Comparative effectiveness of myocardial patches and intramyocardial injections in treating myocardial infarction with a MitoQ/hydrogel system.

In cardiac tissue engineering, myocardial surface patches and hydrogel intramyocardial injections represent the two primary hydrogel-based strategies for myocardial infarction (MI) treatment. However, the comparative effectiveness of these two treatments remains uncertain. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effects of the two treatment modalities by designing a simple and reproducible hydrogel cross-linked with γ-PGA and 4-arm-PEG-SG. To improve mitochondrial damage in cardiomyocytes (CMs) during early MI, we incorporated the mitochondria-targeting antioxidant MitoQ into the hydrogel network. The hydrogel exhibited excellent biodegradability, biocompatibility, adhesion, and injectability in vitro. The hydrogel was utilized for rat MI treatment through both patch adhesion and intramyocardial injections. In vivo results demonstrated that the slow release of MitoQ peptide from the hydrogel hindered ROS production in CM, alleviated mitochondrial damage, and enhanced CM activity within 7 days, effectively inhibiting MI progression. Both hydrogel intramyocardial injections and patches exhibited positive therapeutic effects, with intramyocardial injections demonstrating superior efficacy in terms of cardiac function and structure in equivalent treatment cycles. In conclusion, we developed a MitoQ/hydrogel system that is easily prepared and can serve as both a myocardial patch and an intramyocardial injection for MI treatment, showing significant potential for clinical applications.

Research advances on circulating miRNAs in esophageal cancer / 中华胸心血管外科杂志

There is a high incidence of esophageal cancer(EC) in China.The survival and prognosis of EC is unoptimistic due to the lack of efficient early diagnostic markers.There is an urgent demand of novel biomarkers with more stability,sensitivity and specificity.miRNAs are a class of small non-coding single stranded RNAs consisting of 21-23 nucleotides,which are involved in the pathological and physiological process of life activities.miRNAs are stable not only in tumor tissues,but also in serum/plasma.There are significant differences in the expression patterns of circulating miRNAs between two main types of EC.They are closely related to the occurrence and progression of EC,which make circulating miRNAs a novel kind of biomarkers for differential diagnosis,early supervision of esophageal cancer,and prognosis.

Research status and progressions of benign and malignant evaluation of solitary pulmonary nodule / 国际外科学杂志

Despite solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN) is a common medical problem in the clinic,the managements can be quite complex.The aetiological agent is largely unknown.Making a definitive diagnosis for SPNs before the operation has been a clinical challenge.A major problem for clinicians and radiologists were to identify the nature of benign and malignant SPNs at an early stage,and let the patients receive therapies timely and effectively.At present,many clinical features and detect methods of SPNs have been applied for differentiating the nodules,but these are not fully to distinguish it.Recently,some progressions had brought qualitative improvements to the diagnosis and treatment of SPNs.Therefore,in this paper,the research status and progresses of SPNs were reviewed.