Lung ultrasound correlates with radiographic severity and pattern in COVID-19 pneumonia: a preliminary study.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was outbreaking in late 2019 and a proportion of patients developed to pneumonia. Although chest CT is a pivotal diagnostic tool for COVID-19 pneumonia, CT is expensive and also radiological burden for patients. There is urgent to investigate the role of lung ultrasound (LUS) in diagnosing and monitoring COVID-19 pneumonia. METHODS: A total of 8 patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 pneumonia in Shantou Central Hospital from January 2020 to February 2020 were retrospectively studied. All participants underwent chest HRCT and LUS examination; both were independently performed within 1 day of the other. The radiological patterns were reviewed by 2 radiologists who were blind to the clinical information. A senior ultrasound physician, blind to HRCT results and clinical data, performed bedside LUS in the isolation ward. The CT score was used (a semi-quantitative scoring system) to assess radiographic severity and extent. A B-lines score denoting the extent and severity of sonographic lesion was calculated by summing the number of B-lines on 18 scanning sites. RESULTS: B-lines (100%), pleural irregularities (25%), consolidation (25%), and pleural effusion (25%) were the main findings of LUS examination. Interstitial abnormalities, ground-glass opacities (GGO), consolidations and local or bilateral patchy shadowing were the main findings of HRCT examination. The findings of LUS and HRCT were compared point to point and high consistency was found between the 2 measurements. A significant correlation was also found between the B-lines score and CT score [r=0.96, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.81 to 0.99, P=0.0001]. CONCLUSIONS: Both LUS patterns and B-lines score are significantly correlated with HRCT findings and score, respectively, supporting its role in assessing COVID-19 pneumonia severity, screening, and following up dynamic changes of pneumonia.

Self-assembled organic nanotube promoted allylation of ketones in aqueous phase.

A self-assembled organic nanotube was found to promote the allylation of ketones in the aqueous phase.

Experimental investigation of the inerting effect of crystalline II type Ammonium Polyphosphate on explosion characteristics of micron-size Acrylates Copolymer dust.

The inerting effect of crystalline II type Ammonium Polyphosphate (APP-II) on explosion characteristics of micron-size Acrylates Copolymer (ACR) powders was experimentally studied. The inerting mechanism was analysed by combining thermogravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) tests. The results indicated that the maximum explosion pressure (Pmax) and explosion index (Kst) was 10.4bar and 416bar m/s, respectively for ACR powders. The minimum explosion concentration (MEC) of ACR powders ranged from 20 to 30g/m3, and the experimental minimum ignition energy (MIE) of the ACR dust cloud was 10mJ. Therefore, ACR dust was determined to be severely combustible dust. There existed a minimum inerting concentration (MIC), and the explosion of ACR powders can be inerted completely by 80wt% APP-II. Furthermore, 30 and 40wt% APP-II had a significant inerting effect on the MIE of ACR dust. According to TG and DSC tests, thermal stability of ACR would be augmented by the introduction of APP-II. The addition of APP-II triggered lower maximum mass loss rate (MMLR), higher temperature corresponding to mass loss of 90% (T0.1), chars yield, and endothermic peaks. Consequently, the ACR dust explosion was inerted by the chemical interaction of ACR/APP-II mixtures and endothermic decomposition of APP-II.

Identification of binding sites of cisplatin to human copper chaperone protein Cox17 by high-resolution FT-ICR-MS.

RATIONALE: Cox17 is a key copper chaperone protein responsible for delivery of cuprous ions to mitochondria and has been demonstrated to be involved in the anticancer action of cisplatin. However, the binding sites of the drug to the protein have not yet been directly identified. METHODS: The recombinant protein apo-Cox172s-s , the functional state of Cox17 transferring Cu(I), was reacted with an excess of cisplatin to produce platinated Cox17 adducts, of which the platination sites were identified by high-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron tandem mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS/MS) through electron capture dissociation (ECD). RESULTS: Primary FT-ICR-MS showed that mono-platinated Cox17 adducts were the main products, and top-down MS/MS results indicated that cisplatin bound to the Cys26 or Cys27 residue which is the binding site of cuprous ions in apo-Cox172s-s . CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report for identification of the main binding sites of cisplatin to Cox17 by top-down high-resolution mass spectrometry, providing direct evidence for the competitive coordination with Cox17 of cisplatin and cuprous ions. These findings will also be helpful to understand further how Cox17 facilitates cisplatin accumulation in mitochondria, and how cisplatin disturbs the transportation of cuprous ions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A comparative study on the interactions of human copper chaperone Cox17 with anticancer organoruthenium(II) complexes and cisplatin by mass spectrometry.

Herein we report investigation of the interactions between anticancer organoruthenium complexes, [(η(6)-arene)Ru(en)(Cl)]PF6 (en=ethylenediamine, arene=p-cymene (1) or biphenyl (2)), and the human copper chaperone protein Cox17 by mass spectrometry with cisplatin as a reference. The electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) results indicate much weaker binding of the ruthenium complexes than that of cisplatin to apo-Cox172s-s, the functional state of Cox17. Up to tetra-platinated Cox17 adducts were identified while only mono-ruthenated and a little amount of di-ruthenated Cox17 adducts were detected even for the reactions with 10-fold excess of the Ru complexes. However, ESI-MS analysis coupled with liquid chromatography of tryptic digests of metalated proteins identified only three platination sites as Met4, Cys27 and His47 residues, possibly due to the lower abundance or facile dissociation of Pt bindings at other sites. Complexes 1 and 2 were found to bind to the same three residues with Met4 as the major site. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry results revealed that ~7mol Pt binding to 1mol apo-Cox172s-s molecules, compared to only 0.17 (1) and 0.10 (2) mol Ru to 1mol apo-Cox172s-s. This is in line with the circular dichroism results that much larger unfolding extent of α-helix of apo-Cox172s-s was observed upon cisplatin binding than that upon organoruthenium bindings. These results collectively indicate that Cox17 might not participate in the action of these anticancer organoruthenium complexes, and further verify the distinct anticancer mechanism of the organoruthenium(II) complexes from cisplatin.

Highly flexible silver nanowire electrodes for shape-memory polymer light-emitting diodes.

Shape-memory polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) using a new silver nanowire/polymer electrode are reported. The electrode can be stretched by up to 16% with only a small increase in sheet resistance. Large deformation shape change and recovery of the PLEDs to various bistable curvatures result in minimal loss of electroluminescence performance.