With the use of medium or polarized light and optical amplification equipment, dermoscopy can observe epidermal layer and superficial dermis of the skin that are invisible to the naked eye. The light ...source of Wood lamp (KN-9000B, Kernel, Xuzhou, China) was a laser beam with wavelength of 320 to 400 nm (peak: 365 nm), and the output power was ≥3.0 mW/cm2. Compared with histopathology, the combination of dermoscopic and Wood lamp examinations of facial skin pigmentation diseases does not damage the skin, can maintain the normal morphology and physiological functions of the cell tissue, and exhibits multiple images of the same tissue.
The advent of nanomedicine requires novel delivery vehicles to actively target their site of action. Here, we demonstrate the development of lung-targeting drug-loaded liposomes and their efficacy, ...specificity and safety. Our study focuses on glucocorticoids methylprednisolone (MPS), a commonly used drug to treat lung injuries. The steroidal molecule was loaded into functionalized nano-sterically stabilized unilamellar liposomes (NSSLs). Targeting functionality was performed through conjugation of surfactant protein A (SPANb) nanobodies to form MPS-NSSLs-SPANb. MPS-NSSLs-SPANb exhibited good size distribution, morphology, and encapsulation efficiency. Animal experiments demonstrated the high specificity of MPS-NSSLs-SPANb to the lung. Treatment with MPS-NSSLs-SPANb reduced the levels of TNF-α, IL-8, and TGF-β1 in rat bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and the expression of NK-κB in the lung tissues, thereby alleviating lung injuries and increasing rat survival. The nanobody functionalized nanoparticles demonstrate superior performance to treat lung injury when compared to that of antibody functionalized systems.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A number of studies have examined the associations between dietary patterns and pancreatic cancer risk, but the findings have been inconclusive. Herein, we conducted this meta-analysis to assess the ...associations between dietary patterns and the risk of pancreatic cancer. MEDLINE (provided by the National Library of Medicine) and EBSCO (Elton B. Stephens Company) databases were searched for relevant articles published up to May 2016 that identified common dietary patterns. Thirty-two studies met the inclusion criteria and were finally included in this meta-analysis. A reduced risk of pancreatic cancer was shown for the highest compared with the lowest categories of healthy patterns (odds ratio, OR = 0.86; 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.77-0.95;
= 0.004) and light-moderate drinking patterns (OR = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.83-0.98;
= 0.02). There was evidence of an increased risk for pancreatic cancer in the highest compared with the lowest categories of western-type pattern (OR = 1.24; 95% CI: 1.06-1.45;
= 0.008) and heavy drinking pattern (OR = 1.29; 95% CI: 1.10-1.48;
= 0.002). The results of this meta-analysis demonstrate that healthy and light-moderate drinking patterns may decrease the risk of pancreatic cancer, whereas western-type and heavy drinking patterns may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. Additional prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Abstract
The volume of ribonucleic acid (RNA)-seq data has increased exponentially, providing numerous new insights into various biological processes. However, due to significant practical ...challenges, such as data heterogeneity, it is still difficult to ensure the quality of these data when integrated. Although some quality control methods have been developed, sample consistency is rarely considered and these methods are susceptible to artificial factors. Here, we developed MassiveQC, an unsupervised machine learning-based approach, to automatically download and filter large-scale high-throughput data. In addition to the read quality used in other tools, MassiveQC also uses the alignment and expression quality as model features. Meanwhile, it is user-friendly since the cutoff is generated from self-reporting and is applicable to multimodal data. To explore its value, we applied MassiveQC to Drosophila RNA-seq data and generated a comprehensive transcriptome atlas across 28 tissues from embryogenesis to adulthood. We systematically characterized fly gene expression dynamics and found that genes with high expression dynamics were likely to be evolutionarily young and expressed at late developmental stages, exhibiting high nonsynonymous substitution rates and low phenotypic severity, and they were involved in simple regulatory programs. We also discovered that human and Drosophila had strong positive correlations in gene expression in orthologous organs, revealing the great potential of the Drosophila system for studying human development and disease.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Annexin A1 (ANXA1) is dysregulated in the various tumors. However, the role and mechanism of ANXA1 in the cancers are poorly understood. In this study, we first showed a clinically positive ...correlation between ANXA1 and autophagy-associated protein SQSTM1 expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and ANXA1-regulating SQSTM1 expression through autophagy, and further demonstrated that ANXA1 inhibited BECN1 and ATG5-dependent autophagy in the NPC cells. Using phospho-kinase antibody array to identify signaling through which ANXA1 regulated NPC cell autophagy, we found that ANXA1-suppressed autophagy was associated with PI3K/AKT signaling activation. We also showed that ANXA1 expression was significantly increased in the NPCs with metastasis relative to NPCs without metastasis and positively correlated with lymphonode and distant metastasis; high ANXA1 expression in the NPC cells promoted in vitro tumor cell migration and invasion and in vivo metastasis. Lastly, we showed that inhibition of autophagy restored the ability of tumor cell migration and invasion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like alterations and in vivo metastasis in the ANXA1 knockdown NPC cells with autophagy activation; ANXA1-suppresed autophagy induced EMT-like alterations possibly by inhibiting autophagy-mediated degradation of Snail. Our data suggest that ANXA1-suppressed autophagy promotes NPC cell migration, invasion and metastasis by activating PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, highlighting that the activation of autophagy may inhibit metastasis of NPC with high ANXA1 expression.
To evaluate exercise preconditioning (EP)-induced cardioprotective effects against exercise-induced acute myocardial injury and investigate the alterations of C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) and its ...specific receptor, natriuretic peptide receptor B (NPR-B), during EP-induced cardioprotection. Rats were subjected to treadmill exercise as an EP model (4 periods of 10 min each at 30 m/min with intervening periods of rest lasting 10 min). High-intensity exercise was performed 0.5 and 24 h after the EP. EP attenuated high-intensity exercise-induced myocardial injury in both the early and late phases. After EP and high-intensity exercise, CNP and NPR-B levels increased robustly, but no alterations in the plasma CNP were observed. The enhanced NPR-B, plasma and tissue CNP, and its mRNA levels after high-intensity exercise were significantly elevated by EP. These results suggest that cardiac CNP and NPR-B play an important role in EP-mediated cardioprotection against high-intensity exercise-induced myocardial injury in rats.
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FZAB, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Ruthenium (Ru)‐based catalysts, with considerable performance and desirable cost, are becoming highly interesting candidates to replace platinum (Pt) in the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction ...(HER). The hydrogen binding at Ru sites (Ru−H) is an important factor limiting the HER activity. Herein, density functional theory (DFT) simulations show that the essence of Ru−H binding energy is the strong interaction between the 4dz2
orbital of Ru and the 1s orbital of H. The charge transfer between Ru sites and substrates (Co and Ni) causes the appropriate downward shift of the 4dz2
‐band center of Ru, which results in a Gibbs free energy of 0.022 eV for H* in the RuCo system, much lower than the 0.133 eV in the pure Ru system. This theoretical prediction has been experimentally confirmed using RuCo alloy‐nanosheets (RuCo ANSs). They were prepared via a fast co‐precipitation method followed with a mild electrochemical reduction. Structure characterizations reveal that the Ru atoms are embedded into the Co substrate as isolated active sites with a planar symmetric and Z‐direction asymmetric coordination structure, obtaining an optimal 4dz2
modulated electronic structure. Hydrogen sensor and temperature program desorption (TPD) tests demonstrate the enhanced Ru−H interactions in RuCo ANSs compared to those in pure Ru nanoparticles. As a result, the RuCo ANSs reach an ultra‐low overpotential of 10 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 20.6 mV dec−1 in 1 M KOH, outperforming that of the commercial Pt/C. This holistic work provides a new insight to promote alkaline HER by optimizing the metal‐H binding energy of active sites.
Optimizing Ru−H adsorption/desorption efficiency, via adjusting the Ru 4dz2
orbital in RuCo alloy‐nanosheets, enables highly promoted alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction. This optimized adsorption/desorption efficiency is demonstrated by the hydrogen sensor and temperature programmed desorption experiments. The RuCo alloy‐nanosheets possess a record low overpotential of 10 mV at 10 mA cm−2, superior to the commercial Pt/C and Ru/C.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
Maximizing the catalytic activity of single-atom catalysts is vital for the application of single-atom catalysts in industrial water-alkali electrolyzers, yet the modulation of the catalytic ...properties of single-atom catalysts remains challenging. Here, we construct strain-tunable sulphur vacancies around single-atom Ru sites for accelerating the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction of single-atom Ru sites based on a nanoporous MoS
2
-based Ru single-atom catalyst. By altering the strain of this system, the synergistic effect between sulphur vacancies and Ru sites is amplified, thus changing the catalytic behavior of active sites, namely, the increased reactant density in strained sulphur vacancies and the accelerated hydrogen evolution reaction process on Ru sites. The resulting catalyst delivers an overpotential of 30 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm
−2
, a Tafel slope of 31 mV dec
−1
, and a long catalytic lifetime. This work provides an effective strategy to improve the activities of single-atom modified transition metal dichalcogenides catalysts by precise strain engineering.
Abstract Two recent studies have identified that a rare coding variant (p.R47H) in exon 2 of triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 ( TREM2 ) gene is associated with Alzheimer’s disease ...(AD) susceptibility in Caucasians. This association was not successfully replicated in Han Chinese, where this variant was rare or even absent. Previously, we re-sequenced TREM2 exon 2 to investigate whether additional rare variants conferred risk to AD in our cohort. Although several new variants had been identified, none of them was significantly associated with disease susceptibility. Here, to test whether TREM2 is truly a susceptibility gene of AD in Han Chinese, we extend our previous study by sequencing the other four exons of TREM2 in 988 AD patients and 1354 healthy controls. We provided the first evidence that a rare coding variant (p.H157Y) in TREM2 exon 3 conferred a considerable risk of AD in our cohort ( P corrected=0.02, OR=11.01, 95% CI: 1.38-88.05). This finding indicates that rare coding variants of TREM2 may play an important role in AD in Han Chinese.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
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