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The pathogenesis of aortic aneurysm and dissection continues to be under discussion. Extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling processes in the aortic wall are hypothesized to be involved in the development of the disorders. Therefore, in a histological study, we investigated the expression of metalloproteases 1 and 9 (MMP1 and MMP9) and their inhibitors (TIMP 1 and TIMP 2) in cardiac surgery patients. In parallel, we studied the aortic roots by echocardiography. Clinical reports of 111 patients (30 women and 81 men) who suffered from aortic aneurysms and aortic dissection were evaluated and studied by transesophageal echocardiography. Seven patients who had coronary heart disease served as "healthy controls". All patients underwent the necessary surgical procedure according to the diagnosed aortic disease in the period from 2007 to 2015. A tissue sample of the aortic biopsies was collected from each patient during surgery. Immunohistochemical staining was performed for MMP1 and MMP9 and TIMP1 and TIMP2 as well. Vascularization was monitored by a CD 31 antibody. In direct comparison, the expressions are not homogeneous. We found the smallest changes in the intima area at all. TIMP 1 and TIMP 2 distribution increases from the lumen of the vessel outward in the wall layers of the aorta. In the case of arteriosclerotic changes, intima had a capillarization, but not in the media. An opposite pattern was found in the dissected aortas. There are differences in the vascularization between the aneurysm and dissection and the different layers, respectively. A different remodeling process of the ECM in comparison to the vascular layers must be hypothesized. Reading the patterns of staining and with regard to the known inhibitory effect of MMP9 on ECM remodeling, but especially TIMP 2 on neoangiogenesis, disturbed nutrition, and dysfunctional vasa vasorum remodeling must be assumed as causes of dissection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The present meta-analysis examined the diagnostic accuracy of T2 Candida for candidiasis. Methods The literature databases, such as PubMed, Embase, DVIO, Cochrane library, Web of Science, and CNKI, were searched on T2 Candida detection. Results A total of 8 articles, comprising of 2717 research subjects, were included in the study. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.91 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.88–0.94) and 0.94 95% CI: 0.93–0.95), respectively. The pooled positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio was 10.16 (95% CI: 2.75–37.50) and 0.08 (95% CI: 0.02–0.35), respectively. The combined diagnostic odds ratio is 133.65 95% CI: 17.21–1037.73), and the AUC of SROC is 0.9702 [(SE = 0.0235), Q* = 0.9201(SE = 0.0381)]. Conclusions The current evidence supported that T2 Candida has high accuracy and sensitivity and is of major clinical significance in the diagnosis of Candida infection.

Reflection is viewed as the most significant skill and should be advocated for lifelong learning. In order to grasp the process of reflection and embrace the reflective skill, one of the authors of this paper reflects on a practice-based issue in relation to the communication between doctors and nurses, to gain new understanding and thus improve the authors’ clinical practice.

Reflection is a fundamental skill of health-care professionals and plays an important role in ensuring the quality of care in health-care practice. It is believed that undertaking reflection in practice can help nurses develop an awareness of a sense of personal power and agency, cultivate their critical thinking ability and help them promote their professional development. However, reflection has not been introduced widely as a nursing curriculum in China, and literature shows that some clinical nurses lack critical thinking skills and critical reflective practice skills by reason of not receiving systematic education on reflection when they were at nursing college. Therefore, we present a series of seven articles focused on prevalent and interesting practice-based events to reflect on in this special issue. The main aim is to disseminate reflective methodology and techniques and present examples of reflective writing for nurses. It is expected that these articles will help to lead Chinese nurses to adopt critical emancipatory reflective processes to bring about transformative actions.

Abstract Based on a combination of high resolution 3-D seismic, drilling and well logging and core data, this study focuses on describing the depositional features of the Neogene Minghuazhen Formation shallow water delta in Huanghekou area (HHKA), Bohai offshore basin and discussing the evolution and controlling factors of shallow water delta sandbody. An obvious meandering fluvial delta system developed in sequence 1 (SQ1) of the Neogene in HHKA with thinner sandbody of distributary channels and poor development of mouth bar. The sequence texture obviously influences the vertical development and stacking pattern of sandbodies and controls the distribution of sandbodies in plain view as well. In shallow water lacustrine basins, relative topographic height difference leads to change of distribution of accommodation space, and sandbodies of distributary channels usually develop well in local low-lying areas where accommodation space increases. The delta is dominated by distributary channel sandbodies during the early period of base level rising. Sandbodies contact with each other in a lateral stacking pattern and are characterized by a fan shape in plain view. Distributary channels gradually narrow and tend to shift during the mid- late-period of base level rising, while the sandbodies are characterized by a net shape in plain view. During the period of base level slow falling, the multistory/multilateral channel sandbodies dominated the inner front of shallow-water delta and the delta sand dispersal distributes as a lobe shape.

Abstract Background Cardiovascular complications, especially myocardial infarctions (MIs), are the leading mortality cause in diabetic patients. The transplantation of stem cells into damaged hearts has had considerable success as a treatment for MI, although whether antidiabetic drugs affect the therapeutic efficacy of stem cell transplantation is still unknown. This study aims to understand whether and how metformin, one of the first-line drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), induces mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) apoptosis and dampens their cardioprotective effect after transplantation into infarcted hearts. Methods A mouse MI model was generated via permanent ligation of the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery. MSCs with or without metformin treatment were transplanted after MI in diabetic mice. Echocardiography was used to assess cardiac function and determine cardiac remodeling, and TTC staining was performed to evaluate infarction size. A mouse gavage model was performed to evaluate bone marrow MSCs for flow cytometry assay. Results Metformin dampened MSC therapeutic efficacy, which increased infarct size and restricted functional cardiac recovery. Specifically, metformin induced the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)-mediated apoptosis through the inhibition of S6K1-Bad-Bcl-xL cell survival signaling, resulting in the upregulated expression of apoptosis-associated proteins and increased MSC apoptosis. Accordingly, counteracting AMPK attenuated metformin-induced apoptosis in MSCs and partially restored their cardioprotective effects in diabetic mice with MI. Furthermore, a decrease in peripheral blood MSCs was found in patients with T2DM who had a metformin medication history. Conclusions Our results highlight an unexpected adverse effect of metformin-induced MSC apoptosis through AMPK-mediated mTOR suppression, which is attenuated by an AMPK inhibitor. Moreover, AMPK inhibition may be a novel strategy for enhancing the effectiveness of stem cell therapy after MI in diabetes.

Mobile health (mHealth) provides an innovative and effective approach to promote prevention and management of coronary heart disease. However, the magnitude of its effects is unclear. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the impact of mHealth-based cardiac rehabilitation outcomes among coronary heart disease patients.

Background: The number of countries where nurses are legally permitted to prescribe has grown rapidly due to a variety of external and internal forces. Despite its international popularity, nurse prescribing has not yet been implemented in China widely. Objective: The intent of this paper is to review the current international literature regarding nurse prescribing so as to explore the necessity and possibility of implementation of nurse prescribing in China and classify the research gap. Methods: Eight electronic databases including Embase, SpringerLink, EBSCO, CINAHL, Medline, Wiley, Science Direct, CochraneLibrary were electronically searched to identify related peer-review articles published in the English language only from 2007 to 2017. Relative references found from the identified studies were traced back to ensure that potentially eligible articles were included. Results: Thirty-three publications which met the inclusion criteria were included in this literature review. The literature shows that not only could nurse prescribing provide quicker service, improvements in quality, but also could make better utilization of the nurses' professional skills and increase nurses' autonomy. Moreover, the barriers of nurse prescribing are explored to identify the factors that may facilitate the success of its implementation. Conclusion: The review advises that nurses' views towards nurse prescribing have played a significant role in the success of nurse prescribing. While no literature regarding Chinese nurses' attitudes towards nurse prescribing could be identified, it is imperative to examine their attitudes on it. This would help Chinese healthcare policymakers ascertain the necessity of the introduction of nurse prescribing and provide them with valuable information for service planning. Keywords: China, Nurse prescribing, Nurse specialist, Prescription

Background: Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) was strongly expressed and activated in psoriatic keratinocytes (KCs) and correlated with the severity of psoriasis. The study aimed to investigate the effects of STAT3 small interfering RNA (siRNA) combined with ultrasonic irradiation and SonoVue microbubbles on the proliferation and apoptosis in KCs of psoriatic lesions and the relative mechanisms. Methods: Psoriatic KCs were transfected under four experimental conditions: (1) STAT3 siRNA carried by Lipofectamine 3000 combined with ultrasonic irradiation and SonoVue microbubbles (LUS group); (2) STAT3 siRNA only carried by Lipofectamine 3000 (L group); (3) the negative control of siRNA carried by Lipofectamine 3000 combined with ultrasonic irradiation and SonoVue microbubbles (siRNA-NC); (4) not treated as Blank. Cell Counting Kit-8 assay was used to evaluate the cell proliferation. Cell cycle analysis was detected with cycle test Plus DNA reagent kit associated with flow cytometer. FITC Annexin V apoptosis detection kit associated with flow cytometer was applied for apoptosis analysis. Fluo calcium indicator associated with flow cytometer was used to analyze intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i). The expressions of cyclin D1 and Bcl-xL were detected both at the mRNA level by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and at the protein level by Western blotting. The obtained data were statistically evaluated by two-way analysis of variance. Results: STAT3 siRNA inhibited the growth of KCs in a time-dependent manner showing the highest proliferation inhibition in LUS group with proliferation ratio of 45.38% ± 5.85% at 72h (P < 0.05 vs. L group, siRNA-NC, or Blank). STAT3 siRNA induced an altered cell cycle distribution of KCs showing the highest increases in G2/M-phase population up to 18.06% ± 0.36% in LUS group (P < 0.05 vs. L group, siRNA-NC, or Blank). STAT3 siRNA induced late apoptosis of KCs with the highest late apoptosis percentage of 22.87% ± 1.28% in LUS group (P < 0.05 vs. L group, siRNA-NC, or Blank). STAT3 siRNA induced the elevation of [Ca2+]iof KCs with the highest calcium fluorescence intensity mean of 1213.67 ± 60.51 in LUS group (P < 0.05 vs. L group, siRNA-NC, or Blank). STAT3 siRNA induced the downregulation of cyclin D1 and Bcl-xL expressions of KCs at mRNA and protein levels with the lowest expressions in LUS group with cyclin D1 expression of 51.81% ± 9.58% and 70.17% ± 4.22% at mRNA level and at protein level, respectively, and with Bcl-xL expression of 37.58% ± 4.92% and 64.06% ± 7.78% at mRNA level and at protein level, respectively (P < 0.05 vs. L group, siRNA-NC, or Blank). Conclusions: STAT3 siRNA inhibited the growth and induced the apoptosis in psoriatic KCs likely partly through altering cell cycle distribution, elevating [Ca2+]i, and downregulating cyclin D1 and Bcl-xL expressions. Silencing the target gene STAT3 in psoriatic KCs with siRNA combined with ultrasonic irradiation and microbubbles would contribute to a significant innovation as a new clinical therapy for psoriasis.

C16H28N4 2(F6P), monoclinic, P21/n (no. 14), a = 8.7921(12) Å, b = 16.173(2) Å, c = 9.1376(12) Å, β = 111.13(10)°, V = 1211.1(3) Å3, Z = 2, Rgt(F) = 0.0475, wRref(F2) = 0.1262, T = 296(2) K.

C12H20F12N4P2, monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 7.012(2) Å, b = 15.507(5) Å, c = 10.398(2) Å, β = 118.945(15)°, Z = 2, V = 989.4(5) Å3, Rgt(F) = 0.0526, wRref(F2) = 0.1537, T = 296(2) K.

PurposeVitamin E analogues are potent novel anticancer drugs. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the cellular target by which these agents, represented by alpha-tocopoheryl succinate (alpha-TOS), suppress tumors in vivo, with the focus on the mitochondrial complex II (CII).Experimental designChinese hamster lung fibroblasts with functional, dysfunctional, and reconstituted CII were transformed using H-Ras. The cells were then used to form xenografts in immunocompromized mice, and response of the cells and the tumors to alpha-TOS was studied.ResultsThe CII-functional and CII-reconstituted cells, unlike their CII-dysfunctional counterparts, responded to alpha-TOS by reactive oxygen species generation and apoptosis execution. Tumors derived from these cell lines reciprocated their responses to alpha-TOS. Thus, growth of CII-functional and CII-reconstituted tumors was strongly suppressed by the agent, and this was accompanied by high level of apoptosis induction in the tumor cells. On the other hand, alpha-TOS did not inhibit the CII-dysfunctional tumors.ConclusionsWe document in this report a novel paradigm, according to which the mitochondrial CII, which rarely mutates in human neoplasias, is a plausible target for anticancer drugs from the group of vitamin E analogues, providing support for their testing in clinical trials.

PurposeVitamin E analogues are potent novel anticancer drugs. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the cellular target by which these agents, represented by alpha-tocopoheryl succinate (alpha-TOS), suppress tumors in vivo, with the focus on the mitochondrial complex II (CII).Experimental designChinese hamster lung fibroblasts with functional, dysfunctional, and reconstituted CII were transformed using H-Ras. The cells were then used to form xenografts in immunocompromized mice, and response of the cells and the tumors to alpha-TOS was studied.ResultsThe CII-functional and CII-reconstituted cells, unlike their CII-dysfunctional counterparts, responded to alpha-TOS by reactive oxygen species generation and apoptosis execution. Tumors derived from these cell lines reciprocated their responses to alpha-TOS. Thus, growth of CII-functional and CII-reconstituted tumors was strongly suppressed by the agent, and this was accompanied by high level of apoptosis induction in the tumor cells. On the other hand, alpha-TOS did not inhibit the CII-dysfunctional tumors.ConclusionsWe document in this report a novel paradigm, according to which the mitochondrial CII, which rarely mutates in human neoplasias, is a plausible target for anticancer drugs from the group of vitamin E analogues, providing support for their testing in clinical trials.

The objective of this study is to explore the molecular mechanism of carotenoid metabolism and color mutation of sweetpotato and to study the carotenoid metabolism related genes by RNA-seq technology. Zheshu 81 and its mutant line with color mutation in root skin (from red to yellow) and leaf vein base (from purple to green) were used as the experimental materials. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the carotenoid biosynthesis (ko00906) pathway was significantly enriched in root skin and leaf vein base. The 24 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 10 DEGs in the ko00906 were screened from root skin and vein base, among which four were screened in both two parts, respectively. In the upstream pathway of carotenoid anabolism, compared with Zheshu 81, the geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase gene GGDPS (g29773, g38646), lycopene synthase gene PSY (g11630) and Z-carotene isomerase gene Z-ISO (g42608) were significantly up-regulated in mutant line, and GGDPS (g29773) was only expressed in mutant lines. DEGs were not screened in the upstream metabolic pathway of carotenoids in vein base. After the branching point of lycopene cyclization, two ζ-carotene hydroxylase genes CHYB (g33351, g953) were screened in root skin, one up-regulated and the other down-regulated. Two zeaxanthin epoxidase gene ZEP (g41700, g1103) were detected in root skin and vein base, respectively. And g41700 in root skin was significantly down-regulated, and g1103 in vein base was significantly up-regulated. In carotenoid catabolism, CCD8 (g21348), a carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase gene, was significantly up-regulated in root skin of mutant line. Two 9-cis epoxide carotenoid oxygenase genes NCED (g30636, g43412) were down-regulated in root skin and vein base of the mutant line. In addition, ten xanthoxin dehydrogenase ABA2 genes were detected in root skin and vein base, and nine of them were up-regulated. The relative expression levels of some genes by qRT-PCR were highly consistent with those of RNA-seq data. This study provides an important reference for the molecular mechanism of carotenoid metabolism and the analysis of different color mutations in root skin and vein base of sweetpotato. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar photothermal utilization is the important aspect of solar energy utilization, among which the optical characteristics of nanofluids play a decisive role in the efficiency of solar photothermal utilization. ZnO nanoparticles with different morphologies were prepared by hydrothermal method, and then Au was successfully reduced to ZnO nanoparticles by sodium borohydride reduction method to prepare ZnO/Au composite nanomaterials. The morphology, structure and composition of ZnO and ZnO/Au nanoparticles were characterized by SEM and XRD. The UV/VIS/NIR absorption spectra show that ZnO/Au nanofluids significantly improve the absorption in the visible light band. Through the photothermal conversion experiment, the photothermal conversion performance of flower like ZnO nanofluids is better than that of rod like ZnO nanofluids. Due to the plasmon effect of Au, the photothermal conversion performance of ZnO/Au nanofluids is enhanced. When the concentration is 1.0 mg/mL, the photo thermal conversion efficiency of rod like ZnO/10% Au nanofluids is 59%, which is 16% higher than that of pure heat transfer oil nanofluids. When the concentration is 0.5 mg/mL, the photo thermal conversion efficiency of flower like ZnO/10% Au nanofluids is 71%, which is 28% higher than that of pure heat transfer oil nanofluids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To study the effects of arecolineand Calcium ion (Ca2+) on the permeability of dysplastic oral epithelia model in vitro. Methods To establish the dysplastic oral epithelia model in vitro by culturing oral keratinocyte (DOK) and harvesting a DOK cell monolayer. The models were divided into control group, arecoline group and "Ca2++ are⁃ coline" group. The values of Lucifer Yellow Papp were used to estimate the permeability changes of models after treated⁃ with arecoline and Ca2+. Results In arecoline group, the lucifer yellow Papp values of each subgroup were higher than that of control group (P < 0.05), and the values increased as arecoline concentration elevated and time lasted (P < 0.05). When the "Ca2 ++ arecoline" group were pretreated with Ca2 +, the values of subgroup "10 μg/mL" was lower than that of the corresponding arecoline group (P > 0.05). However, the value of subgroup "4 h 10 μg/mL" of "Ca2++ arecoline" group had no statistical difference with that of control group (P > 0.05), while the other subgroups were increased (P < 0.05); Be⁃ sides, these values in "Ca2++ arecoline" group were increased as the arecoline concentration elevated and time lasted too (P < 0.05). Conclusion Intervention of arecoline contributes to the increase of permeability of DOK cell monolayer mod⁃ el, which maybe an important reason for the cancerization of dysplastic oral epithelia, however Ca2+might weaken these ef⁃ fects of arecoline in the process.