Objective
To evaluate the impact of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) assessed with SF-36 and explore factors associated with HRQoL in SLE patients.
Methods
...A random-effect meta-analysis was performed to calculate extracted data. Sensitivity and subgroup analyses were performed to distinguish sources of heterogeneity.
Results
A total of 36 articles were finally included in this meta-analysis, including 6510 patients. The pooled mean scores of SF-36 physical component summary and mental component summary were 46.10 (95% confidence interval (CI): 43.09–49.10) and 50.37 (95% CI: 47.78–52.87), respectively. Spearman's correlation analysis found that mean age, proportion of female participants, and publication decades were negatively associated with some of the SF-36 domains. Sample size and SLEDAI were positively associated with some of the SF-36 domains. Patients with SLE have lower HRQoL in comparison to the general population.
Conclusions
SLE has a significant impact on HRQoL, which proves that the necessity of improving HRQoL in SLE patients cannot be ignored. Measuring HRQoL should be considered as an indispensable part of the overall evaluation of health conditions of SLE patients.
This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance rate of
Ureaplasma
spp. and
Mycoplasma hominis
that were isolated from the semen samples of infertile males in ...Shanghai, China from 2011 to 2016. A total of 5016 infertile males and 412 healthy male controls were examined. The cultivation, identification, and antimicrobial susceptibilities of
Ureaplasma
spp. and
M. hominis
were assessed by using a
Mycoplasma
IST kit that was performed in parallel to selective solid agar cultivation. The positive rate of genital
Mycoplasma
infections in infertile men from 2011 to 2016 was 30–55%, which initially decreased during the first four years and then increased in the last two. Two distinct high-risk age ranges of
Mycoplasma
infections were observed: 26–30 years (37.8%) and 31–35 years (30.7%). Semisynthetic tetracyclines and macrolide antibiotics were the most effective agents against
Ureaplasma
spp. Among the fluoroquinolones, sparfloxacin and levofloxacin were also effective. Antibiotic resistance of
Ureaplasma
spp. against tetracyclines and macrolide antibiotics in the last six years did not vary significantly. However, the rate of resistance to fluoroquinolones (except norfloxacin) and spectinomycin decreased in the last two years. The rate of genital
Mycoplasma
presence in infertile patients between the ages of 26 and 35 years in Shanghai was high. The prevalence of genital
Mycoplasma
decreased during the first four years and then increased, with a peak in 2016. Doxycycline, minocycline, josamycin, and sparfloxacin can be recommended for first-line empirical treatment of
Mycoplasma
infections in infertile men in Shanghai, China.
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most malignant form of breast cancer with increasing incidence and mortality worldwide. The progesterone receptor membrane component-1 (PGRMC1) is a ...well-identified hormone receptor with unknown functions in TNBC. The current study aims to explore the involvement of PGRMC1 in regulation of glutathione metabolism and ferroptosis during development of TNBC, providing new therapy options for TNBC patients.
Bioinformatic analysis, cell proliferation assay, western blot assay and other biochemistry methods were performed in TNBC cells.
Our results revealed that the expression of PGRMC1 is higher in TNBC than the other subtypes of breast cancer. Interestingly, as an iron binding protein, increased PGRMC1 expression in TNBC cells leads to resistance to ferroptosis inducer. On the contrary, silenced PGRMC1 expression enhanced sensitivity of MDA-MB231 cells to Erastin. Mechanistically, overexpression of PGRMC1 decreased the intracellular free iron concentration, which was reduced by AG205 treatment.
PGRMC1 increases the possibility of TNBC development through binding to intracellular iron and suppressing ferroptosis, providing the molecular basis of combined treatment for TNBC.
Abstract
We perform correlation and periodicity search analyses on long-term multiband light curves of the flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS 1510−089 observed by the space-based Fermi-Large Area ...Telescope in
γ
-rays, the SMARTS and Steward Observatory telescopes in optical and near-infrared (NIR), and the 13.7 m radio telescope in Metsähovi Radio Observatory between 2008 and 2018. The
z
-transform discrete correlation function method is applied to study the correlation and possible time lags among these multiband light curves. Among all pairs of wavelengths, the
γ
-ray versus optical/NIR and optical versus NIR correlations show zero time lags; however, both the
γ
-ray and optical/NIR emissions precede the radio radiation. The generalized Lomb–Scargle periodogram, weighted wavelet
z
-transform, and REDFIT techniques are employed to investigate the unresolved core emission–dominated 37 GHz light curve and yield evidence for a quasi period around 1540 days, although given the length of the whole data set it cannot be claimed to be significant. We also investigate the optical/NIR color variability and find that this source shows a simple redder-when-brighter behavior over time, even in the low-flux state.
Cu‐based catalysts have been identified as the most promising candidates for generation of C2+ products in electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction. Defect engineering in catalysts is a widely employed ...strategy for promoting C−C coupling on Cu. However, comprehensive understanding of defect structure‐to‐activity relationship has not been obtained. In this study, controllable defects generation is achieved, which leads to a series of Cu‐based catalysts with various phase mixing degrees. It is observed that the Faradaic efficiency toward C2+ products increases with the phase mixing degree, reaching 81 % at maximum. In situ infrared absorption spectroscopy reveals that the catalysts with higher phase mixing degree tend to form *CO more easily and possess higher retention of *CO under high overpotential window, thereby promoting C−C coupling. This work sheds new light on the relationship between defects and C−C coupling, and the rational developed of more advanced Cu‐base catalysts.
A comprehensive investigation on defect structure‐to‐activity relationship in electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction by mixing various phases. The efficiency of C−C coupling increased with phase mixing degree of Cu‐based catalysts, with a maximum FE of 81 % toward C2+ products. Mechanistic investigation revealed that the increased phase mixing degree facilitated *CO formation and retention at low and high overpotential, respectively.
We report on a recent multiband optical photometric and polarimetric observational campaign of the blazar OJ 287 that was carried out during 2016 September-2017 December. We employed nine telescopes ...in Bulgaria, China, Georgia, Japan, Serbia, Spain, and the United States. We collected over 1800 photometric image frames in BVRI bands and over 100 polarimetric measurements over ∼175 nights. In 11 nights with many quasi-simultaneous multiband (V, R, I) observations, we did not detect any genuine intraday variability in flux or color. On longer timescales, multiple flaring events were seen. Large changes in color with respect to time and in a color-magnitude diagram were seen, and while only a weak systematic variability trend was noticed in color with respect to time, the color-magnitude diagram shows a bluer-when-brighter trend. Large changes in the degree of polarization and substantial swings in the polarization angle were detected. The fractional Stokes parameters of the polarization showed a systematic trend with time in the beginning of these observations, followed by chaotic changes and then an apparently systematic variation at the end. These polarization changes coincide with the detection and duration of the source at very high energies as seen by VERITAS. The spectral index shows a systematic variation with time and V-band magnitude. We briefly discuss possible physical mechanisms that could explain the observed flux, color, polarization, and spectral variability.
The development of low-temperature lithium metal batteries (LMBs) encounters significant challenges because of severe dendritic lithium growth during the charging/discharging processes. To date, the ...precise origin of lithium dendrite formation still remains elusive due to the intricate interplay between the highly reactive lithium metal anode and organic electrolytes. Herein, we unveil the critical role of interfacial defluorination kinetics of localized high-concentration electrolytes (LHCEs) in regulating lithium dendrite formation, thereby determining the performance of low-temperature LMBs. We investigate the impact of solvation structures of LHCEs on low-temperature LMBs by employing tetrahydrofuran (THF) and 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF) as comparative solvents. The combination of comprehensive characterizations and theoretical simulations reveals that the THF-based LHCE featured with a strong solvation strength exhibits fast interfacial defluorination reaction kinetics, thus leading to the formation of an amorphous and inorganic-rich solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) that can effectively suppress the growth of lithium dendrites. As a result, the highly reversible Li metal anode achieves an exceptional Coulombic efficiency (CE) of up to ∼99.63% at a low temperature of −30 °C, thereby enabling stable cycling of low-temperature LMB full cells. These findings underscore the crucial role of electrolyte interfacial reaction kinetics in shaping SEI formation and provide valuable insights into the fundamental understanding of electrolyte chemistry in LMBs.
Clarifying the formation mechanism of single-atom sites guides the design of emerging single-atom catalysts (SACs) and facilitates the identification of the active sites at atomic scale. Herein, a ...molten-salt atomization strategy is developed for synthesizing zinc (Zn) SACs with temperature universality from 400 to 1000/1100 °C and an evolved coordination from Zn-N2Cl2 to Zn-N4. The electrochemical tests and in situ attenuated total reflectance-surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy confirm that the Zn-N4 atomic sites are active for electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion to carbon monoxide (CO). In a strongly acidic medium (0.2 m K2SO4, pH = 1), the Zn SAC formed at 1000 °C (Zn1NC) containing Zn-N4 sites enables highly selective CO2 electroreduction to CO, with nearly 100% selectivity toward CO product in a wide current density range of 100-600 mA cm-2. During a 50 h continuous electrolysis at the industrial current density of 200 mA cm-2, Zn1NC achieves Faradaic efficiencies greater than 95% for CO product. The work presents a temperature-universal formation of single-atom sites, which provides a novel platform for unraveling the active sites in Zn SACs for CO2 electroreduction and extends the synthesis of SACs with controllable coordination sites.
We consider an algebraic representation that is useful for matrices with off-diagonal blocks of low numerical rank. A fast and stable solver for linear systems of equations in which the coefficient ...matrix has this representation is presented. We also present a fast algorithm to construct the hierarchically semiseparable representation in the general case.
Objective: Previous studies have shown that progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) expressed in breast cancer tissue can predict a worse prognosis for breast cancer patients. Moreover, ...we demonstrated that PGRMC1 can increase the proliferation of progestogens. However, the role of PGRMC1 in terms of estrogen-induced proliferation and comparing different estrogens is still unclear.
Methods: Non-transfected and PGRMC1-transfected T-47D cells were stimulated with estradiol (E2), with equilin (EQ), or with ethinylestradiol (EE) at 1, 10, and 100 nmol/l. Increase of proliferation was compared with a control (without estrogens) and with the estrogen-induced stimulation in empty vector cells vs. PGRMC1-transfected cells.
Results: The empty vector cells showed significant proliferation (12-15%) with all three estrogens only at the highest concentration, with no relevant differences between the estrogens. PGRMC1-transfected cells showed about three-fold higher proliferation (29-66%), whereby E2 elicited the strongest and EE the lowest proliferating effects, significantly lower compared to E2 and also compared to EQ. No significant differences were seen between E2 and EQ.
Conclusions: PGRMC1 increases strongly the estrogen-dependent breast cell proliferation. The proliferating effects of EE may be lower compared to E2 and EQ. This could have importance in comparing hormone therapy and contraception. Thus, PGRMC1 not only could predict the risk using progestogens but also of different estrogens.
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