Pathogenomics for accurate diagnosis, treatment, prognosis of oncology: a cutting edge overview.

The capability to gather heterogeneous data, alongside the increasing power of artificial intelligence to examine it, leading a revolution in harnessing multimodal data in the life sciences. However, most approaches are limited to unimodal data, leaving integrated approaches across modalities relatively underdeveloped in computational pathology. Pathogenomics, as an invasive method to integrate advanced molecular diagnostics from genomic data, morphological information from histopathological imaging, and codified clinical data enable the discovery of new multimodal cancer biomarkers to propel the field of precision oncology in the coming decade. In this perspective, we offer our opinions on synthesizing complementary modalities of data with emerging multimodal artificial intelligence methods in pathogenomics. It includes correlation between the pathological and genomic profile of cancer, fusion of histology, and genomics profile of cancer. We also present challenges, opportunities, and avenues for future work.

Improving the Efficiency and Stability of MAPbI3 Perovskite Solar Cells by Dipeptide Molecules.

Passivating the electronic defects of metal halide perovskite is regarded as an effective way to improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PVSCs). Here, a series of dipeptide molecules with abundant ─C═O, ─O─ and ─NH functional groups as defects passivators for perovskite films are employed. These dipeptide molecules are utilized to treat the surface of prototype methyl ammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3 ) films and the corresponding PVSCs exhibit enhanced photovoltaic performance and ambient stability, which can be ascribed to: 1) the ─C═O and ─O─ can interact with the undercoordinated Pb2+ ions and the ─NH groups can form hydrogen bonds with the I- ions, passivating the defects in perovskite film and reducing charge recombination in PVSCs; 2) the long alkyl chain of dipeptide molecules increases the hydrophobicity of the perovskite surface and thus enhance the stability of PVSCs. The passivated MAPbI3 -based PVSCs exhibit a champion PCE of 20.3% and retain 60% of the initial PCE after 1000 h. It is believed that the defects passivation engineering using polypeptide moleculars can be applied in other perovskite compositions for high device efficiency and stability.

A molecular noble metal-free system for efficient visible light-driven reduction of CO2 to CO.

A new pentadentate quinoline-pyridine ligand and its iron (1), cobalt (2) and nickel (3) complexes have been synthesized and characterized. The iron complex exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity towards CO2-to-CO conversion with a TON(CO) of 544 and a selectivity of 99.3% using the commercially available organic dye purpurin as the photosensitiser and BIH as the electron donor. In contrast, the cobalt and nickel complexes result in very low activity for CO production with a TON of only 8 and 15, respectively. On the other hand, all the three complexes show good electrocatalytic activity for CO2 reduction when using 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol as the proton source with the active intermediate of M0 species. The lack of activity in photocatalytic CO2 reduction by 2 and 3 can be attributed to the redox potential of MI/M0 which is significantly more negative than that of PP-/PP2- while in the case of 1 the FeI/Fe0 redox potential becomes more positive than that of the PP-/PP2- couple.

Anticancer activities of harmine by inducing a pro-death autophagy and apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells.

BACKGROUND: Harmine, a ß-carboline alkaloid from Peganum harmala, has multiple anti-tumor activities, especially for its folk therapy for digestive system neoplasm. However, the underlying mechanism of harmine on gastric cancer remains unclear. PURPOSE: To illuminate the potential anti-tumor activity and mechanism of harmine against gastric cancer cells. METHODS/STUDY DESIGNS: The anti-proliferative activity of harmine in vitro was evaluated by MTT assay. The autophagic activity induced by harmine was assessed using GFP-LC3 transfection. FITC/PI double staining was applied for the apoptosis inspection. The mitochondrial membrane potential was detected by JC-1 fluorescence probe. The potential mechanisms for proteins level in autophagy and apoptosis were analyzed by Western blot. RESULTS: Harmine exhibited potent effects on both autophagy and apoptosis. Treatment with harmine could enhance dots of GFP-LC3 in cells. Meanwhile, the process had connection with Beclin-1, LC3-II, and p62 by the inhibition of Akt/mTOR/p70S6K signaling. However, high concentration of harmine led to apoptosis characterized by the propidium/Annexin V-positive cell pollution, cell shrunk and the collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential. The regulation of Bcl-2, Bax and the gathering of cleaved-PARP, cleaved-caspase 3 and cleaved-caspase 9 contributed to the induction of apoptosis. In addition, 10µM LY294002 (a specific inhibitor of PI3K/Akt) combination with 40µM harmine significantly increased the cytotoxicity to the gastric cancer cells and up-regulated both the apoptosis-related protein (cleaved-PARP, cleaved-caspase-3) and autophagy-related protein (Beclin-1, LC3-II, and p62). Adding the inhibitor of autophagy, 3-MA or BafA1, increased the viability of harmine-exposured gastric cancer cells, which confirmed the role of autophagy played in the gastric cancer cell death induced by harmine. CONCLUSION: Harmine might be a potent inducer of apoptosis and autophagy, which offered evidences to therapy of harmine in gastric carcinoma in the folk medicine.

Structural characterization and antioxidant activity of a heteropolysaccharide from Ganoderma capense.

In this work, crude polysaccharide extracts were obtained from mycelia of the edible fungus Ganoderma capense (Lloyd) Teng. After removal of proteins by the Sevage method, fractionation and purification by anion-exchange and gel-permeation chromatography, a polysaccharide (GCPB-3) was isolated. The relative molecular weight of GCPB-3 was 124kDa determined by high performance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC). The homogeneous polysaccharide was composed of d-xylose and l-arabinose in the ratio of 1:1, and showed a specific optical rotation of [α]D(25)=+145°(c 1.0, H2O). Its structural features were determined by monosaccharide analysis, partial acid hydrolysis, methylation analysis, periodic acid oxidation, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy ((1)H, (13)C, HMQC and HMBC). The results characterized GCPB-3 as a heteropolysaccharide with backbone consisting of ß-l-Arap and ß-d-Xylp, linked with 1→4 sugar bonds. Interestingly, GCPB-3 showed some DPPH•- and hydroxy-radical scavenging activities.

The photoluminescent properties of Y2O3:Bi3+, Eu3+, Dy3+ phosphors for white-light-emitting diodes.

Bi3+, Eu3+, Dy3+ activated Y2O3 phosphors were prepared through the sol-gel process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra, and photoluminescence (PL) spectra were used to characterize the resulting phosphors. The XRD patterns show the refined crystal structure of Y2O3. The energy transfer processes of Bi(3+)-Eu3+ occurred in the host lattices. The thermal stability of Y2O3:Bi3+, Eu3+, Dy3+ phosphors was studied. Under short wavelength UV excitation, the phosphors show excellent characteristic red, blue, and yellow emission with medium intensity.

The photoluminescence properties of CdSe QDs prepared by the one-pot process.

CdSe quatum dots (QDs) have been prepared through the one-pot process. Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption and emission spectra were used to characterize the resulting samples. The effect of the synthesis time and temperature on the optical properties of the CdSe QDs samples have been studied. The maximum of the absorption spectra of the CdSe QDs samples is 486 nm and the emission spectra is 528 nm. The emission intensity of the CdSe QDs samples increases, and the emission maximum presents a red shift with increasing reaction time.

[Preliminary screening tests of molluscicidal effect of extracts from Eucalyptus leaves].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the molluscicidal effects of extracts from five Eucalyptus leaves collected from Guangdong Province, China. METHODS: According to the WHO recommended indoor immersed method, the molluscicidal effects of extracts from five Eucalyptus leaves with 250, 100, 10 mg/L of water extraction, alcohol precipitation and organic solvent extraction were investigated. RESULTS: The dose-effect relationship showed that all the mortality rates of Oncomelania hupensis reached 80% with the volatile oil from five Eucalyptus leaves immersed at the concentrations of 100 mg/L for 48 h, and the mortality rates were both 93.3% with the volatile oil from Corymbia citriodora and Eucalyptus urophylla leaves. The mortality rate was up to 95% with the chloroform extract, and the mortality rate reached 60% at the concentrations of 10 mg/L for 48 h. CONCLUSION: The volatile oils from five Eucalyptus leaves and the chloroform extract in alcohol extraction from Eucalyptus urophylla leaves are better than other solvents.