A scoring system based on inflammatory and nutritional indicators to predict the long-term survival of patients with non-metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

To develop a simple scoring system based on baseline inflammatory and nutritional markers to predict the long-term prognosis of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical data from 1024 newly diagnosed non-metastatic NPC patients. A total of 15 pre-treatment inflammatory and nutritional markers were collected as candidate variables. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine the optimal cutoff points for each parameter. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis. Besides, the Inflammation Nutrition Risk Score (INRS) was calculated for each patient by assigning each independent prognostic factor a score of 1. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that serum albumin (ALB), systemic immune-inflammation index, and monocyte count (M) were independent prognostic factors for OS (P < 0.05). Survival analysis showed that higher INRS was associated with a worsened prognosis. Patients in the high-risk group had shorter OS than in the low-risk group. In the training group, the 3-, 5-, and 8-years OS rates for the low-risk group versus high-risk group were 92.5% versus 87.8%, 87.4% versus 75.1%, and 84.6% versus 62.2%, respectively (P < 0.05). In the validation group, the 3-, 5-, and 8-years OS rates for the low-risk group vs. high-risk group were 95.0% versus 86.4%, 92.1% versus 82.2%, and 89.5% versus 74.3%, respectively (P < 0.05). Further subgroup analysis showed a significant difference in the OS between the high-risk group and low-risk group in patients with locally advanced disease (P < 0.05). The ROC curve demonstrated that INRS had a similar predictive value for long-term survival in NPC patients compared to TNM staging and serum EBV-DNA levels. Pretreatment ALB, M, and SIRI are independent prognostic factors for long-term survival in patients with NPC. INRS constructed based on these three factors can serve as a long-term prognostic indicator for NPC.

Long non-coding RNA and periodontitis / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND:In recent years,numerous studies have shown that long non-coding RNAs(lncRNAs)have an important role in the pathogenesis of periodontitis,including the immune response process and the biological activity and function of cells(periodontal stem cells and osteoblasts).Researchers attempt to regulate periodontal inflammation and periodontal regeneration by regulating lncRNA expression levels. OBJECTIVE:To review the progress of research on lncRNAs in periodontitis,thereby advancing the research of lncRNAs in periodontitis. METHODS:The first author searched PubMed,China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI),Web of Science database,and WanFang Database for relevant literature published up to March 2023."Long non-coding RNA,lncRNA,periodontitis,periodontium,immunity,inflammation,periodontal ligament stem cells,osteoclasts,osteogenic differentiation,bone resorption,bone formation,recurrence,hypoxia,oxidative stress,static mechanical strain"were used as the Chinese search terms."lncRNA,periodontitis,periodontal,immunity,inflammation,periodontal membrane stem cells,osteoclasts,osteogenic differentiation,bone resorption,bone formation,recurrence,hypoxia,oxidative stress,static mechanical strain"were used as the English search terms.The title and abstract of each paper were read for initial screening,and 87 papers were finally selected for inductive analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Periodontal pathogens stimulate the body,leading to immune imbalance that triggers inflammatory response and destroy periodontal tissue,and lncRNAs are involved in its regulatory mechanism.LncRNAs are involved in the pro-inflammatory regulation of periodontal ligament cells in an inflammatory environment,and their effects on osteoclast differentiation are regulated through ceRNA mechanism,which provides new clues for exploring the pathogenesis of periodontitis.For B cells and macrophages,lncRNAs can regulate the infiltration,cell activity and function of their subsets in periodontitis.LncRNAs participate in the immune response related to periodontitis mainly through two pattern recognition receptors,Toll-like receptors and NOD-like receptors,and nuclear factor-κB signaling pathway.To investigate whether lncRNAs can be used as a biomarker of periodontitis has great value in the diagnosis and prognosis of periodontitis.Animal experiments have demonstrated that the role of lncRNAs in periodontitis can be reversed by modulating the expression level of lncRNAs and thus lncRNAs act as an anti-inflammatory agent,which is of great value for the study of immunotherapy in periodontitis.The regulation of lncRNAs on periodontal ligament stem cells is mainly realized through endogenous competition mechanism and various signaling pathways,and its effects are influenced by various factors,such as inflammatory environment,mechanical strain,hypoxia and oxidative stress.Research on related mechanisms through these related factors provides new ideas for the treatment of periodontitis.

Application of scaffolding-based flipped classroom in Infectious Disease Nursing / 中华医学教育探索杂志

Objective:To explore the effects of the scaffolding-based flipped classroom approach in the teaching of Infectious Disease Nursing. Methods:We assigned 152 students of nursing and midwifery majors of grade 2018 (experimental group) to be taught using the scaffolding-based flipped classroom approach and 182 students of grade 2017 (control group) to be taught using the traditional lecture method. Teaching effects were evaluated through students' exam performance and a questionnaire survey. Numerical data were analyzed using the χ2 test and t test with the use of SPSS 18.0, and text data were processed using NVivo 11 for thematic analysis. Results:The experimental group and control group showed significant differences in the interim exam score (83.19±7.96 vs. 79.62±3.14, P<0.001) and final exam score (78.47±6.92 vs. 73.16±8.24, P<0.001). The students of grade 2018 had a high level of participation in online learning. The questionnaire results showed that the scaffolding-based flipped classroom was well recognized in terms of students' overall perception, perceived course quality, perceived value of learning, and satisfaction and the open-ended question, with low scores for learner complaints and loyalty. Conclusions:The scaffolding-based flipped classroom is feasible in the teaching of Infectious Disease Nursing, which can improve students' academic performance and overall competence.

Research Analysis of SLC12A3 Gene Mutation and Molecular Mechanism in Gitelman Syndrome / 罕见病研究

ObjectiveThis study aimed at conducting retrospective analysis of the clinical symptoms and genetic mutations in 20 children with Gitelman syndrome treated at the Affiliated Children′s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from August 2015 to November 2022 and also explored the molecular mechanism of the pathogenic high-frequency mutation D486N in the Chinese population.MethodsWe collected the clinical manifestations, growth and development status, laboratory examination results, and SLC12A3 gene variations of the patients. We distinguished the wild-type and mutant SLC12A3 genes overexpressed in human embryonic kidney 293T cells (HEK293T). We used protein immunoblotting to detect the expression level of NCC, and used immunofluorescence techniques to examine the subcellular localization of NCC. In addition, we investigated the impact of the high-frequency SLC12A3 gene mutation D486N on NCC protein expression and localization.ResultsIn the 20 patients with Gitelman syndrome, all of them had hypokalemia. We indemnified twenty-six SLC12A3 gene mutations, 13 of which are missense mutation, 1 of which synonymous mutation, 1 nonsense mutation, 4 frameshift mutation, and 7 splicing site mutation. Among them, four mutations (p.T235K, c.1096-1G > A, p.A464A, and c.2660+1_2660+2insT) were novel mutations.ConclusionsWe found the preliminary evidence that the high-frequency mutation D486N in the Chinese population affected the expression of total and membrane-bound NCC protein and influenced the membrane localization of NCC protein. The findings of this study provides experimental evidence for genetic counseling, diagnosis, and treatment of Gitelman syndrome.

Research Analysis of SLC12A3 Gene Mutation and Molecular Mechanism in Gitelman Syndrome / 罕见病研究

ObjectiveThis study aimed at conducting retrospective analysis of the clinical symptoms and genetic mutations in 20 children with Gitelman syndrome treated at the Affiliated Children′s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from August 2015 to November 2022 and also explored the molecular mechanism of the pathogenic high-frequency mutation D486N in the Chinese population.MethodsWe collected the clinical manifestations, growth and development status, laboratory examination results, and SLC12A3 gene variations of the patients. We distinguished the wild-type and mutant SLC12A3 genes overexpressed in human embryonic kidney 293T cells (HEK293T). We used protein immunoblotting to detect the expression level of NCC, and used immunofluorescence techniques to examine the subcellular localization of NCC. In addition, we investigated the impact of the high-frequency SLC12A3 gene mutation D486N on NCC protein expression and localization.ResultsIn the 20 patients with Gitelman syndrome, all of them had hypokalemia. We indemnified twenty-six SLC12A3 gene mutations, 13 of which are missense mutation, 1 of which synonymous mutation, 1 nonsense mutation, 4 frameshift mutation, and 7 splicing site mutation. Among them, four mutations (p.T235K, c.1096-1G > A, p.A464A, and c.2660+1_2660+2insT) were novel mutations.ConclusionsWe found the preliminary evidence that the high-frequency mutation D486N in the Chinese population affected the expression of total and membrane-bound NCC protein and influenced the membrane localization of NCC protein. The findings of this study provides experimental evidence for genetic counseling, diagnosis, and treatment of Gitelman syndrome.

Research advances in the prevention of catheter-related bloodstream infec-tion by locking solution / 中国感染控制杂志

Catheter-related bloodstream infection(CRBSI)is an important factor leading to death in patients with venous catheterization.Selection of catheter locking solution has become an important part in maintaining venous catheter.Locking solution with different chemical components have different effects on preventing CRBSI.There-fore,selecting a suitable and effective solution for locking is an important method to reduce the occurrence of CRB-SI.This paper reviews different types of domestic and foreign locking solutions with single or compound chemical compositions in the prevention of CRBSI,so as to provide theoretical reference for clinical health care workers in the selection and further research in locking solution.

Nanomaterial-based Therapeutics for Biofilm-generated Bacterial Infections / 生物化学与生物物理进展

Bacterial biofilms gave rise to persistent infections and multi-organ failure, thereby posing a serious threat to human health. Biofilms were formed by cross-linking of hydrophobic extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), such as proteins, polysaccharides, and eDNA, which were synthesized by bacteria themselves after adhesion and colonization on biological surfaces. They had the characteristics of dense structure, high adhesiveness and low drug permeability, and had been found in many human organs or tissues, such as the brain, heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, and skeleton. By releasing pro-inflammatory bacterial metabolites including endotoxins, exotoxins and interleukin, biofilms stimulated the body’s immune system to secrete inflammatory factors. These factors triggered local inflammation and chronic infections. Those were the key reason for the failure of traditional clinical drug therapy for infectious diseases.In order to cope with the increasingly severe drug-resistant infections, it was urgent to develop new therapeutic strategies for bacterial-biofilm eradication and anti-bacterial infections. Based on the nanoscale structure and biocompatible activity, nanobiomaterials had the advantages of specific targeting, intelligent delivery, high drug loading and low toxicity, which could realize efficient intervention and precise treatment of drug-resistant bacterial biofilms. This paper highlighted multiple strategies of biofilms eradication based on nanobiomaterials. For example, nanobiomaterials combined with EPS degrading enzymes could be used for targeted hydrolysis of bacterial biofilms, and effectively increased the drug enrichment within biofilms. By loading quorum sensing inhibitors, nanotechnology was also an effective strategy for eradicating bacterial biofilms and recovering the infectious symptoms. Nanobiomaterials could intervene the bacterial metabolism and break the bacterial survival homeostasis by blocking the uptake of nutrients. Moreover, energy-driven micro-nano robotics had shown excellent performance in active delivery and biofilm eradication. Micro-nano robots could penetrate physiological barriers by exogenous or endogenous driving modes such as by biological or chemical methods, ultrasound, and magnetic field, and deliver drugs to the infection sites accurately. Achieving this using conventional drugs was difficult. Overall, the paper described the biological properties and drug-resistant molecular mechanisms of bacterial biofilms, and highlighted therapeutic strategies from different perspectives by nanobiomaterials, such as dispersing bacterial mature biofilms, blocking quorum sensing, inhibiting bacterial metabolism, and energy driving penetration. In addition, we presented the key challenges still faced by nanobiomaterials in combating bacterial biofilm infections. Firstly, the dense structure of EPS caused biofilms spatial heterogeneity and metabolic heterogeneity, which created exacting requirements for the design, construction and preparation process of nanobiomaterials. Secondly, biofilm disruption carried the risk of spread and infection the pathogenic bacteria, which might lead to other infections. Finally, we emphasized the role of nanobiomaterials in the development trends and translational prospects in biofilm treatment.

Research progress of histone acetylation in prevention and treatment of heart failure and new ideas based on traditional Chinese medicine / 中国中药杂志

Chronic heart failure(CHF) has become a worldwide public health problem due to its high morbidity and mortality, which seriously endangers people's lifespan and quality of life. In recent years, the treatment strategy of CHF has shifted its emphasis on short-term improvement and transformation of hemodynamics to long-term repair as well as improvement of the biological properties of heart failure. At present, with the continuous deepening of medical research, it has been found that histone acetylation is closely related to the occurrence and development of CHF. Traditional Chinese medicine, via regulating histone acetylation, delays ventricular remodeling, improves energy metabolism, inhibits fibrosis and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, and intervenes in the development process of heart failure, thus reducing the mortality and the readmission rate and ultimately improving long-term prognosis. Therefore, this study reviewed the mechanism of histone acetylation in the treatment of heart failure as well as its prevention and treatment with traditional Chinese medicine, to provide reference for clinical treatment of CHF.

The efficacy and safety of intravenous sucrose iron therapy for recurrent iron deficiency anemia / 中华血液学杂志

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravenous iron supplementation in patients with recurrent iron deficiency anemia (IDA) . Methods: This retrospective analysis of 90 patients with recurrent IDA from May 2012 to December 2021 was conducted, comparing the efficacy and safety of the intravenous iron therapy group and the oral iron therapy group. Results: Among the 90 patients with recurrent IDA, 20 were males and 70 were females, with a median age of 40 (range: 14-85) years. A total of 60 patients received intravenous iron supplementation and 30 received oral iron supplementation. The hematologic response rates in the intravenous iron group were significantly higher than those in the oral iron group at 4 and 8 weeks after treatment [80.0% (48/60) vs 3.3% (1/30) and 96.7% (58/60) vs 46.7% (14/30), all P<0.001, respectively]. The median increase in hemoglobin levels was also significantly higher in the intravenous iron group than in the oral iron group [38 (4, 66) g/L vs 7 (1, 22) g/L at week 4 and 44.5 (18, 80) g/L vs 19 (3, 53) g/L at week 8, all P<0.001]. The intravenous iron group had a significantly higher proportion of patients who achieved normal hemoglobin levels than the oral iron group (55.0% vs 0 and 90% vs 43.3%, all P<0.001, respectively). Iron metabolism indicators were tested before and after 8 weeks of treatment in 26 and 7 patients in the intravenous and oral iron groups, respectively. The median increase in serum ferritin (SF) levels in the intravenous iron group 8 weeks after treatment was 113.7 (49.7, 413.5) μg/L, and 54% (14/26) of these patients had SF levels of ≥100 μg/L, which was significantly higher than the median increase in SF levels in the oral iron group [14.0 (5.8, 84.2) μg/L, t=4.760, P<0.001] and the proportion of patients with SF levels of ≥100 μg/L (P=0.013). The incidence of adverse reactions was 3.3% (2/60) in the intravenous iron group, which was significantly lower than that in the oral iron group [20.0% (6/30), P=0.015]. Conclusion: Intravenous iron supplementation is more effective for hematologic response, faster hemoglobin increase, and higher iron storage replenishment rates compared with oral iron supplementation in patients with recurrent IDA, and it is well tolerated by patients.

Exploration in the medication law and core TCM prescriptions of Jia Yuejin in the treatment of coronary heart disease complicated with depression based on the "target-component-Chinese materia medica" and clinical data / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective:To explore the medication law and core TCM prescriptions of Jia Yuejin in the treatment of coronary heart disease (CHD) complicated with depressive disorder (DD) by analyzing target-based network and mining clinical data.Methods:The targets of CHD complicated with DD were obtained by GeneCards, OMIM, TTD and other databases, and then the protein-protein interaction network of the two disease targets was constructed and then screened out the core targets. The Metascape platform was used to perform GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis on the intersection targets respectively to analyze the mechanism of action of CHD complicated with DD. Then TCMSP was used to query the active components acting on the targets and the Chinese materia medica containing these active components, and the data were imported into Cytoscape 3.9.0 to construct the core target-active component-Chinese materia medica network for network topology analysis. The outpatient clinical data of Jia Yuejin from January 1, 2015 to January 1, 2021 were collected, and data mining was conducted by using the Ancient and Modern Medical Case Cloud Platform (V2.3.5) to obtain his commonly used prescriptions. The results were fitted with the core TCM prescriptions obtained by target network analysis, and the drugs in the core prescriptions were analyzed.Results:Totally 1 501 intersection targets were obtained by protein interaction network analysis of CHD complicated with DD, which could be divided into 4 core target clusters, including inflammation cause, subclass tumor cause, subclass lipid metabolism factor, and fibrosis factor; a total of 480 active components were obtained by TCMSP, which belonged to 181 types of Chinese materia medica, including 8 core components: quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, carotene, beta-carotene, acacetin, formononetin and ellagic acid. GO enrichment analysis yielded 61 results, mainly including positive regulation of protein phosphorylation, signal receptor agonist activity, side of membrane , etc.; KEGG pathway enrichment analysis yielded a total of 20 results, mainly including cancer pathways, lipid and atherosclerosis, JAK-STAT signaling pathway, etc. Clinical data mining included 120 cases and 148 prescriptions, including 135 types of Chinese materia medica; the properties were mainly mild, warm, slightly cold and cold; the tastes were mainly sweet, bitter and light, and the medicine mainly belongs to the lung, spleen, liver, heart, stomach, kidney and other meridians; drug association analysis, cluster analysis and complex network analysis were used to synthesize common prescriptions. The core TCM prescriptions obtained from common prescription and target network analysis were fitted: Pinelliae Rhizoma, Glycyrrhizae Radixet Rhizoma, Bupleuri Radix, Cyperi Rhizoma, Salviea Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Corydalis Rhizoma, Codonopsis Radix, Astragali Radix, Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma. Conclusion:The medication law of Jia Yuejin in the treatment of CHD complicated with DD is in accordance with core TCM prescriptions. This study can provide guidance for clinical treatment and further research of CHD complicated with DD.