The family of chloride channel proteins that mediate Cl- transportation play vital roles in plant nutrient supply, cellular action potential and turgor pressure adjustment, stomatal movement, hormone signal recognition and transduction, Cl- homeostasis, and abiotic and biotic stress tolerance. The anionic toxicity, mainly caused by chloride ions (Cl-), on plants under salt stress remains poorly understood. In this work, we investigated the function of soybean Cl-/H+ antiporter GmCLC1 under salt stress in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana, soybean, and yeast. We found that GmCLC1 enhanced salt tolerance in transgenic A. thaliana by reducing the Cl- accumulation in shoots and hence released the negative impact of salt stress on plant growth. Overexpression of GmCLC1 in the hairy roots of soybean sequestered more Cl- in their roots and transferred less Cl- to their shoots, leading to lower relative electrolyte leakage values in the roots and leaves. When either the soybean GmCLC1 or the yeast chloride transporter gene, GEF1, was transformed into the yeast gef1 mutant, and then treated with different chloride salts (MnCl2, KCl, NaCl), enhanced survival rate was observed. The result indicates that GmCLC1 and GEF1 exerted similar effects on alleviating the stress of diverse chloride salts on the yeast gef1 mutant. Together, this work suggests a protective function of GmCLC1 under Cl- stress.

Objective Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is an established surgical technique and is the standard treatment for degenerative knee joint diseases. However, severe pain after TKA makes it difficult for many patients to perform early postoperative rehabilitation and functional exercise, which might result in subsequent unsatisfactory recovery of knee joint function and great reduction in patients’ satisfaction and quality of life. Orthopaedic surgeons have tried a large variety of analgesics and analgesic modes to relieve patients’ pain after TKA. There are many analgesic regimens available in clinical practice but all have some deficiencies. Parecoxib sodium, a highly selective inhibitor of cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2), can reduce the synthesis of peripheral prostaglandin to exert the effect of analgesia, and relieve inflammation and prevent central sensitization through inhibition of peripheral and central COX‐2 expression. In addition, it can be used as a preemptive analgesic without affecting platelet aggregation. However, there does seem to be conflicting evidence in the current research as to whether parecoxib sodium can be used successfully as a preemptive analgesic; the effect of preemptive analgesia with parecoxib sodium in multimodal analgesia is still controversial. This research investigated the effects of parecoxib sodium in a preemptive multimodal analgesic regimen. Methods Eighty‐eight patients were randomized into two groups. The experimental group received parecoxib (46 patients) and the control group received saline (42 patients), administered 30 min before the initiation of the surgical procedure. A patient‐controlled analgesia (PCA) pump was applied within 48 h after surgery. The visual analogue scale (VAS), drug consumption through the PCA pump, use of salvaging analgesia, range of motion (ROM) of the knee joints, and postoperative complications were observed. Results The VAS score in the post‐anesthesia care unit (PACU) of the parecoxib group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P = 0.039). There was no significant difference in the demographic profiles, duration of operation, hemorrhage in surgery, postoperative hemorrhage, postoperative drainage, VAS at different time points, function of knee joints, length of hospital stay, use of salvaging analgesia, and postoperative drug consumption through the PCA between the two groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion In preemptive multimodal analgesia regimens, parecoxib sodium can significantly decrease the VAS score in the short term, relieve pain shortly after surgery, and does not increase the incidence of complications. Parecoxib sodium is a safe and effective drug in the perioperative analgesic management for TKA.

Background: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a well-accepted surgical treatment for terminal hip diseases. Objective: To evaluate the effect of preemptive analgesia with parecoxib in patients undergoing primary unilateral THA. Study Design: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Setting: This study was conducted at Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Beijing Jishuitan Hospital in Beijing, China. Methods: A total of 94 patients scheduled for primary unilateral THA in 2 centers (Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Beijing Jishuitan Hospital) were randomly assigned to receive 40 mg parecoxib (n = 48) or 0.9% normal saline solution (n = 46) 30 minutes before incision. All patients received standardized intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) postoperatively. Preoperative baseline data, surgery-related conditions, postoperative Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain score, cumulative narcotic consumption of PCA, and complications were compared between the parecoxib group and the placebo group. Results: There were no significant differences in postoperative VAS pain score, cumulative narcotic consumption of PCA, proportion of analgesic remedy, and complications between the 2 groups. Limitations: Only a single dose of parecoxib was used without including a dose-dependent control group. Conclusion: A single dose of parecoxib 30 minutes before incision did not provide effective preemptive analgesia for the management of postoperative pain after primary unilateral THA. The possible effect of preemptive analgesia with parecoxib needs further investigation. Key words: Total hip arthroplasty, pain, parecoxib, COX-2 selective inhibitor, preemptive analgesia, clinical trial, patient-controlled analgesia, analgesics

Objective To establish the prevalence of clinically significant venous thromboembolic events (VTE) in hemophilia patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) without chemoprophylaxis and a modified coagulation factor substitution. Methods A cohort of patients who underwent THA and TKA from June 2002 to April 2017 were included. Based on World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) guidelines, a modified coagulation factor substitution regimen was adopted. All patients were under a standardized postoperative protocol with routine mechanical prophylaxis against VTE. None of the patients received prophylactic anticoagulation. Only symptomatic patients were referred for radiological examination to exclude VTE. We evaluated the patient demographics and calculated the prevalence of VTE in our cohort. Results A total of 98 patients were reviewed. The patients were all men. Thirty‐one patients underwent primary THA with 39 hip arthroplasties (only 1 case with hemophilia B) and 67 patients underwent primary TKA with 101 knee arthroplasties (5 cases with hemophilia B). The mean age was 34.2 ± 7.8 years. The mean body mass index was 21.2 ± 5.7 kg/m2. There was 100% compliance to mechanical prophylaxis. The mean time to ambulation was 6.8 days (±2.5 days), and the mean hospital stay was 32.4 days (±7.1 days). There was only 1 hemophilia B patient with clinically significant VTE. None of the other 97 surgical cases had symptomatic VTE within 6 months after the procedure. This translates to a prevalence of 1.02%. Conclusion Given the low incidence (1.02%) of clinically significant VTE in our cohort, routine chemoprophylaxis in hemophilia patients undergoing THA and TKA may not be needed.

A facile and scalable in situ synthesis strategy is developed to fabricate MoS 2 /C nanosheets encapsulated in Sn@SnO x nanoparticles as a high-performance lithium ion battery anode material. With assistance of NaCl particles, MoS 2 /C nanosheets can be in situ synthesized with Sn@SnO x nanoparticles encapsulated. In the constructed architecture, the MoS 2 /C nanosheets can not only avoid the direct exposure of Sn@SnO x to the electrolyte and preserve the structural and interfacial stabilization of Sn@SnO x nanoparticles, but also accommodate the mechanical stress induced by the volume change of Sn@SnO x nanoparticles during the charge/discharge process. As a result, tested as an anode material, the Sn@SnO x @MoS 2 @C composite exhibits super-high rate capability (950 mAh g -1 at 0.2 A g -1 , 815 mAh g -1 at 0.5 A g -1 , 715 mAh g -1 at 1.0 A g -1 , 625 mAh g -1 at 2.0 A g -1 and 500 mAh g -1 at 5.0 A g -1 ) and © 2016. This manuscript version is made available under the Elsevier user license http://www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ 2 extremely excellent cycling performance at high rate (a high capacity of 530 mAh g -1 is achieved after 800 cycles at current density of 2.0 A g -1 ). The outstanding electrochemical performance of the composite indicates high potential as anode material for high-performance lithium ion battery.

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Manganese dioxide (MnO2) represents a promising oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst, but its catalytic activity is largely limited by the essentially low electronic conductivity and large geometric size. Herein, hierarchical ε-MnO2 nanosheets (MnO2-H) strongly coupled with silver nanoparticle spheres (Ag NPs) were developed. The introduced Ag NPs can not only enhance the electronic transfer but also tune the electronic structure of MnO2 and act as active sites for ORR. Owing to the large electrochemically active surface area, good mass/electronic transfer, and a strong coupled interface between MnO2-H and Ag NPs, the optimal Ag-MnO2-H-1.53 showed much higher catalytic activity than MnO2-H, Ag microparticles, and commercial Pt/C catalyst for ORR. Moreover, Ag-MnO2-H-1.53 displayed robust catalytic stability with negligible shift in the half-wave potential after 5000 cycles. As a cathode catalyst, a homemade zinc–air battery (ZAB) based on Ag-MnO2-H-1.53 showed a high open circuit voltage (1.52 V), maximum peak power density (120.2 mW/cm2), and specific capacity (646 mAh/g) superior to those of Pt/C-based ZAB (1.48 V, 82.3 mW/cm2, and 612 mAh/g), along with a long lifetime. This work highlights the significance of strong interface coupling between MnO2-H and Ag NPs for boosting the ORR electrocatalysis, which will inspire more work for the rational design of efficient carbon-free transition metal electrocatalysts for energy conversion.

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the effect of tranexamic acid (TXA) with sequential routine anticoagulation on postoperative symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients undergoing primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Material and methods: This was a prospective study with randomized trials. From January 2013 to May 2015, 1880 patients undergoing primary TKA were enrolled in this study. Seven hundred and twenty patients who received TXA injection were included in the TXA group while 1160 patients who received placebo injection were included in the control group. Patients in the TXA group were treated with intravenous TXA or topical intravenous TXA, and all received sequential routine anticoagulation 12 h after the operation. We extracted data of patients' sex, age, primary diagnoses, and comorbidities that could potentially affect the prevalence rate of VTE. To discuss the risk factors of symbolic VTE, comparisons were made within the TXA group between patients with symbolic VTE and non-symbolic VTE. Logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the concurrent effects of various factors on the prevalence rate of postoperative VTE. Results: Thigh perimeter was not closely associated with TXA injection. Within the TXA group, 24 (3.3%) patients had perioperative symptomatic VTE, 16 (2.2%) deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and 8 (1.1%) pulmonary embolism. High body mass index (BMI), low fibrinogen (Fbg) and simultaneous bilateral TKA were significant risk factors in both univariate analysis and multivariate analysis. Conclusions: Increased BMI, low Fbg, and simultaneous bilateral TKA could act as risk factors for postoperative symptomatic VTE treated with TXA.