Are prominent medullary veins better than prominent cortical veins as predictors of early clinical outcome in patients with acute ischemic stroke?

PURPOSEThe prominent vessel sign (PVS) on susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) can be dichotomized into prominent cortical veins (PCV) and prominent medullary veins (PMV). This study was designed to compare the predictive value of PCV and PMV in the evaluation of the severity of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in patients within the reperfusion window.METHODSForty-seven consecutive patients with AIS within the middle cerebral artery territory were recruited. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed within 8 hours of symptom onset and at 7 days after stroke onset. Infarct volume was measured, and the early clinical outcome at 7 days was assessed using the modified Rankin Scale. PVS was dichotomized into cases with both PCV and PMV and cases with only PCV according to location.RESULTSPatients with both PCV and PMV (n=32) had higher admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores (p = 0.020), larger infarct volumes at baseline (p = 0.026) and 7 days (p = 0.007), and larger infarct growth at 7 days (p = 0.050) than those with PCV only. Multivariate regression analysis showed that both the time of onset at baseline (p = 0.013) and infarct growth at 7 days (p = 0.014) could independently predict poor early clinical outcome.CONCLUSIONPMV may predict poor early clinical outcome in AIS patients, and reperfusion therapy may, therefore, be required more urgently in patients with PMV

Effects of saponins Rb1 and Re in American ginseng combined intervention on immune system of aging model

Aging is a major risk factor for the development of many pathological processes, such as reduced immunity, cancer, cardiovascular diseases or neurodegenerative diseases, while age-related chronic diseases are the most common causes of death. This paper studies the effects of American ginseng saponin Rb1 and Re alone and combined intervention on the immune system of aging mouse models, by using 30 mg/kg Rb1, 15 mg/kg Re, and Rb1 + Re (30 mg/kg Rb1 and 15 mg/kg Re (co-intervention) was used to intervene in the aging model, and immune indicators such as thymus index, spleen index, interleukin and interferon were detected to evaluate the impact of Rb1 and Re on immune function. The results show that Rb1 and Re intervention alone can increase the spleen index by 7%–12% and the thymus index by 12%–19% in the aging model. After Rb1 or Re alone intervened, the apoptotic cells in the thymus were slightly reduced, and the proportion of apoptotic cells was reduced. The combination of Rb1 + Re can promote the thymus index and spleen index to increase by 23.40% and 25.5% respectively, which is more advantageous than Rb1 or Re alone. In addition, Rb1 and Re intervention can reduce the level of interferon INF to a level comparable to that of young mice. Rb1 + Re can not only reduce the INF content, but also reduce the TNF content. The above results show that American ginseng saponin Rb1 and Re can delay the decline of the immune system in the aging model, and the combined intervention of the two is significantly better than individual intervention in the recovery of the immune system. This paper can provide theoretical basis and data support for the development of American ginseng nutritional supplements and its application in aging groups products to improve immunity

Subsequent monitoring of ferric ion and ascorbic acid using graphdiyne quantum dots-based optical sensors

Graphdiyne (GDY) as an emerging carbon nanomaterial has attracted increasing attention because of its uniformly distributed pores, highly π-conjugated, and tunable electronic properties. These excellent characteristics have been widely explored in the fields of energy storage and catalysts, yet there is no report on the development of sensors based on the outstanding optical property of GDY. In this paper, a new sensing mechanism is reported built upon the synergistic effect between inner filter effect and photoinduced electron transfer. We constructed a novel nanosensor based upon the newly-synthesized nanomaterial and demonstrated a sensitive and selective detection for both Fe3+ ion and ascorbic acid, enabling the measurements in real clinical samples. For the first time fluorescent graphdiyne oxide quantum dots (GDYO-QDs) were prepared using a facile ultrasonic protocol and they were characterized with a range of techniques, showing a strong blue-green emission with 14.6% quantum yield. The emission is quenched efficiently by Fe3+ and recovered by ascorbic acid (AA). We have fabricated an off/on fluorescent nanosensors based on this unique property. The nanosensors are able to detect Fe3+ as low as 95 nmol L−1 with a promising dynamic range from 0.25 to 200 μmol L−1. The LOD of AA was 2.5 μmol L−1, with range of 10–500 μmol L−1. It showed a promising capability to detect Fe3+ and AA in serum samples

PathogenFinder - Distinguishing Friend from Foe Using Bacterial Whole Genome Sequence Data.

Although the majority of bacteria are harmless or even beneficial to their host, others are highly virulent and can cause serious diseases, and even death. Due to the constantly decreasing cost of high-throughput sequencing there are now many completely sequenced genomes available from both human pathogenic and innocuous strains. The data can be used to identify gene families that correlate with pathogenicity and to develop tools to predict the pathogenicity of newly sequenced strains, investigations that previously were mainly done by means of more expensive and time consuming experimental approaches. We describe PathogenFinde

The Association of Dietary Intake of Purine-Rich Vegetables, Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Dairy with Plasma Urate, in a Cross-Sectional Study

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Design and baseline characteristics of the finerenone in reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in diabetic kidney disease trial

Background: Among people with diabetes, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and progression of their underlying kidney disease. Finerenone is a novel, nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on CV and renal outcomes has not yet been investigated in long-term trials. Patients and Methods: The Finerenone in Reducing CV Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIGARO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIGARO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 6 years. FIGARO-DKD randomized 7,437 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate >= 25 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio >= 30 to <= 5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of the primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level alpha = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. Conclusions: FIGARO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of CV and renal events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen. Trial Registration: EudraCT number: 2015-000950-39; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02545049

Beta Cell

This is the primary research material relevant to the publication by Sui et al. Diabetes 2017 PMID: 2893151

Establishment of a rapid detection method for wheat crown rot

We have established a real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR system that can detect wheat crown rot rapidly and accurately quantify fungi, Fusarium species and Fusarium pseudograminearum in the rhizosphere soil of infected wheat through the standard curve produced, with a view to the early stage of wheat Provide help in predicting the occurrence of wheat crown rot