Supplemental Material - The effects of prone position ventilation on patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome after cardiac surgery

Supplemental Material for The effects of prone position ventilation on patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome after cardiac surgery by Yujie Zhang, Wangtao Zhou, and Jing Ma in Perfusion.</p

Thiourea-Mediated Stereospecific Deoxygenation of Cyanoepoxides to Access Highly Diastereopure Alkenyl Nitriles

A practical and efficient protocol for synthesis of >99% diastereopure Z- and E-alkenyl nitriles is developed, through tetramethylthiourea-mediated stereospecific deoxygenation of respective cis- and trans-cyanoepoxides in ethanol. The desired products are obtained in excellent yields

Quality assessment of the 6 RCTswith the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool.

<p>Quality assessment of the 6 RCTswith the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool.</p

Unfavorable outcomes at the end of follow-up period.

<p>Forrest plots of meta-analysis of unfavorable outcomes for progesterone compared with placebo administrated to acute TBI patients (<b>A</b>) and sensitivity analysis of the impact of progesterone on unfavorable outcomes of acute TBI patients (<b>B</b>).</p

Subgroup analysis.

<p>Forrest plots of subgroup analysis according to TBI severity (<b>A</b>, <b>B</b>) and therapeutic regimens (<b>C</b>, <b>D</b>).</p

Main characteristics of the 6 included RCTs.

<p>NOTE: y = year; TBI = traumatic brain injury; GCS = Glasgow Coma Scale; GOS = Glasgow Outcome Scale; DRS = Disability Rating Score; ICP = intracranial pressure; NR = not reported; ICU = intensive care unit; GOS-E = Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale; SF-36 = 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey;</p><p>*mean age.</p><p>Main characteristics of the 6 included RCTs.</p

Prediction of Poor Prognosis in Breast Cancer Patients Based on MicroRNA-21 Expression: A Meta-Analysis

<div><p>Background</p><p>MicroRNA-21 (miRNA-21 or miR-21) may act as a prognostic biomarker of cancer. However, the available evidence is controversial. Therefore, the present meta-analysis summarizes this evidence and evaluates the prognostic role of this gene in breast cancer.</p><p>Methods</p><p>The meta-analysis was conducted by searching the databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and Chinese database-China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). Data were extracted from studies that investigated the association between miR-21 expression and survival outcomes in breast cancer patients. With respect to survival outcomes, the pooled hazard ratios (HRs) of miR-21 were calculated given a 95% confidence interval (CI).</p><p>Results</p><p>Our meta-analysis identified a total of 10 studies involving 1,439 cases. Further investigation demonstrated that a high miR-21 expression can predict poor overall survival (OS) (HR = 2.57, 95% CI: 1.37—4.81, <i>P</i> = 0.003) and shortened disease-free/recurrence-free survival (DFS/RFS) (HR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.16—1.82, <i>P</i> = 0.001) in breast cancer patients. Moreover, high miR-21 expression was significantly correlated with lowered OS in the Asian group (HR = 5.07, 95% CI: 2.89—8.92, <i>P</i> < 0.001), but not in the Caucasian cohort (HR = 1.44, 95% CI: 0.99—2.10, <i>P</i> = 0.058). Furthermore, odds ratios (ORs) showed that up-regulated miR-21 levels were associated with multiple clinical characteristics.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>Our results indicated that miR-21 can predict unfavorable prognoses in breast cancer patients, especially in Asians.</p></div

Noninvasive Gastrointestinal Tract Imaging Using BSA-Ag₂Te Quantum Dots as a CT/NIR-II Fluorescence Dual-Modal Imaging Probe in Vivo

The combination of high-resolution computed tomography (CT) and the real-time sensitive second near-infrared window (NIR-II) fluorescence bioimaging can provide complementary information for the diagnosis, progression and prognosis of gastrointestinal disorders. Ag2Te quantum dots (QDs) are a kind of promising CT/NIR-II fluorescence dual-modal imaging probe due to their high atomic number and narrow bandgap. However, conventional Ag2Te QDs synthesized by oil phase approaches often suffer from complicated steps, harsh reaction conditions, and toxic organic solvents. Herein, we report the synthesis of bovine serum albumin (BSA)-Ag2Te QDs using a biomineralization approach for CT/NIR-II fluorescence dual-modal imaging of the gastrointestinal tract. The BSA-Ag2Te QDs are fabricated in a facile one-pot approach under mild conditions and exhibit homogeneous size, favorable monodispersity, admirable aqueous solubility, excellent X-ray attenuation properties, and outstanding NIR-II fluorescence performance. In vivo imaging experiments show that BSA-Ag2Te QDs can be used in gastrointestinal tract CT/NIR-II dual-modal imaging with high spatiotemporal resolution and sensitivity. In addition, in an intestinal obstruction mouse model, accurate lesion positioning and imaging-guided obstruction relief surgery are successfully realized based on BSA-Ag2Te QDs. Besides, BSA-Ag2Te QDs have outstanding biocompatibility in vitro and in vivo. This study presents a high-performance and biosafe CT/NIR-II fluorescence dual-modal imaging probe for visualizing the gastrointestinal tract in vivo

Publication bias tests.

<p>Begg’s funnel plots and Egger’s publication bias plots of meta-analysis of mortality (<b>A</b>, <b>B</b>) and unfavorable outcomes (<b>C</b>, <b>D</b>) for progesterone compared with placebo administrated in TBI patients.</p

Mortality at the end of follow-up period.

<p>Forrest plots of meta-analysis of mortality for progesterone compared with placebo administrated to acute TBI patients (<b>A</b>) and sensitivity analysis of the impact of progesterone on the mortality of acute TBI patients (<b>B</b>).</p