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Normal high-density lipoprotein (nHDL) in normal, healthy subjects is able to promote angiogenesis, but the mechanism remains incompletely understood. HDL from patients with coronary artery disease may undergo a variety of oxidative modifications, rendering it dysfunctional; whether the angiogenic effect is mitigated by such dysfunctional HDL (dHDL) is unknown. We hypothesized that dHDL compromises angiogenesis. The angiogenic effects of nHDL and dHDL were assessed using endothelial cell culture, endothelial sprouts from cardiac tissue from C57BL/6 mice, zebrafish model for vascular growth and a model of impaired vascular growth in hypercholesterolemic low-density lipoprotein receptor null(LDLr-/-)mice. MiRNA microarray and proteomic analyses were used to determine the mechanisms. Lipid hydroperoxides were greater in dHDL than in nHDL. While nHDL stimulated angiogenesis, dHDL attenuated these responses. Protein and miRNA profiles in endothelial cells differed between nHDL and dHDL treatments. Moreover, nHDL suppressed miR-24-3p expression to increase vinculin expression resulting in nitric oxide (NO) production, whereas dHDL delivered miR-24-3p to inhibit vinculin expression leading to superoxide anion (O2•-) generation via scavenger receptor class B type 1. Vinculin was required for endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression and activation and modulated the PI3K/AKT/eNOS and ERK1/2 signaling pathways to regulate nHDL- and VEGF-induced angiogenesis. Vinculin overexpression or miR-24-3p inhibition reversed dHDL-impaired angiogenesis. The expressions of vinculin and eNOS and angiogenesis were decreased, but the expression of miR-24-3p and lipid hydroperoxides in HDL were increased in the ischemic lower limbs of hypercholesterolemic LDLr-/- mice. Overexpression of vinculin or miR-24-3p antagomir restored the impaired-angiogenesis in ischemic hypercholesterolemic LDLr-/- mice. Collectively, nHDL stimulated vinculin and eNOS expression to increase NO production by suppressing miR-24-3p to induce angiogenesis, whereas dHDL inhibited vinculin and eNOS expression to enhance O2•- generation by delivering miR-24-3p to impair angiogenesis, and that vinculin and miR-24-3p may be therapeutic targets for dHDL-impaired angiogenesis.

Objective To report drug-induced oesophageal ulceration in adult patients treated with doxycycline for acne vulgaris. Methods This retrospective case series included data from adult patients treated with oral doxycycline therapy for acne vulgaris, who had presented with oesophageal ulceration at the Third People’s Hospital of Hangzhou between June 2016 and December 2017, and whose diagnosis was confirmed by gastroscopy. Clinicodemographic data were analysed, including symptom onset, endoscopy results, that were assessed for classic features of oesophageal ulceration. Patients were questioned regarding medication intake. Results A total of 12 patients were included (mean age, 23.50 ± 3.20 years), eight (66.67%) of whom were female. Based on history of medication and endoscopic findings, these patients were diagnosed with doxycycline-induced oesophageal ulceration. Most patients were found to have taken the medication at bedtime, just before lying down, and/or with insufficient water. Conclusion Doxycycline may cause oesophageal irritation when not taken with sufficient water, or taken just before lying down to sleep. Prescribing physicians should be aware of these issues, and instruct patients as to the correct method for intake of doxycycline.

Porous ionic liquids have demonstrated excellent performance in the field of separation, attributed to their high specific surface area and efficient mass transfer. Herein, task-specific protic porous ionic liquids (PPILs) were prepared by employing a novel one-step coupling neutralization reaction strategy for extractive desulfurization. The single-extraction efficiency of PPILs reached 75.0% for dibenzothiophene. Moreover, adding aromatic hydrocarbon interferents resulted in a slight decrease in the extraction efficiency of PPILs (from 45.2% to 37.3%, 37.9%, and 33.5%), indicating the excellent extraction selectivity of PPILs. The experimental measurements and density functional theory calculations reveal that the surface channels of porous structures can selectively capture dibenzothiophene by the stronger electrophilicity (Eint (HS surface channel/DBT) = - 39.8 kcal mol-1 ), and the multiple extraction sites of ion pairs can effectively enrich and transport dibenzothiophene from the oil phase into PPILs through π...π, C-H...π and hydrogen bonds interactions. Furthermore, this straightforward synthetic strategy can be employed in preparing porous liquids, offering new possibilities for synthesizing PPILs with tailored functionalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synergic catalytic effect between active sites and supports greatly determines the catalytic activity for the aerobic oxidative desulfurization of fuel oils. In this work, Ni-doped Co-based bimetallic metalorganic framework (CoNi-MOF) is fabricated to disperse N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI), in which the whole catalyst provides plentiful synergic catalytic effect to improve the performance of oxidative desulfurization (ODS). As a bimetallic MOF, the second metal Ni doping results in the flower-like morphology and the modification of electronic properties, which ensure the exposure of NHPI and strengthen the synergistic effect of the overall catalyst. Compared with the monometallic Co-MOF and naked NHPI, the NHPI@CoNi-MOF triggers the efficient activation of molecular oxygen and improves the ODS performance without an initiator. The sulfur removal of dibenzothiophene-based model oil reaches 96.4% over the NHPI@CoNi-MOF catalyst in 8 h of reaction. Furthermore, the catalytic product of this aerobic ODS reaction is sulfone, which is adsorbed on the catalyst surface due to the difference in polarity. This work provides new insight and strategy for the design of a strong synergic catalytic effect between NHPI and bimetallic supports toward high-activity aerobic ODS materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we designed and constructed a mesoporous LaAlOx via a solvent evaporation induced selfassembly protocol. The structure and physicochemical property of the corresponding NiMo supported catalyst was analyzed by a set of characterizations, and its catalytic activity was investigated for hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene. It has confirmed that the incorporation of La profoundly facilitate the generation of "Type II" NiMoS phase by weakening the interaction of MoeO eAl leakage and promoting the sulfidation of both Ni and Mo oxides as well as changing the morphology of Ni promoted MoS2 slabs, thereafter boosting the HDS performance substantially. The finding here may contribute to the fundamental understanding of structure-activity in ultra-deep desulfurization and inspire the advancement of highly-efficient HDS catalyst in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karst caves are widely distributed in southwest China, causing difficulties and disasters for tunnel construction. To better detect the krast caves in front of the tunnels under construction using the transient electromagnetic method, in this paper we propose a 3-D finite element method to simulate the multi-parameter transient electromagnetic response of unfavorable geological bodies in a wholespace. First, the models of vertical water-filled faults, water-filled caves and complex geological bodies in front of the tunnel face are established. The horizontal electric field component and the vertical magnetic field component at different time in the whole-space are researched. Secondly, the electromagnetic response features of the caves with different resistivity, buried depths and scales are studied. We found that the resistivity of the target body is 10 times larger than that of the surrounding rocks, and the anomaly amplitude increases obviously with the growing distance from the target body. The deeper the buried depth, the later the anomaly appears and the smaller the anomaly amplitude. The larger the target size, the longer the transient electromagnetic response delay and the larger the anomaly amplitude. We arranged a measuring line on the tunnel face. The full-time apparent resistivity section shows the position and characteristics of the low-resistivity anomalous body, indicating that the transient electromagnetic method (TEM) has obvious advantages in detecting the low-resistivity body in front of the tunnel face. Finally, the TEM is successfully applied to the advanced detection of a karst tunnel to get the electrical distribution of the surrounding rocks in front of the tunnel face. According to the geological conditions of the excavated tunnel, the validity of the TEM in the tunnel advanced prediction is verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We previously demonstrated that endothelial microparticles (EMPs) are increased in mitral valve diseases and impair valvular endothelial cell function. Perioperative systemic inflammation is an important risk factor and complication of cardiac surgery. In this study, we investigate whether EMPs increase in congenital heart diseases to promote inflammation and endothelial dysfunction.Methods: The level of plasma EMPs in 20 patients with atrial septal defect (ASD), 23 patients with ventricular septal defect (VSD), and 30 healthy subjects were analyzed by flow cytometry. EMPs generated from human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) were injected into C57BL6 mice, or cultured with HUVECs without or with siRNAs targeting P38 MAPK. The expression and/or phosphorylation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), P38 MAPK, and caveolin-1 in mouse heart and/or in cultured HUVECs were determined. We evaluated generation of nitric oxide (NO) in mouse hearts, and levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in cultured HUVECs and in mice.Results: EMPs were significantly elevated in patients with ASD and VSD, especially in those with pulmonary hypertension when compared with controls. EMPs increased caveolin-1 expression and P38 MAPK phosphorylation and decreased eNOS phosphorylation and NO production in mouse hearts. EMPs stimulated P38 MAPK expression, TNF-α and IL-6 production, which were all inhibited by siRNAs targeting P38 MAPK in cultured HUVECs.Conclusions: EMPs were increased in adult patients with congenital heart diseases and may contribute to increased inflammation leading to endothelial dysfunction via P38 MAPK-dependent pathways. This novel data provides a potential therapeutic target to address important complications of surgery of congenial heart disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeTo explore risk factors for severe acute oral mucositis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients receiving chemo-radiotherapy, build predictive models and determine preventive measures.Methods and MaterialsTwo hundred and seventy NPC patients receiving radical chemo-radiotherapy were included. Oral mucosa structure was contoured by oral cavity contour (OCC) and mucosa surface contour (MSC) methods. Oral mucositis during treatment was prospectively evaluated and divided into severe mucositis group (grade ≥ 3) and non-severe mucositis group (grade < 3) according to RTOG Acute Reaction Scoring System. Nineteen clinical features and nineteen dosimetric parameters were included in analysis, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) logistic regression model was used to construct a risk score (RS) system.ResultsTwo predictive models were built based on the two delineation methods. MSC based model is more simplified one, it includes body mass index (BMI) classification before radiation, retropharyngeal lymph node (RLN) area irradiation status and MSC V55%, RS = −1.480 + (0.021 × BMI classification before RT) + (0.126 × RLN irradiation) + (0.052 × MSC V55%). The cut-off of MSC based RS is −1.011, with an area under curve (AUC) of 0.737 (95%CI: 0.672-0.801), a specificity of 0.595 and a sensitivity of 0.786. OCC based model involved more variables, RS= −4.805+ (0.152 × BMI classification before RT) + (0.080 × RT Technique) + (0.097 × Concurrent Nimotuzumab) + (0.163 × RLN irradiation) + (0.028 × OCC V15%) + (0.120 × OCC V60%). The cut-off of OCC based RS is −0.950, with an AUC of 0.767 (95%CI: 0.702–0.831), a specificity of 0.602 and a sensitivity of 0.819. Analysis in testing set shown higher AUC of MSC based model than that of OCC based model (AUC: 0.782 vs 0.553). Analysis in entire set shown AUC in these two method-based models were close (AUC: 0.744 vs 0.717).ConclusionWe constructed two risk score predictive models for severe oral mucositis based on clinical features and dosimetric parameters of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients receiving chemo-radiotherapy. These models might help to discriminate high risk population in clinical practice that susceptible to severe oral mucositis and individualize treatment plan to prevent it.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a four-carbon non-protein amino acid conserved from bacteria to plants and vertebrates. Increasing evidence supports a regulatory role for GABA in plant development and the plant's response to environmental stress. The biosynthesis of nicotine, the main economically important metabolite in tobacco, is tightly regulated. GABA has not hitherto been reported to function in nicotine biosynthesis. Here we report that water flooding treatment (hypoxia) markedly induced the accumulation of GABA and stimulated nicotine biosynthesis. Suppressing GABA accumulation by treatment with glutamate decarboxylase inhibitor impaired flooding-induced nicotine biosynthesis, while exogenous GABA application directly induced nicotine biosynthesis. Based on these results, we propose that GABA triggers nicotine biosynthesis in tobacco seedlings subjected to flooding. Our results provide insight into the molecular mechanism of nicotine biosynthesis in tobacco plants exposed to environmental stress.

The authors introduce the lacunary series of finite iterated order and use them to investigate the growth of solutions of higher-order linear differential equations with entire coefficients of finite iterated order and obtain some results which improve and extend some previous results of Belaidi, 2006, Cao and Yi, 2007, Kinnunen, 1998, Laine and Wu, 2000, Tu and Chen, 2009, Tu and Deng, 2008, Tu and Deng, 2010, Tu and Liu, 2009, and Tu and Long, 2009.

Examines the sulfonated syndiotactic polystyrene ionomers (SsPS) with 1.8 percent molar. Degree of sulfonation; Reduction on the crystallinity of SsPS ionomers; Illustration on splitting absorption band for asymmetric stretching vibration of sulfonation group.