Effects on growth performance and immunity of Monopterus albus after high temperature stress.

To investigate the impact of the effect of high temperature stimulation on Monopterus albus larvae after a certain period of time, five experimental groups were established at different temperatures. Then, the M. albus under high temperature stress was fed at 30°C for 70 days. After that, the growth index of the M. albus was counted and analyzed. In terms of growth index, high temperature stress had significant effects on FCR, FBW, WGR, and SGR of M. albus (p < 0.05). The SR increased after being stimulated by temperature (p < 0.1). The study revealed that liver cells of M. albus were harmed by elevated temperatures of 36°C and 38°C. In the experimental group, the activities of digestive enzymes changed in the same trend, reaching the highest point in the 32°C group and then decreasing, and the AMS activity in the 38°C group was significantly different from that in the 30°C group (p < 0.05). The activities of antioxidase in liver reached the highest at 34°C, which was significantly different from those at 30°C (p < 0.05). In addition, the expression levels of TLR1, C3, TNF-α, and other genes increased in the experimental group, reaching the highest point at 34°C, and the expression level of the IL-1ß gene reached the highest point at 32°C, which was significantly different from that at 30°C (p < 0.05). However, the expression level of the IRAK3 gene decreased in the experimental group and reached its lowest point at 34°C (p < 0.05). The expression level of the HSP90α gene increased with the highest temperature stimulus and reached its highest point at 38°C (p < 0.05). In the α diversity index of intestinal microorganisms in the experimental group, the observed species, Shannon, and Chao1 indexes in the 34°C group were the highest (p < 0.05), and ß diversity analysis revealed that the intestinal microbial community in the experimental group was separated after high temperature stimulation. At the phylum level, the three dominant flora are Proteus, Firmicutes, and Bacteroides. Bacteroides and Macrococcus abundance increased at the genus level, but Vibrio and Aeromonas abundance decreased. To sum up, appropriate high-temperature stress can enhance the immunity and adaptability of M. albus. These results show that the high temperature stimulation of 32°C-34°C is beneficial to the industrial culture of M. albus.

Combined treatment of All-trans retinoic acid with Tamoxifen suppresses ovarian cancer.

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer is a malignant tumor of the female reproductive system, and its mortality rate is as high as 70%. Estrogen receptor α (ERα)-positive ovarian cancer accounted for most of all ovarian cancer patients. ERα can promote the growth and proliferation of tumors. METHODS: The combined effect of All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and tamoxifen was obtained by the combination screening of tamoxifen and compound library by MTS. In addition, colony formation assay, flow cytometry analysis, immunofluorescence staining, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), western blot, and tumor xenotransplantation models were used to further evaluate the efficacy of tamoxifen and ATRA in vitro and in vivo for ER-α-positive ovarian cancer. RESULTS: In our study, we found that All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) can cooperate with tamoxifen to cause cell cycle arrest and apoptosis and inhibit ERα-positive ovarian cancer in vivo and in vitro. Further exploration of the mechanism found that ATRA can Inhibit genes related to the ERα signaling pathway, enhance the sensitivity of ERα-positive ovarian cancer cells to tamoxifen, and ascertain the effectiveness of tamoxifen and ATRA as treatments for ovarian cancer with an ERα-positive status. CONCLUSION: Combination of ATRA and tamoxifen is a new way for the treatment of ERα-positive ovarian cancer.

Transcriptomic and physiological analyses of Trichoderma citrinoviride HT-1 assisted phytoremediation of Cd contaminated water by Phragmites australis.

Plant growth promoting microbe assisted phytoremediation is considered a more effective approach to rehabilitation than the single use of plants, but underlying mechanism is still unclear. In this study, we combined transcriptomic and physiological methods to explore the mechanism of plant growth promoting microbe Trichoderma citrinoviride HT-1 assisted phytoremediation of Cd contaminated water by Phragmites australis. The results show that the strain HT-1 significantly promoted P. australis growth, increased the photosynthetic rate, enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities. The chlorophyll content and the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) were increased by 83.78%, 23.17%, 47.60%, 97.14% and 12.23% on average, and decreased the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) by 31.10%. At the same time, strain HT-1 improved the absorption and transport of Cd in P. australis, and the removal rate of Cd was increased by 7.56% on average. Transcriptome analysis showed that strain HT-1 induced significant up-regulated the expression of genes related to oxidative phosphorylation and ribosome pathways, and these upregulated genes promoted P. australis remediation efficiency and resistance to Cd stress. Our results provide a mechanistic understanding of plant growth promoting microbe assisted phytoremediation under Cd stress.

Intelligent weight prediction of cows based on semantic segmentation and back propagation neural network.

Accurate prediction of cattle weight is essential for enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of livestock management practices. However, conventional methods often involve labor-intensive procedures and lack instant and non-invasive solutions. This study proposed an intelligent weight prediction approach for cows based on semantic segmentation and Back Propagation (BP) neural network. The proposed semantic segmentation method leveraged a hybrid model which combined ResNet-101-D with the Squeeze-and-Excitation (SE) attention mechanism to obtain precise morphological features from cow images. The body size parameters and physical measurements were then used for training the regression-based machine learning models to estimate the weight of individual cattle. The comparative analysis methods revealed that the BP neural network achieved the best results with an MAE of 13.11 pounds and an RMSE of 22.73 pounds. By eliminating the need for physical contact, this approach not only improves animal welfare but also mitigates potential risks. The work addresses the specific needs of welfare farming and aims to promote animal welfare and advance the field of precision agriculture.

Driving carbon emission reduction in China through green finance and green innovation: an endogenous growth perspective.

Discovering drivers of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is vital for the Chinese government to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutral. With this aim, a theoretical endogenous growth model capturing the mitigating effect of green finance and green innovation on carbon emissions is constructed in this study, which is further empirically examined using China's municipal-level panel data during 2010-2019. The main findings are as follows: First, there is theoretical and empirical evidence supporting that green finance and green innovation can inhibit carbon emissions. Second, the above inhibitory effects demonstrate clear regional disparities with significant effects only in eastern and central Chinese cities, which are moderated by environmental regulations and marketization levels, respectively. Third, in cities with high green finance, green finance plays a more significant role in reducing carbon emissions than green innovation, and the opposite is true in cities with low green finance. In addition, the robustness and endogeneity checks indicate that the results of this study are robust and reliable. These theoretical and empirical findings create profound implications for CO2 emission reduction by vigorously guiding funds to green finance and formulating scientific and effective environmental regulations to promote green innovation in China.

Extent of Surgery for Medullary Thyroid Cancer and Prevalence of Occult Contralateral Foci.

Importance: Standard treatment for patients with medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) consists of total thyroidectomy with central neck dissection, but the rationale for bilateral surgery in patients with unilateral disease on ultrasonography remains unclear. Objective: To determine the presence of occult contralateral disease (lesions not seen on preoperative ultrasonography) in patients with MTC as a rationale for total thyroidectomy. Design, Setting, and Participants: This multi-institutional, retrospective cohort study was conducted from September 1998 to April 2022 in academic medical centers and included patients with MTC who underwent thyroidectomy with preoperative imaging. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point was the prevalence of sonographically occult foci of MTC in the contralateral lobe among patients with sporadic MTC. Results: The cohort comprised 176 patients with a median age at diagnosis of 55 years (range, 2-87 years), 69 (57.6%) of whom were female. Genetic testing was performed in 109 patients (61.9%), 48 (27.5%) of whom carried germline RET variants. Initial surgical management consisted of total thyroidectomy (161 [91.0%]), lobectomy followed by completion thyroidectomy (7 [4.0%]), and lobectomy alone (8 [4.5%]). Central and lateral neck dissections were performed as part of initial therapy for 146 patients (83.1%). In the entire cohort of 176 patients, 46 (26.0%) had contralateral foci disease and 9 (5.1%) had occult contralateral foci that were not identified on preoperative ultrasonography. Among 109 patients who underwent genetic testing, 38 (34.9%) had contralateral disease, 8 (7.3%) of whom had occult contralateral disease not seen on preoperative ultrasonography. Patients with sporadic MTC experienced a 95.7% reduction in the odds of having a focus of MTC in the contralateral lobe compared with patients with a germline RET variant (odds ratio, 0.043; 95% CI, 0.013-0.123). When adjusting for age, sex, tumor size, and lymph node involvement, the odds ratio of having contralateral MTC in patients with sporadic disease was 0.034 (95% CI, 0.007-0.116). Among patients who underwent lobectomy alone with postoperative calcitonin levels, 5 of 12 (41.7%) achieved undetectable calcitonin levels (<2.0 pg/mL; to convert to pmol/L, multiply by 0.292). Conclusions and Relevance: The results of this cohort study suggest that a staged approach involving initial thyroid lobectomy could be considered in patients with sporadic MTC and no contralateral ultrasonography findings, with no further surgery if calcitonin levels became undetectable. Further work using prospective randomized clinical trials to evaluate lobectomy as a biochemical cure in patients presenting with unilateral disease is warranted.

Rural-Urban Disparities in the Continuum of Thyroid Cancer Care: Analysis of 92,794 Cases.

Objective: Rurality is associated with higher incidence and higher disease-specific mortality for most cancers. Outcomes for rural and ultrarural ("frontier") patients with thyroid cancer are poorly understood. This study aimed to identify actionable deficits in thyroid cancer outcomes for rural patients. Methods: We queried linked California Cancer Registry and California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development databases for patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer (1999-2017). We analyzed time from disease stage at diagnosis, time from diagnosis to surgery, receipt of appropriate radioactive iodine ablation, surveillance status, and overall and disease-specific mortality for urban, rural, and frontier patients. Cox and logistic regression models controlled for clinical and demographic covariates a stepwise manner. All incidence figures are expressed as a proportion of newly diagnosed cases. Results: Our cohort comprised 92,794 subjects: (65,475 women [70.6%]; mean age 50.0 years). Compared to urban patients, rural and frontier patients were more likely to be American Indian, White, uninsured, and from lower quintiles of socioeconomic status (p < 0.01). Distant disease at diagnosis was more common in rural (56.0 vs. 50.4 cases per 1000 new cases, p < 0.01) and frontier patients (80.9 vs. 50.4 per 1000, p < 0.01) compared to urban patients. The incidence of medullary thyroid cancer was greater in rural patients (17.9 vs. 13.6 cases per 1000, p < 0.01) and frontier patients (31.0 vs. 13.6 per 1000, p < 0.01) compared to urban patients. The incidence of anaplastic thyroid cancer was higher in frontier versus urban patients (15.5 vs. 7.1 per 1000, p < 0.01). When compared to urban patients, rural and frontier patients were more often lost to follow-up (odds ratio [OR] 1.69 [confidence interval, CI 1.54-1.85], and OR 3.03 [CI 1.89-5.26], respectively) and had higher disease-specific mortality (OR 1.18 [CI 1.07-1.30], and OR 1.92 [CI 1.22-2.77], respectively). Rural and frontier residence was independently associated with being lost to follow-up, suggesting that it is a key driver of disparities. Conclusion: Compared to their urban counterparts, rural and frontier patients with thyroid cancer present with later-stage disease and experience higher disease-specific mortality. They also are more often lost to follow-up, which presents an opportunity for targeted outreach to reduce the observed disparities in outcomes.

Regio- and Enantioselective Macrocyclization from Dynamic Imine Formation: Chemo- and Enantioselective Fluorescent Recognition of Lysine.

The dynamic covalent chemistry of imines is utilized to conduct a regioselective as well as enantioselective synthesis of an unsymmetric (C1) chiral macrocycle from the reaction of an unsymmetric (C1) chiral dialdehyde, (S)-4, that contains a salicylaldehyde unit and a benzaldehyde unit, with lysine, an unsymmetric (C1) chiral diamine. The enantioselectivity is further enhanced in the presence of Zn2+. Compound (S)-4 in combination with Zn2+ is found to be a highly chemoselective as well as enantioselective fluorescent probe for lysine. It can be used to detect specific enantiomers of this amino acid.

Disparities in Initial Thyroid Cancer Care by Hospital Treatment Volume: Analysis of 52,599 Cases in California.

Background: Racially minoritized patients with thyroid cancer are less likely to receive high-quality and guideline-concordant care. Inaccessibility of high-volume centers may contribute to inequalities in thyroid cancer outcomes. This study sought to understand the extent to which access to higher volume thyroid cancer centers is associated with patient outcomes. Methods: We queried linked California Cancer Registry and California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development databases for thyroid cancer patients who received thyroid surgery between 1999 and 2017. Hospitals were stratified by their median annual volume of thyroid cancer operations: ultra-low volume (0-5 cases/year), low-volume (6-25 cases/year), mid-volume (26-50 cases/year), and high-volume (>50 cases/year). We analyzed the rates of complications, rates of reoperation for cancer recurrence, use of radioactive iodine (131I), and mortality by median hospital volume of thyroid surgery. A multivariable regression controlled for high-risk tumor features. Differences in access by center volume were assessed based on patient demographics. Results: We studied 52,599 thyroid cancer patients who underwent thyroidectomy. Patients who underwent thyroidectomy at ultra-low volume centers were more likely to undergo reoperations for recurrent/persistent disease compared with patients at low- (odds ratio [OR] 1.17 [CI 1.02-1.35]), mid- (OR 1.25 [CI 1.06-1.46]), and high-volume centers (OR 1.26 [CI 1.03-1.56]). Patients who received thyroid operations at ultra-low volume centers were also less likely to receive guideline-concordant 131I ablation compared with patients at higher volume centers (OR 0.77 [CI 0.72-0.82]). A pair-wise comparison between all volume categories for all outcomes revealed no statistically significant differences in outcomes between low-, mid-, or high-volume centers. Only ultra-low volume centers had significantly higher rates of adverse outcomes. Ultra-low volume centers were disproportionately accessed by women (p < 0.05), Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian people (p < 0.01), those from the lowest three quintiles of socio-economic status (p < 0.01), and the uninsured and those on Medicaid or Medicare (p < 0.01) when compared with higher volume centers. Conclusions: Patients receiving thyroid cancer surgery at centers performing ≤5 such operations per year were more likely to require reoperation for recurrent/persistent disease and less likely to receive appropriate 131I ablation. Ultra-low volume centers served higher proportions of socially and economically marginalized communities.

Specific Short Tandem Repeat Loci Detection in Prenatal Diagnosis of Fetal Chromosomal Diseases.

It was to investigate the value of quantitative fluorescence PCR (QF-PCR) for the selection of specific short tandem repeat (STR) in prenatal diagnosis of fetal chromosomal diseases. Amniotic fluid (AF) and villus samples were obtained from 80 pregnant women at 16-20 weeks of gestation, and venous blood samples were obtained from 60 normal individuals to extract and prepare peripheral blood chromosome, AF cell chromosome, and villus cell chromosome samples for specific STR locus detection. It showed that the area ratio of AMX peak to AMY peak in the Genescan typing map of peripheral blood DNA of normal males was close to 1:1, while the Genescan typing map of peripheral blood DNA of normal females had only AMX peak and no AMY peak. Normal heterozygous individuals had an area ratio between 1 and 1.45 for venous blood, 1.002 and 1.27 for villous samples, and 1 and 1.35 for AF samples. The karyotype of a male fetus was 46, XY, inv [9] (p11: q13), and the structure of fetal chromosome 9 was inverted (interarm), and the site of structural inversion was band 1 in the short breech 1 region and band 3 in the long arm 1 region of chromosome 9. It suggested that QF-PCR can effectively identify the normal human body and cases by selecting specific STR locus detection, which has a good application value for prenatal diagnosis of fetal chromosomal diseases.

Intramolecular-Catalyzed Vitrimers with White-Light Emission for Light-Emitting Diode Encapsulation.

Currently available encapsulating materials for white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) have certain limitations, such as the toxicity of phosphors and the non-recyclable nature of the encapsulating materials. In this study, relatively promising encapsulating materials with two significant advantages are developed. First, the chips can be directly encapsulated without phosphors using luminescent encapsulating materials. Second, the encapsulating materials can be reprocessed for recycling via intramolecular catalysis. To this end, blue-light-emitting vitrimers (BEVs) are prepared by the reaction of epoxy resin with amines and are found to exhibit strong blue emission and fast stress relaxation via internal catalysis. To obtain white-light emission, a well-designed yellow component, perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride, is grafted into the BEVs to generate white-light-emitting vitrimers (WEVs). A rare synergy of blue- and yellow-light emission affords white-light emission. When the WEV is used as an encapsulating adhesive for 365 nm LED chips without inorganic phosphors, stable white light with CIE coordinates (0.30, 0.32) is successfully achieved, indicating a promising future for WLED encapsulation.

One Molecular Probe with Opposite Enantioselective Fluorescence Enhancement at Two Distinct Emissions.

It is discovered that one enantiomer of a chiral substrate can greatly enhance the fluorescence of one molecular probe at one emitting signal (λ1 = 517 nm), while the opposite enantiomer of the substrate greatly enhances the fluorescence of the same probe at a distinctively different emission (λ2 = 575 nm). This probe is made of a 1,1'-binaphthyl-based chiral dialdehyde that in combination with Zn2+ under slightly acidic conditions shows a chemoselective and enantioselective fluorescent response to histidine. The opposite enantioselective fluorescent responses of the probe at two emissions allow it to be used to determine both the concentration and the enantiomeric composition of the substrate using a single probe. The mechanistic study has revealed two very different reaction pathways when the two enantiomers of the substrate are treated with the probe. These reaction pathways generate two different products, one dimeric and another polymeric, with very different emissions.

Geometry-aware view reconstruction network for light field image compression.

Light Field (LF) imaging empowers many attractive applications by simultaneously recording spatial and angular information of light rays. In order to meet the challenges of LF storage and transmission, many view reconstruction-based LF compression methods are put forward. However, occlusion issue and under-exploitation of LF rich structure information limit the view reconstruction qualities, which further influence LF compression efficiency. In order to alleviate these problems, in this paper, we propose a geometry-aware view reconstruction network for LF compression. In our method, only sparsely-sampled LF views are encoded, which are further used as priors to reconstruct the un-sampled LF views at the decoder side. The proposed reconstruction process contains two stages including geometry-aware reconstruction and texture refinement. The geometry-aware reconstruction stage utilizes a multi-stream framework, which can fully explore LF spatial-angular, location and geometry information. The texture refinement stage can adequately fuse such rich LF information to further improve LF reconstruction quality. Comprehensive experimental results validate the superiority of the proposed method. The rate-distortion performance and the perceptual quality of reconstructed views further demonstrate that the proposed method can save more bitrate while increasing LF reconstruction quality.

In Situ Assembly of Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Framework on Metal-Organic Framework: An Effective Strategy for Constructing Core-Shell Hybrid Photocatalyst.

The hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) have rarely been considered for photocatalytic application, given their weak stability and low activity. One presumably effective strategy to improve the photocatalytic performance of the HOFs is to produce a core-shell composite by fabricating a particular nanostructure using stable HOFs. To this end, the surface-functionalized metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are used as the host matrix to support the in situ assembly and subsequent multisite growth of the stable HOFs. MOF@HOF eventually obtains core-shell hybrids, i.e., NH2 -UiO-66@DAT-HOF. This newly synthesized core-shell nanostructure exhibits excellent stability and superb photocatalytic performance. For example, in terms of tetracycline degradation, the optimal composite presents an apparent reaction rate constant of 60.7 and 7.6 times higher than its parent materials NH2 -UiO-66 and DAT-HOF. Such a pronounced enhancement in photocatalytic efficiency of the hybrid material is attributed to the broader visible-light utilization range compared to its individual parent material as well as the efficient separation of charge carriers supported by the S-scheme heterojunction. In addition, it is particularly notable that the photocatalytic efficiency of the yielded core-shell nanostructure can remain high after several-cycle applications. This work provides a universal scheme for synthesizing the MOF@HOF core-shell hybrids.

Bariatric surgery outcomes in geriatric patients: a contemporary, nationwide analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This retrospective study sought to characterize the incidence of mortality in elderly patients following bariatric surgery and assessed the association of geriatric status with postoperative outcomes and resource use. BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery is a safe and efficacious intervention for obesity and related diseases. The clinical and economic impact of geriatric status on bariatric surgery is largely unexplored. SETTING: Academic, university-affiliated hospital; US. METHODS: Adults (≥45 yr) undergoing elective laparoscopic gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy were identified in the 2016-2019 Nationwide Readmissions Database. Patients ≥65 years were categorized into the geriatric cohort. Multivariable linear and logistic models were developed to evaluate the independent association of geriatric status with outcomes of interest. RESULTS: Of an estimated number of 351,292 patients meeting inclusion criteria, 44,183 (12.6%) comprised the geriatric cohort. Of these patients, .3% died during the index hospitalization. Geriatric status was associated with significantly increased odds of in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.39, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.33-4.30), respiratory (AOR = 1.34, 95% CI: 1.13-1.59), infectious (AOR = 1.65, 95% CI: 1.25-2.17), and renal complications (AOR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.12-1.46), and prolonged hospitalization (AOR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.24-1.48). Elderly patients experienced a .19-day increment in the length of stay (95% CI: .11-.27) and $620 in attributable hospitalization costs (95% CI: 310-930). CONCLUSIONS: While overall rates of postoperative death and complications are low, geriatric patients experience significantly increased mortality, morbidity, and resource use following bariatric operations relative to younger adults. These findings may aid in shared decision-making for obesity management in geriatric patients.

Circulating Small Extracellular Vesicles May Contribute to Vaso-Occlusive Crises in Sickle Cell Disease.

We previously found that the plasma of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) contains large numbers of small extracellular vesicles (EVs) and that the EVs disrupt the integrity of endothelial cell monolayers (especially if obtained during episodes of acute chest syndrome, ACS). The present study was designed to test the generality of this finding to other complications of SCD, specifically to evaluate the possibility that circulating EVs isolated during a vaso-occlusive crises (VOC) also cause damage to the intercellular connections between endothelial cells. Plasma was obtained from nine pediatric subjects at baseline and during VOC episodes. EVs isolated from these samples were added to cultures of microvascular endothelial cells. Immunofluorescence microscopy was employed to assess monolayer integrity and to localize two intercellular junction proteins (VE-cadherin and connexin43). The EVs isolated during VOC caused significantly greater monolayer disruption than those isolated at baseline. The extent of disruption varied between different episodes of VOC or ACS in the same patient. The VOC EVs disrupted the integrity of both junction proteins at appositional membranes. These results suggest that circulating EVs may be involved in modulating endothelial integrity contributing to the pathogenesis of different complications of SCD.

Circulating extracellular vesicles from patients with acute chest syndrome disrupt adherens junctions between endothelial cells.

BACKGROUND: Small cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) can affect endothelial function. We previously found that patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) have greater numbers of circulating EVs than subjects without the disease, and the EVs differentially disrupt endothelial integrity in vitro. Because endothelial disruption is a critical component of acute chest syndrome (ACS), we hypothesized that EVs isolated during ACS would induce greater endothelial damage than those isolated at baseline. METHODS: Nine pediatric subjects had plasma isolated at baseline and during ACS from which EVs were isolated. Cultured microvascular endothelial cells were treated with EVs and then studied by immunofluorescence microscopy to localize VE-cadherin and F-actin. RESULTS: The EVs had a diameter of 95 nm. They contained CD63 and flotillin-1, which were increased in SCD patients (5-13-fold compared to control) and further increased between baseline and ACS (24-57%). The EVs contained hemoglobin, glycophorin A, and ferritin. Treatment with baseline EVs caused modest separation of endothelial cells, while ACS EVs caused substantial disruptions of the endothelial cell monolayers. EVs from subjects with ACS also caused a 50% decrease in protein levels of VE-cadherin. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that circulating EVs can modulate endothelial integrity contributing to the development of ACS in SCD patients by altering cadherin-containing intercellular junctions. IMPACT: Sickle cell disease patients have circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) that modulate endothelial integrity by altering cadherin-containing intercellular junctions. Disruption is more severe by EVs obtained during acute chest syndrome (ACS). These results expand our knowledge of the pathophysiology of acute chest syndrome and the vasculopathies of sickle cell disease.

Determining the concentration and enantiomeric composition of histidine using one fluorescent probe.

A chemoselective as well as enantioselective fluorescent probe has been developed to determine both the concentration and enantiomeric composition of the biologically important amino acid histidine by measuring the fluorescence responses when excited at two different wavelengths.

Gap Junctions between Endothelial Cells Are Disrupted by Circulating Extracellular Vesicles from Sickle Cell Patients with Acute Chest Syndrome.

Intercellular junctions maintain the integrity of the endothelium. We previously found that the adherens and tight junctions between endothelial cells are disrupted by plasma extracellular vesicles from patients with sickle cell disease (especially those with Acute Chest Syndrome). In the current study, we evaluated the effects of these vesicles on endothelial gap junctions. The vesicles from sickle cell patients (isolated during episodes of Acute Chest Syndrome) disrupted gap junction structures earlier and more severely than the other classes of intercellular junctions (as detected by immunofluorescence). These vesicles were much more potent than those isolated at baseline from the same subject. The treatment of endothelial cells with these vesicles led to reduced levels of connexin43 mRNA and protein. These vesicles severely reduced intercellular communication (transfer of microinjected Neurobiotin). Our data suggest a hierarchy of progressive disruption of different intercellular connections between endothelial cells by circulating extracellular vesicles that may contribute to the pathophysiology of the endothelial disturbances in sickle cell disease.