Visible Light Promotes Decyanation Esterification Reaction of β-Ketonitriles with Dioxygen and Alcohols to α-Ketoesters

A green and mild method has been developed for the conversion of β-ketonitriles into α-ketoesters under catalyst-free conditions. A plausible mechanism is that visible light promotes singlet oxygen generation to form the products through oxidative C–H bond functionalization and C–C σ-bond cleavage.

High-throughput proteomics integrated with gene microarray for discovery of colorectal cancer potential biomarkers

Proteins, as executives of genes' instructions, are responsible for cellular phenotypes. Integrating proteomics with gene microarray, we conducted this study to identify potential protein biomarkers of colorectal cancer (CRC). Isobaric tags with related and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) labeling mass spectrometry (MS) was applied to screen and identify differentially expressed proteins between paired CRC and adjacent normal mucosa. Meanwhile, Affymetrix U133plus2.0 microarrays were used to perform gene microarray analysis. Verification experiments included immunohistochemistry (IHC), western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) of selected proteins. Overall, 5469 differentially expressed proteins were detected with iTRAQ-MS from 24 matched CRC and adjacent normal tissues. And gene microarray identified 39859 differential genes from 52 patients. Of these, 3083 differential proteins had corresponding differentially expressed genes, with 245 proteins and their genes showed >1.5-fold change in expression level. Gene ontology enrichment analysis revealed that up-regulated proteins were more involved in cell adhesion and motion than down-regulated proteins. In addition, up-regulated proteins were more likely to be located in nucleus and vesicles. Further verification experiments with IHC confirmed differential expression levels of 5 proteins (S100 calcium-binding protein A9, annexin A3, nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase, carboxylesterase 2 and calcium activated chloride channel A1) between CRC and normal tissues. Besides, western blot showed a stepwise increase of annexin A3 abundance in normal colorectal mucosa, adenoma and CRC tissues. ELISA results revealed significantly higher serum levels of S100 calcium-binding protein A9 and annexin A3 in CRC patients than healthy controls, validating diagnostic value of these proteins. Cell experiments showed that inhibition of annexin A3 could suppress CRC cell proliferation and aggressiveness. S100 calcium-binding protein A9, annexin A3, nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase, carboxylesterase 2 and calcium activated chloride channel A1 were probably potential biomarkers of colorectal cancer. Annexin A3 was a potentially valuable therapeutic target of CRC.

[Prevalance of peri-anesthesia allergy and its related risk factor: a retrospective survey from 2012-2017]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the incidence of peri-anesthesia allergy in a tertiary teaching hospital.

METHODS

This was a retrospective cohort study. Patients who received anesthesia in operation rooms at Peking University First Hospital from January 2012 to April 2017 were enrolled. Researchers reviewed all the patients' electronic records and screened suspect allergy cases. Allergy was diagnosed according to the definition in Consensus on Management of Perioperative Allergy (China) and Scandinavian Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Diagnosis, Management and Follow-up of Anaphylaxis during Anesthesia. After obtaining the electronic records, two researchers began to screen and supplement missing data according medical records independently, then they checked out each other's data. The final data were reviewed by another two researchers. We collected the patients' basic characteristics, surgery type, anesthesia type, peri-anesthesia use of drugs, prognosis and other data. Univariate logistic regression was employed to screen potential factors of allergy. Factors with statistical significance (P<0.05) in univariate Logistic regression were entered into multivariate Logistic regression to identify independent risk factors of allergy.

RESULTS

In the study, 106 074 patients entered final statistic analysis. The incidence of peri-anesthesia allergy was about 1.5/1 000 (156/106 074). The incidence of Grades I, II and III allergy was 64.1% (100/156), 30.1% (47/156), and 5.8% (9/156) respectively. Multivariate logistic regression showed 5 independent risk factors of allergy including history of allergy (OR=6.836, 95%CI: 4.461-10.474, P<0.001), intraoperative use of sufentanil (OR=1.993, 95%CI: 1.228-3.232, P=0.005), intraoperative use of cis-atracuronium (OR=2.495, 95%CI: 1.599-3.893, P<0.001), intraoperative infusion of antibiotics (OR=2.005, 95%CI: 1.375-2.924, P<0.001) and frozen fresh plasma (OR=3.055, 95%CI: 1.842-5.068, P<0.001).

CONCLUSION

The incidence of peri-anesthesia allergy is high and further attempt is needed to establish standard operation process of diagnosis and treatment of allergy.

Prevalence and correlates of positive mental health in Chinese adolescents

BACKGROUND

Studies investigating the prevalence of positive mental health and its correlates are still scarce compared to the studies on mental disorders, although there is growing interest of assessing positive mental health in adolescents. So far, no other study examining the prevalence and determinants of positive mental health in Chinese adolescents has been found. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and correlates of positive mental health in Chinese adolescents.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study used a questionnaire including Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) and items regarding multiple aspects of adolescent life. The sample involved a total of 5399 students from grade 8 and 10 in Weifang, China. Multivariate Logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the associations between potential indicators regarding socio-economic situations, life style, social support and school life and positive mental health and calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals.

RESULTS

More than half (57.4%) of the participants were diagnosed as flourishing. The correlated factors of positive mental health in regression models included gender, perceived family economy, the occurrence of sibling(s), satisfaction of self-appearance, physical activity, sleep quality, stress, social trust, desire to learn, support from teachers and parents as well as whether being bullied at school (OR ranging from 1.23 to 2.75). The Hosmer-Lemeshow p-value for the final regression model (0.45) indicated adequate model fit.

CONCLUSION

This study gives the first overview on prevalence and correlates of positive mental health in Chinese adolescents. The prevalence of positive mental health in Chinese adolescents is higher than reported in most of the previous studies also using MHC-SF. Our findings suggest that adolescents with advantageous socio-economic situations, life style, social support and school life are experiencing better positive mental health than others.

Adults with intellectual disabilities in China: comorbid psychiatric disorder and its association with health service utilisation

BACKGROUND

Adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) often have multiple comorbidities. Psychiatric disorders in this population have been poorly studied in developing countries. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in adults with ID and whether comorbid psychiatric disorders were associated with health service utilisation.

METHODS

We obtained data from the Second National Sample Survey on Disability, conducted in 31 provinces of China and selected a subsample of 13 631 adults aged 18 years and above with ID. ID were defined by intelligence quotient score under 70, deficits in two or more adaptive behaviours and age of onset under 18 years. Psychiatric disorders were identified according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision. Logistic regressions were used for data analyses.

RESULTS

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in adults with ID was 16.7%. The most prevalent type of psychiatric disorder was dementia. Older adults, females, being minorities, urban residents, being literate, low-income groups and having severe ID, were associated with elevated risk of psychiatric disorder among adults with ID. Compared with individuals without psychiatric disorders, those with comorbid psychiatric disorders were more likely to use medical service and less likely to use rehabilitation service.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of psychiatric disorder in adults with ID was strikingly higher than that in the general population. Health service utilisation among Chinese adults with ID remained a big challenge. There is a possibility of diagnostic overshadowing by local clinicians, which may have resulted in overdiagnosis of dementia and underdiagnosis of common mental disorders. This study informs further investigations regarding common mental disorders among people with ID and has implications for public health strategies and health policies to meet health service need for this population.

Serum and urine metabolomics study reveals a distinct diagnostic model for cancer cachexia

BACKGROUND

Cachexia is a multifactorial metabolic syndrome with high morbidity and mortality in patients with advanced cancer. The diagnosis of cancer cachexia depends on objective measures of clinical symptoms and a history of weight loss, which lag behind disease progression and have limited utility for the early diagnosis of cancer cachexia. In this study, we performed a nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics analysis to reveal the metabolic profile of cancer cachexia and establish a diagnostic model.

METHODS

Eighty-four cancer cachexia patients, 33 pre-cachectic patients, 105 weight-stable cancer patients, and 74 healthy controls were included in the training and validation sets. Comparative analysis was used to elucidate the distinct metabolites of cancer cachexia, while metabolic pathway analysis was employed to elucidate reprogramming pathways. Random forest, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to select and validate the biomarker metabolites and establish a diagnostic model.

RESULTS

Forty-six cancer cachexia patients, 22 pre-cachectic patients, 68 weight-stable cancer patients, and 48 healthy controls were included in the training set, and 38 cancer cachexia patients, 11 pre-cachectic patients, 37 weight-stable cancer patients, and 26 healthy controls were included in the validation set. All four groups were age-matched and sex-matched in the training set. Metabolomics analysis showed a clear separation of the four groups. Overall, 45 metabolites and 18 metabolic pathways were associated with cancer cachexia. Using random forest analysis, 15 of these metabolites were identified as highly discriminating between disease states. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to create a distinct diagnostic model with an area under the curve of 0.991 based on three metabolites. The diagnostic equation was Logit(P) = -400.53 - 481.88 × log(Carnosine) -239.02 × log(Leucine) + 383.92 × log(Phenyl acetate), and the result showed 94.64% accuracy in the validation set.

CONCLUSIONS

This metabolomics study revealed a distinct metabolic profile of cancer cachexia and established and validated a diagnostic model. This research provided a feasible diagnostic tool for identifying at-risk populations through the detection of serum metabolites.

Visible light-driven selective hydrogenation of unsaturated aromatics in an aqueous solution by direct photocatalysis of Au nanoparticles

Selective hydrogenation of various chemical bonds, such as CC, CC, CO, NO, and CN, is efficiently driven by visible light over a supported gold nanoparticle (AuNP) photocatalyst under mild reaction conditions.

Enhancing imaging contrast via weighted feedback for iterative multi-image phase retrieval

Iterative phase retrieval (IPR) has developed into a feasible and simple computational method to retrieve a complex-valued sample. Due to coherent illumination, the reconstructed image quality is degraded by speckle noise arising from a laser. Accordingly, partially coherent illumination has been introduced to alleviate this restriction. We apply weighted feedback modality into multidistance and multiwavelength phase retrieval to realize high-contrast and fast imaging. In simulation, it is proved that IPR based on weighted feedback accelerates the convergence in partially coherent illumination and speckle illumination. In experiment, the resolution chart and biological specimen are reconstructed in lensless and lens-based systems, which also demonstrate the performance of weighted feedback. This work provides a simple and high-contrast imaging modality for IPR. Also, it facilitates compact and flexible experimental implementation for label-free imaging.

Photochemical conversion of a cytidine derivative to a thymidine analogvia[2+2]-cycloaddition

A cinnamyl ether containing cytidine derivative is photochemically converted under mild conditions into a thymidine analog. This conversion can be employed for development of a new method for DNA methylation profiling.

AlF3-Modified carbon nanofibers as a multifunctional 3D interlayer for stable lithium metal anodes

A versatile interlayer in which AlF₃ particles are embedded within carbon nanofibers is reported to stabilize the Li metal anode.

Safer lithium–sulfur battery based on nonflammable electrolyte with sulfur composite cathode

Nonflammable solvent triethyl phosphate (TEP) is firstly used as co-solvent in Li–S batteries to satisfy the demand for safety and electrochemical performance.

Bismuth-doped all-fiber mode-locked laser operating at 1340 nm

We demonstrate a 1340 nm mode-locked Bismuth (Bi)-doped fiber laser without any saturable absorber. The effect of pump power on pulse width is studied, and a variation from 1.5 to 3 ns is reported. The output of the mode-locked Bi-doped fiber laser is further amplified using a master oscillator power amplifier configuration, and a peak power of 1.15 W is achieved. Soliton bunching is observed, and a true pulse width of 1.2 ps is reported from the measured autocorrelation trace. Stable operation of the mode-locked laser is verified from the radio-frequency spectrum with a fundamental repetition rate of 6.3 MHz, and SNR of 65 dB.