New sesquiterpenoids with neuroprotective effects in vitro and in vivo from the Picrasma chinensis.

Three undescribed sesquiterpenes, designed as pichinenoid A-C (1-3), along with nine known ones (4-12) were isolated from the stems and leaves of Picrasma chinensis. The new isolates including their absolute configurations were elucidated based on extensive spectroscopic methods, single crystal X-ray diffraction, and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) experiments, as well as comparison with literature data. Structurally, compounds 1 and 2 are descending sesquiterpenes, while pichinenoid C (3) is a rare sesquiterpene bearing a 2-methylenebut-3-enoic acid moiety at the C-6 side chain. All the isolated compounds were tested for their neuroprotective effects against the H2O2-induced damage on human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, and most of them showed moderate neuroprotective activity. Especially, compounds 1, 3-5, and 7 showed a potent neuroprotective effect at 25 or 50 µM. Moreover, the neuroprotective effects of compounds 1 and 4 were tested on a 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced Parkinson's disease (PD) mouse model. Results of western blot and immunofluorescence indicated that compound 4 significantly counteract the toxicity of MPTP, and reversed the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in substantia nigra (SN) and striatum (ST) of the mouse brain. Interestingly, western blot data suggested compound 4 also enhanced B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) expressions in the brain tissues from MPTP damaged mouse.

Medication compliance of children with epilepsy: a cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: Good medication compliance is very important for the prognosis of children with epilepsy. We aimed to evaluate the status and influencing factors of medication compliance in children with epilepsy and to provide insights to the clinical nursing care of children with epilepsy. METHODS: We selected epileptic children admitted to Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from February 1, 2022 to August 31, 2022. Self-designed questionnaire and medication compliance scale were used to evaluate the characteristics and medication compliance of children with epilepsy. Pearson correlation analysis and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the influencing factors of medication compliance. RESULTS: A total of 156 children with epilepsy were included, the incidence of poor compliance in children with epilepsy was 37.18%. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that age(r = 0.622), courses of epilepsy(r = 0.553), parental education level(r = 0.506), monthly household income(r = 0.652) and number of drugs taken(r = 0.577) were correlated with the compliance(all P<0.05). Logistic regression analyses indicated that age ≤ 6 y(OR = 2.104, 95%CI: 1.712 ~ 2.527), courses of epilepsy ≤ 3 years(OR = 2.661, 95%CI: 2.089 ~ 2.941), low parental education level(OR = 1.977, 95%CI: 1.314 ~ 2.351), monthly household income ≤ 5000 RMB(OR = 2.812, 95%CI: 2.194 ~ 3.181), number of drugs taken ≥ 3(OR = 3.025, 95%CI: 2.336 ~ 3.475) were the influencing factors of medication compliance in children with epilepsy(all P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The medication compliance of children with epilepsy needs to be improved, and the medication compliance of children is affected by age, courses of epilepsy, parental education level, monthly household income and number of drugs taken. Clinical medical personnel take targeted nursing measures against these factors to improve the medication compliance of children with epilepsy.

Montelukast and budesonide combination for children with chronic cough-variant asthma.

This study investigated the effectiveness and safety of montelukast combined budesonide (MCB) treatment for children with chronic cough-variant asthma (CCVA).In total, 82 cases of children with CCVA, aged 4 to 11 years were included in this study. All cases received either MCB or budesonide alone between May 2015 and April 2017. The primary outcome was lung function, measured by the peak expiratory flow rates (PEFRs) and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). The secondary outcome was measured by the clinical assessment score. Furthermore, adverse events (AEs) were also recorded in this study. All outcomes were measured after 8-week treatment.After 8-week treatment, MCB showed greater effectiveness than did budesonide alone in improving the lung function, measured by PEFR V1 (P = .02), and FEV1 (P < .01). Similarly, the clinical assessment score also demonstrated significant difference between the 2 groups (P < .05). In addition, no serious AEs occurred in both groups.The results of this study demonstrate that the effectiveness of MCB is superior to budesonide alone in the treatment of children with CCVA.

Montelukast Treatment of Acute Asthma Exacerbations in Children Aged 2 to 5 Years: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Although montelukast has an established role in the management of chronic asthma in children, its efficacy in acute asthma exacerbations (AAEs) in children aged 2 to 5 years is not fully known. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of montelukast for treating AAE in children aged 2 to 5 years in China. METHODS: In total, 120 Chinese children with AAE, aged 2 to 5 years, were randomly divided into 2 groups, each with 60 patients. All patients received either montelukast or placebo along with standard therapy for acute asthma between January 2011 and December 2015. The outcome measurements included the difference in peak expiratory flow and lung function improvements, as well as adverse events. RESULTS: A total of 117 patients completed the study. Montelukast showed no greater effectiveness than did placebo in increasing the peak expiratory flow during the period of hospital stay (P = 0.92 at day 2, P = 0.86 at day 3, and P = 0.82 at day 4) and at discharge (P = 0.84). Similarly, the forced expiratory volume in 1 second at discharge also did not show significant difference between the 2 groups (P = 0.80). In addition, no serious adverse events were found during the intervention period of the study. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study demonstrate no benefit of montelukast over placebo in the treatment of AAE in a cohort of 2- to 5-year-old children.

Direction-of-Arrival Estimation with Coarray ESPRIT for Coprime Array.

A coprime array is capable of achieving more degrees-of-freedom for direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation than a uniform linear array when utilizing the same number of sensors. However, existing algorithms exploiting coprime array usually adopt predefined spatial sampling grids for optimization problem design or include spectrum peak search process for DOA estimation, resulting in the contradiction between estimation performance and computational complexity. To address this problem, we introduce the Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Techniques (ESPRIT) to the coprime coarray domain, and propose a novel coarray ESPRIT-based DOA estimation algorithm to efficiently retrieve the off-grid DOAs. Specifically, the coprime coarray statistics are derived according to the received signals from a coprime array to ensure the degrees-of-freedom (DOF) superiority, where a pair of shift invariant uniform linear subarrays is extracted. The rotational invariance of the signal subspaces corresponding to the underlying subarrays is then investigated based on the coprime coarray covariance matrix, and the incorporation of ESPRIT in the coarray domain makes it feasible to formulate the closed-form solution for DOA estimation. Theoretical analyses and simulation results verify the efficiency and the effectiveness of the proposed DOA estimation algorithm.

[Qilin pills combined with bromocriptine for idiopathic hyperprolactinemic oligoasthenozoospermia].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the therapeutic effect of Qilin Pills combined with bromocriptine on idiopathic hyperprolactinemic (HPRL) oligoasthenospermia. METHODS: We conducted a randomized controlled study on 40 cases of idiopathic HPRL oligoasthenospermia, who were equally assigned to a trial group and a control group to be treated with Qilin Pills (6 g tid) combined with bromocriptine and bromocriptine alone, respectively, both for a course of 12 weeks. Then we observed the changes in the semen volume, sperm concentration, sperm motility and the levels of serum prolactin and testosterone, and compared the therapeutic results between the two groups before and after medication. RESULTS: Compared with the parameters before medication, both the trial and the control group showed significant improvement after treatment in sperm concentration ([11.60 +/- 3.90] x 10(6)/ml vs [28.10 +/- 13.50] x 10(6)/ml and [12.03 +/- 4.10] x 10(6)/ml vs [18.85 +/- 8.50] x 10(6)/ml), the percentage of grade a sperm ([8.75 +/- 6.65]% vs [24.35 +/- 13.25 ]% and [8.70 +/- 6.70] % vs [19.65 +/- 10.05]%), the percentage of grade a + b sperm ( [28.45 +/- 11.35]% vs [45.80 +/- 16.55]% and [27.65 +/- 10.65]% vs [35.66 +/-13.25]%), and sperm motility ([38.22 +/- 16.35]% vs [60.05 +/- 20.65]% and [37.25 +/- 15.75 ]% vs [52.65 +/- 18.25 ]%) (all P<0.01). No significant differences were found in semen volume (P>0.05). The serum prolactin levels were significantly decreased in the trial and control groups ([152.00 +/- 22.32] and [160.45 +/- 26.65] mIU/L), as compared with premedication ([482.25 +/- 65.32] and [477.32 +/- 60.25] mIU/L) (P<0.01), while the serum testosterone levels were remarkably higher ([16.35 +/- 5.52] and [11.15 +/- 4.65] nmol/L) than before treatment ([3.75 +/- 1.10] and [4.05 +/- 1.30] nmol/L) (P<0.01). There were no statistically significant differences in the serum prolactin and testosterone levels between the two groups after treatment (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Qilin Pills combined with bromocriptine have a significantly better efficacy than bromocriptine alone in the treatment of idiopathic HPRL oligoasthenospermia.

Preparation, evaluation and application of molecularly imprinted solid-phase microextraction monolith for selective extraction of pirimicarb in tomato and pear.

A simple, rapid and sensitive method for the determination of pirimicarb in tomato and pear using polymer monolith microextraction (PMME) based on the molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) monolith combined with high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiodes array detector (HPLC-PAD) was developed. By optimizing the polymerization conditions, such as the nature of porogenic solvent and functional monomer, the molar ratio of the monomer and cross-linker, an pirimicarb MIP monolith was synthesized in a micropipette tip using methacrylic acid (MAA) as the functional monomer, ethylene dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross-linker and the mixture of toluene-dodecanol as the porogenic solvent. The MIP monolith showed highly specific recognition for the template pirimicarb. The monolith was applied for the selective extraction of pirimicarb in tomato and pear. Several parameters affecting MIP-PMME were investigated, including the nature and volume of extraction solvent, sample volume, flow rate and sample pH. Under the optimum PMME and HPLC conditions, the linear ranges were 2.0-1400 µg/kg for pirimicarb in tomato and pear with the correlation coefficient of above 0.999. The detection limits (s/n=3) were both 0.6 µg/kg. The proposed method was successfully applied for the selective extraction and determination of pirimicarb in tomato and pear.

Fabrication of one dimensional polyaniline nanofibers by UV-assisted polymerization in the aqueous phase.

At the room temperature, a novel and environmental friendly approach for synthesizing polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers on a large scale is presented firstly in the aqueous phase by ultraviolet (UV)-assisted polymerization using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the "soft-template." It is obvious that the polymerization process can be accelerated under the illumination of UV light and the preliminary mechanism has been pointed out. Furthermore, it also can be noted that the lower concentrations of CTAB and HCl are helpful for the fabrication of smooth and uniform PANI nanofibers. As observed with FE-SEM and TEM, the as-synthesized PANI nanostructures under the appropriate conditions are composed of uniform nanofibers with the average diameter of about 100 nm and the length of several micrometers. Subsequently, the synthesized PANI nanostructures are characterized with UV-vis, FT-IR, XRD spectra, and the typical physical and chemical properties of PANI are displayed. In addition, the conductivity of the synthesized PANI nanofibers was also measured with the four probe method and the excellent conductivity was presented. In summary, the procedure presented here only involving exposure of an acidic aqueous solution of aniline to UV light illumination is so simple and the needed equipment is so low cost, from the viewpoint of technological applications, that the large-scale UV-assisted polymerization of PANI nanofibers from the monomer solution is feasible and promising.

MiR-125b is critical for the suppression of human U251 glioma stem cell proliferation.

Stem cells are unique in their ability to self-renew and maintain tissue homoeostasis by differentiating into different cell types to replace aged or damaged cells. The key characteristic of the stem cell is its capacity to divide for long periods of time. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNA molecules that regulate protein expression by cleaving or repressing the translation of target mRNAs. miR-125b, one of neuronal miRNAs, recently was found to be necessary for stem cell fission to bypass the normal G1/S checkpoint and make stem cells insensitive to chemotherapy signals, which normally stop the cell cycle at the G1/S transition. Given the insensitivity of gliomas to chemotherapy and the hypothesis that glioma stem cells cause resistance to drug therapy, exploring the functions and mechanisms of miR-125b in glioma stem cells would be valuable. In this study, we found that miR-125b was downregulated in human U251 glioma stem cells, therefore suggesting that its upregulation can lead to the growth inhibition of U251 glioma stem cells in vitro. Further research on the mechanism demonstrated that inhibition of miR-125b-induced U251 glioma stem cell proliferation was due to cell cycle arrest at the G1/S transition and involved the cell cycle regulated proteins CDK6 and CDC25A; miR-125b overexpression decreased CDK6 and CDC25A expression. These findings underscore the potential of miR-125b to regulate the proliferation of U251 glioma stem cells through the cell cycle regulated proteins CDK6 and CDC25A.

Preparation and tribological behaviors of an amide-containing stratified self-assembled monolayers on silicon surface.

An amide-containing stratified self-assembled film is grafted on a silicon surface by a simple two-step method. First, N-[3-(trimethoxylsilyl)propyl]ethylenediamine (DA) molecules are self-assembled on silicon surfaces followed by deriving with stearoyl chloride (STC) through a surface coupling reaction. The films are characterized by means of contact angle measurement, ellipsometry, and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transformed infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectra. STC forms an ordered and hydrophobic film over the DA layer with a water contact angle of nearly 110 degrees. A microtribological study of the films is carried out on an atomic force microscope (AFM), and the wear-resistant property is tested on a ball-on-plate tribometer. Compared to the films in our previous study, the friction-reducing and load-affording abilities of the film are greatly improved. We contribute the improvements to the existence of two layers of hydrogen bonds, which can enhance the stability of the film by double in-plane cross-linking.

Digital speckle pattern interferometric measurement of diffusion coefficients in hydrogels.

The technique of real-time digital speckle pattern interferometry is proposed to study diffusion of surfactants in hydrogel. The diffusion coefficient is simply and directly determined from the interferograms. An example of diffusion coefficient measurement of surfactant in agarose gel demonstrates the usefulness ofthe method. The results obtained are compared with the theoretical simulating values.