Relationships of platelet glycoprotein specific antibody with therapeutic efficacy of short-term high-dose dexamethasone and bleeding score in the newly diagnosed adult patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia.

Objectives: We aimed to investigate relationships of platelet glycoprotein (GP) specific antibody with therapeutic efficacy of high-dose dexamethasone (HD-DXM) and bleeding score in primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) adults. Methods: A retrospective study was carried out to analyze relationships of polymorphism of GP specific antibody with initial therapeutic efficacy of HD-DXM and bleeding score of newly diagnosed ITP adults between 1 June, 2016 and 31 January, 2020. Results: 59 patients were involved in the study, with 33 cases of responders and 26 cases of non-responders between June 2016 and January 2020. At admission, there were 31 (52.5%) GP antibody-positive patients. Initial therapy of HD-DXM was effective for 78.6% GP antibody-negative patients and 35.5% GP antibody-positive patients, with a better therapeutic efficacy in patients with anti-GP Ib/IX antibody or anti-GP IIb/IIIa antibody but not in those with anti-GP Ib/IX antibody plus anti-GP IIb/IIIa antibody. Notably, therapeutic efficacy is much worse for minority (Uyghur) patients compared with corresponding Han patients. Similarly, it was much lower in GP antibody-positive patients compared with corresponding negative ones at low and medium bleeding score, with no response in GP antibody-positive patients at high bleeding score. Furthermore, there was a moderate negative correlation between therapeutic efficacy and GP-specific antibody (p < 0.05), but no obvious linear relationship between clinical bleeding degree and GP-specific antibody (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Collectively, the newly diagnosed ITP adults with GP-specific antibody have a poor response to short-term HD-DXM, especially in minority (Uyghur) patients with GP-specific antibody in China.

Role of Lake Aquatic-Terrestrial Ecotones in the Ecological Restoration of Eutrophic Water Bodies.

Freshwater lake eutrophication is a global concern causing adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems. The degradation of lake aquatic-terrestrial ecotones, which are the transitional zones between terrestrial and water ecosystems, contributes to eutrophication. These ecotones play vital roles in nutrient cycling, runoff control, biodiversity conservation, and habitat provision. In the past three decades, the research on lake aquatic-terrestrial ecotones has focused on techniques for managing contaminants and runoff purification. This paper reviews the recent studies on the restoration ability of eutrophic water bodies in lake aquatic-terrestrial ecotones in recent years regarding three aspects: the establishment, restoration mechanism, and improvement of restoration function. In addition, ecological factors such as lakeshore height, water level, surface runoff, shallow groundwater level, and rainfall intensity have impacts on the restoration capacity of lake aquatic-terrestrial ecotones.

Imbalance of follicular regulatory T (Tfr) cells/follicular helper T (Tfh) cells in adult patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia.

This study is to investigate the role of follicular regulatory T (Tfr) cells/follicular helper T (Tfh) cells imbalance in adult patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Totally, 40 cases of primary ITP patients and 30 healthy controls were enrolled. Blood samples were collected from ITP patients (pre- and post-therapy) and controls. Flow cytometry was used to detect the proportion of Tfr and Tfh cells in peripheral blood. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to detect the mRNA expression levels of FOXP3, BCL-6, and BLIMP-1. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was conducted to detect interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-21 levels. Spearman's correlation was used for correlation analysis. Compared with control, Tfr cell proportion, FOXP3 mRNA, and IL-10 were significantly decreased in the pre-therapy ITP group, but were significantly increased post-therapy. Tfh cell proportion, BCL-6 mRNA, and IL-21 were increased, while BLIMP-1 mRNA was decreased, in the pre-therapy ITP group than the control group. These effects were reversed in the post-therapy ITP group. Moreover, the Tfr/Tfh ratio was decreased in the pre-therapy ITP group than control group, whereas was increased in the post-therapy ITP group than the pre-therapy ITP group. Furthermore, Tfr cell proportion, FOXP3 mRNA, IL-10, and Tfr/Tfh ratio were positively correlated with the platelet count (PLT) in the ITP pre-therapy group. In addition, Tfh cell proportion, BCL-6 mRNA, and IL-21 were negatively correlated with the PLT, while BLIMP-1 mRNA was positively correlated with the PLT. Conclusively, Tfr cell proportion in peripheral blood is decreased and Tfh cell proportion is increased, leading to unbalanced Tfr/Tfh ratio in ITP patients pre-therapy. The imbalance of Tfr/Tfh is recovered post-therapy, suggesting that the Tfr and Tfh cells may be involved in ITP pathogenesis. The abnormal expression of FOXP3, BCL-6, and BLIMP-1 mRNA and the changes in IL-10 and IL-21 levels may be related to the imbalance of Tfr/Tfh.

Strong oxygen-content dependence of the magnetic excitations in antiferromagnetic NiO nanoparticles: A Raman probe.

Nanostructured antiferromagnetic (AFM) NiO has attracted much attention from both the fundamental and applied perspectives. Understanding the two-magnon (2 M) is of great significance in NiO applications such as spin valves and next-generation magnetic random access memories (MRAM). We investigated the phonon modes and antiferromagnetically ordered states of NiO nanoparticles prepared by empirically controlled measurements. An intensity enhancement of the 2 M mode was observed by Raman spectroscopy as the NiO nanoparticles were vacuum annealed at 650 ℃. The increased 2 M peak intensity in NiO nanoparticles is explained by the local symmetry conversions from NiO5 to NiO6 configurations due to the oxygen redistribution during the vacuum annealing. The change of the splitting of anisotropic transverse optical (TO) phonon with different oxygen contents was also revealed by the Raman spectroscopy. We have shown that the changes in the oxygen environment underlie both the change in the 2 M intensity and the splitting of TO phonon in the NiO nanoparticles. Our work offers an efficient avenue to strengthen the AFM ordering and emphasizes the effect of vacuum annealing of the NiO nanoparticles, opening the interesting possibility of individual parameter control in practical applications.

Automated detection of mild cognitive impairment and dementia from voice recordings: A natural language processing approach.

INTRODUCTION: Automated computational assessment of neuropsychological tests would enable widespread, cost-effective screening for dementia. METHODS: A novel natural language processing approach is developed and validated to identify different stages of dementia based on automated transcription of digital voice recordings of subjects' neuropsychological tests conducted by the Framingham Heart Study (n = 1084). Transcribed sentences from the test were encoded into quantitative data and several models were trained and tested using these data and the participants' demographic characteristics. RESULTS: Average area under the curve (AUC) on the held-out test data reached 92.6%, 88.0%, and 74.4% for differentiating Normal cognition from Dementia, Normal or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) from Dementia, and Normal from MCI, respectively. DISCUSSION: The proposed approach offers a fully automated identification of MCI and dementia based on a recorded neuropsychological test, providing an opportunity to develop a remote screening tool that could be adapted easily to any language.

Double-Site Binding and Anti-/Pro-oxidation of Luteolin on Bovine Serum Albumin Mediated by Copper(II) Coordination.

The interactions of luteolin (Lut) with bovine serum albumin (BSA) mediated by Cu(II) were investigated by spectroscopic, calorimetric, and molecular dynamic (MD) methods. Fluorescence studies showed that the binding of Lut to BSA was significantly enhanced by Cu(II) coordination with the number of binding sites and binding constant increasing from n = 1 and K a = 3.2 × 105 L·mol-1 for Lut to n = 2 and K a = 7.1 × 105 L·mol-1 for a 1:1 Cu(II)-luteolin complex, in agreement with the results from isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). Site-specific experiments with warfarin and ibuprofen and MD confirmed that two binding sites of BSA were sequentially occupied by two Cu(II)-luteolin complexes. Cu(II) coordination increased the antioxidant activity of luteolin by 60% in the inhibition of carbonyl formation from the oxidation of amino groups in the side chain of BSA induced by the peroxyl radical ROO•; however, it counteracted the antioxidant effects of luteolin and played pro-oxidative roles in BSA aggregation induced by •OH.

Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy analysis of Raman spectra of NiO nanoparticles.

We report two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) analyses of the Raman spectra of NiO nanoparticles over a temperature range from 100 to 300 K. 2D-Raman correlation spectra suggest strong correlation of the phonon spectral intensity variation with the magnetic ordering in NiO nanoparticles. It is revealed that the antiferromagnetic ordering affects the TO phonon anisotropy in NiO nanoparticles. We elucidate the complex spectral features of two-magnon (2 M) bands by performing appropriate 2D-COS model simulations. Significant spin-phonon coupling in NiO nanoparticles is supported by our results. High energy magnon-magnon interaction tails are also found to be involved in the spin-phonon coupling. 2D-COS analyses provide rich information regarding the nature of the phonon and magnon excitations of NiO nanoparticles.

An Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Method for Dementia Detection Using Images from the Clock Drawing Test.

BACKGROUND: Widespread dementia detection could increase clinical trial candidates and enable appropriate interventions. Since the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) can be potentially used for diagnosing dementia-related disorders, it can be leveraged to develop a computer-aided screening tool. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if a machine learning model that uses images from the CDT can predict mild cognitive impairment or dementia. METHODS: Images of an analog clock drawn by 3,263 cognitively intact and 160 impaired subjects were collected during in-person dementia evaluations by the Framingham Heart Study. We processed the CDT images, participant's age, and education level using a deep learning algorithm to predict dementia status. RESULTS: When only the CDT images were used, the deep learning model predicted dementia status with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 81.3% ± 4.3%. A composite logistic regression model using age, level of education, and the predictions from the CDT-only model, yielded an average AUC and average F1 score of 91.9% ±1.1% and 94.6% ±0.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our modeling framework establishes a proof-of-principle that deep learning can be applied on images derived from the CDT to predict dementia status. When fully validated, this approach can offer a cost-effective and easily deployable mechanism for detecting cognitive impairment.

Promotion effects of flavonoids on browning induced by enzymatic oxidation of tyrosinase: structure-activity relationship.

Tyrosinase, widely distributed in nature, is a copper-containing polyphenol oxidase involved in the formation of melanin. Flavonoids are most often considered as tyrosinase inhibitors but have also been confirmed to be tyrosinase substrates. Four structure-related flavonoids including flavones (apigenin and luteolin) and flavonols (kaempferol and quercetin) are found to promote not inhibit browning induced by tyrosinase catalyzed oxidation both in model systems and in mushrooms under aerobic conditions. A comparison with enzymatic oxidation and autooxidation of flavonoids alone has helped to clarify why flavonoids function as a substrate rather than an inhibitor. Flavonoids almost do not affect the kinetics of melanin formation from enzymatic oxidation of l-dopa in excess. In addition, a new brown complex formed during the reaction of flavonoid quinone and dopaquinone is suggested to enhance the browning effects by competing with isomerization and autooxidation. Structure-activity relationships of the four flavonoids in melanin formation leading to browning induced by autooxidation and enzymatic oxidation confirm the enzymatic nature of the browning.

Kinetic Studies on Radical Scavenging Activity of Kaempferol Decreased by Sn(II) Binding.

Sn(II) binds to kaempferol (HKaem, 3,4',5,7-tetrahydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one) at the 3,4-site forming [Sn(II)(Kaem)2] complex in ethanol. DPPH• scavenging efficiency of HKaem is dramatically decreased by SnCl2 coordination due to formation of acid inhibiting deprotonation of HKaem as ligands and thus reduces the radical scavenging activity of the complex via a sequential proton-loss electron transfer (SPLET) mechanism. Moderate decreases in the radical scavenging of HKaem are observed by Sn(CH3COO)2 coordination and by contact between Sn and HKaem, in agreement with the increase in the oxidation potential of the complex compared to HKaem, leading to a decrease in antioxidant efficiency for fruits and vegetables with Sn as package materials.