© 2020 Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology Inc.The results of extended comparative investigation of the Ni(II) Schiff base complexes (containing various auxiliary chiral moieties) commonly used as a methodological platform for the asymmetric synthesis of tailor-made α-amino acids are provided. The following issues are addressed 1) redox activity (determining the possibility for electrochemically induced reactions); 2) quantitative estimation of the reactivity of the deprotonated complexes towards electrophiles; 3) quantum-chemical estimation of noncovalent interactions in the metal coordination environment (which shed light on the origin of the stereochemical outcome observed for different stereoinductors). Possible mechanisms determining the interrelation between the stereochemical configuration of a molecule and its electronic structure are discussed. The DFT calculated HOMO-LUMO energies and localization as well as relative energies for the ( S )- and ( R )-alanine derivatives determining the stereoinduction efficiency in thermodynamically controlled reactions in the Ni(II) coordination are provided. The computation data are supported with the experimental results on mono-benzylation of the glycine derivatives. © 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.The study was designed to document the incidence of non-immune hydrops fetalis (NIHF) at birth and characterise associated outcomes and obstetric complications. Data on more than 1.9 million births were extracted from the Swedish Birth Register for 1997-2015. Pregnancies not affected by NIHF served as controls. National registers on mortality and hospitalisations provided follow-up information. There were 309 cases of NIHF at birth corresponding to an incidence of 1.6 per 10,000, lower than in previous studies. NIHF was more frequent in mothers aged ≥ 35 years and with a history of stillbirth. Preterm delivery occurred in 77.7% in the NIHF group, including 31.7% before 32 weeks of gestation. Multiple births and Caesarean sections were reported more frequent in the NIHF group. NIHF was associated with poor outcome with 14.6% stillbirths and in 26.5% early neonatal death. Overall, 58.7% of live born children with NIHF were alive at 12 months compared with 99.7% of controls. The most common causes of death were cardiovascular diseases and thoracic abnormalities. NIHF at birth is associated with obstetric complications and poor prognosis for the neonate related to underlying disease. The low incidence of NIHF observed in this study may reflect well-developed antenatal care. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.AIM Create a Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA)-based intervention to increase adolescent and infant speech and improve 12-month language outcomes. METHODS Randomized control trial of adolescent (15-19 years) mother-infant pairs comparing language-motor (intervention) and motor (control) groups. Intervention included reviewing language-motor curriculums, formative feedback on 4 LENA recordings (baseline, post-curriculum, 4 and 12-months) and 16-weekly language-motor texts. Controls reviewed a motor curriculum, summative feedback of 4 recordings after study completion and 4-monthly motor texts. Primary outcome was 12-month MacArthur scores. Secondary outcomes were LENA counts and social impacts to language outcomes. RESULTS 108 infants were randomized. Groups had similar baseline characteristics and LENA counts. Both groups had low maternal Peabody Picture Vocabulary age-equivalents (14.2 years). selleck inhibitor On post-curriculum recording, intervention infants had higher vocalizations (188 versus 109, P = .02) and conversations (49 versus 30, P = .005) than controls. Group 4-month and 12-month LENA counts and 12-month MacArthur scores were similar. In regression analyses, more people in the home and cohabiting with the infant's father were associated with higher MacArthur scores. CONCLUSIONS Linguistic feedback and a simple curriculum resulted in short-term increased vocalizations and conversational turns for infants of adolescent mothers that were not sustained over time. Household characteristics provided protective effects on outcomes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.OBJECTIVE We aimed to evaluate the correlation of circular RNA La-related RNA-binding protein 4 (circ-LARP4) with tumor characteristics and prognosis, and its effect on chemosensitivity in breast cancer. METHODS Circ-LARP4 from tumor and adjacent tissues of 283 female breast cancer patients underwent resection was detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Tumor features, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) were recorded. In vitro, circ-LARP4 in human normal mammary epithelial cells (HMEC) and breast cancer cell lines was detected by RT-qPCR. MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells were transfected with circ-LARP4 overexpression plasmid (as OE-Circ group) and control overexpression plasmid (as OE-Control group). Relative cell viability under different concentrations of doxorubicin was measured. RESULTS Circ-LARP4 was decreased in tumor tissues than adjacent tissues (P  less then  .001). Tumor circ-LARP4 negatively correlated with tumor size (P = .001), T stage (P = .009), N stage (P = .006), and TNM stage (P  less then  .001), whereas positively correlated with DFS (P = .004) and OS (P  less then  .001). In vitro, circ-LARP4 was decreased MCF-7, BT474, MDA-MB-231, and MDA-MB-468 cell lines than HMEC (all P  less then  .001). Relatively cell viability of MCF-7 cells (at 20 nmol/L [P  less then  .05], 40 nmol/L [P  less then  .01], 80 nmol/L [P  less then  .05] of doxorubicin) and MDA-MB-231 cells (at 120 nmol/L [P  less then  .05], 240 nmol/L [P  less then  .05] of doxorubicin) was decreased in OE-Circ group than OE-Control group. IC50 value of doxorubicin was decreased in OE-Circ group than OE-Control group in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines (both P  less then  .01). CONCLUSION Circ-LARP4 was a potential prognostic biomarker, which might improve the management of breast cancer. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.