AIPE-active cationic Ir(III) complexes for efficient detection of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol and oxygen.

A cationic Ir(III) complex, Ir2, with a diphenylamino (DPA)-substituted 2-phenylbenzothiazole derivative as the cyclometalating ligand was designed and synthesized. Ir2 shows obvious aggregation-induced phosphorescent emission (AIPE) in H2O/CH3CN, compared with a non-DPA-substituted Ir1. The AIPE-active Ir2 demonstrates efficient detection of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol, providing a higher quenching constant (KSV = 2 644 330 M-1vs. 73 583 M-1 for Ir1) and a lower limit of detection (LOD = 2.23 nM vs. 50.17 nM for Ir1). High-resolution mass spectrometry analysis and density functional theory calculations demonstrate that photoinduced electron transfer may be responsible for the emission quenching. Immobilized in an ethyl cellulose film, Ir2 exhibits high oxygen sensitivity (KappSV = 0.0572 Torr-1vs. 0.0090 Torr-1 for Ir1) and excellent reversibility in 10 cycles. This work reveals that the DPA group plays an important role in tuning the AIPE properties and increasing the performances of the luminescent probes.

[Profile Characteristics of VOCs from Wood and Economic Crop Burning].

Wood and economic crops are still widely used in rural areas of China. Although their combustion is an important source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), study on their emission characteristics is relatively weak. In this study, three kinds of wood (poplar, cedarwood, and citrus branches) and six economic crop straws (soybean stalk, sesame stalk, corn cob, cotton stalk, peanut stalk, and corn stalk) were selected and their burning was simulated in the laboratory. A dilution tunnel system was used to dilute the smoke, and then Tedlar bags were used to collect the smoke. The compositions of 102 VOCs were analyzed by Agilent 7820A/5977E gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The ozone formation potential (OFP) of VOCs for different types of biomass burning was analyzed. The results indicated that there are differences in the VOC compositions of different types of biomass burning emissions. Ethane (11.1%), trans-2-pentene (15.4%), ethylene (8.3%), and dichloromethane (11.9%) are the main VOCs emitted from poplar and cedarwood burning. Toluene (49.8%) is the most abundant species of VOC emitted from burning of citrus branches. Ethylene (11.8%-17.5%) and acetone (9.2%-14.7%) are the main VOCs components of straw burning. Corn stalks, peanut stalks, and citrus branches have similar VOC source profiles, with the coefficient of divergence less than 0.1. The benzene/toluene ratio for biomass burning emissions obtained in this study and in the literature is in the range of 0.030-6.48. It is arguable that a value higher than 1 indicated the impact of biomass burning. The contributions of alkenens, oxygenated VOCs, and aromatic hydrocarbons to the OFP of biomass burning were 30.6%-80.3%, 6.5%-21.0%, and 3.8%-56.5%, respectively. The components contributing more than 10.0% to the OFP are ethylene, propylene, trans-2-pentene, cis-2-pentene, toluene, and propionaldehyde.

Gene-Loaded Nanoparticle-Coated Sutures Provide Effective Gene Delivery to Enhance Tendon Healing.

How to accelerate tendon healing remains a clinical challenge. In this study, a suture carrying nanoparticle/pEGFP-basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and pEGFP-vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) complexes was developed to transfer the growth factor genes into injured tendon tissues to promote healing. Polydopamine-modified sutures can uniformly and tightly absorb nanoparticle/plasmid complexes. After tendon tissues were sutured, the nanoparticle/plasmid complexes still existed on the suture surface. Further, we found that the nanoparticle/plasmid complexes delivered into tendon tissues could diffuse from sutures to tendon tissues and effectively transfect genes into tendon cells, significantly increasing the expression of growth factors in tendon tissues. Finally, biomechanical tests showed that nanoparticle/pEGFP-bFGF and pEGFP-VEGFA complex-coated sutures could significantly increase the ultimate strengths of repaired tendons, especially at 4 weeks after operation. Two kinds of nanoparticle/plasmid complex-coated sutures significantly increased flexor tendon healing strength by 3.7 times for Ethilon and 5.8 times for PDS II, respectively, compared with the corresponding unmodified sutures. In the flexor tendon injury model, at 6 weeks after surgery, compared with the control suture, the nanoparticle/plasmid complex-coated sutures can significantly increase the gliding excursions of the tendon and inhibit the formation of adhesion. These results indicate that this nanoparticle/plasmid complex-coated suture is a promising tool for the treatment of injured tendons.

Localized delivery of miRNAs targets cyclooxygenases and reduces flexor tendon adhesions.

The formation of adhesions during healing of an injured tendon remains a difficult problem in clinical practice. Local anti-inflammation gene delivery provides high local gene concentration, reduces the inflammatory response of the injured tendon microenvironment, and decreases systemic side effects to enhance in vivo efficacy. In this study, we designed a novel local sustained gene delivery system by using cyclooxygenase (COX-1 and COX-2)-engineered miRNA plasmid/nanoparticles embedded in hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel to reduce flexor tendon adhesions. The local sustained gene delivery system significantly downregulates COX-1 and COX-2 expression in the tendon tissue and the surrounding subcutaneous tissue. More importantly, this plasmid/nanoparticle hydrogel system significantly reduced tissue adhesion formation. This approach offers an effective therapeutic strategy to reduce tendon adhesions by directly targeting the down-regulation of COX-1 and COX-2 expression within the microenvironment of the injured tendon. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: A local sustained gene delivery system was developed to regulate the expression of targeted genes in the specific time and location for tendon adhesion treatment. The engineered miRNA plasmid/nanoparticles embedded in hyaluronic acid hydrogel were synthesized to downregulate the expression of cyclooxygenases in the tendon tissue during the early stage of tendon healing with inflammatory response. This plasmid/nanoparticle hydrogel system offers an effective therapeutic strategy to attenuate the formation of tendon adhesion through direct downregulation of COX-1 and COX-2 expression within the microenvironment of the injured tendon.

Post-Marketing Safety Surveillance of the Salvia Miltiorrhiza Depside Salt for Infusion: A Real World Study.

BACKGROUND: Salvia Miltiorrhiza Depside Salt for Infusion (SMDS) is made of a group of highly purified listed drugs. However, its safety data is still reported limitedly. Compared with the clinical trials, its safety in the real world setting is barely assessed. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the safety issues, including adverse events (AEs), adverse events related to SMDS (ADEs), and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) of the SMDS in the real world clinical practice. METHODS: This is a prospective, multicenter, pharmacist-led, cohort study in the real world setting. Consecutive patients prescribed with SMDS were all included in 36 sites. Pharmacists were well trained to standardized collect the patients information, including demographics, medical history, prescribing patterns of SMDS, combined medications, adverse events, laboratory investigations, outcomes of the treatment when discharge, and interventions by pharmacists. Adverse events and adverse drug reactions were collected in details. Multivariate possion regression analysis was applied to identify risk factors associated with ADEs using the significance level (α) 0.05. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01872520. RESULTS: Thirty six hospitals were participated in the study and 30180 consecutive inpatients were included. The median age was 62 (interquartile range [IQR], 50-73) years, and male was 17384 (57.60%) among the 30180 patients. The incidences of the AEs, ADEs and ADRs were 6.40%, 1.57% and 0.79%, respectively. There were 9 kinds of new ADEs which were not on the approved label found in the present study. According to the multivariate analysis, male (RR = 1.381, P = 0.009, 95%CI [1.085~1.759]), more concomitant medications (RR = 1.049, P<0.001, 95%CI [1.041~1.057]), longer duration of SMDS therapy (RR = 1.027, P<0.001, 95%CI [1.013~1.041]), higher drug concentration (RR = 1.003, P = 0.014, 95%CI [1.001~1.006]), and resolvent unapproved (RR = 1.900, P = 0.002, 95%CI [1.260~2.866]) were the independent risk factors of the ADEs. Moreover, following the approved indication (RR = 0.655, P<0.001, 95%CI [0.532~0.807]) was associated with lower incidence of ADEs. CONCLUSIONS: SMDS was well tolerated in the general population. The incidences of the AEs, ADEs and ADRs were 6.40%, 1.57% and 0.79%, respectively. Several risk factors of its ADEs have been identified. It is recommended to follow the instructions when prescribing and administrating SMDS in the real world clinical practice.