Preparation of Pt and bamboo charcoal co-modified TiO2 for formaldehyde sensing at room temperature.

Anatase TiO2 has evolved into one of the most attractive materials for gas sensing owing to its strong oxidation activity and excellent sensing properties. In this study, we prepared Pt and bamboo charcoal co-modified nano-TiO2 using a one-pot hydrothermal process and applied it to detect formaldehyde. The successful incorporation of the precious metal Pt and bamboo charcoal onto TiO2 was confirmed by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometer, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Detailed analysis revealed a homogeneous distribution of Pt nanoparticles and bamboo charcoal on the TiO2 surface, which significantly improved the surface area and facilitated gas adsorption. These modifiers significantly enhanced the response of TiO2 to formaldehyde, for instance, the response signal increased fourfold, while the response time decreased from 91 to 68 s. The sample with 0.5@Pt and 0.5@C bamboo charcoal performed the best, showcasing the synergistic effect of metal nanoparticles and carbonaceous materials on gas-sensing properties. Our work highlighted the potential of using biomass-derived carbon to enhance the detection of formaldehyde and demonstrated the importance of material characteristics in designing effective gas sensors.

Development of prediction models to estimate extubation time and midterm recovery time of ophthalmic patients undergoing general anesthesia: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: To develop prediction models for extubation time and midterm recovery time estimation in ophthalmic patients who underwent general anesthesia. METHODS: Totally 1824 ophthalmic patients who received general anesthesia at Joint Shantou International Eye Center were included. They were divided into a training dataset of 1276 samples, a validation dataset of 274 samples and a check dataset of 274 samples. Up to 85 to 87 related factors were collected for extubation time and midterm recovery time analysis, respectively, including patient factors, anesthetic factors, surgery factors and laboratory examination results. First, multiple linear regression was used for predictor selection. Second, different methods were used to develop predictive models for extubation time and midterm recovery time respectively. Finally, the models' generalization abilities were evaluated using a same check dataset with MSE, RMSE, MAE, MAPE, R-Squared and CCC. RESULTS: The fuzzy neural network achieved the highest R-Squared of 0.956 for extubation time prediction and 0.885 for midterm recovery time, and the RMSE value was 6.637 and 9.285, respectively. CONCLUSION: The fuzzy neural network developed in this study had good generalization performance in predicting both extubation time and midterm recovery time of ophthalmic patients undergoing general anesthesia. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study is prospectively registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, registration number: CHiCRT2000036416, registration date: August 23, 2020.

Automatic Detection of Peripheral Retinal Lesions From Ultrawide-Field Fundus Images Using Deep Learning.

PURPOSE: To establish a multilabel-based deep learning (DL) algorithm for automatic detection and categorization of clinically significant peripheral retinal lesions using ultrawide-field fundus images. METHODS: A total of 5958 ultrawide-field fundus images from 3740 patients were randomly split into a training set, validation set, and test set. A multilabel classifier was developed to detect rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, cystic retinal tuft, lattice degeneration, and retinal breaks. Referral decision was automatically generated based on the results of each disease class. t -distributed stochastic neighbor embedding heatmaps were used to visualize the features extracted by the neural networks. Gradient-weighted class activation mapping and guided backpropagation heatmaps were generated to investigate the image locations for decision-making by the DL models. The performance of the classifier(s) was evaluated by sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, F 1 score, area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) with 95% CI, and area under the precision-recall curve. RESULTS: In the test set, all categories achieved a sensitivity of 0.836-0.918, a specificity of 0.858-0.989, an accuracy of 0.854-0.977, an F 1 score of 0.400-0.931, an AUROC of 0.9205-0.9882, and an area under the precision-recall curve of 0.6723-0.9745. The referral decisions achieved an AUROC of 0.9758 (95% CI= 0.9648-0.9869). The multilabel classifier had significantly better performance in cystic retinal tuft detection than the binary classifier (AUROC= 0.9781 vs 0.6112, P < 0.001). The model showed comparable performance with human experts. CONCLUSIONS: This new DL model of a multilabel classifier is capable of automatic, accurate, and early detection of clinically significant peripheral retinal lesions with various sample sizes. It can be applied in peripheral retinal screening in clinics.

[Use of Iron-modified Calcite as an Active Capping Material to Control Phosphorus Release from Sediments in Surface Water Bodies].

The use of calcite (CA) as an active capping material has high potential for controlling the release of phosphorus (P) from sediments, but its efficiency still needs to be enhanced. To address this issue, an iron-modified CA (Fe-CA) was prepared, the removal performance of phosphate from aqueous solution by Fe-CA was studied, and the efficiency of the use of Fe-CA as an active capping material to prevent the liberation of P from sediments was investigated. The results showed that Fe-CA exhibited much higher phosphate removal ability than CA. The phosphate removal efficiency of Fe-CA increased with an increase in the Fe-CA dosage. Increasing the initial phosphate concentration gave rise to an increase in the amount of phosphate removed by Fe-CA, and the maximum amount of phosphate removed by Fe-CZ reached 3.09 mg·g-1. Sediment capping with Fe-CA could effectively control the release of soluble reactive P (SRP) from the sediment into the overlying water, leading to a very low concentration of SRP in the overlying water. Additionally, the Fe-CA capping also resulted in the transformation of a small amount of redox-sensitive P (BD-P) and metal-oxide-bound P (NaOH-rP) in sediments to residual P (Res-P), leading to a slight increase in the stability of P in the sediment. The overwhelming majority (90.8%) of P bound by the Fe-CA capping layer existed in the form of NaOH-rP, calcium-bound P (HCl-P), and Res-P, which are relatively very stable. Furthermore, the percentage of bioavailable P (BAP) as a proportion of total extractable P in the P-bound Fe-CA capping layer was very low, and the bound P was re-released with difficulty into the water column for algae growth. Compared to CA capping, the efficiency for the control of sedimentary P release into the overlying water by Fe-CA capping was much higher, and the stability of P bound by the Fe-CA capping layer was also higher. The results of this work indicate that Fe-CA is a very promising active capping material for the interception of the release of P from sediments into the overlying water.

Development of c­MET­specific chimeric antigen receptor­engineered natural killer cells with cytotoxic effects on human liver cancer HepG2 cells.

In recent years, cellular immunotherapy has served an important role in the combined treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. The possibility of specific cell therapies for the treatment of solid tumours has been further explored following the success of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)­T cell therapy in the treatment of haematological tumours. The present study aimed to evaluate the specificity and efficiency of c­MET­targeted CAR­NK cell immunotherapy on human liver cancer in vitro. A CAR structure that targeted and recognised a c­MET antigen was constructed. c­MET­CAR was transferred into primary NK cells using lentiviral infection. c­MET­positive HepG2 cells were used as an in vitro study model. The cytotoxicity assay results revealed that c­MET­CAR­NK cells exhibited more specific cytotoxicity for HepG2 cells with high c­MET expression compared with the lung cancer cell line H1299, which has low levels of c­MET expression. The results of the present study demonstrated that c­MET may be a specific and effective target for human liver cancer cell CAR­NK immunotherapy. Based on these results, CAR­NK cell­based immunotherapy may provide a potential biotherapeutic approach for liver cancer treatment in the future.

Resveratrol downregulates TNF-α-induced monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in primary rat pulmonary artery endothelial cells by P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling.

Background: To evaluate the effects of resveratrol to monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and the role of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in this process in vitro. Materials and methods: Animal acute pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) model: rat model was established by infusion of an autologous blood clot into the pulmonary artery through a polyethylene catheter. One hundred and thirty-two rats were randomly and equally divided into ten groups: rats-control (untreated), rats-1% DMSO, rats-TNF-α, rats-TNF-α + resveratrol, rats-TNF-α +C1142, rats-TNF-α+SB203580, rats-TNF-α+resveratrol + SB203580, rats-resveratrol only, rats-C1142 only, and rats-SB203580 only. Rat pulmonary artery endothelial cells (RPAs) tests: RPAs were isolated from above animal and designated as: RPAs-control, RPAs-1% DMSO control, RPAs-TNF-α, RPAs-TNF-α + resveratrol, RPAs-TNF-α + C1142, RPAs-TNF-α + SB203580, RPAs-TNF-α + resveratrol + SB203580, RPAs-resveratrol only, RPAs-C1142 only, and RPAs-SB203580 only. Each group was further divided into 1, 4, and 8 hrs time point for evaluation (n=6 rats per time point) except RPAs-TNF-α + SB203580, RPAs-TNF-α + resveratrol + SB203580, RPAs-C1142 and RPAs-SB203580 only, which were evaluated at 8 hrs time point. At each time point, mRNA and protein expressions of RPAs of MCP-1 were measured. The phosphorylation of p38 MAPK (p-pMAPK) of RPAs was also detected. Results: We found that the RPAs-TNF-α elicited significant increases in MCP-1 expression and phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p-p38 MAPK). Furthermore, the MCP-1 expressions of RPAs-Resveratrol, RPAs-C1142, and RPAs-SB203580 were significantly down-regulated, which was associated with robustly suppressed TNF-α-induced p-p38MAPK expression. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that MCP-1 was involved in the formation of TNF-α-induced inflammatory response, and resveratrol could down-regulate the expression of MCP-1 via TNF-α- inhibition, which might contribute to the decline of acute PTE-induced PH in vivo.

[Effect of Magnetic Zirconium/Iron-Modified Bentonite Addition on Phosphorus Mobilization and Species Transformation in River Sediments].

A magnetic zirconium/iron-modified bentonite (ZrFeBT) was prepared, and the effect of ZrFeBT addition on the mobilization and species transformation of P in river sediments was investigated using incubation sediment core experiments. The results showed that, under anoxic conditions, P could be released from river sediments into the pore water, and then P in the pore water could be released into the overlying water. The addition of ZrFeBT into river sediments could greatly suppress the release of P from river sediments into the pore water under anoxic conditions. Therefore, the release of P from the pore water into the overlying water could be significantly suppressed by the addition of ZrFeBT. After the addition of ZrFeBT into river sediments, the transformation of loosely sorbed P (Labile-P) and BD extractable P (BD-P) to NaOH extractable P (NaOH-rP) and residual P (Res-P) in the sediments was observed. The decrease of bioavailable P (BAP) including water soluble P (WSP), readily desorbable P (RDP), NaHCO3 extractable P (Olsen-P), algal available P (AAP), and Fe oxide-paper extractable P (FeO-P) in the sediments was also observed. A certain amount of P in the ZrFeBT after the incubation experiment was present in the form of mobile P (Labile-P and BD-P), Olsen-P, and FeO-P, which could be re-released into the pore water and overlying water when the environmental conditions change in the future. The control of P release from river sediment into the overlying water by the addition of ZrFeBT could be mainly attributed to the reduction of P in the pore water as well as the reduction of mobile P and BAP in the sediments after ZrFeBT amendment. The results of this study inidcated that ZrFeBT is a promising amendment for the regulation of P release from river sediments into the overlying water.

[Influence of Calcium Ion Pre-treatment on Phosphate Adsorption onto Magnetic Zirconium/Iron-modified Bentonite].

Two kinds of magnetic zirconium/iron-modified bentonites (ZrFeBTs), including magnetic zirconium/iron modified raw bentonite (ZrFeRBT) and magnetic zirconium/iron-modified Ca2+-pretreated bentonite, (ZrFeCaBT) were prepared and characterized. Their phosphate adsorption characteristics were compared to determine the effect of the Ca2+ pre-treatment on the adsorption of phosphate onto ZrFeBTs. The results showed that the as-prepared ZrFeBTs contained Fe3O4 and Zr, and the content of exchangeable Ca2+ in ZrFeCaBT was much higher than that in ZrFeRBT. The adsorption isotherm data exhibited good agreement with the Langmuir isotherm model, with maximum monolayer phosphate adsorption capacities of 8.70 mg·g-1 and 11.5 mg·g-1 for ZrFeRBT and ZrFeCaBT, respectively. The isotherm and kinetics studies showed that the adsorption of phosphate on ZrFeBTs was a chemisorption process. The phosphate adsorption capacities for ZrFeBTs decreased with increasing solution pH. The ZrFeBTs exhibited a high selective adsorption for phosphate in the presence of anions and cations, including Cl-, HCO3-, SO42-, NO3-, Na+, K+, Mg2+, and Ca2+. Furthermore, coexisting Ca2+ greatly enhanced the adsorption of phosphate onto ZrFeBTs. The pre-treatment of raw bentonite with Ca2+ significantly improved the adsorption of phosphate onto ZrFeBTs.

Non-pulmonary vein foci induced before and after pulmonary vein isolation in patients undergoing ablation therapy for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: incidence and clinical outcome.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence and clinical outcome of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) plus isoproterenol (ISP)-induced non-pulmonary vein (PV) foci before and after circumferential PV isolation (CPVI) during index ablation in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). METHODS: In 80 consecutive patients undergoing catheter ablation for drug-refractory, symptomatic PAF at our hospital from April 2010 to January 2011, atrial fibrillation (AF) was provoked with ATP (20 mg) and ISP (20 µg/min) administration before and after CPVI. The spontaneous initiation of AF was mapped and recorded. RESULTS: Before ablation, AF mostly originating from PVs (PV vs. non-PV, 36/70 vs. 3/70; P<0.01) was induced in 39 patients with sinus rhythm. CPVI significantly suppressed AF inducibility; however, more non-PV foci were provoked (post-CPVI vs. pre-CPVI, 13/76 vs. 3/70; P=0.016). Patients with pre- and post-CPVI induced AF (n=49) were divided according to non-PV foci being induced (group N, n=17) or not (group P, n=32). After mean (19.2±8.2) months follow-up, 88.2% (15/17) and 65.6% (21/32) of patients in groups N and P, respectively, were free from AF recurrence (P=0.088). CONCLUSIONS: ATP+ISP administration effectively provokes non-PV foci, especially after CPVI in PAF patients. Although in this study difference did not achieve statistical significance, supplementary ablation targeting non-PV foci might benefit clinical outcome.

Cytokine-induced killer cells co-cultured with complete tumor antigen-loaded dendritic cells, have enhanced selective cytotoxicity on carboplatin-resistant retinoblastoma cells.

Retinoblastoma (RB) is a challenging disease that affects mostly young children. Chemical therapy has been shown to have limitations during clinical practice, principally because of the ability of RB to become resistant to the treatment. Nevertheless, chemotherapy is still the main treatment for RB, and immunotherapy has become a promising treatment for most solid tumors with fewer side effects than traditional therapies. In this study, we explored the antitumor effects of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells co-cultured with dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed with complete tumor antigens (DC-Ag). Cytotoxicity and specificity were evaluated on an RB cell line (RB-Y79), on a human normal retina cell line (hTERT-RPE1) and a carboplatin-resistant RB cell line. Our results showed that CIK differentiation and cytotoxicity were enhanced by co-culturing CIKs with DC-Ag. Moreover, the co-culture improved the CIK proliferation rate by increasing IL-6 and decreasing IL-10 levels in the culture medium. Furthermore, the use of DC-Ag-CIK cells had little effect on normal retinal cells but high cytotoxicity on RB cells even on carboplatin-resistant retinoblastoma cells. This is the first study showing that DC cells pulsed with the complete tumor antigen improve proliferation, differentiation and cytotoxic activity of CIKs specific not only for RB but also for the chemotherapy-resistant form of the malady. Thus highly efficient immunotherapy based on DC-Ag-CIK cells may be a potential effective and safe mean of treating RB especially to patients where traditional chemical therapy has failed.

[Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio as a prognostic factor in gastric cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To explore whether neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an effective prognostic marker in gastric cancer. METHODS: Clinical data of 775 patients with gastric cancer in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from 1994 to 2006 were analyzed retrospectively. According to preoperative NLR, the patients were divided into the low NLR group (NLR≤3.79, n=652) and the high NLR group (NLR>3.79, n=123). The 5-year survival rates of two groups of different TNM stage, different surgical intervention were separately analyzed. RESULTS: The 5-year survival rates in the low NLR group and high NLR group were 44.0% and 12.2% respectively (P<0.01). In different TNM stages: stage I (97.8% vs 33.3%), stage II (55.4% vs 32.0%), stage IIIA (30.2% vs 11.1%), stage IIIB (15.5% vs 8.3%), stage IV (10.7% vs 2.1%), and in different surgical intervention: D1 curative gastrectomy (93.3% 33.3%), D2 group (51.3% vs 20.4%), D3 group (42.4% vs 10.5%), D4 group (14.3% vs 2.0%), and in palliative operation group (8.3% vs 2.2%). There were significant differences of 5-year survival rate in TNM staging and surgical procedures between the high and low NLR groups (all P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Preoperative NLR may be a prognostic marker in patients with gastric cancer.

Anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of ethanol and aqueous extracts of Pterocephalus hookeri (C.B. Clarke) Höeck.

AIM OF THE STUDY: This study evaluates the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of the ethanol and aqueous extracts of a Tibetan herb Pterocephalus hookeri (C.B. Clarke) Höeck to provide experimental evidence for its traditional use such as cold, flu and rheumatoid arthritis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Investigations on the analgesic effects of P. hookeri (C.B. Clarke) Höeck were carried out, including hot-plate test and acetic acid-induced writhing. The anti-inflammatory activities were observed by utilizing the following models: carrageenin-induced edema of the hind paw of rats, cotton pellet-induced granuloma formation in rats, acetic acid-induced permeability, and xylene-induced ear edema in mice. The effects of the administration of indomethacin were also studied. RESULTS: It has been shown that the ethanol and aqueous extracts significantly increased the hot-plate pain threshold and reduced acetic acid-induced writhing response in mice. The ethanol and aqueous extracts remarkably inhibited the increase in vascular permeability induced by acetic acid and ear edema induced by xylene. The ethanol extract also significantly decreased the carrageenin-induced rat paw edema perimeter and inhibited the increase of granuloma weight. CONCLUSION: The results show that the ethanol and aqueous extracts have both central and peripheral analgesic activities and as anti-inflammatory effects, supporting the traditional application of this herb in treating various diseases associated with inflammation and pain.

[Quality control for recombinant adenovirus-IL2].

AIM: To investigate the quality and optimized test methods and establish the quality specification of recombinant adenovirus-IL2. METHODS: The titer of Adv-IL2 was measured by cytopathic effect (CPE). Hela cells were infected with Adv-IL2 in vitro, the expressed IL-2 and its bioactivity in Hela cell were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) 2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) respectively. The purity of Adv-IL2 was analysed by UV and IE-HPLC method. The molecular weight and enzyme digestive map of Adv-IL2 genome were analysed by electrophoresis. The characteristic gene E2B, IL-2 expression casseter and foreign factors (RCV, HIV, HBV, HCV) were detected with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Other tests were carried out according to the Chinese Requirements for Biological Products. RESULTS: Adv-IL2 was generated efficiently with a titer of 3 x 10(10) pfu.mL-1. The expressed IL-2 and its bioactivity were 25 ng.mL-1 and 700 u.mL-1 respectively. A260 nm/A280 nm was 1.23. The purity determined by IE-HPLC was higher than 98%. The molecular weight, enzyme digestive map of Adv-IL2 genome, the characteristic gene E2B and IL-2 expression casseter conformed to expected values. CONCLUSION: The specification for Adv-IL2 is established and can be used for the quality control of the product.