Effect of exercise intervention on smoking cessation: a meta-analysis.

Background: Exercise has emerged as an effective approach to promote individual health and has shown potential in aiding smoking cessation. However, the specific benefits of exercise in smoking cessation remain unclear, and conflicting findings across studies may be attributed to variations in study populations and intervention characteristics. This study aims to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate the impact of exercise interventions on tobacco dependence in smokers and assess the effectiveness of exercise in facilitating smoking cessation. Methods: A comprehensive search was performed in databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and Scopus to identify relevant randomized controlled trials published before 30 October 2022. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed during the review process. The quality of evidence (QoE) was assessed with GRADE (grading of recommendations, assessment, development and evaluations) methodology. Results: Acute exercise was found to significantly reduce smoking cravings [MD = -1.84, 95% CI (-2.92, -0.76), p < 0.001; SMD = -1.64, 95% CI (-2.22, -1.05), p < 0.001] and alleviate most withdrawal symptoms in smokers. However, there was no significant difference in the smoking cessation rate between the exercise group and the control group (p > 0.05). Exercise was associated with increased positive mood [SMD = 0.36, 95% CI (0.14, 0.58), p = 0.001] and reduced negative mood in smokers [SMD = -0.26, 95% CI (-0.39, -0.12), p < 0.001]. Conclusion: Acute exercise interventions effectively reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms in smokers. However, long-term exercise interventions do not significantly improve the smoking cessation rate. Exercise can help reduce negative mood and enhance positive mood in smokers. Smokers with high levels of tobacco dependence may derive less benefit from exercise. Factors such as literature quality, exercise intervention characteristics, and exercise adherence may influence the effectiveness of interventions. Trial registration: This research protocol was registered in the International Prospective Register for Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/). Registration number: CRD42022326109.

Titanium dioxide-coated core-shell silica microspheres-based solid-phase extraction combined with sheathless capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry for analysis of glyphosate, glufosinate and their metabolites in baby foods.

Because of their extremely low amount in complex samples, it is quite challenging to accurate determine residues of phosphorus-containing amino-acid-like herbicides (PAAHs) in food products. Here we develop novel core-shell mesoporous silica (CSMS) microspheres coated by titanium dioxide (CSMS@TiO2) for extraction and enrichment of PAAHs in baby foods. After the dispersive solid phase extraction (d-SPE), sheathless capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (sheathless CE-MS) is utilized to achieve efficient separation and sensitive detection. The synthesized CSMS@TiO2 composites are characterized by various spectroscopic techniques, proving TiO2 is uniformly distributed onto the channel surface of CSMS. The composites have essential features that are favorable for adsorption of the analytes on the material for d-SPE, including uniform diameter (1.0 µm with a shell thickness of 133 nm), large perpendicular mesopores (15.6 nm), high surface area (101.1 m2/g) and large pore volume (0.4 cm3/g). Taking glyphosate, glufosinate and their main metabolites (aminomethylphosphonic acid and 3-methylphosphinicopropionic acid) as analytes, selective and efficient enrichment is achieved by CSMS@TiO2-based d-SPE through the affinity interaction between titanium dioxide and phosphate groups. Sensitive detection of target compounds is achieved with low limits of quantitation (LOQs) between 0.3-1.6 ng/mL and excellent inter/intra-day repeatability. The compounds in nine different commercial baby foods from local markets are analyzed using the proposed method. Good recoveries of 82.3-102.6% are achieved with low RSDs (n = 5) of 2.1-8.3%. Our study indicates that the proposed CSMS@TiO2-based d-SPE combined with sheathless CE-MS is an accurate and reliable approach for sensitive determination of trace-amount PAAHs and their metabolites in complex samples.

TiO2-modified fibrous core-shell mesoporous material to selectively enrich endogenous phosphopeptides with proteins exclusion prior to CE-MS analysis.

As an important post-translational modification of proteins, phosphorylation plays a key role in regulating a variety of complicated biological reactions. Owing to the fact that phosphopeptides are low abundant and the ionization efficiency could be suppressed in mass spectroscopic detection, highly efficient and selective enrichment methods are essential to identify protein phosphorylation by mass spectrometry. Here, we develop novel titanium oxide coated core shell mesoporous silica (CSMS@TiO2) nanocomposites for enrichment of phosphopeptides with simultaneous exclusion of massive proteins. The CSMS@TiO2 nanocomposites have essential features, including uniform 1.0 µm diameter, 120 nm thick shell, 7.0 nm mesopores perpendicular to the surface, large surface area of 77 m2/g and pore volume of 0.15 cm3/g, therefore can greatly improve the sensitivity for identifying phosphopeptides by capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry. The proposed CSMS@TiO2 nanocomposites are applied for analysis of ß-casein tryptic digest and bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein mixture, respectively. The results show that the number of phosphopeptides detected is tremendously increased by using CSMS@TiO2 nanocomposite, proving selectively enriching phosphopeptides due to the size-exclusive and specific interaction of the TiO2-modified mesopores. The enrichment of the phosphopeptides is achieved even for the digests at very low concentration of ß-casein (1 fmol/µL). This research would open up a promising idea to utilize mesoporous materials in peptidomics analysis.

The Correlation between Targeted Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Imaging and Tumor Neovascularization of Ovarian Cancer Xenografts in Nude Mice.

In order to explore the correlation between targeted contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging and tumor neovascularization of ovarian cancer xenografts in nude mice, a total of 49 nude mice were selected and randomly divided into 1-week group, 2-week group, 3-week group, 4-week group, 5-week group, 6-week group, and 7-week group according to their ovarian cancer xenografts' growth time, with 7 ovarian cancer xenografts in each group. After preparing antibody-carrying targeted contrast agent, each group of xenografts performed normal and targeted contrast ultrasound examinations to obtain peak intensity, time to peak, and other imaging parameters; then, those ovarian cancer xenografts were sacrificed for pathological analysis: the neovascular density and antibody expression of the cancer xenografts at different stages were observed and counted, and the correlation between targeted contrast-enhanced ultrasound parameters and tumor neovascular densities of the ovarian cancer xenografts was analyzed. The results show that the peak intensities of targeted contrast ultrasound imaging are greater than that of ordinary ultrasound imaging in the 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-week groups with statistically significant differences (P < 0.05); the time to peak of targeted contrast ultrasound imaging is shorter than that of ordinary ultrasound imaging in the 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-week groups with statistically significant differences (P < 0.05); there is a positive correlation between the peak intensities of targeted contrast ultrasound imaging and tumor neovascular densities of the ovarian cancer xenografts in the 2-, 3-, and 4-week group (r 2 = 0.645, r 3 = 0.668, and r 4 = 0.693, P < 0.05); there is a negative correlation between the time to peak of targeted contrast ultrasound imaging and tumor neovascular densities of the ovarian cancer xenografts in the 2-, 3-, and 4-week groups (r 2 = -0.669, r 3 = -0.692, and r 4 = -0.704, P < 0.05). Therefore, the targeted contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging parameters have a certain correlation with tumor neovascular density of ovarian cancer xenografts in nude mice and this correlation is more significant in the early stage of ovarian cancer; hence, targeted contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging may provide a new method, new idea, and new basis for the diagnosis of early ovarian cancer.

Implication of inhaled nitric oxide for the treatment of critically ill COVID-19 patients with pulmonary hypertension.

AIMS: This study aims to analyse whether inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) was beneficial in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with pulmonary hypertension. METHODS AND RESULTS: Five critically ill COVID-19 patients with pulmonary hypertension designated Cases 1-5 were retrospectively included. Clinical data before and after iNO treatment were serially collected and compared between patients with or without iNO treatment. The five cases experienced pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) elevation (≥50 mmHg) at 30, 24, 33, 23, and 24 days after illness onset (d.a.o), respectively. Cases 1-3 received iNO treatment on the 24th, 13th, and 1st day after the first elevation of PASP, with concentrations varied from 10 to 20 ppm based on the changes of PASP and blood pressure for 10, 9, and 5 days, respectively. Upon iNO treatment, PASP of Cases 1 and 2 returned to normal on the 10th day and 1st day, and maintained between 50 and 58 mmHg in Case 3. Pa02 /Fi02 increased from 88 to 124, 51 to 118, and 146 to 244, respectively. SPO2 increased from 91% to 97% for Case 1 and maintained a high level above 97% for Case 2. Cardiac function remained normal in the three patients after treatment. Moreover, Cases 1 and 3 survived from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, while Case 2 finally died on the 36th day after the first elevation of PASP due to severe complications. Both cases who did not receive iNO treatment experienced a sudden decrease of PASP and Pa02 /Fi02 due to right heart failure and then died. CONCLUSIONS: Inhaled nitric oxide treatment was beneficial in reducing and stabilizing the PASP and might also reduce the risk of right heart failure in COVID-19 with pulmonary hypertension.

Cardiac manifestations of COVID-19 in Shenzhen, China.

PURPOSE: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has become a global public health concern; however, relatively few detailed reports of related cardiac injury are available. The aims of this study were to compare the clinical and echocardiographic characteristics of inpatients in the intensive-care unit (ICU) and non-ICU patients. METHODS: We recruited 416 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and divided them into two groups: ICU (n = 35) and non-ICU (n = 381). Medical histories, laboratory findings, and echocardiography data were compared. RESULTS: The levels of myocardial injury markers in ICU vs non-ICU patients were as follows: troponin I (0.029 ng/mL [0.007-0.063] vs 0.006 ng/mL [0.006-0.006]) and myoglobin (65.45 µg/L [39.77-130.57] vs 37.00 µg/L [26.40-53.54]). Echocardiographic findings included ventricular wall thickening (12 [39%] vs 1 [4%]), pulmonary hypertension (9 [29%] vs 0 [0%]), and reduced left-ventricular ejection fraction (5 [16%] vs 0 [0%]). Overall, 10% of the ICU patients presented with right heart enlargement, thickened right-ventricular wall, decreased right heart function, and pericardial effusion. Cardiac complications were more common in ICU patients, including acute cardiac injury (21 [60%] vs 13 [3%]) (including 2 cases of fulminant myocarditis), atrial or ventricular tachyarrhythmia (3 [9%] vs 3 [1%]), and acute heart failure (5 [14%] vs 0 [0%]). CONCLUSION: Myocardial injury marker elevation, ventricular wall thickening, pulmonary artery hypertension, and cardiac complications including acute myocardial injury, arrhythmia, and acute heart failure are more common in ICU patients with COVID-19. Cardiac injury in COVID-19 patients may be related more to the systemic response after infection rather than direct damage by coronavirus.

Sensitive detection of benzophenone-type ultraviolet filters in plastic food packaging materials by sheathless capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry.

While they are commonly used as ultraviolet (UV) filters in plastic food packaging materials, benzophenones (BPs) are reported as environmental endocrine disruptors, and some of them possess significant estrogenic activity. Therefore sensitive determination of the content of those UV filters in plastic polymers is of vital importance in safety assessment of food packaging materials. Here, the sheathless capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (CE-ESI-MS/MS) method is applied for the first time to sensitively detect BP-type UV filters in plastic food packaging materials. We investigate and optimize a variety of factors that may affect ESI-MS efficiency and CE separation. Sensitive detection of six BP-type UV filters is achieved using sheathless CE-ESI-MS/MS in conjunction with accelerated solvent extraction and solid phase extraction, with the limit-of-detection of 7 pg/mL-2.4 ng/mL. The method exhibits excellent inter/intra-day repeatability along with the advantages of efficient separation, rapid analysis, low sample consumption and high sensitivity. Six BP-type UV filters in eight different brands of plastic films obtained from supermarkets are successfully analyzed using the method. Good recoveries of 81.3-104.1% at three levels of spiked concentrations are achieved with low RSDs (n = 5) of 2.5-8.7%. Our study shows that the sheathless CE-ESI-MS/MS is a robust and reliable method for sensitive and rapid analysis of UV filters, which would be of potential application in safety assessment of plastic food packaging materials.