ABSTRCT AIM:To verify the effect of polygona-tum polysaccharide(PSP)combined with TGF-β3 in inducing the differentiation of rat tendon-derived stem cells(TDSCs)into chondrocytes by activating the TGF-β3/Smad2 pathway.METHODS:TDSCs were extracted from rat tail tendons using enzyme digestion,purified,passaged,and identified via flow cytometry.TDSCs were treated with different concentrations of PSP,and the optimal growth con-centration was determined using the CCK-8 assay.TDSCs were divided into four groups:PSP,TGF-β3,PSP+TGF-β3,and Control for differentiation induc-tion.Chondrogenic differentiation was evaluated using morphological observations,toluidine blue staining,immunofluorescence staining,and West-ern blot analysis to detect COLⅡ,SOX9,and AGG.Western blot was also used to measure the expres-sion levels of Smad2 and p-Smad2 to evaluate the activation of the TGF-β3/Smad2 pathway after chondrogenic induction.RESULTS:Flow cytometry analysis showed that TDSCs highly expressed CD90 and CD29,while CD11b and CD45 expression was low.The CCK-8 assay indicated that 5 μmol/L PSP was the optimal intervention dose.Toluidine blue staining revealed that the blue staining area in the PSP,PSP+TGF-β3,and TGF-β3 groups was larger compared to the Control group.Immunofluores-cence analysis demonstrated that COLⅡ expression was significantly increased in the PSP,TGF-β3,and PSP+TGF-β3 groups,with the highest expression in the PSP+TGF-β3 group(P＜0.05).Western blot analy-sis showed that the levels of p-Smad2/Smad2,COLⅡ,SOX9,and AGG were elevated in the PSP,TGF-β3,and PSP+TGF-β3 groups,with the highest ex-pression in the PSP+TGF-β3 group(P＜0.05).Compared to the Control group,the TGF-β3 and PSP groups also showed significantly increased expression(P＜0.05).CONCLUSION:PSP promotes the proliferation and chondrogenic differentiation of TDSCs,possibly by activating the TGF-β3/Smad2 pathway.

OBJECTIVE T o explore the prevention and control measures for the hospital-acquired pulmonary mu-cormycosis caused by Cunninghamella bertholletiae.METHODS One case of patient with pulmonary mucormyco-sis caused by Cunninghamella bertholletiae who was treated in pediatric intensive care unit(PICU)of a three-A general hospital was enrolled in the study,the process of clinical diagnosis and treatment was summarized.A ret-rospective survey regarding four aspects including people,machine,materials and environment was conducted.The related factors leading to the hospital-acquired infections in the patient were analyzed.RESULTS The child was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia and underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation,the child was treated with various invasive procedures during the treatment period and was infected with pulmona-ry mucormycosis caused by the rare Cunninghamella bertholletiae.The occurrence of the pulmonary mucormyco-sis was associated with the poor management of medical textile,insufficient environmental cleaning and disinfec-tion and nonstandard invasive procedures.CONCLUSIONS The Cunninghamella bertholletiae infection is less com-mon,but the risk of death is high.It is necessary for the medical institutions to complete the prevention and con-trol measures and intensify the health care workers'capabilities in identification of the pathogenic fungus so as to reduce the incidence of pulmonary mucormycosis caused by the pathogen.

ABSTRCT AIM:To verify the effect of polygona-tum polysaccharide(PSP)combined with TGF-β3 in inducing the differentiation of rat tendon-derived stem cells(TDSCs)into chondrocytes by activating the TGF-β3/Smad2 pathway.METHODS:TDSCs were extracted from rat tail tendons using enzyme digestion,purified,passaged,and identified via flow cytometry.TDSCs were treated with different concentrations of PSP,and the optimal growth con-centration was determined using the CCK-8 assay.TDSCs were divided into four groups:PSP,TGF-β3,PSP+TGF-β3,and Control for differentiation induc-tion.Chondrogenic differentiation was evaluated using morphological observations,toluidine blue staining,immunofluorescence staining,and West-ern blot analysis to detect COLⅡ,SOX9,and AGG.Western blot was also used to measure the expres-sion levels of Smad2 and p-Smad2 to evaluate the activation of the TGF-β3/Smad2 pathway after chondrogenic induction.RESULTS:Flow cytometry analysis showed that TDSCs highly expressed CD90 and CD29,while CD11b and CD45 expression was low.The CCK-8 assay indicated that 5 μmol/L PSP was the optimal intervention dose.Toluidine blue staining revealed that the blue staining area in the PSP,PSP+TGF-β3,and TGF-β3 groups was larger compared to the Control group.Immunofluores-cence analysis demonstrated that COLⅡ expression was significantly increased in the PSP,TGF-β3,and PSP+TGF-β3 groups,with the highest expression in the PSP+TGF-β3 group(P＜0.05).Western blot analy-sis showed that the levels of p-Smad2/Smad2,COLⅡ,SOX9,and AGG were elevated in the PSP,TGF-β3,and PSP+TGF-β3 groups,with the highest ex-pression in the PSP+TGF-β3 group(P＜0.05).Compared to the Control group,the TGF-β3 and PSP groups also showed significantly increased expression(P＜0.05).CONCLUSION:PSP promotes the proliferation and chondrogenic differentiation of TDSCs,possibly by activating the TGF-β3/Smad2 pathway.

BACKGROUND:Chondrocyte apoptosis is an important factor in the development of osteoarthritis,and Complanatoside A has a flavonoid effect,which can inhibit apoptosis of various cells,but its effect on chondrocyte apoptosis and the mechanism of action are not clear. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the intrinsic association and mechanism of Complanatoside A in chondrocyte apoptosis based on the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. METHODS:(1)The cartilage tissues of the femur and tibia transected during knee arthroplasty were collected,and chondrocytes were isolated,cultured in vitro,and identified.(2)Cell counting kit-8 was used to detect the optimal intervention concentration of Complanatoside A in the concentration range of 0-160 μmol/L.(3)Chondrocytes were divided into blank group,sodium nitroprusside(1.5 mmol/L)-induced group,and sodium nitroprusside(1.5 mmol/L)+Complanatoside A(5 μmol/L)group.The viability and apoptosis rate of the cells in each group were detected by cell counting kit-8 and flow cytometry.The expression of type Ⅱ collagen and SOX9 was detected by immunofluorescence staining.The expression of apoptosis-related proteins and Wnt/β-catenin pathway proteins was detected by western blot assay. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The cells extracted in vitro were cultured and stained,and were clearly identified as chondrocytes.Complanatoside A had no obvious cytotoxicity to chondrocytes in the concentration range of 0-80 μmol/L,and significantly improved the chondrocyte viability in the concentration range of 2.5-10 μmol/L,especially when the concentration was 5 μmol/L.The apoptotic rate of chondrocytes was higher in the sodium nitroprusside-induced group than the blank control group,while the apoptotic rate was lower in the sodium nitroprusside+Complanatoside A group than the sodium nitroprusside-induced group.The fluorescence intensity of type Ⅱ collagen and SOX9 in chondrocytes was weaker in the sodium nitroprusside-induced group than the blank control group,while the fluorescence intensity of type Ⅱ collagen and SOX9 in the sodium nitroprusside+Complanatoside A group was higher than that of the sodium nitroprusside-induced group.In the sodium nitroprusside-induced group,the protein expression of Bax,Caspase-3,matrix metalloproteinase 13,Wnt3a,Wnt5a and β-catenin was higher than that of the blank control group,while the protein expression of Bcl-2 was lower than that of the blank control group.In the sodium nitroprusside+Complanatoside A group,except for the protein expression of Bcl-2 which was higher than that of the sodium nitroprusside-induced group,the expression of the other aforementioned proteins was lower than that of the sodium nitroprusside-induced group.To conclude,Complanatoside A has a certain inhibitory effect on chondrocyte apoptosis,which could regulate apoptosis-related proteins and promote the expression of chondrocyte regulatory factors,and presumably might play a role through inhibiting the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

OBJECTIVE T o explore the prevention and control measures for the hospital-acquired pulmonary mu-cormycosis caused by Cunninghamella bertholletiae.METHODS One case of patient with pulmonary mucormyco-sis caused by Cunninghamella bertholletiae who was treated in pediatric intensive care unit(PICU)of a three-A general hospital was enrolled in the study,the process of clinical diagnosis and treatment was summarized.A ret-rospective survey regarding four aspects including people,machine,materials and environment was conducted.The related factors leading to the hospital-acquired infections in the patient were analyzed.RESULTS The child was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia and underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation,the child was treated with various invasive procedures during the treatment period and was infected with pulmona-ry mucormycosis caused by the rare Cunninghamella bertholletiae.The occurrence of the pulmonary mucormyco-sis was associated with the poor management of medical textile,insufficient environmental cleaning and disinfec-tion and nonstandard invasive procedures.CONCLUSIONS The Cunninghamella bertholletiae infection is less com-mon,but the risk of death is high.It is necessary for the medical institutions to complete the prevention and con-trol measures and intensify the health care workers'capabilities in identification of the pathogenic fungus so as to reduce the incidence of pulmonary mucormycosis caused by the pathogen.

In order to effectively prevent the damage to the human body caused by abnormal oxygen concentration in the medical hyperbaric oxygen chamber, a ZigBee-based medical hyperbaric oxygen chamber oxygen concentration automatic control system is designed. The data acquisition module uses the microprocessor STM32F103C8T6 to receive the oxygen concentration data of each acquisition point, and the ZigBee of the data processing module transmits the processing results to the MSP430G2553 single-chip microcomputer at the receiving end of the slave. The MSP430G2553 single-chip microcomputer uses a self-organizing TS fuzzy neural network (SOTSFNN) and adds activation. The intensity concept realizes automatic control of the oxygen concentration in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, and controls the buzzer to give an alarm when the oxygen concentration is lower than 19 mg/L and higher than 23 mg/L, and displays the current real-time oxygen concentration through LCD12864. The experimental results show that as the communication distance increases, the packet loss rate of the system is always lower than 5%, and the signal strength under the same communication distance is better; the system can effectively control the oxygen concentration value within the set range, and the oxygen concentration. The control accuracy is high and the stability is good.
Humans ; Hyperbaric Oxygenation ; Microcomputers ; Oxygen

Objective : To investigate the co-labeling of c-Fos protein expression and oxytocin ( OXT) neurons in related brain regions in mice injected with dexmedetomidine( Dex) by intraperitoneal injection． Methods : 8 －10 week old C57 mice were divided into Saline group and Dex group．The Saline group was intraperitoneally injected with normal saline，the Dex group was intraperitoneally injected with Dex ( 100 μg / kg) ，the control group was giv- en normal saline (Saline group) ，and the experimental group was given Dex 100 μg / kg (Dex group) ．120 minutes after intraperitoneal injection，the brains of two groups of mice were collected by perfusion，and thenfrozen section and immunofluorescence microscopy imagingwere performed. Results : Immunofluorescence c-Fos protein expres- sion in Dex group and Saline group．The results showed that compared with the Saline group，the Dex group had higher thalamotomy in the supraoptic nucleus ( SON) ，ventrolateral preoptic nucleus ( VLPO) ，subfornical organ (SFO) ，solitary tract (SOL) and area postrema (AP) ，and the difference was statistically significant．C-Fos in the locus coeruleus(LC) ，lateral hypothalamic area (LH) ，laterodorsal tegmental nucleus (LDT) ，parabigeminal nu- cleus (PB) ，ventral tuberomammillary nucleus ( TMN) and motor cortex M1 / M2 protein expression decreased， and the difference was statistically significant (P＜0. 05) ．There was no difference in c-Fos protein expression in parathalamic nucleus (PVN) and suprachiasmatic nucleus ( SCN) ．The results of the co-labeling group of OXT neurons and c-Fos protein in the PVN and SON brain regions showed that : compared with the Saline group，there was no significant difference in the co-labeling of OXT neurons and c-Fos protein in the PVN and SON brain regions of the Dex group． Conclusion The immunofluorescence co-labeling experiment shows that Dex can activate sleep- promoting and other related brain regions，and has a certain inhibitory effect on wake-promoting and exercise-relat- ed brain regions，however，it does not affect the co-labeling of c-Fos protein and OXT neurons in PVN and SON brain regions.

OBJECTIVE：To study the mechanism of enhancement effects of Astragalus complanatus polysaccharides（ACP） on the proliferation of meniscal fibrochondrocytes cells in rabbits. METHODS ：The meniscal fibrochondrocytes cells were isolated from 1-month-old New Zealand white rabbits. The meniscal fibrochondrocytes cells were divided into normal control group （PBS）， positive control group （glucosamine sulfate ，10 mg/mL）and ACP high-dose，medium-dose and low-dose groups （40，20，10 mg/mL）. The morphology of meniscal fibrochondrocytes cells were observed under microscope. Cell proliferation rate was detected by MTT assay. Cell cycle was observed with flow cytometry. ELISA assay was used to detect relative expression of medium collagen type Ⅱ（Col Ⅱ）and alkaline phosphatase protein （ALP）in meniscal fibrochondrocytes cells. RT-qPCR and Western blotting assay were adopted to detect mRNA and protein expression of transforming growth factor β 1 （TGF-β 1） and bone morphogenetic protein 2（BMP-2）. RESULTS ：After cultured for 72 h，meniscal fibrochondrocytes cells were fused into a single layer，and most of them were slender type in appearance. Compared with normal control group ，the proliferation rate of meniscal fibrochondrocytes cells and the percentage of cells at G 1/G0 phase were decreased significantly in positive control group and ACP high-dose，medium-dose and low-dose groups （P＜0.05）；the percentage of cells at S phase ，protein expression of Col Ⅱ and ALP，mRNA and protein expression of TGF-β1 and BMP- 2 were increased significantly （P＜0.05）. Compared with positive control group，inhibitory rate of meniscal fibrochondrocytes cells proliferation and the percentage of cells at G 1/G0 phase were decreased significantly in ACP high-dose group （P＜0.05），while the percentage of cells at S phase ，protein expression of Col Ⅱ and ALP ， mRNA and protein expression of TGF-β1 and BMP- 2 were increased significantly （P＜0.05）. The inhibitory proliferation rate of meniscal fibrochondrocytes cells and the percentage of cells at G 1/G0 phase were increased significantly in ACP low-dose group （P＜ 0.05），while the percentage of cells at S phase ，protein expression of Col Ⅱ and ALP ，mRNA and protein expression of TGF-β1 and BMP- 2 were decreased significantly （P＜0.05）. There was no statistical significance in above indexes of ACP medium-dose group. CONCLUSIONS ：ACP can promote the proliferation of meniscal fibrochondrocytes cells ，reduce the percentage of cells at G1/G0 phase，promote cell transformation to S phase ；the mechanism of which may be related to up-regulating TGF-β1，BMP-2 mRNA and protein expression ，promoting Col Ⅱ and ALP protein expression enhancement.

BACKGROUNDQuantitative dynamic contrast enhancement MR imaging (DCE-MRI), used to measure properties of tissue microvasculature and tumor angiogenesis, is a promising method for distinguishing benign and malignant tumors and characterizing tumor response to antiangiogenic treatment. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of quantitative parameters derived from clinically used DCE-MRI for distinguishing benign from malignant tumors in the sinonasal area, which may be potentially useful for prediction and monitoring of treatment response to chemoradiotherapy of sinonasal tumors.

METHODSOne hundred and forty-three patients with sinonasal tumors, including 78 malignant tumors and 65 benign tumors and tumor-like lesions, underwent clinically used DCE-MRI. Parametric maps were obtained for quantitative parameters including K(trans), kep and ve. Two radiologists reviewed these maps and measured K(trans), kep and ve in the tumor tissue. Data were analyzed using independent T-test or Mann-Whitney U test analysis and receiver operating characteristic curves.

RESULTSK(trans), kep and ve showed significant differences between benign and malignant tumors in the sinonasal area (P = 0.000 1). The accuracy of K(trans), kep and ve in differentiation between benign and malignant sinonasal tumors were 72.0%, 76.2% and 67.1%, respectively. There were significant differences in kep and ve between malignant epithelial sinonasal tumors and lymphomas (P < 0.05). Using a ve value of 0.213 as the threshold value differentiated malignant epithelial tumors from lymphomas with an accuracy of 78.3%, sensitivity of 88.2%, specificity of 68.0%, positive predictive value of 66.7%, and negative predictive value of 90.9%. However, no significant difference in K(trans) and kep was found between malignant epithelial and non-epithelial tumors in the sinonasal area (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSIt is feasible that quantitative parameters of tumors can be derived from clinically used DCE-MRI in the sinonasal region. Preliminary findings suggest an increased value for quantitative DCE-MRI in the evaluation of sinonasal tumors in clinical practice.

Contrast Media ; Female ; Humans ; Image Enhancement ; methods ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Paranasal Sinus Neoplasms ; diagnosis

Objective To determine whether volume transfer coefficient (Ktrans )can be used to differentiate high-grade glioma (HGG)and metastasis.Methods Thirty-nine patients with brain tumors (12 HGG,27 metastases)underwent dynamic contrast en-hanced MR imaging before surgical resection or stereotactic biopsy.Images were acquired with a three-dimensional (3D)fast gradi-ent echo sequence.Gadolinium-based contrast agent was injected intravenously with dosage of 0.1 mmol/kg bodyweight at a rate of 3.0 mL/s.Ktrans and Ve were calculated from the DCE MRI data.The results of Ktrans and Ve were compared between the 2 types of tumors.Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed for each of the variables in differentiation cerebral metastasis from HGG.Results The Ktrans values in the parenchyma of HGG and metastases were 0.10 (0.11,0.71)min-1 and 0.21 (0.05, 0.77)min-1 ,respectively.The difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05).The Ktrans values in the peritumoral region of the HGG and brain metastasis were 0.04 (0.01,0.10)min-1 and 0.01 (0.00,0.06)min-1 ,respectively.There was a significant difference between the Ktrans values in the peritumoral edema of HGG and cerebral metastases (P<0.05).The optimal cutoff value of Ktrans for differentiating HGG from cerebral metastases was 0.03,with sensitivity of 75% and specificity of 70%.Conclusion Ktrans values in the peritumoral edema may be useful in the differentiating cerebral metastases between HGG.