[en] Highlights: • Tween80 was firstly treated as porogen in the hydrogel dressings composed of poly(vinyl alcohol), human-like collagen and alginate sodium. • The hydrogel dressings hold excellent hemostasis activity with the shortest hemostasis time of 17.33 s. • These hydrogel dressings hold excellent anti-protein property which could be moved from the wound without causing pain. -- Abstract: Wound recovery is a complex process which is influenced by many factors. Therefore, dressings with multi-functions can greatly promote wound healing. In this study, a series of multifunctional PVA/HLC/SA composite hydrogels with air permeability, anti-protein absorption, bacterial barrier property and hemostasis activity were synthesized in the prospect of producing wound dressings by repeated freeze-thawing of poly (vinyl alcohol), Human-like collagen (HLC) and sodium alginate (SA) with Tween80 added as porogen. Infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) clarified its homogeneous porous and interconnected internal structures. In addition, the hydrogels were characterized statistically and in vivo full-thickness defects in rabbit was done to verify their effect on wound healing. Two of the hydrogels (gel 2 and gel 3) showed excellent water vapor transmission rate (2420.97 and 2798.09 g·cm⁻²·d⁻¹)their swelling ratio were 1427.44 and 2308.24% respectively, worked together with hemostasis property (hemostasis time of gel 2 and gel 3 were 30.55 and 17.33 s respectively), anti-protein absorption and bacterial barrier activity, greatly promoted the full-thickness wound healing in rabbit, wounds of the hydrogel dressing groups took only 10 days to heal, while the control groups need 13–15 days. In a whole, the results facilitate the use of provided hydrogel dressings as ideal wound dressings.

[en] Highlights: • Ginsenoside Rh4 can promote the apoptosis of the MCF-7 cells via the external apoptotic pathway activation to inhibit the growth of it in vitro. • Ginsenoside Rh4 suppressed tumor growth by altering the proliferation and morphology of MCF-7 tumor cells in vivo. Breast cancer is a tremendous threat to humans in many countries, and thus we need to find safe and effective drugs for treatment. Ginsenoside Rh4 has been reported to be present in processed ginseng. However, few studies have focused on its anti-tumor activity. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effects of ginsenoside Rh4 on MCF-7 breast cancer cells and the pathways that promote apoptosis in vitro. To study the effect of ginsenoside Rh4 in vivo, xenograft models were randomly divided into 3 groups (the control group, 10 mg/kg/d Rh4, 20 mg/kg/d Rh4, n = 10 per group), the ginsenoside Rh4 injection method was i.p. The results showed that ginsenoside Rh4 effectively inhibited proliferation, arrested the cell cycle in S phase and induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells by flow cytometry. Morphological changes caused by ginsenoside Rh4-induced apoptosis were also observed by Hoechst 33342 staining. Western-blot analyses indicated that the apoptosis-inducing effects of ginsenoside Rh4 were associated with the external pathway by decreasing Bcl-2, increasing Bax, and activating caspase-8, -3 and PARP. Moreover, ginsenoside Rh4 significantly inhibited the growth of MCF-7 tumor cells in vivo. These results suggested that ginsenoside Rh4 could be a potentially effective anti-tumor drug for breast cancer.

[en] The false negative rate of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is 5-10%, and results in improper patient management. The study was to assess the value of ultrasound-suspicious axillary lymph node biopsy (USALNB) in patients with early breast cancer, and to compare SLNB combined with USALNB (SLNB + USALNB) with SLNB alone. From January 2010 to July 2013, 216 patients with early breast cancer were enrolled consecutively at the Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University. All patients underwent wire localization of the suspicious node by color Doppler ultrasonography, followed by SLNB 2–3 hours later, suspicious node lymphadenectomy, and level ≥ II axillary dissection (as the gold standard). The predictive values of node status between SLNB + USALNB and SLNB alone were compared. The success rate of SLNB was 99.1% (214/216). After axillary dissection, 71 patients were confirmed with axillary lymph node metastases by pathological examinations. Eight false negatives were observed using SLNB alone, resulting in sensitivity of 88.7%, specificity of 100%, false negative rate of 11.3%, and false positive rate of 0% in predicting the axillary node status. SLNB + USALNB resulted in sensitivity of 97.2%, specificity of 100%, false negative rate of 2.8%, and false positive rate of 0%. The false negative rate of SLNB + USALNB was significantly different from that of SLNB alone (P = 0.031). SLNB + USALNB seems to be a low-risk procedure that might be useful in reducing the false negative rate of SLNB, improving the accuracy of axillary nodes evaluation in early breast cancer