Search

Using gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry and electrospun nanofibrous membrane, we developed and validated a simple, rapid, and sensitive methodology for quantifying eugenol residues in fish tissue and water samples. Fish tissue extract and water samples (315 samples) collected from three southeastern China provinces (Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Fujian), originating from eight provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Guangdong, Fujian, Anhui, Shanghai, and Jiangxi, from April 2021 to April 2023 were filtered with an electrospun nanofiber membrane, extracted with trichloromethane/n-hexane, and directly concentrated to dry after simple purification. An internal standard of p-terphenyl in n-hexane and 5-µL injection volumes of the solutions was used to analyze eugenol via internal calibration with a minimum concentration of 0.5 µg/L in water samples and 0.1 µg/kg in aquatic product samples. The highest amount of eugenol was detected in Fujian province, possibly due to the higher temperature during transportation, while the lowest amount was found in Shanghai, which mainly uses temporary fish-culture devices. This is a fast, inexpensive, and effective method for testing large quantities of fish water and meat samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greigite (Fe3S4), which have ferromagnetic in inverse thiospinel (AB2S4), is widely researched to use an adsorbent and biomedical field because non-toxicity and abundant in nature. Iron-based materials are known to have a high theoretical capacity because of their multivalent state including redox pairs, but still suffer from collapse and aggregate during the charge/discharge process. Here, the synthesized Fe3S4 nanosheet structure materials wrapped with reduced graphene oxide (Fe3S4NSs@rGO) were used as an anode electrode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). The nano-sheet structure facilitates ion diffusion through expanded surface area, and rGO can effectively improve electrochemical conductivity and structure stability. As-prepared Fe3S4NSs@rGO were used as a host material to insert Na-ion via a conversion process, and the stabilized structure maintains the high capacity and long cycle performance. Thus, the Fe3S4NSs@rGO deliver a reversible capacity of 950 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles at a current density of 1A g−1 and 524 mAh g−1 after 400 cycles at a current density of 2A g−1, which is much higher than reported materials.

The filtration characteristics of low oil saturation reservoirs are obviously different from that of conventional reservoirs. The development performance and the influence factors for low oil saturation reservoirs were studied using laboratory large model physical modeling and reservoir numerical simulation, to match and establish the empirical formula of water cut variation. In the numerical stimulation process, the effect of threshold pressure on filtration for low permeability reservoirs was considered, which made the results more realistic. There wasn't a period of oil recovery without water for low oil saturation reservoirs; the water cut increased rapidly at the beginning, and dropped slightly before the period of oil production with stable water cut. The higher the initial water saturation, the shorter the production time with stable water cut. Recovery changed greatly with the injection/production pressure gradient when the injection/production pressure gradient was close to the pseudo threshold pressure gradient. Recovery changed little, even no change, with the injection/production pressure gradient when the injection/production pressure gradient was far larger than the pseudo threshold pressure gradient. There was a positive correlation between recovery degree and water injection rate when the injection/production pressure gradient was less than the pseudo threshold pressure gradient. Key words: low oil saturation reservoir, low permeability reservoir, pseudo threshold pressure gradient, filtration

Abstract Background Cladribine or 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CDA) is a well-known purine nucleoside analog with particular activity against lymphoproliferative disorders, such as hairy cell leukemia (HCL). Its benefits in multiple myeloma (MM) remain unclear. Here we report the inhibitory effects of cladribine on MM cell lines (U266, RPMI8226, MM1.S), and its therapeutic potential in combination with a specific inhibitor of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3). Methods MTS-based proliferation assays were used to determine cell viability in response to cladribine. Cell cycle progression was examined by flow cytometry analysis. Cells undergoing apoptosis were evaluated with Annexin V staining and a specific ELISA to quantitatively measure cytoplasmic histone-associated DNA fragments. Western blot analyses were performed to determine the protein expression levels and activation. Results Cladribine inhibited cell proliferation of MM cells in a dose-dependent manner, although the three MM cell lines exhibited a remarkably different responsiveness to cladribine. The IC50 of cladribine for U266, RPMI8226, or MM1.S cells was approximately 2.43, 0.75, or 0.18 μmol/L, respectively. Treatment with cladribine resulted in a significant G1 arrest in U266 and RPMI8226 cells, but only a minor increase in the G1 phase for MM1.S cells. Apoptosis assays with Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining indicated that cladribine induced apoptosis of U266 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Similar results were obtained with an apoptotic-ELISA showing that cladribine dramatically promoted MM1.S and RPMA8226 cells undergoing apoptosis. On the molecular level, cladribine induced PARP cleavage and activation of caspase-8 and caspase-3. Meanwhile, treatment with cladribine led to a remarkable reduction of the phosphorylated STAT3 (P-STAT3), but had little effect on STAT3 protein levels. The combinations of cladribine and a specific STAT3 inhibitor as compared to either agent alone significantly induced apoptosis in all three MM cell lines. Conclusions Cladribine exhibited inhibitory effects on MM cells in vitro. MM1.S is the only cell line showing significant response to the clinically achievable concentrations of cladribine-induced apoptosis and inactivation of STAT3. Our data suggest that MM patients with the features of MM1.S cells may particularly benefit from cladribine monotherapy, whereas cladribine in combination with STAT3 inhibitor exerts a broader therapeutic potential against MM.

A multifunctional trastuzumab-nanoparticle-fluorocarbon system was developed to maximize the diagnostic effects in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer. The mesoporous silica nanoparticle shape (e.g. amorphous, spherical, and tubular) was altered to optimize the ultrasound contrast potential. Fluorocarbon conjugated mesoporous silica nanoparticles produced higher mean pixel intensities. At lower non-toxic concentrations, tubular shaped nanoparticles produced a higher mean pixel intensity compared to amorphous and spherical particles. All systems displayed a clear binding preference towards HER2-positive breast cancer cells. Increased incubation times and conjugation of fluorocarbon to mesoporous nanoparticles increased binding preference to HER2-positive breast cancer cells. The highest binding affinity was seen with tubular shaped nanoparticles as compared to amorphous and spherical particles. The trastuzumab-nanoparticlefluorocarbon system of each morphology displayed functionality of enhancing contrast in ultrasound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Infratentorial craniotomy patients have a high incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols have been shown in multiple surgical disciplines to improve outcomes, including reduced PONV. However, very few studies have described the application of ERAS to infratentorial craniotomy. The aim of this study was to examine whether our ERAS protocol for infratentorial craniotomy could improve PONV.Methods: We implemented an evidence-based, multimodal ERAS protocol for patients undergoing infratentorial craniotomy. A total of 105 patients who underwent infratentorial craniotomy were randomized into either the ERAS group (n = 50) or the control group (n = 55). Primary outcomes were the incidence of vomiting, nausea score, and use of rescue antiemetic during the first 72 h after surgery. Secondary outcomes included postoperative anxiety level, sleep quality, and complications.Results: Over the entire 72 h post-craniotomy observation period, the cumulative incidence of vomiting was significantly lower in the ERAS group than in the control group. Meanwhile, the incidence of vomiting was significantly lower in the ERAS group on postoperative days (PODs) 2 and 3. Notably, the proportion of patients with mild nausea (VAS 0-4) was higher in the ERAS group as compared to the control group on PODs 2 or 3. Additionally, the postoperative anxiety level and quality of sleep were significantly better in the ERAS group.Conclusion: Successful implementation of our ERAS protocol in infratentorial craniotomy patients could attenuate postoperative anxiety, improve sleep quality, and reduce the incidence of PONV, without increasing the rate of postoperative complications.Trial Registration: ChiCTR-INR-16009662, 27 Oct 2016, Clinical study on the development and efficacy evaluation of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) in Neurosurgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surrogate models have been widely adopted for reliability analysis. The common approach is to construct a series of surrogates based on a training set and then pick out the best one with the highest accuracy as an approximation of the time-consuming limit state function. However, the traditional method increases the risk of adopting an inappropriate model and does not take full advantage of the data devoted to constructing different surrogates. Furthermore, obtaining more samples is very expensive and sometimes even impossible. Therefore, to save the cost of constructing the surrogate and improve the prediction accuracy, an ensemble strategy is proposed in this paper for efficiently analyzing the structural reliability. The values of the weights are obtained by a recursive process and the leave-one-out technique, in which the values are updated in each iteration until a given prediction accuracy is achieved. Besides, a learning function is used to guide the selection of the next sampling candidate. Because the learning function utilizes the uncertainty estimator of the surrogate to guide the design of experiments (DoE), to accurately calculate the uncertainty estimator of the ensemble of surrogates, the concept of weighted mean square error is proposed. After the high-quality ensemble of surrogates of the limit state function is available, the Monte Carlo method is employed to calculate the failure probabilities. The proposed method is evaluated by three analytic problems and one engineering problem. The results show that the proposed ensemble of surrogates has better prediction accuracy and robustness than the stand-alone surrogates and the existing ensemble techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caspase-8 is a key initiator of death receptor-induced apoptosis. Here we report a novel short isoform of caspase-8 (caspase-8s), which encodes the first (Death Effector Domain) DED and part of the second DED, missing the C-terminal caspase domain. In vivo binding assays showed that transfected caspase-8s bound to (Fas-associated death domain protein) FADD, the adaptor protein in (death-induced signal complex) DISC. To investigate the potential effects of caspase-8s on cell apoptosis, Jurkat cells were stably transfected with caspase-8s. Over expression of caspase-8s increased sensitivity to the apoptotic stimuli, Fas- agonistic antibody CH11. These results suggest that caspase-8s may act as a promoter of apoptosis through binding to FADD and is involved in the regulation of apoptosis. In addition, the results also indicate that the first DED was an important structure mediating combination between caspase-8 and FADD. Copyright © 2009 Zhifang Xu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., 1. Introduction Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is orchestrated by a family of proteases known as caspases that cleave their substrates after specific aspartic acid residues [1]. Caspases, including initiator [...]

Background. Nosocomial EVD-related ventriculitis is a major complication and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in critically ill neurological patients. Questions remain about best management of EVDs. The purpose of this study is to compare our incidence of ventriculitis to studies using different catheters and/or antibiotic coverage schemes and determine whether c-EVD with prolonged antibiotics given for the duration of drain placement is inferior to ac-EVD with pp-abx or ac-EVD with prolonged antibiotics for prevention of ventriculitis. Methods. A retrospective chart review of all patients who had EVDs placed from January 2010 through December 2015 at home institution was performed. Statistical analysis was performed using Fisher’s exact test to compare incidence of ventriculitis identified in other studies with that of home institution. Results. The study included 107 patients, 66 (61.7%) males and 41 (38.3%) females. Average age was 56 years ranging from 18 to 95 years. Average length of drain placement was 7.8 days ranging from 2 to 23 days. Average length of drain placement in infected drains was 13.3 days ranging from 11 to 15 days. There were 3 cases with positive CSF cultures (Staphylococcus haemolyticus and Staphylococcus epidermidis x 2). There were 2 cases with a CSF having a positive gram stain but failed to yield any bacterial growth on culture and did not meet predefined criteria. Conclusions. The c-EVD with prolonged antibiotics given for the duration of drain placement is not inferior to ac-EVD with pp-abx or ac-EVD with prolonged antibiotics for prevention of ventriculitis. The c-EVD with prolonged antibiotics is superior to c-EVD with pp-abx and conventional EVD without antibiotics for prevention of ventriculitis. Selection should include considerations for antibiotic stewardship and cost effectiveness. Future studies should also utilize clinical and CSF profile criteria in addition to positive CSF cultures for identifying ventriculitis to prevent line colonization from classification as ventriculitis in analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HER3 belongs to the human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) family which also includes HER1/EGFR/erbB1, HER2/erbB2, and HER4/erbB4. As a unique member of the HER family, HER3 lacks or has little intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity. It frequently co-expresses and forms heterodimers with other receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) in cancer cells to activate oncogenic signaling, especially the PI-3K/Akt pathway and Src kinase. Elevated expression of HER3 has been observed in a wide variety of human cancers and associates with a worse survival in cancer patients with solid tumors. Studies on the underlying mechanism implicate HER3 expression as a major cause of treatment failure in cancer therapy. Activation of HER3 signaling has also been shown to promote cancer metastasis. These data strongly support the notion that therapeutic inactivation of HER3 and/or its downstream signaling is required to overcome treatment resistance and improve the outcomes of cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cladribine (2CdA), a synthetic purine analog interfering with DNA synthesis, is a medication used to treat hairy cell leukemia (HCL) and B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Entinostat, a selective class I histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, shows antitumor activity in various human cancers, including hematological malignancies. The therapeutic potential of cladribine and entinostat against multiple myeloma (MM) remains unclear. Here we investigate the combinatorial effects of cladribine and entinostat within the range of their clinical achievable concentrations on MM cells. While either agent alone inhibited MM cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner, their combinations synergistically induced anti-proliferative/anti-survival effects on all MM cell lines (RPMI8226, U266, and MM1.R) tested. Further studies showed that the combinations of cladribine and entinostat as compared to either agent alone more potently induced mitotic catastrophe in the MM cells, and resulted in a marked increase of the cells at G1 phase associated with decrease of Cyclin D1 and E2F-1 expression and upregulation of p21waf−1. Apoptotic ELISA and western blot analyses revealed that the combinations of cladribine and entinostat exerted a much more profound activity to induce apoptosis and DNA damage response, evidenced by enhanced phosphorylation of histone H2A.X and the DNA repair enzymes Chk1 and Chk2. Collectively, our data demonstrate that the combinations of cladribine and entinostat exhibit potent activity to induce anti-proliferative/anti-survival effects on MM cells via induction of cell cycle G1 arrest, apoptosis, and DNA damage response. Regimens consisting of cladribine and/or entinostat may offer a new treatment option for patients with MM. Abbreviations: MM, multiple myeloma; HCL, hairy cell leukemia; HDAC, histone deacetylase; Ab, antibody; mAb, monoclonal Ab; FBS, fetal bovine serum; CI, combination index; PAGE, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; PARP, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase; MTS, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium,inner salt [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Neurocritical care patients are at high risk for stress-related upper gastrointestinal (UGI) bleeding. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the risks and benefits of stress ulcer prophylaxis (SUP) in this patient group.Methods: A systematic search of major electronic literature databases was conducted. Eligible studies were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in which researchers compared the effects of SUP (with proton pump inhibitors or histamine 2 receptor antagonists) with placebo or no prophylaxis in neurocritical care patients. The primary outcome was UGI bleeding, and secondary outcomes were all-cause mortality and nosocomial pneumonia. Study heterogeneity was sought and quantified. The results were reported as risk ratios/relative risks (RRs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs).Results: We included 8 RCTs comprising an aggregate of 829 neurocritical care patients. Among these trials, one study conducted in a non-intensive care unit setting that did not meet our inclusion criteria was ultimately included based on further evaluation. All studies were judged as having a high or unclear risk of bias. SUP was more effective than placebo or no prophylaxis at reducing UGI bleeding (random effects: RR 0.31; 95 % CI 0.20-0.47; P < 0.00001; I (2) = 45 %) and all-cause mortality (fixed effects: RR 0.70; 95 % CI 0.50-0.98; P = 0.04; I (2) = 0 %). There was no difference between SUP and placebo or no prophylaxis regarding nosocomial pneumonia (random effects: RR 1.14; 95 % CI 0.67-1.94; P = 0.62; I (2) = 42 %). The slight asymmetry of the funnel plots raised the concern of small trial bias, and apparent heterogeneity existed in participants, interventions, control treatments, and outcome measures.Conclusions: In neurocritical care patients, SUP seems to be more effective than placebo or no prophylaxis in preventing UGI bleeding and reducing all-cause mortality while not increasing the risk of nosocomial pneumonia. The robustness of this conclusion is limited by a lack of trials with a low risk of bias, sparse data, heterogeneity among trials, and a concern regarding small trial bias.Trial Registration: International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) identifier: CRD42015015802 . Date of registration: 6 Jan 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]