Sprayed PAA-CaO2 nanoparticles combined with calcium ions and reactive oxygen species for antibacterial and wound healing

The most common socioeconomic healthcare issues in clinical are burns, surgical incisions and other skin injuries. Skin lesion healing can be achieved with nanomedicines and other drug application techniques. This study developed a nano-spray based on cross-linked amorphous calcium peroxide (CaO2) nanoparticles of polyacrylic acid (PAA) for treating skin wounds (PAA-CaO2 nanoparticles). CaO2 serves as a 'drug' precursor, steadily and continuously releasing calcium ions (Ca2+) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) under mildly acidic conditions, while PAA-CaO2 nanoparticles exhibited good spray behavior in aqueous form. Tests demonstrated that PAA-CaO2 nanoparticles exhibited low cytotoxicity and allowed L929 cells proliferation and migration in vitro. The effectiveness of PAA-CaO2 nanoparticles in promoting wound healing and inhibiting bacterial growth in vivo was assessed in SD rats using full-thickness skin defect and Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus)-infected wound models based thereon. The results revealed that PAA-CaO2 nanoparticles demonstrated significant advantages in both aspects. Notably, the infected rats' skin defects healed in 12 days. The benefits are linked to the functional role of Ca2+ coalesces with H2O2 as known antibacterial and healing-promoted agents. Therefore, we developed nanoscale PAA-CaO2 sprays to prevent bacterial development and heal skin lesions.

Gastrodin protects endothelial cells against high glucose-induced injury through up-regulation of PPARβ and alleviation of nitrative stress

In diabetes mellitus (DM), high glucose can result in endothelial cell injury, and then lead to diabetic vascular complications. Gastrodin, as the mainly components of Chinese traditional herb Tianma (Gastrodia elata Bl.), has been widely used for cardiovascular diseases. However, the known of the effect of gastrodin on endothelial cell injury is still limited. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect and possible mechanism of gastrodin on high glucose-injured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). High glucose (30 mmol/L) treatment caused HUVEC injury. After gastrodin (0.1, 1, 10 μmol/L) treatment, compared with the high glucose group, the cell proliferation ability increased in a dose-dependent manner. Meanwhile, gastrodin (10 μmol/L) up-regulated the mRNA and protein expressions of PPARβ and eNOS, decreased the expressions of iNOS, also reduced the protein expression of 3-nitrotyrosine, and lowed the level of ONOO^-, increased NO content. Both the PPARβ antagonist GSK0660 (1 μmol/L) and the eNOS inhibitor L-NAME (10 μmol/L) were able to block the above effects of gastrodin. In conclusion, gastrodin protectes vascular endothelial cells from high glucose injury, which may be, at least partly, mediated by up-regulating the expression of PPARβ and negatively regulating nitrative stress.

Heat shock protein: A double-edged sword linking innate immunity and hepatitis B virus infection

Heat shock proteins (HSPs), which have a variety of functions, are one of the stress protein families. In recent years, They have been reported to play a dual role in hepatitis B virus (HBV) which as persistent infection which is associated with, cirrhosis and liver cancer. In this article, we have summarized the regulatory mechanisms between HSPs and viruses, especially HBV and associated diseases based on HSP biological functions of in response to viral infections. In view of their potential as broad-spectrum antiviral targets, we have also discuss current progress and challenges in drug development based on HSPs, as well as the potential applications of agents that have been evaluated clinically in HBV treatment.

Thymol improves autism-like behaviour in VPA-induced ASD rats through the Pin1/p38 MAPK pathway

Inflammation plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Thymol is a bioactive monoterpene isolated from Thymus vulgaris that has anti-inflammatory properties and is helpful in neurodevelopmental disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of thymol on autism-like behaviours in rats with VPA-induced ASD and to assess the related molecular mechanisms. In the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of the valproic acid (VPA)-exposed rat model, the levels of Pin1, phosphorylated p38 MAPK, interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, were increased, and the levels of PSD95 and synaptophysin (SYP) decreased. After thymol treatment (30 mg/kg), the VPA-induced autism-like behaviours were alleviated. Moreover, thymol also rescued the dysregulated levels of Pin1, phosphorylated p38 MAPK, IL-1β, TNF-α, PSD95, and SYP. In addition, immunofluorescence experiments showed that thymol treatment decreased the correlation between Pin1 and phosphorylated p38 MAPK. Mechanistically, Pin1 knockdown by RNA interference confirmed that Pin1 promotes inflammation via phosphorylation of p38 MAPK in the VPA exposure rat model. In conclusion, thymol improved autism-like behaviours in VPA-induced ASD rats by reducing inflammation and improving neurodevelopment. This effect was mediated by the Pin1/p38 MAPK pathway. These results experimentally provide the potential for thymol in new therapeutic avenues for autism.

A Knowledge-Based Semisupervised Hierarchical Online Topic Detection Framework

Topic models have achieved big success in recent years. To detect topics in a text stream, various online topic models have been proposed in the literature. The limitations of these works include that: 1) most of them run with fixed topic numbers and 2) the overlaps between the topics may enlarge in the evolving process. Hierarchical topic model is a candidate solution to these problems since it can reveal many useful relationships between the topics. These relationships can help to find high quality topics and reduce topic overlaps. In this paper, a knowledge-based semisupervised hierarchical online topic detection framework is proposed. The proposed framework can detect topics in an online hierarchical way. In addition, it has been proven that introducing external knowledge can improve the performance of text mining. Therefore, the knowledge from external knowledge sources and human experts are also integrated in the proposed framework. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the proposed framework with different metrics. The results show that compared with the baseline methods, our framework can achieve better performance with competitive time efficiency.

[Multicenter randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of prostaglandin E1 cream for female sexual arousal disorder]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the efficacy and safety of alprostadil cream in management of female sexual arouse disorder (FSAD), and its appropriate dose for clinical prescription.

METHODS

The volunteers were assigned randomly to four groups which received alprostadil cream in different dosage (500 μg, 700 μg and 900 μg) or placebo cream, respectively. The cream was applied to the clitoris and G-spot before coitus. The efficacy was assessed by comparing the satisfactory rate of sexual arousal, the score of female sexual function index (FSFI) and female sex disorder scale (FSDS) and the general appraised question (GAQ) before and after the treatment. The safety was evaluated by the adverse effects that appeared including symptoms, physical and biochemical examination.

RESULTS

Totally, 400 women enrolled in this study with 374 assigned to the group for efficacy evaluation and 387 cases to the group for safety analysis. No significant difference was found among the four groups in the demographic characters and sexual baseline. The increase of satisfactory percentage of sexual arousal in the four groups (placebo, 500 μg, 700 μg and 900 μg) was 22.63%, 36.67%, 34.01%, and 44.29%, respectively (P<0.05), and the increase was statistically higher in the 900 μg group than in the placebo group (P<0.0167). The elevated FSFI score above the baseline in the treatment groups (900 μg 22.89, 700 μg 21.69, and 500 μg 20.71) were higher than that in the placebo group (14.68, P<0.05), while the reduced FSDS score below the baseline (900 μg 25.97, 700 μg 21.98, and 500 μg 20.27) were higher than that of the placebo (17.60, P<0.05). No significant difference was found in the four groups in GAQ (P=0.054). The main common adverse effect was topical stimulation. No adverse effect was reported in physical and biochemical examination, electrocardiogram (ECG) or Thinprep cytologic test (TCT).

CONCLUSION

Alprostadil cream can treat female sexual arousal disorder effectively with the maximum effect at the dose of 900 μg and without significant adverse effect except for mild topical stimulation.