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Introduction: Pulmonary granuloma diseases caused by Mycobacterium abscessus (M. abscessus) have increased in past decades, and drug-resistance in this pathogen is a growing public health concern. Therefore, an animal model of chronic granuloma disease is urgently needed. Methods: In this study, M. abscessus embedded within agar beads (agar-AB) was used to develop such a model in C57BL/6JNarl mice. Results: Chronic infection was sustained for at least 3 months after agar-AB infection, visible granulomas spread in the lungs, and giant cells and foamy cells appeared in the granulomas. More importantly, pulmonary fibrosis progressed for 3 months, and collagen fibers were detected by Masson trichrome staining. Further, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was highly expressed within the alveolar space, and the fibrosis-mediator transforming growth factor beta (TGF-ß) began to be expressed at 1 month. Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1α) expression also increased, which aided in normalizing oxygen partial pressure. Discussion: Although the transient fibrosis persisted for only 3 months, and the pulmonary structure resolved when the pathogen was cleard, this pulmonary fibrosis model for M. abscessus infection will provide a novel test platform for development of new drugs, regimens, and therapies.

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Indium is widely used in the technology industry and is an emerging form of environmental pollution. The presence of indium in soil and groundwater inhibits shoot and root growth in crops, thus reducing yields. However, the underlying mechanisms are unknown, making it difficult to design effective countermeasures. We explored the spatiotemporal effects of excess indium on the morphological, physiological and biochemical properties of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Indium accumulated mainly in the roots, severely restricting their growth and causing the acute perturbation of phosphorus, magnesium and iron homeostasis. Other effects included leaf necrosis and anatomical changes in the roots (thinned sclerenchyma and enlarged epidermal and exodermal layers). Whole-transcriptome sequencing revealed that rice immediately responded to indium stress by activating genes involved in heavy metal tolerance and phosphate starvation responses, including the expression of genes encoding phosphate-regulated transcription factors and transporters in the roots. Direct indium toxicity rather than phosphate deficiency was identified as the major factor affecting the growth of rice plants, resulting in the profound phenotypic changes we observed. The application of exogenous phosphate alleviated indium toxicity by reducing indium uptake. Our results suggest that indium immobilization could be used to prevent indium toxicity in the field.

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Trauma registration is an important tool to record the process and timeline in the treatment of trauma patients. The operation of trauma database is of great significance for reducing the mortality of patients, promoting the construction of trauma treatment system, and providing reference for policy-making. Trauma registration system has been established in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and other developed countries for many years. However, the domestic system is still at an initial stage, and there are problems like data deficiencies, data incoherence, no item of complications, no treatment data after discharge and limits of human and financial resources. Therefore, there is room for improvements in terms of personnel fixation, financial support and continuous data monitoring should be further improved. In this study, the authors summarize the traum registration system from aspects of basic situation both at home and abroad, data analysis, clinical value, operation mechanism and challenges so as to provide important data for clinical researches.

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Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Although progress has been made in TB control, still about 10 million people worldwide develop TB annually and 1.5 million die of the disease. The rapid emergence of aggressive, drug-resistant strains and latent infections have caused TB to remain a global health challenge. TB treatments are lengthy and their side effects lead to poor patient compliance, which in turn has contributed to the drug resistance and exacerbated the TB epidemic. The relatively low output of newly approved antibiotics has spurred research interest toward alternative antibacterial molecules such as silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). In the present study, we use the natural biopolymer alginate to serve as a stabilizer and/or reductant to green synthesize AgNPs, which improves their biocompatibility and avoids the use of toxic chemicals. The average size of the alginate-capped AgNPs (ALG-AgNPs) was characterized as nanoscale, and the particles were round in shape. Drug susceptibility tests showed that these ALG-AgNPs are effective against both drug-resistant Mtb strains and dormant Mtb. A bacterial cell-wall permeability assay showed that the anti-mycobacterial action of ALG-AgNPs is mediated through an increase in cell-wall permeability. Notably, the anti-mycobacterial potential of ALG-AgNPs was effective in both zebrafish and mouse TB animal models in vivo. These results suggest that ALG-AgNPs could provide a new therapeutic option to overcome the difficulties of current TB treatments.

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Objective:To investigate the risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) in the intensive care unit (ICU) based on the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care Ⅲ (MIMIC-Ⅲ) database, and to establish a prognostic model for AKI.Methods:Patients (aged ≥ 18 years) with acute renal failure, admitted to the ICU for the first time, and had complete hospital records (the RIFLE diagnostic criteria were used in the database, and the diagnosis was expressed as AKI in this article) were screened from MIMIC-Ⅲ database according to diagnostic codes. Patients were divided into two groups based on survival state at discharge, and the general information, underlying diseases, injury factors, vital signs and laboratory indicators within 24 hours after AKI, related intervention and prognostic indicators were analyzed. Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were used to determine the risk factors affecting mortality in patients with AKI and established a prediction model. The receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) was used to analyze the predictive value of the prediction model for the prognosis of AKI patients.Results:There were 4 554 patients with AKI included and 862 died, with mortality of 18.93%. Univariate Logistic regression analysis was performed for factors that might be associated with death in AKI patients, and the results showed that age, hypertension, lymphoma, metastatic carcinoma, vancomycin, aspirin, coagulation abnormalities, cardiac arrest, sepsis or septic shock, invasive mechanical ventilation, white blood cell count (WBC), platelet count (PLT), K +, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), total bilirubin (TBil), renal replacement therapy (RRT) and length of stay (LOS) were independent risk factors [odds ratio ( OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were 1.002 (1.001-1.003), 0.764 (0.618-0.819), 1.749 (1.112-2.752), 2.606 (1.968-3.451), 1.779 (1.529-2.071), 0.689 (0.563-0.842), 1.871 (1.590-2.201), 2.468 (1.209-5.036), 2.610 (2.226-3.060), 2.154 (1.853-2.505), 1.105 (1.009-1.021), 0.998 (0.997-0.998), 1.132 (1.057-1.212), 1.008 (1.006-1.011), 1.061 (1.049-1.073), 2.142 (1.793-2.997), 0.805 (0.778-1.113), all P < 0.05]. Further binary Logistic regression analysis showed that lymphoma, metastatic cancer, vancomycin, cardiac arrest, sepsis or septic shock, coagulation dysfunction, invasive mechanical ventilation, increased BUN, increased TBil, increased or decreased blood K + and increased WBC were independent risk factors for death [β values were 0.636, 1.005, 0.207, 0.894, 0.787, 0.346, 0.686, 0.006, 0.051, 0.085, and 0.009; OR and 95% CI were 1.889 (1.177-3.031), 2.733 (2.027-3.683), 1.229 (1.040-1.453), 2.445 (1.165-5.133), 2.197 (1.850-2.610), 1.413 (1.183-1.689), 1.987 (1.688-2.338), 1.006 (1.003-1.009), 1.052 (1.039-1.065), 1.089 (1.008-1.176), and 1.009 (1.004-1.015), respectively, all P < 0.05]. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed that the AKI prognostic model was able to fit the observed data well ( P = 0.604). ROC curve analysis showed that the area under ROC curve (AUC) of the AKI prognostic model was 0.716 (95% CI was 0.697-0.735), when the cut-off value was 0.320, the sensitivity was 71.9%, the specificity was 60.1%, the positive likelihood ratio was 1.80, and the negative likelihood ratio was 0.47. Conclusion:The prognostic prediction model of AKI in critically ill patients established and based on the MIMIC-Ⅲ database may have practical significance for prognostic risk assessment of AKI and later intervention.

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To explore the relationship between neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in type 2 diabetes mellitus.A total of 557 newly diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) patients were recruited, including 397 T2DM patients without complication (DM group) as well as 160 T2DM patients complicated with DPN (DPN group). Student t test, Mann-Whitney U test, or χ test was applied to the data of the 2 groups, including the levels of neutrophils and lymphocytes as well as the NLR values of peripheral blood and other biochemistry indexes; Pearson correlation analysis was used to calculate the correlation of NLR and detected factors; risk factors of DPN were estimated via logistic regression analysis and multivariate analysis.The values of triglyceride (TG), neutrophils, fasting insulin, urinary albumin, and 2 hour postglucose in DPN group were significantly higher than those of the DM group, whereas the number of lymphocytes of DPN group was considerably lower than that of the DM group (P < .05 respectively); NLR values were remarkably higher in DPN group compared with those of DM group (2.58 ±â€Š0.50 vs 2.18 ±â€Š0.61, P < .001); logistic regression analysis showed that NLR (P = .002, OR = 4.960, 95% CI = 1.843-13.349) was a risk factor of DPN. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that DPN was independently related to NLR (P = .002, OR = 4.960, 95% CI = 1.843-13.349). The ROC curve analysis confirmed that the optimal cut-off point, specificity, and sensitivity in diagnosing DPN by NLR were 2.13%, 48.1%, and 81.3% respectively.Our results showed that NLR is significantly correlated with DPN, which suggested that NLR may be an independent risk factor of DPN.

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PURPOSE: It is widely known that visual impairment (VI) is a risk factor for falls, but patients or their eye care practitioners may not recognize other kinds of incidents as being problematic because of their vision. Consequently, older people with VI may have unmet needs for advice on how to carry out activities of daily living safely. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand whether older people with VI consider their vision as a causative factor of incidents they experience and their perceptions regarding the prevention of future incidents. If sample size permitted, a secondary aim was to evaluate whether quantitative findings supported their perceptions. METHODS: The study design was a prospective cohort study evaluating injurious and damaging incidents and related near misses using open questions in a written 2-weekly large-print diary with active follow-up over 8 weeks in older people (>60 years, n = 80) with and without VI. Baseline measures included habitual binocular visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, visual fields, 3-m walk test, and Short Form 12 physical and mental component scores. Participants' diary entries were coded. Factor analysis and binary logistic analysis were used to investigate whether baseline measures were predictive of incident occurrence. Risk and preventative factors identified were compared. RESULTS: Participants perceived that their vision was implicated in bump and fall incidents. Quantitative analysis indicated that contrast sensitivity and fitness were significant predictors of incident occurrence. Six vision-related and five non-vision-related causative factors were identified by participants as contributing factors. Participants frequently stated "don't know" when asked to identify solutions to prevent incident recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: Participants had unmet needs for advice in relation to incident prevention. It would be prudent for eye care practitioners to raise incident prevention in eye care consultations regardless of voiced patient concerns.

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Objective To observe the changes of TNF-α and NF-κB after different doses of nalmefene hydrochloride (NAL) therapy for traumatic brain injury (TBI) in an effort to identify the effect of NAL on TBI-induced inflammatory response and the possible mechanism.Methods A model of TBI in the rat was produced using the improved Feeney' s free-fall impact method.The animals were randomly divided into sham group,TBI group,TBI + large dose of NAL (ip,0.2 mg/kg) group (TBI + NAL1group),TBI + medial dose of NAL (ip,0.14 mg/kg) group (TBI + NAL2 group),TBI + small dose of NAL (ip,0.07 mg/kg) group (TBI + NAL3 group).Form of brain tissues in each group was observed and mRNA levels of TNF-α and NF-κB were measured by real-time quantitative PCR assay.Results HE staining revealed severe injury and inflammatory infiltration of brain parenchyma in TBI group ;on the contrary,the situation ameliorated in TBI + NAL1 group,TBI + NAL2 group and TBI + NAL3group,with especially obvious improvement in TBI + NAL2 group.In PCR assay,significant expression of NF-κB and TNF-α was observed at post-TBI days 1,3,5 and 7 (P ＜ 0.05),followed by great reverse after NAL therapy (P ＜ 0.05),particularly in TBI + NAL2 group.Conclusions NAL can reduce the inflammation response to TBI and promote post-injury recovery.Moreover,there exists a NAL concentration window.

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Pulmonary embolism (PE) by occlusion of the pulmonary arterial bed may lead to acute life-threatening but potentially reversible right ventricular failure, one of the most severe complications of thoracic surgery. Still, the incidence of acute pulmonary embolism after surgery is reduced by comprehensive anticoagulant prevention, improved surgical techniques, appropriate perioperative management and early ambulation. However, there is difficulty in diagnosing PE after thoracic surgery due to the lack of specific clinical manifestations. So that optimal diagnostic strategy and management according to the clinical presentation and estimated risk of an adverse outcome is fundamental.