MicroRNA-223-3p Targeting SGK1 Regulates Apoptosis and Inflammation in Sepsis-Associated Acute Kidney Injury.

INTRODUCTION: Sepsis and septic shock are significant contributors to the development of acute kidney injury (AKI) in critically ill patients. This study aims to elucidate the role and mechanism of microRNA-223-3p in sepsis-associated AKI (SA-AKI). METHODS: Bioinformatics methods were used to analyze the expression of microRNA-223-3p in sepsis patients, its correlation with inflammatory cytokines and to predict the binding site of microRNA-223-3p with SGK1. The binding relationship between microRNA-223-3p and SGK1 was validated using a dual-luciferase reporter gene assay. The expression of microRNA-223-3p was assayed using qPCR in patient serum or lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated HK-2 cells. Cell apoptosis, expression of Bax, Bcl-2, cleaved caspase-3, and levels of TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6 were measured using TUNEL assay, western blot (WB), and ELISA, respectively. SGK1 expression of HK-2 cells with different treatments was detected using qPCR and WB. RESULTS: The expression of microRNA-223-3p was found to be upregulated in sepsis patients and HK-2 cells treated with LPS. Furthermore, microRNA-223-3p promoted apoptosis and inflammation in LPS-induced HK-2 cells. This promotion was mediated by the negative regulation of SGK1 by microRNA-223-3p. CONCLUSION: The microRNA-223-3p was found to regulate SGK1 and promote apoptosis and inflammation in LPS-induced HK-2 cells. Our study has elucidated the mechanism of microRNA-223-3p in SA-AKI, providing a potential target for sepsis treatment.

PAK1 Promotes Inflammation Induced by Sepsis through the Snail/CXCL2 Signaling Pathway.

Sepsis is a severe syndrome characterized by organ dysfunction, resulting from a systemic imbalance in response to infection. PAK1 plays a critical role in various diseases. The present study aimed to explore and delineate the mechanism of PAK1 in inflammation induced by sepsis. Bioinformatics analysis was performed to assess PAK1, snail, and CXCL2 expression in the whole blood of septic patients and the pathways enriched with PAK1. To simulate the sepsis model, THP-1 cells were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide. Gene expression was evaluated using qRT-PCR, while cell viability was assessed using CCK-8 assay. Cell apoptosis was tested with flow cytometry. Expression of inflammatory factors in cells following different treatments was analyzed using the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Dual-luciferase and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays were conducted to verify the binding relationship between PAK1 and the snail. Mouse models of cecal ligation and puncture were established, and hematoxylin and eosin staining and ELISA were employed to detect the infiltration levels of inflammatory cells and the expression of related protective factors in lung, liver, and kidney tissues. The results demonstrated upregulation of PAK1, snail, and CXCL2 in the whole blood of septic patients, with PAK1 being enriched in the chemokine-related pathway. Knockdown of PAK1 significantly promoted the apoptosis of LPS-stimulated THP-1 cells and inhibited the expression of inflammatory factors. PAK1 upregulated the expression of the snail, which in turn promoted the expression of CXCL2. Thus, PAK1 mediated the sepsis-induced inflammatory response through the snail/CXCL2 pathway. In conclusion, PAK1 played a role in promoting inflammation induced by sepsis through the snail/CXCL2 axis, thereby providing a potential therapeutic target for the management of sepsis.

Correlation between blood glucose level and poor wound healing after posterior lumbar interbody fusion in patients with type 2 diabetes.

To investigate the correlation of blood glucose level with poor wound healing (PWH) after posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). From January 2016 to January 2023, a case-control study was conducted to analyse the clinical data of 400 patients with T2D who were treated by PLIF and internal fixation at our hospital. The following data were recorded: gender; age; body mass index (BMI); surgical stage; average perioperative blood glucose level; perioperative blood glucose variance; perioperative blood glucose coefficient of variation; glycated haemoglobin level; preoperative levels of total protein, albumin and haemoglobin; postoperative levels of total protein, albumin and haemoglobin; surgical time; intraoperative bleeding volume; operator; postoperative drainage volume; and postoperative drainage tube removal time of each group. The indicators for monitoring blood glucose variability (GV) included the SD of blood glucose level (SDBG), coefficient of variation (CV) and maximum amplitude of variation (LAGE) before and after surgery. According to the diagnostic criteria for PWH, patients with postoperative PWH were determined and assigned to two groups: Group A (good wound healing group; n = 330 patients) and Group B (poor wound healing group; n = 70 patients). The preoperative and postoperative blood GV indicators, namely SDBG, CV and LAGE, were compared between these two groups. We also determined the relationship between perioperative blood GV parameters and PWH after PLIF surgery and its predictive value through correlation analysis and receiver-operating characteristic curve. Of the 400 enrolled patients, 70 patients had PWH. Univariate analysis revealed significant differences between the two groups in the course of diabetes, mean fasting blood glucose (MFBG), SDBG, CV, LAGE, preoperative hypoglycaemic program, surgical segment, postoperative drainage time, incision length and other factors (p < 0.05). However, no significant differences were noted in factors such as gender, age, body mass index, hypertension, coronary heart disease, admission fasting blood glucose, preoperative haemoglobin A1c, surgical time, intraoperative bleeding volume, intraoperative blood transfusion volume and postoperative drainage volume (p > 0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) values of preoperative SDBG, CV and LAGE were 0.6657, 0.6432 and 0.6584, respectively. The cut-off values were 1.13 mmol/L, 6.97% and 0.75 mmol/L, respectively. The AUC values for postoperative SDBG, CV and LAGE were 0.5885, 0.6255 and 0.6261, respectively. The cut-off values were 1.94 mmol/L, 24.32% and 2.75 mmol/L, respectively. The multivariate ridge regression analysis showed that preoperative MFBG, SDBG, CV and LAGE; postoperative SDBG, CV and LAGE; postoperative long drainage time; and multiple surgical segments were independent risk factors for T2D patients to develop surgical site infection after PLIF (p < 0.05). The perioperative blood GV in patients with T2D is closely related to the occurrence of PWH after PLIF. Reducing blood GV may help to reduce the occurrence of PWH after PLIF.

Serum ammonia variation predicts mortality in patients with hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure.

Background: Hyperammonemia is critical to the development of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) and is associated with mortality in end-stage liver disease. This study investigated the clinical value of ammonia variation in hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) patients. Methods: A total of 276 patients with HBV-ACLF were retrospectively recruited. Patients' ammonia levels were serially documented. Baseline ammonia, Peak ammonia (highest level), and Trough ammonia (lowest level) were particularly corrected to the upper limit of normal (AMM-ULN). The primary endpoint was 28-day mortality. Results: The 28-day, 3-month, and 12-month mortality rates were 19.2, 25.7, and 28.2%, respectively. A total of 51 (18.4%) patients had overt HE (grade 2/3/4). Peak AMM-ULN was significantly higher in patients with overt HE and non-survivors compared with their counterparts (P < 0.001). Following adjustment for significant confounders, high Peak AMM-ULN was an independent predictor of overt HE (hazard ratio, 1.031, P < 0.001) and 28-day mortality (hazard ratio, 1.026, P < 0.001). The cut-off of Peak AMM-ULN was 1.8, determined by using the X-tile. Patients with Peak AMM-ULN appearing on days 1-3 after admission had a higher proportion of overt HE and mortality compared to other groups. Patients with decreased ammonia levels within 7 days had better clinical outcomes than those with increased ammonia. Conclusion: Serum Peak ammonia was independently associated with overt HE and mortality in HBV-ACLF patients. Serial serum ammonia may have prognostic value.

TCF7 and LEF-1 downregulation in sepsis promotes immune suppression by inhibiting CD4+ T cell proliferation.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that sepsis is implicated in a reduction in the number and function of CD4+ T cells. TCF7 and LEF-1 facilitate early T cell development and lineage selection of CD4+ T cells. However, the function and mechanism of TCF7 and LEF-1 in sepsis are uncharacterized. This study intended to delineate effect of TCF7 and LEF-1 on sepsis and the impact on proliferation of CD4+ T cells in sepsis. METHODS: A mouse sepsis model was constructed by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) method. Expression of TCF7 and LEF-1 in sepsis was investigated using bioinformatics analysis and molecular experiments. We then constructed TCF7 and LEF-1 overexpression cell lines to investigate their effects on proliferation, apoptosis, effector activation, and immunosuppressive molecules of CD4+ T cells in sepsis. RESULTS: TCF7 and LEF-1 were downregulated in sepsis. As the duration of sepsis induction increased, the levels of TCF7 and LEF-1 gradually decreased, as did the number of CD4+ T cells. Cell experiments showed that overexpression of TCF7 and LEF-1 enhanced proliferation and effector activation of CD4+ T cells, reduced apoptosis, decreased PD-1 and LAG3 expression, and promoted immune response in sepsis. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, this study confirmed that downregulation of TCF7 and LEF-1 expression in sepsis inhibited proliferation of CD4+ T cells, leading to immune suppression. This finding suggested that TCF7 and LEF-1 were potential biological targets for sepsis and indicated that immunotherapy aimed at improving CD4+ T cell proliferation may be a new strategy for immune therapy in sepsis patients.

Efficacy of surgical treatment and conservative treatment for cervical spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation in adults: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of surgical treatment and conservative treatment for cervical spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation (CSCIWFD) in adults by meta-analysis. METHODS: With a time span from 2010 to 2022, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wanfang databases were searched for all clinical randomized controlled trials on the comparison of surgical treatment and conservative treatment for CSCIWFD in adults. The Cochrane quality assessment tool was used as the standard. Stata 16.0 statistical software was used for meta-analysis. RESULTS: A total of 870 articles were retrieved, and 12 studies were finally included for meta-analysis. Among them, there were 451 patients in the observation group (surgical treatment) and 346 patients in the control group (conservative treatment). The results of meta-analysis showed that the observation group was superior to the control group in the effective rate (OR = 4.737, 95% CI [2.613, 8.586], P < .001), Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score at 3 months after treatment (SMD = 1.038, 95% CI [0.417, 1.659], P = .001), 6 months after treatment (SMD = 3.135, 95% CI [2.120, 4.151], P < .001) and 12 months after treatment (SMD = 2.808, 95% CI [1.880, 3.737], P < .001). In addition, the JOA scores of patients at 12 months after surgical treatment (SMD = 6.397, 95% CI [4.654, 8.14], P < .001) and conservative treatment (SMD = 3.197, 95% CI [2.144, 4.24], P < .001) were significantly higher than those before treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical treatment can improve the effective rate and JOA score of adult patients with CSCIWFD compared to conservative treatment. This suggests that surgical treatment can significantly improve the patient's spinal cord function.

DOCK8 inhibits the immune function of neutrophils in sepsis by regulating aerobic glycolysis.

INTRODUCTION: This study endeavored to investigate the role of DOCK8 in modulating the immune function triggered by sepsis. METHODS: Expression of DOCK8 in the whole blood of sepsis patients and its enrichment pathways were assayed by bioinformatics. Pearson analysis was used to predict the relationship between glycolytic signaling pathway and its relevance to neutrophil function in sepsis. A sepsis mouse model was then built by performing cecal ligation and puncture treatment on male mice. Neutrophils were isolated, and their purity was tested by flow cytometry. Neutrophils were then stimulated by lipopolysaccharide to build a sepsis cell model. Next, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and CCK-8 were applied to test the expression of DOCK8 and cell viability, western blot to assay the expression of HK-2, PKM2, and LDHA proteins, ELISA to measure the concentrations of TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6, Transwell to detect the chemotaxis of neutrophils and flow cytometry to detect the phagocytic activity of neutrophils. Finally, in different treatment groups, we used Seahorse XF 96 to analyze the extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) of sepsis cells and used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect the contents of pyruvic acid, lactic acid, and ATP in sepsis cells. RESULTS: DOCK8 was downregulated in sepsis blood and activated neutrophils. Aerobic glycolysis was positively correlated with sepsis. Activated neutrophils promoted the expression of inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6. Low expression of DOCK8 facilitated the proliferation, chemotaxis, and phagocytic activity of sepsis cells and promoted the expression of inflammatory factors. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that DOCK8 was enriched in the glycolytic signaling pathway. Low expression of DOCK8 induced ECAR, promoted the protein expression of HK-2, PKM2 and LDHA, and favored the increase of pyruvate, lactate, and ATP contents. While 2-DG treatment could restore these effects. CONCLUSION: DOCK8 may inhibit sepsis-induced neutrophil immune function by regulating aerobic glycolysis and causing excessive inflammation, which helps to explore potential therapeutic targets.

Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) Based on MIMO: A Survey.

With the rapid development of wireless communication technology and the emergence of intelligent applications, higher requirements have been put forward for data communication and computing capacity. Multi-access edge computing (MEC) can handle highly demanding applications by users by sinking the services and computing capabilities of the cloud to the edge of the cell. Meanwhile, the multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology based on large-scale antenna arrays can achieve an order-of-magnitude improvement in system capacity. The introduction of MIMO into MEC takes full advantage of the energy and spectral efficiency of MIMO technology, providing a new computing paradigm for time-sensitive applications. In parallel, it can accommodate more users and cope with the inevitable trend of continuous data traffic explosion. In this paper, the state-of-the-art research status in this field is investigated, summarized and analyzed. Specifically, we first summarize a multi-base station cooperative mMIMO-MEC model that can easily be expanded to adapt to different MIMO-MEC application scenarios. Subsequently, we comprehensively analyze the current works, compare them to each other and summarize them, mainly from four aspects: research scenarios, application scenarios, evaluation indicators and research issues, and research algorithms. Finally, some open research challenges are identified and discussed, and these indicate the direction for future research on MIMO-MEC.

Using gait videos to automatically assess anxiety.

Background: In recent years, the number of people with anxiety disorders has increased worldwide. Methods for identifying anxiety through objective clues are not yet mature, and the reliability and validity of existing modeling methods have not been tested. The objective of this paper is to propose an automatic anxiety assessment model with good reliability and validity. Methods: This study collected 2D gait videos and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale data from 150 participants. We extracted static and dynamic time-domain features and frequency-domain features from the gait videos and used various machine learning approaches to build anxiety assessment models. We evaluated the reliability and validity of the models by comparing the influence of factors such as the frequency-domain feature construction method, training data size, time-frequency features, gender, and odd and even frame data on the model. Results: The results show that the number of wavelet decomposition layers has a significant impact on the frequency-domain feature modeling, while the size of the gait training data has little impact on the modeling effect. In this study, the time-frequency features contributed to the modeling, with the dynamic features contributing more than the static features. Our model predicts anxiety significantly better in women than in men (r Male = 0.666, r Female = 0.763, p < 0.001). The best correlation coefficient between the model prediction scores and scale scores for all participants is 0.725 (p < 0.001). The correlation coefficient between the model prediction scores for odd and even frame data is 0.801~0.883 (p < 0.001). Conclusion: This study shows that anxiety assessment based on 2D gait video modeling is reliable and effective. Moreover, we provide a basis for the development of a real-time, convenient and non-invasive automatic anxiety assessment method.

Combined anterior and posterior approach in treatment of ankylosing spondylitis-associated cervical fractures: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Cervical fractures with ankylosing spondylitis (CAS) are a specific type of spinal fracture with poor stability, low healing rate, and high disability rate. Its treatment is mainly surgical, predominantly through the anterior approach, posterior approach, and the anterior-posterior approach. Although many clinical studies have been conducted on various surgical approaches, controversy still exists concerning the choice of these surgical approaches by surgeons. The authors present here a systematic evaluation and meta-analysis exploring the utility of the anterior-posterior approach versus the anterior approach and the posterior approach. METHODS: After a comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Embase databases, 12 clinical studies were included in the final qualitative analysis and 8 in the final quantitative analysis. Of these studies, 11 conducted a comparison between the anterior-posterior approach and the anterior approach and posterior approaches, while one examined only the anterior-posterior approach. Where appropriate, statistical advantage ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. RESULTS: The present meta-analysis of postoperative neurological improvement showed no statistical difference in the overall neurological improvement rate between the anterior-posterior approach and anterior approach (OR 1.70, 95% CI 0.61 to 4.75; p = 0.31). However, the mean change in postoperative neurological function was lower in patients who received the anterior approach than in those who received the anterior-posterior approach (MD 0.17, 95% CI -0.02 to 0.36; p = 0.08). There was an identical trend between the anterior-posterior approach and posterior approach, with no statistically significant difference in the overall rate of neurological improvement (OR 1.37, 95% CI 0.70 to 2.56; p = 0.38). Nevertheless, the mean change in neurological function was smaller in patients receiving the anterior-posterior approach compared with the posterior approach, but there was no statistically significant difference between the two (MD 0.17, 95% CI -0.02 to 0.36; p = 0.08). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this review and meta-analysis suggest that the benefits of the anterior-posterior approach are different from those of the anterior and posterior approaches in the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis-related cervical fractures. In a word, there is no significant difference between the cervical surgical approach and the neurological functional improvement. Therefore, surgeons should pay more attention to the type of cervical fracture, the displacement degree of cervical fracture, the spinal cord injury, the balance of cervical spine and other aspects to comprehensively consider the selection of appropriate surgical methods.

Multiple tophi deposits in the spine: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Spinal gout (SG) is a rare condition. So far, a limited number of cases have been reported. Herein, we reported a single case of a 42-year-old male patient with SG involving the cervicothoracic and lumbar spine who underwent cervicothoracic segmental surgery. CASE SUMMARY: The patient presented to the hospital with neck pain and limb weakness lasting for one month. He had a history of gout for more than 10 years. Clinical and imaging findings indicated bone and joint tophus erosion, and the patient underwent standard tophi excision and internal fixation with a nail-and-rod system. Histopathological examination suggested gout-like lesions. After the operation, the patient's spinal nerve symptoms disappeared, and muscle strength gradually returned to normal. The patient maintained a low-purine diet and was recommended to engage in healthy exercises. The patient recovered well. CONCLUSION: Clinicians should highly suspect SG when patients with chronic gout presented with low back pain and neurological symptoms. Early decompression and debridement surgery are important to relieve neurological symptoms and prevent severe secondary neurological deficits.

Reliability and validity analysis of personality assessment model based on gait video.

Personality affects an individual's academic achievements, occupational tendencies, marriage quality and physical health, so more convenient and objective personality assessment methods are needed. Gait is a natural, stable, and easy-to-observe body movement that is closely related to personality. The purpose of this paper is to propose a personality assessment model based on gait video and evaluate the reliability and validity of the multidimensional model. This study recruited 152 participants and used cameras to record their gait videos. Each participant completed a 44-item Big Five Inventory (BFI-44) assessment. We constructed diverse static and dynamic time-frequency features based on gait skeleton coordinates, interframe differences, distances between joints, angles between joints, and wavelet decomposition coefficient arrays. We established multidimensional personality trait assessment models through machine learning algorithms and evaluated the criterion validity, split-half reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of these models. The results showed that the reliability and validity of the Gaussian process regression (GPR) and linear regression (LR) models were best. The mean values of their criterion validity were 0.478 and 0.508, respectively, and the mean values of their split-half reliability were all greater than 0.8. In the formed multitrait-multimethod matrix, these methods also had higher convergent and discriminative validity. The proposed approach shows that gait video can be effectively used to evaluate personality traits, providing a new idea for the formation of convenient and non-invasive personality assessment methods.

Suicide Possibility Scale Detection via Sina Weibo Analytics: Preliminary Results.

Suicide, as an increasingly prominent social problem, has attracted widespread social attention in the mental health field. Traditional suicide clinical assessment and risk questionnaires lack timeliness and proactivity, and high-risk groups often conceal their intentions, which is not conducive to early suicide prevention. In this study, we used machine-learning algorithms to extract text features from Sina Weibo data and built a suicide risk-prediction model to predict four dimensions of the Suicide Possibility Scale-hopelessness, suicidal ideation, negative self-evaluation, and hostility-all with model validity of 0.34 or higher. Through this method, we can detect the symptoms of suicidal ideation in a more detailed way and improve the proactiveness and accuracy of suicide risk prevention and control.

Pex11a deficiency causes dyslipidaemia and obesity in mice.

Peroxisomes play a central role in lipid metabolism. We previously demonstrated that Pex11a deficiency impairs peroxisome abundance and fatty acid ß-oxidation and results in hepatic triglyceride accumulation. The role of Pex11a in dyslipidaemia and obesity is investigated here with Pex11a knockout mice (Pex11a-/- ). Metabolic phenotypes including tissue weight, glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, cholesterol levels, fatty acid profile, oxygen consumption, physical activity were assessed in wild-type (WT) and Pex11a-/- fed with a high-fat diet. Molecular changes and peroxisome abundance in adipose tissue were evaluated through qRT-PCR, Western blotting, and Immunofluorescence. Pex11a-/- showed increased fat mass, decreased skeletal muscle, higher cholesterol levels, and more severely impaired glucose and insulin tolerance. Pex11a-/- consumed less oxygen, indicating a decrease in fatty acid oxidation, which is consistent with the accumulation of very long- and long-chain fatty acids. Adipose palmitic acid (C16:0) levels were elevated in Pex11a-/- , which may be because of dramatically increased fatty acid synthase mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, Pex11a deficiency increased ventricle size and macrophage infiltration, which are related to the reduced physical activity. These data demonstrate that Pex11a deficiency impairs physical activity and energy expenditure, decreases fatty acid ß-oxidation, increases de novo lipogenesis and results in dyslipidaemia and obesity.

Successful restoration of a tropical shallow eutrophic lake: Strong bottom-up but weak top-down effects recorded.

Fish manipulation has been used to restore lakes in the temperate zone. Often strong short-term cascading effects have been obtained, but the long term-perspectives are less clear. Fish manipulation methods are far less advanced for warm lakes, and it is debatable whether it is, in fact, possible to create a trophic cascade in warm lakes due to the dominance and high densities of fast-reproducing omnivorous fish. However, removal of benthic feeding fish also reduce disturbance of the sediment, which not only affects the nutrient level but also the concentration of suspended organic and inorganic matter with enhanced water clarity and potentially better growth conditions for submerged macrophytes. We conducted a biomanipulation experiment in one of the basins in Chinese Huizhou West Lake that have remained highly turbid after extensive nutrient loading reduction. Another basin was used as control (control-treatment pairing design). Removal of a substantial amount of plankti-benthivorous fish was followed by planting of submerged macrophytes and stocking of piscivorous fish. We found strong and relatively long-lasting effects of the restoration initiative in the form of substantial improvements in water clarity and major reductions in nutrient concentrations, particularly total phosphorus, phytoplankton and turbidity, while only minor effects were detected for crustacean zooplankton grazers occurring in low densities before as well as after the restoration. Our results add importantly to the existing knowledge of restoration of warm lakes and are strongly relevant, not least in Asia where natural lakes frequently are used extensively for fish production, often involving massive stocking of benthivorous fish. With a growing economy and development of more efficient fish production systems, the interest in restoring lakes is increasing world-wide. We found convincing evidence that fish removal and piscivores stocking combined with transplantation of submerged macrophytes may have significant effects on water clarity in warm shallow lakes even if the zooplankton grazing potential remains low, the latter most likely as a result of high predation on the zooplankton.

[Analysis of delayed infection of proximal junctional zone after posterior spinal internal fixation and its treatment strategy].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the features and treatment strategy of delayed infection of proximal junctional zone after posterior spinal internal fixation. METHODS: The clinical data of 1325 patients underwent posterior spinal internal fixation were retrospectively analyzed. Delayed infection occurred in 10 patients, among which 4 infections occurred at the proximal junction (non-operative site). And these 4 patients were treated with combined broad-spectrum antibiotics. Their clinical symptoms and signs, lab tests, MRI findings, pathology findings, and clinical effects were analyzed. RESULTS: All four patients were followed up from 6 months to 4 years. No infection recurrence was found. All patients obtained satisfactory results after hospital discharge. No nerve injury was found. One patient developed kyphosis in the proximal junctional zone 2 years after the operation. According to the criteria of N.Nakano and T.Nakano, 3 cases obtained excellent results, while 1 poor. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence rate of delayed infections was rare after spinal operation. Delayed infections occurred in proximal junctional zone may be attributed to the stress concentration of adjacent segments after fixation and the degeneration of adjacent segments, thus forming inflammation areas. For refractory lumbar and back pains, an elevated blood sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein level, MRI manifestation and focal pathology would be helpful for establishing a definite diagnosis. Full course of combined broad-spectrum antibiotics in treating the infection can lead to satisfactory clinical results.

Sevoflurane Ameliorates Myocardial Cell Injury by Inducing Autophagy via the Deacetylation of LC3 by SIRT1.

Misfolded and aberrant proteins have been found to be associated with myocardial cell injury. Thus, increased clearance of misfolded or aggregated proteins via autophagy might be a potential option in preventing myocardial cell injury. Sevoflurane may ameliorate myocardial cell injury by affecting sirtuin 1- (SIRT1-) mediated autophagy. Rat models with myocardial cell injury were induced by limb ischemia reperfusion. The model rats received different treatments: sevoflurane, nicotinamide, and autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA). Autophagy was observed by SEM. The levels of SIRT1 and microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (LC3) were measured. Present findings demonstrated that limb ischemia reperfusion induced autophagy. Sevoflurane increased the level of SIRT1, which deacetylated LC3 and further increased autophagic rates. On the other hand, the autophagy was inhibited by sevoflurane and or the inhibitors of SIRT1 and LC3. Present results demonstrated a novel molecular mechanism by which sevoflurane induced autophagy by increasing the level of SIRT1 and reducing the acetylation of LC3.

Determination of acacetin in rat plasma by UPLC-MS/MS and its application to a pharmacokinetic study.

A rapid, sensitive and selective ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was developed and validated for the determination and pharmacokinetic investigation of acacetin in rat plasma. Sample preparation was accomplished through a simple one-step deproteinization procedure with 0.2 mL of acetonitrile to a 0.1 mL plasma sample. Plasma samples were separated by UPLC on an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column using a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid in water with gradient elution. The total run time was 2.0 min and the elution of acacetin was at 0.83 min. The detection was performed on a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer equipped with positive-ion electrospray ionization (ESI) by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of the transitions at m/z 285.3→242.2 for acacetin and m/z 237.2→194.3 for carbamazepine (internal standard). The calibration curve was linear over the range of 1-1600 ng/mL with a lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) of 1.0 ng/mL. Mean recovery of acacetin in plasma was in the range of 78.4-85.2%. Intra-day and inter-day precision were both <10.5%. This method was successfully applied in pharmacokinetic study after intravenous administration of 5.0mg/kg acacetin in rats.

Improved emission efficiency of electroluminescent device containing nc-Si/SiO(2) multilayers by using nano-patterned substrate.

Nanocrystalline Si/SiO(2) multilayers-based electroluminescent devices were prepared on nano-patterned p-Si substrates which were fabricated by nano-sphere lithography technique. The formed nano-patterned substrate contains periodic Si nano-cone arrays with the height of 80 approximately 95 nm and the diameter around 220 nm. The turn-on voltage of the luminescent device prepared on nano-patterned substrate is 3 V while the electroluminescence intensity is increased by over one order of magnitude compared to that of device prepared on flat substrate. The enhancement of the light emission can be attributed to the improved extraction efficiency of emission light as well as the high carrier-injection efficiency.