Ceftazidime-avibactam combination therapy versus monotherapy for treating carbapenem-resistant gram-negative infection: a systemic review and meta-analysis.

Background: This meta-analysis was conducted to compare the efficacy of ceftazidime-avibactam combination therapy with that of monotherapy in the treatment of carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacterial (CR-GNB).

Methods: A literature search of PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov was conducted until September 1, 2023.

activities of antimicrobial combinations against planktonic and biofilm forms of .

Objectives: To investigate the activity of antibiotic combinations against isolates and their associated biofilms.

Methods: Thirty-two clinical isolates with at least twenty-five different pulsotypes were tested. The antibacterial activity of various antibiotic combinations against seven randomly selected planktonic and biofilm-embedded strains with strong biofilm formation was assessed using broth methods.

Machine learning of cell population data, complete blood count, and differential count parameters for early prediction of bacteremia among adult patients with suspected bacterial infections and blood culture sampling in emergency departments.

Background: Bacteremia is a life-threatening complication of infectious diseases. Bacteremia can be predicted using machine learning (ML) models, but these models have not utilized cell population data (CPD).

Methods: The derivation cohort from emergency department (ED) of China Medical University Hospital (CMUH) was used to develop the model and was prospectively validated in the same hospital.

App-Based Saccade Latency and Directional Error Determination Across the Adult Age Spectrum.

Objective: We aid in neurocognitive monitoring outside the hospital environment by enabling app-based measurements of visual reaction time (saccade latency) and directional error rate in a cohort of subjects spanning the adult age spectrum.

Methods: We developed an iOS app to record subjects with the frontal camera during pro- and anti-saccade tasks. We further developed automated algorithms for measuring saccade latency and directional error rate that take into account the possibility that it might not always be possible to determine the eye movement from app-based recordings.

Use of pyrazoles as ligands greatly enhances the catalytic activity of titanium iso-propoxide for the ring-opening polymerization of l-lactide: a cooperation effect.

Using TiOPr with a pyrazole ligand for one-pot LA polymerization improved catalytic activity compared with using TiOPr only. At 60 °C, TiOPr with Pz exhibited a higher catalytic activity (approximately 3-fold) than TiOPr. At room temperature, TiOPr with Pz exhibited a higher catalytic activity (approximately 17-fold) than TiOPr.

Measuring Saccade Latency Using Smartphone Cameras.

Objective: Accurate quantification of neurodegenerative disease progression is an ongoing challenge that complicates efforts to understand and treat these conditions. Clinical studies have shown that eye movement features may serve as objective biomarkers to support diagnosis and tracking of disease progression. Here, we demonstrate that saccade latency-an eye movement measure of reaction time-can be measured robustly outside of the clinical environment with a smartphone camera.

The methionine salvage pathway-involving ADI1 inhibits hepatoma growth by epigenetically altering genes expression via elevating S-adenosylmethionine.

The 5'-methylthioadenosine (MTA) cycle-participating human acireductone dioxygenase 1 (ADI1) has been implicated as a tumor suppressor in prostate cancer, yet its role remains unclear in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we demonstrated a significant reduction of ADI1, either in protein or mRNA level, in HCC tissues. Additionally, higher ADI1 levels were associated with favorable postoperative recurrence-free survival in HCC patients.

Determination of Saccade Latency Distributions using Video Recordings from Consumer-grade Devices.

Quantitative and accurate tracking of neurocognitive decline remains an ongoing challenge. We seek to address this need by focusing on robust and unobtrusive measurement of saccade latency - the time between the presentation of a visual stimulus and the initiation of an eye movement towards the stimulus - which has been shown to be altered in patients with neurocognitive decline or neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we present a novel, deep convolutional-neuralnetwork-based method to measure saccade latency outside of the clinical environment using a smartphone camera without the need for supplemental or special-purpose illumination.

Improvement in aluminum complexes bearing a Schiff base in ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone: the synergy of the N,S-Schiff base in a five-membered ring aluminum system.

A series of five-membered ring aluminum complexes bearing thiol-Schiff base ligands were synthesized, and their application in the ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone (CL) was investigated. The complexes exhibited dramatically higher catalytic activity than the six-membered ring SAlMe complex (approximately 4- to 10-fold higher) and the five-membered ring LAlMe complex (approximately 7- to 19-fold higher). Moreover, a shorter induction period was observed when the five-membered ring aluminum complexes bearing thiol-Schiff base ligands were used compared with the other types of aluminum complexes bearing Schiff base ligands.

Achieving Nearly 30% External Quantum Efficiency for Orange-Red Organic Light Emitting Diodes by Employing Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters Composed of 1,8-Naphthalimide-Acridine Hybrids.

The combination of rigid acridine donor and 1,8-naphthalimide acceptor has afforded two orange-red emitters of NAI-DMAC and NAI-DPAC with high rigidity in molecular structure and strongly pretwisted charge transfer state. Endowed with high photoluminescence quantum yields (Φ ), distinct thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) characteristics, and preferentially horizontal emitting dipole orientations, these emitters afford record-high orange-red TADF organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with external quantum efficiencies of up to 21-29.2%, significantly surpassing all previously reported orange-to-red TADF OLEDs.

Enhancement of the cytotoxicity and selectivity of doxorubicin to hepatoma cells by synergistic combination of galactose-decorated γ-poly(glutamic acid) nanoparticles and low-intensity ultrasound.

Specific drug delivery to solid tumors remains one of the challenges in cancer therapy. The aim of this study was to combine three drug-targeting strategies, polymer-drug conjugate, ligand presentation and ultrasound treatment, to enhance the efficacy and selectivity of doxorubicin (DXR) to hepatoma cells. The conjugation of DXR to γ-poly(glutamic acids) (γ-PGA) decreased the cytotoxicity of DXR, while the conjugation of galactosamine (Gal) to the γ-PGA-DXR conjugate restored the cytotoxic efficacy of DXR on hepatoma cells due to increased uptake of DXR.

Hepatitis C virus infection in mouse hepatoma cells co-expressing human CD81 and Sip-L.

Although human CD81 has been shown to be essential for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, non-hepatic cells or transgenic animals expressing human CD81 alone did not support HCV replication. Co-expression of other cofactors was thus necessary for HCV replication. Previously, a hepatic factor named Sip-L was found to support HCV replication in an otherwise non-permissive cell line.

Identification of a novel actin isoform in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective: Altered actin isoform expression occurs in some pathological conditions including muscular malignancies. This study was to investigate whether a similar event occurs in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Methods: Cellular RNA was extracted from cancerous and non-cancerous hepatoma tissues.

Emergence of mutation clusters in the HCV genome during sequential viral passages in Sip-L expressing cells.

Sip-L, a member of the Cupin superfamily, is a hepatic factor capable of supporting hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication in an otherwise non-permissive cell line. HCV-positive serum was used to infect Huh-7 and 293 cells stably expressing Sip-L. Using the culture medium of the infected cells as an infection source, sequential viral passages were carried out in both cell lines.

Characterization of a HCV NS5A protein derived from a patient with hepatoma.

A cDNA encoding hepatitis C virus NS5A protein was isolated from the serum of a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma. The NS5A(HCC) was localized in both the cytoplasmic and nuclear fractions of Huh-7 cells. Immunoprecipitation and electrophoresis experiments showed four major phosphorylated species of NS5A(HCC), p58, p56, p53, and p50.

Anti-sense expression of a metallopeptidase gene enhances nuclear entry of HBV-DNA.

Although several putative hepatitis B virus (HBV) receptors have been identified, none of them is capable of initiating HBV replication in a non-permissive human cell line. Using an Epstein-Barr virus-based extrachromosomal replication system, we have screened through a human liver cDNA library and successfully identified a clone capable of facilitating nuclear transport of HBV-DNA during the early phase of HBV infection. This clone contained a cDNA encoding a metallopeptidase-like protein in anti-sense orientation.

Inhibition of authentic hepatitis C virus replication by sodium stibogluconate.

Using a hepatitis C virus (HCV) subgenomic RNA replicon system, drugs currently being used to treat other human diseases were examined for their antiviral activities against HCV. Several drugs including sodium stibogluconate, a compound used to treat leishmaniasis, were capable of suppressing replication of HCV replicon. The antiviral effect of sodium stibogluconate was subsequently verified using a cell line (293EBNA-Sip-L) previously proved to be permissive for HCV infection/replication.

Identification of a novel pre-S2 mutation in a subgroup of chronic carriers with spontaneous clearance of hepatitis B virus surface antigen.

Background And Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether spontaneous seroclearance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in patients with chronic hepatitis B could be attributed to the presence of pre-S/S gene mutations.

Methods: Of 34 hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers who experienced spontaneous seroclearance of HBsAg, 30 were still seropositive for HBV DNA. The serum samples of these carriers were subjected to sequence analysis.

Antisense overexpression of BMAL2 enhances cell proliferation.

To identify genes that are frequently downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a panel of putative underexpressed genes was first established by an in-house cDNA macroarray method. Two different assays, semiquantitative RT-PCR combined with Northern analysis and customized cDNA microarray analysis, were used to screen through these genes and the results were compared. Several genes, some with unknown function, were confirmed to be downregulated by both the methods.