Comparing the traditional and emerging therapies for enhancing wound healing in diabetic patients: A pivotal examination.

Chronic non-healing ulcers are common among diabetic patients, posing significant therapeutic challenges. This study compared traditional therapies (TT) and emerging therapies (ET) for enhancing diabetic patients' wound healing. A total of 150 diabetic patients with chronic ulcers, ages 30-65, were randomly assigned to one of two groups: TT (n = 75) or ET (n = 75). ET included growth factors, bioengineered skin substitutes, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, while TT for wound healing predominantly included debridement, saline-moistened dressings, and off-loading techniques. The primary outcome was the percentage of lesions that healed within 12 weeks, which was assessed at intervals. Secondary outcomes included time to wound recovery, pain using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and life quality via Wound-QoL questionnaire. By the 12th week, the ET group had a repair rate of 81.33% compared to 57.33% in TT group (p < 0.05). ET exhibited superior pain reduction (VAS score: 4.7 ± 1.6 for ET vs. 6.2 ± 1.4 for TT, p < 0.05) and improved life quality (Wound-QoL score: 61.8 ± 9.1 for ET vs. 44.3 ± 10.3 for TT, p < 0.05). However, there were slightly more cases of cutaneous irritation and hematomas among ET patients. ET have demonstrated significant efficacy in accelerating wound healing in diabetic patients, surpassing traditional methods, with additional advantages in pain management and life quality. Due to the observed minor complications, however, caution is required.

Monensin Inhibits Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer via Disrupting Mitochondrial Respiration and AMPK/mTOR Signaling.

OBJECTIVE: The clinical management of anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) remains challenging, and novel treatment methods are needed. Monensin is a carboxyl polyether ionophore that potently inhibits the growth of various cancer types. Our current work investigates whether monensin has selective anti-ATC activity and systematically explores its underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Proliferation and apoptosis assays were performed using a panel of thyroid cancer cell lines. Mitochondrial biogenesis profiles, ATP levels, oxidative stress, AMPK, and mTOR were examined in these cells after monensin treatment. RESULTS: Monensin is effective in inhibiting proliferation and inducing apoptosis in a number of thyroid cancer cell lines. The results are consistent across cell lines of varying cellular origins and genetic mutations. Compared to other thyroid cancer cell types, ATC cell lines are the most sensitive to monensin. Of note, monensin used at our experimental concentration affects less of normal cells. Mechanistic studies reveal that monensin acts on ATC cells by disrupting mitochondrial function, inducing oxidative stress and damage, and AMPK activation-induced mTOR inhibition. We further show that mitochondrial respiration is a critical target for monensin in ATC cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our pre-clinical findings demonstrate the selective anti-ATC activities of monensin. This is supported by increasing evidence that monensin can be repurposed as a potential anti-cancer drug.

Label-Free Quantitative Proteomic Analysis of the Global Response to Indole-3-Acetic Acid in Newly Isolated Pseudomonas sp. Strain LY1.

Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), known as a common plant hormone, is one of the most distributed indole derivatives in the environment, but the degradation mechanism and cellular response network to IAA degradation are still not very clear. The objective of this study was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of IAA degradation at the protein level by a newly isolated strain Pseudomonas sp. LY1. Label-free quantitative proteomic analysis of strain LY1 cultivated with IAA or citrate/NH4Cl was applied. A total of 2,604 proteins were identified, and 227 proteins have differential abundances in the presence of IAA, including 97 highly abundant proteins and 130 less abundant proteins. Based on the proteomic analysis an IAA degrading (iad) gene cluster in strain LY1 containing IAA transformation genes (organized as iadHABICDEFG), genes of the ß-ketoadipate pathway for catechol and protocatechuate degradation (catBCA and pcaABCDEF) were identified. The iadA, iadB, and iadE-disrupted mutants lost the ability to grow on IAA, which confirmed the role of the iad cluster in IAA degradation. Degradation intermediates were analyzed by HPLC, LC-MS, and GC-MS analysis. Proteomic analysis and identified products suggested that multiple degradation pathways existed in strain LY1. IAA was initially transformed to dioxindole-3-acetic acid, which was further transformed to isatin. Isatin was then transformed to isatinic acid or catechol. An in-depth data analysis suggested oxidative stress in strain LY1 during IAA degradation, and the abundance of a series of proteins was upregulated to respond to the stress, including reaction oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, protein repair, fatty acid synthesis, RNA protection, signal transduction, chemotaxis, and several membrane transporters. The findings firstly explained the adaptation mechanism of bacteria to IAA degradation.

Polysaccharides derived from Enteromorpha prolifera for the removal of silver nanoparticle-humic acid contaminants by a coagulation-ultrafiltration process.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) pose serious health risks to humans as the adsorption between AgNPs and humic acid (HA) makes it difficult to remove them from surface water. To solve this problem, polysaccharides extracted from a marine alga, Enteromorpha prolifera (denoted as Ep), were used to eliminate the AgNP-HA composite contaminant via a coagulation-ultrafiltration (C-UF) process. The structure of Ep, AgNP-HA removal mechanism and membrane fouling were analyzed. The results indicated that the backbone of Ep was composed of (1 → 4)-linked l-rhamnopyranose, (1 → 4)-linked d-xylose and (1 → 4)-linked glucuronic acid. With the charge neutralization of PAC hydrolysates and the bridging-sweep role of Ep, AgNPs could be removed completely by the C-UF process. The coagulation performance and membrane flux were the highest when the PAC and Ep dosages were 2.0 mg L-1 and 0.3 mg L-1, respectively. In addition, when Ep was applied in the C-UF process, the flocs exhibited larger sizes, faster growth rates, better recovery ability and looser structures, which resulted in lower cake resistance and less pore blocking of the UF membrane. Consequently, the membrane flux could be improved by about 25-30% due to the addition of Ep.

Enteromorpha prolifera polysaccharide based coagulant aid for humic acids removal and ultrafiltration membrane fouling control.

Polyacrylamide (PAM) has been used as a coagulant aid in water treatment process for past decades, but it has caused great damages to human nervous system. Developing new coagulant aid with high biological safety is urgently demanded. This study provides a natural biomacromolecule coagulant aid with good biosecurity-Enteromorpha prolifera polysaccharide (Ep). Its coagulant aid efficiency and mechanism were investigated in terms of organics removal, floc properties and membrane fouling degree. In addition, contrast experiments were conducted with PAM to evaluate its potential of industrial applications. Results showed that organics removal could be increased by 23% when 0.3 mg/L Ep was used, which exhibited comparable aid effects to PAM. Due to the bridging-sweep aid role of Ep, flocs sizes, growth rate and recovery factor reached 470 µm, 62.6 µm/min and 0.492, respectively, while only 170 µm, 14.0 µm/min and 0.326 were obtained by PAM. Additionally, flocs exhibited more porous and multi-branched structures when Ep was applied, which caused less ultrafiltration membrane fouling (eventual J/J0 value = 0.52). As a result, Ep could be considered as a potential substitute of PAM, since better biosecurity, higher organics removal and lower membrane fouling could be obtained simultaneously by Ep addition.

Application of Enteromorpha polysaccharides as a new coagulant aid to remove silver nanoparticles: role of dosage sequence and solution pH.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in surface water cause a serious threat to the health of humans and aquatic organisms. However, it is difficult to remove AgNPs completely since they could adsorb onto the surface of humic acid (HA) and meanwhile release Ag+ into water. In this paper, Enteromorpha polysaccharides (Ep) were applied as a coagulant aid with polyaluminum chloride (PAC) to solve this problem. The influences of Ep dosage, dosing sequence and solution pH on the coagulation efficiency, kinetics and removal mechanism of AgNPs were discussed systematically. Results showed that when Ep was applied, AgNPs could be removed effectively due to charge neutralization of PAC hydrolysate and the bridging-sweeping role of Ep gel network. When Ep was added 30 s after PAC dosing, the coagulation efficiency was about 10-20% higher than that of the reverse order. Under this condition, flocs sizes achieved 450 µm when the solution pH was 6.0, which is much larger than that using Ep-PAC. Additionally, Ep showed an ability to promote the re-aggregation of broken flocs, and AgNP-HA flocs exhibited larger sizes, better shear resistance, higher recovery ability and denser structure at pH 6.0. Factorial analysis results indicated that PAC dosage had the greatest impact on HA and AgNP removal, while Ag+ removal is more sensitive to Ep dosage.