BACKGROUND:Synthetic polymers,such as polypropylene and polyester,used for the treatment of abdominal wall defects not only lack biodegradability and bioactivity but also fail to meet the demands of complex and irregular wounds.Therefore,finding bioactive materials with low immunogenicity and good histocompatibility has become a hot spot in the repair of abdominal wall defects. OBJECTIVE:To prepare methacryloyl modified dermal extracellular matrix hydrogel and explore its potential application in abdominal wall defect. METHODS:(1)The porcine dermis was acellular with 0.25%trypsin and 1%Triton X-100 in turn to obtain the dermal extracellular matrix.After pepsin digestion and methacrylic anhydride modification,the methacrylated dermal extracellular matrix hydrogel was formed by photocrosslinking.The microscopic morphology of the hydrogel was observed by scanning electron microscope,and its rheological properties,swelling properties and other physical and chemical properties were tested.(2)Mice fibroblasts(L929)were inoculated into methacrylated dermal extracellular matrix hydrogel to detect the cell compatibility.(3)Totally 12 SD rats were randomly divided into two groups(n=6)to create abdominal wall defect model with peritoneum preserved.The defect site of the polypropylene group was filled with polypropylene material,and the hydrogel group was filled with methacrylated dermal extracellular matrix hydrogel.The wound skin of both groups was covered with polypropylene material.The wound healing was observed and histological analysis was carried out. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Enzymatic hydrolysis had a good decellularization effect on porcine dermis after decellularization,and the original glycosaminoglycans and collagen were well retained.Scanning electron microscope observation revealed that the dermal extracellular matrix hydrogel presented loose and porous structure.The aperture was between 70 and 120 μm.The swelling ratio was(16.88±3.24)%and the water absorption was(94.24±1.11)%.The rheological property test showed that the methacrylated dermal extracellular matrix hydrogel was stable and had shear thinning characteristics,with injectability.(2)CCK-8 assay and live/dead staining showed that methacrylated dermal extracellular matrix hydrogel had good cell compatibility.(3)The results of animal experiments showed that the skin wound healing rate of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group at 7,10,and 14 days after operation(P<0.05).Hematoxylin-eosin and Masson staining of skin and muscle tissue exhibited that compared with the polypropylene group,the skin wound epithelialization,hair follicle formation,collagen fiber arrangement,and neovascularization were better in the hydrogel group 14 days after surgery.The skin wound new tissue structure was similar to the normal tissue at 28 days after surgery,and scar hyperplasia was less.A small amount of muscle regeneration was observed on day 28 after operation.(4)The results show that the methacrylated dermal extracellular matrix hydrogel can promote wound skin healing and muscle tissue regeneration in rats with abdominal wall defect.

Micro/nanoplastics (MNPs), recognized as emerging environmental pollutants, are widely distributed in natural environments. Due to their small particle size and significant migratory capacity, MNPs can infiltrate diverse environmental matrices, then invade and accumulate in the organism via the skin, respiration, and digestion. Recently, concerns have grown over the detrimental effects and potential toxicity of MNPs on reproductive health. This review summarized published epidemiological and toxicological studies related to MNPs exposure and their effects on reproductive health. Firstly, this review critically examined the current landscape of epidemiological evidence and found that MNPs (e.g., polystyrene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, etc.) are present in various biological specimens from both males and females, and their presence may be associated with an increased risk of reproductive disorders. Secondly, extensive toxicological studies revealed that MNPs exposure induces reproductive health damage through mechanisms such as disrupting the microstructure of reproductive organs and altering molecular-level expressions. Oxidative stress, inflammatory responses, and apoptosis are identified as potential links between MNPs exposure and reproductive damage. Finally, this review addressed the prevalent shortcomings in existing studies and proposed future directions to tackle the challenges posed by MNPs-induced reproductive harm. These insights aim to inform strategies for safeguarding public reproductive health and ecological security, providing a scientific foundation for mitigating risks associated with MNPs pollution.

Objective To analyze the structural and phylogenetic characteristics of the mitochondrial genome from Bulinus globosus, so as to provide a theoretical basis for classification and identification of species within the Bulinus genus, and to provide insights into understanding of Bulinus-schistosomes interactions and the mechanisms of parasite transmission. Methods B. globosus samples were collected from the Ruya River basin in Zimbabwe. Mitochondrial DNA was extracted from B. globosus samples and the corresponding libraries were constructed for high-throughput sequencing on the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform. After raw sequencing data were subjected to quality control using the fastp software, genome assembly was performed using the A5-miseq and SPAdes tools, and genome annotation was conducted using the MITOS online server. Circular maps and sequence plots of the mitochondrial genome were generated using the CGView and OGDRAW software, and the protein conservation motifs and structures were analyzed using the TBtools software. Base composition and codon usage bias were analyzed and visualized using the software MEGA X and the ggplot2 package in the R software. In addition, a phylogenetic tree was created in the software MEGA X after sequence alignment with the software MAFFT 7, and visualized using the software iTOL. Results The mitochondrial genome of B. globosus was a 13 730 bp double-stranded circular molecule, containing 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and 13 protein-coding genes, with a marked AT preference. The mitochondrial genome composition of B. globosus was similar to that of other species within the Bulinus genus. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of B. globosus was clustered with B. truncatus, B. nasutus, and B. ugandae into the same evolutionary clade, and gene superfamily analysis showed that the metabolism-related proteins of B. globosus were highly conserved, notably the cytochrome c oxidase family, which showed a significant consistency. Conclusions This is the first whole mitochondrial genome sequencing to decode the compositional features of the mitochondrial genome of B. globosus from Zimbabwe and its evolutionary relationship within the Bulinus genus, which provides important insights for further understanding of the phylogeny and mitochondrial genome characteristics of the Bulinus genus.

OBJECTIVE To compare the anti-hepatitis mechanisms of Abrus pulchellus subsp. cantoniensis （Hance） Verdc. （AC） and Abrus pulchellus subsp. mollis（Hance） Verdc. （AM）. METHODS SD rats were randomly divided into blank group， AC- treated group， and AM-treated group， with each group consisting of 10 rats. The rats’ orbital venous blood was collected at 5， 15， 30 minutes， and 1， 1.5， 2， 4， 6， 8， 12 hours after gavage administration of 24 g/kg of the corresponding drug （calculated by crude drug） or water， respectively. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry technology was utilized to identify the prototype components present in the serum. The network pharmacology method was adopted to predict the anti-hepatitis active components， key targets， and signaling pathways of AC and AM. Additionally， molecular docking technology was utilized to verify the binding activity of the core active components with key targets. RESULTS A total of 35 prototype components migrating to the blood of AC and AM were identified in the serum of administered rats， among which 24 were common components. The active components in AC， such as acetylanguidine， physcion， soyasaponin A3 and soyasaponin Ⅰ， as well as those in AM， including vicenin 3， acetylanguidine，soyasaponin Ⅰ and schaftoside， all acted on key targets such as steroid receptor coactivator， phosphatidylinositol-4，5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha， epidermal growth factor receptor （EGFR）， and protein kinase B1（Akt1）. These components modulated pathways in cancer， EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance， and the phosphoinositide 3-kinase （PI3K） -Akt pathway， thereby exerting anti-hepatitis effects. Furthermore， the binding energies between these active components and their key targets were all less than －5 kJ/mol. CONCLUSIONS There are differences in the active components of AC and AM against hepatitis， but their mechanisms of action are similar. Both may exert their anti-hepatitis effects through pathways in cancer， EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance， and the PI3K-Akt pathway.

Objective To predict the potential geographic distribution of Oncomelania hupensis in Yunnan Province using random forest (RF) and maximum entropy (MaxEnt) models, so as to provide insights into O. hupensis surveillance and control in Yunnan Province. Methods The O. hupensis snail survey data in Yunnan Province from 2015 to 2016 were collected and converted into O. hupensis snail distribution site data. Data of 22 environmental variables in Yunnan Province were collected, including twelve climate variables (annual potential evapotranspiration, annual mean ground surface temperature, annual precipitation, annual mean air pressure, annual mean relative humidity, annual sunshine duration, annual mean air temperature, annual mean wind speed, ≥ 0 ℃ annual accumulated temperature, ≥ 10 ℃ annual accumulated temperature, aridity and index of moisture), eight geographical variables (normalized difference vegetation index, landform type, land use type, altitude, soil type, soil textureclay content, soil texture-sand content and soil texture-silt content) and two population and economic variables (gross domestic product and population). Variables were screened with Pearson correlation test and variance inflation factor (VIF) test. The RF and MaxEnt models and the ensemble model were created using the biomod2 package of the software R 4.2.1, and the potential distribution of O. hupensis snails after 2016 was predicted in Yunnan Province. The predictive effects of models were evaluated through cross-validation and independent tests, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), true skill statistics (TSS) and Kappa statistics were used for model evaluation. In addition, the importance of environmental variables was analyzed, the contribution of environmental variables output by the models with AUC values of > 0.950 and TSS values of > 0.850 were selected for normalization processing, and the importance percentage of environmental variables was obtained to analyze the importance of environmental variables. Results Data of 148 O. hupensis snail distribution sites and 15 environmental variables were included in training sets of RF and MaxEnt models, and both RF and MaxEnt models had high predictive performance, with both mean AUC values of > 0.900 and all mean TSS values and Kappa values of > 0.800, and significant differences in the AUC (t = 19.862, P < 0.05), TSS (t = 10.140, P < 0.05) and Kappa values (t = 10.237, P < 0.05) between two models. The AUC, TSS and Kappa values of the ensemble model were 0.996, 0.954 and 0.920, respectively. Independent data verification showed that the AUC, TSS and Kappa values of the RF model and the ensemble model were all 1, which still showed high performance in unknown data modeling, and the MaxEnt model showed poor performance, with TSS and Kappa values of 0 for 24%(24/100) of the modeling results. The modeling results of 79 RF models, 38 MaxEnt models and their ensemble models with AUC values of > 0.950 and TSS values of > 0.850 were included in the evaluation of importance of environmental variables. The importance of annual sunshine duration (SSD) was 32.989%, 37.847% and 46.315% in the RF model, the MaxEnt model and their ensemble model, while the importance of annual mean relative humidity (RHU) was 30.947%, 15.921% and 28.121%, respectively. Important environment variables were concentrated in modeling results of the RF model, dispersed in modeling results of the MaxEnt model, and most concentrated in modeling results of the ensemble model. The potential distribution of O. hupensis snails after 2016 was predicted to be relatively concentrated in Yunnan Province by the RF model and relatively large by the MaxEnt model, and the distribution of O. hupensis snails predicted by the ensemble model was mostly the joint distribution of O. hupensis snails predicted by RF and MaxEnt models. Conclusions Both RF and MaxEnt models are effective to predict the potential distribution of O. hupensis snails in Yunnan Province, which facilitates targeted O. hupensis snail control.

Objective To investigate the effect and mechanism of miR-27a-3p on nerve cell apoptosis induced by oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation(OGD/R)through regulation of Rho family GTPase 3(Rnd3)expression.Methods PC12 neurons were cultured in vitro and reoxygenated for 3,6,9 h and 12 h after 2 h oxygen glucose deprivation.Cell viability,miR-27a-3p expression and Rnd3 mRNA expression were assessed at each time point and the optimal reoxygenation time point was screened.After transfection of miR-27a-3p Mimic,miR-27a-3p Inhibitor and their negative control,transfection of shRnd3 and its negative control,or co-transfection of shRnd3 and miR-27a-3p Inhibitor through lentivirus,CCK-8 assay was used to detect cell activity.The apoptosis rate of the cells was detected using flow cytometry.Expression of miR-27a-3p and Rnd3 mRNA was detected by RT-qPCR.Expression of apoptosis-related protein and Rnd3 protein was detected by Western blot.The dual luciferase reporter assay confirmed the targeting relationship between miR-27a-3p and Rnd3.Results Upregulation of miR-27a-3p increased cell viability,decreased total cell apoptosis rate,suppressed pro-apoptotic proteins Cleaved Caspase-3(C-caspase-3)and Bax,and promoted expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2(P<0.05);The opposite result was found when down-regulating miR-27a-3p.The double luciferase reporter gene assay showed that Rnd3 was the target gene of miR-27a-3p.Down-regulation of Rnd3 increased cell viability,decreased the total rate of apoptosis,suppressed the pro-apoptotic protein C-caspase-3,Bax,and promoted expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2(P<0.05).However,miR-27a-3p Inhibitor reversed the protective effect of shRnd3.Conclusion miR-27a-3p alleviates OGD/R-induced damage to PC12 neurons by targeting Rnd3 to inhibit cell apoptosis.

Objective:To investigate the clinical effect of the "Tongluo" technique on gastrocnemius muscle hardness and muscle tone in children with spastic cerebral palsy (SCP) using shear wave elastography (SWE).Methods:Forty children with SCP who were treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2020 to June 2021 were selected as the observation group and received the "Tongluo" technique intervention. At the same time, 20 normal children were selected as the control group, without any intervention. Compare the various indicators of the two groups at baseline and after 1.5 and 3 months of treatment, including Young’s modulus value of the medial gastrocnemius muscle at rest, the modified Ashworth scale (MAS) score, and the clinical spasm index (CSI) score. The changes in muscle tone and spasticity of SCP children before and after treatment were compared, and the differences in the Young’s modulus between MAS and CSI levels in SCP children as well as the correlation between MAS, CSI, and Young’s modulus were analyzed.Results:The difference in Young’s modulus values of the control group at baseline, after 1.5 and 3 months of treatment was not statistically significant (all P > 0.05). At baseline, after 1.5 and 3 months of treatment, Young’s modulus value, MAS score, and total CSI score gradually decreased in the observation group, and the differences obtained from pairwise comparisons were statistically significant (all P < 0.01). At the same intervention stage, Young’s modulus value of the observation group was higher than that of the control group, with a statistically significant difference ( P < 0.01). The MAS score results showed that Young’s modulus of the observation group increased with the increase in muscle tone, and there was a positive correlation between Young’s modulus and muscle tone ( P < 0.01), and the difference in Young’s modulus corresponding to different muscle tones was statistically significant ( P < 0.05). The CSI score results showed that the Young’s modulus of the observation group increased with the increase in spasticity degree, and there was a positive correlation between the Young’s modulus and muscle tone ( P < 0.01), and the difference in Young’s modulus corresponding to different spasticity degrees was statistically significant ( P < 0.05). Conclusions:The muscle hardness of children with SCP is higher than that of normal children. The "Tongluo" technique can effectively improve muscle hardness, reduce muscle tone, and effectively improve muscle spasticity in children with SCP. The principle may be related to adjusting the internal structure of muscles to reduce muscle hardness. The results of this study can guide clinical rehabilitation and evaluation.

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of comprehensive treatment for synchronous primary advanced gastric and esophageal cancer by propensity score matching(PSM).Methods A total of 2 551 patients with advanced gastric cancer admitted to Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine from January 2013 to December 2022 were retrospectively analyzed.Among them,45 patients with synchronous primary esophageal cancer were distributed to the observation group,and 2 506 patients without esophageal cancer were distributed to the control group.Through the PSM method,the control group was matched with the observation group and the equilibrium samples of covariates between two groups were obtained.The overall survival(OS)between the two groups were compared.Results Both observation and control group contained 45 patients in this study.According to the treatment regimen,the patients in the observation group was divided into radical resection treatment subgroup(n=22)and chemoradiotherapy(CRT)subgroup(n=23).In the radical resection subgroup,4 patients underwent the simultaneous surgical resection of gastric and esophageal tumors through proximal gastrectomy with the Ivor Lewis operation.Eighteen patients underwent endoscopic submucosal dissection(ESD)of their esophageal tumors and gastric cancer radical resection.Radical resection of gastric cancer combined with preoperative chemoradiotherapy of esophageal cancer was performed in the CRT subgroup.Survival analysis showed that OS in the observation group was significantly shorter than that in the control group(P=0.042)and there was no significant difference in OS between the radical resection subgroup and the control group(P=0.799).The 1-,3-,and 5-year survival rates of the patients in the CRT subgroup were significantly lower than those of the control group(P=0.003).While the 1-,3-,and 5-year survival rates of the patients in the radical resection subgroup were not statistically significant,compared to those of the CRT subgroup(P=0.071).Conclusions Multidisciplinary and comprehensive treatment can significantly improve the prognosis of patients with synchronous primary advanced gastric and esophageal cancer.Radical resection of gastric cancer combined with ESD of esophageal cancer is an optional treatment for patients with gastric cancer complicated with early esophageal cancer.Radical resection of gastric cancer combined with CRT of esophageal cancer can improve the prognosis of patients with advanced gastric cancer complicated with unresectable esophageal cancer.

Objective:To investigate the effects of anxiety and depressive symptoms in mediation of pain catastrophizing on disability in patients with low back pain.Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 97 patients with low back pain in the Changjiang Subdistrict community health center from July to October 2021. Oswestry Disability Index, pain catastrophic subscale in Coping Strategies Questionnaire-24, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-short version, Patient Health Depression Questionnaire-short version were used to evaluate the activity dysfunction, pain catastrophic cognition and anxiety and depression levels of patients,respectively. Path analysis was implemented to test the mediation model, and the indirect effects were assessed using the bootstrap procedure with bias-corrected 95 %CI. Results:Results suggested significant positive correlations among pain catastrophizing, anxiety, depressive symptoms and disability of patients. In addition, both anxiety and depressive symptoms significantly mediated the impact of pain catastrophizing on disability (standardized indirect effects were 0.183 and 0.197, P<0.05). Patients with higher levels of pain catastrophic cognition showed higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms (β=0.757, 0.720; P<0.01), and reported more severe motor dysfunction (β=0.241, 0.274; P<0.05). Conclusions:Our findings suggest that anxiety and depression may be the psychological pathways through which pain catastrophizing predicts disability in patients with low back pain. Effective psychological interventions, such as emotion regulation and stress reduction strategies should be considered in treatment and supportive care for patients with low back pain.

Since its establishment 30 years ago, the discipline of metabolic engineering has developed rapidly based on its deep integration with molecular biology, systems biology and synthetic biology successively, which has greatly contributed to advancing and upgrading biotechnology industry. This review firstly analyzes the current status of academic research and China's competence in the area of metabolic engineering according to the data of papers published in SCI-indexed journals in the past 30 years. Subsequently, the article summarizes the development of systems biology methods and enabling technologies of synthetic biology and their applications in metabolic engineering in the past 10 years. Finally, the major challenges and future perspectives for the development of metabolic engineering are briefly discussed.
Biotechnology ; Industry ; Metabolic Engineering ; Synthetic Biology ; Systems Biology