Highly Stable Amide-Functionalized Zirconium-Organic Frameworks: Synthesis, Structure, and Methane Storage Capacity.

With the development of crystalline porous materials toward methane storage, the stability issue of metal-organic framework (MOF) materials has caused great concern despite high working capacity. Considering the high stability of zirconium-based MOFs and effective functions of amide groups toward gas adsorption, herein, a series of UiO-66 type of Zr-MOFs, namely, Zr-fcu-H/F/CH3/OH, were successfully designed and synthesized by virtue of amide-functionalized dicarboxylate ligands bearing distinct side groups (i.e., -H, -F, -CH3, and -OH) and ZrCl4 in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid as the modulator. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction and topology analyses reveal that these compounds are archetypal fcu MOFs encompassing octahedral and tetrahedral cages, respectively. The N2 sorption isotherms and acid-base stability tests demonstrate that the materials possess not only relatively high surface areas, pore volumes, and appropriate pore sizes but also great hydrolytic stabilities ranging pH = 3-11. Furthermore, the volumetric methane storage working capacities of Zr-fcu-H, Zr-fcu-F, Zr-fcu-CH3, and Zr-fcu-OH at 298/273 K and 80 bar are 187/217, 175/193, 167/187, and 154/171 cm3 (STP) cm-3, respectively, which indicate that the zirconium-based crystalline porous materials are capable of storing relatively high amounts of methane.

Identification of different proteins binding to Na, K-ATPase α1 in LPS-induced ARDS cell model by proteomic analysis.

BACKGROUND: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by refractory hypoxemia caused by accumulation of pulmonary fluid, which is related to inflammatory cell infiltration, impaired tight junction of pulmonary epithelium and impaired Na, K-ATPase function, especially Na, K-ATPase α1 subunit. Up until now, the pathogenic mechanism at the level of protein during lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) induced ARDS remains unclear. METHODS: Using an unbiased, discovery and quantitative proteomic approach, we discovered the differentially expressed proteins binding to Na, K-ATPase α1 between LPS-A549 cells and Control-A549 cells. These Na, K-ATPase α1 interacting proteins were screened by co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) technology. Among them, some of the differentially expressed proteins with significant performance were identified and quantified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD032209. The protein interaction network was constructed by the related Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Several differentially expressed proteins were validated by Western blot. RESULTS: Of identified 1598 proteins, 89 were differentially expressed proteins between LPS-A549 cells and Control-A549 cells. Intriguingly, protein-protein interaction network showed that there were 244 significantly enriched co-expression among 60 proteins in the group control-A549. while the group LPS-A549 showed 43 significant enriched interactions among 29 proteins. The related GO and KEGG analysis found evident phenomena of ubiquitination and deubiquitination, as well as the pathways related to autophagy. Among proteins with rich abundance, there were several intriguing ones, including the deubiquitinase (OTUB1), the tight junction protein zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), the scaffold protein in CUL4B-RING ubiquitin ligase (CRL4B) complexes (CUL4B) and the autophagy-related protein sequestosome-1 (SQSTM1). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, our proteomic approach revealed targets related to the occurrence and development of ARDS, being the first study to investigate significant differences in Na, K-ATPase α1 interacting proteins between LPS-induced ARDS cell model and control-A549 cell. These proteins may help the clinical diagnosis and facilitate the personalized treatment of ARDS.

Non-targeted proteomics of acute respiratory distress syndrome: clinical and research applications.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by refractory hypoxemia caused by accumulation of pulmonary fluid with a high mortality rate, but the underlying mechanism is not yet fully understood, causing absent specific therapeutic drugs to treat with ARDS. In recent years, more and more studies have applied proteomics to ARDS. Non-targeted studies of proteomics in ARDS are just beginning and have the potential to identify novel drug targets and key pathways in this disease. This paper will provide a brief review of the recent advances in the application of non-targeted proteomics to ARDS.

Ultrasonic evaluation of congenital vaginal oblique septum syndrome: A study of 21 cases.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the ultrasound features and classify the lesion types of congenital vaginal oblique septum syndrome (CVOS) in 21 patients prior to surgery. Grey-scale pelvic ultrasound was performed to evaluate the uterus, vagina and kidneys in 21 patients with suspected CVOS. Ultrasound features, including the presence of a double uterus, hematocolpos masses and renal absence, in CVOS types I, II and III were studied and compared with intra-operative results and the results of surgery. Ultrasound identified the presence of double uteruses and cervices with ipsilateral renal agenesis on the oblique septum side in all 21 patients. There were 14 hematocolpos lesions on the right and 7 on the left of the vagina. Type I CVOS was diagnosed in 15 patients with a large hematocolpos mass (volume, 64-268 ml) and these diagnoses were confirmed by surgery. Furthermore, there were 4 patients with type II and 2 patients with type III CVOS exhibiting small hematocolpos lesions (volume, 5-36 ml) identified by ultrasound, which were all confirmed by surgery. Therefore, ultrasound imaging is useful tool to evaluate the abnormal features of CVOS and determine the type of CVOS in patients prior to surgical intervention.