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Superhydrophobic TC4 Ti alloy is essential for economical use in modern machinery. Herein, a novel superhydrophobic pattern textured TC4 Ti alloy surface with a self-assembled molecular film was fabricated by an efficient nanosecond laser ablation (laser surface texturing (LST)) and a facile chemical modification method. Further, the transformation of the surface morphology and chemical composition was analysed. Upon adjusting the laser fluence, scanning velocity and scanning distance, the maximum water and saline contact angles of the laser surface textured and chemically treated surface reached 155.5 ±0.8° and 152.5 ±1.3°, respectively. The tribological behaviour of the patterned surfaces was investigated under dry-sliding and liquid-sliding conditions. High density textures exhibited the greatest potential for lubrication under water and saline lubrication conditions. In a dry environment, a scattered-line pattern textured surface also showed a friction reducing effect, similar to that under saline sliding conditions. Finally, the anti-wear mechanism was further explained considering the morphology and wettability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Osteoporosis is a leading public health problem that contributes to increasingly high rates of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures among older adults. This study was developed with the goal of assessing serum C1q/TNF-related protein-3 (CTRP3) levels in postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP) patients and exploring the correlations between these levels and PMOP severity. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A population-based cross-sectional study of old women with osteoporosis was conducted. All women underwent both clinical and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry examinations. Serum CTRP3, procollagen type I N propeptide (P1NP), and C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-1) concentrations in these patients were measured via ELISA. Bone tumor markers were additionally assessed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were utilized to assess the diagnostic performance of CTRP3 when identifying PMOP. RESULTS: This study included 54 PMOP patients, 62 patients with osteopenia, and 60 agematched patients without PMOP. Serum CTRP3 concentrations in PMOP patients were significantly lower than in the other two groups. Bone mineral density (BMD) was positively correlated with serum CTRP3 levels in all study participants, whereas it was negatively correlated with levels of P1NP and CTX-1. ROC analyses also suggested that reductions in serum CTRP3 levels may offer value as a diagnostic indicator of PMOP. CONCLUSIONS: Present data highlight a close relationship between CTRP3 and PMOP, with lower serum CTRP3 levels being closely associated with BMD, such that they may represent a protective marker for PMOP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To screen the targets of traditional Chinese medicine-derived potential plant molluscicides based on network pharmacology and explore the mechanisms of molluscicidal actions., Methods: The traditional Chinese medicines with molluscicidal actions were screened based on retrospective literature reviews, and their molluscicidal efficiency was summarized. The active ingredients and potential targets of traditional Chinese medicines were captured from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform, Unified Protein Database and literature mining using network pharmacology. The drug-active ingredient-target network was created using the software Cytoscape 3.7.2, and the key targets were subjected to Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis using the Metascape software., Results: A total of 27 types of snail control drugs derived from traditional Chinese medicines were screened from publications and classified into 14 categories. Network pharmacology identified 190 active ingredients, and the active ingredients with a high degree in the drug-active ingredient-target network included quercetin, linoleyl acetate, luteolin, beta-carotene, (24S)-ethylcholesta-5,22,25-trans-3beta-ol, fumarine and arctiin, with 181 corresponding potential targets screened. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis revealed that these targets were mainly located in 16 pathways, including the neuroactive ligand-receptor interactions, regulation of adipocyte lipolysis and adrenergic signal in myocardial cells., Conclusions: This study preliminarily demonstrates the multi-ingredient, multi-target and multi-pathway mechanisms of action of 27 molluscicides. The screened key ingredient may provide the basis for isolation, purification and pharmacological studies of molluscicides, and the screened key targets and key pathways may facilitate the illustration of mechanisms of actions of traditional Chinese medicine-derived molluscicides and development of novel green molluscicides.