Prolonged Cerebral Circulation Time Is the Best Parameter for Predicting Vasospasm during Initial CT Perfusion in Subarachnoid Hemorrhagic Patients

Purpose

We sought to imitate angiographic cerebral circulation time (CCT) and create a similar index from baseline CT perfusion (CTP) to better predict vasospasm in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).

Methods

Forty-one SAH patients with available DSA and CTP were retrospectively included. The vasospasm group was comprised of patients with deterioration in conscious functioning and newly developed luminal narrowing; remaining cases were classified as the control group. The angiography CCT (XA-CCT) was defined as the difference in TTP (time to peak) between the selected arterial ROIs and the superior sagittal sinus (SSS). Four arterial ROIs were selected to generate four corresponding XA-CCTs: the right and left anterior cerebral arteries (XA-CCT_RA2 and XA-CCT_LA2) and right- and left-middle cerebral arteries (XA-CCT_RM2 and XA-CCT_LM2). The CCTs from CTP (CT-CCT) were defined as the differences in TTP from the corresponding arterial ROIs and the SSS. Correlations of the different CCTs were calculated and diagnostic accuracy in predicting vasospasm was evaluated.

Results

Intra-class correlations ranged from 0.96 to 0.98. The correlations of XA-CCT_RA2, XA-CCT_RM2, XA-CCT_LA2, and XA-CCT_LM2 with the corresponding CT-CCTs were 0.64, 0.65, 0.53, and 0.68, respectively. All CCTs were significantly prolonged in the vasospasm group (5.8–6.4 s) except for XA-CCT_LA2. CT-CCT_A2 of 5.62 was the optimal cut-off value for detecting vasospasm with a sensitivity of 84.2% and specificity 82.4%

Conclusion

CT-CCTs can be used to interpret cerebral flow without deconvolution algorithms, and outperform both MTT and TTP in predicting vasospasm risk. This finding may help facilitate management of patients with SAH.     

Development and Two-Year Follow-Up Evaluation of a Training Workshop for the Large Preventive Positive Psychology Happy Family Kitchen Project in Hong Kong

Evidence-based practice and capacity-building approaches are essential for large-scale health promotion interventions. However, there are few models in the literature to guide and evaluate training of social service workers in community settings. This paper presents the development and evaluation of the “train-the-trainer” workshop (TTT) for the first large scale, community-based, family intervention projects, entitled “Happy Family Kitchen Project” (HFK) under the FAMILY project, a Hong Kong Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society. The workshop aimed to enhance social workers’ competence and performance in applying positive psychology constructs in their family interventions under HFK to improve family well-being of the community they served. The two-day TTT was developed and implemented by a multidisciplinary team in partnership with community agencies to 50 social workers (64% women). It focused on the enhancement of knowledge, attitude, and practice of five specific positive psychology themes, which were the basis for the subsequent development of the 23 family interventions for 1419 participants. Acceptability and applicability were enhanced by completing a needs assessment prior to the training. The TTT was evaluated by trainees’ reactions to the training content and design, changes in learners (trainees) and benefits to the service organizations. Focus group interviews to evaluate the workshop at three months after the training, and questionnaire survey at pre-training, immediately after, six months, one year and two years after training were conducted. There were statistically significant increases with large to moderate effect size in perceived knowledge, self-efficacy and practice after training, which sustained to 2-year follow-up. Furthermore, there were statistically significant improvements in family communication and well-being of the participants in the HFK interventions they implemented after training. This paper offers a practical example of development, implementation and model-based evaluation of training programs, which may be helpful to others seeking to develop such programs in diverse communities.     

Identification and characterization of a novel antioxidant peptide from feather keratin hydrolysate

Objectives

To improve the potential value of feather, which is a valuable protein resource, we have separated and identified antioxidant peptide(s) from feather hydrolysate.

Results

Feather hydrolysate was prepared by fermentation with Bacillus subtilis S1–4. Antioxidative peptides were separated by sequential acid precipitation, cation exchange, and reversed-phase fast performance liquid chromatography. Finally, a peptide with antioxidative activity was identified as Ser-Asn-Leu-Cys-Arg-Pro-Cys-Gly by MALDI time-of-flight (TOF)/TOF analysis, and determined to represent a portion of feather keratin near its N-terminal. A synthesized peptide with the same sequence was used to characterize its antioxidative properties, including scavenging free radicals, reducing power, and Fe²⁺ chelation. In terms of the peptide’s amino acid composition, the antioxidative activity might be mainly attributed to Cys and other amino acid residues.

Conclusion

Feather keratin is a good source for the quantitative preparation of antioxidative peptides.

     

The short-term responses of glutathione and phytochelation synthetic pathways genes to additional nitrogen under cadmium stress in poplar leaves

Earlier it was noticed that the supplementary nitrogen to nutritive solution of the cadmium stressed (Cd-stressed) plants can alleviate the toxic effects of this metal on the plants and improve plant growth performance. But the underlying mechanisms of such detoxification effect of nitrogen were not studied. In this study, a ten-day responses of related nitrogen-synthesized genes including γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (γ-GCs), glutathione synthetase (ECGs) and phytochelatin synthase (PCs) involved in glutathione (ECG) and phytochelation (PC) synthetic pathways were examined. The plant growth performance and leaf chlorophyll content were examined at the final harvest. It was shown that the supplement of additional nitrogen to poplar plants under cadmium stress could significantly up-regulate the expression levels of γ-GCs, ECGs and PCs genes in plant leaves during the first 12 hours. Furthermore, cadmium stressed plants with additional nitrogen supplement showed significant enhancement in growth performance and increase in leaf chlorophyll content compared to sole cadmium stressed plants. Our results suggest that additional nitrogen could stimulate a short-term defense system in poplar plants through ECG and PC synthetic pathways. It is contribute to the alleviation of the toxic symptoms in polar plants caused by cadmium stress. This study provides a potential method to render harmless cadmium toxicity in stressed plants with nitrogen fertilization.     

Steric Engineering of Alkylthiolation Side Chains to Finely Tune Miscibility in Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells

Morphology and miscibility control are still a great challenge in polymer solar cells. Despite physical tools being applied, chemical strategies are still limited and complex. To finely tune blend miscibility to obtain optimized morphology, chemical steric engineering is proposed to systemically investigate its effects on optical and electronic properties, especially on a balance between crystallinity and miscibility. By changing the alkylthiol side chain orientation different steric effects are realized in three different polymers. Surprisingly, the photovoltaic device of the polymer PTBB‐m with middle steric structure affords a better power conversion efficiency, over 12%, compared to those of the polymers PTBB‐o and PTBB‐p with large or small steric structures, which could be attributed to a more balanced blend miscibility without sacrificing charge‐carrier transport. Space charge‐limited current, atomic force microscopy, grazing incidence wide angle X‐ray scattering, and resonant soft X‐ray scattering measurements show that the steric engineering of alkylthiol side chains can have significant impacts on polymer aggregation properties, blend miscibility, and photovoltaic performances. More important, the control of miscibility via the simple chemical approach has preliminarily proved its great potential and will pave a new avenue for optimizing the blend morphology.     

New Anthracene‐Fused Nonfullerene Acceptors for High‐Efficiency Organic Solar Cells: Energy Level Modulations Enabling Match of Donor and Acceptor

Two new nonfullerene small molecule acceptors (NF‐SMAs) AT‐NC and AT‐4Cl based on heptacyclic anthracene(cyclopentadithiophene) (AT) core and different electron‐withdrawing end groups are designed and synthesized. Although the two new acceptor molecules use two different end groups, naphthyl‐fused indanone (NINCN) and chlorinated INCN (INCN‐2Cl) demonstrate similar light absorption. AT‐4Cl with chlorinated INCN as end groups are shifted significantly due to the strong electron‐withdrawing ability of chlorine atoms. Thus, desirable V_oc and photovoltaic performance are expected to be achieved when polymer PBDB‐T is used as the electron donor with AT‐NC as the acceptor, and fluorinated analog PBDB‐TF with down‐shifted energy levels is selected to blend with AT‐4Cl. Consequently, the device based on PBDB‐TF:AT‐4Cl yields a high power conversion efficiency of 13.27% with a slightly lower V_oc of 0.901 V, significantly enhanced J_sc of 19.52 mA cm^?2 and fill factor of 75.5% relative to the values based on PBDB‐T:AT‐NC. These results demonstrate that the use of a new electron‐rich AT core, together with energy levels modulations by end‐group optimizations enabling the match with polymer donors, is a successful strategy to construct high‐performance NF‐SMAs.     

Characteristics of Cd accumulation and distribution in two sweet potato cultivars

In this study, we compared the chemical forms and subcellular distribution of Cd in high-Cd (X16) and low-Cd (N88) sweet potato cultivars through hydroponic experiments and examined the Cd distribution in their roots by histochemical staining. The results showed that inorganic and pectate/protein-integrated Cd predominated in the leaves, and Cd concentrations were significantly higher in X16 than in N88. However, in the roots, Cd was mostly integrated with pectate and protein, and Cd concentration was higher in N88 than in X16. It was mainly stored through vacuolar sequestration and cell wall binding. In the leaves and stems, Cd concentrations in all subcellular fractions were higher in X16 than in N88; the opposite was observed in the roots. In X16, Cd was mostly accumulated in the root stele, and its Cd translocation factor was higher than that of N88. Overall, the subcellular fractions of X16 roots retained less Cd than N88 roots, and more Cd entered the root stele of X16 and subsequently moved to the shoots. The higher amounts of inorganic, water-soluble, and pectate/protein-integrated Cd with high mobility in the shoots of X16 than in N88 might facilitate Cd remobilization to other tissues, but this needs to be further studied.     

A molecularly imprinted polymer based chemiluminescence array sensor for one‐step determination of phenothiazines and benzodiazepines in pig urine

The residues of phenothiazines and benzodiazepines in foods of animal origin are dangerous to consumers. For inspection of their abuses, this study for the first time reported on the use of a chemiluminescence array sensor for the simultaneous determination of four phenothiazines and five benzodiazepines in pig urine. Two molecularly imprinted polymers were coated in different wells of a conventional 96‐well microtiter plate as the recognition reagents. After sample loading, the absorbed analytes were initiated directly by using an imidazole enhanced bis(2,4,6‐trichlorophenyl)oxalate–hydrogen peroxide system to emit light. The assay process consisted of only one sample‐loading step prior to data acquisition, so one test was finished within 10 min. The limits of detection for the nine drugs in the pig urine were in a range of 0.1 to 0.6 pg/mL, and the recoveries from the fortified blank urine samples were in a range of 80.3 to 95%. Furthermore, the sensor could be reused six times. Therefore, this sensor could be used as a simple, rapid, sensitive and reusable tool for routine screening for residues of phenothiazines and benzodiazepines in pig urine.