Amplification-Free Nucleic Acid Testing with a Fluorescence One-Step-Branched DNA-Based Lateral Flow Assay (FOB-LFA).

The emergence of the global pandemic and the discovery of nucleic acid biomarkers in cancer diagnosis have fostered the development of more accurate and adaptive molecular diagnosis technologies. Current nucleic acid testing (NAT) methods either lack sensitivity or require tedious amplification operations, which could not meet the need for point-of-care (POC) NAT for on-site and community-based diagnosis. Here, we present a fluorescence one-step-bDNA-based lateral flow assay (FOB-LFA) method for amplification-free NAT to realize point-of-care pathogen detection and disease diagnosis. Take COVID-19 as an example, the developed FOB-LFA demonstrated a high sensitivity of 300 copies/mL for the RNA of the SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus and exhibited high specificity among various homologous pseudoviruses. Further, the result of oropharyngeal swab sample detection suggested the great potential of FOB-LFA in clinical examination. The outstanding performance of FOB-LFA, including high sensitivity, high specificity, low cost, excellent portability, and minimized risk of nucleic acid leakage and contamination, can meet the POC testing demand for the diagnosis of various infectious and genetic diseases.

Atherogenic diet-diminished endothelial glycocalyx contributes to impaired vasomotor properties in rat.

Hypercholesterolemia- and atherosclerosis-caused vasomotor property dysfunction may be involved in many clinic manifestations of atherosclerosis, including angina, acute myocardial infarction, and sudden cardiac death. However, its underlying mechanism is not clear. The endothelial glycocalyx is a protective surface layer on the endothelial cells, serving as a molecular sieve, cell adhesion modulator, and mechanosensor for blood flow. In the present study, we demonstrated by confocal microscopy in Sprague-Dawley (SD) male rats fed a 12-wk high-cholesterol diet (HC) compared with the normal diet (NC) that the dimension of the endothelial glycocalyx reduced significantly in both the common carotid artery (2.89 ± 0.41 µm and 3.25 ± 0.44 µm, respectively) and the internal sinus region (2.35 ± 0.07 µm and 3.46 ± 0.86 µm, respectively). Furthermore, we showed by real-time PCR that this dimension modification of endothelial glycocalyx may be attributed to a significant downregulation of heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG)-related genes, including syndecan-3, glypican-1, and EXT1, not resulting from an enhanced shedding of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAGs) from the vessel wall to the plasma. Meanwhile, the mean contraction and relaxation forces of the common carotid artery with responses to norepinephrine (NE) and acetylcholine (ACh) decreased ~0.34- and 0.13-fold, respectively, accompanied by a lower level of nitric oxide (NO) release. These findings suggest that the atherogenic high cholesterol diet diminished endothelial glycocalyx and disturbed the local NO release, thus contributing to the impaired vasomotor properties of the vessel.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Twelve-week high-cholesterol (HC) diet reduces the thickness of the endothelial glycocalyx in Sprague-Dawley (SD) male rats, which is mainly attributed to a downregulation of heparan sulfate proteoglycan-related genes (syndecan-3, glypican-1, EXT1), not resulting from an enhanced shedding of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAGs) into the plasma. HC-diminished glycocalyx may disturb its mechanotransduction of local shear stress, lower nitric oxide (NO) release, and impair vasomotor responses to norepinephrine (NE) and acetylcholine (ACh).

Adaptation of glycocalyx, nitric oxide synthase expression and vascular cell apoptosis in conduit arteries of tail-suspended rats.

The importance of vascular cell glycocalyx in mechanotransduction has been demonstrated by many studies. The simulated microgravity induced a region-dependent adaptation of arterial glycocalyx including its thickness, coverage, and gene expression in conduit arteries of tail-suspended rats has been reported in our previous studies. Herein, we extended this line of research by quantifying the mRNA levels of three nitric oxide synthase (NOSI, NOSII, and NOSIII) and evaluating the apoptotic rates of endothelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in the common carotid artery, abdominal aorta, and femoral artery of 3 week tail-suspended rats. Results indicated that the tail suspension of rats induced about 0.36, 0.22, and 0.33 fold down-regulation of NOSI, NOSII, and NOSIII in the abdominal aorta, while 3.21, and 3.48 fold up-regulation of NOSII and NOSIII in the carotid artery and no significant effects on three NOS isoforms in the femoral artery. Moreover, the apoptosis of ECs and SMCs were significantly inhibited in both carotid artery and abdominal aorta, while enhanced in the femoral artery of the tail-suspended rats. A linear positive correlation exists between the normalized coverage of the glycocalyx and the normalized NOSI and NOSIII mRNA levels. These results indicated that the redistribution of haemodynamics in the conduit arteries of 3 week tail-suspended rats regulated the glycocalyx, NOS expression, and vascular cell apoptosis in a region-dependent manner, contributing to the final vascular remodelling under simulated microgravity condition.

Practical value of predictive nursing in the operating room for stress reaction and risk events in elderly patients with lower limb fractures.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of predictive nursing in the operating room on the stress response and risk events of elderly patients with lower limb fractures. METHODS: The medical records of 114 elderly patients with lower limb fractures who underwent surgical reduction from August 2020 to May 2022 in Baiyin First People's Hospital were collected for this retrospective analysis. Among them, 54 patients who received routine nursing during the perioperative period were the control group, and 60 patients who received predictive nursing in operating room during the perioperative period were the observation group. The two groups were compared in terms of the changes of intraoperative stress response indexes and the occurrence of risk events, general data, postoperative complications, nursing satisfaction and changes in anxiety and depression. Logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors affecting the occurrence of risk events in patients. RESULTS: After nursing, the observation group showed significantly lower levels of heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), noradrenaline (NE), and adrenaline (AD) than the control group (P<0.05). After nursing, the observation group got significantly lower self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS) scores than the control group (P<0.05). A lower incidence of risk events was found in the observation group than in the control group (P=0.037). Additionally, the observation group experienced less intraoperative blood loss and shorter operation time than the control group (P<0.05). The observation group presented a lower incidence of complications after operation than the control group (P=0.009), and greatly higher nursing satisfaction than the control group (P=0.001). According to multivariate logistic regression analysis, age and nursing plan were independent risk factors affecting the risk events in patients (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Predictive nursing in the operating room can substantially improve the intraoperative nursing quality of elderly patients with lower limb fractures, which can reduce intraoperative stress reaction, negative emotions, and surgical risk events and complications, and improve postoperative rehabilitation.

Incidence and risk factors of intimate partner violence among patients with gynaecological cancer in China.

AIM: The aim of this study is to examine the incidence and risk factors for intimate partner violence (IPV) among patients with gynaecological cancer. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study design was employed. METHODS: Patients with gynaecological cancer were recruited from a tertiary hospital in Shandong, China. Eligible patients completed a survey including questions regarding their demographic and cancer-related characteristics, IPV experience and dyadic coping. RESULTS: A total of 429 patients were surveyed, 31% of them reported previous experiences with IPV, and negotiation was the most common type reported. The following variables were associated with IPV: a husband, wife and child/children family structure; a husband, wife, child/children and parent-in-law family structure; an annual household income ≥¥50,000 ($7207); and a similar or greater income earned by the patient than by her partner. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: IPV in patients with gynaecological cancer is investigated in this study.

Immuno-Acoustic Sorting of Disease-Specific Extracellular Vesicles by Acoustophoretic Force.

Methods for the isolation and analysis of extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been extensively explored in the field of life science and in clinical diagnosis in recent years. The separation and efficient recovery of high-purity target EVs from biological samples are important prerequisites in the study of EVs. So far, commonly used methods of EV separation include ultracentrifugation, filtration, solvent precipitation and immunoaffinity capturing. However, these methods suffer from long processing time, EV damage and low enrichment efficiency. The use of acoustophoretic force facilitates the non-contact label-free manipulation of cells based on their size and compressibility but lacks specificity. Additionally, the acoustophoretic force exerted on sub-micron substances is normally weak and insufficient for separation. Here we present a novel immuno-acoustic sorting technology, where biological substances such as EVs, viruses, and biomolecules, can be specifically captured by antibody/receptor coated microparticles through immunoaffinity, and manipulated by an acoustophoretic force exerted on the microparticles. Using immuno-acoustic sorting technology, we successfully separated and purified HER2-positive EVs for further downstream analysis. This method holds great potential in isolating and purifying specific targets such as disease-related EVs from biological fluids and opens new possibilities for the EV-based early diagnosis and prognosis of diseases.