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The development of potassium‐ion batteries (KIBs) relies on the exploration of stable layer‐structured oxide cathode materials and a comprehensive understanding of ion storage and diffusion behaviors. A multiphase riveting‐structured O3/P2/P3‐Na0.9[Ni0.3Mn0.55Cu0.1Ti0.05]O2 (Tri‐NMCT) is employed as cathode material for KIBs. It demonstrates an initial discharge specific capacity of 108 mA g−1 at current density of 15 mA g−1 in the voltage range of 1.5–4 V. Excellent cyclic stability is exhibited as well with a high 83% capacity retention after 600 cycles at a higher current density of 300 mA g−1. Based on the in‐situ XRD, it reveals that the P2 phase offers a more stable triangular prism site compared to the O3 phase. This stability inhibits the undesired phase transition from P3 to O3 during discharge, thereby ensuring the long‐term cyclic performance. Furthermore, Density of state (DOS) calculations and migration barrier analyses indicate a preferential migration of K+ ions to the P2 phase due to the lower Fermi level. This observation elucidates the structural preservation of the P3 phase during K+ embedding. Overall, this work sheds light on Tri‐NMCT as a promising cathode material for advanced KIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graves ophthalmopathy(GO)is the most common and relatively complicated orbital diseases, and the incidence rate is increasing year by year. Severe GO may present with exposure keratopathy, diplopia and compressive optic neuropathy, which seriously affects influences patients quality of life. At present, orbital decompression is an effective method in the treatment of moderate and severe GO, and with the continuous expansion of indications for orbital decompression, more and more patients with mild and moderate GO with exophthalmos require surgical treatment to improve the appearance. There are many different surgical techniques for orbital decompression, and which one can achieve patients' maximum benefit is a frequently encountered clinical problem for ophthalmologist. With the gradual increase of the amount of surgery, complications become increasingly prominent, which affect postoperative satisfaction of patients. In order to deepen the understanding of complications, avoid or reduce the occurrence of complications, and optimize the operation plan, this paper reviews the relevant literature at home and abroad in recent years, and summarizes the selection of operation methods and operation related complications of orbital decompression in GO patients.

Although the suspension gap between a maglev train and its track is narrow, it has a significant impact on the aerodynamic performance of the train. This study investigated the effect of the suspension gap on the wake flow of a superconducting maglev train traveling at a speed of 600 km/h by comparing the aerodynamics and flow field structure of a tail car (TC) with suspension gaps of 8, 10, 12, and 14 cm. The results showed that with increasing suspension gap, the vortex structures in the wake region move closer to the TC, the airflow from the suspension gap inhibits the high-pressure region of the wake, and the pressure and velocity fluctuations significantly increase near the nose tip of the TC. Moreover, the suspension gap was found to have a significant impact on lift and almost no effect on drag. Increasing the suspension gap leads to a balance in the lift between the head car (HC) and the TC; as the gap continues to increase, the lift ratio of the HC and TC rapidly decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AIM:To investigate the characteristics of color Doppler sonography and MRI in orbital solitary fibrous tumor(SFT). METHODS: It was a retrospective case series study. A total of 12 cases of orbital solitary fibrous tumors were recruited from April 2013 to August 2018 in Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital. Color Doppler sonography and MRI plain scan and DCE-MRI were applied in all cases. RESULTS: Of 12 cases, 7 cases were males and 5 were females, with the duration of symptoms ranged from 3mo-20y, with an average course of 3.2y; 6 cases were the primary cases and 6 cases were relapse cases. All lesions involved one side of the orbit, of which 8 cases were in the left orbit and 4 in the right. Of 12 cases, there were 5 tumors in intraconal space, 3 in the extraconal space, and 4 in intra and extraconal space. Well-circumscribed lesions showed oval shape in 9 cases and the left 3 were irregular. 12 cases showed hypoechoic and 2 cases heterogeneous signal on color Doppler sonography; All cases had flow signals on CDFI, and showed arterial spectrum on PW. On T1WI, all lesions demonstrated isointense. On T2WI, 5 lesions showed hypointense, 3 lesions showed isointense and 4 lesions slight hyperintense, of which 3 lesions showed heterogeneous signal. After contrast enhancement, all cases demonstrated markedly enhancement, with homogeneous enhancement in 10 cases and heterogeneous enhancement in 2 cases. The time-intensity curves(TIC)of 7 cases exhibited a rapid washout pattern, and 5 cases a rapid plateau pattern on DCE-MRI. CONCLUSION: Color Doppler sonography features of orbital SFT include hypoechoic and flow signals. Heterogeneous signals on T2WI, marked enhancement, and a rapidly enhancing and slow washout pattern TIC on DCE-MRI are the typical MRI features of orbital SFT.

AIM: To evaluate the effects, advantages, disadvantages, and indications of infrabrow skin excision to correct upper eyelid dermatochalasis in middle-aged and elderly Chinese women.METHODS: Sixty eyelids in 30 patients were subjected to this surgical procedure from January to June 2018. All patients had upper eyelid dermatochalasis, and the functions of their levator palpebrae were all normal. The primary indications of the procedure were upper lid dermatochalasis with lateral hooding. All 30 patients underwent infrabrow skin excision at Shanxi Eye Hospital. The degree of skin relaxation before and after surgery was evaluated in all patients, and surgical outcomes and postoperative complications were also assessed.RESULTS: All patients were female, ranging from 40 to 64(mean: 53.20±7.10)years old. Skin relaxation of the upper eyelid was improved in all 30 patients. One month after the operation, 52 lids(86.7%)showed good results and 8 lids(13.33%)showed fair results. The objective Strasser system was applied to evaluate surgical results at 1 and 6mo. All patients had scores between 0 and 1 point, indicating good results. Preoperative unsatisfactory position and shape of the eyebrows were improved, and crow's feet and frontal lines were reduced. All patients were satisfied with the results. No complications related to wound dehiscence, lagophthalmos, or hypertrophic scars were observed.CONCLUSION: Infrabrow skin excision is a simple, useful operation to reconstruct the upper eyelids in selected patients of Chinese ancestry. This procedure not only retains the advantages of classic blepharoplasty, but also alleviates many eyebrow problems at the same time, and maintains the original shape of the eyelid, minimizes scarring, and produces a smoother, more youthful appearance.

The aim of the study was to validate a modified International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 based algorithm for identifying hospitalized patients with sepsis.Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a prospective, single-center cohort of adult patients who were consecutively admitted to one medical ICU ward and ten non-ICU wards with suspected or confirmed infections during a 6-month period. A modified ICD-10 based algorithm was validated against a reference standard of Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score based on Sepsis-3. Sensitivity (SE), specificity (SP), positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) were calculated for modified ICD-10 criteria, eSOFA criteria, Martin's criteria, and Angus's criteria.Results: Of the 547 patients in the cohort, 332 (61%) patients met Sepsis-3 criteria and 274 (50%) met modified ICD-10 criteria. In the ICU setting, modified ICD-10 criteria had SE (84.47%), SP (88.57%), PPV (95.60), and NPV (65.96). In non-ICU settings, modified ICD-10 had SE (64.19%), SP (80.00%), PPV (80.33), and NPV (63.72). In the whole cohort, the AUROCs of modified ICD-10 criteria, eSOFA, Angus's criteria, and Martin's criteria were 0.76, 0.75, 0.62, and 0.62, respectively.Conclusion: This study demonstrated that modified ICD-10 criteria had higher validity compared with Angus's criteria and Martin's criteria. Validity of the modified ICD-10 criteria was similar to eSOFA criteria. Modified ICD-10 algorithm can be used to provide an accurate estimate of population-based sepsis burden of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to evaluate the genetic variation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) as risk factor in development of Graves' disease (GD) and Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) among Chinese individuals. Patients with confirmed diagnosis of GD or healthy individuals with no clinical symptoms of hyperthyroiditis were enrolled at the Department of Ophthalmology, Tianjin First Center Hospital, China. Genetic polymorphism was studied in plasma DNA samples of subjects by polymerase chain reaction of restriction fragment length polymorphism to confirm our hypothesis. Cytokine levels were measured routinely on serum samples of subjects by sandwich ELISA technique. Patients with GG genotype (odds ratio (OR) 95% CI = 2.25 (1.35-3.73), p = 0.002) and carriers of G allele (OR = 2.03 (1.23-3.36), p = 0.006) were at high risk of developing ophthalmopathy. Polymorphism of del/ins of nuclear factor-K[kappa]1 gene (NF[kappa]B1) gene (OR = 7.1 (2.88-17.52), p < 0.0001) and PARP-1 C410T polymorphism was found to be associated with GO (p < 0.05). Cytokine level was significantly higher in patients with GD (p < 0.05), but no significant change in cytokines level among GO patients from baseline (p > 0.05). Our study results recommended that polymorphism of PARP-1 gene is more likely responsible for development of GD in Chinese individuals. We also observed that the polymorphism of gene-related del/ins to NF[kappa]B1 in development of GO. Key words: poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1, Graves' disease, Graves' ophthalmopathy, cytokine, polymorphism, gene, genetic polymorphism. Resume: Nous visions a evaluer la variation genetique de la poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) comme facteur de risque de la maladie de Graves (MG) et de l'ophtalmopathie de Graves (OG) chez des Chinois. Nous avons inscrit a l'etude des patients porteurs d'un diagnostic de MG confirme ou des personnes en bonne sante sans symptomes d'hyperthyroidie dans le service d'ophtalmologie du Premier Hopital central de Tianjin, en Chine. Pour confirmer notre hypothese, nous avons etudie le polymorphisme genetique dans des echantillons plasmatiques d'ADN des sujets a l'aide de l'amplification en chaine par polymerase du polymorphisme des sites de restriction. Nous avons mesure de routine les taux de cytokines dans des echantillons de serum des sujets a l'aide de la technique immunoenzymatique en sandwich. Les patients presentant un genotype GG (rapport de cotes (RC) = 2,25 avec IC a 95 % de 1,35 a 3,73, p = 0,002) et les porteurs de l'allele G (RC = 2,03 (1,23 a 3,36), p = 0,006) etaient exposes a un risque eleve de presenter une ophtalmopathie. Nous avons observe que le polymorphisme de type del/ins du gene du facteur nucleaire [kappa]B1 (NF[kappa]B1) (RC = 7,1 (2,88 a 17,52), p < 0,0001) et le polymorphisme C410T du gene de la PARP-1 etaient associes a l'OG (p < 0,05). Les taux de cytokines etaient nettement plus eleves chez les patients atteints de MG (p < 0,05), mais nous n'avons observe aucune variation notable des taux de cytokines chez les patients atteints d'OG depuis le debut de l'etude (p > 0,05). Les resultats de notre etude montrent que le polymorphisme du gene de la PARP-1 est plus susceptible d'etre responsable de l'apparition de la MG chez les Chinois. Nous avons aussi observe que le polymorphisme (del/ins) du gene NF[kappa]B1 est associe a la presentation de l'OG. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1, maladie de Graves, ophtalmopathie de Graves, cytokine, polymorphisme, gene, polymorphisme genetique., Introduction Graves' disease (GD) is a polygenic multifactorial autoimmune disease that occurs in approximately 3-11 per 1000 people in Chinese populations (Liu et al. 2014a). GD is characterized by thyroid [...]

Economical efficient anode materials play an important role in low‐temperature sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs). Tunnel‐type structured Na2Ti6O13@C nanowires were synthesized and utilized as anode material for low‐temperature SIBs. The appropriate interlayer spacing for sodium ion insertion and short diffusion pathway can accelerate the sodium ion kinetics and decrease the apparent activation energy at low temperature. The diffusion apparent activation energy and activation energy for Na2Ti6O13@C were calculated to be 42.0 kJ mol−1 and 15.3 kJ mol−1 with the sodium ion diffusion coefficients about 10−12 cm2 s−1. The Na2Ti6O13@C nanowires exhibit a high reversible capacity of 100 mAh g−1 at 0 °C with 99.6 % retention after 200 cycles at 0.5 C. Coupling with the sodium vanadium phosphate as cathode, the assembled Na2Ti6O13@C||NVP full‐cell can keep a 65 % capacity retention after 175 cycles at 0 °C. This work presents that Na2Ti6O13@C nanowires can be an ideal type of anode active materials for low‐temperature SIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel ZrSn1−xCoxO4−δ catalysts for the direct decomposition of nitrous oxide (N2O) were synthesized using a co‐precipitation method. Metastable ZrSnO4 with an α‐PbO2‐type structure was used as the mother solid because of its interstitial open spaces derived from its lattice distortion that may be effective for N2O adsorption. The doping of Co2+/3+ into the ZrSnO4 lattice improved the N2O decomposition activity, likely owing to the enhancement of the redox properties and the increase in the number of oxygen vacancies. Among the prepared catalysts, Zr1.17Sn0.73Co0.10O4−δ exhibited the highest activity decomposing N2O completely decomposed at 550°C. In addition, the Zr1.17Sn0.73Co0.10O4−δ catalyst showed high durability in the presence of CO2, O2, and H2O vapor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Serum Krebs von den Lungen‐6 (KL‐6) has been reported to be elevated in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of KL‐6 and whether the expression value of KL‐6 could indicate the severity of the disease in IPF patients. To address this question, it is necessary to see whether the patients' physical characteristics and other clinical conditions could affect the baseline KL‐6 level. Design We conducted a study of 100 patients who were diagnosed with IPF. Lung function, computed tomography (CT), and serological lab tests data were analyzed. Results: The tests showed that there is a significant elevation of KL‐6 in IPF patients compared with other interstitial lung disease (ILD) and healthy controls. It was noted that serum KL‐6 is a stable biomarker not affected by lung infection and smoking, though IPF patients with antinuclear antibody (ANA) showed higher KL‐6 levels. KL‐6, in conjunction with poor pulmonary function and higher radiological fibrosis scores, indicates the severity of the disease but not poor survival. Conclusions: It is identified that serum KL‐6 is a useful noninvasive biomarker to help improve the certainty of IPF diagnosis from other interstitial lung disease and assist evaluation of disease severity and prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coherent structures in surrounding flows around ground vehicles play an important role in characterizing their aerodynamic features. However, due to restrictions of traditional reduced-order models, extracting physically meaningful coherent structures from turbulent flows with massive separation still remains a challenging issue. The spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD), which extracts modes optimally representing the space-time flow statistics, enables the feasibility of further modeling and control of vehicle aerodynamic features. This study intends to investigate the influence of spectral estimation parameters on SPOD results, so as to serve as fundamentals for future works into this topic. The time-resolved pressure field obtained from a large-eddy simulation considering a generic high-speed train is used as the snapshot database. Spectral estimation parameters including block number, frequency resolution, and cutoff frequency are, respectively, discussed to quantify their impacts on both SPOD spectra and modes. The results reveal that, with the increasing of block number, higher reliability and accuracy of SPOD prediction can be achieved, with the block number of 20–30 that leads both requirements of efficiency and precision. The frequency axis with finer resolution reproduces more detailed spectral information, with the eigenvalue distribution and spatial distribution of mode energy under acceptable accuracy when dimensionless frequency resolution reaches 0.025. Moreover, the reducing of cutoff frequency results in increasing unresolved energy content, which will be distributed mostly near the corresponding cutoff frequency, and more minor scaled spatial structures in SPOD modes. The findings and approaches could also work as references for wider application field of SPOD approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released simplified eSOFA organ dysfunction criteria of Adult Sepsis Event for sepsis surveillance in the US. Our study aimed to compare the prevalence, characteristics, and outcomes of sepsis patients identified by eSOFA criteria versus Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) Score (Sepsis-3) and assess the external validity of eSOFA criteria in China. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult residents of Yuetan Subdistrict, Beijing, China, who were hospitalized from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2014. Among patients with infection, sepsis was identified if there was a concurrent rise in SOFA score by 2 or more points (Sepsis-3) or the presence of 1 or more eSOFA criteria: vasopressor initiation, mechanical ventilation initiation, doubling in creatinine, doubling in bilirubin to 2.0 mg/dL or above, 50% or greater decrease in platelet count to less than 100 cells/μL, or lactate equal to or above 2.0 mmol/L. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) for in-hospital mortality were compared between sepsis patients detected by the two criteria, adjusting for baseline characteristics. Results: Of 1716 hospitalized patients with infection, 935 (54.5%) met Sepsis-3 criteria, 573 (33.4%) met eSOFA criteria, while 475 (27.7%) met both criteria. Demographic and clinical characteristics of sepsis patients meeting Sepsis-3 or eSOFA criteria were similar. In-hospital mortality was higher with eSOFA criteria versus Sepsis-3 (46.6% vs. 32.0%, p < 0.001). eSOFA criteria had high PPV (82.9%), but low sensitivity (50.8%) for the diagnosis of Sepsis-3. Patients meeting both criteria had the highest in-hospital mortality rate (52.8%, all p < 0.001), while patients who only met eSOFA criteria had higher mortality rate than those meeting Sepsis-3 alone (16.3% vs. 10.4%, p = 0.097). The predicted probability for in-hospital mortality was higher with eSOFA criteria versus Sepsis-3 (AUROC 0.830 vs. 0.795, p = 0.001) adjusting for baseline characteristics. Conclusions: The CDC Adult Sepsis Event's eSOFA criteria identify a smaller, more severely ill cohort of sepsis patients with similar demographic and clinical characteristics as the more complex Sepsis-3 SOFA score. These results suggest similar performance of eSOFA criteria across diverse populations, with low sensitivity and high specificity for the diagnosis of Sepsis-3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Findings: •What is the central question of this study?The aim was to explore the effects and underlying mechanisms of H2 on bleomycin‐induced pulmonary fibrosis.•What are the main findings and its importance?Our results indicate that, in bleomycin‐induced pulmonary fibrosis, H2 inhalation attenuated oxidative stress and reversed the pulmonary epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition process by reducing reactive oxygen species production and inhibiting the expression of transforming growth factor‐β1, α‐smooth muscle actin and collagen I to improve fibrotic injury and exert anti‐fibrogenic effects. Thus, H2 inhalation has promising therapeutic potential as a useful adjuvant treatment for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which deserves further study and evaluation. Hydrogen (H2) can protect against tissue damage. The effect of H2 inhalation therapy on the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis remains unknown. This study was designed to explore the effects and underlying mechanisms of H2 inhalation on bleomycin (BLM)‐induced pulmonary fibrosis. A rat model of pulmonary fibrosis was established with BLM. Rats were randomly divided into control and H2 inhalation groups. Haematoxylin and Eosin staining and Mason's Trichrome staining were performed to evaluate pulmonary fibrosis injury, inflammatory cell infiltration, structural disorder and collagen deposition. qRT‐PCR and western blot assays were used to determine the expression of TNF‐α, TGF‐β1, α‐SMA, E‐cadherin, N‐cadherin, vimentin, VEGF and collagen type I at both mRNA and protein levels. The contents of reactive oxygen species, TGF‐β1, TNF‐α, malondialdehyde and hydroxyproline were determined with biochemical test kits or ELISA kits. Bleomycin‐stimulated rats exhibited typical symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis, which featured an increase in collagen deposition, alveolitis, fibrosis and parenchymal structural disorder in the lung. However, BLM‐induced oxidative stress was attenuated by H2 inhalation therapy, which reduced the contents of reactive oxygen species, malondialdehyde and hydroxyproline, enhanced the activity of glutathione peroxidase and decreased the expression of TGF‐β1 and TNF‐α. In addition, H2 inhalation also inhibited BLM‐induced epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition by inhibiting TGF‐β1, increasing the expression level of the epithelial cell marker E‐cadherin, and decreasing the expression level of the mesenchymal cell marker vimentin in a time‐dependent manner. In addition, H2 inhalation downregulated α‐SMA expression and suppressed collagen I generation, exerting anti‐fibrogenic effects. Hydrogen inhalation therapy attenuates BLM‐induced pulmonary fibrosis by inhibiting TGF‐β1, relevant oxidative stress and epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1-Phenyl-5-p-tolyl-1H-1, 2, 3-triazole (PPTA) was a synthesized compound. The result of acute toxicities to mice of PPTA by intragastric administration indicated that PPTA did not produce any significant acute toxic effect on Kunming strain mice. It exhibited the various potent inhibitory activities against two kinds of bananas pathogenic bacteria, black sigatoka and freckle, when compared with that of control drugs and the inhibitory rates were up to 64.14% and 43.46%, respectively, with the same concentration of 7.06 mM. The interaction of PPTA with human serum albumin (HSA) was studied using fluorescence polarization, absorption spectra, 3D fluorescence, and synchronous spectra in combination with quantum chemistry and molecular modeling. Multiple modes of interaction between PPTA and HSA were suggested to stabilize the PPTA-HSA complex, based on thermodynamic data and molecular modeling. Binding of PPTA to HSA induced perturbation in the microenvironment around HSA as well as secondary structural changes in the protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of music composition, creating polyphony is relatively one of the most difficult parts. Among them, the basis of multivoice polyphonic composition is two-part counterpoint. The main purpose of this paper is, through the computer technology, conducting a series of studies on “Two-Part Inventions” of Bach, a Baroque polyphony master. Based on digitalization, visualization and mathematical methods, data mining algorithm has been applied to identify bipartite characteristics and rules of counterpoint polyphony. We hope that the conclusions drawn from the article could be applied to the digital creation of polyphony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potassium dual-ion batteries (DIBs) have been attracting a great attention in recent years due to their promising environmental benignancy, high energy density, and long lifespan. The active materials based on conversion reaction mechanism are favorable and widely expected to alleviate the dendrite formation, red phosphorous was thus employed and fabricated into a three-dimensional porous carbon matrix anchored by P– O –C chemical bonding using vaporization–condensation–conversion process. Meanwhile, the elements modified carbon can not only guarantee the electronic conductivity and ions diffusion, but also alleviate the red phosphorous volumetric expansion and detachment. When coupled with graphite, the K-DIBs demonstrate excellent electrochemical performance with a high 213 Wh kg−1 energy density and a promising stability up to 650 cycles. This explored material will provide highly relevant insights for next-generation advanced energy storage systems. • New explored red phosphorous structure for potassium dual-ion batteries. • Inducing P– O –C chemical bonding to anchor red phosphorous for electronic conductivity and structure stability. • Excellent energy density of 213 Wh kg−1 and superior lifespan up to 650 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To facilitate drug discovery and development for the treatment of osteoporosis., Background: With global aging, osteoporosis has become a common problem threatening the health of the elderly. It is of important clinical value to explore new targets for drug intervention and develop promising drugs for the treatment of osteoporosis., Objective: To understand the major molecules that mediate the communication between the cell populations of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) in osteoporosis and osteoarthritis patients and identify potential reusable drugs for the treatment of osteoporosis., Methods: Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data of BM-MSCs in GSE147287 dataset were classified using the Seurat package. CellChat was devoted to analyzing the ligand-receptor pairs (LR pairs) contributing to the communication between BM-MSCs subsets. The LR pairs that were differentially expressed between osteoporosis samples and control samples and significantly correlated with immune score were screened in the GSE35959 dataset, and the differentially expressed gene in both GSE35959 and GSE13850 data sets were identified as targets from a single ligand or receptor. The therapeutic drugs for osteoporosis were screened by network proximity method, and the top-ranked drugs were selected for molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation with the target targets., Results: Twelve subsets of BM-MSCs were identified, of which CD45-BM-MSCS&#95;4, CD45-BM- MSCS&#95;5, and CD45+ BM-MSCs&#95;5 subsets showed significantly different distributions between osteoporosis samples and osteoarthritis samples. Six LR pairs were identified in the bidirectional communication between these three BM-MSCs subsets and other BM-MSCs subsets. Among them, MIF-CD74 and ITGB2-ICAM2 were significantly correlated with the immune score. CD74 was identified as the target, and a total of 48 drugs targeting CD47 protein were identified. Among them, DB01940 had the lowest free energy binding score with CD74 protein and the binding state was very stable., Conclusion: This study provided a new network-based framework for drug reuse and identified initial insights into therapeutic agents targeting CD74 in osteoporosis, which may be meaningful for promoting the development of osteoporosis treatment., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Recombinant human severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) monoclonal antibody JS016 showed neutralizing and therapeutic effects in preclinical studies. The clinical efficacy and safety of the therapy needed to be evaluated. In this phase 2/3, multicenter, randomized, open-label, controlled trial, hospitalized patients with moderate or severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive standard care or standard care plus a single intravenous infusion of JS016. The primary outcome was a six-level ordinal scale of clinical status on day 28 since randomization. Secondary outcomes include adverse events, 28-day mortality, ventilator-free days within 28 days, length of hospital stay, and negative conversion rate of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid on day 14. A total of 199 patients were randomized, and 197 (99 in the JS016 group and 98 in the control group) were analyzed. Most patients, 95 (96%) in the JS016 group and 97 (99%) in the control group were in the best category on day 28 since randomization. The odds ratio of being in a better clinical status was 0.31 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.03 to 3.19; P = 0.33). Few adverse events occurred in both groups (3% in the JS016 group and 1% in the control group, respectively; P = 0.34). SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody JS016 did not show clinical efficacy among hospitalized Chinese patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 disease. Further studies are needed to assess the efficacy of the neutralizing antibody to prevent disease deterioration and its benefits among groups of patients specified by disease course and severity. (This study has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under identifier NCT04931238.).

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive, fibrotic interstitial pneumonia. And, oxidation/antioxidant imbalance plays an important role in the progress of IPF. Fullerene is considered to be a novel "structural" antioxidant. This study aimed to explore if water-soluble C 60 (C 60 (OH) 22 ) can exhibit antifibrotic activity in its antioxidant role., Methods: Healthy C57BL/6J mice were randomly grouped and induced pulmonary fibrosis by intratracheal injection of bleomycin., Results: The survival rate of mice was observed and found that 10mg/kg was the optimal dose of water-soluble C 60 for pulmonary fibrosis. We observed that water-soluble C 60 can alleviate the severity of pulmonary fibrosis by observing the chest computed tomography, pulmonary pathology, and content of collagen, alpha smooth muscle actin and fibronectin in lung. Compared with bleomycin group, ROS, the content of TNF-α in BALF, and the number of fibroblasts was significantly decreased and the number of type Ⅱ alveolar epithelial cells was increased after treatment with C60., Conclusion: Therefore, thanks to its powerful antioxidant action, water-soluble C 60 can reduce the severity of pulmonary fibrosis induced by bleomycin in mice., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2020 Dong et al.)

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating disease, which is characterized by the progressive deterioration in lung function. In the pathogenesis of IPF, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) has been found to be heavily involved. Metformin, a commonly used oral antidiabetic agent, is known to inhibit IGF-1 by the reversal of hyperinsulinemia. In this study, we evaluated the effects of metformin in pulmonary fibrosis in C57/BL6J mice, and further understand the role of IGF-1 signaling pathway involving in this process. Pulmonary fibrosis was induced experimentally in these mice by the intratracheal injection of bleomycin (BLM). Metformin was given orally the day before or 14 days after bleomycin injection, while pirfenidone was used as the positive control. Our study showed that intratracheal injection of bleomycin induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice, with observed elevation in collagen, fibronectin and α-SMA level, characterized by the enhanced IGF-1 and PI3K expression. Metformin was able to inhibit these effects significantly, and its antifibrotic effect had no marked difference with pirfenidone. Our results show that metformin attenuates bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis via IGF-1 pathway., Competing Interests: None., (AJTR Copyright © 2020.)

Background: Juglans sigillata, or iron walnut, belonging to the order Juglandales, is an economically important tree species in Asia, especially in the Yunnan province of China. However, little research has been conducted on J. sigillata at the molecular level, which hinders understanding of its evolution, speciation, and synthesis of secondary metabolites, as well as its wide adaptability to its plateau environment. To address these issues, a high-quality reference genome of J. sigillata would be useful., Findings: To construct a high-quality reference genome for J. sigillata, we first generated 38.0 Gb short reads and 66.31 Gb long reads using Illumina and Nanopore sequencing platforms, respectively. The sequencing data were assembled into a 536.50-Mb genome assembly with a contig N50 length of 4.31 Mb. Additionally, we applied BioNano technology to identify contacts among contigs, which were then used to assemble contigs into scaffolds, resulting in a genome assembly with scaffold N50 length of 16.43 Mb and contig N50 length of 4.34 Mb. To obtain a chromosome-level genome assembly, we constructed 1 Hi-C library and sequenced 79.97 Gb raw reads using the Illumina HiSeq platform. We anchored ∼93% of the scaffold sequences into 16 chromosomes and evaluated the quality of our assembly using the high contact frequency heat map. Repetitive elements account for 50.06% of the genome, and 30,387 protein-coding genes were predicted from the genome, of which 99.8% have been functionally annotated. The genome-wide phylogenetic tree indicated an estimated divergence time between J. sigillata and Juglans regia of 49 million years ago on the basis of single-copy orthologous genes., Conclusions: We provide the first chromosome-level genome for J. sigillata. It will lay a valuable foundation for future research on the genetic improvement of J. sigillata., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press.)

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) associated with chronic sarcoidosis remains poorly understood, and no experimental model is currently available for this condition. Previous studies have shown that Propionibacterium acnes (PA) was associated with sarcoidosis and induced granuloma formation in mice. Here, we investigated whether repeated challenge with PA induces persistent inflammation leading to sarcoidosis followed by PF in mice. Specifically, C57BL/6 mice were inoculated intraperitoneally and subjected to intratracheal challenge with PA, and then were booster-challenged with either PA or phosphate-buffered saline on day 28. Inflammation, granulomata, and features of fibrosis were evaluated every 7 days until day 70. Complete remission of lung granulomata was apparent on day 42 in the sarcoid-remission group. However, granulomata was present from days 21 to 70 in mice that received PA boosting. Inflammatory cell counts and Th1 cytokine levels in lung lavage fluids were elevated up to day 70. Furthermore, fibrotic changes in the lungs were observed around granulomatous and peribronchovascular regions after PA boosting. Taken together, these findings suggest that development of PF following sarcoidosis may result from continuous PA infection and inflammation. Repeated boosting with PA to induce PF might be a useful model for future studies of sarcoidosis-associated PF., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest for this work.