BACKGROUND Vitiligo is an acquired disease that involves low pigment variation in the skin. The use of cultured melanocytes for treatment of recalcitrant vitiligo has become a well-established treatment modality. In vitro cultured melanocytes present an effective autologous transplantation treatment modality for vitiligo. The present study investigated the in vitro culture of epidermal melanocytes sampled from multiple body parts, as well as the differences in total propagation time. METHODS Skin specimens were collected from 30 participants (14 males and 16 females) who supplied normal colored skin sections from various regions of their body, including the face, chest, abdomen, buttock, and extremities. Subsequently, all of these specimens were treated with an identical melanocyte purification and culturing process. RESULTS Melanocytes from the face demonstrated the most rapid growth and longest total propagation time. Melanocytes from the buttock, abdomen, and extremities displayed similar results to one another, and melanocytes from the chest and back had the slowest growth and shortest total propagation time. CONCLUSION Selecting the most favorable site to obtain epidermal melanocytes will reduce the required quantity of skin and culturing time, and maximize the growth and total propagation time of melanocytes. Therefore, care should be exercised when selecting the region of skin when culturing epidermal melanocytes. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.The use of water-soluble, abundant biopolymers as binders for lithium-ion positive electrodes is being explored because it represents a great step forward towards environmentally benign battery processing. However, so far most studies, employing, for instance, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as binder, have focused on rather low electrode areal loadings with limited relevance concerning to industrial needs. Herein, we report for the first time the use of natural guar gum (GG) as binding agent for cobalt-free, high-voltage LiNi 0.5 Mn 1.5 O 4 (LNMO), allowing the realization of electrodes with substantially increased areal loadings, low binder content, and greatly enhanced cycling stability. Co-crosslinking GG via citric acid with CMC allows for an enhanced rate capability, while essentially maintaining the beneficial impact of using GG as binder rather than CMC only. Lithium-ion full-cells based on water-processed LNMO and graphite electrodes provide remarkably high cycling stability with 80% capacity retention after 1,000 cycles at 1C. © 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.INTRODUCTION Lead (Pb) is a ubiquitous toxic heavy metal that inflicts numerous clinical consequences on humans. Curcumin is the principal component of turmeric, which is reported to have antioxidative properties. This study aimed at evaluating the ameliorative effects of curcumin on Pb-induced hepatorenal toxicity in a rat model. METHODS Thirty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into five groups with 12 rats in the control (normal saline) and six rats each for the lead-treated group (LTG) (50 mg/kg lead acetate [Pb acetate] for 4 weeks), recovery group (50 mg/kg Pb acetate for 4 weeks and left with no treatment for another 4 weeks), treatment group 1 (Cur100) (50 mg/kg Pb acetate for 4 weeks, followed by 100 mg/kg curcumin for 4 weeks), and treatment group 2 (Cur200) (50 mg/kg Pb acetate for 4 weeks, followed by 200 mg/kg curcumin for 4 weeks). All the experimental groups received oral treatments via orogastric-tube on alternate days. Pb concentration in the liver and kidney of the rats were evaluated using inductive-coupled plasma mass spectrometry techniques. RESULTS Pb-administered rats revealed significant alteration in oxidative status and increased Pb concentration in their liver and kidney with obvious reduction of hemogram and increased in leukogram as well as aberration in histological architecture of the liver and kidney. However, treatment with curcumin reduces the tissue Pb concentrations and ameliorates the above mention alterations. CONCLUSIONS The results in this study suggested that curcumin attenuates Pb-induced hepatorenal toxicity via chelating activity and inhibition of oxidative stress. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Carboxylic acid derivatives containing acyl halides, anhydrides, esters, amides and acyl nitriles are highly appealing electrophiles in transition-metal-catalyzed carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions due to their ready availability and low cost, which can provide divergent transformations of carboxylic acids into other value-added products. In this Minireview, we focus on the recent advances of decarbonylative transformations of carboxylic acid derivatives in carbon-carbon bond formations using Ni or Pd catalysts. A series of reaction types, product classifications and reaction pathways are presented herein, which show the advantageous features of carboxylic acid derivatives as alternative to aryl or alkyl halides in terms of reactivity and compatibility.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/vu661013.html  The well-accepted mechanism of nickel- or palladium-catalyzed decarbonylative transformations involves initial oxidative addition of carboxylic acid derivatives, followed by decarbonylation or transmetalation (or insertion), and reductive elimination to generate the products, thereby regenerating the catalysts. © 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.OBJECTIVES To most accurately assess the risks and benefits of this technique we evaluated outcomes of selective clamping vs. full clamping in a patients with a solitary kidney undergoing robotic partial nephrectomy (RPN). SUBJECTS/PATIENTS AND METHODS Data from IRB approved retrospective and prospective databases from 2006 to 2019 at multiple institutions with sharing agreements were evaluated. Patients with a solitary kidney were identified and stratified based on whether selective or full renal artery clamping was performed. Both groups were analyzed for demographics, risk factors, intraoperative complications, and postoperative outcomes using Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, t-test, and Mann Whitney U's test. RESULTS Our initial cohort consisted of 4112 patients of which 72 had undergone robotic partial nephrectomy in a solitary kidney, (51 with full clamping and 21 with selective). Both groups had no significant difference in demographics, tumor size, baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), or warm ischemia time (WIT) (Table 1).