Permeation of Silver Sulfadiazine Into TEMPO-Oxidized Bacterial Cellulose as an Antibacterial Agent.

Surface oxidation of bacterial cellulose (BC) was done with the TEMPO-mediated oxidation mechanism system. After that, TEMPO-oxidized bacterial cellulose (TOBC) was impregnated with silver sulfadiazine (AgSD) to prepare nanocomposite membranes. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was carried out to determine the existence of aldehyde groups on BC nanofibers and X-ray diffraction (XRD) demonstrated the degree of crystallinity.

Designing of bacterial cellulose-based superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic membrane for oil/water separation.

The oil/water (o/w) separation is a global challenge because of the increasing water contamination by oil spill accidents, and oil-containing wastewater produced by food, textile, and petrochemical industries. In this study, we have developed bacterial cellulose (BC) based superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic (SUS) membrane for o/w separation. The membrane was designed through a facile method by blending BC nanofibers with silica microparticles (SiO-MPs), which was further modified by bio-inspired polydopamine (PDA) coatings.

Finding branched pathways in metabolic network via atom group tracking.

Finding non-standard or new metabolic pathways has important applications in metabolic engineering, synthetic biology and the analysis and reconstruction of metabolic networks. Branched metabolic pathways dominate in metabolic networks and depict a more comprehensive picture of metabolism compared to linear pathways. Although progress has been developed to find branched metabolic pathways, few efforts have been made in identifying branched metabolic pathways via atom group tracking.

Physicochemical properties of polysaccharides from Ligusticum chuanxiong and analysis of their anti-tumor potential through immunoregulation.

We investigated the extraction, purification, physicochemical properties and biological activity of Ligusticum chuanxiong polysaccharides (LCXPs). Two polysaccharide fractions (Ligusticum chuanxiong [LCX]P-1a and LCXP-3a) were obtained by DEAE Sepharose™ Fast Flow and Sephacryl™S-300 high resolution column chromatography. The results showed that the molecular weight of LCXP-1a and LCXP-3a was 11.

DHODH inhibition synergizes with DNA-demethylating agents in the treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes.

Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) catalyzes a rate-limiting step in de novo pyrimidine nucleotide synthesis. DHODH inhibition has recently been recognized as a potential new approach for treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by inducing differentiation. We investigated the efficacy of PTC299, a novel DHODH inhibitor, for myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

The MIR155 host gene/microRNA-627/HMGB1/NF-κB loop modulates fibroblast proliferation and extracellular matrix deposition.

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF), which is characterized by excessive matrix formation, may ultimately lead to irreversible lung damage and thus death. Fibroblast activation has been regarded as a central event during PF pathogenesis. In our previous study, we confirmed that the miR-627/high-mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1)/Nuclear factor kappa beta (NF-κB) axis modulates transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFβ1)-induced pulmonary fibrosis.

DeepCNV: a deep learning approach for authenticating copy number variations.

Copy number variations (CNVs) are an important class of variations contributing to the pathogenesis of many disease phenotypes. Detecting CNVs from genomic data remains difficult, and the most currently applied methods suffer from an unacceptably high false positive rate. A common practice is to have human experts manually review original CNV calls for filtering false positives before further downstream analysis or experimental validation.

Efficient Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells with Low Voltage Loss Achieved by a Pyridine-Based Dopant-Free Polymer Semiconductor.

Currently, the performance improvement for inverted perovskite solar cells (PVSCs) is mainly limited by the high open circuit voltage (V ) loss caused by detrimental non-radiative recombination (NRR) processes. Herein, we report a simple and efficient way to simultaneously reduce the NRR processes inside perovskites and at the interface by rationally designing a new pyridine-based polymer hole-transporting material (HTM), PPY2, which exhibits suitable energy levels with perovskites, high hole mobility, effective passivation of the uncoordinated Pb and iodide defects, as well as the capability of promoting the formation of high-quality polycrystalline perovskite films. In absence of any dopants, the inverted PVSCs using PPY2 as the HTM deliver an encouraging PCE up to 22.

Wnt signalling pathway in bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most common tumours of the urinary system and is also known as a highly malignant tumour. In addition to conventional diagnosis and treatment methods, recent research has focused on studying the molecular mechanisms related to BC, in the hope that new, less toxic and effective targeted anticancer drugs and new diagnostic markers can be discovered. It is known that the Wingless (Wnt) signalling pathway and its related genes, proteins and other substances are involved in multiple biological processes of various tumours.

Comparison of cytotoxicity of Ag/ZnO and Ag@ZnO nanocomplexes to human umbilical vein endothelial cells in vitro.

Novel metal and metal oxide-based nanocomplexes are being developed due to their superior properties compared with nanoparticles (NPs) based on single composition. In this study, we synthesized Ag-coated ZnO (Ag/ZnO) and Ag-doped ZnO (Ag@ZnO) NPs. The cytotoxicity and mechanisms associated with the synthesized NPs were investigated to understand the influence of Ag positions on biocompatibility of the NPs.

Sustainable, superhydrophobic membranes based on bacterial cellulose for gravity-driven oil/water separation.

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a substrate material with high purity and robust mechanical strength, but due to its small pore size and relatively expensive price, it is restricted as an oil-/water separation membrane. In this study, cheaper plant cellulose needle-leaf bleached kraft pulp (NBKP) was added to BC to increase the pore size of the composite membrane, and a superhydrophobic/superoleophilic membrane was prepared for oil-/water separation. The modified membrane surface displayed a petal-like micro-structure and a water contact angle (WCA) of 162.

Facile High Throughput Wet-Chemical Synthesis Approach Using a Microfluidic-Based Composition and Temperature Controlling Platform.

The wet-chemical technique has been widely applied in material synthesis. In recent years, high throughput (HT) technique has shown its potential in parallel synthesis and the investigation of synthesis parameters. However, traditional ways of HT parallel synthesis require costly equipment and complex operating procedures, restricting their further applications.

Kirigami-Inspired Flexible and Stretchable Zinc-Air Battery Based on Metal-Coated Sponge Electrodes.

The development of efficient and low-cost flexible metal electrodes is significant for flexible rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs). Herein, we reported a new type of flexible metal (zinc and nickel) electrode fabricated a two-step deposition method on polyurethane sponges (PUS) for flexible ZABs. Compared to conventional electrodes, the metal-coated PUS electrodes exhibited great flexibility, softness, and natural mechanical resilience.

Stabilization mechanism of arsenic-sulfide slag by density functional theory calculation of arsenic-sulfide clusters.

Stabilization of arsenic sulfur slag (As‒S slag) is of high importance to prevent the release of deadly As pollutants into environment. However, the molecular understanding on the stability of As‒S slag is missing, which in turn restricts the development of robust approach to solve the challenge. In this work, we investigated the structure-stability relationship of As‒S slag with adopting various As‒S clusters as prototypes by density functional theory (DFT).

Multi-Layer π-Stacked Molecules as Efficient Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters.

Multi-layer π-stacked emitters based on spatially confined donor/acceptor/donor (D/A/D) patterns have been developed to achieve high-efficiency thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). In this case, dual donor moieties and a single acceptor moiety are introduced to form two three-dimensional (3D) emitters, DM-BD1 and DM-BD2, which rely on spatial charge transfer (CT). Owing to the enforced face-to-face D/A/D pattern, effective CT interactions are realized, which lead to high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) of 94.

Immunomodulatory effects of a polysaccharide from Solanum nigrum Linne through TLR4-MyD88 signaling pathway.

Solanum nigrum Linne polysaccharide (SNLP), an active ingredient from Solanum nigrum Linne, has been proposed to inhibit tumor growth and display immunomodulatory activity. However, the molecular mechanism related to immune regulation remains unclear. In the present study, a homogeneous polysaccharide (SNLP-1) was extracted, the immune effects and the underlying molecular mechanisms were investigated.

Precisely Controlling the Position of Bromine on the End Group Enables Well-Regular Polymer Acceptors for All-Polymer Solar Cells with Efficiencies over 15.

Recent advances in the development of polymerized A-D-A-type small-molecule acceptors (SMAs) have promoted the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) over 13%. However, the monomer of an SMA typically consists of a mixture of three isomers due to the regio-isomeric brominated end groups (IC-Br(in) and IC-Br(out)). In this work, the two isomeric end groups are successfully separated, the regioisomeric issue is solved, and three polymer acceptors, named PY-IT, PY-OT, and PY-IOT, are developed, where PY-IOT is a random terpolymer with the same ratio of the two acceptors.

Visualizing Peroxynitrite in Microvessels of the Brain with Stroke Using an Engineered Highly Specific Fluorescent Probe.

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the world, which is associated with malfunction of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) in cerebral microvessels. monitoring these species, such as ONOO, with high selectivity in stroke process is of great significance for early diagnoses and therapies of the disease. Herein, by engineering an indoline-2,3-dione moiety as the recognizing domain, we proposed a novel fluorescence probe with highly specific response toward ONOO, even in the coexistence of other ROS/RNS with high concentration.

The state of the art in kidney and kidney tumor segmentation in contrast-enhanced CT imaging: Results of the KiTS19 challenge.

There is a large body of literature linking anatomic and geometric characteristics of kidney tumors to perioperative and oncologic outcomes. Semantic segmentation of these tumors and their host kidneys is a promising tool for quantitatively characterizing these lesions, but its adoption is limited due to the manual effort required to produce high-quality 3D segmentations of these structures. Recently, methods based on deep learning have shown excellent results in automatic 3D segmentation, but they require large datasets for training, and there remains little consensus on which methods perform best.

A Lambda Red and FLP/FRT-Mediated Site-Specific Recombination System in and Its Application to Enhance the Productivity of Bacterial Cellulose.

has received increasing attention as an important microorganism for the conversion of several carbon sources to bacterial cellulose (BC). However, BC productivity has been impeded by the lack of efficient genetic engineering techniques. In this study, a lambda Red and FLP/FRT-mediated site-specific recombination system was successfully established in .

Efficacy of the novel tubulin polymerization inhibitor PTC-028 for myelodysplastic syndrome.

Monomer tubulin polymerize into microtubules, which are highly dynamic and play a critical role in mitosis. Therefore, microtubule dynamics are an important target for anticancer drugs. The inhibition of tubulin polymerization or depolymerization was previously targeted and exhibited efficacy against solid tumors.

Acceptor plane expansion enhances horizontal orientation of thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters.

Manipulating orientation of organic emitters remains a formidable challenge in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Here, expansion of the acceptor plane of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters was demonstrated to selectively modulate emitting dipole orientation. Two proof-of-the-concept molecules, PXZPyPM and PXZTAZPM, were prepared by introducing a planar 2-phenylpyridine or 2,4,6-triphenyl-1,3,5-triazine substituent into a prototypical molecule (PXZPM) bearing a pyrimidine core and two phenoxazine donors.

Clinical experience of 23 cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the external auditory canal.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the external auditory canal (EAC) is a rare tumor. The present study aimed to describe the clinical features and survival of patients with ACC of the EAC. The present retrospective study included 23 patients (mean age, 51.

A deep-red emission fluorescent probe with long wavelength absorption for viscosity detection and live cell imaging.

Intracellular viscosity is closely related to a series of biological processes and could be a biomarker for various diseases. Herein, we reported a deep-red emission viscosity probe ACI, which showed a turn-on fluorescence effect with excellent selectivity encountering high viscous medium. To assure the practical biological application, ACI demonstrated not only a long wavelength emission at 634 nm but also a long wavelength excitation at 566 nm, which were crucial to afford deeper penetration depth and higher sensitivity in bioimaging.

Lattice-Strain Engineering of Homogeneous NiS Se Core-Shell Nanostructure as a Highly Efficient and Robust Electrocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting.

Developing highly-efficient non-noble-metal electrocatalysts for water splitting is crucial for the development of clean and reversible hydrogen energy. Introducing lattice strain is an effective strategy to develop efficient electrocatalysts. However, lattice strain is typically co-created with heterostructure, vacancy, or substrate effects, which complicate the identification of the strain-activity correlation.