Elevated Serum IL-17A in Kawasaki Disease Patients Predicts Responsiveness to Intravenous Immunoglobulin Therapy.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between serum interleukin (IL)-17A levels and responsiveness to intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy in Kawasaki disease (KD) patients. METHODS: A retrospective analysis on data from 192 KD patients admitted to the Anqing Municipal Hospital between January 2021 and January 2024 was conducted. Patients were categorized into IVIG-nonresponsive and IVIG-sensitive groups as per the treatment outcomes. Outcome measures included serum IL-17A levels, left coronary artery (LCA) Z scores, and relevant laboratory parameters. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify predictive factors for IVIG responsiveness, and diagnostic performance was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and calculation of the area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: A total of 40 IVIG-nonresponsive cases and 152 IVIG-sensitive cases were included. Prior to intervention, IVIG-nonresponsive patients had significantly higher serum IL-17A levels compared to IVIG-sensitive patients, with a statistically significant difference. After intervention, serum IL-17A levels significantly decreased in IVIG-sensitive patients while remaining elevated in IVIG-nonresponsive patients. IVIG-nonresponsive patients exhibited significantly higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell count (WBC), NE, and ALT compared to IVIG-sensitive patients, whereas no significant differences in LCA Z scores between the two groups existed. Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified pre-IL-17A, CRP, WBC, and ALT as independent predictors of IVIG-nonresponsiveness in KD. When pre-IL-17A was ≥39.96 pg/mL, the specificity and sensitivity for predicting IVIG-nonresponsive KD were 63.9% and 71.9%, respectively, with an AUC of 0.637. The combined diagnosis of IL-17A, CRP, WBC, and ALT yielded an AUC of 0.780. CONCLUSION: Serum IL-17A levels were remarkably elevated in IVIG-nonresponsive KD patients both before and after intervention. A serum IL-17A level (≥39.96 pg/mL) demonstrated good predictive profile for IVIG-nonresponsive KD, and combining IL-17A with CRP, WBC, and ALT improved diagnostic performance.

Improved model on fluorescence decay in singlet fission materials.

Singlet fission (SF) materials are a kind of promising material for breaking the solar cell efficiency limit. Here we rebuild the four-electron spin Hamiltonian under our coordinate system and present an improved model described by the population evolution equations on fluorescence decay (FD) dynamics that contain several detailed physical processes. The improved model for total random molecular orientation gives a more consistent fitting on the experimental data [G. B. Piland et al., J. Phys. Chem. C, 2013, 117, 1224] about time-resolved FD of amorphous rubrene thin films in the presence of a strong magnetic field. The fitting can reflect the relative rates of the real physical processes. Further on, our results show two kinds of magnetic field effect for the variety of two molecular relative orientations with respect to each other and the magnetic field by investigating the singlet projection and FD dynamics of the system.

Collective dynamics of a spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate.

We study the collective dynamics of the spin-orbit coupled two pseudospin components of a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a quasi-one-dimensional harmonic potential, by using variational and directly numerical approach of binary mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equations. The results show that, because of strong coupling of spin-orbit coupling (SOC), Rabi coupling, and atomic interaction, the collective dynamics of the system behave as complex characters. When the Rabi coupling is absent, the density profiles of the system preserve the Gauss type and the wave packets do harmonic oscillations. The amplitude of the collective oscillations increases with SOC. Furthermore, when the SOC strength increases, the dipole oscillations of the two pseudospin components undergo a transition from in-phase to out-of-phase oscillations. When the Rabi coupling present, there will exist a critical value of SOC strength (which depends on the Rabi coupling and atomic interaction). If the SOC strength is less than this critical value, the density profiles of the system can preserve the Gauss type and the wave packets do anharmonic (the frequency of dipole oscillations depends on SOC) oscillations synchronously (i.e., in-phase oscillations). However, if the SOC strength is larger than this critical value, the wave packets are dynamically fragmented and the stable dipole oscillations of the system can not exist. The collective dynamics of the system can be controlled by adjusting the atomic interaction, SOC, and Rabi-coupling strength.