Insight Into Kidney Protection by Vacuum-Assisted Venous Drainage in Adult Cardiac Operation　- A Multicenter Study.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between venous congestion and acute kidney injury (AKI) in cardiac surgery after cardiopulmonary bypass has not thoroughly investigated. Vacuum-assisted venous drainage (VAVD) reduces venous congestion, so we hypothesized that it would reduce the incidence of AKI in cardiovascular surgery.Methods and Results: We used a retrospective propensity score-matched analysis to evaluate the effect of VAVD on AKI in adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery. The primary outcomes were AKI and renal replacement therapy (RRT). Multivariable logistic regression was used to explore the association between VAVD exposure and adverse kidney outcomes. Of 15,387 eligible subjects, 13,480 and 1,907 had gravity drainage (GD) or VAVD, respectively, during cardiopulmonary bypass. On the basis of propensity scores, there were 1,468 matched patient pairs for GD and VAVD. The average central venous pressure (CVP) in the GD group was higher than in the VAVD group (4.43±1.23 mmHg vs. 2.30±0.98 mmHg, P<0.001). The occurrence of AKI and RRT was statistically significantly different in the 2 groups [(600/1,468, 40.87%) vs. (445/1,468, 30.31%), P<0.001; (36/1,468, 2.45% vs. 8/1,468; 0.54%), P<0.001, respectively)]. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that VAVD was effective in protecting kidney function. CONCLUSIONS: VAVD was associated with a lower CVP and lower incidence of AKI, suggesting it protects adult cardiac patients from adverse renal outcomes.

The Biocontrol Agent Pyemotes zhonghuajia Has the Highest Lethal Weight Ratio Compared with Its Prey and the Most Dramatic Body Weight Change during Pregnancy.

Pyemotes spp. are small, toxic, ectoparasitic mites that suppress Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Lepidoptera plant pests. To explore their potential use as a biocontrol agent, we studied the reproductive development, paralytic process, time to lethality and mortality, and searching ability of Pyemotes zhonghuajia on different developmental stages of the oriental leafworm moth, Spodoptera litura. Pyemotes zhonghuajia gained 14,826 times its body weight during pregnancy. One single P. zhonghuajia female could rapidly kill one S. litura egg and first to third instar larvae, but not fourth to sixth instar larvae, prepupae, or pupae within 720 min. Pyemotes zhonghuajia could develop on eggs, first to sixth larvae, and pupae, but only produced offspring on the eggs and pupae. A single P. zhonghuajia female (an average weight of 23.81 ng) could paralyze and kill one S. litura third instar larvae (an average weight of 16.29 mg)-680,000 times its own weight. Mites significantly affected the hatch rate of S. litura eggs, which reduced with increasing mite densities on S. litura eggs. Releasing 50 or 100 P. zhonghuajia in a 2 cm searching range resulted in significantly higher mortality rates of S. litura first instar larvae within 48 h compared to second and third instar larvae in searching ranges of 4.5 and 7.5 cm within 24 h. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to reveal that P. zhonghuajia undergoes the greatest changes in weight during pregnancy of any adult female animal and has the highest lethal weight ratio of any biocontrol agent.

Effects of Temperature on Development and Survival of Orthopygia glaucinalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) Reared on Platycarya strobilacea.

The larvae of Orthopygia glaucinalis (L.) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) are used to produce insect tea in Guizhou, China. We investigated the development and survival of O. glaucinalis reared on dried leaves of Platycarya strobilacea under laboratory conditions at 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, and 37°C. The duration of development from egg deposition to adult emergence decreased significantly with increasing temperature from 19 to 31°C, whereas the duration of egg and overall development significantly increased at 34°C. Based on the extreme-value distribution function, the optimal temperature for survival of overall development was 24.89°C, and the larval stage was most susceptible to temperature extremes. The common linear model and the Ikemoto and Takai linear model were used to determine the relationship between temperature and the developmental rate, and estimated the low-temperature threshold (11.44 and 11.62°C, respectively) and the threshold constant (1220.70 and 1203.58 degree-days, respectively) of O. glaucinalis. Nonlinear models were used to assess in fitting the experiment data and to estimate the high temperature thresholds (34.00 to 39.08°C) and optimal temperatures (31.61 to 33.45°C). An intrinsic optimal temperature of 24.18°C was estimated for overall development using the Sharpe-Schoolfield-Ikemoto (SSI) model. Model-averaged parameter estimates and the unconditional standard error were also estimated for the temperature thresholds. Based on the biological parameters and model selection, we concluded that common linear, Lactin-1, and SSI models performed better for predicting the temperature-dependent development of O. glaucinalis. Our findings enable breeders to optimize the developmental rate of O. glaucinalis and improve the yield of insect tea.