Phosphorylation of the human p53 protein at Ser-392 has been shown to be responsive to UV but not gamma irradiation. Here we describe identification and purification of a mammalian UV-activated protein kinase complex that phosphorylates Ser-392 of p53 in vitro. This kinase complex contains casein kinase 2 (CK2) and the chromatin transcriptional elongation factor FACT (a heterodimer of hSpt16 and SSRP1). In vitro studies show that FACT alters the specificity of CK2 in the complex such that it selectively phosphorylates p53 over other substrates including casein. In addition, phosphorylation by the kinase complex enhances p53 activity. These results thus provide a potential mechanism for p53 activation by UV irradiation.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 is an epidemic disease throughout the world. The management of vascular access during the epidemic is currently unknown. Methods: In this multicenter cross-sectional study, we collected vascular access data from hemodialysis patients treated at 44 hospitals in Hubei from 22 January to 10 March 2020. We estimated the management of vascular access during the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak. Results: Of the 9231 hemodialysis patients included, 5387 patients (58.4%) were men and 2959 patients (32.1%) were older than 65 years. Arteriovenous fistula was the predominant type of vascular access, accounting for 76.5%; 496 patients (5.4%) developed vascular access complications; catheter flow reduction was the most common vascular access complication, and stenosis was the predominant complication among those with arteriovenous access. Overall, 280 vascular access sites were placed in patients newly diagnosed with uremia, of whom 260 (92.8%) underwent catheter insertion; 149 rescue procedures were carried out to treat the vascular access complications, which consisted of 132 catheters, 7 percutaneous transluminal angioplasties, 6 arteriovenous fistula repairs, and 4 arteriovenous fistulas. Occlusion of the arteriovenous access had the highest rescue rate (92.7%), while many other vascular access complications remained untreated; 69 and 142 patients were diagnosed with confirmed and suspected coronavirus disease 2019, respectively. A total of 146 patients died, of whom 29 patients (19.9%) died due to vascular access complications. Conclusion: Catheter flow reduction and stenosis of arteriovenous access were the major vascular access complications. Most of the vascular access sites established were catheters, and many of the vascular access complications remained untreated.

Pt counter electrodes (CE) were been prepared using ion sputtering method on indium-doped tinoxide coated polyethylene terephthalate (ITO-PET) for flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The effect of sputtering time on the properties was characterized by Feld emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), electrochemical impedance (EIS) and UV-vis absorption spectra. The flexible CE show increased catalytic activity but reduced transmittance when the sputtering time is increased from 0 to 80 s. The light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of the DSSCs assembled with the high catalytic activity flexible CE attained a conversion efficiency of 4.0% by using Ti foil as the photoanode substrate under the simulated AM 1.5 sunlight. The results reveal that ion sputtering is an effective method for depositing platinum nanoparticles on plastic substrates with low cost under room-temperature.

The highly dispersed TiO2 sols composed of anatase crystallites (ca.5 nm) were prepared by peptization of amorphous precipitates with trifluoroactic acid (TFA) during the synthesis. The size and crystallinity of the particles were tuned by the subsequent hydrothermal treatment. The prepared TiO2 nanocrystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The TEM results indicated that the growth of the crystallites could be inhibited by the increasing addition of TFA and the average sizes of TiO2 nanocrystals were all ultrafine. The degradation of phenol over the nanocrystals after calcination at 500 °C was investigated. The photocatalytic results showed that the sample with a high addition of TFA obtained a better photocatalytic property than that of the commercial TiO2