Osteoporosis is a systemic metabolic bone disease characterized by a reduction in bone mass, bone quality, and microarchitectural deterioration. An imbalance in bone remodeling that is caused by more ...osteoclast-mediated bone resorption than osteoblast-mediated bone formation results in such pathologic bone disorder. Traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) have long been used to prevent and treat osteoporosis and have received extensive attentions and researches at home and abroad, because they have fewer adverse reactions and are more suitable for long-term use compared with chemically synthesized medicines. Here, we put the emphasis on osteoblasts, summarized the detailed research progress on the active compounds derived from TCM with potential anti-osteoporosis effects and their molecular mechanisms on promoting osteoblast-mediated bone formation. It could be concluded that TCM with kidney-tonifying, spleen-tonifying, and stasis-removing effects all have the potential effects on treating osteoporosis. The active ingredients derived from TCM that possess effects on promoting osteoblasts proliferation and differentiation include flavonoids, glycosides, coumarins, terpenoids (sesquiterpenoids, monoterpenoids, diterpenoids), phenolic acids, phenols and others (tetrameric stilbene, anthraquinones, diarylheptanoids). And it was confirmed that the bone formation effect induced by the above natural products was regulated by the expressions of bone specific matrix proteins (ALP, BSP, OCN, OPN, COL I), transcription factor (Runx2, Cbfa1, Osx), signal pathways (MAPK, BMP), local factors (ROS, NO), OPG/RANKL system of osteoblasts and estrogen-like biological activities. All the studies provided theoretical basis for clinical application, as well as new drug research and development on treating osteoporosis.
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One may discover a stone tool by chance but it takes more than luck to make a car or cell phone. With the advance of nanoscience, the synthesis of increasingly sophisticated nanostructures demands a ...rational design and a systems approach. In this Review, we advocate the distinction between thermodynamically and kinetically controlled scenarios, that is, whether a product forms because it is the most stable state or because the pathway leading to it has the lowest energy barrier. Great endeavours have been made to describe the multiple concurrent processes in typical nanosynthesis phenomena, so that the mechanistic proposals in the literature are brought into a common framework for easy contrast and comparison.
Understanding starts with distinction: Distinguishing between the thermodynamically and kinetically controlled scenarios is of critical importance when analyzing the complex phenomena in nanosynthesis, such as the growth of nanoparticles, their aggregation, and the shape evolution of polymer nanostructures. The processes are examined in detail in this Review and the mechanistic proposals are categorized in the common framework of thermodynamics and kinetics.
Exosomes are nanosized membrane vesicles released from cells after fusion of multivesicular bodies (MVBs) with the plasma membrane (PM) and play important roles in intercellular communication and ...numerous biological processes. However, the molecular mechanisms regulating exosome secretion remain poorly understood. Here we identify KIBRA as an adaptor-like protein that stabilizes Rab27a, which in turn controls exosome secretion both in vitro and in vivo. Knockdown or overexpression of KIBRA in neuronal and podocyte cell lines leads to a decrease or increase of exosome secretion, respectively, and KIBRA depletion increases MVB size and number. Comparing protein profiles between KIBRA knockout and wild-type mouse brain showed significantly decreased Rab27a, a small GTPase that regulates MVB-PM docking. Rab27a is stabilized by interacting with KIBRA, which prevents ubiquitination and degradation via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. In conclusion, we show that KIBRA controls exosome secretion via inhibiting the proteasomal degradation of Rab27a.
The state of health (SOH) estimation of lithium-ion batteries at low data sampling frequencies has important practical significance in engineering application. This paper proposes a new SOH ...evaluation method for lithium-ion batteries under the framework of probability density function (PDF). The concepts of regional voltage and regional frequency are introduced, and the SOH models are established based on the experimental cycle data of the nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) battery cell and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery module. The results show that the SOH is a simple linear function of the regional frequency in the obtained model, and the fitting R-squared (R2) of two battery SOH models can reach more than 0.99 with appropriate regional voltage. This method does not directly use the characteristic parameters of PDF and is insensitive to the sampling frequency as low as 1/60 Hz. It is effective for accurate online SOH evaluation in occasions where the sampling frequency cannot be too high, such as large energy storage power station. Moreover, this method is more suitable for module SOH evaluation, which can overcome the poor SOH evaluation caused by the inconsistency of cells in a module.
•An improved PDF method for SOH evaluation is proposed based on regional frequency.•The regional frequency method can be used at the sampling frequency as low as 1/60 Hz.•The regional frequency method is suitable for SOH modeling of cells and modules.•A good linear positive correlation between battery SOH and regional frequency.
In this work, carboxyl-functionalized hollow polymer microspheres (CHPMs) was successfully fabricated using poly (styrene-itaconic anhydride) particles as the core template and itaconic anhydride and ...trans-anethole cross-linked with divinylbenzene as the shell. The desirable microspheres and hollow structure of CHPMs were demonstrated by scanning and transmission electron microscopies, respectively. The characterized CHPMs as an adsorbent was packed into a solid phase extraction column to simultaneously detect the V(V), Cr(III), Cu(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II) in digested food samples by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). A series of experimental parameters of solid-phase extraction (SPE) were investigated through vast experiments to improve sensitivity of the proposed method in metal ions detection. The detection limits of the method reached 0.8–3.2 ng L−1 for the target elements, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranging from 1.2% to 3.5% were obtained from eleven parallel experiments using a 1.0 μg L−1 sample solution. The stability allowed the material to withstand more than 15 cycling while the recoveries remained above 88%. In food samples, the detection limits were at 0.20–0.80 μg kg−1, and satisfactory recoveries of 85–104% were obtained in spike tests of laver, fish as well as chicken.
Here, we prepared carboxyl-functionalized hollow polymer microspheres (CHPMs) using poly (styrene-itaconic anhydride) particles as the core template and itaconic anhydride (IAH) and trans-anethole (ANE) cross-linked with divinylbenzene as the shell. The CHPMs as an adsorbent was packed into a solid phase extraction column to simultaneously detect the V(V), Cr(III), Cu(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II) in digested food samples by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Display omitted
•Novel adsorbent of carboxyl-functionalized hollow polymer microspheres were fabricated.•It simultaneously detect the V(V), Cr(III), Cu(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II) in digested food samples.•The submicron-sized hollow structure and abundant carboxyl groups of the adsorbent.•ICP-MS assisted with SPE method based on the prepared adsorbent was established.•The method exhibited excellent anti-interference and high recoveries in the elements analysis of practical samples.
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) samples from forestry, livestock breeding, urban domestic and agricultural sources around Jiaozhou Bay were incubated in seawater to examine DOM dynamics and ...bioavailability, which is the availability of DOM to degradation by microbes. The fluorescence signals of protein- and humic-like compounds were used as a proxy for bioavailable and refractory materials, respectively, whereas the evolution of SUVA254, dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations were used to discuss bioavailability. The high bioavailability DON sources were from livestock breeding and urban domestic sources, with no significant difference, followed by agricultural and forestry sources, with respective degradation rate constants of 0.36 ± 0.01 (mean ± SD) d−1, 0.32 ± 0.03 d−1, 0.22 ± 0.04 d−1, and 0.18 ± 0.01 d−1, and with bioavailable DON (BDON%) representing 70% ± 10%, 67% ± 7%, 62% ± 8% and 37% ± 12% of the total DON, respectively. The turnover times of BDON were 3–6 days, far less than the flushing time of Jiaozhou Bay. Approximately 66% of land-based DON may contribute to DIN by microbial re-mineralization in Jiaozhou Bay, with the main sources being urban domestic, agricultural and livestock breeding. DON seemed to exhibit higher bioavailability than DOC. The temporal evolution of fluorophores and optical indices revealed that bioavailable DOM from livestock breeding and urban domestic sources was high. Spectroscopic properties indicated that the degree of humification of the organic molecules changed significantly for DON from livestock breeding and urban domestic sources, followed by agricultural sources, and forestry sources were the lowest. SUVA254 values and HIX were negatively correlated with DON bioavailability, which can be used as a refractory index and for predicting bioavailable DON.
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•Land-based bioavailable DON (BDON) represents from 37% to 70% of the total DON.•Turnover times of land-based BDON were 3–6 days.•Approximately 66% of the land-based DON was converted to DIN in Jiaozhou Bay.•Bioavailability of land-based DON was negatively correlated with humic substances.
Plants have evolved sensitive signaling systems to fine-tune photomorphogenesis in response to changing light environments. Light and low temperatures are known to regulate the expression of the
(
) ...genes
and
, which influence the circadian clock, freezing tolerance, and flowering time. Blue light stabilizes the COR27 and COR28 proteins, but the underlying mechanism is unknown. We therefore performed a yeast two-hybrid screen using COR27- and COR28 as bait and identified the E3 ubiquitin ligase CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC1 (COP1) as an interactor. COR27 and COR28 physically interact with COP1, which is in turn responsible for their degradation in the dark. Furthermore, COR27 and COR28 promote hypocotyl elongation and act as negative regulators of photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis (
). Genome-wide gene expression analysis showed that HY5, COR27, and COR28 co-regulate many common genes. COR27 interacts directly with HY5 and associates with the promoters of the HY5 target genes
and
, then regulates their transcription together with HY5. Our results demonstrate that COR27 and COR28 act as key regulators in the COP1-HY5 regulatory hub, by regulating the transcription of HY5 target genes together with HY5 to ensure proper skotomorphogenic growth in the dark and photomorphogenic development in the light.
Nanocelluloses, including cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), and cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), have attracted much attention in recent years all over the world. However, ...commercial applications of nanocelluloses are still limited due to the high cost of nanocelluloses. In this study, we developed a novel method to prepare lignocellulose nanofibrils (LCNF) directly from bamboo chips (BC), which can readily be scaled up. The method developed consists of three primary steps, which are as follows: glycerol pretreatment, screw extrusion, and mechanical refining/milling in a colloid mill. Glycerol can readily penetrate into bamboo chips and it is used as an effective reaction medium for fibrillation and delignification. The LCNF yield is about 77.2% based on bone dry bamboo chips. The morphology of the LCNF was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which shows that the LCNFs have a diameter of 20–80 nm and a length of several thousand nanometers. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows that the crystallinity of the LCNF was 52.7%, which was slightly lower than that of the bamboo raw material. This process can be easily scaled up for commercial production of LCNF.
This study investigated the changes in serum tumor marker levels in patients with breast cancer (BC) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and their potential as prognostic factors in NACT. A total ...of 134 consecutive patients with BC treated at our hospital between January 2019 and December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were treated with NACT based on the docetaxel, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (TEC) regimen and assessed for marker levels, T cell subsets, and therapeutic outcomes. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to evaluate the predictive performance of the markers. Outcome assessments showed that NACT effectively reduced the tumor size, leading to increased complete remission, partial remission, stable disease, and significantly reduced disease progression. Improved immune function has also been observed after NACT. The levels of two (E-cadherin and HMGB1) out of five markers (CA153, CK19, CEA, E-cadherin, and HMGB1) were significantly reduced after NACT before surgery compared with those at admission, suggesting that NACT modulates the levels of biomarkers. ROC analysis revealed that the area under the curve (AUC) of HMGB1 and E-cadherin combination was 0.87 for discrimination of therapeutic response with a sensitivity and specificity of 91.3% and 88.4%, respectively. Serum tumor marker levels were reduced after NACT in patients with BC. The reduction was most prominent for HMGB1, followed by E-cadherin. These biomarkers can be used to predict the therapeutic response to NACT with an AUC of 0.87, thus offering a new tool to monitor treatment progress in NACT for patients with BC.
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