Centimetre-scale perovskite solar cells with fill factors of more than 86 per cent.

Owing to rapid development in their efficiency1 and stability2, perovskite solar cells are at the forefront of emerging photovoltaic technologies. State-of-the-art cells exhibit voltage losses3-8 approaching the theoretical minimum and near-unity internal quantum efficiency9-13, but conversion efficiencies are limited by the fill factor (<83%, below the Shockley-Queisser limit of approximately 90%). This limitation results from non-ideal charge transport between the perovskite absorber and the cell's electrodes5,8,13-16. Reducing the electrical series resistance of charge transport layers is therefore crucial for improving efficiency. Here we introduce a reverse-doping process to fabricate nitrogen-doped titanium oxide electron transport layers with outstanding charge transport performance. By incorporating this charge transport material into perovskite solar cells, we demonstrate 1-cm2 cells with fill factors of >86%, and an average fill factor of 85.3%. We also report a certified steady-state efficiency of 22.6% for a 1-cm2 cell (23.33% ± 0.58% from a reverse current-voltage scan).

Two mutations in the ORF1 of genotype 1 hepatitis E virus enhance virus replication and may associate with fulminant hepatic failure.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection in pregnant women has a high incidence of developing fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) with significant mortality. Multiple amino acid changes in genotype 1 HEV (HEV-1) are reportedly linked to FHF clinical cases, but experimental confirmation of the roles of these changes in FHF is lacking. By utilizing the HEV-1 indicator replicon and infectious clone, we generated 11 HEV-1 single mutants, each with an individual mutation, and investigated the effect of these mutations on HEV replication and infection in human liver cells. We demonstrated that most of the mutations actually impaired HEV-1 replication efficiency compared with the wild type (WT), likely due to altered physicochemical properties and structural conformations. However, two mutations, A317T and V1120I, significantly increased HEV-1 replication. Notably, these two mutations simultaneously occurred in 100% of 21 HEV-1 variants from patients with FHF in Bangladesh. We further created an HEV-1 A317T/V1120I double mutant and found that it greatly enhanced HEV replication, which may explain the rapid viral replication and severe disease. Furthermore, we tested the effect of these FHF-associated mutations on genotype 3 HEV (HEV-3) replication and found that all the mutants had a reduced level of replication ability and infectivity, which is not unexpected due to distinct infection patterns between HEV-1 and HEV-3. Additionally, we demonstrated that these FHF-associated mutations do not appear to alter their sensitivity to ribavirin (RBV), suggesting that ribavirin remains a viable option for antiviral therapy for patients with FHF. The results have important implications for understanding the mechanism of HEV-1-associated FHF.

Hepatitis E virus infects brain microvascular endothelial cells, crosses the blood-brain barrier, and invades the central nervous system.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important but understudied zoonotic virus causing both acute and chronic viral hepatitis. A proportion of HEV-infected individuals also developed neurological diseases such as Guillain-Barré syndrome, neuralgic amyotrophy, encephalitis, and myelitis, although the mechanism remains unknown. In this study, by using an in vitro blood-brain barrier (BBB) model, we first investigated whether HEV can cross the BBB and whether the quasi-enveloped HEV virions are more permissible to the BBB than the nonenveloped virions. We found that both quasi-enveloped and nonenveloped HEVs can similarly cross the BBB and that addition of proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) has no significant effect on the ability of HEV to cross the BBB in vitro. To explore the possible mechanism of HEV entry across the BBB, we tested the susceptibility of human brain microvascular endothelial cells lining the BBB to HEV infection and showed that brain microvascular endothelial cells support productive HEV infection. To further confirm the in vitro observation, we conducted an experimental HEV infection study in pigs and showed that both quasi-enveloped and nonenveloped HEVs invade the central nervous system (CNS) in pigs, as HEV RNA was detected in the brain and spinal cord of infected pigs. The HEV-infected pigs with detectable viral RNA in CNS tissues had histological lesions in brain and spinal cord and significantly higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and interleukin 18 than the HEV-infected pigs without detectable viral RNA in CNS tissues. The findings suggest a potential mechanism of HEV-associated neuroinvasion.

Azimuthal polarized quasi-bound states in the continuum based on rotational symmetry breaking.

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) allow to obtain an ultrahigh-quality-factor optical cavity. Nevertheless, BICs must be extended in one or more directions, substantially increasing the device footprint. Although super-cavity mode quasi-BICs supported by single nanopillars have been demonstrated recently, their low-quality factor and localized electromagnetic field inside the dielectric nanopillar are insufficient for high-sensitivity refractive index sensing applications. We propose a ring structure rotated by a dielectric sectorial nanostructure, which can achieve a high quality factor by breaking the rotational symmetry of the ring structure with a footprint as small as 3 µm2. As a straightforward application, we demonstrate high performance local refractive index and nanoscale film thickness sensing based on rotational symmetry breaking induced BICs. These BICs reach quality factor and sensitivity of one order of magnitude better than those of conventional super-cavity mode BICs. The proposed method provides insights into the design of compact high quality factor photonic devices, opening up new possibilities for applications in refractive index and nanoscale film thickness sensing.

Killed whole-genome reduced-bacteria surface-expressed coronavirus fusion peptide vaccines protect against disease in a porcine model.

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic rages on, it is important to explore new evolution-resistant vaccine antigens and new vaccine platforms that can produce readily scalable, inexpensive vaccines with easier storage and transport. We report here a synthetic biology-based vaccine platform that employs an expression vector with an inducible gram-negative autotransporter to express vaccine antigens on the surface of genome-reduced bacteria to enhance interaction of vaccine antigen with the immune system. As a proof-of-principle, we utilized genome-reduced Escherichia coli to express SARS-CoV-2 and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) fusion peptide (FP) on the cell surface, and evaluated their use as killed whole-cell vaccines. The FP sequence is highly conserved across coronaviruses; the six FP core amino acid residues, along with the four adjacent residues upstream and the three residues downstream from the core, are identical between SARS-CoV-2 and PEDV. We tested the efficacy of PEDV FP and SARS-CoV-2 FP vaccines in a PEDV challenge pig model. We demonstrated that both vaccines induced potent anamnestic responses upon virus challenge, potentiated interferon-γ responses, reduced viral RNA loads in jejunum tissue, and provided significant protection against clinical disease. However, neither vaccines elicited sterilizing immunity. Since SARS-CoV-2 FP and PEDV FP vaccines provided similar clinical protection, the coronavirus FP could be a target for a broadly protective vaccine using any platform. Importantly, the genome-reduced bacterial surface-expressed vaccine platform, when using a vaccine-appropriate bacterial vector, has potential utility as an inexpensive, readily manufactured, and rapid vaccine platform for other pathogens.

Teadenol B as a Component of Microorganism-Fermented Tea Extract Inhibited Breast Cancers by Promoting Autophagy.

Breast cancer is a significant threat to life and health, which needs more safe and effective drugs to be explored. Teadenol B is a characteristic chemical component of microbial fermented tea. This study discovered that teadenol B could exhibit obvious inhibitory effects on all four different clinical subtype characteristics of breast cancer cells. Proteomic studies show that deoxycytidine triphosphate deaminase (DCTD), which could block DNA synthesis and repair DNA damage, had the most significant and consistent reduction in all four types of breast cancer cells with the treatment of teadenol B. Considering MDA-MB-231 cells exhibit poor clinical prognosis and displayed substantial statistical differences in KEGG pathway enrichment analysis results, we investigated its impact on the size and growth of MDA-MB-231 triple-negative breast tumors transplanted into nude mice and demonstrated that teadenol B significantly suppressed tumor growth without affecting body weight significantly. Finally, we found that the conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II in MDA-MB-231 increased significantly with teadenol B treatment. This proved that teadenol B could be a strong autophagy promotor, which explained the down-regulation of DCTD to some extent and may be the potential mechanism underlying teadenol B's anti-breast cancer effects. This finding provides new evidence for drinking fermented tea to prevent breast cancer and highlights the potential of teadenol B as a novel therapeutic option for breast cancer prevention and treatment, necessitating further investigations to clarify its exact target and the details involved.

GSTZ1-1 Deficiency Activates NRF2/IGF1R Axis in HCC via Accumulation of Oncometabolite Succinylacetone.

The IGF1R signaling is important in the malignant progression of cancer. However, overexpression of IGF1R has not been properly assessed in HCC. Here, we revealed that GSTZ1-1, the enzyme in phenylalanine/tyrosine catabolism, is downregulated in HCC, and its expression was negatively correlated with IGF1R. Mechanistically, GSTZ1-1 deficiency led to succinylacetone accumulation, alkylation modification of KEAP1, and NRF2 activation, thus promoting IGF1R transcription by recruiting SP1 to its promoter. Moreover, inhibition of IGF1R or NRF2 significantly inhibited tumor-promoting effects of GSTZ1 knockout in vivo. These findings establish succinylacetone as an oncometabolite, and GSTZ1-1 as an important tumor suppressor by inhibiting NRF2/IGF1R axis in HCC. Targeting NRF2 or IGF1R may be a promising treatment approach for this subset HCC.

Modulation of SOCS3 Levels via STAT3 and Estrogen-ERαp66 Signaling during Hepatitis E Virus Replication in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection usually results in a self-limiting acute disease; however, in infected pregnant women, it is associated with increased mortality and fulminant hepatic failure. Estrogen is known to be elevated during pregnancy, and estrogen signaling via classical estrogen receptor-ERα is known to regulate hepatocyte function and host innate immune response, including the STAT3 pathway. In this study, we investigated whether the estrogen classical signaling pathway via ERαp66 has any effect on STAT3 activation during HEV replication and HEV-induced IFN response. We first demonstrated that Huh7-S10-3 liver cells expressed the nonfunctional estrogen receptor ERαp36 isoform and lack the functional ERαp66 isoform. We further showed persistent phosphorylated-STAT3 levels in genotype 3 human HEV (Kernow P6 strain) RNA-transfected cells at later time points. In Huh7-S10-3 cells, estrogen at first-to-third trimester concentration (7.3 to 73 nM) did not significantly affect HEV replication; however, blocking of STAT3 activation led to a decrease in the HEV ORF2 protein level. Our mechanistic study revealed that STAT3 differentially regulates SOCS3 and type-III interferon (IFN) levels during HEV replication and the presence of estrogen-ERαp66 signaling stabilizes SOCS3 levels in vitro. We also demonstrate that HEV infection in pregnant and nonpregnant rabbits led to a significant increase in IFN response as measured by increased levels of IFN-stimulated-gene-15 (ISG15) mRNA levels irrespective of pregnancy status. Collectively, the results indicate that estrogen signaling and STAT3 regulate SOCS3 and IFN responses in vitro during HEV replication. The results have important implications for understanding HEV replication and HEV-induced innate immune response in pregnant women. IMPORTANCE Hepatitis E is usually a self-resolving acute disease; however, in pregnant women, HEV infection is associated with high mortality and fulminant hepatic failure. During pregnancy, estrogen levels are elevated, and in the liver, the estrogen receptor ERα is predominant and estrogen signaling is known to regulate hepatocyte metabolism and leptin-induced STAT3 levels. Viruses can module host innate immune response via STAT3. Therefore, in this study, we investigated whether STAT3 and estrogen-classical signaling via the ERαp66 pathway modulate HEV replication and HEV-induced innate immune response. We demonstrated that estrogen signaling did not affect HEV replication in human liver cells, but blocking of STAT3 activation reduced HEV capsid protein levels in human liver cells. We also showed that inhibition of STAT3 activation reduced SOCS3 levels, while the presence of the estrogen-ERαp66 signaling pathway stabilized SOCS3 levels. The results from this study will aid our understanding of the mechanism of HEV pathogenesis and immune response during pregnancy.

Intensive cycles of neoadjuvant camrelizumab combined with chemotherapy in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a single-arm, phase II trial.

BACKGROUND: Two cycles of neoadjuvant PD-1 blockade plus chemotherapy induced favorable pathological response and tolerant toxicity in patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, approximately 25% of patients relapsed within 1 year after surgery, indicating that a short course of treatment may not be sufficient. Therefore, exploring the effects of intensive treatment is needed for optimal clinical outcomes. METHODS: Locally advanced ESCC patients were administered three cycles of camrelizumab plus nab-paclitaxel and capecitabine, followed by thoracoscopic esophagectomy. The primary endpoint was pathologic response. Secondary endpoints included safety, feasibility, radiologic response, survival outcomes, and immunologic/genomic correlates of efficacy. RESULTS: Forty-seven patients were enrolled in the study. Forty-two patients received surgery, and R0 resection was achieved in all cases. The complete and major pathological response rates were 33.3% and 64.3%, respectively, and the objective response rate was 80.0%. Three cycles of treatment significantly improved T down-staging compared to two cycles (P = 0.03). The most common treatment-related adverse events were grades 1-2, and no surgical delay was reported. With a median follow-up of 24.3 months, the 1-year disease-free survival and overall survival rates were both 97.6%, and the 2-year disease-free survival and overall survival rates were 92.3% and 97.6%, respectively. Three patients experienced disease recurrence or metastasis ranging from 12.5 to 25.8 months after surgery, and one patient died 6 months after surgery due to cardiovascular disease. Neither programmed death-ligand 1 expression nor tumor mutational burden was associated with pathological response. An increased infiltration of CD56dim natural killer cells in the pretreatment tumor was correlated with better pathological response in the primary tumor. CONCLUSIONS: It seems probable that intensive cycles of neoadjuvant camrelizumab plus nab-paclitaxel and capecitabine increased tumor regression and improved survival outcomes. Randomized controlled trials with larger sample sizes and longer follow-up periods are needed to validate these findings. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2000029807, Registered February 14, 2020, https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=49459 .

A hepatitis B virus core antigen-based virus-like particle vaccine expressing SARS-CoV-2 B and T cell epitopes induces epitope-specific humoral and cell-mediated immune responses but confers limited protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The hepatitis B virus core antigen (HBcAg) tolerates insertion of foreign epitopes and maintains its ability to self-assemble into virus-like particles (VLPs). We constructed a ∆HBcAg-based VLP vaccine expressing three predicted severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) B and T cell epitopes and determined its immunogenicity and protective efficacy. The recombinant ∆HBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 protein was expressed in Escherichia coli, purified, and shown to form VLPs. K18-hACE2 transgenic C57BL/6 mice were immunized intramuscularly with ∆HBcAg VLP control (n = 15) or ∆HBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 VLP vaccine (n = 15). One week after the 2nd booster and before virus challenge, five ∆HBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated mice were euthanized to evaluate epitope-specific immune responses. There is a statistically significant increase in epitope-specific Immunoglobulin G (IgG) response, and statistically higher interleukin 6 (IL-6) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) expression levels in ∆HBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 VLP-vaccinated mice compared to ∆HBcAg VLP controls. While not statistically significant, the ∆HBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 VLP mice had numerically more memory CD8+ T-cells, and 3/5 mice also had numerically higher levels of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). After challenge with SARS-CoV-2, ∆HBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 immunized mice had numerically lower viral RNA loads in the lung, and slightly higher survival, but the differences are not statistically significant. These results indicate that the ∆HBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 VLP vaccine elicits epitope-specific humoral and cell-mediated immune responses but they were insufficient against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Genome-scale signatures of adaptive gene expression changes in an invasive seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla.

Invasive species can successfully and rapidly colonize new niches and expand ranges via founder effects and enhanced tolerance towards environmental stresses. However, the underpinning molecular mechanisms (i.e., gene expression changes) facilitating rapid adaptation to harsh environments are still poorly understood. The red seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla, which is native to the northwest Pacific but invaded North American and European coastal habitats over the last 100 years, provides an excellent model to examine whether enhanced tolerance at the level of gene expression contributed to its invasion success. We collected G. vermiculophylla from its native range in Japan and from two non-native regions along the Delmarva Peninsula (Eastern United States) and in Germany. Thalli were reared in a common garden for 4 months at which time we performed comparative transcriptome (mRNA) and microRNA (miRNA) sequencing. MRNA-expression profiling identified 59 genes that were differently expressed between native and non-native thalli. Of these genes, most were involved in metabolic pathways, including photosynthesis, abiotic stress, and biosynthesis of products and hormones in all four non-native sites. MiRNA-based target-gene correlation analysis in native/non-native pairs revealed that some target genes are positively or negatively regulated via epigenetic mechanisms. Importantly, these genes are mostly associated with metabolism and defence capability (e.g., metal transporter Nramp5, senescence-associated protein, cell wall-associated hydrolase, ycf68 protein and cytochrome P450-like TBP). Thus, our gene expression results indicate that resource reallocation to metabolic processes is most likely a predominant mechanism contributing to the range-wide persistence and adaptation of G. vermiculophylla in the invaded range. This study, therefore, provides molecular insight into the speed and nature of invasion-mediated rapid adaption.

LC-MS/MS method for determination of r-RGD-hirudin in human plasma and its application in pharmacokinetic study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop a simple, sensitive, and selective Liquid chromatography with a Mass spectroscopic method for simultaneous quantification of a recombinant bifunctional hirudin (r-RGD-Hirudin, Bifunctional Hirudin, BFH) in human plasma and verify its effectiveness. METHODS: The analytes and the internal standards from human plasma were extracted using the solid-phase extraction technique. The reconstituted samples were chromatographed on Waters C18 column (BEH 50 × 2.1 mm, 1.7 µm) using a mixture of 0.1% formic acid/acetonitrile (85%/15%, v/v) with gradient elution as the initial mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. RESULTS: The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified over the concentration range of 10-2000 ng/mL for r-RGD-Hirudin. A linear calibration curve was obtained. The precision and accuracy of BFH in the intra- and inter-day runs fell within the range of ±15% at LQC, GMQC, MQC and HQC concentrations. The extraction recoveries and matrix effect at two quality control (QC) levels for BFH were confirmed to conform to the relevant requirement. CONCLUSION: The proposed method was successfully adapted to examine the pharmacokinetics of BFH in 40 Chinese healthy volunteers, respectively.

Hepatitis E virus seropositivity in an ethnically diverse community blood donor population.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an underrecognized and emerging infectious disease that may threaten the safety of donor blood supply in many parts of the world. We sought to elucidate whether our local community blood supply is at increased susceptibility for transmission of transfusion-associated HEV infections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We screened 10,002 randomly selected donations over an 8-month period between 2017 and 2018 at the Stanford Blood Center for markers of HEV infection using commercial IgM/IgG serological tests and reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays (RT-qPCR). Donor demographic information, including gender, age, self-identified ethnicity, location of residence and recent travel, were obtained from the donor database and used to generate multivariate binary logistic regressions for risk factors of IgG seropositivity. RESULTS: A total of 10,002 blood donations from 7507 unique donors were screened, and there was no detectable HEV RNA by RT-qPCR. The overall seropositivity rate was 12.1% for IgG and 0.56% for IgM. Multivariate analysis of unique donors revealed a significantly higher risk of IgG seropositivity with increasing age, White/Asian ethnicities and residence in certain local counties. CONCLUSION: Although HEV IgG seroprevalence in the San Francisco Bay Area is consistent with ongoing infection, the screening of a large donor population did not identify any viraemic blood donors. While HEV is an underrecognized and emerging infection in other regions, there is no evidence to support routine blood screening for HEV in our local blood supply currently; however, periodic monitoring may still be required to assess the ongoing risk.

Application of ultrasensitive assay for SARS-CoV-2 antigen in nasopharynx in the management of COVID-19 patients with comorbidities during the peak of 2022 Shanghai epidemics in a tertiary hospital.

OBJECTIVES: Various comorbidities associated with COVID-19 add up in severity of the disease and obviously prolonged the time for viral clearance. This study investigated a novel ultrasensitive MAGLUMI® SARS-CoV-2 Ag chemiluminescent immunoassay assay (MAG-CLIA) for diagnosis and monitoring the infectivity of COVID-19 patients with comorbid conditions during the pandemic of 2022 Shanghai. METHODS: Analytical performances of the MAG-CLIA were evaluated, including precision, limit of quantitation, linearity and specificity. Nasopharyngeal specimens from 232 hospitalized patients who were SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR positive and from 477 healthy donors were included. The longitudinal studies were performed by monitoring antigen concentrations alongside with RT-qPCR results in 14 COVID-19 comorbid participants for up to 22 days. The critical antigen concentration in determining virus infectivity was evaluated at the reference cycle threshold (Ct) of 35. RESULTS: COVID-19 patients were well-identified using an optimal threshold of 0.64 ng/L antigen concentration, with sensitivity and specificity of 95.7% (95% CI: 92.2-97.9%) and 98.3% (95% CI: 96.7-99.3%), respectively, while the Wondfo LFT exhibited those of 34.9% (95% CI: 28.8-41.4%) and 100% (95% CI: 99.23-100%), respectively. The sensitivity of MAG-CLIA remained 91.46% (95% CI: 83.14-95.8%) for the samples with Ct values between 35 and 40. Close dynamic consistence was observed between MAG-CLIA and viral load time series in the longitudinal studies. The critical value of 8.82 ng/L antigen showed adequate sensitivity and specificity in evaluating the infectivity of hospitalized convalescent patients with comorbidities. CONCLUSIONS: The MAG-CLIA SARS-CoV-2 Ag detection is an effective and alternative approach for rapid diagnosis and enables us to evaluate the infectivity of hospitalized convalescent patients with comorbidities.

Safety of prone emergence from general endotracheal anesthesia in patients undergoing ERCP: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Conventional supine emergence and prone extubation from general endotracheal anesthesia (GEA) are associated with extubation-related adverse events (ERAEs). Given the minimally invasive nature of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) as well as the improved ventilation/perfusion matching and easier airway opening in the prone position, we aimed to assess the safety of prone emergence and extubation in patients undergoing ERCP under GEA. METHODS: Totally, 242 eligible patients were recruited and randomized into the supine extubation group (n = 121; supine group) and the prone extubation group (n = 121; prone group). The primary endpoint was the incidence of ERAEs during emergence, including hemodynamic fluctuations, coughing, stridor, and hypoxemia requiring airway maneuvers. The secondary endpoints included the incidence of monitoring disconnections, extubation time, recovery time, room exit time, and post-procedure sore throat. RESULTS: The incidence of ERAEs was significantly lower in the prone group compared with the supine group (8.3% vs 34.7%, OR = 0.17, 95% CI 0.18-0.56; P < 0.001). Moreover, the prone group demonstrated no monitoring disconnections, shorter extubation time and room exit time, faster recovery, and, lower frequency and milder sore throat after the procedure. CONCLUSIONS: For patients undergoing ERCP under GEA, compared with supine, prone emergence, and extubation had remarkably lower rates of EAREs and better recovery, and can maintain continuous monitoring and improve efficiency.

Pharmacokinetic and bioequivalence of lenalidomide in multiple myeloma patients.

PURPOSES: The physiological and pathological conditions of individuals could influence the absorption and metabolism of drugs in vivo, so this study assessed the bioequivalence and pharmacokinetics of lenalidomide 25 mg capsules (test formulation) and Revlimid 25 mg capsules (reference formulation) in Chinese patients with multiple myeloma (MM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A multicenter, open-label, randomized, two-period, crossover trial was established to evaluate a single capsule of test and reference formulations under fasting conditions. Pharmacokinetic parameters were assessed, and adverse events (AEs) were monitored throughout. RESULTS: Overall, 40 patients with MM completed the study. 17 AEs were reported, among which there was 1 serious event during the study. Geometric ratios for the maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) (98.50%; 90% confidence interval (CI), 91.89 - 105.60%), area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) from time 0 to the last measurable concentration (AUC(0-t)) (94.74%; CI, 92.07 - 97.50%), and AUC from time 0 to infinity (AUC(0-∞)) (95.55%; CI, 93.07 - 98.09%) all met bioequivalence criteria. Statistics of the data of 39 patients after oral administration of lenalidomide (both test and reference formulation) demonstrated that plasma exposure tends to increase with age. CONCLUSION: The two formulations of lenalidomide 25 mg displayed similar pharmacokinetic profiles and were bioequivalent. Age was verified to change the pharmacokinetics of lenalidomide, as increasing age was correlated with higher total exposure.

Inverse design of photonic crystal filters with arbitrary correlation and size for accurate spectrum reconstruction.

Spectroscopic technique based on nanophotonic filters can recover spectral information through compressive sensing theory. The spectral information is encoded by nanophotonic response functions and decoded by computational algorithms. They are generally ultracompact, low in cost, and offer single-shot operation with spectral resolution better than 1 nm. Thus, they could be ideally suited for emerging wearable and portable sensing and imaging applications. Previous work has revealed that successful spectral reconstruction relies on well-designed filter response functions with sufficient randomness and low mutual correlation, but no thorough discussion has been performed on the filter array design. Here, instead of blind selection of filter structures, inverse design algorithms are proposed to obtain a photonic crystal filter array with predefined correlation coefficients and array size. Such rational spectrometer design can perform accurate reconstruction for a complex spectrum and maintain the performance under noise perturbation. We also discuss the impact of correlation coefficient and array size on the spectrum reconstruction accuracy. Our filter design method can be extended to different filter structures and suggests a better encoding component for reconstructive spectrometer applications.

Brexpiprazole suppresses cell proliferation and de novo lipogenesis through AMPK/SREBP1 pathway in colorectal cancer.

OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we investigated the role of brexpiprazole on cell proliferation and lipogenesis in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its molecular mechanism. METHODS: The effect of brexpiprazole on CRC cell proliferation was determined by CCK-8, EdU assay, cell clone formation. The flow cytometry was evaluated cell cycle. Differential expression genes (DEGs) were identified by RNA-seq assay after treating HCT116 cells with or without 20 µM brexpiprazole for 24 h. Then, the top 120 DEGs were analyzed by GO and KEGG enrichment analysis. After that, Oil red O staining and the levels of total cholestenone and triglyceride were measured to assess lipogenesis capacity in CRC cells. The related molecules of cell proliferation, lipogenic and AMPK/SREBP1 signal pathways were measured by q-PCR, western blot and immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: Brexpiprazole remarkably suppressed cell proliferation, lipogenesis, and induced cell cycle arrest in CRC. The underlying mechanisms probably involved the suppression of SREBP1 and the stimulation of AMPK. CONCLUSION: Brexpiprazole inhibited cell proliferation and de novo lipogenesis through AMPK/SREBP1 pathway in CRC.

ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Hepeviridae 2022.

The family Hepeviridae includes enterically transmitted small quasi-enveloped or non-enveloped positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses infecting mammals and birds (subfamily Orthohepevirinae) or fish (Parahepevirinae). Hepatitis E virus (genus Paslahepevirus) is responsible for self-limiting acute hepatitis in humans; the infection may become chronic in immunocompromised individuals and extrahepatic manifestations have been described. Avian hepatitis E virus (genus Avihepevirus) causes hepatitis-splenomegaly syndrome in chickens. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the family Hepeviridae, which is available at www.ictv.global/report/hepeviridae.

The effects of estrogen on targeted cancer therapy drugs.

Improving the efficacy of anticancer drugs is especially challenging. Estrogen is a sex hormone that not only promotes the development of female secondary sexual characteristics, but also supports many important physiological functions. Interestingly, estrogen has shown to be vital for the activity of some anticancer drugs, such as adriamycin, cisplatin, olaparib, trastuzumab, bevacizumab, tamoxifen, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and paclitaxel. Although there are many reasons for the differences in therapeutic effects among cancer patients, estrogen status is undoubtedly a very important factor. In view of the importance of the crosstalk between estrogen signaling and drug therapy for cancer, this review summarizes the effects of estrogen on the targets, metabolism and resistance of anticancer drugs and describes the related pathways and underlying mechanisms. Here, an analysis of the close relationship between estrogen and cancer drug therapy was conducted to clarify the effects of estrogen on the therapeutic efficacy of anticancer drugs to facilitate the future development of specific drug treatment strategies to achieve optimal outcomes.