Objective:To explore the key factors affecting plasma clot retraction and optimize the experimental method of plasma clot retraction,in order to study the regulation of platelet function and evaluate the modulatory effects of drugs on plasma clot retraction.Methods:The effects of different concentrations of thrombin,Ca2+and platelets on plasma clot retraction were studied,and the detection system of plasma clot retraction was optimized.The availability of the detection system was then validated by analyzing the regulatory effects of multiple signaling pathway inhibitors on plasma clot retraction.Results:Through the optimization study of multiple factors,platelet rich plasma(PRP)containing 0.5 mmol/L Ca2+and 40 × 109/L platelets was treated with 0.2 U/ml thrombin to perform plasma clot retraction analysis.After treatment with thrombin for 15 min,plasma clot retracted significantly.After treatment with thrombin for 30 min,the percentage of plasma clot retraction was more than 50％.The regulatory effects of multiple signaling pathway inhibitors on plasma clot retraction were studied in this detection system.PKC inhibitor Go 6983 exhibited a significant inhibitory effect on plasma clot retraction,while PI3K inhibitor Ly294002 and p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580 slightly suppressed plasma clot retraction.Conclusion:PRP containing 0.5 mmol/L Ca2+and 40 × 109/L platelets can be induced with 0.2 U/ml thrombin to conduct plasma clot retraction analysis,which can be used to study the regulation of platelet function and evaluate the modulatory effects of drugs on plasma clot retraction.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in blood,present at low abundance,serves as a critical biomarker for cancer. Precise detection of ctDNA is of great significance for early diagnosis,disease monitoring,and prognosis evaluation. In this study,a microfluidic chip-based entropy-driven bipedal DNA walker combined with dendritic hybridisation chain reaction was designed as a cascade signal amplification strategy for detection of ctDNA in blood in a microfluidic chip. In the presence of the target,toehold A interacted with target and triggerd a bidirectional strand displacement reaction with the aid of fuel strand F,thereby releasing the target and the 8-17 DNAzyme active centre. Among them,the released target was recycled in a new round of entropy-driven chain replacement reaction. Meanwhile,8-17 DNAzyme active center activated by Pb2+would act on the cleavage site of the substrate hairpin at the microbead surface,exposing the capture probes on the surface of the microbead. The numerous capture probes induced a dendritic hybridization chain reaction,which resulted in fluorescent signals being concentrated on the surface of the microbeads. With the breast cancer mutant gene PIK3CAE545K as the target model,under the optimal experimental conditions,the linear range of sensor was 50-10000 fmol/L,the detection limit was 0.94 fmol/L (LOD,3σ),and the regression equation was y=31.65 lgCT+474.08 (CT is the concentration mutant gene PIK3CAE545K sequence,fmol/L). This method showed spiked recoveries between 98.8％ and 106.5％ when applied to detection of mutant gene PIK3CAE545K in human serum. Characterized by its sensitivity,specificity,anti-interference capability,high throughput,and one-step operation,this method was ideally suited for the rapid analysis of complex samples.

Methcathinone (MCAT) belongs to the designer drugs called synthetic cathinones, which are abused worldwide for recreational purposes. It has strong stimulant effects, including enhanced euphoria, sensation, alertness, and empathy. However, little is known about how MCAT modulates neuronal activity in vivo. Here, we evaluated the effect of MCAT on neuronal activity with a series of functional approaches. C-Fos immunostaining showed that MCAT increased the number of activated neurons by 6-fold, especially in sensory and motor cortices, striatum, and midbrain motor nuclei. In vivo single-unit recording and two-photon Ca²⁺ imaging revealed that a large proportion of neurons increased spiking activity upon MCAT administration. Notably, MCAT induced a strong de-correlation of population activity and increased trial-to-trial reliability, specifically during a natural movie stimulus. It improved the information-processing efficiency by enhancing the single-neuron coding capacity, suggesting a cortical network mechanism of the enhanced perception produced by psychoactive stimulants.
Mice ; Animals ; Reproducibility of Results ; Neurons ; Sensation ; Perception

Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Female ; Hip Joint/surgery* ; Hip Prosthesis ; Humans ; Male ; Sex Characteristics ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing/surgery* ; Treatment Outcome

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a common traumatic disease. Patients with limited mobility are prone to pressure injuries, which seriously affect the patient's rehabilitation process. The use of risk assessment scale can effectively predict the occurrence of pressure injuries. This article reviewed the pathogenesis, risk factors, and use of different risk assessment tools for patients with spinal cord injury, compared the content, assessment methods, applicable population, reliability and validity of each risk assessment scale, summarized the advantages and disadvantages of different assessment scales, and provided reference to choose the best risk assessment tool.

Objective:To systematically review the relevant researches on aspiration screening tools for stroke patients. Methods:Literatures aboute stroke aspiration screening tools till December, 2018 were recalled from PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMbase, CNKI, Wanfang Database and China Biomedical Literature Database. Two researchers independently screened the literatures and extracted the basic information, such as the content, screening format, scoring standard and measurement characteristics. Results:A total of 25 studies were included, involving ten aspiration screening tools. The content, screening format, scoring standard and measurement characteristics of the aspiration screening tools were analysed. There was no evidence to support the tools. Conclusion:Tools would be selected according to the patient's condition, age and swallowing related characteristics.

Objective To explore the role of integrin αvβ3 in the promotion of the development of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) by SDF-1/CXCR4.Methods This study was divided into two parts in vitro and in vivo.As for the in vivo study,a CNV model was induced by laser on C57BL/6J mice,and then assigned into 4 groups:mice with solely CNV modeling as control group,with intravitreal injection of SDF-1 after immediate CNV modeling as SDF-1 group,with intravitreal injection of SDF-1 + CXCR4 inhibitor (AMD3100) after CNV modeling as SDF-1 + AMD3100 group,and mice with intravitreal injection of SDF-1 + αvβ3 inhibitor (SB273005) after modeling as SDF-1 + SB273005 group.CXCR4 and αvβ3 expression levels in laser-induced eyes were quantified by qRT-PCR at time points of day 1,3,5,7,10 and 14 after modeling,and immunofluorescence staining was applied to detect αvβ3 expression in regional CNV and its endothelial cells in the four groups.Finally,OCT was used to observe the height of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) layers in CNV after treatment in the four groups.Moreover,in the experiment in vitro,Western blot was used to measure the expression of CXCR4 protein of RF/6A cells in normal control group,Si-CXCR4 knockdown group and Si-NC knockdown model group.Meanwhile,the expression of integrin subunit β3 protein was determined in the normal control group,SDF-1 group,SDF-1 + AMD3100group,SDF-1 + Si-NC group and SDF-1 + Si-CXCR4 group.Transwell assay was conducted to detect the migration ability of RF/6A cells in the normal control group,SDF-1group,SDF-1 +AMD3100 group,SDF-1 + SB273005 group.Results On the one hand,the study in vivo,qRT-PCR showed that the expression of CXCR4 and integrin subunit β3 mRNA was up-regulated at first,and then down-regulated with time passed after CNV induction,with the highest expression level of CXCR4 mRNA (4.263 ± 0.464) on day 3,and the peak expression of β3 mRNA (3.678 ±0.364) on day 7 after CNV modeling.The results of immunofluorescence staining showed that the β3 fluorescence intensity of SDF-1 group was significantly enhanced,and the ratio of β3/CD31 was also significantly increased,which both were significantly higher than those of the control group (P ＜ 0.01).However,the β3 fluorescence intensity and β3/CD31 ratio of SDF-1 +AMD3100 group and SDF-1 + SB273005 group were significantly weakened and decreased,respectively (P ＜0.05).OCT showed that the elevation level of RPE layer inSDF-1 group was significantly higher than that in the control group [(135.503 ± 10.301) μm vs.(94.443 ± 12.156) μm](P＜0.05).The height of RPE uplift in SDF-1 + AMD3100 group [(95.283 ±20.062) μm] and SDF-1 + SB273005 group [(99.807 ± 10.403) μm] was significantly decreased (P ＜ 0.05).On the other hand,in experiment in vitro,Western blot showed that the expression levels of integrin β3 in SDF-1 group and SDF-1 + Si-NC group were significantly higher than those in the control group [(1.301 ± 0.043) and (1.273 ± 0.077) vs.(0.244 ± 0.069)] (P ＜ 0.01).The levels of integrin subunit β3 protein in SDF-1 + si-CXCR4 group (0.322 ± 0.042) and SDF-1 + AMD3100 group (0.336 ± 0.077) were significantly down-regulated (P ＜ 0.01).Transwell assay showed that the amount of migrating cells in SDF-1 group increased,which was significantly higher than that of the control group (P ＜ 0.01),while the number of migrating cells in SDF-1 +AMD3100 group and SDF-1 + SB273005 group was significantly decreased.Conclusion Integrin αvβ3 can promote the development of CNV by mediating SDF-1/CXCR4 signaling in endothelial cells.

Epigenetic modifications have been proved to be a powerful way to activate silent gene clusters and lead to diverse secondary metabolites in fungi. Previously, inactivation of a histone H3 deacetylase in had led to pleiotropic activation and overexpression of more than 75% of the biosynthetic genes and isolation of ten compounds. Further investigation of the crude extract of strain resulted in the isolation of twelve new diterpenoids including three cassanes (-), one cleistanthane (), six pimaranes (-), and two isopimaranes ( and ) along with two know cleistanthane analogues. Their structures were elucidated by extensive NMR spectroscopic data analysis. Compounds and showed potent inhibitory effects on the expression of MMP1 and MMP2 (matrix metalloproteinases family) in human breast cancer (MCF-7) cells.

Objective: To study the chemical constituents of the fungus Ganoderma cochlear. Methods: The compounds were isolated by using MCI gel CHP 20P, Sephadex LH-20, RP-18 column chromatography, and preparative TLC. The structures were identified by means of spectroscopic methods. Results: Two phenolic normeroterpenoid and meroterpenoid, cochlearols C and D (1 and 2), together with six benzene derivatives, 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenylethanol (3), 4-hydroxyacetophenone (4), p-hydroxycinnamic methyl ester (5), 2-methoxy-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (6), 4-hydroxy-3-methoxy benzoic acid (7), and 2-hydroxy-5-ethoxybenzoic acid (8), were isolated from the fruiting bodies of Ganoderma cochlear. Conclusion: Compounds 1 and 2 are new phenolic normeroterpenoid and meroterpenoid, respectively.

BACKGROUNDThe Wenchuan earthquake in China caused shock and grief worldwide. Sudden bereavement caused by the earthquake led to physical disorders as well as psychological disturbances in the bereaved individuals. The bereaved had a high risk for complicated grief (CG), which may have led to significant distress and impairment in their health. However, there was few available studies on CG among disaster-bereaved individuals in China after the disaster. The aim of this study was to identify factors (demographic characteristics and disaster-related variables) associated with symptoms of CG among the bereaved 18 months after the Wenchuan earthquake.

METHODSThis study was conducted with a cross-sectional design and a convenience sample of 271 bereaved individuals from three of the hardest hit areas. Data were collected by questionnaires and the instruments used in the study were: General questionnaire and Inventory of CG (ICG). Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with symptoms of CG.

RESULTSThe mean score on ICG was 52.77 (standard deviation: 10.00). Being female and loss of a child were related to higher level of CG while having another child after the disaster and receiving psychological counseling experience were associated with lower level of CG. Forty-nine percent of the variance of CG was explained by these identified factors.

CONCLUSIONSEighteen months after the Wenchuan earthquake, the symptoms of CG among the bereaved were higher than the previous studies with bereaved individuals. This study uncovers a vulnerable population of the bereaved at high risk for CG. Early assessments, targeted interventions, and policy support tailored for the disaster-bereaved individuals are necessary to identify and alleviate symptoms of CG and to improve their well-being.

Adult ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Earthquakes ; Female ; Grief ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Surveys and Questionnaires