Multi-walled carbon nanotube-induced inhalation toxicity: Recognizing nano bis-demethoxy curcumin analog as an ameliorating candidate

Human beings and ecosystems are being possibly exposed to CNTs, as there is a rise in global production rate of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). This may affect the health of humans and increases the environmental risk. We have already reported the pulmonary toxicity due to the inhalation of MWCNTs. We claim that a compound with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity may ameliorate the CNT-induced toxic effect. With this view, we have investigated the ameliorative effect of intravenously-administered nano bis-demethoxy curcumin analog (NBDMCA) against MWCNTs-induced inhalation toxicity by examining the lung histopathology for inflammatory cell dynamics, pulmonary remodeling and estimating the inflammatory biomarkers in the broncho-alveolar lavage fluid. We observed that NBDMCA could ameliorate the injury as evidenced by the decline in the levels of markers of inflammation, cell damage, and the histopathological changes induced by MWCNTs. We conclude that NBDMCA may be used to reduce the risk of MWCNTs-induced inhalation toxicity.     

司他夫定衍生物的合成及抗肿瘤活性评价

目的设计合成一系列司他夫定类衍生物,并评价其抗肿瘤活性。方法以司他夫定为原料,经磺酸酯化后与叠氮化钠反应生成5'-叠氮基司他夫定,再通过Huisgen 1,3-偶极环加成反应得到目标化合物。采用MTT法分别以人肝癌细胞(BEL-7402)、人胃癌细胞(BGC-823)、肺癌细胞(A549)为测试细胞株对目标化合物进行体外抗肿瘤活性评价。结果与结论合成了14个5'-脱氧司他夫定衍生物,目标化合物的结构经核磁共振氢谱和碳谱确证。其中化合物4k对人肝癌细胞(BEL-7402)、人胃癌细胞(BGC-823)、肺癌细胞(A549)具有中等的抑制作用。     

电子病历在口腔本科生临床实习中的应用与体会

病历书写是口腔医师临床实习中的重要的环节,我院口腔医学本科生实习过程中在带教老师的指导下使用电子病历系统,本文通过问卷调查分析本科生在实习时电子病历的使用情况,通过抽查分析电子病历的质量,认为电子病历能够指导实习生提升临床各方面能力,但存在着对模板病历依赖,未能充分调动临床思维能力等不足,提出通过加强岗前教育,调动学生主观能动性等解决方法,为医学教育者教学及科研提供借鉴。     

Clinical profile and demographic distribution of Fuchs’ endothelial dystrophy: An electronic medical record–driven big data analytics from an eye care network in India

Purpose:To describe the demographics and clinical profile of Fuchs’ endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) in patients presenting to a multi-tiered ophthalmology hospital network in India.Methods: This cross-sectional hospital-based study included 3,082,727 new patients presenting between August 2010 and December 2021. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of FECD in at least one eye were included as cases. The data were collected using an electronic medical record system.Results: Overall, 2570 (0.08%) patients were diagnosed with FECD. The majority of the patients were female (65.53%) and were predominantly adults (99.92%). The most common age group at presentation was during the seventh decade of life with 867 patients (33.74%). The overall prevalence was higher in patients from a higher socioeconomic status (0.1%) presenting from the urban geography (0.09%) and in retired individuals (0.4%). About half of the 5,140 eyes had mild or no visual impairment (< 20/70) in 2643 eyes (51.42%) followed by moderate visual impairment (>20/70 to 20/200) in 708 eyes (13.77%). The average logMAR was 0.61 ± 0.81 at presentation. The most documented corneal signs were guttae (76.63%), corneal scar (23%) and stromal edema (21.73%). The most associated ocular comorbidity was cataract (47.32%) followed by glaucoma (5.39%). More than a tenth of the affected eyes required a surgical intervention of endothelial keratoplasty (15.58%).Conclusion: FECD more commonly affects females presenting during the seventh decade of life. Majority of the eyes had mild or no visual impairment and endothelial keratoplasty is warranted in a tenth of the affected eyes.     

Characterization of Carbon Nanostructures by Photoelectron Spectroscopies

Recently, the scientific community experienced two revolutionary events. The first was the synthesis of single-layer graphene, which boosted research in many different areas. The second was the advent of quantum technologies with the promise to become pervasive in several aspects of everyday life. In this respect, diamonds and nanodiamonds are among the most promising materials to develop quantum devices. Graphene and nanodiamonds can be coupled with other carbon nanostructures to enhance specific properties or be properly functionalized to tune their quantum response. This contribution briefly explores photoelectron spectroscopies and, in particular, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and then turns to the present applications of this technique for characterizing carbon nanomaterials. XPS is a qualitative and quantitative chemical analysis technique. It is surface-sensitive due to its limited sampling depth, which confines the analysis only to the outer few top-layers of the material surface. This enables researchers to understand the surface composition of the sample and how the chemistry influences its interaction with the environment. Although the chemical analysis remains the main information provided by XPS, modern instruments couple this information with spatial resolution and mapping or with the possibility to analyze the material in operando conditions at nearly atmospheric pressures. Examples of the application of photoelectron spectroscopies to the characterization of carbon nanostructures will be reviewed to present the potentialities of these techniques.     

PAX5 alterations in an infant case of KMT2A‐rearranged leukemia with lineage switch

Lineage switch is a rare event at leukemic relapse. While mostly known to occur in KMT2A‐rearranged infant leukemia, the underlying mechanism is yet to be depicted. This case report describes a female infant who achieved remission of KMT2A‐MLLT3‐rearranged acute monocytic leukemia, but 6 months thereafter, relapsed as KMT2A‐MLLT3‐rearranged acute lymphocytic leukemia. Whole exome sequencing of the bone marrow obtained pre‐post lineage switch revealed two somatic mutations of PAX5 in the relapse sample. These two PAX5 alterations were suggested to be loss of function, thus to have played the driver role in the lineage switch from acute monocytic leukemia to acute lymphocytic leukemia.     

Clinical Decision Support for Diabetes Care in the Hospital: A Time for Change Toward Improvement of Management and Outcomes

The increasing prevalence of diabetes permeates hospitals and dysglycemia is associated with poor clinical and economic outcomes. Despite endorsed guidelines, barriers to optimal management and gaps in care prevail. Providers’ limitations on knowledge, attitudes, and decision-making about hospital diabetes management are common. This adds to the complexity of dispersed glucose and insulin dosing data within medical records. This creates a dichotomy as safe and effective care are key objectives of healthcare organizations. This perspective highlights evidence of the benefits of clinical decision support (CDS) in hospital glycemic management. It elaborates on barriers CDS can help resolve, and factors driving its success. CDS represents a resource to individualize care and improve outcomes. It can help overcome a multifactorial problem impacting patients’ lives on a daily basis.     

First-Principles Study on the Adsorption Behavior of O2 on the Surface of Plutonium Gallium System

To deeply understand the adsorption process of oxygen on the surface of a plutonium gallium system and to reveal the chemical reaction mechanism at the initial stage of oxidative corrosion on the surface of plutonium gallium alloy at a theoretical level, the adsorption behavior of oxygen molecules on the surface of a plutonium gallium system was investigated by a first-principles approach based on density flooding theory. The results show that the molecular bond length increases and finally breaks when the surface oxygen molecule is adsorbed on the surface of plutonium gallium system and dissociates into two atomic states. The most likely adsorption position of oxygen molecules on the surface of plutonium gallium system is hole-site vertical adsorption with the adsorption energy size of 10.7 eV. The bonding between oxygen atom and surface is mainly due to the overlapping hybridization of Pu-6s, Pu-7s, Pu-6d, Ga-3d and O-2p orbitals. Oxygen molecules mainly interact with the atoms of the first layer on the surface of the plutonium gallium system. The oxygen atoms after stable adsorption are able to diffuse to the subsurface of the plutonium gallium system after overcoming the energy barrier of 16.7 eV and form a stable structure. The research results reveal the initial reaction process and adsorption law of oxygen on the surface of plutonium gallium system from microscopic level, which is helpful to further explore the surface corrosion prevention technology of plutonium gallium system and improve the reliability and safety of plutonium gallium alloy components.     

In Vivo Evaluation of 3 Electronic Apex Locators: Root ZX Mini,Apex ID,and Propex Pixi

IntroductionThe aim of this in vivo study was to compare the accuracy of 3 electronic apex locators (EALs) (Root ZX mini [J Morita Corp, Tokyo, Japan], Apex ID [SybronEndo, Glendora, CA], and Propex Pixi [Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland]) to determine the working length.MethodsThirty single-rooted human teeth that were scheduled for extraction were selected for the study. Electronic measurements were performed with the 3 EALs. After the teeth had been extracted, a #10 K-file was used to determine the actual working length, which was established at 0.5 mm short of the major foramen. The data were statistically analyzed with analysis of variance (α = 0.05).ResultsNo significant differences were found among the experimental groups (P > .05). The mean distance from the actual working length to the file tip was 0.163 ± 0.032 mm when Root ZX mini was used, 0.343 ± 0.032 mm for Propex Pixi , and 0.012 ± 0.008 mm for Apex ID.ConclusionsUnder the in vivo conditions of this study, no statistically significant differences were observed among the 3 EALs.     

Experimental and Theoretical Studies on Possibility of Void Filling by Magnesium in Mg-Doped Tetrahedrites

Tetrahedrites, due to their promising thermoelectric properties, are one of the materials being investigated for use in thermoelectric generators. One problem is the lack of n-type tetrahedrites, which would be beneficial for the design of tetrahedrite thermoelectric modules. Preliminary theoretical studies have shown that elements from groups I and II can be introduced into the structural voids of tetrahedrite, acting as donor dopants, and should enable n-type conductivity. Therefore, in this work, an attempt was made to obtain and study magnesium-doped tetrahedrites. A series of samples, Mg_xCu₁₂Sb₄S₁₃, with different magnesium contents were obtained and their phase and chemical compositions were characterized. It was observed that the structural changes occurring upon doping indicate that Mg atoms are likely to be embedded in the structural voids. The experimental studies have been supported by electronic structure calculations indicating that the most likely location of Mg is in the structural voids at the 6b Wyckoff position. Seebeck coefficient and resistivity measurements showed that doping with Mg reduces the concentration of holes, which is consistent with the predicted donor character of the dopant. However, the introduction of magnesium in sufficient amounts to achieve n-type conductivity was not successful.