The work of Chinese chronic conditions: adaptation and validation of the Distribution of Co-Care Activities Scale

PurposeThe Distribution of Co-Care Activities Scale was adapted into Chinese for the purposes of this study, and then the psychometric characteristics of the Chinese version of the DoCCA scale were confirmed in chronic conditions.MethodsA total of 434 patients with chronic diseases were recruited from three Chinese cities. A cross-cultural adaptation procedure was used to translate the Distribution of Co-Care Activities Scale into Chinese. Cronbach's alpha coefficient, split-half reliability, and test-retest reliability were used to verify the scale's reliability. Content validity indices, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis were used to confirm the scale's validity.ResultsThe Chinese DoCCA scale includes five domains: demands, unnecessary tasks, role clarity, needs support, and goal orientation. The S-CVI was 0.964. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a five-factor structure that explained 74.952% of the total variance. According to the confirmatory factor analysis results, the fit indices were within the range of the reference values. Convergent and discriminant validity both met the criteria. Also, the scale's Cronbach's alpha coefficient is 0.936, and the five dimensions' values range from 0.818 to 0.909. The split-half reliability was 0.848, and the test-retest reliability was 0.832.ConclusionsThe Chinese version of the Distribution of Co-Care Activities Scale had high levels of validity and reliability for chronic conditions. The scale can assess how patients with chronic diseases feel about their service of care and provide data to optimize their personalized chronic disease self-management strategies

A Recommendation System Based on Regression Model of Three-Tier Network Architecture

The sparsity problem of user-item matrix is a major obstacle to improve the accuracy of the traditional collaborative filtering systems, and, meanwhile, it is also responsible for cold-start problem in the collaborative filtering approaches. In this paper, a three-tier network Architecture, which includes user relationship network, item similarity network, and user-item relationship network, is constructed using comprehensive data among the user-item matrix and the social networks. Based on this framework, a Regression Model Recommendation Approach (RMRA) is established to calculate the correlation score between the test user and test item. The correlation score is used to predict the test user preference for the test item. The RMRA mines the potential information among both social networks and user-item matrix to improve the recommendation accuracy and ease the cold-start problem. We conduct experiment based on KDD 2012 real data set. The result indicates that our algorithm performs superiorly compared to traditional collaborative filtering algorithm

The Influence of Inhibiting Angiopoietin-2 on the Biological Characteristics of Bronchogenic Adenocarcinoma

Background and objective It is well-known that angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) plays an important role in the formation of the blood vascular system. Angiopoietin is involved in many diseases about angiogenesis such as tumor, so may have great prospects for the treatment of these diseases. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of inhibiting Ang-2 via adeno-associated virus induced RNA interference (RNAi) on the biological characteristics of bronchogenic adenocarcinoma. Methods AAV-Ang-2shRNA driven by H1 promoter was constructed to transfect A549 cell line. Normal and AAV-Null cell line were utilized in the control groups. The influence of RNAi on Ang-2 expression as well as the growth rate, tumorigenic efficiency, proliferation rate, apoptosis, and microvessel density of A549 cell line were analyzed. Results In vitro experiment indicated that the Ang-2 expression level (P<0.001) and growth rate (P<0.001) of A549 cell line 48 h transfected with AAV-Ang-2shRNA were significantly lower than those in the normal and AAV-Null cell lines. Cell cycle analysis showed the proliferation index (PI) of normal, AAV-Null, and AAV-Ang-2shRNA transfected A549 cell line were 0.51±0.43, 0.48±0.29, and 0.26±0.31, respectively, which indicated the PI of AAV-Ang-2shRNA transfected cell line was significantly lower, compared with the normal and AAV-Null cell lines. In vivo experiment exhibited that AAV-Ang-2shRNA transfected cell line possessed a lower mass and volumn of tumor relative to two control groups. In addition, the apoptosis index (AI) of AAV-Ang-2shRNA transfected, normal, and AAV-Null cell lines were (5.98±3.11)%, (7.51±4.42)% and (17.06±7.43)% respectively, which manifested that AAV-Ang-2shRNA transfected cell line possessed a higher AI (P=0.005, P=0.007). A lower percentage of PCNA-positive cell was observed in AAV-Ang-2shRNA transfected cell line (92.75±9.7)% as well, compared with the normal (85.8±11.8)% and AAV-Null (69.8±16.5)% cell lines. Conclusion AAV-mediated expression of shRNA significantly reduces concentration of Ang-2 in A549 cell line, lowers proliferation and growth rate and induce .apoptosis of A549 cell line

Mas-Related Gene (Mrg) C Activation Attenuates Bone Cancer Pain via Modulating Gi and NR2B.

OBJECTIVE:This study is to investigate the role of Mas-related gene (Mrg) C in the pathogenesis and treatment of bone cancer pain (BCP). METHODS:BCP mouse model was established by osteosarcoma cell inoculation. Pain-related behaviors were assessed with the spontaneous lifting behavior test and mechanical allodynia test. Expression levels of MrgC, Gi, and NR2B in the spinal cord were detected with Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS:Pain-related behavior tests showed significantly increased spontaneous flinches (NSF) and decreased paw withdrawal mechanical threshold (PWMT) in mouse models of BCP. Western blot analysis showed that, compared with the control group and before modeling, all the expression levels of MrgC, Gi, and NR2B in the spinal cord of BCP mice were dramatically elevated, which were especially increased at day 7 after operation and thereafter, in a time-dependent manner. Moreover, the treatment of MrgC agonist BAM8-22 significantly up-regulated Gi and down-regulated NR2B expression levels, in the spinal cord of BCP mice, in a time-dependent manner. On the other hand, anti-MrgC significantly down-regulated Gi expression, while dramatically up-regulated NR2B expression, in the BCP mice. Similar results were obtained from the immunohistochemical detection. Importantly, BAM8-22 significantly attenuated the nociceptive behaviors in the BCP mice. CONCLUSION:Our results indicated the MrgC-mediated Gi and NR2B expression alterations in the BCP mice, which might contribute to the pain hypersensitivity. These findings may provide a novel strategy for the treatment of BCP in clinic

Effects of MrgC agonist and anti-MrgC on expression levels of MrgC, Gi, and NR2B in spinal cord of BCP mice.

<p>(A) The expression levels of MrgC, Gi, and NR2B in the spinal cord were detected with Western blot analysis, in sham mice, model control (Veh) mice, and model mice administered with BAM8-22 or anti-MrgC, at days 1, 3, and 7 after drug administration. (B-D) Statistical analyses of MrgC (B), Gi (C), and NR2B (D) expression levels after drug administration as indicated by Western blot analysis (n = 6). (E) Expression of MrgC (red) and NR2B (green) in the spinal cord were detected with immunohistochemistry in the sham mice, model control (vehicle) mice, and model mice treated with BAM8-22 or anti-MrgC (×200). (F-G) Statistical analyses of MrgC (F) and NR2B (G) expression levels after drug administration as indicated by immunohistochemistry (n = 6). Compared with the vehicle group, ^& <i>P</i> < 0.05; compared with the former time point, ^$ <i>P</i> < 0.05.</p

Pain-related behaviors of right hind limb in BCP mice.

<p>NSF (A) and PWMT (B) was assessed in the sham and BCP model groups (n = 8) before animal modeling (day 0), and at days 3, 5, 7, 10, and 14 after model establishment. Compared with before modeling, * <i>P</i> < 0.05; compared with the sham group at corresponding time point, ^# <i>P</i> < 0.05.</p

Expression levels of MrgC, Gi, and NR2B in spinal cord of BCP mice.

<p>(A) Expression levels of MrgC, Gi, and NR2B in the spinal cord of the sham mice and BCP mice were detected with Western blot analysis before animal modeling (day 0; D0), and at days 3, 5, 7, 10, and 14 (D3-D14) after model establishment. (B-D) Statistical analyses of MrgC (B), Gi (C), and NR2B (D) in the spinal cord of sham and BCP mice (n = 6). Compared with before modeling, * <i>P</i> < 0.05; compared with the sham group, ^# <i>P</i> < 0.05.</p

Aberrant regulation favours matriptase proteolysis in neoplastic B-cells that co-express HAI-2

Matriptase is ectopically expressed in neoplastic B-cells, in which matriptase activity is enhanced by negligible expression of its endogenous inhibitor, hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor (HAI)-1. HAI-1, however, is also involved in matriptase synthesis and intracellular trafficking. The lack of HAI-1 indicates that other related inhibitor, such as HAI-2, might be expressed. Here, we show that HAI-2 is commonly co-expressed in matriptase-expressing neoplastic B-cells. The level of active matriptase shed after induction of matriptase zymogen activation in 7 different neoplastic B-cells was next determined and characterised. Our data reveal that active matriptase can only be generated and shed by those cells able to activate matriptase and in a rough correlation with the levels of matriptase protein. While HAI-2 can potently inhibit matriptase, the levels of active matriptase are not proportionally suppressed in those cells with high HAI-2. Our survey suggests that matriptase proteolysis might aberrantly remain high in neoplastic B-cells regardless of the levels of HAI-2