Легочная гипертензия и возможности ее коррекции у больных с тяжелой формой бронхиальной астмы

The study was aimed at the analysis of a possibility of the lung hypertension correction for patients suffering from a severe bronchial asthma with due consideration to various treatment.48 patients with bronchial asthma were examined. Four clinical groups were specified. The first group (14 patients) took angiotenzin-transforming enzyme inhibitor (iATE) — enalapril with an average dose of 20 mg/day.The second group (14 patients) took enalapri in combination with the plasmapheresis. The third group (8 people) took plasmapheresis only. The fourths group (12 patients) was a control group. These patients took basic therapy preparations only. These preparations were used for treating patients of all clinical groups.The basic therapy preparations were cholinolytics, methylxanthines, β-agonists and corticosteroids (by indication). The clinical parameters (number of asphyxia attacks and/or coughing, dyspnea, rales in lungs - cumulative indices), indices of the external respiration function and diastolic pressure in the lung artery were assessed weekly. The latter parameter was determined by the impulse Doppler echocardiography technique on the basis of the flow shape at the iung artery’s vaive. The 6-stage Ali-Sadec-Ali scale (1988) was used for the assessment of diastolic pressure in the iung artery.Initially all the patients had high diastolic pressure in lung artery (31 ±2,1) Mercury and low FEV1(49,4±5,1).After the treatment a reliable diastolic pressure decrease together with the FEV1 increase was marked for the patients of the first and second groups. The breathing insufficiency has decreased aiso. These first two parameters did not chang for the third and fourths groups however clinical indices authentically improved.Taking into consideration the results of the fulfilled analysis it is possible to draw a conclusion that in order to reduce the diastolic pressure in lung artery when treating severe bronchial asthma complicated with the lung hypertension, it is possible to use the isolated enalapril treatment or its combination with the plasmapheresis.Цель работы: изучить возможности коррекции легочной гипертензии у больных с тяжелой формой бронхиальной астмы (БА) в условиях разных режимов лечения.Обследовано 48 больных БА. Выделено 4 клинические группы: 1 группа (14 человек) получали ингибитор ангиотензинпревращающего фермента (иАПФ) эналаприл в средней дозе 20 мг/сутки; 2 группа (14 человек) получали эналаприл в сочетании с плазмаферезом (ПА), 3 группа (8 человек) ПА; 4 контрольная группа (12 человек) получали только средства базисной терапии, которые использовались также при лечении больных всех клинических групп.Средства базисной терапии включали в себя холинолитики, метилксантины, β-агонисты и кортикостероиды (по показаниям). Еженедельно оценивались клинические параметры (количество приступов удушья и/или кашель, одышка, наличие хрипов в легких — кумулятивный индекс), показатели ФВД и диастолическое давление в легочной артерии (ДЛА). ДЛА определяли методом импульсной допплерэхокардиографии (ДЭхоКГ) по форме потока на клапане легочной артерии. В оценке ДЛА использовалась 6-ступенчатая шкала Али-Садек-Али (1988).Исходно все больные имели повышенное ДЛА (31 ±2,1) мм.рт.ст. и сниженный ОФВ1 (49,4±5,1). После лечения в 1 -й и 2-й группе отмечено достоверное снижение ДЛА, повышение ОВФ1 , а так же уменьшение выраженности дыхательной недостаточности. В 3-й и 4-й группах ДЛА и ОФВ1 не изменились, а клинические показатели достоверно улучшились.Исходя из результатов проведенного исследования можно сделать вывод о том, что изолированное применение эналаприла или сочетание его с плазмаферезом может быть использовано для снижения уровня ДЛА при лечении больных с тяжелой формой БА, осложненной легочной гипертензией

Mechanism of stress relaxation and phase transformation in additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V via in situ high temperature XRD and TEM analyses

Additive manufacturing is being increasingly used in the fabrication of Ti-6Al-4V parts to combine excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility with high precision. Unfortunately, due to the build-up of thermal residual stresses and the formation of martensitic structure across a wide range of typical processing conditions, it is generally necessary to use a post-thermal treatment to achieve superior mechanical performance. This investigation aims to obtain a deeper understanding of the microManostructural evolution (alpha' martensite phase decomposition), accounting for the kinetics of phase transformation during the heat treatment of 3D-printed Ti-6Al-4V alloy. As the mechanism of phase transformation and stress relaxation is still ambiguous, in this study the changes in crystal lattice, phase, composition and lattice strain were investigated up to 1000 degrees C using both in situ high temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Based on the result a mechanism of phase transformation is proposed, via the accommodation/substitution of Al, V and Ti atoms in the crystal lattice. The proposed mechanism is supported based on elemental concentration changes during heat treatment, in combination with changes in crystal structure observed using the high temperature XRD and TEM measurements. This study provides a deeper understanding on the mechanism of phase transformation through martensitic decomposition, as well as a deeper understanding of the influence of post-thermal treatment conditions on the alloy's crystal structure. (C) 2020 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Percolating metallic structures templated on laser-deposited carbon nanofoams derived from graphene oxide: applications in humidity sensing

Carbon nanofoam (CNF) is a low-density, high-surface-area material formed by aggregation of amorphous carbon nanoparticles into porous nanostructures. We report the use of a pulsed infrared laser to prepare CNF from a graphene oxide (GO) target material. Electron microscopy shows that the films consist of dendritic strings that form web-like three-dimensional structures. The conductivity of these structures can be modified by using the CNF as a nanostructured scaffold for gold nanoparticles deposited by sputter coating, controllably increasing the conductivity by up to 4 orders of magnitude. The ability to measure the conductivity of the porous structures allows electrochemical measurements in the environment. Upon decreasing humidity, the pristine CNF exhibits an increase in resistance with a quick response and recovery time. By contrast, the gold-sputtered CNF showed a decrease in resistance, indicating modification of the doping mechanism due to water adsorption. The sensitivity to humidity is eliminated at the percolation threshold of the metal on the CNF

Sonochemical edge functionalisation of molybdenum disulfide

Liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) has been shown to be capable of producing large quantities of high-quality dispersions suitable for processing into subsequent applications. LPE typically requires surfactants for aqueous dispersions or organic solvents with high boiling point. However, they have major drawbacks such as toxicity, aggregation during solvent evaporation or the presence of residues. Here, dispersions of molybdenum disulfide in acetone are prepared and show much higher concentration and stability than predicted by Hansen parameter analysis. Aiming to understand those enhanced properties, the nanosheets were characterised using UV-visible spectroscopy, zeta potential measurements, atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning transmission microscopy combined with spatially-resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy. Also, the performance of the MoS2 nanosheets exfoliated in acetone was compared to those exfoliated in isopropanol as a catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction. The conclusion from the chemical characterisation was that MoS2 nanosheets exfoliated in acetone have an oxygen edge-functionalisation, in the form of molybdenum oxides, changing its interaction with solvents and explaining the observed high-quality and stability of the resulting dispersion in a low boiling point solvent. Exfoliation in acetone could potentially be applied as a pretreatment to modify the solubility of MoS2 by edge-functionalisation

GWAS of random glucose in 476,326 individuals provide insights into diabetes pathophysiology, complications and treatment stratification

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData availability: Meta-analysis summary statistics for the GWAS presented in this manuscript are available on the MAGIC website (magicinvestigators.org) and through the NHGRI-EBI GWAS Catalog (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/downloads/summary-statistics, GCP ID: GCP000666; with study accession codes for Europeans-only meta-analysis: GCST90271557; cross-ancestry meta-analysis: GCST90271558; and sex-dimorphic meta-analysis: GCST90271559). UK Biobank individual-level data can be obtained through a data access application available at https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/. In this study, we made use of data made available by: 1000 Genomes project (https://www.genome.gov/27528684/1000-genomes-project); SNPsnap (https://data.broadinstitute.org/mpg/snpsnap/index.html); Tabula Muris (https://www.czbiohub.org/tabula-muris/); GTEx Consortium (https://gtexportal.org/home/); microbiome GWAS (https://mibiogen.gcc.rug.nl/); Human Gut Microbiome Atlas (https://www.microbiomeatlas.org); eQTLGen Consortium (https://www.eqtlgen.org/); TIGER expression data (http://tiger.bsc.es/) and LDHub database (http://ldsc.broadinstitute.org/ldhub/).Conventional measurements of fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels investigated in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) cannot capture the effects of DNA variability on ‘around the clock’ glucoregulatory processes. Here we show that GWAS meta-analysis of glucose measurements under nonstandardized conditions (random glucose (RG)) in 476,326 individuals of diverse ancestries and without diabetes enables locus discovery and innovative pathophysiological observations. We discovered 120 RG loci represented by 150 distinct signals, including 13 with sex-dimorphic effects, two cross-ancestry and seven rare frequency signals. Of these, 44 loci are new for glycemic traits. Regulatory, glycosylation and metagenomic annotations highlight ileum and colon tissues, indicating an underappreciated role of the gastrointestinal tract in controlling blood glucose. Functional follow-up and molecular dynamics simulations of lower frequency coding variants in glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP1R), a type 2 diabetes treatment target, reveal that optimal selection of GLP-1R agonist therapy will benefit from tailored genetic stratification. We also provide evidence from Mendelian randomization that lung function is modulated by blood glucose and that pulmonary dysfunction is a diabetes complication. Our investigation yields new insights into the biology of glucose regulation, diabetes complications and pathways for treatment stratification

GWAS of random glucose in 476,326 individuals provide insights into diabetes pathophysiology, complications and treatment stratification

Conventional measurements of fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels investigated in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) cannot capture the effects of DNA variability on ‘around the clock’ glucoregulatory processes. Here we show that GWAS meta-analysis of glucose measurements under nonstandardized conditions (random glucose (RG)) in 476,326 individuals of diverse ancestries and without diabetes enables locus discovery and innovative pathophysiological observations. We discovered 120 RG loci represented by 150 distinct signals, including 13 with sex-dimorphic effects, two cross-ancestry and seven rare frequency signals. Of these, 44 loci are new for glycemic traits. Regulatory, glycosylation and metagenomic annotations highlight ileum and colon tissues, indicating an underappreciated role of the gastrointestinal tract in controlling blood glucose. Functional follow-up and molecular dynamics simulations of lower frequency coding variants in glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP1R), a type 2 diabetes treatment target, reveal that optimal selection of GLP-1R agonist therapy will benefit from tailored genetic stratification. We also provide evidence from Mendelian randomization that lung function is modulated by blood glucose and that pulmonary dysfunction is a diabetes complication. Our investigation yields new insights into the biology of glucose regulation, diabetes complications and pathways for treatment stratification

Imaging and diffraction characterisation of 2D inorganic nanostructures

2D nanomaterials are a novel class of materials, noted for their potential in a range of high impact applications, such as sensing catalysis, and composite reinforcement. However, their structural features have not yet been fully characterised. In this work we have shown that 2D nanostructures of hBN, MoS 2, and WS 2, prepared by liquid exfoliation, can stack in sequences different from the bulk stacking. In 2D hBN non-sequential stacking was observed. 2D MoS 2 and WS 2 appear to have stacking where Mo/W atoms are located on the top of each other which differs from naturally occurring 2H and 3R polytypes. The majority of the hBN and MoS 2 2D nanostructures retain the stacking of their bulk counterparts, while in 2D WS 2 non-bulk stacking dominates. The conclusions are based primarily on the atomically resolved ADF STEM images with supporting evidence from electron diffraction

Mechanism of Stress Relaxation and Phase Transformation in Additively Manufactured Ti-6Al-4V via in situ High Temperature XRD and TEM Analyses

Additive manufacturing is being increasingly used in the fabrication of Ti-6Al-4V parts to combine excellentmechanical properties and biocompatibility with high precision. Unfortunately, due to the build-up of ther-mal residual stresses and the formation of martensitic structure across a wide range of typical processingconditions, it is generally necessary to use a post-thermal treatment to achieve superior mechanical perfor-mance. This investigation aims to obtain a deeper understanding of the micro/nanostructural evolution(a0martensite phase decomposition), accounting for the kinetics of phase transformation during the heattreatment of 3D-printed Ti-6Al-4V alloy. As the mechanism of phase transformation and stress relaxation isstill ambiguous, in this study the changes in crystal lattice, phase, composition and lattice strain were investi-gated up to 1000°C using bothin situhigh temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electronmicroscopy (TEM). Based on the result a mechanism of phase transformation is proposed, via the accommo-dation/substitution of Al, V and Ti atoms in the crystal lattice. The proposed mechanism is supported basedon elemental concentration changes during heat treatment, in combination with changes in crystal structureobserved using the high temperature XRD and TEM measurements. This study provides a deeper under-standing on the mechanism of phase transformation through martensitic decomposition, as well as a deeperunderstanding of the influence of post-thermal treatment conditions on the alloy’s crystal structure.European Research CouncilScience Foundation Irelan