© 2020 The Royal Entomological Society.Polyimidazolium-based cages are considered promising materials based on their fascinating properties and potential applications. These three-dimensional functional structures are highly desirable for the recognition of particular guest molecules, however, their synthesis remains challenging. In this work, we have designed and synthesizes a pure [n]-imidazolium (n = 16) cage, the hexadecakisimidazolium salt H16-2(PF6)16, from tetragonal octakisimidazolium salt H8-1(PF6)8. The synthetic method involves formation of metal-carbene templates, a quadruple photochemical [2+2] cycloaddition reaction and subsequent removal of metal ions. Specifically, the synthesized cage, featuring sixteen imidazolium moieties, demonstrated high efficiency for the selective fluorescent recognition of 8-hydroxy-1,3,6-pyrene trisulfonate (HPTS). The present work not only further develops the metal-carbene template strategy by exploiting a new type of polyimidazolium cage, but also provides encouraging prospects for the design of versatile imidazolium-based functional acceptors. © 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.Baicalein has been widely studied and showed a potent activity against pancreatic cancer in both in vivo and in vitro studies. Little is known regarding the effects of Skullcapflavone I (SFI), despite they have similar structures. So, this study was to explore the function of SFI on human pancreatic cancer. Panc-1 cells were transfected with miR-23a precursor, miR-23a inhibitor or the negative controls, and subsequently treated by SFI. Cell viability, Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-positive cell rate, apoptosis, migration, invasion, and related protein expression were assessed by utilizing Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), BrdU staining, apoptosis assessment, transwell assay, and western blot. SFI significantly reduced the proliferation, migration, and invasion, as well as induced apoptosis of Panc-1 cells. MiR-23a, miR-21, and miR-155 were lowly expressed while miR-145 and miR-146a were highly expressed in SFI-treated cell. Of note, the antitumor effects of SFI were promoted by miR-23a suppression whereas attenuated by miR-23a overexpression. JAK/STAT and MAPK pathways were inhibited by SFI. Also, the pathway inhibition in SFI-treated cells was reversed by miR-23a overexpression. SFI might be a promising anti-pancreatic cancer agent by inhibiting cancer cells growth and motility. The anticancer activities of SFI might be through downregulation of miR-23a, as well as inhibition of JAK/STAT and MAPK pathways. © 2020 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.BACKGROUND Palliative care for individuals with chronic heart failure is recommended for improving patients' symptoms, function and overall quality of life. Despite this mandate, there is limited access and referral to specialist palliative care for individuals with chronic heart failure. OBJECTIVES To explore healthcare professionals' perspectives on access to palliative care for patients with chronic heart failure, focussing on patient, provider and system factors. METHODS Cardiologists, palliative care specialists, heart failure nurses and palliative care nurses in acute and community care settings were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Purposive and snowball sampling methods were used for recruitment. Interview data were analysed using thematic analysis. The COREQ checklist guided data collection and reporting. RESULTS There were 15 participants in the study, and the majority were female. Participants included palliative medicine physicians, a palliative care nurse consultant, cardiologists, a general practitioner and advanced heart failure nurses. The themes derived from the thematic analysis centred on patient, provider and system factors impacting access and referral to palliative care in the context of chronic heart failure. The patient themes were (a) patient and family preconception of palliative care and (b) patient's clinical profile influences referral. The provider themes were (a) conflict, (b) making decisions and (c) education needs, and the system themes were (a) accessing services and resources and (b) improving the model of care. CONCLUSIONS The patient's clinical profile, education needs of healthcare professionals and improving access to services and resources need to be considered to enhance palliative care access and referral as well as the interacting and influencing elements of the patient, provider and system. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.PURPOSE Placental function is key for successful human pregnancies.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/PD-0325901.html  Perfusion may be a sensitive marker for the in vivo assessment of placental function. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI enables noninvasive measurement of tissue perfusion and it was recently suggested that ASL with velocity-selective (VS) labeling could be advantageous in the placenta. We systematically evaluated essential VS-ASL sequence parameters to determine optimal settings for efficient placental perfusion measurements. METHODS Eleven pregnant women were scanned at 3T using VS-ASL with 2D multislice echo planar imaging (EPI)-readout. One reference VS-ASL scan was acquired in all subjects; within subgroups the following parameters were systematically varied cutoff velocity, velocity encoding direction, and inflow time. Visual evaluation and region of interest analyses were performed to compare perfusion signal differences between acquisitions. RESULTS In all subjects, a perfusion pattern with clear hyperintense focal regions was observed Inc. on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.BACKGROUND 3-M syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by primordial growth retardation, large head circumference, characteristic facial features, and mild skeletal changes, which is associated with the exclusive variants in three genes, namely CUL7, OBSL1, and CCDC8. Only a few 3-M syndrome patients have been reported in Chinese population. METHODS Children with unexplained severe short stature, facial dysmorphism, and normal intelligence in two Chinese families and their relatives were enrolled. Trio-whole-exome sequencing (trio-WES) and pathogenicity prediction analysis were conducted on the recruited patients. A conservative analysis of the mutant amino acid sequences and function prediction analysis of the wild-type (WT) and mutant CUL7 protein were performed. RESULTS We identified a homozygous missense variant (NM_014780.4 c.4898C > T, p.Thr1633Met) in CUL7 gene in a 6-month-old female infant from a non-consanguineous family, and a homozygous frameshift variant (NM_014780.4 c.3722_3749 dup GGCTGGCACAGCTGCAGCAATGCCTGCA, p.