An examination of caregiver burden and contributing factors in cases of congenital microtia deformity.

This study aimed to assess the burden and influencing factors among primary caregivers of children with congenital microtia. A total of 153 primary caregivers of children with congenital microtia who underwent auricular reconstruction surgery at a tertiary A-grade hospital in Xi'an between October 2019 and August 2022, were recruited using convenience sampling. The Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI) was employed to evaluate caregiver burden.

A Dose-Dependent Spatiotemporal Response of Angiogenesis Elicited by Zn Biodegradation during the Initial Stage of Bone Regeneration.

Zinc (Zn) plays a crucial role in bone metabolism and imbues biodegradable Zn-based materials with the ability to promote bone regeneration in bone trauma. However, the impact of Zn biodegradation on bone repair, particularly its influence on angiogenesis, remains unexplored. This study reveals that Zn biodegradation induces a consistent dose-dependent spatiotemporal response in angiogenesis,both in vivo and in vitro.

Complications of Injected Exogenous Growth Factor for Cosmetic Facial Rejuvenation: A Case Series and Sequential Therapy.

Background: Exogenous growth factor presents promising soft tissue regeneration, but the complications from injectable exogenous growth factor seem to be growing. However, there is no detailed summary of complications and sequential treatment protocols. It is noted that the injection of exogenous growth factor into the soft tissue is an unreasonable or even illegal procedure, which could cause uncontrollable tissue growth and some other complications.

Synthesis of robust underwater glues from common proteins via unfolding-aggregating strategy.

Underwater adhesive proteins secreted by organisms greatly inspires the development of underwater glue. However, except for specific proteins such as mussel adhesive protein, barnacle cement proteins, curli protein and their related recombinant proteins, it is believed that abundant common proteins cannot be converted into underwater glue. Here, we demonstrate that unfolded common proteins exhibit high affinity to surfaces and strong internal cohesion via amyloid-like aggregation in water.

α-Helix-Mediated Protein Adhesion.

Proteins have been adopted by natural living organisms to create robust bioadhesive materials, such as biofilms and amyloid plaques formed in microbes and barnacles. In these cases, β-sheet stacking is recognized as a key feature that is closely related to the interfacial adhesion of proteins. Herein, we challenge this well-known recognition by proposing an α-helix-mediated interfacial adhesion model for proteins.

Protein/Polysaccharide Composite toward Multi-in-One Toxin Removal in Blood with Self-Anticoagulation and Biocompatibility.

Biocompatible adsorbents play an essential role in hemoperfusion. Nevertheless, there are no hemoperfusion adsorbents that can simultaneously remove small and medium toxins, including bilirubin, urea, phosphor, heavy metals, and antibiotics. This bottleneck significantly impedes the miniaturization and portability of hemoperfusion materials and devices.

Biopolymer coating for particle surface engineering and their biomedical applications.

Surface engineering of particles based on a polymeric coating is of great interest in materials design and applications. Due to the disadvantages of non-biodegradability and undesirable biocompatibility, the application of petroleum-based synthetic polymers coating in the biomedical field has been greatly limited. In addition, there is lack of a universal surface modification method to functionalize particles of different compositions, sizes, shapes, and structures.

Identification and structural elucidation of a new cetrorelix methylene dimer impurity in cetrorelix acetate by using LC-MS/MS.

Cetrorelix, a potent third generation of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) antagonist, is a synthetic decapeptide used for treatment of infertility, prostatic hypertrophy and sexual hormone-dependent tumors. The approved drug of cetrorelix (Cetrotide, Asta Medica AG, Frankfurt, Germany.), was used for prevention of premature ovulation in patients undergoing a controlled ovarian stimulation (COS), followed by oocyte pick-up and assisted reproductive techniques, and has been shown safe and effective in controlled ovarian stimulation.

Amyloid-like protein aggregates combining antifouling with antibacterial activity.

Infections related to implanted medical devices have placed a heavy burden on public health and require feasible solutions. In this study, a simple approach is reported to fabricate an antifouling and antibacterial dual-functional coating. One-step aqueous supramolecular assembly of bovine serum albumin (BSA) is employed to immobilize ε-polylysine (ε-PL) and form a coating (PTB@ε-PL).

The Prediction of Drug-Disease Correlation Based on Gene Expression Data.

The explosive growth of high-throughput experimental methods and resulting data yields both opportunity and challenge for selecting the correct drug to treat both a specific patient and their individual disease. Ideally, it would be useful and efficient if computational approaches could be applied to help achieve optimal drug-patient-disease matching but current efforts have met with limited success. Current approaches have primarily utilized the measureable effect of a specific drug on target tissue or cell lines to identify the potential biological effect of such treatment.

dbDEPC 3.0: the database of differentially expressed proteins in human cancer with multi-level annotation and drug indication.

https://www.scbit.org/dbdepc3/index.

A Novel Water-Soluble Fluorescence Probe with Wash-Free Cellular Imaging Capacity Based on AIE Characteristics.

A potential real-time imaging water-soluble fluorescent polymer (P3) is facilely prepared via one-pot method. For P3, tetraphenylethene unit serves as the fluorescent unit, poly(acryloyl ethylene diamine) (a kind of polyelectrolyte) with specific degree of polymerization acts as water-soluble part. H-NMR, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), UV-vis spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL), and confocal laser scanning microscopy are undertaken to characterize the structure and property of P3.

Biomolecular Network-Based Synergistic Drug Combination Discovery.

Drug combination is a powerful and promising approach for complex disease therapy such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, the number of synergistic drug combinations approved by the Food and Drug Administration is very small. To bridge the gap between urgent need and low yield, researchers have constructed various models to identify synergistic drug combinations.

Management of the first confirmed case of avian influenza A H7N9.

In March 2013, the first patient infected with the avian influenza A H7N9 virus was identified in China. The infection progressed rapidly, and the patient died of ARDS. During hospitalization, the patient was suspected of having an infectious respiratory disease, and contingency plans for public health emergencies were promptly started.

[Characterization of vinflunine tartrate liposomes in vitro and in vivo].

Vinflunine tartrate-loaded liposomes (VT-L) with two drug-to-lipid ratios were prepared by pH gradient method. Vesicle size and zeta potential were determined by the Zetasizer Nano ZS. Entrapment efficiency was evaluated by cation exchange resin centrifugalization method.

[Optimization of the formulation of ranolazine hydrochloride sustained-release tablet and its pharmacokinetics in dogs].

Ranolazine hydrochloride sustained-release tablet (RH-ST) was prepared and its release behavior in vitro was studied. The pharmacokinetic characteristics and bioavailability in six Beagle dogs after oral administration of RH-ST and ranolazine hydrochloride common tablets (RH-CT) as reference were compared. Three kinds of matrix, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC K4M), ethylcellulose (EC 100cp) and acrylic resins (Eudragit RL100) were selected as functional excipients to keep ranolazine hydrochloride (RH) release for 12 hours.

Ten-digit replantation with seven years follow-up: A case report.

In this report, we present a case of successful replantation of 10-digit complete amputation and results of postoperative rehabilitation in 7 years follow-up. The rehabilitation program included psychotherapy, physical therapy, sensory re-education, and measurements. At the 7 years postoperatively, the static two-point discriminations of replanted digits ranged from 4 to 11 mm.