Magnesium metal and its corrosion products:Promising materials for tumor interventional therapy

Magnesium is generally known to degrade in aqueous environments by an electrochemical reaction.The corrosion products of magnesium include hydrogen gas,Mg^(2+),and Mg(OH)_(2).Here,we summarize the published literature describing the corrosion characteristics of magnesium,and the antitumor properties of magnesium-associated corrosion products,aiming to induce the therapeutic properties of magnesium and magnesium alloys in solid tumors.The therapeutic potential of corrosion products of magnesium is enormous.Hydrogen gas exhibits antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties,which amount to potential anti-tumor characteristics.Mg(OH)_(2),which creates a localized alkaline microenvironment,represents a second approach for anti-tumor therapy with magnesium metal.Upregulated concentrations of Mg^(2+)ions in the local tumor microenvironment remodelling are considered a third approach for anti-tumor therapy.Therefore,we speculate about the different physical forms of magnesium that could create an anti-tumor microenvironment upon tumor interventional therapy,a technique that precisely places anti-tumor implants like particles and stents.Finally,we present our viewpoints on the potential use of magnesium in diverse solid tumor therapies to inhibit tumor progression.

Differences in brain structure in patients with distinct sites of chronic pain:A voxel-based morphometric analysis

A reduction in gray matter volume is common in patients with chronic back pain, and different types of pain are associated with gray matter abnormalities in distinct brain regions. To examine differ- ences in brain morphology in patients with low back pain or neck and upper back pain, we investi- gated changes in gray matter volume in chronic back pain patients having different sites of pain using voxel-based morphometry. A reduction in cortical gray matter volume was found primarily in the left postcentral gyrus and in the left precuneus and bilateral cuneal cortex of patients with low back pain. In these patients, there was an increase in subcortical gray matter volume in the bilateral putamen and accumbens, right pallidum, right caudate nucleus, and left amygdala. In upper back pain patients, reduced cortical gray matter volume was found in the left precentral and left postcen- tral cortices. Our findings suggest that regional gray matter volume abnormalities in low back pain patients are more extensive than in upper back pain patients. Subcortical gray matter volume in- creases are found only in patients with low back pain.

Enhancement of electrical conductivity and electromagnetic interference shielding performance via supercritical CO_(2) induced phase coarsening for double percolated polymer blends

The electrical conductivity of conductive polymer composites(CPCs)with a classical double percolated structure is highly connected to the phase morphology.However,lots of conductive fillers,which are added to guarantee CPCs’electrical conductivity,caused increased viscosity and limited phase coarsening in traditional atmosphere annealing.Herein,a novel processing method of supercritical carbon dioxide(scCO_(2)),assisted phase coarsening for polylactide acid(PLA)/polystyrene(PS)/multi-wall carbon nanotube(MWCNT)composites was explored.It was first proved that obviously coarsened conductive network of double percolation after scCO_(2) annealing was achieved,which benefited from CO_(2) plasticized polymer chains and thus decreased viscosity.Therefore,the electrical properties and electromagnetic interference(EMI)shielding performance of the composites were significantly improved.The percolation threshold of PLA/PS/MWCNT composites decreased from 0.31 wt.%to 0.16 wt.%,and EMI shielding effectiveness increased from 32.8 to 37.4 dB at 5 wt.%MWCNT loading.This work provides a simple,green,and effective way of post-processing to tailor the phase structure via varying conditions of annealing medium such as temperature,CO_(2) pressure,and time,and gains CPCs with improved electrical conductivity and EMI shielding performance.

Traditional Chinese medicine as supportive care for the management of liver cancer: Past, present, and future

Liver cancer is the sixth most commonly diagnosed cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide.Western medicine and therapies are the primary treatment strategies of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),but the general prognosis for HCC patients is still dismal.Under these circumstances,HCC prevention is particularly important.Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)encompasses a wealth of documented therapeutic resources,and“preventative treatment”is the principle of TCM.In China,TCM has been used for HCC prevention for thousands of years,and has also been demonstrated to be effective for the treatment of HCC in modern China.However,the TCM theory for prevention and treatment of HCC is more widely accepted in China than abroad.In this review,we first summarize the herbs and ancient formulas with therapeutic effects on HCC.We also review the research status of TCM in modern medicine as well as the current obstacles in its development.Finally,we discuss the future of TCM in the context of precision and integrated medicine.After reviewing the literature,we believe that TCM,through ancient development,is an advanced method of cancer treatment with positive curative effects,despite its surrounding controversy.Furthermore,precise analyses and systematic research methods provides novel approaches to modernize TCM for the future.

Influence of Surface-functionalized Graphene Oxide on the Cell Morphology of Poly(methyl methacrylate) Composite

The surface chemistry of filler is closely related to the structure and morphology of nanocomposite foams.Changing the property of filler is widely used to control the cell structures and functionalize the composite foams.Surface-functionalized graphene oxide（GO-ODA） was prepared by grafting octadecylamine（ODA） on the surface of graphene oxide（GO） to make the filler disperse better in the nanocomposites and have a strong interfacial interaction with polymer matrix.Poly（methyl methacrylate）（PMMA）/GO-ODA nanocomposite foams were obtained by solution blending and foamed using supercritical carbon dioxide（scCO2）.Compared to neat PMMA and PMMA/GO samples,the PMMA/GO-ODA nanocomposite foams showed improved cell structures with smaller size,higher cell density and more homogeneous distribution,which should be attributed to the heterogeneous nucleation caused by well-dispersed GO-ODA nanosheets.This work not only improved the compatibility and interfacial interaction of GO with polymer matrix but also indicated that the modified GO sheets can act as ideal filler to control the cell density,size and size distribution efficiently.

Circular RNAs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from ankylosing spondylitis

Background:Circular RNA(circRNA)is a type of closed circular noncoding RNA(ncRNA),mostly formed by back-splicing or alternative splicing of pre-messenger RNA(mRNA).The aim of this study was to explore the expression profile of circRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs)of patients with ankylosing spondylitis(AS)and discover potential molecular markers of AS.Methods:The circRNA microarray technology was used to detect the expression of circRNAs in the peripheral blood of 6 patients with AS and 6 healthy controls(HC).To screen the differentially expressed circRNAs by fold change(FC)andP value,these differentially expressed circRNAs were analyzed by bioinformatics.In 60 cases of AS and 30 cases of HC,4 circRNAs were subjected to real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR),and their correlation with various clinical indicators was analyzed.Finally,the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to analyze their potential as AS diagnostic markers.Results:The microarray results showed that there were 1369 significantly differently expressed(P<0.05,FC>1.5)circRNAs between the AS and HC groups(675 upregulated and 694 downregulated).The results of bioinformatics analysis suggested that they were mainly involved in"enzyme binding,""adenosine ribonucleotide binding,""MAPK signaling pathway",etc.The RT-qPCR results showed that the expressions of hsacircRNA001544(U=486.5,P<0.05)and hsacircRNA102532(U=645,P<0.05)were significantly different between the AS group and the HC group.The AS group was further divided into two subgroups:active AS(ASA)and stable AS(ASS).After analysis,it was found that compared with the HC group,hsacircRNA001544 was significantly increased in both ASA(U=214,P<0.05)and ASS groups(U=273,P<0.05),while hsacircRNA008961(U=250,P<0.05)and hsacircRNA102532(U=295,P<0.05)were only significantly increased in the ASA group.Furthermore,hsacircRNA012732 was significantly different between the ASA and ASS groups(U=194,P<0.05),and there was no statistical significance among the remaining groups.Correlation analysis results showed that hsacircRNA012732 was negatively correlated with Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index(BASDAI),high-sensitivity C-reactive protein(hsCRP),and globulin(GLOB)and positively correlated with lymphocyte count(LY),mean corpusular volume,and albumin(ALB),and hsacircRNA008961 was negatively correlated with platelet(PLT)count.ROC curve analysis showed that hsacircRNA001544(95%CI=0.610-0.831,P<0.05)and hsacircRNA102532(95%CI=0.521-0.762,P<0.05)were statistically significant,and their area under curve(AUC)values were 0.720 and 0.642,respectively.Conclusions:There are differentially expressed circRNAs in PBMCs of AS patients,and they may be involved in the occurrence and development of AS.Among these differentially expressed circRNAs,hsacircRNA012732 has the potential to become an indicator of disease activity,and hsacircRNA001544 has the potential to become a molecular marker for AS diagnosis.