Modulating the Conduction Band of MOFs by Introducing Tiny TiO2 Nanoparticles for Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance: Importance of the Loading Position.

The preparation of TiO2 and metal-organic framework (MOF) into composite photocatalysts has been proven to be a mature and effective strategy to achieve stronger catalytic activity. In this work, we focus on exploring the significant effects and mechanisms of the relative positions of decorated titanium oxide nanoparticles and MOFs on the final catalytic activity. We first used a simple in situ method to encapsulate tiny TiO2 nanoparticles into a Zr-MOF (PCN-222), where Zr-Ti bonds were created at the interface of the two components. Thanks to the strong interfacial interaction forces, band bending occurred in TiO2@PCN-222 and a more negative conduction band (Δ = 0.26 V) with better electron transport properties was obtained. The results of photocatalytic CO2 reduction experiments under visible light showed a 78% increase (142 µmol g-1 h-1) in the production rate of HCOO-. Surprisingly, the loading of TiO2 nanoparticles on the MOF surface (TiO2@PCN-222) resulted in a significant decrease of 56% in the catalyst yield activity due to poor adsorption and electron transfer properties. This work demonstrates the possibility of tuning the band structure and catalytic activity of MOFs with the help of changing the position of the dopant and shows the importance of the rational design of MOF-based composites.

Clinical significance of half-hepatic blood flow occlusion technology in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma with cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND: Most patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have a history of chronic hepatitis B and usually present with varying degrees of cirrhosis. Owing to the special nature of liver anatomy, the blood vessel wall in the liver parenchyma is thin and prone to bleeding. Heavy bleeding and blood transfusion during hepatectomy are independent risk factors for liver cancer recurrence and death. Various clinical methods have been used to reduce intraoperative bleeding, and the Pringle method is most widely used to prevent blood flow to the liver. AIM: To investigate the effect of half-hepatic blood flow occlusion after patients with HCC and cirrhosis undergo hepatectomy. METHODS: This retrospective study included 88 patients with HCC and liver cirrhosis who underwent hepatectomy in our hospital from January 2017 to September 2020. Patients were divided into two groups based on the following treatment methods: the research group (n = 44), treated with half-hepatic blood flow occlusion technology and the control group (n = 44), treated with total hepatic occlusion. Differences in operation procedure, blood transfusion, liver function, tumor markers, serum inflammatory response, and incidence of surgical complications were compared between the groups. RESULTS: The operation lasted longer in the research group than in the control group (273.0 ± 24.8 min vs 256.3 ± 28.5 min, P < 0.05), and the postoperative anal exhaust time was shorter in the research group than in the control group (50.0 ± 9.7 min vs 55.1 ± 10.4 min, P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in incision length, surgical bleeding, portal block time, drainage tube indwelling time, and hospital stay between the research and control groups (P > 0.05). Before surgery, there were no significant differences in serum alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin, and prealbumin levels between the research and control groups (P > 0.05). Conversely, 24 and 72 h after the operation the respective serum ALT (378.61 ± 77.49 U/L and 246.13 ± 54.06 U/L) and AST (355.30 ± 69.50 U/L and 223.47 ± 48.64 U/L) levels in the research group were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than those in the control group (ALT, 430.58 ± 83.67 U/L and 281.35 ± 59.61 U/L; AST, 416.49 ± 73.03 U/L and 248.62 ± 50.10 U/L). The operation complication rate did not significantly differ between the research group (15.91%) and the control group (22.73%; P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Half-hepatic blood flow occlusion technology is more beneficial than total hepatic occlusion in reducing liver function injury in hepatectomy for patients with HCC and cirrhosis.

Boosting Electrochemistry of Manganese Oxide Nanosheets by Ostwald Ripening during Reduction for Fiber Electrochemical Energy Storage Device.

The poor electronic conductivity of MnO x severely limits the practical application as high-performance electrode materials for faradaic pseudocapacitors. Herein, a facile vapor reduction method is demonstrated for the treatment of MnO x with hydrazine hydrate (HH) to improve the electronic conductivity. The HH vapor treatment without annealing process not only introduces oxygen vacancies to form oxygen-deficient MnO x, but also leads to obvious structural transformation from highly aggregated and poorly crystallized MnO x nanorobs and nanoparticles into uniformly orientated and highly crystallized MnO x nanosheets via the Ostwald ripening process. Compared with pristine MnO x on carbon fiber (CF-MnO x), the reduced CF-MnO x exhibits a highly improved specific capacitance of 1130 mF cm-1 (434 F g-1) with excellent rate capability and cycling stability. Our results have shown that the moderate concentration of oxygen vacancies and highly uniform orientation of reduced MnO x endow the electrode with a fast electron and ion transport, respectively. Moreover, a flexible fiber asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) device with high-energy and power density based on the as-prepared reduced CF-MnO x as a cathode and electrochemically activated graphene oxide on carbon fiber (CF-ArGO) as an anode is fabricated. The MnO x//ArGO ASC device delivers a high volumetric capacitance of 1.9 F cm-3, a maximum energy density of 1.06 mWh cm-3, and a volumetric power density of 371.3 mW cm-3. The present work opens a new way for oxygen vacancy introduction and structural modification of metal oxide as high-performance materials for energy storage applications.

Effects of Angelicae Pubescentis and Loranthi Decotion on repairing knee joint cartilages in rats.

BACKGROUND: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common orthopedics disease and its pathological changes at early stage are the damage and loss of articular cartilage. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription contains multiple components and has the unique advantages of the diversity of targets.We compared the traditional Chinese medical formulae (Angelicae Pubescentis and Loranthi decotion, APLD, or Duhuo Jisheng) with a western medicine (glucosamine sulfate, GS) to treat the rat arthritis models, and tracked the outcomes. METHODS: Thirty-two Wistar rats (weight 180 ± 10 g, 6-week-old) were randomly divided into four groups (eight for each): group A as normal control group (no surgery and no drug treatment), group B as SIA (surgery-induced arthritis) model control without drug treatment, group C as SIA model + APLD, and group D as SIA model + GS. Anterior cruciate ligament in the knee joint of both hind legs from each rat in groups B, C, and D was shown and cut off to establish the SIA model. After 6 weeks of the surgery, rats in group C or D were treated with APLD or GS, respectively, for 8 weeks. Bone X-ray examination, histological images, and determination of genes of collagen II and aggrecan were performed. At week 14, both knee joint gap and bone structure disappeared in rats of group B, but they were visible in rats of groups A, C, and D. RESULTS: Histological images revealed that the structure and composition of the knee joint cartilage were significantly degenerated in group B and improved in group C. Genes of collagen II and aggrecan were significantly increased in both group C and D. CONCLUSION: APLD or GS gavage treatment for knee osteoarthritis (KOA) rat models was effective on the proliferation of cartilage chondrocytes and the damaged knee joint tissue repairing, and the APLD showed slightly superior in general.

Inactivation of glycogen synthase kinase-3ß up-regulates ß-catenin and promotes chondrogenesis.

This study aimed to investigate whether inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3ß (GSK-3ß) could promote chondrocytes proliferation. The expression pattern of GSK-3ß was firstly determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in normal mouse. Tibias were then isolated and cultured for 6 days. The tibias were treated with dimethylsulfoxide (control) or GSK-3 inhibitor SB415286 (SB86). Length of tibias was measured until 6 days after treatment. These bones were either stained with alcian blue/alizarin red or analyzed by IHC. In addition, GSK-3ß and ß-catenin were analyzed by Western blot. Finally, cartilage-specific GSK-3ß deletion mice (KO) were generated. Efficiency of GSK-3ß deletion was determined through Western blot and IHC. After treated by inhibitor SB86, the overall length of growth plate was not changed. However, growth of tibia in SB86 group was increased by 31 %, the length of resting and proliferating was increased 13 % (P < 0.01), whereas the length of hypertrophic was decreased by 57 % (P < 0.01). Besides, the mineralized length was found to be significant longer than the control group (P < 0.05). In KO mice, growth plate and calvaria tissue both exhibit significant reduction of GSK-3ß (P < 0.05) whereas the lengths of tibias in KO were almost same compared with control mice. Finally, an increase amount of ß-catenin protein was observed in SB86 (P < 0.05). In addition, significantly increased ß-catenin was also found in the growth plate of KO mice (P < 0.05). Inhibition of GSK-3 could promote longitudinal growth of bone through increasing bone formation. Besides, the inactivation of GSK-3ß could lead to enhancing ß-catenin, therefore promote chondrocytes proliferation.

A five-year clinical and radiographic follow-up of bipolar hip arthroplasty with insertion of a porous-coated anatomic femoral component without cement.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical and radiographic outcomes of bipolar hip arthroplasty with a cementless porous-coated anatomic femoral component. METHODS: Fifty-nine patients (86 hips) with a minimum 3.5-year follow-up were followed up for a mean of 5.2 years (from January 2005 to January 2007). Standard clinical evaluation utilizing the Harris hip score and radiographic evaluation based on the criteria of the Hip Society were used in this prospective study. Radiographic assessment included evaluation of calcar remodeling and pedestal formation. RESULTS: The average age of the patients (24 men and 35 women) at the time of surgery was 71.4 years (range, 69-84 years). The average preoperative Harris hip score was 48.5 ± 4.0 (range, 25-65) points, pain score 15.2 ± 3.9 (range, 0-20) points and functional score 26.7 ± 4.6 (range, 9-40) points. At the time of the latest follow-up, the average Harris hip score was 96.1 ± 2.1 (range, 67-100) points, pain score 42.6 ± 6.3 (range, 32-54) points and functional score 45.5 ± 4.7 (range, 29-56) points. Five hips (5.81%) had pain in the anterior part of the thigh. Two hips (2.33%) required revision of the femoral component because of aseptic loosening and periprosthetic fracture. Radiographic assessment revealed consistent evidence of proximal bone ingrowth. No completely radiolucent lines were identified, except around stems that had loosened. Twenty-seven femoral components (31.4%) had associated slight pedestal formation. No osteolytic lesions of the femur were identified. Nonprogressive pelvic osteolysis was identified in four hips, none of the lesions being ≥2mm in diameter. CONCLUSION: An anatomically designed prosthesis can provide good clinical results, with low incidence of thigh pain and loosening of the component.

Bone morphogenetic protein-7 promotes chondrogenesis in human amniotic epithelial cells.

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) play important roles at multiple stages of chondrogenesis. This study was undertaken to investigate the potential role of bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) in the differentiation of chondrocytes using tissue engineering techniques. The impact of BMP-7 on human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs) was tested. The hAECs were treated either with recombinant human BMP-7 cDNA or with transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-ß1) as a positive control for three weeks in vitro. Cartilaginous differentiation and proliferation were assayed by quantitative RT-PCR, histology, and in situ hybridization. Our results were such that hAECs treated with either BMP-7 or TGF-ß1 expressed cartilage markers (aggrecan, Sox9, CEP-68, and type II and X collagens) within three weeks. Compared with a control vector, BMP-7 induced a decrease in type I collagen expression, while the transcription of the cartilage-specific type II collagen remained stable. In induction experiments, BMP-7 transgenic hAECs exhibited the largest amount of matrix synthesis. In conclusion, these data indicate that BMP-7 plays an important role in inducing the production of cartilage by hAECs in vitro. Cartilage differentiation and matrix maturation can be promoted by BMPs in a cartilage engineering paradigm. These properties make BMPs promising tools in the engineering of cartilaginous joint bio-prostheses and as candidate biological agents or genes for cartilage stabilisation.

[Experimental and clinical studies on selective sacral rhizotomy in treatment of spastic bladder after spinal cord injury].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of selective sacral rhizotomy in treating spastic bladder after spinal cord injury and to explore the mechanism and the best surgical method of different sacral rhizotomies. METHODS: The spastic bladder models were established in 12 male dogs and were divided into 4 groups according to the different rhizotomies of the sacral nerve as the following: rhizotomy of the anterior root of S2 (group A), rhizotomy of the anterior root of S2 and half of the anterior root of S3 (group B), rhizotomy of the anterior roots of S2 and S3 (group C), and total rhizotomy of the nerve roots of S2-4 (group D). By urodynamic examination and electrophysiological observation, the changes of all functional data were recorded and compared between pre-rhizotomy and post-rhizotomy to testify the best surgical method. In clinical trial, according to the results of the above experiments, rhizotomy of the anterior root of S2 or one of the half-anterior root of S3 were conducted on 32 patients with spastic bladder after spinal cord injury. The mean bladder capacity, the mean urine evacuation and the mean urethra pressure were (120 +/- 30), (100 +/- 30)ml and (120 +/- 20) cm H2O, respectively before rhizotomy. RESULTS: After rhizotomy, the bladder capacity in 4 groups amounted to (150 +/- 50), (180 +/- 50), (230 +/- 50), and (400 +/- 50) ml, respectively; and the urine evacuation volume were (130 +/- 30), (180 +/- 50), (100 +/- 50) and (50 +/- 30)ml, respectively. In the treated 32 patients, the mean bladder capacity were raised to 410 ml, and the mean urine evacuation volume were also increased to 350 ml. Incontinence of urine disappeared in all patients. After 22-month follow-up on 13 patients, no recurrence was observed. CONCLUSION: The effect of selective sacral rhizotomy in treating spastic cord injury is significant and worthy of further studies.