Evaluation of post-dilatation on longitudinal stent deformation and postprocedural stent malapposition in the left main artery by optical coherence tomography (OCT): an in vitro study.

BACKGROUND: The diameter of the ostial and proximal left main coronary artery can be greater than 5.0 mm. However, the diameters of the mostly available coronary drug-eluting stents (DESs) are ≤ 4.0 mm. Whether high-pressure dilatation can increase the diameter of stents from 4.0 to 5.0 mm and whether post-dilatation leads to longitudinal stent deformation (LSD) of 4.0-mm-diameter stents have rarely been studied. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate LSD and stent malapposition of six types of commercially available 4.0-mm-diameter stents in China in a 5.0-mm-diameter artificial blood vessel model by optical coherence tomography (OCT) in vitro. METHODS: The left main coronary artery was simulated by a truncated cone-shaped silicone tube. The internal diameters were 4.0 mm at one end of the silicone tube and 5.0 mm at the other end. Six different types of coronary stents widely used in China were selected for this study. Each stent was respectively implanted into the simulated blood vessel and dilated to a diameter of 4.2 mm according to the stent-balloon pressure compliance table. The stents were subjected to post-dilatation with a 5.0 × 15-mm noncompliant balloon. The LSD ratio of the longitudinal axis of each stent and stent malapposition were measured through OCT, and any fractures of the stents were determined. RESULTS: None of the six types of stents fractured following post-dilatation. The longitudinal axes of the BuMA and Excrossal stents were slightly shortened, while the other stents were elongated after high-pressure post-dilatation. All stents expanded to a diameter of 5.0 mm without incomplete stent apposition, except for the Nano Plus stent, which remained malapposed after high-pressure post-dilatation. CONCLUSION: All 4.0-mm-diameter stents can be expanded to a diameter of 5.0 mm by noncompliant balloon post-dilatation without stent strut fracture. Most stents were found to be well apposed after high-pressure post-dilatation. However, LSD was observed after post-balloon dilatation. Stent malapposition might be positively correlated with the percentage change in stent length.

Konjac glucomannan-based nanocomposite spray coating with antimicrobial, gas barrier, UV blocking, and antioxidation for bananas preservation.

Fruit is prone to rot and deterioration due to oxidative browning and microbial infection during storage, which can cause serious economic losses and food safety problems. It is urgent to develop a multifunctional composite coating to extend the shelf life of fruits. In this work, multifunctional quaternized chitosan nanoparticles (QCs/TA NPs) with excellent antibacterial and antioxidant properties were prepared based on electrostatic interaction using tannic acid instead of conventional cross-linking agents. Meanwhile, konjac glucomannan (KGM) with high viscosity, edible and biodegradable properties was used as a dispersant to disperse and stabilize the nanoparticles, and as a film-forming agent to form a multifunctional composite coating. The composite coating exhibited excellent oxygen and water vapor barrier properties, antioxidant, antibacterial, mechanical properties, hydrophobicity, and UV shielding properties. Surprisingly, the oxygen permeability of the K-NPs-15 composite film was as low as 1.93 × 10-13 (cm3·cm)/(cm2·s·Pa). The banana spray preservation experiments proved that the K-NPs-15 composite coating could effectively prolong the shelf life of bananas. Therefore, this study provides a new idea for designing multifunctional freshness preservation coatings, which has a broad application prospect.

Vibration characterization of rolling bearings with compound fault features under multiple interference factors.

As a key component of rotating machinery power transmission system, rolling bearings in gas turbines are often required to serve in complex working conditions such as the high speed, the heavy load, the variable load, the variable rotational speed, and so on. The signals of bearing failures are easily drowned out by strong background noise and disturbances of related components. In the mechanical transmission system, the signals of bearing failures are easily submerged by the strong background noise and the disturbance of related components, especially for the composite bearing failures, which seriously hinders the effective identification of the vibration characteristics of the bearing operating state and increases the difficulty of fault diagnosis. In order to investigate the impact of interference on the bearing, through the establishment of rolling bearing composite fault vibration model, analyze the relationship between the vibration signals caused by different types of bearing failures and the corresponding vibration characteristics, to reveal the transmission system of the parts of the perturbation of the main multi-interference factors on the bearing fault signal influence law. The experimental verification shows that disturbance yp(t) caused by the sum of gear meshing frequency, and installation errors of the shaft, and coupling in the transmission system and background noise ni(t), which makes the fault frequency relatively weak and difficult to observe, and makes it difficult to accurately separate the fault information of the bearing. It provides a theoretical basis to solve the problem of damage identification and fault diagnosis of rolling bearings under multi-interference state.

Nanopore long-read RNA sequencing reveals functional alternative splicing variants in human vascular smooth muscle cells.

Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are the major contributor to vascular repair and remodeling, which showed high level of phenotypic plasticity. Abnormalities in VSMC plasticity can lead to multiple cardiovascular diseases, wherein alternative splicing plays important roles. However, alternative splicing variants in VSMC plasticity are not fully understood. Here we systematically characterized the long-read transcriptome and their dysregulation in  human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) by employing the Oxford Nanopore Technologies long-read RNA sequencing in HASMCs that are separately treated with platelet-derived growth factor, transforming growth factor, and hsa-miR-221-3P transfection. Our analysis reveals frequent alternative splicing events and thousands of unannotated transcripts generated from alternative splicing. HASMCs treated with different factors exhibit distinct transcriptional reprogramming modulated by alternative splicing. We also found that unannotated transcripts produce different open reading frames compared to the annotated transcripts. Finally, we experimentally validated the unannotated transcript derived from gene CISD1, namely CISD1-u, which plays a role in the phenotypic switch of HASMCs. Our study characterizes the phenotypic modulation of HASMCs from an insight of long-read transcriptome, which would promote the understanding and the manipulation of HASMC plasticity in cardiovascular diseases.

A Variable Step Crow Search Algorithm and Its Application in Function Problems.

Optimization algorithms are popular to solve different problems in many fields, and are inspired by natural principles, animal living habits, plant pollinations, chemistry principles, and physic principles. Optimization algorithm performances will directly impact on solving accuracy. The Crow Search Algorithm (CSA) is a simple and efficient algorithm inspired by the natural behaviors of crows. However, the flight length of CSA is a fixed value, which makes the algorithm fall into the local optimum, severely limiting the algorithm solving ability. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a Variable Step Crow Search Algorithm (VSCSA). The proposed algorithm uses the cosine function to enhance CSA searching abilities, which greatly improves both the solution quality of the population and the convergence speed. In the update phase, the VSCSA increases population diversities and enhances the global searching ability of the basic CSA. The experiment used 14 test functions,2017 CEC functions, and engineering application problems to compare VSCSA with different algorithms. The experiment results showed that VSCSA performs better in fitness values, iteration curves, box plots, searching paths, and the Wilcoxon test results, which indicates that VSCSA has strong competitiveness and sufficient superiority. The VSCSA has outstanding performances in various test functions and the searching accuracy has been greatly improved.

A Rolling Bearing Fault Diagnosis Method Based on the WOA-VMD and the GAT.

In complex industrial environments, the vibration signal of the rolling bearing is covered by noise, which makes fault diagnosis inaccurate. In order to overcome the effect of noise on the signal, a rolling bearing fault diagnosis method based on the WOA-VMD (Whale Optimization Algorithm-Variational Mode Decomposition) and the GAT (Graph Attention network) is proposed to deal with end effect and mode mixing issues in signal decomposition. Firstly, the WOA is used to adaptively determine the penalty factor and decomposition layers in the VMD algorithm. Meanwhile, the optimal combination is determined and input into the VMD, which is used to decompose the original signal. Then, the Pearson correlation coefficient method is used to select IMF (Intrinsic Mode Function) components that have a high correlation with the original signal, and selected IMF components are reconstructed to remove the noise in the original signal. Finally, the KNN (K-Nearest Neighbor) method is used to construct the graph structure data. The multi-headed attention mechanism is used to construct the fault diagnosis model of the GAT rolling bearing in order to classify the signal. The results show an obvious noise reduction effect in the high-frequency part of the signal after the application of the proposed method, where a large amount of noise was removed. In the diagnosis of rolling bearing faults, the accuracy of the test set diagnosis in this study was 100%, which is higher than that of the four other compared methods, and the diagnosis accuracy rate of various faults reached 100%.

Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) modeling to study the hepatoprotective effect of Perilla Folium on the acute hepatic injury rats.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Perilla Folium (PF), is a traditional medicinal material with the homology of medicine and food in China and has been widely used due to its rich nutritional content and medicinal value. The hepatoprotective effects of PF extract include their protection against acute hepatic injury, tert-butylhydroperoxide (t-BHP) induced oxidative damage, and Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and D-galactosamine (D-GalN) induced hepatic injury have been well studied. However, there are few reports on the pharmacokinetics studies of PF extract in acute hepatic injury model rats, and the anti-hepatic injury activity of PF is still unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: The differences in the plasma pharmacokinetic of 21 active compounds between the normal and model groups were compared， and established pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) modeling was to analyze the hepatoprotective effects of PF. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The acute hepatic injury model was induced with an intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and D-galactosamine (D-GalN), and the plasma pharmacokinetics of 21 active compounds of PF were analyzed in the normal and model groups using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The correlation between plasma components and hepatoprotective effects indicators (the alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH)) in the model group was also investigated and established a Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) correlation analysis of the hepatoprotective effects of PF. RESULTS: The results revealed that organic acid compounds possessed the characteristics of faster absorption, shorter peak time and slower metabolism, while the flavonoid compounds had slower absorption and longer peak time, and the pharmacokinetics of various components were significantly affected after modeling. The results of PK/PD modeling analysis demonstrated that the plasma drug concentration of each component existed a good correlation with the three AST, ALT, and LDH, and the lag time of the efficacy of each component is relatively long. CONCLUSIONS: The plasma drug concentration of each component existed a good correlation with the three AST, ALT, and LDH, and the lag time of the efficacy of each component is relatively long in vivo.

Highly Stable Garnet Fe2 Mo3 O12 Cathode Boosts the Lithium-Air Battery Performance Featuring a Polyhedral Framework and Cationic Vacancy Concentrated Surface.

Lithium-air batteries (LABs), owing to their ultrahigh theoretical energy density, are recognized as one of the next-generation energy storage techniques. However, it remains a tricky problem to find highly active cathode catalyst operating within ambient air. In this contribution, a highly active Fe2 Mo3 O12 (FeMoO) garnet cathode catalyst for LABs is reported. The experimental and theoretical analysis demonstrate that the highly stable polyhedral framework, composed of FeO octahedrons and MO tetrahedrons, provides a highly effective air catalytic activity and long-term stability, and meanwhile keeps good structural stability. The FeMoO electrode delivers a cycle life of over 1800 h by applying a simple half-sealed condition in ambient air. It is found that surface-rich Fe vacancy can act as an O2 pump to accelerate the catalytic reaction. Furthermore, the FeMoO catalyst exhibits a superior catalytic capability for the decomposition of Li2 CO3 . H2 O in the air can be regarded as the main contribution to the anode corrosion and the deterioration of LAB cells could be attributed to the formation of LiOH·H2 O at the end of cycling. The present work provides in-depth insights to understand the catalytic mechanism in air and constitutes a conceptual breakthrough in catalyst design for efficient cell structure in practical LABs.

Efficient Degradation of Congo Red in Water by UV-Vis Driven CoMoO4/PDS Photo-Fenton System.

In order to improve the catalytic activity of cobalt molybdate (CoMoO4), a PDS-activated and UV-vis assisted system was constructed. CoMoO4 was prepared by coprecipitation and calcination, and characterized by XRD, FTIR, Raman, SEM, TEM, XPS, TGA Zeta potential, BET, and UV-Vis DRS. The results showed that the morphology of the CoMoO4 nanolumps consisted of stacked nanosheets. XRD indicated the monoclinic structures with C2/m (C32h, #12) space group, which belong to α-CoMoO4, and both Co2+ and Mo6+ ions occupy distorted octahedral sites. The pH of the isoelectric point (pHIEP) of CMO-8 at pH = 4.88 and the band gap of CoMoO4 was 1.92 eV. The catalytic activity of CoMoO4 was evaluated by photo-Fenton degradation of Congo red (CR). The catalytic performance was affected by calcination temperature, catalyst dosage, PDS dosage, and pH. Under the best conditions (0.8 g/L CMO-8, PDS 1 mL), the degradation efficiency of CR was 96.972%. The excellent catalytic activity of CoMoO4 was attributed to the synergistic effect of photo catalysis and CoMoO4-activated PDS degradation. The capture experiments and the ESR showed that superoxide radical (·O2-), singlet oxygen (1O2), hole (h+), sulfate (SO4-·), and hydroxyl (·OH-) were the main free radicals leading to the degradation of CR. The results can provide valuable information and support for the design and application of high-efficiency transition metal oxide catalysts.

Low Trap Density Para-F Substituted 2D PEA2PbX4 (X = Cl, Br, I) Single Crystals with Tunable Optoelectrical Properties and High Sensitive X-Ray Detector Performance.

Exploring halogen engineering is of great significance for reducing the density of defect states in crystals of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites and hence improving the crystal quality. Herein, high-quality single crystals of PEA2PbX4 (X = Cl, Br, I) and their para-F (p-F) substitution analogs are prepared using the facile solution method to study the effects of both p-F substitution and halogen anion engineering. After p-F substitution, the triclinic PEA2PbX4 (X = Cl, Br) and cubic PEA2PbX4 (X = I) crystals unifies to monoclinic crystal structure for p-F-PEA2PbX4 (X = Cl, Br, I) crystals. The p-F substitution and halogen engineering, together with crystal structure variation, enable the tunability of optoelectrical properties. Experimentally, after the p-F substitution, the energy levels are lowered with increased Fermi levels, and the bandgaps of p-F-PEA2PbX4 (X = Cl, Br, I) are slightly reduced. Benefitting from the enhancement of the charge transfer and the reduced trap density by p-F substitution and halogen anion engineering, the average carrier lifetime of the p-F-PEA2PbX4 is obviously reduced. Compared with PEA2PbI4, the X-ray detector based on p-F-PEA2PbI4 perovskite single-crystal has a higher sensitivity of 119.79 µC Gyair -1·cm-2. Moreover, the X-ray detector based on p-F-PEA2PbI4 single crystals exhibits higher radiation stability under high-dose X-ray irradiation, implying long-term operando stability.

Identification of hub genes for early detection of bone metastasis in breast cancer.

Background: Globally, among all women, the most frequently detected and diagnosed and the most lethal type of cancer is breast cancer (BC). In particular, bone is one of the most frequent distant metastases 24in breast cancer patients and bone metastasis arises in approximately 80% of advanced patients. Thus, we need to identify and validate early detection markers that can differentiate metastasis from non-metastasis breast cancers. Methods: GSE55715, GSE103357, and GSE146661 gene expression profiling data were downloaded from the GEO database. There was 14 breast cancer with bone metastasis samples and 8 breast cancer tissue samples. GEO2R was used to screen for differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The volcano plots, Venn diagrams, and annular heatmap were generated by using the ggplot2 package. By using the cluster Profiler R package, KEGG and GO enrichment analyses of DEGs were conducted. Through PPI network construction using the STRING database, key hub genes were identified by cytoHubba. Finally, K-M survival and ROC curves were generated to validate hub gene expression. Results: By GO enrichment analysis, 143 DEGs were enriched in the following GO terms: extracellular structure organization, extracellular matrix organization, leukocyte migration class II protein complex, collagen tridermic protein complex, extracellular matrix structural constituent, growth factor binding, and platelet-derived growth factor binding. In the KEGG pathway enrichment analysis, DEGs were enriched in Staphylococcus aureus infection, Complement and coagulation cascades, and Asthma. By PPI network analysis, we selected the top 10 genes, including SLCO2B1, STAB1, SERPING1, HLA-DOA, AIF1, GIMAP4, C1orf162, HLA-DMB, ADAP2, and HAVCR2. By using TCGA and THPA databases, we validated 2 genes, SERPING1 and GIMAP4, that were related to the early detection of bone metastasis in BC. Conclusions: 2 abnormally expressed hub genes could play a pivotal role in the breast cancer with bone metastasis by affecting bone homeostasis imbalance in the bone microenvironment.

Study on the Chemical Profile of Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium) and the Evaluation of the Similarities and Differences between Different Cultivars.

Chrysanthemum originates in China and has been cultivated for tea and food utilizations over two thousand years. According to differences in origin and processing methods, Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat. can be categorized into many cultivars. This study aims to investigate the chemical components in chrysanthemum and clarify similarities and differences between different chrysanthemum varieties. A total of 55 non-volatile components and 66 volatile components in chrysanthemum were identified by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) methods, respectively. A rapid UPLC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of 13 active components in 30 batches chrysanthemum samples of ten different cultivars. Multivariate statistical techniques were applied to analyze the samples. The result indicated that Boju, Huaiju and Chuju were more similar in terms of the ingredient content and Qiju, Jinsihuangju, Huangju, Hangju, Gongju, Fubaiju, Baiju have a high degree of similarity. Furthermore, isochlorogenic acid C, luteolin, apigenin-7-glucoside, chlorogenic acid, apigenin and cryptochlorogenic acid plays an important role in distinguishing different varieties of chrysanthemum. The established strategy explains the similarities and differences between different varieties of chrysanthemums to some extent, and provides certain reference value for the choice of chrysanthemums for eating or medicinal purposes in daily life.

Quantitative Comparison and Chemical Profile Analysis of Different Medicinal Parts of Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt. from Different Varieties and Harvest Periods.

Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt. is a plant that has been classified as one of the "One Root of Medicine and Food", and it can be used both as medicine and as food. To explore the influence of different varieties and harvest periods on the quality of different medicinal parts of P. frutescens, a comprehensive study on the chemical constituents of P. frutescens based on plant metabolomics was conducted. A total of 57 nonvolatile chemical components and 105 volatile chemical components of P. frutescens were characterized by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Furthermore, 35, 27, and 2 nonvolatile constituents as well as 16, 16, and 18 volatile constituents were identified as potential markers for discriminating P. frutescens between different medicinal parts, different varieties, and different harvest periods, respectively. Besides, 22 bioactive compounds of P. frutescens were quantitatively determined by a new sensitive UPLC-MS/MS method. This study comprehensively compares the differences and similarities of P. frutescens among the different medicinal parts, different varieties, and different harvest periods, and the results of this study may provide a theoretical basis and guidance for studying the quality evaluation and the optimization of the harvest period of this plant.

LXR activation ameliorates high glucose stress-induced aberrant mitochondrial dynamics via downregulation of Calpain1 expression in H9c2 cardiomyoblasts.

Liver-X-receptor (LXR) has previously been shown to exert a cardioprotective effect against the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) associated with a reduction in mitochondrial dysfunction. However, the underlying mechanism by which LXR activation attenuates the structural and functional mitochondrial impairments caused by high glucose (HG) stress remains unclear. We demonstrate here that LXR activation inhibits HG stress-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and ameliorates aberrant mitochondrial dynamics. Furthermore, LXR activation regulates mitochondrial dynamics by inhibiting HG stress-induced upregulation of Calpain1 expression. These data indicate that amelioration of Calpain1-mediated aberrant mitochondrial dynamics may be at least part of the mechanism underlying the cardioprotective effects of LXR against HG stress. Therefore, LXR is a potentially attractive molecular target for treating cardiac mitochondrial dysfunction in patients with diabetes.

Extracellular vesicles from hypoxia-preconditioned mesenchymal stem cells alleviates myocardial injury by targeting thioredoxin-interacting protein-mediated hypoxia-inducible factor-1α pathway.

BACKGROUND: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from hypoxia-preconditioned (HP) mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have better cardioprotective effects against myocardial infarction (MI) in the early stage than EVs isolated from normoxic (NC)-MSCs. However, the cardioprotective mechanisms of HP-EVs are not fully understood. AIM: To explore the cardioprotective mechanism of EVs derived from HP MSCs. METHODS: We evaluated the cardioprotective effects of HP-EVs or NC-EVs from mouse adipose-derived MSCs (ADSCs) following hypoxia in vitro or MI in vivo, in order to improve the survival of cardiomyocytes (CMs) and restore cardiac function. The degree of CM apoptosis in each group was assessed by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end-labeling and Annexin V/PI assays. MicroRNA (miRNA) sequencing was used to investigate the functional RNA diversity between HP-EVs and NC-EVs from mouse ADSCs. The molecular mechanism of EVs in mediating thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) was verified by the dual-luciferase reporter assay. Co-immunoprecipitation, western blotting, and immunofluorescence were performed to determine if TXNIP is involved in hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) ubiquitination and degradation via the chromosomal region maintenance-1 (CRM-1)-dependent nuclear transport pathway. RESULTS: HP-EVs derived from MSCs reduced both infarct size (necrosis area) and apoptotic degree to a greater extent than NC-EVs from CMs subjected to hypoxia in vitro and mice with MI in vivo. Sequencing of EV-associated miRNAs showed the upregulation of 10 miRNAs predicted to bind TXNIP, an oxidative stress-associated protein. We showed miRNA224-5p, the most upregulated miRNA in HP-EVs, directly combined the 3' untranslated region of TXNIP and demonstrated its critical protective role against hypoxia-mediated CM injury. Our results demonstrated that MI triggered TXNIP-mediated HIF-1α ubiquitination and degradation in the CRM-1-mediated nuclear transport pathway in CMs, which led to aggravated injury and hypoxia tolerance in CMs in the early stage of MI. CONCLUSION: The anti-apoptotic effects of HP-EVs in alleviating MI and the hypoxic conditions of CMs until reperfusion therapy may partly result from EV miR-224-5p targeting TXNIP.

Online learning-empowered smart management for A2O process in sewage treatment processes.

Using artificial intelligence method to describe general working process is a more meaningful and widely used idea in various practical projects. At the same time, it is also an important way to realize intelligent management. Water pollution is serious all over the world, also the intelligent management of sewage treatment has always been one of the urgent problems to be solved. For this, an intelligent management system is designed in this study to realize automatic monitoring and intelligent decision-making of sewage treatment. However, the existing technology usually trains artificial intelligence models based on historical data, and such models have some limitations in describing nonlinear and complex wastewater treatment processes. Offline machine learning lacks dynamic adaptive characteristics to scene changes. Considering this, this paper designs an online learning-empowered smart management for A2/O process in sewage treatment processes (OL-AP). Online learning is based on the new data generated by the scene transformation, so that the model can learn again and give better results. In this study, relevant simulation experiments are carried out on the sewage treatment data of a sewage treatment plant in Chongqing. Firstly, automatic data collection is realized based on the sensor network of the IoT. Then, according to the preprocessed data, the designed prediction model is trained and a set of parameters with better evaluation indexes is obtained. Finally, online learning uses the latest data samples based on the online feedback of real scenes to optimize the model by retraining and adjusting parameters.

Enriched Surface Oxygen Vacancies of Fe2(MoO4)3 Catalysts for a PDS-Activated photoFenton System.

The environmentally benign Fe2(MoO4)3 plays a crucial role in the transformation of organic contaminants, either through catalytically decomposing oxidants or through directly oxidizing the target pollutants. Because of their dual roles and the complex surface chemical reactions, the mechanism involved in Fe2(MoO4)3-catalyzed PDS activation processes remains obscure. In this study, Fe2(MoO4)3 was prepared via the hydrothermal and calcine method, and photoFenton degradation of methyl orange (MO) was used to evaluate the catalytic performance of Fe2(MoO4)3. Fe2(MoO4)3 catalysts with abundant surface oxygen vacancies were used to construct a synergistic system involving a photocatalyst and PDS activation. The oxygen vacancies and Fe2+/Fe3+ shuttle played key roles in the novel pathways for generation of •O2-, h+, and 1O2 in the UV-Vis + PDS + FMO-6 photoFenton system. This study advances the fundamental understanding of the underlying mechanism involved in the transition metal oxide-catalyzed PDS activation processes.

The association of leukocyte telomere length and intermediate coronary lesions-a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Intermediate coronary lesions (40-70% stenosis) present a higher risk for future cardiovascular events for instability of plaques. Shortened telomere is an indicator of cellular senescence, which is associated with age-related diseases. However, the relationship between telomere length and severity of intermediate coronary lesions remains largely unknown. METHODS: A total of 121 lesions of 121 patients with intermediate coronary disease that underwent intravascular optical coherence tomography were enrolled. These patients were retrospectively divided into two groups according to whether accept percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) treatment: non-PCI group and PCI group. RESULTS: Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in patients of PCI group were significantly shorter (12.54±2.70 vs. 15.32±3.72 kb, P<0.001) than non-PCI group. The PCI group had longer lipid length (17.17±9.94 vs. 12.21±10.15 mm, P=0.01) and greater lipid index (4,286.82±3,012.54 vs. 2,444.87±2,677.59 °*mm, P<0.001). There was a significant difference in the prevalence of thin-cap fibroatheroma (36.6% vs. 16.0%, P=0.013), macrophages (56.3% vs. 38.0%, P=0.047), plaque rupture (23.9% vs. 6.0%, P=0.009), cholesterol crystal (49.3% vs. 30.0%, P=0.034), dissection (23.9% vs. 4.0%, P=0.003) between PCI and non-PCI group. Logistic regression revealed that LTL was independently associated with PCI after adjusting for confounding factors (OR 0.952, CI: 0.930-0.974, per 1unit increase, P<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed a LTL area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.714 (95% CI: 0.619-0.808, P<0.001) in the study population. Furthermore, LTL was inversely correlated with lipid length (r =-0.190, P=0.037), lipid arc (r =-0.301, P=0.001), lipid index (r =-0.182, P=0.046), and positive correlation with FCT (r =0.213, P=0.034). CONCLUSIONS: LTL was independently associated with possibility of receiving PCI in intermediate coronary lesion patients and LTL is also significantly related to plaque instability features that evaluated by optical coherence tomography. LTL may be as an indicator to assess the necessity of PCI in intermediate coronary lesion patients.

VSTM1 regulates monocyte/macrophage function via the NF-κB signaling pathway.

OBJECTIVE: V-set and transmembrane domain-containing protein 1 (VSTM1) is negatively correlated with inflammation. However, its effect on atherosclerosis (AS) remains largely unexplored. In this study, we aimed to assess the effect of VSTM1 on the biological function of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells /macrophages stimulated by oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL). METHODS: U937 cells were divided into three groups as follows: control group, pLenti-VSTM1 shRNA group (VSTM1 depletion), and pLenti-VSTM1 group (VSTM1 overexpression). Cellular migration, chemotaxis, apoptosis, and secretion of inflammatory factors of monocytes/macrophages stimulated by ox-LDL were studied. RESULTS: Overexpression of VSTM1 decreased the proliferation of U937 cells and induced cellular apoptosis. Depletion of VSTM1 enhanced the invasiveness and chemotaxis, increased the inflammatory response, and reduced the incidence of cell necrosis and apoptosis. Nuclear factor κ of B cells (NF-κB) was activated in VSTM1-depleted U937 cells. CONCLUSION: VSTM1 might play an important role in the activation of monocytes/macrophages and participate in the pathogenesis of AS via regulating NF-κB activity.

Incident Heart Failure in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Background: The contemporary incidence of heart failure (HF) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains unclear. This prospective cohort study was designed to study the incidence and predictors of new-onset HF in CAD patients after PCI (ChiCTR1900023033). Methods: From January 2014 to December 2018, 3,910 CAD patients without HF history undergoing PCI were prospectively enrolled. Demographics, medical history, cardiovascular risk factors, cardiac parameters, and medication data were collected at baseline. Multivariable adjusted competing-risk regression analysis was performed to examine the predictors of incident HF. Results: After a median follow-up of 63 months, 497 patients (12.7%) reached the primary endpoint of new-onset HF, of which 179, 110, and 208 patients (36.0, 22.1, and 41.9%) were diagnosed as having HF with reduced ejection fraction (EF) (HFrEF), HF with mid-range EF (HFmrEF), and HF with preserved EF (HFpEF), respectively. Higher B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) or E/e' level, lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) level, and atrial fibrillation were the independent risk factors of new-onset HF. Gender (male) and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin II receptor blocker (ACEI/ARB) prescription were the negative predictors of new-onset HF. Moreover, it was indicated that long-term ACEI/ARB therapy, instead of beta-blocker use, was linked to lower risks of development of all three HF subtypes (HFrEF, HFmrEF and HFpEF). Conclusions: This prospective longitudinal cohort study shows that the predominant subtype of HF after PCI is HFpEF and ACEI/ARB therapy is accompanied with reduced risks of incident HF across three subtypes.