Effect of tumor-associated macrophages on the pyroptosis of breast cancer tumor cells.

Macrophages are immune cells with high plasticity that are widely distributed in all tissues and organs of the body. Under the influence of the immune microenvironment of breast tumors, macrophages differentiate into various germline lineages. They exert pro-tumor or tumor-suppressive effects by secreting various cytokines. Pyroptosis is mediated by Gasdermin family proteins, which form holes in cell membranes and cause a violent inflammatory response and cell death. This is an important way for the body to fight off infections. Tumor cell pyroptosis can activate anti-tumor immunity and inhibit tumor growth. At the same time, it releases inflammatory mediators and recruits tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) for accumulation. Macrophages act as "mediators" of cytokine interactions and indirectly influence the pyroptosis pathway. This paper describes the mechanism of action on the part of TAM in affecting the pyroptosis process of breast tumor cells, as well as its key role in the tumor microenvironment. Additionally, it provides the basis for in-depth research on how to use immune cells to affect breast tumors and guide anti-tumor trends, with important implications for the prevention and treatment of breast tumors. Video Abstract.

Acupuncture Attenuates Ototoxicity Induced by Gentamicin in Mice.

CONTEXT: Presbycusis is age-related, progressive, and symmetrical hearing loss in both ears. Acupuncture can play a vital role in the diagnosis and treatment of deafness, but its functional mechanism is still not entirely clear. OBJECTIVE: The study intended to explore acupuncture's protective effects and mechanism of treatment in addressing ototoxicity induced by gentamicin (GM) in aged mice. DESIGN: The research team designed an animal study, and a mouse model of ototoxicity induced by GM was established. SETTING: The study took place in Nanchong Central Hospital, Sichuan, China. ANIMALS: The animals were 48 male, Kunming mice, with sixteen being three months old and 32 being 18 month old. INTERVENTION: The three-month-old mice were randomly assigned to a control group (n = 8) and a GM group (n = 8). The 18-month-old mice were randomly divided into four groups with eight mice each: a positive control group; a negative control group, the GM group; and two intervention groups, the acupuncture + GM group and the drug + GM group. The GM groups were intraperitoneally injected with 100 mg/kg daily of GM for 10 consecutive days. The acupuncture + GM group received acupuncture, and the drug + GM group was injected intraperitoneally with Genadol. OUTCOME MEASURES: The effects of GM induction and treatment with acupuncture or a drug on the numbers of auditory cochlear hair cells were evaluated via an auditory test and cell staining. A real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed for gene detection. The levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), and glutathione (GSH) were measured. RESULTS: The aged mice were susceptible to GM ototoxicity. After acupuncture, the threshold of the auditory brainstem response and the number of cochlear hair cells increased significantly. Acupuncture inhibited oxidative stress via the nuclear factor erythroid-derived factor 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) signaling pathway in the mice. CONCLUSIONS: The data demonstrated that acupuncture can alleviate GM ototoxicity via the NRF2 signaling pathway, providing important support for acupuncture in treatment of GM ototoxicity.

Resilience assessment and obstacle factor analysis of urban areas facing waterlogging disasters: a case study of Shanghai, China.

In recent years, accelerated global warming, rainstorms, typhoons, and other natural disasters have been frequently observed, bringing immeasurable direct and indirect economic losses to urban areas. Determining how to further enhance the resilience of urban areas has become an important topic in economic and social development. Therefore, based on waterlogging scenarios, this study uses a more accurate research method combining the subjective evaluation AHP (analytic hierarchy process) method and objective evaluation TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method to evaluate the urban resilience of 16 districts of the Shanghai megacity as the research objects and divides the resilience grade results using the ArcGIS natural breakpoint method. The results show that (1) the overall resilience of all districts in Shanghai needs to be further improved. Among the 16 districts in Shanghai, Pudong New Area has the highest urban resilience level. There are more areas with moderate and above-moderate resilience levels, while some areas with low and moderate resilience levels are distributed mainly in the downtown area of Shanghai. (2) Through the analysis of obstacles to the development of urban resilience in the districts of Shanghai, such obstacles tend to be the same under the waterlogging disaster scenarios. Compared to ecological and social policy resilience indices, economic resilience indices and infrastructure resilience indices significantly impact the resilience of urban districts under waterlogging scenarios. The above conclusions can not only help improve the direction of urban resilience governance in various districts of Shanghai but also provide empirical theoretical experience for the resilient construction of urban areas in the future.

A simple one-pot synthesis of single-crystalline magnetite hollow spheres from a single iron precursor.

This paper presents a facile route using a simple solvothermal reaction to synthesize monodisperse and single-crystalline Fe(3)O(4) hollow spheres. Fe(3)O(4) hollow spheres with a mean diameter of 200 nm are fabricated using the coordination compound [Fe(urea)(6)]Cl(3) as the sole iron source, in the absence of any other additives. TEM, SEM and HRTEM results show that single-crystalline Fe(3)O(4) hollow spheres are composed of well-aligned nanoparticles. The as-prepared hollow spheres have a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of about 16.251 m(2) g(-1) with an average pore size of 3.537 nm. The hollow spheres display obvious ferromagnetism at room temperature with a saturation magnetization of 79.58 emu g(-1), a remanent magnetization of 19.1 emu g(-1) and coercivity of 133.5 Oe. The growth mechanism of single-crystalline Fe(3)O(4) hollow spheres is attributed to the cooperation of oriented aggregation and Ostwald ripening.