A case report of right-sided heart failure secondary to JAK2-mutation Loeffler endocarditis.

Loeffler's endocarditis (LE) is the cardiac manifestation of hypereosinophilic syndrome. We present a case of LE in a 45-year-old female, resulting in diffuse endothelial fibrosis and severe right-sided heart failure. The patient was admitted with dyspnoea and oedema, with haematology revealing an absolute eosinophil count of 20.9 × 109. Imaging showed near-complete obliteration of the right ventricular apical and formation of thromboses. Endomyocardial biopsy indicated diffuse fibrous hyperplasia of the endocardium with fibrinous thrombi rich in eosinophils. Molecular and cytogenetic analyses of bone marrow cells showed no signs of FIP1L1-PDGFRA fusion, PDGFRB mutation, abnormal myeloid maturation, or a lymphoproliferative disorder. Flow cytometry indicated no clonality, ruling out chronic eosinophilic leukaemia. Gene mutation screening discovered a p.L583_A586delinesS mutation in the JAK2 gene. Following treatment with ruxolitinib, the patient's eosinophil levels normalized, but unfortunately, the damage to the heart was irreversible. The patient was hospitalized multiple times due to right heart failure and resistance to diuretics. After thorough discussions with the medical team, it was determined that a heart transplantation would be the most effective treatment. Following the surgery, the patient successfully navigated the postoperative critical period with the support of an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP), continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), and ventilator-assisted ventilation but subsequently developed an acquired Intensive care unit-acquired weakness (ICU-AW) and a depressive state. Fortunately, the patient gradually recovered from these complications.

S100A9 deletion in microglia/macrophages ameliorates brain injury through the STAT6/PPARγ pathway in ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND: Microglia and infiltrated macrophages (M/M) are integral components of the innate immune system that play a critical role in facilitating brain repair after ischemic stroke (IS) by clearing cell debris. Novel therapeutic strategies for IS therapy involve modulating M/M phenotype shifting. This study aims to elucidate the pivotal role of S100A9 in M/M and its downstream STAT6/PPARγ signaling pathway in neuroinflammation and phagocytosis after IS. METHODS: In the clinical study, we initially detected the expression pattern of S100A9 in monocytes from patients with acute IS and investigated its association with the long-term prognosis. In the in vivo study, we generated the S100A9 conditional knockout (CKO) mice and compared the stroke outcomes with the control group. We further tested the S100A9-specific inhibitor paqunimod (PQD), for its pharmaceutical effects on stroke outcomes. Transcriptomics and in vitro studies were adopted to explore the mechanism of S100A9 in modulating the M/M phenotype, which involves the regulation of the STAT6/PPARγ signaling pathway. RESULTS: S100A9 was predominantly expressed in classical monocytes and was correlated with unfavorable outcomes in patients of IS. S100A9 CKO mitigated infarction volume and white matter injury, enhanced cerebral blood flow and functional recovery, and prompted anti-inflammation phenotype and efferocytosis after tMCAO. The STAT6/PPARγ pathway, an essential signaling cascade involved in immune response and inflammation, might be the downstream target mediated by S100A9 deletion, as evidenced by the STAT6 phosphorylation inhibitor AS1517499 abolishing the beneficial effect of S100A9 inhibition in tMCAO mice and cell lines. Moreover, S100A9 inhibition by PQD treatment protected against neuronal death in vitro and brain injuries in vivo. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence for the first time that S100A9 in classical monocytes could potentially be a biomarker for predicting IS prognosis and reveals a novel therapeutic strategy for IS. By demonstrating that S100A9-mediated M/M polarization and phagocytosis can be reversed by S100A9 inhibition in a STAT6/PPARγ pathway-dependent manner, this study opens up new avenues for drug development in the field.

Interfacial modulation of nicotinamide additive enables 9700 h Zn metal batteries.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have recently been paid great attention due to their robust safety features, high theoretical capacity, and eco-friendliness, yet their practical application is hindered by the serious dendrite formation and side reactions of Zn metal anode during cycling. Herein, a low-cost small molecule, nicotinamide (NIC), is proposed as an electrolyte additive to effectively regulate the Zn interface, achieving a highly reversible and stable zinc anode without dendrites. NIC molecules not only modify the Zn2+ solvation structure but also preferentially adsorb on the Zn surface than solvated H2O to protect the Zn anode and provide numerous nucleation sites for Zn2+ to homogenize Zn deposition. Consequently, the addition of 1 wt% NIC enables Zn||Zn symmetric cells an ultra-long lifespan of over 9700 h at 1 mA cm-2, which expands nearly 808 times compared to that without NIC. The advantages of NIC additives are further demonstrated in NaVO||Zn full cells, which exhibit exceptional capacity retention of 90.3 % after 1000 cycles with a high Coulombic efficiency of 99.9 % at 1 A/g, while the cell operates for only 42 cycles without NIC additive. This strategy presents a promising approach to solving the anode problem, fostering advancements in practical AZIBs.

Evolution of Neurosurgical Robots: Historical Progress and Future Direction.

In 1985, Professor KWOH first introduced robots into neurosurgery. Since then, advancements of stereotactic frames, radiographic imaging and neuronavigation have led to the dominance of classic stereotactic robots. A comprehensive retrieval was performed using academic databases and search agents to acquire professional information, with a cutoff date of June, 2024. This reveals a multitude of emerging technologies are coming to the forefront, including tremor filtering, motion scaling, obstacle avoidance, force sensing, which have made significant contributions to the high efficiency, high precision, minimally invasive, and exact efficacy of robot-assisted neurosurgery. Those technologies have been applied in innovative magnetic resonance-compatible neurosurgical robots, such as Neuroarm and Neurobot, with real-time image-guided surgery. Despite these advancements, the major challenge is considered as magnetic resonance compatibility in terms of space, materials, driving, and imaging. Future research directions are anticipated to focus on (1) robotic precise perception; (2) artificial intelligence; and (3) the advancement of telesurgery.

Hourly emission amounts and concentration of water-soluble ions in primary particles from residential coal burning in rural northern China.

Residential coal burning (RCB) stands as an important contributor to ambient pollutants in China. For the effective execution of air pollution control policies, it is essential to maintain precise emission inventories of RCB. The absence of hourly emission factors (EFs) combined with the inaccuracies in the spatial-temporal distribution of activity data, constrained the quality of residential coal combustion emission inventories, thereby impeding the estimation of air pollutant emissions. This study revised the hourly EFs for PM2.5 and water-soluble ions (WSIs) emitted from RCB in China. The hourly emission inventories for PM2.5 and WSIs derived from RCB illustrate the diurnal fluctuations in emission patterns. This study found that the emissions of PM2.5, NH4+, Cl-, and SO42- showed similar emission features with emission of 106.8 Gg, 1417.6, 356.8, and 5868.5 ton in erupt period. The results provide basic data for evaluating RCB emission reduction policies, simulating particles, and preventing air pollution in both sub-regions and time periods. The spatial emission and simulated concentration distribution of PM2.5 and WSIs indicated that emission hotspot shifted from North China Plain (NCP) to Northeast region in China. The emissions in China were well-controlled in '2+26' region (R28) priority region, with hotspots decreasing by 99.6% in BTH region. The RCB became the dominant contributor to ambient PM2.5 with a ratio in the range of 16.2∼23.7% in non-priority region.

Simultaneously activating molecular oxygen and surface lattice oxygen on Pt/TiO2 for low-temperature CO oxidation.

Developing high-performance Pt-based catalysts with low Pt loading is crucial but challenging for CO oxidation at temperatures below 100 °C. Herein, we report a Pt-based catalyst with only a 0.15 wt% Pt loading, which consists of Pt-Ti intermetallic single-atom alloy (ISAA) and Pt nanoparticles (NP) co-supported on a defective TiO2 support, achieving a record high turnover frequency of 11.59 s-1 at 80 °C and complete conversion of CO at 120 °C. This is because the coexistence of Pt-Ti ISAA and Pt NP significantly alleviates the competitive adsorption of CO and O2, enhancing the activation of O2. Furthermore, Pt single atom sites are stabilized by Pt-Ti ISAA, resulting in distortion of the TiO2 lattice within Pt-Ti ISAA. This distortion activates the neighboring surface lattice oxygen, allowing for the simultaneous occurrence of the Mars-van Krevelen and Langmuir-Hinshelwood reaction paths at low temperatures.

Description and Prognosis of Patients with Recovered Dilated Cardiomyopathy: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: With the recent advances in the treatment of heart failure (HF), it is intriguing that a very small number of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) have been observed as being fully recovered. However, knowledge of the progression and prognosis of patients with recovered DCM remains sparse. Herein, we conducted this study to investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with recovered DCM. Methods: Consecutive patients with recovered DCM referred to our hospital between March 2009 and May 2021 were included. The recovered DCM patients were categorized into relapse and non-relapse groups. The primary endpoint was all-cause death, and the secondary endpoint was HF re-hospitalization during follow-up. Multivariate analyses were performed to identify predictors of relapse among recovered DCM patients. Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to assess the prognostic significance of relapse. Results: A comparatively large cohort of 122 recovered DCM patients from 10,029 DCM patients was analyzed. During a median follow-up duration of 53.5 months, the relapse rate among recovered DCM patients was 15.6% (19/122). Age (odds ratio, OR 1.079, 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.014-1.148; p = 0.017), systolic blood pressure (SBP) at diagnosis (OR 0.948, 95% CI: 0.908-0.990; p = 0.015) and changes in left ventricular ejection fraction from diagnosis to recovery ( Δ LVEF) (OR 0.898, 95% CI: 0.825-0.978; p = 0.013) were identified as predictors of relapse. Furthermore, among 122 patients, 5 (4.1%) experienced death, and 12 (9.8%) underwent HF re-hospitalization. Four deaths occurred in the relapse group, with one in the non-relapse group. All deaths were attributed to cardiovascular events. The long-term prognosis of the relapse group was significantly worse compared to the non-relapse group by Kaplan-Meier analysis (p < 0.001 based on the log-rank test). Multivariate analyses significantly associated relapse with all-cause mortality in recovered DCM patients (hazard ratio, HR 7.738, 95% CI: 1.892-31.636; p = 0.004). Conclusions: Recovered DCM patients are at risk of relapse. Older age, lower SBP, and smaller Δ LVEF were independently associated with relapse in recovered DCM patients. Relapse after recovery was related to an unfavorable long-term prognosis.

Mitochondrial copper overload promotes renal fibrosis via inhibiting pyruvate dehydrogenase activity.

Copper is a trace element essential for numerous biological activities, whereas the mitochondria serve as both major sites of intracellular copper utilization and copper reservoir. Here, we investigated the impact of mitochondrial copper overload on the tricarboxylic acid cycle, renal senescence and fibrosis. We found that copper ion levels are significantly elevated in the mitochondria in fibrotic kidney tissues, which are accompanied by reduced pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) activity, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence and renal fibrosis. Conversely, lowering mitochondrial copper levels effectively restore PDH enzyme activity, improve mitochondrial function, mitigate cellular senescence and renal fibrosis. Mechanically, we found that mitochondrial copper could bind directly to lipoylated dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (DLAT), the E2 component of the PDH complex, thereby changing the interaction between the subunits of lipoylated DLAT, inducing lipoylated DLAT protein dimerization, and ultimately inhibiting PDH enzyme activity. Collectively, our study indicates that mitochondrial copper overload could inhibit PDH activity, subsequently leading to mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence and renal fibrosis. Reducing mitochondrial copper overload might therefore serve as a strategy to rescue renal fibrosis.

Microbiome analysis in Asia's largest watershed reveals inconsistent biogeographic pattern and microbial assembly mechanisms in river and lake systems.

Microorganisms are critical to the stability of aquatic environments, and understanding the ecological mechanisms of microbial community is essential. However, the distinctions and linkages across biogeographic patterns, ecological processes, and formation mechanisms of microbes in rivers and lakes remain unknown. Accordingly, microbiome-centric analysis was conducted in rivers and lakes in the Yangtze River watershed. Results revealed significant differences in the structure and diversity of microbial communities between rivers and lakes, with rivers showing higher diversity. Lakes exhibited lower community stability, despite higher species interactions. Although deterministic processes dominated microbial community assembly both in rivers and lakes, higher stochastic processes of rare and abundant taxa exhibited in rivers. Spatial factors influenced river microbial community, while environmental factors drove differences in the lake bacterial community. This study deepened the understanding of microbial biogeography and formation mechanisms in large watershed rivers and lakes, highlighting distinct community aggregation patterns between river and lake microorganisms.

Mesenchymal stem cells-extracellular vesicles alleviate pulmonary fibrosis by regulating immunomodulators.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a chronic interstitial lung disease characterized by fibroblast proliferation and extracellular matrix formation, causing structural damage and lung failure. Stem cell therapy and mesenchymal stem cells-extracellular vesicles (MSC-EVs) offer new hope for PF treatment. AIM: To investigate the therapeutic potential of MSC-EVs in alleviating fibrosis, oxidative stress, and immune inflammation in A549 cells and bleomycin (BLM)-induced mouse model. METHODS: The effect of MSC-EVs on A549 cells was assessed by fibrosis markers [collagen I and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), oxidative stress regulators [nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), and inflammatory regulators [nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) p65, interleukin (IL)-1ß, and IL-2]. Similarly, they were assessed in the lungs of mice where PF was induced by BLM after MSC-EV transfection. MSC-EVs ion PF mice were detected by pathological staining and western blot. Single-cell RNA sequencing was performed to investigate the effects of the MSC-EVs on gene expression profiles of macrophages after modeling in mice. RESULTS: Transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß1 enhanced fibrosis in A549 cells, significantly increasing collagen I and α-SMA levels. Notably, treatment with MSC-EVs demonstrated a remarkable alleviation of these effects. Similarly, the expression of oxidative stress regulators, such as Nrf2 and HO-1, along with inflammatory regulators, including NF-κB p65 and IL-1ß, were mitigated by MSC-EV treatment. Furthermore, in a parallel manner, MSC-EVs exhibited a downregulatory impact on collagen deposition, oxidative stress injuries, and inflammatory-related cytokines in the lungs of mice with PF. Additionally, the mRNA sequencing results suggested that BLM may induce PF in mice by upregulating pulmonary collagen fiber deposition and triggering an immune inflammatory response. The findings collectively highlight the potential therapeutic efficacy of MSC-EVs in ameliorating fibrotic processes, oxidative stress, and inflammatory responses associated with PF. CONCLUSION: MSC-EVs could ameliorate fibrosis in vitro and in vivo by downregulating collagen deposition, oxidative stress, and immune-inflammatory responses.

Abnormality in Peripheral and Brain Iron Contents and the Relationship with Grey Matter Volumes in Major Depressive Disorder.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent mental illness globally, yet its etiology remains largely elusive. Recent interest in the scientific community has focused on the correlation between the disruption of iron homeostasis and MDD. Prior studies have revealed anomalous levels of iron in both peripheral blood and the brain of MDD patients; however, these findings are not consistent. This study involved 95 MDD patients aged 18-35 and 66 sex- and age-matched healthy controls (HCs) who underwent 3D-T1 and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) sequence scans to assess grey matter volume (GMV) and brain iron concentration, respectively. Plasma ferritin (pF) levels were measured in a subset of 49 MDD individuals and 41 HCs using the Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), whose blood data were simultaneously collected. We hypothesize that morphological brain changes in MDD patients are related to abnormal regulation of iron levels in the brain and periphery. Multimodal canonical correlation analysis plus joint independent component analysis (MCCA+jICA) algorithm was mainly used to investigate the covariation patterns between the brain iron concentration and GMV. The results of "MCCA+jICA" showed that the QSM values in bilateral globus pallidus and caudate nucleus of MDD patients were lower than HCs. While in the bilateral thalamus and putamen, the QSM values in MDD patients were higher than in HCs. The GMV values of these brain regions showed a significant positive correlation with QSM. The GMV values of bilateral putamen were found to be increased in MDD patients compared with HCs. A small portion of the thalamus showed reduced GMV values in MDD patients compared to HCs. Furthermore, the region of interest (ROI)-based comparison results in the basal ganglia structures align with the outcomes obtained from the "MCCA+jICA" analysis. The ELISA results indicated that the levels of pF in MDD patients were higher than those in HCs. Correlation analysis revealed that the increase in pF was positively correlated with the iron content in the left thalamus. Finally, the covariation patterns obtained from "MCCA+jICA" analysis as classification features effectively differentiated MDD patients from HCs in the support vector machine (SVM) model. Our findings indicate that elevated peripheral ferritin in MDD patients may disrupt the normal metabolism of iron in the brain, leading to abnormal changes in brain iron levels and GMV.

Evaluating Virtual Contrast-enhanced MRI (VCE-MRI) in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Radiotherapy: A Retrospective Analysis for Primary Gross Tumor Delineation.

PURPOSE: To investigate the potential of virtual contrast-enhanced MRI (VCE-MRI) for gross-tumor-volume (GTV) delineation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) using multi-institutional data. METHODS AND MATERIALS: This study retrospectively retrieved T1-weighted (T1w), T2-weighted (T2w) MRI, gadolinium-based contrast-enhanced MRI (CE-MRI) and planning CT of 348 biopsy-proven NPC patients from three oncology centers. A multimodality-guided synergistic neural network (MMgSN-Net) was trained using 288 patients to leverage complementary features in T1w and T2w MRI for VCE-MRI synthesis, which was independently evaluated using 60 patients. Three board-certified radiation oncologists and two medical physicists participated in clinical evaluations in three aspects: image quality assessment of the synthetic VCE-MRI, VCE-MRI in assisting target volume delineation, and effectiveness of VCE-MRI-based contours in treatment planning. The image quality assessment includes distinguishability between VCE-MRI and CE-MRI, clarity of tumor-to-normal tissue interface and veracity of contrast enhancement in tumor invasion risk areas. Primary tumor delineation and treatment planning were manually performed by radiation oncologists and medical physicists, respectively. RESULTS: The mean accuracy to distinguish VCE-MRI from CE-MRI was 31.67%; no significant difference was observed in the clarity of tumor-to-normal tissue interface between VCE-MRI and CE-MRI; for the veracity of contrast enhancement in tumor invasion risk areas, an accuracy of 85.8% was obtained. The image quality assessment results suggest that the image quality of VCE-MRI is highly similar to real CE-MRI. The mean dosimetric difference of planning target volumes were less than 1Gy. CONCLUSIONS: The VCE-MRI is highly promising to replace the use of gadolinium-based CE-MRI in tumor delineation of NPC patients.

Unraveling distinct effects between CuOx and PtCu alloy sites in Pt-Cu bimetallic catalysts for CO oxidation at different temperatures.

In situ exploration of the dynamic structure evolution of catalysts plays a key role in revealing reaction mechanisms and designing efficient catalysts. In this work, PtCu/MgO catalysts, synthesized via the co-impregnation method, outperforms monometallic Pt/MgO and Cu/MgO. Utilizing quasi/in-situ characterization techniques, it is discovered that there is an obvious structural evolution over PtCu/MgO from PtxCuyOz oxide cluster to PtCu alloy with surface CuOx species under different redox and CO oxidation reaction conditions. The synergistic effect between PtCu alloy and CuOx species enables good CO oxidation activity through the regulation of CO adsorption and O2 dissociation. At low temperatures, CO oxidation is predominantly catalyzed by surface CuOx species via the Mars-van Krevelen mechanism, in which CuOx can provide abundant active oxygen species. As the reaction temperature increases, both surface CuOx species and PtCu alloy collaborate to activate gaseous oxygen, facilitating CO oxidation mainly through the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism.

Genomic characteristics and evolution of Multicentric Esophageal and gastric Cardiac Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal carcinoma (EC) and gastric cardiac adenocarcinoma (GCA) have high incidence rates in the Chaoshan region of South China. Multifocal esophageal and cardiac cancer (MECC) is commonly observed in this region in clinical practice. However, the genomic characteristics of MECC remains unclear. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, a total of 2123 clinical samples of EC and GCA were analyzed to determine the frequency of multifocal tumors, as well as their occurrence sites and pathological types. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model the relationship between age, sex, and tumor state concerning survival in our analysis of the cohort of 541 patients with available follow-up data. We performed whole-genome sequencing on 20 tumor foci and 10 normal samples from 10 MECC patients to infer clonal structure on 6 MECC patients to explore genome characteristics. RESULT: The MECC rate of EC and GCA was 5.65% (121 of 2123). Age and sex were potential factors that may influence the risk of MECC (p < 0.001). Furthermore, MECC patients showed worse survival compared with single tumor patients. We found that 12 foci from 6 patients were multicentric origin model (MC), which exhibited significant heterogeneity of variations in paired foci and had an increased number of germline mutations in immune genes compared to metastatic model. In MC cases, different lesions in the same patient were driven by distinct mutation and copy number variation (CNV) events. Although TP53 and other driver mutation genes have a high frequency in the samples, their mutation sites show significant heterogeneity in paired tumor specimens. On the other hand, CNV genes exhibited higher concordance in paired samples, especially in the amplification of oncogenes and the deletion of tumor suppressor genes. CONCLUSIONS: The extent of inter-tumor heterogeneity suggests both monoclonal and polyclonal origins of MECC, which could provide insight into the genome diversity of MECC and guide clinical implementation.

MRI versus Dual-Energy CT in Local-Regional Staging of Gastric Cancer.

Background Preoperative local-regional tumor staging of gastric cancer (GC) is critical for appropriate treatment planning. The comparative accuracy of multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) versus dual-energy CT (DECT) for staging of GC is not known. Purpose To compare the diagnostic accuracy of personalized mpMRI with that of DECT for local-regional T and N staging in patients with GC receiving curative surgical intervention. Materials and Methods Patients with GC who underwent gastric mpMRI and DECT before gastrectomy with lymphadenectomy were eligible for this single-center prospective noninferiority study between November 2021 and September 2022. mpMRI comprised T2-weighted imaging, multiorientational zoomed diffusion-weighted imaging, and extradimensional volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging. Dual-phase DECT images were reconstructed at 40 keV and standard 120 kVp-like images. Using gastrectomy specimens as the reference standard, the diagnostic accuracy of mpMRI and DECT for T and N staging was compared by six radiologists in a pairwise blinded manner. Interreader agreement was assessed using the weighted κ and Kendall W statistics. The McNemar test was used for head-to-head accuracy comparisons between DECT and mpMRI. Results This study included 202 participants (mean age, 62 years ± 11 [SD]; 145 male). The interreader agreement of the six readers for T and N staging of GC was excellent for both mpMRI (κ = 0.89 and 0.85, respectively) and DECT (κ = 0.86 and 0.84, respectively). Regardless of reader experience, higher accuracy was achieved with mpMRI than with DECT for both T (61%-77% vs 50%-64%; all P < .05) and N (54%-68% vs 51%-58%; P = .497-.005) staging, specifically T1 (83% vs 65%) and T4a (78% vs 68%) tumors and N1 (41% vs 24%) and N3 (64% vs 45%) nodules (all P < .05). Conclusion Personalized mpMRI was superior in T staging and noninferior or superior in N staging compared with DECT for patients with GC. Clinical trial registration no. NCT05508126 © RSNA, 2024 Supplemental material is available for this article. See also the editorial by Méndez and Martín-Garre in this issue.

Core concomitant symptoms reported by the patients with breast cancer in postoperative endocrine treatment and the demand for acupuncture therapy： a network-based cross-sectional study. / ä¹³è ºç™Œæœ¯åŽå† åˆ†æ³Œæ²»ç–—æ‚£è€ æŠ¥å‘Šçš„æ ¸å¿ƒä¼´éšç—‡çŠ¶åŠå¯¹é’ˆç¸æ²»ç–—çš„éœ€æ±‚ï¼šä¸€é¡¹åŸºäºŽç½‘ç»œçš„æ¨ªæ–­é¢ç ”ç©¶.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the most common concomitant symptoms and the urgent demand of solution in the breast cancer patients undergoing postoperative endocrine treatment, as well as the acceptance and expectation of acupuncture in the patients so as to provide the scientific data for promoting the application of acupuncture in the breast cancer patients. METHODS: Breast cancer patients treated in Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital from January 2022 to March 2023 were randomly selected as the subjects. Using "questionnaire star" website, the questionnaire was conducted to investigate the relevant concomitant symptoms of the patients in postoperative endocrine treatment and the questions related to acupuncture treatment. RESULTS: In this study, 229 questionnaires were distributed and 211 valid ones were collected, with the response rate of 92.1%. Among these patients, the first three common symptoms were sleep disorders (157 cases, 74.4%), hot flashes (138 cases, 65.4%) and joint / muscle pain (118 cases, 55.9%)；the top three symptoms to be solved the most urgently were sleep disorders (131 cases, 62.1%), joint / muscle pain (62 cases, 29.4%) and hot flashes (45 cases, 21.3%). 79.1% of the patients (167 cases) were willing to receive acupuncture treatment because of the high expectations on its potential effect (93%). 20.9% of them (44 cases) refused acupuncture because they were worried not to be treated by the experienced physicians of TCM (52%) or afraid of needling feelings (48%). The average expectation value of acupuncture treatment was 4.02 points (5 points for the total score) among patients willing to receive acupuncture treatment. The main purposes of receiring acupuncture for the patients undergoing endocrine treatment were to strengthen the immune function (92%), reduce the adverse reactions (83%), and improve the physical condition (75%), et al. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep disorder is one of the most concerned symptoms in endocrine treatment for the patients after breast cancer surgery. The patients highly expect for acupuncture treatment even though some patients dislike the needling sensation. How to provide the acceptable and high-quality acupuncture services for cancer patients will be one of the major directions of acupuncture research in the future.

Macroscopic finite-difference scheme and modified equations of the general propagation multiple-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann model.

In this paper we first present the general propagation multiple-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann (GPMRT-LB) model and obtain the corresponding macroscopic finite-difference (GPMFD) scheme on conservative moments. Then based on the Maxwell iteration method, we conduct the analysis on the truncation errors and modified equations (MEs) of the GPMRT-LB model and GPMFD scheme at both diffusive and acoustic scalings. For the nonlinear anisotropic convection-diffusion equation (NACDE) and Navier-Stokes equations (NSEs), we also derive the first- and second-order MEs of the GPMRT-LB model and GPMFD scheme. In particular, for the one-dimensional convection-diffusion equation (CDE) with the constant velocity and diffusion coefficient, we can develop a fourth-order GPMRT-LB (F-GPMRT-LB) model and the corresponding fourth-order GPMFD (F-GPMFD) scheme at the diffusive scaling. Finally, three benchmark problems, the Gauss hill problem, the CDE with nonlinear convection and diffusion terms, and the Taylor-Green vortex flow in two-dimensional space, are used to test the GPMRT-LB model and GPMFD scheme, and it is found that the numerical results not only are in good agreement with corresponding analytical solutions, but also have a second-order convergence rate in space. Additionally, a numerical study on one-dimensional CDE also demonstrates that the F-GPMRT-LB model and F-GPMFD scheme can achieve a fourth-order accuracy in space, which is consistent with our theoretical analysis.

An Active and Regenerable Nanometric High-Entropy Catalyst for Efficient Propane Dehydrogenation.

Propane dehydrogenation (PDH) is crucial for propylene production, but commercially employed Pt-based catalysts face susceptibility to deactivation due to the Pt sintering during reaction and regeneration steps. Here, we report a SiO2 supported nanometric (MnCoCuZnPt) high-entropy PDH catalyst with high activity and stability. The catalyst exhibited a super high propane conversion of 56.6% with 94% selectivity of propylene at 600 °C. The propylene productivity reached 68.5 molC3H6·gPt-1·h-1, nearly three times that of Pt/SiO2 (23.5 molC3H6·gPt-1·h-1) under a weight hourly space velocity of 60 h-1. In a high-entropy nanoparticle, Pt atoms were atomically dispersed through coordination with other metals and exhibited a positive charge, thereby showcasing remarkable catalytic activity. The high-entropy effect contributes to the catalyst a superior stability with a low deactivation constant of 0.0004 h-1 during 200 hours of reaction under the industrial gas composition at 550 °C. Such high-entropy PDH catalyst is easy regenerated through simple air combustion of deposited coke. After the fourth consecutive regeneration cycle, satisfactory catalytic stability was observed, and the element distribution of spent catalysts almost returned to their initial state, with no detectable Pt sintering. This work provides new insights into designing active, stable, and regenerable novel PDH catalysts.

Achieving High Dispersion of Pd in Small-Pore Zeolite SSZ-13: A High-Efficiency Low-Temperature NOx Adsorber.

Passive NO x adsorber (PNA) materials are primarily considered for reducing nitrogen oxide emissions during the low-temperature cold start of a motor vehicle. Pd/SSZ-13 has attracted considerable attention because of its outstanding hydrothermal stability and sulfur resistance. Optimizing the dispersion of precious metal Pd in Pd/SSZ-13 is crucial for enhancing PNA performance and nitrogen oxide adsorption capability. In this study, we prepared Pd/SSZ-13 using different methods and evaluated their influence on the NO x adsorption capability. The characterization results show that the dispersion of precious metal Pd in the Pd/SSZ-13 catalyst prepared by the quantitative ion-exchange method is as high as 92.13%, and the loading amount is as high as 98.93%. Pd predominantly exists as Pd2+, achieving near-total loading and further improving the catalyst's NO x adsorption capacity. This study offers innovative approaches and methods for applying Pd/SSZ-13 as a PNA material, serving as a reference for its further optimization and performance enhancement. Continued research into the preparation and adsorption performance of Pd/SSZ-13 materials could offer solutions to reduce motor vehicle nitrogen oxide emissions.

Post-collaborative benefits: A meta-analysis of the effect of collaboration on subsequent individual retrieval.

Collaboration has an essential role in memory, and how to appropriately use it to affect individual memory positively is a matter of concern. The meta-analysis generally assessed the effect of collaboration on subsequent individual retrieval, registered on the PROSPERO platform and adhering to the PRISMA guidelines, using the Web of Science, Science Direct, CNKI and WanFang databases with post-collaborative memory as the main subject, screened studies published up to December 31, 2023, a total of 64 studies with 101 effect sizes, including 13,398 participants from 11 countries. Heterogeneity test, sensitivity analysis, subgroup analysis and meta-regression analysis were performed on the included studies, while publication bias was assessed. The results found that collaboration improves subsequent individual retrieval memory more than individuals, and collaboration has a moderate facilitating effect on subsequent individual retrieval. Group size, material category, category size, collaboration phase, collaboration approach, task process and test method were among the moderating variables. The study emphasizes the role of collaboration in cognition and demonstrates the post-collaborative benefits. The conclusions are of value for developing methods to improve individual memory.