Global, Regional, and National Burden of Ectopic Pregnancy: A 30-Year Observational Database Study.

Objective: To estimate global, regional, and national trends due to ectopic pregnancy as part of the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study. Methods: We systematically reviewed trends in ectopic pregnancy burden using data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) database, including 21 regions, 195 countries, and territories over the past 30 years. The trends of ectopic pregnancy-related incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to all known risk factors were also analyzed. Age-standardized rates (ASRs) and their estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs) were also calculated. Results: Incident cases, deaths, and DALYs of ectopic pregnancy increased worldwide in the past 30 years. The age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) was decreasing (EAPC = -1.14, 95% confidence interval (CI): -1.29 to -0.98), and the age-standardized death (EAPC = -0.9, 95% CI: -1.03 to -0.76) and DALY rate decreased generally (EAPC = -0.83, 95% CI: -0.98 to -0.68). In addition, the burden of ectopic pregnancy is lower in areas with higher socioeconomic development, and significant positive correlations between ASRs and sociodemographic index (SDI) were observed, especially among low-middle SDI, and low SDI quintiles carried the majority burden of ectopic pregnancy. Conclusion: Globally, the incidence, mortality, and DALY rate of ectopic pregnancy had been decreasing from 1990 to 2019. Compared with lower and decreasing ASIR in the high SDI region, ASIR in the low SDI region was always high, indicating the need for ectopic pregnancy treatment improvement and the establishment of more targeted and specific strategies in low SDI countries to reduce the incidence of ectopic pregnancy.

Preparation and characterization of a gemini surfactant-based biomimetic complex for gene delivery.

Gemini surfactants (GS) have been explored as non-viral gene delivery systems. Nevertheless, their cytotoxicity and the limitations in the in vivo studies have impeded their development. To attenuate toxicity and further explore their possibilities in gene delivery, a series of GS (18-7-18)-based gene delivery systems complexed with red blood cell membranes (RBCM) or/and DOPE-PEG2000 (DP) were prepared and evaluated. EGFP-encoding plasmids were delivered via GS-based complexes and the efficiency of gene transfection was evaluated by imaging of the major organs after intravenous administration in mice and qPCR quantification in hepatocytes. In order to assess the safety of GS-based complexes, the hemolysis test, serum biochemical indices, H&E staining and CCK-8 test were examined. The results revealed that EGFP was primarily expressed in livers, and all complexes showed minimal acute toxicity to major organs. Moreover, we found that the dual incorporation of RBCM and DP could significantly elevate the transfection efficiency and cell viability in hepatocytes. Overall, the results indicated that GS-based complexes possessed great potential as vectors for gene delivery both in vivo and in vitro and the dual incorporation of RBCM and DP could be a promising gene delivery approach with high transfection efficacy and low toxicity.

Detection of peripheral blood HLA-DR-CD33+CD14-CD11b+ MDSC in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 重庆医学

Objective To explore the distribution proportion of peripheral blood HLA-DR-CD33+ CD14-CD11b+ myeloidderived suppressor cells (MDSC) in the patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC) to provide a beneficial guidance for NPC immunotherapy.Methods Forty-five NPC patients and 20 healthy volunteers as the healthy control group were selected.The peripheral blood sample was collected before the first time chemotherapy and on 7 d after the second cycle induction chemotherapy,meanwhile the peripheral blood sample was collected in the healthy control group;then HLA-DR-CD33+ CD14-CD11b+ MDSC were detected by the flow cytometry.Results The peripheral blood MDSC ratio of NPC patients was significantly higher than that of healthy control group(P＜0.05).With the NPC stage Ⅱ,Ⅲ and Ⅳ increase,the peripheral blood MDSC ratio was gradually increased (P＜0.05).The MDSC ratio of NPC patients with three different pathological types of keratin type squamous carcinoma,differentiated and undifferentiated type non-keratin type squamous carcinoma was significant higher than that of healthy control group(P＜0.05).The peripheral blood MDSC ration also had statistical difference among the NPC patients with 3 kinds of different pathological type(P＜0.05).The peripheral blood MDSC ratio in NPC patients with different stages was significantly decreased after 2-cycle induction chemotherapy (P ＜ 0.05),but its ratio level was still higher than that of the healthy control group.Conclusion The peripheral blood HLA-DR-CD33+ CD14-CD11b+ MDSC ratio in the NPC patients is significantly increased,suggesting that which may be related with NPC immune escape and is worth further study.

Sonodynamic therapy, a treatment developing from photodynamic therapy.

Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) as a new non-invasive treatment developed from photodynamic (PDT), it can kill tumor cells specifically and selectively. Moreover, recently studies showed SDT has potential to treat solid tumor, leukemia and atherosclerosis, remove proliferative scars and kill pathogenic microorganism. As SDT has an extensive application prospect, SDT has attracted more and more research recently. This thesis aims to be an informative introduction on SDT. With the assistance of related literature from 2012 to 2016, we introduce the progress of SDT research in six aspects: the therapeutic mechanism of SDT, development of the sound sensitizer, exploration of the size and frequency of ultrasonic energy, application of SDT, comparison between SDT and PDT, and current situation and future of SDT.