A super-hydrophilic graphite directly from lignin enabled by a room-temperature cascade catalytic carbonization.

A cost-effective, and low-energy room-temperature cascade catalytic carbonization strategy is demonstrated for converting lignin into graphite with a high yield of 87 %, a high surface potential of -37 eV and super-hydrophilicity. This super-hydrophilic feature endows the lignin-derived graphite to be dispersed in a variety of polar solvents, which is important for its future applications. Encapsulating of liquid metals with the graphite for electrical circuit patterning on flexible substrates is also advocated. These written patterns show superb conductivity of 4.9 × 106 S/m, offering good performance stability and reliability while being repeatedly stretched, folded, twisted, and bent. This will offer new designs for flexible electronic devices, sensors, and biomedical devices.

Discovery of 2,8-dihydroxyadenine in HUA patients with uroliths and biomarkers for its associated nephropathy.

Currently, it is acknowledged that gout is caused by uric acid (UA). However, some studies have revealed no correlation between gout and UA levels, and growing evidence suggests that 2,8-dihydroxyadenine (2,8-DHA), whose structural formula is similar to UA but is less soluble, may induce gout. Hence, we hypothesized that uroliths from hyperuricemia (HUA) patients, which is closely associated with gout, may contain 2,8-DHA. In this study, 2,8-DHA in uroliths and serum of HUA patients were determined using HPLC. Moreover, bioinformatics was used to investigate the pathogenic mechanisms of 2,8-DHA nephropathy. Subsequently, a mouse model of 2,8-DHA nephropathy established by the gavage administration of adenine, as well as a model of injured HK-2 cells induced by 2,8-DHA were used to explore the pathogenesis of 2,8-DHA nephropathy. Interestingly, 2,8-DHA could readily deposit in the cortex of the renal tubules, and was found in the majority of these HUA patients. Additionally, the differentially expressed genes between 2,8-DHA nephropathy mice and control mice were found to be involved in inflammatory reactions. Importantly, CCL2 and IL-1ß genes had the maximum degree, closeness, and betweenness centrality scores. The expressions of CCL2 and IL-1ß genes were significantly increased in the serum of 24 HUA patients with uroliths, indicating that they may be significant factors for 2,8-DHA nephropathy. Further analysis illustrated that oxidative damage and inflammation were the crucial processes of 2,8-DHA renal injury, and CCL2 and IL-1ß genes were verified to be essential biomarkers for 2,8-DHA nephropathy. These findings revealed further insights into 2,8-DHA nephropathy, and provided new ideas for its diagnosis and treatment.

Effects of altitude on thyroid disorders according to Chinese three-rung, ladder-like topography: national cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Chinese topography appears a three-rung ladder-like distribution of decreasing elevation from northwest to southeast, which is divided by two sloping edges. Previous studies have reported that prevalence of thyroid diseases differed by altitude, and geographical factors were associated with thyroid disorders. To explore the association between three-rung ladder-like regions and thyroid disorders according to unique Chinese topographic features, we conducted an epidemiological cross-sectional study from 2015-2017 that covered all 31 mainland Chinese provinces. METHODS: A total of 78,470 participants aged ≥ 18 years from a nationally representative cross-sectional study were included. Serum thyroid peroxidase antibody, thyroglobulin antibody, and thyroid-stimulating hormone levels; urine iodine concentration; and thyroid volume were measured. The three-rung ladder-like distribution of decreasing elevation from northwest to southeast in China was categorized into three topographic groups according to elevation: first ladder, > 3000 m above sea level; second ladder, descending from 3000-500 m; and third ladder, descending from 500 m to sea level. The third ladder was further divided into groups A (500-100 m) and B (< 100 m). Associations between geographic factors and thyroid disorders were assessed using linear and binary logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Participants in the first ladder group were associated with lower thyroid peroxidase (ß = -4.69; P = 0.00), thyroglobulin antibody levels (ß = -11.08; P = 0.01), and the largest thyroid volume (ß = 1.74; P = 0.00), compared with the other groups. The second ladder group was associated with autoimmune thyroiditis (odds ratio = 1.30, 95% confidence interval [1.18-1.43]) and subclinical hypothyroidism (odds ratio = 0.61, 95%confidence interval [0.57-0.66]) (P < 0.05) compared with the first ladder group. Group A (third ladder) (500-100 m) was associated with thyroid nodules and subclinical hypothyroidism (P < 0.05). Furthermore, group B (< 100 m) was positively associated with autoimmune thyroiditis, thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin antibody positivity, and negatively associated with overt hypothyroidism, subclinical hypothyroidism, and goiter compared with the first ladder group(P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: We are the first to investigate the association between different ladder regions and thyroid disorders according to unique Chinese topographic features. The prevalence of thyroid disorders varied among the three-rung ladder-like topography groups in China, with the exception of overt hyperthyroidism.

Evaluation safety and efficacy of immune checkpoint blockers (ICB) and radiotherapy combination versus ICB in non-small cell lung cancer patients with recurrence or metastasis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Currently, immune checkpoint blockers (ICB) and radiotherapy (RT) combination therapy is broadly applied in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, meta-analysis about safety and efficacy of RT + ICB versus ICB has not yet been reported. To evaluate safety and efficacy of the combination therapy of ICB and RT in patients with recurrent or metastatic NSCLC and explore factors related to higher response rates, longer lifetime, and lower toxicity, meta-analysis of previous clinical data will be presented in this article. METHODS: A literature search on patients with recurrent or metastatic NSCLC treated with RT + ICB versus ICB was performed using the Cochrane Library, Embase and PubMed up to December 10, 2022. Suitable quality assessment checklists were selected corresponding to various types of research studies. Comparative and single-arm studies were analyzed using Stata 14.0. RESULTS: 10 comparative studies and 15 arms of combination therapy were included for this meta-analysis. RT significantly improved objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) of ICB (I-square value (I2 ) = 0.00%, odds ratio (OR) 1.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09-1.49, I2 = 0.00%, OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.00-1.25, I2 = 42.1%, OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.72-0.92, I2 = 34.5%, OR 0.80, and 95% CI 0.71-0.89, respectively). Toxicity between combination therapy and ICB monotherapy did not significantly differ in any grade or in ≥3 grade of tr-AEs (I2 = 0.00%, OR 1.05, 95% CI 0.91-1.22, I2 = 0.00%, OR 1.46, 95% CI 0.90-2.37, respectively). Subgroup analyses based on single-arm studies showed that applications of SRS/SBRT, PD-1 inhibitor, and administration of ICB after RT were conducive to a better DCR, longer OS and mild adverse events (heterogeneity between groups (HBG) all p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: RT can significantly improve ORR, DCR, OS, and PFS of ICB in patients with recurrent or metastatic NSCLC without increasing toxicity. PD-1 inhibitor following SRS/SBRT could be the best option to maximally benefit the patients.

Early Changes of Serum Interleukin 14α Levels Predicts the Response to Anti-PD-1 Therapy in Cancer.

Background: Programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) blockade has been shown to confer clinical benefit in cancer patients. Here, we assessed the level of serum interleukin 14α (IL14α) in patients receiving anti-PD-1 treatment. Methods: This prospective study recruited 30 patients with advanced solid cancer who received pembrolizumab treatment in Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital between April 2016 and June 2018. The western blot analysis was used to assess the expression level of serum IL14α in patients at baseline and after 2 cycles of treatment. Interleukin 14α was performed using the unpaired 2-tailed Student test. The progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the log-rank test. Results: The early change of IL14α after 2 cycles of anti-PD-1 therapy was calculated as delta IL14α % change = (IL14α level after 2 cycles - IL14α level before treatment)/IL14α level before treatment × 100%. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was analyzed to get a cutoff point of delta IL14α % change as 2.46% (sensitivity = 85.71%, specificity = 62.5%; area under the ROC curve [AUC] = 0.7277, P = .034). Using this cutoff to subgroup the patients, an improved objective response rate was observed in patients with a delta IL14α change higher than 2.46% (P = .0072). A delta IL14α change over 2.46% was associated with a superior PFS (P = .0039). Conclusions: Early changes of serum IL14α levels may be a promising biomarker to predict outcomes in patients with solid cancer following anti-PD-1 treatment.

The relationship between urinary iodine concentration and papillary thyroid cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The effect of iodine on papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) has been controversial for many years. Since urinary iodine is an effective indicator of iodine intake, some recent epidemiological studies have described the relationship between urinary iodine concentration (UIC) and PTC. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science for case-control studies about UIC and PTC published before September 2022. Results are presented as the overall odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: According to the analysis of the included studies, excessive iodine intake (UIC≥300ug/L) was positively associated with the occurrence of PTC patients compared with healthy controls (OR4.05, 95%CI 1.64-10.02, P=0.002). Meanwhile, adequate iodine exposure (100≤UIC<200ug/L) may play a protective role in the occurrence of PTC compared with healthy individuals (OR 0.36, 95%CI 0.14-0.91, P=0.03) while the difference in the prevalence of insufficient iodine intake (UIC<100ug/L) and iodine above requirements (200≤UIC<300ug/L) among the two groups were not significant (deficiency: OR 0.38, 95%CI 0.13-1.16, P=0.09; above requirements: OR 0.92, 95%CI 0.40-2.10, P=0.84). After comparing the UIC levels of PTC patients with those of other thyroid diseases, we found that there was also no significant difference in the incidence of different levels of UIC in the two groups (excessive: OR 1.25, 95%CI 0.87-1.80, P=0.22; above requirements: OR 0.93, 95%CI 0.77-1.14, P=0.49; adequate: OR 0.96, 95%CI 0.78-1.17, P=0.67; deficiency: OR 1.02, 95%CI 0.86-1.22, P=0.80). The result of this meta-analysis also did not support the relationship between UIC and the BRAF mutation and lymph node metastasis (LNM) of PTC patients. Besides, we also found that studies on the relationship between urinary iodine and PTC may be influenced by the way UIC was measured. Conclusion: The 10 case-control included studies involved a total of 6,544 participants. The results of this meta-analysis showed excessive iodine intake, that is, UIC≥300ug/L was associated with the occurrence of PTC but not with BRAF mutation and LNM while adequate iodine intake (100≤UIC<200ug/L) may be one of the protective factors for PTC.

Iodine nutrition and papillary thyroid cancer.

Thyroid cancer (TC) is the most frequent endocrine malignancy. The incidence of TC, especially papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), has continued to rise all over the world during the past few years, for reasons that are not entirely clear. Though the phenomenon of overdiagnosis is occurring, it is not the sole driver of the substantial increase in incidence. Lifestyle, environmental factors, or complications are considered to be potential risk factors. Among these factors, iodine is a micronutrient that is vital to thyroid function. The effect of iodine intake on PTC has been controversial for many years and the epidemiological or experimental studies provided diametrically opposite conclusions. Combining all these studies, we found that iodine nutrition may affect the overall prevalence, distribution of the histological types, and clinicopathological aggressiveness of TC, especially PTC. However, the available evidence is poor due to the impact of various internal and external related factors. Therefore, this article sums up available results from both epidemiological and experimental studies, future studies are also warranted to expound on the relationship between overall PTC prevalence and iodine intake.

Emerging trends and hot spots in autoimmune thyroiditis research from 2000 to 2022: A bibliometric analysis.

Background: Autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) is the most common autoimmune disease, affecting 3-5% patients worldwide. In recent years, approximately 200 articles on AIT have been published annually in various journals. However, to date, no article has systematically assessed the related literature. Therefore, we conducted a bibliometric analysis on AIT to reveal the dynamic scientific developments and help researchers gain a global perspective while exploring the hotspots and development trends. Methods: AIT-related articles and reviews from 2000 to 2022 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). The following search terms were used to extract document data: TS= (" autoimmune thyroiditi*") OR TI= ("chronic lymphocytic thyroiditi*") OR TI=(hashimoto*) OR TI= ("postpartum thyroiditis"). We selected articles and reviews published in English from 2000 to 2022. Three software programs (VOSviewer, CiteSpace, Pajek) were employed to analyze the contribution and co-occurrence relationships of different references, countries/regions, institutes, journals and also keywords in this field. Results: This scientometric study included 2290 English papers published in 723 journals with 39661 co-cited references from 561 institutions in 120 countries/regions. Based on the reference and keyword analysis, researchers used to focus on "apoptosis", "insulin resistance", "encephalopathy", "IFN-γ" related to AIT during the past 20 years. However, with the development of other novel directions such as "papillary thyroid cancer" (2018-2022), "Vitamin D" (2016-2022), "oxidative stress" (2018-2022), "polymorphism" (2019-2022) and "association" (2020-2022), researchers are more interested in the relationship between papillary thyroid carcinoma and AIT, the effect of vitamin D supplementation on AIT, the oxidative stress in thyroid disease as well as the influence of polymorphism. Conclusion: Bibliometric analysis of the outputs of AIT shows an overview of the current status of the research on AIT. The associations between papillary thyroid carcinoma, vitamin D, oxidative stress, polymorphism and AIT are major research frontiers. However, further research and collaboration are still required worldwide. Our findings can help researchers grasp the research status of AIT and quickly determine new directions for future research.

Effect of Levothyroxine Supplementation on the Cardiac Morphology and Function in Patients With Subclinical Hypothyroidism: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

CONTEXT: The impact of abnormal thyroid hormone levels on the cardiovascular system has been explored for decades. Recent emerging evidence suggests that subclinical thyroid dysfunction, especially subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH), significantly affects cardiac indices. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine whether levothyroxine (LT4), commonly used to treat hypothyroidism, affects cardiovascular indices in SCH patients. METHODS: This is a systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched online databases for studies analyzing cardiac morphology and functional changes in SCH patients before and after LT4 supplementation. A total of 294 SCH patients participated and finished the follow-up. The standard mean difference and 95% CI were calculated in fixed or random-effects models. The clinical outcomes analyzed in this study included 18 indicators, mainly covering cardiac morphology, myocardial performance (including various indicators of systolic and diastolic function), mitral wave flow, and systemic vascular resistance. RESULTS: A total of 11 studies met our search criteria. All studies explicitly mentioned that serum thyrotropin levels decreased to normal at follow-up. Our results suggest that the cardiac output (CO), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and the ratio of peak E velocity/peak A velocity were all significantly increased after LT4 supplementation compared with the baseline level. However, we found no clear evidence of significant morphological changes in the heart. CONCLUSION: Judging from the obvious changes in the CO, LVEF, and E/A ratio, LT4 supplementation can effectively improve the cardiac systolic and diastolic dysfunction prevalent in SCH patients. This study provides evidence of the recommendation for LT4 supplementation in adult SCH patients.