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Ursolic acid (UA) is a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpenoid widely found in fruits and vegetables. It has been reported that UA has anti‐inflammatory effects. However, its efficacy and mechanism of action in the treatment of chronic prostatitis (CP) remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of UA treatment in CP and further explore the underlying mechanism. CP rat and pyroptosis cell models were established in vivo and in vitro, respectively. The efficacy of UA in inhibiting CP was evaluated via haematoxylin‐eosin (HE) staining and measurement of inflammatory cytokines. RNA sequencing and molecular docking were used to predict the therapeutic targets of UA in CP. The expression of pyroptosis‐related proteins was examined using various techniques, including immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and flow cytometry. UA significantly ameliorated pathological damage and reduced the levels of proinflammatory cytokines in the CP model rats. RNA sequencing analysis and molecular docking suggested that NLRP3, Caspase‐1, and GSDMD may be key targets. We also found that UA decreased ROS levels, alleviated oxidative stress, and inhibited p‐NF‐κB protein expression both in vivo and in vitro. UA improved pyroptosis morphology as indicated by electron microscope and inhibited the expression of the pyroptosis‐related proteins NLRP3, Caspase‐1, ASC, and GSDMD, reversed the levels of IL‐1β, IL‐18, and lactate dehydrogenase in vivo and in vitro. UA can mitigate CP by regulating the NLRP3 inflammasome‐mediated Caspase‐1/GSDMD pathway. Therefore, UA may be a potential for the treatment of CP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyurethane is the main matrix material of polymer damping materials, but the damping temperature range is narrow, the effective damping temperature range does not match the working temperature of the material, and the elastic modulus is sensitive to temperature during glass transition, which is not conducive to safe use in a wide temperature range. In this paper, the polyurethane gradient material with the hard segment content continuously changing along the length direction was designed and prepared by the reaction injection method. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) shows that the gradient structure greatly influences the comprehensive damping performance of polyurethane. While maintaining no significant decrease in mechanical properties, the gradient material extends the effective damping temperature range (TR) from 40.7°C (−32.3 ~ 8.4°C) for component A and 66.6°C (59.5 ~ 126.1°C) for component B to 139.5°C (−20.6 ~ 118.9°C). At the same time, the damping peak remains high (0.48), which is close to the higher damping peak of the B component of 0.56. The elastic modulus (E′) decreases slowly with the increase in temperature, which can better ensure the safety of the material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aim to study the inhibitory effect of alkaline serine protease (ASPNJ) on lymphocytic leukemia Jurkat cells and its related mechanism through examining the expression of membrane proteins or membrane‐associated proteins. MTT assay and trypan blue staining were used to detect the inhibitory effect of ASPNJ on the proliferation and growth of Jurkat cells. Wright‐Giemsa staining was used to observe the effect of ASPNJ on the morphology of Jurkat cells. The effect of ASPNJ on Jurkat cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. Two‐dimensional electrophoresis‐mass spectrometry (2‐DE‐MS) was used to detect and identify the differentially expressed proteins of Jurkat cells treated with ASPNJ (4 μg/mL, 3 h), of which three were selected and verified by Western blot. ASPNJ significantly inhibited the proliferation of leukemia cells (Raji, U937, and Jurkat), caused obvious morphological changes, and induced apoptosis of Jurkat cells. ASPNJ also increased the sensitivity of Jurkat cells to vincristine (VCR). Seven differentially expressed proteins were obtained through 2DE‐MS, of which Peroxiredoxin‐6 (PRDX6), Calcium‐binding protein (CHP1), and 40S ribosomal protein SA (RPSA) were validated. ASPNJ can cause significant toxic effects on Jurkat cells and enhance the effects of VCR. The mechanism of action of ASPNJ on Jurkat cells may be related to differentially expressed proteins such as PRDX6. This study provides a new experimental basis and direction for antileukemia research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) have great potential for large‐scale energy storage. Cellulose is an attractive material for sustainable separators, but some key issues still exist affecting its application. Herein, a cellulose‐based composite separator (CP@PPC) was prepared by immersion curing of cellulose‐based separators (CP) with poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC). With the assistance of PPC, the CP@PPC separator is able to operate the cell stably at high voltages (up to 4.95 V). The "pore‐hopping" ion transport mechanism in CP@PPC opens up extra Na+ migration paths, resulting in a high Na+ transference number (0.613). The separator can also tolerate folding, bending and extreme temperature under certain circumstances. Full cells with CP@PPC reveal one‐up capacity retention (96.97 %) at 2C after 500 cycles compared to cells with CP. The mechanism highlights the merits of electrolyte analogs in separator modification, making a rational design for durable devices in advanced energy storage systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2D Janus transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductor materials have attracted great interest for their potential applications. Because of the increased requirement for thermal management in 2D devices with single‐atom thickness, a fundamental understanding of interfacial thermal conduction (ITC) has emerging significance. In this work, the ITC of in‐plane heterostructures constructed using MoSSe and WSSe is reported. In addition to the interface connected normally by MoSSe and WSSe with the same type of chalcogen atoms are on the same side of left and right sections, inversional interface by rotation of 180° of WSSe is also considered, in which S atoms are on the opposite side of the left and right sections. Interestingly, the ITC in the normally connected heterostructure is found to be almost twice as much as that in the inversely connected heterostructure. The unusually large change in ITC is attributed to the bending curvature and additional discontinuity in the inversely connected heterostructure. Euler–Bernoulli beam model gives further insight into the origin of such interface bending. The findings offer the very first insight into the phonon transport in Janus heterostructures, and benefit thermal management of 2D devices based on Janus monolayers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thoracic aortic dissection (TAD) is an aortic disease associated with dysregulated extracellular matrix composition and de‐differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Growth Differentiation Factor 11 (GDF11) is a member of transforming growth factor β (TGF‐β) superfamily associated with cardiovascular diseases. The present study attempted to investigate the expression of GDF11 in TAD and its effects on aortic SMC phenotype transition. GDF11 level was found lower in the ascending thoracic aortas of TAD patients than healthy aortas. The mouse model of TAD was established by β‐aminopropionitrile monofumarate (BAPN) combined with angiotensin II (Ang II). The expression of GDF11 was also decreased in thoracic aortic tissues accompanied with increased inflammation, arteriectasis and elastin degradation in TAD mice. Administration of GDF11 mitigated these aortic lesions and improved the survival rate of mice. Exogenous GDF11 and adeno‐associated virus type 2 (AAV‐2)‐mediated GDF11 overexpression increased the expression of contractile proteins including ACTA2, SM22α and myosin heavy chain 11 (MYH11) and decreased synthetic markers including osteopontin and fibronectin 1 (FN1), indicating that GDF11 might inhibit SMC phenotype transition and maintain its contractile state. Moreover, GDF11 inhibited the production of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)‐2, 3, 9 in aortic SMCs. The canonical TGF‐β (Smad2/3) signalling was enhanced by GDF11, while its inhibition suppressed the inhibitory effects of GDF11 on SMC de‐differentiation and MMP production in vitro. Therefore, we demonstrate that GDF11 may contribute to TAD alleviation via inhibiting inflammation and MMP activity, and promoting the transition of aortic SMCs towards a contractile phenotype, which provides a therapeutic target for TAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigates interfacial thermal transport in phononic‐mismatched heterostructures that consists of pristine black phosphorene and its phononic crystal. It is found that the presence of the sub‐periodic structure results in reduced thermal conductivity in phononic crystals. As opposed to intuitive expectations, a slight temperature jump is observed at the interface of nanophononic heterostructures, which is only about 10% of that at conventional interfaces consisting of dissimilar materials. Consequently, contact thermal conductance in the nanophononic heterostructure is 10−30 times higher than that of mass‐mismatched interfaces in a comparative study. Moreover, in contrast to conventional heterostructures achieved by interfacing dissimilar materials, weak temperature dependence is observed in interfacial thermal conductance, and thermal rectification is sharply suppressed. These phenomena are well explained based on lattice dynamic insights. This work not only enhances the understanding of the fundamental physics of phonons transport across interface, but also facilitates the possible spectrum of application ranges from thermoelectrics, thermal management, to thermal cloak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging arbovirus with increasing prevalence in recent years. To reduce the risk of ZIKV transmission by transfusion, some mitigation strategies were recommended based on pathogen reduction technologies for blood products. In this study, we aimed to study the efficacy of several common pathogen reduction methods in the inactivation of ZIKV. The fresh frozen plasma and derivatives were spiked with a high titer of ZIKV or Sindbis virus (SINV). Viral titers and ZIKV RNA were measured before and after the inactivation treatment by methylene blue (MB), solvent/detergent (S/D), pasteurization, and low pH. The mean ZIKV infectivity titers in plasma and derivatives were 7.08 ± 0.14, 5.17 ± 0.14, 7.08 ± 0.14, and 5.80 ± 0.14 log10TCID50/mL, respectively before MB, S/D, pasteurization, and low pH inactivation. We found no detectable ZIKV RNA after five successive passages of inoculation on host cells, indicating there is no infectivity after inactivation. Similar inactivation results were observed for SINV. In conclusion, we achieved robust ZIKV inactivation through the four inactivation procedures in several blood products. These findings suggest that the pathogen reduction technologies commonly applied in plasma and derivatives have the capacity to mitigate the risk of ZIKV transmission by transfusion. Highlight: ZIKV can be inactivated sufficiently by methylene blue, solvent/detergent, pasteurization, and low pH treatment. These application of pathogen reduction technologies can mitigate the concerns of transfusion caused by ZIKV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Chinese medicine formulation, tumour‐shrinking decoction (TSD, FM1523), which consists of 15 natural medicines, is used for uterine fibroids (UFs) therapy and possesses excellent clinical therapeutic effect. Objective: To develop a sensitive and validated analytical method for the simultaneous quantification of four crucial bioactive compounds including isorhamnetin‐3‐O‐neohesperidoside, curcumin, peimine and tetrahydropalmatine in the principal formulation of this decoction. Methods: An ultra‐performance liquid chromatography coupled tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC‐MS/MS) with an electrospray ionisation (ESI) source in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was conducted to investigate these bioactive compounds in the TSD. The chromatographic separation was performed on a C18 column when the flow rate was adjusted at 0.2 mL/min with gradient elution of acetonitrile–water with 0.1% formic acid. Accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) method with higher extraction efficiency was employed for TSD sample pre‐treatment. Results: The linearity, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were determined for this analytical method. The mean recoveries of the compounds were determined between 100.23% and 104.02% with satisfactory relative standard deviation (RSD) in the ranges of 2.65% to 3.81%. The precision was evaluated by intra‐day and inter‐day tests, which revealed RSD within the ranges of 1.21% to 2.14% and 1.24% to 2.32%, respectively. Conclusion: The bioactive compounds of TSD samples were successfully quantified via UPLC‐MS/MS with MRM mode. This study could help to evaluate the pharmacokinetic study of TSD during clinical applications and present a facile strategy for quantifying bioactive compounds in traditional Chinese Medicine decoction. Tumor‐Shrinking Decoction (TSD, FM1523) which consists of fifteen natural medicines possessed excellent clinical therapeutic effect in Uterine Fibroids (UFs) therapy. The simultaneous quantification of bioactive compounds including isorhamnetin‐3‐O‐neohesperidoside, curcumin, peimine and tetrahydropalmatine in principal drug of this prescription was conducted via UPLC‐MS/MS with MRM mode. The method was validated and possessed of satisfactory results. This study can help to evaluate the pharmacokinetic study of TSD during clinical applications and present a facile strategy to detect bioactive compounds in TCMs decoction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dots (CDs) based nanomaterials have great potential in a wide range of biomedical areas, including bioimaging, biosensor, and tissue engineering. Thus, it is highly desired to develop novel cost‐effective, eco‐friendly and easy to scale‐up fabrication for CDs based nanomaterials for biomedical applications. Herein, we developed a facile synthesis of CDs by a one‐step hydrothermal method. The synthesized CDs showed stable photoluminescence, high‐resolution imaging of live cells and low cytotoxicity. Furthermore, the CDs were prepared to electrospun nanofiber mats (CDs‐NFMs), where enough carboxylic acid moieties and hydroxyls on the surface of the nanofibers, leading to excellent biocompatibility and fluorescence property. More importantly, cell proliferation on the CDs‐NFMs was much better than that on NFMs without CDs; moreover, CDs‐NFMs could also guide cells growth along the nanofibers and enhance the cellular activities, which indicated that the functional groups on the surface of the CDs play a critical role in supporting cellular activities. Combining with excellent fluorescence property, we anticipate that this finding greatly enhances great potential applications of CDs for cell culture, tissue engineering as well as other biomedical applications. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:73–80, 2018. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Melatonin, a circadian molecule secreted by the pineal gland, confers a protective role against cardiac hypertrophy induced by hyperthyroidism, chronic hypoxia, and isoproterenol. However, its role against pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy and the underlying mechanisms remains elusive. In this study, we investigated the pharmacological effects of melatonin on pathological cardiac hypertrophy induced by transverse aortic constriction ( TAC). Male C57 BL/6 mice underwent TAC or sham surgery at day 0 and were then treated with melatonin (20 mg/kg/day, via drinking water) for 4 or 8 weeks. The 8-week survival rate following TAC surgery was significantly increased by melatonin. Melatonin treatment for 8 weeks markedly ameliorated cardiac hypertrophy. Compared with the TAC group, melatonin treatment for both 4 and 8 weeks reduced pulmonary congestion, upregulated the expression level of α-myosin heavy chain, downregulated the expression level of β-myosin heavy chain and atrial natriuretic peptide, and attenuated the degree of cardiac fibrosis. In addition, melatonin treatment slowed the deterioration of cardiac contractile function caused by pressure overload. These effects of melatonin were accompanied by a significant upregulation in the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma co-activator-1 beta ( PGC-1β) and the inhibition of oxidative stress. In vitro studies showed that melatonin also protects against angiotensin II-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and oxidative stress, which were largely abolished by knocking down the expression of PGC-1β using small interfering RNA. In summary, our results demonstrate that melatonin protects against pathological cardiac hypertrophy induced by pressure overload through activating PGC-1β. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sirtuins are a family of highly evolutionarily conserved nicotinamide adenine nucleotide-dependent histone deacetylases. Sirtuin-3 ( SIRT3) is a member of the sirtuin family that is localized primarily to the mitochondria and protects against oxidative stress-related diseases, including myocardial ischemia/reperfusion ( MI/R) injury. Melatonin has a favorable effect in ameliorating MI/R injury. We hypothesized that melatonin protects against MI/R injury by activating the SIRT3 signaling pathway. In this study, mice were pretreated with or without a selective SIRT3 inhibitor and then subjected to MI/R operation. Melatonin was administered intraperitoneally (20 mg/kg) 10 minutes before reperfusion. Melatonin treatment improved postischemic cardiac contractile function, decreased infarct size, diminished lactate dehydrogenase release, reduced the apoptotic index, and ameliorated oxidative damage. Notably, MI/R induced a significant decrease in myocardial SIRT3 expression and activity, whereas the melatonin treatment upregulated SIRT3 expression and activity, and thus decreased the acetylation of superoxide dismutase 2 ( SOD2). In addition, melatonin increased Bcl-2 expression and decreased Bax, Caspase-3, and cleaved Caspase-3 levels in response to MI/R. However, the cardioprotective effects of melatonin were largely abolished by the selective SIRT3 inhibitor 3-(1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)pyridine (3- TYP), suggesting that SIRT3 plays an essential role in mediating the cardioprotective effects of melatonin. In vitro studies confirmed that melatonin also protected H9c2 cells against simulated ischemia/reperfusion injury ( SIR) by attenuating oxidative stress and apoptosis, while SIRT3-targeted si RNA diminished these effects. Taken together, our results demonstrate for the first time that melatonin treatment ameliorates MI/R injury by reducing oxidative stress and apoptosis via activating the SIRT3 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: Cellulose; Electrolyte Analogue; Ion Transport; Separator; Sodium-Ion Battery EN Cellulose Electrolyte Analogue Ion Transport Separator Sodium-Ion Battery 1 1 1 03/29/23 20230403 NES 230403 B The application of cellulose separators b in sodium-ion batteries faces several challenges. Cellulose, Electrolyte Analogue, Ion Transport, Separator, Sodium-Ion Battery Inside Back Cover: "Pore-Hopping" Ion Transport in Cellulose-Based Separator Towards High-Performance Sodium-Ion Batteries (Angew. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: Cellulose; Electrolyte Analogue; Ion Transport; Separator; Sodium-Ion Battery EN Cellulose Electrolyte Analogue Ion Transport Separator Sodium-Ion Battery 1 1 1 03/29/23 20230403 NES 230403 B The application of cellulose separators b in sodium-ion batteries faces several challenges. In their Research Article (e202300258), Xing-Long Wu and co-workers prepare a composite separator (CP@PPC) using cellulose paper (CP) cured by impregnation with polypropylene carbonate (PPC). Cellulose, Electrolyte Analogue, Ion Transport, Separator, Sodium-Ion Battery. [Extracted from the article]

In the present study, we found that ZBTB20, a member of the POK (POZ and Krüppel) family of transcriptional repressors, was significantly up-regulated in lung cancer tissues, compared with adjacent normal tissues. Our in vitro studies further found that ZBTB20 overexpression promoted, while its inhibition using small interfering RNA suppressed cell proliferation. Consistently, key regulators in cell-cycle progression, such as Cyclin D1, Cyclin E, P21 and P27, were also regulated by ZBTB20. At the molecular level, we further revealed that FoxO1, a tumor suppressor in multiple human cancers, was transcriptionally repressed by ZBTB20. Therefore, our results highlight an important role for ZBTB20 in controlling NSCLC development, which might be helpful to identify potential therapeutic targets for its treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the [Rh]oad again: A series of optically pure allylic alcohols is obtained through the Rh/BINAP ‐ catalyzed redox isomerization of racemic allylic alcohols. An improved system involves the use of cationic rhodium and a noncoordinating solvENt, in which aromatic and aliphatic allylic alcohols are effectively resolved with kf/ks (kf=rate of fast reaction, ks=rate of slow reaction) values up to 24. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter proposes a dual-band divide-by-2 transformer-coupled quadrature injection-locked frequency divider (QILFD).The QILFD is composed of a transformer-coupled quadrature voltage controlled oscillator and two injection MOSFETs. The CMOS QILFD has been implemented with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacture Company (TSMC) 0.18 μm CMOS technology, and the core power consumption is 3.997 mW at the supply voltage of 0.7 V. The tank impedance of the QILFD shows a dual resonance behavior, which leads to a dual-band locking range at a fixed bias condition. At the injection input power of 3 dBm, the low-band and high-band divide-by-2 locking ranges are from 6.90 to 8.56 GHz and 9.52 to 12.10 GHz, respectively. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26074 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An LC-tank oscillator-based divide-by-3 injection locked frequency divider (ILFD) is proposed and the series-tuned Armstrong ILFD were implemented in the 0.35 μm SiGe 3P3M BiCMOS technology. Measurement results show that when the supply voltage Vdd is biased at 1.2 V, the free-running oscillation frequency of the ILFD is tunable from 1.19 GHz to 1.0 GHz, and at the incident power of 0 dBm, the operation locking range is about 0.65 GHz, from the incident frequency 3.03–3.68 GHz. The core power consumption is 2.05 mW at Vdd = 1.2 V. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 2239–2242, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24517 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "An Enantioselective Approach to 4-O-Protected-2-cyclopentene-l,4-diol Derivatives via a Rhodium-Catalyzed Redox-Isomerization Reaction" by K. Ren and colleagues is presented.

The article highlights the chemical equations involved in the ruthenium-catalyzed oxidation of allyl alcohols with intermolecular hydrogen transfer.