Clinical study on improving the diagnostic accuracy of adult elbow joint cartilage injury by multisequence magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND: Due to frequent and high-risk sports activities, the elbow joint is susceptible to injury, especially to cartilage tissue, which can cause pain, limited movement and even loss of joint function. AIM: To evaluate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) multisequence imaging for improving the diagnostic accuracy of adult elbow cartilage injury. METHODS: A total of 60 patients diagnosed with elbow cartilage injury in our hospital from January 2020 to December 2021 were enrolled in this retrospective study. We analyzed the accuracy of conventional MRI sequences (T1-weighted imaging, T2-weighted imaging, proton density weighted imaging, and T2 star weighted image) and Three-Dimensional Coronary Imaging by Spiral Scanning (3D-CISS) in the diagnosis of elbow cartilage injury. Arthroscopy was used as the gold standard to evaluate the diagnostic effect of single and combination sequences in different injury degrees and the consistency with arthroscopy. RESULTS: The diagnostic accuracy of 3D-CISS sequence was 89.34% ± 4.98%, the sensitivity was 90%, and the specificity was 88.33%, which showed the best performance among all sequences (P < 0.05). The combined application of the whole sequence had the highest accuracy in all sequence combinations, the accuracy of mild injury was 91.30%, the accuracy of moderate injury was 96.15%, and the accuracy of severe injury was 93.33% (P < 0.05). Compared with arthroscopy, the combination of all MRI sequences had the highest consistency of 91.67%, and the kappa value reached 0.890 (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Combination of 3D-CISS and each sequence had significant advantages in improving MRI diagnostic accuracy of elbow cartilage injuries in adults. Multisequence MRI is recommended to ensure the best diagnosis and treatment.

Aurantiamide mitigates acute kidney injury by suppressing renal necroptosis and inflammation via GRPR-dependent mechanism.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) manifests as a clinical syndrome characterised by the rapid accumulation of metabolic wastes, such as blood creatinine and urea nitrogen, leading to a sudden decline in renal function. Currently, there is a lack of specific therapeutic drugs for AKI. Previously, we identified gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) as a pathogenic factor in AKI. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of a novel Chinese medicine monomer, aurantiamide (AA), which exhibits structural similarities to our previously reported GRPR antagonist, RH-1402. We compared the therapeutic efficacy of AA with RH-1402 both in vitro and in vivo using various AKI models. Our results demonstrated that, in vitro, AA attenuated injury, necroptosis, and inflammatory responses in human renal tubular epithelial cells subjected to repeated hypoxia/reoxygenation and lipopolysaccharide stimulation. In vivo, AA ameliorated renal tubular injury and inflammation in mouse models of ischemia/reperfusion and cecum ligation puncture-induced AKI, surpassing the efficacy of RH-1402. Furthermore, molecular docking and cellular thermal shift assay confirmed GRPR as a direct target of AA, which was further validated in primary cells. Notably, in GRPR-silenced HK-2 cells and GRPR systemic knockout mice, AA failed to mitigate renal inflammation and injury, underscoring the importance of GRPR in AA's mechanism of action. In conclusion, our study has demonstrated that AA serve as a novel antagonist of GRPR and a promising clinical candidate for AKI treatment.

Improving Image Quality and Reducing Scan Time for Synthetic MRI of Breast by Using Deep Learning Reconstruction.

Objectives: To investigate a deep learning reconstruction algorithm to reduce the time of synthetic MRI (SynMRI) scanning on the breast and improve the image quality. Materials and Methods: A total of 192 healthy female volunteers (mean age: 48.1 years) underwent the breast MR examination at 3.0 T from September 2020 to June 2021. Standard SynMRI and fast SynMRI scans were collected simultaneously on the same volunteer. Deep learning technology with a generative adversarial network (GAN) was used to generate high-quality fast SynMRI images by end-to-end training. Peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), mean squared error (MSE), and structural similarity index measure (SSIM) were used to compare the image quality of generated images from fast SynMRI by deep learning algorithms. Results: Fast SynMRI acquisition time is half of the standard SynMRI scan, and the generated images of the GAN model show that PSNR and SSIM are improved and MSE is reduced. Conclusion: The application of deep learning algorithms with GAN model in breast MAGiC MRI improves the image quality and reduces the scanning time.

Clinical features and potential mechanism of coronavirus disease 2019-associated liver injury.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, has posed a serious threat to global public health security. With the increase in the number of confirmed cases globally, the World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of COVID-19 an international public health emergency. Despite atypical pneumonia as the primary symptom, liver dysfunction has also been observed in many clinical cases and is associated with the mortality risk in patients with COVID-19, like severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome. Here we will provide a schematic overview of the clinical characteristics and the possible mechanisms of liver injury caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, which may provide help for optimizing the management of liver injury and reducing mortality in COVID-19 patients.

Ultrasound-Guided Removal of Breast Foreign Matter: A Case Report.

Background: The origins of foreign matter are almost of medical materials, and no previous cases of ultrasound-guided breast foreign matter removal have been reported. The patient was a 30-year-old female with mammary foreign matter, a horse's bristle used in the treatment conducted by the galactagogue master. Methods: Removal of mammary foreign matter under the guidance of ultrasound. Results: A horse's bristle in the breast that was successfully removed with the guidance of ultrasound and the overall process of the operation went smoothly and took minutes. Conclusions: Ultrasonography is the first line of breast disease examination and the future will present many new treatment opportunities of interventional ultrasound.

[Chemical study on Cassiae Semen processing procedure].

References and our previous experiment showed that the contents of glycosides were significantly decreased，while the contents of aglycones were significantly increased after processing of Cassiae Semen.It may be related to its glycosidases or the heating process. In order to investigate the reasons, high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) was used to study the effects of these two factors on contents of Cassiae Semen's main chemical components in processing. The results showed that glycoside hydrolases was present in Cassiae Semen and could rapidly hydrolyze glycosides from Cassiae Semen into aglycones in suitable temperature with sufficient water.However，it didn't show effect on contents change of main constituents in the procedure of Cassiae Semen processing.The reason for content decrease of glycosides and content increase of aglycones in processed Cassiae Semen was glycoside bond cracking to produce corresponding aglycone at high temperature.This study further provides basis for further revealing of the processing mechanism of Cassiae Semen.

[Chemical constituents from seeds of Astragali complanati].

A new flavonoid glycoside, named complanatoside C (1), and 19 known compounds (2-20) were isolated from an 95% ethanol extract of Astragali Semen by various chromatographic methods. Their structures were identified on the basis of UV, IR, NMR, MS spectroscopic data analysis, and comparison with those in literature, including fifteen flavonoid glycoside (1-15), and six other constituents (16-20), among which compounds 16-19 were isolated from this plant for the first time.

Metal-Organic Framework-Derived Metal Oxide Embedded in Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Network for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are hybrid inorganic-organic materials that can be used as effective precursors to prepare various functional nanomaterials for energy-related applications. Nevertheless, most MOF-derived metal oxides exhibit low electrical conductivity and mechanical strain. These characteristics limit their electrochemical performance and hamper their practical application. Herein, we report a rational strategy for enhancing the lithium storage performance of MOF-derived metal oxide. The hierarchically porous Co3O4@NGN is successfully prepared by embedding ZIF-67-derived Co3O4 particles in a nitrogen-doped graphene network (NGN). The high electrical conductivity and porous structure of the NGN accelerates the diffusion of electrolyte ions and buffers stress resulting from the volume changes of Co3O4. As an anode material, the Co3O4@NGN shows high capacity (1030 mA h g-1 at 100 mA g-1), outstanding rate performance (681 mA h g-1 at 1000 mA g-1), and good cycling stability (676 mA h g-1 at 1000 mA g-1 after 400 cycles).

[Effects of future climate change on climatic suitability of flue-cured tobacco plantation in Yunnan, China.] / 未来气候变化对云南烤烟种植气候适宜性的影响.

The climatic suitability distribution of flue-cured tobacco planting in Yunnan will be profoundly affected by climate change. According to three key factors influencing climatic suitability of flue-cured tobacco planting in Yunnan, namely, average temperature in July, sunshine duration from July to August, precipitation from April to September, the variations of climatic suitability distribution of flue-cured tobacco planting in Yunnan respectively in 1986-2005, 2021-2040 and 2041-2060 under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 climate scenarios were investigated by using the climatic simulation data in 1981-2060 and the meteorological observation data during 1986-2005. The results showed that climatic suitability region would expand northward and eastward and plantable area of flue-cured tobacco would gradually increase. The increment of plantable area was more in 2041-2060 than in 2021-2040, and under RCP8.5 scenario than under RCP4.5 scenario. The optimum climatic area and sub-suitable climatic area were expanded considerably, while the suitable climatic area was not much changed. In the future, the north-central Yunnan such as Kunming, Qujing, Dali, Chuxiong, Lijiang would have a big increase in both the optimum climatic area and the cultivable area, meanwhile, the southern Yunnan including Wenshan, Honghe, Puer and Xishuangbanna would have a big decrease in both the optimum climatic area and the cultivable area.

Solvatochromic and application in dye-sensitized solar cells of sandwich-like Cd(II) complexes: supramolecular architectures based on N(1),N(3)-bis[(6-methoxypyridin-2-yl)methylene]benzene-1,3-diamine.

A novel polydentate Schiff base ligand N(1),N(3)-bis[(6-methoxypyridin-2-yl)methylene]benzene-1,3-diamine (L) and its two dinuclear sandwich-like complexes {[CdL(NO3)(H2O)]·NO3}2 (1) and {[CdL(CH3CN)(H2O)]·(ClO4)2·(CH3CN)2}2 (2) were synthesized. Both C-H∙∙∙O, C-H∙∙∙N and π-π non-covalent interactions had essential roles in constructing the resulting three-dimensional supramolecular networks. L emits a more intense blue-green fluorescence emission around 493 nm than in dilute solution, exhibiting stacking-induced emission properties. Complexes 1 and 2 exhibited the dual properties of exceptional solvatochromism and fluorescence quenching towards CH3OH molecules. As these compounds could overcome the absent absorption of ruthenium complex N719 in the low wavelength region of the visible spectrum, offset the competitive visible light absorption of I3(-) and reduce the charge recombination of injected electrons, the Schiff base ligand l and complexes 1 and 2 were used as co-sensitizers in combination with N719 to investigate their effect on enhancing the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells. A short circuit current density of 14.37 mA cm(-2), an open-circuit voltage of 0.71 V and a fill factor of 0.61 corresponding to an overall conversion efficiency of 6.17% under AM 1.5 G solar irradiation were achieved when 1 was used as a co-sensitizer, which are much higher than the results obtained for dye-sensitized solar cells sensitized by N719 alone (5.06%).

[Yield formation of different single-season rice (Oryza sativa L. ) types and its relationships with meteorological factors in Yunnan Province of Southwest China].

By using the 1994-2010 observation data of paddy rice growth period and yield from 14 agro-meteorological stations at different altitudes in Yunnan Province, this paper studied the rice yield formation and the effects of meteorological factors on low-yield rice yield components. According to the systematic cluster analysis of rice yield components and the rice types at the 14 stations, the rice was divided into 4 types, i. e., low-yield japonica rice, low-yield indica rice, high-yield japonica rice, and high-yield indica rice. The analysis of the yield components of the 4 rice types showed that there was a significant positive correlation between the spikelet number per square meter (sqm) and the rice yield. The yield of low-yield japonica was mainly affected by the seed setting rate and the spikelet number per sqm. For the other three rice types, the spikelet number per sqm had greater effects on the rice yield. The low-yield japonica rice was mainly affected by low temperature. At booting stage, low temperature decreased the spikelet number and the productive panicle number of unit sqm. At booting and flowering stages, low temperature increased the empty grain rate, and the effects of average temperature, average maximum temperature, and cold accumulated temperature were greater. At pre-milk stage, low temperature increased the unfilled grain rate, and meanwhile, decreased the 1000-grain mass. The yield components of low-yield indica rice were obviously affected by multiple meteorological factors. A certain degree of warming at tillering and jointing stages was not beneficial to the increase of productive panicle number per sqm of low-yield indica rice, but the more sunshine hours and the greater average diurnal temperature range at tillering stage was beneficial to the increase of the productive panicle number per sqm. There was a parabolic relationship between the temperature and sunshine hours at tillering and jointing stages and the spikelet number per panicle. The low temperature at flowering stage affected the empty grain rate of low-yield indica rice to a certain extent, while the high temperature and less rain at pre-milk stage not only increased the unfilled grain rate, but also distinctly reduced the 1000-grain mass.