Prognostic implications of plasma fibrinogen and serum Creactive protein levels in non-small cell lung cancer resection and survival

Purpose: To investigate the prognostic implications of plasma fibrinogen and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in tumour resection and survival following successful tumour resection in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods: One hundred and fifty-three NSCLC patients who underwent surgical resection at a tertiary care hospital from January 2006 through December 2010 were enrolled. Pre-operative serum CRP and plasma fibrinogen levels were  measured. The levels of these biomarkers correlated with tumour size and pathologic TNM stage. The possibility of complete resection and associated findings are reported.Results: Plasma fibrinogen (r = 0.381, p = 0.002) and serum CRP (r = 0.471, p < 0.001) levels were positively associated with tumour diameter. Increased levels of these biomarkers were significantly associated with sex, smoking status, histological type, tumour stage, and clinical stage. Partial tumour resection occurred in 28 % (27/95) of patients with an increased plasma fibrinogen level compared to 10 % (6/58) with a normal fibrinogen level (p = 0.008), and in 30 % (29/97) of patients with an increased serum CRP level compared to 11 % (6/56) with a normal CRP level (p = 0.006). Patients with elevated CRP and fibrinogen concentrations demonstrated higher susceptibility to disease advancement andsurvival compared to patients with normal fibrinogen and CRP levels.Conclusion: Pre-operative functional concentrations of serum CRP and plasma fibrinogen could serve as indicators of tumour resectability wherein a high tumour resection rate is possible in patients with favourable pre-operative levels of these biomarkers. Increased concentrations of serum CRP and plasma fibrinogen are associated with poor overall survival and progression-free survival.Key words: Plasma fibrinogen, serum C-reactive protein, biomarker, non-small cell lung cance

Expanding the phenotype and metabolic basis of ATP6AP2-congenital disorder of glycosylation in a Chinese patient with a novel variant c.185G>A (p.Gly62Glu)

Background: A rare X-linked hereditary condition known as ATP6AP2-congenital disorder of glycosylation (ATP6AP2-CDG) is caused by pathogenic variants in ATP6AP2, resulting in autophagic misregulation with reduced siganling of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) that clinically presents with aberrant protein glycosylation, hepatosteatosis, immunodeficiency, cutis laxa, and psychomotor dysfunction. To date, only two missense mutations have been reported in three patients from two unrelated families.Methods: In order to extend the profiles of phenotype and genotype associated with ATP6AP2-CDG, we assessed the clinical history, whole exome sequencing (WES), and liver histology as well as immunohistochemistry in a Chinese patient, and performed quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), Western blotting and untargeted metabolomics in genetic exogenously constructed cells.Results: The 11-month-old Chinese boy presented with recurrent jaundice, cutis laxa, cirrhosis, growth retardation, coagulopathy, anemia, and cardiomegaly, and underwent liver transplantation. A novel mutation, c.185G>A (p.Gly62Glu), was identified in exon 3 of ATP6AP2. The expression of ATP6AP2 was observed to remain unchanged in the liver sample of the patient as well as in HEK293T cells harboring the p.Gly62Glu. This missense mutation was found to dysregulate autophagy and mTOR signaling. Moreover, metabolomics analysis revealed that the exogenously introduced Gly62Glu mutant resulted in the downregulation of numerous metabolites involved in lipid metabolism pathway.Conclusion: This study may enable a more detailed exploration of its precise pathogenesis and potential therapeutic interventions

Three-Dimensional (3D) Bicontinuous Hierarchically Porous Mn2O3 Single Crystals for High Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Bicontinuous hierarchically porous Mn2O3 single crystals (BHP-Mn2O3-SCs) with uniform parallelepiped geometry and tunable sizes have been synthesized and used as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The monodispersed BHP-Mn2O3-SCs exhibit high specific surface area and three dimensional interconnected bimodal mesoporosity throughout the entire crystal. Such hierarchical interpenetrating porous framework can not only provide a large number of active sites for Li ion insertion, but also good conductivity and short diffusion length for Li ions, leading to a high lithium storage capacity and enhanced rate capability. Furthermore, owing to their specific porosity, these BHP-Mn2O3-SCs as anode materials can accommodate the volume expansion/contraction that occurs with lithium insertion/extraction during discharge/charge processes, resulting in their good cycling performance. Our synthesized BHP-Mn2O3-SCs with a size of ~700 nm display the best electrochemical performance, with a large reversible capacity (845 mA h g(-1) at 100 mA g(-1) after 50 cycles), high coulombic efficiency (>95%), excellent cycling stability and superior rate capability (410 mA h g(-1) at 1 Ag(-1)). These values are among the highest reported for Mn2O3-based bulk solids and nanostructures. Also, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy study demonstrates that the BHP-Mn2O3-SCs are suitable for charge transfer at the electrode/electrolyte interface.This work was realized in the frame of a program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team (IRT1169) of the Chinese Ministry of Education. B. L. Su acknowledges the Chinese Central Government for an “Expert of the State” position in the Program of the “Thousand Talents”. Y. Li acknowledges Hubei Provincial Department of Education for the “Chutian Scholar” program. T. Hasan acknowledges funding from a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship and EPSRC IAA Grant (GRASS). This work is also financially supported by the Ph.D. Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (20120143120019), This work is also financially supported by Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2014CFB160) and Self-determined and Innovative Research Funds of the SKLWUT (2015-ZD-7). We thank J.L. Xie, X.Q. Liu and T.T. Luo for TEM analysis from the Research and Test Center of Materials, Prof. L.Q. Mai for EIS analysis from WUT-Harvard Joint Nano Key Laboratory at Wuhan University of Technology.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from NPG via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep1468

Unprecedented and highly stable lithium storage capacity of (001) faceted nanosheet-constructed hierarchically porous TiO2/rGO hybrid architecture for high-performance Li-ion batteries.

Active crystal facets can generate special properties for various applications. Herein, we report a (001) faceted nanosheet-constructed hierarchically porous TiO2/rGO hybrid architecture with unprecedented and highly stable lithium storage performance. Density functional theory calculations show that the (001) faceted TiO2 nanosheets enable enhanced reaction kinetics by reinforcing their contact with the electrolyte and shortening the path length of Li+ diffusion and insertion-extraction. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets in this TiO2/rGO hybrid largely improve charge transport, while the porous hierarchy at different length scales favors continuous electrolyte permeation and accommodates volume change. This hierarchically porous TiO2/rGO hybrid anode material demonstrates an excellent reversible capacity of 250 mAh g-1 at 1 C (1 C = 335 mA g-1) at a voltage window of 1.0-3.0 V. Even after 1000 cycles at 5 C and 500 cycles at 10 C, the anode retains exceptional and stable capacities of 176 and 160 mAh g-1, respectively. Moreover, the formed Li2Ti2O4 nanodots facilitate reversed Li+ insertion-extraction during the cycling process. The above results indicate the best performance of TiO2-based materials as anodes for lithium-ion batteries reported in the literature

Hierarchical Nanotube-Constructed Porous TiO₂-B Spheres for High Performance Lithium Ion Batteries

Hierarchically structured porous TiO(2)-B spheres have been synthesized via a hydrothermal process using amorphous titania/oleylamine composites as a self-sacrificing template. The TiO(2)-B spheres are constructed by interconnected nanotubes and possess a high specific surface area of 295 m(2) g(-1). When evaluated as an anode material in lithium-half cells, the as-obtained TiO(2)-B material exhibits high and reversible lithium storage capacity of 270 mA h g(-1) at 1 C (340 mA g(-1)), excellent rate capability of 221 mA h g(-1) at 10 C, and long cycle life with over 70% capacity retention after 1000 cycles at 10 C. The superior electrochemical performance of TiO(2)-B material strongly correlates to the synergetic superiorities with a combination of TiO(2)-B polymorph, hierarchically porous structure, interconnected nanotubes and spherical morphology. Post-mortem structural analyses reveal some discrete cubic LiTiO(2) nanodots formed on the outer surfaces of TiO(2)-B nanotubes, which might account for the slight capacity loss upon prolonged electrochemical cycling

High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Black Blood Thrombus Imaging and Serum D-Dimer in the Confirmation of Acute Cortical Vein Thrombosis

Cerebral cortical vein thrombosis (CCVT) is often misdiagnosed because of its non-specific diagnostic symptoms. Here, we analyzed a cohort of patients with CCVT in hopes of improving understandings and treatments of the disease. A total of 23 patients with CCVT (confirmed with high-resolution imaging), who had been diagnosed between 2017 and 2019, were enrolled in this cohort study. Baseline demographics, clinical manifestations, laboratory data, radiological findings, treatment, and outcomes were collected and analyzed. Fourteen females and nine males were enrolled (mean age: 32.7 ± 11.9 years), presenting in the acute (within 7 days, n = 9), subacute (8–30 days, n = 7), and chronic (over 1 month, n = 7) stages. Headaches (65.2%) and seizures (39.1%) were the most common symptoms. Abnormally elevated plasma D-dimers were observed in the majority of acute stage patients (87.5%). The diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance venography (CE-MRV) and high-resolution magnetic resonance black-blood thrombus imaging (HR-MRBTI) in detecting CCVT were 57.1 and 100.0%, respectively. All patients had good functional outcomes after 6-month of standard anticoagulation (mRS 0–1) treatment. However, four CCVT patients that had cases involving multiple veins showed symptom relief after batroxobin therapy (p = 0.030). HR-MRBTI may be a fast and accurate tool for non-invasive CCVT diagnosis. HR-MRBTI combined with D-dimer can also precisely identify the pathological stage of CCVT. Batroxobin may safely accelerate cortical venous recanalization in combination with anticoagulation. Follow-up studies with larger sample sizes are suggested to evaluate the safety and efficacy of batroxobin for treating CCVT

Three-Dimensional (3D) Bicontinuous Hierarchically Porous Mn<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> Single Crystals for High Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from NPG via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep14686Bicontinuous hierarchically porous Mn?O? single crystals (BHP-Mn?O?-SCs) with uniform parallelepiped geometry and tunable sizes have been synthesized and used as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The monodispersed BHP-Mn?O?-SCs exhibit high specific surface area and three dimensional interconnected bimodal mesoporosity throughout the entire crystal. Such hierarchical interpenetrating porous framework can not only provide a large number of active sites for Li ion insertion, but also good conductivity and short diffusion length for Li ions, leading to a high lithium storage capacity and enhanced rate capability. Furthermore, owing to their specific porosity, these BHP-Mn?O?-SCs as anode materials can accommodate the volume expansion/contraction that occurs with lithium insertion/extraction during discharge/charge processes, resulting in their good cycling performance. Our synthesized BHP-Mn?O?-SCs with a size of ~700?nm display the best electrochemical performance, with a large reversible capacity (845?mA h g?? at 100?mA g?? after 50 cycles), high coulombic efficiency (>95%), excellent cycling stability and superior rate capability (410?mA h g?? at 1?Ag??). These values are among the highest reported for Mn?O?-based bulk solids and nanostructures. Also, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy study demonstrates that the BHP-Mn?O?-SCs are suitable for charge transfer at the electrode/electrolyte interface.This work was realized in the frame of a program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team (IRT1169) of the Chinese Ministry of Education. B. L. Su acknowledges the Chinese Central Government for an ?Expert of the State? position in the Program of the ?Thousand Talents?. Y. Li acknowledges Hubei Provincial Department of Education for the ?Chutian Scholar? program. T. Hasan acknowledges funding from a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship and EPSRC IAA Grant (GRASS). This work is also financially supported by the Ph.D. Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (20120143120019), This work is also financially supported by Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2014CFB160) and Self-determined and Innovative Research Funds of the SKLWUT (2015-ZD-7). We thank J.L. Xie, X.Q. Liu and T.T. Luo for TEM analysis from the Research and Test Center of Materials, Prof. L.Q. Mai for EIS analysis from WUT-Harvard Joint Nano Key Laboratory at Wuhan University of Technology