Search

The refractory diabetic wound has remained a worldwide challenge as one of the major health problems. The impaired angiogenesis phase during diabetic wound healing partly contributes to the pathological process. MicroRNA (miRNA) is an essential regulator of gene expression in crucial biological processes and is a promising nucleic acid drug in therapeutic fields of the diabetic wound. However, miRNA therapies have limitations due to lacking an effective delivery system. In the present study, we found a significant reduction of miR-31-5p expression in the full-thickness wounds of diabetic mice compared to normal mice. Further, miR-31-5p has been proven to promote the proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis of endothelial cells. Thus, we conceived the idea of exogenously supplementing miR-31-5p mimics to treat the diabetic wound. We used milk-derived exosomes as a novel system for miR-31-5p delivery and successfully encapsulated miR-31-5p mimics into milk exosomes through electroporation. Then, we proved that the miR-31-5p loaded in exosomes achieved higher cell uptake and was able to resist degradation. Moreover, our miRNA-exosomal formulation demonstrated dramatically improved endothelial cell functions invitro, together with the promotion of angiogenesis and enhanced diabetic wound healing invivo. Collectively, our data showed the feasibility of milk exosomes as a scalable, biocompatible, and cost-effective delivery system to enhance the bioavailability and efficacy of miRNAs.

In this work, the numerical simulation study of the hydrothermal flow and heat transfer process in the porous rock under 30 MPa pressure was developed. The flow and heat transfer characteristics of hydrothermal in rocks with different porosities are studied by changing the porosity of the rock. The simulation results show that the average flow velocity decreases and the average temperature increases when the porosity decreases. The velocity field and temperature field are coupled due to the nonlinear thermophysical properties of hydrothermal. The velocity field and temperature field have strongly interacted in the range of 400–450 ℃ and the effect of temperature on velocity is gradually diminishing outside the range. Most of the fluid will be "squeezed" into the crevice and the average velocity is almost three times the no-creviced case when a crevice is present. The existence of the crevice makes the total heat flux decrease from an overall perspective, and the crevice makes a large temperature gradient at the entrance and export of the crevice from a local perspective. These results provide theoretical support for the utilization of submarine hydrothermal fluid shallow circulation heat energy.

The choice of the type of anesthesia (TOA) used in hip fracture surgery in older adults is still controversial. The main question is not whether regional anesthesia (RA) or general anesthesia (GA) is superior, but in which patients the type of anesthesia may affect the outcome after surgery. In this retrospective analysis of surgically treated intertrochanteric fracture patients, we used propensity score matching (PSM) to investigate whether clinically relevant differences in outcomes were observed in mortality, complications, and functional outcomes between RA and GA. After screening 2934 consecutive patients, 2170 were ultimately included, including 841 in the GA group and 1329 in the RA group. After PSM, 808 remained in each group. Patients receiving GA were more prone to have a shorter duration for their operation and higher total hospital costs than patients with RA (p = 0.034 and 0.004, respectively). We also observed that the GA group has a higher rate of pulmonary complications, while the RA group has a higher rate of cardiac complications (p = 0.017 and 0.011, respectively). No significant difference was observed in mortality, functional outcomes, and other complications (all p > 0.05). The clinical innovation of this study was the potential value of GA for patients with cardiac diseases and of RA for patients with pulmonary diseases.

To satisfy the requirements of low fuel consumption, low emission, and high efficiency of the shipping industry, marine diesel engines are developing in the direction of automation and energy-saving, which increases the possibility and complexity of marine diesel engine failures. A one-dimension thermodynamic model for the marine diesel engine is built with AVL Boost software. The model is applied to a low-speed two-stroke 6S50MC diesel engine, and the error between the main performance parameters obtained by simulation and the test bench data is less than 3% under 100% and 75% load. Based on the model, 6 typical single faults and many typical double faults concomitant phenomena of diesel are reproduced. Based on the second law of thermodynamics, the exergy flow among the components and the external environment is analyzed. The thermoeconomic model of a marine diesel engine is established where the "fuel" and "product" of the components are defined according to their function. The fault diagnosis results show that the effects of faults generally propagate through the diesel engine system and affect the behavior of several components, resulting in induced malfunction in normal components. Therefore the malfunction MFi of each component is the superposition of the intrinsic malfunction and the induced malfunction according to the malfunction and dysfunction analysis. The thermoeconomic fault diagnosis method can be used to narrow the search range of abnormal components though it cannot accurately locate the fault.

Purpose. K-wire with tension band (KTB) technique has long been the primary surgical method for transverse patella fractures; however, it also has shortcomings. This study is aimed at evaluating the three different techniques to see whether the cannulated screw tension band (CSTB) or ring pin tension band (RPTB) techniques could decrease complications and achieve better knee function compared with KTB. Methods. We conducted a retrospective comparison of the KTB, CSTB, and RPTB fixation techniques. We selected and reviewed 90 patients (30 patients in each fixation group) with follow-up at least 2 years. Duration of operation, intraoperative blood loss, mean healing time, visual analog scale score, range of motion, Böstman score, Iowa knee score, modified Lysholm rating scale, and postoperative complications were compared. Multivariate analyses were performed to identify the independent risk factors for fracture healing time, postoperative complications, and knee function recovery. Results. After adjusting for confounding factors, multivariate regression analysis revealed that CSTB was 0.26 times (95% CI: 0.08-0.86, p = 0.027 ) less likely to prolong fracture healing time, 0.20 times (95% CI: 0.06-0.64, p = 0.007 ) lesser risk of postoperative complications, and more than four times (95% CI: 1.41-13.56, p = 0.011 ) as likely to improve the knee function score compared with KTB. Besides, RPTB were also superior to KTB in reducing the incidence of postoperative complications (OR: 0.21, 95% CI: 0.07-0.64, p = 0.006 ) and improved knee function score (OR: 3.96, 95% CI: 1.30-12.08, p = 0.016 ); however, the CSTB group being more superior. In addition, AO/OTA C2 fractures (OR, odds ratio: 10.68, 95% CI: 1.30-87.70, p = 0.027 ) and high-energy fracture (OR: 8.78, 95% CI: 1.57-49.17, p = 0.013 ) were also associated with prolonged fracture healing time but not with postoperative complications and knee function. No significant differences in related indicators such as gender, age, BMI, AO/OTA classification, fracture side, injury mechanism, duration of operation, and intraoperative blood loss were detected among the three groups. Conclusion. This study demonstrated that the CSTB technique is superior to KTB and RPTB techniques in reducing the incidence of postoperative complications, and it also has advantages in accelerating fracture healing, achieving better VAS, ROM, and functional recovery. Further long-term large-sized prospective randomized trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy of the KTB in treating transverse patellar fractures.

The excretion of neurotransmitter metabolites in normal individuals is of great significance for health monitoring. A rapid quantitative method was developed with ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The method was further applied to determine catecholamine metabolites vanilymandelic acid (VMA), methoxy hydroxyphenyl glycol (MHPG), dihydroxy-phenyl acetic acid (DOPAC), and homovanillic acid (HVA) in the urine. The urine was collected from six healthy volunteers (20-22 years old) for 10 consecutive days. It was precolumn derivatized with dansyl chloride. Subsequently, the sample was analyzed using triple quadrupole mass spectrometry with an electrospray ion in positive and multireaction monitoring modes. The method was sensitive and repeatable with the recoveries 92.7-104.30%, limits of detection (LODs) 0.01-0.05 μg/mL, and coefficients no less than 0.9938. The excretion content of four target compounds in random urine samples was 0.20 ± 0.086 μg/mL (MHPG), 1.27 ± 1.24 μg/mL (VMA), 3.29 ± 1.36 μg/mL (HVA), and 1.13 ± 1.07 μg/mL (DOPAC). In the urine, the content of VMA, the metabolite of norepinephrine and adrenaline, was more than MHPG, and the content of HVA, the metabolite of dopamine, was more than DOPAC. This paper detected the levels of catecholamine metabolites and summarized the characteristics of excretion using random urine samples, which could provide valuable information for clinical practice.

Aim. To evaluate the possible association between the vitamin D receptor (VDR), single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.Method. 968 chronic HBV infection patients were enrolled, of which 436 patients were diagnosed HCC patients, and 532 were non-HCC patients. The clinicopathological characteristics of HCC were evaluated. The genotypes of VDR gene at FokI, BsmI, ApaI, and TaqI were determined.Results. The genotype frequencies of VDR FokI C>T polymorphism were significantly different between HCC and non-HCC groups. HCC patients had a higher prevalence of FokI TT genotype than non-HCC subjects. With FokI CC as reference, the TT carriage had a significantly higher risk for development of HCC after adjustments with age, sex, HBV infection time,α-fetoprotein, smoking status, and alcohol intake. In addition, we also found that the TT genotype carriage of FokI polymorphisms were associated with advanced tumor stage, presence of cirrhosis, and lymph node metastasis. The SNP at BsmI, ApaI, and TaqI did not show positive association with the risk and clinicopathological features of HCC.Conclusion. The FokI C>T polymorphisms may be used as a molecular marker to predict the risk and to evaluate the disease severity of HCC in those infected with HBV.

To observe the therapeutic effect of early administration of exogenous Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on acute edematous pancreatitis (AEP) in rats.Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three (n = 10): normal control group (group I), AEP group (group II) and AEP with bFGF treatment group (group III). AEP was induced by subcutaneous injection of cerulein (5.5 microg/kg and 7.5 microg/kg) at 1 h interval into rats of groups II and III. Three hours after induction of AEP, 100 microg/kg bFGF was administrated intraperitoneally for 1 h to group III rats. For test of DNA synthesis in acinar cells, 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling solution was intraperitoneally injected into the rats of groups II and III 24 h after bFGF treatment. The changes in serum amylase, lipase, pancreatic tissue wet/dry ratio were detected.In bFGF treatment group, there was a significant decrease in the volume of serum amylase, lipase and the pancreatic wet/dry weight ratio(1383.0+/-94.6 U/L, 194.0+/-43.6 U/L, 4.32+/-0.32) compared to AEP group (3464+/-223.7 U/L, 456+/-68.7 U/L, 6.89+/-0.47) (P0.01), and no significant difference was found between bFGF treatment and control group (1289+/-94.0 U/L, 171+/-23.4 U/L, 4.12+/-0.26, P0.05). The inflammatory changes such as interstitial edema, polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) and vacuolization were significantly ameliorated compared to AEP group (P0.01). A small number of BrdU-labeled nuclei were observed in acinar cells of AEP rats (1.8+/-0.3 nuclei/microscopic field, n = 10) while diffuse BrdU-labeled nuclei were found in bFGF-treated rats (18.9+/-1.4 nuclei/microscopic field, n = 10) (P0.01). Immunohistochemical study showed increased DNA synthesis in pancreatic acinar cells.Early administration of exogenous bFGF has significant therapeutic effect on cerulein-induced acute edematous pancreatitis in rats. Its mechanism is related to the amelioration of inflammation and facilitation of pancreatic regeneration.