The Correlation between Serum Vitamin D and Total IgE Levels and Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria among Chinese Population: A Retrospective Study.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationship between serum vitamin D, total IgE levels and chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). Methods: We collected data from 101 patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (experimental group) and 115 healthy normal subjects (control group) in the same period of physical examination. Results: The results showed that the number of deficient and absolute deficient 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the experimental group was significantly lower than in the control group (P < 0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that the activity score of CSU patients was negatively correlated with serum vitamin D (r = -0.2278, P = 0.0220) and positively correlated with IgE (r = 0.2078, P = 0.0380). It was observed that serum vitamin D in CSU patients was negatively correlated with their activity (r = -0.2278, P = 0.0220) and positively correlated with age (r = 0.2675, P = 0.0069). The Point-biserial correlation analysis revealed that gender was positively correlated with serum vitamin D (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.286, P = 0.004) and UAS score (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.273, P = 0.006). Ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that only serum vitamin D was correlated to activity scores (P = 0.008). In addition to activity scores, age (P = 0.005) and gender (P = 0.04) were correlated to serum vitamin D. Conclusion: The activity score of CSU patients was negatively correlated with serum vitamin D and positively correlated with IgE. Serum vitamin D in CSU patients was negatively correlated with activity score and disease duration and positively correlated with age and gender.

Effect of melatonin on oxidative stress indicators in animal models of fibrosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Imbalance of oxidative stress has been detected in a range of fibrotic diseases. Melatonin as an indoleamine hormone plays an important role in regulating the circadian rhythm of human, while in recent years, its antioxidant effect has also attracted increasing attention. This study aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to comprehensively evaluate the antioxidant effect of melatonin in animal models of fibrosis. METHODS: The PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang database, China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), and SinoMed databases were searched from inception to March 1st, 2022 to retrieve eligible studies that evaluated the effect of melatonin supplementation on the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), lipid peroxidation (LPO), nitric oxide (NO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and catalase (CAT) in animal models of fibrosis. RESULTS: A total of 64 studies were included in this meta-analysis. The results showed that melatonin supplementation significantly reduced the levels of oxidative indicators including MDA (P < 0.00001), LPO (P < 0.00001) and NO (P < 0.0001), and elevated the levels of antioxidant indicators including GSH (P < 0.00001), GPx (P < 0.00001) and SOD (P < 0.00001) in fibrotic diseases. CONCLUSIONS: Our research findings showed that melatonin supplementation could significantly reduce the levels of oxidative indicators including MDA, LPO and NO and elevate the levels of antioxidant indicators including GSH, GPx and SOD so as to correct oxidative stress in animal models of fibrosis. However, no significant changes were observed in CAT level. More clinical studies are needed to further confirm the beneficial role of melatonin in fibrotic diseases.

Predictive performances of 6 data mining techniques for obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome.

PURPOSE: This study compared the effects of 6 types of obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) prediction models to develop a reference for selecting OSAHS data mining tools in clinical practice. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 401 cases. They were randomly divided into 2 groups: training (70%) and testing (30%). Logistic regression, a Bayesian network, an artificial neural network, a support vector learning machine, C5.0, and a classification and regression tree were each adopted to establish 6 prediction models. After training, the 6 models were used to test the remaining samples and calculate the correct and error rates of each model. RESULTS: Twenty-one input variables for which the difference between the patient and nonpatient groups was statistically significant were considered. The models found the abdominal circumference, neck circumference, and nocturia ≥2 per night to be the most important variables. The support vector machine, neural network, and C5.0 models performed better than the classification and regression tree, Bayesian network, and logistic regression models. CONCLUSIONS: In terms of predicting the risk of OSAHS, the support vector machine, neural network, and C5.0 were superior to the classification and regression tree, Bayesian network, and logistic regression models. However, such results were obtained based on the data of a single center, so they need to be further validated by other institutions.

Peripheral blood oxidative stress markers for obstructive sleep apnea-a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and oxidative stress markers in blood. METHODS: We conducted a systematic literature search on databases including Pubmed and Embase for studies reporting circulating oxidative stress markers in patients with OSA and controls that were published between 1988 and June 2019. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated. RESULTS: Of the 2226 articles initially retrieved, 52 were included in our meta-analysis, covering a total of 12 oxidative stress markers. The concentrations of malondialdehyde (SMD = 1.18; 95%CI: 0.87, 1.49; p < 0.001), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (SMD = 1.82; 95%CI: 0.79, 2.86; p = 0.001), advance oxidative protein products (SMD = 0.68; 95%CI: 0.14, 1.23; p = 0.014), total oxidant capacity (SMD = 1.32; 95%CI: 0.33, 2.31; p = 0.009), and asymmetric dimethylarginine (SMD = 0.32; 95%CI: 0.16, 0.47; p < 0.001) in the blood of patients with OSA were higher than those of the control group, whereas the concentrations of thiols (SMD = - 0.37; 95%CI: - 0.60, - 0.15; p = 0.001) and nitric oxide (SMD = - 2.61; 95%CI: - 4.02, - 1.21; p < 0.001) were lower than those of the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The oxidative stress markers in the blood of patients with OSA were aberrant, indicating an imbalanced state of oxidation and antioxidation in OSA.

A meta-analysis on the relationship of exosomes and the prognosis of lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: A lot of research evidence shows that exosomes play an indelible role in the prognosis of lung cancer, but there are many disputes. Therefore, we conduct a meta-analysis to further demonstrate. METHODS: A literature retrieval was performed through a search of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane, CKNI, Wanfang, and other databases to locate documents from the literature that satisfied the inclusion criteria. There were four outcome indicators: overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and progression-free survival (PFS). Subgroup analysis was conducted according to sample size, country, detection method, analysis method, and pathological type. Stata 14.0 software was used to evaluate the prognostic value of exosomes in lung cancer. RESULTS: A total of 2456 patients with lung cancer from 29 studies in 16 articles were included. The expression level of exosomes was closely associated with the OS and DFS of patients, although no statistical difference was observed between exosomes and DSS or PFS. Eighteen studies with 2,110 patients were evaluated to examine the prognostic value of exosomes in lung cancer by exploring the association between exosomes and OS. The results showed that exosomes were strongly associated with worse OS, and the combined hazard ratio (HR) was 2.01 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.70-2.39, P = .000). Six studies investigated the association between exosomes and DFS, and showed a pooled HR of 2.48 (95% CI: 1.75-3.53, P = .000). CONCLUSION: Our analysis indicated that the expression level of exosomes was closely associated with the OS and DFS of patients with lung cancer, suggesting that exosomes are associated with poor prognosis of lung cancer. Exosomes may be a new biomarker for the prognosis of lung cancer, although a large number of prospective studies are still needed to support this.

Fe doped SrWO4 with tunable band structure for photocatalytic nitrogen fixation.

Transition metal element doping into semiconducting materials has been a promising method for the preparation of active photocatalysts for the efficient use of solar energy. In this study, we report the facile synthesis of Fe doped SrWO4 nanoparticles by a solvothermal method for photocatalytic nitrogen reduction. The intrinsic bandgap of SrWO4 is greatly narrowed by the Fe-dopant which not only extends the light absorption from UV to visible light range, but also reduces the charge recombination. The narrowed band structure still fulfils the thermodynamic requirements of nitrogen reduction reaction. At optimal doping concentration, Fe doped SrWO4 shows much higher photocatalytic nitrogen fixation performance. The present study provides a route toward the development of active photocatalysts for nitrogen fixation.

Hierarchical Porous Carbon with Interconnected Ordered Pores from Biowaste for High-Performance Supercapacitor Electrodes.

Using biowastes as precursors for the preparation of value-added nanomaterials is critical to the sustainable development of devices. Lignosulphonates are the by-products of pulp and paper-making industries and usually discarded as wastes. In the present study, lignosulphonate is used as the precursor to prepare hierarchical ordered porous carbon with interconnected pores for the electrochemical energy storage application. The unique molecular structure and properties of lignosulphonate ensure the acquisition of high-quality porous carbon with a controllable pore structure and improved physical properties. As a result, the as-prepared hierarchical order porous carbon show excellent energy storage performance when used to assemble the symmetric supercapacitor, which exhibits high-specific capacitance of 289 F g-1 at a current density of 0.5 A g-1, with the energy density of 40 Wh kg-1 at the power density of 900 W kg-1. The present study provides a promising strategy for the fabrication of high-performance energy storage devices at low cost.

Detection of pulmonary oedema by electrical impedance tomography: validation of previously proposed approaches in a clinical setting.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to evaluate two previously proposed approaches based on electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to assess pulmonary oedema at the bedside. APPROACH: Fourteen patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome were included and examined prospectively. Patients were rotated laterally along their longitudinal axis from supine to 45-degree left and right tilt to induce a gravity-dependent redistribution of pulmonary oedema. After a 20 min equilibration period at each of the three positions, 2 min EIT data were recorded and analyzed. Left-to-right lung and anterior-to-posterior ventilation ratios were calculated for each posture. The slopes of the regression lines in all three postures were then determined. The same examination was performed on the consecutive day. The EIT-derived parameters were compared with transcardiopulmonary thermodilution measurements. MAIN RESULTS: The correlations between the EIT and transcardiopulmonary thermodilution parameters were low (correlation coefficients r < 0.4) and not significant regardless of the examination days. SIGNIFICANCE: Despite previous clinical and experimental observations, left-to-right and anterior-to-posterior ventilation ratios derived from EIT examinations after postural changes did not reflect total extravascular lung water in our study population. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02870894 Registered 17 AUG 2016 (https://clinicaltrials.gov).

Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Expressing Thioredoxin 1 Attenuate Bleomycin-Induced Skin Fibrosis and Oxidative Stress in Scleroderma.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disorder that affects multiple organs. It is characterized by a thickening of the dermis and connective tissue caused by collagen accumulation, and vascular injuries that induce hypoxia. The present study investigated the therapeutic potential of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) expressing thioredoxin 1 (Trx-1) in treating SSc-mediated skin disease after transplantation into a bleomycin-induced murine model. Mice with bleomycin-induced SSc were subcutaneously injected with BMSCs or Trx-1-overexpressing BMSCs and exposed to hypoxic conditions for 48 hours. Two weeks later, skin tissue samples were collected to assess fibrosis, oxidative stress, and angiogenesis by western blotting, ELISA, and histologic and immunofluorescence approaches. In vivo experiments showed that Trx-1-overexpressing BMSCs inhibited hypoxia-induced apoptosis and inhibited fibrosis under hypoxic conditions, possibly by downregulating transforming growth factor-ß. Trx-1-overexpressing BMSCs also promoted the formation of tubular-like structures by endothelial progenitor cells, indicating that Trx-1 can promote angiogenesis in bleomycin-induced SSc. These results demonstrate that the transplantation of Trx-1-overexpressing BMSCs restored normal skin tissue in a mouse model of bleomycin-induced SSc, highlighting the therapeutic potential of engineered BMSCs for treating SSc.

Oxidative stress markers in blood in systemic sclerosis: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between systemic sclerosis (SSC) and oxidative stress markers in blood. METHODS: We conducted a systematic literature search of databases, including PubMed and Embase, for studies reporting circulating oxidative stress markers in patients with SSC and controls published from 1980 to December 2015. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated. RESULTS: Of the 1076 articles initially retrieved, 47 were included in our meta-analysis including 12 oxidative stress markers. The concentrations of nitric oxide (SMD = 0.77; 95%CI: 0.18, 1.36; p = 0.01), malondialdehyde (SMD =1.63; 95%CI: 1.03, 2.24; p = 0.000), asymmetric dimethylarginine (SMD = 0.51; 95%CI: 0.12, 0.91; p = 0.011), and ROOH (SMD = 3.37; 95%CI: 0.28, 6.46; p = 0.033) in the blood of patients with SSC were higher than those of the control group, whereas the concentrations of superoxide dismutase (SMD = -1.11; 95%CI: -1.57, -0.65; p = 0.000) and vitamin C (SMD = -1.12; 95%CI: -1.51, -0.73; p = 0.000) were lower than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The oxidative stress markers in blood for patients with SSC were aberrant, indicating the imbalanced states of oxidation and antioxidation in SSC.

Activation of TGF-ß1 by AQP3-Mediated H2O2 Transport into Fibroblasts of a Bleomycin-Induced Mouse Model of Scleroderma.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), the most important reactive oxygen species, mediates intracellular signal transmission and is transported into cells by aquaporin 3 (AQP3). However, it remains unclear whether AQP3 is involved in the pathogenesis of scleroderma. In this study, we examined the role of AQP3 in a bleomycin-induced mouse model of scleroderma. We observed that H2O2 and AQP3 levels in mouse skin increased with the bleomycin injection period relative to phosphate-buffered saline-injected control mice. AQP3 mRNA and protein levels were higher in bleomycin mice fibroblasts than in phosphate-buffered saline mice fibroblasts, and AQP3 immunofluorescence signals in the cytoplasm and cell membrane of bleomycin mice fibroblasts were much stronger than those in phosphate-buffered saline mice fibroblasts. Bleomycin-induced increases in H2O2, transforming growth factor-ß1, collagen type I, and collagen type III levels in bleomycin mice fibroblasts were blocked by silencing AQP3. In addition, silencing AQP3 decreased H2O2 levels, transforming growth factor-ß1 expression, and fibrosis in the scleroderma mouse model. These results demonstrate that AQP3-mediated transport of H2O2 into bleomycin mice fibroblasts activated transforming growth factor-ß1, and silencing AQP3 is a potential approach for treating scleroderma.