Enhanced stability of CsPbBr3 nanocrystals through Al2O3 and polymer coating.

Lead halide perovskite nanocrystals have emerged as a promising candidate for next-generation display applications due to their attractive optical properties and low-cost production. However, the environmental stability of perovskite remains a major challenge, hindering their practical applications and scalability for commercialization. In this study, we present an effective method to enhance the stability of CsPbBr3 nanocrystals by coating them with a combination of Al2O3 and a polymer. The unique double protection structure significantly improves their resistance to moisture, heat, and polar solvents. It is worth noting that compared with the ordinary CsPbBr3 nanocrystals, the modified nanocrystals have better stability and higher luminous intensity. After soaking in water for 360 hours, the modified nanocrystals retained 85% of their initial luminous intensity. Under optimal conditions, the luminous intensity of modified nanocrystals increased by 36%. Furthermore, the thermal stability and organic solvent resistance of the nanocrystals are improved compared with the nanocrystals uncoated with Al2O3. The synthesized white light emitting diode using the modified PNCs achieves a color gamut coverage rate of 129% under standard NTSC, and 95% under standard Rec.2020, indicating its potential for future display applications. This research presents a promising approach for the development of stable perovskite nanocrystals with enhanced performance in various optoelectronic devices.

The diagnostic and therapeutic prospects of exosomes in ovarian cancer.

Exosomes are nano-sized vesicles derived from the endosomal system and are involved in many biological and pathological processes. Emerging evidence has demonstrated that exosomes with cell-specific constituents are associated with the tumorigenesis and progression of ovarian cancer. Therefore, exosomes derived from ovarian cancers can be potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. In this review, we briefly present the biological characteristics of exosomes and the recent advances in isolating and detecting exosomes. Furthermore, we summarise the many functions of exosomes in ovarian cancer, hoping to provide a theoretical basis for clinical applications of exosomes in the diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer.

Fertility-sparing surgery in early-stage cervical cancer: laparoscopic versus abdominal radical trachelectomy.

BACKGROUND: Radical trachelectomy is an acceptable alternative to radical hysterectomy for patients with early-stage cervical cancer who wish to preserve reproductive function. This study is designed to compare the laparoscopic versus abdominal radical trachelectomy and provide oncological and obstetric outcome data on patients who have undergone fertility-sparing surgery. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed all early-stage cervical cancer patients who underwent abdominal radical trachelectomy (ART) or laparoscopic radical trachelectomy (LRT) between January 2005 and June 2017 in West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University. Patients' clinical details and follow-up were obtained from hospital records. RESULTS: A total of 33 patients (5 with IA1, 2 with IA2, and 26 with 1B1) were included, including 18 patients treated with ART and 15 patients treated with LRT. The median age at initial diagnosis was 30.00 ± 4.30 years (range 22-39). The mean follow-up time was 74.67 months. Among the 33 patients, 2 patients (6.06%, 1 abdominal/1 laparoscopic) developed recurrence, and there are no evidence of disease for the remaining 31 patients till now. The overall survival rate 96.99% (32/33). The LRT group had a shorter hospital stay (P = 0.01) and less blood loss (P < 0.01) than the ART group. There is no significant difference in the length of operative time (P = 0.48) between the two surgical routes. Overall, 15/33 patients (45.45%) have tried to conceive. 6 (40.00%) patients were pregnant and 6 (40.00%) patients were infertility. The ART group had a higher clinical pregnancy rate (P = 0.03) than the LRT group. CONCLUSIONS: There is no statistically significant difference in oncological outcome between the two surgical approaches. The clinical pregnancy rate in the ART group was significant higher than that in the LRT group. However, LRT resulted in less blood loss and decreased length of hospital stay.

An in vivo and in vitro study on the force degradation and surface morphology of the orthodontic elastic ligatures.

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to investigate the characteristics of force degradation and surface morphology of 9 brands of elastic ligatures over 6 weeks, both in vivo and in vitro, to provide some reference for clinical selection of appropriate elastic ligatures and determination of appropriate follow-up visit time. METHODS: Choosing 9 kinds of brands of elastic ligatures (American Orthodontics, Ormco, 3M Grey, TP Orthodontics, Xihu, Yahong, Creative, Protect, 3M dusty blue), which are common in the market. For the in vivo study, 9 volunteers (5 males, 4 females, aged 22-26 years) were chosen to wear elastic ligature fixators, which were made to fix the elastic ligature in the mouth without bonding brackets on the teeth. The residual force and percentage of force degradation of elastic ligatures were estimated after 0, 1 hour, 2 hours, 8 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 6 weeks processed in vivo and in vitro (25°C dry air condition, 37°C artificial saliva, pH = 6.7 and oral environment); A 1-way analysis of variance and t test were used to identify statistical significance (P <0.05). The surface morphology of the initial state and after a 6-week process in vivo and in vitro were observed separately. RESULTS: The characteristics of force degradation and surface morphology of 9 brands of elastic ligatures were different over 6 weeks; With the extension of time, the tensile force declined, and the percentage of force degradation of all groups decreased sharply by about 9.1%-32.3% in the first day, then the rate reduced steadily. In addition, during the first day, the percentage of force degradation declined most sharply in the first hour (4.4%-16.5%). The percentage of force degradation of 9 elastic ligatures was reduced by about 11.3%-37.3% over 6 weeks in all groups. At the same time, the characteristics of force degradation in the same brand are that in vivo > artificial saliva > air (P <0.05). After a 6-week process, the surface morphologic defects were aggravated under a scanning electron microscope, corresponding to the change of mechanical properties in each brand. CONCLUSIONS: The mechanical properties of elastic ligatures are reduced with time extension and decreased greater in vivo than in vitro; According to the characteristics of force degradation of different brands of elastic ligatures, clinicians can choose the proper elastic ligatures at different stages of treatment, and adjust the follow-up visit time appropriately. For example, in alignment and leveling, the elastic ligatures with slow force degradation, such as Ormco, TP, and so on, maybe more suitable to ensure close contact between the archwire and the bracket. In the space-closing stage, the elastic ligatures with fast force degradation may be more appropriate to reduce the friction between the archwire and the bracket, such as 3M Grey, Yahong, Protect, and so on.

Integrated analysis of lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA network in human aortic dissection.

BACKGROUND: Many studies on long chain non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are published in recent years. But the roles of lncRNAs in aortic dissection (AD) are still unclear and should be further examined. The present work focused on determining the molecular mechanisms underlying lncRNAs regulation in aortic dissection on the basis of the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network. METHODS: This study collected the lncRNAs (GSE52093), mRNAs (GSE52093) and miRNAs (GSE92427) expression data within human tissue samples with aortic dissection group and normal group based on Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. RESULTS: This study identified three differentially expressed lncRNAs (DELs), 19 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRs) and 1046 differentially expressed mRNAs (DEGs) identified regarding aortic dissection. Furthermore, we constructed a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network through three lncRNAs (including two with up-regulation and one with down-regulation), five miRNAs (five with up-regulation), as well as 211 mRNAs (including 103 with up-regulation and 108 with down-regulation). Simultaneously, we conducted functional enrichment and pathway analyses on genes within the as-constructed ceRNA network. According to our PPI/ceRNA network and functional enrichment analysis results, four critical genes were found (E2F2, IGF1R, BDNF and PPP2R1B). In addition, E2F2 level was possibly modulated via lncRNA FAM87A-hsa-miR-31-5p/hsa-miR-7-5p or lncRNA C9orf106-hsa-miR-7-5p. The expression of IGF1R may be regulated by lncRNA FAM87A-hsa-miR-16-5p/hsa-miR-7-5p or lncRNA C9orf106-hsa-miR-7-5p. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the ceRNA interaction axis we identified is a potentially critical target for treating AD. Our results shed more lights on the possible pathogenic mechanism in AD using a lncRNA-associated ceRNA network.

Quasi-2D Transport and Weak Antilocalization Effect in Few-layered VSe2.

With strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC), ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) transitional metal chalcogenides (TMDs) are predicted to exhibit weak antilocalization (WAL) effect at low temperatures. The observation of WAL effect in VSe2 is challenging due to the relative weak SOC and three-dimensional (3D) transport nature in thick VSe2. Here, we report on the observation of quasi-2D transport and WAL effect in sublimed-salt-assisted low-temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown few-layered high-quality VSe2 nanosheets. The WAL magnitudes in magnetoconductance can be perfectly fitted by the 2D Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka (HLN) equation in the presence of strong SOC, by which the spin-orbit scattering length lSO and phase coherence length lϕ have been extracted. The phase coherence length lϕ shows a power law dependence with temperature, lϕ∼ T-1/2, revealing an electron-electron interaction-dominated dephasing mechanism. Such sublimed-salt-assisted growth of high-quality few-layered VSe2 and the observation of WAL pave the way for future spintronic and valleytronic applications.

Observation of the Kondo Effect in Multilayer Single-Crystalline VTe2 Nanoplates.

We report the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth, characterization, and low-temperature magnetotransport of 1T phase multilayer single-crystalline VTe2 nanoplates. The transport studies reveal that no sign of intrinsic long-range ferromagnetism but localized magnetic moments exist in the individual multilayer metallic VTe2 nanoplates. The localized moments give rise to the Kondo effect, evidenced by logarithmical increment of resistivity with decreasing temperature and negative magnetoresistance (NMR) regardless of the direction of magnetic field at temperatures below the resistivity minimum. The low-temperature resistivity upturn is well described by the Hamann equation, and the NMR at different temperatures, a manifestation of the magnetization of the localized spins, is well fitted to a Brillouin function for S = 1/2. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the localized magnetic moments mainly come from the interstitial vanadium ions in the VTe2 nanoplates. Our results will shed light on the study of magnetic properties, strong correlation, and many-body physics in two-dimensional metallic transition metal dichalcogenides.

Association of excision repair cross-complimentary group 1 gene polymorphisms with breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility.

The role of excision repair cross-complimentary group 1 (ERCC1) gene polymorphisms in breast and ovarian cancer development has long been controversial and existing data were inconsistent. Here, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis to better clarify the association. Case-control studies published from December 2008 to November 2018 were assessed. The statistical analyses of the pooled odds ratios (ORs) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Fifteen articles with 24 case-control studies and 3 ERCC1 polymorphisms were enrolled. A total of 20 923 participants including 9896 cases and 11 027 controls were analyzed. The results showed that C to T variation in the ERCC1 rs11615 (C/T) polymorphisms was correlated with breast cancer susceptibility (T vs C: OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.02-1.38; TT + CT vs CC: OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.12-1.36). ERCC1 rs3212986 (C/A) polymorphisms posed an increased risk for breast and ovarian cancer as whole (A vs C: OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.01-1.25; AA + CA vs CC: OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.02-1.22), and presented especially higher risk for ovarian cancer (A vs C: OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.05-1.63; AA vs CA + CC: OR = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.12-2.47; AA vs CC: OR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.12-2.64). Meanwhile, neither overall group analyses nor stratified analyses displayed any association of ERCC1 rs2298881 (A/C) polymorphisms in breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility. This meta-analysis suggested that ERCC1 rs11615 (C/T) polymorphisms were associated with breast cancer susceptibility and rs3212986 (C/A) polymorphisms were especially correlated with ovarian cancer risk. More case-control studies with well-adjusted data and diverse populations are essential for validation of our conclusion.

LncRNA DANCR promotes tumor growth and angiogenesis in ovarian cancer through direct targeting of miR-145.

Differentiation antagonizing non-protein coding RNA (DANCR) is a newly identified oncogenic long noncoding RNA found in various cancers. However, the functional role of DANCR in tumor angiogenesis and the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. The expression of DANCR was determined in ovarian malignant tissues and cell lines. The functional role of DANCR in tumor angiogenesis was revealed by the following methods: CD31 staining of ovarian tumor tissues, matrigel-plug assay tissues, HUVEC-related tube formation assay, and invasion assay. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Western blotting, luciferase assay, and rescue experiments were used to investigate the underlying mechanisms of DANCR-regulating angiogenesis. DANCR was upregulated in ovarian malignant tissues and ovarian cancer cells. Knockdown of DANCR efficiently impaired ovarian tumor growth through inhibition of tumor angiogenesis. Furthermore, the conditional culture medium from DANCR-knockdown ovarian cells significantly inhibited tube formation and invasion of HUVEC in vitro. Mechanistic investigation indicated that vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A, VEGF) plays a crucial role during DANCR inhibition of tumor angiogenesis in ovarian cancer. Further results demonstrated that miR-145 is the direct binding target of DANCR during regulation of VEGF expression and tumor angiogenesis in ovarian cancer cells. Collectively, DANCR plays a promotional role in tumor angiogenesis in ovarian cancer through regulation of miR-145/VEGF axis. Therefore, DANCR may be a novel therapy target for ovarian cancer.