[An investigation on the nutritional status and support of in-patients with common variable immunodeficiency].

The study aimed to reveal for the first time the clinical characteristics, nutritional and metabolic status and support of hospitalized patients with common variant immunodeficiency disease (CVID), and provide reference to improve the long-term nutritional management for such patients. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study. Through searching the electronic medical record system of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, the study included 33 consecutive in-patients with CVID diagnosed in Jan 2016 to Jun 2021, with the male to female ratio of 16∶17. All their medical data, nutritional assessment and intervention retrospectively summarized and analyzed. Data with normal distribution were described using (x¯±s), and analyzed with independent sample t-test. Data with non-normal distribution were compared with non-parametric test. The results showed that the median onset-age of the included patients was 22 (10.0,36.5) years old, and the median duration was 9.0 (2.0,16.0) years. All patients had recurrent infections involving various systems (33/33), with development of autoimmune diseases (8/33) and lymphoproliferative disease or malignancy (9/33) in some cases among them. The nutritional risk screening 2002 (NRS 2002) scores revealed that 85.19% of adults had an NRS 2002≥3 points, and 33.33% of children had a BMI-for-age z score<-2. Weight loss occurred in 66.67% of patients (22/33), while 87.88% (29/33), 69.70% (23/33) and 81.82% (27/33) of patients respectively had anemia, hypoalbuminemia and decreased prealbumin. Among 22 patients with micronutrients status evaluated, 77.27% (17/22), 22.73% (5/22) and 31.82% (7/22) of patients respectively had lowered serum iron, folate deficiency and vitamin B12 insufficiency. Six patients underwent 25-OH-VD3 measurement, and were all testified to have vitamin D deficiency. Among all patients with nutritional risk, 56.00% of them underwent nutritional support: oral nutritional supplements (14 cases), enteral feeding (4 cases) and parenteral nutrition (5 cases). In conclusion, the condition of malnutrition was prevalent in patients with CVID, but was under-recognized and undertreated to some degree.

Epigallocatechin gallate inhibits the proliferation and induces apoptosis of multiple myeloma cells via inactivating EZH2.

OBJECTIVE: Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the major chemical constituent of green tea, exhibits remarkable anti-tumor effect properties. In the present work, we aim to explore the effect and underlying mechanism of EGCG on multiple myeloma (MM) cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The effects of EGCG on MM cells proliferation and apoptosis were determined by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry assay. The siRNAs were used to inhibit endogenous expression of EZH2. Enforced expression of EZH2 in U266 cells was accomplished by transfecting EZH2 plasmid. RESULTS: EGCG suppressed proliferation and induced apoptosis in U266 cells, which accompanied by EZH2 inhibition. Moreover, we revealed that enforced expression of EZH2 increased MM cells proliferation and reduced cell apoptosis, whereas EGCG partially reversed the effects of EZH2 on MM cells progression. In addition, qRT-PCR and Western blot showed that EZH2 overexpression increased Bcl-2 expression, and decreased BAX, BAK1 and cytochrome c expression in U266 cells exposed to EGCG. CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed that EGCG inhibited MM cells proliferation and induced apoptosis by targeting EZH2 and modulated mitochondrial apoptosis pathway, indicating EGCG might act as an adjuvant for chemotherapy of MM patients.

Effect of micro-arc oxidation surface modification on the properties of the NiTi shape memory alloy.

In this paper, the effects of micro-arc oxidation (MAO) surface modification (alumina coatings) on the phase transformation behavior, shape memory characteristics, in vitro haemocopatibility and cytocompatibility of the biomedical NiTi alloy were investigated respectively by differential scanning calorimetry, bending test, hemolysis ratio test, dynamic blood clotting test, platelet adhesion test and cytotoxicity testing by human osteoblasts (Hobs). The results showed that there were no obvious changes of the phase transformation temperatures and shape memory characteristics of the NiTi alloy after the MAO surface modification and the coating could withstand the thermal shock and volume change caused by martensite-austenite phase transformation. Compared to the uncoated NiTi alloys, the MAO surface modification could effectively improve the haemocopatibility of the coated NiTi alloys by the reduced hemolysis ratio, the prolonged dynamic clotting time and the decreased number of platelet adhesion; and the rough and porous alumina coatings could obviously promote the adherence, spread and proliferation of the Hobs with the significant increase of proliferation number of Hobs adhered on the surface of the coated NiTi alloys (P < 0.05).

Regularity of distribution of immunoreactive pulmonary surfactant protein A in rat tissues.

Existing data has shown that SP-A-like protein or mRNA is widely distributed in lamellar bodies such as tissues and mucosal surfaces. Using immunohistochemistry method with a polyclonal antibody against human SP-A, in this study we investigated distribution of immunoreactive pulmonary surfactant protein A (IR-SP-A) in a number of rat tissues. The SP-A-like immunoreactivity was found in alveolar, parenchyma, pleura of lung; myelin sheath of brain; epithelia of Bowman's capsule, glomerulus and renal tubules of kidney; epithelia of colon, stomach, duct of salivary gland, pharynx; and blood vessel wall and connective tissue of extracellular matrix. The positive signal was blocked by pre-absorbed SP-A antigen from recombinant or bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). SP-A has long been considered as an important frontier host defense molecule which participates in immune and inflammatory regulation of lung. With every inhalation, small particles, viruses, bacteria, and antigens from environment are continuously deposited onto the vast pulmonary epithelial surface. While a proper host defense is required to protect the lung, an over-exuberant response can disrupt the appropriate balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that body is an open system relevant to the external environment. The physical, chemical and biological environmental factors constantly affect the open system, and the body properly reacts to maintain homeostasis of body machinery. The Chinese traditional medicine scholars have thus hypothesized that 'Qi' (meaning air) is the communication way between the body and external environment. What is 'Qi'? The results from our study suggest that IR-SP-A is a candidate of 'Qi'. It is compatible with the sites, theoretically containing collagenous and lectin domain molecules, also compatible with the primary injury sites of some autoimmune diseases. SP-A may be as one of 'Qi' molecules mentioned in traditional Chinese medicine that trigger some of autoimmune diseases.