Blood-brain barrier permeability in survivors of immune-mediated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura: a pilot study

Immune-mediated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) is a rare, life-threatening disorder of systemic microthrombosis and organ ischemia. The etiology of chronic cerebrovascular outcomes in iTTP survivors is largely unknown. In this pilot study, we measured blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability in iTTP patients at the start of remission and 6 months later. This prospective pilot study included 7 adult patients with incident iTTP. Eligibility criteria included ADAMTS13 activity <10% and detectable inhibitor at diagnosis. Patients were recruited from London Health Sciences Centre in Canada (2017-2019) within 3 days of hospital admission and followed for 6 months after remission (defined as normalization of platelet count and lactate dehydrogenase with no clinical signs or symptoms of microvascular injury for more than 30 days after the last plasma exchange). All patients had cerebral CT perfusion scans with BBB permeability surface product measurements. Patients (5 women, 2 men) had a mean age of 48 years (range 21-77). At diagnosis, patients had a mean platelet count of 22 (standard deviation [SD] 25) x109/L. At the start of remission, mean BBB permeability surface product was 0.91 (0.30) mL/min/100g. Six months later, the mean permeability surface product was 0.56 (0.22) mL/min/100g, with mean difference: -0.312 mL/min/100g (95% confidence interval: -0.4729 to -0.1510; p=0.0032). In this pilot study of iTTP patients, pathologically increased BBB permeability was evident and, though there was some improvement, this persisted 6 months after remission. Future work will explore the chronicity of these findings and their clinical implications.

Evaluation of the J-OFURO3 Sea Surface Net Radiation and Inconsistency Correction

A new satellite-based product containing daily sea surface net radiation () values at a spatial resolution of 0.25° from 1988 to 2013, named the Japanese Ocean Flux Data Sets with Use of Remote Sensing Observations, version 3 (J-OFURO3), was recently generated and released. In this letter, the performance of the J-OFURO3 sea-surface product was fully evaluated by using observations from 55 global moored buoy sites. The overall accuracy was satisfactory, with root-mean-square difference (RMSD) of 24.05 and 10.76 Wm−2 at daily and monthly scales, respectively. However, an inconsistency issue was found in the long-term variations in the J-OFURO3 sea-surface values in approximately 2000; this inconsistency may be due to the replacement of the input dataset. To address this issue, a simple but effective inconsistency correction method was developed and conducted in this study. The analysis results demonstrated that the variations in the corrected J-OFURO3 sea-surface data were more reasonable and that its daily validation accuracy was significantly improved by decreasing the bias from 4.67 to 0.27 Wm−2 before the year 2000. Thereby, it is suggested that the inconsistency correction method should be applied before using the J-OFURO3 sea-surface data. However, the data users still should be cautious about another discontinuity issues caused by the quality of the input dataset itself.

Influence of Corona Discharge on CaSO4 Solubility of Silicone Rubber Insulator Surface

Some studies have shown that the operating state of silicone rubber insulators is not only affected by surface corona discharge, but also different due to the surface covered with different pollutants, but few studies have linked the two. In this paper, by designing the corona discharge test of silicone rubber insulator, the output of nitric acid from its surface product was calculated, and the concentration of nitric acid under different air humidity was obtained. The solubility test of slightly dissolved salt calcium sulfate in nitric acid solution at 293.15K and 333.15K was designed to obtain the solubility of calcium sulfate at different concentrations of nitric acid at two temperatures. Finally, a quantitative analysis of the solubility of calcium sulfate on the surface of insulator FXBW-10/70 in nitric acid solution shows that the surface contamination of insulator with good hydrophobicity may be completely dissolved by nitric acid solution, but the surface of insulator with loss of hydrophobicity cannot be completely dissolved by nitric acid. This study provides a theoretical basis for the dissolution characteristics of silicon rubber insulator corona discharge on its surface soluble salt composition and provides a new idea for the influence of insulator corona discharge on its electrical properties.

Permeability-surface area product of the penumbra as a predictor of outcome after endovascular treatment of anterior circulation acute ischemic stroke

Background Permeability-surface product is a predictor of blood–brain barrier disruption, a condition that may be related to higher likelihoods of hemorrhagic transformations in acute stroke. Purpose To investigate whether permeability-surface product can be used as a parameter for predicting outcome after mechanical thrombectomy in patients with anterior circulation acute ischemic stroke. Material and Methods We retrospectively identified patients with acute middle cerebral artery stroke who underwent successful mechanical thrombectomy between November 2009 and July 2015. Multiple parameters (including age) and CT perfusion-related parameters (including permeability-surface product) were compared between patients with favorable (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] = 0–2) and unfavorable (mRS > 2) outcome. Results Thirty patients were included, 50% having favorable and 50% having unfavorable outcome. Younger age was significantly associated with favorable outcome ( P < 0.03). Other baseline characteristics, such as size of CT perfusion core infarction, perfusion abnormality, and presentation of subcortical infarction were not significantly different between groups. No significant difference was observed between groups for permeability-surface product in the ipsilateral penumbra or for the ratio between permeability-surface product penumbra value and contralateral normal brain (permeability-surface product ratio). Conclusions No significant difference was observed between patients with and without favorable outcome after mechanical thrombectomy for either permeability-surface product value or permeability-surface product ratio. Although permeability-surface product is a good predictor of blood–brain barrier disruption, this study revealed no evidence that either permeability-surface product value or permeability-surface product ratio is associated with future change in the penumbra.

CUVERRO WHITE BRONZE

Olin Brass Alloy CuVerro White Bronze (UNS C71000) is a solid surface product that continuously kills 99.9% harmful bacteria. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, tensile properties, and bend strength. Filing Code: Cu-894. Producer or source: Olin Brass and Somers Thin Strip.

CUVERRO ROSE

Olin Brass Alloy CuVerro Rose (UNS C70600) is a solid surface product that continuously kills 99.9% harmful bacteria. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, tensile properties, and bend strength. Filing Code: Cu-892. Producer or source: Olin Brass and Somers Thin Strip.

Is the photochemistry activity weak during haze events? – A novel exploration on the photoinduced heterogeneous reaction of NO₂ on mineral dust

Despite the increased awareness of heterogeneous reaction on mineral dust, the knowledge of how the intensity of solar irradiation influences the photochemistry activity remains a crucially important part in atmospheric research. Relevant studies have not seriously discussed the photochemistry under weak sunlight during haze, and thus ignored some underlying pollution and toxicity. Here, we investigated the heterogeneous formation of nitrate and nitrite under various illumination conditions by laboratory experiments and field observations. Observed by in-situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS), water-solvated nitrate was the main surface product, followed by other species varying with illumination condition. The growth of nitrate formation rate tends to be slow after the initial fast with increasing light intensity. For example, the geometric uptake coefficient (γgeo) under 30.5 mW/cm2 (5.72 × 10−6) has exceeded the 50 % of that under 160 mW/cm2 (1.13 × 10−5). This case can be explained by the excess NO2 adsorption under weak illumination while the excess photoinduced active species under strong irradiation. Being negatively associated with nitrate (R2 = 0.748, P