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The study comprehensively evaluated the prognostic roles of the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), basophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (BLR), and eosinophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (ELR) in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Six hundred and nineteen patients with AECOPD and 300 healthy volunteers were retrospectively included into the study. The clinical characteristics of the patients with AECOPD and the complete blood counts (CBCs) of the healthy volunteers were collected. The associations of PLR, NLR, MLR, BLR, and ELR with airflow limitation, hospital length of stay (LOS), C-reactive protein (CRP), and in-hospital mortality in patients with AECOPD were analyzed. Compared with the healthy volunteers, PLR, NLR, MLR, BLR, and ELR were all elevated in COPD patients under stable condition. PLR, NLR, MLR, and BLR were further elevated while ELR was lowered during exacerbation. In the patients with AECOPD, PLR, NLR, and MLR were positively correlated with hospital LOS as well as CRP. In contrast, ELR was negatively correlated with hospital LOS as well as CRP. Elevated PLR, NLR, and MLR were all associated with more severe airflow limitation in AECOPD. Elevated PLR, NLR, and MLR were all associated with increased in-hospital mortality while elevated ELR was associated with decreased in-hospital mortality. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that smoking history, FEV1% predicted, pneumonia, pulmonary heart disease (PHD), uric acid (UA), albumin, and MLR were significant independent predictors ofin-hospital mortality. These predictors along with ELR were used to construct a nomogram for predicting in-hospital mortality in AECOPD. The nomogram had a C-index of 0.850 (95% CI: 0.799-0.901), and the calibration curve, decision curve analysis (DCA), and clinical impact curve (CIC) further demonstrated its good predictive value and clinical applicability. In summary, PLR, NLR, MLR, and ELR served as useful biomarkers in patients with AECOPD.

The present study was undertaken to develop the device that can be used to harvest adipose tissue for fat grafting with an airtight, minimal-invasive, and fast approach. The abdominal liposuction was performed in six women under local tumescent anesthesia. Fat from left abdomen was harvested by the classical 20-ml-syringe technique while fat from right abdomen was harvested by a reformative vacuum-assisted suction device (negative pressure, 25 to 35 kPa). This device includes a 1-L sterile canister, a cannula with 2.5 mm inner diameter, a conventional liposuction machine, and a one-way valve connected between the canister and the liposuction machine. The operative time of harvesting 200-ml fat grafts was recorded and calculated. The collected adipose tissue was used for adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) extraction and culture, glucose transport test (GTT), and bacteriological culture. First, we found that the operative time of harvesting 200-ml adipose tissue using 20-ml-syringe aspiration technique was 71.3 ± 4.3 min compared with 30 ± 3.5 min by the new device (p < 0.05). The sizes of the fat grafts obtained from both methods were similar. Second, the viability of harvested adipose tissue tested through GTT showed no significant difference between two harvesting methods (p > 0.05). Additionally, the samples harvested from both methods showed no bacterial growth. The results from the XTT test revealed that there was no significant difference on ADSCs growth between two methods (p > 0.05). In conclusion, the results support that the innovative device for adipose tissue harvesting is minimal-invasive, fast, and can prevent the fat grafts from contamination.

INTRODUCTION Sudden deaths are always an important topic, which catches physicians and health professionals＇ attention. Physicians and clinical scientists have reported their findings of unexpected deaths concerning about infants, children, young athletes, soldiers, adults with chronic diseases, and elderly people in thousands, if not millions of publications. However there are no existing clinical reports about sudden deaths among physicians and medical staff. Recently,

Purpose: The study comprehensively evaluated the prognostic roles of the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), basophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (BLR), and eosinophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (ELR) in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Patients and Methods: Six hundred and nineteen patients with AECOPD and 300 healthy volunteers were retrospectively included into the study. The clinical characteristics of the patients with AECOPD and the complete blood counts (CBCs) of the healthy volunteers were collected. The associations of PLR, NLR, MLR, BLR, and ELR with airflow limitation, hospital length of stay (LOS), C-reactive protein (CRP), and in-hospital mortality in patients with AECOPD were analyzed. Results: Compared with the healthy volunteers, PLR, NLR, MLR, BLR, and ELR were all elevated in COPD patients under stable condition. PLR, NLR, MLR, and BLR were further elevated while ELR was lowered during exacerbation. In the patients with AECOPD, PLR, NLR, and MLR were positively correlated with hospital LOS as well as CRP. In contrast, ELR was negatively correlated with hospital LOS as well as CRP. Elevated PLR, NLR, and MLR were all associated with more severe airflow limitation in AECOPD. Elevated PLR, NLR, and MLR were all associated with increased in-hospital mortality while elevated ELR was associated with decreased in-hospital mortality. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that smoking history, FEV1% predicted, pneumonia, pulmonary heart disease (PHD), uric acid (UA), albumin, and MLR were significant independent predictors of in-hospital mortality. These predictors along with ELR were used to construct a nomogram for predicting in-hospital mortality in AECOPD. The nomogram had a C-index of 0.850 (95% CI: 0.799-0.901), and the calibration curve, decision curve analysis (DCA), and clinical impact curve (CIC) further demonstrated its good predictive value and clinical applicability. Conclusion: In summary, PLR, NLR, MLR, and ELR served as useful biomarkers in patients with AECOPD. Keywords: healthy volunteers, in-hospital mortality, length of stay, nomogram, pneumonia, pulmonary heart disease

Shape persistent conformations reduce the complexity of polymer materials. Herein, we propose a concept on the nanopolymer that is a nanoscale polymer chain with the repeat units of nanomonomers. In this article, a soluble organic nanopolymer of wide bandgap semiconductors was synthesized by the Yamamoto polymerization of nanogrid monomer as the repeat units with the rectangle size of ∼1.7 nm × 1.2 nm. The alkyl side chain substituent at 9-position of fluorenes guarantees the polygrid with excellent solubility. Tetrafluorenes in the conjugation-interrupted backbones of polygrid acts as the active light-emitting centers without obvious green band in the fluorescence spectra of the films after 10 h annealing at 180 °C, indicating this nanopolymer exhibits excellent spectral stability. Such soluble nanopolymers will be the fifthgeneration of macromolecular materials with a potential character of overall performance improvement.

Molecular bulks are favorable for the thermal and morphological stability in organic wide-bandgap semiconducting polymers with potential applications in both information and energy electronics. In this review, we present our progress in the design of fluorene-based bulky semiconductors with a fractal four-element pattern. Firstly, we established one-pot methods to spirofluorenes, especially spiro[fluorene-9,9′-xanthene] (SFX) serving as the next-generation spiro-based semiconductors. Secondly, we observed the supramolecular forces at the bulky groups and discovered the supramolecular steric hindrance (SSH) effect on polymorphisms, nanocrystals as well as device performance. Thus, a synergistically molecular attractor-repulsor theory (SMART) was proposed for the control of nanocrystal morphology, thin film phase and morphology. Thirdly, the third possible type of defects has been identified to generate green band (g-band) emission in wide-bandgap semiconductors by the introduction of molecular strain design of cyclofluorene. Finally, the first bulky polydiarylfluorene with highly crystalline and β conformation was achieved by an attractor-repulsor design of tadpole-shape monomer, which offered an effective platform to fabricate stable wide-bandgap semiconducting devices. All the discoveries offer the solid basis to break through bottlenecks of organic/polymer wide-bandgap semiconductors by the improvements of overall performances.

In this study, a kind of fluorinated copolyfluorene, named poly[(4-(octyloxy)-9,9-diphenylfluorene-2,7-diyl)-alt-(2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-1,4-phenylene)] (PODPF-TFP), is synthesized by facile palladium-based direct aromatization. Compared to the non-fluorinated counterpart, poly[(4-(octyloxy)-9,9-diphenylfluorene-2,7-diyl)-alt-(p-phenylene)] (PODPF-P), deeper HOMO/LUMO energy level combined with steric hindrance effect endow PODPF-TFP with excellent spectra and morphology stability. Finally, organic field-effect transistor (OFET) memory devices are fabricated with PODPF-P/PODPFTFP as the dielectric layers, and they both exhibit flash type storage characteristic. Owing to the electronegativity of fluorine atom, the device based on PODPF-TFP exhibits larger memory window and more stable Ion/Ioff ratio during a retention time of 104 s as well as a better aging stability. The present study suggests that fluorinated p-n copolyfluorene electrets could enhance the capabilities of charge trapping and storage, which are promising for OFET memory devices.

Proanthocyanidins have been shown to effectively protect ischemic neurons, but its mechanism remains poorly understood. Ginkgo proan-thocyanidins （20, 40, 80 mg/kg） were intraperitoneally administered 1, 24, 48 and 72 hours before reperfusion. Results showed that ginkgo proanthocyanidins could effectively mitigate neurological disorders, shorten infarct volume, increase superoxide dismutase activity, and de-crease malondialdehyde and nitric oxide contents. Simultaneously, the study on grape seed proanthocyanidins （40 mg/kg） confirmed that different sources of proanthocyanidins have a similar effect. The neurological outcomes of ginkgo proanthocyanidins were similar to that of nimodipine in the treatmen＇t of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. （Sur results suggestthat-ginkgo proanthocyanidins can effectively lessen cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury and protect ischemic brain tissue and these effects are associated with antioxidant properties.

Pollution by heavy metals limits the area of land available for cultivation of food crops. A potential solution to this problem might lie in the molecular breeding of food crops for phytoremediation that accumulate toxic metals in straw while producing safe and nutritious grains. Here, we identify a rice quantitative trait locus we name cadmium (Cd) accumulation in leaf 1 ( CAL1 ), which encodes a defensin-like protein. CAL1 is expressed preferentially in root exodermis and xylem parenchyma cells. We provide evidence that CAL1 acts by chelating Cd in the cytosol and facilitating Cd secretion to extracellular spaces, hence lowering cytosolic Cd concentration while driving long-distance Cd transport via xylem vessels. CAL1 does not appear to affect Cd accumulation in rice grains or the accumulation of other essential metals, thus providing an efficient molecular tool to breed dual-function rice varieties that produce safe grains while remediating paddy soils. Crops that allocate heavy metals to leaves rather than grains could allow phytoremediation of polluted soil while producing food that is safe to eat. Here, the authors show that a defensin-like protein promotes cadmium secretion from rice cells and allocation to leaves without causing accumulation in grain.

Three diazafluorene derivatives triphenylamine (TPA)(PDAF)n (n = 1, 2, 3) serving as small molecular elements are designed and synthesized via concentrated sulfuric acid mediated Friedel–Crafts reaction. With highly nonplanar topological configuration, TPA(PDAF)3 shows weaker intermolecular interaction in the solid states and thus exhibits single nanomolecular behavior, which is crucial for charge stored and retained in an organic field‐effect transistor (OFET) memory device. Furthermore, diazafluorene derivatives possess a completely separate highest occupied molecular orbital/lowest unoccupied molecular orbital, which offers ideal hole and electron trapping sites. As charge storage elements, triphenylamine groups provide the hole trapping sites, while diazafluorene units provide the electron trapping sites and act as a hole blocking group to restrain the leakage of stored holes trapped in triphenylamine. The pentacene‐based OFET memory device with solution‐processing TPA(PDAF)3 shows a good hole‐trapping ability, high hole trapping density (4.55 × 1012 cm−2), fast trapping speed (<20 ms), a large memory window (89 V), and a tunable ambipolar memory behavior. The optimized device shows a large ON/OFF current ratio (2.85 × 107), good charge retention (>104 s), and reliable endurance properties. This study suggests that diazafluorene based donor–acceptor small molecular elements have great promise for high‐performance OFET memory. As small molecular charge trapping elements of diazafluorene derivatives TPA(PDAF)n (n = 1, 2, 3), triphenylamine groups provide the hole trapping sites, while diazafluorene units provide the electron trapping sites and act as hole blocking groups to restrain the leakage of stored holes trapped in triphenylamine. High‐performance organic field‐effect transistor memory based on a solution‐processing TPA(PDAF)3 element is achieved.