Impact of the pulmonary ventilation function on the prognosis of suspected asthma patients: A retrospective observational study.

OBJECTIVE: Asthma is a common chronic respiratory diseases, and the relationship between pulmonary ventilation function and the prognosis of patients with suspected asthma is not well understood. This study aims to explore the impact of pulmonary ventilation functions on the prognosis of patients with suspected asthma. METHODS: This retrospective observational study included patients with suspected asthma who were diagnosed and treated at the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine between August 2015 and January 2020. The primary outcome of interest was improvement in asthma symptoms, as measured by bronchial provocation test (BPT) results within 1 year after diagnosis. The impact of pulmonary ventilation functions on prognosis was explored by multivariable logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Seventy-two patients were included in the study. Patients with normal (OR = 0.123, P = 0.004) or generally normal (OR = 0.075, P = 0.039) pulmonary ventilation function were more likely to achieve improvement in asthma symptoms compared with patients with mild obstruction. There were no significant differences between the improvement and non-improvement groups in baseline characteristics. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that suspected asthma patients with normal or generally normal pulmonary ventilation function are more likely to achieve improvement in asthma symptoms within one year compared to patients with mild obstruction.

Optimized Pt Single Atom Harvesting on TiO2 Nanotubes-Towards a Most Efficient Photocatalyst.

In the present work the authors show that anodic TiO2 nanotubes (NT) show excellent harvesting properties for Pt single atoms (Pt SAs) from highly dilute Pt solutions. The tube walls of anodic nanotubes, after adequate annealing to anatase, provide ample of suitable trapping sites-that is, surface Ti3+ -Ov (Ov : oxygen vacancy) defects that are highly effective to extract and accumulate Pt in the form of SAs. A saturated (maximized) SA density can be achieved by an overnight immersion of a TiO2 NT layer to a H2 PtCl6 solution with a concentration that is as low as 0.01 mm Pt. Such TiO2 NTs with surface trapped Pt SAs provide a maximized high activity for photocatalytic H2 generation (reaching a turnover frequency (TOF) of 1.24 × 106 h-1 at a density of 1.4 × 105 Pt atoms µm-2 )-a higher loading with Pt nanoparticles does not further increase the photocatalytic activity. Overall, these findings show that anodic TiO2 nanotubes provide a remarkable substrate for Pt extraction and recovery from very dilute solutions that directly results in a highly efficient photocatalyst, fabricated by a simple immersion technique.

Self-assembly and activation of a titania-nanotube based photocatalyst for H2 evolution.

Constructing an efficient photocatalyst for H2 production generally requires the integration of several functional features in and on a semiconductor platform. This is conventionally done by a classic step-by-step synthesis. Here, we report the self-assembly of an amorphous titania nanotube based system when illuminated for extended time in suitable aqueous solutions. Over time, not only photodeposition of a co-catalyst can take place, but also in situ crystallization and morphology changes occur that can provide a higher H2 production than observed for a classically assembled photocatalyst.

[Effect of total flavonoids in Scutellaria barbata in mediating autophagy in tumor cells via PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway].

To investigate the effect of the total flavonoids in Scutellaria barbata(TF-SB) against autophagy in tumor cells in vivo, and further determine whether the mechanism is correlated with the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, which lead to autophagy-induced tumor cell death. Melanoma-bearing mice were prepared and divided into control group, rapamycin group (Rap 1.5 mg•kg⁻¹), and high, middle and low-dose TF-SB (200, 100, 50 mg•kg⁻¹) groups. The groups were given drugs once a day for successively 11 days. The inhibitory effect of TF-SB on the growth of melanoma was determined by measuring tumor volume and tumor inhibition rate. TUNEL method was used to detect the apoptosis of tumor cells to further verify the antitumor activity of TF-SB. The protein expressions of LC3-Ⅰ and LC3-Ⅱ were detected by Western blot, and the relative expression of LC3-Ⅱ was calculated based on LC3-Ⅱ/LC3-Ⅰ. In addition, the effect of TF-SB on autophagy of tumor cells, the underlying molecular mechanism of TF-SB in inducing autophagy and PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway marker protein phosphorylation were also studied. According to the results, TF-SB effectively inhibited melanoma growth in mice, reduced tumor volume, increased the tumor inhibition rate, and significantly increased tumor cell apoptosis index and the ratio of LC3-Ⅱ/LC3-I (P<0.05, P<0.01 or P<0.001). The protein expressions of p-PI3K, p-AKT and p-mTOR were also suppressed dramatically compared with those in control group (P<0.05, P<0.01 or P<0.001). In conclusion, the total flavonoids in S. barbata could inhibit the growth of melanoma in vivo by inducing autophagy and apoptosis of tumor cells, which may be correlated with suppression of PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway.