Myocardial tissue injury caused by ischemia and hypoxia is a major cause of fatal diseases, including coronary atherosclerosis resulting from myocardial infarction and stroke. A number of microRNAs have been demonstrated to function as protectors against ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) and/or hypoxia-reperfusion (H/R)-induced myocardial injury, including microRNA-21 (miR-21). However, the protective mechanism of miR-21 has not been fully elucidated. The present study demonstrated that miR-21 had an anti-apoptotic role in I/R-induced myocardial damage in vivo and in H/R-induced H9C2 cell death in vitro. Of note, the present study indicates that a common molecular mechanism is likely to exist in I/R- and H/R-induced cardiocyte apoptosis. During I/R and H/R, forced expression of miR-21 upregulated the Akt signaling activity via suppressing the expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and the increased activity of Akt signaling further inhibited apoptosis partially by increasing the ratio of B-cell lymphoma 2(Bcl-2)/Bcl-2-associated X protein, which further suppressed the expression of caspase-3. In conclusion, to the best of our knowledge, it was shown for the first time that miR-21 had a protective role in I/R- and H/R-induced cardiocyte apoptosis via the PTEN/Akt-dependent mechanism. The present study indicates that miR-21 may be a promising agent for the treatment of I/R and H/R-induced myocardial injury.

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Background The C677T polymorphism of the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene polymorphism has been associated with hypertension and coronary heart disease, but its relationship with carotid artery remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the association between the C677T polymorphism of the MTHFR gene in patients with confirmed carotid artery atherosclerosis. Material/Methods This retrospective study included 210 patients with carotid artery atherosclerosis (the patient group) and 210 controls (the control group). Color Doppler ultrasound was used to identify carotid artery intimo-medial thickness and atherosclerotic plaques. Sanger sequencing using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the MTHFR C677T gene polymorphism. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglyceride (TG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and other laboratory indicators were measured. Results SBP, DBP, FPG, TC, LDL-C, HbA1c, and intimo-medial thickness were significantly increased in the patient group compared with the control group, and HDL-C was significantly lower. The allele frequencies of the C667T locus of MTHFR gene were significantly different between the two groups (P<0.05), and the TT genotype and the T allele frequencies in the patient group were higher than in the control group. Logistic regression analysis showed that SBP, TC, LDL-C, and the C667T MTHFR gene polymorphism were risk factors for carotid artery atherosclerosis. Conclusions The C677T polymorphism of the MTHFR gene was expressed in patients with carotid artery atherosclerosis.

Objective. To explore the application effect of medical care integration combined with family intervention under the evidence-based nursing mode on child patients with severe hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) and its influence on intestinal function. Methods. 120 child patients with severe HFMD admitted to Qilu Children’s Hospital of Shandong University from January 2019 to January 2020 were selected as the research object and randomly divided into group A and group B, with 60 cases each. Conventional nursing was performed on patients in group B, and medical care integration combined with family intervention under the evidence-based nursing mode was performed on patients in group A. Patients were assessed after the intervention using the hospital-made treatment adherence scale, PedsQLTM 4.0 (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Version 4.0) scale, and the faces pain scale-revised (FPS-R). The levels of gastrointestinal function indicators such as serum endotoxin (ET), diamine oxidase (DAO), and d-lactic acid (D-LA) were measured before and after the intervention, and recovery such as time to clear fever and time to relief of oral pain were recorded in both groups. Results. Children in group A had significantly higher compliance in diet, behaviour, exercise, and medication than group B ( P < 0.05 ); the time to clear fever, time to relief of oral pain, time to healing of oral ulcers, time to relief of skin herpes, time to hospitalization, and time to eating were shorter in group A than those in group B ( P < 0.001 ); all scores on the PedsQLTM 4.0 scale were higher in group A than those in group B after the intervention ( P < 0.001 ); ET, DAO, and D-LA levels decreased in both groups after the intervention, with group A having lower levels than group B ( P < 0.001 ), in addition, group A had lower eating pain scores after the intervention ( P < 0.05 ). Conclusion. Medical care integration combined with family intervention under the evidence-based nursing mode can effectively improve the treatment compliance of child patients with severe HFMD, accelerate their recovery progress, ensure a better prognostic quality of life and gastrointestinal tract function, and reduce the eating pain, indicating that such comprehensive nursing intervention mode should be promoted in practice.