Prevalence and related factors of sleep quality among Chinese undergraduates in Jiangsu Province: multiple models' analysis.

Background and aims: In China, a significant number of undergraduates are experiencing poor sleep quality. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of poor sleep quality and identify associated factors among undergraduates in Jiangsu Province, China. Methods: A total of 8,457 participants were collected in 2022 using whole-group convenience sampling. The factors studied included basic demographics, family and social support, personal lifestyles, physical and mental health, mobile phone addiction index (MPAI), and the Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to assess sleep quality. Four models, including weighted multiple linear regression, binary logistic regression, weighted linear mixed model, and logistic regression with random effects, were applied to identify associated factors for sleep quality. Results: Of the 8,457 participants analyzed, 26.64% (2,253) were classified into the poor sleep quality group with a PSQI score >7. No significant relationship was found between sleep quality and gender, native place, economic level of family, physical exercise, dormitory light, dormitory hygiene, and amativeness matter. Risk factors for sleep quality identified by the four models included lower CD-RISC, higher MPAI, fourth grade or above, smoking, drinking, greater academic pressure, greater employment pressure, roommate sleeping late, noisy dormitory, poorer physical health status, poorer mental health status, and psychological counseling. Conclusions: These findings provide valuable insights for university administrators, enabling them to better understand the risk factors associated with poor sleep quality in undergraduates. By identifying these factors, administrators can provide targeted intervention measures and counseling programs to improve students' sleep quality.

An interactive web application to identify early Parkinsonian non-tremor-dominant subtypes.

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with tremor-dominant (TD) and non-tremor-dominant (NTD) subtypes exhibit heterogeneity. Rapid identification of different motor subtypes may help to develop personalized treatment plans. METHODS: The data were acquired from the Parkinson's Disease Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI). Following the identification of predictors utilizing recursive feature elimination (RFE), seven classical machine learning (ML) models, including logistic regression, support vector machine, decision tree, random forest, extreme gradient boosting, etc., were trained to predict patients' motor subtypes, evaluating the performance of models through the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and validating by the follow-up data. RESULTS: The feature subset engendered by RFE encompassed 20 features, comprising some clinical assessments and cerebrospinal fluid α-synuclein (CSF α-syn). ML models fitted in the RFE subset performed better in the test and validation sets. The best performing model was support vector machines with the polynomial kernel (P-SVM), achieving an AUC of 0.898. Five-fold repeated cross-validation showed the P-SVM model with CSF α-syn performed better than the model without CSF α-syn (P = 0.034). The Shapley additive explanation plot (SHAP) illustrated that how the levels of each feature affect the predicted probability as NTD subtypes. CONCLUSION: An interactive web application was developed based on the P-SVM model constructed from feature subset by RFE. It can identify the current motor subtypes of PD patients, making it easier to understand the status of patients and develop personalized treatment plans.

The rice blast fungus SR protein 1 regulates alternative splicing with unique mechanisms.

Serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins are well known as splicing factors in humans, model animals and plants. However, they are largely unknown in regulating pre-mRNA splicing of filamentous fungi. Here we report that the SR protein MoSrp1 enhances and suppresses alternative splicing in a model fungal plant pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae. Deletion of MoSRP1 caused multiple defects, including reduced virulence and thousands of aberrant alternative splicing events in mycelia, most of which were suppressed or enhanced intron splicing. A GUAG consensus bound by MoSrp1 was identified in more than 94% of the intron or/and proximate exons having the aberrant splicing. The dual functions of regulating alternative splicing of MoSrp1 were exemplified in enhancing and suppressing the consensus-mediated efficient splicing of the introns in MoATF1 and MoMTP1, respectively, which both were important for mycelial growth, conidiation, and virulence. Interestingly, MoSrp1 had a conserved sumoylation site that was essential to nuclear localization and enhancing GUAG binding. Further, we showed that MoSrp1 interacted with a splicing factor and two components of the exon-joining complex via its N-terminal RNA recognition domain, which was required to regulate mycelial growth, development and virulence. In contrast, the C-terminus was important only for virulence and stress responses but not for mycelial growth and development. In addition, only orthologues from Pezizomycotina species could completely rescue defects of the deletion mutants. This study reveals that the fungal conserved SR protein Srp1 regulates alternative splicing in a unique manner.

Taurochenodeoxycholic acid inhibits the proliferation and invasion of gastric cancer and induces its apoptosis.

Taurochenodeoxycholic acid (TCDCA) is the principal ingredient of Compound Shougong Powder. Despite traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) research demonstrates that Compound Shougong Powder can restrict tumor growth, whether TCDCA exerts a role in suppressing cancer as the major ingredient of Compound Shougong Powder remains unknown. This study aims to clarify the regulatory mechanism of TCDCA on gastric cancer. Gastric cancer cells SGC-7901 were cultured to investigate the effects of TCDCA on proliferation and apoptosis. Furthermore, a subcutaneously implanted tumor model was established using SGC-7901 cells in BALB/C nude mice and tumor volume was measured under low and high dose treatment of TCDCA. Cell proliferation, apoptosis, and invasion were subjected to 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo (-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) assay, flow cytometry, and transwell assay. Differentially expressed genes were screened by transcriptome sequencing. Nude mouse tumorigenicity assay was initiated to identify the effect of TCDCA on both tumor volume and weight, and the expression of candidate genes screened by transcriptome sequencing was determined by real-time fluorescence quantification (qPCR) and Western blot. The experiments revealed that TCDCA could significantly inhibit the proliferation and invasion of gastric cancer cells and induce apoptosis of these cells. Meanwhile, test findings via in vivo indicated that TCDCA severely diminished the volume and weight of tumors. This study first demonstrated that TCDCA inhibited the proliferation and invasion of gastric cancer and induced apoptosis, which is expected to serve as an experimental basis for the application of TCM in tumor therapeutic options. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Through this study, the inhibitory effect of Taurochenodeoxycholic acid on gastric cancer can be clarified, which provides a new research basis for the application of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and TCM monomer in cancer. In addition, this study can further promote the research and application of Chinese traditional medicine, which has important application value and economic benefits.

MoSnf5 Regulates Fungal Virulence, Growth, and Conidiation in Magnaporthe oryzae.

Snf5 (sucrose nonfermenting) is a core component of the SWI/SNF complexes and regulates diverse cellular processes in model eukaryotes. In plant pathogenic fungi, its biological function and underlying mechanisms remain unexplored. In this study, we investigated the biological roles of MoSnf5 in plant infection and fungal development in the rice blast pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae. The gene deletion mutants of MoSNF5 exhibited slower vegetative hyphal growth, severe defects in conidiogenesis, and impaired virulence and galactose utilization capacities. Domain dissection assays showed that the Snf5 domain and the N- and C-termini of MoSnf5 were all required for its full functions. Co-immunoprecipitation and yeast two-hybrid assays showed that MoSnf5 physically interacts with four proteins, including a transcription initiation factor MoTaf14. Interestingly, the ∆MoTaf14 mutants showed similar phenotypes as the ∆Mosnf5 mutants on fungal virulence and development. Moreover, assays on GFP-MoAtg8 expression and localization showed that both the ∆Mosnf5 and ∆MoTaf14 mutants were defective in autophagy. Taken together, MoSnf5 regulates fungal virulence, growth, and conidiation, possibly through regulating galactose utilization and autophagy in M. oryzae.

Selenium-enriched Bacillus subtilis yb-114246 improved growth and immunity of broiler chickens through modified ileal bacterial composition.

Here, a Selenium-enriched Bacillus subtilis (SEBS) strain was generated and supplemented to broiler chickens' diet, and the impact in ileum bacterial microbiome, immunity and body weight were assessed. In a nutshell, five hundred 1-old old chicken were randomly divided into five groups: control, inorganic Se, Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), SEBS, and antibiotic, and colonization with B. subtilis and SEBS in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) were measured by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). In summary, Chicks fed SEBS or B. subtilis had higher body weight than the control chicks or those given inorganic Se. SEBS colonized in distal segments of the ileum improved bacterial diversity, reduced the endogenous pathogen burden and increased the number of Lactobacillus sp. in the ileal mucous membrane. Species of unclassified Lachnospiraceae, uncultured Anaerosporobacter, Peptococcus, Lactobacillus salivarius, and Ruminococcaceae_UCG-014, and unclassified Butyricicoccus in the ileal mucous membrane played a key role in promoting immunity. Inorganic Se supplementation also improved bacterial composition of ileal mucous membranes, but to a less extent. In conclusion, SEBS improved performance and immunity of broiler chickens through colonization and modulation of the ileal mucous membrane microbiome.

Recent Advancements in Macrolide Hybrids against Staphylococcus aureus.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), recognized as one of the deadliest pathogens responsible for nosocomial and community acquired infections, is highly contagious and associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The increasing emergency and rapid spread of various forms of drug-resistant S. aureus have already posed a heavy burden on the world health system, but newfangled antibiotics are right now being created at a much slower pace than our developing requirement. Macrolides could inhibit protein synthesis by targeting the bacterial ribosome and are a class of basic and widely used antibacterial agents in clinical practice to control infections caused by various bacteria, including S. aureus. However, the emergence of bacterial resistance to macrolide antibiotics, particularly in Gram-positive bacteria such as macrolide-resistant S. aureus, has already become one of the significant obstacles for effective chemotherapy. Therefore, there is a critical need for the development of novel macrolide candidates. This review provides an overview of macrolide hybrids with potential activity against S. aureus, including drug-resistant forms developed in the recent decade, with special emphasis on the structure-activity relationships and mechanism of actions.

High Thermally Stable and Melt Processable Polyimide Resins Based on Phenylethynyl-Terminated Oligoimides Containing Siloxane Structure.

A series of 4-phenylethnylphthalic anhydride (PEPA)-terminated oligoimides were prepared by co-oligomerizing isomeric dianhydrides, i.e., 2,3,3',4'-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (a-BPDA), 2,3,3',4'-benzophenonetetracarboxylic dianhydride (a-BTDA) or 2,3,3',4'-diphenylethertetracarboxylic dianhydride (a-ODPA), with diamines mixture of bis(4-aminophenoxy)dimethyl silane (APDS) and 2,2'-bis(trifluoromethyl) benzidine (TFDB). The effects of siloxane content and dianhydride structure on the rheological properties of these oligoimides and thermal stability of the corresponding cured polyimide resins were investigated. The results indicated that the introduction of the siloxane structure improved the melt processability of the oligoimides, while the thermal stability of the cured polyimide resins reduced. The oligoimide derived from a-ODPA revealed better melt processability and melt stability due to the existence of a flexible dianhydride structure. The oligoimide PIS-O10 derived from a-ODPA gave the lowest minimum melt viscosity of 0.09 Pa·s at 333 °C and showed the excellent melt stability at 260 °C for 2 h with the melt viscosity in the range of 0.69-1.63 Pa·s. It is also noted that the thermal stability of these resins can be further enhanced by postcuring at 400-450 °C, which is attributed to the almost complete chemical crosslinking of the phenyethynyl combined with oxidative crosslinking of siloxane. The PIS-T10 and PIS-O10 resins that were based on a-BTDA and a-ODPA, respectively, even showed a glass transition temperature over 550 °C after postcuring at 450 °C for 1 h.

[Effect of zero-profile and self-locking intervertebral cage and plate-cage construct on maintenance of cervical curvature after anterior cervical surgery].

OBJECTIVE: To compare differences in the maintenance of cervical curvature after anterior cervical surgery between zero-profile and self-locking intervertebral cage and plate-cage construct (PCC). METHODS: A clinical data of 100 patients with single-segment cervical disc herniation who were treated with anterior cervical discectomy and fusion were retrospectively analyzed between January 2015 and January 2016. Among them, 50 patients were treated with the zero-profile and self-locking intervertebral cage (group A) and 50 patients with the PCC (group B). There was no significant difference between the two groups in age, gender, bone mineral density, disease duration, operative segment, and preoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) score, Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, C 2-7 cervical curvature, segmental Cobb angle, and adjacent vertebral height ( P>0.05). The operation time and intraoperative blood loss were recorded. The postoperative VAS and JOA scores were used to evaluate the clinical efficacy. The C 2-7 cervical curvature, segmental Cobb angle, and adjacent vertebral height were measured on lateral X-ray films, and the interbody fusion was evaluated according to Pitzen's criteria. RESULTS: The operation time in group A was significantly shorter than that in group B ( t=2.442, P=0.021), but there was no significant difference in the intraoperative blood loss between the two groups ( t=0.812, P=0.403). All patients were followed up 24-36 months, with an average of 28.5 months. According to Pitzen's criteria for cervical interbody fusion, bone fusion achieved in both groups. The VAS score, JOA score, C 2-7 cervical curvature, segmental Cobb angle, and adjacent vertebral height of the two groups at 1 and 24 months after operation were significantly improved when compared with those before operation ( P<0.05). The C 2-7 cervical curvature, segmental Cobb angle, and adjacent vertebral height of group A at 24 months changed significantly compared with those at 1 month ( P<0.05). The other indexes of the two groups showed no significant difference between the different time points after operation ( P>0.05). There were significant differences in C 2-7 cervical curvature, segmental Cobb angle, and adjacent vertebral height between the two groups at 24 months after operation ( P<0.05); but there was no significant difference in the clinical indexes at 1 and 24 months and the imaging indexes at 1 month between the two groups ( P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared with the PCC, the zero-profile and self-locking intervertebral cage can significantly shorten the operation time and obtain the same clinical efficacy, but the intervertebral height loss and secondary cervical curvature change after operation is more serious.

The enhanced immunological activity of Paulownia tomentosa flower polysaccharide on Newcastle disease vaccine in chicken.

The extracts of Paulownia tomentosa (P. tomentosa) exhibit multiple pharmacological activities. In the present study, P. tomentosa flower polysaccharides (PTFP) were extracted by water decoction and ethanol precipitation, and the immunologic modulations of PTFP against Newcastle disease (ND) vaccine was investigated in chickens. The results showed that in a certain range of concentrations, PTFP treatment can dose-dependently enhance lymphocyte proliferation. Then, 280 14-days-old chickens were randomly divided into seven groups, and vaccinated with ND vaccine except blank control (BC) group. At the first vaccination, chickens were orally administrated with PTFP at concentration ranging from 0 to 50 mg/kg once a day for 3 successive days, and the BC group was treated with physiological saline. The lymphocyte proliferation rate, serum antibody titer, and levels of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) were respectively measured on 7, 14, 21, and 28 days after the first vaccination. The results showed that PTFP at the suitable doses could significantly promote lymphocyte proliferation, enhance serum antibody titer, and improve serum IFN-γ concentrations. Taken together, these data indicated that PTFP could improve the immune efficacy against ND vaccine in chickens, and could be as the candidate of a new-type immune adjuvant.

Triplet Tellurophene-Based Semiconducting Polymer Nanoparticles for Near-Infrared-Mediated Cancer Theranostics.

Semiconducting polymer (SP) nanoparticles (NPs) have recently emerged as one of the most promising agents for photoacoustic imaging (PAI)-guided photothermal/photodynamic therapy (PTT/PDT). Herein, a triplet tellurophene-based SP (PNDI-2T) was synthesized with efficient tin-free direct heteroarylation polycondensation. The PNDI-2T NPs display remarkable near-infrared absorption and low cytotoxicity. In addition, PNDI-2T NPs can generate abundant reactive oxygen species (ROS) since tellurophene facilitates the intersystem crossing to generate triplet excited states. Remarkably, PNDI-2T NPs present a high photothermal conversion efficiency (η = 45%) and a high ROS yield (ΦΔ = 38.7%) under 808 nm laser irradiation. Furthermore, we showed that PNDI-2T NPs could be excellent PAI-guided PTT/PDT agents for cancer theranostics. This study provides a new route to developing highly efficient and low cytotoxic agents for PAI-guided PTT/PDT.

The efficacy and safety of tranexamic acid in reducing perioperative blood loss in patients with multilevel thoracic spinal stenosis: A retrospective observational study.

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness and safety of intravenous tranexamic acid for reducing perioperative blood loss in patients with multilevel thoracic spinal stenosis (TSS). METHODS: This is a retrospective observational study of 42 patients with multilevel TSS admitted from December 2016 to October 2017 to the spine department of Honghui Hospital who underwent posterolateral bone graft fusion with posterior laminectomy and decompression fixation. The patients were divided into 2 groups. All the surgeries were completed by the same surgeon. Group A received an intravenous infusion of 15 mg/kg 15 min prior to surgery. Continuous infuse on of tranexamic acid (TXA) at a dose of 1 mg/kg/h was provided throughout the operation until the skin was closed. Group B received no TXA as a blank control group. Group A comprised 10 males and 10 females with an average age of 53.41 ±â€Š7.93 years; group B comprised 11 males and 11 females with an average age of 55.10 ±â€Š8.43 years. The need for blood transfusion, volume of blood transfusion, blood coagulation function, extubation time, postoperative hospital stay and incidence of postoperative deep venous thrombosis (DVT) were recorded during and after the operation for the 2 groups. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in general characteristics, such as age, sex and body mass index (BMI) (P > .05). There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in the levels are instrumented and the laminectomy levels in each group. The average postoperative blood loss, need for blood transfusion, time to postoperative extubation and length of postoperative hospital stay in group A were lower than those in group B, and there was a significant difference between the 2 groups (P < .05). The preoperative and postoperative coagulation, and postoperative DVT did not occur 48 h after operation. CONCLUSION: In the treatment of multilevel thoracic spinal canal stenosis using trabeculectomy with posterior laminectomy and posterolateral bone graft fusion, TXA can reduce the amount of blood transfused and the need for blood transfusion and can shorten the extubation time and the length of postoperative hospital stay without increasing the incidence of postoperative coagulation dysfunction or postoperative DVT. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.

[Comparison of accuracy between robot-assisted and fluoroscopy-guided percutaneous pedicle screw placement for treatment of lumbar spondylolisthesis].

Objective: To explore the clinical application value of the spinal robot-assisted surgical system in mild to moderate lumbar spondylolisthesis and evaluate the accuracy of its implantation. Methods: The clinical data of 56 patients with Meyerding grade Ⅰ or Ⅱ lumbar spondylolisthesis who underwent minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF) between January 2017 and December 2017 were retrospectively analysed. Among them, 28 cases were preoperatively planned with robotic arm and percutaneous pedicle screw placement according to preoperative planning (group A); the other 28 cases underwent fluoroscopy-guided percutaneous pedicle screw placement (group B). There was no significant difference in gender, age, body mass index, slippage type, Meyerding grade, and surgical segmental distribution between the two groups ( P>0.05). The screw insertion angle was measured by CT, the accuracy of screw implantation was evaluated by Neo's criteria, and the invasion of superior articular process was evaluated by Babu's method. Results: One hundred and twelve screws were implanted in the two groups respectively, 5 screws (4.5%) in group A and 26 screws (23.2%) in group B penetrated the lateral wall of pedicle, and the difference was significant ( χ2=9.157, P=0.002); the accuracy of nail implantation was assessed according to Neo's criteria, the results were 107 screws of degree 0, 3 of degree 1, 2 of degree 2 in group A, and 86 screws of degree 0, 16 of degree 1, 6 of degree 2, 4 of degree 3 in group B, showing significant difference between the two groups ( Z=4.915, P=0.031). In group B, 20 (17.9%) screws penetrated the superior articular process, while in group A, 80 screws were removed from the decompression side, and only 3 (3.8%) screws penetrated the superior articular process. According to Babu's method, the degree of screw penetration into the facet joint was assessed. The results were 77 screws of grade 0, 2 of grade 1, 1 of grade 2 in group A, and 92 screws of grade 0, 13 of grade 1, 4 of grade 2, 3 of grade 3 in group B, showing significant difference between the two groups ( Z=7.814, P=0.029). The screw insertion angles of groups A and B were (23.5±6.6)° and (18.1±7.5)° respectively, showing significant difference ( t=3.100, P=0.003). Conclusion: Compared to fluoroscopy-guided percutaneous pedicle screw placement, robot-assisted percutaneous pedicle screw placement has the advantages such as greater accuracy, lower incidence of screw penetration of the pedicle wall and invasion of the facet joints, and has a better screw insertion angle. Combined with MIS-TLIF, robot-assisted percutaneous pedicle screw placement is an effective minimally invasive treatment for lumbar spondylolisthesis.

Deficiency of Follistatin-Like Protein 1 Accelerates the Growth of Breast Cancer Cells at Lung Metastatic Sites.

PURPOSE: Follistatin-like protein 1 (FSTL1) is a secreted glycoprotein that has been shown to play a role in various types of cancer. However, the clinical significance and function of FSTL1 in breast cancer have not been reported. We investigated the role of FSTL1 in breast cancer in this study. METHODS: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, western blot analysis, and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction were used to monitor the expression of FSTL1 in breast cancer tissue and in serum samples from breast cancer patients. We employed a 4T1 breast cancer model and Fstl1 +/- mice for in vivo studies. Hematoxylin and eosin staining, western blot analysis, and RNA sequencing were used to analyze the effect of FSTL1 on primary tumor growth and lung metastasis. RESULTS: We demonstrated that the expression of FSTL1 is reduced in both the breast cancer tissue and the serum of breast cancer patients. We showed that reduced levels of FSTL1 in serum correlate with elevated expression of Ki-67 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in cancer tissues. Moreover, lowered expression of FSTL1 was associated with decreased survival in breast cancer patients. Experiments on the Fstl1 +/- mouse model established that FSTL1 deficiency had no effect on primary tumor growth, but increased the lung metastases of breast cancer cells, resulting in reduced survival of tumor-bearing mice. RNA sequencing found significantly reduced expression of Egln3 and increased expression of EGFR in Fstl1 +/- mice. Thus, our results suggest that FSTL1 may affect the expression of EGFR through Egln3, inhibiting the proliferation of breast cancer cells at lung metastatic sites. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, we suggest a suppressor role of FSTL1 in breast cancer lung metastasis. Furthermore, FSTL1 may represent a potential prognostic biomarker and a candidate therapeutic target in breast cancer patients.

Hypoxia preconditioning protects Ca2+-ATPase activation of intestinal mucosal cells against R/I injury in a rat liver transplantation model.

AIM: To investigate the effect of ischaemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury on the Ca2+-ATPase activation in the intestinal tissue of a rat autologous orthotopic liver transplantation model and to determine if hypoxia preconditioning (HP) therapy induces HIF-1α to protect rat intestinal tissue against I/R injury. METHODS: Rats received non-lethal hypoxic preconditioning therapy to induce HIF-1α expression. We used an autologous orthotopic liver transplantation model to imitate the I/R injury in intestinal tissue. Then, we detected the microstructure changes in small intestinal tissues, Ca2+-ATPase activity, apoptosis, and inflammation within 48 h postoperatively. RESULTS: HIF-1α expression was significantly increased in intestinal tissue at 12 h postoperatively in rats that were exposed to a hypoxic environment for 90 min compared with a non-HP group (HP vs AT, P = 0.0177). Pathological analysis was performed on the intestinal mucosa cells, and the cells in the HP group appeared healthier than the cells in the AT group. The Ca2+-ATPase activity in the small intestinal cells in the AT group was significantly lower after the operation, and the Ca2+-ATPase activity in the HP group recovered faster than that in the AT group at 6 h postoperatively (HP vs AT, P = 0.0106). BCL-2 expression in the HP group was significantly higher than that in the AT group at 12 h postoperatively (HP vs AT P = 0.0010). The expression of the inflammatory factors NO, SOD, IL-6, and TNF-α was significantly lower in the HP group than in the AT group. CONCLUSION: Hypoxia-induced HIF-1α could protect intestinal mucosal cells against mitochondrial damage after I/R injury. HP could improve hypoxia tolerance in small intestinal mucosal cells and increase Ca2+-ATPase activity to reduce the apoptosis of and pathological damage to intestinal cells. HP could be a useful way to promote the earlier recovery of intestinal function after graft procedure.

Ultrastrong composite film of Chitosan and silica-coated graphene oxide sheets.

Chitosan (CS) has attracted significant interest in various fields due to its outstanding functional properties (especially, its chain with positive charge). However, wide-range applications of CS are severely limited because of its poor mechanical properties. Ultrastrong composite film of CS and silica-coated graphene oxide sheets (GO@SiO2) were prepared by a simple solution casting method in this article. GO@SiO2 was prepared by the hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) in GO ethanol solution. Compared with the pure CS film, the tensile strength of the CS/GO@SiO2 composite film with incorporation of 1.75wt% GO@SiO2 fillers was significantly increased 158% from 55±4 to 142±24MPa. Such high tensile strength may be caused synergistically by strong interaction between two components and high crystallinity of the CS matrix. CS based composite with ultrastrong strength may have more potential applications in biomedical fields.

Achieving High-Performance Ternary Organic Solar Cells through Tuning Acceptor Alloy.

Acceptor alloys based on n-type small molecular and fullerene derivatives are used to fabricate the ternary solar cell. The highest performance of optimized ternary device is 10.4%, which is the highest efficiency for one donor/two acceptors-based ternary systems. Three important parameters, JSC , VOC , and FF, of the optimized ternary device are all higher than the binary reference devices.

Breast Cancer Disparities: A Multicenter Comparison of Tumor Diagnosis, Characteristics, and Surgical Treatment in China and the U.S.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Incidence of and mortality rates for breast cancer continue to rise in the People's Republic of China. The purpose of this study was to analyze differences in characteristics of breast malignancies between China and the U.S. METHODS: Data from 384,262 breast cancer patients registered in the U.S. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program from 2000 to 2010 were compared with 4,211 Chinese breast cancer patients registered in a Chinese database from 1999 to 2008. Outcomes included age, race, histology, tumor and node staging, laterality, surgical treatment method, and reconstruction. The Pearson chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used to compare rates. RESULTS: Infiltrating ductal carcinoma was the most common type of malignancy in the U.S. and China. The mean number of positive lymph nodes was higher in China (2.59 vs. 1.31, p < .001). Stage at diagnosis was higher in China (stage IIA vs. I, p < .001). Mean size of tumor at diagnosis was higher in China (32.63 vs. 21.57 mm). Mean age at diagnosis was lower in China (48.28 vs. 61.29 years, p < .001). Moreover, 2.0% of U.S. women underwent radical mastectomy compared with 12.5% in China, and 0.02% in China underwent reconstructive surgery. CONCLUSION: Chinese women were diagnosed at younger ages with higher stage and larger tumors and underwent more aggressive surgical treatment. Prospective trials should be conducted to address screening, surgical, and tumor discrepancies between China and the U.S. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Breast cancer patients in China are diagnosed at later stages than those in America, which might contribute to different clinical management and lower 5-year survival rate. This phenomenon suggests that an earlier detection and treatment program should be widely implemented in China. By comparing the characteristics of Chinese and Chinese-American patients, we found significant differences in tumor size, lymph nodes metastasis, and age at diagnosis. These consequences indicated that patients with similar genetic backgrounds may have different prognoses due to the influence of environment and social economic determinates.

[Impact of stages of axillary lymph nodes and pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy on the survival of breast cancer patients].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the relevance between lymph node status and pathological response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and survival in breast cancer patients. METHODS: The clinicopathological data of 653 needle biopsy proved breast cancer patients, who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery in our hospital from July 1998 to April 2012, were retrospective analyzed. RESULTS: The median follow up time was 59.3 months. The 653 cases were classified into ypN0 (242 cases), ypN1 (182 cases), ypN2 (135 cases), and ypN3 (94 cases) stages, and the 5-year overall survival rates in the four groups were 93.4%, 93.4%, 87.4%, and 83.0%, respectively. The Log rank test showed a significant difference in the overall survival rates between the ypN0, ypN1, ypN2 stages and ypN3 stage (P=0.046). No significant differences were observed between the disease free survival (DFS) rates in the four groups (P>0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated that the postoperative pathological response of metastatic lymph nodes was a major prognostic factor affecting the overall survival and disease-free survival (RR=1.051, P=0.007; RR=1.028, P=0.028). CONCLUSION: The stage and pathological response of axillary lymph nodes after neoadjuvant chemotherapy are effective indicators for predicting the OS and DFS in breast cancer patients.

Clinical significance of integrin ß6 as a tumor recurrence factor in follicular thyroid carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Overexpression of integrin ß6 plays an important role in a variety of malignant tumor invasion and metastasis. METHODS: The expression levels of integrin ß6, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 were analyzed by immunohistochemistry with human follicular thyroid carcinomas. Then we investigated their correlation with clinical outcomes parameters, relationship, and the survival time. RESULTS: The integrin ß6 staining was expressed in cellular membrane and cytoplasm of follicular thyroid carcinoma cells. The MMP-2 and MMP-9 expressions were mainly found in cellular cytoplasm. In correlation with the clinical outcome parameters of 60 patients, there were significant statistical differences of integrin ß6, MMP-2, and MMP-9 expression levels in different size of tumor. Integrin ß6 and MMP-9 expressions have significant statistical differences in T classifications. MMP-2 and MMP-9 expressions have significant statistical differences in different M classification. Other clinical outcome parameters had no significant statistical differences. CONCLUSION: Integrin ß6 expression correlated significantly with MMP-9 expression, and may be a valuable recurrence indicator for follicular thyroid carcinomas.