Flavonoids from the stems and leaves of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, an antioxidant, markedly improve memory impairments and neuronal injuries. In the present study, primary cortical neurons of rats were exposed to potassium cyanide to establish a model of in vitro neural cell apoptosis. Inhibition of apoptosis by flavonoids from the stems and leaves of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi at concentrations of 18.98, 37.36, and 75.92 μg/mL was detected using this model. These flavonoids dramatically increased cell survival, inhibited cell apoptosis and excessive production of malondialdehyde, and increased the activities of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and Na+-K+-ATPase in primary cortical neurons exposed to potassium cyanide. The flavonoids from the stems and leaves of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi were originally found to have a polyhydric structure and to protect against cerebral hypoxia in in vitro and in vivo models, including hypoxia induced by potassium cyanide or cerebral ischemia. The present study suggests that flavonoids from the stems and leaves of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi exert neuroprotective effects via modulation of oxidative stress, such as malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and Na+-K+-ATPase disorders induced by potassium cyanide.

This study aimed to improve the stability and catalytic properties of Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase (TLL) adsorbed on a hydrophobic support. At the optimized conditions (pH 5 and 25 °C without any additions), the Sips isotherm model effectively fitted the equilibrium adsorption data, indicating a monolayer and the homogenous distribution of immobilized lipase molecules. To preserve the high specific activity of adsorbed lipase, the immobilized lipase (IL) with a moderate loading amount (approximately 40% surface coverage) was selected. Polyethylenimine (PEI) and chitosan (CS) were successfully applied as bridging units to in situ crosslink the immobilized lipase molecules in IL. At the low polymer concentration (0.5%, w/w) and with 1 h incubation, insignificant changes in average pore size were detected. Short-chain PEI and CS (MW ≤ 2 kDa) efficiently improved the lipase stability, i.e., the lipase loss decreased from 40% to <2%. Notably, CS performed much better than PEI in maintaining lipase activity. IL crosslinked with CS-2 kDa showed a two- to three-fold higher rate when hydrolyzing p-nitrophenyl butyrate and a two-fold increase in the catalytic efficiency in the esterification of hexanoic acid with butanol. These in situ crosslinking strategies offer good potential for modulating the catalytic properties of TLL for a specific reaction.

Objective: Although the concept of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) has gradually become familiar with surgeons and applied in clinical practice in recent years, the current status of the experience and application of ERAS in Chinese mainland thoracic surgeons is still not clear. This study is based on the results of a questionnaire survey of ERAS-related issues among participating thoracic surgeons and nurses, and analyzes the current status of accelerated rehabilitation surgery in thoracic surgery using bioinformatics. Methods: We analyze the 720 valid questionnaires that participated in the first session of the ERAS West China Forum. The content of the questionnaire mainly includes two parts: one is the situation of the respondent’s unit and the basic situation of the individual; the other is to accelerate the 10 problems related to rehabilitation surgery. Results: (1) The clinical application status of ERAS is more than practice, and 68.3% of doctors and 57.8% of nurses agree with this view; 87.9% of doctors and 86.2% of nurses believe that the ERAS concept applies to all surgical procedures. (2) The main reason for the poor compliance of ERAS clinical application was that the program was immature, without consensus and norms (56.4% of doctors and 68.8% of nurses). (3) The best team combination for ERAS clinical implementation is surgical-based discipline collaboration and healthcare (61.5% of physicians and 72.2% of nurses). (4) 75.1% of doctors and 82.6% of nurses believe that the evaluation criteria of ERAS should be: comprehensive evaluation of average hospitalization days, patient experience and social satisfaction. Conclusions: Accelerated rehabilitation surgery in the application of thoracic surgery is still the idea is greater than practice, the main reason is the lack of clinically available norms and programs. We can achieve the findings and verify them using statistical study.

No abstract