Objective To discuss the present situation and existing problems of the funded projects, especially in the gap between western region and eastern central region by analyzing the funding situation of the projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the completed projects in the TCM field from 1989 to 2015. Methods The website was searched thoroughly, and data of Division Ⅹ of Health Science Department of National Natural Science Foundation of China from 1989 to 2015 (ie TCM, Chinese materia medica and integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine) funded by the National Science Foundation for Young Scientists in China were obtained, and the projects of the National Science Foundation for Young Scientists funded by Division Ⅹ of Health Science Department of National Natural Science Foundation of China from 1989 to 2015 were included, and incomplete or inavailable items were eliminated. Relevant information according to the extracted forms was extracted. The situation of different regions and the situations of the projects have been concluded and the titles of different titles have been analyzed. Results By 2015, the number of funded projects and the amount of financing in the TCM field were increasing year by year. In the western regions, the number of funded projects and the amount of financing accounted for only 11.29% of the total number and 11.28% of the total financing. Compared with the less supporting western regions, much more were mainly in eastern and central regions. The number of SCI papers published and single cited times of the finished projects were 988 and 20.85. Compared with the developed areas in eastern and central regions, there was no statistical significance in the average number of SCI papers (P=0.493), average SCI papers cited article number (P=0.449), SCI papers in average cited frequency (P=0.589), the average CSCD papers number (P=0.579), average CSCD papers cited article number (P=0.883) and average single CSCD papers cited frequency (P=0.753) in western regions (P>0.05). Conclusion Under the stable supports of the Young Scientists Fund, scientific researches in the TCM field have achieved remarkable achievements. In addition, the ability of scientific research and innovation of the young scientific workers have been improved. The funded projects in western regions are far less than those in eastern and central regions, with great differences. However, there is no statistical significance in the research results of the items in western regions and eastern and central regions.

Animals ; China ; Humans ; Immunophenotyping ; Influenza A Virus, H7N9 Subtype ; classification ; genetics ; immunology ; Influenza A virus ; classification ; genetics ; immunology ; Phylogeny

In recent years, with the in-depth study of PD-1 and PD-L1 and the development of immunotherapy, the first problem is how to screen the beneficiaries. Recent clinical studies have shown that the expression level of PD-L1 in circulating tumor cells (CTC) can be used as a potential biomarker to play a guiding role in immunotherapy of malignant tumors. This article reviews the latest clinical research progress on the expression of PD-L1 in circulating tumor cells in various solid tumors.

BACKGROUND: China has the largest elderly population in the world; little attention has been paid to the mental health of elderly in areas of extreme poverty. This is the first study to investigate the mental health of the rural elderly in poverty state counties in Chongqing and was part of the Chongqing 2018 health literacy promotion project. METHODS: In 2019, a cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the mental health status of the rural elderly in fourteen poverty state counties of Chongqing, in which a total of 1400 elderly aged ≥ 65 years were interviewed, where mental health status was measured by the ten-item Kessler10 (K10) scale. Ordered multivariate logistic regression was performed to evaluate the influencing factors related to mental health of the elderly in these areas. RESULTS: The average score of K10 in 14 poverty state counties was 17.40 ± 6.31, 47.6% was labeled as good, 30.2% was moderate, 17.0% was poor, and lastly 5.1% was bad, and the mental health status of the elderly in the northeastern wing of Chongqing was better than the one in the southeastern wing of Chongqing. A worse self-rated health was the risk factor for mental health both in the northeastern and southeastern wings of Chongqing (all P < 0.001). Lower education level (OR (95% CI) = 1.45 (1.12-1.87), P = 0.004) was a risk factor in the northeastern wing, whereas older age (OR (95% CI) = 1.33 (1.13-1.56), P = 0.001) was a risk factors in the southeastern wing. CONCLUSIONS The results showed that mental health of the elderly in poverty state counties was poor, especially in the southeastern wing of Chongqing. Particular attention needs to be paid to the males who were less educated, older, and single; female with lower annual per capital income; and especially the elderly with poor self-rated health.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; China ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mental Health ; statistics & numerical data ; Multivariate Analysis ; Rural Population ; statistics & numerical data ; Socioeconomic Factors

The combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy motivates a potent immune system by triggering immunogenic cell death (ICD), showing great potential in inhibiting tumor growth and improving the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (ITM). However, the therapeutic effectiveness has been restricted by inferior drug bioavailability. Herein, we reported a universal bioresponsive doxorubicin (DOX)-based nanogel to achieve tumor-specific co-delivery of drugs. DOX-based mannose nanogels (DM NGs) was designed and choosed as an example to elucidate the mechanism of combined chemo-immunotherapy. As expected, the DM NGs exhibited prominent micellar stability, selective drug release and prolonged survival time, benefited from the enhanced tumor permeability and prolonged blood circulation. We discovered that the DOX delivered by DM NGs could induce powerful anti-tumor immune response facilitated by promoting ICD. Meanwhile, the released mannose from DM NGs was proved as a powerful and synergetic treatment for breast cancer in vitro and in vivo, via damaging the glucose metabolism in glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Overall, the regulation of tumor microenvironment with DOX-based nanogel is expected to be an effectual candidate strategy to overcome the current limitations of ICD-based immunotherapy, offering a paradigm for the exploitation of immunomodulatory nanomedicines.

Aberrant activation of oncogenic signaling pathways in tumors can promote resistance to the antitumor immune response. However, single blockade of these pathways is usually ineffective because of the complex crosstalk and feedback among oncogenic signaling pathways. The enhanced toxicity of free small molecule inhibitor combinations is considered an insurmountable barrier to their clinical applications. To circumvent this issue, we rationally designed an effective tumor microenvironment-activatable prodrug nanomicelle (PNM) for cancer therapy. PNM was engineered by integrating the PI3K/mTOR inhibitor PF-04691502 (PF) and the broad spectrum CDK inhibitor flavopiridol (Flav) into a single nanoplatform, which showed tumor-specific accumulation, activation and deep penetration in response to the high glutathione (GSH) tumoral microenvironment. The codelivery of PF and Flav could trigger gasdermin E (GSDME)-based immunogenic pyroptosis of tumor cells to elicit a robust antitumor immune response. Furthermore, the combination of PNM-induced immunogenic pyroptosis with anti-programmed cell death-1 (αPD-1) immunotherapy further boosted the antitumor effect and prolonged the survival time of mice. Collectively, these results indicated that the pyroptosis-induced nanoplatform codelivery of PI3K/mTOR and CDK inhibitors can reprogram the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and efficiently improve checkpoint blockade cancer immunotherapy.