Metal-free semi-aromatic polyester as nanodrug carrier: A novel tumor targeting drug delivery vehicle for potential clinical application.

Polyester nanomaterials have been widely used in drug delivey application from a longer period of time. This study reports the synthesis of metal-free semi-aromatic polyester (SAP) nanomaterial for drug delivery and evaluate its in vivo acute and systemic toxicity for potential clinical application. The ring opening coplymerization of commercially available cyclohexene oxide (CHO) and phthalic anhydride (PA) monomers was carried out to synthesize fully alternating poly(CHO-co-PA) copolymer using metal-free activators.

Resting-State Functional Connectivity: Signal Origins and Analytic Methods.

Resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) has been widely studied in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and is observed by a significant temporal correlation of spontaneous low-frequency signal fluctuations (SLFs) both within and across hemispheres during rest. Different hypotheses of RSFC include the biophysical origin hypothesis and cognitive origin hypothesis, which show that the role of SLFs and RSFC is still not completely understood. Furthermore, RSFC and age studies have shown an "age-related compensation" phenomenon.

Elucidating the effect of mixing technologies on dynamics of microbial communities and their correlations with granular sludge properties in a high-rate sulfidogenic anaerobic bioreactor for saline wastewater treatment.

In this study, three lab-scale anaerobic sulfidogenic bioreactors were operated independently using three different mixing modes (hydraulic, mechanical and pneumatic). One-way ANOVA test indicated various performance parameters (e.g.

Sulfidogenic anaerobic digestion of sulfate-laden waste activated sludge: Evaluation on reactor performance and dynamics of microbial community.

This study investigated the impact of sludge retention times (SRTs: 40, 20, 10 and 5 days) on performance of the sulfidogenic anaerobic digestion (SAD) reactor treating sulfate-laden waste activated sludge and dynamics of sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB). The findings showed that sulfide production, volatile sludge removal efficiency, ammonia release and methane yield decreased by 33.7%, 66.

Predicting individual decision-making responses based on single-trial EEG.

Decision-making plays an essential role in the interpersonal interactions and cognitive processing of individuals. There has been increasing interest in being able to predict an individual's decision-making response (i.e.

Ketamine-induced changes in plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels are associated with the resting-state functional connectivity of the prefrontal cortex.

Objectives: Synaptic plasticity and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signalling are proposed to play key roles in antidepressant drug action. Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist and putative antidepressant, may increase synaptic plasticity in prefrontal cortex through higher expression of BDNF. Furthermore, ketamine was shown to change resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) of dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC).

Intraoral Soft Tissue Fibrosarcoma in a Four-Year-Old Child: An Unusual Case Report.

Fibrosarcoma is a rare soft tissue tumor of connective tissue origin that includes about 0.05% of all the malignancies in the head and neck region of which almost 23% is seen in the oral cavity. This paper describes a rare case of 4-year-old boy who presented with swelling on the right side of face diagnosed as soft tissue fibrosarcoma of the intraoral region.

Bioaugmentation of marine anammox bacteria (MAB)-based anaerobic ammonia oxidation by adding Fe(III) in saline wastewater treatment under low temperature.

This work investigated a new method of using Fe(III) to enhance the reactor performance enriched with marine anammox bacteria (MAB). The experiments were conducted in a sequencing batch reactor at low temperature (15 °C), high salinity (35 g/L) and varying Fe(III) concentrations (0-250 mg/l). The results of this study showed that at low Fe(III) (6 mg Fe/L), the rate of ammonium removal, nitrite removal and specific anammox activity remarkably increased to 0.

The Convergence Insufficiency Neuro-mechanism in Adult Population Study (CINAPS) Randomized Clinical Trial: Design, Methods, and Clinical Data.

: To describe the design and methodology of the Convergence Insufficiency Neuro-mechanism in Adult Population Study (CINAPS), the first randomized clinical trial (RCT) studying young adults with symptomatic convergence insufficiency (CI) using a combination of traditional clinical tests, objective eye movement recordings, and functional brain activities as outcome measures.: In this double-masked RCT, binocularly normal controls (BNC) (N = 50) and CI patients (N = 50) are randomized into office-based vergence/accommodative therapy (OBVAT) or office-based placebo therapy (OBPT). Outcome measures included clinical signs and symptoms, phoria adaptation, forced fixation disparity curves, binocular rivalry, vergence and saccadic objective eye movements, and task-induced functional brain activities.

Inter-subject P300 variability relates to the efficiency of brain networks reconfigured from resting- to task-state: Evidence from a simultaneous event-related EEG-fMRI study.

The P300 event-related potential (ERP) varies across individuals, and exploring this variability deepens our knowledge of the event, and scope for its potential applications. Previous studies exploring the P300 have relied on either electroencephalography (EEG) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We applied simultaneous event-related EEG-fMRI to investigate how the network structure is updated from rest to the P300 task so as to guarantee information processing in the oddball task.

Advancing functional connectivity research from association to causation.

Cognition and behavior emerge from brain network interactions, such that investigating causal interactions should be central to the study of brain function. Approaches that characterize statistical associations among neural time series-functional connectivity (FC) methods-are likely a good starting point for estimating brain network interactions. Yet only a subset of FC methods ('effective connectivity') is explicitly designed to infer causal interactions from statistical associations.

Investigation on polyphosphate accumulation in the sulfur transformation-centric EBPR (SEBPR) process for treatment of high-temperature saline wastewater.

This study investigated the polyphosphates accumulation rate in a novel sulfur transformation-centric enhanced biological phosphorus removal (SEBPR) process. The SEBPR system was continuously operated over 120 days in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) that alternated between the anaerobic mode and the anoxic mode of operation (temperature: 30 °C and salinity: 6000 mg/L Cl). In addition to the SBR, batch experiments were carried out to test the effect of two different sulfate concentrations on the system performance and sulfur-phosphorus transformations.

Unveiling Electronic Properties in Metal-Phthalocyanine-Based Pyrazine-Linked Conjugated Two-Dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks.

π-Conjugated two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (2D COFs) are emerging as a novel class of electroactive materials for (opto)electronic and chemiresistive sensing applications. However, understanding the intricate interplay between chemistry, structure, and conductivity in π-conjugated 2D COFs remains elusive. Here, we report a detailed characterization for the electronic properties of two novel samples consisting of Zn- and Cu-phthalocyanine-based pyrazine-linked 2D COFs.

Altered Functional Connectivity in Patients With Sloping Sensorineural Hearing Loss.

Background: Sensory deprivation, such as hearing loss, has been demonstrated to change the intrinsic functional connectivity (FC) of the brain, as measured with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Patients with sloping sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) are a unique population among the hearing impaired, as they have all been exposed to some auditory input throughout their lifespan and all use spoken language.

Materials And Methods: Twenty patients with SNHL and 21 control subjects participated in a rs-fMRI study.

Long term performance and dynamics of microbial biofilm communities performing sulfur-oxidizing autotrophic denitrification in a moving-bed biofilm reactor.

Sulfide-oxidizing autotrophic denitrification (SOAD) implemented in a moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) is a promising alternative to conventional heterotrophic denitrification in mainstream biological nitrogen removal. The sulfide-oxidation intermediate - elemental sulfur - is crucial for the kinetic and microbial properties of the sulfur-oxidizing bacterial communities, but its role is yet to be studied in depth. Hence, to investigate the performance and microbial communities of the aforementioned new biosystem, we operated for a long term a laboratory-scale (700 d) SOAD MBBR to treat synthetic saline domestic sewage, with an increase of the surface loading rate from 8 to 50 mg N/(m·h) achieved by shortening the hydraulic retention time from 12 h to 2 h.

Electrochemical pretreatment for stabilization of waste activated sludge: Simultaneously enhancing dewaterability, inactivating pathogens and mitigating hydrogen sulfide.

Stabilization of waste activated sludge (WAS) is an essential step for the disposal or reuse. In this study, WAS stabilization via electrochemical pretreatment (EPT) at 0-15V was evaluated for simultaneous dewaterability enhancement, pathogen removal and HS mitigation. The mechanism underlying EPT was investigated and discussed based on the changes in the physicochemical (e.

A thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole-bridged porphyrin organic framework as a promising nonlinear optical material.

Porphyrin-based porous organic frameworks are an important group of materials gaining interest due to their structural diversity and distinct opto-electronic properties. However, these materials are seldom explored for nonlinear optical (NLO) applications. In this work, we investigate a thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole-bridged porous, porphyrin framework (Por-TzTz-POF) with promising NLO properties.

Interregional causal influences of brain metabolic activity reveal the spread of aging effects during normal aging.

During healthy brain aging, different brain regions show anatomical or functional declines at different rates, and some regions may show compensatory increases in functional activity. However, few studies have explored interregional influences of brain activity during the aging process. We proposed a causality analysis framework combining high dimensionality independent component analysis (ICA), Granger causality, and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression on longitudinal brain metabolic activity data measured by Fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET).

Formation and characterization of the micro-size granular sludge in denitrifying sulfur-conversion associated enhanced biological phosphorus removal (DS-EBPR) process.

Denitrifying Sulfur conversion-associated Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (DS-EBPR) bioprocess has been recently developed for saline sewage treatment. This study investigated the applicability of granulation technology in DS-EBPR by long-term operation (272 days) of a lab-scale reactor to cultivate sludge granules, then analyzed important physicochemical and biological properties. The findings of this research showed that the net P removal and denitrification efficiencies in DS-EBPR were 80% and 98%, respectively.

Osteogenic stimulatory effect of heraclenin purified from bael in mouse mesenchymal stem cells in vitro.

Osteoporosis is a major health concern occurring to the aging adult population across the globe. Currently, there is an increasing demand for treatment of osteoporosis with plant-based medicines. In the present study, we report that heraclenin was extracted and purified from unripe fruit portion of Bael (Aegle marmelos Corr.

Publisher Correction: Sub-stoichiometric 2D covalent organic frameworks from tri- and tetratopic linkers.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Multiple-cycle operation of sulphur-cycle-enhanced biological phosphorus removal to maintain stable performance at high temperatures.

This study investigated a new method of multiple-cycle operation of a sulphur-cycle-enhanced biological phosphorus (P) removal system to maintain good phosphorus removal performance at a high temperature (30 °C). The findings demonstrate that P removal was low and unstable under a normal cycle (77 ± 18%), but multiple cycles resulted in a high and quite stable level of P removal (88 ± 9%). Moreover, in the normal mode, the polyhydroxyalkanoate levels increased significantly from 2 to 15 mg C/g of VSS, the glycogen level doubled from 5 to 10 mg C/g of VSS and the polyhydroxyalkanoate and glycogen levels were maintained at considerably low levels after multiple cycles (only 5 C/g of VSS).

Structural insights into the substrate specificity of SP_0149, the substrate-binding protein of a methionine ABC transporter from Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Successful pathogenesis is a cumulative effect of the virulence factors of a pathogen and its capability to efficiently utilize the available nutrients from the host. Streptococcus pneumoniae, a Gram-positive opportunistic pathogen, may either reside asymptomatically as a nasopharyngeal commensal inside the human host or cause lethal diseases, including pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis. S.

Cell signaling and cancer: a mechanistic insight into drug resistance.

Drug resistance is a major setback for advanced therapeutics in multiple cancers. The increasing prevalence of this resistance is a growing concern and bitter headache for the researchers since a decade. Hence, it is essential to revalidate the existing strategies available for cancer treatment and to look after a novel therapeutic approach for target based killing of cancer cells at the genetic level.

Exploring the functional connectome in white matter.

A major challenge in neuroscience is understanding how brain function emerges from the connectome. Most current methods have focused on quantifying functional connectomes in gray-matter (GM) signals obtained from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), while signals from white-matter (WM) have generally been excluded as noise. In this study, we derived a functional connectome from WM resting-state blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD)-fMRI signals from a large cohort (n = 488).