Interfacial Dehydration Strategy for Chitosan Film Shape Morphing and Its Application.

Shape morphing of biopolymer materials, such as chitosan (CS) films, has great potential for applications in many fields. Traditionally, their responsive behavior has been induced by the differential water swelling through the preparation of multicomponent composites or cross-linking as deformation is not controllable in the absence of these processes. Here, we report an interfacial dehydration strategy to trigger the shape morphing of the monocomponent CS film without cross-linking. The release of water molecules is achieved by spraying the surface with a NaOH solution or organic solvents, which results in the interfacial shrinkage and deformation of the entire film. On the basis of this strategy, a range of CS actuators were developed, such as soft grippers, joint actuators, and a light switch. Combined with the geometry effect, edited deformation was also achieved from the planar CS film. This shape-morphing strategy is expected to enable the application of more biopolymers in a wide range of fields.

Targeting tumor­associated macrophages: Critical players in tumor progression and therapeutic strategies (Review).

Tumor­associated macrophages (TAMs) are essential components of the tumor microenvironment (TME) and display phenotypic heterogeneity and plasticity associated with the stimulation of bioactive molecules within the TME. TAMs predominantly exhibit tumor­promoting phenotypes involved in tumor progression, such as tumor angiogenesis, metastasis, immunosuppression and resistance to therapies. In addition, TAMs have the potential to regulate the cytotoxic elimination and phagocytosis of cancer cells and interact with other immune cells to engage in the innate and adaptive immune systems. In this context, targeting TAMs has been a popular area of research in cancer therapy, and a comprehensive understanding of the complex role of TAMs in tumor progression and exploration of macrophage­based therapeutic approaches are essential for future therapeutics against cancers. The present review provided a comprehensive and updated overview of the function of TAMs in tumor progression, summarized recent advances in TAM­targeting therapeutic strategies and discussed the obstacles and perspectives of TAM­targeting therapies for cancers.

A Three-in-One Hybrid Strategy for High-Performance Semiconducting Polymers Processed from Anisole.

The development of semiconducting polymers with good processability in green solvents and competitive electrical performance is essential for realizing sustainable large-scale manufacturing and commercialization of organic electronics. A major obstacle is the processability-performance dichotomy that is dictated by the lack of ideal building blocks with balanced polarity, solubility, electronic structures, and molecular conformation. Herein, through the integration of donor, quinoid and acceptor units, an unprecedented building block, namely TQBT, is introduced for constructing a serial of conjugated polymers. The TQBT, distinct in non-symmetric structure and high dipole moment, imparts enhanced solubility in anisole-a green solvent-to the polymer TQBT-T. Furthermore, PTQBT-T possess a highly rigid and planar backbone owing to the nearly coplanar geometry and quinoidal nature of TQBT, resulting in strong aggregation in solution and localized aggregates in film. Remarkably, PTQBT-T films spuncast from anisole exhibit a hole mobility of 2.30 cm2 V-1 s-1, which is record high for green solvent-processable semiconducting polymers via spin-coating, together with commendable operational and storage stability. The hybrid building block emerges as a pioneering electroactive unit, shedding light on future design strategies in high-performance semiconducting polymers compatible with green processing and marking a significant stride towards ecofriendly organic electronics.

Asymptomatic low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasm: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Low-grade appendiceal neoplasms (LAMN) are characterized by low incidence and atypical clinical presentations, often leading to misdiagnosis as acute or chronic appendicitis before surgery. The primary diagnostic tool for LAMN is abdominal computed tomography (CT) imaging. Surgical resection remains the cornerstone of LAMN management, necessitating en bloc tumor excision to minimize the risk of iatrogenic rupture. Laparoscopy, known for its minimal invasiveness, reduced postoperative discomfort, and expedited recovery, is a safe and reliable approach for LAMN treatment. Despite the possibility of pseudomyxoma peritonei development, appendectomy and partial appendectomy generally result in negative tumor margins and favorable outcomes, which can be attributed to the disease's slow growth and lower malignancy. CASE SUMMARY: A 71-year-old male patient was admitted to our hospital with a pelvic space-occupying lesion detected 1 mo prior. Physical examination showed a soft abdomen without tenderness or rebound and no palpable masses. No shifting dullness was noted, and digital rectal examination revealed no palpable mass. Enteroscopy revealed a raised, smooth-surfaced mass measuring 3.0 cm in the cecum. Abdominal contrast-enhanced CT showed a markedly thickened and dilated appendix with visible cystic shadows. Laparoscopic surgery was performed and revealed a significantly dilated appendix, leading to laparoscopic resection of the appendix and part of the cecum. Post-surgical pathologic analysis confirmed LAMN. The patient received symptomatic and supportive post-operative care and was discharged on postoperative day 4 without complications such as abdominal bleeding, intestinal obstruction, or incision infection. No tumor recurrence was observed during a 7-mo follow-up period. CONCLUSION: LAMN is a rare disease that lacks specific clinical manifestations. Abdominal CT plays a crucial role in diagnosing LAMN, and laparoscopic surgery is a safe and effective diagnostic and therapeutic approach.

Pink1 deficiency enhances neurological deficits and inflammatory responses after intracerebral hemorrhage in mice.

Pink1 (PTEN-induced putative kinase 1) is a protein associated with maintaining mitochondrial function and integrity and has been reported to mediate neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation. While the role of Pink1 in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH)-related neurological deficits and inflammatory responses is not deciphered. Congenic blood was transfused into the left corpus striatum to construct the ICH model in C57/BL6 wild-type (WT) and Pink1-/- mice. The relative expression of Pink1, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-2, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1ß, Cd86, nitric oxide synthase 2 (Nos2), Cd206, arginase 1 (Arg-1), and IL-10 was detected with qRT-PCR, Western blotting, or ELISA. Mouse neurological deficit scores (mNSS) and water content were detected, and an open-field test was performed to assay anxiety-like behavior. Remarkably decreased Pink1 expression and increased MIP-2, IL-1ß, MCP-1, and TNF-α expression were observed after 12 â€‹h, 24 â€‹h, 48 â€‹h, 72 â€‹h, and 7 â€‹d post-ICH induction in the ipsilateral injury hemispheres. Pink1 deficiency could further up-regulate mNSS scores, brain water content, MIP-2, MCP-1, IL-1ß, and TNF-α in the ipsilateral injury hemispheres. On the other hand, Pink1 deficiency could decrease the number of center cross, the velocity, and the total distance traveled in open field test. Pink1 deficiency could further up-regulate the mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory (M1) molecules (Cd86, Nos2), and down-regulate the relative expression of anti-inflammatory (M2) molecules (Cd206, Arg-1, and IL-10). Pink1 deficiency deteriorates neurological deficits and inflammatory responses after ICH, which can be considered as a treatment target.

A skeletal randomization strategy for high-performance quinoidal-aromatic polymers.

Enhancing the solution-processability of conjugated polymers (CPs) without diminishing their thin-film crystallinity is crucial for optimizing charge transport in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). However, this presents a classic "Goldilocks zone" dilemma, as conventional solubility-tuning methods for CPs typically yield an inverse correlation between solubility and crystallinity. To address this fundamental issue, a straightforward skeletal randomization strategy is implemented to construct a quinoid-donor conjugated polymer, PA4T-Ra, that contains para-azaquinodimethane (p-AQM) and oligothiophenes as repeat units. A systematic study is conducted to contrast its properties against polymer homologues constructed following conventional solubility-tuning strategies. An unusually concurrent improvement of solubility and crystallinity is realized in the random polymer PA4T-Ra, which shows moderate polymer chain aggregation, the highest crystallinity and the least lattice disorder. Consequently, PA4T-Ra-based OFETs, fabricated under ambient air conditions, deliver an excellent hole mobility of 3.11 cm2 V-1 s-1, which is about 30 times higher than that of the other homologues and ranks among the highest for quinoidal CPs. These findings debunk the prevalent assumption that a random polymer backbone sequence results in decreased crystallinity. The considerable advantages of the skeletal randomization strategy illuminate new possibilities for the control of polymer aggregation and future design of high-performance CPs, potentially accelerating the development and commercialization of organic electronics.

Phenethylferulate as a natural inhibitor of inflammation in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages: focus on NF-κB, Akt and MAPK signaling pathways.

BACKGROUND: Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix (NRR) is commonly used for the treatment of inflammation-linked diseases. Phenethylferulate (PF) is high content in NRR crude, but its anti-inflammatory effect remains unclear. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory properties of PF and its underlying molecular mechanisms in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. METHODS: The effect of PF on cell viability was measured by MTT assay. The anti-inflammatory properties of PF were studied by detecting the levels of inflammatory mediators and cytokines using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Furthermore, the anti-inflammatory mechanisms of PF were determined by Western blot analysis. RESULTS: PF was not cytotoxic to RAW 264.7 macrophages at the concentrations of below 48 µM. ELISA showed that PF conspicuously inhibited overproduction of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin 1ß (IL-1ß) and interleukin 6 (IL-6). Western blot analysis showed that PF remarkably suppressed overproduction of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), the phosphorylation of inhibitor of NF-κB kinase α (IκB-α), protein kinase B (Akt), extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) and p38, as well as the degradation and subsequent nuclear translocation of p65. CONCLUSIONS: PF is a potent inhibitor of inflammation acting on nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), Akt and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. This work provides evidence for the suitability of PF as a therapeutic candidate for the management of inflammatory-mediated immune disorders.

Digestive tract reconstruction after laparoscopic proximal gastrectomy for Gastric cancer: A systematic review.

The incidence of gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma has gradually increased. Proximal gastrectomy or total gastrectomy is recommended for early gastric cancer of the upper third of the stomach. Because total gastrectomy is often accompanied by body mass loss and nutrient absorption disorders, such as severe hypoproteinemia and anemia, Proximal gastrectomy is more frequently recommended by researchers for early upper gastric cancer (T1N0M0) and Siewert II gastroesophageal junction cancer less than 4 cm in length. Although some functions of the stomach are retained after proximal gastrectomy, the anatomical structure of the gastroesophageal junction can be destroyed, and the anti-reflux effect of the cardia is lost. In recent years, as various reconstruction methods for anti-reflux function have been developed, some functions of the stomach are retained, and serious reflux esophagitis is avoided after proximal gastrectomy. In this article, we summarized the indications, advantages, and disadvantages of various classic reconstruction methods and latest improved reconstruction method including esophageal and residual stomach anastomosis, tubular gastroesophageal anastomosis, muscle flap anastomosis, jejunal interposition, and double-tract reconstruction.

Hypoxic Tumor-Derived Exosomal miR-199a-3p Promote Gastric Cancer Metastasis via MAP3K4.

Proximal gastrectomy is more frequently recommended for early upper gastric cancer and Siewert II gastroesophageal junction cancer less than 4 cm in length. After proximal gastrectomy, the anatomical structure of the gastroesophageal junction can be destroyed, and the anti-reflux effect of the cardia is lost. In recent years, as various anti-reflux reconstructions have been developed, some functions of the stomach are retained, and serious reflux esophagitis is avoided after proximal gastrectomy. In this article, we summarized the indications, advantages, and disadvantages of various classic reconstruction and latest improved reconstruction method including esophageal and residual stomach anastomosis, tubular gastroesophageal anastomosis, muscle flap anastomosis, jejunal interposition, and double-tract reconstruction.

Factors predicting recurrence after left­sided pancreatectomy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Recurrence after resection is the main factor for poor survival. The relationship between clinicopathological factors and recurrence after curative distal pancreatectomy for PDAC has rarely been reported separately. METHODS: Patients with PDAC after left­sided pancreatectomy between May 2015 and August 2021 were retrospectively identified. RESULTS: One hundred forty-one patients were included. Recurrence was observed in 97 patients (68.8%), while 44 (31.2%) patients had no recurrence. The median RFS was 8.8 months. The median OS was 24.9 months. Local recurrence was the predominant first detected recurrence site (n = 36, 37.1%), closely followed by liver recurrence (n = 35, 36.1%). Multiple recurrences occurred in 16 (16.5%) patients, peritoneal recurrence in 6 (6.2%) patients, and lung recurrence in 4 (4.1%) patients. High CA19-9 value after surgery, poor differentiation grade, and positive lymph nodes were found to be independently associated with recurrence. The patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy had a decreased likelihood of recurrence. In the high CA19-9 value cohort, the median PFS and OS of the patients with or without chemotherapy were 8.0 VS. 5.7 months and 15.6 VS. 13.8 months, respectively. In the normal CA19-9 value cohort, there was no significant difference in PFS with or without chemotherapy (11.7 VS. 10.0 months, P = 0.147). However, OS was significantly longer in the patients with chemotherapy (26.4 VS. 13.8 months, P = 0.019). CONCLUSIONS: Tumor biologic characteristics, such as T stage, tumor differentiation and positive lymph nodes, affecting CA19-9 value after surgery are associated with patterns and timing of recurrence. Adjuvant chemotherapy significantly reduced recurrence and improved survival. Chemotherapy is strongly recommended in patients with high CA199 after surgery.

Optimizing The Timing of Stereotactic Minimally Invasive Drainage for Hypertensive Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

INTRODUCTION: Intracerebral hemorrhage is a high-risk pathological event that is associated with formidable morality rates. Here, our objective was to perform a retrospective study to determine the best timing for drainage using physiological data on patients who received drainage at different timings. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we reviewed 198 patients with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage who underwent stereotactic drainage at the conventional timing (surgery within 12 h of admission; control group) and 216 patients who underwent stereotactic drainage at a customized surgical timing (elective group). Follow-ups were performed at 3 and 6 months after surgery. RESULTS: The clinical indicators, including prognosis, hematoma clearance, recurrent hemorrhage, intracerebral infection, pulmonary infection, deep venous thrombosis, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores, and matrix metallopeptidase 2 and 9 levels, were compared between the control and elective groups. Our data indicated that the elective group had significantly better prognosis compared to the control group (p = 0.021), with a higher rate of hematoma clearance (p = 0.004) and a lower rate of recurrent hemorrhage (p = 0.018). The total occurrence rate of post-surgery complications was also lower for the elective group (p = 0.026). NIHSS scores and serum MMP2/9 levels of the elective group were lower than those of the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Customized timing of stereotactic drainage may be superior to conventional fixed timing (within 12 h post-hemorrhage) in reducing post-surgery complications and promoting recovery, which supports the potential use of customized timing of stereotactic minimally invasive drainage as a new convention in clinics.

lncRNA TUSC7 sponges miR-10a-5p and inhibits BDNF/ERK pathway to suppress glioma cell proliferation and migration.

OBJECTIVE: Gliomas as primary cerebral malignancies frequently occurring in adults have relatively high morbidity and mortality. The underlying role of long non-coding ribonucleic acids (lncRNAs) in malignancies has attracted much attention, among which tumor suppressor candidate 7 (TUSC7) is a novel tumor suppressor gene whose regulatory mechanism in human cerebral gliomas remains inconclusive. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, bioinformatics analysis indicated that TUSC7 could specifically bind to microRNA (miR)-10a-5p, and according to quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR), miR-10a-5p was up-regulated in human glioma cells and negatively correlated with TUSC7 expression. Dual-luciferase reporter gene assay showed the ability of TUSC7 to bind to miR-10a-5p, and overexpression of TUSC7 notably inhibited miR-10a-5p expression, restrained human glioma cell proliferation and migration, and regulated cell cycle and cyclin expression via the brain-derived neurotrophic factor/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (BDNF/ERK) pathway. The inhibitory effect of TUSC7 on miR-10a-5p was also verified by designing miR-10a-5p overexpression and knockdown panels for wound healing, Transwell and Western blotting assays. CONCLUSIONS: TUSC7 suppresses human glioma cell proliferation and migration by negatively modulating miR-10a-5p and inhibiting the BDNF/ERK pathway, thus acting as a tumor suppressor gene in human gliomas.

DualFlow: Generating imperceptible adversarial examples by flow field and normalize flow-based model.

Recent adversarial attack research reveals the vulnerability of learning-based deep learning models (DNN) against well-designed perturbations. However, most existing attack methods have inherent limitations in image quality as they rely on a relatively loose noise budget, i.e., limit the perturbations by L p -norm. Resulting that the perturbations generated by these methods can be easily detected by defense mechanisms and are easily perceptible to the human visual system (HVS). To circumvent the former problem, we propose a novel framework, called DualFlow, to craft adversarial examples by disturbing the image's latent representations with spatial transform techniques. In this way, we are able to fool classifiers with human imperceptible adversarial examples and step forward in exploring the existing DNN's fragility. For imperceptibility, we introduce the flow-based model and spatial transform strategy to ensure the calculated adversarial examples are perceptually distinguishable from the original clean images. Extensive experiments on three computer vision benchmark datasets (CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100 and ImageNet) indicate that our method can yield superior attack performance in most situations. Additionally, the visualization results and quantitative performance (in terms of six different metrics) show that the proposed method can generate more imperceptible adversarial examples than the existing imperceptible attack methods.

ZNF521 Is Correlated with Tumor Immune Cell Infiltration and Act as a Valuable Prognostic Biomarker in Gastric Cancer.

Aim: To explore the correlations between the expression of zinc finger protein 521 (ZNF521) with immune invasion and prognosis of gastric cancer. Methods: Expression of ZNF521 was examined by immunohistochemistry in gastric cancer cases. Kaplan-Meier plotter was used to determine the relationships between ZNF521 and prognosis. TIMER and GEPIA were used to analyze the correlation between ZNF521 expression and gene markers of immune cell infiltration. Results: The expression of ZNF521 was up-regulated in gastric cancer samples. Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that higher expression of ZNF521 was associated with poor prognosis. The expression of ZNF521 was correlated with infiltrating levels of CD4+ T and CD8+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells in gastric cancer, which also correlated with diverse immune marker sets. Conclusions: ZNF521 is correlated significantly with immune cell infiltration and is a valuable biomarker for prognosis in gastric cancer.

The crosstalk effect between ferrous and other ions metabolism in ferroptosis for therapy of cancer.

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent cell death process characterized by excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation. The elucidation of ferroptosis pathways may lead to novel cancer therapies. Current evidence suggests that the mechanism of ferroptosis can be summarized as oxidative stress and antioxidant defense mechanisms. During this process, ferrous ions play a crucial role in cellular oxidation, plasma membrane damage, reactive oxygen species removal imbalance and lipid peroxidation. Although, disregulation of intracellular cations (Fe2+, Ca2+, Zn2+, etc.) and anions (Cl-, etc.) have been widely reported to be involved in ferroptosis, their specific regulatory mechanisms have not been established. To further understand the crosstalk effect between ferrous and other ions in ferroptosis, we reviewed the ferroptosis process from the perspective of ions metabolism. In addition, the role of ferrous and other ions in tumor therapy is briefly summarized.

Daidzein alleviates doxorubicin-induced heart failure via the SIRT3/FOXO3a signaling pathway.

Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome characterized by typical symptoms that usually occur at the end stage of various heart diseases and lead to death. Daidzein (DAI), an isoflavone found in soy foods, is widely used to treat menopausal syndrome, prostate cancer, breast cancer, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis, and has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the effects of DAI in HF remain unknown. In this study, doxorubicin (DOX) was used to establish HF models of C57BL/6J mice and H9c2 cells with DAI treatment. Our results showed that DAI markedly improved the DOX-induced decline in cardiac function, and decreased the left ventricular ejection fraction, cardiac inflammation, oxidative stress, apoptosis, and fibrosis. Mechanistically, DAI affects cardiac energy metabolism by regulating SIRT3, and meets the ATP demand of the heart by improving glucose, lipid, and ketone body metabolism as well as restoring mitochondrial dysfunction in vivo and in vitro. Additionally, DAI can exert an antioxidant function and alleviate HF through the SIRT3/FOXO3a pathway. In conclusion, we demonstrate that DAI alleviates DOX-induced cardiotoxicity by regulating cardiac energy metabolism as well as reducing inflammation, oxidative stress, apoptosis and fibrosis, indicating its potential application for HF treatment.

Spontaneous healing after conservative treatment of isolated grade IV pancreatic duct disruption caused by trauma: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Trauma is a common cause of pancreatic duct disruption. Surgical treatment is recommended in current clinical guidelines for adult pancreatic injury because non-surgical treatments have higher risks of serious complications or even death compared with surgical treatment. CASE SUMMARY: A 22-year-old woman was admitted to Tiantai People's Hospital of Zhejiang Province after 1-h duration of abdominal pain and distension following trauma. The diagnosis was "traumatic pancreatic rupture". The patient's symptoms were not severe, her vital signs were stable, and signs of peritonitis were not obvious. Therefore, conservative treatment could be considered, with the possibility of emergency surgery if necessary. After 2 mo of conservative treatment with duct drainage, the pancreatic duct healed spontaneously with no significant complications. CONCLUSION: We report a case of pancreatic duct disruption in the head and neck caused by trauma that was treated conservatively and healed spontaneously, providing a new choice for clinical practice. For isolated pancreatic injury with rupture of the pancreatic duct in the head and neck, conservative treatment under close observation is feasible.

Laparoscopic duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection with real-time indocyanine green guidance of different dosage and timing: enhanced safety with visualized biliary duct and its long-term metabolic morbidity.

PURPOSE: Laparoscopic duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection (L-DPPHR) is technically demanding with extreme difficulty in biliary preservation. Only a few reports of L-DPPHR are available with alarming bile leakage, and none of them revealed the long-term metabolic outcomes. For the first time, our study explored the different dosage and timing of indocyanine green (ICG) for guiding L-DPPHR and described the long-term metabolic results. METHODS: Between October 2015 and January 2021, different dosage and timing of ICG were administrated preoperatively and evaluated intra-operatively using Image J software to calculate the relative fluorescence intensity ratio of signal-to-noise contrast between bile duct and pancreas. Short-term complications and long-term metabolic disorder were collected in a prospectively maintained database and analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients were enrolled without conversion to laparotomy or pancreaticoduodenectomy. Administrating a dosage of 0.5 mg/kg 24 h before the operation had the highest relative fluorescence intensity ratio of 19.3, and it proved to guide the biliary tract the best. Fifty-six percent of patients suffered from postoperative complications with 48% experiencing pancreatic fistula and 4% having bile leakage. No one suffered from the duodenal necrosis, and there was no mortality. When compared with the non-ICG group, the ICG group had a comparable diameter of tumor and similar safety distance from lesions to common bile duct; however, it decreased the incidence of bile leakage from 10% to none. The median length of hospital stay was 16 days. After a median follow-up of 26.6 months, no one had tumor recurrence or refractory cholangitis. No postoperative new onset of diabetes mellitus (pNODM) was observed, while pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (pPEI) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) were seen in 4% of patients 12 months after the L-DPPHR. CONCLUSION: L-DPPHR is feasible and safe in selected patients, and real-time ICG imaging with proper dosage and timing may greatly facilitate the identification and the prevention of biliary injury. And it seemed to be oncological equivalent to PD with preservation of metabolic function without refractory cholangitis.

A facile online multi-gear capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detector for an automatic and wide range monitoring of high salt in HPLC.

Sensing the electrolyte solution or aqueous-organic mixture has attracted much interest in chemical separation, pharmaceutical engineering, bioprocess, and biochemical experiments. However, reports on online contactless sensor with automatic and wide range sensing of high content electrolyte have been rarely presented. Herein, a facile model and theory of online multi-gear capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (M-C4D) sensor was proposed using one excitation electrode and multiple detection electrodes. Further, the relevant digital computation based on the M-C4D theory was developed for parameter optimization: the electrode gap of 5-150 mm, inner radius of 0.25-0.75 mm, electrode length of 10-60 mm, and frequency of 40-250 kHz using MATLAB. To demonstrate the model, theory, and digital computation, liquid chromatography (LC) was chosen as the model of bioprocess, and the sensor was designed and used as an online sensing device for the automatic monitoring of high salt elution in LC. The experiments showed that (i) the detection results were in agreement with the digital data, validating the digital computation, theory, and model of M-C4D and (ii) the monitoring data of M-C4D were in agreement with those via the traditional meter, further validating the model and theory. Finally, the developed sensor was applied to the automated detection of high salt gradient in LC. In contrast to the currently used meters and C4D, the developed M-C4D sensor had the following merits: (i) facile and automatic online detection avoiding cumbersome manual switching of detector heads, (ii) fair linear range of 0.015-20 mS cm-1 (equivalently 0.1-159 mM KCl) that does not fit the range of traditional C4D, and (iii) fair accuracy of less than 1.50% relative error. All these results indicate that the developed model, theory, and sensor have potential for the process monitoring of high content electrolytes transfer in biochemical engineering and clinic pre-warning.

Berberine Protects against Neurological Impairments and Blood-Brain Barrier Injury in Mouse Model of Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND: Elevation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC1α) signaling can suppress intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH)-induced neurological impairments. As an isoquinoline alkaloid, Berberine exerts neuroprotective effects in neurological disease models with activated AMPK/PGC1α signaling. AIM: We aim to study the effect of Berberine on ICH-induced brain injury and explore the potential molecular mechanism. METHODS: ICH model was established in mice through intracerebral injection of autologous whole blood, followed by treatment with Berberine. Neurological impairments were assessed by the modified neurological severity score and behavioral assays. Brain edema and blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity were assessed by water content in the brain, amount of extravasated Evans blue, and BBB tight junction components. Neuroinflammatory responses were assessed by inflammatory cytokine levels. AMPK/PGC1α signaling was examined by AMPK mRNA expression and phosphorylated AMPK and PGC1α protein levels. RESULTS: Berberine (200 mg/kg) attenuated ICH-induced neurological deficits, motor and cognitive impairment, and BBB disruption. Berberine also suppressed ICH-induced inflammatory responses indicated by reduced production of inflammatory cytokines. Finally, Berberine drastically elevated AMPK/PGC1α signaling in the hemisphere of ICH mice. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that Berberine plays an important neuroprotective role against ICH-induced neurological impairments and BBB injury, probably by inhibition of inflammation and activation of AMPK/PGC1α signaling.