[Treatment of Idiopathic Normal-Pressure Hydrocephalus by Wuling Powder Combined Ventriculo- peritoneal Shunt Surgery: an Efficacy Observation].

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of Wuling Powder (WP) combined ventricu- loperitoneal shunt surgery in patients with idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (INPH). Methods Totally 56 INPH patients were randomly assigned to the control group and the treatment group, 28 in each group. All patients received ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery. Three days after surgery patients in the treatment group took WP, while those in the control group took placebo decoction (one dose per day, once in the morning and once in the evening, 7 days as one course, a total of 6 courses after surgery). Mini- Mental State Examination (MMSE) score, the steps to turn around 180°, and Evan's index were tested be- fore surgery and 3 months after surgery. Adverse reactions were recorded in the two groups. Clinical effica- cy was assessed after 3 months of surgery. Results At month 3 after surgery 21 patients (80. 8%) were cured and 3 patients (11. 5%) were improved in the treatment group, with statistical difference when com- pared with the control group [14 cured (51. 9%) and 11 improved (40. 7%) ; P <0. 05]. Compared with be- fore surgery in the same group, levels of MMSE score increased and the steps to turn around 1800 were obviously reduced in the two groups at month 3 after surgery (both P <0. 05). Compared with the control group at month 3 after surgery, levels of MMSE score increased and the steps to turn around 1800 were ob- viously reduced in the treatment group (both P <0. 05). Conclusion In treating INPH patierts, WP com- bined ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery was superior to the effect of using ventriculoperitoneal- shunt sur- gery alone.

Enhancement of the Photocatalytic Activity of Carbon Nitrides by Complex Templating.

Carbon nitrides with the increased surface areas (≈90 m(2) g(-1)) were prepared by the heat-treatment of melamine-[Al(NO3)3]⋅9 H2O complexes. Here, [Al(NO3)3]⋅9 H2O was successfully used as a "green template" and a hydrogen-bonding partner of melamine, simultaneously providing a distinct porosity and defined particle morphology for the resulting carbon nitrides. The influence of the solvent and precursors ratio on the stoichiometry of the complexes, as well as the morphology, optical properties, and photocatalytic activity of resulting products for Rhodamine B degradation and sacrificial hydrogen evolution were investigated. We also studied the temperature-induced transformations of the starting complex to access the reaction mechanism. The developed synthesis procedure results in a significantly increased photocatalytic activity (up to 20-fold) compared with that of the ground reference material.

Highly electrocatalytic activity of RuO2 nanocrystals for triiodide reduction in dye-sensitized solar cells.

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) are promising alternatives to conventional silicon devices because of their simple fabrication procedure, low cost, and high efficiency. Platinum is generally used as a superior counter electrode (CE) material, but the disadvantages such as high cost and low abundance greatly restrict the large-scale application of DSCs. An efficient and sustainable way to overcome the limited supply of Pt is the development of high-efficiency Pt-free CE materials, which should possess both high electrical conductivity and superior electrocatalytic activity simultaneously. Herein, for the first time, a two-step strategy to synthesize ruthenium dioxide (RuO2) nanocrystals is reported, and it is shown that RuO2 catalysts exhibit promising electrocatalytic activity towards triiodide reduction, which results in comparable energy conversion efficiency to that of conventional Pt CEs. More importantly, by virtue of first-principles calculations, the catalytic mechanism of electrocatalysis for triiodide reduction on various CEs is investigated systematically and it is found that the electrochemical triiodide reduction reaction on RuO2 catalyst surfaces can be enhanced significantly, owing to the ideal combination of good electrocatalytic activity and high electrical conductivity.

The bioinspired construction of an ordered carbon nitride array for photocatalytic mediated enzymatic reduction.

A carbon nitride array (CNA) material has been constructed using a sacrificial diatom template. A regular carbon nitride nanorod array could be replicated from the periodic and regular nanochannel array of the template. The directional charge transport properties and high light harvesting capability of the CNA gives much better performance in splitting water to give hydrogen than its bulk counterpart. Furthermore, by combining with a rhodium complex as a mediator, the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) cofactor of many enzymes could be photocatalytically regenerated by the CNA. The rate of the in situ NADH regeneration is high enough to reverse the biological pathway of the three dehydrogenase enzymes, which then leads to the sustainable conversion of formaldehyde to methanol and also the reduction of carbon dioxide into methanol.

Disordered Co1.28Mn1.71O4 as a visible-light-responsive photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution.

Catching the sunlight: The disordered Co1.28Mn1.71O4 was synthesized by a facile reduction method in the presence of amorphous MnO2 precursors and Co(2+). It exhibits relatively high hydrogen-production activity under visible-light irradiation (see figure). The larger number of active sites in the bulk catalyst endow nanoparticles with improved water-reduction activity. This is the first demonstration of disordered ternary oxides for visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution in the absence of a cocatalyst.

Arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 is a novel prognostic biomarker and correlates with high tumor immune infiltration in low-grade glioma.

Objective: To investigate the prognostic value of arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 (ALOX5) expression and methylation, and explore the immune functions of arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 expression in low-grade glioma (LGG). Materials and Methods: Using efficient bioinformatics approaches, the differential expression of arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 and the association of its expression with clinicopathological characteristics were evaluated. Then, we analyzed the prognostic significance of arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 expression and its methylation level followed by immune cell infiltration analysis. The functional enrichment analysis was conducted to determine the possible regulatory pathways of arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 in low-grade glioma. Finally, the drug sensitivity analysis was performed to explore the correlation between arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 expression and chemotherapeutic drugs. Results: arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 mRNA expression was increased in low-grade glioma and its expression had a notable relation with age and subtype (p < 0.05). The elevated mRNA level of arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 could independently predict the disease-specific survival (DSS), overall survival (OS), and progression-free interval (PFI) (p < 0.05). Besides, arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 expression was negatively correlated with its methylation level and the arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 hypomethylation led to a worse prognosis (p < 0.05). The arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 expression also showed a positive connection with immune cells, while low-grade glioma patients with higher immune cell infiltration had poor survival probability (p < 0.05). Further, arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 might be involved in immune- and inflammation-related pathways. Importantly, arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 expression was negatively related to drug sensitivity. Conclusion: arachidonate lipoxygenases 5 might be a promising biomarker, and it probably occupies a vital role in immune cell infiltration in low-grade glioma.

Resident Microglia Activate before Peripheral Monocyte Infiltration and p75NTR Blockade Reduces Microglial Activation and Early Brain Injury after Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

Early brain injury (EBI) after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) contributes to high morbidity and mortality. Although it is well recognized that acute neuroinflammation reaction is one of the most important triggers of EBI, pharmacotherapy proved to be clinically effective against the initiating of neuroinflammation after SAH is lacking. The resident microglia and infiltrated peripheral monocyte are two main types of immune cells in central nervous system (CNS) and control the inflammation process in brain after SAH. But the time course and relative contributions of these two immune cell activations after SAH are unknown. The p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR), member of TNF receptor superfamily, expresses on infiltrated peripheral monocytes and suppresses their proinflammatory action after brain insults. But the p75NTR expression on resident microglia in vivo is rarely explored and their function keeps elusive. Therefore, we designed this study to investigate the time course of resident microglia activation and peripheral monocyte infiltration, as well as the microglial expression of p75NTR by using CX3C-chemokine receptor 1 (Cx3cr1) and chemokine receptor 2 (Ccr2) double transgenic mice (Cx3cr1GFP/+Ccr2RFP/+) after SAH. The results showed activated microglia was observed in cortex as early as 24 h and further increased at 48 and 72 h post SAH, while the infiltrated monocyte was not found until 72h. In addition, activated microglia expressed p75NTR acutely and p75NTR specific antagonist TAT-Pep5 significantly reduced microglia activation, neuroinflammation and EBI from 24 to 72 h. Together, these data suggest that the early neuroinflammation reaction might be initiated and intensified mainly by resident microglia rather than infiltrated monocyte at least in the first 48 h after SAH and p75NTR blockading by TAT-Pep5P might alleviate EBI through mediating microglial activation.

Microcontact-printing-assisted access of graphitic carbon nitride films with favorable textures toward photoelectrochemical application.

An "ink" (cyanamide) infiltrated anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) stamp is found capable of printing carbon nitride films featuring regular microstructures of the stamp onto the substrates via in situ "chemical vapor deposition". A photocurrent density of 30.2 µA cm(-2 --) at 1.23 VRHE is achieved for a film on a conductive substrate, which is so far the highest value for pure carbon nitride based photoelectrochemical devices.

Predictive value of early decreased plasma ghrelin level for three-month cognitive deterioration in patients with mild traumatic brain injury.

The orexigenic hormone, ghrelin, is tightly linked to cognition impairment in neurodegenerative disorders. No previous studies have investigated the early ghrelin concentration change in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and it's relationship to cognitive deterioration. This study was performed to investigate the early plasma ghrelin concentrations in patients with mTBI and to explore the relationship between ghrelin and cognitive deterioration. Plasma ghrelin concentrations of 118 adults after acute mTBI were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Forty patients (33.9%) had cognitive deterioration three months after mTBI. Plasma ghrelin levels were significantly lower in mTBI patients with cognitive deterioration than patients without cognitive deterioration (38.8±4.5 pg/mL vs 50.8±7.7 pg/mL, P<0.001). Decreased Plasma ghrelin level was identified as an independent predictor for three-month cognitive deterioration after mTBI (odds ratio, 0.746; 95% confidence interval, 0.651-0.856; P<0.001). Plasma ghrelin level was negatively associated with serum adrenocorticotrophin hormone level (t=-6.854, P<0.001) and age (t=-6.112, P<0.001). A plasma ghrelin level of 41.6 pg/mL predicted three-month cognitive deterioration after mTBI with the optimal sensitivity (85.9%) and specificity (80.0%) values (area under curve, 0.904; 95% confidence interval, 0.852-0.957; P<0.001). The predictive value of ghrelin was bigger than that of serum adrenocorticotrophin hormone level (area under curve, 0.638; 95% confidence interval, 0.536-0.741; P=0.014) and age (area under curve, 0.638; 95% confidence interval, 0.536-0.741; P=0.014) for three-month cognitive deterioration after mTBI.

Cu-Cu2O-TiO2 nanojunction systems with an unusual electron-hole transportation pathway and enhanced photocatalytic properties.

Multicomponent Cu-Cu2O-TiO2 nanojunction systems were successfully synthesized by a mild chemical process, and their structure and composition were thoroughly analyzed by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The as-prepared Cu-Cu2O-TiO2 (3 and 9 h) nanojunctions demonstrated higher photocatalytic activities under UV/Vis light irradiation in the process of the degradation of organic compounds than those of the Cu-Cu2O, Cu-TiO2, and Cu2O-TiO2 starting materials. Moreover, time-resolved photoluminescence spectra demonstrated that the quenching times of electrons and holes in Cu-Cu2O-TiO2 (3 h) is higher than that of Cu-Cu2O-TiO2 (9 h); this leads to a better photocatalytic performance of Cu-Cu2O-TiO2 (3 h). The improvement in photodegradation activity and electron-hole separation of Cu-Cu2O-TiO2 (3 h) can be ascribed to the rational coupling of components and dimensional control. Meanwhile, an unusual electron-hole transmission pathway for photocatalytic reactions over Cu-Cu2O-TiO2 nanojunctions was also identified.