Phytochemical investigations on the dry leaves of
have led to the isolation of 24 lignans. Illiciumlignans G-K (1-5) were five undescribed benzofuran lignans, illiciumlignan L (6) was one undescribed ...ditetrahydrofuran lignan, illiciumlignans M-O (7-9) were three new sesquilignans, and compounds 10, 12, 13, 15, and 18-21 were firstly isolated from the genus
. Their structures were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analyses (UV, IR, HR-ESI-MS, and NMR) and CD experiments. All isolates were evaluated by measuring their inhibitory effects on PGE
, and NO production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages.
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is defined as a highly aggressive type of breast cancer which lacks specific biomarkers and drug targets. Damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP)-induced ...immunogenic cell death (ICD) may influence the outcome of immunotherapy for TNBC patients. This study aims to develop a DAMPs gene signature to classify TNBC patients and to further predict their prognosis and immunotherapy outcome.
We identified the DAMPs-associated subtypes of 330 TNBCs using K-means analysis. Differences in immune status, genomic alterations, and predicted immunotherapy outcome were compared among each subtype.
A total of 330 TNBCs were divided into three subtypes according to DAMPs gene expression: the nuclear DAMPs subtype, featuring the upregulation of nuclear DAMPs; the inflammatory DAMPs subtype, characterized by the gene set enrichment of the adaptive immune system and cytokine signaling in the immune system; and the DAMPs-suppressed subtype, having the lowest level of ICD-associated DAMPs. Among them, the inflammatory subtype patients had the most favorable survival, while the DAMPs-suppressed subtype was associated with the worst prognosis. The DAMPs subtyping system was successfully validated in the TCGA cohort. Furthermore, we systemically revealed the genomic alterations among the three DAMPs subtypes. The inflammatory DAMPs subtype was predicted to have the highest response rate to immunotherapy, suggesting that the constructed DAMPs clustering had potential for immunotherapy efficacy prediction.
We established a novel ICD-associated DAMPs subtyping system in TNBC, and DAMPs expression might be a valuable biomarker for immunotherapy strategies. Our work could be helpful to the development of new immunomodulators and may contribute to the development of precision immunotherapy for TNBC.
Background
Hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage (HCH) is a potentially life‐threatening neurological condition with an extremely high morbidity and mortality. In recent years, neuroendoscopy has been ...used to treat intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). However, the choice of neuroendoscopic surgery versus craniotomy for patients with intracerebral hemorrhages is controversial.
Aim
We conducted this meta‐analysis to assess the efficacy of neuroendoscopic surgery compared with craniotomy in patients with supratentorial hypertensive ICH.
Methods
A systematic electronic search was conducted of online electronic databases: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library updated on December 2017. The meta‐analysis only included randomized controlled studies.
Results
Three randomized controlled trials met our inclusion criteria. The pooled analysis of death showed that neuroendoscopic surgery decreased the rate of death when compared with craniotomy (RR = 0.58, 95% CI 0.26–1.29; p = .18). The pooled result of complications indicated that neuroendoscopic surgery has a tendency toward lower complications (RR = 0.37, 95% CI 0.28–0.49; p < .001).
Conclusions
Our results suggested that neuroendoscopic surgery has lower complications, but no superior advantages in morbidity rates. Since the advantage of neuroendoscopic surgery has been performed in some area, the continuation of multi‐center comparative investigation with craniotomy may be necessary. Moreover, some efforts need to be taken in selecting appropriate patients with different treatments.
Neuroendoscopic surgery significantly reduces the rate of complications in patients with HICH, when compared with craniotomy, while without improving death outcomes.
Aim
To retrospectively compare the treatment effect of intraprocedural computed tomography/magnetic resonance–contrast‐enhanced ultrasound (CT/MR‐CEUS) fusion imaging (FI) with that of conventional ...ultrasound (US) in the guidance and assessment of thermal ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Methods
The FI group (112 patients with 129 HCC) was treated between April 2010 and December 2012, whereas the US group (83 patients with 90 HCC) was treated between January 2008 and March 2010. Either CT/MR‐CEUS FI or US was used to guide puncture, provide immediate assessment, and guide supplementary ablation. Technical efficacy, cumulative local tumor progression rate (LTP), recurrence‐free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS) were evaluated and compared during follow‐up. Technical success rate of CT/MR‐CEUS FI was also recorded.
Results
Technical efficacy was significantly higher in the FI group than in the US group (100% vs. 86.7%, P < 0.001). The 1‐, 2‐, 3‐, 4‐, 5‐, and 6‐year cumulative LTP rates in the FI group were significantly lower than in the US group (3.8%, 4.9%, 6.0%, 6.0%, 7.2%, and 7.2% vs. 16.9%, 20.1%, 25%, 25%, 25%, and 25%, respectively; P < 0.001); RFS and OS were significantly higher in the FI group than in the US group (P = 0.027 and P = 0.049, respectively). The technical success rate of FI was 85.3%.
Conclusions
Intraprocedural CT/MR‐CEUS FI improved the treatment effect of thermal ablation of HCC by immediately assessing treatment response and guiding supplementary ablation relative to those resulting from the use of conventional US.
PbTe-based thermoelectric materials are some of the most promising for converting heat into electricity, but their n-type versions still lag in performance the p-type ones. Here, we introduce midgap ...states and nanoscale precipitates using Ga-doping and GeTe-alloying to considerably improve the performance of n-type PbTe. The GeTe alloying significantly enlarges the energy band gap of PbTe and subsequent Ga doping introduces special midgap states that lead to an increased density of states (DOS) effective mass and enhanced Seebeck coefficients. Moreover, the nucleated Ga2Te3 nanoscale precipitates and off-center discordant Ge atoms in the PbTe matrix cause intense phonon scattering, strongly reducing the thermal conductivity (∼0.65 W m–1 K–1 at 623 K). As a result, a high room-temperature thermoelectric figure of merit ZT ∼ 0.59 and a peak ZTmax of ∼1.47 at 673 K were obtained for the Pb0.98Ga0.02Te-5%GeTe. The ZTavg value that is most relevant for devices is ∼1.27 from 400 to 773 K, the highest recorded value for n-type PbTe.
Purpose: To investigate the feasibility and value of three-dimensional ultrasound/contrast-enhanced ultrasound (3D US-CEUS) fusion imaging for the immediate evaluation of technical success and the ...guidance of supplementary ablation during the liver cancer thermal ablation procedure.
Materials and methods: Patients diagnosed with malignant liver cancer intending to receive thermal ablation including radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or microwave ablation (MWA) were enrolled. 3D US-CEUS fusion imaging was used to immediately assess the technical success and guide supplementary ablation. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (CECT/CEMRI) was performed one month after ablation to assess the technique effectiveness of the ablation. The registration success rate, duration time of 3D US-CEUS fusion imaging, technique effectiveness rate and major complications were recorded.
Results: In total, 76 patients with 95 tumours who underwent RFA or MWA and assessed by 3D US-CEUS fusion imaging were enrolled. The registration success rate of 3D US-CEUS fusion imaging was 93.7% (89/95), and the duration time was 4.0 ± 1.1 min. Thirty lesions received supplementary ablation immediately during the procedure. The technique effectiveness rate of the ablation was 98.8% (81/82). There were no major complications related to ablation.
Conclusions: 3D US-CEUS fusion imaging is a feasible and valuable technique for the immediate evaluation and guidance of supplementary ablation during the liver cancer thermal ablation procedure.
Chinese medical herbs could treat complex diseases through the synergistic effect of multi-components, multi-targets and multi-channels. However, it was difficult to systematically investigate the ...pharmacological mechanisms of action due to the complex chemical composition and the lack of an effective research approach. Fortunately, network pharmacology as an integrated approach was proposed to systematically investigate and explain the underlying molecular mechanisms of Chinese medical herbs. Reduning injection (RDN) is one of the herbal injections for treatment of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). Previous studies revealed the molecular mechanism of RDN on URTIs through network pharmacology. In this work, the mechanism of RDN was verified by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Western Blot, immunofluorescence assay and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 cells and enzyme assay. RDN dose-dependently suppressed the production of nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and reduced the protein expression of inducible NO synthetase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), which could be related to its suppression on the phosphorylations of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases, including extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-jun NH2-terminal kinase(JNK) and p38, as well as the activation and translocation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). In addition, the activity of RDN on PGE2 was also partly attributed to the inhibition of COX-2 enzyme. Therefore, it can be concluded that RDN inhibited the production of inflammatory mediators and the macrophage activation to treat URTIs via down-regulating the activation of MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways, which might pave a way to illustrate the molecular mechanism of herbs.
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Complex bismuth chalcogenides are narrow band gap semiconductors with intrinsic low thermal conductivity, which exhibit high potential as highly efficient thermoelectric materials. Here, we assess ...the basic thermoelectric properties of polycrystalline Rb2Bi8Se13 in the temperature range 300–823 K as well as performance-optimizing strategies. We find that the as-made bulk samples are single phase with the monoclinic crystal structure (P21/m) and crystallize in layer morphology. The pristine sample exhibits an exceedingly low lattice thermal conductivity of 0.6–0.46 W·m–1·K–1 at 300–823 K, which derives from strong lattice anharmonicity, large Grüneisen parameters, and low phonon velocities induced by the complex crystal structure with heavy atom Bi and a large unit cell. The Cl doping successfully enhances the carrier concentration in Rb2Bi8Se13 with a negligible impact on the electronic band structure, displaying common doping behaviors. Se vacancy, on the contrary, leads to n-type doping and enhances the effective mass and power factors more significantly. Consequently, a maximum ZT of ∼0.75 at 823 K for the 0.3% Se-vacancy-doped sample is obtained.
Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a vital role in the progression of vascular dementia (VaD). We hypothesized that transfer of exogenous mitochondria might be a beneficial strategy for VaD treatment.
...The study was aimed to investigate the role of mitochondrial therapy in cognitive function of VaD.
The activity and integrity of isolated mitochondria were detected using MitoTracker and Janus Green B staining assays. After VaD mice were intravenously injected with exogenous mitochondria, Morris water maze and passive avoidance tests were used to detect cognitive function of VaD mice. Haematoxylin and eosin, Nissl, TUNEL, and Golgi staining assays were utilized to measure neuronal and synaptic injury in the hippocampus of VaD mice. Detection kits were performed to detect mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ), SOD activity and the levels of ATP, ROS, and MDA in the brains of VaD mice.
The results showed that isolated mitochondria were intact and active. Mitochondrial therapy could ameliorate cognitive performance of VaD mice. Additionally, mitochondrial administration could attenuate hippocampal neuronal and synaptic injury, improve mitochondrial ΔΨ, ATP level and SOD activity, and reduce ROS and MDA levels in the brains of VaD mice.
The study reports profitable effect of mitochondrial therapy against cognitive impairment of VaD, making mitochondrial treatment become a promising therapeutic strategy for VaD.
The present work aims to examine the mechanism and purification effect of graphene oxide (GO) and GO composite materials for photocatalysis sewage treatment. TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared using ...the sol-gel technique; GO was prepared using the modified Hummers technique; and finally, a new N-TiO2/GO photocatalysis composite material was prepared by hydrothermal synthesis. As a nitrogen source, urea uses non-metal doping to broaden the photoresponse range of TiO2. The prepared GO and its composite materials are characterized. Simulation experiments, using the typical water dye pollutant rhodamine B (RhB), tested and analyzed the adsorption and photocatalysis performances of the prepared GO and its composite materials. Characterization analysis demonstrates that TiO2 is distributed on the GO surface in the prepared N-TiO2/GO material. Simultaneously, nitrogen doping causes TiO2 on the GO surface to seem uniformly dispersed. X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) spectrums suggest that TiO2 on the GO surface presents an anatase crystal structure; infrared spectrums display the characteristic vibration peaks of the TiO2 and GO. Adsorption performance analysis illustrates that N-TiO2/GO can provide an adsorption amount of 167.92 mg/g in the same time frame and photocatalysis for visible lights of 57.69%. All data present an excellent linear fitting relationship to the first-order dynamic equation. Therefore, the prepared GO composite materials possess outstanding absorption and photocatalysis performances, providing an experimental basis for sewage treatment and purification using photocatalysis approaches in the future.
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