Timolol has been demonstrated to be efficacious in the topical treatment of superficial infantile hemangiomas (IHs). We conducted a prospective study to evaluate the short-term efficacy and safety of timolol in the treatment of superficial IH in Chinese infants. From March to November 2012, 124 patients with superficial IHs were included in the prospective study. The patients were divided into two groups: treatment (101 patients, the timolol drops were administered on the surface of the lesions three times daily, and erythromycin ointment was applied around the lesions) and observation (23 patients, without treatment). The results were categorized into three grades: class 1 (ineffective), class 2 (controlled growth) and class 3 (promoted regression). Within one week of the initiation of timolol treatment, a number of the lesions became softer and lighter in color. Four months following the initiation of timolol treatment, the overall response was class 1 in eight patients (7.9%), class 2 in 36 patients (35.6%) and class 3 in 57 patients (56.4%). Complete tumor regression was observed in 12 patients. No adverse effects were recorded during the treatment period. Among the patients in the observation group, there were 15 class 1 patients (65.2%), seven class 2 patients (30.4%) and only one class 3 patient (4.3%). In conclusion, timolol is an effective and safe treatment for superficial IH. In addition, it may be used in the treatment of proliferative superficial IH, particularly in infants within 6 months of age.

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Previous studies have reported the therapeutic effects of oleuropein (OP) consumption on the early stage of type 2 diabetes. However, the efficacy of OP on the advanced stage of type 2 diabetes has not been investigated, and the relationship between OP and intestinal flora has not been studied. Therefore, in this study, to explore the relieving effects of OP intake on the advanced stage of type 2 diabetes and the regulatory effects of OP on intestinal microbes, diabetic db/db mice (17-week-old) were treated with OP at the dose of 200 mg/kg for 15 weeks. We found that OP has a significant effect in decreasing fasting blood glucose levels, improving glucose tolerance, lowering the homeostasis model assessment–insulin resistance index, restoring histopathological features of tissues, and promoting hepatic protein kinase B activation in db/db mice. Notably, OP modulates gut microbiota at phylum level, increases the relative abundance of Verrucomicrobia and Deferribacteres, and decreases the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes. OP treatment increases the relative abundance of Akkermansia, as well as decreases the relative abundance of Prevotella, Odoribacter, Ruminococcus, and Parabacteroides at genus level. In conclusion, OP may ameliorate the advanced stage of type 2 diabetes through modulating the composition and function of gut microbiota. Our findings provide a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of advanced stage type 2 diabetes.

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Current computer-aided assembly systems provide engineers with a variety of spatial snapping and alignment techniques for interactively defining the positions and attachments of components. With the advent of haptics and its integration into virtual assembly systems, users now have the potential advantage of tactile information. This paper reports research that aims to quantify how the provision of haptic feedback in an assembly system can affect user performance. To investigate human–computer interaction processes in assembly modeling, performance of a peg-in-hole manipulation was studied to determine the extent to which haptics and stereovision may impact on task completion time. The results support two important conclusions: first, it is apparent that small (i.e. visually insignificant) assembly features (e.g. chamfers) affect the overall task completion at times only when haptic feedback is provided; and second, that the difference is approximately similar to the values reported for equivalent real world peg-in-hole assembly tasks