MINI: In this study, respiratory function at the time of extubation can be useful optimal clinical guidelines for weaning and extubation attempts in patients with acute cervical spinal cord injury. ...Serum thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances level at admission can be a useful predictor for severity in acute cervical patients with spinal cord injury.
Patients who had suffered from acute blunt cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) and admitted our hospital within 24 hours after injury were included in the study.
We compared the respiratory function and serum reactive oxidative stress (ROS) after acute cervical SCI, and tried to find out the valuable predictors of weaning in patients with acute cervical SCI.
Ventilation impairment is a major complication of acute cervical SCI. Evidence of oxygen radical formation in secondary injury from animal SCI models demonstrates an immediate postinjury increase in ROS production after SCI. We hypothesize that the serum ROS is associated with the severity of patients with acute cervical SCI.
Thirty-eight adult patients who had acute cervical SCI and 58 healthy volunteers were enrolled. Respiratory function at admission, at the time of extubation and at 48 hours after extubation, serum oxidative stress, Injury Severity Score and Japanese Orthopaedic Association score at admission were compared.
The most notable predictor of mechanical ventilation more than 48 hours was serum thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) level at admission (P = 0.027), and the cut-off value of serum TBARS level was 731.7 μmol/L (sensitivity 87.5% and specificity 78.9%). For the reventilation ≤5 days, the notable predictors were respiratory function at the time of extubation (maximal inspiratory pressure, P = 0.040; maximal expiratory pressure, P = 0.020; and tidal volume, P = 0.036) and serum TBARS level at admission (P = 0.013), the cut-off value of serum TBARS level at admission was 762.3 μmol/L (sensitivity 100% and specificity 90.0%).
In this study, respiratory function (maximal inspiratory pressure, maximal expiratory pressure, and tidal volume) at the time of extubation can be useful optimal clinical guidelines for weaning and extubation attempts in patients with acute cervical SCI. Serum TBARS level at admission can be a useful predictor for severity in acute cervical SCI patients.
3.
Background Bone marrow–derived cells are recruited into the thrombus during resolution. This study explored whether mobilization of bone marrow cells with recombinant human granulocyte ...colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) could enhance the resolution of venous thrombi and the accumulation of macrophages in thrombi and explored the effect of rhG-CSF on cysteine-cysteine chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) expression. Methods The Sprague-Dawley adult rats were randomly divided into four groups: control, sham-operated, thrombus, and treatment groups. Thrombi were induced in the thrombus and treatment group, which received a subcutaneous injection of rhG-CSF once daily for 6 days postoperatively. The thrombus, sham-operated, and control groups received equal volumes of 0.9% saline. The mononuclear cells in peripheral blood were analyzed by an automated hematology analyzer and counted under microscope. The cell marker CD68 was used to determine the number of macrophages in thrombi tissue sections. Levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and macrophage inflammatory protein-1α (MIP1α) in the peripheral blood were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Real-time reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction and Western blot were used to analyze, respectively, the expression of CCR2 messenger RNA in the peripheral blood and CCR2 protein of THP-1 monocyte. Results At postoperative days 3 ( P < .05) and 7 ( P < .01), mononuclear cells significantly increased in treatment group (2.1 ± 0.3, 4.4 ± 0.3 × 106 /L) vs the thrombus group (1.7 ± 0.2, 1.3 ± 0.4 × 106 /L). The organization and recanalization of thrombi in treatment group progressed more quickly compared with the thrombus group ( P < .01). The macrophage number of the thrombus in the treatment group (338 ± 26 cells/15 high-power fields) increased significantly vs the thrombus group (125 ± 11 cells/15 high-power fields, P < .01). No statistical difference was observed between the thrombus and treatment group in the MCP-1 and MIP-1α level in peripheral blood. Expressions of the CCR2 gene in the peripheral blood of the treatment group significantly increased compared with the thrombus group ( P < .05). Recombinant human G-CSF induced higher expression of CCR2 protein of human monocytic cell line THP-1. Conclusions Bone marrow mobilization enhanced the resolution and recanalization of venous thrombi. This process was associated with increased macrophage accumulation in thrombi, which might be the result of higher CCR2 expression of monocytes.
Despite a growing body of research on school-based parental involvement, our knowledge of home-based involvement beliefs and practices, and how these vary across ethnic groups, remains limited. Our ...study addresses this gap by exploring how the meanings of educational achievement and parents’ roles in young children’s learning vary across ethnic groups. The aim of this study was to construct a detailed picture of the landscape of parental home-based involvement with children and to gain a deeper understanding of the beliefs, meanings, and goals underlying parents’ interactions. Forty-one middle-class Mexican American, African American, and European American mothers participated in semistructured interviews about their goals and interactions with their children in the domain of education. We identified seven themes across the interviews and constructed two cultural models of parental academic socialization: determination with intervention, more typical of ethnic minority group mothers, and trust and laissez-faire, more common among European American mothers.
Abstract Background Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and inflammation are two closely related entities. The objective of this study was to evaluate a possible association between interleukin-10 (IL-10) ...-1082A/G, -819C/T and -592C/A polymorphisms with DVT. Methods A case-control study was carried out in 660 patients with DVT and 660 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP) assay was applied to identify the polymorphisms mentioned. Results Patients with DVT had a significantly lower frequency of IL-10 -1082GG genotype odds ratio (OR) = 0.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.39, 0.89; P = 0.01 than healthy controls. When stratifying by family history of DVT, it was found that patients with positive family history of DVT had a significantly lower frequency of IL-10 -1082GG genotype (OR = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.02, 0.95; P = 0.04). When stratifying by smoking status, presence of varicose veins, type 2 diabetes mellitus and any hormone administration before, no significant differences were found in any groups. Conclusions This study provides evidence that IL-10 -1082A/G polymorphism associated with risk of DVT. However, no association of the IL-10 -592C/A or -819C/T polymorphism with DVT risk was found. Additional well-designed large studies were required for the validation of our results.
Although siblings are thought to be influential in child development, little is known about the influence of sibling status on the health of older adults. Using structural equation modeling, the ...authors created and tested a series of models with data from a sample (
N
= 3,968) of 1957 high school graduates from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. The results indicated that socioeconomic status of origin, adolescent aptitude, and educational attainment did have significant total effects on health in later life, but sibling status did not. Adults who grew up in families of higher socioeconomic status and who had greater aptitude in high school attained more education, and this advantage, in turn, led to better health in later life. Although the final model was cross-validated, it was not equally plausible for men and women.
Whether the use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) in patients with COPD can protect from osteoporosis remains undetermined. The aim of this study is to assess the incidence of osteoporosis in ...patients with COPD with ICS use and without.
This is a retrospective cohort and population-based study in which we extracted newly diagnosed female patients with COPD between 1997 and 2009 from Taiwan's National Health Insurance (TNHI) database between 1996 and 2011 (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision - Clinical Modification ICD-9-CM 491, 492, 496). The patients with COPD were defined by the presence of two or more diagnostic codes for COPD within 12 months on either inpatient or outpatient service claims submitted to TNHI. Patients were excluded if they were younger than 40 years or if osteoporosis had been diagnosed prior to the diagnosis of COPD and cases of asthma (ICD-9 CM code 493.X) before the index date. These enrolled patients were followed up till 2011, and the incidence of osteoporosis was determined. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was also used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for incidences of lung cancer.
Totally, 10,723 patients with COPD, including ICS users (n=812) and nonusers (n=9,911), were enrolled. The incidence rate of osteoporosis per 100,000 person years is 4,395 in nonusers and 2,709 in ICS users (HR: 0.73, 95% confidence interval CI: 0.63-084). The higher ICS dose is associated with lower risk of osteoporosis (0 mg to ≤20 mg, HR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.69-1.04; >20 mg to ≤60 mg, HR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.59-1.04; and >60 mg, HR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.55-0.96; P for trend =0.0023) after adjusting for age, income, and medications. The cumulative osteoporosis probability significantly decreased among the ICS users when compared with the nonusers (P<0.001).
Female patients with COPD using ICS have a dose-response protective effect for osteoporosis.
► The full-length CDS region for the PDGF-C gene was obtained by RT-PCR. ► We constructed a recombinant eukaryotic expression vector containing the complete CDS region of PDGF-C. ► We produced the ...full length and functional PDGF-C. ► PDGF-C promoted EPCs proliferation, migration and adhesion.
Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play a key role in restoring endothelial function and enhancing angiogenesis. Platelet-derived growth factor C (PDGF-C) is a newly discovered member of the PDGF family that binds to the PDGFR-α homodimer and the PDGFR-α/β heterodimer. Currently, the biological effects of PDGF-C on EPCs proliferation, migration and adhesion are not well understood. In this study, the full-length coding sequence (CDS) region for the PDGF-C gene was obtained by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The amplified PDGF-C product was digested and inserted into the pMD 19-T simple vector and then subcloned into a pIRES2-EGFP plasmid to construct the pIRES2-EGFP-PDGF-C eukaryotic expression vector. After it was transfected to EPCs, the expression of PDGF-C protein in EPCs was verified by Western blotting analysis. Finally, we investigated the effects of PDGF-C protein overexpression on EPCs proliferation, migration and adhesion. In conclusion, we constructed a recombinant eukaryotic expression vector containing the complete CDS region of PDGF-C and expressed the full-length and functional PDGF-C protein successfully. Furthermore, PDGF-C promoted EPCs proliferation, migration and adhesion. This offers promise for the development of new therapeutic strategies for improving neovascularization and repair of blood vessel endothelium in patients with ischemic heart disease or peripheral arterial occlusive disease.
Multiple resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) emitters hold promise for efficient organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and wide gamut displays. An azepine donor is introduced ...into the boron-nitrogen system for the first time. The highly twisted conformation of a seven-ring embedded new molecule,
TAzBN
, increases the intermolecular distances, suppressing self-aggregation emission quenching. Meanwhile, the azepine donor is crucial to achieve a narrow singlet-triplet gap (0.03 eV) as well as boost the reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) rate to 8.50 × 10
5
s
−1
. It is noteworthy that
TAzBN
demonstrates an impressive photoluminescence quantum yield of 94%. In addition, its nonsensitized OLED displayed a remarkable external quantum efficiency (EQE
max
) with values peaking at 27.3%, and an EQE of 21.4% at 500 cd m
−2
. This finding shows that when
TAzBN
is used at a high concentration of 10 wt%, its device maintains efficiency even at higher brightness levels, highlighting
TAzBN
's resistance to aggregation quenching. Furthermore,
TAzBN
enantiomers showed circularly polarized photoluminescence characteristics with dissymmetry factors |
g
PL
| of up to 1.07 × 10
−3
in doped films. The curved heptagonal geometry opens an avenue to design the MR-TADF emitters with fast spin-flip and chiroptical properties.
A novel MR-TADF molecule using an embedded azepine approach could enhance the RISC rate and introduce chiroptical properties. This advancement results in superior OLED devices with reduced efficiency roll-off and suppressed aggregation quenching.
Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have attracted public attention due to their high external quantum efficiency (EQE) and implication in future ...display technology. Despite their improved efficiency, TADF-based OLEDs still suffer from serious efficiency roll-off and short operational lifetimes. Herein, a diboron-based molecule, PhCzDBA, is designed and its device exhibits a maximum EQE (EQEmax) of 33.8% and only slight roll-off (EQEmax of 31.5% at 1000 cd m–2 and 28.8% at 3000 cd m–2). Furthermore, it shows superior stability among reported TADF devices (LT80 of 113 h at the initial luminance of 3000 cd m–2). Remarkably, its nondoped OLED shows a high EQEmax of 17.7% with a λmax > 580 nm, surpassing most orange nondoped OLEDs. Moreover, a decent white OLED device with an EQEmax of 16.4% and a color rendering index (CRI) of 73 can be achieved by incorporating a simple sandwich emitting layer configuration, exhibiting the potential and diverse applications in many aspects.
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