Activity

The Professional Advisory Committee formulated recommendations regarding the following priority issues (1) determining boundaries of professional authority and nurses’ responsibilities, including designated activities for different professional ranks of registered nurses; (2) providing appropriate content for the training programs offered, such as generic/basic, above-basic, and clinical specialization nursing programs; and (3) defining relevant quality measures for nursing treatment of ECMO-supported patients.

Introducing international standards would ensure the safety and effectiveness of nursing care for ECMO-supported patients through quality and risk management and establishment of new evidence-based nursing practices.

Introducing international standards would ensure the safety and effectiveness of nursing care for ECMO-supported patients through quality and risk management and establishment of new evidence-based nursing practices.In this study, we report a novel synthetic strategy to prepare a highly (110)-oriented ZIF-7 film possessing superior anti-corrosion properties via oriented epitaxial growth. Our work provides insights into facile preparation of oriented uniform MOF single seed layers and films with rod-shaped MOF seeds as building blocks.The existence of a new two dimensional CN2 structure was predicted using ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) and density-functional theory calculations. It consists of tetragonal and hexagonal rings with C-N and N-N bonds arranged in a buckling plane, isostructural to the tetrahex-carbon allotrope. Gedatolisib It is thermodynamically and kinetically stable suggested by its phonon spectrum and AIMD. This nanosheet has a high concentration of N and contains N-N single bonds with an energy density of 6.3 kJ g-1, indicating its potential applications as a high energy density material. It possesses exotic mechanical properties with a negative Poisson’s ratio and an anisotropic Young’s modulus. The modulus in the zigzag direction is predicted to be 340 N m-1, stiffer than those of h-BN and penta-CN2 sheets and comparable to that of graphene. Its ideal strength of 28.8 N m-1 outperforms that of penta-graphene. The material maintains phonon stability upon the application of uniaxial strain up to 10% (13%) in the zigzag (armchair) direction or biaxial strain up to 5%. It possesses a wide indirect HSE band gap of 4.57 eV, which is tunable between 3.37-4.57 eV through strain. Double-layered structures are also explored. Such unique properties may facilitate its potential applications as a high energy density material and in nanomechanics and electronics.Redox-active bidentate halogen bond donors based on halopyridinium groups as halogen-bond donating units were synthesized and their structures were elucidated by X-ray diffraction analyses and DFT calculations. Via reversible twofold reduction, these dicationic species can be transformed to neutral compounds which should be much weaker Lewis acids. The corresponding electrochemical data were obtained, and CV as well as UV-vis and NMR techniques were also used to determine binding constants of these halogen bond donors to halides. While all titrations agree on the relative order of binding strengths (with chloride being bound strongest), there are marked deviations in the overall affinity constants which are discussed. In contrast to earlier azo-bridge analogues, the ethylene-linked variants presented herein do not oxidize halides, and thus the novel halogen bond donors could also be used as Lewis acidic organocatalysts in a halide abstraction benchmark reaction, yielding a performance similar to bis(haloimidazolium)-derived catalysts.Limiting metabolic competition in the tumour microenvironment may increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy. Owing to its crucial role in the glucose metabolism of activated T cells, CD28 signalling has been proposed as a metabolic biosensor of T cells1. By contrast, the engagement of CTLA-4 has been shown to downregulate T cell glycolysis1. Here we investigate the effect of CTLA-4 blockade on the metabolic fitness of intra-tumour T cells in relation to the glycolytic capacity of tumour cells. We found that CTLA-4 blockade promotes metabolic fitness and the infiltration of immune cells, especially in glycolysis-low tumours. Accordingly, treatment with anti-CTLA-4 antibodies improved the therapeutic outcomes of mice bearing glycolysis-defective tumours. Notably, tumour-specific CD8+ T cell responses correlated with phenotypic and functional destabilization of tumour-infiltrating regulatory T (Treg) cells towards IFNγ- and TNF-producing cells in glycolysis-defective tumours. By mimicking the highly and poorly glycolytic tumour microenvironments in vitro, we show that the effect of CTLA-4 blockade on the destabilization of Treg cells is dependent on Treg cell glycolysis and CD28 signalling. These findings indicate that decreasing tumour competition for glucose may facilitate the therapeutic activity of CTLA-4 blockade, thus supporting its combination with inhibitors of tumour glycolysis. Moreover, these results reveal a mechanism by which anti-CTLA-4 treatment interferes with Treg cell function in the presence of glucose.

The first-line therapy for patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) commonly consists of erythropoietin stimulating agents (ESAs), with a response rate ranging from 34 to 62%. For nonresponder patients, outside clinical trials, blood transfusions are the most frequent therapeutic option, with detrimental effect on the quality of life and with risks of iron-overload. Since no studies have been yet conducted on this topic, we investigated the potential predictive role of bone marrow (BM) histological evaluation in patients treated with ESAs.

We performed a morphological and immunohistochemical retrospective analysis of BM biopsies of 96 patients with low-risk MDSs subsequently treated with ESAs.

In our series, substantial morphological overlap was found between responder and nonresponder patients. On the contrary, patients with a percentage of CD34-positive blasts >3% or with p53 protein expression <1% responded with a significantly higher frequency to ESAs.

Our study reinforces the role of BM biopsy as diagnostic tool in MDSs, being also able to supply information related to response to ESAs and to its loss over time.