Intramolecular dynamic coupling slows surface relaxation of polymer glasses.

Over the past three decades, studies have indicated a mobile surface layer with steep gradients on glass surfaces. Among various glasses, polymers are unique because intramolecular interactions - combined with chain connectivity - can alter surface dynamics, but their fundamental role has remained elusive. By devising polymer surfaces occupied by chain loops of various penetration depths, combined with surface dissipation experiments and Monte Carlo simulations, we demonstrate that the intramolecular dynamic coupling along surface chains causes the sluggish bulk polymers to suppress the fast surface dynamics.

Interleukin-6 Concentration in Single-Embryo Medium Is Associated with Blastocyst Formation.

IL-6 plays an important role in oogenesis in humans. However, at the preimplantation stage, IL-6 production and the role in embryo development remain unclear. In this study, IL-6 concentrations in single-embryo media were analyzed.

A panel dataset of COVID-19 vaccination policies in 185 countries.

We present a panel dataset of COVID-19 vaccine policies, with data from 01 January 2020 for 185 countries and a number of subnational jurisdictions, reporting on vaccination prioritization plans, eligibility and availability, cost to the individual and mandatory vaccination policies. For each of these indicators, we recorded who is targeted by a policy using 52 standardized categories. These indicators document a detailed picture of the unprecedented scale of international COVID-19 vaccination rollout and strategy, indicating which countries prioritized and vaccinated which groups, when and in what order.

Development of a compact linear accelerator to generate ultrahigh dose rate high-energy X-rays for FLASH radiotherapy applications.

Purpose: In recent years, the FLASH effect, in which ultrahigh dose rate (UHDR) radiotherapy (RT) can significantly reduce toxicity to normal tissue while maintaining antitumor efficacy, has been verified in many studies and even applied in human clinical cases. This work evaluates whether a room-temperature radio-frequency (RF) linear accelerator (linac) system can produce UHDR high-energy X-rays exceeding a dose rate of 40 Gy/s at a clinical source-surface distance (SSD), exploring the possibility of a compact and economical clinical FLASH RT machine suitable for most hospital treatmentrooms.

Methods: A 1.

Neuroimaging for differential diagnosis of transient neurological attacks.

Background: Rapid yet comprehensive neuroimaging protocols are required for patients with suspected acute stroke. However, stroke mimics can account for approximately one in five clinically diagnosed acute ischemic strokes and the rate of thrombolyzed mimics can be as high as 17%. Therefore, to accurately determine the diagnosis and differentiate mimics from true transient ischemic attacks, acute ischemic stroke is a challenge to every clinician.

Should blastocyst transfer be performed in patients with 1-3 embryos available on day 3?

Research Question: In patients with 1-3 embryos available on day 3, does blastocyst transfer reduce the chances of a clinical pregnancy by cancelling transfer cycles compared with cleavage transfer?

Design: This retrospective observational study included 423 IVF cycles performed from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020 at the Center for Reproduction and Fertility of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University. Cleavage transfer was performed in 267 cycles and blastocyst transfer was performed in 156 cycles. The primary outcome was the ongoing pregnancy rate, and the secondary outcomes were clinical pregnancy rate and embryo cessation rate.

Remote ischaemic perconditioning reduces the infarct volume and improves the neurological function of acute ischaemic stroke partially through the miR-153-5p/TLR4/p65/IkBa signalling pathway.

Remote ischemic perconditioning (RIPerC) could improve neuronal damage and inhibit inflammation and apoptosis. We conducted an in-depth exploration of the protective mechanism of RIPerC in cerebral ischaemia injury. In this study, a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) mouse model was built.

What is the impact of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) in subcutaneous injection or intrauterine infusion and during both the fresh and frozen embryo transfer cycles on recurrent implantation failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis?

Background: Among recurrent implantation failure (RIF) patients, the rate of successful implantation remains relatively low due to the complex etiology of the condition, including maternal, embryo and immune factors. Effective treatments are urgently needed to improve the outcomes of embryo transfer for RIF patients. In recent years, many researchers have focused on immunotherapy using granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) to regulate the immune environment.

Health Benefits and Costs of Clean Heating Renovation: An Integrated Assessment in a Major Chinese City.

China has been promoting one of the world's largest campaigns for clean heating renovation since 2017. Here, we present an integrated cost-benefit analysis in a major prefecture-level city by combining a large-scale household energy survey and PM exposure measurement, high-resolution chemical transport simulation, and health impact assessment. We find that the completed renovation decreases the share of solid fuels in the heating energy mix from 96 to 6% and achieves a concomitant reduction of cooking solid-fuel use by 70%.

Autophagy protects against cerebral ischemic reperfusion injury by inhibiting neuroinflammation.

Objective: To examine the effect of autophagy on cerebral damage caused by different models and test the hypothesis that its protection mechanism acts via inhibiting expression of neuroinflammatory mediators.

Methods: Autophagy was induced by rapamycin treatment. Cerebral damage was induced using models of IL-6 treatment, oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) , and middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) .

Inhibition of histone deacetylase promotes a neuroprotective mechanism in an experimental model of Parkinson's disease.

Introduction: Therapies targeting histone deacetylase (HDAC) have gained wider attention in the treatment of various clinical conditions. However, the use of HDAC inhibitors in pre-clinical trials in the case of Parkinson's disease (PD) is very limited. In the present study, the HDAC inhibitor, entinostat, was tested in animals induced with Parkinson's disease experimentally.

Local Disorder Facilitates Chain Stretching in Crowded Polymer Brushes.

Intermolecular crowding of densely tethered polymers promotes chain extension and anisotropy that induces many unique properties. In this study, we used conformation-sensitive infrared spectroscopy to determine that chain extension in a polymer brush is associated with local conformation rearrangements, i.e.

Interleukin 6 in follicular fluid reduces embryo fragmentation and improves the clinical pregnancy rate.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of interleukin 6 in embryo development in the in vitro fertilization cycles.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. One hundred and three women undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer due to a tubal factor were included in the study.

Position- and region-isomerized derivatives of a V-shaped fluorophore: the unique solution-state dual emission and the unusual force-induced solid-state turn-on emission.

A V-shaped parent fluorophore as well as its position- and region-isomerized derivatives with a phenyl introduced on either the electron-donating or the electron-withdrawing moiety in the ortho-, meta- or para-linkage is prepared. Compared with the parent, these derivatives exhibit unique solvent-dependent dual emission in solutions presumably due to the considerably enhanced rotation energy barrier triggered by the insertion of the phenyl, which results in competitive relaxation between the LE and the TICT states. The intrinsically differentiated electron effect induced by the linkage position, which is strengthened by the twisted conformations, should be responsible for the faint or fully quenched fluorescence of the ortho- and meta-isomers in both solution and solid states.

Anti-inflammatory effects of Edaravone and Scutellarin in activated microglia in experimentally induced ischemia injury in rats and in BV-2 microglia.

Background: In response to cerebral ischemia, activated microglia release excessive inflammatory mediators which contribute to neuronal damage. Therefore, inhibition of microglial over-activation could be a therapeutic strategy to alleviate various microglia-mediated neuroinflammation. This study was aimed to elucidate the anti-inflammatory effects of Scutellarin and Edaravone given either singly, or in combination in activated microglia in rats subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), and in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced BV-2 microglia.

Protection of ischemic post conditioning against transient focal ischemia-induced brain damage is associated with inhibition of neuroinflammation via modulation of TLR2 and TLR4 pathways.

Background And Purpose: Ischemic postconditioning has been demonstrated to be a protective procedure to brain damage caused by transient focal ischemia/reperfusion. However, it is elusive whether the protection of postconditioning against brain damage and neuroinflammation is via regulating TLR2 and TLR4 pathways. In the present study, we examined the protection of ischemic postconditioning performed immediately prior to the recovery of cerebral blood supply on brain damage caused by various duration of ischemia and tested the hypothesis that its protection is via inhibition of neuroinflammation by modulating TLR2/TLR4 pathways.

Expression of angiotensin II and its receptors in activated microglia in experimentally induced cerebral ischemia in the adult rats.

Expression of angiotensin II (Ang II) and its receptors (AT1/AT2) is undetected in the mature microglia in normal brain. We report here that the immunoexpression of Ang II and AT1/AT2 was altered in activated microglia notably at 1 week in rats subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Immunolabeled activated microglia were widely distributed in the infarcted cerebral tissue after MCAO.