A Novel MRI-Based Paravertebral Muscle Quality (PVMQ) Score for Evaluating Muscle Quality and Bone Quality: A Comparative Study with the VBQ Score.

Purpose: This study aims to develop a novel MRI-based paravertebral muscle quality (PVMQ) score for assessing muscle quality and to investigate its correlation with the degree of fat infiltration (DFF) and the vertebral bone quality (VBQ) score of paravertebral muscles. Additionally, the study compares the effectiveness of the PVMQ score and the VBQ score in assessing muscle quality and bone quality. Methods: PVMQ scores were derived from the ratio of paravertebral muscle signal intensity (SI) to L3 cerebrospinal fluid SI on T2-weighted MRI. Image J software assessed paravertebral muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) and DFF. Spearman rank correlation analyses explored associations between PVMQ, VBQ scores, DFF, and T-scores in both genders. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves compared PVMQ and VBQ scores' effectiveness in distinguishing osteopenia/osteoporosis and high paraspinal muscle DFF. Results: In this study of 144 patients (94 females), PVMQ scores were significantly higher in osteoporosis and osteopenia groups compared to normals, with variations observed between genders (P < 0.05). PVMQ showed stronger positive correlation with VBQ scores and DFF in females than males (0.584 vs 0.445, 0.579 vs 0.528; P < 0.01). ROC analysis favored PVMQ over VBQ for low muscle mass in both genders (AUC = 0.767 vs 0.718, 0.793 vs 0.718). VBQ was better for bone mass in males (0.737/0.865 vs 0.691/0.858), whereas PVMQ excelled for females (0.808/0.764 vs 0.721/0.718). Conclusion: The novel PVMQ score provides a reliable assessment of paravertebral muscle quality and shows a strong correlation with VBQ scores and DFF, particularly in females. It outperforms VBQ scores in evaluating muscle mass and offers valuable insights for assessing bone mass in females. These findings underscore the potential of the PVMQ score as a dual-purpose tool for evaluating both muscle and bone health, informing future research and clinical practice.

A crystal capping layer for formation of black-phase FAPbI3 perovskite in humid air.

Black-phase formamidinium lead iodide (α-FAPbI3) perovskites are the desired phase for photovoltaic applications, but water can trigger formation of photoinactive impurity phases such as δ-FAPbI3. We show that the classic solvent system for perovskite fabrication exacerbates this reproducibility challenge. The conventional coordinative solvent dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) promoted δ-FAPbI3 formation under high relative humidity (RH) conditions because of its hygroscopic nature. We introduced chlorine-containing organic molecules to form a capping layer that blocked moisture penetration while preserving DMSO-based complexes to regulate crystal growth. We report power conversion efficiencies of >24.5% for perovskite solar cells fabricated across an RH range of 20 to 60%, and 23.4% at 80% RH. The unencapsulated device retained 96% of its initial performance in air (with 40 to 60% RH) after 500-hour maximum power point operation.

PPARγ/NF-κB axis contributes to cold-induced resolution of experimental colitis and preservation of intestinal barrier.

BACKGROUND: Environmental stress is a significant contributor to the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The involvement of temperature stimulation in the development of IBD remains uncertain. Our preliminary statistical data suggest that the prevalence of IBD is slightly lower in colder regions compared to non-cold regions. The observation indicates that temperature changes may play a key role in the occurrence and progression of IBD. Here, we hypothesized that cold stress has a protective effect on IBD. METHODS: The cold exposure model for mice was placed in a constant temperature and humidity chamber, maintained at a temperature of 4 °C. Colitis models were induced in the mice using TNBS or DSS. To promote the detection methods more clinically, fluorescence confocal endoscopy was used to observe the mucosal microcirculation status of the colon in the live model. Changes in the colonic wall of the mice were detected using 9.4 T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) imaging and in vivo fluorescence imaging. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Immunofluorescence (IF) staining confirmed the pathological alterations in the colons of sacrificed mice. Molecular changes at the protein level were assessed through Western blotting and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) assays. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and metabolomics (n = 18) were jointly analyzed to investigate the biological changes in the colon of mice treated by cold exposure. RESULTS: Cold exposure decreased the pathologic and disease activity index scores in a mouse model. Endomicroscopy revealed that cold exposure preserved colonic mucosal microcirculation, and 9.4 T MRI imaging revealed alleviation of intestinal wall thickness. In addition, the expression of the TLR4 and PP65 proteins was downregulated and epithelial cell junctions were strengthened after cold exposure. Intriguingly, we found that cold exposure reversed the decrease in ZO-1 and occludin protein levels in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)- and trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid-induced colitis mouse models. Multi-omics analysis revealed the biological landscape of DSS-induced colitis under cold exposure and identified that the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling pathway mediates the effects of cold on colitis. Subsequent administration of rosiglitazone (PPAR agonist) enhanced the protective effect of cold exposure on colitis, whereas GW9662 (PPAR antagonist) administration mitigated these protective effects. Overall, cold exposure ameliorated the progression of mouse colitis through the PPARγ/NF-κB signaling axis and preserved the intestinal mucosal barrier. CONCLUSION: Our study provides a mechanistic link between intestinal inflammation and cold exposure, providing a theoretical framework for understanding the differences in the prevalence of IBD between the colder regions and non-cold regions, and offering new insights into IBD therapy.

Co-Invasion of Congeneric Invasive Plants Adopts Different Strategies Depending on Their Origins.

Plant communities may be co-invaded by invasive plants, sometimes even by congeneric invasive plants (CIPs). Despite the growing understanding of co-invasion in the environment, little is known about how CIP interactions and mechanisms regulate co-invasion. Darwin's naturalisation conundrum predicts that the coexistence of closely related species is difficult due to their structural and behavioural similarities. Nevertheless, communities containing closely related species are more susceptible to being invaded because close relatives may favour similar environments; therefore, this hypothesis should be followed in the co-invasion of CIPs. To explore whether the phylogenetic relatedness and origins of invasive species to CIPs can promote or hinder co-invasion, we conducted a controlled interaction and soil-legacy greenhouse experiment to quantify the growth response of invasive plants and their congeners. We consistently found that CIPs of identical origin were more likely to co-invade compared to CIPs of distinct origins. CIPs of distinct origins exhibited an antagonistic effect on co-invasion by allelopathy. Invasive plant-conditioned soil was more conducive to the growth of CIPs of identical origin than CIPs of distinct origins. Our results revealed the different effects of invader-invader phylogenetic relatedness on co-invader success and impact, suggesting the operation of different mechanisms across co-invasion.

New geographical records and molecular investigation of the ciliate Spirostomum.

Spirostomum is a genus of large ciliates, and its species are distributed worldwide. However, there has been limited research conducted on their geographical distribution and genomics. We obtained nine samples of ciliates from eight regions in Liaoning Province, China, and conducted a study on their geographical distribution and characteristics. Morphological and second-generation high-throughput sequencing methods were applied to identify the species, and a phylogenetic tree was established to gain a deeper understanding of the geographical distribution and evolutionary relationships of Spirostomum in Northeast China. The results identified Spirostomum yagiui and Spirostomum subtilis as a newly recorded species in Northeast China region. There are now five species of Spirostomum that have been recorded in China, and new details on the genomic characteristics of Spirostomum yagiui were provided. In addition, this study also identified the main branches of Spirostomum teres and Spirostomum minus in northern China, and provided a theoretical basis for the existence of hidden species. Spirostomum yagiui is the first species in the family Spirostomidae to have undergone mitochondrial genome sequencing.

Enhancement of Large Language Models' Performance in Diabetes Education: Retrieval-Augmented Generation Approach.

BACKGROUND: Large language models (LLMs) demonstrated advanced performance in processing clinical information. However, commercially available LLMs lack specialized medical knowledge and remain susceptible to generating inaccurate information. Given the need for self-management in diabetes, patients commonly seek information online. We introduce the RISE framework and evaluate its performance in enhancing LLMs to provide accurate responses to diabetes-related inquiries. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the potential of RISE framework, an information retrieval and augmentation tool, to improve the LLM's performance to accurately and safely respond to diabetes-related inquiries. METHODS: The RISE, an innovative retrieval augmentation framework, comprises four steps: Rewriting Query, Information Retrieval, Summarization, and Execution. Using a set of 43 common diabetes-related questions, we evaluated three base LLMs (GPT-4, Anthropic Claude 2, Google Bard) and their RISE-enhanced versions. Assessments were conducted by clinicians for accuracy and comprehensiveness, and by patients for understandability. RESULTS: The integration of RISE significantly improved the accuracy and comprehensiveness of responses from all three based LLMs. On average, the percentage of accurate responses increased by 12% (122 - 107/129) with RISE. Specifically, the rates of accurate responses increased by 7% (42 - 39/43) for GPT-4, 19% (39 - 31/43) for Claude 2, and 9% (41 - 37/43) for Google Bard. The framework also enhanced response comprehensiveness, with mean scores improving by 0.44. Understandability was also enhanced by 0.19 on average. Data collection was conducted from Sept. 30, 2023, to Feb. 05, 2024. CONCLUSIONS: RISE significantly improves LLMs' performance in responding to diabetes-related inquiries, enhancing accuracy, comprehensiveness, and understandability. These improvements have crucial implications for RISE's future role in patient education and chronic illness self-management, which contributes to relieving medical resource pressures and raising public awareness of medical knowledge.

Remote Health Management via WeChat to Improve the Quality of Life of Patients After PCI.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this research was to assess the effect of telehealth management via WeChat on improving the quality of life of patients after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS: In this study, we retrospectively collected the clinical data of 118 patients who underwent PCI and received remote health management from our hospital via WeChat from June 2021 to September 2021 (WeChat group). The clinical data of 114 patients who underwent PCI but did not receive remote health management from our hospital from September 2020 to December 2020 were also collected (conventional group). Anxiety, depression, and quality of life scale scores were compared between the 2 groups at 6 months postdischarge. RESULTS: Six months postdischarge, patients in the WeChat group had significantly lower Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) (55.7 ± 7.2 vs 58.8 ± 6.4, P = .001) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) (56.0 ± 5.9 vs 58.2 ± 6.2, P = .007) scores than did those in the conventional group. Compared to those in the conventional group, the patients in the WeChat group had significantly greater 6 months post-discharge The World Health Organization Quality of Life - BREF scores in the following domains: physical (14.3 ± 1.7 vs 13.1 ± 1.7, P < .001 psychological (15.2 ± 1.3 vs 13.5 ± 1.5, P < .001 social relationship (12.9 ± 1.7 vs 12.3 ± 1.8, P = .01) and environmental (12.7 ± 2.0 vs 12.0 ± 1.9, P = .006). CONCLUSION: The use of WeChat to carry out remote health management for patients who underwent PCI can be an effective way to provide high-quality hospital medical services to patients' families and can effectively alleviate patients' anxiety and depression and enhance their quality of life.

Predicting epidemic threshold in complex networks by graph neural network.

To achieve precision in predicting an epidemic threshold in complex networks, we have developed a novel threshold graph neural network (TGNN) that takes into account both the network topology and the spreading dynamical process, which together contribute to the epidemic threshold. The proposed TGNN could effectively and accurately predict the epidemic threshold in homogeneous networks, characterized by a small variance in the degree distribution, such as Erdos-Rényi random networks. Usability has also been validated when the range of the effective spreading rate is altered. Furthermore, extensive experiments in ER networks and scale-free networks validate the adaptability of the TGNN to different network topologies without the necessity for retaining. The adaptability of the TGNN is further validated in real-world networks.

Flexible Resource Allocation-Efficient Water Use Strategies Facilitate Invasion of Invasive Vine Sicyos angulatus L.

The invasive vine Sicyos angulatus L. destroys the natural ecosystem of invaded areas. Understanding the differences in growth and development between S. angulatus and other plants is necessary to explore the invasion mechanisms of S. angulatus and implement appropriate prevention and control measures. Thus, this study compared the growth, photosynthesis, and root characteristics of invasive liana S. angulatus and other three vine plants, Ipomoea nil (L.) Roth, Ipomoea purpurea (L.), and Thladiantha dubia Bunge, at different growth stages: seedling, flowering, and fruiting. The results showed that the total biomass of S. angulatus in the fruiting stage was 3-6 times that of the other three plants, and the root biomass ratio and root-shoot ratio decreased throughout the growth stage. Throughout the growth stage, the total leaf area of S. angulatus was significantly higher than that of the other three plant types, and the specific leaf area of S. angulatus at the seedling and flowering stages was 2.5-3 and 1.4-3 times that of the other three plants, respectively. The photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rate of S. angulatus at the fruiting stage were significantly higher than those of the other three plants, and its water use efficiency was higher than that of the other three plants at the three growth stages, indicating its strong photosynthetic capacity. The root activity and root pressure of S. angulatus were also significantly higher than those of the other three plants at the seedling and flowering stages. These results show that S. angulatus flexibly allocates resources to its aboveground parts during the growth stage to ensure that the plant obtains the space necessary for its growth and development and that with the help of higher root pressure and root activity, S. angulatus can maintain higher photosynthesis and water use efficiency with fewer resources. Therefore, the prevention and control of S. angulatus requires a combination of aboveground and underground measures. Spraying conventional weedicide/herbicide and manually removing aboveground plants may lead to its resurgence.

Research advances in detection of food adulteration and application of MALDI-TOF MS: A review.

Food adulteration and illegal supplementations have always been one of the major problems in the world. The threat of food adulteration to the health of consumers cannot be ignored. Food of questionable origin causes economic losses to consumers, but the potential health risks cannot be ignored. However, the traditional detection methods are time-consuming and complex. This review mainly discusses the types of adulteration and technologies used to detect adulteration. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is also emphasized in the detection of adulteration and authenticity of origin analysis of various types of food (milk, meat, edible oil, etc.), and the future application direction and feasibility of this technology are analyzed. On this basis, MALDI-TOF MS was compared with other detection methods, highlighting the advantages of this technology in the detection of food adulteration. The future development prospect and direction of this technology are also emphasized.

Elastic Properties of Low-Dimensional Single-Crystalline Dielectric Oxides through Controlled Large-Area Wrinkle Generation.

Freestanding single-crystalline SrTiO3 membranes, as high-κ dielectrics, hold significant promise as the gate dielectric in two-dimensional (2D) flexible electronics. Nevertheless, the mechanical properties of the SrTiO3 membranes, such as elasticity, remain a critical piece of the puzzle to adequately address the viability of their applications in flexible devices. Here, we report statistical analysis on plane-strain effective Young's modulus of large-area SrTiO3 membranes (5 × 5 mm2) over a series of thicknesses (from 6.5 to 32.2 nm), taking advantage of a highly efficient buckling-based method, which reveals its evident thickness-dependent behavior ranging from 46.01 to 227.17 GPa. Based on microscopic and theoretical results, we elucidate these thickness-dependent behaviors and statistical data deviation with a bilayer model, which consists of a surface layer and a bulk-like layer. The analytical results show that the ∼3.1 nm surface layer has a significant elastic softening compared to the bulk-like layer, while the extracted modulus of the bulk-like layer shows a variation of ∼40 GPa. This variation is considered as a combined contribution from oxygen deficiency presenting in SrTiO3 membranes, and the alignment between applied strain and the crystal orientation. Upon comparison of the extracted elastic properties and electrostatic control capability to those of other typical gate dielectrics, the superior performance of single-crystalline SrTiO3 membranes has been revealed in the context of flexible gate dielectrics, indicating the significant potential of their application in high-performance flexible 2D electronics.

Exploration of potential novel drug targets for diabetic retinopathy by plasma proteome screening.

The aim of this study is to identify novel potential drug targets for diabetic retinopathy (DR). A bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was performed using protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL) of 734 plasma proteins as the exposures and clinically diagnosed DR as the outcome. Genetic instruments for 734 plasma proteins were obtained from recently published genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and external plasma proteome data was retrieved from the Icelandic Decoding Genetics Study and UK Biobank Pharma Proteomics Project. Summary-level data of GWAS for DR were obtained from the Finngen Consortium, comprising 14,584 cases and 202,082 population controls. Steiger filtering, Bayesian co-localization, and phenotype scanning were used to further verify the causal relationships calculated by MR. Three significant (p < 6.81 × 10-5) plasma protein-DR pairs were identified during the primary MR analysis, including CFH (OR = 0.8; 95% CI 0.75-0.86; p = 1.29 × 10-9), B3GNT8 (OR = 1.09; 95% CI 1.05-1.12; p = 5.9 × 10-6) and CFHR4 (OR = 1.11; 95% CI 1.06-1.16; p = 1.95 × 10-6). None of the three proteins showed reverse causation. According to Bayesian colocalization analysis, CFH (coloc.abf-PPH4 = 0.534) and B3GNT8 (coloc.abf-PPH4 = 0.638) in plasma shared the same variant with DR. All three identified proteins were validated in external replication cohorts. Our research shows a cause-and-effect connection between genetically determined levels of CFH, B3GNT8 and CFHR4 plasma proteins and DR. The discovery implies that these proteins hold potential as drug target in the process of developing drugs to treat DR.

Association of smart elderly care and quality of life among older adults: the mediating role of social support.

BACKGROUND: In the current context of ageing, the field of smart elderly care has gradually developed, contributing to the promotion of health among older adults. While the positive impact on health has been established, there is a scarcity of research examining its impact on the quality of life (QoL). This study aims to investigate the mediating role of social support in the relationship between smart elderly care and QoL among older adults. METHODS: A total of 1313 older adults from Zhejiang Province, China, participated in the study. Questionnaires were used to collect data on participants' basic demographic information, smart elderly care, social support, and QoL. The descriptive analyses of the demographic characteristics and correlation analyses of the three variables were calculated. Indirect effects were tested using bootstrapped confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: The analysis revealed a positive association between smart elderly care and social support (ß = 0.42, p < 0.01), as well as a positive correlation between social support and QoL (ß = 0.65, p < 0.01). Notably, social support emerged as an important independent mediator (effect size = 0.28, 95% bootstrap CI 0.24 to 0.32) in the relationship between smart elderly care and QoL. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study underscore the importance of promoting the utilization of smart elderly care and improving multi-faceted social support for older adults, as these factors positively contribute to the overall QoL.

Association of autoimmune and allergic diseases with senile cataract: a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

Background: Many observational studies have been reported that patients with autoimmune or allergic diseases seem to have a higher risk of developing senile cataract, but the views are not consistent. In order to minimize the influence of reverse causality and potential confounding factors, we performed Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis to investigate the genetic causal associations between autoimmune, allergic diseases and senile cataract. Methods: Single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with ten common autoimmune and allergic diseases were obtained from the IEU Open genome-wide association studies (GWAS) database. Summary-level GWAS statistics for clinically diagnosed senile cataract were obtained from the FinnGen research project GWAS, which consisted of 59,522 individuals with senile cataracts and 312,864 control individuals. MR analysis was conducted using mainly inverse variance weighted (IVW) method and further sensitivity analysis was performed to test robustness. Results: As for ten diseases, IVW results confirmed that type 1 diabetes (OR = 1.06; 95% CI = 1.05-1.08; p = 2.24×10-12), rheumatoid arthritis (OR = 1.05; 95% CI = 1.02-1.08; p = 1.83×10-4), hypothyroidism (OR = 2.4; 95% CI = 1.42-4.06; p = 1.12×10-3), systemic lupus erythematosus (OR = 1.02; 95% CI = 1.01-1.03; p = 2.27×10-3), asthma (OR = 1.02; 95% CI = 1.01-1.03; p = 1.2×10-3) and allergic rhinitis (OR = 1.07; 95% CI = 1.02-1.11; p = 2.15×10-3) were correlated with the risk of senile cataract. Celiac disease (OR = 1.04; 95% CI = 1.01-1.08; P = 0.0437) and atopic dermatitis (OR = 1.05; 95% CI = 1.01-1.10; P = 0.0426) exhibited a suggestive connection with senile cataract after Bonferroni correction. These associations are consistent across weighted median and MR Egger methods, with similar causal estimates in direction and magnitude. Sensitivity analysis further proved that these associations were reliable. Conclusions: The results of the MR analysis showed that there were causal relationships between type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, hypothyroidism, systemic lupus erythematosus, asthma, allergic rhinitis and senile cataract. To clarify the possible role of autoimmune and allergy in the pathophysiology of senile cataract, further studies are needed.

Root morphology and physiological of their relationship with nitrogen uptake in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

Nitrogen (N) application is believed to improve photosynthesis in flag leaf ultimately increase final yield. The main results at 20-30 days after anthesis, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) and soluble protein in flag leaves of N150 were found to be the most effective. Increased root weight density, root length density and root volume density at flowering stage, up to 10.6 %, 15.0 %, respectively. The root weight density, root length density and root bulk density at flowering and mature stages were the highest at the N180. Delaying the senescence physiology of post flowering leaves in the middle, and late stage, photosynthesis of leaves in the middle and late stage, improving the light energy interception of wheat, and then improving the light energy utilization efficiency. The stomatal conductance of flag leaves 15-30 days after anthesis, the maximum potential photochemical efficiency 20-30 days after anthesis, and the photochemical quenching of flag leaves 25-30 days after anthesis, and improved the light energy utilization efficiency by 9.6%-11.1 %. Yunhan-20410 the gene expressions of TaTZF1, TaNCY1, TaNCY3 and TaAKaGall in wheat flag leaves were significantly up-regulated YH-20410 gene expressions of N application treatment were significantly up-regulated compared with no N application treatment. The goal of high yield high efficiency, and high quality can be achieved by YH-20410 and combined to N180 kg ha-1. The senescence physiology and gene expression of post flowering leaves in the middle and late stage, prolonging the photosynthesis of leaves in the middle and late stage, improving the light energy interception of canopy, and then improving the light energy utilization efficiency.

Synthesis of Chiral 1,2-Amino Alcohol-Containing Compounds Utilizing Ruthenium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation of Unprotected α-Ketoamines.

Herein, we disclose a facile synthetic strategy to access an important class of drug molecules that contain chiral 1,2-amino alcohol functionality utilizing highly effective ruthenium-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of unprotected α-ketoamines. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a crisis of shortage of many important drugs, especially norepinephrine and epinephrine, for the treatment of anaphylaxis and hypotension because of the increased demand. Unfortunately, the existing technologies are not fulfilling the worldwide requirement due to the existing lengthy synthetic protocols that require additional protection and deprotection steps. We identified a facile synthetic protocol via a highly enantioselective one-step process for epinephrine and a two-step process for norepinephrine starting from unprotected α-ketoamines 1b and 1a, respectively. This newly developed enantioselective ruthenium-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation was extended to the synthesis of many 1,2-amino alcohol-containing drug molecules such as phenylephrine, denopamine, norbudrine, and levisoprenaline, with enantioselectivities of >99% ee and high isolated yields.

Crown-Assisted CsCu2I3 Growth and Trap Passivation for Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes.

Copper (Cu)-based perovskites are promising for lead-free perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). However, it remains a significant challenge to achieve high performance devices due to the nonradiative loss caused by the disordered crystallization and lack of passivation. Crown ethers are known to form host-guest complexes by the interaction between C-O-C groups and certain cations, and 18-crown-6 (18C6) with an appropriate complementary size can interact with Cs+ and Cu+ cations. Herein, we studied the interaction between CsCu2I3 and two crowns with the same cyclic size, 18C6 and dibenzo-18-crown-6 (D18C6). Particularly, D18C6 can reduce the nonradiative recombination rate of CsCu2I3 film by passivating the defects and optimizing the film morphology effectively. The room mean square (RMS) decreased from 5.06 to 2.95 nm, and the PLQY was promoted from 4.71% to 19.9%. Besides, D18C6 can also decrease the barrier of hole injection. The PeLEDs based on D18C6-modified CsCu2I3 realized noticeable improvement with a maximum luminance and EQE of 583 cd/m2 and 0.662%, respectively.

Microbial perspective on the skin-gut axis and atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a relapsing inflammatory skin condition that has become a global health issue with complex etiology and mounting prevalence. The association of AD with skin and gut microbiota has been revealed by virtue of the continuous development of sequencing technology and genomics analysis. Also, the gut-brain-skin axis and its mutual crosstalk mechanisms have been gradually verified. Accordingly, the microbiota-skin-gut axis also plays an important role in allergic skin inflammation. Herein, we reviewed the relationship between the microbiota-skin-gut axis and AD, explored the underlying signaling molecules and potential pathways, and focused on the potential mechanisms of probiotics, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), coagulase-negative staphylococci transplantation, fecal microbiota transplantation, AMPs, and addition of essential fatty acids in alleviating AD, with the aim to provide a new perspective for targeting microbiota in the treatment of allergic skin inflammation.

Simplified S1 Vertebral Bone Quality Score in the Assessment of Patients with Vertebral Fragility Fractures.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of the S1 vertebral bone quality (VBQ) score in assessing bone quality among patients with vertebral fragility fractures (VFF). Additionally, whether the combination of S1 VBQ and Hounsfield unit (HU) values improves the predictive accuracy of VFF. METHODS: Using lumbar noncontrast computed tomography and T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, we measured L1 HU values, S1 VBQ, and L1-L4 VBQ. To assess their predictive performance for VFF, we constructed receiver operating characteristic curves. We also compared the diagnostic efficacy of HU values with that of S1 VBQ and L1--L4 VBQ values for the joint diagnosis of VFF. The Delong test was used to compare the value of individual or combined predictions of VFF. RESULTS: In comparison to the nonfracture group, all patients exhibited markedly elevated S1 VBQ and L1--L4 VBQ and notably reduced HU values (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that elevated S1 VBQ, increased L1--L4 VBQ, and decreased HU values independently correlated with VFF development. The areas under the curve for VFF prediction were 0.806 for S1 VBQ, 0.799 for L1--L4 VBQ, and 0.820 for HU values. According to the Delong test, the combination of HU values with S1 VBQ/L1--L4 VBQ significantly improved the diagnostic accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: The simplified S1 VBQ is a valuable tool for predicting the occurrence of VFF and can be used as an alternative to the L1--L4 VBQ. In addition, the combination of S1 VBQ and HU values can significantly improve the predictive value of VFF.

DFT investigation of coupling constant anomalies in substituted ß-lactams.

ß-lactams are a chemically diverse group of molecules with a wide range of biological activities. Having recently observed curious trends in 2JHH coupling values in studies on this structural class, we sought to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of these diagnostic NMR parameters, specifically interrogating 1JCH, 2JCH, and 2JHH, to differentiate 3- and 4-monosubstituted ß-lactams. Further investigation using computational chemistry methods was employed to explore the geometric and electronic origins for the observed and calculated differences between the two substitution patterns.