Coronary Bifurcation Lesions.

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stent (DES) for the treatment of coronary bifurcation lesions (CBLs) is still technically demanding, mainly because of higher rates of both acute and chronic complication as compared with non-CBLs. Although provisional stenting (PS) is considered as the preferred strategy for most of the CBLs, a systematic two-stent technique (double kissing [DK] crush) should be considered in patients with complex left main (LM)-CBLs or non-LM-CBLs stratified by the DEFINITION criteria. Intracoronary imaging and/or physiologic evaluation should be used to optimize CBLs intervention. PCI with DES for the treatment of CBLs is technically demanding, mainly because of higher rates of both acute and chronic complication as compared with non-CBLs. PS is a default strategy for most of the CBLs. Double kissing (DK) crush is associated with better clinical outcomes compared with PS in patients with complex LM-CBLs or non-LM-CBLs stratified by the DEFINITION criteria. Intracoronary imaging and/or physiologic evaluation are useful tools to guide the treatment of CBLs. The use of drug-coated balloons in CBLs needs further data to support the clinical benefits.

Meta-analysis of Proton Pump Inhibitors in the Treatment of Pharyngeal Reflux Disease.

The present study aimed to examine the safety and healing effects of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) in people with laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD). To find all relevant studies published before April 1, 2022, we searched the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Clinical Trials, Cochrane Library, CNKI, and Wanfang databases. For SLE, we looked for all randomized controlled clinical trials related to PPIs versus placebo-controlled treatment of LPRD. Overall efficiency, reflux symptom index (RSI), reflux finding score (RFS), improvement in cough and hoarseness, and adverse reactions were compared using the Review Manager 5.3. Using the reflux symptom index (RSI) as an outcome indicator for efficacy assessment, the PPI group showed significant improvement compared with the placebo group [MD = 3.35, 95% CI (1.34, 5.37, P < 0.05)]. In terms of overall efficacy, the PPI group showed effectiveness, but its efficacy was not statistically significantly dissimilar from that of the placebo group [OR = 1.62, 95% CI (0.89, 2.95), P > 0.05].

Microwave Metamaterial Absorbers with Controllable Luminescence Features.

Traditional microwave absorbers can hide target objects from the detection of radar waves without tackling optical waves. However, in actual scenarios, the objects might still be observed by a hyperspectral remote sensor or an imaging system from comparison with environmental optical features, in particular for variable backgrounds. For this aspect, a comprehensive stealthing technique able to deal with microwaves and optical features simultaneously adapting to the variable environment is highly desired. In this work, an ultrathin flexible metamaterial that can simultaneously realize wideband microwave absorption and controllable visible and near-infrared luminescence spectra is proposed. The designed artificial coat can absorb more than 80% of the incident energy in the X-band (8-12 GHz) within a large incidence angle range up to 54° at low polarization sensitivity, while its real-time visible and near-infrared luminescence spectrum can be electrically adjusted through an integrated emission system. The method proposed here can be extended to broader wave bands and find important applications in multifunctional stealthing technologies.

CircFAM13B promotes the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma by sponging miR-212, upregulating E2F5 expression and activating the P53 pathway.

BACKGROUND: Most of the biological functions of circular RNAs (circRNAs) and the potential underlying mechanisms in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not yet been discovered. METHODS: In this study, using circRNA expression data from HCC tumor tissues and adjacent tissues from the Gene Expression Omnibus database, we identified out differentially expressed circRNAs and verified them by qRT-PCT. Functional experiments were performed to evaluate the effects of circFAM13B in HCC in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: We found that circFAM13B was the most significantly differentially expressed circRNA in HCC tissue. Subsequently, in vitro and in vivo studies also demonstrated that circFAM13B promoted the proliferation of HCC. Further studies revealed that circFAM13B, a sponge of miR-212, is involved in the regulation of E2F5 gene expression by competitively binding to miR-212, inhibits the activation of the P53 signalling pathway, and promotes the proliferation of HCC cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings revealed the mechanism underlying the regulatory role played by circFAM13B, miR-212 and E2F5 in HCC. This study provides a new theoretical basis and novel target for the clinical prevention and treatment of HCC.

Ultrathin Conformal Magnetic Invisible Cloak for Irregular Objects.

Magnetic invisible cloaking has been previously demonstrated but only limited to objects with rotational geometries either in spherical or cylindrical shapes, for which the classic analytical bilayer scheme could be strictly applied to design the hiding coat. In this work, we show that a quasi-static cloaking effect could be achieved for irregular objects, e.g., metals with sharp edges, using a numerical optimization scheme. In the quasi-static limit, it is unambiguously proved that the disturbance of the irregular geometries could be well compensated by the inhomogeneous distribution of the soft ferromagnetic (FM) layer either in permeability values or in shapes under the framework of a bilayer cloak. An FM mesh coat with a constant thickness of 0.5 mm was successfully engineered to meet the specific requirements. Experimentally, good cloaking performance with a field disturbance of less than 0.5% has been achieved for a 2 × 2 × 5 cm3 brass bar in a wide frequency range from ∼10 to 250 kHz. A commercial metal scanner was also applied to verify the practical potential. The general strategy to hide almost arbitrary objects was discussed in the end. In principle, the numerical conformal coat engineered by the composite material proposed here could be broadly extended for objects with various geometries.

Preparation of ROS-responsive core crosslinked polycarbonate micelles with thioketal linkage.

Herein, we prepared novel reactive oxygen species (ROS) responsive core crosslinked (CCL/TK) polycarbonate micelles conveniently by click reaction between amphiphilic diblock copolymer poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(5-methyl-5-propargylxycar-bonyl-1,3-dioxane-2-one) (PEG-PMPC) with pendant alkynyl group and thioketal containing azide derivative bis (2-azidoethyl) 3, 3'- (propane-2, 2-diylbis (sulfanediyl)) dipropanoate (TK-N3). The CCL/TK micelles were obtained with small size of 146.4 nm, showing excellent stability against dilution and high doxorubicin (DOX) loading. In vitro toxicity tests demonstrated that the obtained CCL/TK micelles have good biocompatibility and low toxicity with cell viability above 95 %. Furthermore, DOX-loaded CCL/TK micelles showed significantly superior toxicity with IC50 values for HeLa and MCF-7 cells about 3.74 µg/mL and 3.91 µg/mL, respectively. Confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) and flow cytometry showed excellent internalization efficiency and intracellular drug release of DOX-loaded CCL/TK micelles. The obtained ROS-responsive CCL/TK micelles showed great potential for anticancer drug delivery.

High production of 4-hydroxyisoleucine in Corynebacterium glutamicum by multistep metabolic engineering.

4-Hydroxyisoleucine (4-HIL) exhibits a unique glucose-dependent insulinotropic activity and is a promising candidate for the treatment of diabetes. Direct fermentation of 4-HIL has been recently studied; however, the expected titre and yield were not achieved. In this study, we initially developed a pathway for the synthesis of 4-HIL in an L-isoleucine producer, C. glutamicum YI, but insufficient supply of α-ketoglutarate was a bottleneck for a strong production. Six genes involved in oxaloacetate and α-ketoglutarate branches were overexpressed or deleted, which increased the production of 4-HIL to 5.12 g/L but a considerable amount of L-isoleucine still accumulated in the culture. We then dynamically modulated the activity of the α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (ODHC) by employing L-isoleucine-responsive transcription or attenuation strategies. The best-engineered strain, HIL18, produced 34.21 g/L 4-HIL with a negligible accumulation of byproducts, including approximately 0.6 g/L L-isoleucine. This study achieved the highest production and yield of 4-HIL, and optimizing the TCA cycle by dynamically modulating the activity of ODHA can be a powerful strategy to balance the carbon flux and achieve efficient production of α-ketoglutarate and derivatives.