Accretion of matter onto black holes (BHs) is a prevalent phenomenon in the cosmos, resulting in consequential changes to both the mass and irreducible mass of the BH. These alterations significantly ...impact the rotational energy reservoir harbored within. This study investigates the relationship between the increase in a BH’s irreducible mass and the augmentation of its total mass due to the infall of matter (test particles) from the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) of a Kerr BH. Interestingly, the ratio of total mass growth to irreducible mass growth proves to be a non-monotonic function concerning the dimensionless spin parameter. It initially rises with spin, culminating near an extreme BH (
), before declining. At the extreme BH position, the ratio is
, indicating that accretion along the ISCO leads to the ultimate stabilization of the BH as an extreme one. Conversely, massless particles falling along unstable circular orbits exhibit a continuous increasing ratio of total mass growth to irreducible mass growth with respect to the dimensionless spin parameter.
The electron-rich five-membered aromatic aza-heterocyclic imidazole, which contains two nitrogen atoms, is an important functional fragment widely present in a large number of biomolecules and ...medicinal drugs; its unique structure is beneficial to easily bind with various inorganic or organic ions and molecules through noncovalent interactions to form a variety of supramolecular complexes with broad medicinal potential, which is being paid an increasing amount of attention regarding more and more contributions to imidazole-based supramolecular complexes for possible medicinal application. This work gives systematical and comprehensive insights into medicinal research on imidazole-based supramolecular complexes, including anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, and anti-inflammatory aspects as well as ion receptors, imaging agents, and pathologic probes. The new trend of the foreseeable research in the near future toward imidazole-based supramolecular medicinal chemistry is also prospected. It is hoped that this work provides beneficial help for the rational design of imidazole-based drug molecules and supramolecular medicinal agents and more effective diagnostic agents and pathological probes.
IntroductionRectal cancer is one of the top 10 cancers worldwide. Up to 80% of patients with rectal tumours have had sphincter-saving surgery, mainly due to the large expectation of anal ...preservation. However, patients tend to experience low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) after rectal resection, which is disordered bowel function that includes faecal incontinence, urgency, frequent defecation, constipation and evacuation difficulties. LARS, with an estimated prevalence of 41%, has been reported to substantially decrease the quality of life of patients. However, no comprehensive preventive strategies are currently available for LARS. This systematic review aims to synthesise evidence on the current LARS preventive strategies.Methods and analysisThis protocol is reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) checklist. Literature in PubMed (via Medline), Embase and the Cochrane Library from inception to July 2023 will be searched to identify articles relevant to preventive effectiveness against LARS. The Cochrane Collaboration’s risk of bias tool for randomised controlled trials and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for clinical controlled trials, cohort studies and case–control studies will be used to assess the risk of bias. We will group the included studies by the type of LARS prevention strategy and present an overview of the main findings in the form of evidence mapping. A meta-analysis is planned if there is no substantial clinical heterogeneity between the included studies. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) will be used to evaluate the quality of the evidence.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not needed for systematic review of published data. The findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and disseminated at scientific conferences.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42023402886.
In this study, three kinds of Maillard reaction products (MRPs) have been, for the first time, successfully prepared by conjugating soy protein isolate (SPI) with isomaltooligosaccharide, ...xylooligosaccharide, or galactooligosaccharide at 80 °C for 30 or 60 min and applied for the construction of Lactobacillus casei (L. casei) microcapsules. The results showed that MRPs exhibited enhanced antioxidative activities compared with their physically mixed counterparts. The digested MRPs displayed excellent resistance to pathogenic bacteria and promoted the growth of L. casei. Moreover, MRP-encapsulated L. casei showed a higher survival rate than free L. casei under tested adverse conditions including heat treatment, storage, and mechanical forces. Under simulated digestion conditions, the viability of L. casei decreased from 8.8 log cfu/mL to 1.6 log cfu/mL, while that of MRP-encapsulated L. casei was maintained at 7.4 log cfu/mL. Thus, MRP-based SPI–oligosaccharide conjugates exhibited great potential for microencapsulation of probiotics.
Unique benzopyridone cyanoacetates (BCs) as new type of promising broad-spectrum antibacterial candidates were discovered with large potential to combat the lethal multidrug-resistant bacterial ...infections. Many prepared BCs showed broad antibacterial spectrum with low MIC values against the tested strains. Some highly active BCs exhibited rapid sterilization capacity, low resistant trend and good predictive pharmacokinetic properties. Furthermore, the highly active sodium BCs (NaBCs) displayed low hemolysis and cytotoxicity, and especially octyl NaBC 5g also showed in vivo potent anti-infective potential and appreciable pharmacokinetic profiles. A series of preliminary mechanistic explorations indicated that these active BCs could effectively eliminate bacterial biofilm and destroy membrane integrity, thus resulting in the leakage of bacterial cytoplasm. Moreover, their unique structures might further bind to intracellular DNA, DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV through various direct noncovalent interactions to hinder bacterial reproduction. Meanwhile, the active BCs also induced bacterial oxidative stress and metabolic disturbance, thereby accelerating bacterial apoptosis. These results provided a bright hope for benzopyridone cyanoacetates as potential novel multitargeting broad-spectrum antibacterial candidates to conquer drug resistance.
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•Benzopyridone cyanoacetates as new broad-spectrum antibacterials were discovered.•Active compounds exerted potent bioactivity with low MICs of 0.25–0.5 μg/mL against most of the tested bacteria.•Active compounds displayed rapidly sterilization ability, low resistance trend and low hemolysis and cytotoxicity.•Compound 5g showed anti-infective potential and appreciable pharmacokinetic profiles in vivo.•Active compounds could destroy bacterial membrane, intercalate into DNA and induce cellular imbalance.
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•Polydopamine/poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) was used as an interlayer.•Cracks were formed inside and below the polyamide layer.•A high rejection of low molecular weight ...pharmaceuticals was realized.•The high separation coefficients of NaCl/antibiotics were obtained.
It is necessary to prepare a nanofiltration (NF) membrane with high water permeability and excellent pharmaceutical selectivity. In this study, polydopamine/poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (PDA/PSBMA) was selected as the interlayer to improve the water permeance of polyamide (PA) composite NF membrane. The introduction of the PDA/PSBMA interlayer led to an increase in the degree of crosslinking of the PA layer and the formation of cracks inside and below the PA layer. As a result, a negatively charged NF membrane with a molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 348 Da and an average pore size of 0.23 nm was obtained. The pure water permeance of the optimal NF membrane was 22.0 L·m−2·h−1·bar−1, and the Na2SO4 rejection was 98.9%. Meanwhile, this NF membrane showed excellent rejection of antibiotics. The rejections of erythromycin (ERY), tetracycline hydrochloride (TC), and cephalexin (CA) were 100.0%, 99.4%, and 97.5%, respectively. The separation coefficients of NaCl/TC and NaCl/ERY were as high as 108.2 and 80.8, respectively. In addition, this NF membrane demonstrated outstanding properties in terms of antifouling and long-term stability. The NF membrane with PDA/PSBMA interlayer has excellent potential for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment and antibiotic extraction.
Postmenopausal women have a high incidence of atherosclerosis. Phytosterols have been shown to have cholesterol-lowering properties. Alisa B 23-acetate (AB23A) is a biologically active plant sterol ...isolated from Chinese herbal medicine Alisma. However, the atherosclerosis effect of AB23A after menopause and its possible mechanism have not been reported yet.
To explore whether AB23A can prevent atherosclerosis by regulating farnesoid X receptor and subsequently increasing fecal bile acid and cholesterol excretion to reduce plasma cholesterol levels.
Aortic samples from premenopausal and postmenopausal women with ascending aortic arteriosclerosis were analyzed, and bilateral ovariectomized (OVX) female LDLR−/− mice and free fatty acid (FFA)-treated L02 cells were used to analyze the effect of AB23A supplementation therapy.
AB23A increased fecal cholesterol and bile acids (BAs) excretion dependent on activation of hepatic farnesoid X receptor (FXR) in ovariectomized mice. AB23A inhibited hepatic cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) and sterol 12α-hydroxylase (CYP8B1) via inducing small heterodimer partner (SHP) expression. On the other hand, AB23A increased the level of hepatic chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), and activated the hepatic BSEP signaling. The activation of hepatic FXR-BSEP signaling by AB23A in ovariectomized mice was accompanied by the reduction of liver cholesterol, hepatic lipolysis, and bile acids efflux, and reduced the damage of atherosclerosis. In vitro, AB23A fixed abnormal lipid metabolism in L02 cells and increased the expression of FXR, BSEP and SHP. Moreover, the inhibition and silencing of FXR canceled the regulation of BSEP by AB23A in L02 cells.
Our results shed light into the mechanisms behind the cholesterol-lowering of AB23A, and increasing FXR-BSEP signaling by AB23A may be a potential postmenopausal atherosclerosis therapy.
Oxidized high-amylose starch macrogels (OHASMs) were successfully prepared and, for the first time, used as novel delivery vehicles for nutraceuticals. Oxidized high-amylose starch (OHAS) fabricated ...by 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (TEMPO) oxidation could crosslink Ca2+, Al3+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Cu2+, Zn2+ and Ba2+. For OHASM, the oxidation degree (DO) of OHAS had great effects on its morphology and controlled release properties except for the variety and concentration of metal ions. OHASM, formed by Zn2+ crosslinking OHAS (DO~90%), was suitable for encapsulating various nutraceuticals, such as hydrophobic and hydrophilic bioactive substances as well as probiotics, evidenced by 62.4%, 77.9% and 88.8% encapsulation efficiency for β-carotene, tea polyphenols and Lactobacillus paracasei, respectively. Furthermore, the outstanding pH-responsiveness and resistance of OHASM against gastric acid, bile salt, and digestive enzymes were demonstrated by swelling and simulative digestive experiments in vitro. The development of OHASM in this study suggests an attractive strategy for designing potential vehicles to encapsulate a variety of nutrients in food industries.
DO90-Zn2+ macrogel was suitable for encapsulating multiple types of bioactive substances, such as hydrophobic β-carotene, hydrophilic tea polyphenols and probiotics, exhibiting outstanding pH-responsiveness and resistance to gastric acid, bile salt and digestive enzymes in vitro. Right (A): Images of DO90-Zn2+ macrogel in their dry states and swelling states in SGF and SIF at different times. Right (B): The viable count of Lactobacillus paracasei after immersion in SGI for 5 h, as well as release files of β-carotene and tea polyphenols from sodium alginate, DO90-Zn2+, and DO90-Zn2+ and chitosan macrogels in SIF (pH 7.5) after immersion in SGF for 2h, respectively Display omitted .
•OHAS could crosslink most metal ions to form macrogels.•Carboxyl content in OHAS had great effects on the controlled release of OHASM except for metal ions.•DO90-Zn2+ macrogel had outstanding pH-responsiveness and resistance to SIF.•DO90-Zn2+ macrogel was suitable for encapsulating various bioactive substances.
