Sulfonated hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite monoliths as solid acid catalyst for esterification of oleic acid.

Sulfonated hierarchical H-ZSM-5 monoliths were synthesized ice-templating as solid acid catalysts for biodiesel production. Characterization confirmed successful -SO group grafting, increasing acid density. The catalysts achieved over 90% conversion of oleic acid in esterification, with easy recovery and reuse, and the relationship between porosity and acid density was explored.

Protein Nanospheres and Nanofibers Prepared by Ice-Templating for the Controlled Release of Hydrophobic Drugs.

Protein scaffolds play a vital role in drug delivery systems. However, few research studies have been focused on loading hydrophobic drugs on protein scaffolds in biomedical fields. Here, we report on the development of protein microspheres and nanofibers by a simple ice-templating approach and their use as scaffolds for the controlled release of hydrophobic drugs, with bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the model protein and curcumin as the model hydrophobic drug.

F-Norm-Based Soft LDA Algorithm for Fault Detection in Chemical Production Processes.

In chemical production processes, outliers are inevitable. Many existing feature extraction algorithms are overly sensitive to outliers and excessively focus on secondary features while ignoring the key features in the data. To address this problem, the Frobenius norm based soft linear discriminant analysis algorithm (FBSLA) is proposed in this paper.

Challenging pitfalls in frozen section pathology: a case of mandible ghost cell odontogenic carcinoma and the literature review.

Background: Ghost cell odontogenic carcinoma (GCOC) is a rare malignancy characterized by the presence of ghost cells, preferably in the maxilla. Only slightly more than 50 case reports of GCOC have been documented to date. Due to the rarity of this tumor and its nonspecific clinical criteria, there is a heightened risk of misdiagnosis in clinical examination, imaging findings, and pathology interpretation.

Polydopamine-Coated Polymer Nanofibers for In Situ Protein Loading and Controlled Release.

Nanofibrous polymeric materials, combined with protein therapeutics, play a significant role in biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. However, the upload of proteins into nanofibers with a high yield and controlled release has been a challenging issue. Here, we report the in situ loading of a model protein (bovine serum albumin) into hydrophilic poly(vinyl alcohol) nanofibers via ice-templating, with a 100% protein drug loading efficiency.

Modification of nanodiamonds for fluorescence bioimaging.

Non-invasive bioimaging is essential in enhancing pre-clinical diagnosis and therapy. Developing efficient imaging probes with high stability, low toxicity, and the potential of offering high resolution images is a very important aspect of developing non-invasive bioimaging techniques. Fluorescent nanodiamonds, which are produced by high energy beam irradiation and high temperature/pressure treatment, have been extensively investigated.

An MRI brain tumor segmentation method based on improved U-Net.

In order to improve the segmentation effect of brain tumor images and address the issue of feature information loss during convolutional neural network (CNN) training, we present an MRI brain tumor segmentation method that leverages an enhanced U-Net architecture. First, the ResNet50 network was used as the backbone network of the improved U-Net, the deeper CNN can improve the feature extraction effect. Next, the Residual Module was enhanced by incorporating the Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM).

Mapping enhancer and chromatin accessibility landscapes charts the regulatory network of Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Enhancers are regulatory elements that target and modulate gene expression and play a role in human health and disease. However, the roles of enhancer regulatory circuit abnormalities driven by epigenetic alterations in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are unclear.

Methods: In this study, a multiomic integrative analysis was performed to map enhancer and chromatin accessibility landscapes and identify regulatory network abnormalities in AD.

Efficacy and mechanism of Wuzi Yanzong pill on the prevention and treatment of EAE.

Objective: Studies have shown that Wuzi Yanzong Pill (WYP) can be used to treat neurological diseases, but its mechanisms for multiple sclerosis (MS) remain unclear. This study aims to determine the effect of WYP on MS in an animal model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), and explore its mechanism. To provide theoretical basis for the clinical treatment of MS with WYP.

Aptamer modified Zr-based porphyrinic nanoscale metal-organic frameworks for active-targeted chemo-photodynamic therapy of tumors.

Active-targeted nanoplatforms could specifically target tumors compared to normal cells, making them a promising therapeutic agent. The aptamer is a kind of short DNA or RNA sequence that can specifically bind to target molecules, and could be widely used as the active targeting agents of nanoplatforms to achieve active-targeted therapy of tumors. Herein, an aptamer modified nanoplatform DOX@PCN@Apt-M was designed for active-targeted chemo-photodynamic therapy of tumors.

Neuroprotective effect of hyperoside in MPP/MPTP -induced dopaminergic neurodegeneration.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the pathological loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons, which causes an insufficient release of dopamine (DA) and then induces motor and nonmotor symptoms. Hyperoside (HYP) is a lignan component with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective effects. In this study, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) and its active neurotoxic metabolite 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion (MPP) were used to induce dopaminergic neurodegeneration.

Preparation of PLGA-Coated Porous Silica Nanofibers for Drug Release.

Fibrous materials have unique applications in drug release and biomedical fields. This study reports on the preparation of porous silica nanofibers, using organic nanofibers as templates, and their use for drug release. Different from the commonly used electrospinning method, the organic nanofibers are produced via a self-assembly approach between melamine and benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid.

Evaluation of Cytotoxicity and Bioimaging of Nitrogen-Vacancy Nanodiamonds.

Nanodiamonds, due to their chemical inertness and biocompatibility, have found extensive uses in drug delivery and biomedical applications. Fluorescent nanodiamonds with fluorescent properties generated by nitrogen-vacancy defects have been intensively investigated for bioimaging, due to their high quantum yield and high photobleaching stability. In addition, the surface properties and particle size of nanodiamonds have significant impacts on cellular uptake and imaging quality.

Hydroxysafflor Yellow A Exerts Neuroprotective Effects via HIF-1α/BNIP3 Pathway to Activate Neuronal Autophagy after OGD/R.

In the process of ischemic stroke (IS), cellular macroautophagy/autophagy and apoptosis play a vital role in neuroprotection against it. Therefore, regulating their balance is a potential therapeutic strategy. It has been proved that hydroxysafflor yellow A (HSYA) has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, which can both protect neurons.

Network Architecture for Optimizing Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient Algorithms.

The traditional Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) algorithm has been widely used in continuous action spaces, but it still suffers from the problems of easily falling into local optima and large error fluctuations. Aiming at these deficiencies, this paper proposes a dual-actor-dual-critic DDPG algorithm (DN-DDPG). First, on the basis of the original actor-critic network architecture of the algorithm, a critic network is added to assist the training, and the smallest value of the two critic networks is taken as the estimated value of the action in each update.

Wuzi Yanzong Pill Plays A Neuroprotective Role in Parkinson's Disease Mice via Regulating Unfolded Protein Response Mediated by Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress.

Objective: To investigate the protective effects and its possible mechanism of Wuzi Yanzong Pill (WYP) on Parkinson's disease (PD) model mice.

Methods: Thirty-six C57BL/6 male mice were randomly assigned to 3 groups including normal, PD, and PD+WYP groups, 12 mice in each group. One week of intraperitoneal injection of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) was used to establish the classical PD model in mice.

Silica Microspheres-in-Pores Composite Monoliths with Fluorescence and Potential for Water Remediation.

Water pollution is a severe worldwide issue. Constructing advanced porous composite materials has been an efficient route to water remediation via adsorption. In this study, a unique microspheres-in-pores monolithic structure was fabricated.

Fundamentals and Design-Led Synthesis of Emulsion-Templated Porous Materials for Environmental Applications.

Emulsion templating is at the forefront of producing a wide array of porous materials that offers interconnected porous structure, easy permeability, homogeneous flow-through, high diffusion rates, convective mass transfer, and direct accessibility to interact with atoms/ions/molecules throughout the exterior and interior of the bulk. These interesting features together with easily available ingredients, facile preparation methods, flexible pore-size tuning protocols, controlled surface modification strategies, good physicochemical and dimensional stability, lightweight, convenient processing and subsequent recovery, superior pollutants remediation/monitoring performance, and decent recyclability underscore the benchmark potential of the emulsion-templated porous materials in large-scale practical environmental applications. To this end, many research breakthroughs in emulsion templating technique witnessed by the recent achievements have been widely unfolded and currently being extensively explored to address many of the environmental challenges.

Hyperbranched Polyethylenimine-Tethered Multiple Emulsion-Templated Hierarchically Macroporous Poly(acrylic acid)-AlO Nanocomposite Beads for Water Purification.

Emulsion template-guided strategy has been used to produce porous architectures with exquisite structure, tailored morphology, and exclusive features for ubiquitous applications. Notwithstanding, the practical water remediation is often marred by their transport-limited behavior and fragility. To circumvent these conundrums, we prepared hierarchically porous poly(acrylic acid)-alumina nanocomposite beads by solidifying the droplets of emulsions jointly stabilized by the organic surfactants and alumina nanoparticles.

Refinement of pore size at sub-angstrom precision in robust metal-organic frameworks for separation of xylenes.

The demand for xylenes is projected to increase over the coming decades. The separation of xylene isomers, particularly p- and m-xylenes, is vital for the production of numerous polymers and materials. However, current state-of-the-art separation is based upon fractional crystallisation at 220 K which is highly energy intensive.

Ice- and MOF-templated porous carbonaceous monoliths for adsorptive removal of dyes in water with easy recycling.

Various nanoporous particles, nanofibers have been employed for adsorptive removal of dyes from wastewater. However, these nanomaterials are difficult in separation from solution, generally by centrifugation or filtration. These processes are tedious and will limit the upscale applications.

Prognostic Value of Programmed Cell Death 1 Ligand-1 in Patients With Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcomas: A Systemic and Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Based on 3,680 Patients.

Programmed cell death 1 ligand-1 (PD-L1) is an immune checkpoint molecule that acts to protect cancer cells from immune surveillance and is considered as a prognostic biomarker in several cancers, but the prognostic value of PD-L1 in bone and soft tissue sarcomas remains inconclusive. In the present meta-analysis, the clinicopathological and prognostic value of PD-L1 in sarcomas was evaluated. We performed a systemic and comprehensive meta-analysis by searching the PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases up to October 31, 2019.

Perylene Diimide Nanoprobes for In Vivo Tracking of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Using Photoacoustic Imaging.

Noninvasive bioimaging techniques are critical for assessing the biodistribution of cellular therapies longitudinally. Among them, photoacoustic imaging (PAI) can generate high-resolution images with a tissue penetration depth of ∼4 cm. However, it is essential and still highly challenging to develop stable and efficient near-infrared (NIR) probes with low toxicity for PAI.