PDX regulates inflammatory cell infiltration via resident macrophage in LPS-induced lung injury.

Inflammatory cell infiltration contributes to the pathogenesis of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Protectin DX (PDX), an endogenous lipid mediator, shows anti-inflammatory and proresolution bioactions. In vivo, the mice were intraperitoneally injected with PDX (0.1 µg/mouse) after intratracheal (1 mg/kg) or intraperitoneal (10 mg/kg) LPS administration. Flow cytometry was used to measure inflammatory cell numbers. Clodronate liposomes were used to deplete resident macrophages. RT-PCR, and ELISA was used to measure MIP-2, MCP-1, TNF-α and MMP9 levels. In vitro, sorted neutrophils, resident and recruited macrophages (1 × 106 ) were cultured with 1 µg/mL LPS and/or 100 nmol/L PDX to assess the chemokine receptor expression. PDX attenuated LPS-induced lung injury via inhibiting recruited macrophage and neutrophil recruitment through repressing resident macrophage MCP-1, MIP-2 expression and release, respectively. Finally, PDX inhibition of neutrophil infiltration and transmembrane was associated with TNF-α/MIP-2/MMP9 signalling pathway. These data suggest that PDX attenuates LPS-stimulated lung injury via reduction of the inflammatory cell recruitment mediated via resident macrophages.

Green Synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes-Reinforced Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Composites for Drug Delivery of Fenbufen.

The facile fabrication of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs)-doping molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) nanocomposite-based binary green porogen system, room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) was developed for drug delivery system. With fenbufen (FB) as template molecule, 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP) was used as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross-linking monomer, and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazoliumtetrafluoroborate and choline chloride/ethylene glycol as binary green solvent, in the presence of SWCNTs. The imprinting effect of the SWCNT-MIP composites was optimized by regulation of the amount of SWCNTs, ratio of RTILs and DES, and the composition of DES. Blue shifts of UV bands strongly suggested that interaction between 4-VP and FB can be enhanced due to SWCNT doping in the process of self-assembly. The reinforced imprinted effect of CNT-doping MIP can provide superior controlled release characteristics. Compared with the control MIP prepared without SWCNTs, the imprinting factor of the SWCNT-MIP composites exhibited a twofold increase. In the analysis for the FB release kinetics from all samples, the SWCNT-reinforced MIP produced the lowest value of drug diffusivity. The relative bioavailability of the SWCNT-MIP composites (F %) displayed the highest value of 143.3% compared with the commercial FB tablet, whereas the control MIP and SWCNT-non-MIP composites was only 48.3% and 44.4%, respectively. The results indicated that the SWCNT-MIP nanocomposites developed here have potentials as the controlled-release device.

Aliidongia dinghuensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a poly-ß-hydroxybutyrate-producing bacterium isolated from Pinus massoniana forest soil.

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, motile, rod-shaped bacterium, designated 7M-Z19T, was isolated from a soil sample collected from a Pinus massoniana forest of Dinghushan Biosphere Reserve, Guangdong Province, PR China. Strain 7M-Z19T grew at pH 4.5-7.5 (optimum pH 6.0-6.5), 10 to 37 °C (optimum 28 °C) and NaCl concentration up to 2.0 % (optimum 0 %, w/v). iso-C17 : 0, C18 : 1ω7c and C19 : 0ω8c cyclo were the major fatty acids (>10 %) while ubiquinone-10 was the only respiratory quinone detected in 7M-Z19T. The polar lipids of the strain consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, six unidentified aminophospholipids, three unidentified phospholipids, six unidentified lipids and a glycolipid. The DNA G+C content was 65.8 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the isolate formed a distinct lineage with Dongia mobilis and Dongia rigui within the family Rhodospirillaceae, but with a low sequence similarity of 92.7 and 92.0 %, respectively. On the basis of phylogenetic, phenotypic, physiological and chemotaxonomic distinctiveness, strain 7M-Z19T should be placed in the family Rhodospirillaceae as a representative of a novel genus and species, for which the name Aliidongia dinghuensis gen. nov., sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain of the type species is 7M-Z19T (=NBRC 112240T=KCTC 52134T=CGMCC 1.15725T).

Comparison of methods for activating sesame stalk lignin biochar for removing benzo[a]pyrene from sesame oil.

In this study, three activators and two activation methods were employed to activate sesame lignin-based biochar. The biochar samples were comprehensively characterized, their abilities to adsorb benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) from sesame oil were assessed, and the mechanism was analyzed. The results showed that the biochar obtained by one-step activation was more effective in removing BaP from sesame oil than the biochar produced by two-step activation. Among them, the biochar generated by one-step activation with ZnCl2 as the activator had the largest specific surface area (1068.8776 m3/g), and the richest mesoporous structure (0.7891 m3/g); it removed 90.53 % of BaP from sesame oil. BaP was mainly adsorbed by the mesopores of biochar. Mechanistically, pore-filling, π-π conjugations, hydrogen bonding, and n-π interactions were involved. The adsorption was spontaneous and heat-absorbing. In conclusion, the preparation of sesame lignin biochar using one-step activation with ZnCl2 as the activator was found to be the best for removing BaP from sesame oil. This biochar may be an economical adsorbent for the industrial removal of BaP from sesame oil.

Effects of different precursors on the structure of lignin-based biochar and its ability to adsorb benzopyrene from sesame oil.

Agricultural by-products of sesame are promising bioresources in food processing. This study extracted lignin from the by-products of sesame oil production, namely, the capsules and straw of black and white sesame. Using acid, alkali, and ethanol methods, 12 distinct lignins were obtained to prepare biochar, aiming to investigate both the structural characteristics of lignin-based biochar (LBB) and its ability to remove benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) from sesame oil. The results showed that white sesame straw was the most suitable raw material for preparing biochar. In terms of the preparation method, acid-extracted lignin biochar was more effective in removing BaP than alkaline or ethanol methods. Notably, WS-1LB (white sesame straw acid-extracted lignin biochar) exhibited the highest BaP adsorption efficiency (91.44 %) and the maximum specific surface area (1065.8187 m2/g), characterized by porous structures. The pseudo 2nd and Freundlich models were found to be the best fit for the adsorption kinetics and isotherms of BaP on LBB, respectively, suggesting that a multilayer adsorption process was dominant. The high adsorption of LBB mainly resulted from pore filling. This study provides an economical and highly efficient biochar adsorbent for the removal of BaP in oil.

Genetic variation and evolutionary characteristics of Echovirus 11: new variant within genotype D5 associated with neonatal death found in China.

Echovirus 11 (E11) has gained attention owing to its association with severe neonatal infections. From 2018 to 2023, a surge in severe neonatal cases and fatalities linked to a novel variant of genotype D5 was documented in China, France, and Italy. However, the prevention and control of E11 variants have been hampered by limited background data on the virus circulation and genetic variance. Therefore, the present study investigated the circulating dynamics of E11 and the genetic variation and molecular evolution of genotype D5 through the collection of strains from the national acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) surveillance system in China during 2000-2022 and genetic sequences published in the GenBank database. The results of this study revealed a prevalent dynamic of E11 circulation, with D5 being the predominant genotype worldwide. Further phylogenetic analysis of genotype D5 indicated that it could be subdivided into three important geographic clusters (D5-CHN1: 2014-2019, D5-CHN2: 2016-2022, and D5-EUR: 2022-2023). Additionally, variant-specific (144) amino acid mutation sites and positive-selection pressure sites (132, 262) were identified in the VP1 region. Cluster-specific recombination patterns were also identified, with CVB5, E6, and CVB4 as the major recombinant viruses. These findings provide a preliminary landscape of E11 circulation worldwide and basic scientific data for further study of the pathogenicity of E11 variants.

[Advances in the application of machine learning in maxillofacial cysts and tumors].

The application of artificial intelligence in medicine has gradually received attention along with its development. Many studies have shown that machine learning has a wide range of applications in stomatology, especially in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of maxillofacial cysts and tumors. This article reviews the application of machine learning in maxillofacial cyst and tumor to provide a new method for the diagnosis of oral and maxillofacial diseases.

Deep eutectic solvents-based polymer monolith incorporated with titanium dioxide nanotubes for specific recognition of proteins.

An organic-inorganic hybrid monolith incorporated with titanium dioxide nanotubes (TNTs) and hydrophilic deep eutectic solvents (DESs) was prepared and evaluated by the isolation of proteins using solid phase microextraction. A typical polymerization system was composed of choline chloride/methacrylic acid (ChCl/MAA, DESs monomer), glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), as well as ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) in the presence of TNTs. Then the epoxy groups on the surface of the resulting monolith were modified with amino groups. The synergistic effect of TNTs and DESs monomer to improve the enrichment performance of the sorbent significantly was demonstrated. Compared with the corresponding TNTs/DESs-free monolith, the recoveries of BSA and OVA were increased to 98.6% and 92.7% (RSDs < 2.0%), with an improvement of more than 60.0%. With a correlation coefficient of determination (R2) higher than 0.9995, the enrichment factors (EFs) were 21.9-28.3-fold. In addition, the resulting monolith was further applied to specifically capture proteins from rat liver according to their pI value, followed by HPLC-MS/MS analysis. The results indicated that the developed monolith was an effective material to isolate protein species of interest according to the pI value of target proteins.

Floating molecularly imprinted polymers based on liquid crystalline and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes for capecitabine sustained release.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have drawn extensive attention as carriers on drug delivery. However, most of MIPs suffer from insufficient drug loading capacity, burst release of drugs and/or low bioavailability. To solve the issues, this study designed an imprinted material with superior floating nature for oral drug delivery system of capecitabine (CAP) rationally. The MIPs was synthesized in the presence of 4-methylphenyl dicyclohexyl ethylene (liquid crystalline, LC) and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) via polymerization reaction. The LC-POSS MIPs had extended release of the template molecules over 13.4 h with entrapment efficiency of 20.53%, diffusion coefficient of 2.83 × 10-11 cm2 s-1, and diffusion exponent of 0.84. Pharmacokinetic studies further revealed the prolong release and high relative bioavailability of CAP in vivo of rats, showing the effective floating effect of the LC-POSS MIPs. The in vivo images revealed visually that the gastroretentive time of the LC-POSS MIPs was longer than non-LC-POSS imprinted polymers. The physical characteristics of the polymers were also characterized by nitrogen adsorption experiment, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry analysis. As a conclusion, the LC-POSS MIPs can be used as an eligible CAP carrier and might hold great potential in clinical applications for sustained release drug.

Multiple divergent Human mastadenovirus C co-circulating in mainland of China.

The human mastadenovirus C (HAdV-C) cause respiratory infections in children. Homologous recombination was clearly involved in the molecular evolution of HAdV-A, B, and D, but little is known about the molecular evolution of HAdV-C. From 2000 to 2016, 201 HAdV-C strains were collected from nine provinces covering six administrative regions of mainland of China via 3 existing surveillance programs, namely the febrile respiratory syndrome surveillance, the acute flaccid paralysis surveillance, and the hand, foot, and mouth disease surveillance system. The genes coding for the capsid protein (penton base, hexon, and fiber) of 201 HAdV-C strains were sequenced and compared with representative sequences publicly available. In addition, the whole genome sequence of 24 representative strains of HAdV-C was generated for further recombination analysis. Phylogenetic analysis of the penton base sequences of HAdV-C revealed six genetic groups (labelled as Px1-6), which showed that the penton base had more variation than previously thought. Based on the penton base, hexon, and fiber gene sequences, 16 new genetic patterns of HAdV-C circulating in mainland of China were identified in this study. Whole genome sequence analysis revealed frequent recombination events among HAdV-C genomes. This study is highly beneficial for case classification, tracking the transmission chain, and further epidemiological exploration of HAdV-C-related severe clinical diseases in the near future. Our data demonstrated that multiple newly divergent HAdV-C co-circulated across mainland China during the research period.

[Construction, fermentation and purification of high polymer spider dragline silk protein containing RGD peptide].

Spider silk is a natural protein fibroin with excellent character as it is light and tenacious. It has a wild potential applications in the biomedical field due to its good biocompatibility and degradation. Arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) is a highly conserved amino acid sequence of many adhesion protein. Biological materials binding with RGD peptide in the surface can promote cells adhesion, migration and proliferation. Our lab had constructed the 16 muhimers with the introduced RGD peptide codons which involve cell adhesion for the first time. It was found that the mechanical capability of the 16 mulimer protein was very limited because of the big gap in molecular weight with nature spider proteins when it was used to made biomaterial scaffold.In this paper,based on the 16 multimers of the highly, repetitive sequence of spider dragline silk and with RGD peptide condons which has been constructed by our lab forestall, it was used to construct the 32 and 64 multimers sequence of spider dragline silk by the strategy of "head to tail". The 32 and 64 multimers were ligated into prokaryotic expression vector pET-30a, and then the B121 (DE3) pLysS. The fragments were in agreement with the desired through digestion, agarose gel electrophoresis respectively. By registration into the GenBank data-base, the serial numbers of DQ469929 and DQ837297 were gained respectively. The expression of recombinant protein was introduced by the addition of IPTG. SDS-PAGE analysis shows that the molecular weight of products expressed here are 102 kD and 196.6kD in agreement with the desired respectively. It was the first time for the high polymer spider dragline silk protein expressed in prokaryotic biology. Furthermore, a larger quantity of synthetical proteins with high density fermentation were searched after, and a suit of high efficient purification methods for 32 multimers protein were established.

Distribution and risk assessment of fluoride in drinking water in the west plain region of Jilin province, China.

The west plain region of Jilin province of northeast China is one of the typical endemic fluorosis areas caused by drinking water for many years. Investigations of hydrogeological and ecoenvironmental conditions as well as endemic fluorosis were conducted in 1998. Results show that the ground water, especially, the water in the unconfined aquifer is the main source of drinking water for local residents. The fluoride concentration in groundwater in the unconfined aquifers is higher than that in the confined aquifer in the west plain of Jilin province. The fluoride concentration in the unconfined aquifer can be used to classify the plain into fluoride deficient area, optimum area and excess area, which trend from west to east. High fluoride (>1.0 mg L(-1)) in drinking water resulted in dental and skeletal fluorosis in local residents (children and pregnant women). There exists a positive correlation between fluoride concentration in the drinking water and the morbidities of endemic fluorosis disease (r1 = 0.781, r2 = 0.872). Health risks associated with fluoride concentration in drinking water are assessed. It has been determined that fluoride concentration in excess of 1.0 mg L(-1) exposes residents to high health risks based on risk identification. The study area is classified into five health risk classes as shown in Figure 4. The risk indexes of this area more than 1.0 are accounted for 68% of the total west plain region.

Investigation of matrix effects in bioanalytical high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric assays: application to drug discovery.

A series of studies was performed to investigate some of the causes for matrix effects ('ion suppression' or 'ion enhancement') in bioanalytical high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS) assays. Previous studies have reported that matrix effects are mainly due to endogenous components in biological fluids and are a greater concern for electrospray ionization (ESI) than for atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI). In this report we demonstrate that: (1) matrix effects can also be caused by exogenous materials, such as polymers contained in different brands of plastic tubes, or Li-heparin, a commonly used anticoagulant; (2) matrix effects are not only ionization mode (APCI or ESI) dependent, but also source design (Sciex, Finnigan, Micromass) dependent; and (3) for at least one vendor's design, we found the APCI mode to be more sensitive to matrix effects than the ESI mode. Based on these findings, we have proposed the following simple strategies to avoid matrix effects: (1) select the same brand of plastic tubes for processing and storing plasma samples and spiked plasma standards; (2) avoid using Li-heparin as the anticoagulant; and (3) try switching the ionization mode or switching to different mass spectrometers when matrix effects are encountered. These three strategies have allowed us to use protein precipitation and generic fast LC techniques to generate reliable LC/MS/MS data for the support of pharmacokinetic studies at the early drug discovery stage.