ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) is an important endogenous damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP). P2X7R is an ATP-gated cation channel. ATP-P2X7R plays a vital role in the pathophysiology of many diseases because P2X7R is distributed on various immune cells. ATP-P2X7R signal transduction pathway has been implicated to participate in the body's im-mune defense against pathogens. This paper reviews the recent progress regarding ATP-P2X7R and its effects on parasitic diseas-es.

AIM:This study was performed to investigate the feasibility and efficiency of exogenous mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs) transplantation on post-infarction ventricular remodeling and heart function in rats and compare the effects between adult rat MSCs and neonate rat MSCs transplantation.METHODS:1-2 hours after left coronary artery ligation,MSCs cultured in ex vivo,marked with BrdU,were injected directly into the border of infarcts in exogenous rats.6 weeks after transplantation,rat' heart function,ventricular remodeling and pathological results were measured.RESULTS:MSCs transplantation decreased LV end-diastolic diameter and end-systolic diameter,limited LV chamber dilatation and reduced collagen content significantly.The numbers of blood vessels and cardiomyocytes were increased.BrdU-labelled MSCs with oval nucleus were widely distributed.There were no significant difference between adult rat MSCs and neonate rat MSCs transplanted groups.CONCLUSION:MSCs can survive and home in exogenous host infarct hearts without addition of any immunosuppressant.MSCs transplantation has benificial effects on remodeling processes and contributes to improvement of cardiac function,which may be related with the reduction of the amount of the collagen,promotion of myogenesis and angiogenesis.

It has been widely verified by various sorting methods that cancer stem cells (CSCs) exist in different types of tumor cells or tissues. However, due to lack of specific stem cell surface markers, CSCs are very difficult to be separated from some cancer cells, which becomes the key barrier of functional studies of CSCs. The sorting method by side population cells (SP) lays a solid foundation for in-depth and comprehensive study of CSCs. To identify the existence of SP in prostate cancer cell lines, we applied flow cytometry sorting by SP to cultures of prostate cancer cell lines (TSU, LnCap, and PC-3), and the cancer stem-like characteristics of SP were verified through experiments in vitro and in vivo. The proportion of SP in TSU cells was calculated to be 1.60%±0.40% [Formula: see text], and that in PC-3 and LnCap cells was calculated to be 0.80%±0.05% and 0.60%±0.20%, respectively. The colony formation assay demonstrated that the colony formation rate of SP to non-SP sorted from TSU via flow cytometry was 0.495±0.038 to 0.177±0.029 in 500 cells, 0.505±0.026 to 0.169±0.024 in 250 cells, and 0.088±0.016 to 0.043±0.012 in 125 cells respectively. In the in vivo experiments, tumors were observed in all the mice on the 10th day after injecting 50 000 cells subcutaneously in SP group, whereas when 5×10(6) cells were injected in non-SP group, tumors were developed in only 4 out of 8 mice until the 3rd week before the end of the experiment. Our results revealed that prostate cancer cells contain a small subset of cells, called SP, possessing much greater capacity of colony formation and tumorigenic potential than non-SP. These suggest that SP in prostate cancer cells may play a key role in the self-renewal and proliferation, and have the characteristics of cancer stem-like cells. Dissecting these features will provide a new understanding of the function of prostate CSCs in tumorigenicity and transformation.

Objective To investigate the effect of applying specialist nursing assessment indicator system on improving nurse′s health assessment ability in orthopedic department. Methods A specialist nursing assessment indicator system was developed by applying evaluation indicators of nursing care quality. That assessment indicator system consisted of 9 sub-indicators. They were assessments on local blood circulation, sensation and motion, muscle strength, pain, risk of developing pressure ulcer, risk of falling down and assessment on anal sphincter function, etc. In addition, standard assessment process was developed and applied to train 54 nurses in orthopedic department, in order to standardize and improve their ability on specialist nursing assessment. Furthermore, the assessment process was transferred into specific nursing interventions to improve nurse′s health assessment ability, too. The accurate rate on those 9 indicated assessments were evaluated and analyzed regularly, pre and post the indicator system application. In the present study, each of the 54 nurses was required to assess five patients basing on the items in the assessment indicator system. The total assessment times were 270. Results After applying the indicator system, the accurate rates of assessments on local blood circulation, sensation and motion, muscle strength, pain, risk of developing pressure ulcer, anal sphincter function and assessment on developing deep venous thrombosis were 98.89% (267/270), 99.63% (269/270), 99.26% (268/270), 97.41% (263/270), 98.15% (265/270), 91.85% (248/270), 98.15% (265/270), which were higher than 95.19%(257/270), 92.96%(251/270), 96.30%(260/270), 90.37%(244/270), 92.22%(249/270), 85.56%(231/270), 92.22%(249/270) of the time when the system was not used, and the difference was significant (χ2=5.34-16.82, P < 0.05). However, the accurate rates on assessing risk of falling down and assessing ADL were not significant different, comparing to the results before applying the indicator system (χ2=0.34, 0.41, P>0.05). Conclusions Applying the specialist nursing assessment indicator system was able to standardize nursing assessment behavior and improve nurse′s assessment ability. In addition, it was beneficial to improve the quality of specialist nursing care in orthopedic department.

Objective Using literature metrology,scientific literature in the field of depression models in animals was analyzed to better understand the development trends and hot topics in this field.Methods We obtained publications on depression and animal models from 2013 to 2022 from the Web of Science core set database.CiteSpace 6.1 R1(64-bit)Basic was used to analyze annual publications,countries,institutions,authors,and keywords related to this field.Results A total of 1000 articles were included in this study.From 2013 to 2022,the number of articles published increased gradually and then stabilized.In terms of the number of articles,the United States had the most published articles(256).Wegener Gregers was the most influential author in the field with 23 published articles.Conclusions The field focuses on signaling pathways and therapeutic approaches to determine the pathogenesis of depression and better treatments.This study provides a visual analysis of trends in depression research to help researchers keep up with the latest developments.

Aim To establish the rat model of Spleen-Qi deficiency, analyse the metabolic pathways and investigate the connection between the changed urinary metabolites and Spleen-Qi deficiency, in order to explore the potential mechanisms of Spleen-Qi deficiency.Methods With the binding methods of diarrhea induced by bitter and cold, abnormal of starvation and excessive tiredness, the rat Spleen-Qi deficiency model was established.Then the activity of creatine phosphokinase(CPK) was detected.The endogenous metabolites in the urine were detected by NMR, and the data were analyzed with multivariate and statistical methods.Then the metabolites were selected that could be clearly distinct in the two groups with the fold change value(>1.2) and the P<0.05 of Student′s t-test.Both the pathway analysis and enrichment analysis were performed with Metabo Analyst 3.0.Results Compared with the normal rats, the activity of CPK decreased significantly in model rats(P<0.05).A significant separation appeared in the principal components analysis(PCA) score plot when the control group and the model group were compared, indicating that the Spleen-Qi deficiency model was successfully duplicated.The 33 differential metabolites, which mainly involved in the metabolic pathways, were distinguished from the comparision of Spleen-Qi deficiency model group and control group.The metabolic pathways was related to energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism and disturbance of gut microbes.Conclusions The main energy metabolic pathways (tricarboxylic acid cycle, glycolysis and liquid oxidation) may be disturbed in Spleen-Qi deficiency rats.The energy supply function is suppressed, which leads to the fatigue and weight loss in rats.

Objective The present situation and hotspots of KM mouse research were visualized by CiteSpace software,which provided a reference for breaking through the bottleneck of KM mouse research and finding new ideas in China.Methods A total of 3981 articles were retrieved from CNKI and Web of Science databases from January 1,2004 to June 10,2023,of which the number of publications,countries(regions),institutions,author cooperation network,keyword co-occurrence,clustering,burst words,and cited English literature for analysis.Results The number of documents published in Chinese was decreased and the number of documents published in English was increased gradually in KM mouse research.The three countries with the most published articles were China,the United States,and Japan,where the leading research institutions were the China Agricultural University,Chinese Academy of Sciences,and Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.The main authors at home and abroad were Liu Weihui,Li Guangwu,and Zhao Xin.The domestic research focused on the toxicology,immunology,and reproduction of KM mouse,and the foreign research focused on the cell biology and physiology of KM mouse.Conclusions KM mouse have been used and popularized in our country for more than 70 years,mainly focusing on toxicology,immunology,and reproduction.Although the use of KM mouse has led tove made allowed some achievements in experiments,certain it is necessary to solve their problems in the future,such as the standardization of population breeding,the discovery of the dominant research fields,and the further promotion of animal ethics,should be resolved.

Objective:To investigate the influences of low molecular weight heparin therapy on lung function, coagulation function and prognosis in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated with lung cancer.Methods:Sixty patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated with lung cancer were gathered and randomly grouped into a routine group (30 cases) and a heparin group (30 cases). The patients in the routine group were given symptomatic treatment, and the patients in the heparin group were given low molecular weight heparin treatment on the basis of the symptomatic treatment, 4 100 iu/12 h. The coagulation function [activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), D-dimer], blood gas analysis indexes [blood oxygen saturation (SaO 2), carbon dioxide partial pressure (PaCO 2), blood oxygen partial pressure (PaO 2) ], vascular endothelial function [nitric oxide (NO), endothelin 1 (ET-1), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) ], lung function [forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), ratio of FEV1 to predicted value (FEV1%) ], C-reactive protein (CRP), dyspnea (mMRC score) and survival were compared. Results:Compared with those before treatment, the levels of APTT [ (18.46±1.87) vs (11.58±1.25) s, (18.11±1.82) vs (15.57±1.58) s],PT[ (29.53±3.01) vs (22.57±2.36) s, (29.14±2.93) vs (25.48±2.61) s], D-dimer [ (842.59±85.12) vs (435.62±44.57) g/L, (846.63±84.75) vs (551.79±55.64) g/L],PaCO 2[ (58.79±5.92) vs (42.53±4.26) mmHg, (59.14±5.96) vs (50.38±5.07) mmHg],ET-1[ (106.78±10.72) vs (65.37±6.64) ng/L, (105.96±10.61) vs (72.53±7.31) ng/L],ICAM-1[ (231.48±23.35) vs (142.63±14.57) μg/L, (228.79±23.12) vs (165.48±16.72) μg/L], CRP [ (80.39±18.53) vs (9.77±2.08) mg/L, (80.64±19.17) vs (14.86±3.16) mg/L] and mMRC [ (2.64±0.31) vs (1.42±0.22) points, (2.71±0.34) vs (1.78±0.27) points] in both groups were greatly decreased after treatment ( P<0.05), and compared with the routine group, the heparin group were greatly lower ( P<0.05). Compared with those before treatment, the levels of SaO 2[ (0.54±0.15) vs 0.82±0.24) mmHg, (0.56±0.16) vs (0.67±0.20) mmHg],PaO 2[ (56.32±5.65) vs (80.47±8.12) mmHg, (56.89±5.72) vs (72.13±7.25) mmHg],NO[ (54.31±5.46) vs (96.78±10.02) μmol/L, (53.27±5.35) vs (85.64±8.62) μmol/L],FEV1[ (1.21±0.32) vs (1.89±0.45) %, (1.25±0.34) vs (1.57±0.41) %],FVC[ (3.41±0.35) vs (3.78±0.42) L, (3.37±0.32) vs (3.56±0.36) L],FEV1%[ (80.74±8.15) vs (88.46±8.75) %, (79.53±8.02) vs (83.82±8.41) %] in the two groups after treatment were greatly increased ( P<0.05), and compared with the routine group, the heparin group were greatly increased ( P<0.05). A 3-year follow-up of the patients showed that there were 11 survivors in the heparin group (accounting for 36.67%), which was more than that of the conventional group (7 survivors, accounting for 23.33%) ( χ2=8.310, P=0.004) . Conclusion:Low molecular weight heparin can effectively enhance the coagulation function, pulmonary function and vascular endothelial function, regulate blood gas indexes, ameliorate dyspnea in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer, and improve patient prognosis.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genetic basis for a juvenile with maturity-onset diabetes of the young type 12(MODY12). METHODS: High-throughput sequencing was carried out to screen for the variants. Candidate variant was verified by Sanger sequencing. Pathogenity of the variant was predicted by searching the genetic databases and analysis by using bioinformatic software. RESULTS: Genetic testing indicated that the patient and his mother have both carried a heterozygous c.3976G>A variant (p.Glu1326Lys) in exon 32 of the ABCC8 gene. Prediction of the protein structure suggested the variant to be deleterious. Based on the guidelines of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, the variant was predicted to be uncertain significance. CONCLUSION Whether the c.3976G>A variant of the ABCC8 gene is the cause of the disease in this patient or not depends on the functional studies and more case data. Above finding has enriched the spectrum of ABCC8 gene variants.
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/genetics* ; Genetic Testing ; Genomics ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Humans ; Mutation

Objective:To evaluate the role of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/heme oxidase-1 (HO-1) in reduction of renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury by the human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hucMSCs)-derived exosomes (hucMSCs-exo) in mice.Methods:The hucMSCs were cultured, and exosomes were extracted and identified by transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis and Western blot. Thirty-six male SPF-grade C57BL/6 mice, weighing 20-25 g, were used. Thirty mice were selected and divided into 5 groups ( n=6 each) by a random number table method: sham operation group (Sham group), sham operation + Nrf2 inhibitor ML385 group (Sham + ML385 group), renal I/R group (I/R group), renal I/R + exosome group (I/R+ EXO group), and renal I/R + exosome + Nrf2 inhibitor ML385 group (I/R+ EXO+ ML385 group). A model of renal I/R injury was prepared by clamping the bilateral renal pedicles for 45 min followed by perfusion in anesthetized animals. ML385 30 mg/kg was intraperitoneally injected at 45 min before preparing the model in Sham+ ML385 group and I/R+ EXO+ ML385 group, and hucMSCs-exo 100 μg was injected via the tail vein at 15 min before reperfusion in I/R+ EXO group and I/R+ EXO+ ML385 group. Serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (Cr) concentrations were detected at 24 h of reperfusion. The renal tissues were obtained for examination of the pathological changes and for determination of contents of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 protein and mRNA (by Western blot and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction). The left 6 mice were allocated to sham operation group (Sham-IM group, n=3) and renal I/R group (I/R-IM group, n=3) by a random number table method for VISQUE in living imaging observation. Results:The exosomes showed a typical cup-shaped morphology with a transmission electron microscope, the nanoparticles tracked and analyzed the average diameter of the exosome, with an average diameter of 96.7 nm, and the positive expression of surface markers CD9, CD63 and TSG101 was detected using Western blot. The renal fluorescence intensity value was significantly increased in I/R-IM group as compared with Sham-IM group ( P<0.05). Compared with Sham group, the serum BUN and Cr concentrations were significantly increased, the contents of IL-6, TNF-α and MDA and ROS levels were increased, the activity of SOD was decreased, the expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 protein and mRNA was down-regulated ( P<0.05), and the pathological changes of renal tissues were aggravated in I/R group, and no significant change was found in serum BUN and Cr concentrations in Sham+ ML385 group ( P>0.05). Compared with I/R group, the serum BUN and Cr concentrations were significantly decreased, the contents of IL-6, TNF-α and MDA and ROS levels were decreased, the activity of SOD was increased, the expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 protein and mRNA was up-regulated ( P<0.05), and the pathological changes of renal tissues were significantly attenuated in I/R+ EXO group. Compared with I/R+ EXO group, the serum BUN and Cr concentrations were significantly increased, the contents of IL-6, TNF-α and MDA and ROS levels were increased, the activity of SOD was decreased, the expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 protein and mRNA was down-regulated ( P<0.05), and the pathological changes of renal tissues were aggravated in I/R+ EXO+ ML385 group. Conclusions:The mechanism by which hucMSCs-exo reduces renal I/R injury may be related to activation of the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway in mice.