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Cornus officinalis and Dioscorea opposita are two traditional Chinese medicines widely used in China for treating diabetes mellitus and its complications, such as diabetic cardiomyopathy. Morroniside (Mor) of Cornus officinalis and diosgenin (Dio) of Dioscorea opposita formed an innovative formula named M + D. The aims of the present study were to investigate myocardial protective effect of M + D on diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) through the inhibition of expression levels of caspase-3 protein, and identify the advantage of M + D compared with Mor, Dio, and the positive drug metformin (Met). We detected cell viability, cell apoptosis, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, and the expression levels of Bcl-2, Bax, and caspase-3 protein in rat cardiomyocytes. In result, Mor, Dio, and M + D increased cell viability, inhibited cell apoptosis and decreased ROS levels. Additionally, the expression of Bax and Bcl-2 protein was modulated and the expression levels of caspase-3 protein were markedly decreased. Among the treatment groups, M + D produced the most prominent effects. In conclusion, our data showed for the first time that Mor, Dio, and M + D prevented high glucose (HG)-induced myocardial injury by reducing oxidative stress and apoptosis in rat cardiomyocytes. Among all the groups, M + D produced the strongest effect, while Mor and Dio produced weaker effects.

There are two aims in this paper. The first aim is to characterize the order-bounded weighted composition operators between Fock spaces, and the second is to further characterize the order-bounded difference in weighted composition operators between Fock spaces. At the same time, six examples are given to illustrate the relations between boundedness and ordered boundedness. Moreover, an interesting result is found that differences in weighted composition operators defined by some special weighted functions and symbol functions are order-bounded between Fock spaces if and only if each weighted composition operator is compact between Fock spaces. Finally, two open questions are also put forward for converting larger Fock spaces into smaller ones.

The impact of burdock tea (BT) made from burdock (Arctium lappa) roots in normal individuals and animal models remains largely unknown, particularly on lung protection. This study examined responses of oxidative stress, inflammation, and the microbiota within the cecum and the lung to BT treatment in healthy Wistar rats. A middle-dose BT reduced the Chao1 and Shannon indices, and both low and middle doses induced structural alterations in the cecal microbiota. Additionally, low doses increased the abundances of Phascolarctobacterium, Alloprevotella, Desulfovibrio, and the NK4A214 group. In the lung, middle and high doses increased Corynebacterium, with high doses also boosting Megasphaera and Lactobacillus. Functionally, low doses downregulated the biosynthesis of antibiotics in the cecal microbiota, while middle doses reduced the Epstein–Barr virus and Escherichia coli pathogenic infection pathways; additionally, middle and high doses modulated chromosomal proteins and bile acid biosynthesis in the pulmonary microbiota. BT treatment enhanced the content of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), upregulated the expression of GPR43, and suppressed NLRP3 expression in both the colon and lung tissues, while concurrently promoting the expression of ZO-1 and Occludin. Furthermore, serum levels of IL-1β and IL-6, as well as tissue levels of MDA, were significantly reduced. Notably, propionate exhibited an inverse correlation with MDA, IL-6, and NLRP3, while showing a positive correlation with ZO-1. Similarly, acetate was negatively correlated with MDA and NLRP3 and positively correlated with ZO-1. Overall, BT exhibits a nontoxic profile and may protect lung tissue through its antioxidant nature and gut–lung axis mediated by SCFAs.

This paper reviews briefly the definition of heat capacity and clarifies the defined specific heat capacity and volumetric heat capacity. The specific heat capacity and volumetric heat capacity, with our measured experimental data for CuO nanofluids, are discussed as an illustrating example. The result indicates that the specific heat capacity of CuO nanofluid decreases gradually with increasing volume concentration of nanoparticles. The measurement and the prediction from the thermal equilibrium model exhibit good agreement. The other simple mixing model fails to predict the specific heat capacity of CuO nanofluid. The nanoparticle size effect and solid-liquid interface effect on the specific heat capacity of nanofluid are discussed.

One of the aims of the present paper is to obtain some properties about logarithmic Bergman-type space on the unit ball. As some applications, the bounded and compact operators$ \\mathfrak{S}^m_{\\vec{u}, {\\varphi}} = \\sum_{i = 0}^{m}M_{u_i}C_{\\varphi}\\Re^{i} $from logarithmic Bergman-type space to weighted-type space on the unit ball are completely characterized.

Extending the elastic continuum model for fine particles, a theoretical model was proposed to include the different contributions of interior and surface atoms for the specific heat capacity. The effect of size and temperature and the softening of surface atom vibrations were studied, and a dimensionless variable was proposed to characterize the effect of particle size and temperature on the specific heat capacity of nanoparticles. The proposed model was used to fit experimental data for copper oxide nanoparticles.

The frequencies of use of 361 human acupoints in 74 academic journals of traditional Chinese medicine published between 1949 and 2010 are arranged in order using ＇Traditional Chinese Medical Acupuncture- moxibustion Information Databank＇. The frequencies of use are divided into five grades： most frequent use, more frequent use, frequent use, less frequent use and infrequent use. The most frequently used acupoints and infrequently used acupoints are summarized and analyzed to help point selection for clinical acupuncture and selection of acupuncture research projects in the future.

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is associated with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). We investigated the effect of different doses of inhaled sevoflurane administered prior to CPB on cerebral oxygen supply and demand, and the incidence of associated early POCD. One hundred and twenty patients were randomly allocated into four treatment groups ( n  = 30, each) and administered a high- [1.5 minimum alveolar concentration (MAC)], moderate- (1.0 MAC), low- (0.5 MAC), or no- sevoflurane dose prior to CPB. Standard blood gas parameters, serum S-100 protein, and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) were measured at different time points. The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) was administered 1 day before and 24 and 72 h after surgery. The jugular bulb venous oxygen saturation (SjvO 2 ) in the moderate- and high-dose groups at a nasopharyngeal temperature of 25–28 °C was significantly higher compared with the control group, while the arteriovenous oxygen content difference (AVDO 2 ) and cerebral extraction of oxygen (CEO 2 ) were significantly reduced. The serum S-100 protein and NSE concentrations of the moderate- and high-dose groups at 1 and 6 h after the cessation of CPB were significantly lower than that of the control group. The 24 h postoperative MMSE scores of the moderate- and high-dose groups were significantly higher than those of the low-dose and control groups. An inhaled optimal concentration of sevoflurane may be beneficial for cerebral oxygen balance during CPB, and may ameliorate cognitive damage. However, the effect is dose-dependent.

Different from trials for regulatory approvals of new interventions aimed to test the efficacy, comparative effectiveness research （CER） is the direct comparison of existing health-care interventions （compared with active controls） to examine which treatment works best, for whom,

An analytical method is proposed to predict the thermal conductivity of nanofluids by use of the macroscopic statistical characteristics of particle clustering suspensions. The algorithm is much simpler and more convenient than the fractal model method suggested and reported before. It is shown with numerical calculation and discussion that reliable predictions of the thermal conductivity for a nanofluid can be reached with the method presented in this paper. The physical meaning and practical prospects in the research and development for screening and optimizing nanofluids as new advanced working fluids are presented.