Positive effect of deep diaphragmatic breathing training on gastroesophageal reflux-induced chronic cough: a clinical randomized controlled study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To explore the efficacy of deep diaphragmatic breathing training (DEP) in patients with gastroesophageal reflux-induced chronic cough (GERC). METHODS: A randomized controlled study was conducted involving 60 GERC patients who were divided into the intervention group and the control group (each with 30 patients). Both groups received routine medication treatment for GERC, while the intervention group received DEP training additionally. Both groups were evaluated by cough symptom scores, Hull airway reflux questionnaire (HARQ), gastroesophageal reflux diagnostic questionnaire (GerdQ), generalized anxiety disorder scale-7 (GAD-7), patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), the Leicester cough questionnaire (LCQ), as well as capsaicin cough sensitivity testing, B-ultrasound and surface electromyography (sEMG) of the diaphragmatic muscles before and after treatment. The cough resolution rate and changes of the above indictors was compared between the two groups after eight weeks of treatment. RESULTS: After eight weeks of treatment, cough symptoms improved in both groups, but the cough resolution rate in the intervention group of 94% was significantly higher than that in the control group of 77% (χ2 = 6.402, P = 0.041). The intervention group showed significant improvements to the control group in GerdQ (6.13(0.35) VS 6.57(0.77)), GAD-7 (0(0;1) VS 1(0;3)), PSQI (2(1;3) VS 4(3;6)), LCQ (17.19(1.56) VS 15.88(1.92)) and PHQ-9 (0(0;0) VS 0(0;3)) after treatment. Compared to control group, sEMG activity of the diaphragmatic muscle was significantly increased in the intervention group after treatment, measured during DEP (79.00(2.49) VS 74.65 (1.93)) and quiet breathing (72.73 (1.96) VS 67.15 (2.48)). CONCLUSION: DEP training can improve cough symptoms as an adjunctive treatment in GERC patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The protocol was registered in February 2, 2022 via the Chinese Clinical Trials Register ( http://www.chictr.org.cn/ ) [ChiCTR2200056246].

A taste alteration-related scale assesses megestrol to improve chemotherapy-induced anorexia.

PURPOSE: We evaluated the efficacy of megestrol in improving chemotherapy-related anorexia by analyzing the related scales of taste alteration. METHODS: We conducted the current study on a group of advanced patients with cancer with two or more chemotherapy cycles. The chemotherapy-induced taste alteration scale (CiTAs) scale helped assess the megestrol effects on basic taste perception, aversive taste changes, unpleasant symptoms, and associated concerns. Furthermore, the Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire scale (SNAQ) helped measure the impact of megestrol on malnutrition likelihood in patients experiencing chemotherapy-induced anorexia. The World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-BREF Scale was used to evaluate the quality of life of participants, producing scores related to physical health, psychological well-being, environmental factors, and social relationships. RESULTS: The CiTAs scale assessment indicated that administering megestrol significantly enhanced taste perception among advanced patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Notably, the megestrol group patients showed significantly higher Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire (SNAQ) scores than the control group. The megestrol group patients also exhibited higher physiological (PHYS) scores than their control group counterparts. However, this distinction was not statistically significant. The study findings indicate that patients who received megestrol demonstrated significantly higher scores in psychological (PSYCH) and environmental(ENVIR) domains than the control group. Furthermore, megestrol administration was associated with significantly elevated SOCIL and ENVIR levels in patients. CONCLUSION: The proficient efficacy evaluation of megestrol in enhancing appetite, mitigating malnutrition likelihood, and improving the quality of life of chemotherapy-induced anorexic patients can be achieved through taste-related scales.

Droplet microfluidic-based loop-mediated isothermal amplification (dLAMP) for simultaneous quantification of multiple targets.

The quantification of trace nucleic acids in biological samples is a frequent requirement in experimental and clinical diagnostics. Here, we present a protocol for the digital quantification of multiple nucleic acid targets with droplet microfluidics-based loop-mediated isothermal amplification (dLAMP). Our protocol provides a fundamental platform for the absolute quantification of multiple nucleic acid targets with high specificity, allowing readily adaption in various in vitro diagnostic settings. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Tan et al. (2021a, 2021b).

Prefrontal brain function in patients with chronic insomnia disorder: A pilot functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.

Purpose: Insomnia is one of the most common diseases in elderly patients, which seriously affect the quality of life and psychological state of patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in the functional network pattern of the prefrontal cortex in patients with chronic insomnia disorder (CID) after taking drugs, using non-invasive and low-cost functional neuroimaging with multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Methods: All subjects were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD), Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), and fNIRS. The fNIRS assessment consists of two parts: the verbal fluency test (VFT) task state and the resting state, which assessed the differences in prefrontal activation and functional connectivity, respectively. Results: A total of 30 patients with chronic insomnia disorder (CID) and 15 healthy peers completed the study. During the VFT task, a significantly lower PFC activation was observed in patients with insomnia compared to the control group (P < 0.05). However, the PFC activation in patients taking medication was higher than in patients who did not receive medication. Functional connectivity analysis showed a weaker mean PFC channel connectivity strength in patients with CID who did not receive drug treatment. Drug treatment resulted in enhanced functional connectivity of the prefrontal lobe, especially the DLPFC and frontal poles. Conclusion: A weak prefrontal cortex response was detected in patients with CID when performing the VFT task, which could be enhanced by taking hypnotics. The weakened right prefrontal lobe network may play a role in the development of CID. fNIRS may serve as a potential tool to assess sleep status and guide drug therapy.

Multiplexed droplet loop-mediated isothermal amplification with scorpion-shaped probes and fluorescence microscopic counting for digital quantification of virus RNAs.

Highly sensitive digital nucleic acid techniques are of great significance for the prevention and control of epidemic diseases. Here we report the development of multiplexed droplet loop-mediated isothermal amplification (multiplexed dLAMP) with scorpion-shaped probes (SPs) and fluorescence microscopic counting for simultaneous quantification of multiple targets. A set of target-specific fluorescence-activable SPs are designed, which allows establishment of a novel multiplexed LAMP strategy for simultaneous detection of multiple cDNA targets. The digital multiplexed LAMP assay is thus developed by implementing the LAMP reaction using a droplet microfluidic chip coupled to a droplet counting microwell chip. The droplet counting system allows rapid and accurate counting of the numbers of total droplets and the positive droplets by collecting multi-color fluorescence images of the droplets in a microwell. The multiplexed dLAMP assay was successfully demonstrated for the quantification of HCV and HIV cDNA with high precision and detection limits as low as 4 copies per reaction. We also verified its potential for simultaneous digital assay of HCV and HIV RNA in clinical plasma samples. This multiplexed dLAMP technique can afford a useful platform for highly sensitive and specific detection of nucleic acids of viruses and other pathogens, enabling rapid diagnosis and prevention of infectious diseases.

Digital Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification-Based Absolute Methylation Quantification Revealed Hypermethylated DAPK1 in Cervical Cancer Patients.

The aberrant methylation of many genes has been reported to be associated with various carcinomas. Accurate detection of the methylation level could provide critical insights into the diagnostic analysis of diseases. Here, a sensitive HpaII-edited absolute droplet loop-mediated isothermal amplification (HEADLAMP) method based on methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme (MSRE) HpaII was developed for the digital quantification of DNA methylation. Methylation levels of the death-associated protein kinase 1 (DAPK1) gene that is associated with many cancers were studied using ß-actin as an internal reference. DAPK1 (2.5 pM) with 0.01% methylation (250 aM) can be detected with the conventional HpaII-edited LAMP assay. Using HEADLAMP, as low as 1% methylation level can be distinguished with an estimated limit of detection of 5 aM (ca. 3 copies/µL). Moreover, HEADLAMP can detect low levels of methylated DAPK1 in normal L-02 cells, while the conventional assay cannot. Finally, HEADLAMP was applied to the detection of DAPK1 methylation in 20 clinical tissue samples, which revealed hypermethylated DAPK1 in cervical cancer patients. We envisage potential applications of this robust, specific, and sensitive HEADLAMP assay in epigenetic studies and early clinical diagnosis.

Coumarin Sulfonamides and Amides Derivatives: Design, Synthesis, and Antitumor Activity In Vitro.

Coumarins possesses immeasurable antitumor potential with minimum side effects depending on the substitutions on the basic nucleus, which exhibits great prospects for antitumor drug development. In an attempt to develop novel antitumor candidates, a series of coumarin sulfonamides and amides derivatives were designed and synthetized. The majority of these derivatives showed good cytotoxic activity against MDA-MB-231 and KB cell lines, among which compound 9c was the most potent against MDA-MB-231 cells, with IC50 value of 9.33 µM, comparable to 5-fluorouracil. Further investigation revealed that compound 9c had versatile properties against tumors, including inhibition of cell migration and invasion as well as inducing apoptosis. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) assay and western blotting analysis suggested that compound 9c promoted cancer cell apoptosis by increasing ROS levels and upregulating the expression of caspase-3 in MDA-MB-231 cells. These results indicated that compound 9c could be promising lead compound for further antitumor drug research.

Synthesis and anticancer activity of new coumarin-3-carboxylic acid derivatives as potential lactatetransportinhibitors.

As an oncometabolite, lactate plays a very important role in tumor proliferation, metastasis, angiogenesis, immune escape and other tumor biological functions. Pharmacological inhibition oflactate transport has been viewed as a promising therapeutic strategy to target a range of human cancers. In this study, a series of new coumarin-3-carboxylic acid derivatives 5a-t and 9a-b were synthesized and evaluated as lactate transport inhibitors. Their cytotoxic activity has been tested against three cell lines high-expressing and low-expressing monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) which acts as the main carrier for lactate. Compound 5c-e, 5g-i and 5m-o showed significant cytotoxicity and good selectivity against Hela and HCT116 cell lines with high MCT1 expression. Notably, coumarin-3-hydrazide 5o, the lead molecule with the most potent cytotoxic activity, exhibitedsignificant anti-proliferationandapoptosisinductioneffects. Further studies revealed that compound 5o decreased the expression level of target MCT1, and suppressed the energetic metabolism of Hela and HCT116 cells byremarkably reducing glucoseconsumptionandlactate production. Additionally, compound 5o induced intracellular lactate accumulation and inhibited lactate uptake, which implied that it blocked lactate transport via MCT1. These results indicate a good start point for the development of lactate transport inhibitors as new anticancer agents.

A DNA-mediated crosslinking strategy to enhance cellular delivery and sensor performance of protein spherical nucleic acids.

Intracellular delivery of enzymes is essential for protein-based diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Protein-spherical nucleic acids (ProSNAs) defined by protein core and dense shell of oligonucleotides have been demonstrated as a promising vehicle-free enzyme delivery platform. In this work, we reported a crosslinking strategy to vastly improve both delivery efficiency and intracellular sensor performance of ProSNA. By assembling individual ProSNA with lactate oxidase (LOX) core into a nanoscale particle, termed as crosslinked SNA (X-SNA), the enzyme delivery efficiency increased up to 5-6 times higher. The LOX X-SNA was later demonstrated as a ratiometric probe for quantitative detection of lactate in living cells. More importantly, X-SNA probe showed significantly improved sensor performance with signal-to-noise ratio 4 times as high as ProSNA when detecting intracellular lactate.

[A study on introduction of chitinase gene and beta-1,3-glucanase gene into restorer line of dian-type hybrid rice (Oryza sativa L.) and enhanced resistance to blast (Magnaporthe grisea)].

Plasmid pBLGC containing chitinase gene from Phaseolus limensis and beta-1,3-glucanase gene from Nicotiana tabacum was bombarded into the restorer line "Nan29" of Dian-type hybrid rice (Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica) from Yunnan province of South-west China. 93 regenerants were obtained from the calli that were resistant to G418 (100 to 150 mg/L) on NB medium. Using beta-1,3 glucanase gene as the probe, 17 of the regenerants were identified to be transgenic lines by dot blotting and the foreign genes construction were integrated into the genomes of T1 lines by Southern blotting hybridization. Two foreign genes were inherited stably to T4 generation according to PCR results of the lines. The resistance to rice blast of six transgenic lines were evaluated by inoculating four violent biological races of Magnaporthe grisea from Yunnan province and inducing the disease in the field. The results indicated that the resistance to rice blast of transgenic lines were enhanced to varying degrees compared with the receptor line and the transgenic lines could be used in rice blast resistant breeding.