Polyacetylene-Based Asymmetric Bicyclic Polymer by Blocking-Cyclization Technique.

A rare asymmetric bicyclic polymer containing different length of conjugated polyacetylene segments is synthesized by metathesis cyclopolymerization-mediated blocking-cyclization technique. The size of each single ring differs from each other, and the unique cyclic polymer topology is controlled by adjusting the feed ratio of monofunctional monomer to catalyst. The topological difference between linear and bicyclic polymers is confirmed by several techniques, and the visualized morphology of asymmetric bicyclic polymer is directly observed without tedious post-modification process. The photoelectric and thermal properties of polymers are investigated. This work expands the pathway for the derivation of cyclic polymers, and such unique topological structure enriches the diversity of cyclic polymer classes.

Relationship Between Genetic Polymorphism and Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke (APOE).

Objective: To investigate the relationship between apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene polymorphism and cognitive impairment (PSCI) in patients after acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Methods: A total of 150 AIS patients were treated in Chengde Central Hospital from December 2022 to December 2023 and were selected and divided into a disorder group (n=88) and a normal group (n=62) according to the presence or absence of PSCI. Clinical data of patients in the two groups were collected, ApoE genotype and allele distribution of patients in the disabled group and the normal group were detected, Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Mini-Mental State Examination scores of patients with different ApoE gene subtypes were compared, and the risk factors of PSCI after AIS were analyzed by unconditional Logistic regression. Results: The proportion of patients with acute lesions (≥3.0 cm) and the degree of carotid artery stenosis (moderate, severe, complete occlusion) in the disorder group was higher than that in the normal group, and the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score was higher than that in the control group, with statistical significance (P < .05). There were significant differences in the genotype and allelic distribution of ApoE between the two groups (P < .05). In both groups, the highest genotype frequency of ApoE was the ε3/3 homozygous type, which was 47.73% (in the disorder group) and 72.58% (in the normal group) respectively. In contrast, there were no significant differences in the genotype frequencies of ε2/2, ε2/3, ε2/4 and ε4/4 alleles in the two groups (P > .05). This means that in both groups of patients, the frequency of the ApoE ε3/3 genotype was the highest, while the genotype frequencies of ε2/2, ε2/3, ε2/4 and ε4/4 alleles were not significant between the two groups. difference. The distribution differences of these genotypes and alleles may be related to aspects such as disease risk and physiological function, providing valuable information for in-depth exploration of the role of ApoE in patients. The genotype frequency of ε3/3 in the disorder group was lower than that in the normal group. The frequency of the ε3/4 genotype was higher than that of the normal group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < .05). In both groups, the highest allele frequency was ε3 (68.75% in the disorder group and 83.06% in the normal group), and there was no difference in the frequency of ε2 allele between the two groups (P > .05). The frequency of the ε3 allele in the disorder group was lower than that in the normal group, and the frequency of the ε4 allele was higher than that in the normal group, the difference was statistically significant (P < .05). In the patients with cognitive impairment after AIS (disorder group), the MOCA and MMSE scores of patients with different ApoE subtypes (ε2, ε3, ε4) were compared, and the differences among the three groups were statistically significant (P < .05). The MOCA and MMSE scores in the ε4 group were lower than those in the ε2 and ε3 groups. The difference was statistically significant (P < .05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the degree of carotid artery stenosis, NIHSS score, and ApoEε4 gene were independent risk factors for PSCI in patients with AIS (P < .05). Conclusion: APOE gene polymorphism is associated with cognitive impairment in post-AIS patients, and carrying the ApoE Epsilon 4 gene may be associated with PSCI in post-AIS patients.

Ascidiaceibacter salegens gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from an ascidian.

An aerobic, Gram-stain negative, rod-shaped, non-motile bacterium, designated as strain HQA918T, was isolated from an ascidian, Botryllus schlosseri, which was collected from the coast of Weihai in the north of the Yellow Sea, in China. The strain grew optimally at 28-30 °C, at pH values 7.0-8.0, and in the presence of 1.0-3.0% (w/v) sodium chloride (NaCl). A phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain HQA918T can be affiliated with the family Flavobacteriaceae in the phylum Bacteroidetes, with 92.7% similarity to its close relatives. The major fatty acids identified were iso-C15:0, iso-C15:0 3-OH, and summed feature 3 (iso-C15:0 2-OH and/or C16:1ω7c). The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified aminolipid, and five unidentified polar lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 44.1 mol%. On the basis of the phylogenetic, genotypic, phenotypic, and chemotaxonomic data, this organism should be classified as a representative of a novel genus, for which the name Ascidiaceibacter gen. nov. is proposed. The type species is Ascidiaceibacter salegens sp. nov. (type strain HQA918T = KCTC 52719T = MCCC 1K03259T).

The prevalence and incidence of frailty in Pre-diabetic and diabetic community-dwelling older population: results from Beijing longitudinal study of aging II (BLSA-II).

BACKGROUND: Various factors including cardio-metabolic disorders are found to be correlated with frailty. With the increase in age, older adults are likely to have elevated blood glucose level. In this study we intend to investigate the prevalence and incidence of frailty in the pre-diabetic and diabetic community dwelling elderly population and the associated risk factors. METHODS: At baseline total of 10,039 subjects with a mean age of 70.51 (±7.82) were included. A total of 6,293 older adults were followed up at 12 months. A Frailty index (FI) with 32 items was developed using Rockwood's cumulative deficits method. Frailty index ≥0.25 was used as cut-off criteria for the diagnosis of frailty. Diagnosis of pre-diabetes and diabetes was set according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for fasting plasma glucose (FPG) level. Chi-square tests were performed to compare percentages by 3 major groups (non-diabetes, pre-diabetes, diabetes), ANOVA and student's t-tests was used to compare means of group for continuous variables. Multiple logistic regression models were performed to estimate the risk factors for frailty in non-diabetic, pre-diabetic and diabetic elderly populations using baseline and longitudinal data. RESULTS: Diabetic population had a much higher prevalence (19.32%) and incidence (12.32%) of frailty, compared to that of non-diabetic older adults (prevalence of 11.92% and incidence of 7.04%). And pre-diabetics had somewhat similar prevalence of 11.43% and slightly higher incidence of 8.73% for frailty than non-diabetic older adults. Diabetics were at 1.36 (95% CI = 1.18,1.56) and 1.56 (95%CI = 1.32,1.85) fold increase in risk of frailty compared to non-diabetic population for prevalence and incidence, respectively. Being female, urban living, high waist circumference, less house work and need regular anti-diabetic medications were independent risk factors only in pre-diabetic and diabetic older adults. CONCLUSION: This study confirms that diabetes is an independent serious chronic condition to increase the risk of frailty in community dwelling older adults in northern China. To effectively delay or avoid frailty, older adults should be advised for taking proper control of blood glucose level and avoiding the associated risk factors and implementing the protective factors in primary-care setting.

ZBTB7B is a permissive regulator of hepatocellular carcinoma initiation by repressing c-Jun expression and function.

Hepatocarcinogenesis is a multi-step process. However, the regulators of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) initiation are understudied. Adult liver-specific gene expression was globally downregulated in HCC. We hypothesize that adult liver-specific genes, especially adult liver-enriched transcription factors may exert tumor-suppressive functions in HCC. In this study, we identify ZBTB7B, an adult liver-enriched transcription factor as a permissive regulator of HCC initiation. ZBTB7B is highly expressed in hepatocytes in adult livers, compared to fetal livers. To evaluate the functions of ZBTB7B in hepatocarcinogenesis, we performed hepatocyte-specific ZBTB7B knockout in hydrodynamic oncogene transfer-induced mouse liver cancer models. Hepatocyte-specific knockout of ZBTB7B promotes activated Akt and N-Ras-induced HCC development. Moreover, ZBTB7B deficiency sensitizes hepatocytes to a single oncogene Akt-induced oncogenic transformation and HCC initiation, which is otherwise incompetent in inducing HCC. ZBTB7B deficiency accelerates HCC initiation by down-regulating adult liver-specific gene expression and priming livers to a fetal-like state. The molecular mechanism underlying ZBTB7B functions in hepatocytes was investigated by integrated transcriptomic, phosphoproteomic, and chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing analyses. Integrative multi-omics analyses identify c-Jun as the core signaling node in ZBTB7B-deficient liver cancer initiation. c-Jun is a direct target of ZBTB7B essential to accelerated liver cancer initiation in ZBTB7B-deficient livers. Knockdown of c-Jun expression or dominant negative c-Jun expression delays HCC development in ZBTB7B-deficient livers. In addition, ZBTB7B competes with c-Jun for chromatin binding. Ectopic ZBTB7B expression attenuates the tumor-promoting functions of c-Jun. Expression of ZBTB7B signature, composed of 140 genes co-regulated by ZBTB7B and c-Jun, is significantly downregulated in early-stage HCCs compared to adjacent normal tissues, correlates to liver-specific gene expression, and is associated with good prognosis in human HCC. Thus, ZBTB7B functions as a permissive regulator of HCC initiation by directly regulating c-Jun expression and function.

Multivariate logistic regression analysis of clinical characteristics and risk factors of cognitive impairment after cerebral ischemic stroke: implications for clinical treatment.

Background: Stroke ranks first among disease fatalities, and those who do survive stroke are prone to cognitive impairment. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical characteristics of post stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) and the risk factors of PSCI using multivariate logistic regression. Methods: January 2018 to January 2021, the clinical data of 120 patients treated for cerebral ischemic stroke (CIS) at Chengde Central Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. In this study, patients were divided into 2 groups: a control group and a cognitive impairment group. The clinical characteristics of cognitive impairment following CIS were determined using multivariate logistic regression analysis to examine the risk factors and identify clinical implications. Results: This study included the assessment of overall cognitive function and daily living activities of 120 participants, 68 of whom experienced cognitive impairment, representing an incidence of 57%, while 43% patients represented no cognitive impairment after CIS. After the careful analysis of the data, there were remarkable differences in age, sex, education level, stroke history, infarction area, and infarction location (P<0.05). There was no remarkable difference in the history of hypertension, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, carotid intima thickness, smoking, or drinking (P>0.05). The degree of white matter degeneration, brain atrophy, and dominant hemisphere involvement was higher in the cognitive impairment group (P<0.05). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that sex, age, education level, stroke history, infarction size, and infarction location were the main risk factors for cognitive impairment after CIS (P<0.05). Conclusions: Patients with cognitive impairment after CIS have imaging features of white matter degeneration, brain atrophy, and involvement of dominant hemispheres. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that sex, age, education level, stroke history, infarct size, and infarct location were main risk factors of cognitive impairment after CIS.

Synthesis of conjugated segment-based cyclic polymers for direct imaging of the cyclic molecular topology.

Conjugated polyacetylene-based monocyclic and bicyclic polymers were synthesized by blocking-cyclization metathesis polymerization using short ladderphanes as the initial motif and multi-cyclizing unit, and fully characterized to elucidate the cyclic characteristics and good photoelectric properties. Importantly, the molecular topology of rationally designed cyclic polymers was directly observed without a tedious post-modification treatment.

Validation of the utility of the Brief Smell Identification Test in Chinese patients with Parkinson's disease.

INTRODUCTION: Hyposmia is a common non-motor symptom occurring in Parkinson's disease (PD), and has been included in the diagnostic criteria. Although a version of the Brief Smell Identification Test (B-SIT) has been developed specifically for Chinese populations, there have been no reports of the utility of this test in the diagnosis of PD in China. OBJECTIVE: Considering the influence of cultural factors on olfactory test findings, we sought to investigate the utility and efficiency of the B-SIT in Chinese PD patients. METHODS: PD patients were recruited from the Movement Disorder Clinic of Xuanwu Hospital, and healthy controls were recruited from the Beijing Longitudinal Study on Aging Cohort II, between 2015 and 2016. The B-SIT was used for olfactory function testing in all subjects, and the familiarity of 59 odors questionnaire was performed for the investigation of familiarity of odors. RESULTS: A sample of 275 subjects participated in the study, including 112 healthy controls and 163 PD patients. The sensitivity (64.1%), specificity (83.9%), positive predictive value (83.5%) and negative predictive value (64.8%) for identifying PD were measured with the B-SIT. The consistency values between the results of self-reported smell loss and hyposmia identified by B-SIT in control and PD groups were 74.8% and 64.2%, respectively. Most of the odors in the B-SIT were familiar to people in the Chinese population, based on a survey of 3356 subjects using a familiarity questionnaire. CONCLUSIONS: It is recommended to use the B-SIT olfactory test instead of self-reported smell loss for PD diagnosis for Chinese.