Multiplex Detection of RNA Viruses Based on Ligation Reaction and Universal PCR Amplification.

To detect several RNA viruses simultaneously, a method based on multiplex ligation reaction combined with multiplex qPCR or multiplex PCR+capillary electrophoresis was established to detect four RNA viruses: human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C (HCV), influenza A virus (IAV) H1N1 and H5N1. The experimental conditions including ligation probe concentration, annealing procedure, ligation temperature and ligase dosage were optimized intensively. We found that the specificity of the ligation reaction was affected by the probe concentration predominantly, high-probe concentration (100 nM) resulted in splint-independent ligation with efficiency comparable to that with RNA splint. The sensitivity of the ligation reaction was affected by the annealing mode apparently as the sensitivity of the step-down annealing mode was 100 times higher than that of the isothermal annealing at 37 °C. Under the optimized condition, this assay could detect virus RNA as low as 16 viral copies per reaction in doubleplex and triplex real-time quantitative PCR detection with satisfactory specificity and precision. By multiplex PCR+capillary electrophoresis, four RNA viruses could be detected in one tube with the sensitivity of 10 copies per reaction.

Dapagliflozin modulates the faecal microbiota after myocardial infarction in non-diabetic mice.

The gut microbiota seems to be a major modulator of cardiovascular diseases, such as myocardial infarction. Dapagliflozin, a sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i), is an antidiabetic agent that was recently utilized in patients with cardiovascular diseases. This study aims to investigate the effects of dapagliflozin on the faecal microbiota of postinfarction non-diabetic mice. A total of 19 male mice were randomly divided into three groups, where two groups were enduced with myocardial infarction (MI) by left anterior descending ligation. One day after the surgery, each group was administered normal saline (15 mL/kg/day, 0.9%) or dapagliflozin (1.5 mg/kg/day) for 4 weeks. Echocardiography was obtained on day 28 post MI. Masson's trichrome staining was used to determine the degree of fibrosis. Faecal samples were collected to assess the microbiome by 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. We found that dapagliflozin significantly improved cardiac function in the non-diabetic myocardial infarction mice model after the 28-day treatment, especially in ejection fraction and fractional shortening (p < 0.01). Enterotypes were composed of Muribaculaceae and Lactobacillaceae after dapagliflozin treatment, while Muribaculaceae and Erysipelotrichaceae were the main enterotypes post-MI. Dapagliflozin increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria like Lactobacillaceae, while decreasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria like Bifidobacteriaceae. It was interesting to discover that Proteobacteria (especially Desulfovibrionaceae) were enriched after the dapagliflozin treatment for myocardial infarction. Dapagliflozin increased the abundance of the main beneficial bacteria. In post-myocardial infarction treatments, using dapagliflozin could positively contribute to the improvement of cardiac function and alter the structure of faecal microbiota.

Factors associated with afebrile presentation and delayed defervescence of bacterial meningitis in children under 3 years of age: a multi-centre retrospective analysis.

BACKGROUND: This multi-center study aimed to identify factors affecting fever and delayed defervescence in bacterial meningitis (BM) patients under 3 years of age because of the variability of fever in this patient population. METHODS: Only BM patients under 3 years treated at 49 centers in China from November 2018 to end-April 2021 were included in the study. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine factors associated with afebrile presentation and fever of delayed defervescence. RESULTS: A total of 863 BM patients under 3 years were included in the study. Coagulase negative staphylococcus was associated with afebrile presentation (OR = 1.176), while septicaemia and ear-nose-throat infections were associated with fever (P < 0.05). The patients with fever were assigned into early and delayed defervescence groups based on defervescence time (less than and more than or equal to one week). Furthermore, Streptococcus agalactiae meningitis (OR = 1.124), concomitant gastrointestinal infection (OR = 1.276), encephalomalacia (or = 1.339), and subdural effusion (OR = 1.454) were independently associated with delayed defervescence (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The findings can aid in the efficient utilization of fever in auxiliary diagnosis and evaluating the condition of the disease.

Three-dimensional visualization and evaluation of hilar cholangiocarcinoma resectability and proposal of a new classification.

BACKGROUND: As digital medicine has exerted profound influences upon diagnosis and treatment of hepatobiliary diseases, our study aims to investigate the accuracy of three-dimensional visualization and evaluation (3DVE) system in assessing the resectability of hilar cholangiocarcinoma (hCCA), and explores its potential clinical value. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The discovery cohort, containing 111 patients from April 2013 to December 2019, was retrospectively included to determine resectability according to revised criteria for unresectability of hCCA. 3D visualization models were reconstructed to evaluate resectability parameters including biliary infiltration, vascular involvement, hepatic atrophy and metastasis. Evaluation accuracy were compared between contrast-enhanced CT and 3DVE. Logistic analysis was performed to identify independent risk factors of R0 resection. A new comprehensive 3DVE classification of hCCA based on factors influencing resectability was proposed to investigate its role in predicting R0 resection and prognosis. The main outcomes were also analyzed in cohort validation, including 34 patients from January 2020 to August 2022. RESULTS: 3DVE showed an accuracy rate of 91% (95%CI 83.6-95.4%) in preoperatively evaluating hCCA resectability, significantly higher than 81% (95%CI 72.8-87.7%) of that of CT (p = 0.03). By multivariable analysis, hepatic artery involvement in 3DVE was identified an independent risk factor for R1 or R2 resection (OR = 3.5, 95%CI 1.4,8.8, P < 0.01). New 3DVE hCCA classification was valuable in predicting patients' R0 resection rate (p < 0.001) and prognosis (p < 0.0001). The main outcomes were internally validated. CONCLUSIONS: 3DVE exhibited a better efficacy in evaluating hCCA resectability, compared with contrast-enhanced CT. Preoperative 3DVE demonstrated hepatic artery involvement was an independent risk factor for the absence of R0 margin. 3DVE classification of hCCA was valuable in clinical practice.

Efficacy of the scatter correction algorithm in portable chest radiography.

PURPOSE: Portable chest radiographs (CXRs) continue to be a vital diagnostic tool for emergency and critical care medicine. The scatter correction algorithm (SCA) is a post-processing algorithm aiming to reduce scatter within portable images. This study aimed to assess whether the SCA improved image quality (IQ) in portable CXRs. METHODS: Objective and subjective IQ assessments were undertaken on both phantom and clinical images, respectively. For objective analysis, attenuators were placed on the anterior surface of the patient's thorax to simulate pathologies present within uniform regions of the phantom's lung and heart. Phantom CXRs were acquired with three different tube-current-times (mAs). Phantom images were processed with different SCA strengths. Contrast to noise ratios (CNR) within the attenuator were determined for each algorithm strength and compared to non-SCA images. For subjective analysis, two independent radiologists graded 30 clinical images with and without the SCA activated. The images were graded for IQ in different anatomical structures and overall diagnostic confidence. RESULTS: Objectively, most strengths of the SCA improved the CNR in both regions. However, a detrimental effect was recorded for some algorithm strengths in regions of high contrast. Subjectively, both observers recorded the SCA significantly improved IQ in clinical CXRs in all anatomical regions. Observers indicated the greatest improvement in the lung and hilar regions, and least improvement in the chest wall and bone. All images with and without the SCA were deemed diagnostic. CONCLUSION: This study shows the potential radiation dose neutral IQ improvement when using an SCA in clinical patient CXRs.

A Phosphorous-Based Bi-Functional Flame Retardant Based on Phosphaphenanthrene and Aluminum Hypophosphite for an Epoxy Thermoset.

A phosphorous-based bi-functional compound HPDAl was used as a reactive-type flame retardant (FR) in an epoxy thermoset (EP) aiming to improve the flame retardant efficiency of phosphorus-based compounds. HPDAl, consisting of two different P-groups of aluminum phosphinate (AHP) and phosphophenanthrene (DOPO) with different phosphorous chemical environments and thus exerting different FR actions, exhibited an intramolecular P-P groups synergy and possessed superior flame-retardant efficiency compared with DOPO or AHP alone or the physical combination of DOPO/AHP in EP. Adding 2 wt.% HPDAl made EP composites acquire a LOI value of 32.3%, pass a UL94 V-0 rating with a blowing-out effect, and exhibit a decrease in the heat/smoke release. The flame retardant modes of action of HPDAl were confirmed by the experiments of the scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermogravimetry-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (TG-FTIR-GC/MS). The results indicate that the phosphorous-based FRs show different influences on the flame retardancy of composites, mainly depending on their chemical structures. HPDAl had a flame inhibition effect in the gas phase and a charring effect in the condensed phase, with a well-balanced distribution of P content in the gas/condensed phase. Furthermore, the addition of HPDAl hardly impaired the mechanical properties of the matrix due to the link by chemical bonds between them.

[Texture filtering based unsupervised registration methods and its application in liver computed tomography images].

Image registration is of great clinical importance in computer aided diagnosis and surgical planning of liver diseases. Deep learning-based registration methods endow liver computed tomography (CT) image registration with characteristics of real-time and high accuracy. However, existing methods in registering images with large displacement and deformation are faced with the challenge of the texture information variation of the registered image, resulting in subsequent erroneous image processing and clinical diagnosis. To this end, a novel unsupervised registration method based on the texture filtering is proposed in this paper to realize liver CT image registration. Firstly, the texture filtering algorithm based on L0 gradient minimization eliminates the texture information of liver surface in CT images, so that the registration process can only refer to the spatial structure information of two images for registration, thus solving the problem of texture variation. Then, we adopt the cascaded network to register images with large displacement and large deformation, and progressively align the fixed image with the moving one in the spatial structure. In addition, a new registration metric, the histogram correlation coefficient, is proposed to measure the degree of texture variation after registration. Experimental results show that our proposed method achieves high registration accuracy, effectively solves the problem of texture variation in the cascaded network, and improves the registration performance in terms of spatial structure correspondence and anti-folding capability. Therefore, our method helps to improve the performance of medical image registration, and make the registration safely and reliably applied in the computer-aided diagnosis and surgical planning of liver diseases.

A Trajectory Planning Method for Autonomous Valet Parking via Solving an Optimal Control Problem.

In the last decade, research studies on parking planning mainly focused on path planning rather than trajectory planning. The results of trajectory planning are more instructive for a practical parking process. Therefore, this paper proposes a trajectory planning method in which the optimal autonomous valet parking (AVP) trajectory is obtained by solving an optimal control problem. Additionally, a vehicle kinematics model is established with the consideration of dynamic obstacle avoidance and terminal constraints. Then the parking trajectory planning problem is modeled as an optimal control problem, while the parking time and driving distance are set as the cost function. The homotopic method is used for the expansion of obstacle boundaries, and the Gauss pseudospectral method (GPM) is utilized to discretize this optimal control problem into a nonlinear programming (NLP) problem. In order to solve this NLP problem, sequential quadratic programming is applied. Considering that the GPM is insensitive to the initial guess, an online calculation method of vertical parking trajectory is proposed. In this approach, the offline vertical parking trajectory, which is calculated and stored in advance, is taken as the initial guess of the online calculation. The selection of an appropriate initial guess is based on the actual starting position of parking. A small parking lot is selected as the verification scenario of the AVP. In the validation of the algorithm, the parking trajectory planning is divided into two phases, which are simulated and analyzed. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is efficient in solving a parking trajectory planning problem. The online calculation time of the vertical parking trajectory is less than 2 s, which meets the real-time requirement.

A multitask bi-directional RNN model for named entity recognition on Chinese electronic medical records.

BACKGROUND: Electronic Medical Record (EMR) comprises patients' medical information gathered by medical stuff for providing better health care. Named Entity Recognition (NER) is a sub-field of information extraction aimed at identifying specific entity terms such as disease, test, symptom, genes etc. NER can be a relief for healthcare providers and medical specialists to extract useful information automatically and avoid unnecessary and unrelated information in EMR. However, limited resources of available EMR pose a great challenge for mining entity terms. Therefore, a multitask bi-directional RNN model is proposed here as a potential solution of data augmentation to enhance NER performance with limited data. METHODS: A multitask bi-directional RNN model is proposed for extracting entity terms from Chinese EMR. The proposed model can be divided into a shared layer and a task specific layer. Firstly, vector representation of each word is obtained as a concatenation of word embedding and character embedding. Then Bi-directional RNN is used to extract context information from sentence. After that, all these layers are shared by two different task layers, namely the parts-of-speech tagging task layer and the named entity recognition task layer. These two tasks layers are trained alternatively so that the knowledge learned from named entity recognition task can be enhanced by the knowledge gained from parts-of-speech tagging task. RESULTS: The performance of our proposed model has been evaluated in terms of micro average F-score, macro average F-score and accuracy. It is observed that the proposed model outperforms the baseline model in all cases. For instance, experimental results conducted on the discharge summaries show that the micro average F-score and the macro average F-score are improved by 2.41% point and 4.16% point, respectively, and the overall accuracy is improved by 5.66% point. CONCLUSIONS: In this paper, a novel multitask bi-directional RNN model is proposed for improving the performance of named entity recognition in EMR. Evaluation results using real datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Downregulation of S100A4 Alleviates Cardiac Fibrosis via Wnt/ß -Catenin Pathway in Mice.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cardiac fibrosis is a pathological change leading to cardiac remodeling during the progression of myocardial ischemic diseases, and its therapeutic strategy remains to be explored. S100A4, a calcium-binding protein, participates in fibrotic diseases with an unclear mechanism. This study aimed to investigate the role of S100A4 in cardiac fibrosis. METHODS: Cardiac fibroblasts from neonatal C57BL/6 mouse hearts were isolated and cultured. Myocardial infarction was induced by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD). The ligation was not performed in the sham group. A volume of 5×105pfu/g adenovirus or 5 µM/g ICG-001 was intramyocardially injected into five parts bordering the infarction zone or normal region. We used Western blotting, quantitative RT-PCR, immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry and Masson's trichrome staining to explore the function of S100A4. RESULTS: We found significant increases of S100A4 level and cardiac fibrosis markers, and ß-catenin signaling activation in vitro and in vivo. In addition, knockdown of S100A4 significantly reduced cardiac fibrosis and ß-catenin levels. Moreover, the expression of S100A4 decreased after ICG-001 inhibited ß-catenin signal pathway. CONCLUSION: Downregulation of S100A4 alleviates cardiac fibrosis via Wnt/ß -catenin pathway in mice. S100A4 may be a therapeutic target of cardiac fibrosis.

Differentiation of pyogenic hepatic abscesses from malignant mimickers using multislice-based texture acquired from contrast-enhanced computed tomography.

BACKGROUND: Pyogenic hepatic abscess may mimic primary or secondary carcinoma of the liver on contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT). The present study was to explore the usefulness of the analysis of multislice-based texture acquired from CECT in the differentiation between pyogenic hepatic abscesses and malignant mimickers. METHODS: This retrospective study included 25 abscesses in 20 patients and 33 tumors in 26 subjects who underwent CECT. To make comparison, we also enrolled 19 patients with hepatic single simple cyst. The images from CECT were analyzed using a Laplacian of Gaussian band-pass filter (5 filter levels with sigma weighting ranging from 1.0 to 2.5). We also quantified the uniformity, entropy, kurtosis and skewness of the multislice-based texture at different sigma weightings. Statistical significance for these parameters was tested with one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey honestly significant difference (HSD) test. Diagnostic performance was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: There were significant differences in entropy and uniformity at all sigma weightings (P<0.001) among hepatic abscesses, malignant mimickers and simple cysts. The significant difference in kurtosis and skewness was shown at sigma 1.8 and 2.0 weightings (P=0.002-0.006). Tukey HSD test showed that the abscesses had a significantly higher entropy and lower uniformity compared with malignant mimickers (P=0.000-0.004). Entropy (at a sigma 2.0 weighting) had the largest area under the ROC curve (0.888) in differentiating abscesses from malignant mimickers, with a sensitivity of 81.8% and a specificity of 88.0% when the cutoff value was set to 3.64. CONCLUSION: Multislice-based texture analysis may be useful for differentiating pyogenic hepatic abscesses from malignant mimickers.

Hepatic blood volume imaging with the use of flat-detector CT perfusion in the angiography suite: comparison with results of conventional multislice CT perfusion.

PURPOSE: To prospectively determine the feasibility of flat-detector (FD) computed tomography (CT) perfusion to measure hepatic blood volume (BV) in the angiography suite in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty patients with HCC were investigated with conventional multislice and FD CT perfusion. CT perfusion was carried out on a multislice CT scanner, and FD CT perfusion was performed on a C-arm angiographic system, before transarterial chemoembolization procedures. BV values of conventional and FD CT perfusion were measured within tumors and liver parenchyma. The arterial perfusion portion of CT perfusion BV was extracted from CT perfusion BV by multiplying it by a hepatic perfusion index. Relative values (RVs) for CT perfusion arterial BV and FD CT perfusion BV (FD BV) were defined by dividing BV of tumor by BV of parenchyma. Relationships between BV and RV values of these two techniques were analyzed. RESULTS: In all patients, both perfusion procedures were technically successful, and all 33 HCCs larger than 10 mm were identified with both imaging methods. There were strong correlations between the absolute values of FD BV and CT perfusion arterial BV (tumor, r = 0.903; parenchyma, r = 0.920; both P < .001). Bland-Altman analysis showed a mean difference of -0.15 ± 0.24 between RVs for CT perfusion arterial BV and FD BV. CONCLUSIONS: The feasibility of FD CT perfusion to assess BV values of liver tumor and surrounding parenchyma in the angiographic suite was demonstrated.

The synergistic flame retardant effect of biobased phytic acid arginine salt and hydroxylated montmorillonite in polybutylenes succinate.

In this research, hydroxylated nano montmorillonite (DK2) was used as a synergistic agent in combination with phytic acid arginine salt (PaArg). The flame retardancy and mechanical properties of PBS with different amounts of PaArg and DK2 were studied. Furthermore, the synergistic effect and mechanism of PaArg and DK2 in PBS were explored. The results showed that adding 23.5 % PaArg and 1.5 % DK2 increased the limiting oxygen index value (LOI) of the composite to 31.4 %, passing the UL 94 V-0 rating. By adding 25 % PaArg alone, the LOI value of the composite is 26.2 %, and the vertical burning test result is only V-2 rating. The cone calorimetry test results show that the peak heat release rate, total heat release rate, and total smoke production of PBS/23.5 % PaArg/1.5 % DK2 composite are 55.8 %, 17.1 %, and 44.7 % lower than those of PBS/25 % PaArg composite, respectively. All the results showed that PaArg and DK2 exhibited good synergistic flame retardancy in PBS. In addition, the impact strength and bending strength test results show that the impact strength and bending strength of PBS/23.5 %PaArg/1.5 %DK2 composite are higher than those of PBS/25%PaArg composite. This work improved the flame retardant efficiency of biobased flame retardants in PBS.

Deciphering the molecular landscape: evolutionary progression from gynecomastia to aggressive male breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Gynecomastia denotes the benign proliferation of glandular breast tissue and stands as a recognized risk factor for male breast cancer. Nonetheless, the underlying carcinogenic mechanisms orchestrating the progression from gynecomastia to cancer remain poorly understood. METHODS: This study employed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to meticulously dissect the cellular landscape of gynecomastia and unravel potential associations with male breast cancer at a single-cell resolution. Pseudotime and evolutionary analyses were executed to delineate the distinct features characterizing gynecomastia and male breast cancer. The TCGA database, along with cell-cell communication analysis and immunohistochemistry staining, was harnessed to validate differential gene expression, specifically focusing on CD13. RESULT: From the copy number variation profiles and evolutionary tree, we inferred shared mutation characteristics (18p+ and 18q+) underpinning both conditions. The developmental trajectory unveiled an intriguing overlap between gynecomastia and malignant epithelial cells. Moreover, the differential gene CD13 emerged as a common denominator in both gynecomastia and male breast cancer when compared with normal mammary tissue. Cell-cell interaction analysis and communication dynamics within the tumor microenvironment spotlighted distinctions between CD13+ and CD13- subsets, with the former exhibiting elevated expression of FGFR1-FGF7. CONCLUSIONS: Our investigation provides novel insights into the evolutionary progression from gynecomastia to male breast cancer, shedding light on the pivotal role of CD13 in driving this transition. The identification of CD13 as a potential therapeutic target suggests the feasibility of CD13-targeted interventions, specifically tailored for male breast cancer treatment.

Green synthesis of bio-based flame retardant/natural rubber inorganic-organic hybrid and its flame retarding and toughening effect for polylactic acid.

Polylactic acid (PLA) has garnered significant interest as a bio-based polymer due to its favorable thermal and processing characteristics, as well as its notable economic and environmental benefits. However, the drawbacks such as flammability and poor toughness of PLA severely constrained its applications in more fields. Here, based on the outstanding flame-retardant properties of core-shell flame retardant (CSFR) and the toughening potential of natural rubber (NR), we synthesized inorganic-organic hybrid of CSFR-NR using an aqueous synthesis to synchronous optimization of the comprehensive performance of PLA. The as-prepared CSFR-NR with "hard core and soft shell" possess the ability to promote char formation and facilitate uniform dispersion in the PLA matrix. Consequently, the PLA/CSFR-NR showed an excellent flame retardancy with the limiting oxygen index (LOI) value of 31.5 % and UL-94 V-0 rating and synergistic toughening effect with absolutely improvement in elongation at break and notched izod impact strength, achieving a balance between the fire safety and mechanical performance. Moreover, the degradation rate of PLA has also been substantially promoted by CSFR-NR in simulated seawater. Hence, this study offers a straightforward, efficient, and environmentally friendly strategy for creating high-performance flame retardant and toughened bioplastics.

Semi-Supervised Deep Learning for Cell Type Identification From Single-Cell Transcriptomic Data.

Cell type identification from single-cell transcriptomic data is a common goal of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) data analysis. Deep neural networks have been employed to identify cell types from scRNAseq data with high performance. However, it requires a large mount of individual cells with accurate and unbiased annotated types to train the identification models. Unfortunately, labeling the scRNAseq data is cumbersome and time-consuming as it involves manual inspection of marker genes. To overcome this challenge, we propose a semi-supervised learning model "SemiRNet" to use unlabeled scRNAseq cells and a limited amount of labeled scRNAseq cells to implement cell identification. The proposed model is based on recurrent convolutional neural networks (RCNN), which includes a shared network, a supervised network and an unsupervised network. The proposed model is evaluated on two large scale single-cell transcriptomic datasets. It is observed that the proposed model is able to achieve encouraging performance by learning on the very limited amount of labeled scRNAseq cells together with a large number of unlabeled scRNAseq cells.

Impact of a Novel Phosphoramide Flame Retardant on the Fire Behavior and Transparency of Thermoplastic Polyurethane Elastomers.

In many application fields of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), excellent flame retardancy and transparency are required. However, higher flame retardancy is often at the expense of transparency. It is difficult to achieve high flame retardancy while maintaining the transparency of TPU. In this work, a kind of TPU composite with good flame retardancy and light transmittance was obtained by adding a new synthetic flame retardant named DCPCD, which was synthesized by the reaction of diethylenetriamine and diphenyl phosphorochloridate. Experimental results showed that 6.0 wt % DCPCD endowed TPU with a limiting oxygen index value of 27.3%, passing the UL 94 V-0 rating in the vertical burning test. The cone calorimeter test results showed that the peak heat release rate (PHRR) of the TPU composite was dramatically reduced from 1292 kW/m2 (pure TPU) to 514 kW/m2 by adding only 1 wt % DCPCD. With the increase of DCPCD contents, the PHRR and total heat release gradually decreased, and the char residue gradually increased. More importantly, the addition of DCPCD has little effect on the transparency and haze of TPU composites. In addition, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were carried out to investigate the morphology and composition of the char residue for TPU/DCPCD composites and explore the flame retardant mechanism of DCPCD in TPU.

Combining polyp diameter and polyp-to-bile ratio by dynamic contrast-enhanced CT scanning can improve the diagnostic specificity of gallbladder neoplastic polyps.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to distinguish between cholesterol and neoplastic gallbladder polyps using dynamic contrast-enhanced CT. METHODS: The dataset retrospectively comprised 222 cases, including 106 cases of cholesterol polyps and 116 cases of neoplastic polyps (59 adenoma and 57 adenocarcinoma). The perception and Hounsfield units of the polyps and gallbladder bile were assessed by contrast-enhanced CT, and the polyp-to-bile ratio (PBR) was calculated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the curve analyses were used to assess the diagnostic value of the diameter and PBR for neoplastic polyps. RESULTS: The diameter of cholesterol polyps was significantly smaller than that of neoplastic polyps. The proportion of perceived cholesterol polyps in the plain and arterial phases of CT were significantly lower than those of neoplastic polyps (p < .001). On the contrary, the CT values of gallbladder bile of cholesterol polyps were always significantly higher than those of neoplastic polyps (p < .001). The median PBR values of cholesterol polyps were significantly lower than those of neoplastic polyps (p ≤ .001). ROC analysis showed that diameter and a plain phase PRB had better diagnostic value for neoplastic polyps. Polyp diameter ≥ 11.95 mm and the plain phase PBR ≥1.48 were the optimal cut-off values for diagnosis of neoplastic polyps. Combining a diameter ≥ 12 mm and a PBR in the plain phase ≥1.48 further improved neoplastic polyp diagnostic specificity and positive likelihood ratio (10.453). CONCLUSIONS: Polyp-to-bile ratio in contrast-enhanced CT scanning is a new and convenient index for identifying cholesterol and neoplastic gallbladder polyps.

Improving the hygroscopicity and flame retardancy of polyamide 6 fabrics by surface coating with ß-FeOOH and sulfamic acid.

The combustion of polyamide 6 (PA6) fabrics releases toxic smoke, which will pollute the environment and threaten human life and health. Herein, a novel eco-friendly flame-retardant coating was constructed and applied to PA6 fabrics. Needle-like ß-FeOOH with a high surface area was firstly constructed onto the surface of PA6 fabrics by the hydrolysis of Fe3+, sulfamic acid (SA) was then introduced by a facile dipping and nipping method. The growth of ß-FeOOH also endowed the PA6 fabrics with certain hydrophilicity and moisture permeability, resulting in improved comfortability. The limiting oxygen index (LOI) of the prepared PA6/Fe/6SA sample was increased to 27.2% from 18.5% of control PA6 sample, and the damaged length was reduced to only 6.0 cm from 12.0 cm of control PA6 sample. Meanwhile, the melt dripping was also eliminated. The heat release rate and total heat release values of the PA6/Fe/6SA sample were decreased to 318.5 kW/m2 and 17.0 MJ/m2, respectively, compared with those of control PA6 (494.7 kW/m2 and 21.4 MJ/m2). The analysis results indicated that nonflammable gases diluted flammable gases. The observation of char residues demonstrated that the stable char layer was formed, which effectively inhibited the transfer of heat and oxygen. The organic solvent-free coating does not contain any conventional halogens/phosphorus elements, which provides a useful methodology to produce environmentally friendly flame-retardant fabrics.

Klotho improves cardiac fibrosis, inflammatory cytokines, ferroptosis, and oxidative stress in mice with myocardial infarction.

The anti-aging protein Klotho has been associated with cardiovascular health protection. Nevertheless, the protective mechanism remains unknown. The present study is aimed at exploring the effect of Klotho on cardiac remodeling and its potential mechanism in mice with myocardial infarction (MI). We used left anterior coronary artery descending ligation to develop an MI model for in vivo analyses. In contrast, H9C2 cells and cardiac fibroblasts were used to establish the oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) model in in vitro analyses. In vivo and in vitro models were treated with Klotho. Compound C, an AMPK signaling inhibitor, was used to determine whether Klotho's effects are mediated through the AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway. Echocardiography, Masson trichrome staining, immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and western blot were used to detect the related indicators. The findings of the in vivo model indicate that Klotho treatment improved the mice's cardiac function, reduced cardiac fibrosis, and attenuated myocardial inflammatory factors, ferroptosis, and oxidative stress. The results of the in vitro model were in line with the findings of in vivo modeling. An AMPK inhibitor, Compound C, reversed all these effects. In conclusion, Klotho potentially improves cardiac remodeling in MI mice by regulating AMPK/mTOR signaling, demonstrating Klotho as an effective MI therapeutic agent.