•Overview of the transition metal complexes as photosensitizers.•Integration of metal complexes with biomolecules for targeted antitumor application.•The future perspectives for metal-based PSs are ...outlined.
Light, oxygen and photosensitizers (PSs) are the three separate elements that have been applied in combination in the phototherapy of cancers in the past decades. Currently, platinum (Pt)-based drugs still account for approximately 50% of traditional chemotherapies used in the clinic. Transition metal complexes with unique and versatile photochemical and photophysical properties have appeared as promising systems for both photodynamic therapy and photoactivated chemotherapy. The highly potent photobiological activity based on energy transfer and electron transfer processes takes advantage of these properties. In this perspective article, we discuss the development of transition metal complexes (TMCs) with meaningful designs for the diagnosis and therapy of malignant tumors, including octahedral Ru(II) (ruthenium), Pt(IV) and Rh(III) (rhodium) PSs and in the early stages of Ir(III) (iridium) and Os(II) (osmium) complexes. The combination of organometallics with other active targeting moieties, such as antibodies, peptides, and aptamers, resulting in increased selectivity and reduced side-effects, will then be discussed. The challenges and future perspectives in this field will also be discussed. This review not only provides useful information for the future design of chemically innovative TMC-based anticancer drug candidates with clear mechanisms of action and drug targets, but also sheds light into the discovery of metal-based PSs to improve cancer treatment.
Adipocytes are one of the primary stromal cells in many tissues, and they are considered to play an active role in the tumor microenvironment. Cancer-associated adipocytes (CAAs) are not only found ...adjacent to cancer cells, but also communicate with cancer cells through releasing various factors that can mediate local and systemic effects. The adipocyte-cancer cell crosstalk leads to phenotypical and functional changes of both cell types, which can further enhance tumor progression. Indeed, obesity, which is associated with an increase in adipose mass and an alteration of adipose tissue, is becoming pandemic in some countries and it is now considered to be an independent risk factor for cancer progression. In this review, we focus on the potential mechanisms involved with special attention to the adipocyte-cancer cell circle in breast cancer. We envisage that besides having a direct impact on tumor cells, CAAs systemically preconditions the tumor microenvironment by favoring anti-tumor immunity. A better understanding of cancer-associated adipocytes and the key molecular events in the adipocyte-cancer cell crosstalk will provide insights into tumor biology and permit the optimization of therapeutic strategies.
The practical applications of organic phase change materials (PCM) are greatly limited, due to their leakage in the melted state and unacceptably low thermal conductivity. To address such a ...challenge, we use a succulent-based carbon aerogel (SCA), which consists of the epidermis, palisade tissue and spongy tissue, as an encapsulation scaffold for paraffin to fabricate PCM composites. The spongy tissue consisting of rich closed spherical cells allows a high loading efficiency (up to 95 wt%) for organic PCM, while the tightly-arranged palisade tissue and dense epidermis cells can act as two protective layers to prevent the leakage of liquid, enabling a mass loss as low as 1.3 wt% upon phase change. The PCM composites also show a high latent heat approaching that of pure paraffin and an excellent thermal cycling performance with 100% retention after being tested by using a differential scanning calorimeter 20 times. Moreover, the SCA not only serves as thermal conductive paths within the organic matrix, thereby remarkably enhancing the thermal conductivity of the PCM composites, but also acts as an effective photon captor and molecular heater, thus significantly increasing the light-to-thermal energy conversion efficiency of the PCM composites. As such, the SCA is an ideal multifunctional scaffold for PCM, which can advance the practical applications of PCM composites.
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•Both of MO and Pt/MO display strong absorption in the whole light spectrum.•Excellent light-driven thermocatalytic degradation of toluene is achieved on Pt/MO.•Light promotes ...catalytic reaction by activating more lattice oxygen of Pt/MO.•Photoactivation is obviously enhanced in existence of Pt NPs.
Light-driven photothermocatalysis can provide enough energy to reach light-off temperature of VOCs on the surface of catalyst without auxiliary heat source. Herein, we synthesized noble-metal supported manganese oxide catalysts (xPt/MO) and studied their photothermal catalytic behavior of toluene degradation, where 1 Pt/MO (1 wt.% loading of Pt) and 2 Pt/MO (2 wt.% loading of Pt) exhibited more than 90 % of conversion and 70 % of mineralization under illumination of 200 mW/cm2 light intensity with a value of 30,000 mL/(g·h) for weight hourly space velocity (WHSV), respectively. Comparison to pure MO, 1 Pt/MO owns a good photothermal catalytic stability for at least 60 h without obvious deactivation. The introduction of Pt promotes the crystallization of MO (verified by XRD and TEM analysis) and enhances the mobility of surface/sub-surface lattice oxygen (verified by O2-TPD, H2-TPR and CO consumption). It is proved that illumination not only supplies thermal energy to trigger the reaction of toluene oxidation but also further evoke more lattice oxygen on Pt/MO to participate in toluene decomposition.
Chalcones (1,3-diaryl-2-propen-1-ones) are precursors for flavonoids and isoflavonoids, which are common simple chemical scaffolds found in many naturally occurring compounds. Many chalcone ...derivatives were also prepared due to their convenient synthesis. Chalcones as weandhetic analogues have attracted much interest due to their broad biological activities with clinical potentials against various diseases, particularly for antitumor activity. The chalcone family has demonstrated potential in vitro and in vivo activity against cancers via multiple mechanisms, including cell cycle disruption, autophagy regulation, apoptosis induction, and immunomodulatory and inflammatory mediators. It represents a promising strategy to develop chalcones as novel anticancer agents. In addition, the combination of chalcones and other therapies is expected to be an effective way to improve anticancer therapeutic efficacy. However, despite the encouraging results for their response to cancers observed in clinical studies, a full description of toxicity is required for their clinical use as safe drugs for the treatment of cancer. In this review, we will summarize the recent advances of the chalcone family as potential anticancer agents and the mechanisms of action. Besides, future applications and scope of the chalcone family toward the treatment and prevention of cancer are brought out.
•The influence of pyrolysis temperature and solid residence time on products and energy distribution were investigated.•The results showed that carbon monoxide is the main component in bio-gas.•The ...oil products showed that phenols hydrocarbons were the major components.•The maximum of energy profit rate is 6.49% obtained at the temperature of 900°C with the solid residence time of 6min.
In this work, the continuous pyrolysis of pine sawdust is performed with a screw reactor to investigate the influence of pyrolysis temperature and solid residence time on products and energy distribution. Gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to confirm the identities of bio-oil. The combustion kinetics of bio-char had analyzed by thermo-gravimetric (TG). The results of gas chromatograph showed that carbon monoxide is the main component in produced gas, and the maximum gas yield of 54.5% was obtained at the temperature of 900°C. Compositional analysis of the oil products showed that phenols were the major components, and its proportion increased at higher temperatures and longer solid residence times. The activation energy of bio-char combustion is 461.10kJmol−1 and 108.45kJmol−1 in the ranges of 290–314°C and 314–518°C, respectively. The maximum of energy profit rate is 6.49% obtained at the temperature of 900°C with the solid residence time of 6min.
Health care workers, especially frontline nurses, faced great challenges during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.
To assess the magnitude of the psychological status and associated ...risk factors among nurses in the pandemic center in Wuhan, China.
In this study, we enrolled nurses from Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University. The questionnaire was designed to obtain basic information of the participants, and included four psychological assessment scales. We issued the questionnaires at two different points of time. We conducted the first survey on January 29 to February 2 (outbreak period) with 709 eligible responses, and the second survey on February 26 to February 28 (stable period) with 621 eligible responses. The nurses from Wuchang Fangcang shelter hospital were also enrolled in the second survey.
During the pandemic, over one-third of nurses suffered from depression, anxiety, and insomnia. In the outbreak period, the nurses showed significantly higher risks for depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms than those in the stable period (P < 0.01). Notably, the nurses from the Fangcang shelter hospitals were more likely to present psychological problems than those from other frontline or non-frontline (all P < 0.001) units, especially for insomnia (38.3% with severe insomnia). The nurses from the frontline, with worse physical condition and uncertain concerns about this pandemic as compared to the others, were more likely to bear psychological problems. Thus, online psychological information and sufficient protection conditions were effective interventions to help mitigate psychological distress. The nurses from Fangcang shelter hospitals suffered a significantly higher risk of psychological problems than those from other units.
The psychological status of nurses needs more attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for those who fought in the frontline during the peak of the outbreak.
Bladder cancer, a prevalent and heterogeneous malignancy, necessitates the discovery of pertinent biomarkers to enable personalized treatment. The mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), a ...pivotal regulator of cellular growth, metabolism, and immune response, exhibits activation in a subset of bladder cancer tumors. In this study, we explore the prognostic significance of mTORC1 signaling in bladder cancer through the utilization of bioinformatics analysis. Our investigation incorporates transcriptomic, somatic mutation, and clinical data, examining the mTORC1 score of each sample, as well as the enrichment of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), differentiation characteristics, immunological infiltration, and metabolic activity. Our findings reveal that elevated mTORC1 levels serve as an adverse prognostic indicator for bladder cancer patients, exhibiting a significant association with Basal-type bladder cancer. Patients with heightened mTORC1 activation display heightened levels of pro-carcinogenic metabolism. Additionally, these individuals demonstrate enhanced response to immunotherapy. Finally, we develop an mTORC1-related signature capable of predicting the prognosis of bladder cancer patients.The signature offers novel mTORC1-related biomarkers and provides fresh insights into the involvement of mTORC1 in the pathogenesis of bladder cancer.
This study aimed to access possible relationships between breast cancer subtypes and sites of distant metastasis in breast cancer.
A total of 243,896 patients, including 226,451 cases in control ...groups were identified. Bone metastasis was found in 8848 cases, compared with 1,000 brain metastasis cases, 3434 liver metastasis cases and 4167 lung metastasis cases. Patients with all subtypes were most prone to bone metastases, the incidence of bone metastasis in HR+/HER2+ subtype was up to 5.1 %. Further, HR-/HER2+ subtype patients had a higher probability of brain (OR = 1.978) metastasis compared to HR+/HER2- subtype patients. In addition, liver metastasis was more frequently observed in the HER2 positive subtypes compared with HER2 negative subtypes. Patients with TN primarily presented lung metastasis, but it made no difference in the probability of lung metastases of all subtypes.
Using the 2010-2013 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program(SEER) data, a retrospective, population-based cohort study to investigate tumor subtypes-specific differences in the sites of distant metastasis. Metastatic patterns information was provided for bone, brain, liver and lung. The breast cancer was classified into four subtypes: hormone receptor (HR) +/ human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -, HR+/HER2+, HR-/HER2+ and triple negative (TN).
The pathological subtypes of breast cancer are clearly different in metastatic behavior with regard to the sites of distant metastasis, emphasizing that this knowledge may help to determine the appropriate strategy for follow-up and guide personalized medicine.
Piezo channels in the urinary system Li, Xu; Hu, Junwei; Zhao, Xuedan ...
Experimental & molecular medicine,
06/2022, Letnik:
54, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The Piezo channel family, including Piezo1 and Piezo2, includes essential mechanosensitive transduction molecules in mammals. Functioning in the conversion of mechanical signals to biological signals ...to regulate a plethora of physiological processes, Piezo channels, which have a unique homotrimeric three-blade propeller-shaped structure, utilize a cap-motion and plug-and-latch mechanism to gate their ion-conducting pathways. Piezo channels have a wide range of biological roles in various human systems, both in vitro and in vivo. Currently, there is a lack of comprehensive understanding of their antagonists and agonists, and therefore further investigation is needed. Remarkably, increasingly compelling evidence demonstrates that Piezo channel function in the urinary system is important. This review article systematically summarizes the existing evidence of the importance of Piezo channels, including protein structure, mechanogating mechanisms, and pharmacological characteristics, with a particular focus on their physiological and pathophysiological roles in the urinary system. Collectively, this review aims to provide a direction for future clinical applications in urinary system diseases.
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