Search

Interdigital tinea pedis is the most common type of foot infection, which is often treated by topical or systemic antifungals. Due to the increase in antifungal resistance, antifungal socks are becoming potential alternatives for the daily management of tinea pedis. In this study, antifungal fibres were adopted to produce interdigital hygiene socks to split the third and fourth toe seams of the feet. In vitro antifungal activity was first examined to verify the effectiveness of the socks. Preventive efficacy against tinea pedis was then evaluated among healthy participants, followed by therapeutic effect detection in patients diagnosed with tinea pedis by analysing the improvement in total symptom scores (TTS). The interdigital-type hygiene socks exhibited apparent antifungal activities in vitro. An in vivo study demonstrated significant preventive effects against tinea pedis for interdigital socks compared to plain socks (P = 0.011) and a lower TTS than noninterdigital (P = 0.04) or plain socks (P < 0.0001). Moreover, interdigital socks showed a total effectiveness rate of 72.9% in patients with tinea pedis, with most of the symptoms alleviated. Interdigital-type hygiene socks not only exhibited in vitro antifungal activities but also showed significant prophylactic and therapeutic effects against interdigital tinea pedis in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactate serves not merely as an energy substrate for skeletal muscle but also regulates myogenic differentiation, leading to an elevation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. The present study was focused on exploring the effects of lactate and ROS/p38 MAPK in promoting C2C12 myoblasts differentiation. Our results demonstrated that lactate increased C2C12 myoblasts differentiation at a range of physiological concentrations, accompanied by enhanced ROS contents. We used n-acetylcysteine (NAC, a ROS scavenger) pretreatment and found that it delayed lactate-induced C2C12 myoblast differentiation by upregulating Myf5 expression on days 5 and 7 and lowering MyoD and MyoG expression. The finding implies that lactate accompanies ROS-dependent manner to promote C2C12 myoblast differentiation. Additionally, lactate significantly increased p38 MAPK phosphorylation to promote C2C12 cell differentiation, but pretreatment with SB203580 (p38 MAPK inhibitor) reduced lactate-induced C2C12 myoblasts differentiation. whereas lactate pretreatment with NAC inhibited p38 MAPK phosphorylation in C2C12 cells, demonstrating that lactate mediated ROS and regulated the p38 MAPK signalling pathway to promote C2C12 cell differentiation. In conclusion, our results suggest that the promotion of C2C12 myoblasts differentiation by lactate is dependent on ROS and the p38 MAPK signalling pathway. These observations reveal a beneficial role for lactate in increasing myogenesis through ROS-sensitive mechanisms as well as providing new ideas regarding the positive impact of ROS in improving the function of skeletal muscle. [Display omitted] • Lactate promotes the differentiation of C2C12 cells. • Lactate promotes C2C12 cell differentiation in a ROS-dependent manner. • Lactate regulates C2C12 differentiation through the p38 MAPK signalling pathway. • ROS mediates the regulation of lactate on C2C12 cell differentiation through the p38 MAPK signalling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This study aimed to propose a novel robot-assisted procedure to determine tumor location using force signals in needle eccentric rotation. • The feasibility of this novel procedure was evaluated by finite element simulation and phantom experiment. • The results indicated that this procedure is effective for tumor localization, which is expected to be used in robot-assisted systems for cancer biopsy and brachytherapy. Abstract Accurate tumor localization is critical to early-stage cancer diagnosis and therapy. The recent force-guided technique allows to determine the depth of a suspicious tumor on the insertion path, while the spatial localization is still a great challenge. In this paper, a novel force-guided procedure was proposed to identify spatial tumor location using force signals during needle rotation. When there is a harder tumorous tissue around the needle rotation, an abnormal force signal will point to the location of the suspicious tissue. Finite element simulation and phantom experiment were conducted to test the feasibility of the procedure for the tumor localization. The simulation results showed that the harder tumorous tissue made a significant difference on the stress and deformation distributions for the surroundings, changing the needle-rotation force signals when the needle rotated towards the harder tissue. The experimental results indicated that the direction of the tumor location can be identified by the rotation-needle force signals. The intersection point of the two identified directions, derived from force signals of twice needle rotations, determined the tumor location ultimately. Also, parametric sensitivity tests were performed to examine the effective distance of the tumor location centre and the needle insertion point for the tumor localization. This procedure is expected to be used in robot-assisted system for cancer biopsy and brachytherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSC) are essential for triggering and relaying action potentials (AP), which perform critical functions in a variety of physiological processes, such as controlling muscle contractions and facilitating the release of neurotransmitters. In this study, we used a mouse C2C12 cell differentiation model to study the molecular expression and channel dynamics of VGSC and to investigate the exact role of VGSC in the development of muscle regeneration. Immunofluorescence, Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, Western blot, and whole-cell patch clamp were employed for this purpose in mouse myoblasts. The findings revealed an increase in intracellular sodium concentration, Na V 1.4 gene expression, and protein expression with the progress of differentiation (days 0, 1, 3, 5 and 7). Furthermore, VGSC dynamics exhibit the following characteristics: ① The increase of sodium current (I Na); ② The decrease in the activation threshold and the voltage trigger maximum of I Na ; ③ A positive shift in the steady-state inactivation curve; ④ The recovery of I Na during repolarization is delayed, the activity-dependent decay rate of I Na was accelerated, and the proportionate amount of the fraction of activated channels was reduced. Based on these results, it is postulated that the activation threshold of AP could be decreased, and the refractory period could be extended with the extension of differentiation duration, which may contribute to muscle contraction. Taken together, VGSC provides a theoretical and empirical basis for exploring potential targets for neuromuscular diseases and other therapeutic muscle regeneration dysfunctions. The present research employed a differentiation model (D0、D1、D3、D5、D7)utilizing mouse myoblast C2C12 cells to investigate the expression of Na V 1.4 and channel kinetics. [Display omitted] • It is the first time to confirm the electrophysiological changes of VGSC in myoblast at different stages of differentiation. • It is the first elucidation of functional changes in Na V 1.4 with differentiation time in myoblast. • The increase of sodium ions in myoblasts makes the cells more sensitive to electrical excitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]