Most photocrosslinkable hydrogels have inadequacy in either mechanical performance or biodegradability. This issue is addressed by adopting a novel hydrogel design by introducing two different ...chitosan chains (catechol‐modified methacryloyl chitosan, CMC; methacryloyl chitosan, MC) via the simultaneous crosslinking of carbon–carbon double bonds and catechol‐Fe3+ chelation. This leads to an interpenetrating network of two chitosan chains with high crosslinking‐network density, which enhances mechanical performance including high compressive modulus and high ductility. The chitosan polymers not only endow the hydrogels with good biodegradability and biocompatibility, they also offer intrinsic antibacterial capability. The quinone groups formed by Fe3+ oxidation and protonated amino groups of chitosan polymer further enhance antibacterial property of the hydrogels. Serving as one of the two types of crosslinking mechanisms, the catechol‐Fe3+ chelation can covalently link with amino, thiol, and imidazole groups, which substantially enhance the hydrogel's adhesion to biological tissues. The hydrogel's adhesion to porcine skin shows a lap shear strength of 18.1 kPa, which is 6‐time that of the clinically established Fibrin Glue's adhesion. The hydrogel also has a good hemostatic performance due to the superior tissue adhesion as demonstrated with a hemorrhaging liver model. Furthermore, the hydrogel can remarkably promote healing of bacteria‐infected wound.
A novel photocrosslinkable, injectable, and tough chitosan hydrogel demonstrating a remarkable improvement in tissue adhesion and antibacterial activity is fabricated via double crosslinking (blue light crosslinking and catechol‐Fe3+ chelation) and double network design, suggesting that it can be promising as wound dressing for cutaneous tissue repair, remodeling, and regeneration.
To our knowledge, no randomised study has compared postmastectomy hypofractionated radiotherapy with conventional fractionated radiotherapy in patients with breast cancer. This study aimed to ...determine whether a 3-week schedule of postmastectomy hypofractionated radiotherapy is as efficacious and safe as a 5-week schedule of conventional fractionated radiotherapy.
This randomised, non-inferiority, open-label, phase 3 study was done in a single academic hospital in China. Patients aged 18–75 years who had undergone mastectomy and had at least four positive axillary lymph nodes or primary tumour stage T3–4 disease were eligible to participate. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) according to a computer-generated central randomisation schedule, without stratification, to receive chest wall and nodal irradiation at a dose of 50 Gy in 25 fractions over 5 weeks (conventional fractionated radiotherapy) or 43·5 Gy in 15 fractions over 3 weeks (hypofractionated radiotherapy). The modified intention-to-treat population (including all eligible patients who underwent randomisation but excluding those who were considered ineligible or withdrew consent after randomisation) was used in primary and safety analyses. The primary endpoint was 5-year locoregional recurrence, and a 5% margin was used to establish non-inferiority (equivalent to a hazard ratio <1·883). This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00793962.
Between June 12, 2008, and June 16, 2016, 820 patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to the conventional fractionated radiotherapy group (n=414) or hypofractionated radiotherapy group (n=406). 409 participants in the conventional fractionated radiotherapy group and 401 participants in the hypofractionated radiotherapy group were included in the modified intention-to-treat analyses. At a median follow-up of 58·5 months (IQR 39·2–81·8), 60 (7%) patients had developed locoregional recurrence (31 patients in the hypofractionated radiotherapy group and 29 in the conventional fractionated radiotherapy group); the 5-year cumulative incidence of locoregional recurrence was 8·3% (90% CI 5·8–10·7) in the hypofractionated radiotherapy group and 8·1% (90% CI 5·4–10·6) in the conventional fractionated radiotherapy group (absolute difference 0·2%, 90% CI −3·0 to 2·6; hazard ratio 1·10, 90% CI 0·72 to 1·69; p<0·0001 for non-inferiority). There were no significant differences between the groups in acute and late toxicities, except that fewer patients in the hypofractionated radiotherapy group had grade 3 acute skin toxicity than in the conventional fractionated radiotherapy group (14 3% of 401 patients vs 32 8% of 409 patients; p<0·0001).
Postmastectomy hypofractionated radiotherapy was non-inferior to and had similar toxicities to conventional fractionated radiotherapy in patients with high-risk breast cancer. Hypofractionated radiotherapy could provide more convenient treatment and allow providers to treat more patients.
National Key Projects of Research and Development of China; the Chinese Academy of Medical Science Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences; and Beijing Marathon of Hope, Cancer Foundation of China.
Photocatalysis offers a practical solution to the ever increasing energy and environmental issues by using a semiconductor to harvest freely available sunlight. Photoactive organic semiconductor ...nanocrystals (OSNs) are promising photocatalysts due to their structure and function which are easily tunable by molecular design. Extensive studies have yielded significant progress on OSNs in terms of photoresponse, charge carrier mobility, as well as photoconversion efficiency. This review provides a comprehensive discussion of the emerging crystal and interface engineering strategies used in optimizing structure/property of OSNs. The basic mechanisms involved in organic photocatalysis are discussed, for a better understanding of its dependence on the molecular and supramolecular structures. Then, the intermolecular interactions in molecular packing and the kinetic and thermodynamic control over the crystal growth process are summarized, with the aim of tuning the optical and electrical properties. Band energy alignment, charge carrier dynamics, and charge transfer are discussed in different heterostructures. In each case, structure/property relationships and how to tune them are emphasized. Finally, challenges and opportunities for the practical use of the organic photocatalysts are discussed.
Precise control of the structure/property in photocatalytic organic nanocrystals is still an unresolved challenge. Relevant molecular crystal engineering strategies are reviewed by discussing the interplay of different intermolecular interactions and the kinetic and thermodynamic considerations to attain good structure/property control. To fulfill all the property requirements, interface engineering strategies are also used to design high‐efficiency and stable organic photoconversion systems.
Thermal therapy induces an immune response in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the dynamic characteristics of the natural killer (NK) cell immune response post-thermal ablation ...remain unclear. We conducted a prospective longitudinal cohort study to observe the dynamic changes of phenotype and function of NK cells in peripheral blood before and after thermal ablation of hepatitis B-associated HCC and their correlation with tumor recurrence.
Fifty-six patients clinically and pathologically confirmed with hepatitis B-associated HCC were selected for thermal ablation. Peripheral blood was collected on day 0, day 7, and month 1. NK cell subsets, receptors, and killing function were detected by flow cytometry, and the LDH levels were examined. Overall recurrence and associated variables were estimated using Kaplan-Meier, log-rank, and Cox proportional-hazards analyses.
The frequency of CD3
CD56
cells was increased on day 7 (P < 0.01) without significant differences between D0 and M1. NKG2D, NKp44, NKp30, CD159a, and CD158a expression was increased on M1 (all P < 0.05). The granzyme B and IFN-γ expression in NK cells were higher on M1 vs. D0 (P < 0.05). On day 7, the NK cell lysis activity of the target K562 cells was increased (P < 0.01) but decreased on M1 (P < 0.05). Survival analysis showed that CD158a expression and IFN-γ and perforin release on day 0 were associated with the risk of HCC recurrence. Cox regression analysis showed that the expression changes in CD56, NKp46, granzyme B, and perforin (D7-D0) induced by thermal ablation were associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS) of patients with HCC.
Thermal ablation increased the frequency and function of CD3
CD56
NK cells in the peripheral blood of patients with HCC. These cells tended to be more differentiated and activated. Notably, expression levels of NK cell receptors NKp46, perforin, and granzyme B were associated with RFS.
•Effect of surface patterning, roughness and wettability on bacterial anti-adhesion•Viewpoints of adhesion force and interaction energy•Summarizing the complex interaction between bacteria and ...modified surfaces•Providing an outline for future research on antibacterial surface design
Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation impose a heavy burden on the medical system. Bacterial adhesion on implant materials would induce inflammation and result in implant failure. The adhesion of bacteria on food-processing and handling equipment may lead to food-borne illness. To reduce and even prevent bacterial adhesion, some bacterial anti-adhesion surface designs have been developed. However, the effect of some surface properties (including surface patterning, roughness and wettability) on bacterial adhesion has not been systematically summarized. In this review, a comprehensive overview of bacterial anti-adhesion surface design is presented. Modifying the surface pattern and roughness could reduce the contact area between bacteria and surfaces to weaken the initial adhesion force. Fabricating superhydrophobic surface or modifying hydrophilic functional groups could hinder the bacterial adhesion. The analysis and discussion about influencing factors of bacterial anti-adhesion surfaces provide basic guidelines on antibacterial surface design for future researches.
Display omitted
Improving plasticity has been an eternal theme of developing metallic materials. It is difficult to increase room‐temperature elongation of metallic materials over 100% without sacrificing strength ...using existing methods. Herein, surface‐roughness‐induced plasticity (SRIP) is discovered in biodegradable Zn–0.4Mn alloy. Surprisingly, in the good surface range that meets the international standard ISO 6892, reducing surface roughness results in significant increase in plasticity without loss of strength. From unground to 5000# sandpaper ground states, the surface roughness Ra of the alloy decreases from 0.63 to 0.05 µm, while its room temperature elongation increases from 74% to 143%. SRIP is the synergistic result of increased microstructure damage tolerance and decreased surface roughness. It provides a new method for improving plasticity.
Surface‐roughness‐induced plasticity (SRIP) solves the dilemma of significantly improving plasticity at the expense of strength. From the unground state to the 5000# sandpaper ground state, room‐temperature elongation of biodegradable Zn–0.4Mn alloy increases from 74% to 143% without loss of strength. SRIP is the synergistic result of increased microstructure damage tolerance and decreased surface roughness.
Any type of seizure can be observed in Alzheimer's disease. Antiepileptic drugs seem to prevent the recurrence of epileptic seizures in most people with Alzheimer's disease. There are pharmacological ...and non-pharmacological treatments for epilepsy in people with Alzheimer's disease, however there are no current systematic reviews to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of these treatments. This review aims to investigate these different modalities. This is an updated version of the Cochrane Review previously published in 2018.
To assess the efficacy and tolerability of pharmacological or non-pharmacological interventions for the treatment of epilepsy in people with Alzheimer's disease (including sporadic Alzheimer's disease and dominantly inherited Alzheimer's disease).
For the latest update, on 3 August 2020 we searched the Cochrane Register of Studies (CRS Web) and MEDLINE (Ovid, 1946 to 31 July 2020). CRS Web includes randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials from PubMed, EMBASE, ClinicalTrials.gov, the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and the Specialized Registers of Cochrane Review Groups, including Cochrane Epilepsy. In an effort to identify further published, unpublished and ongoing trials, we searched ongoing trials registers, reference lists and relevant conference proceedings; we also contacted trial authors and pharmaceutical companies.
We included randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials investigating treatment for epilepsy in people with Alzheimer's disease, with the primary outcomes of proportion of participants with seizure freedom and proportion of participants experiencing adverse events.
Two review authors independently screened the titles and abstracts of identified records, selected studies for inclusion, extracted data, cross-checked the data for accuracy and assessed the methodological quality. We performed no meta-analyses due to there being limited available data.
We included one randomized controlled trial (RCT) on pharmacological interventions; the trial included 95 participants. No studies were found for non-pharmacological interventions. Concerning the proportion of participants with seizure freedom, no significant differences were found for the comparisons of levetiracetam versus lamotrigine (RR) 1.20, 95% CI 0.53 to 2.71; 67 participants; very low-certainty evidence), levetiracetam versus phenobarbital (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.47 to 2.19; 66 participants; very low-certainty evidence), or lamotrigine versus phenobarbital (RR 0.84, 95% CI 0.35 to 2.02; 57 participants; very low-certainty evidence). It seemed that levetiracetam could improve cognition and lamotrigine could relieve depression, while phenobarbital and lamotrigine could worsen cognition, and levetiracetam and phenobarbital could worsen mood. The risk of bias relating to allocation, blinding and selective reporting was unclear. We judged the certainty of the evidence for all outcomes to be very low.
This review does not provide sufficient evidence to support levetiracetam, phenobarbital or lamotrigine for the treatment of epilepsy in people with Alzheimer's disease. Regarding efficacy and tolerability, no significant differences were found between levetiracetam, phenobarbital and lamotrigine. Large RCTs with a double-blind, parallel-group design are required to determine the efficacy and tolerability of treatment for epilepsy in people with Alzheimer's disease.
Abstract
Compartmentalization is a ubiquitous building principle in cells, which permits segregation of biological elements and reactions. The carboxysome is a specialized bacterial organelle that ...encapsulates enzymes into a virus-like protein shell and plays essential roles in photosynthetic carbon fixation. The naturally designed architecture, semi-permeability, and catalytic improvement of carboxysomes have inspired rational design and engineering of new nanomaterials to incorporate desired enzymes into the protein shell for enhanced catalytic performance. Here, we build large, intact carboxysome shells (over 90 nm in diameter) in the industrial microorganism
Escherichia coli
by expressing a set of carboxysome protein-encoding genes. We develop strategies for enzyme activation, shell self-assembly, and cargo encapsulation to construct a robust nanoreactor that incorporates catalytically active FeFe-hydrogenases and functional partners within the empty shell for the production of hydrogen. We show that shell encapsulation and the internal microenvironment of the new catalyst facilitate hydrogen production of the encapsulated oxygen-sensitive hydrogenases. The study provides insights into the assembly and formation of carboxysomes and paves the way for engineering carboxysome shell-based nanoreactors to recruit specific enzymes for diverse catalytic reactions.
PDF
