Biomimetic Guided Bi2WO6/Bi2O3 Vertical Heterojunction with Controllable Microstructure for Efficient Photocatalysis.

To bridge the technical gap of heterojunction induction control in conventional semiconductor photocatalysts, a method of regulating the growth of heterojunctions utilizing biomimetic structures was designed to prepare a series of Bi2WO6/Bi2O3 vertical heterojunction nanocomposites for the disposal of environmentally hazardous tetracycline wastewater difficult to degrade by conventional microbial techniques. Porous Bi2O3 precursors with high-energy crystalline (110) dominant growth were produced using the sunflower straw bio-template technique (SSBT). Bi2WO6 with a (131) plane grew preferentially into 2.8 to 4 nm pieces on the (110) plane of Bi2O3, causing a significant density reduction between Bi2WO6 pieces and a dimensional decrease in the agglomerated Bi2WO6 spheres from 3 µm to 700 nm since Bi2WO6 grew on the structure of the biomimetic Bi2O3. The optimal 1:8 Bi2WO6/Bi2O3 coupling catalyst was obtained via adapting the ratio of the two semiconductors, and the coupling ratio of 1:8 minimized the adverse effects of the overgrowth of Bi2WO6 on degradation performance by securing the quantity of vertical heterojunctions. The material degradation reaction energy barrier and bandgap were significantly reduced by the presence of a large number of vertical heterojunction structures, resulting in a material with lower impedance and higher electron-hole separation efficiency; thus, the degradation efficiency of 1:8 Bi2WO6/Bi2O3 for tetracycline hydrochloride reached 99% within 60 min. In conclusion, this study not only successfully synthesized a novel photocatalyst with potential applications in water pollution remediation but also introduced a pioneering approach for semiconductor-driven synthesis.

Identification of the main flavonoids of Abelmoschus manihot (L.) medik and their metabolites in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy.

Introduction: Huangkui capsule (HKC) is made from the ethanol extract of Abelmoschus manihot (L.) Medik [Malvaceae; abelmoschi corolla] and received approval from the China Food and Drug Administration (Z19990040) in 1999. Currently, HKC is used for treatment of the patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN) in China. The bioactive chemical constituents in HKC are total flavonoids of A. manihot (L.) Medik (TFA). The present study aims to identify the primary flavonoid metabolites in HKC and TFA and their metabolism fates in db/db mice, the animal model for the study of type 2 diabetes and DN. Methods: HKC (0.84 g/kg/d) and TFA (0.076 g/kg/d) or vehicle were respectively administered daily via oral gavage in db/db mice for 4 weeks. The metabolism fate of the main metabolites of HKC in serum, liver, kidney, heart, jejunum, colon, jejunal contents, colonic contents, and urine of db/db mice were analyzed with a comprehensive metabolite identification strategy. Results and Discussion: In db/db mice administered with HKC and TFA, 7 flavonoid prototypes and 38 metabolites were identified. The related metabolic pathways at Phases I and II reactions included dehydroxylation, deglycosylation, hydrogenation, methylation, glucuronidation, sulphation, and corresponding recombined reactions. Quercetin, isorhamnetin, quercetin sulphate, quercetin monoglucuronide, and isorhamnetin monoglucuronide presented a high exposure in the serum and kidney of db/db mice. Thereby, the present study provides a pharmacodynamic substance basis for better understanding the mechanism of A. manihot (L.) Medik for medication of DN.

A wide-angle and TE/TM polarization-insensitive terahertz metamaterial near-perfect absorber based on a multi-layer plasmonic structure.

A kind of near-perfect metamaterial absorber, made of only Au and Si, has been presented in the terahertz band with extremely high absorptance. A flexible design method is proposed, which could create absorbers with four independent functions as follows. First, selective perfect absorption is achieved at a single frequency, which means the absorptance is more than 99.9% at the required frequency and almost 0% at adjacent frequencies. Second, nearly 100% perfect absorption is realized at more frequencies, which can be changed by simply adjusting the geometric parameters. Third, broadband absorption with a controllable band is gained, and the average absorptance exceeds 99% from 1.2 to 2 THz. Finally, the combination of single-frequency absorption and broadband absorption is accomplished, which greatly expands the application prospects of the proposed absorber. Besides, the absorber exhibits high performance over a wide range of incident angles from 0° to 60°. Meanwhile, it is insensitive to both TE and TM waves. The aforementioned design idea can be extended to other bands.

Protonation-Induced Enhanced Optical-Light Photochromic Properties of an Inorganic-Organic Phosphomolybdic Acid/Polyaniline Hybrid Thin Film.

A phosphomolybdic acid/polyaniline (PMoA/PANI) optical-light photochromic inorganic/organic hybrid thin film was successfully synthesized by protonation between the the multiprotonic acid phosphomolybdic acid (H3PO4·12MoO3) and the conductive polymer polyaniline. The stable Keggin-type structure of PMoA was maintained throughout the process. Protonation and proton transfer successfully transformed the quinone structure of eigenstate PANI into the benzene structure of single-polarized PANI in the PMoA/PANI hybridized thin film, and proton transfer transformed the benzene structure of single-polarized PANI back to the quinone structure of eigenstate PANI in the PMoA/PANI hybrid thin film, as verified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The average distribution of PMoA/PANI was observed by atom force microscopy (AFM). Interestingly, protonation of PMoA caused PANI to trigger transformation of the quinone structure into the single-polarized benzene structure, which enhanced the electron delocalization ability and vastly enhanced the maximum light absorption of the PMoA/PANI hybrid thin film as confirmed by density functional theory (DFT), electrochemistry, and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) studies. Under optical-light illumination, the pale-yellow PMoA/PANI hybrid thin film gradually turned deep blue, thus demonstrating a photochromic response, and reversible photochromism was also observed in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) or oxygen (O2). After 40 min of optical-light illumination, 36% of the Mo5+ species in PMoA was photoreduced via a protonation-induced proton transfer mechanism, and this proton transfer resulted in a structural change of PANI, as observed by XPS, generating a dominant structure with high maximum light absorption of 3.46, when compared with the literature reports.

Upregulation of lncRNA CASC2 Suppresses Cell Proliferation and Metastasis of Breast Cancer via Inactivation of the TGF-ß Signaling Pathway.

Breast cancer is one of the major malignancies with a mounting mortality rate in the world. Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) cancer susceptibility candidate 2 (CASC2) has been identified to regulate the initiation and progression of multiple tumorous diseases according to previous studies. However, its biological role has been rarely reported in breast cancer. In the present study, lncRNA CASC2 was found to be significantly downregulated in breast cancer tissues and cell lines using real-time quantitative PCR. Furthermore, gain-of-function assays demonstrated that overexpression of lncRNA CASC2 significantly repressed breast cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. Moreover, CASC2 induced cell cycle arrest and much more early apoptosis of breast cancer. Additionally, based on the above research, we illustrated that inactivation of the TGF-ß signaling pathway was involved in the function of lncRNA CASC2. Collectively, lncRNA CASC2 was a key factor in the tumorigenesis and malignancy of breast cancer, suggesting it may possibly be a potential therapy target for the treatment of breast cancer.

Decreased Urine miR-199-3p may be a Potential Biomarker for Diabetic Nephropathy via Targeting Zinc Finger E-box-Binding Protein 1.

BACKGROUND: The current study aims to evaluate the expression pattern changes of miR-199-3p in diabetic nephropathy (DN) patients and explore whether it could be used as a potential biomarker. METHODS: Real time PCR analysis was performed to examine the level of miR-199-3p in normoalbuminuria group (diabetes mellitus [DM]), microalbuminuria group (DNE), macroalbuminuria group (DNC), and healthy controls. ROC analysis was carried out to determine whether urine miR-199-3p could be used as a potential biomarker. Dual luciferase reporter assay was used to identify the target gene of miR-199-3p. RESULTS: Here we showed novel data that urine miR-199-3p was significantly decreased in the diabetes patients compared to healthy controls. Meanwhile, urine miR-199-3p was lowest in DNC group, lower in DNE group, but was relatively higher in DM group. Additionally, urine miR-199-3p level positively correlated with UAE level in both DNE group and DNC group. ROC analysis showed that the urine miR-199-3p may be used to differentiate DNE and DNC subjects from healthy controls and DM group. Besides, miR-199-3p could significantly suppress the relative luciferase activity of pmirGLO-ZEB1, indicating ZEB1 was a target gene of miR-199-3p. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, for the first time, we showed novel data that decreased urinary miR-199-3p could screen DN patients from DM patients and healthy controls, which may be a non-invasive biomarker for DN patients.

Ginsenoside improves papillary thyroid cancer cell malignancies partially through upregulating connexin 31.

Connexin 31 (Cx31) is considered a suppressor for many tumors. Ginsenoside (Rg1) is a traditional Chinese herb that is widely acknowledged due to its anti-tumor characteristics. However, limited studies have focused on the role of Rg1 in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) cells. In the current study, we found that the expression of Cx31 in thyroid cancer tissues and thyroid cancer cell lines was significantly lower than that in normal thyroid epithelial tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of Cx31 reduced thyroid cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Furthermore, we found that Rg1 significantly enhanced the expression of Cx31. Moreover, the proliferation and migration of IHH-4 and BCPAP cells were significantly reduced by Rg1 treatment. In contrast, the silencing of Cx31 enhanced the expression of Ki67 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). Meanwhile, treatment with Rg1 significantly decreased the protein levels of Ki67 and PCNA, but these effects could be abolished by transfection with si-Cx31. In summary, we provide novel evidence that the expression of Cx31 was decreased in thyroid cancer cells, but Rg1 treatment could significantly enhance the expression of Cx31 thereby suppressing thyroid cancer cell proliferation and migration.

Investigating multiple dysregulated pathways in rheumatoid arthritis based on pathway interaction network.

The traditional methods of identifying biomarkers in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have focussed on the differentially expressed pathways or individual pathways, which however, neglect the interactions between pathways. To better understand the pathogenesis of RA, we aimed to identify dysregulated pathway sets using a pathway interaction network (PIN), which considered interactions among pathways. Firstly, RA-related gene expression profile data, protein-protein interactions (PPI) data and pathway data were taken up from the corresponding databases. Secondly, principal component analysis method was used to calculate the pathway activity of each of the pathway, and then a seed pathway was identified using data gleaned from the pathway activity. A PIN was then constructed based on the gene expression profile, pathway data, and PPI information. Finally, the dysregulated pathways were extracted from the PIN based on the seed pathway using the method of support vector machines and an area under the curve (AUC) index. The PIN comprised of a total of 854 pathways and 1064 pathway interactions. The greatest change in the activity score between RA and control samples was observed in the pathway of epigenetic regulation of gene expression, which was extracted and regarded as the seed pathway. Starting with this seed pathway, one maximum pathway set containing 10 dysregulated pathways was extracted from the PIN, having an AUC of 0.8249, and the result indicated that this pathway set could distinguish RA from the controls. These 10 dysregulated pathways might be potential biomarkers for RA diagnosis and treatment in the future.

MiR-204 enhances the progression of osteoarthritis by suppressing the production of IL-1ß.

Recent studies suggest that cytokines and microRNAs play a key role in the destruction of cartilage matrix in osteoarthritis (OA) tissues. In the current study, we focused on miR-204, which has never been explored in OA. We found that the level of miR-204 was markedly reduced in the OA cartilage tissues compared with that of normal control. Real time PCR analysis demonstrated that the level of miR-204 was markedly decreased after IL-1ß treatment for 3, 6, 12 h in the normal chondrocytes and OA chondrocytes, respectively. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-204 markedly suppressed the protein levels of IL-1ß, COX-2 and IL6 in human OA chondrocytes and chondrogenic SW1353 cells. Dual luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that miR-204 significantly suppressed the relative luciferase activity of pmirGLO-IL-1ß-3'UTR, indicating that IL-1ß was a target gene of miR-204. More importantly, treatment with IL-1ß significantly enhanced the protein levels of IL-1ß, COX-2 and IL6. However, overexpression of miR-204 could partially abolish such effects. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that reduced miR-204 expression enhances the destruction of the cartilage tissues among OA patients mainly through targeting IL-1ß.

Early Predictors of Acute Kidney Injury: A Narrative Review.

Accompanied with the broad application of interventional therapy, the incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) has been recently increasing in clinical renal medicine. The pathogenesis of AKI is diverse and complex. In the context of the requirements for the diagnosis and treatment of a renal disorder, a large number of studies have explored biological markers and their usefulness to the early diagnosis and treatment of AKI, including glomerular injury, renal tubular injury, and others. These biomarkers provide an important basis for early monitoring of AKI, but are still not quite sufficient. More ideal biomarkers are needed to be identified. Therefore, future studies are necessary to explore more effective biomarkers for AKI clinical practice, which would play an important role in the early diagnosis and intervention treatment of AKI. This review summarizes the important biomarkers identified by previous studies and aims to highlight the advancements that might provide new methods for early clinical diagnosis and effective therapeutic options, along with prediction of response to treatment for AKI.