Visible-light promoted atom transfer radical addition-elimination (ATRE) reaction for the synthesis of fluoroalkylated alkenes using DMA as electron-donor

Here, we describe a mild, catalyst-free and operationally-simple strategy for the direct fluoroalkylation of olefins driven by the photochemical activity of an electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complex between DMA and fluoroalkyl iodides. The significant advantages of this photochemical transformation are high efficiency, excellent functional group tolerance, and synthetic simplicity, thus providing a facile route for further application in pharmaceuticals and life sciences

Geometric bionics: Lotus effect helps polystyrene nanotube films get good blood compatibility

Various biomaterials have been widely used for manufacturing biomedical applications including artificial organs, medical devices and disposable clinical apparatus, such as vascular prostheses, blood pumps, artificial kidney, artificial hearts, dialyzers and plasma separators, which could be used in contact with blood^1^. However, the research tasks of improving hemocompatibility of biomaterials have been carrying out with the development of biomedical requirements^2^. Since the interactions that lead to surface-induced thrombosis occurring at the blood-biomaterial interface become a reason of familiar current complications with grafts therapy, improvement of the blood compatibility of artificial polymer surfaces is, therefore a major issue in biomaterials science^3^. After decades of focused research, various approaches of modifying biomaterial surfaces through chemical or biochemical methods to improve their hemocompatibility were obtained^1^. In this article, we report that polystyrene nanotube films with morphology similar to the papilla on lotus leaf can be used as blood-contacted biomaterials by virtue of Lotus effect^4^. Clearly, this idea, resulting from geometric bionics that mimicking the structure design of lotus leaf, is very novel technique for preparation of hemocompatible biomaterials

Medium effects on the selection of sequences folding into stable proteins in a simple model

We study the medium effects on the selection of sequences in protein folding by taking account of the surface potential in HP-model. Our analysis on the proportion of H and P monomers in the sequences gives a direct interpretation that the lowly designable structures possess small average gap. The numerical calculation by means of our model exhibits that the surface potential enhances the average gap of highly designable structures. It also shows that a most stable structure may be no longer the most stable one if the medium parameters changed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Cross-cultural validation of the Health Care Provider HIV/AIDS Stigma Scale (HPASS) in China

The study aimed to validate the Health Care Provider HIV/AIDS Stigma Scale among medical staff in China. The validation was conducted in four steps from March to December 2017: translation and back-translation; content validity test with six experts; test–retest reliability testing with 63 medical staff with 2 weeks interval; and structural validation with 349 medical staff from 52 hospitals with a convenience sample,using exploratory factor analysis,including principal component analysis and varimax rotation. The scale content validity index average was 0.88, while for test–retest reliability, the ICC was 0.87. Three factors of “discrimination”, “prejudice” and “stereotype” with 16 items were extracted and explained 59.61% variance. The Cronbach’s alpha value for the total scale was of 0.88, and for the three factors, the values were 0.89, 0.86 and 0.74, respectively. The discrimination factor showed identical means between Canadian medical students and Chinese medical staff, while the prejudice and stereotype factors had higher mean scores in the Chinese sample. The three-factor structure of Health Care Provider HIV/AIDS Stigma Scale was confirmed in Chinese medical staff with a simpler solution. This could provide a basis for trans-cultural application and comparison

Expression and prognostic significance of Golgiglycoprotein73 (GP73) with Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) related molecules in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer and the third cause of cancer-related deaths, worldwide. It is essential to develop an effective prognostic biomarker and determine the mechanisms underlying HCC invasion and metastasis. AIMS: This study aimed to investigate the expression of Golgi glycoprotein73 (GP73) and Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) molecules such as E-cadherin and Vimentin in HCC. We also evaluated the prognostic value of GP73 in HCC. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to determine the expression of GP73 and EMT molecules in 75 HCC specimens and the corresponding paracarcinomatous liver (PCL) tissues. Spearman’s correlation test was used to analyze the correlation of GP73 and EMT molecules. Clinicopathological features of the HCC patients were also analyzed. Univariate survival analysis was performed by the Kaplan–Meier method and differences among the groups were analyzed by the Log-rank test. RESULTS: GP73 expression in HCC was higher compared with PCL tissues (χ( 2 ) = 73.60, P < 0.05). EMT molecules were also detected in HCC and PCL tissues. GP73 was negatively correlated with E-cadherin (r = − 0.49, P < 0.05), but positively correlated with Vimentin (r = 0.46, P < 0.05) in HCC. GP73 was correlated with the clinicopathological features including Edmondson grade, vascular invasion and TNM stage (P < 0.05), which was also associated with overall survival (OS) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: GP73 was negatively with E-cadherin and positively correlated with Vimentin. It might be associated with aggressive behavior of HCC and had influence on patients’ OS. Further research is needed to determine the potential of GP73. VIRTUAL SLIDES: The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/29 vs/1504046946108618; http://med.motic.com/MoticGallery/Slide?id=3b6a037e-f60e-4c68-9106-41e790de9431&user=2C69F0D6-A478-4A2B-ABF0-BB36763E8025; http://med.motic.com/MoticGallery/Slide?id=a25b5b32-b613-47b0-9f8b-e1e67a95d1bf&user=2C69F0D6-A478-4A2B-ABF0-BB36763E8025