Etamsylate loaded oxidized Konjac glucomannan-ε-polylysine injectable hydrogels for rapid hemostasis and wound healing.

Uncontrollable bleeding is a crucial factor that can lead to fatality. Therefore, the development of hemostatic dressings that enable rapid hemostasis is of utmost importance. Hydrogels with injectability, self-healing ability, and adhesiveness hold significant potential as effective hemostatic dressings. Herein, a composite hydrogel was fabricated by the oxidized Konjac glucomannan and ε-polylysine. After the encapsulation of a hemostatic drug, etamsylate, an oxidized Konjac glucomannan/ε-polylysine/etamsylate (OKGM/PL/E) composite hydrogel that possesses favorable properties including injectability, self-healing ability, tissue adhesiveness, hemocompatibility and cytocompatibility was fabricated. The OKGM/PL/E hydrogel demonstrated the ability to effectively adhere red blood cells and seal wounds, enabling rapid control of hemorrhaging. In vivo wound healing experiments confirmed the hemostatic and wound healing efficacy of the OKGM/PL/E hydrogel, highlighting its potential as a valuable hemostatic dressing.

All-Nanochitin-Derived, Super-Compressible, Elastic, and Robust Carbon Honeycombs and Their Pressure-Sensing Properties over an Ultrawide Temperature Range.

Elastic carbon aerogels show great potential for various applications but are often hindered by structure-derived fatigue failure, weak elasticity with low compressibility, and low stress and height retention. Herein, we demonstrate a super-elastic and fatigue-resistant nanochitin-derived carbon honeycomb with honeycomb-like anisotropic microstructures and carbon-based molecular structures, which was tailored by optimizing the nanochitin concentrations and carbonization temperatures. The carbon honeycomb fabricated at a nanochitin concentration of 1.0 wt % and a carbonization temperature of 900 °C demonstrated anisotropic honeycomb channels, nanofibrous network channel walls with few cracks, and weak interactions between the carbonized nanochitin, which afforded high compressibility with up to 90% strain and complete recovery. In particular, the carbon honeycomb provided good fatigue resistance with high stress and height retentions of 87 and 94%, respectively, after more than 10,000 compression cycles at 90% strain. Moreover, the tailored anisotropic honeycomb channels and molecular structures endowed the carbon honeycomb with elasticity even under severe conditions, such as exposure to flame (approximately 1000 °C) and liquid nitrogen (approximately -196 °C). Owing to these properties, the nanochitin-derived carbon honeycomb could act as a high-sensitivity pressure sensor for a wide working pressure range of 0-185.5 kPa and ultrawide temperature range of -196-600 °C. This study can provide a promising route to develop all-biomass-derived, super-elastic, and fatigue-resistant carbon materials for pressure sensing under harsh conditions and for versatile electronic applications.

CO2-laser-induced carbonization of calcium chloride-treated chitin nanopaper for applications in solar thermal heating.

Remarkable progress has been made in the development of carbonized chitin nanofiber materials for various functional applications, including solar thermal heating, owing to their N- and O-doped carbon structures and sustainable nature. Carbonization is a fascinating process for the functionalization of chitin nanofiber materials. However, conventional carbonization techniques require harmful reagents, high-temperature treatment, and time-consuming processes. Although CO2 laser irradiation has progressed as a facile and second-scale high-speed carbonization process, CO2-laser-carbonized chitin nanofiber materials and their applications have not yet been explored. Herein, we demonstrate the CO2-laser-induced carbonization of chitin nanofiber paper (denoted as chitin nanopaper) and investigate the solar thermal heating performance of the CO2-laser-carbonized chitin nanopaper. While the original chitin nanopaper was inevitably burned out by CO2 laser irradiation, CO2-laser-induced carbonization of the chitin nanopaper was achieved by pretreatment with calcium chloride as a combustion inhibitor. The CO2-laser-carbonized chitin nanopaper exhibits excellent solar thermal heating performance; its equilibrium surface temperature under 1 sun irradiation is 77.7 °C, which is higher than those of the commercial nanocarbon films and the conventionally carbonized bionanofiber papers. This study paves the way for the high-speed fabrication of carbonized chitin nanofiber materials and their application in solar thermal heating toward the effective utilization of solar energy as heat.

Chitin-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanopaper with Subwavelength Nanoporous Structures for Solar Thermal Heating.

Sustainable biomass-derived carbons have attracted research interest because of their ability to effectively absorb and convert solar light to thermal energy, a phenomenon known as solar thermal heating. Although their carbon-based molecular and nanoporous structures should be customized to achieve enhanced solar thermal heating performance, such customization has insufficiently progressed. In this study, we transformed a chitin nanofiber/water dispersion into paper, referred to as chitin nanopaper, with subwavelength nanoporous structures by spatially controlled drying, followed by temperature-controlled carbonization without any pretreatment to customize the carbon-based molecular structures. The optimal carbonization temperature for enhancing the solar absorption and solar thermal heating performance of the chitin nanopaper was determined to be 400 °C. Furthermore, we observed that the nitrogen component, which afforded nitrogen-doped carbon structures, and the high morphological stability of chitin nanofibers against carbonization, which maintained subwavelength nanoporous structures even after carbonization, contributed to the improved solar absorption of the carbonized chitin nanopaper. The carbonized chitin nanopaper exhibited a higher solar thermal heating performance than the carbonized cellulose nanopaper and commercial nanocarbon materials, thus demonstrating significant potential as an excellent solar thermal material.

Nanocellulose Paper Semiconductor with a 3D Network Structure and Its Nano-Micro-Macro Trans-Scale Design.

Semiconducting nanomaterials with 3D network structures exhibit various fascinating properties such as electrical conduction, high permeability, and large surface areas, which are beneficial for adsorption, separation, and sensing applications. However, research on these materials is substantially restricted by the limited trans-scalability of their structural design and tunability of electrical conductivity. To overcome this challenge, a pyrolyzed cellulose nanofiber paper (CNP) semiconductor with a 3D network structure is proposed. Its nano-micro-macro trans-scale structural design is achieved by a combination of iodine-mediated morphology-retaining pyrolysis with spatially controlled drying of a cellulose nanofiber dispersion and paper-crafting techniques, such as microembossing, origami, and kirigami. The electrical conduction of this semiconductor is widely and systematically tuned, via the temperature-controlled progressive pyrolysis of CNP, from insulating (1012 Ω cm) to quasimetallic (10-2 Ω cm), which considerably exceeds that attained in other previously reported nanomaterials with 3D networks. The pyrolyzed CNP semiconductor provides not only the tailorable functionality for applications ranging from water-vapor-selective sensors to enzymatic biofuel cell electrodes but also the designability of macroscopic device configurations for stretchable and wearable applications. This study provides a pathway to realize structurally and functionally designable semiconducting nanomaterials and all-nanocellulose semiconducting technology for diverse electronics.

ALK7 Inhibition Protects Osteoblast Cells Against High Glucoseinduced ROS Production via Nrf2/HO-1 Signaling Pathway.

BACKGROUND: Some studies demonstrated that under high-glucose (HG) condition, osteoblasts develop oxidative stress, which will impair their normal functions. The effects of activin receptor-like kinase 7 (ALK7) silencing on HG-induced osteoblasts remained unclear. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the effect of ALK7 on HG-induced osteoblasts. METHODS: MC3T3-E1 cells were treated with different concentrations of HG (0, 50, 100, 200 and 300mg/dL), and the cell viability was detected using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8). HG-treated MC3T3-E1 cells were transfected with siALK7 or ALK7 overexpression plasmid or siNrf2, and then the viability and apoptosis were detected by CCK-8 and flow cytometry. The levels of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), collagen I and calcification nodule were determined by oxidative stress kits, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Alizarin red staining. The expressions of NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and osteoblast-associated genes were determined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot. RESULTS: Cell viability was reduced with HG treatment. Silencing ALK7 inhibited the effect of HG on increasing cell apoptosis and ROS production, reduced cell viability, mineralized nodules, and downregulated collagen I and osteoblast-associated genes expression in MC3T3-E1 cells. ALK7 silencing activated the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway by affecting expressions of HO-1 and Nrf2. ALK7 overexpression had the opposite effects. In addition, siNrf2 partially reversed the effects of ALK7 silencing on HG-induced MC3T3-E1 cells. CONCLUSION: ALK7 silencing protected osteoblasts under HG condition possibly through activating the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway.

Polydopamine Doping and Pyrolysis of Cellulose Nanofiber Paper for Fabrication of Three-Dimensional Nanocarbon with Improved Yield and Capacitive Performances.

Biomass-derived three-dimensional (3D) porous nanocarbons have attracted much attention due to their high surface area, permeability, electrical conductivity, and renewability, which are beneficial for various electronic applications, including energy storage. Cellulose, the most abundant and renewable carbohydrate polymer on earth, is a promising precursor to fabricate 3D porous nanocarbons by pyrolysis. However, the pyrolysis of cellulosic materials inevitably causes drastic carbon loss and volume shrinkage. Thus, polydopamine doping prior to the pyrolysis of cellulose nanofiber paper is proposed to fabricate the 3D porous nanocarbons with improved yield and volume retention. Our results show that a small amount of polydopamine (4.3 wt%) improves carbon yield and volume retention after pyrolysis at 700 °C from 16.8 to 26.4% and 15.0 to 19.6%, respectively. The pyrolyzed polydopamine-doped cellulose nanofiber paper has a larger specific surface area and electrical conductivity than cellulose nanofiber paper that without polydopamine. Owing to these features, it also affords a good specific capacitance up to 200 F g-1 as a supercapacitor electrode, which is higher than the recently reported cellulose-derived nanocarbons. This method provides a pathway for the effective fabrication of high-performance cellulose-derived 3D porous nanocarbons.

[Incidence of Bone Marrow Involvement in Different Pathological Type Lymphoma Patients].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the incidence of bone marrow involvement in patients with different pathological types of lymphoma. METHODS: The results of bone marrow tests including bone marrow aspiration(BMA), flow cytometry detection, bone marrow biopsy(BMB) and 18F-FDG PET/CT, were analyzed retrospectively in 702 cases of newly diagnosed lymphoma with bone marrow assessment in our hospital from October 2000 to September 2016. If one of the above-mentioned 4 tests showed positive, the lymphoma patient was judged as bone marrow involved. RESULTS: The incidence of bone marrow involvement (BMI ) in the patients with NHL was much higher than that in patients with HL [32.6 %(201/616) vs 15%(13/86)](P<0.05). For patients with NHL, the incidence of bone marrow involvement in B-cell lymphoma was higher than that in T-cell lymphoma (37.0% vs 22.6%)(P<0.05). According to different pathological types, the incidences of BMI in the patient with mantle cell lymphoma, hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and follical lymphoma (FL) were 88% (25/22), 100% (5/5), 21.8% (56/257), and 38.5% (15/39) , respectively. CONCLUSION: The incidence of bone marrow involvement varies in different pathological types of lymphoma.Bone marrow assessment has significant importance for stading of newly diagnosed lymphoma patients.

Shapeable Fibrous Aerogels of Metal-Organic-Frameworks Templated with Nanocellulose for Rapid and Large-Capacity Adsorption.

Conventional metal-organic framework (MOF) powders have periodic micro/mesoporous crystalline architectures tuned by their three-dimensional coordination of metal nodes and organic linkers. To add practical macroscopic shapeability and extrinsic hierarchical porosity, fibrous MOF aerogels were produced by synthesizing MOF crystals on the template of TEMPO-cellulose nanofibrils. Cellulose nanofibrils not only offered extrinsic porosities and mechanical flexibility for the resultant MOF aerogels, but also shifted the balance of nucleation and growth for synthesizing smaller MOF crystals, and further decreased their aggregation possibilities. Thanks to their excellent shapeability, hierarchical porosity up to 99%, and low density below 0.1 g/cm3, these MOF aerogels could make the most of their pores and accessible surface areas for higher adsorption capacity and rapid adsorption kinetics of different molecules, in sharp contrast to conventional MOF powders. Thus, this scalable and low-cost production pathway is able to convert MOF powders into a shapeable and flexible form and thereby extend their applications in more broad fields, for example, adapting a conventional filtration setup.

[Values of Different Evaluation Criteria of Interim 18F-FDG PET/CT Scan for Prediction of Prognosis in Patients with DLBCL].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the prognostic value of interim 18F-FDG PET/CT (i-PET/CT) scan for the patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). METHODS: A total of 70 cases of initially diagnosed of DLBCL by 158 18F-FDG PET/CT scans in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. The 5-point scale, the Lugano classification and maximum standardized uptake value induction (ΔSUVmax) criteria were used respectively to assess i-PET/CT scans. Receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was used to determine an optimal cutoff for ΔSUVmax. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) times were estimated as prognostic indicators using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression. RESULTS: Optimal cutoff to predict progression or death was 62% for ΔSUVmax. The positive predictive value (PPV) for 2-year PFS and OS of i-PET/CT diagnosed by 5-point scale was low, and could be improved by using the Lugano classification with decreased sensitivity or ΔSUVmax criteria. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that the Lugano classification and ΔSUVmax were good predictors for PFS and OS, respectively, while the 5-point scale could only predict OS. Cox regression univariate analysis showed that the International Prognostic Index (IPI) score was better to predict PFS than 5-point scale, but worse than the three assessments in predicting OS. COX regression multivariate analysis showed that ΔSUVmax<62% was an independent risk factor of prognosis, while the Lugano classification was only the OS independent prognostic predictor. CONCLUSION: Assessing i-PET/CT by 5-point scale is a limited value for predicting PFS and OS in DLBCL patients. The Lugano classification is recommended to discriminate the patients with poorer outcomes. The ΔSUVmax criteria for i-PET/CT of DLBCL patients is an independent prognostic predictor for PFS and OS, better than the IPI score.