Can clinical scoring systems improve the diagnostic accuracy in patients with suspected adult appendicitis and equivocal preoperative computed tomography findings?

Objective Adult appendicitis (AA) with equivocal computed tomography (CT) findings remains a diagnostic challenge for physicians. Herein we evaluated the diagnostic performance of several clinical scoring systems in adult patients with suspected appendicitis and equivocal CT findings. Methods We retrospectively evaluated 189 adult patients with equivocal CT findings. Alvarado, Eskelinen, appendicitis inflammatory response, Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha Appendicitis (RIPASA), and adult appendicitis score (AAS) scores were evaluated, receiver operating characteristic analysis was conducted, and the optimal, low, and high cut-off values were determined for patient classification into three groups: low, intermediate, or high. Results In total, 61 patients were included in the appendicitis group and 128 in the non-appendicitis group. There were no significant differences between the area under the curve of the clinical scoring systems in the final diagnosis of AA for equivocal appendicitis on CT (Alvarado, 0.698; Eskelinen, 0.710; appendicitis inflammatory response, 0.668; RIPASA, 0.653; AAS, 0.726). A RIPASA score greater than 7.5 had a high positive predictive value (90.9) and an AAS score less than or equal to 5 had a high negative predictive value (91.7) in the diagnosis of AA. Conclusion The accuracy of clinical scoring systems in the diagnosis of AA with equivocal CT findings was moderate. Therefore, a high RIPASA score may assist in the diagnosis of AA in patients with equivocal CT findings, and a low AAS score may be used as a criterion for patient discharge. Most patients presented with intermediate scores. The patients with equivocal CT findings may be considered as a third diagnostic category of AA

Searching for candidates of coalescing binary black holes formed through chemically homogeneous evolution in GWTC-3

The LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA (LVK) collaboration has announced 90 coalescing binary black holes (BBHs) with $p_{\rm astro} > 50\%$ to date, however, the origin of their formation channels is still an open scientific question. Given various properties of BBHs (BH component masses and individual spins) inferred using the default priors by the LVK, independent groups have been trying to explain the formation of the BBHs with different formation channels. Of all formation scenarios, the chemically homogeneous evolution (CHE) channel has stood out with distinguishing features, namely, nearly-equal component masses and preferentially high individual spins aligned with the orbital angular momentum. We perform Bayesian inference on the BBH events officially reported in GWTC-3 with astrophysically-predicted priors representing different formation channels of the isolated binary evolution (CEE: common-envelope evolution channel; CHE; SMT: stable mass transfer). Given assumed models, we report strong evidence for GW190517\_055101 being most likely to have formed through the CHE channel. Assuming the BBH events in the subsample are all formed through one of the isolated binary evolution channels, we obtain the lower limits on the local merger rate density of these channels at $11.45 ~\mathrm{Gpc^{-3}~yr^{-1}}$ (CEE), $0.18 ~\mathrm{Gpc^{-3}~yr^{-1}}$ (CHE), and $0.63 ~\mathrm{Gpc^{-3}~yr^{-1}}$ (SMT) at $90\%$ credible level.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Reduced expression of a gene encoding a Golgi localized monosaccharide transporter (OsGMST1) confers hypersensitivity to salt in rice (Oryza sativa)

Sugar transport is critical for normal plant development and stress responses. However, functional evidence for the roles of monosaccharide transporters in rice (Oryza sativa) has not previously been presented. In this study, reversed genetics was used to identify OsGMST1 as a member of the monosaccharide transporter family in rice. The predicted 481 amino acid protein has the typical features of a sugar transporter in the plastid glucose transporter subfamily consistent with reduced monosaccharide accumulation in plants with reduced OsGMST1 expression. OsGMST1-green fluorescent protein is localized to the Golgi apparatus. OsGMST1 expression is induced by salt treatment and reduced expression confers hypersensitivity to salt stress in rice. OsGMST1 may play a direct or an indirect role in tolerance to salt stress in rice

Experimental quantum computational chemistry with optimised unitary coupled cluster ansatz

Simulation of quantum chemistry is one of the most promising applications of quantum computing. While recent experimental works have demonstrated the potential of solving electronic structures with variational quantum eigensolver (VQE), the implementations are either restricted to nonscalable (hardware efficient) or classically simulable (Hartree-Fock) ansatz, or limited to a few qubits with large errors for the more accurate unitary coupled cluster (UCC) ansatz. Here, integrating experimental and theoretical advancements of improved operations and dedicated algorithm optimisations, we demonstrate an implementation of VQE with UCC for H_2, LiH, F_2 from 4 to 12 qubits. Combining error mitigation, we produce high-precision results of the ground-state energy with error suppression by around two orders of magnitude. For the first time, we achieve chemical accuracy for H_2 at all bond distances and LiH at small bond distances in the experiment. Our work demonstrates a feasible path towards a scalable solution to electronic structure calculation, validating the key technological features and identifying future challenges for this goal.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures in the main text, and 29 pages supplementary materials with 16 figure

Toward controllable and predictable synthesis of high-entropy alloy nanocrystals.

High-entropy alloy (HEA) nanocrystals have attracted extensive attention in catalysis. However, there are no effective strategies for synthesizing them in a controllable and predictable manner. With quinary HEA nanocrystals made of platinum-group metals as an example, we demonstrate that their structures with spatial compositions can be predicted by quantitatively knowing the reduction kinetics of metal precursors and entropy of mixing in the nanocrystals under dropwise addition of the mixing five-metal precursor solution. The time to reach a steady state for each precursor plays a pivotal role in determining the structures of HEA nanocrystals with homogeneous alloy and core-shell features. Compared to the commercial platinum/carbon and phase-separated counterparts, the dendritic HEA nanocrystals with a defect-rich surface show substantial enhancement in catalytic activity and durability toward both hydrogen evolution and oxidation. This quantitative study will lead to a paradigm shift in the design of HEA nanocrystals, pushing away from the trial-and-error approach

Icaritin Shows Potent Anti-Leukemia Activity on Chronic Myeloid Leukemia In Vitro and In Vivo by Regulating MAPK/ERK/JNK and JAK2/STAT3 /AKT Signalings

PURPOSE: To explore the effects of Icaritin on chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cells and underlying mechanisms. METHOD: CML cells were incubated with various concentration of Icaritin for 48 hours, the cell proliferation was analyzed by MTT and the apoptosis was assessed with Annexin V and Hoechst 33258 staining. Cell hemoglobinization was determined. Western blotting was used to evaluate the expressions of MAPK/ERK/JNK signal pathway and Jak-2/Phorpho-Stat3/Phorsph-Akt network-related protein. NOD-SCID nude mice were applied to demonstrate the anti-leukemia effect of Icaritin in vivo. RESULTS: Icaritin potently inhibited proliferation of K562 cells (IC50 was 8 µM) and primary CML cells (IC50 was 13.4 µM for CML-CP and 18 µM for CML-BC), induced CML cells apoptosis and promoted the erythroid differentiation of K562 cells with time-dependent manner. Furthermore, Icaritin was able to suppress the growth of primary CD34+ leukemia cells (CML) and Imatinib-resistant cells, and to induce apoptosis. In mouse leukemia model, Icaritin could prolong lifespan of NOD-SCID nude mice inoculated with K562 cells as effective as Imatinib without suppression of bone marrow. Icaritin could up-regulate phospho-JNK or phospho-C-Jun and down-regulate phospho-ERK, phospho-P-38, Jak-2, phospho-Stat3 and phospho-Akt expression with dose- or time-dependent manner. Icaritin had no influence both on c-Abl and phospho-c-Abl protein expression and mRNA levels of Bcr/Abl. CONCLUSION: Icaritin from Chinese herb medicine may be a potential anti-CML agent with low adverse effect. The mechanism of anti-leukemia for Icaritin is involved in the regulation of Bcr/Abl downstream signaling. Icaritin may be useful for an alternative therapeutic choice of Imatinib-resistant forms of CML

Вихретоковый анизотропный термоэлектрический первичный преобразователь лучистого потока

Представлена оригинальная конструкция первичного преобразователя лучистого потока, который может служить основой для создания приемника неселективного излучения с повышенной чувствительностью

The 5p15.33 Locus Is Associated with Risk of Lung Adenocarcinoma in Never-Smoking Females in Asia

Genome-wide association studies of lung cancer reported in populations of European background have identified three regions on chromosomes 5p15.33, 6p21.33, and 15q25 that have achieved genome-wide significance with p-values of 10−7 or lower. These studies have been performed primarily in cigarette smokers, raising the possibility that the observed associations could be related to tobacco use, lung carcinogenesis, or both. Since most women in Asia do not smoke, we conducted a genome-wide association study of lung adenocarcinoma in never-smoking females (584 cases, 585 controls) among Han Chinese in Taiwan and found that the most significant association was for rs2736100 on chromosome 5p15.33 (p = 1.30×10−11). This finding was independently replicated in seven studies from East Asia totaling 1,164 lung adenocarcinomas and 1,736 controls (p = 5.38×10−11). A pooled analysis achieved genome-wide significance for rs2736100. This SNP marker localizes to the CLPTM1L-TERT locus on chromosome 5p15.33 (p = 2.60×10−20, allelic risk = 1.54, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.41–1.68). Risks for heterozygote and homozygote carriers of the minor allele were 1.62 (95% CI; 1.40–1.87), and 2.35 (95% CI: 1.95–2.83), respectively. In summary, our results show that genetic variation in the CLPTM1L-TERT locus of chromosome 5p15.33 is directly associated with the risk of lung cancer, most notably adenocarcinoma

Genome-wide association study of lung adenocarcinoma in East Asia and comparison with a European population.

Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer. Known risk variants explain only a small fraction of lung adenocarcinoma heritability. Here, we conducted a two-stage genome-wide association study of lung adenocarcinoma of East Asian ancestry (21,658 cases and 150,676 controls; 54.5% never-smokers) and identified 12 novel susceptibility variants, bringing the total number to 28 at 25 independent loci. Transcriptome-wide association analyses together with colocalization studies using a Taiwanese lung expression quantitative trait loci dataset (n = 115) identified novel candidate genes, including FADS1 at 11q12 and ELF5 at 11p13. In a multi-ancestry meta-analysis of East Asian and European studies, four loci were identified at 2p11, 4q32, 16q23, and 18q12. At the same time, most of our findings in East Asian populations showed no evidence of association in European populations. In our studies drawn from East Asian populations, a polygenic risk score based on the 25 loci had a stronger association in never-smokers vs. individuals with a history of smoking (Pinteraction = 0.0058). These findings provide new insights into the etiology of lung adenocarcinoma in individuals from East Asian populations, which could be important in developing translational applications

Genome-wide association study of lung adenocarcinoma in East Asia and comparison with a European population

Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer. Known risk variants explain only a small fraction of lung adenocarcinoma heritability. Here, we conducted a two-stage genome-wide association study of lung adenocarcinoma of East Asian ancestry (21,658 cases and 150,676 controls; 54.5% never-smokers) and identified 12 novel susceptibility variants, bringing the total number to 28 at 25 independent loci. Transcriptome-wide association analyses together with colocalization studies using a Taiwanese lung expression quantitative trait loci dataset (n = 115) identified novel candidate genes, including FADS1 at 11q12 and ELF5 at 11p13. In a multi-ancestry meta-analysis of East Asian and European studies, four loci were identified at 2p11, 4q32, 16q23, and 18q12. At the same time, most of our findings in East Asian populations showed no evidence of association in European populations. In our studies drawn from East Asian populations, a polygenic risk score based on the 25 loci had a stronger association in never-smokers vs. individuals with a history of smoking (P interaction  = 0.0058). These findings provide new insights into the etiology of lung adenocarcinoma in individuals from East Asian populations, which could be important in developing translational applications