A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, pilot clinical trial examining buspirone as an adjunctive medication during buprenorphine-assisted supervised opioid withdrawal.

Successful management of opioid withdrawal improves long-term treatment outcomes and reduces opioid use-related morbidity and mortality. Mechanistically supported pharmacotherapeutic approaches are needed to effectively manage acute and protracted opioid withdrawal. Buspirone is a D2 antagonist and 5-HT1a agonist that may decrease opioid withdrawal. Individuals (n = 15) admitted to a residential treatment center for opioid use disorder (OUD) were enrolled into a double-blind randomized clinical trial to assess the efficacy and acceptability of buspirone (45 mg/day) as an adjunctive medication to buprenorphine-assisted, supervised opioid withdrawal. Participants completed daily questionnaires which consisted of the Subjective Opiate Withdrawal Scale (SOWS) and a consensus sleep diary, which assessed total sleep time, time to sleep onset, and sleep quality. Total SOWS scores, individual opioid withdrawal symptoms and sleep outcomes were assessed between treatment groups (Placebo and Buspirone) and over time in a repeated measures linear mixed model. Total SOWS scores significantly decreased across study phases for both groups but decreased to a greater extent among individuals assigned to buspirone during both the first and second week of stable buspirone. Greater decreases in withdrawal were observed during Week 2 of stable buspirone relative to Week 1 of stable buspirone. Participants also reported significant increases in sleep duration and significant decreases in latency to sleep onset. This study provides further support that buspirone can help mitigate opioid withdrawal during a supervised opioid taper. Buspirone may confer unique benefits during protracted withdrawal periods. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Infrared Sensation-Based Salient Targets Enhancement Methods in Low-Visibility Scenes.

Thermal imaging is an important technology in low-visibility environments, and due to the blurred edges and low contrast of infrared images, enhancement processing is of vital importance. However, to some extent, the existing enhancement algorithms based on pixel-level information ignore the salient feature of targets, the temperature which effectively separates the targets by their color. Therefore, based on the temperature and pixel features of infrared images, first, a threshold denoising model based on wavelet transformation with bilateral filtering (WTBF) was proposed. Second, our group proposed a salient components enhancement method based on a multi-scale retinex algorithm combined with frequency-tuned salient region extraction (MSRFT). Third, the image contrast and noise distribution were improved by using salient features of orientation, color, and illuminance of night or snow targets. Finally, the accuracy of the bounding box of enhanced images was tested by the pre-trained and improved object detector. The results show that the improved method can reach an accuracy of 90% of snow targets, and the average precision of car and people categories improved in four low-visibility scenes, which demonstrates the high accuracy and adaptability of the proposed methods of great significance for target detection, trajectory tracking, and danger warning of automobile driving.

Optimization extraction, structural features and antitumor activity of polysaccharides from Z. jujuba cv. Ruoqiangzao seeds.

As a discarded byproduct of jujube (Z. jujuba), its seeds contain various biological components. Response surface methodology was used to optimize ultrasound-assisted heating extraction conditions of polysaccharides from Z. jujuba cv. Ruoqiangzao seeds (ZJSPs). The optimal parameters were as follows: temperature 83.1 °C, time 100 min, ultrasonic power 140 W, and water-material ratio 33.5 mL/g, allowed a maximum yield of 1.97%. One main fraction (ZJSPs-1) was successfully purified by ion-exchange and gel-permeation chromatography. With a molecular weight of 342 kDa, ZJSPs-1 was composed of arabinose, glucose, xylose, galactose and rhamnose. The presence of pyranose-form sugars as well as both α- and ß-configurations was validated by FT-IR and 1H NMR. TG/DSC indicated that ZJSPs-1 has a favorable thermal stability. XRD suggested that ZJSPs-1 exhibited both crystalline and amorphous portions. ZJSPs-1 was in aggregates of homogenous-dense honeycomb like structures observed by SEM and AFM. ZJSPs-1 possessed antitumor activities against HeLa cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner at 24 and 48 h with IC50 of 164.6 and 87.1 µg/mL, respectively. Fluorescent microscopic and flow cytometry revealed that ZJSPs-1 inhibited the proliferation of HeLa cells through apoptosis. Z. jujuba seeds are good sources for antitumor polysaccharides in pharmaceutical and food industries.

Ultrasonic extraction optimization of L. macranthoides polysaccharides and its physicochemical properties.

The dried flower buds of L. macranthoides, belong to the item Shan Yin Hua, are widely used as raw materials for pharmaceutical, food additive, healthy food and cosmetic industry in China. To optimize the effects of the ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) processing parameters on the yield of L. macranthoides polysaccharides (LMPs), a response surface methodology with a central composite rotatable design was employed. Four independent variables were investigated: ultrasonic power (X1), temperature (X2), time (X3), and the ratio of water volume to raw material weight (W/M ratio, X4). The experimental data were fitted to a quadratic polynomial equation using multiple regression analysis and also examined using appropriate statistical methods. The optimum conditions were: X1, 113.6 W; X2, 71.5°C; X3, 54.7 min; and X4, 30.7 mL/g. Under the optimal conditions, the extraction yield of LMPs was (4.81±0.12)%, which is in close agreement with the value predicted by the statistical model. Further, LMPs were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, TGA/DSC and NMR. In vitro experiments indicated that LMPs had strong scavenging capacities towards the DPPH, hydroxyl and superoxide radicals. Overall, LMPs may have potential applications in the medical and food industries.