Explaining residents' support to protect Gejia batik through the value-attitude-behavior model and theory of planned behavior.

Much research focuses on customers' satisfaction with intangible cultural heritage products, with little consideration given to residents' support toward intangible cultural heritage. Therefore, this study focuses on constructing a conceptual framework that connects the theories of the value-attitude-behavior (VAB) model and planned behavior (TPB), aiming to explain residents' behavioral support for intangible cultural heritage (Gejia batik). To test the proposed model, we collected 412 sets of on-site survey data from four representative Gejia villages, namely Fengxiang, Wangba, Tangdu, and Matang. Six out of seven examined hypotheses were supported. The results showed that social value, aesthetic value, economic value, historical value, and perceived behavioral control of residents were positively and significantly related to residents' behavioral intention, which explained 46.3 % of the variance in behavioral intention. A positive and significant relationship exists between residents' attitudes and their behavioral intentions. Residents' attitude is an intermediary between social value, aesthetic value, economic value, historical value, perceived behavioral control, and residents' behavioral intention. This work provides theoretical and practical support for government departments in formulating protective policies related to Gejia batik.

Factors in consumers' purchase intention for Gejia batik.

In China's vigorous development and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, the sustainability and acceptability of intangible cultural heritage products have become a controversial subject. This study aims to explore the relationship between batik product qualia factors and the purchase intention for batik products and exammine the mediating role of consumer attitude in the relationship. We adopted quantitative research methods and used SPSS 26 and Process 2.15 software to test our hypotheses. We conducted extensive surveys of consumers of different ages, genders, income levels, and educational backgrounds, and finally, a total of 381 valid questionnaires were collected. The results showed that batik products' creativity, delicacy, beauty, and eco-friendliness were significantly and positively related to consumers' attitudes. In addition, creativity, beauty, and eco-friendliness, but not delicacy, were significantly and positively associated with consumers' purchase intention. Consumer attitude plays an intermediary role between qualia factors and purchase intention. This study analyzes Gejia batik from the perspective of qualia factors, breaking through the limitations of previous studies on the aspects of heritage protection and environmental protection. The study's results can inspire batik manufacturers or designers to enhance the competitiveness of batik design products in the tourism market.

Direct structure determination of vemurafenib polymorphism from compact spherulites using 3D electron diffraction.

The spherulitic morphology is considered to be the most common morphology of crystalline materials and is particularly apparent in melt-crystallized products. Yet, historically, the polycrystalline nature of spherulites has hindered successful crystal structure determination. Here, we report the direct structure determination of a clinical drug, vemurafenib (VMN), in compact spherulite form using 3D electron diffraction (3D ED). VMN has four known polymorphs. We first solved the crystal structures of α-, ß-, and γ-VMN from compact spherulites using 3D ED, and the resulting structures were highly consistent with those obtained by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. We then determined the crystal structure of δ-VMN-the least stable polymorph which cannot be cultivated as a single crystal-directly from the compact spherulite sample. We unexpectedly discovered a new polymorph during our studies, denoted as ε-VMN. Single crystals of ε-VMN are extremely thin and not suitable for study by X-ray diffraction. Again, we determined the structure of ε-VMN in a compact spherulite form. This successful structure elucidation of all five VMN polymorphs demonstrates the possibility of directly determining structures from melt-grown compact spherulite samples. Thereby, this discovery will improve the efficiency and broaden the scope of polymorphism research, especially within the field of melt crystallization.

A general method for cultivating single crystals from melt microdroplets.

The cultivation of single crystals from solution is usually a time-consuming trial-and-error process. Here, we report a general strategy for rapidly cultivating single crystals from melt microdroplets within tens of minutes at the microgram scale. This strategy was successfully applied to the important polymorphic system griseofulvin to provide missing structural information of Form III, for which single crystals could not be cultivated from solution, as well as to twenty clinical drugs to verify its generality.

High Loading of Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Agents via Small Immunostimulatory Carrier for Enhanced Tumor Penetration and Combinational Therapy.

Development of small-sized nanoformulations for effective tumor penetration, particularly for those tumors with dense stroma is a major challenge in cancer nanomedicine. It is even more challenging to achieve effective co-loading of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic anticancer agents through a small-sized nanocarrier. In this work, we designed a novel redox-responsive gemcitabine (GEM)-conjugated polymer POEG-co-PVDGEM (PGEM) as a small-sized nanocarrier to co-deliver hydrophilic GEM and hydrophobic paclitaxel (PTX). Methods: The in vitro physicochemical and biological properties of PTX/PGEM NPs were characterized. The efficiency of the PGEM carrier in selective codelivery of GEM and PTX in two murine tumor models as well as a patient derived xenograft model (PDX) was also evaluated. In addition, we investigated the changes in tumor immune microenvironment after treatment with PTX/PGEM nanoparticles. Results: We discovered that GEM conjugation could significantly decrease the nanoparticle size from 160 nm to 13 nm. Moreover, different from most reported GEM-conjugated polymers, PGEM polymer could serve as a prodrug carrier to load a wide variety of hydrophobic agents with high drug loading capacity and excellent stability. More importantly, our strategy could be extended to various nucleotides-based drugs such as azacytidine, decitabine and cytarabine, suggesting a new platform for co-delivery of various first line hydrophilic and hydrophobic anticancer agents. Imaging showed that our small-sized carrier was much more effective in tumor accumulation and penetration compared to the relatively large-sized drug carrier. The PGEM prodrug-based carrier not only well retained the pharmacological activity of GEM, but also boosted T-cell immune response. Furthermore, delivery of PTX via PGEM led to significantly improved antitumor activity in several murine cancer models and a PDX model of colon cancer. Conclusion: This work not only provided a small-sized carrier platform that was able to load multiple hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs with high loading capacity, but also provided an effective regimen for enhanced tumor penetration and improved anti-tumor immunity.

Rich polymorphism in nicotinamide revealed by melt crystallization and crystal structure prediction.

Overprediction is a major limitation of current crystal structure prediction (CSP) methods. It is difficult to determine whether computer-predicted polymorphic structures are artefacts of the calculation model or are polymorphs that have not yet been found. Here, we reported the well-known vitamin nicotinamide (NIC) to be a highly polymorphic compound with nine solved single-crystal structures determined by performing melt crystallization. A CSP calculation successfully identifies all six Z' = 1 and 2 experimental structures, five of which defy 66 years of attempts at being explored using solution crystallization. Our study demonstrates that when combined with our strategy for cultivating single crystals from melt microdroplets, melt crystallization has turned out to be an efficient tool for exploring polymorphic landscapes to better understand polymorphic crystallization and to more effectively test the accuracy of theoretical predictions, especially in regions inaccessible by solution crystallization.

Determination of Sophorabioside in Rat Plasma by UPLC-MS/MS and its Application to a Pharmacokinetic Study.

A ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method was initially developed and validated for quantification of sophorabioside in rat plasma using kaempferol-3-O-ß-D-rutinoside as the internal standard (IS). Analyte and IS were preparation through a protein precipitation procedure with 1.0 mL of methanol to a 0.1 mL plasma sample. The processed samples were separated by C18 analytical column using methanol/water containing 0.1% formic acid with gradient elution as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. Sophorabioside (m/z 577.15 → 269.45) and kaempferol-3-O-ß-D-rutinoside (m/z 593.15 → 285.84) were detected by a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer in negative electrospray ionization mode using multiple reaction monitoring. The calibration curve for sophorabioside was linear in the range of 6-1,200 ng/mL (r2 > 0.995) with a lower limit of quantification of 6 ng/mL. The inter- and intra-day precision and accuracy were well within the acceptable limits. The matrix effects were satisfactory in all of the biological matrices examined. The mean recovery of sophorabioside was always >90%. This method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of sophorabioside in rats after an oral administration of 90 mg/kg sophorabioside. The main pharmacokinetic parameters: Tmax, Cmax and t1/2 were 6.2 ± 0.8 h, 1430.83 ± 183.25 ng/mL, 7.2 ± 0.5 h, respectively.

[Studies on the chemical components of Nelumbinis Plumula and the inhibitory activity on protein disulfide isomerase].

Increasing evidence suggested that protein disulfide isomerase supported the survival and progression of several cancers. Nelumbinis Plumula is a Chinese traditional herb which showed antitumor activity. To find if the Nelumbinis Plumula affect protein disulfide isomerase activity, we studied its chemical constituents, and 12 monomeric compounds were isolated by means of solvent extraction, silica gel column chromatography, preparative HPLC and recrystallization. Among them, N-methylcoclaurine, kaempferol, chrysoeriol-7-O-neohesperidoside and mannitol were obtained for the first time. Following, we tested the compounds inhibitory activity on protein disulfide isomerase. The results showed that N-methylcoclaurine, neferine, liensinine and isoliensinine could inhibit the activity of protein disulfide isomerase in vitro, their IC50 values were 1.4, 2.9, 4.0 and 5.4 µmol•L⁻¹, respectively.

Hyperbranched polyester-based fluorescent probe for histone deacetylase via aggregation-induced emission.

Aberrant expression of histone deacetylases (HDACs) is related to various types of cancer and is associated with increased proliferation of tumor cells. Hence, the detection of HDAC activities is of great significance for medical sciences as well as biological diagnostics. Herein, we report a hyperbranched polyester-based one-step fluorescent assay for HDAC. This assay system consists of two water-soluble components: the hyperbranched polyester coupled with the acetylated lysine groups (H40-Lys(Ac)) and the negatively charged TPE derivative bearing two sulfonic acid groups (TPE-2SO3(-)). HDAC triggers the deacetylation of H40-Lys(Ac), thereby turning the electroneutral polymer into the positively charged one. Consequently, complexation occurs between the positively charged polymer and the negatively charged TPE-2SO3(-), thereby leading to the formation of nanoaggregates due to electrostatic interaction. Eventually, the fluorescence enhancement as a result of AIE effect is achieved. This assay system is operable in aqueous media with very low detection limit of 25 ng/mL. The system is capable of detecting HDAC in such biological fluid as serum, and this strategy may provide a new and effective approach for enzyme assay.

Carbon-dot-based ratiometric fluorescent sensor for detecting hydrogen sulfide in aqueous media and inside live cells.

A FRET ratiometric fluorescent sensor was developed for detecting H(2)S in aqueous media and serum, as well as inside live cells. For this sensor, carbon dots serve as the energy donor and also the anchoring site for the probe. This sensor is highly selective and sensitive with a detection limit of 10 nM which is the lowest among fluorescent H(2)S sensors.

A facile approach for sensitive, reversible and ratiometric detection of biothiols based on thymine-mediated excimer-monomer transformation.

A ratiometric fluorescent sensor was developed for detecting biothiols in water and biological samples such as urine and serum. For this sensor, the monomer-excimer emission variations were regulated by aggregation and deaggregation via the complexation between pyrene-thymine and mercury ions modulated by biothiols.