A Study of the Effect of Platelet-Rich Plasma on Outcomes After Aspirated Human Fat Grafting With Experimental Design.

INTRODUCTION: Over the past decade, some studies have focused on whether platelet-rich plasma (PRP) can promote the survival of fat grafts after transplantation. However, the results of these studies have been controversial because of the variations in research methods and assessment methodologies. METHODS: In this study, the authors aspirated fat particles from the abdomen of a healthy woman, mixed them with PRP, and injected them into the backs of nude mice subcutaneously, which simulates the clinical model. The control group was designed to mix aspired fat with normal saline. The fat grafts were removed 10 weeks after transplantation, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and sliced into pathological sections, which were subsequently scanned and analyzed using the Digital Slide Scanning System (PRECICE, Beijing, China). RESULTS: The total area of the graft section and the necrotic adipose tissue area in the control group were significantly larger than that in the PRP group. The fibrosis tissue area in the PRP group was significantly larger than that in the control group. There were no statistically significant differences in the viable adipocyte area, the cyst area, and the mature blood vessel number between the PRP and control groups. CONCLUSION: In this study, PRP did not cause an increase in the number of viable adipocytes; however, it did increase the amount of inflammation, which promoted necrotic tissue absorption and the proliferation of granulation tissue. Further research, including research on normalization of fat preparation and grafting, unification of the PRP preparation and application scheme, and optimization of histological measurement and analysis methods, is needed to assess the effect of PRP on fat grafting.

Primary Observation of the Causes of Temporal Hypertrophy Secondary to Fat Grafting and the Effect of Liposuction on the Hypertrophy.

OBJECTIVE: In Asia, the temporal hollowing is considered to be a sign of bad fortune and aging. Many people demand to correct the temporal hollowing with fat grafting. Subsequently, the temporal hypertrophy secondary to fat grafting become more and more. This study attempted to preliminarily explore the causes of temporal hypertrophy and observe the safety and effectiveness of liposuction in correcting temporal hypertrophy. METHODS: A diagnostic criteria for temporal hypertrophy was established, and 55 of 78 patients who complained of temporal swelling were defined as temporal hypertrophy, and filled out a questionnaire which included patients' basic information, preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative problems related to fat grafting, as well as their acceptance of liposuction. Analyze the results of the questionnaire to explore which factors are associated with hypertrophy. Practice liposuction on patients who are willing to try liposuction. Postoperative complications were observed to determine the safety of liposuction. The patients, doctors, and bystanders were followed up 3 months postoperative to investigate the satisfaction of the operation for analyzing the effectiveness of liposuction for temporal hypertrophy. RESULTS: Before fat grafting, 13 (23.6%) patients without significant temporal hollowing and 42 (76.4%) patients with obvious temporal hollowing; 28 (50.9%) patients with 1 fat grafting, 20 (36.4%) with 2 fat gratings, 7 (12.7%) with 3 fat grafting. The mean time between 2 fat gratings was 4.8 months. The fat donor sites: 50 (90.9%) patients in thigh, 4 (7.3%) in abdomen, and in 1 (1.8%) in waist. The average onset time of hypertrophy in 55 patients was 13.1 months after the last fat grafting. The average onset time of temporal hypertrophy of the weight-gain group (25.7 months) was significant later than that of the weight-invariant group (7 months) (P < 0.01).No irregularities, skin necrosis, hematoma, or infection was found in all patients. One patient showed the damage to temporal branch of facial nerve on right side, which fully recovered at 1 week postoperative. 7 (22.6%) patients, 10 (32.3%) doctors, and 8 (25.8%) laypersons reported satisfactory results; 14 (45.2%) patients, 15 (48.4%) doctors, and 14 (45.2%) laypersons reported mostly satisfactory results; 10 (32.3%) patients, 6 (19.4%) doctors, and 9 (29.0%) laypersons reported dissatisfactory results. CONCLUSIONS: To prevent temporal hypertrophy, the following points are important: to rationally choose of indication of temporal fat grafting, to wait 1 to 2 years before next fat grafting, to maintain weight stability after fat grafting, to practice conservative fat grafting, to prudently choose fat donor site. Liposuction is safe for temporal hypertrophy, but it is not easy to operate and difficult to correct all cases. Therefore, a superior treatment plan should be explored.

Evaluation of Repairing Facial Depression Deformities Secondary to Lupus Erythematosus Panniculitis With Autologous Fat Grafting.

BACKGROUND: A facial depression deformity secondary to lupus erythematosus panniculitis results from fat necrosis, which seriously alters the patients' appearance and thus affects their psychological health. Few studies have discussed the repair of depression deformities. The authors repaired depression deformities due to atrophic lesions by using autologous fat grafting to obtain volumetric restoration of the facial skin, and the authors report our outcomes. METHODS: In this series, 30 depression deformities in 18 patients were repaired. The authors suctioned fat grafts from the abdomen and centrifuged them at 500×g for 2 minutes. After discarding the upper oil and bottom liquid, the middle fat was injected into the depressed areas (ie, the cheek, temple, and zygoma) by using multiplane and multitunnel injections. The patients, plastic surgeons on staff, and laypersons evaluated the cosmetic outcome of each patient. RESULTS: No infection, subcutaneous nodules or cysts, cutaneous necrosis, blood vessel embolism, or other complications were found in any patient. Five patients had 1 injection, 5 had 2 injections, and 8 had 3 injections. All depression deformities improved. Regarding the cosmetic outcome, 33.3% of patients, 27.8% of laypersons, and 38.9% of doctors were satisfied with the results; 44.4% of patients, 55.6% of laypersons, and 50.0% of doctors were mostly satisfied. CONCLUSION: Autologous fat grafting can be a good choice for repairing facial depression deformities in patients with lupus erythematosus panniculitis, although 1 or more subsequent injections may be required to maintain the improved outcome.

Assessment of effects of physical or chemical factors on fat particle viability by glucose transport test.

BACKGROUND: It is important to protect fat viability during grafting. This study aimed to clarify whether physical or chemical factors damage fat viability. METHODS: Fat was harvested under high and low tumescence pressure, using syringes and a liposuction machine; this fat was injected through different gauge needles and cultured with lidocaine or epinephrine. Samples were subjected to glucose transport test and observed histologically. RESULT: The viability and microstructure of fat harvested under high and low tumescence pressure, and by syringe and liposuction machine, were similar (P > 0.05). The viability and intactness of fat cells injected through needles decreased with decreasing needle diameter (P < 0.05). Lidocaine (P < 0.05) and epinephrine (P < 0.05) weakened fat viability. CONCLUSIONS: Fat used for grafting can be harvested by tumescent techniques and a liposuction machine. Fat cell viability during injection increases with increasing needle diameter. Fat should be purified to remove drugs.

ALDH2 is a novel biomarker and exerts an inhibitory effect on melanoma.

Melanoma is a malignant skin tumor. This study aimed to explore and assess the effect of novel biomarkers on the progression of melanoma. Differently expressed genes (DEGs) were screened from GSE3189 and GSE46517 datasets of Gene Expression Omnibus database using GEO2R. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses were conducted based on the identified DEGs. Hub genes were identified and assessed using protein-protein interaction networks, principal component analysis, and receiver operating characteristic curves. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was employed to measure the mRNA expression levels. TIMER revealed the association between aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) and tumor immune microenvironment. The viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion were detected by cell counting kit-8, 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine, wound healing, and transwell assays. Total 241 common DEGs were screened out from GSE3189 and GSE46517 datasets. We determined 6 hub genes with high prediction values for melanoma, which could distinguish tumor samples from normal samples. ALDH2, ADH1B, ALDH3A2, DPT, EPHX2, and GATM were down-regulated in A375 and SK-MEL-2 cells, compared with the human normal melanin cell line (PIG1 cells). ALDH2 was selected as the candidate gene in this research, presenting a high diagnostic and predictive value for melanoma. ALDH2 had a positive correlation with the infiltrating levels of immune cells in melanoma microenvironment. Overexpression of ALDH2 inhibited cell viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion of A375/SK-MEL-2 cells. ALDH2 is a new gene biomarker of melanoma, which exerts an inhibitory effect on melanoma.

Efficacy and safety of low-dose esketamine for painless gastrointestinal endoscopy in adults: a systematic evaluation and meta-analysis.

Object: The benefits of low-dose esketamine for painless gastrointestinal endoscopy remain unclear. As such, the present study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of low-dose esketamine for this procedure. Methods: Seven common databases were searched for clinical studies investigating low-dose esketamine for painless gastrointestinal endoscopy. Subsequently, a meta-analysis was performed to synthesize and analyze the data extracted from studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Results: Meta-analysis revealed that, compared with propofol, low-dose esketamine in combination with propofol significantly reduced recovery time by 0.56 min (mean difference [MD] -0.56%, 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.08 to -0.05, p = 0.03), induction time by 9.84 s (MD -9.84, 95% CI -12.93 to -6.75, p < 0.00001), propofol dosage by 51.05 mg (MD -51.05, 95% CI -81.53 to -20.57, p = 0.01), and increased mean arterial pressure by 6.23 mmHg (MD 6.23, 95% CI 1.37 to 11.08, p = 0.01). Meanwhile, low-dose esketamine reduced injection pain by 63% (relative risk [RR] 0.37, 95% CI 0.28 to 0.49, p < 0.00001), involuntary movements by 40% (RR 0.60, 95% Cl 0.42 to 0.85, p < 0.005), choking by 42% (RR 0.58, 95% Cl 0.38 to 0.88, p = 0.01), bradycardia by 68% (RR 0.32, 95% Cl 0.18 to 0.58, p = 0.0002), hypotension by 71% (RR 0.29, 95% Cl 0.21 to 0.40, p < 0.00001), respiratory depression by 63% (RR 0.37, 95% 0.26 to 0.51, p < 0.00001), additional cases of propofol by 53% (RR 0.47, 95% Cl 0.29 to 0.77, p = 0.002), and increased hypertension by 1000% (RR 11.00, 95% Cl 1.45 to 83.28, p = 0.02). There were no significant differences in mean heart rate, mean oximetry saturation, delirium, dizziness, vomiting, tachycardia, and hypoxemia. Subgroup analyses revealed that, compared with other dose groups, 0.25 mg/kg esketamine afforded additional benefits in recovery and induction time, mean arterial pressure, involuntary movements, hypoxemia, and respiratory depression. Conclusion: Low-dose esketamine was found to be safe and effective for providing anesthesia during gastrointestinal endoscopy, with 0.25 mg/kg identified as the optimal dose within the dosage ranges examined. However, caution should be exercised when administering this drug to patients with inadequate preoperative blood pressure control.

Astragaloside IV (ASIV) Mediates Endothelial Progenitor Cell (EPC) Exosomal LINC01963 to Inhibit Pyroptosis and Oxidative Stress in High Glucose-impaired Endothelial Cells.

BACKGROUND: Hyperglycemia is widespread in the world's population, increasing the risk of many diseases. This study aimed to explore the regulatory effect and mechanism of astragaloside IV (ASIV)-mediated endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) exosomal LINC01963 in endothelial cells (HUVECs) impaired by high glucose. METHODS: Morphologies of exosomes were observed by light microscope and electron microscope. Immunofluorescence was used to identify EPCs and detect the expressions of caspase-1. LINC01963 was detected by quantitative reverse transcription PCR. NLRP3, ASC, and caspase-3 were detected by Western Blot. Nanoparticle tracking analysis was carried out to analyze the exosome diameter. High-throughput sequencing was applied to screen target lncRNAs. The proliferation of endothelial cells was measured by cell counting kit-8 assay. The apoptosis level of HUVECs was detected by flow cytometry and TdT-mediated dUTP Nick-End labeling. The levels of IL- 1ß, IL-18, ROS, SOD, MDA, and LDH were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: ASIV could promote the secretion of the EPC exosome. LINC01963 was obtained by high-throughput sequencing. It was observed that high glucose could inhibit the proliferation, reduce the level of SOD, the expression of NLRP3, ASC, and caspase- 1, increase the levels of IL-1ß, IL-18, ROS, MDA, and LDH, and promote apoptosis of HUVECs. Whereas LINC01963 could inhibit the apoptosis of HUVECs, the increase the expression of NLRP3, ASC, and caspase-1, and decrease the levels of IL-1ß, IL-18, ROS, MDA, and LDH. CONCLUSION: EPCs exosomal LINC01963 play an inhibitory role in high glucoseinduced pyroptosis and oxidative stress of HUVECs. This study provides new ideas and directions for treating hyperglycemia and researching exosomal lncRNAs.

Exosomes Derived from Astragaloside IV-pretreated Endothelial Progenitor Cells (AS-IV-Exos) Alleviated Endothelial Oxidative Stress and Dysfunction Via the miR-210/ Nox2/ROS Pathway.

BACKGROUND: Chronic hyperglycemia in diabetes induces oxidative stress, leading to damage to the vascular system. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects and mechanisms of AS-IV-Exos in alleviating endothelial oxidative stress and dysfunction caused by high glucose (HG). METHODS: Histopathological changes were observed using HE staining, and CD31 expression was assessed through immunohistochemistry (IHC). Cell proliferation was evaluated through CCK8 and EDU assays. The levels of ROS, SOD, and GSH-Px in the skin tissues of each group were measured using ELISA. Cell adhesion, migration, and tube formation abilities were assessed using adhesion, Transwell, and tube formation experiments. ROS levels in HUVEC cells were measured using flow cytometry. The levels of miR-210 and Nox2 were determined through quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The expression of Nox2, SOD, GSH-Px, CD63, and CD81 was confirmed using WB. RESULTS: The level of miR-210 was reduced in diabetes-induced skin damage, while the levels of Nox2 and ROS increased. Treatment with AS-IV increased the level of miR-210 in EPC-Exos. Compared to Exos, AS-IV-Exos significantly reduced the proliferation rate, adhesion number, migration speed, and tube-forming ability of HGdamaged HUVEC cells. AS-IV-Exos also significantly decreased the levels of SOD and GSH-Px in HG-treated HUVEC cells and reduced the levels of Nox2 and GSH-Px. However, ROS levels and Nox2 could reverse this effect. CONCLUSION: AS-IV-Exos effectively alleviated endothelial oxidative stress and dysfunction induced by HG through the miR-210/Nox2/ROS pathway.

Associations of migraines with suicide ideation or attempts: A meta-analysis.

Objective: Whether migraine is associated with a higher risk of suicide ideation and/or attempts remains controversial. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate these potential associations in migraine patients by performing a meta-analysis of previously published data. Methods: We searched for studies published up to 31 June 2022 that compared the risk of suicide ideation/attempt in migraineurs and non-migraineurs in PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases. Sixteen studies fulfilled the eligibility criteria. We applied Random-effects models to calculate pooled adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) in patients with migraine. Results: Migraine patients were at a significantly increased risk of suicide ideation (AOR 1.33, 95% CI 1.15-1.54) and suicide attempts (AOR 1.70, 95% CI 1.42-2.03). The increase in risk may be greater in adults (>19 years) than in younger individuals. Conclusion: The available evidence indicates a significant association of migraines with suicide ideation and attempts. Future work should confirm and extend these findings, as well as explore whether they are affected by ethnicity or geography.

Deep Learning-Enhanced Internet of Things for Activity Recognition in Post-Stroke Rehabilitation.

Wearable sensors provide a more effective means of activity monitoring and management by recording patients' daily activity data for assessing their daily function and rehabilitation progress, as well as providing a convenient and practical solution for human activity recognition (HAR). However, during the motor rehabilitation of stroke patients, sensors provide vast amounts of high-dimensional data that are large and complex. To enhance the accuracy of activity monitoring and identification, as well as address the limitations of real-time processing, data visualization, and tracking in conventional monitoring approaches, it is essential to perform valid data processing and analysis. This paper combines deep learning models to explore the potential relationships and patterns between data to build an intelligent post-stroke rehabilitation system. This paper proposes a novel framework aimed at accurately recognizing activities performed by stroke patients. Our approach leverages a data fusion mechanism based on multiple sensors to construct a fusion tensor and employs a bidirectional long and short-term memory (BiLSTM) network enhanced with an attention mechanism. This network effectively captures temporal patterns and long-term dependencies within the data, resulting in improved performance for wearable sensor-based activity classification. Furthermore, we introduce an enhanced loss function to optimize the learning process. To assess the performance of the proposed model algorithm, two benchmark datasets were employed. These datasets served as the basis for evaluating and comparing the baseline method as well as other proposed methods. The experimental results clearly demonstrated that the proposed model outperformed the compared methods, indicating its superior performance in activity recognition.

Modified separators boost polysulfides adsorption-catalysis in lithium-sulfur batteries from Ni@Co hetero-nanocrystals into CNT-porous carbon dual frameworks.

In this manuscript, nickel/cobalt bimetallic nanocrystals confining into three-dimensional interpenetrating dual-carbon conductive structure (NiCo@C/CNTs) were successfully manufactured by annealing its core-shell structure (Ni-ZIF-67@ZIF-8) precursor under the high temperature. The results presented that the bimetallic nickel and cobalt nanocrystals with superior catalytic activity could quickly convert solid Li2S/Li2S2into soluble LiPSs and effectively decrease the energy barrier. While the hierarchical CNT-porous carbon dual frameworks can provide quick electron/ion transport because of their large specific surface area and the exposure of enough active sites. When used as the separator modifier for lithium sulfur batteries, the battery properties were significantly improved with high specific capacity, outstanding rate capability, and long-term cycle stability. Specifically, its initial specific capacity can achieve to 1038.51 mAh g-1 at 0.5C. At the high rate of 3C, it still delivers satisfactory discharge capacity of 555 mAhg-1 and the capacity decay rate is only 0.065% per cycle after 1000 cycles at 1C. Furthermore, even exposed to heavy sulfur loading (3.61 mg/cm2), they still maintain promising cycle stability. Therefore, such kinds of MOFs derivative with powerful chemical immobilization and catalytic conversion for polysulfides provides a novel guidance for the modification separator and the potential application in the field of high-performance Li-S batteries.

Investigating the influence of an adjustable zoned air mattress on sleep: a multinight polysomnography study.

Introduction: A comfortable mattress should improve sleep quality. In this study, we sought to investigate the specific sleep parameters that could be affected by a mattress and explore any potential differences between the effects felt by each sex. Methods: A total of 20 healthy young adults (10 females and 20 males; 22.10 ± 1.25 years) participated in the experiments. A smart adjustable zoned air mattress was designed to maintain comfortable support, and an ordinary mattress was used for comparison. The participants individually spent four nights on these two mattresses in four orders for polysomnography (PSG) scoring. Sleep architecture, electroencephalogram (EEG) spectrum, and heart rate variability (HRV), which reflect the central and autonomic nervous activities, were used to compare the difference between the two mattresses. Results: An individual difference exited in sleep performance. The modes of influence of the mattresses were different between the sexes. The adjustable air mattress and the increase in experimental nights improved female participants' sleep efficiency, while male participants exhibited a smaller response to different mattresses. With an increasing number of experiment nights, both sexes showed increased REM and decreased N2 proportions; the N3 sleep proportion decreased in the male participants, and the heart rate decreased in both sexes. The performance of the EEG spectrum supports the above results. In addition, the adjustable air mattress weakened automatic nerve activity during N3 sleep in most participants. The female participants appeared to be more sensitive to mattresses. Experiment night was associated with psychological factors. There were differences in the results for this influence between the sexes. Conclusion: This study may shed some light on the differences between the ideal sleep environment of each sex.

Evaluation for causal effects of socioeconomic traits on risk of female genital prolapse (FGP): a multivariable Mendelian randomization analysis.

BACKGROUND: Although observational studies have established some socioeconomic traits to be independent risk factors for pelvic organ prolapse (POP), they can not infer causality since they are easily biased by confounding factors and reverse causality. Moreover, it remains ambiguous which one or several of socioeconomic traits play predominant roles in the associations with POP risk. Mendelian randomization (MR) overcomes these biases and can even determine one or several socioeconomic traits predominantly accounting for the associations. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a multivariable Mendelian randomization (MVMR) analysis to disentangle whether one or more of five categories of socioeconomic traits, "age at which full-time education completed (abbreviated as "EA")", "job involving heavy manual or physical work ("heavy work")", "average total household income before tax (income)", "Townsend deprivation index at recruitment (TDI)", and "leisure/social activities" exerted independent and predominant effects on POP risk. METHODS: We first screened single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as proxies for five individual socioeconomic traits and female genital prolapse (FGP, approximate surrogate for POP due to no GWASs for POP) to conduct Univariable Mendelian randomization (UVMR) analyses to estimate causal associations of five socioeconomic traits with FGP risk using IVW method as major analysis. Additionally, we conducted heterogeneity, pleiotropy, and sensitivity analysis to assess the robustness of our results. Then, we harvested a combination of SNPs as an integrated proxy for the five socioeconomic traits to perform a MVMR analysis based on IVW MVMR model. RESULTS: UVMR analyses based on IVW method identified causal effect of EA (OR 0.759, 95%CI 0.629-0.916, p = 0.004), but denied that of the other five traits on FGP risk (all p > 0.05). Heterogeneity analyses, pleiotropy analyses, "leave-one-out" sensitivity analyses and MR-PRESSO adjustments did not detect heterogeneity, pleiotropic effects, or result fluctuation by outlying SNPs in the effect estimates of six socioeconomic traits on FGP risk (all p > 0.05). Further, MVMR analyses determined a predominant role of EA playing in the associations of socioeconomic traits with FGP risk based on both MVMR Model 1 (OR 0.842, 95%CI 0.744-0.953, p = 0.006) and Model 2 (OR 0.857, 95%CI 0.759-0.967, p = 0.012). CONCLUSION: Our UVMR and MVMR analyses provided genetic evidence that one socioeconomic trait, lower educational attainment, is associated with risk of female genital prolapse, and even independently and predominantly accounts for the associations of socioeconomic traits with risk of female genital prolapse.

Simultaneous treatment of renal cysts and stones with single-session retroperitoneoscopic renal cyst decortication and retroperitoneoscopy-assisted percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

INTRODUCTION: To determine the safety and efficacy of single-session retroperitoneoscopic renal cyst decortication in conjunction with retroperitoneoscopy-assisted percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) for simultaneous treatment of renal cysts and stones. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We enrolled 15 patients (10 men and 5 women, mean age 41 years), who underwent one-stage retroperitoneoscopic renal cyst decortication and retroperitoneoscopy-assisted PCNL between January 2008 and May 2009 for symptomatic renal cysts and concomitant large kidney stones (mean stone area 6.6 cm(2)). Intraoperative blood loss, duration of operation, and postoperative complications were evaluated. Median follow-up time was 22 months (range 12-26). RESULTS: Average total operative time was 83 ± 12 min and mean duration of PCNL was 45 ± 5 min. Mean estimated blood loss was 80 ± 21 ml. A plain abdominal radiograph revealed an absence of residual stones in all cases. No cyst recurrence occurred within the follow-up period. The mean pre- and postoperative pain score was 7.3 ± 0.8 and 2.8 ± 0.6, respectively. All patients resumed ambulatory activities on the first postoperative day. No severe complications related to the procedure were encountered. CONCLUSION: The combined laparoscopic approach for simultaneous treatment of renal cysts and stones is safe and feasible. These results encourage further studies to determine long-term outcomes of this combined surgery.

Piezoelectric polarization promoted spatial separation of photoexcited electrons and holes in two-dimensional g-C3N4 nanosheets for efficient elimination of chlorophenols.

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has been proved to be a potential photocatalyst for environment purification, but the high recombination rate of photogenerated carriers leads to the low photocatalytic efficiency. Herein, we report the enhanced degradation of chlorophenols by 2D ultrathin g-C3N4 nanosheets with intrinsic piezoelectricity through photopiezocatalysis strategy. Under the simultaneous visible-light irradiation and ultrasonic vibration, the 2D g-C3N4 presented improved removal efficiency for elimination of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) with an apparent rate constant of 6.65 × 10-2 min-1, which was 6.7 and 2.2 times of the photocatalysis and piezocatalysis, respectively. The improved removal efficiency was attributed to the sufficient separation of free charges driven by the ultrasound-induced piezoelectric field in the 2D g-C3N4, which was demonstrated by the enhanced current response under photopiezocatalysis mode. Additionally, the photopiezocatalysis of 2D g-C3N4 was proved to possess well universality for removing different chlorophenols, as well as high durability and dechlorination efficiency. Finally, a possible photopiezocatalytic mechanism for removal of 2,4-DCP was proposed based on the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) technique and the determination of intermediates through liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. This work provides a promising strategy for the design of energy-conversion materials towards capturing solar and mechanical energy in ambient environment.

Enhanced Tribocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants by ZnO Nanoparticles of High Crystallinity.

More and more metal oxide nanomaterials are being synthesized and investigated for degradation of organic pollutants through harvesting friction energy, yet the strategy to optimize their performance for this application has not been carefully explored up to date. In this work, three commercially available ZnO powders are selected and compared for tribocatalytic degradation of organic dyes, among which ZnO-1 and ZnO-2 are agglomerates of spherical nanoparticles around 20 nm, and ZnO-3 are particles of high crystallinity with a regular prismatic shape and smooth surfaces, ranging from 50 to 150 nm. Compared with ZnO-1 and ZnO-2, ZnO-3 exhibits a much higher tribocatalytic degradation performance, and a high degradation rate constant of 6.566 × 10-2 min-1 is achieved for RhB, which is superior compared with previous tribocatalytic reports. The stability and universality of ZnO-3 were demonstrated through cycling tests and degradation of different types of dyes. Furthermore, the mechanism of tribocatalysis revealed that h+ was the main active species in the degradation process by ZnO. This work highlights the great significance of high crystallinity rather than a large specific surface area for the development of high-performance tribocatalysts and demonstrates the great potential of tribocatalysis for water remediation.

A Belief Two-Level Weighted Clustering Method for Incomplete Pattern Based on Multiview Fusion.

Incomplete pattern clustering is a challenging task because the unknown attributes of the missing data introduce uncertain information that affects the accuracy of the results. In addition, the clustering method based on the single view ignores the complementary information from multiple views. Therefore, a new belief two-level weighted clustering method based on multiview fusion (BTC-MV) is proposed to deal with incomplete patterns. Initially, the BTC-MV method estimates the missing data by an attribute-level weighted imputation method with k-nearest neighbor (KNN) strategy based on multiple views. The unknown attributes are replaced by the average of the KNN. Then, the clustering method based on multiple views is proposed for a complete data set with estimations; the view weights represent the reliability of the evidence from different source spaces. The membership values from multiple views, which indicate the probability of the pattern belonging to different categories, reduce the risk of misclustering. Finally, a view-level weighted fusion strategy based on the belief function theory is proposed to integrate the membership values from different source spaces, which improves the accuracy of the clustering task. To validate the performance of the BTC-MV method, extensive experiments are conducted to compare with classical methods, such as MI-KM, MI-KMVC, KNNI-FCM, and KNNI-MFCM. Results on six UCI data sets show that the error rate of the BTC-MV method is lower than that of the other methods. Therefore, it can be concluded that the BTC-MV method has superior performance in dealing with incomplete patterns.

Synthesis, antiproliferative activities and in vitro biological evaluation of novel benzofuransulfonamide derivatives.

In a cell-based screen of novel antiproliferative agents, the hit compound 1a, which bears a benzofuransulfonamide scaffold, exhibited broad-spectrum antiproliferative activities against a panel of tumor cell lines. The promising in vitro antiproliferative activity and structural novelty of 1a prompted us to investigate the synthesis of five analogs of 1a and test their antiproliferative activities. The most potent analogue, 1h, exhibited enhanced antiproliferative activities compared with the parent 1a, and exhibited an IC(50) value against NCI-H460 cells of 4.13 µM compared with 4.52 µM for the positive control cisplatin. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that 1h induces significant levels of apoptosis in NCI-H460 cells in vitro at low micromolar concentrations. These results suggest that 1a and analogs based on its benzofuransulfonamide scaffold may constitute a novel class of antiproliferative agents, which deserve further study.

[Efficacy of interferon alpha with ribavirin for treatment of chronic Hepatitis C].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence and distribution of HCV genotypes and the clinical effect of interferon-alpha combined with ribavirin treatment in chronic hepatitis C patients in Kunming. METHODS: 60 patients were divided into two groups based on drug therapies: PEG-interferon-a plus ribavirin treatment group for HCV 1b and interferon-a plus ribavirin treatment group for non-HCV-1b. Serum ALT levels and HCV RNA quantitations of the patients were detected during treatment and follow-up. RESULTS: The HCV genotypes of 60 patients were determined by type specific probe assay, and five different types were found. Their overall prevalence were 21.7% for type 1b, 5% for type 2a, 16.7% for type 3a, 48.3% for type 3b, and 8.3% for type 6a. Sustained viral response rates for PEG-interferon treatment group were 46.1%, for interferon treatment group were 74.4%. The abnormal rate of serum ALT after the treatment had no significant difference between HCV-1b and non-HCV-1b patients (P>0.05). All patients with early viral responses got sustained viral response. CONCLUSION: HCV-3b is the most dominant genotype in Kunming. The effect of PEG-interferon-a plus ribavirin treatment for genotype 1b is unsatisfactory. The early viral response is a good predictor for the responses to antiviral therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients.

Friction energy harvesting on bismuth tungstate catalyst for tribocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants.

Mechanical energy as the green and sustainable energy source widely distributes in natural environment. In this paper, we successfully realize the conversion of mechanical energy through a friction route on the tribocatalyst of Bi2WO6. Under magnetic stirring, the friction between the PTFE-sealed magnetic bar and the catalyst particles resulted in the electron transfer crossing the contact interface, in which PTFE accepted the electrons and simultaneously the holes were left on the catalyst. The positively charged catalyst was demonstrated through electrostatic attraction and repulsion tests. Like photocatalytic process, the holes on the valence band of Bi2WO6 have strong oxidative ability that can efficiently oxidize organic pollutants. The tribocatalytic tests showed that the Bi2WO6 could eliminate organic dyes under magnetic stirring in dark, and we could further optimize the tribocatalytic performance via regulating the size of magnetic bar and reactor material. Finally, a high stability of tribocatalysis was revealed by the multiple tests. This work not only develops a green tribocatalysis strategy to oxidative purification of organic pollutants, but also provides a possible pathway to convert mechanical energy in environment to chemical energy, such as potential applications in environmental remediation and sustainable energy.