Search

Glutamine (Gln) was FDA-approved in 2017 to reduce acute sickle cell disease (SCD) pain and acute chest syndrome. However, typical pediatric patients with SCD exhibit moderate adherence, measured by a medication possession ratio80%. This study examined Gln utilization in a "real-world" clinical setting to determine factors influencing medication adherence and to characterize the impact of an interdisciplinary team approach at an institution with specialty pharmacy services. A retrospective chart review identified 40 patients prescribed Gln by sickle cell specialists over a 2-year period and met selection criteria. Gln medication possession ratio for pediatric (72%) and adult (76%) patients were higher than other SCD medications. Pediatric patients (74%) demonstrated significantly lower first-attempt insurance approval rate compared with adult patients (95%) ( P =0.0026), suggesting an initial access barrier for pediatric patients. Pediatric patients demonstrated significantly higher number of medication fills (9.11 fills) compared with adult patients (3.86 fills) ( P =0.007), which suggests interdisciplinary collaboration may facilitate sustainable management of a new therapy. The majority of pediatric (89%) and adult (90%) patients reported high satisfaction with Gln ("excellent") with minor or no side effects. Multidisciplinary health care provider collaborations and tracking medication adherence metrics can help address barriers to care for SCD patients.

Previous studies assessing healthcare provider compliance to the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) cholesterol guidelines indicate a significant underuse of statin therapy at appropriate intensity. However, data are limited in primary prevention patients. Our study aimed to evaluate the impact of the 2013 ACC/AHA guidelines through a retrospective analysis of primary prevention patients presenting with first time acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We retrospectively calculated the 10-year predicted Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (10yASCVD) risk in 1,265 patients ages 40 to 75 who presented with ACS and no previous ASCVD. In patients without known ambulatory systolic blood pressure, a multivariable linear regression model was used to predict outpatient systolic blood pressure. Outcomes analyzed in each 10yASCVD category included statin status and statin intensity (high/medium/low) with further categorization by type of ACS event and date of left heart catheterization. In both primary analysis and sensitivity analysis (patients with predicted systolic blood pressure), statistical significance was shown with respect to overall statin status, ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction, and date of left heart catheterization. In summary, retrospective calculation of 10yASCVD in patients with a first ACS event showed a significant number of ACS patients would have qualified for statin therapy per 2013 ACC/AHA guidelines before their event but had not been initiated on one.

In people with sickle cell disease (SCD), oral abscesses are concerning clinical conditions and carry a high risk of postoperative sickle cell complications. We present an unusual case of a 14-year-old girl with SCD whose initial presentation of facial swelling, headaches, jaw pain, and paresthesia mimicked an odontogenic abscess. She was diagnosed with vaso-occlusive crisis in the mandibular bone and successfully managed noninvasively. This is among the youngest cases of paresthesia in the lower lip in SCD, which provided a clue that postponing invasive aspiration or biopsy was possible under empiric antibiotics and close observation.

BACKGROUND There is little information available about the circumstances surrounding the deaths of children aged 0 to 14 years in which the manner of death is of undetermined intent. METHODS We analyzed data collected in the Illinois Violent Death Reporting System to describe victim demographics, location of injury, seasonality, day of week, and circumstances surrounding the victims' deaths. RESULTS From 2005 to 2010 in Cook County, Illinois, 192 cases were identified of children aged 0 to 14 years, in which the manner of death was of undetermined intent. The majority of cases were younger than 1 year (81%), male (62%), and non-Hispanic black (66%); occurred in the City of Chicago (65%); and also occurred most frequently during the months of May (15%) and July (13%) and on Sunday (19%). Circumstances of note were having information on the location of death available for the victim (90%); scene investigation was not performed/unknown/not documented (81%); and the victim not presenting with red petechiae (84%). By ethnicity, a lower proportion of Hispanic victims had parental drug information available compared with non-Hispanic victims (17% and 40%, respectively; p = 0.017); Hispanic victims were more likely than non-Hispanic victims to have a documented acute illness at the time of injury leading to death (57% and 33%, respectively; p = 0.015). The availability of scene information and the successful contact of one or both parents of the victim following the victim's death varied by location. CONCLUSIONS No public health surveillance system exists for the collection of this type of death. There is not enough information provided to develop an effective intervention. The systematic, thorough collection of information surrounding these deaths is necessary to pinpoint possible contributing mechanisms of death for these children. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Epidemiologic, level IV.

This study investigated the polyphenol content, antioxidant activity, and inhibition ability of mushroom tyrosinase and melanogenesis of Dendrobium tosaense (DT) extract. Ground DT was extracted using deionized water (W) or 50% ethanol (50E) at room temperature (RT) or 50 &deg, C (50T) for 20 min. The 50T + 50E extract exhibited the highest total phenol content 47.0 &plusmn, 4.0 mg gallic acid equivalent/g DT extract, the highest level of 2,2&prime, azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) free-radical scavenging 66.0 &plusmn, 3.0 mg Trolox equivalent/g DT extract, and the highest reducing power 12.00 &plusmn, 0.50 mg vitamin C equivalent/g DT extract. The RT + W extract had the highest total flavonoid content 110.0 &plusmn, 3.0 mg quercetin equivalent/g DT extract. The RT + 50E extract had the lowest half maximal inhibitory concentration 1.30 &plusmn, 0.00 mg/mL for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free-radical scavenging, and the lowest half maximal inhibitory concentration 6.40 &plusmn, 0.30 mg/mL for mushroom tyrosinase inhibition activity. DT extracts, especially RT + W and 50T + W, exhibited potent inhibitory effects on melanogenesis of B16/F10 cells. These results demonstrated the application potential of DT extract for skincare.

Vibration protection of the piping in nuclear power plants (NPPs) is critical for safety operation of NPPs. In order to improve the anti-shock ability of pipes in NPPs, the application feasibility of the elastomer damper in piping protection is investigated. The numerical analysis and the shock test are utilized to compare performances between the elastomer damper and the hydraulic oil damper, which is widely utilized in NPPs currently. The comparison results prove that the recoil force of the elastomer damper to the system is smaller. Moreover, the shock mitigation process of the elastomer damper is more smoothly. Therefore, the performance characteristics of the elastomer damper can well meet the requirements of vibration protection for pipes in NPPs. It can be used in NPPs in the future.

Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is an important nuclear transcription factor which regulates pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-6. Its role as immunoregulatory mediator makes it an attractive target in the development of treatments for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. In this study, we synthesized derivatives of IMD0354, a known inhibitor for NF-κB, in attempt to understand the effect of benzanilide substitutions on its activity. The inhibition of these analogs on NF-κB activation was analyzed by luciferase assay. The inhibition of IKKβ phosphorylation and pro-inflammatory cytokines was determined by Western blot and real-time PCR. The structure activity relationships showed that the hydroxyl group on IMD0354 is a critical moiety that resulting in the inhibition of NF-κB. Derivatives 1m, 2b, and 2c were shown to inhibit pro-inflammatory cytokine production at low concentration. These newly synthesized compounds may be useful for the treatment of chronic inflammatory disorders or for cancer prevention.

In applied cryptography, RSA is a typical asymmetric algorithm, which is used in electronic transaction and many other security scenarios. RSA needs to generate large random primes. Currently, primality test mostly depends on probabilistic algorithms, such as the Miller-Rabin primality testing algorithm. In 2002, Agrawal et al. published the Agrawal–Kayal–Saxena (AKS) primality testing algorithm, which is the first generic, polynomial, deterministic and non-hypothetical algorithm for primality test. This paper proves the necessary and sufficient condition for AKS primality test. An improved AKS algorithm is proposed using Fermat’s Little Theorem. The improved algorithm becomes an enhanced Miller-Rabin probabilistic algorithm, which can generate primes as fast as the Miller-Rabin algorithm does.

A new type viscous damper designed especially for the anti-impact requirements of piping systems on ship is studied．In order to analyze the operating characteristic of the damper in practical application，two experiments about the new type damper was carried out. One is on the drop test machine; the other is on a real ship. The results of the drop tests showed that the shock load was smoothly and gently brought to rest and decelerated with the lower possible force, which eliminates damaging force peaks and shock damage to machines and equipment. The real explosion experiment confirmed the good anti-impact ability of the new type damper．

Cobalt silicide nanostructures have been synthesized by a spontaneous chemical vapor transport and reaction method.Thetemperatureandthevaporflowratewereshowntocritically influencethegrowthofnanostructures.Theeffectsof two main parameters on the growth of nanostructures were discussed. The phases formed were determined by the Gibbs free energy changes in the reactions. Various phases (CoSi, Co2Si) and morphologies, such as single-stem nanowires, three- dimensional (3D) nanowire networks, and aloelike nanostructures, have been synthesized. Very low turn-on field (1.42 V/μm) and good conductance obtained from field-emission and electrical property measurements, respectively, indicate that CoSi nanowires are potentially useful for electronic devices.

Two-dimensional (2D) inverse opal ZnO nanorod networks exhibiting a photonic crystal band gap have been grown by an aqueous chemical method with nanosphere lithography at low temperatures. The 2D ZnO photonic crystals with band gap at the green light emission region have been successfully fabricated for the first time. The presence of the photonic band gap was inferred from the reflection spectra and confirmed by the photonic band calculation. The ZnO nanorod networks exhibit prominent blue shift at UV emission and almost no green emission attributed to singly ionized oxygen vacancies. The combination of aqueous chemical growth and nanosphere lithography provides a large-scale, facile, and low-cost fabrication method at low temperatures, which shall be of significant value for practical applications of the grown photonic crystals.

Nanoheterostructures of NiSi/Si/NiSi in which the length of the Si region can be controlled down to 2 nm have been produced using in situ point contact reaction between Si and Ni nanowires in an ultrahigh vacuum transmission electron microscope. The Si region was found to be highly strained (more than 12%). The strain increases with the decreasing Si layer thickness and can be controlled by varying the heating temperature. It was observed that the Si nanowire is transformed into a bamboo-type grain of single-crystal NiSi from both ends following the path with low-activation energy. We propose the reaction is assisted by interstitial diffusion of Ni atoms within the Si nanowire and is limited by the rate of dissolution of Ni into Si at the point contact interface. The rate of incorporation of Ni atoms to support the growth of NiSi has been measured to be 7 x 10(-4) s per Ni atom. The nanoscale epitaxial growth rate of single-crystal NiSi has been measured using high-resolution lattice-imaging videos. On the basis of the rate, we can control the consumption of Si and, in turn, the dimensions of the nanoheterostructure down to less than 2 nm, thereby far exceeding the limit of conventional patterning process. The controlled huge strain in the controlled atomic scale Si region, potential gate of Si nanowire-based transistors, is expected to significantly impact the performance of electronic devices.

To identify the expression characteristics of the 1700001022RIK (RIKEN cDNA 1700001022) gene in mice and explore its function by bioinformatic analysis.Using the expression profile of gene microarray, we detected the expression of a new testis-specific gene, 1700001022RIK, in mice. We analyzed its expression characteristics in the testis tissue and their changes in different developmental stages of the testis by RT-PCR, real-time RT-PCR, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry. We performed bioinformatic analysis using a bioinformatic software.The 1700001022RIK gene was specifically expressed in the mouse testis in an age-dependent manner, most highly in the adult mice. The 1700001022RIK protein was mainly expressed in the spermatogonia, spermatocytes, and round spermatids of the adult mice. Bioinformatic analysis showed that the 1700001022RIK protein amino acid sequence had a high similarity in human and mice, which indicated that this gene was highly conserved in mammals.1700001022RIK is a testis-specific gene mainly expressed in the spermatogonia, spermatocytes, and round spermatids of seminiferous tubules, which might be involved in the regulation of spermatogenesis.

We created nanostructures on bulk silicon and measured their photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The PL spectral width of the samples with nanostructures is much narrower than that of bulk silicon due to confinement of exciton.

not Available.

Epitaxial silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were grown along 〈110〉 directions on Si(001) at 1100°C via a convenient annealing process catalysed by Au nanoparticles. The density and size of Au nanodots have been controlled by nanosphere lithography. The SiNWs are devoid of structural defects. A clean Si wafer, with the polished side facing down and in close contact with the substrate, was also found to be essential to supply and keep Si vapour pressure high near the substrate and prevent the oxidation of the Si NW during growth.