Efficacy and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation for treatment of ulcerative colitis:A post-consensus systematic review and metaanalysis

BACKGROUND Numerous studies have assessed the efficacy and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation(FMT)as a therapy for ulcerative colitis(UC).However,the treatment processes and outcomes of these studies vary.AIM To evaluate the efficacy and safety of FMT for treating UC by conducting a systematic meta-analysis.METHODS The inclusion criteria involved reports of adult patients with UC treated with FMT,while studies that did not report clinical outcomes or that included patients with infection were excluded.Clinical remission(CR)and endoscopic remission(ER)were the primary and secondary outcomes,respectively.RESULTS We included nine studies retrieved from five electronic databases.The FMT group had better CR than the control group[relative risk(RR)=1.53;95%confidence interval(CI):1.19-1.94;P<0.0008].ER was statistically significantly different between the two groups(RR=2.80;95%CI:1.93-4.05;P<0.00001).Adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups.CONCLUSION FMT demonstrates favorable performance and safety;however,well-designed randomized clinical trials are still needed before the widespread use of FMT can be recommended.Furthermore,standardizing the FMT process is urgently needed for improved safety and efficacy.

Numerical study of hydraulic fracturing in the sectorial well-factory considering well interference and stress shadowing

In the Changqing Oilfield in northwest China, when traditional petroleum exploitation encounters forestry reserves or water source protection areas, sectorial well-factory design is proposed. The most distinct feature of a sectorial well-factory is the deviation of the well from the minimum horizontal principal stress, resulting in hydraulic fracture deflection after the initiation, along with possible well interference (i.e., fracture hit) and fracture coalescence in the oblique wells. Four indexes describing well deflection are then proposed according to fracture morphology. Several fracturing designs, including stage arrangement, fracturing sequences, and fracturing techniques are applied to study the feasibility of the sectorial well-factory design. The results show that the “gradual” or “sparse” stage arrangement, large injection rate, and simultaneous multifracture treatment can help to optimize the fracture morphology and stimulation design. However, the subsequent stress shadowing effect usually adversely affects the fracturing of adjacent wells. With a small initial horizontal stress difference, large injection rate and staggered stage arrangement can achieve ideal stimulation performance. Our results can provide a guidance for optimizing stimulation design in unconventional well-factory while taking into account environmental protection.

完全性肺静脉异位引流手术的危险因素分析

目的分析完全性肺静脉异位引流(TAPVC)患儿手术的预后,寻找影响手术死亡的危险因素。方法选取2008年6月-2016年6月郑州大学第三附属医院实施TAPVC纠治手术的患儿102例,用Logistic回归方法对可能导致手术死亡的因素进行分析。结果患儿住院死亡9例(8.8%)。其中,心上型5例,心内型2例,心下型2例;6例死于低心排,3例死于肺部感染。Logistic回归分析发现,肺部感染、解剖分型、阻断时间、体外循环时间及体重分级为影响术后近期死亡的危险因素(P<0.05)。结论 TAPVC患儿实施手术治疗,可以取得比较满意的效果,肺部感染、解剖分型、阻断时间、体外循环时间及体重分级是影响手术效果的危险因素。

Serum cystatin C levels are negatively correlated with post-stroke cognitive dysfunction

Stroke is the leading cause of death and long-term disability worldwide,and cognitive impairment and dementia are major complications of ischemic stroke.Cystatin C (CysC) has been found to be a neuroprotective factor in animal studies.However,the relationship between CysC levels and cognitive dysfunction in previous studies has revealed different results.This prospective observational study investigated the correlation between serum CysC levels and post-stroke cognitive dysfunction at 3 months.Data from 638 patients were obtained from the China Antihypertensive Trial in Acute Ischemic Stroke (CATIS).Cognitive dysfunction was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) at 3 months after stroke.According to the MMSE score,308 patients (52.9%) had post-stroke cognitive dysfunction.After adjusting for potential confounding factors,the odds ratio (95% CI) of post-stroke cognitive dysfunction for the highest quartile of serum CysC levels was 0.54 (0.30–0.98),compared with the lowest quartile.The correlation between serum CysC and cognitive dysfunction was modified by renal function status.We observed a negative linear dose-response correlation between CysC and cognitive dysfunction in patients with normal renal function (Plinearity = 0.044),but not in those with abnormal renal function.Elevated serum CysC levels were correlated with a low risk of 3-month cognitive dysfunction in patients with acute ischemic stroke,especially in those with normal renal function.The current results suggest that CysC is a protective factor for post-stroke cognitive dysfunction,and could be used to treat post-stroke cognitive dysfunction.The CATIS study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards at Soochow University from China (approval No.2012-02) on December 30,2012,and was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier No.NCT01840072) on April 25,2013.

In situ embedded bismuth nanoparticles among highly porous carbon fibers for efficient carbon dioxide reduction

Electrocatalysis provides an optimal approach for the conversion of carbon dioxide(CO_(2))into high-value chemicals,thereby presenting a promising avenue toward achieve carbon neutrality.However,addressing the selectivity and stability challenges of metal catalysts in electrolytic reduction remains a daunting task.In this study,the electrospinning method is employed to fabricate porous carbon nanofibers loaded with bismuth nanoparticles with the help of in situ pyrolysis.The porous carbon nanofibers as conductive support would facilitate the dispersion of bismuth active sites while inhibiting their aggregation and promoting the mass transfer,thus enhancing their electrocatalytic activity and stability.Additionally,nitrogen doping induces electron delocalization in bismuth atoms through metal-support interactions,thus enabling efficient adsorption of intermediates for improving selectivity based on the theoretical calculation.Consequently,Bi@PCNF-500 exhibits the exceptional selectivity and stability across a wide range of potential windows.Notably,its faradaic efficiency(FE)of formate reaches 92.7%in H-cell and94.9%in flow cell,respectively,with good electrocatalytic stability.The in situ characterization and theoretical calculations elucidate the plausible reaction mechanism to obtain basic rules for designing efficient electrocatalyst.

Enhanced preparation of dendritic metallic vanadium in recyclable NaCl-KCl-VCl_(2) molten salt by V_(2)CO electrolysis

A promising method for the preparation of pure metallic vanadium via V_(2)CO anode electrolysis was proposed and confirmed.The simple and controllable synthesis of a molten chloride salt containing VCl_(2) by an insitu reaction between VCl_(3) and metallic vanadium was verified through thermodynamic analysis and experiments.NaCl-KCl-VCl_(2) molten salt exhibited excellent recycling performance and could be repetitively used to prepare metallic vanadium by V_(2)CO electrolysis.The V^(2+) ions remained in the molten salt after electrolysis.The electrolysis conditions,such as the cathode diameter,current density,V^(2+) ion concentration,and temperature,were optimised to maximise the current efficiency.Electrolysis was also simulated to reveal the regulatory mechanism.The highest current efficiency was 85%.The purity of metallic vanadium was up to 99.8%.In this study,an easy and efficient preparation of pure metallic vanadium was achieved.

Detection and projection of climatic comfort changes in China's mainland in a warming world

Climatic comfort,which refers to the comfort of the human body's thermal sensations,is important for the human habitat.Although considerable efforts have been provided to examine changes in climatic comfort response to global warming from a partial perspective,the trajectory shift in past and future climatic comfort conditions in China's mainland based on uniform indicators has not been revealed.The spatiotemporal pattern of climatic comfort over historical and future periods was investigated in this study,using China's mainland as an example.The temperature-humidity index was adopted on the basis of homogenised meteorological station observations and high-resolution climate model simulations to analyse the trends of comfort/discomfort days from 1960 to 2017 and project changes in climatic comfort under representative concentration pathway scenarios in the late 21st century(2071-2100).Results show a substantial decrease in colduncomfortable days and a moderate increase in comfortable and warm-uncomfortable days from 1960 to 2017.In the late 21st century,the signals of increasing warm-uncomfortable and decreasing cold-uncomfortable days are projected to enhance significantly while the direction of changes in comfortable days exhibits a north-south divergence.The uneven changes in warm-and cold-uncomfortable days and an overall decrease in comfortable days in the late 21st century dominate the future trends in climatic comfort in the densely populated southeast half of China.Effective measures taken for adapting to and mitigating global climate warming can considerably avoid the adverse impact of the projected change.

Surface coating of electrocatalysts boosts battery performance

Bifunctional electrocatalyst is crucial to boost the performance of a zinc-air battery.Alternative electrocatalysts beyond noble metals are highly desirable to lower the energy barriers for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions in a zinc-air battery,while maintaining the good stability in the harsh alkaline electrolyte.