Environmentally stable and rapidly polymerized tin-tannin catalytic system hydroxyethyl cellulose hydrogel for wireless wearable sensing.

In recent years, flexible sensors constructed mainly from hydrogels have played an indispensable role in several fields. However, the traditional hydrogel preparation process involves complex and time-consuming steps and the freezing or volatilization of water in the water gel in extreme environments greatly limits the further use of the sensor. Therefore, an ionic conductive hydrogel (SnHTD) was designed, which was composed of tannic acid (TA), metal ions Sn2+, hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), and acrylamide (AM) in a deep eutectic solvent (DES) and water binary solvent. It is worth noting that the gel time is shortened to less than 3 min by introducing the Sn-TA redox system. The addition of DES makes the hydrogel have a wide temperature tolerance range (-20 to 60 °C) and the ability to store for a long time (30 days). The introduction of HEC increased the tensile stress of hydrogel from 140.17 kPa to 219.89 kPa. Additionally, the hydrogel also has high conductivity, repeatable adhesion and UV shielding properties. In general, this research opens up a new way for room temperature polymerization of environmentally resistant hydrogel materials and effectively meets the growing demand for wireless wearable sensing.

Design and Properties of Novel Hydrophobic Natural Tea Saponin and Its Organogels.

It was first discovered that the excellent gelation ability of tea saponin can be obtained by introducing long-chain alkyl groups of dodecanoyl chloride into the glycosyl portion with direct esterification. The modified dodecanoyl chloride-tea saponin (DC-TS) was successfully synthesized and characterized with NMR, MS, and FT-IR. The tests showed that the long-chain alkyl group was successfully introduced. Combined with SEM and X-ray diffraction patterns, we found that the stable lamellar shape gels of DC-TS were formed in a variety of solvents. More interestingly, organogel was also obtained by adjusting good solvent and poor solvent as mixed solvent. It is worth noting that the driving force of organogels is the combination of hydrogen bonding and the hydrophobic interaction of the introduced alkyl chains with the rigid backbone of pentacyclic triterpenes. The modified tea saponin, a natural green surfactant, was discovered to have gelation properties, which has broadened tea saponin's scope of application and made it more promising.

Noninvasive Photothermal Therapy of Nasopharyngeal Cancer Guided by High Efficiency Optical-Absorption Nanomaterial Enhanced by NIR-II Photoacoustic Imaging.

Background: Photothermal therapy (PTT) guided by photoacoustic imaging (PAI) using nanoplatforms has emerged as a promising strategy for cancer treatment due to its efficiency and accuracy. This study aimed to develop and synthesize novel second near-infrared region (NIR-II) absorption-conjugated polymer acceptor acrylate-substituted thiadiazoloquinoxaline-diketopyrrolopyrrole polymers (PATQ-DPP) designed specifically as photothermal and imaging contrast agents for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods: The PATQ-DPP nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized for their optical properties, including low optical band gaps. Their potential as PTT agents and imaging contrast agents for NPC was evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. The accumulation of nanoparticles at tumor sites was assessed post-injection, and the efficacy of PTT under near-infrared laser irradiation was investigated in a mouse model of NPC. Results: Experimental results indicated that the PATQ-DPP nanoparticles exhibited significant photoacoustic contrast enhancement and favorable PTT performance. Safety and non-toxicity evaluations confirmed the biocompatibility of these nanoparticles. In vivo studies showed that PATQ-DPP nanoparticles effectively accumulated at NPC tumor sites and demonstrated excellent tumor growth inhibition upon exposure to near-infrared laser irradiation. Notably, complete elimination of nasopharyngeal tumors was observed within 18 days following PTT. Discussion: The findings suggest that PATQ-DPP nanoparticles are a promising theranostic agent for NIR-II PAI and PTT of tumors. This innovative approach utilizing PATQ-DPP nanoparticles provides a powerful tool for the early diagnosis and precise treatment of NPC, offering a new avenue in the management of this challenging malignancy.

Comprehensive analysis of HDAC7 expression and its prognostic value in diffuse large B cell lymphoma: A review.

HDAC7 loss or dysregulation may lead to B cell-based hematological malignancies. This study aimed to explore the prognostic value of HDAC7 in patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). RNA sequencing data and clinical information for HDAC7 in DLBCL were collected from the cancer genome atlas database and analyzed using R software. Paired t and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to detect differences between DLBCL and adjacent normal tissues, and the pROC software package was used to generate receiver operator characteristic curves to detect cutoff values for HDAC7. Data from paraffin-embedded specimens from the 2 groups were used for validation of external immunohistochemical staining. The tumor immunity estimation resource and integrated repository portal for tumor immune system interactions databases were used to analyze the correlation between HDAC7 and DLBCL immune cell infiltration. Survival analysis of HDAC7 in patients with DLBCL was performed using the PrognoScan database. Compared with that in normal tissues, HDAC7 mRNA was overexpressed in DLBCL. The HDAC7 immunohistochemical staining scores of stage III and IV DLBCL patients were significantly lower than those of stage I and II DLBCL patients, which was associated with shorter overall survival and disease-specific survival. In addition, the higher expression of HDAC7 may play a role in the lower level of immune infiltration in DLBCL. Downregulation of HDAC7 expression was correlated with poor prognosis and immune infiltration in DLBCL patients.

Efficacy and safety of baricitinib in patients with severe COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of baricitinib in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: Databases were searched for studies that compared the clinical efficacy and adverse effects of baricitinib with standard therapy for the treatment of severe COVID-19 and clearly reported relevant outcomes published until December 31, 2022. The corresponding data were extracted from these studies. A fixed-effects model was used to calculate the pooled estimates. The study protocol can be accessed at PROSPERO (CRD42023394173). RESULTS: The baricitinib group had a significantly lower mortality rate and proportion of patients who received mechanical ventilation than the control group (OR = 0.61, 0.57; P = .008, 0.02; 95% CI 0.42-0.88; 0.35-0.92; I2 = 71% and 86%, respectively). The length of hospital stay and rates of severe adverse events were not significantly different between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: Baricitinib reduces mortality and mechanical ventilation requirements in patients with severe COVID-19. Therefore, we developed a comprehensive understanding of the role of baricitinib in patients with severe COVID-19.

Intelligent hydrogel with both redox and thermo-response based on cellulose nanofiber for controlled drug delivery.

The purpose of this study is to develop a hydrogel with temperature and redox response to control drug delivery. However, the strength of temperature sensitive N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) hydrogel is weak. Therefore, 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) oxidized cellulose nanofiber (CNF) is introduced to improve this problem. The compressive strength of hydrogels increased by 360% after CNF addition. Meanwhile, N,N'-bis(acryloyl)cystamine (BACy) is introduced into the hydrogels as a cross-linker, imparting redox responsive properties to the hydrogels. Tumor therapeutic drugs are used as model drugs for in vitro release studies. The drug release rate of hydrogel is regulated by temperature and reducing environment. The maximum cumulative release rate of doxorubicin (DOX) is 39.56%, and the Berberine (BBR) is 99.50% after 60 h. The swelling and transparency of hydrogels showed dramatic changes in the range of 30-40 °C. Cytotoxicity experiments demonstrated that the hydrogel had almost no cytotoxicity.