Endoscopically Injectable Shear-Thinning Hydrogels Facilitating Polyp Removal.

Submucosal elevation, the process of instilling material in the submucosal space for separation of the surface mucosa and deeper muscularis layer, is a significant aspect of the endoscopic mucosal resection of large lesions performed to facilitate lesion removal and maximize safety. Submucosal injection, when applied, has historically been performed with normal saline, though this is limited by its rapid dissipation; solutions ideally need to be easily injectable, biocompatible, and provide a long-lasting submucosal cushion with a desirable height. Here, reported is a new set of materials, endoscopically injectable shear-thinning hydrogels, meeting these requirements because of their biocompatible components and ability to form a solid hydrogel upon injection.

Hypoxia-Activated PEGylated Conditional Aptamer/Antibody for Cancer Imaging with Improved Specificity.

Aptamers and antibodies, as molecular recognition probes, play critical roles in cancer diagnosis and therapy. However, their recognition ability is based on target overexpression in disease cells, not target exclusivity, which can cause on-target off-tumor effects. To address the limitation, we herein report a novel strategy to develop a conditional aptamer conjugate which recognizes its cell surface target, but only after selective activation, as determined by characteristics of the disease microenvironment, which, in our model, involve tumor hypoxia.

DNA-supramolecule conjugates in theranostics.

The elegant properties of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), such as accurate recognition, programmability and addressability, make it a well-defined and promising material to develop various molecular probes, drug delivery carriers and theranostic systems for cancer diagnosis and therapy. In addition, supramolecular chemistry, also termed "chemistry beyond the molecule", is a promising research field that aims to develop functional chemical systems by bringing discrete molecular components together in a manner that invokes noncovalent intermolecular forces, such as hydrophobic interaction, hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, and shape or size matching. Thus, DNA-supramolecule conjugates (DSCs) combine accurate recognition, programmability and addressability of DNA with the greater toolbox of supramolecular chemistry.

DCUN1D1 facilitates tumor metastasis by activating FAK signaling and up-regulates PD-L1 in non-small-cell lung cancer.

E3 ubiquitin ligases, which are key enzymes in the ubiquitin proteasome system, catalyze the ubiquitination of proteins to target them for proteasomal degradation. Emerging evidence suggests that E3 ubiquitin ligases play important roles in the development and progression of lung cancer. In our study, we characterized the gene expression landscape of lung cancer using data obtained from TCGA to explore the changes in E3 ubiquitin ligase containing the regulators of E3 ubiquitin ligase activity.

Self-Care Behavior of Hemodialysis Patients With Arteriovenous Fistula in China: A Multicenter, Cross-Sectional Study.

Improving the level of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) self-care behavior by people receiving hemodialysis is an effective way to reduce the occurrence of complications and mortality. The aim of this study was to assess the self-care behavior of Chinese patients undergoing hemodialysis with arteriovenous fistula. The assessment of self-care behaviors with arteriovenous fistula in hemodialysis (ASBHD-AVF, Portuguese version) was translated into Chinese using Brislin's translation model.

What is behind high turnover: a questionnaire survey of hospital nursing care workers in Shanghai, China.

Background: Currently, hospital nursing care workers (hereafter referred to as HNCWs) have become an important part of the healthcare system in China. They exist in nearly all of the public hospitals and in some private hospitals, making up 20 to 30% of the total nursing staff and providing 30 to 40% of basic nursing care for patients. However, many studies have shown that the turnover rate of HNCWs is very high, with average annual rates of 20 to 45%.

MicroRNA-124 suppresses growth and aggressiveness of osteosarcoma and inhibits TGF-β-mediated AKT/GSK-3β/SNAIL-1 signaling.

Osteosarcoma is one of the most common malignant tumors in adolescent populations and the prognosis remains incompletely understand. Previous reports have demonstrated that microRNA‑124 (miR‑124) has inhibitory effects on various human malignancies and is associated with tumor progression. However, the clinical significance and potential mechanisms of miR‑124 in the progression of osteosarcoma is not clearly understood.

Phase III study of dulanermin (recombinant human tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand/Apo2 ligand) combined with vinorelbine and cisplatin in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

Background Dulanermin is a recombinant soluble human Apo2 ligand/tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) that activates apoptotic pathways by binding to proapoptotic death receptor (DR) 4 and DR5. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of dulanermin combined with vinorelbine and cisplatin (NP) as the first-line treatment for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Experimental design Patients were randomly assigned to receive NP chemotherapy (vinorelbine 25 mg/m on days 1 and 8 and cisplatin 30 mg/m on days 2 to 4) for up to six cycles plus dulanermin (75 μg/kg on days 1 to 14) or placebo every three weeks until disease progression, intolerable toxicity, or withdrawal of consent.

Lercanidipine effect on circulating CD34+ progenitor cells in elderly patients: a randomized study.

Objective: This randomized study evaluates the effects of lercanidipine - as well as its antihypertensive efficacy - on the number of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in elderly patients with hypertension.

Research Design And Methods: In total, 61 patients with hypertension were randomly assigned to lercanidipine 10 mg/day or to other antihypertensive treatments (control group).

Main Outcome Measures: Cytometry analysis was conducted at baseline, at 12 weeks and at 24 weeks.

ASD v3.0: unraveling allosteric regulation with structural mechanisms and biological networks.

Allosteric regulation, the most direct and efficient way of regulating protein function, is induced by the binding of a ligand at one site that is topographically distinct from an orthosteric site. Allosteric Database (ASD, available online at http://mdl.shsmu.

Metabolomics specificity of tuberculosis plasma revealed by (1)H NMR spectroscopy.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a communicable disease of major global importance and causes metabolic disorder of the patients. In a previous study, we found that the plasma metabolite profile of TB patients differs from that of healthy control subjects based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In order to evaluate the TB specificity of the metabolite profile, a total of 110 patients, including 40 with diabetes, 40 with malignancy, and 30 with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), assessed by NMR spectroscopy, and compared to those of patients with TB.

The critical roles of COUP-TFII in tumor progression and metastasis.

Chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II (COUP-TFII) belongs to the steroid/thyroid hormone receptor superfamily. Extensive evidence has indicated that COUP-TFII plays a critical and indispensable role in cell-fate specification, organogenesis, angiogenesis, and metabolism as well as in a variety of diseases. Recent studies obtained from genetically engineered mouse models (GEM) and patient specimen analysis indicate that COUP-TFII is also important for tumor progression and metastasis.

Steady-state pharmacokinetics of sirolimus in stable adult Chinese renal transplant patients.

This open-label, nonrandomized study was conducted to evaluate the steady-state pharmacokinetics of sirolimus in 24 stable Chinese renal transplant patients receiving daily oral maintenance doses of sirolimus (1-4 mg). Repeated trough and serial whole blood sirolimus concentrations over a 24-hour dosing interval were collected and assayed using high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS). Non-compartmental analysis (NCA) was employed to calculate sirolimus pharmacokinetic parameters.

Enhancement of DEN-induced liver tumourigenesis in hepatocyte-specific Lass2-knockout mice coincident with upregulation of the TGF-β1-Smad4-PAI-1 axis.

Longevity assurance homolog 2 of yeast LAG1 (Lass2) gene is capable of suppressing the proliferation and metastasis of several types of tumours including liver cancer. In the present study, hepatocyte-specific Lass2-knockout (Lass2 KO) and wild-type (WT) mice were exposed to the carcinogen, diethylnitrosamine (DEN), to induced liver tumours. At week 23 following DEN injection, tumours were produced in 100% of the Lass2 KO mice and 21.

Development and clinical application of a new testicular prosthesis.

A new type of testicular prosthesis made of silastic with an elliptical shape to mimic a normal testis was developed by our team and submitted for patenting in China. The prosthesis was produced in different sizes to imitate the normal testis of the patient. To investigate the effects and safety of the testicular prosthesis, 20 patients receiving testicular prosthesis implantation were recruited for this study.