Our previous study showed that liver graft injury not only promotes tumor recurrence, but also induces chemoresistance in recurrent HCC after liver transplantation. Recently, we found that the ...hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier"YQ23" significantly ameliorates hepatic IR injury and prevent tumor recurrence. Here, we intended to explore the novel therapeutic strategy using oxygen carrier "YQ23"to sensitize chemotherapy in HCC.
To investigate the role of YQ23 combined with Cisplatin, the proliferation of HCC cells was examined under combined treatment by MTT and colony formation. To explore the effect of YQ23 on sensitization of Cisplatin based chemotherapy, the orthotopic liver cancer model was established. To characterize the delivery of YQ23 in tumor tissue, the intravital imaging system was applied for longitudinal observation in ectopic liver cancer model. The distribution of YQ23 was examined by IVIS spectrum.
YQ23 significantly suppressed the proliferation of HCC cells under Cisplatin treatment in a dose and time dependent manner. Moreover, YQ23 administration significantly sensitized Cisplatin based chemotherapy in orthotopic liver cancer model. Down-regulation of DHFR may be one of the reasons for YQ23 sensitizing Cisplatin based chemotherapy. Real-time intravital imaging showed that YQ23 accumulated in the tumor tissue and maintained as long as 3 days in ectopic liver cancer model. The IVIS spectrum examination showed that YQ23 distributed mainly at liver and bladder within the first 36 hours after administration in orthotopic liver cancer model.
YQ23 treatment may be a potential therapeutic strategy to sensitize chemotherapy in HCC.
We report the synthesis of a conjugated polymer incorporated with electron-deficient dipyrridophenanzine units and pendant ruthenium complexes. The electronic transition and photophysical properties ...of the polymer were thoroughly studied. Due to the presence of an extended conjugated system, polymer main chain was able to interact strongly with carbon nanotube (CNT) surface by π–π interaction, resulting in the formation of a dispersion in organic solvents. The polymer–nanotube hybrid was characterized by different microscopic and spectroscopic experiments. Raman spectroscopic results suggested that the electron density of the CNT decreased after the formation of polymer/nanotube hybrids, which suggests there is an electronic interaction between the polymer main chain and CNT.
Development of novel adjuvant therapy to eradicate tumor angiogenesis and metastasis is a pressing need for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We aimed to investigate the clinical ...relevance and therapeutic potential of angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) in HCC.
ANGPTL4 mRNA levels in tumor and non-tumor liver tissues of HCC patients were analyzed to investigate its clinical relevance. The mechanisms of deregulation of ANGPTL4 in HCC were studied by copy number variation (CNV) and CpG methylation analyses. The orthotopic liver tumor nude mice model was applied using a human metastatic cell line. ANGPTL4-overexpressing adenovirus (Ad-ANGPTL4) was injected via portal vein to investigate its anti-tumorigenic and anti-metastatic potentials.
HCC tissues expressed significantly lower levels of ANGPTL4 mRNA than non-tumor tissues. The copy number of ANGPTL4 gene in tumor tissues was significantly lower than in non-tumor tissues of HCC patients. Higher frequency of methylation of CpG sites of ANGPTL4 promoter was detected in tumor tissues compared to non-tumor tissues. Downregulation of ANGPTL4 mRNA in HCC was significantly associated with advanced tumor stage, presence of venous infiltration, poor differentiation, higher AFP level, appearance of tumor recurrence, and poor postoperative overall and disease-free survivals of HCC patients. Treatment with Ad-ANGPTL4 significantly inhibited the in vivo tumor growth, invasiveness and metastasis by promoting tumoral apoptosis, inhibiting tumoral angiogenesis and motility, and suppressing tumor-favorable microenvironment. Moreover, administration of recombinant ANGPTL4 protein suppressed the motility of HCC cells and altered the secretion profile of cytokines from macrophages.
ANGPTL4 is a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for HCC patients and a potential therapeutic agent to suppress HCC growth, angiogenesis and metastasis.
Objective: To compare the effectiveness of mobile video-guided home exercise program and standard paper-based home exercise program.
Methods: Eligible participants were randomly assigned to either ...experimental group with mobile video-guided home exercise program or control group with home exercise program in a standard pamphlet for three months. The primary outcome was exercise adherence. The secondary outcomes were self-efficacy for exercise by Self-Efficacy for Exercise (SEE) Scale; and functional outcomes including mobility level by Modified Functional Ambulatory Category (MFAC) and basic activities of daily living (ADL) by Modified Barthel Index (MBI). All outcomes were captured by phone interviews at 1 day, 1 month and 3 months after the participants were discharged from the hospitals.
Results: A total of 56 participants were allocated to the experimental group
(
n
=
2
7
)
and control group
(
n
=
2
9
)
. There were a significant between-group differences in 3-months exercise adherence (experimental group: 75.6%; control group: 55.2%); significant between-group differences in 1-month SEE (experimental group: 58.4; control group: 43.3) and 3-month SEE (experimental group: 62.2; control group: 45.6). For functional outcomes, there were significant between-group differences in 3-month MFAC gain (experimental group: 1.7; control group: 1.0). There were no between-group differences in MBI gain.
Conclusion: The use of mobile video-guided home exercise program was superior to standard paper-based home exercise program in exercise adherence, SEE and mobility gain but not basic ADL gain for patients recovering from stroke.
Summary Background The Body Constitution Questionnaire (BCQ) was developed in Taiwan to classify people into body constitution (BC) types based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theories. Since ...the culture of Hong Kong is different from Taiwan, the BCQ must be validated before a wider application can be preceded. Aim and objectives To adapt and validate the Hong Kong version of BCQ in Hong Kong Chinese population. Methods The content validity of BCQ was investigated by the cognitive debriefing with 10 patients and 10 Chinese Medicine Practitioners (CMP). A cross-sectional study of 1084 Chinese patients recruited from TCM and Western Medicine (WM) outpatient clinics to confirm the construct validity, reliability, sensitivity and responsiveness of BCQ. 225 of the patients were assessed after 2 weeks for the test-retest reliability. 404 subjects were followed up to evaluate the responsiveness after 3–6 months. Results Cognitive debriefing confirmed the content validity of the BCQ (HK version) with content validity index of all items ranged from 70 to 100%. 1084 out of 2128 patients (51%) completed the cross-sectional study. The construct validity was confirmed with scaling success rates that ranged from 87.5 to 89.5%, moderate correlations between with SF-12v2 scores, and 3-factors structure with confirmatory factor analysis. The reliability was confirmed by the Cronbach's alphas >0.8 and test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficients >0.8). Conclusion BCQ was adapted and validated on Hong Kong Chinese population. Patients with imbalanced BC types had lower health-related quality of life (HRQOL) than those with balanced BC types, which supported the validity and importance of the body constitution under the concept of TCM.
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•9 current separation techniques of bio-oil fractionation/extraction are reviewed.•Extraction efficiency of bio-oil and their potential applications are reviewed.•Advantages and ...challenges of each separation technique are identified.•Bio-oil refining using organic solvent appears to be most promising for upscaling.•Oil palm-based bio-oil value chain with conversion technology is promising.
Bio-oil is a highly valuable product derived from biomass pyrolysis which could be used in various downstream applications upon appropriate upgrading and refining. Extraction and fractionation are two promising methods to upgrade bio-oil by separating the complex mixture of bio-oil compounds into distinct fine chemicals and fractions enriched in certain classes of chemical compounds. In this review, various extraction techniques for bio-oil (organic solvent extraction, water extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, distillation, adsorption, chromatography, membrane, electrosorption and ionic liquid extraction), their associated features (extraction mechanisms involved, advantages and disadvantages), the characteristics of bio-oil extracts and their applications are presented and critically discussed. It was revealed that the most promising technique is via organic solvent extraction. Furthermore, the technological gaps and bottlenecks for each separation techniques are disclosed, as well as the overall challenges and future prospects of oil palm biomass-based bio-oil value chain. This review aims to provide key insights on bio-oil upgrading via extraction and fractionation, and a proposed way forward via technology integration in establishing a sustainable palm oil mill-based biorefinery.
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Achieving rapid capillary wetting is highly desirable in nature and industries. Previous endeavors have primarily concentrated on passive wetting strategies through surface ...engineering. However, these approaches are inadequate for high-viscosity fluids due to the significant viscous resistance, especially for non-Newtonian fluids. In contrast, forced wetting emerges as a promising method to address the challenges associated with achieving rapid wetting of non-Newtonian fluids in capillaries.
To investigate the forced wetting behavior of viscoelastic fluids in capillaries, we employ Xanthan Gum (XG) aqueous solutions as target fluids with the storage modulus significantly exceeding the loss modulus. We utilize smooth glass capillaries connected to a syringe pump to achieve high moving speeds of up to 1 m/s.
Our experiments reveal a significant distinction in the power-law exponent that governs the scaling relationship between the dynamic contact angle and velocity for viscoelastic fluids compared to Newtonian fluids. This exponent is considerably smaller and varies based on the concentration of viscoelastic fluids and the diameter of the capillaries. We suggest that the viscosity dominates the wetting dynamics of viscoelastic fluids, manifested by the contact line morphology-dependent behavior. This insight has significant implications for microfluidics and drug injectability.
Passive Air Cooling
In article number 2303470, Steven Wang and co‐workers demonstrated a camel‐fur‐inspired passive membrane encapsulated sorbent cooler that can periodically absorb moisture from the ...atmosphere and release it for daytime evaporative cooling, leading to effective regulation of building temperature without additional energy input. In the evaporative‐cooling demonstration, the average cooling power of the camel‐fur‐inspired sorbent can reach up to 630 W m−2, which is much higher than the radiative cooling approach.
Earth's temperature has risen by ≈0.18 °C per decade since 1981 and year 2022 is the sixth‐warmest year on record. The exploration of cooling strategies that operate with less energy consumption is ...thus highly desirable. Through this project, a camel‐fur‐inspired passive membrane encapsulated sorbent cooler that can periodically absorb moisture from the atmosphere and release it for daytime evaporative cooling, leading to effective regulation of building temperature without additional energy input is demonstrated. This sorbent cooler with high sorption capacity is made of anhydrous salt and modified expanded graphite and further encapsulated by a breathable porous membrane. This novel material is shape‐stabilized, and it has excellent cycling performance, and remarkable water adhesion ability. In this evaporative‐cooling demonstration, the average cooling power of the camel‐fur‐inspired sorbent can reach up to 630 W m−2, which is much higher than the radiative cooling approach. This theoretical model implies that the proposed sorbent cooler has the potential to cut down cooling energy carbon emission by 61% to 87.83% when compared to emissions released from cooling energy usage in reference buildings. This nature‐inspired approach paves a new way for efficient space cooling without extra water supply and with minimized energy consumption.
A camel‐fur‐inspired passive membrane encapsulated sorbent cooler can periodically absorb moisture from the atmosphere and release it for daytime evaporative cooling, leading to effective regulation of building temperature without additional energy input.
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