NaRbB₁₀O₁₄(OH)₄ and Na₃CsB₁₀O₁₆(OH)₂: Two Cases of Hydroxyborates with [B₅O_<i>m</i>(OH)_<i>n</i>] Units and Deep Ultraviolet Cutoff Edges

Two deep ultraviolet (DUV) hydroxylated-alkali-metal borates, NaRbB10O14(OH)4 (I) and Na3CsB10O16(OH)2 (II), have been successfully synthesized by a high-temperature solution and solvothermal method. Both of them feature [B5Om(OH)n] units, which form chains for (I) and bilayers with nine-membered boron rings for (II). It is worth noting that both compounds exhibit very wide theoretical band gaps of 7.33 and 6.55 eV for (I) and (II), respectively, which denotes that they should have desirable DUV transmittance ability. Moreover, the title compounds have moderate birefringence owing to the π-conjugated [BO3], [BO2(OH)] groups, corresponding to 0.070 for (I) and 0.054 for (II) at 1064 nm. The structure characteristics and optical properties were also investigated and discussed. The results make it beneficial for exploring novel DUV hydroxylated borate optical crystals

Image_1_Preoperative plasma fibrinogen and C-reactive protein/albumin ratio as prognostic biomarkers for pancreatic carcinoma.pdf

ObjectivePancreatic carcinoma is characterised by high aggressiveness and a bleak prognosis; optimising related treatment decisions depends on the availability of reliable prognostic markers. This study was designed to compare various blood biomarkers, such as neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte/monocyte ratio (LMR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), C-reactive protein (CRP), albumin (Alb), plasma fibrinogen (PF), and CRP/Alb in patients with pancreatic carcinoma.MethodsOur study retrospectively reviewed 250 patients with pancreatic carcinoma diagnosed between July 2007 and December 2018. The Cutoff Finder application was used to calculate the optimal values of CRP/Alb and PF. The Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test was used to analyse the correlation of CRP/Alb and PF with other clinicopathological factors. Conducting univariate and multivariate analyses allowed further survival analysis of these prognostic factors.ResultsMultivariate analysis revealed that, in a cohort of 232 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the PF level exhibited statistical significance for overall survival (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.464; p = 0.023); however, this correlation was not found in the entire group of 250 patients with pancreatic carcinoma. Contrastingly, the CRP/Alb ratio was demonstrated statistical significance in both the entire pancreatic carcinoma cohort (HR = 0.471; p = 0.026) and the PDAC subgroup (HR = 0.484; p = 0.034). CRP/Alb and PF demonstrated a positive association (r=0.489, pConclusionPF concentration is a convenient, rapid, and noninvasive biomarker, and its combination with the CRP/Alb ratio could significantly enhance the accuracy of prognosis prediction in pancreatic carcinoma patients, especially those with the most common histological subtype of PDAC.</p

CoFe₂O₄ Nanoparticles as Oxidase Mimic-Mediated Chemiluminescence of Aqueous Luminol for Sulfite in White Wines

Recently, the intrinsic enzyme-like activity of nanoparticles (NPs) has become a growing area of interest. However, the analytical applications of the NP-based enzyme mimetic are mainly concentrated on their peroxidase-like activity; no attempts have been made to investigate the analytical applications based on the oxidase mimic activities of NPs. For the first time, we report that CoFe₂O₄ NPs were found to possess intrinsic oxidase-like activity and could catalyze luminol oxidation by dissolved oxygen to produce intensified chemiluminescence (CL). The effect of sulfite on CoFe₂O₄ NP oxidase mimic-mediated CL of aqueous luminol was investigated. It is very interesting that when adding sulfite to the luminol–CoFe₂O₄ system, the role of sulfite in the luminol–CoFe₂O₄ NP–sulfite system depends on its concentration. At a relatively low concentration level, sulfite presents an inhibition effect on the luminol–CoFe₂O₄ NP system. However, it does have an enhancement effect at a higher concentration level. Investigations on the effect of the solution pH and luminol and CoFe₂O₄ NP concentrations on the kinetic characteristics of the studied CL system in the presence of trace sulfite suggested that the enhancement and inhibition of the luminol–CoFe₂O₄ NP–sulfite CL system also depended on the solution pH. It seems that the concentrations of luminol and CoFe₂O₄ NPs did not influence the CL pathway. The possible mechanism of the luminol–CoFe₂O₄ NP–sulfite CL system was also discussed. On this basis, a flow injection chemiluminescence method was established for the determination of trace sulfite in this study. Under the optimal conditions, the proposed system could respond down to 2.0 × 10^–8 M sulfite. The method has been applied to the determination of trace sulfite in white wine samples with satisfactory results. The results given by the proposed method are in good agreement with those given by the standard titration method

Additional file 1 of Removal of leftover feed shapes environmental microbiota and limits houseflies-mediated dispersion of pathogenic bacteria in sow breeding farms

Supplementary Material 1: Supplementary Table 1. Alpha diversity of lactating sow leftover microbiota at different time spot

A Joint Strategy To Evaluate the Microscopic Origin of the Second-Harmonic-Generation Response in Nonpolar ABCO₃F Compounds

In this paper, a joint strategy was proposed to investigate the microscopic origin of the second-harmonic-generation (SHG) response in nonpolar ABCO₃F compounds. The SHG coefficients of ABCO₃F were evaluated using finite-field and sum-over-states methods. The tendency of the obtained SHG tensors is in good agreement with the powder SHG response. The atomic contribution was investigated using variation of the atomic charges and bandwidth of occupied atomic states. The results show that oxygen states play a key role in determining the SHG response, and the neighboring divalent cations exert a indirect influence via covalent interaction. The bidentate bonding pattern is beneficial to obtaining a largely enhanced SHG response

PYK2 and CFTR are physically associated with each other in IB3-1 and Calu-3 cells.

<p>A: IB3-1 cells were transiently transfected with CFTR. Calu-3 cells express CFTR endogenously. PYK2 is detected in the protein complex, which is immunoprecipitated with CFTR antibody in both cell lines. Blot representative at least three experiments. B: CFTR is present in the tyrosine phosphorylated protein complex and its expression is increased in spiperone treated cells. Blot representative at least three experiments.</p

Spiperone elicited currents in CHO cells transfected with wt-CFTR-GFP.

<p>(A): Representative currents attained before adding spiperone; (B): after adding spiperone; (C): in the presence of spiperone, adding CFTR-172 reduced the currents; (D): The summary data of spiperone effect in stimulating chloride current in CHO cells. Black trace represents before adding spiperone. Red trace represents after adding spiperone and blue trace indicates after adding CFTR-172 (n = 5).</p

Investigation and confirmation the protein expression profile in IB3-1 cells.

<p>We have found that protein PYK2 (A), CYFIP1 (B) and P130CAS (C) are all expressed in IB3-1 cells through immunoprecipitation. Blots representative at least four experiments. D–F: Control and spiperone treated cells were lysed and immunoprecipitated with anti-phosphotyrosine antibody and immunobloted with each specific antibody against PYK2 (D), P130cas (E), and CYFIP1 (F). Blots representative at least three experiments. PYK2 and P130CAS are activated and phosphorylated by spiperone treatment, while no change of the CYFIP1 expression. (G): Co-immunoprecipitation of P130CAS and PYK2 showed that they are physically associated with each other. Blot representative at least three experiments.</p

PYK2 inhibitor tryphostin A-9 inhibits spiperone stimulated Ca²⁺ elevation and chloride secretion.

<p>A: Representative traces of spiperone stimulated transient increase in Ca²⁺ in IB3-1 cells (black trace), The elevation of Ca²⁺ was diminished when the cells pre-incubated with tryphostin A-9 (red trace). B: The summary analysis of tryphostin A-9 pretreatment (n = 6; *P<0.05). C: Tryphostin A-9 inhibited spiperone initiated chloride secretion in Ussing chamber measurements (n = 6). D: In the presence of tryphostin A-9, spiperone was not able to stimulate the chloride secretion in Calu-3 human airway epithelial cells (n = 5).</p