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Background: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and clinical value of real time three‐dimensional echocardiography (RT‐3DE) for assessing ventricular systolic dysfunction and dyssynchrony in children with an functional single right ventricle (FSRV) having undergone the Fontan procedure. Methods: Twenty‐five children with an FSRV and 25 healthy children were enrolled in our study. RV volume analysis was performed compared with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the reference standard in FSRV patients. The patients were divided into wide and narrow QRS interval groups. Global and regional functions of the RV in three compartments (inflow, body, and outflow) were compared between FSRV and control subjects, including RV systolic dyssynchrony indices of maximal difference of time to minimal volume (Tmsv‐Dif), standard deviation of time to minimal volume (Tmsv‐SD), maximal difference of time to minimal volume corrected by R‐R interval (Tmsv‐Dif%), and standard deviation of time to minimal volume corrected by R‐R interval (Tmsv‐SD%). Results: RT‐3DE measurements were significantly lower than MRI measurements for RV‐EDV, RV‐ESV, RV‐SV, and RVEF (p < 0.01).Compared with controls, patients with an FRSV had significantly higher dyssynchrony indices and significantly lower global EF in both narrow QRS interval and wide QRS interval groups. Tmsv‐SD% was shown to be most strongly correlated with MRI‐RVEF (r = −.570, p = 0.003). Conclusions: RT‐3DE tended to underestimate RV ventricular volume in children with FSRV. Children with an FSRV and either a wide or narrow QRS interval had reduced ventricular function and higher dyssynchrony than normal subjects. Worsening RV dyssynchrony is associated with overall decline in function after the Fontan operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To investigate secular trends in severe periodontitis incidence, prevalence and disability‐adjusted life year (DALY) rates in China, India, Japan, South Korea and Thailand from 1990 to 2017. Materials and Methods: Data were obtained from the "Global Burden of Disease Study" 2017. The annual percentage change and average annual percentage change were calculated using Joinpoint regression analysis. The independent age, period and cohort effects were estimated by age–period–cohort analysis. Results: From 1990 to 2017, the overall age‐standardized incidence, prevalence and DALY rates increased in China, Japan and India, while decreasing in South Korea and Thailand. The highest incidence, prevalence and DALY rates were in India. By APC analysis, the age effect presented increase in 20–59 years in China, Japan and South Korea, 20–54 years in India and 20–64 years in Thailand; the period effect showed progressive increases in five countries, with the most significant increase shown in China; the cohort effect showed monotonic decreases with birth cohort in five countries. Conclusions: Severe periodontitis poses a serious burden in Asian countries, especially China and India. We suggest raising people's awareness of periodontal health and providing professional interventions in these countries, especially for high‐risk groups, such as younger people aged ≤65 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: During uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP), cardiovascular adverse events may occur which can be harmful to patients.Objective: To evaluate the effect of the protective ventilation strategy on the function of vascular endothelial cells.Methods: Forty obstructive apnea syndrome (OSA) patients who underwent uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) were enrolled. Patients were randomly divided into the control group (group C, PEEP = 0 cm H2O) and PEEP group (group P, PEEP = 5 cm H2O). Each group (n= 20) received intermittent volume controlled ventilation (VCV) with tidal volume 6 ml/kg of the predicted body weight, I:E 1:2, rate titrated for ETCO2 35-45, FiO2 0.7. Blood from the radial artery was sampled for blood gas analysis at four time points: the fifth minute of inhaling pure oxygen (T0), after tracheal intubation (T1), at the end of the operation (T2), and 20 minutes after extubation (T3). Three ml of arterial blood was retained, preserved at -20∘C after serum isolation, and plasma nitric oxide (NO), endothelin-1 (ET-1) and vascular celladhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) levels were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results: Compared with group C, plasma ET-1 at T3 decreased in group P, and plasma NO levels at T2 and T3 increased (P< 0.05). Compared with samples collected at T0, plasma VCAM-1 levels at T1, T2 and T3 increased in group C, while plasma VCAM-1 levels at T2 and T3 decreased in group P (P< 0.05). Compared with group C, plasma VCAM-1 levels T2 and T3 decreased in group P (P< 0.05).Conclusions: Positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) ventilation has a protective effect on vascular endothelial cell function in patients during UPPP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes the nonnegative adaptive lasso method for variable selection both in the classical fixed p setting (OLS initial estimator) and the ultra-high dimensional setting (root-n-consistent initial estimator). This method is an extension of the adaptive lasso with nonnegative constraint on the coefficients. It is shown to have asymptotic unbiasedness, asymptotic normality and variable selection consistency and its mean squared error decays fast too. Comparing with other procedures, nonnegative adaptive lasso satisfies oracle properties and can select the true variables under fewer assumptions. To get the solution of the nonnegative adaptive lasso, we extend the multiplicative approach for computing. This algorithm is valid for the general framework where the number of regression parameters p is allowed to very large. Simulations are performed to illustrate above results. The constrained index tracking problem in the stock market without short sales is studied in the empirical part. A two-stage method, nonnegative adaptive lasso + nonnegative LS, is applied in the financial modeling. The tracking results indicate that nonnegative adaptive lasso and the two-stage method can both get small tracking error and is successful in assets selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze whether urine output and urinalysis results are predictive of survival and neurologic outcomes in patients with non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Methods: Information was obtained from 1,340 patients with non-traumatic OHCA who had achieved a sustained return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). Factors that were associated with survival in the post-resuscitative period were evaluated. The association between urine output and fluid challenge in the early resuscitative period was analyzed and compared between the survivors and the non-survivors. The results of the initial urinalysis, including the presence of proteinuria and other findings, were used to evaluate the severity of vascular protein leakage and survival. The association between proteinuria and the neurologic outcomes of the survivors was also analyzed. The clinical features of capillary leakage were examined during the post-resuscitative period. Results: Of the 1,340 patients, 312 survived. A greater urine output was associated with a higher chance of survival. The initial urine output increased in proportion to the amount of fluid that was administered during early resuscitation in the emergency department for the survivors but not for the non-survivors (p<0.05). In the initial urinalysis, proteinuria was strongly associated with survival, and severe proteinuria indicated significantly poorer neurologic outcomes (p<0.05 for both comparisons). Proteinuria was associated with a risk of developing signs of capillary leakage, including body mass index gain and pitting edema (both p<0.001). Conclusion: The severity of proteinuria during the early post-resuscitative period was predictive of survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify whether whole-tumour histogram analysis of pharmacokinetic parameters from dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) could predict T-stage and regional lymph node metastasis (LNM) of resectable oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).Materials and Methods: Forty-two consecutive patients with confirmed oesophageal SCC underwent thoracic DCE-MRI. Histogram metrics (median, mean, standard deviation [SD], skewness, kurtosis and entropy) of whole-tumour pharmacokinetic parameters including endothelial transfer constant (Ktrans), reflux rate (Kep) and fractional extravascular extracellular space volume (Ve) were generated by the Omni-Kinetics software. Histogram datasets were interpreted using the Mann-Whitney U test and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) statistical analyses.Results: The Mann-Whitney U tests revealed that the median, mean and SD of Ktrans, the SD and entropy of Kep, and the median, mean and entropy of Ve of T1-2 stage oesophageal SCC were lower when compared with T3 stage (all Ps < 0.05); and the ROC analysis showed that the entropy of Ve could reliably distinguish T1-2 stage from T3 stage with an area under ROC (AUC) of 0.773. The Mann-Whitney U tests illustrated that the entropy of Ktrans, and the median, mean, SD and entropy of Kep were higher while the skewness of Kep was lower in tumours with LNM than without LNM (all Ps < 0.05); and the ROC analysis demonstrated that the SD of Kep could best identify tumours with LNM with an AUC of 0.702.Conclusion: Whole-tumour histogram analysis of pharmacokinetic parameters of oesophageal SCC on DCE-MRI could be used to predict T-stage and regional LNM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The H2S removal capacity of copper loadedon a numberof titanosilicate supports was investigated. Copper supported on EngelhardTitanosilicate-2 (Cu-ETS-2) has been found to be a superior H2S scavenger for maintaining H2S levels below 0.5ppm because of its high cation exchange capacity and copper dispersion.Cu-ETS-2 demonstrated higher utilization at room temperature whencompared to fully developed commercial H2S adsorbents.In addition it was found that the adsorption capacity of Cu-ETS-2is maintained over a wide range of activation temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invariant NKT (iNKT) cells are innate-like lymphocytes that recognize glycolipid antigens in the context of the MHC class I-like antigen-presenting molecule CD1d. In vivo activation of mouse iNKT cells with the glycolipid alpha-galactosylceramide (alpha-GalCer) results in the acquisition of a hyporesponsive (anergic) phenotype by these cells. Because iNKT cells can become activated in the context of infectious agents, here we evaluated whether iNKT cell activation by microorganisms can influence subsequent responses of these cells to glycolipid antigen stimulation. We found that mouse iNKT cells activated in vivo by multiple bacterial microorganisms, or by bacterial LPS or flagellin, became unresponsive to subsequent activation with alpha-GalCer. This hyporesponsive phenotype of iNKT cells required IL-12 expression and was associated with changes in the surface phenotype of these cells, reduced severity of concanavalin A-induced hepatitis, and alterations in the therapeutic activities of alpha-GalCer. These findings may have important implications for the development of iNKT cell-based therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural killer T (NKT) cells recognize glycolipid antigens presented by the MHC class I-related glycoprotein CD1d. The in vivo dynamics of the NKT cell population in response to glycolipid activation remain poorly understood. Here, we show that a single administration of the synthetic glycolipid alpha-galactosylceramide (alpha-GalCer) induces long-term NKT cell unresponsiveness in mice. NKT cells failed to proliferate and produce IFN-gamma upon alpha-GalCer restimulation but retained the capacity to produce IL-4. Consequently, we found that activation of anergic NKT cells with alpha-GalCer exacerbated, rather than prevented, B16 metastasis formation, but that these cells retained their capacity to protect mice against experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. NKT cell anergy was induced in a thymus-independent manner and maintained in an NKT cell-autonomous manner. The anergic state could be broken by IL-2 and by stimuli that bypass proximal TCR signaling events. Collectively, the kinetics of initial NKT cell activation, expansion, and induction of anergy in response to alpha-GalCer administration resemble the responses of conventional T cells to strong stimuli such as superantigens. Our findings have important implications for the development of NKT cell-based vaccines and immunotherapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]