Biomass-Based, Dual Enzyme-Responsive Nanopesticides: Eco-friendly and Efficient Control of Pine Wood Nematode Disease.

Pine wood nematode (PWN) disease is a globally devastating forest disease caused by infestation with PWN, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, which mainly occurs through the vector insect Japanese pine sawyer (JPS), Monochamus alternatus. PWN disease is notoriously difficult to manage effectively and is known as the "cancer of pine trees." In this study, dual enzyme-responsive nanopesticides (AVM@EC@Pectin) were prepared using nanocoating avermectin (AVM) after modification with natural polymers. The proposed treatment can respond to the cell wall-degrading enzymes secreted by PWNs and vector insects during pine tree infestation to intelligently release pesticides to cut off the transmission and infestation pathways and realize the integrated control of PWN disease. The LC50 value of AVM@EC@Pectin was 11.19 mg/L for PWN and 26.31 mg/L for JPS. The insecticidal activity of AVM@EC@Pectin was higher than that of the commercial emulsifiable concentrate (AVM-EC), and the photostability, adhesion, and target penetration were improved. The half-life (t1/2) of AVM@EC@Pectin was 133.7 min, which is approximately twice that of AVM-EC (68.2 min). Sprayed and injected applications showed that nanopesticides had superior bidirectional transportation, with five-times higher AVM contents detected in the roots relative to those of AVM-EC when sprayed at the top. The safety experiment showed that the proposed treatment had lower toxicity and higher safety for nontarget organisms in the application environment and human cells. This study presents a green, safe, and effective strategy for the integrated management of PWN disease.

Widening of narrow urethral plates with lateral skin in TIP hypospadias repair: single center series.

BACKGROUND: To compare the outcomes of hypospadias repair using tubularized incised plate (TIP) urethroplasty and modified TIP with lateral skin to widen the urethral plate (WTIP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were obtained from pre-pubertal boys who underwent primary hypospadias repair between May 2018 and July 2023. The cases were divided into two groups; one group underwent TIP with urethral plate ≥ 6 mm width and the other group with urethral plate width < 6 mm underwent WTIP. WTIP urethroplasty was performed by widening incisions on the outer margins of the urethral plate to incorporate penile and glandular skin lateral to the urethral plate to facilitate tubularization. Complication rates and urinary functions were compared. RESULTS: A total of 157 patients were enrolled in this study. Eighty-eight cases with narrow urethral plate were subjected to WTIP urethroplasty, and the rest were subjected to TIP urethroplasty. The preoperative glans width in WTIP group was less than that in TIP group (P < 0.001), and 44.3% had midshaft meatus in WTIP group compared to 17.4% in TIP group (P < 0.001). However, the incidences of postoperative complications (17.6% vs. 21.6%, P = 0.550) were not statistically different between the TIP and WTIP groups. In addition, both groups did not differ significantly in postoperative uroflowmetry assessment. CONCLUSIONS: The described technique helps to create an adequately caliber aesthetic neomeatus and facilitates tubularization, especially in hypospadias with a narrow urethral plate. Our data suggest that augmentation of a narrow urethral plate with WTIP has a similar surgical outcome to that of the TIP procedure in patients with a wide urethral plate.

Ascendancy of pyraclostrobin nanocapsule formulation against Rhizoctonia solani: From a perspective of fungus.

High-performance pesticide formulations are essential for sustainable agriculture. Among these, nano-pesticides exhibit great advantages in pest control because of their unique size effects. However, the direct effects of nano-formulation fungicides on fungal pathogens remain largely unexplored. In this study, three qualified formulations, suspension concentrate (SC), microcapsules (CS), and nanocapsules (NCS) of pyraclostrobin (PYR) were prepared and utilized to reveal their biocontrol activities against Rhizoctonia solani. Among these three formulations, NCS exhibited notable biocontrol efficacy against R. solani exemplified by an EC50 of 0.319 mg/L for mycelia, distortion of mycelia and abnormalities in cell ultrastructure. Moreover, NCS displayed excellent internalization within R. solani mycelia, contributing to severe damage to cell membrane permeability. Importantly, an equivalent quantity of NCS-PYR showed potent inhibitory effects on the target pathogen, as indicated by reduced adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content and mitochondrial Complex III activity. The NCS consistently exhibited superior in vivo protective and curative activities against R. solani compared to those of CS and SC in rice and faba bean. In summary, we uncovered the strength of rapid efficacy and biocontrol activity of NCS against R. solani and elucidated the advantages of NCS-PYR from the perspective of the target pathogen in agriculture.

Bilateral Wilms tumor in a patient with a horseshoe and duplex kidney: A case report.

The occurrence of horseshoe kidney with duplex urinary collecting systems is rare. Herein, we report a case of bilateral Wilms tumor (BWT) in a patient with a concurrent horseshoe kidney and left duplex kidney, which had not been previously reported. The patient was treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, followed by surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy. The tumor recurred 6 months postoperatively. A second resection was performed, followed by the administration of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The patient passed away 15 months after the initial diagnosis of BWT.

Ureteral dilation recovery after intravesical reimplantation in children with primary obstructive megaureter.

Background: To observe the postoperative recovery following ureteral dilation in primary obstructive megaureter (POM) after ureteral implantation, and evaluate the risk factors affecting ureter diameter resolution. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was performed in patients with POM who underwent ureteral reimplantation using the Cohen procedure. Patient characteristics, perioperative parameters, and postoperative outcomes were also analysed. A widest ureteral diameter of <7 mm was defined as a normal shape and outcome. Survival time was defined as the time from surgery to ureteral dilation recovery or to the last follow-up. Results: A total of 49 patients (54 ureters) were included in the analysis. The survival time ranged from 1 to 53 months. The shapes of a total of 47 (87.04%) megaureters recovered, and most (29/47) resolutions happened within 6 months after surgery. In the univariate analysis, bilateral ureterovesical reimplantation (p = 0.015), ureteral terminal tapering (p = 0.019), weight (p = 0.036), and age (p = 0.015) were associated with the recovery time of ureteral dilation. A delayed recovery of ureteral diameter was noted in bilateral reimplantation (HR = 0.336, p = 0.017) using multivariate Cox regression. Conclusions: Ureteral dilation in POM mostly returned to normal within six postoperative months. Moreover, bilateral ureterovesical reimplantation is a risk factor for delayed postoperative recovery of ureter dilation in POM.

Establishment of an indirect ELISA method for antibody detection of porcine pseudorabies by recombinant gB, gC, and gD proteins.

Pseudorabies virus (PRV), as a neuroherpes virus, leads to heavy economic losses in the pig industry worldwide. This study was designed to establish recombinant PRV glycoprotein B (gB), C, and D proteins as PRV diagnostic antigens. The gB/C, gC/D, and gB/C/D fusion sequences were synthesized and inserted into pET-28a+ vector to generate the recombinant plasmids. The identified positive recombinant plasmids were transformed into BL21 Escherichia coli. The results of the polymerase chain reaction and enzyme digestion showed that the gB/C, gC/D, and gB/C/D fusion proteins were successfully expressed. An indirect sandwich ELISA was developed with the gB/C, gC/D, and gB/C/D as coating antigens. The results of indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analysis of 184 PRV-positive porcine sera showed that the positive coincidence rates of three recombinant proteins ELISAs relative to IDEXX kit were 98.25%, 95.32%, and 98.83%, and the negative coincidence rates were 85.71%, 75% and 100%, respectively. The inter and intra batch repeatability tests showed that the coefficient of variations of our kits were all less than 5%. Especially, the gB/C/D-ELISA has the highest specificity and sensitivity among the ELISA methods developed in this study. We established a series expression system of gB/C, gC/D, and gB/C/D antigen epitope genes and Recombinant protein-based indirect ELISA, providing new ideas for PV diagnosis and vaccine development.

Efficacy and mechanism of Jiedu Tongluo Tiaogan Formula in treating type 2 diabetes mellitus combined with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: Study protocol for a parallel-armed, randomized controlled trial.

Background: The incidence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) combined with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has risen over the years. This comorbid condition significantly increases the probability of cirrhosis, liver cancer, and mortality compared to the disease alone. The multi-targeted, holistic treatment efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) plays a vital role in the treatment of T2DM and NAFLD. Jiedu Tongluo Tiaogan Formula (JTTF), based on TCM theory, is widely used in clinical treatment, and its effectiveness in lowering glucose, regulating lipids, improving insulin resistance, and its pathways of action have been demonstrated in previous studies. However, the mechanism of this formula has not been investigated from a metabolomics perspective. Moreover, high-quality clinical studies on T2DM combined with NAFLD are lacking. Therefore, we aim to conduct a clinical trial to investigate the clinical efficacy, safety, and possible pathways of JTTF in the treatment of T2DM combined with NAFLD using metabolomics techniques. Methods: A total of 98 participants will be recruited to this clinical trial and randomly assigned to either a treatment group (JTTF + conventional basic treatment) or control group (conventional basic treatment) in a 1:1 ratio. Both groups will have received the same lifestyle interventions in the preceding 12 weeks. The primary outcome will be change in visceral fat area and total score on the TCM syndromes efficacy score scale. The secondary outcome will include changes in ultrasound steatosis grade, fibrosis 4 score (FIB-4), metabolic parameters, anthropometric parameters, visceral fat area. In addition, serum and urine samples collected at baseline and at the end of 12 weeks of treatment will be sequentially tested for untargeted and targeted metabolomics. Discussion: This study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of JTTF, as well as investigate the differential metabolites and possible mechanisms of JTTF treatment in T2DM combined with NAFLD. We hypothesize that patients will benefit from JTTF, which may provide strong evidence for the clinical use of JTTF in the treatment of T2DM and NAFLD, leading to the possibility of further mechanistic exploration. Clinical Trial Registration: This clinical trial has been registered in China Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR 2100051174).

Using tank-mix adjuvant improves the physicochemical properties and dosage delivery to reduce the use of pesticides in unmanned aerial vehicles for plant protection in wheat.

BACKGROUND: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are widely used to improve the efficiency of pesticide applications. Low-volume spraying operations require more efficient deposition of droplets on the target surface. Therefore, pesticide deposition and retention on plant surfaces is a serious challenge for modern precision agriculture. Tank-mix adjuvants have been used to improve spray dilutions performance; however, their effects on the physicochemical properties of spray dilutions, dosage delivery, and pesticide dosage are unclear. RESULTS: Tank-mix adjuvant 8860 significantly improved the physicochemical properties of spray dilutions, inhibited spray droplets rebound, improved the wetting and spreading performance of spray dilutions on wheat leaves, and increased the effective deposition of tebuconazole on wheat leaves. Even when its dosage was reduced by one-third, the spray solution still showed excellent disease control and effective deposition of the active ingredient on wheat leaves. CONCLUSION: The use of appropriate tank-mix adjuvants in UAV-based plant protection for wheat can significantly improve the performance of spray dilutions, increase the efficiency of pesticide dosage delivery, and improve disease control. These adjuvants can also help reduce the pesticide use while ensuring their effectiveness. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

The predictive potential of genetic single nucleotide polymorphisms in CBX4 for hepatocellular carcinoma survival.

Background: Our previous studies have reported that polycomb chromobox 4 (CBX4) has a potential promoting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) angiogenesis and tumor progression. However, it is unclear whether genetic single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in this gene are associated with HCC prognosis. Methods: We conducted a hospital-based two-phase study, including 598 patients with pathologically diagnosed HCC for the SNPs screening phase and 328 HCC patients for clinic significance validating phase, to elucidate the association between SNPs of CBX4 and the survival of HCC. The genotypes of CBX4 were tested using the SNaPshot method and the effects of CBX4 SNPs on HCC prognosis were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival model and Cox regression model. Results: A total of 33 SNPs were selected and genotyped in this study. We found the rs77447679 SNP was significantly related to survival in individuals with HCC. Specifically, survival was noticeably decreased in HCC patients who have mutant homozygote AA of this SNP (rs77447679-AA) compared with these with wild type (rs77447679-CC). An additive effect of rs77447679 polymorphism and aflatoxin B1 exposure level was also observed in the survival analyses of HCC cases. Furthermore, this SNP was positively correlated not only with tumor size, grade, stage, and microvessel density (correlation coefficient r = 0.17, 0.23, 0.23, and 0.42, respectively), but also with increasing CBX4 expression (r = 0.57). Interestingly, the mutant genotypes of rs77447679 can significantly improve the therapeutic response of HCC cases on post-operative adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization (pa-TACE), but wild type not. Conclusions: These data suggest that genetic polymorphisms in the CBX4 may be a prognostic biomarker for HCC, and the rs77447679 SNP is such a potential candidate.

Gene correlation network analysis to identify regulatory factors in sciatic nerve injury.

BACKGROUND: Sciatic nerve injury (SNI), which frequently occurs under the traumatic hip and hip fracture dislocation, induces serious complications such as motor and sensory loss, muscle atrophy, or even disabling. The present work aimed to determine the regulating factors and gene network related to the SNI pathology. METHODS: Sciatic nerve injury dataset GSE18803 with 24 samples was divided into adult group and neonate group. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was carried out to identify modules associated with SNI in the two groups. Moreover, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were determined from every group, separately. Subsequently, co-expression network and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network were overlapped to identify hub genes, while functional enrichment and Reactome analysis were used for a comprehensive analysis of potential pathways. GSE30165 was used as the test set for investigating the hub gene involvement within SNI. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed separately using difference between samples and gene expression level as phenotype label to further prove SNI-related signaling pathways. In addition, immune infiltration analysis was accomplished by CIBERSORT. Finally, Drug-Gene Interaction database (DGIdb) was employed for predicting the possible therapeutic agents. RESULTS: 14 SNI status modules and 97 DEGs were identified in adult group, while 15 modules and 21 DEGs in neonate group. A total of 12 hub genes was overlapping from co-expression and PPI network. After the results from both test and training sets were overlapped, we verified that the ten real hub genes showed remarkably up-regulation within SNI. According to functional enrichment of hub genes, the above genes participated in the immune effector process, inflammatory responses, the antigen processing and presentation, and the phagocytosis. GSEA also supported that gene sets with the highest significance were mostly related to the cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction. Analysis of hub genes possible related signaling pathways using gene expression level as phenotype label revealed an enrichment involved in Lysosome, Chemokine signaling pathway, and Neurotrophin signaling pathway. Immune infiltration analysis showed that Macrophages M2 and Regulatory T cells may participate in the development of SNI. At last, 25 drugs were screened from DGIdb to improve SNI treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The gene expression network is determined in the present work based on the related regulating factors within SNI, which sheds more light on SNI pathology and offers the possible biomarkers and therapeutic targets in subsequent research.

Spreading of Oil Droplets Containing Surfactants and Pesticides on Water Surface Based on the Marangoni Effect.

Oil droplets containing surfactants and pesticides are expected to spread on a water surface, under the Marangoni effect, depending on the surfactant. Pesticides are transported into water through this phenomenon. A high-speed video camera was used to measure the movement of Marangoni ridges. Gas chromatography with an electron capture detector was used to analyze the concentration of the pesticide in water at different times. Oil droplets containing the surfactant and pesticide spread quickly on the water surface by Marangoni flow, forming an oil film and promoting emulsification of the oil-water interface, which enabled even transport of the pesticide into water, where it was then absorbed by weeds. Surfactants can decrease the surface tension of the water subphase after deposition, thereby enhancing the Marangoni effect in pesticide-containing oil droplets. The time and labor required for applying pesticides in rice fields can be greatly reduced by using the Marangoni effect to transport pesticides to the target.

Core-shell gold nanorod@mesoporous-MOF heterostructures for combinational phototherapy.

Despite the increasing usage of porphyrinic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for combination therapy, the controlled encapsulation of inorganic nanoparticle-based therapeutics into such MOFs with specific structures has remained a major obstacle for improved tumor therapy. Here, we report the synthesis of a mesoporous MOF shell on the surface of gold nanorods (AuNRs), wherein a single AuNR is captured individually in single-crystalline MOFs with a controlled crystallographic orientation, for combinational phototherapy against solid tumors. The core-shell heterostructures have the benefits of a mesoporous structure and photoinduced singlet oxygen generation behavior characterized by the porphyrinic MOF shell, together with the plasmonic photothermal conversion characteristic of AuNRs. We demonstrated that the AuNR@MOF nanoplatform enables an efficient tumor treatment strategy by combining photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy. We should emphasize that such systems could have applications beyond the field of cancer therapy, like plasmonic harvesting of light energy to induce and accelerate catalytic reactions within MOFs and multifunctional nanocarriers for agricultural formulations.

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the coding region of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs 4 and hepatocellular carcinoma: A retrospective case-control study.

Previous studies have shown that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin type 1 motif 4 (ADAMTS4) may involve in the pathogenesis of some diseases. However, it is not clear whether they are associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A hospital-based case-control study, including 862 cases with HCC and 1120 controls, was conducted to assess the effects of 258 SNPs in the coding regions of ADAMTS4 on HCC risk and prognosis. We found that six SNPs in ADAMTS4 were differential distribution between cases and controls via the primary screening analyses; however, only rs538321148 and rs1014509103 polymorphisms were further identified to modify the risk of HCC (odds ratio: 2.73 and 2.95; 95% confidence interval, 2.28-3.29 and 2.43-3.58; P-value, 5.73 × 10-27 and 1.36 × 10-27 , respectively). Significant interaction between these two SNPs and two known causes of hepatitis B virus and aflatoxin B1 were also observed. Furthermore, rs538321148 and rs1014509103 polymorphisms were associated not only with clinicopathological features of tumor such as tumor stage and grade, microvessel density, and vessel metastasis, but with poor overall survival. Additionally, these SNPs significantly downregulated ADATMS4 expression in tumor tissues. These data suggest that SNPs in the coding region of ADAMTS4, such as rs538321148 and rs1014509103, may be potential biomarkers for predicting HCC risk and prognosis.

A microcapsule oil dispersion for the controlled release of 1-methylcyclopropene in an open environment.

1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) is an important gaseous plant growth regulator. For its application as a gaseous pesticide, the plants with 1-MCP α-cyclodextrin microcapsule granules need to be enclosed in a sealed chamber. To provide a new spray formulation of 1-MCP for open environment application, herein, a novel 1-MCP microcapsule oil dispersion (1-MCP/MCOD) was prepared and characterized. It was found that 1-MCP could stay at higher concentrations for more than 36 hours during the controlled release experiment, and the SEM experiment showed good deposition of the 1-MCP/MCOD spray solution. In addition, the apple harvest application experiments showed that 1-MCP/MCOD could effectively prevent fruit drop at 3 µL L-1 in an open environment. These results not only supply a new 1-MCP/MCOD kind of formulation for the flexible application of the 1-MCP gas in an open environment, but also show that this microcapsule oil dispersion formulation has significant potential in gaseous pesticide applications.

Formulation of oil-in-water emulsions for pesticide applications: impact of surfactant type and concentration on physical stability.

Oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions can be utilized as effective pesticide delivery systems in the agricultural industry. In this study, the effects of hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB), concentration, and location of surfactants on the formation and physical stability of O/W emulsions suitable for pesticide applications was investigated using dynamic light scattering and vertical laser profiling. A non-polar pesticide (lambda-cyhalothrin) was used as a model. The pesticide emulsion with the highest stability was obtained using a commercial non-ionic surfactant (polyoxyethylene castor oil ether, EL-20) with a required HLB value of 10.5. Emulsion stability increased as the surfactant concentration was increased from 2 to 6%, which was attributed to the formation of smaller oil droplets during emulsification. Emulsions prepared with the surfactant initially in the oil phase were more stable than those prepared with it initially in the aqueous phase. The optimum formulation of the pesticide emulsion was determined as follows: 5% lambda-cyhalothrin (active ingredient) and 6% EL-20 (surfactant) dissolved in 5% S-200 (aromatic hydrocarbon, as oil phase), then deionized water up to 100%, which met the quality indicators set by the FAO standards. The present study is expected to provide useful information to improve the stability of pesticide emulsions for commercial applications.

Prognostic significance of XRCC4 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Our previous investigations have shown that the variants of X-ray repair complementing 4 (XRCC4) may be involved in hepatocellular carcinoma (hepatocarcinoma) tumorigenesis. This study aimed to investigate the possible prognostic significance of XRCC4 expression for hepatocarcinoma patients and possible value for the selection of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a hospital-based retrospective analysis (including 421 hepatocarcinoma cases) to analyze the effects of XRCC4 on hepatocarcinoma prognosis and TACE. The levels of XRCC4 expression were tested using immunohistochemistry. The sensitivity of cancer cells to anti-cancer drug doxorubicin was evaluated using the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50). RESULTS: XRCC4 expression was significantly correlated with pathological features including tumor stage, liver cirrhosis, and micro-vessel density. XRCC4 expression was an independent prognostic factor of hepatocarcinoma, and TACE treatments had no effects on prognosis of hepatocarcinoma patients with high XRCC4 expression. More intriguingly, TACE improved the prognosis of hepatocarcinoma patients with low XRCC4 expression. Functionally, XRCC4 overexpression increased while XRCC4 knockdown reduced the IC50 of cancer cells to doxorubicin. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that XRCC4 may be an independent prognostic factor for hepatocarcinoma patients, and that decreasing XRCC4 expression may be beneficial for post-operative adjuvant TACE treatment in hepatocarcinoma.

Diagnostic and prognostic potential of serum microRNA-4651 for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma related to aflatoxin B1.

BACKGROUND: The serum microRNAs have been reported as potential biomarkers for hepatitis virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, their role in aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-related HCC to has not yet been evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a case-control study, including 366 HCC cases and 662 controls without any evidence of tumors, to identify and assess diagnostic and prognostic potential of serum microRNAs for AFB1-related HCC. The sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were used to elucidate diagnostic performance, and to compare the microRNAs with α-fetoprotein (AFP) at a cutoff of 20 ng/mL (AFP20) and 400 ng/mL (AFP400). RESULTS: We found 8 differentially expressed microRNAs via the microRNA array analysis; however, only microRNA-4651 was further identified to detect AFB1-positive HCC but not AFB1-negative HCC. For AFB1-positive HCC, microRNA-4651 showed higher accuracy and sensitivity than AFP400 (AUC, 0.85 vs. 0.72; Sensitivity, 78.1% vs. 43.0%). Compared to AFP20, microRNA-4651 exhibited higher potential in identifying small-size (0.68 vs. 0.84 for AUC and 36.7% vs. 75.5% for sensitivity, respectively) and early-stage HCC (0.69 vs. 0.84 for AUC and 38.7% vs. 75.7% for sensitivity, respectively). Additionally, miR-4651 was also associated with HCC prognosis (hazard risk value, 2.67 for overall survival and 3.62 for tumor recurrence analysis). CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that serum microRNA-4651 may be a useful marker for HCC diagnosis and prognosis, especially AFB1-positive cases.

Polymeric Nanoparticles as a Metolachlor Carrier: Water-Based Formulation for Hydrophobic Pesticides and Absorption by Plants.

Pesticide formulation is highly desirable for effective utilization of pesticide and environmental pollution reduction. Studies of pesticide delivery system such as microcapsules are developing prosperously. In this work, we chose polymeric nanoparticles as a pesticide delivery system and metolachlor was used as a hydrophobic pesticide model to study water-based mPEG-PLGA nanoparticle formulation. Preparation, characterization results showed that the resulting nanoparticles enhanced "water solubility" of hydrophobic metolachlor and contained no organic solvent or surfactant, which represent one of the most important sources of pesticide pollution. After the release study, absorption of Cy5-labeled nanoparticles into rice roots suggested a possible transmitting pathway of this metolachlor formulation and increased utilization of metolachlor. Furthermore, the bioassay test demonstrated that this nanoparticle showed higher effect than non-nano forms under relatively low concentrations on Oryza sativa, Digitaria sanguinalis. In addition, a simple cytotoxicity test involving metolachlor and metolachlor-loaded nanoparticles was performed, indicating toxicity reduction of the latter to the preosteoblast cell line. All of these results showed that those polymeric nanoparticles could serve as a pesticide carrier with lower environmental impact, comparable effect, and effective delivery.

Prognostic significance of miR-1268a expression and its beneficial effects for post-operative adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Our recent investigation has shown that the variables of microRNA-1268a may involve in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumorigenesis. Here, we attempted to identify the prognostic significance of microRNA-1268a expression in tumor tissues by a retrospective analysis in 411 patients with HCC, and analyze its effects on post-operative adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) improving HCC prognosis. All cases received tumor resection or tumor resection plus post-operative adjuvant TACE as an initial treatment. Logistical regression analysis exhibited that microRNA-1268a expression was significantly correlated with tumor stage, tumor grade, tumor size, and microvessel density. Cox regression analysis showed that microRNA-1268a expression was an independent prognostic factor for HCC, and TACE treatment had no effects on prognosis of HCC patients with high microRNA-1268a expression. More intriguingly, TACE improved the prognosis of HCC patients with low microRNA-1268a expression. Functionally, overexpression of microRNA-1268a inhibited while its inhibitor enhanced doxorubicin-induced the death of cancer cells. These results suggest that microRNA-1268a may be an independent prognostic factor for HCC patients, and that decreasing microRNA-1268a expression may be beneficial for post-operative adjuvant TACE treatment in HCC.

Preparation of thermoresponsive and pH-sensitivity polymer magnetic hydrogel nanospheres as anticancer drug carriers.

In this work, a novel thermo and pH responsive magnetic hydrogel nanosphere poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid)/Fe(3)O(4) (poly(NIPAAm-co-AA)/Fe(3)O(4)) has been successfully prepared. The magnetic hydrogel nanospheres with thermo and pH-sensitivity were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared-spectrometer (FT-IR), UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The magnetic hydrogel nanospheres exhibited uniform sphere structures and superparamagnetic property. Finally, the drug loading capacities and the releasing behavior of the magnetic hydrogel nanospheres were investigated with doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) as an anticancer drug model. The resulting magnetic hydrogel nanospheres exhibited high encapsulation efficiency (95%) to DOX under an appropriate condition. In vitro release experiments revealed that release was faster at pH 5.3 (37°C) than at pH 7.4 (25°C) or pH 7.4 (37°C). The DOX-loaded magnetic hydrogel nanospheres also showed enhanced anticancer effect compared with the free drug in vitro. These presented results suggested that the magnetic hydrogel nanospheres have a potential as tumor targeting drug carrier.