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High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has been reported to be a minimally invasive effective method for the treatment of secondary hypersplenism. However, neither the short-term efficacy nor the indications and/or contraindications have been described in patients with cirrhosis. From October 2019 to May 2021, eleven cases of patients with cirrhotic secondary hypersplenism were enrolled. The blood counts, liver function tests and abdominal ultrasound and/or MRI scans of all patients were closely evaluated. Among these 11 patients, eight (72.7%) patients were classified as Child–Pugh A, and the other 3 (27.3%) patients were Child–Pugh B; Five (45%) patients were diagnosed with gallstone, including multiple small stones in 2 patients and single stone in 3 patients. HIFU was performed successfully in all 11 patients. After HIFU, hematologic parameters and liver function were significantly improved in all 11 patients (p < 0.05). The HIFU ablated volume to spleen volume rate was 35–61%. Complications were ecchymosis of the waist in 7 (63.3%) patients, ablated area pain in 3 (27.3%) patients, and choledocholithiasis in 2 (18.2%) patients with multiple small gallstones. All of them recovered smoothly without additional treatment except for 2 patients with choledocholithiasis recovered with risky endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) treatment. This series suggested that HIFU is an effective and safe treatment for cirrhotic secondary hypersplenism in patients classified as Child–Pugh A or B. However, multiple small gallstones could be a relative contraindication for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiomyocyte senescence is involved in the pathological mechanism of cardiac diseases. Metoprolol is a β1 receptor blocker used for the treatment of hypertension. Recent studies show that Metoprolol can protect cardiomyocytes against ischemia injury. The present study aims to investigate the protective effects of Metoprolol against arginine vasopressin (AVP)-induced cellular senescence in cultured cardiomyocytes. The cell proliferation assay and cytotoxicity lactate dehydrogenase assay showed that the highest tolerated dosage of Metoprolol in H9C2 cardiomyocytes was optimized as 10 µM. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that Metoprolol significantly ameliorated the elevated level of the DNA oxidation product 8-hydroxy-2 deoxyguanosine. Metoprolol also decreased the percentage of senescence-associated β-galactosidase positive cells and improved the telomerase activity under AVP exposure. Moreover, treatment with Metoprolol ameliorated the decreased intracellular nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase activity, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide/nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAD+/NADPH) ratio, and Sirtuin1 activity in cardiomyocytes by AVP. Finally, Metoprolol was able to downregulate the AVP-induced expression of acetylated p53 and p21. Taken together, our data reveal that Metoprolol protected the cardiomyocytes from AVP-induced senescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general features of the Great Whirl (GW) off the Somali Coast in 2017 and its influences on chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentration were studied by using satellite data and model outputs. Results show that GW, which initiated at 7°N, 53°E on June 13, had a lifetime of 153 d with an average amplitude of 16 cm and an average radius of 205 km. After the formation of GW, the concentration of Chl a in the interior of GW showed a downward trend throughout its life cycle, except in early July and mid-October. In early July, the Chl a blooms in the interior of GW were attributed to the combined effect of three processes. They are eddy horizontal transportation, the deepening of the mixed layer caused by the monsoon and eddy pumping, and the upward transportation of nutrients caused by eddy-induced Ekman pumping. In October, the Chl a blooms were probably due to the weakening of GW. During the period, water exchange occurred more frequently across the eddy, thus phytoplanktons were imported into the interior of GW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To obtain dual active near-infrared (NIR) nanomaterial with strong absorption and emission properties, we report herein a novel precursor reactivity differentiation strategy, i.e., utilizing 1-octadecene (ODE)-Se having the ability to react with Ag salts much stronger and faster than ODE-thiourea, for single-step preparation of Ag2Se@Ag2S nanocrystals (NCs). With this strategy, we were able to synthesize high-quality Ag2Se@Ag2S NCs with both excellent NIR absorption and emission properties. Particularly, these nanocrystals possess a rather strong and sharp excitonic absorption peak with a full width at half maximum less than 70 nm and a maximum fluorescence quantum yield as high as 24.3%. Their appealing optical properties and structural features were founded to be highly dependent on the Se to S precursor ratio in the reaction solutions, owing to such a ratio exerting a direct influence on the core sizes and shell thicknesses of the as-formed NCs. Taking advantage of their remarkable NIR absorption properties, self-powered photoelectrochemical-type photodetectors based on the as-prepared Ag2Se@Ag2S NCs were successfully fabricated, which demonstrate a much better response performance and photostability in comparison with those based on Ag2Se NCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To obtain cheap, low-toxic, efficient and robust visible-light photocatalyst, a controlled calcination strategy is proposed for converting unstable ZnX (X=Se, Te) nanospheres (NSs) to ZnX-ZnO hybrid nanospheres (HNSs) with an appropriate composition and structure. Under such a conception, ZnSe-ZnO HNSs with various compositions were prepared by calcining ZnSe NSs under different conditions. Their morphology, composition, crystal structure, and optical absorption property were found to be highly dependent on their calcination condition. When serving as the catalyst for photodegrading organic dyes, they exhibited an attractive composition/structure-dependent photocatalytic activity and enhanced photostability. Particularly, the HNSs prepared by calcining at 500 °C for 4.0 h demonstrated the highest photocatalytic activity and excellent photostability, only taking 4.5 and 5.5 h to degrade 97.3 % methylene blue (MB) and 93 % ethyl violet (EV), respectively, under visible irradiation. The reason why such HNSs possessed the best photocatalytic performance was then intensively explored from different points of view. Moreover, we also extended this calcination protocol to prepare ZnTe-ZnO HNSs, whose photocatalytic performance was proven to be much better than that of pure ZnTe NSs as expected. We believe the strategy for fabricating such hybrid nanospheres and the exploration on their excellent photocatalytic performance will definitely benefit the preparation of high-efficient visible-light catalyst as well as the better understanding of its composition/structure-dependent photocatalytic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a modified Vertically Generalized Production Model (VGPM), the primary productivity in the Pearl River Estuary, China, was estimated using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. A regional parameterization of euphotic depth from diffuse attenuation coefficient at 490 nm was developed in order to improve the accuracy of VGPM. An empirical algorithm using the fluorescence line height to retrieve chlorophyll-a concentration was also employed for the estuarine waters. The modified VGPM was applied to MODIS data for primary productivity estimation. The results indicated a higher productivity in summer and autumn. The average values of the primary productivity in summer and autumn were over 300 mg m day while in spring and winter, the values were about 250 mg m day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the original article Fig. 3 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]