Research Progress in the Degradation of Chemical Warfare Agent Simulants Using Metal-Organic Frameworks.

Chemical warfare agents primarily comprise organophosphorus nerve agents, saliva alkaloids, cyanides, and mustard gas. Exposure to these agents can result in severe respiratory effects, including spasms, edema, and increased secretions leading to breathing difficulties and suffocation. Protecting public safety and national security from such threats has become an urgent priority.

Ultrasonic reduction: an unconventional route to exsolute Ag from perovskite La(Ag)FeO for enhanced catalytic oxidation activity.

We explore an uncommon ultrasonic reduction method to exsolute Ag from perovskite LaAgFeO, forming a composite with enhanced catalytic oxidation activity. Such a mild exsolution is based on the coupling effect of ultrasonic cavitation and reducible BH, and holds great potential in the fields of energy and environment catalysis.

A combined survey and exposure study reveals the distribution characteristic of chromium in fish head.

In this study, the content of chromium (Cr) in three main edible tissues (dorsal muscle, ventral muscle, and head) of 14 different fish species was determined. As expected, Cr level in fish head is generally higher than that in fish muscle. To elucidate the deposition of Cr in the fish head, bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) was chosen as the model fish and a 14-day-exposure experiment of 1 mg/L Cr was subsequently conducted.

Dietary Selenium Deficiency and Excess Accelerate Ubiquitin-Mediated Protein Degradation in the Muscle of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) via Akt/FoxO3a and NF-κB Signaling Pathways.

Selenium (Se) deficiency and excess can lead to protein degradation in fish. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is the main pathway of muscle proteolysis.

Pregnancies in women with moderate and severe pulmonary hypertension remain challenging: A single-center experience in East China.

Objective: To determine the outcomes in women with pulmonary hypertension (PH) and determine the factors related to adverse outcomes.

Methods: Data from 684 women with PH admitted to the Affiliated Renji Hospital from January 2001 to December 2020 were collected. Outcomes were compared based on the causes and severity of PH.

Unicellular Cyanobacteria Are Important Components of Phytoplankton Communities in Australia's Northern Oceanic Ecoregions.

The tropical marine environments of northern Australia encompasses a diverse range of geomorphological and oceanographic conditions and high levels of productivity and nitrogen fixation. However, efforts to characterize phytoplankton assemblages in these waters have been restricted to studies using microscopic and pigment analyses, leading to the current consensus that this region is dominated by large diatoms, dinoflagellates, and the marine cyanobacterium . During an oceanographic transect from the Arafura Sea through the Torres Strait to the Coral Sea, we characterized prokaryotic and eukaryotic phytoplankton communities in surface waters using a combination of flow cytometry and Illumina based 16S and 18S ribosomal RNA amplicon sequencing.

Anterior Approach to Improve the Prognosis in HCC Patients Via Decreasing Dissemination of EpCAM Circulating Tumor Cells.

Background: It is supposed that the improvement of prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patient by anterior approach for liver resection was related to the decreasing hematogenic dissemination of circulating cancer cells.

Methods: The EpCAM circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were detected in HCC patients having liver resection with either anterior approach (AA) or conventional approach (CA). The relation of CTCs to the 2-year recurrence and survival after surgery was investigated.

Fluorescence-Based Flow Sorting in Parallel with Transposon Insertion Site Sequencing Identifies Multidrug Efflux Systems in Acinetobacter baumannii.

Unlabelled: Multidrug efflux pumps provide clinically significant levels of drug resistance in a number of Gram-negative hospital-acquired pathogens. These pathogens frequently carry dozens of genes encoding putative multidrug efflux pumps. However, it can be difficult to determine how many of these pumps actually mediate antimicrobial efflux, and it can be even more challenging to identify the regulatory proteins that control expression of these pumps.

Effects of Notch2 and Notch3 on Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis of Trophoblast Cell Lines.

Aims: To investigate the effect of Notch2 and Notch3 on cell proliferation and apoptosis of two trophoblast cell lines, BeWo and JAR.

Methods: Notch2 and Notch3 expression in BeWo and JAR cells was upregulated or downregulated using lentivirus-mediated overexpression or RNA interference. The effect of Notch2 and Notch3 on cell proliferation was assessed by the CCK-8 assay.

Expression of notch family proteins in placentas from patients with early-onset severe preeclampsia.

Objectives: This study is aimed to identify the expression of Notch family proteins in placentas from patients with early-onset severe preeclampsia.

Study Design: The expression of Notch family proteins in placentas was investigated by immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

Results: The profile of distribution of all Notch family proteins in placentas from patients with early-onset severe preeclampsia is similar to that in normal placentas.

[Analysis of clinical features of pregnant women with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy].

Objective: To discuss the clinical features of pregnant women with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Methods: There were 28 patients with HCM who delivered in Renji hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University from January 2000 to August 2012. Clinical data were analyzed, including diagnosis, cardiac functional grading, gestational weeks of delivery, delivery mode, birth weight, Apgar scores, etc.

Polysaccharides from Rhizopus nigricans mycelia induced apoptosis and G2/M arrest in BGC-823 cells.

In this study, we reported that polysaccharides (RPS) from the mycelia of liquid-cultured Rhizopus nigricans inhibited the proliferation and clonogenic potential of human gastric cancer BGC-823 cells. Results of acridine orange/ethidium bromide and Hoechst 33258 staining showed that treated cells displayed typical morphological characteristics of apoptosis such as condensation of chromatin, nuclear pyknosis and formation of apoptotic bodies. Flow cytometry analyses and colorimetric assay indicated that RPS induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis which was associated with collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential, activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species and elevation of intracellular calcium in BGC-823 cells.

Pregnancy outcomes and relative risk factors among Chinese women with congenital heart disease.

Objective: To summarize pregnancy outcomes among a cohort of Chinese women with congenital heart disease (CHD) and to identify predictive risk factors for maternal, fetal, and neonatal complications.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 529 women with CHD who gave birth at the Shanghai Obstetrical Cardiology Intensive Care Center, Shanghai, China, between January 1, 1993, and September 30, 2010. Maternal, fetal, and neonatal complications were evaluated for these women.

Risk factors and risk index of cardiac events in pregnant women with heart disease.

Background: Pregnant women with heart disease are at high risk. Studies of risk factors of these patients are of great significance to improve maternal and fetal outcomes. In this paper, we try to discuss the main risk factors of cardiac events in pregnant women with heart disease and to establish a risk assessment system.

An exopolysaccharide from Trichoderma pseudokoningii and its apoptotic activity on human leukemia K562 cells.

In this study, a novel exopolysaccharide (EPS) was isolated from the fermentation broth of Trichoderma pseudokoningii and its anticancer activities on human leukemia K562 cells were studied. EPS could significantly inhibited K562 cells proliferation in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Meanwhile, characteristic of apoptosis, including apoptotic morphological features and the apoptosis rate were obtained.

Effect of aqueous extract of Arctium lappa L. (burdock) roots on the sexual behavior of male rats.

Background: Arctium lappa L. root has traditionally been recommended as an aphrodisiac agent. It is used to treat impotence and sterility in China, and Native Americans included the root in herbal preparations for women in labor.