Exploring the "gene-metabolite" network of ischemic stroke with blood stasis and toxin syndrome by integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics strategy.

A research model combining a disease and syndrome can provide new ideas for the treatment of ischemic stroke. In the field of traditional Chinese medicine, blood stasis and toxin (BST) syndrome is considered an important syndrome seen in patients with ischemic stroke (IS). However, the biological basis of IS-BST syndrome is currently not well understood. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the biological mechanism of IS-BST syndrome. This study is divided into two parts: (1) establishment of an animal model of ischemic stroke disease and an animal model of BST syndrome in ischemic stroke; (2) use of omics methods to identify differentially expressed genes and metabolites in the models. We used middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) surgery to establish the disease model, and utilized carrageenan combined with active dry yeast and MCAO surgery to construct the IS-BST syndrome model. Next, we used transcriptomics and metabolomics methods to explore the differential genes and metabolites in the disease model and IS-BST syndrome model. It is found that the IS-BST syndrome model exhibited more prominent characteristics of IS disease and syndrome features. Both the disease model and the IS-BST syndrome model share some common biological processes, such as thrombus formation, inflammatory response, purine metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism, and so on. Results of the "gene-metabolite" network revealed that the IS-BST syndrome model exhibited more pronounced features of complement-coagulation cascade reactions and amino acid metabolism disorders. Additionally, the "F2 (thrombin)-NMDAR/glutamate" pathway was coupled with the formation process of the blood stasis and toxin syndrome. This study reveals the intricate mechanism of IS-BST syndrome, offering a successful model for investigating the combination of disease and syndrome.

Potential regulatory factors in the pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic rheumatic disease that mainly affects the spinal joints (vertebrae). Spondylitis means inflammation of the spine, and ankylosing spondylitis means that bones tend to fuse. The AS causes the vertebrae to swell in the spine. Therefore, based on protein interaction network analysis, we conducted in-depth research on the molecular mechanism of key regulatory factors in the AS disease process. We carried out a differential analysis of the expression of miRNAs in disease samples and miRNAs in normal samples. Protein network interaction analysis is performed according to a group of target genes regulated by significant differentially expressed miRNAs and clustered into an interaction module. In addition, enrichment analysis of functions and pathways was performed on these modular genes. Based on the predictive analysis of multidimensional regulators, we identified a range of regulatory factors that have potential regulatory effects on AS, such as endogenous genes and transcription factors. We obtained 20 differentially expressed miRNAs and 7082 target genes and clustered into 11 modules. Enrichment results showed that these modular genes are mainly involved in the functions and pathways of protein polyubiquitination, neutrophil activation involved in immune response, and Wnt signaling pathway. We revealed ten transcription factors (MYC, NFKB1, and TP53). After network connectivity analysis, we obtained 12 internal drive genes (UBE2D1, CCNF, and NEDD4). These core genes are thought to be potential regulators of AS. MYC is also considered to be a core factor that inhibits SART3 phosphorylation and plays a vital role in the immunological pathogenesis of AS. The combination of the above analysis results can provide a new idea for biologists and medical scientists to study the immune pathogenesis of AS and can provide a valuable reference for subsequent treatment options.

Clinical application of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) in pectus excavatum patients following Nuss procedure.

BACKGROUND: Evaluate the effect of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol on postoperative recovery quality of pectus excavatum patients with Nuss procedure. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed on patients undergoing Nuss procedure from the Department of Thoracic Surgery of The Cancer Hospital of China Medical University between September 2016 and September 2019. Patients were divided into 2 groups by perioperative management: the traditional procedure group (T group) and the ERAS strategy group (E group). The outcome measures were postoperative drainage time, postoperative hospital time, and postoperative complications measured by the Clavien-Dindo method. RESULTS: Of the 168 patients from this time period, 148 met the inclusion criteria (75 in Group T and 73 in Group E). All operations involved in this study were completed successfully. There was no statistical difference between the 2 groups with respect to baseline demographics (P>0.05). In Group E, postoperative drainage time (2.53±0.72 vs. 3.45±2.07 days) and postoperative hospitalization time (4.96±1.48 vs. 7.71±7.78 days) were statistically significantly better than those in Group T (P<0.05). There was no difference in overall postoperative complications as measured by Clavien-Dindo score. CONCLUSIONS: The measures of no indwelling urinary catheter (IDUC), laryngeal mask anesthesia, and indwelling tubule drainage can improve postoperative recovery quality of pectus excavatum patients following Nuss procedure.

Poly(ethylene imine)-modified graphene oxide with improved colloidal stability and its adsorption of methyl orange.

Graphene oxide (GO) was chemically modified with poly(ethylene imine) (PEI) to improve its colloidal stability and was investigated as a potential adsorbent for the removal of methyl orange (MO). The synthesis of PEI-GO was verified with a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer and thermogravimetric analysis. A series of adsorption experiments were carried out to investigate the adsorption capacity of PEI-GO. Adsorption kinetics and thermodynamics studies were performed, and the thermodynamic parameters were calculated. The results showed that PEI could improve the colloidal stability of GO in aqueous solution, and the obtained PEI-GO showed a macroscopically homogeneous dispersion after more than three months. After standing for 90 days, the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller specific surface area of GO decreased from 353 to 214 m2·g(-1), while that of PEI-GO remained almost unchanged (from 432 to 413 m2·g(-1)). The PEI-GO exhibited significantly faster kinetic and higher adsorption capacity for MO than GO. Moreover, PEI-GO had a good adsorption capacity in the acidic range, and the highest adsorption of MO occurred at pH=6.0. The adsorption of MO on PEI-GO was an endothermic, spontaneous and physisorption process.

[XPS characterization of TiN layer on bearing steel surface treated by plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition technique].

Titanium nitride (TIN) hard protective films were fabricated on AISI52100 bearing steel surface employing plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition (PIIID) technique. The TiN films were characterized using a variety of test methods. Atomic force microscope (AFM) revealed that the titanium nitride film has extremely smooth surface, very high uniformity and efficiency of space filling over large areas. X-ray diffraction (XRD) result indicated that (200) crystal face of titanium nitride phase is the preferred orientation and three kinds of titanium components exist in the surface modified layer. Tailor fitting analysis of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) combined with Ar ion etching proved that Ti2p(1/2) and Ti2p(3/2) have two peaks in the titanium nitride film layer, respectively. It is shown that different chemical state exists in titanium compound. N(1s) bond energy of XPS has also three fitting peaks at 396.51, 397. 22 and 399.01 eV, corresponding to the nitrogen atom in TiNxOy, TiN and N--N, respectively. Combined with the XPS Tailor fitting analysis results of O(1s) bond energy, it was shown that there is a large amount of titanium nitride phase in addition to a small amount of simple substance nitrogen and oxide of titanium in the surface layer. The whole film system is made up of TiN, TiO2, N--N and Ti--O--N compound.