具有泵送控释特性的肠靶向海藻酸钙基Janus胶囊

本研究成功开发了一种具有泵送控释特性的新型肠靶向θ型胶囊,用于疏水性药物的可控释放。该胶囊由海藻酸钙-壳聚糖/鱼精蛋白/二氧化硅(ACPSi)复合壳和呈θ形状的两个腔室组成(θ-ACPSi),两个腔室分别封装有药物和助推剂。肠溶性羟丙甲纤维素酞酸醋(HPMCP)微球嵌入到药室的外壳中。θ-ACPSi的外壳在胃部环境中为所封装的药物提供了更好的保护,而在肠道中表现出出色的肠靶向药物释放特性。以吲哚美辛为模型药物、聚丙烯酸(PAA)为助推剂,药室壳层“微通道”的打开和助推室中PAA的溶胀均有助于提高高浓度吲哚美辛的释放速率,保证了吲哚美辛在小肠部位具有恒定的释放速率。在胃中(pH=2.5),只有不到1%的吲哚美辛被释放。然而,当θ-ACPSi胶囊进入小肠(pH=6.8)时,药室外壳中的HPMCP微球因溶解而打开“微通道”,而PAA溶胀以提供泵送动力。结果,超过60%的吲哚美辛在小肠中以恒定速度释放。所制备的θ-ACPSi胶囊为开发响应型泵送控释系统和肠靶向药物递送系统提供了一种潜在的新型模式。

《春日忆李白》:文人相轻还是相亲?

《春日忆李白》颔联“清新庾开府,俊逸鲍参军”以及末句“重与细论文”曾引发一种别样的“文人相轻”论。考究杜诗全集,杜甫对李白其人其诗的总体评价是褒扬。庾信、鲍照、阴铿都是杜甫生平最推崇的诗人。杜甫将李白与他们相比,并非“语含讥意”。杜甫与李白皆推崇与“清新”“俊逸”相关的诗风。“清新”诗风指向“清丽爽朗、流动自然;立意创新,不拘一格”,“俊逸”诗风指向“俊拔超逸、潇洒豪放”,二者在某种程度上均与“风骨”相联系,体现了盛唐诗人的总体审美倾向。《春日忆李白》反映出杜甫对李白的相亲相厚,而非相轻相忌。

Exposure to environmental bisphenol A inhibits HTR-8/SVneo cell migration and invasion

Environmental pollutants,such as bisphenol A(BPA) have recently been implicated in the development of adverse birth outcomes.However,the underlying teratogenic mechanisms remain unclear.We investigated the effects of BPA on the migration and invasion of human primary extravillous trophoblast HTR-8/SVneo cells.Our results indicated that BPA reduced cell migration and invasion.Moreover,it altered the ratio of matrix metalloproteinases(MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of MMPs(TIMPs) by downregulating MMP-2 and MMP-9,and upregulating TIMP-1 and TIMP-2.Furthermore,BPA suppressed integrin β1,integrin α5,and vimentin.Interestingly,BPA-induced invasion was partially restored by G15,a membrane G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor 30 antagonist.We further revealed that 42 proteins were differentially expressed by mass spectrometry analysis,which could be divided into three categories based on gene ontology including biological process,cellular component,and molecular function.These results suggest that BPA reduces HTR-8/SVneo cell migration and invasion by downregulating MMP-2 and MMP-9,up-regulating TIMP-1 and TIMP-2,and suppressing adhesion molecules.

Triclosan inhibits the activation of human periodontal ligament fibroblasts induced by lipopolysaccharide from Porphyromonas gingivalis

Periodontitis is a highly prevalent,chronic,non-specific,and immunologically devastating disease of periodontal tissues,caused by microbial infection.This study aims to examine the efficacy and protective mechanism of triclosan(TCS),a bisphenolic,non-cationic component of oral care products,against periodontal inflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide purified from Porphyromonas gingivalis(LPS-PG).TCS markedly downregulated interleukin-6(IL-6),IL-8,and IL-15 in human periodontal ligament fibroblasts(HPDLFs)treated with LPS-PG.By using a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS)approach,318 differentially expressed proteins(161 upregulated and 157 downregulated)were identified in TCS-pretreated HPDLFs.TCS upregulated HSPA5 and HSP90B1 but downregulated HSPA2.Besides,TCS upregulated miR-548i in HPDLFs,which downregulated IL-15.These results indicate that TCS attenuates the activation of HPDLFs and downregulates the inflammatory cytokines through various mechanisms,thus highlighting its protective role in periodontal inflammation.

Tuning the alignment of pentacene on copper substrate by annealing-assistant surface functionalization

Controlling the alignment and packing structure of organic molecules on solid substrate surfaces at molecule level is essential to develop high-performance organic thin film(OTF)devices.Pentacene,which is a typical p-type semiconductor material usually adopts lying-down geometry on metal substrates owning toπ-d coupling between pentacene and metal substrates.However,in this study,we found that pentacene molecules can be adsorbed on an anneal-treated Cu(111)surface with their long axis perpendicular to substrate surface.Highly ordered single-layer pentacene film with stand-up molecular geometry was achieved on this substrate.It was found that the functionalization of Cu surface with C=O groups due to annealing treatment should be accounted for standing-up geometry of pentacene on Cu substrate.This observation shed light on the tuning of the alignment and packing structure of organic molecules.

Mismatch repair gene hMSH2 protein as predictive maker for gastric carcinoma

Objective: To study the possibility of mismatch repair gene hMSH2 as a marker to predict the occurrence of gastric carcinoma. Methods: Immunohistochemical method was used to detect hMSH2 protein expressions of gastric carci- nomas (carcinoma group) and their surrounding epithelia (surrounding epithelium group) in patients and the epithelia (normal epithelium group) in persons without carcinoma. Results: The positive rates of hMSH2 protein expression in nucleus of carcinoma, surrounding epithelium and normal epithelium groups were 44.94% (71/158), 28.48% (45/158) and 11.76% (4/34), respectively (P=0.000); the positive rates of hMSH2 protein expression in plasma of the 3 groups were 37.97% (60/158), 27.85% (44/158) and 23.53% (8/34), respectively (P=0.084); the positive rates of hMSH2 protein expression in both nucleus and plasma of the 3 groups were 20.89% (33/158), 17.72% (28/158) and 2.94% (1/34), respectively (P=0.045). Although the difference of positive rates between carcinoma and surrounding epithelium groups was not significant (P=0.476), both of them were higher than that of normal epithelium group (P=0.018). Conclusion: Our findings show that the detection of hMSH2 protein expression in gastric epithelia may help to predict and diagnose gastric carcinoma.

A general truncated regularization framework for contrast-preserving variational signal and image restoration: Motivation and implementation

Variational methods have become an important kind of methods in signal and image restoration—a typical inverse problem. One important minimization model consists of the squared ?_2 data fidelity(corresponding to Gaussian noise) and a regularization term constructed by a potential function composed of first order difference operators. It is well known that total variation(TV) regularization, although achieved great successes,suffers from a contrast reduction effect. Using a typical signal, we show that, actually all convex regularizers and most nonconvex regularizers have this effect. With this motivation, we present a general truncated regularization framework. The potential function is a truncation of existing nonsmooth potential functions and thus flat on(τ, +∞) for some positive τ. Some analysis in 1 D theoretically demonstrate the good contrast-preserving ability of the framework. We also give optimization algorithms with convergence verification in 2 D, where global minimizers of each subproblem(either convex or nonconvex) are calculated. Experiments numerically show the advantages of the framework.

Immunohistochemical analysis of PD-L1 and tumor-infiltrating immune cells expression in the tumor microenvironment of primary signet ring cell carcinoma of the prostate

Primary signet ring cell carcinoma(SRCC)of the prostate is a rare neoplasm.However,its potential tumorigenic mechanism,clinicopathological features,and prognostic outcome have not been systematically described.To determine the pathogenic mechanism,we detected distributions of programmed cell death-ligand 1(PD-L1),programmed death 1(PD-1),and cellular components in the tumor microenvironment,including tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes(CD4 and CD8),tumor-associated macrophages(TAMs;CD163 and CD68),and tumor-associated fibroblasts(vimentin and alpha-smooth muscle actin[α-SMA]),in tumor tissues from four patients with primary prostatic SRCC compared with corresponding adjacent tissues and tumor tissues from 30 patients with prostate adenocarcinoma(PCa)by immunohistochemical staining.We found higher expression of PD-L1,CD163,and CD68 in primary SRCC specimens than that in both corresponding adjacent nontumor specimens and PCa specimens with different Gleason scores,indicating that TAMs may participate in the malignant biological behavior of primary SRCC of the prostate.For further analysis,we searched electronic journal databases and Surveillance,Epidemiology,and End Results(SEER)to identify 200 eligible patients including our four cases.According to Kaplan–Meier survival curve analysis,patients<68 years old,with radical prostatectomy(RP),Gleason score of 7–8,and lower clinical stage had longer overall survival(OS).Moreover,Cox multivariate analysis indicated that race(hazard ratio[HR]=1.422),surgical approach(HR=1.654),and Gleason score(HR=2.162)were independent prognostic factors for OS.Therefore,primary SRCC of the prostate represents a distinct and aggressive subtype of prostate cancer associated with a higher distribution of PD-L1 and TAMs,which warrants further clinical investigation.

From Manchuria to Egypt: Soybean’s Global Migration and Transformation in the 20th Century

The collaboration between the Japanese and British empires in the first two decades of the 20th century facilitated the soybean’s migration out of Manchuria.When the two empires turned from collaborators to competitors prior to and during WWII however,the British Empire was forced to experiment with soybean cultivation in Egypt on its own in order to satisfy the demand of its vegetable oil crushing industry to make soap and detergent amongst other things.This article is not simply about the production and trade of soybean,but more importantly about the transformation of the commodity during the processes of trade,production and consumption outside its original zone of cultivation.Although soybeans provide significantly more protein per acre than most other uses of land,in Egypt the plant was classified as an inedible oilseed,such as cotton seeds,rather than an edible grain that can also produce oil,such as maize.As a result of such classification,the soybean was perceived as an industrial raw material,rather than a food item.Consequently,the simple food preparation technology that was intimately associated with the soybean as a human food in Manchuria did not embark on the journey to Egypt.During this process of global migration,the soybean was transformed from a human food item in Manchuria mainly consumed for its protein content to an industrial raw material in Egypt mainly utilized for its oil content.