In Situ Release of Ulvan from Crosslinked Ulvan/Chitosan Complex Films and Their Evaluation as Wound Dressings.

When a wound forms due to any injuries, it should be covered with a functional wound dressing for accelerating wound healing and reducing infection. In this study, crosslinked ulvan/chitosan complex films were prepared with or without the addition of glycerol and chlorophyll, and their wound healing properties were evaluated for potential application in wound dressing. The results showed that the tensile strength and elongation at break of the prepared ulvan/chitosan complex films were 2.23-2.48 MPa and 83.8-108.5%, respectively. Moreover, their water vapor transmission rates (WVTRs) were in the range of 1791-2029 g/m2-day, providing suitable environment for wound healing. Particularly, these complex films could release ulvan in situ in a short time, and the film with chlorophyll added had the highest release rate, reaching 62.8% after 20 min of releasing. In vitro studies showed that they were biocompatible toward NIH 3T3 and HaCaT cells, and promoted the migration of NIH 3T3 cells. These complex films could protect HaCaT cells from oxidative damage and reduce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS); the addition of chlorophyll also effectively reduced the inflammatory response induced by LPS as found in the reduction in both NO and IL-6. Animal models showed that the complex films added with glycerol and chlorophyll could promote wound healing in the early stage, while accelerating the regeneration of dermal glands and collagen production. Briefly, these ulvan/chitosan complex films had good physiochemical properties and biological activity, and could accelerate wound healing both in vitro and in vivo.

Effects of weight loss interventions for adults who are obese on mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective To assess whether weight loss interventions for adults with obesity affect all cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and body weight.Design Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) using random effects, estimating risk ratios, and mean differences. Heterogeneity investigated using Cochran's Q and I2 statistics. Quality of evidence assessed by GRADE criteria.Data sources Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and full texts in our trials' registry for data not evident in databases. Authors were contacted for unpublished data.Eligibility criteria for selecting studies RCTs of dietary interventions targeting weight loss, with or without exercise advice or programmes, for adults with obesity and follow-up ≥1 year.Results 54 RCTs with 30 206 participants were identified. All but one trial evaluated low fat, weight reducing diets. For the primary outcome, high quality evidence showed that weight loss interventions decrease all cause mortality (34 trials, 685 events; risk ratio 0.82, 95% confidence interval 0.71 to 0.95), with six fewer deaths per 1000 participants (95% confidence interval two to 10). For other primary outcomes moderate quality evidence showed an effect on cardiovascular mortality (eight trials, 134 events; risk ratio 0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.67 to 1.31), and very low quality evidence showed an effect on cancer mortality (eight trials, 34 events; risk ratio 0.58, 95% confidence interval 0.30 to 1.11). Twenty four trials (15 176 participants) reported high quality evidence on participants developing new cardiovascular events (1043 events; risk ratio 0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.83 to 1.04). Nineteen trials (6330 participants) provided very low quality evidence on participants developing new cancers (103 events; risk ratio 0.92, 95% confidence interval 0.63 to 1.36).Conclusions Weight reducing diets, usually low in fat and saturated fat, with or without exercise advice or programmes, may reduce premature all cause mortality in adults with obesity.Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42016033217.

Host-viral effects of chromatin assembly factor 1 interaction with HCMV IE2.

Chromatin assembly factor 1 (CAF1) consisting of p150, p60 and p48 is known to assemble histones onto newly synthesized DNA and thus maintain the chromatin structure. Here, we show that CAF1 expression was induced in human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)-infected cells, concomitantly with global chromatin decondensation. This apparent conflict was thought to result, in part, from CAF1 mislocalization to compartments of HCMV DNA synthesis through binding of its largest subunit p150 to viral immediate-early protein 2 (IE2). p150 interaction with p60 and IE2 facilitated HCMV DNA synthesis. The IE2Q548R mutation, previously reported to result in impaired HCMV growth with unknown mechanism, disrupted IE2/p150 and IE2/histones association in our study. Moreover, IE2 interaction with histones partly depends on p150, and the HCMV-induced chromatin decondensation was reduced in cells ectopically expressing the p150 mutant defective in IE2 binding. These results not only indicate that CAF1 was hijacked by IE2 to facilitate the replication of the HCMV genome, suggesting chromatin assembly plays an important role in herpesviral DNA synthesis, but also provide a model of the virus-induced chromatin instability through CAF1.