Conjugated metabolites of bisphenol A and bisphenol S in indoor dust, outdoor dust, and human urine.

Bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol S (BPS) have been widely spread in the global environment. However, for conjugated BPA and BPS metabolites, limited studies have investigated their occurrence in environmental matrices. We collected paired indoor and outdoor dust (n = 97), as well as human urine (n = 153) samples, from residential houses in Quzhou, China, and measured these samples for 8 conjugated BPA and BPS metabolites. Three BPA metabolites were found in collected indoor and outdoor dust, with BPA sulfate (mean 0.75 and 1.3 ng/g, respectively) and BPA glucuronide (0.13 and 0.26 ng/g) being more abundant. BPA conjugates accounted for a mean of 42 and 56% of total BPA (sum of conjugated BPA and BPA metabolites) in indoor and outdoor dust, respectively. BPS sulfate (mean 0.29 and 0.82 ng/g, respectively) had consistently higher concentrations than BPS glucuronide (0.13 and 0.27 ng/g) in indoor and outdoor samples. BPS conjugates contributed a mean 32% and 45% of total BPS (sum of BPS and BPS metabolites) in indoor and outdoor dust, respectively. Moreover, conjugated BPA and BPS metabolites in indoor or outdoor dust were not significantly correlated with those in urine from residents. Overall, this study first demonstrates the wide presence of conjugated BPA and BPS metabolites, besides BPA and BPS, in indoor and outdoor dust. These data are important for elucidating the sources of conjugated BPA and BPS metabolites in the human body.

Conjugated bisphenol S metabolites in human serum and whole blood.

Studies have shown that bisphenol S (BPS) is mainly present as its conjugated metabolites in human blood. However, the distribution of conjugated BPS metabolites in different human blood matrices has not been characterized. In this study, paired human serum and whole blood samples (n = 79) were collected from Chinese participants, and were measured for the occurrence of BPS and 4 BPS metabolites. BPS was detectable in 49% of human serum (

Efficacy and safety of Danlou tablets in traditional Chinese medicine for coronary heart disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Danlou tablets exert auxiliary advantages in treating coronary heart disease (CHD), but a summary of evidence-based proof is lacking. This study aims to systematically evaluate Danlou tablets in treating CHD from two aspects, including efficacy and safety. Methods: By a thorough retrieval of the four English databases, namely, PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science, and the four Chinese databases, namely, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP database, and China Biomedical Literature Service System, we found all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) related to Danlou tablets in treating CHD. The retrieval time was from the construction of the database to April 2022. We engaged two researchers to screen the studies, extract the required data, and assess the risk of bias. We then used RevMan5.3 and STATA.14 software to conduct a meta-analysis. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) was used to evaluate the quality of outcome indicators. Results: Seventeen RCTs involving 1,588 patients were included. The meta-analysis results are displayed as follows: clinical treatment effect [risk ratio (RR) = 1.22, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.16, 1.28, P < 0.00001], angina pectoris duration [MD = -0.2.15, 95% CI: -2.91, -1.04, P < 0.00001], angina pectoris frequency [standard mean difference (SMD) = -2.48, 95% CI: -3.42, -1.54, P < 0.00001], angina pectoris degree [SMD = -0.96, 95% CI: -1.39, -0.53, P < 0.0001], TC [MD = -0.71, 95% CI: -0.92, -0.51, P < 0.00001], TG [MD = -0.38, 95% CI: -0.53, -0.22, P < 0.00001], low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [MD = -0.64, 95% CI: -0.76, -0.51, P < 0.00001], high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [MD = 0.16, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.21, P < 0.00001], and adverse events [RR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.24, 0.88, P = 0.02]. Conclusion: The current evidence suggests that the combination of Danlou tablets and Western medicine can enhance the efficacy of CHD and does not increase adverse events. However, because of the limited number and quality of the included studies, the results of our study should be treated with caution. Further large-scale RCTs are necessary to verify the benefits of this approach.

Ultra-small micelles together with UTMD enhanced the therapeutic effect of docetaxel on Glioblastoma.

Owing to the difficult-to-penetrate blood-brain barrier (BBB), glioblastoma (GBM) doesn't respond well to the current chemical therapeutics. In this study, ultra-small micelles (NMs) self-assembled by RRR-a-tocopheryl succinate-grafted-ε-polylysine conjugate (VES-g-ε-PLL) as the delivery vehicle of chemical therapeutics in conjunction with ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) to surmount BBB and treat GBM. Docetaxel (DTX) as a hydrophobic model drug was incorporated into NMs. DTX-loaded micelles (DTX-NMs) with 3.08% of drug loading exhibited a hydrodynamic diameter (33.2 nm) and positive Zeta potential (16.9 mV), having a remarkable tumor-permeating capacity. Furthermore, DTX-NMs presented good stability in physiologic condition. The sustained- release profile of DTX-NMs was also displayed by dynamic dialysis. Treatment of DTX-NMs together with UTMD led to more pronounced apoptosis of C6 tumor cells than DTX-NMs alone. Moreover, compared with the DTX solution or DTX-NMs alone, the combination of DTX-NMs with UTMD had a stronger inhibitory effect on tumor growth for GBM-bearing rats. The median survival period of GBM-bearing rats was extended to 75 days in the DTX-NMs+UTMD group from under 25 days in the control group. The invasive growth of glioblastoma was largely inhibited by the combination of DTX-NMs with UTMD, which was demonstrated by staining of Ki67, caspase-3, and CD31, together with TUNEL assay. In conclusion, the combination of ultra-small micelles (NMs) with UTMD may be a promising strategy to overcome the limitations of the first-line chemotherapeutics against GBM.

A pan-cancer analysis of FAT atypical cadherin 4 (FAT4) in human tumors.

Objective: We performed a pan-cancer analysis to explore the potential mechanisms of FAT4 in 33 different tumors. Methods: In this study, we selected 33 types of cancers based on the datasets of TCGA (the cancer genome atlas). We analyzed the expression of FAT4 in tumor and normal tissues. Meanwhile, we analyzed the expression levels of FAT4 in tissues from tumors of different stages. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, Tumor Mutational Burden (TMB), Microsatellite Instability (MSI), immune infiltration analysis, Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), and FAT4-related gene enrichment analysis were performed. Results: FAT4 expression in most tumor tissues was lower than in corresponding control tissues. FAT4 expression was different in different stages of bladder cancer (BLCA), kidney clear cell carcinoma (KIRC), and breast cancer (BRCA). In addition, the expression level of FAT4 in different types of tumors has an important impact on the prognosis of patients. FAT4 might influence the efficacy of immunotherapy via tumor burden and microsatellite instability. We observed a statistically positive correlation between cancer-associated fibroblasts and FAT4 expression in most tumors. GSEA of BLCA indicated that low FAT4 expression groups were mainly enriched in calcium signaling pathway and chemokine signaling pathway. GSEA analysis of KIRC suggested low FAT4 expression groups were mainly involved in olfactory transduction and oxidative phosphorylation. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) indicated that the role of FAT4 in the pathogenesis of cancer may be related to human papillomavirus infection, Hippo signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, etc. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis further showed that most of these genes were related to the pathways or cell biology, such as peptidyl-tyrosine phosphorylation, cell junction assembly, protein tyrosine kinase activity, etc. Conclusion: Our study summarized and analyzed the antitumor effect of FAT4 in different tumors comprehensively, which aided in understanding the role of FAT4 in tumorigenesis from the perspective of clinical tumor samples. Pan-cancer analysis showed that FAT4 to be novel biomarkers for various cancers prognosis.

A Wearable Biosensor Based on Bienzyme Gel-Membrane for Sweat Lactate Monitoring by Mounting on Eyeglasses.

A new enzymatic biosensor worn on eyeglasses has been developed for low-noise and noninvasive determination of lactate in human sweat during physical exercise. The Os (osmium)-complex, the electron mediator between the enzyme and the electrode, was first immobilized on a flexibly printed carbon electrode. Then, a gel membrane with the stereoscopic reticular structure of lactate oxidase and horseradish peroxidase was casted on the electrode to form the biosensor. Linearity of the biosensor was observed for up to 25 mM lactate in a phosphate buffered solution of pH 7.0. Chemical selectivity was evaluated by adding common interferent species such as ascorbic acid, glucose and uric acid to the lactate. The negligible current interference indicated excellent discriminatory selectivity of the biosensor. Applied to an analysis of the real sweat lactate dynamics of healthy subjects during cycling exercise, the amperometric profiles of the biosensors reflected changes in sweat lactate that depended on physical exercise intensity. Compared with other reported epidermal biosensors attached to the arm or leg, our biosensor not only exhibited a similar current change tendency but also rarely suffered from deformational interference due to their forehead measurement position. Such a successful application of real-time monitoring of sweat lactate means that eyeglass-bound biosensors hold considerable promise in the physical exercise and biomedical fields.