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Preclinical and clinical studies have suggested a neuroprotective effect of remote ischemic conditioning (RIC), which involves repeated occlusion/release cycles on bilateral upper limb arteries; however, robust evidence in patients with ischemic stroke is lacking.To assess the efficacy of RIC for acute moderate ischemic stroke.This multicenter, open-label, blinded-end point, randomized clinical trial including 1893 patients with acute moderate ischemic stroke was conducted at 55 hospitals in China from December 26, 2018, through January 19, 2021, and the date of final follow-up was April 19, 2021.Eligible patients were randomly assigned within 48 hours after symptom onset to receive treatment with RIC (using a pneumatic electronic device and consisting of 5 cycles of cuff inflation for 5 minutes and deflation for 5 minutes to the bilateral upper limbs to 200 mm Hg) for 10 to 14 days as an adjunct to guideline-based treatment (n = 922) or guideline-based treatment alone (n = 971).The primary end point was excellent functional outcome at 90 days, defined as a modified Rankin Scale score of 0 to 1. All end points had blinded assessment and were analyzed on a full analysis set.Among 1893 eligible patients with acute moderate ischemic stroke who were randomized (mean [SD] age, 65 [10.3] years; 606 women [34.1%]), 1776 (93.8%) completed the trial. The number with excellent functional outcome at 90 days was 582 (67.4%) in the RIC group and 566 (62.0%) in the control group (risk difference, 5.4% [95% CI, 1.0%-9.9%]; odds ratio, 1.27 [95% CI, 1.05-1.54]; P = .02). The proportion of patients with any adverse events was 6.8% (59/863) in the RIC group and 5.6% (51/913) in the control group.Among adults with acute moderate ischemic stroke, treatment with remote ischemic conditioning compared with usual care significantly increased the likelihood of excellent neurologic function at 90 days. However, these findings require replication in another trial before concluding efficacy for this intervention.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03740971.

Flexible organic light-emitting devices (FOLEDs) based on multiple quantum well (MQW) structures, which consist of alternate layers of 2,3,5,6-Tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8,-tetracyano-quinodimethane (F4-TCNQ) and 4,4′,4″-tris-(3-methylphenylphe-nylamino)tripheny-lamine (m-MTDATA) have been fabricated. The Alq 3 -based device with double quantum well (DQW) structure exhibits the remarkable electroluminescent (EL) performances for the brightness of 23,500 cd/m 2 at 14 V and the maximum current efficiency of 7.0 cd/A at 300.3 mA/cm 2 , respectively, which are greatly improved by 114% and 56% compared with the brightness of 10,958 cd/m 2 at 14 V and the maximum current efficiency of 4.5 cd/A at 174.0 mA/cm 2 for the conventional device without MQW structures. These results demonstrate that the EL performances of FOLEDs could be greatly improved by utilizing the novel MQW structures, and the reason for this improvement has also been explained by the effect of interfacial dipole and interfacial doping between F4-TCNQ and m-MTDATA in this article.

Objectives. β2-adrenergic agonists, such as clenbuterol, have been shown to promote the hypertrophy of healthy skeletal muscles and to ameliorate muscle wasting in a few pathological conditions in both animals and humans. We intended to investigate the clinical efficacy of clenbuterol on attenuating denervation-induced muscle atrophy. Methods. A double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel, and randomized trial was employed. 71 patients, suffering from brachial plexus injuries, were given either clenbuterol (60 μg, bid) or placebo for 3 months. Before and at the end of the study, patients were given physical examinations, biopsies of biceps brachii, electromyograms (EMGs), and other laboratory tests. Results. Compared with placebo treatment, clenbuterol significantly mitigated the decreases in cross-sectional areas of type I and II muscle fibers and alleviated the reduction in fibrillation potential amplitudes, without any adverse effects. Conclusions. Clenbuterol safely ameliorated denervated muscle atrophy in this cohort; thus larger clinical studies are encouraged for this or other β2 agonists on denervation-induced muscle atrophy.

The dot immunogold filtration assay (DIGFA) is a rapid technique for the detection of anti-Schistosoma japonicum antibody. Its sensitivity with regard to sera obtained from patients with acute or chronic schistosomiasis was shown to be 100 and 96.9%, respectively. The specificity when using sera of people living in an area non-endemic for schistosomiasis japonica was 100%. Cross-reaction rates for paragonimiasis and clonorchiasis patients were 14.3% and 0%, respectively. Parallel serum tests of 1091 residents from an area endemic for S. japonicum by means of DIGFA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and indirect haemagglutination test resulted in positive rates of 9.3%, 11.5% and 11.0%, respectively. Thus, there was a high level of agreement between the sets of results (P > 0.05). In conclusion, DIGFA holds considerable promise for rapid and accurate diagnosis of S. japonicum, as it does not require any specific instruments and can be applied with ease. DIGFA has therefore several advantages over conventional diagnostic approaches and is useful not only for screening and sero-epidemiological surveys in the field, but also in clinical settings.

Theory of the coupling of stress-pore pressure in the saturated, elastic porous media is used in the study of the formation mechanism of the Xinfengjiang reservoir-induced earthquakes. Based on the results, it is believed that compared with the mechanism of additional stress in the vicinity of the reservoir, the mechanism of the coupling of additional stress and pore pressure may be more well-founded for the occurrence of reservoir-induced earthquakes.

Phrenic nerve conduction studies were performed to assess the ipsilateral nerve in 100 patients with traumatic brachial plexus palsy. Open exploration and intraoperative recordings of somatosensory evoked potentials and nerve action potentials were used to confirm the level of root lesions. The relationship between C-5 preganglionic root lesion and the functional integrity of the ipsilateral phrenic nerve was examined. The phrenic nerves were normal in 80 cases, partially injured in 7, and severely injured in 13. We found C-5 preganglionic root lesions in 13 (100%) patients with severely injured, 5 (71.4%) with partially injured, and 24 (30%) with normal phrenic nerves. This correlation suggests phrenic nerve conduction study is a useful tool in the diagnosis of C-5 preganglionic root lesions in patients with traumatic brachial plexopathy.

To detect the change of the anti-S. japonicum antibody level after people migrated from outside embankment to newly established town.Three pilot spots were established for the investigation: one spot that both inhabitancy and cultivation disuse (A), one spot that only inhabitancy disuse but farming continued (B) and the third one served as control (C). DIGFA and ELISA were used to detect the antibody level in the populations from 2002 to 2005.The positive rate of anti-S. japonicum antibody declined significantly from 6.63% to 3.52% by DIGFA and from 7.26% to 3.71% by ELISA at spot A (chi2=5.2625, P0.05; chi2=6.3296, P0.05, respectively). There was no significant difference on the positive rate of antibody in spots B and C. The average A450 value of ELISA in the three spots was statistically analyzed by One-Way ANOVA. It was only in spot B that the average A450 value declined from 0.182 in 2003 to 0.147 in 2005 (P0.01).The anti-S. japonicum antibody level in human population has decreased at certain degree after they migrated from outside embankment to new town.

To investigate the protective immunity against Schistosoma japonicum in mice immunized with recombinant specific very low density lipoprotein binding protein (SVLBP) and its potential as vaccine candidate.Recombinant SVLBP antigen was over-expressed under IPTG induction and purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. C57BL/6 mice were immunized three times with purified reSVLBP complexed with Freund's adjuvant, at biweekly intervals. Then 35+/-1 cercariae of S. japonicum were given to each mouse by abdominal skin 10 days after the 3rd immunization. 45 days later, all mice were sacrificed to collect adult worms and count liver eggs. serum samples were collected before immunization and after challenge respectively, and were probed the antigen-specific antibodies using a panel of ELISAs.The worm burden and the egg deposition in liver tissue were reduced by 33.4% and 47.6% respectively in the immunized group, in comparison with the adjuvant control group (P0.05). Higher titer (1:6 400) of total IgG was observed after challenge infection. The vaccinated mice developed significantly higher levels of IgG2a, IgG2b, IgG1 than those of control mice.The recombinant tegumental SVLBP antigen could induce partial protection against S. japonicum infection. These data demonstrate the potential of SVLBP as a schistosome vaccine candidate.

Schistosomes acquire fatty acids from their hosts, although how these parasites bind human low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and like molecules that transport fatty acids is not understood. Because parasite surface-bound host LDL may provide the schistosome with cholesterol and other lipids, as well as aid immune avoidance, understanding this process may provide fundamental insights into lipid metabolism and host defense in schistosomes. To investigate molecular aspects of lipid acquisition by schistosomes, transcripts encoding a very (V)LDL-receptor ligand binding, cysteine-rich repeat-containing protein were isolated from Schistosoma japonicum cDNAs. The deduced amino acid sequence included 207 residues with an NH2-terminal LDL ligand-binding Cys-rich motif and a COOH-terminal transmembrane (TM) domain. The ligand-binding domain was similar in sequence and structure to ligand-binding Cys-rich repeat domains from mammalian very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and LDL receptors, which are multi-domain proteins. This putative VLDL binding protein, designated S. japonicum very low-density lipoprotein binding protein (SVLBP), appeared to be membrane-associated, sensitive to reducing conditions, and included intra-molecular disulfide linkages. A three-dimensional (3D) model suggested that two of the three Cys residues form intra- and/or inter-molecular disulfide bridges that contribute to a patch of negative charge on the molecular surface, assumed to be associated with VLDL binding activity. SVLBP in membrane-associated and soluble fractions of adult schistosomes bound human plasma VLDL in vitro, and VLDL bound to recombinant SVLBP inhibited the binding of anti-recombinant SVLBP antibodies. Immunolocalization of SVLBP revealed prominent expression in the tegument and sub-tegument of adult male schistosomes. SVLBP may play a key role in lipid acquisition by S. japonicum.

Denervated muscle fibers exhibit spontaneous, repetitive single muscle fiber discharges and display fibrillation potentials detectable by electromyography. To explore the changing pattern of fibrillation potential amplitude after peripheral nerve injury and its relationship to the degree of muscle atrophy, fibrillation potential amplitudes were recorded on completely denervated biceps brachii of 173 patients with brachial plexus injury. Biceps brachii biopsies were taken at the same sites as the electromyogram recordings in 63 patients. The biopsies were analyzed by ATPase staining and the cross-sectional areas of fast and slow-twitch fibers were calculated. We found that the fibrillation potential amplitude and the cross-sectional areas of denervated muscle decay over time (P < 0.05), and both correlate negatively with denervation time (P < 0.01-0.05) within the first 15 months. The fibrillation potential amplitude correlates positively with both type I and II fiber cross-sectional areas (P < 0.0005-0.01). Our results show that fibrillation potential amplitude is closely correlated with muscle fiber size during the first 15 months after nerve injury, and it may therefore serve as a convenient index to evaluate quantitatively the degree of atrophy of denervated muscles. Electromyographic studies thus may help in designing treatment strategies.

The driving voltage of an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is lowered by employing molybdenum trioxide (MoO3)/N, N'-bis(naphthalene-1-yl)-N,N'-bis(phe-nyl)-benzidine (NPB) multiple quantum well (MQW) structure in the hole transport layer. For the device with double quantum well (DQW) structure of ITO/ [MoO3 (2.5 nm)/NPB (20 nm)]2/Alq3(50 nm)/LiF (0.8 nm)/Al (120 nm)], the turn-on voltage is reduced to 2.8 V, which is lowered by 0.4 V compared with that of the control device (without MQW structures), and the driving voltage is 5.6 V, which is reduced by 1 V compared with that of the control device at the 1000 cd/m2. In this work, the enhancement of the injection and transport ability for holes could reduce the driving voltage for the device with MQW structure, which is attributed not only to the reduced energy barrier between ITO and NPB, but also to the forming charge transfer complex between MoO3 and NPB induced by the interfacial doping effect of MoO3.

The variable region genes of the light and heavy chains obtained from three stems of McAb against metal-bound tetrapeptide were joined into a single chain by a linker. A 39 bp fragment of the N-terminal of CGRP was joined to the C-terminal of the heavy chain to constitute the Lv-linker-Hv-CGRP single chain gene which was cloned into the vector pTC01 and expressed in E. coli 71/18. The molecular weight of the expressed product was approximately 26 kD as shown by SDS-PAGE. Its expression level was about 20%-30% to he total cellular proteins. The product was a soluble protein and showed binding activity with its hapten by indirect ELISA assay.

We fabricate a kind of novel efficient blue fluorescent organic light emitting device (OLED) based on p-n hetero-junctions composed of hole transporting layer (HTL) N, N'-bis(naphthalen-1-yl)-N, N'-bis(phenyl)-benzidine (NPB) and electron transporting layer (ETL) 4,7-diphnenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BPhen), into which a new blue material, DNCA (a derivation of N6, N6, N12, N12-tetrap-tolylchrysene-6,12-diamine), is partially doped simultaneously, and double emitting layers are configured. With a turn-on voltage of 2.6 V at 1 cd/m2, this type of OLED presents a maximum luminance efficiency (ηmax) of 8.83 cd/A at 5.818 mA/cm2 and a maximum luminance of over 40000 cd/m2. Meanwhile, the Commission Internationale De L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of this device change slightly from (0.13, 0.27) to (0.13, 0.23) as the driving voltage increases from 3 V to 11 V. This improvement in the electroluminescent characteristics is attributed mainly to the ideal p—n heterojunction which can confine and distribute excitons evenly on two sides of the heterojunction interface so as to improve the carrier combination rate and expand the light-emitting region.

The efficiency of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) based on N,N'-bis(1-naphthyl)-N,N'-diphenyl-N,1'-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine (NPB) (the hole transport layer) and tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq3) (both emission and electron transport layers) is improved remarkably by inserting a LiF interlayer into the hole transport layer. This thin LiF interlayer can effectively influence electrical performance and significantly improve the current efficiency of the device. A device with an optimum LiF layer thickness at the optimum position in NPB exhibits a maximum current efficiency of 5.96 cd/A at 215.79 mA/cm2, which is about 86% higher than that of an ordinary device (without a LiF interlayer, 3.2 cd/A). An explanation can be put forward that LiF in the NPB layer can block holes and balance the recombination of holes and electrons. The results may provide some valuable references for improving OLED current efficiency.

Toxoplasma gondii cysts in the tissues of experimentally infected mice and pigs were irradiated with cobalt-60 at various doses and used to infect mice and kittens. Loss of parasite infectivity was confirmed following irradiation whereas control animals inoculated with non-irradiated infected tissues became infected. Experiments were repeated to calculate the minimal effective dose (MED) of irradiation to eradicate parasite infectivity. The MED for the Chinese NT strain and the American ME-49 and TS-2 strains of T. gondii cysts in mouse and pig tissues was approximately 0.6 kGy. The infectivity for mice of NT strain bradyzoites irradiated at a dose of 0.45 kGy was reduced 10,000-fold. Such irradiation may be valuable in practical operations to control T. gondii in pork products.