Smart Cancer-Targeting and Super-Sensitive Sensing of Eu/Tb-Induced Hyaluronan Characteristic Nano-Micelles with Effective Drug Loading and Release.

To avoid the critical problems of effective drugs not being carried to their targeted cancers and their quantity and location not being sensed in situ, this work presents a completely new innovative strategy to achieve both smart cancer targeting (SCT) and super-sensitive sensing (SSS), where one drug carrier works for effective drug loading and release. Herein, malignant melanoma treatment is used as an example of reliable detection and effective therapy. We report two characteristic dumbbell-like nano-micelles and spherical-like nano-micelles of hyaluronan induced by the Eu/Tb complexes for effective drug loading and release, respectively.

Evaluation of the probiotic potential of yeast isolated from kombucha in New Zealand.

The current study investigated the probiotic potential of yeast isolated from kombucha, a tea beverage fermented with a symbiotic culture of acetic acid bacteria and yeast. A total of 62 yeast strains were previously isolated from four different commercial kombucha samples sold in New Zealand. Fifteen representative isolates belonging to eight different species were evaluated for their growth under different conditions (temperature, low pH, concentrations of bile salts, and NaCl).

Self-healing FBG sensor network fault-detection based on a multi-class SVM algorithm.

We propose a three-layer ring architecture with enhanced reconfigurable capabilities for fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor networks. The proposed network is capable of self-healing when three fiber links fail. In addition to self-healing, soft faults in the FBG sensors can be detected using a multi-classification support vector machine (multi-class SVM) algorithm.

Microbiological and Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Black Tea Kombucha Fermented with a New Zealand Starter Culture.

Kombucha is a popular sparkling sugared tea, fermented by a symbiotic culture of acetic acid bacteria (AAB) and yeast. The demand for kombucha continues to increase worldwide, mainly due to its perceived health benefits and appealing sensory properties. This study isolated and characterised the dominant AAB and yeast from a starter culture and kombucha broth after 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 14 days of fermentation at ambient temperature (22 °C).

Baicalein ameliorates polymyxin B-induced acute renal injury by inhibiting ferroptosis via regulation of SIRT1/p53 acetylation.

The polypeptide antibiotic Polymyxin B (PMB) can cause acute kidney injury (AKI), we found that ferroptosis is one of the main mechanisms of renal injury caused by PMB. It was reported that baicalein can inhibit ferroptosis. Therefore, in this study we examined whether baicalein could attenuate PMB-induced renal injury by inhibiting ferroptosis.

Ferroptosis is involved in polymyxin B-induced acute kidney injury via activation of p53.

Polymyxin B (PMB) is one of the most effective drugs for the treatment of multi-resistant and pan-resistant gram-negative infections. However, it can induce acute kidney injury (AKI), the mechanism of which has not yet been fully elucidated. In this study, RNA sequencing and in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that PMB induced AKI by promoting ferroptosis.

Piezo-phototronic effect regulated broadband photoresponse of a-GaO/ZnO heterojunction.

Amorphous GaO (a-GaO) films have attracted considerable attention in the field of photodetectors due to their excellent optical absorption response and photoelectric properties. However, there are few studies that have utilized the piezo-phototronic effect to regulate the broadband photoresponse of GaO-based photodetectors. Here, a flexible a-GaO/ZnO heterojunction was constructed, which demonstrated a broadband response range from deep ultraviolet (265 nm) to the near-infrared (1060 nm) and realized a bidirectional adjustable photocurrent response the piezo-phototronic effect.

Significantly Enhanced Breakdown Strength and Energy Density in Nanocomposites by Synergic Modulation of Structural Design and Low-Loading Nanofibers.

Polymer-based dielectric nanocomposites have attracted great attention due to the advantages of high-power density and stability. However, due to the limited breakdown strength () of the dielectrics, the unsatisfactory energy density becomes the bottleneck that restricts their applications. Here, newly designed sandwich-structured nanocomposites are proposed, which includes the introduction of low-loading 0.

Kombucha: Production and Microbiological Research.

Kombucha is a sparkling sugared tea commonly prepared using a sugared tea infusion and fermented at ambient temperature for several days using a cellulose pellicle also called tea fungus that is comprised of acetic acid bacteria and yeast. Consumption of Kombucha has been reported as early as 220 B.C.

Connexin32 regulates expansion of liver cancer stem cells via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs) are responsible for liver cancer recurrence, metastasis, and drug resistance. Previous studies by the authors demonstrated that upregulated expression of connexin 32 (Cx32) reversed doxorubicin resistance and reduced invasion and metastasis of liver cancer cells. However, the role of Cx32 in expansion of LCSCs remains unclear.

Isolation and characterisation of dominant acetic acid bacteria and yeast isolated from Kombucha samples at point of sale in New Zealand.

The demand for Kombucha, a sparkling sugared tea beverage fermented by a symbiotic culture of acetic acid bacteria (AAB) and yeast is increasing worldwide. Despite the popularity of the beverage which is mainly due to its perceived health benefits and appealing sensory properties, the microbial composition of the products at the time of consumption is unknown. Such information is important to both manufacturers and consumers.

EM-test for homogeneity in a two-sample problem with a mixture structure.

In many applications such as case-control studies with contaminated controls, or the test of a treatment effect in the presence of nonresponders in biological experiments or clinical trials, a two-sample problem with one of the samples having a mixture structure often arises. Due to the importance and wide applications of scale mixtures and location mixtures, we consider in this paper the case that the component densities differ only in scale parameters and the case that the component densities differ only in location parameters, and further construct an EM-test for the two-sample problem under each case. We show that both the EM-tests possess a chi-squared null limiting distribution.

[Effects of hydrogen-rich saline on Akt/GSK3β signaling pathways and cardiac function during myocardial ischemia-reperfusion in rats].

Objective: To explore the effects of hydrogen-rich saline on Akt/GSK3β signaling pathways and cardiac function during myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) in rats.

Methods: A total of 150 healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were selected and divided randomly into 5 groups of normal control (I), sham operation (II), myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (III), hydrogen-rich saline (IV) and normal saline group (V) (n = 30 each). Group I had no treatment at all.

[The application of multi-slice CT and MRI on maxillofacial region soft tissue measurement].

Purpose: To evaluate the value of multi-slice CT and MRI on maxillofacial region soft tissue measurement.

Methods: A total of 12 cases of dentofacial orthodontic underwent X-ray photograph, multi-slice CT and MRI scanning. The angle and distance of maxillofacial region soft tissue were measured respectively.