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FeTe0.55Se0.45 (FTS) occupies a special spot in modern condensed matter physics at the intersections of electron correlation, topology, and unconventional superconductivity. The bulk electronic structure of FTS is predicted to be topologically nontrivial due to the band inversion between the dxz and pz bands along Γ-Z. However, there remain debates in both the authenticity of the Dirac surface states (DSSs) and the experimental deviations of band structure from the theoretical band inversion picture. Here we resolve these debates through a comprehensive angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy investigation. We first observe a persistent DSS independent of kz. Then, by comparing FTS with FeSe, which has no band inversion along Γ-Z, we identify the spectral weight fingerprint of both the presence of the pz band and the inversion between the dxz and pz bands. Furthermore, we propose a renormalization scheme for the band structure under the framework of a tight-binding model preserving crystal symmetry. Our results highlight the significant influence of correlation on modifying the band structure and make a strong case for the existence of topological band structure in this unconventional superconductor.

Abstract Caspases regulate and execute a spectrum of functions including cell deaths, non-apoptotic developmental functions, and stress responses. Despite these disparate roles, the same core cell-death machinery is required to enzymatically activate caspase proteolytic activities. Thus, it remains enigmatic how distinct caspase functions are differentially regulated. In this study, we show that Xeroderma pigmentosum protein XPD has a conserved function in activating the expression of stress-responsive caspases in C. elegans and human cells without triggering cell death. Using C. elegans, we show XPD-1-dependent activation of CED-3 caspase promotes survival upon genotoxic UV irradiation and inversely suppresses responses to non-genotoxic insults such as ER and osmotic stressors. Unlike the TFDP ortholog DPL-1 which is required for developmental apoptosis in C. elegans, XPD-1 only activates stress-responsive functions of caspase. This tradeoff balancing responses to genotoxic and non-genotoxic stress may explain the seemingly contradictory nature of caspase-mediated stress resilience versus sensitivity under different stressors.

Jiaxin Zeng,1,&ast; Chen Zhou,2,&ast; Qun Yi,1,3 Yuanming Luo,4 Hailong Wei,5 Huiqing Ge,6 Huiguo Liu,7 Jianchu Zhang,8 Xianhua Li,9 Pinhua Pan,10 Mengqiu Yi,11 Lina Cheng,11 Liang Liu,12 Jiarui Zhang,1 Lige Peng,1 Jiaqi Pu,1 Haixia Zhou1 On behalf of the MAGNET AECOPD Registry Investigators1Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China; 2Center of Infectious Diseases, Division of Infectious Diseases in State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China; 3Sichuan Cancer Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China; 4State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, People’s Hospital of Leshan, Leshan, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China; 8Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China; 9Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The First People’s Hospital of Neijiang City, Neijiang, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China; 10Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People’s Republic of China; 11Department of Emergency, First People’s Hospital of Jiujiang, Jiu jiang, Jiangxi Province, People’s Republic of China; 12Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Haixia Zhou, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Guo-Xue-Xiang 37&num;, Wuhou District, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, 610041, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-28-85422571, Email zhouhaixia@wchscu.cnBackground: The Rome severity classification is an objective assessment tool for the severity of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) based on readily measurable variables but has not been widely validated. The aim of this study is to evaluate the validity of the Rome classification in distinguishing the severity of AECOPD based on short-term mortality and other adverse outcomes.Methods: The Rome severity classification was applied to a large multicenter cohort of inpatients with AECOPD. Differences in clinical features, in-hospital and 60-day mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, mechanical ventilation (MV) and invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) usage were compared among the mild, moderate and severe AECOPD according to the Rome proposal. Moreover, univariate logistic analysis and Kaplan Meier survival analysis were also performed to find the association between the Rome severity classification and those adverse outcomes.Results: A total of 7712 patients hospitalized for AECOPD were included and classified into mild (41.88%), moderate (40.33%), or severe (17.79%) group according to the Rome proposal. The rate of ICU admission (6.4% vs 12.0% vs 14.9%, P < 0.001), MV (11.7% vs 33.7% vs 45.3%, P < 0.001) and IMV (1.4% vs 6.8% vs 8.9%, P < 0.001) increased significantly with the increase of severity classification from mild to moderate to severe AECOPD. The 60-day mortality was higher in the moderate or severe group than in the mild group (3.5% vs 1.9%, 4.3% vs 1.9%, respectively, P < 0.05) but showed no difference between the moderate and severe groups (2.6% vs 2.5%, P > 0.05), results for in-hospital mortality showed the same trends. Similar findings were observed by univariate logistic analysis and survival analysis.Conclusion: Rome severity classification demonstrated excellent performance in predicting ICU admission and the need for MV or IMV, but how it performs in differentiating short-term mortality still needs to be confirmed.Keywords: AECOPD, the Rome severity classification, short-term mortality, intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, multicenter cohort

Guimei Fan,1 Mo Yi,2 Xiangmin Qiu,1 Jinfang Zhao1 1Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Nursing, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Jinfang Zhao, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, &num;324 Jingwuweiqi Road, Huaiyin District, Jinan City, Shandong Province, 250021, People’s Republic of China, Email zjfcqt@qq.comPurpose: This study aims to explore the complicated decision-making dilemma and challenges confronted by parents of children suffering from severe asthma within the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) when participating in the development of their children’s discharge care plans.Patients and Methods: Employing a phenomenological methodology, a purposive sampling was performed to engage with 17 parents who participated in in-depth and semi-structured interviews between October 2022 and February 2023. The transcripts of these interviews were transcribed into textual data, which was then subjected to Colaizzi’s seven-step analysis for meticulous coding and comprehensive thematic elucidation.Results: The comprehensive analysis of the factors involved in the intricate decision-making dilemmas faced by parents of children with severe asthma during the process of crafting discharge care plans in the PICU revealed five themes and eight sub-themes: 1) Complexity of asthma-related information; 2) Insufficient provision of comprehensive decision-making support; 3) Encountering negative emotions and wavering confidence; 4) Navigating realistic constraints impacting both parents and HCPs; 5) Balancing the advantages and disadvantages of various plans.Conclusion: Parents of children with severe asthma in the PICU encounter intricate and multifaceted decision-making dilemmas while engaging in the formulation of discharge care plans. These complexities significantly dampen their decision-making enthusiasm and introduce potential risks to the children’s prognosis and recovery. In the future, it is imperative to leverage the guidance provided by healthcare professionals (HCPs) in the decision-making process, develop tailored decision support tools specifically designed for the formulation of discharge care plans for children with severe asthma in the PICU.Keywords: severe asthma, parents, discharge care plan, decision-making dilemma, phenomenological study

Min Yi,1 Yuebin Cao,2 Jiangjun Wang,3 Chenyi Shi,1 Yalin Cheng,1 Yanlin Cao1 1Institute of Medical Information and Library, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100020, People’s Republic of China; 2Health Commission of Hunan Province, Changsha, 410008, People’s Republic of China; 3China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, 100029, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yanlin Cao, Institute of Medical Information and Library, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, No. 3 Yabao Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100020, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-010-52328845, Email cao.yanlin@imicams.ac.cnBackground: Medical disputes are a recurrent and pressing issue in hospitals, posing significant challenges to the functioning of medical institutions. We aimed to investigate whether receiving rule of law publicity on short video platforms is relevant to preventing medical disputes among healthcare professionals.Methods: We collected the data from 37,978 medical professionals from 130 tertiary public hospitals. Participants were classified into two groups according to the presence of receiving rule of law publicity on short video platforms. A subgroup analysis was performed before and after propensity score analysis, and multiple logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for medical disputes.Results: Among all participants, 46.1% (17,506/37,978) experienced medical disputes. Before propensity score analysis, the prevalence of medical disputes among participants who received rule of law publicity on short video platforms was similar to that among participants who did not (P = 0.639). However, after propensity score analysis, participants who received the rule of law publicity on short video platforms did not show a benefit effect. These participants had a significantly higher rate of suffering from medical disputes than participants who did not receive publicity on this platform (P=0.020). Multiple logistic regression analysis confirmed that receiving the rule of law publicity through short video platforms (P=0.010) or MicroBlog (P = 0.016), and previously facing legal issues outside of medical work (P < 0.001) were risk factors for medical disputes; participating in legal training organized by hospitals (P=0.004) and the hospital rule of law being very good (P=0.045) were protective factors.Conclusion: Medical disputes are a common occurrence within the healthcare profession. However, using short video platforms to promote the rule of law is not an effective method to prevent disputes. Instead, healthcare professionals can benefit from participating in legal training and having a well-established rule of law within the hospital construct.Keywords: healthcare professionals, medical disputes, rule of law publicity, short video platforms, construction of hospital rule of law

Jinzhu Huang,&ast; Jinxin Zhao,&ast; Miao Yi, Yaling Yuan, Peiwen Xia, Bingxue Yang, Jiajia Liao, Zijun Dang, Yun Xia&ast; Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yun Xia, Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, No. 1 Youyi Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, 400016, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-13668043942, Fax +86-23-89012513, Email xiayun12cn@aliyun.comPurpose: This research aims to profile ten novel strains of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) co-carrying blaKPC and blaNDM.Methods: Clinical CRE strains, along with corresponding medical records, were gathered. To ascertain the susceptibility of the strains to antibiotics, antimicrobial susceptibility tests were conducted. To validate the transferability and cost of fitness of plasmids, conjugation experiments and growth curves were employed. For determining the similarity between different strains, ERIC-PCR was utilised. Meanwhile, whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed to characterise the features of plasmids and their evolutionary characteristics.Results: During the course of this research, ten clinical CRE strains co-carrying blaKPC and blaNDM were gathered. It was discovered that five out of these ten strains exhibited resistance to tigecycline. A closer examination of the mechanisms underlying tigecycline resistance revealed that tmexCD 1-toprJ 1, blaKPC-2, and blaNDM-1 existed concurrently within a single Citrobacter freundii strain (CF10). This strain, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 32 mg/L to tigecycline, was obtained from a sepsis patient. Furthermore, an investigation of genome evolution implied that CF10 belonged to a novel ST type 696, which lacked analogous strains. Aligning plasmids exposed that similar plasmids all had less than 70% coverage when compared to pCF10-tmexCD1, pCF10-KPC, and pCF10-NDM. It was also found that tmexCD 1-toprJ 1, blaKPC-2, and blaNDM-1 were transferred by Tn 5393, IS 5, and Tn 6296, respectively.Conclusion: This research presents the first report of coexistence of tmexCD 1-toprJ 1, blaKPC-2, and blaNDM-1 in a carbapenem and tigecycline-resistant C. freundii strain, CF10.Importance: Tigecycline is considered a “last resort” antibiotic for treating CRE infections. The ongoing evolution of resistance mechanisms to both carbapenem and tigecycline presents an alarming situation. Moreover, the repeated reporting of both these resistance mechanisms within a single strain poses a significant risk to public health. The research revealed that the genes tmexCD 1-toprJ 1, blaKPC-2, and blaNDM-1, which cause carbapenem and tigecycline-resistance in the same strain, were located on mobile elements, suggesting a potential for horizontal transmission to other Gram-negative bacteria. The emergence of such a multi-resistant strain within hospitals should raise significant concern due to the scarcity of effective antimicrobial treatments for these “superbugs”.Keywords: blaKPC, blaNDM, carbapenem-resistantEnterobacteriaceae, tigecycline-resistance, tmexCD 1-toprJ 1

We report a layered ternary selenide BaPt4Se6 featuring sesqui-selenide Pt2Se3 layers sandwiched by Ba atoms. The Pt2Se3 layers in this compound can be derived from the Dirac-semimetal PtSe2 phase with Se vacancies that form a honeycomb structure. This structure results in a Pt (VI) and Pt (II) mixed-valence compound with both PtSe6 octahedra and PtSe4 square net coordination configurations. Temperature-dependent electrical transport measurements suggest two distinct anomalies: a resistivity crossover, mimic to the metal-insulator (M-I) transition at ~150 K, and a resistivity plateau at temperatures below 10 K. The resistivity crossover is not associated with any structural, magnetic, or charge order modulated phase transitions. Magnetoresistivity, Hall, and heat capacity measurements concurrently suggest an existing hidden state below 5 K in this system. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements reveal a metallic state and no dramatic reconstruction of the electronic structure up to 200 K.

Electronic nematicity is a ubiquitous phenomenon in iron-based superconductors but its origin is still debated. Most models consider either spin or orbital degrees of freedom as the driving force but typically do not take electronic correlations into account. However, mass enhancements, coherent-incoherent crossovers, and the strong orbital differentiation can only be understood using correlations in a Hund's metal framework. Here, we study the influence of nematicity on the quasiparticle coherence in detwinned FeSe using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). We compare photoemission spectral weight from dxz and dyz orbitals in the coherent quasiparticle peak and in the incoherent Hubbard band and find an anisotropy between the two orbitals. We interpret our observation in terms of a more coherent dxz orbital compared to the dyz orbital inside the nematic phase. This result is in contrast to earlier predictions of an incoherent dxz orbital and highlights the importance of electronic correlations in the description of nematicity.

Quasi-one-dimensional (1D) materials provide a superior platform for characterizing and tuning topological phases for two reasons: (i) existence for multiple cleavable surfaces that enables better experimental identification of topological classification and (ii) stronger response to perturbations such as strain for tuning topological phases compared to higher dimensional crystal structures. In this paper, we present experimental evidence for a room-temperature topological phase transition in the quasi-1D material Bi4I4, mediated via a first-order structural transition between two distinct stacking orders of the weakly coupled chains. Using high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on the two natural cleavable surfaces, we identify the high-temperature β phase to be the first weak topological insulator with two gapless Dirac cones on the (100) surface and no Dirac crossing on the (001) surface, while in the low-temperature α phase, the topological surface state on the (100) surface opens a gap, consistent with a recent theoretical prediction of a higher-order topological insulator beyond the scope of the established topological materials databases that hosts gapless hinge states. Our results not only identify a rare topological phase transition between first-order and second-order topological insulators but also establish a novel quasi-1D material platform for exploring unprecedented physics.

Qingyan Kong, Mengshi Yi, Fei Teng, Hang Li, Zheyu Chen Division of Hepatic Surgery, Department of General Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Zheyu Chen, Division of Hepatic Surgery, Department of General Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, People’s Republic of China, Email kqydoctor@163.comBackground: Recent research has suggested that sarcopenia may have an impact on postoperative outcomes. The number of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) has increased significantly over time. The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of sarcopenia on the prognosis of HCC patients with MAFLD after hepatectomy.Methods: A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model and a propensity score matching (PSM) analysis were conducted to ensure that the baseline characteristics were similar. Kaplan‒Meier survival curves were used to compare the prognosis of the two groups.Results: This study involved 112 HCC patients with MAFLD undergoing hepatectomy. Sarcopenia was indicated as a risk factor for both recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) in HCC patients with MAFLD after multivariate analysis (p=0.002 and 0.022, respectively). After conducting PSM analysis, Kaplan‒Meier survival curve analysis revealed significant differences in both the RFS and OS between the two groups (p=0.0002 and p=0.0047, respectively). All results showed that sarcopenia had a poor prognosis for HCC patients with MAFLD undergoing hepatectomy.Conclusion: In summary, our study suggests that sarcopenia might be a risk factor for OS and RFS in HCC patients with MAFLD who underwent hepatectomy through multivariate analysis and PSM analysis. Sarcopenia imperils postoperative survival rates and this finding can guide clinical decision-making. For postoperative patients, preventing or treating sarcopenia can potentially improve survival outcomes for patients with HCC and MAFLD.Keywords: sarcopenia, metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatectomy

Abstract The conserved p38 MAPK family is activated by phosphorylation during stress responses and inactivated by phosphatases. C. elegans PMK-1 p38 MAPK initiates innate immune responses and blocks development when hyperactivated. Here we show that PMK-1 signaling is enhanced during early aging by modulating the stoichiometry of non-phospho-PMK-1 to promote tissue integrity and longevity. Loss of pmk-1 function accelerates progressive declines in neuronal integrity and lysosome function compromising longevity which has both cell autonomous and cell non-autonomous contributions. CED-3 caspase cleavage limits phosphorylated PMK-1. Enhancing p38 signaling with caspase cleavage-resistant PMK-1 protects lysosomal and neuronal integrity extending a youthful phase. PMK-1 works through a complex transcriptional program to regulate lysosome formation. During early aging, the absolute phospho-p38 amount is maintained but the reservoir of non-phospho-p38 diminishes to enhance signaling without hyperactivation. Our findings show that modulating the stoichiometry of non-phospho-p38 dynamically supports tissue-homeostasis during aging without hyper-activation of stress response.

Jiarui Zhang,1,&ast; Yichun Qin,2,&ast; Chen Zhou,3 Yuanming Luo,4 Hailong Wei,5 Huiqing Ge,6 Hui-Guo Liu,7 Jianchu Zhang,8 Xianhua Li,9 Pinhua Pan,10 Mengqiu Yi,11 Lina Cheng,11 Liang Liu,12 Adila Aili,1 Lige Peng,1 Yu Liu,1 Jiaqi Pu,1 Qun Yi,1,13,&ast; Haixia Zhou1,&ast; 1Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China; 2State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases and National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 3West China School of Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China; 4State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, People’s Hospital of Leshan, Leshan, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China; 8Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China; 9Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The First People’s Hospital of Neijiang City, Neijiang, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China; 10Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People’s Republic of China; 11Department of Emergency, First People’s Hospital of Jiujiang, Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, People’s Republic of China; 12Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China; 13Sichuan Cancer Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Haixia Zhou; Qun Yi, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Guo-Xue-Xiang 37&num;, Wuhou District, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, 610041, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-28-85422571, Email zhouhaixia@wchscu.cn; yiqun925@126.comBackground: High blood urea nitrogen (BUN) is observed in a subset of patients with acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) and may be linked to clinical outcome, but findings from previous studies have been inconsistent.Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients prospectively enrolled in the MAGNET AECOPD Registry study (ChiCTR2100044625). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was used to determine the level of BUN that discriminated survivors and non-survivors. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were performed to assess the impact of BUN on adverse outcomes.Results: Overall, 13,431 consecutive inpatients with AECOPD were included in this study, of whom 173 died, with the mortality of 1.29%. The non-survivors had higher levels of BUN compared with the survivors [9.5 (6.8– 15.3) vs 5.6 (4.3– 7.5) mmol/L, P < 0.001]. ROC curve analysis showed that the optimal cutoff of BUN level was 7.30 mmol/L for in-hospital mortality (AUC: 0.782; 95% CI: 0.748– 0.816; P < 0.001). After multivariate analysis, BUN level ≥ 7.3 mmol/L was an independent risk factor for in-hospital mortality (HR = 2.099; 95% CI: 1.378– 3.197, P = 0.001), also for invasive mechanical ventilation (HR = 1.540; 95% CI: 1.199– 1.977, P = 0.001) and intensive care unit admission (HR = 1.344; 95% CI: 1.117– 1.617, P = 0.002). Other independent prognostic factors for in-hospital mortality including age, renal dysfunction, heart failure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate, PaCO2 and D-dimer.Conclusion: BUN is an independent risk factor for in-hospital mortality in inpatients with AECOPD and may be used to identify serious (or severe) patients and guide the management of AECOPD.Clinical Trial Registration: MAGNET AECOPD; Chinese Clinical Trail Registry NO.: ChiCTR2100044625; Registered March 2021, URL: http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=121626.Keywords: AECOPD, inpatients, blood urea nitrogen, mortality, adverse outcomes

ACo2Se2 (A=K, Rb, Cs) is a homologue of the iron-based superconductor AFe2Se2. From a comprehensive study of RbCo2Se2 via measurements of magnetization, transport, neutron diffraction, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, and first-principles calculations, we identify a ferromagnetic order accompanied by an orbital-dependent spin splitting of the electronic dispersions. Furthermore, we identify the ordered moment to be dominated by a dx2-y2 flat band near the Fermi level, which exhibits the largest spin splitting across the ferromagnetic transition, suggesting an itinerant origin of the ferromagnetism. In the broader context of the iron-based superconductors, we find this dx2-y2 flat band to be a common feature in the band structures of both iron chalcogenides and iron pnictides, accessible via heavy electron doping.

The lamellar cuprate superconductors exhibit the highest ambient-pressure superconducting transition temperatures (Tc), and after more than three decades of extraordinary research activity, continue to pose formidable scientific challenges. A major experimental obstacle has been to distinguish universal phenomena from materials- or technique-dependent ones. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measures momentum-dependent single-particle electronic excitations and has been invaluable in the endeavor to determine the anisotropic momentum-space properties of the cuprates. HgBa2CuO4+δ (Hg1201) is a single-CuO2-layer cuprate with a particularly high optimal Tc and a simple crystal structure, yet there exists little information from ARPES about the electronic properties of this model system. Here we present an ARPES study of doping-, temperature-, and momentum-dependent systematics of near-nodal dispersion anomalies in Hg1201. The data reveal a hierarchy of three distinct energy scales: a subgap low-energy kink, an intermediate-energy kink near 55 meV, and a peak-dip-hump structure. The first two features are attributed to the coupling of electrons to Ba-derived optical phonons and in-plane bond-stretching phonons, respectively. The nodal peak-dip-hump structure appears to have a common doping dependence in several single-layer cuprates and is interpreted as a manifestation of pseudogap physics at the node. These results establish several universal phenomena, both in terms of connecting multiple experimental techniques for a single material and in terms of connecting comparable spectral features in multiple structurally similar cuprates.

Nematicity, where rotational symmetry is broken while translational symmetry is conserved, is prevalent in higherature superconductors. In particular, nematic quantum critical point has been universally found near the optimum doping of the superconducting dome of several iron-based superconductor families. In such a regime, evidence for strong nematic fluctuations have been observed. As the precursor to this order, nematic fluctuations emerge before nematicity, providing favorable ground to study how nematic order modifies the electronic structure in the absence of structural distortion. Here we use spatially resolved angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to investigate the correlation between the onset of nematic fluctuations and electronic structure in an optimally doped BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 (x∼0.3) superconductor. We reveal a strong spatially varying anisotropy of the Fermi surface on a length scale of tens of microns with strong correlation between the changes in the hole and electron Fermi pockets, consistent with the variations expected in the presence of fluctuating nematic order. These results provide direct evidence for spatial nematic fluctuations in the optimal doping regime of iron-based superconductors.

The relevance of magnetic, structural, orbital, and charge degrees of freedom in the iron-based superconductors (FeSCs) and related materials occupies a central focus in condensed matter physics. While the majority of iron-based materials exhibit the same two-dimensional iron square lattice structural motif, a family of AFe2X3 (X = Se,S) compounds introduces a quasi-one-dimensional (1D) ladder motif, which resembles the two-legged spin ladder copper oxide materials. Furthermore, unlike most parent compounds of FeSCs, the members of this spin ladder family are insulators. Recently, a superconducting transition has been observed under pressure with Tc up to 24 K, similar to the pressure-induced superconductivity in the copper oxide ladder Sr14−xCaxCu24O41 material, stimulating much interest. Here, we review the magnetic, structural, and electronic properties in this family, particularly in the BaFe2X3 series tuned by pressure and by chemical substitution. The established pressure-temperature (P-T) and carrier concentration-temperature (x-T) phase diagrams in related materials provide useful information to extend the variety of high-temperature superconductors and compare with other FeSCs. We also review some essential information about analogous square lattice FeSCs.

Jiaqi Pu,1,&ast; Qun Yi,1,2,&ast; Yuanming Luo,3 Hailong Wei,4 Huiqing Ge,5 Huiguo Liu,6 Xianhua Li,7 Jianchu Zhang,8 Pinhua Pan,9 Hui Zhou,10 Chen Zhou,11 Mengqiu Yi,12 Lina Cheng,12 Liang Liu,10 Jiarui Zhang,1 Lige Peng,1 Adila Aili,1 Yu Liu,1 Haixia Zhou1 On behalf of the MAGNET AECOPD Registry Investigators1Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 2Sichuan Cancer Hospital and Institution, Sichuan Cancer Center, Cancer Hospital Affiliate to School of Medicine, UESTC, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 3State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, People’s Hospital of Leshan, Leshan, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the First People’s Hospital of Neijiang City, Neijiang, People’s Republic of China; 8Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China; 9Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, People’s Republic of China; 10Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 11West China School of Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 12Department of Emergency, First People’s Hospital of Jiujiang, Jiu Jiang, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Haixia Zhou, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Guo-Xue-Xiang 37&num;, Wuhou District, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, 610041, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-28-85422571, Email zhouhaixia@wchscu.cnPurpose: The prognostic value of blood eosinophils in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) remains controversial. This study aimed to evaluate whether blood eosinophils could predict in-hospital mortality and other adverse outcomes in inpatients with AECOPD.Methods: The patients hospitalized for AECOPD were prospectively enrolled from ten medical centers in China. Peripheral blood eosinophils were detected on admission, and the patients were divided into eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic groups with 2% as the cutoff value. The primary outcome was all-cause in-hospital mortality.Results: A total of 12,831 AECOPD inpatients were included. The non-eosinophilic group was associated with higher in-hospital mortality than the eosinophilic group in the overall cohort (1.8% vs 0.7%, P < 0.001), the subgroup with pneumonia (2.3% vs 0.9%, P = 0.016) or with respiratory failure (2.2% vs 1.1%, P = 0.009), but not in the subgroup with ICU admission (8.4% vs 4.5%, P = 0.080). The lack of association still remained even after adjusting for confounding factors in subgroup with ICU admission. Being consistent across the overall cohort and all subgroups, non-eosinophilic AECOPD was also related to greater rates of invasive mechanical ventilation (4.3% vs 1.3%, P < 0.001), ICU admission (8.9% vs 4.2%, P < 0.001), and, unexpectedly, systemic corticosteroid usage (45.3% vs 31.7%, P < 0.001). Non-eosinophilic AECOPD was associated with longer hospital stay in the overall cohort and subgroup with respiratory failure (both P < 0.001) but not in those with pneumonia (P = 0.341) or ICU admission (P = 0.934).Conclusion: Peripheral blood eosinophils on admission may be used as an effective biomarker to predict in-hospital mortality in most AECOPD inpatients, but not in patients admitted into ICU. Eosinophil-guided corticosteroid therapy should be further studied to better guide the administration of corticosteroids in clinical practice.Keywords: acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, peripheral blood eosinophils, inpatients, in-hospital mortality, clinical outcomes

Superconductivity emerges in proximity to a nematic phase in most iron-based superconductors. It is therefore important to understand the impact of nematicity on the electronic structure. Orbital assignment and tracking across the nematic phase transition prove to be challenging due to the multiband nature of iron-based superconductors and twinning effects. Here, we report a detailed study of the electronic structure of fully detwinned FeSe across the nematic phase transition using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We clearly observe a nematicity-driven band reconstruction involving dxz, dyz, and dxy orbitals. The nematic energy scale between dxz and dyz bands reaches a maximum of 50 meV at the Brillouin zone corner. We are also able to track the dxz electron pocket across the nematic transition and explain its absence in the nematic state. Our comprehensive data of the electronic structure provide an accurate basis for theoretical models of the superconducting pairing in FeSe.

Dan Long,1 Ting Yang,1 Jie Chen,1 Ying Dai,1 Li Chen,1 Feiyong Jia,2 Lijie Wu,3 Yan Hao,4 Ling Li,5 Jie Zhang,6 Xiaoyan Ke,7 Mingji Yi,8 Qi Hong,9 Jinjin Chen,10 Shuanfeng Fang,11 Yichao Wang,12 Qi Wang,13 Chunhua Jin,14 Tingyu Li1 1Chongqing Key Laboratory of Child Nutrition and Health, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, National Clinical Research Center of Child Health and Disorders, Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China; 3Research Center for Child Development and Behavior, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Pediatrics, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Children Rehabilitation, Hainan Women and Children’s Medical Center, Haikou, People’s Republic of China; 6Children Health Care Center, Xi’an Children’s Hospital, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China; 7The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 8Department of Child Health Care, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China; 9Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Baoan, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China; 10Department of Child Health Care, Shanghai Children’s Hospital, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 11Department of Child Health Care, Children’s Hospital Affiliated of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China; 12National Health Commission Key Laboratory of Birth Defect for Research and Prevention, Hunan Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Changsha, People’s Republic of China; 13Deyang Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Deyang, People’s Republic of China; 14Department of Children Health Care, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Tingyu Li, Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400014, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 23 63630913, Fax +86 23 63622754, Email tyli@vip.sina.comPurpose: The present study investigated the age of diagnosis, treatment and demographic factors of Chinese children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), to provide a scientific basis for the early detection, diagnosis, and intervention of ASD.Patients and Methods: A total of 1500 ASD children aged 2– 7 years old from 13 cities in China were administered questionnaires to examine their diagnosis, treatment, and basic family information. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) was used to measure the symptoms and severity of ASD children, and the Children Neuropsychological and Behavior Scale-Revision 2016 (CNBS-R2016) was utilized to measure neurodevelopmental levels of ASD children.Results: We found that for children with ASD, the median (p25, p75) age for the initial detection of social behavioral developmental delay was 24 (18, 30) months, while the age for the initial diagnosis was 29 (24, 36) months and the age for the beginning of intervention was 33 (27, 42) months. Multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis suggested that in children with ASD whose parents were divorced, separated, or widowed, or whose mothers were engaged in physical work, the initial detection of social behavioral developmental delay happened later. For the children with ASD who lived in urban areas, had higher levels of ASD symptom severity or whose parents were not divorced or separated, the age for the initial diagnosis was earlier. For the children with ASD who lived in urban areas or whose mothers had received higher level of education, the earlier age for the beginning of intervention was observed, while for those with ASD whose mothers were engaged in physical work, the age for the beginning of training was later.Conclusion: It is recommended to actively carry out health education of ASD and strengthen the support for ASD families to enhance their rehabilitation level.Keywords: autism spectrum disorders, children, age, influencing factors, multicenter

The momentum dependence of the nematic order parameter is an important ingredient in the microscopic description of iron-based high-temperature superconductors. While recent reports on FeSe indicate that the nematic order parameter changes sign between electron and hole bands, detailed knowledge is still missing for other compounds. Combining angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with uniaxial strain tuning, we measure the nematic band splitting in both FeSe and BaFe_{2}As_{2} without interference from either twinning or magnetic order. We find that the nematic order parameter exhibits the same momentum dependence in both compounds with a sign change between the Brillouin center and the corner. This suggests that the same microscopic mechanism drives the nematic order in spite of the very different phase diagrams.

We present a methodology based on ex situ (postgrowth) electrochemistry to control the oxygen concentration in thin films of the superconducting oxide La2CuO4+y grown epitaxially on substrates of isostructural LaSrAlO4. The superconducting transition temperature, which depends on the oxygen concentration, can be tuned by adjusting the pH level of the base solution used for the electrochemical reaction. As our main finding, we demonstrate that the dopant oxygens can either occupy the interstitial layer in an orientationally disordered state or organize into a crystalline phase via a mechanism in which dopant oxygens are inserted into the substrate, changing the lattice symmetry of both the substrate and the epitaxial film. We discuss this mechanism, and we describe the resulting methodology as a platform to be explored in thin films of other transition-metal oxides.

Fengzhen Yang, Lipeng Wang, Qi Zhao, Jinying Wu, Lihua Jiang, Li Sheng, Leyan Zhang, Zhaoping Xue, Maoli Yi Department of Laboratory Medicine, Qingdao University Medical College Affiliated Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, Yantai, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Maoli Yi, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Qingdao University Medical College Affiliated Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, 20# Yuhuangding East Road, Zhifu District, Yantai, Shandong Province, 264000, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-0535-6691999-81505, Email yimaoli76@163.comPurpose: To investigate the epidemiological features of Klebsiella pneumoniae infection of the hepatobiliary system of patients in Yantai, China.Methods: This retrospective study was conducted from January to December 2019 in Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital. Patients for whom K. pneumoniae was isolated from the hepatobiliary system were considered for inclusion. The clinical features and genetic analyses were conducted to explore the epidemiological characteristics.Results: A total of 88 cases were enrolled, including 69 cases of hypervirulent K. pneumoniae (hvKP) and 19 cases of classical K. pneumoniae (cKP). Community-acquired infections, fever, liver abscess, and C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) levels were significantly higher, while biliary tract disease was lower in the hvKP group compared with the cKP group. Among the 69 hvKP infections, 61 developed a liver abscess. Community-acquired infections, fever, and CRP and PCT levels were higher, whereas biliary tract disease and malignancy were lower in the liver abscess group compared with the non-liver abscess group. All strains were susceptible to the majority of antibiotics tested. All hvKP strains possessed the blaSHV, oqxA, oqxB and fosA resistance genes. K1 and K2 accounted for 78% of hvKP strains. K1 strains belonged to sequence types ST23 and ST700, whereas K2 strains belonged to ST65, ST86 and ST5212. K1 isolates possessed the most virulence determinants, followed by K2 and non-K1/K2 isolates. K2 isolates lacked the allS gene, which was rare in non K1/K2 isolates, but present in most K1 isolates. The mceG gene was only detected in K1 isolates. AllS and virulence determinants were significantly more prevalent in the liver abscess group than in the non-liver abscess group.Conclusion: The prevalence of hvKP among K. pneumoniae infections of the hepatobiliary system is high in Yantai, China. Greater vigilance of hvKP infection is required in clinical and microbiological laboratories.Keywords: liver abscess, Klebsiella pneumoniae, genome sequencing, virulence determinant, serotype

Yanli Li,1,&ast; Min Yi,1,&ast; Xiaoyi Deng,1 Wangen Li,1 Yimei Chen,2 Xiaodan Zhang1 1Department of Endocrinology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Health Examination Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaodan Zhang, Department of Endocrinology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, 250 East Changgang Road, Haizhu District, Guangzhou, 510260, People’s Republic of China, Email sysuzhangxd@163.comBackground: Diabetes mellitus (DM) and thyroid dysfunction (TD) are two closely associated disorders. The objective of the present study was to investigate the thyroid status and the relationships between thyroid hormones, diabetic complications and metabolic parameters in hospitalized patients with newly diagnosed type 2 DM (T2DM).Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional study, conducting on 340 patients with newly diagnosed T2DM who were admitted to ward of endocrinology department and 120 matched individuals without diabetes. Anthropometric, clinical and biochemical data were collected. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate the correlations between thyroid hormones and other variables. Factors associated with diabetic nephropathy (DN) was analyzed with multivariate logistic regression.Results: Levels of free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) were significantly lower in patients with T2DM as compared to control group without diabetes. The prevalence of TD was 21.2% in patients with diabetes, higher than that in controls (4.2%). The low T3 syndrome was the most frequent TD, shown in 14.7% of patients. The presence of diabetic complications DN, diabetic ketosis or ketoacidosis), metabolic and demographic factors, including age, glycemic control and insulin resistance were factors significantly associated with levels of thyroid hormones. FT3 level was inversely correlated with the level of urinary total protein (mg/24h) and the presence of DN. Multivariate analysis indicated low FT3 level as a strong independent risk factor (OR = 0.364, P = 0.001) for DN.Conclusion: TD is not rarely seen in hospitalized patients with newly diagnosed T2DM. Diabetic complications and diabetes-related metabolic and demographic factors are related to thyroid hormone levels. Decreased FT3 is strongly correlated with the presence of DN.Keywords: type 2 diabetes mellitus, thyroid dysfunction, thyroid hormones, diabetic complication, diabetic nephropathy

UBR5 E3 ligase has been associated with cancer susceptibility and neuronal integrity, with functions in chromatin regulation and proteostasis. However, the functions of ubr5 within animals remain unclear due to lethality in both mammals and flies when disrupted. Using Caenorhabditis elegans, we show that UBR-5 E3 ligase is required for timely exit of stem fate and complete transition into multiple cell type descendants in an ectodermal blast lineage. Animals lacking intact UBR-5 function simultaneously exhibit both stem fate and differentiated fate in the same descendant cells. A functional screen of UBR-5 physical interactors allowed us to identify the UBE2D2/3 E2 conjugase LET-70 working with UBR-5 to exit stem fate. Strikingly, we revealed that another UBR-5 physical interactor, namely the nuclear poly(A)-binding protein PABPN1 ortholog PABP-2, worked antagonistically to UBR-5 and LET-70. Lowering pabp-2 levels restored normal transition of cell state out of stemness and promoted normal cell fusion when either ubr-5 or let-70 UBE2D function was compromised. The UBR-5-LET-70 and PABP-2 switch works independently of the stem pool size determined by pluripotency factors like lin-28. UBR-5 limits PABP-2 protein and reverses the PABP-2-dependent gene expression program including developmental, proteostasis, and innate immunity genes. Loss of ubr-5 rescues the developmental stall when pabp-2 is compromised. Disruption of ubr-5 elevates PABP-2 levels and prolongs expression of ectodermal and muscle stem markers at the transition to adulthood. Additionally, ubr-5 mutants exhibit an extended period of motility during aging and suppress pabp-2-dependent early onset of immobility [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Miao Yi,1 Jiaqi Zou,2 Jinxin Zhao,1 Yu Tang,3 Yaling Yuan,1 Bingxue Yang,1 Jinzhu Huang,1 Peiwen Xia,1 Yun Xia1 1Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Chengdu Women’s and Children’s Central Hospital, School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing University Three Gorges Hospital, Chongqing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yun XiaDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, 1 Youyi Road, Chongqing, 400016, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-23-89012742Fax +86-23-89012513Email xiayun12cn@aliyun.comPurpose: To investigate the potential mechanism and molecular characteristics of linezolid-non-sensitive Enterococcus faecium from a tertiary hospital in southwest China and characterize the relevant plasmids.Patients and Methods: Linezolid-non-sensitive Enterococcus faecium (LNSEFM) isolates collected from January 2014 to December 2018 were screened for resistant genes 23s rRNA, rplC, rplD, rplV, optrA, cfr, poxtA, by PCR. Molecular epidemiological analysis was performed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). The optrA-and-poxtA co-harboring strain EFM_7150 was subjected to the whole genome sequencing (WGS) by Illumina HiSeq and Oxford Nanopore MinION.Results: A total of 15 LNSEFM with linezolid MICs ranging from 4 to 16 mg/L were identified. About 66.7% (10/15) of isolates were linezolid-resistant. About 46.7% (7/15) of strains were positive for optrA. Two types of optrA variants (P and EYDNDM) were identified. About 13.3% (2/15) of isolates had poxtA. 1 harbored a L22 protein alteration (Ser77Thr). One isolate coharbored optrA (EYDNDM variant) and poxtA. There was no mutation in the gene that encoded the ribosomal protein L3/L4 or the domain V of 23S rRNA. No cfr gene was detected. Based on WGS data, optrA was associated with Tn558 inserted to radC gene and poxtA was flanked by IS1216E.Conclusion: OptrA is primary mechanism in linezolid-resistant Enterococcus faecium. This is the first report ofoptrA variants P and EYDNDM identified in Enterococcus faecium and optrA-and-poxtA co-harboring Enterococcus faecium clinically in southwest China. Besides, Tn558 and IS1216Es may play an important role in the dissemination of optrA and poxtA, respectively. The findings revealed the potential threat to nosocomial infection by optrA and coexistence of optrA and poxtA in Enterococcus faecium. Thus, clinical surveillance of linezolid-resistant Enterococcus is urgently needed.Keywords: optrA, poxtA, linezolid-non-sensitive Enterococcus faecium, WGS

We report comprehensive pair distribution function measurements of the hole-doped iron-based superconductor system Sr1-xNaxFe2As2. Structural refinements performed as a function of temperature and length scale reveal orthorhombic distortions of the instantaneous local structure across a large region of the phase diagram possessing average tetragonal symmetry, indicative of fluctuating nematicity. These nematic fluctuations are present up to high doping levels (x=0.48, near optimal superconductivity) and high temperatures (above room temperature for x=0, decreasing to 150 K for x=0.48), with a typical length scale of 1-3 nm. This work highlights the ubiquity of nematic fluctuations in a representative iron-based superconductor and provides important details about the evolution of these fluctuations across the phase diagram.

We report pressure-dependent neutron diffraction and muon spin relaxation/rotation measurements combined with first-principles calculations to investigate the structural, magnetic, and electronic properties of BaFe2S3 under pressure. The experimental results reveal a gradual enhancement of the stripe-type ordering temperature with increasing pressure up to 2.6 GPa and no observable change in the size of the ordered moment. The ab initio calculations suggest that the magnetism is highly sensitive to the Fe-S bond lengths and angles, clarifying discrepancies with previously published results. In contrast to our experimental observations, the calculations predict a monotonic reduction of the ordered moment with pressure. We suggest that the robustness of the stripe-type antiferromagnetism is due to strong electron correlations not fully considered in the calculations.

We report an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of the iron-based superconductor family, Ba_{1-x}Na_{x}Fe_{2}As_{2}. This system harbors the recently discovered double-Q magnetic order appearing in a reentrant C_{4} phase deep within the underdoped regime of the phase diagram that is otherwise dominated by the coupled nematic phase and collinear antiferromagnetic order. From a detailed temperature-dependence study, we identify the electronic response to the nematic phase in an orbital-dependent band shift that strictly follows the rotational symmetry of the lattice and disappears when the system restores C_{4} symmetry in the low temperature phase. In addition, we report the observation of a distinct electronic reconstruction that cannot be explained by the known electronic orders in the system.

We report a persistent low-energy phonon broadening around qB∼0.28 reciprocal lattice unit (r.l.u.) along the Cu-O bond direction in the high-Tc cuprate Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (Bi-2212). We show that such broadening exists both inside and outside the conventional charge-density wave (CDW) phase, via temperature-dependent measurements in both underdoped and heavily overdoped samples. Combining inelastic hard x-ray scattering, diffuse scattering, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, and resonant soft x-ray scattering at the Cu L3-edge, we exclude the presence of a CDW in the heavily overdoped Bi-2212 similar to that observed in the underdoped systems. Finally, we discuss the origin of such anisotropic low-energy phonon broadening and its potential precursory role to the CDW phase in the underdoped region.

In as-grown bulk crystals of Fe1+yTe1-xSex with x≲0.3, excess Fe (y>0) is inevitable and correlates with a suppression of superconductivity. At the same time, there remains the question as to whether the character of the antiferromagnetic correlations associated with the enhanced anion height above the Fe planes in Te-rich samples is compatible with superconductivity. To test this, we have annealed as-grown crystals with x=0.1 and 0.2 in Te vapor, effectively reducing the excess Fe and inducing bulk superconductivity. Inelastic neutron scattering measurements reveal low-energy magnetic excitations consistent with short-range correlations of the double-stripe type; nevertheless, cooling into the superconducting state results in a spin gap and a spin resonance, with the extra signal in the resonance being short range with a mixed single-stripe/double-stripe character, which is different than other iron-based superconductors. The mixed magnetic character of these superconducting samples does not appear to be trivially explainable by inhomogeneity.

Shuangli Zhu,1 Shiyu Li,1 Ming Yi,1 Ning Li,2 Kongming Wu1,2 1Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Medical Oncology, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University & Henan Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou, 450008, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Ning LiDepartment of Medical Oncology, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University & Henan Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou, 450008, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-371-65587805Email lining97@126.comKongming WuDepartment of Oncology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-27-69378414Email wukm_lab@163.comAbstract: Microvesicles are extracellular vesicles with diameter ranging from 100 to 1000 nm that are secreted by tumor cells or other cells in the tumor microenvironment. A growing number of studies demonstrate that tumor-derived microvesicles are involved in tumor initiation and progression, as well as drug resistance. In addition, tumor-derived microvesicles carry a variety of immunogenic molecules and inhibit tumor response to immunotherapy; therefore, they can be exploited for use in tumor vaccines. Moreover, because of their high stability, tumor-derived microvesicles extracted from body fluids can be used as biomarkers for cancer diagnosis or assessment of prognosis. Tumor-derived microvesicles can also be deployed to reverse drug resistance of tumor regenerative cells, or to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs and oncolytic adenovirus for the treatment of cancer patients. This review summarizes the general characteristics of tumor-derived microvesicles, focusing on their biological characteristics, their involvement in tumor progression, and their clinical applications.Keywords: tumor-derived microvesicles, metastasis, drug resistance, cancer vaccine, cancer

Mo Yi,1 Di Jiang,2 Yuanmin Jia,1 Wei Xu,3 Haixia Wang,1 Yizhang Li,1 Zeyi Zhang,1 Jingjing Wang,1 Ou Chen1 1School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250012, People’s Republic of China; 2Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, 100730, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, 200234, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Ou ChenSchool of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44# Wenhua xi Road, Lixia District, Jinan City, Shandong Province, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 53188382000Email chenou@sdu.edu.cnPurpose: Caregivers of COPD patients experience various caregiving burden, which is related to their quality of life. We aimed to explicitly explore whether social support and negative coping styles play the chain mediating roles in the relationship between the caregiving burden of caregivers of COPD patients and their health-related quality of life.Methods: We conducted a multicenter cross-sectional survey in four hospitals using a convenience sample. Participants who met the inclusion criteria completed five relevant scales, including a sociodemographic scale. One-way ANOVA and Pearson’s method were used to analyze the data accordingly, and chain mediated effect values were estimated by bootstrap method to determine whether the model holds.Results: Among the 201 caregivers who participated in this study, the mean age was 55.94 years, most of them were female (61.2%), the mean caregiving burden score was 52.39 ± 14.65, and the quality of life score was 37.97 ± 3.55. Among them, age, gender, education, relationship with the patient, and the number of chronic diseases were the main factors affecting the quality of life score of the caregivers. According to Pearson results, there was a negative correlation between quality of life and caregiving burden, and negative coping styles. The model result showed that caregiving burden could directly and negatively predict quality of life, and also predict quality of life through the chain mediation of social support and negative coping styles.Conclusion: In China, caregivers of patients with COPD experience severe levels of caregiving burden and low quality of life. The combination of adequate perceived social support and lower negative coping can be effective in alleviating caregiving burden and improving their quality of life. Therefore, healthcare professionals should provide targeted guidance to caregivers with the help of social support and interventions that regulate negative coping styles.Keywords: COPD, caregiving burden, quality of life, social support, negative coping styles, cross-sectional study

A single monolayer of iron selenide grown on strontium titanate shows an impressive enhancement of superconductivity compared with the bulk, as well as a novel Fermi surface topology 2-5 , extreme two-dimensionality, and the possibility of phonon-enhanced electron pairing. For films thicker than one unit cell, however, the electronic structure is markedly different, with a drastically suppressed superconductivity and strong nematicity appearing 1,5 . The physics driving this extraordinary dichotomy of superconducting behaviour is far from clear. Here, we use low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy to study multilayers of iron selenide grown by molecular beam epitaxy, and find a stripe-type charge ordering instability that develops beneath the nematic state. The charge ordering is visible and pinned in the vicinity of impurities. And as it emerges in the strong limit of nematicity, it suggests that a magnetic fluctuation with a rather small wavevector may be competing with the ordinary collinear antiferromagnetic ordering in multilayer films. The existence of stripes in iron-based superconductors, which resemble the stripe order in cuprates, not only suggests that electronic anisotropy and correlation are playing an important role, but also provides a platform for probing the complex interactions between nematicity, charge ordering, magnetism and superconductivity in high-temperature superconductors.

Inelastic neutron scattering measurements have been performed to investigate the spin waves of the quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnetic ladder compound BaFe2S3, where a superconducting transition was observed under pressure [H. Takahashi, Nat. Mater. 14, 1008 (2015)1476-112210.1038/nmat4351; T. Yamauchi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 246402 (2015)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.115.246402]. By fitting the spherically averaged experimental data collected on a powder sample to a Heisenberg Hamiltonian, we find that the one-dimensional antiferromagnetic ladder exhibits a strong nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic exchange interaction (SJR=-71±4 meV) along the rung direction, an antiferromagnetic SJL=49±3 meV along the leg direction, and a ferromagnetic SJ2=-15±2 meV along the diagonal direction. Our data demonstrate that the antiferromagnetic spin excitations are a common characteristic for the iron-based superconductors, while specific relative values for the exchange interactions do not appear to be unique for the parent states of the superconducting materials.