Recent research found that human umbilical cord is rich in mesenchymal stem cells. These cells have the potencies of expressing many surface markers of mesenchymal stem cell and of differentiating into a variety of cells of three germ layers, synthesizing and secreting a set of trophic factors and other cytokines, and supporting the expansion and function of other cells hematopoietic stem cells and other cells. In addition, immunogenicity of these cells is realatively low.

As a natural drug delivery carrier with rough and porous surface and hollow core， yeast microcapsules have good safety， high targeting and high stability， and have excellent application prospects in oral drug delivery systems. Yeast cells can be treated and washed with acid-base and organic solvents to obtain loose and porous yeast microcapsules. Yeast microcapsules can encapsulate drugs through electrostatic interactions， passive diffusion， hydrophobic interaction and other methods. The surface of yeast microcapsules is mainly composed of β-glucan， which can maintain stability in the gastrointestinal environment； it can be recognized by the surface-related receptors of immune cells， thus activating the immune response， and can be transported to the lesion site with the movement of lymphocytes after being ingested. Yeast microcapsules are safe and very suitable for delivering vaccines， anti-inflammatory drugs， and anti-tumor drugs. They can not only achieve oral delivery of the aforementioned drugs， but also enhance drug efficacy and improve drug targeting. In the future， more research on systemic transport mechanisms or the development of more efficient combination drug delivery systems can be carried out to fully exhibit the clinical value of yeast microcapsules.

BackgroundPrevention and intervention of procrastination in college students are of great practical significance， and studies have illustrated a pairwise correlation among mindfulness， self-control， insecure attachment and procrastination， whereas the mechanism by which insecure attachment leads to procrastination remains unclear， and the related mediation path is quite understudied. ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of insecure attachment on procrastination among college students and the pathway of mindfulness and self-control， so as to inform the design of interventions for procrastination among college students. MethodsRandom and cluster sampling method were utilized to enroll 514 college students from 4 colleges in Guangdong Province From February to April 2023. Subjects were assessed using Irrational Procrastination Scale （IPS）， Adult Attachment Scale （AAS）， Mindful Attention Awareness Scale （MAAS） and Brief Self-Control Scale （BSCS）. Pearson correlation analysis were adopted to identify the correlation among above scales， and the mediation effect was examined via Bootstrap procedure. ResultsAAS score was positively correlated with IPS score （r=0.382， P<0.01）， and negatively correlated with MAAS and BSCS scores （r=-0.242， -0.353， P<0.01）. IPS score was negatively correlated with MAAS and BSCS scores （r=-0.314， -0.682， P<0.01）. MAAS score was positively correlated with BSCS score （r=0.439， P<0.01）. Insecure attachment positively predicted procrastination （β=0.377， P<0.01）， and the prediction of procrastination by insecure attachment was mediated by self-control， with an indirect effect value of 0.163 （95% CI： 0.105~0.223）， accounting for 43.24% of the total effect value. The mindfulness and self-control exerted a chained mediation effect on the relationship between insecure attachment and procrastination， and the indirect effect value was 0.056 （95% CI： 0.028~0.089）， accounting for 14.85% of the total effect value. ConclusionInsecure attachment can influence procrastination among college students both directly and indirectly through the single mediation of self-control or the chained mediation of mindfulness and self-control. ［Funded by 2023 National College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program （number， 202310570023）］

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical manifestations of heart, liver and kidney damages in the early stage of COVID-19 to identify the indicators for these damages. METHODS: We analyzed the clinical features, underlying diseases, and indicators of infection in 12 patients with COVID-19 on the second day after their admission to our hospital between January 20 and February 20, 2020.The data including CK-MB, aTnI, BNP, heart rate, changes in ECG, LVEF (%), left ventricular general longitudinal strain (GLS, measured by color Doppler ultrasound) were collected.The changes of liver function biochemical indicators were dynamically reviewed.BUN, UCR, eGFR, Ccr, and UACR and the levels of MA, A1M, IGU, and TRU were recorded. RESULTS: The 12 patients included 2 severe cases, 8 common type cases, and 2 mild cases.Four of the patients presented with sinus tachycardia, ECG changes and abnormal GLS in spite of normal aTNI and LVEF; 1 patient had abnormal CKMB and BNP.On the first and third days following admission, the patients had normal ALT, AST and GGT levels.On day 7, hepatic function damage occurred in the severe cases, manifested by elevated ALT and AST levels.Abnormalities of eGFR, Ccr and UACR occurred in 8, 5 and 5 of the patients, respectively.Abnormal elevations of MA, A1M, IGU and TRU in urine protein were observed in 4, 4, 5, and 2 of the patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS In patients with COVID-19, heart damage can be identified early by observing the GLS and new abnormalities on ECG in spite of normal aTNI and LVEF.Early liver injury is not obvious in these patients, but dynamic monitoring of the indicators of should be emplemented, especially in severe cases. In cases with normal CR and BUN, kidney damage can be detected early by calculating eGFR, Ccr and UACR and urine protein tests.
Betacoronavirus ; COVID-19 ; Coronavirus Infections ; Humans ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; SARS-CoV-2

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the application value of CT-based radiomics features for the ascending and descending types of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). METHODS: A total of 217 NPC patients (48 ascending type and 169 descending type), who obtained CT images before radiotherapy in Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University from February 2015 to October 2017, were analyzed retrospectively. All patients were randomly divided into a training set (=153) and a test set (=64). Gross tumor volume in the nasopharynx (GTVnx) was selected as regions of interest (ROI) and was analyzed by radiomics. A total of 1 300 radiomics features were extracted via IBEX. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) logistic regression was performed to choose the significant features. Support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF) classifiers were built and verified. RESULTS: Six features were selected by the LASSO from 1 300 radiomics features. Compared with SVM classifier, RF classifier showed better classification performance. The area under curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were 0.989, 0.941, 1.000, and 0.924, respectively for the training set; 0.994, 0.937, 1.000, and 0.924, respectively for the validation set. CONCLUSIONS CT-based radiomics features possess great potential in differentiating ascending and descending NPC. It provides a certain basis for accurate medical treatment of NPC, and may affect the treatment strategy of NPC in the future.
Humans ; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; ROC Curve ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity