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Sulfur doping in carbonaceous anode is a popular method to improve the sodium storing performance. Regulating the C/S bond effect of carbon atom with doped sulfur atom could understand and develop superior carbonaceous anode for sodium‐ion batteries. Therefore, this study designed porous hollow carbon nanocages with synergistically‐doped C/S bonds (C‐S/C = S) by secondary‐sulfidation. The secondary‐sulfidation is conducive to the different bond formation of sulfur atom with carbon skeleton and adjust the structure via removed other groups. Thus, the C‐S/C = S anode with synergistically C‐S and C = S bonds delivered a reversible capacity of 307 mAh g‐1 at 1.0 A g−1 with initial coulomb efficiency of 80.15%, a stable cycle life of 2000 cycles, and a fast charge capability of 186 mAh g−1 at 20.0 A g−1 in sodium‐ion batteries. Through characterization and simulation results, the doped C‐S/C = S bonds creates more active sites and ion diffusion channels in carbon skeleton for enhancing the fast and durable kinetics of sodium‐ion. This work provides deep insights into C/S bonds effect of carbon anode material for developing fast charge stability sodium‐ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its effectiveness in exterminating tumor cells, ferroptosis is seriously hampered by the high expression of antioxidant glutathione (GSH) and the inadequacy of endogenous H2O2 in tumors. Herein, metal‐phenolic nanoformulations (FNCP NFs) composed of sonosensitizer Chlorin e6 (Ce6), the phenolic GSH consumer naphthazarin, and Fe3+, followed by the modification of PEG2000, are strategically designed and fabricated for ultrasound‐boosted ferroptosis in tumor cells through triple regulatory pathways. The carrier‐free FNCP NFs can rapidly dissociate under tumor microenvironment response with the assistance of ultrasound, releasing Fe2+, Ce6, and naphthazarin. Ce6 and Fe2+ are capable of producing singlet oxygen (1O2) and hydroxyl radicals (·OH) by ultrasound‐activated sonodynamic therapy and Fenton reaction‐mediated chemodynamic therapy (CDT), respectively, which not only induce apoptotic cell death but also lead to the effective accumulation of lipid peroxidation (LPO), resulting in ferroptosis. Meanwhile, the released naphthazarin and the self‐cycling valence alternations of Fe3+/Fe2+ promote the significant decrease of intracellular GSH contents, further inducing the inactivation of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and the up‐regulation of LPO levels, eventually realizing the synergistically enhanced ferroptosis. This facile and feasible design for versatile metal‐phenolic nanoformulations offers a new strategy for effectively improving ferroptosis efficiency and multimodal cancer therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High theoretical capacity, stabilized and layered 2H phase molybdenum disulfide (2H) is regarded as a promising material for superior kinetics anode in sodium ion battery, but the inherent semiconducting properties and sluggish sodium ions diffusion limit the development of 2H based anode. Hence, this study builds a unique metalloid phase with high electronic conductivity and suitable layer structure by screening non‐metallic carbon atoms doped in 2H (2H‐C). As experimental and simulation results, 2H‐C of metalloid properties after carbon atom modulation exhibit superior sodium storage kinetics and reversibility by a unique mechanism that promotes ion intercalation under high voltage window, and further good for the later uniformly conversion at lower voltage (intercalation‐conversion mechanism). The 2H‐C anode material delivers a remarkable reversible capacity of 156 mAh g−1 at ultra‐high 100.0 A g−1, long‐term life of 6000 cycles, and superior performance at low temperatures of −10 °C. Otherwise, 2H‐C/Na3V2(PO4)3 full cell also performs charge/discharge capacity of 80.0/76.7 mAh g−1 with 87% capacity retention after 140 cycles at 0 °C. This discovery further explores the unique mechanism and application of 2D layered materials in sodium‐ion battery anodes for fast kinetics under extreme conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to establish a set of perfect heterojunction designs and characterization schemes, step‐scheme (S‐scheme) BiOBr@Bi2S3 nanoheterojunctions that enable the charge separation and expand the scope of catalytic reactions, aiming to promote the development and improvement of heterojunction engineering is developed. In this kind of heterojunction system, the Fermi levels mediate the formation of the internal electric field at the interface and guide the recombination of the weak redox carriers, while the strong redox carriers are retained. Thus, these high‐energy electrons and holes are able to catalyze a variety of substrates in the tumor microenvironment, such as the reduction of oxygen and carbon dioxide to superoxide radicals and carbon monoxide (CO), and the oxidation of H2O to hydroxyl radicals, thus achieving sonodynamic therapy and CO combined therapy. Mechanistically, the generated reactive oxygen species and CO damage DNA and inhibit cancer cell energy levels, respectively, to synergistically induce tumor cell apoptosis. This study provides new insights into the realization of high efficiency and low toxicity in catalytic therapy from a unique perspective of materials design. It is anticipated that this catalytic therapeutic method will garner significant interest in the sonocatalytic nanomedicine field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Erionite (ERI) zeolite has recently attracted considerable attention for its application prospect in the selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3 (NH3‐SCR), provided that the high‐silica (Si/Al > 5.5) analog with improved hydrothermal stability can be facilely synthesized. In this work, ERI zeolites with different Si/Al ratios (4.6, 6.4, and 9.1) are synthesized through an ultrafast route, and in particular, a high‐silica ERI zeolite with a Si/Al ratio of 9.1 is obtained by using faujasite (FAU) as a starting material. The solid‐state 29Si MAS NMR spectroscopic study in combination with a computational simulation allows for figuring out the atomic configurations of the Al species in the three ERI zeolites. It is revealed that the ERI zeolite with the highest Si/Al ratio (ERI‐9.1, where the number indicates the Si/Al ratio) exhibits a biased Al occupancy at T1 site, which is possibly due to the presence of a higher fraction of the residual potassium cations in the can cages. In contrast, the Al siting in ERI‐4.6 and ERI‐6.4 proves to be relatively random. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The shortage of water resources and the increase of greenhouse gas emissions from soil seriously restrict the sustainable development of agriculture. Under the premise of ensuring a stable yield of winter wheat through a reasonable irrigation scenario, identifying a suitable straw returning method will have a positive effect on agricultural carbon sequestration and emission reduction in North China Plain. RESULTS: Straw burying (SR) and straw mulching (SM) were adopted based on traditional tillage under in the winter wheat growing season of 2020–2021 and 2021–2022. Three irrigation scenarios were used for each straw returning method: no irrigation (I0), irrigation 60 mm at jointing stage (I1), and irrigation of 60 mm each at the jointing and heading stages (I2). Soil moisture, soil respiration rate, cumulative soil CO2 emissions, yield, water use efficiency (WUE) and soil CO2 emission efficiency (CEE) were mainly studied. The results showed that, compared to SM, SR improved the utilization of soil water and enhanced soil carbon sequestration. SR reduced soil respiration rate and cumulative soil CO2 emissions in two winter wheat growing seasons, and increased yield by increasing spike numbers. In addition, with an increase in the amount of irrigation, soil CO2 emissions and yield increased. Under SR‐I1 treatment, WUE and CEE were the highest. SR‐I1 increases crop yields at the same time as reducing soil CO2 emissions. CONCLUSION: The combination of SR and irrigation 60 mm at jointing stage is a suitable straw returning irrigation scenario, which can improve water use and reduce soil CO2 emission in NCP. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Sarcopenia is associated with poor prognosis, but its role in older patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is unclear. We aimed to evaluate the impact of sarcopenia on the prognosis of older patients with ICC undergoing hepatectomy. Methods: A total of 363 patients with ICC following hepatectomy from 2015 to 2021 were retrospectively reviewed at five institutions. Sarcopenia was evaluated using skeletal muscle index by computed tomography images. Patients were divided into four subgroups according to sarcopenia and age. Postoperative outcomes including complication, overall survival (OS) and recurrence‐free survival (RFS) were evaluated. Risk factors were identified through univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. Results: 302 patients were included in the analysis. The median age was 63 years and there were 128 patients (42.4%) aged over 65 years. 192 patients (63.6%) were diagnosed with sarcopenia, while 180 patients (59.6%) experienced myosteatosis. Older patients experienced a higher incidence of sarcopenia and myosteatosis, and worse postoperative outcomes than younger patients. In the subgroup of patients with sarcopenia, older patients experienced a significant shorter OS than younger patients, which was not observed in patients without sarcopenia. According to the multivariate Cox regression analysis, lymphatic metastasis (p <.001), blood transfusion (p =.004), low serum albumin (p =.051), sarcopenia (p =.024), and myosteatosis (p =.004) were identified as independent risk factors of OS in older patients, meanwhile tumour size (p =.013) and lymphatic metastasis (p <.001) were independent risk factors of RFS. Conclusions: Sarcopenia and myosteatosis have a significant adverse impact on postoperative outcomes in older patients with ICC undergoing hepatectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease characterized by cartilage wear and degradation. Ginkgolide K (GK) is a natural compound extracted from Ginkgo biloba leaves and possesses anti‐inflammatory and anti‐apoptotic effects. We found that the biological characteristics of GK were highly consistent with those of OA medications. This study aimed to determine and verify the therapeutic effect of GK on OA and mechanism of its therapeutic effect. For the in vivo experiment, OA rats were regularly injected in the articular cavity with GK, and the curative effects were observed after 4 and 8 weeks. For the in vitro experiment, we treated OA chondrocytes with different concentrations of GK and then detected the related indices of OA. Through the in vivo and in vitro experiments, we found that GK could promote the production of major components of the cartilage extracellular matrix. Transcriptome sequencing revealed that GK may activate hypoxia‐inducible factor 1 alpha via the hypoxia signaling pathway, which, in turn, activates yes‐associated protein and inhibits apoptosis of OA chondrocytes. GK has a therapeutic effect on OA and, therefore, has the potential to be developed into a new drug for OA treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microsized‐silicon (µ‐Si, >1 µm) is one of the ideal anodes for lithium‐ion batteries due to its low‐cost, high tap density, and high specific capacity. However, during repeated lithiation/delithiation processes, µ‐Si undergoes huge volume changes. This leads to continued capacity loss during cycling due to severe particle pulverization, separation from the conductive network and uncontrolled growth of an unstable solid‐electrolyte interphase (SEI). Herein, an electrode construction strategy is proposed by carbonization of the slurry‐casting µ‐Si electrode. The organic binder serves as both carbon resource and physical framework, which is carbonized to form a carbon binder that is chemically bonded with the µ‐Si particles and within the electrode. The electrode with carbon binder ensures stable electric channel and promotes formation of a stable and passivating SEI at the interface with a high µ‐Si content up to 82 wt%. The carbon binder offers physical buffer that shield against localized strain and modifies the surface reactivity, which enables a high initial Coulombic efficiency (91.85%) and stable cycle performance at commercial‐level areal capacities (2 mAh cm−2). This work offers an easily scalable yet practical approach for the current battery industry without any electrolyte modification or complicated manufacturing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Although nonfat milk has been used worldwide in the industrial dairy process, little is known about the effects of fat separation during the manufacturing process on skim milk's structural and digestive properties. This study investigated the effects of the manufacturing process on the structure and in vitro digestion properties of skim goat milk, particularly emphasizing fat separation. RESULTS: Changes in the surface charge and hydrophobicity of milk proteins caused by fat separation resulted in oxidation and aggregation in the subsequent homogenization, heat and spray‐drying processing, which affected its digestibility. Compared with separation by dish separator (DS), skim milk after tubular centrifugal separation (CS) showed a higher initial and final digestibility. The CS samples also had a lower surface hydrophobicity level and higher free sulfhydryl content, ζ‐potential, and average particle size (P < 0.05). Goat milk protein after CS was more readily oxidized and aggregated during the subsequent homogenization and heat treatment, as evidenced by the higher carbonyl content and particle size. Centrifugal separation also converted more β‐sheets to α‐helices, thus promoting the aggregation of oxidized skim milk protein. CONCLUSION: The skim milk after CS and DS demonstrated different structural and digestive properties. Skim goat milk products after CS were more susceptible to oxidant‐induced protein structural changes, resulting in higher protein digestibility. These findings provide insights into the mechanism involved in the control of gastric digestion of skim milk during manufacturing process. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modulating the local coordination environment of catalysts is of overriding importance to control reactivity, but systematic investigation of catalytic active sites with different coordination environments remains elusive. Here, a new strategy is provided to investigate the coordination environment of the catalytic center. Pt atoms, a known catalytic center, were selected to examine the effect of the coordination environment on the electro‐catalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), a well‐studied system. Rather than alter the catalytic metal center as reported in previous work, "surrounding atoms" were tuned to modify the coordination environment around the Pt active center. A clear trend between HER activity and coordination environments with different neighboring atoms, was observed in this work. Based on experimental results, DFT calculations analyzed all coordinated patterns with respect to electronic structures and geometric transformations, giving a full "map" of the relationship between the coordination environments around Pt atoms and their catalytic performances. Such coordination environment engineering could be widely used to screen new catalysts for other conversions, and also provide a novel method for investigating the fundamental chemistry of active sites in catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing recognition of ITGB3BP as an essential feature of various cancers, the relationship between ITGB3BP and glioma remains unclear. The main aim of this study was to determine the prognostic and diagnostic value of ITGB3BP in glioma. RNA‐Seq and microarray data from 2222 glioma patients were included, and we found that the expression level of ITGB3BP in glioma tissues was significantly higher than that in normal brain tissues. Moreover, ITGB3BP can be considered an independent risk factor for poor prognosis and has great predictive value for the prognosis of glioma. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis results showed that ITGB3BP contributes to the poor prognosis of glioma by activating tumour‐related signalling pathways. Some small‐molecule drugs were identified, such as hexestrol, which may specifically inhibit ITGB3BP and be useful in the treatment of glioma. The TIMER database analysis results revealed a correlation between the expression of ITGB3BP and the infiltration of various immune cells in glioma. Our findings provide the first evidence that the up‐regulation of ITGB3BP correlates with poor prognosis in human glioma. Thus, ITGB3BP is a potential new biomarker that can be used for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The carcinogenic effect of NUP37 has been reported recently in a variety of tumors, but its research in the field of glioma has not been paid attention. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the relationship between NUP37 and prognosis or clinical characteristics of glioma patients. Methods: First, as a retrospective study, this study included thousands of tissue samples based on a variety of public databases and clinicopathological tissues. Second, a series of bioinformatics analysis methods were used to analyze the NUP37 and glioma samples from multiple databases such as the CGGA, TCGA, GEO, HPA, and GEPIA. Third, to analyze the relationship between the expression level of NUP37 in tumor tissues and cells and a variety of clinical prognostic molecular characteristics, whether it can be an independent risk factor leading to poor prognosis in glioma and whether it has clinical diagnostic value; GSEA was used to analyze the cancer‐related signaling pathways that may be activated by high expression of NUP37. Fifth, CMap was used to analyze small molecule drugs that may inhibit NUP37 expression. Finally, the meta‐analysis of thousands of tissue samples from seven datasets and cell proliferation and migration experiments confirmed that NUP37 has a malignant effect on glioma. Results: NUP37 is highly expressed in glioma patient tissues and glioma cells, significantly correlates with reduced overall survival, and may serve as an independent prognostic factor with some diagnostic value. Silencing NUP37 suppresses malignant biological behaviors of glioma cells. 4 small molecule drugs that had potential targeting inhibitory effects on NUP37 overexpression. Conclusions: This study demonstrates for the first time a malignant role of NUP37 in glioma and provides a vision to unravel the complex pathological mechanisms of glioma and a potentially valuable biomarker for implementing individualized diagnosis and treatment of glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starches are glucose storage compounds in plants and are made up of relatively linear amylose and the heavily branched amylopectin. Starch can be classified into three categories, namely Rapidly Digestible Starch (RDS), Slowly Digestible Starch (SDS), and Resistant Starch (RS). Amylose‐lipid complex (ALC) is a recent addition to the RS category as RS type 5 (RS‐5) due to its resistance to enzymatic hydrolysis. The enzymatic resistance of ALC depends on the lipid's molecular structure and the crystalline morphology of the helices. Naturally, present lipids in high amylase‐containing raw plant‐based foods or added lipids can form the ALC during gelatinization or other processing steps. Thermal stability and ease of production with numerous health benefits makes it suitable for research and industrial application. This review focuses on the recent developments in structural characteristics, production methodologies of RS‐5, and its application in food and medical industries. This review will provide a comprehensive overview to the readers about the production and current research development in RS‐5 and will helpful to distil this information to design desired future research studies on RS‐5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encapsulating metal nanoclusters into zeolites combines the superior catalytic activity of the nanoclusters with high stability and unique shape selectivity of the crystalline microporous materials. The preparation of such bifunctional catalysts, however, is often restricted by the mismatching in time scale between the fast formation of nanoclusters and the slow crystallization of zeolites. We herein demonstrate a novel strategy to overcome the mismatching issue, in which the crystallization of zeolites is expedited so as to synchronize it with the rapid formation of nanoclusters. The concept was demonstrated by confining Pt and Sn nanoclusters into a ZSM‐5 (MFI) zeolite in the course of its crystallization, leading to an ultrafast, in situ encapsulation within just 5 min. The Pt/Sn‐ZSM‐5 exhibited exceptional activity and selectivity with stability in the dehydrogenation of propane to propene. This method of ultrafast encapsulation opens up a new avenue for designing and synthesizing composite zeolitic materials with structural and compositional complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The repair of terrain cracks is an important process in multi‐resolution three‐dimensional terrain visualization, and rapid and accurate pinpointing of cracks between terrain blocks is of the utmost importance for this process. The existing quadtree‐based crack locating methods are generally slow and inefficient, as they require the traversal of terrain quadtrees to locate terrain cracks. In this research, we propose a fast quadtree‐based terrain crack locating method that accounts for adjacency information. First, terrain quadtrees are constructed that contain information regarding adjacency relationships. Second, dynamic updating is performed for terrain quadtrees and their adjacency information. Finally, terrain cracks are located by using the adjacencies of the quadtree nodes. This proposed method was experimentally validated via the terrain data of a mountainous region in Sichuan Province. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method can be used to efficiently and accurately locate terrain cracks with a strong performance in practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to isolate starch and evaluate its chemical and structural characteristics from six Chinese hulless barley (HB) cultivars. Starch isolated from naked barley displays A‐type crystalline packing and a regular granular shape. We measured peak viscosity values ranging from 237 to 264 cP, trough viscosity values from 305 to 380 cP, breakdown values from 390 to 535 cP, final viscosities from 357 to 523 cP, setback values from 245 to 354 cP and 383 to 460 cP, peak times from 5.53 to 5.73 min, and pasting temperatures from 93.10 to 94.65°C by RVA. Transition temperatures (T0, Tp, and Tc), gelatinization temperature ranges (ΔTr), and enthalpies of gelatinization (ΔH) were measured on a differential scanning calorimeter analyzer (DSC) and ranged from 57.81 to 61.25°C, 64.36 to 67.57°C, 82.03 to 84.70°C, and 21.52 to 26.89°C and 7.14 to 10.66 J/g, respectively. The varying chemical and structural characteristics of HB starch isolated from different cultivars suggested the potential for broader applications of the cereal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While bottom‐up syntheses of ordered nanostructured materials at colloidal length scales have been successful at producing close‐packed materials, it is more challenging to synthesize non‐close‐packed (ncp) structures. Here, a metal oxide nanostructure with ncp hollow sphere arrays was synthesized by combining a polymeric colloidal crystal template (CCT) with a Pechini precursor. The CCT provided defined confinement through its tetrahedral (Td) and octahedral (Oh) voids where the three‐dimensionally (3D) ordered, ncp hollow sphere arrays formed as a result of a crystallization‐induced rearrangement. This nanostructure, consisting of alternating, interconnected large and small hollow spheres, is distinct from the inverse opal structures typically generated from these CCTs. The morphology of the ncp hollow sphere arrays was retained in pseudomorphic transformations involving sulfidation and reoxidation cycling despite the segregation of zinc during these steps. Airy architecture: A new concept for the fabrication of nanostructures featuring 3D ordered, non‐close‐packed hollow sphere arrays is demonstrated through controlling dynamic changes in interfacial properties between template and precursor. The polymeric colloidal crystal provides defined confinement through its tetrahedral and octahedral voids where the arrays are formed as a result of a crystallization‐induced rearrangement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of polymer nanosphere applications requires facile and versatile preparation techniques. In this study, combining circled premix membrane emulsification and thermally initiated miniemulsion polymerization, we developed a new strategy for preparing uniform polystyrene nanospheres within a duration as short as 1 h. The size of the nanospheres, ranging from 40 to 120 nm, was dependent on the premix membrane emulsification cycle number, the transmembrane flow rate, and the membrane pore size; this was almost consistent with characterizations of droplet size evolution. The coefficient of variation, around 15%, indicated that the size distribution of the nanospheres was still narrow, even as the monomer-to-water ratio was as high as 0.2. This method may be competitive for further applications because of its high production efficiency and low system requirements. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors investigated effects of excessive salt intake and potassium supplementation on ambulatory arterial stiffness index ( AASI) and endothelin-1 ( ET-1) in salt-sensitive and non-salt-sensitive individuals. AASI and symmetric AASI (s- AASI) were used as indicators of arterial stiffness. Plasma ET-1 levels were used as an index of endothelial function. Chronic salt-loading and potassium supplementation were studied in 155 normotensive to mild hypertensive patients from rural northern China. After 3 days of baseline investigation, participants were maintained sequentially for 7 days each on diets of low salt (51.3 mmol/d), high salt (307.7 mmol/d), and high salt+potassium (60 mmol/d). Ambulatory 24-hour blood pressure ( BP) and plasma ET-1 were measured at baseline and on the last 2 days of each intervention. High-salt intervention significantly increased BP, AASI, s- AASI (all P<.001); potassium supplementation reversed increased plasma ET-1 levels. High-salt-induced changes in BP, s- AASI, and plasma ET-1 were greater in salt-sensitive individuals. Potassium supplementation decreased systolic BP and ET-1 to a significantly greater extent in salt-sensitive vs non-salt-sensitive individuals ( P<.001). Significant correlations were identified between s- AASI and ET-1 change ratios in response to both high-salt intervention and potassium supplementation ( P<.001). Reducing dietary salt and increasing daily potassium improves arterial compliance and ameliorates endothelial dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich). 2012; 14:637-643. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The authors retrospectively examined data from 3 surveys on hypertension according to the 2010 Chinese Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension. These surveys were conducted in 1991, 1999, and 2007, and included 85,371 individuals 18 years and older who were living in Shandong Province, China. Age-standardized prevalent hypertension increased from 15.6% in 1991 to 17.3% in 1999 and 32.7% in 2007 (both P<.0001). The ascending prevalence can be partially explained by increasing body weight. Among individuals with hypertension, awareness increased significantly from 27.8% in 1991 to 39.1% in 1999 and 49.2% in 2007. The proportion of pharmacologic treatment also considerably improved, with the estimate of 12.9%, 28.1%, and 43.3% in the 3 surveys, respectively. Hypertension control increased from 3.0% to 4.4% to 7.1% in the past 20 years. The upward trend in blood pressure control was mostly attributable to a rise among men and persons at middle age. This study suggests that the prevalence of hypertension increased in the Shandong population from 1991 to 2007. Although substantially improved, control rates were still unacceptably low. Comprehensive strategies are urgently required to put into practice for the management of hypertension in Shandong Province, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic ethanol exposure inhibits the rapid bone formation demonstrated during limb lengthening by distraction osteogenesis (DO). This inhibition is attenuated by simultaneous administration of antagonists to the cytokines interleukin (IL)-1beta and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. The individual effects on inhibition of osteogenesis by these cytokines were tested. We hypothesized that administration of individual antagonists to these cytokines [IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) or polyethylene glycol-conjugated soluble TNF receptor type 1 (sTNFR1)] would enhance DO and that the individual administration of each cytokine [recombinant rat (rr) IL-1 or recombinant rat (rr) TNF] would inhibit DO., Methods: Rats were either infused with a liquid diet with or without ethanol (antagonist studies) or given rat chow (recombinant studies) and underwent tibial fractures stabilized with external fixators for DO. The bioactive substances were administered by systemic (antagonist studies) or local (recombinant) diffusion., Results: A comparison of histologic sections from these distracted tibias demonstrated a protective effect on bone formation by sTNFR1 (p<0.05), unexpectedly, an IL-1ra-related decrease in bone formation (p<0.02), significant decreases in bone formation with rrTNF compared with the vehicle controls (p<0.02), and no significant changes in bone formation with rrIL-1. The cellular responses (fibroblastic and inflammatory cells) were unique for each recombinant cytokine administered., Conclusions: These results suggest that the osteoinhibitory effects of chronic ethanol exposure are mediated in part by the TNF signaling axis.