Synthesis of copper naphthalocyanine/graphene oxide composites as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

Naphthalocyanine and its derivatives are new types of functional materials with wide application prospects. This paper discusses the synthesis of copper tetra tert-butyl-naphthalocyanine (CuNc) and analyses its molecular and electronic structure. Next, CuNc is combined with graphene oxide (GO) through π-π interaction and then pyrolyzed to form a CuNc/GO composite. A systematic investigation of the morphology, structure, composition and properties of CuNc/GO revealed that N-doped graphene is decorated with CuO particles. The electrochemical properties of CuNc/GO are compared with those of directly pyrolysed CuNc. The prepared CuNc/GO (1 : 1) electrode shows a large specific capacity (655.1 mA h g-1) after 100 cycles at 100 mA g-1. Its high capacity, enhanced cycling stability and strong rate performance are attributed to the synergetic effect of N-doped graphene and CuO particles. Besides expanding the use of naphthalocyanine compounds, this work presents a promising candidate material for lithium-ion battery anodes.

Ameliorative Effects of Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Apoptosis and Differentiation of Osteoblasts Treated with CoCl2.

Severe osteoporotic fracture occurring in sites with inadequate blood supply can cause irreversible damage to cells, particularly osteoblasts, with current drug and surgical interventions exhibiting limitations for elderly individuals. As participants mediating intercellular communication, extracellular vesicles (EVs) are rarely reported to play functional roles in osteoblasts under hypoxia. Our study mainly investigated the effects of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells-derived EVs (BMSCs-EVs) on apoptosis and differentiation of osteoblasts treated with CoCl2. Primary rat BMSCs and osteoblasts were extracted as required for the following experiments. Cell counting kit 8 assay was used to explore the concentration of CoCl2 for treating osteoblasts, and we found that 100 µM CoCl2 was appropriate to treat osteoblasts for 48 hours. The analysis of flow cytometer showed that CoCl2-treated osteoblasts apoptosis can be ameliorated when cocultured with BMSCs-EVs. Further findings revealed that reactive oxygen species (ROS) was related to CoCl2-induced apoptosis. In addition, our results demonstrated that EVs exerted an important role in increasing expression levels of ALP, BMP-2, OCN, and OSTERIX under hypoxia. Similarly, the functional effects of BMSCs-EVs were observed on the osteoblasts mineralization. In summary, these findings provide insight that BMSCs-EVs might decrease the effect of CoCl2-induced apoptosis through inhibiting ROS, and promote osteogenic differentiation under hypoxia.

Frameshift Mutation in a Chinese Patient with Brachydactyly Type C Involving the Third Metacarpal: A Case Report.

Brachydactyly is a common feature of congenital hand anomalies characterized by shortening of the phalanges and/or metacarpals. Mutation of growth differentiation factor-5 (GDF5) may result in loss of appearance and function in brachydactyly type C (BDC). Herein, we describe an 11 year-old Chinese BDC patient with significant shortening of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th digits. Notably, according to the analysis of metacarpophalangeal pattern profiles, we do not think the 4th digit appears unaffected as usual. In this patient a novel heterozygous frameshift mutation was identified (c.349delG) causing termination of translation after translating six amino acids from codon 117 (p.A117fs*6). This mutation is located in the propeptide region of GDF5, causing GDF5 haploinsufficiency in BDC. Considering our results expanding the genetic spectrum of BDC-causing mutations, further molecular analysis to diagnose and reclassify isolated brachydactyly on the basis of genotype rather than phenotype is warranted.

Screening-based and Risk-based Strategy for the Prevention of Early-onset Group B Streptococcus/Non-group B Streptococcus Sepsis in the Neonate: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Screening-based and risk-based strategies are the 2 strategies for preventing group B streptococcus (GBS) diseases in neonates. We aimed to compare the effects of these 2 strategies in reducing the incidence of early-onset GBS sepsis (GBS-EOS) and their effects on the incidence of non-GBS sepsis. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched for the period from January 1, 1996, to December 31, 2018. Randomized controlled trials and cohort studies that compared the effects of risk-based and screening-based strategies were eligible for the meta-analysis. The I statistic was used for assessing the statistical heterogeneity across studies. Pooled relative risks (RRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using the random effects model. RESULTS: There were 18 cohort studies comparing the incidence of GBS-EOS between the 2 strategies, involving a total of 604,869 newborns and 791 GBS-EOS cases. The heterogeneity across studies was moderate (I = 45%), and the pooled analysis yielded a 55% decreased risk of GBS-EOS for screening-based versus risk-based strategy (RR = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.34-0.59). For total early onset non-GBS sepsis (non-GBS-EOS), 7 studies with low heterogeneity (I = 18%) had a pooled RR of 0.91 (95% CI: 0.74-1.11), whereas for ampicillin resistant Escherichia coli-EOS, a subgroup of non-GBS-EOS, 3 studies with very low heterogeneity (I = 0%) had a pooled RR of 1.28 (95% CI: 0.74-2.21) for screening-based strategy compared with risk-based strategy. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with risk-based strategy, screening-based prophylaxis was associated with a reduced risk of GBS-EOS.

Penalized multiple inflated values selection method with application to SAFER data.

Expanding on the zero-inflated Poisson model, the multiple-inflated Poisson model is applied to analyze count data with multiple inflated values. The existing studies on the multiple-inflated Poisson model determined the inflated values by inspecting the histogram of count response and fitting the model with different combinations of inflated values, which leads to relatively complicated computations and may overlook some real inflated points. We address a two-stage inflated values selection method, which takes all values of count response as potential inflated values and adopts the adaptive lasso regularization on the mixing proportion of those values. Numerical studies demonstrate the excellent performance both on inflated values selection and parameters estimation. Moreover, a specially designed simulation, based on the structure of data from a randomized clinical trial of an HIV sexual risk education intervention, performs well and ensures our method could be generalized to the real situation. An empirical analysis of a clinical trial dataset is used to elucidate the multiple-inflated Poisson model.