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After the golden age of antibiotic discovery, bacterial infections still represent a major challenge for public health worldwide. The biofilm mode of growth is mostly responsible for chronic infections that current therapeutics fail to cure and it is well-established that novel strategies must be investigated. Particulate drug delivery systems are considered as a promising strategy to face issues related to antibiotic treatments in a biofilm context. Particularly, poly-lactic acid (PLA) nanoparticles present a great interest due to their ability to migrate into biofilms thanks to their submicronic size. However, questions still remain unresolved about their mode of action in biofilms depending on their surface properties. In the current study, we have investigated the impact of their surface charge, firstly on their behavior within a bacterial biofilm, and secondly on the antibiotic delivery and the treatment efficacy.

Rifampicin-loaded PLA nanoparticles were synthetized by nanoprecipitation and characterent efficacy, positively charged rifampicin-loaded PLA nanoparticles are therefore proposed as an adapted and promising approach to improve antibiotic delivery in S. aureus biofilms.

Correlating the carrier retention capacity in biofilms with the treatment efficacy, positively charged rifampicin-loaded PLA nanoparticles are therefore proposed as an adapted and promising approach to improve antibiotic delivery in S. aureus biofilms.

Breast cancer bone metastasis has become one of the most common complications; however, it may cause cancer recurrence and bone nonunion, as well as local bone defects.

Herein, In vitro, we verified the effect of bioscaffold materials on cell proliferation and apoptosis through a CCK8 trial, staining of live/dead cells, and flow cytometry. We used immunofluorescence technology and flow cytometry to verify whether bioscaffold materials regulate macrophage polarization, and we used ALP staining, alizarin red staining and PCR to verify whether bioscaffold material promotes bone regeneration. In vivo, we once again studied the effect of bioscaffold materials on tumors by measuring tumor volume in mice, Tunel staining, and caspase-3 immunofluorescence. We also constructed a mouse skull ultimate defect model to verify the effect on bone regeneration.

Graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles, hydrated CePO

nanorods and bioactive chitosan (CS) are combined to form a bioactive multifunctional CePO

/CS/GO scaffold, with characteristics such as photothermal therapy to kill tumors, macrophage polarization to promote blood vessel formation, and induction of bone formation. CePO

/CS/GO scaffold activates the caspase-3 proteasein local tumor cells, thereby lysing the DNA between nucleosomes and causing apoptosis. On the one hand, the as-released Ce

ions promote M2 polarization of macrophages, which secretes vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and Arginase-1 (Arg-1), which promotes angiogenesis. On the other hand, the as-released Ce

ions also activated the BMP-2/Smad signaling pathway which facilitated bone tissue regeneration.

The multifunctional CePO

/CS/GO scaffolds may become a promising platform for therapy of breast cancer bone metastases.

The multifunctional CePO4/CS/GO scaffolds may become a promising platform for therapy of breast cancer bone metastases.

A psychometrically validated instrument to measure patient experience in Chinese public hospitals would be useful and is currently lacking. Our research team developed the Patient-Reported Experience Measure for Care in Chinese Hospitals (PREM-CCH). We aimed to validate this PREM-CCH in the present study.

Data were drawn from a cross-sectional patient survey in 2016. Complete responses from 2293 outpatients and 1510 inpatients were included. Separate psychometric evaluation was carried out on outpatient and inpatient PREM-CCHs in terms of exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency, construct validity and criterion validity.

The validated outpatient PREM-CCH contained 22 items and five Factors, i.e. Communication and information, Professional competence, Medical costs, Efficiency, and Hospital recommendation. The validated inpatient PREM-CCH contained 19 items and six Factors, i.e. Communication and information, Professional competence, Medical costs, Efficiency, Health outcomes, and Hospital recommendation. The PREM-CCH showed satisfactory internal consistency, construct validity and criterion validity.

The PREM-CCH is one of the first validated instruments capturing patient experience of care in the context of Chinese public hospitals. It performed well in the psychometric evaluation. IDO-IN-2 in vivo It consists of a basic set of items important to patients that could be applicable to public hospitals in China and actionable to inform quality improvement initiatives.

The PREM-CCH is one of the first validated instruments capturing patient experience of care in the context of Chinese public hospitals. It performed well in the psychometric evaluation. It consists of a basic set of items important to patients that could be applicable to public hospitals in China and actionable to inform quality improvement initiatives.

In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), low levels of formal maternal educational are positively associated with breastfeeding whereas the reverse is true among women with higher levels of formal education. As such, breastfeeding has helped to reduce health equity gaps between rich and poor children. Our paper examines trends in breastfeeding and formula consumption by maternal educational in LMICs over nearly two decades.

We used 319 nationally representative surveys from 81 countries. We used WHO definitions for breastfeeding indicators and categorized maternal education into three categories none, primary, and secondary or higher. We grouped countries according to the World Bank income groups and UNICEF regions classifications. The trend analyses were performed through multilevel linear regression to obtain average absolute annual changes in percentage points.

Significant increases in prevalence were observed for early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding across all education categories, but more prominently in women with no formal education for early breastfeeding and in higher level educated women for exclusive breastfeeding.