The occupation of active sites by nonreactive oxygenated species imposes a major barrier to accelerating oxygen reduction on Pt. In their Communication on page 2257 ff., B. J. M. Etzold and ...co‐workers show that introducing a common and inexpensive hydrophobic ionic liquid to conventional Pt catalysts could help protect low‐coordinate Pt sites from being poisoned by nonreactive oxygenated species without restricting the mass transfer of reactants, thus leading to dramatically boosted oxygen reduction on Pt catalysts.
To describe risk factors for scar in eyes treated with ranibizumab or bevacizumab for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Prospective cohort study within a randomized clinical trial.
...Patients with no scar on color fundus photography (CFP) or fluorescein angiography (FA) at enrollment in the Comparison of Age-related Macular Degeneration Treatments Trials (CATT).
Eyes were assigned to ranibizumab or bevacizumab treatment and to 1 of 3 dosing regimens for 2 years. Masked readers assessed CFP and FA. Baseline demographic characteristics, visual acuity, morphologic features on photography and optical coherence tomography (OCT), and genotypes associated with AMD risk were evaluated as risk factors using adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and associated 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Scars were classified as fibrotic with well-demarcated elevated mounds of yellowish white tissue or nonfibrotic with discrete flat areas of hyperpigmentation with varying amounts of central depigmentation.
Scar formation.
Scar developed in 480 of 1059 eyes (45.3%) by 2 years. Baseline characteristics associated with greater risk of scarring were predominantly classic choroidal neovascularization (CNV) (aHR, 3.1; CI, 2.4-3.9) versus occult CNV, blocked fluorescence (aHR, 1.4; CI, 1.1-1.8), foveal retinal thickness >212 μm (aHR, 2.4; CI, 1.7-3.6) versus <120 μm, foveal subretinal tissue complex thickness >275 μm (aHR, 2.4; CI, 1.7-3.6) versus ≤75 μm, foveal subretinal fluid (aHR, 1.5; CI, 1.1-2.0) versus no subretinal fluid, and subretinal hyperreflective material (SHRM) (aHR, 1.7; CI, 1.3-2.3) versus no SHRM. Eyes with elevation of the retinal pigment epithelium had lower risk (aHR, 0.6; CI, 0.5-0.8) versus no elevation. Drug, dosing regimen, and genotype had no statistically significant association with scarring. Fibrotic scars developed in 24.7% of eyes, and nonfibrotic scars developed in 20.6% of eyes. Baseline risk factors for the scar types were similar except that eyes with larger lesion size or visual acuity <20/40 were more likely to develop fibrotic scars.
Approximately half of eyes enrolled in CATT developed scar by 2 years. Eyes with classic neovascularization, a thicker retina, and more fluid or material under the foveal center of the retina are more likely to develop scar.
We hypothesized that morphine has a depressing effect on early brain activity, assessed using quantitative aEEG/EEG parameter and depressed activity will be associated with brain volumes at term in ...extremely preterm infants.
174 preterm infants were enrolled in 3 European tertiary NICUs (mean GA:26 ± 1wks) and monitored during the first 72 h after birth with continuous 2 channel aEEG. Six epochs of aEEG recordings were selected and minimum amplitude of aEEG (min aEEG), percentage of time amplitude <5 μV (% of time < 5 μV), spontaneous activity transients (SATrate) and interSAT interval (ISI) were calculated. For infants receiving morphine, the cumulative morphine dosage was calculated. In a subgroup of 58 infants, good quality MRI at term equivalent age (TEA) and the cumulative morphine dose until TEA were available. The effects of morphine administration and cumulative dose on aEEG/EEG measures and on brain volumes were investigated.
Morphine administration had a significant effect on all quantitative aEEG/EEG measures, causing depression of early brain activity longer ISI (β 2.900), reduced SAT rate (β −1.386), decreased min aEEG (β −0.782), and increased % of time < 5 μV (β 14.802) in all epochs. A significant effect of GA and postnatal age on aEEG/EEG measures was observed. Cumulative morphine dose until TEA had a significant negative effect on total brain volume (TBV) (β −8.066) and cerebellar volume (β −1.080).
Administration of sedative drugs should be considered when interpreting aEEG/EEG together with the negative dose dependent morphine impact on brain development.
•Our findings suggest that morphine strongly reduces brain activity, with a dose dependent effect.•The administration of sedative drugs should be considered when interpreting aEEG.•preterm infant cerebral activity increases with increasing maturity and is influenced by postnatal age.•Cumulative morphine dose has a negative effect on total brain volume, deep grey matter and cerebellar volume.
Because chronic kidney disease (CKD) is often under-coded as a diagnosis in claims data, we aimed to develop claims-based prediction models for CKD phenotypes determined by laboratory results in ...electronic health records (EHRs).
We linked EHR from two networks (used as training and validation cohorts, respectively) with Medicare claims data. The study cohort included individuals ≥65 years with a valid serum creatinine result in the EHR from 2007 to 2017, excluding those with end-stage kidney disease or on dialysis. We used LASSO regression to select among 134 predictors for predicting continuous estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). We assessed the model performance when predicting eGFR categories of <60, <45, <30 mL/min/1.73m
in terms of area under the receiver operating curves (AUC).
The model training cohort included 117,476 patients (mean age 74.8 years, female 58.2%) and the validation cohort included 56,744 patients (mean age 73.8 years, female 59.6%). In the validation cohort, the AUC of the primary model (with 113 predictors and an adjusted
of 0.35) for predicting eGFR <60, eGFR<45, and eGFR <30 mL/min/1.73m
categories was 0.81, 0.88, and 0.92, respectively, and the corresponding positive predictive values for these 3 phenotypes were 0.80 (95% confidence interval: 0.79, 0.81), 0.79 (0.75, 0.84), and 0.38 (0.30, 0.45), respectively.
We developed a claims-based model to determine clinical phenotypes of CKD stages defined by eGFR values. Researchers without access to laboratory results can use the model-predicted phenotypes as a proxy clinical endpoint or confounder and to enhance subgroup effect assessment.
To study the expressions of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and tumor metastasis suppressor gene (KISS-1) in patients with liver cancer and to analyze the correlation between HIF-1α and KISS-1 ...and liver cancer.
20 normal liver tissues and 30 liver cancer tissues in our hospital were selected. The expressions of HIF-1α and KISS-1 in normal liver tissues and liver cancer tissues were detected via immunofluorescence assay. The mRNA expressions of HIF-1α and KISS-1 in normal liver tissues and liver cancer tissues were detected via reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The protein expressions of HIF-1α and KISS-1 in normal liver tissues and liver cancer tissues were detected via Western blotting. Differences of HIF-1α and KISS-1 expressions in normal liver tissues and liver cancer tissues were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 statistical software.
Immunofluorescence assay, RT-PCR, and Western blotting, showed that HIF-1α was highly expressed in liver cancer tissues, and its expression level was significantly higher than that in normal liver tissues. However, the expression of KISS-1 in normal liver tissues was significantly higher than that in liver cancer tissues. The results of analysis of variance showed that the differences of HIF-1α and KISS-1 expressions in normal liver tissues and liver cancer tissues were statistically significant (p<0.01).
The abnormal expressions of HIF-1α and KISS-1 are closely related to the development and progression of liver cancer, indicating that HIF-1α and KISS-1 have important research values in liver cancer, and the expressions of HIF-1α and KISS-1 can be used as the index of deterioration degree of liver cancer, providing a new clinical basis for diagnosis and treatment.
To determine the baseline predictors of visual acuity (VA) outcomes 1 year after treatment with ranibizumab or bevacizumab for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Cohort study within ...the Comparison of Age-related Macular Degeneration Treatments Trials (CATT).
A total of 1105 participants with neovascular AMD, baseline VA 20/25 to 20/320, and VA measured at 1 year.
Participants were randomly assigned to ranibizumab or bevacizumab on a monthly or as-needed schedule. Masked readers evaluated fundus morphology and features on optical coherence tomography (OCT). Visual acuity was measured using electronic VA testing. Independent predictors were identified using regression techniques.
The VA score, VA score change from baseline, and ≥3-line gain at 1 year.
At 1 year, the mean VA score was 68 letters, mean improvement from baseline was 7 letters, and 28% of participants gained ≥3 lines. Older age, larger area of choroidal neovascularization (CNV), and elevation of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) were associated with worse VA (all P<0.005), less gain in VA (all P<0.02), and a lower proportion gaining ≥3 lines (all P<0.04). Better baseline VA was associated with better VA at 1 year, less gain in VA, and a lower proportion gaining ≥3 lines (all P<0.0001). Predominantly or minimally classic lesions were associated with worse VA than occult lesions (66 vs. 69 letters; P=0.0003). Retinal angiomatous proliferans (RAP) lesions were associated with more gain in VA (10 vs. 7 letters; P=0.03) and a higher proportion gaining ≥3 lines (odds ratio, 1.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-3.1). Geographic atrophy (GA) was associated with worse VA (64 vs. 68 letters; P=0.02). Eyes with total foveal thickness in the second quartile (325-425 μm) had the best VA (P=0.01) and were most likely to gain ≥3 lines (P=0.004). Predictors did not vary by treatment group.
For all treatment groups, older age, better baseline VA, larger CNV area, predominantly or minimally classic lesion, absence of RAP lesion, presence of GA, greater total fovea thickness, and RPE elevation on optical coherence tomography were independently associated with less improvement in VA at 1 year.
The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) represents one of the major bottlenecks for broad-based applications of many clean energy storage/conversion technologies. The key to solving this problem lies in ...developing high-performing, cost effective and stable catalysts for the OER. Herein, we demonstrate that ubiquitous stainless steel mesh (SSM) materials activated by a facile cathodization treatment can be employed as a high performing OER catalyst, as showcased by the impressively low overpotentials of 275 and 319 mV to reach the benchmark current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm−2 (1.0 M KOH), respectively. Cathodized SSM also exhibits excellent performance in a two-electrode water electrolyzer, which requires a low cell voltage of 1.58 at 10 mA cm−2 and outperforms many of water electrolyzers using earth-abundant OER catalysts. Moreover, cathodized SSM with minor performance degradation after the stability test can also be readily healed by subjecting it to an additional cathodization treatment. It is disclosed that the superior performance of cathodized SSMs stems from the surface enrichment of OER active Ni (oxy)hydroxide, facile gas-bubble removal and transportation over the unique mesh-structured surfaces, while the abundant reservoir of nickel in the bulk allows healing of the catalyst by a facile cathodization.
A facile cathodization treatment can activate ubiquitous stainless steel mesh into a new extremely cheap and high performing OER catalyst, which shows great promise for practical applications in clean energy storage/conversion technologies. Display omitted
PDF
