【Objective】 To explore effective ways to mobilize more blood donors to become voluntary donors of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), so as to increase the HSCs supply in China. 【Methods】 Two scales(the information scale and the control scale) with the same items were designed and both included questions concerning the knowledge of HSCs donation and the level of demand. The information scale indicated the correct answer to these questions, while the control scale did not. A total of 3 000 blood donors in Guangzhou were randomly assigned into the intervention group (n=1 500, filled in the information scale) and the control group (n=1 500, filled in the control scale). 【Results】 Blood donors who filled in the informational scale expressed a higher intention to become HSCs volunteers (MInformation =4.32, SD=0.87; MControl=4.02, SD=0.93, t(529)=3.87, P<0.001). Altruism and perceived need (the degree of HSCs demands) were the moderators of grouping and intention, that is, the information scale made blood donors, with stronger altruism and higher perceived need, more willing to become stem cell volunteers. Perceived risk (the negative impact of HSCs donation on health) was a partial mediator of grouping and intention. The information scale reduced blood donors' anxiety about the risk of HSCs donation, and promoted their intention to become HSCs volunteers. 【Conclusion】 This study proved that the informational scale can effectively mobilize blood donors to become HSCs volunteers.

Objective To summarize and analyze the features of liver function in pediatric patients infected with Delta variant versus Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Methods In this study, an analysis was performed for the liver function test results of the locally transmitted or imported pediatric patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection during isolation who were admitted to Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, since May 21, 2021, and the clinical data and the constituent ratio of liver injury were compared between the pediatric patients infected with Delta variant and those infected with Omicron variant. The independent samples t -test or the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups, and the chi-square test or the Fisher's exact test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. Results A total of 85 pediatric patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 were enrolled, among whom there were 32 (37.6%) pediatric patients infected with Delta variant and 53 (62.4%) pediatric patients infected with Omicron variant, and there were no significant differences between the two groups in age, sex, body height, body weight, and comorbidities (all P > 0.05). There were no significant differences between the two groups in alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, total bilirubin, albumin, and cholinesterase (all P > 0.05), and the pediatric patients infected with Omicron variant had a significantly higher level of total bile acid (TBA) than those infected with Delta variant ( Z =-2.336, P =0.020). However, the median values of TBA were within the normal range and the ratios of abnormal TBA were no significant difference between the two groups ( P > 0.05). Among the 85 pediatric patients, 10 (11.8%) had a mild increase in liver function parameters, among whom 7 had an increase in TBA, 1 had an increase in ALT, 1 had increases in ALT and AST, and 1 had an increase in ALP. The analysis of liver injury in the pediatric patients infected with Delta variant or Omicron variant showed that there was no significant difference in the constituent ratio of liver injury caused by the two variants (6.3% vs 15.1%, χ 2 =0.691, P =0.406). Conclusion Mild liver injury is observed in pediatric patients infected with Delta and Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2, but further studies are needed to evaluate the long-term influence of such infection on liver function.

OBJECTIVETo study the radioprotective effect of catechines against radiation injury in mice.

METHODSCatechines were administered in mice intragastrically at the daily dose of 200 mg/kg for 10 consecutive days before whole body irradiation with 6 Gy X-rays. The body weight changes, survival time, 30-day survival rate, and counts of peripheral white blood cells were recorded.

RESULTSThe mice with catechine pre-treatment before X-ray exposure suffered less body weight loss than those without the treatment before exposure. Catechines markedly increased the survival time of the irradiated mice, and raised the 30-d survival rate of the irradiated mice to 53.33% as compared with the rate of 13.33% in the radiated mice without catechine pre-treatment. Catechines significantly promoted recovery of peripheral white blood cells.

CONCLUSIONCatechines have definite radioprotective effect against radiation injury in mice.

Animals ; Catechin ; pharmacology ; Female ; Leukocyte Count ; Mice ; Radiation Injuries, Experimental ; blood ; mortality ; prevention & control ; Radiation-Protective Agents ; pharmacology ; Random Allocation ; Survival Analysis ; Survival Rate ; Time Factors ; Whole-Body Irradiation ; adverse effects

Objective To investigate the prognosis of middle-aged and elderly patients with aspiration pneumonia and related influencing factors in integrated medical and elderly care institutions. Methods A total of 604 elderly patients with aspiration pneumonia were selected from integrated medical and elderly care institutions from January 2016 to December 2020. The prognosis of the patients was counted, and the prognostic factors were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression equations. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) were used to analyze the predictive value of logistic regression model for the prognosis of elderly patients with aspiration pneumonia. Results Univariate analysis showed that Alzheimer's disease, severe pneumonia, ability of daily living (ADL), and the number of rescues were related to the prognosis of elderly patients with aspiration pneumonia (P<0.05). Logistic regression model showed that the death risk of patients with Alzheimer's disease was 2.883 times higher than that of patients without Alzheimer's disease, the death risk of patients with severe pneumonia was 3.292 times higher than that of patients without severe pneumonia, the death risk of patients with severe dependence in ADL was 3.719 times higher than that of patients with mild dependence, the death risk of patients with moderate dependence in ADL was 2.558 times higher than that of patients with mild dependence, and the death risk of patients with rescue times ≥ 2 times was 2,922 times higher than that of patients without rescue times (P < 0.05). Logistic regression equation: logistic (P=-8.264+2.883)×Alzheimer disease ≥60 years old + 3.292×severe pneumonia + 3.719×severe dependence in ADL+2.558×moderate dependence in ADL +2.922× number of rescues. The predicted prognosis AUC of elderly aspiration pneumonia was 0.907 (95%CI: 0.848-0.966). When logistic(P>12.97), the predictive value was the best, with the predictive sensitivity being 83.87%, and the specificity being 84.15%. Conclusion Alzheimer's disease, severe pneumonia, moderate and severe dependence in the ability of daily living and rescue times ≥ 2 are related to the prognosis of middle-aged and elderly patients with aspiration pneumonia in the integrated medical and elderly care institutions, which can be used as a prognostic plan for clinical treatment and nursing management. At the same time strengthening the intervention of patients with the above characteristics will help to promote the improvement of prognosis.

The development of radioprotective agents has been the subject of intense research in view of their potential for use within a radiation environment, such as space exploration, radiotherapy and even nuclear war. However, no ideal synthetic radioprotectors are available at present, so the search for alternative sources, including plants, has been on going for several decades. This article reviews some of the most promising plants, and their radioprotection related activities.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Phytotherapy ; methods ; trends ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Radiation Injuries ; drug therapy ; Radiation-Protective Agents ; isolation & purification ; therapeutic use

Objective To detect the circulating cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) level and integrity in plasma of the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), HBV and healthy controls by real time PCR (RT-PCR), evaluate their diagnostic value in hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods Venous blood samples from 52 HCC patients, 58 HBV patients and 60 healthy controls were collected. The levels of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), β-actin400 and β-actin167 in plasma cf-DNA and the integrity of cf-DNA (reflected by β-actin400/β-actin167) were determined by RT-PCR. The differences in different groups and between two groups were analyzed with SPSS software. Results The β-actin167 levels in plasma cf-DNA and the integrity of cf-DNA were significantly lower in healthy controls than in HCC patients (Z=–4.328, P=0.000; Z=–3.885, P=0.001) and HBV patients (Z=–2.473, P=0.005; Z=–3.295, P=0.013), and the integrity of cf-DNA was obviously lower in HBV patients than in HCC patients (Z=–4.836, P=0.002). Conclusion The integrity of circulating cf-DNA β-actin167 and β-actin400 detected by RT-PCR may be auxiliary biomarker in diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective: To screen and evaluate PXR/CYP3A4-induced lipid-regulating quality marker in propolis with precise and quantitative method. Methods: The LS174T cell was given certain amount of midazolam injection, along with different dosage of known components found in propolis, after incubation and extraction, the samples were determined for 1’-OH-midazolam, and each compound was evaluated to discover the PXR/CYP3A4 pathway regulatory activity according to the results; Then, compounds selected were used as indexes for UHPLC-MS-MS content determination, and their own values were regarded as a preliminary step of confirming PXR/CYP3A4-induced lipid-regulating quality markers of propolis. Results: In all components tested, chrysin, galangin, heterochlorogenic acid A, quercetin, and caffeic acid phenethylester significantly affected the 1’-OH-midazolam yield compared with blank and positive control, indicating their obvious influence on PXR/CYP3A4 expression; The UHPLC-MS-MS determination showed that except galangin, heterochlorogenic acid A, and quercetin, all the other compounds had adequate content in propolis to take effect. Conclusion: Chrysin, galangin, caffeic acid phenethylester, and quercetin were probably defined as PXR/CYP3A4-induced lipid-regulating quality marker in propolis, which inhibited the expression of such targets to down-regulate blood lipid level; Additionally, the method used for quality marker screening and evaluation in this study was fast, effective and quantitative, and capable of carrying out high throughput active component screening for PXR/CYP3A4 regulatory activities.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) caused by blast shock waves (BSWs) is one of the most common injuries among soldiers in the war. Such mTBI can also happen in civilians if exposed to shock waves of accidental explosion disasters, bomb attacks by terrorists and so on. This injury often results in cognitive problems, memory dysfunction and emotional disorder, and these neurological deficits are closely related to the dysfunction or disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The present paper discusses mainly the relationship between dysfunction or disruption of BBB and inflammatory reaction in mild brain injury associated with explosive shock wave and effects of early intervention of oxidative stress injury, repairing the BBB and blocking inflammation on relieving delayed neurological deficits.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the efficacy differences between moxibustion combined with umbilical therapy and oral administration of montmorillonite powder (smecta) on diarrhea symptoms in children of different ages. METHODS: A total of 120 children were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 60 cases in each group. In the observation group, the children aged under 3 years old were treated with moxibustion at Shenque (CV 8), Zhongwan (CV 12) and Tianshu (ST 25), and each acupoint was treated for less than 3 min, and the total treatment duration was no more than 10 min; the children aged between 3 to 7 years old were treated with moxibustion at Shenque (CV 8), Zhongwan (CV 12), Tianshu (ST 25), Guanyuan (CV 4), Zusanli (ST 36), Pishu (BL 20), Shenshu (BL 23) and Dachangshu (BL 25), each acupoint was treated for less than 3 min, and the total treatment duration was no more than 20 min. After moxibustion, traditional Chinese medicine patch (clove, cinnamon, rhizoma zingiberis, fructus evodiae, hawthorn, rhizoma atractylodis) was applied at Shenque (CV 8). For the children under 1 year old, the medical bag with 30 g powder was heated to 50 ℃ and used for about 30 min; for children over 1 year old, 2-5 g powder was mixed with vinegar and used for 4-8 h each time. The treatment was given once a day, three times as a course of treatment, and a total of one course of treatment was given. The children in the control group were treated with oral administration of montmorillonite powder, 3 g per day for children under 1 year old, 3-6 g per day for children aged 1-2 years old and 6-9 g per day for children over 2 years old. The montmorillonite powder was taken three times a day for 3 days. The diarrhea symptom scores before and after treatment were observed and the clinical efficacy was evaluated. From the first treatment, the recovery cases and recovery time in the two groups were recorded, the recovery cases and recovery time in acute and chronic stages were compared between different age groups. The recurrence was observed 3 months after treatment. RESULTS: Compared before treatment, the diarrhea symptom score after treatment was decreased in the observation group (<0.05), while there was no significant difference before and after treatment in the control group (>0.05). After treatment, the score of diarrhea symptoms in the observation group was lower than that in the control group (<0.05). The total effective rate was 95.0% (57/60) in the observation group, which was superior to 76.7% (46/60) in the control group (<0.05). The recovery cases of acute stage aged ≤ 1 year old and 5-7 years old, and chronic stage of different age stages in the observation group was insignificantly higher than that in the control group (>0.05). The recovery time of different age stages and average recovery time in the observation group were shorter than those in the control group (<0.05). The recovery time of children in acute stage>1 year old and ≤5 years old and average recovery time in the observation group were shorter than those in the control group (<0.05), while the average recovery time of children in chronic stage in the observation group was shorter than that in the control group (<0.05). Three months after treatment, the recurrence rate was 0% (0/36) in acute phase and 4.8% (1/21) in chronic phase in the observation group, which were superior to 9.7% (3/31) in acute phase and 46.7% (7/15) in chronic phase in the control group (<0.05). CONCLUSION The umbilical therapy combined with moxibustion could improve the symptoms of diarrhea and shorten the recovery time in children of different ages with autumn diarrhea, which have better efficacy than montmorillonite powder.
Acupuncture Points ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Diarrhea ; therapy ; Humans ; Infant ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Moxibustion ; Treatment Outcome