Exosomes from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells and human dental pulp stem cells ameliorate lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation in human dental pulp stem cells.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of exosomes derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs-Exo) and human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs-Exo) on lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation in human dental pulp stem cells. METHODS: Exosomes were extracted from the supernatant of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells and human dental pulp stem cells. Lipopolysaccharide was used to establish the inflammation model in human dental pulp stem cells. Then human dental pulp stem cells were treated with hUCMSCs-Exo and hDPSCs-Exo, respectively. We examined the proliferation, apoptosis, and secretion of inflammatory cytokines of human dental pulp stem cells in vitro. RESULTS: Exosomes had the capacity to reverse the lipopolysaccharide-induced inhibitory effect on human dental pulp stem cells proliferation and suppress lipopolysaccharide-induced apoptosis. Additionally, exosomes reduced the pro-inflammatory cytokines expression and increased anti-inflammatory cytokine expression. However, compared with hDPSCs-Exo, hUCMSCs-Exo had better ability to reverse inhibition of proliferation, suppress apoptosis and regulate release of inflammatory cytokines in human dental pulp stem cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that exosomes could alleviate inflammation in human dental pulp stem cells. hUCMSCs-Exo do show even stronger effects than hDPSCs-Exo.

The Influencing Factors of Breastfeeding for Full-Term Singleton Within Six Months of Birth in Xi'an Before the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Objective: The study is designed to understand the situation of full-term infants breastfeeding within 6 months of birth in Xi'an before the Covid-19 pandemic and analyze the influencing factors of exclusive breastfeeding. Methods: Five hospitals in Xi'an province have been selected as research centers. Full-term infants who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited from these centers between January 1 and February 28, 2019. The feeding situation at 10 days, 42 days, 3 months, and 6 months after birth were investigated. A self-designed breastfeeding questionnaire was used for investigation and follow-up. SPSS 22.0 was applied for statistical analysis of the data. Results: The exclusive breastfeeding rate of full-term infants on days 10 and 42 and at months three and six after birth was 61.38%, 54.78%, 48.83%, and 38.78%, respectively, with a decreasing trend over time. During breastfeeding within 48 h after delivery, 1,653 cases (91.83%) of puerpera had different grades of pain, including 1,325 cases (80.16%) of mild discomfort, 321 cases (19.42%) of moderate pain, and seven cases (0.42%) of severe pain. Within 24-48 h postpartum, 1,607 (89.27%) mothers faced problems related to postpartum breastfeeding. Among them, 694 (43,19%) neonates could not be fed effectively; 665 (41.38%) mothers had wound pain and had inconvenience to turn over; 598 (37.21%) neonates were difficult to wake up; 439 (27.32%) mothers had incorrect feeding posture; 181 (11.26%) mothers experienced other problems. The Cox risk regression model showed that weight gain during pregnancy was higher than the recommended standard. Living in suburban counties was a risk factor of exclusive breastfeeding for full-term infants. Participation in breastfeeding courses during pregnancy, feeding more than eight times daily after delivery, were the protective factors of exclusive breastfeeding for full-term infants. Conclusion: The body weight gain of parturients should be controlled within a reasonable range during pregnancy. Parturients were encouraged by medical staff to participate in breastfeeding courses or watch the breastfeeding process during pregnancy to increase their self-confidence and improve the rate of exclusive breastfeeding for full-term infants. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the publicity of breastfeeding in suburban areas to promote breastfeeding.

Development and validation of two aspiration prediction models in patients receiving nasogastric feeding.

AIM: To develop and validate two aspiration prediction models in patients receiving nasogastric feeding. BACKGROUND: Aspiration is one of the most serious complications of nasogastric feeding. However, there is a lack of aspiration prediction models for nasogastric feeding. METHODS: A total of 515 patients receiving nasogastric feeding were randomly selected for this unmatched case-control study, with 103 patients in the case group and 412 patients in the control group. Logistic regression was used to develop nomogram and Classification And Regression Tree (CART) models. The performances of the models were internally validated using 1,000 bootstrapped samples. RESULTS: The predictive accuracy of the CART model (94.5%) was higher than that of the nomogram model (89.1%). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the CART model (0.96) was slightly higher than that of the nomogram model (0.93). CONCLUSIONS: The intubation depth, number of comorbidities, aspiration history, indwelling days, food type and the use of sedative-hypnotics may be used to identify aspiration risk. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Two aspiration prediction models are provided for nurses to evaluate aspiration risk and increase the quality of nursing management.

MLK3 silence induces cervical cancer cell apoptosis via the Notch-1/autophagy network.

Mixed-lineage kinase 3 (MLK3), the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase (MAP3K), has been recognized as a player in tumorigenesis and oncogenic signalling, yet its detailed functions and signalling in cervical cancer have not been fully elucidated. Here, we identify that cervical cancer cells display higher mRNA and protein levels of MLK3 than normal cervical epithelial squamous cells. In HeLa and SiHa cell, MLK3 knockdown using siRNA remarkably suppressed cell survival and promoted cell apoptosis, with increased expression of the apoptosis-related protein Bax and reduced Bcl-2. Moreover, MLK3 knockdown promoted cell autophagy, demonstrated by increased ratio of autophagy-related proteins LC3II/LC3I and decreased p62 expression in MLK3 depletion cells. Furthermore, MLK3 knockdown remarkably abolished Notch-1 expression in cervical cancer cells. By co-treating Hela cells with MLK3 specific siRNA and pcDNA3.1-Notch-1 overexpression plasmid or autophagy inhibitor 3-MA, we found that MLK3 played its role in cervical cancer cells via the Notch-1/autophagy network. Our results demonstrate the importance of MLK3 in cervical cancer progression via modulating the Notch-1/autophagy network, and suggest that MLK3 is a promising therapeutic target for cervical cancer.