Objective To explore the therapeutic mechanism of narrow-band ultraviolet B (NB-UVB)in psoriasis. Methods Forty-two patients with psoriasis vulgaris and 20 healthy controls were enrolled into this study. All the patients received 20 sessions of NB-UVB radiation. Psoriasis area severity index (PASI)was used to evaluate the severity of psoriasis. Blood samples were collected from all the patients before and 15 cured patients after the treatment as well as from 20 healthy controls, and skin samples from 10 patients before and after the treatment as well as from 10 healthy controls. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)was performed to determine the serum levels of IL-17 and IL-22, and real-time fluorescence-based quantitative PCR to measure the mRNA expressions of IL-17 and IL-22 in skin specimens. Statistical analysis was carried out by using the two-sample t-test, paired t-test and Pearson correlation analysis. Results After 20 sessions of NB-UVB radiation, 15 out of the 42 patients were cured with a significant decrease in PASI. Compared with the healthy controls, the 15 cured patients showed a significant elevation in the levels of IL-17and IL-22 proteins(IL-17: 34.26 ± 10.05 ng/L vs. 16.34 ± 4.73 ng/L, t = 7.016, P < 0.01; IL-22: 13.72 ± 4.45 ng/L vs. 5.03 ± 1.84 ng/L, t = 8.282, P < 0.01)and mRNAs (IL-17: 13.43 ± 2.12 vs. 5.26 ± 0.87, t = 6.312, P < 0.01; IL-22:16.53 ± 2.65 vs. 7.72 ± 2.13, t = 6.823, P < 0.01)before the treatment. The PASI score was positively correlated with the levels of IL-17 and IL-22 proteins in sera (r = 0.76, 0.70, respectively, both P < 0.05)and their mRNAs in skin lesions (r = 0.65, 0.68, respectively, both P < 0.05)in these patients. The serum levels and mRNA expressions of IL-17 and IL-22 all significantly reduced in the cured patients after the treatment compared with those before the treatment(all P < 0.05). Conclusion NB-UVB may treat psoriasis by downregulating the levels of IL-17 and IL-22 in peripheral blood and skin lesions in patients with psoriasis.

BACKGROUNDNon-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common lung malignancy worldwide. The metastatic potential of NSCLC cells has been shown to be associated with the tumor microenvironment, which consists of tumor cells, stroma, blood vessels, immune infiltrates and the extracellular matrix. Fibroblasts can produce numerous extracellular matrix molecules and growth factors. Gefitinib has been evaluated as a first-line treatment in selected patients, and it has shown favorable efficacy especially in NSCLC, but it is not effective for everyone.

METHODSIn this study, we examined the antitumor activity of gefitinib on lung fibroblasts co-cultured of lung cancer cells. A series of co-culture experiments that employed cell counting kit-8 (CCK8), transwells, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting with HFL-1 fibroblasts and A549 human lung carcinoma cells were performed to learn more about tumor cell proliferation, migration and invasion; and to determine any change of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT)-associated tumor markers vimentin, matrix metallopro-teinase 2 (MMP2) and chemotaxis cytokines receptor 4 (CXCR4) mRNA levels.

RESULTSA549 cell proliferation in the presence of HFL-1 cells was not significantly increased compared with A549 cells alone, but A549 cell spheroid body formation was increased after co-culture, and treatment with gefitinib increased further. Our study also revealed that fibroblasts attenuated the lung cancer cell inhibition ratio of migration and invasion after gefitinib treatment in vitro. To further study this mechanism, RT-PCR analysis showed that vimentin, MMP2 and CXCR4 mRNA levels were more highly expressed in the lung cancer cells after co-culture, but did not obviously decrease compared with the control cells following gefitinib treatment. This suggests the mechanism by which fibroblasts attenuate gefitinib-induced expression of EMT-associated tumor markers. Finally, our results demonstrated that co-culture with A549 lung cancer cells does not alter the cell cycle distribution of HFL-1 fibroblasts. Furthermore, HFL-1 fibroblasts had no effect on the cell cycle distribution of HFL-1 cells treated with gefitinib.

CONCLUSIONGefitinib has lower anti-tumor activity on A549 lung cancer cells when co-cultured with HFL-1 fibroblasts.

Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Coculture Techniques ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition ; drug effects ; Fibroblasts ; cytology ; drug effects ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Quinazolines ; pharmacology

Objective To systematically summarize the effect of flipped classroom (FC) in physiotherapy teaching.Methods The following electronic bibliographic databases were searched from inception to June, 2021: CENTRAL, Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL plus, Academic Search Premier, Teacher Reference Center, ERIC, and Education Research. Original researches about FC for physiotherapy teaching were searched. The researches were screened, selected, extracted and assessed independently by two researchers, and, systematically reviewed.Results and Conclusion A total of 1 307 literatures were retrieved, and seven studies involving at least 770 student participants were finally included, which published mainly from 2013 to 2019. The subjects were students majored in physiotherapy, and the primary outcome index was exam results. FC teaching model generally can improve students' written test scores and enhance their high-level thinking ability. Students and teachers generally hold a positive attitude towards the FC teaching model.