Search

Jingjing Wei,1,* Zhaoyang Liu,1,2,* Mingming Li,1 Lingyun Du,1 Xia Zhu,1 Yi Leng,1 Changyu Han,1 Qingqing Xu,1 Chunhong Zhang1 1Department of Dermato-Venereology, the Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Dermato-Venereology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Chunhong Zhang, Department of Dermato-Venereology, the Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 247 Beiyuan Dajie Street, Jinan, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-531-85875027, Fax +86-531-88962544, Email aliu133@163.comBackground: Psoriasis is an immune-mediated chronic inflammatory disease. Qingre Lishi Decoction (QRLSD) has achieved great clinical effect in the treatment of psoriasis. However, the potential bioactive components and the mechanisms are yet unclear.Aim: To analyze the serum parameters of rats fed with QRLSD, screen out the active components of QRLSD, and explore the potential targets and pathway of QRLSD in the treatment of psoriasis.Materials and Methods: The active components of serum containing QRLSD were analyzed using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS). The targets of QRLSD in the treatment of psoriasis were predicted by network pharmacology and molecular docking. In vitro experiments verified the underlying mechanism.Results: By UPLC-Q-TOF/MS, 15 prototype components and 22 metabolites were identified in serum containing QRLSD. Subsequently, 260 chemical composition targets and 218 psoriasis targets were overlapped to obtain 23 intersection targets, including LGALS3, TNF, F10, DPP4, EGFR, MAPK14, STAT3 and others. TNF, IL-10, GAPDH, STAT3, EGFR, ITGB1, LGALS3 genes were identified as potential drug targets in the PPI network analyzed by CytoHubba. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses indicated that QRLSD may improve psoriasis by regulating immune and inflammatory pathways, the cytokine mediated signal transduction pathways and other signaling pathways. Molecular docking results showed that the main active components of the serum containing QRLSD had higher affinities for TNF and LGALS3. In vitro experiments confirmed that QRLSD may decrease levels of inflammatory cytokines by suppressing the NF-κB signaling pathway activated by TNF-α in human keratinocytes.Conclusion: This study explores the potential compounds, targets and signaling pathways of QRLSD in the treatment of psoriasis, which will help clarify the efficacy and mechanism of QRLSD.Keywords: qingre lishi decoction, psoriasis, UPLC-Q-TOF/MS, network pharmacology, molecular docking, NF-κB signaling pathway

Xiamin Pu,1 Houqiang Huang,2 Xiaolei Zhao,3 Feng Liu,1 Yebo Leng,4 Ya Deng,5 Lingyi Huang,5 Xingchen Zhou,5 Fen Xu,1 Yongli Huang,6 Shengmin Guo2 1Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The Affiliated Hospital, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Nursing, The Affiliated Hospital, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Hematology, The Affiliated Hospital, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Orthopedics, The Affiliated Hospital, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China; 5School of Nursing, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Outpatient, The Affiliated Hospital, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Shengmin Guo, Department of Nursing, The Affiliated Hospital, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-13980255653, Email 2930773281@qq.comBackground: A global public health problem, frailty is closely associated with poor prognosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in older patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Although exercise intervention is the most commonly used method to reverse and alleviate frailty, its application is restricted in patients with acute myocardial infarction following PCI due to cardiovascular instability and autonomic imbalance. Consequently, there is a need for a new practical intervention to address frailty syndrome in these patients.Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation in frail older AMI patients post-PCI.Patients and Methods: A single-blind, randomized controlled trial was carried out in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine from March to October 2023. A total of 100 eligible participants were randomly divided into two groups: experimental (n = 50) and control (n = 50) groups, respectively. Both groups received usual care. The experimental group underwent neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) on bilateral quadriceps and gastrocnemius muscles for 30 minutes daily from day 1 to day 7 after surgery. The primary outcomes measured included the frailty score, lower limb muscle strength, and lower limb muscle quality. Secondary outcomes included the activities of daily living score, inflammatory markers, and length of hospital stay. All participants were included in an intention-to-treat analysis after the study ended.Results: The frailty scores of the two groups exhibited a gradual decrease over time, and the scores of the experimental group were lower than those of the control group at 4 and 7 days after surgery (P< 0.001). Concurrently, the lower limb muscle strength showed an increasing trend over the time in the experimental group and a decreasing trend in the control group, and the scores of the experimental group surpassed those of the control group (p< 0.001). Moreover, a statistical difference was observed in the lower limb muscle mass across the groups after 7 days postoperatively compared with baseline on both sides (p< 0.05).Conclusion: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation has the potential to enhance lower limb function and alleviate frailty in elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction after PCI. These findings introduce a novel intervention approach for frailty management in the elderly population.Keywords: acute myocardial infarction, older, frailty, neuromuscular electrical stimulation, PCI

Xiaozhi Li,1 Yue Leng,2 Zhiheng Xiong,3 Jing Liu4 1Department of Physical Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Biological Sciences and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, People’s Republic of China; 4WuShu Department, Nanjing Sports Institute, Nanjing, 210046, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yue Leng, School of Biological Sciences and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, People’s Republic of China, Email lengyue@seu.edu.cnPurpose: Baduanjin, as a Chinese traditional fitness exercise, can help people regulate emotions and promote their physical and psychological health. However, the underlying neural mechanisms have not been thoroughly explored. This study aimed to examine the effects of differences in the level of Baduanjin learning on individuals’ brain and psychological response related to emotion regulation.Methods: Twenty-two participants with long-term Baduanjin learning (for more than one year), and 21 participants with short-term Baduanjin learning (for approximately three months) were recruited. All participants were asked to do a complete 12-minute set of Baduanjin. Before and after doing Baduanjin, their resting-state EEG signals were collected, besides, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and the Profile of Mood States-Short Form (POMS-SF) were used to assess participants’ emotion regulation strategies and abilities.Results: The results of psychological measurement indicated that participants in the long-term group were more likely to use cognitive reappraisal as an emotion regulation strategy compared to participants in the short-term group (p< 0.05). Moreover, the analysis of the frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) showed that participants in the long-term group rather than the short-term group exhibited significant left lateralization after doing Baduanjin (p< 0.05).Conclusion: The findings provide preliminary evidence for the neural mechanism underlying how long-term Baduanjin learning promotes individuals’ emotion regulation indexed by FAA. The study provides a new paradigm for research on how Baduanjin affects emotional regulation.Keywords: emotion, sport, resting state electroencephalogram, frontal alpha asymmetry

Jingjing Wei,1 Chunhong Zhang,1 Yi Leng,1 Mingming Li,1 Lingyun Du,1 Zhiqiang Cao,2 Xia Zhu,1 Changyu Han,1 Liya Meng1 1Department of Dermato-Venereology, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Dermatology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Liya Meng, Department of Dermato-venereology, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, 247 Beiyuan Dajie Street, Jinan, 250033, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-531-85875027, Fax +86-531-88962544, Email mly0706@sina.comObjective and Design: The treatment of recurrent rosacea has always been a problem. Oral minocycline has been widely used in the treatment of rosacea. However, the efficacy and safety of ozonated hydrotherapy combined with LED yellow light irradiation and oral minocycline for mild to moderate papulopustular rosacea (PPR) has not been thoroughly studied.Methods: Patients with rosacea who met the criteria and had complete clinical statistic admitted to our hospital from April 2021 to September 2022 were retrospectively collected and divided into combined therapy group and oral only group. The patients in the two groups were treated with minocycline for 8 weeks. In addition, the patients in combined therapy group were treated with ozone hydrotherapy once a week, followed by LED yellow light irradiation for a total of 4 weeks. The Investigator’ s global assessment (IGA) score was used to assess the condition. The efficacy was evaluated using the patients’ subjective symptom scores. Skin lesion images and adverse reactions were recorded. The recurrence rate was observed after 24 weeks of follow-up.Results: A total of 39 patients included in the study. After 4 weeks of treatment, the effective rate was 90% in combined therapy group and 52.63% in oral only group (p< 0.05). After 8 weeks of treatment, the total score of the patients’ subjective symptom scores and the scores of itching and burning sensation in combined therapy group were lower than those in oral only group (p< 0.05). After 24 weeks of follow-up, the recurrence rate of combined therapy group was 5%, and that of oral only group was 26.32%. The mild adverse reactions experienced by both groups disappeared during follow-up.Conclusion: This combination therapy has a significant, rapid and safe therapeutic effect, especially in relieving itching and burning sensations, and may reduce the recurrence rate.Keywords: papulopustular rosacea, ozonated hydrotherapy, LED yellow light, minocycline, combined therapy

Jie Liu,1 Xiaoxia Han,1 Jia Zhou,1 Yufang Leng1,2 1The First School of Clinical Medicine, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Anesthesiology, The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yufang Leng, Email lengyf@lzu.edu.cnAbstract: Ferroptosis is a novel way of regulating cell death, which occurs in a process that is closely linked to intracellular iron metabolism, lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and multiple signaling pathways. The latest research shows that ferroptosis plays a key role in the pathogenesis of acute kidney injury (AKI). Ferroptosis may be an important target for treating AKI caused by various reasons, such as ischemia-reperfusion injury, rhabdomyolysis syndrome, sepsis, and nephrotoxic drugs. This paper provides a review on the regulatory mechanisms of ferroptosis and its role in AKI, which may help to provide new research ideas for the treatment of AKI and future research.Keywords: ferroptosis, iron, lipid peroxidation, molecular mechanism, acute kidney injury

Zhanjie Li,1,&ast; Tangying Liang,2,&ast; Junji Zhang,3 Ge Song,4 Yinzhi Leng,5 Li Qiao,6 Yiyang Zhan,7 Weihong Zhang1 1Department of Infection Control, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Infection Control, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Suzhou, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Infection Control, Changzhou No. 2 People’s Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Infection Control, Nanjing Hospital of Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Quality Management, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Geriatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yiyang Zhan, Department of Geriatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-18912972893, Email yiyangzhan@sina.com Weihong Zhang, Department of Infection Control, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-13585108553, Email zhangweihong@jsph.org.cnObjective: To analyze the characteristics and occurrence scenarios of occupational exposure of staff in the Shanghai Lingang Fangcang Shelter Hospital.Methods: We collected the data of 80 staff with occupational exposure (including doctors, nurses, cleaning, security guards, and maintenance staff) in the Shanghai Lingang Fangcang Shelter Hospital from April 5 to May 20, 2022. The basic information of occupational exposure, factors influencing different occupational exposure types, ways to discover occupational exposure, discovery places of occupational exposure, and specific occurrence scenarios were compiled and analyzed among these data.Results: Occupational exposure mainly occurred in nurses (37, 46.25%), and cleaning (21, 26.25%). After the occurrence of occupational exposure, 20 staff (25%) did not know the occurrence time. Moreover, occupational exposure types were listed from high to low proportion as follows: broken protective clothing (56, 70%), mask loosening or displacement (13, 16.25%), skin exposure (6, 7.5%), and sharp object injuries (5, 6.25%). Occupational exposure was discovered mainly through self-discovery (56, 70%), while other discovery ways were majorly colleague discovery (12, 15%) and infection control supervisor discovery (12, 15%). Furthermore, occupational exposure was discovered principally in the public area (53.75%) and the office area (25%) of the cabin, but the proportion of mask loosening or displacement (38.46%) and skin exposure (50%) was also high in the first unloading area. Broken protective clothing occurred in the following scenarios: scratching while working in the cabin (37, 66.07%) and not knowing its occurrence time (25%). The occurrence scenarios of mask loosening or displacement were mainly not knowing its occurrence time (6, 46.15%), self-discovery (3, 23.08%), and at the time of removal (3, 23.08%).Conclusion: Targeted training and prevention of occupational exposure should be performed to decrease infection risk and ensure staff safety in Fangcang shelter hospitals.Keywords: Fangcang shelter hospital, occupational exposure, characteristics, scenarios, SARS-CoV-2 Omicron

Accurate modeling of fracture nucleation and propagation in brittle and ductile materials subjected to dynamic loading is important in predicting material damage and failure under extreme conditions. Phase‐field fracture models have garnered a lot of attention in recent years due to their success in representing damage and fracture processes in a wide class of materials and under a variety of loading conditions. Second‐order phase‐field fracture models are by far the most popular among researchers (and increasingly, among practitioners), but fourth‐order models have started to gain broader acceptance since their more recent introduction. The exact solution corresponding to these high‐order phase‐field fracture models has higher regularity. Thus, numerical solutions of the model equations can achieve improved accuracy and higher spatial convergence rates. In this work, we develop a virtual element framework for the high‐order phase‐field model of dynamic fracture. The virtual element method (VEM) can be regarded as a generalization of the classical finite element method. In addition to many other desirable characteristics, the VEM allows computing on polytopal meshes. Here, we use H1$$ {H}^1 $$‐conforming virtual elements and the generalized‐α$$ \alpha $$ time integration method for the momentum balance equation, and adopt H2$$ {H}^2 $$‐conforming virtual elements for the high‐order phase‐field equation. We verify our virtual element framework using classical quasi‐static benchmark problems and demonstrate its capabilities with the aid of numerical simulations of dynamic fracture in brittle materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yingying Huang,1,&ast; Shaowei Jiang,1,&ast; Wenjie Li,1 Yiwen Fan,2 Yuxin Leng,3 Chengjin Gao1 1Emergency Department, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pathology Medicine Biology, The University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; 3Critical Care Medicine Department, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Chengjin Gao; Yuxin Leng Email gaochengjin@xinhuamed.com.cn; lengyx@bjmu.edu.cnBackground: A modified scoring system based on the RDW, AGE, SOFA, and APACHE II score (RAAS score) was composed to investigated the short-, medium-, and long-term high risk of mortality in patients with sepsis identified early in the emergency department (ED).Methods: Data were collected from a total of 1066 sepsis patients in emergency department, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from March 2013 to April 2021, including 529 patients in the primary cohort and 537 patients in the validation cohort. By comparing each parameter and the area under ROC (AUC) and K-M (Kaplan–Meier) survival curve in different periods, valuable parameters were screened out to form a new scoring system, and finally the prediction model of the nomogram was built.Results: The RAAS scoring system, consisting of RDW, AGE, SOFA and APACHE II, is a 0– 6 scale to reflect the severity of sepsis. AUC at 30, 60, and 90 days was 0.816, 0.815, and 0.820, respectively. K-M curves across six prognostic time periods in both databases showed survival probabilities with different RDW segments and RAAS scores. In the calibration curve, the results of the internal validation of the primary cohort and the results of the external validation cohort showed the prognostic accuracy of RAAS.Conclusion: The RAAS score system is a novel and reliable indicator to predict the short-term and medium-term mortality of patients with sepsis. With the increase of the RAAS score, the mortality of patients with sepsis gradually increases.Keywords: sepsis, risk factors, prognosis, mortality, nomograms

Laser-driven particle acceleration has attracted significant attention due to its potential for compact and cost-effective particle accelerator. Currently, the generation of highly collimated high-energy proton beams, essential for fundamental science and industry, remains a notable challenge using this technique. Here we present an effective scheme for generating such a high-quality proton beam via a circularly polarized Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) laser pulse irradiating a micro-tube foil target. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that numerous overdense electron bunches are pulled out from the micro-tube and accelerated forward by the laser fields, inducing a strong converging sheath field at the rear side of the target. As a result, highly collimated protons are accelerated forward by this sheath field, exhibiting a high-flux of 3 × 107 protons/MeV at a cutoff energy of 125 MeV, achieved at a LG laser intensity of 1.71 × 1021 W cm−2. This high-quality proton beam is desirable for medical and biophysical applications, such as FLASH radiotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Majority of cash crops have the problem of continuous cropping in the planting process, especially the genus Panax. A series of diseases occur in the process of ginseng planting, which will aggravate the obstacle of continuous cropping, directly lead to the significant decline of ginseng yield and quality, and seriously affect the development of ginseng planting industry. Taking two main species of Panax plants, namely Panax ginseng C. A. Mey and Panax notoginseng (Burkill)F.H. Chen ex C.H., this paper explains the three main factors affecting their continuous cropping, namely (i). Allelopathic autotoxic substances, (ii). Soil microbial community and (iii). Soil physico-chemical properties. The main methods to overcome continuous cropping obstacles were listed, including (i). Biological breeding, (ii). Soil sterilization, (iii). Establishment of reasonable farming system, (iv). Use of microbial fertilizer and (v). The directions of future research were discussed to provide scientific reference for the cultivation and management of alleviating or overcoming the obstacle of continuous cropping of ginseng. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]