Aucubin alleviates methotrexate-induced enteritis in rats by inducing autophagy.

One of the toxic side effects of methotrexate (MTX) is enteritis. Aucubin, an iridoid glycoside derived from traditional medicinal herbs, has been proven to have anti-inflammation, anti-apoptosis and anti-oxidation properties. This work explored the effect and mechanism of aucubin in treating MTX-induced enteritis in a rat model. Two doses of aucubin (5 and 10 mg/kg) were adopted for the assessment of its pharmacological activity. We observed that in rats with MTX-induced enteritis, the body weight and small intestinal weight decreased. The intestine barrier was injured, as reflected by pathological examinations and an increase in D-lactate and diamine oxidase concentration in serum. Intestinal inflammation was shown by the observation of macrophages in the intestine and the concentrations of inflammatory cytokines tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in serum. The NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome was shown to be activated by the enhancement of NLRP3, cleaved-caspase 1, IL-18 and IL-1ß. Moreover, autophagy was reflected by transmission electron microscopy as slightly induced, along with changes in autophagy-related markers microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) and Beclin1. Remarkably, aucubin treatment attenuated the MTX-induced disease activity index increase, intestinal damage, inflammatory response and NLRP3 inflammasome activation, but provoked autophagy. Rapamycin, an autophagy activator, showed similar therapeutic effects to aucubin on MTX-induced enteritis. However, 3-methyladenine, an autophagy inhibitor, reversed the protective effects of aucubin. These findings prompted the hypothesis that aucubin alleviates MTX-induced enteritis by aggravating autophagy. This study might provide evidence for further investigation on the therapeutic role of aucubin in MTX-resulted enteritis.

Comparison of the efficiency and microbial mechanisms of chemical- and bio-surfactants in remediation of petroleum hydrocarbon.

Surfactant-enhanced remediation (SER) is one of the most effective methods for petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated sites compared to single physical and chemical methods. However, biosurfactants are not as commonly used as chemical surfactants, and the actual remediation effects and related mechanisms remain undefined. Therefore, to comprehensively compare the remediation effects and biological mechanisms of biosurfactants and chemical surfactants, soil column leaching experiments including two biosurfactants (rhamnolipids and lipopeptide) and three commercially used chemical surfactants (Tween 80, Triton X-100, and Berol 226SA) were conducted. After seven days of leaching, rhamnolipids exhibited the highest petroleum hydrocarbon removal rate of 61.01%, which was superior to that of chemical surfactants (11.73-18.75%) in n-alkanes C10-C30. Meanwhile, rhamnolipids exhibited a great degradation advantage of n-alkanes C13-C28, which was 1.22-30.55 times that of chemical surfactants. Compared to chemical surfactants, biosurfactants significantly upregulated the soil's biological functions, including soil conductivity (80.90-155.56%), and soil enzyme activities of lipase (90.31-497.10%), dehydrogenase (325.00-655.56%), core enzyme activities of petroleum hydrocarbon degradation, and quorum sensing between species. Biosurfactants significantly changed the composition of Pseudomonas, Citrobacter, Acidobacteriota, and Enterobacter at the genus level. Meanwhile, chemical surfactants had less influence on the bacterial community and interactions between species. Moreover, the biosurfactants enhanced the microbial interactions and centrality of petroleum hydrocarbon degraders in the community based on the network. Overall, this work provides a systematic comparison and understanding of the chemical- and bio-surfactants used in bioremediation. In the future, we intend to apply biosurfactants to practical petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated fields to observe realistic remediation effects and compare their functional mechanisms.

Engineered Organosilica Hybrid Micelles for Photothermal-enhanced Starvation Cancer Therapy.

Glucose oxidase (GOD)-based starvation therapy (ST), which inhibits the growth and proliferation of cancer cells by consuming glucose, has attracted intensive attention as an emerging non-invasive method for fighting cancers. However, the enzyme activity of GOD is greatly limited in vivo because of its optimal catalytic activity in the temperature range of 43-60 °C. Herein, a photothermal-enhanced starvation strategy is developed based on our engineered organosilica hybrid micelles (TiO2-x @POMs-GOD), in which the fluoride-doped TiO2-x with photothermal properties is encapsulated in the cores of organosilica cross-linked micelles and GOD is immobilized on the carboxyl groups of PAA segments. With its internalization by cancer cells, the conjugated GOD can effectively deplete glucose to achieve the ST effect, which can be remarkably enhanced by the loaded fluoride-doped TiO2-x with NIR laser irradiation, thus cooperatively contributing to the efficient treatment of TiO2-x @POMs-GOD on various cancer cells. This suggests great potential for TiO2-x @POMs-GOD in photothermal-enhanced ST in vivo.

Long circulation and tumor-targeting biomimetic nanoparticles for efficient chemo/photothermal synergistic therapy.

Photothermal therapy combined with chemotherapy based on nanomedicine has been considered a promising strategy for improving therapeutic efficacy in a tumor. However, nanomedicine can be easily cleared by the immune system without specific surface engineering modifications, thus affecting the ultimate efficacy. Herein, multifunctional biomimetic nanoparticles (Bio-RBCm@PDA@MSN-DOX) with enhanced long circulation and targeting ability are constructed by coating large pore-sized mesoporous silica (MSN) with polydopamine (PDA) layers in a biotin modified red blood cell membrane (Bio-RBCm) for efficient chemo/photothermal synergistic therapy. It is demonstrated that Bio-RBCm@PDA@MSN-DOX presents high photothermal conversion efficiency (40.17%) and enhanced capability to accelerate the release of the anticancer drug (doxorubicin, DOX), thus showing a good synergistic therapeutic effect in cell experiments. More importantly, with the assistance of the biotin and RBC membrane, Bio-RBCm@PDA@MSN-DOX can successfully evade immune clearance and effectively target transport to HeLa tumor sites, finally accomplishing up to 98.95% tumor inhibition with negligible side effects to normal tissues. This multilayer structure presents a valuable model for future therapeutic applications with safe and effective tumor chemotherapy and photothermal therapy.

The Trend of 2D Transistors toward Integrated Circuits: Scaling Down and New Mechanisms.

2D transition metal chalcogenide (TMDC) materials, such as MoS2 , have recently attracted considerable research interest in the context of their use in ultrascaled devices owing to their excellent electronic properties. Microprocessors and neural network circuits based on MoS2 have been developed at a large scale but still do not have an advantage over silicon in terms of their integrated density. In this study, the current structures, contact engineering, and doping methods for 2D TMDC materials for the scaling-down process and performance optimization are reviewed. Devices are introduced according to a new mechanism to provide the comprehensive prospects for the use of MoS2 beyond the traditional complementary-metal-oxide semiconductor in order to summarize obstacles to the goal of developing high-density and low-power integrated circuits (ICs). Finally, prospects for the use of MoS2 in large-scale ICs from the perspectives of the material, system performance, and application to nonlogic functionalities such as sensor circuits and analogous circuits, are briefly analyzed. The latter issue is along the direction of "more than Moore" research.

Efficient and genotype independent maize transformation using pollen transfected by DNA-coated magnetic nanoparticles.

Current gene delivery methods for maize are limited to specific genotypes and depend on time-consuming and labor-intensive tissue culture techniques. Here, we report a new method to transfect maize that is culture-free and genotype independent. To enhance efficiency of DNA entry and maintain high pollen viability of 32%-55%, transfection was performed at cool temperature using pollen pretreated to open the germination aperture (40%-55%). Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with DNA encoding either red fluorescent protein (RFP), ß-glucuronidase gene (GUS), enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) or bialaphos resistance (bar) was delivered into pollen grains, and female florets of maize inbred lines were pollinated. Red fluorescence was detected in 22% transfected pollen grains, and GUS stained 55% embryos at 18 d after pollination. Green fluorescence was detected in both silk filaments and immature kernels. The T1 generation of six inbred lines showed considerable EGFP or GUS transcripts (29%-74%) quantitated by polymerase chain reaction, and 5%-16% of the T1 seedlings showed immunologically active EGFP or GUS protein. Moreover, 1.41% of the bar transfected T1 plants were glufosinate resistant, and heritable bar gene was integrated into the maize genome effectively as verified by DNA hybridization. These results demonstrate that exogenous DNA could be delivered efficiently into elite maize inbred lines recalcitrant to tissue culture-mediated transformation and expressed normally through our genotype-independent pollen transfection system.

Optimization of conditions for a surfactant-producing strain and application to petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil bioremediation.

Petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated sites have been mainly remediated through the surfactant-enhanced soil leaching method. However, the commonly used chemical surfactants have poor biocompatibility and are prone to form residues in fields. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to establish an effective system of biosurfactant remediation in the field and provide instructions for common bioremediation challenges. First, wild-type Bacillus amyloliquefaciens A3, which produced lipopeptide biosurfactant, was used to improve the production of biosurfactant by atmosphere and room temperature plasma (ARTP) mutagenesis. Second, the mutant 1-24 was selected from a total of 174 mutants due to the outstanding yield. Subsequently, 1-24 was applied in the soil column leaching experiments and removed 45.44% of petroleum hydrocarbons by changing the relevant enzyme activities. Biosurfactant addition and 1-24 inoculation effectively activated a portion of the petroleum hydrocarbons in the soil columns, and 1-24 presented potential as a desired candidate for bioremediation. This is the first report of using ARTP mutagenesis to improve the production of biosurfactants. Simultaneously, we first propose a theoretical system in which the yield of biosurfactant was increased using ARTP mutagenesis for strains and applied the mutants in situ soil bioremediation. This research indicated that the theoretical system was useful in soil columns to simulate field remediation conditions, providing practical references for the bioremediation of contaminated soil.

Enrichment Characteristics of Cr in Chromium Slag after Pre-Reduction and Melting/Magnetic Separation Treatment.

Concentrating the chromium in chromium slag and improving the chromium-iron ratio is beneficial for the further utilization of chromium slag. In this paper, chromium slag obtained from a chromite lime-free roasting plant was used as the raw material. Pellets made of the chromium slag and pulverized coal were reduced at different pre-reduction temperatures and then separated by a melting separation process or magnetic separation process, respectively. The mass and composition of the metallized pellets before separation, along with the alloy and tail slag after separation, were comprehensively analyzed. The experimental results showed that the output yield of alloy, iron recovery rate, and chromium content in the alloy were all higher when using melting separation than when using magnetic separation, because of the further reduction during the melting stage. More importantly, a relatively low pre-reduction temperature and selection of magnetic separation process were found to be more beneficial for chromium enrichment in slag; the highest chromium-iron ratio in tail slag can reach 2.88.

Biomimetic Synthesis of Ag2 Se Quantum Dots with Enhanced Photothermal Properties and as "Gatekeepers" to Cap Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Chemo-Photothermal Therapy.

Ag2 Se quantum dots (QDs) with near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence have been widely utilized in NIR fluorescence imaging in vivo because of their narrow bulk band gap and excellent biocompatibility. However, most of synthesis methods for Ag2 Se QDs are expensive and the reactants are toxic. Herein, a new protein-templated biomimetic synthesis approach is proposed for the preparation of Ag2 Se QDs by employing bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a template and dispersant. The BSA-templated Ag2 Se QDs (Ag2 Se@BSA QDs) showed NIR fluorescence with high fluorescence quantum yield (≈21.2 %), excellent biocompatibility and good dispersibility in different media. Moreover, the obtained Ag2 Se@BSA QDs exhibited remarkable photothermal conversion (≈27.8 %), which could be used in photothermal therapy. As a model application in biomedicine, the Ag2 Se@BSA QDs were used as "gatekeepers" to cap mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) by means of electrostatic interaction. By taking the advantages of NIR fluorescence and photothermal property of Ag2 Se@BSA QDs, the obtained MSN-DOX-Ag2 Se nanoparticles (MDA NPs) were employed as a nanoplatform for combined chemo-photothermal therapy. Compared with free DOX and MDA NPs without NIR laser, the laser-treated MDA NPs exhibited lower cell viability in vitro, implying that Ag2 Se@BSA QDs are highly promising photothermal agents and the MDA NPs are potential carriers for chemo-photothermal therapy.