关键词： Nephrotoxicity   Zebrafish   Alternative method   Gene expression   Histopathology  

摘要： Due to an increasing demand for testing of new and existing chemicals and legal restrictions for the use of animals, there is a strong need for alternative approaches to assess systemic toxicity. Embryonic and larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) are increasingly recognized as a promising alternative whole-animal model that may be able to overcome limitations of cell-based in vitro assays and bridge the gap between high-throughput in vitro screening and low-throughput in vivo tests in animals. Despite the relatively simple anatomical structure of the zebrafish larval kidney (pronephros) - composed of only two nephrons - the pronephros shares major functions and cell types with mammalian nephrons. Glomerular filtration begins at 48 h post fertilization. The aim of the present study was to investigate if early zebrafish larvae might be a suitable model for nephrotoxicity testing. On day 3 post fertilization, larval zebrafish were treated with selected nephrotoxins (aristolochic acid, cadmium chloride, potassium bromate, ochratoxin A, gentamicin) for 48 h. Histological evaluation of zebrafish larvae exposed to model nephrotoxins revealed tubule injury as evidenced by dilated tubules with loss of the brush border, tubule cell necrosis and disorganization of the tubular epithelium. These changes were most severe after treatment with gentamicin, which also impaired pronephros function as evidenced by reduced clearance of FITC-dextran. Whole-mount in situ hybridization showing loss of cdh17 expression revealed site-specific injury to the proximal tubule segment. Analysis of genes previously identified as novel biomarkers of kidney injury in mammals showed upregulation of the kidney injury marker genes heme oxygenase 1 (hmox1), clusterin (clu), secreted phosphoprotein/osteopontin (spp1), connective tissue growth factor (ctgf) and kim-1 (havcr-1) in response to nephrotoxin treatment, although the response of individual genes varied across compounds. Consistent with the severity of

关键词： Pelletisation   Cold bonding   Sintering   Concrete   Recycling   Coarse aggregate  

摘要： Aggregates are mined on a larger scale leading to the depletion of mountains and ecosystem. Cleaner production of artificial stone aggregates from industrial waste is an alternative to natural stone aggregates. Although earlier studies have reported the use of artificial aggregates, a comprehensive review of the performance of alternative aggregates in concrete is highly limited. Therefore, the present review focuses on reusing waste materials from the agricultural and industrial sectors to produce alternative coarse aggregates. The effect of coarse aggregate replacement with agricultural and industrial wastes like furnace slag, oil palm shell, coconut shell, waste ceramic tiles, glass, expanded polystyrene, lightweight expanded clay aggregate, and recycled concrete aggregate on fresh, hardened and durability properties of concrete is reported. Moreover, a critical evaluation of sintered and cold bonded artificial aggregate production processes and their influence on concrete properties is also presented. Recycled concrete aggregates, oil palm shell, and expanded polystyrene resulted in the increased workability whereas, the addition of ceramic waste and steel slag as coarse aggregates reduced the workability of concrete. The workability of concrete depends mainly on the water absorption of alternative aggregates used. Characteristics of artificial coarse aggregates depend on binder type and binder dosage adopted in the production process. The properties of sintered aggregates are governed by sintering temperature. Lower crushing strength of alternative coarse aggregates resulted in a subsequent reduction in the compressive strength with an increase in the & nbsp;replacement level. Reduction in the density of concrete is witnessed in sintered and cold bonded aggregates used concrete. & nbsp;(c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

关键词： multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children   CytoSorb   cytokine storm   hemoperfusion   children   pediatric intensive care  

摘要： Background: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) has emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic as a new SARS-CoV-2-related entity, potentially responsible for a life-threatening clinical condition associated with myocardial dysfunction and refractory shock. Case: We describe for the first time in a 14-year-old girl with severe MIS-C the potential benefit of an adjuvant therapy based on CytoSorb hemoperfusion and continuous renal replacement therapy with immunomodulatory drugs. Conclusions: We show in our case that, from the start of extracorporeal blood purification, there was a rapid and progressive restoration in cardiac function and hemodynamic parameters in association with a reduction in the most important inflammatory biomarkers (interleukin 6, interleukin 10, C-reactive protein, ferritin, and D-dimers). Additionally, for the first time, we were able to show with analysis of the sublingual microcirculation a delayed improvement in most of the important microcirculation parameters in this clinical case of MIS-C.

关键词： Lattice QCD   Particle correlations & fluctuations   Quantum field theory   Quark-gluon plasma  

摘要： In this Letter, we introduce a novel scheme for extrapolating the equation of state of QCD to finite chemical potential that features considerably improved convergence properties and allows us to extend its reach to unprecedentedly high baryonic chemical potentials. We present continuum extrapolated lattice results for the new expansion coefficients and show the thermodynamic observables up to μB/T≤3.5. This novel expansion does not suffer from the shortcomings that characterize the traditional Taylor expansion method, such as difficulties inherent in performing such an expansion with a limited number of coefficients and the poor signal-to-noise ratio that affects Taylor coefficients determined from lattice calculations.

关键词： multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children   pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2   COVID-19 infection   COVID-19   SARS-CoV-2   Kawasaki-like  

摘要： MIS-C is a novel clinical syndrome in children and adolescents, was first encountered in the spring of 2020 as a post COVID-19 multisystem inflammatory syndrome. The highest number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Austria were registered in November 2020. In December 2020, eight patients with MIS-C were hospitalized at the pediatric department of Klinik Donaustadt, a large municipal hospital in Vienna. Six of the patients needed pediatric intensive care. As we lack any international consensus on the diagnosis and treatment of this severe complication, we used a multidisciplinary approach. The purpose was to establish an internal standard for maximizing the efficacy and safety of treatment, and standardizing the clinical management of this disease.

关键词： Isoxazoles   Nitronates   Silylation   [4+1]-Annulation  

摘要： A new method was developed for the synthesis of fully substituted 3-haloisoxazoles. This process includes the synthesis of isoxazoline N-oxides from alpha-halonitroalkenes and subsequent dehydration mediated by the silyl triflate/triethylamine system. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

关键词： Polymer films   External quantum efficiency   Fluorescence   Conjugated polymers   Polymers  

摘要： Random polymerization is newly proposed for the achievement of efficient thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) in donor-acceptor (D-A) conjugated polymers. As a proof of concept, a series of random polymers named Ran-P(Ac-TRZ02) similar to Ran-P(Ac-TRZ20) have been designed and synthesized based on the donor N-alkyl acridine (Ac) and the acceptor triphenyltriazine (TRZ) as the major and minor components, respectively. In this case, an increasing hole delocalization can be expected along the extended Ac oligomers, while the electron distribution is localized on the individual TRZ unit. Ongoing from alternative to random polymers, consequently, the enhanced hole-electron separation leads to a reduced singlet-triplet energy splitting (Delta E-ST ) from 0.39 to 0.26-0.28 eV. Unlike the alternative polymer Alt-P(Ac-TRZ) with no TADF, Ran-P(Ac-TRZ02) similar to Ran-P(Ac-TRZ20) achieves a distinct delayed fluorescence and reveals a maximum external quantum efficiency of 7.2% (22.4 cd A(-1), 27.1 lm W-1). The performance is about 2.8 times that of Alt-P(Ac-TRZ) (2.6%), clearly highlighting the superiority of random polymerization to alternative polymerization.

关键词： Amines  

摘要： Biomass conversion to organic products is expected to be a core technology for the future sustainable society. Still, published studies show that the energy cost and environmental impact of making organic products from biomass are often worse than making those products from fossil fuels. The problematic step in biomass conversion is the removal of water. Unless the environmental and energetic costs of separating water from organic products can be lowered, bio-derived products will struggle to be greener and cheaper than fossil-derived products. We propose a new method for separating organic products from water: high pressure switchable water (HPSW). HPSW is a process that combines two known phenomena: CO2 expansion of liquids (CXL) and CO2-switchable water (SW). HPSW takes advantage of the benefits of changing the polarity of organic liquids at high CO2 pressures and the repulsive amine-solute interactions that occur after SW amines are exposed to CO2, both contributing to the removal of the organics from water. Each process alone can trigger the separation of some organics from water, but individually they are not efficient for removing hydrophilic organic solutes. We hypothesised that CXL and SW, if performed simultaneously, would act synergistically and promote more efficient and cleaner separations. For test mixtures of acetone and water, we demonstrated that several amine ionogens could promote phase separation of the acetone from water at lower pressures than CXL alone. 2,6,10-Trimethyl-2,6,10-triazaundecane (TMTAD) was one of the best amines tested, decreasing the separation pressure to 3 bar of CO2 compared to 30 bar without an ionogen. In addition, 93% of the initial TMTAD added to the mixture was recovered using reverse osmosis (RO). If HPSW can reduce the energy consumption of separations, the current separation issues faced by the biomass conversion sector might be overcome.

关键词： Apoptosis   Tumour biomarkers  

摘要： Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) emerge as essential roles in the regulation of alternative splicing (AS) in various malignancies. Serine- and arginine-rich splicing factor 1 (SRSF1)-mediated AS events are the most important molecular hallmarks in cancer. Nevertheless, the biological mechanism underlying tumorigenesis of lncRNAs correlated with SRSF1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains elusive. In this study, we found that lncRNA DiGeorge syndrome critical region gene 5 (DGCR5) was upregulated in ESCC clinical samples, which associated with poor prognosis. Through RNA interference and overexpression approaches, we confirmed that DGCR5 contributed to promote ESCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion while inhibited apoptosis in vitro. Mechanistically, DGCR5 could directly bind with SRSF1 to increase its stability and thus stimulate alternative splicing events. Furthermore, we clarified that SRSF1 regulated the aberrant splicing of myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1) and initiated a significant Mcl-1L (antiapoptotic) isoform switch, which contributed to the expression of the full length of Mcl-1. Moreover, the cell-derived xenograft (CDX) model was validated that DGCR5 could facilitate the tumorigenesis of ESCC in vivo. Collectively, our findings identified that the key biological role of lncRNA DGCR5 in alternative splicing regulation and emphasized DGCR5 as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for ESCC.

关键词： family physician   primary health care   refugee   reproductive health family planning   Syrian migration   women health  

摘要： Purpose: Reproductive health includes the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide. In this context, both women and men have rights. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the obstacles in using these rights and to describe perceptions on marriage and family planning (FP) of Syrian women and men and to increase awareness for developing new policies on the Primary Health Care. Methods: The study was conducted using qualitative method, consisting of in-depth interviews with 54 participants;43 women and 11 men who had to emigrate from varied regions of Syria at different times since 2011. Syrian women living in Hatay, in the south of Turkey were identified from Primary Health Care Center. Most of the Syrian women had given birth to the first two children before the age of 20 years. The interviewees were selected by purposive and snowball sampling. Results: The result was examined under seven headings: knowledge about FP and contraceptive methods, hesitation about contraceptive methods, emotional pressure of family and fear of maintaining marriage, embarrassing of talking about sexuality and contraception, the effects of belief and culture on contraception, psychological reflections of war, and changes in the perception of health during the process of immigration. The most significant factors affecting the approaches to FP and contraceptive methods of the women in this study were determined to be education, traditions, economic status, and religious beliefs. The most important factors affecting participants' FP and contraceptive method approaches are education, cultural beliefs, economic status, and religious beliefs. Conclusions: The primary healthcare centers are at a very strategical point for offering FP services to help address patients' unmet contraceptive needs and improve pregnancy outcomes. More attention should be paid to social determinants that influence the access to reproductive health. Moreover, efforts can be done to address gender inequality that