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Objective To explore the research current status, hot spots and trends of research on the Chinese medicine external therapy of ulcerative colitis (UC) in China in the past 20 years. Methods The relevant literatures indexed in China Knowledge Network, Wanfang Database, and VIP Database from January 2000 to October 2022 were searched, and CiteSpace 5.8.R3 and Note Express software were used to screen and visualize the literatures. Results A total of 756 articles were included. The main researchers and teams being Wu Huangan and Liu Huirong and others.The institution with the largest number of publication was Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture and Meridian. The hot keywords mainly included enema, retention enema, Chinese medicine enema and acupoint embedding, etc., and 11 clusters were formed, with enema, curative effect and acupoint embedding as the main research hotspots. Conclusion In recent years, the hotspots of Chinese medicine external therapy for UC have changed from the observation of the clinical efficacy of enemas and acupoint embedding to the study of safety and mechanism of action. Future research should strengthen cooperation and communication among institutions, conduct comparative research on the efficacy of different external treatment methods of Chinese medicine, and carry out basic research.

[Objective] The particle size distributions (PSD) of different soils measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and by the pipette method (PM) in the water erosion region of China was compared in order to provide a reference for the determination of typical soil PSDs and their applications in soil erosion models. [Methods] Five typical soils corresponding to the five water erosion subregions of China (i.e., black soil, cinnamon soil, loess, purple soil, and red soil) were collected and analyzed by PM and SEM. Specifically, soil suspensions of different size classes obtained by PM (i.e., < 100, < 53, < 20, < 10, < 5 and < 2 μm) were measured using SEM. The PSD results determined by PM and SEM were compared and the causes for their difference were determined. [Results] For most soil suspensions obtained by PM, particles larger than the corresponding size classes of the suspensions were detected by SEM. As the size classes of soil suspensions decreased, both the count and volume fractions of the corresponding sizes, as measured by SEM, decreased. For the suspensions < 100 μm, the particles of the black, cinnamon, and purple soils fell mainly in the 20—53 μm class, resulting in relatively lower values of SEM-derived mean volume diameter (MVD). In contrast, the primary size classes of the loess and red soil were 20—53 and 53—100 μm, leading to larger MVD. Little difference was observed in the PSDs of loess between PM and SEM for the suspension < 100 μm. Compared with SEM, PM overestimated the clay fractions < 2 μm of the other soil samples, and underestimated the size fractions of 20—53 μm for the black, cinnamon, and purple soils, as well as the fractions of 20—100 μm for the red soil. As a result, the PM-derived mean weight diameters (MWD) were smaller than the SEM-derived MVD for all of the investigated soils. Additionally, the PSD discrepancies between the two analytical methods shifted the textural classes of 84.6% of the total soil samples. Converting the PM-derived PSD with the optimal S-curve models, the proportion of the samples with different textural classes due to PSD analytical method decreased to 61.5%. [Conclusion] Based on the SEM results, PM tended to misestimate the PSDs of all of the five typical soils in the water erosion region. The PSD differences between the two methods varied with soil type and were mainly related to soil mineral composition and clay mineral types.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT), a clinically approved cancer treatment strategy, features non-invasiveness, few side-effects, high spatial resolution, etc. The advancement of PDT has been significantly restricted by the penetration depth of the excitation light. Herein, an effective fluorogen, TBD, with aggregation-induced emission characteristics (AIEgen) and high reactive-oxygen-species (ROS) generation efficiency was reported and integrated with a near infrared (NIR) light excitable upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP) to construct NIR light excitable UCNP@TBD nanocomposites. The formed nanocomposite has excellent photostability, good biocompatibility, and efficient ROS generation under NIR light excitation via Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), enabling NIR light excited PDT. Moreover, the proposed NIR light excited PDT can break the impasse between the penetration depth and excitation volume in conventional PDT, effectively improving the anticancer therapeutic outcome. In vitro cancer cell ablation and in vivo tumor growth inhibition validated that the proposed UCNP@TBD nanocomposite is a promising NIR light excitable PDT agent with great potential for future translational research.

Objective This study aimed to develop and validate a novel nomogram for diagnosing gastric cancer (GC). Methods In this prospective analysis, 146 patients of Wenzhou Central Hospital were recruited for a GC group and a benign lesion group and were divided into a training set and an internal validation set in a ratio of 7:3. Clinical and analytical characteristics were collected and analyzed by logistic regression analysis. The performance of the predictive model was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic curve, calibration curve, and decision curve analysis. Results There were 5 variables, namely albumin, carcinoembryonic antigen, carbohydrate antigen 125, creatinine, and small proline-rich protein 2A, that were identified as the final parameters for the developed model. In the training and internal validation sets, the area under the curve of the model was 0.968 and 0.979, respectively, showing good diagnostic performance. Conclusion This study developed and validated a new nomogram based on 5 parameters. This model shows good diagnostic performance in distinguishing GC from benign lesion groups and has certain significance in clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: Nutrition is associated with neurodevelopment. Infants at high risk of cerebral palsy (CP) usually suffer from undernutrition, yet the relationship between nutritional status and neurodevelopmental levels is unclear. Objective: To describe the nutritional status characteristics of infants at high risk of CP, and to explore the relationship between neurodevelopmental levels and nutritional status. Methods: This single‐center cross‐sectional study enrolled infants at high risk of CP, with corrected age from 0 days to 12 months. Weight and height were measured and calculated into z‐scores, which were used to classify the nutritional status based on the World Health Organization growth charts and American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition standards. The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development were used to evaluate the developmental levels of gross motor, fine motor, cognition, receptive communication, and expressive communication. Results: A total of 479 infants at high risk of CP were recruited, with 43.4% classified as undernutrition. Compared to those with normal neurodevelopment, the odds of moderate and severe undernutrition were about 1.8 and 3.9 times higher in gross motor delay, 2.2 and 3.1 times higher in fine motor delay, 2.5 and 9.4 times higher in cognition delay, 2.2 and 3.9 times higher in receptive communication delay, and 3.0 and 5.6 times higher in expressive communication delay. There were significant positive correlations between nutritional status and neurodevelopmental levels (P < 0.001). Interpretation: Undernutrition and neurodevelopmental delays are prevalent among infants at high risk of CP. Worse nutritional status was correlated with lower neurodevelopmental levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skin and soft-tissue infections require significant consideration because of their prolonged treatment duration and propensity to rapidly progress, resulting in severe complications. The primary challenge in their treatment stems from the involvement of drug-resistant microorganisms that can form impermeable biofilms, as well as the possibility of infection extending deep into tissues, thereby complicating drug delivery. Dissolving microneedle patches are an innovative transdermal drug-delivery system that effectively enhances drug penetration through the stratum corneum barrier, thereby increasing drug concentration at the site of infection. They offer highly efficient, safe, and patient-friendly alternatives to conventional topical formulations. This comprehensive review focuses on recent advances and emerging trends in dissolving-microneedle technology for antimicrobial skin-infection therapy. Conventional antibiotic microneedles are compared with those based on emerging antimicrobial agents, such as quorum-sensing inhibitors, antimicrobial peptides, and antimicrobial-matrix materials. The review also highlights the potential of innovative microneedles incorporating chemodynamic, nanoenzyme antimicrobial, photodynamic, and photothermal antibacterial therapies. This review explores the advantages of various antimicrobial therapies and emphasizes the potential of their combined application to improve the efficacy of microneedles. Finally, this review analyzes the druggability of different antimicrobial microneedles and discusses possible future developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]