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Aim: To investigate the association between fish oil supplementation and subsequent risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) among patients with diabetes, and further evaluate the mediation effect of typical glycolipid and inflammatory biomarkers. Methods: In total, 24 497 patients with diabetes from the UK Biobank were included. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for CKD risk, and the rate advancement period was calculated to quantify and communicate the impact of fish oil upon that risk. In addition, we also used mediation analysis to assess the mediating role of plasma biomarkers. Results: Overall, 7122 patients reported taking fish oil supplements. During a mean of 11.3 years of follow‐up, 3533 CKD cases occurred. In the fully adjusted model, fish oil use was inversely associated with the incidence of CKD (HR 0.90; 95% CI: 0.83, 0.97), which was mediated by serum levels of HbA1c (4.7%), C‐reactive protein (CRP) (3.4%) and high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) (2.3%). Participants who took fish oil supplements displayed the same risk of CKD events, but that risk was delayed by approximately 2.79 years compared with non‐users of fish oil. Conclusions: Our findings advocate the beneficial role of fish oil use in preventing CKD among patients with diabetes, which may be mediated by serum levels of HbA1c, CRP and HDL‐C, and support public health policies aiming to promote fish oil supplementation for the prevention of diabetes complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study investigates the utility of the International System for Reporting Serous Fluid Cytopathology (ISRSFC) in the categorization of pericardial fluid and assesses the diagnostic performance and risk of malignancy (ROM) for each of the diagnostic categories. Methods: All pericardial fluid cases at the Yale School of Medicine between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2020, were reviewed. The diagnoses were reclassified into five categories according to the ISRSFC: nondiagnostic (ND), negative for malignancy (NFM), atypia of uncertain significance (AUS), suspicious for malignancy (SFM), and malignant (MAL). ROM and performance parameters of each category were calculated. Results: After reclassification, the distribution of 465 pericardial fluid cases in each category was as follows: ND, 19 (4.1%); NFM, 332 (71.4%); AUS, 21 (4.5%); SFM, 11 (2.4%); and MAL, 82 (17.6%). Confirmatory follow‐ups were available for 16 ND (66.7%), 299 NFM (90%), 15 AUS (71%), 5 SFM (45.5%), and 30 MAL cases (36.6%). The ROM was 0% for ND, 1.3% for NFM (4 of 332), 20% for AUS (3 of 15), and 100% for both SFM (5 of 5) and MAL (27 of 27). The diagnostic performance was as follows: sensitivity, 87% (27 of 31); specificity, 100% (292 of 292); positive predictive value (PPV), 100% (27 of 27); negative predictive value (NPV), 98.6% (292 of 296); and diagnostic accuracy, 98.8% (319 of 323). Conclusions: The ISRSFC is a highly useful system for the reporting of pericardial fluid and risk assessment, given that it offers high sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and diagnostic accuracy. The application of this system may help to better categorize pericardial fluid and facilitate the standardization of cytopathology reporting. This study investigates the utility of the International System for Reporting Serous Fluid Cytopathology (ISRSFC) in the categorization of pericardial fluid and assesses the diagnostic performance and risk of malignancy for each diagnostic category. The ISRSFC is a highly useful system for the reporting of pericardial fluid and risk assessment, given that it offers high sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy. The application of this system may help to better categorize pericardial fluid and facilitate the standardization of cytopathology reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we report the formation of an unexpected and unique family of chiral helicates. Crystal structures show that these triple‐stranded ZnII2L3 complexes are held together by subcomponent assembly of axially chiral diamine‐functionalized 1,1′‐biphenol ditopic with 2‐formylpyridine and ZnII. Specifically, the molecular helicity of the complexes can be controlled by the absolute configurations of the bimetallic vertices, which has been shown to be homoconfiguration (ΔΔ) or mesomeric configuration (ΔΛ), depending critically on the bulky groups and length of the spacers. Fascinatingly, in this system we can engineer the space‐restricted chiral microenvironments with varied polar and apolar moieties, which profoundly influence the binding affinities and chiral discrimination properties of the helicates, leading to highly enantio‐ and helix‐sense‐selective recognition for chiral amino alcohols (up to 9.35). This work reveals the transformation of single‐molecule chirality to global supramolecular chirality within well‐defined helicates and demonstrates that their chiral discrimination are highly dependent on the superior microenvironments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Supramolecular containers featuring both high catalytic activity and high enantioselectivity represent a design challenge of practical importance. Herein, it is demonstrated that a chiral octahedral coordination cage can be constructed by using twelve enantiopure Mn(salen)‐derived dicarboxylic acids as linear linkers and six Zn4‐p‐tert‐butylsulfonylcalix[4]arene clusters as tetravalent four‐connected vertices. The porous cage features a large hydrophobic cavity (≈3944 Å3) decorated with catalytically active metallosalen species and is shown to be an efficient and recyclable asymmetric catalyst for the oxidative kinetic resolution of racemic secondary alcohols and the epoxidation of olefins with up to >99 % enantiomeric excess. The cage architecture not only prevents intermolecular deactivation and stabilizes the Mn(salen) catalysts but also encapsulates substrates and concentrates reactants in the cavity, resulting in enhanced reactivity and enantioselectivity relative to the free metallosalen catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using a novel C3-symmetrical tricarboxylate (4,4′,4′′-benzene-1,3,5-triyl-1,1′,1′′-trinaphthoic acid), a novel zirconium-based metal-organic framework ZJNU-30 was solvothermally synthesized and structurally characterized. Single-crystal X-ray structural analyses show that ZJNU-30 consists of Zr6-based nodes connected by the organic linkers to form a (3,8)-connected network featuring the coexistence of two different polyhedral cages: octahedral and cuboctahedral cages with the dimensions of about 14 and 22 Å, respectively. Remarkably, ZJNU-30 is very stable when exposed to air for one month. More importantly, with a moderately high surface area, hierarchical pore structures, and an aromatic-rich pore surface in the framework, ZJNU-30, after activation, exhibits a promising potential for the selective adsorptive separation of industrially important butene isomers consisting of cis-2-butene, trans-2-butene, 1-butene, and iso-butene at ambient temperature. This separation was established exclusively by gas adsorption isotherms and simulated breakthrough experiments. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study investigating porous metal-organic frameworks for butene-isomer separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using a multicarboxylate ligand consisting of six peripheral 1,3-benzenedicarboxylalte units connected to the central cyclotriphosphazene ring through a P−O−C spacer, a novel metal-organic framework, [Cd5L(H2O)4] ⋅2 (CH3)2NH2 ⋅6 DMF (L=hexakis(3,5-dicarboxylatephenyloxy)cyclotriphosphazene), was solvothermally synthesized and characterized by single-crystal and powder XRD, thermal gravimetric analysis, and IR and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Single-crystal XRD analyses show that the framework is an anionic 3D network assembled from pentanuclear [Cd5(COO)10] secondary building units and organic linkers. TOPOS software analyses indicate that two alternative simplifications based on the organic linkers can produce five-connected uninodal bnn-type topology or novel (2,3,6,10)-connected five-nodal topology. Additionally, it is interesting that the luminescence intensity of the complex can be modulated by postsynthetic ion exchange. This study highlights that cyclotriphosphazene-functionalized multicarboxylates, with the combined advantages of conformation diversity and easy functionalization, are a promising type of organic ligand for the synthesis of metal-organic frameworks with fascinating structures and interesting properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Activation of hepatic stellate cells and development of chronic inflammation are two key features in the progression of hepatic fibrosis. We have shown that in vitro activated stellate cells increase their expression of CXCL12 as well as the receptor CXCR4 and that receptor engagement promotes a profibrogenic phenotype. Furthermore, injury promotes increased hepatic expression of CXCL12 and a massive infiltration of CXCR4-expressing leukocytes, granulocytes and myeloid cells. The primary site of inflammatory cell accumulation is around the CXCL12-rich portal tracts and within fibrotic septae, indicating a role for CXCR4 during injury. In order to characterize the relevance of the CXCR4/ CXCL12 chemokine axis during hepatic injury we inhibited the axis using AMD3100, a CXCR4 small molecule inhibitor, in models of chronic and acute liver injury. Methods Mice were subjected to acute and chronic CCl4 liver injury with and without AMD3100 administration. The degree of liver injury, fibrosis and the composition of the intrahepatic inflammatory response were characterized. Results Treatment of mice with AMD3100 in the chronic CCl4 model of liver injury led to an increase in hepatic inflammation and fibrosis with a specific increase in intrahepatic neutrophils. Furthermore, in an acute model of CCl4-induced liver injury, AMD3100 led to an increase in the number of intrahepatic neutrophils and a trend towards worse necrosis. Conclusion Together, this data suggests that inhibition of the CXCR4/ CXCL12 chemokine axis is injurious through modulation of the hepatic inflammatory response and that this axis may serve a protective role in liver injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate ethnic difference in the associations of BMI with comorbidity, mortality, and body composition between mainland Chinese and U.S. whites. Methods Ethnic-comparison study using data from China Health and Nutrition Survey, U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and data from Zhejiang University (China) and Columbia University (U.S.). Results Chinese people experienced greater odds of comorbidities than whites for a given BMI after standardizing for age and sex: 43% for diabetes, 30% for dyslipidemia, 28% for hypertension, 38% for metabolic syndrome, and 48% for hyperuricemia. Comparisons of BMI-mortality associations found that the U-shaped BMI-mortality curve shifted 1-2 kg m−2 to the left in Chinese compared to whites. Compared to whites at BMIs of 25 and 30 kg m−2, corresponding cutoffs in Chinese were 22.5 and 25.9 kg m−2 in men, and 22.8 and 26.6 kg m−2 in women after both fat and fat distribution were taken into account. Conclusions Comorbidity, mortality, and body composition data consistently support the use of lower BMI cutoffs in Chinese than those in whites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triterpenoids, which are widely distributed throughout the plant kingdom, were applied to the development of functional foods as physiological and pharmacological active agents. Some physiological activities of a triterpenoid-rich extract from bamboo shavings (EBS), i.e. antihyperlipidemic and antihypertensive effects, were systematically evaluated in the present study. The results demonstrated that EBS could reduce the serum total cholesterol (TC) and total triglyceride (TG) levels, which are the main factors directly leading to pathological changes in cardiovascular diseases, in hyperlipidemic rats ( p < 0.05). Furthermore, EBS could significantly reduce the systolic pressure of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) but its maximum effect time was less than 24 h. Meanwhile, EBS did not influence the heart rate of SHR. On the other hand, the vasodilator effects of friedelin, a main triterpenoid compound separated from EBS, on phenylephrine-induced vasoconstriction in the thoracic aortas of rats were also discussed. The results showed that friedelin probably served a function of vasodilator responses in the thoracic aortas of rats in accordance with the antihypertensive effect of EBS. The results also suggested that EBS might prevent some cardiovascular diseases by its impact on lipid metabolism. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]