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Abstract The development of orange‐red/red thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials with both high emission efficiencies and short lifetimes is highly desirable for electroluminescence (EL) applications, but remains a formidable challenge owing to the strict molecular design principles. Herein, two new orange‐red/red TADF emitters, namely AC‐PCNCF3 and TAC‐PCNCF3, composed of pyridine‐3,5‐dicarbonitrile‐derived electron‐acceptor (PCNCF3) and acridine electron‐donors (AC/TAC) are developed. These emitters in doped films exhibit excellent photophysical properties, including high photoluminescence quantum yields of up to 0.91, tiny singlet‐triplet energy gaps of 0.01 eV, and ultrashort TADF lifetimes of less than 1 µs. The TADF‐organic light‐emitting diodes employing the AC‐PCNCF3 as emitter achieve orange‐red and red EL with high external quantum efficiencies of up to 25.0% and nearly 20% at doping concentrations of 5 and 40 wt%, respectively, both accompanied by well‐suppressed efficiency roll‐offs. This work provides an efficient molecular design strategy for developing high‐performance red TADF materials.

Objective To explore the expression of CD4+ effector memory T cells (CD4+ TEM) in peripheral blood of acute ischemic stroke patients with pulmonary infection, and to analyze the value of CD4+ TEM combined with interleukin⁃6 (IL⁃6) and hypersensitive C⁃reactive protein (hs⁃CRP) in the diagnosis of pulmonary infection in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Methods Totally 54 confirmed acute ischemic stroke patients with pulmonary infection who were treated in the Department of Neurology at The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University from June 2018 to December 2019 were chosen as the infection group, meanwhile, 55 acute ischemic stroke patients without pulmonary infection were assigned as the control group. The clinical characters and the expression levels of CD4+ TEM cells were compared in the 2 groups. Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were used to screen the risk factors of pulmonary infection in patients with acute ischemic stroke, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was further conducted to evaluate the diagnostic value of the percentage of CD4+ TEM, IL⁃6, hs⁃CRP and combined detection in pulmonary infection patients with acute ischemic stroke. Results Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the increased percentage of CD4+ TEM cells (OR=1.153, 95%CI:1.069-1.244; P=0.000), IL⁃6 (OR=1.351, 95%CI:1.046-1.747; P=0.021) and hs⁃CRP (OR=1.087, 95%CI:1.008-1.172; P=0.021) were important risk factors for pulmonary infection with acute ischemic stroke. When the percentage of CD4+ TEM cells, IL⁃6 and hs⁃CRP were used as predictors of pulmonary infection with acute ischemic stroke alone, the area under the ROC curve were 0.906 (95%CI:0.850⁃0.961), 0.799 (95%CI:0.714-0.885) and 0.831 (95%CI:0.754-0.908) respectively. When the percentage of CD4+ TEM cells were combined with IL⁃6 and hs⁃CRP, the area under the curve increased to 0.943 (95%CI:0.904-0.982). Conclusions The percentage of CD4+ TEM cells combined with IL⁃6 and hs⁃CRP has better diagnostic value for pulmonary infection with acute ischemic stroke, and can be used as biomarkers for early prediction of pulmonary infection with acute ischemic stroke. doi:10.3969/j.issn.1672⁃6731.2021.04.013

Abstract Background Toxoplasmosis is an important parasitic zoonosis caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii that is distributed world-wide and infects a variety of hosts. However, the prevalence of T. gondii in the environment (such as soil, water and food) is largely unknown. Due to the technical difficulty in oocyst counting directly, an alternative assay using the serologic status of T. gondii in free-living animals, such as stray or free-living dogs, as an indicator, can be used to evaluate environmental contamination indirectly, as they are exposed to the same risk of infection as humans and other animals. Results In the present study, 231 stray or free-living dogs across an urban-rural gradient were examined to assess the frequency of T. gondii in the environment. Specific antibodies to T. gondii were found in 93 dogs (40.3%) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and no statistically significant differences were observed in seroprevalences of T. gondii between urban dogs (38.7%) and rural dogs (41%) (p > 0.05). Conclusions A high seroprevalence of T. gondii in stray or free-living dogs in the present study indicates that there would be a wide distribution and a constant infection pressure of T. gondii across an urban-rural gradient, and the oocysts of T. gondii in the environment would be an important source of infection for humans and other animals both in urban and rural areas in China.

Objective To explore the expression of CD4+ effector memory T cells (CD4+TEM) in peripheral blood of acute ischemic stroke patients with pulmonary infection, and to analyze the value of CD4+TEM combined with interleukin-6 (IL-6) and hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in the diagnosis of pulmonary infection in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Methods Totally 54 confirmed acute ischemic stroke patients with pulmonary infection who were treated in the Department of Neurology at The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University from June 2018 to December 2019 were chosen as the infection group, meanwhile, 55 acute ischemic stroke patients without pulmonary infection were assigned as the control group. The clinical characters and the expression levels of CD4+TEM cells were compared in the 2 groups. Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were used to screen the risk factors of pulmonary infection in patients with acute ischemic stroke, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was further conducted to evaluate the diagnostic value of the percentage of CD4+TEM, IL-6, hs-CRP and combined detection in pulmonary infection patients with acute ischemic stroke. Results Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the increased percentage of CD4+TEM cells (OR = 1.153, 95%CI: 1.069-1.244; P = 0.000), IL-6 (OR = 1.351, 95%CI: 1.046-1.747; P = 0.021) and hs-CRP (OR = 1.087, 95%CI: 1.008-1.172; P = 0.021) were important risk factors for pulmonary infection with acute ischemic stroke. When the percentage of CD4+TEM cells, IL-6 and hs-CRP were used as predictors of pulmonary infection with acute ischemic stroke alone, the area under the ROC curve were 0.906 (95%CI: 0.850-0.961), 0.799 (95%CI: 0.714-0.885) and 0.831 (95%CI: 0.754-0.908) respectively. When the percentage of CD4+TEM cells were combined with IL-6 and hs-CRP, the area under the curve increased to 0.943 (95%CI: 0.904-0.982). Conclusions The percentage of CD4+TEM cells combined with IL-6 and hs-CRP has better diagnostic value for pulmonary infection with acute ischemic stroke, and can be used as biomarkers for early prediction of pulmonary infection with acute ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a detailed analysis of RF system parameters, including phase noise, noise figure, the in-band third-order intercept point (IIP3), the in-band second-order intercept point (IIP2), and the in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) imbalance, of the direct conversion receiver (DCR) for an 802.11a wireless local-area-network (WLAN) orthogonal frequency-division-multiplexing system. A design example of DCR RF parameters planning for a 5-GHz 802.11a WLAN is presented and discussed. It is found that the critical specifications to realize a 5-GHz 802.11a WLAN DCR are the local-oscillator phase noise and I/Q imbalance. However, since there is a 312.5-kHz empty region around zero frequency for the 802.11a standard, dc offset and flicker noise are less sensitive. Hence, the DCR architecture is still an attractive choice for the 802.11a WLAN system. The study can be very useful for RF circuit design in wireless-communication systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study was designed to determine the effects of acceptance and commitment care in the treatment of aplastic anemia (AA) patients with recombinant human thrombopoietin (rhTPO)., Methods: The clinical records of 100 AA patients treated at our hospital from March 2021 to March 2023 were analyzed in the retrospective study. All patients received immunosuppressants and rhTPO. Among them, 46 patients who received routine care from March 2021 to March 2022 were allocated to the control group, and the other 54 patients who received acceptance and commitment care from April 2022 to March 2023 were assigned to the study group. The quality of life (QoL) of the 2 groups was assessed by the MOS 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) before care and after 3 months of care. Blood-related indicators after care were compared in 2 groups., Results: Before care, no significant inter-group discrepancy was observed in SF-36 scores in all dimensions (P > .05); whereas after nursing, the SF-36 scores of both groups increased conspicuously in all dimensions (P < .001), especially the study group (P < .001). After care, no significant differences were observed in hemoglobin (Hb), platelet count (PLT), and white blood cell count (WBC) between the 2 groups (P > .05). A conspicuously lower overall response rate was observed in the control group in contrast to the study group (P = .044), and no significant inter-group discrepancy was found in the total incidence of adverse reactions (P = .506)., Conclusion: Acceptance and commitment care is conducive to the patients with AA treated by rhTPO, because it substantially improves the QoL of patients, without increasing adverse reactions, so it is worth promoting.

The aim of the present study was to predict and analyze the secondary structure, and B and T cell epitopes of Echinococcus granulosus antigen 5 (Ag5) using online software in order to investigate its immunogenicity and preliminarily evaluate its potential as an effective antigen peptide vaccine for cystic echinococcosis. The PortParam program was used to analyze molecular weight, the theoretical isoelectric point, instability index and other physicochemical properties. The secondary structure of the Ag5 protein was predicted using Self-Optimized Prediction method With Alignment and the tertiary structure of the Ag5 protein was predicted using 3DLigandSite together with Center for Biological Sequence Analysis Prediction Servers. Furthermore, the Immune Epitope Database software was used to predict B cell epitopes, and T cell epitopes were predicted with the BioInformatics and Molecular Analysis Section and SYFPEITHI programs. The results demonstrated that α-helixes, β-turns, random coils and extended strands account for 23.35, 10.95, 41.32, and 24.38% of the secondary structure of the Ag5 protein, respectively. Ten potential B cell epitopes of Ag5 were identified as the amino acids sequences 27-39, 70-80, 117-130, 146-168, 250-262, 284-293, 339-349, 359-371, 403-412 and 454-462, and seven potential T cell epitopes were identified as the amino acid sequences 52-60, 57-65, 182-190, 231-239, 273-281, 318-326 and 467-475. Thus, ten B cell epitopes and seven T cell epitopes were identified on Ag5, suggesting the strong immunogenicity of this protein, which could be applied to design antigen peptide vaccines for echinococcosis.

Objective: This study was to explore the key factors in leukemia model through the analysis of mouse with bad life state in the modeling process of leukemia so as to provide the theoretical reference for improving the success rate of modeling., Methods: At 1 week after inoculation of leukemia cells into SCID mice, the life status and peripheral hemogram of SCID mice were tested, the bone marrow smears, splean biopsy and spleen index of mice were examined after dissecting mormal and agoned/died mice during modoling, and the examined results were compared., Results: As compared with control mice, the life status of experimental mice was poor; the blood smear test showed juvenile cells, slightly more white blood cells with irregular shape and partial rupture, the lymphocytes and band cells obviously increased, the neutrophile granulocytes showed nuclear left shift; the bone marrow smears showed larger cell volume, smaller mulcoplasm, abnormal morphology of cells and cell nuclei and serious cell rapture; the spleen examination showed that the spleen diplayed enlargement and hyperemia to varying degree, the spleen index obviously increase, the spleen interstitial expansion, cell disordered arragement and irregular cell shope were observed, however there was no infiltration of leukemia cells in control and experimental mice., Conclusion: The mouse age, pathway of inoculating the leukemia cells, sterile condition in breading and avoiding the rejection and inflammatory response in modeling process are the key foctors influencing the modeling success.

Objective: To isolate Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) strains from stray cats and explore their prevalence in Xuzhou City., Methods: The sera of 41 stray cats were collected to detect the antibodies of T. gondii by using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) kit. The tissues including the heart, brain and tongue from these cats were digested by acid pepsin solution and inoculated to Kunming mice. These suspicious isolates were subsequently identified by a specific PCR method., Results: A total of 11 strains were isolated from 41 stray cats, which were confirmed by the PCR results. Moreover, 17 cats (41.5%) were found to be positive with the antibodies of T. gondii., Conclusion: A high prevalence of T. gondii infection was found in Xuzhou City, which indicates that the stray cats infected with T. gondii would be an important infection source that may infect humans and other animals in this area.

In the title compound, [Co(H(2)O)(6)](C(9)H(7)O(4))(2)·2H(2)O, the Co(2+) cation lies on a twofold rotation axis and is coordinated by six water mol-ecules in a distorted octa-hedral geometry. In the 5-acetyl-2-hy-droxy-benzoate anion, the hy-droxy group links with the carboxyl-ate group via an intra-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bond and the acetyl group is twisted to the benzene ring at a dihedral angle of 16.99 (12)°. In the crystal structure, the cations, anions and water mol-ecules are linked by extensive O-H⋯O hydrogen bonding.

Objective: To compare the effects of different types of feeder cells on supporting undifferentiation and high proliferation of human embryonic stem cells (hESC)., Methods: hESC were seeded on mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF), human marrow stromal cells (hMSC), and human foreskin fibroblasts (hFF), respectively. Colony number, cell quantity after digestion, and survival rate were observed by alkaline phosphatase (AP) staining and Trypan blue, and the biological properties of hESC after 5 passages were observed by immunofluorescence staining., Results: Although all the three feeder layers could support the formation of hESC colonies and maintain pluripotency, the morphology of colonies on different feeder layers remarkably varied. The stage-specific embryonic antigen-3 and AP staining were positive on three types of feeders. The number of colonies, number of cells produced, and cell survival rates were significantly higher on MEF than on human feeder cells (P < 0.01). Furthermore, the number of AP-positive colonies and cell quantity were also significantly higher on hMSC than on hFF (P < 0.01)., Conclusions: All three types of feeder cells are able to support the growth of hMSC, although MEF are more favourable for the proliferation. Two types of human feeder cells lay the foundation for the removal of animal-derived hESC culture system. hMSC is superior to hFF in supporting the proliferation of hESC.

Vaccination with ultraviolet-attenuated cercariae of Schistosoma japonicum induced protective immunity against challenge infection in experimental animal models. Our preliminary study on the transcription levels of IFN-gamma and IL-4 in splenic CD4+ T cells revealed that attenuated cercariae elicited predominantly a Th1 response in mice at the early stage, whereas normal cercariae stimulated primarily Th2-dependent responses. Further analysis on the gene profile of the skin-draining lymph nodes demonstrated that the levels of IFN-gamma were significantly higher in vaccinated mice than those in infected mice at day 4, 7 and 14 post-vaccination or post-infection. However, for IL-12 and IL-4, the potent inducers of Th1 and Th2 responses, respectively, as well as IL-10, there were no differences over the course of the experiment between the infected and vaccinated mice. To explore the underlying factors that may potentially contribute to elevated IFN-gamma in vaccinated mice, the mRNA profiles of the skin-draining lymph nodes at day 4 post-exposure were compared using oligonucleotide microarrays. Within the 847 probe sets with increased signal values, we focused on chemokines, cytokines and relevant receptors, which were validated by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. A comprehensive understanding of the immune mechanisms of attenuated cercariae-induced protection may contribute to developing efficient vaccination strategies against S. japonicum, especially during the early stage of infection.