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Frailty is defined as a condition of reduced physiological reserves. When the elderly is exposed to stressors, it will lead to a state of weakness and increase the risk of adverse health consequences. Early screening of frailty and early intervention can significantly reduce the incidence of adverse consequences, while evaluating the state of patients in frailty can develop more reasonable intervention strategies. This article reviewed the content, clinical application, advantages and disadvantages of frailty screening tools and evaluation tools, aiming at early screening, evaluation of patients with frailty and early intervention, helping clinical decision-making and management of elderly patients with frailty, selecting suitable screening and evaluation tools for patients, and reducing the incidence of a series of adverse consequences.

Lonicera macranthoides, the main source of traditional Chinese medicine Lonicerae Flos, is extensively cultivated in Southwest China. However, the quality of L. macranthoides produced in this region significantly varies due to its wide distribution and various cultivation breeds. Herein, 50 Lonicerae Flos samples derived from different breeds of L. macranthoides cultivated in Southwest China were collected for quality evaluation. Six organic acids and three saponin compounds were quantitatively analyzed using HPLC. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity of a portion of samples was conducted with 2,2′-Azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging experiments. According to the quantitative results, all samples met the quality standards outlined in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. The samples from Guizhou, whether derived from unopened or open wild-type breeds, exhibited high quality, while the wild-type samples showed relatively significant fluctuation in quality. The samples from Chongqing and Hunan demonstrated similar quality, whereas those from Sichuan exhibited relatively lower quality. These samples demonstrated significant abilities in clearing ABTS and DPPH radicals. The relationship between HPLC chromatograms and antioxidant activity, as elucidated by multivariate analysis, indicated that chlorogenic acid, isochlorogenic acid A, isochlorogenic acid B, and isochlorogenic acid C are active components and can serve as Q-markers for quality evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic separation of photocatalysts holds great promise for water treatment. A magnetic separation method has a positive effect on the recovery of catalysts after degradation. In this paper, an efficient and reusable catalytic system is developed based on coating magnetic Fe3O4 by depositing Fe2+ on the surface of ZnO. The Fe3O4/ZnO nanocomposite exhibits enhanced performance for organic pollutant degradation. The Fe3O4/ZnO system demonstrates a high photocatalytic activity of 100% degradation efficiency in Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation under UV light irradiation for 50 min. The excellent photocatalytic activity is primarily due to the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs being facilitated by the strong interaction between Fe3O4 and ZnO. The induction of the magnetic Fe3O4 endows the Fe3O4/ZnO composite with superior magnetic separation capability from water. Experiments with different radical scavengers revealed that the hydroxyl radical (·OH) is the key reactive radical for the effective degradation of RhB. This work innovatively affords a common interfacial dopant deposition strategy for catalytic application in the degradation of organic dye pollutants and catalyst separation from wastewater efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the major causes of visual impairment in adults with diabetes. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is nowadays widely used as the golden criterion for diagnosing DR. Recently, wide-field OCTA (WF-OCTA) provided more abundant information including that of the peripheral retinal degenerative changes and it can contribute in accurately diagnosing DR. The need for an automatic DR diagnostic system based on WF-OCTA pictures attracts more and more attention due to the large diabetic population and the prevalence of retinopathy cases. In this study, automatic diagnosis of DR using vision transformer was performed using WF-OCTA images (12 mm × 12 mm single-scan) centered on the fovea as the dataset. WF-OCTA images were automatically classified into four classes: No DR, mild nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), moderate to severe NPDR, and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). The proposed method for detecting DR on the test set achieves accuracy of 99.55%, sensitivity of 99.49%, and specificity of 99.57%. The accuracy of the method for DR staging reaches up to 99.20%, which has been proven to be higher than that attained by classical convolutional neural network models. Results show that the automatic diagnosis of DR based on vision transformer and WF-OCTA pictures is more effective for detecting and staging DR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To develop nanocarriers for targeting the delivery of chemotherapeutics to overcome multidrug-resistant ovarian cancer. Materials & methods: Doxorubicin-loaded nanovesicles were obtained through serial extrusion, followed by loading of P-glycoprotein siRNA and folic acid. The targeting ability and anticancer efficacy of the nanovesicles were evaluated. Results: The doxorubicin-loaded nanovesicles showed a high production yield. The presence of P-glycoprotein siRNA and folic acid resulted in reversed drug resistance and tumor targeting. This nanoplatform tremendously inhibited the viability of multidrug-resistant ovarian cancer cells, which was able to target tumor tissue and suppress tumor growth without adverse effects. Conclusion: These bioengineered nanovesicles could serve as novel extracellular vesicles mimetics for chemotherapeutics delivery to overcome multidrug resistance. When treating cancer affecting the ovaries, which is an organ in the female reproductive system, two challenges that arise are the inefficient delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs and the development of drug resistance inside the tumor. In this study, very small nano-scale particles called nanovesicles, which contain a chemotherapeutic drug called doxorubicin, were developed in an attempt to overcome both of these concerns. These nanovesicles were secreted by a healthy cell from an ovary, isolated and loaded with doxorubicin. These nanovesicles were also loaded with siRNA, which, in this case, prevents the synthesis of a protein in ovarian tumor cells called P-glycoprotein. This protein is responsible for pumping chemotherapy drugs back out of tumor cells, so preventing its synthesis was intended to counter chemotherapeutic resistance. The targeting ability of the nanovesicle was also enhanced with folic acid, as folic acid receptors are present on the surface of these tumor cells in higher numbers. These nanovesicles were readily and specifically taken up by ovarian tumor cells in mice with induced ovarian cancer. This reversed drug resistance and enhanced the toxic effects of doxorubicin on the tumor cells, which, in turn, increased tumor cell death and prevented tumor cell migration. No obvious adverse effect was found in mice treated with the nanovesicle system compared with the free chemotherapy drug with critical systematic toxicity. This research provides new avenues for ovarian cancer treatment, with combined therapies of siRNAs and chemotherapeutic drugs, targeted to tumor cells specifically, within nanovesicles. Doxorubicin-loaded extracellular vesicles-mimetic nanovesicles were developed by the extrusion method, followed by siRNA loading and targeted modification, resulting in effective delivery of chemotherapeutics to overcome drug resistance of ovarian cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-dimensional (1D) Ce-La nanorods with different La contents (Ce and La in the molar ratio of 1:0, 3:1, 1:1, 1:3, and 0:1) were synthesized by hydrothermal process. Au/Ce-La nanorod catalysts were obtained by a modified deposition-precipitation method. The samples were characterized by N adsorption-desorption (BET), ICP, X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM, TEM, EDX, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS), and temperature-programmed reduction (H-TPR). It revealed that La existed as LaO in the 1D nanorods. The catalysis results demonstrated that the mixed binary Ce-La nanorod oxides could be a good support for gold catalysts. The contents of La had an important influence on the catalytic performance of Au/Ce-La nanorod catalysts. Among the catalysts, when the Ce/La molar ratio was 3:1, the 1.0%Au/Ce-La nanorods pretreated at 300 °C showed the best activity among the catalysts for CO oxidation, which could convert CO completely at 30 °C. The catalysts also performed high temperature resistance and good stability for CO oxidation at the reaction temperatures of 40, 70, and 200 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) is widely used in the detection of morphological alterations in luminal organs, which provides high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D) images of internal tissues. In most cases, lesions are revealed early by microvascular pathological changes in cavity tissues. There is a significant demand for the performance of endoscopic OCT angiography (OCTA) to visualize the superficial capillaries. Proximal catheters have attracted widespread attention due to the advantages of small size and low cost. However, in comparison with the OCT system using distal catheters, low rotation speed and poor stability of the proximal scanning OCT prolonged its absence of endoscopic OCTA in common commercial and lab systems. In this paper, endoscopic OCTA was realized in the proximal scanning endoscopic OCT system by calculating decorrelation between adjacent B-scan images in the continuous rotation and retraction scheme. A precision registration algorithm was proposed to guarantee the quality of the OCTA image. The feasibility of the endoscopic OCTA was validated using a microfluidic phantom. In vivo studies were performed in the rat rectum, visualizing the intricate microvascular architecture, specifically within the submucosal capillaries. To the best of our knowledge, the first implementation of endoscopic OCTA was achieved under a continuous spiral B-scan rotation scheme in a proximally controlled OCT system, facilitating visualization of blood flow within narrow lumen tissues.

Two-photon microscopy (TPM) has a wide range of applications in the biomedical field. Two-photon multi-focus microscopy (TPMM) greatly improves the imaging speed by combining TPM with multi-focus technology. Therefore, TPMM based on spatial light modulator (SLM) has greater advantages in generating multi-focus point (MFP) with uniform intensity and flexible position than to other schemes. However, the zero-order beam (ZOB) produced by SLM in TPMM causes imperfection of the imaging system. For example, some sample areas are scanned repeatedly or illuminated unexpectedly. In this article, we proposed a TPMM system with improved performance by eliminating the ZOB. Apart from the target MFP, we utilize a phase-only SLM to generate another corrective beam (CB) with controllable amplitude, phase, and position precisely. The CB can produce destructive interference completely with the ZOB generated by the dead areas of the SLM. The method has a larger field of view, higher efficiency, and better uniformity in generating MFP compared to the method of overlaying the blaze grating. Simulations and experiments demonstrate the advantages of this approach.

In 2020, Changchun Observatory developed a 280 mm wide-field optical telescope array to improve surveillance of space debris in the geosynchronous belt. There are many advantages including a wide field of view, the ability to observe a large area of sky and high reliability. However, the wide field of view causes a significant number of background stars to appear in the image when photographing space objects, making it difficult to detect them. This research focuses on the precise detection of GEO space objects from images taken by this telescope array in order to position them in large quantities. Our work further investigates the motion feature of an object, namely that the object can be seen as being in a uniform linear motion for a brief length of time. Based on this feature, the belt can be divided into a number of smaller areas and the telescope array scans each smaller area one at a time from east to west. To detect objects in the subarea, a combination of image differencing with trajectory association is used. The image differencing algorithm is used to remove most stars and screen out suspected objects in the image. Next, the trajectory association algorithm is employed to further filter out the real objects among the suspected ones, and the trajectories attributed to the same object are linked. The feasibility and accuracy of the approach were verified by the experiment results. The accuracy rate of trajectory association exceeds 90% and on average, more than 580 space objects can be detected per observation night. Since the J2000.0 equatorial system can accurately describe the apparent position of an object, the object can be detected by using this coordinate system as opposed to the pixel coordinate system.

Transcervical resection of adhesion (TCRA) is the standard treatment for the intrauterine adhesions, but the recurrence of adhesions is a tough problem for the gynecologist. In addition, the therapeutic strategy after TCRA about prevention of recurrence remains controversial especially for the patients with moderate to severe intrauterine adhesions (IUAs). Hence, we designed this study to explore the safety and efficacy of fresh amnion grafts for preventing the recurrence after TCRA for patients with moderate to severe IUAs. One hundred patients with moderate to severe IUAs who presented with a history of hypomenorrhea, amenorrhea and infertility were included in the study from January 2015 to December 2017. Patients were divided into amnion group (52 patients) and chitosan group (48 patients). Fresh amnion grafts or intrauterine injections of chitosan were administered after TCRA. Transvaginal ultrasonography (TVUS) and hysteroscopy were performed at the first and third month after the operation. The surgical procedures for all patients were completed successfully without relevant complications. In amnion group, 8 patients exhibited relapse in the first month and 2 patients in three months after surgery; in chitosan group, 23 women exhibited relapse in the first month and 18 patients in three months after surgery. Statistical analysis revealed that the recurrence rate of adhesion in amnion group was significantly lower than those of chitosan group in the first and three months after surgery ( P 1  = 0.000, P 2  = 0.000). After TCRA, fresh amnion graft plays a significant role in preventing further adhesions than injections of chitosan., (© 2020 Chongqing Medical University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.)