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The phase transition of LaAlO 3 in heavy metal oxide lead-tellurite glass was obtained and verified, along with its influence on glass structure, magnetic, and Faraday rotation properties were characterized through various techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray neutron diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron microscopy, vibrating-sample magnetometer, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Cubic LaAlO 3 nanocrystals were synthesized by one-pot hydrothermal technique and doped at 1, 5, 10, and 15 mol% into glasses, respectively. The LaAlO 3 nanocrystals in as-casted glasses were characterized to be around 17 nm in cubic phase belonging to the Pm3m space group. After crystallization treatment at 360 °C for 2 h, cubic LaAlO 3 phases were changed to 14–27 nm-rhombohedral phases due to the temperature-induced viscosity and strain in the melt. The phase transition yielded great modification to the glass structure through converting TeO 4 →TeO 3 , AlO 6 →AlO 4, BO 4 →BO 3 , and producing non-bridging oxygen. The LaAlO 3 doping enhanced the diamagnetism of as-casted glasses, but after phase transition, the weak diamagnetic nature was changed to strong ferromagnetism and the magnetization significantly increased with the LaAlO 3 doping amount (M s =55 emu/g). The mechanism behind magnetic property enhancement was discussed through 27Al NMR and EPR of glasses. The Verdet constant of glass with 10% LaAlO 3 was greatly improved to 175 rad/ T.m at 633 nm which is much higher than the documented values in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arabinogalactan (AG), a biologically active substance found abundantly in plants, is of significant interest in plant physiology due to its unique physicochemical properties. Yariv reagent, widely utilized in AG-II related applications, forms insoluble precipitates when bound to AG-II. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the synthesis methods, physicochemical properties, and various dissociation methods of the Yariv reagent to enhance its utility in AG-II studies. Furthermore, the review explores the binding mechanisms and applications of the Yariv reagent, highlighting the advancements in studying the Yariv-AG complex in plant physiology. The aim of this review is to inspire new research ideas and foster novel applications of the Yariv reagent from synthesis to implementation. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel polyketide was isolated from the deep-sea derived fungus Aspergillus sp. SCSIO 41024. • Extensive NMR spectroscopic analysis and X-ray crystallography data were used to elucidate the new structure. • Kojic acid (3) and griseofamine A (9) exhibited weak antibacterial activities. Asperpentenone A (1), a novel polyketide with a rare cyclopentenone-tetrahydrofuran moiety, was isolated along with eight known compounds (2 – 9) from the deep-sea derived fungus Aspergillus sp. SCSIO 41024. Their structures including absolute configurations were determined by extensive analysis of their spectroscopic analysis and X-ray crystallography. Biological evaluation results revealed that kojic acid (3) showed weak antibacterial activities against Bacillus thuringiensis and Acinetobacter baumannii with MIC values of 32 and 128 μ g/mL, respectively. Furthermore, griseofamine A (9) exhibited weak antibacterial activity with an MIC value of 64 μ g/mL against Escherichia coli. The results of antibacterial experiments and especially the large yield of kojic acid (3) indicated that kojic acid might represent a candidate precursor for the development of antimicrobial agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapamycin has great potential in the antitumor application, but its therapeutic effect is seriously affected by poor water solubility, targeting ability, and low bioavailability. Here, we constructed a novel composite nanomaterial with PCN-224 as a drug carrier and loaded rapamycin, named R@BP@HA. The nanoplate not only improves targeting, but also synergizes rapamycin with PCN-224 to effectively promote tumor cell apoptosis, which subsequently causes immunogenic cell death (ICD), and shows strong therapeutic effect in 4T1 breast cancer model. The treatment effect depends on three main points:(i)Proapoptotic effect of rapamycin on tumor cells;(ii)ROS production by PCN-224-mediated photodynamic therapy;(iii)ICD induced DC maturation, increased immune response and promoted T cell proliferation and differentiation. This nanoplate offers potential antitumor efficacy in combination with chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, and immunotherapy. Image: Rapamycin was self-assembled into a water-soluble nanoparticle by BSA, and then loaded onto PCN-224. The R@BP@HA was constructed with HA modification on the surface and then entered the tumor tissue through passive EPR targeting and active HA targeting. Under the action of 660 nm laser, rapamycin was released to the tumor site, and PCN-224 produced ROS. The two synergies effectively killed tumor cells. Dead tumor cells induce ICD, increase the expression level of DAMPs, and further induce DC maturation. DC can effectively present antigens to T cells, promote the proliferation and activation of T cells, and effectively promote the body's immune response. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image-based 3D reconstruction from a single-view image is critical and fundamental in many areas and can be integrated into many applications to provide useful functions. However, there are several crucial difficulties and challenges in accomplishing this process. For example, the issues of self-occlusion and lack of object information in a different perspective of viewing. Thus, the quality of the generated 3D shape from a single-view image may not be satisfactory and robust, hence affecting its feasibility in further applications. Conventionally, the 3D reconstruction process requires multiple input images such that the context of the target object can be fully conveyed. In this paper, we propose a new and simple, yet powerful framework that improves the quality of the generated point cloud from a single-view image. Concretely, the significant representatives are first discovered and selected by adopting a network architecture that contains both encoder and decoder models. Finally, the resultant point clouds are obtained by extracting the mean shape using the methods of Chamfer Distance (CD), Earth Mover's Distance (EMD), and Self-Organizing Map (SOM). As a result, the proposed algorithm is capable to demonstrate its robustness and effectiveness when compared to state-of-the-art 3D reconstruction methods. The best mean loss exhibited is 4.45 when evaluated on 12 classes in the ShapeNetCoreV1 dataset. In addition, qualitative results are presented to further verify the reliability of the proposed method. • Proposal of single RGB image as the input for 3D point cloud reconstruction. • The utilization of the mean shape extractor to improve the quality of 3D modeling. • Three different mean shape extraction methods are employed for framework validation. • The effectiveness of each mean shape is evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. • Compelling CD and EMD results are achieved when tested in the ShapeNetCore dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magneto-optical materials exhibiting low/no temperature-dependent Faraday rotation, high magnetization and good thermal/mechanical stability are required in various magneto-optical sensing and photonic applications. For the first time, we employed the rare earth Lu3+ and Sc3+ ions to strengthen the structure and enhance magnetic& magneto-optical properties of heavy metal oxide diamagnetic glasses. Experimental results revealed that the doping of Lu 2 O 3 and Sc 2 O 3 not only significantly increased the UV-VIS transmittance, improved the thermal stability, Vicker's hardness and tensile strength, but also remarkably increased the magnetic susceptibility and Verdet constant. The reasons were analyzed through the XRD, FT-IR, Raman spectra, oxygen chemical bonds, EPR of Lu 2 O 3 and Sc 2 O 3 crystal fields and affinity to oxygen. Promising Faraday rotating glass with Verdet constant of 76.32 rad/Tm at 633 nm, thermal stability KH = 0.817, very low thermal expansion coefficient (14.04 × 10−6 K−1) and high diamagnetic susceptibility of 9.25 × 10−6 emu/g has obtained which has potential merits for photonics and MO devices applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steamed Polygonatum cyrtonema has been commonly used clinically for its gaining effect, whose main active ingredient is a polysaccharide. A water-soluble polysaccharide named PSP-W-1 was isolated from steamed Polygonatum cyrtonema. PSP-W-1 was characterized as a galactan having a backbone consisting predominately of 1,4-β-linked Gal p branched at the C-6 position by T-β-linked Gal p with a molecular weight of 14.4 kDa. PSP-W-1 could inhibit the overproduction of inflammatory factors and inflammatory mediators (iNOS, IL-6, COX-2) in dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis mice. Oral administration of PSP-W-1 dramatically alleviated colonic pathological damage, repaired the intestinal barrier (occludin and ZO-1) and regulated the intestinal microbiota by increasing the abundance of norank_f_ Muribaculaceae , Lactobacillus and norank_f_norank_o_ Clostridia UCG-014, while decreasing the abundance of Bacteroides and Escherichia - Shigella to alleviate colitis symptoms. Overall, our findings suggest that PSP-W-1 might be a therapeutic option for both the prevention and treatment of colitis. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, genetic algorithm and differential evolution were used to optimize the modeling parameters of least square support vector machine, and GA-LSSVM and DE-LSSVM models were established. The comparison with GS-LSSVM shows the feasibility of genetic algorithm and differential evolution. The results show that the GA-LSSVM and DE-LSSVM models have better prediction accuracy than the GS-LSSVM model. • FT-NIR calibration model are established by kernel LSSVM with parameter optimization. • LSSVM parameters are optimized by Genetic Algorithm and Differential Evolution. • GA-LSSVM and DE-LSSVM are self-adaptive machine learning methods. • The optimal GA- and DE- LSSVM models are applicable for FT-NIR analysis of berberine. Least square support vector machine (LSSVM) is a prevalent machine learning method for near infrared calibration. The chemometric models were established by LSSVM for Fourier transform near infrared (FT-NIR) spectral analysis to determine the content of berberine in Coptidis Rhizoma samples. In order to improve the model prediction ability, LSSVM parameters need to be optimized by using some evolution methods. In this paper, genetic algorithm (GA) and differential evolution (DE) were applied for searching the optimal LSSVM parameters. In comparison with grid search, the GA- and DE-optimized models were validated to have appreciate enhancement for the FT-NIR calibrations. The model performance was systematically assessed by the correlation coefficient of test (R T), the root mean square error of test (RMSET), and the relative standard deviation of test (RSD T). For the GA-optimized LSSVM model, the R T , RMSET and RSD T were obtained as 0.900, 0.218 (%) and 9.112, respectively; while for the DE-optimized model, they were observed as 0.904, 0.215 (%) and 8.859, respectively. These results are more preferable than those of the grid searched LSSVM model. Furthermore, the experiments show that DE has fast convergence speed for parameter optimization. Thus we concluded that the evolutional methods (GA and DE) are feasible to optimize the LSSVM parameters in FT-NIR prediction on berberine content. It is expected that GA and DE can be utilized for model improvement in other near infrared applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes our medicinal chemistry efforts on 7-(cyclopentyloxy)-6-methoxy1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline scaffold: design, synthesis and biological evaluation using conformational restriction approach and bioisosteric replacement strategy. Biological data revealed that the majority of the synthesized compounds of this series displayed moderate to potent inhibitory activity against PDE4B and strong inhibition of LPS-induced TNF α release. Among them, compound 19 exhibited the strongest inhibition against PDE4B with an IC 50 of 0.88 µM and 21 times more potent selectivity toward PDE4B over PDE4D when compared to rolipram. A primary structure-activity relationship study showed that the attachment of CH 3 O group or CF 3 O group to the phenyl ring at the para- position was helpful to enhance the inhibitory activity against PDE4B. Moreover, sulfonamide group played a key role in improving the inhibitory activity against PDE4B and subtype selectivity. In addition, the attachment of the additional rigid substituents at the C-3 position of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline ring was favored to subtype selectivity, which was consistent well with the observed docking simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pollen of Typha angustifolia L. decoction was clinically used to treat hyperlipidemia in China. A pectin polysaccharide (PTPS-2-2) was obtained from T. angustifolia pollen through water extraction, ion-exchange chromatography, and gel chromatography. Structural characterization showed that PTPS-2-2 had a molecular weight of 54 kDa and was composed of rhamnose, arabinose, xylose, galactose, and galacturonic acid with a molar ratio of 11.5: 36.5: 4.1: 36.7: 11.2. PTPS-2-2 consisted of rhamnogalacturonan I (RG-I) and arabinogalactan II (AG-II) domains. Its backbone was predominantly composed of →4-α-D-Gal p A-(1 → 2)-α-L-Rha p -(1→, with branches of 1,3-Gal p , 1,6-Gal p , 1,3,6-Gal p , T-Ara f , 1.5-Ara f and T-Xyl p , connected to the 4-position of 1,2-Rha p and the 3-position of 1,4-Gal p A. The inhibitory effect of PTPS-2-2 on lipid accumulation was studied in vitro, using L02 cells induced by oleic acid. This experiment shows that PTPS-2-2 treatment at 100–400 μg/mL dose-dependently reduce cellular triglycerides (TG), cholesterol (TC), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, while elevated superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels. This indicated that PTPS-2-2 potentially ameliorated oleic acid-induced hepatic steatosis by inhibiting lipid accumulation and oxidative stress. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An arabinogalactan (PTPS-1-2) was isolated and characterized from Pollen Typhae, and its potential antitumor effects on activating macrophages to produce immunomodulatory factors and promoting apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells were investigated. Structural characterization showed that PTPS-1-2 had a molecular weight of 59 kDa and was composed of rhamnose, arabinose, glucuronic acid, galactose, and galacturonic acid with a molar ratio of 7.6: 17.1: 6.5: 61.4: 7.4. Its backbone was predominantly composed of T-β-D-Gal p , 1,3-β-D-Gal p , 1,6-β-D-Gal p , 1,3,6-β-D-Gal p , 1,4-α-D-Gal p A, 1,2-α-L-Rha p, additionally, branches contained 1,5-α-L-Ara f , T-α-L-Ara f , T-β-D-4-OMe-Glc p A, T-β-D-Glc p A and T-α-L-Rha p. PTPS-1-2 activated RAW264.7 cell by triggering the NF-kB signaling pathway and M1 macrophage polarization. Furthermore, the conditioned medium (CM) of Mφ pretreated with PTPS-1-2 exerted marked antitumor effects by inhibiting RKO cell proliferation and suppressing cell colony formation. Collectively, our findings suggested that PTPS-1-2 might be a therapeutic option for the prevention and treatment of tumors. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the dominant cause of end-stage renal disease which is characterized by extracellular matrix accumulation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) in regulating renal fibrosis and autophagy in DN. Streptozotocin (STZ) was administered to heterozygous ATF4 knockout (KO) and wild-type (WT) mice via an intraperitoneal injection to induce DN. NRK-52E cells were cultured in high glucose to mimic diabetic pathological. qRT-PCR, western blot, immunofluorescence, histology and electron microscopic analysis were performed. The autophagy flux was observed by tandem mRFP-GFP-LC3 fluorescence microscopy. DN mice experienced severe renal injury and fibrosis and showed increased expression of ATF4 and inhibition of autophagy in kidney tissues. We found that STZ-induced ATF4 KO mice showed significant improvement in urinary albumin, serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen and the pathological changes of renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis compared with STZ-induced WT mice. Furthermore, inhibition of ATF4 could restore autophagy in DN mice. Similar results were shown in vitro. Overexpression of ATF4 in NRK-52E cells cultured in high glucose condition suppressed autophagy and upregulated Collagen type 4 (Col-IV) expression, while inhibition of ATF4 could increase the number of the autophagosomes, improve autophagic flux and decrease Col-IV level. Our study provided the evidence of a crucial role for ATF4 in inhibiting autophagy against diabetic kidney damage. Suppression of ATF4 may be an effective therapy in restraining renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis in DN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: Although emerging evidence has shown that the deregulation of micro-ribonucleic acid (RNA) biogenesis machinery is involved in various human malignancies, this role has not been investigated in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). This study aims to determine whether Dicer, a key enzyme responsible for biogenesis of microRNA, is deregulated in ccRCC. The biological roles of Dicer in vitro are also determined. Materials and methods: The expression of Dicer at messenger RNA and protein levels was detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot, respectively, in human kidney tubule epithelial cell line, nonmetastatic 786-O ccRCC cell line, and metastatic ACHN ccRCC cell line, as well as in 42 cases of ccRCC surgical specimens including 14 cases with distant metastasis and their corresponding adjacent normal renal tissues. Dicer expression levels in specimens were also measured by immunohistochemical staining. Knockdown of Dicer expression in 786-O and ACHN ccRCC cell lines was achieved by transfecting short interfering RNA against Dicer. The effects of Dicer on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were detected by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium, inner salt (MTS) assay, flow cytometric analyses, and Boyden chamber Transwell assay, respectively. Results: Compared with human kidney tubule epithelial cell line, Dicer expression levels were significantly down-regulated in 786-O and ACHN ccRCC cell lines, with the metastatic ACHN ccRCC cell line having even lower levels. Meanwhile, Dicer expression levels were significantly down-regulated in ccRCC surgical specimens compared with adjacent normal renal tissues, with the metastatic ones further reduced, and Dicer messenger RNA levels were significantly correlated with overall tumor-node-metastasis stage of ccRCC. In vitro, the knockdown of Dicer significantly promoted cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Conclusions: Reduced expression of Dicer may play a role in the tumorigenesis of ccRCC and further decline may be associated with distant metastasis of ccRCC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]