Effects of early intake of amino acid on the neurodevelopmental outcomes in very low birth weight infants at correct age of 20 months and school age.

BACKGROUND: Inadequate nutrition leads to poor neurodevelopmental outcomes in very low-birth weight infants (VLBWIs). This study aimed to investigate the beneficial effects of early amino acid intake on the neurodevelopmental outcomes in VLBWIs at 20 months of correct age and school age. METHODS: The information of VLBWIs that received amino acid intake were retrospectively analyzed in this study. The cases in early group (EAA) received amino acid within 24 h, but the cases in standard group (SAA) after 48 h post-natal. The body weight, height, and Bayley score of the infants at correct age of 20 months were compared between groups. And the cognitive outcomes at school age were evaluated using Wechsler Intelligence Scale and Das-Naglieri cognitive assessment system. RESULTS: There were no differences at baseline characteristics of the VLBWIs between EAA and SAA groups. Compared with the SAA group, the infants in EAA group had shorter time to regain birth weight (P < 0.05). The head circumference, MDI, and PDI in EAA group at 20 months of correct age were significantly higher than that in SAA group (both P < 0.05). According to the Wechsler scale and Das-Naglieri scores, the infants in EAA group had markedly improved cognitive outcomes compared with those in SAA group (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of this study revealed that early amino acid intake within 24 h could significantly improve the neurodevelopmental and cognitive outcomes in VLBWIs at 20 months of correct age and school age.

Retraction: FAM64A antagonizes tumor suppressive effects of miR-610 in neuroblastoma in vitro.

The paper entitled "FAM64A antagonizes tumor suppressive effects of miR-610 in neuroblastoma in vitro" by Xiaomei Qiu et al., which was published online on April 16, 2021, has been withdrawn by the Publisher upon request by the authors. Their recent studies found that the previous cell experiments in the published article could not be replicated, and as a result, they now have doubts about the accuracy of the published results.

A high-efficiency bioinspired photoelectric-electromechanical integrated nanogenerator.

Currently, the key challenge in triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) is how to efficiently enhance the surface charge density. Here, a new strategy is proposed to increase the surface charge density by comprehensively utilizing solar energy and tidal energy, and a bioinspired photoelectric-electromechanical integrated TENG (Pem-iTENG) is developed. This enhancement of output performance is greatly attributed to the accumulation of photoelectrons from photocatalysis and the triboelectric negative charges from contact electrification. Pem-iTENG shows a maximal open-circuit voltage of 124.2 V and a maximal short-circuit current density of 221.6 µA cm-2 under tidal wave and sunlight, an improvement by nearly a factor of 10 over that of reported TENGs based on solid-liquid contact electrification. More importantly, it exhibits a high energy conversion efficiency according to the evaluation method for solar cells. This work provides insights into development of high-performance TENGs by using different natural energy sources.