Publications by authors named "Zhi Li Zhang"

For millennia, humans have harnessed thermal energy to treat cancer. However, delivering energy to tumor tissues in traditional hyperthermia remains a significant challenge. Nanotechnology has revolutionized this approach, enabling nanomaterials to target tumors precisely and act as internal heat sources.

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  • * The study aims to create a predictive model for evaluating pressure injury risk using key factors like age, malnutrition, and chronic respiratory failure, validated through extensive data analysis.
  • * Results show the model has a high predictive accuracy, indicating that addressing respiratory and nutritional issues in cancer patients could help lower their risk of pressure injuries in the community.
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Objective: RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) have been recently proven to be involved in the pathogenesis of several diseases. However, few studies elaborated RBPs in regulating osteoarthritis. This study aims to define the function and mechanism of RBPs-PUM2 in chondrocyte apoptosis during osteoarthritis.

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  • Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is important for activating the immune response against cancer and relies heavily on oxidative stress.
  • A new dihydroartemisinin derivative called T-D has been created to specifically target and accumulate in mitochondria, where it generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) that lead to cell stress and death.
  • T-D has shown significantly stronger ICD-inducing effects compared to its parent compound and can effectively inhibit breast cancer metastasis and tumor growth, highlighting its potential use in cancer therapy.
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Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia that is associated with heart failure and stroke, leading sometimes to death. But the pathogenesis of AF remains unclear. Numerous studies have investigated whether the connexin 40 (Cx40) polymorphisms influences the risk of AF, but the results are controversial.

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Introduction: Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is the most common and severe complication of acute herpes zoster. Early treatment of herpes zoster neuralgia is of great significance to reduce the incidence of PHN. This retrospective study evaluated the efficacy and safety of the combination of high-voltage pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) and oxygen-ozone(O-O) injection in patients with acute zoster neuralgia (AZN) who failed to respond to conservative treatment.

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  • - A predictive model was created to help family caregivers and community workers identify the risk of community-acquired pressure injury (CAPI) in hospitalized patients aged 65 and older, based on a case-control study using hospital electronic records.
  • - The model was developed using LASSO regression to select important predictors and a logistic regression to create a nomogram, validated through various statistical analyses and involving over 20,000 subjects.
  • - The nomogram included eight key variables associated with CAPI risk, demonstrating strong predictive performance with AUC values ranging from 0.840 to 0.868, making it a practical tool for non-specialists to facilitate early identification of pressure injuries.
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A novel coagulation factor X (FX) Tyr319Cys mutation (Y99C as chymotrypsin numbering) was identified in a patient with severe bleeding. Unlike the earlier reported Y99A mutant, this mutant can bind and cleave its specific chromogenetic substrate at a normal level, suggesting an intact binding pocket. Here, using molecular dynamics simulations and MM-PBSA calculations on a FX-rivaroxaban (RIV) complex, we confirmed a much stronger binding of RIV in Y99C than in Y99A on a molecular level, which is actually the average result of multiple binding poses in dynamics.

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Background: Herein, we report the genetic, clinical, molecular and biochemical features of two Han Chinese pedigrees with suggested maternally transmitted non-syndromic hearing loss.

Aim: To investigate the pathophysiology of hearing loss associated with mitochondrial tRNA mutations.

Methods: Sixteen subjects from two Chinese families with hearing loss underwent clinical, genetic, molecular, and biochemical evaluations.

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Studies on codon property would deepen our understanding of the origin of primitive life and enlighten biotechnical application. Here, we proposed a quantitative measurement of codon-amino acid association and found that seven out of 13 physicochemical properties have stronger associations with the nucleotide identity at the second codon position, indicating that protein structure and function may associate more closely with it than the other two sites. When extending the effect of codon-amino acid association to protein level, it was found that the correlation between the second codon position (measured by the relative frequencies of nucleobase T and A at this codon site) and hydrophobicity (by the form of GRAVY value) became stronger with 96% genomes having R > 0.

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  • The B3 superfamily consists of large transcription factors in plants that influence growth and flowering, yet their role in ethylene-induced flowering in pineapple hasn't been previously studied.
  • Researchers identified 57 B3 genes in pineapples, classified them into five subfamilies, and found that most were located on 21 linkage groups with evidence of segmental duplication in their evolution.
  • Analysis showed that many B3 genes respond to hormones and stress, with 35 of them being up-regulated after ethylene treatment, suggesting their involvement in the flowering process.
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Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC) is one of most common types of cancer worldwide, and mRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified as prognostic biomarkers in HNSC. In the present study, using gene expression datasets from multiple platforms, survival-associated genes in HNSC were identified. Subsequently, a combination of 17 genes (14 mRNAs and 3 lncRNA) was optimized using random forest variable hunting and a risk score model for HNSC prognosis was developed using a cohort from The Cancer Genome Atlas.

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  • * Twenty-four rats were divided into three groups: control, model (with induced liver injury), and a cell therapy group that received BMSCs after chromium exposure.
  • * Results showed that BMSCs improved liver function, reduced liver cell death, and helped lower stress-related proteins, suggesting that they work by decreasing liver cell apoptosis through specific signaling pathways.
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The present study aimed to explore the repair effect and mechanism of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) transplantation on injured kidneys caused by hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)). Wistar rats were intraperitoneally injected with 0.4 mg/kg•bw Cr (VI) ion solution.

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  • Researchers cloned the open reading frame (ORF) of the enzyme 1-hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)-butenyl 4-diphosphate reductase (PcHDR1) from the plant Phlegmarirus carinatus using RT-PCR and identified it through bioinformatics methods.
  • The PcHDR1 gene, consisting of 1,437 base pairs and encoding a protein of 478 amino acids, showed 78% sequence similarity to a related gene from Ginkgo biloba.
  • This study lays the groundwork for further investigation into the role of PcHDR1 in terpene biosynthesis in P. carinatus.
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Dysregulation of mRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) is one of the most important features of carcinogenesis and cancer development. However, studies integrating the expression of mRNAs and lncRNAs to predict the survival of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC) are still limited, hitherto. In current work, we identified survival related mRNAs and lncRNAs in three datasets (TCGA dataset, E-TABM-302, GSE41613).

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Objective: To establish a new approach to synthesis of diethyl N-[4-[(2,4-diaminopyrido[3,2-d]pyrimidin-6-yl)methylamino]benzoyl]-L-glutamate.

Methods: Target compound (5) was synthesized by the use of (2,4-dioxo-tetrahydropyridopyrimidin-6-yl)methyl acetate (1) as starting material via hydrolysis, chlorination, condensation with diethyl (p-aminobenzoyl)glutamate and aminolysis.

Results: A new approach to synthesis of diethyl N-[4-[(2,4-diaminopyrido[3,2-d]pyrimidin-6-yl)methylamino]benzoyl]-L-glutamate was established.

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Objective: To find the best synthesis method of 6-benzyl-1-[(benzyloxy)methyl]-3-hydroxy-5-(hydroxymethyl) pyrimidine-2,4(1H,3H)-dione e for observing the change of its biological activity after N-3 hydroxylation.

Methods: After trying some N-hydroxylation methods, the target compound was successfully synthesized via one-pot oxidizing process by sodium hydride (NaH) and 3-chloroperbenzoic acid(m-CPBA); the anti-HIV reverse transcriptase (RT) activity and integrase (IN) activity of the target compound was assayed via enzyme-linked immunesorbent assay (ELISA) and phosphorylation of DNA package method.

Results: The target compound could be obtained through the improved m-CPBA oxidative method by only one step, and the yield of the reaction could reach 60%-70%.

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Background: Serum soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) concentrations are increased in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study further evaluated the relationship between plasma sCD40L concentrations and long-term survival of NPC.

Methods: Plasma sCD40L concentrations of 312 patients and 312 healthy controls were determined using an ELISA.

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Ethylene is an important factor that stimulates Hevea brasiliensis to produce natural rubber. 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase (ACS) is a rate-limiting enzyme in ethylene biosynthesis. However, knowledge of the ACS gene family of H.

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Background: Adrenomedullin has been identified as a tumor growth factor. However, few studies have reported its relationship with cancer survival. We evaluated the prognostic value of pretreatment plasma adrenomedullin levels in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

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Protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) has shown strong pro-angiogenesis activity physiologically and pathologically. This study aimed to explore PAR-2 regulation of pro-angiogenesis gene expression and the underlying molecular pathways in gastric cancer cells. MKN28 human gastric cancer cells were treated with trypsin, a PAR-2 activator, and subjected to real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), western blotting and ELISA for gene expression analyses.

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Background: Hypothermia is associated with poor outcome in trauma patients; however, hemorrhagic shock (HS) model with anesthetized swine was different from that of clinical reality. To identify the effects of environmental hypothermia on HS, we investigated hemodynamics and oxygen dynamics in an unanesthetized swine model of HS under simulating hypothermia environment.

Methods: Totally 16 Bama pigs were randomly divided into ambient temperature group (group A) and low temperature group (group B), 8 pigs in each group.

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