Humans ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Constipation/therapy* ; Probiotics/therapeutic use* ; Patients

Objective:To observe any effect of using a lower limb exoskeleton robot during ankle rehabilitation training on the walking ability of stroke survivors.Methods:Forty-five persons with cerebral apoplexy were randomly divided into a control group, a robot group and a combination group, each of 15. In addition to routine rehabilitation training 5 days a week for 3 weeks, the robot group additionally trained for 10 minutes assisted by a lower limb exoskeleton. The combined group joined that training and additionally undertook 10 minutes of ankle rehabilitation training. Before and after the experiment all of the participants were evaluated using the Fugl-Meyer lower extremity scale (FMA-LE), the Holden functional walking scale (FAC), and for walking speed and step frequency.Results:After treatment, significant improvement was observed in the average FMA-LE score, FAC grade, walking speed and step frequency in all 3 groups. The robot group′s average FMA-LE score, walking speed and step frequency were then significantly better than those of the control group ( P<0.05). Moreover, the average FMA-LE score, step speed and step frequency of the combined group after treatment were (22.67±1.63) min, (0.65±0.05) m/s and (80.80±4.28) steps /min, respectively, significantly better than the other two groups ( P<0.05). Conclusion:Using an exoskeleton robot combined with ankle rehabilitation training can significantly improve the walking of stroke survivors.

ObjectiveTo reveal the correlation of Rehmannia glutinosa-soil feedback process with the formation of its continuous cropping obstacles through the identification of the root exudates of R. glutinosa and analysis of the specific rhizomicrobes recruited by the root exudate. MethodThe root exudates of R. glutinosa seedlings germinated under sterilized condition and those enriched in the rhizosphere of R. glutinosa cultivated in the field were collected and analyzed using the ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry（UPLC-Q-TOF-MS）. The highly abundant compounds identified in the root exudates were added into blank soil， and the soil microbial community was profiled using Illumina Miseq sequencing. The bacterial and fungal functions were predicted by PICRUSt and FUNGuild， respectively. ResultThe identification results showed that seven phenylethanoid glycosides were found in R. glutinosa root exudates， and acteoside possessed the highest abundance. In the soil enriched with acteoside， the bacterial genera such as Agromyces， Pseudomonas， Lysobacter， Sphingobium， Pseudoxanthomonas and Sphingomonas were enriched. For the fungi， the genera Neocosmospora， Plectosphaerella and Dactylonectria， and the species such as Neocosmospora rubicola， Plectosphaerella cucumerina， Dactylonectria alcacerensis and Fusarium solani showed higher abundance. The functional analysis indicated the above-mentioned bacterial genera may realize rapid proliferation by utilizing， biodegrading and transforming phenylethanoid glycosides， and some potential fungal pathogens were colonized. ConclusionThe R. glutinsoa-soil feedbacks were likely generated by the phenylethanoid glycosides in the root exudates together with the specific rhizomicrobes. The investigations of R. glutinsoa-soil feedbacks under continuous cropping system are critical to the further understanding of the underlying mechanisms related to its continuous cropping obstacles.

Keloid is a common skin disease, and the mechanism of its occurrence is not fully understood. There is evidence to show that multiple factors such as genetics, race, age, gender, hormones, infection, immunity, and oxidative stress, etc. may be related to the occurrence of keloids. Metabolic remodeling and protein acylation modification, as two important biological processes, play important roles in various skin related diseases. Based on this, this article reviews the roles of metabolic remodeling and protein acylation modification in keloids and the interrelationship between the two biological processes, and explores the application prospects of targeting the two biological processes in the prevention and treatment of keloids.

Purpose/Significance To construct a named entity corpus of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)ancient records,and to improve the recognition accuracy and applicability of the general domain named entity recognition(NER)model in the field of TCM ancient records.Method/Process Annotation standards for entities in TCM ancient records are formulated,and 2 384 Xin'an medical records are annotated.A RoBERTa-BiLSTM-CRF model is developed,and word vectors with semantic features are generated using the RoBERTa pre-trained language model.The BiLSTM-CRF model is used to learn the global semantic features of sequences and decode and output the optimal label sequence.Dictionary and rule features are incorporated to enhance the model's capability to recognize entity boundaries and categories.Result/Conclusion The model shows a good recognition effect on the named entity corpus of Xin'an medical cases.Integration of domain terminology dictionaries and rule-based features improves the overall Fl score to 72.8％.

OBJECTIVE To establish a mouse model of diabetes mellitus(DM)combined with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)infection to investigate the important pathophysiological changes in the development of DM combined with SARS-CoV-2 infection.METHODS Wild-type(WT)mice and transgenic mice expressing the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor driven by the cytokeratin-18 gene promoter(K18-hACE2)were randomly divided into the control group,DM group,SARS-CoV-2 spike protein(S)infection group and DM combined with S protein infection group,with 10 to 12 mice in each group.All the mice were induced by 10 weeks of high-fat diet combined with 40 mg·kg-1 streptozotocin(STZ)for 3 days by ip,except those in the control group or S protein infection group.The control group was given the same volume of 0.1 mol·L-1 sodium citrate buffer.Mice in the S protein infection group and DM+S protein infection group were additionally given 50 μL mixture of 15 μg SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and 1 g·L-1 polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid(poly[I:C])via intranasal drops,while the control group was given an equal volume of sterile water.The glucose tolerance level and pancreatic islet β cell function of mice were evaluated via oral glucose tolerance test at the 6th week of high-fat feeding and 1 week after the administration of STZ by ip.From the 6th week of high-fat feeding to 2 weeks after the administration of STZ,the random blood glucose and fasting blood glucose of mice were measured by a blood glucose meter.Blood samples were taken from subman-dibular veins of 3 mice in each group at 24,48 and 120 h after S protein infection,and lung tissues were taken after euthanization.The pathological changes of lungs of DM mice before and after S protein infection were observed by HE staining.Except for the DM group,blood samples were collected before S protein infection and at 6,24,48,72 and 120 h after infection.The levels of plasma interleukin 1β(IL-1β),IL-2,IL-6,IL-10,IL-17,interferon gamma-induced protein 10(IP-10),interferon γ(IFN-γ),tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α),monocyte chemotactic protein-1(MCP-1)and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor(G-CSF)were detected by Luminex.The plasma levels of heparan sulfate(HS)were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.The levels of cytokines and HS were correlated with the degree of pathological damage by Spearman correlation analysis.RESULTS STZ and high-fat diet could induce DM-like expression in mice,and the random blood glucose(P<0.01)and fasting blood glucose(P<0.05)after 1 week in the hACE2-DM group were significantly higher than in the WT-DM group,and the degree of islet function damage in hACE2-DM mice was significantly higher than that of WT-DM mice(P<0.05).Compared with the DM group,the DM+S group showed more severe pulmonary pathological changes after S protein infection,accompanied by a large number of inflammatory infiltrations and thickening of lung interstitial.Compared with the control group,the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines G-CSF,IL-6 and IP-10 in the plasma of the WT-S group were significantly increased at 6 h after S pro-tein infection(P<0.01),and those of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-17 and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 were significantly increased at 24 h after S protein infection(P<0.05).Compared with the control group,the plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β,IL-6,TNF-α,MCP-1,G-CSF and IP-10 in the hACE2-S group were significantly increased at 6 h after S protein infection(P<0.05,P<0.01).IL-17 was significantly increased at 24 h and 6 h after S protein infection in the WT-DM+S group and hACE2-DM+S group,respectively(P<0.01,P<0.05).In the hACE2-DM+S group,IFN-γ and IL-1β were signifi-cantly increased in delay to 48 h(P<0.05,P<0.01),and MCP-1 was significantly increased in delay to 72h(P<0.05).Compared with the control group,the level of HS in the plasma of the WT-S group increased significantly(P<0.05,P<0.01)at 6 h and 24 h after S protein infection,but began to decrease at 48 h.At the same time,compared with the WT-S group,the HS level in the WT-DM+S group was slightly increased at 6 h after infection and decreased at 24 h.Compared with the control group,the HS level in the hACE2-S group was significantly increased at 24 h(P<0.01),as was the case with the WT-S group 24 h,48 h and 120 h after S protein infection.At 6 h,24 h and 48 h after S protein infection,the plasma HS level of the hACE2-DM+S group was significantly increased(P<0.01,P<0.05),and the duration of the increase was longer than in the hACE2-S group.Moreover,the levels of IL-1β,IL-10,MCP-1,IP-10,G-CSF and HS in plasma were positively correlated with the degree of lung dam-age in the DM+S group.CONCLUSION In this study,the mouse model of diabetes combined with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein infection has mimicked part of the pathophysiological features of clinical patients,mainly manifested as blunted immune response and elevated HS levels with longer duration to infection alone.IL-1β,IL-10,MCP-1,IP-10,G-CSF and HS may keep track of the course of disease in patients with diabetes combined with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the damage effect and mechanisms of cyclophosphamide(CTX)and its active metabolite derivative 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide(4-HC)to human neuroblas-toma SH-SY5Y cells.METHODS SH-SY5Y cells were treated with CTX[0(cell control),0.01,0.1,1,5,10,20,40 and 80 mmol·L-1]and 4-HC[0(cell control),0.01,0.1,1,5,10,20,40 and 80 μmol·L-1]for 48 h.Cell confluence and morphology were observed by the IncuCyte ZOOM system.Cell viability was assessed by CCK-8 assay.Lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)release was measured by LDH assay kit.SH-SY5Y cells were treated with CTX(0,1,5,10 and 20 mmol·L-1)and 4-HC(0,1,5,10 and 20 μmol·L-1)for 48 h before cell proliferation was analyzed by 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine(EdU)staining assay.Immunofluorescence was employed to assess the levels of the DNA double-strand break marker γ-H2AX and to evaluate changes in mitochondrial membrane potential.SH-SY5Y cells were treated with CTX(0,1,5 and 10 mmol·L-1)and 4-HC(0,1,5 and 10 μmol·L-1)for 48 h,and the alterations in glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation levels were analyzed using the Seahorse XFe96 Analyzer.RESULTS Compared with the cell control group,cell confluence and cell viability were significantly reduced in the CTX and 4-HC groups(P<0.01),and the half-maximal inhibitory concentrations(IC50)for CTX and 4-HC were 4.44 mmol·L-1 and 4.78 μmol·L-1,respectively.The release rate of LDH was signif-icantly increased while the percentage of EdU+cells was significantly reduced in the CTX and 4-HC groups(P<0.01).The percentage of γ-H2AX+cells was significantly increased and mitochondrial membrane potential significantly decreased in the CTX and 4-HC group(P<0.05).Treatment with CTX and 4-HC resulted in reduced levels of maximum glycolytic capacity,glycolytic reserve,maximal respi-ration,and ATP production(P<0.05).CONCLUSION CTX and 4-HC exert significant cytotoxic effects on SH-SY5Y cells by disrupting cell membrane structure,impeding cell proliferation,and reducing cell viability.The mechanisms underlying these effects may involve intracellular DNA damage,disturbance of energy metabolism and mitochondrial dysfunction.

The incidence of osteoporotic thoracolumbar vertebral fracture (OTLVF) in the elderly is gradually increasing. The kyphotic deformity caused by various factors has become an important characteristic of OTLVF and has received increasing attention. Its clinical manifestations include pain, delayed nerve damage, sagittal imbalance, etc. Currently, the definition and diagnosis of OTLVF with kyphotic deformity in the elderly are still unclear. Although there are many treatment options, they are controversial. Existing guidelines or consensuses pay little attention to this type of fracture with kyphotic deformity. To this end, the Lumbar Education Working Group of the Spine Branch of the Chinese Medicine Education Association and Editorial Committee of Chinese Journal of Trauma organized the experts in the relevant fields to jointly develop Clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporotic thoracolumbar vertebral fractures with kyphotic deformity in the elderly ( version 2024), based on evidence-based medical advancements and the principles of scientificity, practicality, and advanced nature, which provided 18 recommendations to standardize the clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Objective:To simulate the neuroendoscopy assisted contralateral cervical 7 (C 7) nerve transfer via prespinal route and measure its relevant anatomical landmarks to explore the clinical feasibility and efficacy of this surgical approach for central upper limb spastic paralysis. Methods:(1) Six fresh cadaver specimens of the head and neck were obtained. Linear incisions of approximately 5 cm were made above the midpoint of the bilateral clavicles to simulate neuroendoscopy assisted contralateral C 7 nerve transfer via prespinal route. With the superior margin of midpoint of the clavicle as central point, distance to the distal bifurcation of the C 7 nerve, distances to the superior or inferior trunks of the proximal brachial plexus nerves, and distances to the exit of the intervertebral foramina of the C 6, C 7, and C 8 nerves were measured. (2) One patient with upper limb spastic paralysis after intracerebral hemorrhage accepted neuroendoscopy assisted contralateral C 7 nerve transfer via prespinal route; the clinical data and efficacy of the patient were retrospectively analyzed. Results:(1) The C 7 nerve, the upper trunk of brachial plexus formed by the C 5 and C 6 nerves and the lower trunk of brachial plexus formed by the C 8 and T 1 nerves could be exposed after neuroendoscopy assisted contralateral C 7 nerve transfer via prespinal route. The distance between the superior margin of midpoint of the clavicle and the distal bifurcation of the C 7 nerve is (2.20±0.11) cm, and its distance to the superior trunk of the proximal brachial plexus is (2.62±0.10) cm, and its distance to the inforior trunk of the proximal brachial plexus nerve is (2.72±0.11) cm. The distance between the superior margin of midpoint of the clavicle and the proximal C 7 nerve (at the exit of the intervertebral foramen) is (7.22±0.15) cm, its distance to the proximal C 6 nerve (at the exit of the intervertebral foramen) is (7.84±0.12) cm, and its distance to the proximal C 8 nerve (at the exit of the intervertebral foramen) is (6.96±0.12) cm. (2) The patient with central upper limb spastic paralysis accepted neuroendoscopy assisted contralateral C 7 nerve transfer via prespinal route successfully, with surgical time lasting for 2 h and bleeding amount of 20 mL. After surgery, the incision healed well, and the patient experienced pain and numbness in the healthy side of the upper limb with subsided symptoms one month after surgery. The spasticity symptoms of the affected upper limb obviously improved after surgery with decreased muscle tone. Follow-up after discharge was performed for 14 months, and the muscle strength of the affected upper limb recovered to level 1 +. Conclusion:Neuroendoscopy assisted contralateral C 7 nerve transfer via prespinal route can expose the proximal and distal C 7 nerves, with minimal invasion; this clinical study has preliminarily confirmed the safety and effectiveness of this transfer via prespinal route in central upper limb spastic paralysis.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the improve-ment functions of flavonoid compounds on temozolomide(TMZ)-,aging-or AD model-induced dysregulation of hip-pocampal NSC lineage progression,retardancy of den-dritic spine maturation in new-born neurons,as well as impairment of hippocampal-related learning and memory.METHODS We applied 30-week-old neural stem cell(NSC)specific promoter Nestin-GFP and NestinCreERT2:Rosa26-LSL-tdTomato transgenic mice and 16-week-old AD model 5XFAD transgenic mice,together with hippo-campal microinjection(ih),endogenous fluorescence trac-ing and immunofluorescent staining.RESULTS Both fla-vonoid compound A and its functional derivative flavo-noid compound B dose-dependently improved TMZ-,aging-or AD-induced defects of hippocampal NSC lin-eage progression and the maturation of dendritic spines of newborn neurons,thereby improving hippocampus related learning and memory.CONCLUSION This paper provides a new idea and treatment strategy for the devel-opment of new flavonoids that can promote neurogene-sis for neurodegenerative diseases and aging.