Selective adsorption of divalent and trivalent cations in porous electrodes.

The capacitive deionization technology uses the electrochemical adsorption of ions in porous electrodes to desalinate seawater or brackish water. Recently, capacitive deionization has gained significant attention as a technology for selective adsorption of ionic species from multicomponent aqueous electrolytes. To investigate the mechanism of selective adsorption at the molecular level, we performed molecular dynamics simulations of aqueous electrolytes and porous electrodes with different divalent or trivalent ions, electrode pore sizes, and applied voltages. We calculated the free energy barriers preventing ions from entering the pores of the electrode and the structure of the water molecules near the ions and the electrode surface under various conditions. Our results suggest that, when the pore and ion sizes are comparable, the steric and electrostatic interactions between the hydrated ions and electrode pores are comparable in magnitude. Moreover, the relative importance of the two interactions can be reversed by slight changes in the external conditions, such as the ion size, valence of the ions, electrode pore size, and applied voltage. Thus, by finely tuning the electrode pore size and the applied voltage, it may be possible to selectively adsorb a particular ionic species from a multicomponent electrolyte through capacitive deionization using a porous electrode.

Interpersonal strategy for controlling unpredictable opponents in soft tennis.

Competition in sports, unlike cooperation in everyday life, does not involve a single solution because individuals aim to behave unpredictably, thereby preventing others from predicting their actions. This study determined how individuals in court-based sports attempted to control others' unpredictable behaviors, addressing the gap in previous studies regarding the lack of clarity around strategies employed by individuals in competitive situations. We achieved this by applying a switching hybrid dynamics model, considering external inputs to analyze individual behaviors. Consequently, the study indicates that skilled individuals, in contrast to intermediate players, exhibit greater consistency in their behaviors. These skilled individuals lead others to anticipate their consistency and subsequently employ strategies to disrupt these expectations. This strategy exploits the principles of active human inference, implying that competition involves cooperation. This was revealed by an analysis of both human decision-making and behavior in actual matches as discrete and continuous dynamical systems. This interpersonal strategy could assist policymakers in the field of everyday life to enhance competitiveness. This strategy enables policymakers to adopt new policies that promote cooperation with competitors, ultimately increasing competitiveness in various aspects of our daily lives.

Large-scale cross-trait genetic analysis highlights shared genetic backgrounds of autoimmune diseases.

Disorders associated with the immune system burden multiple organs, although the shared biology exists across the diseases. Preceding family-based studies reveal that immune diseases are heritable to varying degrees, providing the basis for immunogenomics. The recent cost reduction in genetic analysis intensively promotes biobank-scale studies and the development of frameworks for statistical genetics. The accumulating multi-layer omics data, including genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and RNA-sequencing at single-cell resolution, enable us to dissect the genetic backgrounds of immune-related disorders. Although autoimmune and allergic diseases are generally categorized into different disease categories, epidemiological studies reveal the high incidence of autoimmune and allergic disease complications, suggesting the shared genetics and biology between the disease categories. Biobank resources and consortia cover multiple immune-related disorders to accumulate phenome-wide associations of genetic variants and enhance researchers to analyze the shared and heterogeneous genetic backgrounds. The emerging post-GWAS and integrative multi-omics analyses provide genetic and biological insights into the multicategorical disease associations.

Chemical vapor deposition of hexagonal boron nitride on germanium from borazine.

The growth of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) directly onto semiconducting substrates, like Ge and Ge on Si, promises to advance the integration of hBN into microelectronics. However, a detailed understanding of the growth and characteristics of hBN islands and monolayers on these substrates is lacking. Here, we present the growth of hBN on Ge and Ge epilayers on Si via high-vacuum chemical vapor deposition from borazine and study the effects of Ge sublimation, surface orientation, and vicinality on the shape and alignment of hBN islands. We find that suppressing Ge sublimation is essential for growing high quality hBN and that the Ge surface orientation and vicinality strongly affect hBN alignment. Interestingly, 95% of hBN islands are unidirectionally aligned on Ge(111), which may be a path toward metal- and transfer-free, single-crystalline hBN. Finally, we extend the growth time and borazine partial pressure to grow monolayer hBN on Ge and Ge epilayers on Si. These findings provide new insights into the growth of high-quality hBN on semiconducting substrates.

Risk Stratification According to Baseline and Early Change in Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Chemoimmunotherapy: A Multicenter Real-World Study.

BACKGROUND: Chemoimmunotherapy is a standard treatment for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, data on clinical predictive factors remain scarce. OBJECTIVE: We aim to identify clinical biomarkers in patients undergoing chemoimmunotherapy. METHODS: This multicenter, real-world cohort study included chemonaive patients who underwent chemoimmunotherapy between December 2018 and May 2022. Multivariate analysis was used to determine associations between survival outcomes and patient background, including baseline neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and its dynamic change (ΔNLR). To further investigate the clinical significance of NLR, patients were classified based on their peripheral immune status, defined by a combination of NLR and ΔNLR. RESULTS: The study included 280 patients with 30.1 months of median follow-up. Multivariate analysis revealed that older individuals, poor performance status, tumor proportion score < 1%, liver metastasis, baseline NLR ≥ 5, and ΔNLR ≥ 0 independently correlated significantly with shorter progression-free and overall survival (OS). Patients with high peripheral immune status (defined as NLR <5 and ΔNLR < 0) significantly improved long-term survival (2-year OS rate of 58.3%), whereas those with low peripheral immune status (defined as NLR ≥ 5 and ΔNLR ≥ 0) had extremely poor outcomes (2-year OS rate of 5.6%). Safety profiles did not differ significantly in terms of severe adverse events and treatment-related death rates despite the patients' peripheral immune status (P = 0.46 and 0.63, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides real-world evidence regarding clinical prognostic factors for the efficacy of chemoimmunotherapy. The combined assessment of baseline NLR and ΔNLR could facilitate the identification of patients who are likely to achieve a durable response from chemoimmunotherapy.

Roles of flavoprotein oxidase and the exogenous heme- and quinone-dependent respiratory chain in lactic acid bacteria.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a type of bacteria that convert carbohydrates into lactate through fermentation metabolism. While LAB mainly acquire energy through this anaerobic process, they also have oxygen-consuming systems, one of which is flavoprotein oxidase and the other is exogenous heme- or heme- and quinone-dependent respiratory metabolism. Over the past two decades, research has contributed to the understanding of the roles of these oxidase machineries, confirming their suspected roles and uncovering novel functions. This review presents the roles of these oxidase machineries, which are anticipated to be critical for the future applications of LAB in industry and comprehending the virulence of pathogenic streptococci.

Effects of Nitrate and Nitrite on Plaque pH Decrease and Nitrite-Producing and -Degrading Activities of Plaque in vitro.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of nitrate and nitrite on the pH-lowering activity of human plaque, the nitrite-producing and -degrading activities of human plaque, and their correlation. METHODS: Nitrate and nitrite were added to human plaque suspensions collected from the buccal aspect of maxillary molars of patients visiting a general dental clinic, and changes in pH were measured with and without glucose addition. Nitrite-producing and -degrading activities were evaluated by adding nitrate and nitrite to the plaque suspension and measuring the increase and decrease in nitrite with Griess reagent, respectively. RESULTS: The addition of nitrate inhibited both endogenous and glucose-induced plaque pH-lowering. The addition of glucose enhanced the production of nitrite from nitrate by about 3.3-fold. The addition of nitrite also inhibited endogenous plaque pH-lowering, but the addition of glucose promoted nitrite degradation by only about 1.1-fold. Nitrite-producing activity was positively correlated with age, but not with nitrite-degrading activity. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that nitrite was produced from nitrate and inhibited the pH-lowering activity of human plaque, which may contribute to caries control. Both nitrite-producing and -degrading activities occurred in human plaque, but no correlation was found between them. Furthermore, nitrite production was enhanced by glucose metabolism, which may function as a self-regulatory mechanism (resilience) to prevent excessive acidification by glucose metabolism.

Mobile bearing shows larger rollback motion than fixed bearing in total knee arthroplasty using a medial stabilising technique with a navigation system.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the intraoperative knee kinematics of cruciate-retaining total knee arthroplasty with a medial stabilising technique (MST-TKA) and compare the kinematics between mobile- and fixed-bearing MST-TKAs. We hypothesised that mobile-bearing MST-TKA would result in greater physiological kinematic motion than fixed-bearing MST-TKA. Methods: Twenty-one and 20 knees underwent mobile- and fixed-bearing MST-TKAs using a navigation system (Orthopilot® ver. 6.0; B. Braun Aesculap), respectively. In the preoperative and postoperative kinematic analysis, the knee was moved manually from 0° to 120°, and femoral anteroposterior translations of the medial femoral condyle (MFC) and lateral femoral condyle (LFC) were recorded every 0.1 s from 0° to 120°. Data were subsequently extracted from the software every 10° of flexion and compared between the two groups, and the correlation coefficients between preoperative and postoperative kinematics were calculated. Results: In the postoperative analysis, the MFC in the mobile-bearing group showed significant posterior translation at 100°, 110° and 120° compared to the fixed-bearing group (p < 0.01). Similarly, the LFC in the mobile-bearing group showed significant posterior translation at 100°, 110° and 120° compared to the fixed-bearing group (p < 0.05, p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively). In the mobile-bearing group, the preoperative and postoperative anteroposterior translations of the MFC and LFC were correlated (p < 0.01), while in the fixed-bearing group, there was no correlation. Conclusion: The femoral rollback motion in the mobile-bearing MST-TKA correlated with the preoperative kinematics and was larger than that in the fixed-bearing group. Level of Evidence: Level II, therapeutic prospective cohort study.

Identification of a novel target of sulforaphane: Sulforaphane binds to acyl-protein thioesterase 2 (APT2) and attenuates its palmitoylation.

Sulforaphane (SFaN) is a food-derived compound with several bioactive properties, including atherosclerosis, diabetes, and obesity treatment. However, the mechanisms by which SFaN exerts its various effects are still unclear. To elucidate the mechanisms of the various effects of SFaN, we explored novel SFaN-binding proteins using SFaN beads and identified acyl protein thioesterase 2 (APT2). We also found that SFaN binds to the APT2 via C56 residue and attenuates the palmitoylation of APT2, thereby reducing plasma membrane localization of APT2. This study reveals a novel bioactivity of SFaN as a regulator of APT2 protein palmitoylation.

HNF4α is required for Tkfc promoter activation by ChREBP.

Triokinase/FMN cyclase (Tkfc) is involved in fructose metabolism and is responsible for the phosphorylation of glyceraldehyde to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. In this study, we showed that refeeding induced hepatic expression of Tkfc in mice. Luciferase reporter gene assays using the Tkfc promoter revealed the existence of 2 hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α)-responsive elements (HNF4RE1 and HNF4RE2) and 1 carbohydrate-responsive element-binding protein (ChREBP)-responsive element (ChoRE1). Deletion and mutation of HNF4RE1 and HNF4RE2 or ChoRE1 abolished HNF4α and ChREBP responsiveness, respectively. HNF4α and ChREBP synergistically stimulated Tkfc promoter activity. ChoRE1 mutation attenuated but maintained HNF4α responsiveness, whereas HNF4RE1 and HNF4RE2 mutations abolished ChREBP responsiveness. Moreover, Tkfc promoter activity stimulation by ChREBP was attenuated upon HNF4α knockdown. Furthermore, Tkfc expression was decreased in the livers of ChREBP-/- and liver-specific HNF4-/- (Hnf4αΔHep) mice. Altogether, our data indicate that Tkfc is a target gene of ChREBP and HNF4α, and Tkfc promoter activity stimulation by ChREBP requires HNF4α.

Association Between MRI Signal Intensity of the Repaired Lateral Meniscus and Residual Anterolateral Knee Laxity After ACL Reconstruction.

Background: Anterolateral knee laxity (ALLx) has been linked to tears of the lateral meniscus (LM) and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Purpose: To investigate the longitudinal relationship between the signal intensity (SI) of the repaired LM on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and residual ALLx after ACL reconstruction (ACLR). Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Included were 87 patients who underwent double-bundle ACLR and lateral meniscal repair (mean age, 23.5 years; body mass index, 23.7 kg/m2; 56 women) at a single institution between 2010 and 2019. Proton density-weighted (PDW) and T2-weighted (T2W) MRI was performed at 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively, and the SI ratio (SIR) was calculated as (SI of the repaired LM)/(SI of the posterior cruciate ligament). At the 12-month follow-up, ALLx was evaluated using the pivot-shift test; an International Knee Documentation Committee grade ≥1 indicated residual ALLx. Results: Overall, 12 patients (13.8%) exhibited ALLx at 12 months postoperatively. At 3 months postoperatively, the SIR on PDW images (SIR-PDW) was significantly higher in patients with ALLx versus those without ALLx (1.98 ± 0.77 vs 1.49 ± 0.52, respectively; P = .007); there was no difference in the SIR on T2W images between the groups. SIR-PDW at 3 months postoperatively was correlated negatively with patient age (r = -0.308, P = .004). When patients were stratified into a younger (≤22 years; n = 53; ALLx = 7 [13.2%]) and an older (>22 years; n = 34; ALLx = 5 [14.7%]) group, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) for SIR-PDW in the younger group were statistically significant for predicting the prevalence of ALLx at all follow-up times (AUCs, 0.733-0.788) with optimal cutoff values of 2.00 at 3 months, 1.50 at 6 months, and 1.50 at 12 months. Logistic regression analysis revealed that if younger patients consistently had higher SIR-PDW values than the cutoff values, they were more likely to have residual ALLx (odds ratios, 10.24-23.57). Conclusion: For younger patients who underwent both ACLR and lateral meniscal repair, higher MRI SI of the repaired LM was associated with a higher prevalence of residual ALLx.

[A Case of Stage â £ Gastric Cancer with Multiple Liver Metastases, Resected Primary Tumor after Chemotherapy, and Alive for 3.5 Years without Recurrence].

A 67-year-old man visited our hospital for epigastric pain. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy(EGD)revealed type 2 gastric cancer from the cardia to the gastric angle, and histopathological examination revealed papillary adenocarcinoma(pap), HER2-positive. Contrast-enhanced CT showed wall thickening mainly in the posterior wall of the gastric body, enlarged lymph nodes that were lumped together with the main lesion, and 8 low-absorption areas with ring shaped contrast effects in both lobes of the liver. The patient was diagnosed as gastric cancer cT4aN(+)M1[HEP], clinical Stage ⅣB. Six courses of capecitabine plus cisplatin plus trastuzumab(XP plus Tmab)therapy and 17 courses of capecitabine plus trastuzumab(X plus Tmab)therapy were performed. After chemotherapy, liver and lymph node metastases disappeared on CT and MRI. EGD showed residual gastric cancer, and the policy was to resect the primary tumor. Laparoscopic total gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection was performed. Pathological results showed T1b(SM)depth, no lymph node metastasis, and histologic response was Grade 2a. Six courses of X plus Tmab were administered as postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, but were discontinued at the patient's request. Currently, 5 years have passed since the first chemotherapy and 3.5 years have passed since the surgery, and the patient is alive without recurrence, suggesting that the conversion surgery may have contributed to the prolonged survival.

Strong Optical Coupling of Lattice Resonances in a Top-down Fabricated Hybrid Metal-Dielectric Al/Si/Ge Metasurface.

Optical metasurfaces enable the manipulation of the light-matter interaction in ultrathin layers. Compared with their metal or dielectric counterparts, hybrid metasurfaces resulting from the combination of dielectric and metallic nanostructures can offer increased possibilities for interactions between modes present in the system. Here, we investigate the interaction between lattice resonances in a hybrid metal-dielectric metasurface obtained from a single-step nanofabrication process. Finite-difference time domain simulations show the avoided crossing of the modes appearing in the wavelength-dependent absorptance inside the Ge upon variations in a selected geometry parameter as evidence for strong optical coupling. We find good agreement between the measured and simulated absorptance and reflectance spectra. Our metasurface design can be easily incorporated into a top-down optoelectronic device fabrication process with possible applications ranging from on-chip spectroscopy to sensing.

Ten-Gram-Scale Total Synthesis of the Anticancer Drug Candidate E7130 to Supply Clinical Trials.

E7130 is a novel drug candidate with an exceedingly complex chemical structure of the halichondrin class, discovered by a total synthesis approach through joint research between the Kishi group at Harvard University and Eisai. Only 18 months after completion of the initial milligram-scale synthesis, ten-gram-scale synthesis of E7130 was achieved, providing the first good manufacturing practice (GMP) batch to supply clinical trials. This paper highlights the challenges in developing ten-gram-scale synthesis from the milligram-scale synthesis.

Cross-sectional association of skeletal muscle mass and strength with dietary habits and physical activity among first-year university students in Japan: Results from the KEIJI-U study.

OBJECTIVE: Recently, the high prevalence of young Japanese individuals who are underweight has received attention because of the potential risk for sarcopenia. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence and characteristics of sarcopenia in Japanese youth. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we measured skeletal muscle mass using a multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis device and handgrip strength (HGS) and administered questionnaires on dietary habits and physical activity in 1264 first-year university students ages 18 to 20 y (838 men and 426 women). Sarcopenia was confirmed based on the presence of both low skeletal muscle mass and weak muscle strength. RESULTS: In all, 145 men (17%) and 69 women (16%) were diagnosed as underweight. Sarcopenia was diagnosed in 8 men (1%) and 5 women (1%). There was a significantly higher prevalence of low skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) and/or weak HGS in underweight individuals than in those in other body mass index (BMI) ranges. The multivariate analyses indicated that SMI and HGS were significantly associated with BMI in both sexes. Furthermore, after adjusting for BMI, both SMI and HGS were significantly associated with physical activity in men, and SMI was significantly associated with energy intake in women. CONCLUSIONS: First-year university students showed a high incidence of being underweight with low SMI and/or weak HGS, but the prevalence of sarcopenia was low in both sexes. There may be sex differences in factors related to muscle mass and strength, but further research is needed to clarify this.

Interpersonal coordination analysis in bat-and-ball sports under a real game situation: Asymmetric interaction and delayed coupling.

This study investigated the interpersonal coordination between the pitcher and the batter in bat-and-ball sports. Although the importance of interpersonal coordination is widely accepted in many sports, no studies have investigated it in bat-and-ball sports because the dominant task constraints surrounding the interaction between pitcher and batter make it difficult to apply conventional analytic techniques. To address the issue, this study proposes a new analytical framework to investigate interpersonal coordination in bat-and-ball sports under a real game situation with two main characteristics: asymmetric interaction and delayed coupling. First, the dynamic time warping technique was used to evaluate the stability of the head movement pattern of the pitcher and batter, and cross-correlation analysis was used to quantify the temporal relationship between them. We found that the head movement pattern of batters was significantly more unstable than that of pitchers, and approximately 60% of the variance of the change in the head movement pattern of batters could be explained by that of the pitchers. Moreover, expert batters followed a pitcher's movements with a specific time delay of approximately 250 ms. These findings highlight the characteristics of interpersonal coordination in bat-and-ball sports: the pitcher can make a pre-patterned stable motion, whereas the batter needs to follow and adjust their movement to it. Although the effects of prediction ability need to be investigated to understand its detailed mechanism, the contribution of this study is that it revealed the existence of the interpersonal coordination between the pitcher and batter of bat-and-ball sports under a real game situation.

Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach effectively treated with capecitabine with oxaliplatin as adjuvant chemotherapy: A case report and literature review.

INTRODUCTION: Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (HAS) is an alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-producing gastric carcinoma (GC) with a hepatocellular carcinoma-like histology. HAS is a relatively rare type of GC, with liver metastases being more common than peritoneal dissemination in the recurrent form, and the poor prognosis. PRESENTATION OF CASE: We present the case of a 70-year-old patient who underwent distal gastrectomy for GC and immunohistologically diagnosed as HAS. The patient had an intravenous tumor thrombus at the proximal margin of the resected stomach. Owing to the low possibility of radical resection and high probability of liver metastatic recurrence, capecitabine with oxaliplatin (CapeOX) was started as adjuvant chemotherapy (AC). After three courses of CapeOX, oxaliplatin was discontinued due to adverse events (peripheral neuropathy, grade3) and capecitabine alone was continued for 3 years postoperatively. Six years after surgery, no local recurrence or distant metastasis was detected on imaging studies. DISCUSSION: There is no established standard treatment for HAS. Recently, some studies have reported the efficacy of antimetabolites or platinum-based drugs as AC regimens. We thus decided to start a regimen consisting of a combination of antimetabolites and a platinum, i.e., CapeOX, which proved efficacious. CONCLUSION: CapeOX or capecitabine may be effective as AC for treating HAS.

Genome sequence of Enterococcus gallinarum AH4, a milk oligosaccharide-degrading strain isolated from suckling rats.

We had previously isolated Enterococcus gallinarum AH4, a strain capable of degrading rat milk oligosaccharides. In this study, we determined the whole-genome sequence of AH4. This whole-genome information will expand our understanding of milk oligosaccharide-mediated symbioses between bacteria and host mammals.

Efficacy of Coagulofibrinolytic Markers for Postoperative Prediction of Venous Thromboembolism in Colorectal Surgery Patients: A Retrospective Observational Study.

Objectives: A low rate of the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) after surgeries that are preoperatively classified as having high risk of VTE has been reported in recent years. We seek to identify the optimal cases to receive perioperative pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis. In this study, we evaluated the incidence rate of VTE among patients undergoing colorectal surgery who did not receive perioperative pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis, and the ability of coagulofibrinolytic markers to predict the postoperative development of VTE. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the rate of postoperative development of VTE in 70 patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery without perioperative pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis and the ability of coagulofibrinolytic markers to predict the development of VTE. Results: The incidence of VTE was observed in 11 patients (15.7%); all cases were asymptomatic and distal-type deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Comparisons of time course changes in perioperative coagulofibrinolytic markers between patients with and without DVT revealed significant differences in soluble fibrin (SF), thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT), fibrin/fibrinogen degradation product (FDP) and D-dimer. Dynamic postoperative physiological coagulofibrinolytic responses were shown, but all four markers at each postoperative point demonstrated moderate accuracy (median area under the curve [AUC]: 0.788, median sensitivity: 0.865, median specificity: 0.644) for predicting the development of DVT. Conclusions: The incidence of postoperative VTE was low in patients with colorectal surgery even in those who did not receive perioperative pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis. SF, TAT, FDP and D-dimer were useful for predicting the development of DVT when we set cut-off values taking the physiological perioperative coagulofibrinolytic responses into consideration.

Role of Percutaneous Deep Venous Arterialization for Patients with Chronic Limb-threatening Ischemia.

Efficacy of percutaneous deep venous arterialization (pDVA) has been reported for patients with no-option chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI). In the countries where a manufactured device dedicated for pDVA has not been reimbursed, pDVA using the off-the-shelf technique has alternatively spread. The off-the-shelf techniques for arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation reported are as follows: AV spear technique, venous arterialization simplified technique (VAST), and a use of penetration guidewire or a reentry device. Technical success rates of the procedures are similar to those using the dedicated device. pDVA could be a last resort for the patients with no-option CLTI, including those suffering from stump ulcer after major limb amputation or those with occluded surgical bypass.