Explore the vast range of titles available.

A template-free strategy was designed to prepare hierarchical porous carbons (HPCs) using fluid catalytic cracking oil modified a coal tar pitch (CTP). The resulting HPCs possess large specific surface areas, reasonable pore size distributions, and wrinkled structures, which could improve the overall electrochemical performance. They exhibit a specific capacitance value of 329 F g −1 at 0.5 A g −1 and still maintain 220 F g −1 at 20 A g −1 , manifesting the remarkable rate capability. Additionally, the assembled symmetrical supercapacitor delivers a highest energy density of 23.6 Wh kg −1 at a power density of 500 W kg −1 and outstanding cycle stability of 92.8% capacitance retention after 10000 cycles. This work paves a new way to fabricate advanced carbon materials from low-cost CTP and provides a promising approach for value-added utilization of CTP. Graphical abstract

Catechol shows a wide range of applications in real life, but it has been considered as an organic pollutant due to its potential harm to the ecological environment and human health, so the monitoring of catechol is particularly important. In this work, an electrochemical sensor for the detection of catechol was developed based on an organic/inorganic layered nanocomposite polyaniline/strontium niobate (PANI/HSr2Nb3O10) synthesized by in situ polymerization. Some characterization methods such as X-ray diffraction patterns, scanning electron microscope, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy were systematically used to evaluate the structure, composition, and morphology of the as-prepared samples. Compared with other single component modified electrodes, PANI/HSr2Nb3O10/GCE can accelerate the electron transfer ability and possess larger electroactive surface area due to the synergistic effect of PANI and HSr2Nb3O10, which resulted in enhanced electrocatalytic activity toward catechol. A pair of well-defined redox peaks observed on PANI/HSr2Nb3O10/GCE correspond to the redox process of catechol, the mechanism of which is a reversible conversion between catechol and quinone. Under optimized conditions, the differential pulse voltammetry was performed for the detection of catechol, and the detection limit of 0.02 μM was obtained in the concentration range of 0.025–4.97 mM. Additionally, the developed electrochemical sensor also exhibits satisfied repeatability, long-term stability, reproducibility, and anti-interference and shows practicality in environmental water samples, which further reveals the feasibility of the sensor for practical applications.

Human infections with zoonotic coronaviruses (CoVs), including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV, have raised great public health concern globally. Here, we report a novel bat-origin CoV causing severe and fatal pneumonia in humans. We collected clinical data and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens from five patients with severe pneumonia from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, Hubei province, China. Nucleic acids of the BAL were extracted and subjected to next-generation sequencing. Virus isolation was carried out, and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees were constructed. Five patients hospitalized from December 18 to December 29, 2019 presented with fever, cough, and dyspnea accompanied by complications of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Chest radiography revealed diffuse opacities and consolidation. One of these patients died. Sequence results revealed the presence of a previously unknown β-CoV strain in all five patients, with 99.8% to 99.9% nucleotide identities among the isolates. These isolates showed 79.0% nucleotide identity with the sequence of SARS-CoV (GenBank NC_004718) and 51.8% identity with the sequence of MERS-CoV (GenBank NC_019843). The virus is phylogenetically closest to a bat SARS-like CoV (SL-ZC45, GenBank MG772933) with 87.6% to 87.7% nucleotide identity, but is in a separate clade. Moreover, these viruses have a single intact open reading frame gene 8, as a further indicator of bat-origin CoVs. However, the amino acid sequence of the tentative receptor-binding domain resembles that of SARS-CoV, indicating that these viruses might use the same receptor. A novel bat-borne CoV was identified that is associated with severe and fatal respiratory disease in humans.

Lumbosacral degenerative disc disease is a common cause of lower back and leg pain. Conventional T1-weighted imaging（T1WI） and T2-weighted imaging（T2WI） scans are commonly used to image spinal cord degeneration. However, these modalities are unable to image the entire lumbosacral spinal nerve roots. Thus, in the present study, we assessed the potential of diffusion tensor imaging（DTI） for quantitative assessment of compressed lumbosacral spinal nerve roots. Subjects were 20 young healthy volunteers and 31 patients with lumbosacral stenosis. T2 WI showed that the residual dural sac area was less than two-thirds that of the corresponding normal area in patients from L3 to S1 stenosis. On T1 WI and T2 WI, 74 lumbosacral spinal nerve roots from 31 patients showed compression changes. DTI showed thinning and distortion in 36 lumbosacral spinal nerve roots（49%） and abruption in 17 lumbosacral spinal nerve roots（23%）. Moreover, fractional anisotropy values were reduced in the lumbosacral spinal nerve roots of patients with lumbosacral stenosis. These findings suggest that DTI can objectively and quantitatively evaluate the severity of lumbosacral spinal nerve root compression.

Self-healing materials have attracted considerable attention because of their improved safety, lifetime, energy efficiency and environmental impact. Supramolecular interactions have been extensively considered in the field of self-healing materials due to their excellent reversibility and sensitive responsiveness to environmental stimuli. However, development of a polymeric material with good mechanical performance as well as self-healing capacity is very challenging. In this study, we report a robust self-healing polyurethane (PU) elastomer polypropylene glycol-2-amino-5-(2- hydroxyethyl)-6-methylpyrimidin-4-ol (PPG-mUPy) by integrating ureidopyrimidone (UPy) motifs with a PPG segment with a well-defined architecture and microphase morphology. To balance the self-healing capacity and mechanical performance, a thermal-triggered switch of H-bonding is introduced. The quadruple H-bonded UPy dimeric moieties in the backbone induce phase separation to form a hard domain as well as enable further aggregation into microcrystals by virtue of the stacking interactions, which are stable in ambient temperature. This feature endows the PU with high mechanical strength. Meanwhile, a high healing efficiency can be realized, when the reversibility of the H-bond was unlocked from the stacking at higher temperature. An optimized sample PPG1000-mUPy50% with a good balance of mechanical performance (20.62 MPa of tensile strength) and healing efficiency (93% in tensile strength) was achieved. This strategy will provide a new idea for developing robust self-healing polymers.

To evaluate the effects of comprehensive nursing intervention on the quality of life and clinical outcomes of patients with thyroid nodules treated by ultrasound-guided microwave ablation. This was a prospective study conducted from December 2020 to December 2022 at The Fifth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital. One hundred and twenty patients with benign thyroid nodules undergoing microwave ablation were included. Patients were randomly divided into control group and experimental group. Patients in the control group were given conventional intervention mode during the perioperative period, while those in the experimental group were given comprehensive nursing intervention mode on the basis of the control group. The differences in quality of life, cognitive level before and after intervention and satisfaction between the two groups were compared and analyzed. The SF-36 scores in the experimental group were significantly higher than that in the control group after intervention. After the intervention, the SAS and SDS scores in the experimental group were significantly lower than those in the control group, with a statistically significant difference. The VAS scores in the experimental group were better than those in the control group at six, twelve and twenty four hour after operation, with statistically significant differences. After the intervention, the cognitive score of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group. Comprehensive nursing intervention is worthy of clinical promotion in the treatment of patients with thyroid nodules treated by ultrasound-guided microwave ablation, leading to various benefits such as effectively improving patients' quality of life and relieving pain.

Purpose Hyperoxia-induced apoptosis in alveolar epithelial type II cells (AECIIs) plays a critical role in the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Melatonin has been shown to improve BPD. However, the protective effect of melatonin on hyperoxia-induced apoptosis in AECIIs and the precise mechanisms involved remain unclear. Methods Human alveolar epithelial type II A549 cells were treated with hyperoxia as an in vitro model to investigate the antiapoptotic mechanism of melatonin. CCK-8 assays were performed to investigate the viability of A549 cells. Hoechst 33,258 staining was carried out to quantify apoptosis in A549 cells. The protein expression levels of E26 oncogene homolog 1 (ETS1), Bcl-2, Bax, Bim, Wnt, β-catenin, AKT and phosphorylated AKT were measured by western blotting. LY294002, SC79 and the downregulation of ETS1, melatonin receptor 1 (MT1) and MT2 with specific siRNAs were used to investigate the role of the PI3K/AKT pathway, ETS1, MT1 and MT2 in hyperoxia-induced apoptosis in A549 cells. Results Melatonin prevented hyperoxia-induced apoptosis in A549 cells, and the upregulation of E26 oncogene homolog 1 (ETS1) contributed to the antiapoptotic effect of melatonin. Melatonin activated the PI3K/AKT axis, which led to ETS1 upregulation and inhibited apoptosis in hyperoxia-exposed A549 cells. Furthermore, melatonin-induced activation of the PI3K/AKT axis, upregulation of ETS1 and inhibition of apoptosis were reversed by melatonin receptor 2 (MT2) siRNA in hyperoxia-exposed A549 cells. Conclusion Melatonin prevents hyperoxia-induced apoptosis by activating the MT2/PI3K/AKT/ETS1 axis in alveolar epithelial cells.

The tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a promising cancer therapeutic agent, which kills cancer cells selectively, while leaving normal cells unharmed. However, the emerging resistance of tumor cells and patients to TRAIL-induced apoptosis limits its further application. In this study, we developed a chimeric protein Annexin V-TRAIL (designated as TP8) with higher efficacy than TRAIL both in vitro and in vivo . In vitro , the EC 50 of TP8 on a series of tumor cells was much lower than wild-type TRAIL. Annexin V provided this recombinant protein with higher efficacy, while leaving tumor specificity of TRAIL unchanged since TP8 had no effects on normal cells. In vivo , TP8 effectively suppressed tumor growth and prolonged tumor doubling time and tumor growth delay time in mouse xenografts involving multiple cancer cell types including A549, Colo205 and Bel7402. This study provides a new rational strategy to treat TRAIL-resistant cancers.

Our goal was to validate the feasibility of 99m Tc-duramycin as a potential apoptosis probe for monitoring tumor response to paclitaxel in breast cancer xenografts. The binding of 99m Tc-duramycin to phosphatidylethanolamine was validated in vitro using paclitaxel-treated human breast carcinoma MDA-MB-231 cells. Female BALB/c mice (n = 5) bearing breast cancer xenografts were randomized into 2 groups and intraperitoneally injected with 40 mg/kg paclitaxel or phosphate-buffered saline. 99m Tc-duramycin (37-55.5 MBq) was injected at 72 hours posttreatment, and single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography was performed at 2 hours postinjection. Apoptotic cells and activated caspase 3 in explanted tumor tissue were measured by flow cytometry. Cellular ultrastructural changes were assessed by light and transmission electron microscopy. 99m Tc-duramycin with radiochemical purity of >90% exhibited rapid blood clearance and predominantly renal clearance. The tumor-to-muscle ratio in the paclitaxel-treated group (5.29 ± 0.62) was significantly higher than that in the control. Tumor volume was decreased dramatically, whereas tumor uptake of 99m Tc-duramycin (ex vivo) significantly increased following paclitaxel treatment, which was consistent with apoptotic index, histological findings, and ultrastructural changes. Our data demonstrated the feasibility of 99m Tc-duramycin for early detection of apoptosis after paclitaxel chemotherapy in breast carcinoma xenografts.

Many cancer cell types are resistant to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-induced apoptosis. Here, we examined whether HSP70 suppression by small interfering RNA (siRNA) sensitized non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis and the underlying mechanisms. We demonstrated that HSP70 suppression by siRNA sensitized NSCLC cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis by upregulating the expressions of death receptor 4 (DR4) and death receptor 5 (DR5) through activating NF-κB, JNK, and, subsequently, p53, consequently significantly amplifying TRAIL-mediated caspase-8 processing and activity, cytosolic translocation of cytochrome c, and cell death. Consistently, the pro-apoptotic proteins Bad and Bax were upregulated, while the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 was downregulated. The luciferase activity of the DR4 promoter was blocked by a NF-κB pathway inhibitor BAY11-7082, suggesting that NF-κB activation plays an important role in the transcriptional upregulation of DR4. Additionally, HSP70 suppression inhibited the phosphorylation of ERK, AKT, and PKC, thereby downregulating c-FLIP-L. A549 xenografts in mice receiving HSP70 siRNA showed TRAIL-induced cell death and increased DR4/DR5 levels and reduced tumor growth. The combination of psiHSP70 gene therapy with TRAIL also significantly increased the survival benefits induced by TRAIL therapy alone. Interestingly, HSP27 siRNA and TRAIL together could not suppress tumor growth or prolong the survival of tumor-bearing mice significantly, although the combination could efficiently induce the apoptosis of A549 cells in vitro. Our findings suggest that HSP70 suppression or downregulation might be promising to overcome TRAIL resistance in cancer.