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An innovative and efficient algorithm was established for generating a G1 parametric bicubic spline interpolation surface (PACSIS) for any polygonal mesh. The resulting G1 surface interpolates all vertices of the quads; and the G1 smoothness was guaranteed by the special creation of new control points for each quad so that all tangent planes at any vertex match. The algorithm was demonstrated by a variety of PLY files representing different polygonal meshes. There will be more applications of PACSIS to areas such as signal and image processing, animation, data science, feature representation, mesh rendering, visualization, as well as computer graphics.

Targeted cancer therapy has aroused the broad interest of researchers due to its accuracy in specific tumor targeting and its few side effects on normal cells. In the last decades, oncolytic viral light particles (L-particles) have been transformed into smart nanocarriers for targeted drug delivery. However, these L-particles, similar to the oncolytic viruses that they are derived from, can only recognize tumor cells expressing corresponding receptors, severely limiting their universal application. Although modification of targeting agents onto their envelope can overcome this limitation, it is still a great challenge to do so without interfering with their biofunction since the envelope is fragile. Herein, a host-cell-assisted strategy is proposed to construct folate-engineered nanocarriers (F-L-particles) with their biofunctions maintained to the largest extent. The F-L-particles were further multi-functionalized by encapsulating ultrasmall near-infrared quantum dots and antitumor drugs in them for tumor real-time imaging and therapy. Such a moderate, efficient and convenient cell-based strategy facilitates the development and widespread application of these bio-nanocarriers in the field of targeted cancer therapy, and drives the interdisciplinary studies of nanotechnology, chemistry, and virology.

Endosome capture is a major physiological barrier to the successful delivery of nanomedicine. Here, we found a strategy to deliver ultrasmall nanoparticles (10 nm) to the cytosolic compartment of pyroptotic cells with spontaneous endosomal escape. To mimic pathological pyroptotic cells, J774A.1 macrophages were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) plus nigericin (Nig) or adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to form specific gasdermin D protein-driven membrane pores at an N-terminal domain (GSDMD

BACKGROUND In China, hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) is the most common liver failure characterized by serious clinical syndromes of liver decompensation with a very high mortality. Bacterial and/or fungal infections are the most common complications that are associated with high short-term mortality. Bacterial translocation from the intestine, impaired hepatic clearance, and immune paralysis of circulating immune cells are thought to contribute to infectious complications in liver failure. The control of bacterial and fungal infections is the key to improving HBV-ACLF outcomes. Active prevention, early diagnosis, and timely treatment of bacterial and fungal infections are essential for treating HBV-ACLF. AIM To investigate the frequency and role of bacterial and fungal infections in patients with HBV-ACLF. METHODS Patients with HBV-ACLF hospitalized at Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine from January 2014 to December 2017 were retrospectively enrolled. Patient-related information was retrieved from the hospital case database, including general information, blood biochemistry, complications, etc. According to the occurrence of secondary infection or not, the patients were divided into an infection group and a non-infection group. The sites, types, and incidences of bacterial and fungal infections and the influence of infections on the prognosis of HBV-ACLF were statistically analyzed. The risk factors for infections were assessed by unconditional logistic regression. RESULTS There were 174 cases of HBV-ACLF that met the enrollment criteria, of which 114 (65.52%) were diagnosed with infectious complications. Infections occurred in the abdominal cavity (87 cases), respiratory tract (51 cases), urinary tract (18 cases), and biliary tract (10 cases). Patients with infectious complications had a significantly higher 28-d mortality (70.18%, 80/114) than those without (40.00%, 24/60) (70.18% vs 40.00%, P < 0.05). And patients with infectious complications had a much higher incidence of non-infectious complications (54.39%, 62/114) (54.39% vs 15.00%, P < 0.05), leading to an extremely high 28-d mortality of 88.71% (55/62) (P < 0.05). The grade of liver failure, period of hospital stay ≥ 30 d, age ≥ 45 years, and percentage of neutrophils > 70% were identified as risk factors for infectious complications. CONCLUSION The high incidence of infectious complications in patients with HBV-ACLF is associated with severity and deterioration of the disease and may contribute to the extremely high mortality of these patients.

Background Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified as prognostic biomarkers and functional regulators in human cancers. The present study aimed to determine the expressions and functions of an lncRNA, Small Nucleolar RNA Host Gene 16 (SNHG16), in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Patients and methods SNHG16 expressions were tested by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) in HCC cell lines, as well as 43 pairs of HCC tissues and pair-matched healthy hepatic tissues. It was overexpressed in Hep3B and HuH7 cells. The effects of SNHG16 overexpression in HCC in vitro proliferation, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) chemoresistance, and in vivo tumor growth were tested. A potential microRNA (miRNA) sponge target of SNHG16, hsa-miR-93, was tested by luciferase reporter assay and qRT-PCR. In addition, hsa-miR-93 was upregulated in SNHG16-overexpressed HCC cells to examine its effect on SNHG16-mediated cancer cell functional regulation in HCC. Results SNHG16 levels were markedly downregulated in both HCC cell lines and HCC tissues. Lentivirus-mediated SNHG16 overexpression inhibited HCC cell proliferation, 5-FU chemoresistance, and in vivo tumor growth. Hsa-miR-93 was confirmed to be directly sponging on SNHG16. Its upregulation in HCC cells reversed SNHG16 overexpression and induced tumor-suppressing effects in HCC cells. Conclusion Our data demonstrate that SNHG16 plays a critical role in HCC development via functionally sponging hsa-miR-93.

Objective To investigate the impact of Bmi-1-mediated NF-κB pathway on the biological characteristics of CD133+ liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs). Methods Flow cytometry was used to isolate CD133+ LCSC cells from Huh7, Hep3B, SK-hep1, and PLC/PRF-5 cells. CD133+ Huh7 cells were divided into Control, Blank, Bmi-1 siRNA, JSH-23 (NF-κB pathway inhibitor), and Bmi-1 + JSH-23 groups. The properties of CD133+ Huh7 cells were detected by the colony-formation and sphere-forming assays. Besides, Transwell assay was applied for the measurement of cell invasion and migration, immunofluorescence staining for the detection of NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation, and qRT-PCR and Western blotting for the determination of SOX2, NANOG, OCT4, Bmi-1, and NF-κB p65 expression. Results CD133+ Huh-7 cells were chosen as the experiment subjects after flow cytometry. Compared with CD133- Huh-7 cells, the expression of CD133, OCT4, SOX2, NANOG, Bmi-1, and NF-κB p65, the nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65, the number of cell colonies and Sphere formation, as well as the abilities of invasion and migration were observed to be increased in CD133+ Huh-7 cells, which was inhibited after treated with Bmi-1 siRNA or JSH-23, meanwhile, the cell cycle was arrested at the G0/G1 and S phases with apparently enhanced cell apoptosis. Importantly, no significant differences in the biological characteristics of CD133 + Huh-7 cells were found between the Blank group and Bmi-1 + JSH-23 group. Conclusion Down-regulating Bmi-1 may inhibit the biological properties of CD133+ LCSC by blocking NF-κB signaling pathway, which lays a scientific foundation for the clinical treatment of liver cancer.

Background Quantum dot (QD)-based single virus tracking has become a powerful tool for dissecting virus infection mechanism. However, only virus behaviors at the early stage of retrograde trafficking have been dynamically tracked so far. Monitoring of comprehensive virus retrograde transportation remains a challenge. Results Based on the superior fluorescence properties of QDs and their labeling of virus internal component, the dynamic interactions between baculoviruses and all key transportation-related cellular structures, including vesicles, acidic endosomes, actins, nuclear pores and nuclei, were visualized at the single-virus level. Detailed scenarios and dynamic information were provided for these critical interaction processes. Conclusions A comprehensive model of baculovirus retrograde trafficking involving virus endocytosis, fusion with acidic endosome, translocation to nuclear periphery, internalization into nucleus, and arriving at the destination in nucleus was proposed. Thus the whole retrograde transportation of baculovirus in live host cells was elucidated at the single-virus level for the first time. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12951-017-0270-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Two locally adaptive schemes for image sharpening are established. With appropriate selections of parameters, the schemes also smoothen the image in the area with flat-valued pixels, which leads to more pleasant-looking images. Demonstration by using standard images shows that the schemes are effective and comparable to some commonly used image-sharpening techniques in the literature.

Background Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified as prognostic biomarkers and functional regulators in human cancers. The present study aimed to determine the expressions and functions of an lncRNA, Small Nucleolar RNA Host Gene 16 (SNHG16), in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Patients and methods SNHG16 expressions were tested by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) in HCC cell lines, as well as 43 pairs of HCC tissues and pair-matched healthy hepatic tissues. It was overexpressed in Hep3B and HuH7 cells. The effects of SNHG16 overexpression in HCC in vitro proliferation, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) chemoresistance, and in vivo tumor growth were tested. A potential microRNA (miRNA) sponge target of SNHG16, hsa-miR-93, was tested by luciferase reporter assay and qRT-PCR. In addition, hsa-miR-93 was upregulated in SNHG16-overexpressed HCC cells to examine its effect on SNHG16-mediated cancer cell functional regulation in HCC. Results SNHG16 levels were markedly downregulated in both HCC cell lines and HCC tissues. Lentivirus-mediated SNHG16 overexpression inhibited HCC cell proliferation, 5-FU chemoresistance, and in vivo tumor growth. Hsa-miR-93 was confirmed to be directly sponging on SNHG16. Its upregulation in HCC cells reversed SNHG16 overexpression and induced tumor-suppressing effects in HCC cells. Conclusion Our data demonstrate that SNHG16 plays a critical role in HCC development via functionally sponging hsa-miR-93.

Effective Image denoising algorithms require efficient and fast noise removal from any digital image. However, edge preservation or enhancement is more important in many applications such as computer vision and 3D imaging. A new family of linear filters for edge emphasizing and edge enhancement in image processing is introduced. Significant results of the study are demonstrated.

Influenza A virus (IAV), a risk to public health, is enveloped and contains viral ribonucleoprotein (vRNP) complexes, where vRNP complexes are central to every aspect of the IAV life cycle. Labeling both the vRNP complexes and viral envelope with quantum dots (QDs) is conducive to achieving global long-term tracking of a single IAV infecting host cell, which has potential to provide valuable information for revealing mechanisms of IAV infection. However, even though some strategies for labeling of the viral envelope with QDs have been developed, there are few strategies for coupling of QDs to the vRNP complexes inside IAV so far. Herein, we devised a convenient electroporation-based strategy, coupled with antibody binding, to transfer green QDs-labeled nucleoprotein antibodies (GQDs-NPAb) into H1N1 and achieved the labeling of vRNP complexes with QDs [H1N1(GQDs)]. Under the optimal condition of 20 nM GQDs-NPAb and a single pulse with 20 ms duration and 750 V/cm pulse intensity, the actual efficiency of labeling is ca. 34% and H1N1(GQDs) can retain 93% infectivity. Then, dual labeling of H1N1 was realized by labeling the envelope of H1N1(GQDs) with red QDs (RQDs) via a mild and efficient hydrazine-aldehyde-based strategy. At the optimal RQDs concentration of 5 nM, the actual efficiency of dual labeling can reach to 11% and the dual-labeled H1N1 can retain 93% infectivity. Because of the similar components and structure of different IAV subtypes, this dual-labeling strategy is applicable to other subtypes of IAV, e.g., H9N2.

Tissue engineering scaffolds combining biominerals and natural polymers are prospective candidates for bone repair materials. In this work, biocompatible and antibacterial scaffolds were prepared by blending alginate, hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride chitosan (HACC) and oyster shell powder (OSP) by freeze drying. SEM, FTIR, mechanical testing and BET surface area analysis were applied to characterize the prepared scaffolds. The swelling behavior, biomineralization, in vitro biodegradation, protein adsorption, antibacterial test, cytotoxicity, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity test were also investigated. The prepared scaffolds have a highly porous and interconnected pore structure with a pore size of around 20 to 200 μm suitable for cells to grow in. The addition of oyster shell powder in the scaffolds improved their compressive strength, specific surface area, and protein adsorption capacity, and also controlled the swelling behavior. Both of the scaffolds were biodegradable; the degradation was decreased on increasing the OSP content in the scaffolds, while the biomineralization ability was improved. Meanwhile the prepared scaffolds exhibited antibacterial activity toward E. coli and S. aureus. There was no significant cytotoxicity effect of the prepared scaffolds towards MC3T3-E1, HOS, and MG-63 cells and they have a good ALP activity. Therefore, these results suggest that the Alg/HACC/OSP scaffold is a prospective candidate for bone repair materials.

With the aid of the single-virus tracking technique and the quantum dot-labeling strategy, the internalization of the pseudorabies virus (PrV) has been visualized in real time. The results demonstrate that macropinocytosis can be considered as a major pathway for PrV entering HeLa cells, which facilitates the development of therapeutics for virus-triggered diseases.