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Radiation enteritis is the most common complication of pelvic radiotherapy, but there is no effective prevention or treatment drug. Apoptotic T cells and their products play an important role in regulating inflammation and maintaining physiological immune homeostasis. Here it is shown that systemically infused T cell-derived apoptotic extracellular vesicles (ApoEVs) can target mice irradiated intestines and alleviate radiation enteritis. Mechanistically, radiation elevates the synthesis of intestinal 2'3' cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP) and activates cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)-stimulator of interferon genes (STING) proinflammatory pathway. After systemic infusion of ApoEVs, the ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase phosphodiesterase 1 (ENPP1) enriches on the surface of ApoEVs hydrolyze extracellular cGAMP, resulting in inhibition of the cGAS-STING pathway activated by irradiation. Furthermore, after ApoEVs are phagocytosed by phagocytes, ENPP1 on ApoEVs hydrolyzed intracellular cGAMP, which serves as an intracellular cGAMP hydrolyzation mode, thereby alleviating radiation enteritis. The findings shed light on the intracellular and extracellular hydrolysis capacity of ApoEVs and their role in inflammation regulation., (© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Oxide crystals with specific infrared spectra are widely used in the optical energy industry. Conventional density functional theory calculations reveal various properties of oxide crystals, including their electronic band structure, electronic density of states, vibrational modes, phonon band structure, and phonon density of states, but only provide qualitative analyses of infrared spectra. Herein, we provide a theoretical approach to analyzing how the basic mechanisms of infrared absorption are affected by the above properties and then predicting quantitatively the infrared spectra. The derivation and details of this method are clarified, and the CeO 2 and LaAlO 3 infrared spectra are finally calculated through an application. The calculated infrared properties are in good agreement with previously reported experiments, demonstrating the accuracy of our method. This study provides a less expensive approach to identifying the infrared spectra of oxide crystals through the use of theoretical calculations and is potentially applicable in the optical energy industry, improving the efficiency by which appropriate materials can be selected., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Background: Laryngeal masks airway (LMA) has been increasingly used in surgical patients. However, the use of LMA in laparoscopic surgeries remains controversial. The major concerns include the potential risk of esophageal regurgitation, aspiration, and difficulties to achieve effective ventilation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the LMA® Protector™ in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery., Methods: Patients aged 18 to 70 years, scheduled for laparoscopic surgeries were included. The insertion time, successful insertion rate, and oropharyngeal leak pressure were measured. Airway complications and airway manipulations during the procedure were documented. Effective ventilation rate was calculated. Visible bloodstains and reflux content in the drainage channel were documented after the removal of LMA® Protector™., Results: Three hundred patients were enrolled. The insertion of LMA® Protector™ failed in seven patients resulting with a successful insertion rate of 97.7%. During the maintenance of anesthesia, airway manipulation was required in 19 patients (19/293, 6.48%), in three of whom the LMA was replaced with endotracheal intubation resulting with an effective ventilation rate of 96.7% (290/300). The oropharyngeal leak pressure was 30.18 ± 5.88 cmH 2 O. Seventy-five patients (25.86%) reported mild sore throat on the first day after surgery. Bloodstains on study devices were noticed in 58 patients (20%). Seventy-five patients (25.86%) reported mild sore throat on the first day after surgery. Gastric reflux was noticed in the drainage tube in 5 patients (1.72%) with no signs of aspiration in any of those patients., Conclusions: The LMA® Protector™ was shown to be safe and effective in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgeries. Although minor complications that require no further treatment, no clinically diagnosed aspiration was noticed in our study. Gastric reflux was noticed in the drainage tube in five patients undergoing laparoscopic gynecology surgery. Further research is needed to verify whether LMA® Protector™ is suitable for procedures in Trendelenburg position or other situations that a high risk of gastroesophageal reflux exists., Trial Registration: The trial was registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( ChiCTR1800018300 , date of registration: September 2018)., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for more than 80% of lung cancer cases and remains the primary cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Fentanyl is a commonly utilized anesthetic during the process of tumor resection, and exhibits inhibitory effects on the progression of numerous cancer types, including pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer and gastric cancer. However, the effects of fentanyl on the cell viability and invasion of NSCLC has not been investigated. Current study aimed to investigate the effects and the mechanisms underlying the effects of fentanyl on NSCLC., Methods: The expression of μ-opioid receptor (MOR) was proved by flow cytometry. The expression of microRNA-331-3p (miR-331-3p) and histone deacetylase 5 (HDAC5) in NSCLC tissues and cell lines are evaluated by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and Western blot, respectively. Cell viability and invasion are measured by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and transwell assay, respectively. The interaction between miR-331-3p and 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of HDAC5 is predicted by TargetScan 7.1 (http://www.targetscan.org/vert_71/), validated by dual luciferase assay, RT-qPCR and Western blot., Results: There was lower miR-331-3p expression and higher HDAC5 expression in NSCLC cell lines A549 and CALU-1 compared with BEAS-2B, which was reversed by fentanyl administration. miR-331-3p targeted 3'-UTR of HDAC5 in NSCLC cell lines A549 and CALU-1. miR-331-3p inhibitor partially abrogated the inhibitory effects of fentanyl on NSCLC cell viability and invasion by targeting HDAC5. In addition, there was higher HDAC5 expression and lower miR-331-3p expression in tumor tissues which were isolated from patients with NSCLC compared to the adjacent normal tissues, and miR-331-3p was negatively correlated with HDAC5 in NSCLC tumor tissues., Conclusion: Fentanyl inhibits the viability and invasion of NSCLC cells by induction of miR-331-3p and reduction of HDAC5., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2020 Gong et al.)

A study is carried out on the effect of different surface native pre-oxides on hot corrosion of single crystal nickel-based superalloy at 900 °C. The effect of different oxides formed by different superalloys through pre-oxidation on hot corrosion is verified by normal hot corrosion and tube sealing experiments. The relationship between different surface oxides and the effect of different surface oxides layer on the hot corrosion properties of alloys are studied. In summary, the stable and dense surface pre-Al 2 O 3 layer which can be obtained by pre-oxidation has an obvious positive effect on the improvement of superalloy hot corrosion resistance in reaction. In addition, the internal sulfides are analyzed in depth, and the relationship between Cr, Mo, O and S is discussed in detail.

We report that K 2 Bi 8 Se 13 exhibits multiple conduction bands that lie close in energy and can be activated through doping, leading to a highly enhanced Seebeck coefficient and a high power factor with elevated temperature. Meanwhile, the large unit cell, complex low symmetry crystal structure, and nondirectional bonding lead to the very low lattice thermal conductivity of K 2 Bi 8 Se 13 , ranging between 0.42 and 0.20 W m -1 K -1 in the temperature interval 300-873 K. Experimentally, we further support the low thermal conductivity of K 2 Bi 8 Se 13 using phonon velocity measurements; the results show a low average phonon velocity (1605 ms -1 ), small Young's modulus (37.1 GPa), large Grüneisen parameter (1.71), and low Debye temperature (154 K). A detailed investigation of the microstructure and defects was carried out using electron diffraction and transmission microscopy which reveal the presence of a K 2.5 Bi 8.5 Se 14 minor phase intergrown along the side of the K 2 Bi 8 Se 13 phase. The combination of enhanced power factor and low thermal conductivity results in a high ZT value of ∼1.3 at 873 K in electron doped K 2 Bi 8 Se 13 material.

The γ/γ' interface dislocation network is reported to improve the high temperature creep resistance of single crystal superalloys and is usually found to deposit in {001} interface. In this work, a new type of dislocation network was found in {111} γ/γ' interface at a single crystal model superalloy crept at 1100 °C/100 MPa. The dislocations in the network are screw with Burgers vectors of 1/2 a<110> and most interestingly, they exhibit a pair-coupling structure. Further investigation indicates that the formation of {111} interface dislocation network occurs when the γ' raft structure begins to degrade by the dislocations cutting into the rafted γ' through the interface. In this condition, the pair-coupling structure is established by the dislocations gliding in a single {111} plane of γ', in order to remove the anti-phase boundary in γ'; these dislocations also act as diffusion channels for dissolving of the γ' particle that is unstable under the interfacial stress from lattice misfit, which leads to the formation of {111}-type zigzag interface. The formation of this network arises as a consequence of more negative misfit, low-alloying γ' particle and proper test conditions of temperature and stress.

We report enhanced thermoelectric performance in SnTe, where significantly improved electrical transport properties and reduced thermal conductivity were achieved simultaneously. The former was obtained from a larger hole Seebeck coefficient through Fermi level tuning by optimizing the carrier concentration with Ga, In, Bi, and Sb dopants, resulting in a power factor of 21 μW cm(-1) K(-2) and ZT of 0.9 at 823 K in Sn(0.97)Bi(0.03)Te. To reduce the lattice thermal conductivity without deteriorating the hole carrier mobility in Sn(0.97)Bi(0.03)Te, SrTe was chosen as the second phase to create strained endotaxial nanostructures as phonon scattering centers. As a result, the lattice thermal conductivity decreases strongly from ∼2.0 Wm(-1) K(-1) for Sn(0.97)Bi(0.03)Te to ∼1.2 Wm(-1) K(-1) as the SrTe content is increased from 0 to 5.0% at room temperature and from ∼1.1 to ∼0.70 Wm(-1) K(-1) at 823 K. For the Sn(0.97)Bi(0.03)Te-3% SrTe sample, this leads to a ZT of 1.2 at 823 K and a high average ZT (for SnTe) of 0.7 in the temperature range of 300-823 K, suggesting that SnTe is a robust candidate for medium-temperature thermoelectric applications.

Thermoelectric technology, harvesting electric power directly from heat, is a promising environmentally friendly means of energy savings and power generation. The thermoelectric efficiency is determined by the device dimensionless figure of merit ZT(dev), and optimizing this efficiency requires maximizing ZT values over a broad temperature range. Here, we report a record high ZT(dev) ∼1.34, with ZT ranging from 0.7 to 2.0 at 300 to 773 kelvin, realized in hole-doped tin selenide (SnSe) crystals. The exceptional performance arises from the ultrahigh power factor, which comes from a high electrical conductivity and a strongly enhanced Seebeck coefficient enabled by the contribution of multiple electronic valence bands present in SnSe. SnSe is a robust thermoelectric candidate for energy conversion applications in the low and moderate temperature range., (Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.)

Objective: To study the relationship between the target effective site concentration (Ce) of rocuronium and the degree of recovery from neuromuscular blockade in elderly patients., Methods: 50 elderly patients (ASA grade II) scheduled for selective surgical procedure under general anaesthesia were randomly divided into two groups, A and B, with 25 cases in each group. The Ce of rocuronium for intubation was 3 μg·ml(-1) in both groups, and the Ce during operation were 0.8 and 1.0 μg·ml(-1) in group A and B, respectively. When target controlled infusion of rocuronium was stopped, without the administration of reversal agents for neuromuscular blockade, the relationship between Ce and the first twitch height (T1) was studied by regression analysis., Results: There was a significant linear relationship between Ce and T1, and there was no statistical difference in regression coefficient and interception between group A and B (P>0.05)., Conclusion: The degree of recovery from neuromuscular blockade could be judged by the target effective site concentration of rocuronium at the time of reversal from neuromuscular blockade in the elderly patients.

The polymorphism Lys939Gln in xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C (XPC) gene has been reported to be associated with bladder cancer in some studies, though the results remain inconclusive. To explore this relationship between XPC Lys939Gln polymorphism and the susceptibility for bladder cancer and the impact of smoking exposures, a cumulative meta-analysis was performed in this study. PubMed and EMBASE databases have been systematically searched to identify relevant studies. Data were abstracted independently by two reviewers. A meta-analysis was performed to examine the association between XPC Lys939Gln polymorphism and susceptibility to bladder cancer (BC). Odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Thirteen studies were chosen in this meta-analysis, involving 4,927 BC cases (1,119 Asian, 2,670 Caucasian, and 1,138 mixed) and 5,185 controls (1,399 Asian, 2,629 Caucasian, and 1,157 mixed). The XPC 939Gln allele was significantly associated with increased risk of BC based on allelic contrast (OR = 1.11, 95 % CI = 1.02-1.21), homozygote comparison (OR = 1.35, 95 % CI = 1.08-1.68), and a recessive genetic model (OR = 1.36, 95 % CI = 1.09-1.68). The results from the present meta-analysis indicated that the 939Gln polymorphism in XPC is a risk factor for bladder carcinogenesis. Further large and well-designed studies are needed to confirm this conclusion.