NIR-to-visible and NIR-to-NIR upconversion in lanthanide doped nanocrystalline GdOF with trigonal structure

Codoped Er3+/Yb3+, Tm3+/Yb3+, Ho3+/Yb3+ and triply doped Er3+/Tm3+/Yb3+ gadolinium oxyfluoride nano- particles were prepared in aqueous solution by a simple coprecipitation method and a suitable heat treat- ment at 500 °C. From the experimental X-Ray powder diffraction patterns, a Rietveld analysis was carried out and it was determined that the nanoparticles are single phase trigonal GdOF. Electron microscopy images show that the average particle size is approximately 25 nm, even though a certain degree of agglomeration is evidenced. The spectroscopic properties of the lanthanide doped nanoparticles are investigated in terms of emission spectra. For proper lanthanide concentrations, the nanoparticles show visible upconversion upon excitation at 980 nm, making them useful as luminescent nanomaterials for photonic applications

Intracellular temperature mapping with a fluorescent polymeric thermometer and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy

Cellular functions are fundamentally regulated by intracellular temperature, which influences biochemical reactions inside a cell. Despite the important contributions to biological and medical applications that it would offer, intracellular temperature mapping has not been achieved. Here we demonstrate the first intracellular temperature mapping based on a fluorescent polymeric thermometer and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. The spatial and temperature resolutions of our thermometry were at the diffraction limited level (200 nm) and 0.18–0.58 °C. The intracellular temperature distribution we observed indicated that the nucleus and centrosome of a COS7 cell, both showed a significantly higher temperature than the cytoplasm and that the temperature gap between the nucleus and the cytoplasm differed depending on the cell cycle. The heat production from mitochondria was also observed as a proximal local temperature increase. These results showed that our new intracellular thermometry could determine an intrinsic relationship between the temperature and organelle function

Arginine Metabolism by Macrophages Promotes Cardiac and Muscle Fibrosis in mdx Muscular Dystrophy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common, lethal disease of childhood. One of 3500 new-born males suffers from this universally-lethal disease. Other than the use of corticosteroids, little is available to affect the relentless progress of the disease, leading many families to use dietary supplements in hopes of reducing the progression or severity of muscle wasting. Arginine is commonly used as a dietary supplement and its use has been reported to have beneficial effects following short-term administration to mdx mice, a genetic model of DMD. However, the long-term effects of arginine supplementation are unknown. This lack of knowledge about the long-term effects of increased arginine metabolism is important because elevated arginine metabolism can increase tissue fibrosis, and increased fibrosis of skeletal muscles and the heart is an important and potentially life-threatening feature of DMD.We use both genetic and nutritional manipulations to test whether changes in arginase metabolism promote fibrosis and increase pathology in mdx mice. Our findings show that fibrotic lesions in mdx muscle are enriched with arginase-2-expressing macrophages and that muscle macrophages stimulated with cytokines that activate the M2 phenotype show elevated arginase activity and expression. We generated a line of arginase-2-null mutant mdx mice and found that the mutation reduced fibrosis in muscles of 18-month-old mdx mice, and reduced kyphosis that is attributable to muscle fibrosis. We also observed that dietary supplementation with arginine for 17-months increased mdx muscle fibrosis. In contrast, arginine-2 mutation did not reduce cardiac fibrosis or affect cardiac function assessed by echocardiography, although 17-months of dietary supplementation with arginine increased cardiac fibrosis. Long-term arginine treatments did not decrease matrix metalloproteinase-2 or -9 or increase the expression of utrophin, which have been reported as beneficial effects of short-term treatments.Our findings demonstrate that arginine metabolism by arginase promotes fibrosis of muscle in muscular dystrophy and contributes to kyphosis. Our findings also show that long-term, dietary supplementation with arginine exacerbates fibrosis of dystrophic heart and muscles. Thus, commonly-practiced dietary supplementation with arginine by DMD patients has potential risk for increasing pathology when performed for long periods, despite reports of benefits acquired with short-term supplementation

Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Infection on the Course of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Patients Treated with Biological Therapeutic Agents: A Case-Control Study.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has raised concerns in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), not only due to consequences of coronavirus disease 2019 itself but also as a possible cause of IBD relapse. The main objective of this study was to assess the role of SARS-CoV-2 in IBD clinical recurrence in a cohort of patients undergoing biological therapy. Second, we evaluated the difference in C-reactive protein (CRP) levels between the start and end of the follow-up period (ΔCRP) and the rate of biological therapy discontinuation. Patients with IBD positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection were compared with non-infected patients. IBD recurrence was defined as the need for intensification of current therapy. We enrolled 95 IBD patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and 190 non-infected patients. During follow-up, 11 of 95 (11.6%) SARS-CoV-2-infected patients experienced disease recurrence compared to 21 of 190 (11.3%) in the control group (p = 0.894). Forty-six (48.4%) SARS-CoV-2-infected patients discontinued biological therapy versus seven (3.7%) in the control group (p < 0.01). In the multivariate analysis, biological agent discontinuation (p = 0.033) and ΔCRP (p = 0.017), but not SARS-CoV-2 infection (p = 0.298), were associated with IBD recurrence. SARS-CoV-2 infection was not associated with increased IBD recurrence rates in this cohort of patients treated with biological agents

HEART RATE RESPONSES PRIOR TO AND DURING A 15-KM SKATE SKI RACE: A PILOT STUDY

E.C. Ranta, T. Vetrone, & D.P. Heil Montana State University, Bozeman, MT The unique population of Masters-level cross country ski racers has been largely overlooked in prior ski research. In order to accurately develop coaching techniques for Masters skiers, current training practices and race strategies must first be understood. Collecting heart rate (HR) response data, through the use of telemetry-based heart rate monitor (HRM) systems, is one method of characterizing these athletes. PURPOSE: This study tested the feasibility of utilizing HRMs as a means to collect HR data on multiple Masters-level cross country ski racers competing simultaneously. A secondary purpose was to explore correlations between warm-up (WU) and race HR responses. METHODS: Five men and two women volunteered to participate in the study. Two subjects were dropped from the results due to incomplete data collection and imprecise HRM recordings. The remaining four men (M±SD: 43±7 yrs; 71.8±5.3 kg; 179.1±2.5 cm; 8±4.3 yrs race experience) and one woman (38 yrs; 67.1 kg; 172.7 cm; 1 yr race experience) wore telemetry-based HRM systems (set at 5-sec sample intervals) during a 15-km skate ski race, in addition to the 45-min WU period immediately preceding the race. Subjects were instructed to warm-up and race as they would normally. Participants also filled out an online questionnaire for self-reporting of demographic, training, and racing history. HR data was downloaded to a computer and summarized for both the WU and race periods. Race HR was defined as two minutes past the initial onset of a steady-state HR through the last highest recorded HR value. Summary HR values were then combined with race performance times and compared using Pearson’s correlation at an alpha of 0.10. RESULTS: Average race and WU HR were 168±4 BPM and 124±16 BPM, respectively, while WU HR as a percentage of race HR was 74%±7%. Race time correlated significantly with WU time spent at or above average race HR (r =0 .971; P = 0.006), while average race HR correlated significantly with average WU HR (r = 0.948; P = 0.014) as well as WU time spent within the subject’s range of race HR (r =0 .930; P = 0.022). CONCLUSION: The use of telemetry-based HRM systems are a feasible option for characterizing the WU and race HR response patterns of Masters-level skiers despite the mass start format and extremely cold air temperatures (-22˚C). Additionally, WU HR patterns correlated well with self-selected race pacing strategies within this particular population. Although future studies would benefit from increasing subject recruitment and reducing HRM data collection errors, similar methodological strategies are practical for further examining the training and racing practices of Masters-level cross country skiers

One-pot synthesis of theranostic nanocapsules with lanthanide doped nanoparticles

10.1039/d0sc01033bChemical Science11266653-666

A NEW LIVER TRANSPLANT PRIORITY FOR PATIENTS WITH HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma on the waiting list for liver transplantation are excluded due to causes related to liver failure and tumor progression. We analyze the various factors to suggest a new liver transplant priority. METHODOLOGY: We evaluated the outcome on the list of 309 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and causes of drop-out from the list were divided as death, "too sick" and tumor progression. The impact of model for end stage liver disease score, tumor stage and waiting time on the causes of drop-outs was evaluated. RESULTS: During the study period, 197 patients had a liver transplantation, 50 were still on the list and the remaining 62 were removed from the list (28 deaths, 30 tumor progressions, and 4 "too sick"). The receiver operating characteristic curves analysis showed that the model for end stage liver disease score predicted the rate of deaths on the list at 1-year (p<0.001). The waiting time and the tumor stage predicted the rate of drop-outs for tumor progression at 1-year on the list (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma on the waiting list should have priority based on their model for end stage liver disease score, waiting time with tumor and tumor stage