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A ratiometric fluorescence enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was constructed for the screening of alpha-fetoprotein using carbon dots@SiO2@CdTe quantum dots.

To investigate the effect of postoperative adjuvant antiviral therapy (AVT) on hepatitis B virus (HBV) related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with microvascular invasion (MVI) after R0 liver resection. A total of 1008 patients with HBV-related HCC with MVI were recruited, which comprises 378 non-AVT groups and 630 AVT groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) was developed to reduce any bias in patient selection. Independent risk factors were identified by Cox regression analysis. After PSM, the 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival rates in the AVT group and non-AVT group were 89.2%, 62.4%, 42.1%, and 73.3%, 46.3%, 22.1%, (p

Uveitis with complex pathogenesis is a kind of eye emergency involving refractory and blinding inflammation. Dysregulation of TANK binding kinase 1 (TBK1), which plays an important role in innate immunity, often leads to inflammatory diseases in various organs. However, the role of TBK1 in uveitis remains elusive. In this study, we identified that the mRNA expression level of TBK1 and its phosphorylation level were significantly increased in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with uveitis. Consistent with this, the expression of Tbk1 was elevated in the ocular tissues of uveitis rats and primary peritoneal macrophages while its phosphorylation levels, which present activation forms, were upregulated as well, accompanied by an increase in the level of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and proinflammatory cytokines. In addition, inhibition of TBK1 may effectively reduce the inflammatory response of uveitis rats by blocking NF-κB entry into the nucleus and impeding the initiation of NLRP3 inflammasome- and caspase-1-mediated pyroptosis pathways.

// Jinfeng Kong 1, 2, * , Juan Du 1, * , Yunling Wang 1 , Mingzi Yang 1 , Jianchao Gao 1 , Xiaofan Wei 1 , Weigang Fang 1, 2 , Jun Zhan 1 , Hongquan Zhang 1 1 Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China 2 Department Pathology, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Hongquan Zhang, email: Hongquan.Zhang@bjmu.edu.cn Weigang Fang, email: wgfang@bjmu.edu.cn Jun Zhan, email: Zhanjun@bjmu.edu.cn Keywords: Kindlin-1, colorectal carcinoma, TGF-β receptor I, Smad3, Smad anchor for receptor activation (SARA) Received: August 17, 2016 Accepted: October 05, 2016 Published: October 20, 2016 ABSTRACT Kindlin-1, an integrin-interacting protein, has been implicated in TGF-β/Smad3 signaling. However, the molecular mechanism underlying Kindlin-1 regulation of TGF-β/Smad3 signaling remains elusive. Here, we reported that Kindlin-1 is an important mediator of TGF-β/Smad3 signaling by showing that Kindlin-1 physically interacts with TGF-β receptor I (TβRI), Smad anchor for receptor activation (SARA) and Smad3. Kindlin-1 is required for the interaction of Smad3 with TβRI, Smad3 phosphorylation, nuclear translocation, and finally the activation of TGF-β/Smad3 signaling pathway. Functionally, Kindlin-1 promoted colorectal cancer (CRC) cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo, and was also required for CRC cell migration and invasion via an epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Kindlin-1 was found to be increased with the CRC progression from stages I to IV. Importantly, raised expression level of Kindlin-1 correlates with poor outcome in CRC patients. Taken together, we demonstrated that Kindlin-1 promotes CRC progression by recruiting SARA and Smad3 to TβRI and thereby activates TGF-β/Smad3 signaling. Thus, Kindlin-1 is a novel regulator of TGF-β/Smad3 signaling and may also be a potential target for CRC therapeutics.

Membranes with excellent water permeance and high dye removal efficiency are highly desired for textile industry wastewater treatment. However, the high acidity and salinity in such wastewater impose great challenges in dye removal efficiency for conventional polyamide-based membranes. This study presents a type of acid-tolerant polyarylate (PAR) nanofiltration (NF) membrane that tackles such challenges. The PAR active layer is produced via interfacial polymerization using 5,5′,6,6′-tetrahydroxy-3,3,3′,3′-tetramethyl-1,1′-spirobisindane (TTSBI) and isophthaloyl dichloride (IPC) as monomers, and formed on top of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) nanofilm. The supporting SWCNT layer contributes to the ultrathin thickness of the PAR active layer and the extremely high membrane permeating flux of ~210 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, while the inclusion of TTSBI monomer grants the PAR active layer surface negatively charged that makes a high dye rejection of >99% at a wide range of feed solution pH and salinity possible. Furthermore, a high selectivity for dye and NaCl was observed with a stable NaCl retention of ~10%, when the membrane is tested at a pH ranging from 2 to 9 and feed NaCl concentration ranging from 1000 to 5000 ppm. The PAR NF membrane is therefore a promising tool for the highly efficient treatment of acidic and high salinity textile dye wastewaters.

Even with outstanding radical capturing ability, the utilization of lignin as a natural antioxidant in polypropylene (PP) still has been pended. Usually, the compatibility of its blends is improved based on the reaction of hydroxyl content, thus leading to the decreasing content of phenolic hydroxyl (Ph-OH) group and inferior thermal-oxidative stability of lignin blends. Here, the selective aminolysis of acetylated Kraft lignin (pyr-KL) was investigated, which structures were characterized using FTIR, 31P-NMR and GPC. The Ph-OH group of acetylated KL could be released by the addition of pyrrolidine; however the aliphatic hydroxyl group is still blocked. With the control of reaction conditions, the highest oxidation induction time of pyr-KL/PP (0.5wt% loading) reaches up to 22.6min, almost 2.6 times than that of pure PP. More importantly, the mechanical properties of PP were also maintained under the loading of pyr-KL, which is much better than that of curde KL/PP.