Construction of a redox-active metal-organic framework with an octanuclear lithium one-dimensional building block.

A stable lithium metal-organic framework, constructed using a redox-active N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)-1,4-phenylenediamine linker and Li8 cluster-based one-dimensional rod secondary building unit, exhibits good stability and reversible redox activity. The Li8-MOF, which can be oxidized by AgNO3, has the potential to function as an electrochromic device, thereby advancing the development of smart MOF materials.

Retroperitoneal Laparoscopic Debridement and Drainage for Pancreatic Abscess.

In patients with severe necrotizing pancreatitis, pancreatic necrosis and secondary infection of surrounding tissues can quickly spread to the whole retroperitoneal space. Treatment of pancreatic abscess complicating necrotizing pancreatitis is difficult and has a high mortality rate. The well-accepted treatment strategy is early debridement of necrotic tissues, drainage, and postoperative continuous retroperitoneal lavage. However, traditional open surgery has several disadvantages, such as severe trauma, interference with abdominal organs, a high rate of postoperative infection and adhesion, and hardness with repeated debridement. The retroperitoneal laparoscopic approach has the advantages of minimal invasion, a better drainage route, convenient repeated debridement, and avoidance of the spread of retroperitoneal infection to the abdominal cavity. In addition, retroperitoneal drainage leads to fewer drainage tube problems, including miscounting, displacement, or siphon. The debridement and drainage of pancreatic abscess tissue via the retroperitoneal laparoscopic approach plays an increasingly irreplaceable role in improving patient prognosis and saving healthcare resources and costs. The main procedures described here include laying the patient on the right side, raising the lumbar bridge and then arranging the trocar; establishing the pneumoperitoneum and cleaning the pararenal fat tissues; opening the lateral pyramidal fascia and the perirenal fascia outside the peritoneal reflections; opening the anterior renal fascia and entering the anterior pararenal space from the rear; clearing the necrotic tissue and accumulating fluid; and placing drainage tubes and performing postoperative continuous retroperitoneal lavage.

Square-planar Tetranuclear Cluster-based Alkaline Earth Metal-organic Frameworks with Enhanced Proton Conductivity.

Alkaline earth (AE) metal complexes have garnered significant interest in various functional fields due to their nontoxicity, low density, and low cost. However, there is a lack of systematic investigation into the structural characteristics and physical properties of AE-metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). In this research, we synthesized isostructural MOFs consisting of AE4(µ4-Cl) clusters bridged by benzo-(1,2;3,4;5,6)-tris(thiophene-2'-carboxylic acid) (BTTC3-) ligands. The resulting structure forms a truncated octahedral cage denoted as [AE4(m4-Cl)]6(BTTC)8, which further linked to a porous three-dimensional framework. Among the investigated AE ions (Ca, Sr, and Ba), the Ca4-MOF demonstrated good chemical stability in water compared to Sr4-MOF and Ba4-MOF. The N2 adsorption and solid-state UV-vis-NIR absorption behaviors were evaluated for all AE4-MOFs, showing similar trends among the different metal ions. Additionally, the proton conduction study revealed that the Ca4-MOF exhibited ultra-high proton conductivity, reaching 3.52×10-2 S cm-1 at 343 K and 98 % RH. Notably, the introduction of LiCl via guest exchange resulted in an improved proton conduction of up to 6.36×10-2 S cm-1 under similar conditions in the modified LiCl@Ca4-MOF. The findings shed light on the regulation of physical properties and proton conductivity of AE-MOFs, providing valuable insights for their potential applications in various fields.

Bimetal-Organic Frameworks Incorporating Both Hard and Soft Base Active Sites for Heavy Metal Ion Capture.

The design and synthesis of stable porous materials capable of removing both hard and soft metal ions pose a significant challenge. In this study, a novel metal-organic framework (MOF) adsorbent named CdK-m-COTTTB was developed. This MOF material was constructed using sulfur-rich m-cyclooctatetrathiophene-tetrabenzoate (m-H4COTTTB) as the organic ligand and oxygen-rich bimetallic clusters as the inorganic nodes. The incorporation of both soft and hard base units within the MOF structure enables effective removal of various heavy metal ions, including both soft and hard acid species. In single-component experiments, the adsorption capacity of CdK-m-COTTTB for Pb2+, Tb3+, and Zr4+ ions reached levels of 636.94, 432.90, and 357.14 mg·g-1, respectively, which is comparable to specific MOF absorbents. The rapid adsorption process was found to be chemisorption. Furthermore, CdK-m-COTTTB exhibited the capability to remove at least 12 different metal ions in both separate and multicomponent solutions. The material demonstrated excellent acid-base stability and renewability, which are advantageous for practical applications. CdK-m-COTTTB represents the first reported pristine MOF material for the removal of both hard and soft acid metal ions. This work serves as inspiration for the design and synthesis of porous crystalline materials that can efficiently remove diverse heavy metal pollutants.

Relationship between physical activity and specific working memory indicators of depressive symptoms in university students.

BACKGROUND: The detection rate of depression among university students has been increasing in recent years, becoming one of the main psychological diseases that endangers their physical and mental health. According to statistics, self-harm and suicide, for which there is no effective intervention, are the second leading causes of death. AIM: To explore the relationship between different elements and levels of physical activity and college students' depression-symptom-specific working memory indicators. METHODS: Of 143 college students were analyzed using the Beck Depression Self-Rating Scale, the Physical Activity Rating Scale, and the Working Memory Task. RESULTS: There was a significant difference between college students with depressive symptoms and healthy college students in completing verbal and spatial working memory (SWM) tasks correctly (all P < 0.01). Physical Activity Scale-3 scores were significantly and positively correlated with the correct rate of the verbal working memory task (r = 0.166) and the correct rate of the SWM task (r = 0.210) (all P < 0.05). There were significant differences in the correct rates of verbal and SWM tasks according to different exercise intensities (all P < 0.05) and different exercise durations (all P < 0.05), and no significant differences in the correct rates of verbal and SWM tasks by exercise frequency (all P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: An increase in physical exercise among college students, particularly medium- and high-intensity exercise and exercise of 30 min or more, can improve the correct rate of completing working memory tasks.

Correlation and pathways of behavioral activation systems mediating physical activity level and depressive symptoms among college students.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a common mental disorder among college students. The main symptoms include being persistent low mood, sad emotional experiences, lack of pleasure, listlessness, and impaired cognitive function accompanied by tendencies of self-harm and suicide. AIM: To clarify the pathways and effects of the behavioral activation system between physical activity and depressive symptoms in college students with depressive symptoms. METHODS: This cross-sectional research screened 3047 college students. Of these, 472 had depressive symptoms, with a depression detection rate of 15.49%. Furthermore, 442 college students with depressive symptoms were analyzed. A one-way analysis of variance and Pearson's correlation, linear regression, and structural equation modeling analyses were used to explore the correlations and pathways of the interactions between the variables. RESULTS: Depressive symptoms were significantly negatively correlated with physical activity (r = -0.175, P < 0.001), the behavioral activation system (r = -0.197, P < 0.001), and drive (r = -0.113, P = 0.017). Furthermore, it was negatively correlated with fun-seeking (FS) (r = -0.055, P = 0.251); however, it was not significant. Physical activity was significantly positively correlated with reward responsiveness (RR) (r = 0.141, P = 0.003) and drive (r = 0.124, P = 0.009) and not significantly positively correlated with FS (r = 0.090, P = 0.058). The mediating effect of RR between physical activity and depressive symptoms was significant [B = -0.025, 95% confidence interval (95%CI): -0.051 to -0.008, P = 0.001]. The direct and total effects of physical activity on depressive symptoms and were significant (B = -0.150, 95%CI: -0.233 to -0.073, P < 0.001; B = -0.175, 95%CI: -0.260 to -0.099, P < 0.001), respectively. CONCLUSION: As physical activity levels increased, depression scores among college students decreased. The mediating effect of RR between physical activity and depressive symptoms was significant. Therefore, colleges and universities should encourage college students with depression to increase their physical activity and improve their behavioral activation system. Particular attention should be paid to RR, which may reduce the prevalence of depressive symptoms.

[Changes of serum BAFF and IL-21 levels in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and their clinical significance].

AIM: To investigate the changes of serum BAFF and IL-21 levels in the patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and explore their clinical significance. METHODS: The serum levels of BAFF and IL-21 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: The levels of serum BAFF and IL-21 in the patients with SLE were obviously higher than those in healthy control group. The BAFF level in the group of lupus nephritis (LN) with renal biopsy increased with pathologic aggravation and the IL-21 level in II, III, IV LN also increased, with the most obviously change in the type IV. The levels of BAFF and IL-21 obviously increased in SLE patients with Sjogren's syndrome (SS), but the levels of BAFF and IL-21 obviously tended to decrease in the patients after glucocorticosteroid treatment for a week, with the most significant decrease in BAFF. The changes of BAFF and IL-21 were related to major immune indexes in the patients with SLE. There was positive correlation between BAFF and IL-21 in IV LN. CONCLUSION: The levels of serum BAFF and IL-21 level are increased in the patients with SLE. The dysfunction and synergistic effect of T and B lymphocytes play different roles in the patients with different organ damage and pathoprocess respectively.

[Serum IL-21 level in patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome and clinical significance of IL-21].

AIM: To investigate the relation between the change of serum IL-21 level and other laboratory indexes by detecting serum IL-21 level from patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) and explore the role of IL-21 in pSS. METHODS: The level of serum IL-21 from 40 pSS patients diagnosed according to 2002 revised international classification criteria for pSS and 30 healthy persons were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) respectively. Meanwhile, FT3, FT4, TSH, TgAb, TPOAb were detected by Immunochemiluminescent technique. Double diffusion method, Westergren and automatic gel method detected ant-SSA and ant-SSB antibody, ESR and serum protein electrophoresis respectively. The relationship between serum IL-21 level and other clinical symptom of the patients was analyzed. RESULTS: The level of serum IL-21 in patients with pSS (1051+/-335) ng/L was obviously higher than that in healthy control (466+/-90 ng/L), (P<0.05). The levels of serum IL-21 in the self-antibody positive group, parotid gland swelling pain group, rash group and incorporating hypothyroidism group were higher than those in their negative control groups, and there were significant differences(P<0.05). In addition, The level of serum IL-21 level in pSS patients showed positive correlation with gamma-globulin (r=0.719, P<0.05) and ESR level(r=0.745, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The evident increase of serum IL-21 level in pSS patients has positive correlation with the levels of gamma-globulin and ESR, which suggests that IL-21 may play a critical role in the pathogenesis of pSS.