Chloroplast-inspired Scaffold for Infected Bone Defect Therapy: Towards Stable Photothermal Properties and Self-Defensive Functionality.

Bone implant-associated infections induced by bacteria frequently result in repair failure and threaten the health of patients. Although black phosphorus (BP) material with superior photothermal conversion ability is booming in the treatment of bone disease, the development of BP-based bone scaffolds with excellent photothermal stability and antibacterial properties simultaneously remains a challenge. In nature, chloroplasts cannot only convert light into chemical energy, but also hold a protective and defensive envelope membrane. Inspired by this, a self-defensive bone scaffold with stable photothermal property is developed for infected bone defect therapy. Similar to thylakoid and stroma lamella in chloroplasts, BP is integrated with chitosan and polycaprolactone fiber networks. The mussel-inspired polydopamine multifunctional "envelope membrane" wrapped above not only strengthens the photothermal stability of BP-based scaffolds, but also realizes the in situ anchoring of silver nanoparticles. Bacteria-triggered infection of femur defects in vivo can be commendably inhibited at the early stage via these chloroplast-inspired implants, which then effectively promotes endogenous repair of the defect area under mild hyperthermia induced by near-infrared irradiation. This chloroplast-inspired strategy shows outstanding performance for infected bone defect therapy and provides a reference for the functionality of other biomedical materials.

Neurogenic dysphagia in traditional Chinese medicine.

BACKGROUND: Neurogenic dysphagia is the difficulty in swallowing caused by neurological diseases, which is a very common symptom in neurological disorders. In this paper, we try to summarize the opinions in the pathophysiology and therapy of dysphagia in ancient China (before AD 1840) through the records in the literatures from all the dynasties. METHODS: We searched the databases including Chinese Medical Classics, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, MEDLINE, and ISI Proceedings until July 2020, with the search terms "dysphagia" and "difficulty in swallowing" in English and their Chinese equivalents. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The concept of neurogenic dysphagia was first described as Hou Bi in the Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic, which is the first Chinese medical classic and the origin of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory. In the different eras, the pathogenesis of neurogenic dysphagia was explained mainly by three theories in TCM, that is, the wind-phlegm blocking collaterals, the deficiency of liver and kidney-essence, and the Qi-stagnation with static blood. In addition to the TCM prescriptions, acupuncture is characteristic treatment and seems to be effective. However, the evidences of efficacy and safety from clinical trials are still required.

Mitochondrial enhancement for neurodegenerative movement disorders: a systematic review of trials involving creatine, coenzyme Q10, idebenone and mitoquinone.

BACKGROUND: Neurodegenerative movement disorders mainly include Parkinson's disease (PD), atypical parkinsonisms, Huntington's disease (HD), and Friedreich's ataxia (FA). With mitochondrial dysfunction observed in these diseases, mitochondrial enhancement such as creatine, coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and its analogues (idebenone and mitoquinone) has been regarded as a potential treatment. AIM: In this paper, we systematically analysed and summarized the efficacy of mitochondrial enhancement in improving motor and other symptoms in neurodegenerative movement disorders. METHODS: We searched the electronic databases PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library and China National Knowledge Infrastructure until September 2013 for eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs), as well as unpublished and ongoing trials. We calculated the mean differences for continuous data with 95% confidence intervals and pooled the results using a fixed-effect model, if no significant statistical heterogeneity was found (I(2) < 50%). RESULTS: We included 16 studies with 1,557 randomized patients, which compared creatine, CoQ10 or its analogues with placebo in motor and other symptoms. No significant improvements were found in the motor symptoms of PD, atypical parkinsonisms or HD patients, while only the high dose of idebenone seems to be promising for motor improvement in FA. Certain benefits are found in other symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: There is insufficient evidence to support the use of mitochondrial enhancement in patients with neurodegenerative movement disorders. More well-designed RCTs with large samples are required for further confirmation.

Impaired functional connectivity of the thalamus in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment: a resting-state fMRI study.

OBJECTIVES: The current study evaluated whether the functional connectivity pattern of the thalamo-cortical network in patients with Alzheimer' s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) would show disease severityrelated alterations. METHODS: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were obtained from 35 patients with AD, 27 patients with MCI and 27 subjects with normal cognition (NC). First, the altered functional connectivity pattern in AD patients was evaluated in comparison to NC subjects. Second, the MCI subjects were included to evaluate how different stages of disease affect the functional connectivity pattern of the thalamus. Finally, a correlation analysis was performed between the strength of the functional connectivity of the identified regions and various clinical variables to evaluate the relationship between the strength of functional connectivity and the cognitive abilities of MCI and AD patients. RESULTS: When compared to NC subjects, AD patients showed decreased functional connectivity between the left thalamus and brain regions including the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex, right middle frontal gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus. Decreased functional connectivity was also found between the right thalamus and right middle frontal gyrus and left inferior parietal lobule/angular gyrus. In addition, increased functional connectivity was observed between the bilateral thalamus and brain regions including the middle frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, postcentral gyrus and precuneus. Functional connectivity between the bilateral thalamus and the identified brain regions of MCI subjects was intermediate in comparison to the functional connectivity of AD and NC subjects. A significant correlation between the fitted functional connectivity strength and the clinical variables was also detected. CONCLUSION: Our results revealed disease severity-related alterations of the thalamo-default mode network and thalamocortical connectivity in AD and MCI patients. These results support the hypothesis of network disconnection in AD.

Recognition of dementia in ancient China.

A search of previous records in the literatures was done to summarize the opinions for dementia in ancient China. The earliest description of dementia was traced in the Yellow emperor's internal classic, a book written 2000 years ago. Hua Tuo (AD 140-208) in Han Dynasty first denominated "dementia" in the book, Hua Tuo Shen Yi Mi Zhuan. The pathogenesis of dementia could be generalized as the insufficiency of Qi, a flowing energy; the stagnation of phlegm, a harmful liquid substance in the body; and the blood stasis, which were also regarded as therapeutic targets. Therefore, we can conclude that dementia has been recognized and investigated in traditional Chinese medicine, which is definitely before the industrial civilization era.

Magnetic nanoparticle-based hyperthermia for head & neck cancer in mouse models.

In this study, magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle induced hyperthermia is applied for treatment of head and neck cancer using a mouse xenograft model of human head and neck cancer (Tu212 cell line). A hyperthermia system for heating iron oxide nanoparticles was developed by using alternating magnetic fields. Both theoretical simulation and experimental studies were performed to verify the thermotherapy effect. Experimental results showed that the temperature of the tumor center has dramatically elevated from around the room temperature to about 40(o)C within the first 5-10 minutes. Pathological studies demonstrate epithelial tumor cell destruction associated with the hyperthermia treatment.

[A nimodipine interventional study of patients with mild cognitive impairment].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of nimodipine on the cognition status and the changes of metabolites in brain tissue in the patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in order to evaluate the significance of intervening MCI with medication. METHODS: 31 patients with MCI were selected 16 cases were in a treatment group taking nimodipine for 3 months besides taking basic internal medication and 15 cases in a control group taking only basic internal medication. Before and after treatment, multiple cognition tests were carried out in both groups and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in Hippocampus region was carried out in 5 patients of the treatment group. RESULTS: Verbal instant recall scores, symbol digit modalities test (SDMT) scores and mini-mental state examination (MMSE) total scores in the treatment group were improved significantly after treatment as compared with those in the control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Nimodipine can improve memory ability as well as attention ability of the patients with MCI to a certain extent and make the general cognition function improved.

[Effect of Ginkgo biloba extract on neuronal apoptosis in rabbit with kaolin-induced syringomyelia].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) on neuronal apoptosis in rabbits with kaolin-induced syringomyelia. METHODS: Twenty-four of 30 Chinese white rabbits were subjected to injection of 25% kaolin mixed with equal volume (0.6 ml) of cerebrospinal fluid drawn from the cisterna magna under ketamine anesthesia. Twelve of these 24 rabbits then received intravenous injection of 5 ml of GBE (5 ml/days for 14 days, GBE treatment group) while the other 12 were treated with the same amount of saline administered in similar manner (saline group). The 6 rabbits without kaolin treatment received a sham operation to serve as the control group. At different time points after the operation, the rabbits were killed and the spinal cord samples examined by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Histologically, ischemia and edema in the cervical cord of rabbits in GBE treatment group were less severe than those in saline group. TUNEL-positive and bax-positive neurons were less numerous in GBE treatment group than in saline group, and the former group showed more Bcl-2-positive neurons. The number of apoptotic neurons reached the peak level on day 7 after kaolin injection. CONCLUSION: GBE can ameliorate kaolin-induced hydrocephalus in the upper cervical cord and inhibit kaolin-induced neuron apoptosis.