Reduced number of IFN-γ producing cells in peripheral blood is a biomarker for patients with renal cell carcinoma.

Renal cell cancer (RCC) is the most lethal of all the common urologic cancers and constitutes 2.2% of all malignancy diagnoses. The incidence of RCC has been steadily increasing in recent decades.

Isolation of a Novel Bat Rhabdovirus with Evidence of Human Exposure in China.

Bats are well-recognized reservoirs of zoonotic viruses. Several spillover events from bats to humans have been reported, causing severe epidemic or endemic diseases including severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), SARS-CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome-CoV (MERS-CoV), henipaviruses, and filoviruses. In this study, a novel rhabdovirus species, provisionally named Rhinolophus rhabdovirus DPuer (DPRV), was identified from the horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus affinis) in Yunnan province, China, using next-generation sequencing.

Thin-Film Composite Membrane Prepared by Interfacial Polymerization on the Integrated ZIF-L Nanosheets Interface for Pervaporation Dehydration.

Thin-film composite (TFC) membranes are attracting wide attention because their ultrathin selective layer usually corresponds to the higher membrane flux for pervaporation. However, the direct preparation of the TFC membranes on ceramic substrates confronted with the great difficulties because the larger pores on ceramic substrate surfaces are detrimental to the formation of an intact polyamide (PA) selective layer produced by interfacial polymerization (IP) reaction. Here, the integrated ZIF-L nanosheets were proposed to be used as an assistance interlayer for the first time to eliminate the existence of the pores of the ceramic support, and provides a better basis for the formation of an intact PA selective layer by IP reaction between TMC and ethylenediamine (EDA).

Research on Thermal Decomposition Kinetics and Thermal Safety for a New Epoxiconazole Crystal.

To clarify the thermal safety inherent in a new epoxiconazole crystal, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and adiabatic accelerating rate calorimetry (ARC) were used for testing and research. The Friedman method and model method were used to analyze thermal decomposition kinetics based on the DSC data, and the -order and autocatalytic decomposition reaction kinetic models were established. The double scan method was utilized to verify the autocatalytic effect during the decomposition process.

Mechanistic Insights into the Role of Polydopamine Interlayer toward Improved Separation Performance of Polyamide Nanofiltration Membranes.

Interlayered thin-film nanocomposite membranes (TFNi) are an emerging type of membranes with great potential to overcome the permeability-selectivity upper bound of conventional thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes. However, the exact roles of the interlayer and the corresponding mechanisms leading to enhanced separation performance of TFNi membranes remain poorly understood. This study reports a polydopamine (PDA)-intercalated TFNi nanofiltration membrane (PA-PSF2, PDA coating time of 2 h) that possessed nearly an order of magnitude higher water permeance (14.

FeO/PVDF catalytic membrane treatment organic wastewater with simultaneously improved permeability, catalytic property and anti-fouling.

FeO/Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) three-channel hollow fiber catalytic membrane was successfully fabricated via non-solvent induced phase inversion and used for organic wastewater degradation in this work. The effects of FeO nanoparticles addition on the surface and cross-section morphologies, hydrophilicity and thermal properties of the catalytic membrane were characterized by the field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), water contact angle and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. The obtained catalytic membrane exhibited good hydrophilicity, a high pure water flux of 175.

Double-Crosslinked GO Interlayer Framework as a Pervaporation Hybrid Membrane with High Performance.

Graphene oxide (GO), as a two-dimensional structure material, has attracted widespread attention in the field of molecule sieving. However, GO-based membranes usually exhibit undesirable separation performance because the microstructure of GO is difficult to adjust. Herein, a novel double-crosslinking strategy for tuning the interlayer spacing of GO is reported.

Seven-senescence-associated gene signature predicts overall survival for Asian patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Cellular senescence is a recognized barrier for progression of chronic liver diseases to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The expression of a cluster of genes is altered in response to environmental factors during senescence. However, it is questionable whether these genes could serve as biomarkers for HCC patients.

Tannic Acid/Fe Nanoscaffold for Interfacial Polymerization: Toward Enhanced Nanofiltration Performance.

Conventional thin-film composite (TFC) membranes suffer from the trade-off relationship between permeability and selectivity, known as the "upper bound". In this work, we report a high performance thin-film composite membrane prepared on a tannic acid (TA)-Fe nanoscaffold (TFC) to overcome such upper bound. Specifically, a TA-Fe nanoscaffold was first coated onto a polysulfone substrate, followed by performing an interfacial polymerization reaction between trimesoyl chloride (TMC) and piperazine (PIP).

Evaluation of Ex-PRESS implantation combined with phacoemulsification in primary angle-closure glaucoma.

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of Ex-PRESS (R50) implantation combined with phacoemulsification in primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) patients with cataract.Twenty-four eyes of 24 patients with unregulated PACG underwent combined cataract and glaucoma surgery. After phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation, the Ex-PRESS (R-50) was inserted into the anterior chamber under a scleral flap.

Bacterial Light-Harvesting Complexes Showing Giant Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Response as Revealed by Hyper-Rayleigh Light Scattering.

The second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of light-harvesting complexes (LHs) from the purple photosynthetic bacteria Thermochromatium (Tch.) tepidum were investigated for the first time by means of hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS). The carotenoid (Car) molecules bound to the isolated LH1 and LH2 proteins gave rise to second-harmonic scattering; however, they showed an opposite effect of the collective contribution from Car, that is, the first hyperpolarizability (β) reduced substantially from (10 510 ± 370) × 10(-30) esu for LH1 to (360 ± 120) × 10(-30) esu for LH2.

Insulin Resistance Predicts Virological Response to Interferon-α in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients.

Goals: To elucidate impact of insulin resistance (IR) on the response to interferon-α (IFN-α) therapy in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients.

Background: Metabolic factors influencing the virological response of CHB patients on IFN-α treatment are still unexplored.

Study: Eighty CHB patients were treated with IFN-α for 48 weeks.

FAS Grafted Electrospun Poly(vinyl alcohol) Nanofiber Membranes with Robust Superhydrophobicity for Membrane Distillation.

This study develops a novel type of electrospun nanofiber membranes (ENMs) with high permeability and robust superhydrophobicity for membrane distillation (MD) process by mimicking the unique unitary microstructures of ramee leaves. The superhydrophobic ENMs were fabricated by the eletrospinning of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), followed by chemical cross-linking with glutaraldehyde and surface modification via low surface energy fluoroalkylsilane (FAS). The resultant FAS grafted PVA (F-PVA) nanofiber membranes were endowed with self-cleaning properties with water contact angles of 158° and sliding angles of 4° via the modification process, while retaining their high porosities and interconnected open structures.

In vitro immunomodulatory activity of interferon alpha on toll-like receptor 9 signaling pathway in chronic hepatitis B.

Interferon alpha (IFN-α) is registered for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) treatment. However, the antiviral mechanism of IFN-α and the biological function of many IFN-α responsive genes have not been fully elucidated. We investigated to determine the regulative effect of IFN-α on toll-like receptor (TLR) 9 signaling in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from CHB patients in vitro.

[Quality assessment and classification of persicae semen based on HPLC-UV fingerprint].

Persicae Semen (PS), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been widely used for the syndrome of blood stasis in China since the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the present study, we developed an HPLC-UV fingerprint analysis method for the quality control of PS. The HPLC fingerprint was performed on Shimadzu Inertsil C18 column (4.

Hepatitis B virus infection in clustering of infection in families with unfavorable prognoses in northwest China.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and its associated liver diseases have characteristics of familial clustering in China. However, the reasons for this are not understood fully. To address this issue, the prevalence HBV infection and the characteristics of unfavorable prognoses in clustering of infection in families in northwest China were investigated.

Drug discovery prospect from untapped species: indications from approved natural product drugs.

Due to extensive bioprospecting efforts of the past and technology factors, there have been questions about drug discovery prospect from untapped species. We analyzed recent trends of approved drugs derived from previously untapped species, which show no sign of untapped drug-productive species being near extinction and suggest high probability of deriving new drugs from new species in existing drug-productive species families and clusters. Case histories of recently approved drugs reveal useful strategies for deriving new drugs from the scaffolds and pharmacophores of the natural product leads of these untapped species.

Retinylisoflavonoid as a novel membrane antioxidant.

We report a novel molecular dyad as an antioxidant, retinylisoflavonoid, with a retinal analogue C(22)-aldehyde and the isoflavonoid daidzein covalently linked. Its physicochemical properties, pK(a) (pK(a1) = 8.45, pK(a2) = 11.

In-silico approaches to multi-target drug discovery : computer aided multi-target drug design, multi-target virtual screening.

Multi-target drugs against selective multiple targets improve therapeutic efficacy, safety and resistance profiles by collective regulations of a primary therapeutic target together with compensatory elements and resistance activities. Efforts have been made to employ in-silico methods for facilitating the search and design of selective multi-target agents. These methods have shown promising potential in facilitating drug discovery directed at selective multiple targets.

Consensus model for identification of novel PI3K inhibitors in large chemical library.

Phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) inhibitors have treatment potential for cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation and asthma. A consensus model consisting of three base classifiers (AODE, kNN, and SVM) trained with 1,283 positive compounds (PI3K inhibitors), 16 negative compounds (PI3K non-inhibitors) and 64,078 generated putative negatives was developed for predicting compounds with PI3K inhibitory activity of IC(50) < or = 10 microM. The consensus model has an estimated false positive rate of 0.

Update of TTD: Therapeutic Target Database.

Increasing numbers of proteins, nucleic acids and other molecular entities have been explored as therapeutic targets, hundreds of which are targets of approved and clinical trial drugs. Knowledge of these targets and corresponding drugs, particularly those in clinical uses and trials, is highly useful for facilitating drug discovery. Therapeutic Target Database (TTD) has been developed to provide information about therapeutic targets and corresponding drugs.