IL-6 is a predictor and potential therapeutic target for coronavirus disease 2019-related heart failure: A single-center retrospective study

BACKGROUND

Inflammation is linked to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related heart failure (HF), but the specific mechanisms are unclear. This study aimed to assess the relationship between specific inflammatory factors, such as interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-17, interferon (IFN)-α, and IFN-γ, and COVID-19-related HF.

METHODS

We retrospectively identified 212 adult patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized at Shanghai Public Health Center from March 1 to May 30, 2022 (including 80 patients with HF and 132 without HF). High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), and inflammatory factors, including IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-17, IFN-α, and IFN-γ, were compared between patients with COVID-19 with and without HF.

RESULTS

Patients with COVID-19 having and not having HF differed with regard to sex, age, hs-CRP, PCT, and IL-6 levels (p < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated a significant positive association between IL and 6 and HF (odds ratio = 1.055; 95 % confidence interval: 1.019-1.093, p < 0.005). Sex, age, and hs-CRP were also associated with HF. Women had a greater risk of HF than men. Older age, higher levels of hs-CRP, and IL-6 were associated with a greater risk of HF.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with COVID-19, increased IL-6 levels are significantly associated with COVID-19-related HF.

Experimental Study on the Adhesion of Abalone to Surfaces with Different Morphologies

To date, research on abalone adhesion has primarily analyzed the organism's adhesion to smooth surfaces, with few studies on adhesion to non-smooth surfaces. The present study examined the surface morphology of the abalone's abdominal foot, followed by measuring the adhesive force of the abalone on a smooth force measuring plate and five force measuring plates with different surface morphologies. Next, the adhesion mechanism of the abdominal foot was analyzed. The findings indicated that the abdominal foot of the abalone features numerous stripe-shaped folds on its surface. The adhesion of the abalone to a fine frosted glass plate, a coarse frosted glass plate, and a quadrangular conical glass plate was not significantly different from that on a smooth glass plate. However, the organism's adhesion to a small lattice pit glass plate and block pattern glass plate was significantly different. The abalone could effectively adhere to the surface of the block pattern glass plate using the elasticity of its abdominal foot during adhesion but experienced difficulty in completely adhering to the surface of the quadrangular conical glass plate. The abdominal foot used its elasticity to form an independent sucker system with each small lattice pit, significantly improving adhesion to the small lattice pit glass plate. The elasticity of the abalone's abdominal foot created difficulty in handling slight morphological size changes in roughness, resulting in no significant differences in its adhesion to the smooth glass plate.

Influence of Trichosanthes pericarpium extract on improving microcirculation and outcomes of patients with acute myocardial infarction after percutaneous coronary intervention

Background

Microcirculatory dysfunction is an independent risk factor for a poor prognosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Trichosanthes pericarpium is a well-known Chinese traditional herb described with the effect of activating blood circulation to dissipate blood stasis and improve blood circulation. However, its effects on microcirculation in patients with AMI after primary PCI remain unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effect of Trichosanthes pericarpium extract (TPE) on improving microcirculation and outcomes in patients with AMI after PCI.

Methods

This study included 155 patients with a history of emergency PCI treatment. In this cohort, 31 patients received a course of TPE, defined as intravenous TPE infusion (12 ml TPE dissolved in 250 ml 5% Glucose Injection) once daily for 7 days on the background of standard treatment after PCI; 124 who did not receive TPE were regarded as the control group and received standard treatment after PCI. The corrected thrombolysis in myocardial infarction frame count (CTFC) and index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) were used to evaluate myocardial microcirculation. Cardiac function was measured by echocardiography during hospitalization and follow-up. Major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) were recorded for prognostic analysis.

Results

At the 6-month follow-up, AMI patients who received TPE after primary PCI had significantly lower levels of CTCF (24.27 ± 2.40 vs. 21.88 ± 1.92, P < 0.001) and IMR (20.02 ± 2.20 vs. 17.80 ± 2.11, P < 0.001) than patients in the control group. Left ventricular ejection fraction and left ventricular internal dimension at systolic at 6-month follow-up in the TPE group significantly improved than in the control group (56.6 ± 4.5 vs. 62.1 ± 3.5, P < 0.001; 32.5 ± 1.5 vs. 30.2 ± 1.8, P < 0.001). Kaplan-Meier curve analysis indicated that patients with AMI who received TPE had significantly lower rates of MACEs than the control group at 6-month follow-up (P = 0.042).

Conclusion

In the context of standard treatment, Trichosanthes pericarpium further improved coronary microcirculation, increased cardiac function, and reduced short-term MACEs rate. Our data suggest that TPE could be used in combination therapy for patients with AMI after primary PCI.

Phase-Dislocation-Mediated High-Dimensional Fractional Acoustic-Vortex Communication

With unlimited topological modes in mathematics, the fractional orbital angular momentum (FOAM) demonstrates the potential to infinitely increase the channel capacity in acoustic-vortex (AV) communications. However, the accuracy and stability of FOAM recognition are still limited by the nonorthogonality and poor anti-interference of fractional AV beams. The popular machine learning, widely used in optics based on large datasets of images, does not work in acoustics because of the huge engineering of the 2-dimensional point-by-point measurement. Here, we report a strategy of phase-dislocation-mediated high-dimensional fractional AV communication based on pair-FOAM multiplexing, circular sparse sampling, and machine learning. The unique phase dislocation corresponding to the topological charge provides important physical guidance to recognize FOAMs and reduce sampling points from theory to practice. A straightforward convolutional neural network considering turbulence and misalignment is further constructed to achieve the stable and accurate communication without involving experimental data. We experimentally present that the 32-point dual-ring sampling can realize the 10-bit information transmission in a limited topological charge scope from ±0.6 to ±2.4 with the FOAM resolution of 0.2, which greatly reduce the divergence in AV communications. The infinitely expanded channel capacity is further verified by the improved FOAM resolution of 0.025. Compared with other milestone works, our strategy reaches 3-fold OAM utilization, 4-fold information level, and 5-fold OAM resolution. Because of the extra advantages of high dimension, high speed, and low divergence, this technology may shed light on the next-generation AV communication.

Integrin β Expression as a New Diagnostic Marker for Arteriovenous Thrombosis: A Single-Center Prospective Study

Integrin β plays an important role in the pathogenesis of thrombosis and inflammation, and it may be a shared pathogenic mechanism between arterial and venous thromboses. With the goal of identifying new treatment targets for thrombotic diseases and specific diagnostic markers for venous thromboembolism (VTE), this prospective clinical study was performed to clarify the relationship between integrin and thrombosis. The levels of integrin β1-3, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and C-reactive protein were significantly higher in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI; n = 44) and acute VTE (n = 43) compared to healthy controls (n = 33). The IL-6 and integrin β1-3 levels were also significantly higher in the AMI group compared to the VTE and control groups. Logistic regression analysis identified IL-6 and integrin β1-3 levels as independent risk factors for thrombotic disease. Based on the receiver-operating characteristic curve, Youden index, sensitivity, and specificity, the diagnostic accuracy value for VTE was greater than 0.8 when integrins β1, β2, and β3 were combined. Overall, these results suggest that integrin β levels can contribute to improving the diagnosis and treatment of arteriovenous thrombosis.

Super-resolution imaging of mitochondrial cristae using a more hydrophobic far-red Si-rhodamine probe

Mitochondrial probe SiRPFA was synthesized by attaching a long perfluoroalkyl chain on Si-rhodamine cationic dye. High lipophilicity endowed SiRPFA with mitochondrial membrane potential independent properties. Under stimulated emission depletion microscopy, SiRPFA clearly revealed changes in mitochondrial cristae morphology during autophagy induced by starvation or apoptosis.

Reduced Graphene Oxide-Supported Iron-Cobalt Alloys as High-Performance Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Exploring non-precious metal-based catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) as a substitute for precious metal catalysts has attracted great attention in recent times. In this paper, we report a general methodology for preparing nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO)-supported, FeCo alloy (FeCo@N-rGO)-based catalysts for ORR. The structure of the FeCo@N-rGO based catalysts is investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and transition electron microscopy, etc. Results show that the FeCo alloy is supported by the rGO and carbon that derives from the organic ligand of Fe and Co ions. The eletrocatalytic performance is examined by cyclic voltammetry, linear scanning voltammetry, Tafel, electrochemical spectroscopy impedance, rotate disc electrode, and rotate ring disc electrode, etc. Results show that FeCo@N-rGO based catalysts exhibit an onset potential of 0.98 V (vs. RHE) and a half-wave potential of 0.93 V (vs. RHE). The excellent catalytic performance of FeCo@N-rGO is ascribed to its large surface area and the synergistic effect between FeCo alloy and N-rGO, which provides a large number of active sites and a sufficient surface area.

Chitosan/poly (ethylene oxide) nanofiber sponge with dual-responsive drug release and excellent antibacterial property

An ideal wound dressing can absorb wound exudate in time, and has the advantages of moisture permeability, oxygen permeability, rapid hemostatic performance, antibacterial and low-toxic, which are the key to wound healing. However, traditional wound dressings exist structural and functional defects, especially in controlling bleeding and active wound protection. Herein, a novel three-dimensional chitosan/ poly (ethylene oxide) sponge dressing (3D CS/PEO sponge-ZPC) consists of CS/PEO nanofiber sponge (carrier unit), Zn metal-organic framework grown in-situ (Zn-MOF, drug loading unit and antibacterial unit), curcumin (CUR, antibacterial unit), and poly[(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-(methacrylic acid)] (P(NIPAM-co-MAA), 'gatekeepers' unit) to promote the wound healing by absorb exudate in time, accelerate hemostasis and inhibit bacteria growth. Due to the unique structure of the as-prepared 3D CS/PEO sponge-ZPC was endowed with smart stimuli-responsive drug release mode, rapid hemostatic performance and strong antibacterial property. The result of CUR release showed smart "ON-OFF" drug release mode. Antibacterial results verified strong antibacterial property up to 99.9 %. Hemolysis test showed that hemolysis ratio of 3D CS/PEO sponge-ZPC met the acceptable standard. The rapid hemostatic property was demonstrated by hemostatic test. High wound healing effect was confirmed in vivo. These results provide an important research basis for the design of new smart dressing.

Open-3DSIM: an open-source three-dimensional structured illumination microscopy reconstruction platform

Open-3DSIM is an open-source reconstruction platform for three-dimensional structured illumination microscopy. We demonstrate its superior performance for artifact suppression and high-fidelity reconstruction relative to other algorithms on various specimens and over a range of signal-to-noise levels. Open-3DSIM also offers the capacity to extract dipole orientation, paving a new avenue for interpreting subcellular structures in six dimensions (xyzθλt). The platform is available as MATLAB code, a Fiji plugin and an Exe application to maximize user-friendliness.

Superresolution structured illumination microscopy reconstruction algorithms: a review

Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) has become the standard for next-generation wide-field microscopy, offering ultrahigh imaging speed, superresolution, a large field-of-view, and long-term imaging. Over the past decade, SIM hardware and software have flourished, leading to successful applications in various biological questions. However, unlocking the full potential of SIM system hardware requires the development of advanced reconstruction algorithms. Here, we introduce the basic theory of two SIM algorithms, namely, optical sectioning SIM (OS-SIM) and superresolution SIM (SR-SIM), and summarize their implementation modalities. We then provide a brief overview of existing OS-SIM processing algorithms and review the development of SR-SIM reconstruction algorithms, focusing primarily on 2D-SIM, 3D-SIM, and blind-SIM. To showcase the state-of-the-art development of SIM systems and assist users in selecting a commercial SIM system for a specific application, we compare the features of representative off-the-shelf SIM systems. Finally, we provide perspectives on the potential future developments of SIM.

Abalone adhesion: The role of various adhesion forces and their proportion to total adhesion force

Adhesion is the basic ability of many kinds of animals in nature, which ensures the survival and reproduction of animal populations. The aquatic abalone has a strong adhesion capacity. In this study, we observed the microscopic morphology of abalone abdominal foot surface, and found that the surface was covered with a large number of fibers. Then five types of force measuring plates were designed and processed for the adhesion test of abalone abdominal foot. According to the test results, the composition of abalone abdominal foot adhesion force was analyzed and the proportion of various adhesion force to the total adhesion force of abalone abdominal foot was calculated. Among them, the vacuum adhesion force accounts for more than half of the total adhesion force of abalone abdominal foot, and its proportion is more than 60%. Van der Waals force also plays an important role, and its proportion is more than 20%. The proportion of capillary force is very small, which is only about 1%. Its main role is to form a liquid film to prevent the gas from flowing into the sucker. The vacuum adhesion of abalone abdominal foot can be further divided into the whole adhesion of abdominal foot, the local adhesion of abdominal foot and the frictional equivalent vacuum adhesion. And the whole adhesion of abdominal foot is basically equivalent to the local adhesion of abdominal foot. This study quantifies the proportion of various adhesion forces to the total adhesion force of the abdominal foot, which provides a reference for the further study of other adhesive creatures and the design of bionic underwater adhesion devices.

Diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction using a combination of circulating circular RNA cZNF292 and clinical information based on machine learning

Circulating circular RNAs (circRNAs) are emerging as novel biomarkers for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Machine learning can provide optimal predictions on the diagnosis of diseases. Here we performed a proof-of-concept study to determine if combining circRNAs with an artificial intelligence approach works in diagnosing CVD. We used acute myocardial infarction (AMI) as a model setup to prove the claim. We determined the expression level of five hypoxia-induced circRNAs, including cZNF292, cAFF1, cDENND4C, cTHSD1, and cSRSF4, in the whole blood of coronary angiography positive AMI and negative non-AMI patients. Based on feature selection by using lasso with 10-fold cross validation, prediction model by logistic regression, and ROC curve analysis, we found that cZNF292 combined with clinical information (CM), including age, gender, body mass index, heart rate, and diastolic blood pressure, can predict AMI effectively. In a validation cohort, CM + cZNF292 can separate AMI and non-AMI patients, unstable angina and AMI patients, acute coronary syndromes (ACS), and non-ACS patients. RNA stability study demonstrated that cZNF292 was stable. Knockdown of cZNF292 in endothelial cells or cardiomyocytes showed anti-apoptosis effects in oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation. Thus, we identify circulating cZNF292 as a potential biomarker for AMI and construct a prediction model "CM + cZNF292."

Magnetic resonance imaging thicknesses and apparent diffusion coefficient values of the endometrium and junction zone in women of reproductive age

BACKGROUND

The endometrium and uterine junction zone often change throughout the menstrual cycle. Some pathological conditions may appear normal in uterine imaging, which will lead to missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the changes in the thickness and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of the endometrium and uterine junction zone throughout the menstrual cycle in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of women of reproductive age.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Data were collected from 40 healthy women of reproductive age with regular menstrual cycles from January 2017 to April 2018. They underwent four total MRI sessions during the menstrual, proliferation, and early and late secretive phases. The main MRI sequences were T2-weighted (T2W) volume isotropic turbo spin echo acquisition (VISTA) spectral attenuated inversion recovery (SPAIR) and diffusion-weighted imaging (b = 0, 600, 800, 1000 s/mm²), which were used to measure the thicknesses and ADC values of endometrium and uterine junction zone.

RESULTS

First, the endometrium was thinnest during the menstrual phase and thickest in the late secretive phase. Second, the uterine junction zone was thinnest in the late secretive phase and thickest in the menstrual phase. Third, the ADC values of the endometrium were lowest in the menstrual phase and peaked in the early secretive phase. Finally, the ADC values of the uterine junction zone were lowest in the menstrual phase and peaked in the late secretive phase.

CONCLUSION

The endometrium and uterine junction zone showed cyclic changes. Radiologists should consider these changes in the thickness and ADC values when analyzing MRI images of the uterus.

Parameter estimation of the structured illumination pattern based on principal component analysis (PCA): PCA-SIM

Principal component analysis (PCA), a common dimensionality reduction method, is introduced into SIM to identify the frequency vectors and pattern phases of the illumination pattern with precise subpixel accuracy, fast speed, and noise-robustness, which is promising for real-time and long-term live-cell imaging.

Internal Explosion Performance of RDX@Nano-B Composite Explosives

Boron powder is an additive for metalized explosives with great application potential. To improve the energy release ability of boron powder, the composites of RDX and nano-boron (RDX@Nano-B) were prepared by the spray-drying process, and the metalized explosives based on it were designed (named PBX-B1). The detonation heat and explosion pressure of boron-containing explosives PBX-B1 under vacuum and air conditions were measured and analyzed by an internal explosion test. On the other hand, the equilibrium pressure and energy release of the PBX-B1 explosive system after detonation were analyzed and compared with that of an explosive formulation of the same composition (named PBX-B2). Results showed that the detonation heat of PBX-B1 was 7456 J/g in a vacuum environment, which was 34.8% higher than that of RDX (5530 J/g). However, in the air environment, the detonation heat of PBX-B1 increased by 19.2% compared with that in the vacuum environment, and the explosive gas products mainly included N₂, NO_x, CO, H₂O, CH₄, HCN, and CO₂. The peak pressure and equilibrium pressures of PBX-B1 were 11.2 and 0.42 MPa, which were increased by 155% and 75% compared with the vacuum environment, respectively. It is worth noting that, compared with that of PBX-B2, the released energy in the aerobic combustion stage and equilibrium pressure of PBX-B1 were increased by 49.8% and 10.5%. This study demonstrated the strategy of improving the energy release of boron-containing metalized explosives through the design of an explosive microstructure, which provides important clues for the design of higher-energy metalized explosives.

Raster-scanning Donut simplifies MINFLUX and provides alternative implement on other scanning-based microscopes

A donut excitation moves around a single molecule with a zigzag configuration lattice by lattice. Such a method implemented in scanning fluorescence microscopy simplifies the conventional MINFLUX process. Consisting of hollow zero-intensity excitation, single-pixel detection, time-correlated single photon counting, and drift stabilization, the system achieves localization precision and resolution very close to conventional MINFLUX theoretically and experimentally. An averaged high-SNR reference, and pixel-registered intensity from a single molecule is essential to reconstruct localization in maximum likelihood estimation. With performance reaching nearly conventional MINFLUX's, the proposed raster-scanning MINFLUX can inspire researchers expertized in STED or confocal setup to quickly transform to MINFLUX and develop for further exploring on bio-specimens or optical applications.

THORACIC AORTIC REACTIVITY IN OBESE PATIENTS SUBMITTED TO AEROBIC EXERCISE

ABSTRACT Introduction: Aerobic exercise can improve the function of the cardiovascular circulatory system, reducing morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease by stimulating the production of endogenous self-protection. Activating potassium channels in vascular smooth muscle cells can cause vasodilation and increase blood flow, lowering blood pressure. There is a sensitivity to intracellular ATP and ADP concentration among the variety of potassium channels distributed in vascular smooth muscle cells, which vary mainly during aerobic physical activity. Objective: Explore the effect of aerobic exercise on the vascular reactivity of the thoracic aorta in patients with obesity and hyperlipidemia. Methods: Randomized controlled trial in twenty male Wistar rats weighing 250g and two months old. The control group remained at rest while the experimental group performed aerobic exercise on a treadmill at increasing speed for eight weeks. The rats were dissected, and dilatators and vasoconstrictors drugs stimulated their blood vessels in a tamponade solution. Observation of vascular changes was measured under controlled tensioning. Results: The blockade of KATP channels in vascular smooth muscle caused tonic contraction of vascular smooth muscle cells and increased blood pressure. Conclusion: Long-term regular aerobic exercise may induce changes in rats’ thoracic aortic vascular function and vascular smooth muscle reactivity. Aerobic exercise can also significantly improve the activity of KATP channels. Evidence Level II; Therapeutic Studies – Investigating the results.

The mechanism of dioscin preventing lung cancer based on network pharmacology and experimental validation

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Dioscorea nipponica Makino as a Chinese folk medicine has been used for the treatment of chronic bronchitis, cough, and asthma. Several studies have established the antimetastatic potential of Dioscorea nipponica Makino extract. Dioscin is a major bioactive compound in Dioscorea nipponica Makino and has anti-tumor property in lung cancer cell lines. However, the preventive effect of dioscin against lung cancer and its key mechanism haven't been identified yet.

AIM OF STUDY

To identify the prevention effect of dioscin on lung cancer and explore its key mechanism based on network pharmacology and experimental validation.

METHODS

The potential targets of dioscin were obtained from the HERB database. The therapeutic targets of lung cancer were acquired from the GeneCards database. Protein-protein interaction network (PPI) was constructed in the STRING 11.0 database. The David database was used for enrichment analysis. Molecular Docking was finished by the AutoDock Vina. NSCLC cell lines and mouse lung cancer model were used to confirm the prevention effect of dioscin on lung cancer and its key mechanism.

RESULTS

76 potential targets of dioscin were identified to be involved in lung cancer treatment, which refer to 512 biological processes, 47 molecular functions, 77 cellular components and 107 signal pathways. The molecular docking suggested that dioscin might bind to AKT1, Caspase3, TP53, C-JUN and IL-6. The DARTS indicated that dioscin could bind to AKT1. In vitro, dioscin could decrease proliferation, invasion and migration in A549 and PC-9 cells with the significant reduction in the expression of p-AKT, MMP2, and PCNA. In vivo, dioscin could reduce lung nodules, lung injury, and mortality in mouse lung cancer model with reducing the expression of p-AKT, MMP2, PCNA and increasing the expression of active-caspase3.

CONCLUSION

Dioscin could prevent lung cancer and its key target is AKT1 kinase, a center protein of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Rare nanoparticles shine colors with low-power STED

The effect of cascade amplified depletion in lanthanide upconversion systems boosts their own emission bands inhibition, which facilitates multi-color nanoscopy with only one pair of low-power NIR CW lasers.

Shedding light on biology and healthcare-preface to the special issue on Biomedical Optics

This special issue collects 20 excellent papers, spanning NIR II imaging, high-speed imaging, adaptive wavefront shaping, label-free imaging, ultrasensitive detection, polarization optics, photodynamic therapy, and preclinical applications. [Image: see text]

Partial Nitrification and Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal in a Sequencing Batch Reactor Treating High-Strength Wastewater

Complex and high levels of various pollutants in high-strength wastewaters hinder efficient and stable biological nutrient removal. In this study, the changes in pollutant removal performance and microbial community structure in a laboratory-scale anaerobic/aerobic sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treating simulated pre-fermented high-strength wastewater were investigated under different influent loading conditions. The results showed that when the influent chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), and orthophosphate (PO₄³⁻-P) concentrations in the SBR increased to 983, 56, and 20 mg/L, respectively, the COD removal efficiency was maintained above 85%, the TN removal efficiency was 64.5%, and the PO₄³⁻-P removal efficiency increased from 78.3% to 97.5%. Partial nitrification with simultaneous accumulation of ammonia (NH₄⁺-N) and nitrite (NO₂⁻-N) was observed, which may be related to the effect of high influent load on ammonia- and nitrite-oxidising bacteria. The biological phosphorus removal activity was higher when propionate was used as the carbon source instead of acetate. The relative abundance of glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs) increased significantly with the increase in organic load, while Tetrasphaera was the consistently dominant polyphosphate accumulating organism (PAO) in the reactor. Under high organic loading conditions, there was no significant PAO–GAO competition in the reactor, thus the phosphorus removal performance was not affected.

Novel Analysis of Coronary Angiography in Predicting the Formation of Ventricular Aneurysm in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Background

Ventricular aneurysm (VA) is a serious complication of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), with a very poor prognosis. Early-stage prophylactic treatment is effective in preventing the formation of VAs. However, the existing predictive models for VA formation lack the sensitivity and specificity necessary for evaluating patients with MI. This study aimed to explore the potential use of coronary angiography and establish a more precise prediction model for VA in patients with MI.

Methods

Patients with VA (n = 52) admitted to our medical center between June 2020 and July 2021 with previous emergency percutaneous coronary intervention for AMI were retrospectively included in this database study. Controls that matched 4:1 with the VA cases during the same period were enrolled. The baseline characteristics and coronary angiograms of the enrolled individuals were obtained from the electronic medical record system. The curve length of the distance from the main criminal lesion to its ostia (DLO) and distal (DLD) in the coronary artery were measured with ImageJ. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify the predictive factors. The model performance was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.

Results

Binary analysis revealed maximum serum cardiac troponin I level (odds ratio [OR] = 1.046, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.027–1.066, P < 0.001), serum brain natriuretic peptide level (OR = 1.001, 95% CI = 1.000–1.002, P = 0.007), left anterior descending artery as the culprit lesion (OR = 5.091, 95% CI = 2.080–12.457, P < 0.001), and that single-vessel disease (OR = 1.809, 95% CI = 0.967–3.385, P < 0.001), stenosis in the main lesion (OR = 1.247, 95% CI = 1.173–1.327, P < 0.001), DLO (OR = 1.034, 95% CI = 1.019–1.049, P < 0.001), DLD (OR = 1.061, 95% CI = 1.043–1.079, P < 0.001), and DLD/DLD (OR = 0.033, 95% CI = 0.010–0.117, P < 0.001) were the independent variables for predicting VA formation in MI patients.

Conclusion

Our study first used quantified information of coronary lesions to establish a predictive model and proved that a longer DLD had the greatest potential in predicting the incidence of VA. Its related parameters including DLO and DLO/DLD ratio were also correlated with the incidence of VA. These findings may provide a new reference for the early identification of high-risk MI patients and preventing VA.

Glucose increases the length and spacing of the lattice structure of the axon initial segment

The axon initial segment (AIS) plays an important role in maintaining neuronal polarity and initiating action potentials (APs). The AIS adapts to its environment by changing its length and distance from the cell body, resulting in modulation of neuronal excitability, which is referred to as AIS plasticity. Previous studies found an ~200 nm single periodic distribution of the key AIS components ankyrinG (AnkG), Na_v 1.2, and βIV-spectrin, while it remains unclear how the lattice structure is altered by AIS plasticity. In this study, we found that the length of the AIS significantly increased, resulting in increased neuronal excitability, with high-concentration glucose treatment. Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) images of the lattice structure showed a dual-spacing periodic distribution (~200 nm and ~260 nm) of AnkG, Na_v 1.2, and βIV-spectrin. Moreover, 480-kDa AnkG was crucial for AIS plasticity and increased lattice structure spacing. The discovery of new regulators for modulating AIS plasticity will help us to understand and manipulate the structure and function of the AIS.

Ratiometric 4Pi single-molecule localization with optimal resolution and color assignment

4Pi single-molecule localization microscopy (4Pi-SMLM) with two opposing objectives achieves sub-10 nm isotropic 3D resolution when as few as 250 photons are collected by each objective. Here, we develop a new ratiometric multi-color imaging strategy for 4Pi-SMLM that employs the intrinsic multi-phase interference intensity without increasing the complexity of the system and achieves both optimal 3D resolution and color separation. By partially linking the photon parameters between channels with an interference difference of π during global fitting of the multi-channel 4Pi single-molecule data, we show via simulated data that the loss of localization precision is minimal compared with the theoretical minimum uncertainty, the Cramer-Rao lower bound.

Polarization modulation with optical lock-in detection reveals universal fluorescence anisotropy of subcellular structures in live cells

The orientation of fluorophores can reveal crucial information about the structure and dynamics of their associated subcellular organelles. Despite significant progress in super-resolution, fluorescence polarization microscopy remains limited to unique samples with relatively strong polarization modulation and not applicable to the weak polarization signals in samples due to the excessive background noise. Here we apply optical lock-in detection to amplify the weak polarization modulation with super-resolution. This novel technique, termed optical lock-in detection super-resolution dipole orientation mapping (OLID-SDOM), could achieve a maximum of 100 frames per second and rapid extraction of 2D orientation, and distinguish distance up to 50 nm, making it suitable for monitoring structural dynamics concerning orientation changes in vivo. OLID-SDOM was employed to explore the universal anisotropy of a large variety of GFP-tagged subcellular organelles, including mitochondria, lysosome, Golgi, endosome, etc. We found that OUF (Orientation Uniformity Factor) of OLID-SDOM can be specific for different subcellular organelles, indicating that the anisotropy was related to the function of the organelles, and OUF can potentially be an indicator to distinguish normal and abnormal cells (even cancer cells). Furthermore, dual-color super-resolution OLID-SDOM imaging of lysosomes and actins demonstrates its potential in studying dynamic molecular interactions. The subtle anisotropy changes of expanding and shrinking dendritic spines in live neurons were observed with real-time OLID-SDOM. Revealing previously unobservable fluorescence anisotropy in various samples and indicating their underlying dynamic molecular structural changes, OLID-SDOM expands the toolkit for live cell research.

A protocol for single-source dual-pulse stimulated emission depletion setup with Bessel modulation

STimulated Emission Depletion (STED) microscopy attains super-resolution in biological imaging beyond the diffraction limit. Here, we give a concise protocol to construct a dual-pulse STED setup with one super-continuum laser. Moreover, a flexible and dismountable Bessel modulation module is introduced for potential 2D-stack STED imaging. Experiments and notices are introduced in detail, with discussion on some important check-points for STED, such as detector saturation. Finally, the results validate the system working.

Iterative tomography with digital adaptive optics permits hour-long intravital observation of 3D subcellular dynamics at millisecond scale

Long-term subcellular intravital imaging in mammals is vital to study diverse intercellular behaviors and organelle functions during native physiological processes. However, optical heterogeneity, tissue opacity, and phototoxicity pose great challenges. Here, we propose a computational imaging framework, termed digital adaptive optics scanning light-field mutual iterative tomography (DAOSLIMIT), featuring high-speed, high-resolution 3D imaging, tiled wavefront correction, and low phototoxicity with a compact system. By tomographic imaging of the entire volume simultaneously, we obtained volumetric imaging across 225 × 225 × 16 μm3, with a resolution of up to 220 nm laterally and 400 nm axially, at the millisecond scale, over hundreds of thousands of time points. To establish the capabilities, we investigated large-scale cell migration and neural activities in different species and observed various subcellular dynamics in mammals during neutrophil migration and tumor cell circulation.

Use of high-resolution full-field optical coherence tomography and dynamic cell imaging for rapid intraoperative diagnosis during breast cancer surgery

BACKGROUND

Although traditional intraoperative assessments (ie, frozen sections) may lower reoperation rates in patients with breast cancer, time/tissue limitations and accuracy concerns have discouraged their routine clinical use. Full-field optical coherence tomography (FFOCT) and dynamic cell imaging (DCI) are novel optical imaging techniques offering rapid histologic approximations that are unfettered by requisite handling steps. This study was conducted to determine the feasibility and diagnostic utility of FFOCT and DCI in examining breast and lymph node specimens during breast cancer surgery.

METHODS

FFOCT and DCI were applied to normal and cancerous breast tissue, benign breast lesions, and resected axillary lymph nodes. The tissues were then subjected to conventional processing and staining (hematoxylin-eosin) for purposes of comparison.

RESULTS

A total of 314 specimens, including 173 breast biopsies (malignant, 132; benign/normal, 41) and 141 resected lymph nodes (tumor-positive, 48; tumor-negative, 93), were obtained from 158 patients during breast surgery for prospective imaging evaluations. In breast cancer diagnosis, the minimum sensitivities (FFOCT, 85.6%; DCI, 88.6%) and specificities of optical imaging (FFOCT, 85.4%; DCI, 95.1%) were high, although they diverged somewhat in nodal assessments (FFOCT sensitivity, 66.7%; FFOCT specificity, 79.6%; DCI sensitivity, 83.3%; DCI specificity, 98.9%).

CONCLUSIONS

These timely and tissue-sparing optical imaging techniques proved highly accurate in diagnosing breast cancer and nodal metastasis. They compare favorably with routine histologic sections and demonstrate their promise in this setting.

Organic Nanoparticles-Assisted Low-Power STED Nanoscopy

Stimulated emission depletion (STED) nanoscopy plays a key role in achieving sub-50 nm high spatial resolution for subcellular live-cell imaging. To avoid re-excitation, the STED wavelength has to be tuned at the red tail of the emission spectrum of fluorescent probes, leading to high depletion laser power that might damage the cell viability and functionality. Herein, with the highly emissive silica-coated core-shell organic nanoparticles (CSONPs) enabling a giant Stokes shift of 150 nm, ultralow power STED is achieved by shifting the STED wavelength to the emission maximum at 660 nm. The stimulated emission cross section is increased by ∼20-fold compared to that at the emission red tail. The measured saturation intensity and lateral resolution of our CSONP are 0.0085 MW cm^-2 and 25 nm, respectively. More importantly, long-term (>3 min) dynamic super-resolution imaging of the lysosomal fusion-fission processes in living cells is performed with a resolution of 37 nm.

Axial localization and tracking of self-interference nanoparticles by lateral point spread functions

Sub-diffraction limited localization of fluorescent emitters is a key goal of microscopy imaging. Here, we report that single upconversion nanoparticles, containing multiple emission centres with random orientations, can generate a series of unique, bright and position-sensitive patterns in the spatial domain when placed on top of a mirror. Supported by our numerical simulation, we attribute this effect to the sum of each single emitter’s interference with its own mirror image. As a result, this configuration generates a series of sophisticated far-field point spread functions (PSFs), e.g. in Gaussian, doughnut and archery target shapes, strongly dependent on the phase difference between the emitter and its image. In this way, the axial locations of nanoparticles are transferred into far-field patterns. We demonstrate a real-time distance sensing technology with a localization accuracy of 2.8 nm, according to the atomic force microscope (AFM) characterization values, smaller than 1/350 of the excitation wavelength.

Here, the authors show that single upconversion nanoparticles can generate position-sensitive patterns in the spatial domain when placed on a mirror. They attribute this to the single emitter’s interference with its own mirror image and show how this can be used to obtain axial localisation of the particle.

Stimulated emission depletion microscopy for biological imaging in four dimensions: A review

Stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy allows high lateral and axial resolution, long term imaging in living cells. Here we review recent technical advances in STED microscopy, with emphasis on resolution and measurement range of XYZt four dimensions. Different STED technical advances and novel STED probes are discussed with their respective application in biological subcellular imaging. This review may serve as a practical guide for choosing a suitable approach to the advanced STED super-resolution imaging.

CircRNA circ-IQGAP1 Knockdown Alleviates Interleukin-1β-Induced Osteoarthritis Progression via Targeting miR-671-5p/TCF4

Objective

To explore the function of circular RNA IQ motif‐containing GTPase‐activating protein 1 (circ‐IQGAP1) in interleukin (IL)‐1β‐induced osteoarthritis (OA) model and to explore whether circ‐IQGAP1 can modulate microRNA‐671‐5p (miR‐671‐5p) and transcription factor 4 (TCF4) to regulate chondrocyte apoptosis, inflammatory injury, and extracellular matrix degradation.

Methods

The cartilage tissues were collected from 32 OA patients or normal subjects. Human chondrocyte CHON‐001 cells were challenged via different doses of IL‐1β for 24 hours. CHON‐001 cells were transfected with circ‐IQGAP1 overexpression vector, TCF4 overexpression vector, small interfering RNA (siRNA) for circ‐IQGAP1, miR‐671‐5p mimic, miR‐671‐5p inhibitor or corresponding negative controls. Circ‐IQGAP1, miR‐671‐5p and TCF4 abundances in cartilage tissues or CHON‐001 cells were examined via quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) or western blot. Cell viability was investigated by 3‐(4, 5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2, 5‐diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT). Cell apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry. The inflammatory injury was analyzed by the secretion levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL‐6, IL‐8 and tumor necrosis factor‐α [TNF‐α]) by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The extracellular matrix degradation was evaluated by expression of aggrecan and matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP13) via western blot. The target relationship of miR‐671‐5p and circ‐IQGAP1 or TCF4 was analyzed via dual‐luciferase reporter and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) analyses.

Results

Circ‐IQGAP1 abundance was enhanced in the cartilage tissues from OA patients compared with normal subjects (n = 32), and its expression was increased in CHON‐001 cells after treatment of IL‐1β in a dose‐dependent pattern. MiR‐671‐5p expression was decreased in the cartilage tissues from OA patients (n = 32) and IL‐1β‐challenged CHON‐001 cells. MiR‐671‐5p expression was negatively associated with circ‐IQGAP1 level in OA patients. Circ‐IQGAP1 silence mitigated IL‐1β‐caused chondrocyte viability reduction, apoptosis promotion, secretion of inflammatory cytokine (IL‐6, IL‐8 and TNF‐α), and extracellular matrix degradation (reduction of aggrecan and increase of MMP13). MiR‐671‐5p was targeted and inhibited via circ‐IQGAP1. MiR‐671‐5p knockdown attenuated the influence of circ‐IQGAP1 interference on IL‐1β‐caused chondrocyte apoptosis, inflammatory injury, and extracellular matrix degradation. TCF4 was targeted via miR‐671‐5p, and TCF4 expression was increased in the cartilage tissues from OA patients (n = 32) and IL‐1β‐challenged CHON‐001 cells. TCF4 abundance in OA patients was negatively correlated with miR‐671‐5p expression. MiR‐671‐5p overexpression alleviated IL‐1β‐mediated chondrocyte apoptosis, inflammatory injury, and extracellular matrix degradation via decreasing TCF4 expression. Circ‐IQGAP1 silence reduced TCF4 expression via regulating miR‐671‐5p in IL‐1β‐challenged CHON‐001 cells.

Conclusion

Circ‐IQGAP1 knockdown attenuated IL‐1β‐caused chondrocyte apoptosis, inflammatory injury, and extracellular matrix degradation. Circ‐IQGAP1 could regulate miR‐671‐5p/TCF4 axis to modulate IL‐1β‐caused chondrocyte damage. Circ‐IQGAP1 might act as a new target for the treatment of OA.

High-dimensional super-resolution imaging reveals heterogeneity and dynamics of subcellular lipid membranes

Lipid membranes are found in most intracellular organelles, and their heterogeneities play an essential role in regulating the organelles' biochemical functionalities. Here we report a Spectrum and Polarization Optical Tomography (SPOT) technique to study the subcellular lipidomics in live cells. Simply using one dye that universally stains the lipid membranes, SPOT can simultaneously resolve the membrane morphology, polarity, and phase from the three optical-dimensions of intensity, spectrum, and polarization, respectively. These high-throughput optical properties reveal lipid heterogeneities of ten subcellular compartments, at different developmental stages, and even within the same organelle. Furthermore, we obtain real-time monitoring of the multi-organelle interactive activities of cell division and successfully reveal their sophisticated lipid dynamics during the plasma membrane separation, tunneling nanotubules formation, and mitochondrial cristae dissociation. This work suggests research frontiers in correlating single-cell super-resolution lipidomics with multiplexed imaging of organelle interactome.

Advances of super-resolution fluorescence polarization microscopy and its applications in life sciences

Fluorescence polarization microscopy (FPM) analyzes both intensity and orientation of fluorescence dipole, and reflects the structural specificity of target molecules. It has become an important tool for studying protein organization, orientational order, and structural changes in cells. However, suffering from optical diffraction limit, conventional FPM has low orientation resolution and observation accuracy, as the polarization information is averaged by multiple fluorescent molecules within a diffraction-limited volume. Recently, novel super-resolution FPMs have been developed to break the diffraction barrier. In this review, we will introduce the recent progress to achieve sub-diffraction determination of dipole orientation. Biological applications, based on polarization analysis of fluorescence dipole, are also summarized, with focus on chromophore-target molecule interaction and molecular organization.

Enhanced reconstruction of structured illumination microscopy on a polarized specimen

Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) requires polarization control to guarantee the high-contrast illumination pattern. However, this modulated polarization will induce artifacts in SIM when imaging fluorescent dipoles. Here we proposed the polarization weighted recombination of frequency components to reconstruct SIM data with suppressed artifacts and better resolving power. Both the simulation results and experimental data demonstrate that our algorithm can obtain isotropic resolution on dipoles and resolve a clearer structure in high-density sections compared to the conventional algorithm. Our work reinforces the SIM theory and paves the avenue for the application of SIM on a polarized specimen.

Mitochondrial dynamics quantitatively revealed by STED nanoscopy with an enhanced squaraine variant probe

Mitochondria play a critical role in generating energy to support the entire lifecycle of biological cells, yet it is still unclear how their morphological structures evolve to regulate their functionality. Conventional fluorescence microscopy can only provide ~300 nm resolution, which is insufficient to visualize mitochondrial cristae. Here, we developed an enhanced squaraine variant dye (MitoESq-635) to study the dynamic structures of mitochondrial cristae in live cells with a superresolution technique. The low saturation intensity and high photostability of MitoESq-635 make it ideal for long-term, high-resolution (stimulated emission depletion) STED nanoscopy. We performed time-lapse imaging of the mitochondrial inner membrane over 50 min (3.9 s per frame, with 71.5 s dark recovery) in living HeLa cells with a resolution of 35.2 nm. The forms of the cristae during mitochondrial fusion and fission can be clearly observed. Our study demonstrates the emerging capability of optical STED nanoscopy to investigate intracellular physiological processes with nanoscale resolution for an extended period of time.

Plasmonics meets super-resolution microscopy in biology

Super-resolution microscopy can reveal the subtle biological processes hidden behind the optical diffraction barrier. Plasmonics is a key nanophotonic that combines electronics and photonics through the interaction of light with the metallic nanostructure. In this review, we survey the recent progresses on plasmonic-assisted super-resolution microscopy. The strong electromagnetic field enhancement trapped near metallic nanostructures offers a unique opportunity to manipulate the illumination scheme for overcoming the diffraction limit. Plasmonic nanoprobes, exploited as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and plasmon-enhanced fluorescence nanoparticles, are a major category of contrast agent in super-resolution microscopy. The outstanding challenges, future developments, and potential biological applications are also discussed.

Surface movement mechanism of abalone and underwater adsorbability of its abdominal foot

The abalone, a marine mollusk, inhabits fast-flowing rocky reefs. Its predation and crawling abilities strongly depend on the adhesion capacity of its abdominal foot. Here, the macroscopic and microscopic morphology of the abalone foot was observed. The foot is divided into four main regions, each having a large number of folds on the surface. The extensional ability of the folds is the source of the abalone’s locomotory power. A high-speed camera was used to photograph the movement of an abalone. It was found that two to three deep-yellow round fold areas appear and disappear periodically on the surface of the foot. The folds move forward with the movement of the abalone. This results in a crawling motion that ensures efficiency of movement and adaptability of the wide abdominal foot to adsorptive surfaces. According to underwater tensile testing of an abalone, the adhesion force of the foot is composed of suction force, capillary force, friction and an interlocking structure. Among them, suction force is the most important component of the adhesion force, and the other factors play an auxiliary and reinforcing role. The strong adhesivity and adhesion-based crawling motion of the abalone may inspire new design ideas and mechanisms for underwater suckers.

Design, experiment and adsorption mechanism analysis of bionic sucker based on octopus sucker

The vacuum chuck is widely used in industrial and daily life. By observing the macroscopic and microscopic morphology of octopus sucker, it is found that the sucker surface has concave-convex continuous wave shape with large number of non-smooth morphologies. The sealing mechanism of octopus sucker is analyzed according to its surface morphology before and after adsorption, and the non-smooth morphology is found to greatly enhance the adsorption. Based on the bionics theory, the non-smooth surface morphology of octopus sucker is applied to improve the sucker adsorption. And the bionic suckers with three types of grooves are designed. According to the model of standard and bionic suckers, the sucker entities are obtained by the method of three-dimensional printing and casting. And the tensile tests of suckers are carried out. The stress of suckers is analyzed by finite element method, and the sealing mechanism is discussed. According to the test results, the bionic sucker has larger adsorption force. And the ring sucker possesses the best adsorption performance. Compared with the standard sucker, the maximum adsorption force of the bionic sucker is increased by 12.2% in the air and 25.2% underwater. The adsorption force of bionic sucker becomes larger with the increase in the groove number; when the groove number increases to a certain extent, the adsorption force becomes smaller. The deformation of non-smooth morphology during adsorption makes the bionic sucker have a larger contact area. That is the reason why the bionic sucker has good adsorption performance. The bionic design of sucker can provide a new method to improve its adsorption.

Group-Sparsity-Based Super-Resolution Dipole Orientation Mapping

The dipole orientation of fluorophores could be resolved by fluorescence polarization microscopy (FPM), which in turn reveals structural specificity for the labeled organelles. Conventional FPM can detect only the averaged fluorescence anisotropy collected from dipoles within the diffraction-limited volume. Super-resolution dipole orientation mapping (SDOM) method, which applies sparse deconvolution and least square estimation to fluorescence polarization modulation data, achieves the dipole orientation measurement within a sub-diffraction focal area. However, during SDOM analysis, some pixels with fluorescence signal are not resolved with orientation for relatively small adjusted R². Here we report group-sparsity-based SDOM (GS-SDOM), which utilizes the relevance of modulation sequences to effectively improve the SDOM reconstruction model. More credible resolved dipole orientations with higher adjusted R² can be mapped and false positive estimation for local dipole orientation is vitally corrected. In addition to achieving the same spatial super-resolution as SDOM does, GS-SDOM accesses more morphological information with more credible orientations and more accurate local dipole distribution estimation. During the GS-SDOM analysis of actin filaments in mammalian kidney cells, the dipole orientation of fluorescence is detected always parallel to the direction of the actin filaments. Also with dipole orientation information extracted by GS-SDOM, the reconstructed visual circle from intensity dimension is discerned as jointed by double close filaments and 3-dimensional co-localization is accomplished in the intersection of actin filaments.

Super-resolution imaging of fluorescent dipoles via polarized structured illumination microscopy

Fluorescence polarization microscopy images both the intensity and orientation of fluorescent dipoles and plays a vital role in studying molecular structures and dynamics of bio-complexes. However, current techniques remain difficult to resolve the dipole assemblies on subcellular structures and their dynamics in living cells at super-resolution level. Here we report polarized structured illumination microscopy (pSIM), which achieves super-resolution imaging of dipoles by interpreting the dipoles in spatio-angular hyperspace. We demonstrate the application of pSIM on a series of biological filamentous systems, such as cytoskeleton networks and λ-DNA, and report the dynamics of short actin sliding across a myosin-coated surface. Further, pSIM reveals the side-by-side organization of the actin ring structures in the membrane-associated periodic skeleton of hippocampal neurons and images the dipole dynamics of green fluorescent protein-labeled microtubules in live U2OS cells. pSIM applies directly to a large variety of commercial and home-built SIM systems with various imaging modality.

Polarization microscopy has been combined with single-molecule localization, but it’s often limited in either speed or resolution. Here the authors present polarized Structured Illumination Microscopy (pSIM), a method that uses polarized laser excitation to measure dye orientation during fast super-resolution live cell imaging.

DFT Study into the Influence of Carbon Material on the Hydrophobicity of a Coal Pyrite Surface

From the macroscopic point of view, the hydrophilicity of symbiotic carbon pyrite is weakened overall compared to that of pure pyrite. It is very important to explain the impact of elemental carbon accreted on a pyrite surface on the surface's hydrophobicity from the perspective of quantum chemistry. To study the influence of adsorbed carbon atoms on the hydrophilicity of a coal pyrite surface versus a pyrite surface, the adsorption of a single water molecule at an adjacent Fe site of a one-carbon-atom-covered pyrite surface and a carbon atom monolayer were simulated and calculated with the first-principles method of density functional theory (DFT). The water molecules can be stably adsorbed at the adjacent Fe site of the carbon-atom-covered pyrite surface. The hybridization of the O 2p (H2O) and Fe 3d (pyrite surface) orbitals was the main interaction between the water molecule and the pyrite surface, forming a strong Fe-O covalent bond. The water molecule only slightly adsorbs above a C atom on the carbon-atom-covered pyrite and the carbon atom monolayer surfaces. The valence bond between the water molecule and the pyrite surface changed from an Fe-O bond to an Fe-C-O bond, in which the C-O bond is very weak, resulting in a weaker interaction between water and the surface.

Complex vectorial optics through gradient index lens cascades

Graded index (GRIN) lenses are commonly used for compact imaging systems. It is not widely appreciated that the ion-exchange process that creates the rotationally symmetric GRIN lens index profile also causes a symmetric birefringence variation. This property is usually considered a nuisance, such that manufacturing processes are optimized to keep it to a minimum. Here, rather than avoiding this birefringence, we understand and harness it by using GRIN lenses in cascade with other optical components to enable extra functionality in commonplace GRIN lens systems. We show how birefringence in the GRIN cascades can generate vector vortex beams and foci, and how it can be used advantageously to improve axial resolution. Through using the birefringence for analysis, we show that the GRIN cascades form the basis of a new single-shot Müller matrix polarimeter with potential for endoscopic label-free cancer diagnostics. The versatility of these cascades opens up new technological directions.

The manufacturing process for GRIN lenses causes a symmetric birefringence variation which is considered a deficiency. Here, the authors show how this birefringence can generate vector vortex beams and form the basis of a Müller matrix polarimeter with potential for endoscopic label-free cancer diagnostics.

Current diagnosis and management of Crohn's disease in China: results from a multicenter prospective disease registry

Background

This study aimed to understand the disease characteristics and treatment outcomes of Crohn’s disease (CD) in a real-world setting in China.

Methods

In this prospective, non-interventional, multicenter disease registry, adults (≥18 years) with existing and newly diagnosed CD were recruited from 14 medical centers across China from January 2015 to January 2017. The study consisted of the enrollment and follow-up periods, of 12 months each. Demographic, clinical characteristics, diagnostic duration and management of CD at enrollment were evaluated. Logistic regression analysis and stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis used to assess the relationship between the risk factors and CD.

Results

Of 504 enrolled patients, 499 (99.0%) were eligible for analysis. The mean (SD) age at study enrollment was 32.3 (11.43) years and the majority (69.7%) of participants were male. In the past 15 years, a sustained decrease of the period of time in the diagnosis of CD was observed, at about 39.4 (24.11) months in 2010, which decreased to 3.1 (2.13) months in 2015. The most common presenting symptoms of CD included abdominal pain (78.0%), diarrhea (58.1%), weight loss (52.9%) and fever (30.1%). Oral ulcer (19.4%) and arthritis (9.8%) were the most common extra-intestinal manifestations. Non-stricturing non-penetrating (B1) (49.9%) behavior and ileocolonic involvement (L3) (56.2%) location were more frequent. Perianal disease was observed in 29.1% of the patients. Around 23.8% (119/499) patients had CD-related surgery other than perianal disease surgery. Older age at enrollment, longer disease course, complicated disease behavior and absence of perianal disease were all surgery risk factors (p < 0.05). The most common medications was immunomodulators (e.g., azathioprine) (41.5%), anti-TNFα agents (32.9%) and aminosalicylates (20.6%). The mean (SD) Crohn’s Disease Active Index (CDAI) score was 159.1 (91.45) and almost half of the patients (49.1%, 81/165) were in remission.

Conclusions

This study demonstrated the CD-disease characteristics, risk factors of CD-related surgery and perianal disease, and treatment strategies in a real-world setting in China and may help in developing programs to diagnose and manage patients with CD.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12876-019-1057-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Research on the Effect of Carbon Defects on the Hydrophilicity of Coal Pyrite Surface from the Insight of Quantum Chemistry

To investigate the effect of carbon defects on the hydrophilicity of the whole surface of the coal pyrite, the adsorption of the single H2O molecule at different sites of the coal pyrite surface was studied with the DFT calculation. It was found that, like the ideal pyrite, the single H2O molecule can stably adsorb at the doping-position, the ortho-position and the meta-position of the coal pyrite. The covalent bond and anti-bond were formed between O (water molecule) and Fe (the coal pyrite) through the Fe 3d orbital and O 2p orbital. Meanwhile, the S-H bond was replaced by the C-H bond. But away from the carbon defect centre, the adsorption of the single H2O molecule increased gradually and the Fe-O covalent bond strength between the single H2O molecule and the pyrite strengthened, which eventually became close to that of the undoped coal pyrite surface.

The MEDEA FAR-EAST Study: Conceptual framework, methods and first findings of a multicenter cross-sectional observational study

BACKGROUND

The substantial increase in cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in China over the last three decades warrants comprehensive preventive primary and secondary strategies. Prolonged prehospital delay (PHD) has been identified as a substantial barrier to timely therapeutic interventions for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Despite worldwide efforts to decrease the patient's decision-making time, minimal change has been achieved so far. Here, we aim to describe the conceptual framework and methods and outline key data of the MEDEA FAR-EAST Study, which aimed to elucidate in-depth barriers contributing to delay in Chinese AMI-patients.

METHODS

Data sources of this multicenter cross-sectional observational study are a standardized bedside interview, a self-administered tailored questionnaire tool and the patient chart. PHD was defined as the main outcome and triangulated at bedside. Standard operation procedures ensured uniform data collection by trained study personnel. The study was ethically approved by Tongji-Hospital and applied to all participating hospitals.

RESULTS

Among 379 consecutively screened patients, 296 (78.1%) fulfilled eligibility criteria. A total of 241 (81.4%) AMI-patients were male and 55 (18.6%) female. Mean age was 62.9 years. Prehospital delay time was assessed for 294 (99.3%) patients. Overall median PHD was 151 min with no significant sex difference. Symptom mismatch was present in 200 (69.7%) patients and 106 (39.0%) patients did not attribute their symptoms to cardiac origin. A total of 33 (12.4%) patients suffered from depression, 31 (11.7%) from anxiety and 141 (53.2%) patients employed denial as their major coping style.

CONCLUSION

This is the first study on prehospital delay with emphasis on psychological variables in Chinese AMI-patients. A comprehensive assessment tool to measure clinical and psychological factors was successfully implemented. Socio-demographic key data proved a good fit into preexisting Chinese literature. Potential barriers including cardiac denial and symptom-mismatch were assessed for the first time in Chinese AMI-patients. The pretested selection of instruments allows future in depth investigations into barriers to delay of Chinese AMI-patients and enables inter-cultural comparisons.