Medical Research Articles

Current Trends in the Development of Electrochemical Biosensor for Detecting Analytes from Sweat.

The need for wearable bioelectronics continues to grow, and this technology might significantly alter the medical field. In order to diagnose and treat a patient, conventional medicine takes a "reactive" approach and waits for symptoms to appear first. Therefore, it is preferable to progress toward continuous non-invasive wearable biomonitoring, a preventative strategy that may assist individuals in diagnosing or treating illnesses at the earliest stages, sometimes before any outward symptoms have appeared. Wearable physiological sensors, such as the Apple Watch and FitBit, have arrived on the market as a result of technology advances and have quickly become commonplace. However, few devices currently exist that can report directly on these biomarkers of relevance. This is mostly due to the challenges involved in real-time fluid sampling and generating correct readouts utilising extremely selective and sensitive sensors. Sweat is an excretory fluid that is only allowed to be used in order to reduce invasiveness, but this restriction places additional strain on sensors owing to the diluted concentration of the relevant biomarkers and the changes in pH, salinity, and other biophysical parameters that directly influence the read-out of real-time biosensors. Sweat is favoured amid slightly invasive biofluids due to its low concentration of interfering chemicals and the fact that it may be collected without touching the mucosal layers. This review offers a concise outline of the latest advances in sweat-based wearable sensors, their promise in healthcare monitoring, and the problems faced in analysis based on sweat.

The Diverse Development and Clinical Application of Game-Based Learning

The effectiveness of game-based learning strategies lies in the ability of these strategies to engage learners and enhance their motivation to learn. This is particularly important for today's younger generations, which are known to respond better to visual rather than textual information. Gamified education provides stimulating, realistic, and enjoyable learning experiences, helping students understand complex nursing knowledge and skills. The diversity of game-based learning tools, including based board games, escape room games, digital games, simulation games, mobile serious games, and virtual reality games, not only enhances students' learning effectiveness and skills but also improves their problem-solving abilities, communication skills, and ability to cope with various challenges in clinical care. In general, game-based learning is a strategy with great potential and importance. This strategy not only has profound implications for modern nursing education and clinical practice but also, through its promotion of innovative thinking and diversified applications, can effectively promote the learning motivation of nursing professionals, improve teaching effectiveness, and enhance professional abilities and self-directed learning capabilities. In an era in which medical knowledge is constantly evolving, game-based learning should be promoted and utilized to cultivate nursing professionals' capabilities effectively.

Polish cross-cultural adaptation of a disease-specific quality-of-life instrument: The Penn Acoustic Neuroma Quality-of-Life Scale.

The medical community has shown a growing interest in developing methods for measuring and comparing objective patient outcomes coupled with subjective patient assessments. Questionnaires enable healthcare professionals to obtain the patient's perspective about their experienced vestibular schwannomas (VS) symptoms quickly. To date, in Poland, a cross-cultural adapted version of a disease-specific questionnaire for the measurement of quality of life (QoL) in patients with VS has not been produced. This study aimed to adapt the questionnaire evaluating disease-specific QoL in patients with VS (Penn Acoustic Neuroma Quality-of-Life Scale; PANQOL) to Polish and evaluate its psychometric properties. One-hundred twenty-four patients aged between 24 and 85 years (mean (M) = 60.17 ±standard deviation (SD) = 13.27) diagnosed with VS and treated with Gamma Knife were included in the study. We used a questionnaire translated from English into Polish by a bilingual professional, verified through a back-translation. The final version consisted of 26 items. The internal consistency of the Polish version of the PANQOL scale domains was measured using the Cronbach's alpha (α). To verify the validity of PANQOL subscales, a correlation analysis was conducted between the domains of PANQOL and other questionnaires, including the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL-8D), the Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI), the 5 Well-Being Index (WHO-5), the Skarzynski Tinnitus Scale (STS) for the presence of dizziness, and the Gardner-Robertson classes. The majority of PANQOL domains showed excellent or good internal consistency (for a PANQOL total of 0.934; for subscales in the range of 0.916-0.424). Our analysis showed strong correlations between the total PANQOL score and AQoL-8D utility score, as well as between the subscales. We observed weak to moderately significant relationships between GBI and PANQOL domains (r = 0.18-0.43), the WHO-5 (r = 0.18-0.56) and the STS scale (r = -0.40- -0.19). The results demonstrated that the POL-PANQOL is a reliable and valid questionnaire for measuring QoL.

'The Norm Is to Not Openly Collaborate': Using the Lens of Co-Production to Evaluate the Development of a COVID-19 ICU Triage Policy.

In 2020, surging cases of COVID-19 meant that health services had to plan for crisis-level triage. In the Australian Capital Territory, the Clinical Health Emergency Coordination Centre sought to develop a triage policy in collaboration with a range of consumer, carer and community groups. This study aims to map the collaborative development of the COVID-19 ICU triage policy onto the principles of co-production. Interviews were conducted with facilitators, members of advocacy or consumer groups and clinicians who were involved in the development of the triage policy. Interviews were thematically analysed using both theory- and data-driven approaches to, respectively, draw on the theoretical framework of co-production, and to explore participants' perspectives relevant to but beyond the scope of this theoretical framework. The findings suggest that at each stage of the initiative, there were ways in which the principles of co-production were met, and ways in which they were not met. One of the fundamental concerns that arose was about whether trying to solve a problem based on resources was compatible with a solution based on human rights. Literature about co-production has been critiqued for being limited to aspirational concerns, or implying co-production is easily achievable. The current study contributes to existing research through the application of the theoretical framework of co-production and exploring ways its aims were met and not met within a system-level collaboration developing a high-stakes health policy. This study has been conducted and written by researchers working from lived experience perspectives, and other researchers working from traditionally mainstream health disciplines, including psychology and medicine. Further, the study is about patient and public involvement in the development of a health policy. Thus it both embodies and is about non-tokenistic collaboration between people with lived experience and other health professionals.

Recent Progress in the Understanding and Management of Acute Mountain Sickness: A Narrative Review.

Individuals at higher altitudes may experience a decrease in blood oxygen levels, which can result in a variety of clinical illnesses, such as high-altitude pulmonary edema, high-altitude cerebral edema, and milder but more common acute mountain sickness (AMS). This study aims to review the current state of knowledge related to motion sickness, the risk of AMS, and pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for AMS. Several databases, including PubMed, Bentham Science, Elsevier, Springer, and Research Gate, were used to compile the data for the article following a thorough analysis of the various research findings connected to acute mountain sickness and motion sickness, along with treatments and prevention. This article covers the research on mountain sickness as well as every imaginable form of conventional and alternative medicine. It contains ten medicinal plants that are useful in treating mountain sickness and various other remedies. Additionally, case studies are provided. Therefore, the information in the paper will help travel medicine specialists better personalize their appropriate care for patients who travel to high-altitude locations. Additionally, all available antiemetic medications, serotonin agonists, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and herbal treatments for motion sickness were discussed. The prevention and consequences of acute mountain sickness are also covered in this study.

Surgical treatment of isolated tricuspid valve disease: indications, new evidence, and risk stratification

The tricuspid valve, long neglected as a passive structure and often termed the "forgotten valve", has recently gained attention from the international medical and cardiological community due to the association of tricuspid regurgitation with an unfavorable prognosis. Isolated tricuspid regurgitation represents a relatively unknown and variable condition, closely linked to the shape and function of the right ventricle and the state of the pulmonary circulation. Currently, guidelines are not clear regarding the optimal treatment strategy, the process of patient selection, and the surgical or transcatheter procedural timing, nor for predicting patient outcomes. Surgical procedures specifically aimed at correcting isolated tricuspid regurgitation, without other concomitant indications for open-heart surgery, have been considered complex and risky, with a high rate of postoperative complications and a poorly understood impact on patient survival and life expectancy. In this review, we will attempt to examine tricuspid valve pathology by analyzing preoperative assessment, essential for risk stratification, various surgical techniques, and outcomes.

Clinical Characteristics and Medical Therapy Use Among Acute Heart Failure Patients Admitted to Christchurch Hospital 2023

Clinical Characteristics and Medical Therapy Use Among Acute Heart Failure Patients Admitted to Christchurch Hospital 2023

Efficacy and Safety of Phytotherapy and Anthroposophic Medicine in Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis: A Systematic Review.

Seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) is a common health condition that is associated with an increased risk for bronchial asthma. Besides conventional medicine, treatments from traditional, complementary and integrative medicine are widely used by individuals with SAR. This review aims to systematically summarize evidence on the efficacy, effectiveness, and safety of European/Western phytotherapy (PT) and medications from anthroposophic medicine (AM) in individuals with SAR. Four electronic databases were screened for clinical studies published between January 1990 and March 2023. The results were qualitatively synthesized and the study quality was assessed. In total, 14 studies were included, 11 from European/Western PT and three from AM. About half of the studies were rated as being of sufficient quality. The most frequently studied plant was Petasites hybridus (butterbur), showing beneficial effects on immunological parameters, subjective symptoms, and nasal airflow. Beneficial immunological and clinical effects were also shown for an herbal preparation combining Citrus limonis (lemon) and Cydonia oblonga (quince). The medications examined by studies of sufficient quality were judged to be safe. In summary, this systematic review highlights two herbal preparations, one from European/Western PT and one from AM, that appear to be promising options in the treatment of SAR.

Joint extraction of Chinese medical entities and relations based on RoBERTa and single-module global pointer

BackgroundMost Chinese joint entity and relation extraction tasks in medicine involve numerous nested entities, overlapping relations, and other challenging extraction issues. In response to these problems, some traditional methods decompose the joint extraction task into multiple steps or multiple modules, resulting in local dependency in the meantime.MethodsTo alleviate this issue, we propose a joint extraction model of Chinese medical entities and relations based on RoBERTa and single-module global pointer, namely RSGP, which formulates joint extraction as a global pointer linking problem. Considering the uniqueness of Chinese language structure, we introduce the RoBERTa-wwm pre-trained language model at the encoding layer to obtain a better embedding representation. Then, we represent the input sentence as a third-order tensor and score each position in the tensor to prepare for the subsequent process of decoding the triples. In the end, we design a novel single-module global pointer decoding approach to alleviate the generation of redundant information. Specifically, we analyze the decoding process of single character entities individually, improving the time and space performance of RSGP to some extent.ResultsIn order to verify the effectiveness of our model in extracting Chinese medical entities and relations, we carry out the experiments on the public dataset, CMeIE. Experimental results show that RSGP performs significantly better on the joint extraction of Chinese medical entities and relations, and achieves state-of-the-art results compared with baseline models.ConclusionThe proposed RSGP can effectively extract entities and relations from Chinese medical texts and help to realize the structure of Chinese medical texts, so as to provide high-quality data support for the construction of Chinese medical knowledge graphs.

Effects of rosuvastatin on serum asymmetric dimethylarginine levels and incidence of long-term cardiovascular events in patients with hyperlipidaemia and H-type hypertension.

Aims/Background Rosuvastatin is a common lipid-lowering statin on the market, but its impact on the incidence of long-term cardiovascular events is not well clarified. This study aimed to explore the effects of rosuvastatin on serum asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) levels and the incidence of long-term cardiovascular events in patients with hyperlipidaemia and H-type hypertension. Methods This retrospective study included 158 patients with hyperlipidaemia and H-type hypertension who were treated in the Hebei Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine from August 2015 to August 2016. The patients were divided into an occurrence group and a non-occurrence group according to the occurrence of long-term cardiovascular events following the resuvostatin treatment. The changes in blood lipids, blood pressure, serum ADMA levels and vascular endothelial function indexes before and after treatment were compared, and the effect of ADMA on the occurrence of long-term cardiovascular events and its predictive efficacy were analysed using the Spearman correlation test and receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve. Results After treatment, the levels of serum total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, serum ADMA and blood pressure became significantly lower (p < 0.001), with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol exhibiting no significant difference. Twenty-two cases developed long-term cardiovascular events after the treatment, with an incidence of 13.92%. The occurrence group had significantly higher serum ADMA levels than the non-occurrence group (p < 0.001). The rosuvastatin treatment also lowered the levels of endothelin-1 and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and increased the nitric oxide level (p < 0.001). Spearman correlation analysis showed that serum ADMA levels were positively correlated with the occurrence of long-term cardiovascular events (r=0.462, p < 0.001). Meanwhile, according to the ROC curve, serum ADMA had a good predictive efficacy for long-term cardiovascular events, with an area under the curve of 0.885 (95% confidence interval 0.808-0.963; p < 0.001). Conclusion Rosuvastatin can reduce ADMA levels and exert vascular protective effects. The increase in serum ADMA levels is closely related to the occurrence of long-term cardiovascular events in patients with hyperlipidaemia and H-type hypertension, serving as a potential clinical predictor to guide disease prevention and treatment.

Traditional Chinese medicine for sjögren’s syndrome: a national survey of attitudes and perceptions among Chinese patients and rheumatologists

BackgroundThis study explored similarities and differences among Chinese patients and rheumatologists in their attitudes towards and perceptions of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for Sjögren’s syndrome (SS), including analyzing factors that influenced their decision making.MethodsAn anonymous questionnaire was used to conduct a multicenter survey among patients with SS at three tertiary care medical centers in Beijing and among rheumatology clinicians at several hospitals across China. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics.ResultsThere were 942 valid questionnaires from patients from 31 provinces and cities in China, with a male-to-female ratio of approximately 1:14, a mean age of 48.81 years, and a median disease duration of 7 (4, 10) years. There were 320 valid questionnaires from rheumatologists, covering 30 provinces and cities in China, with a male-to-female ratio of approximately 0.87:1, a mean age of 48 years, and a median work duration of 10.5 (6, 15) years. The rheumatologists treated a median of 15 (11, 50) SS cases per month, and the median proportion of SS to all rheumatic diseases was 6.66% (6–10%). Many patients believed TCM could cure the root of the disease, and the most expected TCM therapies were TCM patent prescriptions and medicinal teas. Conversely, rheumatologists placed high value on the efficacy of TCM, and most commonly prescribed Chinese herbal decoctions. Most doctor-patient groups were positive about TCM treatment, citing the low side effects as the major advantage. Regression analysis showed that for patients over 40 years old with a course of disease > 4 years, the probability of using TCM has increased by 1–6 times; the probability of recommending TCM in clinical work of doctors who have worked for more than 15 years, TCM and integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine has increased 1–2 times.ConclusionsTCM has become widely accepted and earned attention from doctor-patient groups, especially among older patients and experienced rheumatologists. However, negative prejudices and absence of accurate information about TCM treatments and SS itself require improvement. The contradiction between TCM dosage form and efficacy is a major problem, and patient demand for convenient and efficient TCM patent preparations suggests future work should focus on developing TCM patent preparations with clear compositions and mechanisms.

Isolation and characterisation of enterococci from poultry reveals high incidence of Enterococcus thailandicus in Victoria, Australia.

Antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis. Roughly two-thirds of all antibiotics used are in production animals, which has the potential to impact on the development of antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens of humans. There is little visibility on the extent of antibiotic resistance in the Australian food chain. This study sought to establish the incidence of antibiotic resistance among enterococci from poultry in Victoria. In 2016, poultry from a Victorian processing facility were swabbed immediately post-slaughter and cultured for Enterococcus species. All isolates recovered were speciated and tested for antibiotic susceptibility to twelve antibiotics following the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Six farms and 207 birds were sampled and from these 285 isolates of Enterococcus were recovered. Eight different enterococcal species were identified: E. faecalis (n=122; 43%), E. faecium (n=92; 32%), E. durans (n=35; 12%), E. thailandicus (n=23; 8%), E. hirae (n=10; 3%) and a single each of E. avium, E. gallinarum, and E. mundtii. Reduced susceptibility to older classes of antibiotic were common, in particular: erythromycin (73%), rifampin (49%), nitrofurantoin (40%) and ciprofloxacin (39%). Two vancomycin intermediate isolates were recovered, but no resistance was detected to either linezolid or gentamicin. The relatively high numbers of a recently described species, E. thailandicus, suggests this species might be well adapted to colonise poultry. The incidence of antibiotic resistance is lower in isolates from poultry than in human medicine in Australia. These results suggest that poultry may serve as a reservoir for older antibiotic resistance genes but is not driving the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in human bacterial pathogens. This is supported by the absence of resistance to linezolid and gentamicin.

Gallium complexation for DO3A coated nanoparticles: a comprehensive study

This review provides a comprehensive review of the synthesis and utilization of DO3A-functionalized NPs (Particularly for MRI and PET/CT analysis). The main focus of the study is the formation of a complex of gallium with NPs coated with DO3A, as well as showing the possibility of improving contrast agents and creating new gallium-based nanomaterials for medical use. The synthesis process studies parameters like pH, temperature, and the effect of substitution of the ligand using various chemical analysis techniques to determine the physicochemical properties of these nano-scale particles. This implies that gallium-loaded NPs have the potential to enhance the fight against infectious diseases, as proved by the NPs' vital role in antimicrobial therapies for PET imaging. Research with animals has shown significant biodistribution to the organs and tissues of interest, which have helped enhance the imaging features of MRI and PET/CT scans. Likewise, the findings on biocompatibility and toxicity point to possible clinical application of these nanoparticles. As for future research directions, the synthesis of other new derivatives of Gd-DO3A complexes containing lipophilic monoamides and the examination of ionization's influence on encapsulation efficiency have been mentioned. This review stresses the promising use of DO3A-coated nanoparticles for nanomedicine as therapeutic agents or imaging probes.

The Near‐Infrared Light Emitted by LiScO2:Cr3+ Phosphor Used to Induce Gland Secretion for Sjogren's Syndrome

AbstractPhotobiomodulation is promisingly used as a noninvasive new weapon against Sjogren's syndrome, which is a disorder of immune system with two main symptoms of dry eyes and a dry mouth. This work reports a new NIR LED device made from LiScO2:Cr3+ phosphor for the application. The absorbance, internal, and external quantum efficiency of the optimal Li(Sc0.98Cr0.02)O2 phosphor reach 40.9%, 34.5%, and 14.1%, respectively; and the output power and energy conversion efficiency of the LED device packaged using the phosphor driven under 20 mA are 4.23 mW, respectively. The emission spectrum of the LED device can well cover the action spectrum of oxidized CuA in cytochrome c oxidase molecules. Both the pathological changes of mice submandibular gland and the expression of human submandibular gland epithelial cells (HSG) in AQP5, M3R andEGR1 confirm that the NIR light has great potential application for treating Sjogren's syndrome. Moreover, study with mice approved that the therapy using the NIR light is more efficient than the conventional medicine treatment using hydroxychloroquine sulfate.

Beyond the petri dish: Model organisms in non-clinical exploration

Animal models have been integral to scientific research for decades, offering invaluable insights into complex biological processes, advancing medical knowledge, and aiding the development of new treatments. This review explores the significance of animal models in various research fields, emphasizing their biological similarity to humans as a key factor. Animals, ranging from mice and rats to primates, fruit flies, and worms, share fundamental physiological, anatomical, and genetic characteristics with humans, making them crucial proxies for studying diseases and biological pathways. This review underscores the essential role of animal models in preclinical research, particularly in evaluating drug candidates for safety, efficacy, and potential side effects before human trials. The controlled experimental environment provided by animal models allows researchers to manipulate variables, isolate factors, and establish cause-and-effect relationships, enhancing the understanding of complex genetic disorders.

Transparent Insights into Alzheimer’s Progression: A Time-Aware Approach with Explainable AI

Alzheimer’s disease, acknowledged for its intricate and degenerative characteristics, presents considerable challenges, particularly among the elderly population. The relentless nature of Alzheimer’s, marked by the gradual deterioration of cognitive function, underscores the urgency to develop effective strategies for early diagnosis and intervention. Artificial intelligence has played a significant role in terms of disease diagnosis and treatments. However, it has got limited acceptance in the medical community due to its lack of transparency. This study aims to advance the understanding and prediction of Alzheimer’s disease progression through the integration of time-aware modeling and Explainable AI techniques. It makes significant contributions by addressing two key objectives in the context of Alzheimer’s disease. First, by including temporal aspects, it accurately depicts the pace at which relevant predictors change over time, thereby capturing the dynamic nature of Alzheimer’s disease. Second, by giving interpretable insights into the algorithm’s decision-making process, the study hopes to empower researchers and physicians. This approach not only enhances transparency but also builds trust in the model’s outcomes. The ADNI dataset, comprising 2980 observations, was employed for developing a prediction model using various machine learning classifiers. Among these classifiers, the Random Forest model emerged as the top performer, exhibiting superior accuracy, a high Coefficient of Determination (R2), and an impressive F1 score. To enhance interpretability, subsequent analyses utilized LIME and SHAP techniques. By combining time-aware modeling with Explainable AI methods, we seek to unravel the dynamic relationships within the dataset, providing transparent insights into the temporal evolution of Alzheimer’s disease. Thus, this paper contributes to the creation of a clinically relevant and practical model for monitoring Alzheimer’s disease progression that holds the potential for a deeper understanding of the evolving nature of the disease and paving the way for personalized and timely interventions.

Rowing in the same direction to achieve organizational goals: Integrating mentoring, leadership training, and coaching to manage and evaluate individual performance

Academic medicine provides ample opportunities and resources for medical innovation, but presents unique challenges for physician-scientists, support staff, and hospital administration. In an environment that prioritizes individual research-related productivity for professional advancement, how can management guide its workforce toward common organizational objectives? Here, we describe an approach that aligns individual goals to a high-level strategic plan continuously by combining annual goal setting, performance management, mentoring of early career faculty, leadership training, and professional coaching to achieve the three pillars of the academic mission: patient care, research and teaching.

Risk Factor Analysis for Occurrence of Linezolid-Resistant Bacteria in the Digestive and Respiratory Tract of Food-Producing Animals in Belgium: A Pilot Study

Linezolid is a critically important antimicrobial used in human medicine. While linezolid is not licensed for food-producing animals, the veterinary use of other antimicrobials, such as phenicols (e.g., florfenicol), could cross/co-select for linezolid-resistant (LR) bacteria. Such LR strains pose a great concern for public health due to their potential transfer between animals and humans. This study explored possible associations between epidemiological risk factors, including phenicol use, and the occurrence of LR bacteria, such as enterococci and staphylococci, in poultry, pigs, and veal calves in Belgium. Florfenicol use significantly increased the likelihood of harboring LR bacteria in veal calves, sows, and fattening pigs, particularly for the digestive tract (odds ratio (OR): [3.19–5.29]) and the respiratory tract (OR: [6.11–9.09]). LR strains from feces from fattening pigs were significantly associated with production type (OR: [3.31–44.14]) and the presence of other animal species (OR: 0.41). The occurrence of LR strains in the respiratory tract from sows was also significantly associated with using antimicrobials other than florfenicol (OR: 10.07) and purchasing animals (OR: 7.28). Our study highlights the potential risks of using certain veterinary antimicrobials, such as florfenicol, in food-producing animals and emphasizes the need for responsible antimicrobial use to safeguard both animal and public health.

Fasudil and viscosity of gelatin promote hepatic differentiation by regulating organelles in human umbilical cord matrix-mesenchymal stem cells

BackgroundHuman mesenchymal stem cells originating from umbilical cord matrix are a promising therapeutic resource, and their differentiated cells are spotlighted as a tissue regeneration treatment. However, there are limitations to the medical use of differentiated cells from human umbilical cord matrix-mesenchymal stem cells (hUCM-MSCs), such as efficient differentiation methods.MethodsTo effectively differentiate hUCM-MSCs into hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs), we used the ROCK inhibitor, fasudil, which is known to induce endoderm formation, and gelatin, which provides extracellular matrix to the differentiated cells. To estimate a differentiation efficiency of early stage according to combination of gelatin and fasudil, transcription analysis was conducted. Moreover, to demonstrate that organelle states affect differentiation, we performed transcription, tomographic, and mitochondrial function analysis at each stage of hepatic differentiation. Finally, we evaluated hepatocyte function based on the expression of mRNA and protein, secretion of albumin, and activity of CYP3A4 in mature HLCs.ResultsFasudil induced endoderm-related genes (GATA4, SOX17, and FOXA2) in hUCM-MSCs, and it also induced lipid droplets (LDs) inside the differentiated cells. However, the excessive induction of LDs caused by fasudil inhibited mitochondrial function and prevented differentiation into hepatoblasts. To prevent the excessive LDs formation, we used gelatin as a coating material. When hUCM-MSCs were induced into hepatoblasts with fasudil on high-viscosity (1%) gelatin-coated dishes, hepatoblast-related genes (AFP and HNF4A) showed significant upregulation on high-viscosity gelatin-coated dishes compared to those treated with low-viscosity (0.1%) gelatin. Moreover, other germline cell fates, such as ectoderm and mesoderm, were repressed under these conditions. In addition, LDs abundance was also reduced, whereas mitochondrial function was increased. On the other hand, unlike early stage of the differentiation, low viscosity gelatin was more effective in generating mature HLCs. In this condition, the accumulation of LDs was inhibited in the cells, and mitochondria were activated. Consequently, HLCs originated from hUCM-MSCs were genetically and functionally more matured in low-viscosity gelatin.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated an effective method for differentiating hUCM-MSCs into hepatic cells using fasudil and gelatin of varying viscosities. Moreover, we suggest that efficient hepatic differentiation and the function of hepatic cells differentiated from hUCM-MSCs depend not only on genetic changes but also on the regulation of organelle states.

A study on Chinese Medicine to alleviate the Adverse Effects of Western Medicine in the Treatment of Lupus Nephritis

A study on Chinese Medicine to alleviate the Adverse Effects of Western Medicine in the Treatment of Lupus Nephritis