Photochemical Mn-Mediated Generation of Azide Radicals for Improvement of Alkene Hydroxyazidation.

State-of-the-art strategies for alkene-hydroxyazidation, which yield a mixture of ß-azido alcohol and ß-azido peroxide, must rely on phosphine reagents to improve the chemoselectivity. To overcome the above problems, we present a photochemical hydroxyazidation of alkenes via Mn-mediated ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) in O2, which activates N3- to •N3 and incorporates O2 to be used as an oxygen source in the hydroxyazidation products. Broad alkene range and step-economy chemistry for the hydroxyazidation transformation were also demonstrated.

A Sequencing Electroreduction-electrooxidation System Driven by Atomic Hydrogen for Enhancing 2,4-Dichloronitrobenzene Removal from Wastewater.

The sequencing electroreduction-electrooxidation process has emerged as a promising approach for the degradation of the chloronitrobenzenes (CNBs) due to its elimination of electro-withdrawing groups in the reduction process, facilitating further removal in the subsequent oxidation process. Herein, we developed a cathode consisting of atom Pd on a Ti plate, which enabled the electro-generation of atomic hydrogen (H*) and the efficient electrocatalytic activation of H2O2 to hydroxyl radical (•OH). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) curves and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra verified the existence of H* and •OH. The electroreduction-electrooxidation system achieved 94.7% of 20 mg L-1 2,4-DCNB removal with a relatively low H2O2 addition (5 mM). Moreover, the inhibition rate of Photobacterium phosphoreum in the effluent decreased from 95% to 52% after the sequencing electroreduction-electrooxidation processes. It was further revealed that the H* dominated the electroreduction process and triggered the electrooxidation process. Our work sheds light on the effective removal of electron-withdrawing groups substituted aromatic contaminants from water and wastewater.

Chemo-Enzymatic Strategy for the Efficient Synthesis of Steroidal Drugs with 10α-Methyl Group and a Side Chain at C17-Position from Biorenewable Phytosterols.

Steroidal pharmaceuticals with a 10α-methyl group or without the methyl group at C10-position are important medicines, but their synthesis is quite challenging, due to that the natural steroidal starting materials usually have a 10ß-methyl group which is difficult to be inverted to 10α-methyl group. In this study, 3-((1R,3aS,4S,7aR)-1-((S)-1-hydroxypropan-2-yl)-7a-methyl-5-oxooctahydro-1H-inden-4-yl) propanoic acid (HIP-IPA, 2e) was demonstrated as a valuable intermediate for the synthesis of this kind of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) with a side chain at C17-position. Knockout of a ß-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase gene and introduction of a sterol aldolase gene into the genetically modified strains of Mycobacterium fortuitum (ATCC 6841) resulted in strains N13Δhsd4AΩthl and N33Δhsd4AΩthl, respectively. Both strains transformed phytosterols into 2e. Compound 2e was produced in 62% isolated yield (25 g) using strain N13Δhsd4AΩthl, and further converted to (3S,3aS,9aS,9bS)-3-acetyl-3a,6-dimethyl-1,2,3,3a,4,5,8,9,9a,9b-decahydro-7H-cyclopenta[a]naphthalen-7-one, which is the key intermediate for the synthesis of dydrogesterone. This study not only overcomes a challenging synthetic problem by enabling an efficient synthesis of dydrogesterone-like steroidal APIs from phytosterols, the well-recognized cheap and readily available biobased raw materials, but also provides insights for redesigning the metabolic pathway of phytosterols to produce other new compounds of relevance to the steroidal pharmaceutical industry.

Corrigendum: Effectiveness of a multicomponent exercise intervention in community-dwelling older Chinese people with cognitive frailty: protocol for a mixed-methods research.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1282263.].

The engineering of defect-modified boron nitride ribbons: an effective adsorbent to rapid capture for tetracycline.

Antibiotics, the persistent organic pollutants, have brought serious pollution to the aquatic environment. Therefore, it is necessary to select rapid adsorbents to remove them from their long-term threat. Herein, the introduction of defects in BN was employed to enhance its surface chemical activity for rapid capture of tetracycline via hydrothermal and calcination methods. The defect content in BN can be controlled by adjusting the volume ratio of ethanol to water. Among them, when the volume ratio of H2O/ethanol is 4/1 (BN-3), BN-3 has the most N defects at 33%, which increases the adsorption rate of h-BN for TC and promotes the adsorption capacity to 302.15 mg g-1, which is due to the introduction of nitrogen defects significantly regulates the electronic structure of BN. The corresponding theoretical calculations confirm that BN with N defects decreases the absorption energy of BN for TC. Additionally, the adsorption removal rate of tetracycline still reached 95.5% after 5 cycles of TC adsorption by BN-3, indicating that the defect-modified BN has good reusability and is beneficial for its use in pollutant adsorption.

Predominance of the Blastocystis subtype ST5 among free-living sympatric rodents within pig farms in China suggests a novel transmission route from farms.

Blastocystis is a parasitic protist that can infect humans and various domestic and wild animals. However, there is limited research on the prevalence of this parasite among rodents, particularly those living in pig farm settings. Therefore, to investigate the occurrence, molecular characterization, and zoonotic potential of Blastocystis among rodents within pig farm environments, we conducted an investigation of 227 rodents and shrews from 34 pig farms located in Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi provinces of China using nested PCR of the SSU rRNA gene of Blastocystis. The potential transmission and public health implications were also assessed from a One Health perspective. Blastocystis was detected in 86 (37.9%) fecal samples. The highest infection rate was observed among Ruttus norvegicus (73.7%, 42/58), followed by Ruttus tanezumi (30.1%, 41/136), and Mus musculus (12.0%, 3/25). However, it was not detected among individuals with Apodemus agrarius (n = 1) and Crocidura shantungensis (n = 7). Five known zoonotic Blastocystis subtypes (ST1-ST5) were identified, with ST4 (51.2%, 44/86) and ST5 (40.7%, 35/86) being the predominant ones, followed by ST1 (3.5%, 3/86), ST3 (3.5%, 3/86), and ST2 (1.2%, 1/86). ST4 was prevalent among R. norvegicus (83.3%, 35/42), while ST5 dominated R. tanezumi (70.7%, 29/41). Furthermore, ST5 exhibited the widest distribution at pig farm level, accounting for 65.0% (13/20) of Blastocystis-positive pig farms. This investigation presents the first documented Blastocystis infection in R. tanezumi and M. musculus, highlighting the predominant presence of the zoonotic ST5 subtype in rodents for the first time. The results demonstrate that sympatric rodents can serve as natural reservoirs for Blastocystis and play a role in its transmission. These findings provide information on the dynamics of rodent transmission and emphasize the potential public health threat posed by zoonotic Blastocystis subtypes spillover from pig farms.

Skeletal, dentoalveolar and soft tissue changes after stabilization splint treatment for patients with temporomandibular joint disorders.

BACKGROUND: Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) is a grouping of heterogeneous disorders with multifactorial origins. Stabilization splints (SS) have demonstrated an acceptable treatment effect in TMD. The possible changes at the skeletal, dental, and soft tissue levels need to be addressed to evaluate the benefit/risk ratio of this therapeutic procedure. Accordingly, this study aimed to three­dimensionally evaluate skeletal, dentoalveolar and soft tissue changes after SS treatment for patients with TMD. METHODS: This retrospective study included 74 adult patients with myofascial and/or intra-articular disorders (25 males and 49 females), with an average age of 22.88 ± 4.8 years, who underwent SS treatment. Pre- and post-treatment Cone beam computed tomography were analysed using Invivo 6.0.3 software. The primary outcome was the vertical skeletal and dentoalveolar changes, while the secondary outcomes were the anteroposterior skeletal, dentoalveolar and soft tissue changes. Paired t-test and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: For the primary outcome; skeletally, there was a significant increase in mandibular plane inclination (difference: 0.82°±1.37), decrease facial height ratio (difference: 0.45%±1.07) and at the dentoalveolar level, the inclination of the functional (FOP-SN, FOP-FH) and bisecting (BOP-SN, BOP-FH) occlusal planes exhibited a significant increase too (difference: 0.38 ± 1.43°, 0.49 ± 1.62°, 0.44 ± 1.29° and 0.41 ± 1.17°, respectively) and also a decrease in the overbite (difference: -0.54 ± 0.83). For the secondary outcomes; there was a significant decrease in mandibular position (SNB) (difference: 1.60 ± 1.36°) and increase in the overjet (difference: 0.93 ± 1.04, p < 0.001) and a significant lower lip retrusion (difference: 0.33 ± 1.01 mm p < 0.01), was observed too. CONCLUSIONS: SS therapy resulted in significant vertical skeletal and dentoalveolar changes that were manifested mainly by facial height ratio, mandibular and occlusal plane changes, and to a lesser extent, significant anteroposterior skeletal, dentoalveolar, and soft tissue changes in the form of mandibular position, increased overjet and a more retrusive lower lip. These changes should be considered during patients' selection prior to initiating SS therapy.

NeuralRecon: Real-Time Coherent 3D Scene Reconstruction from Monocular Video.

We present a novel framework named NeuralRecon for real-time 3D scene reconstruction from a monocular video. Unlike previous methods that estimate single-view depth maps separately on each key-frame and fuse them later, we propose to directly reconstruct local surfaces represented as sparse TSDF volumes for each video fragment sequentially by a neural network. A learning-based TSDF fusion module based on gated recurrent units is used to guide the network to fuse features from previous fragments. This design allows the network to capture local smoothness prior and global shape prior of 3D surfaces when sequentially reconstructing the surfaces, resulting in accurate, coherent, and real-time surface reconstruction. The fused features can also be used to predict semantic labels, allowing our method to reconstruct and segment the 3D scene simultaneously. Furthermore, we purpose an efficient self-supervised fine-tuning scheme that refines scene geometry based on input images through differentiable volume rendering. This fine-tuning scheme improves reconstruction quality on the fine-tuned scenes as well as the generalization to similar test scenes. The experiments on ScanNet, 7-Scenes and Replica datasets show that our system outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of both accuracy and speed.

Treatment advances in high-grade gliomas.

High-grade gliomas (HGG) pose significant challenges in modern tumour therapy due to the distinct biological properties and limitations of the blood-brain barrier. This review discusses recent advancements in HGG treatment, particularly in the context of immunotherapy and cellular therapy. Initially, treatment strategies focus on targeting tumour cells guided by the molecular characteristics of various gliomas, encompassing chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapy for enhanced precision. Additionally, technological enhancements are augmenting traditional treatment modalities. Furthermore, immunotherapy, emphasising comprehensive tumour management, has gained widespread attention. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, vaccines and CAR-T cells exhibit promising efficacy against recurrent HGG. Moreover, emerging therapies such as tumour treating fields (TTFields) offer additional treatment avenues for patients with HGG. The combination of diverse treatments holds promise for improving the prognosis of HGG, particularly in cases of recurrence.

Serum Folate and Vitamin B12 Modify the Associations of N6AMT1 Genetic Variants with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study in Chinese Pregnant Women.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the association between N-6 adenine-specific DNA methyltransferase 1 (N6AMT1) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and the modification of the relationship by folate and vitamin B12. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 1303 pregnant women (262 GDM and 1041 non-GDM) was performed in Tianjin, China. Nine SNPs in N6AMT1 were genotyped, and serum folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine (Hcy) levels were measured. The logistic regression models determined the odds ratios (ORs) for SNPs in N6AMT1 and the gene-nutrition interactions on GDM. Results: N6AMT1 rs7282280, rs1048546, and rs1997605 were related to GDM under the dominant model after adjusting for multiple covariates. Individuals carrying the N6AMT1 rs7282280 TC/TT genotypes had a lower risk of developing GDM, regardless of serum folate and vitamin B12 levels. However, rs1048546 TG/GG genotypes were associated with lower GDM risk when serum folate ≥ 6.0 ng/mL. Pregnancies with the risk genotypes in N6AMT1 and higher serum folate or lower vitamin B12 are more prone to GDM. The study also showed a statistically significant additive interaction between N6AMT1 rs1997605 GG genotypes and lower vitamin B12 (RERI: 2.54; 95% CI: 0.17, 4.92). Conclusion: SNPs in N6AMT1 were found to be associated with GDM, and serum folate and vitamin B12 levels can modify their associations.

Rational Design of Ruddlesden-Popper Perovskite Ferrites as Air Electrode for Highly Active and Durable Reversible Protonic Ceramic Cells.

Reversible protonic ceramic cells (RePCCs) hold promise for efficient energy storage, but their practicality is hindered by a lack of high-performance air electrode materials. Ruddlesden-Popper perovskite Sr3Fe2O7-δ (SF) exhibits superior proton uptake and rapid ionic conduction, boosting activity. However, excessive proton uptake during RePCC operation degrades SF's crystal structure, impacting durability. This study introduces a novel A/B-sites co-substitution strategy for modifying air electrodes, incorporating Sr-deficiency and Nb-substitution to create Sr2.8Fe1.8Nb0.2O7-δ (D-SFN). Nb stabilizes SF's crystal, curbing excessive phase formation, and Sr-deficiency boosts oxygen vacancy concentration, optimizing oxygen transport. The D-SFN electrode demonstrates outstanding activity and durability, achieving a peak power density of 596 mW cm-2 in fuel cell mode and a current density of - 1.19 A cm-2 in electrolysis mode at 1.3 V, 650 °C, with excellent cycling durability. This approach holds the potential for advancing robust and efficient air electrodes in RePCCs for renewable energy storage.

A Novel Disulfidptosis-related lncRNAs Prognostic Signature for Prognosis Predicting and Immune Microenvironment Characterization in Breast Cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer (BRCA) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in women. The improvement of the BRCA risk assessment method is of positive clinical significance. Although many clues showed the potential role of disulfidptosis in BRCA as a novel type of programmed cell death, whether disulfidptosis is involved in BRCA tumorigenesis remains unclear. METHOD: We used LASSO-univariate Cox analysis and multivariate Cox analysis to identify six disulfidptosis-related lncRNAs (DPLs) that correlated with BRCA clinical outcome and confirmed that these DPLs were independent prognostic factors for BRCA (YTHDF3-AS1, AC002398.1, AL451085.2, AC092718.4, AC097662.1 and AC053503.5). The BRCA risk prognosis model was subsequently established based on these DPLs. RESULT: After verifying the model reliability in predicting prognosis, immune infiltration and somatic mutation analysis showed significant differences in the immune microenvironment and mutation of DPLs by risk stratification. Immunotherapy response and drug resistance analysis suggest the reference value of DPLs in clinical individualized therapy. CONCLUSION: The abnormal expressions of selected DPLs were further validated by the BRCA cell line experiment. Our results shed new light on the role of DPLs in BRCA.

Non-contact wide-field viewing system-assisted scleral buckling surgery for retinal detachment in silicone oil-filled eyes.

AIM: To evaluate scleral buckling (SB) surgery using a non-contact wide-field viewing system and 23-gauge intraocular illumination for the treatment of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in silicone oil (SO)-filled eyes. METHODS: Totally 9 patients (9 eyes) with retinal detachment in SO-filled eyes were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent non-contact wide-field viewing system-assisted buckling surgery with 23-gauge intraocular illumination. SO was removed at an appropriate time based on recovery. The patients were followed up for at least 3mo after SO removal. Retinal reattachment, complications, visual acuity and intraocular pressure (IOP) before and after surgery were observed. RESULTS: Patients were followed up for a mean of 8.22mo (3-22mo) after SO removal. All patients had retinal reattachment. At the final follow-up, visual acuity showed improvement for 8 patients, and no change for 1 patient. The IOP was high in 3 patients before surgery, but it stabilized after treatment; it was not affected in the other patients. None of the patients had infections, hemorrhage, anterior ischemia, or any other complication. CONCLUSION: This new non-contact wide-field viewing system-assisted SB surgery with 23-gauge intraocular illumination is effective and safe for retinal detachment in SO-filled eyes.

Leptospira-specific immunoglobulin Y (IgY) is protective in infected hamsters.

Leptospirosis, a globally significant zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic Leptospira, continues to threaten the health and public safety of both humans and animals. Current clinical treatment of leptospirosis mainly relies on antibiotics but their efficacy in severe cases is controversial. Passive immunization has a protective effect in the treatment of infectious diseases. In addition, chicken egg yolk antibody (IgY) has gained increasing attention as a safe passive immunization agent. This study aimed to investigate whether hens produce specific IgY after immunization with inactivated Leptospira and the protective effect of specific IgY against leptospirosis. First, it was demonstrated that specific IgY could be extracted from the eggs of hens vaccinated with inactivated Leptospira and that specific IgY can specifically recognize and bind homotypic Leptospira with a high titre, as shown by MAT and ELISA. Next, we tested the therapeutic effects of IgY in early and late leptospirosis using a hamster model. The results showed that early specific IgY treatment increased the survival rate of hamsters to 100%, alleviated pathological damage to the liver, kidney, and lung, reduced leptospiral burden, and restored haematological indices as well as functional indicators of the liver and kidney. The therapeutic effect of early specific IgY was comparable to that of doxycycline. Late IgY treatment also enhanced the survival rate of hamsters and improved the symptoms of leptospirosis similar to early IgY treatment. However, the therapeutic effect of late IgY treatment was better when combined with doxycycline. Furthermore, no Leptospira colonization was observed in the kidneys, livers, or lungs of the surviving hamsters treated with specific IgY. Mechanistically, IgY was found to inhibit the growth and adhesion to cells of Leptospira. In conclusion, passive immunotherapy with specific IgY can be considered an effective treatment for leptospirosis, and may replace antibiotics regarding its therapeutic effects.

One electron oxidation-induced degradation of brominated flame retardants in electroactive membrane filtration system: Vital role of dichlorine radical-mediated process.

Reactive chlorine species (RCS) are inevitably generated in electrochemical oxidation process for treating high-salinity industrial wastewater, thereby resulting in the competition with coexisting hydroxyl radicals (•OH) for oxidizing recalcitrant organic compounds. Due to the low redox potentials compared to •OH, the role of RCS has been often overlooked. In this work, we developed an electroactive membrane filtration (EMF) system that had a high removal efficiency (99.1 ± 0.5 %) for tetrabromobisphenol S (TBBPS) at low energy consumption (1.45 kWh m-3). Electron spin resonance spectroscopy and molecular probing tests indicated the predominance of Cl2•-, of which steady-state concentration (2.2 ×10-10 M) was extremely higher than those of ClO• (6.7 ×10-13 M), •OH (0.95 ×10-13 M), and Cl• (2.39 ×10-15 M). The density functional theory (DFT) and intermediate product analysis highlighted that Cl2•- radicals had a higher electrophilic attack efficacy than •OH radicals for inducing changes in the electron density of the carbon atoms around phenolic hydroxyl groups, thus leading to the generation of transition state intermediates and accelerating the degradation of TBBPS. Our work demonstrates the vital role of Cl2•- radicals for pollutant degradation, highlighting the potential of this technology for cost-effective removal of recalcitrant organic compounds from water and wastewater.

Long-term impact of self-compassion training with core stability exercise on patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain: A randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the long-term effectiveness of self-compassion therapy (SCT) combined with core stability exercise (CSE) versus CSE alone in managing nonspecific chronic low back pain (NCLBP). METHODS: The combined group received SCT and CSE, while the exercise group only received CSE. Treatment was administered once weekly for four weeks, followed by one year of follow-up. The primary outcomes were changes in functional limitations (measured by Roland and Morris Disability Questionnaire scores[RMDQ]) and self-reported back pain (measured by the Numeric Pain Rating Scale[NRS]) at 52 weeks, with assessments also conducted at 2, 4, and 16 weeks. RESULTS: 52 (83.9%) completed the follow-up assessments and were included in the analysis (42 women [80.8%]; mean [SD] age,35.3 [10.0] years). In the combined group, the baseline mean (SD) RMDQ score was 9.3 (4.1),5.7 (5.8) at 2 weeks, 3.8 (3.4) at 4 weeks, 3.8 (3.7) at 16 weeks, and 2.4 (2.7) at 52 weeks. For the exercise group, the RMDQ scores were 8.2 (3.3) at baseline, 6.2 (4.2) at 2 weeks, 5.5 (4.7) at 4 weeks, 4.4 (4.5) at 16 weeks, and 5.2 (5.6) at 52 weeks. The estimated mean difference between the groups at 52 weeks was -3.356 points (95% CI, -5.835 to -0.878; P = 0.009), favoring the combined group. NRS scores showed similar changes. CONCLUSION: The addition of self-compassion therapy enhances the long-term efficacy of core stability training for NCLBP (Preregistered at chictr.org.cn:ChiCTR2100042810).

Clinical Efficacy of Programmed Cell Death Ligand 1 Antibody in Treatment of Extranodal Natural Killer/T-Cell Lymphoma With Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis.

Extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (ENKTCL-LAHS) is a rare disease with poor prognosis. Currently, there are no well-established treatments for LAHS. Almost 50% of patients experience relapsed or refractory disease to anti-hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) treatment, and the regimen for salvage therapy is limited. We report a case of ENKTCL-LAHS that was successfully treated with a programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibody (sugemalimab) alone and provide a literature review on existing ENKTCL-LAHS treatment options. A 31-year-old man with relapsed ENKTCL complicated by HLH was admitted to our hospital. Following the administration of the PD-L1 antibody sugemalimab, fever was resolved, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA copy number was negative, and HLH-related blood biochemical markers were decreased in the patient. Consequently, the patient achieved complete remission with a progression-free time (PFS) of 44 months. The prognosis of ENKTCL-LAHS is extremely poor, and the clinical treatment of ENKTCL-HLH is challenging. No previous reports exist regarding the use of PD-L1 antibodies in ENKTCL-LAHS treatment. This study is the first to report a patient with ENKTCL-LAHS treated with the PD-L1 antibody alone, who achieved a long PFS of 44 months. Our results suggest the effectiveness and safety of sugemalimab in the treatment of ENKTCL-LAHS; however, more clinical cases are required for validation. The PD-L1 antibody presents a novel treatment option for patients with ENKTCL-LAHS and warrants further clinical promotion.

Engineering van der Waals Contacts by Interlayer Dipoles.

Tuning the interfacial Schottky barrier with van der Waals (vdW) contacts is an important solution for two-dimensional (2D) electronics. Here we report that the interlayer dipoles of 2D vdW superlattices (vdWSLs) can be used to engineer vdW contacts to 2D semiconductors. A bipolar WSe2 with Ba6Ta11S28 (BTS) vdW contact was employed to exhibit this strategy. Strong interlayer dipoles can be formed due to charge transfer between the Ba3TaS5 and TaS2 layers. Mechanical exfoliation breaks the superlattice and produces two distinguished surfaces with TaS2 and Ba3TaS5 terminations. The surfaces thus have opposite surface dipoles and consequently different work functions. Therefore, all the devices fall into two categories in accordance with the rectifying direction, which were verified by electrical measurements and scanning photocurrent microscopy. The growing vdWSL family along with the addition surface dipoles enables prospective vdW contact designs and have practical application in nanoelectronics and nano optoelectronics.

Comparison of [18F]FDG and [68 Ga]pentixafor PET/CT in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore the feasibility of [68 Ga]pentixafor positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). PROCEDURES: This prospective study included patients with NPC who underwent [68 Ga]pentixafor PET/CT and 2-[18F]fuoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose ([18F]FDG) PET/CT within one week between November 2022 and March 2023. The [68 Ga]pentixafor and [18F]FDG uptakes in primary and metastatic lesions were measured and compared. RESULTS: Twenty-five participants (21 patients for initial stage and four patients for recurrence detection) were enrolled in our study. The participants underwent [18F]FDG PET/CT and [68 Ga]pentixafor PET/CT. [68 Ga]pentixafor PET/CT had the same detection rate as [18F]FDG for primary tumor (96% vs. 96%). The [68 Ga]pentixafor maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) and target-to-background ratio (TBR) of primary tumors were lower than those of [18F]FDG (SUVmax: 8.13 ± 2.78 vs. 14.25 ± 6.45; P < 0.01; TBR: 5.17 ± 2.14 vs. 9.81 ± 5.30, P < 0.01). The difference between tumor volume of [68 Ga]pentixafor (TVpentixafor) and tumor volume of [18F]FDG (TVFDG) showed no significance (median: 16.01 vs. 9.56, P = 0.332). In the detection of suspected metastatic cervical lymph nodes (CLNs), [68 Ga]pentixafor PET possessed a lower SUVmax than [18F]FDG PET/CT (SUVmax: 6.86 ± 2.63 vs. 10.39 ± 5.28, P < 0.01), but there was no significant difference in the detection rate between [68 Ga]pentixafor and [18F]FDG PET/CT (96 vs. 98, P = 0.613). CONCLUSIONS: [68 Ga]pentixafor is a promising imaging tracer for detecting primary and metastatic NPC. [68 Ga]pentixafor PET/CT is comparable to [18F]FDG PET/CT in the detection rate of primary tumors and metastatic cervical lymph nodes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, but [68 Ga]pentixafor uptake was heterogeneous. [68 Ga]pentixafor PET/CT may help select patients most likely to benefit from CXCR4-directed endoradiotherapy. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NO: ChiCTR2200065902.

Small extracellular vesicles from young plasma reverse age-related functional declines by improving mitochondrial energy metabolism.

Recent investigations into heterochronic parabiosis have unveiled robust rejuvenating effects of young blood on aged tissues. However, the specific rejuvenating mechanisms remain incompletely elucidated. Here we demonstrate that small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) from the plasma of young mice counteract pre-existing aging at molecular, mitochondrial, cellular and physiological levels. Intravenous injection of young sEVs into aged mice extends their lifespan, mitigates senescent phenotypes and ameliorates age-associated functional declines in multiple tissues. Quantitative proteomic analyses identified substantial alterations in the proteomes of aged tissues after young sEV treatment, and these changes are closely associated with metabolic processes. Mechanistic investigations reveal that young sEVs stimulate PGC-1α expression in vitro and in vivo through their miRNA cargoes, thereby improving mitochondrial functions and mitigating mitochondrial deficits in aged tissues. Overall, this study demonstrates that young sEVs reverse degenerative changes and age-related dysfunction, at least in part, by stimulating PGC-1α expression and enhancing mitochondrial energy metabolism.