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  • Bro Zamora posted an update 6 days, 6 hours ago

    The current work presents the study of a semicrystalline, shape memory polymer synthesized by simultaneous free radical polymerization and crosslinking in a blend of polybutadiene (PB) and octadecyl acrylate. Blending elastomers and phase change materials provide a modular method for new smart materials, such as shape memory polymers. In this system, grafted, side-chain crystalline poly(octadecyl acrylate) (PODA) fixes a programmed shape in the shape memory cycle, while crosslinked polybutadiene drives shape recovery. This work focuses on improving material parameters important for shape memory (crystallinity, gel fraction, melting temperature) by tuning the processing and formulation parameters (amount of crosslinker and PB weight fraction). The result is a shape memory PB-PODA copolymer that can be fabricated by melt processing and programmed without cooling below ambient temperature. It is found that good shape memory (i.e., high shape fixity and recovery) is obtained at a low PB weight fraction where a percolating PODA crystal network is formed at room temperature. The optimized sample shows excellent shape memory properties (fixity > 99%, recovery = 96%). It is shown that it is possible to mold this material into complex 3D shapes or topography with potential use in anticounterfeiting and antitampering applications.Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics and vaccination status of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infected children. Methods A total of 105 children infected with Omicron variant admitted to Tianjin Haihe Hospital (designated referral hospital for SARS-CoV-2 infection in Tianjin) from January 8, 2022 to February 3 were included for a retrospective study. The cases were divided into pneumonia group and non-pneumonia group according to chest imaging. Based on the doses of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, the children who completed SARS-CoV-2 antibody test within 3 days after hospitalization were divided into 2 dose group and less then 2 dose group.Rank sum test and Chi-square test were used for the comparison between the groups. Results The age of these 105 children was 10 (8, 11) years on admission, 53 children were males and 52 were females. Eighty-seven cases (82.9%) had mild symptoms, 13 cases (12.4%) had common symptoms and 5 cases (4.8%) were asymptomatic. Ninety-one cases (86.7%) completed 2 doseon variant have mild symptoms, mainly respiratory infection symptoms. The proportion of SARS-CoV-2 antibody IgG positive in children who have received 2 doses of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines is higher,and the time of whose nucleic acid conversion may be shortened.Objective To investigate the expression of PD-L1, CD4, CD8 and CXCL-13 in cervical carcinoma, and their clinicopathological significance was analyzed. Methods A total of 77 patients with cervical carcinoma in the Seventh Medical Center, PLA General Hospital from January 2019 to December 2021 were included. All patients received radical surgical resection in the Seventh Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital. The expression of PD-L1, CD4, CD8 and CXCL-13 was detected by immunohistochemical (IHC) method. The correlation between IHC markers and patients’ clinicopathological parameters was analyzed. Results There were 59 cases of squamous cell carcinoma and 18 cases of adenocarcinoma (ranging from 29 to 69 years) with an average of (49.4±9.8) years. PD-L1 was expressed in different degrees in cervical squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma (χ²=4.975, P=0.026); CD4+, CD8+and CXCL-13+tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) were observed in the carcinoma cell nests and peritumoral stroma. PD-L1 expression in cervical carcinoma was moderately correlated with the number of CD4+TIL in the carcinoma nests, and the number of CD8+, CXCL-13+TIL infiltration in the carcinoma nests and stroma, but not to the patient’s age, histologic differentiation, presence or absence of vascular invasion, presence or absence of lymph node metastasis and FIGO stage (P>0.05). Conclusions The high expression of PD-L1 in cervical carcinoma tissues is closely related to the number of TIL in the carcinoma nests and peritumor stroma, suggesting that they may have important reference value for predicting the response to immunotherapy in patients with cervical carcinoma.Objective To investigate the relationship between micropapillary patten, cribriform pattern and retraction clefting of HPV associated endocervical adenocarcinoma and Silva classification and prognosis; and to validate the application and clinical significance of Silva system in endocervical adenocarcinoma. Methods Cases of endocervical adenocarcinoma from January 2009 to November 2017 were selected from the Second Hospital of Jilin University and followed up. The morphologic characteristics of Silva classification, micropapillary patten, cribriform pattern and retraction clefting were observed and recorded. Inferential analysis was performed to compare clinicopathological variables data between pattern subgroups. Results The study included 120 patients (ranging from 26 to 73 years) with an average age of (48.0±9.1)years. Silva A, B and C accounted for 9.2% (11/120), 18.3% (22/120) and 72.5% (87/120), respectively. Cases with micropapillary pattern accounted for 25.8%(31/120), of which six cases were Silva B and 25 cases were Silva C. Cases with cribriform pattern accounted for 53.3%(64/120), including three cases of Silva A, 17 cases of Silva B and 44 cases of Silva C. Retraction clefting occurred in 28.3%(34/120) cases, all were Silva C. The three morphologic features were associated with lymph node metastasis (P less then 0.05). Univariate analysis showed that micropapillary pattern was related to prognosis of endocervical carcinoma (P less then 0.05), while cribriform pattern, retraction clefting and Silva classification showed no correlation with overall survival and disease-free survival. RGD peptide price Conclusions The suggestion is revising the Silva C criteria by adding papillary patten and retraction clefting as factors and expanding the Silva pattern system to include more histologic variants. The Silva system is helpful to select appropriate operation before surgery, but its prognostic value requires further evaluation.

    The phase I KAT301 trial investigated the use of intramyocardial adenoviral vascular endothelial growth factor-D

    (AdVEGF-D) gene therapy (GT) to alleviate symptoms in refractory angina (RA) patients. In KAT301, 30 patients with RA were randomized to AdVEGF-D or the control group in 41 ratio. The treatment was found to be feasible, increasing myocardial perfusion and reducing angina symptoms at 1-year follow-up. However, there is some evidence suggesting that the intramyocardial delivery route and overexpression of (vascular endothelial growth) VEGFs might induce ventricular arrhythmias. Thus, we investigated whether intramyocardial AdVEGF-D GT increases the risk of ventricular arrhythmias in patients treated for RA.

    We analyzed non-invasive risk predictors of ventricular arrhythmias from 12-lead electrocardiography (ECG) as well as heart rate variability (HRV) and the incidence of arrhythmias from 24 h ambulatory ECG at baseline and 3 and 12 months after the GT. In addition, we analyzed the incidence of new-onset arrhythmias and pacemaker implantations during 8.2years (range 6.3-10.4years) of follow-up.

    We found no significant increase in arrhythmias, including supraventricular and ventricular ectopic beats, atrial fibrillation, non-sustained ventricular tachycardias, and life-threatening tachycardias, nor changes in the non-invasive risk predictors of ventricular arrhythmias in the AdVEGF-D treated patients. Instead, we found a significant improvement in the very low and high-frequency bands of HRV suggestive of improved cardiac autonomic regulation after GT.

    In conclusion, our results suggest that AdVEGF-D GT does not predispose to arrhythmias and might improve HRV metrics.

    In conclusion, our results suggest that AdVEGF-D GT does not predispose to arrhythmias and might improve HRV metrics.

    The COVID-19 pandemic, which first appeared in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and spread rapidly around the globe, continues to be a serious threat today. Rapid and accurate diagnostic methods are needed to identify, isolate and treat patients as soon as possible because of the rapid contagion of COVID-19. In the present study, the relation of the semi-quantitative scoring method with computed tomography in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in determining the severity of the disease with clinical and laboratory parameters and survival of the patients were investigated along with its value in prognostic prediction.

    A total of 277 adult patients who were followed up in the chest diseases clinic because of COVID-19 pneumonia between 11.03.2020 and 31.05.2020 were evaluated retrospectively in the present study. Both lungs were divided into five regions in line with their anatomical structures, and semiquantitative radiological scoring was made between 0 and 25 points according to the distribution of lesions in each rD-dimer, AST, LDH, ferritin, and pro-BNP, and a negative correlation was found between partial oxygen pressure and oxygen saturation (p = 0.01, r = 0.321/0.313/0.362/0.343/0.313/0.333/-0.235/-0.231, respectively) CONCLUSION It was found that the scoring system that was calculated quantitatively in thorax HRCTs in Covid-19 patients is a predictive actor in determining the severity and prognosis of the disease in correlation with clinical and laboratory parameters. Considering patients who have a score of 15 and above with semiquantitative scoring risky in terms of poor prognosis and short survival and close follow-up and early treatment may be effective to reduce mortality rates.N6 -Methyladenosine (m6 A) is the most common internal RNA modification in the consensus sequence of 5′-RRACH-3′. The methyl mark is added by writer proteins (METTL3/METTL14 metyltransferase complex) and removed by eraser proteins (m6 A demethylases; FTO and ALKBH5). Recognition of this methyl mark by m6 A reader proteins leads to changes in RNA metabolism. How the writer and eraser proteins determine their targets is not well-understood, despite the importance of this information in understanding the regulatory mechanisms and physiological roles of m6 A. However, approaches for targeted manipulation of the methylation state at specific sites are being developed. In this review, I summarize the recent findings on the mechanisms of target identification of m6 A regulatory proteins, as well as recent approaches for targeted m6 A modifications.The semiconductor based photocatalysis has become a hot spot of current research, and the key challenges are the construction of strong functional heterojunction photocatalysts, and insights on the working mechanism involved. In this work, we constructed a NiFe- LDHs/P-TCN heterojunction with P-dopant defects and interface synergy and elucidated its mesoscale mechanism among different constituent interfaces. The interface photoelectron transfer was detected by PAS, EPR and other methods, and the enhancing mechanism of the defect sites for interface electron transfer and photocatalytic activity was proposed. The interfacial electrons, photoelectric properties and photocatalytic activity are found to be positively correlated. The result is conducive for a better understanding on working mechanism of heterogeneous photocatalysts, which opened a broader research space for the rational design and construction of functional interfaces.