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Background: Nucleus pulposus mesenchymal stem cells (NPMSCs) transplantation is a promising treatment for intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD). However, the transplanted NPMSCs exhibited weak cell proliferation, high cell apoptosis, and a low ability to resist the harsh microenvironment of the degenerated intervertebral disc. There is an urgent need to explore feasible methods to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of NPMSCs transplantation. Objective: To identify the optimal concentration for NPMSCs pretreatment with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and explore the therapeutic efficacy of NPMSCs transplantation using H2O2 pretreatment in IVDD. Methods: Rat NPMSCs were pretreated with different concentrations (range from 25 to 300 μM) of H2O2. The proliferation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, and apoptosis of NPMSCs were detected by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) staining, and flow cytometry in vitro. The underlying signalling pathways were explored utilizing Western blotting. A rat needle puncture-stimulated IVDD model was established. X-ray, histological staining, and a multimode small animal live imaging system were used to evaluate the therapeutic effect of H2O2-pretreated NPMSCs in vivo. Results: NPMSCs pretreated with 75 μM H2O2 demonstrated the strongest elevated cell proliferation by inhibiting the Hippo pathway (P < 0.01). Meanwhile, 75 μM H2O2-pretreated NPMSCs exhibited significantly enhanced antioxidative stress ability (P < 0.01), which is related to downregulated Brd4 and Keap1 and upregulated Nrf2. NPMSCs pretreated with 75 μM H2O2 also exhibited distinctly decreased apoptosis (P < 0.01). In vivo experiments verified that 75 μM H2O2-pretreated NPMSCs-transplanted rats exhibited an enhanced disc height index (DHI% = 90.00 ± 4.55, P < 0.01) and better histological morphology (histological score = 13.5 ± 0.5, P < 0.01), which means 75 μM H2O2-pretreated NPMSCs can better adapt to the environment of degenerative intervertebral discs and promote the repair of IVDD. Conclusions: Pretreatment with 75 μM H2O2 was the optimal concentration to improve the proliferation, antioxidative stress, and antiapoptotic ability of transplanted NPMSCs, which is expected to provide a new feasible method to improve the stem cell therapy efficacy of IVDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fundamental open question in the analysis of social networks was to understand the evolution between similarity and group social ties. In general, two groups are similar for two distinct reasons: first, they grow to change their behaviors to the same group due to social influence; second, they tend to merge a group due to similar behaviors, where a process often is termed selection by sociologists. It was important to understand why two groups could merge and what led to high similarities for members in a group, influence or selection. In this paper, the techniques for identifying and modeling interactions between social influence and selection for different groups were developed. Different similarities were computed in three phases where groups came into being, before or after according to the number of common edits in Wikipedia. Experimental results showed selection played a more important role in two group merging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hypertension is the most modifiable factor associated with cardiovascular events and complications. The conventional blood pressure (BP) meter method is simple but is limited in terms of real-time monitoring abnormal BP. Therefore, the development of a multifunction smartwatch (HUAWEI WATCH D) sphygmomanometer could significantly improve integrated BP monitoring., Methods: We enrolled 361 subjects from Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China to validate the accuracy of the smartwatch versatile sphygmomanometer using ISO 81060-2:2018. Resting and ambulatory BP accuracy of the smartwatch were compared with gold standard clinical sphygmomanometers using ISO 81060-2:2018 guidelines, the accuracy of 24 h systolic blood pressure (SBP) circadian rhythm monitoring, and diurnal high SBP alert for this smartwatch were assessed using a confusion matrix approach. Additionally, we analyzed online users of different ages for compliance., Results: Eighty-five subjects underwent resting BP measurements; the mean resting BP differences between two devices were -0.683 ± 6.203 mmHg (SBP) ( P = 0.723) and 1.628 ± 5.028 mmHg (diastolic blood pressure, DBP) ( P = 0.183). In 35 subjects' ambulatory BP measurements, the mean differences of ambulatory BP were -1.943 ± 5.475 mmHg (SBP) ( P = 0.923) and 3.195 ± 5.862 mmHg (DBP) ( P = 0.065). All data complied with ISO 81060-2:2018 guidelines (mean ≤ ±5 mmHg and standard deviation ≤ ±8 mmHg) with no significant differences. Positive predictive values (PPV) of resting SBP and DBP were 0.635 and 0.671, respectively. The PPV of ambulatory SBP and DBP were 0.686. Also, 24 h SBP circadian rhythm monitoring was performed in 107 subjects: accuracy = 0.850, specificity = 0.864, precision/PPV = 0.833, sensitivity = 0.833, and F1-measure (F1) = 0.833. The accuracy, specificity, precision, sensitivity, and F1 values in 85 subjects undergoing diurnal high SBP alerting were 0.858, 0.876, 0.706, 0.809, and 0.754, respectively., Conclusions: When compared with the gold standard clinical sphygmomanometer, smartwatch results were consistent and accurate. Online user feedback showed that elderly individuals cared more about BP monitoring accuracy, with better compliance., (© 2022 JGC All rights reserved; www.jgc301.com.)

Objective : Nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs) are cells extracted from the intervertebral disc and are important for research into intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD). NPCs live in an avascular and relatively hypoxic environment. Cobalt chloride (CoCl 2 ) has been used in many cell studies to mimic hypoxia. The objective of this study was to explore the possibility of using CoCl 2 to induce mimetic-hypoxia for NPCs and the comparison with hypoxia (1% O 2 ) in vitro . Materials and methods : Rat nucleus pulposus cells of Passage 3-5 were used in this research. Cell viability, rate of cell apoptosis, ROS (reactive oxygen species) generation, cell migration, extracellular pH and extracellular matrix metabolism were determined to compare the influence of hypoxia (1% O 2 ) and CoCl 2 on NPCs. Results : We found that the effects of CoCl 2 on NPCs was dose-dependent. At the proper concentration, CoCl 2 could be used to elicit chemical hypoxia for nucleus pulposus cells in vitro and many biological effects, analogous to physical hypoxia (1% O 2 ), could be achieved such as enhanced cell viability, decreased apoptosis and activated extracellular matrix metabolism. On the other hand, CoCl 2 mimetic-hypoxia did not affect NPCs glycolysis and migration compared to physical hypoxia. In addition, high concentration of CoCl 2 (>200 μM) is harmful to NPCs with high rates of apoptosis and ECM (extracellular matrix) degradation. Conclusions : It is feasible and convenient to use CoCl 2 to induce chemical mimetic hypoxia for culturing NPCs on the premise of appropriate concentration. But in aspects of cell migration and glycolysis, CoCl 2 could not achieve similar results with physical hypoxia. This study may provide a convenient method and enlightenment to induce mimetic-hypoxia for researchers studying NPCs and IVVD., (© 2021 The Author(s). Published by BRI.)

Aim: To evaluate the prognostic factors and tumor stages of the 7(th) edition TNM classification for esophageal cancer., Methods: In total, 1033 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) who underwent surgical resection with or without (neo)adjuvant therapy between January 2003 and June 2012 at the Thoracic Surgery Department II of the Beijing Cancer Hospital, Beijing, China were included in this study. The following eligibility criteria were applied: (1) squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus or gastroesophageal junction identified by histopathological examination; (2) treatment with esophagectomy plus lymphadenectomy with curative intent; and (3) complete pathologic reports and follow-up data. Patients who underwent non-curative (R1) resection and patients who died in hospital were excluded. Patients who received (neo)adjuvant therapy were also included in this analysis. All patients were restaged using the 7(th) edition of the Union for International Cancer Control and the American Joint Committee on Cancer TNM staging systems. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the prognostic factors for survival. Survival curves were plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the log-rank test was used to evaluate differences between the subgroups., Results: Of the 1033 patients, 273 patients received (neo)adjuvant therapy, and 760 patients were treated with surgery alone. The median follow-up time was 51.6 mo (range: 5-112 mo) and the overall 5-year survival rate was 36.4%. Gender, "pT" and "pN" descriptors, (neo)adjuvant therapy, and the 7(th) edition TNM stage grouping were independent prognostic factors in the univariate and multivariate analyses. However, neither histologic grade nor cancer location were independent prognostic factors in the univariate and multivariate analyses. The 5-year stage-based survival rates were as follows: IA, 84.9%; IB, 70.9%; IIA, 56.2%; IIB, 43.3%; IIIA, 37.9%; IIIB, 23.3%; IIIC,12.9% and IV, 3.4%. There were significant differences between each adjacent staging classification. Moreover, there were significant differences between each adjacent pN and pM subgroup. According to the pT descriptor, there were significant differences between each adjacent subgroup except between pT3 and pT4 (P = 0.405). However, there was no significant difference between each adjacent histologic grade subgroup and between each adjacent cancer location subgroup., Conclusion: The 7(th) edition is considered to be valid for patients with resected ESCC. However, the histologic grade and cancer location were not prognostic factors for ESCC.