A retrospective study on iRoot BP Plus full pulpotomy for primary molars with partial irreversible pulpitis.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to observe the outcomes of iRoot BP Plus full pulpotomy in primary molars with partial irreversible pulpitis retrospectively. METHODS: Collect 102 cases of primary molars with partial irreversible pulpitis undergoing iRoot BP Plus full pulpotomy from January 2019 to August 2023, with a follow-up period of 24-47 months. Based on the presence of irreversible pulpitis symptoms before surgery, the included cases will be divided into asymptomatic group (n=53) and symptomatic group (n=49). Observe the clinical and imaging success rates of both groups. RESULTS: Clinical success rates were 96.2% and 97.9% in asymptomatic and symptomatic groups, and radiographic success rates were 96.2% and 93.9% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: iRoot BP Plus full pulpotomy can be used for the treatment of primary molars with partial irreversible pulpitis under an enhanced pulpotomy protocol.

Genetically predicted gut microbiome and risk of oral cancer.

PURPOSE: Mounting evidence suggests a possible link between gut microbiome and oral cancer, pointing to some potential modifiable targets for disease prevention. In the present study, Mendelian randomization (MR) was used to explore whether there was a causal link between gut microbiome and oral cancer. METHODS: The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) significantly associated with gut microbiome were served as instrumental variables. MR analyses were performed using genetic approaches such as inverse variance weighting (IVW), MR Egger and weighted median, with IVW as the primary approach, supplemented by MR Egger and weighted median. Mendelian randomization pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO) and MR-Egger regression were used to detect the presence of horizontal pleiotropy and identify outlier SNPs. RESULTS: Causal effect estimates indicated that genetically predicted abundance of Prevotellaceae was associated with higher risk of oral cancer (odds ratio (OR) 1.80, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16-2.81, p = 0.009). There was no evidence of notable heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy. CONCLUSION: Genetically derived estimates suggest that Prevotellaceae may be associated with the risk of oral cancer. Such robust evidence should be given priority in future studies and explore the underlying mechanisms.

Recent advances in aggregation-induced emission-active type I photosensitizers with near-infrared fluorescence: From materials design to therapeutic platform fabrication.

Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging-guided photodynamic therapy (PDT) technology plays an important role in treating various diseases and still attracts increasing research interests for developing novel photosensitizers (PSs) with outstanding performances. Conventional PSs such as porphyrin and rhodamine derivatives have easy self-aggregation properties in the physiological environment due to their inherent hydrophobic nature caused by their rigid molecular structure that induces strong intermolecular stacking π-π interaction, leading to serious fluorescence quenching and cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) reduction. Meanwhile, hypoxia is an inherent barrier in the microenvironment of solid tumors, seriously restricting the therapeutic outcome of conventional PDT. Aforementioned disadvantages should be overcome urgently to enhance the therapeutic effect of PSs. Novel NIR fluorescence-guided type I PSs with aggregation-induced emission (AIE), which features the advantages of improving fluorescent intensity and ROS generation efficiency at aggregation as well as outstanding oxygen tolerance, bring hope for resolving aforementioned problems simultaneously. At present, plenty of research works fully demonstrates the advancement of AIE-active PDT based on type I PSs. In this review, cutting-edge advances focusing on AIE-active NIR type I PSs that include the aspects of the photochemical mechanism of type I ROS generation, various molecular structures of reported type I PSs with NIR fluorescence and their design strategies, and typical anticancer applications are summarized. Finally, a brief conclusion is obtained, and the underlying challenges and prospects of AIE-active type I PSs are proposed.

Echinacoside, a promising sortase A inhibitor, combined with vancomycin against murine models of MRSA-induced pneumonia.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a pathogenic bacterium responsible for a range of severe infections, such as skin infections, bacteremia, and pneumonia. Due to its antibiotic-resistant nature, current research focuses on targeting its virulence factors. Sortase A (SrtA) is a transpeptidase that anchors surface proteins to the bacterial cell wall and is involved in adhesion and invasion to host cells. Through fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), we identified echinacoside (ECH), a natural polyphenol, as a potential SrtA inhibitor with an IC50 of 38.42 µM in vitro. It was demonstrated that ECH inhibited SrtA-mediated S. aureus fibrinogen binding, surface protein A anchoring, and biofilm formation. The fluorescence quenching assay determined the binding mode of ECH to SrtA and calculated the KA-binding constant of 3.09 × 105 L/mol, demonstrating the direct interaction between the two molecules. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that ECH-SrtA interactions occurred primarily at the binding sites of A92G, A104G, V168A, G192A, and R197A. Importantly, the combination of ECH and vancomycin offered protection against murine models of MRSA-induced pneumonia. Therefore, ECH may serve as a potential antivirulence agent against S. aureus infections, either alone or in combination with vancomycin.

Effects of different types of granular activated carbon on methanogenesis of carbohydrate-rich food waste: Performance, microbial communities and optimization.

Granular activated carbon (GAC) supplementation is an efficient method for enhancing methane production during the anaerobic digestion of food waste, but it remains unclear which type of GAC is optimal and what potential mechanisms are involved with different types of GAC, particularly for the methanogenic system of carbohydrate-rich food waste. This study selected three commercial GAC (GAC#1, GAC#2, GAC#3) with very distinct physical and chemical properties, and investigated their impacts on the methanogenesis of carbohydrate-rich food waste with an inoculation/substrate ratio of 1. Results indicated that Fe-doped GAC#3 had a lower specific surface area but higher conductivity, yet exhibited superior performance in facilitating methanogenesis compared with GAC#1 and GAC#2, which possessed larger specific surface areas. The addition of 10 g/L GAC#3 enhanced the methane yield by 10-folds through regulating pH levels, alleviating volatile fatty acids-induced stress, enhancing key enzymatic activity, as well as enriching direct interspecies electron transfer-mediated syntrophic partner of Syntrophomonas with Methanosarcina. Furthermore, GAC#1, which had the largest specific surface area but exhibited the poorest performance, was chemically modified to enhance its ability in promoting methanogenesis. The resulting material, named MGAC#1 (Fe3O4-loaded GAC#1), exhibited superior electro-conductivity and high methane production efficiency. The methane yield of 588 mL/g-VS showed a remarkable increase of 468 % compared with GAC#1, and a modest increase of 13 % compared with GAC#3, surpassing most values reported in literature. These findings suggested that the Fe3O4-loaded GAC with lager specific surface area, was the optimal choice for the methanogenesis of sole readily acidogenic waste, providing valuable insights for the preparation of superior-quality GAC for application in biogas industry.

Association between metabolic obesity phenotypes and multiple myeloma hospitalization burden: A national retrospective study.

Background & purpose: Obesity and metabolic disorders were associated with increased risk of MM, a disease characterized by high risk of relapsing and require frequent hospitalizations. In this study, we conducted a retrospective cohort study to explore the association of metabolic obesity phenotypes with the readmission risk of MM. Patients & methods: We analyzed 34,852 patients diagnosed with MM from the Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD), a nationally representative database from US. Hospitalization diagnosis of patients were obtained using ICD-10 diagnosis codes. According to obesity and metabolic status, the population was divided into four phenotypes: metabolically healthy non-obese (MHNO), metabolically unhealthy non-obese (MUNO), metabolically healthy obese (MHO), and metabolically unhealthy obese (MUO). The patients with different phenotypes were observed for hospital readmission at days 30-day, 60-day, 90-day and 180-day. Multivariate cox regression model was used to estimate the relationship between obesity metabolic phenotypes and readmissions risk. Results: There were 5,400 (15.5%), 7,255 (22.4%), 8,025 (27.0%) and 7,839 (35.6%) unplanned readmissions within 30-day, 60-day, 90-day and 180-day follow-up, respectively. For 90-day and 180-day follow-up, compared with patients with the MHNO phenotype, those with metabolic unhealthy phenotypes MUNO (90-day: P = 0.004; 180-day: P = < 0.001) and MUO (90-day: P = 0.049; 180-day: P = 0.004) showed higher risk of readmission, while patients with only obesity phenotypes MHO (90-day: P = 0.170; 180-day: P = 0.090) experienced no higher risk. However, similar associations were not observed for 30-day and 60-day. Further analysis in 90-day follow-up revealed that, readmission risk elevated with the increase of the combined factor numbers, with aHR of 1.068 (CI: 1.002-1.137, P = 0.043, with one metabolic risk factor), 1.109 (CI: 1.038-1.184, P = 0.002, with two metabolic risk factors) and 1.125 (95% CI: 1.04-1.216, P = 0.003, with three metabolic risk factors), respectively. Conclusion: Metabolic disorders, rather than obesity, were independently associated with higher readmission risk in patients with MM, whereas the risk elevated with the increase of the number of combined metabolic factors. However, the effect of metabolic disorders on MM readmission seems to be time-dependent. For MM patient combined with metabolic disorders, more attention should be paid to advance directives to reduce readmission rate and hospitalization burden.

Mir-153-3p Modulates the Breast Cancer Cells' Chemosensitivity to Doxorubicin by Targeting KIF20A.

Breast cancer is considered the solid tumor most sensitive to chemotherapy. However, it can become resistant to various chemotherapeutic drugs, including doxorubicin, which triggers cell death by intercalation between DNA bases, free radical formation, and topoisomerase II inhibition. When drug resistance develops, several miRNAs are dysregulated, suggesting that miRNAs may play a significant role in resistance formation. In the current study, we investigated how doxorubicin sensitivity of breast cancer cells is affected by miR-153-3p and its target gene. The MTT method was used to determine the chemo-sensitizing effect of miR-153-3p on doxorubicin in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. Results of Western blot and dual luciferase confirmed that miR-153-3p targets KIF20A and decreases its expression. Transwell and flow cytometry experiments showed that miR-153-3p and doxorubicin together had higher effects on MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, as well as increasing apoptosis and arresting cells in the G1 phase. Proteins related to apoptosis and the cell cycle exhibited the same tendency. Intracellular vesicle formation was inhibited and RAB26 was also downregulated by treatment with miR-153-3p alone or in combination with doxorubicin. Doxorubicin's ability to suppress tumors may be enhanced by miR-153-3p, according to in vivo studies. According to our findings, miR-153-3p has a direct effect on KIF20A and may regulate the formation of intracellular vesicles, which in turn makes breast cancer cells more susceptible to doxorubicin.

Volume Incentive Spirometry Reduces Pulmonary Complications in Patients After Open Abdominal Surgery: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: To compare the effect of diaphragmatic breathing and volume incentive spirometry (VIS) on hemodynamics, pulmonary function, and blood gas in patients following open abdominal surgery under general anesthesia. Methods: A total of 58 patients who received open abdominal surgery were randomly assigned to the control group (n=29) undergoing diaphragmatic breathing exercises and the VIS group (n=29) undergoing VIS exercises. All the participants performed the six-minute walk test (6MWT) preoperatively to evaluate their functional capacity. Hemodynamic indexes, pulmonary function tests, and blood gas indexes were recorded before surgery and on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th postoperative day. Results: The functional capacity was not significantly different between the two groups during the preoperative period (P >0.05). At 3 days and 5 days postoperatively, patients in the VIS group had a significantly higher SpO2 than that in the control group (P <0.05). Pulmonary function test values were reduced in both two groups postoperatively when compared to the preoperative values but improved for three and five days afterward (P <0.05). Of note, the significantly elevated levels of peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and FEV1/FVC ratio were observed on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th postoperative days in the VIS group compared with those in the control group (P <0.05). Besides, bass excess (BE), and pH values were significantly higher in the VIS group on the 1st postoperative day than those in the control group (P <0.05). Conclusion: Diaphragmatic breathing and VIS could improve postoperative pulmonary function, but VIS exercise might be a better option for improving hemodynamics, pulmonary function, and blood gas for patients after open abdominal surgery, hence lowering the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications.

MPGE and RootRank: A sufficient root cause characterization and quantification framework for industrial process faults.

Root cause diagnosis can locate abnormalities of industrial processes, ensuring production safety and manufacturing efficiency. However, existing root cause diagnosis models only consider pairwise direct causality and ignore the multi-level fault propagation, which may lead to incomplete root cause descriptions and ambiguous root cause candidates. To address the above issue, a novel framework, named multi-level predictive graph extraction (MPGE) and RootRank scoring, is proposed and applied to the root cause diagnosis for industrial processes. In this framework, both direct and indirect Granger causalities are characterized by multi-level predictive relationships to provide a sufficient characterization of root cause variables. First, a predictive graph structure with a sparse constrained adjacency matrix is constructed to describe the information transmission between variables. The information of variables is deeply fused according to the adjacency matrix to consider multi-level fault propagation. Then, a hierarchical adjacency pruning (HAP) mechanism is designed to automatically capture vital predictive relationships through adjacency redistribution. In this way, the multi-level causalities between variables are extracted to fully describe both direct and indirect fault propagation and highlight the root cause. Further, a RootRank scoring algorithm is proposed to analyze the predictive graph and quantify the fault propagation contribution of each variable, thereby giving definite root cause identification results. Three examples are adopted to verify the diagnostic performance of the proposed framework, including a numerical example, the Tennessee Eastman benchmark process, and a real cut-made process of cigarette. Both theoretical analysis and experimental verification show the high interpretability and reliability of the proposed framework.

Aggregation Effect on Multiperformance Improvement in Aryl-Armed Phenazine-Based Emitters.

The concept of aggregate science was proposed to explain changes in materials performance that accompany the generation of aggregates, but aggregation-triggered multifunction improvements in a class of materials have rarely been reported. Herein, we present the first report of a new class of multifunctional aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens (AIEgens) based on 5,10-diarylphenazine (DPZ) derivates with full-wavelength emission. Intriguingly, multiple properties, such as fluorescence intensity and free radical and type I reactive oxygen species (ROS) efficiencies, could be simultaneously activated from the unimolecular level to the aggregate state. The mechanisms of this multiple performance improvement are discussed in detail based on sufficient performance characterization, and some of the newly prepared AIEgens exhibited toxicity to cancer cells during photodynamic therapy. This work systematically demonstrates the positive effect of aggregation on improving multiple functions of materials, which is expected to promote the development of aggregate science theory for the design of multifunctional materials.

Danlu tongdu tablets: Preclinical safety evaluation and mechanism of hepatotoxicity.

Danlu tongdu tablets (DLTD) is a listed Chinese patent medicine collected in the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China (version 2020). This prescription has been applied in clinics in China for lumbar spinal stenosis and lumbosacral disc herniations. The wide application of Danlu tongdu in therapy has raised some clinical adverse reactions, such as significant elevation of alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) in individual patients after use. The present study aimed to investigate the safety of Danlu tongdu and analyze its adverse effects on the liver. The maximum feasible dose (MFD) was used to carry out the acute toxicity tests. Mortality, adverse effects, body weight and food consumption were recorded for up to 14 days post treatment. In the 6-month chronic toxicity test, sprague-dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups according body weight, the experimental groups were administrated to rats at the concentrations of 1.67, 3.34 and 6.67 g/kg/day, whereas the control group was received the ultrapure water (vehicle) only, 10 ml/kg, once a day. The animal's body weight, food consumption was monitored weekly. In addition, their hematological and biochemical parameters, body and organ weights and histopathology, were all measured at specific observation time points. Additionally, we further explored the adverse effects mechanism of Danlu tongdu on the liver through transcriptome analysis. No deaths or substance-relative toxicity were observed in the acute toxicity study or the 6-month chronic toxicity study with doses of 1.67 g/kg and 3.34 g/kg, respectively. We found that mild hypertrophy and hyperplasia of hepatic interlobular bile ducts were detected in some rats with doses of 6.67 g/kg after repeated oral administration of Danlu tongdu for 13 and 26 weeks, but the above changes in liver were reversible. The results of transcriptome sequencing showed that Danlu tongdu had a significant effect on cytochrome P450 enzymes in rat liver, especially cytochrome P450 1 (CYP1) subtype. Therefore, the toxic target organ of Danlu tongdu is the liver and the mechanism of mild liver injury is closely related to the up-regulation of cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) and cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) expression.

Development of survival predictors for high-grade serous ovarian cancer based on stable radiomic features from computed tomography images.

Less than 35% of advanced patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) survive for 5 years after diagnosis. Here, we developed radiomics-based models to predict HGSOC clinical outcomes using preoperative contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) images. 891 radiomics features were extracted between primary, metastatic, or lymphatic lesions from preoperative venous phase CECT images of 217 patients with HGSOC. A heuristic method, Frequency Appearance in Multiple Univariate preScreening (FAMUS), was proposed to identify stable and task-relevant radiomic features. Using FAMUS, we constructed predictive models of overall survival and disease-free survival in patients with HGSOC based on these stable radiomic features. According to their CT images, patients with HGSOC can be accurately stratified into high-risk or low-risk groups for cancer-related death within 2-6 years or for likely recurrence within 1-5 years. These radiomic models provide convincing and reliable non-invasive markers for individualized prognostic evaluation and clinical decision-making for patients with HGSOC.

Promotion of granular activated carbon on methanogenesis of readily acidogenic carbohydrate-rich waste at low inoculation ratio.

Although granular activated carbon (GAC) supplementation into food waste anaerobic digestion system is an efficient means to enhance methane production. As yet, little is known whether GAC supplementation is suitable for the extreme condition of pH below 4.5, which occurs in the use of readily acidogenic carbohydrate-rich waste (RACW) as methanogenic substrate when at low inoculation/substrate (I/S) ratio. This study investigated the effects of GAC on RACW anaerobic digestion under different inoculation/substrate (I/S) ratios. It was found that the addition of GAC was a preferred alternative method to enhancing I/S ratio for promoting methane production from RACW. The additive dose of 20 g/L was recommended for the methanogenesis of RACW at low I/S of 1:2, and the methane yield was enhanced by 12 times (505 mL/g-VS) compared with that (42 mL/g-VS) from the control. This promotion resulted from the apparently solving the over-acidogenesis problem and the adjustment of pH to the desired range. Further investigation revealed that the added GAC enhanced the activities of acetate kinase and coenzyme F420, that engaged in the acidogenic and methanogenic reactions. Meanwhile, the decrease of hydrogenase and increase of c-Cyts implied that the metabolism of direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) was probably stimulated by GAC. Microbial investigation inferred that the enriched hydrogenotrophic methanogens and DIET-mediated syntrophic partners of Geobacter/Syntrophomonas with Methanosarcina were responsible for the enhanced methane yield.

Characterization of the Components and Pharmacological Effects of Mountain-Cultivated Ginseng and Garden Ginseng Based on the Integrative Pharmacology Strategy.

Panax ginseng C. A. Mey (PGCAM) is a herbaceous perennial belonging to the Araliaceae family, mainly including Mountain-Cultivated Ginseng (MCG) and Garden Ginseng (GG) on the market. We aimed to establish a rapid, accurate and effective method to distinguish 15-year-old MCG and GG using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS), and also explored the pharmacological mechanisms of the main components using the Integrative Pharmacology-based Network Computational Research Platform of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCMIP V2.0; http://www.tcmip.cn/). Altogether, 23 potential quality markers were characterized to distinguish 15-year-old MCG and GG, including ginsenosides Ra2, Rg1, and Ra1, and malonyl-ginsenoside Ra3, etc. The contents of 19 constituents (mainly protopanaxadiol-type) were higher in MCG compared with that in GG, and four constituents (mainly carbohydrate compounds) were higher in GG. The 105 putative targets corresponding to 23 potential quality markers were mainly involved in 30 pathways, which could be divided into 10 models, such as immune regulation, systems (metabolic, nervous, cardiovascular, reproductive), blood-pressure regulation, as well as antitumor, antiaging, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects. Furthermore, the potential quality markers of MCG and GG could inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer by regulating the mRNA expression of PSA, S6K, MDM2, and P53 genes by acting on AR, MTOR, PI3K and other targets. The Integrative Pharmacology Strategy may provide an efficient way to identify chemical constituents and explore the pharmacological actions of TCM formulations.

Dual Attention-Based Encoder-Decoder: A Customized Sequence-to-Sequence Learning for Soft Sensor Development.

Soft sensor techniques have been applied to predict the hard-to-measure quality variables based on the easy-to-measure process variables in industry scenarios. Since the products are usually produced with prearranged processing orders, the sequential dependence among different variables can be important for the process modeling. To use this property, a dual attention-based encoder-decoder is developed in this article, which presents a customized sequence-to-sequence learning for soft sensor. We reveal that different quality variables in the same process are sequentially dependent on each other and the process variables are natural time sequences. Hence, the encoder-decoder is constructed to explicitly exploit the sequential information of both the input, that is, the process variables, and the output, that is, the quality variables. The encoder and decoder modules are specified as the long short-term memory network. In addition, since different process variables and time points impose different effects on the quality variables, a dual attention mechanism is embedded into the encoder-decoder to concurrently search the quality-related process variables and time points for a fine-grained quality prediction. Comprehensive experiments are performed based on a real cigarette production process and a benchmark multiphase flow process, which illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed encoder-decoder and its sequence to sequence learning for soft sensor.

The Novel Synthetic Triterpene Methyl 3ß-O-[4-(2-Aminoethylamino)-4-oxo-butyryl]olean-12-ene-28-oate Inhibits Breast Tumor Cell Growth in Vitro and in Vivo.

Oleanolic and ursolic acids were used as lead compounds to synthesize a series of pentacyclic triterpenoid derivatives bearing ethylenediamine, butanediamine, or hexanediamine groups at the C-3 position. The potential antiproliferative activity of these compounds was examined in A549 (human non-small cell lung cancer cells), MCF-7 (human breast cancer cells), and HeLa (human cervical carcinoma cells) cells. Methyl 3ß-O-[4-(2-aminoethylamino)-4-oxo-butyryl]olean-12-ene-28-oate (DABO-Me) was identified as a promising antiproliferative agent in vitro and in vivo. DABO-Me strongly suppressed the proliferation of A549, MCF-7, and HeLa cells (IC50 = 4-7 µM). In MCF-7 cells, DABO-Me upregulated the pro-apoptotic protein Bax, downregulated the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, promoted the release of cytochrome c, and activated caspase-3/9. Transwell and flow cytometry assays showed that DABO-Me inhibited MCF-7 cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and induced apoptosis and S phase arrest. In vitro and in vivo experiments indicated that DABO-Me inhibited MCF-7 cell proliferation and suppressed tumor growth. Taken together, these results indicate that DABO-Me could be developed as an effective antitumor drug.

Current state and future perspective of cardiovascular medicines derived from natural products.

The contribution of natural products (NPs) to cardiovascular medicine has been extensively documented, and many have been used for centuries. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Over the past 40 years, approximately 50% of newly developed cardiovascular drugs were based on NPs, suggesting that NPs provide essential skeletal structures for the discovery of novel medicines. After a period of lower productivity since the 1990s, NPs have recently regained scientific and commercial attention, leveraging the wealth of knowledge provided by multi-omics, combinatorial biosynthesis, synthetic biology, integrative pharmacology, analytical and computational technologies. In addition, as a crucial part of complementary and alternative medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine has increasingly drawn attention as an important source of NPs for cardiovascular drug discovery. Given their structural diversity and biological activity NPs are one of the most valuable sources of drugs and drug leads. In this review, we briefly described the characteristics and classification of NPs in CVDs. Then, we provide an up to date summary on the therapeutic potential and the underlying mechanisms of action of NPs in CVDs, and the current view and future prospect of developing safer and more effective cardiovascular drugs based on NPs.

Changes of serum 25(OH) D3 and IGF-1 levels in patients with thyroid nodules.

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to study the relationship between serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D3(25(OH)D3) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and thyroid nodules. METHODS: Two hundred eighty-nine cases with thyroid nodules and 109 health subjects (control group) who admitted to the Hebei General Hospital during June 2016 to December 2016 were included in the study. Basic clinical information (age, sex, thyroid function, liver and kidney function, hypertension history, etc.) of patients were collected. Serum 25(OH) D3 and Serum IGF-1 were detected by electrochemiluminescence and radioimmunoassay methods, respectively. The relationship between the above-mentioned factors and thyroid nodules was statistically analyzed. RESULTS: Serum 25(OH)D3, IGF-1, fasting blood glucose (FBG), total cholesterol (TC), waist circumference (WC), total triiodothyronine (TT3), total thyroxine (TT4), hypertension history, and drinking history were significantly different between the nodules group and the control group (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that there was a negative correlation between thyroid nodules and levels of 25(OH)D3, IGF-1, TT3, as well as a positive correlation with FBG, TC, TT4, and hypertension. There was a positive correlation between IGF-1 and serum 25(OH)D3 in thyroid nodules (P < 0.05). After correcting the aforementioned factors, high-level of serum 25(OH)D3 was significantly correlated with the decreased incidence of thyroid nodules. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of thyroid nodules is relatively lower in a high-level of serum 25(OH)D3, and serum 25(OH)D3 may be a direct protective factor for thyroid nodules. Serum IGF-1 can be one of the indirect protective factors for thyroid nodules as well.

Accelerated Rhodamine B removal by enlarged anode electric biological (EAEB) with electro-biological particle electrode (EPE) made from steel converter slag (SCS).

Electro-biological particle electrode (EPE) made from steel converter slag (SCS) was used as a particle electrode in an enlarged anode electric biological (EAEB) reactor for Rhodamine B (RhB) wastewater treatment, and its purification performance and microbial community were examined. The results revealed that (1) the EAEB reactor showed much higher average removal rates of RhB, COD and NH4+-N, i.e. 91.68%, 87.63%, and 90.54%, which meant an increase by 59.86%, 20.48%, and 14.22%, respectively, compared with BAF; (2) The optimum current intensity (CI) for simultaneously removing RhB, COD and NH4+-N in the EAEB reactor was at 1.00 A; and (3)Methylophilus, Aeromonas, Pseudomonas, Pelomonas and Zoogloea accounted for the main bacterial community in EAEB. Therefore, the EAEB reactor with EPE produced from steel converter slag (SCS) was suitable to simultaneously remove RhB, COD and NH4+-N.

MiR-181b-5p modulates chemosensitivity of glioma cells to temozolomide by targeting Bcl-2.

Chemotherapy is the main postsurgical and adjuvant therapy for glioma, and intrinsic or acquired temozolomide (TMZ) resistance may result in poor prognosis. The miR-181 family was discovered to play an important role in regulating biological functions in glioma, and miR-181b is less expressed in human gliomas as a tumor-suppressive miRNA. The aim of this study was to explore the molecular mechanism of miR-181b-5p and its target gene on modulating TMZ chemosensitivity in glioma cells. The enhanced chemosensitivity effect of miR-181b-5p to TMZ in glioma cells U87MG and U251 was detected by MTT method. Dual luciferase reporter assay, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting were performed to demonstrate that miR-181b-5p directly targets Bcl-2 to reduce the expression. Transwell and flow cytometry assays showed that combination of miR-181b-5p and TMZ exerted stronger effects on inhibiting U87MG cells proliferation, migration and invasion as well as promoting apoptosis and S phase arrest than miR-181b-5p and TMZ alone. The same tendency was observed in the upregulation of apoptosis-related protein Bax and downregulation of cycle-related proteins CyclinD1 and CDK4. In vivo experiments indicated that miR-181b-5p could enhance the tumor-suppressive effect of TMZ. In conclusion, our findings indicate that upregulation of miR-181b-5p targets Bcl-2 directly and may function as an important modifier to sensitize glioma cells to TMZ.