No abstract

Lagotis brachystachya Maxim ( L. brachystachya ) is an herb widely used in traditional Tibetan medicine. In the present study, the antibacterial activity of L. brachystachya extract to extended-spectrum-lactamases ( ESBLs )-producing E. coli was determined by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentrations ( MICs ) and minimum bactericidal concentrations ( MBCs ) methods as well as time-kill curve assay. Meanwhile, the biofilm inhibition and eradication effects of L. brachystachya extract on the ESBLs-producing E. coli were evaluated by crystal violet staining, and further confirmed by confocal laser scanning microscope ( CLSM ) and scanning electron microscopy ( SEM ). The results indicated that L. brachystachya extract exhibited moderate antibacterial activity, with diameter of inhibition zones varying from 15.4 to 20.3 mm, and the MIC and MBC values were 6.25 to 25 mg/mL and 12.5 to 100 mg/mL, respectively. Time-kill curve showed that 4 × MIC level of L. brachystachya extract concentration of was able to kill 99.9% of ESBLs-producing E. coli after 16 h treatment. The biofilm inhibition rate and eradication rate for the ESBLs-producing E. coli were 35.66 to 79.91% and 22.18 to 56.21% at MIC level of extract concentration, respectively. CLSM images showed that the biofilm became thinner as the ESBLs-producing E. coli isolate exposed to L. brachystachya extract with a concentration-dependent manner from 1/4 × MIC to MIC compared with the control isolate. SEM images indicated that L. brachystachya extract at 1/2 × MIC and MIC levels could evidently inhibit the biofilm formation or eradicate the mature biofilms. The effect of L. brachystachya highlights its potential of antibacterial and antibiofilm activities against the ESBLs-producing E. coli .

Background Hospice care for end-of-life patients in the ICU should focus on quality of life. Currently, there are no specific quality-of-life measures for ICU end-of-life patients in China. Objective The aim of this study was to revise and culturally adapt the Taiwanese version of the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire (MQOL-Taiwan) and to test its reliability and validity to provide an effective instrument for assessing the quality of life of ICU patients at the end of life. Methods The revision and cultural adaptation of the MQOL-Taiwan were performed to develop a Chinese version of the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire for ICU end-of-life patients (MQOL-ICU). A total of 156 ICU doctors, 286 ICU nurses and 120 ICU family members of end-of-life patients were surveyed with the revised scale to evaluate the quality of life of ICU patients at the end of life. The content validity, construct validity, and internal consistency of the scale were measured after the revision. Results The Chinese version of the MQOL-ICU scale was formed based on the MQOL-Taiwan scale, which includes 8 items. For the Chinese version of the MQOL-ICU, the item-content validity index (I-CVI) ranged from 0.789 to 0.905, and the average scale-level content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) was 0.845. After exploratory factor analysis, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value was 0.700, and 3 dominant factors were extracted: physical and psychological symptoms, existential well-being, and support. In addition, 70.385% of the total variance was explained. The internal consistency (Cronbach's α) coefficient of the whole MQOL-ICU was 0.804, and the coefficients for the 3 domains ranged from 0.779 to 0.833. Conclusion The Chinese version of the MQOL-ICU showed good reliability and validity, and it can be used to assess the quality of life of ICU patients at the end of life.

An IC card controller based on the low-power microprocessor MSP430F1611 and RF card operation module YMG600 is developed to construct the flow prepayment system for the existing flowmeters. Considering the compatibility with the original system, the hardware with multiple interfaces is put forward on the analysis of output signal of the widely used flowmeters. It is focused on the realization of the flow signal processing circuits and IC card management module. In order to improve the safety of the system, the 3DES algorithm is adopted to encrypt the flow data. Furthermore, a linkage mechanism between the IC card controller and computer monitoring system is put forward to realize the real-time monitoring. Finally a serial of tests including flow sample and billing, it shows that the controller is characterized with good compatibility, high safety and practicability.

With the rapid increase in the types of electrical appliances used by users, the number of electrical accidents caused by this has increased year by year. In view of this, real-time monitoring of the use and operation of electrical appliances of power users is of great significance to better protect the safety of life and property of power users. Considering the monitoring cost and the acceptability of the monitored users, this paper proposes a machine learning fusion model based on V-I trajectory characteristic curve from the perspective of non-intrusive load decomposition, which realizes the effect of remote monitoring of abnormal electrical appliances with lower cost and higher user acceptance.