EZH2 as a prognostic-related biomarker in lung adenocarcinoma correlating with cell cycle and immune infiltrates.

BACKGROUNDS: It has been observed that high levels of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) expression are associated with unsatisfactory prognoses and can be found in a wide range of malignancies. However, the effects of EZH2 on Lung Adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remain elusive. Through the integration of bioinformatic analyses, the present paper sought to ascertain the effects of EZH2 in LUAD. METHODS: The TIMER and UALCAN databases were applied to analyze mRNA and protein expression data for EZH2 in LUAD. The result of immunohistochemistry was obtained from the HPA database, and the survival curve was drawn according to the library provided by the HPA database. The LinkedOmics database was utilized to investigate the co-expressed genes and signal transduction pathways with EZH2. Up- and down-regulated genes from The Linked Omics database were introduced to the CMap database to predict potential drug targets for LUAD using the CMap database. The association between EZH2 and cancer-infiltrating immunocytes was studied through TIMER and TISIDB. In addition, this paper explores the relationship between EZH2 mRNA expression and NSCLC OS using the Kaplan-Meier plotter database to further validate and complement the research. Furthermore, the correlation between EZH2 expression and EGFR genes, KRAS genes, BRAF genes, and smoking from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database is analyzed. RESULTS: In contrast to paracancer specimens, the mRNA and protein levels of EZH2 were higher in LUAD tissues. Significantly, high levels of EZH2 were associated with unsatisfactory prognoses in LUAD patients. Additionally, the coexpressed genes of EZH2 were predominantly associated with numerous cell growth-associated pathways, including the cell cycle, DNA replication, RNA transport, and the p53 signaling pathway, according to Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways. The results of TCGA database revealed that the expression of EZH2 was lower in normal tissues than in lung cancer tissues (p < 0.05). Smoking was associated with elevated EZH2 expression (p < 0.001). EZH2 was highly expressed in lung cancers with positive KRAS expression, and the correlation was significant in lung adenocarcinoma (r = 0.3129, p < 0.001). CMap was applied to determine the top 15 positively correlated drugs/molecules and the top 15 negatively correlated drugs/molecules. MK-1775, MK-5108, fenbendazole, albendazole, BAY-K8644, evodiamine, purvalanol-a, mycophenolic-acid, PHA-793887, and cyclopamine are potential drugs for patients with lung adenocarcinoma and high EZH2 expression. CONCLUSIONS: Highly expressed EZH2 is a predictor of a suboptimal prognosis in LUAD and may serve as a prognostic marker and target gene for LUAD. The underlying cause may be associated with the synergistic effect of KRAS, immune cell infiltration, and metabolic processes.

CircRNA circ_POSTN promotes the malignancy of glioma by regulating the miR-433-3p/SPARC axis.

Glioma is a common tumor in the brain. CircRNA hsa_circ_0030018, also termed as hsa_circPOSTN_001 (circ_POSTN), is reported to exert a promoting influence on the development of glioma. Our study intends to deeply explore its regulation mechanism of circ_POSTN. Expression of circ_POSTN, microRNA-433-3p (miR-433-3p) and Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) was detected by qRT-PCR or western blot assay. The function of circ_POSTN was analyzed by loss-of-function experiments. The targeting relationship between miR-433-3p and circ_POSTN or SPARC was predicted by bioinformatics analysis and validated by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Xenograft modeling was employed to validate the function of circ_POSTN in glioma in vivo. circ_POSTN and SPARC were upregulated while miR-433-3p was downregulated in glioma tissues and cells. Both circ_POSTN and SPARC knockdown inhibited clonogenicity, migration, and promoted apoptosis of glioma cells. Circ_POSTN sponged miR-433-3p to regulate SPARC expression. Gain of SPARC largely attenuated circ_POSTN knockdown or miR-433-3p overexpression-mediated effects on glioma cell clonogenicity, migration, and apoptosis. Furthermore, silencing of circ_POSTN decreased xenograft tumor growth in vivo. Inhibition of circ_POSTN repressed glioma development, at least in part, via regulating the miR-433-3p/SPARC axis, providing evidence for circ_POSTN as a potential therapeutic target for glioma.

Potato Processing Industry in China: Current Scenario, Future Trends and Global Impact.

Potatoes play an important role in ensuring food security. During the COVID-19 epidemic, consumption of processed potato products decreased, and consumption of fresh potatoes increased. China is the world's largest potato producer with more than 4.81 million hectares of area under potato production and 90.32 million metric tonnes of potatoes produced in 2018. This accounts for 27.36% of the world's planting area and 24.53% of the world's potato production. The proportion of potatoes processed in China was about 12% in 2017, mostly dominated by starch production. However, the recent policy of the Chinese government to popularise potato as a staple food has created new markets for processed potato products other than starch. A very few reports have analysed these future trends of the rapidly growing Chinese potato processing industry and its impact within and outside China. This paper provides an overview of the latest developments with a focus on processed potato products such as potato chips, French fries and dehydrated potatoes, and also, due to the unique Chinese diet culture, it highlights the need for more scientific research dedicated towards the development of novel potato-based healthy foods.

Real-Time High-Performance Laser Welding Defect Detection by Combining ACGAN-Based Data Enhancement and Multi-Model Fusion.

Most of the existing laser welding process monitoring technologies focus on the detection of post-engineering defects, but in the mass production of electronic equipment, such as laser welding metal plates, the real-time identification of defect detection has more important practical significance. The data set of laser welding process is often difficult to build and there is not enough experimental data, which hinder the applications of the data-driven laser welding defect detection method. In this paper, an intelligent welding defect diagnosis method based on auxiliary classifier generative adversarial networks (ACGAN) has been proposed. Firstly, a ten-class dataset consisting of 6467 samples, was constructed, which originate from the optical and thermal sensory parameters in the welding process. A new structured ACGAN network model is proposed to generate fake data similar to the true defect feature distributions. In addition, in order to make the difference between different defects categories more obvious after data expansion, a data filtering and data purification scheme was proposed based on ensemble learning and an SVM (support vector machine), which is used to filter the bad generated data. In the experiments, the classification accuracy can reach 96.83% and 85.13%, for the CNN (convolutional neural network) algorithm model and ACGAN model, respectively. However, the accuracy can further improve to 97.86% and 98.37% for the fusion models of ACGAN-CNN and ACGAN-SVM-CNN models, respectively. The results show that ACGAN can not only be used as an algorithm model for classification, but also be used to achieve superior real-time classification and recognition through data enhancement and multi-model fusion.

Active-Oxygen-Enhanced Homogeneous Nucleation of Lithium Metal on Ultrathin Layered Double Hydroxide.

The development of safe lithium-metal anodes is crucial for the next-generation rechargeable batteries. To stabilize Li metal anodes, pre-planting Li nucleation seeds on lithiophilic substrates is an efficient strategy to regulate initial nucleation process of Li metal. Now, activated ultrathin layered double hydroxide (U-LDHs) are reported as a promising lithiophilic 2D material to realize the uniform deposition of Li metal. The experimental studies and DFT calculations reveal that the active oxygen on U-LDHs provides abundant atomic-scale active sites for Li homogeneous nucleation and plating. Moreover, the lithiophilic properties of active oxygen is also related to its coordination environments. This work opens up an opportunity to more accurate regulation and understanding of Li nucleation from atomic-scale based on 2D ultrathin materials.

Boosting electrochemical oxygen reduction to hydrogen peroxide coupled with organic oxidation.

The electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) to produce hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is appealing due to its sustainability. However, its efficiency is compromised by the competing 4e- ORR pathway. In this work, we report a hierarchical carbon nanosheet array electrode with a single-atom Ni catalyst synthesized using organic molecule-intercalated layered double hydroxides as precursors. The electrode exhibits excellent 2e- ORR performance under alkaline conditions and achieves H2O2 yield rates of 0.73 mol gcat-1 h-1 in the H-cell and 5.48 mol gcat-1 h-1 in the flow cell, outperforming most reported catalysts. The experimental results show that the Ni atoms selectively adsorb O2, while carbon nanosheets generate reactive hydrogen species, synergistically enhancing H2O2 production. Furthermore, a coupling reaction system integrating the 2e- ORR with ethylene glycol oxidation significantly enhances H2O2 yield rate to 7.30 mol gcat-1 h-1 while producing valuable glycolic acid. Moreover, we convert alkaline electrolyte containing H2O2 directly into the downstream product sodium perborate to reduce the separation cost further. Techno-economic analysis validates the economic viability of this system.

Prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio change in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with thoracic radiotherapy.

In prior investigations, a correlation was established between patient outcomes in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC) following thoracic irradiation and parameters, such as pre/post-treatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and NLR change (ΔNLR). However, these parameters could potentially be influenced by radiation-related variables, such as gross tumor volume (GTV). The primary aim of this study was to elucidate the factors impacting post-treatment NLR and ΔNLR and to further assess their prognostic relevance. In this retrospective study, a cohort of 188 LA-NSCLC patients who underwent thoracic radiation between 2012 and 2017 was assessed. The calculation of pre/post-treatment NLR involved the use of absolute neutrophil and lymphocyte counts. ΔNLR was defined as the difference between post- and pre-treatment NLR values. To assess the relationships between various variables and overall survival (OS), local progression-free survival (LPFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), the Kaplan-Meier technique and Cox proportional hazards regression were employed. Additionally, Spearman's rank correlation analysis was carried out to investigate correlations between the variables. The analysis revealed that both post-treatment NLR (r = 0.315, P < 0.001) and ΔNLR (r = 0.156, P = 0.032) were associated with GTV. However, OS, LPFS, and DMFS were not independently correlated with pre/post-treatment NLR. ΔNLR, on the other hand, exhibited independent associations with OS and DMFS (HR = 1.054, P = 0.020, and P = 0.046, respectively). Elevated ΔNLR values were linked to poorer OS (P = 0.023) and DMFS (P = 0.018) in the Kaplan-Meier analysis. Furthermore, when stratifying by GTV, a higher ΔNLR remained to be associated with worse OS and DMFS (P = 0.047 and P = 0.035, respectively) in the GTV ≤ 67.41 cm3 group, and in the GTV > 67.41 cm3 group (P = 0.028 and P = 0.042, respectively), highlighting ΔNLR as the sole independent predictive factor for survival and metastasis, irrespective of GTV.

Serum vascular endothelial growth factor and cortisol expression to predict prognosis of patients with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral hemorrhage is a common and severe complication of hypertension in middle-aged and elderly men. AIM: To investigate the correlation between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and cortisol (Cor) and the prognosis of patients with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage. METHODS: A hundred patients with hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage were enrolled from January 2020 to December 2022 and assigned to the hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage group. Another 100 healthy people who were examined at our hospital during the same period were selected and assigned to the healthy group. Peripheral venous blood was collected, and serum Cor and VGEF levels were measured through enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: A statistically significant difference in serum Cor and VGEF levels was observed among patients with varying degrees of neurological impairment (P < 0.05). Serum Cor and VGEF levels were significantly higher in the severe group than in the mild-to-moderate group. Cor and VEGF levels were significantly higher in patients with poor prognoses than in those with good prognoses. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that serum Cor and VGEF levels were independent factors affecting hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Cor and VGEF are associated with the occurrence and development of hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage and are significantly associated with neurological impairment and prognosis of patients.

Clinical application of 192Ir High-Dose-Rate brachytherapy in metastatic lymph nodes of the neck.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate the safety and effectiveness of high-dose-rate brachytherapy as a treatment modality for recurrent or residual neck metastatic lymph nodes following external radiotherapy. METHODS: 38 patients with 52 metastatic lymph nodes recurring or residual after previous external radiotherapy was completed to metastatic lymph nodes in the neck were collected from January 2019 to February 2022. High-dose-rate brachytherapy with 192Ir was performed with a prescribed dose of 20-30 Gy/1f (effective biological dose of 60-120 Gy), and imaging was performed at 1, 3, and 6 months after treatment to assess the local control rate and adverse effects of treatment. RESULTS: All 38 patients received completed treatment, and they were followed up for 6 months. 52 patients with neck lymph node metastases had an objective response rate. (Complete response, CR + Partial response, PR) of 76.9%, which comprised 89.5% (34/38) for lymph nodes ≤ 3 cm and 42.9% (4/14) for > 3 cm, P = 0.028. P > 0.05 for CR + PR versus stable disease, SD + progressive disease, PD for lymph nodes between different subdivisions of the neck. Using the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) Acute Toxicity Scoring System, there were 6 cases of acute radioskin injuries of degree I and 4 cases of degree II with a 60% symptomatic relief rate. CONCLUSIONS: High-dose-rate brachytherapy serves as a safe and effective method in treating recurrent residual neck metastatic lymph nodes in the field after external radiotherapy, exerting tolerable adverse effects.

The efficacy of upfront craniocerebral radiotherapy and epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor-positive non-small cell lung cancer with brain metastases.

The present study aims to investigate the therapeutic value of third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) combined with cranial radiotherapy (RT) in patients with EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and brain metastases (BMs). Methodology: This is a retrospective study that involved 213 patients with EGFR-NSCLC and BMs, with the patients divided into two groups: the upfront cranial RT (ucRT) group (n = 96) and the non-ucRT group (n = 117). All patients were administered with osimertinib, and those in the ucRT group also underwent RT. The overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and intracranial PFS (IPFS) of the two groups were compared. Results: The ucRT group manifested a markedly higher IPFS than the non-ucRT group (29.65 months vs 21.8 months; P < 0.0001). The subgroup analysis revealed that patients with oligometastases (OLOGO-BMs; 1-3 BMs) demonstrated a notably longer OS (44.5 months vs 37.3 months; P < 0.0001), PFS (32.3 months vs 20.8 months; P = 0.6884) and IPFS (37.8 months vs 22.1 months; P < 0.0001) in the ucRT group than in the non-ucRT group. However, for patients with multiple BMs, there was no significant difference in OS (27.3 months vs 34.4 months; P = 0.0710) and PFS (13.7 months vs 13.2 months; P = 0.0516) between the ucRT group and the non-ucRT group; the ucRT group exhibited a higher IPFS (26.4 months vs 21.35 months; P = 0.0028). Cox's multivariate analysis of patients with OLOGO-BM indicated that the use of ucRT was linked to a better OS (heart rate [HR] = 0.392; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.178-0.863; P = 0.020) and PFS (HR = 0.558; 95% CI: 0.316-0.986; P = 0.044). Conclusion: Upfront cerebral cranial stereotactic radiosurgery can improve outcomes in EGFR-positive patients with NSCLC and OLOGO-BM. However, for patients with multiple BMs, the preferable strategy may be pre-treatment with EGFR-TKIs.

Genome-wide identification of DUF506 gene family in Oryzasativa and expression profiling under abiotic stresses.

The domain of unknown function 560 (DUF560), also known as the PDDEXK_6 family, is a ubiquitous plant protein that has been confirmed to play critical roles in Arabidopsis root development as well as ABA and abiotic responses. However, genome-wide identification and expression pattern analysis in rice (Oryza sativa) still need to be improved. Based on the phylogenetic relationship, 10 OsDUF506 genes were identified and classified into four subfamilies. Segmental duplication was essential to the expansion of OsDUF506s, which were subjected to purifying selective pressure. Except for OsDUF50609 and OsDUF50610, the OsDUF506s shared colinear gene pairs with five monocot species, showing that they were conserved in evolution. Furthermore, the conserved domains, gene structures, SNPs distribution, and targeting miRNAs were systematically investigated. Massive cis-regulatory elements were discovered in promoter regions, implying that OsDUF506s may be important in hormone regulation and abiotic stress response. Therefore, we analyzed plant hormone-induced transcriptome data and performed qRT-PCR on eight OsDUF506s under drought, cold, and phosphorus-deficient stresses. The results revealed that most OsDUF506s respond to ABA and JA treatment, as well as drought and cold conditions. In conclusion, our findings provided insights into the evolution and function of OsDUF506s, which could benefit crop breeding in the future.

Enhanced Biohomogeneous Composite Membrane-Encapsulated Nanoplatform with Podocyte Targeting for Precise and Safe Treatment of Diabetic Nephropathy.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN), associated with high mobility and disability, is the leading cause of end-stage kidney disease worldwide. Dysfunction of the mammalian target of the rapamycin (mTOR) pathway and reactive oxygen species (ROS) activation in the glomeruli is the main hypnosis for DN progression. However, the use of mTOR inhibitors for DN treatment remains controversial. In this study, we built a multifunctional selective mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) inhibiting nanoplatform (naming as ESC-HCM-B) that targets the release of mTOR and ROS inhibitors near podocytes, aiming to confirm whether combination therapy is an alternative method for DN treatment. The results showed that ESC-HCM-B achieved high drug loading because of the core mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs), and the enhanced biohomogeneous composite membrane endowed ESC-HCM-B with the characteristics of avoiding immune phagocytosis, automatic valve-type slow-release drug, and high stability. In vitro, the nanoplatform showed high efficiency in podocyte targeting but no significant cytotoxicity or apoptotic promotion. In particular, the quantum dots carried by ESC-HCM-B further amplified the effect of "nanoenzyme"; this mechanism reduced the ROS level in podocytes induced by high glucose, protected mitochondrial damage, and restored mitochondrial energy metabolism. In vivo, the nanoplatform specifically targeted the glomerular and podocyte regions of the kidney. After treatment, the nanoplatform significantly reduced urinary protein levels and delayed glomerulosclerosis in DN rats. This nanoplatform provides a safe and effective strategy for DN treatment.

Prognostic Value of Glasgow Prognostic Score in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Systemic inflammation is a key factor in tumor growth. The Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS) has a certain value in predicting the prognosis of lung cancer. However, these results still do not have a unified direction. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to investigate the relationship between GPS and the prognosis of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We set patients as follows: GPS = 0 vs. GPS = 1 or 2, GPS = 0 vs. GPS = 1, GPS = 0 vs. GPS = 2. We collected the hazard ratio (HR) and the 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: A total of 21 studies were included, involving 7333 patients. We observed a significant correlation with GPS and poor OS in NSCLC patients (HRGPS=0 vs. GPS=1 or 2 = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.27-2.07, p ≤ .001; HRGPS=0 vs GPS=1 = 2.14, 95% CI:1.31-3.49, p ≤ .001; HRGPS=0 vs. GPS=2 = 2.64, 95% CI: 1.45-4.82, p ≤ .001). Moreover, we made a subgroup analysis of surgery and stage. The results showed that when divided into GPS = 0 group and GPS = 1 or 2 group, the effect of high GPS on OS was more obvious in surgery (HR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.08-2.97, p = .024). When GPS was divided into two groups (GPS = 0 and GPS = 1 or 2), the III-IV stage, higher GPS is associated with poor OS (HR = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.43-2.09, p ≤ .001). In the comparison of GPS = 0 and GPS = 1 group (HR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.05-2.31, p = .026) and the grouping of GPS = 0 and GPS = 2(HR = 2.23, 95% CI: 1.17-4.26, p = .015), we came to the same conclusion. Conclusion: For patients with NSCLC, higher GPS is associated with poor prognosis, and GPS may be a reliable prognostic indicator. The decrease of GPS after pretreatment may be an effective way to improve the prognosis of NSCLC.

Active hydrogen boosts electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia.

Electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia is a promising alternative strategy to the traditional Haber-Bosch process but suffers from a low Faradaic efficiency and limited ammonia yield due to the sluggish multi-electron/proton-involved steps. Herein, we report a typical hollow cobalt phosphide nanosphere electrocatalyst assembled on a self-supported carbon nanosheet array synthesized with a confinement strategy that exhibits an extremely high ammonia yield rate of 8.47 mmol h-1 cm-2 through nitrate reduction reaction, which is highly superior to previously reported values to our knowledge. In situ experiments and theoretical investigations reveal that the dynamic equilibrium between the generation of active hydrogen on cobalt phosphide and its timely consumption by nitrogen intermediates leads to a superior ammonia yield with a high Faradaic efficiency. This unique insight based on active hydrogen equilibrium provides new opportunities for large-scale ammonia production through electrochemical techniques and can be further used for carbon dioxide capture.

Analysis of the correlation between Zeste enhancer homolog 2 (EZH2) mRNA expression and the prognosis of mesothelioma patients and immune infiltration.

Mesothelioma lies one of the most malignant tumors, in which the identification of the corresponding biomarkers is extremely critical. This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of enhancer homolog 2 (EZH2) mRNA expression in mesothelioma patients accompanied with its immune infiltration analysis. Gene expression, clinical information and enrichment analysis were obtained based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the immune infiltration analysis and bioinformatics analysis were performed. Clinical information and gene expression were obtained from 86 patients with mesothelioma based on TCGA database. Survival analysis, GSEA enrichment analysis, and immune infiltration analysis of EZH2 expression were carried out using R (version 3.6.3) (statistical analysis and visualization). The correlation of EZH2 expression with immune cell infiltration in mesothelioma was analyzed according to the TIMER database (Fig. https://cistrome.shinyapps.io/timer/ ). A univariate and multivariate analysis of general data obtained from the TCGA database was performed, involving age, gender, stage, pathological type, and whether they had received radiotherapy, the results indicated the association of high expression of EZH2 with poor prognosis in mesothelioma patients, with the worse prognosis in the High group (HR = 2.75, 95% CI 1.68-4.52, P < 0.010). Moreover, ROC curves showed that EZH2 expression predicted 1-year survival with an AUC of 0.740, 2-year survival with an AUC of 0.756, and 3-year survival with an AUC of 0.692, suggesting a robust predictive effect of EZH2 expression on prognosis. KEGG pathway analysis indicated five pathways showing the strongest positive correlation with EZH2 expression: cell cycle, DNA replication, Cell adhesion molecules cams, Primary immuno deficiency, Tsate transduction, and five pathways showing the strongest negative correlation with EZH2 expression: Glycolysis gluconeogenesis, Drug metabolism, cytochrome P450, retinol metabolism, fatty acid metabolism ribosome. We investigated the correlation between EZH2 expression and the level of immune infiltration in mesothelioma tissues. The results indicated that EZH2 expression played a critical role in immune infiltration, of which the high expression was correlated with the reduced number of NK cells, Mast cells, and Th17 cells. Moreover, mesothelioma patients with high EZH2 expression differ from those with low EZH2 expression in their tumor immune microenvironment. EZH2, as a new prognostic biomarker for mesothelioma, contributes to elucidating how changes in the immune environment promote the development of mesothelioma. Further analysis, EZH2 may serve as a biological test to predict the prognosis of mesothelioma.

Flame-Assisted Synthesis of O-Coordinated Single-Atom Catalysts for Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction and Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) exhibit intriguing performance in electrocatalysis owing to their maximized atom utilizations and unique electronic structures, but effective anchoring metal atoms with defined coordination structure on hierarchical integrated electrode remain a challenge. Herein, a fast and facial flame-assisted strategy is developed to construct oxygen-coordinated SACs on integrated carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays with promising applications in electrocatalysis. Density functional theory calculations show that oxygen in carbon substrate imparts homogeneous sites for the efficient anchoring of metal atoms, thereby enabling SACs to disperse uniformly and firmly and thus bringing optimized activities. Moreover, the integrated CNT array with abundant oxygen-containing groups is constructed and has been used as an efficient matrix for anchoring metal atoms (CNT-O@M) via a flame-assisted method. The as-prepared CNT-O@M (M = Co and Pt as typical examples) shows excellent activities in electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction and hydrogen evolution reaction with utilization of active site as high as 75.7%, which is superior to the reported SACs. Particularly, the performance of CNT-O@M can maintain stably under various harsh conditions, showing a promising prospect in the long-time applications. The methodology and concept proposed in this work could be extended to the synthesis of a variety of integrated SACs for efficient electrocatalysis.

Evaluation of cooking, nutritional, and quality characteristics of fresh-cut potato slice pretreated with acetic acid.

Fresh-cut potato slices are very popular in the service of hot-pots. However, the gelatinized starch easily escaping from the potato cells during cooking causes the thickening of beef tallow or soup in the hot-pot. Thus, acetic acid is considered for solving the problem of potato slices. Besides, the nutritional and quality characteristics of potato slices are also evaluated in this study. Results show that 1.0%-1.5% (v/v) acetic acid treatment can decrease mass loss and starch digestion rate, and delay the degradation of ascorbic acid and deterioration of color and texture of potato slices. Such treatment also inhibits membrane oxidation and PPO activity, and increase the total phenolic accumulation of potato slice in 7-day storage. The cell wall integrity of the potato slice is strengthened by acetic acid treatment, providing a strategy for the improvement of the boiling resistance of potato slice, and endowing potato slice with the digesting resistance. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Acid pretreatment would cause the intensification of potato cell wall, which finally decrease the in vitro digestibility through decrease of leakage of gelatinized starch from potato cell and the contact between gelatinized starch and digesting enzyme. This observation proved that the integrity of cell structure in vegetable is important for their processing quality improvement (especially for their hardness improvement after heating or fermentation).

Effectiveness and Safety of Ultrasound-Guided Local Paricalcitol Injection in Treating Secondary Hyperparathyroidism in ESRD: A Retrospective Study.

PURPOSE: To compare the safety and efficacy of percutaneous paricalcitol injection with intravenously administered paricalcitol in treating parathyroid hyperplasia in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT). METHODS: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of our institution. We retrospectively collected data on patients who received percutaneous paricalcitol injection (24 patients) and intravenously administered paricalcitol (22 patients) based on their intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) level. Serum iPTH, calcium, phosphorus, and the volume of the parathyroid gland were measured at several indicated time points after treatment, and adverse events associated with the two treatments were evaluated. RESULTS: After 6 months of follow-up, we found that patients from the percutaneous injection group had significantly decreased levels of iPTH (from 1887.81 ± 726.81 pg/mL to 631.06 ± 393.06 pg/mL), phosphate (from 1.94 ± 0.36 mmol/L to 1.71 ± 0.34 mmol/L), and volume of the parathyroid gland (from 0.87 ± 0.50 cm3 to 0.60 ± 0.36 cm3), with relief from ostealgia within 48-72 h. In the intravenously administered group, the levels of iPTH decreased from 686.87 ± 260.44 pg/mL to 388.47 ± 167.36 pg/mL; while there was no significant change in phosphate levels, the volume of the parathyroid gland and ostealgia relief were observed at the end of follow-up. The serum calcium level did not significantly change, and no severe complications were observed in both groups. In vitro fluorescence-activated single cell sorting (FACS) analysis indicated that paricalcitol induced parathyroid cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous paricalcitol injection is a selective treatment for SHPT in ESRD.

Cadmium accumulation and tolerance of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) seedlings for phytoextraction applications.

Mahogany, a high biomass fast-growing tropical tree, has recently garnered considerable interest for potential use in heavy metal phytoremediation. This study performed hydroponic experiments with Cd concentration gradients at concentrations of 0, 7.5, 15, and 30 mg L(-1) to identify Cd accumulation and tolerance of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) seedlings as well as their potential for phytoextraction. Experimental results indicate that Cd inhibited mahogany seedling growth at the highest Cd exposure concentration (30 mg L(-1)). Nevertheless, this woody species demonstrated great potential for phytoextraction at Cd concentrations of 7.5 and 15 mg L(-1). The roots, twigs, and leaves had extremely large bioaccumulation factors at 10.3-65.1, indicating that the plant extracted large amounts of Cd from hydroponic solutions. Mahogany seedlings accumulated up to 154 mg kg(-1) Cd in twigs at a Cd concentration of 15 mg L(-1). Although Cd concentrations in leaves were <100 mg kg(-1), these concentrations markedly exceed the normal ranges for other plants. Due to the high biomass production and Cd uptake capacity of mahogany shoots, this plant is a potential candidate for remediating Cd-contaminated sites in tropical regions.

Increased photodynamic therapy sensitization in tumors using a nitric oxide-based nanoplatform with ATP-production blocking capability.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficacy in cancer cells is affected by sub-physiological hypoxia caused by dysregulated and "chaotic" tumor microvasculature. However, current traditional O2-replenishing strategies are undergoing their own intrinsic deficiencies. In addition, resistance mechanisms activated during PDT also lead the present situation far from satisfactory. Methods: We propose a nitric oxide (NO)-based theranostic nanoplatform by using biocompatible poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid nanoparticles (PLGA NPs) as carriers, in which the outer polymeric layer embeds chlorin e6 (Ce6) and incorporates L-Arginine (L-Arg). This nanoplatform (L-Arg@Ce6@P NPs) can reduce hyperactive O2 metabolism of tumor cells by NO-mediated mitochondrial respiration inhibition, which should raise endogenous O2 tension to counteract hypoxia. Furthermore, NO can also hinder oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) which should cause intracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) depletion, inhibiting tumor cells proliferation and turning cells more sensitive to PDT. Results: When the L-Arg@Ce6@P NPs accumulate in solid tumors by the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, locally released L-Arg is oxidized by the abundant H2O2 to produce NO. In vitro experiments suggest that NO can retard hypoactive O2 metabolism and save intracellular O2 for enhancing PDT efficacy under NIR light irradiation. Also, lower intracellular ATP hinders proliferation of DNA, improving PDT sensitization. PDT phototherapeutic efficacy increased by combining these two complementary strategies in vitro/in vivo. Conclusion: We show that this NO-based nanoplatform can be potentially used to alleviate hypoxia and sensitize tumor cells to amplify the efficacy of phototherapy guided by photoacoustic (PA) imaging.