Exploring clinical indicator variations in stroke patients with multiple risk factors: focus on hypertension and inflammatory reactions.

BACKGROUND: Stroke stands as the second leading cause of death worldwide. Currently, extensive research has been conducted on stroke risk factors. However, when stroke patients contend with multiple risk factors, the impact on clinical indicators remains uncertain. OBJECTIVES: This study seeks to investigate potential significant variations among distinct ranges of clinical indicators in instances where stroke patients experience multiple risk factors and various ischemic stroke subtypes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The research encompassed 440 stroke patients admitted to the First People's Hospital of Wenling City, Zhejiang Province, China. These patients were classified based on the type and quantity of risk factors and subtypes of ischemic stroke they presented. The χ2 test was employed to assess the relationship between the risk of comorbid diseases and clinical indicators in stroke patients. RESULTS: The results of our study have underscored a significant correlation between various comorbid risk factors in stroke patients and the patients' age (P < 0.010). Furthermore, we observed noteworthy disparities in the plasma levels of IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, and INF-γ between patients devoid of risk factors and those presenting with comorbid risk factors associated with stroke. Significant differences in INF-γ were observed between the two subtypes of ischemic stroke, namely lacunar infarction and cardioembolic stroke. CONCLUSION: Age is correlated with an elevated risk of stroke. Individuals exhibiting multiple stroke risk factors and diverse ischemic stroke subtypes commonly present with abnormal lipid levels and imbalances in Th1/Th2 cytokines. These factors significantly contribute to the onset and progression of stroke. Furthermore, inflammatory responses, particularly those induced by atherosclerosis, play a pivotal role in the genesis of stroke and exert a substantial influence on its prognosis.

Densely Connected Networks with Multiple Features for Classifying Sound Signals with Reverberation.

In indoor environments, reverberation can distort the signalseceived by active noise cancelation devices, posing a challenge to sound classification. Therefore, we combined three speech spectral features based on different frequency scales into a densely connected network (DenseNet) to accomplish sound classification with reverberation effects. We adopted the DenseNet structure to make the model lightweight A dataset was created based on experimental and simulation methods, andhe classification goal was to distinguish between music signals, song signals, and speech signals. Using this framework, effectivexperiments were conducted. It was shown that the classification accuracy of the approach based on DenseNet and fused features reached 95.90%, betterhan the results based on other convolutional neural networks (CNNs). The size of the optimized DenseNet model is only 3.09 MB, which is only 7.76% of the size before optimization. We migrated the model to the Android platform. The modified model can discriminate sound clips faster on Android thanhe network before the modification. This shows that the approach based on DenseNet and fused features can dealith sound classification tasks in different indoor scenes, and the lightweight model can be deployed on embedded devices.

Chromatic visual evoked potentials identify optic nerve dysfunction in patients with Graves' orbitopathy.

PURPOSE: To explore visual dysfunction in Graves' orbitopathy (GO) objectively by analyzing chromatic visual evoked potentials (cVEP) and evaluate its diagnostic efficiency for dysthyroid optic neuropathy (DON). METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed pattern-reversal VEP (pVEP), red-green (R-G) and blue-yellow (B-Y) cVEP in 93 subjects (21 with DON, Group A, 30 with GO, Group B, and 42 healthy controls, Group C) at Wuhan Union Hospital, China. RESULTS: Compared with Group C, the amplitudes of B-Y cVEP were significantly lower in Group B, whereas all amplitudes of cVEP, latencies and amplitudes of pVEP in Group A were significantly impaired. In addition, the pVEP latency at 60 arcmin (60'), pVEP amplitudes and R-G cVEP amplitudes were significantly different between Group A and B. Moreover, 60'cVEP R-G negative-positive (N-P) amplitude was correlated with crowding index (P = 0.001), the average thickness of ganglion cell layer and inner plexiform layer (P = 0.004). Furthermore, combination of 60'cVEP R-G amplitude and 60'pVEP P100 latency had better diagnostic efficiency than each single parameter, with optimal cut-off values of 14.20 µV and 110.65 ms, respectively. CONCLUSION: GO may induce electrophysiological changes. The presence of B-Y cVEP anomalies in moderate to severe GO patients may be an early sign of preclinical DON. A decline in 60'cVEP R-G amplitude is associated with apical crowding and thinner inner intra-retinal layers. The combination of 60'cVEP R-G N-P amplitude and 60'pVEP latency can be a useful diagnostic index for DON.

In vivo confocal microscopy assessment of meibomian glands microstructure in patients with Graves' orbitopathy.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate microstructural changes in the meibomian glands (MGs) in patients with active and inactive Graves' orbitopathy (GO), using in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM), and to investigate the correlations between clinical and confocal findings. METHODS: Forty patients (80 eyes) with GO (34 eyes with active GO, 46 eyes with inactive GO), and 31 age- and sex-matched control participants (62 eyes) were enrolled consecutively. A researcher recorded the clinical activity score (CAS) for each patient. A complete ophthalmic examination was then performed, including external eye, ocular surface and MGs. IVCM of the MGs was performed to determine the MG acinar density (MAD), MG longest and shortest diameters (MALD and MASD), MG orifice area (MOA), MG acinar irregularity (MAI), meibum secretion reflectivity (MSR), acinar wall inhomogeneity (AWI), acinar periglandular interstices inhomogeneity (API), and severity of MG fibrosis (MF). RESULTS: All confocal microscopy assessments of MGs significantly differed among groups (all P = 0.000). Compared to controls, GO groups showed lower MOA (1985.82 ± 1325.30 µm2 in active GO and 2021.59 ± 1367.45 µm2 in inactive GO vs. 3896.63 ± 891.90 µm2 in controls, all P = 0.000) and MAD (87.21 ± 32.69 /mm2 in active GO and 80.72 ± 35.54 /mm2 in inactive GO vs. 114.69 ± 34.90 /mm2 in controls, P = 0.001 and 0.000, respectively); greater MALD (118.11 ± 30.23 µm in active GO and 120.58 ± 27.64 µm in inactive GO vs. 58.68 ± 20.28 µm in controls, all P = 0.000) and MASD (44.77 ± 19.16 µm in active GO and 46.02 ± 20.70 µm in inactive GO vs. 27.80 ± 9.90 µm in controls, all P = 0.000); and higher degrees of MAI, MSR, and MF (all P<0.05). Eyes with active GO had higher degrees of MAI (P = 0.015), AWI (P = 0.000), and API (P = 0.000), while eyes with inactive GO had higher degrees of MSR (P = 0.000) and MF (P = 0.017). In GO groups, AWI and API were positively correlated with CAS (r = 0.640, P = 0.000; r = 0.683, P = 0.000, respectively), and MF was negatively correlated with CAS (r = - 0.228, P = 0.042). CONCLUSIONS: IVCM effectively revealed microstructural changes of MGs in eyes with GO and provided strong in vivo evidence for the roles of obstruction and inflammation in the ocular surface disease process. Furthermore, it revealed discernible patterns of MG abnormalities in eyes with active GO and inactive GO, which are not easily distinguishable by typical clinical examinations.

Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measured by optical coherence tomography predicts visual recovery after orbital decompression for dysthyroid optic neuropathy.

PURPOSE: To determine the prognostic value of optical coherence tomography (OCT) measurement of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in visual recovery after orbital decompression of patients with dysthyroid optic neuropathy (DON). METHODS: A total of 52 eyes of 37 patients who underwent orbital decompression for DON between 2013 and 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. We examined peripapillary RNFL thickness, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), visual field (VF) for mean deviation (MD) and pattern standard deviation (PSD), and pattern-reversed visual evoked potential (PVEP) for P100 latency and amplitude before and after surgery. Black and white checkerboard square sizes of PVEP were 15 and 60 arcmin (arcminute and minute of angle). Changes in RNFL overall thickness and by quadrant and interocular differences were evaluated and studied regarding changes in BCVA, VF and PVEP. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in BCVA, VF, and PVEP, whereas a dramatic reduction in RNFL thickness of all DON patients in global average, temporal, superior, and inferior quadrants (P = 0.005, P = 0.024, P = 0.016, and P = 0.001, respectively) after decompression surgery, except for nasal quadrant (P = 0.057). The preoperative RNFL thickness in each quadrant was negatively correlated with postoperative changes of BCVA and PSD and positively correlated with changes of MD and P100 amplitude at 60 arcmin (all P < 0.05). Except for temporal quadrant (P = 0.125), the preoperative RNFL thickness in other quadrants was positively correlated with postoperative changes of P100 amplitude at 15 arcmin (all P < 0.05). The nasal RNFL thickness was an excellent predictor for improvement in BCVA by 20/25 or better and in MD by 10 dB or more after surgery, whose cutoff value was 73.50 µm, while the inferior and superior RNFL thickness could act as a predictor for improvement in P100 amplitude by 5 µV or more at 60 arcmin and at 15 arcmin, respectively, whose cutoff value was, respectively, 143.00 µm and 130.50 µm (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: RNFL thickness measured by OCT was correlated with visual function recovery after decompression surgery in patients with DON, which could also act as a predictor for better visual prognosis.

Comparison of 2-wall versus 3-wall orbital decompression against dysthyroid optic neuropathy in visual function: A retrospective study in a Chinese population.

ABSTRACT: To compare visual function of 2-wall (medial and lateral) versus 3-wall (medial, lateral, and inferior) orbital decompression in patients with dysthyroid optic neuropathy (DON).A total of 52 eyes of 37 patients underwent orbital decompression for DON between 2013 and 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Two- or 3-wall decompression was performed in 31 eyes of 23 patients and 21 eyes of 14 patients, respectively. We examined best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), visual field mean deviation (MD) and pattern standard deviation (PSD), pattern-reversed visual evoked potential (PVEP) for P100 latency and amplitude at 60 and 15 arcmin stimulation checkerboard size, as well as proptosis using Hertel exophthalmometry.Whether 2-wall or 3-wall decompression, all parameters of visual function were improved after surgery (all P < .05). The improvement in BCVA, MD, and PSD was not statistically significant between groups (all P > .05). Proptosis reduction was higher after 3-wall decompression (P = .011). Mean increase in P100 amplitude after 3-wall decompression was statistically higher than that of after 2-wall decompression at 60 and 15 arcmin (P = .045 and .020, respectively), while the mean decrease in P100 latency was similar between the groups (P = .821 and .655, respectively). Six patients (66.67%) had persistent postoperative diplopia and 1 patient (20%) had new-onset diplopia in 3-wall decompression group, which were higher than in 2-wall decompression group (46.15% persistent postoperative diplopia and no new-onset diplopia).Both 2-wall and 3-wall decompression can effectively improve visual function of patients with DON. Three-wall decompression provides better improvement in P100 amplitude and proptosis, however new-onset diplopia is more common with this surgical technique.

Nanomotor-based adsorbent for blood Lead(II) removal in vitro and in pig models.

Blood lead (Pb(II)) removal is very important but challenging. The main difficulty of blood Pb(II) removal currently lies in the fact that blood Pb(II) is mainly complexed with hemoglobin (Hb) inside the red blood cells (RBCs). Traditional blood Pb(II) removers are mostly passive particles that do not have the motion ability, thus the efficiency of the contact between the adsorbent and the Pb(II)-contaminated Hb is relatively low. Herein, a kind of magnetic nanomotor adsorbent with movement ability under alternating magnetic field based on Fe3O4 nanoparticle modified with meso-2, 3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) was prepared and a blood Pb(II) removal strategy was further proposed. During the removal process, the nanomotor adsorbent can enter the RBCs, then the contact probability between the nanomotor adsorbent and the Pb(II)-contaminated Hb can be increased by the active movement of nanomotor. Through the strong coordination of functional groups in DMSA, the nanomotor adsorbent can adsorb Pb(II), and finally be separated from blood by permanent magnetic field. The in vivo extracorporeal blood circulation experiment verifies the ability of the adsorbent to remove blood Pb(II) in pig models, which may provide innovative ideas for blood heavy metal removal in the future.

Near-infrared-driven fluorescent nanomotors for detection of circulating tumor cells in whole blood.

It is of great significance to develop micro/nanomotors with good biosafety and high efficiency for biomedical detection. In order to enhance the contact chances between the biosensors and the analytes in the complex blood sample, we report a near-infrared light (NIR)-driven fluorescent nanomotor, which can safely and efficiently capture and detect circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the whole blood environment without pretreating procedures. Firstly, the structure of the fluorescent nanomotor was characterized and its motion behavior in different environments was analyzed. Subsequently, CTCs detection conditions were optimized to explore the effect of nanoscale autonomous mixing provided by nanomotor's motion behavior on the efficiency of CTCs capture. The results showed that the NIR-driven fluorescent nanomotor can keep moving in the complex biological medium so as to increase their contact chances with CTCs and improve the binding efficiency with the target analyte (the capture efficiency increased from 67.5% - 85% (no NIR irradiation) to 93.75-98.75% (under NIR irradiation)). Finally, due to the excellent fluorescence properties of the nanomotors, they can be applied to the visual detection of the whole blood samples obtained from clinical cancer patients. The NIR-driven nanomotor designed in this paper can detect CTCs in whole blood environment, which is a beneficial extension of the existing cell detection system of most micro/nanomotors in water phase environment.

Platelet-derived porous nanomotor for thrombus therapy.

The treatment difficulties of venous thrombosis include short half-life, low utilization, and poor penetration of drugs at thrombus site. Here, we develop one kind of mesoporous/macroporous silica/platinum nanomotors with platelet membrane (PM) modification (MMNM/PM) for sequentially targeting delivery of thrombolytic and anticoagulant drugs for thrombus treatment. Regulated by the special proteins on PM, the nanomotors target the thrombus site and then PM can be ruptured under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation to achieve desirable sequential drug release, including rapid release of thrombolytic urokinase (3 hours) and slow release of anticoagulant heparin (>20 days). Meantime, the motion ability of nanomotors under NIR irradiation can effectively promote them to penetrate deeply in thrombus site to enhance retention ratio. The in vitro and in vivo evaluation results confirm that the synergistic effect of targeting ability from PM and motion ability from nanomotors can notably enhance the thrombolysis effect in both static/dynamic thrombus and rat model.

Ocular Manifestations and Clinical Characteristics of Children With Laboratory-Confirmed COVID-19 in Wuhan, China.

Importance: Ocular manifestations and outcomes in children with confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), relevant affecting factors, and differences in ocular disease between children and adults have yet to be fully understood. Objective: To investigate ocular manifestations and clinical characteristics of children with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Wuhan Children's Hospital in Wuhan, China. Children with COVID-19 confirmed by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus disease 2 nucleic acid tests of upper respiratory tract specimens between January 26 and March 18, 2020, were included. Main Outcomes and Measures: Onset clinical symptoms and duration, ocular symptoms, and needs for medication. Results: A total of 216 pediatric patients were included, among whom 134 (62%) were boys, with a median (interquartile range) age of 7.25 (2.6-11.6) years. Based on the exposure history, 193 children (89.4%) had a confirmed (173 [80.1%]) or suspected (20 [9.3%]) family member with COVID-19 infection. The most common symptoms among symptomatic children were fever (81 [37.5%]) and cough (79 [36.6%]). Of 216 children, 93 (43.1%) had no systemic or respiratory symptoms. All children with mild (101 [46.8%]) or moderate (115 [53.2%]) symptoms recovered without reported death. Forty-nine children (22.7%) showed various ocular manifestations, of which 9 had ocular complaints being the initial manifestations of COVID-19. The common ocular manifestations were conjunctival discharge (27 [55.1%]), eye rubbing (19 [38.8%]), and conjunctival congestion (5 [10.2%]). Children with systemic symptoms (29.3% vs 14.0%; difference, 15.3%; 95% CI, 9.8%-20.7%; P = .008) or with cough (31.6% vs 17.5%; difference, 14.1%; 95% CI, 8.0%-20.3%; P = .02) were more likely to develop ocular symptoms. Ocular symptoms were typically mild, and children recovered or improved. Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study, children hospitalized with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, presented with a series of onset symptoms including fever, cough, and ocular manifestations, such as conjunctival discharge, eye rubbing, and conjunctival congestion. Patients' systemic clinical symptoms or cough were associated with ocular symptoms. Ocular symptoms recovered or improved eventually.

Erythrocyte Membrane-Wrapped Magnetic Nanotherapeutic Agents for Reduction and Removal of Blood Cr(VI).

The hazard of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) from environmental pollution and medical implanted metal has been recognized widely. However, removal of trace amount of Cr(VI) in the blood circumstance faces tremendous difficulties for that most of Cr(VI) located in erythrocytes, thus there is almost no literature to report the removal of Cr(VI) in blood. Herein, a removal strategy, named as reduction-adsorption-separation, is proposed to realize the removal of Cr(VI) in blood. First, magnetic core-shell mesoporous nanocomposite is fabricated by using Fe3O4 nanoparticles as magnetic core and mesoporous silica (MS) as shell, hyperbranched polyamide (HPA) as mesoporous channel modifier and ascorbic acid (ASC) as the reductant drug loaded in the mesoporous channels, which is also denoted as Fe/MS/HPA/ASC. Then, on the basis of the bionic idea, the erythrocyte membrane (EM)-wrapped Fe/MS/HPA/ASC to protect ASC from deactivation is obtained and named as the therapeutic agent (Fe/MS/HPA/ASC@EM). During removal process, the therapeutic agent can enter in erythrocytes to use ASC to reduce Cr(VI) to Cr(III) and HPA in mesoporous channels to adsorb Cr(III) and can then be recollected from blood by magnetic separation. Finally, an animal model of blood Cr(VI) poisoning is constructed and used to test the removal ability of Cr(VI) from pig blood in vivo, verifying the effectiveness of this blood Cr(VI) removal strategy, providing a possible way to design more efficient and biosafe therapeutic agents for blood purification.

Systematic Research and Evaluation Models of Nanomotors for Cancer Combined Therapy.

Limited tumor permeability of therapeutic agents is a great challenge faced by current cancer therapy methods. Herein, a kind of near infrared light (NIR)-driven nanomotor with autonomous movement, targeted ability, hierarchical porous structure, multi-drugs for cancer chemo/photothermal therapy is designed, prepared and characterized. Further, we establish a method to study the interaction between nanomotors and cells, along with their tumor permeability mechanism, including 2D cellular models, 3D multicellular tumor spheroids and in vivo models. In vivo tumor elimination results verify that the movement behaviour of the nanomotors can greatly facilitate them to eliminate tumor through multiple therapeutic methods. This work tries to establish systematic research and evaluation models, providing strategies to understand the relationship between motion behaviour and tumor permeation efficiency of nanomotors in depth.

Dynamic early warning of regional atmospheric environmental carrying capacity.

Economic development cannot exceed the maximum amount that the environment can support. Therefore, atmospheric environmental policy should be formulated based on the scientific assessment of regional atmospheric environmental carrying capacity. The establishment of an early warning model of atmospheric environmental carrying capacity can dynamically analyse regional atmospheric environmental carrying capacity, which contributes to discerning the change trend of the regional atmospheric environmental carrying capacity and the risk issue of the regional atmospheric environment. Additionally, it can provide theoretical reference for the formulation of relevant binding and restrictive policies. In this study, according to the daily monitoring data of atmospheric pollutants, we established a dynamic early warning model of regional atmospheric environmental carrying capacity based on the cloud model and Markov chain. The research results show that this model has an excellent early warning capability. Moreover, many regions in China have exceeded the atmospheric environmental carrying capacity, especially in North China and Central China. By 2020, North China and Central China for prediction of region with non-overloading are only 9.09% and 12.50%, respectively. China's regional atmospheric environmental carrying capacity is gradually improving. It is predicted that by 2024, regions with non-overloading in North China and Central China will reach 40.91% and 37.50%, respectively. From the overall aspect, there is currently no risk of serious overload in any region.

A dual-responsive biosensor for blood lead detection.

Simple and accurate detection of trace heavy metals in blood is very important. A novel dual-responsive electrochemical/fluorescent biosensor based on magnetic hyperbranched polyamide with heparin modification (MHPAM-H) for blood lead detection has been successfully developed. Upon conjugated with blood lead ions, dual-biosensor could not only display electrochemical signal but also fluorescence signal owing to the enriched amino groups, cavity structure, and good fluorescence properties of HPAM. Blood biocompatibility, construction of the dual-responsive biosensor, electrochemical/fluorescent detection of lead ions in water phase and blood condition, selectivity and stability of the dual-responsive biosensor were investigated in detail. The proposed dual-responsive biosensor displays good linear relationship (1.5 pM- 4.8 × 103 pM for electrochemical detection and 0.5 pM-4.8 × 103 pM for fluorescent detection) with low detection limit (4.4 pM for electrochemical detection and 1.0 pM for fluorescent detection) for blood lead, providing potential application for blood lead detection in the future.

Spatial agglomeration of new energy industries on the performance of regional pollution control through spatial econometric analysis.

With the increasing prominence of China's energy security and environmental pollution issues, improving environmental control performance is significant for China to achieve a sustainable economy and environment. In this study, the impact of the spatial agglomeration of the new energy industry on the regional pollution control performance was considered in a spatial econometric model. From the two perspectives of technology patents and employees, the impact of the spatial agglomeration of the new energy industry was explored using the spatial panel data model. The research results show the existence of spatial correlation of the pollution control performance among regions. Moreover, the spatial agglomeration of relevant technology patents can have a negative effect and the spatial agglomeration of employees a positive effect on the improvement in regional pollution control performance. Then, policy recommendations to improve the regional pollution control performance are proposed based on the research results: establishing a regional environmental joint governance system, improving the diffusion mode of new energy technology patents, and quickly constructing a new energy industrial park.

Author Correction: Bio-inspired nitric-oxide-driven nanomotor.

The original version of this Article contained an error in the first sentence of the second paragraph of the 'Influence of HLA10 nanomotors on the cells (HUVECs and MCF-7)' section of the Results, which incorrectly read 'In order to verify the universality of the formation mechanism of HLAn nanomotors proposed in this case, that is, the positively charged amino-enriched organic substances and the negative carboxyl groups in L-arginine combined through weak electrostatic force to form nanoparticles, three amino-enriched organic compounds (chitosan, (Mw. 5-100 million), polylysine (Mw. 3000-4000), heparin/folic acid (FA) (Mw. 5000-10,000)) were chosen to react with L-arginine, and the morphology/movement behavior of the obtained nanoparticles (named as CLA10 nanomotors, PLA10 nanomotors, HFLA10 nanomotors) were investigated (Fig. 7 and Supplementary Movie 7).' The correct version states 'chitosan, (Mw. 3000-6000 Da)' in place of 'chitosan, (Mw. 5-100 million)'. This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

Bio-inspired nitric-oxide-driven nanomotor.

Current chemical-fuel-driven nanomotors are driven by gas (e.g. H2, O2, NH3) which only provides motion ability, and can produce waste (e.g. Mg(OH)2, Pt). Here, inspired by endogenous biochemical reactions in the human body involving conversion of amino acid L-arginine to nitric oxide (NO) by NO synthase (NOS) or reactive oxygen species (ROS), we report on a nanomotor made of hyperbranched polyamide/L-arginine (HLA). The nanomotor utilizes L-arginine as fuel for the production of NO both as driving force and to provide beneficial effects, including promoting endothelialisation and anticancer effects, along with other beneficial by-products. In addition, the HLA nanomotors are fluorescent and can be used to monitor the movement of nanomotors in vivo in the future. This work presents a zero-waste, self-destroyed and self-imaging nanomotor with potential biological application for the treatment of various diseases in different tissues including blood vessels and tumours.

Novel heparin-loaded mesoporous tubular micromotors formed via template-assisted electrochemical deposition.

Based on the concept of the active drug delivery of micro- and nanomotors and the longer cycle time in the blood for drug-loaded tubular particles, it is important to develop novel tubular micromotors that could increase drug loading and achieve more effective treatments in the biomedical field. Here, a novel kind of mesoporous tubular micromotor used to load heparin (Hep) and formed via template-assisted electrochemical deposition is presented. Firstly, the mesoporous tubular micromotors were composed of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), mesoporous silica (MS) and manganese dioxide (MnO2), and were simply fabricated via template-assisted electrochemical growth. Then, the drug Hep was loaded into PEDOT/MS/MnO2via a simple soaking process. Finally, the release process, cytotoxicity, and blood compatibility tests and motion study for these mesoporous tubular micromotors of PEDOT/MS/MnO2-Hep were performed. Results indicated that the micromotors we prepared showed good controlled release of Hep, anticoagulant effects, non-cytotoxicity and autonomous motion ability. The new drug carrier and motion mode will give rise to more potential applications of Hep in the biomedical field.

Development of novel affinity reagents for detecting protein tyrosine phosphorylation based on superbinder SH2 domain in tumor cells.

Tyrosine phosphorylation, as a hallmark in cellular signal transduction, is important for a diverse array of cellular processes, such as proliferation, metabolism, motility, and survival. Aberrant tyrosine phosphorylation plays a causal role in many diseases, especially the cancer. Detecting protein phosphorylation status in the cancer cells or tissues is vital for assessing the pathological phase, discovering the cancer biomarkers, and identifying the drug targets. However, the common biochemical detection methods remain through anti-pTyr antibodies, which are known to have limited sensitivity, poor reproducibility and high cost. Recent studies have proved that superbinder SH2 domain is a good replacement of anti-pTyr antibodies for the specific enrichment of pTyr peptides in phosphoproteomics analysis. In this work, we exploited a series of affinity reagents based on superbinder SH2 derived from Src protein for detecting the pTyr-containing proteins to replace anti-pY antibodies in immunoblotting and immunofluorescence techniques. The excellent performance of HRP-sSH2 and EGFP-sSH2 was verified by the analysis of several different tumor cell samples and was compared with most commonly used commercial antibodies. EGFP-sSH2-(Arg)9 might be applied as the probe for direct fluorescence imaging in live cells via efficiently penetrating cell membranes and specifically binding with pTyr proteins. In summary, we have developed three novel, convenient, sensitive, and cost-effective affinity reagents that would have wide applications in protein tyrosine phosphorylation analysis for the tumor research and clinical diagnosis.