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Surface modification of hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) with unique advantages are highly promising for drug delivery and have emerged for effective cancer treatment. In this study, functionalized nanoparticles for targeting and dual-responsive release of loaded doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX·HCL) and indocyanine green (ICG) (labeled as ID@HCH). In addition, chitosan (CS) was conjugated onto the HMSNs as capping agents and then dialdehyde hyaluronic acid (HDA) was modified to endow the ability to target the CD44 receptor. The characterizations demonstrated that nanocarriers have been successfully constructed with excellent drug loading capacity (DL) and drug entrapment efficiency (EE). The in vitro DOX control release displayed pH/enzyme-response properties owing to the pH-dependent swelling effect of chitosan and the HDA degraded by hyaluronidases (HAase). Moreover, the results of in vitro cell experiments proved that the ID@HCH could inhibit the cancer cells viability via accurately targeting HepG2 cells and chemotherapy combined with photodynamic therapy. This study demonstrated that ID@HCH is a new promising dual-responsive drug delivery system for chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy.

Urban roads in China, particularly low-lying areas such as underpasses, tunnels, and culverts, are highly vulnerable to the dangers of urban pluvial flooding. We used spatial interpolation methods and limited measured data to assign elevation values to the road surface. The road network was divided into tiny squares, enabling us to calculate each square’s elevation, slope, and curvature. Statistical analysis was then employed to evaluate the impact of terrain on flood characteristics in urban road systems. Our analysis reveals a strong spatial correspondence between the distribution of flood-prone points and the curvature parameters of the terrain. The spatial coincidence rate can reach 100% when an appropriate sampling scale is chosen. The presence of depressions is necessary but insufficient for forming flood-prone points. In lowland/gentle slope (LL/GS) areas with higher drainage pressure, we observe a significant negative correlation between flood-prone points and terrain curvature (Spearman’s r = 0.205, p < 0.01). However, in highland/steep slope (HL/SS) areas, we find no significant correlation between them. Notably, terrain matters, but effective drainage is more influential in flood-prone areas. The maximum flood depth (MFD), submerged area, and ponding volume during urban pluvial flooding are constrained by depression topography, while the characteristics of the upstream catchment area also play a role in determining the MFD and flood peak lag time(FPLT). Larger upstream catchment areas and longer flow paths normally result in greater MFD and longer emergency response times/FPLT. Additionally, a higher flow path gradient will directly contribute to an increased flood risk (greater MFD and shorter FPLT). These findings have important implications for flood risk identification and the development of effective flood mitigation strategies.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are highly stable forms of endogenous non-coding RNA molecules with diverse biological functions. Some of them have been demonstrated to play crucial roles in the initiation or development of cancers through regulation of gene expression. However, the profiles and the roles of circRNAs in tumorigenesis of cervical cancer remain largely unknown. In the current study, we investigated the expression profiles of circRNAs and their potential oncogenic mechanisms in cervical cancer. The expression patterns, obtained using a microarray assay, revealed a total of 192 differentially expressed circRNAs, of which 106 were upregulated and 86 were downregulated, in cervical cancer samples compared with normal cervical samples. The differential expression of circRNAs was validated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Two circRNAs (circTPCN and circFAM185A) were confirmed to be significantly upregulated in cervical cancer samples, indicating that they represent potential biomarkers of cervical cancer. The role and the potential molecular mechanism of circTPCN in cervical cancer tumorigenesis were further investigated. Knockdown of circTPCN significantly suppressed proliferation, migration, and invasion and increased apoptosis of cervical cancer cells in vitro. Molecular analysis revealed that circTPCN acted as a sponge of miR-634 to enhance mTOR expression. Thus, the circTPCN/miR-634/mTOR regulatory pathway might be involved in cervical cancer tumorigenesis, and circTPCN is a potential therapeutic target in cervical cancer.

With the worldwide prevalence of diabetes and considering the complicated microenvironment of diabetic wounds, the design and development of innovative multifunctional wound dressing materials are much wanted for the treatment of hard-to-heal wounds in diabetic patients. In the present study, anti-inflammatory ingredients loaded with nanofibrous wound dressing materials were manufactured by a promising blend-electrospinning strategy, and their capability for treating the diabetic wound was also systematically explored. A polymer blend consisting of Chitosan (CS) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was electrospun into CS-PVA nanofibrous mats as control groups. In the meanwhile, a bioactive ingredient of Chinese medicine Pulsatilla, anemoside B4(ANE), with different contents were loaded into the electrospinning solution to construct CS-PVA-ANE nanofibrous mats. The developed CS-PVA-ANE wound dressing materials exhibited multifunctional properties including prominent water absorption, biomimetic elastic mechanical properties, and sustained ANE releasing behavior, as well as outstanding hemostatic properties. The in vitro studies showed that the CS-PVA-ANE nanofiber mats could significantly suppress lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated differentiation of pro-inflammatory (M1) macrophage subsets, and notably reduce the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, as well as obviously decrease inflammatory cytokine release. The in vivo animal studies showed that the CS-PVA-ANE nanofiber mats promoted the healing of diabetic wounds by significantly enhancing wound closure rates, accelerating excellent angiogenesis, promoting re-epithelization and collagen matrix deposition throughout all stages of wound healing. The present study demonstrated that CS-PVA-ANE nanofiber mats could effectively shorten the wound-healing time by inhibiting inflammatory activity, which makes them promising candidates for the treatment of hard-to-heal wounds caused by diabetes.

Dextranase specifically hydrolyzes dextran and is used to produce functional isomalto-saccharide prebiotics. Moreover, dextranase is used as an additive in mouthwash to remove dental plaque. We cloned and expressed the dextranase gene of the marine bacterium Bacillus aquimaris S5. The length of the BaDex gene was 1788 bp, encoding 573 amino acids. Using bioinformatics to predict and analyze the amino acid sequence of BaDex, we found the isoelectric point and instability coefficient to be 4.55 and 29.22, respectively. The average hydrophilicity (GRAVY) was −0.662. The secondary structure of BaDex consisted of 145 alpha helices, accounting for 25.31% of the protein; 126 extended strands, accounting for 21.99%; and 282 random coils, accounting for 49.21%. The 3D structure of the BaDex protein was predicted and simulated using SWISS-MODEL, and BaDex was classified as a Glycoside Hydrolase Family 66 protein. The optimal temperature and pH for BaDex activity were 40°C and 6.0, respectively. The hydrolysates had excellent antioxidant activity, and 8 U/mL of BaDex could remove 80% of dental plaque in MBRC experiment. This recombinant protein thus has great promise for applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

The immobilization technology provides a potential pathway for enzyme recycling. Here, we evaluated the potential of using dextranase immobilized onto hydroxyapatite nanoparticles as a promising inorganic material. The optimal immobilization temperature, reaction time, and pH were determined to be 25 &deg, C, 120 min, and pH 5, respectively. Dextranase could be loaded at 359.7 U/g. The immobilized dextranase was characterized by field emission gun-scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The hydrolysis capacity of the immobilized enzyme was maintained at 71% at the 30th time of use. According to the constant temperature acceleration experiment, it was estimated that the immobilized dextranase could be stored for 99 days at 20 &deg, C, indicating that the immobilized enzyme had good storage properties. Sodium chloride and sodium acetic did not desorb the immobilized dextranase. In contrast, dextranase was desorbed by sodium fluoride and sodium citrate. The hydrolysates were 79% oligosaccharides. The immobilized dextranase could significantly and thoroughly remove the dental plaque biofilm. Thus, immobilized dextranase has broad potential application in diverse fields in the future.

Vaterite, the least stable phase among three anhydrous polymorphs of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), was prepared via the reaction between the ethanol solution of calcium chloride (CaCl2) and the aqueous solution of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), which is named ethanol-calcium method. The effects of aging times and reaction temperatures on the formation of vaterite were investigated. The polymorphs and morphologies were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used to verify the existence of vaterite. XRD results indicate that the amount of vaterite decreases from 90.4% to 81.4% as increasing in aging times from 0 min to 42 h and decreases from 85.8% to 70.2% as increasing in reaction temperatures from 0 °C to 60 °C. SEM results show that vaterite and calcite as-prepared are their typical morphologies of spherical and rhombohedral, respectively. This research extends the route to prepare the metastable vaterite and provides new insights into its controllable synthesis.

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) was successfully synthesized via the decomposition of calcium bicarbonate (Ca(HCO3)2) solution in the presence of polyethylene glycol with different molecular weights (PEG 6000 and PEG 10000). The semi-quantitative characterization by XRD indicates that calcite is the major phase and vaterite and aragonite are the minor phases at different reaction times. SEM images show that the rhombohedral particle is the dominant morphology, together with some rod-like particles, a few spherical particles and some hierarchical structures, such as snow-shaped particles and spherical particles assembled from slice-like particles. SEM and TEM morphological images reveal that the snow-shaped particle consists of three parts, i.e. the hexagon or spherical center, the trunk and the filling. TEM crystal lattice images and electron diffraction patterns indicate that the trunk is composed of large vaterite crystal(s), while the filling consists of small calcite crystals. Based on the above results, the formation mechanism of snow-shaped particles is also proposed in the present work.

A new genus and species, Rebouliothallus huolinhensis sp. nov., and two uncertain species, Ricciopsis sp. and Hepaticites sp., are described. The fossils were collected from the Lower Cretaceous Huolinhe Formation of Huolinhe Basin, northeastern China. The new genus Rebouliothallus was established in the Aytoniaceae family of Marchantiales. Rebouliothallus huolinhensis appears to be quite similar to species of the extant genus Reboulia Raddi. The species is characterized by the relatively large ventral scales. Ventral scales are large, imbricate and arranged in two rows on the ventral surface. Rhizoids are either pegged or smooth. Ricciopsis sp. is characterized by the rosette forming thallus. Hepaticites sp. shows some similarities to liverworts. Of the forty-nine Early Cretaceous floras of China, only two floras, one from the Huolinhe basin, Inner Mongolia and the other from the Jixi Basin, Heilongjiang Province, contain fossil liverworts. The rare fossil liverwort records in the Early Cretaceous floras of China may be the result of taphonomic bias.

Twenty-three selected advanced spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) lines from Ottawa Research and Development Centre (ORDC) were compared with four known cultivars for agronomic performance at eight sites in 2016 (Ottawa CEF-C1, Ottawa CEF-C2, St. Isidore, Harrington, Palmerston, Princeville, Kincardine, Beloeil) in Eastern Canada, and for fusarium head blight (FHB). The reaction of these lines to six races of LR was determined in a growth cabinet and the LR susceptible cultivar ‘Morocco’ was included as the control for disease development in these trials. The majority of the selected lines showed no significant differences compared to four check cultivars, however ECSW05 and ECSW48, showed higher yield, moderate resistance to FHB and resistance to most of the tested LR races. Lines ECSW05 and ECSW48 will be advanced to grower’s trials in eastern Canada in 2018 and may be used as sources of resistance to LR for future cultivar development in Eastern Canada.

With the strengthening of offshore oil exploitation, the construction of marine steel structures such as offshore oil platforms has been carried out on a large scale. During the construction process, the dimensional control and error analysis of marine steel structures is an important point. The dimensional error of marine steel structure is an important indicator reflecting the quality of marine steel structure construction. The marine steel structure is completed from structural design to offshore installation. The structural dimensional error must be strictly controlled and analyzed at each stage. It has important guiding significance for the design and construction of marine steel structure, ensuring final installation and safe production. Based on the summary of traditional size control and analysis methods, this paper introduces a new method of size control and analysis. The new method introduced in this paper uses the minimum two-passenger fitting technique, that is, the sum of all the deviation values is the smallest, so that the measured data can best match the design data, and the size error of the marine steel structure is represented by the magnitude and direction of the three-dimensional deviation. The three-dimensional deviation of each node is reflected objectively and actually, intuitive and reasonable, and the calculation program is written by AUTOCAD VBA, and the deviation value is quickly calculated, which has a good effect on on-site construction adjustment and error analysis.

Rutting, Top-Down cracking and bottom-up cracking are considered as major damage phenomena in pavement structure. In this study, the Drucker-Prager (D-P) criterion is adopted to analyze the pavement structure on Ji-Qing highway. Three dimensional finite element model with double rounds uniform load is established. The concept of asphalt pavement potential damage index (APPDI) is put forward in the light of the stress composition forms. The results show that: Firstly, the main failure mode of this mode is rutting in the early stage under the high temperature. Secondly, combined with the Mohr circle and the location in the pavement structure, APPDI can accurately judge the damage form of asphalt pavement, which provides a theoretical basis for the interpretation of pavement failure mechanism and optimization of pavement design.

In recent years, thoracoscopic lobectomy has been rapidly developing and applied in China with an ever growing list of indications as the resectable range has been evolving from the peripheral type to the central type, from a diameter less than 3 cm to greater than 5 cm, and from lobectomy to pneumonectomy and segmental lung resection. This technique has become a routine option in our department. This video shows one case of thoracoscopic lobectomy with lymph node dissection for upper right lung cancer of 6 cm in diameter.

To systematically report the complications of pallidotomy and to tentatively determine the incidences of complications of pallidotomy, possible influencing factors, and the acceptability of symptomatic hemorrhage rates for microelectrode-guided pallidotomy.Clinical events were analyzed for 1116 patients with Parkinson's disease who underwent microelectrode-guided pallidotomies at our center. Complications included visual field deficits, weakness, fatigue, hypersomnia, drooling, dysphagia, speech disorders, hiccups, hemorrhage, seizures, apraxia, coma, infection, mental confusion, and impaired memory. Complication rates for bilateral pallidotomy and double-lesion groups were compared with those for unilateral pallidotomy and single-lesion groups, respectively.Among the total of 1116 patients, the incidences of visual field deficits, weakness, fatigue, hypersomnia, drooling, dysphagia, and speech disorders were 0.4, 4.2, 19.9, 12.4, 7.0, 3.7, and 11.9%, respectively. Symptomatic hemorrhage was observed for 17 patients, apraxia for 3 patients, coma for 2 patients, mental confusion for 24 patients, and impaired memory for 18 of the 1116 patients. The incidences of fatigue, speech disorders, drooling, dysphagia, and hypersomnia were 18.1, 10.3, 5.2, 2.4, and 11.6%, respectively, in the unilateral pallidotomy group and 34.9, 25.5, 22.6, 14.2, and 17.0%, respectively, in the staged pallidotomy group. Of the three patients who underwent simultaneous bilateral pallidotomies (all50 yr of age), all developed severe fatigue and two exhibited drooling and dysphagia. The incidences of weakness, fatigue, speech disorders, drooling, dysphagia, and hypersomnia were 8.7, 30.4, 18.8, 7.2, 2.9, and 20.3%, respectively, in the double-lesion group and 3.2, 17.2, 9.7, 5.0, 2.3, and 11.5%, respectively, in the single-lesion group.Staged bilateral pallidotomy should be carefully evaluated before decision-making, whereas simultaneous bilateral pallidotomy is undesirable. Our study suggests that the size of the final lesion should be limited, to minimize the risks of complications. The incidence of symptomatic hemorrhage in microelectrode-guided pallidotomy is low and acceptable, because of the benefits of microelectrode-guided pallidotomy.