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Introduction/Objective. Most patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) have hypertension. However, dialysis-related strategies to optimize blood pressure in these patients remain controversial. The current study aims to investigate the influence of dialysate sodium profiling on ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) in patients on maintenance hemodialysis, when there are no adequate dialytic and economic resources or high patient compliance. Methods. This prospective, single-center study enrolled 60 hypertensive ESRD patients. Subjects received maintenance dialysis with regular dialysate sodium concentration (140 mmol/L) during the initial three months after the enrollment, and were randomly assigned to continue regular sodium dialysate (group A) or switch to sodium profiling (group B) for duration of three months. ABP, heart rate (HR), pre-/postdialysis serum sodium levels, antihypertensive treatment dosages, and interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) etc. were recorded after treatment assignment. Results. Thirty patients each were enrolled in groups A and B. The characteristics at baseline were not significantly different between the two groups. Compared to patients in group A three months later, patients in group B had lower systolic ABP (p = 0.00), HR (p = 0.04), IDWG (p = 0.04), and antihypertensive medication dosages (p = 0.04). Throughout the treatment duration, no significant inter-group differences were observed for pre-/post-dialysis serum sodium and intradialytic complications. Additionally, no significant correlations were found between systolic or diastolic ABP and other variables studied in this study. Conclusion. In this study, we found that dialysate sodium profiling successfully ameliorated hypertension and reduced BP medications without altering natremic levels or increasing complications among patients on maintenance hemodialysis during the three months. Dialysate sodium profiling was relatively safe in this duration.

Objective To investigate the occupational exposure and its risk fatctors among the medical staff of stomatological department and, in order to improve the occupational protection and reduce the risk for occupational exposure.Methods The occupational exposures that occurred in 44 medical staff from Jan 2013 to Dec 2015 were investigated, and the occupation, exposure sources, types of exposures, exposure link were analyzed.Results Among the 44 medical staff of oral department with occupational exposure, doctors accounted for 54.5%, nurses 34.1%. There were 39 medical staff with sharps injuries and 3 medical staff with mucous membrane exposure. The major expose reason is cleaning medical instruments or equipment at the end of medical treatment, accounting for 43.2%(19 cases). Needle stick injures in operation is the second major reason, accounting for 34.1%(15 cases). All the subjects with occupational exposures have received appropriate treatment, and the follow-up showed that none of the medical staff were infected due to the occupational exposure.Conclusion The major expose reason is cleaning medical instruments or equipment at the end of medical treatment. It is crucial to intensify the training of medical staff of stomatological department in the knowledge of occupational exposure, implement the standard of preventive measures, and standarize the operation procedures so as to reduce the risk of occupational exposure.

The decline of cell function caused by ageing directly impacts the therapeutic effects of autologous stem cell transplantation for heart repair. The aim of this study was to investigate whether overexpression of neuron‐derived neurotrophic factor (NDNF) can rejuvenate the adipose‐derived stem cells in the elderly and such rejuvenated stem cells can be used for cardiac repair. Human adipose‐derived stem cells (hADSCs) were obtained from donors age ranged from 17 to 92 years old. The effects of age on the biological characteristics of hADSCs and the expression of ageing‐related genes were investigated. The effects of transplantation of NDNF over‐expression stem cells on heart repair after myocardial infarction (MI) in adult mice were investigated. The proliferation, migration, adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation of hADSCs inversely correlated with age. The mRNA and protein levels of NDNF were significantly decreased in old (>60 years old) compared to young hADSCs (<40 years old). Overexpression of NDNF in old hADSCs significantly improved their proliferation and migration capacity in vitro. Transplantation of NDNF‐overexpressing old hADSCs preserved cardiac function through promoting angiogenesis on MI mice. NDNF rejuvenated the cellular function of aged hADSCs. Implantation of NDNF‐rejuvenated hADSCs improved angiogenesis and cardiac function in infarcted mouse hearts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the uncertainty of climate science, global warming is quite controversial. However, in order to facilitate policy making, the politicians directly related the issue to CO2 emission based on some incomplete information from the climate science community and accordingly laid down a range of emission reducing measures, which failed thanks to the environmental rules. Besides these attempts, the scientists tried different kinds of technological fixes, which also failed due to the complexity of the climate system itself. It is argued that global warming is not a problem, but a reality which needs to be confronted with by continuous learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological engineering is proposed with an aim to obtaining energy in a green and natural way as much as possible by taking full advantage of the symbiotic mechanism of natural system. Theoretically it helps break through the mainstream anthropocentrism,but practically it encounters a lot of failure. Ecological engineering failure is mainly due to the two attributes embedded in technology-- low-level liability and system-level risk,which arise from the tension between de-contextual scientific research paradigms and human beings' real living circumstances. To cope with this tension,it is reasonable for the mankind to keep an openminded attitude and become more adaptive and creative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amyloid β-protein (Aβ) is thought to be responsible for the deficit of learning and memory in Alzheimer's disease (AD), possibly through interfering with synaptic plasticity in the brain. It has been reported that Aβ fragments suppress the long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission. However, it is unclear whether Aβ fragments can regulate long-term depression (LTD), an equally important form of synaptic plasticity in the brain. The present study investigates the effects of Aβ fragments on LTD induced by low frequency stimulation (LFS) in the hippocampus in vivo. Our results showed that (1) prolonged 1-10 Hz of LFS all effectively elicited LTD, which could persist for at least 2 h and be reversed by high frequency stimulation (HFS); (2) the effectiveness of LTD induction depended mainly on the number of pulses but not the frequency of LFS; (3) pretreatment with Aβ fragment 25-35 (Aβ25-35, 12.5 and 25 nmol) did not change baseline field excitatory postsynaptic potentials but dose-dependently potentiated LTD; (4) Aβ fragment 31-35 (Aβ31-35), a shorter Aβ fragment than Aβ25-35, also dose-dependently strengthened LFS-induced hippocampal LTD. Thus, the present study demonstrates the enhancement of hippocampal LTD by Aβ in in vivo condition. We propose that Aβ-induced potentiation of LTD, together with the suppression of LTP, will result in the impairment of cognitive function of the brain. Synapse 63:206-214, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduced quantity and quality of stem cells in aged individuals hinders cardiac repair and regeneration after injury. We used young bone marrow (BM) stem cell antigen 1 (Sca‐1) cells to reconstitute aged BM and rejuvenate the aged heart, and examined the underlying molecular mechanisms. BM Sca‐1+ or Sca‐1− cells from young (2–3 months) or aged (18–19 months) GFP transgenic mice were transplanted into lethally irradiated aged mice to generate 4 groups of chimeras: young Sca‐1+, young Sca‐1−, old Sca‐1+, and old Sca‐1−. Four months later, expression of rejuvenation‐related genes (Bmi1, Cbx8, PNUTS, Sirt1, Sirt2, Sirt6) and proteins (CDK2, CDK4) was increased along with telomerase activity and telomerase‐related protein (DNA‐PKcs, TRF‐2) expression, whereas expression of senescence‐related genes (p16INK4a, P19ARF, p27Kip1) and proteins (p16INK4a, p27Kip1) was decreased in Sca‐1+ chimeric hearts, especially in the young group. Host cardiac endothelial cells (GFP−CD31+) but not cardiomyocytes were the primary cell type rejuvenated by young Sca‐1+ cells as shown by improved proliferation, migration, and tubular formation abilities. C‐X‐C chemokine CXCL12 was the factor most highly expressed in homed donor BM (GFP+) cells isolated from young Sca‐1+ chimeric hearts. Protein expression of Cxcr4, phospho‐Akt, and phospho‐FoxO3a in endothelial cells derived from the aged chimeric heart was increased, especially in the young Sca‐1+ group. Reconstitution of aged BM with young Sca‐1+ cells resulted in effective homing of functional stem cells in the aged heart. These young, regenerative stem cells promoted aged heart rejuvenation through activation of the Cxcl12/Cxcr4 pathway of cardiac endothelial cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Primary ectopic atypical meningioma involving the renal hilum is rare. This is, to our knowledge, only the second case report of a primary retroperitoneal meningioma and the first case of an atypical subtype in this location.Case Presentation: A 53-year-old Han Chinese man presented with a 2-year history of left-side flank pain. An oval-shaped retroperitoneal mass was found in the left renal hilum on computed tomography, which was resected en bloc along with the kidney via laparotomy. According to the World Health Organization criteria, the tumor was histopathologically classified as a meningioma (Grade II, atypical). Five years later, the tumor recurred at the primary site with a similar histopathology. The patient received palliative resection, followed by radiotherapy (4500 cGy in 25 fractions). No relapse was found at 6-month follow-up.Conclusion: We describe the clinical, radiographic and histopathological features of an unusual case of aggressive ectopic meningioma in the renal hilum. The patient presented with a massive retroperitoneal tumor without primary cerebral or secondary metastatic lesions; the preoperative diagnosis was naturally confined to the common retroperitoneal malignancies. This case is of interest to oncologists, because of both its rare location and aggressiveness; it not only enriched the spectrum of primary ectopic meningioma, but also reminded us of potential recurrence of an atypical meningioma. This case raises the issue of the etiology of such a rare tumor that needs further investigation, and more importantly demands long-term follow-up result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we aimed to clarify the role of PIM-1 in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) in vitro and investigate the relationship between PIM-1 and redox proteins (NOX4, SOD2, and GPX2) at the tissue and cellular levels. As a PIM-1 inhibitor, SGI-1776 inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and induced an increase in apoptosis and reactive oxygen species in two PTC cell lines (BCPAP and TPC-1). The expressions of PIM-1, SOD2 and GPX2 were downregulated after siNOX4 exposure. Immunohistochemistry in 120 PTC patients showed that all four proteins exhibited higher expression levels in PTC tissues than in adjacent normal tissues. PIM-1 expression was related to NOX4, SOD2, and GPX2 expressions. The Cancer Genome Atlas database analysis showed the significant correlation between the expression of NOX4 and PIM-1. Our results demonstrated that PIM-1 played an important oncogenic role in PTC carcinogenesis that may be related to oxidative stress. • The relationship between PIM-1 and PTC studied for the first time. • NOX4 promotes the expression of PIM-1 and an antioxidant mechanism. • Expression of PIM-1 correlated with the malignant phenotype and prognosis of PTC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]