[High performance liquid chromatography combined with the 2,2'-dithiodipyridine derivatization reaction for determination of different types of free thiols in human serum and analysis of their relationship with coronary heart disease].

Oxidative stress, which is characterized by an imbalance between antioxidants and free radicals, plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease, a common and serious cardiovascular condition, and contributes significantly to its development and progression. Serum free thiols are crucial components of the body's antioxidant defense system. The accurate determination of serum free thiol levels provides a reference basis for understanding the body's status and monitoring the risk factors associated with the occurrence and progression of coronary heart disease. In this study, a high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method based on the derivatization reaction of 2,2'-dithiodipyridine was developed to simultaneously obtain the concentrations of total free thiols (Total-SH), low-molecular-mass free thiols (LMM-SH), and protein-free thiols (P-SH) in human serum. An Agilent Eclipse XDB-C18 column (150 mm×4.6 mm, 5 µm) was used for the analysis, and gradient elution was performed at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. A 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution was used as mobile phase A, and a 0.1% formic acid acetonitrile solution was used as mobile phase B. The gradient elution program was as follows: 0-0.1 min, 12%B-30%B; 0.1-2 min, 30%B; 2-2.1 min, 30%B-100%B; 2.1-6 min, 100%B; 6-6.1 min, 100%B-12%B; 6.1-7 min, 12%B. Well-separated peaks appeared after a run time of 5 min. The peak of 2-thiopyridone represented the Total-SH content of the samples, and the peak of the pyridyldithio derivative represented the LMM-SH content. The difference between these two peaks indicated the P-SH content. The derivatization reaction conditions were optimized, and the method was validated. The method demonstrated good linearity, with a correlation coefficient ≥0.9994, over the concentration range of 31.25-1000 µmol/L. The limits of detection for Total-SH and LMM-SH were 2.61 and 0.50 µmol/L, and the limits of quantification for Total-SH and LMM-SH were 8.71 and 1.67 µmol/L, respectively. The recoveries of Total-SH and LMM-SH were in the range of 91.1%-106.0%. The intra- and inter-day precisions ranged from 0.4% to 9.1%. The developed method was used to analyze serum samples from 714 volunteers. The Total-SH concentrations ranged from 376.60 to 781.12 µmol/L, with an average concentration of 555.62 µmol/L. The LMM-SH concentrations varied from 36.37 to 231.65 µmol/L,with an average of 82.34 µmol/L. The P-SH concentrations ranged from 288.36 to 687.74 µmol/L, with an average of 473.27 µmol/L. Spearman's correlation test showed that serum thiol levels were correlated with the severity of coronary artery disease and common clinical biochemical indicators. The proposed study provides a simple and reliable HPLC method for detecting serum free thiols and exploring their relationship with coronary heart disease, offering a new reference for the study of markers related to the risk of coronary heart disease.

Serum immunoglobulin M is associated with the severity of coronary artery disease in adults.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between serum immunoglobulin M (IgM) and the severity of coronary artery disease in Chinese patients who underwent coronary angiography. Methods: A total of 2,045 patients who underwent coronary angiography (CAG) from March 2017 to March 2020 at Beijing Hospital were included in this study. Serum IgM concentration and biochemical indicators were measured before coronary angiography (CAG). The triquartile IgM levels at baseline in the population were analysed. Spearman rank correlation was used to analyse the association between IgM and traditional risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD patients were divided into subgroups by affected area, number of affected vessels, and Gensini score to analyse the relationship between IgM and CAD severity. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between IgM and CAD severity. Results: Serum IgM levels were significantly lower in the CAD group (63.5 mg/dL) than in the non-coronary artery disease (NCAD) group (72.3 mg/dL) (P < 0.001). Serum IgM levels were significantly associated with sex. Serum IgM levels were positively correlated with traditional CAD risk factors such as TG, TC and LDL-C (P < 0.05), and negatively associated with the number of obstructed vessels, the number of affected areas, and Gensini scores. After adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, stroke, and statin use history, a high IgM level was independently negatively associated with the severity of CAD expressed by the Gensini score. Conclusion: We determined that serum IgM was independently negatively associated with the severity of CAD diagnosed by angiography in Chinese adults.

hsa_circ_0002980 prevents proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of liver cancer cells through microRNA-1303/cell adhesion molecule 2 axis.

BACKGROUND: Liver cancer (LC) is a rare malignancy. Circular RNA (circRNA) dysregulation is associated with LC metastasis. hsa_circ_0002980 was found to be unexpectedly downregulated in LC tissues; however, its specific function remains unclear. METHODS: hsa_circ_0002980 expression was confirmed using RT-qPCR. The effects of circ_0002980 on the proliferation, metastasis, and EMT-related proteins of LC cells were assessed using clone formation, flow cytometry, Transwell assays, and Western blotting. The relationship between circ_0002980 and miR-1303 or miR-1303 and CADM2 was analyzed using a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Thereafter, the influence of these three genes on LC cell progression was determined through rescue experiments. RESULTS: hsa_circ_0002980 expression was lower in LC. circ_0002980 overexpression inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion, and EMT of LC cells. In addition, circ_0002980 specifically binds to miR-1303, and the accelerated effect of miR-1303 overexpression on LC progression was partially reversed by circ_0002980. Moreover, miR-1303 can also target CADM2, and CADM2-mediated prevention can also be attenuated by miR-1303 overexpression. CONCLUSIONS: In LC cells, circ_0002980 upregulation prevents cell proliferation, metastasis, and EMT by affecting the miR-1303/CADM2 axis. Therefore, this axis may be a novel therapeutic target in LC.

Fibrinogen B ß promoter polymorphism may not be associated with pulmonary embolism.

OBJECTIVE: A prospective experiment was designed to explore all possible SNPs in the promoter region of fibrinogen B ß (FGB) and reveal the influence of these SNPs on susceptibility of pulmonary embolism. METHODS: In this 2-year randomized prospective study, we had totally recruited 203 volunteers. 58 PE patients (58 out of 145 VTE patients) and 114 healthy people were taken as case and control objects, respectively. FGB promoter was detected by gene sequencing. RESULTS: There were 6 SNPs in FGB promoter, which were ß-1420G/A, ß-993C/T, ß-854G/A, ß-455G/A, ß-249C/T, and ß-148C/T. Genotype frequencies of individual SNPs between the cases and controls were not statistically significant, all p > .05. After excluding subjects of COVID-19 infection within 6 months, the statistical results (35 PE patients vs 66 healthy people) were consistent. CONCLUSION: The susceptibility to pulmonary embolism may not be affected by any SNP in the FGB promoter region.

LDSSNV: A Linkage Disequilibrium-Based Method for the Detection of Somatic Single-Nucleotide Variants.

Single nucleotide variants (SNVs) are very common in human genome and pose a significant effect on cellular proliferation and tumorigenesis in various cancers. Somatic variant and germline variant are the two forms of SNVs. They are the major drivers of inherited diseases and acquired tumors respectively. A reasonable analysis of the next generation sequencing data profiles from cancer genomes could provide crucial information for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Accurate detection of SNVs and distinguishing the two forms are still considered challenging tasks in cancer analysis. Herein, we propose a new approach, LDSSNV, to detect somatic SNVs without matched normal samples. LDSSNV predicts SNVs by training the XGboost classifier on a concise combination of features and distinguishes the two forms based on linkage disequilibrium which is a trait between germline mutations. LDSSNV provides two modes to distinguish the somatic variants from germline variants, the single-mode and multiple-mode by respectively using a single tumor sample and multiple tumor samples. The performance of the proposed method is assessed on both simulation data and real sequencing datasets. The analysis shows that the LDSSNV method outperforms competing methods and can become a robust and reliable tool for analyzing tumor genome variation.

Deep Neural Network Augments Performance of Junior Residents in Diagnosing COVID-19 Pneumonia on Chest Radiographs.

Chest X-rays (CXRs) are essential in the preliminary radiographic assessment of patients affected by COVID-19. Junior residents, as the first point-of-contact in the diagnostic process, are expected to interpret these CXRs accurately. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of a deep neural network in distinguishing COVID-19 from other types of pneumonia, and to determine its potential contribution to improving the diagnostic precision of less experienced residents. A total of 5051 CXRs were utilized to develop and assess an artificial intelligence (AI) model capable of performing three-class classification, namely non-pneumonia, non-COVID-19 pneumonia, and COVID-19 pneumonia. Additionally, an external dataset comprising 500 distinct CXRs was examined by three junior residents with differing levels of training. The CXRs were evaluated both with and without AI assistance. The AI model demonstrated impressive performance, with an Area under the ROC Curve (AUC) of 0.9518 on the internal test set and 0.8594 on the external test set, which improves the AUC score of the current state-of-the-art algorithms by 1.25% and 4.26%, respectively. When assisted by the AI model, the performance of the junior residents improved in a manner that was inversely proportional to their level of training. Among the three junior residents, two showed significant improvement with the assistance of AI. This research highlights the novel development of an AI model for three-class CXR classification and its potential to augment junior residents' diagnostic accuracy, with validation on external data to demonstrate real-world applicability. In practical use, the AI model effectively supported junior residents in interpreting CXRs, boosting their confidence in diagnosis. While the AI model improved junior residents' performance, a decline in performance was observed on the external test compared to the internal test set. This suggests a domain shift between the patient dataset and the external dataset, highlighting the need for future research on test-time training domain adaptation to address this issue.

Pedestrians' road-crossing behavior towards eHMI-equipped autonomous vehicles driving in segregated and mixed traffic conditions.

Pedestrians' road-crossing behavior can be influenced by eHMIs (external Human-Machine Interfaces) on autonomous vehicles (AVs). In this research, we developed a novel eHMI concept that aimed to support pedestrians' risk evaluation by displaying predicted real-time risk levels. In a virtual reality environment, we measured pedestrians' road-crossing behavior when they encountered AVs with this eHMI and manual-driven vehicles (MVs) in the same lane. Results showed that pedestrians exhibited typical crossing behaviors based on gap size for both vehicle types. In segregated traffic conditions, compared to MVs, eHMI-equipped AVs made pedestrians more sensitive to the changes in gap size by rejecting more small gaps and accepting more large gaps. Pedestrians also walked faster and kept larger safety margins for smaller gaps. Similar results were observed for AVs in mixed traffic conditions. However, in mixed traffic conditions, pedestrians faced more challenges when interacting with MVs as they tended to accept smaller gaps, walk more slowly, and maintain smaller safety margins. These findings indicate that dynamic risk information could be conducive to pedestrians' road-crossing behavior, but the use of eHMIs on AVs might disrupt pedestrians' interactions with MVs in complex traffic conditions. This potential risk shift among vehicles also poses the question of whether AVs should use segregated lanes to reduce their indirect impacts on pedestrian-MV interactions.

Value of thyroid cancer history in the prognosis of pancreatic cancer: a SEER population-based study.

Thyroid cancer patients have a good prognosis, and their long survival increases the likelihood of developing a second primary tumor. Meanwhile, pancreatic cancer (PC) has a poor prognosis and therapeutic efficacy. However, the association between prior thyroid cancer and the subsequent PC prognosis is unknown. Herein, we selected pathologically diagnosed PC patients older than 17 between 2010 and 2015 from the SEER database. We used propensity score matching (PSM) to reduce confounding factors between groups and matched each PC patient with a history of thyroid cancer with 10 PC patients without a history of thyroid cancer. Finally, we selected 103 PC patients with prior thyroid cancer and 1030 PC patients without prior thyroid cancer. Then, we analyzed the factors influencing the overall survival (OS) and the cancer-specific survival (CSS) of PC patients. The median overall survival of PC patients with and without a history of thyroid cancer was 12 and 9 months, respectively. The history of thyroid cancer in PC patients reduced the PC-specific mortality (p < 0.05). Prior thyroid cancer might be a favorable prognostic factor for PC-specific mortality in PC patients.

Choline and trimethylamine N-oxide supplementation in normal chow diet and western diet promotes the development of atherosclerosis in Apoe -/- mice through different mechanisms.

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a gut microbiota-dependent metabolite, has been shown to aggravate cardiovascular disease. However, the mechanisms of TMAO in the setting of cardiovascular disease progress remain unclear. Here, we aim to investigate the effects of TMAO on atherosclerosis (AS) development and the underlying mechanisms. Apoe -/- mice received choline or TMAO supplementation in a normal diet and a western diet for 12 weeks. Choline or TMAO supplementation in both normal diet and western diet significantly promoted plaque progression in Apoe-/- mice. Besides, serum lipids levels and inflammation response in the aortic root were enhanced by choline or TMAO supplementation. In particular, choline or TMAO supplementation in the western diet changed intestinal microbiota composition and bile acid metabolism. Therefore, choline or TMAO supplementation may promote AS by modulating gut microbiota in mice fed with a western diet and by other mechanisms in mice given a normal diet, even choline or TMAO supplementation in a normal diet can promote AS.

The clinical effects of two non-invasive ventilation modes on premature infants with respiratory distress syndrome: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: To compare the safety and effectiveness of nasal noninvasive high- frequency oscillatory ventilation (NHFOV) and duo positive airway pressure (DuoPAP) applications in preterm babies with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). METHODS: This was a randomized controlled trial. Forty-three premature infants with RDS treated in the neonatal intensive care unit of Huaibei Maternal and Child Health Hospital from January 2020 to November 2021 were selected as the research participants. They were randomly divided into the NHFOV group (n = 22) and DuoPAP group (n = 21). General conditions, including the arterial oxygen partial pressure (PaO2), carbon dioxide partial pressure (PaCO2), oxygenation index (OI), the incidence of apnea at 72 hours, duration of noninvasive respiratory support, maternal high-risk factors, total oxygen consumption time, total gastrointestinal feeding time, and the frequency of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and apnea were compared between the NHFOV group and DuoPAP group at 12 and 24 hours after noninvasive respiratory support. RESULTS: There was no noteworthy difference between the 2 groups with respect to PaO2, PaCO2, OI, IVH, and NEC and BPD at different nodes (all P > .05). CONCLUSION: The endpoints of PaO2, PaCO2 and OI and complications of IVH, NEC, BPD and Apnea, and did not reveal any statistical differences between NHFOV and DuoPAP during the respiratory support in preterm babies with RDS.

Electron Microscopy Studies of Soft Nanomaterials.

This review highlights recent efforts on applying electron microscopy (EM) to soft (including biological) nanomaterials. We will show how developments of both the hardware and software of EM have enabled new insights into the formation, assembly, and functioning (e.g., energy conversion and storage, phonon/photon modulation) of these materials by providing shape, size, phase, structural, and chemical information at the nanometer or higher spatial resolution. Specifically, we first discuss standard real-space two-dimensional imaging and analytical techniques which are offered conveniently by microscopes without special holders or advanced beam technology. The discussion is then extended to recent advancements, including visualizing three-dimensional morphology of soft nanomaterials using electron tomography and its variations, identifying local structure and strain by electron diffraction, and recording motions and transformation by in situ EM. On these advancements, we cover state-of-the-art technologies designed for overcoming the technical barriers for EM to characterize soft materials as well as representative application examples. The even more recent integration of machine learning and its impacts on EM are also discussed in detail. With our perspectives of future opportunities offered at the end, we expect this review to inspire and stimulate more efforts in developing and utilizing EM-based characterization methods for soft nanomaterials at the atomic to nanometer length scales in academic research and industrial applications.

Formation and impact of nanoscopic oriented phase domains in electrochemical crystalline electrodes.

Electrochemical phase transformation in ion-insertion crystalline electrodes is accompanied by compositional and structural changes, including the microstructural development of oriented phase domains. Previous studies have identified prevailingly transformation heterogeneities associated with diffusion- or reaction-limited mechanisms. In comparison, transformation-induced domains and their microstructure resulting from the loss of symmetry elements remain unexplored, despite their general importance in alloys and ceramics. Here, we map the formation of oriented phase domains and the development of strain gradient quantitatively during the electrochemical ion-insertion process. A collocated four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy approach, coupled with data mining, enables the study. Results show that in our model system of cubic spinel MnO2 nanoparticles their phase transformation upon Mg2+ insertion leads to the formation of domains of similar chemical identity but different orientations at nanometre length scale, following the nucleation, growth and coalescence process. Electrolytes have a substantial impact on the transformation microstructure ('island' versus 'archipelago'). Further, large strain gradients build up from the development of phase domains across their boundaries with high impact on the chemical diffusion coefficient by a factor of ten or more. Our findings thus provide critical insights into the microstructure formation mechanism and its impact on the ion-insertion process, suggesting new rules of transformation structure control for energy storage materials.

Quantitative analysis and visualization of literature on acupuncture and related TCM therapies for the treatment of colorectal cancer based on CiteSpace.

Objective: We analyzed the literature describing the results of treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) using acupuncture in the past three decades from the Web of Science (WoS) and Chinese databases (including CNKI, WANGFANG and VIP), and summarized the current development of CRC treatment as well as future research directions through the presentation of maps and visualization analysis. Methods: We searched the WoS and Chinese databases. Relevant articles were exported, and the data were organized using Excel software and was visualized and analyzed using CiteSpace software. Results: A total of 355 articles from the WoS and 95 articles from Chinese databases were selected for inclusion in the analysis. The articles in WoS were sourced from 174 journals, 1274 institutions, and 66 countries, and covered 299 keywords. The articles in the Chinese databases were sourced from 43 journals, 111 institutions, and 3 countries, and included 126 keywords. The article with the most citations in the WoS was cited 128 times and in the Chinese databases, the article with the most citations was cited 120 times. Acupuncture, CRC, rectal cancer, apoptosis, warm acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and gastrointestinal function were mentioned most frequently in the WoS. CRC, electroacupuncture, gastrointestinal function, rectal cancer, acupuncture and moxibustion, acupuncture, and colon cancer were mentioned most frequently in the Chinese databases. Conclusion: Both the WoS and Chinese databases showed a gradual increase in the number of articles related to acupuncture treatment for CRC, indicating a growing interest in this area. Acupuncture treatments are diverse, including warm acupuncture, auricular acupuncture, acupuncture injection, and electroacupuncture. They are often used in combination with drugs to treat symptoms such as depression, nausea and vomiting, pain, diarrhea, and urinary and fecal incontinence, which are commonly associated with CRC.

Anodal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation reduces heart rate and modulates heart-rate variability in healthy young people: A randomized cross-controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate whether anodal high-definition transcranial current stimulation (HD-tDCS) over the left dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex (DLPFC) could modulate the heart rate (HR) and heart-rate variability (HRV) in healthy young people. Methods: Forty healthy young people were enrolled in this randomized crossover trial. The participants were randomized to receive anodal HD-tDCS (n = 20) or sham HD-tDCS (n = 20) over the left DLPFC with a washout period of 1 week. Electrocardiogram (ECG) data were continuously recorded 20 min before the stimulation, during the session (20 min), and 20 min after the session. HR and the time- and frequency-domain indices of the HRV were measured to investigate the activity of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Results: Anodal HD-tDCS over the left DLPFC induced a significant decrease in HR and a significant increase in the average of normal-to-normal intervals (AVG NN), low-frequency (LF) power, total power (TP), and LF/high-frequency (HF) ratio in comparison with the sham stimulation and the baseline. However, sham HD-tDCS over the left DLPFC had no significant effect on HR or HRV. Conclusions: Anodal HD-tDCS over the left DLPFC could reduce HR and modulate the HRV in healthy young people. HD-tDCS may show some potential for acutely modulating cardiovascular function.

Oral Administration of Branched-Chain Amino Acids Attenuates Atherosclerosis by Inhibiting the Inflammatory Response and Regulating the Gut Microbiota in ApoE-Deficient Mice.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease that serves as a common pathogenic underpinning for various cardiovascular diseases. Although high circulating branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) levels may represent a risk factor for AS, it is unclear whether dietary BCAA supplementation causes elevated levels of circulating BCAAs and hence influences AS, and the related mechanisms are not well understood. Here, ApoE-deficient mice (ApoE-/-) were fed a diet supplemented with or without BCAAs to investigate the effects of BCAAs on AS and determine potential related mechanisms. In this study, compared with the high-fat diet (HFD), high-fat diet supplemented with BCAAs (HFB) reduced the atherosclerotic lesion area and caused a significant decrease in serum cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. BCAA supplementation suppressed the systemic inflammatory response by reducing macrophage infiltration; lowering serum levels of inflammatory factors, including monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) and interleukin-6 (IL-6); and suppressing inflammatory related signaling pathways. Furthermore, BCAA supplementation altered the gut bacterial beta diversity and composition, especially reducing harmful bacteria and increasing probiotic bacteria, along with increasing bile acid (BA) excretion. In addition, the levels of total BAs, primary BAs, 12α-hydroxylated bile acids (12α-OH BAs) and non-12α-hydroxylated bile acids (non-12α-OH BAs) in cecal and colonic contents were increased in the HFB group of mice compared with the HFD group. Overall, these data indicate that dietary BCAA supplementation can attenuate atherosclerosis induced by HFD in ApoE-/- mice through improved dyslipidemia and inflammation, mechanisms involving the intestinal microbiota, and promotion of BA excretion.

Chiral assemblies of pinwheel superlattices on substrates.

The unique topology and physics of chiral superlattices make their self-assembly from nanoparticles highly sought after yet challenging in regard to (meta)materials1-3. Here we show that tetrahedral gold nanoparticles can transform from a perovskite-like, low-density phase with corner-to-corner connections into pinwheel assemblies with corner-to-edge connections and denser packing. Whereas corner-sharing assemblies are achiral, pinwheel superlattices become strongly mirror asymmetric on solid substrates as demonstrated by chirality measures. Liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy and computational models show that van der Waals and electrostatic interactions between nanoparticles control thermodynamic equilibrium. Variable corner-to-edge connections among tetrahedra enable fine-tuning of chirality. The domains of the bilayer superlattices show strong chiroptical activity as identified by photon-induced near-field electron microscopy and finite-difference time-domain simulations. The simplicity and versatility of substrate-supported chiral superlattices facilitate the manufacture of metastructured coatings with unusual optical, mechanical and electronic characteristics.

A candidate reference method and multiple commutable control materials for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D measurement.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the current study was to establish a reliable candidate reference method for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] measurement and to assess the commutability of multiple control materials among liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods. METHODS: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 [25(OH)D2] and 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 [25(OH)D3] together with spiked internal standards were extracted with a one-step approach and then analyzed by LC-MS/MS. The commutability assessment for 25(OH)D was conducted according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) EP14-A3 protocol. 25(OH)D concentrations in 5 levels of unprocessed serum pools, 7 levels of serum pools spiked with 25(OH)D3 or 25(OH)D2, 3 levels of commercial control materials, 2 levels of spiked bovine serum, and 4 levels of external quality assessment (EQA) materials were measured along with 30 single-donor samples using the candidate reference method and two routine LC-MS/MS methods. RESULTS: The candidate reference method could separate 25(OH)D2 and 25(OH)D3 from 14 potential interfering compounds completely within a 9-min analysis time. Good method precision was obtained, and measurement results on certified reference material NIST SRM 972a were within the uncertainty of the certified values. All candidate materials were assessed commutable for LC-MS/MS methods. CONCLUSIONS: The candidate reference method for serum 25(OH)D measurement is precise, accurate, and robust against interferences and can provide an accuracy base for routine methods. The multiple alternative control materials with commutability among LC-MS/MS methods will facilitate the further standardization for serum 25(OH)D measurement.

Nonlinear association of 1,5-anhydroglucitol with the prevalence and severity of coronary artery disease in chinese patients undergoing coronary angiography.

Background: Postprandial hyperglycemia plays an important role in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease (CAD). The aim of this study is to determine the associations of 1,5-Anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG), which reflects circulating glucose fluctuations, with the prevalence of CAD and CAD severity in coronary angiography defined Chinese patients. Methods: 2970 Chinese patients undergoing coronary angiography were enrolled. Baseline demographics and medical history data was recorded. Serum 1,5-AG levels and biochemical parameters were measured. Baseline characteristics were compared across 1,5-AG categories in diabetes (DM) and non-DM groups. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the associations of 1,5-AG with the prevalence and severity of CAD. Results: Lower 1,5-AG was significantly associated with higher Gensini scores in both DM and non-DM groups. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the associations of low 1,5-AG with the prevalence of CAD, elevated Gensini score and severe CAD robustly dose-response increased from undiagnosed DM with 1,5-AG ≥ 14µg/mL to DM with 1,5-AG < 14µg/mL even after adjusting for fasting blood glucose (FBG) or Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). The associations were more significant in persons with DM. Significant modification effect of DM on the relationship of 1,5-AG with elevated Gensini score was found. In addition, nonlinear relationship and threshold effects of 1,5-AG with CAD and severity were observed. Conclusion: Low 1,5-AG is significantly and independently associated with CAD and CAD severity in Chinese patients undergoing coronary angiography. Measurement of 1,5-AG is useful to differentiate subjects with extensive glucose fluctuations and high CAD risks, especially in DM patients. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT03072797.

The role of solid solutions in iron phosphate-based electrodes for selective electrochemical lithium extraction.

Electrochemical intercalation can enable lithium extraction from dilute water sources. However, during extraction, co-intercalation of lithium and sodium ions occurs, and the response of host materials to this process is not fully understood. This aspect limits the rational materials designs for improving lithium extraction. Here, to address this knowledge gap, we report one-dimensional (1D) olivine iron phosphate (FePO4) as a model host to investigate the co-intercalation behavior and demonstrate the control of lithium selectivity through intercalation kinetic manipulations. Via computational and experimental investigations, we show that lithium and sodium tend to phase separate in the host. Exploiting this mechanism, we increase the sodium-ion intercalation energy barrier by using partially filled 1D lithium channels via non-equilibrium solid-solution lithium seeding or remnant lithium in the solid-solution phases. The lithium selectivity enhancement after seeding shows a strong correlation with the fractions of solid-solution phases with high lithium content (i.e., LixFePO4 with 0.5 ≤ x < 1). Finally, we also demonstrate that the solid-solution formation pathway depends on the host material's particle morphology, size and defect content.