Paeoniflorin Coordinates Macrophage Polarization and Mitigates Liver Inflammation and Fibrogenesis by Targeting the NF-[Formula: see text]B/HIF-1α Pathway in CCl-Induced Liver Fibrosis.

Liver fibrosis is a disease largely driven by resident and recruited macrophages. The phenotypic switch of hepatic macrophages can be achieved by chemo-attractants and cytokines. During a screening of plants traditionally used to treat liver diseases in China, paeoniflorin was identified as a potential drug that affects the polarization of macrophages.

SNS alleviates depression-like behaviors in CUMS mice by regluating dendritic spines via NCOA4-mediated ferritinophagy.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Depression is one of the most common mood disturbances worldwide. The Si-ni-san formula (SNS) is a famous classic Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) widely used to treat depression for thousands of years in clinics. However, the mechanism underlying the therapeutic effect of SNS in improving depression-like behaviors following chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) remains unknown.

Progress in Antiviral Fullerene Research.

Unlike traditional small molecule drugs, fullerene is an all-carbon nanomolecule with a spherical cage structure. Fullerene exhibits high levels of antiviral activity, inhibiting virus replication in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we systematically summarize the latest research regarding the different types of fullerenes investigated in antiviral studies.

Short-term high-fat diet favors the appearances of apoptosis and gliosis by activation of ERK1/2/p38MAPK pathways in brain.

High-fat diet (HFD) has been associated with neuroinflammation and apoptosis in distinct brain regions. To explore the effect of short-term (7, 14 and 21 days) high-fat overfeeding on apoptosis, inflammatory signaling proteins, APP changes and glial cell activities in cerebral cortex and cerebellum. Mice were fed with HFD for different lengths (up to 21 days) and after each time body weights of mice was tested, then the apoptotic proteins, IL-1β, APP, BACE1and MAPKs, Akt and NF-κB signaling activity were evaluated by western blots.

Clinical application of individualized total arterial coronary artery bypass grafting in coronary artery surgery.

Background: Total arterial revascularization is associated with increased patency and long-term efficacy and decreased perioperative morbidity and mortality and incidence of cardiac-related events and sternal wound infection compared with conventional coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), in which the left internal mammary artery (LIMA) is typically grafted to the left anterior descending artery with additional saphenous vein grafts often used. This study determined whether these favorable clinical results could be realized at the authors' institute.

Aim: To summarize the early efficacy and clinical experience of individualized total arterial coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.

The effect of strain on water dissociation on reduced rutile TiO(110) surface.

The effect of external uniaxial strain on water dissociation on a reduced rutile TiO(110) surface has been theoretically studied using first-principles calculations. We find that when the tensile strain along [11̄0] is applied, the energy barrier of water dissociation substantially decreases with the increase of strain. In particular, water almost automatically dissociates when the strain is larger than 3%.

Nogo-A-Δ20/EphA4 interaction antagonizes apoptosis of neural stem cells by integrating p38 and JNK MAPK signaling.

Nogo-A protein consists of two main extracellular domains: Nogo-66 (rat amino acid [aa] 1019-1083) and Nogo-A-Δ20 (extracellular, active 180 amino acid Nogo-A region), which serve as strong inhibitors of axon regeneration in the adult CNS (Central Nervous System). Although receptors S1PR2 and HSPGs have been identified as Nogo-A-Δ20 binding proteins, it remains at present elusive whether other receptors directly interacting with Nogo-A-Δ20 exist, and decrease cell death. On the other hand, the key roles of EphA4 in the regulation of glioblastoma, axon regeneration and NSCs (Neural Stem Cells) proliferation or differentiation are well understood, but little is known the relationship between EphA4 and Nogo-A-Δ20 in NSCs apoptosis.

Simple transabdominal minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass surgery with right gastroepiploic artery.

For three patients with isolated right coronary artery disease who had drug resistance and were intolerant to interventional therapy, simple transabdominal small incision bypass grafting of the right gastroepiploic artery and the posterior descending branch of the right coronary artery was conducted without cardiopulmonary. All three patients were discharged smoothly without complications, and were followed up for three months, during which time the myocardial bridges were unobstructed and the cardiac functions were good. The surgery needs no thoracotomy and the injury is small, and avoids influences of sternum and pericardium adhesion on other cardiac surgery in the future.

A sensitive and reversible staining of proteins on blot membranes.

A modified, sensitive and reversible method for protein staining on nitrocellulose (NC) and polyvinylidine fluoride (PVDF) membranes was developed in Western blotting. The method employed Congo red staining to visualize proteins on different blot membranes. Staining of proteins with Congo red dye is more faster procedures.

Young age at diagnosis is associated with better prognosis in stage IV breast cancer.

Numerous studies have shown that young age is a risk factor in early breast cancer. But for stage IV breast cancer, it is unclear whether age has a similar effect on patient survival. We collected and analyzed data from patients with stage IV breast cancer between January 2010 and December 2015 in SEER database.

Cripto-1 expression in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma is associated with poor disease outcome.

Background: Cripto-1 (CR-1) has been reported to be involved in the development of several human cancers. The potential role of CR-1 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is still not clear.

Methods: CR-1 expression was evaluated in ccRCC tissues by Real-time quantitative PCR, Western blot and immunohistochemistry.

Insights into the structures and electronic properties of Cu and CuS (n = 1-12; μ = 0, ±1) clusters.

The stability and reactivity of clusters are closely related to their valence electronic configuration. Doping is a most efficient method to modify the electronic configuration and properties of a cluster. Considering that Cu and S posses one and six valence electrons, respectively, the S doped Cu clusters with even number of valence electrons are expected to be more stable than those with odd number of electrons.

Deletion of autophagy-related gene 7 in dopaminergic neurons prevents their loss induced by MPTP.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by a gradual loss of midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) during aging. 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) is one of the neurotoxins used widely to induce PD-like symptoms in PD animal models, including rodents and non-human primates. It has been reported that deletion of autophagy-related gene 7 (Atg7) in the brain results in a reduction of mDA neurons in adulthood.

Energetics and kinetics of Cu atoms and clusters on the Si(111)-7 × 7 surface: first-principles calculations.

Exploring the properties of noble metal atoms and nano- or subnano-clusters on the semiconductor surface is of great importance in many surface catalytic reactions, self-assembly processes, crystal growth, and thin film epitaxy. Here, the energetics and kinetic properties of a single Cu atom and previously reported Cu magic clusters on the Si(111)-(7 × 7) surface are re-examined by the state-of-the-art first-principles calculations based on density functional theory. First of all, the diffusion path and high diffusion rate of a Cu atom on the Si(111)-(7 × 7) surface are identified by mapping out the total potential energy surface of the Cu atom as a function of its positions on the surface, supporting previous experimental hypothesis that the apparent triangular light spots observed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) are resulted from a single Cu atom frequently hopping among adjacent adsorption sites.

Prognostic value of cerebrospinal fluid free fatty acid levels in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

In this study, prognostic value of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) free fatty acid (FFA) levels in patients confirmed with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) was evaluated in a Chinese population. A prospective cohort designed study was conducted at our hospital of the Emergency department from November, 2012 to September, 2014. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score on admission was applied to assess CSF levels of FFA and specific severity degree of stroke.

Codelivery of paclitaxel and small interfering RNA by octadecyl quaternized carboxymethyl chitosan-modified cationic liposome for combined cancer therapy.

Conventional therapeutic approaches for cancer are limited by cancer cell resistance, which has impeded their clinical applications. The main goal of this work was to investigate the combined antitumor effect of paclitaxel with small interfering RNA modified by cationic liposome formed from modified octadecyl quaternized carboxymethyl chitosan. The cationic liposome was composed of 3β-[N-(N', N'-dimethylaminoethane)-carbamoyl]-cholesterol, dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine, and octadecyl quaternized carboxymethyl chitosan.

[Research progress in co-delivery of gene and chemotherapy drugs with nanocarriers for cancer therapy].

Current trends in nanotechnology and RNA interference technology have made the application of nanocarriers (NCS) as a novel gene and drug delivery systems very promising for the field of multidrug resistance (MDR) cancer treatment. Co-delivery of gene and chemotherapy drugs with NCS has a good synergistic effect compared with the traditional chemotherapy which can increase the amount of the drug distribution in target organ in order to reduce the toxic side effects thereby enhancing efficacy. Therefore, the advent of co-delivery systems with NCS especially in the clinical treatment of MDR has had a significant impact on the cancer treatment.

[Research progress in co-delivery of gene and chemotherapy drugs with cationic liposome carrier for cancer therapy].

Despite recent advances in conventional therapeutic approaches for cancer, the efficacy of chemotherapy for cancer is limited due to the drug resistance and toxic side effects during treatment. To overcome drug resistance, higher doses of the toxic chemotherapy drugs are frequently administered, thus leading to even severe adverse side effects, which have limited their clinical application. Cationic liposome as a novel non-viral carrier for co-delivery of gene and chemotherapy drugs in cancer gene therapy has already attracted more and more attention in recent years.

[Studies on chemical constituents in bulbs of Bolbostemma paniculatum].

Objective: To investigate the chemical constituents of the bulbs of Bolbostemma panicultum.

Method: The compounds were isolated by column chromatography on silica gel, C18, Sephadex LH-20 separately and their structures were elucidated by chemical and spectroscopic technologies.

Result: Eight compounds were isolated and identified as maltol(I), emodin(II), cucurbitacin B(III), cucurbitacin E(IV), stigmasta-7, 22, 25-triene-3-ol(V), stigmasta-7, 22, 25-triene-3-nonadecanoic acid ester(VI), stigmasta-7, 22, 25-triene-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside(VII), stigmasta-7, 22, 25-triene-3-O-beta-D-(6'-palmitoyl) glucopyranoside(VIII).