Photothermal therapy (PTT) is one of the most promising approaches to combat multidrug‐resistant bacteria with less potential to induce resistance and systemic toxicity. However, uncontrollable ...distribution of photothermal agents leads to lethal temperatures for normal cells, and failure to offer timely and effective antibacterial stewardship. A pH switchable nanoplatform for persistent luminescence imaging‐guided precise PTT to selectively destroy only pathological cells while protecting nearby normal cells in bacterial infected microenvironment is shown. The PLNP@PANI‐GCS is fabricated by grafting polyaniline (PANI) and glycol chitosan (GCS) onto the surface of persistent luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs). It takes advantage of the long persistent luminescence of PLNPs to realize autofluorescence‐free imaging, the pH‐dependent light–heat conversion property of PANI to get a stronger photothermal effect at pH 6.5 than pH 7.4, and the pH environment responsive surface charge transition of GCS. Consequently, PLNP@PANI‐GCS enables effective response to bacterial‐infected acid region and electrostatic bonding to bacteria in vivo, ensuring the spatial accuracy of near‐infrared light irradiation and specific heating directly to bacteria. In vivo imaging‐guided PTT to bacterial infection abscess shows effective treatment. PLNP@PANI‐GCS has great potential in treating multidrug‐resistant bacterial infection with low possibility of developing microbial drug resistance and little harm to normal cells.
A pH switchable nanoplatform is developed for in vivo persistent luminescent imaging and precise photothermal therapy of bacterial infections. This nanoplatform exhibits specific photothermal therapy to acidic bacterial‐infected regions but no damage to normal tissues.
Based on previous studies about microflora regulation and immunity enhancement activities of polysaccharides from
Nannf. var.
(Nannf.) L. T. Shen (CPP), there is little study on intestinal mucosal ...immunity, which is a possible medium for contacting microflora and immunity. In the present study, the BALB/c mice were divided into five groups (eight mice in each group), including a normal group (Con), a model control group (Model), and model groups that were administered CPP (50, 100, 200 mg/kg/d) orally each day for seven days after intraperitoneal injection of 60 mg/kg BW/d cyclophosphamide (CP) for three days. CPP recovered the spleen index and restored the levels of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-10, as well as serum IgG. In addition, it elevated ileum secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA), the number of
and acetic acid content in cecum. These results indicated that CPP plays an important role in the protection against immunosuppression, especially mucosa immune damage, and the inhibition of pathogenic bacteria colonization, which could be considered a potential natural source of immunoregulator.
Porous materials, especially metal–organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, and supramolecular organic frameworks, are widely used in heterogeneous catalysis, adsorption, and ion exchange. ...Cucurbitnurils (Qns) suitable building units for porous materials because they possess cavities with neutral electrostatic potential, portal carbonyls with negative electrostatic potential, and outer surfaces with positive electrostatic potential, which may result in the formation of Qn‐based supramolecular frameworks (QSFs) assembled through the interaction of guests within Qns, the coordination of Qns with metal ions, and outer‐surface interaction of Qns (OSIQ). This review summarizes the various QSFs assembled via OSIQs. The QSFs can be classified as being assembled by 1) self‐induced OSIQ, 2) anion‐induced OSIQ, and 3) aromatic‐induced OSIQ. The design and construction of QSFs with novel structures and specific functional properties may establish a new research direction in Qn chemistry.
This review summarizes the outer‐surface interactions of cucurbitnurils (OSIQ) in various simple cucurbitnuril‐based supramolecular frameworks (QSFs) and QSFs assembled via self‐induced OSIQ, anion‐induced OSIQs, and aromatic‐induced OSIQs. The design and construction of QSFs with novel structures and specific functional properties establishes a new research direction in cucurbitnuril chemistry.
Three new labdane-type diterpenoids, calcaratarin E, villosumtriol, and 12-epi-villosumtriol (1-3) were isolated from the fruits of Amomum villosum, along with seven known diterpenoids (4-10). ...Through comprehensive analysis of chemical evidence and spectral data including UV, 1D and 2D NMR, HR-ESI-MS, IR, and X-ray crystallography, the structures of these novel compounds were successfully determined. Additionally, the inhibitory effects of compounds 2-10 on NO production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 cells were evaluated. Notably, compound 6 exhibited the most significant inhibitory effect with an IC50 value of 1.74 ± 0.69 μM.
Abstract Background Asthmatic inflammation is dominated either by eosinophil and/or neutrophil accumulation in airways. Disposal of these inflammatory cells is the key to disease control. ...Eosinophilic airway inflammation is responsive to corticosteroid treatment, while neutrophilic inflammation is resistant and increases the burden of global health care. Corticosteroid resistant neutrophilic asthma remains mechanistically poorly understood and requires novel effective therapeutic strategies. Objective We thought to explore the underlying mechanisms of airway inflammation persistence as well as corticosteroid resistance, and to investigate a new strategy of effective treatment against corticosteroid-insensitive neutrophilic asthma. Methods Mouse models of either eosinophils-dominated or neutrophils-dominated airway inflammation were used in this study to test corticosteroid sensitivity in vivo and in vitro . We also used vav-Bcl-2 transgenic mice to confirm the importance of granulocytes apoptosis in the clearance of airway inflammation. Finally, Bcl-2 inhibitors ABT-737 or ABT-199 –were tested for their therapeutic effects against eosinophilic or neutrophilic airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness. Results Overexpression of Bcl-2 protein was found to be responsible for persistence of granulocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid following allergic challenge. This was important as allergen-induced airway inflammation aggravated and persisted in vav-Bcl-2 transgenic mice, where nucleated hematopoietic cells were over-expressed with Bcl-2 and resistant to apoptosis. Bcl-2 inhibitors, ABT-737 or ABT-199, play efficient roles in alleviation of either eosinophilic or corticosteroid resistant-neutrophilic airway inflammation, by inducing apoptosis of immune cell, such as eosinophils, neutrophils, Th2, Th17 and dendritic cells. Moreover, these inhibitors were found to be more efficient than steroid to induce granulocytes apoptosis ex vivo from severe asthma patients. Conclusion Apoptosis of inflammatory cells is essential for the clearance of allergen-induced airway inflammation. Bcl-2 inhibitors ABT-737 or ABT-199 may be promising drugs for the treatment against airway inflammation, especially for corticosteroid-insensitive neutrophilic airway inflammation.
A novel D-shaped photonic crystal fiber refractive index sensor based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is proposed and numerically studied. Different from the normal D-shaped structures, we here ...used an open-ring channel coated with gold film to excite the plamonic modes. The coupling properties and sensing performance of this structure are analyzed using finite element method. Simulation results indicate that the sensor has a sensing range from 1.20 to 1.29. When the analyte refractive index (RI) is above 1.25, the anti-crossing effect starts to appear, and the peak loss of the loss spectra remains nearly constant with increasing RI. The maximum spectral sensitivity of 11055 nm/RIU and high resolution of 9.05 × 10 -6 RIU can be obtained at 1.29. For the purpose of optimizing sensing performance, the effects of the structure parameters on the resonant spectra are also studied. The excellent sensing performance makes the proposed SPR sensor a competitive candidate in low refractive index detection applications.
This study examines the impact of chief executive officer (CEO) attributes on sustainable performance, environmental performance, and environmental reporting, which are motivated by institutionally ...driven environmental policies, regulations, and management in the context of Chinese listed firms. With the use of a comprehensive dataset of 2,854 Chinese listed firms over the 2010–2017 period (i.e., making over 16,000 individual firm‐year observations), our findings are fourfold. First, our overall findings reveal that CEOs with research background tend to engage more in activities that improve sustainable performance, environmental performance, and environmental reporting than do those without research background. Second, CEOs with financial expertise are positively linked with increased sustainable performance and environmental reporting. Third, CEOs with foreign exposure are more eager to engage in activities that enhance sustainable and environmental performance than do those without foreign exposure. Fourth, young CEOs tend to take actions that reduce both sustainable and environmental performance than do their older counterparts. We interpret our results within upper echelons theoretical perspective. The results are robust to alternative measures, potential endogeneities, and sample selection problems.
is a plant widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, of which polysaccharides are reported to be the main components responsible for its bio-functions. In this work, the inulin-type fructan (PGF) ...was obtained by DEAE anion exchange chromatography from the water extracted from
. Characterization was performed with methanolysis, methylation, and NMR and the results showed that PGF is a β-(2-1) linked fructan, with terminal glucose and with a degree of polymerization of 2⁻10. In order to study its biofunctions, the prebiotic and immunomodulation properties were assayed. We found that PGF exhibited good prebiotic activity, as shown by a promotion on six strains of lactobacillus proliferation. Additionally, the PGF also displayed direct immunomodulation on intestinal epithelial cells and stimulated the expressions of anti-inflammatory factors. These results indicated that the inulin from
is a potential natural source of prebiotics as well as a potential intestinal immunomodulator, which will be valuable for further studies and new applications.
Temporally heterogeneous environments is hypothesized to correlate with greater plasticity of plants, which has rarely been supported by direct evidence. To address this issue, we subjected three ...species from different ranges of habitats to a first round of alternating full light and heavy shading (temporally heterogeneous light experience), constant moderate shading and full light conditions (temporally homogeneous light experiences, control) and a second round of light-gradient treatments. We measured plant performance in a series of morphological, biomass, physiological and biochemical traits at the end of each round. Compared to constant full light experience, temporally heterogeneous light conditions induced immediate active biochemical responses (in the first round) with improved late growth in biomass (during the second round); constant moderate shading experience increased photosynthetic physiological and biomass performances of plants in early response, and decreased their late growth in biomass. The karst endemic species of Kmeria septentrionalis showed greater improvement in late growth of biomass and lower decrease in biochemical performance, due to early heterogeneous experience, compared to the non-karst species of Lithocarpus glaber and the karst adaptable species of Celtis sinensis. Results suggested plants will prefer to produce morphological and physiological responses that are less reversible and more costly in the face of more reliable environmental cues at early stage in spite of decreased future growth potential, but to produce immediate biochemical responses for higher late growth potential when early environmental cues are less reliable, to avoid the loss of high costs and low profits. Typical karst species should be more able to benefit from early temporally heterogeneous experience, due to long-term adaptation to karst habitats of high environmental heterogeneity and low resource availability.
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