Publications by authors named "Sai An"

Multiple-heavy-metal contamination in soil, such as the simultaneous presence of AsO , Cd and Pb, which can reduce crop yields and damage human health, is a serious issue to be addressed. Herein, the MgFe-LDHs (layered double hydroxides) intercalated with carbonate and nitrate (MgFe-CO and MgFe-NO) were synthesized by Separate Nucleation and Aging Steps and ion-exchange method, respectively. The MgFe-CO demonstrated the maximum saturation adsorption capacity of 55.

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In order to expand the application of bismuth vanadate (BiVO) to the field of photoelectrochemistry, researchers have explored the potential of BiVO in catalyzing or degrading organic substances, potentially presenting a green and eco-friendly solution. A study was conducted to investigate the impact of electrolytes on the photocatalysis of benzyl alcohol by BiVO. The research discovered that, in an acetonitrile electrolyte (pH 9) with sodium bicarbonate, BiVO catalyzed benzyl alcohol by introducing saturated V.

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Municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (MSWIFA) contains potential contaminants and needs to be efficiently solidified/stablized and so should be managed properly. To achieve this goal, alkali-activated MSWIFA and phosphorus slag (PS) based geopolymer solidified bodies were investigated. Therefore, the mechanical properties of the solidified body, heavy metal leaching characteristics, heavy metal chemical forms, and heavy metal solidification/stabilization mechanisms were also analyzed.

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Article Synopsis
  • Heavy metal contamination in soil is a critical issue that negatively impacts ecosystems and human health, prompting research into effective remediation methods.
  • Traditional remediation techniques such as electrochemistry and phytoremediation often face issues like secondary pollution or high costs, while in situ mineralization shows promise for its efficiency and affordability.
  • This review focuses on layered double hydroxides (LDHs) as effective materials for super-stable mineralization, discussing their structure-activity relationship, advantages, preparation methods, practical applications, and future design challenges.
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Article Synopsis
  • Acid-base bifunctional catalysts are gaining popularity for their ability to enhance synthetic reaction efficiency, with a new catalyst called PW@NiCo-LDH being developed through an innovative fabrication method.
  • The catalyst's structure and performance were carefully analyzed, revealing a successful interaction between terminal oxygen and oxygen vacancies that contributed to its effectiveness.
  • In deacetalization-Knoevenagel condensation reactions, PW@NiCo-LDH achieved over 99% conversion and yield, and it can be reused at least 10 times without losing effectiveness due to its stable construction.
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The NiCo alloy is one of the most promising alternatives to the noble-metal electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER); however, its performance is largely restricted by insufficient active sites and low surface area. Here, we fabricated a hierarchical hollow carbon cage supported NiCo alloy (denoted as HC NiCo/C) and a bulk NiCo alloy (denoted as NiCo) by reduction of a partially ZIF-67 etched ZIF-67@NiCo-LDH (LDH = layered double hydroxide) precursor and a fully ZIF-67 etched NiCo-LDH precursor, respectively. The as-prepared HC NiCo/C, in which the NiCo alloy nanocrystals with an average 6 nm size were encapsulated in graphitic carbon layers, provided a vastly increased electrochemically active surface area (.

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Accurately characterizing the conformational variation of novel molecular assemblies is important but often ignored due to limited characterization methods. Herein, we reported the use of ion-mobility mass spectrometry (IMS/MS) to investigate the conformational changes of four azobenzene covalently functionalized Keggin hybrids (azo-Keggins, compounds -). The as-prepared azo-Keggins showed the general molecular formula of [CHN][SiWO(Si(CH)NH-CO(CH)O-CHN=NCH-R)] (R = H, = 0 (); R = NO, = 0 (); R = H, = 5 (); R = H, = 10 ()).

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Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are considered a promising catalyst for photocatalytic CO reduction due to their broad photoresponse, facile channels for electron transfer, and the presence of abundant defects. Herein, we reported for the first time the fabrication of a novel photocatalyst MIL-100@NiMn-LDH with a hierarchical architecture by selecting MIL-100 (Mn) as a template to provide Mn for the growth of ultrathin NiMn-LDH nanosheets. Moreover, the growth strategy exhibited excellent universality toward constructing MIL-100@LDH hierarchical architectures.

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Keggin clusters are the most widely used polyoxometalate building blocks for the construction advanced materials, but effective methods for precisely recognizing the isostructural analogues of Keggins are still limited. In this study we employed the zwitterionic molecule 4,4'-dipyridyl N,N'-dioxide as a recognition receptor to specifically bind to the three Keggin analogues PW O , PMo O , and SiW O , which separately co-assembled into three different types of spherical charged colloids of different sizes. The recognition phenomena were confirmed by electrochemical methods and their crystallization behavior.

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Tumor associated fibroblasts (TAFs) are key stromal cells mediating the desmoplastic reaction and being partially responsible for the drug-resistance and immunosuppressive microenvironment formation in solid tumors. Delivery of genotoxic drugs off-targetedly to kill TAFs results in production of Wnt16 which renders the neighboring tumor cells drug resistant as shown in our previous study (PMC4623876). Our current approach looks for means to deactivate, rather than kill, TAFs.

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Activated hepatic stellate cell (aHSC)-mediated liver fibrosis is essential to the development of liver metastasis. Here, we discover intra-hepatic scale-up of relaxin (RLN, an anti-fibrotic peptide) in response to fibrosis along with the upregulation of its primary receptor (RXFP1) on aHSCs. The elevated expression of RLN serves as a natural regulator to deactivate aHSCs and resolve liver fibrosis.

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Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive breast cancer subtype. Currently, no targeted treatment is available for TNBC, and the most common clinical therapy is tumor resection, which often promotes metastasis risks. Strong evidence suggests that the lymphatic metastasis is mediated by the C-C chemokine receptor type 7 (CCR7)/C-C motif chemokine ligand 21 crosstalk between tumor cells and the lymphatic system.

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Tumor microenvironment plays a vital role in the process of tumor development, proliferation, invasion, and metastasis. It is well acknowledged that reduction in pH, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and increased level of glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) have become featured intracellular and extracellular biochemical markers of cancer owing to oncogenic transformation and abnormal metabolism. To establish a distinctive drug delivery system directed against the tumor microenvironment features, we develop a newly engineered polymeric nanoplatform for efficient doxorubicin (DOX) delivery with reduced systemic toxicity and high antitumor efficiency.

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Inflammation has been reported as one significant hallmark of breast cancer in relation to tumor development, metastasis, and invasion. The bradykinin receptor 1 (B1R) is highly expressed on inflammatory breast tumor cells thus providing a promising targeting site for tumor recognition and sufficient receptor mediated endocytosis. In this study, the authors evaluate the targeting efficiency of l-form and d-form [des-Arg ]kallidin both in vitro and in vivo.

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Energy metabolism abnormity is one of the most significant hallmarks of cancer. As a result, large amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) is remarkably overexpressed in both blood-brain-barrier and glioma tumor cells, leading a rapid and sufficient substrate transportation. 3CDIT and 4CDIT are originally synthesized by modifying the existing most potent LAT1 substrate.

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Regulating main brain-uptake transporter of morphine may restrict its tolerance generation, then modify its antinociception. In this study, more than 2 fold higher intracellular uptake concentrations for morphine and morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G) were observed in stable expression cells, HEK293-hOATP2B1 than HEK293-MOCK. Specifically, the Km value of morphine to OATP2B1 (57.

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Glioma is regarded as the deadliest and most common brain tumor because of the extremely difficult surgical excision ascribed from its invasive nature. In addition, the natural blood-brain barrier (BBB) greatly restricts the therapeutics' penetration into the central nervous system. Carmustine (BCNU) is a widely used antiglioma drug in clinical applications.

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Compared with peripheral tumors, glioma is very difficult to treat, not only because it has general features of tumor but also because the therapy has been restricted by the brain-blood barrier (BBB). The two main features of tumor growth are angiogenesis and proliferation of tumor cells. RNA interference (RNAi) can downregulate VEGF overexpression to inhibit tumor neovascularization.

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Multifunctional nanocarriers are increasingly promising for disease treatment aimed to regulate multiple pathological dysfunctions and overcome barriers in drug delivery. Here we develop a multifunctional nanocarrier for Alzheimer's disease (AD) treatment by achieving therapeutic gene and peptide co-delivery to brain based on PEGylated dendrigraft poly-l-lysines (DGLs) via systemic administration. The dendritic amine-rich structure of DGLs provides plenty reaction sites and positive charge for drug loading.

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Oral delivery of biopharmaceutics drug disposition classification system (BDDCS) Class II or IV drugs with poor aqueous solubility and poor enzymatic and/or metabolic stability is very challenging. Bay41-4109, a member of the heteroaryldihydropyrimidine (HAP) family, inhibits HBV replication by destabilizing capsid assembly. It pertains to class II of the BDDCS which has a practically insoluble solubility which is 38 μg/mL (LYSA) and the oral delivery resulted in low bioavailability.

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Ligand-mediated polymeric micelles have enormous potential for improving the efficacy of glioma therapy. Linear-dendritic drug-polymer conjugates composed of doxorubicin (DOX) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were synthesized with or without modification of choline derivate (CD). The resulting MeO-PEG-DOX8 and CD-PEG-DOX8 could self-assemble into polymeric micelles with a nanosized diameter around 30 nm and a high drug loading content up to 40.

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Lipopolymer 49, a solid-phase synthesized T-shaped peptide-like oligoamide containing two central oleic acids, 20 aminoethane, and two terminal cysteine units, is identified as very potent and biocompatible small interfering RNA (siRNA) carrier for gene silencing in glioma cells. This carrier is combined with a novel targeting polymer 727, containing a precise sequence of Angiopep 2 targeting peptide, linked with 28 monomer units of ethylene glycol, 40 aminoethane, and two terminal cysteines in siRNA complex formation. Angiopep-polyethylene glycol (PEG)/siRNA polyplexes exhibit good nanoparticle features, effective glioma-targeting siRNA delivery, and intracellular siRNA release, resulting in an outstanding gene downregulation both in glioma cells and upon intravenous delivery in glioma model nude mice without significant biotoxicity.

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Background: Gene therapy is a very promising technology for treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, its application has been limited by the abundant stromal response in the tumor microenvironment. The aim of this study was to prepare a dendrimer-based gene-free loading vector with high permeability in the tumor stroma and explore an imaging-guided local gene delivery strategy for PDAC to promote the efficiency of targeted gene delivery.

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