Effect of Acupuncture on Postoperative Pain in Patients after Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture compared to that of parecoxib sodium on postoperative pain (POP), postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), and the Bruggemann Comfort Scale (BCS) in patients following laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). Methods: Eligible patients admitted to the hospital for LC were randomly allocated to either acupuncture or control groups in a 1 : 1 ratio. The subjects in the acupuncture group received acupuncture while those in the control group were injected by parecoxib sodium at their requests. The pain score, PONV score, and BCS were assessed at 0 h, 6 h, 9 h, and 12 h after operation. The primary outcome was the pain score. The secondary outcomes included the number of patients asking for parecoxib sodium from the two groups at 0-6 h and 6-12 h, PONV score, and BCS score. Results: The pain score of the acupuncture group were lower in acupuncture than that in the control group at 6 h and 9 h after operation (P=0.002, P=0.008). However, no difference was found at 12 h. Besides, the number of patients administered parecoxib sodium in acupuncture group was less than that in the control group both at 0-6 h and 6-12 h after operation (P=0.019, P < 0.001). Similarly, there were significantly lower levels of PONV score and higher levels of BCS at 6 h after operation in the acupuncture group than in the control group. However, no difference was found at 9 h and 12 h. Conclusion: Acupuncture can clinically improve the short-term treatment of postoperative pain after LC and reduce the request for extra analgesics; therefore, acupuncture might be a potential method as one of multimodal analgesia techniques to treat POP following LC. Trial Registrations. This trial is registered with ChiCTR2000036885 (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry).

Molecular structure characterization analysis and molecular model construction of anthracite.

Coal is the largest non-renewable energy as well as an important basic energy and industrial raw material. Thus, correctly understanding the molecular structure characteristics of coal has important theoretical value for realizing carbon neutralization. In this work, we clarified the molecular structure characteristics of anthracite, where the organic matter in anthracite was characterized and analyzed by industrial/elemental analysis, FTIR, XPS, XRD and solid 13C NMR. The ratio of bridge carbon to the perimeter carbon of anthracite was 0.38, and the degree of condensation in the aromatic structure was high. Nitrogen in coal primarily exists in the form of pyridine and pyrrole. Based on the information on functional group composition, the carbon skeleton structure, and surface element composition, a molecular structure model of Yangquan anthracite could be constructed, where the molecular formula was C208H162O12N4. This study may serve as a reference for researchers in this field to consult and refer to the construction ideas and methods of molecular structure models of different coal samples.

Research on smoke control for an underground mall fire, based on smoke barrier and mechanical smoke exhaust system.

This study examines smoke spread in an underground mall fire under the composite smoke control mode of a smoke barrier and a mechanical smoke exhaust system. The objective is to optimize the selection of smoke containment and exhaust methods in an underground mall in Fuxin City, China. A Fire Dynamics Simulator was used for numerical simulation to investigate the effects of the sagging height and spacing of smoke barriers on smoke containment, as well as the effects of size, number, and arrangement of smoke vents in the mechanical smoke exhaust system on the effectiveness of smoke exhaust. The results indicated that a smoke barrier with a sagging height of 1 m and a spacing of 5 m was effective in preventing the spread of high-temperature smoke. When the sagging height of the smoke barrier increased to 1.2 m, the smoke barrier effect was comparable to that of a 1 m height barrier. Regarding the mechanical smoke exhaust system, the size of the opening area of the smoke vent had no significant effect on the smoke exhaust effect. The best smoke exhaust effect was achieved when the number of smoke vents was 12. Additionally, the double-row setting of smoke vents was more efficient than the single-row setting. Combining a smoke barrier and a mechanical smoke exhaust system can provide a more effective smoke control compared to either system alone. Comprehensively, considering the effectiveness and economy of smoke containment and exhaust, the optimal combination of smoke containment and exhaust was determined to be a smoke barrier with a sagging height of 1 m and spacing of 5 m, and a mechanical smoke exhaust system with 12 smoke vents in a double-row arrangement.

Experimental study on the explosion characteristics of hydrogen-methane premixed gas in complex pipe networks.

To explore the overpressure evolution laws and flame propagation characteristics in complex pipe networks after the addition of hydrogen to methane, we experimentally studied the explosive pressure wave and flame wave propagation laws for three different premixed gas mixtures with hydrogen-methane concentrations of 0, 10% and 20% when the equivalence ratio was 1. Experimental results indicate that the maximum explosion overpressure of the premixed gas increases with increasing distance from the explosion source, and it shows a gradually decreasing trend. In the complex pipe network, an overpressure zone is formed in the B-E-H and D-E sections of the network. The flame temperature is superimposed with the superimposition of the pressure, showing a trend of first increasing, then decreasing, then increasing, and finally decreasing in the complex pipe network. The flame arrival time increases with increasing distance, and the maximum flame speed shows a decreasing trend. The peak overpressure and maximum flame velocity of the premixed gas under a hydrogen volume fraction of 20% are 1.266 MPa and 168 m/s. The experimental research results could provide important theoretical guidelines for the prevention and control of fuel gas explosions in urban pipe networks.

Inhibition of lncRNA SNHG8 plays a protective role in hypoxia-ischemia-reoxygenation-induced myocardial injury by regulating miR-335 and RASA1 expression.

Long non­coding (lnc)RNAs serve a role in a number of diseases, including different types of cancer and acute myocardial infarction. The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective role of lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 8 (SNHG8) in hypoxia­ischemia­reoxygenation (HI/R)­induced myocardial injury and its potential mechanism of action. Cell viability, proliferation, creatine kinase myocardial band, cell apoptosis and protein expression levels were determined by Cell Counting Kit­8 assay, EdU assay, ELISA, flow cytometry and western blotting, respectively. The association between SNHG8 and microRNA (miR)­335 was confirmed using a dual­luciferase reporter gene assay. The effects of the miR­335 inhibitor transfections had on increasing apoptosis and decreasing H9C2 cell viability were reversed in cells co­transfected with SNHG8 small interfering (si)RNA. Furthermore, it was found that miR­335 could regulate RAS p21 protein activator 1 (RASA1) expression and that transfection with SNHG8 siRNA downregulated RASA1 expression. Silencing of RASA1 protected against HI/R­induced H9C2 cell injury. However, SNHG8 siRNA did not further reduce apoptosis, demonstrating that SNHG8 may act through RASA1, and RASA1 may mediate the protection of SNHG8 siRNA in HI/R myocardial injury. Thus, inhibition of lncRNA SNHG8 alleviated HI/R­induced myocardial damage by regulating miR­335 and RASA1.

Er(3)/Yb(3)-codoped phosphate glass for short-length high-gain fiber lasers and amplifiers.

Er(3)/Yb(3)-codoped phosphate glass with compositions of (78.2-x)P(2)O(5)-14Al(2)O(3)-5Li(2)O-1K(2)O-1.8Yb(2)O(3)-xEr(2)O(3)(x=0.2,0.4,0.6) in mol. % were investigated. Judd-Ofelt (JO) intensity parameters have been calculated to predict radiative properties based on absorption spectra. The stimulated emission cross section (σ(e)) calculated according to McCumber theory was 1.50×10(-20) cm(2), almost twice larger than values reported before. The effective line width (Δ(eff)), full width at half-maximum (FWHM) and the quality parameters for designing optical amplifier devices were listed in the table compared with other types of phosphate glass matrices. A theoretical model of a Er(3)/Yb(3)-codoped system based on rate and power propagation equations was put forward to investigate the potential advantages of the materials applied for short-length, high-gain fiber amplifiers. A simulated gain of 32.2 and 2.6 dB/cm per unit length was achieved in 12.5-cm-long fiber.

The role of silver and gold nanoparticles in enhancing luminescence of europium complexes.

The influence of 12 nm spherical silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and 20 nm spherical gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the luminescence of europium complex Eu(TTFA)3 were studied. When 350 nm is chosen as the incident light, the maximum enhancement factor of the complexes mixed with AgNPs is about 2.5 at the wavelength of 612 nm. Besides the enhancement of the localized field, the overlap between the localized surface plasmon resonance spectra of nanoparticles and the absorption band of fluorescent molecules is another important factor for excitation field enhancement. By means of the quasi-static approximation theory, the distribution of the electric field around a single spherical metallic nanopaticle illuminated by plane wave was calculated. The simulation results show that the field enhancement effect is more obvious when the incident light is close to the resonance of the metallic nanoparticle, which could be demonstrated by our following experimental results. The distribution of the electric field under the same conditions was also simulated through the COMSOL software. The results are consistent with those of the quasi-static approximation theory.

Photoluminescence properties of Tm3+/Tb3+/Eu3+ tri-doped phosphate glass and glass ceramics for white-light-emitting diodes.

Tm(3+)/Tb(3+)/Eu(3+) tri-doped phosphate glasses are synthesized to explore new white-light-emitting materials. Under 365 nm excitation, the CIE coordinates (x=0.339, y=0.341) of the Eu0.07 glass sample are close to the standard equal energy white-light illumination (x=0.333, y=0.333). The quantum efficiency is very high (~72.27%). The energy transition from Tb(3+) to Eu(3+) is reasonably interpreted based on the analysis of the luminescence lifetimes. To enhance the white-light emission, Tm(3+)/Tb(3+)/Eu(3+) tri-doped phosphate glass ceramics are prepared.

De novo design of N-(pyridin-4-ylmethyl)aniline derivatives as KDR inhibitors: 3D-QSAR, molecular fragment replacement, protein-ligand interaction fingerprint, and ADMET prediction.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor tyrosine kinase VEGFR-2 or kinase insert domain receptor (KDR) have been identified as promising targets for novel anticancer agents. To achieve new potent inhibitors of KDR, we conducted molecular fragment replacement (MFR) studies for the understanding of 3D-QSAR modeling and the docking investigation of arylphthalazines and 2-((1H-Azol-1-yl)methyl)-N-arylbenzamides-based KDR inhibitors. Two favorable 3D-QSAR models (CoMFA with q(2), 0.671; r(2), 0.969; CoMSIA with q(2), 0.608; r(2), 0.936) have been developed to predict the biological activity of new compounds. The new molecular database generated by MFR was virtually screened using Glide (docking) and further evaluated with CoMFA prediction, protein-ligand interaction fingerprint (PLIF) and ADMET analysis. 44 N-(pyridin-4-ylmethyl)aniline derivatives as novel potential KDR inhibitors were finally obtained. In this paper, the work flow developed could be applied to de novo drug design and virtual screening potential KDR inhibitors, and use hit compounds to further optimize and design new potential KDR inhibitors.

Pharmacophore modeling and virtual screening studies to identify new c-Met inhibitors.

Mesenchymal epithelial transition factor (c-Met) is an attractive target for cancer therapy. Three-dimensional pharmacophore hypotheses were built based on a set of known structurally diverse c-Met inhibitors. The best pharmacophore model, which identified inhibitors with an associated correlation coefficient of 0.983 between their experimental and estimated IC(50) values, consisted of two hydrogen-bond acceptors, one hydrophobic, and one ring aromatic feature. The highly predictive power of the model was rigorously validated by test set prediction and Fischer's randomization method. The high values of enrichment factor and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) score indicated the model performed fairly well at distinguishing active from inactive compounds. The model was then applied to screen compound database for potential c-Met inhibitors. A filtering protocol, including druggability and molecular docking, were also applied in hits selection. The final 38 molecules, which exhibited good estimated activities, desired binding mode and favorable drug likeness were identified as potential c-Met inhibitors. Their novel backbone structures could be served as scaffolds for further study, which may facilitate the discovery and rational design of potent c-Met kinase inhibitors.