Incidence, risk factors, and outcomes of the transition of HIPEC-induced acute kidney injury to acute kidney disease: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is recognized as a common complication following cytoreductive surgery combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS-HIPEC). Characterized by prolonged renal function impairment, acute kidney disease (AKD) is associated with a higher risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and mortality. METHODS: From January 2018 to December 2021, 158 patients undergoing CRS-HIPEC were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were separated into non-AKI, AKI, and AKD cohorts. Laboratory parameters and perioperative features were gathered to evaluate risk factors for both HIPEC-induced AKI and AKD, with the 90-day prognosis of AKD patients. RESULTS: AKI developed in 21.5% of patients undergoing CRS-HIPEC, while 13.3% progressed to AKD. The multivariate analysis identified that ascites, GRAN%, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and intraoperative (IO) hypotension duration were associated with the development of HIPEC-induced AKI. Higher uric acid, lessened eGFR, and prolonged IO hypotension duration were more predominant in patients proceeding with AKD. The AKD cohort presented a higher risk of 30 days of in-hospital mortality (14.3%) and CKD progression (42.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Our study reveals a high incidence of AKI and AKI-to-AKD transition. Early identification of risk factors for HIPEC-induced AKD would assist clinicians in taking measures to mitigate the incidence.

Alveoli-Mimetic Synergistic Liquid and Solid Thermal Conductive Interface as a Novel Strategy for Designing High-Performance Thermal Interface Materials.

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are in desperate desire with the development of the modern electronic industry. An excellent TIM needs desired comprehensive properties including but not limited to high thermal conductivity, low Yong's modulus, lightweight, as well as low price. However, as is typically the case, those properties are naturally contradictory. To tackle such dilemmas, a strategy of construction high-performance TIM inspired by alveoli is proposed. The material design includes the self-alignment of graphite into 3D interconnected thermally conductive networks by polydimethylsiloxane beads (PBs) -the alveoli; and a small amount of liquid metal (LM) - capillary networks bridging the PBs and graphite network. Through the delicate structural regulation and the synergistic effect of the LM and solid graphite filler, superb thermal conductivity (9.98 ± 0.34 W m-1 K-1) can be achieved. The light emitting diode (LED) application and their performance in the central processing unit (CPU) heat dispersion manifest the TIM developed in the work has stable thermal conductivity for long-term applications. The thermally conductive, soft, and lightweight composites are believed to be high-performance silicone bases TIMs for advanced electronics.

A comprehensive analysis of immune features and construction of an immune gene diagnostic model for sepsis.

Sepsis is a life-threatening syndrome resulting from immune system dysfunction that is caused by infection. It is of great importance to analyze the immune characteristics of sepsis, identify the key immune system related genes, and construct diagnostic models for sepsis. In this study, the sepsis transcriptome and expression profiling data were merged into an integrated dataset containing 277 sepsis samples and 117 non-sepsis control samples. Single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) was used to assess the immune cell infiltration. Two sepsis immune subtypes were identified based on the 22 differential immune cells between the sepsis and the healthy control groups. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WCGNA) was used to identify the key module genes. Then, 36 differentially expressed immune-related genes were identified, based on which a robust diagnostic model was constructed with 11 diagnostic genes. The expression of 11 diagnostic genes was finally assessed in the training and validation datasets respectively. In this study, we provide comprehensive insight into the immune features of sepsis and establish a robust diagnostic model for sepsis. These findings may provide new strategies for the early diagnosis of sepsis in the future.

Exploring Lipoic Acid-Mediated Dynamic Bottlebrush Elastomers as a New Platform for the Design of High-Performance Thermally Conductive Materials.

The development of high-performance thermally conductive interface materials is the key to unlocking the serious bottleneck of modern microelectronic technology through enhanced heat dispersion. Existing methods that utilize silicone composites rely either on loading large doses of randomly distributed thermal conductive fillers or on filling prealigned thermal conductive scaffolds with liquid silicone precursors. Both approaches suffer from several limitations in terms of physical traits and processability. We describe an alternative approach in which malleable silicone matrices, based on the dynamic cyclic disulfide nature cross-linker (α-lipoic acid), are readily prepared using ring-opening polymerization. The mechanical properties of the resultant dynamic silicone matrix are readily tunable. Stress-dependent depolymerization of the disulfide network demonstrates the ability to reprocess the silicone elastomer matrix, which allows for the fabrication of highly efficient thermal conductive composites with a 3D interconnecting, thermally conductive network (3D-graphite/MxBy composites) via in situ methods. Applications of the composites as thermal dispersion interface materials are demonstrated by LEDs and CPUs, suggesting great potential in advanced electronics.

Experience in the diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia caused by infection with Tropheryma whipplei: A case series.

Tropheryma whipplei (TW) is the root cause of Whipple's disease (WD), a rare infectious illness leading to multi-organ impairment. A prominent feature of WD is acute pneumonia, which can be exceedingly challenging to diagnose clinically due to the pathogen's surreptitious nature. However and significantly, with the advent of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), it offers clinicians a potent tool at their disposal to detect TW infections. The present study conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical data gleaned from five patients in Hunan Province in China. Findings in this study demonstrated the potential of BALF-mNGS in diagnosing pneumonia caused by TW infection.

Association between calf circumference and cardiac metabolic risk factors in middle-aged and elderly women.

Aims: To assess the correlation between calf circumference and cardiac metabolic risk factors such as hypertension, abnormal blood glucose and dyslipidaemia among middle-aged and elderly women. Methods: The cross-sectional study population consisted of 476 female participants aged 40-80 years, including 304 perimenopausal and 172 postmenopausal women. Calf circumference, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, blood glucose and blood lipids were measured. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the study aims. Results: Calf circumference was lower in postmenopausal than perimenopausal women, and postmenopausal women had the highest rates of hypertension, abnormal blood glucose and abnormal blood lipids. Pearson correlation coefficients showed that calf circumference was positively correlated with triglycerides (TGs), BMI, fasting plasma glucose (FPG),2-h plasma glucose, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1C), systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure; and negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and total cholesterol (TC). The group with the lowest quantile of calf circumference had higher rates of hypertension (odds ratio (OR)2.14,95% confidence interval (CI)1.67-2.74),dysglycaemia (OR1.40,95%CI1.03-1.90) and dyslipidaemia (OR2.14,95%CI 1.86-2.46). Conclusion: In perimenopausal women, measurements of calf circumference can be used to predict the presence of cardiac metabolic risk factors, which can be detected by observing blood pressure, blood glucose, and blood lipids.

Dynamic Perfusion Representation and Aggregation Network for Nodule Segmentation Using Contrast-Enhanced US.

Dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) imaging has been widely applied in lesion detection and characterization, due to its offered real-time observation of microvascular perfusion. Accurate lesion segmentation is of great importance to the quantitative and qualitative perfusion analysis. In this paper, we propose a novel dynamic perfusion representation and aggregation network (DpRAN) for the automatic segmentation of lesions using dynamic CEUS imaging. The core challenge of this work lies in enhancement dynamics modeling of various perfusion areas. Specifically, we divide enhancement features into the two scales: short-range enhancement patterns and long-range evolution tendency. To effectively represent real-time enhancement characteristics and aggregate them in a global view, we introduce the perfusion excitation (PE) gate and cross-attention temporal aggregation (CTA) module, respectively. Different from the common temporal fusion methods, we also introduce an uncertainty estimation strategy to assist the model to locate the critical enhancement point first, in which a relatively distinguished enhancement pattern is displayed. The segmentation performance of our DpRAN method is validated on our collected CEUS datasets of thyroid nodules. We obtain the mean dice coefficient (DSC) and intersection of union (IoU) of 0.794 and 0.676, respectively. Superior performance demonstrates its efficacy to capture distinguished enhancement characteristics for lesion recognition.

Resveratrol suppresses lipopolysaccharide-mediated activation of osteoclast precursor RAW 264.7 cells by increasing miR-181a-5p expression.

Resveratrol (Res) has anti-inflammation and antiosteoporosis functions. We evaluated the effect of Res on osteoclast differentiation by releasing inflammatory cytokines from osteoclast precursor RAW 264.7 cells stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In the study, LPS (1 ng/L) was used to induce the Raw 264.7 inflammatory injury model in vitro. A total of 25 ng/mL M-CSF + 30 ng/mL RANKL or plus 1 µg/L LPS was used to induce osteoclastogenesis in the experiments. We utilized the Cell Counting Kit-8 assay to measure the relative cell survival of RAW 264.7 cells. Then, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were utilized to measure the abundance of inflammatory markers, such as interleukin-1 beta (IL-1ß), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and IL-6. Subsequently, Western blot analysis was applied to assess the abundance of phosphorylated transforming growth factor beta-activated kinase 1 (P-TAK1) protein, TNF receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6), nuclear factor-κB inhibitor protein (IκB), phosphorylated IκB-α (P-IκB-α), and nuclear factor κB65 (NF-κB65). mRNA expression levels of miR-181a-5p, TRAF6, specific gene calcitonin receptor (CTR), activated T nuclear factor 1 (NFATC1), cathepsin K (CTSK), and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 were determined via a real-time polymerase chain reaction. Osteoclast bone resorption function was determined. Finally, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining was performed.The results found that Compared with the model group, the degrees of expressions of supernatant inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6 were substantially attenuated in the Res treatment group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the extent of miR-181a-5p expression in the RAW 264.7 cells significantly increased, whereas P-IκB-α, P-TAK1, NF-κB65, and TRAF6 expressions significantly decreased in the Res treatment group as opposed to the model group (p < 0.05). The CTR, NFATC1, MMP-9, CTSK, and TRAP mRNA expression levels were substantially reduced during osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption in the Res treatment group.The results suggest that Res can reduce the RAW 264.7 cell differentiation into osteoclasts and relieve LPS-stimulated osteoporosis, and the underlying mechanism may be associated with the Res-inhibited activity of the TRAF6/TAK1 pathway through the increased miR-181a-5p expression.

Characteristics and risk factors for renal recovery after acute kidney injury in critically ill patients in cohorts of elderly and non-elderly: a multicenter retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to explore the risk factors for renal nonrecovery among elderly and nonelderly patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) in critically ill patients. METHODS: A multicenter retrospective cohort of 583 critically ill patients with AKI was examined. We found the best cutoff value for predicting renal recovery by age was 63 years old through logistic regression. All patients were divided into two cohorts, age <63 and age ≥63-years old; on the basis of renal recovery at 30 days after AKI, the two patient cohorts were further divided into a renal recovery group and a renal nonrecovery group. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors affecting renal recovery in the two cohorts. RESULTS: The 30-day renal recovery rate of patients aged <63 years was 70.0% (198/283), multivariate analysis showed that the independent risk factors affecting renal nonrecovery in age <63 years old included AKI stage, blood lactate level and hemoglobin level. The 30-day renal recovery rate of patients aged ≥63 years was 28.7% (86/300), multivariate analysis showed that the independent risk factors for renal nonrecovery in age ≥63-years old included diabetes mellitus, surgery with general anesthesia, AKI stage, APACHE II score, eGFR, and hemoglobin level. CONCLUSIONS: The renal nonrecovery after AKI in critically ill patients in patients aged ≥63 years was more strongly affected by multiple risk factors, such as diabetes mellitus, surgery with general anesthesia, eGFR, and APACHE II score, in addition to hemoglobin and AKI stage.

Identification of Immune-Active Peptides in Casein Hydrolysates and Its Transport Mechanism on a Caco-2 Monolayer.

In this study, we investigated the transport mechanism of immune-active peptide fragments isolated from casein gastrointestinal hydrolysates via a Caco-2 monolayer. The casein gastrointestinal hydrolysates could stimulate B-lymphocyte proliferation and reduce the TNF-α level. Then, we identified the bioactive peptide fragments derived from casein gastrointestinal hydrolysis using LC-MS/MS. Our results demonstrated that the transport mechanism of five immune-active peptides at the cell level was bypass transport. In addition, the majority of peptide RYPLGYL was transported through the monolayer cell membrane as an intact form for playing immune-active functions. The KHPIK and FFSDK were mainly degraded into small fragments, except for a small amount passing through Caco-2 cells in an entire form. Overall, these results suggested that casein or its immune-active peptides might play a role in regulation of the intestinal immune system.

Magnetic field-driven biochemical landscape of browning abatement in goat milk using spatial-omics uncovers.

Influence of magnetic field (MF) treatment on the glycation of goat milk proteins is yet to be elucidated. Proteomic and metabolomic analyses of brown goat milk samples with and without MF treatment were performed. Assessed glycation degree and structural modification of proteins explained that MF treatment dramatically down-regulated the glycation of brown goat milk protein, possibly due to the aggregation behavior induced by MF treatment, which consumed additional glycation sites as well as altered their accessibility and preference. Integrated datasets uncovered that the energy metabolism-related biological events including carbohydrate metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, TCA cycle may mainly account for the browning abatement mechanism of MF. In addition, MF treatment enhanced both the quality and flavor of brown goat milk. This study suggests the feasibility of MF treatment to reduce glycation in brown goat milk for producing high-quality dairy ingredients and products.

Transport-Based Anatomical-Functional Metric Learning for Liver Tumor Recognition Using Dual-View Dynamic CEUS Imaging.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) are the most common malignancy arising from primary liver cancer (PLC). Liver ultrasound (US) has been the main approach for the early screening and differential diagnosis. Since ultrasonic findings of PLC are closely associated with tumor growth pattern, histological morphology, tumor staging, and other factors, ultrasonic imaging findings overlap partially. Besides, qualitative assessment is highly dependent on expertise. To improve the diagnostic objectiveness, we propose a novel transport-based anatomical-functional metric learning (T-AFML) method to quantify imaging similarity of both the gray-scale US and dynamic contrast-enhanced US view. Considering that the hemodynamic changes vary with individuals, we introduce a temporally regularized optimal transport to align the local enhancement patterns automatically. To sufficiently exploit ultrasonic findings similarity from different modalities, a selector-based metric integration mechanism is adopted to adaptively select a dominant modality accounting for the similarity measure. In this retrospective study, we collected a total of 174 liver cancer patients consists of 105 HCC and 69 ICC, and our method achieves the superior diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity of 88.41% and 86.16%, respectively, demonstrating its efficacy in quantifying multi-modal ultrasonic findings similarity for PLC diagnosis.

Ratiometric and Discriminative Visualization of Autophagy and Apoptosis with a Single Fluorescent Probe Based on the Aggregation/Monomer Principle.

Autophagy and apoptosis play a central role in maintaining homeostasis in mammals. Therefore, discriminative visualization of the two cellular processes is an important and challenging task. However, fluorescent probes enabling ratiometric visualization of both autophagy and apoptosis with different sets of fluorescence signals have not been developed yet. In this work, we constructed a versatile single fluorescent probe (NKLR) based on the aggregation/monomer principle for the ratiometric and discriminative visualization of autophagy and apoptosis. NKLR can simultaneously perform two-color imaging of RNA (deep red channel) and lysosomes (yellow channel) in aggregation and monomer states, respectively. During autophagy, NKLR migrated from cytoplasmic RNA and nuclear RNA to lysosomes, showing enhanced yellow emission and sharply decreased deep red fluorescence. Moreover, this migration process was reversible upon the recovery of autophagy. Comparatively, during apoptosis, NKLR immigrated from lysosomes to RNA, and the yellow emission decreased and even disappeared, while the fluorescence of the deep red channel slightly increased. Overall, autophagy and apoptosis could be discriminatively visualized via the fluorescence intensity ratios of the two channels. Meanwhile, the cells in three different states (healthy, autophagic, apoptotic) could be distinguished by three point-to-point fluorescence images via the localization and emission color of NKLR. Therefore, the probe NKLR can serve as a desirable molecular tool to reveal the in-depth relation between autophagy and apoptosis and facilitate the study on the two cellular processes.

Characteristics and Risk Factors of Myocardial Injury after Traumatic Hemorrhagic Shock.

Myocardial injury increases major adverse cardiovascular events and mortality in patients with traumatic hemorrhagic shock, but its prevalence and risk factors remain unclear. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors of myocardial injury after traumatic hemorrhagic shock. This was an observational, retrospective cohort study of patients with traumatic hemorrhagic shock at a tertiary university hospital from November 2012 to July 2021. Patient characteristics and clinical variables were recorded in 314 patients. The outcome was the occurrence of myocardial injury after traumatic hemorrhagic shock. Risk factors for myocardial injury were identified using logistic regression. The incidence of myocardial injury after the traumatic hemorrhagic shock was 42.4%, and 95.5% of myocardial injuries occurred within the first three days after trauma. In the multivariate analysis, the independent risk factors for myocardial injury after traumatic hemorrhagic shock included heart rate of >100 beats/min (OR [odds ratio], 3.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.56−7.09; p = 0.002), hemoglobin level of <70 g/L (OR, 3.50; 95% CI, 1.15−10.60; p = 0.027), prothrombin time of >15 s (OR, 2.39; 95% CI, 1.12−5.10; p = 0.024), acute kidney injury (OR, 2.75; 95% CI, 1.27−5.93; p = 0.01), and a higher APACHE II score (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.01−1.15; p = 0.018). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the prediction of myocardial injury after a traumatic hemorrhagic shock was 0.67 (95% CI, 0.68−0.79) for a heart rate of >100 beats/min, 0.67 (95% CI, 0.61−0.73) for hemoglobin level of <70 g/L, 0.66 (95% CI, 0.60−0.73) for prothrombin time of >15 s, 0.70 (95% CI, 0.64−0.76) for acute kidney injury, and 0.78 (95% CI, 0.73−0.83) for APACHE II scores. The incidence rate of myocardial injury in traumatic hemorrhagic shock is high, and heart rates of >100 beats/min, hemoglobin levels of <70 g/L, prothrombin times of >15 s, AKI and higher APACHE II scores are independent risk factors for myocardial injury after traumatic hemorrhagic shock. These findings may help clinicians to identify myocardial injury after traumatic hemorrhagic shock early and initiate appropriate treatment.

Predicting renal function recovery and short-term reversibility among acute kidney injury patients in the ICU: comparison of machine learning methods and conventional regression.

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most frequent complications of critical illness. We aimed to explore the predictors of renal function recovery and the short-term reversibility after AKI by comparing logistic regression with four machine learning models. METHODS: We reviewed patients who were diagnosed with AKI in the MIMIC-IV database between 2008 and 2019. Recovery from AKI within 72 h of the initiating event was typically recognized as the short-term reversal of AKI. Conventional logistic regression and four different machine algorithms (XGBoost algorithm model, Bayesian networks [BNs], random forest [RF] model, and support vector machine [SVM] model) were used to develop and validate prediction models. The performance measures were compared through the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AU-ROC), calibration curves, and 10-fold cross-validation. RESULTS: A total of 12,321 critically ill adult AKI patients were included in our analysis cohort. The renal function recovery rate after AKI was 67.9%. The maximum and minimum serum creatinine (SCr) within 24 h of AKI diagnosis, the minimum SCr within 24 and 12 h, and antibiotics usage duration were independently associated with renal function recovery after AKI. Among the 8364 recovered patients, the maximum SCr within 24 h of AKI diagnosis, the minimum Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, the maximum blood urea nitrogen (BUN) within 24 h, vasopressin and vancomycin usage, and the maximum lactate within 24 h were the top six predictors for short-term reversibility of AKI. The RF model presented the best performance for predicting both renal functional recovery (AU-ROC [0.8295 ± 0.01]) and early recovery (AU-ROC [0.7683 ± 0.03]) compared with the conventional logistic regression model. CONCLUSIONS: The maximum SCr within 24 h of AKI diagnosis was a common independent predictor of renal function recovery and the short-term reversibility of AKI. The RF machine learning algorithms showed a superior ability to predict the prognosis of AKI patients in the ICU compared with the traditional regression models. These models may prove to be clinically helpful and can assist clinicians in providing timely interventions, potentially leading to improved prognoses.

Evaluation of the 2019 EULAR/ACR classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus in children and adults.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of the 2019 European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology (EULAR/ACR-2019) classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) compared with the ACR-1997 and Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) 2012 criteria in childhood-onset SLE (cSLE) and adult-onset SLE (aSLE) patients. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of SLE patients (221 children and 221 adults) and controls (214 children and 214 adults) with defined rheumatic diseases to establish each ACR-1997, SLICC-2012, and EULAR/ACR-2019 criterion fulfilled. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory features were evaluated through chart review. RESULTS: For cSLE, sensitivities of ACR-1997, SLICC-2012, and EULAR/ACR-2019 criteria were 63.3%, 94.6%, and 98.2%, with specificities 99.5%, 98.6%, and 93.5%, respectively. For aSLE, sensitivities of ACR-1997, SLICC-2012, and EULAR/ACR-2019 criteria were 72.9%, 96.8%, and 99.1%, with specificities 97.2%, 92.5%, and 90.2%, respectively. When including only ANA positive patients, receiver operating characteristics analysis demonstrated that the cutoff value for EULAR/ACR-2019 criteria in cSLE and aSLE patients was 13 (sensitivity, 92.2%; specificity, 93.1%) and 10 (sensitivity, 99.1%; specificity, 85.1%), respectively. Twelve cSLE patients and seven aSLE patients only met the EULAR/ACR-2019 criteria, among whom eleven and four cases had single organ involvement, respectively. CONCLUSION: The EULAR/ACR-2019 criteria showed similar sensitivity to cSLE and aSLE patients and was more sensitive than ACR-1997 and SLICC-2012 criteria, allowing earlier recognition of patients with single or major organ involvement. The adoption of a EULAR/ACR total score ≥ 13 in this study, instead of the initially proposed ≥ 10 points, could further improve the diagnostic performance of the EULAR/ACR-2019 criteria in cSLE. Key Points • Sensitivity of the EULAR/ACR-2019 criteria was high in both cSLE and aSLE patients. • The EULAR/ACR-2019 criteria allowed earlier recognition of patients with single or major organ damage. • The adoption of a EULAR/ACR total score ≥13 could further improve the diagnostic performance of the EULAR/ACR-2019 criteria in cSLE.

Single Fluorescent Probe for Zero-Crosstalk Discrimination of Lipid Droplets and the Endoplasmic Reticulum Based on Reversible Cyclization Reaction.

The interactions between different organelles are ubiquitous and crucial for life activities. Thus, development of a single fluorescent probe enabling the simultaneous two-color visualization of two organelles is of great significance for the study of organelle interplay. Herein, using the reversible ring-opening/closing reactions of rhodamine dyes, we have fabricated a robust fluorescent probe to distinguish lipid droplets (LDs) and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in dual-emission channels with negligible crosstalk. The probe 6'-(diethylamino)-4'-((7-(diethylamino)-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)methylene)-1',2',3',4'-tetrahydro-3H-spiro[isobenzofuran-1,9'-xanthen]-3-one, which was sensitive to the changes in the water content in the organism, displayed strong green fluorescence in the hydrophobic LDs from its ring-closed form, while it existed in a ring-opened form in the ER to illuminate a strong near-infrared emission. Importantly, the spectral difference was up to 320 nm, and thus the crosstalk between two channels was negligible. With the unique probe, the lipid accumulation in cells treated with different concentrations of oleic acid, cholesterol, and stearic acid has been successfully observed. The changes of LDs and the ER in living cells stimulated by temperature changes and hypoxia stimulation have also been revealed. Meanwhile, the different sizes and distribution of LDs and the ER in various tissues were also studied using the robust probe. This work provides a new approach to the design of dual-emissive probes and contributes to a significant molecular tool to promote the study of organelle interactions.

Microbiome-metabolome responses of Fuzhuan brick tea crude polysaccharides with immune-protective benefit in cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppressive mice.

The present study investigated the immune-protective effect of polysaccharides from Fuzhuan brick tea (FBTPs) in cyclophosphamide (Cy)-induced immunosuppressive mice. The results showed that high-dose of FBTPs administration remarkably alleviated Cy-evoked immune damage through improving the body features, organ indices, immune responses and oxidative stress in the mice. Further microbiota analysis revealed that FBTPs obviously restored Cy-evoked microbial dysbiosis by increasing several beneficial bacteria Lactobacillus, Allobaculum, Unclassified_f_Lachnospiraceae and norank_f_Lachnospiraceae, while reducing Bacteroides, norank_f_Ruminococcaceae, Colidextribacter, Alloprevotella, norank_f_Desulfovibrionaceae and Helicobacter. Meanwhile, metabolomics analysis found that FBTPs significantly altered a range of microbial metabolites, including inosine, deoxyinosine, taurine, sinapic acid, maltotriose, butyric acid, lysophosphatidyl cholines (LysoPCs), lysophosphatidic acids (LysoPAs) and choline. These altered metabolites were involved in purine metabolism, ABC transporters, sulfur metabolism, neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids, carbohydrate digestion and absorption, protein digestion and absorption, choline metabolism in cancer and glycerophospholipid metabolism pathways, which were mainly related to immune responses, antioxidant capacity and energy supply of the immunosuppressive mice. Additionally, some significant correlations were observed between the specific microbiota and effective metabolites. These results provide a novel insight into the immune-protective effect of FBTPs on regulating the intestinal microbiota and metabolism, which are helpful for thoroughly understanding the nutrition of FBTPs and providing a solid basis for the deeper utilization of Fuzhuan brick tea (FBT).

Association Between Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Characteristics and Molecular Subtypes of Breast Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) features and molecular subtypes of breast cancer (BC). METHODS: A total of 116 patients (116 lesions) with pathologically diagnosed BC who received conventional ultrasound and CEUS before surgery were enrolled in this study. BC molecular subtypes were identified by postoperative pathological and immunohistochemical analysis as Luminal A (LA), Luminal B (LB), HER2 (H2) over-expression, and triple-negative (TN). Qualitative and quantitative CEUS characteristics were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (continuous variables) or Pearson's χ2 test or Fisher's exact probability method (categorical variables). RESULTS: There were significant differences in enhancement speed and enhancement degree among the four subtypes (P < .05). The area under the curve (AUC), time to peak (TTP), and peak intensity (PI) differed among the four subtypes (P < .05). The AUC of the LA subtype (305.1 ± 188.4) was significantly smaller compared with the H2 (535.7 ± 222.0, P = .007) and TN subtypes (496.6 ± 254.7, P = .019). In addition, TTP was shorter in the H2 subtype (19.8 ± 4.9) compared with the other subtypes, and was significantly shorter than in the LA subtype (26.3 ± 7.2, P = .008) and LB subtype (23.1 ± 6.7, P = .036). The PI of the LA subtype (4.7 ± 2.3) was significantly lower than that of the LB (6.6 ± 2.3, P = .027), H2 (7.4 ± 2.2, P = .005), and TN subtypes (6.9 ± 2.6, P = .014). CONCLUSIONS: CEUS features differed significantly among different molecular subtypes of BC. The enhancement patterns and parameters may be important predictive features of different subtypes of BC.