Significant Improvement of Catalytic Performance for Chlorinated Volatile Organic Compound Oxidation over RuOx Supported on Acid-Etched Co3O4.

Ru catalysts have attracted increasing attention in catalytic oxidation of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs). However, the development of Ru catalysts with high activity and thermal stability for CVOC oxidation still poses significant challenges due to their restrictive relationship. Herein, a strategy for constructing surface defects on Co3O4 support by acid etching was utilized to strengthen the interaction between active RuOx species and the Co3O4 support. Consequently, both the dispersity and thermal stability of RuOx species were significantly improved, achieving both high activity and stability of Ru catalysts for CVOC oxidation. The optimized Ru catalyst on the HF-etched Co3O4 support (Ru/Co3O4-F) achieved complete oxidation of vinyl chloride at 260 °C under 30 000 mL·g-1·h-1, which was lower than 300 °C for the Ru catalyst on the original Co3O4 (Ru/Co3O4). More importantly, the Ru species on the Ru/Co3O4-F catalyst were hardly lost after calcination at 500-700 °C and even reacting at 650 °C for 120 h. On this basis, the polychlorinated byproducts over the Ru/Co3O4-F catalyst were almost completely effaced by phosphate modification on the catalyst surface. These findings show that the method combining acid etching of the support and phosphate modification provides a strategy for the advancement of catalyst design for CVOC oxidation.

Si-doped Al2O3 nanosheet supported Pd for catalytic combustion of propane: effects of Si doping on morphology, thermal stability, and water resistance.

Catalytic combustion of propane as typical light alkanes was important for the purification of industrial VOCs and automobile hydrocarbon emissions. Si-doped Al2O3 nanosheet was synthesized by a hydrothermal method, and effects of Si content on the morphology and thermal stability of Al2O3 were investigated. The doping of SiO2 could tune the thickness of Al2O3 nanosheets and significantly improve its thermal stability, the θ phase was still maintained, and the specific surface area was as high as 56.3 m2 g-1 after calcination at 1200 °C. And then the Si-doped Al2O3 nanosheets were used as support of Pd catalysts (Pd/Si-Al2O3 nanosheets) for catalytic combustion of propane, especially Pd/3.6Si-Al2O3 nanosheets, which presented high activity, stability, and resistance to sintering and H2O due to the promotion of Si on the thermal stability of Al2O3 and the stabilization (dispersion, isolation, and strong interaction) of PdOx species.

Pretreatment MRI-Derived Radiomics May Evaluate the Response of Different Induction Chemotherapy Regimens in Locally advanced Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate and compare the performance of radiomics in predicting induction chemotherapy response treated with two different regimens in patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 265 patients with pathologically confirmed locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (stage II-IV), including 115 treated with gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GP group) and 150 treated with docetaxel plus cisplatin (TP group) were retrospectively enrolled. Radiomics features were extracted from the volume of interest delineated in multi-MR sequences on a 3T scanner. After random stratified grouping (training and validation cohorts) and logistic regression based on selected features, the association between the radiomics signature and the early response to induction chemotherapy were established for GP and TP regiments, respectively. RESULTS: Clinical factors showed no significant difference between the response and non-response groups for the GP and TP regiments (all p > 0.05). The accuracy of the radiomics signature consisting of selected features from the joint T1, T2, and T1C in the GP group (0.852 in the training cohort vs. 0.853 in the validation cohort) was significantly higher than that in the TP group (0.774 vs 0.727). The overall performance of the GP model was steady, with efficiency to distinguish responders from nonresponders with an AUC reaching 0.907 (95% confidence interval [CI] [0.843-0.970]) in the training cohort and 0.886 (95% CI [0.772-0.998]) in the validation cohort, while leveling at 0.800 (95% CI [0.712-0.888]) in the training cohort and 0.863 (95% CI [0.758-0.967]) in the validation cohort in the TP group. CONCLUSION: Pretreatment MR radiomics signature can better predict the early response to IC in the GP regimen than the TP regimen, which may be helpful to guide IC management.

ADC correlation with Sirtuin1 to assess early chemoradiotherapy response of locally advanced esophageal carcinoma patients.

AIMS: To determine the biological correlation between apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and Sirtuin1 (SIRT1) levels of tumour tissues in patients with esophageal carcinoma (EC), and to ascertain the treatment biomarker of ADC in predicting the early response of patients undergoing definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT). METHODS: A total of 66 patients were enrolled, and the specimens of tumour tissues were collected before treatment to perform immunohistochemical (IHC) examinations and quantify the levels of SIRT1. Then all patients were given two esophageal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations with diffused weighed imaging (DWI) including pretreatment and intra-treatment (1~2 weeks after the start of radiotherapy). The regions of interest (ROIs) were contoured according to the stipulated rules in advance using off-line software, and the values of the ADC in the ROIs were generated automatically. Then, the values of the ADC at baseline and intra-treatment were labeled as pre-ADC and intra-ADC respectively, and ΔADC, ADCratio were calculated. Pearson's correlation coefficients were acquired to estimate the correlation between each of ADC values and SIRT1 levels. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were acquired to estimate the correlation between early response and the values of each ADC. Receptor operation characteristics (ROC) curves were constructed to estimate the accuracy of the ADC in predicting the early response of CRT. RESULTS: The findings of this study showed different correlations between ADC values and the levels of SIRT1 (ΔADC: r = - 0.943, P = 0.002; ADCratio: r = - 0.911, P = 0.000; intra-ADC: r = - 0.748, P = 0.002; pre-ADC: r = 0.109, P = 0.558). There was a positive correlation between ΔADC and early response to treatment (ρ = 0.615, P = 0.023), and multivariable logistic regression revealed that ΔADC was significantly associated with short-term response of CRT in esophageal carcinoma patients. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, early increases in ADC may facilitate the predication of early CRT response in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), which may be attributed to the different correlation between ADC changes and SIRT1 expression.

Identification of candidate genes of nasopharyngeal carcinoma by bioinformatical analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify candidate genes as potential biomarkers in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) by bioinformatical analysis. METHODS: Three microarray datasets: GSE32906, GSE15170, GSE53819 were download from public database and analyzed to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between NPC and normal samples. Functional and pathway enrichment analysis of the DEGs were performed. Protein-protein interaction network and gene-transcription factor regulatory network of DEGs were constructed. And the expression of hub genes in NPC was also validated based on the public database. RESULTS: A total of 16 up-regulated and 27 down-regulated genes were screened out from the microarray datasets. Functional and pathway enrichment analysis showed that DEGs were mostly enriched in positive regulation of angiogenesis, mesenchymal cell proliferation, cell surface and DNA binding, ECM-receptor interaction pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and pathways in cancer. Five hub genes JUN, VEGFA, FOXM1, MYB, and WNT5A were identified from the protein-protein interaction network. Subsequently, the hub gene-transcription factor regulatory network revealed that STAT3, MYC, SOX2, RUNX2 present key relations with hub genes. The expression of these five hub genes were also validated to be differentially expressed among NPC and normal samples. CONCLUSIONS: The current study indicated that the hub DEGs JUN, VEGFA, FOXM1, MYB, and WNT5A we identified might be potential therapeutic biomarkers of NPC.

Bioinformatic identification of candidate biomarkers and related transcription factors in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is rare, but a certain amount of mortality remains in NPC patients. Our study aimed to identify candidate genes as biomarkers for NPC screening, diagnosis, and therapy. METHODS: We investigated two microarray profile datasets GSE64634 and GSE12452 to screen the potential differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in NPC. Gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of the DEGs were also performed. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of DEGs was constructed by STRING and visualized by Cytoscape software. The associated transcriptional factor regulatory network of the DEGs was also constructed. RESULTS: A total of 152 DEGs were identified from the GSE64634 and GSE12452 datasets, including 10 upregulated and 142 downregulated genes. Gene functional enrichment analysis indicated that these DEGs were enriched in the cilium movement, antimicrobial humoral response, O-glycan processing, mucosal immune response, carbohydrate transmembrane transporter activity, hormone biosynthetic process, neurotransmitter biosynthetic process, and drug metabolism-cytochrome P450 pathway. Five hub genes (DNALI1, RSPH4A, RSPH9, DNAI2, and ALDH3A1) and one significant module (score = 5.6) were obtained from the PPI network. Key transcriptional factors, such as SPI1, SIN3B, and GATA2, were identified with close interactions with these five hub DEGs from the gene-transcriptional factor network. CONCLUSIONS: With the integrated bioinformatic analysis, numerous DEGs related to NPC were screened, and the hub DEGs we identified may be potential biomarkers for NPC.

Hollow and porous hydroxyapatite microspheres prepared with an O/W emulsion by spray freezing method.

Microspheres with hollow and/or porous structures have been widely used in various applications. A new method of spraying and freezing emulsions was developed to prepare hollow HA (hydroxyapatite) microspheres with interconnected pores by using PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) as emulsifiers and binders. The relationships between viscosity and shear time or rates were tested and the dispersing stability of oil in water (O/W) emulsions was characterized with comparison to suspensions without the addition of oil phase. The effects of solid loadings of HA and the volume ratio between oil and water on the morphologies of microspheres were investigated. Hollow HA microspheres with particle diameter of ~20µm and pore size of ~0.6µm were successfully obtained by spray freezing method. Besides, drying and sintering processes were crucial to the formation of hollow and porous structures, respectively. The gentamicin loading and releasing of HA porous microspheres with different hollow volumes were tested.