The association between frailty and the risk of mortality in critically ill congestive heart failure patients: findings from the MIMIC-IV database.

Background: Frailty is a severe, common co-morbidity associated with congestive heart failure (CHF). This retrospective cohort study assesses the association between frailty and the risk of mortality in critically ill CHF patients. Methods: Eligible patients with CHF from the Medical Information Base for Intensive Care IV database were retrospectively analyzed. The frailty index based on laboratory tests (FI_Lab) index was calculated using 33 variables to assess frailty status. The primary outcomes were in-hospital mortality and one-year mortality. The secondary outcomes were the incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) and the administration of renal replacement therapy (RRT) in patients with concurrent AKI. Survival disparities among the FI_Lab subgroups were estimated with Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The association between the FI_Lab index and mortality was examined with Cox proportional risk modeling. Results: A total of 3273 adult patients aged 18 years and older were enrolled in the study, with 1820 men and 1453 women included. The incidence rates of in-hospital mortality and one-year mortality rate were 0.96 per 1,000 person-days and 263.8 per 1,000 person-years, respectively. Multivariable regression analysis identified baseline FI_Lab > 0.45 as an independent risk factor predicting in-hospital mortality (odds ratio = 3.221, 95% CI 2.341-4.432, p < 0.001) and one-year mortality (hazard ratio=2.152, 95% CI: 1.730-2.678, p < 0.001). In terms of predicting mortality, adding FI_Lab to the six disease severity scores significantly improved the overall performance of the model (all p < 0.001). Conclusions: We established a positive correlation between the baseline FI_Lab and the likelihood of adverse outcomes in critical CHF patients. Given its potential as a reliable prognostic tool for such patients, further validation of FI_Lab across multiple centers is recommended for future research.

Synergistic Protecting-Etching Synthesis of Carbon Nanoboxes@Silicon for High-Capacity Lithium-Ion Battery.

Silicon (Si) is considered as the most likely choice for the high-capacity lithium-ion batteries owing to its ultrahigh theoretical capacity (4200 mA h g-1) being over 10 times than that of traditional graphite anode materials (372 mA h g-1). However, its widespread application is limited by problems such as a large volume expansion and low electrical conductivity. Herein, we design a hollow nitrogen-doped carbon-coated silicon (Si@Co-HNC) composite in a water-based system via a synergistic protecting-etching strategy of tannic acid. The prepared Si@Co-HNC composite can effectively mitigate the volume change of silicon and improve the electrical conductivity. Moreover, the abundant voids inside the carbon layer and the porous carbon layer accelerate the transport of electrons and lithium ions, resulting in excellent electrochemical performance. The reversible discharge capacity of 1205 mA h g-1 can be retained after 120 cycles at a current density of 0.5 A g-1. In particular, the discharge capacity can be maintained at 1066 mA h g-1 after 300 cycles at a high current density of 1 A g-1. This study provides a new strategy for the design of Si-based anode materials with excellent electrical conductivity and structural stability.

Therapeutic strategies for aberrant splicing in cancer and genetic disorders.

Accurate pre-mRNA splicing is essential for proper protein translation; however, aberrant splicing is commonly observed in the context of cancer and genetic disorders. Notably, in genetic diseases, these splicing abnormalities often play a pivotal role. Substantial challenges persist in accurately identifying and classifying disease-induced aberrant splicing, as well as in development of targeted therapeutic strategies. In this review, we examine prevalent forms of aberrant splicing and explore potential therapeutic approaches aimed at addressing these splicing-related diseases. This summary contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities about aberrant splicing and provide a foundation for the development of effective therapeutic interventions in the field of genetic disorders and cancer.

High-Speed and Ultrasensitive Solar-Blind Ultraviolet Photodetectors Based on In Situ Grown ß-Ga2O3 Single-Crystal Films.

Deep-level defects in ß-Ga2O3 that worsen the response speed and dark current (Id) of photodetectors (PDs) have been a long-standing issue for its application. Herein, an in situ grown single-crystal Ga2O3 nanoparticle seed layer (NPSL) was used to shorten the response time and reduce the Id of metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) PDs. With the NPSL, the Id was reduced by 4 magnitudes from 0.389 µA to 81.03 pA, and the decay time (τd1/τd2) decreased from 258/1690 to 62/142 µs at -5 V. In addition, the PDs with the NPSL also exhibit a high responsivity (43.5 A W-1), high specific detectivity (2.81 × 1014 Jones), and large linear dynamic range (61 dB) under 254 nm illumination. The mechanism behind the performance improvement can be attributed to the suppression of the deep-level defects (i.e., self-trapped holes) and increase of the Schottky barrier. The barrier height extracted is increased by 0.18 eV compared with the case without the NPSL. Our work contributes to understanding the relationship between defects and the performance of PDs based on heteroepitaxial ß-Ga2O3 thin films and provides an important reference for the development of high-speed and ultrasensitive deep ultraviolet PDs.

Splicing inhibition mediated by reduced splicing factors and helicases is associated with the cellular response of lung cancer cells to cisplatin.

Lung cancer's mortality is predominantly linked to post-chemotherapy recurrence, driven by the reactivation of dormant cancer cells. Despite the critical role of these reactivated cells in cancer recurrence and metastasis, the molecular mechanisms governing their therapeutic selection remain poorly understood. In this study, we conducted an integrative analysis by combining PacBio single molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing with short reads Illumina RNA-seq. Our study revealed that cisplatin-induced dormant and reactivated cancer cells exhibited a noteworthy reduction in gene transcripts and alternative splicing events. Particularly, the differential alternative splicing events were found to be overlapping with the differentially expression genes and enriched in genes related to cell cycle and cell division. Utilizing ENCORI database and correlation analysis, we identified key splicing factors, including SRSF7, SRSF3, PRPF8, and HNRNPC, as well as RNA helicase such as EIF4A3, DDX39A, DDX11, and BRIP1, which were associated with the observed reduction in alternative splicing and subsequent decrease in gene expression. Our study demonstrated that lung cancer cells reduce gene transcripts through diminished alternative splicing events mediated by specific splicing factors and RNA helicase in response to the chemotherapeutic stress. These findings provide insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the therapeutic selection and reactivation of dormant cancer cells. This discovery opens a potential avenue for the development of therapeutic strategies aimed at preventing cancer recurrence following chemotherapy.