Urology is an ancient academic discipline, and its rapid development is due to the combination between medicine and engineering. The development of urology in China is an example of the combination of industry-academia-research based on the progress of science and technology. This paper mainly summarizes the recent advances of interdisciplinary combination between medicine and engineering in urology.
Regulatory T cells (Treg) are critical for regulation of tolerance, control immune responses to self-antigens thereby preventing autoimmunity, and limiting responses to foreign antigens thereby minimizing T cell-mediated immunopathology. Recent data indicate that suppression of organ-specific autoimmunity is dependent on the antigen specificity of Treg. An emerging model of Treg action is that organ-specific Treg acquire suppressive activity through activation by dendritic cells expressing specific antigens. Thus, the efficacy of Treg-based therapy should be increased by using antigen-specific Treg rather than polyclonal Treg. It is necessary to identify relevant antigens and to expand antigen-specific Treg from polyclonal populations. Here, we discuss recent techniques for expansion of antigen-specific Treg, function and antigen specificity of Treg and the therapeutic potential of Treg in controlling autoimmune disease and inducing transplant tolerance.
ObjectiveUse information technology to establish an “Internet+” chronic disease management model to provide patients with a full process, seamless, and convenient services. Explore a new model of “Internet+” chronic disease management and care services in the region. Methods Patients with chronic diseases treated in Mianyang Central Hospital from May 2018 to April 2019 were selected. The patients were randomly divided into intervention group and control group according to the single and even number at the end of hospitalization number. The control group adopted the traditional chronic disease management mode, and the intervention group adopted the “Internet+” chronic disease management mode based on the patients’ needs. And select the nursing experts who provide “Internet+” online nursing services. Compared with the effective management before and after the implementation of “Internet+” chronic disease management, the number of patients with chronic diseases, clinical outcome indicators, the number of health education readings, the number of Internet nursing services, and the sense of professional benefit of nurses and other indicators, etc. Results A total of 143 patients were included, including 78 in the control group and 65 in the intervention group. A total of 28 nursing experts were investigated. The effective management rate of patients with chronic diseases was 78.7%. The WeChat public account “Slow Disease Window” has read nearly 90 000 person-times, and the Internet Hospital “Nursing Professional Online” has nearly 2 000 online nursing services. After participating in “Internet+” chronic disease management, the disease activity and functional status of chronic disease patients were significantly improved (P<0.05). Nursing professionals have a strong sense of professional benefits (P<0.05). Conclusions With the development of “Internet+” chronic disease management, a new mode of chronic disease management was explored to promote the management of chronic disease more convenient and efficient, so that the health education work can be homogenized, the clinical outcome of the patients was effectively improved. At the same time the career planning of nursing staff can be broadened.
Objective To investigate the effects and mechanism of doxorubicin preconditioning in providing ischemic tolerance for rats abdomen island flaps. Methods Twenty-four healthy adult Sprague Dawley rats, 12 males and 12 females, were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=8): control group (group A), ischemic preconditioning group (group B), and doxorubicin preconditioning group (group C). After the abdomen island flap (6 cm × 3 cm in size) based on the superficial inferior epigastric neurovascular bundle was prepared, group A had no further treatment; group B was given a 10-minute ischemia followed by a 10-minute reperfusion for 4 times; and group C was given pretreatment with doxorubicin (1 mg/kg) by injection of the inferior epigastric vein. After 24 hours, the inferior epigastric vessels were blocked by vascular clamp for 4 hours, followed by reperfusion 2 hours to prepare ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury model. The rat survival was observed after operation; at 0, 8, 12, 24, and 30 hours after I/R injury, the malonyldiadehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels were measured. At 7 days after I/R injury, the survival rate of flap were calculated and the flaps were harvested for histological observation. Results During experiment, 5 rats died (1 rat in groups A and B respectively, 3 rats in group C) and were added. The survival rates of the flap in group A (10.10% ± 0.43%) was lower than those in group B (91.63% ± 1.76%) and in group C (92.75% ± 1.48%) at 7 days after I/R injury, showing significant differences (P lt; 0.05), and there was no significant difference between groups B and C (t=0.29, P=0.77). Significant difference was found in MDA level and SOD level between group A and groups B, C after 8 hours (P lt; 0.05), and there was no significant difference between groups B and C (P gt; 0.05). Histological observation showed that inflammatory cells infiltration was more obvious and hyperplasia of fibers was weaker in group A than in groups B and C. Conclusion Doxorubicin preconditioning can provide ischemic tolerance for rats abdomen island flaps and protect flaps from the I/R injury. The possible mechanism may be related to that doxorubicin can induce endogenous protections.
Objective To assess the effectiveness of increasing water intake for the prevention of urinary calculi and its recurrence. Methods We defined the searching area, which included Medline, Embase, Cochrane CCTR and CBMA, and found the relevant materials by computer search and document search. At least two reviewers assessed trials quality and extracted data independently. Results A total of 4 studies met the inclusion criteria (I RCT, I CCT and 2 prospective cohort studies). Meta-analysis’ results showed that the aggregate OR and 95%CI of the effect of increasing water intake for the prevention of urinary calculi were 0.64 and 0.53-0.77; the aggregate OR and 95%CI of the effect of increasing water intake for the prevention of recurrence were 0.56 and 0.37-0.84; increasing water intake can prolong the recurrence interval (P=0.016). Each result had statistical significance. Conclusion Increasing water intake can prevent urinary calculi and its recurrence. Increasing water intake can prolong the recurrence interval.
Objective To optimize the in vitro culture system of C57/BL6 marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and to investigate the effect of alcohol and acetaldehyde on MSCs. Methods The MSCs were isolated from the femur marrow of C57/BL6 mice and were cultured in the optimized system, so that highlypurified MSCs were harvested and identified by immunohistochemistry. Then, MSCs were cultured in the medium containing alcohol or its metabolic product acetaldehyde, with the following concentration groups: alcohol 5.7，17.0，50.0，100.0 and 150.0 mmol/L; acetaldehyde 4.5, 0.9, 0.18, 0.036, 0.007 2, 0.001 44 , 0.000 28 mmol/L. MSCs were cultured with α-MEM as the control group. After 3 days, their proliferation activity was measured by the MTT method. Results MSCs within 6 passages had a good stability and a high proliferation activity. They were identified to express CD90 but no CD34. The MTT assay showed that alcohol at the concentration greater than 100.0 mmol/L and acetaldehyde at the concentration greater than 4.5 mmol/L could inhibit proliferation of MSCs(P＜0.05) . But the proliferation activity might rise with an increase in the acetaldehyde concentration smaller than 0.18 mmol/L(P＜0.05) . Conclusion Theoptimized culture system can effectively isolate and culture MSCs. Both alcoholand acetaldehyde can inhibit proliferation of MSCs but toxicity of acetaldehydeis more serious.
Objective To investigate the expression of caspase-3 in xenograft that was treated with targeted therapy with magnetic nanoparticles in nude mice. Methods QBC939 cell lines were injected into nude mice subcutaneously to establish the model of human cholangiocarcinoma xenograft. After two weeks of tumor inoculation, the animal models were divided randomly into 4 groups: group A received placebo (sodium chloride), group B were treated with magnetic nanoparticles (250 mg/kg), group C were treated with magnetic nanoparticles (150 mg /kg) combined with inner-stent, group D with magnetic nanoparticles (250 mg /kg) combined with inner-stent (the inner-stent was used to generate the magnetic targeting effect). The 21th day after treatment, expression of caspase-3 in tumor cells of each groups were measured with histochemical method and RT-PCR. Results The quantity of caspase-3 in tumor cells that were treated with magnetic nanoparticles (250 mg/kg) combined with inner-stent was the most (P＜0.05), and the quantity of caspase-3 in cells of group C was significantly more than that of the other two groups (P＜0.05). While the quantity of caspase-3 in group B was more than that of the control group(P＜0.05). Conclusion The use of magnetic nanoparticles combined with inner-stent may increase the expression of caspase-3, and the expression is dose-dependent with magnetic nanoparticles.
Three dimensional (3D) bioprinting is a new biological tissue engineering technology in recent years. The development of 3D bioprinting is conducive to solving the current problems of clinical tissue and organ repairing. This article provides a review about the clinical and research status of 3D bioprinting and urinary system reconstruction. Furthermore, the feasibility and clinical value of 3D bioprinting in urinary system reconstruction will be also discussed.
