Scientific reports
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Lonicerae japonicae Flos has been used to produce hundred kinds of Chinese patent medicines (CPMs) in China. Economically motivated adulterants have been documented, leading to market instability and a decline in consumer confidence. ITS2 has been used to identify raw medicinal materials, but it's not suitable for the identification of botanical extracts and complex CPMs. ⋯ Subsequently we tested 20 extracts and 47 CPMs labelled as containing some species of Lonicera. The results revealed only 17% of the extracts and 22% of the CPMs were authentic, others exist substitution or adulterant; 7% were shown to contain both of two adulterants Eucommiae Folium and Lonicerae Flos. The methods developed in this study will widely broaden the application of DNA barcode in quality assurance of natural health products.
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The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of sugammadex for reversing neuromuscular blockade in pediatric patients. MEDLINE and other three Databases were searched. Randomized clinical trials were included if they compared sugammadex with neostigmine or placebo in pediatric patients undergoing surgery involving the use of rocuronium or vecuronium. ⋯ Although considerable heterogeneity (I2 = 98.5%) was detected in primary outcome, the results suggested that, compared with placebo or neostigmine, sugammadex can reverse rocuronium-induced neuromuscular blockade more rapidly with lower incidence of bradycardia. No significant differences were found in the incidences of other adverse events. Compared with neostigmine or placebo, sugammadex may reverse rocuronium-induced neuromuscular blockade in pediatric patients rapidly and safely.
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High-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity is accompanied by insulin resistance and compromised brain synaptic plasticity through the impairment of insulin-sensitive pathways regulating neuronal survival, learning, and memory. Lipoic acid is known to modulate the redox status of the cell and has insulin mimetic effects. ⋯ Lipoic acid treatment in mice on HFD prevented several HFD-induced metabolic changes and preserved synaptic plasticity. The metabolic and physiological changes in HFD-fed mice, including insulin resistance, brain glucose uptake and metabolism, and synaptic function, could be preserved by the insulin-like effect of lipoic acid.
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Impact of combined lifestyles on risk of mortality needs to be explored quantitatively. We aimed to evaluate the associations of combined lifestyle factors with total and cause-specific mortality in Chinese men. We used data from the Shanghai Men's Health Study (2002-2013), an on-going population-based prospective cohort study of men (aged 40 to 74 years). ⋯ The HRs of men with four risk practices comparing to those with zero were 2.92 (95%CI: 2.53, 3.38) for all-cause mortality, 3.15 (95%CI: 2.44, 4.05) for CVD mortality, and 3.18 (95%CI: 2.55, 3.97) for cancer mortality. The population attributable risks (PARs) were 0.41, 0.40 and 0.38 for total, CVD and cancer mortality, accordingly. As combined unhealthy lifestyle behaviors had substantial impact on total and cause-specific mortality, promotion of healthy lifestyle should be a public health priority.
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Recently, growth mechanism of firms in complex business networks became new targets of scientific study owing to increasing availability of high quality business firms' data. Here, we paid attention to comprehensive data of M&A events for 40 years and derived empirical laws by applying methods and concepts of aggregation dynamics of aerosol physics. It is found that the probability of merger between bigger firms is bigger than that between smaller ones, and such tendency is enhancing year by year. We introduced a numerical model simulating the whole ecosystem of firms and showed that the system is already in an unstable monopoly state in which growth of middle sized firms are suppressed.