SUMMARY BackgroundTransient elastography is a non-invasive method for staging liver fibrosis. The meta-analysis using the hierarchical models to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of transient elastography for the staging of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B was rarely reported.

The structure and morphology of cellulose extracted from wheat were studied. It was found that the extraction process is effective and hemicelluloses and lignin can be extracted completely. Cellulose in wheat straw was identified as cellulose I allomorph with low crystallinity and the crystallinity of cellulose from different parts of the wheat straw has little difference. There was no metastable cellulose I a crystalline modification found in wheat straw; only the more stable cellulose I b crystalline modification existed. Cellulose chains in the epidermis of wheat straw were observed with their orientation along the growth direction of wheat straw, while those in parenchyma were observed with almost no preferred orientation. There are two kinds of morphologies on the surface of wheat straw. One is the fiber structure with fibrils of about 5 lm diameter, and the other is the fiber structure with serration morphology at the edge of the fiber, with which the fibers are connected together. The diameter of the latter one is about 10 lm. The vascular bundles consist of circular rings while spiral structure cellulose backbones covered with thin cellulose film were also observed.

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BackgroundAcupuncture therapy for preventive and treatment of postoperative nausea and vomiting(PONV), a condition which commonly present after anaesthesia and surgery is a subject of growing interest. ObjectiveThis paper included a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effect of different type of acupuncture and acupoint selection in PONV prevention and treatment. MethodsRandomised controlled trials(RCTs) comparing acupuncture with non-acupuncture treatment were identified from databases PubMed, Cochrane, EBSCO, Ovid, CNKI and Wanfangdata. Meta-analysis on eligible studies was performed using fixed-effects model with RevMan 5.2. Results were expressed as RR for dichotomous data, with 95%CI. ResultsThirty RCTs, 1276 patients (intervention) and 1258 patients (control) were identified. Meta-analysis showed that PC6 acupuncture significantly reduced the number of cases of early vomiting (postoperative 0-6h) (RR=0.36, 95%CI 0.19,0.71; P=0.003) and nausea (postoperative 0-24h) (RR=0.25, 95%CI 0.10,0.61; P=0.002), but not early nausea (postoperative 0-6h) (RR=0.64, 95%CI 0.34,1.19; P=0.150) and vomiting (postoperative 0-24h) (RR=0.82, 95%CI 0.48,1.38; P=0.450). PC6 acupressure significantly reduced the number of cases of nausea (RR=0.71, 95%CI 0.57,0.87; P=0.001) and vomiting (RR=0.62, 95%CI 0.49,0.80; P=0.000) at postoperative 0-24h. PC6 electro-acupoint stimulation significantly reduced the number of cases of nausea (RR=0.49, 95%CI 0.38,0.63; P<0.000) and vomiting (RR=0.50, 95%CI 0.36,0.70; P<0.000) at postoperative 0-24h. Stimulation of PC6 with other acupoint(s) significantly reduced the number of cases of nausea and vomiting (RR=0.29, 95%CI 0.17,0.49; P<0.000) at postoperative 0-24h. Stimulation of other acupoint(s)(non PC6) also significantly reduced the number of cases of nausea and vomiting (RR=0.63, 95%CI 0.49,0.81; P=0.000) at postoperative 0-24h. However, the quality of study was generally low in studies of PC6 combined with other acupoint(s) and other acupoint(s). Details of blinding were not reported in most reports. ConclusionsBesides PC6, PC6 combined with other acupoint(s) and other alternative acupoint(s) might be beneficial in prevention and treatment of PONV, the evidence justifies future high-quality studies.

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A green method was used to prepare cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) with no use of harsh chemicals or organic solvents. This method was simple via ball milling cellulose with water followed by centrifugation. The diameter and length of the CNCs were 3–10 nm and 120–400 nm, separately, with a aspect ratio of 20–60. The yield was about 20%. The thermal stability of the CNCs was the same as that of raw cellulose owing to lacking of chemical modification. So it was superior to CNCs prepared by acid hydrolysis. Then poly­(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/CNC composite film was made by solution casting. The results showed that the tensile strength of the composite film was 79% increased from neat PVA film when adding 5% CNCs to the PVA matrix. In addition, the composite films possessed good transparency and thermal stability.

A facile method was developed to produce functionalized cellulose nanofibers in one step by ball milling. Through the synergy of mechanical and chemical actions, the produced cellulose nanofibers are ca. 20 nm wide and several micrometers long, with surface properties tailored by choice of modifying reagent. Modified by succinic anhydride, a cellulose nanofiber shows enhanced hydrophilicity, can be readily dispersed in water or DMSO, and gives a zeta potential of -38.7 mV due to carboxyl groups on the surface. Modified by dodecyl succinic anhydride, a cellulose nanofiber has excellent dispersibility in o-xylene and good compatibility with polyethylene. The polyethylene-cellulose nanofiber composite presents overall enhancement of mechanical properties. This method opens a new way to the production of functionalized cellulose nanofibers.