Ultrafine nickel-rhodium nanoparticles anchored on two-dimensional vanadium carbide for high performance hydrous hydrazine decomposition at mild conditions.

The development of heterogeneous supported nanocatalysts with a high kinetics combined with low cost is off importance but remains still challenged for hydrazine hydrate served as a promising hydrogen storage material. Herein, by virtue of surficial functional groups, ultrafine NiRh NPs were monodispersed on the two-dimensional V2C surface via a conventional wet chemical co-reduction. The optimized NiRh/V2C system demonstrates an excellent catalytic performance toward selectively catalyzing dehydrogenation of hydrazine hydrate, affording 100% H2 selectivity with the turnover frequency (TOF) value of 987.5 h-1 at 323 K. Such an enhancement is mainly attributed to synergistic effect of nanosystem, which will optimize local surface energy and promote electron transfer in NiRh/V2C system, thereby improving the kinetic selectivity of catalytic hydrazine hydrate decomposition. This work has provided a facile strategy for developing nanocatalysts with high kinetics that could enable huge industrial applications in the future.

Cluster analysis of clinical phenotypes in idiopathic inflammatory myopathy patients complicated with cardiac involvement.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to classify idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) patients with cardiac involvement (IIM-CI) into different categories based on their clinical phenotypes via cluster analysis and to explore their differences in outcomes. METHODS: IIM-CI patients admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2015 to June 2021 were retrieved. The clinical data, laboratory examinations, and treatment were retrospectively reviewed, and the outcome was traced. A second-order clustering method was employed for categorization. RESULTS: A total of 88 IIM-CI patients were enrolled in this study and were classified into two categories through cluster analysis. Category I consisted of patients who exhibited distinct cardiac structural and functional changes, such as enlargement of atriums and/or ventricles, along with the remarkable heart insufficiency biomarkers, whereas patients of category II displayed more widely systemic injuries and intensive skeletal muscle weakness. In comparison, pulmonary hypertension (58.8% vs 16.7%, p < 0.01), arrhythmia (82.4% vs 27.8%, p < 0.01), and positive serum anti-mitochondrial-M2 antibody (52.9% vs 5.6%, p < 0.01) were more prevalent in category I than in category II, and serum N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels (1703.5 pg/L vs 364.0 pg/L, p = 0.02) were significantly elevated in category I, whereas skeletal muscle weakness (50.0% vs 74.1%, p = 0.02), interstitial lung disease (20.6% vs 63.0%, p < 0.01), skin rash (11.8% vs 48.1%, p < 0.01), arthralgia (2.9% vs 27.8%, p < 0.01), fever (2.9% vs 27.8%, p < 0.01), and dysphagia (2.9% vs 22.2%, p < 0.01) were more common in category II patients. Heart failure was the primary cause of death in category I, but severe pneumonia was predominantly responsible for deaths in category II. CONCLUSION: Two categories of IIM-CI were identified based on clinical features with distinctive characteristics. Two categories exhibited differences in clinical manifestations, autoantibody profiles, and the primary cause of death.

Correlation between vitamin D metabolites and rheumatoid arthritis with osteoporosis by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS).

INTRODUCTION: Our aim is to study the correlation between vitamin D metabolites and osteoporosis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). At the same time, other influencing factors and serum biomarkers of osteoporosis in patients with RA were studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with RA admitted from January 2020 to December 2020 were selected at our hospital. The subjects were divided into the normal bone mineral density (BMD), osteopenia, and osteoporosis groups. The differences of vitamin D (VD) metabolites among groups were compared. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze the relationship between BMD and various parameters. The relationship between BMD and influencing factors was studied by a multiple linear regression equation. RESULTS: A total of 287 patients with RA were included. RA patients with 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25(OH)D] deficiency accounted for 43.63% and 25(OH)D insufficient levels accounted for 31.37%. There were 31 cases (10.80%) in the normal BMD group, 161 cases (56.10%) in the osteopenia group, and 95 cases (33.10%) in the osteoporosis group. The BMD of L1-4 (T- score) was negatively correlated with age (P < 0.05), course of disease (P < 0.05), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (P < 0.05), and positively correlated with 25(OH)D3 (P < 0.05). The multiple linear regression model results showed that age and 25(OH)D3 were independent predictors of BMD; this explained 22.11% of the total variation. CONCLUSIONS: VD deficiency and insufficient are common in RA patients. RA patients can be appropriately supplemented with VD. VD3 may be a better choice.

The Role of Vitamin D in Combination Treatment for Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical efficacy of vitamin D (VitD) supplementation in terms of response to treatment and improvement of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: This study analyzed 1180 RA patients' records treated at Mianyang Central Hospital from February 2015 to July 2019. The patients were allocated into VitD group and control group based on their medical regimens. The outcome measures were primary efficacy, defined as treatment response-based EULAR response criteria in RA, and secondary efficacy, defined as improvement in disease activity indicators. Safety was evaluated according to the incidence of all-cause infections. Results: At month 6, the primary efficacy revealed that there were 22.8% good responders and 19.0% moderate responders in the VitD group, and 22.3% good responders and 22.3% moderate responders in the control group; there were no differences between the two groups (p = 0.754). The similar primary efficacy outcomes were observed at months 3, 12, and >12. The secondary efficacy indicated that there were no differences in most indexes between the two groups at months 1, 3, 6, 12, and >12. The subgroups (based on baseline DAS28 (CRP), glucocorticoids use and disease duration) analysis results suggested that VitD group didn't have the advantage for treating RA. The incidence of infections was similar in the two groups. Conclusion: VitD supplementation did not provide additional benefit for anti-rheumatic treatment. These data supported the need for prospective, randomized, controlled trials to evaluate the role of VitD supplementation in treating RA.

[The correlation of myxovirus resistance 1 and 2'5'-ollgoadenylate synthetase 1 with clinical features of systemic lupus erythematosus].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of myxovirus resistance 1(MX1) and 2'5'-oligoadenylate synthetase 1(OAS1) genes in the peripheral blood leukocyte of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and to evaluated the relations between these genes expression levels and disease activity. METHODS: In this study, there were 50 SLE petients, 20 non-SLE patients with rheumatic dieases, and 25 normal controls. The peripheral blood samples of these patients were collected, and the expression levels (indicated as delta Ct value) of MX1 and OAS1 were measured by Sybr green dye based real-time quantitative PCR method. RESULTS: The deltaCt value of MX1 expression in SLE patients was 3.55 +/- 1.39, which was significantly higher than those of non-SLE patients (2.31 +/- 0.52, P = 0.000) and normal controls (2.23 +/- 1.05, P = 0.000). (2) The deltaCt value of OAS1 expression in SLE patients was 4.45 +/- 1.56, which also was significantly higher than those of non-SLE patients (3.03 +/- 0.76, P = 0.000) and normal controls (2.75 +/- 0.64, P = 0.000). (3) The deltaCt value of OAS1 was correlated with the SLEDAI scores (r = 0.338, P = 0.019) and serum IgA level. (4) The ACt value of MX1 was not correlated with the SLEDAI scores (r = 0.064, P = 0.661), but correlated with the serum levels of triglyceride (TG), cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LDL), albuminuria of 24 hours (r = 0.428, P = 0.003 r = 0.383, P = 0.009 r = 0.394, P = 0.007; r = 0.316, P = 0.025); (5) The deltaCt values of MX1 and OAS1 in the SLE patients with arthritis were significantly higher than those in non-arthritis SLE patients (3.04 +/- 1.42, P = 0.004; 3.89 +/- 1.49, P = 0.006). CONCLUSION: The expression levels of both MX1 and OAS1 in SLE patients are up-regulated, the expression levels of OAS1 genes are associated with SLE disease activity. As IFN-induced genes, MX1 and OAS1 play their respective role in SLE.