The impact of medical staff's character strengths on job performance in Hangzhou hospitals.

Background: Improving job performance has a significant effect on the quality of medical services and ensuring people's health. Purpose: This study explores the influence and mechanism of the character strengths and career callings of medical staff as well as the intermediary role of such career calling. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was conducted of 414 healthcare staff members in public hospitals in Hangzhou. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical linear regressions were used to analyze the medical staff's job performance and related factors, and structural equation modeling path analysis was used to explore and validate the influence and mechanism of character advantage and career calling on job performance. Results: The results show that medical staff character strengths have a positive impact on job performance. Path analysis shows that character strengths indirectly affect job performance, and career calling plays a partial mediating role in character strengths and job performance. Conclusion: The results show that good personalities promote job performance, and the association is more significant under a high sense of career calling.

Discovery of chalcone-modified estradiol analogs as antitumour agents that Inhibit tumour angiogenesis and epithelial to mesenchymal transition.

Angiogenesis plays an essential role in tumourigenesis and tumour progression, and anti-angiogenesis therapies have shown promising antitumour effects in solid tumours. 2-Methoxyestradiol (2ME2), an endogenous metabolite of estradiol, has been regarded as a potential antitumour agent mainly targeting angiogenesis. Here we synthesized a novel series of chalcones based on 2-methoxyestradiol and evaluated their potential activities against tumours. Compound 11e was demonstrated to have potent antiangiogenic activity. Further studies showed that 11e suppressed tumour growth in human breast cancer (MCF-7) xenograft models without obvious side effects. Evaluation of the mechanism revealed that 11e targeted the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) process in MCF-7 cells and inhibited HUVEC migration and then contributed to hindrance of angiogenesis. Thus, 11e may be a promising antitumour agent with excellent efficacy and low toxicity.

Design, synthesis and antiproliferative effect of 17ß-amide derivatives of 2-methoxyestradiol and their studies on pharmacokinetics.

A series of 17ß-amide-2-methoxyestradiol compounds were synthesized with an aim to enhance the antiproliferative effect of 2-methoxyestradiol. The antiproliferative activity of 2-methoxyestradiol analogs against human cancer cells was investigated. 2-methoxy-3-benzyloxy-17ß-chloroacetamide-1,3,5(10)-triene (5e) and 2-methoxy-3-hydroxy-17ß-butyramide-1,3,5(10)-triene (6c) had comparable or better antitumor activity than 2-methoxyestradiol. The elimination half-life of 6c (t1/2ß=240.93min) is ten times longer than 2-ME and the area under the curve was seven times (AUC0-tmin=2068.20±315.74µgmL-1min) higher than 2-ME, respectively. Whereas 5e had similar pharmacokinetic behavior with 2-ME (t1/2ß=22.28min) with a t1/2ß of 29.5 min. 6c had higher blood concentration, longer actuation duration and better suppression rate against S180 mouse ascites tumor than 2-methoxyestradiol.

Cardioprotective effect of Salvianolic acid B on acute myocardial infarction by promoting autophagy and neovascularization and inhibiting apoptosis.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the cardioprotective effect of salvianolic acid B (Sal B) on acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in rats and its potential mechanisms. METHODS: The AMI model was established in rats to study the effect of Sal B on AMI. Haematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to evaluate the pathological change in AMI rats. Immunofluorescence and TUNEL staining were used to detect autophagy and apoptosis of myocardial cells in hearts of AMI rats, respectively. Protein expression of apoptosis-related, autophagy-related and angiogenesis-related proteins were examined by Western blot. KEY FINDINGS: Sal B attenuated myocardial infarction significantly compared with that of the model group. Rats administered with Sal B showed higher inhibition rate of infarction and lower infarct size than those of the model group. Moreover, Sal B decreased the serum levels of creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and malondialdehyde, while increased such level of superoxide dismutase significantly compared with those of the model group. Sal B inhibited the expression of Bax, cleaved caspase-9 and cleaved PARP, while promoted the expression of Bcl-2, LC3-II, Beclin1 and VEGF. CONCLUSIONS: Sal B has cardioprotective effect on AMI and Sal B may be a promising candidate for AMI treatment.