Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG improves cognitive impairments in mice with sepsis.

Background: Survivors of sepsis may encounter cognitive impairment following their recovery from critical condition. At present, there is no standardized treatment for addressing sepsis-associated encephalopathy. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) is a prevalent bacterium found in the gut microbiota and is an active component of probiotic supplements. LGG has demonstrated to be associated with cognitive improvement. This study explored whether LGG administration prior to and following induced sepsis could ameliorate cognitive deficits, and explored potential mechanisms. Methods: Female C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into three groups: sham surgery, cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), and CLP+LGG. Cognitive behavior was assessed longitudinally at 7-9d, 14-16d, and 21-23d after surgery using an open field test and novel object recognition test. The impact of LGG treatment on pathological changes, the expression level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and the phosphorylation level of the TrkB receptor (p-TrkB) in the hippocampus of mice at two weeks post-CLP (16d) were evaluated using histological, immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, and western blot analyses. Results: The CLP surgery induced and sustained cognitive impairment in mice with sepsis for a minimum of three weeks following the surgery. Compared to mice subjected to CLP alone, the administration of LGG improved the survival of mice with sepsis and notably enhanced their cognitive functioning. Moreover, LGG supplementation significantly alleviated the decrease in hippocampal BDNF expression and p-TrkB phosphorylation levels caused by sepsis, preserving neuronal survival and mitigating the pathological changes within the hippocampus of mice with sepsis. LGG supplementation mitigates sepsis-related cognitive impairment in mice and preserves BDNF expression and p-TrkB levels in the hippocampus.

D-DI/PLT can be a prognostic indicator for sepsis.

Aims: To investigate the indicators affecting the early outcome of patients with sepsis and to explore its prognostic efficacy for sepsis. Methods: We collected clinical data from 201 patients with sepsis admitted to the emergency department of Xijing Hospital between June 2019 and June 2022. The patients were categorized into groups (survival or fatality) based on their 28-day prognosis. The clinical characteristics, biochemical indexes, organ function-related indicators, and disease scores of the patients were analyzed for both groups. Risk factor analysis was conducted for the indicators with significant differences. Results: Among the indicators with significant differences between the deceased and survival groups, D-dimer (D-DI), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, platelet (PLT), international normalized ratio (INR), and D-DI/PLT were identified as independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of sepsis patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed that D-DI/PLT (area under the curve (AUC) = 93.9), D-DI (AUC = 89.6), PLT (AUC = 81.3), and SOFA (AUC = 78.4) had good judgment efficacy. Further, Kaplan Meier (K-M) survival analysis indicated that the 28-day survival rates of sepsis patients were significantly decreased when they had high levels of D-DI/PLT, D-DI, and SOFA as well as low PLTs. The hazard ratio (HR) of D-DI/PLT between the two groups was the largest (HR = 16.19). Conclusions: D-DI/PLT may be an independent risk factor for poor prognosis in sepsis as well as a clinical predictor of patient prognosis.

[IL-6, IL-1ß, and IL-10 levels in peripheral blood as indicators for early identification of gram-positive and gram-negative sepsis].

Objective To find out indicators for rapid identification of Gram-positive (G+) and Gram-negative (G-) bacteria through transcriptome sequencing of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and serum liquid-phase chip technology in early sepsis. Methods 35 eligible cases out of 182 sepsis patients in the emergency intensive care unit (EICU) were selected for retrospective analysis. They were divided into G+ group (12 cases) and G- group (23 cases) based on their blood culture results. General characteristics like patients' age, gender, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores, etc. and other laboratory indexes such as blood routine, IL-6, CRP, procalcitonin(PCT)of these two groups were analyzed. PBMCs were isolated through single density gradient centrifugation. Total RNA was extracted for transcriptome sequencing to find out differential genes. Serum liquid-phase chip technology was performed to detect serum granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), IFN-γ, IL-1ß, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, IL-17, monocytes chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in two groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn using bacteria types as a dependent variable and selected cytokines as test variables, to analyze the correlation between selected biomarkers and bacteria type. Results No significant difference in general characteristics, CRP, and PCT were found between the G+ and G- group. The serum level of IL-6 in G+ group was lower than that in the G- group. Transcriptome sequencing results revealed 30 immune-related genes that were differentially expressed in the PBMCs of two groups. Compared to the G+ group, the serum levels of IL-6 and IL-1ß in G- group significantly increased, while serum IL-10 was reduced. ROC curve analysis indicated that serum IL-6, IL-1ß, and IL-10 levels could identify the G- and G+ bacteria types. The combined diagnosis using these three indicators is highly applicable in distinguishing G- and G+ bacteria. Conclusion IL-6, IL-1ß and IL-10 levels can be used as indicators for early identification of sepsis induced by G+ or G- bacteria.

Dietary patterns and risk of mild cognitive impairment among Chinese elderly: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between food patterns and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among Chinese elderly to provide evidence for risk prevention and control of MCI among elderly population. METHODS: Between February 2017 to October 2018, a stratified multistage cluster sampling method was used to select participants from 760 communities of six districts in Xi'an, China, for 49-item food frequency questionnaire survey. A total of 2311 participants aged 60 to 88 years were included in the study with 444 (19.2%) participants of MCI among Chinese community-dwelling elderly adults. Food patterns associated with risk of dementia were assessed by using a reduced rank regression (RRR) analysis, and the multivariate linear regression was used to test trends of risk factors across scores for the food pattern. RESULTS: Four dietary patterns were extracted which explained 88.65% of the total variation in food intakes. Furthermore, the food pattern 1 (FP1) accounted for 60.25% of the total variation of all responsible variables and as a target dietary pattern in the study, which was related with high intake of legumes, vegetables, fruits, milk and dairy products, nuts and a low intake of noodles and cereals (p<0.05). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that participants with a high score for FP1 had higher direction, memory and language function and FP1 can improve the ability of cognitive function (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The FP1 of Chinese dietary patterns was significantly correlated with higher cognitive function which can reduce the risk of MCI among Chinese elderly.

Relationship of actual laminoplasty opening size and increment of the cross-sectional area based on single-door cervical laminoplasy.

BACKGROUND: Amounts of clinic research have been performed to investigate the increment of cross-sectional area in single-door cervical laminoplasty (SDCL). However, no one has taken the effects of surgery drill into consideration. METHODS: A mathematical model was built to investigate the relation of actual laminoplasty opening size (LOS), the transverse canal diameter (TCD), and the increment of cross-sectional area in SDCL). The model was based on geometric analysis on deformation of spinal canal; the relation was derived and characterized as: (Equation is included in full-text article.), where a is the TCD, b the actual LOS, c the size of mini-plate, and d is diameter of the surgery drill bit. In the equation, the related variables would be measured to estimate the increment of cross-sectional area before the surgery. In the current research, 25 patients authorized to use their CT scans of C3∼C7 as the subject samples. RESULTS: The effects of surgery SDCL were very significant; for each patient, the cross-sectional area was enlarged dramatically after the surgery (P < .01). On the contrary, the difference between the cross-sectional area obtained by the equation and that measured by software was statistically negligible (P > .05), which confirmed the reliability of the modeling equation. CONCLUSIONS: Before the SDCL, increment of the cross-sectional area can be estimated by the above-mentioned modeling equation with a high-level reliability. This method ensures the optimum selection of mini-plate before operation for each patient.