Association of Inhaled Corticosteroids With All-Cause Mortality Risk in Patients With COPD: A Meta-analysis of 60 Randomized Controlled Trials.

BACKGROUND: Inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) have been used widely in the maintenance therapy of COPD. However, whether inhaled therapy containing ICSs can reduce the all-cause mortality risk and the possible benefited patient subgroups is unclear. RESEARCH QUESTION: Does inhaled therapy containing ICSs reduce the all-cause mortality risk in patients with COPD compared with other inhaled therapies not containing ICSs? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov for relevant randomized clinical trials (RCTs). Pooled results were calculated using Peto ORs with corresponding 95% CIs. RESULTS: Sixty RCTs enrolling 103,034 patients were analyzed. Inhaled therapy containing ICSs (Peto OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.84-0.97), especially triple therapy (Peto OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.59-0.91), was associated with a reduction in the all-cause mortality risk among patients with COPD when compared with inhaled therapy without ICSs. Subgroup analyses revealed that treatment duration of > 6 months (Peto OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.83-0.97), medium-dose ICSs (Peto OR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.56-0.91), low-dose ICSs (Peto OR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.79-0.97), and budesonide (Peto OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.59-0.94) were involved in this association. The predictors of this association included eosinophil counts of ≥ 200/µL or percentage of ≥ 2%, documented history of ≥ 2 moderate and severe exacerbations in the previous year, Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease stages III or IV, age younger than 65 years, and BMI of ≥ 25 kg/m2, among which eosinophil counts of ≥ 200/µL (Peto OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.36-0.95) were the strongest predictor. INTERPRETATION: Inhaled therapy containing ICSs, especially triple therapy, of longer than 6 months was associated with a reduction in the all-cause mortality risk in patients with COPD. The predictors of this association included medication factors and patient characteristics, among which eosinophil counts of ≥ 200/µL were the strongest predictor. TRIAL REGISTRY: PROSPERO; No.: CRD42022304725; URL: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/.

[Oral treatment for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome].

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a common clinical disease with high incidence and low treating proportion, difficult evaluation, and complicated nosogenesis. OSAS can cause systematic impairments. Various treatment methods were applied in clinical setting with the tendency of cross-disciplinary promotion. Oral treatment plays an exceedingly important role in OSAS research and therapy. This study reports the oral treatment involving OSAS therapy.

[Research on symmetrical optical waveguide based surface plasmon resonance sensing with spectral interrogation].

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors with spectral interrogation can adopt fiber to transmit light signals, thus leaving the sensing part separated, which is very convenient for miniaturization, remote-sensing and on-site analysis. Symmetrical optical waveguide (SOW) SPR has the same refractive index of the-two buffer media layers adjacent to the metal film, resulting in longer propagation distance, deeper penetration depth and better performance compared to conventional SPR In the present paper, we developed a symmetrical optical, waveguide (SOW) SPR sensor with wavelength interrogation. In the system, MgF2-Au-MgF2 film was used as SOW module for glucose sensing, and a fiber based light source and detection was used in the spectral interrogation. In the experiment, a refractive index resolution of 2.8 x 10(-7) RIU in fluid protocol was acquired. This technique provides advantages of high resolution and could have potential use in compact design, on-site analysis and remote sensing.

[Spectra modulated surface plasmon resonance sensor based on side polished multi-mode optical fiber].

Surface plasmon resonance, which utilizes the resonance of optical evanescent wave with the metal surface plasmon wave, has been developed into a high sensitivity, rapid, label-less measurement method for chemical and biological analysis. In order to improve the spectral sensitivity in refractive index for a side polished fiber surface plasmon resonance sensor, the whole cladding layer and part of core of a multimode fiber was polished off. Additionally, an extra chrome layer with relatively high refractive index was coated on the polished zone before a gold film. The results showed that the sensor can measure the refractive index range from 1.333 to 1. 431 RIU, with the average spectral sensitivity of 4.11 x 10(3) nm RIU(-1), which is better than the reported results. Especially, in the refractive index range of 1. 417 1. 431 RIU, the sensitivity reaches to 1.09 x 10(4) nm RIU(-1). The minimum resolution of approximately 3.6 x 10(-5) RIU was estimated by a combination analysis with the sensor sensitivity and stability. The superiorities possessed by the proposed sensor in high sensitivity, wide detection range, small size and good stability and reproducibility, etc., make it a good candidate for food testing, environmental monitoring, biomedical testing and other related fields.

[Performance of wavelength modulation surface plasmon resonance biosensor].

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a rapid, label-free, high-precision technique of biological sensing and analysis. The investigation on the characteristics of provides theoretical basis and instructions for the applications of SPR A Kretschmann-structure surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor based on wavelength modulation was developed, and also its sensing performances in the bulk solution was investigated. Measurements with different concentrations of bulk ethanol and ethylene glycol solutions show that the resonant wavelength shows a low sensitivity, but a higher linear response to the change in refractive index (RI), when RI is relatively smaller. With increasing refractive index , the sensitivity of resonance wavelength to changes in the refractive index increases. In the refractive index range of 1. 407 0-1. 430 RIU, sensitivity reaches to 11 487 nm RIU-1. The sensor resonance wavelength stability is 0. 213 8 nm, and the minimum resolution of refractive index approaches to 10-6 RIU. The advantages of the surface plasmon resonance sensor developed here results in simple operation, high sensitivity, wide detection range, low resolution, makes it an important candidate in chemical and biological sensing.

Effect of vitamin B12 on cleft palate induced by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and dexamethasone in mice.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of vitamin B12 on palatal development by co-administration of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and dexamethasone (DEX). We examined the morphological and histological features of the palatal shelf and expression levels of key signaling molecules (transforming growth factor-ß3 (TGF-ß3) and TGF-ß type I receptor (activin receptor-like kinase 5, ALK5)) during palatogenesis among a control group (Group A), TCDD+DEX exposed group (Group B), and TCDD+DEX+vitamin B12 exposed group (Group C). While we failed to find that vitamin B12 decreased the incidence of cleft palate induced by TCDD+DEX treatment, the expression levels of key signaling molecules (TGF-ß3 and ALK5) during palatogenesis were significantly modulated. In TCDD+DEX exposed and TCDD+DEX+vitamin B12 exposed groups, palatal shelves could not contact in the midline due to their small sizes. Our results suggest that vitamin B12 may inhibit the expression of some cleft palate inducers such as TGF-ß3 and ALK5 in DEX+TCDD exposed mice, which may be beneficial against palatogenesis to some degree, even though we were unable to observe a protective role of vitamin B12 in morphological and histological alterations of palatal shelves induced by DEX and TCDD.

[Effects of glycyrrhizic acid on the growth and acid-producing of Streptococcus mutans in vitro].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the antibacterial activity of glycyrrhizic acid against Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans, ATCC 25175) in vitro. METHODS: The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of glycyrrhizic acid against S. mutans were detected using doubling dilution. The effects of glycyrrhizic acid on the growth and acidogenic profile of S. mutans and the inhibition ratio of glycyrrhizic acid on growth and acid-producing of S. mutans were investigated by detecting the Abs of bacteria suspension and the pH value of medium at definite time intervals (0 h, 3 h, 7 h, 12 h, 23 h, 40 h) during cultivation. RESULTS: The MIC determined for glycyrrhizic acid was 1.57 mg/mL and there was no bactericidal effect when concentration of glycyrrhizic acid up to 12.5 mg/mL. The glycyrrhizic acid inhibited the multiplication and acid-producing of S. mutans significantly and the effects became stronger with concentration increasing. When concentration up to 1.57 mg/mL, the inhibition ratio of glycyrrhizic acid on the growth and acid-producing of S. mutans were exceeded 80 and 70 percent, respectively. CONCLUSION: The glycyrrhizic acid can inhibit the growth and acid-producing of S. mutans in vitro.

[The preliminary study on transforming growth factor-beta 3, activin receptor-like kinase 5 expression in 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachloro-p-dibenzodioxin and dexamethasone induced palatal cleft in mice].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a good animal model of cleft palate and confirm whether 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachloro-p-dibenzodioxin (TCDD) and Dexamethasone (DEX) induced palatal cleft in mice is related to the fold change of transforming growth factor-beta 3 (TGF-beta3) and activin receptor-like kinase 5 (Alk5). METHODS: Pregnant mice were treated with oral medication of TCDD and intraperitoneal injection with DEX on GD10-12 in experimental group while the control group without any treatment. Then embryos were examined on GD17.5 under stereomicroscope for calculating the incidence of cleft palate and palatal shelves were dissected from the staged embryos respectively for RNA extraction on GD13.5, GD14.5 and GD15.5. At last the real-time PCR and SYBR Green I detection were used for RNA relative quantification. RESULTS: Cleft palate could be induced 100% in C57BL/6J fetal mice with TCDD and DEX, thus established a stable animal model for further molecular studies of cleft palate. There were no significant difference in expression level of TGF-beta3 and Alk5 on GD13.5 among the groups, but the differences were statistically significant on GD14.5 and GD15.5 (P < 0.05). On the contrary, the expression level of Alk5 were significantly higher in experimental group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Combined effects of TCDD and DEX could induce a stable formation of cleft palate and down-regulated mRNA of TGF-beta3 and up-regulated Alk5 may contribute to the occurrence of cleft palate.

[A novel spectral surface plasmon resonance 2-D sensing technique and its applications in DNA microarrays].

The authors have previously proposed a novel refractive index two-dimensional sensing technique named "parallel scan spectral surface plasmon resonance imaging". In the technique, with a line-shaped light illumination, an image acquired with CCD detector could provide both SPR wavelength information and one-dimensional spatial distribution, and then provide one-dimensional distribution of refractive index with further calculation. Thus, two-dimensional distribution of refractive index of the entire sensing area can be obtained with one-dimensional optical line parallel scan. The technique offers advantages of both high sensitivity and high throughput, and could have potential applications in microarray analysis. In the present paper, the authors improve the data processing methods of the technique. The authors use the refractive index of air as a reference to get over the problem of precision of the incident angle. The authors also sense a manually dotted Legionella pneumophila mip DNA probe array with this technique and prove the feasibility of sensing microarrays by this highly sensitive and label-free technique. The relation between the equivalent refractive indices and the concentrations of the dotted Legionella pneumophila mip DNA probes is obtained, which has important reference value for further study.

Assessment of depth and degeneration dependences of articular cartilage refractive index using optical coherence tomography in vitro.

In this study, optical coherence tomography (OCT) with an axial resolution of 15 mum was used to investigate the depth and degeneration dependences of the refractive index (RI) of articular cartilage collected from bovine patellae in vitro. Eighteen disks of articular cartilage with a diameter of 6.35 mm harvested from different patellae were successfully prepared. Each disk was cut into two halves and three horizontal cartilage slices (n = 18 x 2 x 3) with an approximately equal thickness of 0.5 mm were further prepared from each half disk. The cartilage slices were digested by two different enzymes, collagenase and trypsin, to disturb collagen fibrils and proteoglycans, respectively. The samples were submerged in the physiological saline and tested using OCT before and after the enzyme digestion and the RI for each specimen was calculated. The RI of articular cartilage from the superficial to deep regions was 1.361 +/- 0.032 (mean +/- SD), 1.338 +/- 0.036, and 1.371 +/- 0.041 for normal specimens; 1.357 +/- 0.036, 1.331 +/- 0.030, and 1.392 +/- 0.037 for trypsin digested specimens; and 1.361 +/- 0.032, 1.336 +/- 0.048, and 1.376 +/- 0.043 for those treated by collagenase, respectively. Two-factor repeated measure ANOVA revealed that for all the three groups of specimens, the RI in different depths was significantly different (p < 0.05). However, we found that the trypsin and collagenase treatments did not exert a significant effect on the RI (p > 0.05). The results suggested that the depth dependence of articular cartilage should be taken into account when OCT is used for related measurement.

[Effect of decoction of Radix glycyrrhizae on the growth and acid-production of Streptococcus mutans in vitro].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the antibacterial activity of decoction of Radix glycyrrhizae against Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) in vitro. METHODS: The decoction of Radix glycyrrhizae was prepared by boiling particles of Radix glycyrrhizae, the diameter was 0.2-3.2 mm. In distilled water and filtered, the filtrate was collected for study. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the decoction against S. mutans were detected using double dilution. The effect of decoction on growth and acidogenic profile of S. mutans were investigated by detecting the Abs of bacteria suspension and the pH value of medium at definite time intervals(0, 3, 7, 12, 23, 40 h) during cultured. RESULTS: The MIC determined for decoction was 50 mg x mL(-1) and there was no bactericidal effect when concentration of decoction lower than 100 mg x mL(-1). The decoction inhibitted multiplication of bacteria significantly and the effects became stronger with concentration increasing. The decoction also inhibitted S. mutans producing acid and the effect became stronger with concentration increasing. The most efficient inhibition were observed when incubated 12 hours. CONCLUSION: The decoction of Radix glycyrrhizae can inhibite the growth and acid-production of S. mutans in vitro.

[Study on protein extraction methods for Streptococcus mutans].

OBJECTIVE: To establish an efficient and stable method for protein extraction of Streptococcus mutans. METHODS: The collected bacteria were treated by freeze-thaw and ultrasonic (method 1), ultrasonic (method 2), boiling (method 3), boiling and ultrasonic (method 4), respectively. The index such as state of bacteria broken, concentration of extracted protein and SDS-PAGE of protein were employed to evaluate the effects of above four methods. RESULTS: Beside the method 3, the other three methods could break the bacteria effectively, of which ultrasonic was the key factor. The pattern of SDS-PAGE which treated by method 1, method 2 and method 4 was almost same, but method 1 resulted in the best abundance. There was significantly difference among the four protein concentration extracted by four methods (P < 0.05). All methods exhibited good stability and reproducibility. CONCLUSION: Method of freeze-thaw and ultrasonic resulted in an efficient proteins extraction of Streptococcus mutans which demonstrated good stability and reproducibility and easy to handle.

An optical coherence tomography (OCT)-based air jet indentation system for measuring the mechanical properties of soft tissues.

A novel noncontact indentation system with the combination of an air jet and optical coherence tomography (OCT) was presented in this paper for the quantitative measurement of the mechanical properties of soft tissues. The key idea of this method is to use a pressure-controlled air jet as an indenter to compress the soft tissue in a noncontact way and utilize the OCT signals to extract the deformation induced. This indentation system provides measurement and mapping of tissue elasticity for small specimens with high scanning speed. Experiments were performed on 27 silicone tissue-mimicking phantoms with different Young's moduli, which were also measured by uniaxial compression tests. The regression coefficient of the indentation force to the indentation depth (N mm(-1)) was used as an indicator of the stiffness of tissue under air jet indentation. Results showed that the stiffness coefficients measured by the current system correlated well with the corresponding Young's moduli obtained by conventional mechanical testing (r = 0.89, p < 0.001). Preliminary in vivo tests also showed that the change of soft tissue stiffness with and without the contraction of the underlying muscles in the hand could be differentiated by the current measurement. This system may have broad applications in tissue assessment and characterization where alterations of mechanical properties are involved, in particular with the potential of noncontact micro-indentation for tissues.

[Transducin beta-TrCP expressed in developmental hair follicle of mice].

OBJECTIVE: To identify the expression of antagonist beta-TrCP protein in Sonic hedgehog signal transduction pathway and Wnt signal transduction pathway in hair follicle tissues. METHODS: The heads of day 18 embryo, and one day and six-days-old postnatal mice were acquired and treated with 40 g/L paraformaldehyde fixation for 48 h and paraffin embedding. The expression of beta-TrCP proteins was examined using LsAB (labelled streptavidin-biotin) method. RESULTS: beta-TrCP proteins were expressed in the cytoplasm of the hair stems of hair follicle, hair cuticle, cuticle of root sheath, Huxley's layer of internal root sheath cells, external root sheath and mesenchymal tissues, but not in connective tissue sheath and Henle's layer of internal root sheath. CONCLUSION: TrCP express in the developmental hair follicle tissues, which implicates that beta-TrCP regulate the developmental hair follicle by mediating the signal transduction pathways.

[Construction of recombinant adenovirus vector carrying the mouse caveolin-1 in gene].

OBJECTIVE: To construct recombinant adenovirus carrying the mouse dentin caveolin-1 gene using the recombinant adenoviral vector system AdEasy. METHODS: The cDNA fragment of caveolin-1 was derived from pTRE2-caveolin-1 by restriction enzyme digestion and subcloned into shuttle plasmid pAdtrack-CMV. The resulting plasmid pAdtrack-CMV-caveolin-1, after linearized by digesting with restriction endonuclease Pme I, was transformed into E. coli 1 BJ5183 which had been transformed by adenoviral backbone plasmid pAdEasy-1. The recombinant plasmid pAd-caveolin-1 was screened by kanamycin LB plate and then identified by restriction enzyme digestion. The linearized adenovirus plasmid pAd-caveolin-1 was packaged in 293 cells, then the recombinant adenovirus Ad-caveolin-1 was harvested. The expression of green fluorescence protein was observed under fluorescent microscope. With further amplification and purification, the titer of recombinant adenovirus was determined. RESULTS: The recombinant adenovirus was identified by restriction enzyme digestion analysis and gene sequencing. Cytopathic effect and the expression of GFP were observed in the infected 293 cells. The sequence of caveolin-1 gene insert was the same as that published in the GenBank. The titer of the recombinant adenovirus was 2 x 10(9) pfu/mL. CONCLUSION: The mouse caveolin-1 recombinant adenovirus was constructed successfully by using AdEasy adenovirus system. Cell transfection and expression of exogenous gene can be detected directly by observing the expression of GFP. These results provide the basis for the further study on the role of caveolin-1 gene in other scopes.

[Carotenoid levels measured by resonance Raman in vivo].

Carotenoid molecules are powerful antioxidants which can act as scavengers for free radicals, singlet oxygen, and other harmful reactive oxygen species in human body. Studies have shown an inverse correlation between the level of carotenoid and the risk of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and degenerative diseases. High-performance liquid chromatography is used for measuring carotenoid levels as a standard method, but it is not noninvasive and real-time detecting. The authors have developed a novel noninvasive optical technology to measure carotenoid level in vivo by detecting the resonance Raman spectra, which can be used for high sensitivity and real-time detecting. When a low noise 473 nm laser with power less than the exposure limit set by ANSI Z136. 1-2000 standards, a clearly distinguishable low resonance Raman spectra superimposed on a strong fluorescence background is produced. The carotenoid level is assessed by measuring the resonance Raman intensity. Using penetrating tissue technology, the authors improved the signal-to-noise ratio in the setup. The experimental results from different volunteers confirmed that the carotenoid level is proportional to the intake of it. The technology provided important values for clinic applications and science research.