Given a passage classify if the passage has a definite objective/aim/goal or not. Output '1' if the passage has a defininte objective/aim/goal and output '0' if the passage does not have a definite objective/aim/goal.

Liver ischemia reperfusion (I/R) injury is a common pathophysiological process in many clinical settings. Carvacrol, a food additive commonly used in essential oils, has displayed antimicrobials, antitumor and antidepressant-like activities. In the present study, we investigated the protective effects of carvacrol on I/R injury in the Wistar rat livers and an in vitro hypoxia/restoration (H/R) model.', 'The hepatoportal vein, hepatic arterial and hepatic duct of Wistar rats were isolated and clamped for 30 min, followed by a 2 h reperfusion. Buffalo rat liver (BRL) cells were incubated under hypoxia for 4 h, followed normoxic conditions for 10 h to establish the H/R model in vitro. Liver injury was evaluated by measuring serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspatate aminotransferase (AST), and hepatic levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH) and malondiadehyde (MDA), and hepatic histology and TUNEL staining. MTT assay, flow cytometric analysis and Hoechst 33258 staining were used to evaluate the proliferation and apoptosis of BRL cells in vitro. Protein expression was examined by Western Blot analysis.', 'Carvacrol protected against I/R-induced liver damage, evidenced by significantly reducing the serum levels of ALT and AST, histological alterations and apoptosis of liver cells in I/R rats. Carvacrol exhibited anti-oxidative activity in the I/R rats, reflected by significantly reducing the activity of SOD and the content of MDA, and restoring the activity of CAT and the content of GSH, in I/R rats. In the in vitro assays, carvacrol restored the viability and inhibited the apoptosis of BRL cells, which were subjected to a mimic I/R injury induced by hypoxia. In the investigation on molecular mechanisms, carvacrol downregulated the expression of Bax and upregulated the expression of Bcl-2, thus inhibited the activation of caspase-3. Carvacrol was also shown to enhance the phosphorylation of Akt.
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Patients suffering traumatic brain and chest wall injuries are often difficult to liberate from the ventilator yet best timing of tracheostomy remains ill-defined. While prior studies have addressed early versus late tracheostomy, they generally suffer from the use of historical controls, which cannot account for variations in management over time. Propensity scoring can be utilized to identify controls from the same patient population, minimizing impact of confounding variables. The purpose of this study was to determine outcomes associated with early versus late tracheostomy by application of propensity scoring.', 'Patients requiring intubation within 48h and receiving tracheostomy from January 2010 to June 2012 were identified. Early tracheostomy (ET) was a tracheostomy performed by the fifth hospital day. ET patients were matched to late tracheostomy patients (LT, tracheostomy after day 5) using propensity scoring and compared for multiple outcomes. Cost for services was calculated using average daily billing rates at our institution.', 'One hundred and six patients were included, 53 each in the ET (mean day tracheostomy=4) and the LT (mean day tracheostomy=10) cohorts. The average age was 47 years and 94% suffered blunt injury, with an average NISS of 23.7. Patients in the ET group had significantly shorter TICU LOS (21.4 days vs. 28.6 days, p<0.0001) and significantly fewer ventilator days (16.7 days vs. 21.9, p<0.0001) compared to the LT group. ET patients also had significantly less VAP (34% vs. 64.2%, p=0.0019).
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Celastrol is an active ingredient of traditional herbal medicine and has recently been identified as a potent natural proteasome inhibitor. In the present study, we evaluated the radiosensitizing potential of celastrol in the human prostate cancer PC-3 model.', 'Clonogenic assays were performed to determine the radiosensitizing effect of celastrol. Apoptosis was examined by flow cytometry using Annexin V and propidium iodide staining and by a caspase-3 activation assay. DNA damage processing was examined by immunofluorescent staining and Western blot for phosphorylated H2AX (gammaH2AX). The PC-3 xenograft model in the athymic nude mouse was used for the determination of the in vivo efficacy of celastrol combined with radiotherapy. The tumor samples were also analyzed for apoptosis and angiogenesis.', 'Celastrol sensitized PC-3 cells to ionizing radiation (IR) in a dose- and schedule-dependent manner, in which pretreatment with celastrol for 1 h followed by IR achieved maximal radiosensitization. Celastrol significantly prolonged the presence of IR-induced gammaH2AX and increased IR-induced apoptosis. Celastrol, combined with fractionated radiation, significantly inhibited PC-3 tumor growth in vivo without obvious systemic toxicity. The combination treatment increased gammaH2AX levels and apoptosis, induced cleavage of poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose)polymerase and Mcl-1, and reduced angiogenesis in vivo compared with either treatment alone.

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