Publications by authors named "X-Q Xu"

Article Synopsis
  • A study was conducted to find out the best systolic blood pressure targets for patients over 50 with type 2 diabetes and high cardiovascular risk, comparing intensive treatment (target <120 mm Hg) to standard treatment (target <140 mm Hg) over 5 years.
  • Out of 12,821 patients, the intensive treatment group had a lower average systolic blood pressure after one year (121.6 mm Hg) compared to the standard group (133.2 mm Hg), resulting in significantly fewer major cardiovascular events.
  • Despite the lower overall events in the intensive group, there were more cases of symptomatic hypotension and hyperkalemia, but the rates of serious adverse events were similar in both groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Two-dimensional (2D) ion crystals may represent a promising path to scale up qubit numbers for ion trap quantum information processing. However, to realize universal quantum computing in this system, individually addressed high-fidelity two-qubit entangling gates still remain challenging due to the inevitable micromotion of ions in a 2D crystal as well as the technical difficulty in 2D addressing. Here we demonstrate two-qubit entangling gates between any ion pairs in a 2D crystal of four ions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Rationale And Objectives: Endovascular recanalization has been attempted in patients with symptomatic chronic intracranial large artery occlusion (CILAO), however, the heterogeneity of recanalization outcomes present challenges for the clinical application.

Objective: To determine the radiological features on high-resolution MR imaging (HR-MRI) for predicting successful recanalization of symptomatic CILAO.

Methods: Seventy-three patients with symptomatic CILAO who underwent endovascular recanalization at our center were retrospectively analyzed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The pathophysiological mechanisms of the post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) remain unclear. Sex differences not only exist in the disease severity of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection but also in the risk of suffering from PASC. Women have a higher risk of suffering from PASC and a longer time to resolution than men.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Metastatic cancers with unclear or unknown origins pose significant challenges in diagnosis and management, frequently leading to suboptimal outcomes. Studies have demonstrated that a 90-gene expression assay is effective in predicting the primary origin and guiding the site-specific therapy to improve prognosis. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of a 90-gene expression assay in patients with unclear or unknown diagnoses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to explore the link between rare earth elements (REEs) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) using data from a cohort in Guangxi, China.
  • - Results indicated that while REEs as a whole were not significantly linked to MetS, specific elements showed contrasting effects: La, Pr, and Nd were negatively associated with abdominal obesity, while Ce, Pr, Nd, and Dy were positively associated with hypertension.
  • - The research proposed a U-shaped relationship between combined REEs and MetS, suggesting potential protective effects against abdominal obesity but increased risks for high blood pressure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

(1) Background: Feline herpesvirus (FHV-1) is a significant pathogen in cats, causing respiratory and ocular diseases with consequential economic and welfare implications. (2) Methods: This study aimed to isolate and characterize FHV-1 from clinical samples and assess its pathogenicity. We collected 35 nasal and ocular swabs from cats showing symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection and FHV positivity detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Ojectives: Low-grade glioma (LGG) is associated with increased mortality owing to recrudescence and the tendency for malignant transformation. Therefore, it is imperative to discover novel prognostic biomarkers as existing traditional prognostic biomarkers of glioma, including clinicopathological features and imaging examinations, are unable to meet the clinical demand for precision medicine. Accordingly, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of cyclin D1 (CCND1) expression levels and construct radiomic models to predict these levels in patients with LGG MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 412 LGG cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were used for gene-based prognostic analysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Molecular computing is advancing for improved data storage and bio-computation, aiming for more efficient, modular, and resilient systems in complex environments.
  • The study introduces a DNA integrated circuits classifier (DNA IC-CLA) that uses DNA origami to perform computations essential for cancer diagnosis by executing arithmetic operations on miRNA inputs.
  • The DNA IC-CLA demonstrates quicker and more accurate cancer detection in clinical samples compared to traditional methods, highlighting its potential for broader applications in biocomputing and medical diagnostics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background Although favorable outcomes have been reported with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT), the long-term efficacy remains insufficiently investigated. Purpose To evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of US-guided percutaneous RFA in patients with SHPT undergoing dialysis and to identify possible predictors associated with treatment failure. Materials and Methods This retrospective study included consecutive patients with SHPT with at least one enlarged parathyroid gland accessible for RFA who were undergoing dialysis at seven tertiary centers from May 2013 to July 2022.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To compare agreement of corneal epithelium thickness (ET) between AS-OCT system (RTVue, Optovue) and AS-OCT/Placido topographer (MS-39, CSO) in eyes with different stages of keratoconus (KC), and to assess the repeatability of RTVue AS-OCT.

Design: Prospective reliability analysis.

Methods: KC eyes were classified into forme fruste KC (FFKC), mild, moderate, and severe KC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Polygonatum sibiricum, commonly known as Siberian Solomon's seal, is a traditional herb widely used in various traditional medical systems, especially in East Asia. In ancient China, the use of polygonatum sibiricum in medicine and food was mentioned in Li Shizhen's Bencao Gangmu of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It was also used in history of India in Vedic medicine.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to explore the relationship between effective lens position (ELP) and patient factors in cataract patients, especially those with a history of pars plana vitrectomy (PPV), and to create a new formula for IOL calculation.
  • It included a comparison of ELP between two groups: 2793 age-related cataract patients and 915 post-PPV patients, evaluating how various patient characteristics impacted ELP using regression analysis.
  • The newly developed LISA-PPV formula was found to have the lowest prediction error compared to existing formulas, demonstrating its effectiveness for calculating IOL power in patients who have undergone PPV.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The clinical implications of extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) in cancer therapy remain largely elusive. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of ecDNA amplification spectra and their association with clinical and molecular features in multiple cohorts comprising over 13,000 pan-cancer patients. Using our developed computational framework, GCAP, and validating it with multifaceted approaches, we reveal a consistent pan-cancer pattern of mutual exclusivity between ecDNA amplification and microsatellite instability (MSI).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: A main obstacle in current valvular heart disease research is the lack of high-quality homogeneous functional heart valve cells. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)-derived heart valve cells may help with this dilemma. However, there are no well-established protocols to induce hiPSCs to differentiate into functional heart valve cells, and the networks that mediate the differentiation have not been fully elucidated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The evolutionarily conserved Notch pathway, involved in cancer stem cell capacity and cancer immunity, may predict the benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). In the TCGA dataset, mRNA expression of Notch pathway genes identified three clusters with different prognoses and molecular characteristics. Based on the differentially expressed Notch pathway genes between clusters, we constructed the Notch-score, correlated with Notch activation, angiogenesis, PI3K-AKT-mTOR activity, and sensitivities to VEGFR/mTOR inhibitors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The pathogenesis of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is multifactorial and growing evidence has indicated that hematological disorders are involved. Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) has recently been associated with an increased risk of both hematological malignancies and cardiovascular diseases. However, the prevalence and clinical relevance of CHIP in patients with CTEPH remains unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Rationale And Objectives: To develop a monitoring model using radiomics analysis based on longitudinal B-mode ultrasound (BUS) and shear wave elastography (SWE) to early predict pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer patients.

Materials And Methods: In this prospective study, 112 breast cancer patients who received NAC between September 2016 and March 2022 were included. The BUS and SWE data of breast cancer were obtained prior to treatment as well as after two and four cycles of NAC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The blood proteome holds great promise for precision medicine but poses substantial challenges due to the low abundance of most plasma proteins and the vast dynamic range of the plasma proteome. Here we address these challenges with NUcleic acid Linked Immuno-Sandwich Assay (NULISA™), which improves the sensitivity of traditional proximity ligation assays by ~10,000-fold to attomolar level, by suppressing assay background via a dual capture and release mechanism built into oligonucleotide-conjugated antibodies. Highly multiplexed quantification of both low- and high-abundance proteins spanning a wide dynamic range is achieved by attenuating signals from abundant targets with unconjugated antibodies and next-generation sequencing of barcoded reporter DNA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: This study seeks to evaluate the ability of the updated stress strain index (SSIv2) and other Corvis ST biomechanical parameters in distinguishing between keratoconus at different disease stages and normal eyes.

Design: Diagnostic accuracy analysis to distinguish disease stages.

Methods: 1084 eyes were included and divided into groups of normal (199 eyes), forme fruste keratoconus (FFKC, 194 eyes), subclinical keratoconus (SKC, 113 eyes), mild clinical keratoconus (CKC-Ⅰ, 175 eyes), moderate clinical keratoconus (CKC-Ⅱ, 204 eyes), and severe clinical keratoconus (CKC-Ⅲ, 199 eyes).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The peptide-based pan-coronavirus fusion inhibitor EK1 is in phase III clinical trials, and it has, thus far, shown good clinical application prospects against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. To further improve its in vivo long-acting property, we herein developed an Fc-binding strategy by conjugating EK1 with human immunoglobulin G Fc-binding peptide (IBP), which can exploit the long half-life advantage of IgG in vivo. The newly engineered peptide IBP-EK1 showed potent and broad-spectrum inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, including various Omicron sublineages and other human coronaviruses (HCoVs) with low cytotoxicity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • This study investigates whether noninvasive embryo viability testing (niEVT) leads to improved clinical outcomes compared to conventional IVF after the first embryo transfer, focusing on live birth rates, particularly for different age groups including women over 35 years old.
  • A double-blind, multicenter randomized controlled trial will enroll 1,140 patients across eight centers, who have at least two high-quality blastocysts, to assess multiple outcomes including live birth and miscarriage rates.
  • The results will help clarify the effectiveness of niEVT versus traditional IVF methods, potentially influencing treatment options and success rates for various patient demographics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Objectives: The association of motor function with cognitive health remains controversial, and the mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. We aimed to examine the association between motor function and long-term cognitive trajectories and further explore the underlying mechanisms using brain MRI.

Methods: In the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a prospective cohort study, a total of 2,192 volunteers were recruited from the communities in northeastern Illinois and followed up for up to 22 years (from 1997 to 2020).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the role of IgG -glycosylation in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) to understand its inflammatory mechanisms and identify potential new markers and therapies.
  • Researchers analyzed the plasma IgG -glycome in CTEPH patients, finding decreased IgG galactosylation associated with a proinflammatory state and strong connections to clinical markers like NT-proBNP.
  • This groundbreaking research is the first to map the IgG -glycome's proinflammatory phenotype in CTEPH, highlighting its potential as an indicator of inflammation and enhancing our understanding of the disease's glycomic mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A study analyzed radiomics and deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) using ultrasound methods to predict how well breast cancer patients respond to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).
  • A total of 255 patients were included, and models were created using B-mode ultrasound (BUS) and shear wave elastography (SWE) images, with CNN models performing better than traditional radiomics methods.
  • The best predictive performance came from a CNN model that combined dual-modal ultrasound data and clinicopathologic characteristics, achieving an accuracy of over 83%, suggesting it could be used as a non-invasive tool to help tailor chemotherapy treatment for patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF