Innovation and evaluation of vocational pharmaceutical education system under the 1 + X certificate system in China.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The 1 + X certificate system, introduced in China in 2019, integrates academic credentials with vocational skill certificates to meet the heightened demand for skilled talents in the growing economy. This study aims to innovate and evaluate the vocational pharmaceutical education system under the 1 + X certificate framework, specifically addressing the gap between theoretical education and workplace requirements. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective observational approach analyzed 490 pharmacy students over two academic years. The 2021 cohort underwent 1 + X integrated education, while the 2020 cohort followed conventional education. We collaborated closely with industry partners to identify and compile typical job competencies, formulating work projects aligned with industry demands. Combining the skill level standards and assessment content of "1+X Pharmaceutical Purchasing and Sales" and "1+X Pharmaceutical Preparation", we revised the course standards, incorporating typical work projects into the 2021 pharmacy professional teaching curriculum. This constituted the fundamental content of the 1 + X education reform. Statistical analysis compared course scores and 1 + X certificate examination performance. RESULTS: The 2021 cohort, under the 1 + X educational model, demonstrated higher average scores in pharmacy courses, with significant improvements in pharmacology (1 + X vs. Traditional education: 58.40 ± 14.20 vs. 53.44 ± 14.67), clinical pharmacotherapy (72.74 ± 10.28 vs. 63.15 ± 11.03), and pharmaceutical distribution and marketing (79.34 ± 10.96 vs. 67.50 ± 15.82). 1 + X certificate pass rates and satisfaction with the model were also higher than the 2020 cohort. CONCLUSION: The 1 + X certificate system is useful for developing talent in Chinese vocational education, effectively integrating assessments with industry standards. Future research should aim at evaluating long-term outcomes and improving quantitative skills assessments for enhanced effectiveness.

Advances in Traditional Chinese Medicine research in diabetic kidney disease treatment.

CONTEXT: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a prominent complication arising from diabetic microangiopathy, and its prevalence and renal impact have placed it as the primary cause of end-stage renal disease. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has the distinct advantage of multifaceted and multilevel therapeutic attributes that show efficacy in improving clinical symptoms, reducing proteinuria, protecting renal function, and slowing DKD progression. Over recent decades, extensive research has explored the mechanisms of TCM for preventing and managing DKD, with substantial studies that endorse the therapeutic benefits of TCM compounds and single agents in the medical intervention of DKD. OBJECTIVE: This review lays the foundation for future evidence-based research efforts and provide a reference point for DKD investigation. METHODS: The relevant literature published in Chinese and English up to 30 June 2023, was sourced from PubMed, Cochrane Library, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals (VIP), Wanfang Data, CNKI, and China Biology Medicine disc (CBM). The process involved examining and summarizing research on TCM laboratory tests and clinical randomized controlled trials for DKD treatment. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The TCM intervention has shown the potential to inhibit the expression of inflammatory cytokines and various growth factors, lower blood glucose levels, and significantly affect insulin resistance, lipid metabolism, and improved renal function. Furthermore, the efficacy of TCM can be optimized by tailoring personalized treatment regimens based on the unique profiles of individual patients. We anticipate further rigorous and comprehensive clinical and foundational investigations into the mechanisms underlying the role of TCM in treating DKD.

Pan-cancer analysis of oncogenic TNFAIP2 identifying its prognostic value and immunological function in acute myeloid leukemia.

BACKGROUND: Tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced protein 2 (TNFAIP2), a TNFα-inducible gene, appears to participate in inflammation, immune response, hematopoiesis, and carcinogenesis. However, the potential role of TNFAIP2 in the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains unknow yet. Therefore, we aimed to study the biological role of TNFAIP2 in leukemogenesis. METHODS: TNFAIP2 mRNA level, prognostic value, co-expressed genes, differentially expressed genes, DNA methylation, and functional enrichment analysis in AML patients were explored via multiple public databases, including UALCAN, GTEx portal, Timer 2.0, LinkedOmics, SMART, MethSurv, Metascape, GSEA and String databases. Data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and Beat AML database were used to determine the associations between TNFAIP2 expression and various clinical or genetic parameters of AML patients. Moreover, the biological functions of TNFAIP2 in AML were investigated through in vitro experiments. RESULTS: By large-scale data mining, our study indicated that TNFAIP2 was differentially expressed across different normal and tumor tissues. TNFAIP2 expression was significantly increased in AML, particularly in French-American-British (FAB) classification M4/M5 patients, compared with corresponding control tissues. Overexpression of TNFAIP2 was an independent poor prognostic factor of overall survival (OS) and was associated with unfavorable cytogenetic risk and gene mutations in AML patients. DNA hypermethylation of TNFAIP2 at gene body linked to upregulation of TNFAIP2 and inferior OS in AML. Functional enrichment analysis indicated immunomodulation function and inflammation response of TNFAIP2 in leukemogenesis. Finally, the suppression of TNFAIP resulted in inhibition of proliferation by altering cell-cycle progression and increase of cell death by promoting early and late apoptosis in THP-1 and U937AML cells. CONCLUSION: Collectively, the oncogenic TNFAIP2 can function as a novel biomarker and prognostic factor in AML patients. The immunoregulation function of TNFAIP2 warrants further validation in AML.

[Mechanism of combined treatment of rhein and emodin in Rhubarb for ulcerative colitis].

This study aimed to explore the efficacy and mechanism of combined rhein and emodin in the treatment of ulcerative colitis(UC) from the aspects of network pharmacology, animal inflammation improvement and molecular mechanism. Network pharmacology predicted that combined rhein and emodin acted on 52 potential targets, mainly participating in signaling pathways such as cancer, PI3 K/AKT, microRNAs in cancer and apoptosis. PI3 K/AKT signaling pathway has been reported to be closely related to UC, and the optimal candidate pathway for combined therapy. The UC mice model was established by dextran sodium sulfate, and then the modeled mice were randomly divided into control group, model group, rhein group, emodin group, rhein+emodin group and sulfasalazine group. After administration, compared with the conditions in model group, body weight, disease activity index(DAI) score, colon length, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1ß and myeloperoxidase(MPO) of mice in rhein+emodin group were improved(P<0.01); colonic mucosal injury was significantly reduced; the expression of p-PI3 K/PI3 K and p-AKT/AKT proteins were down-regulated(P<0.01). All the above indices were better than those in the rhein/emodin group alone. The Jin's Q-values of the effect of combined rhein and emodin on colon length, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1ß, MPO, p-PI3 K/PI3 K and p-AKT/AKT were all greater than 1.15, which indicated that there was obvious synergistic effect between rhein and emodin. In all, rhein and emodin have synergistic effect in the treatment of UC, and the mechanism may be related to the inhibition of PI3 K/AKT signaling pathway and the down-regulation of proinflammatory factors. They are the new components in the treatment of UC, which is worthy of attention.

The Microbiota in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: An Update on the Potential Function of Probiotics.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a kind of chronic diffuse connective tissue illness characterized by multisystem and multiorgan involvement, repeated recurrence and remission, and the presence of a large pool of autoantibodies in the body. Although the exact cause of SLE is not thoroughly revealed, accumulating evidence has manifested that intake of probiotics alters the composition of the gut microbiome, regulating the immunomodulatory and inflammatory response, which may be linked to the disease pathogenesis. Particularly, documented experiments demonstrated that SLE patients have remarkable changes in gut microbiota compared to healthy controls, indicating that the alteration of microbiota may be implicated in different phases of SLE. In this review, the alteration of microbiota in the development of SLE is summarized, and the mechanism of intestinal microbiota on the progression of immune and inflammatory responses in SLE is also discussed. Due to limited reports on the effects of probiotics supplementation in SLE patients, we emphasize advancements made in the last few years on the function and mechanisms of probiotics in the development of SLE animal models. Besides, we follow through literature to survey whether probiotics supplements can be an adjuvant therapy for comprehensive treatment of SLE. Research has indicated that intake of probiotics alters the composition of the gut microbiome, contributing to prevent the progression of SLE. Adjustment of the gut microbiome through probiotics supplementation seems to alleviate SLE symptoms and their cardiovascular and renal complications in animal models, marking this treatment as a potentially novel approach.

Entrapment of Macrophage-Target Nanoparticles by Yeast Microparticles for Rhein Delivery in Ulcerative Colitis Treatment.

In this study, we developed an advanced colitis-targeted nanoparticles (NPs)-into-yeast cell wall microparticles (YPs) drug delivery system for ulcerative colitis (UC) therapy. In brief, YPs entrap hyaluronic acid (HA), and polyethylenimine (PEI) modified rhein (RH)-loaded ovalbumin NPs (HA/PEI-RH NPs) to form HA/PEI-RH NYPs. YPs can make HA/PEI-RH NPs pass through gastric environment stably and be degraded by ß-glucanase to promote drug release from HA/PEI-RH NYPs in the colon. Cellular uptake evaluation confirmed that HA/PEI-RH NPs could specifically target and enhance the uptake rate via HA ligands. In biodistribution studies, HA/PEI-RH NYPs were able to efficiently accumulate in the inflammed colon in mice. In vivo experiments revealed that the HA/PEI-RH NYPs could significantly alleviate inflammation by inhibiting the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway. Therefore, HA/PEI-RH NYPs have advantages of good gastric stability, ß-glucanase-sensitive release ability, macrophage-targeted ability, and anti-UC effects. These advantages indicate YPs-entrapped multifunctional NPs are a promising oral drug delivery system for UC therapy.

Synergistic inhibitory effects of free nitrous acid and imidazoline derivative on metal corrosion in a simulated water injection system.

To maintain the integrity of the internal surfaces of the pipelines in oil and gas industry, chemicals, including corrosion inhibitors and biocides, are commonly dosed to prevent corrosion. Imidazoline and its derivatives are widely used corrosion inhibitors for the protection of oil pipelines, which have been shown effective in reducing general corrosion. As an effective biocide, free nitrous acid (FNA) is suitable to inhibit microbially influenced corrosion, induced by for example sulfate-reducing bacteria. In this paper, we hypothesize that the continuous addition of imidazoline and intermittent dosing of FNA, when used in combination, would yield effective control of both general and pitting corrosions. As a typical imidazoline derivative, N-b-hydroxyethyl oleyl imidazoline (HEI-17) was applied in conjunction with intermittent dosing of FNA in the experimental system, with the results compared with two control systems, one receiving HEI-17 only, and one receiving no chemical dosing. The corrosion properties were monitored with open circuit potential, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, linear polarization resistance, 3D optical profiling, and weight-loss measurement. Following a single dose of FNA, the general corrosion rates in the experimental reactor dropped up to 50% of that in the reactor receiving continuous HEI-17 dosing (0.27 ± 0.04 vs. 0.54 ± 0.08 mm/y), but gradually recovered to 93.4% of that in 2.5 months. After the FNA treatment, the pitting corrosion was decreased by 64.6% compared with continuous HEI-17 dosing reactor for a month from measuring the cumulative distribution of the pitting depth. HEI-17 treatment alone showed moderate pitting corrosion inhibition effect (approx. 27%), and the FNA treatment inhibited the formation of deep pits effectively. The combined application of HEI-17 and FNA has shown synergistic effects and high efficiency in mitigating MIC in the simulated water injection system. This treatment strategy has strong potential to be applied in the practical oilfield operations.

Decreasing microbially influenced metal corrosion using free nitrous acid in a simulated water injection system.

Microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) is the main cause of metal corrosion in anoxic environments. Biocides are often dosed to the corrosive media to inhibit and kill the microbes which cause MIC. In this study, intermittent dosages of free nitrous acid (FNA), which was previously found to be a biocide, were applied to a simulated water injection system containing carbon steel coupons with mature biofilm, to study the effect of FNA on mitigation of metal corrosion. In each treatment, 0.49 mg-N/L FNA was dosed using 200 mg-N/L nitrite at pH 6 for 24 h. The corrosion properties were monitored by open circuit potential (OCP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), linear polarization resistance (LPR), 3D optical profiling, and direct weight measurement. The biofilm viability was monitored by measuring cellular ATP level. The general corrosion rate (calculated by weight-loss measurement) was decreased by up to 31%, which was supported by LPR tests and reduced ATP levels of the corrosion-inducing biofilm. The 3D optical profiling results showed that FNA decreased the average pitting corrosion rate by 59%, with 2 intermittent treatments and 82-day interval over 304 days. Intermittent dosing of FNA has strong potential to be an effective and efficient strategy for controlling MIC in oil recovery infrastructure.

Corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete sewers.

Hydrogen sulfide is a controlling factor for concrete corrosion in sewers, although its impact on sewer rebar corrosion has not been investigated to date. This study determined the corrosion mechanism of rebar in sewers by elucidating the roles of chloride ions, apart from the effects of hydrogen sulfide and biogenic sulfuric acid. The nature and distribution of rusts at the steel/concrete interface were delineated using the advanced mineral analytical techniques, including mineral liberation analysis and micro X-ray diffraction which is the first-ever use in such studies. The corrosion products were found to be mainly iron oxides or oxy-hydroxides. H2S and biogenic sulfuric acid did not directly participate in the product formation of steel partly covered by concrete or directly exposed to sewer atmosphere. Instead, chloride ions played an important role in initiating steel corrosion in sewers, supported by a thin chloride-enriched layer at the steel/rust interface. Away from the chloride-enriched layer, iron oxides accumulated on both sides of the mill-scale to form a corrosion layer and corrosion-filled paste respectively. The corrosion layer around rebar circumference was non-uniform and the rust thickness with respect to polar coordinates followed a Gaussian model. These findings support predictions of sewer service lifetime and developments of corrosion prevention strategies.

Effect of diesel leakage in circulating cooling water system on preponderant bacteria diversity and bactericidal effect of biocides.

Petroleum products leakage results in adverse effect on the normal operation of a circulating cooling water system. However, relatively little research has been done to explore the effect of petroleum products leakage on circulating cooling water quality and biofilm preponderant bacteria diversity. Also, normal biocides application modes cannot fulfil the need for biofilm control. In this study, diesel oil was used as the experimental subject representing leaking petroleum products; the effect of diesel addition on biofilm preponderant bacteria diversity and the bactericidal effect of chlorine dioxide and tetradecyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (1427) was investigated. Bacterial community structures were examined by PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and PCR cloning of 16S rDNA genes. Except for 100 mg/L diesel, increasing diesel concentration enhanced the biofilm detachment ratio compared with the control test. The microstructure of biofilm samples with 0, 300 and 900 mg/L diesel addition was observed. The species of preponderant bacteria in the biofilm sample with 300 mg/L diesel addition were more and the bacterial distribution was more uniform than those in the biofilm sample with 900 mg/L diesel addition. With ClO2 and 1427 addition, chemical oxygen demand increased, lipid phosphorus and bacterial count first decreased and then remained stable, and the bactericidal ratio first increased and then remained stable. Diesel addition variation has more obvious effect on ClO2 than 1427.