Zinc supplementation and light intensity affect 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP) formation in fragrant rice.

BACKGROUND: Improving the yield and aroma content of fragrant rice is the focus of fragrant rice research. Light and Zinc (Zn) management generally cause regulations in the 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP) accumulation in fragrant rice. In addition, Zn promotes rice growth and improves rice yield, which has the potential to compensate for the negative impact of low light on fragrant rice yield. However, the potential of Zn to improve fragrant rice yield and 2AP content under shading conditions has not been verified. METHODS: Field experiments were conducted in the rice season (May-September) in 2019 to 2021. Two light i.e., normal light (NL) and low light (LL) and four Zn levels i.e., 0 kg Zn ha- 1 (N0), 1 kg Zn ha- 1 (Zn1), 2 kg Zn ha- 1(Zn2), and 3 kg Zn ha- 1 (Zn3), which applied at booting stage was set up. The grain yield, 2AP contents, Zn content in polished rice, photosynthesis related indicators, MDA content, antioxidant enzyme activity and the biochemical parameters related to 2AP formation were investigated. RESULTS: Shading reduced yield by 8.74% and increased 2AP content by 24.37%. In addition, shading reduced net photosynthetic rate (Pn), superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT), and increased proline, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and pyrroline-5-carboxylic acid (P5C), proline dehydrogenase (PDH), △1-pyrroline-5-carboxylic acid synthetase (P5CS), malondialdehyde (MDA). With increasing Zn application levels, yield, 2AP, Zn content in polished rice, Pn, proline, P5C, GABA, PDH, P5CS, SOD, CAT and POD increased, and MDA decreased. Significant Light and Zn interaction effect on 2AP content was detected, and both shading and increasing Zn application increased the 2AP content. CONCLUSION: Shading can increase the 2AP content but reduce the yield of fragrant rice. Increasing Zn application under shading conditions can further promote the biosynthesis of 2AP, but the effect of improving yield is limited.

Lung Ultrasound in Emergency and Critically Ill Patients: Number of Supervised Exams to Reach Basic Competence.

BACKGROUND: Lung ultrasound is increasingly used in critically ill patients as an alternative to bedside chest radiography, but the best training method remains uncertain. This study describes a training curriculum allowing trainees to acquire basic competence. METHODS: This multicenter, prospective, and educational study was conducted in 10 Intensive Care Units in Brazil, China, France and Uruguay. One hundred residents, respiratory therapists, and critical care physicians without expertise in transthoracic ultrasound (trainees) were trained by 18 experts. The main study objective was to determine the number of supervised exams required to get the basic competence, defined as the trainees' ability to adequately classify lung regions with normal aeration, interstitial-alveolar syndrome, and lung consolidation. An initial 2-h video lecture provided the rationale for image formation and described the ultrasound patterns commonly observed in critically ill and emergency patients. Each trainee performed 25 bedside ultrasound examinations supervised by an expert. The progression in competence was assessed every five supervised examinations. In a new patient, 12 pulmonary regions were independently classified by the trainee and the expert. RESULTS: Progression in competence was derived from the analysis of 7,330 lung regions in 2,562 critically ill and emergency patients. After 25 supervised examinations, 80% of lung regions were adequately classified by trainees. The ultrasound examination mean duration was 8 to 10 min in experts and decreased from 19 to 12 min in trainees (after 5 vs. 25 supervised examinations). The median training duration was 52 (42, 82) days. CONCLUSIONS: A training curriculum including 25 transthoracic ultrasound examinations supervised by an expert provides the basic skills for diagnosing normal lung aeration, interstitial-alveolar syndrome, and consolidation in emergency and critically ill patients.

Limiting life-sustaining treatment for very old ICU patients: cultural challenges and diverse practices.

BACKGROUND: Decisions about life-sustaining therapy (LST) in the intensive care unit (ICU) depend on predictions of survival as well as the expected functional capacity and self-perceived quality of life after discharge, especially in very old patients. However, prognostication for individual patients in this cohort is hampered by substantial uncertainty which can lead to a large variability of opinions and, eventually, decisions about LST. Moreover, decision-making processes are often embedded in a framework of ethical and legal recommendations which may vary between countries resulting in divergent management strategies. METHODS: Based on a vignette scenario of a multi-morbid 87-year-old patient, this article illustrates the spectrum of opinions about LST among intensivsts with a special interest in very old patients, from ten countries/regions, representing diverse cultures and healthcare systems. RESULTS: This survey of expert opinions and national recommendations demonstrates shared principles in the management of very old ICU patients. Some guidelines also acknowledge cultural differences between population groups. Although consensus with families should be sought, shared decision-making is not formally required or practised in all countries. CONCLUSIONS: This article shows similarities and differences in the decision-making for LST in very old ICU patients and recommends strategies to deal with prognostic uncertainty. Conflicts should be anticipated in situations where stakeholders have different cultural beliefs. There is a need for more collaborative research and training in this field.

Pathogenesis and Function of Interleukin-35 in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

It is well known that RA (Rheumatoid arthritis) is an autoimmune disease characterized by multiple and symmetric arthropathy. The main pathological features of RA are synovial hyperplasia, angiogenesis, pannus formation, inflammatory cell infiltration, articular cartilage, bone destruction, and ultimately joint dysfunction, even deformity. IL-35 (Interleukin-35) is a new member of the IL-12 (Interleukin-12) family, which is an immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory cytokine secreted mainly by Treg (T regulatory cells). There is evidence suggested that IL-35 can attenuate the progression of RA through influencing the immune and pathological process. It suggests that IL-35 played an important role in the pathogenesis of RA, and can be used as a potential target for the future treatment of RA. This review summarizes the recent advances of IL-35 in the pathological roles and the therapeutic potential roles in RA.

Managing ICU surge during the COVID-19 crisis: rapid guidelines.

Given the rapidly changing nature of COVID-19, clinicians and policy makers require urgent review and summary of the literature, and synthesis of evidence-based guidelines to inform practice. The WHO advocates for rapid reviews in these circumstances. The purpose of this rapid guideline is to provide recommendations on the organizational management of intensive care units caring for patients with COVID-19 including: planning a crisis surge response; crisis surge response strategies; triage, supporting families, and staff.

Dialysis dose in acute kidney injury: no time for therapeutic nihilism--a critical appraisal of the Acute Renal Failure Trial Network study.

The optimal dialysis dose for acute kidney injury is a matter of great controversy. Clinical trials, predominantly single-center studies, have shown conflicting results. The Acute Renal Failure Trial Network (ATN) Study was designed to compare clinical outcomes between patients allocated to an intensive dose versus a less-intensive dose of renal replacement therapy. Recently, the results of this large randomized controlled multicenter study were published. The present article will discuss certain aspects of this trial: the overall design, the baseline patient characteristics, and comparison of the results with earlier studies. Finally, the article will address the implications of the ATN Study results for clinical practice.

Highly selective fluorescent chemosensor for detection of Fe(3+) based on Fe3O4@ZnO.

The combination of fluorescent nanoparticles and specific molecular probes appears to be a promising strategy for developing fluorescent nanoprobes. In this work, L-cysteine (L-Cys) capped Fe3O4@ZnO core-shell nanoparticles were synthesized for the highly selective detection of Fe(3+). The proposed nanoprobe shows excellent fluorescent property and high selectivity for Fe(3+) due to the binding affinity of L-Cys with Fe(3+). The binding of Fe(3+) to the nanoprobe induces an apparent decrease of the fluorescence. Thus a highly selective fluorescent chemosensor for Fe(3+) was proposed based on Fe3O4@ZnO nanoprobe. The magnetism of the nanoprobe enables the facile separation of bound Fe(3+) from the sample solution with an external magnetic field, which effectively reduces the interference of matrix. The detection limit was 3 nmol L(-1) with a rapid response time of less than 1 min. The proposed method was applied to detect Fe(3+) in both serum and wastewater samples with acceptable performance. All above features indicated that the proposed fluorescent probe as sensing platform held great potential in applications of biological and analytical field.

Rapid determination of ultra trace amounts of residual protein in penicillin based on its enhancement effects of Rayleigh light scattering on trimethoxyphenlyfluorone (TM-PF)-Mo(VI) complex.

This is a report on the ultra trace amount determination of protein in penicillin based on the interaction with trimethoxyphenlyfluorone (TM-PF)-molybdenum (Mo)(VI) complex in the presence of Triton X-100 microemulsion by Rayleigh light scattering (RLS). At pH 2.70, the weak RLS of TM-PF-Mo(VI) complex was enhanced greatly by the addition of proteins. Based on this, the interaction of TM-PF-Mo(VI) complex with proteins was studied and a new quantitative determination method for proteins was developed. This method is extremely sensitive (the linear range of the calibration curve was 0-80 ng mL(-1) for bovine serum albumin (BSA). The detection limit was 0.47 ng mL(-1)), simple, steady and free from interference of coexisting substances. TM-PF-Mo(VI) complex as a spectral probe can be used to the determination of the residual protein in penicillin samples successfully.

Clinical significance of detecting lymphatic and blood vessel invasion in stage II colon cancer using markers D2-40 and CD34 in combination.

This research was conducted to compare differences in colon cancer lymphatic vessel invasion (LVI) with D2-40 antibody labeling and regular HE staining, blood vessel invasion (BVI) with CD34 antibody labeling and HE staining and to assess the possibility of using D2-40-LVI/CD34-BVI in combination for predicting stage II colon cancer prognosis and guiding adjuvant chemotherapy.Anti-D2-40 and anti-CD34 antibodies were applied to tissue samples of 220 cases of stage II colon cancer to label lymphatic vessels and small blood vessels, respectively. LVI and BVI were assessed and multivariate COX regression analysis was performed for associations with colon cancer prognosis. Regular HE staining proved unable to differentiate lymphatic vessels from blood vessels, while D2-40 selectively labeled lymphatic endothelial cell cytosol and CD34 was widely expressed in large and small blood vessels of tumors as well as normal tissues. Compared to regular HE staining, D2-40-labeling for LVI and CD34-labeling for BVI significantly increased positive rate (22.3% vs 10.0% for LVI, and 19.1% vs 9.1% for BVI). Multivariate analysis indicated that TNM stage, pathology tissue type, post-surgery adjuvant chemotherapy, D2-40-LVI, and CD34-BVI were independent factors affecting whole group colon cancer prognosis, while HE staining-BVI, HE staining-LVI were not significantly related. When CD34-BVI/D2-40-LVI were used in combination for detection, the risk of death for patients with two or one positive results was 5.003 times that in the LVI(-)andBVI(-) group (95% CI 2.365 - 9.679). D2-40 antibody LVI labeling and CD34 antibody BVI labeling have higher specificity and accuracy than regular HE staining and can be used as molecular biological indicators for prognosis prediction and guidance of adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II colon cancer.

Serum levels of surface large envelope proteins: prognostic markers for hepatitis B e antigen-negative patients with adefovir dipivoxil treatment.

BACKGROUND: The present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the prognostic role of pretreatment serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface large envelope protein (LHBs) levels in the curative effects after 48-week adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) treatment. METHODS: A total of 128 patients received ADV once daily for 48 weeks. Serum levels of LHBs were detected by ELISA. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to analyse HBV genotype and HBV DNA copies in serum. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to assess the optimal cutoff value of pretreatment LHBs for predicting the curative effects of ADV treatment. RESULTS: After ADV treatment for 48 weeks, viral response and partial response were 31.4% (16/51) and 29.4% (15/51), respectively, in patients from the hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive group; viral response and partial response were 39.7% (27/68) and 39.7% (27/68), respectively, in patients from the HBeAg-negative group. HBeAg-negative patients with high serum levels of LHBs had low response rates to antiviral therapy. ROC curve analysis showed that HBeAg-negative patients with serum LHBs levels > or =3.889 microg/ml at baseline predicted non-response to antiviral therapy. The sensitivity was 42.5% and specificity was 92.86%. Among a total of 19 patients with high serum levels of LHBs (> or =3.889 microg/ml) at baseline, only 2 (11%) patients responded to antiviral therapy. There was no correlation observed between HBV genotype and effects of ADV treatment. CONCLUSIONS: HBeAg-negative patients with high serum levels of LHBs (> or =3.889 microg/ml) at baseline should not be recommended to receive ADV treatment.