A retrospective study on the influence of inclination of cusp on implant marginal bone height in patients with periodontal disease.

PURPOSE: To investigate the correlation between the marginal bone height of implants in the posterior maxilla of patients with periodontal disease and the inclination of cusp, providing a theoretical basis for the occlusal design of implant restorations in such patients.  Methods: A total of 80 patients with periodontal disease who underwent implant restoration in the posterior maxilla (55 men and 25 women; mean age 56.66 ± 12.70 years) were selected, with a total of 80 implant restorations (one implant restoration per patient). In addition to recording the main research factor of the inclination of cusp, general patient information, implant characteristics and restoration characteristics were taken, and retrospective analysis of the case data and imaging data of the 80 patients from over 3 years was conducted. Cone beam computed tomography was performed preoperatively and 3 years after implant loading to measure and calculate the marginal bone height of the implants using the One Volume Viewer software. Correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationship between the inclination of the cusp and marginal bone height.  Results: There was a positive correlation between the inclination of cusp and the marginal bone height of the implants, with a correlation coefficient of 0.661 (p < 0.001); the diameter of the implants, implant type and restoration type were negatively correlated with the marginal bone height of the implants, with correlation coefficients of -0.364 (p = 0.001), -0.232 (p = 0.038) and -0.298 (p = 0.007), respectively.  Conclusion: When designing the occlusion of implant restorations in the posterior maxilla of patients with periodontal disease, it is advisable to appropriately reduce the restoration's inclination of cusp.

Influence of one-day diabetes mellitus clinic management on blood glucose control and prognosis in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the influence of the one-day diabetes mellitus (DM) clinic management model on blood glucose control and prognosis in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS: A total of 930 patients diagnosed with GDM by oral glucose tolerance test screening at 24-28 weeks of gestation were selected from those who underwent outpatient prenatal checkups at our hospital and were randomly divided into one-day DM clinic group (n = 509) and control group (n = 421). A one-day DM clinic intervention was conducted in the one-day DM clinic group, and individualized dietary interventions and exercise instruction were given in the control group. RESULTS: The compliance rates of fasting blood glucose and two-hour postprandial blood glucose (2-h PPBG) were higher in the one-day DM clinic group than in the control group (p < .05). The compliance rates of the oral glucose tolerance test and insulin release test were higher in the one-day DM clinic group than in the control group (p < .05). There existed statistically significant differences in fasting blood glucose before delivery, together with the difference between fasting blood glucose at enrollment and before delivery and the difference between glycated hemoglobin at enrollment and before delivery (p < .05). CONCLUSION: The one-day diabetes mellitus clinic management model is more conducive to blood glucose control in patients with GDM and more conducive to the recovery of blood glucose and islet function in patients with GDM after delivery and to reduce the occurrence of adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Natural zwitterionic l-Carnitine as efficient cryoprotectant for solvent-free cell cryopreservation.

Organic solvents, such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and glycerol, have been commonly used as cryoprotectants (CPAs) in cell cryopreservation. However, their cytotoxicity and need of complex freezing protocols have impeded their applications especially in clinical cell therapy and regenerative medicine. Trehalose has been explored as a natural CPA to cryopreserve cells, but its poor cell permeability frequently results in low cryopreservation efficacy. In this work, we presented that a natural zwitterionic molecule-l-carnitine-could serve as a promising CPA for solvent-free cryopreservation. We demonstrated that l-carnitine possessed strong ability to depress water freezing point, and with ultrarapid freezing protocol, we studied the post-thaw survival efficiency of four cell lines (GLC-82 cells, MCF-7 cells, NIH-3T3 cells and Sheep Red Blood Cells) using l-carnitine without addition of any organic solvents. At the optimum l-carnitine concentration, all four cell lines could achieve above 80% survival efficiency, compared with the significantly lower efficiency using organic CPAs and trehalose. After cryopreservation, the recovered cell behaviors including cell attachment and proliferation were found to be similar to the normal cells, indicating that the cell functionalities were not affected. Moreover, l-carnitine showed no observable cytotoxicity, which was superior to the organic CPAs. This work offered an attractive alternative to traditional CPAs and held great promise to revolutionize current cryopreservation technologies, to benefit the patients in various cell-based clinical applications.

The preservation of living cells with biocompatible microparticles.

Biomedical applications of living cells have rapidly expanded in many fields such as toxic detection, drug screening, and regenerative medicine, etc. Efficient methods to support cell survival and maintain activity in vitro have become increasingly important. However, traditional cryopreservation for living cell-based applications is limited by several problems. Here, we report that magnetic hydrogel microparticles can physically assemble into a 3D environment for efficient cell preservation in physiological conditions, avoiding any chemical reactions that would damage the cells. Two representative cell lines (loosely and firmly adherent) were tested to evaluate the versatility of this method. The results showed that cell longevity was significantly extended to at least 15 days, while the control cell samples without microparticles quickly died within 3 days. Moreover, after preservation, cells can be easily retrieved by applying a magnet to separate the magnetic particles. This strategy can also inhibit cell over-proliferation while avoiding the use of temperature extremes or toxic cryoprotectants that are essential in cryopreservation.

Prediction and classification of chemical composition of ancient glass objects based on generalized Shapley functions.

Ancient glass products have suffered from the baptism of time and experienced changes in the burial environment and weathering, resulting in a change in the proportions of their chemical composition and interfering with their accurate identification by later generations. In this paper, the chemical composition of ancient glass products is predicted and identified. First, the multivariate statistical ANOVA test is applied to explore the relationship between whether the cultural relics samples are weathered or not and the glass type, decoration, and color to derive a law of chemical composition of the cultural relics and to analyze the correlation and difference among the four factors. Second, compared with the relevant data of the existing glass products, the missing values are processed by using the method of filling in the plurality. The weathering condition of the sampling points of the samples whose surfaces are not weathered is judged by the "distance discrimination method." Combined with the characteristics of the lead-barium glass and the high-potassium glass, the law of the chemical composition content on the surface of the samples, weathered or not, is explored. The modeling of the gray prediction method was applied again to predict the chemical composition content before weathering. Finally, the generalized Shapley function of fuzzy measurement was used to analyze the correlation between indicators and the chemical compositions and their differences. The scheme proposed in this paper can solve the difficult problem of category judgment in archeology, which is of great significance in promoting the smooth progress of archaeological work.

Benefits and Barriers of Holistic Nursing Training by High-Fidelity Simulation in Obstetrics.

Background: With the technology of high-fidelity simulates developed, the clinical education route has changed. The nursing school pays attention on the use of high-fidelity simulations in nursing education. However, in China, only a few schools can afford the expensive teaching tools, including SimMom 3G and virtual reality (VR) devices, which also focus on "holistic nursing simulation." Objective: To explore the evaluation and development of a holistic nursing simulation session for nursing students based on an integrated nursing approach in obstetrics. Methods: This study was based in a rich Chinese nursing school under the medical university that value nursing education. This study is founded on 147 third-year nursing students in obstetrics classes. After the simulation teaching, the teaching effect of the questionnaire was investigated, and the total number of questionnaires was 124 students. Results: Students agreed that the holistic nursing simulation cultivated humanistic care literacy, clinical practice ability, and clinical thinking ability; enhanced teamwork ability; and reinforced professional knowledge. Conclusion: This simulation teaching method helps to cultivate students' enthusiasm and initiative and fosters their self-learning ability.

The therapeutic effects of attending a one-day outpatient service on patients with gestational diabetes and different pre-pregnancy body mass indices.

Purpose: This study investigated the effects of attending a one-day outpatient service on the outcomes of patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and different pre-pregnancy body mass indices (BMIs). Methods: The study recruited 311 pregnant women with GDM into a one-day outpatient service at The Fourth Hospital of Shijiazhuang from September 2019 to December 2021. They were randomly assigned to three groups, based on their pre-pregnancy BMI as follows: group A, BMI < 18.5 kg/m2; group B, 18.5 ≥ BMI > 25.0 kg/m2; group C, BMI ≥25 kg/m2. The following information was collected from all the participants: fasting blood glucose, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1C), insulin dose, gestational weight gain, weight gain after the one-day outpatient service, and perinatal outcomes. Results: The three groups showed significant differences in fasting blood glucose and HbA1C, insulin treatment rate, and the incidence of pregnancy hypertension/preeclampsia and neonatal jaundice (all P < 0.05). The rate of excessive gestational weight gain in all of the groups also reflected significant differences (P < 0.05). Group A showed the lowest weight gain, while group C gained the most weight. There is no significant difference in the incidences of hypertension/preeclampsia, neonatal jaundice, or premature birth between patients with weight loss/no weight gain and those with positive weight gain. Conclusion: One-day diabetes outpatient integrated management may effectively help to manage weight gain and blood glucose in patients with GDM and different pre-pregnancy BMIs. Dietary control after a GDM diagnosis may have helped to avoid weight gain entirely, as well as negative weight gain, but did not increase the risk of maternal and infant-related complications.

Engineering hollow carbon spheres: directly from solid resin spheres to porous hollow carbon spheres via air induced linker cleaving.

Hollow carbon spheres (HCSs) have broad application in many fields such as catalysis, adsorption and energy storage. Due to various restrictions on hard and soft templates, self-templating methods have received extensive attention. Generally, the conventional self-templating method includes two steps, including the hollowing and carbonization process. Herein, a facile novel one-step air induced linker cleaving (AILC) method was developed to synthesize HCSs using 3-aminophenol formaldehyde (APF) resin spheres as the carbon precursor. In this case, the cavitation and carbonization processes occur simultaneously. The as-prepared HCSs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that the cleavage of the ether bond groups (Ar-O-C) and the methylene (-CH2) in the APF resulted in cavitation and carbonization. The degree of cavitation and carbonization can be adjusted by controlling the thermal treatment temperature and time in air. Furthermore, the sulfur cathode containing HCSs heated at 400 °C exhibited excellent electrochemical performance with an initial discharge capacity of 1006 mA h g-1 at 0.2 C, and a low capacity decay rate of 0.097% per cycle over 500 cycles at 1 C. The novel one-step AILC strategy will pave a new avenue for the synthesis of hollow carbon spheres and their promising application in different areas.

The Impact of the One-Day Clinic Diabetes Mellitus Management Model on Perinatal Outcomes in Patients with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to explore the impact of the one-day clinic diabetes mellitus (DM) management model on perinatal outcomes in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS: A total of 995 patients who underwent prenatal checkups at our hospital and were diagnosed with GDM by oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) screening at 24-28 weeks of gestational age were enrolled between December 2018 and August 2020. The patients were randomly divided into a study group (541 cases) and a control group (454 cases). One-day clinic intervention for DM was conducted in the study group, while individualized dietary interventions and exercise instruction were given in the control group. The perinatal outcomes of patients were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: In the study group, maternal weight gain, fasting blood glucose before delivery, the incidence of abnormality in postpartum OGTT, and abnormality of pancreatic islet function were lower than in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The percentage of patients with insulin treatment in the study group was higher than in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The incidence of premature rupture of membranes, macrosomia, and neonatal jaundice was lower in the study group than in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The one-day clinic DM management model can effectively control weight gain and blood glucose levels during pregnancy in patients with GDM, resulting in a higher recovery rate of blood glucose and islet function after delivery and a lower incidence of premature rupture of membranes, macrosomia, and neonatal jaundice. The one-day clinic DM management model could therefore have profound implications for reducing and delaying the onset of postpartum type 2 diabetes in patients with GDM.

Genome Wide Analysis for Growth at Two Growth Stages in A New Fast-Growing Common Carp Strain (Cyprinus carpio L.).

In order to identify candidate genes or loci associated with growth performance of the newly established common carp strain, Xinlong, we conducted a genome-wide association analysis using 2b-RAD technology on 123 individuals. We constructed two sets of libraries associated with growth-related parameters (weight, length, width and depth) measured at two different grow-out stages. Among the 413,059 SNPs identified using SOAP SNP calling, 147,131 were tested for GWAS after quality filtering. Finally, 39 overlapping SNPs, assigned to four genomic locations, were associated with growth traits in two stages. These loci were assigned to functional classes related to immune response, response to stress, neurogenesis, cholesterol metabolism and development, and proliferation and differentiation of cells. By overlapping results of Plink and EMMAX analyses, we identified three genes: TOX, PLK2 and CD163 (both methods P < 0.05). Our study results could be used for marker-assisted selection to further improve the growth of the Xinlong strain, and illustrate that largely different sets of genes drive the growth of carp in the early and late grow-out stages.

Hemocompatible hemoadsorbent for effective removal of protein-bound toxin in serum.

Resin hemoperfusion is a life-saving treatment for drug intoxication or hepatic failure of patients. However, current resin adsorbents exhibit a limited hemocompatibility or low adsorption efficiency, representing a major roadblock to successful clinical applications. In this work, we developed a hemocompatible and effective hemoadsorbent based on polystyrene resin (H103) microparticles encapsulated in anti-biofouling zwitterionic poly(carboxybetaine) (PCB) hydrogels. Apart from a strong mechanical stability, this PCB-based adsorbent (PCB-H103) exhibited excellent hemocompatibility (hemolysis ratio was ∼0.64%), which was attributed to the anti-biofouling property of PCB hydrogel. In addition, it can efficiently adsorb both small and middle molecular weight molecules in phosphate-buffered saline, and the efficiencies were significantly higher than poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate-based and poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-based adsorbent counterparts, indicating the favorable permeability of PCB hydrogel coating. More importantly, PCB-H103 could effectively remove protein-bound toxins including phenol red and bilirubin in bovine serum albumin solution or even in 100% fetal bovine serum (FBS). In 100% FBS, the adsorption capacity of PCB-H103 towards bilirubin was 8.3 times higher than that of pristine clinical-scale resin beads. Findings in this work may provide a new strategy for the development of modern resin hemoperfusion technology.

Critical thickness of a surface-functionalized coating for enhanced lithium storage: a case study of nanoscale polypyrrole-coated FeS2 as a cathode for Li-ion batteries.

The encapsulation or coating of conductive materials is an effective strategy to increase the electrochemical ion-storage performance of some promising electrode materials such as transition metal oxides and sulfides, which are low-cost and have high capacity, but their practical applications are hindered by their intrinsically low conductivity and large volume changes during cycling; however, to date, the effect of the thickness of conductive layers on the ion-storage performance has been rarely studied. In this study, taking nanoscale polypyrrole (PPY)-coated FeS2 as an example, the effect of the critical thickness of the conductive PPY coating on the lithium-ion storage performance of (PPY)-coated FeS2 as a cathode of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) was investigated. Via a facile vapor-phase polymerization method, uniform PPY coatings with the thickness of 1-18 nm on microsized FeS2 particles were prepared. It was found that the critical thickness of PPY was 5 nm, at which the PPY-coated FeS2 cathode exhibited remarkablely superior high-rate capability (808, 583, 543, 511, and 489 mA h g-1 at 0.1, 1, 2, 5 and 10 A g-1, respectively) and long-term stability (504 mA h g-1 at 1.0 A g-1 after 500 cycles) as compared to those with other coating thicknesses owing to the acheivement of optimal electrical conductivity and ion diffusion efficiency. Thus, this study provides an insight into the critical thickess of a surface-functionalized coating of active materials and opens a new avenue for the futher enhancement of the performance of energy storage deivces.

Antifouling zwitterionic hydrogel coating improves hemocompatibility of activated carbon hemoadsorbent.

Activated carbon has been widely used in hemoperfusion treatments. However, its performance has been significantly compromised by their poor hemocompatibility. In this work, we developed a novel antifouling adsorbent based on zwitterionic poly-carboxybetaine (PCB) hydrogel and powdered activated carbon (PAC) to improve hemocompatibility. We found this new adsorbent (PCB-PAC) was highly stable with negligible leakage of activated carbon debris. It could efficiently resist protein adsorption and avoid any hemolysis effect. The adsorption performance of PCB-PAC for methylene blue was not influenced in a single protein solution or even in 100% fetal bovine serum (FBS), in which pristine PAC lost 50% of its adsorption ability. The isotherms results showed that the adsorption process of PCB-PAC fitted the Langmuir isotherm well, indicating that the PAC particles were homogenously distributed in the PCB hydrogel matrix. Moreover, PCB-PAC could also adsorb bilirubin molecules bound to albumin in solution, while pristine PAC showed no discernible adsorption effect. Findings in this work hold great potential to significantly improve the performance and efficiency of current extracorporeal devices for removing toxins from blood directly.

The hypothermic preservation of mammalian cells with assembling extracellular-matrix-mimetic microparticles.

Hypothermic preservation at a refrigerated temperature allows feasible and flexible storage of living cells, and is of great importance for the widespread use of cell-based applications, such as cell diagnostics and cell therapy. The University of Wisconsin (UW) cold storage solution is one of the current state-of-the-art protectants for hypothermic cell preservation. However, even by using the UW solution, the current effective preservation time under refrigerated conditions is still no more than 1 or 2 days, which restraints larger geographic cell-sharing regions. Herein, we presented a facile technology based on the assembly of extracellular-matrix-mimetic microparticles, which can significantly enhance cell survival in hypothermic preservation under refrigerated conditions for at least 4 days. Moreover, compared with UW solution-based preservation, this strategy significantly inhibited cell nucleus deformation, indicating its ability to inhibit cell apoptosis. Furthermore, after being preserved, both the morphology and proliferation of the recovered cells were similar to normal cells. In addition, microparticle-based preservation could allow the free diffusion of nutrients and metabolic waste, and it was possible to easily and physically retrieve the cells using a permanent magnet. This new technology could significantly extend the preservation duration of cells and hold great promise to improve the outcome of cell therapy and diagnostic accuracy, which will benefit patients in various cell-based applications.

Natural zwitterionic betaine enables cells to survive ultrarapid cryopreservation.

Cryoprotectants (CPAs) play a critical role in cryopreservation because they can resist the cell damage caused by the freezing process. Current state-of-the-art CPAs are mainly based on an organic solvent dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and several DMSO-cryopreserved cell products have been brought to market. However, the intrinsic toxicity and complex freezing protocol of DMSO still remain as the bottleneck of the wide use for clinical applications. Herein, we reported that betaine, a natural zwitterionic molecule, could serve as a nontoxic and high efficient CPA. At optimum concentration of betaine, different cell types exhibited exceptional post-thaw survival efficiency with ultrarapid freezing protocol, which was straightforward, cost efficient but difficult to succeed using DMSO. Moreover, betaine showed negligible cytotoxicity even after long-term exposure of cells. Mechanistically, we hypothesized that betaine could be ultra-rapidly taken up by cells for intracellular protection during the freezing process. This technology unlocks the possibility of alternating the traditional toxic CPAs and is applicable to a variety of clinical applications.