Simultaneous Photo-Induced Magnetic and Dielectric Switching in an Iron(II)-Based Spin-Crossover Hofmann-Type Metal-Organic Framework.

Molecular materials possessing photo-tunable polarization switching is promising for optical switches, smart sensors, and data storage devices. However, it is challenging to devise a molecular material featuring simultaneous switchable magnetic and dielectric properties with regard to non-invasive and convenient light stimulus. Herein, we report a new Hofmann-type metal-organic framework (MOF) {Fe(bpt)[Pt(CN)4 ]} ⋅ 0.5anth (1, bpt=2,5-bis(4-pyridyl)thiophen; anth=anthracene), which displays thermo- and photo-switchable magnetic and dielectric properties. Photo-monitored structural analyses revealed that it was the photo-induced deformation of FeII coordination sphere and relative movement of guest anthracene that resulted in the variation of the local electric dipoles. These findings provide a new strategy to realize polarization switching through the light-induced spin crossover, and would be of fundamental significance for future photo-switchable and multifunctional materials.

Likely Common Role of Hypoxia in Driving 18F-FDG Uptake in Cancer, Myocardial Ischemia, Inflammation and Infection.

First introduced in 1976, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) has become an indispensable tool for diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of tumors, heart disease, as well as other conditions, including inflammation and infection. Because 18F-FDG can accurately reflect the glucose metabolism level of organs and tissues, it is known as a "century molecule" and is currently the main agent for PET imaging. The degree of 18F-FDG uptake by cells is related to both the rate of glucose metabolism and glucose transporter expression. These, in turn, are strongly influenced by hypoxia, in which cells meet their energy needs through glycolysis, and 18F-FDG uptake increased due to hypoxia. 18F-FDG uptake is a complex process, and hypoxia may be one of the fundamental driving forces. The correct interpretation of 18F-FDG uptake in PET imaging can help clinics make treatment decisions more accurately and effectively. In this article, we review the application of 18F-FDG PET in tumors, myocardium, and inflammation. We discuss the relationship between 18F-FDG uptake and hypoxia, the possible mechanism of 18F-FDG uptake caused by hypoxia, and the associated clinical implications.

Muramyl dipeptide promotes Aß1-42 oligomer production via the NOD2/p-p38 MAPK/BACE1 signaling pathway in the SH-SY5Y cells.

The relationship between chronic bacterial colonization in the brain and Alzheimer's disease is attracting extensive attention. Recent studies indicated that the components of bacterial biofilm drive the amyloid-ß production. Muramyl dipeptide, the minimal bioactive peptidoglycan motif common to all bacteria, contributes to the development of many central inflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders. However, the involvement of Muramyl dipeptide in amyloid-ß production is not completely defined. In our present study, wild type mice received an intracerebroventricular injection of normal saline or Muramyl dipeptide. Data showed that the production of Aß1-42 oligomers was significantly increased after Muramyl dipeptide injection in the wild type mice or incubation of the SH-SY5Y cells with Muramyl dipeptide. Moreover, the action of Muramyl dipeptide was dose- and time-dependent. The above results suggested a possibility that the Muramyl dipeptide-induced Aß1-42 oligomer production might be related to the NOD2/p-p38 MAPK/BACE1 pathway. To confirm this, the SH-SY5Y cells were transfected with siRNA NOD2. Data showed that the transfected SH-SY5Y cells exhibited decreased expression of Aß1-42 oligomer, NOD2, p-p38 MAPK, and BACE1 after treatment with Muramyl dipeptide. Finally, SH-SY5Y cells were pretreated with SB203580, an inhibitor of the p-38-MAPK pathway. The results indicated that these pretreated SH-SY5Y cells exhibited decreased expression of Aß1-42 oligomer, p-p38 MAPK, and BACE1 after treatment with Muramyl dipeptide. In conclusion, these results suggested that Muramyl dipeptide was the trigger factor for Aß1-42 oligomer production, which probably acts via the NOD2/p-p38 MAPK/BACE1 signaling pathway.

Predictors of urinary tract infection in acute stroke patients: A cohort study.

Patients with stroke have a high risk of infection which may be predicted by age, procalcitonin, interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, National Institute of Health stroke scale (NHSS) score, diabetes, etc. These prediction methods can reduce unfavourable outcome by preventing the occurrence of infection.We aim to identify early predictors for urinary tract infection in patients after stroke.In 186 collected acute stroke patients, we divided them into urinary tract infection group, other infection type groups, and non-infected group. Data were recorded at admission. Independent risk factors and infection prediction model were determined using Logistic regression analyses. Likelihood ratio test was used to detect the prediction effect of the model. Receiver operating characteristic curve and the corresponding area under the curve were used to measure the predictive accuracy of indicators for urinary tract infection.Of the 186 subjects, there were 35 cases of urinary tract infection. Elevated interleukin-6, higher NIHSS, and decreased hemoglobin may be used to predict urinary tract infection. And the predictive model for urinary tract infection (including sex, NIHSS, interleukin-6, and hemoglobin) have the best predictive effect.This study is the first to discover that decreased hemoglobin at admission may predict urinary tract infection. The prediction model shows the best accuracy.

[Enhancement for Anaerobic Digestion of Waste Activated Sludge Based on Microwave Pretreatment Combined with Zero Valent Iron].

In this study, we investigated the enhanced performance after addition of zero valent iron (ZVI) under different dosages (low range of 5.19-41.51 g·kg-1 TS and high range of 83.35-853.46 g·kg-1 TS), combined with microwave (MW) pretreatment for anaerobic digestion (AD) of waste activated sludge (WAS). The results demonstrated that the methane production potential of WAS could be increased by 17%-24% with the addition of ZVI combined with MW pretreatment, and especially the methane production rate was enhanced in the initial days (1-4d). ZVI addition could further improve the enhanced performance of AD under MW pretreatment. Compared with the performance of AD with only MW pretreatment, the methane production potential was increased by 7.42%, and methane production flow rate at 2 d was increased by 11.02% with 31.13 g·kg-1 TS of ZVI addition. However, the higher dosage of added ZVI did not show further enhanced performance. It was concluded that ZVI addition promoted the release of dissolved organics at the initial stage of AD. For instance, soluble proteins were increased by 21.16% with the ZVI addition of 31.13 g·kg-1 TS compared with pretreated WAS without ZVI addition. Furthermore, ZVI addition accelerated the degradation of acetic acid, iso-butyric acid, and iso-valeric acid, and led to a significant reduction of orthophosphate and sulfate in the supernatant of the digested sludge. The concentration of iron in the supernatant decreased even with a high dosage of ZVI. Thus, the formation of precipitate that occurred due to reactions between iron and orthophosphate or sulfate, may be the main reason for the lack of enhanced performance even with high dosage of ZVI addition.

A simpler diagnostic formula for screening nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

OBJECTIVE: To increase the accuracy of non-invasive diagnosis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), clinical and laboratory NAFLD indicators were integrated into a diagnostic formula. METHODS: A total of 141 patients with clinically diagnosed NAFLD and 30 healthy controls were enrolled. We collected case history, body weight, height and mass index (BMI), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma glutamyl transpeptidase, blood urea nitrogen and blood uric acid (UA), serum creatinine, plasma total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein, glycosylated hemoglobin, fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin, ultrasonic tests, Fibroscans, and other data. Linear correlation, multiple linear regressions, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve methods were used to process and analyze the collected data. The performance of Fibroscan and our diagnostic formula was compared in reference to the findings of liver biopsy. RESULTS: The identified NAFLD diagnostic indices consisted of BMI, ALT, AST and UA. A regression formula was proposed as: CAP = 113.163 + 0.252 * ALT + 6.316 * BMI. Diagnosis of the area under the ROC curve was 0.927, the sensitivity was 87.68%, and specificity was 90%. The cutoff was 277.67 (p < 0.01). The accuracy of the NAFLD diagnosis with the proposed formula was significantly higher than FibroScan (82.6% vs 69.6%; p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: NAFLD diagnosis with the proposed formula demonstrated both high sensitivity and specificity, and its accuracy was significantly higher than FibroScan. This formula only utilized non-invasive clinical and laboratory findings and the calculation was simple. It can be conveniently used for clinical diagnosis of NAFLD.

18F-FDGPET/CT in fever of unknown origin and inflammation of unknown origin: a Chinese multi-center study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical value of 18F-FDG-PET/CT for the diagnosis of fever of unknown origin (FUO) and inflammation of unknown origin (IUO) in Chinese population, as well as the characteristics of PET/CT in different category of etiological disease. METHODS: A total of 376 consecutive patients with FUO/IUO who underwent FDG-PET/CT at 12 hospitals were retrospectively studied. FDG uptake was quantitatively and visually evaluated, by using SUVmax and a 4-grade scale respectively. A questionnaire survey to the clinicians was used to evaluate the significance of PET/CT in diagnosing of FUO/IUO. Data analysis included the etiological distribution in the study population, image characteristics in different category of diseases, and clinical significance of PET/CT. RESULTS: In 376 studied patients, the infectious diseases accounted for 33.0% of patients, rheumatologic diseases for 32.4%, malignancies for 19.1%, miscellaneous causes for 6.6%, and cause unknown for 8.8%. However, the etiological distribution among hospitals was varied. In addition, the etiological disease composition ratio has changed over time in China. On PET/CT examinations, 358 (95.2%) of the patients had a positive finding. Within them, local high uptake lesion was found in 219 cases, and nonspecific abnormal uptake (NAU) was found in 187 cases. FDG uptake in malignant diseases was significantly higher than in other category diseases both on SUVmax and visual scores (t-value range from 4.098 to 5.612, all P value < 0.001). Based on a clinical questionnaire survey, PET/CT provided additional diagnostic information for 77.4% of patients, and 89.6% of patients benefited from PET/CT examination. CONCLUSIONS: FDG PET/CT is a valuable tool for clinical diagnosis of FUO/IUO, and it is of great significance in further investigating the usefulness of PET/CT in non-neoplastic diseases.

Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Primary Liver Cancer in China (2017 Edition).

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (about 85-90% of primary liver cancer) is particularly prevalent in China because of the high prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection. HCC is the fourth most common malignancy and the third leading cause of tumor-related deaths in China. It poses a significant threat to the life and health of Chinese people. SUMMARY: This guideline presents official recommendations of the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China on the surveillance, diagnosis, staging, and treatment of HCC occurring in China. The guideline was written by more than 50 experts in the field of HCC in China (including liver surgeons, medical oncologists, hepatologists, interventional radiologists, and diagnostic radiologists) on the basis of recent evidence and expert opinions, balance of benefits and harms, cost-benefit strategies, and other clinical considerations. KEY MESSAGES: The guideline presents the Chinese staging system, and recommendations regarding patients with HCC in China to ensure optimum patient outcomes.

The effects of chitosan oligosaccharides on OPG and RANKL expression in a rat osteoarthritis model.

PURPOSE:: To investigate the effect of chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) against osteoarthritis (OA) and preliminarily discuss the osteoprotegerin (OPG), receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) and RANK expression in a rat OA model. METHODS:: Thirty-six 6-week-old Male SD rats were randomly divided into three groups: sham-operated group(CON), OA-induction group(OA), COS intervention group(n=12/group). At 4 weeks after the operation, COS (50 ul) intervention weekily for consecutive 5 weeks. The OA and CON groups received an injection of 50 ul physiological saline. At death, 11 weeks following surgery, cartilage was harvested and total RNA and protein were extracted. Both the morphological changes of the cartilage were observed and harvested the total RNA and protein. Meanwhile, the expression of OPG, RANKL and RANK in cartilage were determined. RESULTS:: The expression of OPG and RANKL were both enhanced in the cartilage of the OA model. Compared with the OA group, COS treatment improved the cartilage damage (both extent and grade). Furthermore, the COS group showed highly OPG and lower RANKL. Simultaneously, COS treatment upregulated the ratio of OPG/RANKL and downregulated the RANKL/RANK. CONCLUSION:: Chitosan oligosaccharides may be used as a unique biological agent to prevent and treat osteoarthritis, and this effect is associated with modulation of the expression of osteoprotegerin and receptor activator of NF-κB ligand.

The effects of chitosan oligosaccharides on OPG and RANKL expression in a rat osteoarthritis model

Abstract Purpose: To investigate the effect of chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) against osteoarthritis (OA) and preliminarily discuss the osteoprotegerin (OPG), receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) and RANK expression in a rat OA model. Methods: Thirty-six 6-week-old Male SD rats were randomly divided into three groups: sham-operated group(CON), OA-induction group(OA), COS intervention group(n=12/group). At 4 weeks after the operation, COS (50 ul) intervention weekily for consecutive 5 weeks. The OA and CON groups received an injection of 50 ul physiological saline. At death, 11 weeks following surgery, cartilage was harvested and total RNA and protein were extracted. Both the morphological changes of the cartilage were observed and harvested the total RNA and protein. Meanwhile, the expression of OPG, RANKL and RANK in cartilage were determined. Results: The expression of OPG and RANKL were both enhanced in the cartilage of the OA model. Compared with the OA group, COS treatment improved the cartilage damage (both extent and grade). Furthermore, the COS group showed highly OPG and lower RANKL. Simultaneously, COS treatment upregulated the ratio of OPG/RANKL and downregulated the RANKL/RANK. Conclusion: Chitosan oligosaccharides may be used as a unique biological agent to prevent and treat osteoarthritis, and this effect is associated with modulation of the expression of osteoprotegerin and receptor activator of NF-κB ligand.