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To investigate the influence of molecular weight (Mw) on the anti-inflammatory activity of β-D-glucan from Ganoderma lucidum, ultrasonic irradiation was applied to treat the β-D-glucan (GLP, 2.42 × 106 g/mol) solution to obtain two degraded fractions with molecular weight of 6.53 × 105 g/mol (GLPC) and 3.49 × 104 g/mol (GLPN). Structural analysis proved that the degraded fractions possessed similar repeated units with the original β-D-glucan. The in vitro anti-inflammatory activity studies showed that all fractions could significantly inhibit LPS-induced expression of cytokines including TNF-α, IL-8, MIF and MCP-1 in Caco-2 cells at certain concentrations. Moreover, GLPC and GLPN exhibited better anti-inflammatory activity than GLPC. The intestinal anti-inflammatory activity evaluated by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)—induced colitis mice model showed that intragastric administration of GLPN (lower Mw fraction) could significantly recover inflamed tissues of mice. Compared with GLP and GLPC, GLPN exhibited stronger ability to inhibit the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6). The results revealed that Mw of β-D-glucan influenced its anti-inflammatory activity and decreasing of Mw would improve the activity, which provided evidence for the potential use of β-D-glucan from G. lucidum as anti-colitis ingredients.

Controlled drug release technology is becoming a commercially sound methodology of administering pharmaceutical therapies, and it is important to predict and control the release kinetics to fully take advantage of this technology. Carboxylmethylchitosan (CMCS) and alginate (SA) blend membranes were successfully prepared by solution casting technique and exposing to acetic acid atmosphere, which induced the protonation of the amino groups of CMCS, and the formation of polyelectrolyte composite hydrogels. By using diclofenac diethylamine as the model drug, the diffusion controlled drug release behaviors of the membranes were studied based on permeation experiment, which indicated that the swelling rates of the membranes could be adjusted by simply changing the weight ratio of CMCS/SA and effectively changed the release rate of the membrane. The study shows that CMCS/SA blend membranes are promising biomaterials used for modulating the permeation behavior and developing advanced drug delivery systems.

Cataract is a blinding‑caused disease and affects millions of individuals worldwide. Although conventional phacoemulsification (CPCS) has been widely used for treatment of cataract, the incidence of cataract‑caused blindness still increased year by year. Recently, femtosecond laser technology has been expanded to variety of clinical applications, including cataract surgery. The present study evaluated the curative effect of bromfenac sodium (BS) after femtosecond laser‑assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) and analyzed the mechanism of action. A total of 90 patients were randomly divided into five groups: Group I, conventional phacoemulsification treatment (CPCS) + dexamethasone (DEX)/tobramycin (TOB); group II, CPCS + bromfenac sodium (BS); group III, Femtosecond laser‑assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) + DEX/TOB; group IV, FLACS + BS; and group V, FLACS + pranoprofen. Aqueous humor was collected from these patients post‑surgery. For in vitro studies, SRA01/04 cells were irradiated using UV, followed by the collection of culture media and cell lysate. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels, an indicator of inflammation, were measured using ELISA both in vivo and in vitro. In addition, cyclooxygenase (COX) and cleaved caspase‑1 p20 expression levels were analyzed using western blotting. The findings suggested that BS was more effective and safer compared with glucocorticoids (GCs) after cataract surgery. BS can protect against post‑operative inflammation by inhibiting PGE2 production. Under in vitro conditions BS prevented the SRA01/04 cells from undergoing apoptosis after UV treatment and also suppressed PGE2 release from UV‑irradiated SRA01/04 cells by modulating COX‑2 expression. Furthermore, BS may have an inhibitory effect on the inflammatory form of cell death. Overall, these results indicated that BS could replace existing GCs as a reliable drug for a perioperative period of cataract surgery. It was also identified that the inhibitory effect of BS on PGE2 production was mediated via the regulation of COX‑2.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-ems-10.1177_14690667221142699 for Flash pyrolysis vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry of cycloheptane: A study of the initial decomposition mechanism by Kuanliang Shao, Ge Sun, Mariah Gomez, Xinghua Liu and Jingsong Zhang in European Journal of Mass Spectrometry

Enfortumab vedotin (EV) is an antibody–drug conjugate with humanized anti-Nectin-4 antibody linked with a microtubule-disrupting agent called monomethyl auristatin E. Nectin-4 is a cellular adhesion protein that is overexpressed in urothelial cancer. EV was approved in December 2019 for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who previously received platinum-based chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Here, we reviewed the clinical efficacy and safety data that led to the accelerated approval of EV for treating patients with metastatic urothelial cancer. Emerging clinical data on EV-based combinational therapeutic trials for metastatic urothelial cancer were also reviewed.

Methamphetamine (METH) is a commonly abused psychostimulant that can induce severe neurotoxicity. Cardiovascular injury caused by METH has recently gained increasing attention; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. As autophagy has been shown to be associated with cell injury, the association between autophagy and METH-mediated cell apoptosis was investigated in the present study. METH treatment significantly increased the expression of two key autophagy proteins, i.e., Beclin-1 and LC3-II, in the cardiomyocyte cell line H9C2. Furthermore, according to western blot and flow cytometry analyses, METH contributed to cell injury and markedly enhanced cleaved-caspase 3 and PARP expression. In addition, the corresponding AKT-mTOR survival pathway axis was appeared deactivated. The autophagic activity was closely associated with METH-mediated cell injury because rapamycin, which is an autophagy inducer, markedly attenuated METH-induced cell injury, while 3-Methyladenine (3-MA), which is an autophagy inhibitor, and bafilomycinA1 (Baf-A1), which is a blocker of autophagosome-lysosome fusion, markedly exacerbated METH-induced cell injury. Notably, defective autophagosome-lysosome fusion might be partially involved in the METH-induced enhancement of LC3-II expression and cell injury. However, the underlying mechanisms require further investigation.

The effects of grinding process on the extraction of polysaccharide from Coprinus comatus were investigated. The extracts named as CCPF and CCPP were obtained from the fragments and the powder of the C. comatus fruiting bodies, respectively. The comparison on the chemical analysis of CCPF and CCPP showed that reducing particle size could dramatically improve the extract yield and content of polysaccharide fractions, which resulted from the increasing of high molecular weight (Mw) fractions. The high Mw fraction CCPP-1 was isolated using the ethanol precipitating method. Its molecular weight was estimated to be 2.44×107 g/mol by high-performance size exclusion chromatography-multi angle laser light scattering (HPSEC-MALLS). CCPP-1 took compact conformation in aqueous solution. Structural analysis showed that CCPP-1 was α- d -(1→4)-glucan with branches at C-6 consisting of non-reducing terminal approximately every fourteen residues. The hypoglycemic activity study revealed that CCPP-1 had no effect on reducing blood sugar. The crude polysaccharide extracts CCPF showed significant hypoglycemic activity.

An ECRH/ECCD system with two 68 GHz/500 kW/1S gyrotrons will be built up in HL-2A tokamak. The location of the Gaussian beam waist is 580 mm away from the center of the plasmas and the beam radius is 37 mm at the center of the plasmas. Compared to the minor plasma radius (420 mm), it is small enough for localized control. The launcher system covers a wide toroidal and poloidal steering range by the two steering plane mirrors. Therefore it is possible to explore the on- and off-axis heating over half of the plasma minor cross section and the co-current drive.

Extracellular domains of the transmembrane glycoprotein, neuropilin-1 (Np1), specifically bind an array of factors and co-receptors including class-3 semaphorins (Sema3a), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hepatocyte growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor BB, transforming growth factor-β 1 (TGF-β1), and fibroblast growth factor2 (FGF2). Np1 may have a role in immune response, tumor cell growth, and angiogenesis, but its relative expression in comparison to its co-primary receptors, VEGF and Sema3a, is not known. In this study we determined the mRNA expression of Np1 and its co-receptors, VEGF and Sema3a, and the ratio of VEGF/Sema3a in different human and rodent cell lines. Expression of Np1, VEGF and Sema3a is very low in cells derived from normal tissues, but these proteins are highly expressed in tumor-derived cells. Furthermore, the ratio of VEGF/Sema3a is highly variable in different tumor cells. The elevated mRNA expression of Np1 and its putative receptors in tumor cells suggests a role for these proteins in tumor cell migration and angiogenesis. As different tumor cells exhibit varying VEGF/Sema3a ratios, it appears that cancer cells show differential response to angiogenic factors. These results bring to light the individual variation among the cancer-related genes, Np1, VEGF, and Sema3a, and provide an important impetus for the possible personalized therapeutic approaches for cancer patients.

A linear-cavity externally modulated Er-doped fiber (EDF) laser that utilizes fibre Bragg gratings for cavity feedback and wavelength selectivity has been fabricated. The narrow linewidth and high repetition rate make it a valuable communication source.