Sciatic nerve injury is a common disease of peripheral nerve in clinic. After nerve injury, there are many dysfunctions in motoneurons and muscles following regeneration. Previous studies mostly investigated the aspects related to the injured nerve, and the effect on the recurrent inhibition (RI) pathway of spine following regeneration was not fully understood. Following reinnervation after temporary sciatic nerve crush, the functional alteration of RI was studied. In adult rats, RI between lateral gastrocnemius-soleus (LG-S) and medial gastrocnemius (MG) motor pools was assessed by conditioning monosynaptic reflexes (MSRs) elicited from the cut dorsal roots and recorded from either the LG-S or MG nerves by antidromic stimulation of the synergist muscle nerve. The following results were obtained. (1) The RI of MSRs in rats was almost lost (<5 weeks) after sciatic nerve crush. Although the RI partially recovered following reinnervation (6 weeks), it remained permanently depressed (up to 14 weeks). (2) Sciatic nerve crush on one side did not affect the contralateral RI. (3) Sciatic nerve crush did not induce any motoneuron loss revealed by immunohistochemistry. Peripheral nerve temporary disconnection causes long term alterations in RI pathway which make up motoneuron's function enhance for the alteration of muscle power and suggests that peripheral nerve injury induces long term plastic changes in the spinal motoneuron circuitry.
Animals ; Long-Term Synaptic Depression ; physiology ; Male ; Motor Neurons ; physiology ; Nerve Crush ; Nerve Regeneration ; physiology ; Neuronal Plasticity ; physiology ; Neurons, Afferent ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Reflex, Monosynaptic ; physiology ; Sciatic Nerve ; injuries ; physiopathology ; Spinal Cord ; physiopathology ; Spinal Nerve Roots ; physiopathology

BACKGROUND: As a bioactive substance, Biodentine has good compressive strength, bonding strength and less micro-leakage. It has been successfully applied to a variety of clinical indications. However, much less is known about whether Biodentine can promote osteogenesis. OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of Biodentine of different concentrations on proliferation and osteogenesis of MG-63 cells. METHODS: The extracts of Biodentine with different concentration gradients (1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16) were prepared. MG-63 cells were cultured in six groups, with the addition of minimum essential medium (control group) and five concentrations of Biodentine extracts. Cell proliferation was detected by cell counting kit-8 assay at 1, 3, 5 and 7 days, and then the best concentration of Biodentine extract was screened. Another MG-63 cells were cultured in minimum essential medium (blank control group) and Biodentine extract of the optimal concentration (experimental group). The expression of osteogenic factor Runx2 mRNA in MG-63 cells was detected by real-time PCR at 1, 3, 5 and 7 days of culture. Then alizarin red staining was used to observe calcified nodules in MG-63 cells at 10 and 14 days of culture. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) At 1 and 3 days of culture, the number of viable cells in different concentration groups was similar to that in the control group (P ＞ 0.05). At 5 days of culture, compared with the control group, the number of viable cells in MG-63 cells was significantly lowered in the 1 concentration group, showed no significant changes in the 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 concentration groups (P ＞ 0.05), and was significantly increased in the 1/16 concentration group (P ＜ 0.05). Therefore, the 1/16 concentration of Biodentine extract was used for further experiment. (2) Runx2 mRNA expression of the experimental group at 1, 3, 5 and 7 days of culture was 1.14, 5.29, 1.08 and 2.11 times that of the control group, respectively (all P ＜ 0.05). (3) At 10 days of culture, both the experimental group and blank control group showed no mineralized nodules; at 14 days of culture, mineralized nodules were observed in the two groups, and larger and darker nodules were seen in the experiment group. To conclude, Biodentine at certain concentrations can promote the proliferation and osteogenic activity of human osteosarcoma cell line MG-63.

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of ischemic postconditioning on ischemia/reperfusion injury in isolated hypertrophied rat heart and investigate the signal transduction pathway changes induced by ischemia postconditioning.

METHODSCardiac hypertrophy was induced in rats by abdominal aortic banding, and isolated hypertrophied rat heart ischemia/reperfusion model was made by Langendorff technique to evaluate the effects of ischemia postconditioning on left ventricular systole pressure, coronary artery flow, creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, myocardial infarction size, and the level of myocardial phospho-protein kinase B/Akt (Ser473), phospho-glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (Ser9). Following groups were studied (n = 12 each group): IR, 30 min ischemia (I)/60 min Reperfusion (R); Post: 30 min ischemia, 6 circles of 10 s I/10 s R followed by 60 min R; Post Wort: 30 min ischemia, 6 circles of 10 s I/10 s R, wortmannin (10(-7) mol/L) followed by 60 min R; Wort: 30 min ischemia, wortmannin (10(-7) mol/L) followed by 60 min R.

RESULTSLeft ventricular systolic pressure and coronary artery flow were significantly increased, myocardial infarction size and the release of CPK, LDH significantly reduced in Post group compared to that in IR group. Phospho-protein kinase B/Akt (Ser473) and phospho-glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (Ser9) levels were also significantly higher in Post group than that in IR group. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor wortmannin prevented the increase of phospho-protein kinase B/Akt (Ser473) and phospho-glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (Ser9) induced by ischemic postconditioning, but only partly abolished the cardioprotection of ischemic postconditioning.

CONCLUSIONIschemic postconditioning attenuates ischemia/reperfusion injury in isolated hypertrophied rat heart. The cardioprotective effects of ischemic postconditioning were partly mediated through PI3K/Akt/GSK-3beta signaling pathway.

Animals ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 ; metabolism ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta ; Ischemic Preconditioning, Myocardial ; Male ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury ; metabolism ; therapy ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; metabolism ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Signal Transduction

Objective: To explore the short-term efficacy and safety of dapagliflozin in children with hereditary proteinuric kidney disease. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study. From August 2020 to December 2021, 23 children with hereditary kidney disease from Children's Hospital of Fudan University were enrolled. Patients received dapagliflozin 5 mg/d (weight≤30 kg) or initial dose 5 mg/d for 1 week, then 10 mg/d (weight>30 kg) and the dose of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors was stable during treatment. Clinical data including demographic parameters, primary diagnosis, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), 24 h proteinuria and characteristics in the follow-up were collected. The primary outcome was the change in 24 h proteinuria at 12 (±2) weeks, secondary outcomes included changes of 24 h proteinuria at 24 (±2) weeks, eGFR at both 12 (±2) and 24 (±2) weeks. The data were analysed by using mixed linear model. Results: Totally 23 patients were enrolled, including 16 males and 7 females. The age was (10.8±2.9) years. The primary diseases were Alport syndrome (12 cases), Dent disease (5 cases), proteinuria (4 cases), and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (2 cases) respectively. Primary outcome showed that 24 h proteinuria decreased from baseline at 12 (±2) weeks during treatment (1.75 (1.46, 2.20) vs. 1.84 (1.14, 2.54) g/m², P<0.05). Secondary outcomes showed that there was no significant difference in 24 h urine protein at 24 (±2) weeks (P>0.05). eGFR decreased slightly at 12 (±2) weeks ((107±21) vs. (112±28) ml/(min·1.73m²), P<0.05), and there was no significant difference at 24 (±2) weeks (P>0.05). Serum albumin increased at 12 (±2) and 24 (±2) weeks following the treatment ((39±8) vs. (37±8) g/L, (38±7) vs. (37±8) g/L, both P<0.05). No hypoglycemia event was reported during the treatment. Conclusion: The dapagliflozin had therapeutic effects on decreasing proteinuria and increasing serum albumin in short-term treatment in children with hereditary proteinuric kidney disease, no hypoglycemia or serious adverse events were observed.
Female ; Male ; Humans ; Child ; Adolescent ; Prospective Studies ; Nephritis, Hereditary ; Proteinuria/drug therapy* ; Serum Albumin

Cryopreservation of rare testicular-retrieved spermatozoa for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in patients with severe oligozoospermia and azoospermia remains a major challenge in clinical practice. This study evaluated the Cryopiece system as a potential technique to cryopreserve rare human spermatozoa for ICSI. Small numbers of ejaculated (24 patients) and testicular (13 patients) spermatozoa were cryopreserved using the Cryopiece system. The total number of recovered spermatozoa and motility were assessed after thawing. Thirty-seven couples underwent ICSI using spermatozoa cryopreserved by the Cryopiece system, and ICSI outcomes (rates of fertilization, embryo cleavage, and clinical pregnancy) were evaluated. The average sperm post-thaw retrieval rate was 79.1%, and motility was 29.7%. Ejaculated spermatozoa had a higher post-thaw motility (32.5%) than testicular spermatozoa (21.8%; P = 0.005). ICSI achieved a fertilization rate of 61.9%, embryo cleavage rate of 84.6%, and clinical pregnancy rate of 43.3%. The ICSI outcomes in the ejaculated and testicular frozen-thawed spermatozoa were similar. Assisted oocyte activation (AOA) after ICSI with motile (72.1%) or immotile (71.9%) spermatozoa resulted in a significantly higher fertilization rate than that when using motile spermatozoa without AOA (52.0%; P = 0.005). However, AOA did not enhance the clinical pregnancy rate (55.6% or 40.0% vs 35.3%; P = 0.703). The Cryopiece system is simple and useful for the cryopreservation of small numbers of ejaculated or testicular spermatozoa for ICSI in patients with severe oligozoospermia or nonobstructive azoospermia.
Azoospermia ; Cryopreservation ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Oligospermia ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Rate ; Retrospective Studies ; Semen ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic ; Sperm Motility ; Spermatozoa ; Testis

Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) triggered a severe and complicated epidemic situation, and it is of great significance to discuss the rules and characteristics of the prescription of COVID-19 in traditional Chinese medicine. This study collected prevention and treatment approaches of traditional Chinese medicine for COVID-19 released from the National Health Committee of China, 7 provinces and municipal health committees, the Chinese Medicine Administration and Handbook of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnosis and Treatment of COVID-19 between January 1 and February 18, 2020, and prescriptions prepared by 3 masters of Chinese medicine and 4 well-known Chinese medicine experts. These information were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and EpiData 3.0 software was used to establish the "Traditional Chinese Medicine Prescription Library for the Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19" and the "Common Database of Traditional Chinese Medicine for the Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19". A total of 93 effective Chinese medicine prescriptions and a total of 157 kinds of constituent medicines were collected. Data analysis was performed by SPSS 18.0 software. The results showed that: ①most of the medicines are with cold and warm properties, 69 with cold medicines, accounting for 43.95%, 57 with warm medicines, accounting for 36.31%, and less with hot medicines, taking up 1.27%; ②there are many pungent, bitter and sweet medicines, and the distribution of medicinal flavors is different at different disease stage. The pungent medicines are mostly found in the early stage, the bitter drugs are the main flavor in the middle and severe stage, and the sweet medicines are mostly used in the recovery stage; ③the meridian of the drug is more concentrated at the lung, stomach, and heart, and most of drugs are into the lung meridian, accounting for 24.55%; these medicines are mostly into the lungs and stomach in the initial and middle stages, and into the heart and kidney in severe stages; ④oral drugs are mostly non-toxic, among which only 6 kinds are toxic, namely Armeniacae Semen Amarum, Dryopteridis Crassirhizomatis Rhizoma, Paridis Rhizoma, Pinelliae Rhizoma, Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparaia; ⑤most of the drugs have five types of functions: treating exterior syndromes, resolving dampness, clearing heat, replenishing deficiency, resolving phlegm, cough, and asthma. In the early stage, both drugs for treating exterior syndromes and heat clearing drugs were equally used, accounting for 18.81% each. In the middle stage, drugs resolving phlegm, cough, and asthma drugs are more often used, accounting for 29.61%. In the severe stage, heat clearing drugs are mostly used, accounting for 33.33%. During the recovery period, tonic deficiency drugs are used the most, accounting for 36.47%. The medical characteristics and efficacy of Chinese medicine in preventing and treating COVID-19 are closely related to the understanding of the etiology of Chinese medicine and the location and pathogenesis of the disease. Staged medication and local conditions need attention during the identification and treatment of COVID-19 clinical syndromes.
Betacoronavirus ; COVID-19 ; China ; Coronavirus Infections/drug therapy* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral/drug therapy* ; SARS-CoV-2 ; COVID-19 Drug Treatment

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of discordant lymphoma. Methods: The clinical data of one patient with discordant lymphoma at the PLA Strategic Support Force Characteristic Medical Center were retrospectively analyzed, and the related literatures were reviewed. Results: The patient was treated for thrombocytopenia and the examination showed splenomegaly. After hormone treatment, the platelet rebounded and thrombocytopenia occurred during hormone reduction. Splenectomy was performed. Postoperative pathological diagnosis of splenic marginal lymphoma was made and observed. Axillary lymph node enlargement occurred nine months later. Pathological diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was made by using lymph node biopsy, and the disease condition was alleviated after immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy. Conclusions Discordant lymphoma is rare and shows no special clinical manifestations. Its diagnosis should rely on pathological examination. Immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy may be more effective.

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the epidemiological characteristics and spatial distribution patterns of human norovirus outbreaks in China, identify high-risk areas, and provide guidance for epidemic prevention and control. METHODS: This study analyzed 964 human norovirus outbreaks involving 50,548 cases in 26 provinces reported from 2012 to 2018. Epidemiological analysis and spatiotemporal scanning analysis were conducted to analyze the distribution of norovirus outbreaks in China. RESULTS: The outbreaks showed typical seasonality, with more outbreaks in winter and fewer in summer, and the total number of infected cases increased over time. Schools, especially middle schools and primary schools, are the most common settings of norovirus outbreaks, with the major transmission route being life contact. More outbreaks occurred in southeast coastal areas in China and showed significant spatial aggregation. The highly clustered areas of norovirus outbreaks have expanded northeast over time. CONCLUSION By identifying the epidemiological characteristics and high-risk areas of norovirus outbreaks, this study provides important scientific support for the development of preventive and control measures for norovirus outbreaks, which is conducive to the administrative management of high-risk settings and reduction of disease burden in susceptible areas.
Humans ; Gastroenteritis/epidemiology* ; Norovirus ; Caliciviridae Infections/epidemiology* ; Disease Outbreaks ; China/epidemiology* ; Genotype

【Objective】 To estimate the prevalence, associated factors and patterns of multimorbidity of non-communicable diseases among adults in Shaanxi Province so as to provide evidence for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. 【Methods】 We used the data of adults aged 18 years and older collected in the baseline survey of Shaanxi Project in the Regional Ethnic Cohort Study in Northwest China. Multinomial logistic regression was used to explore the associated factors for multimorbidity. Exploratory factor analysis was used to extract patterns of multimorbidity. 【Results】 The prevalence of multimorbidity was 10.7% among the 44 442 participants. Age increase, being males, urban residence, and being overweight or obesity were positively associated with multimorbidity. Compared with women, men had a higher risk of multimorbidity. The OR and 95% CI was 1.25 (1.12-1.39). The risk of multimorbidity increased with age among adults. Compared with participants aged 18.0-34.9 years, the ORs and 95% CIs of those aged 35.0-44.9, 45.0-54.9, 55.0-64.9, and ≥65.0 years were 4.73 (3.47-6.46), 15.61 (11.60-21.00), 41.39 (30.76-55.70) and 90.04 (66.58-121.77), respectively. The primary multimorbidity patterns among adults in Shaanxi were cardiovascular-metabolic multimorbidity (5.4%), viscero-articular multimorbidity (1.0%), and respiratory multimorbidity (0.3%). 【Conclusion】 More than one in ten adults in Shaanxi Province had multimorbidity, and the predominant pattern of multimorbidity was cardiovascular-metabolic multimorbidity. The prevention and control of non-communicable diseases should be reinforced in middle-aged and older people, males, people living in the urban, and overweight or obese people. More attention should be paid to the prevention and control of cardiovascular-metabolic diseases.

【Objective】 To evaluate the dietary quality with the dietary balance index (DBI_16) and the association between dietary quality and bone mass among middle-aged and elderly people in Gansu Province so as to provide evidence for improving dietary quality and bone health status of Gansu population. 【Methods】 Based on the information of the type and quantity of food intake and the bone mass of middle-aged and elderly people aged 35 years and above collected by the Gansu Project in the Regional Ethnic Cohort Study in Northwest China, DBI_16 was used to evaluate the intake level of cereals, vegetables, fruits, milk, beans, fish and shrimp, eggs and other foods, and the degree of inadequate, excessive and unbalanced dietary intake of the participants. Multiple linear regression was used to evaluate the associations of three component indexes of DBI_16, high bound score (DBI_HBS), low bound score (DBI_LBS), diet quality distance (DBI_DQD), and seven single indexes of DBI_16 with bone mass. 【Results】 Analyses of the dietary and bone mass data of 11,840 participants showed that 44.8% of participants consumed excessive amounts of cereals compared to the dietary recommendation. 96.3%, 90.6%, 90.1%, 71.9%, 95.1% and 60.3% of participants’ intake of vegetables, fruits, milk, soybeans, fish and shrimp, and eggs, respectively, were inadequate. 47.7% participants consumed less than 10 types of food. 2.3% participants’ DBI_LBS levels were appropriate. 54.7% participants’ DBI_HBS levels were appropriate. Only 1.2% participants’ DBI_DQD reached a balanced level. The bone mass level in the study population was (2.5±0.6) kg [(2.8±0.5) kg for men and (2.3±0.5) kg for women]. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, total dietary energy intake and body mass index, DBI_LBS and DBI_DQD were negatively associated with bone mass [β and 95% CI was -0.002 01 (-0.003 62--0.000 40) and -0.001 76 (-0.003 09--0.000 43), respectively]. 【Conclusion】 Dietary intake imbalance is common among middle-aged and elderly people in Gansu Province, and the more severe the dietary intake imbalance, the lower the bone mass level.