Evaluation of thermal shock therapy for reducing pain during intense pulsed light therapy: An intrapatient randomized controlled study.

BACKGROUND: Intense pulsed light (IPL) is used for the treatment and improvement of various skin issues. However, patients often experience local skin burning and pain after IPL treatment. Cooling and analgesic measures are indispensable. AIMS: To investigate the clinical effect of thermal shock therapy on pain relief and reduction of adverse reactions during IPL therapy. PATIENTS/METHODS: A total of 60 female patients with facial photoaging who received IPL therapy were enrolled in the study. As a comparative split-face study, one side of the face was randomly selected as the control side. The other side was given thermal shock therapy before and after the IPL treatment immediately as analgesic side. The visual analog scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the pain degree of the patients. The telephone follow-ups regarding the occurrence of adverse reactions were conducted respectively on the 2nd day, 7th day, and 1 month after treatment. RESULTS: The VAS score and skin temperature of analgesia side was lower than that of control side at different stages of treatment. In terms of adverse reactions, the incidence of transient facial redness on the analgesic side was lower than that on the control side. Two patients showed slight secondary pigmentation on the control side, and the other patients showed no other adverse reactions on both sides. CONCLUSIONS: Thermal shock therapy assisted IPL therapy can reduce skin temperature during treatment, effectively relieve patients' pain, reduce the occurrence of adverse reactions caused by heat injury, and improve patients' comfort level.

Regioselective Deacetylation of Peracetylated Deoxy-C-glycopyranosides by Boron Trichloride (BCl3).

A general approach for regioselective deacetylation at sugar 3-OH of peracetylated 6-deoxy-C-glucopyranosides mediated by BCl3 was developed. The approach could be extended to other sugar-derived 6-deoxy-C-glycopyranosides, such as those derived from mannose, galactose, and rhamnose, with deacetylation occurring at varied sugar hydroxyl groups, and further extended to 4-deoxy-C-glucopyranosides with deacetylation occurring at sugar 3-OH. The approach would enable access to synthetically challenging carbohydrate derivatives. A possible mechanism of the regioselectivity was proposed.

A Probability Fusion Approach for Foot Placement Prediction in Complex Terrains.

Prediction of foot placement presents great potential in better assisting the walking of people with lower-limb disability in daily terrains. Previous researches mainly focus on foot placement prediction in level ground walking, however these methods cannot be applied to daily complex terrains including ramps, stairs, and level ground with obstacles. To predict foot placement in complex terrains, this paper presents a probability fusion approach for foot placement prediction in complex terrains which consists of two parts: model training and foot placement prediction. In the first part, a deep learning model is trained on augmented data to predict the probability distribution of preliminary foot placement. In the second part, environmental information and human walking constraints are used to calculate the feasible area, and finally the feasible area is fused with the probability distribution of preliminary foot placement to predict the foot placement in complex terrains. The proposed method can predict the foot placement of next step in complex terrains when heel-off is detected. Experiments (including structured terrains experiments and complex terrains experiments) show that the root mean square error (RMSE) of prediction is 8.19 ± 1.20 cm, which is less than 8% of the average stride length, and the landing feasible area accuracy (LFAA) of prediction is 95.11 ± 3.09%. Comparing with existing foot placement prediction studies, the method proposed in this paper achieves faster and more accurate prediction in complex terrains.

Recent advances towards natural plants as potential inhibitors of SARS-Cov-2 targets.

CONTEXT: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is still ongoing and currently the most striking epidemic disease. With the rapid global spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants, new antivirals are urgently needed to avert a more serious crisis. Inhibitors from traditional medicines or natural plants have shown promising results to fight COVID-19 with different mechanisms of action. OBJECTIVES: To provide comprehensive and promising approaches to the medical community in the fight against this epidemic by reviewing potential plant-derived anti-SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors. METHODS: Structural databases such as TCMSP (http://lsp.nwu.edu.cn/tcmsp.php), TCM Database @ Taiwan (http://tcm.cmu.edu.tw/), BATMAN-TCM (http://bionet.ncpsb.org/batman-tcm/) and TCMID (http://www.megabionet.org/tcmid/), as well as PubMed, Sci Finder, Research Gate, Science Direct, CNKI, Web of Science and Google Scholar were searched for relevant articles on TCMs and natural products against SARS-CoV-2. RESULTS: Seven traditional Chinese medicines formulas have unique advantages in regulating the immune system for treating COVID-19. The plant-derived natural compounds as anti-SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors were identified based on 5 SARS-CoV-2 key proteins, namely, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), 3 C-like protease (3CLpro), papain-like protease (PLpro), spike (S) protein, and nucleocapsid (N) protein. CONCLUSIONS: A variety of natural products, such as flavonoids, terpenoids, phenols, and alkaloids, were identified, which could be used as potential SASR-Cov-2 inhibitors. These shed new light on the efficient discovery of SASR-Cov-2 inhibitors from natural products.

[Research progress of botulinum toxin type A in the treatment of chronic rhinitis].

Botulinum toxin（BoNT）, a superfamily of neurotoxins produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, disturbs the signal transmission at the neuromuscular and neuroglandular junctions by inhibiting the neurotransmitter release from the presynaptic nerve terminal. BoNT has been widely used in neuromuscular, hypersecretory, and autonomic nerve system disorders. In recent years, botulinum toxin type A（BoNT-A） has been used to treat chronic rhinitis. Studies have shown that intranasal administration of BoNT-A is safe and effective, and can reduce nasal symptoms in rhinitis patients with long-lasting effects. This article reviews the research progress of BoNT-A in the treatment of chronic rhinitis.

A Bibliometric Analysis of the Hotspots Concerning Stem Cell Extracellular Vesicles for Diabetes in the Last 5 Years.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disease that endangers human health, and its prevalence is exploding and younger. Stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (SC-EVs) have a repair function similar to SCs and no risk of tumor formation, which have been widely used in the repair of DM and its complications. We aim to map the hot trends of SC-EVs for the treatment of DM and providing directions for future research. Methods: We screened all relevant publications on SC-EVs for DM from the Web of Science (Wos) during 2017-2021, and research trends in this field were analyzed by VOSviewer and CiteSpace. Results: A total of 255 articles related to SC-EVs for DM were screened out according to the search strategy. China (122 publications and 2,759 citations) was the most productive country, followed by the USA (50 publications and 1,167 citations) and Italy (16 publications and 366 citations). The top five institutions with the most publications were located in Italy and China, with Turin University being the most productive. The journals Stem Cell Research and Therapy and International Journal of Molecular Sciences published most of the studies on SC-EVs for DM. ASHOK KUMAR published the majority of articles in this field, while QING LI was the most cited. Cluster analysis indicated that the current research trend is more focused on the repair mechanism and clinical translation of exosomes and their related preparations in promoting DM and its complications. Conclusion: In this study, a comprehensive summary and analysis of the global research trends of SC-EVs used in DM and its complications was performed. In the past 5 years, relevant high-quality publications in this field have increased significantly, and SC-EVs have a good prospect for development in the treatment of DM and its complications.

Strongly interfacial-coupled 2D-2D TiO2/g-C3N4 heterostructure for enhanced visible-light induced synthesis and conversion.

Two-dimensional (2D) nanosheet-based nanocomposites have attracted intensive interest owing to the unique electronic and optical properties from their constituent phases and the synergistic effect from the heterojunctions. In this study, an interfacial coupled TiO2/g-C3N4 2D-2D heterostructure has been prepared via in situ growth of ultrathin 2D-TiO2 on dispersed g-C3N4 nanosheets. This strongly coupled 2D-2D TiO2/g-C3N4, different from the weakly bonded 2D-TiO2/g-C3N4 heterostructures produced by mechanical mixing, has unique electronic structures and chemical states due to strong interlayer charge transfer, confirmed by both experimental and theoretical analyses. Significantly enhanced visible-light responses have been observed, indicating a great potential for visible-light induced photosynthesis and photocatalysis. For benzylamine coupling reactions under visible-light irradiation, 80 % yield rate has been achieved, superior to ∼30 % yield rate when adopting either 2D-TiO2 or g-C3N4 structure. The enhanced photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the adequate separation of photo-generated electrons at the strongly coupled 2D-2D heterojunction interfaces.

Bioinspired 2D Nanomaterials for Sustainable Applications.

The increasing demand for constructing ecological civilization and promoting socially sustainable development has encouraged scientists to develop bioinspired materials with required properties and functions. By bringing science and nature together, plenty of novel materials with extraordinary properties can be created by learning the best from natural species. In combination with the exceptional features of 2D nanomaterials, bioinspired 2D nanomaterials and technologies have delivered significant achievements. Here, the progress over the past decade in bioinspired 2D photonic structures, energy nanomaterials, and superwetting materials, is summarized, together with the challenges and opportunities in developing bioinspired materials for sustainable energy and environmental technologies.