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Tumor‐associated macrophages (TAMs) are key components of the tumor microenvironment, and their different polarization states play multiple roles in tumors by secreting cytokines, chemokines, and so on, which are closely related to tumor development. In addition, the enrichment of TAMs is often associated with poor prognosis of tumors. Thus, targeting TAMs is a potential tumor treatment strategy, in which therapeutic approaches such as reducing TAMs numbers, remodeling TAMs phenotypes, and altering their functions are being extensively investigated. Meanwhile, the ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS), an important mechanism of protein hydrolysis in eukaryotic cells, participates in cellular processes by regulating the activity and stability of key proteins. Interestingly, UPS plays a dual role in the process of tumor development, and its role in TAMs deserve to be investigated in depth. This review builds on this foundation to further explore the multiple roles of UPS on TAMs and identifies a promising approach to treat tumors by targeting TAMs with UPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the mass transfer of anodic oxidation, an inverse opal-like marcoporous RuO2 electrode (IOMP-RuO2) was designed to enhance the concentration diffusion and molecule-to-electrode collision. Characterization methods including SEM, XRD, BET, LSV, CV, EIS and CA were performed to evaluate the properties of the IOMP-RuO2. In addition, the electro-oxidation capacity of the RuO2 electrode prepared at varying calcination temperature was also investigated. Results show that calcination temperature can affect the electro-oxidation performance of IOMP-RuO2 from the specific surface area, crystallinity of RuO2, voltammetric charge and impedance. Thereinto, crystallinity of RuO2 and impedance played decisive roles in the electrochemical oxidation. The fine crystallinity and lower impedance of IOMP-RuO2 acquired by 450 °C increased the electronic transport rate and allowed less redox couple to be involved in oxygen evolution, contributing to the best oxidation performance amongst others. Under this calcination temperature, the IOMP-RuO2 possesses larger electro-active areas, smaller electric resistance and enhanced mass transfer as compared to the planar RuO2 electrode. Furthermore, the IOMP-RuO2 gave a 42.7% higher degradation rate than that observed for the planar RuO2 electrode in the abatement of tricyclazole (TC) after 180 min. The high rate constant (2.14 × 10–2 min−1) and current efficiency (61.1%) achieved by IOMP-RuO2 contributed to a low energy consumption of 0.04744 kWh mg−1. Thus, these findings promoted the IOMP-RuO2 as an alternative electrode for wastewater decontamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aimed to analyze the effect of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) on different types of adenomyosis (AM) based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) classification., Methods: A total of 206 AM patients who underwent HIFU between January 2017 and December 2021 were included in this retrospective study. The size and location of AM were evaluated based on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) of MRI. Patients were divided into internal (subtype I), external (subtype II), intramural (subtype III), and full-thickness (subtype IV) AM groups. All patients underwent an MRI examination before and one day after HIFU. After ultrasound-guided HIFU ablation, the parameters of ultrasonic energy input during HIFU treatment among different groups were recorded and compared. The adverse reactions and complications among different groups were compared., Results: The lesion volume in the subtype IV group was significantly larger than the subtype II and III groups (P < .05). The HIFU irradiation time, treatment time, and total energy input in the subtype IV group were significantly higher than the subtype I and III groups (P < .05). The number of cases of abdominal pain and vaginal fluid in the treatment area in the subtype IV group was significantly higher than in the subtype II group., Conclusion: Although HIFU has different treatment strategies and parameters for different subtypes of AM, it can achieve a satisfactory ablation rate, which is safe and effective., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.)

A hierarchically ordered macroporous RuO 2 electrode (HOM-RuO 2 ) was fabricated to enhance in situ active chlorine production in an electrochemical system intended for treatment of pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs). The unique structure of HOM-RuO 2 resulted in a decrease of the chlorine evolution potential, a large electro-active area available for in situ conversion of Cl - to active chlorine, and hence improved the active chlorine production by 40%. 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) was used as a target pollutant to explore the performance of the HOM-RuO 2 for PhACs degradation based on the in situ generated active chlorine. The results showed that the reaction rate of active-chlorine-mediated oxidation of 5-FU produced using the HOM-RuO 2 was 18.4 times higher than that in the case of hydroxyl radicals (OH)-initiated oxidation using a PbO 2 electrode at 30 mA cm -2 . The effects of current density and initial solution pH on the 5-FU removal were investigated. The mechanism of 5-FU degradation was proposed taking into accounts both active chlorine production, and change of the speciation of 5-FU caused by pH variations. The dominant degradation products observed for the degradation of 5-FU using the HOM-RuO 2 were lactic acid, propanol, acetic acid, urea and other small molecules, but no chlorinated products were detected. These study demonstrates the promise of the HOM-RuO 2 -based electrochemical systems for the active-chlorine-mediated treatment of recalcitrant pharmaceuticals found in wastewater., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Convenient and sensitive detection of biomolecules is of great significance to disease diagnosis. In this work, a metal-free photoinduced atom transfer radical polymerization (photoATRP) by a reductive quenching pathway as a novel strategy is applied to achieve lung cancer DNA detection. Thiolated PNA is exploited to specifically recognize target DNA, and the initiator of photoATRP is linked to the electrode surface via phosphate-Zr 4+ -carboxylate. Under the excitation of blue light, the reductive quenching pathway is activated with eosin Y (EY) as photoredox catalyst and N,N,N',N'',N'-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine (PMDETA) as electron donor, and numerous polymeric chains are formed. Under optimal conditions, the linear range of this strategy is from 0.1 pm to 10 nm (R 2 =0.989) with a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.4 fm (14 zmol in 10 μL). The variety of possible light sources for photoATRP and simple operation endow this biosensor with great potential for practical applications., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Inability to remove biologically toxic and persistent contaminants is a critical issue in traditional water treatment processes. In this study, a novel 3D macroporous RuO 2 (3D-RuO 2 ) electrode with uniform and interconnected cavities has been fabricated via templated electrodeposition approach for treatment of persistent pyrazole. The physicochemical properties of the electrodes are characterized by means of SEM, BET, XRD, LSV and CV measurements. The results show that structural features of the 3D-RuO 2 play important roles in the electrocatalysis performance. Thanks to the abundant crystal defect sites, 3D-RuO 2 electrode possesses more mesopores within the skeleton, resulting in 17.9 and 2.2 times larger specific surface area compared to traditional flat thermal-deposited (TF-RuO 2 ) and electrodeposited RuO 2 (EF-RuO 2 ) respectively. At a current density of 5 mA cm -2 , the pyrazole removal rate on 3D-RuO 2 is 1.7 times and 1.3 times that of TF-RuO 2 and EF-RuO 2 . The energy consumption for 50% of pyrazole removal on 3D-RuO 2 is 0.05 kWh g -1 pyrazole, much lower than that of TF-RuO 2 (0.11 kWh g -1 pyrazole) and EF-RuO 2 (0.075 kWh g -1 pyrazole). The improved removal performance of 3D-RuO 2 electrode is attributed to its strong electro-adsorption capacity (270.3 μg cm -2 ), leading to enhanced mass transfer of pollutants to the electrode surface. The mass transfer coefficient (κ m ) is estimated as 2.4 × 10 -6  m s -1 for 3D-RuO 2 , which is 3.9 and 2.3 times as much as that of TF-RuO 2 and EF-RuO 2 . Finally, contribution of different electron transfer approaches to pyrazole degradation under anodic polarization was investigated by ROS scavenging experiments., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)