LncRNA HOTTIP as a diagnostic biomarker for acute respiratory distress syndrome in patients with sepsis and to predict the short-term clinical outcome: a case-control study.

Background: The present research aims to investigate the clinical diagnostic value of LncRNA HOXA distal transcript antisense RNA (HOTTIP) in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) of sepsis and its predictive significance for mortality.

Methods: One hundred eighteenth patients with sepsis and 96 healthy individuals were enrolled. RT-qPCR to examine HOTTIP levels.

Far-Red Light Triggered Production of Bispecific T Cell Engagers (BiTEs) from Engineered Cells for Antitumor Application.

Bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs), which have shown potent antitumor activity in humans, are emerging as one of the most promising immunotherapeutic strategies for cancer treatment in recent years. However, the clinical application of BiTEs nowadays has been hampered by their short half-life in the circulatory system due to their low molecular weight and rapid renal clearance. Inevitable continuous infusion of BiTEs has become a routine operation in order to achieve effective treatment, although it is costly, inconvenient, time-consuming, and even painful for patients in some cases.

AECOPD research in the past ten years: a bibliographic analysis based on Web of Science.

Background: Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD (AECOPD) can cause a significant decrease in patient lung function, and are the main reason for hospitalization and death of patients with COPD. This study aims to use bibliometric methods to analyze the characteristics of AECOPD related research in the past 10 years [2010-2020] and provide references for future research.

Methods: This study used subject terms to search AECOPD-related documents published in 2010-2020 in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) database.

Waste activated sludge lysate treatment: Resource recovery and refractory organics degradation.

Sludge lysate is an unavoidable and refractory liquid produced from the waste activated sludge hydrothermal pyrolysis, which contains plenty of hazardous refractory organic compounds and value-added organic resources. Here, the proof of concept for an integrated strategy that couples technically compatible pretreatment to microbial electrolysis assisted AD (ME-AD) system is investigated for sludge lysate treatment and resource recovery. The pretreatment process shows a positive effectiveness on the ME-AD by reducing the organic load and inhibitory matters, which promote the residual refractory organic compounds (Maillard reaction products and humic acid-like substances) and carbon sources further biodegradation and bio-transformation.

Cytosolic Delivery of Thiolated Mn-cGAMP Nanovaccine to Enhance the Antitumor Immune Responses.

As a stimulator of interferon gene (STING), cyclic dinucleotide activates a broad cellular immune response for anti-cancer immunotherapy (CIT). However, the inherent of instability of 2' 3'-cyclic-GMP-AMP (cGAMP) with poor cellular targeting, rapid clearance, and inefficient transport to the cytoplasm seriously hinders cGAMP potency. Here, a thiolated and Mn coordinated cyclic dinucleotide nanovaccine (termed as Mn-cGAMP NVs) to enable direct cytosolic co-delivery of cGAMP and Mn to potentiate the antitumor immune response is presented.

Microbial electrolysis enhanced bioconversion of waste sludge lysate for hydrogen production compared with anaerobic digestion.

Waste sludge lysate was produced by dehydration after pyrolysis of waste activated sludge. In addition to dominant components such as protein, polysaccharide, and volatile fatty acids (VFAs), it also contained melanoidins, which produced from Maillard reaction. The inclusion of melanoidins will lead to poor biological degradation in conventional anaerobic digestion (AD).

Antioxidant preconditioning improves therapeutic outcomes of adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells through enhancing intrahepatic engraftment efficiency in a mouse liver fibrosis model.

Background: Although it has been preclinically suggested that adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cell (ADSC)-based therapy could effectively treat chronic liver diseases, the hepatic engraftment of ADSCs is still extremely low, which severely limits their long-term efficacy for chronic liver diseases. This study was designed to investigate the impact of antioxidant preconditioning on hepatic engraftment efficiency and therapeutic outcomes of ADSC transplantation in liver fibrotic mice.

Methods: Liver fibrosis model was established by using intraperitoneal injection of carbon tetrachloride (CCl) in the male C57BL/6 mice.

Inflammatory Micro-environment Contributes to Stemness Properties and Metastatic Potential of HCC via the NF-κB/miR-497/SALL4 Axis.

Increasing evidence has demonstrated the essential role of inflammatory micro-environment in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Some cancer cells in tumor maintain typical stemness properties and, with the capacity of self-renewal, are thought to be crucial for the initiation and maintenance of tumors as well as their metastasis. Although both inflammatory micro-environment and stemness properties played crucial roles in tumor initiation and development, currently it is still unclear whether and how the inflammatory micro-environment promotes cancer stemness properties.

Antioxidants inhibit cell senescence and preserve stemness of adipose tissue-derived stem cells by reducing ROS generation during long-term in vitro expansion.

Background: Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) are promising candidates for regenerative medicine. However, long-term in vitro passaging leads to stemness loss and cell senescence of ADSCs, resulting in failure of ADSC-based therapy.

Methods: In this study, ADSCs were treated with low dose of antioxidants (reduced glutathione and melatonin) with anti-aging and stem cell protection properties in the in vitro passaging, and the cell functions including stem cell senescence, cell migration, cell multidirectional differentiation potential, and ROS content were carefully analyzed.

An Optogenetic Controllable T Cell System for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Immunotherapy.

T-cell based immunotherapy increasingly shows broad application prospects in cancer treatment, but its performance in solid tumors is far from our expectation, partly due to the re-inhibition of infiltrated T cells by immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Here we presented an artificial synthetic optogenetic circuit to control the immune responses of engineered T cells on demand for promoting and enhancing the therapeutic efficiency of cancer immunotherapy. We designed and synthesized blue-light inducible artificial immune signaling circuit and transgene expression system.

Comparison of efficiency of inhaled and intravenous corticosteroid on pregnant women with COPD and the effects on the expression of PCT and hs-CRP.

The efficiency of inhaled and systemic corticosteroids on pregnant women with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was investigated. The study also compared the effects of the administration on the expression of inflammatory mediator procalcitonin (PCT) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). A total of 120 pregnant COPD patients were recruited and randomly allocated into the following three groups: Intravenous corticosteroid treatment group (n=42), inhaled corticosteroid treatment group (n=38), and control group (without any corticosteroid treatment, n=40).