Endothelial cells derived extracellular vesicles promote diabetic arterial calcification via circ_0008362/miR-1251-5p/Runx2 axial.

Introduction: Arterial calcification, an independent predictor of cardiovascular events, increases morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), but its mechanisms remain unclear. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play an important role in intercellular communication. The study investigates the role and potential mechanisms of EVs derived from endothelial cells (ECs) in regulating vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) calcification under high glucose (HG) condition, with a goal of developing effective prevention and treatment strategies for diabetic arterial calcification.

Vascular wall microenvironment: Endothelial cells original exosomes mediated melatonin-suppressed vascular calcification and vascular ageing in a m6A methylation dependent manner.

Vascular calcification and vascular ageing are "silent" diseases but are highly prevalent in patients with end stage renal failure and type 2 diabetes, as well as in the ageing population. Melatonin (MT) has been shown to induce cardiovascular protection effects. However, the role of MT on vascular calcification and ageing has not been well-identified.

Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on pain and physical function in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Keen Osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common chronic disabling disease characterized by joint pain and dysfunction, which seriously affects patients' quality of life. Recent studies have shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was a promising treatment for KOA.

Purpose: Investigate the effects of tDCS on pain and physical function in patients with KOA.

Cold exposure-induced plasma exosomes impair bone mass by inhibiting autophagy.

Recently, environmental temperature has been shown to regulate bone homeostasis. However, the mechanisms by which cold exposure affects bone mass remain unclear. In our present study, we observed that exposure to cold temperature (CT) decreased bone mass and quality in mice.

Assessment of causal association between the socio-economic status and osteoporosis and fractures: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study in European population.

The correlation between socio-economic status (SES) and bone-related diseases garners increasing attention, prompting a bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis in this study. Genetic data on SES indicators (average total household income before tax, years of schooling completed, and Townsend Deprivation Index at recruitment), femoral neck bone mineral density (FN-BMD), heel bone mineral density (eBMD), osteoporosis, and five different sites of fractures (spine, femur, lower leg-ankle, foot, and wrist-hand fractures) were derived from genome-wide association summary statistics of European ancestry. The inverse variance weighted method was employed to obtain the causal estimates, complemented by alternative MR techniques, including MR-Egger, weighted median, and MR-pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO).

Curcumin regulates autophagy through SIRT3-SOD2-ROS signaling pathway to improve quadriceps femoris muscle atrophy in KOA rat model.

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) usually leads to quadriceps femoris atrophy, which in turn can further aggravate the progression of KOA. Curcumin (CUR) has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and has been shown to be a protective agent for skeletal muscle. CUR has been shown to have a protective effect on skeletal muscle.

Adipose exosomal noncoding RNAs: Roles and mechanisms in metabolic diseases.

Exosomes are extracellular vesicles, measuring 40-160 nm in diameter, that are released by many cell types and tissues, including adipose tissue. Exosomes are critical mediators of intercellular communication and their contents are complex and diverse. In recent years, accumulating evidence has proved that multiple adipose tissue-derived exosomal noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), including microRNAs (miRNAs), long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs), play pivotal roles in the pathogenesis of diverse metabolic diseases, such as obesity.

Effects of foot reflexology massage on pregnant women: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies.

To explore the effects of foot reflexology massage on anxiety, pain, duration of labor, labor satisfaction, blood pressure, pulse rate and respiratory rate in pregnant women. We systematically searched eight databases for randomized controlled studies on the effects of foot reflexology massage on pregnant women. The inclusion criteria were as follow: participants were pregnant woman; the intervention is foot reflexology or foot massage; the control intervention is placebo, usual care, or no intervention; outcome indicators included pain, anxiety, birth satisfaction, duration of labor, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration; and study type was randomized controlled study.

Relationships between bilateral auditory brainstem activity and inter-implant interval in children with cochlear implants.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of the interval between bilateral cochlear implantation on the development of bilateral peripheral auditory pathways as revealed by the electrically evoked auditory brainstem response (EABR).

Methods: Fifty-eight children with profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss were recruited. Among them, 33 children received sequential bilateral cochlear implants (CIs), and 25 children received simultaneous bilateral CIs.

Cold exposure protects against medial arterial calcification development via autophagy.

Medial arterial calcification (MAC), a systemic vascular disease different from atherosclerosis, is associated with an increased incidence of cardiovascular events. Several studies have demonstrated that ambient temperature is one of the most important factors affecting cardiovascular events. However, there has been limited research on the effect of different ambient temperatures on MAC.

Epigenetic regulation in metabolic diseases: mechanisms and advances in clinical study.

Epigenetics regulates gene expression and has been confirmed to play a critical role in a variety of metabolic diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), osteoporosis, gout, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism and others. The term 'epigenetics' was firstly proposed in 1942 and with the development of technologies, the exploration of epigenetics has made great progresses. There are four main epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, histone modification, chromatin remodelling, and noncoding RNA (ncRNA), which exert different effects on metabolic diseases.

Evaluation of retinal and choroidal changes in patients with Alzheimer's type dementia using optical coherence tomography angiography.

Aim: To evaluate the changes in fundus parameters in patients with Alzheimer's type dementia (ATD) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), to record flash electroretinograms (ERG) using the RETeval system and to explore changes in retinal function.

Methods: Twenty-nine patients with ATD and 26 age-matched normal subjects were enrolled. All subjects underwent OCTA scans to analyse the superficial retinal vessel parameters in the macular area, including the vessel length density, the vessel perfusion density and the area of foveal avascular zone (FAZ), as well as the choroidal thickness.

Programmed cell death in stem cell-based therapy: Mechanisms and clinical applications.

Stem cell-based therapy raises hopes for a better approach to promoting tissue repair and functional recovery. However, transplanted stem cells show a high death percentage, creating challenges to successful transplantation and prognosis. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the mechanisms underlying stem cell death, such as apoptotic cascade activation, excessive autophagy, inflammatory response, reactive oxygen species, excitotoxicity, and ischemia/hypoxia.

Antiviral activity of Isatidis Radix derived glucosinolate isomers and their breakdown products against influenza A in vitro/ovo and mechanism of action.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Isatidis Radix, the sun-dried roots of Isatis indigotica Fortune ex Lindl., is one of the most usually used traditional Chinese medicines. For centuries, the herb has been employed in clinical practice for treatment of virus infection and inflammation.

Remarkable Improvement of the Catalytic Performance of PtFe Nanoparticles by Structural Ordering and Doping.

To achieve fuel cell commercialization, the performance improvement and cost reduction of catalysts are still the main challenges. To enhance the catalytic activity and durability for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), we prepare Au-PtFe particles entrapped in a porous carbon and then convert them to have a fine-grained and highly ordered intermetallic structure. The optimal Au-PtFe particles in catalyzing ORR exhibit initial specific and mass activities 9 times higher than the commercial catalyst of Pt/C.

Simvastatin delivery on PEEK for bioactivity and osteogenesis enhancements.

A strategy developed for obtaining positive cellular responses remains to be focused in the filed of functional biomimetics. In this study, a hydrogel covered simvastatin-loaded polyetheretherketone (PEEK) bio-composites was constructed with the purpose of bone tissue regeneration therapy. Briefly, a three-dimensional (3D) porous structure was fabricated on PEEK surface; then the substrate was functionalized with the poly(L-lactic acid)/simvastatin porous film and hyaluronic acid hydrogel subsequently.

MiR-539 inhibits proliferation and migration of triple-negative breast cancer cells by down-regulating LAMA4 expression.

Background: Recent studies have shown that laminin subunit alpha 4 (LAMA4) plays an important role in carcinogenesis. However, its molecular biological function in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has not been entirely clarified. This study investigated the expression of LAMA4 in TNBC and its effect on cell proliferation, migration and invasion.