Less is more: A minimalist “clickable” photo‐crosslinker (see scheme) was incorporated with numerous small‐molecule kinase inhibitors. The resulting probes were used for both in vitro (cell lysates) ...and in situ (live cells) proteome profiling, for large‐scale identification of their potential cellular kinase targets and shows improved outcomes over previous probes.
Physical and structural origins of morphotropic phase boundaries (MPBs) in ferroics remain elusive despite decades of study. The leading competing theories employ either low-symmetry bridging phases ...or adaptive phases with nanoscale textures to describe different subsets of the macroscopic data, while the decisive atomic-scale information has so far been missing. Here we report direct atomically resolved mapping of polarization and structure order parameter fields in a Sm-doped BiFeO(3) system and their evolution as the system approaches a MPB. We further show that both the experimental phase diagram and the observed phase evolution can be explained by taking into account the flexoelectric interaction, which renders the effective domain wall energy negative, thus stabilizing modulated phases in the vicinity of the MPB. Our study highlights the importance of local order-parameter mapping at the atomic scale and establishes a hitherto unobserved physical origin of spatially modulated phases existing in the vicinity of the MPB.
Purpose
Numerous biomarkers of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) are associated with renal prognosis but head-to-head comparisons are lacking. This study aimed to examine the association of soluble tumor ...necrosis factor receptor type 1 (sTNFR1), fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF-21), endocan, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP), and renal outcomes of patients with or without clinical signs of DKD.
Methods
A total of 312 patients were enrolled in a prospective observational study that excluded individuals with estimated glomerular filtration rates (eGFR) < 30 mL/min/1.73 m
2
. Composite renal outcomes included either a > 30% decline in eGFR and worsening albuminuria or both from consecutive tests of blood/urine during a 3.5-year follow-up period.
Results
Higher sTNFR1 and FGF-21, rather than endocan and NT-pro-BNP, levels were associated with renal outcomes but the significance was lost after adjusting for confounders. However, sTNFR1 levels ≥ 9.79 pg/dL or FGF-21 levels ≥ 1.40 pg/dL were associated with renal outcomes after adjusting for the confounders (hazard ration HR 2.76, 95% confidence interval CI 1.36–5.60,
p
= 0.005 for sTNFR1 level; HR 1.95, 95% CI 1.03–3.69,
p
= 0.03 for FGF-21 level). The combination of both levels exhibited even better association with renal outcomes than did either one alone (adjusted HR 4.45, 95% CI 1.86–10.65,
p
= 0.001). The results were consistent among patients with preserved renal function and normoalbuminuria.
Conclusion
Both sTNFR1 and FGF-21 levels were associated with renal outcomes of in patients with type 2 diabetes, and the combination of the abovementioned markers exhibits better predictability.
A survey of DEA applications Liu, John S.; Lu, Louis Y.Y.; Lu, Wen-Min ...
Omega (Oxford),
10/2013, Letnik:
41, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The literature of data envelopment analysis (DEA) encompasses many surveys, yet all either emphasize methodologies or do not make a distinction between methodological and application papers. This ...study is the first literature survey that focuses on DEA applications, covering DEA papers published in journals indexed by the Web of Science database from 1978 through August 2010. The results show that on the whole around two-thirds (63.6%) of DEA papers embed empirical data, while the remaining one-third are purely-methodological. Purely-methodological articles dominated the first 20 years of DEA development, but the accumulated number of application-embedded papers caught up to purely-methodological papers in 1999. Among the multifaceted applications, the top-five industries addressed are: banking, health care, agriculture and farm, transportation, and education. The applications that have the highest growth momentum recently are energy and environment as well as finance. In addition to the basic statistics, we uncover the development trajectory in each application area through the main path analysis. An observation from these works suggests that the two-step contextual analysis and network DEA are the recent trends across applications and that the two-step contextual analysis is the prevailing approach.
► We survey systematically DEA applications from 1978 through August 2010. ► Two-thirds of DEA papers embed application data and one-third is purely-methodological. ► Top-5 applications: banking, health care, agriculture and farm, transportation, education. ► Find no obvious methodological preferences for each of the five major applications. ► Two-step contextual analysis and network DEA are the recent trends across applications.
Background and purpose
Our aim was to investigate the influence of admission dehydration on the discharge outcome in acute ischaemic and hemorrhagic stroke.
Methods
Between January 2009 and December ...2011, 4311 ischaemic and 1371 hemorrhagic stroke patients from the stroke registry of Chang Gung healthcare system were analyzed. The eligible patients were identified according to inclusion/exclusion criteria. In total, 2570 acute ischaemic and 573 acute hemorrhagic stroke patients were finally recruited. According to the blood urea nitrogen (BUN) to creatinine (Cr) ratio (BUN/Cr), these patients were divided into dehydrated (BUN/Cr ≥ 15) and non‐dehydrated (BUN/Cr < 15) groups. Demographics, admission costs and discharge outcomes including modified Rankin scale (mRS) and Barthel index (BI) were examined. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of two‐stage least squares including logistic and linear regression.
Results
Acute ischaemic stroke with admission dehydration had higher infection rates (P = 0.006), worse discharge BI (62.8 ± 37.4 vs. 73.4 ± 32.4, P < 0.001, adjusted P < 0.001), worse mRS (2.7 ± 1.6 vs. 2.3 ± 1.5, P < 0.001, adjusted P = 0.009) and higher admission costs (2470.8 ± 3160.8 vs. 1901.2 ± 2046.8 US dollars, P < 0.001, adjusted P = 0.013) than those without dehydration. However, acute hemorrhagic stroke with or without admission dehydration showd no difference in admission costs (P = 0.618) and discharge outcomes (BI, P = 0.058; mRS, P = 0.058).
Conclusion
Admission dehydration is associated with worse discharge outcomes and higher admission costs in acute ischaemic stroke but not in hemorrhagic stroke.
Summary
Background
Few studies have examined the association between psoriasis and glomerulonephritis (GN) as well as chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Objectives
To determine the risk of CKD in patients ...with psoriasis and evaluate the impact of the severity of psoriasis, comorbidities and concomitant drugs on the risk of GN and CKD in patients with psoriasis.
Methods
We identified 4344 patients with psoriasis for the study cohort and randomly selected 13 032 subjects as a control cohort. Each subject was individually followed for up for 5 years to identify those who subsequently developed GN and CKD.
Results
After adjustment for traditional CKD risk factors, psoriasis was found to be independently associated with an increased risk of CKD during the follow‐up period hazard ratio (HR) 1·28; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·14–1·44. The increased incidence of GN in patients with psoriasis (HR 1·50, 95% CI 1·24–1·81) may contribute to the positive association between psoriasis and CKD. Patients with mild and severe psoriasis had an increased risk of CKD and GN compared with the control cohort; the risk increased with severity. Patients with psoriasis and arthritis exhibited a higher risk of CKD than patients without arthritis (HR 1·62 vs. 1·26). Among drugs, nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have the strongest association with CKD in patients with psoriasis (adjusted odds ratio 1·69, 95% CI 1·14–2·49).
Conclusions
Psoriasis was associated with a higher risk of developing CKD and GN. High severity, psoriatic arthritis involvement and concomitant NSAIDs use further increased the risk of CKD in patients with psoriasis.
What's already known about this topic?
There is an increased risk of multiple comorbidities in patients with psoriasis.
What does this study add?
Both mild and severe psoriasis presented an increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and glomerulonephritis, independent of traditional risk factors for CKD.
The development of CKD in patients with psoriasis was multifaceted. High severity, psoriatic arthritis involvement and concomitant nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drug use further increased the risk of CKD in patients with psoriasis.