Bioinspired peptide sensors with tailorable structure for specific and in-situ tracking of Hg biodistribution in living cells upon acute exposure.

Metal-biomolecule interactions that are ubiquitous in nature provide fundamental knowledge and rich structural motifs for the development of functional molecules and smart sensors. In this work, inspired by the active sites in metalloproteins, a biomimetic peptide sensor was designed for the selective recognition and activatable sensing of Hg in living biosystems. Tetraphenylethylene (TPE) with typical aggregation-induced emission (AIE) behavior, was introduced as the activatable signal transducer to enable high signal-to-background signaling.

Targeting Tetraspanins at Cell Interfaces: Functional Modulation and Exosome-Based Drug Delivery for Precise Disease Treatment.

Tetraspanins are key players in various physiological and pathological processes, including malignancy, immune response, fertilization, and infectious disease. Affinity ligands targeting the interactions between tetraspanins and partner proteins are promising for modulating downstream signaling pathways, thus emerging as attractive candidates for interfering related biological functions. Due to the involvement in vesicle biogenesis and cargo trafficking, tetraspanins are also regarded as exosome markers, and become molecular targets for drug loading and delivery.

Hydrophilic-Hydrophobic Network Hydrogels Achieving Optimal Strength and Hysteresis Balance.

The biocompatibility and adaptability of hydrogels make them ideal candidates for use as artificial tendons and muscles in clinical applications, where both muscle-like strength and low hysteresis are essential. However, achieving a balance between a high strength and low hysteresis in hydrogels remains a significant challenge. Herein, we demonstrated a self-assembly process of heterogeneous hydrogels to meet the dilemma.

Preparation of Bis-Thiophene Schiff Alkali-Copper Metal Complex for Metal Corrosion Inhibition.

Due to the obvious numerous economic and technical consequences of the corrosion process, its inhibition is one of the most critical aspects of current research. A corrosion inhibitor for the bis-thiophene Schiff base copper-metal complex Cu(II)@Thy-2 was investigated here, which was synthesized via a coordination reaction with a bis-thiophene Schiff base (Thy-2) as a ligand and copper chloride (CuCl-2HO) as a ligand metal salt. When the corrosion inhibitor concentration was increased to 100 ppm, the self-corrosion current density reached a minimum of 2.

Flexible Stretchable, Dry-Resistant MXene Nanocomposite Conductive Hydrogel for Human Motion Monitoring.

Conductive hydrogels with high electrical conductivity, ductility, and anti-dryness have promising applications in flexible wearable electronics. However, its potential applications in such a developing field are severely hampered by its extremely poor adaptability to cold or hot environmental conditions. In this research, an "organic solvent/water" composite conductive hydrogel is developed by introducing a binary organic solvent of EG/HO into the system using a simple one-pot free radical polymerization method to create TiCT MXene nanosheet-reinforced polyvinyl alcohol/polyacrylamide covalently networked nanocomposite hydrogels (PAEM) with excellent flexibility and mechanical properties.

Salt-Responsive Phenol Formaldehyde Resin: Changes of Interface Energy on the Aggregation Process.

Phenol formaldehyde resins (PFRs) as a colloidal oil displacement agent were commonly used to plug pores in crude oil reservoirs for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The aggregation-dispersion and charging behavior of PFR may affect the rheology and plugging performance of the suspension. To understand the aggregation-dispersion and charge of PFR, turbidity, dynamic light scattering, and electrophoretic light scattering experiments were carried out at pH = 10 with different concentrations of salt solutions (NaCl, MgCl, CaCl, NaCl/MgCl, and NaCl/CaCl).

Exploring multifunctional components from Andrographis paniculata by affinity ultrafiltration with three molecular targets.

Andrographis paniculata (Burm. F.) Nees (AP) was a typical plant resource that has the concomitant function of both foodstuff and medicine, while the action mechanisms of its immune regulation, anti-inflammatory and anti-viral effects and the specific components remain unclear.

Solving the Location Selection Problem of Self-Service Stores from the Perspectives of Sustainability and Uncertainty.

This paper presents an improved method for selecting a specific location in the development of convenience stores in municipal areas. This method solves the problem of self-service store location from the perspective of sustainability and uncertainty and adequately considers the characteristics of individual locations with the proposition of an improved grey wolf optimization algorithm. The example presented shows that the improved algorithm has obvious advantages in facilitating the selection of convenience stores with respect to the search precision, stability, and convergence.

Potential Multifunctional Bioactive Compounds from Explored by Bioaffinity Ultrafiltration-HPLC/MS with Topo I, Topo II, COX-2 and ACE2.

Background: () has been traditionally used as a folk medicine for ages. However, the specific phytochemicals responsible for their correlated anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative and antiviral activities remain unknown.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the specific active components in responsible for its potential anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, and antiviral effects, and further elucidate the corresponding mechanisms of action.

A Prospective Phase II Study of Simultaneous Modulated Accelerated Radiotherapy Concurrently With CDDP/S1 for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in the Elderly.

Background: To explore the efficacy and toxicity of simultaneous modulated accelerated radiotherapy (SMART) concurrently with cisplatin (CDDP) and S1 (tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil) in elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Methods: This single-arm, phase II study enrolled pathologically confirmed, stage II-IVa ESCC of 70-80 years old and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) 0-2. Patients received SMART (64 Gy to gross tumor volume and 48 Gy to clinical target volume in 30 fractions) with concurrent CDDP (day 1 of each week) and S1 (days 1-14, 22-35).

Exploring Multifunctional Bioactive Components from Using Multi-Target Ultrafiltration.

() has been used as a traditional herbal medicine for ages due to its extensive pharmaceutical activities, including antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, insecticidal effects, etc. Nevertheless, the specific bioactive constituents responsible for its antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral activities remain elusive, owing to its complicated and diversified chemical components. In order to explore these specific bioactive components and their potential interaction targets, affinity ultrafiltration with multiple drug targets coupled with high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (UF-HPLC/MS) strategy was developed to rapidly screen out and identify bioactive compounds against four well-known drug targets that are correlated to the application of as a traditional medicine, namely, Topo I, Topo II, COX-2, and ACE2.

Metronomic capecitabine as adjuvant therapy in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a multicentre, open-label, parallel-group, randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial.

Background: Patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma have a high risk of disease relapse, despite a high proportion of patients attaining complete clinical remission after receiving standard-of-care treatment (ie, definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy with or without induction chemotherapy). Additional adjuvant therapies are needed to further reduce the risk of recurrence and death. However, the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma remains controversial, highlighting the need for more effective adjuvant treatment options.

Constructing and optimizing hollow ZnFeO@polyaniline composites as high-performance microwave absorbers.

In this study, a series of hollow ZnFeO@polyaniline composites (ZFO@PANI) were synthesized by a facile solvothermal process and followed by in-situ chemical oxidation polymerization method, and then evaluated as microwave absorption (MA) absorbers. The effect of ZFO content on the electrical conductivity, electromagnetic parameters and MA performance of the ZFO@PANI composites was also elaborately investigated. As anticipated, the optimized composites of S2 exhibits the minimum reflection loss (RL) of -59.

Electrochemically-deposited PANI on iron mesh-based metal-organic framework with enhanced visible-light response towards elimination of thiamphenicol and E. coli.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are emerging class of porous materials that attracted tremendous attention as eco-friendly photocatalysts. However, poor charge separation in most MOFs largely thwarts their photocatalytic performance. In this work, Materials of Institut Lavoisier-100(Fe) (MIL-100 (Fe)) based on iron mesh was successfully fabricated by in situ growth.

Facile fabrication of sepiolite functionalized composites with tunable dielectric properties and their superior microwave absorption performance.

Although various materials have been studied for the purpose of microwave absorption (MA), natural sepiolite (SEP) has never been reported as MA absorber. Herein, the series of sepiolite@polyaniline composites (SEP@PANI-x) with "skeleton/skin" structure were fabricated through a facile in-situ polymerization technique and firstly developed as MA materials. The electrical conductivity and dielectric properties can be well controlled via modulating the PANI content in the composites.

Polyaniline/chitosan as a corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in acidic medium.

The inhibition performance of polyaniline (PANI)/chitosan (CTS) on metal corrosion in 0.5 M HCl was studied using electrochemical measurements, quantum chemical calculations and morphological observations. Potentiodynamic polarization measurements show that PANI/CTS acts essentially as a mixed-type inhibitor.

Oxidation of propyl paraben by ferrate(VI): Kinetics, products, and toxicity assessment.

Propyl paraben (propyl 4-hydroxybenzoate, PPB), one of the typically used paraben species in various pharmaceutical and personal care products, has been found in different aquatic environment, which could affect the water quality and human health. In this paper, the degradation of PPB by aqueous ferrate (Fe(VI)) was investigated in different water matrix and reaction kinetics as a function of pH was determined. Intermediate products of the degradation process were isolated and characterized by the high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry techniques.

Cycle number of neoadjuvant chemotherapy might influence survival of patients with T1-4N2-3M0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Objective: Stage N2-3 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) shows a high risk of distant metastasis, which will finally cause death. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) of various cycles before radical radiotherapy on distant metastasis and survival of patients with stage N2-3 diseases.

Methods: In this study, a total of 1,164 consecutive patients with non-metastatic N2-3 NPC were recruited and prospectively observed.

Synthesis and antibacterial activity of silver@carbon nanocomposites.

In this work, hollow multiple-Ag-nanoclustes- C-shell nanocomposites (Ag@C) were synthesized by using silane coupling agent to graft carbon dots (CDs) with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). CDs act as coating and stabilizing agent, protecting AgNPs from aggregation and oxidation. The resulting Ag@C nanocomposites demonstrate strong bactericidal effect against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria in the disk diffusion test.

Pathological Assessment of Rectal Cancer after Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy: Distribution of Residual Cancer Cells and Accuracy of Biopsy.

We investigated the distribution of residual cancer cells (RCCs) within different layers of the bowel wall in surgical specimens and the value of biopsies of primary rectal lesion after preoperative volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) with concurrent chemotherapy in patients with rectal cancer. Between April 2011 and April 2013, 178 patients with rectal cancer who received preoperative VMAT, concurrent chemotherapy, and surgery were evaluated; 79 of the patients received a biopsy of the primary lesion after chemoradiotherapy and prior to surgery. The distribution of RCCs in the surgical specimens and the sensitivity and specificity of the biopsy of primary rectal lesions for pathological response were evaluated.

Robust and Superhydrophobic Surface Modification by a "Paint + Adhesive" Method: Applications in Self-Cleaning after Oil Contamination and Oil-Water Separation.

Conventional superhydrophobic surfaces have always depended on expensive, sophisticated, and fragile roughness structures. Therefore, poor robustness has turned into the bottleneck for large-scale industrial applications of the superhydrophobic surfaces. To handle this problem, a superhydrophobic surface with firm robustness urgently needs to be developed.

Toxicity of concurrent chemoradiotherapy with cetuximab for locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Overexpression of the epidermal growth factor receptor can be found in 80 % of patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and is associated with shorter survival. In this work, we evaluated the feasibility of adding cetuximab to concurrent cisplatin and radiotherapy (RT) in locoregionally advanced NPC. Twenty-eight patients with locoregionally advanced NPC who received the combination therapy were retrospectively reviewed and short-term efficacy was evaluated.

Transdermal fentanyl for pain due to chemoradiotherapy-induced oral mucositis in nasopharyngeal cancer patients: evaluating efficacy, safety, and improvement in quality of life.

This study evaluated the efficacy, safety, and quality of life (QoL) measure of transdermal fentanyl (TDF) for moderate-to-severe pain due to oral mucositis caused by chemoradiotherapy in patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Patients with NPC who experienced moderate-to-severe oral mucosal pain during chemoradiotherapy (n = 78) received TDF for pain relief. Pain relief and QoL were compared before and after treatment.

Synthesis of nitrogen- and sulfur-codoped 3D cubic-ordered mesoporous carbon with superior performance in supercapacitors.

In this contribution, nitrogen- and sulfur-codoped 3D cubic-ordered mesoporous carbon (KNOMC) materials with controlled dopant content (10.0-4.6 atom % for nitrogen and 0.