The Dynamic Accumulation Rules of Chemical Components during the Medicine Formation Period of Angelica sinensis and Chemometric Classifying Analysis for Different Bolting Times Using ATR-FTIR.

The dried roots of the perennial herb Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels (AS) are commonly used as medicinal and edible resources. In commercial planting, early bolting and flowering (EB) of ca. 60% in the medicine formation period reduces root yield and quality, becoming a significant bottleneck in agricultural production. In the cultivation process, summer bolting (SB) occurs from June to July, and autumn bolting (AB) occurs in September. The AB root is often mistaken for the AS root due to its similar morphological characteristics. Few studies have involved whether the root of AB could be used as herbal medicine. This study explored and compared the accumulation dynamics of primary and secondary metabolites in AS and EB roots during the vegetative growth stage (from May to September) by light microscopy, ultraviolet spectrometry, and HPLC methods. Under a microscope, the amount of free starch granules and oil chamber in the AS root increased. On the contrary, they decreased further from EB-Jul to EB-Sep. By comparison, the wall of the xylem vessel was slightly thickened and stacked, and the cell walls of parenchyma and root cortex tissue were thickened in the EB root. Early underground bolting reduces soluble sugar, soluble protein, free amino acids, total C element, total N element, ferulic acid, and ligustilide accumulation, accompanied by the lignification of the root during the vegetative growth stage. Furthermore, a total of 55 root samples from different bolting types of AS root (29 samples), SB root (14 samples), and AB root (12 samples) were collected from Gansu Province during the harvesting period (October). The later the bolting occurred, the less difference there was between unbolted and bolted roots in terms of morphological appearance and efficacy components. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with the attenuated total reflection mode (ATR-FTIR) provides a "holistic" spectroscopic fingerprinting of all compositions in the tested sample. The ATR-FTIR spectrum of the AB root was similar to that of the AS root. However, the number and location of absorption peaks in the spectra of SB were different, and only one strong absorption peak at 1021 cm-1 was regarded as the characteristic peak of C-O stretching vibration in lignin. The ATR-FTIR spectra can be effectively differentiated based on their various characteristics using orthogonal partial least squares discrimination analysis (OPLS-DA). Results were assessed using multiple statistical techniques, including Spearman's correlation, principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and OPLS-DA. Among these methods, the ATR-FTIR data demonstrated the most effective outcomes in differentiating between viable and non-viable roots for their application in herbal medicine. Essential substances are ferulic acid and flavonoid, which are much more abundant in the AB root. It provides a material basis for the pharmacological action of the AB roots and a theoretical basis for improving their availability.

Screening of potential biomarkers for polycystic ovary syndrome and identification of expression and immune characteristics.

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) seriously affects the fertility and health of women of childbearing age. We look forward to finding potential biomarkers for PCOS that can aid clinical diagnosis. METHODS: We acquired PCOS and normal granulosa cell (GC) expression profiles from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. After data preprocessing, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened by limma package, and Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) were performed. Recursive feature elimination (RFE) algorithm and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression analysis were used to acquire feature genes as potential biomarkers. Time-dependent receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) and Confusion matrix were used to verify the classification performance of biomarkers. Then, the expression characteristics of biomarkers in PCOS and normal cells were analyzed, and the insulin resistance (IR) score of samples was computed by ssGSEA. Immune characterization of biomarkers was evaluated using MCP counter and single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA). Finally, the correlation between biomarkers and the scores of each pathway was assessed. RESULTS: We acquired 93 DEGs, and the enrichment results indicated that most of DEGs in PCOS group were significantly enriched in immune-related biological pathways. Further screening results indicated that JDP2 and HMOX1 were potential biomarkers. The area under ROC curve (AUC) value and Confusion matrix of the two biomarkers were ideal when separated and combined. In the combination, the training set AUC = 0.929 and the test set AUC = 0.917 indicated good diagnostic performance of the two biomarkers. Both biomarkers were highly expressed in the PCOS group, and both biomarkers, which should be suppressed in the preovulation phase, were elevated in PCOS tissues. The IR score of PCOS group was higher, and the expression of JDP2 and HMOX1 showed a significant positive correlation with IR score. Most immune cell scores and immune infiltration results were significantly higher in PCOS. Comprehensive analysis indicated that the two biomarkers had strong correlation with immune-related pathways. CONCLUSION: We acquired two potential biomarkers, JDP2 and HMOX1. We found that they were highly expressed in the PCOS and had a strong positive correlation with immune-related pathways.

Automatic identification and analysis of multi-object cattle rumination based on computer vision.

Rumination in cattle is closely related to their health, which makes the automatic monitoring of rumination an important part of smart pasture operations. However, manual monitoring of cattle rumination is laborious and wearable sensors are often harmful to animals. Thus, we propose a computer vision-based method to automatically identify multi-object cattle rumination, and to calculate the rumination time and number of chews for each cow. The heads of the cattle in the video were initially tracked with a multi-object tracking algorithm, which combined the You Only Look Once (YOLO) algorithm with the kernelized correlation filter (KCF). Images of the head of each cow were saved at a fixed size, and numbered. Then, a rumination recognition algorithm was constructed with parameters obtained using the frame difference method, and rumination time and number of chews were calculated. The rumination recognition algorithm was used to analyze the head image of each cow to automatically detect multi-object cattle rumination. To verify the feasibility of this method, the algorithm was tested on multi-object cattle rumination videos, and the results were compared with the results produced by human observation. The experimental results showed that the average error in rumination time was 5.902% and the average error in the number of chews was 8.126%. The rumination identification and calculation of rumination information only need to be performed by computers automatically with no manual intervention. It could provide a new contactless rumination identification method for multi-cattle, which provided technical support for smart pasture.

A superior ternary Z-scheme photocatalyst of Bi/Black Phosphorus nanosheets/P-doped BiOCl containing interfacial P-P bond and metallic mediator for H2O2 production and RhB degradation.

Photocatalytic performance is significantly influenced by the efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs separation and transfer. In this paper, rational designed Z-scheme Bi/Black Phosphorus Nanosheets/P-doped BiOCl (Bi/BPNs/P-BiOCl) nanoflower photocatalyst was synthesized by a facile in-situ reduction process. The interfacial P-P bond between Black phosphorus nanosheets (BPNs) and P-doped BiOCl (P-BiOCl) was investigated by the XPS spectrum. The Bi/BPNs/P-BiOCl photocatalysts exhibited enhanced photocatalytic performance for H2O2 production and RhB degradation. The optimally modified photocatalyst (Bi/BPNs/P-BiOCl-20) showed an excellent photocatalytic H2O2 generation rate of 4.92 mM/h and RhB degradation rate of 0.1169 min-1 under simulated sunlight irradiation, which was 1.79 times and 1.25 times greater than the P-P bond free Bi/BPNs/BiOCl-20. The mechanism was investigated through charge transfer route, radical capture experiments, and band gap structure analysis, indicating that the formation of Z-scheme heterojunctions and interfacial P-P bond not only enhances the redox potential of the photocatalyst but also facilitates the separation and migration of photogenerated electrons-holes. This work might provide a promising strategy for constructing Z-scheme 2D composite photocatalysts combining interfacial heterojunction and elemental doping engineering for efficient photocatalytic H2O2 production and organic dye pollutant degradation.

Synthetic peptides for the precise transportation of proteins of interests to selectable subcellular areas.

Proteins, as gifts from nature, provide structure, sequence, and function templates for designing biomaterials. As first reported here, one group of proteins called reflectins and derived peptides were found to present distinct intracellular distribution preferences. Taking their conserved motifs and flexible linkers as Lego bricks, a series of reflectin-derivates were designed and expressed in cells. The selective intracellular localization property leaned on an RMs (canonical conserved reflectin motifs)-replication-determined manner, suggesting that these linkers and motifs were constructional fragments and ready-to-use building blocks for synthetic design and construction. A precise spatiotemporal application demo was constructed in the work by integrating RLNto2 (as one representative of a synthetic peptide derived from RfA1) into the Tet-on system to effectively transport cargo peptides into nuclei at selective time points. Further, the intracellular localization of RfA1 derivatives was spatiotemporally controllable with a CRY2/CIB1 system. At last, the functional homogeneities of either motifs or linkers were verified, which made them standardized building blocks for synthetic biology. In summary, the work provides a modularized, orthotropic, and well-characterized synthetic-peptide warehouse for precisely regulating the nucleocytoplasmic localization of proteins.

Analyses of regulatory network and discovery of potential biomarkers for Korean rockfish (Sebastes schlegelii) in responses to starvation stress through transcriptome and metabolome.

Whether in aquaculture or in nature, starvation stress limits the growth of fish. The purpose of the study was to clarify the detailed molecular mechanisms underlying starvation stress in Korean rockfish (Sebastes schlegelii) through liver transcriptome and metabolome analysis. Transcriptome results showed that liver genes associated with cell cycle and fatty acid synthesis were down-regulated, whereas those related to fatty acid decomposition were up-regulated in the experimental group (EG; starved for 72 days) compared to the control group (CG; feeding). Metabolomic results showed that there were significant differences in the levels of metabolites related to nucleotide metabolism and energy metabolism, such as purine metabolism, histidine metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation. Five fatty acids (C22:6n-3; C22:5n-3; C20:5n-3; C20:4n-3; C18:3n-6) were selected as possible biomarkers of starvation stress from the differential metabolites of metabolome. Subsequently, correlation between these differential genes of lipid metabolism and cell cycle and differential metabolites were analyzed, and observed that these five fatty acids were significantly correlated with the differential genes. These results provide new clues for understanding the role of fatty acid metabolism and cell cycle in fish under starvation stress. It also provides a reference for promoting the biomarker identification of starvation stress and stress tolerance breeding research.

Individual identification of dairy cows based on deep learning and feature fusion.

Individual identification of dairy cows is one of the most important prerequisites for an intelligent dairy farming. Herein, a new method of individual identification of dairy cows based on the fusion of deep and shallow features of dairy cow's trunk image is proposed. Our aim is to obtain low-cost, touch-free, and high-accuracy individual identification of dairy cows. First, the model of VGG-16 is improved. Second, the multiple overlapping pooling layer in the improved VGG-16 model is used as a feature extractor to extract the features of dairy cow's trunk image, and the global average pooling (GAP) layer was used to replace the traditional flatten layer to reduce the dimensions of the extracted shallow and deep features. Finally, the features after the dimensionality reduction are fused using the Concat method and input the fusion of new features into the support vector machine (SVM) classifier for classification. The proposed method was trained and tested on the dataset of 3151 cow trunk images captured by us. Experimental results showed that this method not only has better recognition accuracy of 99.48% than the VGG-16, AlexNet, and ResNet-50 models but also has fewer model parameters, faster convergence speed, and stronger generalization ability.

A Mini-Review on Reflectins, from Biochemical Properties to Bio-Inspired Applications.

Some cephalopods (squids, octopuses, and cuttlefishes) produce dynamic structural colors, for camouflage or communication. The key to this remarkable capability is one group of specialized cells called iridocytes, which contain aligned membrane-enclosed platelets of high-reflective reflectins and work as intracellular Bragg reflectors. These reflectins have unusual amino acid compositions and sequential properties, which endows them with functional characteristics: an extremely high reflective index among natural proteins and the ability to answer various environmental stimuli. Based on their unique material composition and responsive self-organization properties, the material community has developed an impressive array of reflectin- or iridocyte-inspired optical systems with distinct tunable reflectance according to a series of internal and external factors. More recently, scientists have made creative attempts to engineer mammalian cells to explore the function potentials of reflectin proteins as well as their working mechanism in the cellular environment. Progress in wide scientific areas (biophysics, genomics, gene editing, etc.) brings in new opportunities to better understand reflectins and new approaches to fully utilize them. The work introduced the composition features, biochemical properties, the latest developments, future considerations of reflectins, and their inspiration applications to give newcomers a comprehensive understanding and mutually exchanged knowledge from different communities (e.g., biology and material).

An essential role of disulfide bonds for the hierarchical self-assembly and underwater affinity of CP20-derived peptides.

Barnacles are typical fouling organisms strongly adhere to immersed solid substrates by secreting proteinaceous adhesives called cement proteins (CPs). The self-assembly of the CPs forms a permanently bonded layer that binds barnacles to foreign surfaces. However, it is difficult to determine their natural structure and describe their self-assembly properties due to the abundance of cysteines in whole-length CP20. A putative functional motif of Balanus albicostatus CP20 (BalCP20) was identified to present distinctive self-assembly and wet-binding characteristics. Atomic-force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) investigations showed that wildtype BalCP20-P3 formed grain-like spindles, which assembled into fractal-like structures like ears of wheat. SDS-PAGE, AFM, and LSCM showed that DTT treatment opened up disulfide bonds between cysteines and disrupted fractal-like structures. Additionally, these morphologies were abolished when one of the BalCP20-P3 four cysteines was mutated by alanine. Circular dichroism (CD) results suggested that the morphological diversity among BalCP20-P3 and its mutations was related to the proportion of α-helices. Finally, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) detected that BalCP20-P3 and its mutations with diverse self-assemblies occupied different affinities. The above results demonstrated that cysteines and disulfide bonds played a crucial role in the self-assembly and wet binding of BalCP20-P3. The work provides new ideas for the underwater bonding of BalCP20 and developing new bionic underwater adhesives.

One case report of laparoscopic biological patch repair for the ureterosciatic hernia and literature review.

Ureterosciatic hernia is a very rare disease worldwide. We report a successful case of laparoscopic biological repair of large ureteral hernia. Preoperative CT examination showed ureterosciatic hernia with incarceration and proximal ureteral dilatation. Laparoscopic ureteral incarceration release, ureteral stent placement and biological patch repair of sciatic foramen hernia were performed. Under the observation of laparoscope, the stent was placed through urethra with cystoscope to restore the course of ureter. A biological patch was placed behind the ureter to cover the closed hernia ring. We have been followed up for 2 months after operation. According to the reexamination, the effect is obvious. Laparoscopic biological patch repair for ureteral sciatic foramen hernia has the advantages of less trauma, convenient operation and ideal prognosis in theory.

Tunable Cellular Localization and Extensive Cytoskeleton-Interplay of Reflectins.

Reflectin proteins are natural copolymers consisting of repeated canonical domains. They are located in a biophotonic system called Bragg lamellae and manipulate the dynamic structural coloration of iridocytes. Their biological functions are intriguing, but the underlying mechanism is not fully understood. Reflectin A1, A2, B1, and C were found to present distinguished cyto-/nucleoplasmic localization preferences in the work. Comparable intracellular localization was reproduced by truncated reflectin variants, suggesting a conceivable evolutionary order among reflectin proteins. The size-dependent access of reflectin variants into the nucleus demonstrated a potential model of how reflectins get into Bragg lamellae. Moreover, RfA1 was found to extensively interact with the cytoskeleton, including its binding to actin and enrichment at the microtubule organizing center. This implied that the cytoskeleton system plays a fundamental role during the organization and transportation of reflectin proteins. The findings presented here provide evidence to get an in-depth insight into the evolutionary processes and working mechanisms of reflectins, as well as novel molecular tools to achieve tunable intracellular transportation.

Mechanism of the Fibroblast Growth Factor 23/α-Klotho Axis in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell Inflammation in Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a prevalent type of dementia and threatens the health of most elderly people and poses a huge burden to families and society. The fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23)/α-Klotho axis is associated with multiple aging-related diseases. Hence, this study explored the mechanism of the FGF23/α-Klotho axis in AD. FGF23/α-Klotho protein contents and levels of inflammatory cytokines in AD patients were measured, and the correlation between FGF23/α-Klotho protein contents and inflammatory cytokines was analyzed. FGF23 and α-Klotho expressions were blocked in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in AD patients (AD-PBMCs) to assess the effects on cell inflammation and the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway activation. The Wnt/ß-catenin pathway was inhibited to evaluate cell inflammation. Combined treatments of the cells were conducted to verify the role of the FGF23/α-Klotho axis and the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway in inflammation in AD-PBMCs. Increased FGF23 protein concentration and reduced α-Klotho protein concentration were observed in AD patients and correlated with inflammatory cytokine levels. FGF23 inhibition or α-Klotho overexpression reduced the production of inflammatory cytokines and activated the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway in AD-PBMCs. Blocking the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway increased inflammatory cytokine production in AD-PBMCs and annulled the effects of the FGF23/α-Klotho axis on AD-induced cell inflammation. We concluded that the FGF23/α-Klotho axis can regulate the AD-induced cell inflammation through the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway.

A Tagetes minuta based eco-benign synthesis of multifunctional Au/MgO nanocomposite with enhanced photocatalytic, antibacterial and DPPH scavenging activities.

In this research work, facile, economical and eco-benign experimental procedure were adopted to synthesize Au/MgO nanocomposite with the help of Tagetes minuta leaves extract. Phytochemicals present in the leaves of Tagetes minuta were acting as reducing and stabilizing agents to avoid aggregation of nanomaterials during the preparation of Au/MgO nanocomposite. The biologically synthesized nanocomposite were systematically characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared microscopy (FTIR), High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and elemental mapping. UV-visible spectrum confirmed the presence of MgO and Au due to the presence of two SPR peaks at 315 nm and 528 nm, respectively. Moreover, the Au/MgO nanocomposite exhibited superior photocatalytic, antibacterial, hemolytic, and antioxidant activities. Photocatalytic performance tests of Au/MgO nanocomposite were- appraised by the rapid degradation of the methylene blue (MB) under UV light illumination. More importantly, after four successive cycles of MB degradation, the photocatalytic efficacy remained unchanged, which ensures the stability of the Au/MgO nanocomposite. Furthermore, the antibacterial tests showed that the advanced nanocomposite inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus with zones of inhibition 18 (±0.3), 21 (±0.5), and 19 (±0.4) mm, respectively. The cytotoxicity study revealed that Au/MgO nanocomposite is nontoxic to ordinary healthy RBCs. Interestingly, the Au/MgO nanocomposite also possesses an excellent antioxidant activity, whereby effectively scavenging 82% stable and harmful DPPH. Overall, the present study concludes that eco-benign Au/MgO nanocomposite has excellent potential for the remediation of bacterial pathogens and degradation of MB.

Recurrent abdominal pain due to small bowel volvulus after transabdominal preperitoneal hernioplasty: A case report and review of literature.

BACKGROUND: Compared with open mesh repair, transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) hernioplasty results in less chronic postoperative inguinal pain and faster postoperative recovery. However, it may still lead to rare but serious complications. Here we report a case of intestinal volvulus with recurrent abdominal pain as the only clinical symptom, which occurred 3 mo after TAPP repair for bilateral inguinal hernia. CASE SUMMARY: A 50-year-old male patient underwent laparoscopic TAPP for bilateral inguinal hernias. After the operation, he experienced recurring pain in his lower right abdomen around the surgical area, which was relieved after symptomatic treatment. Three months after the surgery, the abdominal pain became severe and was aggravated over time. The whirlpool sign of the mesentery was seen on contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT). Laparoscopic exploration confirmed that a barb of the V-Loc™ suture penetrated the peritoneum, which caused the adhesion of the small intestinal wall to the site of peritoneal injury, forming intestinal volvulus. Since there was no closed-loop obstruction or intestinal ischemia, recurrent abdominal pain became the only clinical manifestation in this case. After laparoscopic lysis of adhesions and reduction of intestinal volvulus, the patient recovered and was discharged. CONCLUSION: The possibility of intestinal volvulus should be considered in patients who experience recurrent abdominal pain following TAPP surgery during which barbed V-Loc sutures are used for closing the peritoneum. Contrast-enhanced CT and active laparoscopic exploration can confirm the diagnosis and prevent serious complications.

Lichtenstein inguinal hernia repairs with porcine small intestine submucosa: a 5- year follow-up. a prospective randomized controlled study.

Porcine small intestine submucosa (SIS) biologic patch has been used in inguinal hernia repair. However, there are little data available to assess the long-term effect after repair. This study aimed to explore the long-term effect of SIS patch in open inguinal hernia repair. Sevent-six patients with unilateral inguinal hernia were treated with Lichtenstein tension-free hernia repair using SIS patch (Beijing Datsing Bio-Tech Co., Ltd.) and Surgisis patch (COOK, USA) in Tianjin Union Medical Center and China-Japan Friendship Hospital. In the trial, the long-term efficacy of the treatment group and the control group were compared. A total of 66 patients in both groups received long-term follow-up (> 5 years) after surgery, with a follow-up rate of 86.8%. During the follow-up period, there was one case of recurrence, one case of chronic pain in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05) in terms of recurrence, chronic pain, foreign body sensation and infection between the two groups of patients. After long-term observations, it has been found that the porcine small intestinal submucosa (SIS) biological patch is safe and effective for inguinal hernia Lichtenstein repair, and has a low recurrence rate and complication rate.

Assessment of the efficacy of using taurine supplements to improve growth and feed utilization of juvenile starry flounder (Platichthys stellatus) given diets based on soy-protein.

A feeding trial was conducted to assess the feasibility of supplementing taurine in soy-based diets for juvenile starry flounder Platichthys stellatus. The basal diet (Crude protein 66.5%, crude lipid 8.5%) was supplemented with 0 (control), 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0% and 2.5% taurine to formulate six test diets. Each diet was fed to 40 juvenile fish (22.25 g) in triplicate tanks (120 L) attached to a sea water circulation-system. Fish were fed twice daily by hand to apparent satiation during the 56-d trial. At the end of the trial, fish were counted and weighed for the analyses of growth performance, diet utilization and survival after a 24-h fast. Blood, intestines and muscles were collected for the analyses of serum oxidation resistance, digestive enzymes and body compostion. Livers were collected from the remaining fish at 4 h post-feeding for metabolic enzymes analyses. The results showed that fish fed diets supplemented with 1.0-2.5% taurine grew from 22.25-22.26 g to 47.88-50.40 g with higher average weight gain (25.62-28.12 vs 23.07 g ), specific growth rate (1.37-1.46 vs 1.27%/d ), feed intake (1.04-1.06 vs 1.00%/d), protein efficiency (2.50-2.61 vs 2.44) and lower feed conversion rate (0.84-0.83 vs 0.89) than the control treatment. Diets supplemented with 1.5-2.5% taurine significantly elevated the activities of pepsin (2.47-2.55 vs 2.22, U mg-1 prot), trypsin of distal intestine(14.55-15.24 vs 11.94, U mg-1 prot), hepatic glucokinase (126.62-129.42 vs 105.56, U mg-1 prot) and fatty acid synthetase (125.56-136.89 vs 108.45, U mg-1 prot). All diets supplemented with taurine increased the activities of lipase (32.23-36.67 vs 29.53, U g-1 prot) and trypsin (35.85-37.89 vs 33.54, U mg-1 prot) of proximal intestine, hepatic aspartate transaminase (736.990-832.38 vs 699.24, U mg-1 prot), alanine aminotransferase (477.40-551.86 vs 373.97, U mg-1 prot) and glycogen synthase (2.16-2.59 vs 1.97, U mg-1 prot), as well as serum superoxide dismutase (4.33-4.59 vs 4.07, U mg-1 prot ) and glutathione peroxidase (42.23-50.25 vs 39.17, mol mg-1 prot). Therefore, taurine supplementation benefits juvenile starry flounder growth, digestion, nutrients metabolism and oxidation resistance. The optimal taurine requirement for starry flounder is 1.75%, and the recommended supplementation level is at least 1.6% for maximizing growth of fish fed a low-fishmeal diet (13.6%).

Biosynthesis of silver capped magnesium oxide nanocomposite using Olea cuspidata leaf extract and their photocatalytic, antioxidant and antibacterial activity.

Green chemistry is a modern area of research which covers synthesis of nanomaterials through useful, environmentally, economically friendly techniques and their use in different fields. The synthesis involves the formation of bimetallic nanomaterials to enhance their synergistic relationship and achieve special modulated properties. That's why bimetallic nanomaterials are extremely important and gaining interest among researchers in the field of medicinal chemistry for the treatment of various diseases. In this particular study, bimetallic nanoparticles synthesis was done by reduction procedure using leaf extract of Olea cuspidata. The phytochemicals in leaf extract act as stabilizing and capping agent in reduction of precursor's salts. The characterization of green synthesized Ag@MgO nanocomposite was done through several analytical techniques such as ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), High resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) and Zeta potential. To explore the biological potential of synthesized nanocomposite, antibacterial activities against gram negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria and gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) has been evaluated. The photocatalytic activity in contrary to methylene blue (MB) decomposition was seen efficiently. Moreover, the antioxidant nature of green synthesized Ag@MgO nanocomposite was analyzed by destabilizing and scavenging maximum percentage (93 %) of dangerous and harmful 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical. The best and surprising results provided the information for the presence of essential and vital components in Olea Cuspidata in the form of organic acids (Citrus Acid) aids in stabilizing the entire structure with enhanced properties. Up to the best of our knowledge, the facts and results obtained regarding the structure of Ag@MgO nanocomposite clearly illustrates the uniqueness of green chemistry and also its role in future developing multifunctional nanoparticles in the field of nanobiotechnology.

Identification of the Sixth Complement Component as Potential Key Genes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma via Bioinformatics Analysis.

The present study is designed to determine potential target genes involved in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and provide possible underlying mechanisms of action. Several studies (GSE112790, GSE87630, and GSE56140) from the GEO database looking at molecular characteristics in HCC were screened and analyzed by GEO2R, which led to the identification of a total of 93 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). From the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, we selected 13 key genes with high degree of variability in expression in HCC. Expression of three key genes (NQO1, CYP2C9, and C6) presented with poor overall survival (OS) in HCC patients by UALCAN. C6, which is a complement component, was found by ONCOMINE and TIMER to have low expression in many solid cancers including HCC. Besides, Kaplan-Meier plotter and UALCAN database analysis to access diseases prognosis suggested that low expression of C6 is significantly related to worse OS in LIHC patients, especially in advanced HCC patients. Finally, the TIMER analysis suggested that the C6 expression showed significant negative correlation with infiltrating levels of six immune cells. The somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) of C6 were associated with CD4+ T cell infiltration in HCC. Taken together, these results together identified C6 as a potential key gene in the diagnosis and prognosis of HCC.

Erratum: Therapeutic effect of vascular interventional therapy andaspirin combined with defibrase on cerebral ischemia in rats.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3892/etm.2018.6271.].

A facile fabrication of silver/copper oxide nanocomposite: An innovative entry in photocatalytic and biomedical materials.

In this work, principles and techniques of green chemistry were implemented which exploit environmentally and economically friendly methods using an accessible and non-toxic medium, that is water and ascorbic acid (Vit.C), which leads to the synthesis of silver/ copper oxide (Ag/CuO) nanocomposite. Vit.C was used to furnish the synthesis of excellent and controlled crystalline silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), copper oxide (CuO) and Ag/CuO nanocomposite. Moreover, the structures of all the synthesized nanomaterials were confirmed by wide range of characterization techniques which include UV-vis spectroscopy, FTIR, X-ray diffraction and Electron Diffraction Spectroscopy. However external and internal morphology of newly synthesized nanomaterials were examined by using Scanning Electron Microscopy and High resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy, respectively. The prepared nanomaterials were evaluated for catalytic decomposition of methyl orange (MO) in dark, visible light and UV light. The results showed that 20 %, 50 % and 90 % degradation of MO in 40 min was observed in dark, visible light and UV light, respectively. To further explore the biological potential of synthesized Ag/CuO nanocomposite, we also evaluated it for an inactivation of bacteria where Escherichia coli has 17(±0.5 mm) and Staphylococcus aureus has 20 (±0.6 mm) zone of inhibition in light. The results showed that reactive oxygen species (ROS) were produced in the presence of light and Ag/CuO. These ROS are the main source of inactivation of bacteria. The prepared nanomaterial has also good efficiency against DPPH stabilization. Further study is required to investigate the hidden applications of the as synthesized nanomaterials.