[Efficacy of arteriovenous argatroban versus heparin flush anticoagulation after cardiovascular surgery]

Objective: To compare the effects of arteriovenous argatroban and heparin flushes on platelet count and assess the occurrence of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) and other complications in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgeries. Methods: A single-center, prospective randomized control study was conducted. Patients who underwent cardiovascular surgery at Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from March to December 2019 were randomly divided into the argatroban group (250 ml normal saline plus 2.5 mg of argatroban) and the heparin group (250 ml normal saline plus 10 mg of heparin). Platelet count, hemorrhage, and thrombosis were assessed. The 4T scores of HIT, the incidences of HIT and other complications were also evaluated. Results: A total of 491 patients (307 males and 184 females) were included in the study, with a mean age of (52.3±13.7) years. There were 245 cases in the argatroban group and 246 cases in the heparin group, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the preoperative platelet count between the argatroban and heparin groups [198.0 (161.0, 248.0)×10⁹/L vs 194.0 (157.2, 243.8)×10⁹/L, P=0.498]. Likewise, there were no statistically significant differences in the platelet count between the argatroban and heparin groups at 12 h, 1 day, and 5 days after operation [127.0 (100.0, 154.0)×10⁹/L vs 121.5 (90.2, 149.0)×10⁹/L, 126.0 (97.0, 162.0)×10⁹/L vs 123.5 (88.0, 151.0)×10⁹/L, 168.0 (130.0, 215.0) ×10⁹/L vs 161.0 (101.0, 210.5)×10⁹/L] (repeated measures ANOVA between groups: F=3.327, P=0.069; time comparison: F=532.523, P<0.001; time interaction between groups: F=0.675, P=0.512). The proportion of 4T scores of medium and high scores (≥4)[9.8% (24/245) vs 10.6% (26/246), P=0.777] and incidence of HIT antibody positive [1.63% (4/245) vs 1.63% (4/246), P=0.726] were similar between argatroban group and the heparin group. Mechanical ventilation time was shorter in the argatroban group than that in the heparin group [13.0 (11.0, 21.0) vs 15.5 (12.0, 21.0) h, P=0.020]. Conclusion: Compared with heparin, routine management with argatroban for arteriovenous flush in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery does not affect the HIT incidence.

Near-GeV Electron Beams at a Few Per-Mille Level from a Laser Wakefield Accelerator via Density-Tailored Plasma

A simple, efficient scheme was developed to obtain near-gigaelectronvolt electron beams with energy spreads of few per-mille level in a single-stage laser wakefield accelerator. Longitudinal plasma density was tailored to control relativistic laser-beam evolution, resulting in injection, dechirping, and a quasi-phase-stable acceleration. With this scheme, electron beams with peak energies of 780-840 MeV, rms energy spreads of 2.4‰-4.1‰, charges of 8.5-23.6 pC, and rms divergences of 0.1-0.4 mrad were experimentally obtained. Quasi-three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations agreed well with the experimental results. The dechirping strength was estimated to reach up to 11  TeV/mm/m, which is higher than previously obtained results. Such high-quality electron beams will boost the development of compact intense coherent radiation sources and x-ray free-electron lasers.

High-Brightness High-Energy Electron Beams from a Laser Wakefield Accelerator via Energy Chirp Control

By designing a structured gas density profile between the dual-stage gas jets to manipulate electron seeding and energy chirp reversal for compressing the energy spread, we have experimentally produced high-brightness high-energy electron beams from a cascaded laser wakefield accelerator with peak energies in the range of 200-600 MeV, 0.4%-1.2% rms energy spread, 10-80 pC charge, and ∼0.2  mrad rms divergence. The maximum six-dimensional brightness B_{6D,n} is estimated as ∼6.5×10^{15}  A/m^{2}/0.1%, which is very close to the typical brightness of e beams from state-of-the-art linac drivers. These high-brightness high-energy e beams may lead to the realization of compact monoenergetic gamma-ray and intense coherent x-ray radiation sources.

[Effects of basic fibroblast growth factor on anoxia/reoxygenation injury of rat neonatal cardiomyocytes]

The effects of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on anoxia/reoxygenation (A/R) injury and protein kinase C (PKC) activity were studied on a model of A/R injury of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes to investigate the possibility of its using as a substrate for pharmacological preconditioning. The data indicated that bFGF improved the viability of cardiomyocytes, lowered the deplection of ATP and leakage of intracellular lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in a concentration-dependent manner. PKC inhibitor, H7, completely abolished the protective effects. It was also found that bFGF directely activated PKC in cardiomyocytes in a time course similar to that in hypoxic preconditioning. The data suggested that the protective effect of bFGF on cardiomyocyte A/R injury might be mediated by PKC.

An experimental study by single blind method on the anti-obesity effect of Xiaopangmei

To evaluate the anti-obesity effect of Xiaopangmei, an experimental study by single method in three groups of rats was done. The first group were fed with Xiaopangmei-01, the second group with a placebo, and the third group were controls. As compared with the control and the placebo groups, the rats that had been fed Xiaopangmei for six weeks showed body weight, food intake, weight of epididymis fat pad and the intestinal absorption of glucose all significantly decreased. The swimming tolerance test showed they swam longer than the other two groups. No significant difference was found between the three groups in the growth and development indices such as body length, length of femur and tibia, weight of heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, stomach, small intestines, gastrocnemius muscle, and adrenal glands. No side effects were found on the liver and kidney. The secretion of insulin was inhibited after the swimming tolerance test and the gastrocnemius muscle test was similar for all three groups of rats. We concluded that Xiaopangmei is an effective anti-obesity drug.