BACKGROUND:Existing studies have confirmed that exosomes can effectively promote pulp regeneration.However,the biological functions and properties of exosomes from preconditioned sources can be significantly changed,which have different effects on cell proliferation,migration and odontogenic differentiation. OBJECTIVE:To discuss the application status of exosomes and their preconditioning methods in the field of pulp regeneration,and summarize the preconditioning methods that affect the function of exosomes,and explore the effect of exosomes and their preconditioning on pulp regeneration. METHODS:The relevant articles were searched in WanFang,CNKI,PubMed,and Web of Science databases from 2006 to 2022.The Chinese and English search terms were"exosomes,pulp regeneration;preconditioning method".A total of 78 articles were included for analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Exosomes have the advantages of good biocompatibility,low immunogenicity and no cytotoxicity,and can induce the regeneration of pulp tissue by promoting stem cell tooth formation,neurogenesis and vascularization.(2)Exosomes derived from preconditioning can enhance the ability of tissue repair and regeneration and have a significant impact on the quality of regenerated dental pulp.(3)Currently,the preconditioning methods used in the field of dental pulp regeneration include inflammatory stimulation,hypoxia induction,conditioned medium and three-dimensional culture,and secreted exosomes can effectively improve the quality of regenerated dental pulp.Nevertheless,the specific effect and mechanism of different preconditioning methods on pulp regeneration need to be explored.

Objective: Total neoadjuvant therapy has been used to improve tumor responses and prevent distant metastases in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). Patients with complete clinical responses (cCR) then have the option of choosing a watch and wait (W&W) strategy and organ preservation. It has recently been shown that hypofractionated radiotherapy has better synergistic effects with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors than does conventionally fractionated radiotherapy, increasing the sensitivity of microsatellite stable (MSS) colorectal cancer to immunotherapy. Thus, in this trial we aimed to determine whether total neoadjuvant therapy comprising short-course radiotherapy (SCRT) combined with a PD-1 inhibitor improves the degree of tumor regression in patients with LARC. Methods: TORCH is a prospective, multicenter, randomized, phase II trial (TORCH Registration No. NCT04518280). Patients with LARC (T3-4/N+M0, distance from anus ≤10 cm) are eligible and are randomly assigned to consolidation or induction arms. Those in the consolidation arm receive SCRT (25Gy/5 Fx), followed by six cycles of toripalimab plus capecitabine and oxaliplatin (ToriCAPOX). Those in the induction arm receive two cycles of ToriCAPOX, then undergo SCRT, followed by four cycles of ToriCAPOX. Patients in both groups undergo total mesorectal excision (TME) or can choose a W&W strategy if cCR has been achieved. The primary endpoint is the complete response rate (CR, pathological complete response [pCR] plus continuous cCR for more than 1 year). The secondary endpoints include rates of Grade 3-4 acute adverse effects (AEs) etc. Results: Up to 30 September 2022, 62 patients attending our center were enrolled (Consolidation arm: 34, Induction arm:28). Their median age was 53 (27-69) years. Fifty-nine of them had MSS/pMMR type cancer (95.2%), and only three MSI-H/dMMR. Additionally, 55 patients (88.7%) had Stage III disease. The following important characteristics were distributed as follows: lower location (≤5 cm from anus, 48/62, 77.4%), deeper invasion by primary lesion (cT4 7/62, 11.3%; mesorectal fascia involved 17/62, 27.4%), and high risk of distant metastasis (cN2 26/62, 41.9%; EMVI+ 11/62, 17.7%). All 62 patients completed the SCRT and at least five cycles of ToriCAPOX, 52/62 (83.9%) completing six cycles of ToriCAPOX. Finally, 29 patients achieved cCR (46.8%, 29/62), 18 of whom decided to adopt a W&W strategy. TME was performed on 32 patients. Pathological examination showed 18 had achieved pCR, four TRG 1, and 10 TRG 2-3. The three patients with MSI-H disease all achieved cCR. One of these patients was found to have pCR after surgery whereas the other two adopted a W&W strategy. Thus, the pCR and CR rates were 56.2% (18/32) and 58.1% (36/62), respectively. The TRG 0-1 rate was 68.8% (22/32). The most common non-hematologic AEs were poor appetite (49/60, 81.7%), numbness (49/60, 81.7%), nausea (47/60, 78.3%) and asthenia (43/60, 71.7%); two patients did not complete this survey. The most common hematologic AEs were thrombocytopenia (48/62, 77.4%), anemia (47/62, 75.8%), leukopenia/neutropenia (44/62, 71.0%) and high transaminase (39/62, 62.9%). The main Grade III-IV AE was thrombocytopenia (22/62, 35.5%), with three patients (3/62, 4.8%) having Grade IV thrombocytopenia. No Grade V AEs were noted. Conclusions: SCRT-based total neoadjuvant therapy combined with toripalimab can achieve a surprisingly good CR rate in patients with LARC and thus has the potential to offer new treatment options for organ preservation in patients with MSS and lower-location rectal cancer. Meanwhile, the preliminary findings of a single center show good tolerability, the main Grade III-IV AE being thrombocytopenia. The significant efficacy and long-term prognostic benefit need to be determined by further follow-up.
Humans ; Middle Aged ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use* ; Chemoradiotherapy ; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors/therapeutic use* ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Prospective Studies ; Rectal Neoplasms/pathology* ; Thrombocytopenia/drug therapy* ; Treatment Outcome ; Adult ; Aged

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the incidence of extrauterine growth retardation (EUGR) and its risk factors in very preterm infants (VPIs) during hospitalization in China. METHODS: A prospective multicenter study was performed on the medical data of 2 514 VPIs who were hospitalized in the department of neonatology in 28 hospitals from 7 areas of China between September 2019 and December 2020. According to the presence or absence of EUGR based on the evaluation of body weight at the corrected gestational age of 36 weeks or at discharge, the VPIs were classified to two groups: EUGR group (n=1 189) and non-EUGR (n=1 325). The clinical features were compared between the two groups, and the incidence of EUGR and risk factors for EUGR were examined. RESULTS: The incidence of EUGR was 47.30% (1 189/2 514) evaluated by weight. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that higher weight growth velocity after regaining birth weight and higher cumulative calorie intake during the first week of hospitalization were protective factors against EUGR (P<0.05), while small-for-gestational-age birth, prolonged time to the initiation of total enteral feeding, prolonged cumulative fasting time, lower breast milk intake before starting human milk fortifiers, prolonged time to the initiation of full fortified feeding, and moderate-to-severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia were risk factors for EUGR (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS It is crucial to reduce the incidence of EUGR by achieving total enteral feeding as early as possible, strengthening breastfeeding, increasing calorie intake in the first week after birth, improving the velocity of weight gain, and preventing moderate-severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia in VPIs.
Female ; Fetal Growth Retardation ; Gestational Age ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVES: To explore the optimal maintenance dose of caffeine citrate for preterm infants requiring assisted ventilation and caffeine citrate treatment. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of 566 preterm infants (gestational age ≤34 weeks) who were treated and required assisted ventilation and caffeine citrate treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit of 30 tertiary hospitals in Jiangsu Province of China between January 1 and December 31, 2019. The 405 preterm infants receiving high-dose (10 mg/kg per day) caffeine citrate after a loading dose of 20 mg/kg within 24 hours after birth were enrolled as the high-dose group. The 161 preterm infants receiving low-dose (5 mg/kg per day) caffeine citrate were enrolled as the low-dose group. RESULTS: Compared with the low-dose group, the high-dose group had significant reductions in the need for high-concentration oxygen during assisted ventilation (P=0.044), the duration of oxygen inhalation after weaning from noninvasive ventilation (P<0.01), total oxygen inhalation time during hospitalization (P<0.01), the proportion of preterm infants requiring noninvasive ventilation again (P<0.01), the rate of use of pulmonary surfactant and budesonide (P<0.05), and the incidence rates of apnea and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (P<0.01), but the high-dose group had a significantly increased incidence rate of feeding intolerance (P=0.032). There were no significant differences between the two groups in the body weight change, the incidence rates of retinopathy of prematurity, intraventricular hemorrhage or necrotizing enterocolitis, the mortality rate, and the duration of caffeine use (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS This pilot multicenter study shows that the high maintenance dose (10 mg/kg per day) is generally beneficial to preterm infants in China and does not increase the incidence rate of common adverse reactions. For the risk of feeding intolerance, further research is needed to eliminate the interference of confounding factors as far as possible.
Caffeine/therapeutic use* ; Citrates ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Respiration, Artificial ; Retrospective Studies

Objective: To explore the role and significance of pyroptosis in gas explosion-induced acute lung injury (ALI) in rats. Methods: In February 2018, 126 SPF male SD rats were selected and randomly divided into blank control group (18 rats) and experimental group (40 m, 80 m, 120 m, 160 m, 200 m and 240 m, 18 per group) . The experimental group carried out gas explosion in the roadway to build the ALI model, the control group did not carry out gas explosion, and other conditions were consistent with the experimental group. Respiratory function indexes such as respiratory frequency (f) , tidal volume (TV) , minute ventilation (MV) and airway stenosis index (Penh) were measured 24 hours after the explosion. 5 rats in each group were sacrificed after anesthesia, Hematoxylin-Eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the pathological morphology of lung tissue. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the content of Caspase-1. Western blotting was used to detect the content of cell pyroptosis including nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) , Caspase-1, interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) in lung tissue related protein expression. Results: The f and MV of rats in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05) . Except for the 40 m and 80 m groups, the TV of rats in the other experimental groups were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05) . Except for the 40 m group, the Penh of rats in the experimental groups were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05) . HE staining showed that the lung tissue of the experimental groups at different distance points showed obvious edema of the pulmonary interstitium and alveoli, a large number of red blood cells and inflammatory cells exuded in the alveolar space, thickening of the pulmonary interstitium, and increased lung injury score (P<0.05) . The results of immunohistochemistry showed that the positive expression of Caspase-1 in each experimental group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05) . Western blotting results showed that the expression of pyroptosis-related proteins in each experimental group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05) . Conclusion: Pyroptosis is involved in the pathophysiological process of gas explosion-induced ALI in rats.
Acute Lung Injury/pathology* ; Animals ; Explosions ; Lung/pathology* ; Male ; Pyroptosis ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of liver transplantation (LT) and liver resection (LR) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) and to investigate risk factors affecting prognosis. Materials and Methods: A total of 94 HCC patients with PVTT type I (segmental PVTT) and PVTT type II (lobar PVTT) were involved and divided into LR (n=47) and LT groups (n=47). Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared before and after inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Prognostic factors for RFS and OS were explored. Results: Two treatment groups were well-balanced using IPTW. In the entire cohort, LT provided a better prognosis than LR. Among patients with PVTT type I, RFS was better with LT (p=0.039); OS was not different significantly between LT and LR (p=0.093). In subgroup analysis of PVTT type I patients with α-fetoprotein (AFP) levels >200 ng/mL, LT elicited significantly longer median RFS (18.0 months vs. 2.1 months, p=0.022) and relatively longer median OS time (23.6 months vs. 9.8 months, p=0.065). Among patients with PVTT type II, no significant differences in RFS and OS were found between LT and LR (p=0.115 and 0.335, respectively). Multivariate analyses showed treatment allocation (LR), tumor size (>5 cm), AFP and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels to be risk factors of RFS and treatment allocation (LR), AFP and AST as risk factors for OS. Conclusion LT appeared to afford a better prognosis for HCC with PVTT type I than LR, especially in patients with AFP levels >200 ng/mL.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a severe pathophysiological condition characterized by pulmonary artery remodeling and continuous increases in pulmonary artery pressure, which may eventually develop to right heart failure and death. Although newly discovered and incredible treatment strategies in recent years have improved the prognosis of PH, limited types of effective and economical drugs for PH still makes it as a life-threatening disease. Some drugs from Chinese materia medica (CMM) have been traditionally applied in the treatment of lung diseases. Accumulating evidence suggests active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) derived from those medicines brings promising future for the prevention and treatment of PH. In this review, we summarized the pharmacological effects of APIs derived from CMM which are potent in treating PH, so as to provide new thoughts for initial drug discovery and identification of potential therapeutic strategies in alternative medicine for PH.
China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary/drug therapy* ; Materia Medica ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

Background: Feline mammary carcinoma is the third most common cancer that affects female cats. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to screen differential serum proteins in feline and clarify the relationship between them and the occurrence of feline mammary carcinoma. Methods: Chinese pastoral cats were used as experimental animals. Six serum samples from cats with mammary carcinoma (group T) and six serum samples from healthy cats (group C) were selected. Differential protein analysis was performed using a Label-free technique, while parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) was performed to verify the screened differential proteins. Results: A total of 82 differential proteins were detected between group T and group C, of which 55 proteins were down regulated and 27 proteins were up regulated. Apolipoprotein A-I, Apolipoprotein A-II (ApoA-II), Apolipoprotein B (ApoB), Apolipoprotein C-III (ApoC-III), coagulation factor V, coagulation factor X, C1q, albumen (ALB) were all associated with the occurrence of feline mammary carcinoma. Differential proteins were involved in a total of 40 signaling pathways, among which the metabolic pathways associated with feline mammary carcinoma were the complement and coagulation cascade and cholesterol metabolism. According to the Label-free results, ApoB, ApoC-III, ApoA-II, FN1, an uncharacterized protein, and ALB were selected for PRM target verification. The results were consistent with the trend of the label-free. Conclusions This experimen is the first to confirm ApoA-II and ApoB maybe new feline mammary carcinoma biomarkers and to analyze their mechanisms in the development of such carcinoma in feline.

Objective: Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant. As an endocrine disruptor, it seriously threatens human health and ecological environmental safety. This study examines the impact of intervention with soybean isoflavones (SIF) on DEHP-induced toxicity using a metabonomics approach. Methods: Rats were randomly divided into control (H), SIF-treated (A, 86 mg/kg body weight), DEHP-treated (B, 68 mg/kg), and SIF plus DEHP-treated (D) groups. Rats were given SIF and DEHP daily through diet and gavage, respectively. After 30 d of treatment, rat urine was tested using UPLC/MS with multivariate analysis. Metabolic changes were also evaluated using biochemical assays. Results: Metabolomics analyses revealed that p-cresol glucuronide, methyl hippuric acid, N1-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxamide, lysophosphatidycholine [18:2 (9Z, 12Z)] {lysoPC [18:2 (9Z, 12Z)]}, lysoPC (16:0), xanthosine, undecanedioic acid, and N6-acetyl-l-lysine were present at significantly different levels in control and treatment groups. Conclusion SIF supplementation partially protects rats from DEHP-induced metabolic abnormalities by regulating fatty acid metabolism, antioxidant defense system, amino acid metabolism, and is also involved in the protection of mitochondria.