Tocilizumab (TCZ), a monoclonal antibody against interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), emerged as an alternative treatment for COVID‐19 patients with a risk of cytokine storms recently. In the present study, we ...aimed to discuss the treatment response of TCZ therapy in COVID‐19 infected patients. The demographic, treatment, laboratory parameters of C‐reactive protein (CRP) and IL‐6 before and after TCZ therapy and clinical outcome in the 15 COVID‐19 patients were retrospectively assessed. Totally 15 patients with COVID‐19 were included in this study. Two of them were moderately ill, six were seriously ill and seven were critically ill. The TCZ was used in combination with methylprednisolone in eight patients. Five patients received the TCZ administration twice or more. Although TCZ treatment ameliorated the increased CRP in all patients rapidly, for the four critically ill patients who received an only single dose of TCZ, three of them (No. 1, 2, and 3) still dead and the CRP level in the rest one patient (No. 7) failed to return to normal range with a clinical outcome of disease aggravation. Serum IL‐6 level tended to further spiked firstly and then decreased after TCZ therapy in 10 patients. A persistent and dramatic increase of IL‐6 was observed in these four patients who failed treatment. TCZ appears to be an effective treatment option in COVID‐19 patients with a risk of cytokine storms. And for these critically ill patients with elevated IL‐6, the repeated dose of the TCZ is recommended.
Research Highlights
TCZ benefits the COVID‐19 patients in relieving inflammatory activity.
Repeat doses of TCZ is recommended for critically ill COVID‐19 patients.
More cases are still needed to further verify the effect of TCZ.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
In recent years, with the rapid development of social network media, it has become a valuable research direction to quickly analyze these texts and find out the current hotspots from them in real ...time. To address this problem, this paper proposes a method to discover current hotspots by combining deep neural networks with text data. First, the text data features are extracted based on the graphical convolutional neural network, and the temporal correlation of numerical information is modeled using gated recurrent units, and the numerical feature vectors are fused with the text feature vectors. Then, the K-means algorithm is optimized for the initial point selection problem, and a clustering algorithm based on the maximum density selection method in the moving range is proposed. Finally, the text feature representation method based on graph convolutional neural network is combined with the clustering algorithm based on the moving range density maximum selection method to build a deep learning-based media hotspot discovery framework. The accuracy of the proposed media hotspot discovery method and the comprehensive evaluation of the computing time have been verified experimentally.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Water splitting is one of the ideal technologies to meet the ever increasing demands of energy. Many materials have aroused great attention in this field. The family of nickel-based sulfides is one ...of the examples that possesses interesting properties in water-splitting fields. In this paper, a controllable and simple strategy to synthesize nickel sulfides was proposed. First, we fabricated NiS2 hollow microspheres via a hydrothermal process. After a precise heat control in a specific atmosphere, NiS porous hollow microspheres were prepared. NiS2 was applied in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and shows a marvelous performance both in acid medium (an overpotential of 174 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA/cm2 and the Tafel slope is only 63 mV/dec) and in alkaline medium (an overpotential of 148 mV to afford a current density of 10 mA/cm2 and the Tafel slope is 79 mV/dec). NiS was used in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) showing a low overpotential of 320 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA/cm2, which is meritorious. These results enlighten us to make an efficient water-splitting system, including NiS2 as HER catalyst in a cathode and NiS as OER catalyst in an anode. The system shows high activity and good stabilization. Specifically, it displays a stable current density of 10 mA/cm2 with the applying voltage of 1.58 V, which is a considerable electrolyzer for water splitting.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
This study was aimed to investigate the direction and magnitude of soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics and the underlying mechanisms following agricultural abandonment in a subtropical karst area, ...southwest China. Two post-agriculture succession sequences including grassland (~10 years), shrubland (~29 years), secondary forest (~59 years) and primary forest with cropland as reference were selected. SOC and other soil physicochemical variables in the soil depth of 0-15 cm (representing the average soil depth of the slope in the studied area) were measured. SOC content in the grassland was not significantly elevated relative to the cropland (42.0 ± 7.3 Mg C ha
). SOC content in the shrubland reached the level of the primary forest. On average, SOC content for the forest was 92.6 ± 4.2 Mg C ha
, representing an increase of 120.4 ± 10.0% or 50.6 ± 4.2 Mg ha
relative to the cropland. Following agricultural abandonment, SOC recovered to the primary forest level in about 40 years with a rate of 1.38 Mg C ha
yr
. Exchangeable Ca and Mg were found to be the strongest predictors of SOC dynamics. Our results suggest that SOC content may recover rapidly following agricultural abandonment in the karst region of southwest China.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
The indole-3-pyruvic acid (IPA) pathway is the main auxin biosynthesis pathway in the plant kingdom. Local control of auxin biosynthesis through this pathway regulates plant growth and development ...and the responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. During the past decades, genetic, physiological, biochemical, and molecular studies have greatly advanced our understanding of tryptophan-dependent auxin biosynthesis. The IPA pathway includes two steps: Trp is converted to IPA by TRYPTOPHAN AMINOTRANSFERASE OF ARABIDOPSIS/TRYPTOPHAN AMINOTRANSFERASE RELATED PROTEINs (TAA1/TARs), and then IPA is converted to IAA by the flavin monooxygenases (YUCCAs). The IPA pathway is regulated at multiple levels, including transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation, protein modification, and feedback regulation, resulting in changes in gene transcription, enzyme activity and protein localization. Ongoing research indicates that tissue-specific DNA methylation and miRNA-directed regulation of transcription factors may also play key roles in the precise regulation of IPA-dependent auxin biosynthesis in plants. This review will mainly summarize the regulatory mechanisms of the IPA pathway and address the many unresolved questions regarding this auxin biosynthesis pathway in plants.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Three hydroxyl functionalized crystalline K‐doped g‐C3N4 were synthesized from dicyandiamide, melamine, ammonium chloride, ammonium oxalate, and ammonium citrate via ionothermal polycondensation ...using KCl as molten salt under N2 atmosphere, which served as efficient recyclable photocatalysis realized that generating H2O2 directly from seawater with air by 2e− ORR pathway under stimulated solar irradiation in ambient conditions. Under optimized conditions, the highest H2O2 production rate of 1622 μmol g−1 h−1 for duration of 10 h was obtained. The cycling performances of HPCN‐2 displayed reusable for five times without noticeably loss of its catalytic activity. This work presents a real safer, sustainable, and economical approach for production of H2O2 directly from abundant natural seawater.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Hypochlorous acid (HClO), a reactive oxygen species, plays an essential role in the processes of physiology and pathology via reacting with most biological molecules. The abnormal level of HClO may ...cause inflammation, especially arthritis. To further understand its key role in inflammation, in situ detection of HClO is necessary. Herein, a water-soluble small molecule fluorescent probe (HDI-HClO) is employed to monitor and identify trace amounts of HClO in the biological system. In the presence of HClO, the probe releases a hydroxyl group emitting strong fluorescence because of the restoration of the intramolecular charge transfer process. Furthermore, this probe displays a 150-fold fluorescence enhancement accompanied by a large Stokes shift and a lower detection limit (8.3 nM). Moreover, the probe can make a rapid response to HClO within 8 s, which provides the possibility of real-time monitoring of intracellular HClO. Based on the advantages of rapid dynamics, good water solubility, and excellent biocompatibility, this probe could effectively monitor the fluctuations of exogenous and endogenous HClO in living cells. The fluorescence imaging of HDI-HClO indicated that it is an excellent potential approach for comprehending the relationship between inflammation and HClO.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
Auxin, primarily indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), is a versatile signal molecule that regulates many aspects of plant growth, development, and stress response. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs), a type of ...short non-coding RNA, have emerged as master regulators of the auxin response pathways by affecting auxin homeostasis and perception in plants. The combination of these miRNAs and the autoregulation of the auxin signaling pathways, as well as the interaction with other hormones, creates a regulatory network that controls the level of auxin perception and signal transduction to maintain signaling homeostasis. In this review, we will detail the miRNAs involved in auxin signaling to illustrate its in planta complex regulation.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Chondrocytes are the sole cellular constituents of normal cartilage. The degeneration and apoptosis of these cells are considered the main cause of osteoarthritis (OA). Previous studies have ...suggested that the enhancement of autophagy in chondrocytes can delay the progression of osteoarthritis by affecting intracellular metabolic activity, i.e., by regulating the metabolism of nutrients, which can delay cell aging and death. In this review, we explored the relationship between autophagy and chondrocyte metabolism and provided new ideas for the prevention and treatment of OA.
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DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
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