End-stage renal disease (ESRD) causes numerous physical and psychological problems in patients, so that they must adhere to their treatment regimen to recover their disease, alleviate these problems, and increase their lifespan. The present study aimed to determine the predictive role of spiritual health, resilience, and mental well-being in treatment adherence among hemodialysis patients. This correlational cross-sectional study investigated some variables related to treatment adherence in 184 patients undergoing hemodialysis referred to two dialysis centers in Kerman, southeastern Iran. A census method was used to select the participants and data were collected using socio-demographic characteristics questionnaire, Adherence to Treatment Questionnaire (ATQ), Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale, Reef Psychological well-being Questionnaire, and Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS). The overall treatment adherence score was 155.42 ± 27.98 and we found a positive significant correlation between spiritual health, resilience, psychological well-being, and treatment adherence (p < 0.001). The mean scores of resilience, spiritual health and psychological well-being were 70.59 ± 17.02, 90.09 ± 12.01, and 77.88 ± 11.72, respectively. Spiritual health, psychological well-being, resilience, gender and marital status predicted 54% of the variance of treatment adherence, with psychological well-being being the best predictor (p < 0.001). Spiritual health, psychological well-being, and resilience are factors that influence treatment adherence of the patients undergoing hemodialysis, with psychological well-being having the greatest contribution to improving patient’s treatment adherence. Interventions effective in improving psychological well-being, spiritual health and resilience can improve treatment adherence of patients undergoing hemodialysis. Healthcare workers must pay more attention to the factors affecting treatment adherence of patients undergoing hemodialysis.

It is broadly accepted that genetically engineered animal models do not always recapitulate human pathobiology. Therefore identifying best-fit mouse models of human cancers that truly reflect the corresponding human disease is of vital importance in elucidating molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis and developing preventive and therapeutic approaches. A new hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) mouse model lacking a novel putative tumor suppressor IQGAP2 has been generated by our laboratory. The aim of this study was to obtain the molecular signature of Iqgap2^−/− HCC tumors and establish the relevance of this model to human disease. Here we report a comprehensive transcriptome analysis of Iqgap2^−/− livers and a cross-species comparison of human and Iqgap2^−/− HCC tumors using Significance Analysis of Microarray (SAM) and unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis. We identified the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway as the top canonical pathway dysregulated in Iqgap2^−/− livers. We also demonstrated that Iqgap2^−/− hepatic tumors shared genetic signatures with HCC tumors from patients with advanced disease as evidenced by a 78% mouse-to-human microarray data set concordance rate with 117 out of 151 identified ortholog genes having similar expression profiles across the two species. Collectively, these results indicate that the Iqgap2 knockout mouse model closely recapitulates human HCC at the molecular level and supports its further application for the study of this disease.

Background. Low back pain (LBP) is considered the leading cause of people living with years of disability worldwide. Notably, thunder-fire moxibustion (TFM) is a new type of moxibustion, which has been widely applied to treat pain syndromes for thousands of years. This study aims to provide evidence to evaluate the effect and safety of TFM in treating LBP. Methods. A systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Embase, EBSCO, CNKI, Wanfang Data, CBM, and VIP (until April 2021) was used to identify studies reporting pain intensity, disability, Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score, and quality of life in patients with LBP. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), which compared TFM and other therapies in LBP, were included. Meanwhile, methodological quality was evaluated using the Cochrane criteria for risk of bias, and the level of evidence was rated utilizing the GRADE approach. Results. Twenty-one RCTs, including 2198 patients, satisfied the inclusion criteria. Compared with other therapies, the effect of TFM was statistically significant, pain intensity decreased (SMD = 0.94; 95% CI (0.74, 1.14); ), disability improved (SMD = 1.39; 95% CI (0.19, 2.59); ), and the JOA score increased (SMD = −1.34; 95% CI (−1.88, −0.80); ). It was also reported that the patient’s quality of life improved after treatment for a period of 4 weeks (SMD = −0.29; 95% CI (−0.42, −0.16); ) and after a follow-up of 1 month (SMD = −0.20; 95% CI (−0.34, −0.07); ). The evidence level of the results was determined to be very low to low. Conclusions. Based on the existing evidence, it can be concluded that TFM may have a better effect than other treatments on LBP. However, it is not yet possible to assess the safety level of TFM therapy. Due to the universal low quality of the eligible trials and low evidence level, rigorously designed large-scale RCTs must be conducted in order to further confirm the results in this review.

Constipation, a gastrointestinal function disorder, is one of the side effects of paclitaxel (PTX) chemotherapy. Shenhuang plaster (SHP) application on the Shenque acupoint promotes gut motility in clinical settings. In this study, we elucidated the ingredients in SHP and evaluated its effects on PTX‐induced constipation using a tumour‐bearing mouse model. SHP was prepared using the traditional Chinese plaster preparation method. The ingredients were analysed using UPLC‐MS/MS and identified via screening in a standard drug database. The gastrointestinal transit was evaluated by the movement of a fluorescein‐labelled dextran in the gastrointestinal tract. A histological study of the mucosa was carried out after haematoxylin and eosin staining. mRNA expression was assessed using real‐time RT‐PCR, and the foetal microbiota composition was elucidated through 16 s rDNA sequencing and BLAST analysis. Our results indicate that the application of SHP attenuated weight gain inhibition by PTX; however, no inhibitory effect was observed on tumour growth. PTX‐induced sluggish intestine, villus, and mucosal base layer damage were significantly improved following the application of SHP. Further, SHP enhanced the stimulation efficiency of PTX on TLR4 and its downstream cytokines, as well as on IL‐1 β in intestinal cells. SHP combined with PTX reshaped the microbiota, which showed beneficial effects on health. Hence, these results provide evidence that SHP alleviates PTX‐induced constipation and intestinal morphological damage but augments the effects of PTX on the expression of cytokines in the TLR4 pathway and IL‐1 β . Therefore, we propose that SHP stimulates the host immune response to eradicate cancer cells.