Although most
(
) strains are commensal and abundant, certain pathogenic strains cause severe diseases from gastroenteritis to extraintestinal infections. Extraintestinal pathogenic
.
(ExPEC) ...contains newborn meningitis
.
(NMEC), uropathogenic
.
(UPEC), avian pathogenic
.
(APEC), and septicemic
.
(SEPEC) based on their original host and clinical symptom. APEC is a heterogeneous group derived from human ExPEC. APEC causes severe respiratory and systemic diseases in a variety of avians, threatening the poultry industries, food security, and avian welfare worldwide. APEC has many serotypes, and it is a widespread pathogenic bacterium in poultry. In addition, ExPEC strains share significant genetic similarities and similar pathogenic mechanisms, indicating that APEC potentially serves as a reservoir of virulence and resistance genes for human ExPEC, and the virulence and resistance genes can be transferred to humans through food animals. Due to economic losses, drug resistance, and zoonotic potential, APEC has attracted heightened awareness. Various virulence factors and resistance genes involved in APEC pathogenesis and drug resistance have been identified. Here, we review the characteristics, epidemiology, pathogenic mechanism zoonotic potential, and drug resistance of APEC, and summarize the current status of diagnosis, alternative control measures, and vaccine development, which may help to have a better understanding of the pathogenesis and resistance of APEC, thereby reducing economic losses and preventing the spread of multidrug-resistant APEC to humans.
Oral drug delivery is considered the most preferred mode of treatment because of its high patient compliance and minimal invasiveness. However, the oral delivery of protein drug has been a difficult ...problem which restricts its application due to the unstable and inefficient penetration of protein in the gastrointestinal tract. In this study, a novel OCMC/SA nanohydrogel was prepared by using of O-carboxymethyl chitosan (OCMC) and sodium alginate (SA) to solve the problem. The OCMC/SA had a typical nanostructure, which was helpful to increase the specific surface area and enhanced the bioavailability of the drugs. OCMC/SA had a high drug loading capacity and realized passive drug targeting function by responding to the different pH value of the microenvironment. It could have a certain protective effect on drugs in strong acid circumstances, while its structure got loosed and effectively released drugs in intestinal circumstances. OCMC/SA could release the drug for >12 h, and the released insulin could maintain high activity. OCMC/SA nanohydrogel showed promising results in type 1 diabetic rats, and its pharmacological bioavailability was 6.57 %. In conclusion, this study constructed a novel OCMC/SA nanohydrogel, which had a lot of exciting characteristics and provided a new strategy for oral drug delivery.
In recent years, metal-organic layers (MOLs) with high-density and accessible open sites have emerged as a two-dimensional version of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with various potential ...applications. Particularly, MOLs represent a promising platform for photocatalysis, artificial photosynthesis, and fluorescence imaging through the hierarchical assembly of photo-sensitizers and catalysts or other functional groups into MOLs. This review provides an overview of the structural design and synthesis strategies of MOLs with a particular emphasis on the applications of photosensitizing MOLs, illustrating the advantages of the MOLs-based material. The final part discusses perspectives on the challenges encountered in this field and the emerging developments that can be expected.
Improving the degree of vascularization through the regulation of wound microenvironment is crucial for wound repair. Gene activated matrix (GAM) technology provides a new approach for skin ...regeneration. It is a local gene delivery system that can not only maintain a moist environment, but also increase the concentration of local active factors. For this purpose, we fabricated the mVEGF165/TGF-β1 gene-loaded N-carboxymethyl chitosan/sodium alginate hydrogel and studied its effect on promoting deep second degree burn wound repair. The average diameter of the hydrogel pores was 100 μm and the porosity was calculated as 50.9%. SEM and CLSM images showed that the hydrogel was suitable for cell adhesion and growth. The NS-GAM could maintain continuous expression for at least 9 days in vitro, showing long-term gene release and expression effect. Deep second-degree burn wound model was made on the backs of Wistar rats to evaluate the healing effect. The wounds were healed by day 22 in NS-GAM group with the prolonged high expression of VEGF and TGF-β1 protein. A high degree of neovascularization and high expression level of CD34 were observed in NS-GAM group in 21 days. The histological results showed that NS-GAM had good tissue safety and could effectively promote epithelialization and collagen regeneration. These results indicated that the NS-GAM could be applied as a promising local gene delivery system for the repair of deep second-degree burn wounds.
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•The plasmids loaded in NS-GAM can achieve efficient gene delivery and expression in vitro and in vivo.•The NS-GAM showed long-term controlled release function of the plasmids.•The NS-GAM played a significant effect on neovascularization by means of gene delivery.•The NS-GAM could achieve efficient in situ repair on deep second degree burn wounds.
Total mesorectal excision with fluorouracil-based preoperative chemoradiotherapy and postoperative chemotherapy is a standard treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer. This study investigated the ...addition of oxaliplatin with and without preoperative radiotherapy.
In this multicenter, open-label, phase III trial, we randomly assigned (1:1:1) Chinese adults (age 18 to 75 years) with locally advanced stage II/III rectal cancer to three treatments: five 2-week cycles of infusional fluorouracil (leucovorin 400 mg/m(2), fluorouracil 400 mg/m(2), and fluorouracil 2.4 g/m(2) over 48 h) plus radiotherapy (46.0 to 50.4 Gy delivered in 23 to 25 fractions during cycles 2 through 4) followed by surgery and seven cycles of infusional fluorouracil, the same treatment plus intravenous oxaliplatin 85 mg/m(2) on day 1 of each cycle (modified FOLFOX6 mFOLFOX6), or four to six cycles of mFOLFOX6 followed by surgery and six to eight cycles of mFOLFOX6. Random assignment was performed by using computer-generated block randomization codes. The primary end point was 3-year disease-free survival. Secondary end points of histopathologic response and toxicity are reported.
A total of 495 patients were enrolled from June 2010 to February 2015; 475 were evaluable (fluorouracil-radiotherapy, n = 155; mFOLFOX6-radiotherapy, n = 157; mFOLFOX6, n = 163). In the fluorouracil-radiotherapy, mFOLFOX6-radiotherapy, and mFOLFOX6 groups, the rate of pathologic complete response (pCR) was 14.0%, 27.5%, and 6.6%, and downstaging (ypStage 0 to 1) was achieved by 37.1%, 56.4%, and 35.5% of patients, respectively. Higher toxicity and more postoperative complications were observed in patients who received radiotherapy.
mFOLFOX6-based preoperative chemoradiotherapy results in a higher pCR rate than fluorouracil-based treatment. Perioperative mFOLFOX6 alone had inferior results and a lower pCR rate than chemoradiotherapy but led to a similar downstaging rate as fluorouracil-radiotherapy, with less toxicity and fewer postoperative complications.
Sm
3+
-doped La
2
CaO
4
is successfully synthesized via high-temperature solid-state method in air. The crystal structure of samples is confirmed by the X-ray diffractometer patterns. The spectral ...properties of samples are investigated. The excitation spectrum of La
2
CaO
4
:Sm
3+
covers the region from 250 to 550 nm due to the O
2−
–Sm
3+
charge transfer band and the
f–f
transitions of Sm
3+
ion. Under excitation at 409 nm, La
2
CaO
4
:Sm
3+
phosphor shows red emission with chromaticity coordinates (0.5936, 0.4056). The emission spectrum of La
2
CaO
4
:Sm
3+
contains four spectral bands in the range of 550–750 nm owing to the
4
G
5/2
→
6
H
5/2
,
6
H
7/2
,
6
H
9/2
, and
6
H
11/2
transitions of Sm
3+
ion. The optimal Sm
3+
concentration in La
2
CaO
4
:Sm
3+
is ~ 8 mol%. The optimal sintering temperature of La
2
CaO
4
:Sm
3+
phosphor is ~ 1150 °C. The lifetime of La
2
CaO
4
:Sm
3+
decreases from 744.7 to 613.9 µs with increasing Sm
3+
concentration from 2 to 12 mol%. The luminous mechanism is explained by the energy level diagram of Sm
3+
ion.
Encapsulation of lithium in the confined spaces within individual nanocapsules is intriguing and highly desirable for developing high‐performance Li metal anodes. This work aims for a mechanistic ...understanding of Li encapsulation and its confined growth kinetics inside 1D enclosed spaces. To achieve this, amorphous carbon nanotubes are employed as a model host using in situ transmission electron microscopy. The carbon shells have dual roles, providing geometric/mechanical constraints and electron/ion transport channels, which profoundly alter the Li growth patterns. Li growth/dissolution takes place via atom addition/removal at the free surfaces through Li+ diffusion along the shells in the electric field direction, resulting in the formation of unusual Li structures, such as poly‐crystalline nanowires and free‐standing 2D ultrathin (1–2 nm) Li membranes. Such confined front‐growth processes are dominated by Li {110} or {200} growing faces, distinct from the root growth of single‐crystal Li dendrites outside the nanotubes. Controlled experiments show that high lithiophilicity/permeability, enabled by sufficient nitrogen/oxygen doping or pre‐lithiation, is critical for the stable encapsulation of lithium inside carbonaceous nanocapsules. First‐principles‐based calculations reveal that N/O doping can reduce the diffusion barrier for Li+ penetration, and facilitate Li filling driven by energy minimization associated with the formation of low‐energy Li/C interfaces.
Lithium encapsulation and its confined growth kinetics in amorphous carbon nanotubes (aCNTs) are studied using in situ transmission electron microscopy. The carbon shells play dual roles, providing geometric/mechanical constraints and electron/ion transport channels, which profoundly alter the Li growth patterns, resulting in unusual Li nanostructures. Importantly, it is revealed that sufficient nitrogen/oxygen doping is critical for aCNTs to reliably encapsulate lithium.
This study investigated accuracy and consistency of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) quantification in non-ECG-gated chest computed tomography (CT) scans.
EAT volume was semi-automatically quantified ...using a standard Hounsfield unit threshold (- 190, - 30) in three independent cohorts: (1) Cohort 1 (N = 49): paired 120 kVp ECG-gated cardiac non-contrast CT (NCCT) and 120 kVp non-ECG-gated chest NCCT; (2) Cohort 2 (N = 34): paired 120 kVp cardiac NCCT and 100 kVp non-ECG-gated chest NCCT; (3) Cohort 3 (N = 32): paired non-ECG-gated chest NCCT and chest contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) datasets (including arterial phase and venous phase). Images were reconstructed with the slice thicknesses of 1.25 mm and 5 mm in the chest CT datasets, and 3 mm in the cardiac NCCT datasets.
In Cohort 1, the chest NCCT-1.25 mm EAT volume was similar to the cardiac NCCT EAT volume, while chest NCCT-5 mm underestimated the EAT volume by 7.5%. In Cohort 2, 100 kVp chest NCCT-1.25 mm were 13.2% larger than 120 kVp cardiac NCCT EAT volumes. In Cohort 3, the chest arterial CECT and venous CECT dataset underestimated EAT volumes by ~ 28% and ~ 18%, relative to chest NCCT datasets. All chest CT-derived EAT volumes were similarly associated with significant coronary atherosclerosis with cardiac CT counterparts.
The 120 kVp non-ECG-gated chest NCCT-1.25 mm images produced EAT volumes comparable to cardiac NCCT. Chest CT EAT volumes derived from consistent imaging settings are excellent alternatives to the cardiac NCCT to investigate their association with coronary artery disease.
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