Investigation of the Antibacterial Properties of Janus Micromotors Catalytic Propelled by Manganese Dioxide and Hydrogen Peroxide to Reduce Bacterial Density.

Between 2015 and 2017, 90% of Chinese adults were reported to have periodontitis of varying degrees, highlighting the importance of novel, inexpensive, and affordable treatments for the public. The fact that more and more pathogens are becoming resistant to antibiotics further highlights this prevalence. This article addresses a novel micromotor capable of generating reactive oxygen species, as proven by a Fenton-like reaction.

Nonequilibrium Dynamic Phase Diagram for Transmembrane Transport of Active Particles.

In recent years, there has been considerable push toward the biomedical applications with active particles, which have great potential to revolutionize disease diagnostics and therapy. The direct penetration of active particles through the cell membrane leads to more efficient intracellular delivery than previously considered endocytosis processes but may cause membrane disruption. Understanding fundamental behaviors of cell membranes in response to such extreme impacts by active particles is crucial to develop active particle-based biomedical technologies and manage health and safety issues in this emerging field.

Estimation of the cumulative risks from dietary exposure to cadmium, arsenic, nickel, lead and chromium in Guangzhou, China.

Heavy metals, such as cadmium and lead, are ubiquitously present as single substances and compounds in the environment. These substances have various and overlapping health effects. Consumption of contaminated foods is the main pathway of the human exposure, however, estimation of their dietary exposure in combination with health risk analysis, particularly at various endpoints, has rarely been reported.

Simultaneous deposition of tannic acid derivative and covalent conjugation of poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) for the construction of antifouling coatings.

Bacterial adhesion and subsequent colonization play an important role in the failure of biomedical implants and devices. Thus, development of a simple surface modification strategy to combat bacterial adhesion is highly desirable. In this work, "one-pot" fabrication of antifouling coatings based on simultaneous surface adhesion of trihydroxyphenyl and dihydroxyphenyl moieties of tannic acid (TA) derivative and covalent conjugation of hydrophilic poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) (PMOXA) was demonstrated.

Structure-Guided Design of Halofuginone Derivatives as ATP-Aided Inhibitors Against Bacterial Prolyl-tRNA Synthetase.

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) are promising antimicrobial targets due to their essential roles in protein translation, and expanding their inhibitory mechanisms will provide new opportunities for drug discovery. We report here that halofuginone (HF), an herb-derived medicine, moderately inhibits prolyl-tRNA synthetases (ProRSs) from various pathogenic bacteria. A cocrystal structure of ProRS (ProRS) with HF and an ATP analog was determined, which guided the design of new HF analogs.

Probabilistic Risk Assessment of Dietary Exposure to Cadmium in Residents of Guangzhou, China-Young Children Potentially at a Health Risk.

Cadmium (Cd) and its compounds are hazardous environmental pollutants with renal toxicity and human carcinogenicity, with ingestion of contaminated foods representing the major mode of exposure. There have been a number of reports evaluating the Cd content in various foods; however, regarding the actual risk posed by dietary cadmium exposure, only a few reports are available in which single point evaluation (less accurate than multiple point evaluation) was employed. In this study, we used a margin of exposure (MOE) model and @RISK software (for multiple evaluation) to evaluate Cd-related health risk in the local Guangzhou residents at varying ages, through a comparison between the estimated monthly exposures and the provisional tolerable monthly intake (0.

Saucerneol attenuates nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells proliferation and metastasis through selectively targeting Grp94.

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is highly prevalent in southern China. The remote metastasis of advanced NPC requires chemotherapeutic treatments to reduce the mortality. Our previous work revealed that saucerneol (SN) showed cytotoxicity against several nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cells.

Surface co-deposition of polypyrrole nanoparticles and tannic acid for photothermal bacterial eradication.

Bacterial infections on implantable materials can cause severe complications for affected patients, posing a serious threat to human health. Therefore, the development of appropriate surface modification strategies to construct the antibacterial platforms on medical implants are urgently needed. In this work, the poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-stabilized polypyrrole nanoparticles (PVA-PPy NPs) were prepared by oxidative polymerization using FeCl as the oxidant.

Tissue-specific accumulation, transformation, and depuration of fipronil in adult crucian carp (Carassius auratus).

Accumulation and biotransformation of pesticides in fish tissues are essential to assess their toxicity and associated human exposure risk. The mechanisms on time-dependent and tissue-specific accumulation and transformation of fipronil in adult fish are limited. An experiment consisting of 25-d uptake of fipronil at two levels (10 and 50 μg/L) and 25-d depuration in adult crucian carp (Carassius auratus) was conducted.

Detection of folate receptor-positive circulating tumor cells as a biomarker for diagnosis, prognostication, and therapeutic monitoring in breast cancer.

Objectives: This study is to explore the clinical significance of folate receptor-positive circulating tumor cells (FR CTC) in the early diagnosis and disease progress in patients with breast cancer.

Methods: Folate receptor-positive circulating tumor cells was enriched from peripheral blood of the patients with immunomagnetic separation method and quantitated by folate receptor on the CTC with the ligand-targeted PCR.

Results: The levels of FR CTC were significantly higher in breast cancer patients compared with healthy controls.

Discovery of novel tRNA-amino acid dual-site inhibitors against threonyl-tRNA synthetase by fragment-based target hopping.

Threonyl-tRNA synthetase (ThrRS) is a key member of the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (aaRS) family that plays essential roles in protein biosynthesis, and ThrRS inhibitors have potential in the therapy of multiple diseases, such as microbial infections and cancers. Based on a unique tRNA-amino acid dual-site inhibitory mechanism identified recently with the herb-derived prolyl-tRNA synthetase (ProRS) inhibitor halofuginone (HF), a series of compounds have been designed and synthesized by employing a fragment-based target hopping approach to simultaneously target the tRNA and l-threonine binding pockets of ThrRS. Among them, compound 30d showed an IC value of 1.

Discovery of diverse diterpenoid scaffolds from Euphorbia antiquorum and their activity against RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis.

Seven new diterpenoids, euphorantones A-D (1, 3, 6, and 10), 8,12,13-epi-3,7,12-O-triacetyl-8-O-(2-methylbutanoyl)-ingol (9), 8,12,13-epi-3,12-O-diacetyl-7-O-benzoyl-8-methoxyingol (11), 2,3-epi-7,12-diacetate-8-benzoate-ingol (12), together with eighteen known compounds (2, 4-5, 7-8, and 13-25), were isolated from the aerial parts of Euphorbia antiquorum L.. The structures of new compounds 1, 3, 6, and 9-12 were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analyses.

Two new lignans from the aerial parts of Saururus chinensis with cytotoxicity toward nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Two new lignans (1 and 12), together with 15 known compounds (2-11 and 13-17), were isolated from the aerial parts of Saururus chinensis Baill. Their structures were determined through extensive spectroscopic analyses. All the isolates were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against four human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells (HONE1, CNE1, CNE2, and SUNE1).

Dietary Lead Exposure and Associated Health Risks in Guangzhou, China.

Lead exposure is associated with a wide range of adverse effects on human health. The principal exposure route in the general population is through the diet. In this study, we estimate the dietary lead intake and associated health risks among the residents of Guangzhou, China.

Monomeric and Dimeric Cytotoxic Guaianolide-Type Sesquiterpenoids from the Aerial Parts of Chrysanthemum indicum.

Twelve new guaianolide-type sesquiterpenoids (1-12) and five known guaianolide derivatives (13-17) were isolated from an aqueous ethanol extract of the aerial parts of Chrysanthemum indicum. Their structures were determined through spectroscopic data analysis. The absolute configurations of the new compounds were assigned by X-ray crystallography and electronic circular dichroism.

Chemical constituents from Daphne tangutica and their cytotoxicity against nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells.

Two new sesquiterpenoids (1-2), together with 30 known compounds including one sesquiterpenoid (3), six diterpenoids (4-9), fourteen lignans (10-23), and nine other kinds of compounds (24-32), were isolated from the stems of Daphne tangutica Maxim. Their structures were determined through extensive spectroscopic analyses, and the absolute configuration of daphnoid A (1) and B (2) were determined by the experimental and calculated electron circular dichroism (ECD) spectra. All the isolates were evaluated against two human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells (HONE-1 and SUNE-1).

Internal-Modified Dithiol DNA-Directed Au Nanoassemblies: Geometrically Controlled Self-Assembly and Quantitative Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Properties.

In this work, a hierarchical DNA-directed self-assembly strategy to construct structure-controlled Au nanoassemblies (NAs) has been demonstrated by conjugating Au nanoparticles (NPs) with internal-modified dithiol single-strand DNA (ssDNA) (Au-B-A or A-B-Au-B-A). It is found that the dithiol-ssDNA-modified Au NPs and molecule quantity of thiol-modified ssDNA grafted to Au NPs play critical roles in the assembly of geometrically controlled Au NAs. Through matching Au-DNA self-assembly units, geometrical structures of the Au NAs can be tailored from one-dimensional (1D) to quasi-2D and 2D.