The efficacy and safety of besifloxacin for acute bacterial conjunctivitis: a Meta-analysis

AIM: To evaluate the relative efficacy and safety of besifloxacin for treatment of acute bacterial conjunctivitis.METHODS: A comprehensive search in PubMed, EMBASE Web of Science, Cochrane Central Database and CNKI was undertaken for randomized controlled trials(RCTs) comparing besifloxacin with other treatments or placebo. The primary outcome measures were clinical resolution, rates of bacterial eradication, individual clinical outcomes, cure rates, and bacterial eradication rates of different kinds of pathogens. Safety outcomes were the number of adverse effects(AEs). The final search was performed on August 2018.RESULTS: Eight RCTs were included. Five studies compared the efficacy and safety of besifloxacin with placebo, 2 studies compared besifloxacin with moxifloxacin, and 1 study compared besifloxacin with gatifloxacin. A total of 3105 patients met the inclusion criteria. Besifloxacin presented higher efficacy and safety than did placebo in clinical resolution, rates of bacterial eradication, individual clinical outcomes, cure rates, bacterial eradication rates of different kinds of pathogens and the number of AEs. There was no significant difference between besifloxacin and moxifloxacin or gatifloxacin in the comparison items mentioned above.CONCLUSION: Besifloxacin is highly effective and safe for treatment of acute bacterial conjunctivitis. Further comparative trials regarding the effect of besifloxacin for treatment of acute bacterial conjunctivitis will aid in treatment decisions.

Electrocardiogram-based artificial intelligence for the diagnosis of heart failure:a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND The electrocardiogram(ECG)is an inexpensive and easily accessible investigation for the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases including heart failure(HF).The application of artificial intelligence(AI)has contributed to clinical practice in terms of aiding diagnosis,prognosis,risk stratification and guiding clinical management.The aim of this study is to systematically review and perform a meta-analysis of published studies on the application of AI for HF detection based on the ECG.METHODS We searched Embase,PubMed and Web of Science databases to identify literature using AI for HF detection based on ECG data.The quality of included studies was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2(QUADAS-2)criteria.Random-effects models were used for calculating the effect estimates and hierarchical receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted.Subgroup analysis was performed.Heterogeneity and the risk of bias were also assessed.RESULTS A total of 11 studies including 104,737 subjects were included.The area under the curve for HF diagnosis was 0.986,with a corresponding pooled sensitivity of 0.95(95%CI:0.86–0.98),specificity of 0.98(95%CI:0.95–0.99)and diagnostic odds ratio of 831.51(95%CI:127.85–5407.74).In the patient selection domain of QUADAS-2,eight studies were designated as high risk.CONCLUSIONS According to the available evidence,the incorporation of AI can aid the diagnosis of HF.However,there is heterogeneity among machine learning algorithms and improvements are required in terms of quality and study design.

Treating with besifloxacin for acute bacterial conjunctivitis: a Meta-analysis

AIM: To evaluate the relative efficacy and safety of besifloxacin for treatment of acute bacterial conjunctivitis. METHODS: A comprehensive search in PubM ed, EMBASE Web of Science, Cochrane Central Database and CNKI was undertaken for randomized controlled trials(RCTs) comparing besifloxacin with other treatments or placebo. The primary outcome measures were clinical resolution, rates of bacterial eradication, individual clinical outcomes, cure rates, and bacterial eradication rates of different kinds of pathogens. Safety outcomes were the number of adverse effects(AEs). The final search was performed on August 2018. RESULTS: Six RCTs were included. Four studies compared the efficacy and safety of besifloxacin with placebo, 1 study compared besifloxacin with moxifloxacin, and 1 study compared besifloxacin with gatifloxacin. A total of 2780 patients met the inclusion criteria. Besifloxacin presented higher efficacy and safety than did placebo in clinical resolution, rates of bacterial eradication, individual clinical outcomes, cure rates, bacterial eradication rates of different kinds of pathogens and the number of AEs. There was no significant difference between besifloxacin and moxifloxacin or gatifloxacin in the comparison items mentioned above. CONCLUSION: Besifloxacin is highly effective and safe for treatment of acute bacterial conjunctivitis. Further comparative trials regarding the effect of besifloxacin for treatment of acute bacterial conjunctivitis will aid in treatment decisions.

Theoretical investigations on a variable-coefficient generalized forced–perturbed Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers model for a dilated artery,blood vessel or circulatory system with experimental support

Recent theoretical physics efforts have been focused on the probes for nonlinear pulse waves in,for example,variable-radius arteries.With respect to the nonlinear waves in an artery full of blood with certain aneurysm,pulses in a blood vessel,or features in a circulatory system,this paper symbolically computes out an auto-B?cklund transformation via a noncharacteristic movable singular manifold,certain families of the solitonic solutions,as well as a family of the similarity reductions for a variable-coefficient generalized forced–perturbed Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers equation.Aiming,e.g.,at the dynamical radial displacement superimposed on the original static deformation from an arterial wall,our results rely on the axial stretch of the injured artery,blood as an incompressible Newtonian fluid,radius variation along the axial direction or aneurysmal geometry,viscosity of the fluid,thickness of the artery,mass density of the membrane material,mass density of the fluid,strain energy density of the artery,shear modulus,stretch ratio,etc.We also highlight that the shock-wave structures from our solutions agree well with those dusty-plasma-experimentally reported.

Therapeutic effect of placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells on hypoxic-ischemic brain damage in rats

Background:Oxidative stress is involved in the development of hypoxic-ischemic brain damage(HIBD).In this study,we investigated the therapeutic efcts of placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells(PD-MSCs)and explored the N F-E2-related factor-2/heme oxygenase-1(Nrf2/HO-1)signaling pathway in treating HIBD.Methods:P7 rats were subjected to hypoxic-ischemic brain injury and randomly divided into four groups(control,HIBD,HIBD+PD-MSCs,and HIBD+fbroblasts).Forty-eight hours after the induction of HIBD,5×10^(5)of PD-MSCs were injected into cerebral tissue in the HIBD+PD-MSCs group,while the same dose of fibroblas ts were injected in the HIBD+fibroblasts group.Morris Water Maze,gross and pathological changes were tested at P28.The level of malondialdehyde(MDA)was detected in rats'hippocampus.RT-PCR and western blot analysis were used to evaluate the changes of Nrf2/HO-1.Results:The HIBD group showed significantly longer escape latency and a lower frequency of original platform crossing in the Morris Water M laze compared with the control group.Rats receiving PD MSCs showed significant improvement of HIBD.The pathological changes were evident after HIBD,but ameliorated in the PD-MSCs group.Compared with the control group,HO-1 and Nrf2 were up-regulated at gene and protein levels in the HI brain,beginning at 6 hours and peaking at 48 hours(P<0.05).The expression of HO-1 and Nrf2 in the PD-MSCs treatment group was more pronounced than in the HBD group(P<0.01).PD MSCs also decreased MDA production in the brain tissue.Conclusion:These results demonstrate that PD-MSCs have neuroprotective effect during the treatment of HIBD and that the mechanism may be partly due to alleviating oxidative stress.

Bilinear forms through the binary Bell polynomials, N solitons and Backlund transformations of the Boussinesq–Burgers system for the shallow water waves in a lake or near an ocean beach

Water waves are one of the most common phenomena in nature, the studies of which help energy development, marine/offshore engineering, hydraulic engineering, mechanical engineering, etc. Hereby, symbolic computation is performed on the Boussinesq–Burgers system for shallow water waves in a lake or near an ocean beach. For the water-wave horizontal velocity and height of the water surface above the bottom, two sets of the bilinear forms through the binary Bell polynomials and N-soliton solutions are worked out, while two auto-B?cklund transformations are constructed together with the solitonic solutions, where N is a positive integer. Our bilinear forms, N-soliton solutions and B?cklund transformations are different from those in the existing literature. All of our results are dependent on the waterwave dispersive power.

Modified tungsten oxide as a binder-free anode in lithium-ion battery for improving electrochemical stability

As the anode active substance of lithium ions battery(LIB),the low conductivity/ion diffusivity and large volume changes of tungsten oxide(WO_(3))lead to its serious polarization during the lithiation/delithiation process,decreasing the cycling stability.To address these challenges,a binder-free anode consisting of nitrogen-doped tungsten oxide nanosheets,encapsulated in carbon layers(N-doped WO_(3)@CL)and entangled with carbon nanotubes macro-films(CMF),was successfully synthesized through a combination of hydrothermal and online assembly method.Compared with the pristine tungsten oxide entangled with carbon nanotubes macro-films(WO_(3)@CMF),the synthesized N-doped WO_(3)@CL@CMF as a binder-free LIB anode demonstrated better electrochemical performance,which could be attributed to(1)surface defects of WO_(3)created by N dopant providing more channels to improve Li^(+)diffusion,(2)the N-doped WO_(3)@CL with a flower-like structure shortening the diffusion length of Li^(+)ions and further leading to high Li^(+)incorporation,and(3)carbon layers and carbon nanotubes synergistically alleviating the large volume change of the N-doped WO_(3)@CL@CMF electrode during the charging and discharging process.The present study offers insights into employing nitrogen dopant and a carbon matrix to mediate the conductivity and wrapped structure in the WO_(3)semiconductor powder,which provides an important strategy for large-scale design of the binder-free LIB anode with high performance.