AIM Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), is a prevalent immune-inflammatory disease, which is associated with disabling pain. Oxidative stress might play a role in RA pathogenesis and outcomes. According to the antioxidant properties of garlic, the current study was performed to evaluate the garlic supplement effects on some serum levels of oxidative stress biomarkers, and quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS Seventy women with RA participated in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-design trial. The patients were randomly divided into two groups, receiving two tablets of either 500 mg garlic or placebo daily for eight weeks. Serum levels of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and malondialdehyde (MDA) and quality of life were determined at baseline and end of week 8. A health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) was used to evaluate the quality of life related to health. RESULTS Of 70 patients enrolled in the trial, 62 subjects were included in the final analysis. At the end of the study, there was a significant increase in serum levels of TAC in the garlic group as compared to the placebo group (26.58±77.30 nmol of Trolox equivalent/ml vs. 16.11±0.92 nmol of Trolox equivalent/ml; P=0.026). In addition, MDA levels were significantly decreased in the intervention group compared with the control group (-0.82±1.99 nmol/ml vs. 0.36±2.57 nmol/ml; P=0.032). Pain after activity and HAQ scores decreased in the garlic group compared to the placebo (-11.96±13.43 mm vs. -0.06±13.41 mm; P less then 0.001, 0.17±20 vs. 0.05±0.15; P less then 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that garlic supplementation for eight weeks resulted in significant improvements in oxidative stress, HAQ in women with RA. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.BACKGROUND Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) is an asymptomatic condition associated with increased thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) > 4 mIU/L with normal thyroxine (T4) and triidothyronine (T3) levels. It is more common in older subjects and especially in women with an overall incidence of 10%. OBJECTIVE Because the normal TSH levels increase with age up to 7.5 mIU/L in older people, several studies have reported either no benefits whereas other have reported benefits of treatment. These studies have caused a great debate over the treatment of SCH, especially in older subjects. Therefore, the objective of this study was to review the current evidence over this debate by reviewing the recent literature on the subject to discern whether treatment of SCH is necessary and under what circumstances. METHODS In order to get a better perspective on the current debate over treatment of SCH, a focused Medline search of the English language literature from 2012 to 2019 using the terms, hypothyroidism, subclinical, dyslights reserved.BACKGROUND MiR-1249 was demonstrated to be dysregulated and related to prognosis in cancers. It has been reported to be significantly down-regulated in colon adenocarcinoma (COAD). The present study aimed to explore the clinical value and biological roles of miR-1249 in the progression of COAD. METHODS miRWalk was applied to predict potential targets of miR-1249. We investigated the expression patterns of miR-1249 and its potential target Four-Jointed Box Kinase 1 (FJX1) in COAD samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) or ONCOMINE database.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/gdc6036.html  Kaplan-Meier with a log-rank test was used to reveal the relationship between overall survival (OS) and miR-1249/FJX1. The predictive ability of miR-1249/FJX1 was investigated using univariate and multivariate Cox regression models. CCK-8 and Transwell assays were performed to determine whether miR-1249 was connected with cell viability, migration and invasion. A luciferase reporter assay was applied to verify the association of miR-1249 and FJX1 as its predicted target gene. RESULTS We predicted and confirmed FJX1 to be a target gene of miR-1249. MiR-1249 was down-regulated in COAD samples and cell lines. Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that the expression of FJX1 could be regarded as independent predictor for COAD. Moreover, miR-1249 and FJX1 were respectively the indicators of favorable and poor OS. MiR-1249 over-expression repressed cell growth, migration and invasion. Overexpression of FJX1 in cells treated with miR-1249 mimic abolished the inhibitory effect of miR-1249 on cell growth, migration and invasion. CONCLUSIONS miR-1249 exerts a suppressive effect on cell proliferation, migration and invasion in COAD, which is possibly achieved via modulating FJX1. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Discovering new deep-ultraviolet (DUV) nonlinear optical (NLO) materials is currently a great challenge. The reported DUV NLO materials are almost exclusively borates or phosphates. Silicates-the largest constituent of the earth's crust-are excluded owing to their weak second harmonic generation (SHG) response. We report a silicate, Li2 BaSiO4 , with edge-sharing LiO4 -SiO4 tetrahedra that achieves the balance between a short UV absorption edge, below 190 nm, and a large SHG response, 2.8×KDP. The SHG intensity is the largest for silicates without second-order Jahn-Teller cations, and exceeds that of non-isomorphic Li2 SrSiO4 by more than an order of magnitude. As such Li2 BaSiO4 may be seen as a promising DUV-UV NLO material. This research indicates that edge-sharing tetrahedra is a new design parameter for discovering new DUV NLO materials. © 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.Cryptomelane (α-(K)MnO 2 ) powders were synthesized by different methods leading to only minor differences in their bulk crystal structure and chemical composition, while the BET surface area and the crystallize size differed significantly. Their performance in OER covered a wide range and their sequence of increasing activity differed when electrocatalysis in alkaline electrolyte and chemical water oxidation using Ce 4+ were compared. The decisive factors that explain this difference were identified in the catalysts' microstructure. Chemical water oxidation activity is substantially governed by the exposed surface area, while the electrocatalytic activity is determined largely by the electric conductivity, which was found to correlate with the particle morphology in terms of needle length and aspect ratio in this sample series. This correlation is rather explained by an improved conductivity due to longer needles than by structure sensitivity as was supported by reference experiments using H 2 O 2 decomposition and carbon black as additive.