Superhydrophilic PANI/Ag/TA@PVDF Composite Membrane with Antifouling Property for Oil-Water Separation.

The current membrane materials used for oil-water separation suffer from low separation efficiency and poor durability, and membrane contamination is also a key issue that must be addressed urgently. In this paper, a superhydrophilic PANI/Ag/TA@PVDF composite membrane with PANI-Ag NPs heterojunction structure was prepared via chelation and reduction of Ag+ by tannic acid (TA) and in situ growth of hydrochloric acid-doped polyaniline (PANI). TA endows the prepared composite membrane with excellent superhydrophilicity and underwater oleophobicity, remarkable oil-water separation capacity (the separation efficiency of more than 97% for soybean oil), and extraordinary antifouling properties. Notably, the range of photodegradation is expanded from UV to visible light by the construction of a Schottky heterostructure between PANI and Ag NPs, the photocatalytic degradation ability of composite membrane for organic pollutants has been improved obviously, and the degradation efficiency for crystal violet (CV) is 97.9%. Considering these merits, the PANI/Ag/TA@PVDF composite membrane provides an effective strategy to overcome the shortcomings of existing membrane materials, presenting enormous potential in the treatment and purification of oily wastewater.

Prevalence of comorbid depression and associated factors among hospitalized patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Hunan, China.

BACKGROUND: Depression and diabetes are major health challenges, with heavy economic social burden, and comorbid depression in diabetes could lead to a wide range of poor health outcomes. Although many descriptive studies have highlighted the prevalence of comorbid depression and its associated factors, the situation in Hunan, China, remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the prevalence of comorbid depression and associated factors among hospitalized type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in Hunan, China. METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved 496 patients with T2DM who were referred to the endocrinology inpatient department of Xiangya Hospital affiliated to Central South University, Hunan. Participants' data on socio-demographic status, lifestyle factors, T2DM-related characteristics, and social support were collected. Depression was evaluated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-depression subscale. All statistical analyses were conducted using the R software version 4.2.1. RESULTS: The prevalence of comorbid depression among hospitalized T2DM patients in Hunan was 27.22% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 23.3-31.1%). Individuals with depression differed significantly from those without depression in age, educational level, per capita monthly household income, current work status, current smoking status, current drinking status, regular physical activity, duration of diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, stroke, fatty liver, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic retinopathy, insulin use, HbA1c, and social support. A multivariable logistic regression model showed that insulin users (adjusted OR = 1.86, 95% CI: 1.02-3.42) had a higher risk of depression, while those with regular physical activity (adjusted OR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.30-0.77) or greater social support (adjusted OR = 0.20, 95% CI: 0.11-0.34) had a lower risk of depression. The area under the curve of the receiver operator characteristic based on this model was 0.741 with a sensitivity of 0.785 and specificity of 0.615. CONCLUSIONS: Depression was moderately prevalent among hospitalized T2DM patients in Hunan, China. Insulin treatment strategies, regular physical activity, and social support were significantly independently associated with depression, and the multivariable model based on these three factors demonstrated good predictivity, which could be applied in clinical practice.

Neferine reduces cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity by enhancing autophagy via the AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway.

Cisplatin is one of the most effective chemotherapeutic agents; however, its clinical use is limited by serious side effects of which nephrotoxicity is the most important. Nephrotoxicity induced by cisplatin is closely associated with autophagy reduction and caspase activation. In this study, we investigated whether neferine, an autophagy inducer, had a protective effect against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. In an in vitro cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity model, we determined that neferine was able to induce autophagy and that pretreatment with neferine not only attenuated cisplatin-induced cell apoptosis but further activated cell autophagy. This pro-survival effect was abolished by the autophagic flux inhibitor chloroquine. Furthermore, neferine pretreatment activated the AMPK/mTOR pathway; however, pharmacological inhibition of AMPK abolished neferine-mediated autophagy and nephroprotection against cisplatin-induced apoptosis. Collectively, our findings suggest for the first time the possible protective mechanism of neferine, which is crucial for its further development as a potential therapeutic agent for cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity.

[Causes of orchiectomy: An analysis of 291 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To study the causes of orchiectomy in different age groups. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data about 291 cases of orchiectomy performed between March 1993 and October 2014 and analyzed the causes of surgery and their distribution in different age groups. RESULTS: The main causes of orchiectomy were testicular torsion (45.8%), cryptorchidism (32.5%) and testicular tumor (16.9%) in the patients aged 0-25 years, testicular tumor (42.4%), cryptorchidism (25.9%) and tuberculosis (10.6%) in those aged 26-50 years. Prostate cancer was the leading cause in those aged 51-75 years (77.6%) or older (84.0%)), and testicular tumor was another cause in the 51-75 years old men (10.2%). Prostate cancer, testicular tumor, cryptorchidism, and testicular torsion were the first four causes of orchiectomy between 1993 and 2009. From 2010 to 2014, however, testicular tumor rose to the top while prostate cancer dropped to the fourth place. CONCLUSION: The causes of orchiectomy vary in different age groups. The proportion of castration for prostate cancer patients significantly reduced in the past five years, which might be attributed to the improvement of comprehensive health care service.

Downregulation of serum miR-17 and miR-106b levels in gastric cancer and benign gastric diseases.

Altered microRNA (miRNA) associated with gastric cancer (GC) development and miR-17 and miR-106b were differentially expressed in GC tissues. This study detected serum levels of miR-17 and miR-106b expression in GC, benign gastric disease (BGD) and healthy controls to assess them as tumor markers for GC. Serum samples from 40 GC, 32 BGD (10 gastric ulcer, 14 gastric polyps, and 8 gastric ulcer with polyps) and 36 healthy individuals were subjected to quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis of miR-17 and miR-106b expression. The data showed that the serum levels of miR-17 and miR-106b were significantly reduced in healthy individuals and BGD patients compared to GC patients. There was a significant association of miR-17 and miR-106b expression with age, but not with other clinicopathological features, such as gender, tumor differentiation, stage and lymphatic metastasis. Further analysis showed that, in discriminating GC patients from healthy controls, miR-17 could yield a receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) of 0.879 with 80.6% sensitivity and 87.5% specificity and miR-106b could yield an AUC of 0.856 with 75.0% sensitivity and 92.5% specificity. The combined AUC of miR-17 and miR-106b was 0.913 with 83.3% sensitivity and 87.5% specificity. Collectively, these data suggest that detection of serum miR-17 and miR-106b levels should be further evaluated as novel non-invasive biomarkers in early GC detection and surveillance of disease progression.