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Introduction/Objective. Most patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) have hypertension. However, dialysis-related strategies to optimize blood pressure in these patients remain controversial. The current study aims to investigate the influence of dialysate sodium profiling on ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) in patients on maintenance hemodialysis, when there are no adequate dialytic and economic resources or high patient compliance. Methods. This prospective, single-center study enrolled 60 hypertensive ESRD patients. Subjects received maintenance dialysis with regular dialysate sodium concentration (140 mmol/L) during the initial three months after the enrollment, and were randomly assigned to continue regular sodium dialysate (group A) or switch to sodium profiling (group B) for duration of three months. ABP, heart rate (HR), pre-/postdialysis serum sodium levels, antihypertensive treatment dosages, and interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) etc. were recorded after treatment assignment. Results. Thirty patients each were enrolled in groups A and B. The characteristics at baseline were not significantly different between the two groups. Compared to patients in group A three months later, patients in group B had lower systolic ABP (p = 0.00), HR (p = 0.04), IDWG (p = 0.04), and antihypertensive medication dosages (p = 0.04). Throughout the treatment duration, no significant inter-group differences were observed for pre-/post-dialysis serum sodium and intradialytic complications. Additionally, no significant correlations were found between systolic or diastolic ABP and other variables studied in this study. Conclusion. In this study, we found that dialysate sodium profiling successfully ameliorated hypertension and reduced BP medications without altering natremic levels or increasing complications among patients on maintenance hemodialysis during the three months. Dialysate sodium profiling was relatively safe in this duration.

Objective To investigate the occupational exposure and its risk fatctors among the medical staff of stomatological department and, in order to improve the occupational protection and reduce the risk for occupational exposure.Methods The occupational exposures that occurred in 44 medical staff from Jan 2013 to Dec 2015 were investigated, and the occupation, exposure sources, types of exposures, exposure link were analyzed.Results Among the 44 medical staff of oral department with occupational exposure, doctors accounted for 54.5%, nurses 34.1%. There were 39 medical staff with sharps injuries and 3 medical staff with mucous membrane exposure. The major expose reason is cleaning medical instruments or equipment at the end of medical treatment, accounting for 43.2%(19 cases). Needle stick injures in operation is the second major reason, accounting for 34.1%(15 cases). All the subjects with occupational exposures have received appropriate treatment, and the follow-up showed that none of the medical staff were infected due to the occupational exposure.Conclusion The major expose reason is cleaning medical instruments or equipment at the end of medical treatment. It is crucial to intensify the training of medical staff of stomatological department in the knowledge of occupational exposure, implement the standard of preventive measures, and standarize the operation procedures so as to reduce the risk of occupational exposure.

Due to the uncertainty of climate science, global warming is quite controversial. However, in order to facilitate policy making, the politicians directly related the issue to CO2 emission based on some incomplete information from the climate science community and accordingly laid down a range of emission reducing measures, which failed thanks to the environmental rules. Besides these attempts, the scientists tried different kinds of technological fixes, which also failed due to the complexity of the climate system itself. It is argued that global warming is not a problem, but a reality which needs to be confronted with by continuous learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological engineering is proposed with an aim to obtaining energy in a green and natural way as much as possible by taking full advantage of the symbiotic mechanism of natural system. Theoretically it helps break through the mainstream anthropocentrism,but practically it encounters a lot of failure. Ecological engineering failure is mainly due to the two attributes embedded in technology-- low-level liability and system-level risk,which arise from the tension between de-contextual scientific research paradigms and human beings' real living circumstances. To cope with this tension,it is reasonable for the mankind to keep an openminded attitude and become more adaptive and creative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) has a poor prognosis and is relatively unresponsive to immunotherapy. Gasdermin C (GSDMC) induces pyroptosis in cancer cells and inflammation in the tumor microenvironment. However, whether GSDMC expression in PAAD is associated with survival or response to immunotherapy remains unknown. GSDMC expression and the relationship between GSDMC and patient survival or immune infiltration in PAAD were examined using data in the The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Gene Expression Ominbus (GEO), Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) and Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) databases. The TCGA PAAD cohort could be divided into two distinct risk groups based on the expression of GSDMC-related genes (GRGs). The TIDE algorithm predicted that the low-risk group was more responsive to immune checkpoint blockade therapy than the high-risk group. A novel 15-gene signature was constructed and could predict the prognosis of PAAD. In addition, the 15-gene signature model predicted the infiltration of immune cells and Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) treatment response. Immunohistochemical staining assessment of patient-derived human tissue microarray (TMA) from 139 cases of local PAAD patients revealed a positive correlation between GSDMC expression and PD-L1 expression but a negative correlation between GSDMC expression and infiltration of low CD8+ T cells. Moreover, the overexpression of GSDMC was related to poor overall survival (OS). This study suggests that GSDMC is a valuable biomarker for predicting PAAD prognosis and predicts the immunotherapy response of PAAD., Competing Interests: None., (AJCR Copyright © 2023.)

This study sought to investigate minichromosome maintenance protein 3 (MCM3) and minichromosome maintenance protein 7 (MCM7) expression in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC) samples, and to evaluate the relationship between clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis. The expressions of MCM3 and MCM7 were evaluated using immunohistochemistry of tissue sections from SACC patients, and statistical analyses were performed to evaluate the associations between MCM expression and clinicopathological variables and to analyze the disease-free survival (DFS) and prognostic factors. The positive expression rates of MCM3 and MCM7 in SACC were 98.8% and 96.6%, respectively. MCM3 expression correlated with T-stage and nerve invasion. MCM7 expression correlated with T-stage, adjacent tissue invasion, nerve invasion, and prognosis, and was negatively associated with DFS. However, there was no significant correlation between MCM3 expression and DFS. A kappa analysis demonstrated that MCM3 was closely associated with MCM7. MCM7 may be a favorable prognosis indicator in SACC., Competing Interests: None., (IJCEP Copyright © 2018.)

Ischemic cardiac injury is the main contributor to heart failure, and the regenerative capacity of intrinsic stem cells plays an important role in tissue repair after injury. However, stem cells in aged individuals have reduced regenerative potential and aged tissues lack the capacity to renew. Growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11), from the activin-transforming growth factor β superfamily, has been shown to promote stem cell activity and rejuvenation. We carried out non-invasive targeted delivery of the GDF11 gene to the heart using ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) and cationic microbubble (CMB) to investigate the ability of GDF11 to rejuvenate the aged heart and improve tissue regeneration after injury. Young (3 months) and old (21 months) mice were used to evaluate the expression of GDF11 mRNA in the myocardium at baseline and after ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) and myocardial infarction. GDF11 expression decreased with age and following myocardial injury. UTMD-mediated delivery of the GDF11 plasmid to the aged heart after I/R injury effectively and selectively increased GDF11 expression in the heart, and improved cardiac function and reduced infarct size. Over-expression of GDF11 decreased senescence markers, p16 and p53, as well as the number of p16 + cells in old mouse hearts. Furthermore, increased proliferation of cardiac stem cell antigen 1 (Sca-1 + ) cells and increased homing of endothelial progenitor cells and angiogenesis in old ischemic hearts occurred after GDF11 over-expression. Repetitive targeted delivery of the GDF11 gene via UTMD can rejuvenate the aged mouse heart and protect it from I/R injury.

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological features of primary gastrointestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (PGI-NHL) and their prognostic values., Methods: The clinical and pathological data of 216 patients diagnosed as PGI-NHL from Zhejiang Cancer Hospital were analyzed retrospectively. χ² test, log-liner model analysis, COX proportional hazard regression analysis and Life-table survival analysis were used to analyze the survival status of the patients by SAS 8.2 software, and Log-rank test was performed to couple the overall survival rates with different prognostic factors., Results: Totally, the age of onset was 8 to 89 years with the median age of 56.5 years. Male versus female was 1.27∶1(121∶95). The most frequently involved location was stomach (147 cases, 68.1%), followed by ileocecus (25 cases, 11.6%), large intestine (20 cases, 9.3%), small intestine (17 cases, 7.9%) and multiple GI involvement (5 cases, 2.3%). 182 cases were classified as B cell lymphomas, 22 cases as T cell lymphomas, and 12 cases not classified exactly due to insufficient data. The 3-year and 5-year survival rates of the patients were 69.4% and 53.3%, respectively. Univariate analysis revealed that age＞60 years, ECOG≥2, high LDH level, stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, IPI≥2, T cell type and intestinal involvement were predictors for poor prognosis. IPI≥2, T cell type and intestinal involvement were independent adverse predictors for prognosis by multiple COX proportional hazard regression analysis. Among different treatment groups, cases received chemotherapy combined with local radiotherapy gained the best survival status., Conclusion: B-cell lymphoma was the main pathological type in PGI-NHL; IPI≥2, T-cell type and intestinal involvement are independent adverse predictors for prognosis; chemotherapy combined with local radiotherapy might be the choice of approach for advanced stage and aggressive PGI-HNL.

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathologic features, pathogenesis, diagnostic criteria and the relationship between different classification models and prognosis in Chinese patients with DLBCL, and try to look for the most appropriate classification model to predict clinical prognosis and therapeutic responses for Chinese patients with DLBCL., Methods: 181 cases of Chinese DLBCLs diagnosed according to the WHO 2008 classification were collected. Standard two-step Envision method of immunohistochemical staining was used to assess the expressions of CD20, CD3ε, CD79a, CD10, Mum-1, Bcl-6, GCET-1, FOXP1 and Ki-67. The phenotypic classifications were assessed according to the standard of Hans model and Chan model. Data were analyzed by χ(2) test and Life Table survival analysis with the SPSS14.0 statistical package., Results: The ratio of male to female in this cohort was 1.26:1. The median age of all patients was 57 yrs with the average age of 53.5 yrs. Of 61 cases (33.7%) primarily showed lymph node involvement. Gastrointestinal tract as the most involved extra-nodal organ was observed in 43 cases (35.8%). All patients with complete clinical follow-up materials survived from 1 - 120 months. The patients showed a high risk for death in the initial one and half years. Three year survival rate was 49.7% (90/181). Three year survival of 44 cases received R-CHOP (Rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, bolus) was 76.9% (20/26), whereas 61.9% (60/97) in 119 cases received CHOP alone, R-CHOP group showed better prognosis (P = 0.017). All cases expressed one or more pan B cell markers, such as CD20 (176/179, 98.3%) and CD79a (62/77, 80.5%). For Hans model, 78 cases were classified as GCB group, while 103 cases as Non-GCB group. The ratio of Non-GCB to GCB was 1.32 without difference on the survival (P > 0.05). For the Chan's algorithm, 68 cases belonged to GCB subgroup, while 113 cases non-GCB subgroup. The ratio of non-GCB to GCB was 1.66. GCB subtype showed much better prognosis than non-GCB subtype according to Life Table survival analysis (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: The epidemiology and clinicopathologic features of Chinese DLBCLs were similarly with the western cases. Chan's algorithm was a significant tool to predict the cell origin and clinical biology of Chinese DLBCLs.

Amyloid beta-protein (Abeta) is thought to be responsible for the deficit of learning and memory in Alzheimer's disease (AD), possibly through interfering with synaptic plasticity in the brain. It has been reported that Abeta fragments suppress the long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission. However, it is unclear whether Abeta fragments can regulate long-term depression (LTD), an equally important form of synaptic plasticity in the brain. The present study investigates the effects of Abeta fragments on LTD induced by low frequency stimulation (LFS) in the hippocampus in vivo. Our results showed that (1) prolonged 1-10 Hz of LFS all effectively elicited LTD, which could persist for at least 2 h and be reversed by high frequency stimulation (HFS); (2) the effectiveness of LTD induction depended mainly on the number of pulses but not the frequency of LFS; (3) pretreatment with Abeta fragment 25-35 (Abeta(25-35), 12.5 and 25 nmol) did not change baseline field excitatory postsynaptic potentials but dose-dependently potentiated LTD; (4) Abeta fragment 31-35 (Abeta(31-35)), a shorter Abeta fragment than Abeta(25-35), also dose-dependently strengthened LFS-induced hippocampal LTD. Thus, the present study demonstrates the enhancement of hippocampal LTD by Abeta in in vivo condition. We propose that Abeta-induced potentiation of LTD, together with the suppression of LTP, will result in the impairment of cognitive function of the brain., ((c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)