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The objective of this study is to investigate risk factors and disease burden in pediatric acute recurrent pancreatitis (ARP) and chronic pancreatitis (CP).Data were obtained from INternational Study group of Pediatric Pancreatitis: In search for a cuRE-2 (INSPPIRE-2), the largest multi-center prospective cohort study in pediatric patients with ARP or CP.Of 689 children, 365 had ARP (53%), 324 had CP (47%). CP was more commonly associated with female sex, younger age at first acute pancreatitis (AP) attack, Asian race, family history of CP, lower BMI%, genetic and obstructive factors, PRSS1 mutations and pancreas divisum. CFTR mutations, toxic-metabolic factors, medication use, hypertriglyceridemia, Crohn disease were more common in children with ARP. Constant or frequent abdominal pain, emergency room (ER) visits, hospitalizations, medical, endoscopic or surgical therapies were significantly more common in CP, episodic pain in ARP. A total of 33.1% of children with CP had exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), 8.7% had diabetes mellitus. Compared to boys, girls were more likely to report pain impacting socialization and school, medical therapies, cholecystectomy, but no increased opioid use. There was no difference in race, ethnicity, age at first AP episode, age at CP diagnosis, duration of disease, risk factors, prevalence of EPI or diabetes between boys and girls. Multivariate analysis revealed that family history of CP, constant pain, obstructive risk factors were predictors of CP.Children with family history of CP, constant pain, or obstructive risk factors should raise suspicion for CP.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year. More evidence has shown that gut microbiota influences the three diseases through metabolites, the observational association between the gut microbiome, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases has been well documented. However, whether there is a causal relationship with this association remains unclear. Methods: Basing publicly available GWAS aggregated data, a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) was used to examine the causal relationship between the gut microbiome, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Two sets of MR analyses were performed. A set of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) less than the genome-wide statistical significance threshold (5×10-5) is used as the instrumental variable. Results: Based on the significance level of locus range, the results showed that there was a causal effect of gut microbial composition on the risk of MI, CI, and CAD. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) method shows that Alphaproteobacteria, Clostridialesvadin-BB60groupand Oxalobacteraceae were risk factors for MI, yet FamilyXIII was protective factor. Coriobacteriales, Verrucomicrobiales，ClostridialesvadinBB60groupwere risk factors for CI, while Actinobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Verrucomicrobiae, Enterobacteriales, Enterobacteriaceae, Methanobacteriaceae, Prevotellaceae were protective factors. And Actinomycetaceae was positively related with the risk of CAD, while Gammaproteobacteria and Actinomycetaleswere negatively related with it. Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and ClostridialesvadinBB60group could casually related with CVDs. Conclusion: Our MR Analysis showed a causal relationship between gut microbiome and CVDs, which may help provide new insights into mechanisms underlying of CVDs.

Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) is a condition defined as pancreatic loss of exocrine function, including decreased digestive enzymes and bicarbonate secretion, which leads to maldigestion and malabsorption of nutrients. It is a common complication in many pancreatic disorders. If left undiagnosed, EPI can cause poor digestion of food, chronic diarrhea, severe malnutrition and related complications. Nutritional status and fat-soluble vitamins should be carefully assessed and monitored in patients with EPI. Early diagnosis of EPI is clinically important for appropriate nutritional support and initiating pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) which could significantly improve patient outcomes. The evaluation of nutritional status and related unique management in children with EPI will be discussed in this review.

OBJECTIVES: Abdominal pain, emergency department visits and hospitalizations impact lives of children with acute recurrent pancreatitis (ARP) and chronic pancreatitis (CP). However, data on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in this population remains limited. We aimed to evaluate HRQOL in children with ARP or CP; and test biopsychosocial risk factors associated with low HRQOL. METHODS: Data were acquired from the INternational Study Group of Pediatric Pancreatitis: In search for a cuRE registry. Baseline demographic and clinical questionnaires, the Child Health Questionnaire (measures HRQOL) and Child Behavior Checklist (measures emotional and behavioral functioning) were completed at enrollment. RESULTS: The sample included 368 children (54.3% females, mean age = 12.7 years, SD = 3.3); 65.2% had ARP and 34.8% with CP. Low physical HRQOL (M = 38.5, SD = 16.0) was demonstrated while psychosocial HRQOL (M = 49.5, SD = 10.2) was in the normative range. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that clinical levels of emotional and behavioral problems (B =−10.28, p < .001), episodic and constant abdominal pain (B =−4.66, p =.03; B =−13.25, p

CeMnOx hollow spheres with uniform morphology were prepared and showed better catalytic activity for toluene oxidation than CeO2.

A series of cerium-based high-entropy oxide catalysts (the ratio of CeO2 and HEO is 1:1) was prepared by a solid-state reaction method, which exploit their unique structural and performance advantages. The Ce-HEO-T samples can achieve 100% toluene conversion rate above 328°C when they were used as catalysts directly. Subsequently, the Ce-HEO-500 exhibited the lowest temperature for toluene oxidation was used as a support to deposit different amounts of Au for a further performance improvement. Among all of prepared samples, Au/Ce-HEO-500 with a moderate content of Au (0.5 wt%) exhibited the lowest temperature for complete combustion of toluene (260°C), which decreased nearly 70°C compared with Ce-HEO-500 support. Moreover, it also showed excellent stability for 60 h with 98% toluene conversion rate. Most importantly, under the condition of 5 vol.% H2O vapour, the toluene conversion rate remained unchanged and even increased slightly compared with that in dry air, exhibiting excellent water resistance. Combined with the characterizations of XRD, SEM, TEM, BET, Raman, H2-TPR and XPS, it was found that the high dispersion of active Au NPs, the special high-entropy structure and the synergistic effect between Au and Ce, Co, Cu are the key factors when improving the catalytic performance in the Au/Ce-HEO-500 catalyst.

Based on the panel data of China’s A-share non-financial listed enterprises from 2011 to 2020, we empirically explore whether EGS performance can significantly promote corporate value and how to promote it, from the stakeholders’ perspective. We find that: 1) ESG performance significantly improves corporate value. 2) Both media attention and analyst coverage play an intermediary role in the impact of ESG performance on corporate value. 3) Further analysis of the single dimension of ESG illustrates that Environmental (E) and Social (S) have a positive impact on corporate value, but the effect size of Social (S) is smaller, and there is no evidence for a significant relationship between Governance (G) and corporate value. 4) The heterogeneity analysis shows that ESG performance of non-heavily polluting enterprises has a significant positive effect on corporate value, but not on heavily polluting enterprises. Meanwhile, ESG performance of enterprises with a low percentage of institutional investor ownership has a significant positive effect on corporate value, but not with a high percentage. Overall, our study shows that high-quality ESG performance triggers the attention of media and analysts, which in turn promotes corporate value by raising stakeholder pressure. We also analyze the possible causes of heterogeneous results from the perspective of stakeholders, and put forward reasonable suggestions to promote ESG performance and corporate value, as well as protect the interests of stakeholders.

Background Children with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] are disproportionally affected by recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection [rCDI]. Although faecal microbiota transplantation [FMT] has been used with good efficacy in adults with IBD, little is known about outcomes associated with FMT in paediatric IBD. Methods We performed a retrospective review of FMT at 20 paediatric centres in the USA from March 2012 to March 2020. Children with and without IBD were compared with determined differences in the efficacy of FMT for rCDI. In addition, children with IBD with and without a successful outcome were compared with determined predictors of success. Safety data and IBD-specific outcomes were obtained. Results A total of 396 paediatric patients, including 148 with IBD, were included. Children with IBD were no less likely to have a successful first FMT then the non-IBD affected cohort [76% vs 81%, p = 0.17]. Among children with IBD, patients were more likely to have a successful FMT if they received FMT with fresh stool [p = 0.03], were without diarrhoea prior to FMT [p = 0.03], or had a shorter time from rCDI diagnosis until FMT [p = 0.04]. Children with a failed FMT were more likely to have clinically active IBD post-FMT [p = 0.002] and 19 [13%] patients had an IBD-related hospitalisation in the 3-month follow-up. Conclusions Based on the findings from this large US multicentre cohort, the efficacy of FMT for the treatment of rCDI did not differ in children with IBD. Failed FMT among children with IBD was possibly related to the presence of clinically active IBD.

Cervical cancer (CC) is one of the most common malignancies encountered in gynecology practice. However, there is a paucity of information about specific biomarkers that assist in the diagnosis and prognosis of CC. Pyroptosis is a form of programmed cell death whose different elements are related to the occurrence, invasion, and metastasis of tumors. However, the role of pyroptosis phenomena in the progression of CC has not yet been elucidated. This study focuses on the development of a pyroptosis-associated prognostic signature for CC using integrated bioinformatics to delineate the relationships among the signature, tumor microenvironment, and immune response of the patients. In this respect, we identified a prognostic signature that depends on eight pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) that designate with better prognostic survival in the low-risk group (P

Activated carbon (AC) has been widely used in the prevention and control of air and water pollution due to its excellent adsorption ability. However, the adsorption capacity of AC for targeting organic compounds is reduced because of the competitive adsorption of water molecules. The current study proposes hydrophobic modification and regeneration of waste AC as a solution to these issues. Using waste AC as raw material, SiO2 particles were introduced to increase its surface roughness and micropores of AC. Nonpolar alkyl chain groups were grafted on the surface of AC to improve its hydrophobic performance, and high-temperature regeneration was used to increase its specific surface area. The experimental results showed that the water contact angle of AC increased from 30° (hydrophilic) to 142° (hydrophobic) after modification, and it maintained an angle of 139° even after high-temperature regeneration. The specific surface area of hydrophobic AC increased from 290 to 1075 m2 g−1 and the equilibrium adsorption capacity of hydrophobic AC for methylene blue is 425.4 mg g−1 after regeneration. AC-adsorbed methylene blue also has excellent hydrophobicity (145°) and high specific surface area (1250 m2 g−1) after being modified and regenerated by the same methods. After being exposed to air for 600 days, the modified AC still has good hydrophobicity (125°). This indicates that our method of hydrophobic modification combined with regeneration has great significance to the recovery and utilization of waste AC.

Various ZrO2 with pure tetragonal, monoclinic, and mixed phases were used as carriers of gold nanoparticles for an exploration to production of propylene oxide (PO) in co-presence of propylene with H2 and O2. Catalysts with similar gold dispersion (2–5 nm gold particles) were prepared by a deposition–precipitation method. 100% selectivity to PO was obtained for the first time over non-titanium-supported Au catalysts on both tetragonal and monoclinic ZrO2 supports, which needs a good match of nanogold and active sites (quite possible hydroxyls connected with Zr4+). However, Au/tetragonal ZrO2 benefits PO formation that could be accelerated by hydroxyl groups while Au/monoclinic ZrO2 generates more acrolein and suppresses CO2 formation. The active sites for the production of PO are speculated to be Au and Zr-O rectangular pyramids in ZrO2, similar to that on TiO2 and acrolein appears on the Au near oxygen vacancies.

BackgroundEndometriosis is recognized as an estrogen-dependent inflammation disorder, estimated to affect 8%-15% of women of childbearing age. Currently, the etiology and pathogenesis of endometriosis are not completely clear. Underlying mechanism for endometriosis is still under debate and needs further exploration. The involvement of transcription factors and immune mediations may be involved in the pathophysiological process of endometriosis, but the specific mechanism remains to be explored. This study aims to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms in endometriosis.MethodsThe gene expression profile of endometriosis was obtained from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) database. Gene set variation analysis (GSVA) and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) were applied to the endometriosis GSE7305 datasets. Cibersort and MCP-counter were used to explore the immune response gene sets, immune response pathway, and immune environment. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified and screened. Common biological pathways were being investigated using the kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. Transcription factors were from The Human Transcription Factors. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) model identified four differential expressions of transcription factors (AEBP1, HOXB6, KLF2, and RORB). Their diagnostic value was calculated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and validated in the validation cohort (GSE11691, GSE23339). By constructing the interaction network of crucial transcription factors, weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) was used to search for key module genes. Metascape was used for enrichment analysis of essential module genes and obtained HOXB6, KLF2. The HOXB6 and KLF2 were further verified as the only two intersection genes according to Support Vector Machine Recursive Feature Elimination (SVM-RFE) and random forest models. We constructed ceRNA (lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA) networks with four potential transcription factors. Finally, we performed molecular docking for goserelin and dienogest with four transcription factors (AEBP1, HOXB6, KLF2, and RORB) to screen potential drug targets.ResultsImmune and metabolic pathways were enriched in GSVA and GSEA. In single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA), most immune infiltrating cells, immune response gene sets, and immune response pathways are differentially expressed between endometriosis and non-endometriosis. Twenty-seven transcription factors were screened from differentially expressed genes. Most of the twenty-seven transcription factors were correlated with immune infiltrating cells, immune response gene sets and immune response pathways. Furthermore, Adipocyte enhancer binding protein 1 (AEBP1), Homeobox B6 (HOXB6), Kruppel Like Factor 2 (KLF2) and RAR Related Orphan Receptor B (RORB) were selected out from twenty-seven transcription factors. ROC analysis showed that the four genes had a high diagnostic value for endometriosis. In addition, KLF2 and HOXB6 were found to play particularly important roles in multiple modules (String, WGCNA, SVM-RFE, random forest) on the gene interaction network. Using the ceRNA network, we found that NEAT1 may regulate the expressions of AEBP1, HOXB6 and RORB, while X Inactive Specific Transcript (XIST) may control the expressions of HOXB6, RORB and KLF2. Finally, we found that goserelin and dienogest may be potential drugs to regulate AEBP1, HOXB6, KLF2 and RORB through molecular docking.ConclusionsAEBP1, HOXB6, KLF2, and RORB may be potential biomarkers for endometriosis. Two of them, KLF2 and HOXB6, are critical molecules in the gene interaction network of endometriosis. Discovered by molecular docking, AEBP1, HOXB6, KLF2, and RORB are targets for goserelin and dienogest.

BackgroundCuproptosis, a copper-dependent controlled cell death, is a novel form of cell death that differs from known cell death mechanisms; however, its overall regulation in cancer remains elusive.MethodsMultiple open-source bioinformatic platforms were used to comprehensively elucidate the expression levels, prognostic efficiency, potential biological functions, genomic and epigenetic characteristics, immune microenvironment, and drug sensitivity of cuproptosis regulators (ATP7A, ATP7B, DLAT, DLD, FDX1, GLS, LIAS, LIPT1, MTF1, NLRP3, PDHA1, PDHB, and SLC31A1) in pan-cancer.ResultsCuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) were upregulated in most cancers tested. In KIRC, KIRP, LGG, MESO, and PCPG, most highly expressed CRGs predicted a better prognosis but poorer prognosis in patients with ACC, LIHC, and UCEC. Pathway analysis confirmed that cuproptosis regulators were associated with the metabolism-related pathways. The expression of MTF1, NLRP3, and SLC31A1 was positively related with ImmuneScore, StromalScore, and ESTIMATEScore in almost all types of tumor, whereas ATP7B, DLAT, DLD, LIAS, PDHA1, and PDHB were significantly negatively correlated with the scores. In addition, CRGs were significantly correlated with RNA stemness score, DNA stemness score, microsatellite instability, and tumor mutational burden. The expression of ATP7A, ATP7B, LIAS, and DLAT was significantly positively correlated with the drug sensitivity of Docetaxel. ATP7A, LIAS, and FDX1 were significantly negatively correlated with the drug sensitivity of UNC0638, XMD13−2, YM201636, and KIN001−260.ConclusionsThe altered genomic and clinical characteristics of cuproptosis regulators were comprehensively elucidated, providing a preliminary basis for understanding the functions of cuproptosis in pan-cancer.

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in adults has been extensively studied through multicenter prospective studies. Similar pediatric studies are lacking. The Pediatric ERCP Database Initiative (PEDI) is a multicenter collaborative aiming to evaluate the indications and technical outcomes in pediatric ERCPs.In this prospective cohort study, data were recorded for pediatric ERCPs performed across 15 centers. A pre-procedure, procedure, 2-week post-procedure follow-up, and adverse event form were completed for each ERCP performed. Univariate and stepwise linear regression was performed to identify factors associated with technically successful procedures and adverse events.A total of 1124 ERCPs were performed on 857 patients from May 1, 2014 to May 1, 2018. The median age was 13.5 years [interquartile range (IQR) 9.0-15.7]. Procedures were technically successful in the majority of cases (90.5%) with success more commonly encountered for procedures with biliary indications [odds ratio (OR) 4.2] and less commonly encountered for native papilla anatomy (OR 0.4) and in children3 years (OR 0.3). Cannulation was more often successful with biliary cannulation (95.9%) compared to pancreatic cannulation via the major papilla (89.6%, P0.0001) or minor papilla (71.2%, P0.0005). The most commonly identified adverse events included post-ERCP pancreatitis (5%), pain not related to post-ERCP pancreatitis (1.8%), and bleeding (1.2%). Risk factors for the development of each were identified.This large prospective study demonstrates that ERCP is reliable and safe in the pediatric population. It highlights the utility of PEDI in evaluating the technical outcomes of pediatric ERCPs and demonstrates the potential of PEDI for future studies in pediatric ERCPs.

Background Early pregnancy loss (EPL) presents as sporadic or recurrent miscarriage during the first trimester. In addition to chromosomal defects, EPL may result from impairment of the placental-decidual interface at early gestational age due to gene-environmental interactions. Methods To better understand the pathogenesis associated with this impairment, cell development in chorionic villi and decidua of different forms of EPL (sporadic or recurrent) was investigated with single-cell RNA sequencing and compared to that of normal first-trimester tissue. Results Unique gene expression signatures were obtained for the different forms of EPL and for normal tissue and the composition of placental and decidual cell clusters in each form was established. In particular, the involvement of macrophages in the EPL phenotypes was identified revealing an immunoactive state. Conclusion Differential gene expression and unique marker genes among cell clusters from chorionic villi and decidua of miscarried and normal pregnancies, may lead to identification of biomarker for EPL.

Environmental high-temperature-and-humidity (HTH) causes discomfort and is associated with a series of diseases; however, the underlying mechanism linking HTH and these diseases remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that HTH remarkably impaired the secretion of insulin, GLP-1, and ghrelin rapidly and persistently in mice. We then performed a longitudinal analysis of alterations to the gut microbiota following HTH exposure. There was no distinct alteration in the gut microbiota associated with the impaired secretion of insulin and gut hormones. The causal mediation analysis also excluded the predominant role of gut bacteria in insulin and gut hormone levels. In contrast, fecal microbiota transplant experiments confirmed that the gut microbiota decreased the plasma levels of glucose and triglyceride, likely through augmented thermogenesis. This implied that the gut microbiota compensated for the metabolic effect of insufficient insulin on glucose and lipid synthesis in HTH-treated mice. Furthermore, we revealed a profound alteration in bile acids (BAs) with characteristics of decreased tauro-conjugation rapidly following HTH exposure, and a reduced bile acid pool emerged gradually. Using proteomic analysis, we showed that multiple farnesoid X receptor (FXR)-targeted proteins, including BA transporters SLC10A2, FABP6, and OSTα/OSTβ, were enriched in the ileum 8 weeks after HTH exposure, thus implying an augmented reabsorption of bile acids in response to the reduced BAs pool. Considering the critical role of FXR in GLP-1 suppression as well as in controlling BA homeostasis, lipoprotein and glucose metabolism, hepatic regeneration, intestinal bacterial growth, and the response to hepatotoxins, our results revealed a link between environmental HTH, bile acids, gut microbiota, and energy metabolism. This study sheds new light on the pathogenesis of several ambient HTH-associated diseases.

A series of well-dispersed CeMnO

Gold nanocatalysts have been reported to be active in the selective hydrogenation of acetylene. In this paper, a series of Au/Ce1−xZrxO2 (x = 0.03 to 0.5) supported catalysts with different ratios of Ce to Zr were prepared and their catalytic performance for selective hydrogenation of acetylene was investigated. The structure and surface defects of the catalyst can be changed by altering the amount of Zr incorporation. Compared to both Au/CeO2 and Au/ZrO2, the synthesized Au/Ce1−xZrxO2 showed the higher catalytic activity with keeping almost 100% ethylene selectivity at 300 °C. The TEM observation indicated that the incorporation of Zr led to the formation of hollow spherical solid solutions. The specific surface area also has a certain influence on the catalytic activity. Considering the catalytic activity of Au/Ce1−xZrxO2 and their characterizations by XPS and Raman, the concentration of Ce4+ and the oxygen vacancy of the Ce1−xZrxO2 support play an important role in the selective hydrogenation of acetylene.

Based on the background of China's pilot low-carbon city initiative in 2010, 2012, and 2017, this article captures the exogenous change of enterprise labor structure based on A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2019 in Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock exchanges. With the integration of macro data on the city level and micro data on the enterprise level, adopting the time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) model, we found that 1) China's pilot low-carbon city initiative can significantly promote the upgrading of enterprise labor structure; 2) China's pilot low-carbon city initiative can significantly increase R&D investment of listed companies, suggesting that R&D investment is a channel for the impact of China's pilot low-carbon city initiative on enterprise labor structure in the pilot cities; 3) the heterogeneity analysis shows that the labor structure of the state-owned listed companies has been optimized significantly, while the labor structure of the non–state-owned listed companies is not significant. Meanwhile, the labor structure of the listed companies under high-quality government control has been optimized significantly, while the labor structure of the listed companies under low-quality government control is not significant. Overall, our study shows that the pilot low-carbon city initiative has played a governance role in China and optimized enterprise labor structure.

High temperature and humidity (HTH) can cause diarrhea owing to food and drinking water contamination. However, their direct effects on gut microbiota and gastrointestinal inflammation are unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effects of HTH and probiotics on the microbiome. Twenty-one male mice were randomly assigned to normal control (NC), HTH, and broad-spectrum probiotic-treated (PR) groups. HTH and PR groups were regularly housed at 30 ± 0.5 °C with humidity of 85–90% for eight consecutive weeks. A broad-spectrum probiotic was administrated to PR-group mice from day 50 to 56. Clinical signs were observed and gut microbiota were analyzed via 16 S rRNA-based functional metagenomics. Intestinal pathology and the expression of defensins and pro-inflammatory cytokines were also assessed. Mice in the HTH and PR groups gradually developed sticky or loose feces. The HTH group developed a distinct microbiota profile associated with augmented metabolism and human-like pathophysiologies upon suppression of environmental sensing. Pathological assays indicated minimal enteritis, increased bacterial translocation, and elevated intestinal pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. Thus, ambient HTH directly contributes to gut dysbiosis and minimal enteritis, whereas probiotics partially normalized the microbiota and ameliorated gut inflammation. This study provides novel insights into the pathogenesis of environment-associated diseases and offers a potential therapeutic approach.

Background and aims Ionizing radiation exposure during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is an important quality issue especially in children. We aim to identify factors associated with extended fluoroscopy time (FT) in children undergoing ERCP. Methods ERCP on children ≤18 years from 15 centers were entered prospectively into a REDCap database from 5/2014 until 5/2018. Data were retrospectively evaluated for outcome and quality measures. A univariate and step-wise linear regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with increased FT. Results 1073 ERCPs performed in 816 unique patients met inclusion criteria. Median age was 12.2 years (IQR 9.3-15.8). 767 (71%) patients had native papillae. The median FT was 120 seconds (IQR 60-240). Factors associated with increased FT included procedures performed on patients with chronic pancreatitis, ERCPs with ASGE difficulty grade ≥3, ERCPs performed by Pediatric Gastroenterologist (GI) with Adult GI supervision, and ERCPs performed at non-free standing children's hospitals. Hispanic ethnicity was the only factor associated with lower FT. Conclusion Several factors were associated with prolonged FTs in pediatric ERCP that differed from adult studies. This underscores that adult quality indicators cannot always be translated to pediatric patients. This data can better identify children with higher risk for radiation exposure and improve quality outcomes during pediatric ERCP. An infographic is available for this article at:http://links.lww.com/MPG/C570.

Background: Cervical cancer (CC) is one of the most common malignancies in gynecology. There is still a lack of specific biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of CC. Pyroptosis is one of the methods of programmed cell death, and its various components are related to the occurrence, invasion, and metastasis of tumors. However, the role of pyroptosis in CC has not yet been elucidated.Methods: This study focuses on the development of a prognostic signature associated with pyroptosis for CC patients using integrated bioinformatics to elucidate the relationship between the signature and the tumor microenvironment and immune response.Results: We identified a prognostic signature based on eight pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs), with better prognostic survival in the low-risk group (PConclusion: The study successfully established the prognostic signature based on eight PRGs and reflected their tumor microenvironment and immune infiltration. The GZMB/ miR-378a/TRIM52-AS1 regulatory axis may play an important regulatory role in the development of CC, and further experimental studies are needed to validate these results subsequently.

Supported gold nanoparticles are highly selective catalysts for hydrogenation of acetylene, but low activity and heavy coke effect have been major concern for the Au-based catalysts. Based on a modified impregnation-calcination strategy, a series of MgOx-Al2O3 composite oxides with different crystal structures from mixed phase to pure spinel was prepared. Due to its crystal defect and synergetic effect, Au nanoparticles on MgOx-Al2O3 components treated at 550 °C (abbreviated as Au/3%MgOx-Al2O3-550) with well controlled smaller particle size gave an enhanced activity for the selective acetylene hydrogenation. The conversion rate was nearly twice as high as that of all other samples at 250 °C. The H2-TPR and XPS results indicate the partially positive charged Au species (Auδ+) played a crucial role in facilitating the adsorption of the C C group. Both the temperature programmed oxidation and Raman scattering also indicated that the Au/3%MgOx-Al2O3-550 showed better decoking effect than Au/Al2O3. This report opens up promising possibilities on engineering the crystal phase of support for the highly efficient heterogeneous gold catalysts.

In order to clarify the nature of cooperation effect of gold–copper in CO oxidation without disturb of substrate materials, in this work we prepared nano-sized copper and cuprous oxide with different morphologies followed by the deposition of gold nanoparticles. The reaction of CO oxidation under both hydrogen-rich and oxygen-rich streams was investigated over as-prepared CuO/Cu2O materials and the corresponding supported gold catalysts. The characterizations reveal that in the unreduced Au/Cu2O samples, Au+–Cu2+ assembles are dominant on the surface of Cu2O substrate due to the spontaneous oxidation–reduction reaction of Au3+ and Cu+, while both of Au3+-Cu2+ and Au+-Cu2+ entireties are existed in the unreduced Au/CuO sample and the former is dominant. A comprehensive analysis of the catalytic results over these samples for CO oxidation in both oxygen-rich and hydrogen-rich streams demonstrates that the CuO species (not Cu2O) play a more critical role for the oxidation of CO and the improved catalytic activity of the Au/CuO catalyst can be attributed to the strong interactions of CuO support with nanogold particles.

The heterogeneity of coalbed methane (CBM) resources was not taken into account when the current indiscriminate subsidy policy was developed. In it, limited subsidy funds are given first to high-quality resources and even to subsidize profitable projects. Thus, the policy has had less than the intended effect in improving CBM production. To implement a new type of differential subsidy, it is necessary to grade the CBM resources, as will be discussed in this paper. After the factors affecting the resources value are systemically examined, sorted and merged, the relationship between the key factors and economic value is analyzed by an engineering economics method, and the production profile type, peak production (or stable production) and buried depth are used as grading factors. The production profile type is used to categorize, and peak production and buried depth are used to grade resources within the same category. The grading method is as follows: use subsidy levels at the economic critical point (NPV = 0) to identify the grades of resources, and determine the combination of peak production and buried depth for different resources grades base on indifference curves drawn according to the relationship between the economic value and peak production and buried depth.

In this paper, core-shell SiO2/polypyrrole (SiO2/PPy) composites were prepared via in situ chemical oxidation of pyrrole monomer on surface of the modified SiO2 by using FeCl3 as the oxidant. Au nanoparticles (NPs) were loaded on SiO2/PPy composites by means of the redox reaction between PPy and gold ions. Several analytical tools, such as TEM, FT-IR, XRD and EDX, were employed to characterize the morphology and structure of the as-prepared SiO2/PPy/Au composites. Their catalytic performances in reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) with NaBH4 as the reducing agent were studied. Results showed that the conversion of 4-NP was increased with an decrease of Au loading. The reduction of trace AuCl4− ions in core-shell composites to small Au NPs by NaBH4 in the beginning of the reaction favored the enhancement of catalytic activity.

Background The oncogenic potential of special AT-rich binding protein 1 (SATB1) has been reported in various types of cancer, but its function in cervical cancer remains not fully investigated. This study aimed to investigate the effect of SATB1 mRNA expression on tumor progression and outcomes in the cervical cancer patients. Methods A total of 33 cervical cancer patients treated in our hospital from September 2012 to December 2015 were included. The mRNA expression level of STAB1 in cervical cancer tissue was determined by real-time PCR, and the patients were divided into dichotomous groups based on their SATB1 expression level. Clinical characteristics, recurrence, and survival outcomes were compared between groups. Results Compared with the SATB1-low group, the SATB1-high group had significantly advanced International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stages (P=0.037) and histologic grade (P=0.036). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that SATB1-high group had a worse overall survival (P=0.078, marginal significant). In the subgroup analysis of pathological types, adenocarcinomas group (n=8) had a significantly higher SATB1 expression level as compared with the squamous cell carcinomas (n=18) and adenosquamous carcinomas (n=7) groups (both P

Lijie Zhao,1 Yuhua Zheng,1 Yong Ji,2 Xiaoying Zhang3 1Department of Gynecology, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Foshan, Foshan 528000, Guangdong, China; 2Department of Surgery, The First People’s Hospital of Foshan, Foshan 528000, Guangdong, China; 3Department of Gynecology, Jiashi County People’s Hospital of Kashi Region, Kashi, Xinjiang 844000, China Background: The oncogenic potential of special AT-rich binding protein 1 (SATB1) has been reported in various types of cancer, but its function in cervical cancer remains not fully investigated. This study aimed to investigate the effect of SATB1 mRNA expression on tumor progression and outcomes in the cervical cancer patients. Methods: A total of 33 cervical cancer patients treated in our hospital from September 2012 to December 2015 were included. The mRNA expression level of STAB1 in cervical cancer tissue was determined by real-time PCR, and the patients were divided into dichotomous groups based on their SATB1 expression level. Clinical characteristics, recurrence, and survival outcomes were compared between groups. Results: Compared with the SATB1-low group, the SATB1-high group had significantly advanced International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stages (P=0.037) and histologic grade (P=0.036). Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that SATB1-high group had a worse overall survival (P=0.078, marginal significant). In the subgroup analysis of pathological types, adenocarcinomas group (n=8) had a significantly higher SATB1 expression level as compared with the squamous cell carcinomas (n=18) and adenosquamous carcinomas (n=7) groups (both P

Supported gold catalysts are highly efficient for selective hydrogenation of acetylene. It has been shown that reducible materials such as ceria may influence the catalytic performance due to its unique charge shift between reduced and oxidized state. However, its role in catalytic performance remains fiercely debated. In this paper, differently morphological CeO2 supported Au catalysts were prepared with pretreatment under air and H2 atmospheres respectively, and evaluated for selective hydrogenation of acetylene. No matter with rod (abbreviated as R) or polyhedral (abbreviated as P) shape, the catalysts of Au/CeO2 reduced in air exhibits better catalytic performance than that in H2 atmosphere. The Au/CeO2 (R)-air catalyst shows the best performance. The C2H2 conversion is about three times of that over the catalyst of Au/CeO2 (R)-H2 at 300 °C. The Raman result and XPS analysis clearly showed a dependence of catalytic activity on the oxygen vacancy concentration of catalysts, revealing the correlation between its defect features and pretreatment atmosphere. Our report not only deepens the knowledge of catalytic performance affected by defect features of catalyst but also provides a possibility for the efficient heterogeneous gold/ceria catalysts by controlling the pretreatment atmosphere.

Patients with NEUROG3 mutations suffer from diabetes mellitus due to pancreatic endocrinopathy and chronic malabsorptive diarrhea due to enteric endocrinopathy. We have identified a severe truncation mutation in NEUROG3 (P39PfsX38) that results in pancreatic exocrine insufficiency and significantly contributes to chronic malabsorptive diarrhea. We identified this novel phenotype by interrogating induced pluripotent stem cells from the NEUROG3-P39PfsX38 patient’s fibroblasts and an isogenic “wild-type” control cell line generated via CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. We discovered that NEUROG3- P39PfsX38 lines failed to activate pancreatic progenitor and differentiated lineage markers, suggesting that the mutation may disrupt pancreatic organogenesis and could result in endocrine and exocrine dysfunction. Isogenic corrected cell lines differentiated into all pancreatic lineages. Clinical assessments concluded that the patient has exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Treatment with pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy improved patient outcomes, including weight gain, fat absorption, and resolution of fat-soluble vitamin deficiency. These results expose a novel role for NEUROG3 in human pancreatic differentiation and illustrate how patient-specific stem cells can be used to interrogate disease etiology and affect patient care.

With increased global warming, the impact of high temperature and humidity (HTH) on human health is increasing. Traditional Chinese medicine describes the Herb Yinchen as a remedy for reducing heat and eliminating dampness. This study focused on the impact of HTH conditions on mice and the potential protective effect of Herb Yinchen. Five male Balb/c mouse groups included two normal control groups, two HTH-exposed groups, and one Yinchen-treated group. For either three or ten days, normal and HTH-exposed mice were housed under normal or HTH (33 ± 2 °C,85% relative humidity) conditions, respectively. Yinchen-treated mice, housed under HTH conditions, received the Herb Yinchen decoction for three days. Metabolite profiles of plasma and liver samples from each group were analyzed using LC–MS/MS. Fecal DNA was extracted for 16S rDNA analysis to evaluate the intestinal microbiome. Spearman correlation analysis was performed on metabolites, bacteria, and bile acids that differed between the groups. We found that HTH altered the host metabolite profiles and reduced microbial diversity, causing intestinal microbiome imbalance. Interestingly, Herb Yinchen treatment improved HTH-mediated changes of the metabolite profiles and the intestinal microbiome, restoring them to values observed in normal controls. In conclusion, our study reveals that HTH causes intestinal bacterial disturbances and metabolic disorders in normal mice, while Herb Yinchen could afford protection against such changes.

This paper explores the effect of emission trading scheme (ETS) policy on carbon emission performance using the setting that China implemented an ETS pilot policy from 2013 to 2014. Adopting the Difference-in-Difference (DID) model, we find that: (1) China's ETS pilot policy can significantly improve the carbon emission performance of listed companies in the pilot provinces. (2) The heterogeneity analysis shows that the carbon emission performance of listed companies in the eastern coastal pilot areas has improved significantly, which is not significant in the central and western pilot areas. (3) We find that China’s ETS pilot policy can significantly improve innovation capabilities of listed companies, suggesting that innovation is a channel for the impact of the China’s ETS pilot policy on carbon emission performance in the pilot provinces. Overall, our study shows that ETS pilot policy has played a governance role in China and improved carbon emission performance. We further highlight some important policy implications with respect to helping companies save energy and reduce emissions, and promoting the further improvement of China’s ETS pilot policy.

Backgroud ZBTB protein is an important member of the C2H2 zinc finger protein family. As a transcription factor, it is widely involved in the transcriptional regulation of genes, cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. The ZBTB7A has been largely linked to different kinds of tumors due to its diverse function. However, the value for ZBTB7A in uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma (UCEC) is unclear. Methods In our work, we assessed the importance of ZBTB7A in UCEC. Firstly, Using Oncomine and Tumor Immunoassay Resource (TIMER) databases to evaluate the expression of ZBTB7A. Secondly, we explored the co-expression network of ZBTB7A through the cBioPortal online tool, Metascape, and LinkedOmics. TIMER was also used to explore the relationship between ZBTB7A and tumor immune invasion, and to detect the correlation between the ZBTB7A and the marker genes related to immune infiltration. Finally, CCK8, migration, ChIP assays were introduced to partly validate ZBTB7A function in endometrial cancer cells. Results We found the ZBTB7A expression in TIMER was associated with various cancers, especially UCEC. The decreased expression of ZBTB7A was markedly related to the stage and prognosis of UCEC. Furthermore, ZBTB7A was also related to the expression of various immune markers such as Neutrophils, Dendritic cell, T cell (general), Th1, Th2, and Treg. Finally, we verified that ZBTB7A repressed E2F4 transcription and inhibited cells proliferation and migration. These results indicate that ZBTB7A may play a vital role in regulating immune cell infiltration in UCEC, and is a valuable prognostic marker. Conclusions In summary, we demonstrate that ZBTB7A is notably downregulated in UCEC, plays a vital role in regulating immune cell infiltration, possesses diagnostic and prognostic values and attenuates E2F4 transcription and cell proliferation, migration in vitro.

Background Uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma (UCEC) is a frequent gynecological malignancy with a poor prognosis particularly at an advanced stage. Herein, this study aims to construct prognostic markers of UCEC based on immune-related genes to predict the prognosis of UCEC. Methods We analyzed expression data of 575 UCEC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas database and immune genes from the ImmPort database, which were used for generation and validation of the signature. We constructed a transcription factor regulatory network based on Cistrome databases, and also performed functional enrichment and pathway analyses for the differentially expressed immune genes. Moreover, the prognostic value of 410 immune genes was determined using the Cox regression analysis. We then constructed and verified a prognostic signature. Finally, we performed immune infiltration analysis using TIMER-generating immune cell content. Results The immune cell microenvironment as well as the PI3K-Akt, and MARK signaling pathways were involved in UCEC development. The established prognostic signature revealed a ten-gene prognostic signature, comprising of PDIA3, LTA, PSMC4, TNF, SBDS, HDGF, HTR3E, NR3C1, PGR, and CBLC. This signature showed a strong prognostic ability in both the training and testing sets and thus can be used as an independent tool to predict the prognosis of UCEC. In addition, levels of B cells and neutrophils were significantly correlated with the patient’s risk score, while the expression of ten genes was associated with immune cell infiltrates. Conclusions In summary, the ten-gene prognostic signature may guide the selection of the immunotherapy for UCEC.

Artificial reefs are being implemented around the world for their multi-functions including coastal protection and environmental improvement. To better understand the hydrodynamic and morphodynamic roles of an artificial reef (AR) in beach protection, a series of experiments were conducted in a 50 m-long wave flume configured with a 1:10 sloping beach and a model AR (1.8 m long &times, 0.3 m high) with 0.2 m submergence depth. Five regular and five irregular wave conditions were generated on two types of beach profiles (with/without model AR) to study the cross-shore hydrodynamic and morphological evolution process. The influences of AR on the processes are concluded as follows: (1) AR significantly decreases the incident wave energy, and its dissipation effect differs for higher and lower harmonics under irregular wave climates, (2) AR changes the cross-shore patterns of hydrodynamic factors (significant wave height, wave skewness and asymmetry, and undertow), leading to the movement of shoaling and breaking zones, (3) the beach evolution is characterized by a sandbar and a scarp which respectively sit at a higher and lower location on the profile with AR than natural beach without AR, (4) the cross-shore morphological features indicate that AR can lead to beach state transformation toward reflective state, (5) the scarp retreat process can be described by a model where the scarp location depends linearly on the natural exponential of time with the fitting parameters determined by wave run-up reduced by AR. This study demonstrates cross-shore effects of AR as a beach protection structure that changes wave dynamics in surf and swash zone, reduces offshore sediment transport, and induces different morphological features.

Anemia is one of the most common extraintestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It can be asymptomatic or associated with nonspecific symptoms, such as irritability, headaches, fatigue, dizziness, and anorexia. In IBD patients, the etiology of anemia is often multifactorial. Various causes include iron deficiency, anemia of inflammation and chronic disease, vitamin deficiencies, hemolysis, or myelosuppressive effect of drugs. Anemia and iron deficiency in these patients may be underestimated because of their insidious onset, lack of standardized screening practices, and possibly underappreciation that treatment of anemia is also required when treating IBD. Practitioners may hesitate to use oral preparations because of their intolerance whereas intravenous preparations are underutilized because of fear of adverse events, availability, and cost. Several publications in recent years have documented the safety and comparative efficacy of various intravenous preparations. This article reviews management of anemia in children with IBD, including diagnosis, etiopathogenesis, evaluation of a patient, protocol to screen and monitor patients for early detection and response to therapy, treatment including parenteral iron therapy, and newer approaches in management of anemia of chronic disease. This report has been compiled by a group of pediatric gastroenterologists serving on the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) IBD committee, in collaboration with a pediatric hematologist, pharmacist, and a registered dietician who specializes in pediatric IBD (IBD Anemia Working Group), after an extensive review of the current literature. The purpose of this review is to raise awareness of under-diagnosis of anemia in children with IBD and make recommendations for screening, testing, and treatment in this population.

RNF183, a member of the E3 ubiquitin ligase, has been shown to involve in carcinogenesis and proposed as one of the biomarkers in Uterine Corpus Endometrial Carcinoma (UCEC). However, no research focused on the role of RNF183 in UCEC. We analyzed the expression and immune infiltration of RNF183 in UCEC. TIMER, UALCAN, and GEPIA were used to analyze the gene expression of RNF183. We emplored Kaplan-Meier Plotter to examine the overall survival and progression-free survival of RNF183, and applied GeneMANIA to identify RNF183-related functional networks. LinkedOmics was helpful to identify the differential gene expression of RNF183, and to further analyze gene ontology and the genome pathways in the Kyoto Protocol. Finally, we used TIMER to investigate the immune infiltration of RNF183 in UCEC. Otherwise, we partly verified the results of bioinformatics analysis that RNF183 controlled ERα expression in ERα-positive Ishikawa cells dependent on its RING finger domain. We also found that ERα increased the stability of RNF183 through the post-translational mechanism. Together, patients with a high level of RNF183 harbor favorable overall and progression-free survival. High expression of RNF183 was associated with a low stage, endometrioid, and TP53 Non-Mutant status in endometrial cancer. The RNF183 expression was greater at higher expression and the tumor stage was greater at the lower level. On the side of immunization, high level of RNF183 in UCEC is negatively related to tumor purity, infiltrating levels of CD4 + T cells, neutrophils, and dendritic cells. Besides, the expression of RNF183 in UCEC is significantly correlated with the expression of several immune cell markers, including B cell, M1 macrophage marker, M2 Macrophage, Dendritic cell, Th1 markers, Th2 markers, Treg markers, and T cell exhaustion markers, indicating its role in regulating tumor immunity. These results suggested that RNF183 may be considered as a novel prognostic factor in endometrial cancer and an early diagnostic indicator for patients with UCEC.

ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to determine whether clinical characteristics and management of pediatric acute recurrent pancreatitis (ARP) and chronic pancreatitis (CP) differ across INSPPIRE (INternational Study Group of Pediatric Pancreatitis: In Search for a cuRE) sites.Study designData were collected from INSPPIRE and analyzed per US regions and "non-US" sites. Between-group differences were compared by Pearson chi-square test. Differences in disease burden were compared by Kruskal-Wallis test.ResultsOut of the 479 subjects, 121 (25%) were enrolled in West, 151 (32%) Midwest, 45 Northeast (9%), 78 (16%) South, and 84 (18%) at non-US sites. Hispanic ethnicity was more common in South (P