Efficacy of probiotic supplementation in the treatment of psoriasis-A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Many studies have emphasized the possible role of probiotics in psoriasis, probiotic supplementation might be helpful to treat psoriasis. This study systematically evaluated the efficacy of probiotic supplementation for the treatment of psoriasis. METHODS: We searched some databases with keywords until November 10, 2023, including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science. These keywords included probiotics, psoriasis RCT, and so on. After rigorous literature screening by two authors, five studies were identified. Eventually, the required data were independently extracted by another author. RESULTS: A total of five studies with 286 patients were included. The pooled results showed that the efficacy of probiotic supplementation was superior to placebo in the treatment of psoriasis. The Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (SMD = -1.40, 95% Cl = -2.63 to -0.17, p < 0.00001) and Dermatology Life Quality Index (SMD = -0.92, 95% Cl = -1.86 to 0.01, p < 0.00001). Score decreased after probiotic supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: The meta-analysis showed that probiotic supplementation could be a new treatment option for psoriasis.

Effect of oxygen partial pressure on the performance of homojunction amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O thin-film transistors.

In this study, the homojunction thin-film transistors (TFTs) with amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) as active channel layers and source/drain electrodes were fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering. The effect of oxygen partial pressure on the phase, microstructure, optical and electrical properties of IGZO thin films was investigated. The results showed that amorphous IGZO thin films always exhibit a high transmittance above 90% and wide band gaps of around 3.9 eV. The resistivity increases as the IGZO thin films are deposited at a higher oxygen partial pressure due to the depletion of oxygen vacancies. In addition, the electrical behaviors in homojunction IGZO TFTs were analyzed. When the active channel layers were deposited with an oxygen partial pressure of 1.96%, the homojunction IGZO TFTs exhibited optimal transfer and output characteristics with a field-effect mobility of 13.68 cm2V-1s-1. Its sub-threshold swing, threshold voltage and on/off ratio are 0.6 V/decade, 0.61 V and 107, respectively.

Icariin-induced inhibition of SIRT6/NF-κB triggers redox mediated apoptosis and enhances anti-tumor immunity in triple-negative breast cancer.

Abnormal activation of the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway is closely implicated in triple-negative breast cancer growth, metastasis, and tumor immune escape. In this study, the anti-cancer effects of icariin, a natural flavonol glycoside, toward breast cancer cells and the underlying mechanisms were investigated. This investigation showed that icariin selectively inhibited proliferation and triggered apoptosis in breast cancer cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, but exhibited little cytotoxicity in normal breast cells. Moreover, icariin induced cell apoptosis via a mitochondria-mediated pathway, as indicated by the upregulated ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 and reactive oxygen species induction. Importantly, icariin impaired the activation of the NF-κB/EMT pathway, as evidenced by upregulation of SIRT6, resulting in inhibition of migration and invasion of breast cancer cells. Additionally, oss-128167, an inhibitor of SIRT6, dramatically attenuated anti-migration and anti-invasion effects of icariin. Transcriptomic analysis verified that impairment of NF-κB led to the selective function of icariin in breast cancer cells. Notably, icariin exhibited a significant tumor growth inhibition and anti-pulmonary metastasis effect in a tumor mouse model of MDA-MB-231 and 4T1 cells by regulating the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment. Together, these results showed that icariin could effectively trigger apoptosis and inhibit the migration of breast cancer cells via the SIRT6/NF-κB signaling pathway, suggesting that icariin might serve as a potential candidate drug for the treatment of breast cancer.

Upregulation of ECT2 is associated with transcriptional program of cancer stem cells and predicts poor clinical outcome in gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer remains the third leading cause of cancer-associated mortality worldwide. The identification of prognostic indicators that are associated with clinical characteristics is urgently required. The aim of the present study was to determine the involvement of epithelial cell transforming 2 (ECT2) in gastric cancer. The results of the present study demonstrated that ECT2 expression was upregulated in human gastric cancer samples. Furthermore, high ECT2 expression was associated with advanced Tumor-Node-Metastasis stage and deeper tumor invasion. ECT2 upregulation was further confirmed in several independent publicly available clinical cohorts from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. In addition, patients with gastric cancer, with high ECT2 expression exhibited a significantly shorter overall survival time than those with low ECT2 expression, and Cox regression analysis demonstrated that ECT2 expression was an independent prognostic marker for overall survival time. Characterization of the transcriptome profiles of ECT2 upregulated gastric tumors indicated that ECT2 upregulation may be associated with transcriptional features of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Additionally, BUB1 mitotic checkpoint serine/threonine kinase and E2F transcription factor 7, two genes previously reported to account for the functionality of CSCs, were strongly enriched in ECT2High gastric cancer samples. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that ECT2 may serve as a novel marker for CSCs and may be a potential prognostic indicator in gastric cancer.

A Review of Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound for Therapeutic Applications.

Ultrasound therapy has a long history of novel applications in medicine. Compared to high-intensity ultrasound used for tissue heating, low-intensity ultrasound has drawn increasing attention recently due to its ability to induce therapeutic changes without biologically significant temperature increase. Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) is a specific type of ultrasound that delivers at a low intensity and outputs in the mode of pulsed waves. It has minimal thermal effects while maintaining the transmission of acoustic energy to the target tissue, which is able to provide noninvasive physical stimulation for therapeutic applications. LIPUS has been demonstrated to accelerate the healing of fresh fracture, nonunion and delayed union in both animal and clinical studies. The effectiveness of LIPUS for the applications of soft-tissue regeneration and inhibiting inflammatory responses has also been investigated experimentally. Additionally, research has shown that LIPUS is a promising modality for neuromodulation. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the recent developments of LIPUS for therapeutic applications, based on the papers that report positive effects, and to present the findings on the understanding of its mechanism. Current available LIPUS devices are also briefly described in this paper.

Experimental investigation of multiple near-perfect absorptions in sandwich structures containing thin metallic films.

We experimentally investigated near-perfect optical absorption in sandwich structures comprising a thin metallic film whose thickness is larger than the skin depth, a top dielectric layer and a truncated photonic crystal. Single and multiple near-perfect absorptions were realized by tuning the thickness of the top layer. Based on the electromagnetic field intensity distributions at the absorption wavelengths, single near-perfect absorption originated from the tunneling effect of the optical Tamm state, while multiple near-complete absorptions mainly originated from Fabry-Perot resonances. Additionally, the structures showed good one-way absorption properties. The experimental results agreed well with theoretical values. These structures may be important for the fabrication of single or multichannel perfect absorbers.

Microporous Lanthanide Metal-Organic Framework Constructed from Lanthanide Metalloligand for Selective Separation of C2H2/CO2 and C2H2/CH4 at Room Temperature.

A novel pillar-layer porous lanthanide metal-organic framework [Tb3(ODA)3(BPDC)3Na2]n·Gx (UTSA-222, G = guest molecules) was constructed from an organic ligand [1,1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-dicarboxylate (BPDC2-) and a lanthanide metalloligand [Tb(ODA)]+ (H2ODA = oxydiacetic acid). The UTSA-222 contains two-dimensional intersecting channels with the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area and pore volume of 703 m2 g-1 and 0.344 cm3 g-1, respectively, for the activated sample. It shows moderately high adsorption selectivity for C2H2/CO2 and C2H2/CH4 separations at 1 atm and room temperature.

Phase-sensitive Bloch surface wave sensor based on variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry.

In this paper, we propose a phase-sensitive Bloch surface wave sensor based on the variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry and numerically simulate the phase behavior of the sensor. The simulation results show that the dependence of resonant phase is step-like when BSWs are excited. In contrast to the reflectance behavior, even though losses of the dielectric layers are very small, the resonance dip in the reflectivity will be shallow while the step-like change of the reflection phase of the BSW still be remarkable. This means that phase detection is an alternative to reflectivity intensity detection for the sensing applications of the BSWs in this case. Our experimental results indicate that phase detection for the BSW sensors has the potential to achieve the higher sensitivity and the lower limit of detection.

Humidity-sensing properties of urchinlike CuO nanostructures modified by reduced graphene oxide.

Urchinlike CuO modified by reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was synthesized by a one-pot microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. The as-prepared composites were characterized using various characterization methods. A humidity sensor based on the CuO/rGO composites was fabricated and tested. The results revealed that the sensor based on the composites showed much higher impedance than pure CuO. Compared with the sensors based on pristine rGO and CuO, the sensor fabricated with the composites exhibited relatively good humidity-sensing performance in terms of response time and response value. The humidity-sensing mechanism was also briefly introduced. The enlargement of the impedance and improvement of the humidity-sensing properties are briefly explained by the Schottky junction theory.

Differentiation of dried sea cucumber products from different geographical areas by surface desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry.

Without any sample pretreatment, mass spectral fingerprints of 486 dried sea cucumber slices were rapidly recorded in the mass range of m/z 50-800 by using surface desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (DAPCI-MS). A set of 162 individual sea cucumbers (Apostichopus japonicus Selenka) grown up in 3 different geographical regions (Weihai: 59 individuals, 177 slices; Yantai: 53 individuals, 159 slices; Dalian: 50 individuals, 150 slices;) in north China sea were successfully differentiated according to their habitats both by Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) of the mass spectral raw data, demonstrating that DAPCI-MS is a practically convenient tool for high-throughput differentiation of sea cucumber products. It has been found that the difference between the body wall tissue and the epidermal tissue is heavily dependent on the habitats. The experimental data also show that the roughness of the sample surface contributes to the variance of the signal levels in a certain extent, but such variance does not fail the differentiation of the dried sea cucumber samples.

Synthesis and novel fluorescence phenomenon of terbium complex with a new Schiff base ligand derived from condensation of triaminotriethylamine and 3-indolemethanal.

A new Schiff base ligand with tripodal structure, N,N',N''-tri-(3-indolemethanal)-triaminotriethylamine (L), and its complex with terbium was synthesized. The complex was characterized by element analysis, IR spectra, mass spectra, thermal analysis and molar conductivity. The terbium ion was found to coordinate to the Schiff base nitrogen atoms and the bridgehead nitrogen atom. The fluorescence properties of the complex in aqueous solutions were studied. Under the excitation of UV light, the complex exhibits characteristic fluorescence of terbium ion. H(+) concentration could strongly enhance the luminescence of terbium complex with L in aqueous solutions. This phenomenon will make the new complex favorable to be used in the fluorescence switches and sensors. The mechanism of the fluorescence enhancement by protonation of the indole nitrogen atoms is due to the suppressed photoinduced electron transfer (PIET) fluorescence quenching when adding acid.

Determination of trace terbium(III) with N, N', N"-tri(3-indolemethanal)triaminotriethylamine based on a new fluorescence enhancement system.

A new Schiff-base ligand with a tripodal structure, N,N',N"-tri(3-indolemethanal)triaminotriethylamine (TTAIM), was synthesized. Its fluorescence intensity with terbium(III) was increased by about two orders of magnitude in the present of sodium acetate (NaAc). After the adding of the organic solvent dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to the above system, leading to Tb3+ the fluorescence was further enhanced by about 16 fold. The spectrofluorimetric determination of a trace amount of Tb3+ based on this phenomenon was carried out. The excitation and emission wavelengths were 330 nm and 545 nm, respectively. Under the optimal conditions, the fluorescence intensities varied linearly with the concentration of Tb3+ in the range of 5.7 x 10(-11) - 6.3 x 10(-6) mol L(-1) with a detection limit of 5.0 x 10(-11) mol L(-1). The interferences of some rare earth metals and other inorganic ions were described. The method is a selective, sensitive, rapid and simple analytical procedure for the determination of terbium(III) in a high-purity yttrium oxide and synthetic sample. The mechanism for the fluorescence enhancement was also studied.

Study on the new fluorescence enhancement system of Zn-bis-(trimethylolaminomethane)-4-tert-butyl-disalicylicimine in the presence of beta-cyclodextrin and its analytical application.

A new bis-Schiff base ligand, bis-(trimethylolaminomethane)-4-tert-butyl-disalicylicimine (HL), was synthesized. The fluorescence intensity of HL-Zn(2+) complex was increased by about 8-fold upon addition of beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD). The spectrofluorimetric determination of trace amounts of Zn(2+) based on the phenomenon was carried out. The excitation and emission wavelengths are 405 and 465nm, respectively. Under optimal conditions, the fluorescence intensities vary linearly with the concentration of Zn(2+) in the range 0-317 mugl(-1) with a detection limit of 1.0mugl(-1). The interferences of some inorganic ions were described. The method is a selective, sensitive, rapid, and simple analytical procedure for the determination of Zn(2+) in crops. The mechanism for the fluorescence enhancement was also discussed.