Thyroid cancer, the most prevalent cancer of the endocrine system and cervical region, has experienced a significant increase in incidence over recent decades. Nanomedicine has fundamentally ...revolutionized cancer treatment, particularly through the development of multifunctional nano-therapeutics. The progress in this field has been facilitated by the distinctive properties of nanomaterials, such as their capacity to perform several functions, be modified, and offer various detection methods. These features allow for non-invasive and practical diagnostic techniques through versatile imaging. Surface engineering plays a pivotal role in the design of multifunctional nano-systems for localized drug delivery against thyroid cancer. Nano-systems can be customized via surface modification techniques, such as functionalization with targeting ligands and inclusion of therapeutic drugs. This customization allows the nano-systems to specifically target cancer cells while reducing the impact on non-target cells. As a result, bovine serum albumin-coated nanostructures have emerged as powerful diagnostic and targeting nanosystems for thyroid cancer. This targeted strategy enhances the effectiveness of cancer treatment while reducing overall body toxicity. This comprehensive review aims to provide an extensive overview of the latest advancements in surface-engineered nanoparticle-based approaches for both diagnosing and treating thyroid cancer. It highlights the promising research endeavors aimed at creating novel and effective multifunctional nanomedicine for localized delivery to thyroid cancer sites. The review examines different nanomedicines that have been developed for cancer treatment and diagnosis. It also analyzes the current trends, future possibilities, and obstacles in this rapidly advancing sector. By synthesizing the current state of knowledge on surface-engineered multifunctional nano-systems, this review contributes to a better understanding of their potential applications in thyroid cancer treatment and paves the way for future research directions in this promising field of nanomedicine.
The moisture evaluation of cellulose insulation material in paper/oil system based on the frequency dielectric spectroscopy (FDS) technique has been of great interest to researchers. However, the ...electrode polarization effect and conductance effect can “obscure” the relaxation information in the course of the traditional FDS test, which often leads to an unreliable result. The existing researches indicated that the frequency dielectric modulus-
M
*(
ω
) could effectively enable the investigation of the relaxation behavior, which might be used to realize the condition evaluation of cellulose insulation materials in paper/oil system. Unfortunately, the
M
*(
ω
) has been rarely exploited to evaluate the moisture content (
mc
%) of cellulose insulation material, and the study on approach for extracting characteristic parameters based on the
M
*(
ω
) is also rare. In view of this issue, the present contribution attempt to report an available approach for extracting the characteristic parameters based on the
M
*(
ω
), and further investigate the variation laws of
mc
% versus the above parameters. The findings reveal that the quantitative relationship between
mc
% and the above parameters can be established by fitting analysis. The feasibility of the proposed parameters for moisture evaluation of cellulose insulation material is demonstrated by the newly prepared cellulose insulation samples. It is interesting to note that the average percentage errors of evaluation results corresponding to the relaxation time constant (
τ
M
) and integral value (
IV
) of the real part of
M
*(
ω
) are less than 8%. In that respect, the novelty of this work is that the
τ
M
and
IV
might be used as a potential tool for quantitative evaluation of
mc
% of cellulose insulation in paper/oil systems.
Graphic abstract
Abstract
Combining immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy with photodynamic therapy (PDT) holds great potential in treating immunologically “cold” tumors, but photo-generated reactive oxygen ...species (ROS) can inevitably damage co-administered ICB antibodies, hence hampering the therapeutic outcome. Here we create a ROS-responsive hydrogel to realize the sustained co-delivery of photosensitizers and ICB antibodies. During PDT, the hydrogel skeleton poly(deca-4,6-diynedioic acid) (PDDA) protects ICB antibodies by scavenging the harmful ROS, and at the same time, triggers the gradual degradation of the hydrogel to release the drugs in a controlled manner. More interestingly, we can visualize the ROS-responsive hydrogel degradation by Raman imaging, given the ultrastrong and degradation-correlative Raman signal of PDDA in the cellular silent window. A single administration of the hydrogel not only completely inhibits the long-term postoperative recurrence and metastasis of 4T1-tumor-bearing mice, but also effectively restrains the growth of re-challenged tumors. The PDDA-based ROS-responsive hydrogel herein paves a promising way for the durable synergy of PDT and ICB therapy.
Microbial metabolites have been indicated to communicate with the host’s endocrine system, regulating hormone production, immune-endocrine communications, and interactions along the gut-brain axis, ...eventually affecting the occurrence of endocrine cancer. Furthermore, microbiota metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) have been found to affect the tumor microenvironment and boost immunity against tumors. SCFAs, including butyrate and acetate, have been demonstrated to exert anti-proliferative and anti-protective activity on pancreatic cancer cells. The employing of microbial metabolic products in conjunction with radiation and chemotherapy has shown promising outcomes in terms of reducing treatment side effects and boosting effectiveness. Certain metabolites, such as valerate and butyrate, have been made known to improve the efficiency of CAR T-cell treatment, whilst others, such as indole-derived tryptophan metabolites, have been shown to inhibit tumor immunity. This review explores the intricate interplay between microbial metabolites and endocrine tumorigenesis, spanning mechanistic insights to the discovery of potential therapeutic biomarkers.
Frequency domain spectroscopy (FDS) technique is widely used for the aging evaluation of the transformer oil-paper insulation system. However, the typical ‘relaxation information’ of FDS data in ...low-frequency regions is seriously affected by both the electrode polarization effect and conductance effect, which often leads to an unsatisfactory aging condition evaluation result. Existing researches reveal that the Frequency Dependent Dielectric Modulus
M
*(
ω
) technique can be utilized for solving this issue. Since the relevant parameters, that aims to represent the aging condition of transformer oil-immersed cellulose insulation, extracted from
M
*(
ω
) has been rarely reported, and the feasibility demonstration of the field testing by exploiting the relevant parameters extracted from
M
*(
ω
) is also rare. Therefore, the novel attempt for obtaining the relevant parameters of
M
*(
ω
) were reported in this paper. Moreover, the accuracy and feasibility of the extracted parameters were later verified with the evaluation test in the lab and field conditions. In that respect, the present contribution demonstrated that the extracted parameters could be used as an available tool for the aging evaluation of transformer oil-immersed cellulose insulation.
Graphic abstract
Background: Extremely abnormal prolongation of the electrocardiographic QT interval is associated with malignant ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. However, the implications of ...variations in QT-interval length within normal limits for mortality in the general population are still unclear. Methods: We performed a meta-analysis to investigate the relation of QT interval with mortality endpoints. Inverse-variance weighted random-effects models were used to summarize the relative risks across studies. Twenty-three observational studies were included. Results: The pooled relative risk estimates comparing the highest with the lowest categories of QT-interval length were 1.35 (95% confidence interval = 1.24—1.46) for total mortality, 1.51 (1.29—1.78) for cardiovascular mortality, 1.71 (1.36—2.15) for coronary heart disease mortality, and 1.44 (1.01—2.04) for sudden cardiac death. A 50 milliseconds increase in QT interval was associated with a relative risk of 1.20 (1.15—1.26) for total mortality, 1.29 (1.15—1.46) for cardiovascular mortality, 1.49 (1.25—1.76) for coronary heart disease mortality, and 1.24 (0.97—1.60) for sudden cardiac death. Conclusions: We found consistent associations between prolonged QT interval and increased risk of total, cardiovascular, coronary, and sudden cardiac death. QT-interval length is a determinant of mortality in the general population.
Stroke exerts a massive burden on the US health and economy. Place-based evidence is increasingly recognized as a critical part of stroke management, but identifying the key determinants of ...neighborhood stroke prevalence and the underlying effect mechanisms is a topic that has been treated sparingly in the literature. We aim to fill in the research gaps with a study focusing on urban health. We develop and apply analytical approaches to address two challenges. First, domain expertise on drivers of neighborhood-level stroke outcomes is limited. Second, commonly used linear regression methods may provide incomplete and biased conclusions. We created a new neighborhood health data set at census tract level by pooling information from multiple sources. We developed and applied a machine learning–based quantile regression method to uncover crucial neighborhood characteristics for neighborhood stroke outcomes among vulnerable neighborhoods burdened with high prevalence of stroke. Neighborhoods with a larger share of non-Hispanic blacks, older adults, or people with insufficient sleep tended to have a higher prevalence of stroke, whereas neighborhoods with a higher socio-economic status in terms of income and education had a lower prevalence of stroke. The effects of five major determinants varied geographically and were significantly stronger among neighborhoods with high prevalence of stroke. Highly flexible machine learning identifies true drivers of neighborhood cardiovascular health outcomes from wide-ranging information in an agnostic and reproducible way. The identified major determinants and the effect mechanisms can provide important avenues for prioritizing and allocating resources to develop optimal community-level interventions for stroke prevention.
Preliminary studies suggest that intracranial arteries are capable of accommodating plaque formation by remodeling. We sought to study the ability and extent of intracranial arteries to remodel using ...3-dimensional high-resolution black blood magnetic resonance imaging and investigate its relation to ischemic events.
Forty-two patients with cerebrovascular ischemic events underwent 3-dimensional time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography and contrast-enhanced black blood magnetic resonance imaging examinations at 3 T for intracranial atherosclerotic disease. Each plaque was classified by location (eg, posterior versus anterior circulation) and its likelihood to have caused a stroke identified on magnetic resonance imaging (culprit, indeterminate, or nonculprit). Lumen area, outer wall area, and wall area were measured at the lesion and reference sites. Plaque burden was calculated as wall area divided by outer wall area. The arterial remodeling ratio (RR) was calculated as outer wall area at the lesion site divided by outer wall area at the reference site after adjusting for vessel tapering. Arterial remodeling was categorized as positive if RR>1.05, intermediate if 0.95≤RR≤1.05, and negative if RR<0.95.
One hundred and thirty-seven plaques were identified in 42 patients (37% 50 posterior and 63% 87 anterior). Compared with anterior circulation plaques, posterior circulation plaques had a larger plaque burden (77.7±15.7 versus 69.0±14.0; P=0.008), higher RR (1.14±0.38 versus 0.95±0.32; P=0.002), and more often exhibited positive remodeling (54.0% versus29.9%; P=0.011). Positive remodeling was marginally associated with downstream stroke presence when adjusted for plaque burden (odds ratio 1.34, 95% confidence interval: 0.99-1.81).
Intracranial arteries remodel in response to plaque formation, and posterior circulation arteries have a greater capacity for positive remodeling and, consequently, may more likely elude angiographic detection. Arterial remodeling may provide insight into stroke risk.
Cellulose is the main component of transformer insulating paper. In this paper, the pyrolysis mechanism of cellulose is studied by means of computational chemistry. This study is aimed at exploring ...the generation process of the methanol from cellulosic insulating paper at the atomic level. A simulation scheme of cellulose pyrolysis with detailed reaction pathways for methanol production has been obtained that is not readily accessible by experiments. The molecular dynamics method based on reactive force field (ReaxFF) is adopted to simulate the pyrolysis of cellobiose. A model composed of 40 cellobioses simulated at 500–3000 K was established, and the force biased monte-carlo is mixed into ReaxFF to make it closer to the actual situation and ensure the reliability. The result reveals that the –CH
2
– group from the C
5
(or
C
5
′
) group in cellobioses grabbed the nearby H atom to form methanol. In the pyrolysis process of cellobioses, methanol is stable at the early stage but unstable even disappeared in the later stage. The pre-exponential factor A and activation energy E
a
of the ReaxFF-MD simulation are consistent with previous experimental results. Thus, this study provides an effective theory of the methanol as an indicator to evaluate the aging condition of cellulosic insulating paper in the early stage at the atomic level.
Graphic abstract
The operating temperature and the ampacity are important parameters to reflect the operating state of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) submarine high voltage (HV) cables, and it is of great ...significance to study the electrothermal coupling law of submarine cable under the seawater flow field. In this study, according to the actual laying conditions of the submarine cable, a multi-physical coupling model of submarine cable is established based on the electromagnetic field, heat transfer field, and fluid field by using the COMSOL finite element simulation software. This model can help to analyze how the temperature and ampacity of the submarine cable are affected by different laying methods, seawater velocity, seawater temperature, laying depth, and soil thermal conductivity. The experimental results show that the pipe laying method can lead to the highest cable conductor temperature, even exceeding the maximum heat-resistant operating temperature of the insulation, and the corresponding ampacity is minimum, so heat dissipation is required. Besides, the conductor temperature and the submarine cable ampacity have a linear relationship with the seawater temperature, and small seawater velocity can significantly improve the submarine cable ampacity. Temperature correction coefficients and ampacity correction coefficients for steady-state seawater are proposed. Furthermore, the laying depth and soil thermal conductivity have great impact on the temperature field and the ampacity of submarine cable, so measures (e.g., artificial backfilling) in areas with low thermal conductivity are needed to improve the submarine cable ampacity.
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