Search

Women with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) may be more vulnerable to a variety of health risks. To seek a new method to treat the disease, the effects of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) on promoting repair of ovarian injury in female SD rats induced by 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide (VCD) were explored in this research. A total of 24 female SD rats were subjected to intraperitoneal injection of VCD to induce POI. Successful modeling was achieved in 22 rats, which were then randomized into VCD + LIPUS group (n = 13) and VCD group (n = 9). The control group (n = 5) was injected with equal normal saline. Hematoxylin and eosin staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Western blot analysis, scanning electron microscope, immunohistochemistry, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end labeling assay were applied to detect the results. The results indicated that rats in the VCD group showed disorder in the estrous cycle, the number of atresia follicles and apoptosis granulosa cells increased (p < .05). After the LIPUS treatment, the estrous cycle recovered, the number of follicles increased (p < .05), the level of E2 and anti-Müllerian hormone enhanced (p < .05), and the follicle-stimulating hormone decreased (p < .05). The expression of NF-κB p65, TNFα, Bax, ATF4, and caspase-3 in ovarian tissue was significantly decreased (p < .05). These findings showed that LIPUS could promote the repair of the VCD-induced ovarian damage in SD rats, which has the potential to be further applied in the clinic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on effects of the deep surrounding rock temperature (Tsr) on the oxidation properties of mined coal, a thermodynamic experimental system for loaded coal oxidation is employed to examine the oxidation properties of readily oxidizable raw coal samples at various Tsrs and comparatively analyze the patterns of change in the oxygen (O2) consumption rate and the carbon monoxide (CO) concentration (CCO) with Tsr. The infrared (IR) spectra of unloaded coal samples oxidized at various Tsrs were separately fitted to Gaussian curves and Lorentzian curves by using the IR analysis software OMNIC. The following experimental results indicate that Tsr significantly affects the oxidation properties of the coal. The initial Tsr is higher and the rate of increase in the coal temperature is faster during the early stage of oxidation, and the coal–O2 complex effect is higher and the rate of consumption of O2 by coal is higher. The CCO produced by each coal sample continuously increased as Tsr increased. The amount of CO that was produced slowly and linearly increased as Tsr increased during the early stage of oxidation, and it approximately exponentially increases as Tsr increased during the later stage of oxidation. Additionally, the amount of CCO produced is increased with the increase in initial Tsr during the coal oxidation process. By using Fourier-transform IR (FTIR) spectroscopy, microstructural analysis of oxidized coal samples reveals that the characteristics of dynamic change in the micro-active groups (e.g. hydroxyl groups, O-containing functional groups and aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons) of unloaded coal samples at various Tsrs, and it also reasonably determines the micro-mechanism of the oxidation properties of unloaded coal samples at various Tsrs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the effect of chemical composite additives (CCAs) on the heat release characteristics of coal oxidation spontaneous combustion, this paper develops a CCA comprising multiple chemical reagents that is formulated into different concentrations and used to treat coal samples. Microcalorimetry technology with high precision and high sensitivity was used in this experimental research. The heat release parameters of the oxidation of different treated coal samples were obtained and compared by varying the heating rate. The experimental results show that the general trend for coal is first absorbing heat and then releasing heat with increasing temperature, and there is a "step-like" trend in the heat releasing stage. For the same heating rate, water treatment and CCA treatment delay the temperature increase in the coal in the heat absorbing stage, and in the heat releasing stage, water treatment increases the heat release rate and maximum heat flow. CCA treatment decreases the heat release parameters value of the oxidation of coal, and the effect is increased with the increasing CCA concentration. The thermal analysis kinetics method was used to study the coal oxidation reaction. CCA treatment can increase the activation energy of coal, increase the difficulty of reaction process and reduce the heat release rate, which has an inhibitory effect on the spontaneous combustion of coal. Increasing the heating rate can accelerate the reaction rate of the system, resulting in an increase in the spontaneous combustion tendency of coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helicobacter pylori infection is a major etiological factor in gastric diseases. However, clinical antibiotic therapy for H. pylori is limited by continuously decreased therapeutic efficacy and side effects to symbiotic bacteria. Herein, we develop an in vivo activatable pH-responsive graphitic nanozyme, PtCo@Graphene (PtCo@G), for selective treatment of H. pylori. Such nanozymes can resist gastric acid corrosion, exhibit oxidase-like activity to stably generate reactive oxygen species only in acidic gastric milieu and demonstrate superior selective bactericidal property. C18-PEGn-Benzeneboronic acid molecules are modified on PtCo@G, improving its targeting capability. Under acidic gastric pH, graphitic nanozymes show notable bactericidal activity toward H. pylori, while no bacterial killing is observed under intestinal conditions. In mouse model, high antibacterial capability toward H. pylori and negligible side effects toward normal tissues and symbiotic bacteria are achieved. Graphitic nanozyme displays the desired enzyme-like activities at corresponding physiological sites and may address critical issues in clinical treatment of H. pylori infections. Helicobacter pylori is a major cause of gastric diseases, but the standard therapy is limited by continuously decreased therapeutic efficacy and side effects to symbiotic bacteria. Here, the authors develop a pH-responsive graphitic nanozyme that is active under low pH gastric conditions, but inactive in intestines, for selective treatment of H. pylori infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial biofilm infection is perplexing people's life. Systemic administration of antibiotics usually causes adverse effects and bacterial resistance. How to make antibacterial agents quickly penetrate and eradicate the biofilm without adverse effects is an urgent problem. Here, polyamine-functionalized carbon quantum dots (CQDs), abbreviated as CQD600, CQD1w and CQD2.5w, are synthesized by a simple hydrothermal treatment of citric acid and branched polyethyleneimine (bPEI) with different molecular weight (MW). It is found that the antibacterial activity is promoted with high MW of bPEI, which is due to the protonated amines on the surface of the CQDs. Moreover, in terms of eradicating mature Staphylococcus aureus biofilm, CQD2.5w possesses significantly higher activity than CQD600 and CQD1w because of stronger electrostatic interactions and longer surface coronas. Additionally, the cytotoxicity test exhibits the L929 cells can keep at high survival rates even treated with 500 µg mL−1 CQDs for 3 days. In this study, the surface chemistry related to antibacterial activity and low cytotoxicity give the chance in designing and developing better CQDs for biofilm infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates actuator fault detection and isolation for discrete-time linear descriptor systems. We propose a novel fault detection and isolation scheme based on a bank of H − / L ∞ fault detection observers (FDOs). Under the assumption that the disturbances are unknown but bounded, L ∞ analysis is used to attenuate the effects of disturbances. Meanwhile, the FDO is designed to be sensitive to the fault via considering the H − performance index in finite frequency domain. The design conditions of the proposed FDO are converted into solving a set of linear matrix inequalities. Furthermore, the residual evaluation based on a set-membership approach is proposed to reduce conservatism. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgrounds: Cancer-related mortality in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) is predominantly caused by development of colorectal liver metastases (CLMs). How to screen the sensitive chemotherapy and targeted therapy is the key element to improve the prognosis of CLMs patients. The study aims to develop patient-derived organoids-based xenografted liver metastases (PDOX-LM) model of CRC, to recapitulate the clinical drug response.Methods: We transplanted human CRC primary tumor derived organoids in murine spleen to obtain xenografted liver metastases in murine liver. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining, whole-exome and RNA sequencing, and drug response testing were utilized to identify the homogeneity in biological and genetic characteristics, and drug response between the PDOX-LM models and donor liver metastases.Results: We successfully established PDOX-LM models from patients with CLMs. IHC staining showed that positive expression of CEA, Ki67, VEGF, FGFR2 in donor liver metastases were also well preserved in matched xenografted liver metastases. Whole-exon sequencing and transcriptome analysis showed that both xenografted and donor liver metastases were highly concordant in somatic variants (≥ 0.90 frequency of concordance) and co-expression of driver genes (Pearson's correlation coefficient reach up to 0.99, P = 0.001). Furthermore, drug response testing showed that the PDOX-LM models can closely recapitulated the clinical response to mFOLFOX6 regiments.Conclusions: This PDOX-LM model provides a more convenient and informative platform for preclinical testing of individual tumors by retaining the histologic and genetic features of donor liver metastases. This technology holds great promise to predict treatment sensitivity for patients with CLMs undergoing chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Quick startup of denitrifying biocathode via inoculating autotrophic denitrifiers. • Autotrophic inoculum achieved efficient microbial electrochemical denitrification. • Growth of proteins facilitates the autotroph-inoculated biocathode. • Autotrophic denitrification can shiftily convert to electro-trophic denitrification. Two limiting factors of microbial electrochemical denitrification (MED) are the abundance and efficiency of the functional microorganisms. To supply these microorganisms, MED systems are inoculated with denitrifying sludge, but such method has much room for improvement. This study compared MED inoculated with autotrophic denitrifying inoculum (ADI) versus with heterotrophic denitrifying inoculum (HDI). ADI exhibited electroactivity for 50% less of time than HDI. The denitrification efficiency of the ADI biocathode was 42% higher than that of the HDI biocathode. The HDI biocathode had high levels of polysaccharides while the ADI biocathode was rich in proteins, suggesting that two biocathodes may achieve MED but via different pathways. Microbial communities of two biocathodes indicated MED of HDI biocathode may rely on interspecies electron transfer, whereas sulfur bacteria of ADI biocathode take electrons directly from the cathode to achieve MED. Utilizing autotrophic sulfur-oxidizing denitrifiers, this study offers a strategy for enhancing MED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphodiesterase 1 (PDE1) is an enzyme entrusted with the hydrolysis of the second messengers cAMP and cGMP, thereby governing a plethora of metabolic processes, encompassing ion channel modulation and cellular apoptosis. Recent advancements in the realm of small molecule structural variations have greatly facilitated the exploration of innovative applications for PDE1. Remarkably, a recent series of PDE1 inhibitors (PDE1i) have been meticulously formulated and devised, showcasing enhanced selectivity and potency. Among them, ITI-214 has entered Phase II clinical trials, holding promise for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and heart failure. Nevertheless, the majority of current PDE1 inhibitors have encountered substantial side effects in clinical trials attributable to their limited selectivity, this predicament presents a formidable obstacle in the development of specific small molecule inhibitors targeting PDE1. This Perspective endeavors to illuminate the potential design approaches, structure-activity relationships, and biological activities of current PDE1i, aiming to offer support and insights for clinical practice and the development of novel PDE1i. [Display omitted] • Structure and biological functions as well as the recent advance of inhibitors of PDE1. • SAR analyses and structural modification strategies of PDE1 inhibitors. • The limitations and optimization strategies of PDE1 inhibitor development are interpreted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]