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Once nanoparticles enter into the biological milieu, nanoparticle-biomacromolecule complexes, especially the protein corona, swiftly form, which cause obvious effects on the physicochemical properties of both nanoparticles and proteins. Here, the thermodynamic parameters of the interactions between water-soluble GSH-CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots (GSH-QDs) and human serum albumin (HSA) were investigated with the aid of labeling fluorescence of HSA. It was proved that the labeling fluorescence originating from a fluorophore (BDP-CN for instance) could be used to investigate the interactions between QDs and HSA. Gel electrophoresis displayed that the binding ratio between HSA and QDs was ∼2:1 by direct visualization. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) results indicated that the distance between the QDs and the fluorophore BDP-CN in HSA was 7.2 nm, which indicated that the distance from the fluorophore to the surface of the QDs was ∼4.8 nm. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) results showed that HSA formed a monolayer of a protein corona with a thickness of 5.5 nm. According to the spatial structure of HSA, we could speculate that the binding site of QDs was located at the side edge (not the triangular plane) of HSA with an equilateral triangular prism. The elaboration of the thermodynamic parameters, binding ratio, and interaction orientation will highly improve the fundamental understanding of the formation of protein corona. This work has guiding significance for the exploration of the interactions between proteins and nanomaterials.

Acute liver failure (ALF) is characterized by severe liver dysfunction, rapid progression and high mortality and is difficult to treat. Studies have found that sulforaphane (SFN), a nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (NRF2) agonist, has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anticancer effects, and has certain protective effects on neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and liver fibrosis. This paper aimed to explore the protective effect of SFN in ALF and it possible mechanisms of action.

The relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties of multi-component solid waste low-carbon cementitious materials has been widely pay attention to. However, industrial solid waste is a complex multi-component system with many variable factors, which makes it difficult to design the formulation of cementitious materials. This paper pioneered the application of machine learning (ML) models, algorithms and error rates to analyze the compressive and flexural strength of fly ash-based pastes. Coefficient of determination (R2), mean squared error (MSE), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and a20-index were used to evaluate robustness. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Taylor (BET) were carried out to analyze evolution of cementitious materials. The evaluation results of ML models exhibited that the Gradient boosting regression (GBR) model had the best determination parameters and a steep normal distribution fitting curve with an a20-index of 0.861. GBR model exhibited the best robustness. The key factors of fly ash-based cementitious materials were identified by Pearson's coefficient, which was benefit to determine the formulation of multi-component solid waste low-carbon cementitious materials. Furthermore, experiments also demonstrated that the optimum ratio of multi-component solid waste low carbon cementitious material was 10 % gypsum, 10 % metakaolin, 45 % fly ash, 15 % slag and 20 % cement, respectively. It was worth noting that the compressive strength of this kind of multi-component solid waste low-carbon cementitious materials reached 35 MPa, which was superior to the mechanical properties of P·O 32.5 cement. The results of phase, SEM images and pore structure distribution showed that the synergistic effect of the multi-component solid waste materials effectively filled the material voids and also facilitated the formation of a variety of gelatinous materials through gelling reactions in the late stage (14–28 d). This work will promote the resource utilization of industrial solid waste, contribute to carbon reduction, and can accelerate the green revolution of concrete.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) inhibitors are new anti-fibrotic drugs that inhibit the activity of hepatic stellate cells. The present study focused on the anti-fibrotic function of HDAC inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) by suppressing transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) signaling.

Acute liver failure (ALF) is an unpredictable and life-threatening critical illness. The pathological characteristic of ALF is massive necrosis of hepatocytes and lots of inflammatory cells infiltration which may lead to multiple organ failure.

Acute liver failure (ALF) is a serious clinical syndrome with high mortality. Sodium butyrate has been shown to alleviate organ injury in a wide variety of preclinical models of critical diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of sodium butyrate on ALF in rats.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroclearance in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.Methods Patients with chronic HBV infection who achieved sustained virological response (SVR) within 6 years of ceasing formal antiviral treatment were assessed for HBsAg seroclearance (defined as loss of serum HBsAg on repeated testing for a period of >6 months), using enzyme immunoassays. Phase of HBV infection and liver function (serum alanine aminotransferase [ALT] and aspartate aminotransferase [AST] levels) and HBV DNA levels were also assessed.Results In total, 272 patients with chronic HBV and SVR were included; HBsAg seroclearance was achieved in 42 patients and not achieved in 230 patients. Serum HBsAg and ALT levels, ratios of HBsAg to HBV DNA and ratios of AST to ALT were significantly different between patients achieving, and not achieving, HBsAg seroclearance. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of HBsAg levels for predicting the likelihood of HBsAg seroclearance was 0.85; the cut-off value was 203.86 IU/ml.Conclusions These data demonstrate that HBsAg seroclearance was independently associated with host immunity, serum HBsAg level, serum ALT level, serum HBsAg to HBV DNA ratio and timing of drug therapy within the course of chronic HBV infection.

The pathogenesis and progression of acute liver failure (ALF) are closely associated with intestinal endotoxemia because of the high permeability of the intestinal wall. Treatment with ethyl pyruvate (EP) has been shown to protect liver failure effectively. The current study aimed to explore the relationship between proinflammatory cytokines and intestinal permeability, and to investigate whether EP administration might prevent the release of multiple proinflammatory cytokines and decrease intestinal permeability and therefore, protect the liver from injury.