Femtosecond Yb-doped tapered fiber pulse amplifiers with peak power of over hundred megawatts.

Ultrafast fiber lasers combining high peak power and excellent beam quality in the 1-µm wavelength range have been explored to applications in industry, medicine and fundamental science. Here, we report generation of a high-energy sub 300 fs polarization maintaining fiber chirped pulse amplification (CPA) system by using a Yb-doped large mode area tapered polarization maintaining (PM) optical fiber with the core/cladding diameters of 35/250 µm at the thin end and 56/400 µm at the thick end. The taper fiber design features a confined core for selective gain amplification and multi-layer cladding for enhanced suppression of higher order modes. In this regime, we have demonstrated 266 fs pulse amplification with peak power of up to 132 MW at a repetition rate of 2 MHz and high beam quality with measured M2 value of 1.1∼1.3. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest peak power reported in such tapered Yb-doped fiber (T-YDF) amplifier in the femtosecond regime. This work indicates the great potential of the T-YDF to realize further power scaling, high laser efficiency, and excellent beam quality in high-power femtosecond fiber lasers.

High stone-free rate immediately after suctioning flexible ureteroscopy with Intelligent pressure-control in treating upper urinary tract calculi.

BACKGROUND: The retrospective observational study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of suctioning flexible ureteroscopy with Intelligent pressure-control (SFUI) on treating upper urinary tract calculi in a large cohort. METHODS: Between July 2020 and August 2021, 278 patients with upper urinary tract calculi who underwent SFUI in our hospital were enrolled. Outcomes were stone-free rate (SFR) in one session and one-month after SFUI treatment, and complications scored by the Clavien-Dindo classification. RESULTS: A total of 310 kidneys underwent SFUI were included. The median surgery time was 75 min (ranged 60-110 min). One session and one-month SFRs were 80.65% and 82.26%, respectively. The one-session SFR was ≧ 87% in patients with Guy's stone score of Grade I among stone size < 40 mm. Risk factors for unsuccessful stone-free in one session were stone history (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 2.39, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.21-4.73), stone size of 40-49 mm (aOR: 4.37, 95% CI: 1.16-16.45), Guy's stone score ≧ Grade II (Grade II, aOR: 3.54, 95% CI: 1.18-10.59; Grade III, aOR: 10.95, 95% CI: 2.65-45.25). The incidence of Clavien-Dindo grade II-III complication was 3.26%. Complication is associated with Guy's stone score III (aOR: 22.36, 95% CI: 1.81-276.36). CONCLUSION: SFUI shows good safety and efficiency on treating upper urinary tract calculi. Patients with stone size < 40 mm or Guy's stone score of Grade I have a high chance to reach stone-free after SFUI treatment.

The protective effects of Achyranthes bidentata polypeptides on rat sciatic nerve crush injury causes modulation of neurotrophic factors.

Pharmacological treatment is a therapeutic approach to improving nerve regeneration and functional recovery after peripheral nerve crush injury. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of the polypeptides isolated from Achyranthes bidentata Blume (abbreviated as ABPP) on rat sciatic crush injury and to test the possible involvement of neurotrophic factors. After surgical crush injury, rats received daily intraperitoneal injection of 0.2 ml saline containing 2 mg ABPP, 1 µg nerve growth factor (NGF) or no additive. The results from walking track analysis, electrophysiological assessment and histological evaluation indicated that the repair outcomes by ABPP treatment were close to those by NGF treatment, but better than those by treatment with saline alone. The quantitative real-time RT-PCR was used to monitor the mRNA expression of growth associated protein in the crush nerves and the mRNA expression of NGF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), tyrosine kinase (Trk)A and TrkB in the dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) at L4-L6. The mRNA expression of these genes in the crush nerve sample and DRGs sample was higher after treatment with ABPP or NGF than after treatment with saline alone. Our findings suggest that ABPP might protect peripheral nerve against crush injury through stimulating release of neurotrophic factors and the other cytokines.

Integrated network pharmacology and cellular assay reveal the biological mechanisms of Limonium sinense (Girard) Kuntze against Breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Limonium Sinense (Girard) Kuntze (L. sinense) has been widely used for the treatment of anaemia, bleeding, cancer, and other disorders in Chinese folk medicine. The aim of this study is to predict the therapeutic effects of L. sinense and investigate the potential mechanisms using integrated network pharmacology methods and in vitro cellular experiments. METHODS: The active ingredients of L. sinense were collected from published literature, and the potential targets related to L. sinense were obtained from public databases. Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and DisGeNET enrichment analyses were performed to explore the underlying mechanisms. Molecular docking, cellular experiments, RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets were employed to further evaluate the findings. RESULTS: A total of 15 active ingredients of L. sinense and their corresponding 389 targets were obtained. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that the biological effects of L. sinense were primarily associated with "Pathways in cancer". DisGeNET enrichment analysis highlighted the potential role of L. sinense in the treatment of breast cancer. Apigenin within L. sinense showed promising potential against cancer. Cellular experiments demonstrated that the L. sinense ethanol extract (LSE) exhibited a significant growth inhibitory effect on multiple breast cancer cell lines in both 2D and 3D cultures. RNA-seq analysis revealed a potential impact of LSE on breast cancer. Additionally, analysis of GEO datasets verified the significant enrichment of breast cancer and several cancer-related pathways upon treatment with Apigenin in human breast cancer cells. CONCLUSION: This study predicts the biological activities of L. sinense and demonstrates the inhibitory effect of LSE on breast cancer cells, highlighting the potential application of L. sinense in cancer treatment.

Integrated analysis reveals effects of bioactive ingredients from Limonium Sinense (Girard) Kuntze on hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) activation.

Limonium Sinense (Girard) Kuntze is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, showing blood replenishment, anti-tumour, anti-hepatitis, and immunomodulation activities amongst others. However, the mechanism of its pharmacological activities remains largely unknown. Here, we investigated the effects of bioactive ingredients from Limonium Sinense using an integrated approach. Water extracts from Limonium Sinense (LSW) showed a strong growth inhibitory effect on multiple cells in both 2D and 3D cultures. Global transcriptomic profiling and further connectivity map (CMap) analysis identified several similarly acting therapeutic candidates, including Tubulin inhibitors and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) modulators. The effect of LSW on the cell cycle was verified with flow cytometry showing a G2/M phase arrest. Integrated analysis suggested a role for gallic acid in mediating HIF activation. Taken together, this study provides novel insights into the bioactive ingredients in Limonium Sinense, highlighting the rich natural resource and therapeutic values of herbal plants.

Identification of suitable reference genes for gene expression studies in rat skeletal muscle following sciatic nerve crush injury.

Reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT­qPCR) is a molecular biological method used to assess gene expression characterized by high simplicity, effectiveness, specificity and sensitivity. The selection of a suitable reference gene for normalization is critical for the accuracy of quantitative results. Peripheral nerve injury is a common clinical disorder that affects multiple tissues and organs, including peripheral nerves, neurons and the innervated muscles. Numerous genes are differentially expressed in skeletal muscles during muscle denervation and reinnervation following peripheral nerve injury. The identification of a suitable reference gene in innervated muscles following nerve injury may improve the understanding of the alterations in gene expression in the processes of peripheral nerve repair and regeneration. Therefore, in the present study, by using a rat sciatic nerve crush model, the expression levels of various housekeeping genes were examined. In particular, the expression levels of 13 housekeeping genes, including 18S ribosomal RNA, actin ß, ankyrin repeat domain 27, cyclophilin A, GAPDH, hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase 1 (HPRT1), mitochondrial ribosomal protein L10, phosphoglycerate kinase 1, RPTOR independent companion of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 2, TATA­box binding protein, ubiquitin C, UBX domain protein 11 and tyrosine 3­monooxygenase/tryptophan 5­monooxygenase activation protein ζ, were investigated in gastrocnemius muscles. The geNorm and NormFinder analyses suggested that the expression level of HPRT1 was particularly stable in gastrocnemius muscles following rat sciatic nerve crush injury. Therefore, HPRT1 may be used as a reference gene for the normalization of gene expression data generated by RT­qPCR.

Achyranthes bidentata polypeptides promotes migration of Schwann cells via NOX4/DUOX2-dependent ROS production in rats.

Achyranthes bidentata polypeptides (ABPP), an active polypeptides isolated from the aqueous extract of Achyranthes bidentata Blume, contributes to the regeneration of injured peripheral nerves by promoting migration of Schwann cells (SCs). In this study, we aimed to investigate the possible mechanism underlying the ABPP-induced migration of primary cultured rat SCs. Transwell migration assays indicated that ABPP promoted SCs migration in a concentration-dependent manner by inducing production of NADPH-oxidase (NOX)-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS). Inhibition of ROS production by NOXs inhibitor apocynin (APO) or diphenyleneiodonium (DPI) partially blocked ABPP-mediated SCs migration. Furthermore, by using real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis and siRNA interference technique, we verified the participation of NOX subunit 4 (NOX4) and dual oxidase 2 (DUOX2) in ABPP-induced ROS production and consequential SCs migration. Taken together, these results demonstrated that ABPP promoted SCs migration via NOX4/DUOX2-activated ROS in SCs.