Background::Copper and zinc are involved in the development of multiple malignancies; yet, epidemiological evidence on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is limited. This study aimed to investigate the association between dietary intake and serum levels of copper and zinc with the risk of HCC.Methods::A total of 434 case-control pairs matched for sex and age (±1 year) were included in this study. Cases with newly diagnosed HCC were from the Guangdong Liver Cancer Cohort (GLCC) study, and healthy controls were from the Guangzhou Nutrition and Health Study (GNHS). A semi-quantitative 79-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess habitual dietary intakes of copper and zinc. Serum levels of copper and zinc were measured by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The copper (Cu)/ zinc (Zn) ratio was computed by dividing copper levels by zinc levels. Conditional logistic regression models were performed to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for per 1 standard deviation increase (per-SD increase) in copper and zinc levels.Results::Higher dietary intake (OR per-SD increase = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.44, 0.96, Ptrend = 0.029) and serum levels of zinc (OR per-SD increase = 0.11, 95% CI: 0.04, 0.30, Ptrend <0.001) were both associated with a lower risk of HCC. Subgroup analyses showed that the inverse association was only pronounced in men but not in women ( Pinteraction = 0.041 for dietary zinc intake and 0.010 for serum zinc levels). Serum copper levels (OR per-SD increase = 2.05, 95% CI: 1.39, 3.03, Ptrend = 0.020) and serum Cu/Zn ratio (OR per-SD increase = 6.53, 95% CI: 2.52, 16.92, Ptrend <0.001) were positively associated with HCC risk, while dietary copper intake and dietary Cu/Zn ratio were not associated with HCC risk. Conclusion::Zinc may be a protective factor for HCC, especially among men, but the effects of copper on HCC risk are not clear.

Objective:To study the differential gene expression and immune cell infiltration of gout patients,to find the key genes and immune cells of gout pathogenesis,and to explore the relationship between immune cells and gout.Methods:The gout chip GSE160170 was downloaded from the GEO database,and the differential gene expression analysis was carried out with the help of R language.Then,the STRING database was used to analyze the differential gene,and the Cytoscape software was used to screen the key genes,and then carry out enrichment analysis.At the same time,the infiltration of immune cells were analyzed.Results:The study found that IL-6,IL-1β,TNF,CCL3,CXCL8 and CXCL1 were key genes in the pathogenesis of gout,which were mainly exerted by IL-17,Toll-like receptor,NOD-like receptor,NF-κB and other signaling pathways.Processes such as cellular responses to lipo-polysaccharides,bacteria-derived molecules,and biological stimuli lead to disease;immune infiltration results indicate that memory B cells,activated NK cells,activated dendritic cells,activated mast cells and eosinophils were involved in the disease.It was signifi-cantly expressed in gout patients;the correlation analysis between immune cells showed that the expression of follicular helper T cells were positively correlated with the expression of activated mast cells,and the expression of unactivated NK cells and monocyte were negatively correlated.Conclusion:Key genes and differentially expressed immune cells are closely related to the pathogenesis of gout,providing new ideas for the study of the molecular mechanism of gout.

Objective:To explore the association between the intake and changes in various types of food and the changes in blood pressure in patients with mild to moderate hypertension.Methods:Mild to moderate hypertension participants with complete baseline and outcome data were included from DECIDE-Diet study, a multicenter, randomized controlled trial. Dietary records and blood pressure measurements at both 7-day run-in (baseline) and 28-day intervention phases were collected for enrolled participants. Blood pressure change was defined as the difference between blood pressure at the end of trial and the baseline blood pressure. Baseline intake of food was the average daily intake during the run-in period, and the intake increment was defined as the difference between the average intake during the trial period and the average intake during the run-in period. After adjusting for age, sex, study center, intervention groups, baseline body mass index (kg/m 2), antihypertension medication use, and baseline total calorie intake, a linear regression model was used to analyze the associations of the before-after-intervention change in blood pressure with baseline intake and intake increment of foods. Results:A total of 258 patients with mild to moderate hypertension were included, including 133 males, aged (56.5±9.9) years. (1) After adjusting for confounding factors, there was no significant association between baseline intake of food and baseline blood pressure (all P>0.05). The blood pressure change was negatively associated with baseline intakes of tubers, vegetables, and vegetable oils but positively with baseline intake of meats; and was negatively associated with intake increment of whole grains and fish (all P<0.05). (2) The multiple linear regression analysis showed that baseline intake of vegetables ( β=-0.021, P=0.004), vegetable oils ( β=-0.260, P=0.002), and increment in intake of fish ( β=-0.128, P=0.026) were all significantly associated with changes in systolic blood pressure; baseline intake of vegetables ( β=-0.017, P=0.002), vegetable oils ( β=-0.182, P=0.001), dairy products ( β=0.021, P=0.022), and increment in intake of fish ( β=-0.092, P=0.010) were all significantly associated with changes in diastolic blood pressure. Conclusion:Increasing the intake of whole grains, vegetables, vegetable oils, and fish and decreasing the intake of meat may be beneficial for blood pressure control in patients with mild to moderate hypertension.

Objective:To extract the differentially expressed key genes of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) using bioinformatics methods, so as to provide information for further study into the mechanism.Methods:The GSE119600 dataset was downloaded from the GEO database to obtain differentially expressed genes. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed for differentially expressed genes. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network reconstruction, Cytoscape software visualization, and core gene screening were performed. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC AUC) was used to assess the diagnostic effectiveness of genes and plot the pROC software package. The x-Cell software was used to calculate the enrichment score of 34 immune cells in each sample. Finally, four key genes (PSMA4, PSMA1, PSMB1, and PSMA3) were selected. Blood samples were analyzed using the qPCR method.Results::A total of 373 immune-related differentially expressed genes were identified. Eight genes (PSMC6, PSMB2, PSMB1, PSMA3, PSMA4, PSMA1, PSMD7, and PSMB5) were screened from the 178 nodes and 596 edges as hub genes of the PPI network, which were significantly related to amino acid metabolism, hematopoietic stem cell differentiation, cell cycle, and immune processes. PSMA4, PSMA1, PSMB1, and PSMA3 were defined as immunological biomarkers for PBC with an AUC value of the ROC curve > 0.7. Immunoinfiltrating cell analysis showed that the proportion of eosinophils was significantly higher in PBC patients compared to the control group, whereas the proportion of CD4+ memory T cells, plasma cells, Th2 cells, and cDC cells was significantly lower in PBC patients than the control group. Plasma cells were associated with all four immunological biomarkers. Seven PBC patients and seven healthy subjects were selected for peripheral blood qPCR validation, which demonstrates that PSMB1, PSMA3, PSMA1, and PSMA4 levels were significantly lower in PBC patients than healthy subjects, with a statistically significant difference.Conclusion::Bioinformatics screened eight key genes, of which four were key immunological markers and may serve as a basis for clinical diagnosis and mechanism exploration.

Objective:To explore the effect of traditional teaching and standardized patient (SP) teaching in medical students' inquiry teaching through the phased examination results of practicing physicians.Methods:A total of 107 students from Class 1 and Class 2 of Batch 2013 majoring in clinical medicine of Qinghai University were selected as the control group, and 100 students from Class 1 and Class 2 of Batch 2014 were selected as the experimental group. In the inquiry teaching, the control group adopted the traditional teaching method, and the experimental group adopted the SP teaching method. The effect of the two groups of teaching methods was compared by collecting the scores of the medical history of the medical practitioners in the phased examination. SPSS 18.0 was used for t-test. Results:The scores of current medical history (81.43±8.19), case collection (8.19±0.70), inquiry content (47.63±4.55), examiner's total score (73.75±5.21), and total score (91.93±5.67) in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group [(71.65±8.29) (7.85±0.68) (43.68±4.76) (69.68±5.40) and (88.03±6.01)] and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.001). The scores of communication ability (8.94±0.62) question expression (4.54±0.44) and communication skills (4.52±0.47) in the comprehensive performance of the control group were higher than those in the experimental group [(8.77±0.60) (4.33±0.54) and (4.38±0.46), respectively], and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). Conclusion:The overall teaching effect of the SP teaching is better than that of the traditional teaching, but it has its own advantages and disadvantages in specific knowledge points. It is worth further discussion to combine the two to complement the advantages and complement each other to assist medical education.

Objective:To understand the current situation of nurses in 52 hospitals in China on mastery of knowledge about skin injury in the elderly based on the background of mixed-mode homogenization training.Methods:Using the convenient sampling method, a total of 1 067 nurses from 52 hospitals in China were selected as the research objects in January 2021. A self-designed questionnaire on knowledge of skin injury in the elderly was used to investigate the nurses through the questionnaire star and univariate analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors. A total of 1 067 questionnaires were distributed and 1 067 valid questionnaires were recovered, and the effective recovery rate was 100%.Results:The knowledge scores of pressure injury, incontinence-associated dermatitis, skin tear and xerosis cutis among 1067 nurses were (95.66±7.37) , (95.65±9.15) , (91.37±15.45) and (87.67±15.91) , respectively. The results of univariate analysis showed that hospital grade was the influencing factor of nurses' knowledge score of pressure injury, skin tear and incontinence-associated dermatitis ( P<0.05) , educational background was the influencing factor of nurses' knowledge score of skin tear ( P<0.05) , professional title was the influencing factor of nurses' knowledge scores of pressure injury, incontinence-associated dermatitis and xerosis cutis ( P<0.05) . Conclusions:Hospitals at all levels need to strengthen the theoretical and practical knowledge training for nurses on skin xerosis and skin tear in the elderly, especially for nurses with primary titles and lower education in grassroots hospitals.

Objective:To evaluate the effect of eye-covering pretreatment on acute delirium in ophthalmology preschool-age children who underwent binocular and monocular surgery by general anesthesia.Methods:The 300 preschool-age children who underwent general anesthesia of elective ophthalmic surgery in the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, from August 2019 to February 2021 were selected as the research object. They were divided into control group and blindfold group with 150 cases each by random number-table. Children in the control group received regular education on cartoon animation videos before surgery; children in the blindfold group received eye-covering pretreatment on the basis of cartoon animation videos(monocular surgery with monocular cover, binocular surgery with binocular cover). The Modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (m-YPAS) , the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale(NU-DESC), the incidence rate of delirium and the score of postoperative nursing difficulty were compared between two groups.Results:The 271 cases were completed in this study, including 129 cases(monocular surgery 66 cases, binocular surgery 63 cases) in the blindfold group and 142 cases (monocular surgery 73 cases, binocular surgery 69 cases) in the control group. The preoperative m-YPAS score, the postoperative NU-DESC score, the incidence rate of acute delirium and postoperative nursing care difficulty score of monocular surgery in the blindfold group , monocular surgery was (40.28 ± 15.02) points, 1.00 (0.00, 2.00) points, 27.3%(18/66), 1.00 (1.00, 2.00) points,and binocular surgery was (41.69 ± 16.35) points, 1.00 (0.00, 2.00), 39.7%(25/63), 1.00(1.00, 2.00); in the control group, monocular surgery was (46.28 ± 15.76) points, 2.00 (1.00, 3.00) points, 67.1% (49/73), 2.00 (1.00, 3.00) points, and binocular surgery was (47.77 ± 14.82) points, 3.00 (2.00, 4.00) points, 82.6% (57/69) and 2.00 (1.50, 3.00) points respectively. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant ( t= -2.29, -2.24, Z values were -5.74 - -2.95, χ2= 32.94, 25.78, all P<0.05). The preoperative m-YPAS score, the postoperative NU-DESC score, the incidence rate of acute delirium and postoperative nursing care difficulty score of monocular surgery patients in the blindfold group had no significantly statistical difference with that of binocular surgery patient (all P>0.05) . Conclusions:Monocular/ binocular eye-covering pretreatment can effectively decrease the preoperative m-YPAS score, the postoperative NU-DESC score, incidence rate of acute delirium and the postoperative nursing care difficulty in preschool-age children who underwent general anesthesia both monocular or binocular surgery. There was no difference in the application effect of monocular or binocular surgery.

The chemical constituents from 70% ethanol petroleum ether and n-butanol extractions of Callerya nitita Benth.var.hirsutissima.Z.Wei. were separated by preparative high-performance liquid chromatographic techniques, including repeated column chromatography over macroporous adsorption resin, silica gel, ODS, Sephadex LH-20. The structures of the compounds were identified by their physicochemical properties, spectral data, and mass spectrometry data, in comparison with literature. In our research, one triterpenoids, taraxerone (1), and twenty flavonoids, including genistein-4′-O-β-glucoside (2), 5-hydroxy-4′-methoxyisoflavone-7-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (3), biochanin A 7-O-β-D-apiofuranosyl-(1→5)-β-D-apiofuranosyl- (1→6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (4), formononetin-7-O-β-D-galactopyranoside (5), 5,7-dihydroxy-3′,4′-dimethoxyisoflavone (6), biochanin A-7-O-β-D-apiofuranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-glucopyranoside (7), 5, 7-dihydroxyisoflavone-4′-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (8), formononetin-7-O-D-apio-β-D-furanosyl(l→2)-β-D-glucopyranoside (9), 4′-hydroxy-3′-methoxyisoflavone-7-O-β-D-apiofuranosyl-(1→6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (10), prunetin (11), prunetin 4′-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (12), pratensein7-O-β-D-glucoside (13), 8-methoxyisoformononetin (14), genistein (15), 3′-hydroxybiochanin A (16), biochanin A (17), 5,7-dihydroxy-3′,5′-dimethoxyisoflavone (18), ononin (19), isoformononetin (20), 5,7,3′,4′-tetrahydroxyflavone (21) were isolated from the two extract parts.Compounds 1-10, 12-14, 16-18, 20 were obtained from this plant, and it is the first time to investigate the plant for the first time.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the mechanism by which ginsenoside 20(S)-Rg3 upregulates the expression of tumor suppressor von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) gene in ovarian cancer cells. METHODS: Ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3 treated with 20(S)-Rg3 were examined for mRNA and protein levels of VHL, DNMT1, DNMT3A and DNMT3B by real-time PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The changes in VHL mRNA expression in SKOV3 cells in response to treatment with 5-Aza-CdR, a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor, were detected using real-time PCR. VHL gene promoter methylation was examined with methylation-specific PCR and VHL expression levels were determined with real-time PCR and Western blotting in non-treated or 20(S)-Rg3-treated SKOV3 cells and in 20(S)-Rg3-treated DNMT3A-overexpressing SKOV3 cells. VHL and DNMT3A protein levels were detected by immunohistochemistry in subcutaneous SKOV3 cell xenografts in nude mice. RESULTS: Treatment of SKOV3 cells with 20(S)-Rg3 significantly upregulated VHL and downregulated DNMT3A expressions at both the mRNA and protein levels ( CONCLUSIONS Ginsenoside 20(S)-Rg3 upregulates VHL expression in ovarian cancer cells by suppressing DNMT3A-mediated DNA methylation.
Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; DNA Methylation ; Female ; Gene Expression ; Ginsenosides/pharmacology* ; Humans ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Ovarian Neoplasms/genetics* ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Von Hippel-Lindau Tumor Suppressor Protein/genetics*

Objective:To investigate the effect of scar uterus on assisted reproduction treatment strategy.Methods:From January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017, 109 cases of scar uterus group and 63 cases of vaginal delivery history group who underwent in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) assisted pregnancy fresh embryo transfer in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Results:⑴ There was no significant difference in the total amount of gonadotropin (Gn) and the total days of GN in patients <35 between scar uterus group and the vaginal delivery history group ( P>0.05), but there were significant differences in the number of oocytes, mature oocytes, two pronucleus (2PN) and excellent embryos between the scar uterus group and the vaginal delivery history group ( P<0.05). When the age was ≥35 years old, there was no significant difference in the total number of GN, the total days of GN, the number of oocytes obtained, the number of mature oocytes, the number of 2PN and the number of excellent embryos between the two groups ( P>0.05). ⑵ There were no statistically significant differences in clinical pregnancy rate and embryo implantation rate between the two groups of patients < 35 years old, no matter single embryo transplantation or double embryos transplantation. When transplant two embryos, the clinical pregnancy rate and embryo implantation rate in the scar uterus group were slightly lower than those in the vaginal delivery history group (57.57% vs 71.05% and 39.39% vs 47.37%, respectively), but with no significant difference ( P>0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the clinical pregnancy rate and embryo implantation rate between single embryo transplantation and double embryo transplantation in patients≥35 years old ( P>0.05). ⑶ There were no statistically differences in biochemical pregnancy rate, early abortion rate, preterm birth rate and average newborn weight between the scar uterus group and the vaginal delivery history group ( P>0.05). Conclusions:Cesarean section may affect the ovarian function. For patients with previous cesarean section, early evaluation of ovarian function is recommended. Single embryo transfer does not reduce the outcome in IVF-ET. It is recommended to perform single embryo transfer for patients with scar uterus to reduce the risk during pregnancy of twin pregnancy.