Matrine injection is a complex mixture of plant bioactive substances extracted from Sophora flavescens Aiton and Smilax glabra Roxb. Since its approval by the Chinese Food and Drug Administration ...(CFDA) in 1995, Matrine injection has been clinically used as a complementary and alternative treatment for various cancers; however, the underlying mechanism of pancreatic cancer treatment is yet to be elucidated.
The present study explores the potential mechanism of matrine injection on pancreatic cancer through network pharmacology technique and in vitro experimental validation.
Genes differentially expressed in pancreatic cancer were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database (GSE101448). The potential active components of matrine injection were selected following a literature search, and target prediction was performed by the SwissTarget Prediction database. Overlapping genes associated with survival were screened by the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) database. In vitro experimental validation was performed with cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, apoptosis detection, cell cycle analysis, immunoblotting, and co-immunoprecipitation of the identified proteins.
One thousand seven hundred genes differentially expressed among pancreatic tumor and non-tumor tissues were screened out. Sixteen active components and 226 predicted target genes were identified in matrine injection. A total of 25 potential target genes of matrine injection for the treatment of pancreatic cancer were obtained. Among them, the prognostic target genes carbonic anhydrase 9 (CA9) and carbonic anhydrase 12 (CA12) based on the GEPIA database are differently expressed in tumors compared to adjacent normal tissue. In vitro experiments, the results of CCK-8 assay, apoptosis and cell cycle analysis, immunoblotting, and co-immunoprecipitation showed that matrine injection inhibited Capan-1 and Mia paca-2 proliferation, arrested the cell cycle at the S phase, and induced apoptosis through up-regulated CA12 and down-regulated CA9.
In this study, bioinformatics and network pharmacology were applied to explore the treatment mechanism on pancreatic cancer with matrine injection. This study demonstrated that matrine injection inhibited proliferation, arrested the cell cycle, and induced apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cells. The mechanism may be related to the induction of CA12 over-expression, and CA9 reduced expression. As novel targets for pancreatic cancer treatment, Carbonic anhydrases require further study.
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The development of modern chemical technology had inevitably produced massive phosphogypsum (PSP), the accumulation and storage of PSP had caused serious economic losses and environmental pollution. ...As the secondary refining product of PSP, the application of phosphogypsum whisker (PSW) to asphalt pavement not only effectively mitigated the adverse impact of PSP on the economy and environment, but also promoted the resourceful utilization of solid waste. However, since PSW was an inorganic material, it was difficult to fuse well with asphalt. Therefore, to enhance the compatibility of PSW with asphalt, this study investigated the modification process of PSW by using four surfactants to modify PSW with organic coating. The effect of surfactants on the surface activity of PSW was evaluated by relevant tests, and the surface enhancement modification mechanism and microstructure of surfactants on PSW were investigated, and then the effect of surfactant-modified PSW (MPSW) on the service performance of asphalt was evaluated. The results showed that the surfactant covered the surface of PSW by intermolecular forces and chemical bonding, which enhanced the surface activity of PSW. The compatibility of PSW with asphalt was enhanced by surfactant, and the MPSW 10599was just physically blended with virgin asphalt. Although the brittleness of virgin asphalt was enhanced to a certain degree by MPSW, the thermophysical properties of virgin asphalt at low temperature was significantly improved, and the incorporation of MPSW enhanced the thermal stability and flame retardancy of virgin asphalt. The incorporation of MPSW would slightly increase the viscosity of virgin asphalt, but the viscous activation energy was reduced and the temperature sensitivity was improved. Furthermore, the low temperature performance of virgin asphalt was improved to a certain degree with the incorporation of MPSW, while the improvement effect was not significant once the temperature was close to the glass transition temperature. Finally, combined with the relevant test results, the recommended dosage of MPSW in asphalt was 10% in this study, and the surface modification of PSW by surfactant was a multifunctional method of powder modification.
•The surface modification process of PSW was investigated.•The surface modification mechanism of PSW were characterized.•The effect of MPSW on the service performance of asphalt was studied.•The interaction mechanism of MPSW on asphalt was evaluated.
The suppression effect of adding different proportions of NaCl and NaHCO
3
powder on flour explosion was studied by using Hartmann experimental device and 20 L spherical explosive device. The results ...showed that with the increase of NaCl and NaHCO
3
concentrations, the flame speed and propagation distance decreased gradually. The maximum explosion pressure P
max
and the maximum pressure rise rate (dP/dt)
max
decreased significantly. When 80% NaCl and NaHCO
3
were added, the average flame propagation velocity reduced to 2.73 m/s and 0.56 m/s, respectively, and the maximum explosion pressure less than 0.15MPa, the flour explosion could be inhibited by NaCl and NaHCO
3
. NaHCO
3
was more effective than NaCl in inhibiting flame propagation and explosion overpressure. Finally, combined with the pyrolysis characteristics of NaCl and NaHCO
3
, the mechanism of inhibitors inhibiting the explosion of flour was further studied. The endothermic decomposition of NaHCO
3
produced inert gas, diluted oxygen concentration, captured active free radicals, and terminated the combustion chain reaction. NaCl inhibits the explosion of flour by absorbing heat and coating it.
The present study compared the effectiveness and toxicity of two treatment modalities, namely radiotherapy combined with nimotuzumab (N) and chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with locally recurrent ...nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LR-NPC).
Patients with LR-NPC who were treated with radiotherapy were retrospectively enrolled from January 2015 to December 2018. The treatment included radiotherapy combined with N or platinum-based induction chemotherapy and/or concurrent chemotherapy. The comparison of survival and toxicity between the two treatment modalities was evaluated using the log-rank and chi-squared tests. Overall survival (OS) was the primary endpoint.
A total of 87 patients were included, of whom 32 and 55 were divided into the N group and the CRT group, respectively. No significant differences were noted in the survival rate between the N and the CRT groups (4-year OS rates, 37.1% vs. 40.7%, respectively; P = 0.735). Mild to moderate acute complications were common during the radiation period and mainly included mucositis and xerostomia. The majority of the acute toxic reactions were tolerated well. A total of 48 patients (55.2%) demonstrated late radiation injuries of grade ≥ 3, including 12 patients (37.5%) in the N group and 36 patients (66.5%) in the CRT group. The CRT group exhibited significantly higher incidence of severe late radiation injuries compared with that of the N group (P = 0.011).
Radiotherapy combined with N did not appear to enhance treatment efficacy compared with CRT in patients with LR-NPC. However, radiotherapy combined with N may be superior to CRT due to its lower incidence of acute and late toxicities. Further studies are required to confirm the current findings.
•Wheat straw (WS) provided sufficient hydrogen for coal (PC) microwave pyrolysis.•Relation of temperature-rising characteristics and products yield was discussed.•The optimum conditions of microwave ...co-pyrolysis of PC and WS were obtained.•Tar and pyrolysis gas were significantly improved by microwave co-pyrolysis.•The positive interaction between PC and WS was found in microwave co-pyrolysis.
Wheat straw (WS) has been used as a hydrogen donor to provide sufficient hydrogen for hydrogenated microwave pyrolysis of low-rank pulverized coal (PC). In this work, the effects of pyrolysis time, microwave power, the particle size of PC, and the ratio of PC to WS on microwave co-pyrolysis of PC and WS were investigated to optimize the experimental conditions. The pyrolysis products generated under the optimal conditions for the maximum tar yield were contrastively discussed, and the relevant synergistic mechanism was proposed. Results showed the temperature-rising rate of other conditions was positively correlated with the tar yield but not for the condition of the ratio of PC to WS. The tar yield reached the maximum value of 17.20% during microwave co-pyrolysis under the conditions of 0.68–1.00 mm of particle size of PC, 700 W of microwave power, 50% of WS, and 20 min of pyrolysis time. The microwave pyrolysis of PC was significantly improved when adding WS, resulting in increased yields of tar and pyrolysis gas by 13.21% and 12.40%, respectively, compared with PC alone. The aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons in the coal tar sharply decreased, but the phenols, alcohols, and others increased compared with those in the microwave pyrolysis of PC. There was a positive synergistic effect between PC and WS in microwave co-pyrolysis caused by volatiles and biochar generated from WS.
Acetylene hydrochlorination is an important coal-based technology for the industrial production of vinyl chloride, however it is plagued by the toxicity of the mercury chloride catalyst. Therefore ...extensive efforts have been made to explore alternative catalysts with various metals. Here we report that a nanocomposite of nitrogen-doped carbon derived from silicon carbide activates acetylene directly for hydrochlorination in the absence of additional metal species. The catalyst delivers stable performance during a 150 hour test with acetylene conversion reaching 80% and vinyl chloride selectivity over 98% at 200 °C. Experimental studies and theoretical simulations reveal that the carbon atoms bonded with pyrrolic nitrogen atoms are the active sites. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that such a nanocomposite is a potential substitute for mercury while further work is still necessary to bring this to the industrial stage. Furthermore, the finding also provides guidance for design of carbon-based catalysts for activation of other alkynes.
5-Fluorouracil (5-Fu) is an effective anticarcinogenic agent, however, continuous use of 5-Fu may cause severe side effects. The goal of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Sarcodon ...aspratus polysaccharides (SATP) in alleviating 5-Fu-induced toxicity in Lewis tumor-bearing mice. Lewis tumor-bearing mice were treated with saline, SATP, 5-Fu or 5-Fu + SATP. The results indicated that compared to the 5-Fu group, the 5-Fu + SATP group showed effective amelioration of the liver, kidney and small intestine injury caused by 5-Fu and decreases in the levels of related biochemical indicators, such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and urea nitrogen (BUN). Additionally, the combination therapy enhanced the quality of life and immune organ indexes of mice. Further mechanistic studies indicated that the 5-Fu + SATP group showed a decrease in hepatotoxicity caused by 5-Fu via a reduction in the levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), an increase in the expression of Bcl-2 and decreases in the expression of p-p38, p-JNK and Bax. Collectively, the results indicated that SATP could significantly alleviate the toxicity of 5-Fu in Lewis tumor-bearing mice and showed the hepatoprotective capability of SATP via its effect on the expression levels of inflammatory factors and components of the MAPK/P38/JNK pathway, which shows that it may be a potential adjuvant for the chemotherapeutic drug 5-Fu in cancer treatment.
•SATP could alleviate the toxicity of 5-Fu on tumor bearing mice organs.•SATP could enhance the immune functions during the tumor inhibition process of 5-Fu.•SATP has shown hepatoprotective ability by affecting MAPK/P38/JNK pathway.
Various types of porous media materials inherently contain pore structures of different scales, ranging from nanoscale to millimeter scale. Due to the limitations of the existing imaging technology, ...it is challenging and intractable for any single method to obtain and characterize the multiscale pore structure features of porous media accurately and comprehensively. To address the issue, according to the inherent logical correspondence and mutual conversion relationship between different‐scale image pixels, we propose an improved universal fusion algorithm for constructing three‐dimensional (3D) multiscale porous media. We successfully applied this algorithm to the construction of multiscale pore structure model of carbonate rock, sandstone and coal, and subsequently made quantitative extractions and characterizations of their pore structure characteristics. In addition, the finite element method (FEM) was used to calculate their absolute permeability. The results show that the improved fusion algorithm can effectively solve the problem of pore bias of the existing algorithm, which reduces the porosity of the multiscale model to a certain extent, while maintaining good pore interconnectivity. Besides, the multiscale model obtained by the improved fusion algorithm has a wider pore size distribution interval than that of the existing algorithm, and the absolute permeability of the former, computed using the FEM, is closer to the laboratory‐measured value than that of the latter.
Key Points
We propose an improved universal fusion algorithm to improve the accuracy of the reconstruction of three‐dimensional (3D) multiscale porous media
The pore structure characteristics of multiscale models are significantly increased and improved compared with that of single‐scale models
The improved universal fusion algorithm promises to be applicable for the multi‐scale model reconstruction of various types of porous media
A simple, universal, and scalable top-down approach to fabricate 3D bicontinuous nanoporous metalloid boron is reported for the first time. By using Co–B as a prototype system, 3D nanoporous boron ...can be achieved by preferentially selectively dissolving one active CoB phase of the two-phase Co–B precursor. The resulting 3D nanoporous boron with tunable pore sizes and porosity exhibits excellent electrochemical N2 reduction reaction properties with a Faradic efficiency of 25.17% and desirable yield rate of 23.11 μg h−1 mg−1cat. under ambient conditions.
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Three-dimensional bicontinuous nanoporosity fabricated by dealloying can provide unique chemical properties in catalytic materials, which conventional nanoparticulate catalysts do not have. Although many solid elements in the periodic table have been fabricated as nanoporous materials by dealloying, technically important nanoporous boron has not been realized because of the poor diffusivity and high chemical stability of boron. Here we report a scalable top–down method to produce three-dimensional nanoporous boron by selectively leaching a less stable metal compound phase from rapidly solidified two-phase metal–boron alloys. The metalloid boron phase with relatively high chemical stability remains as the skeleton of a nanoporous structure. The resultant nanoporous boron with tunable pore sizes, and porosities, shows superior catalytic activities towards ammonia electrosynthesis. This work provides a new approach to fabricate nanoporous metalloids for a wide range of functional applications and brings boron, an important functional material, to the family of dealloyed nanoporous materials.
•Nanobubbles are imaged on the surface of calcite.•HPLC was used to measure the adsorption of NaOL on calcite.•A device was designed to measure the adsorption of NaOL with nanobubbles.•Nanobubbles ...inhibit the adsorption of NaOL on the surface of calcite.•A model for nanobubbles to promote the formation of floc is proposed.
The aim of the study is to explore the effect of nanobubbles on the adsorption capacity of surfactants on mineral surfaces. Firstly, nanobubbles were imaged under the condition that the solution had a dissolved oxygen difference (DOD) by atomic force microscope (AFM). Subsequently, the calcite particles with 37–74 μm and sodium oleate (NaOL) were mixed and stirred under different mixing times and different pressure control (nanobubbles can be produced under the condition of decompression) through a self-made pressurization and decompression device. After nature sedimentation, the supernatant was extracted, and the change of the adsorption capacity of NaOL on the surface of calcite was detected by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Finally, in order to study the direct influence of nanobubbles on the adsorption of NaOL on the surface of calcite, the NaOL on the surface of calcite were imaged under different pressure conditions by AFM. The experimental results showed that many nanobubbles were found on the calcite surface by AFM under the dissolved oxygen difference (DOD) condition of −4 mg/L. Furthermore, the order of adsorption of sodium oleate on the surface of calcite under different pressure conditions was as follows: constant low pressure (0.3 atm) > inflating (0.3 atm to 1 atm) > constant normal pressure (1 atm) > pumping gas (1 atm to 0.3 atm). More interestingly, compared with the constant pressure condition, the coverage of NaOL on the calcite surface was reduced under decompression pressure, about 30% lower at natural pH and about 20% lower at pH = 10, and this decrease was obvious. However, the change in adsorption height was considered by the author to be difficult to judge by AFM.
The study concludes that nanobubbles can be generated under the condition that the DOD is less than 0. Moreover, nanobubbles not only promote the formation of floc, but also directly inhibit the adsorption of NaOL on the calcite surface, both reasons can inhibit the adsorption capacity of NaOL on the calcite surface.
It provides a better idea and method for understanding of nanobubble, flotation, dissolved air flotation (DAF), and the interaction between surfactant and particles or particles and particles. These findings are benefit for these fields, such as mineral processing, biomedicine, etc.
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