Emerging Initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition Nanocoatings for Sustainable Food and Agriculture.

Initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) has emerged as a versatile technique for developing functional nanocoatings that address critical food and agricultural challenges. This review highlights the unique capacities of iCVD nanocoatings, which enable precise engineering of surface properties, such as targeted cellular and molecular interactions, antimicrobial activity, and fouling resistance. In addition, the solvent-free nature of iCVD is particularly advantageous for coating sensitive materials and complex geometries commonly used across food and agriculture applications.

Nanotechnology Platform for the Delivery of Docetaxel and Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors for HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Therapy.

Background: HER2-positive breast cancer is an aggressive subtype characterized by the overexpression of the HER2 receptor, a transmembrane glycoprotein critical for tumor progression. Current therapies often face challenges like drug resistance and systemic toxicity, necessitating the development of advanced drug delivery systems.

Objective: This study aimed to fabricate and determine the cytotoxicity of pH-sensitive PLA nanoparticles dual-loaded with docetaxel and each of the small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (STKIs) (tucatinib, neratinib, lapatinib) in HER2-positive breast cancer cells.

Surface Nanostructure Fabrication by Initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition and Its Combined Technologies.

Initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) is a versatile technique that enables the direct growth of nanostructures and surface modification of such structures. Unlike traditional CVD methods, iCVD operates under mild conditions, allowing for damage-free processing of delicate substrates. It can produce highly uniform polymer layers, with thicknesses ranging from over 15 μm to sub-10 nm, conformally coating intricate geometries.

Antimicrobial Functions of Galectins from Fish, Mollusks, and Crustaceans: A Review.

Galectins are a member of the β-galactoside binding protein family, which play a pivotal role in the immune defense of vertebrates as a pattern recognition receptor and occupy an important position in the innate immune system of invertebrates. The study of galectins in aquatic organisms has only recently emerged. Galectins in aquatic animals exhibit agglutination activity toward bacteria, inhibit bacterial growth, and enhance phagocytosis of immune cells.

Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Signaling Involves -Host Intercommunication: A Potential Therapeutic Target in Hepatic Echinococcosis.

Echinococcosis, one of the most serious and life-threatening parasitic forms of zoonosis worldwide, is caused by the larvae of () and (). Various drugs are being applied clinically to treat zoonosis; however, their therapeutic efficacy remains a great challenge, especially with albendazole as the preferred drug of choice. Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling controls normal cellular proliferation, differentiation, and metabolism in humans and mammals, which are intermediate hosts of and .

SGK3 deficiency in macrophages suppresses angiotensin II-induced cardiac remodeling via regulating Ndufa13-mediated mitochondrial oxidative stress.

Infiltration of monocyte-derived macrophages plays a crucial role in cardiac remodeling and dysfunction. The serum and glucocorticoid-inducible protein kinase 3 (SGK3) is a downstream factor of PI3K signaling, regulating various biological processes via an AKT-independent signaling pathway. SGK3 has been implicated in cardiac remodeling.

Antibacterial Iodine-Releasing Coatings of Cross-Linked Poly(-vinylpyrrolidone) Synthesized by Solvent-Free Initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition.

Biomaterial-associated infections caused by bacteria pose a great threat to human health, and therefore, various antibacterial coatings have been developed to control bacterial infections. Povidone iodine (PVP-I) is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent without drug resistance to most pathogenic microorganisms and has been widely used in the clinic. However, its applications in the field of coatings are limited due to its strong water solubility.

Biosynthesis of D-1,2,4-butanetriol promoted by a glucose-xylose dual metabolic channel system in engineered Escherichia coli.

D-1,2,4-butanetriol (BT) is a widely used fine chemical that can be manufactured by engineered Escherichia coli expressing heterologous pathways and using xylose as a substrate. The current study developed a glucose-xylose dual metabolic channel system in an engineered E. coli and Combinatorially optimized it using multiple strategies to promote BT production.

Engineering cascade biocatalysis in whole cells for syringic acid bioproduction.

Background: Syringic acid (SA) is a high-value natural compound with diverse biological activities and wide applications, commonly found in fruits, vegetables, and herbs. SA is primarily produced through chemical synthesis, nonetheless, these chemical methods have many drawbacks, such as considerable equipment requirements, harsh reaction conditions, expensive catalysts, and numerous by-products. Therefore, in this study, a novel biotransformation route for SA production was designed and developed by using engineered whole cells.

Marine Natural Products as Novel Treatments for Parasitic Diseases.

Parasitic diseases including malaria, leishmaniasis, and trypanosomiasis have received significant attention due to their severe health implications, especially in developing countries. Marine natural products from a vast and diverse range of marine organisms such as sponges, corals, molluscs, and algae have been found to produce unique bioactive compounds that exhibit promising potent properties, including antiparasitic, anti-Plasmodial, anti-Leishmanial, and anti-Trypanosomal activities, providing hope for the development of effective treatments. Furthermore, various techniques and methodologies have been used to investigate the mechanisms of these antiparasitic compounds.

Isolated medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction improves static bipedal balance control in young patients with recurrent lateral patellar instability.

Background: Knee stability can be safely and reliably restored using medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction, which is widely recognized in patients with recurrent lateral patellar instability. However, the literature regarding its influence on static balance control is limited. Thus, this study aimed to assess the impact of MPFL reconstruction on balance control and determine its functional significance.

UR-Net: An Integrated ResUNet and Attention Based Image Enhancement and Classification Network for Stain-Free White Blood Cells.

The differential count of white blood cells (WBCs) can effectively provide disease information for patients. Existing stained microscopic WBC classification usually requires complex sample-preparation steps, and is easily affected by external conditions such as illumination. In contrast, the inconspicuous nuclei of stain-free WBCs also bring great challenges to WBC classification.

Optimization of multi-enzyme cascade process for the biosynthesis of benzylamine.

Benzylamine is a valuable intermediate in the synthesis of organic compounds such as curing agents and antifungal drugs. To improve the efficiency of benzylamine biosynthesis, we identified the enzymes involved in the multi-enzyme cascade, regulated the expression strength by using RBS engineering in Escherichia coli, and established a regeneration-recycling system for alanine. This is a cosubstrate, coupled to cascade reactions, which resulted in E.

Dietary bile acid supplementation in weaned piglets with intrauterine growth retardation improves colonic microbiota, metabolic activity, and epithelial function.

Background: Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) is one of the major constraints in animal production. Our previous study showed that piglets with IUGR are associated with abnormal bile acid (BA) metabolism. This study explored whether dietary BA supplementation could improve growth performance and colonic development, function, microbiota, and metabolites in the normal birth weight (NBW) and IUGR piglets.

Obesity impacts placental function through activation of p-IRE1a-XBP1s signaling.

Maternal obesity is associated with a variety of obstetrical outcomes including stillbirth, preeclampsia, and gestational diabetes, and increases the risk of fetuses for congenital heart defects. Obesity during pregnancy represents a major contribution to metabolic dysregulation, which not only plays a key role in the pathogenesis of adverse outcome but also can potently induce endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. However, the mechanism associating such an obesogenic metabolic environment and adverse pregnancy outcomes has remained poorly understood.

Suppressive effect of pseudolaric acid B on involving regulation of TGF-β1 signaling and .

, the causative agent of alveolar echinococcosis (AE), severely threats human health and livestock farming. The first line of chemotherapeutic drug for AE is albendazole, which limits rapid extension of metacestodes, but is rarely curative for AE, with severe side effects in long-term use, thus development of new anti-echinococcal drugs is mandated. Pseudolaric acid B (PAB) has long been used to treat fungal-infected dermatosis, and exerted anti-tumor, -fertility, -angiogenesis, -tubulin and antiparasitic activity.

Anticancer effects of OSW-1 on glioma cells via regulation of the PI3K/AKT signal pathway: A network pharmacology approach and experimental validation and .

Gliomas are the most common primary intracranial malignant tumors with poor prognosis, despite the remarkable advances in medical technology that have been made. OSW-1, isolated from Ornithogalum saundersiae, possesses anticancer activity against various malignant cancer cells. However, the effects of OSW-1 on gliomas and its potential mechanisms remain unclear.

Performance Improvement of NIR Spectral Pattern Recognition from Three Compensation Models' Voting and Multi-Modal Fusion.

Inspired by aquaphotomics, the optical path length of measurement was regarded as a perturbation factor. Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy with multi-measurement modals was applied to the discriminant analysis of three categories of drinking water. Moving window- nearest neighbor (MW-kNN) and Norris derivative filter were used for modeling and optimization.

Antitumor Effect of Pseudolaric Acid B Involving Regulation of Notch1/Akt Signaling Response in Human Hepatoma Cell In Vitro.

Background: Liver cancer, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Sorafenib is a crucial drug for the treatment of advanced HCC, but it is difficult to meet the challenge of increasing clinical demands due to its severe side effects and drug resistance. Hence, development of novel antitumor drugs is urged.

AMPK Signaling Regulates Mitophagy and Mitochondrial ATP Production in Human Trophoblast Cell Line BeWo.

Introduction: Accumulating evidence suggests that mitochondrial structural and functional defects are present in human placentas affected by pregnancy related disorders, but mitophagy pathways in human trophoblast cells/placental tissues have not been investigated.

Methods: In this study, we investigated three major mitophagy pathways mediated by PRKN, FUNDC1, and BNIP3/BNIP3L in response to AMPK activation by AICAR and knockdown of (AKD) in human trophoblast cell line BeWo and the effect of AKD on mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP production.

Results: Autophagy flux assay demonstrated that AMPK signaling activation stimulates autophagy, evidenced increased LC3II and SQSTM1 protein abundance in the whole cell lysates and mitochondrial fractions, and mitophagy flux assay demonstrated that the activation of AMPK signaling stimulates mitophagy via PRKN and FUNDC1 mediated but not BNIP3/BNIP3L mediated pathways.

Mechanisms involved in the anti-tumor effects of Toosendanin in glioma cells.

Background: Toosendanin (TSN) is a triterpenoid compound mainly used as an ascaris repellant. Recent studies have shown that it possesses antitumor effects in many types of tumor cells. However, the effects of TSN on glioma cells have rarely been reported.

Research on the efficient water-absorbing ceramsite generated by dredged sediments in Dian Lake-China and coal fly ash.

In order to transform the dredged sediment (DS) into an efficient water-absorbing ceramsite (EWAC), the coal fly ash (CFA) and expansion agent were used to blend, expand, and sinter with the DS in the Dian Lake-China. A new type of high EWAC was prepared with the absorption ratio of 66.71%, which was much higher than similar products.