Effects of acetylcysteine on micro-inflammation and pulmonary ventilation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation

BACKGROUND Acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(AECOPD)is a serious complication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,often characterized by increased morbidity and mortality.In traditional Chinese medicine,AECOPD is linked to phlegm-heat and blood-stasis,presenting symptoms like thick sputum,fever,and chest pain.It has been shown that acetylcysteine inhalation in conjunction with conventional therapy significantly reduced inflammatory markers and improved lung function parameters in patients with AECOPD,suggesting that acetylcysteine may be an important adjunctive therapy for patients with phlegm-heat-blood stasis type AECOPD.AIM To investigate the effect of acetylcysteine on microinflammation and lung ventilation in patients with phlegm-heat and blood-stasis-type AECOPD.METHODS One hundred patients with phlegm-heat and blood-stasis-type AECOPD were randomly assigned to two groups.The treatment group received acetylcysteine inhalation(10%solution,5 mL,twice daily)along with conventional therapy,whereas the control group received only conventional therapy.The treatment duration was 14 d.Inflammatory markers(C-reactive protein,interleukin-6,and tumor necrosis factor-alpha)in the serum and sputum as well as lung function parameters(forced expiratory volume in one second,forced vital capacity,and peak expiratory flow)were assessed pre-and post-treatment.Acetylcysteine inhalation led to significant reductions in inflammatory markers and improvements in lung function parameters compared to those in the control group(P<0.05).This suggests that acetylcysteine could serve as an effective adjunct therapy for patients with phlegm-heat and blood-stasis-type AECOPD.RESULTS Acetylcysteine inhalation significantly reduced inflammatory markers in the serum and sputum and improved lung ventilation function parameters in patients with phlegm-heat and blood-stasis type AECOPD compared with the control group.These differences were statistically significant(P<0.05).The study concluded that acetylcysteine inhalation had a positive effect on microinflammation and lung ventilation function in patients with this type of AECOPD,suggesting its potential as an adjuvant therapy for such cases.CONCLUSION Acetylcysteine inhalation demonstrated significant improvements in reducing inflammatory markers in the serum and sputum,as well as enhancing lung ventilation function parameters in patients with phlegm-heat and bloodstasis type AECOPD.These findings suggest that acetylcysteine could serve as a valuable adjuvant therapy for individuals with this specific type of AECOPD,offering benefits for managing microinflammation and optimizing lung function.

First application of large reactivity measurement through rod drop based on three-dimensional space–time dynamics

Abstract Reactivity measurement is an essential part of a zero-power physics test,which is critical to reactor design and development.The rod drop experimental technique is used to measure the control rod worth in a zero-power physics test.The conventional rod drop experimental technique is limited by the spatial effect and the difference between the calculated static reactivity and measured dynamic reactivity;thus,the method must be improved.In this study,a modified rod drop experimental technique that constrains the detector neutron flux shape function based on three-dimensional space–time dynamics to reduce the reactivity perturbation and a new method for calculating the detector neutron flux shape function are proposed.Correction factors were determined using Monte Carlo N-particle transport code and transient analysis code for a pressurized water reactor at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology and Xi’an Jiaotong University,and a large reactivity of over 2000 pcm was measured using the modified technique.This research evaluated the modified technique accuracy,studied the influence of the correction factors on the modification,and investigated the effect of constraining the shape function on the reactivity perturbation reduction caused by the difference between the calculated neutron flux and true value,using the new method to calculate the shape function of the detector neutron flux and avoiding the neutron detector response function(weighting factor)calculation.