The impact of community care services on older people's psychological health: an empirical study in Liaoning Province, China.

Background: Rapid population aging in China means it is imperative to establish a comprehensive care service system for older people. Currently, China is vigorously promoting the development of community care services for older people which should, ideally, focus on psychological health in addition to physical health. This study examined the impact of community care services on older people's psychological health. Methods: Survey data (n = 741) were collected from people aged 60 years and older in Liaoning Province, China, in which various community care services for older people were provided. Information was collected regarding the types of services provided (e.g., meal services, medical and social care), participants' demographic details (age, gender, economic circumstances, etc.), and their psychological health (e.g., loneliness, life satisfaction). The impact of the various care services on older people's psychological health was subsequently examined through the construction of a structural equation model. Results: Community care services for older people had a significant positive impact on their psychological health, with the most significant positive impact on cultural and sports activities, visiting and chat services, and emotional counseling. The impact of community care services on sub-groups of older people (e.g., those who were disabled, socially isolated and/or poor) was different. Conclusion: It is necessary to provide comprehensive and high-quality community care services, organize diverse cultural, sports, and recreational activities, provide differentiated and specific services for older people, and formulate corresponding service guidelines.

Establishment of treatment center for peritoneal metastasis in colorectal cancer / 中华胃肠外科杂志

The prognosis of patients with peritoneal metastasis from colorectal cancer is poor. At present, the comprehensive treatment system based on cytoreductive surgery (CRS) combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) has significantly improved the survival of these patients. However, CRS and HIPEC have strict indications, high procedural difficulty, and high morbidity and mortality. If CRS+HIPEC is performed in an inexperienced center, overall survival and quality of life of patients may bo compromised. The establishment of specialized diagnosis and treatment centers can provide a guarantee for standardized clinical diagnosis and treatment. In this review, we first introduced the necessity of establishing a colorectal cancer peritoneal metastasis treatment center and the construction situation of the diagnosis and treatment center for peritoneal surface malignancies at home and abroad. Then we focused on introducing our construction experience of the colorectal peritoneal metastasis treatment center, and emphasized that the construction of the center must be done well in two aspects: firstly, the clinical optimization should be realized and the specialization of the whole workflow should be strengthened; secondly, we should ensure the quality of patient care and the rights, well-being and health of every patient.

Strategies and challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer peritoneal metastasis / 中华胃肠外科杂志

Peritoneum is a common metastatic site of colorectal cancer and has worse prognosis compared with other metastatic sites. Peritoneal metastasis was previously considered as a terminal state of the disease, and palliative treatment with systemic chemotherapy was the main treatment method. With the gradual acceptance of the cytoreductive surgery (CRS) + hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) treatment model by surgeons and the application of targeted and immunotherapeutic drugs, the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer peritoneal metastasis has been greatly improved. However, the diagnosis and treatment of peritoneal metastasis still face many challenges and controversies. Based on the evolution of the understanding of colorectal cancer peritoneal metastasis, the possible mechanisms of peritoneal metastasis are discussed, including the theory of "oligometastases" and the theory of "seed and soil". Besides, we further investigate the diagnosis and treatment strategies of colorectal cancer peritoneal metastasis and the facing challenges, including the limitations of imaging examination, the controversy of laparoscopic exploration, the difficulty in assessing peritoneal metastatic load, the limited means of postoperative recurrence monitoring and efficacy evaluation, and the significant variation in the diagnosis and treatment level among different regions of China. Meanwhile, we emphasize the importance of multidisciplinary perioperative management of CRS+HIPEC, and propose that the basic and clinical transformation research of peritoneal metastasis should be strengthened, and the promotion of standardized diagnosis and treatment of peritoneal metastasis is the key to improve the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer peritoneal metastasis.

Value of serum alpha-fetoprotein for the prognostic evaluation of hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure treated with artificial liver / 中华肝脏病杂志

Objective@#To investigate the value of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level on survived hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) patients treated with artificial liver.@*Methods@#Clinical indicators of HBV-ACLF patients who were previously treated with plasma exchange-based artificial liver at our department were retrospectively collected. The difference of serum AFP level between the survival and the death group was compared at 30, 90 and 180 days after artificial liver treatment. The ROC curves of the subjects were plotted, and the sensitivity and specificity of AFP for the survival prediction of the patients at 30, 90 and 180 days after artificial liver surgery were calculated. AFP was divided into a high AFP group and a low AFP group using median value. AFP and postoperative survival predictive value at 30, 90, and 180 days were analyzed.@*Results@#A total of 93 cases were included in this study. The AFP of the survival group at 30, 90, and 180 days was (231.0 ± 286.2) ng / ml, (237.69 ± 297) ng / ml, (229.44 ± 286.46) ng/ml, and the death group was (76.4 ± 104.7) ng/ml, (103.13 ± 116.99) ng / ml, (136.34 ± 2.9.29) ng/ml, respectively. AFP of the death group was significantly lower than the corresponding survival group (P < 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses indicated that the area under the curve (AUC) and its 95% confidence interval at 30, 90, and 180 days after artificial liver surgery were 0.739 (0.611 ~ 0.867), 0.675 (0.550 ~ 0.80), 0.653 (0.524 ~ 0.781), respectively. The median serum AFP value was 110 ng/ml, and the survival analysis showed that the survival time of the high AFP group was significantly higher than the low AFP group at 30 d (P = 0.01), 90 d (P = 0.04) and 180 d (P = 0.03) after artificial liver surgery.@*Conclusion@#Serum AFP can be used as a predictor of survival for HBV-ACLF patients after artificial liver therapy and its clinical value needs to be further verified by the larger sample size.

The Short Isoform of Nuclear Mitotic Apparatus Protein 1 Functions as a Putative Tumor Suppressor / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Nuclear mitotic apparatus protein 1 (NuMA1) had been reported to produce three groups of isoforms categorized as long, middle, and short groups, of which short NuMA displayed distinct localization patterns compared to long and middle isoforms. However, the function of short NuMA was not clear in the progress of cancer formation. This study aimed to unveil the role of short NuMA in cancer pathogenesis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The expression levels of short isoforms were explored in paired gastric carcinoma (GC) samples and different cell lines. Furthermore, the short isoform behaved as a putative tumor suppressor based on cell proliferation and cell colony formation assays. Pull-down assay and whole-genome gene expression analysis were carried out to search candidate interaction partners of short NuMA.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression of short NuMA was highly expressed in S and G2 phases of the cell cycle; compared with nontumor tissues, short NuMA downregulated in nine GCs (GC1 [0.131, P = 5 × 10-4]; GC2 [0.316, P = 3 × 10-5]; GC3 [0.111, P = 6 × 10-4]; GC4 [0.456, P = 0.011]; GC5 [0.474, P = 0.001]; GC6 [0.311, P = 0.004]; GC7 [0.28, P = 3 × 10-5]; GC8 [0.298, P = 0.007]; and GC9 [0.344, P = 0.002]). Besides, high expression of short NuMA significantly inhibits cell growth (2.43 × 105 vs. 2.97 × 105, P = 0.0029) and cell clone information in vitro (70 vs. 2, P = 1.67 × 10-45). Short NuMA could bind with alpha-actinin-4 (ACTN4), a putative tumor promoting gene. Overexpression of short NuMA could tremendously decrease the expression of MYB proto-oncogene like 2 (MYBL2) of about 92-fold, which played an important role in the cell cycles.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Short isoform of NuMA might be functioned as a putative role of tumor suppressor. Further studies should be made to illuminate the relationship between ACTN4, MYBL2, and tumor progression.</p>

Pre-clinical characterization of 4SC-202, a novel class I HDAC inhibitor, against colorectal cancer cells.

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) overactivity in colorectal cancer (CRC) promotes cancer progression. In the current study, we showed that 4SC-202, a novel class I HDAC inhibitor (HDACi), potently inhibited survival and proliferation of primary human colon cancer cells and established CRC lines (HT-29, HCT-116, HT-15, and DLD-1). Yet, the same 4SC-202 treatment was non-cytotoxic to colon epithelial cells where HDAC-1/-2 expressions were extremely low. 4SC-202 provoked apoptosis activation in CRC cells, while caspase inhibitors (z-VAD-CHO and z-DVED-CHO) significantly alleviated 4SC-202-exerted cytotoxicity in CRC cells. Meanwhile, 4SC-202 induced dramatic G2-M arrest in CRC cells. Further studies showed that AKT activation might be an important resistance factor of 4SC-202. 4SC-202-induced cytotoxicity was dramatically potentiated with serum starvation, AKT inhibition (by perifosine or MK-2206), or AKT1-shRNA knockdown in CRC cells. On the other hand, exogenous expression of constitutively active AKT1 (CA-AKT1) decreased the sensitivity by 4SC-202 in HT-29 cells. Notably, 4SC-202, at a low concentration, enhanced oxaliplatin-induced in vitro anti-CRC activity. In vivo, we showed that oral gavage of 4SC-202 inhibited HT-29 xenograft growth in nude mice, and when combined with oxaliplatin, its activity was further strengthened. Together, these pre-clinical results indicate that 4SC-202 may be further investigated as a valuable anti-CRC agent/chemo-adjuvant.

Analysis of relationship of HBV PreS1 antigen, anti-HBc IgM, DNA load and genotypes in hepatitis B patients / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the relationship of HBV PreS1 antigen, anti-HBc IgM, DNA load and genotypes, and the significance for clinical diagnosis and prognostic.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Enzyme linked immune-sorbent assay was used to test the HBV serum markers of HB patients; HBV-DNA copies was detected by time fluorescence quantitative PCR; using nested PCR to amplify the S fragment of HBV genome, then sequence and make blast with HBV standard sequences to ascertain genotypes. Make comprehensive analysis of these indexes.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>355 serum specimens of acute or chronic HB patients were collected. The positive rates of HBV PreS1-Ag and HBV-DNA in model I (positive for HBeAg) were 80.2% and 73.7% respectively, which both higher than other models. The abnormal rate of ALT and AST were higher in PreS1-Ag positive group than negative, as well as in anti-HBc IgM positive group. There are 4 samples is genotype B (2.9%), 76 genotype C (55.9%) and 56 genotype D (41.2%). Positive rate of HBeAg and HBV-DNA of genotype C samples were both higher than which of genotype B and D.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>PreS1-Ag and Anti-HBe-IgM indexes are of great value to viral hepatitis B early diagnosis, HBV replication surveillance and prognostic evaluation; the major HBV genotypes in Henan province are C and D, and the positive rate of HBeAg and HBV-DNA were both higher in genotype C HBV infection population than genotype B and D.</p>

Effects of Astragalus Membranaceus Injection on TNF-alpha-induced release of inflammatory factors from HUVECs and the molecular mechanisms / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the protective effect of Astragalus Membranaceus Injection on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) against tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Cultured passage 2 HUVECs were stimulated with TNF-alpha with or without a 2-h Astragalus Membranaceus Injection treatment. The expression of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) subunit p65 were evaluated by immuncytochemistical method, and the levels of p65 in the nuclei and the protein Ikappabetaalpha in the cytoplasm were evaluated by Western blotting. The levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and soluble intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) in the cell culture were determined with ELISA.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>TNF-alpha induced the activation of NF-kappaB and increased the expressions of IL-6 and sICAM-1 in HUVECs. The activation of NF-kappabeta by TNF-alpha was suppressed by Astragalus Membranaceus Injection in a dose-dependent manner.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Astragalus Membranaceus Injection can inhibit the TNF-alpha-induced expression of IL-6 and sICAM-1 by suppressing NF-kappabeta activation, suggesting its protective effect on the endothelial function.</p>