Annotation and evaluation of base editing outcomes in multiple cell types using CRISPRbase.

CRISPR-Cas base editing (BE) system is a powerful tool to expand the scope and efficiency of genome editing with single-nucleotide resolution. The editing efficiency, product purity, and off-target effect differ among various BE systems. Herein, we developed CRISPRbase (http://crisprbase.maolab.org), by integrating 1 252 935 records of base editing outcomes in more than 50 cell types from 17 species. CRISPRbase helps to evaluate the putative editing precision of different BE systems by integrating multiple annotations, functional predictions and a blasting system for single-guide RNA sequences. We systematically assessed the editing window, editing efficiency and product purity of various BE systems. Intensive efforts were focused on increasing the editing efficiency and product purity of base editors since the byproduct could be detrimental in certain applications. Remarkably, more than half of cancer-related off-target mutations were non-synonymous and extremely damaging to protein functions in most common tumor types. Luckily, most of these cancer-related mutations were passenger mutations (4840/5703, 84.87%) rather than cancer driver mutations (863/5703, 15.13%), indicating a weak effect of off-target mutations on carcinogenesis. In summary, CRISPRbase is a powerful and convenient tool to study the outcomes of different base editors and help researchers choose appropriate BE designs for functional studies.

Grape seed-derived procyanidins decreases neuropathic pain and nerve regeneration by suppression of toll-like receptor 4-myeloid differentiation factor-88 signaling.

Background: Recent studies have shown that peripheral nerve regeneration process is closely related to neuropathic pain. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling was involved in different types of pain and nerve regeneration. TLR4 induced the recruitment of myeloid differentiation factor-88 adaptor protein (MyD88) and NF-κB-depended transcriptional process in sensory neurons and glial cells, which produced multiple cytokines and promoted the induction and persistence of pain. Our study aimed to investigate procyanidins's effect on pain and nerve regeneration via TLR4-Myd88 signaling. Methods: Spinal nerve ligation (SNL) model was established to measure the analgesic effect of procyanidins. Anatomical measurement of peripheral nerve regeneration was measured by microscopy and growth associated protein 43 (GAP43) staining. Western blotting and/or immunofluorescent staining were utilized to detect TLR4, myeloid differentiation factor-88 adaptor protein (MyD88), ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (IBA1) and nuclear factor kappa-B-p65 (NF-κB-p65) expression, as well as the activation of astrocyte and microglia. The antagonist of TLR4 (LPS-RS-Ultra, LRU) were intrathecally administrated to assess the behavioral effects of blocking TLR4 signaling on pain and nerve regeneration. Result: Procyanidins reduced mechanical allodynia, thermal hyperalgesia and significantly suppressed the number of nerve fibers regenerated and the degree of myelination in SNL model. Compared with sham group, TLR4, MyD88, IBA1 and phosphorylation of NF-κB-p65 were upregulated in SNL rats which were reversed by procyanidins administration. Additionally, procyanidins also suppressed activation of spinal astrocytes and glial cells. Conclusion: Suppression of TLR4-MyD88 signaling contributes to the alleviation of neuropathic pain and reduction of nerve regeneration by procyanidins.

Convergent and divergent intra- and internetwork connectivity in Parkinson's disease with wearing-off.

OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to explore the functional connectivity alterations between cortical nodes of resting-state networks in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with wearing-off (WO) at different levels. METHODS: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 36 PD patients without wearing-off (PD-nWO), 30 PD patients with wearing-off (PD-WO), and 35 healthy controls (HCs) to extract functional networks. Integrity, network, and edge levels were calculated for comparison between groups. UPDRS-III, MMSE, MOCA, HAMA, and HAMD scores were collected for further regression analysis. RESULTS: We observed significantly reduced connectivity strength in the dorsal attention network and limbic network in the PD-WO group compared with the HC group. The PD-WO group showed a decreased degree of functional connectivity at 12 nodes, including the bilateral orbital part of the superior frontal gyrus, right olfactory cortex, left medial orbital part of the superior frontal gyrus, bilateral gyrus rectus, right parahippocampal gyrus, right thalamus, left Heschl's gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus part of the temporal pole, left middle temporal gyrus part of the temporal pole, and right inferior temporal gyrus. Furthermore, the PD-WO group showed a significantly lower degree of functional connectivity in the left orbital part of the superior frontal gyrus and right gyrus rectus than the PD-nWO group. Internetwork analysis indicated reduced functional connectivity in five pairs of resting-state networks. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated altered intra- and internetwork connections in PD patients with WO. These findings will facilitate a better understanding of the distinction between the network changes in PD pathophysiology.

STIRUnet: SwinTransformer and inverted residual convolution embedding in unet for Sea-Land segmentation.

Extraction of coastline from optical remote sensing images is of paramount importance for coastal zone management, erosion monitoring, and intelligent ocean construction. However, nearshore marine environment complexity presents a challenge when capturing small-scale and detailed information regarding coastlines. Furthermore, the presence of numerous tidal flats, suspended sediments, and coastal biological communities exacerbates the reduction in segmentation accuracy, which is particularly noticeable in medium-high-resolution remote sensing image segmentation tasks. Most previous related studies, based primarily on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) or traditional feature extraction methods, faced challenges in detailed pixel-level refinement and lacked comprehensive understanding of the studied images. Therefore, we proposed a new U-shaped deep learning model (STIRUnet) that combines the excellent global modeling ability of SwinTransformer with an improved CNN using an inverted residual module. The proposed method has the capability of global supervised feature learning and layer-by-layer feature extraction, and we conducted sea-land segmentation experiments using GF-HNCD and BSD remote sensing image datasets to validate the performance of the proposed model. The results indicate the following: 1) suspended sediments and coastal biological communities are major contributors to coastline blurring, and 2) the recovery of minute features (e.g., narrow watercourses and microscale artificial structures) effectively enhances edge details and leads to more realistic segmentation outcomes. The findings of this study are highly important in relation of accurate extraction of sea-land information in complex marine environments, and they offer novel insights regarding mixed-pixel identification.

Highly Selective Synthesis of Monoclinic-Phased Platinum-Tellurium Nanotrepang for Direct Formic Acid Oxidation Catalysis.

Designing efficient formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR) catalysts with remarkable membrane electrode assembly (MEA) performance in a direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC) medium is significant yet challenging. Herein, we report that the monoclinic-phased platinum-tellurium nanotrepang (m-PtTe NT) can be adopted as a highly active, selective, and stable FAOR catalyst with a desirable direct reaction pathway. The m-PtTe NT exhibits the high specific and mass activities of 6.78 mA cm-2 and 3.2 A mgPt-1, respectively, which are 35.7/22.9, 2.8/2.6, and 3.9/2.9 times higher than those of commercial Pt/C, rhombohedral-phased Pt2Te3 NT (r-Pt2Te3 NT), and trigonal-phased PtTe2 NT (t-PtTe2 NT), respectively. Simultaneously, the highest reaction tendency for the direct FAOR pathway and the best tolerance to poisonous CO intermediate can also be realized by m-PtTe NT. More importantly, even in a single-cell medium, the m-PtTe NT can display a much higher MEA power density (171.4 mW cm-2) and stability (53.2% voltage loss after 5660 s) than those of commercial Pt/C, demonstrating the great potential in operating DFAFC device. The in-situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy jointly demonstrate that the unique nanostructure of m-PtTe NT can effectively optimize dehydrogenation steps and inhibit the CO intermediate adsorption, as well as promote the oxidation of noxious CO intermediate, thus achieving the great improvement of FAOR activity, poisoning tolerance, and stability. Density functional theory calculations further reveal that the direct pathway is the most favorable on m-PtTe NT than r-Pt2Te3 NT and t-PtTe2 NT. The higher activation energy to produce CO and the relatively weaker binding with CO of m-PtTe NT result in the better CO tolerance. This work achieves remarkable FAOR and MEA performances of advanced Pt-based anodic catalysts for DFAFCs via a phase engineering strategy.

Androgen Receptor Transcriptionally Inhibits Programmed Death Ligand-1 Expression and Influences Immune Escape in Bladder Cancer.

In multiple clinical trials, immune checkpoint blockade-based immunotherapy has shown significant therapeutic efficacy in bladder cancer (BCa). Sex is closely related to the incidence rate and prognosis of BCa. As one of the sex hormone receptors, the androgen receptor (AR) is a well-known key regulator that promotes the progression of BCa. However, the regulatory mechanism of AR in the immune response of BCa is still unclear. In this study, the expression of AR and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) was negatively correlated in BCa cells, clinical tissues, and tumor data extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma cohort. A human BCa cell line was transfected to alter the expression of AR. The results show that AR negatively regulated PD-L1 expression by directly binding to AR response elements on the PD-L1 promoter region. In addition, AR overexpression in BCa cells significantly enhanced the antitumor activity of cocultured CD8+ T cells. Injection of anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibodies into C3H/HeN mice significantly suppressed tumor growth, and stable expression of AR dramatically enhanced the antitumor activity in vivo. In conclusion, this study describes a novel role of AR in regulating the immune response to BCa by targeting PD-L1, thus providing potential therapeutic strategies for immunotherapy in BCa.

AgMYB5, an MYB transcription factor from celery, enhanced ß-carotene synthesis and promoted drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis.

BACKGROUND: Water shortage caused by global warming seriously affects the yield and quality of vegetable crops. ß-carotene, the lipid-soluble natural product with important pharmacological value, is abundant in celery. Transcription factor MYB family extensively disperses in plants and plays regulatory roles in carotenoid metabolism and water scarcity response. RESULTS: Here, the AgMYB5 gene encoding 196 amino acids was amplified from celery cv. 'Jinnanshiqin'. In celery, the expression of AgMYB5 exhibited transactivation activity, tissue specificity, and drought-condition responsiveness. Further analysis proved that ectopic expression of AgMYB5 increased ß-carotene content and promoted drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana. Moreover, AgMYB5 expression promoted ß-carotene biosynthesis by triggering the expression of AtCRTISO and AtLCYB, which in turn increased antioxidant enzyme activities, and led to the decreased contents of H2O2 and MDA, and the inhibition of O2- generation. Meanwhile, ß-carotene accumulation promoted endogenous ABA biosynthesis of transgenic Arabidopsis, which resulted in ABA-induced stomatal closing and delayed water loss. In addition, ectopic expression of AgMYB5 increased expression levels of AtERD1, AtP5CS1, AtRD22, and AtRD29. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicated that AgMYB5 up-regulated ß-carotene biosynthesis and drought tolerance of Arabidopsis.

A "safety cap" for improving hospital sanitation and reducing potential disease transmission.

BACKGROUND: During endotracheal intubation, extubation, tracheotomy, and tracheotomy tube replacement, the splashed airway secretions of patients will increase the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and many other potential viral and bacterial diseases, such as influenza virus, adenovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, Middle East respiratory coronavirus syndrome (MERS-CoV), Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a barrier between patients and medical workers to reduce the risk of operators' infection with potentially pathogenic microorganisms. METHODS: We designed a "safety cap" that can be connected to the opening of an endotracheal tube or tracheotomy tube to reduce the diffusion area of respiratory secretions during the process of endotracheal intubation, extubation and tracheotomy tube replace, so as to reduce the infection risk of medical workers. RESULTS: Through a series of hydrodynamic simulation analysis and experiments, we demonstrated that the use of "safety cap" can substantially limit the spatter of airway secretions, so as to improve the hospital sanitation. CONCLUSION: The "safety cap" can effectively limit the dissemination of patients' respiratory secretions, thus reducing the risk of potential diseases transmission and may have certain application prospects.

How does 2D and 3D of urban morphology affect the seasonal land surface temperature in Island City? A block-scale perspective.

The global climate warming caused by urbanization has significantly affected the urban environment. Whilst land surface temperature (LST) is an important factor reflecting urban temperature, previous research on LST mostly focused on two-dimensional (2D) factors and rarely mentioned about the role of three-dimensional (3D) factors, particularly the LST variation characteristics of island cities. Therefore, this study examined the seasonal variation characteristics of urban LST by analyzing the impact of 2D and 3D urban morphology factors of different urban block types on LST in Xiamen Island. The main results are as follows. First, compact low layer (CL), a block type with a higher density of low-rise buildings, has a higher LST in any season. Under the same block density (BD), the higher the block average height (BH), the lower the LST. Second, among the 2D urban morphology factors, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was the main factor for cities to reduce urban LST, especially in summer, while normalized difference built-up index (NDBI) was the opposite. Different from land cities, we found a positive correlation between modified normalized difference water body index (MNDWI) and LST in autumn and winter. Third, in the 3D urban morphology factors, sky view factor (SVF) was significantly positively correlated with LST, while building fluctuation (BF) was negatively correlated. The higher the SVF, the worse the radiation shielding effect between buildings. On the contrary, the higher the BF, the higher the building undulation, and the better the building radiation shielding. These findings should provide some quantitative insights for the future construction and planning of island cities, which can be used to improve the thermal environment of island cities and support the sustainable development of cities.

Medium/High-Entropy Amalgamated Core/Shell Nanoplate Achieves Efficient Formic Acid Catalysis for Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell.

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) have been attracting extensive research interests in designing advanced nanomaterials, while their precise control is still in the infancy stage. Herein, we have reported a well-defined PtBiPbNiCo hexagonal nanoplates (HEA HPs) as high-performance electrocatalysts. Structure analysis decodes that the HEA HP is constructed with PtBiPb medium-entropy core and PtBiNiCo high-entropy shell. Significantly, the HEA HPs can reach the specific and mass activities of 27.2 mA cm-2 and 7.1 A mgPt -1 for formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR), being the record catalyst ever achieved in Pt-based catalysts, and can realize the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) power density (321.2 mW cm-2 ) in fuel cell. Further experimental and theoretical analyses collectively evidence that the hexagonal intermetallic core/atomic layer shell structure and multi-element synergy greatly promote the direct dehydrogenation pathway of formic acid molecule and suppress the formation of CO*.

A Secure and Traceable Vehicles and Parts System Based on Blockchain and Smart Contract.

As society advances, so does the total number of vehicles on the road, creating a massive consumer market for automobiles. According to statistics, a major portion of today's traffic difficulties are caused by accidents caused by subpar cars and auto parts. As a result, each country has, over time, enacted equivalent rules and regulations to prevent such tragedies. However, in the face of profit, some people are desperate enough to employ illegal parts and illegally modified cars, and auto fraud is rampant. As a result, we employ the blockchain of the symmetrical Blockchain's digital ledger and smart contract technology to build a decentralized supply chain system that can identify specific parts. In this study, we design and discuss the proposed system framework by user functions and the flow of parts based on blockchain, and we discuss communication protocols that use the symmetry and asymmetry cryptography, algorithms, properties, and security of the mechanism while providing related analysis and comparing the properties and costs of the system with other studies. Overall, the proposed method has the potential to successfully address the issue of automobile fraud.

O-arm navigation for sacroiliac screw placement in the treatment for posterior pelvic ring injury.

PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the application value of O-arm navigation system in sacroiliac screw placement for the treatment of unstable pelvic ring injury. METHODS: A total of 40 patients (mean age = 30.75 ± 14.99 years, 25 males, 15 females) were included. From January 2016 to July 2018, 40 patients with posterior pelvic ring injury treated in our hospital were included. Of them, 19 patients underwent O-arm navigation for screw placement (O-arm group) while the other 21 received C-arm fluoroscopy guidance (C-arm group) for sacroiliac screw placement. Intraoperative outcomes and the outcome of screw placement were compared between groups. The quality of radiological images was assessed by Matta's radiological outcome grade. The outcome of complex pelvic fracture treatment was evaluated by Majeed Functional score. RESULTS: All demographic and clinical characteristics were comparable between the two groups. Compared with the C-arm groups, the O-arm group had a shorter surgery time (33.19 ± 3.14 vs. 48.35 ± 4.38 min, P < 0.001), a higher overall good outcome "excellent + good" rate of screw placement (95.45% vs. 73.91%, P < 0.05), and a significantly higher Majeed Functional score better outcome of complex pelvic fracture treatment at 1 and 3 months postoperation (both P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated that O-arm navigation system is feasible and safe for the treatment of posterior pelvic ring injury and can effectively improve the accuracy and safety of sacroiliac screw placement, shorten the operation time, and help rapid postoperative functional recovery.

Discrete Supertetrahedral T5 Selenide Clusters and Their Se/S Solid Solutions: Ionic-Liquid-Assisted Precursor Route Syntheses and Photocatalytic Properties.

Although supertetrahedral Tn sulfide clusters (n=2-6) have been extensively explored, the synthesis of Tn selenide clusters with n>4 has not been achieved thus far. Reported here are ionic-liquid (IL)-assisted precursor route syntheses, characterizations, and the photocatalytic properties of six new M-In-Q (M=Cu or Cd; Q=Se or Se/S) chalcogenide compounds, namely [Bmmim]12 Cu5 In30 Q52 Cl3 (Im) (Q=Se (T5-1), Se48.5 S3.5 (T5-2); Bmmim=1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium, Im=imidazole), [Bmmim]11 Cd6 In28 Q52 Cl3 (MIm) (Q=Se (T5-3), Se28.5 S23.5 (T5-4), Se16 S36 (T5-5); MIm=1-methylimidazole), and [Bmmim]9 Cd6 In28 Se8 S44 Cl(MIm)3 (T5-6). The cluster compounds T5-1 and T5-3 represent the largest molecular supertetrahedral Tn selenide clusters to date. Under visible-light illumination, the Cu-In-Q compounds showed photocatalytic activity towards the decomposition of crystal violet, whereas the Cd-In-Q compounds exhibited good photocatalytic H2 evolution activity. Interestingly, the experimental results show that the photocatalytic performances of the selenide/sulfide solid solutions were significantly better than those of their selenide analogues, for example, the degradation time of the organic dye with T5-2 was much shorter than that with T5-1, whereas the photocatalytic H2 evolution efficiencies with T5-3-T5-6 improved significantly with increasing sulfur content. This work highlights the significance of IL-assisted precursor route synthesis and the tuning of photocatalytic properties through the formation of solid solutions.

Effect of gastric cancer stem cell on gastric cancer invasion, migration and angiogenesis.

Purpose: Using the gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 and gastric cancer stem cell (CSC-G), we conducted this study to investigate the role of cancer stem cells in invasion, metastasis and tumor angiogenesis. Methods: Stem cell markers (OCT4, SOX2, C-Myc and Klf4) expression was detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting. The proliferation, migration, invasion abilities, L-OHP and 5-FU resistance, angiogenesis were assessed using in vitro spherical clone formation assays, plate cloning experiments, transwell migration, transwell invasion, drug resistance, scratch-wound migration, ring formation assay, and their tumorigenic and ability were assessed using a tumor formation experiment in mice. Results: Compared with the SGC7901, the expression of Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and CD44 mRNA was significantly higher in CSC-G, the mRNA relative expression of E-cadherin in CSC-G was lower than SGC7901, while the expression of c-Myc did not significantly change. The proliferation, drug resistance, migration, and invasion abilities were significantly higher in CSC-G, and the tumorigenic ability in mice was also significantly higher. Conclusion: The proliferation, drug resistance, migration, invasion, and tumorigenic abilities of CSC-G significantly were higher than SGC7901. CSC-G plays important roles in proliferation, migration, invasion, and tumorigenicity.

Laparoscopic versus open approach in gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Additional studies comparing laparoscopic gastrectomy (LG) versus open gastrectomy (OG) for advanced gastric cancer (AGC) have been published, and it is necessary to update the systematic review of this subject. OBJECTIVE: We conducted the meta-analysis to find some proof for the use of LG in AGC and evaluate whether LG is an alternative treatment for AGC. METHOD: Randomized controlled trials (RCT) and high-quality retrospective studies (NRCT) compared LG and OG for AGC, which were published in English between January 2010 and May 2019, were search in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Knowledge by three authors independently and thoroughly. Some primary endpoints were compared between the two groups, including intraoperative time, intraoperative blood loss, harvested lymph nodes, first flatus, first oral intake, first out of bed, post-operative hospital stay, postoperative morbidity and mortality, rate of disease recurrence, and 5-year over survival (5-y OS). Besides, considering for this 10-year dramatical surgical material development between 2010 and 2019, we furtherly make the same analysis based on recent studies published between 2016 and 2019. RESULT: Thirty-six studies were enrolled in this systematic review and meta-analysis, including 5714 cases in LAG and 6094 cases in OG. LG showed longer intraoperative time, less intraoperative blood loss, and quicker recovery after operations. The number of harvested lymph nodes, hospital mortality, and tumor recurrence were similar. Postoperative morbidity and 5-y OS favored LG. Furthermore, the systemic analysis of recent studies published between 2016 and 2019 revealed similar result. CONCLUSION: A positive trend was indicated towards LG. LG can be performed as an alternative to OG for AGC.

Prognostic value of ZEB-1 in solid tumors: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Zinc-finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB-1) plays crucial roles in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition during tumor carcinogenesis. Published studies have examined the potential value of ZEB-1 as a biomarker for the prognosis of cancer. Nevertheless, the prognostic significance of ZEB-1 in human solid tumor remains inconclusive. Therefore, we performed the present meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic value of ZEB-1 in patients with solid tumors. METHODS: The 13 included studies (1616 patients) were exact electronic searched from Web of Science, PubMed and EBSCO until September 2018. Pooled hazard ratios (HR) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for overall survival (OS) were analyzed through random or fixed effects models. Univariate and multivariate analyses were independently performed. Subgroup analyses, heterogeneity and publication bias were investigated to further enhance reliability. RESULTS: This research indicated that elevated expression of ZEB-1 significantly predicted worse OS in patients with solid tumors. In the univariate analysis, the pooled HR for OS was 1.66 (95% CI: 1.45-1.90; P < 0.01). Meanwhile, in multivariate analysis, the pooled HR for OS was 2.28 (95% CI: 1.58-3.30; P < 0.01). Begg's funnel plot and Begg's test did not show evidence of significant publication bias, both in univariate analysis and multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: High expression of ZEB-1 was associated with poorer OS, suggesting that ZEB-1 may be a potential biomarker for the prediction of prognosis, and a novel therapeutic target in human solid tumors.

Effects of Pre-Cardiopulmonary Bypass Administration of Dexmedetomidine on Cardiac Injuries and the Inflammatory Response in Valve Replacement Surgery With a Sevoflurane Postconditioning Protocol: A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Preventing myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in on-pump cardiac surgeries remains an enormous challenge. Sevoflurane postconditioning has been effective at overcoming this challenge by modulating inflammatory mediators and ameliorating antioxidative stress. Dexmedetomidine (DEX) is a commonly used medication for cardiac patients with organ-protective properties that lead to positive outcomes. Whether DEX also has cardiac-protective properties and the associated mechanism in sevoflurane postconditioning-based valve replacement surgeries are unknown. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to observe the effect of DEX administration before cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) on myocardial injury, oxidative stress, and inflammatory response indicators in the peripheral blood. METHODS: Twenty-eight eligible cardiac patients who underwent valve replacement surgery with standard sevoflurane postconditioning were included in the study. The patients were randomly divided into a DEX group and a non-DEX group according to whether DEX (0.5-µg/kg overload dose for 10 minutes and a 0.5-µg/kg/h maintenance dose) or saline was administered from induction to the beginning of CPB. The primary outcome was the cardiac troponin I concentration (cTnI) in the blood 24 hours after CPB. The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) were also measured. RESULTS: The mean cTnI at 24 hours after CPB was clearly decreased in the DEX group compared with that in the non-DEX group (4.16 ± 1.58 vs. 6.90 ± 3.73, P < 0.05). TNF-α levels were lower in the DEX group after CPB (T1-T5), with a significant difference found at 1-6 hours after CPB (1 hour, 19.03 vs. 28.09; 6 hours, 20.74 vs. 30.94, P < 0.05). The IL-6 and IL-8 concentrations in the DEX group were dramatically increased at 6 hours after CPB (P < 0.05). The MDA content and superoxide dismutase activity were comparable between the 2 groups. A lower proportion of anemia cases were noted after CPB in the DEX group than in the non-DEX group (non-DEX, 10% vs. DEX, 5%, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In valve replacement surgery with sevoflurane postconditioning, pre-CPB administration of DEX can reduce the cTnI level at 24 hours after CPB and brings synergic benefits of the inflammatory response.

Unraveling the effect of B-site antisite defects on the electronic and magnetic properties of the quadruple perovskite CaCu3Fe2Nb2O12.

The atomic-scale degree of B/B' alternate cationic disorder is known to significantly influence the macroscopic properties of the quadruple perovskites AA3'B2B2'O12; however, the nature of this disorder has rarely been critically studied. Herein, the effect of B-site cationic arrangement on the electronic and magnetic properties of the quadruple perovskite CaCu3Fe2Nb2O12 was systemically investigated using the first-principles calculations. The results demonstrate that the B-site ordered CaCu3Fe2Nb2O12 is a ferrimagnetic insulator with antiferromagnetic coupling between the A'-site Cu and B-site Fe. The calculated total magnetic moment is 7.00 µB f.u.-1, which is apparently larger than the experimentally measured saturation magnetization because of different degrees of the B-site disorder. Furthermore, the electronic structures illustrate that the magnetic moments sharply decrease with an increase in the B-site antisite defects, i.e., the total magnetic moments obviously reduce with an increase in the B-site Fe/Nb disorder, and ultimately, no magnetism is observed. Interestingly, the B-site antisite defects not only introduce Fe-Fe antiferromagnetic coupling, but also induce the antiferromagnetic arrangement of Cu spins in the totally disordered structure. Cu-Fe and Fe-Fe magnetic coupling competition is coupled with antisite defects, and finally, Fe-Fe antiferromagnetic coupling turns into the dominating spin coupling in the disordered CaCu3Fe2Nb2O12. Moreover, the B-site antisite defects do not alter the insulator nature of the perovskite despite the significantly narrowed band gap. Our study opens up a novel avenue for the straightforward understanding of the effect of cationic ordering on the electronic and magnetic properties of quadruple perovskites and offers an additional opportunity for tailoring their characteristics.

Bakuchiol exhibits anti-metastasis activity through NF-κB cross-talk signaling with AR and ERß in androgen-independent prostate cancer cells PC-3.

Androgen-independent prostate cancer (PCa) is a developed tumor derived from the local androgen dependent PCa, which often affects elderly men. Psoralea corylifolia L, a traditional Chinese medicine, has been widely used for PCa treatment as an important part of a common prescription, while the mechanism remains unclear. Our study was aimed to investigate the tumor-inhibitory effect of its main component bakuchiol in androgen-independent PCa cell line PC-3 cells. Bakuchiol significantly suppressed PC-3 cell proliferation and migration; the expressions of PCNA and MMP-9 were consistently down regulated as well. Meanwhile, both the constitutive and LPS-induced NF-κB activation were significantly inhibited by bakuchiol. The inhibitory effects of bakuchiol on cell proliferation, migration and invasion were recovered when LPS were added together with bakuchiol. SiRNA against androgen receptor (AR) or estrogen receptor ß (ERß) were transfected and the regulation of bakuchiol-suppressed proliferation, invasion, NF-κB signaling and MMP-9 secretion in response to LPS were blocked. Taken together, our data demonstrated that bakuchiol inactivated NF-κB signaling via AR and ERß, which contributes to inhibition of PC-3 cell proliferation and migration, indicating that bakuchiol is one of the key component from P. corylifolia L for PCa treatment and has a potential as anti-prostate cancer drug candidates.

Preparation of uniform lignin/titanium dioxide nanoparticles by confined assembly: A multifunctional nanofiller for a waterborne polyurethane wood coating.

We report a facile synthesis for lignin/titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (LT NPs) at room temperature by confining assembly of lignin macromolecules. The LT NPs had a uniform nanosize distribution (average diameter âˆ¼ 68 nm) and were directly employed as multifunctional nanofillers to reinforce a waterborne polyurethane wood coating (WBC). X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed the mechanism by which formed TiO2 confined lignin assembly. The LT NPs considerably increased the tensile strength of a WBC film from 16.3 MPa to 28.1 MPa. The WBC-LT NPs exhibited excellent ultraviolet (UV) A and UVB blocking performances of 87 % and 98 %, respectively, while maintaining 94 % transmittance in the visible region. Incorporating LT NPs into the WBC enhanced the coating performance (the hardness, adhesion, and abrasion resistance) on wood substrates. A quantitative color and texture analysis revealed that the LT NPs increased the decorativeness of actual wooden products. After nearly 1800 h of UV irradiation, wood coated with the WBC-LT NPs exhibited good color stability, where the original color remained unchanged or even became brighter. In this study, value-added valorization of lignin is enabled by using organic-inorganic nanofillers and insights are gained into developing multifunctional WBCs.