BACKGROUND:Alginate-chitosan microcapsule can improve the mechanical property of sodium alginate hydrogels. How to obtain the ideal sodium alginate-chitosan microcapsule and the prospect for application of the microcapsule system is the key to this study.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the preparation method and formation mechanism of alginate-chitosan microcapsules, to analyze several important factors affecting the strength of the microcapsule membrane, and to explore the prospects of alginate-chitosan microcapsules in immobilized celltechnology, in tissue engineering and as a drug carrier.
METHODS:The first author searched PubMed, Elsevier ScienceDirect, CNKI and Wanfang database (1987/2013) to retrieve literatures about the preparation method, formation mechanism and application prospect of alginate-chitosan microcapsules.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Sodium alginate hydrogels have many advantages in drug release and tissue engineering, but its application is limited by gel dissolution phenomena and deficiencies in its mechanical properties. Chitosan-alginate microcapsules make up for the deficiency of sodium alginate hydrogels by electrostatic interactions to form polyelectrolyte complexes. By control ing the nature of the chitosan solution--the molecular weight of chitosan, pH and concentration of chitosan solution, we can prepare the microcapsules with high film strength. Alginate-chitosan microcapsules have shown broad application prospects in immobilization technology, drug release and tissue engineering.

Objective To observe the efficacy of mesalazine combined with probiotics in the treatment of ulcerative colitis. Methods 60 patients with ulcerative colitis who were admitted to our hospital from May 2015 to May 2017 were selected randomly. These patients were divided into two groups according to the treatment method: mesalamine com bined with probiotic group(combination therapy group, n=30) and mesalamine alone treatment group (n=30). The clinical symptom score, endoscopic score, serum CRPlevel, clinical efficacy, incidence of adverse reactions and recurrence in both groups were statistically analyzed. Results Compared with those before treatment, the clinical symptom score, en doscopic score and serum CRPlevel were significantly lower in both groups after treatment(P＜0. 05); After treatment, clinical symptom score, endoscopic score and serum CRPlevel were significantly lower in the combination therapy group than those in the treatment alone group(P＜0. 05). The total effective rate in the combination therapy group was 93. 3％(28/30), significantly higher than 63. 3％(19/30) in the treatment alone group(P＜0. 05). The recurrence rate was 13. 3％ (4/30), significantly lower than that of 33. 3％(10/30) in the treatment alone group(P＜0. 05). However, the incidence rates of adverse reactions in the two groups was 6. 7％(2/30) and 10. 0％(3/30) respectively, which were not significantly different(P＞0. 05). Conclusion The efficacy of mesalazine combined with probiotics in the treatment of ulcerative colitis is more significant than that of mesalazine alone. At the same time, it is also more effective in improving the clinical symptoms, reducing the serum CRPlevel and recurrence rate in the patients, and will not increase the patients' adverse reactions to a great extent, so it is worthy of promotion and application in clinical settings.

Objective To summarize our experience with surgical management of renal neoplasm involving inferoir veno cava.Methods We review the data of 115 patients,including 74 male patients and 41 female patients,with renal neoplasm involving venous system between March 1993 and December 2015.The mean age was 52 years old,ranging 22 to 77 years old.The tumor was found in right side in 77 cases and left side in 38 cases.There were 15 patients (13.0％) with renal vein thrombus,38 (33.1％) with infrahepatic thrombus,29 (25.2％) with low retrohepatic thrombus,20 (17.4％) with high retrohepatic thrombus,and 13 (11.3％) with supradiaphragmatic thrombus.The mean age was 52 years old,ranging 22 to 77 years old.The tumor was found in right side in 77 cases and left side in 38 cases.All patients accepted the radical nephrectomy.Primary outcomes were overall survival (OS),and cancer special survival (CSS) in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) estimated by Kaplan-Meier method.Secondary outcome included operative and oncological features,past-operative complications and hospital mortality.Cox proportional hazard model was used to univariate and multivariate analysis for risk factor impacting on OS of RCC patients.Results Complete resections of renal neoplasm with tumor thrombus were achieved in 113 patients (98.3％),2 patients died intraoperatively due to the dropping of thrombus.Postoperative complication rate was 16.8％.Hospital mortality was 2.6％.Mean follow-up interval was 48 months.OS rates at 5-,and 10-year in RCC patients were 66.5％,and 61.8％,respectively.Metastasis was an independent risk factor affecting on OS (P =0.000).However,the level of thrombus was not an risk factor affecting the prognosis.Conclusions Radical resection of renal tumor and caval thrombus is an effective treatment for prolonging survival in patients with RCC extending into venous system.Retrohepatic caval tumor thrombus below or above the main hepatic vein should be dichotomized and managed respectively with diverse techniques.Metastatic rather than the level of thrombus was a risk factor impacting on RCC patient survival.

Objective To validate the mechanism of Mori Cortex-Lycii Cortex(MCLC)in intervening acute lung injury(ALI)based on network pharmacology,molecular docking combined with animal experiments.Methods The TCMSP database was used to obtain the active components of MCLC;the SwissTargetPrediction database was used to predict the targets of active components;the GeneCards database and DisGeNET database were used to collect the disease targets of ALI;the key targets were screened by constructing a PPI network,and the key targets were subjected to GO and KEGG pathway enrichment;a drug-component-target-pathway network was constructed using Cytoscape software;AutoDock and PyMOL software were used to validate the molecular docking of some of the compounds and targets;LPS was used to establish a mouse model of ALI for experimental validation,and experimental validation was performed to main targets and pathways.Results Totally 44 active components of MCLC and 138 action targets were obtained;26 potential targets of MCLC intervention in ALI were obtained,mainly TNF,EGFR,NFKB1,MPO,TNFRSF1A,NOX4,etc.,and the key pathways were MAPK signaling pathway,IL-17 signaling pathway,NF-κB signaling pathway,etc.;molecular docking results showed that the core active components of MCLC and the main targets had strong binding activities;animal experiments showed that MCLC at medium and high dosages could effectively improve the lung histopathological damage in ALI mice,decrease the contents of IL-6 and TNF-α in serum(P<0.01),and increase IL-10 content(P<0.01);MCLC inhibited protein expressions of EGFR,PI3K,AKT,NF-κB p65 in lung tissue(P<0.01).Conclusion MCLC may intervene ALI by components such as quercetin and buddleoside,acting on targets including EGFR and TNF,through ulti-pathways of EGFR/PI3K/NF-κB signaling pathway,etc.