The existence of spontaneous magnetization in low dimensional magnetic systems has attracted intensive studies since the early 60s and research remains very active even now. Only recently, magnetic van der Waals (vdW) systems down to a few layers have been broadly discussed for their magnetic order ground states at finite temperature. The naturally inherited layered structure of the vdW magnetic systems possessing onsite magnetic anisotropy from band electrons can suppress the long-range fluctuations. This provides an excellent vehicle to study the transition of magnetism to 2D limits both theoretically and experimentally. Here the current status of 2D vdW magnetic system and its potential applications are briefly summarized and discussed.

Vitiligo is an autoimmune skin disease that has a major impact on the quality of life of patients. However, a nationwide study of the association between vitiligo and the incidence of inclusive psychiatric diseases has not been conducted in the Asian population. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the association between vitiligo and the risk of psychiatric disorders using a nationwide database in Taiwan. Data were collected from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan from 2000 to 2013. In total, 1432 subjects with vitiligo and 5728 age-, sex-and index year-matched controls were enrolled in this study. Patients with vitiligo tend to have more coexisting psychiatric disorders than healthy individuals, regardless of their sex, age group and facility level of care. After adjusting for sex, age, comorbidity, urbanization and facility level of care, the adjusted hazard ratio of overall psychiatric disorders for patients with vitiligo was 2.926 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.646-3.236; P < 0.001). Among them, the highest adjusted hazard ratios were found for obsessive-compulsive disorder, at 10.790 (95% CI,; P < 0.001). Vitiligo is associated with an increased risk of various psychiatric disorders. By providing a better understanding of the psychosocial burden associated with vitiligo, these results emphasize the need to evaluate the mental health of patients with vitiligo by treating physicians.

The competitive adsorption effect by chitosan bead and alpha-cyclodextrin-linked chitosan bead on a mixture of six phthalate esters (PAEs) was investigated. The adsorption efficiency of short-chain hydrophilic PAEs was reduced when long-chain hydrophobic PAEs co-existed in the solution. Moreover, the adsorption efficiency of adsorbents for PAE is correlated to the distribution ratio (Kd), which shows that the Kd of hydrophobic PAEs is higher than that of hydrophilic PAEs. Both chitosan bead and alpha-cyclodextrin-linked chitosan bead exhibit the same phenomenon. The effect of alpha-cyclodextrin (CD)-linked chitosan bead is more significant compared with that of chitosan bead. Furthermore, it is observed that both adsorbents spontaneously adsorb PAEs by free energy (deltaG0), but the hydrophilic PAE co-existing with DMP (dimethyl phthalate) results in less entropy (deltaS0) change compared with a hydrophobic PAE co-existing with DMP. In a continuous system to treat a PAE mixture, hydrophobic PAE shows a higher breakthrough capacity than hydrophilic PAE. Moreover, the competitive adsorption results in the laboratory were comparable with those in field studies.

Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) are life‐threatening adverse reactions to drugs and psychological sequelae are also observed to follow the trauma of widespread epidermal necrolysis. To delineate the association between SJS and TEN, and psychiatric disorders, we conducted a retrospective population‐based cohort study by including 212 patients diagnosed with first‐time SJS or TEN in Taiwan between 2000 and 2013 and 669 population controls. Adjusted hazard ratios were calculated after adjusting for sex, age, comorbidity in the form of Charlson comorbidity index, and facility level of care. Overall, SJS or TEN was associated with an increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, mania, anxiety, and bipolar with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.392 (95% CI, 1.192–1.625; p < 0.001). Particularly, the adjusted hazard ratios of psychiatric disorders were 1.290 (95% CI, 1.105–1.506; p < 0.001) for SJS and 1.855 (95% CI, 1.587–2.167; p < 0.001) for TEN.

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Objectives-We hypothesized that specific endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) features may differentiate sarcoidosis from other causes of lymphadenopathy. Methods-We conducted this retrospective observational study from January 2014 to January 2019 to analyze patients with intrathoracic lymphadenopathy who underwent EBUS-guided transbronchial needle aspiration. Ultrasound features, including nodal size, margin, echogenicity, the presence or absence of calcification, a central hilar structure, the coagulation necrosis sign, nodal conglomeration, and the septal vessel sign in the color Doppler mode were recorded and compared between 3 groups. Results-Of the 90 included patients, 15 had a diagnosis of tuberculosis; 56 had a diagnosis of sarcoidosis; and 19 had a diagnosis of malignant lymph nodes by EBUS-guided transbronchial needle aspiration. The presence of nodal conglomeration (94.6% versus 60.0% versus 5.3%; P < .001), the septal vessel sign in the color Doppler mode (55.4% versus 13.3% versus 15.8%; P = .002), and a distinct margin (73.2% versus 13.3% versus 47.4%; P < .001) were significantly higher in the sarcoidosis group than in the tuberculosis lymphadenopathy and malignant lymph node groups. The presence of the coagulation necrosis sign (8.9% versus 93.3% versus 31.6%; P < .001) was significantly lower in the sarcoidosis group than in tuberculosis lymphadenopathy and malignant lymph node groups. A multivariate analysis showed that the presence of nodal conglomeration, the absence of coagulation necrosis, and the presence of the septal vessel sign in the color Doppler mode were independent predictive factors for the diagnosis of sarcoidosis. Conclusions-The presence of nodal conglomeration, the absence of coagulation necrosis, and the presence of the septal vessel sign in the color Doppler mode in lymph nodes on EBUS are predictive of sarcoidosis.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) stability is a post‐transcriptional regulation that determines mRNA fate and influences multiple cellular functions. Previous studies have demonstrated that AU‐rich element (ARE) in 3′‐untranslated region (UTR) of mRNA is critical for mRNA stability via interaction with ARE‐binding proteins (ARE‐BPs). Chaperone protein calreticulin (CRT) has been reported to bind the 3′‐UTR, suggesting that it may act as a novel ARE‐BP. The expression level of CRT positively is correlated with the expression of angiogenic factor vascular endothelial growth factor‐A (VEGF‐A). However, the detail regulatory mechanism of CRT on VEGF‐A expression remains elusive. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether CRT regulates mRNA stability of VEGF‐A through interaction with ARE. Our results showed that depletion of CRT significantly destabilized VEGF‐A mRNA and subsequently decreased the expression levels of both VEGF‐A RNA and protein in PC3 human prostate cancer cell line. Since several AREs were identified in the mRNA of VEGF‐A, we further explore the relationship between CRT and these AREs. Pull‐down analysis demonstrated that CRT directly interacts with the ARE region of VEGF‐A mRNA. In addition, we constructed luciferase vectors contained the ARE of VEGF‐A and co‐transfected with siRNA of CRT or CRT overexpression vector. Our results demonstrated that CRT interacts with ARE in 3′‐UTR of VEGF‐A mRNA. In summary, this study suggests that CRT stabilizes VEGF‐A mRNA through interacting with ARE at the 3′‐UTR of VEGF‐A mRNA.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.