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Aim: To explore whether sense of mastery can mediate the relationship between social support and illness perception in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who were at the "Blanking Period." Design: A cross‐sectional design. Methods: 405 patients with AF who were at the "Blanking Period" in the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University were recruited; they completed a set of questionnaires, including the Perceived Social Support Scale, the Personal Mastery Scale and the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire. Results: Social support and sense of mastery were both adversely connected to illness perception. The indirect effect of social support on illness perception through sense of mastery was negative, accounting for 86.04% of the total effect. Conclusion: During the "Blanking Period," better social support and sense of mastery contribute to a positive illness perception of AF patients. Social support also can influence patients' illness perception indirectly via the mediator of sense of mastery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of peripheral B cell subsets with CD27 and CD38 phenotypes in myasthenia gravis (MG) patients. Methods Peripheral blood samples of 43 MG patients and 38 healthy controls from January 2016 to December 2018 were collected. Peripheral CD27+ CD38-, CD27+ CD38+, CD27-CD38+ and CD27-CD38-B cells were detected through flow cytometer and tricolor fluorescence labeling. Results Percentages of CD27+ CD38- and CD27+ CD38+ B cells were increased (P = 0.000, 0.000), while percentage of CD27-CD38+ B cells was decreased in MG patients compared with those in controls (P = 0.001). The percentage of CD27+ CD38+ B cells was higher in generalized GMG patients than that in OMG patients (P = 0.031). However, patients with thymoma had lower percentage of CD27-CD38+B cells than that in patients with normal thymus (P = 0.026). CD27+ CD38- and CD27+ CD38+ B cells were enriched in patients with myasthenic crisis compared with patients without crisis (P = 0.017, 0.011). In addition, after treatment of methylprednisolone, the Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis Score (QMGS) was decreased (P = 0.012), the CD27+ CD38+ B cells reduced (P = 0.034) and CD27+ CD38-B cells elevated (P = 0.006). Meanwhile, percentage of CD27+ CD38-B cells was postively correlated with disease severity in MG patients (rs = 0.394, P = 0.009). Conclusions Abnormal changes of B cell subsets with CD27 and CD38 phenotypes were observed and closely associated with disease severity in MG patients. All of these findings suggested that aberrancy of B cell subsets may be involved in the progression of MG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, mesoporous Cu and N co-doped TiO2 crystals were synthesized with Cu and N co-doped titania xerogel by solvothermal treatment in different alcohols and the characteristics of Cu and N co-doped TiO2 were investigated with XRD, SEM, UV-vis and N2 sorption analysis. Results indicated that different alcohols facilitated formation and stability of pure anatase phase. The photocatalytic activity of samples was evaluated by the photocatalytic oxidation of acetone under visible light. The extraordinary photocatalytic performance of the Cu and N co-doped TiO2 crystals were synthesized with titania xerogel by solvothermal treatment in ethyl alcohol. This enhanced photoactivity is related to the bandgap narrowing, good dispersibility, the smaller pores and the larger specific area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obejective: To explore the effect of Inositol Hexaphosphate (IP6) on expression of E-cadherin, TGF-βand VEGF in DMH-induced Colorectal Cancer (CRC) rat model. Methods: 60 Wistar rats were assigned to 5 groups: Control group (CG), DMH group (DG), Low IP6 dose group (LG), Moderate IP6 dose group (MG) and High IP6 dose group (HG). The rats in LG, MG and HG were given sodium phytate with a dose of 0.25 g/kg, 0.5 g/kg, 1.0 g/kg for each group by gavage every day, respectively. Meanwhile, the rats in CG and DG were given the same volume of normal saline by gavage every day. The rats in DG, LG, MG, HG were subcutaneously injected with DMH (30 mg/kg) once a week for 18 weeks. The rats were fed for 16 weeks after the induced-tumor experiment. The mRNA expression levels of E-cadherin, TGF-β, VEGF were measured by real-time PCR. Results: The mRNA level expression of E-cadherin decreased obviously in DG (P<0.05). With the increase of IP6 concentration, the E-cadherin gradually increased. By contrast, the expression of TGF-βand VEGF was the highest in DG (P<0.05) and both of them gradually decreased with increase of IP6 concentration. Conclusions: IP6 could increase the mRNA level expression of E-cadherin in DMH-induced CRC rat model and decrease the expression of TGF-βand VEGF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]