Objective To study the importance of back pain-lassitude as the key symptom in the differentiation of kidney-deficiency syndrome in diabetes patients.Methods Totally 460 diabetics were divided into the pain group(154 cases)and non-pain group(306 cases).The 39 symptoms,signs and behavior were abstracted and each patient was scored according to the details of kidney deficiency scale to analyze the constitution and distribution of kidney-deficiency syndrome.Results There was a significant difference in the total symptom score of the two groups(P

Objective To evaluate the predictive value of serum carbohydrate antigen 50(CA50),tumor specific growth factor(TSGF),and tissue polypeptide antigen(TPA)levels for sensitivity to radiochemotherapy in patients with middle-and advanced-stage breast cancer using a nomogram model.Methods Eighty-two patients with middle-and advanced-stage breast cancer were selected as the study sub-jects.All patients received paclitaxel chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy and were divided into sensitive(n= 57)and insensitive(n= 25)groups according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors.The general information of the patients,serum expression of CA50,TSGF,and TPA,and their differences before and after treatment were recorded.A nomogram model was constructed,and cali-bration curves,receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves,and decision curves were used to evaluate the predictive power and clinical utility of the nomogram model.Results Significant differences were observed in tumor diameter,vascular invasion,TNM stage,lymph node metastasis,and degree of differentiation between the two groups(P＜0.05).Compared to those in the sensitive group,the serum expression of CA50,TSGF,and TPA after treatment was higher,and the difference in CA50,TSGF,and TPA was smaller in the insensitive group(P＜0.05).Three predictive variables were identified in the LASSO regression:differences in CA50,TSGF,and TPA.The logistic regression results showed that differences in CA50,TSGF,and TPA influenced sensitivity to radiochemotherapy in middle-and advanced-stage breast cancer(P＜0.05).A nomogram model was constructed using differences in CA50,TSGF,and TPA.Calibration,ROC,and decision curves showed the model's good predictive accuracy and clinical utility.Conclusion Serum expression of CA50,TSGF,and TPA is high in patients with middle-and advanced-stage breast cancer who are insensitive to radiochemotherapy,and differences in CA50,TSGF,and TPA affect their sensitivity to radiochemotherapy.The nomogram model had good predictive value and clinical utility.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) composite materials are very attractive for use in neural tissue engineering and biosensor coatings. CNT scaffolds are excellent mimics of extracellular matrix due to their hydrophilicity, viscosity, and biocompatibility. CNTs can also impart conductivity to other insulating materials, improve mechanical stability, guide neuronal cell behavior, and trigger axon regeneration. The performance of chitosan (CS)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) composite scaffolds could be optimized by introducing multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs). CS/PEG/CNT composite scaffolds with CNT content of 1%, 3%, and 5% (1%=0.01 g/mL) were prepared by freeze-drying. Their physical and chemical properties and biocompatibility were evaluated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the composite scaffolds had a highly connected porous structure. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy proved that the CNTs were well dispersed in the CS/PEG matrix and combined with the CS/PEG nanofiber bundles. MWCNTs enhanced the elastic modulus of the scaffold. The porosity of the scaffolds ranged from 83% to 96%. They reached a stable water swelling state within 24 h, and swelling decreased with increasing MWCNT concentration. The electrical conductivity and cell adhesion rate of the scaffolds increased with increasing MWCNT content. Immunofluorescence showed that rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells grown in the scaffolds had characteristics similar to nerve cells. We measured changes in the expression of nerve cell markers by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and found that PC12 cells cultured in the scaffolds expressed growth-associated protein 43 (GAP43), nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR), and class III β‍-tubulin (TUBB3) proteins. Preliminary research showed that the prepared CS/PEG/CNT scaffold has good biocompatibility and can be further applied to neural tissue engineering research.
Animals ; Axons ; Biocompatible Materials/chemistry* ; Chitosan/chemistry* ; Nanotubes, Carbon/chemistry* ; Nerve Regeneration ; Polyethylene Glycols ; Porosity ; Rats ; Tissue Engineering/methods* ; Tissue Scaffolds/chemistry*

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) are the most widely used method to identify genetic risk loci associated with orofacial clefts (OFC). However, despite the increasing size of cohort, GWASs are still insufficient to detect all the heritability, suggesting there are more associations under the current stringent statistical threshold. In this study, we obtained an integrated epigenomic dataset based on the chromatin conformation of a human oral epithelial cell line (HIOEC) using RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, H3K27ac ChIP-seq, and DLO Hi-C. Presumably, this epigenomic dataset could reveal the missing functional variants located in the oral epithelial cell active enhancers/promoters along with their risk target genes, despite relatively less-stringent statistical association with OFC. Taken a non-syndromic cleft palate only (NSCPO) GWAS data of the Chinese Han population as an example, 3664 SNPs that cannot reach the strict significance threshold were subjected to this functional identification pipeline. In total, 254 potential risk SNPs residing in active cis-regulatory elements interacting with 1 718 promoters of oral epithelium-expressed genes were screened. Gapped k-mer machine learning based on enhancers interacting with epithelium-expressed genes along with in vivo and in vitro reporter assays were employed as functional validation. Among all the potential SNPs, we chose and confirmed that the risk alleles of rs560789 and rs174570 reduced the epithelial-specific enhancer activity by preventing the binding of transcription factors related to epithelial development. In summary, we established chromatin conformation datasets of human oral epithelial cells and provided a framework for testing and understanding how regulatory variants impart risk for clefts.
Chromatin ; Cleft Lip/genetics* ; Cleft Palate/genetics* ; Epithelium ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Humans