Carbon dots with hydrogen bond-controlled aggregation behavior.

Here, hydrophilic carbon dots (H-CDs) are prepared by a facile room temperature method. The strength of hydrogen bonds can be controlled by introducing proton and aprotic solvents, respectively, so as to realize the tunable aggregation state of H-CDs. Because of the ultrasensitive response to dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), H-CDs can serve as optical probes for detecting DMSO in a linear range of 0.005% to 0.75% and with a detection limit of 0.001%.

[Research Progress on the Application of Intervention Mapping in Tertiary Prevention of Cancer].

Intervention mapping (IM) is a framework for formulating theory-and evidence-based health education projects with participatory approaches from ecological perspectives.The intervention program designed via IM plays a role in reducing the exposure of cancer risk factors,increasing cancer prevention behaviors,and promoting early cancer screening and rehabilitation of cancer patients.This study summarizes the characteristics,implementation steps,and application status of IM in tertiary prevention of cancer,aiming to provide reference for the application of IM in the health education projects for cancer in China.

Schiff Base Reaction in a Living Cell: In Situ Synthesis of a Hollow Covalent Organic Polymer To Regulate Biological Functions.

Artificially performing chemical reactions in living biosystems to attain various physiological aims remains an intriguing but very challenging task. In this study, the Schiff base reaction was conducted in cells using Sc(OTf)3 as a catalyst, enabling the in situ synthesis of a hollow covalent organic polymer (HCOP) without external stimuli. The reversible Schiff base reaction mediated intracellular Oswald ripening endows the HCOP with a spherical, hollow porous structure and a large specific surface area. The intracellularly generated HCOP reduced cellular motility by restraining actin polymerization, which consequently induced mitochondrial deactivation, apoptosis, and necroptosis. The presented intracellular synthesis system inspired by the Schiff base reaction has strong potential to regulate cell fate and biological functions, opening up a new strategic possibility for intervening in cellular behavior.

Topographic Cues Guiding Cell Polarization via Distinct Cellular Mechanosensing Pathways.

Cell polarization exists in a variety of tissues to regulate cell behaviors and functions. Space constraint (spatially limiting cell extension) and adhesion induction (guiding adhesome growth) are two main ways to induce cell polarization according to the microenvironment topographies. However, the mechanism of cell polarization induced by these two ways and the downstream effects on cell functions are yet to be understood. Here, space constraint and adhesion induction guiding cell polarization are achieved by substrate groove arrays in micro and nano size, respectively. Although the morphology of polarized cells is similar on both structures, the signaling pathways to induce the cell polarization and the downstream functions are distinctly different. The adhesion induction (nano-groove) leads to the formation of focal adhesions and activates the RhoA/ROCK pathway to enhance the myosin-based intracellular force, while the space constraint (micro-groove) only activates the formation of pseudopodia. The enhanced intracellular force caused by adhesion induction inhibits the chromatin condensation, which promotes the osteogenic differentiation of stem cells. This study presents an overview of cell polarization and mechanosensing at biointerface to aid in the design of novel biomaterials.

[Improvement on compactibility of the alcoholic extract of Zingiberis Rhizoma by co-spray drying with HPMC].

Aiming to solve the poor compactibility of the alcoholic extract of Zingiberis Rhizoma(ZR), this study explored the feasibility of its physical modification using co-spray drying with a small amount of hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose(HPMC). Based on the univariate analysis, the influence of two independent variables(the HPMC content in the product and the solid content of spray material) on the powder properties and tablet properties of the dried product was investigated by the central composite design. With the tensile strength and disintegration time of the tablets as the evaluation indexes, the optimal prescription was determined as follows: the HPMC content was 15% and the solid content of spray material was 25.6%. The accuracy of the regression model established for predicting tensile strength and disintegration time of tablets was verified, and the results revealed that the measured values were close to the predicted ones with deviations of 0.47% and-8.2%, indicating good prediction and reproducibility of the model. The tensile strength(4.24 MPa) of tablets prepared with the optimal prescription was 3.59 times that(1.18 MPa, far lower than the baseline of 2 MPa for qualified tablets) with the spray-dried powder of the ZR. On the other hand, due to the addition of HPMC, the disintegration time of tablets increased from 7.3 min to 24.6 min. On the whole, this study provided a new strategy to solve the common problem of poor compactibility of raw Chinese medicinal materials, which facilitated the successful preparation of Chinese medicinal tablets with high drug loads.

[Research Progress of Adaptive Intervention].

Adaptive intervention(AI)is a methodology which dynamically evaluates adaptive variables at decision points and timely adjusts and develops tailored strategies to meet individual needs.The study reviewed the origin and development and elaborated the core elements(including intervention outcomes,intervention options,decision points,tailoring variables,and decision rules)and the classification of AI.Based on the literature,the key points of the design and implementation of AI were prospected,which can provide evidence for the research and development of health behavior intervention.

Case-Control Study on the Interaction Effects of rs10757278 Polymorphisms at 9p21 Locus and Traditional Risk Factors on Coronary Heart Disease in Xinjiang, China.

OBJECTIVE: To study the interaction effects of rs10757278 polymorphisms at 9p21 locus and traditional risk factors on coronary heart disease (CHD) in Xinjiang, China. METHODS: This case-control study consecutively enrolled 310 unrelated consecutive CHD patients aged 18-70 years old. All study participants were recruited between January and December 2017 from The Heart Center of The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University. CHD patients were confirmed by coronary angiography (≥50% diameter stenosis in at least one of the major coronary arteries) according to the American Heart Association criteria for the confirmation of CHD. Healthy subjects were randomly selected from the occupational population, who received physical examination in our hospital and matched to cases on the basis of age (±3 years) and sex, those without medical history of cardiovascular diseases, and 536 subjects were selected as the control group after medical history inquiry, physical examination, cardiac ultrasound, electrocardiogram, and other blood biochemical examinations in the hospital. The occupational stress was evaluated by an effort-reward imbalance questionnaire. An epidemiological survey was conducted to collect clinical data. Chi-squared test, analysis of variance, and binary logistic regression analysis were adopted. RESULTS: Both the case and the control groups showed significant difference in smoking, drinking, physical activity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, family history of CHD, and body mass index (BMI) (all P < 0.05); prevalence of CHD was not related to occupational stress. There was no significant difference in occupational stress level between the 2 groups (P > 0.05); Differences in rs10757278 genotype between the case group and the control groups were statistically significant; binary logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the risk factors of CHD. After adjustment for age and sex, significant increased risk effects for CHD were found to be associated with smoking [odds ratio (OR) = 2.311; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04-2.499; P < 0.001], physical exercise (OR = 1.365; 95% CI: 1.137-1.639; P < 0.001), hypertension (OR = 4.627; 95% CI: 2.165-10.764; P < 0.001), family history of CHD (OR = 4.103; 95% CI: 3.169-6.892; P < 0.001), BMI (OR = 2.484; 95% CI: 2.036-3.03; P < 0.001), and GG genotype at rs10757278 (OR = 1.978; 95% CI: 1.413-2.769; P < 0.001); We noted that a significant interaction association between GG genotype at rs10757278 and CHD differs across categories of smoking, hypertension, family history of CHD, and BMI. CONCLUSION: GG genotype at rs10757278 may be a risk factor for CHD. And there are interaction effects between GG genotype of rs10757278 in region 9p21 gene and traditional risk factors.

Diabetes risk assessment with imaging: a radiomics study of abdominal CT.

OBJECTIVES: To identify CT markers for screening of early type 2 diabetes and assessment of the risk of incident diabetes using a radiomics method. METHODS: The medical records of 26,947 inpatients were reviewed. A total of 690 patients were selected and allocated to a primary cohort, a validation cohort, and a prediction cohort and used to build prediction models for diabetes. Three radiomics signatures were constructed using CT image features extracted from three regions of interest, i.e., in the pancreas, liver, and psoas major muscle. By incorporating radiomics signatures and other markers, we built a radiomics nomogram that could be used to screen for early diabetes and predict future diabetes. RESULTS: Of the three abdominal organs for which radiomics signature were constructed, that of the pancreas showed the best discriminatory power for early diabetes screening and prediction (C-statistics of 0.833, 0.846, and 0.899 for the primary cohort, validation cohort, and prediction cohort, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity of the nomogram for prediction of 3-year incident diabetes were 0.827 and 0.807, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents alternative radiomics markers that have potential for use in screening for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and prediction of 3-year incident diabetes. KEY POINTS: • CT images may provide useful information to evaluate the risk of developing diabetes. • Radiomics score for diabetes prediction is based on subtle changes of abdominal organs detected by CT. • The radiomics signature of pancreas, a combination of five features of CT images, is efficient for early diabetes screening and prediction of future diabetes (AUC > 0.8).

Beneficial Effects of Bushen Formula Combined with Enticavir on Chronic Hepatitis B Patients with Suboptimal Response to Enticavir by Regulating B-Cell Differentiation.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To investigate the clinical effects of the combination therapy with Bushen Formula (BSF) plus enticavir (ETV) on chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with suboptimal response to ETV and explore the regulatory mechanisms of BSF on B cells-mediated humoral immunity. METHODS: Sixty-four HBeAg-positive CHB patients with suboptimal response to ETV were enrolled, and were randomly assigned into control group (C-Group, placebo combined with ETV for 12 months) or treatment group (T-Group, BSF combined with ETV for 12 months). Serum samples from 57 treatment-naïve CHB patients and 15 healthy controls were collected. Serum HBV DNA levels were evaluated by real-time PCR. Characteristics of peripheral blood B-cell subtypes were analyzed by flow cytometry. Serum HBV markers and B cell-activating factor (BAFF) levels were detected by ELISA. Chinese medicine symptom complex score was evaluated and recorded. RESULTS: After treatment, the rates of patients with a reduction of HBsAg > 0.5 log10 IU/ml or 1.0 log10 IU/ml and the rates of HBeAg clearance in T-Group were all higher than those in C-group, with no significant intergroup difference. Only in T-Group, Chinese medicine symptom complex score and the frequency of total B cells were significantly decreased, and the frequencies of Bm1, CD24+CD27-switched B cells and plasma cells were markedly increased after treatment compared with those before treatment. Compared with healthy controls, serum BAFF levels in treatment-naïve CHB patients were increased, and there was a significant positive correlation between serum BAFF and HBsAg levels. However, serum BAFF levels did not differ after treatment in T-Group and C-Group. CONCLUSIONS: The combination therapy with BSF plus ETV promotes the reduction of HBsAg level and the clearance of HBeAg in CHB patients with partial response to ETV through regulating the differentiation of B-cell subsets.

Hepatitis B core antigen upregulates B7-H1 on dendritic cells by activating the AKT/ERK/P38 pathway: a possible mechanism of hepatitis B virus persistence.

B7-H1 binding to programmed death-1 may deliver a coinhibitory signal to T cells that is involved in the regulation of T-cell activation and tolerance. B7-H1 plays a key role in dysfunction of dendritic cells (DCs) during chronic HBV infection, but the expression mechanism of B7-H1 remains unclear. One hundred and twenty-nine patients with chronic HBV infection were categorized into either the immune tolerance phase (HBV-IT), the immune clearance phase (HBV-IC), or the inactive carrier phase (HBV-IA). Twenty healthy volunteers were enrolled as controls. Another 16 patients with HBeAg-positive chronic Hepatitis B were enrolled, and entecavir was administrated at 0.5 mg per day for 6 months. The B7-H1 expression level on peripheral DCs was tested by flow cytometry. In vitro, expression levels of B7-H1 and signaling molecules on monocyte-derived DC (MO-DC) induced by recombinant hepatitis B virus C antigen (rhHBcAg) were examined by RT-PCR, flow cytometry, and western blotting, and the apoptosis rate was tested by flow cytometry. The percentages of peripheral DCs and myeloid DCs (mDCs) were decreased and B7-H1 levels were increased in patients compared with controls. Serum HBV-DNA levels were positively correlated with B7-H1 levels on mDCs in patients with HBV-IT. B7-H1 levels on peripheral DCs from patients with chronic hepatitis B decreased after antiviral therapy. In vitro studies demonstrated that the B7-H1 level on MO-DC was upregulated by rhHBcAg, which resulted from the activation of PI3K-AKT, ERK, and P38 signaling pathways, and the percentage of MO-DC was downregulated by rhHBcAg. In addition, rhHBcAg promoted the apoptosis of MO-DC. The data suggest that HBcAg induced B7-H1 upregulation by activating AKT, ERK, and P38 signaling pathways, which inhibited the clearance of HBV-DNA and the reduction of DCs contributed to immune tolerance, which may correlate with apoptosis.

Aqueous Solution Enhanced Room Temperature Phosphorescence through Coordination-Induced Structural Rigidity.

Achieving aqueous solution enhanced room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) is critical for the applications of RTP materials in solution phase, but which faces a great challenge. Herein, for the first time, a strategy of coordination-induced structural rigidity is proposed to achieve enhanced quantum efficiency of aluminum/scandium-doped phosphorescent microcubes (Al/Sc-PMCs) in aqueous solution. The Al/Sc-PMCs in a dry state exhibit a nearly invisible blue RTP. However, they emit a strong RTP emission in aqueous solution with a RTP intensity increase of up to 22.16-times, which is opposite to common solution-quenched RTP. The RTP enhancement mechanism is attributed to the abundant metal sites (Al3+ and Sc3+ ions) on the Al/Sc-PMCs surface that can tightly combine with water molecules through the strong coordination. Subsequently, these coordinated water molecules as the bridging agent can bind with surface groups by hydrogen bonding interaction, thereby rigidifying chemical groups and inhibiting their motions, resulting in the transition from the nonradiative decay to the radiative decay, which greatly enhances the RTP efficiency of the Al/Sc-PMCs. This work not only develops a coordination rigidity strategy to enhance RTP intensity in aqueous solution, but also constructs a phosphorescent probe to achieve reliable and accurate determination of analyte in complex biological matrices.

Serum metabolomics analysis of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 'frequent exacerbator' phenotype.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations accelerate loss of lung function and increased mortality. The complex nature of COPD presents challenges in accurately predicting and understanding frequent exacerbations. The present study aimed to assess the metabolic characteristics of the frequent exacerbation of COPD (COPD­FE) phenotype, identify potential metabolic biomarkers associated with COPD­FE risk and evaluate the underlying pathogenic mechanisms. An internal cohort of 30 stable patients with COPD was recruited. A widely targeted metabolomics approach was used to detect and compare serum metabolite expression profiles between patients with COPD­FE and patients with non­frequent exacerbation of COPD (COPD­NE). Bioinformatics analysis was used for pathway enrichment analysis of the identified metabolites. Spearman's correlation analysis assessed the associations between metabolites and clinical indicators, while receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis evaluated the ability of metabolites to distinguish between two groups. An external cohort of 20 patients with COPD validated findings from the internal cohort. Out of the 484 detected metabolites, 25 exhibited significant differences between COPD­FE and COPD­NE. Metabolomic analysis revealed differences in lipid, energy, amino acid and immunity pathways. Spearman's correlation analysis demonstrated associations between metabolites and clinical indicators of acute exacerbation risk. ROC analysis demonstrated that the area under the curve (AUC) values for D­fructose 1,6­bisphosphate (AUC=0.871), arginine (AUC=0.836), L­2­hydroxyglutarate (L­2HG; AUC=0.849), diacylglycerol (DG) (16:0/20:5) (AUC=0.827), DG (16:0/20:4) (AUC=0.818) and carnitine­C18:2 (AUC=0.804) were >0.8, highlighting their discriminative capacity between the two groups. External validation results demonstrated that DG (16:0/20:5), DG (16:0/20:4), carnitine­C18:2 and L­2HG were significantly different between patients with COPD­FE and those with COPD­NE. In conclusion, the present study offers insights into early identification, mechanistic understanding and personalized management of the COPD­FE phenotype.

Enhanced Polysulfide Trapping and Conversion by Amorphous-Crystalline Heterostructured MnO2 Interlayers for Li-S Batteries.

The practical application of lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) is still hindered by several technical issues, including severe polysulfide shuttling and sluggish redox kinetics, which reduces the sulfur utilization and further results in low energy density. Herein, amorphous-crystalline heterostructured MnO2 (ACM) prepared through a simple calcination process was employed as the functional interlayer to play a double role as effective trapper and multifunctional electrocatalyst for LSBs. ACM not only combines the strong sulfur chemisorption of the amorphous MnO2 (AM) and fast Li+ transportation of the crystalline MnO2(CM) but also accelerates the interface charge transfer at the amorphous/crystalline interfaces. The LSBs with such unique interlayer exhibited an excellent rate performance of 1155.5 mAh·g-1 at 0.2 C and 692.9 mAh·g-1 at 3 C and a low decay rate of 0.071% per cycle over 500 cycles at 0.5 C. Even for a high sulfur loading of 5 mg·cm-2 at 0.1 C, a high capacity retention of 92.3% could also be achieved after 100 cycles. The concept of amorphous-crystalline heterostructures prepared by crystallization regulation might also be used for other electronic devices and catalyst designs.

Inorganic salt recrystallization strategy for achieving ultralong room temperature phosphorescence through structural confinement and aluminized reconstruction.

Achieving highly efficient and stable room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) with ultralong lifetime is critical for the multi-purpose applications of phosphorescent materials. In this work, we propose an inorganic salt heating recrystallization strategy to simultaneously improve the lifetime, quantum efficiency, and stability of phosphorescent scandium/leucine microspheres (Sc/Leu-MSs). Inorganic salt-treated Sc/Leu-MSs are obtained by simply heating and drying inorganic salt solution containing Sc/Leu-MSs, which can achieve a maximum lifetime increase of 4.42-times from 208.37 ms (Sc/Leu-MSs) to 920.08 ms (Al2(SO4)3-treated Sc/Leu-MSs), accompanied by a RTP intensity increase up to 24.08-times. The enhancement mechanism of RTP efficiency is attributed to the stabilization of triplet excitons caused by inorganic salt coating that suppresses molecular motion and isolates oxygen on the one hand, and the efficient intersystem crossing promoted by aluminized reconstruction-caused duplex heavy atom effects on the other hand. This study provides new design principle and a facile strategy to construct RTP materials with ultralong lifetime, high phosphorescent quantum efficiency, and high stability for promising applications such as anti-counterfeiting and light emitting diodes.

Built-In Electric Field on the Mott-Schottky Heterointerface-Enabled Fast Kinetics Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries (LSBs) have been considered one of the most potential candidates to substitute traditional Li-ion batteries (LIBs), owing to their high theoretical energy density and low cost. Nevertheless, the shuttle effect and the sluggish redox kinetics of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) have long been obstacles to realizing stable LSBs with high reversible capacity. In this study, we proposed a metal-semiconductor (Mo and MoO2) heterostructure with the hollow microsphere morphology as an effective Mott-Schottky electrocatalyst to boost sulfur electrochemistry. The hollow structure can physically inhibit the shuttling of LiPSs and accommodate the volume fluctuation during cycling. More importantly, the built-in electric field at the heterointerfacial sites can effectively accelerate the reduction of LiPSs and oxidation of Li2S, thereby reaching a high sulfur utilization. With the assistance of the Mo/MoO2 catalyst, the cell exhibited prominent rate capability and stable long-term cycling performance, showing a high capacity of 630 mA h·g-1 at 4 C and a low decay of 0.073% at 1 C after 500 cycles. Even with high areal sulfur loading of 10.0 mg·cm-2, high capacity and good cycle stability were achieved at 0.2 C under lean electrolyte conditions (E/S ratio of 6 µL·mg-1).

Reversible polymerization of carbon dots based on dynamic covalent imine bond.

Carbon dots (CDs), as new type of carbon-based nanoparticles, are considered to be an aggregate with irreversible polymerization. Achieving the reversible tunability of CDs luminescence based on their reversible polymerization is a challenging subject. Herein, we, for the first time, design and construct the blue-emitting CDs with reversible polymerization by a room-temperature Schiff base reaction between tannic acid and ethylenediamine. The formation of CDs is proven to be due to the crosslinking polymerization of precursors caused by imine bond. As a dynamic covalent bond, imine bond endows CDs with controllable structural transformation properties, and the prepared CDs can be depolymerized and polymerized reversibly by pH-controlled imine bond cleavage and re-formation. These properties of reversible fluorescence photoswitching make the CDs have a good application prospect in reversible information encryption.

Carbon dots induced in-situ formation of porous europium micro-networks with enhanced photocatalysis.

Excellent photocatalysts are highly desirable for clean energy and pollutant treatment. Carbon dots (CDs)-based composite photocatalysts have been widely studied and utilized in catalytic fields. However, the preparation of the photocatalysts with high catalytic activity still faces a great challenge. Herein, white-light-driven CDs-based porous europium micro-networks (CDs@P-Eu-MNs) composite photocatalysts are prepared by a facile in-situ growth strategy. CDs can affect the morphology and produce a large number of porous structures of CDs@P-Eu-MNs. Importantly, the introduction of CDs not only increases the light absorption, but also promotes the separation of photogenerated charge carriers, and thus improve photocatalytic performance of CDs@P-Eu-MNs composites. CDs@P-Eu-MNs show the highest photocurrent density, which can be used for the highly-efficient photodegradation of rhodamine 6G dyes with almost 95% degradation rate under low power white light (20 W) without any radical generating agents such as H2O2. Therefore, this new and efficient CDs@P-Eu-MNs photocatalyst will have a great application prospect in water pollution treatment.

Corrigendum to "Immunomodulatory Effects of Combination Therapy with Bushen Formula plus Entecavir for Chronic Hepatitis B Patients".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2019/8983903.].

Atractylenolide III ameliorates Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease by activating Hepatic Adiponectin Receptor 1-Mediated AMPK Pathway.

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most frequent cause of chronic liver diseases worldwide. At present, there are no effective pharmacological therapies for NAFLD except lifestyle intervention-mediated weight loss. Atractylenolide III (ATL III), the major bioactive component found in Atractylode smacrocephala Koidz, has been shown to exert anti-oxidant, anti-tumor, anti-allergic response, anti-bacterial effects and cognitive protection. Here we investigate the therapeutic potential and underlying mechanisms of ATL III for the treatment of NAFLD. Methods: Male C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) and treated with ATL III. Lipid accumulation was analyzed by Oil Red O staining in liver tissues and free fatty acids (FFAs)-treated hepatocytes. AMP-activated protein (AMPK) and sirtuin 1(SIRT1) signaling pathways were inhibited by Compound C and EX527 in vitro, respectively. Small-interfering RNA (siRNA) was used to knockdown adiponectin receptor 1 (AdipoR1) expression in HepG2 cells. Results: ATL III treatment ameliorated liver injury and hepatic lipid accumulation in the HFD-induced NAFLD mouse model as demonstrated by that ATL III administration significantly reduced serum levels of alanine aminotransferase, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, triglycerides, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein. Furthermore, treatment with ATL III alleviated hepatic oxidative stress, inflammation and fibrosis in the HFD feeding model. To study the underlying mechanisms, we performed Computer Aided Design assay and found that open-formed AdipoR1 and adiponectin receptor 2 were the potential receptors targeted by ATL III. Interestingly, HFD feeding or FFAs treatment only reduced hepatic AdipoR1 expression, while such reduction was abolished by ATL III administration. In addition, in vitro treatment with ATL III activated the AdipoR1 downstream AMPK /SIRT1 signaling pathway and reduced lipid deposition in HepG2 cells, which was diminished by silencing AdipoR1. Finally, inhibition of AMPK or SIRT1, the AdipoR1 downstream signaling, abolished the protective effects of ATL III on lipid deposition and oxidative stress in FFAs-treated HepG2 cells. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that ATL III is a therapeutic drug for the treatment of NAFLD and such protective effect is mediated by activating hepatic AdipoR1-mediated AMPK/SIRT1 signaling pathway.