Harvesting salinity gradient energy, also known as “osmotic energy” or “blue energy”, generated from the free energy mixing of seawater and fresh river water provides a renewable and sustainable ...alternative for circumventing the recent upsurge in global energy consumption. The osmotic pressure resulting from mixing water streams with different salinities can be converted into electrical energy driven by a potential difference or ionic gradients. Reversed-electrodialysis (RED) has become more prominent among the conventional membrane-based separation methodologies due to its higher energy efficiency and lesser susceptibility to membrane fouling than pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO). However, the ion-exchange membranes used for RED systems often encounter limitations while adapting to a real-world system due to their limited pore sizes and internal resistance. The worldwide demand for clean energy production has reinvigorated the interest in salinity gradient energy conversion. In addition to the large energy conversion devices, the miniaturized devices used for powering a portable or wearable micro-device have attracted much attention. This review provides insights into developing miniaturized salinity gradient energy harvesting devices and recent advances in the membranes designed for optimized osmotic power extraction. Furthermore, we present various applications utilizing the salinity gradient energy conversion.
Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world and shows strong metastatic potential. Current medicine for hepatocellular carcinoma therapy is invalid, while
Georgi ...exhibits the pharmaceutical potential to treat liver diseases and liver cancer. Herein, we verified the inhibitory properties and the pivotal molecules regimented by
on advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. At first, the viability of SK-Hep-1 cells was significantly reduced under treatment of
extract in a dose-dependent manner without affecting the growth of normal hepatocyte.
extract application could remarkably cause apoptosis of SK-Hep-1 cells through p53/cytochrome C/poly-ADP ribose polymerase cascades and arrest the cell cycle at the G1/S phase by downregulating cyclin-dependent kinases. Meanwhile, administration of
extract remarkably attenuated the migration capability as well as suppressed matrix metalloproteinase activity of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma cells. The proteome profiles and network analysis particularly implied that exposure to
extract downregulated the expression of HSP90β, and the clinical stage of hepatocellular carcinoma is also positively correlated with the HSP90β level. Combined treatment of
extract and HSP90β siRNAs could markedly enhance the ubiquitination activity and the degradation of vimentin to subsequently inhibit the metastatic property of SK-Hep-1 cells. Moreover, application of
extract and HSP90β siRNAs depleted phosphorylation of AKT, which stimulated the expression of p53 and consecutively triggered cell apoptosis. These findings suggest that HSP90β may be a prospective target for the effective therapy of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma via accelerating apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells and eliciting mesenchymal-epithelial transition with the administration of
extract.
Helicobacter pylori is recognised as a main risk factor for gastric cancer. However, approximately half of the patients with gastritis are negative for H. pylori infection, and the abundance of H. ...pylori decreases in patients with cancer. In the current study, we profiled gastric epithelium-associated bacterial species in patients with gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, and gastric cancer to identify additional potential pathogenic bacteria. The overall composition of the microbiota was similar between the patients with gastritis and those with intestinal metaplasia. H. pylori was present in half of the non-cancer group, and the dominant bacterial species in the H. pylori-negative patients were Burkholderia, Enterobacter, and Leclercia. The abundance of those bacteria was similar between the cancer and non-cancer groups, whereas the frequency and abundance of H. pylori were significantly lower in the cancer group. Instead, Clostridium, Fusobacterium, and Lactobacillus species were frequently abundant in patients with gastric cancer, demonstrating a gastric cancer-specific bacterial signature. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that Clostridium colicanis and Fusobacterium nucleatum exhibited a diagnostic ability for gastric cancer. Our findings indicate that the gastric microenvironment is frequently colonised by Clostridium and Fusobacterium in patients with gastric cancer.
Cisplatin-based therapy is a traditional, clinical treatment for cancers, including lung cancer. In this study, we found that sequential therapy, i.e., cisplatin followed by fucoidan, reduced tumor ...volume in an LLC1-bearing C57BL/6 mouse model. Using a series of combined therapeutic experiments, we found that the inhibition rate of the sequential treatment (cisplatin→fucoidan) was 50–75%. However, the inhibition rate of the sequential treatment, with fucoidan pretreatment, was increased to 75–85%. Moreover, we found that the simultaneous administration of fucoidan and cisplatin synergistically inhibited lung cancer cell viability via inducing apoptotic responses, including upregulating cleaved caspase-3 and poly (ADP ribose) polymerase (PARP) expression. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that the fucoidan-induced, TLR4-mediated endoplasmic reticulum stress molecule CHOP promoted caspase-3 activation, which was further stimulated by the cisplatin-induced DNA damage responses, and CHOP shRNA eliminated fucoidan-induced caspase-3 cleavage but did not affect cisplatin-mediated apoptotic molecules. In addition, we observed an increasing number of clinical results that suggest combined cisplatin and fucoidan exerts a greater anti-tumorigenic effect in patients with lung cancer in Taiwan. Together, our current results support the potential of combined fucoidan and cisplatin treatment as an effective therapeutic strategy in lung cancer.
•Simultaneous fucoidan and cisplatin treatment enhances cytotoxicity.•Fucoidan enhances the cisplatin-induced apoptotic response.•TLR4 controls the fucoidan-enhanced cytotoxic effect of cisplatin.•CHOP promotes cisplatin-induced caspase 3 activation.
Stroke is a leading cause of death, morbidity and disability worldwide. Infection is a common complication in the acute phase after stroke. Herpes zoster is a common viral disease, in which the most ...debilitating complication is post-herpetic neuralgia, which can have a very large negative impact on quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate whether stroke increases the risk of herpes zoster.
This cohort study compared patients who had herpes zoster with and without a first incident of stroke. The Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database was utilized to identify 20,551 stroke patients and 20,551 controls matched for age, gender, age categories and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) score categories at a one-to-one ratio. Cox proportional-hazards regression models were employed to estimate herpes zoster risk in the stroke group relative to general population.
Compared to the control group, the stroke group had a greater risk for herpes zoster, especially within 1 year after stroke (adjust HR = 25.27). Both hemorrhagic stroke and ischemic stroke were significantly associated with herpes zoster (hemorrhagic type (IRR = 2.31, 95% CI, 1.67-3.20); ischemic type (IRR = 2.51, 95% CI 2.09-3.02)). However, the hemorrhagic stroke patients had a higher risk of herpes zoster ophthalmicus (IRR = 12.46, 95% CI 4.00-38.76) whereas the ischemic stroke patients had a higher risk of post-herpetic neuralgia (IRR = 2.24, 95% CI 1.56-3.20).
Physicians should know about that adults with stroke have a higher than normal risk of herpes zoster. Thus, physicians must be acquainted with proper antiviral therapy and pain control to bring down the morbidity that ensues from herpes zoster. Use of herpes zoster vaccine may be considered in stroke patients.
The small sized, flexible, high-performed and bio-compatible sensing devices are the critical elements to realize the bio-related detection or on-site health monitoring systems. In this work, the ...flexible localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) bio-sensors were demonstrated by integrating the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) nanodisks with bio-compatible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. The different geometries of MIM nanodisk sensors were investigated and optimized to enhance the spatial overlap of the LSPR waves with the environment, which lead to a high sensitivity of 1500 nm/RIU. The omni-directional characteristics of LSPR resonances were beneficial for maintaining the device sensitivity stable under various bending curvatures. Furthermore, the flexible MIM nanodisk LSPR sensor was applied to detect A549 cancer cells in PBS+ solution. The absorption peak of the MIM-disk LSPR sensor obviously redshift to easily distinguish between the phosphate buffered saline (PBS+) solution with A549 cancer cells and without cells. Therefore, the flexible MIM nanodisk LSPR sensor is suitable to develop on-chip microfluidic biosensors for detection of cancer cells on nonplanar surfaces.
Abstract
Clinical trials showed pangenotypic direct-acting antivirals’ (DAAs) excellent efficacy and safety when treating hepatitis C virus (HCV). Two pangenotypic regimens were examined, ...glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (GLE/PIB) and sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (SOF/VEL), in a real-world Taiwanese setting, including all HCV patients treated with GLE/PIB or SOF/VEL from August 2018 to April 2020. The primary endpoint was sustained virologic response 12 weeks after treatment cessation (SVR12), including adverse events (AEs). A total of 1,356 HCV patients received pangenotypic DAA treatment during the study: 742 and 614 received GLE/PIB and SOF/VEL, respectively. The rates of SVR12 for GLE/PIB and SOF/VEL were 710/718 (98.9%) and 581/584 (99.5%), respectively, by per-protocol analysis, and 710/742 (95.7%) and 581/614 (94.6%), respectively, by evaluable population analysis. Eleven (GLE/PIB: 8, SOF/VEL: 3) did not achieve SVR12. The most common AEs for GLE/PIB and SOF/VEL were pruritus (17.4% vs. 2.9%), abdominal discomfort (5.8% vs. 4.4%), dizziness (4.2% vs. 2%), and malaise (3.1% vs. 2.9%). Laboratory abnormalities were uncommon; only < 1% exhibited elevated total bilirubin or aminotransferase levels with both regimens. Five drug discontinuations occurred due to AEs (bilirubin elevation: 3; dermatological issues: 2). Pangenotypic DAAs GLE/PIB and SOF/VEL are effective and well tolerated, achieving high SVR12 rates for patients with all HCV genotypes.
A 27-42-GHz 5-bit passive switching phase shifter is presented using 65-nm CMOS technology for the fifth generation (5G) applications. In the 180° phase shift bit, a reflection-type-based biphase ...modulator topology is developed to achieve good phase shifting performance over a wide bandwidth. The measured insertion loss (IL) of all 32 states is 12.4 ± 1.2 dB at 39 GHz and 11.4 ± 2.3 dB at 28 GHz with zero dc power. The phase shifter demonstrates an ultralow root mean square (rms) phase error of 0.7° and a low rms amplitude error of 0.8 dB at 37 GHz with an inherent digital phase-control mechanism. The rms phase error is less than 3.8° and the rms amplitude error is less than 2.1 dB from 27 to 42 GHz.
Poor prognosis due to the high relapse and metastasis rates of breast cancer has been particularly linked to the luminal B subtype. The current study utilized MCF-7 and ZR-75-1 to investigate various ...luminal subtypes of breast cancers that have discrepant expressions in the estrogen receptor (ER) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Understanding of the differential protein profiles and the associated pathways could help alleviate the malignance and promote the long-term survival rate of breast cancer patients. Functional proteome tools were applied to comprehensively delineate the global protein alterations that reflect the varieties of biological features between the two subtypes. In this study, a total of 11 proteins with significant and meaningful changes were identified. These protein targets including PRX2, CK19, nucleophosmin and cathepsin D were mostly involved in cell differentiation or proliferation. Particularly, cathepsin D was highly expressed in the luminal B subtype. Moreover, the level of cathepsin-D was also upregulated in the clinical metastatic tissues. Accordingly, the RNA interference-mediated silencing of cathepsin D stimulated ER expression but suppressed the level of HER2. The knockdown of cathepsin D enhanced the level of ZO-1 and a remarkable decrease in N-cadherin was also detected. Again, the matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) activity was impaired under the cathepsin D abolishment. Collectively, this study represented a modality to explore novel relationships in a proteome complex and highlighted the functional roles of cathepsin D in treatment options for different subtypes of breast cancer.
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