Diagnosis knowledge constrained network based on first-order logic for syndrome differentiation.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been recognized worldwide as a valuable asset of human medicine. The procedure of TCM is to treatment based on syndrome differentiation. However, the effect of TCM syndrome differentiation relies heavily on the experience of doctors. The gratifying progress of machine learning research in recent years has brought new ideas for TCM syndrome differentiation. In this paper, we propose a deep network model for TCM syndrome differentiation, which improves network performance by injecting TCM syndrome differentiation knowledge in the form of first-order logic into the deep network. Experimental results show that the accuracy of our proposed model reaches 89%, which is significantly better than the deep learning model MLP and other traditional machine learning models. In addition, we present the collected and formatted TCM syndrome differentiation (TSD) dataset, which contains more than 40,000 TCM clinical records. Moreover, 45 symptoms (""), 322 patterns(""), and more than 500 symptoms are labeled in TSD respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first TCM syndrome differentiation dataset labeling diseases, syndromes and pattern. Such detailed labeling is helpful to explore the relationship between various elements of syndrome differentiation.

Adhesive and biodegradable polymer mixture composed of high -biosafety pharmaceutical excipients as non-setting periodontal dressing.

Periodontal dressing is a surgical dressing applied to oral wounds after periodontal surgery. Currently, all commercially available setting periodontal dressings are stiff, uncomfortable, with poor aesthetics, and need to be removed at the patient's follow-up visit, which may cause secondary damage. A periodontal dressing with soft texture, biodegradable properties, and that could balance both comfort and aesthetics is urgently desired. Hence, non-setting and degradable dressings were developed using sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, Eudragit S 100 and povidone K30, which were compared with the commercial degradable dressing Reso-pac®. The mucosal adhesion of the dressings was evaluated by lap shear tests, which indicated adequate adhesion. The in vitro swelling rates of the dressings were approximately half that of Reso-pac®, which led to less saliva adsorption and better dimensional stability. The dressings also exhibited satisfactory biocompatibility according to the results of CCK-8, Live/Dead staining, hemolysis, and subcutaneous implantation assays. Moreover, the dressing promoted the healing of full-thickness mucosal wounds in the palatal gingivae of SD rats and contributed to better therapeutic effect than Reso-pac®. Considering the multiple advantages and the pure pharmaceutical excipient formula, we anticipate that this dressing could be a promising product and may enter clinical practice in the near future.

In vitro simulated digestion of and microbial characteristics in colonic fermentation of polysaccharides from four varieties of Tibetan tea.

Polysaccharides as a functional prebiotic have numerous activities such as regulating intestinal microorganisms and polysaccharide is one of the functional active components in tea has been known. In this study, we aimed to investigate the physicochemical characteristics of polysaccharides from four kinds of Tibetan teas at simulated digestion stages and the effect on the microbiota of fecal fermentation stages in vitro. The results revealed that Tibetan tea polysaccharides were partially digested during digestion. Additionally, during in vitro fecal microbial fermentation, Tibetan tea polysaccharides can promote the growth of some beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium, Prevotella and Phascolarctobacterium to change the composition of intestinal microorganisms and promote the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Finally, a strong correlation was found between the production of SCFAs and microorganisms including Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium and Lachnoclostridium. These results suggest that Tibetan tea polysaccharides could be developed as a prebiotic to regulate human gut microbiota.

Bonding Performance of Universal Adhesives Applied to Nano-Hydroxyapatite Desensitized Dentin Using Etch-and-Rinse or Self-Etch Mode.

The study assessed the bonding performance of three universal adhesives on desensitized dentin with etch-and-rinse mode or self-etch mode after nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAp)-based desensitizers application. Simulated sensitive dentin specimens were prepared and separated into four groups: no treatment as the negative control, groups desensitized by Biorepair toothpaste, Dontodent toothpaste, or nHAp paste. Three universal adhesives of All-Bond Universal, Single Bond Universal, and Clearfil Universal Bond with etch-and-rinse or self-etch mode were bonded to the desensitized dentin specimens separately, followed by resin composite build-ups. Micro-tensile bond strength was measured using a micro-tensile tester. The wettability of desensitized dentin was evaluated by the contact angle of the adhesives. Resin infiltration was observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Dentin tubular occlusion and nanoleakage were observed by scanning electron microscope. The results showed that the etch-and-rinse or self-etch mode of each adhesive showed similar bond strength when bonding to nHAp-based desensitized dentin. The dentin surface was partially covered by desensitizers after desensitization. Compared with the self-etch mode, stronger demineralization and more reopened dentin tubules were observed in the etch-and-rinse mode after acid etching; longer resin tags and more nanoleakage in the resin-dentin interface were observed when using the etch-and-rinse mode. When bonding to nHAp-based desensitized dentin with universal adhesives, no significant difference in bond strength was found between self-etch mode or etch-and-rinse mode; while the latter produced more nanoleakage in the resin-dentin interfaces.

Remodeling of aligned fibrous extracellular matrix by encapsulated cells under mechanical stretching.

Extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling is essential for the development and functions of connective tissues (e.g., heart, muscle and the periodontal ligament), and entails the highly anisotropic response of cells and their organized ECM molecules to mechanical stimulation. However, the nature of how cells remodel their surrounding ECM under mechanical stimulation remains elusive. Here, we encapsulated human periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs) within an aligned rat collagen scaffold labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and applied mechanical stimulation on the scaffold using magnetic stretching. Through tracking the FITC-labeled rat collagen scaffold and the newly secreted human type I collagen, we studied the effect of magnetic stretching on the mechanism of aligned ECM remodeling by the encapsulated cells. We found that the aligned topography combined with magnetic stretching could significantly promote initial ECM degradation and new ECM secretion: expression of matrix metalloproteinases 1 and 9 is increased markedly, and the elastic modulus of the stretched scaffold (75 kPa) is significantly higher than that of the random scaffold (50 kPa). The data support a model whereby the cells remodel their surrounding ECM under continuous stretching through degradation and then secretion of new ECM to integrate with the aligned ECM and maintain tissue function. Our study offers a valuable basis for future optimized design of biomaterial scaffolds for clinical translation. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling is essential for the development and functions of connective tissues. However, the nature of how cells remodel their surrounding aligned ECM under mechanical stimulation remains elusive. Herein, we developed a method to reveal the remodeling of aligned rat collagen scaffold by the encapsulated human periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs) using fluorescence imaging. We found that the aligned topography combined with magnetic stretching could significantly promote initial ECM degradation and new ECM secretion: the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 1 and 9 are significantly higher, and the elastic modulus increases from 50 kPa to 75 kPa as compared to the random collagen scaffold encapsulating hPDLSCs. Our study holds great potential in optimization of bio-scaffold design for clinical translation.