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Solid-state sodium metal batteries have been extensively investigated because of their potential to improve safety, cost-effectiveness, and energy density. The development of such batteries urgently required a solid-state electrolyte with fast Na-ion conduction and favorable interfacial compatibility. Herein, the progress on developing the NaB 3 H 8 solid-state electrolytes is reported, which show a liquid-like ionic conductivity of 0.05 S cm -1 at 56 °C with an activation energy of 0.35 eV after an order-disorder phase transformation, matching or surpassing the best single-anion hydridoborate conductors investigated up to now. The steady polarization voltage and significantly decreased resistance are achieved in the symmetric Na/NaB 3 H 8 /Na cell, indicating the great electrochemical stability and favorable interfacial contact with the Na metal of NaB 3 H 8 . Furthermore, a Na/NaB 3 H 8 /TiS 2 battery, the first high-rate (up to 1 C) solid-state sodium metal battery using the single-anion hydridoborate electrolyte, is demonstrated, which exhibits superior rate capability (168.2 mAh g -1 at 0.1 C and 141.2 mAh g -1 at 1 C) and long-term cycling stability (70.9% capacity retention at 1 C after 300 cycles) at 30 °C. This work may present a new possibility to solve the interfacial limitations and find a new group of solid-state electrolytes for high-performance sodium metal batteries., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Along with the increasing prevalence of obesity worldwide, the deleterious effects of high-calorie diet are gradually recognized through more and more epidemiological studies. However, the concealed and chronic causality whitewashes its unhealthy character. Given an ingenious mechanism orchestrates the metabolic adaptation to high-fat high-fructose (HFF) diet and connive its lipotoxicity, in this study, an experimental rat/mouse model of obesity was induced and a comparative transcriptomic analysis was performed to probe the mystery. Our results demonstrated that HFF diet consumption altered the transcriptomic pattern as well as different high-calorie diet fed rat/mouse manifested distinct hepatic transcriptome. Validation with RT-qPCR and Western blotting confirmed that SREBP1-FASN involved in de novo lipogenesis partly mediated metabolic self-adaption. Moreover, hepatic ACSL1-CPT1A-CPT2 pathway involved in fatty acids β-oxidation, played a key role in the metabolic adaption to HFF. Collectively, our findings enrich the knowledge of the chronic adaptation mechanisms and also shed light on future investigations. Meanwhile, our results also suggest that efforts to restore the fatty acids metabolic fate could be a promising avenue to fight against obesity and associated steatosis and insulin resistance challenged by HFF diet., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Dyslipidemia and hepatic steatosis are the characteristics of the initial stage of nonalcohol fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which can be reversed by lifestyle intervention, including dietary supplementation. However, such commercial dietary supplements with solid scientific evidence and in particular clear mechanistic elucidation are scarce. Here, the health benefits of MHP, a commercial mulberry and Hippophae -based solid beverage, were evaluated in NAFLD rat model and the underlying molecular mechanisms were investigated. Histopathologic examination of liver and white adipose tissue found that MHP supplementation reduced hepatic lipid accumulation and adipocyte hypertrophy. Serum biochemical results confirmed that MHP effectively ameliorated dyslipidemia and decreased circulation-free fatty acid level. RNA-Seq-based transcriptomic analysis showed that MHP-regulated genes are involved in the inhibition of lipolysis of adipose tissue and thus may contribute to the reduction of hepatic ectopic lipid deposition. Furthermore, MHP upregulated ACSL1-CPT1a-CPT2 pathway, a canonical pathway that regulated mitochondrial fatty acid metabolism, and promoted liver and adipose tissue fatty acid β-oxidation. These results suggest that adipose tissue-liver crosstalk may play a key role in maintaining glucose and lipid metabolic hemostasis. In addition, MHP can also ameliorate chronic inflammation through regulating the secretion of adipokines. Our study demonstrates that MHP is able to improve dyslipidemia and hepatic steatosis through crosstalk between adipose tissue and liver and also presents transcriptomic evidence to support the underlying mechanisms of action, providing solid evidence for its health claims., Competing Interests: Authors X‐ML and S‐SC were employed by the company Perfect Guangdong Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Obesity, a multifactorial disease with many complications, has become a global epidemic. Weight management, including dietary supplementation, has been confirmed to provide relevant health benefits. However, experimental evidence and mechanistic elucidation of dietary supplements in this regard are limited. Here, the weight loss efficacy of MHP, a commercial solid beverage consisting of mulberry leaf aqueous extract and Hippophae protein peptides, was evaluated in a high-fat high-fructose (HFF) diet-induced rat model of obesity. Body component analysis and histopathologic examination confirmed that MHP was effective to facilitate weight loss and adiposity decrease. Pathway enrichment analysis with differential metabolites generated by serum metabolomic profiling suggests that PPAR signal pathway was significantly altered when the rats were challenged by HFF diet but it was rectified after MHP intervention. RNA-Seq based transcriptome data also indicates that MHP intervention rectified the alterations of white adipose tissue mRNA expressions in HFF-induced obese rats. Integrated omics reveals that the efficacy of MHP against obesogenic adipogenesis was potentially associated with its regulation of PPARγ and FGFR1 signaling pathway. Collectively, our findings suggest that MHP could improve obesity, providing an insight into the use of MHP in body weight management., Competing Interests: Authors X-ML, J-GY, S-SC, and X-LM were employed by the company Perfect Guangdong Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhou, Zhu, Li, Sun, Yan, Luo, Chen, Huang, Mao and Li.)

Thousands of years ago, humans started to use propolis because of its medicinal properties, and modern science has successfully identified several bioactive molecules within this resinous bee product. However, a natural propolis extract which has been removed the adhesive glue and preserved propolis bioactive compounds is urgently needed to maximise the therapeutic opportunities. In this study, a novel ultrafiltrate fraction from Brazilian green propolis, termed P30K, was demonstrated with anti-inflammatory properties, both in vitro and in vivo. Total flavonoids and total phenolic acids content in P30K were 244.6 mg/g and 275.8 mg/g respectively, while the IC 50 value of inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) was 8.30 μg/mL. The anti-inflammatory activity of P30K was furtherly corroborated in experimental models of lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-induced acute liver and lung injury. Mechanistically, integrated GC-MS and LC-MS based serum metabolomics analysis revealed that P30K modulated citrate cycle (TCA), pyruvate, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism pathways to inhibit secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Results of network pharmacology and molecular docking suggested that P30K targeted catechol-O-methyltransferases (COMT), 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (HSD11B1), and monoamine oxidases (MAOA and MAOB) to promote cellular metabolomic rewiring. Collectively, our work reveals P30K as an efficient therapeutic agent against inflammatory conditions and its efficacy is related to metabolic rewiring., (© 2024 Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.)

Objectives: Social determinants of health (SDOH) can influence access to cancer care, clinical trials, and oncologic outcomes. We investigated the association between SDOH, distance from treatment center, and treatment type with outcomes in human papillomavirus associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma [HPV(+)OPSCC] patients treated at a tertiary care center., Study Design: Retrospective review., Methods: HPV(+)OPSCC patients treated surgically from 2006 to 2021 were selected from our departmental Oropharyngeal Cancer RedCap database. Demographic data, treatment, and oncologic outcomes were extracted. Distance was calculated in miles between the centroid of each patient zip code and our hospital zip code (zipdistance)., Results: 874 patients (89 % male; mean age: 58 years) were identified. Most patients (96 %) reported Non-Hispanic White as their primary race. 204 patients (23 %) had a high-school degree or less, 217 patients (25 %) reported some college education or a 2-year degree, 153 patients (18 %) completed a four-year college degree, and 155 patients (18 %) had post-graduate degrees. Relative to those with a high-school degree, patients with higher levels of education were more likely to live further away from our institution (p < 0.0001). Patients who received adjuvant radiation therapy elsewhere lived, on average, 104 miles further away than patients receiving radiation at our institution (Estimate 104.3, 95 % CI 14.2-194.4, p-value = 0.02). In univariable Cox PH models, oncologic outcomes did not significantly differ by zipdistance., Conclusions: Education level-and access to resources-varied proportionally to a patient's distance from our center. Patients travelling further distances for surgical management of OPSCC were more likely to pursue adjuvant radiation therapy at an outside institution. Distance traveled was not associated with oncologic outcomes. Breaking down barriers to currently excluded populations may improve access to clinical trials and improve oncologic outcomes for diverse patient populations., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Clinical appearance and high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) are indispensable for diagnosing skin diseases by providing internal and external information. However, their complex combination brings challenges for primary care physicians and dermatologists. Thus, we developed a deep multimodal fusion network (DMFN) model combining analysis of clinical close-up and HFUS images for binary and multiclass classification in skin diseases., Methods: Between Jan 10, 2017, and Dec 31, 2020, the DMFN model was trained and validated using 1269 close-ups and 11,852 HFUS images from 1351 skin lesions. The monomodal convolutional neural network (CNN) model was trained and validated with the same close-up images for comparison. Subsequently, we did a prospective and multicenter study in China. Both CNN models were tested prospectively on 422 cases from 4 hospitals and compared with the results from human raters (general practitioners, general dermatologists, and dermatologists specialized in HFUS). The performance of binary classification (benign vs. malignant) and multiclass classification (the specific diagnoses of 17 types of skin diseases) measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were evaluated. This study is registered with www.chictr.org.cn (ChiCTR2300074765)., Findings: The performance of the DMFN model (AUC, 0.876) was superior to that of the monomodal CNN model (AUC, 0.697) in the binary classification ( P  = 0.0063), which was also better than that of the general practitioner (AUC, 0.651, P  = 0.0025) and general dermatologists (AUC, 0.838; P  = 0.0038). By integrating close-up and HFUS images, the DMFN model attained an almost identical performance in comparison to dermatologists (AUC, 0.876 vs. AUC, 0.891; P  = 0.0080). For the multiclass classification, the DMFN model (AUC, 0.707) exhibited superior prediction performance compared with general dermatologists (AUC, 0.514; P  = 0.0043) and dermatologists specialized in HFUS (AUC, 0.640; P  = 0.0083), respectively. Compared to dermatologists specialized in HFUS, the DMFN model showed better or comparable performance in diagnosing 9 of the 17 skin diseases., Interpretation: The DMFN model combining analysis of clinical close-up and HFUS images exhibited satisfactory performance in the binary and multiclass classification compared with the dermatologists. It may be a valuable tool for general dermatologists and primary care providers., Funding: This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Clinical research project of Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Objectives: To investigate whether the integration of high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) to routine clinical examinations could improve diagnostic performance and management decision for pigmented skin tumors., Methods: Three general practitioners trained previously and a dermatologist independently assessed pigmented skin tumors and rendered management decision based on clinical examinations alone or clinical examinations integrating HFUS., Results: After integrating HFUS, the diagnostic area under the curve (AUC) (0.658-0.693 versus 0.848, all P < .05) and specificity (46.6-58.6% versus 89.7%, all P < .05) for pigmented skin malignancies were improved for general practitioners, meanwhile unnecessary biopsy rate reduced (42.9-53.6% versus 10.7%, P < .001). To the dermatologist, the diagnostic AUC (0.822 versus 0.949, P < .001), sensitivity (81.7% versus 96.7%, P = .012) and specificity (0.828 versus 0.931, P = .031) improved significantly, meanwhile both missed biopsy rate (14.5% versus 4.8%, P = .031) and unnecessary biopsy rate (19.6% versus 7.1%, P = .016) decreased. Additionally, the diagnostic performance of the general practitioner with integrating HFUS could be comparable with the dermatologist based on clinical examinations alone (all P > .05)., Conclusions: As a complementary tool of clinical examinations, HFUS could help physicians differentiate pigmented skin malignancies and manage decision., (© 2023 American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.)

Introduction: Swan neck deformity develops as a sequela of chronic mallet finger. Surgical management can include soft tissue reconstruction or distal interphalangeal joint (DIPJ) fusion. Studies examining the incidence and management of posttraumatic swan neck deformity following mallet fracture are limited., Methods: A retrospective, single-institution review of patients undergoing surgical management of swan neck deformity following a traumatic mallet finger from 2000 to 2021 was performed. Patients with preexisting rheumatoid arthritis were excluded. Injury, preoperative clinical, and surgical characteristics were recorded along with postoperative outcomes and complications., Results: Twenty-five patients were identified who had surgical intervention for swan neck deformity. Sixty-four percent of mallet fingers were chronic. Median time to development of mallet finger was 2 months. Twelve (48%) mallet fingers were Doyle class I, 6 (24%) were class III, and 7 (28%) were class IVB. Forty percent of injuries failed nonoperative splinting trials. Sixteen (64%) underwent primary DIPJ arthrodesis, 8 (32%) underwent DIPJ pinning, and 1 underwent open reduction and internal fixation of mallet fracture. The complication rate was 50% overall, and 33% of surgeries experienced major complications. The overall reoperation rate was 33%. Proximal interphalangeal joint hyperextension improved by 11° on average. Median follow-up was 61.2 months., Conclusions: The development of symptomatic swan neck deformity following traumatic mallet finger injury is rare. All patients warrant an attempt at nonsurgical management. Attempts at surgical correction had a high rate of complications, and DIPJ fusion appeared to provide the most reliable solution., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Major outbreaks of influenza virus occurred in China in 2017-2018. To describe the pattern of influenza circulation and timing of seasonal epidemics, we analyzed data from influenza-like illness (ILI) specimens on surveillance wards of sentinel hospitals during 2014-2018. Among 1,890,084 ILI cases, 324,211 (17.2%) tested positive for influenza. Influenza A virus (particularly A/H3N2), which circulates annually, was detected in 62% of cases, compared with influenza B virus in 38% of cases. The detection rate of A/H1N1, A/H3N2, B/Victoria, and B/Yamagata viruses were 3.56%, 7.07%, 2.08%, and 3.45%, respectively. Influenza prevalence was generally stable over the four years analyzed, but obvious outbreaks occurred in 2015-2016 (17.28%) and 2017-2018 (22.67%), with B/Victoria and B/Yamagata contributing to these outbreaks, respectively. In the south, a characteristic peak in infections was detected in the summer (week 23-38), which was not detected in the north. Influenza B was found high frequency in school-age children (5-14 years) with 4.78% of B/Victoria and 6.76% of B/Yamagata. Therefore, the epidemiological characteristics of seasonal influenza were complex in China during 2014-2018, presenting distinctions in region, season, and susceptible population. These findings underline the importance of enhancing year-round influenza surveillance and provide a reference for the timing and variety of influenza vaccination., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: The similar visual appearance of superficial basal cell carcinoma (sBCC) and Bowen's disease (BD) may cause confusion for diagnosis., Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the value of ultra-high-frequency ultrasound (uHFUS) in differentiating sBCC from BD., Materials and Methods: This prospective study included a pilot cohort of 110 patients (73 BDs and 37 sBCCs) from November 2016 to October 2020 and a validation cohort of 42 patients (30 BDs and 12 sBCCs) from July 2021 to December 2021. Clinical and uHFUS features of pathologically confirmed sBCC and BD were assessed. A predictive model was developed based on the uHFUS features of the pilot cohort. Subsequently, the model was validated and compared with clinical diagnosis in the validation cohort., Results: uHFUS features with significant differences between sBCC and BD included lesion surface, skin layer involvement, hyperkeratosis, and hyperechoic spots (all p &lt; 0.05). A prediction model based on the above features was established to identify sBCC and BD in the pilot and validation cohorts with areas under the curve (AUC) of 0.908 and 0.923, sensitivity of 82.3% and 83.3%, specificity of 91.9% and 91.7%, and accuracy of 85.5% and 85.7%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those obtained by clinical diagnosis based on photographic pictures of lesions, with the AUC of 0.692, sensitivity of 63.3%, specificity of 75.3%, and accuracy of 66.7% (all p &lt; 0.05)., Conclusion: uHFUS provides detailed internal features of sBCC and BD, which facilitates the differentiation between sBCC and BD, and its diagnostic performance is superior to clinical diagnosis., (© 2023 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Objective: Are education materials available online appropriate for patients seeking information before rhinoplasty? Study Design: Google.com and YouTube.com were searched for patient education information on rhinoplasty procedures. Of the first 100 results, 75 articles and 75 videos met the inclusion criteria. Each article's readability was scored using six previously validated readability scores to determine patient's ability to comprehend the text, while each video was scored using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria and the Global Quality Score (GQS) to measure source reliability and educational value, respectively. Results: Analysis of the readability of the 75 articles yielded an average grade reading level of 10.31 (range 5-20; 95% confidence interval, 9.83-10.79), while video analysis found videos authored by physicians were significantly more reliable ( P JAMA < 0.001) and had a significantly higher educational value ( P GQS < 0.001). Patient education videos were found to be more reliable than patient experience videos ( P JAMA  = 0.01). Conclusions: The average reading level for text information on rhinoplasty is higher than the recommended 5th-grade reading level and educational videos authored by physicians are more reliable and contain higher educational value yet lack important information.

Background: The similar visual appearance of high-risk basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) may cause confusion for diagnosis. High-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) may provide additional intralesional information and thus help to distinguish them., Method: In this retrospective study, we analyzed the clinical characteristics, HFUS grayscale, and color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) features of pathologically confirmed high-risk BCC and cSCC lesions (n = 65 vs n = 68). Subsequently, discrimination models based on the significant HFUS features were established., Results: Between high-risk BCC and cSCC lesions, the HFUS grayscale features of the lesion size (10.0 mm vs 17.4 mm), thickness (3.1 mm vs 5.9 mm), internal hyperechoic spots (80.0% vs 23.5%), and posterior acoustic shadowing (16.9% vs 66.2%) were statistically different (all p < 0.001). As for the CDFI features, high-risk BCC lesions mainly appeared as pattern II (47.7%), while cSCC lesions mainly appeared as pattern III (66.2%). Based on the above five features, an optimal discrimination model was established with a sensitivity of 91.2%, a specificity of 87.7%, and an accuracy of 89.5%., Conclusion: HFUS features, including size, thickness, internal hyperechoic spots, posterior acoustic shadowing, and Doppler vascularity pattern, are useful for differential diagnosis between high-risk BCC and cSCC., (© 2021 The Authors. Skin Research and Technology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Purpose: This prospective study explored the value of synchronous tele-ultrasound (US) to aid doctors inexperienced in US with breast US examinations., Methods: In total, 99 patients were enrolled. Two trainee doctors who were inexperienced in US (trainee A [TA] and trainee B [TB]) and one doctor who was an expert in US completed the US examinations sequentially. TA completed the US examinations independently, while TB was instructed by the expert using synchronous tele-US. Subsequently, the expert performed on-site US examinations in person. Separately, they selected the most clinically significant nodule as the target nodule. Consistency with the expert and image quality were compared between TA and TB to evaluate tele-US. Furthermore, TB and the patients evaluated tele-US through questionnaires., Results: TB demonstrated higher consistency with the expert in terms of target nodule selection than TA (93.3% vs. 63.3%, P<0.001). TB achieved good inter-observer agreement (ICC, >0.75) with the expert on five US features (5/9, 55.6%), while TA only did so for one (1/9, 11.1%) (P=0.046). TB's image quality was higher than TA's in gray value, time gain compensation, depth, color Doppler adjustment, and the visibility of key information (P=0.018, P<0.001, P<0.001, P=0.033, and P=0.006, respectively). The comprehensive assessment score was higher for TB than for TA (3.96±0.82 vs. 3.09±0.87, P<0.001). Tele-US was helpful in 69.7% of US examinations and had a training effect in 68.0%. Furthermore, 63.6% of patients accepted tele-US and 60.6% were willing to pay., Conclusion: Tele-US can help doctors inexperienced in US to perform breast US examinations.

Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) is a mutualistic symbiosis formed between most land plants and Glomeromycotina fungi. During symbiosis, plants provide organic carbon to fungi in exchange for mineral nutrients. Previous legume studies showed that the required for arbuscular mycorrhization2 ( RAM2 ) gene is necessary for transferring lipids from plants to AM fungi (AMF) and is also likely to play a "signaling" role at the root surface. To further explore RAM2 functions in other plant lineages, in this study, two rice ( Oryza sativa ) genes, OsRAM2 and OsRAM2L , were identified as orthologs of legume RAM2 . Examining their expression patterns during symbiosis revealed that only OsRAM2 was strongly upregulated upon AMF inoculation. CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis was then performed to obtain three Osram2 mutant lines ( -1 , -2 , and -3 ). After inoculation by AMF Rhizophagus irregularis or Funneliformis mosseae , all of the mutant lines showed extremely low colonization rates and the rarely observed arbuscules were all defective, thus supporting a conserved "nutritional" role of RAM2 between monocot and dicot lineages. As for the signaling role, although the hyphopodia numbers formed by both AMF on Osram2 mutants were indeed reduced, their morphology showed no abnormality, with fungal hyphae invading roots successfully. Promoter activities further indicated that OsRAM2 was not expressed in epidermal cells below hyphopodia or outer cortical cells enclosing fungal hyphae but instead expressed exclusively in cortical cells containing arbuscules. Therefore, this suggested an indirect role of RAM2 rather than a direct involvement in determining the symbiosis signals at the root surface.[Formula: see text] The author(s) have dedicated the work to the public domain under the Creative Commons CC0 "No Rights Reserved" license by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law, 2022.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the value of high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) for differentiating invasive basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) from non-invasive BCCs. We established a prediction model based on ultrasound features and validated it further. One hundred patients in the pilot cohort and another 43 in the validation cohort were evaluated. All patients underwent HFUS examinations by the same radiologist, and then were divided on the basis of pathology into invasive and non-invasive types. With respect to growth pattern, 60.5% of invasive BCCs had an irregular pattern, whereas 89.5% of non-invasive BCCs had a nodular or crawling pattern (p < 0.001). As for the layers involved, the more invasive BCCs broke through the dermis compared with non-invasive BCCs (23.3% vs. 1.8%) (p < 0.001). With respect to intralesional hyperechoic spot distribution, invasive and non-invasive BCCs tended to be clustered and absent/scattered-like, respectively (55.8% vs. 91.2%) (p < 0.001). On the basis of the aforementioned features, a prediction model was established with accuracies of 84.0% and 76.7%, respectively, in the pilot and validation cohorts. HFUS holds promise for the differentiation of the invasiveness of BCCs and is helpful in its clinical management., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest disclosure No potential competing interests exist with respect to this study. The authors declare no relationships with any companies whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Objective: To evaluate high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) features for diagnosing cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) as a spectrum of progressively advanced malignancies, including precursor actinic keratosis (AK), Bowen's disease (BD), and invasive squamous cell carcinoma (iSCC)., Method: In this retrospective study, 160 skin lesions diagnosed histopathologically (54 AK, 54 BD, and 52 iSCC) in 160 patients were included. The HFUS features of AK, BD, and iSCC were analyzed. The obtained data were evaluated using univariate and forward multivariate logistic regression analyses., Results: The most significant HFUS features in AK were regular surface (odds ratio [OR], 8.42) and irregular basal border (OR, 6.36). The most significant HFUS features in BD were crumpled surface (OR, 19.62) and layer involvement confined to the epidermis (OR, 3.96). The most significant HFUS features in iSCC were concave surface (OR, 27.06), stratum corneum (SC) detachment (OR, 14.41), irregular basal border (OR, 4.01), and convex surface (OR, 3.73). The characteristics of surface features, basal border, and layer involvement could be valuable HFUS clues in the discrimination of AK, BD, and iSCC., Conclusion: High-frequency ultrasound is valuable for the differentiation of AK, BD, and iSCC, which may allow dynamic and noninvasive monitoring in the spectrum of cSCC., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: To evaluate whether MicroPure imaging, an ultrasound (US) image-processing technique with computer-aided analysis, can quantitatively detect crystal dissolution during urate-lowering therapy (ULT) in gout., Methods: This was a prospective study of gout patients requiring ULT. The first metatarsophalangeal joints were examined using US and MicroPure before and after 3 months of ULT. Elementary lesions of gout, including the double contour sign (DCS), aggregates, tophi, erosion, and other US features were recorded at baseline and 3 months. MicroPure imaging features were automatically calculated by a self-developed software. Patients were divided into goal-achieved and goal-not-achieved groups according to their urate levels at 3 months. The US and MicroPure imaging features of the two groups were analyzed at baseline and 3 months., Results: A total of 55 consecutive patients were enrolled (25: goal-achieved group; 30: goal-not-achieved group). US findings demonstrated that the power Doppler signal grade decreased at 3 months, regardless of the group (both P<0.05). From baseline to 3 months, tophi size and the DCS reduced in the goal-achieved group (both P<0.05), while the US aggregate features showed no difference (P=0.250). However, on the MicroPure imaging, the number and density of aggregates at 3 months decreased in the goal-achieved group (both P<0.05). There were no significant changes at 3 months in any of the MicroPure imaging features in the goal-not-achieved group (all P>0.05)., Conclusions: In comparison with B-mode US, computer-aided MicroPure imaging can sensitively and quantitatively detect aggregate dissolution during effective ULT after only 3 months of treatment., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://dx.doi.org/10.21037/atm-21-4059). The authors report that the present study was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 81671695, 81725008, 82001816, 82072092, and 81927801), the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (Grants 2019LJ21 and SHSLCZDZK03502), and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (Grants 19441903200, 18441905500 and 19DZ2251100). The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare., (2021 Annals of Translational Medicine. All rights reserved.)

Background: The Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has impacted physician practices in many ways with some ENT clinics reporting around a 50% drop in completed scheduled ENT visits during the first wave of the pandemic compared to 2019., Aims: This study surveyed first round PPP loan disbursement to otolaryngology practices in the United States in response to COVID-19., Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using publicly available data published on PPP by the SBA. Otolaryngology clinics receiving loans greater than $0.15M were filtered using the following terms: "otolaryngology", "otolaryngologist","sinus", "head and neck", "throat", "ENT", and "facial plastic". 481 ENT clinics that received loans greater than $0.15 M from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) were identified. Loan amount, business type, geographicregion, owner race, owner gender, and the number of jobs per business were recorded for each clinic. Chi-square analysis was performed to determine significance ( P < 0.05) of each characteristic., Results: Loan distribution was significantly different based on jobs reported ( P  < .001) and business type ( P  < .001). 100% of loans ranging from $0.15 M to $0.35 M went to micro and small practices whereas 33% of medium-sized practices received loans greater than $1 M. Higher proportions of Subchapter corporations (60.00%) received smaller loans of $0.15 to $0.35 M than Limited Liability Companies (39.13%) and Corporations (51.69%) which generally employ more people., Discussion: Loan distribution was significantly different between businesses based on jobs reported ( P  < 0.001), with micro/small practices recieving smaller loans than their medium counterparts. All large businesses recived loans in in excess of $2 M. This suggests proportional distribution of loans in accordance with jobs reported., Conclusion: This study suggests PPP funding was objectively distributed to ENT clinics based on staff size., Level of Evidence: Level 4., Competing Interests: Authors have no conflict of interests to disclose., (© 2021 The Authors. Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Triological Society.)

Plant exosome-like nanovesicles, being innately replete with bioactive lipids, proteins, RNA, and other pharmacologically active molecules, offer unique morphological and compositional characteristics as natural nanocarriers. Furthermore, their compelling physicochemical traits underpin their modulative role in physiological processes, all of which have fostered the concept that these nanovesicles may be highly proficient in the development of next-generation biotherapeutic and drug delivery nanoplatforms to meet the ever-stringent demands of current clinical challenges. This review systemically deals with various facets of plant exosome-like nanovesicles ranging from their origin and isolation to identification of morphological composition, biological functions, and cargo-loading mechanisms. Efforts are made to encompass their biotherapeutic roles by elucidating their immunological modulating, anti-tumor, regenerative, and anti-inflammatory roles. We also shed light on re-engineering these nanovesicles into robust, innocuous, and non-immunogenic nanovectors for drug delivery through multiple stringent biological hindrances to various targeted organs such as intestine and brain. Finally, recent advances centered around plant exosome-like nanovesicles along with new insights into transdermal, transmembrane and targeting mechanisms of these vesicles are also elucidated. We expect that the continuing development of plant exosome-like nanovesicle-based therapeutic and delivery nanoplatforms will promote their clinical applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of Interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2020 The American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The purpose of this study was to develop, validate and test a prediction model for discriminating malignant from benign breast lesions using conventional ultrasound (US), US elastography of strain elastography and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). The study included 454 patients with breast imaging-reporting and data system (BI-RADS) category 4 breast lesions identified on histologic examinations. Firstly, 228 breast lesions (cohort 1) were analyzed by logistic regression analysis to identify the risk factors, and a breast malignancy prediction model was created. Secondly, the prediction model was validated in cohort 2 (84 patients) and tested in cohort 3 (142 patients) by using analysis of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Univariate regression indicated that age ≥40 y, taller than wide shape on US, early hyperenhancement on CEUS and enlargement of enhancement area on CEUS were independent risk factors for breast malignancy (all p < 0.05). The logistic regression equation was established as follows: p = 1/1+Exp∑[-5.066 + 3.125 x (if age ≥40 y) + 1.943 x (if taller than wide shape) + 1.479 x (if early hyperenhancement) + 4.167 x (if enlargement of enhancement area). The prediction model showed good discrimination performance with an AUC of 0.967 in cohort 1, 0.948 in cohort 2 and 0.920 in cohort 3. By using the prediction model to selectively downgrade category 4a lesions, the re-rated BI-RADS yield an AUC of 0.880 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.794-0.965) in cohort 2 and 0.870 (95% CI, 0.801-0.939) in cohort 3. The specificity increased from 0.0% (0/35) to 80.0% (28/35) without loss of sensitivity (from 100.0% to 95.9%, p = 0.153) in cohort 2. Similarly, the specificity increased from 0.0% (0/58) to 77.6% (45/58) without loss of sensitivity (from 100.0% to 96.4%, p = 0.081) in cohort 3. Multimodal US showed good diagnostic performance in predicting breast malignancy of BI-RADS category 4 lesions. Although the loss of sensitivity was existing, the addition of multimodal US to US BI-RADS could improve the specificity in BI-RADS category 4 lesions, which reduced unnecessary biopsies., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest disclosure The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2020 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to establish a scoring system for predicting axillary lymph node metastasis (ALNM) in patients with breast invasive ductal carcinoma with negative axillary ultrasound (US) results., Methods: In this retrospective study, 156 breast invasive ductal carcinoma lesions from 156 women were retrospectively enrolled. The features of conventional US and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) qualitative enhancement patterns and quantitative enhancement parameters were analyzed. Subsequently, a scoring system was created by a multivariate logistic regression analysis., Results: The results found that 60 patients (38%) showed ALNM. A scoring system was defined as risk score = 1.75 × (if lesion size ≥20 mm) + 1.93 × (if uncircumscribed margin shown on conventional US) + 1.77 × (if coarse or twisting penetrating vessels shown on CEUS). When the risk scores were less than 1.75, 1.75 to 1.93, 1.94 to 3.70, and 3.70 or higher, the risk rates of ALNM were 0% (0 of 9), 10.7% (5 of 46), 29.2% (14 of 48) and 77.4% (41 of 53), respectively. In comparison with conventional US alone, the scoring system using the combination of conventional US and CEUS showed better discrimination ability in terms of the area under the curve (0.830 versus 0.777; P = .037)., Conclusions: A scoring system based on conventional US and CEUS may improve the prediction of ALNM., (© 2020 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.)

Objective: To compare the accuracy of influenza-like illness (ILI) surveillance by automatic computer analysis based on electronic medical records and by doctor's report. Methods: A total of 3 542 patients who presented to Yichang Central Hospital fever clinic, respiratory department or emergency department between April to October 2019 with an ICD-10 code for acute respiratory illness (J00-J22) and complete electronic medical information of ILI related syndromes were drawn as the study sample. Taking the classification of the study sample according to the ILI case definition by influenza surveillance professionals as the gold standard, draw the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and calculate sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic consistency to compared the accuracy of ILI surveillance by automatic computer analysis and by doctor's report. Results: Median age of 3 542 cases was 30 (24, 38) years old; 1 179 cases (33.29%) compliance with the case definition, ILI reported by doctors was 1 306 cases (36.87%), and computer automatic identification ILI were 1 150 cases (32.47%); 1 391 (39.27%) cases were men. The results of automatic computer analysis and doctor report consistency of kappa values with gold standard judgment were 0.97 and 0.66 respectively; area under the ROC curve was 0.98 and 0.84, respectively. And the sensitivity and specificity of automatic computer analysis were higher than that of doctor's report (all P values were <0.001), the sensitivity was 96.95% and 82.27%, and the specificity was 99.70% and 85.78%, respectively. Conclusion: The automatic computer analysis based on electronic medical records can identified ILI cases with good sensitivity and specificity in ILI case surveillance.

Objective: Much of the current discourse surrounding healthcare reform in the United States revolves around the role of the profit motive in medical care. However, there currently exists a paucity of literature evaluating the effect of for-profit hospital ownership status on neurological and neurosurgical care. The purpose of this study was to compare inpatient mortality, operation rates, length of stay, and hospital charges between private nonprofit and for-profit hospitals in the treatment of intracranial hemorrhage., Methods: This retrospective cohort study utilized data from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database. Primary outcomes, including all-cause inpatient mortality, operative status, patient disposition, hospital length of stay, total hospital charges, and per-day hospital charges, were assessed for patients discharged with a primary diagnosis of intracranial (epidural, subdural, subarachnoid, or intraparenchymal) hemorrhage, while controlling for baseline demographics, comorbidities, and interhospital differences via propensity score matching. Subgroup analyses by hemorrhage type were then performed, using the same methodology., Results: Of 155,977 unique hospital discharges included in this study, 133,518 originated from private nonprofit hospitals while the remaining 22,459 were from for-profit hospitals. After propensity score matching, mortality rates were higher in for-profit centers, at 14.50%, compared with 13.31% at nonprofit hospitals (RR 1.09, 95% CI 1.00-1.18; p = 0.040). Surgical operation rates were also similar (25.38% vs 24.42%; RR 0.96, 95% CI 0.91-1.02; p = 0.181). Of note, nonprofit hospitals appeared to be more intensive, with intracranial pressure monitor placement occurring in 2.13% of patients compared with 1.47% in for-profit centers (RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.54-0.88; p < 0.001). Discharge disposition was also similar, except for higher rates of absconding at for-profit hospitals (RR 1.59, 95% CI 1.12-2.27; p = 0.018). Length of stay was greater among for-profit hospitals (mean ± SD: 7.46 ± 11.91 vs 6.50 ± 8.74 days, p < 0.001), as were total hospital charges ($141,141.40 ± $218,364.40 vs $84,863.54 ± $136,874.71 [USD], p < 0.001). These findings remained similar even after segregating patients by subgroup analysis by hemorrhage type., Conclusions: For-profit hospitals are associated with higher inpatient mortality, lengths of stay, and hospital charges compared with their nonprofit counterparts.

Key Message: In the soybean cultivar Raiden, both a SMV-resistance gene and a BCMV-resistance gene were fine-mapped to a common region within the Rsv1 complex locus on chromosome 13, in which two CC-NBS-LRR resistance genes (Glyma.13g184800 and Glyma.13g184900) exhibited significant divergence between resistant and susceptible cultivars and were subjected to positive selection. Both Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) and Bean common mosaic virus (BCMV) can induce soybean mosaic diseases. To date, few studies have explored soybean resistance against these two viruses simultaneously. In this work, Raiden, a cultivar resistant to both SMV and BCMV, was crossed with a susceptible cultivar, Williams 82, to fine-map the resistance genes. After inoculating ~ 200 F 2 individuals with either SMV (SC6-N) or BCMV (HZZB011), a segregation ratio of 3 resistant:1 susceptible was observed, indicating that for either virus, a single dominant gene confers resistance. Bulk segregation analysis (BSA) revealed that the BCMV-resistance gene is also linked to the SMV-resistance Rsv1 complex locus. Genotyping the F 2 individuals with 12 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers across the Rsv1 complex locus then preliminarily mapped the SMV-resistance gene, Rsv1-r, between SSR markers BARCSOYSSR&#95;13&#95;1075 and BARCSOYSSR&#95;13&#95;1161 and the BCMV-resistance gene between BARCSOYSSR&#95;13&#95;1084 and BARCSOYSSR&#95;13&#95;1115. Furthermore, a population of 1009 F 2 individuals was screened with markers BARCSOYSSR&#95;13&#95;1075 and BARCSOYSSR&#95;13&#95;1161, and 32 recombinant F 2 individuals were identified. By determining the genotypes of these F 2 individuals on multiple internal SSR and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and assaying the phenotypes of selected recombinant F 2:3 lines, both the SMV- and BCMV-resistance genes were fine-mapped to a common region ( ~ 154.5 kb) between two SNP markers: SNP-38 and SNP-50. Within the mapped region, two CC-NBS-LRR genes exhibited significant divergence between Raiden and Williams 82, and their evolution has been affected by positive selection.

Objectives: To understand the status of studies about influenza economic burden in mainland China and summarize their major results. Methods: The words of influenza, flu, cost, economic, burden, effectiveness, benefit, utility, China, and Chinese, were used as search keywords. Journal papers published during 2000-2018 were searched from Chinese electronic databases (CNKI and Wanfang) and English electronic databases (PubMed, Web of science, EconLit and Cochrane Library). The language of literature was restricted to Chinese and English. A total of 23 effective documents were included, and the descriptive characteristics, research indexes and methods included in the literature were analyzed. The monetary unit used in this review is Chinese Yuan (CNY). Results: The 23 study sites were mainly in the relatively developed and populous regions. The total cost per capita of laboratory-confirmed influenza,of all age-group was reported in 6 literatures, and only 4 literatures reported it in out-patients (range: 768.0-999.9 CNY), Only one study reported this indicator in inpatients (9 832.0 CNY). One literature reported the total cost per capita of influenza-like illness,, which was 205.1 CNY. And one literature reported that the direct medical cost of inpatients per capita in children under 5 years of age was 6 072.0 CNY while two literature reported this index for the elderly over 60 years of age, ranging from 14 250.0 to 19 349.1 CNY. Four articles reported the economic burden of influenza in urban and rural areas, one of which showed that the related expenses of urban influenza inpatients accounted for 31% of the average annual income, while which for the rural flow was 113%. Conclusion: The average economic burden of lab-confirmed influenza case is higher than that of influenza-like illness, and there are differences in outpatient indirect expenses and inpatients direct medical expenses. The direct medical burden for the hospitalized 60-years-and-beyond influenza case group is heavier thar other age group. By region, the influenza associated individual economic burden in rural area is higher than that of urban area..

Objective: To systematically review the mortality burden study of influenza in mainland China. Method: "influenza", "flu", "H1N1", "pandemic", "mortality", "death", "fatality", "burden", "China" and "Chinese" were used as keywords, and a systematic literature search was conducted to identify articles in three English databases (PubMed, Web of Science and Embase) and three Chinese database (CNKI, WanFang and VIP) during 1990-2018 (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). The language of literature was restricted to Chinese and English. The inclusion criteria were human-oriented researches with method based on population, and research indexes included mortality and excess mortality. The exclusion criteria were non-primary research materials, predictive research and research on the burden of avian influenza related deaths. A total of 17 literatures were included, and the basic information to descriptive characteristics, methodology of modeling and the corresponding results were extracted. Results: All the 17 studies adopted indirect statistical models, with 14 of which adopted the regression model, and all the research index was excess mortality. All causes (16 studies), respiratory and circulatory diseases (14 studies) and pneumonia and influenza (10 studies) were the main causes of death associated with influenza. Influenza associated mortality burden in the elderly was higher, with the lowest excess mortality rates of all causes, respiratory and circulatory diseases, pneumonia and influenza being 49.57, 30.80 and 0.69 per 100 000 people, and the highest rates being 228.16, 170.20 and 30.35 per 100 000 people, respectively. In the non-elderly, the corresponding lowest rates were -0.27, -0.08 and 0.04 per 100 000 people respectively, and the highest rates were 3.63, 2.6 and 0.91 per 100 000 people, respectively. The influenza-related excess mortality was higher in the north, with a minimum of 7.8 per 100 000 and a maximum of 18.0 per 100 000, and slightly lower in the south, with a minimum of 6.11 per 100 000 and a maximum of 18.7 per 100 000. There were also differences in deaths caused by different influenza virus subtypes, with influenza A(H3N2) and influenza B virus possibly posing a heavier mortality burden. Conclusions: Studies on influenza mortality burden is mainly based on indirect model and urban level in China. The mortality burden of influenza in the elderly, the northern and subtype A(H3N2) and B were more severe.

Key Message: In the soybean cultivar Suweon 97, BCMV-resistance gene was fine-mapped to a 58.1-kb region co-localizing with the Soybean mosaic virus (SMV)-resistance gene, Rsv1-h raising a possibility that the same gene is utilized against both viral pathogens. Certain soybean cultivars exhibit resistance against soybean mosaic virus (SMV) or bean common mosaic virus (BCMV). Although several SMV-resistance loci have been reported, the understanding of the mechanism underlying BCMV resistance in soybean is limited. Here, by crossing a resistant cultivar Suweon 97 with a susceptible cultivar Williams 82 and inoculating 220 F 2 individuals with a BCMV strain (HZZB011), we observed a 3:1 (resistant/susceptible) segregation ratio, suggesting that Suweon 97 possesses a single dominant resistance gene against BCMV. By performing bulked segregant analysis with 186 polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers across the genome, the resistance gene was determined to be linked with marker BARSOYSSR&#95;13&#95;1109. Examining the genotypes of nearby SSR markers on all 220 F 2 individuals then narrowed down the gene between markers BARSOYSSR&#95;13&#95;1109 and BARSOYSSR&#95;13&#95;1122. Furthermore, 14 previously established F 2:3 lines showing crossovers between the two markers were assayed for their phenotypes upon BCMV inoculation. By developing six more SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) markers, the resistance gene was finally delimited to a 58.1-kb interval flanked by BARSOYSSR&#95;13&#95;1114 and SNP-49. Five genes were annotated in this interval of the Williams 82 genome, including a characteristic coiled-coil nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat (CC-NBS-LRR, CNL)-type of resistance gene, Glyma13g184800. Coincidentally, the SMV-resistance allele Rsv1-h was previously mapped to almost the same region, thereby suggesting that soybean Suweon 97 likely relies on the same CNL-type R gene to resist both viral pathogens.

Objective: Despite high rates of mortality and depression, there is limited knowledge of how depressive symptoms, especially feeling of hopefulness, affect mortality in the homebound elderly., Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a community sample of 1034 adults, age 60 years and older. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale was used to evaluate the mood symptoms and feeling of hopefulness at baseline. The death data were collected within an 8-year follow-up period. Analysis of variance and Chi-square were used to compare the clinical conditions among the groups of individuals who feel hopeful always, sometimes, and rarely. Logistic regression was used to explore the association between the hopefulness about the future and mortality as an outcome., Results: In the 8-year follow-up period, frequency of feeling hopeful, but not other individual depressive symptoms, was associated with mortality rate. The mortality rate among those who always, sometimes, and rarely felt hopeful were 21.6%, 26.4%, and 35.7%, respectively (P = 0.002). Logistic regression also confirmed that individuals who rarely feel hopeful had higher odds of decease within the 8-year follow-up period than those who always felt hopeful (OR = 1.74, CI = 1.14-2.65) after adjusting for age and medical conditions., Conclusions: Baseline hopefulness predicts mortality outcome among the homebound elderly in the community. Identifying individuals who are depressed with hopelessness in the elderly and providing early intervention may improve the mortality rate. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., (Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Objective: To evaluate the reliability and validity of three-district and four-level triage standards in adult emergency department., Methods: A randomized sampling cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 1 106 emergency adult patients admitted to the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in Hunan Province from December 2015 to April 2016 were enrolled. The triage was independently performed by 12 nurses according to the emergency triage criteria. Based on the shift style, 2 nurses were assigned to each shift as the triage guider and assistant respectively, who did the triage for every patient independently. The clinical data were recorded as follows: the demographic data, emergency information (triage time, emergency way, complaints, vital signs, and conscious state), triage information (triage level, admitted department), waiting time, treatment time, destination and outcomes. The reliability of three-district and four-level triage standards was analyzed by Spearman correlation, and the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was plotted to evaluate its validity., Results: (1) A total of 254 patients were enrolled for reliability evaluation in the first 2 weeks of the study. The overall internal consistency rate of the triage instructors and the triage assistants was 72%, the total Kappa value was 0.686 [95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 0.608-0.757, P < 0.001]. (2) Validity analysis showed that in the 1 125 emergency patients collected during the study, a total of 1 106 patients were finally enrolled in the analysis excluding the patients who refused to accept the treatment, whose data was incomplete and who was diagnosed as prehospital death. With the increase of three-district and four-level triage level, a significant increase was showed in the waiting time of patients, the treatment time, and the retention rate; on the contrary, the salvage rate, the hospitalization rate, hospitalization time, emergency mortality, in-hospital mortality and total mortality rate were decreased [the waiting time of patients from triage level 1 to 4 (minutes) was 1.00 (1.00, 1.75), 1.00 (1.00, 5.00), 8.00 (2.00, 23.00), 10.00 (4.50, 28.00), the treatment received time (minutes) was 1.00 (1.00, 10.00), 6.00 (1.00, 23.00), 48.00 (25.00, 105.00), 87.00 (41.00, 140.00), the retention rate was 4.76%, 10.94%, 55.91%, 42.86%, the salvage rate was 95.24%, 87.94%, 20.81%, 0%, the hospitalization rate was 57.14%, 70.98%, 53.62%, 20.41%, the hospitalization time (days) was 19.50 (9.75, 28.00), 11.00 (8.00, 17.00), 12.00 (8.25, 17.00), 10.50 (8.75, 15.25), the emergency mortality was 19.05%, 6.92%, 1.41%, 0%, the in-hospital mortality was 16.67%, 15.09%, 6.25%, 0%, and the total mortality rate was 28.57%, 17.63%, 4.76%, 0%, all P < 0.05]. ROC curve analysis showed that the area under ROC curve (AUC) of three-district and four-level triage standards for identifying patients needed an immediate intervention (triage level 1 to 2) was 0.854 (95%CI = 0.831-0.878), and the sensitivity and specificity were 78.62% and 89.89%, respectively, the misdiagnosis rate was 10.11%, and the missed diagnosis rate was 21.38%., Conclusions: The three-district and four-level triage standards were proved to be a reliable and valid instrument, which can distinguish the severity of the disease and help nurses to triage patients correctly.

Gene expression in higher eukaryotes appears to be regulated by specific combinations of transcription factors binding to regulatory sequences. The Ets factor PU.1 and the IRF protein Pip (IRF-4) represent a pair of interacting transcription factors implicated in regulating B cell-specific gene expression. Pip is recruited to its binding site on DNA by phosphorylated PU.1. PU.1-Pip interaction is shown to be template directed and involves two distinct protein-protein interaction surfaces: (i) the ets and IRF DNA-binding domains; and (ii) the phosphorylated PEST region of PU.1 and a lysine-requiring putative alpha-helix in Pip. Thus, a coordinated set of protein-protein and protein-DNA contacts are essential for PU.1-Pip ternary complex assembly. To analyze the function of these factors in vivo, we engineered chimeric repressors containing the ets and IRF DNA-binding domains connected by a flexible POU domain linker. When stably expressed, the wild-type fused dimer strongly repressed the expression of a rearranged immunoglobulin lambda gene, thereby establishing the functional importance of PU.1-Pip complexes in B cell gene expression. Comparative analysis of the wild-type dimer with a series of mutant dimers distinguished a gene regulated by PU.1 and Pip from one regulated by PU.1 alone. This strategy should prove generally useful in analyzing the function of interacting transcription factors in vivo, and for identifying novel genes regulated by such complexes.

About one-half of the terminators of the Escherichia coli genome require transcription termination factor rho to function. Here we use the very "diffuse" trp t' terminator of E. coli to show that both template sequence and transcript secondary structure are involved in controlling the template positions and efficiencies of rho-dependent termination. Termination begins in the wild-type trp t' terminator sequence approximately 97 bps downstream of the promoter under our standard reaction conditions, and termination efficiencies for individual positions on three related templates have been determined in the form of quantitative patterns of rho-dependent RNA release. Comparison of these patterns shows that the rho-dependent termination efficiency at individual template positions depends primarily on the nucleotide sequence at and near the putative 3' end of the transcript, although these efficiencies can also be influenced by RNA sequence elements located further upstream. The amplitudes of the peaks of the RNA release patterns at specific template positions are controlled primarily by the effectiveness of the binding of the rho hexamer to the "rho loading site" of the transcript. Introduction of a stable element of secondary structure into the nascent RNA within the loading site both shifts the position of initial rho-dependent termination downstream and decreases the amplitudes of the peaks of the RNA release pattern at the corresponding sequences. These results and others are consistent with the view that rho-dependent terminators contain two essential components: (i) an upstream rho loading site on the RNA that is 70-80 nucleotide residues in length, essentially devoid of secondary structure, and which contains sufficient numbers of rC residues to activate the RNA-dependent ATPase of rho; and (ii) a downstream sequence within which termination actually occurs. In this study we use the trp t' terminator to characterize the involvement of each of these sequence components in detail in order to provide the parameters required to define a quantitative mechanistic model for the function of rho in transcript termination.

Continuing our quantitative analysis of rho-dependent termination at the trp t ' terminator, we here present evidence that the position of rho-dependent terminators along the template is strongly regulated by the secondary structure of the nascent RNA transcript, and that the prerequisite for establishing an effective kinetic competition between elongation and rho-dependent RNA release at a particular termination position is an upstream rho hexamer properly bound to a rho loading site on the nascent transcript. As a consequence kinetic competition regulates termination efficiency at individual positions downstream of the rho loading site, but does not control the position of the termination zone. Conditions that favor the formation of stable secondary structure on the RNA shift the initial rho-dependent termination position downstream. These results are consistent with a model that states that the rho protein requires approximately 70-80 nucleotide residues of unstructured RNA to load onto the transcript and cause termination, and that stable RNA secondary structures are effectively "looped out" to avoid interaction with rho, meaning that more RNA must be synthesized before rho-dependent termination can begin. Thus, although the rate of transcript elongation is important in determining termination efficiency at specific template positions, the process of loading of the rho hexamer onto the nascent transcript plays an overriding role in determining the template positions of rho-dependent terminators. We also show that at high salt concentrations, which have virtually no effect on the rate of transcript elongation, rho-dependent transcript termination is more directly dependent on the efficiency of rho loading, since the processivity of translocation of rho along the nascent transcript to "catch up with" the polymerase is much more limited under these conditions. A quantitative model for rho-dependent transcript termination is developed to account for all these interacting effects of rho on the efficiency of RNA release from actively transcribing elongation complexes.

1. Intrasomal recordings of potentials produced by current stimulation in vivo were made from 24 (A-beta) touch and 19 vibrotactile neurons in the trigeminal ganglion of 29 crotaline snakes, Trimeresurus flavoviridis. 2. Usually touch neurons responded with a single action potential at the beginning of a prolonged depolarizing pulse, whereas all vibrotactile neurons responded with multiple spikes. 3. The electrophysiological parameters examined were membrane potential, threshold current, input resistance and capacitance, time constant, rebound latency, and its threshold current. Touch neurons had higher input resistance (and lower input capacitance) than vibrotactile neurons. 4. In conclusion, current injection, which elicits a single or multiple spiking, seems a useful way to separate touch neurons from vibrotactile neurons without confirming the receptor response, and some membrane properties are also specific to the sensory modality.

Intrasomal recording and horseradish peroxidase injection techniques were employed in vivo to determine the morphological characteristics of touch, temperature, and mechanical nociceptive neurons in the trigeminal ganglia of crotaline snakes. The touch neurons, with a peripheral axon conducting at the A-beta range, could be subdivided into tactile and vibrotactile neurons according to their response properties, but there were no morphological differences between them. These neurons exhibited a large and oval soma and possessed a set of large stem, peripheral, and central axons which were all myelinated and equal in diameter with a constriction at the bifurcation. The temperature neurons, which conducted peripherally at the A-delta range, were physiologically separated into thermosensitive and thermo-mechanosensitive neurons, which were also morphologically indistinguishable. The temperature neurons had a round soma of medium size and a set of medium axons with varied axonal bifurcation patterns. All axons of these neurons were myelinated, but the central axon was thinner than the stem and peripheral axons. The mechanical nociceptive neurons, which had a peripheral axon conducting at the A-delta range, were morphologically heterogeneous based on their conduction velocities. The neurons conducting at the fast A-delta range were morphologically similar to the temperature neurons in the ganglion excepting their thinner central axons, whereas those at the slow A-delta range had a thinner myelinated stem axon that gave rise to a thinner myelinated peripheral axon and an unmyelinated stem axon with a bifurcation of either a triangular expansion at the bifurcating point or a central axon arising straightforwardly from the constant stem and peripheral axons. This study revealed that distinct morphological characteristics do exist for the touch and temperature neurons and the subtypes of mechanical nociceptive neurons in the trigeminal ganglion, but not for the subfunctional types of touch neurons or temperature neurons.

The electronic wave functions of 11 nitroimidazolyl and nitroheterocyclic compounds were computed using the CNDO/2 quantum chemical method. The location of the greatest nucleophilic reactivity for each molecule was predicted to be mostly near or on the nitro group. As in our previous publication (Lin Liming et al. 1985) the maximum values of the superdelocalizability index for nucleophilic reactivity S(N)max and the sum of S(N)r for each of these compounds were discovered to be significantly correlated with the radiosensitivity as indicated by log(1/C1.6), where C1.6 is the concentration of the compound required to achieve an enhancement ratio of 1.6. The electrostatic potential distribution on a plane parallel to the plane of the imidazole or heterocyclic ring was computed for these compounds with the wave functions obtained from CNDO/2 calculations. In order to analyse the steric electrostatic potential maps, the overall electrostatic potential on an imaginary surface surrounding a molecule was calculated using the multicentre multipole expansion method. It was found that a wide and deep negative potential area exists in a compound which had significant radiosensitizing efficiency, while in metronidazole, which is not an efficient radiosensitizer, the corresponding area is narrow. This phenomenon may be related to the interaction between these compounds and certain biological macromolecules. These preliminary quantum chemical results support Adams' electron affinity theory, and might be helpful in searching for new radiosensitizers.