Chinese Expert Consensus on Critical Care Ultrasound Applications at COVID-19 Pandemic

The spread of new coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) follows a different pattern than previous respiratory viruses, posing a serious public health risk worldwide. World Health Organization (WHO) named the disease as COVID-19 and declared it a pandemic. COVID-19 is characterized by highly contagious nature, rapid transmission, swift clinical course, profound worldwide impact, and high mortality among critically ill patients. Chest X-ray, computerized tomography (CT), and ultrasound are commonly used imaging modalities. Among them, ultrasound, due to its portability and non-invasiveness, can be easily moved to the bedside for examination at any time. In addition, with use of 4G or 5G networks, remote ultrasound consultation can also be performed, which allows ultrasound to be used in isolated medial areas. Besides, the contact surface of ultrasound probe with patients is small and easy to be disinfected. Therefore, ultrasound has gotten lots of positive feedbacks from the frontline healthcare workers, and it has played an indispensable role in the course of COVID-19 diagnosis and follow up

Multimodal Machine Learning for Automated ICD Coding

This study presents a multimodal machine learning model to predict ICD-10 diagnostic codes. We developed separate machine learning models that can handle data from different modalities, including unstructured text, semi-structured text and structured tabular data. We further employed an ensemble method to integrate all modality-specific models to generate ICD-10 codes. Key evidence was also extracted to make our prediction more convincing and explainable. We used the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC -III) dataset to validate our approach. For ICD code prediction, our best-performing model (micro-F1 = 0.7633, micro-AUC = 0.9541) significantly outperforms other baseline models including TF-IDF (micro-F1 = 0.6721, micro-AUC = 0.7879) and Text-CNN model (micro-F1 = 0.6569, micro-AUC = 0.9235). For interpretability, our approach achieves a Jaccard Similarity Coefficient (JSC) of 0.1806 on text data and 0.3105 on tabular data, where well-trained physicians achieve 0.2780 and 0.5002 respectively.Comment: Machine Learning for Healthcare 201

Pyrene-based aggregation-induced emission luminogens and their applications

"Unity is force"-Aesop. It is a common phenomenon that traditional chromophores exhibit high fluorescence in dilute solutions, yet luminescence is quenched at high concentrations or in the aggregate state, i.e. "aggregation-caused quenching" (ACQ). Tang reported the unusual photophysical observation that luminogens can exhibit weak or no fluorescence in solution, yet they are highly emissive in the aggregate or solid state; this is defined as aggregation-induced emission (AIE). The discovery of AIE helped solve the ACQ effect in traditional luminophores. Pyrene is an important polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), which exhibits very different photophysical behavior in solution versus the aggregate state, and the ACQ effect has played a dominant role in pyrene chemistry. The ACQ effect is harmful for some practical applications and is a challenge in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and light-emitting electrochemical cells, for which the effect is more severe in the solid state. Thus, how to overcome the ACQ effect observed in pyrene chemistry still remains a challenge. In this review, we discuss how following basic AIE mechanisms such as the restriction of intramolecular motion (RIM), excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT), and twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT), can transform pyrene-based ACQ luminogens to AIE luminogens with excellent optical properties. Furthermore, prospective applications of pyrene-based AIEgens are discussed, as is the potential for designing new organic functional materials

Stable anode performance of an Sb–carbon nanocomposite in lithium-ion batteries and the effect of ball milling mode in the course of its preparation

Materials that alloy with lithium (Si, Ge, Sn, Sb, and P) are considered as alternatives to graphitic anodes in lithium-ion batteries. Their practical use is precluded by large volume changes (200–370%) during cycling. Embedding nanoparticles into carbon is being investigated as a way to tackle that, and ball milling is emerging as a technique to prepare nanocomposites with enhanced capacity and cyclic stability. Using Sb as a model system, we investigate the preparation of Sb–carbon nanocomposites using a reconfigurable ball mill. Four distinctive milling modes are compared. The structure of the composites varies depending on the mode. Frequent strong ball impacts are required for the optimal electrochemical performance of the nanocomposite. An outstanding stable capacity of 550 mA h g−1 for 250 cycles at a current rate of 230 mA g−1 is demonstrated in a thin electrode (1 mg cm−2) and a capacity of [similar]400 mA h g−1 can be retained at 1.15 A g−1. Some capacity fade is observed in a thicker electrode (2.5 mg cm−2), i.e. the performance is sensitive to mass loading. The electrochemical stability originates from the nanocomposite structure containing Sb nanoparticles (5–15 nm) dispersed in a carbon component

Demethylation of 5,n-di-tert-butyl-8,n-dimethoxy[2.n] metacyclophane-1-ynes with BBr3 to afford novel [n] benzofuranophanes

© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Novel [n]benzofuranophanes (n = 8 & 10) 2a-b have been prepared by successive intramolecular cyclization from 5,19-di-tert-butyl-8,22-dimethoxy[n]metacyclophane-1-yne (syn-1a-b) by treatment with BBr 3 in CH 2 Cl 2 at room temperature for 8h. [2.n]Benzofuranophanes 2a-b were also obtained by treatment of 1,2-di-endo-bromo-5,19-di-tert-butyl-8,22-dimethoxy[n] metacyclophane (meso-3a-b) with BBr 3 in CH 2 Cl 2 by using the same reaction conditions. 1 H NMR spectra of 2a-b reveals the formation of intramolecular hydrogen bonding between hydroxyl proton with the oxygen of the furan moiety and X-ray analysis shows that the lengths between H (OH) and O (furan) are 1.981 and 1.823 Å, respectively. The conformation of [8]benzofuranophane 2a in solution is rigid with restricted rotation around the diaryl linkage rather than [10] benzofuranophane 2b because of weak intramolecular hydrogen bonding and the short length of the cross-linking chain

The clinical and EEG features and mutation analysis in a Chinese patient with severe hypoplasia of the cerebellum and pons

Abstract We report here a Chinese female infant with severe hypoplasia of the cerebellum and pons, and heterozygous mutation (c.18G >T, p.E6D) in the TSEN54 gene. This mutation was not present in her parents and the 100 Chinese controls, which proved to be a de novo missense mutation. MR imaging of the patient revealed severe hypoplasia of the bilateral cerebellar hemispheres and vermis with moderate flattening of the pons. A video EEG during hospitalization demostrated abnormal background activities and generalized burst and attenuation patterns during interictal stage. The spasms and tonic spasms occurred frequently in clusters with generalized voltage attenuation

ISG15 inhibits IFN- a -Resistant liver cancer cell growth

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent tumors worldwide. Interferon-a (IFN-a) has been widely used in the treatment of HCC, but patients eventually develop resistance. ISG15 ubiquitin-like modifier (ISG15) is a ubiquitin-like protein transcriptionally regulated by IFN-a which shows antivirus and antitumor activities. However, the exact role of ISG15 is unknown. In the present study, we showed that IFN-a significantly induced ISG15 expression but failed to induce HepG2 cell apoptosis, whereas transient overexpression of ISG15 dramatically increased HepG2 cell apoptosis. ISG15 overexpression increased overall protein ubiquitination, which was not observed in cells with IFN-a-induced ISG15 expression, suggesting that IFN-a treatment not only induced the expression of ISG15 but also inhibited ISG15-mediated ubiquitination. The tumor suppressor p53 and p21 proteins are the key regulators of cell survival and death in response to stress signals such as DNA damage. We showed that p53 or p21 is only up regulated in HepG2 cells ectopically expressing ISG15, but not in the presence of IFN-a-induced ISG15. Our results suggest that ISG15 overexpression could be developed into a powerful gene-therapeutic tool for treating IFN-a-resistant HCC. © 2013 Xin-xing Wan et al

Synthesis, structures and Lewis‐Acid‐Induced isomerization of 8‐Methoxy[2.2]metaparacyclophanes and a DFT study

Methyl substituted 8‐methoxy[2.2]MPCPs 8 a–b were obtained via thiacyclophane and its oxidized products. Lewis acid‐catalyzed (AlCl3‐MeNO2) reactions of 5‐tert‐butyl‐8‐methoxy‐12,13,15,16‐tetramethyl[2.2]MPCP 8 b under various conditions led to transannular cyclization and isomerization reactions, affording the considerably less‐strained 5‐tert‐butyl‐8‐methoxy[2.2]MPCP 9, 5‐tert‐butyl‐8‐hydroxy‐14,16,17,18‐tetramethyl[2.2]metacyclophane 10 and pyrene derivatives 11 and 12. However,on prolonging the reaction time to 3 h for 8 b, the major product is 5‐tert‐butyl‐8‐hydroxy[2.2]MPCP 10. These reactions are strongly affected by the size and properties of the C‐8 substitutents as well as the methyl substitutents on the para‐linked benzene rings, which increase the strain in the molecules. The 1H NMR spectra and X‐ray crystallographic analysis of 8 b revealed that it adopts a syn‐conformation both in solution and in the solid state