Effect of sequential treatment with syndrome differentiation on acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and "AECOPD Risk-Window": study protocol for a randomized placebo-controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Frequent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation is a major cause of hospital admission and mortality. It has been reported that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) may relieve COPD symptoms and reduce the incidence of COPD exacerbations, thus improving life quality of COPD patients. The acute exacerbation of COPD risk-window (AECOPD-RW) is the period after an exacerbation and before the patient returns to baseline. In the AECOPD-RW, patients are usually at increased risk of a second exacerbation, which may lead to hospital admission and high mortality. It may be beneficial for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) patients to receive interventions during AECOPD-RW. During exacerbations the treatment principle is to eliminate exogenous pathogens, whereas the AECOPD-RW treatment principle focuses on enhancing body resistance. METHODS/DESIGN: A prospective, multi-center, single-blinded, double-dummy and randomized controlled clinical trial is being conducted to test the therapeutic effects of a sequential two stage treatment, which includes eliminating pathogen and strengthening vital qi with syndrome differentiation. A total of 364 patients will be enrolled in this study with 182 in each treatment group (TCM and control). Patients received medication (or control) according to their assigned group. TCM for AECOPD were administered twice daily to patients with AECOPD over 7 to 21 days, followed by TCM for AECOPD-RW over 28 days. All patients were followed for six months. The clinical symptoms, the modified medical research council dyspnea (MMRC) scale and exacerbations were used as the primary outcome measures. Pulmonary function, quality of life and mortality rate were used as secondary outcome measures. DISCUSSION: It is hypothesized that sequentially eliminating pathogens and strengthening vital qi treatments with syndrome differentiation will have beneficial effects on reducing the frequency and duration of acute exacerbation, relieving symptoms and improving quality of life for COPD patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, ChiCTR-TRC-11001460

Three-dimensional petrographical investigations on borehole rock samples: a comparison between X-ray computed- and neutron tomography

Technical difficulties associated with excavation works in tectonized geological settings are frequent. They comprise instantaneous and/or delayed convergence, sudden collapse of gallery roof and/or walls, outpouring of fault-filling materials and water inflows. These phenomena have a negative impact on construction sites and their safety. In order to optimize project success, preliminary studies on the reliability of rock material found on site are needed. This implies in situ investigations (surface mapping, prospective drilling, waterflow survey, etc.) as well as laboratory investigations on rock samples (permeability determination, moisture and water content, mineralogy, petrography, geochemistry, mechanical deformation tests, etc.). A set of multiple parameters are then recorded which permit better insight on site conditions and probable behavior during excavation. Because rock formations are by nature heterogeneous, many uncertainties remain when extrapolating large-scale behavior of the rock mass from analyses of samples order of magnitudes smaller. Indirect large-scale field investigations (e.g. geophysical prospecting) could help to better constrain the relationships between lithologies at depth. At a much smaller scale, indirect analytical methods are becoming more widely used for material investigations. We discuss in this paper X-ray computed tomography (XRCT) and neutron tomography (NT), showing promising results for 3D petrographical investigations of the internal structure of opaque materials. Both techniques record contrasts inside a sample, which can be interpreted and quantified in terms of heterogeneity. This approach has the advantage of combining genetic parameters (physico-chemical rock composition) with geometric parameters resulting from alteration or deformation processes (texture and structure). A critical analysis of such 3D analyses together with the results of mechanical tests could improve predictions of short- and long-term behavior of a rock unit. Indirect methods have the advantage of being non-destructive. However, as it is the case with large-scale geophysical surveying, XRCT and NT are affected by several error factors inherent to the interaction of a radiation modality (X-ray or neutron beam) with the atomic structure of the investigated materials. Recorded signals are therefore in particular cases not artifact-free and need to be corrected in a subsequent stage of data processin

Atomically thin photoanode of InSe/graphene heterostructure

很多物理和化学过程都发生在固体电极与溶液的表界面处，因而表面处离子的吸附、聚集及其在表面的反应都对整个反应过程起到至关重要的作用。然而使用传统的固体电极通常表现出的是体相和表面的复合性质，使得单纯研究电极材料表面效应及表面离子的动力学还存在挑战。二维材料由于其具有单原子层的厚度，晶体中所有原子都处在表面，因而可以作为一种理想的模型体系来仅针对此类表面现象进行研究。课题组选择光电化学池（PEC）分解水反应中的决速步骤氧析出半反应（OER）以作为研究表面离子行为的探针反应。光电极选择同时具有高迁移率、匹配的能级结构以及被抑制的光生电子-空穴复合的单层的二维硒化铟（InSe）材料。并且在手套箱提供的惰性气氛中用单层石墨烯对InSe进行封装，保证了光电极测试条件下长时间的稳定性。该工作揭示了二维异质结表面性质与反应活性的内在联系，希望能为研究电极表面离子效应提供新的材料平台。后续通过选择具有合适表面性能的二维材料，并与传统光电极材料结合，有望发展新型的高性能光阳极材料。 这一研究工作的实验部分是在化学化工学院曹阳教授指导下完成，博士生郑海红、鲁艺珍与广东工业大学轻工化工学院叶凯航博士为论文的共同第一作者。理论计算部分在程俊教授的指导下，由博士生胡晋媛完成。Achieving high-efficiency photoelectrochemical water splitting requires a better understanding of ion kinetics, e.g., diffusion, adsorption and reactions, near the photoelectrode's surface. However, with macroscopic three-dimensional electrodes, it is often difficult to disentangle the contributions of surface effects to the total photocurrent from that of various factors in the bulk. Here, we report a photoanode made from a InSe crystal monolayer that is encapsulated with monolayer graphene to ensure high stability. We choose InSe among other photoresponsive two-dimensional (2D) materials because of its unique properties of high mobility and strongly suppressing electron–hole pair recombination. Using the atomically thin electrodes, we obtained a photocurrent with a density >10 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, which is several orders of magnitude greater than other 2D photoelectrodes. In addition to the outstanding characteristics of InSe, we attribute the enhanced photocurrent to the strong coupling between the hydroxide ions and photogenerated holes near the anode surface. As a result, a persistent current even after illumination ceased was also observed due to the presence of ions trapped holes with suppressed electron-hole recombination. Our results provide atomically thin materials as a platform for investigating ion kinetics at the electrode surface and shed light on developing nextgeneration photoelectrodes with high efficiency.The experimental work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFA0306900 and 2018YFA0209500), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21872114), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M682616). 该工作得到了国家重点研究计划（2018YFA0306900、2018YFA0209500），国家自然科学基金（21872114）、中国博士后科学基金（2020M682616）的支持

The Genomes of Oryza sativa: A History of Duplications

We report improved whole-genome shotgun sequences for the genomes of indica and japonica rice, both with multimegabase contiguity, or almost 1,000-fold improvement over the drafts of 2002. Tested against a nonredundant collection of 19,079 full-length cDNAs, 97.7% of the genes are aligned, without fragmentation, to the mapped super-scaffolds of one or the other genome. We introduce a gene identification procedure for plants that does not rely on similarity to known genes to remove erroneous predictions resulting from transposable elements. Using the available EST data to adjust for residual errors in the predictions, the estimated gene count is at least 38,000–40,000. Only 2%–3% of the genes are unique to any one subspecies, comparable to the amount of sequence that might still be missing. Despite this lack of variation in gene content, there is enormous variation in the intergenic regions. At least a quarter of the two sequences could not be aligned, and where they could be aligned, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rates varied from as little as 3.0 SNP/kb in the coding regions to 27.6 SNP/kb in the transposable elements. A more inclusive new approach for analyzing duplication history is introduced here. It reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication, a recent segmental duplication on Chromosomes 11 and 12, and massive ongoing individual gene duplications. We find 18 distinct pairs of duplicated segments that cover 65.7% of the genome; 17 of these pairs date back to a common time before the divergence of the grasses. More important, ongoing individual gene duplications provide a never-ending source of raw material for gene genesis and are major contributors to the differences between members of the grass family

New Biomarkers Based on Dendritic Cells for Breast Cancer Treatment and Prognosis Diagnosis

Dendritic cells(DCs) play a protective role in the antitumor immunity of most cancers, which can be divided into conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). Most current studies are only based on either cDCs or pDCs for the study of the relationship between DCs and breast cancer prognosis, without combining the two together. We aimed to select new biomarkers from pDCs and cDCs. In this paper, the xCell algorithm was first used to calculate the cellular abundance of 64 types of immune cells and stromal cells in tumor samples from the TCGA database, and the high-abundance pDC group and cDC group were divided according to the results of a survival analysis. Then, we looked for the co-expressed gene module of highly infiltrating pDC and cDC patients with a weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) and screened out the hub genes, including RBBP5, HNRNPU, PEX19, TPR, and BCL9. Finally, we analyzed the biological functions of the hub genes, and the results showed that RBBP5, TPR, and BCL9 were significantly related to the immune cells and prognosis of patients, and RBBP5 and BCL9 were involved in responding to TCF-related instructions of the Wnt pathway. In addition, we also evaluated the response of pDCs and cDCs with different abundances to chemotherapy, and the results showed that the higher the abundance of pDCs and cDCs, the higher their sensitivity to drugs. This paper revealed new biomarkers related to DCs—among them, BCL9, TPR, and RBBP5 were proven to be closely related to dendritic cells in cancer. For the first time, this paper puts forward that HNRNPU and PEX19 are related to the prognosis of dendritic cells in cancer, which also provides new possibilities for finding new targets for breast cancer immunotherapy

Scientific and technical analysis of lead-barium glaze dragonfly eye beads from the Late Warring States period in China

Abstract This paper analyzed five dragonfly eye beads excavated from M176 of the Hejia Cemetery in the Late Warring States period (around 3rd c. BC) by using a super depth of field 3D microscope system (OM), scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectrum (SEM–EDS) and Raman spectroscopy. The analytical results confirmed that all the beads were glazed pottery and the glaze material belongs to the lead-barium-silicate (PbO-BaO-SiO2) system. The color component of the glaze is Chinese Blue (BaCuSi4O10). Three beads, M176-2, M176-3, and M176-4, were formed with an inner core support and were made in the same batch. Additionally, two weathering products, CuPb4(SO4)2(OH)6 and PbCO3, were detected on the glaze layer surface. The results of scientific and technological analysis show that these beads have differences in the composition of the body and glaze, and the color composition in the glaze layer is relatively rare in previous studies. The discovery of lead-barium glazed pottery beads from the Late Warring States period in northern China provides new evidence for further exploration into the origins and evolution of early glazed pottery. The identification of weathering products formed on the beads’ surface within an alkaline burial environment holds valuable implications for the study of weathering and deterioration in silicate artifacts