We attempted to explore the possible involvement of the in situ availability of mineralocorticoids and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) in the pathogenesis of mammary ductal carcinoma. We also ...explored their individual profiles among different subtypes of invasive ductal carcinomas of no special type (IDC-NST) by evaluating the status of MR, Glucocorticoid receptor (GR), and 11β hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD) 1/2 at each stage of the putative cascade of the mammary ductal proliferative disorders. In this study, IDC-NST, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH), and non-pathological breast tissues were all evaluated by immunohistochemistry. MR was significantly lower in ADH than in DCIS or IDC-NST. 11βHSD2 was significantly lower in ADH than normal breast tissue and 11βHSD1 was significantly higher in DCIS than normal, ADH, or IDC-NST. MR in progesterone receptor (PR)-positive IDC-NST cases tended to be associated with the Ki-67 labeling index. Results of the present study demonstrated that the status of MR and GR in conjunction with the 11βHSDs was correlated with the development of low-grade proliferative disorders in mammary glands. In addition, the potential crosstalk between MR and PR could also influence cell proliferation of breast carcinoma cells but further investigations are required for clarification.
The impregnation of poplar wood (Populus adenopoda Maxim) with 1,3-dimethylol-4,5-dihydroxyethyleneurea and maltodextrin and the effects of ZnCl2 and curing at 103 °C and 120 °C on the fixation rate ...and the leaching resistance of modified samples were investigated (103 °C curing, ZnCl2 + 103 °C curing, 120 °C curing, and ZnCl2 + 120 °C curing are denoted as 103, ZC-103, 120, and ZC-120, respectively), with the aim of improving the modification effect. The results showed that ZC-103 had the highest fixation rate, and its weight leaching ratio was higher than that of 120. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy showed that ZnCl2 did not affect the functional groups of the modified chemicals. The flexural strength and modulus and the compressive strength perpendicular to the grain were highest for ZC-103. In summary, ZC-103 exhibited the highest fixation rate, indicating that the hardener ZnCl2 bridged and increased the interfacial properties between the chemicals and cell walls and therefore increased the potential for macromolecule polycondensation between the chemicals and cell wall materials. This research paves the way for improving the fixation rate of impregnated wood and provides new insights into practical applications.
Robot-assisted surgical systems have been widely applied for minimally invasive needle biopsies thanks to their excellent accuracy and superior stability compared to manual surgical operations, which ...lead to possible fatigue and misoperation due to long procedures. Current needle biopsy robots are normally customed designed for specific application scenarios, and only position-level kinematics are derived, preventing advanced speed control or singularity analysis. As a step forward, this paper aims to design a universal needle biopsy robot platform which features 6 DoF 3-RRRS (Revolute–Revolute–Revolute–Spherical) parallel structure. The analytical solutions to its nonlinear kinematic problems, including forward kinematics, inverse kinematics, and differential kinematics are derived, allowing fast and accurate feedback control calculations. A multibody simulation platform and a first-generation prototype are established next to provide comprehensive verifications for the derived robotic model. Finally, simulated puncture experiments are carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Modification of poplar (Populus adenopoda Maxim) wood by using maltodextrin (MA) combined with 1,3-dimethylol-4,5-dihydroxyethyleneurea (DM) resin was investigated in this study. The weight percent ...gain, dimensional stability, mechanical strength, and microscopic chemical change were determined before and after impregnation. Results indicated that the composite modifier was impregnated into the wood cell lumen, as verified by scanning electron microscopy and a change in weight percent gain. Anti-swelling efficiency was significantly improved compared with the untreated sample; however, the sample treated with MA obtained an anti-swelling efficiency that was slightly lower than that of the sample treated with sucrose. The flexural strength, flexural modulus, and compressive strength perpendicular to the grain increased with an increase in MA concentration, but the compressive modulus and impact strength were reduced. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy demonstrated that MA delayed the cross-linking of the DM resin cell wall, and X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the crystallinity of the cellulose crystalline region was reduced to a certain extent. In general, the poplar wood treated with combined MA and DM resin exhibited enhanced properties relative to those of the poplar wood treated with sucrose.
The drying characteristics of poplar wood (Populus adenopoda Maxim) under three treatments were investigated with the aim of improving the drying quality of the impregnated wood. Untreated materials, ...impregnated materials with 10% initial moisture content (MC), and impregnated materials with 20% initial MC—denoted as T1, T2, and T3, respectively—were examined during conventional drying. Relative to that of T1, the average drying rate of T2 was reduced by 46%, and that of T3 was reduced by 37%. The anti-swelling efficiency of T2 sharply increased, whereas that of T3 only slightly increased in width and thickness. The drying defects of T2 were markedly less than those of T1 and T3, attributed to the reduced residual stress and fixation of the modifier. Scanning electron microscopy indicated that large amounts of modifiers were deposited inside the cell cavity of T2, whereas small amounts of modifiers were deposited in the cell cavity of T3. The impregnation treatment generally reduced the average drying rate and MC uniformity and delayed the decrease in residual stress; however, it reduced the number of defects in the wood and considerably improved the dimensional stability of the wood. Meanwhile, impregnation treatment with increased initial MC could potentially lead to more drying defects and increase production cost.
Uncontrolled hemorrhage of deep, narrow and non-compressible perforating wounds is responsible for many trauma deaths. In this work, a novel biodegradable hemostatic sponge based on thermosensitive ...carboxymethyl chitin was prepared via simple cryo-regeneration process without using any crosslinkers. The collagen and polydopamine were added to further enhance mechanical and hemostatic properties of the sponge. All the carboxymethyl chitin based sponges showed high strength with excellent water/blood-triggered shape memory property, and the highest compressive fracture wet-strength could reach about 291.2 kPa, which was almost higher than those of many reported biodegradable hemostatic sponges pre-swelled in water. More importantly, the carboxymethyl chitin-collagen-polydopamine sponges displayed much better blood-clotting capacity and superior hemostasis performance than gauze and clinically used collagen sponge iRegene@ in vitro and in the rat liver perforating wound model. This study revealed a facile strategy to construct the effective carboxymethyl chitin based hemostatic sponges for the deep and non-compressible perforating wound.
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Noncompressible hemorrhage is a leading cause of preventable death in battlefield/civilian trauma. The development of novel injectable and biodegradable hemostatic sponges, with rapid shape recovery ...and excellent antibacterial activity that can control hemorrhage in noncompressible bleeding sites and promote in situ tissue regeneration is still urgently needed. In this study, thermo/pH sensitive 2-hydroxypropyl-trimethylammonium chitins (QCHs) with low degree of quaternization substitution (DS: 0.07–0.23) and high degree of acetylation (DA: 0.91–0.94) were synthesized homogeneously for the first time. Their chemical compositions including DS and DA were characterized accurately by proton NMR for the first time. High strength QCH based sponges with good water/blood absorbency, rapid shape recovery and good antibacterial activity were prepared without using any crosslinkers but only due to their thermosensitive property, since they are soluble at low temperature but insoluble at high temperature. Compared with commercial products, the QCH sponges with cationic groups had the stronger pro-coagulant ability, better hemostatic effect in normal/heparinized liver perforation and femoral artery models in rats and porcine subclavian arteriovenous resection model. Moreover, the porous structure and biodegradability of the QCH sponges could promote in situ tissue regeneration. Overall, the QCH sponges show great clinical translational potential for noncompressible hemorrhage and tissue regeneration.
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Antimicrobial hydrogels containing antibacterial agents have been extensively studied for postoperative infections, wound repair and tissue engineering. However, the abuse of antibiotics has led to ...the enhancement of bacterial resistance and traditional antibacterial agents are losing their effect. Therefore, fabricating novel and efficient antibacterial hydrogels with enhanced photodynamic antimicrobial activity, good biocompatibility, biodegradability and injectability are highly desirable for clinical application. Herein, a fluorescent and sunlight-triggered synergetic antibacterial thermosensitive hydrogel (red fluorescent hydroxypropyl chitin, redFHPCH) is constructed based on a new water-soluble AIEgen (aggregation-induced emission fluorogen) covalently introduced in hydroxypropyl chitin for non-invasive visualization and wound healing. The thermosensitive redFHPCH solution showing good injectability with fluidity at low temperature was completely transformed into hydrogel under body temperature. The in vitro and in vivo visualization and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation of the redFHPCH hydrogel are demonstrated clearly because of its excellent AIE fluorescence imaging quality in the red/near-infrared region and superefficient ROS production by sunlight. Moreover, the redFHPCH hydrogel with positively charged quaternary ammonium groups displays a strong synergistic antibacterial effect for healing of infected wound under sunlight irradiation. We believe that this novel strategy can open a new door to explore diversified and multifunctional hydrogels for clinical application.
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Local anesthetics have been extensively used in clinical practice to relieve the postoperative pain of patients. However, due to the short half-life of local anesthetics, a simple injection of local ...anesthetics cannot provide sufficient anesthetic effect for patients. It is important to develop a new delivery system for local drug administration to achieve an extended anesthetic effect without notable side effects. In this study, bupivacaine hydrochloride (BPV) loaded thermosensitive hydroxypropyl chitin (HPCH) based sponges were prepared via a simple solvent-free process for long-lasting drug release. The HPCH sponge showed good mechanical property to resist external stress and maintain the integrity, which was stronger than the collagen/HPCH composite sponge and much better than the pure collagen sponge. The HPCH sponge also displayed good biodegradability and compatibility. The BPV-loaded 2.4%-HPCH (3.6 wt%) sponge showed the most sustained release profile, and the maximal duration of in vitro release was about 8 times longer than that of the control group BPV-loaded 0.8 %-collagen (0.6 wt%) sponge based on commercial Xaracoll. More importantly, the effective duration of blockade (analgesia) of 21.67 h for the BPV-loaded 2.4 %-HPCH (3.6 wt%) sponge was much longer than that of the bupivacaine hydrochloride solution injection (1 h, 0.8 %-BPV solution) in the guinea pig pin-prick test. Hematoxylin-eosin staining data indicated that a very limited mild inflammatory response was observed at the location where the BPV-loaded HPCH (3.6 wt%) sponge was placed. Thus, the HPCH sponge is expected to serve as a promising drug carrier for the sustained release of bupivacaine in postoperative pain management.
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The accurate measurement of wood dielectric properties and their relationship with many influencing factors are not only necessary for the study of other relevant wood properties, but also improve ...the wood dielectric moisture content detection method. In this study, the relationships between dielectric properties and frequency, as well as between moisture content and texture direction were analyzed. The results showed that the effect of the moisture content on the dielectric constant is significant. With increasing moisture content, the dielectric constant increased exponentially below the fiber saturation point. The effect of texture direction slightly exceeded that of the radial direction, and the change rate of the tangential direction above the fiber saturation point was higher than that of the radial direction. The relationship between the dielectric constant and frequency was related to the wood moisture content. The dielectric loss was approximately linear with the frequency below the fiber saturation point.
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