Exosomes are discrete populations of small (40-200 nm in diameter) membranous vesicles that are released into the extracellular space by most cell types, eventually accumulating in the circulation. ...As molecular messengers, exosomes exert a broad array of vital physiologic functions by transporting information between different cell types. Because of these functional properties, they may have potential as biomarker sources for prognostic and diagnostic disease. Recent research has found that exosomes have potential to be utilized as drug delivery agents for therapeutic targets. However, basic researches on exosomes and researches on their therapeutic potential both require the existence of effective and rapid methods for their separation from human samples. In the current absence of a standardized method, there are several methods available for the separation of exosomes, but very few studies have previously compared the efficiency and suitability of these different methods. This review summarized and compared the available traditional and novel methods for the extraction of exosomes from human samples and considered their advantages and disadvantages for use in clinical laboratories and point-of-care settings.
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DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
Carbon microcapsules with a large interior cavity and porous shell are ideal hosts for guest species, while to maximize in‐cavity volume has always been a challenge. Herein, a surface free ...energy‐induced assembly approach is proposed for synthesis of multicavity carbon spheres (MCC). When used as a host for lithium–sulfur cathodes, MCC are fully accessible for sulfur—with high level in‐cavity encapsulation ability of grid‐like cavities. The crucial point for this assembly approach is the employment of small sized nanoemulsions with high homogeneity as primary building blocks. Spontaneous aggregation and assembly of substructural units are processing in following hydrothermal synthesis induced by reduction of surface free energy of system. As a result, multicavity structure is formed, where the size and number of cavities can be modulated by changing size of nanoemulsion and concentration of polymer. Confined pyrolysis enables to further enlarge cavity size compared to regular pyrolysis. The carbon–sulfur cathode exhibits excellent cycling stability and rate performance, i.e., high capacity of 943 and 869 mA h g−1 after 200 cycles at current density of 0.5 and 2.0 C. The strategy has paved the way for custom‐ordered synthesis of nanostructured carbon with keen demands in high loading capacity of guest species.
A surface free energy‐induced assembly approach for the synthesis of multicavity carbon spheres by a well‐controlled solution synthesis route is demonstrated. The size and number of the cavities can be controlled by varying nanoemulsion size and polymer concentration. The multicavity interconnected with porous walls is fully accessible for sulfur species, demonstrating the high level in‐cavity encapsulation ability of grid‐like cavities.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Transition metal dichalcogenides, a family of two-dimensional material with unusual electronic, optical, mechanical, and electrochemical properties, have received much research attention in recent ...years. Here we demonstrate that, another type of few-layer transition metal dichalcogenides, rhenium disulfide (ReS 2 ) nanosheets display saturable absorption property at 1.55 μm. By incorporating the ReS 2 nanosheets with the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), a film-type ReS 2 -PVA saturable absorber is fabricated to realize Q-switching and mode locking of erbium-doped fiber lasers. The repetition rate of the Q-switched laser pulses varies from 12.6 to 19 KHz while the duration changes from 23 to 5.496 μs by tuning the pump from 45 to 120 mW. By optimizing the polarization state, the mode-locked operation is also obtained, emitting a train of pulses centered at 1558.6 nm with the duration of 1.6 ps and the fundamental repetition rate of 5.48 MHz. It is demonstrated that ReS 2 nanosheets have the similar saturable absorption property as that of MoS 2 and WS 2 , and may find potential applications in pulsed laser, optical modulators, and sensors.
Epitopes of phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R), the target antigen in idiopathic membranous nephropathy (iMN), must be presented by the HLA-encoded MHC class II molecules to stimulate autoantibody ...production. A genome-wide association study identified risk alleles at HLA and PLA2R loci, with the top variant rs2187668 within HLA-DQA1 showing a risk effect greater than that of the top variant rs4664308 within PLA2R1. How the HLA risk alleles affect epitope presentation by MHC class II molecules in iMN is unknown. Here, we genotyped 261 patients with iMN and 599 healthy controls at the HLA-DRB1, HLA-DQA1, HLA-DQB1, and HLA-DPB1 loci with four-digit resolution and extracted the encoded amino acid sequences from the IMGT/HLA database. We predicted T cell epitopes of PLA2R and constructed MHC-DR molecule-PLA2R peptide-T cell receptor structures using Modeler. We identified DRB1*1501 (odds ratio, 4.65; 95% confidence interval 95% CI, 3.39 to 6.41;
<0.001) and DRB1*0301 (odds ratio, 3.96; 95% CI, 2.61 to 6.05;
<0.001) as independent risk alleles for iMN and associated with circulating anti-PLA2R antibodies. Strong gene-gene interaction was noted between rs4664308(AA) and HLA-DRB1*1501/DRB1*0301. Amino acid positions 13 (
<0.001) and 71 (
<0.001) in the MHC-DR
1 chain independently associated with iMN. Structural models showed that arginine13 and alanine71, encoded by DRB1*1501, and lysine71, encoded by DRB1*0301, facilitate interactions with T cell epitopes of PLA2R. In conclusion, we identified two risk alleles of HLA class II genes and three amino acid residues on positions 13 and 71 of the MHC-DR
1 chain that may confer susceptibility to iMN by presenting T cell epitopes on PLA2R.
The human gut microbiome can modulate metabolic health and affect insulin resistance, and it may play an important role in the etiology of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Here, we compared the ...gut microbial composition of 43 GDM patients and 81 healthy pregnant women via whole-metagenome shotgun sequencing of their fecal samples, collected at 21–29 weeks, to explore associations between GDM and the composition of microbial taxonomic units and functional genes. A metagenome-wide association study identified 154 837 genes, which clustered into 129 metagenome linkage groups (MLGs) for species description, with significant relative abundance differences between the 2 cohorts. Parabacteroides distasonis, Klebsiella variicola, etc., were enriched in GDM patients, whereas Methanobrevibacter smithii, Alistipes spp., Bifidobacterium spp., and Eubacterium spp. were enriched in controls. The ratios of the gross abundances of GDM-enriched MLGs to control-enriched MLGs were positively correlated with blood glucose levels. A random forest model shows that fecal MLGs have excellent discriminatory power to predict GDM status. Our study discovered novel relationships between the gut microbiome and GDM status and suggests that changes in microbial composition may potentially be used to identify individuals at risk for GDM.
The synthesis and functionalization of transition-metal oxides are one of the most active research areas in advanced materials. As a typical transition-metal oxide, iron oxide has been widely used in ...lithium-ion batteries, gas sensors, and for water treatment. Herein, we synthesized Fe
2
O
3
nanoparticles by a co-precipitation method that is inexpensive and non-toxic. The Fe
2
O
3
nanoparticles exhibited broadband saturable absorption. Furthermore, thin Fe
2
O
3
polyvinyl alcohol films were prepared to realize Q-switched operations in a ytterbium-doped fibre laser, an erbium-doped fibre laser, and a thulium-doped fibre laser. Attributed to the polarization-insensitive feature of the saturable absorber, Q-switched cylindrical vector beams were also generated based on mode coupling and selection in two-mode fibre lasers. Such Fe
2
O
3
nanoparticles show great promise for use in Q-switching applications of infrared fibre lasers and cylindrical vector lasers.
The broadband polarization-insensitive saturable absorption of Fe
2
O
3
nanoparticles has been demonstrated for generating Q-switched cylindrical vector beams.
In the past 37 years, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) has undergone various major transmission routes in China, with the world most complex co-circulating ...HIV-1 subtypes, even the prevalence is still low. In response to the first epidemic outbreak of HIV in injecting drug users and the second one by illegal commercial blood collection, China issued the Anti-Drug Law and launched the Blood Donation Act and nationwide nucleic acid testing, which has avoided 98,232 to 211,200 estimated infections and almost ended the blood product-related infection. China has been providing free antiretroviral therapy (ART) since 2003, which covered >80% of the identified patients and achieved a viral suppression rate of 91%. To bend the curve of increasing the disease burden of HIV and finally end the epidemic, China should consider constraining HIV spread through sexual transmission, narrowing the gaps in identifying HIV cases, and the long-term effectiveness and safety of ART in the future.
Magnetic hollow structures with microporous shell and highly dispersed active cores (Fe/Fe3C nanoparticles) are rationally designed and fabricated by solution‐phase switchable transport of active ...iron species combined with a solid‐state thermolysis technique, thus allowing selective encapsulation of functional Fe/Fe3C nanoparticles in the interior cavity. These engineered functional materials show high loading (≈54 wt%) of Fe, excellent chromium removal capability (100 mg g−1), fast adsorption rate (8766 mL mg−1 h−1), and easy magnetic separation property (63.25 emu g−1). During the adsorption process, the internal highly dispersed Fe/Fe3C nanoparticles supply a driving force for facilitating CrVI diffusion inward, thus improving the adsorption rate and the adsorption capacity. At the same time, the external microporous carbon shell can also efficiently trap guest CrVI ions and protect Fe/Fe3C nanoparticles from corrosion and subsequent leaching problems.
Hollow structures with microporous carbon shells and Fe/Fe3C active cores are fabricated through a switchable transport strategy, and show excellent CrVI removal efficiency and high magnetization. The micropore shells can effectively capture CrVI from the surroundings and protect the internal Fe/Fe3C that attracts/reacts with CrVI.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
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