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A visible‐light‐promoted reduction of nitrobenzenes using formate salts as the reductant was developed. A wide range of nitrobenzenes can be converted into aniline products in a transition metal free fashion. Mechanistic studies revealed that radical species (carbon dioxide radical anion and thiol radical) are key intermediates for the transformation. We anticipate that this method will provide a valuable and green strategy for the reduction of nitrobenzenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microalgae, small photosynthetic unicells, are of great interest to ecology, ecotoxicology and biotechnology and there is a growing need to investigate the ability of cells to photosynthesize under variable conditions. Current strategies involve handoperated pulse-amplitude-modulated (PAM) chlorophyll fluorimeters, which can provide detailed insights into the photophysiology of entire populations- or individual cells of microalgae but are typically limited in their throughput. To increase the throughput of a commercially available MICROSCOPY-PAM system, we present the PAM Automation Control Manager (‘PACMan’), an open-source Python software package that automates image acquisition, microscopy stage control and the triggering of external hardware components. PACMan comes with a user-friendly graphical user interface and is released together with a stand-alone tool (PAMalysis) for the automated calculation of per-cell maximum quantum efficiencies (= Fv/Fm). Using these two software packages, we successfully tracked the photophysiology of >1000 individual cells of green algae (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) and dinoflagellates (genus Symbiodiniaceae) within custom-made microfluidic devices. Compared to the manual operation of MICROSCOPY-PAM systems, this represents a 10-fold increase in throughput. During experiments, PACMan coordinated the movement of the microscope stage and triggered the MICROSCOPY-PAM system to repeatedly capture high-quality image data across multiple positions. Finally, we analyzed single-cell Fv/Fm with the manufacturer-supplied software and PAMalysis, demonstrating a median difference <0.5% between both methods. We foresee that PACMan, and its auxiliary software package will help increase the experimental throughput in a range of microalgae studies currently relying on hand-operated MICROSCOPY-PAM technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The innovative combination of all‐trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide (ATO) has established a new chapter of curative approach in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). The disease characteristics and prognostic influence of additional cytogenetic abnormalities (ACA) in APL with modern therapeutic strategy need to be elucidated. Methods: In the present study, we retrospectively investigated disease features and prognostic power of ACA in 171 APL patients treated with ATRA‐ATO‐containing regimens. Results: Patients with ACA had markedly decreased hemoglobin levels than that without ACA (p = 0.021). Risk stratification in the ACA group was significantly worse than that in the non‐ACA group (p = 0.032). With a median follow‐up period of 62.0 months, worse event‐free survival (EFS) was demonstrated in patients harboring ACA. Multivariate analysis showed that ACA was an independent adverse factor for EFS (p = 0.033). By further subgroup analysis, in CD34 and CD56 negative APL, patients harboring ACA had inferior EFS (p = 0.017; p = 0.037). Conclusions: To sum up, ACA remains the independent prognostic value for EFS, we should build risk‐adapted therapeutic strategies in the long‐term management of APL when such abnormalities are detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Maintaining the patency of arterial catheters—routinely inserted in critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs)—is essential for obtaining physiological measurements and enabling blood sampling. Aim: This study aims to evaluate current ICU nurse knowledge and practice of maintaining the patency of arterial catheters and explore the factors that influence nurses' knowledge level. Design: This was a cross‐sectional survey conducted in China. Methods: This research was conducted in 20 tertiary hospitals in Beijing, China between March and June 2020. The data were collected by electronic questionnaire, which was designed in accordance with the literature and consisted of 28 questions. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Results: A total of 576 completed questionnaires were returned. The mean score of nurses' knowledges was 3.66 ± 1.35, which is a moderate level. There was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of nurses with different professional titles and work experiences (mean 3.58 vs 4.04/7; mean 3.50 vs 3.58 vs 3.94/7). Considering ICU nurses' practice of maintaining the patency of arterial catheters, 376(65.3%)nurses replaced the pressure transducer as per the manual, and 347 (60.2%) nurses zeroed the pressure transducer once per shift. More than 90% ICU nurses aligned the transducer with the heart surface marker during zeroing procedures. Furthermore, 79.9% of nurses performed fast‐flush tests routinely, 459 (85.9%) nurses flushed the arterial catheter routinely, and 80% of nurses evaluated the patency of the arterial catheter every shift. Conclusions: This study found that the practices of ICU nurses varied, and their knowledge of how to maintain the patency of arterial catheters was moderate and could be improved. ICU nurses should be trained effectively to develop a unified standard of arterial catheter management. Relevance to clinical practice: Training programmes on arterial catheter management for ICU nurses are essential for improving knowledge and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four novel compounds were designed by 'tailoring' 3,3′-dihydroxyisorenieratene (a natural carotenoid) based on an isoprene unit retention truncation strategy. Among them, the smallest molecule 1 (2,3,6,2′,3′,6′-hexamethyl-4,4′-dihydroxy-trans-stilbene) was concisely synthesized in a one-pot Stille-Heck tandem sequence, and surfaced as a promising lead molecule in terms of its selective antiproliferative activity mediated by blocking the NCI-H460 cell cycle in G1 phase. Additionally, theoretical calculations and cell uptake experiments indicate that the unique polymethylation pattern of compound 1 significantly induces a conformational change shift out of planarity and increases its cell uptake and metabolic stability. The observation should be helpful to rationally design resveratrol-inspired antiproliferative agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tillage practices affect the fate of N fertilizer by influencing its transformation. Few studies have examined N leaching and N2O emission from double-cropped paddy fields in southern China. This study was aimed at assessing the influence of tillage systems on saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks), N leaching, and N2O emission from double-cropped paddy fields in southern China. The experiment was conducted with rice (Oryza sativa L.) during the growing seasons of 2010 and 2011. Four treatments in a randomized complete block design were: no-till (NT), conventional tillage (CT), rotary tillage (RT), and conventional tillage with residue removed (CT0). Results showed that NT significantly increased Ks at the 0- to 40-cm depth relative to other treatments (P < 0.05); however, there were no significant differences in Ks at the 40- to 80-cm depth. Compared with other treatments, the mean Ks for NT at the 0- to 80-cm depth increased significantly (P < 0.05), by 76.3, 44.7, and 64.8% compared with CT, RT, and CT0, respectively. Despite significant differences (P < 0.05) on some occasions, higher concentrations of NH4+-N and NO3--N were observed in soil solutions from NT than from other tillage treatments. Conversion of CT to NT reduced N2O emissions, and the magnitude of reduction was usually significant (P < 0.05) compared with other treatments, especially during the stage of peak emissions. Therefore, in the context of yield increase, environmental concern, and climate change, integrated N management under a NT system in paddy fields is needed to attain high N use efficiency and crop yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce perceived motion blur on liquid crystal displays, typically various techniques such as overdrive, scanning backlight, black-data insertion, black-field insertion, and frame rate up-conversion are widely employed by the liquid crystal display industry. These techniques aim to steepen the edge transitions by improving the dynamic behavior of the light modulation. However, depending on the implementation, this may result in the perception of irregularly shaped motion-induced edge-blur profiles. It is not yet fully understood how these irregularities in the steepened edge-blur profiles contribute to the perceived sharpness of moving objects. To better understand the consequences of several motion-blur reduction techniques, a perception experiment is designed to evaluate the perceived sharpness of typical motion-induced edge-blur profiles at several contrast levels. Relevant characteristics of these profiles are determined on the basis of the perception results by means of regression analysis. As a result, a sharpness metric with two parameters is established, where one parameter relates to the edge slope and the other to the overshoot!undershoot part of the motion-induced edge-blur profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GSE (grape seed extract) has been shown to exhibit protective effects against cardiovascular events and atherosclerosis, although the underlying molecular mechanisms of action are unknown. Herein, we assessed the ability of GSE to enhance eNOS (endothelial nitric oxide synthase) expression and NO (nitric oxide) production in H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide)-treated HUVECs (human umbilical vein endothelial cells). GSE enhanced eNOS expression and NO release in H2O2-treated cells in a dose-dependent manner. GSE inhibited intracellular ROS (reactive oxygen species) and reduced intracellular calcium in a dose-dependent manner in H2O2-treated cells, as shown by confocal microscopy. ROS was inhibited in cells pretreated with 5.0 μM GSE, 2.0 μM TG (thapsigargin) and 20.0 μM 2-APB (2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate) instead of 0.25 μM extracellular calcium. In addition, GSE enhanced eNOS expression and reduced ROS production via increasing p-AKT (AKT phosphorylation) with high extracellular calcium (13 mM). In conclusion, GSE protected against endothelial injury by upregulation of eNOS and NO expression via inhibiting InsP3Rs (inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors)-mediated intracellular excessive calcium release and by activating p-AKT in endothelial cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Methods Results Conclusions In recent years, the correlation between CD117 antigen and the prognosis of hematological malignancies has been demonstrated. However, there is limited literature on the clinical significance of CD117 antigen in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyze the clinical features and prognostic significance of CD117 in APL.In this study, we retrospectively investigated the clinicopathological characteristics, outcome, and prognostic impact of negative CD117 expression (CD117−) in 169 APL patients treated with all‐trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide (ATO) containing regimen.The median follow‐up period was 63.0 months. CD117− was detected in 13 APL patients (7.7%). No significant differences were found in baseline characteristics between CD117+ and CD117− subgroups. However, compared to CD117+ APL, the incidence of early death (ED) was significantly higher in CD117− APL (p = 0.023). By multivariate analysis, CD117‐ was an independent adverse prognostic factor for overall survival (OS) and progression‐free survival (PFS) (p = 0.022 and p = 0.014, respectively).To sum up, CD117− is associated with greater risk of ED and has the statistical power to predict inferior OS and PFS, this marker may be considered to build prognostic scores for risk‐adapted therapeutic strategies in APL management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]