Plasma gelsolin levels and outcomes after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage

INTRODUCTION: Lower gelsolin levels have been associated with the severity and poor outcome of critical illness. Nevertheless, their link with clinical outcomes of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage is unknown. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the relationship between plasma gelsolin levels and clinical outcomes in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. METHODS: A total of 262 consecutive patients and 150 healthy subjects were included. Plasma gelsolin levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Mortality and poor long-term outcome (Glasgow Outcome Scale score of 1-3) at 6 months were recorded. RESULTS: Plasma gelsolin levels on admission were substantially lower in patients than in healthy controls (66.9 (26.4) mg/L vs. 126.4 (35.4) mg/L, P < 0.001), and negatively associated with World Federation of Neurological Surgeons score (r = -0.554, P < 0.001) and Fisher score (r = -0.538, P < 0.001), and identified as an independent predictor of poor functional outcome (odds ratio, 0.957; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.933-0.983; P = 0.001) and death (odds ratio, 0.953; 95% CI, 0.917-0.990; P = 0.003) after 6 months. The areas under the ROC curve of gelsolin for functional outcome and mortality were similar to those of World Federation of Neurological Surgeons score and Fisher score (all P > 0.05). Gelsolin improved the predictive values of World Federation of Neurological Surgeons score and Fisher score for functional outcome (both P < 0.05), but not for mortality (both P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Gelsolin levels are a useful, complementary tool to predict functional outcome and mortality 6 months after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage

Demonstration of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Steering with Enhanced Subchannel Discrimination

Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering describes a quantum nonlocal phenomenon in which one party can nonlocally affect the other's state through local measurements. It reveals an additional concept of quantum nonlocality, which stands between quantum entanglement and Bell nonlocality. Recently, a quantum information task named as subchannel discrimination (SD) provides a necessary and sufficient characterization of EPR steering. The success probability of SD using steerable states is higher than using any unsteerable states, even when they are entangled. However, the detailed construction of such subchannels and the experimental realization of the corresponding task are still technologically challenging. In this work, we designed a feasible collection of subchannels for a quantum channel and experimentally demonstrated the corresponding SD task where the probabilities of correct discrimination are clearly enhanced by exploiting steerable states. Our results provide a concrete example to operationally demonstrate EPR steering and shine a new light on the potential application of EPR steering.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, appendix include

Stanniocalcin-1 promotes tumor angiogenesis through up-regulation of VEGF in gastric cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Stanniocalcin-1(STC-1) is up-regulated in several cancers including gastric cancer. Evidences suggest that STC-1 is associated with carcinogenesis and angiogenic process. However, it is unclear on the exact role for STC-1 in inducing angiogenesis and tumorigeneisis.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>BGC/STC cells (high-expression of STC-1) and BGC/shSTC cells (low- expression of STC-1) were constructed to investigate the effect of STC-1 on the xenograft tumor growth and angiogenesis <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo</it>. ELISA assay was used to detect the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the supernatants. Neutralizing antibody was used to inhibit VEGF expression in supernatants. The expression of phosphorylated -PKCβII, phosphorylated -ERK1/2 and phosphorylated -P38 in the BGC treated with STC-1protein was detected by western blot.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>STC-1 could promote angiogenesis <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo</it>, and the angiogenesis was consistent with VEGF expression <it>in vitro</it>. Inhibition of VEGF expression in supernatants with neutralizing antibody markedly abolished angiogenesis induced by STC-1 <it>in vitro</it>. The process of STC-1-regulated VEGF expression was mediated via PKCβII and ERK1/2.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>STC-1 promotes the expression of VEGF depended on the activation of PKCβII and ERK1/2 pathways. VEGF subsequently enhances tumor angiogenesis which in turn promotes the gastric tumor growth.</p

Expanded CURB-65: A new score system predicts severity of community-acquired pneumonia with superior efficiency

Aim of this study was to develop a new simpler and more effective severity score for communityacquired pneumonia (CAP) patients. A total of 1640 consecutive hospitalized CAP patients in Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University were included. The effectiveness of different pneumonia severity scores to predict mortality was compared, and the performance of the new score was validated on an external cohort of 1164 patients with pneumonia admitted to a teaching hospital in Italy. Using age≥ 65 years, LDH>230u/L, albumin<3.5g/dL, platelet count<100×109/L, confusion, urea>7mmol/L, respiratory rate≥30/min, low blood pressure, we assembled a new severity score named as expanded-CURB-65. The 30-day mortality and length of stay were increased along with increased risk score. The AUCs in the prediction of 30-day mortality in the main cohort were 0.826 (95%CI, 0.807–0.844), 0.801 (95%CI, 0.781–0.820), 0.756 (95%CI, 0.735–0.777), 0.793 (95%CI, 0.773–0.813) and 0.759 (95%CI, 0.737–0.779) for the expanded-CURB-65, PSI, CURB-65, SMART-COP and A-DROP, respectively. The performance of this bedside score was confirmed in CAP patients of the validation cohort although calibration was not successful in patients with health care-associated pneumonia (HCAP). The expanded CURB-65 is objective, simpler and more accurate scoring system for evaluation of CAP severity, and the predictive efficiency was better than other score systems

Diaqua­bis­[5-(2-pyridyl­meth­yl)tetra­zol­ato-κ2 N 1,N 5]zinc(II)

In the title mononuclear complex, [Zn(C7H6N5)2(H2O)2], the ZnII atom, located on an inversion centre, is in a distorted octa­hedral coordination geometry formed by four N atoms from two chelating 5-(2-pyridyl­meth­yl)tetra­zolate ligands and two O donors from two water mol­ecules. Inter­molecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds between the coordinated water mol­ecule and the tetra­zolyl group of the 5-(2-pyridyl­meth­yl)tetra­zolate ligand lead to the formation of a three-dimensional network

Two variants on T2DM susceptible gene HHEX are associated with CRC risk in a Chinese population

Increasing amounts of evidence has demonstrated that T2DM (Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus) patients have increased susceptibility to CRC (colorectal cancer). As HHEX is a recognized susceptibility gene in T2DM, this work was focused on two SNPs in HHEX, rs1111875 and rs7923837, to study their association with CRC. T2DM patients without CRC (T2DM-only, n=300), T2DM with CRC (T2DM/CRC, n=135), cancer-free controls (Control, n=570), and CRC without T2DM (CRC-only, n=642) cases were enrolled. DNA samples were extracted from the peripheral blood leukocytes of the patients and sequenced by direct sequencing. The χ(2) test was used to compare categorical data. We found that in T2DM patients, rs1111875 but not the rs7923837 in HHEX gene was associated with the occurrence of CRC (p= 0.006). for rs1111875, TC/CC patients had an increased risk of CRC (p=0.019, OR=1.592, 95%CI=1.046-2.423). Moreover, our results also indicated that the two variants of HEEX gene could be risk factors for CRC in general population, independent on T2DM (p< 0.001 for rs1111875, p=0.001 for rs7923837). For rs1111875, increased risk of CRC was observed in TC or TC/CC than CC individuals (p<0.001, OR= 1.780, 95%CI= 1.385-2.287; p<0.001, OR= 1.695, 95%CI= 1.335-2.152). For rs7923837, increased CRC risk was observed in AG, GG, and AG/GG than AA individuals (p< 0.001, OR= 1.520, 95%CI= 1.200-1.924; p=0.036, OR= 1.739, 95%CI= 0.989-3.058; p< 0.001, OR= 1.540, 95%CI= 1.225-1.936). This finding highlights the potentially functional alteration with HHEX rs1111875 and rs7923837 polymorphisms may increase CRC susceptibility. Risk effects and the functional impact of these polymorphisms need further validation