IL-27 Induces CCL5 Production by T Lymphocytes, Which Contributes to Antitumor Activity.

IL-27 is a pleiotropic cytokine that exhibits stimulatory/regulatory functions on multiple lineages of immune cells including T lymphocytes. In this study, we demonstrate that IL-27 directly induces CCL5 production by T lymphocytes, particularly CD8+ T cells in vitro and in vivo. IL-27-induced CCL5 production is IL-27R-dependent. In CD4+ T cells, IL-27-induced CCL5 production was primarily dependent on Stat1 activation, whereas in CD8+ T cells, Stat1 deficiency does not abrogate CCL5 induction. A chromatin immunoprecipitation assay revealed that in the CCL5 promoter region, both putative Stat3 binding sites exhibit significant binding to Stat3, whereas only one out of four Stat1 binding sites displays moderate binding to Stat1. In tumor-bearing mice, IL-27 induced dramatic production of CCL5 in tumor-infiltrating T cells. IL-27-induced CCL5 appears to contribute to an IL-27-mediated antitumor effect. This is signified by diminished tumor inhibition in anti-CCL5- and IL-27-treated mice. Additionally, intratumor delivery of CCL5 mRNA using lipid nanoparticles significantly inhibited tumor growth. Thus, IL-27 induces robust CCL5 production by T cells, which contributes to antitumor activity.

A black phosphorus nanosheet-based RNA delivery system for prostate cancer therapy by increasing the expression level of tumor suppressor gene PTEN via CeRNA mechanism.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PCa) has a high incidence in men worldwide, and almost all PCa patients progress to the androgen-independent stage which lacks effective treatment measures. PTENP1, a long non-coding RNA, has been shown to suppress tumor growth through the rescuing of PTEN expression via a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) mechanism. However, PTENP1 was limited to be applied in the treatment of PCa for the reason of rapid enzymatic degradation, poor intracellular uptake, and excessively long base sequence to be synthesized. Considering the unique advantages of artificial nanomaterials in drug loading and transport, black phosphorus (BP) nanosheet was employed as a gene-drug carrier in this study. RESULTS: The sequence of PTENP1 was adopted as a template which was randomly divided into four segments with a length of about 1000 nucleotide bases to synthesize four different RNA fragments as gene drugs, and loaded onto polyethyleneimine (PEI)-modified BP nanosheets to construct BP-PEI@RNA delivery platforms. The RNAs could be effectively delivered into PC3 cells by BP-PEI nanosheets and elevating PTEN expression by competitive binding microRNAs (miRNAs) which target PTEN mRNA, ultimately exerting anti-tumor effects. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, this study demonstrated that BP-PEI@RNAs is a promising gene therapeutic platform for PCa treatment.

Ancient DNA and multimethod dating confirm the late arrival of anatomically modern humans in southern China.

The expansion of anatomically modern humans (AMHs) from Africa around 65,000 to 45,000 y ago (ca. 65 to 45 ka) led to the establishment of present-day non-African populations. Some paleoanthropologists have argued that fossil discoveries from Huanglong, Zhiren, Luna, and Fuyan caves in southern China indicate one or more prior dispersals, perhaps as early as ca. 120 ka. We investigated the age of the human remains from three of these localities and two additional early AMH sites (Yangjiapo and Sanyou caves, Hubei) by combining ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis with a multimethod geological dating strategy. Although U-Th dating of capping flowstones suggested they lie within the range ca. 168 to 70 ka, analyses of aDNA and direct AMS 14C dating on human teeth from Fuyan and Yangjiapo caves showed they derive from the Holocene. OSL dating of sediments and AMS 14C analysis of mammal teeth and charcoal also demonstrated major discrepancies from the flowstone ages; the difference between them being an order of magnitude or more at most of these localities. Our work highlights the surprisingly complex depositional history recorded at these subtropical caves which involved one or more episodes of erosion and redeposition or intrusion as recently as the late Holocene. In light of our findings, the first appearance datum for AMHs in southern China should probably lie within the timeframe set by molecular data of ca. 50 to 45 ka.

Accumulative Rolling Mg/PLLA Composite Membrane with Lamellar Heterostructure for Enhanced Bacteria Inhibition and Rapid Bone Regeneration.

Developing composite materials with optimized mechanics, degradation, and bioactivity for bone regeneration has long been a crucial mission. Herein, a multifunctional Mg/Poly-l-lactic acid (Mg/PLLA) composite membrane based on the "materials plain" concept through the accumulative rolling (AR) method is proposed. Results show that at a rolling ratio of 75%, the comprehensive mechanical properties of the membrane in the rolling direction are self-reinforced significantly (elongation at break ≈53.2%, tensile strength ≈104.0 MPa, Young's modulus ≈2.13 GPa). This enhancement is attributed to the directional arrangement and increased crystallization of PLLA molecular chains, as demonstrated by SAXS and DSC results. Furthermore, the AR composite membrane presents a lamellar heterostructure, which not only avoids the accumulation of Mg microparticles (MgMPs) but also regulates the degradation rate. Through the contribution of bioactive MgMPs and their photothermal effect synergistically, the membrane effectively eliminates bacterial infection and accelerates vascularized bone regeneration both in vitro and in vivo. Notably, the membrane exhibits outstanding rat skull bone regeneration performance in only 4 weeks, surpassing most literature reports. In short, this work develops a composite membrane with a "one stone, four birds" effect, opening an efficient avenue toward high-performance orthopedic materials.

Photodynamic Effect of Riboflavin on Chitosan Coatings and the Application in Pork Preservation.

Riboflavin (RF) was considered to be possessed of photoactivity to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) under ultraviolet (UV) light, which is thought to be a favorable antibacterial candidate. Herein, RF was incorporated into chitosan (CS) coatings and treated under UV with different exposure times (2, 4, and 6 h) to improve the physicochemical and antibacterial properties. The results showed that the light transmittance and antibacterial performance of chitosan coatings gradually increased with the extension of the UV irradiation time. The antibacterial ability of chitosan coatings correlated with the generation of ROS: ∙OH and H2O2, which achieved 1549.08 and 95.48 µg/g, respectively, after 6 h irradiation. Furthermore, the chitosan coatings with UV irradiation also reduced the pH value, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), ΔE, and total viable counts (TVC) and improved sensory attributes of pork. In conclusion, the UV irradiated chitosan coatings could be used as an environmentally friendly antimicrobial packaging material to effectively delay the spoilage of pork, maintain its sensory quality and prolong its shelf life.

Risk factors for cement leakage and nomogram for predicting the intradiscal cement leakage after the vertebra augmented surgery.

BACKGROUND: Vertebral augmentation is the first-line treatment for the osteoporosis vertebral compression fractures. Bone cement leakage is the most common complication of this surgery. This study aims to assess the risk factors for different types of cement leakage and provides a nomogram for predicting the cement intradiscal leakage. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 268 patients who underwent vertebral augmentation procedure between January 2015 and March 2019. The cement leakage risk factors were evaluated by univariate analysis. Different types of cement leakage risk factors were identified by the stepwise logistic analysis. We provided a nomogram for predicting the cement intradiscal leakage and used the concordance index to assess the prediction ability. RESULTS: A total of 295 levels of vertebrae were included, with a leakage rate of 32.5%. Univariate analysis showed delayed surgery and lower vertebral compression ratio were the independent risk factors of cement leakage. The stepwise logistic analysis revealed percutaneous vertebroplasty was a risk factor in vein cement leakage; delayed surgery, preoperative compression ratio, and upper endplate disruption were in intradiscal cement leakage; age, preoperative fracture severity, and intravertebral vacuum cleft were in perivertebral soft tissue cement leakage; no factor was in spinal canal cement leakage. The nomogram for intradiscal cement leakage had a precise prediction ability with an original concordance index of 0.75. CONCLUSIONS: Delayed surgery and more vertebral compression increase the risk of cement leakage. Different types of cement leakage have different risk factors. We provided a nomogram for precise predicting the intradiscal cement leakage.

Facile construction of a molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensor for the detection of milk amyloid A.

A molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor for the detection of serum amyloid A (MAA) in milk was established for early diagnosis of subclinical mastitis in dairy cows. The electrochemical sensor was initially constructed using a nanocomposite material (reduced graphene oxide/gold nanoparticles, AuNPs@rGO) to modify the working electrode. The template protein, MAA, was then immobilized using pyrrole as the functional monomer to carry out the electropolymerization. Finally, the template protein was removed to form a molecular imprint film with the capability to qualitatively and quantitatively signaling of MAA. Cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the modification process of the molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensors. Under optimized conditions, the sensor shows two well-behaved linear relationships in the MAA concentration range 0.01 to 200 ng/mL. A lower detection limit was estimated to be 5 pg/mL (S/N = 3). Other parameters including the selectivity, reproducibility (RSD 3.2%), and recovery rate (96.1-103%) are all satisfactory. Compared with the traditional methods, detection of MAA to determine the subclinical mastitis of dairy cows can efficiently be diagnosed and hence prevent an outbreak of dairy cow mastitis. The electrochemical sensor can detect MAA more rapidly, sensitively, and inexpensively than the ELISA-based MAA detection. These advantages indicate that the method is promising for early diagnosis of dairy cows.

Black Phosphorus-Based Multimodal Nanoagent: Showing Targeted Combinatory Therapeutics against Cancer Metastasis.

In breast cancer chemophotothermal therapy, it is a great challenge for the development of multifunctional nanoagents for precision targeting and the effective treatment of tumors, especially for metastasis. Herein, we successfully design and synthesize a multifunctional black phosphorus (BP)-based nanoagent, BP/DTX@PLGA, to address this challenge. In this composite nanoagent, BP quantum dots (BPQDs) are loaded into poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) with additional conjugation of a chemotherapeutic agent, docetaxel (DTX). The in vivo distribution results demonstrate that BP/DTX@PLGA shows striking tropism for targeting both primary tumors and lung metastatic tumors. Moreover, BP/DTX@PLGA exhibits outstanding controllable chemophotothermal combinatory therapeutics, which dramatically improves the efficacy of photothermal tumor ablation when combined with near-light irradiation. Mechanistically, accelerated DTX release from the nanocomplex upon heating and thermal treatment per se synergistically incurs apoptosis-dependent cell death, resulting in the elimination of lung metastasis. Meanwhile, in vitro and in vivo results further confirm that BP/DTX@PLGA possesses good biocompatibility. This study provides a promising BP-based multimodal nanoagent to constrain cancer metastasis.

Inherent Chemotherapeutic Anti-Cancer Effects of Low-Dimensional Nanomaterials.

Low-dimensional nanomaterials (LDNs) are receiving increasing attention in cancer therapy owing to their unique properties, especially the large surface area-to-volume ratio. LDNs such as metallic nanoparticles (NPs), hydroxyapatite NPs, graphene derivatives, and black phosphorus (BP) nanosheets have been proposed for drug delivery, photothermal/photodynamic therapies, and multimodal theranostic treatments. The therapeutic effectiveness is mainly based on the physical characteristics of LDNs, but their inherent bioactivity has not been fully capitalized. In this Minireview, recent advances in the anti-cancer effects of various types of LDNs with inherent chemotherapeutic bioactivity are described and the bioactivity mechanisms are discussed on the cellular and molecular levels. BP, one of the newest and exciting members of the LDN family, is highlighted owing to the excellent inherent bioactivity, selectivity, and biocompatibility in cancer therapy. LDNs and related derivatives possess inherent bioactivity and selective chemotherapeutic effects suggesting large potential as nanostructured anti-cancer agents in cancer therapy.

One-Step Fabrication of Bio-Compatible Coordination Complex Film on Diverse Substrates for Ternary Flexible Memory.

Recently, resistance random access memories (RRAMs) have been studied extensively, because the demand for information storage is increasing. However, it remains challenging to obtain a flexible device because the active materials involved need to be nontoxic, nonpolluting, distortion-tolerable, and biodegradable as well adhesive to diverse flexible substrates. In this paper, tannic acid (TA) and an iron ion (FeIII ) coordination complex were employed as the active layer in a sandwich-like (Al/active layer/substrate) device to achieve memory performance. A nontoxic, biocompatible TA-FeIII coordination complex was synthesized by a one-step self-assembly solution method. The retention time of the TA-FeIII memory performance was up to 15 000 s, the yield up to 53 %. Furthermore, the TA-FeIII coordination complex can form a high-quality film and shows stable ternary memory behavior on various flexible substrates, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyimide (PI), printer paper, and leaf. The device can be degraded by immersing it in vinegar solution. Our work will broaden the application of organic coordination complexes in flexible memory devices with diverse substrates.

Nanolamellar Tantalum Interfaces in the Osteoblast Adhesion.

The design of topographically patterned surfaces is considered to be a preferable approach for influencing cellular behavior in a controllable manner, in particular to improve the osteogenic ability of bone regeneration. In this study, we fabricated nanolamellar tantalum (Ta) surfaces with lamellar wall thicknesses of 40 and 70 nm. The cells attached to nanolamellar Ta surfaces exhibited higher protein adsorption and expression of ß1 integrin, as compared to the nonstructured bulk Ta, which facilitated the initial cell attachment and spreading. We thus, as expected, observed significantly enhanced osteoblast adhesion, growth, and alkaline phosphatase activity on nanolamellar Ta surfaces. However, the beneficial effects of nanolamellar structures on osteogenesis became weaker as the lamellar wall thickness increased. The interaction between cells and Ta surfaces was examined through adhesion forces using atomic force microscopy. Our findings indicated that the Ta surface with a lamellar wall thickness of 40 nm exhibited the strongest stimulatory effect. The observed strongest adhesion force between the cell-attached tip and the Ta surface with a 40 nm thick lamellar wall encouraged the much stronger binding of cells with the surface and thus well-attached, -stretched, and -grown cells. We attributed this to the increase in the available contact area of cells with the thinner nanolamellar Ta surface. The increased contact area allowed the enhancement of the cell surface interaction strength and, thus, improved osteoblast adhesion. This study suggests that the thin nanolamellar topography shows immense potential in improving the clinical performance of dental and orthopedic implants.

Surveillance for severe hand, foot, and mouth disease from 2009 to 2015 in Jiangsu province: epidemiology, etiology, and disease burden.

BACKGROUND: Severe hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common childhood illness caused by various enteroviruses. The disease has imposed increased burden on children younger than 5 years old. We aimed to determine the epidemiology, CNS complication, and etiology among severe HFMD patients, in Jiangsu, China. METHODS: Epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory data of severe HFMD cases were extracted from 2009 to 2015. The CNS complication, annually severe illness rates, mortality rates, severity-PICU admission rates, severity-hospitalization rates, and so on were analyzed to assess the disease burden of severe HFMD. All analyses were stratified by time, region, population, CNS involvement and serotypes. The VP1 gene from EV-A71, CV-A16, CV-A6, CV-A10 and other enteroviruses isolates was amplified. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using MEGA5.0. RESULTS: Seven thousand nine hundred ninety-four severe HFMD cases were reported, of them, 7224 cases were inpatients, 611 were PICU inpatients, and 68 were fatal. The average severe illness rate, mortality rate, severity-fatality rate, severity-PICU admission rate, and severity-hospitalization rate were 14.54, 0.12,8506, 76,430, and 903,700 per 1 million, respectively. The severe illness rate was the highest in the 12-23 months age group, and the greatest mortality rate was in the 6-11 months age group. Geographical difference in severe illness rate and mortality were found. Patients infected with EV-A71 were at a higher proportion in different CNS involvement even death. EV-A71, CV-A16 and other enteroviruses accounted for 79.14, 6.49, and 14.47%, respectively. A total of 14 non-EV-A71/ CV-A16 genotypes including CV-A2, CV-A4, CV-A 6, CV-A9, CV-A10, CV-B1, CV-B2, CV-B3, CV-B4, CV-B5, E-6, E-7, E-18, and EV-C96 were identified. Phylogentic analyses demonstrated that EV-A71 strains belonged to subgenotype C4a, while CV-A16 strains belonged to sub-genotype B1a and sub-genotype B1b of genotype B1. CV-A6 strains were assigned to genogroup F, and CV-A10 strains belonged to genogroup D. CONCLUSIONS: Future mitigation policies should take into account the age, region heterogeneities, CNS conditions and serotype of disease. Additional a more rigorous study between the mild and severe HFMD should be warranted to elucidate the difference epidemiology, pathogen spectrum and immunity patterns and to optimize interventions in the following study.

Comprehensive Application of Autologous Costal Cartilage Grafts in Rhino- and Mentoplasty.

BACKGROUND: Underdevelopment of nose and chin in East Asians is quite common. Rhinoplasty and mentoplasty are effective procedures to solve the above-depicted defects and can achieve remarkable cosmetic effects. An autologous costal cartilage graft has become an ideal material for rhinoplasty, especially for revision surgery. However, many problems in the clinical application of costal cartilage remain unresolved. This study is to investigate application strategies of autologous costal cartilage grafts in rhino- and mentoplasty. METHODS: The methods involved are as follows: application of an integrated cartilage scaffold; comprehensive application of diced cartilage; and chin augmentation of an autologous costal cartilage graft. RESULTS: In this study, satisfactory facial contour appearance was immediately achieved in 28 patients after surgery; 21 patients had satisfactory appearance of the nose and chin during the 6- to 18-month follow-up. Cartilage resorption was not observed. Two patients had nasal tip skin redness and were cured after treatment. CONCLUSION: This procedure can be used to effectively solve: curvature of the costal cartilage segment itself; warping of the carved costal cartilage; and effective use of the costal cartilage segment. The procedure has achieved satisfactory outcomes, and its application is worth extending to clinical practice.

Few-Layered Black Phosphorus: From Fabrication and Customization to Biomedical Applications.

As a new kind of 2D material, black phosphorus has gained increased attention in the past three years. Although few-layered black phosphorus nanosheets (BPs) degrade quickly under ambient conditions to phosphate anions, which greatly hampers their optical and electronic applications, this property also makes BPs highly biocompatible and biodegradable, and is regarded as an advantage for various biomedical applications. This Concept summarizes the state-of-art progresses of BPs, from fabrication and surface modification to biomedical applications. It is expected that BPs with such fascinating properties will encourage more scientists to engage in expanding its biomedical applications by tackling the scientific challenges involved in their development.

An improved assay for rapid detection of viable Staphylococcus aureus cells by incorporating surfactant and PMA treatments in qPCR.

BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus aureus is an important human pathogen causing a variety of life-threatening diseases. Rapid and accurate detection of Staphylococcus aureus is a necessity for prevention of outbreaks caused by this pathogen. PCR is a useful tool for rapid detection of foodborne pathogens, however, its inability to differentiate DNA from dead cells and live cells in amplification severely limits its application in pathogen detection. The aim of this study was to develop an improved assay was developed by incorporating the sample treatments with a surfactant and propidium monoazide (PMA) in qPCR for detection of viable S. aureus cells. RESULTS: The cell toxic effect testing with the two surfactants showed that the viability of S. aureus was virtually not affected by the treatment with 0.5% triton x-100 or 0.025% sarkosyl. Triton x-100 was coupled with PMA for sample treatments for detection of viable S. aureus cells in artificially contaminated milk. The qPCR results indicated that the assay reached high an amplification efficiency of 98.44% and the live S. aureus cells were accurately detected from the triton-treated spiked milk samples by the PMA-qPCR assay. CONCLUSIONS: The qPCR assay combined with treatments of PMA and surfactants offers a sensitive and accurate means for detection of viable S. aureus cells. Cell toxic effect testing with the two surfactants showed that the viability of S. aureus was virtually not affected by the treatment with 0.5% triton x-100 or 0.025% sarkosyl. The information on sample treatment with surfactants to improve the dead cell DNA removal efficiency in qPCR by increasing PMA's permeability to dead cells can be used for other pathogens, especially for Gram-positive bacteria.

Percutaneous Balloon Kyphoplasty in Treatment of Painful Osteoporotic Occult Vertebral Fracture: A Retrospective Study of 89 Cases.

BACKGROUND The definition of a vertebral fracture is usually based on the presence of a deformation of the vertebral body and this can be misleading in the presence of a fracture without radiologic collapse with the definition of occult osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OOVFs). STIR sequence of MRI images showing hyperintensity signal was the most confirmative screening examination used to determine the presence of painful OOVFs. To date, clinical management of OOVFs has been rarely discussed. MATERIAL AND METHODS Between 2011 and 2013, 89 patients suffering from painful OOVFs underwent 142 percutaneous balloon kyphoplasty (PKP) procedures. Outcome data (mean variation of anterior and middle vertebral body height, visual analog scale [VAS] scores, Oswestry Disability Index [ODI] scores, and SF-36 scores) were recorded preoperatively, postoperatively, and at 1 month, 6 months, and 2 year after treatment, to evaluate the results. RESULTS We successfully treated 89 patients (142 vertebral bodies) with PKP. Cement leakages were observed in 12 (8.45%) treated vertebral bodies and there were 5 new adjacent vertebral fractures during the follow-up period. The mean variation of anterior and middle vertebral body height changed from 96.5±3.4% preoperatively to 97.2±2.5% postoperatively (p>0.05) and from 96.3±2.8% preoperatively to 97.9±3.1% postoperatively (p>0.05), respectively. The mean VAS scores were reduced significantly from pre-surgery to post-surgery (8.3±1.2 to 2.9±0.7; p<0.05), as was the ODI score (76.4±12.5 to 26.7±5.6; p<0.05). The SF-36 scores, including Bodily Pain (BF), Vitality (VT), Physical Function (PF), and Social Functioning (SF), all showed notable improvement (P<0.05). These variations were maintained during the 2-year follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS PKP is a safe and effective method in the treatment of painful OOVFs.

Study on Tandem Polymer Light Emitting Devices.

We report tandem polymer light emitting devices by using the PEDOT∶PSS/ZnO/PEIE charge generation layer (CGL) and investigate the influences of the conductance and thickness of PEDOT∶PSS layer on the properties of the devices. The results indicate that the conductance and thickness of PEDOT∶PSS layer have marginal impact on the J-V characteristics of the devices, while significant influences of device efficiency upon utilization of different PEDOT∶PSS specimens mainly come from their different strengths on exciton quenching. Luminance efficiency of TOLEDs with the PEDOT∶PSS thickness of 60 nm in CGL is better than TOLEDs with the PEDOT∶PSS thickness of 30 nm in CGL, the reason is that PEDOT∶PSS thickness of 60 nm the surface topography is more even . Luminance efficiency and driving voltage of the tandem devices match the sum of the luminance efficiency and driving voltage of the component light-emitting units, respectively, indicating that charges generated in the CGL can be injected efficiently into the adjacent light-emitting units. Incorporation of a V2O5 layer into the CGL structure only slightly affects the J-V and LE-I characteristics of the tandem devices, suggesting that the utilization of the PEDOT∶PSS/ZnO/PEIE CGL enables the simplification of the CGL structure without compromising device performance. The luminescence spectra of TOLEDs obviously involves two light emitting unit of spectrum, which shows that two light emitting unit in TOLEDs is normal work. Measurements on the capacitance-voltage characteristics of the CGL-based devices confirm that under negative bias (ITO anode) charges are accumulated and displaced in the CGL, which is totally in line with the full operation of light emitting units in the tandem devices. PEDOT∶PSS/ZnO/PEIE layer is evidenced the effective CGL. On this basis, for the first time we report tandem polymer light emitting devices containing three SY-PPV light-emitting units，which show the mixture of luminance efficiency and external quantum efficiency of 21.7 cd·A-1 and 6.95%, similar to the total luminance efficiency and external quantum efficiency of constituent LEUs. At 5 000 cd·m-2, the luminance efficiency and external quantum efficiency of the tandem devices are 20.5 cd·A-1 and 6.6%. Thus, the increase in the number of light emitting units leads to almost no performance losses, implying the robustness of the PEDOT∶PSS/ZnO/PEIE CGL. Tandem polymer light emitting devices containing three SY-PPV light-emitting units of the luminescent spectra is close to the light emitting unit. Further efforts on the optimization of hole injection layer in the CGL to minimize exciton quenching are underlying to promote the luminance efficiency of tandem polymer light emitting devices.

Improved Biocompatibility of Black Phosphorus Nanosheets by Chemical Modification.

Black phosphorus nanosheets (BPs) show great potential for various applications including biomedicine, thus their potential side effects and corresponding improvement strategy deserve investigation. Here, in vitro and in vivo biological effects of BPs with and without titanium sulfonate ligand (TiL4 ) modification are investigated. Compared to bare BPs, BPs with TiL4 modification (TiL4 @BPs) can efficiently escape from macrophages uptake, and reduce cytotoxicity and proinflammation. The corresponding mechanisms are also discussed. These findings may not only guide the applications of BPs, but also propose an efficient strategy to further improve the biocompatibility of BPs.

Physiologically based pharmacokinetic model of docetaxel and interspecies scaling: comparison of simple injection with folate receptor-targeting amphiphilic copolymer-modified liposomes.

1. To compare the disposition of docetaxel (DTX) in male/female rats after intravenous administration of simple injection and folate-poly(PEG-cyanoacrylate-co-cholesteryl cyanoacrylate)-modified liposomes utilising a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modelling method, and extrapolate this model to mice and humans by taking into account the interspecies differences in physiological- and chemical-specific parameters. 2. Four structural models for single organs were evaluated, and the whole-body PBPK model included artery, vein, lung, brain, heart, spleen, liver, gastrointestinal tract, kidney, muscle and remainder compartment. 3. Rats following modified liposomes administration were characterised by significant decrease in the partition coefficients for brain, spleen, liver and remainder compartment. The blood-to-plasma partition coefficient also decreased significantly, while a marked rise of partition coefficients for lung, kidney and muscle was revealed. Partition coefficient for heart was approximately 1.3-fold higher in females than males, while the decrease of intestinal clearance was revealed in females compared to males. The final model successfully characterised the time course of DTX in rats, mice and humans. 4. This PBPK model is beneficial to the prediction of the effects of DTX in different species. It also represented a platform to encompass both formulation- and sex-related effects on DTX disposition and elimination in the future.

[Effects of seed priming on physiology of seed germination and seeding growth of Marsdenia tenacissima under NaCl stress].

To offer the reference and method for salt damage in the cultivation of Marsdenia tenacissima, the seeds of M. tenacissima collected from Maguan city ( Yunnan province) were taken as the test materials to study the effects of different priming materials on improving germination and growth under high-level salt stress condition. Four different treatments, which were GA3, KNO3-KH2PO4, PEG-6000, NaCl, combined with ANOVA were applied to test the performance of germination energy, germination percentage, germination index, MDA, SOD, and CAT. The results showed that the seed germination was obviously inhibited under salt stress and the soaked seeds with different priming materials could alleviate the damage of salt stress. Under these treatments, the activities of SOD, CAT the content of soluble protein significantly increased. While the content of MDA significantly decreased. The maximum index was obtained when treated with 1.20% KNO3-KH2PO4, the germination percentage increased from 52.67% to 87.33% and the activity of SOD increased from 138.01 to 219.44 respectively. Comparing with the treatment of 1.20% KNO3-KH2PO4, the germination percentage of treating with 300 mg x L(-1) GA3 increased from 52.67% to 80.67%, while the activity of SOD increased from 138.01 to 444.61.