Electronic and Spintronic Properties of Armchair MoSi2N4 Nanoribbons Doped by 3D Transition Metals.

Structural and physical properties of armchair MoSi2N4 nanoribbons substitutionally doped by 3d transition metals (TM) at Mo sites are investigated using the density functional theory combined with the non-equilibrium Green's function method. TM doping can convert the nonmagnetic direct semiconductor into device materials of a broad variety, including indirect semiconductors, half semiconductors, metals, and half metals. Furthermore the 100% spin filtering behavior in spin-up and spin-down half metals, a negative differential resistance with peak-to-valley ratio over 140 and a rectification effect with ratio over 130 are predicted, as well as semiconductor behavior with high spin polarization.

Diagnostic Potential of the Serum lncRNAs HOTAIR, BRM and ICR for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are closely associated with the initiation, progression, metastasis, and recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). They could therefore serve as markers for the early diagnosis and for the prognosis of HCC patients. METHODS: This was an observational prospective cohort study. A total of 101 participants were included, comprising patients with HCC (n = 61), liver cirrhosis (LC) (n = 20), or healthy controls (HC) (n = 20). The baseline characteristics of participants in each group were compared. Serum levels of the lncRNAs HOTAIR, BRM and ICR were determined in each group by reverse transcription and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Correlations between the serum levels of the three lncRNAs and multiple clinical parameters were analysed. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to assess the diagnostic potential for HCC of each lncRNA individually, or in combination with AFP. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to evaluate the accuracy of these lncRNAs for predicting the outcome and survival of HCC patients. RESULTS: The serum levels of HOTAIR, BRM and ICR were significantly higher in HCC patients compared to LC patients and healthy subjects. The HOTAIR level was positively correlated to tumour-node metastasis (TNM), Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage, extrahepatic metastasis, vascular invasion, portal vein tumour thrombus (PVTT), and tumour size. The BRM level was positively associated with TNM stage, BCLC stage, vascular invasion, PVTT, and tumour size, while the ICR level was positively correlated with PVTT. A combination of the three lncRNAs and AFP showed the highest diagnostic accuracy for HCC, with an AUC of 0.998, sensitivity of 98.4%, and specificity of 100.0%. This combination showed a better diagnostic accuracy than the individual lncRNAs or AFP alone. Serum levels of the HOTAIR and ICR lncRNAs decreased significantly following surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Serum levels of the HOTAIR, BRM and ICR lncRNAs are potential prognostic markers for HCC. Upregulation of HOTAIR, BRM and ICR may facilitate early diagnosis and indicate poor prognosis for HCC. These lncRNAs could potentially serve as therapeutic targets for HCC. Combination of the three lncRNAs with AFP may increase the diagnostic accuracy for HCC. Further studies in larger cohorts of patients are needed to validate these findings.

[Application of Support Vector Machine Regression in Ozone Forecasting].

Support vector machine regression (SVMr) was proposed to forecast hourly ozone (O3) concentrations, daily maximum O3 concentrations, and maximum 8 h moving average O3 concentrations (O3 8 h) by employing the observations of meteorological variables and O3 and its precursors during the high O3 periods from May 20 to August 15, 2016 at an industrial area in Nanjing. The squared correlation coefficient (R2) of the hourly O3 concentrations forecast was 0.84. The mean absolute error (MAE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) were 3.44×10-9 and 24.48, respectively. The key factors for the hourly O3 forecast were the O3 pre-concentrations, amount of ultraviolet radiation B (UVB), and the NO2 concentration. The main factors for the O3 daily maximum forecast were the NOx concentrations at 07:00 and the UVB level. Temperature and UVB played an important role in predicting O3 8 h. In general, taking precursors into account could increase the accuracy of O3 prediction by 10%-28%. For O3 concentration forecasting, SVMr gave significantly better predictions than multiple linear regression methods.

Preparation and antitumor effect evaluation of composite microparticles co-loaded with siRNA and paclitaxel by a supercritical process.

The co-delivery of siRNA and therapeutic agents provides an effective method for cancer chemotherapy by avoiding drug resistance during the treatment. With a combination of ionic gelation and supercritical fluid technology, nanoparticle-embedded composite microparticles (CMPs) co-loaded with siRNA and paclitaxel (siRNA-PTX-CMPs) were successfully prepared. The results show that CMPs embedded with nanoparticles with a diameter of 50-100 nm exhibited a spherical shape and core-shell structure with a mean diameter of 323 nm. The encapsulation efficiency of siRNA in chitosan nanoparticles (CS NPs) was 96.97%. The drug load and encapsulation efficiency of PTX-loaded CMPs (5% dosage) were 1.40% and 27.95%, respectively; both these increased with an increase in dosage. It was found that no change had occurred in the functional groups of the components during the supercritical process, while the physical form of PTX had shifted to an amorphous state. In the cell experiments, the CMPs clustered around the nucleus after being taken up by the Bcap-37 cells. The results of the antitumor effect experiments revealed that the co-loaded siRNA-PTX-CMPs achieved a significantly better synergistic effect than single dosages, which indicated that the co-delivery system developed by the supercritical process could have potential in the application of cancer chemotherapy.

Study of Lysozyme-Loaded Poly-L-Lactide (PLLA) Porous Microparticles in a Compressed CO2 Antisolvent Process.

Lysozyme (LSZ)-loaded poly-L-lactide (PLLA) porous microparticles (PMs) were successfully prepared by a compressed CO2 antisolvent process in combination with a water-in-oil emulsion process using LSZ as a drug model and ammonium bicarbonate as a porogen. The effects of different drug loads (5.0%, 7.5% and 10.0%) on the surface morphology, particle size, porosity, tapped density and drug release profile of the harvested PMs were investigated. The results show that an increase in the amount of LSZ added led to an increase in drug load (DL) but a decrease in encapsulation efficiency. The resulting LSZ-loaded PLLA PMs (LSZ-PLLA PMs) exhibited a porous and uneven morphology, with a density less than 0.1 g·cm-3, a geometric mean diameter of 16.9-18.8 µm, an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.8 µm, a fine particle fraction (FPF) of 59.2%-66.8%, and a porosity of 78.2%-86.3%. According to the results of differential scanning calorimetry, the addition of LSZ improved the thermal stability of PLLA. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis and circular dichroism spectroscopy measurement reveal that no significant changes occurred in the molecular structures of LSZ during the fabrication process, which was further confirmed by the evaluation of enzyme activity of LSZ. It is demonstrated that the emulsion-combined precipitation with compressed antisolvent (PCA) process could be a promising technology to develop biomacromolecular drug-loaded inhalable carrier for pulmonary drug delivery.