Mullinsarcher0193

In P-/- mice, histological lung injury was attenuated, though systemic and local complement levels, IL-6 and KC gene expressions, and neutrophil influx were not affected. We demonstrated that BD-induced lung injury is complement dependent, with a primary role for the classical/lectin activation pathway.The third case reported in the literature of a left atrial neoplasm characterized by a very deceptive, low grade cellular component at its early stage of growth, so as to be diagnosed as a myxoma is presented. Two months after surgical excision, regrowth of the mass occurred, producing a pancreatic mass also. The new atrial mass was excised; a left atrial myxoid sarcoma and a pancreatic metastasis were diagnosed. One week later the atrial sarcoma grew again. This time surgery was contraindicated and the patient underwent chemotherapy with a satisfactory control of the sarcoma growth. The myxoid sarcoma may present with the deceptive appearance of a myxoma in their early stages. Therefore, patients who have undergone surgical removal of a myxoma should have a close follow-up to monitor unexpected malignant turnover.While the isotope-dependent hydrogen permeability of graphene membranes at ambient condition has been demonstrated, the underlying mechanism has been controversially discussed during the past 5 years. The reported room-temperature proton-over-deuteron (H+ -over-D+ ) selectivity is 10, much higher than in any competing method. Yet, it has not been understood how protons can penetrate through graphene membranes-proposed hypotheses include atomic defects and local hydrogenation. However, neither can explain both the high permeability and high selectivity of the atomically thin membranes. Here, it is confirmed that ideal graphene is quasi-impermeable to protons, yet the most common defect in sp2 carbons, the topological Stone-Wales defect, has a calculated penetration barrier below 1 eV and H+ -over-D+ selectivity of  7 at room temperature and, thus, explains all experimental results on graphene membranes that are available to date. The competing explanation, local hydrogenation, which also reduces the penetration barrier, but shows significantly lower isotope selectivity, is challenged.Magnetic skyrmions are attracting interest as efficient information-storage devices with low energy consumption, and have been experimentally and theoretically investigated in multilayers including ferromagnets, ferrimagnets, and antiferromagnets. The 3D spin texture of skyrmions demonstrated in ferromagnetic multilayers provides a powerful pathway for understanding the stabilization of ferromagnetic skyrmions. However, the manipulation mechanism of skyrmions in antiferromagnets is still lacking. A Hall balance with a ferromagnet/insulating spacer/ferromagnet structure is considered to be a promising candidate to study skyrmions in synthetic antiferromagnets. Here, high-density Néel-type skyrmions are experimentally observed at zero field and room temperature by Lorentz transmission electron microscopy in a Hall balance (core structure [Co/Pt]n /NiO/[Co/Pt]n ) with interfacial canted magnetizations because of interlayer ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic coupling between top and bottom [Co/Pt]n multilayers, where the Co layers in [Co/Pt]n are always ferromagnetically coupled. Micromagnetic simulations show that the generation and density of skyrmions are strongly dependent on interlayer exchange coupling (IEC) and easy-axis orientation. Direct experimental evidence of skyrmions in synthetic antiferromagnets is provided, suggesting that the proposed approach offers a promising alternative mechanism for room-temperature spintronics.Understanding drug-release kinetics is critical for the development of drug-loaded nanoparticles. We developed a J-aggregate-based Förster-resonance energy-transfer (FRET) method to investigate the release of novel high-drug-loading (50 wt %) nanoparticles in comparison with low-drug-loading (0.5 wt %) nanoparticles. Single-dye-loaded nanoparticles form J-aggregates because of the high dye-loading (50 wt %), resulting in a large red-shift (≈110 nm) in the fluorescence spectrum. Dual-dye-loaded nanoparticles with high dye-loading using FRET pairs exhibited not only FRET but also a J-aggregate red-shift (116 nm). Using this J-aggregate-based FRET method, dye-core-polymer-shell nanoparticles showed two release processes intracellularly the dissolution of the dye aggregates into dye molecules and the release of the dye molecules from the polymer shell. Also, the high-dye-loading nanoparticles (50 wt %) exhibited a slow release kinetics in serum and relatively quick release in cells, demonstrating their great potential in drug delivery.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT) recipients often require substantial but variable transfusion support.

This single-center, retrospective study evaluated the red blood cell (RBC) and platelet (PLT) transfusion data of first-time allo-HSCT recipients transplanted in 2011 to 2017. Multivariate analyses were performed to assess the associations between patient and transplant-related factors and transfusion requirements.

The study included 1762 patients who received peripheral blood stem cells (88.2%), marrow (7.0%), or umbilical cord (4.8%) from matched related (38.3%), unrelated (49.2%), or haploidentical (7.8%) donors. Almost all patients required RBCs (88.3%) or PLTs (97.4%) during the first 30 days, with medians of 3 (range, 1-37) RBC and 6 (range, 1-144) PLT units transfused. Fewer patients required RBC (43.8%) or PLT (27.3%) transfusions during Days 31 to 100, but the median (range) numbers of RBC and PLT units remained high at 3 (1-36) and 6 (1-116) among transfused patientsnts, and identified factors predictive of increased transfusions.

Surgical indications for moderate to severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) during atrial septal defect (ASD) closure are still unclear. Additional tricuspid valve annuloplasty (TVP) can be beneficial to avoid postoperative persistent TR. Therefore, we compared the results of surgical ASD closure with or without additional TVP in patients who presented with moderate-to-severe TR.

Between November 2009 and June 2016, 103 patients with ASD and moderate-to-severe TR underwent surgical ASD closure without (n = 76, group 1) and with additional TVP (n = 27, group 2). Clinical outcomes and echocardiographic data were analyzed.

There was no mortality. Postoperative outcomes were similar despite significantly longer aortic clamping time in group 2 (P = .003). Mean TR grade, right atrial diameter, right ventricular end-diastolic diameter, pulmonary artery pressure, and Qp/Qs ratio decreased significantly in both groups (P < .05). Mean follow-up time was 5.3 months (range 1 month-6.2 years) in group 1 and 6.1 montrgoing ASD closure with moderate-to-severe TR.The progressive debilitating nature of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) combined with its unknown etiology and initial similarity to other inflammatory diseases makes early diagnosis a significant challenge. Early recognition and treatment of RA is essential for achieving effective therapeutic outcome. NIR-II photoacoustic (PA) molecular imaging (PMI) is emerging as a promising new strategy for effective diagnosis and treatment guidance of RA, owing to its high sensitivity and specificity at large penetration depth. Herein, an antirheumatic targeted drug tocilizumab (TCZ) is conjugated to polymer nanoparticles (PNPs) to develop the first NIR-II theranostic nanoplatform, named TCZ-PNPs, for PA-imaging-guided therapy of RA. The TCZ-PNPs are demonstrated to have strong NIR-II extinction coefficient, high photostability and excellent biocompatibility. NIR-II PMI results reveal the excellent targeting abilities of TCZ-PNPs for the effective noninvasive diagnosis of RA joint tissue with a high signal-to noise ratio (SNR) of 35.8 dB in 3D PA tomography images. Remarkably, one-month treatment and PA monitoring using TCZ-PNPs shows RA is significantly suppressed. In addition, the therapeutic evaluation of RA mice by NIR-II PMI is shown to be consistent with clinical micro-CT and histological analysis. The TCZ-PNPs-assisted NIR-II PMI provides a new strategy for RA theranostics, therapeutic monitoring and the beyond.Massive metagenomic sequencing combined with gene prediction methods were previously used to compile the gene catalogue of the ocean and host-associated microbes. Global expeditions conducted over the past 15 years have sampled the ocean to build a catalogue of genes from pelagic microbes. Here we undertook a large sequencing effort of a perturbed Red Sea plankton community to uncover that the rate of gene discovery increases continuously with sequencing effort, with no indication that the retrieved 2.83 million non-redundant (complete) genes predicted from the experiment represented a nearly complete inventory of the genes present in the sampled community (i.e., no evidence of saturation). The underlying reason is the Pareto-like distribution of the abundance of genes in the plankton community, resulting in a very long tail of millions of genes present at remarkably low abundances, which can only be retrieved through massive sequencing. Microbial metagenomic projects retrieve a variable number of unique genes per Tera base-pair (Tbp), with a median value of 14.7 million unique genes per Tbp sequenced across projects. The increase in the rate of gene discovery in microbial metagenomes with sequencing effort implies that there is ample room for new gene discovery in further ocean and holobiont sequencing studies.High-temperature superconductors (HTSs) are important for potential applications and for understanding the origin of strong correlations. Bi2 Sr2 CaCu2 O8+δ (BSCCO), a van der Waals material, offers a platform to probe the physics down to a unit-cell. Guiding the flow of electrons by patterning 2DEGS and oxide heterostructures has brought new functionality and access to new science. Similarly, modifying superconductivity in HTS locally, on a small length scale, is of immense interest for superconducting electronics. A route to modify superconductivity locally by depositing metal on the surface is reported here by transport studies on few unit-cell thick BSCCO. Deposition of chromium (Cr) on the surface over a selected area of BSCCO results in insulating behavior of the underlying region. Triton(TM) X-114 Cr locally depletes oxygen in CuO2 planes and disrupts the superconductivity in the layers below. This technique of modifying superconductivity is suitable for making sub-micrometer superconducting wires and more complex superconducting devices.Sleep and depression are interlinked throughout the lifespan, but very few studies have examined the directionality of the sleep-depression link in children. The aim of the current study was to prospectively examine the bidirectional association between sleep problems and internalizing problems and depressive symptoms in toddlers and children aged 1.5 and 8 years. Data stem from the large ongoing population-based longitudinal study, the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study, recruited from October 1999 to July 2009. A total of 35,075 children were included. Information on sleep duration, nocturnal awakenings and internalizing problems (Child Behaviour Checklist) was provided by the mothers at 1.5 years, whereas data on sleep duration and depressive symptoms (Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire) were provided by the mothers when the children were 8 years old. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated using logistic regression analyses. After accounting for previous internalizing problems, short sleep duration (≤10 hr) and frequent (≥3) nightly awakenings at 1.