Background Bacteria are the most diverse and widely sourced microorganisms in the indoor air of subway stations, where pathogenic bacteria can spread through the air, leading to increased health risks. Objective To understand the status and distribution characteristics of indoor air bacterial pollution in subway stations and compartments in a city of Central South China, and to provide a scientific basis for formulating intervention measures to address indoor air bacteria pollution in subways. Methods Three subway stations and the compartments of trains parking there in a city in Central South China were selected according to passenger flow for synchronous air sampling and monitoring. Temperature, humidity, wind speed, carbon dioxide (CO₂), fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), and inhalable particulate matter (PM₁₀) were measured by direct reading method. In accordance with the requirements of Examination methods for public places-Part 3: Airborne microorganisms (GB/T 18204.3-2013), air samples were collected at a flow rate of 28.3 L·min⁻¹, and total bacterial count was estimated. Bacterial microbial species were identified with a mass spectrometer and pathogenic bacteria were distinguished from non-pathogenic bacteria according to the Catalogue of pathogenic microorganisms transmitted to human beings issued by National Health Commission. Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare the subway hygiene indicators in different regions and time periods, and Bonferroni test was used for pairwise comparison. Spearman correlation test was used to evaluate the correlation between CO₂ concentration and total bacterial count. Results The pass rates were 100.0% for airborne total bacteria count, PM_2.5, and PM₁₀ in the subway stations and train compartments, 94.4% for temperature and wind speed, 98.6% for CO₂, but 0% for humidity. The overall median (P₂₅, P₇₅) total bacteria count was 177 (138,262) CFU·m⁻³. Specifically, the total bacteria count was higher in station halls than in platforms, and higher during morning peak hours than during evening peak hours (P<0.05). A total of 874 strains and 82 species were identified by automatic microbial mass spectrometry. The results of identification were all over 9 points, and the predominant bacteria in the air were Micrococcus luteus (52.2%) and Staphylococcus hominis (9.8%). Three pathogens, Acinetobacter baumannii (0.3%), Corynebacterium striatum (0.1%), and Staphylococcus epidermidis bacilli (2.2%) were detected in 23 samples (2.6%), and the associated locations were mainly distributed in train compartments during evening rush hours. Conclusion The total bacteria count in indoor air varies by monitoring sites of subway stations and time periods, and there is a risk of opportunistic bacterial infection. Attention should be paid to cleaning and disinfection during peak passenger flow hours in all areas.

Tendinopathies are chronic diseases of an unknown etiology and associated with inflammation. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as a viable therapeutic option to combat the pathological progression of tendinopathies, not only because of their potential for multidirectional differentiation and self-renewal, but also their excellent immunomodulatory properties. The immunomodulatory effects of MSCs are increasingly being recognized as playing a crucial role in the treatment of tendinopathies, with MSCs being pivotal in regulating the inflammatory microenvironment by modulating the immune response, ultimately contributing to improved tissue repair. This review will discuss the current knowledge regarding the application of MSCs in tendinopathy treatments through the modulation of the immune response.

Objective To explore whether superovulation impairs the process of pregnancy establishment in mice by changing the intrauterine environment. Methods The implantation and pregnancy of superovulated and normal mice were compared. The superovulated mice were subjected to unilateral tubal ligation on day 0. 5 and blastocysts were transplanted to the other uterine horn on day 2. 5. The number of implantation sites of bilateral uterine horn was compared. The differences between preimplantation uteri of superovulated and normal pseudopregnancy mice were compared by tissue sections and high-throughput sequencing. Bioinformatics analysis was performed on the differentially expressed genes in two groups. Results Compared with the control group, the pregnancy rate of mice in the superovulation group decreased significantly. The number of implantation sites in the superovulation group was higher than the control. There was no significant difference in the pregnancy rate of the uterine horn between the control side and the transplanted side of the superovulated mice. The endometrium was thinned and the number of glands was reduced in superovulated pseudopregnancy mice. The gene expression patterns of preimplantation uterus in superovulation pseudopregnancy and normal pseudopregnancy mice were different. There were 1097 significantly differentially expressed genes, including 752 up-regulated genes and 345 down-regulated genes. Bioinformatics analysis showed that differentially expressed genes are mainly involved in biological processes, such as decidualization, response to progesterone, positive regulation of angiogenesis. They were mainly enriched in FoxO signaling pathway, cell cycle pathway and steroid biosynthesis pathway. Conclusion Superovulation impaired the process of establishing pregnancy and altered the gene expression patterns of biomarker of uterine receptivity in mice.

Objective: Sex differences have been observed in many aspects of schizophrenia, including cognitive deficits. Despite extensive research into the relationship between metabolic factors and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, few studies have explored the potential sex difference in their association. Methods: We recruited 358 schizophrenia patients and 231 healthy controls. The participants underwent measurements of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, blood pressure, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and fasting blood glucose. Metabolic risk factors included abdominal obesity, hypertension, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia. A collection of these metabolic risk factors has been defined as metabolic syndrome. These diagnoses were based on the criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program’s Adult Treatment Panel III. Cognitive performance was measured using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). A descriptive analysis, difference analysis, and linear regression model were used to identify the metabolic risk factors for cognitive function in schizophrenia. Results: Our findings revealed sex differences in the rate of abdominal obesity and hypertension in schizophrenic patients. Additionally, we observed sex differences in the association between metabolic risk factors and cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Specifically, hyperglycemia was associated with the immediate memory index score of RBANS in male patients, while dyslipidemia was associated with language, attention, delayed memory index scores, and RBANS total score in female patients. Conclusion Our results suggest that sex should be considered when evaluating the impact of metabolic disorders on the cognitive function of schizophrenic patients. Moreover, our study identifies hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia as potential targets for precise treatment by sex stratification, which could benefit the improvement of cognitive impairment in schizophrenic patients.

The aim of this study is to analyze the research hotspots and development trends in the field of pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy in China from 2013 to 2022. Based on China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, China Science and Technology Journal Database, China Biology Medicine disc, Web of Science core collection and PubMed database, the related literatures in the field of pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy in China from 2013 to 2022, were retrieved to establish the database, and the VOSviewer software was used for bibliometric analysis. A total of 1 664 Chinese and 2 149 English literatures are included in this study. The scientific research results from 2013 to 2022 have shown an overall increasing trend. The research hotspots in the field of pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy in China are mainly concentrated in Podocytes, Oxidative stress, Inflammation, Renal fibrosis, Urine protein, etc. The frontier hotspots in this field include Biomarkers, Nrf2, Gut microbiota, NLRP3 inflammasome, Apoptosis, MicroRNA, etc. Through visual analysis, the research hotspots and frontier trends of the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy in China can be visually presented, and then provide new ideas and directions for the further in-depth research on the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy.
Humans ; Apoptosis ; Asian People ; China/epidemiology* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetic Nephropathies/etiology* ; MicroRNAs ; Biomedical Research/trends*

Objective: To analyze the influencing factors of iron metabolism assessment in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome. Methods: MRI and/or DECT were used to detect liver and cardiac iron content in 181 patients with MDS, among whom, 41 received regular iron chelation therapy during two examinations. The adjusted ferritin (ASF) , erythropoietin (EPO) , cardiac function, liver transaminase, hepatitis antibody, and peripheral blood T cell polarization were detected and the results of myelofibrosis, splenomegaly, and cyclosporine were collected and comparative analyzed in patients. Results: We observed a positive correlation between liver iron concentration and ASF both in the MRI group and DECT groups (r=0.512 and 0.606, respectively, P<0.001) , only a weak correlation between the heart iron concentration and ASF in the MRI group (r=0.303, P<0.001) , and no significant correlation between cardiac iron concentration and ASF in the DECT group (r=0.231, P=0.053) . Moreover, transfusion dependence in liver and cardiac [MRI group was significantly associated with the concentration of iron in: LIC: (28.370±10.706) mg/g vs (7.593±3.508) mg/g, t=24.30, P<0.001; MIC: 1.81 vs 0.95, z=2.625, P<0.05; DECT group: liver VIC: (4.269±1.258) g/L vs (1.078±0.383) g/L, t=23.14, P<0.001: cardiac VIC: 1.69 vs 0.68, z=3.142, P<0.05]. The concentration of EPO in the severe iron overload group was significantly higher than that in the mild to moderate iron overload group and normal group (P<0.001) . Compared to the low-risk MDS group, the liver iron concentration in patients with MDS with cyclic sideroblasts (MDS-RS) was significantly elevated [DECT group: 3.80 (1.97, 5.51) g/L vs 1.66 (0.67, 2.94) g/L, P=0.004; MRI group: 13.7 (8.1,29.1) mg/g vs 11.6 (7.1,21.1) mg/g, P=0.032]. Factors including age, bone marrow fibrosis, splenomegaly, T cell polarization, use of cyclosporine A, liver aminotransferase, and hepatitis antibody positive had no obvious effect on iron metabolism. Conclusion: There was a positive correlation between liver iron concentration and ASF in patients with MDS, whereas there was no significant correlation between cardiac iron concentration and ASF. Iron metabolism was affected by transfusion dependence, EPO concentration, and RS.
Ferritins ; Humans ; Iron ; Iron Overload ; Liver/metabolism* ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes/therapy* ; Primary Myelofibrosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Splenomegaly

Objective To investigate the role of inner cell mass (ICM) in decidualization using decidua induced by two-cell embryos or tetraploid embryos through tubal embryo transfer. Methods Tetraploid embryo, as the inner cell mass-deficient embryo, were produced by electrofusion of mouse 2-cell embryos. Decidua was induced by 2-cell embryos or tetraploid embryos through tubal embryo transfer. Decidua induced by 2-cell embryos was employed as a control. Morphologic and implantation site of decidua were compared between two-cell embryo-induced decidua and tetraploid embryo-induced decidua. The differentially expressed microRNA ( miRNA ) was screened by high-throughput sequencing. The target genes of differentially expressed miRNA in two groups were screened for Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). Results Tetraploid embryo-induced decidual tissue and 2-cell embryo- induced decidual tissue were very similar at the implantation site, but there were significant differences in decidual morphology. There were 16 miRNAs differentially expressed in decidua of the two groups, of which 11 miRNAs (miR-466f- 3p, miR-302 d-3p, miR-466i-5p, miR-465c-5p, miR-302a-5p, miR-7068-3p, miR-741-3p, miR-302a-3p, miR-433-5p, miR-144-5p, miR-878-5p) were up-regulated in tetraploid embryo-induced decidua and 5 miRNAs (miR-690, miR-193b- 5p, miR-147-3p, novel_327, miR-363-3p) were down-regulated in tetraploid embryo-induced decidua. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the target genes played function such as protein binding and ion binding, and mainly involved in cyclic guanosine monophosphate-protein kinase G (cGMP-PKG) signaling pathway, estrogen signaling pathway, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling pathway and so on. Conclusion ICM plays an important role in decidualization.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) is effective in monitoring tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with osteosarcoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-nine osteosarcoma patients (20 men and 9 women; mean age, 17.6 ± 7.8 years) who had undergone magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and DKI before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy were included. Tumor volume, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), mean diffusivity (MD), mean kurtosis (MK), and change ratio (ΔX) between pre- and post-treatment were calculated. Based on histologic response, the patients were divided into those with good response (≥ 90% necrosis, n = 12) and those with poor response (< 90% necrosis, n = 17). Several MRI parameters between the groups were compared using Student's t test. The correlation between image indexes and tumor necrosis was determined using Pearson's correlation, and diagnostic performance was compared using receiver operating characteristic curves. RESULTS: In good responders, MDpost, ADCpost, and MKpost values were significantly higher than in poor responders (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, and p = 0.042, respectively). The ΔMD and ΔADC were also significantly higher in good responders than in poor responders (p < 0.001 and p = 0.01, respectively). However, no significant difference was observed in ΔMK (p = 0.092). MDpost and ΔMD showed high correlations with tumor necrosis rate (r = 0.669 and r = 0.622, respectively), and MDpost had higher diagnostic performance than ADCpost (p = 0.037) and MKpost (p = 0.011). Similarly, ΔMD also showed higher diagnostic performance than ΔADC (p = 0.033) and ΔMK (p = 0.037). CONCLUSION: MD is a promising biomarker for monitoring tumor response to preoperative chemotherapy in patients with osteosarcoma.
Bone Neoplasms ; Diffusion ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Necrosis ; Osteosarcoma ; ROC Curve ; Tumor Burden

Objective Thin endometrium affects embryo implantation and the existing clinical options are rather limited for its treatment.This paper aims to investigate the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BMSC) transplantation in the treatment of thin endometrium and their possible mechanisms.Methods Fifty adult female SD rats were randomly divided into five groups of equal number:normal control,model control,BMSC,EA,and BMSC+EA,and the thin endometrial model was established by intrauterine injection of 95％ ethanol in the estrous cycle in the latter three groups of animals.The model controis were injected with PBS solution,the rats of the BMSC group injected with stem cell suspension,those of the EA group treated by daily electroacupuncture at the acupoints of Guan Yuan,Sanyinjiao and Zigong from the second day after modeling,and those of the BMSC+EA group treated by both injection of stem cell suspension and daily electroacupuncture.At the fourth estrous cycle after modeling,endometrial tissues were collected from the rats for observation of their morphological changes by HE staining,measurement of the endometrial thickness,count of the vascular glands,and determination of the expressions of vimentin and cytokeratin by immunohistochemistry and those of LIF and HOXA10 by Western blot.Results Compared with the model controls,the rats of the BMSC,EA,and BMSC+EA groups showed significant thickening of the endometrium (P＜0.05) and the endometrial thickness of the BMSC+EA group was the closest to that of the normal control.The numbers of endometrial blood vessels and vascular glands were remarkably increased in the three treatment groups as compared with the model controls (P＜0.01),with complete and regenerated endometrial tissues.The expressions of vimentin and cytokeratin were the highest in the normal control,the lowest in the model control group,and increased sequentially in the EA,BMSC and BMSC+EA groups (P＜0.05).The expression of LIF and HOXA10 were significantly higher in the BMSC,EA and BMSC+EA groups than in the model control (P＜0.01),the highest in the BMSC+EA group,which was closest to that of the normal control (P＜0.05).Conclusion Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation and electroacupuncture can both promote the regeneration and repair of thin endometrium in rats,and the combination of two strategies produces an even better effect.

Objective: To investigate the effect of surgery on advanced penile cancer without distant metastasis and the factors influencing the prognosis. METHODS: Between September 2007 and July 2015, we treated 8 cases of advanced penile cancer without distant metastasis by penectomy and lymph node dissection. The patients were aged 37－67 (mean 51.1) years. We followed up the patients for 4－60 (mean 19.25) months postoperatively and analyzed the surgical effects and the factors affecting the prognosis. RESULTS: Three of the patients remained alive while the other 5 (62.5%) died at 4－13 (mean 9) months after surgery. No significant complications were observed and myocutaneous flap repair showed good prognosis in 4 of the patients with largearea skin defect. CONCLUSIONS Surgery is comparatively a valuable option for the treatment of advanced penile cancer without distant metastasis, though with a poor prognosis, and the important factor affecting its prognosis is lymph node metastasis. Flap repair can solve the problem of largearea skin defect after surgery. However, evidence is not yet sufficient to prove the effectiveness of multimodality therapy of this malignancy.
Adult ; Aged ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Penile Neoplasms ; mortality ; pathology ; surgery ; Penis ; surgery ; Prognosis ; Surgical Flaps