Search

Abstract Quantifying the complexity of traffic scenarios not only provides an essential foundation for constructing the scenarios used in autonomous vehicle training and testing, but also enhances the robustness of the resulting driving decisions and planning operations. However, currently available quantification methods suffer from inaccuracies and coarse‐granularity in complexity measurements due to issues such as insufficient specificity or indirect quantification. The present work addresses these challenges by proposing a comprehensive entropy‐based model for quantifying traffic scenario complexity across multiple dimensions based on a consideration of the essential components of the traffic environment, including traffic participants, static elements, and dynamic elements. In addition, the limitations of the classical information entropy models applied for assessing traffic scenarios are addressed by calculating magnitude entropy. The proposed entropy‐based model is analyzed in detail according to its application to simulated traffic scenarios. Moreover, the model is applied to real world data within a naturalistic driving dataset. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed quantification model is illustrated by comparing the complexity results obtained for three typical traffic scenarios with those obtained using an existing multi‐factor complexity quantification method.

Abstract The exceptional optoelectronic properties of lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (PeNCs) in the ultraviolet and visible spectral regions have positioned them as a promising class of semiconductor materials for diverse optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications. However, their limited response to near‐infrared (NIR) light due to the intrinsic bandgap (>1.5 eV) has hindered their applications in many advanced technologies. To circumvent this limitation, it is of fundamental significance to integrate PeNCs with lanthanide‐doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) that are capable of efficiently converting low‐energy NIR photons into high‐energy ultraviolet and visible photons. By leveraging the energy transfer from UCNPs to PeNCs, this synergistic combination can not only expand the NIR responsivity range of PeNCs but also introduce novel emission profiles to upconversion luminescence with multi‐dimensional tunability (e.g., wavelength, lifetime, and polarization) under low‐to‐medium power NIR irradiation, which breaks through the inherent restrictions of individual PeNCs and UCNPs and thereby opens up new opportunities for materials and device engineering. In this review, we focus on the latest advancements in the development of PeNCs‐UCNPs nanocomposites, with an emphasis on the controlled synthesis and optical properties design for advanced optoelectronic applications such as full‐spectrum solar cells, NIR photodetectors, and multilevel anticounterfeiting. Some future efforts and prospects toward this active research field are also envisioned.

Abstract Cancer metastasis is the leading cause of mortality in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To meet the rapid malignant growth and transformation, tumor cells dramatically increase the consumption of nutrients, such as amino acids. Peptide transporter 1 (PEPT1), a key transporter for small peptides, has been found to be an effective and energy‐saving intracellular source of amino acids that are required for the growth of tumor cells. Here, the role of PEPT1 in HCC metastasis and its underlying mechanisms is explored. PEPT1 is upregulated in HCC cells and tissues, and high PEPT1 expression is associated with poor prognosis in patients with HCC. PEPT1 overexpression dramatically promoted HCC cell migration, invasion, and lung metastasis, whereas its knockdown abolished these effects both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistic analysis revealed that high PEPT1 expression increased cellular dipeptides in HCC cells that are responsible for activating the MAP4K4/G3BP2 signaling pathway, ultimately facilitating the phosphorylation of G3BP2 at Thr227 and enhancing HCC metastasis. Taken together, these findings suggest that PEPT1 acts as an oncogene in promoting HCC metastasis through dipeptide‐induced MAP4K4/G3BP2 signaling and that the PEPT1/MAP4K4/G3BP2 axis can serve as a promising therapeutic target for metastatic HCC.

Abstract Development of efficient, stable, and recyclable photocatalysts for organic synthesis is vital for transformation of traditional thermal organic chemistry into green sustainable organic chemistry. In this work, the study reports an electrostatic approach to assemble meso‐tetra (4‐sulfonate phenyl) porphyrin (TPPS)tetra (4‐sulfonate phenyl) porphyrin (TPPS) as a donor and benzyl viologen (BV) as an acceptor into stable and recyclable photocatalyst for an efficient organic transformation reaction – aryl sulfide oxidation. By use of the electrostatic TPPS‐BV photocatalysts, 0.1 mmol aryl sulfide with electron‐donating group can be completely transformed into aryl sulfoxide in 60 min without overoxidation into sulfone, rendering near 100% yield and selectivity. The photocatalyst can be recycled up to 95% when 10 mg amount is used. Mechanistic study reveals that efficient charge separation between TPPS and BV results in sufficient formation of superoxide which further reacts with the oxidized sulfide by the photocatalyst to produce the sulfoxide. This mechanistic pathway differs significantly from the previously proposed singlet oxygen‐dominated process in homogeneous TPPS photocatalysis.

Abstract Tumor‐derived exosomes are crucial for early non‐invasive and accurate tumor diagnosis in clinical diagnostics. The development of highly sensitive, simple, and intuitive exosome assays has sparked a research upsurge in clinical diagnostics. Here, we develop a bio‐responsive intelligent DNA hydrogel loaded with CRISPR/Cas12a for universal and ultrasensitive detection of the exosomes. The aptamer serves as the target response unit and switch, competitively disintegrating the region of the DNA linkers and then Cas12a/crRNA was released and activated, resulting in a high fluorescent intensity for exosome detection at the detection limit of 119 particles/μL. Moreover, a constructed colorimetric tube is made by loading a colorimetric filter membrane on the tube lid and intelligent DNA hydrogel on the tube bottom, which enables one‐pot portable colorimetric detection. Without the need for laboratory instruments and professionals, this strategy allows for naked eye detection with limit of detection as low as 104 particles/μL, and shows great applicability in distinguishing between healthy individuals, pretreatment patients, and post‐treatment patients after obtaining a testable analyte. In this study, an ultrasensitive detection platform for exosomes that enables one‐step sensing and dual signal output was introduced. The findings here suggest that this platform is a promising tool for the application of liquid biopsy based on exosomes in clinical diagnosis.

Abstract Background Gastric cancer is a highly heterogeneous disease, which makes it challenging to develop effective targeted therapies. Although the potassium voltage‐gated channel subfamily D (KCND) channels, particularly KCND2 (also known as Kv4.2), have found evidence of involvement in the occurrence and development of various cancers, there are still some limitations in our understanding of KCND2's roles in gastric cancer. Methods We analyzed the correlation between KCND2 expression and clinical features as well as immune infiltration using the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Functional assays of KCND2 were conducted using Cell counting Kit‐8 (CCK8), clone formation assay and cell cycle analysis. Additionally, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry and quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) techniques were used to investigate tumor proliferation and immune cell infiltration at different levels of KCND2 expression in vivo. Results KCND2 was markedly elevated in gastric cancer and its expression appeared to link to different grades, T stages, and N stages. In addition, KCND2 was an independent predictor of prognosis, and its elevated levels in TCGA database revealed a more unfavorable prognosis for patients with gastric cancer. KCND2 strengthened the viability at the cellular level by boosting the proliferation of gastric cancer cells and reducing their death rate. Additionally, it also highlights that KCND2 the abilities of proliferating of gastric cancer cells by stimulating NF‐κB both in cell and animal levels. In addition, the findings provided proof that in animal levels, KCND2 might regulate the immune system by associating with promoting M2 macrophages, which are known to play critical roles in cancer progression. Mechanistically, KCND2 was found to lead to the infiltration of M2 macrophages through activation of NF‐κB, ultimately promoting the advancement of gastric cancer. Conclusion Overall, these findings suggest that KCND2 is likely to be available as an underlying therapeutic target for gastric cancer.

Abstract Background One‐carbon (1C) metabolism is a metabolic network that plays essential roles in biological reactions. In 1C metabolism, a series of nutrients are used to fuel metabolic pathways, including nucleotide metabolism, amino acid metabolism, cellular redox defence and epigenetic maintenance. At present, 1C metabolism is considered the hallmark of cancer. The 1C units obtained from the metabolic pathways increase the proliferation rate of cancer cells. In addition, anticancer drugs, such as methotrexate, which target 1C metabolism, have long been used in the clinic. In terms of immunotherapy, 1C metabolism has been used to explore biomarkers connected with immunotherapy response and immune‐related adverse events in patients. Methods We collected numerous literatures to explain the roles of one‐carbon metabolism in cancer immunotherapy. Results In this review, we focus on the important pathways in 1C metabolism and the function of 1C metabolism enzymes in cancer immunotherapy. Then, we summarise the inhibitors acting on 1C metabolism and their potential application on cancer immunotherapy. Finally, we provide a viewpoint and conclusion regarding the opportunities and challenges of targeting 1C metabolism for cancer immunotherapy in clinical practicability in the future. Conclusion Targeting one‐carbon metabolism is useful for cancer immunotherapy.

Abstract Lanthanide (Ln3+) oxysulfide nanocrystals (NCs) have great prospect in many advanced technologies; however, they suffer from a low photoluminescence efficiency due to the volatility of sulfur and deleterious surface quenching effect. Herein, we report a novel sandwiched luminescent heterostructure based on Ln3+‐doped Gd2O2S@NaYF4 core/shell NCs with tunable sulfur content in the sandwich layer. By means of Eu3+ as the sensitive structural probes, we unravel the ligand‐mediated structure control of the NCs from Gd2O3: Ln3+@NaYF4 to Gd2O2S: Ln3+@NaYF4 with tailored S2– deficiency. Such a sandwich‐type core/shell heterostructure enables us to achieve efficient and multicolor downshifting and upconversion luminescence (UCL), with up to 208.8 folds of enhancement in UCL intensity as compared to that of their core‐only counterparts. These findings provide a general approach for the controlled synthesis of lanthanide oxysulfide@fluoride heterostructure, which offers a new way for the materials design towards diverse emerging applications.

Abstract Appropriate overtaking can improve the safety and efficiency of driving. Practically, overtaking consists of two asymmetric lane‐changes: firstly to the left lane and then return back. Existing literatures treated the two lane‐changes as the same behaviour, which may result in frequent and unnecessary lane‐changes. For the more complex first lane‐change, discretionary lane‐change strategies have been developed to gain speed advantage with least deceleration. Most of them, however, described vehicles' dynamics with rough simplifications different from actual execution (e.g. constant speed and constant acceleration), which may fail them in practical applications. This paper presents an event‐triggered overtaking decision‐making strategy for autonomous vehicles to make the overtaking meet the driver's expectations. Firstly, the difference between the left‐lane change and right‐lane change is analysed. Left‐lane change is mainly concerned with the efficiency, whereas driving safety is the main target of the right‐lane change. Secondly, an event‐triggering condition covering the speed difference between the ego vehicle and its preceding vehicle is set. Afterwards, based on quantified speed advantage, considering surrounding vehicles' changes in both speed and acceleration, an optimisation of overtaking decision‐making strategy is proposed. During right‐lane change in an overtaking, safety is ensured by predicting whether the ego vehicle will collide with surrounding vehicles. Finally, several scenarios are defined in the combination of SCANeR studio and Simulink, which are used to test and demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the overtaking decision‐making strategy. The results show that the proposed overtaking decision‐making strategy, by mathematical quantification of speed advantage, performs well in measuring the motivation of lane‐change and avoiding frequent lane changes, which correspond to driver habits.

Abstract As a kind of promising drug carriers, smart polymers have attracted much attention due to the effective and controlled drug release in target cells. Herein, a reactive oxygen species (ROS)‐responsive thioether‐containing amphiphilic hyperbranched polymer prepared from MTPA and TMPTGE (HBPMT) is synthesized from 3‐(methylthio)propylamine (MTPA) and trimethylolpropane triglycidyl ether (TMPTGE) by the amine‐epoxy click reaction via A2 + B3 one‐pot approach. Benefiting from its inherent amphiphilic nature, HBPMT can self‐assemble into stable micelles in water. Triggered by H2O2, these micelles can be dissociated rapidly because hydrophobic thioether segments in their cores are oxidized into hydrophilic sulfoxide or sulfone groups. Additionally, the ROS produced by photosensitizer under light irradiation can also play the same role of H2O2. Such HBPMT micelles can be utilized to encapsulate anticancer drug paclitaxel (PTX) and photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6) simultaneously for drug delivery and control release. The methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay toward MCF‐7 tumor cells (a human breast adenocarcinoma cell line) indicates that these micelles encapsulated with PTX and Ce6 exhibit a significant combinational efficacy of cell proliferation inhibition, which means the promising potential for synergistic chemo‐photodynamic cancer therapy. Such a novel nanocarrier based on amphiphilic to hydrophilic transition would provide a candidate for controlled drug release and cancer combination therapy.

Abstract The increasing complexity of interconnected power system has brought challenges to detailed dynamic simulation in terms of computational effort. Therefore, for transient stability assessment, dynamic equivalents of parts of large‐scale system are required to capture the electromagnetic transients. This paper presents a review of past research on dynamic equivalencing using coherency‐based methods and system identification methods. Future topics are discussed to improve the state‐of‐art approaches.

Abstract Endothelial dysfunction is considered a predominant driver for pulmonary vascular remodeling in pulmonary hypertension (PH). SOX17, a key regulator of vascular homoeostasis, has been found to harbor mutations in PH patients, which are associated with PH susceptibility. Here, this study explores whether SOX17 mediates the autocrine activity of pulmonary artery ECs to maintain endothelial function and vascular homeostasis in PH and its underlying mechanism. It is found that SOX17 expression is downregulated in the endothelium of remodeled pulmonary arteries in IPH patients and SU5416/hypoxia (Su/hypo)‐induced PH mice as well as dysfunctional HPAECs. Endothelial knockdown of SOX17 accelerates the progression of Su/hypo‐induced PH in mice. SOX17 overexpression in the pulmonary endothelium of mice attenuates Su/hypo‐induced PH. SOX17‐associated exosomes block the proliferation, apoptosis, and inflammation of HPAECs, preventing pulmonary arterial remodeling and Su/hypo‐induced PH. Mechanistic analyses demonstrates that overexpressing SOX17 promotes the exosome‐mediated release of miR‐224‐5p and miR‐361‐3p, which are internalized by injured HPAECs in an autocrine manner, ultimately repressing the upregulation of NR4A3 and PCSK9 genes and improving endothelial function. These results suggest that SOX17 is a key gene in maintaining endothelial function and vascular homeostasis in PH through regulating exosomal miRNAs in an autocrine manner.

Abstract The main proteases (Mpro), also termed 3‐chymotrypsin‐like proteases (3CLpro), are a class of highly conserved cysteine hydrolases in β‐coronaviruses. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that 3CLpros play an indispensable role in viral replication and have been recognized as key targets for preventing and treating coronavirus‐caused infectious diseases, including COVID‐19. This review is focused on the structural features and biological function of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) main protease Mpro (also known as 3CLpro), as well as recent advances in discovering and developing SARS‐CoV‐2 3CLpro inhibitors. To better understand the characteristics of SARS‐CoV‐2 3CLpro inhibitors, the inhibition activities, inhibitory mechanisms, and key structural features of various 3CLpro inhibitors (including marketed drugs, peptidomimetic, and non‐peptidomimetic synthetic compounds, as well as natural compounds and their derivatives) are summarized comprehensively. Meanwhile, the challenges in this field are highlighted, while future directions for designing and developing efficacious 3CLpro inhibitors as novel anti‐coronavirus therapies are also proposed. Collectively, all information and knowledge presented here are very helpful for understanding the structural features and inhibitory mechanisms of SARS‐CoV‐2 3CLpro inhibitors, which offers new insights or inspiration to medicinal chemists for designing and developing more efficacious 3CLpro inhibitors as novel anti‐coronavirus agents.

EGFR‐activating mutations have been recognized as the most important predictor of response to EGFR‐tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs); however, 20–30% of patients harboring EGFR‐activating mutations show poor responses. The mechanisms of such EGFR‐TKI primary resistance are still poorly understood. In our case, a non‐small cell lung cancer patient developed intrinsic EGFR‐TKI resistance and was then confirmed to simultaneously harbor an L858R mutation and ROS1 rearrangement. Salvage chemotherapy plus Endostar showed enduring therapeutic effects, achieving a disease‐free survival period of 24 months and overall survival of 30 months. This suggests that co‐activation of different oncogenic signal pathways might be a potential mechanism of EGFR‐TKI primary resistance. Chemotherapy combined with anti‐angiogenesis should be considered an important salvage strategy. Further studies are warranted to verify these findings and explore the underlying mechanisms involved.

Abstract Until now, enormous smart materials have been engineered with endogenous stimulators such as pH, reactive oxygen species, glutathione, hypoxia and enzyme, or exogenous stimulators such as temperature, light, ultrasound, radiation, and magnetic field in drug delivery. As footstone of stimuli‐responsive nanocarriers, endogenous/exogenous responsive smart materials possess many properties, such as responding ability to specific triggers, controlled drug release, long blood circulation, increased tumor accumulation, “ON‐OFF” switch activities, enhanced diagnostic accuracy, and therapeutic efficacy. Smart materials have attracted considerable attention because they provide likelihood strategy for individualized and comprehensive therapy. In this review, significant research achievements of smart materials responsive to different triggers including their synthesis and formulation mechanism, responsive mechanism, applications, multiple functions are summarized and discussed separately. We primarily focus on the studies in the past few years (2017‐2020). The current situation and remaining challenges of stimuli‐sensitive materials‐based nanocarriers for clinical translation are discussed rationally at the end. It is hope that this timely and overall review would provide some helpful information for researchers in this field.

Abstract Background Obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) tends to be treatment refractory. Recently, cognitive‐coping therapy (CCT) for OCD is reported to be an efficacious psychotherapy. However, the underlying neurophysiological mechanism remains unknown. Here, the effects of CCT on OCD and the resting‐state brain function were investigated. Methods Fifty‐nine OCD patients underwent CCT, pharmacotherapy plus CCT (pCCT), or pharmacotherapy. Before and after a 4‐week treatment, Yale‐Brown obsessive‐compulsive scale (Y‐BOCS) was evaluated and resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs‐fMRI) was scanned. Results Compared with the baseline, significant reduction of Y‐BOCS scores was found after four‐week treatment (p

Abstract Doping is an effective strategy for tailoring the optical properties of 0D Cs4PbX6 (X = Cl, Br, and I) perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) and expanding their applications. Herein, a unique approach is reported for the controlled synthesis of pure‐phase Mn2+‐doped Cs4PbCl6 perovskite NCs and the excited‐state dynamics of Mn2+ is unveiled through temperature‐dependent steady‐state and transient photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Because of the spatially confined 0D structure of Cs4PbCl6 perovskite, the NCs exhibit drastically different PL properties of Mn2+ in comparison with their 3D CsPbCl3 analogues, including significantly improved PL quantum yield in solid form (25.8%), unusually long PL lifetime (26.2 ms), large exciton binding energy, strong electron–phonon coupling strength, and an anomalous temperature evolution of Mn2+‐PL decay from a dominant slow decay (in tens of ms scale) at 300 K to a fast decay (in 1 ms scale) at 10 K. These findings provide fundamental insights into the excited‐state dynamics of Mn2+ in 0D Cs4PbCl6 NCs, thus laying a foundation for future design of 0D perovskite NCs through metal ion doping toward versatile applications.

Abstract Optical thermal sensing holds great promise for disease theranostics. However, traditional ratiometric thermometry methods, in which intensity ratio of two nonoverlapping emissions is defined as the thermosensitive parameter, may have a limited accuracy in temperature read‐out due to the deleterious interference from wavelength‐ and temperature‐dependent photon attenuation in tissue. To overcome this limitation, a dual‐excitation decoding strategy based on NIR hybrid nanocomposites comprising self‐assembled quantum dots (QDs) and Nd3+ doped fluoride nanocrystals (NCs) is proposed for thermal sensing. Upon excitation at 808 nm, the intensity ratio of two emissions at identical wavelength (1057 nm) from QDs and NCs, respectively, is defined as the thermometric parameter R. By employing another 830 nm laser beam following the same optical path as 808 nm laser to exclusively excite QDs, the two overlapping emissions can be easily decoded. The acquired R proves to be inert to the detection depth in tissue, with a minimized temperature reading error of ≈2.3 °C at 35 °C (at a depth of ≈1.1 mm), while the traditional thermometry mode based on the nonoverlapping 1025 and 863 nm emissions may exhibit a large error of ≈43.0 °C. The insights provided by this work pave the way toward high‐accuracy deep‐tissue biosensing.

With the development of network services and location-based systems, many mobile applications begin to use users’ geographical location to provide better services. In terms of social networks, geographical location is actively shared by users. In some applications with recommendation services, before the geographical location recommendation is provided, the authors have to obtain user's permission. This kind of social network integrated with geographical location information is called location-based social networks (abbreviate for LBSNs). In the LBSN, each user has location information when he or she checked in hotels or feature spots. Based on this information, they can identify user's trajectory of movement behaviour and activity patterns. In general, if there is friendship between two users, their trajectories in reality are likely to be similar. In this study, according to user's geographical location information over a period of time, they explore whether there exists friendly relationship between two users based on trajectory similarity and the structure theory of graphs. In particular, they propose a new factor function and a factor graph model based on user's geographical location to predict the friendship between two users in the real LBSN.

Abstract After being hit by several devastating heat waves in recent years, Europe experienced an exceptionally hot June in 2019 again. This June is the hottest one on record over Central Europe both in a monthly‐mean sense and in terms of the number of extremely hot days. The above‐normal hot condition is caused by an anomalous long‐lasting anticyclone in the upper troposphere, which advects warm air from the Sahel and Mediterranean region and enhances incoming solar radiation and surface turbulent fluxes. The anomalous anticyclone results from an unusually‐intensified British‐Baikal Corridor (BBC) pattern and a synoptic Rossby wave breaking (RWB) event over Europe. Three sub‐monthly heat waves are observed in the month. The first two are associated with the BBC pattern, and the third is related to the combination of the previous BBC pattern activity and the RWB event.

Abstract Cervical cancer is one of the most common gynecologic cancers around the world. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are considered to be important regulators of some biological processes. Recently, it has been reported that linc‐UFC1 is a putative oncogene in some cancers. However, the functional roles of linc‐UFC1 have not been investigated in cervical cancer. Here, it was demonstrated that linc‐UFC1 expression was significantly increased in cervical cancer tissues, and its overexpression was associated with the poor survival of patients with cervical cancer. Loss‐of‐function assays indicated that linc‐UFC1 exerted as an oncogene because it promoted the growth and metastasis of cervical cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistic investigations revealed that linc‐UFC1 upregulated FOXP3 expression through competitively binding miR‐34a. Finally, luciferase reporter and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays provided evidence that E2F1 could directly bind to the linc‐UFC1 promoter region and enhance its transcription. Taken together, our findings indicate that the linc‐UFC1 expression signature may serve as a novel biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of cervical cancer, and it is also highlighted that the E2F1‐linc‐UFC1/miR‐34a/FOXP3 axis may be a potentially therapeutic target of cervical cancer.

Abstract Nd3+‐doped near‐infrared (NIR) luminescent nanocrystals (NCs) have shown great promise in various bioapplications. A fundamental understanding of the electronic structures of Nd3+ in NCs is of vital importance for discovering novel Nd3+‐activated luminescent nanoprobes and exploring their new applications. Herein, the electronic structures of Nd3+ in LiLuF4 NCs are unraveled by means of low‐temperature and high‐resolution optical spectroscopy. The photoactive site symmetry of Nd3+ in LiLuF4 NCs and its crystal‐field (CF) transition lines in the NIR region of interest are identified. By taking advantage of the well‐resolved and sharp CF transition lines of Nd3+, the application of LiLuF4:Nd3+ NCs as sensitive NIR‐to‐NIR luminescent nanoprobes for ratiometric detection of cryogenic temperature with a linear range of 77–275 K is demonstrated. These findings reveal the great potential of LiLuF4:Nd3+ NCs in temperature sensing and also lay a foundation for future design of efficient Nd3+‐based luminescent nanoprobes.

Focal choroidal excavation (FCE) is an unusual configuration characterized by focal thinning and pitting of the choroid in the absence of staphyloma or scleral ectasia. The etiology and clinical implications of FCE are currently unknown. We report a case of bilateral multiple FCEs in a patient with a long history of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). Focal choriocapillaris thinning and hyperreflectivity of the adjacent outer nuclear layer were revealed by spectral domain optical coherence tomography, which suggests the occlusion of the choriocapillaries and secondary degeneration of the above photoreceptors. We hypothesize that thrombophilia in the condition of PNH played an important role in the formation of FCE. Although there is no histopathological evidence to support the association between the choroid changes and PNH, this case may offer new clues as for the etiology of FCE.

In order to determine the minimum effective dosages of praziquantel, albendazole, and mebendazole against Clonorchis sinensis infection in Sprague-Dawley rats, each rat was infected with 30 metacercariae and treated with one of three drugs. The rats were killed and examined 25 days after praziquantel treatment or 11 days after albendazole or mebendazole treatment. The minimum effective dosages were a single dose of praziquantel 375 mg/kg, albendazole 150 mg/kg, and mebendazole 150 mg/kg. Trials are required to determine whether these dosages are useful in the treatment of human clonorchiasis.