In Vivo Immune Adjuvant Effects of CaCO3 Nanoparticles through Intracellular Ca2+ Concentration Regulation.

Calcium (Ca) is a vital component of the human body and plays a crucial role in intracellular signaling and regulation as a second messenger. Recent studies have shown that changes in intracellular Ca2+ concentration can influence immune cell function. In this study, we developed calcium carbonate nanoparticles (CaNPs) of various sizes using a Nanosystem Platform to modulate intracellular Ca2+ concentration in vitro and in vivo. Our findings demonstrate that intravenous administration of CaNPs led to changes in the number and ratio of immune cells in the spleen and stimulated the activation of dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages. Notably, CaNPs exhibited strong adjuvant properties in the absence of antigenic stimuli. These results indicate that CaNPs have the potential to regulate immune cell function by modulating Ca2+ concentrations, offering a novel approach for disease prevention and treatment in combination with antigens or drugs. Overall, our study emphasizes the importance of modulating intracellular Ca2+ concentration as a means of regulating immune cell function.

Idiopathic mesenteric phlebosclerosis: one case report and systematic literature review of 240 cases.

AIM: This research is both a case study and a systematic literature review. Our goal was to learn more about the pathophysiology, clinical features, and therapy options for idiopathic mesenteric phlebosclerosis (IMP). METHODS: A case of IMP was treated by surgery in our department. Combined with the data of 240 cases of IMP retrieved from PubMed and Wanfang Data, we conducted a systematic review of this less well-known disease. RESULTS: These 240 cases of IMP mainly occurred in East Asia. Among the patients, 78.7% of them had a history of herbal medicine consumption; 15.2% had no obvious symptoms and their diagnosis was confirmed through characteristic CT findings and colonoscopic manifestations; 58.4% were cured by conservative treatment; 41.6% had severe symptoms and underwent surgical treatment. Additionally, more patients treated with surgical treatment had lesions involving the cecum (59/82 vs. 53/115, P=0.0003) and sigmoid colon (20/82 vs. 10/115, P=0.0025) compared with those treated conservatively. CONCLUSION: The occurrence of IMP is associated with the long-term consumption of herbal medicines. Early diagnosis of IMP could be determined by CT and colonoscopy and conservative or surgical treatment was chosen based on of the severity of the condition (e.g., the involved bowel segment).

The Improvement Effect of Different Doses of Gamma Globulin on the Disease Condition of Infants with Hemolytic Disease of Newborn and Their Effects on Immune Factors in Serum.

BACKGROUND: To explore the effect of different doses of Gamma Globulin (GG) on the condition of children with Hemolytic Disease of Newborn (HDN) and the influence of immune factors in serum. METHODS: Overall, 180 infants with hemolytic disease of newborn in the People's Hospital of Zhangqiu Area, Jinan, China from April 2016 to August 2018 were divided into group A (88 cases) and group B (92 cases). Group A was given intravenous low-dose GG on the basis of phototherapy, and group B was given intravenous high-dose GG on the basis of phototherapy. The level of serum total bilirubin of the infants, the levels of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, IgA, IgG and IgM of the infants, the time of jaundice disappearance and the length of hospital stay, hemoglobin and reticulocyte levels were recorded before treatment and after treatment. The number and condition of adverse reactions were recorded. RESULTS: After treatment, the levels of TBiL, hemoglobin and reticulocyte, the time of jaundice disappearance and hospital stay in group B were significantly lower than those in group A. The level of immune cells in group B was significantly higher than that in group A after 7 days of treatment, and the levels of IgA / IgG / IgM in group B were significantly higher than those in group A after 28 days of treatment. CONCLUSION: Intravenous high-dose GG has a better effect on the condition of neonatal hemolytic disease patients, and more effectively improve the immune function of children.

Photodynamic therapy produces enhanced efficacy of antitumor immunotherapy by simultaneously inducing intratumoral release of sorafenib.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) can destroy local tumor cells and induce effective antitumor immune responses, and has been applied in the treatment of patients with superficial solid tumors. Numerous systemic side effects of PDT, such as pain and skin photosensitivity, however, limit this therapeutic option. In addition, the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment has been found to be another critical barrier for the antitumor immunity induced by PDT. Therefore, effectively enhancing the cytotoxicity to tumor cells of low-dose PDT and inhibiting the tumor immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment may be a feasible strategy to overcome these drawbacks of PDT. Here, a sorafenib and chlorin e6 co-loaded reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive nanoparticle (NP-sfb/ce6) is developed to improve antitumor responses by intratumoral release of sorafenib at the time of PDT. Under 660-nm laser irradiation, ROS produced by chlorin e6 (ce6) destruct the nanoparticles, resulting in boosted sorafenib cascade release. The rapidly released sorafenib acts synergistically with the low-dose PDT to inhibit tumor growth by inducing strong T cell-dependent local and systemic antitumor immune responses, reprograming the tumor immune microenvironment, and limiting the interaction between cytotoxic CD8+ T cells and immunosuppressive cells. This study provides new avenues for cascade-amplifying antitumor effects of photodynamic therapy.

[Strategies of preserving urinary continence in transurethral plasmakinetic enucleation of the prostate for benign prostate hyperplasia].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the strategies of preserving urinary continence in transurethral plasmakinetic enucleation of the prostate (PKEP) for benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). METHODS: We treated 65 BPH patients by PKEP with preservation of urinary continence (UC-PKEP), which involved protection of the external urethral sphincter in the beginning of surgery, proper preservation of the anterior lobe of the prostate to protect the internal urethral sphincter in the middle, and preservation of the integrity of the bladder neck towards the end. We compared the postoperative status of urinary continence of the patients with that of the 54 BPH cases treated by complete plasmakinetic enucleation of the prostate (Com-PKEP). RESULTS: All the operations were performed successfully with the urinary catheters removed at 5 days after surgery. In comparison with Com-PKEP, UC-PKEP achieved evidently lower incidence rates of urinary incontinence at 24 hours (31.49% vs 13.85%, P <0.05), 1 week (18.52% vs 4.62%, P <0.05), 2 weeks (14.81% vs 3.08%, P <0.05), 1 month (3.70% vs 1.54%, P >0.05), and 3 months (3.70% vs 0%, P >0.05) after catheter removal. Compared with the baseline, the maximum urinary flow rate (Qmax) was significantly improved postoperatively in both the Com-PKEP (ï¼»7.43 ± 3.26ï¼½ vs ï¼»20.58 ± 3.22ï¼½ ml, P <0.05) and the UC-PKEP group (ï¼»8.04 ± 2.28ï¼½ vs ï¼»20.66 ± 3.08ï¼½ ml, P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Transurethral PKEP is a safe and effective method for the management of BPH, during which the strategies of avoiding blunt or sharp damage to the external urethral sphincter in the beginning, properly preserving the anterior lobe of the prostate in the middle and preserving the integrity of the bladder neck towards the end may help to achieve rapid recovery of urinary continence.

[Effects of subcutaneous embedding of thumb-tack needle on tear film in patients with dry eye].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of subcutaneous embedding of thumb-tack needle combined with mytear and simple mytear on tear film in patients with dry eye. METHODS: Eighty patients of dry eye (160 eyes) were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 40 cases in each group. The 0.1% sodium hyaluronate eye drop (alice) was applied in the control group, four times per day for two weeks. On the basis of the control group, the subcutaneous embedding of thumb-tack needle was used at ① Cuanzhu (BL 2), Sizhukong (SJ 23), Sibai (ST 2), ② Yintang (EX-HN 3), Yuyao (EX-HN 4), Taiyang (EX-HN 5). The two groups of acupoints were used alternately. The thumb-tack needle was placed for 2 to 3 days, once a week for two weeks. The subjective symptom score, Schirmer Ⅰ test (SⅠT), tear break-up time (BUT) and corneal fluorescein staining (CFS) were compared before treatment, after treatment and during 2-week follow-up visit in the two groups. The effects of the two groups were compared. RESULTS: Compared before treatment, the subjective symptom score and CFS were reduced but SⅠT and BUT were increased after treatment and during follow-up visit in the two groups (all P<0.05), which in the observation group were superior to those in the control group (all P<0.05). The total effective rate was 90.0% (36/40) in the observation group, which was superior to 85.0% (34/40) in the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The subcutaneous embedding of thumb-tack needle could increase the amount of SIT, prolong BUT and repair pathological damage of cornea, which could relieve the symptoms of dry eye and improve visual quality.

Reliability and External Validity of AMSTAR in Assessing Quality of TCM Systematic Reviews.

Objective. The aim of this study is to measure the reliability and external validity of AMSTAR by applying it to a sample of TCM systematic reviews. Study Design and Methods. We tested the agreement, reliability, construct validity, and feasibility of AMSTAR through comparisons with OQAQ. Statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS 13.0. Results. A random of sample with 41 TCM systematic reviews was selected from a database. The interrater agreement of the individual items of AMSTAR was moderate with a mean kappa of 0.50 (95% CI: 0.26, 0.73). The ICC for AMSTAR against OQAQ (total score of 9 items, excluding item 10) was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.76, 0.93). Conclusions. Although there is room for improvement on few items, the new tool is reliable, valid, and easy to use for methodological quality assessment of systematic reviews on TCM.