A nickel-catalyzed, enantioselective, three-component fluoroalkylarylation of unactivated alkenes with aryl halides and perfluoroalkyl iodides has been described. This cross-electrophile coupling ...protocol utilizes a chiral nickel/BiOx system as well as a pendant chelating group to facilitate the challenging three-component, asymmetric difunctionalization of unactivated alkenes, providing direct access to valuable chiral β-fluoroalkyl arylalkanes with high efficiency and excellent enantioselectivity. The mild conditions allow for a broad substrate scope as well as good functional group toleration.
Accurate differentiating diagnosis is essential for choosing treatment for exudative pleural effusions.
To establish the diagnostic accuracy of interleukin 27 for tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE).
...First, the concentrations of pleural interleukin 27, interferon-gamma and adenosine deaminase were compared between 51 patients with TPE and 103 with non-TPEs (Beijing cohort), and their diagnostic values were evaluated. These were further verified in another independent population (Wuhan cohort, n=120). In the second part of the study, we performed a meta-analysis.
With a cut-off value of 591.4 ng/L in the Beijing cohort, the area under the curve, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of interleukin 27 to diagnose TPE were 0.983 (95% CI 0.947 to 0.997), 96.1% (86.5% to 99.5%), 99.0% (94.7% to 100%), 98.0 (89.4 to 99.9) and 98.1 (93.3 to 99.8), respectively. Excellent diagnostic accuracy of interleukin 27 was also found in the Wuhan cohort and was further confirmed in the meta-analysis. The diagnostic performance of interleukin 27 was comparable to that of interferon-gamma and was more accurate than that of adenosine deaminase. Since the post-test probability of a negative result was always <0.1%, a negative test was considered to exclude TPE in all tuberculosis prevalence settings.
Interleukin 27 can be used to diagnose TPE in a high prevalence setting, and a negative result can also be reliably used to rule out TPE in all prevalence settings.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. To identify genetic factors that modify the risk of lung cancer in individuals of Chinese ancestry, we performed a genome-wide ...association scan in 5,408 subjects (2,331 individuals with lung cancer (cases) and 3,077 controls) followed by a two-stage validation among 12,722 subjects (6,313 cases and 6,409 controls). The combined analyses identified six well-replicated SNPs with independent effects and significant lung cancer associations (P < 5.0 × 10−8) located in TP63 (rs4488809 at 3q28, P = 7.2 × 10−26), TERT-CLPTM1L (rs465498 and rs2736100 at 5p15.33, P = 1.2 × 10−20 and P = 1.0 × 10−27, respectively), MIPEP-TNFRSF19 (rs753955 at 13q12.12, P = 1.5 × 10−12) and MTMR3-HORMAD2-LIF (rs17728461 and rs36600 at 22q12.2, P = 1.1 × 10−11 and P = 6.2 × 10−13, respectively). Two of these loci (13q12.12 and 22q12.2) were newly identified in the Chinese population. These results suggest that genetic variants in 3q28, 5p15.33, 13q12.12 and 22q12.2 may contribute to the susceptibility of lung cancer in Han Chinese.
is a pathogen capable of infecting humans, livestock and aquatic animals, resulting in serious economic losses. In this study, two recombinant
expressing flagellin A (FlaA) of
, Lc-pPG-1-FlaA ...(surface-displayed) and Lc-pPG-2-FlaA (secretory) were constructed. The immune responses in fish administered with recombinant
were evaluated. The two recombinant
were orally administered to common carp, which stimulated high serum IgM and induced higher ACP, AKP, SOD and LYZ activity. Using qRT-PCR, the expression of IL-10, IL-8, IL-1β, TNF-α and IFN-γ in the tissue of fish immunized with recombinant
was significantly (
< 0.05) upregulated, which indicated that recombinant
could activate the innate immune system to trigger the cell immune response and inflammatory response. Furthermore, recombinant
was able to survive the intestinal environment and colonize in intestine mucosal. The study showed that after being challenged by
, fish administered with Lc-pPG-1-FlaA (70%) and Lc-pPG-2-FlaA (50%) had higher survival rates compared to Lc-pPG and PBS, indicating that recombinant
might prevent
infection by activating the immune system to trigger immune responses. We demonstrated that flagellin as an antigen of vaccine, is acceptable for preventing
infection in fish. The recombinant
expressing FlaA may be a novel mucosal vaccine for treating and controlling
.
Rationale
Short‐chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are associated with intestinal microbiota and diseases in humans. SCFAs have a low response in mass spectrometry, and in order to increase sensitivity, ...reduce sample consumption, shorten analysis time, and simplify sample preparation steps, a derivatization method was developed.
Methods
We converted seven SCFAs into amide derivatives with 4‐aminomethylquinoline. The reaction occurred for 20 min at room temperature. The analytes were separated on a reversed‐phase C18 column and quantitated in the positive ion electrospray ionization mode using multiple reaction monitoring. Acetic acid‐d4 was used as the stable‐isotope‐labeled surrogate analyte for acetic acid in the working solutions, while the other stable‐isotope‐labeled standards were used as internal standards (ISs).
Results
Method validation showed that the intra‐day and inter‐day precision of quantitation for the seven SCFAs over the whole concentration range was ≤3.8% (n = 6). The quantitation accuracy ranged from 85.5% to 104.3% (n = 6). Most important, the collected feces were vortexed immediately with ethanol.
Conclusions
This study provides a new derivatization method for a precise, accurate, and rapid quantitation of SCFAs in human feces using ultra‐performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. This method successfully determined the concentration of SCFAs in human feces and could assist in the exploration of intestinal microbiota and diseases.
CPT system takes advantages of being able to transfer power across metal with low power losses, so it is potential for mobile desktop applications such as mobile phones, tablet PCs, laptops, etc. ...Compared with single transmitter and single pickup (STSP) CPT systems, single transmitter and multiple pickup (STMP) CPT systems are more competitive in cost and convenience. However, a big challenge in existing multi-pickup CPT is the outputs vary greatly when the transmitter and the pickup are not aligned. This paper proposes an interdigital electrode capacitive coupler to realize anti-offset performance of multiple pickups. Then, for ease of analysis, a STMP to STSP conversion CPT model is proposed to simplify mathematical analysis. By designing double-sided LC topology, multiple pickups are regarded as a parallel branch of the compensation network on the primary side, and the STMP system is converted to a STSP system. Finally, the load-independent CC outputs of multiple pickups and the anti-offset performance of the proposed CPT system are analyzed, and the zero voltage switching (ZVS) state can be also obtained. A prototype with single transmitter and three pickups was built, load-independent CC outputs and anti-offset performance of multiple pickups have been verified. The system efficiency was up to 91.7% (28 W) in the case of three pickups.
There is still no clinical evidence available to support or to oppose corticosteroid treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia.
To investigate the efficacy and safety of ...corticosteroid given to the hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.
This was a prospective, multicenter, single-blind, randomized control trial. Adult patients with COVID-19 pneumonia who were admitted to the general ward were randomly assigned to either receive methylprednisolone or not for 7 days. The primary end point was the incidence of clinical deterioration 14 days after randomization.
We terminated this trial early because the number of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in all the centers decreased in late March. Finally, a total of 86 COVID-19 patients underwent randomization. There was no difference of the incidence of clinical deterioration between the methylprednisolone group and control group (4.8 vs. 4.8%, p = 1.000). The duration of throat viral RNA detectability in the methylprednisolone group was 11 days (interquartile range, 6-16 days), which was significantly longer than that in the control group (8 days 2-12 days, p = 0.030). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in other secondary outcomes. Mass cytometry discovered CD3+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and NK cells in the methylprednisolone group which were significantly lower than those in the control group after randomization (p < 0.05).
From this prematurely closed trial, we found that the short-term early use of corticosteroid could suppress the immune cells, which may prolong severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 shedding in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.
ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04273321.
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•The MnO2/Mn2+ redox chemistry of β-MnO2 cathode in aqueous zinc ion batteries.•Complete Mn dissolution/deposition mechanism proved by electrolyte monitoring.•Reveling the phase ...transition from β-MnO2 to layered Mn7O13.•The regulation effect of interfacial environment in electrochemical reactions.
Due to the rapid development of energy storage systems from the goal of carbon neutrality, rechargeable aqueous Zn-MnO2 batteries have attracted growing attention. While the controversy surrounding various mechanisms, such as Zn2+ insertion, Zn2+/H+ co-insertion and Mn dissolution/deposition, leads to limitation of MnO2 cathodes, especially for the β-MnO2. Though showing promising performance in recent works, the reaction process and influence factors of β-MnO2 cathodes are still under debate. In this work, a complete MnO2/Mn2+ redox chemistry is proposed to explain the abnormal electrochemical behaviors of β-MnO2 cathodes, which indicates the reversible dissolution/deposition of layered manganese oxides appears after the initial MnO2 dissolution reaction. The revealed effects of interfacial environment in regulating the electrochemical reactions also provide a new perspective for studying the working mechanism of aqueous Zn-MnO2 batteries. Besides, the high specific capacity shown in the MnO2/Mn2+ redox chemistry also contributes to designing high-performance cathodes for AZIBs.
Exploring innovative solutions to improve the healthcare of the aging and diseased population continues to be a global challenge. Among a number of strategies toward this goal, tissue engineering and ...regenerative medicine (TERM) has gradually evolved into a promising approach to meet future needs of patients. TERM has recently received increasing attention in Asia, as evidenced by the markedly increased number of researchers, publications, clinical trials, and translational products. This review aims to give a brief overview of TERM development in Asia over the last decade by highlighting some of the important advances in this field and featuring major achievements of representative research groups. The development of novel biomaterials and enabling technologies, identification of new cell sources, and applications of TERM in various tissues are briefly introduced. Finally, the achievement of TERM in Asia, including important publications, representative discoveries, clinical trials, and examples of commercial products will be introduced. Discussion on current limitations and future directions in this hot topic will also be provided.
Objectives
To investigate whether breast edema characteristics at preoperative T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) could help evaluate axillary lymph node (ALN) burden in patients with early-stage breast ...cancer.
Methods
This retrospective study included women with clinical T1 and T2 stage breast cancer and preoperative MRI examination in two independent cohorts from May 2014 to December 2020. Low (< 3 LNs+) and high (≥ 3 LNs+) pathological ALN (pALN) burden were recorded as endpoint. Breast edema score (BES) was evaluated at T2WI. Univariable and multivariable analyses were performed by the logistic regression model. The added predictive value of BES was examined utilizing the area under the curve (AUC), net reclassification improvement (NRI), and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI).
Results
A total of 1092 patients were included in this study. BES was identified as the independent predictor of pALN burden in primary (
n
= 677) and validation (
n
= 415) cohorts. The analysis using MRI-ALN status showed that BES significantly improved the predictive performance of pALN burden (AUC: 0.65 vs 0.71,
p
< 0.001; IDI = 0.045,
p
< 0.001; continuous NRI = 0.159,
p
= 0.050). These results were confirmed in the validation cohort (AUC: 0.64 vs 0.69,
p
= 0.009; IDI = 0.050,
p
< 0.001; continuous NRI = 0.213,
p
= 0.047). Furthermore, BES was positively correlated with biologically invasive clinicopathological factors (
p
< 0.05).
Conclusions
In individuals with early-stage breast cancer, preoperative MRI characteristics of breast edema could be a promising predictor for pALN burden, which may aid in treatment planning.
Key Points
• In this retrospective study of 1092 patients with early-stage breast cancer from two cohorts, the MRI characteristic of breast edema has independent and additive predictive value for assessing axillary lymph node burden
.
• Breast edema characteristics at T2WI positively correlated with biologically invasive clinicopathological factors, which may be useful for preoperative diagnosis and treatment planning for individual patients with breast cancer.
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