[The construction of comprehensive stroke prevention and control system requires attention to the precise policies of young stroke]

Youth is the core force of social and economic development, once the occurrence of youth stroke will place a heavy burden on society and family. However, the prevention and control of stroke in China is mainly aimed at middle-aged and elderly patients, the part of young stroke is relatively easy to be ignored. This article focuses on the characteristics, research progress, prevention and control status of young stroke, pointing out the importance of centering on the prevention and treatment of young stroke. At the same time, it hopes that the industry can concentrate on the prevention and treatment of young stroke, making precise policies in the future, and developing secondary prevention guidelines for the causes or risk factors of young stroke, so as to improve comprehensive stroke prevention and control system. On this basis, the health level of the whole population will be improved, and the life expectancy of residents will be extended, thus promoting the realization of the strategic goal of "Healthy China 2030".

Clinical applications of internal heat source analysis for breast cancer identification

Nondestructive preoperative breast imaging techniques are widely used for breast cancer testing and diagnosis. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of quantitative diagnosis via the thermal analysis of abnormal metabolism. Nine hundred forty-eight women who underwent breast biopsy from 2009 to 2013 were investigated. Thermal analysis was used to calculate the internal heat source (i.e., tumor) thermal power for each participant. The applicability and effectiveness of our approach were estimated using the chi-square test, kappa statistics (k), and odds ratios (OR). Breast density and tumor size were considered during this estimation. A thermal power q = 0.2 w was determined as the optimal separation threshold between breast cancer and benign disease. Moreover, good agreement (k = 0.837) with the gold-standard assessment (breast biopsy) was confirmed in 93.2% of the patients (N = 884/948), and the sensitivity and specificity were 94.2 and 92.9%, respectively. The results also found no significant differences in methodological accuracy between the fatty and dense breasts (OR = 1.194, P = 0.524). Furthermore, after dividing the cohort into three groups according to tumor size (T1: <2 cm; T2: 2 to 5 cm; T3: >5 cm), the tumor size had no effect on the proposed method (ORs = 1, P = 0.724). Internal heat source analysis can feasibly and efficiently distinguish between breast cancer and benign disease.

High-glucose environment reduces human β-defensin-2 expression in human keratinocytes: implications for poor diabetic wound healing

BACKGROUND

Wound healing is a dynamic and complicated process in which inflammation, re-epithelialization and angiogenesis play important roles. Intriguingly, all three processes have been found to be defective during diabetic wound healing conditions. One common denominator associated with regulation of these events is human β-defensin-2 (hBD2). It has been shown that skin wounding induces cutaneous hBD2 expression, and diabetic wounds have been associated with inadequate hBD expression.

OBJECTIVES

The current study was launched to explore the effects of a high-glucose environment on cultured human keratinocytes.

METHODS

Human keratinocytes were exposed to indicated culture conditions. The mRNA and protein levels of hBD2 were determined, and activation of relevant pathways was evaluated. The small interference RNA approach was used to validate the functional role of the proposed pathway on hBD2 expression.

RESULTS

We showed that high-glucose cultivated keratinocytes expressed reduced levels of hBD2 and phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription (pSTAT)-1 constitutively. In addition, pSTAT-1 signalling is critically involved in hBD2 expression. Formation of advanced glycation endproducts, a direct consequence of a high-glucose environment, involves constitutive downregulation of pSTAT-1 and hBD2. The addition of interleukin-1β, an important cytokine during the cutaneous wound healing process, enabled the upregulation of hBD2 expression of both normal- and high-glucose cultivated keratinocytes, but the absolute levels of hBD2 were still significantly lower in the high-glucose-treated group.

CONCLUSIONS

As hBD2 plays multifaceted roles during the wound healing process, the inadequate expression of hBD2 during diabetic conditions contributes to impaired wound healing.