Molecular modifications have been practiced for more than a century and nowadays they are widely applied in food, pharmaceutical, or other industries to manipulate the physicochemical, bioactivity, ...metabolic/catabolic, and pharmacokinetic properties. Among various structural modifications, the esterification/O-acylation has been well-established in altering lipophilicity and bioactivity of parent bioactive compounds, especially natural polyphenolics, while maintaining their high biocompatibility. Meanwhile, various classic chemical and enzymatic protocols and other recently emerged cell factory technology are being employed as viable esterification strategies. In this contribution, the main motivations of phenolic esterification, including the tendency to replace synthetic alkyl phenolics with safer alternatives in the food industry to improve the bioavailability of phenolics as dietary supplements/pharmaceuticals, are discussed. In addition, the toxicity, metabolism, and commercial application of synthetic and natural phenolics are briefly introduced. Under these contexts, the mechanisms and reaction features of several most prevalent chemical and enzymatic esterification pathways are demonstrated. In addition, insights into the studies of esterification modification of natural phenolic compounds and specific pros/cons of various reaction systems with regard to their practical application are provided.
This paper proposes a general field modulation theory for electrical machines by introducing magnetomotive force modulation operator to characterize the influence of short-circuited coil, variable ...reluctance, and flux guide on the primitive magnetizing magnetomotive force distribution established by field winding function multiplied by field current along the airgap peripheral. Magnetically anisotropic stator and rotor behave like modulators to produce a spectrum of field harmonics and the armature winding plays the role of a spatial filter to extract effective field harmonics to contribute the corresponding flux linkage and induce the electromotive force. The developed field modulation theory not only unifies the principle analysis of a large variety of electrical machines, including conventional dc machine, induction machine, and synchronous machine which are just special cases of the general field modulated machines, thus eliminating the problem of the machine theory fragmentation, but also provides a powerful guidance for inventing new machine topologies.
Acylated derivatives of the dietary phenolic, resveratrol, were prepared via enzymatic and chemical transesterification modification with selected vinyl fatty acids to expand the potential ...application of resveratrol and its acylated derivatives in functional supplement, cosmetic/skincare, and pharmaceutical fields. The acylation was implemented using eight vinyl fatty acids with varying chain lengths (C2:0-C18:0). Eight monoesters enzymatically prepared, eight diesters and four triesters, chemically prepared, were isolated and purified and identified via MS (mass spectra) or/and NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance). The lipophilicity of resveratrol and its acylated derivatives was calculated using ALOGPS 2.1. Compared with related acylated products, resveratrol itself rendered higher antioxidant efficacy in all the antioxidant assays, namely DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, and ferrous chelation tests. Within various ester derivatives of resveratrol, short-chain fatty acid mono- and di-substituted resveratrols, especially the resveratrol monoacetate/diacetate, exhibited higher antioxidant efficacy in DPPH and ABTS assays than the rest of resveratrol derivatives, but the medium-chain monoesters of resveratrol, including caproate, caprylate, caprate, and laurate, showed a higher metal ion chelation ability compared to other acylated resveratrols. These results imply that resveratrol derivatives may be used in lipidic media as health-beneficial antioxidants.
Osteoarthritis of the knee is an irreversible disease that causes great pain, and genetic factors play an important role in its occurrence and development. There have been many studies on the ...correlation between ADAM12 polymorphisms and genetic susceptibility to osteoarthritis, but the results remain inconclusive.
Papers from PubMed, Web of Science, EMbase, Springer, SCOPUS, Google Scholar and other databases were systematically retrieved with a cut-off of January 2022. All case-control studies on ADAM12 rs3740199, rs1871054, rs1044122, and rs1278279 polymorphisms and osteoarthritis were searched. Fixed or random effects models were used for pooled analysis with OR values and 95% confidence intervals (CI), and publication bias was assessed. In addition, the false-positive reporting probability test was used to assess the confidence of a statistically significant association.
Eleven articles were included, which included 3332 patients with osteoarthritis and 5108 healthy controls. Meta-analysis showed that the rs1871054 polymorphism of ADAM12 was associated with osteoarthritis in dominant, recessive, allelic, and homozygote genetic models C vs. T: OR = 1.34 95% CI (1.05, 1.71), P < 0.001. Our subgroup analysis revealed an association between the ADAM12 polymorphism rs1871054 in Asians and osteoarthritis C vs. T: OR = 1.61, 95% CI (1.25, 2.08), P < 0.001, albeit this was only for three studies. In addition, the ADAM12 polymorphism rs1871054 is associated with osteoarthritis in patients younger than 60 years of age C vs. T: OR = 1.39, 95% CI (1.01, 1.92), P = 0.289; however, the ADAM12 gene rs3740199, rs1044122, and rs1278279 site polymorphisms were not significantly. Furthermore, when assessing the confidence of the positive results, the positive results were found to be credible (except for Age < 60).
Polymorphism at the rs1871054 site of ADAM12 is associated with genetic susceptibility to osteoarthritis, but rs3740199, rs1044122, and rs1278279 site polymorphisms are not.
For many regenerative electrochemical energy‐conversion systems, hybrid electrocatalysts comprising transition metal (TM) oxides and heteroatom‐doped (e.g., nitrogen‐doped) carbonaceous materials are ...promising bifunctional oxygen reduction reaction/oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalysts, whose enhanced electrocatalytic activities are attributed to the synergistic effect originated from the TM–N–C active sites. However, it is still ambiguous which configuration of nitrogen dopants, either pyridinic or pyrrolic N, when bonded to the TM in oxides, predominately contributes to the synergistic effect. Herein, an innovative strategy based on laser irradiation is described to controllably tune the relative concentrations of pyridinic and pyrrolic nitrogen dopants in the hybrid catalyst, i.e., NiCo2O4 NPs/N‐doped mesoporous graphene. Comparative studies reveal the dominant role of pyridinic‐NCo bonding, instead of pyrrolic‐N bonding, in synergistically promoting reversible oxygen electrocatalysis. Moreover, density functional theory calculations provide deep insights into the corresponding synergistic mechanism. The optimized hybrid, NiCo/NLG‐270, manifests outstanding reversible oxygen electrocatalytic activities, leading to an overpotential different ΔE among the lowest value for highly efficient bifunctional catalysts. In a practical reversible Zn–air battery, NiCo/NLG‐270 exhibits superior charge/discharge performance and long‐term durability compared to the noble metal electrocatalysts.
An innovative strategy based on laser irradiation is developed to selectively regulate relative contents of pyridinic and pyrrolic nitrogen in NiCo2O4/N‐graphene hybrids. Strong chemical bonding forms between nitrogen and cobalt, and pyridinic‐NCo bonds, instead of pyrrolic‐NCo bonds, are identified to predominantly contribute to synergistic catalysis, leading to substantially enhanced oxygen electrocatalytic activities, outperforming a combination of benchmark noble metal catalysts.
Oxygen activation plays a crucial role in many important chemical reactions such as oxidation of organic compounds and oxygen reduction. For developing highly active materials for oxygen activation, ...herein, we report an atomically dispersed Pt on WO3 nanoplates stabilized by in situ formed amorphous H2WO4 out‐layer and the mechanism for activating molecular oxygen. Experimental and theoretical studies demonstrate that the isolated Pt atoms coordinated with oxygen atoms from WO6 and water of H2WO4, consequently leading to optimized surface electronic configuration and strong metal–support interaction (SMSI). In exemplified reactions of butanone oxidation sensing and oxygen reduction, the atomic Pt/WO3 hybrid exhibits superior activity than those of Pt nanoclusters/WO3 and bare WO3 as well as enhanced long‐term durability. This work will provide insight into the origin of activity and stability for atomically dispersed materials, thus promoting the development of highly efficient and durable single atom‐based catalysts.
Single atom‐based catalysts: Atomically dispersed Pt species have been stabilized by an in situ formed amorphous H2WO4 layer. The Pt atoms were coordinated by oxygen atoms from the WO6 octahedra of H2WO4 and water molecules. A strong metal–support interaction was observed between the Pt atoms and the oxide atoms of H2WO4, which resulted in a superior activity and stability of the Pt atoms for the oxygen activation.
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are being wildly used as target therapy in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, NSCLC patients with wild-type EGFR ...and KRAS mutation are primary resistant to EGFR-TKIs such as gefitinib. Curcumin has been known as a potential therapeutic agent for several major human cancers. In this study, we investigated the effect of curcumin on the reversal of gefitinib resistance in NSCLC cells as well as their molecular bases.
H157 (wild-type EGFR and KARS mutation) and H1299 (wild-type EGFR and HRAS mutation) cells were treated with gefitinib or curcumin alone, or the two combination, and then cell viability, EGFR activity, expressions of Sp1 and Sp1-dependent proteins and receptor tyrosine kinases, markers of autophagy and apoptosis were examined by using CCK-8, colony formation, immunoblot, quantitative PCR, immunofluoscence, and flow cytometry assays. Also xenograft experiments were conduced to test the synergism of curcumin to gefitinib.
Our results showed that curcumin significantly enhanced inhibitory effect of gefitinib on primary gefitinib-resistant NSCLC cell lines H157 and H1299. Combination treatment with curcumin and gefitinib markedly downregulated EGFR activity through suppressing Sp1 and blocking interaction of Sp1 and HADC1, and markedly suppressed receptor tyrosine kinases as well as ERK/MEK and AKT/S6K pathways in the resistant NSCLC cells. Meanwhile, combination treatment of curcumin and gefitinib caused dramatic autophagy induction, autophagic cell death and autophagy-mediated apoptosis, compared to curcumin or gefitinib treatment alone, as evidenced by the findings that curcumin and gefitinib combination treatment-produced synergistic growth inhibition and apoptosis activation can be reversed by pharmacological autophagy inhibitors (Baf A1 or 3-MA) or knockdown of Beclin-1 or ATG7, also can be partially returned by pan-caspase inhibitor (Z-VAD-FMK) in H157 and H1299 cells. Xenograft experiments in vivo yielded similar results.
These data indicate that the synergism of curcumin on gefitinib was autophagy dependent. Curcumin can be used as a sensitizer to enhance the efficacy of EGFR-TKIs and overcome the EGFR-TKI resistance in NSCLC patients with wild-type EGFR and/or KRAS mutation.
The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) method has great potential for the detection of Raman-active species, ranging from single molecules to biomolecules. In the last five years, various ...approaches have been developed to fabricate SERS-active substrates with high sensitivity using noble metal nanostructures via top-down, bottom-up, combination, or template-assisted routes. Nanostructured substrates with high average SERS enhancement factors (EFs) can now be easily produced, with the EF depending strongly on the size and shape of the nanostructures that give rise to the effect. For SERS substrates to be used as a platform for applications such as trace detection and bio-sensing, several issues, including sensitivity, intensity-concentration dependency, and selectivity, need to be addressed. Although several challenges remain before SERS-active substrates become consistent analytical tools, many successful examples have been demonstrated with promising results.
•SERS technique gives a label-free and sensitive tool for detection and biosensing.•The effect of LSPR on SERS-active nanostructure is verified by its size and shape.•SERS-active substrate with high EF can sense from single molecule to virus levels.•SERS-active substrates with sensitivity, consistency, and selectivity are focused.
Based on the long wave limit method and complex conjugate condition technique, we investigate hybrid localized wave solutions with different forms for the generalized ...Calogero–Bogoyavlenskii–Konopelchenko–Schiff system. Four kinds of bilinear auto-Bäcklund transformations are constructed by constructing different equivalent exchange formulas. The system simulates the formation of localized waves on the ocean surface and the interaction among water waves. In order to better analyze the dynamic characteristics of hybrid localized wave solutions, several three-dimensional diagrams are drawn with the help of Mathematica software. Besides, seven kinds of combined waves are summarized, including the hybrid solutions consisting of
L
-order kink waves,
Q
-order breather waves and
M
-order lump waves. Water wave phenomena can be simulated by nonlinear evolution equations. Analyzing the images of analytic solutions is helpful to understand the dynamic behavior of these models. We hope that bilinear auto-Bäcklund transformations and hybrid localized wave solutions can help researchers simulate nonlinear phenomena in the fields of hydrodynamics,oceanography,ionospheric physics, optics, condensed state physics and so on.