Background: Antibiotic resistance is a significant public health concern around the globe.Antimicrobial peptides exhibit broad-spectrum and efficient antibacterial activity with an added advantage of low drug resistance. The higher water content and 3D network structure of the hydrogels are beneficial for maintaining antimicrobial peptide activity and help to prevent degradation. The antimicrobial peptide released from hydrogels also hasten the local wound healing by promoting epithelial tissue regeneration and granulation tissue formation. Objective: This study aimed at developing sodium alginate based hydrogel loaded with a novel antimicrobial peptide Chol-37(F34-R) and to investigate the characteristics in vitro and in vivo as an alternative antibacterial wound dressing to treat infectious wounds. Methods: Hydrogels were developed and optimized by varying the concentrations of crosslinkers and subjected to various characterization tests like cross-sectional morphology, swelling index, percent water contents, water retention ratio, drug release and antibacterial activity in vitro, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa infected wound mice model in vivo. Results: The results indicated that the hydrogel C proved superior in terms of cross-sectional morphology having uniformly sized interconnected pores, a good swelling index, with the capacity to retain a higher quantity of water. Furthermore, the optimized hydrogel has been found to exert a significant antimicrobial activity against bacteria and was also found to prevent bacterial infiltration into the wound site due to forming an impermeable barrier between the wound bed and external environment. The optimized hydrogel was found to significantly hasten skin regeneration in animal models when compared to other treatments in addition to strong inhibitory effect on the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α). Conclusions Our results suggest that sodium alginate -based hydrogels loaded with Chol-37(F34-R) hold the potential to be used as an alternative to conventional antibiotics in treating infectious skin wounds.

BACKGROUND: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an underdiagnosed genetic heart disease worldwide. The management and prognosis of obstructive HCM (HOCM) and non-obstructive HCM (HNCM) are quite different, but it also remains challenging to discriminate these two subtypes. HCM is characterized by dysmetabolism, and myocardial amino acid (AA) metabolism is robustly changed. The present study aimed to delineate plasma AA and derivatives profiles, and identify potential biomarkers for HCM. METHODS: Plasma samples from 166 participants, including 57 cases of HOCM, 52 cases of HNCM, and 57 normal controls (NCs), who first visited the International Cooperation Center for HCM, Xijing Hospital between December 2019 and September 2020, were collected and analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry based on targeted AA metabolomics. Three separate classification algorithms, including random forest, support vector machine, and logistic regression, were applied for the identification of specific AA and derivatives compositions for HCM and the development of screening models to discriminate HCM from NC as well as HOCM from HNCM. RESULTS: The univariate analysis showed that the serine, glycine, proline, citrulline, glutamine, cystine, creatinine, cysteine, choline, and aminoadipic acid levels in the HCM group were significantly different from those in the NC group. Four AAs and derivatives (Panel A; proline, glycine, cysteine, and choline) were screened out by multiple feature selection algorithms for discriminating HCM patients from NCs. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis in Panel A yielded an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.83 (0.75-0.91) in the training set and 0.79 (0.65-0.94) in the validation set. Moreover, among 10 AAs and derivatives (arginine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, proline, alanine, asparagine, creatine, tryptophan, ornithine, and choline) with statistical significance between HOCM and HNCM, 3 AAs (Panel B; arginine, proline, and ornithine) were selected to differentiate the two subgroups. The AUC values in the training and validation sets for Panel B were 0.83 (0.74-0.93) and 0.82 (0.66-0.98), respectively. CONCLUSIONS The plasma AA and derivatives profiles were distinct between the HCM and NC groups. Based on the differential profiles, the two established screening models have potential value in assisting HCM screening and identifying whether it is obstructive.
Humans ; Amino Acids ; Cysteine ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic/diagnosis* ; Biomarkers ; Proline ; Arginine ; Ornithine ; Glycine ; Choline

Objective    To investigate the early clinical results of MitraClip system in domestic patients. Methods     We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 36 patients who underwent transcatheter edge-to-edge repair procedure using MitraClip system in Beijing Fuwai Hospital, Shenzhen Fuwai Hospital and Fuwai Yunnan Cardiovascular Hospital between January and June 2021. There were 24 males and 12 females, with a median age of 70 (47-86) years. Ten (27.8%) patients had 3+ mitral regurgitation (MR) and 26 (72.2%) patients had 4+ MR preoperatively. Results    All procedures were successfully performed. The reduction in MR was 2+ at least immediately after surgery, and 91.7% of patients had MR≤2+ at 3 days postoperatively. There was no statistical difference in left ventricular ejection fraction change postoperatively. Forward velocity and peak gradient of mitral valve were increased after the procedure. Mean gradient of mitral valve were increased at 3 days postoperatively than immediately after surgery (P<0.001). Two patients had acute pericardial effusion intraoperatively, and received pericardial puncture and drainage immediately. Conclusion    MitraClip system has been applied well in domestic patients and can significantly improve MR. This sutdy has a good consistency with foreign studies, and the early results are satisfactory.

Objective:To investigate the effectiveness of scanning glucose monitoring system in dawn phenomenon of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) based on continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) .Methods:A total of 45 patients with T2DM hospitalized in the Endocrine Department of Xinxiang Central Hospital from June 2019 to June 2020 were selected as the research subjects by convenience sampling method. All selected patients were asked to wear the scanning glucose monitoring system after admission, and then the CGMS for continuous glucose monitoring after 48 hours. The scanning glucose monitoring system and the CGMS were taken off at the same time after 72 hours. The blood glucose analysis report of the same period was checked to determine whether the dawn phenomenon occurred. The consistency to determine dawn phenomenon was analyzed between CGMS and scanning blood glucose monitoring by Kappa test. According to the CGMS judgment results, the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) of the scanning blood glucose monitoring system was drawn to evaluate the optimal tangent value of the night blood glucose for predicting dawn phenomenon and the next day fasting blood glucose for evaluating dawn phenomenon.Results:Among the 45 study subjects, there was no statistical difference in determining the incidence of dawn phenomena between CGMS and scanning glucose monitoring system [55.56% (25/45) vs. 46.67% (21/45) , χ 2=0.711, P>0.05]. Consistency analysis showed that Kappa value was 0.895, and the consistency of CGMS and scanning glucose monitoring system in judging dawn phenomenon was good (Kappa=0.895, 95% CI 1.130-4.883, P<0.01) . The optimal tangent value of night blood glucose for predicting dawn phenomenon was 8.31 mmol/L, and the optimal tangent value of the next day fasting blood glucose for evaluating dawn phenomenon was 7.25 mmol/L. The value of the area under the ROC curve were 0.729 and 0.803 respectively. Conclusions:Scanning blood glucose monitoring can accurately judge the dawn phenomenon. When the night blood glucose value is 8.31 mmol/L, it indicates that the dawn phenomenon may occur. When the next day's fasting blood glucose value is 7.25 mmol/L, it indicates that the dawn phenomenon may already occur.

Objective To evaluate the safety of super-minimal incision kidney transplantation (SMIKT).Methods We included the clinical data and outcomes of 40 cases of SMIKT and 56 cases of conventional Gibson incision kidney transplantation (CIKT),and compared the operation time,post operative pain,analgesic requirements,1 month renal function and 1 month Vancouver scar scale between the two groups.Results As compared with CIKT,operation time was significantly shortened (100 ± 10 versus 127.5 ± 34.3 min,P =0.044),incision length was significantly shortened (5.2 ± 0.2 versus 13.0 ± 2.0 cm,P＜0.001),and post-operative pain at day 1 was significantly reduced in SMIKT (1.31 ± 1.15 versus 4.02 ± 1.83,P =0.004).However,there was no significant difference in post-operative pain at day 2 and day 3 between CIKT and SMIKT.SMIKT required less analgesic medications than CIKT (3.13 ± 1.74 versus 11.69 ± 2.89,P =0.002).No significant difference in 1 month renal function was observed between two groups.SMIKT had fewer Vancouver scar scale score than CIKT (6.50 ± 0.58 versus 8.67 ± 0.58,P =0.004).Conclusion SMIKT is a safe novel surgery,which can significantly reduce operation time,post-operative pain,had fewer analgesic requirements and better 1-month cosmetic effect.

Objective To investigate the changes of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) induced by tacrolimus (FK506) in rats and evaluate its effect on blood glucose levels. Methods Ten SD rats were divided into the FK506 group and control group (n=5 in each group). In the FK506 group, the rats were received a subcutaneous injection of FK506 (3 mg/kg) +sunflower oil solution containing 10% ethanol daily for consecutive 4 weeks. In the control group, the rats were received a subcutaneous injection of an equivalent amount of sunflower oil solution containing 10% ethanol for consecutive 4 weeks. During the drug injection period, the body mass of rats was measured every week in two groups. After the drug injection period, blood glucose level, SCFA content in the blood and feces samples were measured in two groups. Results Compared with the control group, the relative body mass of rats in the FK506 group was significantly lower at the 2nd, 3rd and 4thweeks (all P<0.01). Compared with the control group, the blood glucose levels of rats in the FK506 group were significantly increased at 0, 30, and 60 min after giving glucose (P<0.01-0.05). Compared with the control group, the contents of acetic acid, propionic acid, isobutyric acid, butyric acid, isovaleric acid and valeric acid in the feces sample were significantly lower in the FK506 group (P<0.01-0.05). Conclusions FK506 can upregulate the blood glucose level in rats, which is probably induced by the decrease of SCFA content in rat feces.

Objective To investigate the expression of SP 100 protein in ATRA-treated NB4 cells and its effect on pro-liferation in NB4 cells.Methods Q-PCR was employed to measure the expression of SP 100 mRNA;Western blot was used to detect the expression of SP 100 protein; Immunofluorescence was adopted to determine the location of SP100;Cell viability was analyzed by CCK 8;Flow cytometry was used for cell cycle analysis .Results ATRA may induce the expression of mRNA and protein of SP 100.ATRA changes the location of SP100 from a micro-punctate pattern into a punctate nuclear pattern in NB 4 cells.SP100-shRNA promotes the proliferation of NB 4 cells and in-creased the cells in G2/M phase.Conclusions The expression of SP100 was significantly increased in ATRA-treated NB4 cells, and SP100 may be involved in the regulation of proliferation activity of NB 4 cells.

Objective To screen the potential biomarkers in plasma of rats with acute paraquat (PQ) poisoning using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) based metabonomics technology,and to provide concrete evidence for early diagnosis.Methods Eight Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into PQ poisoning group (intragastricly administrated with PQ solution 100 mg/kg) and control group (intragastricly administrated with the same volume of normal saline) according to the random number table,with 4 rats in each group.The general situation of rats was observed at 2,24 and 48 hours after administration.The blood of eye sockets was collected,the endogenous small molecule metabolites in plasma were determined with GC-MS method,and metabolic profile analysis and random forest analysis were performed to filter the potential biomarkers.Results ① The rats in PQ poisoning group gradually appeared lack movement,tachypnea,abdominal seizure and other symptoms of poisoning.In control group,the vital signs were stable.② The metabolites in plasma of rat were analyzed with GC-MS analysis,and the diagrammatic figure was plot as combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminated analysis (PLS-DA) model,which showed that the distribution of plasma metabolism in PQ poisoning group was more diffuse but in the control group was more intensive,indicating that the metabolic patterns in two groups were different.From 2 hours after PQ administration,the metabolic trajectory in PQ poisoning group was significantly deflected compared with that of the control group,which was similar to control group until 48 hours,indicating that the metabolites in plasma of rat showed obvious difference in the early period.Five kinds of potential biomarkers with large weights were selected by random forest method which were serine,L-asparagine,hexadecanoic acid,octadecanoic acid,and arachidonic acid,the retention time was 15.259,24.345,33.334,37.695,and 40.254 minutes,respectively.The levels of serine,L-asparagine,arachidonic acid in PQ poisoning group were significantly higher than those of the control group,peaked at 48,48 and 24 hours,respectively (40.884-5.38 vs.28.85±2.32,6.61±1.31 vs.0.76±0.65,14.21±4.28 vs.4.42±1.19,all P ＜ 0.01),and the levels of hexadecanoic acid and octadecanoic acid were significantly lowered,reached tough at 48 hours (39.09 ± 10.23 vs.83.99 ± 20.49,44.03 ± 3.60 vs.140.76 ± 73.91,P ＜ 0.05 and P ＜ 0.01).The changes in these biomarkers were related to the toxicity of PQ,indicating that PQ could interfere the energy and lipid metabolism in rats.Conclusion Combine with the metabonomics analysis,screened plasma serine,L-asparagine,arachidonic acid content in PQ poisoning rats increased significantly,and hexadecanoic acid and octadecanoic acid content decreased significantly,which can preliminary diagnose acute PQ poisoning with animal general performance.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the sensitivity of imatinib (IM) on Sup-B15 Ph+ acute lmphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells indused by stromal cells OP9, and to further explore its mechanism.

METHODSThe study is divided into two group, Sup-B15 cells group and co-cultured with OP9 cells group (Sup-B15/OP9 group). The inhibitory effects of IM on leukemia cells were measured by CCK-8 test, and the apoptosis by Annexin Ⅴ/7-AAD dyeing and the percentage of CD 34+CD38- leukemia cells were determined by flow cytometry. ALDH1, CD144, and β-catenin mRNA were detected by real-time RT-PCR, protein levels by Western blot. Inmunoprecipitation was used to detect the level of β-catenin connected to CD144.

RESULTSIM presented inhibitory effects on Sup-B15 and Sup-B15/OP9 cells at multiple concentrations from 10 μmol/L to 45 μmol/L. The IC50 of IM on Sup-B15/OP and Sup-B15 cells were 35.8 μmol/L and 6.3 μmol/L, respectively (P<0.05). After 24 h of 30 μmol/L IM treatment, the percentages of apoptosis cells in Sup-B15/OP9 and Sup-B 15 cell were (14.24 ± 2.11)% and (3.45 ± 0.68)%, respectively (P<0.05). The percentage of CD34+CD38- cells in Sup-B15/OP9 group was significantly higher than that in Sup-B15 group [(3.42 ± 0.28)% vs (0.16 ± 0.15)%, P<0.05]. As compared to Sup-B15 cells, the transcription of ALDH1 in Sup-B15/OP9 group was remarkably upregulated (0.097 ± 0.012 vs 0.046 ± 0.010, P<0.05), and the CD133 protein level was also upregulated in Sup-B15/OP9 group. The transcription of CD144 in Sup-B15/OP9 group was remarkably upregulated compared with Sup-B15 group (0.103 ± 0.015 vs 0.010±0.003, P<0.05), as well as the CD144 protein. β-catenin mRNA transcription has no obvious changes between Sup-B15 group and Sup-B15/OP9 group (P>0.05), while the whole β-catenin protein and the cell nucleus β-catenin significantly increased, as well as the β-catenin protein combined with CD144.

CONCLUSIONCo-cultured with OP9 cells, Sup-B15 cells show less sensitivity to imatinib. The raising activity of CD144 and CD144/β-catenin signaling may work in this procession.

Objective To investigate the prevalence of the depression and the activities of daily living in the elderly population in Hebei province.Methods In this cross-sectional study,3 176 subjects aged over 60 were selected from 4 urban communities in Hebei Province.The demographic data was collected,and the Center for Epidemiological Survey,Depression Scale,(CES-D) and the activities of daily living Scale (ADL) were used to assess their depression status and activities of daily living.Results Among the 3 176 subjects,268 cases (8.4％) got the CES-D scores of over 15 and 232 cases (7.3％) got the ADL scores of over 26.14.2％ of depression group needed life care,27.9％ of depression group had absence of daily living activities.Multivariate logistic results showed that gender (OR=2.142),diseases situation (OR=2.214),marriage (OR=0.484),and life abilities like shower (OR =1.333),walk around home (OR=1.275),wear clothes(OR=2.129),moving on a wheelchair(OR=1.118) had significant effect on depression.Conclusion Elder people population who have characteristics like female,single,illness,can't take shower by themselves,life care depended,more likely get higher CES-D scores and depression.