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Objective: To explore the interventional therapy and clinical efficacy of extracranial ICA aneurysm. Methods: The clinical data of eight patients with extracranial ICA aneurysm treated by interventional stent implantation from December 2014 to February 2018 in the Neurosurgery Department of the Third Hospital of Mianyang were analyzed. And this research was a retrospective analysis. All patients underwent digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and were diagnosed with extracranial carotid artery aneurysm. These patients, therefore, were treated with interventional stent implantation. Results: Interventional treatment was successfully conducted on all eight patients. In eight patients, the aneurysm cavity was not developed immediately after angiography, and in one case, the aneurysm cavity was developed with coil-assisted embolization. All the internal carotid arteries were well developed, with no complications such as intraoperative rupture, bleeding and thrombosis occur. Follow-up for three months to two years showed that the patients recovered well, the GOS score was 4 points for patients with cerebral infarction, and the rest reached five points. Follow-up CTA showed no signs of aneurysm recurrence or ICA restenosis. Conclusion: Interventional stent placement is a preferable and relatively safe method for the treatment of extracranial carotid artery aneurysm with less trauma and short operation time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The effect of blood eosinophils (EOSs) on mortality in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients and whether corticosteroids affect this effect are unclear. METHODS: The Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III database (version 1.4) was used to extract data. Patients with ARDS were selected for inclusion. Cox regression models using the backward stepwise method and propensity score matching (PSM) were used to assess the relationship between blood EOS counts and 28-day mortality. RESULTS: A total of 2,567 patients with ARDS were included, and the 28-day mortality rate was 24.19%. The crude 28-day mortality was significantly lower in patients with EOS counts =2% (18.60% [85/457] vs. 25.40% [536/2,110], P=0.002) than in those with EOS counts <2%. In the Cox regression model, the EOS counts =2% showed a significant association with the decreased 28-day mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 0.731; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.581-0.921, P=0.008). In the corticosteroid non-use subgroup, EOS counts =2% was significantly related to decreased 28-day mortality (HR 0.697, 95% CI 0.535-0.909, P=0.008), but the result was not significant in the corticosteroid non-use subgroup model (P=0.860). A total of 457 well-matched pairs were obtained by a 1:1 matching algorithm after PSM. The 28-day mortality remained significantly lower in the EOS counts =2% group (18.60% [85/457] vs. 26.70% [122/457], P=0.003). CONCLUSIONS Higher EOS counts are related to lower 28-day mortality in ARDS patients, and this relationship can be counteracted by using corticosteroids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioactive natural products were firstly obtained from biogas slurry. Three new 29 carbon skeletons of the pentacyclic triterpenoid compounds 24-norolean-12-ene-3,22-dione (1), 3β-hydroxy-24-norolean-12-ene-22-one (2), 3α-hydroxy-24-norolean-12-ene-22-one (3), as well as one known compound S-equol (4) were isolated and purified from the MeOH extract of chicken manure biogas slurry. The molecular structures of the four compounds were elucidated based on the extensive spectroscopic data analysis, and the structure of Compound 1 was further confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structures of Compounds 1, 2, and 3 are similar with oleanolicum and hederagenin that has excellent anti-tumor activities. The cytotoxicity against five cancer cell lines (Hela, A549, MCF7, PC3, and B16) of Compounds 1-4 was tested. Similar to Compound 4 (Sequol), Compounds 1-3 (pentacyclic triterpenoids) showed cytotoxicity activity against different tumor cell lines. Compounds 1-3 showed slightly lower cytotoxicity activities than Compound 4. The IC50 of Compound 4 was determined to be 9.7-27.6 μM, while the IC50 values of 1-3 were 17.6-65.3 μM. There are no significant differences in the cytotoxicity capacities between Compounds 1, 2, and 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A versatile combinatorial approach was developed for the rapid synthesis of 2,5-dihydro-1H-pyrroles, 1,3-dioxo-2,3,5,7a-tetrahydro-1H-pyrrolo[1,2-c]imidazoles, and 1,4-dioxo-1,2,3,4,6,8a-hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazines libraries. The synthetic strategy includes electrophilic addition, dehydrohalogenation, 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, N-acylation, amino carbonylation−cyclization, N-alkylation, lactamization, and oxidation−elimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants can defend themselves to pathogen and herbivore attack by responding to chemical signals that are emitted by attacked plants. It is well established that such signals can be transferred through the air. In theory, plants can also communicate with each other through underground common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs) that interconnect roots of multiple plants. However, until now research focused on plant-to-plant carbon nutrient movement and there is no evidence that defense signals can be exchanged through such mycorrhizal hyphal networks. Here, we show that CMNs mediate plantplant communication between healthy plants and pathogen-infected tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). After establishment of CMNs with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae between tomato plants, inoculation of 'donor' plants with the pathogen Alternaria solani led to increases in disease resistance and activities of the putative defensive enzymes, peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, chitinase, β-1,3-glucanase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and lipoxygenase in healthy neighbouring 'receiver' plants. The uninfected 'receiver' plants also activated six defence-related genes when CMNs connected 'donor' plants challenged with A. solani. This finding indicates that CMNs may function as a plant-plant underground communication conduit whereby disease resistance and induced defence signals can be transferred between the healthy and pathogen-infected neighbouring plants, suggesting that plants can 'eavesdrop' on defence signals from the pathogen-challenged neighbours through CMNs to activate defences before being attacked themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Introduced acetic acid into the leaching process of ion-adsorption type rare earth ore. • The kinetics of rare elements leaching followed internal diffusion. • Acetic acid increases the leaching efficiency of rare earth elements. • HAc-Ac- buffer system inhibits the leaching efficiency of aluminum. The leaching process of rare earth (RE) from ion-adsorption type rare earth ore (IATREO) using ammonium salt or magnesium salt as leaching agents presents challenges to inefficient leaching of RE elements and simultaneous leaching of ion-exchangeable phase aluminum (Al). This paper introduced acetic acid (HAc) into the leaching process of IATREO, to enhance the leaching of RE elements and inhibit the leaching of ion-exchangeable phase Al. The results show that RE elements and HAc mainly existed in the form of REAc2+, with a relative proportion of approximately 15 %. The presence of the HAc-Ac- conjugate acid-base pair provided a buffer capacity. In the MgSO 4 -HAc compound system, column leaching was controlled by internal diffusion, and the supplementation of HAc decreased the activation energy of the RE leaching reaction to 7.11 kJ/mol while increasing the leaching rate. Besides, the HAc-Ac- buffer system increased the pH of the leaching process and promoted the hydrolysis of ion-exchangeable phase Al, thereby inhibiting its leaching. Single-factor experiments indicated that under the optimal conditions, the leaching efficiency of RE elements reached 98.40 %, while the leaching efficiency of Al was 66.61 %. Compared with the ammonium and magnesium salts leaching systems, the leaching efficiency of RE elements increased by more than 6 %, while the leaching efficiency of Al was reduced by 23.33 %. This paper plays an important role in promoting the efficient and green extraction of IATREO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In adults, angiogenic abnormalities are involved in not only tumor growth but several human inherited diseases as well. It is unclear, however, concerning how the normal vascular structure is maintained and how angiogenesis is initiated in normal adults. Using the Cre-LoxP-mediated conditional gene deletion, we show in the present study that in adult mice disruption of the transcription factor recombination signal-binding protein Jκ (RBP-J) in endothelial cells strikingly induced spontaneous angiogenesis in multiple tissues, including retina and cornea, as well as in internal organs, such as liver and lung. In a choroidal neovascularization model, which mimics the angiogenic process in tumor growth and age-related macular degeneration, RBP-J deficiency induced a more intensive angiogenic response to injury. This could be transmitted by bone marrow, indicating that RBP-J could modulate bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells in adult angiogenesis. In addition, in the absence of RBP-J, proliferation of endothelial cells increased significantly, leading to accumulative vessel outgrowth. These findings suggest that in adults RBP-J-mediated Notch signaling may play an essential role in the maintenance of vascular homeostasis by repressing endothelial cell proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]