Nickel-catalysed regio- and stereoselective hydrocyanation of alkynoates and its mechanistic insights proposed by DFT calculations.

We have developed a nickel-catalysed regio- and stereoselective hydrocyanation of alkynoates that gives syn-ß-cyanoalkenes. DFT calculations suggest that a favored transition state promotes Cα-H bond formation for determining regio- and stereoselectivity of the products.

Transcendent thinking counteracts longitudinal effects of mid-adolescent exposure to community violence in the anterior cingulate cortex.

Adolescence involves extensive brain maturation, characterized by social sensitivity and emotional lability, that co-occurs with increased independence. Mid-adolescence is also a hallmark developmental stage when youths become motivated to reflect on the broader personal, ethical, and systems-level implications of happenings, a process we term transcendent thinking. Here, we examine the confluence of these developmental processes to ask, from a transdisciplinary perspective, how might community violence exposure (CVE) impact brain development during mid-adolescence, and how might youths' dispositions for transcendent thinking be protective? Fifty-five low-SES urban youth with no history of delinquency (32 female; 27 Latinx, 28 East Asian) reported their CVE and underwent structural MRI first at age 14-18, and again 2 years later. At the study's start, participants also discussed their feelings about 40 minidocumentaries featuring other teens' compelling situations in a 2-h private interview that was transcribed and coded for transcendent thinking. Controlling for CVE and brain structure at the start: (1) New CVE during the 2-year inter-scan interval was associated with greater gray matter volume (GMV) reduction over that interval in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a central network hub whose reduced volume has been associated with posttraumatic stress disorder, and across multiple additional cortical and subcortical regions; (2) participants' transcendent thinking in the interview independently predicted greater GMV increase during the 2-year inter-scan interval in the ACC. Findings highlight the continued vulnerability of mid-adolescents to community violence and the importance of supporting teens' dispositions to reflect on the complex personal and systems-level implications and affordances of their civic landscape.

Antioxidants attenuate mitochondrial oxidative damage through the Nrf2 pathway: A promising therapeutic strategy for stroke.

Stroke represents one of the leading causes of disability and death worldwide. Reactive oxygen species overproduction-induced oxidative stress in mitochondria results in mitochondrial DNA damage, mitochondrial autophagy (mitophagy), inflammation, and apoptosis during the pathologic progression of stroke. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a master regulator that induces the transcription of a wide range of antioxidant genes to attenuate mitochondrial oxidative stress. Different antioxidative compounds, including polyphenols, mitochondrial antioxidants, triterpenoids, and others, have been shown to be able to activate Nrf2 and, thus, exert neuroprotective effects on stroke by ameliorating mitochondrial oxidative damage. In this review, we briefly discussed the role of mitochondrial oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of stroke and focused on the protective effects of antioxidative compounds through attenuating mitochondrial oxidative damage by activating Nrf2 in stroke. In conclusion, these antioxidants may represent novel therapeutic strategies against stroke.

Ruxolitinib reduces severe CRS response by suspending CAR-T cell function instead of damaging CAR-T cells.

The therapeutic effect of CAR-T is often accompanied by sCRS, which is the main obstacle to the promotion of CAR-T therapy. The JAK1/2 inhibitor ruxolitinib has recently been confirmed as clinically effective in maintaining control over sCRS, however, its mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we firstly revealed that ruxolitinib significantly inhibited the proliferation of CAR-T cells without damaging viability, and induced an efficacy-favored differentiation phenotype. Second, ruxolitinib reduced the level of cytokine release not only from CAR-T cells, but also from other cells in the immune system. Third, the cytolytic activity of CAR-T cells was restored once the ruxolitinib was removed; however, the cytokines released from the CAR-T cells maintained an inhibited state to some degree. Finally, ruxolitinib significantly reduced the proliferation rate of CAR-T cells in vivo without affecting the therapeutic efficacy after withdrawal at the appropriate dose. We demonstrated pre-clinically that ruxolitinib interferes with both CAR-T cells and the other immune cells that play an important role in triggering sCRS reactions. This work provides useful and important scientific data for clinicians on the question of whether ruxolitinib has an effect on CAR-T cell function loss causing CAR-T treatment failure when applied in the treatment of sCRS, the answer to which is of great clinical significance.

Community violence exposure correlates with smaller gray matter volume and lower IQ in urban adolescents.

Adolescents' exposure to community violence is a significant public health issue in urban settings and has been associated with poorer cognitive performance and increased risk for psychiatric illnesses, including PTSD. However, no study to date has investigated the neural correlates of community violence exposure in adolescents. Sixty-five healthy adolescents (age = 14-18 years; 36 females, 29 males) from moderate- to high-crime neighborhoods in Los Angeles reported their violence exposure, parents' education level, and free/reduced school lunch status (socio-economic status, SES), and underwent structural neuroimaging and intelligence testing. Violence exposure negatively correlated with measures of SES, IQ, and gray matter volume. Above and beyond the effect of SES, violence exposure negatively correlated with IQ and with gray matter volume in the left inferior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex, regions involved in high-level cognitive functions and autonomic modulation, and previously shown to be reduced in PTSD and combat-exposed military populations. The current results provide first evidence that frontal brain regions involved in cognition and affect appear to be selectively affected by exposure to community violence, even in healthy nondelinquent adolescents who are not the direct victims or perpetrators of violence.

Optical damage resistant Ti-diffused Zr/Er-codoped lithium niobate strip waveguide for high-power 980 nm pumping.

Ti4+-diffused Zr4+/Er3+-codoped LiNbO3 strip waveguide was fabricated on an X-cut LiNbO3 substrate by thermal diffusion in sequence of Er3+, Zr4+ and Ti4+. Secondary ion mass spectrometry study shows that the Ti4+ ions follow a sum of two error functions in the width direction and a Gauss function in the depth direction of the waveguide. Both Er3+ and Zr4+ profiles follow the desired Gauss function, and entirely cover the Ti4+ profile. Optical study shows that the waveguide is TE or TM single mode at 1.5 µm wavelength, and has a loss of 0.3 (0.5) dB/cm for the TM (TE) mode. In the case of 980 nm pumping, the waveguide shows stable 1547 nm signal output under high-power pumping without optical damage observed, and a net gain of 1.1 dB/cm is obtained for the available pump power of 120 mW.

In vivo direct reprogramming of liver cells to insulin producing cells by virus-free overexpression of defined factors.

Direct reprogramming of autologous cells from diabetes patients to insulin producing cells is a new method for pancreatic cell replacement therapy. At present, transdifferentiation among mature cells is achieved mainly by introducing foreign genes into the starting tissue with viral vector, but there are potentical safety problems. In the present study, we delivered plasmids carrying Pdx1, Neurog3 and MafA genes (PNM) into mouse hepatocytes by hydrodynamics tail vein injection, investigated islet ß cells markers in transfected cells from protein and mRNA level, and then observed the long-term control of blood glucose in diabetic mice. We found that hepatocytes could be directly reprogrammed into insulin-producing cells after PNM gene transfection by non-viral hydrodynamics injection, and fasting blood glucose was reduced to normal, and lasted until 100 days after transfection. Intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (IPGTT) showed that glucose regulation ability was improved gradually and the serum insulin level approached to the level of normal mice with time. Insulin-positive cells were found in the liver tissue, and the expression of various islet ß-cell-specific genes were detected at the mRNA level, including islet mature marker gene Ucn3. In conclusion, we provide a new approach for the treatment of diabetes by in vivo direct reprogramming of liver cells to insulin producing cells through non-viral methods.

Polarization-insensitive, shallow Ti-diffused near-stoichiometric LiTaO3 strip waveguide for integrated optics.

We report on a Ti-diffused near-stoichiometric (NS) LiTaO3 strip waveguide fabricated by diffusion of an 8 µm wide, 160 nm thick Ti-strip followed by Li-rich vapor transport equilibration. It is found that the waveguide surface caves in ∼60 nm below the crystal surface. X-ray single-crystal diffraction shows that the indentation is due to Ti-induced lattice contraction. Optical studies show that the waveguide is in an NS composition environment, supports TE and TM single-mode propagation at 1.5 µm wavelength, is polarization insensitive, and has a shallow mode field profile and a loss of 0.2/0.3 dB/cm for the TE/TM mode. Secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis shows that the Ti profile follows a sum of two error functions in the width direction and a Gaussian function in the depth direction of the waveguide. With the optimized fabrication condition, the waveguide is promising for developing an optical-damage-resistant device that requires a shallow mode field profile.

Stereo- and chemoselective cross-coupling between two electron-deficient acrylates: an efficient route to (Z,E)-muconate derivatives.

A Ru-catalyzed direct oxidative cross-coupling reaction of acrylates was developed. It offers a straightforward and atom-economical protocol for the synthesis of functionalized (Z,E)-muconate derivatives in moderate to good yields with good stereo- and chemoselectivities. The conjugated muconates bearing differentiable terminal functionality can be selectively transformed into versatile synthetic intermediates widely used in organic synthesis.

Near-stoichiometric Ti-diffused LiNbO(3) strip waveguide doped with Zr(4+).

We report a near-stoichiometric Ti:Zr:LiNbO(3) strip waveguide fabricated from a congruent substrate with a technological process in the following sequence: Zr4+-diffusion-doping, diffusion of 8-µm-wide, 100-nm-thick Ti strips, and post-Li-rich vapor transport equilibration. We show that Zr(4+)-doping has little effect on the LiNbO(3) refractive index, and the waveguide is in a near-stoichiometric environment. The waveguide well supports both the TE and TM modes, shows weak polarization dependence, is in single mode at the 1.5 µm wavelength, and has a loss of ≤0.6/0.8 dB/cm for the TE/TM modes. A secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis shows that the Zr(4+)-profile part with a concentration above the threshold of photorefractive damage entirely covers the waveguide, implying that the waveguide would be optical-damage resistant.

Downregulation of chloroplast RPS1 negatively modulates nuclear heat-responsive expression of HsfA2 and its target genes in Arabidopsis.

Heat stress commonly leads to inhibition of photosynthesis in higher plants. The transcriptional induction of heat stress-responsive genes represents the first line of inducible defense against imbalances in cellular homeostasis. Although heat stress transcription factor HsfA2 and its downstream target genes are well studied, the regulatory mechanisms by which HsfA2 is activated in response to heat stress remain elusive. Here, we show that chloroplast ribosomal protein S1 (RPS1) is a heat-responsive protein and functions in protein biosynthesis in chloroplast. Knockdown of RPS1 expression in the rps1 mutant nearly eliminates the heat stress-activated expression of HsfA2 and its target genes, leading to a considerable loss of heat tolerance. We further confirm the relationship existed between the downregulation of RPS1 expression and the loss of heat tolerance by generating RNA interference-transgenic lines of RPS1. Consistent with the notion that the inhibited activation of HsfA2 in response to heat stress in the rps1 mutant causes heat-susceptibility, we further demonstrate that overexpression of HsfA2 with a viral promoter leads to constitutive expressions of its target genes in the rps1 mutant, which is sufficient to reestablish lost heat tolerance and recovers heat-susceptible thylakoid stability to wild-type levels. Our findings reveal a heat-responsive retrograde pathway in which chloroplast translation capacity is a critical factor in heat-responsive activation of HsfA2 and its target genes required for cellular homeostasis under heat stress. Thus, RPS1 is an essential yet previously unknown determinant involved in retrograde activation of heat stress responses in higher plants.

The in vivo characterization of electrospun heparin-bonded polycaprolactone in small-diameter vascular reconstruction.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the possibility of using heparin-bonded polycaprolactone grafts to replace small-diameter arteries. METHODS: Polycaprolactone was bonded with heparin. The activated partial thromboplastin time of heparin-bonded polycaprolactone grafts was determined in vitro. Small-diameter grafts were electrospun with heparin-bonded polycaprolactone and polycaprolactone and were implanted in dogs to substitute part of the femoral artery. Angiography was used to investigate the patency and aneurysm of the grafts after transplantation. After angiography, the patent grafts were explanted for histology analysis. The degradation of the grafts and the collagen content of the grafts were measured. RESULTS: Activated partial thromboplastin time tests in vitro showed that heparin-bonded polycaprolactone grafts exhibit obvious anticoagulation. Arteriography showed that two heparin-bonded polycaprolactone and three polycaprolactone grafts were obstructed. Other grafts were patent, without aneurysm formation. Histological analysis showed that the tested grafts degraded evidently over the implantation time and that the luminal surface of the tested grafts had become covered by endothelial cells. Collagen deposition in heparin-bonded polycaprolactone increased with time. There were no calcifications in the grafts. Gel permeation chromatography showed the heparin-bonded polycaprolactone explants at 12 weeks lose about 32% for Mw and 24% for Mn. The collagen content on the heparin-bonded polycaprolactone grafts increased over time. CONCLUSION: This preliminary study demonstrates that heparin-bonded polycaprolactone is a suitable graft for small artery reconstruction. However, heparin-bonded polycaprolactone degrades more rapidly than polycaprolactone in vivo.

Selective Alkenylation and Hydroalkenylation of Enol Phosphates through Direct C-H Functionalization.

An efficient and selective Rh-catalyzed direct CH functionalization reaction of enol phosphates was developed. The method is applicable to a variety of coupling partners, including activated alkenes, alkynes, and allenes, and leads to the formation of various valuable alkenylated and hydroalkenylated enol phosphates through the action of the phosphate directing group. The versatility and utility of the coupling products were demonstrated through further transformations into synthetically useful building blocks.

Metallaaromatic Complexes as Candidates for Future Molecular Materials and Electronic Devices: Recent Advancements.

In recent years, the field of organometallic chemistry has made a great progress and diverse types of metallaaromatics have successively been reported. In those studies, incorporation of ligated osmium centers into metallaaromatic systems played a prominent role. The reviewed literature documents that certain metallaaromatics with unconventional photophysical properties, redox and electronic transport properties and magnetism, have potential to be widely used in diverse practical applications, with selected examples of amino acid and fluoride anion identification, photothermal effects, functional materials, photodynamic therapy (PDT) in biomedicine, single-molecule junction conductors, and electron-transport layer materials (ETLs) in solar cells.

Diverse adolescents' transcendent thinking predicts young adult psychosocial outcomes via brain network development.

Developmental scientists have long described mid-adolescents' emerging capacities to make deep meaning about the social world and self, here called transcendent thinking, as a hallmark developmental stage. In this 5-years longitudinal study, sixty-five 14-18 years-old youths' proclivities to grapple psychologically with the ethical, systems-level and personal implications of social stories, predicted future increases in the coordination of two key brain networks: the default-mode network, involved in reflective, autobiographical and free-form thinking, and the executive control network, involved in effortful, focused thinking; findings were independent of IQ, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background. This neural development predicted late-adolescent identity development, which predicted young-adult self-liking and relationship satisfaction, in a developmental cascade. The findings reveal a novel predictor of mid-adolescents' neural development, and suggest the importance of attending to adolescents' proclivities to engage agentically with complex perspectives and emotions on the social and personal relevance of issues, such as through civically minded educational approaches.

Palladium-catalyzed regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselective allylation of nitroalkanes with monosubstituted allylic substrates.

Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation of nitroalkanes and monosubstituted allylic substrates was performed to afford products with two adjacent chiral centers and with excellent regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselectivities. The usefulness of the protocol in organic synthesis was demonstrated by transformation of the product to an optically active homoallylamine, a 2,3-disubstituted tetrahydropyridine, and an α,ß-disubstituted amino acid derivative.

[Special issues in endovascular treatment of lower extremities arteriosclerosis obliterans].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical efficacy of endovascular treatment for lower extremity arteriosclerosis obliterans. METHODS: A total of 34 patients (43 limbs) with lower extremity arteriosclerosis obliterans undergoing endovascular treatment from July 2010 to July 2012 were analyzed. The cohort had Fontaine stage II b (n = 16), Fontaine stage III (n = 10) and Fontaine stage III (n = 8). Among them, the lesions were of TASC IIA (n = 4), TASC IIB (n = 8), TASC IIC (n = 9) and TASC IID (n = 13). All patients underwent percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) plus stents after computed tomographic angiography (CTA) or digital subtraction angiography (DSA). And 9 patients underwent femoral endarterectomy associated with endovascular treatment. RESULTS: The success rate of this technique was 100%. One iliac artery ruptured during endovascular surgery. One patient suffered intraoperatively from arterial perforation. One patient was amputated one week later. One patient had in-stent thrombosis at Week 3 post-treatment. One patient was amputated at Week 4 after endovascular treatment. Thirty patients (38 limbs) were followed up for 13.3 months. During the follow-up, 3, 4 and 4 limbs became occluded at Month 6, 12 and 24 post-treatment respectively. CONCLUSION: Endovascular treatment has an excellent early patency rate. Special issues should be properly handled during endovascular treatment.

[Generation of six genotypes of infectious HCV pseudo-particles and detection of neutralizing antibodies in HCV patients].

OBJECTIVE: To generate hepatitis C virus pseudo-particles (HCVpp) containing the complete E1-E2 envelope glycoprotein, in order to establish a HCVpp database covering the six major genotypes of HCV (1b, 2a, 3b, 4, 5, and 6) and to develop a simple and effective method for detection of neutralizing antibodies in HCV patients. METHODS: HCVpp were generated for the six genotypes by co-transfecting 293T cells with a plasmid expressing the respective E1-E2 (p HR, CMVA 8.2 construct) and a MLV-GFP plasmid. Titration of each HCVpp was carried out by p24 ELISA. Infectivity of each HCVpp was assessed by mixing the harvested supernatant of producer cells with sera from HCV patients, adding the mixture to Huh-7 cells, and detecting the subsequent titers of neutralizing antibodies against HCVpp. RESULTS: All six types of HCVpp were able to infect Huh-7 cells in vitro. For healthy HCV carriers, only two genotypes of HCVpp (1b and 2a) produced neutralizing antibody titers more than 1:40. For cured HCV patients, only the 1b genotype produced neutralizing antibody titers more than 1:40. One patient showed titer of 1:200 for genotype 4. A healthy spouse of a chronic hepatitis C patient showed titers more than 1:40 for four genotypes of HCVpp (3a, 4, 5, 6). CONCLUSION: We generated six different genotypes of HCVpp successfully, established the in vitro neutralizing antibody detection method, and provided an effective model for screening antiviral drugs.

Echinocystic acid alleviated hypoxic-ischemic brain damage in neonatal mice by activating the PI3K/Akt/Nrf2 signaling pathway.

Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is considered a major cause of death and long-term neurological injury in newborns. Studies have demonstrated that oxidative stress and apoptosis play a major role in the progression of neonatal HIE. Echinocystic acid (EA), a natural plant extract, shows great antioxidant and antiapoptotic activities in various diseases. However, it has not yet been reported whether EA exerts a neuroprotective effect against neonatal HIE. Therefore, this study was undertaken to explore the neuroprotective effects and potential mechanisms of EA in neonatal HIE using in vivo and in vitro experiments. In the in vivo study, a hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD) model was established in neonatal mice, and EA was administered immediately after HIBD. Cerebral infarction, brain atrophy and long-term neurobehavioral deficits were measured. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) and dihydroethidium (DHE) staining were performed, and the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) were detected. In the in vitro study, an oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) model was employed in primary cortical neurons, and EA was introduced during OGD/R. Cell death and cellular ROS levels were determined. To illustrate the mechanism, the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 and Nrf2 inhibitor ML385 were used. The protein expression levels of p-PI3K, PI3K, p-Akt, Akt, Nrf2, NQO1, and HO-1 were measured by western blotting. The results showed that EA treatment significantly reduced cerebral infarction, attenuated neuronal injury, and improved brain atrophy and long-term neurobehavioral deficits in neonatal mice subjected to HIBD. Meanwhile, EA effectively increased the survival rate in neurons exposed to OGD/R and inhibited oxidative stress and apoptosis in both in vivo and in vitro studies. Moreover, EA activated the PI3K/Akt/Nrf2 pathway in neonatal mice following HIBD and in neurons after OGD/R. In conclusion, these results suggested that EA alleviated HIBD by ameliorating oxidative stress and apoptosis via activation of the PI3K/Akt/Nrf2 signaling pathway.