Recently, the appeal of 2D black phosphorus (BP) has been rising due to its unique optical and electronic properties with a tunable band gap (≈0.3–1.5 eV). While numerous research efforts have ...recently been devoted to nano‐ and optoelectronic applications of BP, no attention has been paid to promising medical applications. In this article, the preparation of BP‐nanodots of a few nm to <20 nm with an average diameter of ≈10 nm and height of ≈8.7 nm is reported by a modified ultrasonication‐assisted solution method. Stable formation of nontoxic phosphates and phosphonates from BP crystals with exposure in water or air is observed. As for the BP‐nanodot crystals’ stability (ionization and persistence of fluorescent intensity) in aqueous solution, after 10 d, ≈80% at 1.5 mg mL−1 are degraded (i.e., ionized) in phosphate buffered saline. They showed no or little cytotoxic cell‐viability effects in vitro involving blue‐ and green‐fluorescence cell imaging. Thus, BP‐nanodots can be considered a promising agent for drug delivery or cellular tracking systems.
Black phosphorus (BP)‐nanodots are prepared using a simple ultrasonication‐assisted solution method. Compared to conventional semiconductor quantum dots, BP‐nanodots present little in vitro cytotoxicity and further blue‐ and green‐fluorescent bioimaging roles under excitations of UV and visible light, showing potential as novel drug delivery carriers in biomedical applications.
Drought poses a serious threat to the sustainability of rice (Oryza sativa) yields in rain-fed agriculture. Here, we report the results of a functional genomics approach that identified a rice NAC ...(an acronym for NAM No Apical Meristem, ATAF1-2, and CUC2 Cup-Shaped Cotyledon) domain gene, OsNAC10, which improved performance of transgenic rice plants under field drought conditions. Of the 140 OsNAC genes predicted in rice, 18 were identified to be induced by stress conditions. Phylogenic analysis of the 18 OsNAC genes revealed the presence of three subgroups with distinct signature motifs. A group of OsNAC genes were prescreened for enhanced stress tolerance when overexpressed in rice. OsNAC10, one of the effective members selected from prescreening, is expressed predominantly in roots and panicles and induced by drought, high salinity, and abscisic acid. Overexpression of OsNAC10 in rice under the control of the constitutive promoter GOS2 and the root-specific promoter RCc3 increased the plant tolerance to drought, high salinity, and low temperature at the vegetative stage. More importantly, the RCc3:OsNAC10 plants showed significantly enhanced drought tolerance at the reproductive stage, increasing grain yield by 25% to 42% and by 5% to 14% over controls in the field under drought and normal conditions, respectively. Grain yield of GOS2:OsNAC10 plants in the field, in contrast, remained similar to that of controls under both normal and drought conditions. These differences in performance under field drought conditions reflect the differences in expression of OsNAC10-dependent target genes in roots as well as in leaves of the two transgenic plants, as revealed by microarray analyses. Root diameter of the RCc3:OsNAC10 plants was thicker by 1.25-fold than that of the GOS2:OsNAC10 and nontransgenic plants due to the enlarged stele, cortex, and epidermis. Overall, our results demonstrated that root-specific overexpression of OsNAC10 enlarges roots, enhancing drought tolerance of transgenic plants, which increases grain yield significantly under field drought conditions.
Background and Aim
Palliative endoscopic or percutaneous biliary drainage is used for unresectable advanced hilar cancer (HC). The best option for drainage in Bismuth type III or IV HC has not been ...established. The aims of this study are to identify factors predictive of endoscopic stenting failure and evaluate the effectiveness of rescue percutaneous stenting in patients with advanced HC.
Methods
Data from 110 patients with inoperable advanced HC were retrospectively reviewed. All received bilateral self‐expandable metallic stents. Patients were divided into three groups: I, successful initial endoscopic stenting; II, unsuccessful initial endoscopic stenting, followed by percutaneous stenting; and III, initial percutaneous stenting. We analyzed clinical results and radiologic tumor characteristics.
Results
Baseline characteristics and clinical outcomes of all groups were similar, except the hospital stay was longer in group III than group I. Technical success rate was higher in groups II and III (100%) than in group I (72.4%). The functional success rate, stent patency time, patient survival time, and complication rate were similar between groups. Endoscopic stenting failed because of guide‐wire passage failure (n = 12) or stent passage failure (n = 7). The only factor significantly associated with endoscopic failure was a smaller left intrahepatic duct–common bile duct angle.
Conclusions
As clinical outcomes were generally similar between approaches, percutaneous stenting is recommended for patients with Bismuth type III or IV advanced HC. Acute left intrahepatic duct–common bile duct angulation predicts endoscopic stenting failure. If endoscopic stenting fails, immediate conversion to the percutaneous approach is a necessary and effective rescue method.
Abstract
Spinal fusion surgery is a surgical technique that connects one or more vertebrae at the same time to prevent movement between the vertebrae. Although synthetic bone substitutes or ...osteogenesis-inducing recombinant proteins were introduced to promote bone union, the rate of revision surgery is still high due to pseudarthrosis. To promote successful fusion after surgery, stem cells with or without biomaterials were introduced; however, conventional 2D-culture environments have resulted in a considerable loss of the innate therapeutic properties of stem cells. Therefore, we conducted a preclinical study applying 3D-spheroids of human bone marrow-dewrived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to a mouse spinal fusion model. First, we built a large-scale manufacturing platform for MSC spheroids, which is applicable to good manufacturing practice (GMP). Comprehensive biomolecular examinations, which include liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and bioinformatics could suggest a framework of quality control (QC) standards for the MSC spheroid product regarding the identity, purity, viability, and potency. In our animal study, the mass-produced and quality-controlled MSC spheroids, either undifferentiated or osteogenically differentiated were well-integrated into decorticated bone of the lumbar spine, and efficiently improved angiogenesis, bone regeneration, and mechanical stability with statistical significance compared to 2D-cultured MSCs. This study proposes a GMP-applicable bioprocessing platform and QC directions of MSC spheroids aiming for their clinical application in spinal fusion surgery as a new bone graft substitute.
New highly twisted rigid blue light-emitting materials were designed, composed of pyrene with a xylene core unit and either naphthalene or phenyl end units. These blue-emitting materials were ...synthesized via the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction and their structures were confirmed using FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and mass spectroscopy. The optical, electrochemical and thermal properties of the materials were investigated. The non-coplanar structure introduced by highly twisted xylene units provides steric hindrance, resulting in very deep blue emission. The fabricated devices exhibited a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 3.69% with CIE color coordinates (x, y: 0.15, 0.06).
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•Deep blue emitting materials based on pyrene core.•Highly twisted blue emitting materials by xylene units.•3-Dimensionally highly twisted non-coplanar.•Non-doped device using new pyrene exhibited efficiency of 3.69%.•Non-doped EL devices showed high color purity of (0.15, 0.06).
Two zinc-aminoclays ZnACs with functionalized primary amines (-CH2)3NH2 were prepared by a simple sol-gel reaction using cationic metal precursors of ZnCl2 and Zn(NO3)2 with 3-aminopropyl ...triethoxysilane APTES under ambient conditions. Due to the facile interaction of heavy metals with primary amine sites and Zn-related intrinsic antimicrobial activity, toxicity assays of ZnACs nanoparticles (NPs) prior to their environmental and human-health applications are essential. However, such reports remain rare. Thus, in the present study, a cell viability assay of in-vitro HeLa cells comparing ZnCl2, Zn(NO3)2 salts, and ZnO (~50nm average diameter) NPs was performed. Interestingly, compared with the ZnCl2, and Zn(NO3)2 salts, and ZnO NPs (18.73/18.12/51.49µg/mL and 18.12/15.19/46.10µg/mL of IC50 values for 24 and 48h), the two ZnACs NPs exhibited the highest toxicity (IC50 values of 21.18/18.36µg/mL and 18.37/17.09µg/mL for 24 and 48h, respectively), whose concentrations were calculated on Zn elemental composition. This might be due to the enhanced bioavailability and uptake into cells of ZnAC NPs themselves and their positively charged hydrophilicity by reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, particularly as ZnACs exist in cationic NP's form, not in released Zn2+ ionic form (i.e., dissolved nanometal). However, in an in-vivo embryotoxicity assay in zebrafish, ZnACs and ZnO NPs showed toxic effects at 50–100µg/mL (corresponding to 37.88–75.76 of Zn wt% µg/mL). The hatching rate (%) of zebrafish was lowest for the ZnO NPs, particularly where ZnAC-(NO3)2 is slightly more toxic than ZnAC-Cl2. These results are all very pertinent to the issue of ZnACs’ potential applications in the environmental and biomedical fields.
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•Two 3-aminopropyl functionalized zinc phyllosilicates were prepared.•Two ZnACs exhibited more toxic effect in HeLa cells than did ZnO.•ZnO showed more embryonic toxic effect in zebrafish than did two ZnACs.•ZnACs’ toxicity is crucial to the success of environmental and biomedical applications.
Concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT) followed by hepatic arterial infusional chemotherapy (HAIC) was reported to be effective for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with portal vein ...thrombosis. However, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is not preferred in this setting. The aim of this study was to assess the factors affecting survival after CCRT, including additional TACE during repeated HAIC.
Thirty-eight patients who underwent CCRT as the initial treatment for Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage C HCC with vascular invasion between 2009 and 2016 were reviewed retrospectively. During CCRT, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) was infused via chemoport during the first and last five days of five weeks of external beam radiation therapy. After CCRT, repeated HAIC with cisplatin and 5-FU was performed monthly. Nineteen patients (50%) underwent additional TACE between repeated HAICs. Factors related to overall survival and progression free survival (PFS) were analyzed.
The mean age of patients was 55 years (male:female, 33:5). Underlying liver diseases were hepatitis B, hepatitis C and non-B/C in 29, 1 and 8 patients, respectively. The median radiation dose was 4500 cGy. The objective response (OR) rate at one months after CCRT was 36.8%. The median PFS was 7.4 (range, 1.8 - 32.1) months. The median overall survival was 11.6 (range 2.8-65.7) months. Achieving an OR after CCRT (hazard ratio HR, 0.028; P < 0.001), additional TACE (HR, 0.134, P < 0.001), and further rounds of HAIC (HR, 0.742, P = 0.001) were independent significant factors related to overall survival. The overall survival duration of patients with an OR after CCRT (median 44.2 vs. 6.6 months, P < 0.001) and additional TACE (median 19.8 vs. 9.1 months, P = 0.001) were significantly greater than those without an OR after CCRT or additional TACE.
Patients who achieved an OR after CCRT, underwent additional TACE, and were subjected to repeated rounds of HAIC following CCRT showed better survival after CCRT for advanced stage of HCC with vascular invasion. A further prospective study is needed to confirm the positive effect of additional TACE after CCRT.
Polymer hydrogels consist of a three-dimensional (3D) structure with cross-linked networks rich in a huge amount of water through hydrogen-bonding interactions, making them highly hydrophilic. Due to ...their impressive hydrophilic characteristics and cell non-cytotoxicity, polymer hydrogels are useful tissue engineering tools for the organization of cells and tissues and organ regeneration. Many biomedical engineers and researchers have recently begun to utilize polymer hydrogels as tissue or cell culture environments and as scaffolds for the stable growth of organs in tissue engineering and regeneration medicine. This paper focuses on skin regeneration in polymer hydrogels where skin is a means of protecting the body from infection or physical or chemical damage. Generally, skin tissue that has incurred minor damage or wounds can regenerate and heal in a relatively short time, while severe injuries may require transplantation or artificial skin. For those purposes, skin culturing in an in vitro environment is essential, and the environment produced using polymer hydrogel scaffolds needs to be both similar to the real environment and safe for skin cell growth. This paper reviews post-2000 skin regeneration research in the field of tissue engineering, focusing specifically on polymer hydrogels; it also discusses some of the central perspectives and key issues.
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