Photodynamic and nitric oxide therapy-based synergistic antimicrobial nanoplatform: an advanced root canal irrigation system for endodontic bacterial infections.

BACKGROUND: The main issues faced during the treatment of apical periodontitis are the management of bacterial infection and the facilitation of the repair of alveolar bone defects to shorten disease duration. Conventional root canal irrigants are limited in their efficacy and are associated with several side effects. This study introduces a synergistic therapy based on nitric oxide (NO) and antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) for the treatment of apical periodontitis. RESULTS: This research developed a multifunctional nanoparticle, CGP, utilizing guanidinylated poly (ethylene glycol)-poly (ε-Caprolactone) polymer as a carrier, internally loaded with the photosensitizer chlorin e6. During root canal irrigation, the guanidino groups on the surface of CGP enabled effective biofilm penetration. These groups undergo oxidation by hydrogen peroxide in the aPDT process, triggering the release of NO without hindering the production of singlet oxygen. The generated NO significantly enhanced the antimicrobial capability and biofilm eradication efficacy of aPDT. Furthermore, CGP not only outperforms conventional aPDT in eradicating biofilms but also effectively promotes the repair of alveolar bone defects post-eradication. Importantly, our findings reveal that CGP exhibits significantly higher biosafety compared to sodium hypochlorite, alongside superior therapeutic efficacy in a rat model of apical periodontitis. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that CGP, an effective root irrigation system based on aPDT and NO, has a promising application in root canal therapy.

Self-Encapsulation of High-Entropy Alloy Nanoparticles inside Carbonized Wood for Highly Durable Electrocatalysis.

High-entropy alloy nanoparticles (HEAs) show great potential in emerging electrocatalysis due to their combination and optimization of multiple elements. However, synthesized HEAs often exhibit a weak interface with the conductive substrate, hindering their applications in long-term catalysis and energy conversion. Herein, a highly active and durable electrocatalyst composed of quinary HEAs (PtNiCoFeCu) encapsulated inside the activated carbonized wood (ACW) is reported. The self-encapsulation of HEAs is achieved during Joule heating synthesis (2060 K, 2 s) where HEAs naturally nucleate at the defect sites. In the meantime, HEAs catalyze the deposition of mobile carbon atoms to form a protective few-layer carbon shell during the rapid quenching process, thus remarkably strengthening the interface stability between HEAs and ACW. As a result, the HEAs@ACW shows not only favorable activity with an overpotential of 7 mV at 10 mA cm-2 for hydrogen evolution but also negligible attenuation during a 500 h stability test, which is superior to most reported electrocatalysts. The design of self-encapsulated HEAs inside ACW provides a critical strategy to enhance both activity and stability, which is also applicable to many other energy conversion technologies.

Novel two-photon absorption compounds with different organic cations: facile synthesis, photophysical properties, detection of viscosity, and selective imaging of the endoplasmic reticulum in living cells.

Three novel imidazole-based two-photon absorption compounds bearing different organic cations (1PIPy, 2PIQu, and 3PIIm) were facilely synthesized and fully characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, FT-IR, and HRMS. The linear and nonlinear photophysical properties of the target compounds were systematically investigated in various solvents, supplemented with the density functional theory calculations to shed light on their structure-property relationships. The maximum two-photon action cross-sections (Φ × Î´max) were determined to be 22.4-98.2 (CH2Cl2), 9.6-41.3 (DMF), and 3.9-11.8 (H2O) GM. It is found that 3PIIm shows significant viscosity sensitivity with a sharp 27-fold increase in fluorescence intensity. Its fluorescence intensity also exhibits a linear relationship with the viscosity of the media in a logarithmic plot. The Φ × Î´max value of 3PIIm in highly viscous glycerol was found to be 107.5 GM. Cytotoxicity tests indicate that these compounds have relatively low cytotoxicity. All the target compounds were successfully characterized by one- and two-photon fluorescence imaging in living cells. The colocalization experiments reveal that 1PIPy and 3PIIm are specially located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) with the Pearson's coefficients above 0.90. 3PIIm can also monitor the fluctuation of ER viscosity during etoposide-induced apoptosis.

Novel red light-emitting two-photon absorption compounds with large Stokes shifts for living cell imaging.

Three novel donor-π-acceptor two-photon absorption compounds (1PZPy, 2PZIm, 3CZPy) bearing the 10-butyl-10H-phenothiazine (9-butyl-9H-carbazole) donor, the pyridinium (benzimidazolium) acceptor, and the 2,5-divinylthiophene π-bridge were synthesized and fully characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, FT-IR, and HRMS. The linear and nonlinear photophysical properties were systematically investigated. Their absorption properties show a strong solvent dependence, while the emission properties are nearly independent of solvent polarity. All of them possess large Stokes shifts (Δλ=149-190 nm in H2O). 1PZPy and 3CZPy exhibit red fluorescence emission centered at about 635 and 660 nm, respectively. The two-photon absorption cross-sections measured by the open aperture Z-scan technique are determined to be 486 (1PZPy), 601 (2PZIm), and 753 GM (3CZPy) in DMF. The density functional theory calculations were further carried out to reveal their electronic structures. All the target compounds are verified to have low cytotoxicity in the working solution and good capability for one- and two-photon excitation fluorescence imaging, suggesting their potential application in bioimaging. Moreover, they show the organelle targeting ability in living cells with the high Pearson's coefficients above 0.94 for the endoplasmic reticulum.

Associative analysis of multi-omics data indicates that acetylation modification is widely involved in cigarette smoke-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

We aimed to study the molecular mechanisms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) caused by cigarette smoke more comprehensively and systematically through different perspectives and aspects and to explore the role of protein acetylation modification in COPD. We established the COPD model by exposing C57BL/6J mice to cigarette smoke for 24 weeks, then analyzed the transcriptomics, proteomics, and acetylomics data of mouse lung tissue by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), and associated these omics data through unique algorithms. This study demonstrated that the differentially expressed proteins and acetylation modification in the lung tissue of COPD mice were co-enriched in pathways such as oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and fatty acid degradation. A total of 19 genes, namely, ENO3, PFKM, ALDOA, ACTN2, FGG, MYH1, MYH3, MYH8, MYL1, MYLPF, TTN, ACTA1, ATP2A1, CKM, CORO1A, EEF1A2, AKR1B8, MB, and STAT1, were significantly and differentially expressed at all the three levels of transcription, protein, and acetylation modification simultaneously. Then, we assessed the distribution and expression in different cell subpopulations of these 19 genes in the lung tissues of patients with COPD by analyzing data from single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Finally, we carried out the in vivo experimental verification using mouse lung tissue through quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), Western blotting (WB), immunofluorescence (IF), and immunoprecipitation (IP). The results showed that the differential acetylation modifications of mouse lung tissue are widely involved in cigarette smoke-induced COPD. ALDOA is significantly downregulated and hyperacetylated in the lung tissues of humans and mice with COPD, which might be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and/or treatment of COPD.

Development of autotrophic and heterotrophic consortia via immobilized microbial beads for chemical wastewater treatment, using PTA wastewater as an approach.

Studies on the symbiosis of microalgae-bacteria have been accelerating as a mean for wastewater remediation. However, there were few reports about the microalgae-bacteria consortia for chemical wastewater treatment. The aim of the present study is to develop an autotrophic and heterotrophic consortium for chemical wastewater treatment and probe whether and how bacteria could benefit from the microalgae during the treatment process, using PTA wastewater as an approach. A process-dependent strategy was applied. First of all, the results showed that the sludge beads with the sludge concentration of 30 g/L were the optimal one with the COD removal rate at 84.8% but the ceiling effect occurred (COD removal rate < 90%) even several common reinforcement methods were applied. Additionally, by adding the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris, a microalgae-activated sludge consortium was formed inside the immobilized beads, which provided better performance to shatter the ceiling effect. The COD remove rate was higher than 90%, regardless of the activated sludge was pre-culture or not. COD removal capacity could also be improved (COD removal rate > 92%) when LEDs light belt was offered as an advanced light condition. Biochemical assay and DNA analysis indicated that the microalgae could form an internal circulation of substances within the activated sludge and drove the microbial community to success and the corresponding gene functions, like metabolism and.

Inner filter effect-modulated ratiometric fluorescence aptasensor based on competition strategy for zearalenone detection in cereal crops: Using mitoxantrone as quencher of CdTe QDs@SiO2.

Herein, an innovative ratiometric fluorescence (FL) aptasensor was successfully fabricated for the accurate analysis of zearalenone (ZEN) in corn and barley flour. The ZEN aptamer-modified nitrogen doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs-apt) and silica sphere-encapsulated cadmium telluride quantum dots (CdTe QDs@SiO2) were directly mixed and applied as ratiometric probes. In the absence of ZEN, mitoxantrone (MTX), which was innovatively introduced as quencher, was captured by NGQDs-apt and its inner filter effect (IFE) on CdTe QDs@SiO2 was inhibited. When ZEN existed, MTX separated from NGQDs-apt and re-dispersed around CdTe QDs@SiO2 owing to the competitive binding of ZEN with its aptamer. As the IFE of free MTX on CdTe QDs@SiO2 recovering, the FL intensity of CdTe QDs@SiO2 was quenched, while the FL intensity of NGQDs-apt was nearly invariant. On this basis, a ratiometric FL aptasensor for ZEN was fabricated, which exhibited outstanding detection performances with a desirable detection limit of 0.32 pg mL-1.

Impact of Surgical Modalities on Long-term Survival Outcomes of Patients with Duodenal Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor.

BACKGROUND: The optimal surgical modality for duodenal gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) remains undefined. The purpose of this study was to evaluate long-term survival outcomes of patients who underwent radical resection (RR) or limited resection (LR) of duodenal GIST. METHODS: A total of 325 patients identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database who underwent surgery for duodenal GIST between 1986 and 2016 were classified into a LR group and a RR group based on the type of surgery received. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to minimize the selection bias in comparisons. Disease-specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS) were observed, and factors affecting the survival outcome were analyzed. RESULTS: In the entire cohort, 105 patients (32.3%) underwent RR and 220 (67.7%) received LR. Both the 5-year OS and DSS in RR group were significantly better than those in LR group (71.0% vs. 54.1%, P = 0.014; 66.6% vs. 49.1%, P = 0.025). PSM resulted in 95 pairs of patients, with long-term outcomes being comparable between the two groups. After adjusting covariates in the propensity matched cohort, the type of surgery still showed no significant impact on OS (hazard ratio [HR] 1.160; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.662-2.033) and DSS (HR 1.208; 95% CI 0.686-2.128). CONCLUSIONS: Surgical modalities do not seem to have a significant impact on long-term survival outcomes of patients with duodenal GIST and should mainly depend on the tumor size and location.

Nkx2-5 Regulates the Proliferation and Migration of H9c2 Cells.

BACKGROUND The protein NKX2-5 affects mammalian heart development. In mice, the disruption of Nkx2-5 has been associated with arrhythmias, abnormal myocardial contraction, abnormal cardiac morphogenesis, and death. However, the details of the mechanisms are unclear. This study was designed to investigate them. MATERIAL AND METHODS Rat cardiomyocytes from the H9c2 cell line were used in our study. First, we knocked down Nkx2-5 in the H9c2 cells and then validated consequent changes in cell proliferation and migration. We then used RNA sequencing to determine the changes in transcripts. Finally, we validated these results by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS We confirmed that Nkx2-5 regulates the proliferation and migration of H9c2 cells. In our experiments, Nkx2-5 regulated the expression of genes related to proliferation, migration, heart development, and disease. Based on bioinformatics analysis, knockdown of Nkx2-5 caused differential expression of genes involved in cardiac development, calcium ion-related biological activity, the transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß signaling pathway, pathways related to heart diseases, the MAPK signaling pathway, and other biological processes and signaling pathways. CONCLUSIONS Nkx2-5 may regulate proliferation and migration of the H9c2 cells through the genes Tgfb-2, Bmp10, Id2, Wt1, Hey1, and Cacna1g; rno-miR-1-3p; the TGF­ß signaling pathway; the MAPK signaling pathway; as well as other genes and pathways.

Long-term survival outcomes of undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma of the liver: a pooled analysis of 308 patients.

BACKGROUND: Treatment of undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma of the liver (UESL) is a great clinical challenge due to its rarity. This study aims to examine the long-term survival of UESL patients after treatment using different therapeutic modalities. METHODS: A pooled analysis of individual data was performed on all UESL patients obtained from literature search (n = 307) and our institution (n = 1). RESULTS: The 5-year overall survival rate of the 308 patients was 65.8%, 70% for partial hepatectomy group (n = 271), 78.9% for liver transplantation group (n = 14) and 6.6% for nonsurgical treatment group (n = 23). For patients receiving partial hepatectomy, paediatric patients, radical resection and combined chemotherapy were independent predictors for improved survival. CONCLUSION: Radical hepatectomy combined chemotherapy should be considered as the preferred treatment option for USEL. Liver transplantation appears to be a reasonable alternative for unresectable disease.

Surgery for duodenal gastrointestinal stromal tumor: A systematic review and meta-analysis of pancreaticoduodenectomy versus local resection.

The purpose of this study is to assess the clinical outcomes and prognostic factors for survival of patients with duodenal gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) or local resection (LR). PubMed database was searched for relevant studies. A meta-analysis was performed with Review Manager 5.3 software. Twenty-seven observational studies involving 1103 patients were included in the review. The overall morbidity and 30-day mortality was 27% and 0.5% respectively. The median (range) 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 87% (60-100%) and 71% (44-100%) respectively. In meta-analyses, factors associated with shorter DFS included male sex, mitotic index >5/50 high-power fields, high risk, tumor size >5 cm, and the PD procedure. Factors associated with shorter OS included mitotic index >5/50 high-power fields and tumor size >5 cm. Patients in PD group had a higher incidence of mitotic index >5/50 HPF, a higher incidence of high-risk classification, a higher incidence of tumors in the second portion of the duodenum, a larger tumor size, a longer duration of operation, more intraoperative blood loss, a greater blood transfusion requirement, a higher morbidity rate, a longer hospital stay, and an increased recurrence rate than those in LR group. In conclusion, the current literature review demonstrates that the postoperative prognosis of duodenal GIST is promising and mainly affected by tumor factors. The choice of the surgical approach should depend on the anatomical location and tumor size.

Survival after repeat hepatectomy for recurrent colorectal liver metastasis: A review and meta-analysis of prognostic factors.

BACKGROUND: Frequent recurrent hepatic metastasis after hepatic metastasectomy is a major obstacle in the treatment of colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM). We performed the present systematic review to evaluate the short- and long-term outcomes after repeat hepatectomy for recurrent CRLM and determine factors associated with survival in these patients. DATA SOURCES: An electronic search of PubMed database was undertaken to identify all relevant peer-reviewed papers published in English between January 2000 and July 2018. Hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated for prognostic factors of overall survival (OS). RESULTS: The search yielded 34 studies comprising 3039 patients, with a median overall morbidity of 23% (range 8%-71%), mortality of 0 (range 0-6%), and 5-year OS of 42% (range 17%-73%). Pooled analysis showed that primary T3/T4 stage tumor (HR = 1.94; 95% CI: 1.04-3.63), multiple tumors (HR = 1.49; 95% CI: 1.10-2.01), largest liver lesion ≥5 cm (HR = 1.89; 95% CI: 1.11-3.23) and positive surgical margin (HR = 1.80; 95% CI: 1.09-2.97) at initial hepatectomy, and high serum level of carcinoembryonic antigen (HR = 1.87; 95% CI: 1.27-2.74), disease-free interval ≤12 months (HR = 1.34; 95% CI: 1.10-1.62), multiple tumors (HR = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.32-2.02), largest liver lesion ≥5 cm (HR = 1.85; 95% CI: 1.34-2.56), positive surgical margin (HR = 2.25; 95% CI: 1.39-3.65), presence of bilobar disease (HR = 1.62; 95% CI: 1.19-2.20), and extrahepatic metastases (HR = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.23-2.09) at repeat hepatectomy were significantly associated with poor OS. CONCLUSIONS: Repeat hepatectomy is a safe and effective therapy for recurrent CRLM. Long-term outcome is predicted mainly by factors related to repeat hepatectomy.

Microbial concentration and particle size distribution characteristics of indoor air in colleges and universities in winter / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To understand the microbial pollution of indoor air in colleges and universities, and to provide a reference for controlling microbial pollution and improving indoor air quality.@*Methods@#In November 2018, the air microorganisms in different functional areas and at different times were sampled and cultured in a university in Beijing by Anderson’s six-level sampler.@*Results@#During the test, there were differences in microbial aerosol concentrations in different functional areas and at different times(F=3.99，7.77, P<0.05), the concentration of bacteria in toilets was relatively high, the average concentration was 659 CFU/m3 and the concentration of fungi in the campus was relatively high, the average concentration was 660 CFU/m3; the concentration of bacteria and fungi in the air at 12 o’clock noon was relatively low, the average concentration was 320 CFU/m3 and 322 CFU/m3. The particle size distribution of microorganisms in the air presents roughly the same law, and the peak concentration of microbial concentrations occurs at the Ⅳ and Ⅴ levels (1.1-3.3 μm), in which the highest concentration of bacteria (253 CFU/m3) appears at the Ⅴ level, and the highest concentration of fungi (249 CFU/m3) appears at the Ⅳ level.@*Conclusion@#The microbial concentration in the air of colleges and universities was mainly concentrated in the size of 1.1-3.3 μm, and it was necessary to take targeted comprehensive control measures to effectively improve air quality.

A new series of two-photon blue/violet fluorescent trans-alkenes: Green synthesis and optical properties.

A new series of trans-alkenes (3a-3e) containing different electron-donating groups were synthesized by the solvent-free Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction, and characterized by infrared, hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. Their UV-visible absorption, one-photon excited fluorescence, two-photon absorption, and two-photon excited fluorescence were systematically investigated in different solvents. Experimental results show different trends in linear and nonlinear optical properties with different donor units. 3a with triphenylamine donor exhibits the best optical properties. It emits strong blue up-converted fluorescence, and the two-photon absorption cross-section can be as large as 218 GM in DCM.

A DSRPCL-SVM approach to informative gene analysis.

Microarray data based tumor diagnosis is a very interesting topic in bioinformatics. One of the key problems is the discovery and analysis of informative genes of a tumor. Although there are many elaborate approaches to this problem, it is still difficult to select a reasonable set of informative genes for tumor diagnosis only with microarray data. In this paper, we classify the genes expressed through microarray data into a number of clusters via the distance sensitive rival penalized competitive learning (DSRPCL) algorithm and then detect the informative gene cluster or set with the help of support vector machine (SVM). Moreover, the critical or powerful informative genes can be found through further classifications and detections on the obtained informative gene clusters. It is well demonstrated by experiments on the colon, leukemia, and breast cancer datasets that our proposed DSRPCL-SVM approach leads to a reasonable selection of informative genes for tumor diagnosis.