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The direct conversion of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) using green hydrogen is a sustainable approach to jet fuel production. However, achieving a high level of performance remains a formidable challenge due to the inertness of CO 2 and its low activity for subsequent C-C bond formation. In this study, we prepared a Na-modified CoFe alloy catalyst using layered double-hydroxide precursors that directly transforms CO 2 to a jet fuel composed of C 8 -C 16 jet-fuel-range hydrocarbons with very high selectivity. At a temperature of 240°C and pressure of 3 MPa, the catalyst achieves an unprecedentedly high C 8 -C 16 selectivity of 63.5% with 10.2% CO 2 conversion and a low combined selectivity of less than 22% toward undesired CO and CH 4 . Spectroscopic and computational studies show that the promotion of the coupling reaction between the carbon species and inhibition of the undesired CO 2 methanation occur mainly due to the utilization of the CoFe alloy structure and addition of the Na promoter. This study provides a viable technique for the highly selective synthesis of eco-friendly and carbon-neutral jet fuel from CO 2 ., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Lanthanum-containing materials are widely used in oxidative catalytic and electrocatalytic reactions such as oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). However, many of these materials are highly susceptible to air contamination which means ex situ characterization results generally cannot be associated with their reactivity. In this study, the activation processes of an in situ -prepared bulk La 2 O 2 CO 3 sample and an ex situ as-prepared La(OH) 3 sample are in situ investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and online mass spectroscopy (MS). Results indicate that the La 2 O 2 CO 3 sample, during linear heating to 800°C, always contains some carbonates near the surface region, which supports a two-step model of bulk carbonate decomposition through surface sites. The La(OH) 3 sample structure evolution is more complex due to contaminations from air exposure. Together with TGA results, online mass analysis of water and CO 2 signal loss showed that three major catalyst structure phase change steps and a preheating up to 800°C are required for the as-prepared material to be transferred to La 2 O 3 . This process is carefully investigated combining the three in situ methodologies. XPS and XRD data further reveal transformations of variety of in situ surface structures and forms including hybrid phases with hydroxyl, carbonates, and oxide as the sample heated to different temperatures within the range from 200 to 800°C. The results provide useful insights on the activation and deactivation of La-contained materials., 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 © 2021 Zhou, Vovk, Liu, Guan and Yang.)

Introduction: The current non-invasive tools for the diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have methodological limitations. We aimed to develop a non-invasive scale to assist in the diagnosis of NAFLD. To achieve our aim, we conducted a secondary analysis of data from a large observational study conducted in Russia., Methods: This retrospective analysis assessed the frequency of NAFLD in the population of patients in the DIREG&#95;L&#95;06725 study, an epidemiological, observational, cross-sectional, multicenter study performed in 50,145 outpatients from 16 Russian cities. Among the cohort of patients diagnosed with NAFLD, we identified factors associated with the risk of NAFLD. To develop a non-invasive tool for diagnosing NAFLD, we also determined the frequency of steatohepatitis., Results: Our analysis included 48,297 patients; NAFLD was present in 20,281 patients (42.0%). The majority (64.1%) were women (80.3% post-menopause), and 87% had a body mass index (BMI) > 27.0 kg/m 2 . We developed a fully non-invasive scale (St-index) that showed a specificity of 91.4% for ruling in steatosis, and a sensitivity of 93.8% for ruling out steatosis. Multivariate regression analyses conducted in the subgroups of patients aged ≥ 12 and < 18 years and those with BMI < 25.0 kg/m 2 produced area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve values of 0.8243 and 0.7054, respectively. The factors most strongly associated with the development of NAFLD were age > 35 years, presence of type 2 diabetes mellitus, and a waist circumference/height ratio > 0.54., Conclusion: Our non-invasive steatosis scale, St-index, can help physicians diagnose NAFLD in high-risk patients in the absence of ultrasound data.

Objective: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of abnormal results of liver function tests. Earlier research showed that polyenylphosphatidylcholine (PPC) has hepatoprotective effects and thus can be used for the treatment of NAFLD and the prevention of its progression. Accordingly, the aim of this observational study was to evaluate if PPC administered as adjunctive therapy in routine clinical practice can effectively improve liver function tests of NAFLD in Russian patients with associated metabolic comorbidities., Design: A total of 2843 adult patients with newly diagnosed NAFLD, who had a least one of four comorbidities, namely, overweight/obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hypercholesterolaemia, and who were prescribed 1.8 g/day of PPC as an adjunctive treatment to standard care, were enrolled during 2015-2016. Laboratory data were collected at baseline and 12 and 24 weeks of the study, and included liver function tests (aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT)), fasting plasma glucose, and lipid profile., Results: Overall, 2263 patients (79.6%) had at least two metabolic comorbidities associated with NAFLD, and overweight/obesity was the most common comorbidity reported in 2298 (80.8%) patients. At 24 weeks, there was a significant decrease in liver enzyme levels (all p<0.001 compared with baseline). Across the four comorbidity subgroups, there was a mean drop of ALT levels ranging from 19.7 to 22.0 U/L, AST from 16.9 to 18.4 U/L, and GGT from 17.2 to 18.7 U/L. Similar findings were reported in subgroups with either one, two, three, or four comorbidities, with a significant decrease in liver enzyme levels ranging from 18.4 to 22.4 U/L for ALT, 14.8 to 18.7 U/L for AST, and 15.5 to 19.5 U/L for GGT., Conclusions: Adjuvant treatment with PPC resulted in consistent improvements in liver enzymes in patients with newly diagnosed NAFLD and associated metabolic comorbidities., Trial Registration Number: NCT00063622., Competing Interests: Competing interests: KMS is a Sanofi employee. The other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Correction for 'Understanding of binding energy calibration in XPS of lanthanum oxide by in situ treatment' by Jerry Pui Ho Li et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2019, 21, 22351-22358.

Objective: The concept of using naturally occurring compounds such as polyenylphosphatidylcholine (PPC) as an adjunctive therapy to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alleviate or reverse hepatic steatosis appears a very attractive option for liver protection. We aim to evaluate if PPC adjunctive therapy can effectively improve the ultrasonographic features of NAFLD in routine clinical practice in Russian patients with cardiometabolic comorbidities., Design: This 24-week, observational, prospective study was carried out in 174 medical sites across 6 federal districts of Russia. A total of 2843 adult patients with newly diagnosed NAFLD, who had a least one of four comorbidities, namely overweight/obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolaemia, and who received PPC as an adjunctive treatment to standard care, were enrolled. The assessment of liver ultrasonography was qualitative., Results: Overall, 2263 (79.6%) patients had at least two metabolic comorbidities associated with NAFLD, and overweight/obesity was the most common comorbidity reported in 2298 (80.8%) patients. Almost all study participants (2837/2843; 99.8%) were prescribed 1.8 g of PPC administered three times daily. At baseline, the most frequently identified abnormalities on ultrasound were liver hyperechogenicity (84.0% of patients) and heterogeneous liver structure (62.9%). At 24 weeks, a significant (p<0.05) improvement in liver echogenicity and in liver structure was observed in 1932/2827 (68.3%) patients (95% CI 66.6% to 70.1%) and in 1207/2827 (42.7%) patients (95% CI 40.9% to 44.5%), respectively. The analysis of ultrasonographic signs by number of comorbidities revealed similar findings-liver echogenicity improved in 67.2%-69.3% and liver structure in 35.6%-45.3% of patients depending on the number of comorbidities., Conclusion: This study showed that PPC adjunctive therapy may be useful in improving the ultrasonographic features of NAFLD in patients with associated cardiometabolic comorbidities. It also supports evidence regarding the role of PPC in the complex management of NAFLD., Competing Interests: Competing interests: KMS is a Sanofi employee. The other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Rare earth oxides have seen increased usage over the years in batteries and catalysts. Due to their unique electronic properties, they are the subject of fundamental and practical interest. However, the complexity in their electronic structures makes unambiguous characterization, such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), very challenging. Lanthanum oxide (La 2 O 3 ) has attracted special attention as a promising catalyst for the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reaction. In this work, a new and reliable way of XPS calibration is developed by applying various in situ preparations for a nanorod La 2 O 3 catalyst to intentionally form different lanthanum compounds, followed by XPS characterization and corroboration with first principles calculations. To form different compounds, five sample treatments were performed including heating in vacuum and treatment with O 2 , CH 4 , CO 2 , and H 2 O, which are all relevant to OCM reaction conditions. Adventitious carbon or lattice oxygen, as conventional calibration standard species for energy scale, is only suitable for one or few in situ prepared surfaces. Our results also clearly demonstrate the vital difference between performing the ex situ analysis after exposure of the sample to the atmosphere and the in situ analysis. By carefully comparing the spectra of various photoemission peaks of different compounds, we conclude that the binding energy of 102.2 eV for the La 4d 7/2 peak can be used as the internal calibration standard for all considered samples. Furthermore, different oxygen species were unambiguously identified by matching the oxygen 1s binding energies from the in situ measurements and first principles predictions.

Negative consequences of treatment are observed at least in 16% patients at multidisciplinary hospitals and may result from the causes that are independent of medical staff, but more frequently from errors and inadequate treatment standards due to human factors. Systematic improvement of professionalism, which should be started from some educational reforms at medical institutes, is needed.

Ischemia (30 min)--reperfusion (60 min) of the dog small intestine created by occlusion of the cranial mesenteric artery decreased formation and lymph flow, changed the blood and lymph viscosity and coadulation which had been induced by damaging effect of hypoxia.

The structural and functional organization of the adaptor protein Ruk(1) is characterized by the presence of three SH3-domains at the N-terminus followed by Pro- and Ser-rich sequences and a C-terminal coiled-coil region. Multiple modules in the Ruk(1) structure involved in protein-protein interactions can provide for formation of ligand clusters with varied properties and subcellular location. To study the nature and biological role of such complexes, the recombinant protein Ruk(1) with a Glu-epitope at the C-terminus (Ruk(1) Glu-tagged) was purified from transfected HEK293 cells by affinity chromatography on protein G-Sepharose with covalently conjugated anti-Glu-tag antibodies. By SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with subsequent staining with silver, a set of minor bands in addition to the 85-kD Ruk(1) Glu-tagged was detected in the purified preparation of the recombinant protein. Proteins with affinity for nucleic acids were also revealed in the Ruk(1) Glu-tagged preparation by retardation of electrophoretic mobility of 32P-labeled oligodeoxyribonucleotides in gel. The Ruk(1) Glu-tagged preparation was also shown to hydrolyze both deoxyribonucleotides and plasmid DNA. ZnCl2 and heparin inhibited the DNAse activity. These findings suggest the presence of DNases associated with the Ruk(1) protein in HEK293 cells. Such complexes were isolated from lysates of HEK293 cells by chromatography on heparin-Sepharose. By elution with 0.5 and 1.0 M NaCl, two fractions with DNase activity and containing proteins with molecular weights of 83, 80, and 72 kD were obtained. The reaction was inhibited by ZnCl2 and heparin, and previous precipitation of Ruk-related proteins with anti-Ruk antibodies resulted in the exhaustion of nuclease activity. By immunoblotting with anti-Ruk antibodies, 83-kD protein immunologically related to the Ruk(1) protein was identified in the fractions. It was concluded that the adaptor protein Ruk(1) forms complexes with endonucleases in HEK293 cells.

Efficacy of a novel eradication treatment with ranitidine, trichopol and jozamycin was compared to that of the standard three-component therapy and monotherapy with ranitidine in 76 patients with exacerbation of gastric and duodenal ulcer. Therapeutic monitoring of ranitidine was performed. In relation to healing of ulcer defect and eradication of Helicobacter pylori, jozamycin is not less effective and more safe than standard three-component therapy. Interaction of the scheme components increases plasma concentration of ranitidine especially in patients with concomitant hepatic and renal diseases.