Prognostic Value of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio and Platelet to Lymphocyte Ratio in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients After Thrombolysis.

Context: The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) or platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) is an inflammation marker of acute ischemic stroke, but the predictive value of NLR and PLR before and after thrombolysis for short-term prognosis in acute ischemic stroke patients after thrombolysis remains largely obscure. This study attempts to clarify the predictive value of NLR and PLR before and after thrombolysis for short-term prognosis in acute ischemic stroke patients after thrombolysis. Design: A retrospective study was carried out in the Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University involving 120 patients visiting the neurology department of our hospital from May 2019 to October 2022 and meeting the selection criteria. The participants were assigned to the good prognosis group and the poor prognosis group based on the modified Rankin scale score. Laboratory data collected include NLR and PLR at admission as well as NLR and PLR collected from venous blood within 24 h after thrombolysis. Results: Age, hyperlipidemia, atrial fibrillation, rheumatic heart disease, and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores after thrombolysis depicted statistical significance between both groups (P < .05). Hyperlipidemia, atrial fibrillation, and NIHSS scores before thrombolysis were independent risk elements for adverse prognosis (P < .05). NLR and PLR before and after thrombolysis in the poor prognosis group depicted an elevation relative to that in the good prognosis group (P < .05). The area under the curve of NLR or PLR predicting adverse prognosis after thrombolysis depicted an elevation relative to that before thrombolysis (P < .05). Conclusion: The predictive value of NLR and PLR post-thrombolysis for short-term prognosis in acute ischemic stroke patients depicts an elevation relative to pre-thrombolysis; our study provides effective predictive indicators for short-term prognosis in acute ischemic stroke patients.

Optimizing Dog Rabies Vaccination Services to the Public: A Discrete Choice Experiment in Guangdong, China.

Vaccination for dogs is essential for controlling rabies and achieving the goal of eliminating dog-mediated rabies globally by 2030. This paper aims to investigate the preferences for public services regarding rabies vaccination, in an effort to optimize the existing rabies vaccination and prevention programs in China. The households investigated had significant preferences for dog rabies vaccination service attributes. The households can be classified into three types: resolute executors (52.13%), mischievous rebels (5.85%), and incentivized compliers (42.02%). The residence, the presence of children in the household, perception of the safety risks, and knowledge of rabies may be sources of heterogeneity. Supportive services on dog rabies vaccination should be made available, such as arranging weekend vaccination services, building mobile vaccination stations, providing home vaccination services, and increasing vaccine supply through multiple channels. Furthermore, multiple measures can be taken to increase rabies vaccination awareness among family members and facilitate dog management innovation to further increase the level of rabies prevention and control.

A High-throughput Assay for the Prediction of Chemical Toxicity by Automated Phenotypic Profiling of Caenorhabditis elegans.

Applying toxicity testing of chemicals in higher order organisms, such as mice or rats, is time-consuming and expensive, due to their long lifespan and maintenance issues. On the contrary, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) has advantages to make it an ideal choice for toxicity testing: a short lifespan, easy cultivation, and efficient reproduction. Here, we describe a protocol for the automatic phenotypic profiling of C. elegans in a 384-well plate. The nematode worms are cultured in a 384-well plate with liquid medium and chemical treatment, and videos are taken of each well to quantify the chemical influence on 33 worm features. Experimental results demonstrate that the quantified phenotype features can classify and predict the acute toxicity for different chemical compounds and establish a priority list for further traditional chemical toxicity assessment tests in a rodent model.

Classification and prediction of toxicity of chemicals using an automated phenotypic profiling of Caenorhabditis elegans.

BACKGROUND: Traditional toxicological studies have relied heavily on various animal models to understand the effect of various compounds in a biological context. Considering the great cost, complexity and time involved in experiments using higher order organisms. Researchers have been exploring alternative models that avoid these disadvantages. One example of such a model is the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. There are some advantages of C. elegans, such as small size, short life cycle, well defined genome, ease of maintenance and efficient reproduction. METHODS: As these benefits allow large scale studies to be initiated with relative ease, the problem of how to efficiently capture, organize and analyze the resulting large volumes of data must be addressed. We have developed a new method for quantitative screening of chemicals using C. elegans. 33 features were identified for each chemical treatment. RESULTS: The compounds with different toxicities were shown to alter the phenotypes of C. elegans in distinct and detectable patterns. We found that phenotypic profiling revealed conserved functions to classify and predict the toxicity of different chemicals. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the power of phenotypic profiling in C. elegans under different chemical environments.

In vitro biomimetic platforms featuring a perfusion system and 3D spheroid culture promote the construction of tissue-engineered corneal endothelial layers.

Corneal endothelial cells (CECs) are very important for the maintenance of corneal transparency. However, in vitro, CECs display limited proliferation and loss of phenotype via endothelial to mesenchymal transformation (EMT) and cellular senescence. In this study, we demonstrate that continuous supplementary nutrition using a perfusion culture bioreactor and three-dimensional (3D) spheroid culture can be used to improve CEC expansion in culture and to construct a tissue-engineered CEC layer. Compared with static culture, perfusion-derived CECs exhibited an increased proliferative ability as well as formed close cell-cell contact junctions and numerous surface microvilli. We also demonstrated that the CEC spheroid culture significantly down-regulated gene expression of the proliferation marker Ki67 and EMT-related markers Vimentin and α-SMA, whereas the gene expression level of the CEC marker ATP1A1 was significantly up-regulated. Furthermore, use of the perfusion system in conjunction with a spheroid culture on decellularized corneal scaffolds and collagen sheets promoted the generation of CEC monolayers as well as neo-synthesized ECM formation. This study also confirmed that a CEC spheroid culture on a curved collagen sheet with controlled physiological intraocular pressure could generate a CEC monolayer. Thus, our results show that the use of a perfusion system and 3D spheroid culture can promote CEC expansion and the construction of tissue-engineered corneal endothelial layers in vitro.