Assessment of relationships between bullous pemphigoid and neurological diseases: A bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is the most prevalent autoimmune vesiculobullous skin illness that tends to affect the elderly. Growing evidence has hinted a correlation between BP and neurological diseases. However, existing observational studies contained inconsistent results, and the causality and direction of their relationship remain poorly understood. To assess the causal relationship between BP and neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease (PD), and stroke. A bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) adopted independent top genetic variants as instruments from the largest accessible genome-wide association studies (GWASs), with BP (n = 218 348), PD (n = 482 730), AD (n = 63 926), stroke (n = 446 696), and MS (n = 115 803). Inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger, weighted mode methods, weighted median, and simple mode were performed to explore the causal association. Multiple sensitivity analyses, MR-Pleiotropy Residual Sum and Outlier (PRESSO) was used to evaluate horizontal pleiotropy and remove outliers. With close-to-zero effect estimates, no causal impact of BP on the risk of the four neurological diseases was discovered. However, we found that MS was positively correlated with higher odds of BP (OR = 1.220, 95% CI: 1.058-1.408, p = 0.006), while no causal associations were observed between PD (OR = 0.821, 95% CI: 0.616-1.093, p = 0.176), AD (OR = 1.066, 95% CI: 0.873-1.358, p = 0.603), stroke (OR = 0.911, 95% CI: 0.485-1.713, p = 0.773) and odds of BP. In summary, no causal impact of BP on the risk of PD, AD, MS and stroke was detected in our MR analysis. However, reverse MR analysis identified that only MS was positively correlated with higher odds of BP, but not PD, AD and stroke.

Public's preferences for health science popularization short videos in China: a discrete choice experiment.

Background: Health science popularization short video disseminates health information to the public in an understandable way about health information. Objective: To investigate the preferences of Chinese residents for health science popularization short videos and provide suggestions for optimizing the production of short videos. Methods: An online survey of Chinese people was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire, and a discrete choice experiment (DCE) was used to explore the public's preferences for health science popularization short videos. Results: A total of 618 respondents were included, of which 306 (45.51%) were male and 312 (50.49%) were female, 271 (43.85%) were aged 18-25, 239 (38.67%) were aged 26-60, and 108 (17.48%) were aged 60 and above. Whether the video is charged or not (46.891%) and the account subject (28.806%) were both considered important. The results of the DCE revealed that the participants considered video free of charge as the most significant attribute of health science popularization short videos (OR 3.433, 95% CI 3.243-3.633). Overall, participants preferred and were more willing to pay for health science popularization short videos with a hospital account subject (OR 1.192, 95% CI 1.116-1.274), with the form of graphic narration (OR 1.062, 95% CI 1.003-1.126), free of charge (OR 3.433, 95% CI 3.243-3.633), with the content that satisfies their needs (very much needed: OR 1.253, 95% CI 95% CI 1.197-1.311; generally needed: OR 1.078, 95% CI 1.029-1.129), with platform certification (OR 1.041, 95% CI 1.011-1.073), without commercial advertisements (OR 1.048, 95% CI 1.018-1.080), with simple-to-understand content (OR 1.071, 95% CI 1.040-1.104), and with video content that evokes fear or dread of illness in the viewer (OR 1.046, 95% CI 1.015-1.078). Conclusion: Participants favor free health popularization short videos, which are hospital accounts, with content that is illustrated, understandable, meets their needs, and can serve as a warning. In the future, the production of health popularization short videos should focus on improving the diversity and relevance of video content, making it as easy to understand to achieve good science popularization effects.

Privacy Protection in Using Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare: Chinese Regulation in Comparative Perspective.

Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are now widely employed in China's medical and healthcare fields. Enormous amounts of personal data are collected from various sources and inserted into AI algorithms for medical purposes, producing challenges to patient's privacy. This is a comparative study of Chinese, United States, and European Union operational rules for healthcare data that is collected and then used in AI functions, particularly focusing on legal differences and deficiencies. The conceptual boundaries of privacy and personal information, the influence of technological development on the informed consent model, and conflicts between freedom and security in rules of cross-border data flow were found to be key issues requiring consideration when regulating healthcare data used for AI purposes. Furthermore, the results indicate that the appropriate balance between privacy protections and technological development, between individual and group interests, and between corporate profits and the public interest should be identified and observed. In terms of specific rule-making, it was found that China should establish special regulations protecting healthcare information, provide clear definitions and classification schemas for different types of healthcare information, and enact stricter accountability mechanisms. Examining and contrasting operational rules for AI in health care promotes informed privacy governance and improved privacy legislation.

Mussel-inspired bioactive 3D-printable poly(styrene-butadiene-styrene) and the in vitro assessment of its potential as cranioplasty implants.

Challenges in cranial defect reconstruction after craniotomy arise from insufficient osteogenesis and biofilm infection, which requires novel biomaterials. Herein, we propose a mussel-inspired bioactive poly(styrene-butadiene-styrene) (SBS) as a promising cranioplasty material. The catechol-modified quaternized chitosan (QCSC) was employed in the bio-inert surface of 3D-printed SBS to provide the contact-killing ability against bacterial biofilms. The polydopamine-decorated zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (pZIF-8) and polydopamine hybrid hydroxyapatite (pHA) were further modified on the surface to further enhance the antibacterial property and osteogenesis activity, effectively killing bacteria by no less than two orders of magnitude and significantly facilitating osteogenic gene expression and mineralization. Due to the lack of research using SBS as a cranioplasty material, we believe that the modified SBS materials developed in this study and the in vitro assessment may be beneficial for developing novel cranioplasty implants.

Zopfiellasins A-D, Two Pairs of Epimeric Cytochalasins from Kiwi-Associated Fungus Zopfiella sp. and Their Antibacterial Assessment.

In our continuous search for antibacterial agents against Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) from kiwi-associated fungi, two pairs of epimeric cytochalasins, zopfiellasins A-D (1-4), were characterized from the fungus Zopfiella sp. The structures were established on the basis of spectroscopic data analysis, while the absolute configurations were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compounds 1 and 3 exhibited antibacterial activity against Psa with MIC values of 25 and 50 µg/mL, respectively. This is the first report of anti-Psa activity of cytochalasin derivatives.

In vitro and in vivo assessment of nanostructured porous biphasic calcium phosphate ceramics for promoting osteogenesis in an osteoporotic environment.

Treatment of bone defects in osteoporotic patients with bone substitutes is difficult, due to insufficient osseointegration. The development of appropriate biomaterials to solve the problem requires the assessment of the material performance in an osteoporotic environment, which is rarely investigated. Herein, nanostructured biphasic calcium phosphate (nBCP) ceramics were prepared via the incorporation of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HANPs) into porous biphasic CaP (BCP) substrates, leading to an increase of over 500% in the specific surface area. Primary osteoblasts harvested from osteoporotic rats were cultured on the nBCP ceramics, and it was found that the osteoblast functions, including proliferation, alkaline phosphatase activity, osteocalcin secretion and expression of osteogenic genes, were significantly enhanced compared with osteoblasts grown on non-nanostructured BCP ceramics. To further assess the osteoinduction ability, the ceramics were implanted in the femur of osteoporotic rats. Compared to the rats implanted with non-nanostructured BCP ceramics, a higher amount of mechanically matured bone was newly formed in the rats with nBCP ceramics after 6 weeks of implantation. Such enhanced osteoinduction ability of the nBCP ceramics may be due to the incorporated HANPs, as well as the nanostructured topography induced by the HANPs. These results indicate good in vitro and in vivo osteoinductivity of the nBCP ceramics in an osteoporotic environment and offer potential benefits for treating bone defects in osteoporotic patients.