Association of renal function with clinical parameters and conditions in a longitudinal population-based epidemiological study

The aim of the present study was to examine the association of renal function with clinical parameters and conditions in the general population. Study subjects comprised 6,027 community-dwelling individuals who were recruited to the Inabe Health and Longevity Study: A longitudinal genetic epidemiological study of atherosclerotic, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The cutoff value, which was used to divide the subjects into those with normal and those with low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), was 60 ml/min/1.73 m2. Bonferroni's correction was applied to establish the statistical significance of the association. Longitudinal analysis using the generalized linear mixed-effect model, following adjustments for age and gender, revealed that the eGFR was significantly associated (P<0.0017) with serum levels of triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, uric acid, blood glycosylated hemoglobin content, fasting plasma glucose and body mass index. These parameters decreased curvilinearly with increases in eGFR. Furthermore, eGFR correlated positively with serum levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Longitudinal analysis using the generalized estimating equation following adjustment for age and gender indicated a significant association (P<0.0024) between eGFR and prevalence of hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypo-HDL cholesterolemia, hyperuricemia and obesity. Thus, low eGFR results in detrimental effects on various clinical parameters and conditions, resulting in increased risk of hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hyperuricemia and obesity.

The Different Roles of Entropy and Solubility in High Entropy Alloy Stability

Multiprincipal element high entropy alloys stabilized as a single alloy phase represent a new material system with promising properties, such as high corrosion and creep resistance, sluggish diffusion, and high temperature tensile strength. However, the mechanism of stabilization to form single phase alloys is controversial. Early studies hypothesized that a large entropy of mixing was responsible for stabilizing the single phase; more recent work has proposed that the single-phase solid solution is the result of mutual solubility of the principal elements. Here, we demonstrate the first self-consistent study of the relative importance of these two proposed mechanisms. In situ high-throughput synchrotron diffraction studies were used to monitor the stability of the single phase alloy in thin-film (Al1-x-yCuxMoy)FeNiTiVZr composition spread samples. Our results indicate that a metastable solid solution can be captured via the rapid quenching typical of physical vapor deposition processes, but upon annealing the solid-solution phase stability is primarily governed by mutual miscibility.

Elastocaloric effect in CuAlZn and CuAlMn shape memory alloys under compression

This paper reports the elastocaloric effect of two Cu-based shape memory alloys: Cu68Al16Zn16 (CuAlZn) and Cu73Al15Mn12 (CuAlMn), under compression at ambient temperature. The compression tests were conducted at two different rates to approach isothermal and adiabatic conditions. Upon unloading at a strain rate of 0.1 s(-1) (adiabatic condition) from 4% strain, the highest adiabatic temperature changes (ΔTad) of 4.0 K for CuAlZn and 3.9 K for CuAlMn were obtained. The maximum stress and hysteresis at each strain were compared. The stress at the maximum recoverable strain of 4.0% for CuAlMn was 120 MPa, which is 70% smaller than that of CuAlZn. A smaller hysteresis for the CuAlMn alloy was also obtained, about 70% less compared with the CuAlZn alloy. The latent heat, determined by differential scanning calorimetry, was 4.3 J g(-1) for the CuAlZn alloy and 5.0 J g(-1) for the CuAlMn alloy. Potential coefficients of performance (COPmat) for these two alloys were calculated based on their physical properties of measured latent heat and hysteresis, and a COPmat of approximately 13.3 for CuAlMn was obtained.This article is part of the themed issue 'Taking the temperature of phase transitions in cool materials'.

Development and analysis of patient-derived xenograft mouse models in intravascular large B-cell lymphoma

Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL) is a distinct disease entity with the peculiar characteristic that tumor cells proliferate within vessels. Despite recent advances in understanding the disease from clinical aspects, the underlying pathogenesis remains unknown. Here we demonstrate analyses of IVLBCL biology using four xenograft mouse models established from primary IVLBCL samples. In all four models, the main characteristic of IVLBCL tumor cell proliferation within vessels was retained. Time-lapse engraftment analyses revealed that the tumor cells initially engrafted and proliferated in the sinusoids and vessels in the liver and then engrafted and proliferated in multiple organs. Intriguingly, serial passage of tumor cells from the adrenal gland of a transplanted mouse developed from primary patient bone marrow cells into a second mouse showed that the tumor cells mainly distributed into the adrenal gland in the second mouse, implying the existence of clonal selection and/or evolution at engraftment of a specific organ. Gene expression profiling analyses demonstrated that the gene set associated with cell migration was enriched for normal peripheral blood B cells, indicating that inhibition of cell migration might be involved in IVLBCL pathogenesis. In conclusion, the mouse xenograft models described here are essential tools for uncovering IVLBCL biology.

Microscopy Study of Structural Evolution in Epitaxial LiCoO2 Positive Electrode Films during Electrochemical Cycling

The evolution of interface between the epitaxial thin film LiCoO2 (LCO) electrode and liquid electrolyte and inside the LCO film during electrochemical cycling has been analyzed by high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Relaxation of sharp translational domain boundaries with mismatched layers of CoO2 octahedra occurs during cycling and results in formation of continuous CoO2 layers across the boundaries. The original trigonal layered structure of LiCoO2 tends to change into a spinel structure at the electrode/electrolyte interface after significant extraction of Li from LCO. This change is more pronounced at 4.2 V peak of CV, indicating lower stability of the layered LCO structure near its surface after Li is extracted above 60%. The transformed structure is identified to be close to Co3O4, with Co both on tetrahedral and octahedral sites, rather than to LiCo2O4 as it was suggested in earlier publications. Electron energy-loss spectroscopy measurements also show that Co ions oxidation state is reduced to mixed valence state Co(2+)/Co(3+) during the structure changes to spinel rather than oxidized.

Structural study of epitaxial LiCoO2 films grown by pulsed laser deposition on single crystal SrTiO3 substrates

Epitaxial LiCoO₂ (LCO) thin films of different orientations were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) in order to model single-crystal behavior of intercalation cathodes during electrochemical reactions. This paper demonstrates that (1) epitaxial growth of LCO on a single crystal Nb-doped SrTiO₃ (Nb:STO) of different orientations occurs with a single orientation relationship; (2) surface morphology of the LCO films is established by the morphology of coalescing grains during island growth mode, whereas morphology of the grains can be visualized as different cuts from a cube with low-energy {104}_R-LCO surfaces; (3) the films consist of predominately trigonal R-LiCoO₂ phase, with a small fraction of the occasionally present cubic c-Li_xCoO₂ phase; (4) cyclic voltammetry measurements have determined rectification at interface between LCO and Nb:STO causing bias on the oxidation part of cycling, thus preventing full cycling.

First principles thermodynamical modeling of the binodal and spinodal curves in lead chalcogenides

High-throughput ab initio calculations, cluster expansion techniques, and thermodynamic modeling have been synergistically combined to characterize the binodal and the spinodal decompositions features in the pseudo-binary lead chalcogenides PbSe–PbTe, PbS–PbTe, and PbS–PbSe.

Effect of oxygen pressure on structure and ionic conductivity of epitaxial Li0.33La0.55TiO3 solid electrolyte thin films produced by pulsed laser deposition

We report on the ionic conductivity of Li_0.33La_0.55TiO₃ (LLTO) epitaxial films grown on the (100) and (111) surfaces of single crystal SrTiO₃ (STO) substrates at different oxygen partial pressures (from 1.33 to 26.66 Pa).

Magnetic domains in H-mediated Zn0.9Co0.1O microdisk arrays

We have fabricated and studied magnetic domains in the periodic ZnCoO microdisk structures at room temperature with MFM technique. The z-component of the remanent magnetic moment is uniform even though the value is much smaller than the saturation magnetic moment.

High-throughput determination of structural phase diagram and constituent phases using GRENDEL

Advances in high-throughput materials fabrication and characterization techniques have resulted in faster rates of data collection and rapidly growing volumes of experimental data. To convert this mass of information into actionable knowledge of material process-structure-property relationships requires high-throughput data analysis techniques. This work explores the use of the Graph-based endmember extraction and labeling (GRENDEL) algorithm as a high-throughput method for analyzing structural data from combinatorial libraries, specifically, to determine phase diagrams and constituent phases from both x-ray diffraction and Raman spectral data. The GRENDEL algorithm utilizes a set of physical constraints to optimize results and provides a framework by which additional physics-based constraints can be easily incorporated. GRENDEL also permits the integration of database data as shown by the use of critically evaluated data from the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database in the x-ray diffraction data analysis. Also the Sunburst radial tree map is demonstrated as a tool to visualize material structure-property relationships found through graph based analysis.

Ultrafast Terahertz Gating of the Polarization and Giant Nonlinear Optical Response in BiFeO3 Thin Films

Terahertz pulses are applied as an all-optical bias to ferroelectric thin-film BiFeO3 while monitoring the time-dependent ferroelectric polarization through its nonlinear optical response. Modulations in the intensity of the second harmonic light generated by the film correspond to on-off ratios of 220× gateable on femtosecond timescales. Polarization modulations comparable to the built-in static polarization are observed.

Abstract 4791: Prognostic model of lower grade gliomas

Background

Lower grade gliomas (LGGs WHO grade II/III glioma) account for one third of all gliomas. Most LGGs generally show a slow progression, but some show a more aggressive clinical course, where several clinical/genetic factors, such as tumor size, presence of neurologic deficit before surgery and 1p19q LOH, have been reported to correlate patients’ survival. However, no large-scale studies prevent establishment of a reliable prognostication system.

Methods

Status of somatic mutations and copy number variations (CNVs) were investigated for 335 Japanese patients with LGG using whole exome/targeted sequencing and single nucleotide polymorphism-array karyotyping, respectively. Corresponding data were also publically available for 425 patients from the Cancer Genome Atlas (URL: http://cancergenome.nih.gov/). Correlation of genetic lesions and other parameters with overall survival (OS) was analyzed for combined 538 patients, which were divided into two sets, 269 training and 269 validation sets. First, the 269 patients of the training set were classified into 3 types according to the characteristic mutations and CNVs: Type 1 (mutated IDH with 1p/19q LOH), Type 2 (mutated IDH without 1p19q LOH), Type 3 (IDH wild type) patients. Using the LASSO Cox regression model, we built a classifier based on gene mutations, CNVs (over 5% of cases), sex, age, pathology, WHO grade and operation type (gross total resection or not). We validated the accuracy of this classifier in terms of prediction of OS in the independent group of 269 patients.

Results

Using the LASSO model, the patients in Type 1 and 3 were grouped into low- and high-risk groups, whereas Type 2 was not because no significant risk factors were extracted for Type 2 patients. Combining high-risk Type 1 and Type 2, between which OS was not significantly different, the entire training set was divided into 4 groups showing significantly different OS, low- and intermediate-risk groups and high- and very high-risk groups, respectively. In the training set, 5-year OS for low-, intermediate-, high-, and very high-risk groups was 100%, 82%, 49%, and 0%, which were 94%, 70%, 43%, and 14%, in the validation set, respectively. The performance of the new model was evaluated by receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis, which showed significantly higher accuracy compared to other models based solely on clinical/histological parameters, including pathology, WHO grade and Karnofsky performance status (KPS).

Conclusion

We established a new classifier based both on genetic and clinical parameters, which provides a reliable tool for predicting OS in LGGs patients and should be useful to guide therapy.

Citation Format: Kosuke Aoki, Hiromichi Suzuki, Hideo Nakamura, Masahiro Mizoguchi, Tetsuya Abe, Satoru Miyano, Ichiro Takeuchi, Toshihiko Wakabayashi, Seishi Ogawa, Atsushi Natsume. Prognostic model of lower grade gliomas. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4791. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4791

Self-assembly with orthogonal-imposed stimuli to impart structure and confer magnetic function to electrodeposited hydrogels

A magnetic nanocomposite film with the capability of reversibly collecting functionalized magnetic particles was fabricated by simultaneously imposing two orthogonal stimuli (electrical and magnetic). We demonstrate that cathodic codeposition of chitosan and Fe3O4 nanoparticles while simultaneously applying a magnetic field during codeposition can (i) organize structure, (ii) confer magnetic properties, and (iii) yield magnetic films that can perform reversible collection/assembly functions. The magnetic field triggered the self-assembly of Fe3O4 nanoparticles into hierarchical "chains" and "fibers" in the chitosan film. For controlled magnetic properties, the Fe3O4-chitosan film was electrodeposited in the presence of various strength magnetic fields and different deposition times. The magnetic properties of the resulting films should enable broad applications in complex devices. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate the reversible capture and release of green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-conjugated magnetic microparticles by the magnetic chitosan film. Moreover, antibody-functionalized magnetic microparticles were applied to capture cells from a sample, and these cells were collected, analyzed, and released by the magnetic chitosan film, paving the way for applications such as reusable biosensor interfaces (e.g., for pathogen detection). To our knowledge, this is the first report to apply a magnetic field during the electrodeposition of a hydrogel to generate magnetic soft matter. Importantly, the simple, rapid, and reagentless fabrication methodologies demonstrated here are valuable features for creating a magnetic device interface.

Epitaxial LiCoO2 films as a model system for fundamental electrochemical studies of positive electrodes

Epitaxial LiCoO2 (LCO) thin films of different orientations were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) in order to model single-crystal behavior during electrochemical reaction. This paper demonstrates that deposition of conductive SrRuO3 between a SrTiO3 (STO) substrate and an LCO film allows (1) epitaxial growth of LCO with orientation determined by STO and (2) electrochemical measurements, such as cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM and SEM) has demonstrated an orientation relationship between LCO and STO of three orientations, (111), (110) and (100), and identified a LCO/electrolyte surface as consisting of two crystallographic facets of LCO, (001) and {104}. The difference in the orientation of LCO accounts for the difference in the exposed area of {104} planes to the electrolyte, where lithium ions have easy access to fast diffusion planes. The resistance for lithium ion transfer measured by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy had inverse correlation with exposed area of {104} plane measured by TEM. Chemical diffusivity of lithium ions in LCO was measured by fitting electrochemical impedance spectroscopy data to a modified Randles equivalent circuit and allowed us to determine its dependence on film orientation.

Utilizing pulsed laser deposition lateral inhomogeneity as a tool in combinatorial material science

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is widely used in combinatorial material science, as it enables rapid fabrication of different composite materials. Nevertheless, this method was usually limited to small substrates, since PLD deposition on large substrate areas results in severe lateral inhomogeneity. A few technical solutions for this problem have been suggested, including the use of different designs of masks, which were meant to prevent inhomogeneity in the thickness, density, and oxidation state of a layer, while only the composition is allowed to be changed. In this study, a possible way to take advantage of the large scale deposition inhomogeneity is demonstrated, choosing an iron oxide PLD-deposited library with continuous compositional spread (CCS) as a model system. An Fe₂O₃-Nb₂O₅ library was fabricated using PLD, without any mask between the targets and the substrate. The library was measured using high-throughput scanners for electrical, structural, and optical properties. A decrease in electrical resistivity that is several orders of magnitude lower than pure α-Fe₂O₃ was achieved at ∼20% Nb-O (measured at 47 and 267 °C) but only at points that are distanced from the center of the PLD plasma plume. Using hierarchical clustering analysis, we show that the PLD inhomogeneity can be used as an additional degree of freedom, helping, in this case, to achieve iron oxide with much lower resistivity.

Clinical outcomes of chronic kidney disease patients treated with everolimus-eluting stents (EES) and paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES)

BACKGROUND

The target lesion revascularization of paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) has been reported to be lower than that of sirolimus-eluting stents in patients on hemodialysis (HD). However, the comparison of PES and second generation drug-eluting stents in CKD patients has not been fully investigated. We compared clinical outcomes of everolimus-eluting stents (EES) and PES in CKD patients.

METHODS

Hundred and forty seven CKD patients (eGFR<60mLmin(-1)1.73m(-2)) treated with PES (n=74, from May 2007 to December 2009) and EES (n=73, from January 2010 to January 2013) were enrolled in the study. Major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) were defined as death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and ischemia driven target lesion revascularization.

RESULTS

The incidence of 36-month MACE was significantly lower in EES, non-HD group compared to PES, non HD group (0% in EES group and 13.5% in PES group, respectively, P<0.01). There was no significant difference in MACE between EES and PES in HD patients (5.4% in PES group and 5.5% in EES group, P=0.98). In multivariate analysis, PES group and PES ISR were independent factors for worse incidence of MACE.

CONCLUSIONS

In CKD patients, PES was associated with worse clinical outcomes in non-HD patients as compared with EES.

Association of genetic variants with hypertension in a longitudinal population-based genetic epidemiological study

We previously identified 9 genes and chromosomal region 3q28 as susceptibility loci for Japanese patients with myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, or chronic kidney disease by genome-wide or candidate gene association studies. In the present study, we investigated the possible association of 13 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at these 10 loci with the prevalence of hypertension or their association with blood pressure (BP) in community-dwelling individuals in Japan. The study subjects comprised 6,027 individuals (2,250 subjects with essential hypertension, 3,777 controls) who were recruited into the Inabe Health and Longevity Study, a longitudinal genetic epidemiological study on atherosclerotic, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The subjects were recruited from individuals who visited the Health Care Center of Inabe General Hospital for an annual health checkup, and they are followed up each year (mean follow-up period, 5 years). Longitudinal analysis with a generalized estimating equation and with adjustment for age, gender, body mass index and smoking status revealed that rs2116519 of family with sequence similarity 78, member B (FAM78B; P=0.0266), rs6929846 of butyrophilin, subfamily 2, member A1 (BTN2A1; P= 0.0013), rs146021107 of pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1 (PDX1; P=0.0031) and rs1671021 of lethal giant larvae homolog 2 (Drosophila) (LLGL2; P=0.0372) were significantly (P<0.05) associated with the prevalence of hypertension. Longitudinal analysis with a generalized linear mixed-effect model and with adjustment for age, gender, body mass index and smoking status among individuals not taking anti-hypertensive medication revealed that rs6929846 of BTN2A1 was significantly associated with systolic (P=0.0017), diastolic (P=0.0008) and mean (P=0.0005) BP, and that rs2116519 of FAM78B, rs146021107 of PDX1 and rs1671021 of LLGL2 were significantly associated with diastolic (P=0.0495), systolic (P=0.0132), and both diastolic (P=0.0468) and mean (0.0471) BP, respectively. BTN2A1 may thus be a susceptibility gene for hypertension.

Association of genetic variants with dyslipidemia and chronic kidney disease in a longitudinal population-based genetic epidemiological study

We previously identified 9 genes and chromosomal region 3q28 as susceptibility loci for myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, or chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Japanese individuals by genome-wide or candidate gene association studies. In the present study, we examined the association of 13 polymorphisms at these 10 loci with the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia, hyper-low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterolemia, hypo-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterolemia, or CKD in community-dwelling Japanese individuals. The study subjects comprised 6,027 individuals who were recruited to the Inabe Health and Longevity Study, a longitudinal genetic epidemiological study of atherosclerotic, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The subjects were recruited from individuals who visited the Health Care Center at Inabe General Hospital for an annual health checkup, and they were followed up each year (mean follow‑up period, 5 years). Longitudinal analysis with a generalized estimating equation and with adjustment for covariates revealed that rs6929846 of butyrophilin, subfamily 2, member A1 gene (BTN2A1) was significantly associated with the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia (P=0.0001), hyper-LDL cholesterolemia (P=0.0004), and CKD (P=0.0007); rs2569512 of interleukin enhancer binding factor 3 (ILF3) was associated with hyper-LDL cholesterolemia (P=0.0029); and rs2074379 (P=0.0019) and rs2074388 (P=0.0029) of alpha-kinase 1 (ALPK1) were associated with CKD. Longitudinal analysis with a generalized linear mixed-effect model and with adjustment for covariates among all individuals revealed that rs6929846 of BTN2A1 was significantly associated with the serum concentrations of triglycerides (P=0.0011), LDL cholesterol (P=3.3 x 10(-5)), and creatinine (P=0.0006), as well as with the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (P=0.0004); rs2569512 of ILF3 was shown to be associated with the serum concentration of LDL cholesterol (P=0.0221); and rs2074379 (P=0.0302) and rs2074388 (P=0.0336) of ALPK1 were shown to be associated with the serum concentration of creatinine. Similar analysis among individuals not taking any anti‑dyslipidemic medication revealed that rs6929846 of BTN2A1 was significantly associated with the serum concentrations of triglycerides (P=8.3 x 10‑5) and LDL cholesterol (P=0.0004), and that rs2569512 of ILF3 was associated with the serum concentration of LDL cholesterol (P=0.0010). BTN2A1 may thus be a susceptibility gene for hypertriglyceridemia, hyper‑LDL cholesterolemia and CKD in Japanese individuals.