Summary
We investigated the effects of prophylactic nucleoside analogue treatment on HBV activation in patients with antibodies against core antigen (HBcAb+) patients undergoing immunosuppressive ...therapy. Patients (113), who were HBcAb+, with various autoimmune diseases, undergoing immunosuppressive therapy, were divided into two groups. The control group, not treated with antivirals, and the prophylactic group, treated with antiviral drugs. The two groups were evaluated for changes in serum biochemical marker (alanine aminotransferase ALT), virological marker (HBV DNA) and for seroconversion. In the control group, the number of patients with an increase in ALT in patients with isolated HBcAb and HBcAb and antibodies against HBsAg (HBsAb +) were five (20.0%) and one (2.8%), respectively (P < 0.05). There were six cases (24.0%) with an increase in HBV DNA in the isolated HBcAb+ subgroup and one case (2.8%) in HBsAb+/HBcAb+ subgroup (P < 0.05). In the HBcAb+ only population, six patients (24.0%) in the control group had an increase in HBV DNA compared with none in the antiviral prophylactic group (P < 0.05). One patient (4.0%) with HBcAb+ in the control group underwent an HBsAg seroconversion when receiving immunosuppressive therapy for 18 months, while none in the antiviral prophylactic group underwent reversion to HBsAg positivity (P = 0.4949). Under immunosuppressive condition, the risk of HBV activation was much higher in patients with HBcAb than in patients with both HBcAb and antibodies to HBsAb group. Antiviral prophylactic therapy could significantly reduce the risk of HBV reactivation.
The decay J/ψ→γγϕ is studied using a sample of 1.31×109 J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector. Two structures around 1475 MeV/c2 and 1835 MeV/c2 are observed in the γϕ invariant mass ...spectrum for the first time. With a fit on the γϕ invariant mass, which takes into account the interference between the two structures, and a simple analysis of the angular distribution, the structure around 1475 MeV/c2 is found to favor an assignment as the η(1475) and the mass and width for the structure around 1835 MeV/c2 are consistent with the X(1835). The statistical significances of the two structures are 13.5σ and 6.3σ, respectively. The results indicate that both η(1475) and X(1835) contain a sizeable ss¯ component.
White lupin (Lupinus albus) forms specialized cluster roots characterized by exudation of organic anions under phosphorus (P) deficiency. Here, the role of nitric oxide (NO) in P deficiency-induced ...cluster-root formation and citrate exudation was evaluated. White lupin plants were treated with the NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and scavenger or inhibitor of NO synthase under conditions of P deficiency (0 μM) or P sufficiency (50 μM). Phosphorus deficiency enhanced NO production in primary and lateral root tips, with a greater increase in cluster roots than in noncluster roots. NO concentrations decreased with cluster root development from the pre-emergent stage, through the juvenile stage, to the mature stage. The P deficiency-induced increase in NO production was inhibited by antagonists of NO synthase and xanthine oxidoreductase, suggesting the involvement of these enzymes in NO production. SNP markedly increased the number of cluster roots. Citrate exudation from different root segments in P-deficient roots was positively correlated with endogenous root NO concentrations. These findings demonstrate differential patterns of NO production in white lupin, depending on root zone, developmental stage and P nutritional status. NO appears to play a regulatory role in the formation of cluster roots and citrate exudation in white lupin under conditions of P deficiency.
The current global environmental challenge is largely caused by oil contamination, which has grown into a major cause of water pollution. Despite numerous endeavors to build materials for oil-water ...separation, their use in real-world applications is constrained by their ineffectiveness in preparation, low separation efficiency, poor mechanical stability, limited chemical tolerance, inadequate environmental resistance and insufficient reusability. To get over these problems, a superhydrophobic oil-water separation membrane was made by anchoring vinyltris(2-methoxyethoxysilane) on the surface of cotton fabric using a simple dip coating approach. Scanning electron microscopy, Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and water contact angle (WCA) assessment tools were utilized to characterize the morphologies, composition, chemical components, and wettability of the modified fabric. The functionalized fabric revealed not only the anticipated superhydrophobic behavior for oil-water separation with a WCA of 153.3° but also intimated remarkable separation efficiency. Additionally, fabric's excellent mechanical and chemical stability in harsh conditions and good reusability. This strategy is the best solution for constructing advanced o/w separation membranes. Because it may be utilized to produce long-lasting superhydrophobic filtering materials for o/w separation, this straightforward method is preferable. In this study, VTMEOS is being used for the first time to create an economical, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly superhydrophobic membrane for oil/water separation by following a one-step, simple, and low-energy method, with better WCA and efficiency for higher number of cycles of reusability.
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•CTIM based on H-A pair analysis can identify more kinds of atomic clusters than VPM.•One kind of VPs usually corresponds to several kinds of CTIM clusters.•A rigorous ...characterization of CTIM clusters is unfavorable for the feature extraction.
To assess strengths and weaknesses of cluster-type-index method (CTIM) and Voronoi polyhedron method (VPM) in the characterization of local structures, the similarity and difference between CTIM clusters and Voronoi polyhedrons (VPs) in under-cooled liquids and rapidly solidified solids of silvers are analyzed from the configurational view of point. By tracking identification numbers of atoms, it is found that one kind of VPs usually corresponds to several kinds of CTIM clusters with same or higher coordination number of central atoms, and the local structures of fcc lattices and hcp lattices can hardly be distinguished from each other merely based on their Voronoi polyhedron indexes 〈0, 12, 0, 0〉. In CTIM, the fcc and hcp basic clusters can be characterized by (12, 12/1421) and (12, 6/1421, 6/1422), respectively, but their total are less than the population of 〈0, 12, 0, 0〉 VPs in the same simulated system. A careful analysis of VPs with and without refinement reveals that the diminishment of shell atoms associated with tiny Voronoi polygons should be responsible for low coordination numbers of central atoms in VPs relative to their counterparts of CTIM clusters. The CTIM based on Honeycutt-Andersen (H-A) pair analysis can identify more kinds of atomic clusters, but its multi-indexes nature makes the feature extraction from various local atomic configurations more difficult.
Sepsis is a severe life-threatening syndrome characterized by an abnormal host response to infection that can rapidly evolve into septic shock and multiple organ failure. Treatment of sepsis depends ...on early identification and diagnosis as well as adequate and timely anti-infection and multi-organ functional support. In recent years, pancreatic stone protein has been widely studied as a new biomarker for sepsis. Existing evidence shows that compared with the commonly used inflammatory markers in clinical practice, pancreatic stone protein has higher sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of sepsis. It enables the early diagnosis of sepsis and assessment of the severity of septic patients to a certain extent. This article reviews the characteristics, biological functions, diagnostic features, and clinical application of pancreatic stone protein.
An amplitude analysis of the pi(0)pi(0) system produced in radiative J/psi decays is presented. In particular, a piecewise function that describes the dynamics of the pi(0)pi(0) system is determined ...as a function of M pi(0)pi(0) from an analysis of the (1.311 +/- 0.011) x 10(9) J/psi decays collected by the BESIII detector. The goal of this analysis is to provide a description of the scalar and tensor components of the pi(0)pi(0) system while making minimal assumptions about the properties or number of poles in the amplitude. Such a model-independent description allows one to integrate these results with other related results from complementary reactions in the development of phenomenological models, which can then be used to directly fit experimental data to obtain parameters of interest. The branching fraction of J/psi -> pi(0)pi(0) is determined to be (1.15 +/- 0.05) x 10(-3), where the uncertainty is systematic only and the statistical uncertainty is negligible.
We present an amplitude analysis of the decay D0→K−π+π+π− based on a data sample of 2.93 fb−1 acquired by the BESIII detector at the ψ(3770) resonance. With a nearly background free sample of about ...16000 events, we investigate the substructure of the decay and determine the relative fractions and the phases among the different intermediate processes. Our amplitude model includes the two-body decays D0→K¯*0ρ0, D0→K−a1+(1260) and D0→K1−(1270)π+, the three-body decays D0→K¯*0π+π− and D0→K−π+ρ0, as well as the four-body nonresonant decay D0→K−π+π+π−. The dominant intermediate process is D0→K−a1+(1260), accounting for a fit fraction of 54.6%.
Improved resistive plate chambers for HL-LHC upgrade of CMS Samalan, A.; Thiel, M.; Asilar, E. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
03/2024, Letnik:
1060, Številka:
C
Journal Article
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