Search

In this paper, the cermet (Cu-Ni-Fe)/(NiFe2O4-10NiO) anodes were prepared through the powder metallurgy method, followed by being evaluated in the bench scale (200 A) electrolysis tests for more than 1000 hour. The results showed that the as-prepared anodes exhibited excellent corrosion resistance with corrosion rate less than 0.99 cm/a, which satisfied the requirements of the aluminum industry. The analysis results were confirmed by SEM, EDS, and XRD. The results showed that the outstanding corrosion resistance of the anodes relied on a continuous and dense NiFe2O4 film formed on the surface of the anode material, which protected the inner structure of anode material during electrolysis. Finally, a model based on the synergistic action between the metal phase and the ceramic phase was built to illustrate the forming mechanism of the NiFe2O4 passivating film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the lightest materials in the world, aerogels are widely adapted in heat insulation, electromagnetic interference shielding, oil-water separation, etc. Nevertheless, owing to their high flammability, the application scenarios of aerogels in extreme environments are severely limited. To reduce the intrinsic inflammable properties of aerogels, nanomaterials are commonly incorporated as additives to fabricate flame retardant nanocomposites, which creates a barrier effect and catalytic carbonization capacity. Nonetheless, up-to-date, the multifunctional development of these aerogels has been barely explored. Herein, we systematically summarized the recent progress on multifunctional nanocomposite aerogels based on various nanomaterials with different dimensions. The preparation approaches and performance evaluation of the most common types of aerogels were depicted in detail. Moreover, the investigation of multifunctional aerogels and their prospects were demonstrated, and in-depth discussed. This review work aims to deliver an insight towards further directions and developments of multi-functional flame-retardant aerogels for extended applications in extreme environments. [Display omitted] • The recent progress on flame retardant nanocomposite aerogels was reviewed. • The preparation approaches of the nanocomposite aerogels were described. • The proprieties and application of the flame retardant aerogels were illustrated. • The prospects of the flame retardant nanocomposite aerogels were depicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Fast ion transport channels were built by CQDs interlayer of NF membrane. • CQDs/TFC membranes show high selectivity for amino acids and negative ions. • The membrane has great potential for valorization of biogas slurry. In this article, novel nanofiltration (NF) membranes with highly selective surface and fast water and ion transport channels were fabricated for the valorization of biogas slurry. Unlike conventional thin film composite (TFC) membranes, the novel NF membranes compose hydrophilic carbon quantum dots (CQDs) as the interlayer. The carboxyl groups from CQDs react with the polyethyleneimine (PEI), leading to the lower cross-linking degree in the interfacial polymerization layer of NF membranes. Besides, the presence of the hydrophilic CQDs can create fast water and ion transport channels in the NF membranes. The water permeability of membranes is therefore enhanced significantly from 3.6 to 9.7 LMH·bar−1. The NF membranes were used to concentrate the amino acids from biogas slurry; it achieved rejection rates above 90% towards model amino acids such as lysine, glutamic acid and leucine, due to its highly positive electrical properties, while allowing most of the unwanted salt ions to permeate through. The excellent selectivity between amino acids and salt ions demonstrates the great potential application of the NF membranes in biogas slurry valorization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dan'e fukang decoction (DFD) is a traditional Chinese medicine formula. DFD obtains 10 herbs, including Salvia yunnanensis C.H.Wright (Zidanshen), Curcuma zedoaria (Christm.) Roscoe (Ezhu), Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels (Danggui), Cyperus rotundus L. (Xiangfuzi) , Corydalis yanhusuo (Y.H.Chou & Chun C. Hsu) W.T.Wang ex Z.Y.Su & C.Y.Wu , Bupleurum marginatum Wall. ex DC. (Yanhusuo) , Sparganium stoloniferum (Buch.-Ham. ex Graebn.) Buch.-Ham. ex Juz. (Sanleng) , Panax notoginseng (Burkill) F.H.Chen (Sanqi) , Paeonia lactiflora Pall. (Shaoyao) and Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. (Gancao). DFD is now clinically used for the treatment of menstrual irregularities, dysmenorrhea and menstrual discomfort caused by blood stasis and easing of endometriosis. Based on this, it is reasonable to presume that DFD may be effective in treating incomplete abortion and reducing postpartum bleeding, but no specific studies have been reported so far. To investigate the efficacy of Dan'e fukang decoction (DFD) in reducing prolonged vaginal bleeding followed by mifepristone induced incomplete abortion and explore the mechanisms of action of DFD in treating incomplete abortion. An incomplete abortion model of rat was established by single intragastrically administered 8.5 mg/kg mifepristone on the 7th day of pregnancy. From the 8th day of pregnancy, the abortive rats were administered solvent, a positive control drug, or different doses of DFD, respectively for seven consecutive days. The efficacy of DFD was assessed by measuring the vaginal bleeding volume of the rats. Four coagulation parameters and platelet counts were measured. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was performed to evaluate pathological changes in the uterine embryos. Serum levels of progesterone and estrogen were measured using ELISA. Network pharmacology and transcriptomics were used to predict potential targets and pathways for DFD to reduce hemorrhage. The levels of mRNA related to cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) were detected by RT-qPCR. The levels of progesterone and estrogen receptors and the proteins associated with CAMs pathway in uterine tissues were detected by Western Blot. DFD significantly reduced the volume of vaginal bleeding of the abortive rats and significantly downgraded the pathological scores of uterine embryos. DFD significantly increased serum levels of E2, and had no impact on serum levels of P4 and the protein expression of ER and PR in the uteri of the abortive rats. Pathways in cancer, lipid, focal adhesion and immune-related signaling were predicted to be influenced by DFD via the analysis of network pharmacology. The CAMs signaling was found the most critical pathway regulated by both mifepristone and DFD via RNA-seq assay, followed by axon guidance, basal cell carcinoma, hippo signaling pathway and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction. Combining the two analytical methods, ICAM-1 was predicted likely the key targeted gene by DFD. Finally, DFD was validated to decrease the protein expression of ICAM-1, ITGB2, ITGB7 and RASSF5 in the uterine tissues, which correlated to suppress the CAMs signaling pathway. DFD significantly reduced hemorrhage. DFD significantly increased the serum levels of E2 and inhibited CAMs signaling pathway, which was likely to be involved in the mechanism of action of DFD facilitating residual uterine embryo expulsion in the rat model of incomplete abortion. [Display omitted] • DFD reduced hemorrhage in a rat model of induced incomplete abortion. • DFD facilitated the expulsion of residual embryos. • DFD upregulated serum levels of E2. • DFD suppressed cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jinfeng Pill (JFP) is a classical Chinese medicine formula and composed of 9 herbs, including Epimedium brevicornu Maxim (Yinyanghuo), Cervus elaphus Linnaeus (Lurong), Panax ginseng C.A.Mey. (Renshen), Equus asinus (EJiao), Ligustrum lucidum W.T.Aiton (Nvzhenzi), Reynoutria multiflora (Thunb.) Moldenke (Heshouwu), Curculigo orchioides Gaertn (Xianmao), Neolitsea cassia (L.) Kosterm. (Rougui) and Leonurus japonicus Houtt. (Yimucao). The formula is clinically used to regulate menstrual cycle and alleviate polycystic ovarian syndrome due to its capabilities of ovulation induction. It is therefore presumed that JFP could be used for the therapy of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) but the assumed efficacy has not been fully substantiated in experiment. To evaluate the effectiveness of JFP on cyclophosphamide (CTX)-induced POI and preliminarily explore its potential mechanisms of action. An experimental rat model of POI was established by using CTX induction to assess the efficacy of JFP. The potential targets of action for JFP alleviating POI were predicted by the combination of network pharmacology and transcriptomics and finally validating by RT-qPCR and Western blot. JFP alleviated the damages of ovarian tissue induced by CTX in the rat model of POI via significantly decreasing serum levels of FSH and LH and the ratio of FSH/LH and increasing the levels of E2 and AMH, accompanied with promoting ovarian folliculogenesis and follicle maturity and reversing the depletion of follicle pool. With the analysis of network pharmacology, pathways in cancer, proteoglycans in cancer, PI3K-AKT, TNF and FoxO signaling pathways were predicted to be influenced by JFP. The results of RNA-seq further revealed that IL-17 signaling pathway was the most important pathway regulated by both CTX and JFP, following by transcriptional misregulation in cancer and proteoglycans in cancer. Combining the two analytical methods, JFP likely targeted genes associated with immune regulation, including COX-2, HSP90AA1, FOS, MMP3 and MAPK11 and pathways, including IL-17,Th17 cell differentiation and TNF signaling pathway. Finally, JFP was validated to regulate the mRNA expression of FOS, FOSB, FOSL1, MMP3, MMP13 and COX-2 and decrease the release of IL-17A and the protein expression of IL-6 and suppress the phosphorylation of MEK1/2 and ERK1/2 in CTX induced POI rats. Jinfeng Pill is effective to ameliorate the symptoms of POI induced by CTX in the model of rats and its action is likely associated with suppressing IL-17A/IL-6 axis and the activity of MEK1/2-ERK1/2 signaling. [Display omitted] • Jinfeng Pill effectively ameliorates POI induced by cyclophosphamide in rats. • Jinfeng Pill balances sex hormone, promoting ovarian follicle growth and maturity. • Jinfeng Pill regulates ovarian immune response, especially IL-17 signaling pathway. • Jinfeng Pill suppresses IL-17A/IL-6 axis and MEK1/2-ERK1/2 signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Nanocapsule controlled interfacial polymerization is used to tune surface charge precisely. • Tune the charge by encapsulating and disintegrating the functional modifier. • The membrane achieves high retention performance of positively charged salts. • The membrane shows higher than 90% rejection on charged materials in a wide pH range. Angstrom-scale molecular sieving with tunable membrane surface charge is urgently needed. Conventional methodologies cannot control the surface charge with high resolution and scalability. For the first time, a nanocapsule controlled interfacial polymerization (NCIP) is proposed to precisely tune the membrane properties by encapsulation and disintegration of charge mediative agent in the nanofiltration membrane formation process. The angstrom-scale molecular sieve membranes can be customized by the NCIP to achieve 3.82-time enhanced pure water permeability (from 3.24 to 12.37 L‧m−2‧bar−1‧h−1). The charge tunable surface can alter the Na+ rejection from 90.51% to 27.43% while maintaining Mg2+ retention at a high level (>90.18%), so that effectively separates these ions. The targeted filtration of similar-sized amino acids (131–147 g mol−1) can be effectively achieved in a wide pH range by precisely controlling the membrane's isoelectric point instead of tediously and costly adjusting solution chemistry. This unique strategy may provide a paradigm shift in the precise sieving of small, especially bioactive high-value-added molecules in mild conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Equivalent ions with similar sizes, i.e. Ac- and Cl-, effectively separated by NF. • DL membrane achieved R Ac -=87.14% and R Cl -=0.98% with separation factor of 7.5. • Steric hindrance and Donnan exclusion mechanisms are insufficient to interpret. • Synergic mechanism of dehydration phenomenon and activation energy was proposed. Wastewater containing equivalent and similar molecular weights (similar ions) generated from the production process have great recovery value. But effective separation is tough because of their similarities in chemical and physical properties. This work aims at comparing the potential for the separation of sodium acetate (NaAc) and sodium chloride (NaCl), which typically exists in pigment wastewater, through nanofiltration (NF) or reverse osmosis (RO) process. The effects of operational conditions such as pH, pressure, temperature, and feed concentration on the rejection of solutes for five commercial membranes were investigated. The DL membrane exhibited a higher separation factor than other NF and RO membranes. Under the optimum condition at 10 bar, pH = 10, and 25 °C, the DL membrane showed the best performance with the acetate rejection as high as 87.14% and the chloride rejection at only 0.98%. Other than common steric hindrance and Donnan exclusion, a synergic mechanism involving dehydration phenomenon and the apparent activation energy was proposed to explain the separation behavior of the similar ions. This work may provide new strategies to recycle valuable resources from wastewater or other complex mediums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Dan'e fukang decoction (DFD) is a traditional Chinese medicine formula. DFD obtains 10 herbs, including Salvia yunnanensis C.H.Wright (Zidanshen), Curcuma zedoaria (Christm.) Roscoe (Ezhu), Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels (Danggui), Cyperus rotundus L. (Xiangfuzi), Corydalis yanhusuo (Y.H.Chou & Chun C. Hsu) W.T.Wang ex Z.Y.Su & C.Y.Wu, Bupleurum marginatum Wall. ex DC. (Yanhusuo), Sparganium stoloniferum (Buch.-Ham. ex Graebn.) Buch.-Ham. ex Juz. (Sanleng), Panax notoginseng (Burkill) F.H.Chen (Sanqi), Paeonia lactiflora Pall. (Shaoyao) and Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. (Gancao). DFD is now clinically used for the treatment of menstrual irregularities, dysmenorrhea and menstrual discomfort caused by blood stasis and easing of endometriosis. Based on this, it is reasonable to presume that DFD may be effective in treating incomplete abortion and reducing postpartum bleeding, but no specific studies have been reported so far., Aim of the Study: To investigate the efficacy of Dan'e fukang decoction (DFD) in reducing prolonged vaginal bleeding followed by mifepristone induced incomplete abortion and explore the mechanisms of action of DFD in treating incomplete abortion., Methods: An incomplete abortion model of rat was established by single intragastrically administered 8.5 mg/kg mifepristone on the 7th day of pregnancy. From the 8th day of pregnancy, the abortive rats were administered solvent, a positive control drug, or different doses of DFD, respectively for seven consecutive days. The efficacy of DFD was assessed by measuring the vaginal bleeding volume of the rats. Four coagulation parameters and platelet counts were measured. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was performed to evaluate pathological changes in the uterine embryos. Serum levels of progesterone and estrogen were measured using ELISA. Network pharmacology and transcriptomics were used to predict potential targets and pathways for DFD to reduce hemorrhage. The levels of mRNA related to cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) were detected by RT-qPCR. The levels of progesterone and estrogen receptors and the proteins associated with CAMs pathway in uterine tissues were detected by Western Blot., Results: DFD significantly reduced the volume of vaginal bleeding of the abortive rats and significantly downgraded the pathological scores of uterine embryos. DFD significantly increased serum levels of E2, and had no impact on serum levels of P4 and the protein expression of ER and PR in the uteri of the abortive rats. Pathways in cancer, lipid, focal adhesion and immune-related signaling were predicted to be influenced by DFD via the analysis of network pharmacology. The CAMs signaling was found the most critical pathway regulated by both mifepristone and DFD via RNA-seq assay, followed by axon guidance, basal cell carcinoma, hippo signaling pathway and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction. Combining the two analytical methods, ICAM-1 was predicted likely the key targeted gene by DFD. Finally, DFD was validated to decrease the protein expression of ICAM-1, ITGB2, ITGB7 and RASSF5 in the uterine tissues, which correlated to suppress the CAMs signaling pathway., Conclusion: DFD significantly reduced hemorrhage. DFD significantly increased the serum levels of E2 and inhibited CAMs signaling pathway, which was likely to be involved in the mechanism of action of DFD facilitating residual uterine embryo expulsion in the rat model of incomplete abortion., 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 © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Novel CHCHD2 mutations causing C-terminal truncation and interrupted CHCHD2 protein stability in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients were previously found. However, there is limited understanding of the underlying mechanism and impact of subsequent CHCHD2 loss-of-function on PD pathogenesis. The current study further identified the crucial motif (aa125-133) responsible for diminished CHCHD2 expression and the molecular interplay within the C1QBP/CHCHD2/CHCHD10 complex to regulate mitochondrial functions. Specifically, CHCHD2 deficiency led to decreased neural cell viability and mitochondrial structural and functional impairments, paralleling the upregulation of autophagy under cellular stresses. Meanwhile, as a binding partner of CHCHD2, C1QBP was found to regulate the stability of CHCHD2 and CHCHD10 proteins to maintain the integrity of the C1QBP/CHCHD2/CHCHD10 complex. Moreover, C1QBP-silenced neural cells displayed severe cell death phenotype along with mitochondrial damage that initiated a significant mitophagy process. Taken together, the evidence obtained from our in vitro and in vivo studies emphasized the critical role of CHCHD2 in regulating mitochondria functions via coordination among CHCHD2, CHCHD10, and C1QBP, suggesting the potential mechanism by which CHCHD2 function loss takes part in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction: Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) constitutes a life-threatening condition, and identifying the ruptured aneurysm is essential for further therapy. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of hypo-attenuating berry sign (HBS) observed on computed tomography (CT) scan in distinguishing ruptured aneurysms., Methods: In this diagnostic accuracy study, patients who had SAH and underwent non-enhanced brain CT scan were recruited. The HBS was defined as a hypo-attenuating area with an identifiable border in the blood-filled hyper-dense subarachnoid space. The screening performance characteristics of HBS in identifying ruptured aneurysms were calculated considering the digital subtraction angiography (DSA) as the gold standard., Results: A total of 129 aneurysms in 131 patients were analyzed. The overall sensitivity and specificity of HBS in the diagnosis of aneurysms were determined to be 78.7% (95%CI: 73.1% - 83.4%) and 70.7% (95%CI: 54.3% - 83.4%), respectively. Notably, the sensitivity increased to 90.9% (95%CI: 84.3% - 95.0%) for aneurysms larger than 5mm. The level of inter-observer agreement for assessing the presence of HBS was found to be substantial (kappa=0.734). The diagnostic accuracy of HBS in individuals exhibited enhanced specificity, sensitivity, and reliability when evaluating patients with a solitary aneurysm or assessing ruptured aneurysms. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between aneurysm size and the presence of HBS (odds ratios of 1.667 (95%CI: 1.238 - 2.244; p < 0.001) and 1.696 (95%CI: 1.231 - 2.335; p = 0.001) for reader 1 and reader 2, respectively)., Conclusions: The HBS can serve as a simple and easy-to-use indicator for identifying a ruptured aneurysm and estimating its size in SAH patients.   ., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a devastating condition. Although progress has been made in the past seven decades, patients with MDD continue to receive an inadequate treatment, primarily due to the late onset of first-line antidepressant drugs and to their acute withdrawal symptoms. Resilience is the ability to rebound from adversity in a healthy manner and many people have psychological resilience. Revealing the mechanisms and identifying methods promoting resilience will hopefully lead to more effective prevention strategies and treatments for depression. In this study, we found that intermittent hypobaric hypoxia training (IHHT), a method for training pilots and mountaineers, enhanced psychological resilience in adult mice. IHHT produced a sustained antidepressant-like effect in mouse models of depression by inducing long-term (up to 3 months after this treatment) overexpression of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) of adult mice. Moreover, DRN-infusion of cobalt chloride, which mimics hypoxia increasing HIF-1α expression, triggered a rapid and long-lasting antidepressant-like effect. Down-regulation of HIF-1α in the DRN serotonergic (DRN 5-HT ) neurons attenuated the effects of IHHT. HIF-1α translationally regulated the expression of P2X2, and conditionally knocking out P2rx2 (encodes P2X2 receptors) in DRN 5-HT neurons, in turn, attenuated the sustained antidepressant-like effect of IHHT, but not its acute effect. In line with these results, a single sub-anesthetic dose of ketamine enhanced HIF-1α-P2X2 signaling, which is essential for its rapid and long-lasting antidepressant-like effect. Notably, we found that P2X2 protein levels were significantly lower in the DRN of patients with MDD than that of control subjects. Together, these findings elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying IHHT promoting psychological resilience and highlight enhancing HIF-1α-P2X2 signaling in DRN 5-HT neurons as a potential avenue for screening novel therapeutic treatments for MDD., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing financial interests., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To analyze the difference of metabolites of tongue coating between patients with intra-oral halitosis and healthy individuals by untargeted metabolomics, and to explore significant differences in metabolites of intra-oral halitosis as biomarkers., Methods: The untargeted metabolomics of tongue coating samples from 12 patients with intra-oral halitosis and 12 healthy individuals were studied by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry combined with principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis. The value of variable importance in projection ＞1 and P＜0.05 of Student's t test in the orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis model were used as the criteria to screen and determine the differential metabolites., Results: There were differences in the metabolites of tongue coating between patients with intra-oral halitosis and healthy individuals, and 11 different metabolites were identified. They were valyl-arginine, glycine-phenylalanine, tryptophyl-proline, deoxyadenosine, 4,5-dihydroniveusin A, N-acetyl-DL-tryptophan, paramethasone acetate, cyclopentanol, [(2-hexylcyclopentylidene) amino]thiourea, L-pipecolic acid and taurine. In the intra-oral halitosis group, the expressions of Glycine-phenylalanine and N-acetyl-DL-tryptophan were significantly up-regulated, while the expressions of taurine were significantly down-regulated., Conclusions: There are differences in the metabolites of tongue coating between patients with intra-oral halitosis and healthy individuals. The differential metabolites with diagnostic value may be used as diagnostic markers of intra-oral halitosis.

Background: Neuropathic pain (NP) is one of intractable complications of spinal cord injury (SCI) and lacks effective treatment. Resveratrol (Res) has been shown to possess potent anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive effects. In this study, we investigated the analgesic effect of Res and its underlying mechanism in a rat model of SCI., Methods: The rat thoracic (T10) spinal cord contusion injury model was established, and mechanical thresholds were evaluated during an observation period of 21 days. Intrathecal administration with Res (300 μg/10 μl) was performed once a day for 7 days after the operation. On postoperative day 7, the expressions of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), the expression of Janus kinase 2/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (JAK2/STAT3) signaling pathway was determined by western blot and RT-qPCR, and the co-labeled phospho-STAT3 (p-STAT3) with neuronal nuclear antigen (NeuN), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (Iba-1) were explored by double immunofluorescence staining in the lumbar spinal dorsal horns. The temporal changes of p-STAT3 were investigated by western blot on the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 14th, and 21st days after the operation., Results: Intrathecal administration with Res for 7 successive days alleviated mechanical allodynia of rats during the observation period. Meanwhile, treatment with Res suppressed the production of pro-inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6, and inhibited the expressions of phospho-JAK2 and p-STAT3 in the lumbar spinal dorsal horns on postoperative day 7. Additionally, the protein expression of p-STAT3 was significantly increased on the 1st day following the operation and remained elevated during the next 21 days, immunofluorescence suggested that the up-regulated p-STAT3 was co-located with glial cells and neurons., Conclusion: Our current results indicated that intrathecal administration with Res effectively alleviated mechanical allodynia after SCI in rats, and its analgesic mechanism might be to suppress neuroinflammation by partly inhibiting JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway., Competing Interests: The 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 © 2023 Han, Hua, Yang, Wang, Yan, Wang and Sun.)

Introduction: Premenopausal and postmenopausal osteoporosis and associated fragility fractures are major public health problems. Exercise, especially moderate-to-high-intensity impact exercise, has been recommended as an effective, low-cost non-pharmacological strategy for bone strength improvement; however, evidence on fracture risk is limited. In addition, maintaining regular training is currently a problem. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a randomised controlled trial of moderate-to-high-intensity tele-exercise intervention using a tele-rehabilitation app and quantify its effects on vertical fracture and fall prevention in women at high risk of osteoporotic fractures., Methods and Analysis: In this multicentre, randomised controlled trial, 794 women at high risk of osteoporotic fractures will be recruited and randomised into either the tele-exercise rehabilitation or control group. Participants in the control group will receive routine remote rehabilitation, while those in the intervention group will be provided with a 6-month tele-exercise rehabilitation. The primary outcomes are the percentage of participants with one or more new vertebral fractures and incidence of falls. Intention-to-treat, full analysis set and per-protocol approaches will be used for outcome analyses., Ethics and Dissemination: The study was approved by the biomedical research ethics committee of the West China Hospital of Sichuan University (2021-579). Written informed consent will be obtained from each participant after agreeing to participate in the study. The study findings will be presented at national and international scientific conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals. Results are propagated regardless of the magnitude or direction of the impact. Authorship is assigned according to authorship guidelines as defined by the International Board of Medical Journal Editors, and each author's role is based on journal requirements for publication., Trial Registration Number: The study was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2200058780) prior to recruitment (May 2022)., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Cryptococcal lateral flow antigen assays (CLFAs) have been assessed in comparison to the latex cryptococcal antigen agglutination test but their clinical performance is unknown., Objective: Determine clinical performance of IMMY CLFA (Immuno-Mycologics Inc, Oklahoma) using patients with and without cryptococcosis as the reference standard., Animals: One-hundred ninety-seven serum samples from client-owned dogs and cats., Methods: Review of medical records of a referral population of dogs and cats that had CLFA performed between 2012 and 2020. Animals were classified as cryptococcosis positive (Cr+) or negative (Cr-) based on clinical information. Clinical diagnosis was used to calculate positive and negative percent agreement of the CLFA., Results: Twelve specimens (4 canine, 8 feline) were obtained from Cr+ animals and had positive CLFA results. One-hundred eighty-five specimens (139 canine, 46 feline) were collected from Cr- animals. Negative CLFA results were recorded in 129 canine and 44 feline Cr- samples. Positive CLFA results were noted for 10 canine and 2 feline Cr- samples. Positive percent agreement of CLFA was 100% (confidence interval [CI], 39.8%-100% dogs; 63.1%-100% cats). Negative percent agreements were 92.8% (CI, 87.2%-96.5%) for dogs and 95.7% (CI, 85.2%-99.5%) for cats., Conclusions and Clinical Importance: A negative IMMY CLFA result enables reliable exclusion of cryptococcal infection in dogs and cats. By contrast, a positive result must be interpreted cautiously and further testing should be performed to verify a diagnosis of cryptococcosis., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.)