Search

Background Previous studies have shown systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients had a significantly higher prevalence of thyroid diseases and hypothyroidism than matched controls, and some case reports showed SLE may occur after Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). Objective This study aimed to investigate the subsequent risk of SLE in patients with HT. Methods In this retrospective cohort study done by the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, the HT group (exposure group) and the non-HT group (comparator group) were propensity score matched at a ratio of 1:2 by demographic data, comorbidities, medications, and the index date. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Several sensitivity analyses were done for cross-validation of our findings. Results We identified 15,512 HT patients and matched 31,024 individuals. The incidence rate ratio of SLE was 3.58 (95% CI, 2.43–5.28; p < 0.01). Several sensitivity analyses show adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) (CIs) of 4.35 (3.28–5.76), 4.39 (3.31–5.82), 5.11 (3.75–6.98), and 4.70 (3.46–6.38), consistent with the results of the main model. Conclusion Our study showed an increased risk of SLE in the HT group after adjustment for baseline characteristics, comorbidities, and medical confounders compared with the reference group.

Oxytocin is commonly used to reduce blood loss during suction curettage for missed abortion. However, the potential of oxytocin to mitigate blood loss in early pregnancy remains controversial. Based on the hypothesis that the "timing" of oxytocin administration may be a critical factor, we investigated whether the timing of intravenous (IV) administration is associated with reduced perioperative blood loss during first-trimester suction curettage for missed abortion.The medical charts of 146 patients with ultrasound-confirmed first-trimester missed abortion who underwent suction curettage with IV oxytocin administration were retrospectively reviewed.Among the patients, 67 received 10 IU of IV oxytocin before suction curettage (early-oxytocin administration group), while 79 patients received 10 IU of IV oxytocin after suction curettage (late-oxytocin administration group). The demographic features between the two groups did not significantly differ. However, there was a lower proportion of nulliparous patients in the early-oxytocin administration group than in the late-oxytocin administration group (38.8% vs 60.8%, p = 0.006). The perioperative blood loss amount was significantly lower in the early-oxytocin administration group than in the late-oxytocin administration group (60 [range: 50-100] vs 100 [range: 30-250] mL, p = 0.001). Moreover, the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the early-oxytocin administration group had a lower risk for a perioperative blood loss amount of ≥100 mL than the late-oxytocin administration group (0.23 [range: 0.10-0.55], p = 0.001); a gestational age of 9-12 weeks ( p = 0.009) was found to be associated with an increased risk for a perioperative blood loss amount of ≥100 mL.Compared with late-oxytocin administration, early-oxytocin administration could reduce perioperative blood loss during first-trimester suction curettage for missed abortion. However, the results require further investigation.

In this study, the in vitro biotransformation of nobiletin by human intestinal microbiota, which is a bioactive polymethoxyflavone widely presented in Citrus plants, has been investigated via utilizing an anaerobic incubation protocol. The incubation samples were detected using high-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. A background subtraction strategy incorporated in Microsoft Office was employed to eliminate the interferences in medium and feces. The parent and three metabolites sinensetin, 5-hydroxy-6,7,3',4'-tetramethoxyflavone, and 5-demethylnobiletin were detected and identified based on the characteristics of their protonated molecules. The proposed metabolic pathway revealed that nobiletin went through phase I metabolism including demethylation and demethoxylation in human intestinal microbiota. The characterization of nobiletin metabolic profile transformed by human intestinal bacteria would be helpful for understanding its efficacy and action mechanism.

A graph is edge-transitive if its automorphism group acts transitively on the edge set. In this paper, we investigate the automorphism groups of edge-transitive graphs of odd order and twice prime valency. Let Γ {\varGamma} be a connected graph of odd order and twice prime valency, and let G be a subgroup of the automorphism group of Γ {\varGamma} . In the case where G acts transitively on the edge set and quasiprimitively on the vertex set of Γ {\varGamma} , we prove that either G is almost simple, or G is a primitive group of affine type. If further G is an almost simple primitive group, then, with two exceptions, the socle of G acts transitively on the edge set of Γ {\varGamma} .

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-jtr-10.1177_00472875221109826 for Tour Leader–Member Exchange (TLMX): Scale Development and Validation by Sheng-Hshiung Tsaur, Tien-Ming Cheng and Ci-Yao Hong in Journal of Travel Research

Supplemental material, sj-doc-2-jtr-10.1177_00472875221109826 for Tour Leader–Member Exchange (TLMX): Scale Development and Validation by Sheng-Hshiung Tsaur, Tien-Ming Cheng and Ci-Yao Hong in Journal of Travel Research

A portable gas-sensing system which is periodically irradiated with light from a pulsed ultraviolet light emitting diode (UV-LED) was fabricated for sensing ppb-level NO2 gas. The portable NO2 gas-sensing system includes a device manager coupled to a pulsed-UV-LED sensing module, a liquid-crystal display module and a data capture module. The sensor made of a composite iron oxide/multi-walled carbon nanotubes/tungsten oxide (Fe2O3/MWCNTs/WO3) material was produced by a one-pot polyol method followed by metal organic decomposition (MOD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to analyze the structure and morphology of the fabricated films. The effects of the wavelength and duration of the irradiation on the response of the portable gas-sensing system for sensing NO2 gas were studied. This portable gas-sensing system in periodically pulsed-UV-LED operation mode exhibited high sensitivity, good linearity, good stability, high reproducibility, a low detection limit and high selectivity in the sensing of NO2 gas.

To determine the role of PPE25 in the infection ofIn MS-ppe25 group, PPE25 was expressed in non-pathogenic fast-growingPPE25 protein had no effect on MS growth, colony formation and the size of single colonies. MS-infected PMN had higher percentages of CFU and LDH release 2, 6, and 12 h after infections compared with the MS-vec group (PPE25 protein increases the survival of MS in PMN, induces cell necrosis, inhibits the expressions of ROS and NO, and changes the secretion of cytokines, which helps spread of the pathogen by evading host immunity.

A graph is symmetric if its automorphism group acts transitively on both the vertex and the arc sets. Stimulated by Lorimer's work on symmetric graphs of prime valency, we make a further investigation on the structural properties of the automorphism groups of connected symmetric graphs with prime valency. Also, as an application, we give a classification for symmetric graphs of prime valency arising from a class of almost simple groups.

Novel impedance-type humidity sensors were made of 1-(4-carboxylic acid phenyl)-2,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrrole that was doped with KOH and K2CO3 salts. The humidity-sensing properties of 1-(4-carboxylic acid phenyl)-2,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrrole were improved by doping with two alkali salts (KOH and K2CO3), whose dissociation constants differed greatly from each other. The electrical properties of 1-(4-carboxylic acid phenyl)-2,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrrole that was doped with KOH or a mixture of KOH and K2CO3 were examined in detail and found to be functions of relative humidity (RH). Additionally, the effects of the salts on the sensing properties (linearity and sensitivity) were elucidated. The sensor that was made of the 1-(4-carboxylic acid phenyl)-2,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrrole/KOH/K2CO3 composite film exhibited favorable impedance, high sensitivity, good linearity, small hysteresis, a short response/recovery time, a weak dependence on temperature and high long-term stability over the humidity range studied. The sensing mechanism of the 1-(4-carboxylic acid phenyl)-2,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrrole/KOH/K2CO3 composite film was elucidated using impedance plots.

A graph is edge-primitive if its automorphism group acts primitively on the edge set, and 2-arc-transitive if its automorphism group acts transitively on the set of 2-arcs. In this paper, we present a classification for those edge-primitive graphs which are 2-arc-transitive and have soluble edge-stabilizers., Comment: 25pages

Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium (CRP), the dried pericarp of Citrus reticulata Blanco, can be divided into "Guangchenpi" (GCP, the dried pericarps derived from Citrus reticulata 'Chachi') and "Chenpi" (CP, the dried pericarps derived from other cultivars of Citrus reticulata Blanco). To discriminate between GCP and CP, a simple and reliable high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method was firstly developed to analyze the volatile compound dimethyl anthranilate, and a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was established to simultaneously quantify dimethyl anthranilate and three predominant flavonoids (hesperidin, nobiletin and tangeretin) in CRP samples. Both the HPTLC analysis and HPLC-orthogonal partial least squares discrimination analysis (OPLS-DA) indicated that GCP can be effectively distinguished from CP based on analysis of dimethyl anthranilate. Our results indicated that dimethyl anthranilate can be used as a marker compound for discrimination of GCP and CP. This work provided a convenient approach which might be applied for quality evaluation of CRP.