ZNF8 Orchestrates with Smad3 to Promote Lung Metastasis by Recruiting SMYD3 in Breast Cancer.

Most deaths in breast cancer patients are attributed to metastasis, and lung metastasis is associated with a particularly poor prognosis; therefore it is imperative to identify potential target for intervention. The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) pathway plays a vital role in breast cancer metastasis, in which Smad3 is the key mediator and performs specific functions by binding with different cofactors. However, Smad3 cofactors involved in lung metastasis have not yet been identified.

Co-amorphous systems of sulfasalazine with matrine-type alkaloids: Enhanced solubility behaviors and synergistic therapeutic potential.

Sulfasalazine (SULF), a sulfonamide antibiotic, has been utilized in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) since its discovery. However, its poor water solubility causes the high daily doses (1---3 g) for patients, which may lead to the intolerable toxic and side effects for their lifelong treatment for RA and IBD. In this work, two water-soluble natural anti-inflammatory alkaloids, matrine (MAR) and sophoridine (SPD), were employed to construct the co-amorphous systems of SULF for addressing its solubility issue.

Sustainable planning in Wuhan City during COVID-19: an analysis of influential factors, risk profiles, and clustered patterns.

The outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) is closely related to the intra-urban environment. It is important to understand the influence mechanism and risk characteristics of urban environment on infectious diseases from the perspective of urban environment composition. In this study, we used python to collect Sina Weibo help data as well as urban multivariate big data, and The random forest model was used to measure the contribution of each influential factor within to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Tranilast-matrine co-amorphous system: Strong intermolecular interactions, improved solubility, and physiochemical stability.

There is a great interest to develop co-amorphous drug delivery systems to enhance the solubility of biopharmaceutics classification system (BCS) class II and IV drugs. However, most reported systems only resulted in severalfold solubility improvement. Tranilast (TRA) is an anti-allergic drug used to treat bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis.

Evaluation of Graphene Oxide as a Thermal Ionization Enhancer for Plutonium in TIMS Measurement.

Thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) has been extensively employed for the assessment of plutonium (Pu) isotopes in nuclear forensics and environmental monitoring. Recently, great efforts have been made to improve the ionization efficiency (IE) of Pu to achieve better accuracy and precision for trace-level analysis. Herein, the thermal ionization enhancement effect for plutonium of graphene oxide (GO) was investigated and the corresponding mechanism was discussed.

Influencing Factors and Risk Assessment of Precipitation-Induced Flooding in Zhengzhou, China, Based on Random Forest and XGBoost Algorithms.

Due to extreme weather phenomena, precipitation-induced flooding has become a frequent, widespread, and destructive natural disaster. Risk assessments of flooding have thus become a popular area of research. In this study, we studied the severe precipitation-induced flooding that occurred in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China, in July 2021.

Impacts of Social Inequality, Air Pollution, Rural-Urban Divides, and Insufficient Green Space on Residents' Health in China: Insight from Chinese General Social Survey Data Analysis.

Attention to physical and mental health is becoming more intensive. In China, factors and mechanisms are now a focus of research. We used dynamic air quality monitoring data and the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) to assess the spatial differences and the coupling between subjective and objective air pollution.

Co-amorphous Systems of Sinomenine with Platensimycin or Sulfasalazine: Physical Stability and Excipient-Adjusted Release Behavior.

There is strong interest to develop affordable treatments for the infection-associated rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Here, we present a drug-drug co-amorphous strategy against RA and the associated bacterial infection by the preparation and characterization of two co-amorphous systems of sinomenine (SIN) with platensimycin (PTM) or sulfasalazine (SULF), two potent antibiotics. Both of them were comprehensively characterized using powder X-ray diffraction, temperature-modulated differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Platensimycin-berberine chloride co-amorphous drug system: Sustained release and prolonged half-life.

Co-amorphous technology is an emerging approach for pharmaceutical engineering of drugs and drug leads with improved physicochemical properties and bioavailability. Platensimycin (PTM) is a promising natural antibiotic lead that acts on bacterial fatty acid synthase and exhibits excellent antibacterial activity. Despite great strides to improve its poor pharmacokinetics by medicinal chemistry and nanotechnology, there are no convenient oral delivery systems developed.

Sustained Release of Co-Amorphous Matrine-Type Alkaloids and Resveratrol with Anti-COVID-19 Potential.

Matrine (MAR), oxymatrine (OMAR), and sophoridine (SPD) are natural alkaloids with varying biological activities; matrine was recently used for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the short half-lives and rapid elimination of these matrine-type alkaloids would lead to low oral bioavailability and serious side effects. Herein, resveratrol (RES) was selected as a co-former to prepare their co-amorphous systems to improve the therapeutic index.

Co-amorphous systems of sinomenine with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: A strategy for solubility improvement, sustained release, and drug combination therapy against rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune joint disorder that affects about 1% of the world population and may lead to severe disability and comorbidity. Despite breakthroughs in past decades to understand its pathogenesis and the development of transforming disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, the symptoms of many patients are not substantially improved. Sinomenine (SIN), a natural alkaloid with poor solubility, has been used to treat RA in China for years because of its unique immunoregulative activity.

Naphthalene-facilitated self-assembly of a Gd-chelate as a novel MRI contrast agent for visualization of stem cell transplants.

Naphthalene is coupled with DOTA via a peptide sequence to yield an amphipathic MRI probe Nap-CFGKTG-DOTA-Gd (Nap-Gd) that can self-assemble into nanofibers. Incubation of NSCs, hMSCs and L929 cells in the presence of Nap-Gd in the μM level can introduce a significant amount of Nap-Gd into the cells as nanoclusters or nanofibers. The resultant intracellular Gd content is 10-60 times that achieved by incubation with Dotarem at the same concentration.

Venlafaxine Caffeic Acid Salt: Synthesis, Structural Characterization, and Hypoglycemic Effect Analysis.

Depression is a recurrent and chronic mental disorder requiring long-term treatment. Major depressive disorder is present in 15-20% of patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Large-scale evidence revealed that depression and depressive symptoms are independent risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes, and they may contribute to hyperglycemia and even accelerate the premature onset of diabetes complications.

Phase solubility diagrams and energy surface calculations support the solubility enhancement with low hygroscopicity of Bergenin: 4-Aminobenzamide (1: 1) cocrystal.

Herein, we reported a new bergenin: 4-aminobenzamide (BGN-4AM) cocrystal with significantly enhanced solubility and low hygroscopicity probed from two aspects such as phase solubility diagrams and theoretical calculations. Compared with anhydrous BGN, BGN-4AM solubilities in water and different buffer solutions (pH = 1.2, 4.

Sinomenine-phenolic acid coamorphous drug systems: Solubilization, sustained release, and improved physical stability.

Sinomenine (SIN), isolated from Caulis sinomenii, is a benzyltetrahydroisoquinoline-type alkaloid with potent anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. SIN-HCl has been used in the forms of tablets or enteric-coated tablets in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in China for years, while its short half-life leads to attenuated therapeutic effects and serious side effects. In the current study, three phenolic acids, including salicylic acid (SAA), 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (23DHB), and 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (24DHB), were firstly employed as coamorphous coformers to prepare three binary SIN-phenolic acid coamorphous systems.

Determination of tautomeric preference of fenobam in solution by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy.

In this work, tautomeric preference of fenobam in solution was investigated by homonuclear and heteronuclear solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. H- H nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY) spectrum revealed that fenobam in liquid state exists exclusively in one of the two possible tautomeric structures, which was confirmed by H- C HSQC and heteronuclear multiple bond correlation (HMBC) spectra. Moreover, difference between the two tautomeric structures was studied by theoretical calculations, which further proved the result obtained by the NMR experiments.

Crystal structures, dissolution and pharmacokinetic study on a novel phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor chlorbipram cocrystals.

Cocrystallization of chlorbipram (ChBP), a novel phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE) inhibitor with water insoluble property developed in our lab, was performed to improve the physicochemical properties and bioavailability in the present study. Three new cocrystals with fumaric aicd (FA), gentisic acid (GA) and salicylic acid (SA) as coformers were synthesized and fully characterized by using the combination of multi-techniques. The cocrystals are phase stable even under high humidity conditions.

Enterovirus 71 VP1 Protein Regulates Viral Replication in SH-SY5Y Cells via the mTOR Autophagy Signaling Pathway.

Background: Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is the main pathogen that causes severe hand, foot, and mouth disease with fatal neurological complications. However, its neurovirulence mechanism is still unclear. Candidate virulence sites were screened out at structural protein VP1, but the function of these candidate virulence sites remains unclear.

Combined Intrinsic and Extrinsic Proton Conduction in Robust Covalent Organic Frameworks for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Applications.

Developing new materials for the fabrication of proton exchange membranes (PEMs) for fuel cells is of great significance. Herein, a series of highly crystalline, porous, and stable new covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have been developed by a stepwise synthesis strategy. The synthesized COFs exhibit high hydrophilicity and excellent stability in strong acid or base (e.

Graphene Oxide Carburization Enhanced Ionization Efficiency for TIMS Isotope Ratio Analysis of Uranium at Trace Level.

Isotope analysis of trace uranium is important in nuclear safeguards and nuclear forensics, which requires the analytical methodologies with high sensitivity, accuracy, and precision. As one of the most powerful techniques in isotopic measurement, thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) usually suffers from its relatively low sensitivity in ultratrace measurements. To overcome this limitation, we have developed a new filament carburization technique for TIMS, with graphene oxide (GO) as the ionization enhancer.

Transcriptome and proteome analyses of the molecular mechanisms associated with coix seed nutritional quality in the process of breeding.

In present study, the content of main nutrients in wild coix seed were significantly higher than cultivated coix seed. Transcriptome and proteome were combined to provide new insight of the molecular mechanisms linked to nutritional quality of wild coix seed and cultivated coix seed by RNA sequencing and isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification techniques. A total of 20,039 genes and 471 proteins exhibited differential expression level in cultivated coix seed when compared with wild coix seed.

Phase transformation induced reversible modulation of upconversion luminescence of WO:Yb, Er phosphor for switching devices.

The upconverting luminescence properties of phosphors are dependent on the hosts. In this work, the WO:Yb, Er phosphor was prepared, and the reversible phase transformation from the WO to the WO was obtained by alternating the sintering in a reducing atmosphere or in air. The influence of reversible phase transformation on the upconversion luminescence was investigated first.

Thermomchromic Reaction-Induced Reversible Upconversion Emission Modulation for Switching Devices and Tunable Upconversion Emission Based on Defect Engineering of WO:Yb,Er Phosphor.

Reversible luminescence modulation of upconversion phosphors has the potential applications as photoswitches and optical memory and data storage devices. Previously, the photochromic reaction was extensively used for the realization of reversible luminescence modulation. It is very necessary to develop other approaches such as thermomchromic reaction to obtain the reversible upconversion luminescence modulation.

Cell-assembled nanoclusters of MSC-targeting Gd-DOTA-peptide as a T contrast agent for MRI cell tracking.

A cyclic peptide CC9 that targets cell membrane of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is coupled with Gd-DOTA to yield a Gd-DOTA-CC9 complex as MRI contrast agent. It is used to label human MSCs (hMSCs) via electroporation. Electroporation-labeling of hMSCs with Gd-DOTA-CC9 induces cell-assembly of Gd-DOTA-CC9 nanoclusters in the cytoplasm, significantly promotes cell-labeling efficacy and intracellular retention time of the agent.