A Systematic Review of Neuroprotective Efficacy and Safety of DL-3-N-Butylphthalide in Ischemic Stroke.

DL-3-n-butylphthalide (NBP) is widely used as a neuroprotective drug for ischemic stroke in China. There is, however, no established evidence on its efficacy and safety for patients with ischemic stroke. We, therefore, conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis.

[Selection of optimized treatment plan of acupuncture for lateral femoral cutaneous neuritis].

Objective: To select the optimized treatment plan of acupuncture for lateral femoral cutaneous neuritis by using multiple indexes decision-making method based on the clinical evidence.

Methods: The randomized control trials (RCTs) regarding acupuncture for lateral femoral cutaneous neuritis in the CNKI database, CBM database, WANFANG database, VIP database, PubMed, Cochrane Library and Embase published before December 31, 2017 were comprehensively collected. The modified Jadad scale was used to evaluate the quality of the RCTs.

Application of bone transgenic zebrafish in anti-osteoporosis chemical screening.

Background: The zebrafish () has recently been shown to be an ideal model to study bone disease including osteoporosis. The zebrafish osteoporosis model could be induced by glucocorticoid treatment with chemical staining for reflecting the level of bone mineralization. However, this methodology was unstable.

Mesorhizobium carbonis sp. nov., isolated from coal bed water.

A Gram-stain negative, aerobic, motile, short rod-shaped bacterium, designated as B2.3, was isolated from coal bed water collected from Jincheng, Shanxi Province, China. The strain was able to grow at 10-40 °C (optimum 28-30 °C), pH 4.

Age-dependent pulmonary reactivity to house dust mite allergen: a model of adult-onset asthma?

Asthma is a heterogeneous disease differentiated by factors like allergen sensitivity, inflammation, sex, and age at onset. The mouse model is widely used to study the early-life development of allergic asthma. However, age-dependent allergen responses later in life remain relatively understudied and lack a widely accepted model.

[The role of endoplasmic reticulum stress in pulmonary hypertension in rat induced by chronic hypoxia and hypercapnia].

Objective: To observe the pulmonary vascular remodeling in rats with pulmonary hypertension induced by hypoxia and hypercapnia, and to explore the role of endoplasmic reticulum stress in pulmonary hypertension.

Methods: Forty SD rats were random-ly divided into four groups:normoxic control group (N), hypoxia hypercapnia group (HH), ERS inhibitor 4-phenylbutyric acid group (4-PBA), endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) pathway agonist tunicamycin group (TM), ten rats in each group.The mean pulmona-ry artery pressure (mPAP), mean carotid artery pressure (mCAP) and right ventricular hypertrophy index of rats in each group were measured.

[The effect of Yiqi Wenyang Huoxue Huatan Fang on hypoxia-hypercarbia induced pulmonary hypertension and its mechanism].

Objective: To investigate the effect of Yiqi Wenyang Huoxue Huatan Fang (YWHHF) on alleviating hypoxia-hypercarbia pulmonary hypertension by inhibiting endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EndoMT) BMP-7/Smads pathway.

Methods: Fifty male healthy SD rats of clean grede, weighting (180~220) g, were randomly divided into 5 groups (=10):normoxia group (N), hypoxia-hypercarbia group (HH); YWHHF high dose group (YH), middle dose group (YM) and low dose group (YL). The rats in N group were kept in normal oxygen environment, the remaining four groups were intermittently exposed to hypoxia-hypercarbia environment (9%~11% O, 5%~6% CO) for 4 weeks, 6 days a week, 8 hours per day.

Analysis and interpretation of mixture DNA using AS-PCR of mtDNA.

Semi-nested PCR with allele-specific (AS) primers and sequencing of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) were performed to analyze and interpret DNA mixtures, especially when biological materials were degraded or contained a limited amount of DNA. SNP-STR markers were available to identify the minor DNA component using AS-PCR; moreover, SNPs in mtDNA could be used when the degraded or limited amounts of DNA mixtures were not successful with SNP-STR markers. Five pairs of allele-specific primers were designed based on three SNPs (G15043A, T16362C, and T16519C).

Molecular Engineering of Functional Nucleic Acid Nanomaterials toward In Vivo Applications.

Recent advances in nanotechnology and engineering have generated many nanomaterials with unique physical and chemical properties. Over the past decade, numerous nanomaterials are introduced into many research areas, such as sensors for environmental monitoring, food safety, point-of-care diagnostics, and as transducers for solar energy transfer. Meanwhile, functional nucleic acids (FNAs), including nucleic acid enzymes, aptamers, and aptazymes, have attracted major attention from the biomedical community due to their unique target recognition and catalytic properties.

Decreased Serum/Plasma Vitamin D levels in SLE Patients: A Meta-Analysis.

Background And Objective: The evidence regarding the association between serum/plasma vitamin D (VitD) concentrations and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is inconsistent. The study was based on relevant results from literatures that were identified and evaluated. The aim of this meta-analysis is to determine circulating VitD in SLE patients and explore influencing factors.

Loneliness, Stress, and Depressive Symptoms Among the Chinese Rural Empty Nest Elderly: A Moderated Mediation Analysis.

This study aimed to explore the relationship of loneliness, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms among the Chinese rural empty nest elderly. The role of sense of coherence (SOC) as a moderating variable was investigated in a representative sample of older adults in Henan, China, from November 2016 to February 2017. Results indicated that perceived stress mediated the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms, and SOC acted as a moderator on this mediating model.

Identifying the Pollution Characteristics of Atmospheric Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Associated with Functional Districts in Ningbo, China.

Duplicate polyurethane foam based passive air samplers (PUF-PAS) were deployed at seven sites in Ningbo from November 1, 2014 to October 31, 2015 and were used to analyze 15 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Higher benzo[a]pyrene toxic equivalent concentrations were observed in the industrial areas during wintertime. Correspondence analysis (CA) was used to characterize the PAH congener profiles associated with each functional district and their temporal variations.

Characterization and functional analyses of the human HTR1A gene: 5' regulatory region modulates gene expression in vitro.

Background: The serotonin neurotransmitter (5-HT) and its receptors have important roles in neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to investigate the functional sequences of the 5' regulation region of the human HTR1A gene to explore the effects on the expression of the 5-HT1A receptor.

Methods: Fourteen recombinant pGL3-basic vectors containing deletion fragments of the HTR1A gene regulatory region were transfected with HEK-293 and SK-N-SH cells.

Profiling and targeting of cellular mitochondrial bioenergetics: inhibition of human gastric cancer cell growth by carnosine.

L-Carnosine (β-alanyl-L-histidine) is a naturally occurring dipeptide distributed in various organs of mammalians. We previously showed that carnosine inhibited proliferation of human gastric cancer cells through targeting both mitochondrial bioenergetics and glycolysis pathway. But the mechanism underlying carnosine action on mitochondrial bioenergetics of tumor cells remains unclear.

Correction: Let-7b attenuates cisplatin resistance and tumor growth in gastric cancer by targeting AURKB.

The original version of this Article neglected to indicate that the study was supported by Anhui Natural Science Foundation Project (1608085MH201). This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

Exposure to infected/colonized roommates and prior room occupants increases the risks of healthcare-associated infections with the same organism.

Background: The survival of pathogenic organisms in the healthcare environment plays a major role in acquiring healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

Aim: This meta-analysis was conducted to investigate whether pathogenic organisms can be transmitted from roommates and prior room occupants to other inpatients and thus increase the risks of HAIs.

Methods: PubMed (from January 1966) and Embase (from January 1974) were searched to identify studies up to March 2018.

An 8-year point-prevalence surveillance of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in a tertiary care teaching hospital in China.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a major worldwide public-health problem, but less data are available on the long-term trends of HAIs and antimicrobial use in Eastern China. This study describes the prevalence and long-term trends of HAIs and antimicrobial use in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Hefei, Anhui, China from 2010 to 2017 based on annual point-prevalence surveys. A total of 12 505 inpatients were included; 600 HAIs were recorded in 533 patients, with an overall prevalence of 4.

Fluorescence Imaging of Alzheimer's Disease with a Flat Ensemble Formed between a Quinoline-Malononitrile AIEgen and Thin-Layer Molybdenum Disulfide.

The sensitive imaging of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides is important for the timely detection of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although clinically the diagnosis of AD relies on the use of radiolabeled imaging reagents, herein we report the simple construction of a "flat ensemble" formed between a quinoline-malononitrile AIEgen (EDS) and thin-layer molybdenum disulfide (2D MoS ) for the sensitive detection of Aβ by means of fluorescence-based techniques. Self-assembly between EDS and 2D MoS in aqueous buffer solution produces the flat ensemble, and the subsequent interaction of the material ensemble with oligomeric and aggregated Aβ peptides leads to up to 19-fold enhanced fluorescence of EDS.

Let-7b attenuates cisplatin resistance and tumor growth in gastric cancer by targeting AURKB.

Platinum-based chemotherapy is currently a standard treatment strategy for patients with gastric cancer. Eventhough it has been widely shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in tumor development, whether miRNAs have a role in chemosensitivity of gastric cancer cells to platinum-based treatment remain largely undefined. In this study, a cisplatin-resistant gastric cancer cell line (SGC7901/DDP) with stable enhanced expression or knockdown of let-7b was generated.

The Evaluation of Proanthocyanidins/Chitosan/Lecithin Microspheres as Sustained Drug Delivery System.

Proanthocyanidin (PC) has attracted wide attention on cosmetics and pharmaceutical due to its antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial, antiangiogenic, and anti-inflammatory activities. However, PC applications are limited because of its sensitivity to thermal treatment, light, and oxidation and the poor absorption in the gastrointestinal tract. Thus, a novel dosage form of PC needs to be designed to improve its stability and bioavailability for drug delivery.

Anti-tumor effect of HOTAIR-miR-613-SNAI2 axis through suppressing EMT and drug resistance in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is the main pathological type of laryngeal cancer, which attacks the head and neck. Our present study aims to investigate the effect of long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) on epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) and drug resistance in LSCC. Firstly, the level of HOTAIR was found to be overexpressed in LSCC tissues compared with normal healthy tissues.

Approximate sparse spectral clustering based on local information maintenance for hyperspectral image classification.

Sparse spectral clustering (SSC) has become one of the most popular clustering approaches in recent years. However, its high computational complexity prevents its application to large-scale datasets such as hyperspectral images (HSIs). In this paper, we propose two efficient approximate sparse spectral clustering methods for HSIs clustering in which clustering performance is improved by utilizing local information among the data.

Immuno-Electrochemiluminescent Imaging of a Single Cell Based on Functional Nanoprobes of Heterogeneous Ru(bpy)@SiO/Au Nanoparticles.

It is valuable to develop a sensing platform for not only detecting a tumor marker in body fluids but also measuring its expression at single cells. In the present study, a simple closed bipolar electrodes-based electrochemiluminescence (BPEs-ECL) imaging strategy was developed for visual immunoassay of prostate specific antigen (PSA) at single cells using functional nanoprobes of heterogeneous Ru(bpy)@SiO/Au nanoparticles. Multiple-assisted ECL signal amplification strategy was introduced into the detection system on the basis of the synergetic amplifying effect of the anodic and cathodic amplification.