all over the world, it is very easy to carry viruses on cruise ships. Under the control of the epidemic situation on board, the solid waste generated by them should be scientifically treated to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 pneumonia. Therefore, Reasonable selection of waste disposal ports and formulation of unloading plans are directly related to the resumption of cruise operations. This study considers the cost and risk of waste disposal, uses robust optimization to deal with waste volume, increases the scenarios of port service interruption due to epidemics and other reasons, and proposes a variety of emergency strategies. Finally, the relevant strategies are selected according to the decision-maker's preference for cost and risk;By solving the relevant examples, the optimal choice of the cruise ship waste disposal port under the epidemic situation is given, which verifies the validity and feasibility of the model. The research helps to improve the management of cruise waste during the post-epidemic period, and has practical value and guiding significance for the normal operation and development of the global cruise market. © 2023 SPIE.
ABSTRACT
Preventing the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become the focus of epidemiologists as the highly infectious respiratory disease spreads primarily by close, person-to-person contact via droplets or the skin. Aerosol dissemination may occur in a closed, high-aerosol environment. The aerosols generated in dental procedures can pollute surrounding air and device surfaces. In this paper, we summarize prevention and control measures relating to dentistry. We focus on the relationship between COVID-19 and dental disease prevention and control in dental treatment procedures and imaging examinations, oral health education and perspectives, and guidance for the practice of dentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide a consistent and broadly endorsed standard for dental hospital and clinics. Copyright © 2021 Luo, Wang, Tang, Peng, Ma and Wu.
ABSTRACT
While past technology acceptance studies focus on organization readiness, little is known about the acceptance behavior under sudden institutional coercive pressure. Against COVID-19 and distance teaching, this study explores the relationship between digital transformation readiness, adoption intention, digital transformation success, and sudden institutional coercive pressure based on the readiness research model and institutional theory. Surveying 233 college teachers who participated in distance teaching under COVID-19 in Taiwan for model and hypothesis validation using the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach. This result shows that (1) Teacher, social/public, and content readiness are crucial to distance teaching. Individuals, organizational resources, and external stakeholders influence distance teaching success and adoption;and (2) Sudden institutional coercive pressure has a negative moderated effect on teachers' readiness and adoption intention. When teachers are unprepared to implement distance teaching, this unanticipated epidemic and sudden institutional coercive pressure will accelerate and enhance their intention. The study provides government, educational policymakers, and teachers with a better understanding of distance teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.