Sunlight-triggered prebiotic nanomotors for inhibition and elimination of pathogen and biofilm in aquatic environment.

Pathogen contamination in drinking water sources causes waterborne infectious diseases, seriously threatening human health. Nowadays, stimuli-responsive self-propelled nanomotors are appealing therapeutic agents for antibacterial therapy in vivo. However, achieving water disinfection using these nanobots is still a great challenge. Herein, we report on prebiotic galactooligosaccharide-based nanomotors for sunlight-regulated water disinfection. The nanomotors can utilize galactooligosaccharide-based N-nitrosamines as sunlight-responsive fuels for the spontaneous production of antibacterial nitric oxide. Such a solar-to-chemical energy conversion would power the nanomotors for self-diffusiophoresis, which could promote the diffusion of the nanomotors in water and their penetration in the biofilm, significantly enhancing the inhibition and elimination of the pathogens and their biofilms in aquatic environments. After water treatments, the prebiotic-based residual disinfectants can be selectively utilized by beneficial bacteria to effectively relieve safety risks to the environment and human health. The low-energy-cost, green and potent antibacterial nanobots show promising potential in water disinfection.

[Analysis of high-risk factors for failure of autologous arteriovenous fistula in hemodialysis patients].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the high risk factors of failure of autologous arteriovenous fistula (AVF) in hemodialysis patients. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted, patients with maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) undergoing AVF admitted to General Hospital of Western Theater Command from January 2021 to December 2022 were enrolled, including 107 patients with normal AVF and 168 patients with AVF dysfanction. According to the causes of AVF failure, the patients were divided into AVF stenosis group (n = 103) and AVF thrombosis group (n = 65). Age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and comorbidities (hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease) and other clinical data of all patients were collected. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, white blood cell count, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, platelet count, C-reactive protein (CRP), high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) within 1 month of AVF use in normal dialysis patients and 1 week before AVF failure. Multivariate Logistic regression was used to analyze the independent risk factors of AVF dysfuction in MHD patients. The receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) was drawn to evaluate the predictive value of risk factors on AVF dysfuction in MHD patients. RESULTS: (1) There were significant differences in age, BMI, hypertension, hemoglobin, hematocrit, PLR and CRP [age (years): 56.94±14.32, 58.83±14.05, 51.57±13.19; BMI (kg/m2): 22.83±3.10, 21.27±4.98, 23.35±2.72; hypertension: 93.20%, 64.62%, 86.92%; hemoglobin (g/L): 110.82±22.16, 88.70±24.00, 87.95±23.45; hematocrit: 0.350±0.069, 0.282±0.076, 0.275±0.071; PLR: 197.35±113.59, 192.55±138.25, 162.12±73.25; CRP (mg/L): 10.01±4.02, 8.18±5.42, 3.17±1.30, all P < 0.05], among AVF stenosis group, AVF thrombosis group and AVF normal group, there were statistically significant differences no statistically significant difference was found in other indexes among three groups. (2) Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that hypertension [odds ratio (OR) = 4.849, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) was 1.278-18.397, P = 0.020], elevated CRP levels (OR = 2.104, 95%CI was 1.533-2.888, P = 0.000) were associated with AVF stenosis. Elevated CRP levels (OR = 1.984, 95%CI was 1.442-2.730, P = 0.000) was an independent risk factor for AVF thrombosis. Analysis of ROC curve showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of AVF dysfunction predicted by CRP was 0.712, 95%CI was 0.637-0.786, P = 0.000; CRP cut-off value was 1.8 mg/L, the sensitivity was 67.0%, the specificity was 83.7%. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated CRP is an independent risk factor for AVF failure in hemodialysis patients, which can be used to predict the occurrence of AVF failure.

Recurrent intestinal ulcer with bloody stool for >10 years in an adolescent boy of 15 years: A case report.

RATIONALE: Infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases and vascular diseases can lead to intestinal ulcers, and inflammatory bowel disease is typically suspected as the underlying cause of ulcer and bleeding from the intestinal ulcers leading to bloody stool, and malnutrition. Here we report a rare case of successfully treated case of intestinal ulcer, bloody stool, and malnutrition by dietary modification and avoidance of long term barbecued spicy food and carbonated drinks. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 15-year-old male patient had repeated symptoms of blood in the stool for >10 years. Treatment for Chron's disease was not successful. An exhaustive investigation failed to confirm the diagnosis. DIAGNOSIS INTERVENTIONS: Through changing diet structure, avoiding spicy food, and supplementing enteral nutrition and recurrent glutamine. OUTCOMES: The patient's symptoms improved significantly, and the intestinal ulcer healed under endoscope. LESSONS: Pay attention to healthy diet in life and avoid long-term consumption of spicy food and carbonated drinks.

Engineered Organic Nanorockets with Light-Driven Ultrafast Transportability for Antitumor Therapy.

Nanomedicines confront various complicated physiological barriers limiting the accumulation and deep penetration in the tumor microenvironment, which seriously restricts the efficacy of antitumor therapy. Self-propelled nanocarriers assembled with kinetic engines can translate external energy into orientated motion for tumor penetration. However, achieving a stable ultrafast permeability at the tumor site remains challenging. Here, sub-200 nm photoactivated completely organic nanorockets (NRs), with asymmetric geometry conveniently assembled from photothermal semiconducting polymer payload and thermo-driven macromolecular propulsion through a straightforward nanoprecipitation process, are presented. The artificial NRs can be remotely manipulated by 808 nm near-infrared light to trigger the photothermal conversion and Curtius rearrangement reaction within the particles for robustly pushing nitrogen out into the solution. Such a two-stage light-to-heat-to-chemical energy transition effectively powers the NRs for an ultrafast (≈300 µm s-1 ) and chemical medium-independent self-propulsion in the liquid media. That endows the NRs with high permeability against physiological barriers in the tumor microenvironment to directionally deliver therapeutic agents to target lesions for elevating tumor accumulation, deep penetration, and cellular uptake, resulting in a significant enhancement of antitumor efficacy. This work will inspire the design of advanced kinetic systems for powering intelligent nanomachines in biomedical applications.

Cytokines and chemokines involved in HLA-B27-positive ankylosing spondylitis-associated acute anterior uveitis.

Purpose: Acute anterior uveitis (AAU) is the most common extra-articular symptom of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). This study aims to reveal the cytokines and chemokines involved in the immunopathogenesis of human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-B27+ AS-associated AAU. Methods: Twenty-one HLA-B27+ AS-associated AAU patients and 21 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited for this study. Serum cytokine concentrations in all 42 subjects were determined by the Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) electrochemiluminescence method. In each sample, 34 cytokines, 10 chemokines, eight angiogenesis mediators, and four vascular injury mediators were measured. The differences in cytokine and chemokine concentrations were compared between the two groups. Results: Concentrations of serum IL-3, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-17D, IL-22, IP10/CXCL10, MIP-3α/CCL20, sFlt-1/VEGFR-1, CRP, and MCP-4/CCL13 were significantly higher in patients with HL-B27+ AS-associated AAU than in HCs (p < 0.05). In contrast, concentrations of serum IL-4, IL-8, MIP-1α/CCL3, Eotaxin-3/CCL26, PlGF, VEGF-C, and VEGF-D were significantly lower in patients with HL-B27+ AS-associated AAU than in HCs (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Significant differences were detected in the levels of several cytokines and chemokines in the serum of HLA-B27+ AS-associated AAU compared with HCs. Some novel differential cytokines and chemokines that have not been reported in other kinds of uveitis were also identified. These results reveal the underlying pathogenesis of HLA-B27+ AS-associated AAU and could potentially aid in clinical diagnosis.

Photoactivated Organic Nanomachines for Programmable Enhancement of Antitumor Efficacy.

Limited permeability in solid tumors significantly restricts the anticancer efficacy of nanomedicines. Light-driven nanomotors powered by photothermal converting engines are appealing carriers for directional drug delivery and simultaneous phototherapy. Nowadays, it is still a great challenge to construct metal-free photothermal nanomotors for a programmable anticancer treatment. Herein, one kind of photoactivated organic nanomachines is reported with asymmetric geometry assembled by light-to-heat converting semiconducting polymer engine and macromolecular anticancer payload through a straightforward nanoprecipitation process. The NIR-fueled polymer engine can be remotely controlled to power the nanomachines for light-driven thermophoresis in the liquid media and simultaneously thermal ablating the cancer cells. The great manipulability of the nanomachines allows for programming of their self-propulsion in the tumor microenvironment for effectively improving cellular uptake and tumor penetration of the anticancer payload. Taking the benefit from this behavior, a programmed treatment process is established at a low drug dose and a low photothermal temperature for significantly enhancing the antitumor efficacy.