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Left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) has developed in an effort to improve cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). We aimed to compare the long-term clinical outcomes between LBBAP and biventricular pacing (BIVP) in patients with heart failure (HF) and complete left bundle branch block (CLBBB). Consecutive patients with HF and CLBBB requiring CRT received either LBBAP or BIVP were recruited at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from February 2018 to May 2019. We assessed their implant parameters, electrocardiogram (ECG), clinical outcomes at implant and during follow-up at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. Forty-one patients recruited including 21 for LBBAP and 20 for BIVP. Mean follow-up duration was 23.71 ± 4.44 months. LBBAP produced lower pacing thresholds, shorter procedure time and fluoroscopy duration compared to BIVP. The QRS duration was significantly narrower after LBBAP than BIVP (129.29 ± 31.46 vs. 156.85 ± 26.37 ms, p = 0.005). Notably, both LBBAP and BIVP significantly improved LVEF, LVEDD, NYHA class, and BNP compared with baseline. However, LBBAP significantly lowered BNP compared with BIVP (416.69 ± 411.39 vs. 96.07 ± 788.71 pg/ml, p = 0.007) from baseline to 24-month follow-up. Moreover, patients who received LBBAP exhibited lower number of hospitalizations than those in the BIVP group (p = 0.019). In addition, we found that patients with moderately prolonged left ventricular activation time (LVAT) and QRS notching in limb leads in baseline ECG respond better to LBBAP for CLBBB correction. LBBAP might be a relative safe and effective resynchronization therapy and as a supplement to BIVP for patients with HF and CLBBB.

To boost the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) of pristine NiFe-layered double hydroxides (LDH), the NiFe-LDH/Mo-doped graphitic carbon nitride (NiFe-LDH/MoCN) heterojunction was synthesized herein through hydrothermal method. The establishment of built-in electric field in NiFe-LDH/MoCN heterojunction enhanced the electrochemical oxidation activities towards both seawater splitting and methanol oxidation, via the improving electrocatalyst surface wettability and conductivity. Almost 10-fold enhancement of turnover frequency (TOF) and electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) than pure NiFe-LDH implied more active sites to participate in catalytic reactions via Mo doping and the formation of heterostructure. Moreover, the local charge redistribution demonstrated in the NiFe-LDH/MoCN interface region may favor the adsorption of methanol and OH

The comparative effects of different types of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) delivered by biventricular pacing (BVP), His bundle pacing (HBP), and left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) remain inconclusive.HBP and LBBAP may be advantageous over BVP for CRT.PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were systematically searched for studies that reported the effects after BVP, HBP, and LBBAP for CRT. The effects between groups were compared by a frequentist random-effects network meta-analysis (NMA), by which the mean differences (MDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.Six articles involving 389 patients remained for the final meta-analysis. The mean follow-up of these studies was 8.03 ± 3.15 months. LBBAP resulted in a greater improvement in LVEF% (MD = 7.17, 95% CI = 4.31 to 10.04), followed by HBP (MD = 4.06, 95% CI = 1.09 to 7.03) compared with BVP. HBP resulted in a narrower QRS duration (MD = 31.58 ms, 95% CI = 12.75 to 50.40), followed by LBBAP (MD = 27.40 ms, 95% CI = 10.81 to 43.99) compared with BVP. No significant differences of changes in LVEF improvement and QRS narrowing were observed between LBBAP and HBP. The pacing threshold of LBBAP was significantly lower than those of BVP and HBP.The NMA first found that LBBAP and HBP resulted in a greater LVEF improvement and a narrower QRS duration compared with BVP. Additionally, LBBAP resulted in similar clinical outcomes but with lower pacing thresholds, and may therefore offer advantages than does HBP for CRT.

To boost the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) of pristine NiFe-layered double hydroxides (LDH), the NiFe-LDH/Mo-doped graphitic carbon nitride (NiFe-LDH/MoCN) heterojunction was synthesized herein through hydrothermal method. The establishment of built-in electric field in NiFe-LDH/MoCN heterojunction enhanced the electrochemical oxidation activities towards both seawater splitting and methanol oxidation, via the improving electrocatalyst surface wettability and conductivity. Almost 10-fold enhancement of turnover frequency (TOF) and electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) than pure NiFe-LDH implied more active sites to participate in catalytic reactions via Mo doping and the formation of heterostructure. Moreover, the local charge redistribution demonstrated in the NiFe-LDH/MoCN interface region may favor the adsorption of methanol and OH- in the seawater. The present work may expound the strong coupling interaction and the establishment of built-in electric field in the interface between NiFe-LDH and semiconductor to enhance both methanol oxidation and seawater oxidation for NiFe-LDH.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising method for treating waste activated sludge (WAS), but the low methane yield limits its large-scale application. The addition of conductive nanomaterials has been demonstrated to enhance the activity of AD via promoting the direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET). In this study, novel conductive polypyrrole (Ppy) was prepared to effectively improve the AD performance of WAS. The results showed that the accumulative methane production was enhanced by 27.83% by Ppy, with both acidogenesis and methanogenesis being efficiently accelerated. The microbial community analysis indicated that the abundance of bacteria associated with acidogenesis process was significantly elevated by Ppy. Further investigation by metatranscriptomics revealed that fadE and fadN genes (to express the key enzymes in fatty acid metabolism) were highly expressed in the Ppy-driven AD, suggesting that Ppy promoted electron generation during acid production. For methanogenesis metabolism, genes related to acetate utilization and CO2 utilization methanogenesis were also up-regulated by Ppy, illustrating that Ppy facilitates the utilization of acetate and electrons by methanogenic archaea, thus potentially promoting the methanogenesis through DIET.

The effects of Co2+ doping on the characteristic adsorption species and optoelectronic properties of the ZnO crystal plane have been simulated by Density Functional Theory (DFT). Because of the linear relationship between the Fermi level density of states and the conductivity, the conductivity is reacted by the Fermi level density of states. The simulated data show the characteristic adsorption species of crystal plane changed before and after doping with Co2+: The characteristic chemisorption species (CCS) O2 molecules disappear after the ZnO (002) plane is doped with Co2+, CCS O2 molecules appear after (200) plane is doped with Co2+, CCS H2O molecules appear after (110) plane is doped with Co2+. The conductivity decreases after doping with three crystal planes. The CCS of O2 molecules has a significant effect on the conductivity. The CCS of H2O molecules has no obvious effect on the conductivity. The effect of O2 molecular coverage rate of CCS on conductivity: The conductivity is proportional to the coverage rate of CCS before doping with Co2+, the conductivity is inversely proportional to the coverage rate of CCS after doping with Co2+. The photocurrent spectrum fitting data is consistent with the regular of experimental data, indicating that the chemical adsorption of characteristic adsorbed O2 and the conductivity of materials can be regulated by crystal plane Co2+ doping, which plays a guiding role in regulating and making use of the characteristic O2 absorption properties of the material plane.

APETALA2/ETHYLENE RESPONSIVE FACTOR (AP2/ERF) transcription factors play important roles in plant development and stress response. Although AP2/ERF genes have been extensively investigated in model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana, little is known about their role in biotic stress response in perennial fruit tree crops such as apple (Malus × domestica). Here, we investigated the role of MdERF100 in powdery mildew resistance in apple. MdERF100 localized to the nucleus but showed no transcriptional activation activity. The heterologous expression of MdERF100 in Arabidopsis not only enhanced powdery mildew resistance but also increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and cell death. Furthermore, MdERF100-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants exhibited differential expressions of genes involved in jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA) signaling when infected with the powdery mildew pathogen. Additionally, yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays confirmed that MdERF100 physically interacts with the basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) protein MdbHLH92. These results suggest that MdERF100 mediates powdery mildew resistance by regulating the JA and SA signaling pathways, and MdbHLH92 is involved in plant defense against powdery mildew. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of the role of MdERF genes in disease resistance, and provides novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of powdery mildew resistance in apple.

Synucleins are emerging as central players in the fundamental neural processes and in the formation of pathologically insoluble deposits characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases. However, synuclein gamma (SNCG), previously identified as a breast cancer specific gene (BCSG1), is also highly expressed in breast carcinomas, but not expressed in normal or benign breast tissues. We analyzed SNCG gene expression in 93 clinical breast specimens and associated it with clinical outcome. Overall SNCG mRNA expression was detectable in 36% breast cancers. However, 81% of stage III/IV breast cancers were positive for SNCG expression, while only 15% of stage I/II breast cancers were positive for SNCG expression. In contrast, SNCG was undetectable in benign breast lesions. Expression of SNCG in the primary tumor also significantly associated with lymph node involvement and metastasis. There was no significant correlation between SNCG gene expression and age, menstruation, and status of ER, PR, PCNA, and HER-2. Patients whose tumors expressed SNCG had a significantly shorter DFS and a high probability of death when compared with those whose tumors did not express SNCG. The hazard ratio of metastasis or recurrence according to the SNCG status was 4.515 (95% CI, 1,188-17.154; P = 0.027). Cox multivariate analysis showed that SNCG had independent prognostic significance above and beyond conventional variables. This study suggests that the expression of SNCG is an independent predictive marker for recurrence and metastasis in breast cancer progression. SNCG is expected to be a useful marker for breast cancer progression and a potential target for breast cancer treatment.

By means of LSAB and ABC techniques, the expressions of p53, c-erbB-2, EGFR and ras were examined on 75 cases of gastric cancer (GC) specimens.(1) The positive rate of p53, c-erbB-2, EGFR and ras expression was 41.3%, 18.7%, 61.3% and 46.7%, respectively. The early cases and the intestinal type cases of GC had higher p53 positive rates than those of the advanced and the diffuse type ones, respectively. Two of 4 cases of severe dysplasia lesions adjacent to carcinoma sites were positive. c-erbB-2 positive immunoreactivity was only localized in the cancer cells, and tissues adjacent to the carcinoma sites were negative. Higher frequencies of c-erbB-2 expression were found in the well-differentiated GC. Positive correlation was found between EGFR expression and degree of malignancy of GC. (2) No correlation was found between the expression of c-erbB-2 and EGFR. (3) The expression of ras correlated positively with EGFR expression, but negatively with c-erbB-2 (P0.05). (4) No correlation was found between the expression of p53 and other genes examined. The results demonstrate that many gene abnormalities are present in the process of gastrocarcinogenesis.

Gamma-synuclein (SNCG), also referred as breast cancer-specific gene 1, is the third member of a neuronal protein family synuclein. SNCG is highly expressed in human-infiltrating breast carcinomas but not expressed in normal or benign breast tissues. To evaluate the clinical relevance of SNCG expression in breast cancer progression and its correlation with clinical parameters, we analyzed SNCG expression in 79 clinical breast specimens from primary breast cancer, hyperplasia, and fibroadenoma patients by reverse transcription-PCR. The status of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, and C-erBb2 was also analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Overall SNCG mRNA expression was detectable in 38.8% of breast cancers. However, 79% of stage III/IV breast cancers were positive for SNCG expression, whereas only 15% of stage I/II breast cancers were positive for SNCG expression. In contrast, the expression of SNCG was undetectable in all benign breast lesions. The expression of SNCG was strongly correlated to the stage of breast cancer (P=0.000). This study suggests that the expression of SNCG is stage specific for breast cancer. SNCG is expected to be a useful marker for breast cancer progression and a potential target for breast cancer treatment.