Sonographic Assessment of Oropharynx Movement During Deep Breathing.

To investigate the feasibility of ultrasonography in detecting the oropharynx movement during deep breathing and to quantitatively analyze oropharynx airway lumen changes during deep breathing. The motions of oropharynx were monitored, and sonographic measurements of airway lumen were obtained during deep breathing in 448 healthy volunteers. Adequate visualization of oropharynx movement was obtained on all healthy volunteers. The anterior-posterior (AP) diameters and AP/transverse (T) diameter ratios were greater at the end of deep inspiration than that at the end of deep expiration for each sex (p < 0.01). The anterior-posterior dimensional changes were greater than lateral airway dimensional changes each sex (p < 0.05). Ultrasonography could provide realistic impression of the process on the oropharynx movement during deep breathing and perform the quantitative analysis of the oropharynx airway lumen changes during deep breathing. The results were encouraging and supported the utility of ultrasonography in future studies.

Material basis for inhibition of dragon's blood on capsaicin-induced TRPV1 receptor currents in rat dorsal root ganglion neurons.

The effects of dragon's blood and its components cochinchinenin A, cochinchinenin B, loureirin B as well as various combinations of the three components on capsaicin-induced TRPV1 receptor currents were studied in acutely dissociated DRG neurons using both voltage and current whole-cell patch clamp technique. The results indicated that dragon's blood and its three components concentration-dependently reduce the peak amplitudes of capsaicin-induced TRPV1 receptor currents. There was no significant difference between the effects of dragon's blood and the combination wherein the three components were present in respective mass fractions in dragon's blood. The respective concentrations of the three components used alone were all higher than the total concentration of three components used in combination when the percentage inhibition of the peak amplitude was 50%. The proportion of three components was adjusted and the total concentration reduced, the resulting combination still inhibit the currents with a lower IC50 value, and inhibit capsaicin-induced membrane depolarization on current clamp. The combination of three components not only increase the capsaicin IC50 value, but also reduce the capsaicin maximal response. These result suggested that analgesic effect of dragon's blood may be partly explained on the basis of silencing pain signaling pathways caused by the inhibition of dragon's blood on capsaicin-induced TRPV1 receptor currents in DRG neurons and could be due to the synergistic effect of the three components. Antagonism of the capsaicin response by the combination of three components is not competitive. The analgesic effect of dragon's blood was also confirmed using animal models.

[Controlled syntheses and photoluminescence characterization of monoclinic cerium orthophosphate with nanostructure].

The nanostructured CePO4 with monoclinic phase was controllably synthesized through a low temperature hydrothermal route by varying the reactant PO4(3-)/Ce(3+) molar ratio. The structures, morphologies, sizes and luminescence properties of the products were studied by XRD, FE-SEM, DSC-TG and photoluminescence spectra. With the PO4(3-)/Ce(3+) molar ratios increased, the synthesis temperature of as-synthesized monoclinic CePO4 was decreased, and the morphologies underwent the evolution from the rod-like nano-structures to the flower-like nanoclusters. When the PO4(3-)/Ce(3+) molar ratio was lower, CePO4 nanorods were obtained, while the PO4(3-)/Ce(3+) molar ratio was higher, the monoclinic CePO4 flower-like nanoclusters were crystallized. The photoluminescence spectrum showed that the CePO4 nanorods exhibit better photoluminescent property than the CePO4 flower-like nanoclusters. With the cycling use of phosphoric acid, the low-cost preparation of CePO4 could be achieved.