4f/5d Hybridization Induced Single-Electron Delocalization in an Azide-Bridged Dicerium Complex.

Dilanthanide complexes with one-electron delocalization are important targets for understanding the specific 4f/5d-bonding feature in lanthanide chemistry. Here, we report an isolable azide-bridged dicerium complex 3 [{(TrapenTMS)Ce}2(µ-N3)]• [Trapen = tris (2-aminobenzyl)amine; TMS = SiMe3], which is synthesized by the reaction of tripodal ligand-supported (TrapenTMS)CeIVCl complex 2 with NaN3. The structure and bonding nature of 3 are fully characterized by X-ray crystal diffraction analysis, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), magnetic measurement, cyclic voltammetry, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and quantum-theoretical studies. Complex 3 presents a trans-bent central Ce-N3-Ce unit with a single electron of two mixed-valent Ce atoms. The unique low-temperature (2 K) anisotropic EPR signals [g = 1.135, 2.003, and 3.034] of 3 indicate that its spin density is distributed on the central Ce-N3-Ce unit with marked electron delocalization. Quantum chemical analyses show strong 4f/5d orbital mixing in the singly occupied molecular orbital of 3, which allows for the unpaired electron to extend throughout the cerium-azide-cerium unit via a multicentered one-electron (Ce-N3-Ce) interaction. This work extends the family of mixed-valent dilanthanide complexes and provides a paradigm for understanding the bonding motif of ligand-bridged dilanthanide complexes.

Position-Sensing Graph Neural Networks: Proactively Learning Nodes Relative Positions.

Most existing graph neural networks (GNNs) learn node embeddings using the framework of message passing and aggregation. Such GNNs are incapable of learning relative positions between graph nodes within a graph. To empower GNNs with the awareness of node positions, some nodes are set as anchors. Then, using the distances from a node to the anchors, GNNs can infer relative positions between nodes. However, position-aware GNNs (P-GNNs) arbitrarily select anchors, leading to compromising position awareness and feature extraction. To eliminate this compromise, we demonstrate that selecting evenly distributed and asymmetric anchors is essential. On the other hand, we show that choosing anchors that can aggregate embeddings of all the nodes within a graph is NP-complete. Therefore, devising efficient optimal algorithms in a deterministic approach is practically not feasible. To ensure position awareness and bypass NP-completeness, we propose position-sensing GNNs (PSGNNs), learning how to choose anchors in a backpropagatable fashion. Experiments verify the effectiveness of PSGNNs against state-of-the-art GNNs, substantially improving performance on various synthetic and real-world graph datasets while enjoying stable scalability. Specifically, PSGNNs on average boost area under the curve (AUC) more than 14% for pairwise node classification and 18% for link prediction over the existing state-of-the-art position-aware methods. Our source code is publicly available at: https://github.com/ZhenyueQin/PSGNN.

Association between gout and the risk of osteoporosis and fractures: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between gout and osteoporosis is poorly clarified, and the association between gout and fractures incidence remains controversial. Hence, in the present study, we aimed to comprehensively evaluate the available literature to elucidate whether gout is associated with an increased risk of both osteoporosis and fractures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted an exhaustive search of pertinent literature published until 20 March 2023, in well-recognized databases, namely Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library, focusing on examining the association between gout and the risk of osteoporosis or fracture. Meta-analysis was performed to aggregate the relative risks (RR) using random- or fixed-effects models. Sensitivity analyses were conducted iteratively, whereby each study was removed sequentially to gauge its impact on the overall outcome. Publication bias was assessed using Egger's and Begg's tests. This study was registered with PROSPERO (registry number: CRD42022376822). RESULTS: Herein, we included 10 observational studies comprising a total of 1,606,095 participants. An independent population sample of four studies validated the significant association between gout and osteoporosis (RR = 1.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-1.48), with the results demonstrating robustness. However, our analysis did not detect any association between gout and fracture risk when compared with the control group (RR = 1.09, 95%CI 0.99-1.19), along with high heterogeneity (p for heterogeneity = 0.000; I2 = 79.7%). Further subgroup analysis revealed that gout is positively associated with fracture risk in the Chinese population (RR = 1.17, 95%CI 1.14-1.21), with no evidence of heterogeneity (p for heterogeneity = 0.420; I2 = 0.00%). CONCLUSION: Our meticulous evaluation of the available literature indicates that gout has no discernible impact on fracture incidence, although it is positively associated with an enhanced risk of osteoporosis. Therefore, it is imperative to prioritize preventive measures to prevent osteoporotic complications in individuals diagnosed with gout.

Th6-Based Multicomponent Heterometallic Metal-Organic Frameworks Featuring 6,12-Connected Topology for Iodine Adsorption.

Its high coordination number and tendency to cluster make Th4+ suitable for constructing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with novel topologies. In this work, two novel thorium-based heterometallic MOF isomers (IHEP-17 and IHEP-18) were assembled from a Th6 cluster, a multifunctional organic ligand [4-(1H-pyrazol-4-yl)benzoic acid (HPyba)], and Cu2+/Ni2+ cations via the one-pot solvothermal synthesis strategy. The framework features a 6,12-connected new topology net and contains two kinds of supramolecular cage structures, Th36M4 and Th24M2, suitable for guest exchange. Both MOF materials can efficiently adsorb I2. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction indicate that the adsorbed iodine is uniformly distributed within the Th36M4 cage but not the Th24M2 cage in the form of I3-.

Association of hyperhomocysteinemia and chronic kidney disease in the general population: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence shows that an elevated homocysteine(Hcy) level is associated with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study systematically evaluated the correlation between homocysteine level and the incidence of CKD reported in cohort and cross-sectional studies. METHODS: We searched electronic databases and reference lists for relevant articles. 4 cohort studies and 7 cross-sectional studies including 79,416 patients were analyzed in a meta-analysis. Hyperhomocysteinemia was defined as a Hcy level > 15 µmol/L, which was the criterium used in previous studies. Meta-analyses were conducted of literature searches from online databases such as PubMed, Embase, Cochrane and Scopus. Computed pooled adjusted odds ratios with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were used to estimate the risk of new-onset CKD according to Hcy levels in the general population. RESULTS: People with high Hcy levels were more likely to suffer from CKD than people with normal Hcy levels (pooled OR, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.72-2.55). This positive relationship persisted across different study types such as cohort studies (summary OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.55-3.13) and cross-sectional studies (summary OR, 2.07; 95% CI, 1.63-2.63). CONCLUSIONS: People with hyperhomocysteinemia have a higher incidence of CKD, Hyperhomocysteinemia may also be an independent risk factor for CKD in the general population.

Colossal negative thermal expansion in a cucurbit[8]uril-enabled uranyl-organic polythreading framework via thermally induced relaxation.

It is an ongoing goal to achieve the effective regulation of the thermal expansion properties of materials. In this work, we propose a method for incorporating host-guest complexation into a framework structure and construct a flexible cucurbit[8]uril uranyl-organic polythreading framework, U3(bcbpy)3(CB8). U3(bcbpy)3(CB8) can undergo huge negative thermal expansion (NTE) and has a large volumetric coefficient of -962.9 × 10-6 K-1 within the temperature range of 260 K to 300 K. Crystallographic snapshots of the polythreading framework at various temperatures reveal that, different from the intrinsic transverse vibrations of the subunits of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that experience NTE via a well-known hinging model, the remarkable NTE effect observed here is the result of a newly-proposed thermally induced relaxation process. During this process, an extreme spring-like contraction of the flexible CB8-based pseudorotaxane units, with an onset temperature of ∼260 K, follows a period of cumulative expansion. More interestingly, compared with MOFs that commonly have relatively strong coordination bonds, due to the difference in the structural flexibility and adaptivity of the weakly bonded U3(bcbpy)3(CB8) polythreading framework, U3(bcbpy)3(CB8) shows unique time-dependent structural dynamics related to the relaxation process, the first time this has been reported in NTE materials. This work provides a feasible pathway for exploring new NTE mechanisms by using tailored supramolecular host-guest complexes with high structural flexibility and has promise for the design of new kinds of functional metal-organic materials with controllable thermal responsive behaviour.

Unveiling Structural Diversity of Uranyl Compounds of Aprotic 4,4'-Bipyridine N,N'-Dioxide Bearing O-Donors.

As an aprotic O-donor ligand, 4,4'-bipyridine N,N'-dioxide (DPO) shows good potential for the preparation of uranyl coordination compounds. In this work, by regulating reactant compositions and synthesis conditions, diverse coordination assembly between uranyl and DPO under different reaction conditions was achieved in the presence of other coexisting O-donors. A total of ten uranyl-DPO compounds, U-DPO-1 to U-DPO-10, have been synthesized by evaporation or hydro/solvothermal treatment, and the possible competition and cooperation of DPO with other O-donors for the formation of these uranyl-DPO compounds are discussed. Starting with an aqueous solution of uranyl nitrate, it is found that an anionic nitrate or hydroxyl group is involved in the coordination sphere of uranyl in U-DPO-1 ((UO2)(NO3)2(H2O)2·(DPO)), U-DPO-2 ((UO2)(NO3)2(DPO)), and U-DPO-3 ((UO2)(DPO)(µ2-OH)2), where DPO takes three different kinds of coordination modes, i.e. uncoordinated, monodentate, and biconnected. The utilization of UO2(CF3SO3)2 in acetonitrile, instead of an aqueous solution of uranyl nitrate, precludes the participation of nitrate and hydroxyl, and ensures the engagement of DPO ligands (4-5 DPO ligands for each uranyl) in a uranyl coordination sphere of U-DPO-4 ([(UO2)(CF3SO3)(DPO)2](CF3SO3)), U-DPO-5 ([UO2(H2O)(DPO)2](CF3SO3)2) and U-DPO-6 ([(UO2)(DPO)2.5](CF3SO3)2). Moreover, when combined with anionic carboxylate ligands, terephthalic acid (H2TPA), isophthalic acid (H2IPA), and succinic acid (H2SA), DPO works well with them to produce four mixed-ligand uranyl compounds with similar structures of two-dimensional (2D) networks or three-dimensional (3D) frameworks, U-DPO-7 ((UO2)(TPA)(DPO)), U-DPO-8 ((UO2)2(DPO)(IPA)2·0.5H2O), U-DPO-9 ((UO2)(SA)(DPO)·H2O), and U-DPO-10 ((UO2)2(µ2-OH)(SA)1.5(DPO)). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations conducted to probe the bonding features between uranyl ions and different O-donor ligands show that the bonding ability of DPO is better than that of anionic CF3SO3 -, nitrate, and a neutral H2O molecule and comparable to that of an anionic carboxylate group. Characterization of physicochemical properties of U-DPO-7 and U-DPO-10 with high phase purity including infrared (IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and luminescence properties is also provided.

Liver injury associated with the severity of COVID-19: A meta-analysis.

Background: The current 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a major threat to global health. It is currently uncertain whether and how liver injury affects the severity of COVID-19. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to determine the association between liver injury and the severity of COVID-19. Methods: A systematic search of the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases from inception to August 12, 2022, was performed to analyse the reported liver chemistry data for patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The pooled odds ratio (OR), weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were assessed using a random-effects model. Furthermore, publication bias and sensitivity were analyzed. Results: Forty-six studies with 28,663 patients were included. The pooled WMDs of alanine aminotransferase (WMD = 12.87 U/L, 95% CI: 10.52-15.23, I 2 = 99.2%), aspartate aminotransferase (WMD = 13.98 U/L, 95% CI: 12.13-15.83, I 2 = 98.2%), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (WMD = 20.67 U/L, 95% CI: 14.24-27.10, I 2 = 98.8%), total bilirubin (WMD = 2.98 µmol/L, 95% CI: 1.98-3.99, I 2 = 99.4%), and prothrombin time (WMD = 0.84 s, 95% CI: 0.46-1.23, I 2 = 99.4%) were significantly higher and that of albumin was lower (WMD = -4.52 g/L, 95% CI: -6.28 to -2.75, I 2 = 99.9%) in severe cases. Moreover, the pooled OR of mortality was higher in patients with liver injury (OR = 2.72, 95% CI: 1.18-6.27, I 2 = 71.6%). Conclusions: Hepatocellular injury, liver metabolic, and synthetic function abnormality were observed in severe COVID-19. From a clinical perspective, liver injury has potential as a prognostic biomarker for screening severely affected patients at early disease stages. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, Identifier: CRD42022325206.

Antibacterial effect of low-temperature plasma on Enterococcus faecalis in dentinal tubules in vitro / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To construct a model of Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) infection in dentinal tubules by gradient centrifugation and to evaluate the antibacterial effect of low-temperature plasma on E. faecalis in dentinal tubules.@*METHODS@#Standard dentin blocks of 4 mm×4 mm×2 mm size were prepared from single root canal isolated teeth without caries, placed in the E. faecalis bacterial solution, centrifuged in gradient and incubated for 24 h to establish the model of dentinal tubule infection with E. faecalis. The twenty dentin blocks of were divided into five groups, low-temperature plasma jet treatment for 0, 5 and 10 min, calcium hydroxide paste sealing for 7 d and 2% chlorhexidine gel sealing for 7 d. Scanning electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscope were used to assess the infection in the dentinal tubules and the antibacterial effect of low-temperature plasma.@*RESULTS@#The results of scanning electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that after 24 h of incubation by gradient centrifugation, E. faecalis could fully enter the dentinal tubules to a depth of more than 600μm indicating that this method was time-saving and efficient and could successfully construct a model of E. faecalis infection in dentinal tubules. Low-temperature plasma could enter the dentinal tubules and play a role, the structure of E. faecalis was still intact after 5 min of low-temperature plasma treatment, with no obvious damage, and after 10 min of low-temperature plasma treatment, the surface morphology of E. faecalis was crumpled and deformed, the cell wall was seriously collapsed, and the normal physiological morphology was damaged indicating that the majority of E. faecalis was killed in the dentinal tubules. The antibacterial effect of low-temperature plasma treatment for 10 min exceeded that of the calcium hydroxide paste sealing for 7 d and the 2% chlorhexidine gel sealing for 7 d. These two chemicals had difficulty entering deep into the dentinal tubules, and therefore only had a few of antibacterial effect on the bacterial biofilm on the root canal wall, and there was also no significant damage to the E. faecalis bacterial structure.@*CONCLUSION@#Gradient centrifugation could establish the model of E. faecalis dentin infection successfully. Low-temperature plasma treatment for 10 min could kill E. faecalis in dentinal tubules effectively, which is superior to the calcium hydroxide paste sealing for 7 d and the 2% chlorhexidine gel sealing for 7 d.

Disentangling Noise from Images: A Flow-Based Image Denoising Neural Network.

The prevalent convolutional neural network (CNN)-based image denoising methods extract features of images to restore the clean ground truth, achieving high denoising accuracy. However, these methods may ignore the underlying distribution of clean images, inducing distortions or artifacts in denoising results. This paper proposes a new perspective to treat image denoising as a distribution learning and disentangling task. Since the noisy image distribution can be viewed as a joint distribution of clean images and noise, the denoised images can be obtained via manipulating the latent representations to the clean counterpart. This paper also provides a distribution-learning-based denoising framework. Following this framework, we present an invertible denoising network, FDN, without any assumptions on either clean or noise distributions, as well as a distribution disentanglement method. FDN learns the distribution of noisy images, which is different from the previous CNN-based discriminative mapping. Experimental results demonstrate FDN's capacity to remove synthetic additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) on both category-specific and remote sensing images. Furthermore, the performance of FDN surpasses that of previously published methods in real image denoising with fewer parameters and faster speed.

Synthesis of Trapen Ligand-Based U(IV) and Th(IV) 2-Phosphaethynolate Complexes and Comparison of Covalency with Corresponding Ti(IV) Analogues.

The involvement of the 2-phosphaethynolate anion species with ambident nucleophilic properties serves as an essential protocol for synthesizing oxygen-bound or phosphorus-bound complexes. This work mainly describes the synthesis and characterization of U, Th, and Ti phosphaethynolate complexes featuring a preferential O-coordination fashion. Among these complexes, the first examples of a Ti(IV)-OCP complex 3A, Th(IV)-OCP complex 3B, and U(IV)-OCP complex 3C were assembled by a salt metathesis reaction between M(TrapenTMS)(Cl) (M = Ti, Th, U) and NaOCP(dioxane)2.5 and were all crystallographically characterized. The structural similarity of this series of phosphaethynolate complexes allows us to compare the bonding properties of d- and f-block elements in the corresponding compounds. The well-established density functional theory (DFT) computational method was employed to explore the electronic structures and covalency in M-O bonding, and the results showed a consistent pattern. The calculation result showed that 2-phosphaethynolate complexes exhibited the covalency trend of U-O > Th-O > Ti-O due to the involvement of 5f orbitals.

Fusing Higher-Order Features in Graph Neural Networks for Skeleton-Based Action Recognition.

Skeleton sequences are lightweight and compact and thus are ideal candidates for action recognition on edge devices. Recent skeleton-based action recognition methods extract features from 3-D joint coordinates as spatial-temporal cues, using these representations in a graph neural network for feature fusion to boost recognition performance. The use of first-and second-order features, that is, joint and bone representations, has led to high accuracy. Nonetheless, many models are still confused by actions that have similar motion trajectories. To address these issues, we propose fusing higher-order features in the form of angular encoding (AGE) into modern architectures to robustly capture the relationships between joints and body parts. This simple fusion with popular spatial-temporal graph neural networks achieves new state-of-the-art accuracy in two large benchmarks, including NTU60 and NTU120, while employing fewer parameters and reduced run time. Our source code is publicly available at: https://github.com/ZhenyueQin/Angular-Skeleton-Encoding.

Modular Assembly of Isostructural Mixed-Ligand Uranyl Coordination Polymers Based on a Patterning Strategy.

Controlling the orderly assembly of molecular building blocks for the formation of the desired architectural, chemical, and physical properties of the resulting solid-state materials remains a long-term goal and deserves to be examined. In this work, we propose a patterning strategy for modular assembly and structural regulation of mixed-ligand uranyl coordination polymers (CPs) through the combination of couples of organic ligands with complementary molecular geometry and well-matched coordination modes. By using a 5-(p-tolyldiazenyl)isophthalic acid ligand (H2ptdi) with different rigid linear bicarboxylic acid linkers to construct a well-defined ladder-like pattern, five novel isostructural uranyl coordination polymers, [(UO)2(ptdi)(bdc)0.5](dma) (1), [(UO)2(ptdi)(bpdc)0.5](dma) (2), [(UO)2(ptdi)(tpdc)0.5](dma) (3), [(UO)2(ptdi)(ndc)0.5](dma) (4), and [(UO)2(ptdi) (pdc)0.5](dma) (5) {H2bdc, 1,4-dicarboxybenzene; H2bpdc, 4,4'-biphenyldicarboxylic acid; H2tpdc, terphenyl-4,4″-dicarboxylic acid; H2ndc, 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid; H2pdc, 1,6-pyrenedicarboxylic acid; [dma]+, [(CH3)2NH2]+}, were successfully synthesized. Structural analysis reveals that 1-5 have similar ladder-like units but different sizes of one-dimensional nanochannels and interlayer spacing due to the different lengths and widths of the linkers. Because of the changes in interlayer spacing of these isostructural cationic frameworks, differences in the performance of Eu3+ ion exchange with [dma]+ are observed. Moreover, those compounds with high phase purity have been further characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, infrared spectroscopy, and luminescence spectroscopy, element analysis, PXRD and UV spectroscopy. Among them, compound 3 with strong fluorescence can selectively detect Fe3+ over several competing metal cations in aqueous solution. This work not only provides a feasible patterning method for effectively regulating the modular synthesis of functional coordination polymers but also enriches the library of uranyl-based coordination polymers with intriguing structures and functionality.

Melatonin alleviates the heat stress-induced impairment of Sertoli cells by reprogramming glucose metabolism.

Sertoli cells (SCs) provide structural and nutritional support for developing germ cells. Normal glucose metabolism of SCs is necessary for spermatogenesis. Melatonin could alleviate the effects of heat stress on spermatogenesis. However, the influences of heat stress on glucose metabolism in SCs remain unclear, and the potential protective mechanisms of melatonin on SCs need more exploration. In this study, boar SCs were treated at 43°C for 30 min, and different concentrations of melatonin were added to protect SCs from heat stress-induced impairment. These results showed that heat stress-induced oxidative stress caused cell apoptosis, inhibited the pentose phosphate pathway, and decreased the ATP content. Furthermore, heat stress increased the expressions of glucose intake- and glycolytic-related enzymes, which enhanced the glycolysis activity to compensate for the energy deficit. Melatonin relieved heat stress-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis by activating the Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (KEAP1)/NF-E2-related factor 2 signaling pathway to increase the capacity of antioxidants. In addition, melatonin enhanced heat-shock protein 90 (HSP90) expression through melatonin receptor 1B (MTNR1B), thereby stabilizing hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α). Activation of the HIF-1α signaling pathway enhanced glycolysis, promoted the pentose phosphate pathway, and increased cell viability. Our results suggest that melatonin reprograms glucose metabolism in SCs through the MTNR1B-HSP90-HIF-1α axis and provides a theoretical basis for preventing heat stress injury.

Hydrocortisone for Preventing Adverse Drug Reactions to Snake Antivenom: A Meta-Analysis.

Objective: Pretreatment with hydrocortisone (prehydrocortisone) has been used to protect against adverse drug reactions (ADRs) following antivenom administration after snakebite. However, controversial results have been reported in studies evaluating its efficacy. Herein, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of prehydrocortisone on the risk of ADRs. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane for relevant studies on the literature published up to December 6, 2020, with no language restrictions. Premedications, including hydrocortisone with or without other drugs, were compared with placebo or no premedication. Our primary end point was the risk of ADRs, which was reported as the number of patients who developed ADRs divided by the total number of snakebite patients administered with antivenom separately for the prehydrocortisone and control groups for each study. We evaluated pooled data using of a random-effects model. Results: Among 831 identified studies, 4 were eligible and included in our analysis (N = 1348 participants). Upon combining all eight comparisons from the four selected studies, the overall pooled odds ratio (OR) for ADRs was 0.47 (95% CI 0.19, 1.17; p=0.11; I 2 = 68%). When the analysis was restricted to only articles using hydrocortisone with other drugs, the pooled OR was 0.19 (95% CI 0.05, 0.75; p=0.02; I 2 = 55%). The result was not statistically significant when the analysis was restricted to studies using prehydrocortisone alone, or randomized controlled designs, or cohorts. Our study was limited by heterogeneity, quality, and a paucity of data. Conclusions: The findings in this study revealed that prehydrocortisone alone was ineffective. However, the substantial beneficial effect of prehydrocortisone combinations with premedications (injectable antihistamines or adrenaline) used against ADRs cannot be excluded. Therefore, the use of prehydrocortisone combinations with premedications (injectable antihistamines or adrenaline) as a prophylaxis may reduce the ADRs to antivenom.

Controllable photomechanical bending of metal-organic rotaxane crystals facilitated by regioselective confined-space photodimerization.

Molecular machines based on mechanically-interlocked molecules (MIMs) such as (pseudo) rotaxanes or catenates are known for their molecular-level dynamics, but promoting macro-mechanical response of these molecular machines or related materials is still challenging. Herein, by employing macrocyclic cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8])-based pseudorotaxane with a pair of styrene-derived photoactive guest molecules as linking structs of uranyl node, we describe a metal-organic rotaxane compound, U-CB[8]-MPyVB, that is capable of delivering controllable macroscopic mechanical responses. Under light irradiation, the ladder-shape structural unit of metal-organic rotaxane chain in U-CB[8]-MPyVB undergoes a regioselective solid-state [2 + 2] photodimerization, and facilitates a photo-triggered single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) transformation, which even induces macroscopic photomechanical bending of individual rod-like bulk crystals. The fabrication of rotaxane-based crystalline materials with both photoresponsive microscopic and macroscopic dynamic behaviors in solid state can be promising photoactuator devices, and will have implications in emerging fields such as optomechanical microdevices and smart microrobotics.

Serum uric acid levels and diabetic kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A dose-response meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to assess the existing evidence on whether serum uric acid (SUA) levels are associated with diabetic kidney disease (DKD) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: We conducted a systematic search of articles up to October 2021 in Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library and Web of Science that estimated DKD by SUA levels in patients with T2DM. Pooled relative risks with 95% CI were calculated using random effects models RESULTS: A total of eight cohort studies involving 25,741 T2DM patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that compared the highest with the lowest category of SUA level, the summary risk ratios were 2.04 (95%CI 1.43-2.92, P < 0.001). The linear dose-response analysis revealed that the risk of DKD increased by 24% for each 1 mg/dl increase of SUA. The non-linear dose-response analysis also showed a significant relevance between SUA and the risk of DKD in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Serum uric acid is associated with an increased risk of diabetic kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Serum uric acid level could be a good indicator for predicting diabetic kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Coordination-Adaptive Polydentate Pseudorotaxane Ligand for Capturing Multiple Uranyl Species.

The propensity of uranyl for hydrolysis in aqueous environments prevents precise control of uranyl species in the scenarios of on-demand separation and tailored synthesis. Herein, using cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) as the macrocyclic molecule and 4,4'-bipyridine-N,N'-dioxide (DPO) as the string molecule, we propose a new kind of multidentate pseudorotaxane ligand, DPO@CB[7] for capturing uranyl species at different pH's. With the aprotic nature of DPO for metal coordination, the coordination ability of the DPO@CB[7] ligand is less affected by pH and can work in a wide range of pH's. Furthermore, by adaptive uranyl coordination, this aprotic pseudorotaxane ligand achieves effective recognition for different uranyl species ranging from monomeric to tetrameric originating from hydrolysis at varying pH's, and four novel uranyl-rotaxane compounds (URC1-4) are successfully obtained. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that the DPO@CB[7] ligand coordinates with uranyl centers from monomeric to tetrameric in four different modes, as a result of structural flexibility of the DPO@CB[7] pseudorotaxane ligand. A detailed discussion for conformation flexibility of the DPO@CB[7] ligand has been conducted on the position changes of the DPO ligand trapped in the CB[7], which thus reveals good adaptivity of DPO@CB[7] that is noncovalently bonded as a supramolecular motif. In addition, characterization of the physicochemical properties of URC1 and URC2 with high phase purity, including powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), infrared spectroscopy (IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and luminescence properties, are also provided. This work provides a good case of an adaptive pseudorotaxane ligand for the recognition and capture of different uranyl species and will bring valuable hints to the design of multifunctional supramolecular ligands for actinide separation in the future.

Impact of COVID-19 on emergency patients in the resuscitation room: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 outbreaks on emergency patients in a resuscitation room in Nanning, China. METHODS: A single-center cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted in the emergency department of a tertiary public hospital from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020, in Nanning, Guangxi, China. We collected the data of patients in the resuscitation room to investigate the number of patients accessing emergency services during the study period. Data in 2020 were compared to the data during the same period in 2019. RESULTS: The number of emergency patients in the resuscitation room during the COVID-19 pandemic has decreased in intrinsic diseases, extrinsic diseases, and pediatric cases, especially in the early stages of the pandemic. Additionally, the length of stay of emergency patients in the resuscitation room was reduced. CONCLUSIONS: The number of emergency patients in the resuscitation room during the pandemic of COVID-19 in 2020 was reduced compared to that in the same period in 2019 in Nanning, China. This situation shows a serious social problem, which should arouse the attention of the medical profession and the government.

Attention in Attention Networks for Person Retrieval.

This paper generalizes the Attention in Attention (AiA) mechanism, in P. Fang et al., 2019 by employing explicit mapping in reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces to generate attention values of the input feature map. The AiA mechanism models the capacity of building inter-dependencies among the local and global features by the interaction of inner and outer attention modules. Besides a vanilla AiA module, termed linear attention with AiA, two non-linear counterparts, namely, second-order polynomial attention and Gaussian attention, are also proposed to utilize the non-linear properties of the input features explicitly, via the second-order polynomial kernel and Gaussian kernel approximation. The deep convolutional neural network, equipped with the proposed AiA blocks, is referred to as Attention in Attention Network (AiA-Net). The AiA-Net learns to extract a discriminative pedestrian representation, which combines complementary person appearance and corresponding part features. Extensive ablation studies verify the effectiveness of the AiA mechanism and the use of non-linear features hidden in the feature map for attention design. Furthermore, our approach outperforms current state-of-the-art by a considerable margin across a number of benchmarks. In addition, state-of-the-art performance is also achieved in the video person retrieval task with the assistance of the proposed AiA blocks.