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Complications arising from human immunodeficiency virus may affect the ability of elderly AIDS patients to communicate and make decisions about future medical care. It is important for elderly AIDS patients to be able to express effectively their preferences for future treatments and care. This study explored preferences and influencing factors of advance care planning among elderly AIDS patients. A semistructured interview outline was developed based on the theory of planned behavior. A qualitative preference interview was conducted among 16 eligible elderly AIDS patients. Using thematic analysis, the data were analyzed and categorized into 3 themes and 9 subthemes that were classified under the theory of planned behavior framework. The 3 themes were as follows: a positive attitude toward advance care planning, a strong desire for family and social support, and some obstacles to discussing advance care planning in the current environment. These themes provided valuable insights to advance care planning educators and practitioners from different work environments and units to aid them in constructing future ACP intervention models for elderly AIDS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiac Troponin I (cTnI) is a preferred biomarker to diagnose acute myocardial infarction which is one of the leading risks to health globally due to its short term. However, clinical analyzers are difficult to achieve its on‐site quantitative detection. A novel label‐free aptasensor was constructed to realize ultrasensitive and rapid recognition of cTnI. A nanocubic AuNPs/In2O3 composite was designed to provide synergistic effects of abundant active sites and signal magnification for aptamers grafting. Relying on a conductance‐dependence strategy, this aptasensor can achieve the quantitative detection within 10 min, which is much faster than state‐of‐the‐art analyzers, as well as exhibiting an ultrawide linear range of 0.1–1000 ng/mL and a low detection limit of 0.06 ng/mL with an excellent selectivity in the analysis of human serum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In the present study, we investigate the effects of Mas oncogene-related gene (Mrg) C receptors (MrgC) on the expression and activation of spinal Gi protein, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit 2B (NR2B), and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) in mouse model of bone cancer pain., Methods: The number of spontaneous foot lift (NSF) and paw withdrawal mechanical threshold (PWMT) were measured after inoculation of tumor cells and intrathecal injection of MrgC agonist bovine adrenal medulla 8-22 (BAM8-22) or MrgC antagonist anti-MrgC for 14 days after operation. Expression of spinal MrgC, Gi protein, NR2B and nNOS and their phosphorylated forms after inoculation was examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. Double labeling was used to identify the co-localization of NR2B or nNOS with MrgC in spinal cord dorsal horn (SCDH) neurons. The effects of intrathecal injection of BAM8-22 or anti-MrgC on nociceptive behaviors and the corresponding expression of spinal MrgC, Gi protein, NR2B and nNOS were also investigated., Results: The expression of spinal MrgC, Gi protein, NR2B, and nNOS was higher in tumor-bearing mice in comparison to sham mice or normal mice. Intrathecal injection of MrgC agonist BAM8-22 significantly alleviated bone cancer pain, up-regulated MrgC and Gi protein expression, and down-regulated the expression of spinal p-NR2B, t-nNOS and p-nNOS in SCDH on day 14 after operation, whereas administration of anti-MrgC produced the opposite effect. Meanwhile, MrgC-like immunoreactivity (IR) co-localizes with NR2B-IR or nNOS-IR in SCDH neurons., Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that MrgC-activated spinal Gi-NR2B-nNOS signaling pathway plays important roles in the development of bone cancer pain. These findings may provide a novel strategy for the treatment of bone cancer pain.

The activation of alpha-7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α7-nAchRs) are currently being considered as novel therapeutic approaches for managing hyperalgesia in inflammation and chronic neuropathic pain, but the role of a7-nAChRs on opioids induced hyperalgesia remain unknown. The present study investigated the effects of α7-nAChRs selective agonists PHA-543613 and type II positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) PNU-120596 in remifentanil induced postoperative hyperalgesia. As the results shown, intrathecal treatment with both α7-nAChRs agonists and type II PAMs could attenuate remifentanil induced hyperalgesia by increasing paw withdrawal mechanical threshold (PWMT) and paw withdrawal thermal latency (PWTL). Furthermore, we also investigated the protein level of proinflammatory cytokines and phosphorylation N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor 2B subunit (p-NR2B) in the spinal cord. Our data indicated that activation of α7-nAchRs decreased the proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6) and p-NR2B protein level in the spinal cord. The depression of the increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines and p-NR2B after remifentanil treatment may contribute to the anti-hyperalgesia effects of PHA-543613and PNU-120596 via α7-nAChRs. Therefore, our findings demonstrated that α7-nAChRs may be potential candidates for treating opioids induced hyperalgesia.