Application of the 'online assessment + FOBT at home' to improve participation and the efficacy of opportunistic screening for colorectal cancer: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening faces two major challenges: insufficient screening coverage and poor adherence. A smartphone applet named "Early Screening Assistant (ESA)" was developed to create an online risk-assessment and fecal occult blood test (FOBT) at home. This retrospective study was designed to evaluate whether the new CRC screening strategy can improve the colonoscopy participation rate (PR) and lesion detection rate (DR). METHODS: In total, 6194 individuals who accepted normal health examinations and CRC screening based on the ESA from June 2020 to May 2022 were assigned to the ESA group. Accordingly, 7923 inhabitants who only accepted normal health examinations were assigned to the control group. The colonoscopy PR and neoplastic lesion DR were then compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Overall, a higher proportion of subjects in the ESA group (285 of 6194 [4.6%]) completed colonoscopy than in the control group (126 of 7923, [1.6%]), p < 0.01). The neoplastic lesion DR also significantly increased in the ESA group (76 of 6194 [1.22%]) compared with the control group (15 of 7923 [0.19%]) (p < 0.01). The adjusted diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the "Online assessment + FOBT at home" were 41.5% and 62.6% for neoplastic lesions, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This retrospective cohort study confirmed that the new CRC screening strategy based on the "Online assessment + FOBT at home" can improve colonoscopy participation and the neoplastic lesion detection rate and may represent a promising screening strategy for CRC. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was registered in China Clinical Trial Registry ( https://www.chictr.org.cn ) on 29/09/2022. REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR2200064186.

Chloroform extracts of Atractylodes chinensis inhibit the adhesion and invasion of Salmonella typhimurium.

There are 27 million cases of Salmonella Typhimurium (STM) reported worldwide annually, which have resulted in 217,000 deaths to date. Thus, there is an urgent requirement to develop novel antibacterial agents to target the multidrug-resistant strains of STM. We evaluated the inhibitory effect of the chloroform extracts of Atractylodes chinensis (Ac-CE) on the virulence of STM in vitro and develop it as a potential antibacterial agent. First, we determined the in vitro effects of Ac-CE on STM biofilm formation, and swimming, swarming, and adhesion to mucin. Further, we evaluated the effect of Ac-CE on the adhesion and invasion of STM at the gene level. Lastly, we evaluated the inhibitory effect of Ac-CE on STM infectivity at the cellular level. Ac-CE could attenuate both the adhesion and invasion abilities of STM in vitro. At the gene level, it could inhibit the expression of flagella, pilus, biofilm, SPI-1, and SPI-2 genes, which are related to the adhesion and invasion ability of STM in cells. Ac-CE significantly downregulated the expression of inflammatory cytokines and the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway in an STM infection cell model. It also significantly recovered the expression of intestinal barrier-related genes and proteins in intestinal cells that are damaged during STM infection. Ac-CE is effective as an antivirulence agent in alleviating STM infection. Although the main components of Ac-CE were analyzed.We have not demonstrated the antivirulence effect of the active ingredients in Ac-CE. And the antivirulence effect of Ac-CE and its active ingredients warrant further in vivo studies.

Paeonol Attenuates Quorum-Sensing Regulated Virulence and Biofilm Formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

With the prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria and clinical -acquired pathogenic infections, the development of quorum-sensing (QS) interfering agents is one of the most potential strategies to combat bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance. Chinese herbal medicines constitute a valuable bank of resources for the identification of QS inhibitors. Accordingly, in this research, some compounds were tested for QS inhibition using indicator strains. Paeonol is a phenolic compound, which can effectively reduce the production of violacein without affecting its growth in Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC 12472, indicating its excellent anti-QS activity. This study assessed the anti-biofilm activity of paeonol against Gram-negative pathogens and investigated the effect of paeonol on QS-regulated virulence factors in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A Caenorhabditis elegans infection model was used to explore the anti-infection ability of paeonol in vivo. Paeonol exhibited an effective anti-biofilm activity against Gram-negative bacteria. The ability of paeonol to interfere with the AHL-mediated quorum sensing systems of P. aeruginosa was determined, found that it could attenuate biofilm formation, and synthesis of pyocyanin, protease, elastase, motility, and AHL signaling molecule in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Moreover, paeonol could significantly downregulate the transcription level of the QS-related genes of P. aeruginosa including lasI/R, rhlI/R, pqs/mvfR, as well as mediated its virulence factors, lasA, lasB, rhlA, rhlC, phzA, phzM, phzH, and phzS. In vivo studies revealed that paeonol could reduce the pathogenicity of P. aeruginosa and enhance the survival rate of C. elegans, showing a moderate protective effect on C. elegans. Collectively, these findings suggest that paeonol attenuates bacterial virulence and infection of P. aeruginosa and that further research elucidating the anti-QS mechanism of this compound in vivo is warranted.