Turning Waste into Treasure: Functionalized Biomass-Derived Carbon Dots for Superselective Visualization and Eradication of Gram-Positive Bacteria.

Gram-positive bacteria pose significant threats to human health, necessitating the development of targeted bacterial detection and eradication strategies. Nevertheless, current approaches often suffer from poor targeting specificity. Herein, the study utilizes purple rice lixivium to synthesize biomass carbon dots (termed BCDs) with wheat germ agglutinin-like residues for precisely targeting Gram-positive bacteria.

A Metal-Polyphenol-Based Antidepressant for Alleviating Colitis-Associated Mental Disorders.

Emerging evidence suggests that patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are predisposed to psychosocial disturbances, such as depression and anxiety. Regrettably, clinical antidepressants exhibit unsatisfactory therapeutic efficacy in IBD-associated psychosocial disturbances, primarily attributed to the inherent intestinal disorders and intricate bidirectional relationship between the gut and the brain. Herein, we report a metal-polyphenol-based antidepressant to alleviate mental disorders in dextran sulfate sodium-induced experimental acute colitis mice via modulating the microbiota-gut-brain axis.

Iodine/soluble starch cryogel: An iodine-based antiseptic with instant water-solubility, improved stability, and potent bactericidal activity.

Iodine (I) as a broad-spectrum antiseptic has been widely used for treating bacterial infections. However, I has low water-solubility and sublimes under ambient conditions, which limits its practical antibacterial applications. The highly specific and sensitive reaction between I and starch discovered 200 years ago has been extensively applied in analytical chemistry, but the antibacterial activity of the I-starch complex is rarely investigated.

Intestinal Delivery of Probiotics: Materials, Strategies, and Applications.

Probiotics with diverse and crucial properties and functions have attracted broad interest from many researchers, who adopt intestinal delivery of probiotics to modulate the gut microbiota. However, the major problems faced for the therapeutic applications of probiotics are the viability and colonization of probiotics during their processing, oral intake, and subsequent delivery to the gut. The challenges of simple oral delivery (stability, controllability, targeting, etc.

Knocking down AR promotes osteoblasts to recruit prostate cancer cells by altering exosomal circ-DHPS/miR-214-3p/CCL5 pathway.

Tumor-derived exosomes have been shown to play a key role in organ-specific metastasis, and the androgen receptor regulates prostate cancer (PCa) progression. It is unclear whether the androgen receptor regulates the recruitment of prostate cancer cells to the bone microenvironment, even bone metastases, through exosomes. Here, we found that exosomes isolated from PCa cells after knocking down androgen receptor (AR) or enzalutamide treatment can facilitate the migration of prostate cancer cells to osteoblasts.

Carbon Dots as Drug Delivery Vehicles for Antimicrobial Applications: A Minireview.

Carbon dots are small carbon nanoparticles with intrinsic photoluminescence. Because of the advantages such as good biocompatibility and water dispersity, many researchers have applied carbon dots as delivery platforms of antimicrobial agents. Compared with the free small-molecule antimicrobial agents alone, the carbon dot-based systems may exhibit enhanced antimicrobial activity, increased stability, improved cellular uptake, and reduced side effects.

Serum IgE profiles in Chinese pollinosis patients with grass pollen sensitisation.

Purpose: Pollen from trees, grasses, and weeds is a common allergen source. The characteristics of pollen allergy in China are obviously different from Europe. Most studies have focused on tree and weed pollen, but there is a paucity of data on grass pollen sensitisation in China.

Regional Differences in Food Allergies.

The prevalence of food allergies is increasing worldwide. To understand the regional specificities of food allergies and develop effective therapeutic interventions, extensive regional epidemiological studies are necessary. While data regarding incidence, prevalence, regional variation, and treatment in food allergies are available for western countries, such studies may not be available in many Asian countries.

The Acute Effects of Cigarette Smoking on the Functional State of High Density Lipoprotein.

Background: Cigarette smoking disturbs plasma lipid level and lipoprotein metabolism; however, the effects of smoking on the functional state of high density lipoprotein (HDL) are still not clear. This study aimed to determine the antioxidant and antichemotactic properties of HDL and HDL-mediated cholesterol efflux in healthy subjects after cigarette smoking.

Materials And Methods: Healthy male subjects, including nonsmokers (n = 16) and chronic smokers (n = 8), were enrolled.