Harnessing the Engineered Probiotic-Nanosystem to Remodulate Tumor Extracellular Matrix and Regulate Tumor-Colonizing Bacteria for Improving Pancreatic Cancer Chemo-Immunotherapy.

Poor chemotherapy efficacy in pancreatic cancer is attributed to limited drug permeation caused by the dense extracellular matrix (ECM) and drug degradation induced by tumor-colonizing bacteria. Here, a tumor-targeting probiotic-nanosystem is elaborately designed to remodulate ECM and selectively regulate tumor-colonizing bacteria for improving chemo-immunotherapy against pancreatic cancer. Specifically, drug-loaded liposomes are conjugated with Clostridium Butyricum (CB) via matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2)-responsive peptide to construct a probiotic-nanosystem.

Bacterial Biohybrids for Invasion of Tumor Cells Promote Antigen Cross-Presentation Through Gap Junction.

Due to inherent differences in cellular composition and metabolic behavior with host cells, tumor-harbored bacteria can discriminatorily affect tumor immune landscape. However, the mechanisms by which intracellular bacteria affect antigen presentation process between tumor cells and antigen-presenting cells (APCs) are largely unknown. The invasion behavior of attenuated Salmonella VNP20009 (VNP) into tumor cells is investigated and an attempt is made to modulate this behavior by modifying positively charged polymers on the surface of VNP.

Probiotics attenuate valproate-induced liver steatosis and oxidative stress in mice.

Valproate (valproic acid, VPA), a drug for the treatment of epilepsy and bipolar disorder, causes liver steatosis with enhanced oxidative stress. Accumulating evidences exhibite that gut microbiota plays an important role in progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, whether gut microbiota contributes to VPA-caused hepatic steatosis needs to be elucidated.

Aerobic degradation of ketoprofen by marine consortia: Fenton-like reaction and degradation pathway.

Ketoprofen (KTP) as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug has been detected in coastal environment due to its wide usage. However, little information is available about the fate of KTP in marine environment. In the present study, the aerobic degradation of 20 mg L KTP using the enriched marine consortia was investigated.

Self-Assembled Copper-Based Nanoparticles for Glutathione Activated and Enzymatic Cascade-Enhanced Ferroptosis and Immunotherapy in Cancer Treatment.

As an emerging cancer treatment strategy, ferroptosis is greatly restricted by excessive glutathione (GSH) in tumor microenvironment (TME) and low reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation efficiency. Here, this work designs self-assembled copper-alanine nanoparticles (CACG) loaded with glucose oxidase (GOx) and cinnamaldehyde (Cin) for in situ glutathione activated and enzymatic cascade-enhanced ferroptosis and immunotherapy. In response to GSH-rich and acidic TME, CACG allows to effectively co-deliver Cu , Cin, and GOx into tumors.

Interference of Glucose Bioavailability of Tumor by Engineered Biohybrids for Potentiating Targeting and Uptake of Antitumor Nanodrugs.

The chemotherapy efficacy of nanodrugs is restricted by poor tumor targeting and uptake. Here, an engineered biohybrid living material (designated as EcN@HPB) is constructed by integrating paclitaxel and BAY-876 bound human serum albumin nanodrugs (HPB) with Nissle 1917 (EcN). Due to the inherent tumor tropism of EcN, EcN@HPB could actively target the tumor site and competitively deprive glucose through bacterial respiration.

Targeting to Tumor-Harbored Bacteria for Precision Tumor Therapy.

The differential tumor environment guides various antitumor drug delivery strategies for efficient cancer treatment. Here, based on the special bacteria-enriched tumor environment, we report a different drug delivery strategy by targeting bacteria inhabiting tumor sites. With a tissue microarray analysis, it was found that bacteria amounts displayed significant differences between tumor and normal tissues.

Bioorthogonal Conjugation of Delivered Bacteria with Gut Inhabitants for Enhancing Probiotics Colonization.

Clinical treatment efficacy of oral bacterial therapy has been largely limited by insufficient gut retention of probiotics. Here, we developed a bioorthogonal-mediated bacterial delivery strategy for enhancing probiotics colonization by modulating bacterial adhesion between probiotics and gut inhabitants. Metabolic amino acid engineering was applied to metabolically incorporate azido-decorated d-alanine into peptidoglycans of gut inhabitants, which could enable bioorthogonal conjugation with dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO)-modified probiotics.

Antibiotics-induced disruption of gut microbiota increases systemic exposure of clopidogrel active metabolite in type 2 diabetic rats.

Gut microbiota play an important role in the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM) and biodisposition of drugs. Our previous study demonstrated that T2DM rats had the decreased plasma exposure of clopidogrel active metabolite (Clop-AM) due to upregulation of P-glycoprotein (P-gp). However, whether the change to clopidogrel (Clop) disposition under T2DM condition is associated with gut microbiota needs to be elucidated.

Factors Affecting Human Visual Behavior and Preference for Sneakers: An Eye-Tracking Study.

Human visual behavior on a product significantly affects their purchasing behavior during online shopping. In this study, two experimental studies were performed to investigate human visual behavior and preference for sneakers using an eye tracking technology. The first study discovered that shoelace and vamp areas of interests (AOIs) attracted more attention than the other AOIs.

Biomaterial-mediated modulation of oral microbiota synergizes with PD-1 blockade in mice with oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Because a host's immune system is affected by host-microbiota interactions, means of modulating the microbiota could be leveraged to augment the effectiveness of cancer therapies. Here we report that patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) whose tumours contained higher levels of bacteria of the genus Peptostreptococcus had higher probability of long-term survival. We then show that in mice with murine OSCC tumours injected with oral microbiota from patients with OSCCs, antitumour responses were enhanced by the subcutaneous delivery of an adhesive hydrogel incorporating silver nanoparticles (which inhibited the growth of bacteria competing with Peptostreptococcus) alongside the intratumoural delivery of the bacterium P.

A Self-Driven Bioreactor Based on Bacterium-Metal-Organic Framework Biohybrids for Boosting Chemotherapy Cyclic Lactate Catabolism.

The excessive lactate in the tumor microenvironment always leads to poor therapeutic outcomes of chemotherapy. In this study, a self-driven bioreactor (defined as SO@MDH, where SO is MR-1 and MDH is MIL-101 metal-organic framework nanoparticles/doxorubicin/hyaluronic acid) is rationally constructed the integration of doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded metal-organic framework (MOF) MIL-101 nanoparticles with SO to sensitize chemotherapy. Owing to the intrinsic tumor tropism and electron-driven respiration of SO, the biohybrid SO@MDH could actively target and colonize hypoxic and eutrophic tumor regions and anaerobically metabolize lactate accompanied by the transfer of electrons to Fe, which is the key component of the MIL-101 nanoparticles.

Detection of alkanolamines in liquid cement grinding aids by HPLC coupled with evaporative light scattering detector.

Triethanolamine (TEA), triisopropanolamine (TIPA), diethanol isopropanolamine (DEIPA) are necessary cement additives, and knowing their contents is needed for quality control and also to understand final properties of the cement. Whether it is the production of grinding aids, technical research and development or application research all involve the detection of grinding aids. This work developed a simple analytical technique for the simultaneous analysis of these alkanolamines in liquid cement grinding aids using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) combined with evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD).

An RGB-emitting molecular cocktail for the detection of bacterial fingerprints.

Accumulating evidence indicates that colonized microbes play a crucial role in regulating health and disease in the human body. Detecting microbes should be essential for understanding the relationship between microbes and diseases, as well as increasing our ability to detect diseases. Here, a combined metabolic labeling strategy was developed to identify different bacterial species and microbiota by the use of three different fluorescent metabolite derivatives emitting red, green, and blue (RGB) fluorescence.

Controllable gelation of artificial extracellular matrix for altering mass transport and improving cancer therapies.

Global alterations in the metabolic network provide substances and energy to support tumor progression. To fuel these metabolic processes, extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a dominant role in supporting the mass transport and providing essential nutrients. Here, we report a fibrinogen and thrombin based coagulation system to construct an artificial ECM (aECM) for selectively cutting-off the tumor metabolic flux.

Performance enhancement of hybrid personal cooling clothing in a hot environment: PCM cooling energy management with additional insulation.

A novel design of personal cooling clothing incorporating additional insulation sandwiched between phase change materials (PCMs) and clothing outer layer is proposed. Performance of four personal cooling systems including clothing with only PCMs, clothing with PCMs and insulation (PCM + INS), clothing with PCMs and ventilation fans (HYB), and clothing with PCMs, ventilation fans and insulation (HYB + INS) was investigated. Effect of additional insulation on clothing cooling performance in terms of human physiological and perceptual responses was also examined.

Intermittent wetting clothing as a cooling strategy for body heat strain alleviation of vulnerable populations during a severe heatwave incident.

Many documented studies have demonstrated the human mortality rate increases during severe heatwaves. There remains a need for further explore ecologically valid cooling strategies to alleviate body heat strain during extreme heatwaves. The main aim of this work was to explore whether intermittent wetting clothing can be served as an ecologically valid cooling strategy to mitigate heat stress on inactive vulnerable populations not having access to air-conditioning during a severe heatwave.

Mechanism of oxidation and catalysis of organic matter abiotic humification in the presence of MnO.

Humification plays a critical role in the environmental fate of organic wastes, and MnO holds great promise for enhancing this reaction. However, the effects of MnO on the enhancement of the humification reaction remain ambiguous. To better reveal the mechanism by which MnO enhances the reaction and investigate the fate of the humification products, abiotic humification experiments were performed using increasing concentrations of dissolved organic matter (DOM) to a fixed amount of MnO.

A star-shaped molecularly imprinted polymer derived from polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes with improved site accessibility and capacity for enantiomeric separation via capillary electrochromatography.

A star-shaped molecularly imprinted coating was prepared starting from octavinyl-modified polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (Ov-POSS). It possesses a relatively open structure and has good site accessibility and a larger capacity even at lower cross-linking. The imprinted coating was prepared from S-amlodipine (S-AML) as the template and analyte, Ov-POSS as the cross-linker, and methacrylic acid as the functional monomer.

A polymer monolith incorporating stellate mesoporous silica nanospheres for use in capillary electrochromatography and solid phase microextraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and organic small molecules.

An inorganic-organic hybrid monolith incorporated with stellated mesoporous silica nanoparticles (SMSNs) was prepared. Using binary solvents, deep eutectic solvents and room temperature ionic liquids, an SMSN-incorporated poly(butyl methacrylate-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) monolith demonstrated uniform structure with good column permeability. A systematic investigation of preparation parameter was performed, including SMSN content, crosslinking monomer content, and the component of binary solvent.

An investigation of thermophysiological responses of human while using four personal cooling strategies during heatwaves.

This study aimed to examine how human body thermophysiologically responds to four commonly used cooling strategies (i.e., electric fan cooling [AirFC], evaporative cooling clothing [EvapCC], hybrid cooling, i.

Reduction of Physiological Strain Under a Hot and Humid Environment by a Hybrid Cooling Vest.

Chan, APC, Yang, Y, Wong, FKW, Yam, MCH, Wong, DP, and Song, W-F. Reduction of physiological strain under a hot and humid environment by a hybrid cooling vest. J Strength Cond Res 33(5): 1429-1436, 2019-Cooling treatment is regarded as one of good practices to provide safe training conditions to athletic trainers in the hot environment.

Evaluating the usability of a commercial cooling vest in the Hong Kong industries.

Objective: The provision of appropriate personal cooling vests is recognized as an effective measure to combat heat stress. However, personal cooling vests are not widely implemented in the Hong Kong industries. The current study aims to evaluate the usability of a hybrid cooling vest that is associated with the success of its application in industrial settings.

Hybrid cooling vest for cooling between exercise bouts in the heat: Effects and practical considerations.

While continuous cooling strategies may induce some ergonomic problems to occupational workers, cooling between work bouts may be an alternative for cooling them down in hot environments. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of wearing a newly designed hybrid cooling vest (HCV) between two bouts of exercise. Inside a climatic chamber set at an air temperature of 37°C and a relative humidity of 60%, twelve male participants underwent two bouts of intermittent exercise interspersed with a 30min between-bout recovery session, during which HCV or a passive rest without any cooling (PAS) was administered.