Research of correlation between personality traits and hormones with the nature of pulmonary nodules.

Background: Rising rates of lung cancer screening have contributed to an increase in pulmonary nodule diagnosis rates. Studies have shown that psychosocial factors and hormones have an impact on the development of the oncological diseases. Therefore, we conducted this study to explore the potential relationship between pulmonary nodules pathology and patient personality traits and hormone levels. Methods: This study enrolled 245 individuals who had first been diagnosed with pulmonary nodules in Tangdu Hospital and admitted for surgery. The personality profile of these patients was analyzed on admission using the C-Type Behavioral Scale and hormone levels were measured in preoperative serum samples. Associations between nodule pathology, personality scores, and hormone levels， were then assessed through Statistical methods analysis. Results: Behavioral scale analyses revealed significant differences four items, including depression, anger outward, optimism, and social support (P< 0.05). Specifically, patients with higher depression scores were more likely to harbor malignant pulmonary nodules, as were patients with lower levels of anger outward, social support, and optimism. Univariate analyses indicated that nodule pathology was associated with significant differences in nodule imaging density, CT value, testosterone levels, and T4 levels(P< 0.05), and logistic regression analyses revealed pulmonary nodule imaging density and T4 levels to be significant differences of nodule pathology. Conclusion: The results showed a significant association between nodules pathology and the personality characteristics of the patients (depression, anger outward, optimism, social support), the patients' T4 levels and the imaging density of the nodules.

Multifunctional Carbon-Dot-Photosensitizer Nanoassemblies for Inhibiting Amyloid Aggregates, Suppressing Microbial Infection, and Overcoming the Blood-Brain Barrier.

Amyloid aggregation, microbial infection, and the blood-brain barrier (BBB) are considered critical obstructions for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). At present, existing treatment strategies are rarely able to overcome these critical factors. Herein, we propose an innovative treatment strategy and design multifunctional nanoassemblies (yCDs-Ce6) from coassembling photosensitizers (chlorine e6) and yellow fluorescent carbon dots, which endow yCDs-Ce6 with the functions for photodynamic and photothermal therapy (PDT and PTT). Compared with reported inhibitors, yCDs-Ce6 can suppress amyloid aggregation for 7 days, disaggregate aggregates, reduce amyloid aggregation-induced cytotoxicity, and prevent microbial growth by PDT and PTT. Moreover, yCDs-Ce6 can specifically target amyloid aggregates and visually label amyloid aggregates. yCDs-Ce6 can also cross the BBB upon near-infrared light irradiation and clear amyloid deposition in APP/PS1 mice by PDT and PTT. Meanwhile, yCDs-Ce6 did not cause significant negative effects on normal cells or tissues. Based on the methods of PPT and PTT treatment, the research deeply explores the effect of the novel nanoassemblies on two hypotheses of AD, opening a novel therapeutic paradigm for research amyloid-related diseases.

Comparison of Deep Inspiration Breath Hold Versus Free Breathing in Radiotherapy for Left Sided Breast Cancer.

Objectives: Modern breast cancer techniques, such as the deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) technique has been applied for left-sided breast cancer. Whether the DIBH regimen is the optimal solution for left-sided breast cancer remains unclear. This meta-analysis aims to elucidate the differences of DIBH and free-breathing (FB) for patients receiving radiotherapy for left-sided breast cancer and provide a practical reference for clinical practice. Methods: Relevant research available on PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and the Web of Science published before November 30, 2021 was independently and systematically examined by two investigators. Data were extracted from eligible studies for assessing their qualities and calculating the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using Review Manager software 5.4 (RevMan 5.4). Results: Forty-one studies with a total of 3599 left-sided breast cancer patients were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with FB, DIBH reduced heart dose (D mean, D max, V30, V10, V5), left anterior descending branch (LAD) dose (D mean, D max), ipsilateral lung dose (D mean, V20, V10, V5), and heart volume significantly. Lung volume increased greatly, and a statistically significant difference. For contralateral breast mean dose, DIBH has no obvious advantage over FB. The funnel plot suggested this study has no significant publication bias. Conclusions: Although DIBH has no obvious advantage over FB in contralateral breast mean dose, it can significantly reduce heart dose, LAD dose, ipsilateral lung dose, and heart volume. Conversely, it can remarkably increase the ipsilateral lung volume. This study suggests that soon DIBH could be more widely utilized in clinical practice because of its excellent dosimetric performance.

Dual-targeted carbon-dot-drugs nanoassemblies for modulating Alzheimer's related amyloid-ß aggregation and inhibiting fungal infection.

Amyloid aggregation and fungal infection, especially amyloid beta (Aß) peptide and Candida albicans are considered as two of the crucial pathogenic agents in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this work, we propose an innovative treatment strategy for AD, targeting at not only Aß aggregation but also Candida albicans infection. Here, a high-performance nanomaterial, namely gCDs-E, have been prepared by self-assembled of glycosylated carbon dots (gCDs) and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). Surprisingly, gCDs-E can not only suppress the fibrillation of Aß and disaggregate Aß fibrils, but also effectively inhibit the activity of Candida albicans. More importantly, the prepared gCDs-E can effectively cut down the cytotoxicity of amyloid aggregations, and the cell viability reached to 99.2%. In addition, the capability of the gCDs-E for blood brain barrier (BBB) penetration was also observed using a normal mice model. Above all, the gCDs-E greatly cleaned Aß deposition and improved memory impairment in APP/PS1 transgenic AD model mice, confirming its potential as therapeutic agent for AD treatment.

Chitosan modified ultra-thin hollow nanoparticles for photosensitizer loading and enhancing photodynamic antibacterial activities.

Antibacterial photodynamic therapy (PDT) has attracted extremely attention due to not inducing bacteria to generate resistance. However, the poor utilization and low reactive oxygen species (ROS) field of photosensitizers hinder their further application for antibacterial. Here, we designed ultra-thin hollow silica nanoparticles (UHSN), followed by pore-engineering including covalent anchoring of chitosan (UHSN@CS) for enhanced loading and photodynamic property of photosensitizer. The UHSN@CS exhibit high loading efficiency (80.6%, pH = 6.0) and controllable pH-responsive release for Ce6. Additionally, UHSN@CS can enhance the ROS yield of photosensitizers and effectively adhere to S. aureus, thus enormously enhancing antibacterial performance toward bacteria. Moreover, UHSN@CS-Ce6 can obliterate mature S. aureus biofilm and cause an 81% decrease in the biomass, showing a better therapeutic effect than Ce6 (59.2%) under laser irradiation. In vivo results confirm that UHSN@CS-Ce6 is effective to promote infectious wound regeneration. As photodynamic-based nanoplatforms, UHSN@CS-Ce6 are potential antibacterial agents for skin infection therapy.

Lasting Tracking and Rapid Discrimination of Live Gram-Positive Bacteria by Peptidoglycan-Targeting Carbon Quantum Dots.

Selective discrimination and lasting tracking of live bacteria are primary steps for microbiology research and treatment of bacterial infection. However, conventional detection methods, such as the gold standard of Gram staining, are being challenged under actual test conditions. Herein, we provided a novel method, namely, three excitation peaks and single-color emission carbon quantum dots (T-SCQDs) for the rapid (5 min) peptidoglycan-targeting discrimination of Gram-positive bacteria and lasting tracking (24 h) through one-step staining. Bacterial viability testing indicates that T-SCQDs can achieve nondestructive identification of Gram-positive bacteria within 50-500 µg mL-1. Interestingly, the fluorescence imaging system suggests that T-SCQDs can also selectively distinguish the type of colonies based on fluorescence intensity. Furthermore, T-SCQDs were successfully used to visually distinguish Gram-positive bacteria from the microbial environment of A549 cells by confocal fluorescence microscopy. These properties endow T-SCQDs with excellent functions for the diagnosis of infection and other biological applications.