Intermittent hypoxia exacerbates anxiety in high-fat diet-induced diabetic mice by inhibiting TREM2-regulated IFNAR1 signaling.

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are mutual risk factors, with both conditions inducing cognitive impairment and anxiety. However, whether OSA exacerbates cognitive impairment and anxiety in patients with T2DM remains unclear. Moreover, TREM2 upregulation has been suggested to play a protective role in attenuating microglia activation and improving synaptic function in T2DM mice. The aim of this study was to explore the regulatory mechanisms of TREM2 and the cognitive and anxiety-like behavioral changes in mice with OSA combined with T2DM. METHODS: A T2DM with OSA model was developed by treating mice with a 60% kcal high-fat diet (HFD) combined with intermittent hypoxia (IH). Spatial learning memory capacity and anxiety in mice were investigated. Neuronal damage in the brain was determined by the quantity of synapses density, the number and morphology of brain microglia, and pro-inflammatory factors. For mechanism exploration, an in vitro model of T2DM combined with OSA was generated by co-treating microglia with high glucose (HG) and IH. Regulation of TREM2 on IFNAR1-STAT1 pathway was determined by RNA sequencing and qRT-PCR. RESULTS: Our results showed that HFD mice exhibited significant cognitive dysfunction and anxiety-like behavior, accompanied by significant synaptic loss. Furthermore, significant activation of brain microglia and enhanced microglial phagocytosis of synapses were observed. Moreover, IH was found to significantly aggravate anxiety in the HFD mice. The mechanism of HG treatment may potentially involve the promotion of TREM2 upregulation, which in turn attenuates the proinflammatory microglia by inhibiting the IFNAR1-STAT1 pathway. Conversely, a significant reduction in TREM2 in IH-co-treated HFD mice and HG-treated microglia resulted in the further activation of the IFNAR1-STAT1 pathway and consequently increased proinflammatory microglial activation. CONCLUSIONS: HFD upregulated the IFNAR1-STAT1 pathway and induced proinflammatory microglia, leading to synaptic damage and causing anxiety and cognitive deficits. The upregulated TREM2 inT2DM mice brain exerted a negative regulation of the IFNAR1-STAT1 pathway. Mice with T2DM combined with OSA exacerbated anxiety via the downregulation of TREM2, causing heightened IFNAR1-STAT1 pathway activation and consequently increasing proinflammatory microglia.

Green synthesis of Poria cocos polysaccharides-silver nanoparticles and their applications in food packaging.

To reduce pollution caused by traditional plastic packaging and preparation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), this work aims to develop biological macromolecular packaging films with green synthesized AgNPs. In this study, a novel P. cocos polysaccharide (PCP) with a unique monosaccharide composition was extracted from Poria cocos (Schw.) Wolf. Then, this polysaccharide containing 24.68 % rhamnose was used as a stabilizer for the green synthesis of PCP-AgNPs for the first time. PCP-AgNPs exhibited excellent antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa, E. coli, and S. aureus, with the highest antibacterial activity against E. coli (inhibition zone diameter = 11.14 ± 0.79 mm). Subsequently, PCP-AgNPs/chitosan (CS) film was successfully prepared by incorporating PCP-AgNPs into the CS film solution. Several experiments demonstrated that the addition of this nanomaterial promoted the formation of noncovalent interactions between CS and PCP-AgNPs, resulting in a more regular and denser film. Compared to the CS film and control group, the PCP-AgNPs/CS film significantly maintained the quality indexes of strawberries. Therefore, this composite film successfully extended the shelf life of strawberries. Regarding safety, these packaging films were not cytotoxic toward RAW264.7 cells. In conclusion, the environmentally friendly PCP-AgNPs/CS film has the potential to replace some traditional food packaging materials.

Safety enhancement of improved hydrodissection for microwave ablation in secondary hyperparathyroidism.

OBJECTIVE: To study the safety of improved hydrodissection based on the periparathyroidal fascial space during microwave ablation (MWA) for secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data from 337 patients (162 males and 175 females; mean age, 50.8 ± 12.8 [range, 16-84] years) who underwent MWA for SHPT were retrospectively reviewed. Among them, 177 patients underwent traditional hydrodissection (traditional group) and 160 patients underwent improved hydrodissection based on periparathyroidal fascial spaces (improved group). Safety enhancement was analyzed by comparing the complications between the two groups. The characteristics of the hydrodissected fascial spaces, complications, and the follow-up results were recorded. The baseline data, clinical parameters, laboratory indices and characteristics of SHPT lesions were analyzed to assess the risk factors associated with hoarseness. RESULTS: Hydrodissection was successfully performed in all the enrolled patients according to the protocol. Six periparathyroid fascial spaces were hydrodissected, depending on the location of the SHPT lesions. The incidence of hoarseness due to recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, the most common complication of thermal ablation for SHPT lesions, was lower in the improved group than in the traditional group (6.9% vs. 13.0%, p = 0.044). The median hoarseness recovery time in the improved group was shorter than that in the traditional group (2 vs. 6 months, p < 0.001). There was no difference in technical efficiency between the two groups (improved group vs. traditional group: 75.0% vs. 70.6%; p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with traditional hydrodissection, improved hydrodissection based on periparathyroidal fascial spaces could enhance safety during MWA for SHPT.

Enrichment of biofertilizer-type hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria on urea containing Cu(II).

With the utilization of pesticides and fertilizers (e.g. urea), the presence of nitrogen and heavy metals (e.g. copper) can enter and pollute the environment. Biofertilizers can be used to replace chemical fertilizers to increase crop yields and reduce environmental stress. The utilization of hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria (HOB) to be biofertilizers has recently attracted more attention. However, the enrichment of HOB on urea and the effect of copper are undetermined. HOB were successfully enriched using urea in this investigation. The average urea conversion rate (AUCR) was 180.08 mgN/L/d with a hydraulic retention time of 10 h. Microbial community (R1) was dominated by Hydrogenophaga (83.92%), a biofertilizer-type HOB. After addition of 5.47 mg/L Cu2+, the AUCR was decreased by 16%-151.18 mgN/L/d, and the growth of HOB was inhibited by 48%. Meanwhile, inhibition was also reflected by the increase of polysaccharide content (20.27 ± 0.57 to 33.45 ± 2.53 mg/gVSS) and protein content (106.19 ± 19.39 to 125.14 ± 24.73 mg/gVSS) of extracellular polymeric substances in the HOB. The resulting microbial community (R2) was changed to Azospiralium-dominated flora (91.33%). Both enriched microbial communities (R1 and R2) exhibited the abilities of ACC degradation and phosphate solubilization. This study demonstrates that employing urea can directly enrich biofertilizer-type HOB and copper-tolerant HOB can be obtained in a 5.47 mg/L Cu2+ environment. The results provide potential methods to obtain biofertilizer from copper-containing urea wastewater via HOB.

CX3CL1/CX3CR1 signal mediates M1-type microglia and accelerates high-altitude-induced forgetting.

Introduction: Hypoxia-induced neuronal damage is the primary cause of cognitive impairment induced by high-altitude exposure. Microglia play a crucial regulatory role in the central nervous system (CNS) homeostasis and synaptic plasticity. M1-type polarized microglia are suspected to be responsible for CNS injury under hypoxic conditions, but the exact molecular mechanism is still unelucidated. Methods: CX3CR1 knock out and wide type mice were exposed to a simulated plateau at 7000 m for 48 h to construct the model of hypobaric hypoxia-induced memory impairment. The memory impairment of mice was assessed by Morris water maze. The dendritic spine density in the hippocampus was examined by Golgi staining. The synapses in the CA1 region and the number of neurons in the DG region were examined by immunofluorescence staining. The synapses in microglia activation and phagocytosis were examined by immunofluorescence. The levels of CX3CL1/CX3CR1 and their downstream proteins were detected. CX3CR1 knockout primary microglia were treated with CX3CL1 combined with 1% O2. The levels of proteins related to microglial polarization, the uptake of synaptosome and phagocytotic ability of microglia were detected. Results: In this study, mice exposed to a simulated 7000 m altitude for 48 h developed significant amnesia for recent memories, but no significant change in their anxiety levels was observed. Hypobaric hypoxia exposure (7000 m altitude above sea level for 48 h) resulted in synapse loss in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, but no significant changes occurred in the total number of neurons. Meanwhile, microglia activation, increased phagocytosis of synapses by microglia, and CX3CL1/CX3CR1 signal activation were observed under hypobaric hypoxic exposure. Further, we found that after hypobaric hypoxia exposure, CX3CR1-deficient mice showed less amnesia, less synaptic loss in the CA1 region, and less increase in M1 microglia, compared to their wildtype siblings. CX3CR1-deficient microglia did not exhibit M1-type polarization in response to either hypoxia or CX3CL1 induction. Both hypoxia and CX3CL1 induced the phagocytosis of synapses by microglia through the upregulation of microglial phagocytosis. Discussion: The current study demonstrates that CX3CL1/CX3CR1 signal mediates the M1-type polarization of microglia under high-altitude exposure and upregulates microglial phagocytosis, which increases the phagocytosis of synapses in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, causing synaptic loss and inducing forgetting.

Traumatic MicroRNAs: Deconvolving the Signal After Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.

History of traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents a significant risk factor for development of dementia and neurodegenerative disorders in later life. While histopathological sequelae and neurological diagnostics of TBI are well defined, the molecular events linking the post-TBI signaling and neurodegenerative cascades remain unknown. It is not only due to the brain's inaccessibility to direct molecular analysis but also due to the lack of well-defined and highly informative peripheral biomarkers. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) in blood are promising candidates to address this gap. Using integrative bioinformatics pipeline including miRNA:target identification, pathway enrichment, and protein-protein interactions analysis we identified set of genes, interacting proteins, and pathways that are connected to previously reported peripheral miRNAs, deregulated following severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) in humans. This meta-analysis revealed a spectrum of genes closely related to critical biological processes, such as neuroregeneration including axon guidance and neurite outgrowth, neurotransmission, inflammation, proliferation, apoptosis, cell adhesion, and response to DNA damage. More importantly, we have identified molecular pathways associated with neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, based on purely peripheral markers. The pathway signature after acute sTBI is similar to the one observed in chronic neurodegenerative conditions, which implicates a link between the post-sTBI signaling and neurodegeneration. Identified key hub interacting proteins represent a group of novel candidates for potential therapeutic targets or biomarkers.

Long-term survival in extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer treated with different immune checkpoint inhibitors in multiple-line therapies: A case report and literature review.

Background: Extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) is highly malignant, is highly prone to recurrence, and has a short survival period. It is very difficult to achieve long-term survival in ES-SCLC, which has not been significantly improved in the last 20 years. For a long time, platinum-based chemotherapy has occupied the core position in the treatment of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), but there are few options for treatment drugs or regimens, and if disease progression occurs, the options for follow-up regimens are obviously limited. The advent of immunotherapy has changed this situation to some extent, and immunotherapy has shown some effects in improving efficiency and prolonging survival, whether in first- or third-line therapy, but it is still unsatisfactory. Case presentation: A 57-year-old patient with ES-SCLC experienced disease progression after four lines of treatment including synchronous radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and antiangiogenesis. However, the patient still benefited when switching to the programmed cell death receptor-1 (PD-1) inhibitor toripalimab in combination with chemotherapy in the fifth line. Even after the development of immune resistance, the patient still benefited after switching to tislelizumab in combination with different chemotherapy regimens or alone in the sixth and seventh lines. Following the progression of tislelizumab in combination with chemotherapy, the patient again profited after switching to durvalumab in combination with anlotinib and again achieved a progressive-free survival (PFS) of 11 months. Overall, the patient achieved a total of 45 months of PFS and 50 months of overall survival (OS), with a shocking and exciting 30 months of PFS achieved in the immune combination phase alone. Conclusion: We report a patient with ES-SCLC who achieved long-term survival after at least eight lines of therapy including chemotherapy, antiangiogenesis, and different immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). This suggests that long-term survival in SCLC is possible with aggressive, combined, and standardized treatment. Otherwise, immunotherapy postline enablement can still benefit patients, rechallenge after immune resistance is also possible in SCLC, and combination with chemotherapy or antiangiogenic therapy can improve the efficacy and prolong the survival. This will provide new ideas and options for the selection of treatment options for SCLC.

A Review of Crystalline Multibridged Cyclophane Cages: Synthesis, Their Conformational Behavior, and Properties.

This paper reviews the most stable conformation of crystalline three-dimensional cyclophane (CP) achieved by self-assembling based on changing the type of aromatic compound or regulating the type and number of bridging groups. [3n]cyclophanes (CPs) were reported to form supramolecular compounds with bind organic, inorganic anions, or neutral molecules selectively. [3n]cyclophanes ([3n]CPs) have stronger donor capability relative to compound [2n]cyclophanes ([2n]CPs), and it is expected to be a new type of electron donor for the progress of fresh electron conductive materials. The synthesis, conformational behavior, and properties of crystalline multi-bridge rings are summarized and discussed.

(-)-Epicatechin gallate prevents inflammatory response in hypoxia-activated microglia and cerebral edema by inhibiting NF-κB signaling.

High-altitude cerebral edema (HACE), a potentially lethal disease, is associated with a time-dependent exposure to altitude-related hypobaric hypoxia (HH) and has reportedly been associated with microglia hyperactivation. Catechins are substances with good antioxidant properties, among which (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) may play a neuroprotective role through the inhibition of microglia overactivation; however, the function of its analog- (-)-epicatechin gallate (ECG)-requires further elucidation. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether ECG prevented HACE by inhibiting HH-activated microglia. Primary microglia exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/ATP were co-treated with EGCG, ECG, and (-)-epigallocatechin, and ECG and EGCG exerted significant anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. ECG inhibited the NF-κB pathway to prevent the activation of microglia induced by 1% O2. In addition, ECG ameliorated the increase in brain water content and aquaporin 4 expression induced by HH in mice. ECG also reduced the number of Iba1+ microglia in the brain, the release of proinflammatory factors, and the recruitment of microglia to blood vessels in HH-exposed mice. The outcomes of the present study revealed that ECG alleviated hypoxic hyperactivated microglia, reduced the neuroinflammation and blood-brain barrier permeability, and prevented HACE by inhibiting NF-κB signaling.

Pathway integration and annotation: building a puzzle with non-matching pieces and no reference picture.

Biological pathways are a broadly used formalism for representing and interpreting the cascade of biochemical reactions underlying cellular and biological mechanisms. Pathway representation provides an ontological link among biomolecules such as RNA, DNA, small molecules, proteins, protein complexes, hormones and genes. Frequently, pathway annotations are used to identify mechanisms linked to genes within affected biological contexts. This important role and the simplicity and elegance in representing complex interactions led to an explosion of pathway representations and databases. Unfortunately, the lack of overlap across databases results in inconsistent enrichment analysis results, unless databases are integrated. However, due to absence of consensus, guidelines or gold standards in pathway definition and representation, integration of data across pathway databases is not straightforward. Despite multiple attempts to provide consolidated pathways, highly related, redundant, poorly overlapping or ambiguous pathways continue to render pathways analysis inconsistent and hard to interpret. Ontology-based integration will promote unbiased, comprehensive yet streamlined analysis of experiments, and will reduce the number of enriched pathways when performing pathway enrichment analysis. Moreover, appropriate and consolidated pathways provide better training data for pathway prediction algorithms. In this manuscript, we describe the current methods for pathway consolidation, their strengths and pitfalls, and highlight directions for future improvements to this research area.

Reproducibility of macular perfusion parameters in non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy patients by two different OCTA sweep modes.

AIM: To assess the reproducibility of macular perfusion parameters in non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) patients measured by different examiners and two different sweep modes of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). METHODS: Ninety-eight (98 eyes) patients with NPDR were included in this study. All participates were performed three times using Cirrus OCTA with Angiography 3×3 mm2 and 6×6 mm2 sweep mode by two examiners. The macular foveal avascular zone (FAZ) and vessel density (VD) in the superficial retinal layer (SRL) were measured. The reproducibility of the measurements was evaluated with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and coefficient of variation (CoV). RESULTS: The intra-mode ICCs of Angiography 3×3 mm2 and 6×6 mm2 sweep mode were 0.957 to 0.959 and 0.964 to 0.977, respectively; and the inter-mode ICCs were 0.962 to 0.970. The intra-examiner ICCs of macular perfusion parameters were >0.950; and the inter-examiner ICCs were 0.928 to 0.969. All CoVs were <1.0%. CONCLUSION: Cirrus OCTA can measure macular perfusion parameters in NPDR patients with excellent reproducibility. The measurements of FAZ and VD in the SRL determined by Angiography 3×3 mm2 and 6×6 mm2 sweep mode are highly consistent and both sweep modes are suitable for macular perfusion parameters measurement.

[Structural Design and Finite Element Analysis of New Type Posterior Integral Glaucoma Valve].

The treatment of refractory Glaucoma is a difficult problem in clinical ophthalmology. For refractory glaucoma patients with hyphema, shallow anterior chamber, anterior conglutination of peripheral chamber angle, corneal endothelium dystrophy or decompensated, at present, there is no effective treatment. In order to solve this problem, a new type posterior integral glaucoma valve with IOP control device was designed using medical titanium alloy, and the valve model was established by Abaqus software, and the stiffness and preload of the valve were analyzed by finite element method. The results showed that the opening and closing of the valve were controlled automatically by the pressure difference between the front and back of the valve, and the opening and flow rate of the valve increase dynamically with the increase of intraocular pressure, and finally reached the set ideal IOP value of steady state.

Effect of Delphinidin on Metabolomic Profile in Breast Carcinogenesis.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is a malignant tumor which threat to women's physical and mental health. Delphinidin, one of the main anthocyanidins, has potent anti-cancer properties. In previous study, we found that delphinidin has the preventive role in MNU-induced breast carcinogenesis of rats, but the molecular mechanism by which delphinidin combats breast cancer has not been completely elucidated.The aim of the present study was to identify metabolic profile that account for delphinidin on the preventive effect on 1-methyl-1-nitrosourea (MNU)-induced breast carcinogenesis of rats. METHODS: In the present study, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was conducted to identify metabolic profiles of rat tissues collected from normal mammary glands (normal group), breast tumors derived from MNU-induced breast carcinogenesis models (control group) and delphinidin administration models (delphinidin group). Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) were employed to identify biochemical patterns. The values of variable importance in the projection (VIP) in PLS-DA model combined with the P value of Student's t-test were used to determine important metabolites. An orthogonal partial least square discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was used to conduct the supervised analysis. The fitness and prediction capabilities of PCA modes were measured by R 2 and Q 2 value respectively. Potential biomarkers were subjected to pathway analysis with Metaboanalyst 3.0 based on the KEGG Pathway Database to identify related metabolic pathways. RESULTS: The PCA and PLS-DA analysis indicated that the proposed method were satisfactory for metabolomic analysis. Metabolites from the obtained features were further filtered by PLS-DA analysis with VIP>1.0 and P<0.05. The significant difference was appeared in 190 metabolites between normal group and control group (P<0.05). Eight most significant metabolic pathways were obtained on the basis of the results of P<0.05 data analysis between control and normal group, embodying in aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, arginine biosynthesis, biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis, purine metabolism, alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, histidine metabolism. A total of 48 metabolites were identified to be associated with protective effects of delphinidin on MNU-induced rats significantly(P<0.05). Compared with control group, a total of 5 metabolic pathways were significantly perturbed in response to delphinidin administration (p<0.05), including in taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, Glycerophospholipid metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis and primary bile acid biosynthesis. CONCLUSION: Metabolites and metabolic pathways were identified to be associated with protective effects of delphinidin on MNU-induced rats. The findings provided new insights into the precise mechanism of delphinidin in preventing breast carcinogenesis.

Chromosome-Scale Assembly of the Dendrobium nobile Genome Provides Insights Into the Molecular Mechanism of the Biosynthesis of the Medicinal Active Ingredient of Dendrobium.

Orchids constitute approximately 10% of flowering plant species. However, only about 10 orchid genomes have been published. Metabolites are the main way through which orchids respond to their environment. Dendrobium nobile, belonging to Dendrobium, the second largest genus in Orchidaceae, has high ornamental, medicinal, and ecological value. D. nobile is the source of many popular horticultural varieties. Among the Dendrobium species, D. nobile has the highest amount of dendrobine, which is regarded as one of the criteria for evaluating medicinal quality. Due to lack of data and analysis at the genomic level, the biosynthesis pathways of dendrobine and other related medicinal ingredients in D. nobile are unknown. In this paper, we report a chromosome-scale reference genome of D. nobile to facilitate the investigation of its genomic characteristics for comparison with other Dendrobium species. The assembled genome size of D. nobile was 1.19 Gb. Of the sequences, 99.45% were anchored to 19 chromosomes. Furthermore, we identified differences in gene number and gene expression patterns compared with two other Dendrobium species by integrating whole-genome sequencing and transcriptomic analysis [e.g., genes in the polysaccharide biosynthesis pathway and upstream of the alkaloid (dendrobine) biosynthesis pathway]. Differences in the TPS and CYP450 gene families were also found among orchid species. All the above differences might contribute to the species-specific medicinal ingredient biosynthesis pathways. The metabolic pathway-related analysis will provide further insight into orchid responses to the environment. Additionally, the reference genome will provide important insights for further molecular elucidation of the medicinal active ingredients of Dendrobium and enhance the understanding of orchid evolution.

Expression Patterns of Ezrin and AJAP1 and Clinical Significance in Breast Cancer.

Ezrin and adherens junction-associated protein 1 (AJAP1) are structural proteins which are involved in numerous human malignancies. However, little is known about the relationship between them in breast cancer. This study was set out to investigate the relationship between them and to further explore the mechanism of AJAP1-mediating cytoskeleton in breast cancer progression. Ezrin and AJAP1 expressions were detected in 377 samples of breast cancer by immunohistochemistry, and different expression patterns between AJAP1 and Ezrin with clinicopathological parameters were analyzed. Besides, univariate and multivariate Cox models were used to evaluate their prognostic potential. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Western blot, qRT-PCR, and phalloidin staining of F-actin were used to explore the relationship and the mechanism between AJAP1 and Ezrin in cytoskeleton arrangement. 377 cases of breast cancer results showed that AJAP1 expression was negatively related with histological grade and lymph node involvement and could be an independent prognosis marker of breast cancer. AJAP1 expression tended to be higher in the Ezrin-negative expression case. Patients with AJAP1negative and Ezrinpositive expression had a worse prognosis (p < 0.0001) and shorter DFS (p = 0.015). More importantly, AJAP1 depletion increased the cell ability of F-actin formation through promoting Ezrin expression. AJAP1 depletion might mediate breast cancer malignancy potential through promoting Ezrin expression and cytoskeleton formation.

Effectiveness of Lymphatic Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound in the diagnosis of Cervical Lymph node metastasis from papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Cervical lymph node metastasis (CLNM) is common in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), which is responsible for tumor staging and surgical strategy. The accurate preoperative identification of CLNM is essential. In this study, twenty consecutive patients with PTC received a parenchyma injection of Sonazoid followed by contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to identify CLNM. The specific lymphatic CEUS (LCEUS) signs for diagnosing CLNM were summarized, which were further compared with the resected specimens to get the pathological basis. After the injection of contrast agent, lymphatic vessel and lymph node (LN) could be exclusively displayed as hyperperfusion on LCEUS. The dynamic perfusion process of contrast agent in CLNM over time can be clearly visualized. Perfusion defect and interruption of bright ring were the two characteristic LCEUS signs in diagnosing CLNM. After comparing with pathology, perfusion defect was correlated to the metastatic foci in medulla and interruption of bright ring was correlated to the tumor seeding in marginal sinus (all p values < 0.001). The diagnostic efficacies of these two signs were high (perfusion defect vs. interruption of bright ring: AUC, 0.899, 95% CI 0.752-1.000 vs. 0.904, 0.803-1.000). LCEUS has advantages in identifying CLNM from PTC. The typical LCEUS signs of CLNM correlated with pathology.

Multiple Responsive CPL Switches in an Enantiomeric Pair of Perovskite Confined in Lanthanide MOFs.

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) switches have attracted widespread attention due to their potential applications in advanced information technologies. However, the design and fabrication of solid-state multiple-responsive CPL switches remain challenging. Here, through self-assembly of chiral metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and perovskite nanocrystals (NCs), a pair of crystalline enantiomeric (P)-(+)/(M)-(-)-EuMOF⊃MAPbX3 (MA = CH3 NH3 + , X = Cl- , Br- , I- ) adducts is prepared, where the achiral MAPbBr3 perovskite NCs embedded into chiral MOFs inherit the chirality of host MOFs by host-guest EuBr and PbO coordination bonds, which is demonstrated by synchrotron-radiation-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The chiral adducts show enhanced photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY), good thermal stability of CPL in air, and photoswitchable CPL properties upon altering different UV irradiation. Based on two chiral emission centers and their different characteristics, reversible CPL switches are realized upon a diversity of external stimuli, for example, chemicals (water /CH3 NH3 Br solution) or temperatures (room temperature/high temperature). Benefiting from the extraordinary stimuli-responsive and highly reversible switchable CPL, multiple information encryptions and decryptions integrated with CPL, together with a chiroptical logic gate are successfully designed. This work opens a new avenue to generally fabricate solid-state CPL composite materials and develops new applications based on switchable CPL.

Intermolecular interactions, photocatalysis and THz-TDS interrelationships for lanthanide phosphine oxide complexes based on {PW12}.

A series of rare earth complexes containing (α-PW12O40)3- and PO ligand are synthesized by water bath in 70 °C, [Ln(OPPh3)4(H2O)3](PW12O40)·4CH3CN (Ln = La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Ho 1-7) (OPPh3 = Triphenylphosphine oxide, {PW12} = phosphotungstic acid). The precise structures are confirmed by X-ray single crystal diffraction and the result shows all complexes are isostructural. Complexes 1-7 are fully characterized by PXRD, FT-IR, TGA, UV diffuse reflectance spectra and terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). Complex 3 exhibits the highest photocatalytic degradation efficiency for methylene blue (MB) in this series of complexes. The experimental results showed that the photodegradation efficiency can remain constant at the level of 95% after five consecutive cycles. The photocatalytic reaction kinetics and mechanism of complexes were investigated. Additionally, complexes also exhibit photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity. THz-TDS was used to characterize the complexes and its raw materials, the characteristic peaks of OPPh3 (broad peak at 1.20 THz) and phosphotungstic acid (sharp peaks at 0.23, 0.32 THz) were obtained.

Facile high yield, excellent catalytic performance of polyoxometalate-based lanthanide phosphine oxide complexes: Syntheses, structures, photocatalysis and THz spectra.

Water pollution, which continuously threatens human health and the sustainable development of society, has become a major concern. Photocatalytic degradation is an effective strategy to remove organic dyes from wastewater. For this strategy, it is crucial to select the appropriate catalyst. Using triphenylphosphine oxide (OPPh3) as the ligand, phosphomolybdic acid as the anion template, three new lanthanide complexes [Ln(OPPh3)4(H2O)3](PMo12O40)∙4C2H5OH (1-3) (Ln = Sm, Gd, Tb) were synthesized. The raw materials for the reaction are cheap and readily available. The convenient synthesis method is environmentally friendly, with high yield (70%-80%). Complexes 1-3 are all seven-coordinated mononuclear structures centered on lanthanide ions, [PMo12O40]3- anions and solvent molecules are not coordinated with metal ions. These mononuclear structures eventually form complicated 3D supramolecular structures through hydrogen bonds, Mo-O … π or C-H … π weak interactions. Complexes 1-3 photocatalytic degradation of MB have high removal rates, as catalysts have enough stability to be reused, and can be used as excellent catalysts for the degradation of dye molecules in sewage. Among them, the removal rate of MB by photodegradation of complex 2 was highest (99.50%). In addition, the effects of different initial concentrations of MB solution and different types of organic dyes on the photocatalysis experiment were investigated. The photocatalytic reaction mechanism of complexes 1-3 was also studied. Due to the similar structures of complexes 1-3, they have almost the same THz absorption spectra with different absorption intensity, which may be attributed to the difference of the number of weak interactions. Therefore, terahertz spectroscopy can be used as a sensitive method to distinguish and determine small differences between lanthanide-organic complexes. This is the first time that this spectrum has been used to characterize lanthanide phosphine oxide complexes modified by [PMo12O40]3-.

Pathway Enrichment Analysis of Microarray Data.

Microarray analyses usually result in a list of differential genes that need to be annotated to link them the phenotype being studied, help planning validation experiments and interpretation of the results. Pathway enrichment analyses are frequently used for such purpose, where pathways are human created models of molecular activities and processes. While different types of pathway enrichment are available, we focus this protocol on the most frequent type-overrepresentation analysis. Many databases collect different sets of pathways and curate different sets of genes for the same pathways, so it is important to carefully choose the most suitable pathway source to perform enrichment analysis. To provide a comprehensive pathway analysis, in this protocol we will use pathDIP, which supports comprehensive enrichment analysis by integrating 22 main pathway databases. We will also describe the steps needed to visualize the enriched pathways using GSOAP.