Tin disulfide (SnS2) is a promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries because of its high specific capacity. However, the low conductivity and large volume change during reaction with Na+ ions ...greatly limit its practical application. Herein, a multistep templating method has been exploited for the rational design and synthesis of SnS2 nanosheets confined in carbon nanotubes (SnS2@CNTs). To demonstrate the universality of this method, SnS2 nanosheets confined in carbon nanoboxes (SnS2@CNBs) and hollow carbon nanospheres (SnS2@CNSs) have also been synthesized by simply changing the template in the reaction system. Due to their unique structural merits, the SnS2@CNTs, SnS2@CNBs, and SnS2@CNSs show improved sodium storage performance in terms of high specific capacity, good cycling stability, and superior rate capability.
Display omitted
•SnS2 nanosheets are confined in various hollow carbon nanostructures•Ultrathin SnS2 nanosheets ensure efficient capacitive sodium storage•SnS2-carbon electrodes manifest excellent electrochemical sodium storage performance
Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted ever-growing attention as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries in view of the abundant resources and low cost of sodium. One major challenge for SIBs exists in developing efficient anode materials. Tin disulfide (SnS2) is a promising anode material for SIBs because of its high theoretical capacity. However, the low conductivity and huge volume expansion during reaction with Na+ ions significantly hamper its practical application. Here, we develop a facile templating method to effectively confine ultrathin SnS2 nanosheets in carbon nanotubes (SnS2@CNTs), carbon nanoboxes (SnS2@CNBs), and hollow carbon nanospheres (SnS2@CNSs). Benefiting from their unique structural advantages, these SnS2-carbon nanohybrids manifest high specific capacity, good cycling stability, and excellent rate capability. This work might enlighten scientists to exploit high-performance SIB anodes so that SIBs can be used in large-scale energy storage in the near future.
Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted enormous attention as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Recent studies on SIB cathodes have demonstrated performances comparable with their LIB counterparts. One major challenge for SIBs thus resides in exploiting suitable anode materials. Here, we develop a multistep templating method to confine SnS2 nanosheets in different carbon hollow structures including nanotubes, nanoboxes, and hollow nanospheres. Benefiting from their unique structural merits, these SnS2-carbon nanohybrids manifest excellent sodium storage properties.
Whilst the popular use of herbal medicine globally, it poses challenges in managing potential drug-herb interaction. There are two folds of the drug-herb interaction, a beneficial interaction that ...may improve therapeutic outcome and minimise the toxicity of drug desirably; by contrast, negative interaction may evoke unwanted clinical consequences, especially with drugs of narrow therapeutic index.
Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi is one of the most popular medicinal plants used in Asian countries. It has been widely used for treating various diseases and conditions such as cancer, diabetes, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Studies on its extract and bioactive compounds have shown pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic interactions with a wide range of pharmaceutical drugs as evidenced by plenty of in vitro, in vivo and clinical studies. Notably, S. baicalensis and its bioactives including baicalein, baicalin and wogonin exhibited synergistic interactions with many pharmaceutical drugs to enhance their efficacy, reduce toxicity or overcome drug resistance to combat complex diseases such as cancer, diabetes and infectious diseases. On the other hand, S. baicalensis and its bioactives also affected the pharmacokinetic profile of many drugs in absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination via the regulatory actions of the efflux pumps and cytochrome P450 enzymes. This review provides comprehensive references of the observed pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic drug interactions of Scutellaria baicalensis and its bioactives. We have elucidated the interaction with detailed mechanistic actions, identified the knowledge gaps for future research and potential clinical implications. Such knowledge is important for the practice of both conventional and complementary medicines, and it is essential to ensure the safe use of related herbal medicines. The review may be of great interest to practitioners, consumers, clinicians who require comprehensive information on the possible drug interactions with S. baicalensis and its bioactives.
Display omitted
•S. baicalensis promoted the anti-cancer effect of cisplatin and fluorouracil.•Baicalein enhanced anti-diabetic activity of metformin.•Baicalein and baicalin sensitised the anti-bacterial effect of many antibiotics.•S. baicalensis affected pharmacokinetic profiles of numerous pharmaceutical drugs.
Tungsten disulfide, which possesses a well-defined layered structure, has been intensively studied as an anode material for lithium ion batteries, but it usually suffers from poor cycling stability ...because of its large volume changes during lithium insertion and extraction processes. Herein, we develop a self-assembled double carbon coating to enhance the anode performance of WS2 via a self-assembly process between oleylamine-coated WS2 nanosheets and graphene oxide and subsequent pyrolysis treatment. When employed as an anode material for lithium ion batteries, the as-prepared WS2@C/reduced graphene oxide (WS2@C/RGO) composite exhibits excellent cycling stability and rate capability when compared to WS2@C nanosheets. A reversible capacity of 486 mA h g–1 and around 90% capacity retention were obtained after 200 cycles at a current density of 0.5 A g–1. Even under 10 A g–1, a high reversible capacity of 126 mA h g–1 can be retained. The good electrochemical performance could be attributed to the external electronically conductive and flexible RGO coating in addition to the surface carbon layer and the uniform distribution of WS2 nanosheets. The self-assembled dual carbon coating strategy is facile yet effective, and it may be applied to other high-capacity anode materials with huge volume changes and poor electrical conductivities.
Introduction:
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is one of the prevalent and disabling side effects of cancer treatment. However, management strategies for CIPN currently remain ...elusive, with treatment restricted to neuropathic pain medications, supportive care, and chemotherapy dosing adjustments. This overview explores evidence on the potential benefits and safety of nonpharmacological interventions in preventing and treating CIPN in cancer patients.
Methods:
Seven databases were searched for systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The methodological quality of the selected reviews was assessed by AMSTAR 2, and the quality of evidence was judged by GRADE. Twenty-eight systematic reviews were considered eligible for this review.
Results:
It was found that nonpharmacological interventions (acupuncture, exercise, herbal medicine, nutritional supplements) provided potential benefits for patients with CIPN. Furthermore, Chinese herbal medicine, administered orally or externally, significantly prevented and/or relieved the incidence and severity of CIPN in comparison to control groups (no additional treatment, placebo, and conventional western medicine). However, the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations were compromised by the inconsistencies and imprecision of included studies. The main concerns regarding the quality of systematic reviews included the lack of sufficiently rigorous a priori protocols, and the lack of protocol registration adopted in the included studies.
Conclusions:
Though looking across reviews, Chinese herbal medicine appear generally effective in CIPN, uncertainty remains about the effects of many other nonpharmacological interventions. The evidence on what works was particularly compromised by reporting and methodological limitations, which requires further investigation to be more certain of their effects.
Fe7S8, a potential anode material, has been extensively investigated but still faces challenges because of its poor cycling performance resulted from a large volume expansion. In this work, a ...solvothermal approach was employed to synthesize quasicubic α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles followed by sequential phenol-formaldehyde resin and mesoporous SiO2 coating. After sulfurization and the subsequent removal of the SiO2 shell, a Fe7S8@medium thickness carbon coating has been successfully fabricated, which exhibits a large specific capacity, remarkable high-current property, and stable cyclic performance for potassium-ion batteries (PIBs). It delivers a 423.3 mAh g–1 superior initial reversible capacity at 0.2 A g–1, excellent rate performance of 212.6 mAh g–1 at 2 A g–1, and long cyclic life of 266.9 mAh g–1 at 1 A g–1 after 500 cycles. These remarkable potassium storage properties are related to the excellent stress self-cushioning effect due to the spherical nanoarchitecture and complete carbon covering.
Huge amounts of genes in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data may influence the performance of data clustering. To obtain high-quality genes for data clustering, the study proposes a novel ...gene selection algorithm based on Fisher score and genetic algorithms with dynamic crossover (abbreviated as FDCGA). To reduce time and space complexity, FDCGA first employs Fisher score to gain the preliminary candidate genes and then utilizes genetic algorithms with dynamic crossover to select beneficial genes to data clustering and analysis. The experimental results conducted on several publicly real-world scRNA-seq datasets demonstrate that FDCGA outperforms the other several competitors in terms of both
NMI
and
ARI
metrics and possesses significant optimization performances. The experimental convergence shows that the fitness of FDCGA can increase and converge to a fixed state versus the number of iterations. The statistical analysis demonstrates that FDCGA statistically significantly outperforms the other competing methods.
Introduction:
Tamoxifen (TAM) is the most commonly used hormone therapeutic drug for the treatment of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer. 30%–70% of clinical breast cancer patients use ...natural products, which may increase the likelihood of drug interactions.
Objective:
To evaluate the evidence for the interactions between natural products and TAM in breast cancer.
Methods:
Electronic databases, including PubMed, CINAHL Plus (
via
EbscoHost), European PMC, Medline, and Google Scholar, were searched for relevant publications. The search terms include complementary and alternative medicine, natural products, plant products, herbs, interactions, tamoxifen, breast cancer, and their combinations.
Results:
Various
in vitro
and
in vivo
studies demonstrated that the combined use of natural products with TAM produced synergistic anti-cancer effects, including improved inhibition of tumor cell growth and TAM sensitivity and reduced side effects or toxicity of TAM. In contrast, some natural products, including
Angelica sinensis
(Oliv.) Diels Apiaceae
, Paeonia lactiflora
Pall
.
,
Rehmannia glutinosa
(Gaertn.) DC.
, Astragalus mongholicus
Bunge, and
Glycyrrhiza glabra
L. Fabaceae, showed estrogen-like activity, which may reduce the anti-cancer effect of TAM. Some natural products, including morin, silybin, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), myricetin, baicalein, curcumin, kaempferol, or quercetin, were found to increase the bioavailability of TAM and its metabolites
in vivo
. However, three are limited clinical studies on the combination of natural products and TAM.
Conclusion:
There is evidence for potential interactions of various natural products with TAM in pre-clinical studies, although the relevant clinical evidence is still lacking. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the potential interactions of natural products with TAM in clinical settings.
We investigated whether standardized neuropsychological tests and experimental cognitive paradigms measure the same cognitive faculties. Specifically, do neuropsychological tests commonly used to ...assess attention measure the same construct as attention paradigms used in cognitive psychology and neuroscience? We built on the “general attention factor”, comprising several widely used experimental paradigms (Huang et al., 2012). Participants (
n
= 636) completed an on-line battery (TestMyBrain.org) of six experimental tests Multiple Object Tracking, Flanker Interference, Visual Working Memory, Approximate Number Sense, Spatial Configuration Visual Search, and Gradual Onset Continuous Performance Task (Grad CPT) and eight neuropsychological tests Trail Making Test versions A & B (TMT-A, TMT-B), Digit Symbol Coding, Forward and Backward Digit Span, Letter Cancellation, Spatial Span, and Arithmetic. Exploratory factor analysis in a subset of 357 participants identified a five-factor structure: (1) attentional capacity (Multiple Object Tracking, Visual Working Memory, Digit Symbol Coding, Spatial Span), (2) search (Visual Search, TMT-A, TMT-B, Letter Cancellation); (3) Digit Span; (4) Arithmetic; and (5) Sustained Attention (GradCPT). Confirmatory analysis in 279 held-out participants showed that this model fit better than competing models. A hierarchical model where a general cognitive factor was imposed above the five specific factors fit as well as the model without the general factor. We conclude that Digit Span and Arithmetic tests should not be classified as attention tests. Digit Symbol Coding and Spatial Span tap attentional capacity, while TMT-A, TMT-B, and Letter Cancellation tap search (or attention-shifting) ability. These five tests can be classified as attention tests.
We examined the effect of changing treatment timing and the use of manual, electro acupuncture on the symptoms of primary dysmenorrhea.
A randomised controlled trial was performed with four arms, low ...frequency manual acupuncture (LF-MA), high frequency manual acupuncture (HF-MA), low frequency electro acupuncture (LF-EA) and high frequency electro acupuncture (HF-EA). A manualised trial protocol was used to allow differentiation and individualized treatment over three months. A total of 74 women were randomly assigned to one of the four groups (LF-MA n = 19, HF-MA n = 18, LF-EA n = 18, HF-EA n = 19). Twelve treatments were performed over three menstrual cycles, either once per week (LF groups) or three times in the week prior to menses (HF groups). All groups received a treatment in the first 48 hours of menses. The primary outcome was the reduction in peak menstrual pain at 12 months from trial entry.
During the treatment period and nine month follow-up all groups showed statistically significant (p < .001) reductions in peak and average menstrual pain compared to baseline but there were no differences between groups (p > 0.05). Health related quality of life increased significantly in six domains in groups having high frequency of treatment compared to two domains in low frequency groups. Manual acupuncture groups required less analgesic medication than electro-acupuncture groups (p = 0.02). HF-MA was most effective in reducing secondary menstrual symptoms compared to both-EA groups (p<0.05).
Acupuncture treatment reduced menstrual pain intensity and duration after three months of treatment and this was sustained for up to one year after trial entry. The effect of changing mode of stimulation or frequency of treatment on menstrual pain was not significant. This may be due to a lack of power. The role of acupuncture stimulation on menstrual pain needs to be investigated in appropriately powered randomised controlled trials.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
•The interaction of CO2 and the physiological phenomenon “midday depression” has not been reported in Gerbera jamesonii.•There were no significant physiological differences in plants between morning ...CO2 enrichment and daytime CO2 enrichment.•CO2 enrichment improved the flower quality, mainly includes bigger and more flowers with longer stems.•Morning CO2 enrichment exhibited greater cost savings in actual production.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) enrichment are widely reported to stimulate the plant growth. However, those relative studies in the horticultural plants are quite limited, particularly about the interaction of CO2 and the physiological phenomenon “midday depression”. Herein, daytime (T1, 7:00–19:00) and morning (T2, 7:00–12:00) CO2 enrichment treatments (800±50μmolmol−1) were conducted in open-top plastic greenhouses to investigate their effects on photosynthesis and growth in Gerbera jamesonii, compared to the atmospheric CO2 concentration (CK, approximately 400μmolmol−1). The results showed that the leaf net photosynthetic rate (Pn) of G. jamesonii was averagely increased 52±17% in T1 and 66±8% in T2 by CO2 enrichment, which remarkably higher (P<0.05) in T2 than that in T1 in the later period of the experiment (30–150d). CO2 enrichment also significantly increased (P<0.01) the contents of photoassimilates (soluble sugar, starch, and chlorophyll), but decreased the contents of soluble proteins (P<0.05). The biomass determination in T1 and T2 revealed that plant dry weight was raised 40±9% and 32±6% on 150 days, respectively. In addition, CO2 enrichment enhanced the quantities and qualities of flowers (P<0.05), such as augmented the flower number and size, extended the peduncle length, accumulated anthocyanin concentrations, and prolonged the flower vase life. Even though there were no significant differences between day and morning CO2 enrichment on the basis of the statistical data, the morning CO2 enrichment exhibited more favorable cost savings. According to these positive responses, we considered that the morning CO2 enrichment has a potential application in commential production of G. jamesonii.
PDF
