Predicting suicidality in late-life depression by 3D convolutional neural network and cross-sample entropy analysis of resting-state fMRI.

BACKGROUND: Predicting suicide is a pressing issue among older adults; however, predicting its risk is difficult. Capitalizing on the recent development of machine learning, considerable progress has been made in predicting complex behavior such as suicide. As depression remained the strongest risk for suicide, we aimed to apply deep learning algorithms to identify suicidality in a group with late-life depression (LLD). METHODS: We enrolled 83 patients with LLD, 35 of which were non-suicidal and 48 were suicidal, including 26 with only suicidal ideation and 22 with past suicide attempts, for resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cross-sample entropy (CSE) analysis was conducted to examine the complexity of MRI signals among brain regions. Three-dimensional (3D) convolutional neural networks (CNNs) were used, and the classification accuracy in each brain region was averaged to predict suicidality after sixfold cross-validation. RESULTS: We found brain regions with a mean accuracy above 75% to predict suicidality located mostly in default mode, fronto-parietal, and cingulo-opercular resting-state networks. The models with right amygdala and left caudate provided the most reliable accuracy in all cross-validation folds, indicating their neurobiological importance in late-life suicide. CONCLUSION: Combining CSE analysis and the 3D CNN, several brain regions were found to be associated with suicidality.

Cognitive protection and brain entropy changes from omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids supplement in late-life depression: A 52-week randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Late-life depression (LLD) is associated with risk of dementia, yet intervention of LLD provides an opportunity to attenuate subsequent cognitive decline. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) supplement is a potential intervention due to their beneficial effect in depressive symptoms and cognitive function. To explore the underlying neural mechanism, we used resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) before and after omega-3 PUFAs supplement in older adults with LLD. METHODS: A 52-week double-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted. We used multi-scale sample entropy to analyze rs-fMRI data. Comprehensive cognitive tests and inflammatory markers were collected to correlate with brain entropy changes. RESULTS: A total of 20 patients completed the trial with 11 under omega-3 PUFAs and nine under placebo. While no significant global cognitive improvement was observed, a marginal enhancement in processing speed was noted in the omega-3 PUFAs group. Importantly, participants receiving omega-3 PUFAs exhibited decreased brain entropy in left posterior cingulate gyrus (PCG), multiple visual areas, the orbital part of the right middle frontal gyrus, and the left Rolandic operculum. The brain entropy changes of the PCG in the omega-3 PUFAs group correlated with improvement of language function and attenuation of interleukin-6 levels. LIMITATIONS: Sample size is small with only marginal clinical effect. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that omega-3 PUFAs supplement may mitigate cognitive decline in LLD through anti-inflammatory mechanisms and modulation of brain entropy. Larger clinical trials are warranted to validate the potential therapeutic implications of omega-3 PUFAs for deterring cognitive decline in patients with late-life depression.

Factors influencing the rate of residual stenosis in athletic patients after endovascular intervention for symptomatic carotid artery stenosis

Objective: High residual stenosis after endovascular treatment was a risk factor for postoperative stenosis in athletic patients with symptomatic carotid artery stenosis. This study investigated the factors influencing the residual stenosis rate after endovascular interventional therapy for symptomatic carotid artery stenosis.Methods: This study involved 337 athletic patients with symptomatic carotid artery stenosis (191 in a residual stenosis group and 186 in a non-residual stenosis group). To obtain differences in distribution between residual and non-residual stenosis groups, the variables of baseline information were dichotomized by median value and compared by chi-square test. In addition, we screened the categorical variables for each risk factor by a single-factor linear regression model and then determined the final influencing factors by the stepwise regression model.Results: Among the 377 athletic patients with symptomatic carotid artery stenosis, 191 (50.66%) developed residual stenosis after interventional recanalization procedures. Analysis of single-factor linear regression model showed that age and NLR were statistically significant (P<0.05) even during the continuous change in residual stenosis rate, and there was a positive correlation between them. Stepwise regression analysis showed that age and NLR were positive correlated with the occurrence of residual stenosis after excluding possible confounding factors, which was consistent with the results of the single-factor linear regression model (P<0.05).Conclusion: NLR, as a notable predictor of inflammation, had an important predictive value for the occurrence of residual stenosis after EVT. In addition, age of athletic patients also increased the risk of residual stenosis to some extent. (AU)

Adsorption of dyes methyl violet and malachite green from aqueous solution on multi-step modified rice husk powder in single and binary systems: Characterization, adsorption behavior and physical interpretations.

A novel modified rice husk (MRH) has been prepared for removing cationic dyes in both single system and binary system. SEM-EDS, FT-IR, XRD and XPS were used to characterize the physical and chemical properties of MRH. It showed that the maximum adsorption capacity of MRH for methyl violet (MV) and malachite green (MG) in single system was 154.49 and 996.97 mg g-1, while in binary system was 530.94 and 408.58 mg g-1, respectively. The experimental results showed that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model was better to describe the kinetic behavior of MV and MG adsorption. By using double layer adsorption model, we found that the nD for MV adsorption were 2.52, 2.65 and 3.34 at 298, 308 and 318 K, respectively, and the nD for MG adsorption were 4.59, 4.85 and 4.30, respectively. These results illustrated that multiple dye molecules were adsorbed on one adsorption site in non-parallel direction, indicating that the adsorption of dyes is multi-molecular mechanism. Furthermore, synergistic and antagonistic adsorption might be existed simultaneously in binary system. In summary, MRH has been shown well adsorption properties and reusability and our finding might provide a new idea for developing low-cost, efficient and reusable adsorbent to remove dyes from wastewater.

Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence in Commercially Available Materials for Solution-Process Exciplex OLEDs.

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have developed rapidly in recent years. Thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) molecules open a path to increase exciton collection efficiency from 25% to 100%, and the solution process provides an alternative technology to achieve lower cost OLEDs more easily. To develop commercial materials as exciplex hosts for high-performance and solution-processed OLEDs, we attempted to use 4,4'-cyclohexylidenebis[N,N-bis(4-methylphenyl)benzenamine (TAPC), poly(9-vinylcarbazole) (PVK), N,N'-Di(1-naphthyl)-N,N'-diphenyl-(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'-diamine (NPB), and poly(N,N'-bis-4-butylphenyl-N,N'-bisphenyl)benzidine (Poly-TPD) as the donors and 2,4,6-tris[3-(diphenylphosphinyl)phenyl]-1,3,5-triazine (POT2T) as the acceptor to obtain the TADF effect. All donors and the acceptor were purchased from chemical suppliers. Our work shows that excellent TADF properties and high-efficiency exciplex OLEDs with low turn-on voltage and high luminance can be achieved with a simple combination of commercial materials.

The effect of ultrasonic on reducing anti-browning minimum effective concentration of purslane extract on fresh-cut potato slices during storage.

Enzymatic browning is one of the major difficulties for the preservation and commercial value of fresh-cut products. To research more healthy and inexpensive anti-browning methods, we investigated the effect of ultrasonic coupling purslane extract on the browning resistance of fresh-cut potato during 8d storage at 4 °C. Firstly, the optimal ultrasonic time (10 min) was obtained. Then, the results showed that the combined application with lower purslane extract concentration (0.02%, w/w) could achieve a better anti-browning effect than the optimal concentration of alone purslane extract (0.05%, w/w). The combined application not only significantly inhibited the key enzyme activities of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD), but also effectively reduced the damage to cell membrane, maintained its integrity and permeability. Meanwhile, it also improved antioxidant capacity during storage. Overall, the ultrasonic cavitation combined with purslane extract would be a promising method for fresh-cut industry.

Using Thermally Crosslinkable Hole Transporting Layer to Improve Interface Characteristics for Perovskite CsPbBr3 Quantum-Dot Light-Emitting Diodes.

In this paper, a thermally crosslinkable 9,9-Bis[4-[(4-ethenylphenyl)methoxy]phenyl]-N2,N7-di-1-naphthalenyl-N2,N7-diphenyl-9H-fluorene-2,7-diamine (VB-FNPD) film served as the hole transporting layer (HTL) of perovskite CsPbBr3 quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (QD-LEDs) was investigated and reported. The VB-FNPD film crosslinked at various temperatures in the range of 100~230 °C followed by a spin-coating process to improve their chemical bonds in an attempt to resist the erosion from the organic solvent in the remaining fabrication process. It is shown that the device with VB-FNPD HTL crosslinking at 170 °C has the highest luminance of 7702 cd/m2, the maximum current density (J) of 41.98 mA/cm2, the maximum current efficiency (CE) of 5.45 Cd/A, and the maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 1.64%. Our results confirm that the proposed thermally crosslinkable VB-FNPD is a candidate for the HTL of QD-LEDs.

Certification and stability assessment of recombinant human growth hormone as a certified reference material for protein quantification.

A certified reference material (CRM) for the quantification of protein, essential to manage quality control and quality assurance in protein-related works, has been developed. Amino acid analysis with conventional acid hydrolysis and isotope dilution HPLC-MS was used to establish an SI-traceable absolute protein quantification method using recombinant human growth hormone (hGH) as a model protein. The certification method was verified by comparative studies between 1) different methods of protein quantification based on microwave-assisted hydrolysis, and 2) different labs as part of the Asian Collaboration on Reference Material project with Japan, China, and Korea. Certification, evaluation of measurement uncertainty, homogeneity testing, and stability testing were carried out, after which the candidate CRM for hGH quantification was successfully certified with excellent agreement within the certified value in the two comparative studies. Although the quantification value of hGH by amino acid analysis showed good robustness in various conditions, results of intact protein analysis showed degradation profiles in temperatures higher than 4 °C. Consequently, storage and dissemination conditions should be set in accordance with stability tests. Based on the results, this method is believed to be suitable for accurate quantification of hGH. Additionally, it can also be used as a guide to preparation of CRM, and instructions for quality management of protein work for other similar proteins.

Study on the mechanism underlying Al-induced hepatotoxicity based on the identification of the Al-binding proteins in liver.

Aluminum (Al) is the most abundant metal element in the earth's crust, and is implicated in the pathogenesis of liver lesions. However, the mechanisms underlying Al3+-induced hepatotoxicity are still largely elusive. Based on analysis with native gel electrophoresis, Al3+ plus 8-hydroxyquinoline staining and LC-MS/MS, the proteins with high Al3+ affinity were identified to be carbamoyl-phosphate synthase, adenosylhomocysteinase, heat shock protein 90-alpha, carbonic anhydrase 3, serum albumin and calreticulin. These proteins are involved in physiological processes such as the urea cycle, redox reactions, apoptosis and so on. Then we established an Al3+-treated rat model for biochemical tests, morphology observation and Ca2+ homeostasis analysis, in order to evaluate the extent of oxidative damage, hepatic histopathology and specific indicators of Al3+-related proteins in liver. Our findings indicated the high-affinity interactions with Al3+ perturbed the normal function of the above proteins, which could account for the mechanism underlying Al3+-induced hepatotoxicity.

Synthesis of ortho acid ester-type 1,3-dioxolanofullerenes: radical reaction of [60]fullerene with halocarboxylic acids promoted by lead(IV) acetate.

A lead(IV) acetate-promoted radical reaction of [60]fullerene with halocarboxylic acids has been exploited to synthesize rare ortho acid ester-type 1,3-dioxolanofullerenes, the hydroxyl group of which can be further transformed to an ester or ether group. Intriguingly, an ortho acid ester-type 1,3-dioxolanofullerene can also be converted to a 1,4-dioxanonofullerene in the presence of a base or manipulated to another ortho acid ester-type 1,3-dioxolanofullerene by reaction with a stronger halocarboxylic acid. Moreover, two possible reaction pathways leading to the observed products are also proposed.

Ferric chloride-catalyzed reaction of [60]fullerene with tert-butyl N-substituted carbamates: synthesis of oxazolidino[4,5:1,2][60]fullerenes.

The rare oxazolidinofullerenes have been prepared by the ferric chloride-catalyzed reaction of [60]fullerene with various tert-butyl N-substituted carbamates via t-Bu-O bond cleavage and heteroannulation under mild conditions. A possible mechanism for the formation of oxazolidinofullerenes is proposed.

Efficient secretion of (R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid from Halomonas sp. KM-1 cultured with saccharified Japanese cedar under microaerobic conditions.

In the presence of d-glucose, consumption of pentoses such as d-xylose is somewhat repressed by most bacteria. However, in Halomonas sp. KM-1, simultaneous utilization of a pure hexose and pentose for growth and PHB production has been observed. Moreover, this strain has been shown to preferentially utilize d-xylose from a mixture of hexose and pentose. In addition, the KM-1 strain produced (R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid ((R)-3-HB) by using saccharified Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) wood. The concentration of intracellular PHB after aerobic cultivation for 24h was 8.4 g/L, and after shifting to microaerobic conditions and further cultivation for 18 h, the concentration of (R)-3-HB in the medium reached 8.0 g/L. These results show that the KM-1 strain can efficiently utilize saccharified Japanese cedar and secreted (R)-3-HB under microaerobic conditions.

Metabolomics-based component profiling of Halomonas sp. KM-1 during different growth phases in poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) production.

To investigate the relationship between the production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and metabolic changes during different growth phases, a non-sterile batch fermentation process involving an alkalophilic and halophilic bacterium, Halomonas sp. KM-1, was used. Intracellular metabolites were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to characterize the metabolic profile. Significant changes relating to PHB production were observed in the TCA cycle, lipid-synthesis and amino acid biosynthetic pathways were found to shift dramatically between the exponential growth and stationary phases. During the stationary phase, 17 metabolites were upregulated and a cell dry mass of 17.8 g/L that included 44.8% PHB was observed at 24h in 5% glucose-supplemented cultures, whereas 11 metabolites were upregulated and a cell dry mass of 38.4 g/L that included 73.7% PHB was observed at 36 h in 10% glucose-supplemented cultures. This study provides pattern analysis of metabolite regulation during PHB accumulation, indicating that multicomponent and phase-specific mechanisms are involved.

A strategy for enrichment of the bioactive sphingoid base-1-phosphates produced by Hypericum perforatum L. in a balloon type airlift reactor.

An efficient enrichment method using immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) was developed for selective extraction of bioactive sphingoid base-1-phosphates (SB1Ps) from adventitious roots of Hypericum perforatum cultured in bioreactor. The phosphate-selective IMAC enrichment coupled with LC-MS/MS enabled sensitive analysis of low-abundance SB1Ps present in the root biomass, which would not be feasible otherwise due to severe interferences from complex biological matrices. The time-dependent growth rate and production of SB1Ps from adventitious roots were investigated. The level of phytosphingosine-1-phosphate, which was found to be the major SB1Ps, reached a maximum amount of 635.6pmolpergram of dry weight after 3weeks of culture and decreased between 3 and 5weeks of culture subsequently. On the other hand, sphingosine-1-phosphate and sphinganine-1-phosphate were present at levels of 18.91 and 73.15pmolpergram of dry weight, respectively, after a week of culture and their level decreased thereafter.

Ferric perchlorate-mediated synthesis of 1,2-fullerenols C60(OCOR)(OH).

1,2-Fullerenols C(60)(OCOR)(OH) have been facilely synthesized via the one-step reaction of [60]fullerene with acid chlorides promoted by ferric perchlorate. A possible reaction mechanism for the product formation is proposed.

Fullerenyl boronic esters: ferric perchlorate-mediated synthesis and functionalization.

Fullerenyl boronic esters have been prepared by a ferric perchlorate-promoted reaction of [60]fullerene with various arylboronic acids. The obtained fullerenyl boronic esters could undergo further functionalization with diols to afford C(60)-fused dioxane/dioxepane derivatives. A possible reaction mechanism for the formation of fullerenyl boronic esters has been proposed.

Production of adventitious root biomass and secondary metabolites of Hypericum perforatum L. in a balloon type airlift reactor.

The effects of inoculum density, aeration volume and culture period on accumulation of biomass and secondary metabolites in adventitious roots of Hypericum perforatum in balloon type airlift bioreactors (3 l capacity) were investigated. The greatest increment of biomass as well as metabolite content occurred at an inoculum density of 3 g l(-1) and an aeration volume of 0.1 vvm. After 6 weeks of culture, an approximately 50-fold increase in biomass was recorded containing 60.11 mg g(-1) dry weight (DW) of phenolics, 42.7 mg g(-1) DW of flavonoids and 0.80 mg g(-1) DW of chlorogenic acid. Liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy/mass spectroscopy demonstrated that the presence of quercetin and hyperoside in adventitious roots at a level of 1.33 and 14.01 µg g(-1) DW, respectively after 6 weeks of culture. The results suggest scale-up of adventitious root culture of H. perforatum for the production of chlorogenic acid, quercetin and hyperoside is feasible.

Synthesis of disubstituted [60]fullerene-fused lactones: ferric perchlorate-promoted reaction of [60]fullerene with malonate esters.

The ferric perchlorate-mediated reaction of [60]fullerene with substituted malonate esters in the presence of acetic anhydride afforded the rare disubstituted [60]fullerene-fused lactones. A possible reaction mechanism is proposed.

Contribution of the peroxisomal acox gene to the dynamic balance of daumone production in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Dauer pheromones or daumones, which are signaling molecules that interrupt development and reproduction (dauer larvae) during unfavorable growth conditions, are essential for cellular homeostasis in Caenorhabditis elegans. According to earlier studies, dauer larva formation in strain N2 is enhanced by a temperature increase, suggesting the involvement of a temperature-dependent component in dauer pheromone biosynthesis or sensing. Several naturally occurring daumone analogs (e.g. daumones 1-3) have been identified, and these molecules are predicted to be synthesized in different physiological settings in this nematode. To elucidate the molecular regulatory system that may influence the dynamic balance of specific daumone production in response to sudden temperature changes, we characterized the peroxisomal acox gene encoding acyl-CoA oxidase, which is predicted to catalyze the first reaction during biosynthesis of the fatty acid component of daumones. Using acox-1(ok2257) mutants and a new, robust analytical method, we quantified the three most abundant daumones in worm bodies and showed that acox likely contributes to the dynamic production of various quantities of three different daumones in response to temperature increase, changes that are critical in C. elegans for coping with the natural environmental changes it faces.

A facile access to [60]fullerene-fused 1,3-dioxolanes: reaction of [60]fullerene with aldehydes/ketones promoted by ferric perchlorate.

The facile reaction of [60]fullerene (C(60)) with various aldehydes or ketones in the presence of ferric perchlorate successfully afforded the rare C(60)-fused 1,3-dioxolanes. A possible reaction mechanism for the formation of the C(60)-fused 1,3-dioxolanes is proposed.