Therapeutic role of growth factors in treating diabetic wound

Wounds in diabetic patients,especially diabetic foot ulcers,are more difficult to heal compared with normal wounds and can easily deteriorate,leading to amputation.Common treatments cannot heal diabetic wounds or control their many complications.Growth factors are found to play important roles in regulating complex diabetic wound healing.Different growth factors such as transforming growth factor beta 1,insulin-like growth factor,and vascular endothelial growth factor play different roles in diabetic wound healing.This implies that a therapeutic modality modulating different growth factors to suit wound healing can significantly improve the treatment of diabetic wounds.Further,some current treatments have been shown to promote the healing of diabetic wounds by modulating specific growth factors.The purpose of this study was to discuss the role played by each growth factor in therapeutic approaches so as to stimulate further therapeutic thinking.

Removal of cesium from radioactive wastewater using magnetic chitosan beads cross-linked with glutaraldehyde

A novel magnetic chitosan bead cross-linked with glutaraldehyde was prepared, characterized and applied for Cs(I) removal from aqueous solution. Characteristics and mechanism of Cs(I) removal were investigated. The equilibrium data of Cs(I) adsorption by magnetic chitosan beads were fitted using the Langmuir,Freundlich, Tempkin, Redlich–Peterson(R–P), Slips and Dubini–Radushkevich(D–R) models. The maximum adsorption capacity was estimated at 3.86 mg/g from the Langmuir isotherm. FTIR study revealed that N atom was mainly involved in Cs(I) sorption by magnetic chitosan.The magnetic chitosan is a promising adsorbing material for treating Cs(I)-containing radioactive wastewater.

Difference between CKD-EPI and MDRD equations in calculating glomerular filtration rate in patients with cirrhosis

AIM:To evaluate the difference between the performance of the (CKD-EPI) and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equations in cirrhotic patients. METHODS: From Jan 2004 to Oct 2008, 4127 cirrhotic patients were reviewed. Patients with incomplete data with respect to renal function were excluded; thus, a total of 3791 patients were included in the study. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was estimated by the 4-variable MDRD (MDRD-4), 6-variable MDRD (MDRD-6), and CKD-EPI equations.RESULTS:When serum creatinine was 0.7-6.8 mg/dL and 0.6-5.3 mg/dL in men and women, respectively, a significantly lower GFR was estimated by the MDRD-6 than by the CKD-EPI. Similar GFRs were calculated by both equations when creatinine was > 6.9 mg/dL and > 5.4 mg/dL in men and women, respectively. In predicting in-hospital mortality, estimated GFR obtained by the MDRD-6 showed better accuracy [81.72%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.94-0.95] than that obtained by the MDRD-4 (80.22%; 95%CI, 0.96-0.97), CKD-EPI (79.93%; 95%CI, 0.96-0.96), and creatinine (77.50%; 95%CI, 2.27-2.63). CONCLUSION: GFR calculated by the 6-variable MDRD equation may be closer to the true GFR than that calculated by the CKD-EPI equation.

Decreased expression of HDAC8 indicates poor prognosis in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Background: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is a highly malignant primary tumor in the liver, and the rates of incidence and mortality are rapidly increasing globally. Histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8) is a transcriptional regulator and is associated with tumorigenesis of several tumor types. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between HDAC8 expression and clinicopathological parameters in ICC patients. Methods: ICC tissues and corresponding nonmalignant bile duct tissues were obtained from 60 patients. HDAC8 and Ki-67 expression were evaluated by immunohistochemistry staining. HDAC8 expression and the clinicopathological features and prognosis of the patients were analyzed. The mRNA level of HDAC8 in ICC was further analyzed using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Results: The expression of HDAC8 were lower in ICC tissues (39/60, 65%) than in the corresponding nonmalignant bile duct tissues (54/60, 90%)( P = 0.001). Low HDAC8 expression in ICC was significantly associated with lymph node metastases (47.6% vs. 17.9%, P = 0.015). In addition, the positive cells rate of HDAC8 was statistically and negatively correlated with the Ki-67 index in ICC lesions ( r =?0.7660, P < 0.001). Importantly, the overall survival rate and recurrence-free survival rate in ICC patients with low HDAC8 expression were lower than those with high HDAC8 expression ( P = 0.008 and P = 0.011, respectively). Conclusions: Decreased HDAC8 expression in ICC is related to poor prognosis, and HDAC8 may be an independent prognostic indicator of ICC patients after curative resection.

Automatic Recognition and Construction of Draft Angle for Injection Mold Design

In the injection molding process, plastic products are difficult to demold due to friction force between the cavity and products, thus, finished products might be deformed or damaged. Therefore, designers should add a draft angle to the geometric surface of products, which is parallel to the unloading direction, in order to help the products eject smoothly from the cavity. This study uses CAD software as the main architecture to develop the function of automatic draft angle recognition and construction. The study is divided into three stages. First, the geometric features of products are identified in the CAD model by induced algorithm, then the quilts to be added in the draft design are determined and classified. Finally, draft angles are created in different ways according to different surfaces. An algorithm suitable for automatic draft recognition and construction, as well as the constraints of automatic creation of draft angle, is proposed. The feature recognition algorithm of this study can automatically inspect 90% of the surfaces to be drafted, and the automatic creation of draft features can economize 80% of required mouse clicks, thus, effectively increasing draft angle design efficiency, and preventing errors in mold design and manufacturing.

Numerical Study of the Interplay of Monomer-Surface Electrostatic and Non-electrostatic Interactions in the Adsorption of Weak Polyelectrolytes on Oppositely Charged Surfaces

The adsorption of weak polybase on oppositely charged planar surfaces has been investigated numerically by using the self-consistent field theory（SCFT）. Particular attention was paid to the interplay of monomer-surface electrostatic and non-electrostatic interactions in the adsorption behaviors of weak polybase. In this study, the strength of monomer-surface non-electrostatic interactions was set to be no more than the thermal energy kBT. It was found from the numerical study that in the regime of low surface charge density of the substrate and low p H or high bulk degree of ionization, both the screeningenhanced and screening-reduced salt effects emerge. On the contrary, in the opposite regime, only the screening-reduced salt effect was observed. Moreover, the overall charge neutrality inside the adsorption layer was analyzed. The underlying mechanism governing the adsorption behaviors of weak polybase on oppositely charged surfaces was elucidated.