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Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a common human γ-herpesvirus, infects more than 90% of adults worldwide. The purpose of this study was to establish a novel EBV detection method by combining the recombinase aided amplification (RAA) assay with an initial enrichment step that utilizes magnetic beads coated with a recombinant human mannan-binding lectin (rhMBL, M1 protein). An M1 protein–protein A magnetic bead complex (M1 beads) was prepared and used to achieve separation and enrichment of EBV from blood. After nucleic acid extraction, DNA was amplified by RAA. Using 388 whole blood samples and 1 serum sample, we explored the specificity, sensitivity and applicability of the newly developed detection method and compared it with commercial quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) following M1 bead enrichment, traditional qPCR and traditional RAA. After enrichment, the positivity rate of EBV was increased from 15.94% to 17.74% by RAA (P P P Graphical abstract

Background and study aims Bleeding is a common complication of following endoscopy sphincterotomy (EST), and antithrombotic therapy use during the procedure often increases risk of it. Although several guidelines have been released regarding the use of antithrombotic agents during EST, many issues about it remain controversial. We carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of antithrombotic medication on the risk of EST bleeding. Methods A structured literature search was carried out in Web of Science, EMBASE, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases. RevMan 5.2 was used for meta-analysis to investigate the rate of post-EST bleeding. Results Seven retrospective articles were included. Compared with patients who had never taken antithrombotic drugs, patients who discontinued antithrombotic drugs 1 day before the procedure had a significantly increased risk of post-EST bleeding (OR, 1.95; 95 %CI, 1.57–2.43), particularly for severe bleeding (OR, 1.83; 95 %CI, 1.44–2.34). In addition, compared with patients who discontinued antithrombotic therapy for at least 1 day, patients who continued taking antithrombotic drugs did have an increased risk of post-EST bleeding (OR, 0.70; 95 %CI, 0.40–1.23). Conclusions The use of antithrombotic drugs may increase the bleeding rate of EST, but discontinuing therapy 1 day before endoscopy does not significantly reduce the bleeding rate.

BACKGROUND Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common digestive disorder. Its management depends on the severity; therefore, it is essential to stratify AP patients early. D-dimer, a coagulation indicator, appears to be associated with the pathogenesis of AP. The aim of this study was to evaluate D-dimer as an early predictor of the severity of AP. MATERIAL AND METHODS This was a single-center retrospective study of 1260 patients diagnosed based on the revised Atlanta classification. Only patients hospitalized within 24 h of onset were included, and 334 patients were enrolled. Blood was collected at admission and 3 times within 48 h of admission. Values at admission and average of the 3 blood samples were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses. Furthermore, the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to estimate the validity of the predictor and to define optimal cut-off points for prediction. RESULTS We found that 53.3% of the patients had mild AP (MAP), 24.3% had moderately severe AP (MSAP), and 22.4% had severe AP (SAP). D-dimer at admission and the average D-dimer could distinguish MAP patients from MSAP and SAP patients, with cut-off values of 3.355 mg/L and 4.868 mg/L, respectively. No difference in the parameters at admission was observed in multivariate analysis in distinguishing SAP from MSAP, but the average D-dimer level was significantly different with a cut-off value of 7.268 mg/L by comparing Ranson score, APACHE II score, and D-dimer level. CONCLUSIONS The average value of D-dimer levels could be used as a predictor of severity of AP. In general, patients with an average D-dimer level4.868 could be diagnosed with MAP,7.268 would develop into SAP, and between 4.868 and 7.268 would be MSAP.

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is described as a progressive fibro-inflammatory disorder of the exocrine disease, which eventually leads to damage of the gland. Excessive activation of pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) is a critical participant in the initiation of CP. Autophagy is involved in multiple degeneration and inflammation in acute pancreatitis and CP. In our study, we report that retinoblastoma coiled coil protein 1 (RB1CC1) expression and the autophagic level are elevated in activated PSCs. RB1CC1 is positively correlated with pancreatic fibrogenesis in tissues and plasma of CP patients. Knockdown of RB1CC1 restrains alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and collagen expressions, and autophagy in activated PSCs in vitro. Furthermore, we show that RB1CC1 induces PSC activation via binding to ULK1 promoter and the direct interaction with ULK1 protein. These suppress ULK1 expression and its kinase activity. In mice, knockdown of RB1CC1 blocks autophagy and then inhibits the pancreatic duct ligation-induced pancreatic fibrosis. Consequently, our study highlights that RB1CC1-mediated autophagy is a key event for the activation of PSCs. Inhibition of RB1CC1 alleviates autophagy, which plays a critical role in anti-fibrotic activation in PSCs and CP progression. RB1CC1 could be a novel strategy for the treatment of pancreatic fibrosis.

A series of novel core–shell nanocomposites composed of twinned nanocrystal Zn0.8Cd0.2S solid solution and porous g-C3N4 nanosheets were fabricated by a combined ultrasonication and solvothermal method. The photocatalytic hydrogen production activities of these samples were evaluated without a co-catalyst in water under visible light irradiation (λ ≥ 420 nm). It is found that the H2 production rate of the Zn0.8Cd0.2S@g-C3N4-10 wt% sample was 2351.18 μmol h−1 g−1, which is 146.0 and 5.7 times higher than that of pristine porous g-C3N4 nanosheets and Zn0.8Cd0.2S solid solution. Further detailed characterization reveals that the drastically enhanced and stable light-to-hydrogen energy conversion can be attributed to not only the efficient spatial separation of the photo-induced electrons and holes resulted from the synergetic effects of twinned homojunctions and core–shell heterojunctions, but also the intimate contact at the molecular scale between the porous g-C3N4 shell and Zn0.8Cd0.2S core. Therefore, this work puts forward a promising way to obtain unique core–shell heterojunctions with excellent stability and activity during a photoreaction process.

Ag@pg-C3N4 and Au@pg-C3N4 catalysts were synthesized based on the confinement effect of porous g-C3N4. X-ray diffraction, N2 physisorption isotherms, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the nanomaterials. All the catalysts presented high catalytic activity in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol. The 10 wt% Au@pg-C3N4 displayed a pseudo-first order kinetics of 2.2601 min−1, which was proved to be the most prominent one among all the obtained catalysts.

In this work, ultrathin MoS2 nanosheets (MoS2 NSs) with defect-rich structure were prepared and used as catalysts for the reduction of p-nitropheonol. Also, thanks to the defect sites, noble metal (Au, Ag, Pd, Pt) nanoparticles (NPs) can be successfully deposited on the MoS2 NSs via a facile and efficient one-step photochemical reduction process without the assistance of a stabilizer. The morphology and crystal structure of as-synthesized materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and N2 physisorption mearurements. Catalytic results demonstrate that as-prepared MoS2 NSs and noble metal modified MoS2 NSs (NM/MoS2 NSs) effectively catalyze the reduction of p-nitrophenol (p-NP) to p-aminophenol (p-AP) with NaBH4. The Pd/MoS2 NSs shows the best catalytic performance, exhibiting an apparent rate constant (κapp) of 0.386 min–1 even with moderate chemical stability. Interestingly, the...

1D porous CdS nanoparticles/TiO2 nanofibers heterostructure has been fabricated via simple electrospinning and a successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) process. The morphology, composition, and optical properties of the resulting CdS/TiO2 heterostructures can be rationally tailored through changing the SILAR cycles. The photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and decomposition of rhodamine B (RhB) of the as-synthesized heterostructured photocatalysts were investigated under visible light irradiation. Compared to TiO2 nanofibers，the as-obtained CdS/TiO2 heterostructures exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production and decomposition of RhB under visible-light irradiation. The heterojunction system performs best with H2 generation rates of 678.61 μmol h−1 g−1 under visible light irradiation which benefits from the two effects: (a) the 1D porous nanofibrous morphology contributes to not only more active sites but also more efficient transfer of the photogenerated charges (b) the synergetic effect of heterojunction and photosensitization reducing the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes.

A novel heterostructure catalyst of Ni2P/Ni12P5 has been fabricated through a simple solvothermal method by modifying the molar ratio of the initial raw materials. The products are characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), nitrogen adsorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It is found that the two phases, Ni2P and Ni12P5, are interlaced with one another in the as-formed nanocomposite, resulting in more interfaces. The bi-phase catalyst exhibits a markedly enhanced catalytic activity in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol, as compared to that of single Ni2P or Ni12P5. The enhanced catalytic activity can be attributed to the unique n–n series effects, which result in the increased ease of electron transfer over the Ni2P/Ni12P5 bi-phase catalyst.

The main mechanism of hyaluronidase 1(HYAL-1) in the development of postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) after pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) was unknown. In this study, a comprehensive inventory of pre-, intra-, and postoperative clinical and biological data of two cohorts (62 pancreatic cancer [PCa] and 111 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma [PDAC]) which could induce POPF were retrospectively analyzed. Then, a total of 7644 genes correlated with HYAL-1 was predicted in PDAC tissues and the enriched pathway, kinase targets and biological process of those correlated genes were evaluated. Finally, a mouse pancreatic fistula (PF) model was first built and in vitro studies were performed to investigate the effects of HYAL-1 on PF progression. Our data indicated that preoperative serum HYAL-1 level, pancreatic fibrosis score, and pancreatic duct size were valuable factors for detecting POPF of Grade B and C. The serum HYAL-1 level of 2.07 mg/ml and pancreatic fibrosis score of 2.5 were proposed as the cutoff values for indicating POPF. The bioinformatic analysis and in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that HYAL-1 facilitates pancreatic acinar cell autophagy via the dephosphorylation of adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling pathways, which exacerbate pancreatic secretion and inflammation. In summary, the preoperative serum HYAL-1 was a significant predictor for POPF in patients who underwent PD. Tumor-induced HYAL-1 is one of core risk in accelerating PF and then promoting pancreatic secretion and acute inflammation response through the AMPK and STAT3-induced autophagy.

MoS2 sheets, graphene-like two-dimensional materials, show application potential in optoelectronics and biomedicine due to their unique properties. However, the environmental influence of such 2D materials remains to be unveiled. Here we report that MoS2 ultrathin nanosheets synthesized by a hydrothermal process display remarkable selective removal of Methylene Blue (MB) from aqueous solution, showing the maximum adsorption capacity reached up to 146.43 mg g−1 within only 300 seconds. The kinetics and equilibrium of the adsorption process were found to follow the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Freundlich isotherm models, respectively. More importantly, MoS2 nanosheets can be readily cleaned for reuse by washing with deionized water. This work demonstrates that the resulting MoS2 nanosheets may be considered as highly efficient and green adsorbents for eliminating MB from aqueous solution.

Metastasis remains one of the most intractable challenges in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) biology, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is essential to the epithelium-originated solid tumor metastasis cascade. Emerging evidence demonstrates that aberrant miRNA expression is involved in pancreatic cancer progression. We found that miR-361-3p was associated with an advanced stage of PDAC and poor prognosis. Hence, the effect of miR-361-3p on metastasis of PDAC cells was evaluated using Transwell assay and wound healing assay in vitro as well as orthotopic and liver metastasis pancreatic cancer models in vivo. Overexpression of miR-361-3p promoted pancreatic cancer cell migration and invasion in vitro, and miR-361-3p-elevated PDAC cells were prone to generating metastatic nodules in vivo. However, miR-361-3p showed no significant effect on the proliferation of PDAC cells in vivo or in vitro. Further study demonstrated that miR-361-3p could enhance EMT and ERK pathway activation, and ERK inhibitor could attenuate miR-361-3p-induced EMT. Luciferase assays, qPCR, and western blot and Ago2 co-immunoprecipitation were performed to identify the direct target of miR-361-3p. Mechanistic investigations identified DUSP2 as a direct target of miR-361-3p, and DUSP2 was revealed to be involved in miR-361-3p-induced EMT by directly leading to the inactivation of the ERK pathway. Moreover, we found that miR-361-3p-induced EMT was dependent on Ago2, the core component of RNA-induced silencing complex, while enforced expression of Ago2 enhanced the miR-361-3p-induced effect by promoting interference efficacy and specificity rather than regulating miR-361-3p stability and biogenesis. Thus, this study revealed that miR-361-3p functions as an oncomiR for promoting metastasis and identified the miR-361-3p/DUSP2/ERK axis as a novel EMT axis dependent on Ago2 in PDAC.

A novel heterostructure catalyst of Ni

A phenolic O-bridged centrosymmetric dinuclear cadmium(II) complex, [Cd2L2(NO3)2]·2MeOH, where L is the deprotonated form of 4-chloro-2-{[2-(2-hydroxyethylamino)ethylimino]methyl}phenol (HL), was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectra, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The crystal of the complex is monoclinic: space group P21/c, a = 11.536(2), b = 9.657(2), c = 15.698(2) A, β = 106.742(2)°, V = 1674.7(4) A3, Z = 2. The inversion center of the complex is located at the midpoint of the two Cd atoms. Each Cd atom is in an octahedral coordination. In the crystal structure, the methanol molecules are linked to the cadmium complex molecules through intermolecular O–H···O hydrogen bonds.

A new dinuclear zinc(II) complex, [Zn2(L1)2(N3)2] (1), and a new polynuclear cadmium(II) complex, [Cd2(L2)2(NO3)(μ2-dca)]n (2), where L1 and L2 are deprotonated forms of 2-[(2-ethylaminoethylimino)methyl]-6-methylphenol and 2-[(2-ethylaminoethylimino)methyl]-4-methoxyphenol, respectively, have been prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectra, and single crystal X-ray diffraction. The thermal stability and fluorescence of the complexes were also investigated.