Clinical nursing mentors' motivation, attitude, and practice for mentoring and factors associated with them.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the motivation, attitude, and practice toward mentoring and related factors among clinical nursing mentors. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included clinical nursing mentors from 30 hospitals in Zhejiang Province between August and September 2023. Demographic information, motivation, attitude, and practice were collected through a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 495 valid questionnaires were collected, and most of the participants were 30-39 years old (68.7%). Average motivation, attitude, and practice scores were 29 [26, 32] (possible range: 8-40), 87 (82, 94) (possible range: 22-110), and 41 (38, 45) (possible range: 11-55), respectively. Correlation analyses showed that the motivation scores were positively correlated with attitude scores (r = 0.498, P < 0.001) and practice scores (r = 0.408, P = 0.001), while attitude scores were positively correlated with practice scores (r = 0.554, P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression showed that intermediate and senior nursing mentors (OR = 0.638, 95% CI: [0.426-0.956], P = 0.030) and different hospitals (OR = 1.627, 95% CI: [1.054-2.511], P = 0.028) were independently associated with motivation. The hospital's frequency of psychological care was a significant factor associated with nursing mentoring motivation, attitude, and practice. Participation in training (OR = 2.908, 95% CI: [1.430, 5.913], P = 0.003) and lower frequency of job evaluation in hospital ("Often": OR = 0.416, 95% CI: [0.244-0.709], P = 0.001 and "Sometimes": OR = 0.346, 95% CI: [0.184-0.650], P = 0.001) were independently associated with practice. CONCLUSION: Clinical nursing mentors had adequate motivation, positive attitude, and proactive practice towards mentoring and associated factors. Clinical nursing mentorship should be enhanced by prioritizing mentor training, fostering a supportive environment with consistent psychological care, and promoting structured mentorship activities.

Schisandrin A regulates the Nrf2 signaling pathway and inhibits NLRP3 inflammasome activation to interfere with pyroptosis in a mouse model of COPD.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a serious chronic lung disease. Schisandrin A (SchA) is one of the most important active ingredients in Schisandra chinensis and has been used to treat various lung diseases in several countries. Here, we studied the pharmacological effect of SchA on airway inflammation induced by cigarette smoke (CS) and explored the therapeutic mechanism of SchA in COPD model mice. Our results showed that SchA treatment significantly improved the lung function of CS-induced COPD model mice and reduced the recruitment of leukocytes and hypersecretion of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). H&E staining showed that SchA treatment could effectively reduce emphysema, immune cell infiltration and airway wall destruction. In addition, we found that SchA treatment can stimulate the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) through the nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf2) pathway, significantly reduce oxidative stress, increase catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels, and suppress the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in COPD model mice. Moreover, SchA treatment suppressed the generation of the NLRP3/ASC/Caspase1 inflammasome complex to inhibit the inflammatory response caused by IL-1ß and IL-18 and pyroptosis caused by GSDMD. In conclusion, our study shows that SchA treatment can inhibit the production of ROS and the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome by upregulating Nrf-2, thereby producing anti-inflammatory effects and reducing lung injury in COPD model mice. More importantly, SchA exhibited similar anti-inflammatory effects to dexamethasone in COPD model mice, and we did not observe substantial side effects of SchA treatment. The high safety of SchA makes it a potential candidate drug for the treatment of COPD.

Development and Validation of a Risk Score Screening Tool to Identify People at Risk for Hypertension in Shanghai, China.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a screening tool based on a risk scoring approach that could identify individuals at high risk for hypertension in Shanghai, China. Methods: A total of 3147 respondents from the 2013 Shanghai Chronic Disease and Risk Factor Surveillance were randomly divided into the derivation group and validation group. The coefficients obtained from multivariable logistic regression were used to assign a score to each variable category. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to find the optimal cut-off point and to evaluate the screening performance. Results: Age, family history of hypertension, having diabetes, having dyslipidemia, body mass index, and having abdominal obesity contributed to the risk score. The area under the ROC curve was 0.817 (95% CI: 0.797-0.836). The optimal cut-off value of 20 had a sensitivity of 83.4%, and a specificity of 64.3%, demonstrating good performance. Conclusion: We developed a simple and valid screening tool to identify individuals at risk for hypertension. Early detection could be beneficial for high-risk groups to better manage their conditions and delay the progression of hypertension and related complications.

Schisandra A ameliorates cigarette smoke extract and lipopolysaccharide-induced oxidative stress in lung epithelial cells.

BACKGROUND: The previous studies reported the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of Schisandrin A (Sch A). This study aimed to investigate the ability of Sch A to protect against lung oxidative stress induced by the combination of cigarette smoke extract and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in an in vitro model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: The cell viability was determined by using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Colorimetry was used to detect the changes in antioxidant markers. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to examine the mRNA levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). The levels of IL-8 and HO-1 in the supernatant were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and Western blot analysis was performed to measure the phosphorylation and protein expression levels of nuclear factor-κB. RESULTS: Sch A inhibited the excessive proliferation of pulmonary epithelial cells, decreased malondialdehyde content, and increased the expression levels of superoxide dismutase and glutathione after the combined treatment of cigarette smoke extract and LPS. Also, Sch A downregulated the expression of IL-8 and upregulated the expression of HO-1 mRNA in lung epithelial cells and cell supernatants, and resulted in the downregulation of the protein expression level of phosphorylated nuclear factor-κB. CONCLUSIONS: Sch A inhibited the oxidative stress of lung epithelial cells induced by the combination of cigarette smoke extract and LPS. Sch A may be a potential therapeutic medication for COPD.