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Abstract Hypertrophic scars arise from aberrant wound healing and can lead to functional and aesthetic impairments. One of the common interventions for treating hypertrophic scars is fractional carbon dioxide (CO2) laser, which employs narrow laser beams to stimulate dermal collagen deposition. Recent studies and reports have suggested that combining laser therapy with other interventions such as botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) and topical growth factors may enhance treatment outcomes. Here, we examine the efficacy and safety of a sequential combination of BTX-A, fractional CO2 laser, and topical growth factors, referred to as combined therapy, for treating hypertrophic scars compared with only using fractional CO2 laser and topical growth factors, referred to as monotherapy. Our retrospective study includes 128 patients with hypertrophic scars (56 underwent monotherapy and 72 underwent combined therapy), which were followed-up for up to 15 months after the initiation of treatment to collect demographic and clinical data. Our analysis showed that the combined therapy significantly outperformed monotherapy in improving Vancouver scar scale scores (P more...

Abstract The treatment of multidrug-resistant tracheobronchial tuberculosis poses challenges, and research investigating the efficacy of bedaquiline or delamanid as treatment for this condition is limited. This retrospective cohort study was conducted from 2017 to 2021. The study extracted data of patients with multidrug-resistant tracheobronchial tuberculosis from medical records and followed up on prognoses. Participants were divided into three groups: the bedaquiline, delamanid, and control group. Clinical outcomes and the risk factors associated with early culture conversion were analyzed. This study included 101 patients, with 32, 25, and 44 patients in the bedaquiline, delamanid, and control groups respectively. The differences in the treatment success rates among the three groups did not show statistical significance. Both the bedaquiline and delamanid groups had significantly higher culture conversion rates compared to the control after 2 or 6 months of treatment, with significantly shorter median times to culture conversion (bedaquiline group: 2 weeks, delamanid group: 2 weeks, control group: 12 weeks, P more...

Abstract The purpose of this study is to compare the relative efficacy and safety of long-acting growth hormone (LAGH) as a growth hormone replacement therapy in prepubertal children with growth hormone deficiency (GHD). We searched the PubMed, Embase, CNKI, and Wanfang databases from inception to July 2023 and identified eleven relevant studies. PEG-LAGH showed better effect on height velocity (mean difference [MD]: − 0.031, 95% credibility interval [CrI]: − 0.278, 0.215) than somatrogon (MD: 0.105, 95% CrI: − 0.419, 0.636), somapacitan (MD: 0.802, 95% CrI: − 0.451, 2.068) and lonapegsomatropin (MD: 1.335, 95% CrI: − 0.3, 2.989) when compared with daily growth hormone (DGH). Furthermore, in terms of height standard deviation score, PEG-LAGH demonstrated better improvement (MD: − 0.15, 95% CrI: − 1.1, 0.66) than somatrogon (MD: − 0.055, 95% CrI: − 1.3, 0.51) and somapacitan (MD: 0.22, 95% CrI: − 0.91, 1.3). PEG-LAGH (risk ratio [RR]: 1.00, 95% CrI: 0.82, 1.2) reduced the risk of adverse events compared with other LAGH (somatrogon, RR: 1.1, 95% CrI: 0.98, 1.2; somapacitan, RR: 1.1, 95% CrI: 0.96, 1.4; lonapegsomatropin, RR, 1.1, 95% CrI: 0.91, 1.3) and was comparable with DGH. This is the first study to indirectly compare the LAGH thorough a network meta-analysis and provide evidence of the optimal efficacy of various LAGH specifically PEG-LAGH and acceptable safety profile in prepubertal children with GHD. more...

The objective of this study is to establish a nomogram for predicting low triiodothyronine syndrome (LTS), and clarify the risk factors of LTS. In this study, 109 LTS patients and 331 non-LTS patients were included as the subjects. The general biochemical information of the subjects was collected, and the relevant factors of LTS were evaluated. Concordance index (C-index), Calibration plot, Hosmer-Lemeshow test (H-L test), and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve were used to assess the nomogram model. The results of the multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the chronic heart failure (CHF) (OR: 1.978, 95% CI: 1.006–3.892), interleukin-6 (IL-6) (OR: 2.018, 95%CI: 1.043–3.901), infection (OR: 2.136, 95%CI: 1.154–3.955), C-reactive protein (CRP) (OR: 2.720, 95%CI: 1.311–5.641), and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) (OR: 3.121, 95%CI: 1.691–5.759) might be the relevant independent risk factors for LTS (P < 0.05), while serum albumin (Alb) might be a protective factor (P < 0.05). All the significant predictors were combined into a predictive nomogram, and the obtained C-index was 0.867 (95% CI: 0.824–0.910). The calibration plot showed good performance of the nomogram, and the predictive model passed H-L test (χ2 = 8.431, P = 0.392). The ROC curve of the model analysis revealed a high sensitivity and specificity. Infection, CHF, serum CRP, NT-proBNP, and IL-6 were identified as independent risk factors for LTS, while serum Alb was a protective factor for LTS. This nomogram predicting LTS possessed good discrimination and accuracy, which could provide scientific guidance for individualized prevention in clinical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Abstract The effects of adjuvants for increasing the immunogenicity of influenza vaccines are well known. However, the effect of adjuvants on increasing the breadth of cross-reactivity is less well understood. In this study we have performed a systematic screen of different toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists, with and without a squalene-in-water emulsion on the immunogenicity of a recombinant trimerized hemagglutinin (HA) vaccine in mice after single-dose administration. Antibody (Ab) cross-reactivity for other variants within and outside the immunizing subtype (homosubtypic and heterosubtypic cross-reactivity, respectively) was assessed using a protein microarray approach. Most adjuvants induced broad IgG profiles, although the response to a combination of CpG, MPLA and AddaVax (termed ‘IVAX-1’) appeared more quickly and reached a greater magnitude than the other formulations tested. Antigen-specific plasma cell labeling experiments show the components of IVAX-1 are synergistic. This adjuvant preferentially stimulates CD4 T cells to produce Th1>Th2 type (IgG2c>IgG1) antibodies and cytokine responses. Moreover, IVAX-1 induces identical homo- and heterosubtypic IgG and IgA cross-reactivity profiles when administered intranasally. Consistent with these observations, a single-cell transcriptomics analysis demonstrated significant increases in expression of IgG1, IgG2b and IgG2c genes of B cells in H5/IVAX-1 immunized mice relative to naïve mice, as well as significant increases in expression of the IFNγ gene of both CD4 and CD8 T cells. These data support the use of adjuvants for enhancing the breath and durability of antibody responses of influenza virus vaccines. more...

Abstract The discharge of yttrium containing wastewater is a potential risk to human health. Although biosorption is a promising method to remove yttrium from wastewater, whereas the application of it is limited due to the lack of efficient biosorbents. In this study, the removal of yttrium from wastewater using Serratia marcescens as a biosorbent was conducted. The effects of six parameters including pH (2–5.5), initial yttrium concentration (10–110 mg/L), biosorbent dosage (0.1–0.5 g/L), biosorption time (10–700 min), stirring speed (50–300 rpm) and temperature (20–60 °C) were evaluated. The main parameters were optimized using response surface methodology. The results showed that the adsorption capacity reached 123.65 mg/g at the optimized conditions. The biosorption mechanism was revealed based on a combined analysis using field emission transmission electron microscope-energy dispersion spectrum, Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. These results revealed that the hydroxyl, carboxyl, and amino groups were the adsorption functional groups for yttrium ions. Biosorption of yttrium by S. marcescens is under the combination of ion exchange, electrostatic attraction and complexation. These findings indicated that S. marcescens can be used as an efficient biosorbent to remove yttrium from wastewater. In addition, its adsorption capacity can be further improved by the enhancement of adsorption functional groups on the surface through chemical modification. more...

Abstract Our understanding of the structure and regulation of Plasmodium vivax genes is limited by our inability to grow the parasites in long-term in vitro cultures. Most P. vivax studies must therefore rely on patient samples, which typically display a low proportion of parasites and asynchronous parasites. Here, we present stranded RNA-seq data generated directly from a small volume of blood from three Cambodian vivax malaria patients collected before treatment. Our analyses show surprising similarities of the parasite gene expression patterns across infections, despite extensive variations in parasite stage proportion. These similarities contrast with the unique gene expression patterns observed in sporozoites isolated from salivary glands of infected Colombian mosquitoes. Our analyses also indicate that more than 10% of P. vivax genes encode multiple, often undescribed, protein-coding sequences, potentially increasing the diversity of proteins synthesized by blood stage parasites. These data also greatly improve the annotations of P. vivax gene untranslated regions, providing an important resource for future studies of specific genes. more...