Cognition and attitudes of hospice care among healthcare providers: a case study of Sichuan Province.

BACKGROUND: Under the background of the increasing aging population and cancer burden in China, the role of hospice care has become increasingly prominent. The government has paid more attention to the development of hospice care and set up pilot hospitals to promote hospice care. Moreover, healthcare providers play a leading role in hospice care services. To improve the quality of hospice care, the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China proposed to set up hospice care training bases in municipal or above-level hospitals with hospice care or relevant work foundations, and train healthcare providers on hospice care. This study aimed to investigate the current situation of cognition and attitudes about hospice care among healthcare providers and provide a theoretical basis for hospital training. METHODS: We used a quantitative design. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1591 healthcare providers from August 2022 to November 2022. SPSS 22.0 software was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: As a significant way of continuing education for healthcare providers, hospital training hasn't been effectively exploited in hospice care education. The average score of hospice care knowledge among participants was (7.74 ± 2.242) and the average score of hospice care attitudes among participants was (4.55 ± 1.503). According to multivariate linear regression analysis, sex (p < 0.001), education levels (p < 0.001), and professional titles (p = 0.018) of participants had significant difference on the score of hospice care knowledge; education levels (p = 0.009) and professional titles (p = 0.016) of participants had significant difference on the score of hospice care attitudes. CONCLUSIONS: There were some misunderstandings about hospice care among healthcare providers and their attitudes towards hospice care were inactive. It's suggested that hospitals should carry out professional and systematic education courses to help healthcare providers understand hospice care correctly, and participate in hospice care services actively.

Induction of plant disease resistance by mixed oligosaccharide elicitors prepared from plant cell wall and crustacean shells.

Basal plant immune responses are activated by the recognition of conserved microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs), or breakdown molecules released from the plants after damage by pathogen penetration, so-called damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). While chitin-oligosaccharide (CHOS), a primary component of fungal cell walls, is most known as MAMP, plant cell wall-derived oligosaccharides, cello-oligosaccharides (COS) from cellulose, and xylo-oligosaccharide (XOS) from hemicellulose are representative DAMPs. In this study, elicitor activities of COS prepared from cotton linters, XOS prepared from corn cobs, and chitin-oligosaccharide (CHOS) from crustacean shells were comparatively investigated. In Arabidopsis, COS, XOS, or CHOS treatment triggered typical defense responses such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, phosphorylation of MAP kinases, callose deposition, and activation of the defense-related transcription factor WRKY33 promoter. When COS, XOS, and CHOS were used at concentrations with similar activity in inducing ROS production and callose depositions, CHOS was particularly potent in activating the MAPK kinases and WRKY33 promoters. Among the COS and XOS with different degrees of polymerization, cellotriose and xylotetraose showed the highest activity for the activation of WRKY33 promoter. Gene ontology enrichment analysis of RNAseq data revealed that simultaneous treatment of COS, XOS, and CHOS (oligo-mix) effectively activates plant disease resistance. In practice, treatment with the oligo-mix enhanced the resistance of tomato to powdery mildew, but plant growth was not inhibited but rather tended to be promoted, providing evidence that treatment with the oligo-mix has beneficial effects on improving disease resistance in plants, making them a promising class of compounds for practical application.

White sweet potato ameliorates hyperglycemia and regenerates pancreatic islets in diabetic mice.

BACKGROUND: White sweet potato (WSP) has many potential beneficial effects on metabolic control and on diabetes-related insulin resistance. The antihyperglycemic effects of Tainung No. 10 (TNG10), a variety of WSP in Taiwan, warrant investigation. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the antidiabetic activity of WSP (Ipomoea batatas L. TNG10) and the mechanisms for interventions using whole leaves or tubers of WSP in diabetic mice. DESIGN: Mice were co-administered with streptozotocin and nicotinamide to induce diabetes and then treated with an experimental diet including either 10% WSP tuber (10%-T) and 30% WSP tuber (30%-T) or 0.5% WSP leaf (0.5%-L) and 5% WSP leaf (5%-L). After 8 weeks' treatment, their plasma glycemic parameters, lipid profiles, and inflammatory marker were analyzed. Their pancreases were removed for histopathologic image analysis; proteins were also extracted from their muscles for phosphoinositide 3-kinase pathway analysis. RESULTS: The 30%-T or 5%-L mice had lower plasma glucose, insulin, glucose area under the curve (AUC), homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), alanine transaminase, triglyceride, and tumor necrosis factor alpha levels. In all diabetic mice, their Langerhans's area was reduced by 60%; however, after 30% WSP-T or 5% WSP-L diets, the mice demonstrated significant restoration of the Langerhans's areas (approximately 30%). Only in 5%-L mice, slightly increased expression of insulin-signaling pathway-related proteins, phosphorylated insulin receptor and protein kinase B and membrane glucose transporter 4 was noted. CONCLUSIONS: WSP has antihyperglycemic effects by inducing pancreatic islet regeneration and insulin resistance amelioration. Therefore, WSP has potential applications in dietary diabetes management.

Soluble Cello-Oligosaccharides Produced by Carbon-Catalyzed Hydrolysis of Cellulose.

Cello-oligosaccharides are biologically important molecules that can elicit a defensive immune response in plants and improve the health of animals. Cellulose, a polymer of glucose linked by ß-1,4-glycosidic bonds, is an ideal feedstock for synthesis of cello-oligosaccharides. However, cello-oligosaccharides rapidly degrade under the conditions used for cellulose hydrolysis. Here, cellulose was hydrolyzed over a carbon catalyst in a semi-flow reactor to achieve a high yield of cello-oligosaccharides (72 %). The excellent activity of the oxidized carbon catalyst, the adsorption of cellulose on the catalyst, and the high space velocity of products in the reactor were essential. Moreover, a method for quantification of individual cello-oligosaccharides was developed, which suggested a reduction in the rate of hydrolysis with a reduction in chain length.

Catalytic depolymerization of the hydrolyzed lignin over mesoporous catalysts.

In this work, the mesoporous SBA-15 and a series of modified catalysts based on it, such as Al-SBA-15 and Ni/Al-SBA-15, were synthesized and used for eliminating the char formation during the depolymerization of hydrolyzed lignin. The temperature, time and solvent effects on the lignin depolymerization were also investigated. Results showed that the repolymerization was effectively suppressed over SBA-15 due to its well-ordered pore structure and large pore size. The addition of Al and Ni elements in SBA-15 could improve the lignin depolymerization performance and saturate the instable intermediates. Ethanol was found to be more effective in suppressing repolymerization than other solvents. 81.4% liquefaction degree and 21.90wt% monomer yield was achieved, and no obvious char was observed after the depolymerization of hydrolyzed lignin in ethanol solvent at 300°C for 4h over Ni/Al-SBA-15(20) catalyst.

Insight into the solvent, temperature and time effects on the hydrogenolysis of hydrolyzed lignin.

The aim of this study is to explore the reaction mediums and conditions for producing high yield of valuable monomers from concentrated sulfuric acid hydrolyzed lignin. The solvent, temperature and time effects on the hydrogenolysis of hydrolyzed lignin were investigated under the catalysis of Pd/C and CrCl3. Supercritical methanol exhibits the best depolymerization performance, because of its unique diffusion, dissolution and acid-base properties. Afterwards, the influence of reaction temperature and time on depolymerization, repolymerization and coking during hydrogenolysis was examined in methanol. The high temperature is found to favor the depolymerization, with the ß-O-4 linkages cleaved significantly. However, the repolymerization is promoted simultaneously, and a high amount of ß-ß groups form. These reactions are in constant competition with each other and the repolymerization is preferred at excessive high temperature, producing bulk char residues, that is coking. This study will provide a beneficial reference for the maximization of lignin waste valorization.