Probiotics and their metabolite spermidine enhance IFN-γCD4 T cell immunity to inhibit hepatitis B virus.

The therapeutic potential of commensal microbes and their metabolites is promising in the functional cure of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, which is defined as hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss. Here, using both specific-pathogen-free and germ-free mice, we report that probiotics significantly promote the decline of HBsAg and inhibit HBV replication by enhancing intestinal homeostasis and provoking intrahepatic interferon (IFN)-γCD4 T cell immune response. Depletion of CD4 T cells or blockage of IFN-γ abolishes probiotics-mediated HBV inhibition.

Coating-Free Culture Medium for Establishing and Maintaining Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.

Cell expansion of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) commonly depends on Matrigel as a coating matrix on two-dimensional (2D) culture plates and 3D microcarriers. However, the xenogenic Matrigel requires sophisticated quality-assurance processes to meet clinical requirements. In this study, we develop an innovative coating-free medium for expanding hPSCs.

Intracranial electrical stimulation of corticolimbic sites modulates arousal in humans.

Background: Humans routinely shift their sleepiness and wakefulness levels in response to emotional factors. The diversity of emotional factors that modulates sleep-wake levels suggests that the ascending arousal network may be intimately linked with networks that mediate mood. Indeed, while animal studies have identified select limbic structures that play a role in sleep-wake regulation, the breadth of corticolimbic structures that directly modulates arousal in humans remains unknown.

Rethinking Donor and Recipient Risk Matching in Europe and North America: Using Heart Transplant Predictors of Donor and Recipient Risk.

Background: In Europe, there is greater acceptance of hearts from higher-risk donors for transplantation, whereas in North America, the donor heart discard rate is significantly higher. A Donor Utilization Score (DUS) was used to compare European and North American donor characteristics for recipients included in the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation registry from 2000 to 2018. DUS was further evaluated as an independent predictor for 1-year freedom from graft failure, after adjusting for recipient risk.

Fractionation and characterization of poly(β-L-malic acid) produced by Aureobasidium melanogenum ipe-1.

Poly (β-L-malic acid) (PMLA) is attracting industrial interest for its potential application in medicine and other industries, whose functions primarily depend upon its molecular size and chemical structure. Up to now, the fractionation and characterization of PMLA produced by Aureobasidium spp. were still unclear.

Design of diversified chimeric antigen receptors through rational module recombination.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells have shown great promise in cancer therapy. However, the anti-tumor efficiency is limited due to the CAR-induced T cell apoptosis or exhaustion. The intracellular domain of CAR comprised of various signaling modules orchestrates CAR-T cell behaviors.

Autologous exosome facilitates load and target delivery of bioactive peptides to repair spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes motor, sensory and automatic impairment due to rarely axon regeneration. Developing effective treatment for SCI in the clinic is extremely challenging because of the restrictive axonal regenerative ability and disconnection of neural elements after injury, as well as the limited systemic drug delivery efficiency caused by blood spinal cord barrier. To develop an effective non-invasive treatment strategy for SCI in clinic, we generated an autologous plasma exosome (AP-EXO) based biological scaffold where AP-EXO was loaded with neuron targeting peptide (RVG) and growth-facilitating peptides (ILP and ISP).

Experimental Study on Electrochemical Desulfurization of Coal Liquefaction Residue.

The occurrence of sulfur in coal direct liquefaction residue affects its further high quality and high value utilization. Electrochemical desulfurization is characterized by mild reaction conditions, simple operation, easy separation of sulfur conversion products and little influence on the properties of the liquefied residue. An anodic electrolytic oxidation desulphurization experiment was carried out on the liquefaction residue of the by-product of a coal-to-liquid enterprise in the slurry state.

High Deductibles are Associated With Severe Disease, Catastrophic Out-of-Pocket Payments for Emergency Surgical Conditions.

Background: Out-of-pocket spending has risen for individuals with private health insurance, yet little is known about the unintended consequences that high levels of cost-sharing may have on delayed clinical presentation and financial outcomes for common emergency surgical conditions.

Methods: In this retrospective analysis of claims data from a large commercial insurer (2016-2019), we identified adult inpatient admissions following emergency department presentation for common emergency surgical conditions (eg, appendicitis, cholecystitis, diverticulitis, and intestinal obstruction). Primary exposure of interest was enrollment in a high-deductible health insurance plan (HDHP).

Tetra-color superresolution microscopy based on excitation spectral demixing.

Multicolor imaging allows protein colocalizations and organelle interactions to be studied in biological research, which is especially important for single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM). Here, we propose a multicolor method called excitation-resolved stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (ExR-STORM). The method, which is based on the excitation spectrum of fluorescent dyes, successfully separated four spectrally very close far-red organic fluorophores utilizing three excitation lasers with cross-talk of less than 3%.

Ibrutinib and rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone in patients with previously untreated non-germinal centre B-cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: A Chinese subgroup analysis of the phase III PHOENIX trial.

In this post hoc subgroup analysis of 200 patients enrolled in China from the phase III PHOENIX trial (= 838, NCT01855750), addition of ibrutinib to rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone (R-CHOP) did not improve event-free survival (EFS) versus placebo+R-CHOP in the intent-to-treat (ITT;  = 200, hazard ratio [HR] = 0.83, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0·509-1.349; = 0.

Dynamic actuation enhances transport and extends therapeutic lifespan in an implantable drug delivery platform.

Fibrous capsule (FC) formation, secondary to the foreign body response (FBR), impedes molecular transport and is detrimental to the long-term efficacy of implantable drug delivery devices, especially when tunable, temporal control is necessary. We report the development of an implantable mechanotherapeutic drug delivery platform to mitigate and overcome this host immune response using two distinct, yet synergistic soft robotic strategies. Firstly, daily intermittent actuation (cycling at 1 Hz for 5 minutes every 12 hours) preserves long-term, rapid delivery of a model drug (insulin) over 8 weeks of implantation, by mediating local immunomodulation of the cellular FBR and inducing multiphasic temporal FC changes.

Numerical investigation of the influence of banded sand ditches on water infiltration in fine-textured soil.

Enhancing rainwater infiltration is important to reduce the risk of urban waterlogging and improve the utilization rate of urban rainwater resources. Using the HYDRUS model, a mathematical model of soil water movement under a banded sand ditch pattern (the vertical excavation of a deep trench with heavy soil and filled with light soil) was created. Forty-six scenarios were designed to examine effects of sand ditch soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (K), original homogenous fine-textured soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (K), sand ditch width (W), spacing (S), and depth (D) on the soil infiltration rate (i).

Evaluating the complex association between Social Vulnerability Index and trauma mortality.

Introduction: Social determinants of health are known to impact patient-level outcomes, but they are often difficult to measure. The Social Vulnerability Index was created by the Centers for Disease Control to identify vulnerable communities using population-based measures. However, the relationship between SVI and trauma outcomes is poorly understood.

Stimulation of the hepatoportal nerve plexus with focused ultrasound restores glucose homoeostasis in diabetic mice, rats and swine.

Peripheral neurons that sense glucose relay signals of glucose availability to integrative clusters of neurons in the brain. However, the roles of such signalling pathways in the maintenance of glucose homoeostasis and their contribution to disease are unknown. Here we show that the selective activation of the nerve plexus of the hepatic portal system via peripheral focused ultrasound stimulation (pFUS) improves glucose homoeostasis in mice and rats with insulin-resistant diabetes and in swine subject to hyperinsulinemic-euglycaemic clamps.

DYRK1B-STAT3 Drives Cardiac Hypertrophy and Heart Failure by Impairing Mitochondrial Bioenergetics.

Background: Heart failure is a global public health issue that is associated with increasing morbidity and mortality. Previous studies have suggested that mitochondrial dysfunction plays critical roles in the progression of heart failure; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Because kinases have been reported to modulate mitochondrial function, we investigated the effects of DYRK1B (dual-specificity tyrosine-regulated kinase 1B) on mitochondrial bioenergetics, cardiac hypertrophy, and heart failure.

Effect of ibrutinib with R-CHOP chemotherapy in genetic subtypes of DLBCL.

In diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), tumors belonging to the ABC but not GCB gene expression subgroup rely upon chronic active B cell receptor signaling for viability, a dependency that is targetable by ibrutinib. A phase III trial ("Phoenix;" ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01855750) showed a survival benefit of ibrutinib addition to R-CHOP chemotherapy in younger patients with non-GCB DLBCL, but the molecular basis for this benefit was unclear.

Evaluation of Ultrafast Wave-Controlled Aliasing in Parallel Imaging 3D-FLAIR in the Visualization and Volumetric Estimation of Cerebral White Matter Lesions.

Background And Purpose: Our aim was to evaluate an ultrafast 3D-FLAIR sequence using Wave-controlled aliasing in parallel imaging encoding (Wave-FLAIR) compared with standard 3D-FLAIR in the visualization and volumetric estimation of cerebral white matter lesions in a clinical setting.

Materials And Methods: Forty-two consecutive patients underwent 3T brain MR imaging, including standard 3D-FLAIR (acceleration factor = 2, scan time = 7 minutes 50 seconds) and resolution-matched ultrafast Wave-FLAIR sequences (acceleration factor  = 6, scan time = 2 minutes 45 seconds for the 20-channel coil; acceleration factor = 9, scan time  = 1 minute 50 seconds for the 32-channel coil) as part of clinical evaluation for demyelinating disease. Automated segmentation of cerebral white matter lesions was performed using the Lesion Segmentation Tool in SPM.

Hospital effects drive variation in access to inpatient rehabilitation after trauma.

Background: Postacute care rehabilitation is critically important to recover after trauma, but many patients do not have access. A better understanding of the drivers behind inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) use has the potential for major cost-savings as well as higher-quality and more equitable patient care. We sought to quantify the variation in hospital rates of trauma patient discharge to inpatient rehabilitation and understand which factors (patient vs.

Multi-Response Optimization of Ultrafine Cement-Based Slurry Using the Taguchi-Grey Relational Analysis Method.

The grouting technique is an important method in underground engineering that prevents water seepage and reinforces fractured rock mass. In this research, ultrafine cement-based grouting material, including ultrafine cement (UC), ultrafine fly ash (UFA), polycarboxylate superplasticizer (SP), colloidal nanosilica (CNS), sodium sulfate solution (SS) and water, was developed. The flow time, viscosity, bleeding, setting time and uniaxial compressive strength of the UC-based slurry were measured by orthogonal experiments, and the optimal mix proportion of the UC-based slurry was obtained based on the Taguchi-Grey relational analysis method.

Vessel Wall Magnetic Resonance Imaging Biomarkers of Symptomatic Intracranial Atherosclerosis: A Meta-Analysis.

Background And Purpose: Intracranial atherosclerotic disease is a common cause of stroke worldwide. Intracranial vessel wall magnetic resonance imaging may be able to identify imaging biomarkers of symptomatic plaque. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the strength of association of imaging features of symptomatic plaque leading to downstream ischemic events.