Topologically nontrivial materials host protected edge states associated with the bulk band inversion through the bulk-edge correspondence. Manipulating such edge states is highly desired for ...developing new functions and devices practically using their dissipation-less nature and spin-momentum locking. Here we introduce a transition-metal dichalcogenide VTe
, that hosts a charge density wave (CDW) coupled with the band inversion involving V3d and Te5p orbitals. Spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with first-principles calculations reveal the huge anisotropic modification of the bulk electronic structure by the CDW formation, accompanying the selective disappearance of Dirac-type spin-polarized topological surface states that exist in the normal state. Thorough three dimensional investigation of bulk states indicates that the corresponding band inversion at the Brillouin zone boundary dissolves upon the CDW formation, by transforming into anomalous flat bands. Our finding provides a new insight to the topological manipulation of matters by utilizing CDWs' flexible characters to external stimuli.
The chiral crystal is characterized by a lack of mirror symmetry and inversion center, resulting in the inequivalent right- and left-handed structures. In the noncentrosymmetric crystal structure, ...the spin and momentum of electrons are expected to be locked in the reciprocal space with the help of the spin-orbit interaction. To reveal the spin textures of chiral crystals, we investigate the spin and electronic structure in a p-type semiconductor, elemental tellurium, with the simplest chiral structure by using spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Our data demonstrate that the highest valence band crossing the Fermi level has a spin component parallel to the electron momentum around the Brillouin zone corners. Significantly, we have also confirmed that the spin polarization is reversed in the crystal with the opposite chirality. The results indicate that the spin textures of the right- and left-handed chiral crystals are hedgehoglike, leading to unconventional magnetoelectric effects and nonreciprocal phenomena.
In this largest phase II trial with advanced thymic carcinoma (TC), carboplatin and paclitaxel (CbP) showed promising efficacy in advanced TC when compared with anthracycline-based chemotherapy, ...which is the current standard treatment of TC. Our results established that CbP, one of the standard treatments for non-small-cell lung cancer, might be an option as a chemotherapy regimen for TC.
Thymic carcinoma (TC) is an exceptionally rare tumor, which has a very poor prognosis differing from thymoma. Till date, there has been no report of any results of clinical trials focusing on TC. The role of non-anthracycline-based chemotherapy has not been elucidated since the previous studies included a relatively small number of TC patients. This single-arm study evaluated carboplatin and paclitaxel (CbP) in chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced TC.
The study treatment consisted of carboplatin (area under the curve 6) and paclitaxel (200 mg/m2) every 3 weeks for a maximum of six cycles. The primary end point was objective response rate (ORR) by independent review. The secondary end points included overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and safety. Based on the SWOG 2-stage design, the planned sample size of 40 patients was determined to reject the ORR of 20% under the expectation of 40% with a power of 0.85 and a type I error of 0.05.
Forty patients from 21 centers were enrolled for this study from May 2008 to November 2010. Of the 39 patients evaluable for analysis, 36 were pathologically diagnosed by independent review, and 97% patients were eventually TC. There was 1/13 complete/partial responses with an ORR of 36% (95% confidence interval 21%–53%; P = 0.031). The median PFS was 7.5 (6.2–12.3) months, while OS did not reach the median value. Major adverse event was grade 3–4 neutropenia in 34 patients (87%). There was no treatment-related death.
In this largest trial with TC, CbP showed promising efficacy in advanced TC when compared with anthracycline-based chemotherapy, which is the current standard treatment of thymic neoplasm. Our results established that CbP, one of the standard treatments for non-small-cell lung cancer, might be an option as a chemotherapy regimen for TC.
Eribulin mesylate is a non-taxane microtubule dynamics inhibitor that recently gained Food and Drug Administration approval for late-line metastatic breast cancer (MBC).
In this single-arm, ...multicentre open-label phase II trial Japanese patients pretreated with an anthracycline and a taxane received 1.4 mg/m2 eribulin mesylate (2- to 5-min i.v. infusion on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle). The primary efficacy end point was overall response rate (ORR) by independent review.
Patients (N = 80) had received a median of three prior chemotherapy regimens (range 1–5). ORR was 21.3% 95% confidence interval (CI) 12.9–31.8; all partial responses (PRs), stable disease (SD) occurred in 30 patients (37.5%) and the clinical benefit rate (complete response + PR + SD ≥6 months) was 27.5% (95% CI 18.1–38.6). Median duration of response was 3.9 months (95% CI 2.8–4.9), progression-free survival was 3.7 months (95% CI 2.0–4.4) and overall survival was 11.1 months (95% CI 7.9–15.8). The most frequent treatment-related grade 3/4 adverse events were neutropenia (95.1%), leukopenia (74.1%) and febrile neutropenia (13.6%). Grade 3 peripheral neuropathy occurred in 3.7% of patients (no grade 4).
Eribulin exhibited efficacy and tolerability in Japanese patients with heavily pretreated MBC.
Aims. Recent observations of core-collapse supernovae (SNe) suggest aspherical explosions. Globally, aspherical structures in SN explosions are thought to encode information regarding the underlying ...explosion mechanism. However, the exact explosion geometries from the inner cores to the outer envelopes are poorly understood. Methods. Here, we present photometric, spectroscopic, and polarimetric observations of the Type IIP SN 2021yja and discuss its explosion geometry in comparison to those of other Type IIP SNe that show large-scale aspherical structures in their hydrogen envelopes (SNe 2012aw, 2013ej and 2017gmr). Results. During the plateau phase, SNe 2012aw and 2021yja exhibit high continuum polarization characterized by two components with perpendicular polarization angles. This behavior can be interpreted as being due to a bipolar explosion, where the SN ejecta is composed of a polar (energetic) component and an equatorial (bulk) component. In such a bipolar explosion, an aspherical axis created by the polar ejecta would dominate at early phases, while the perpendicular axis along the equatorial ejecta would emerge at late phases after the photosphere in the polar ejecta has receded. Our interpretation of the explosions in SNe 2012aw and 2021yja as bipolar is also supported by other observational properties, including the time evolution of the line velocities and the line shapes in the nebular spectra. The polarization of other Type IIP SNe that show large-scale aspherical structures in the hydrogen envelope (SNe 2013ej and 2017gmr) is also consistent with the bipolar-explosion scenario, although this is not conclusive.
Aim
Diabetes mellitus increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is accompanied by functional and structural changes in the vascular system. Microparticles (MPs) have been described as ...biological vectors of endothelial dysfunction in other pathologies. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying their formation and signalling are unclear. We investigated the role of MPs derived from streptozotocin (STZ)‐induced diabetic rats in endothelial function.
Methods
Male Wistar rats were injected with STZ to induce diabetes, and MPs isolated from control or STZ‐induced diabetic rats were characterized by dot blotting (assessed by CD62P detections), flow cytometry (assessed by annexin V detections) and ELISA. Carotid arteries from rats were incubated with MPs, and expressions of enzymes and endothelium‐dependent relaxation were analysed.
Results
The circulating levels of MPs, particularly the levels of platelet‐derived microparticles, from diabetic rats were higher than those present in controls. Endothelium‐dependent relaxation induced by acetylcholine (ACh) was attenuated in carotid arteries from STZ‐induced diabetic rats. Following the incubation of control carotid arteries with MPs isolated from STZ rats, ACh‐induced endothelium‐dependent relaxation was impaired, but MPs isolated from control rats had no such effect. Furthermore, the effect of MPs was mediated by a decrease in expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and the overexpression of caveolin‐1.
Conclusion
Circulating MPs isolated from STZ‐induced diabetic rats induce endothelial dysfunction in carotid arteries and regulate protein expressions of eNOS and caveolin‐1. These data advance our understanding of the deleterious effects of circulating MPs observed in disorders with diabetic complications.
We describe herein the synthesis of solid Au@Pd and hollow AgPd nanoflowers displaying controlled sizes and compositions in order to investigate how their size, composition, and the presence of Au in ...the core of the nanoparticles influence their catalytic performance toward both liquid and gas-phase transformations. While the size and composition of Au@Pd and AgPd the nanoflowers could be controlled as function of growth time, their structure (solid or hollow) was dependent on the nature of the seeds employed for the synthesis, i.e., Au or Ag nanoparticles. Moreover, Au@Pd and AgPd nanoflowers were successfully supported onto commercial silica displaying truly uniform dispersion. The catalytic activities of Au@Pd and AgPd nanoflowers were investigated toward the 4-nitrophenol reduction and the benzene, toluene, and o-xylene (BTX) oxidation. The catalytic activities for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol decreased as follows: Au₅₈@Pd₄₂ > Au₂₇@Pd₇₃ > Ag₂₀Pd₈₀ and Ag₈Pd₉₂ > Au₁₂@Pd₈₈ > Ag₃₈Pd₆₂, suggesting that the Au core enhanced the catalytic activity relative to the hollow material when for Pd at.% was up to 80. Regarding the BTX oxidation, supported Au@Pd displayed higher catalytic activities than AgPd nanoflowers, also illustrating the role of the Au cores in the nanoflowers for improving catalytic performance. We believe these results may serve as a platform for the synthesis of Pd-based bimetallic nanomaterials that enable the correlation between these physical/chemical parameters and properties and thus optimized catalytic activities.
S-Carboxymethyl-L-cysteine (SCMS) exhibits sputum-regulating and anti-inflammatory actions. Previous studies reported the anti-inflammatory effects of SCMS on chronic inflammatory diseases, but no ...study has examined these effects on acute inflammatory diseases. In this study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of SCMS in a rat carrageenan-induced footpad edema model, which is routinely used as an acute inflammation model. Expectorants were administered to rats with footpad edema induced by subcutaneously administering 1%λ-carrageenan to the footpad of the left posterior limb, and the dose dependency of the anti-inflammatory effects was evaluated. As a result, even when the dose of SCMS was increased to 400 mg/kg, there were no inhibitory effects on edema. Furthermore, we examined the inhibitory effects of other expectorants (ambroxol hydrochloride, N-acetyl-L-cysteine, L-cysteine ethylester hydrochloride, and L-cysteine methylester hydrochloride), which were reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory effects on chronic inflammation, on edema. However, none of these expectorants inhibited edema.
Objectives
To evaluate the characteristics of sarcopenic dysphagia (SD) and the prognosis of swallowing function in convalescent rehabilitation hospital patients; and to investigate the association ...between malnutrition severity and SD.
Design
A prospective, multi-center, cohort study.
Setting
We extracted registry data from the Japanese Sarcopenic Dysphagia Database, focusing on patients admitted to convalescent rehabilitation hospitals.
Participants
A total of 207 participants were recruited and stratified according to the presence or absence of SD. Next, the participants were divided into groups based on nutrition status using the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition criteria normal nutrition, moderate malnutrition, and severe malnutrition. We also compared the outcomes between patients with SD (SD group) and those without SD (no-SD group) according to malnutrition status.
Measurements
The Food Intake LEVEL Scale (FILS) score was the outcome measure. Higher scores on the FILS indicate better swallowing function. We compared the patient characteristics between the SD and non-SD groups among all patients and then according to the severity of malnutrition.
Results
A total of 207 patients were recruited. 11 were diagnosed with normal nutrition, 72 with moderate malnutrition, and 124 with severe malnutrition. There were 128 participants with SD and 79 participants without SD; the prevalence of SD was 61.8%. Hip fracture was the most common disease among the SD patients (34.4%). The median time to the end of follow-up was 73.5 days for the SD group and 84.0 days for the no-SD group. There was no significant difference in the FILS score between the SD and no-SD groups, but the increase in the FILS score was significantly lower in the SD group than the no-SD group among patients with severe malnutrition after adjusting for confounding factors (age, sex, FILS at admission, BMI, cognitive functional independence measure, and care level before onset) (β = −0.206, p = 0.011, 95% confidence interval = −0.723, −0.098).
Conclusion
Orthopedic diseases are the most common type of disease among SD patients in convalescent rehabilitation hospitals. Swallowing dysfunction was particularly severe in malnourished patients with SD. This result suggests the importance of the definition of SD for malnourished patients. We should practice nutritional management as soon as possible in severely malnourished patients diagnosed with SD.
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