The Efficacy and Underlying Pathway Mechanisms of ShiDuGao Treatment for Anus Eczema Based on GEO Datasets and Network Pharmacology.

Anus eczema is a chronic and recurrent inflammatory skin disease affecting the area around the anus. While the lesions primarily occur in the anal and perianal skin, they can also extend to the perineum or genitalia. ShiDuGao (SDG) has been found to possess significant reparative properties against anal pruritus, exudation control, moisture reduction, and skin repair. However, the genetic targets and pharmacological mechanisms of SDG on anal eczema have yet to be comprehensively elucidated and discussed. Consequently, this study employed a network pharmacological approach and utilized gene expression omnibus (GEO) datasets to investigate gene targets. Additionally, a protein-protein interaction network (PPI) was established, resulting in the identification of 149 targets, of which 59 were deemed hub genes, within the "drug-target-disease" interaction network. The gene function of SDG in the treatment of perianal eczema was assessed through the utilization of the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) analysis. Subsequently, the anti-perianal eczema function and potential pathway of SDG, as identified in network pharmacological analysis, were validated using molecular docking methodology. The biological processes associated with SDG-targeted genes and proteins in the treatment of anus eczema primarily encompass cytokine-mediated responses, inflammatory responses, and responses to lipopolysaccharide, among others. The results of the pathway enrichment and functional annotation analyses suggest that SDG plays a crucial role in preventing and managing anal eczema by regulating the Shigellosis and herpes simplex virus 1 infection pathways. Network pharmacology and GEO database analysis confirms the multi-target nature of SDG in treating anal eczema, specifically by modulating TNF, MAPK14, and CASP3, which are crucial hub targets in the TNF and MAPK signaling pathways. These findings provide a clear direction for further investigation into SDG's therapeutic mechanism for anal eczema while highlighting its potential as an effective treatment approach for this debilitating condition.

Superb microvascular imaging technique in depicting vascularity in focal liver lesions: more hypervascular supply patterns were depicted in hepatocellular carcinoma.

PURPOSE: To investigate the capacity of Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) to detect microvascular details and to explore the different SMI features in various focal liver lesions (FLLs) and the correlation between SMI and microvessel density (MVD). METHOD: Eighty-three liver lesions were enrolled in our study, including 35 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) and 48 non-HCCs. All patients underwent color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) and SMI examination and were categorized into subgroups according to Adler semiquantitative grading (grade 0-3) or the microvascular morphologic patterns (pattern a-f). The correlation between SMI blood flow signal percentage and MVD was assessed. RESULTS: Compared with CDFI, SMI detected more high-level blood flow signals (grade 2-3) and more hypervascular supply patterns (pattern e-f) in HCCs (p < 0.05). Furthermore, more hypervascular supply patterns and fewer hypovascular supply patterns were detected in HCC compared with non-HCC (p < 0.05). Based on Adler's grading or microvascular morphologic patterns, the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.696 and 0.760 for SMI, 0.583 and 0.563 for CDFI. The modality of "SMI-microvascular morphologic pattern" showed the best diagnostic performance. There was significant correlation between MVD and the SMI blood flow signal percentage (vascular index, VI) in malignant lesions (r = 0.675, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: SMI was superior to CDFI in detecting microvascular blood flow signals. More hypervascular supply patterns were depicted in HCC than in non-HCC, suggesting a promising diagnostic value for SMI in the differentiation between HCC and non-HCC. Meanwhile, we were the first to demonstrate that SMI blood flow signal percentage (VI) was correlated with MVD in malignant lesions.

Thermodynamic analysis on heavy metals partitioning impacted by moisture during the MSW incineration.

A thermodynamic calculation was carried out to predict the behavior and speciation of heavy metals (HMs), Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cd, during municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration with the different moisture levels. The calculation was based on the minimization of the total Gibbs free energy of the multi-components and multi-phases closed system reaching chemical equilibrium. The calculation also indicated the reaction directions and tendencies of HMs components. The impacts of chlorine additives (No PVC, 1%PVC, and 5%PVC) and moisture on the behavior of HMs were investigated at different temperature levels in the system (750 °C, 950 °C, and 1150 °C). Furthermore, because the incineration temperature falls down with the increase in moisture in waste, the co-influence of moisture and temperature in combusting MSW on the HMs was also studied with the given chlorine (as 1%PVC+0.5%NaCl). The results showed that in the non-chlorine system, the impact of the moisture on Pb, Zn, and Cu was not significant, and the ratio of compound transformation was less than 10%, except the Cd compounds at 950 °C and 1150 °C. In the system with low chlorine (as 1%PVC) at constant temperature, the chlorides of HMs (Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu) transferred to oxides, and when the content of chlorine rose up (as 5%PVC), the ratio of the chlorides of HMs (Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu) transferring to oxides fell down noticeably. When the moisture varied together with the temperature, the Zn and Cu compounds transferred from chlorides to oxides with increase in moisture as well as decrease in temperature. At the temperature of 700-1000 °C, the impact of temperature on Pb and Cd was little and the moisture was the main factor; while at the temperature of 1000-1200 °C, the impact of increase in moisture and decrease in temperature on Pb and Cd was almost equal and reversed.

Investigation of heavy metal partitioning influenced by flue gas moisture and chlorine content during waste incineration.

The impact of moisture on the partitioning of the heavy metals including Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd in municipal solid waste (MSW) was studied in a laboratory tubular furnace. A thermodynamic investigation using CHEMKIN software was performed to compare the experimental results. Simulated waste, representative of typical MSW with and without chlorine compounds, was burned at the background temperature of 700 and 950 degrees C, respectively. In the absence of chlorine, the moisture content has no evident effect on the volatility of Pb, Zn and Cu at either 700 or 950 degrees C, however, as flue gas moisture increasing the Cd distribution in the bottom ash increased at 700 degrees C and reduced at 950 degrees C, respectively. In the presence of chlorine, the flue gas moisture reduced the volatility of Pb, Zn and Cu due to the transformation of the more volatile metal chlorides into less volatile metal oxides, and the reduction became significant as chlorine content increase. For Cd, the chlorine promotes its volatility through the formation of more volatile CdCl2. As a result, the increased moisture content increases the Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd concentrations in the bottom ash, which limits the utilization of the bottom ash as a construction material. Therefore, in order to accumulate heavy metals into the fly ash, MSW should be dried before incineration.

Carbon Nanotubes Based Glucose Needle-type Biosensor.

A novel needle-type biosensor based on carbon nanotubes is reported. Thebiosensor was prepared by packing a mixture of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs),graphite powder and glucose oxidase (Gox) freeze-dried powder into a glass capillary of 0.5mm inner diameter. The resulting amperometric biosensor was characterizedelectrochemically using amperometry in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and in thepresence of glucose. The glucose biosensor sensitivity was influenced by the glucoseoxidase concentration within the MWCNTs mixture. The optimized glucose needle-typebiosensor displayed better sensitivity and stability, and a detected range of up to 20 mM.Based on its favorable stability, the needle biosensor was first time used in real-timemonitoring system as a kind of online glucose detector. The decay of current response isless than 10% after 24-hour continuous observation.