Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a complication of diabetes mellitus, which is associated with fibrosis and microRNAs (miRs). This study estimated the mechanism of miR-195-5p in endothelial mesenchymal transition (EndMT) and myocardial fibrosis in DCM. After the establishment of DCM rat models, miR-195-5p was silenced by miR-195-5p antagomir. The cardiac function-related indexes diastolic left ventricular anterior wall (LVAW, d), systolic LVAW (d), diastolic left ventricular posterior wall (LVPW, d), systolic LVPW (d), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and fractional shortening (FS) were measured and miR-195-5p expression in myocardial tissue was detected. Myocardial fibrosis, collagen deposition, and levels of fibrosis markers were detected. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were exposed to high glucose (HG) and miR-195-5p was silenced. The levels of fibrosis proteins, endothelial markers, fibrosis markers, EndMT markers, and transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1)/Smads pathway-related proteins were measured in HUVECs. The interaction between miR-195-5p and Smad7 was verified. In vivo, miR-195-5p was highly expressed in the myocardium of DCM rats. Diastolic and systolic LVAW, diastolic and systolic LVPW were increased and LVEF and FS were decreased. Inhibition of miR-195-5p reduced cardiac dysfunction, myocardial fibrosis, collagen deposition, and EndMT, promoted CD31 and VE-cadehrin expressions, and inhibited α-SMA and vimentin expressions. In vitro, HG-induced high expression of miR-195-5p and the expression changes of endothelial markers CD31, VE-cadehrin and fibrosis markers α-SMA and vimentin were consistent with those in vivo after silencing miR-195-5p. In mechanism, miR-195-5p downregulation blocked EndMT by inhibiting TGF-β1-smads pathway. Smad7 was the direct target of miR-195-5p and silencing miR-195-5p inhibited EndMT by promoting Smad7 expression. Collectively, silencing miR-195-5p inhibits TGF-β1-smads-snail pathway by targeting Smad7, thus inhibiting EndMT and alleviating myocardial fibrosis in DCM.

In mainland China, the clinical, epidemiological and genetic features of non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae (NOVC) bacteraemia have been scarcely investigated. Herein, we describe a patient with NOVC bacteraemia diagnosed in our hospital and present a retrospective analysis of literature reports of 32 other cases in China, detailing the clinical epidemiology, antibiotic resistance and molecular characteristics of isolates. Most patients were male (84.8%; median age, 53 years) and had predisposing factors, such as cirrhosis, malignant tumours, blood diseases and diabetes. In addition to fever, gastroenteritis was the most frequent presenting symptom. The mortality rate during hospitalisation was 12.1%. NOVC bacteraemia cases were more common in June–August, with the majority in coastal provinces and the Yangtze River basin. Only 42.4% of cases were attributed to consumption of marine (aquatic) products. Tetracycline, third-generation cephalosporins, and fluoroquinolones were the most effective antimicrobial agents, and the highest frequencies of resistance were recorded for ampicillin/sulbactam (37.5%), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (33.3%), ampicillin (29.2%) and sulfamethoxazole (20%). Multi-drug resistant isolates were not detected. Limited data indicate that ctxAB and tcpA genes were absent in all NOVC isolates but other putative virulence genes (hlyA, toxR, hap and rtxA) were common. Ten multilocus sequence types were identified with marked genetic heterogeneity between different isolates. As clinical manifestations of NOVC bacteraemia may vary widely, and isolates exhibit genetic diversity, clinicians and public health experts should be alerted to the possibility of infection with this pathogen because of the high prevalence of liver disease in China.

Non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae (NOVC) are increasingly being recognized as causes of sporadic cases of gastroenteritis and extra-intestinal invasive infections, such as bacteremia as well as skin and wound infections in immunosuppressed hosts. However, oral infections caused by these microorganisms have rarely been reported. We present a case of oral infection caused by NOVC in a patient undergoing chemoradiotherapy after esophagectomy for esophageal cancer. The patient recovered well after antibiotic treatment. The isolate from the patient was screened for phenotypic and genetic characteristics with reference to their major virulence genes. Our report provides supporting evidence for oral infection due to NOVC in a patient with esophageal cancer and suggests that some putative accessory virulence factors may be crucial in the pathogenicity of this strain. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first documented case of oral infection due to NOVC.

Objective Targeting the intestinal inflammation becomes a strategy for Parkinson’s disease (PD) treatment. This study investigated the neuroprotective effects of a probiotic formulation, VSL#3® formulation, and the involvement of the anti-inflammation, in particular the intestinal inflammation.Materials and Methods The probiotics was orally administrated to 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced PD for six weeks.Results The striatal content of dopamine and its metabolites, the survival of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra were substantially increased in probiotics treatment mice compared to PD mice. The pro-inflammatory cytokines in the striatum were significantly suppressed while the anti-inflammation mediators were dramatically up-regulated by probiotics. The probiotics attenuated the intestinal inflammation via regulating the gut microbial composition. The mRNA expression of Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) and Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) mRNA significantly decreased in probiotic treatment mice compared to PD mice. Besides, the circulating levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were notably decreased, indicating the blocked transfer of inflammatory cytokine from gut via blood.Conclusion Probiotics protect dopaminergic neurons in PD mice by attenuating the neuroinflammation via inhibiting the intestinal inflammation, which is acquired by restoring the imbalanced gut microbial composition, providing evidence for the idea of targeting the intestinal inflammation as well as using probiotics for PD treatment.

Cold agglutinins (CAs) are a type of red cell autoantibody, mostly comprised of IgM and a few IgG and IgA. 1 At temperatures below 31°C, these antibodies easily combine with I, i, or SP1 antigens on red cells, resulting in red cell agglutination and microcirculation blockage, which could cause cyanosis and even autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) in more severe cases. 2 AIHA caused by CAs can be divided into two types: cold agglutinin disease (CAD) and cold agglutinin syndrome (CAS). The former is B-cell clonal lymphoproliferative disorder (LPD); the latter is commonly seen in mycoplasma pneumonia, infectious mononucleosis, and lymphoma. [2][3][4] High concentrations of CA can induce erythrocyte agglutination, which has a great impact on complete blood count (CBC) results. In

BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a great impact on the traditional teaching mode (Lecture-based Learning, LBL) and laboratory teaching. To address this challenge, the researchers conducted online Problem-based learning (PBL) teaching and virtual simulation laboratory teaching through DingTalk, and evaluated the effectiveness of this method in teaching clinical biochemistry.MethodsWith the method of cluster sampling, the researchers randomly selected 60 students from two classes of the Class 2019 as the experimental group for this prospective experimental study. The theory class was taught online PBL through DingTalk, and experimental lectures were given by virtual simulation. After the experimental teaching, students were assessed for theory and operation. Self-administered questionnaires were administered through DingTalk. 65 students from our 2018 medical laboratory class were randomly selected as the control group, and offline LBL and traditional experimental teaching methods were used. Examination results were obtained through teaching portfolios.ResultsThe experimental group had significantly better examination scores in theoretical knowledge and experimental operational skills than the control group (87.45 ± 5.91 vs. 83.52 ± 9.94, P = 0.0095; 87.08 ± 12.42 vs. 80.18 ± 14.04, P = 0.0044). The results of the questionnaire survey revealed that the experimental group was more receptive to the DingTalk-PBL teaching method and virtual simulation laboratory teaching. Moreover, this hybrid teaching method was more effective in promoting basic knowledge understanding (95.0%, 57/60), facilitating the mastery of operational skills (93.3, 56/60), cultivating interest in learning (96.7%, 58/60), training clinical thinking (95.0%, 57/60), improving communication skills (95.0%, 57/60), and enhancing self-learning ability (91.7%, 55/60) and was more satisfying than traditional teaching method (all P < 0.05).ConclusionThe DingTalk-based PBL method combined with virtual simulation experiments was an effective and acceptable teaching strategy during the pandemic compared with the traditional teaching method.

BackgroundBlood gas analyzers (BGAs) and dry biochemistry analyzers for potassium and sodium are based on direct electrode methods, and both involve glucose oxidase for glucose detection. However, data are lacking regarding whether the results of the two assay systems can be used interchangeably. In addition, there remains controversy over the consistency between BGA-measured hemoglobin and complete blood count analyzer data. Here, we compared the consistency of sodium, potassium, glucose, and hemoglobin levels measured by BGA and dry chemistry and complete blood count analyzers.MethodsData from two teaching hospitals, the Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital (ZRY) and the Qianfoshan Hospital (QY), were retrospectively analyzed based on dry biochemistry and complete blood count analyzer results as the reference system (X) and BGA as the experimental system (Y). Plasma was used for biochemical analysis at the ZRY Hospital, and serum at the QY Hospital. Paired data from the respective hospitals were evaluated for consistency, and biases between methods were assessed by simple correlation, Passing–Bablok regression, and Bland–Altman analyses.ResultsThe correlations of potassium, sodium, glucose, and hemoglobin measured by BGA and dry biochemistry and complete blood count analyzers were high, at 0.9573, 0.8898, 0.9849, and 0.9883 for the ZRY Hospital and 0.9198, 0.8591, 0.9764, and 0.8666, respectively, for the QY Hospital. The results of Passing to Bablok regression analysis showed that the predicted biases at each medical decision level were within clinically acceptable levels for potassium, sodium, glucose, and hemoglobin at the ZRY Hospital. Only the predicted bias of glucose was below the clinically acceptable medical decision levels at the QY Hospital, while potassium, sodium, and hemoglobin were not. Compared with the reference system, the mean bias for BGA measurements at the ZRY Hospital was −0.08 mmol/L (95% confidence interval [CI] −0.091 to −0.069) for potassium, 1.2 mmol/L (95% CI 1.06 to 1.42) for sodium, 0.20 mmol/L (95% CI 0.167 to 0.228) for glucose, and −2.8 g/L for hemoglobin (95% CI −3.14 to −2.49). The mean bias for potassium, sodium, glucose, and hemoglobin at the QY Hospital were −0.46 mmol/L (95% CI −0.475 to −0.452), 3.7 mmol/L (95% CI 3.57 to 3.85), −0.36 mmol/L (95% CI −0.433 to −0.291), and −8.7 g/L (95% CI −9.40 to −8.05), respectively.ConclusionBGA can be used interchangeably with plasma electrolyte results from dry biochemistry analyzers but does not show sufficient consistency with serum electrolyte results from dry biochemistry analyzers to allow data interchangeability. Good consistency was observed between BGA and plasma or serum glucose results from dry biochemistry analyzers. However, BGA-measured hemoglobin and hematocrit assay results should be treated with caution.

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