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Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) have emerged as promising candidates for sodium-based batteries due to their cost-effectiveness and excellent flexibility. However, achieving high ionic conductivity and desirable mechanical properties in SPEs remains a challenge. In this study, we investigated an AB diblock copolymer, PS–PEA(BuImTFSI), as a potential SPE for sodium batteries. We explored binary and ternary electrolyte systems by combining the polymer with salt and [C3mpyr][FSI] ionic liquid (IL) and analyzed their thermal and electrochemical properties. Differential scanning calorimetry revealed phase separation in the polymer systems. The addition of salt exhibited a plasticizing effect localized to the polyionic liquid (PIL) phase, resulting in an increased ionic conductivity in the binary electrolytes. Introducing the IL further enhanced the plasticizing effect, elevating the ionic conductivity in the ternary system. Spectroscopic analysis, for the first time, revealed that the incorporation of NaFSI and IL influences the conformation of TFSI–and weakens the interaction between TFSI–and the polymer. This establishes correlations between anions and Na+, ultimately enhancing the diffusivity of Na ions. The electrochemical properties of an optimized SPE in Na/Na symmetrical cells were investigated, showcasing stable Na plating/stripping at high current densities up to 0.7 mA cm–2, maintaining its integrity at 70 °C. Furthermore, we evaluated the performance of a Na|NaFePO4cell cycled at different rates (C/10 and C/5) and temperatures (50 and 70 °C), revealing remarkable high-capacity retention and Coulombic efficiency. This study highlights the potential of solvent-free diblock copolymer electrolytes for high-performance sodium-based energy storage systems, contributing to advanced electrolyte materials.

ABSTRACT:We reviewed stroke care delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic at our stroke center and provincial telestroke system. We counted referrals to our prevention clinic, code strokes, thrombolysis, endovascular thrombectomies, and activations of a provincial telestroke system from February to April of 2017–2020. In April 2020, there was 28% reduction in prevention clinic referrals, 32% reduction in code strokes, and 26% reduction in telestroke activations compared to prior years. Thrombolysis and endovascular thrombectomy rates remained constant. Fewer patients received stroke services across the spectrum from prevention, acute care to telestroke care in Ontario, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study uses a multimodal analytical approach to evaluate the rates of (co)amorphization of milled drug and excipient and the effectiveness of different analytical methods in detecting these changes. Indomethacin and tryptophan were the model substances, and the analytical methods included low-frequency Raman spectroscopy (785 nm excitation and capable of measuring both low- (10 to 250 cm–1) and midfrequency (450 to 1800 cm–1) regimes, and a 830 nm system (5 to 250 cm–1)), conventional (200–3000 cm–1) Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD). The kinetics of amorphization were found to be faster for the mixture, and indeed, for indomethacin, only partial amorphization occurred (after 360 min of milling). Each technique was capable of identifying the transformations, but some, such as low-frequency Raman spectroscopy and XRPD, provided less ambiguous signatures than the midvibrational frequency techniques (conventional Raman and FTIR). The low-frequency Raman spectra showed intense phonon mode bands for the crystalline and cocrystalline samples that could be used as a sensitive probe of order. Multivariate analysis has been used to further interpret the spectral changes. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of low-frequency Raman spectroscopy, which has several practical advantages over XRPD, for probing (dis-)order during pharmaceutical processing, showcasing its potential for future development, and implementation as an in-line process monitoring method.

Conjugation of a vaccine adjuvant to an antigen enhances anti-tumor immune responses. Direct chemical conjugation, however, may limit their processing by the antigen-presenting cell for immune stimulation. To test this hypothesis, antigen-adjuvant conjugates were designed to be cleaved by an intracellular trigger to release antigen and adjuvant from each other. The different reductive environment inside and outside antigen-presenting cells was used as a trigger for targeted intracellular release. Two redox-responsive disulphide linkers were used to conjugate the model antigen ovalbumin to CpG. In vitro stability assays with the reductant glutathione showed that one conjugate (SS) was cleaved by glutathione concentrations of the extra- and intracellular compartments. A second conjugate (HYN-SS) was only cleaved at the higher intracellular glutathione concentration. In vitro cell culture studies showed that high T cell responses were generated by the HYN-SS and the stable conjugate HYN. The SS conjugate induced a lower T cell response similar to a mixture of CpG and ovalbumin. An in vivo therapeutic tumor trial demonstrated a superior survival rate of 9/10 for mice vaccinated with HYN-SS conjugate compared to HYN (6/10), SS (2/10), and the mixture (2/10). This intracellular cleavable conjugation strategy represents a promising approach to improve cancer immunotherapy of soluble vaccines.

This essay examines the remarkable late-medieval English dramatic work known as the Croxton Play of the Sacrament—an ambivalent parochial re-interpretation of the Continental genre of the ‘host desecration play’. It suggests that the conventions, ideas and even the characters of the play are curiously distinct from those of the surviving, strongly antisemitic European plays, having seemingly undergone a sea change in the course of their journey from central Germany, Italy and France to rural East Anglia. The essay explores the potentially radical implications of the play's conception of its Jewish characters, and of the central figure of Jonathas in particular, arguing that, while the playwright was not consciously seeking to question, still less to undermine, conventional assumptions about the nature and role of the Jews in Christian theology, the net effect of his dramatic experiments was to set those traditions on their heads.

This essay examines the remarkable late-medieval English dramatic work known as the Croxton Play of the Sacrament - an ambivalent parochial re-interpretation of the Continental genre of the host desecration play'. It suggests that the conventions, ideas and even the characters of the play are curiously distinct from those of the surviving, strongly antisemitic European plays, having seemingly undergone a sea change in the course of their journey from central Germany, Italy and France to rural East Anglia. The essay explores the potentially radical implications of the play's conception of its Jewish characters, and of the central figure of Jonathas in particular, arguing that, while the playwright was not consciously seeking to question, still less to undermine, conventional assumptions about the nature and role of the Jews in Christian theology, the net effect of his dramatic experiments was to set those traditions on their heads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platinum bisphosphine complexes bearing dichalcogen‐derivatised naphthalene, acenaphthene or phenanthrene ligands have been prepared by either oxidative addition to zero‐valent platinum species or from [PtCl2(PPhR2)] (R=Ph or Me) and the disodium or dilithium salts of the parent disulfur, diselenide or mixed S/Se species. The parent naphthalene, acenaphthene and phenanthrene chalcogen compounds were treated with either [Pt(PPh3)4] or [Pt(C2H4)(PMe3)2] (prepared in situ from [PtCl2(PMe3)2], ethene and sodium naphthalide or super hydride [LiBEt3H]) to give the appropriate platinum(II) species. The dilithium salts of 1,8‐E2‐naphthalene (E=S or Se) prepared in situ by reduction of the EE bond with [LiBEt3H] were treated with [PtCl2(PPh3)2] to give [Pt(1,8‐E2‐nap)(PPh3)2]. The tetraoxides [Pt(1,8‐(S(O)2)2‐nap)(PR3)2] (PR3=PPh3or PMe2Ph) were prepared in a similar metathetical manner from the appropriate [PtCl2(PR3)] complexes and the disodium salt of naphthalene 1,8‐disulfinic acid (1,8‐(S(O)ONa)2‐nap). The X‐ray structures of selected examples reveal bidentate coordination with the naphthalene‐E2unit hinged (111–137°) with respect to the coordination plane. The naphthalene ring suffers significant distortion from planarity.

Platinum bisphosphine complexes bearing dichalcogen-derivatised naphthalene, acenaphthene or phenanthrene ligands have been prepared by either oxidative addition to zero-valent platinum species or from [PtCl2(PPhR2)] (R=Ph or Me) and the disodium or dilithium salts of the parent disulfur, diselenide or mixed S/Se species. The parent naphthalene, acenaphthene and phenanthrene chalcogen compounds were treated with either [Pt(PPh3)4] or [Pt(C2H4)(PMe3)2] (prepared in situ from [PtCl2(PMe3)2], ethene and sodium naphthalide or super hydride [LiBEt3H]) to give the appropriate platinum(II) species. The dilithium salts of 1,8-E2-naphthalene (E=S or Se) prepared in situ by reduction of the E&bond;E bond with [LiBEt3H] were treated with [PtCl2(PPh3)2] to give [Pt(1,8-E2-nap)(PPh3)2]. The tetraoxides [Pt(1,8-(S(O)2)2-nap)(PR3)2] (PR3=PPh3 or PMe2Ph) were prepared in a similar metathetical manner from the appropriate [PtCl2(PR3)] complexes and the disodium salt of naphthalene 1,8-disulfinic acid (1,8-(S(O)ONa)2-nap). The X-ray structures of selected examples reveal bidentate coordination with the naphthalene-E2 unit hinged (111–137°) with respect to the coordination plane. The naphthalene ring suffers significant distortion from planarity.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of polycarbophil–cysteine conjugates (PCP–Cys) as an oral excipient to protect leucine enkephalin (leu-enkp) from enzymatic degradation by the intestinal mucosa. Cysteine was covalently linked to polycarbophil by 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDAC). Inhibitory activity was tested towards isolated aminopeptidase N and excised intact pig intestinal mucosa, with native mucus. Aminopeptidase N activity was assayed spectrophotometrically using L-leucine p-nitroanilide (leu-pNA) as a synthetic substrate and against the model peptide drug leu-enkp, by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Free cysteine at 6.3 and 63 μM (pH 6) significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited aminopeptidase N activity, and PCP–Cys (0.25% w/v, pH 6) had a significantly (p < 0.05) greater inhibitory effect than PCP on the aminopeptidase N activity towards both substrates. PCP–Cys completely protected leu-enkp against aminopeptidase N activity over a 2-h incubation period, whereas 83 ± 4 and 60 ± 7% remained stable in the presence of PCP and buffer only, respectively. Leu-enkp in the absence and presence of PCP (0.25% w/v) at pH 6 was completely digested by the intact intestinal mucosa at the 60- and 90-min incubation time points, respectively, whereas in the presence of PCP–Cys (0.25% w/v, pH 6) 11 ± 3.5% of leu-enkp remained at the 120-min time point. Thiolation of PCP increased the stability of leu-enkp against the enzymatic degradation by aminopeptidase N and the intact intestinal mucosa, identifying a promising new excipient for peroral delivery of peptides. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmaceutical Association J Pharm Sci 90:1907–1914, 2001

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of polycarbophil–cysteine conjugates (PCP–Cys) as an oral excipient to protect leucine enkephalin (leu-enkp) from enzymatic degradation by the intestinal mucosa. Cysteine was covalently linked to polycarbophil by 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDAC). Inhibitory activity was tested towards isolated aminopeptidase N and excised intact pig intestinal mucosa, with native mucus. Aminopeptidase N activity was assayed spectrophotometrically using L-leucine p-nitroanilide (leu-pNA) as a synthetic substrate and against the model peptide drug leu-enkp, by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Free cysteine at 6.3 and 63 μM (pH 6) significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited aminopeptidase N activity, and PCP–Cys (0.25% w/v, pH 6) had a significantly (p < 0.05) greater inhibitory effect than PCP on the aminopeptidase N activity towards both substrates. PCP–Cys completely protected leu-enkp against aminopeptidase N activity over a 2-h incubation period, whereas 83 ± 4 and 60 ± 7% remained stable in the presence of PCP and buffer only, respectively. Leu-enkp in the absence and presence of PCP (0.25% w/v) at pH 6 was completely digested by the intact intestinal mucosa at the 60- and 90-min incubation time points, respectively, whereas in the presence of PCP–Cys (0.25% w/v, pH 6) 11 ± 3.5% of leu-enkp remained at the 120-min time point. Thiolation of PCP increased the stability of leu-enkp against the enzymatic degradation by aminopeptidase N and the intact intestinal mucosa, identifying a promising new excipient for peroral delivery of peptides. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmaceutical Association J Pharm Sci 90:1907–1914, 2001

Purpose. To determine the mechanism by which Carbomer inhibits the enzymatic activity of trypsin in hydrolysis of N-α-benzoyl-L-arginine ethyl ester (BAEE) and luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH). Methods. Inhibition of enzymatic activity was studied by measuring the formation of metabolites from LHRH and BAEE. Binding of trypsin and substrates to 0.35% (w/v) Carbomer at pH 7.0 was studied by centrifugal filtration. Gel filtration and reverse phase HPLC was used to determine the stability of trypsin. Results. Carbomer reduced the rate of hydrolysis of BAEE and LHRH by trypsin to 34% and 28% of the control activity, respectively. The rate of metabolite formation for both substrates followed pseudo-zero order kinetics in the presence and absence of carbomer. Binding studies showed that 68% of the trypsin protein and 10% of BAEE was bound to carbomer, but no LHRH was bound. No low molecular weight autolysis products of trypsin could be identified by gel filtration. Reverse phase HPLC analysis of the unbound carbomer-treated-trypsin suggests a number of conformational forms of trypsin. The equilibrium binding capacity was 30 μg of trypsin to 1000 μg of carbomer. Conclusions. Decreased hydrolysis of LHRH and BAEE by trypsin in the presence of carbomer is due to enzyme-polymer interaction.

Gramsci and the Italian State. By Richard Bellamy and Darrow Schecter (Manchester and New York Manchester University Press, 1993), xvi + 203 pp.Queen Elizabeth and the Making of Policy, 1572-1588. By Wallace MacCaffrey (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981), x + 530 pp.Elizabeth I: War and Politics, 1588-1603. By Wallace MacCaffrey (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), xvi + 592 pp.Figures on the Horizon. Edited by Jerrold Seigel (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1993), xix + 278 pp. £29.50, $53.00 cloth.Logomachia: The Conflict of the Faculties. Edited by Richard Rand (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993), xii + 218 pp., £27.00 cloth, £11.95 paper.The Origins of French Art Criticism from the Anden Regime to the Restoration. By Richard Wrigley (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), xii + 427 pp.The Madness of Kings: Personal Trauma and the Fate of Nations. By Vivian Green (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993), xiii + 322 pp., $35.00 cloth.The Conservative Imagination. By Philip Thody (London: Pinter, 1993), xi + 179 pp., cloth.The Longman Companion to Cold War and Detente 1941-91. By John W. Young (London and New York: Longman Higher Educational, 1993), 360 pp., £11.99 paper.The Colloquy of Montbeliard: Religion and Politics in the Sixteenth Century. By Jill Raitt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), xiv + 226 pp., £40.00Communities of Discourse: Ideology and Social Structure in the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and European Socialism. By Robert Wuthnow (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993; first published, 1989), 739 pp., $29.95 paper.Xenophon Oeconomicus: A Social and Historical Commentary. By Sarah B. Pomeroy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), xii + 388 pp., $50.00The Heidegger Controversy: A Critical Reader. Edited by Richard Wolin (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1993), xx + 315 pp., $16.95 paper.Biblical Theocracy: A Vision of the Biblical Foundations for a Christian Political Philosophy. By Stephen Palmquist (Hong Kong: Philopsychy Press, 1993), 193 pp., HK $35.00, US $4.50 paper.Considerations sur la France. By Joseph De Maistre, trans, and edited by Richard A. LeBrun; introduction by Isaiah Berlin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994) xlii + 132 pp., £30.00/$49.95 cloth, £12.95/$16.95 paper.Machiavellian Rhetoric. By Victoria Kahn (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), xv + 314 pp., $29.95, £23.50 cloth.Marc Bloch, Lucien Febvre et les Annales d'Histoire Economique et Sociale: Correspondance, vol. 1, 1928-1933. Edited by Bertrand Muller (Paris: Librairie Artheme Fayard, 1994), lx + 551pp., FF240.Kant's Transcendental Psychology. By Patricia Kitcher (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), 296 pp.The End of the Salon: Art and the State in the Early Third Republic. By Patricia Mainardi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), ix + 210 pp., $18.95/£12.95 paper.Aristotle on the Goals and Exactness of Ethics. By Georgios Anagnostopoulos (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994), xiii + 468 pp., $50.00 cloth.A Treatise of Orders and Plain Dignities. By Charles Loyseau, edited and trans, by Howell A. Lloyd (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), xlviii + 255 pp., $59.95 and £40.00 cloth, $22.95 and £14.95 paper.The Philosophy of Childhood. By Gareth B. Matthews (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), 136 pp., $18.95 cloth.Reading Heidegger from the Start: Essays in His Earliest Thought. Edited by Theodore Kisiel and John van Buren (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994), 480 + ix pp., $74.50 cloth, $24.95 paper.Dante and the Mystical Tradition: Bernard of Clairvaux in the Commedia. By Stephen Botterill, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), x + 269 pp., £37.50 and $59.95.The Boundaries of Modern Iran. Edited by Keith McLachlan, SOAS Geopolitics Series 2 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994, ix + 150 pp., $49.95 cloth.New French Thought: Political Philosophy. Edited by Mark Lilla (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994) 239 pp., $45.00 cloth; $14.95 paper.Myth and Territory in the Spartan Mediterranean. By Irad Malkin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), xvii + 278 pp., £37.50 and $59.95 cloth.The Interpretation of Order: A Study in the Poetics of Homeric Repetition. By Ahuvia Kahane (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), xi + 190 pp., £25.00 cloth.History and Tropology: The Rise and Fall of Metaphor. By Frank R. Ankersmit (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), vii + 244 pp., $40.00 cloth.Anglo-Irish: The Literary Imagination in a Hyphenated Culture. By Julian Moynahan (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), xiii + 288 pp., $24.95 cloth.The Correspondence of Thomas Hobbes. Edited by Noel Malcolm, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), Vol. 1: 1622-1659, lxxv + 511 pp., £60.00 doth; Vol. 2: 1660-1679, xv + 495 pp., £60.00 cloth.Actors in the Audience: Theatricality and Doublespeak from Nero to Hadrian. By Shadi Bartsch, Revealing Antiquity 6. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), vi + 309 pp., $37.50 cloth.Divine Power: The Medieval Power Distinction up to its Adoption by Albert, Bonaventure, and Aquinas. By Lawrence Moonan (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), xii + 396 pp., £40.00 cloth.Behind the Front Lines of the Civil War: Political Parties and Social Movements in Russia, 1918-1922. By Vladimir N. Brovkin (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), xiii + 455 pp., $43.50 and £55.00 cloth.The Art of War in World History: From Antiquity to the Nuclear Age. Edited by Gerard Chaliand (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994), xliii + 1072 pp., 8 maps, $75.00 cloth, $30.00 paper.The French Press in the Age of Enlightenment. By Jack R. Censer (London and New York: Routledge, 1994), xi + 263 pp., £40.00 cloth.Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther. By Mark U. Edwards, Jr. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994), 238 pp., 6 illus., $40.00 cloth.The Rhetoric of Purity: Essentialist Theory and the Advent of Abstract Painting. By Mark A. Cheetham (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 194 pp., 16 illus., £11.95, $17.95 paper.Ambrose of Milan. By Neil B. McLynn (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994), xii + 406 pp., $45.00 cloth.Understanding the Infinite. By Shaughan Lavine (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), ix + 371 pp., $39.95 cloth.Historia and Fabula: Myths and Legends in Historical Thought from Antiquity to the Modern Age. By Peter G. Bietenholz (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994), xii + 434 pp., 9 illus., $91.50 cloth, NLG 160.00.The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa. By Otto of Freising, trans, and edited by Charles Mierow (Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press, 1994), 366 pp., $16.95 paper.In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life. By Robert Kegan (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), viii + 396 pp., $29.95 cloth.Tudor Political Culture. Edited by Dale Hoak (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), xxiii +310 pp., £45.00Reconstructing the Subject: Modernist Painting in Western Germany, 1945-1950. By Yule F. Heibel (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), 207 pp., $45.00, £33.50 cloth.The Uses of the University, 4th ed. By Clark Kerr (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995), xv + 220 pp., $15.95 paper.The Disorder of Things: Metaphysical Foundations of the Disunity of Science. By John Dupre (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995), 308 pp., paper.The Stop. By David Appelbaum (Albany: State University of New York Press, New York, 1995), xi + 154 pp., $14.95 paper.Walter Benjamin's Passages. By Pierre Missac, trans. Shierry Weber Nicholson (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995), 233 pp., $25.00 cloth.Spinoza: The Enduring Questions. Edited by Graeme Hunter. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995), xviii +182 pp., North American $70.00, Europe $78.00, UK £45.50 cloth.Adultery and Divorce in Calvin's Geneva. By Robert M. Kingdon (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995), ix + 214 pp., $29.95 cloth, $14.95 paper.Falsehood Disguised: Unmasking the Truth in La Rochefoucauld. By Richard G. Hodgson. (West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, 1995), xiii + 175 pp., £28.50.Nietzsche and the Modern Crisis of the Humanities. By Peter Levine (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995), xxi + 279 pp., $18.95 cloth.Science and Culture: Popular and Philosophical Essays. By Herman von Helmholtz, ed. David Cahan (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), xviii + 418 pp., $52.00 cloth, $17.00 paper.

Heresy and Literacy, 1000-1530. Edited by Peter Biller and Anne Hudson, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 23 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), xxv + 293 pp., £37.50/$59.95 cloth.Literature, Politics and National Identity: Reformation to Renaissance. By Andrew Hadfield (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), xvii + 261 pp., £35.00/$59.59 cloth.Early Cambridge Theatres: College, University, and Town Stages, 1464-1720. By Alan H. Nelson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), xiv + 179 pp., £35.00/$59.95 cloth.

The structures of uniformly 13C-labeled ß-glucan octa- and undeca-oligosaccharides enzymatically prepared by the yeast cell wall glucanosyl transferase of Candida albicans were characterized by using a combination of HCCH-COSY, HCCH-TOCSY, and HMBC experiments. The oligosaccharide structures indicate that the cell wall glucanosyl transferase cleaves two glucosyl units from the reducing end of the initial linear ß(1?3) penta-oligosaccharide and subsequently transfers the remainder to another oligosaccharide at the nonreducing end via a ß(1?6) linkage. These results indicate that the combined action of cell wall glucanase and glucanosyl transferase activities could not only introduce intrachain ß(1?6) linkages within a single glucan strand, but also result in cross-linking of two initially separate glucan strands with concurrent introduction of intrachain ß(1?6) linkages. Since isolated fungal membranes only synthesize linear ß(1?3) glucan strands, wall-associated enzymes probably participate in the assembly of the final wall glucan structure during cell growth and division.

Background:Hematoma expansion (HE) is an important therapeutic target in intracerebral hemorrhage. Recently proposed HE definitions have not been validated, and no previous definition has accounted for withdrawal of care (WOC).Objective:To compare conventional and revised definitions of hematoma expansion (HE), while accounting for WOC.Methods:We analyzed data from the ATACH-2 trial, comparing revised definitions of HE incorporating intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) expansion to the conventional definition of “≥6 mL or ≥33%”. The primary outcome was modified Rankin Scale of 4-6 at 90-days. We calculated the incidence, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and c-statistic for all definitions of HE. Definitions were compared using non-parametric methods. Secondary analyses were performed after removing patients who experienced WOC.Results:Primary analysis included 948 patients. Using the conventional definition, the sensitivity was 37.1% and specificity was 83.2% for the primary outcome. Sensitivity improved with all three revised definitions (53.3%, 48.7%, and 45.3%, respectively), with minimal change to specificity (78.4%, 80.5%, and 81.0%, respectively). The greatest improvement was seen with the definition “≥6 mL or ≥33% or any IVH”, with increased c-statistic from 60.2% to 65.9% (p < 0.001). Secondary analysis excluded 46 participants who experienced WOC. The revised definitions outperformed the conventional definition in this population as well, with the greatest improvement in c-statistic using “≥6 mL or ≥33% or any IVH” (58.1% vs 64.1%, p < 0.001).Conclusions:HE definitions incorporating intraventricular expansion outperformed conventional definitions for predicting poor outcome, even after accounting for care limitations.