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Tumor recurrence and metastasis still greatly limit the therapeutic efficiency on the majority of postoperative clinical cases. With the aim to realize more powerful treatment outcomes on postoperative malignant tumors, a sponge-like neutrophil membrane-coated nano-system (NM/PPcDG/D) was fabricated to inhibit tumor recurrence and metastasis by inhibiting the recruitment and functions of myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSCs), which reinforced anti-tumor immunity and also suppressed pulmonary metastasis by inhibiting the formation of pre-metastatic niche (PMN). Firstly, PPcDG/D nanoparticles (NPs) were formulated by the self-assembling and crosslinking of synthesized redox-responsive polymer (PPDG) with doxorubicin (DOX) loading in the nanocore (PPcDG/D), followed by coating with activated neutrophils membrane to fabricate biomimetic NM/PPcDG/D. The sponge-like NM/PPcDG/D not only showed obvious natural tropism to postoperative inflammatory site, but also inhibited the recruitment and functions of MDSCs, thus relieved MDSCs-mediated immunosuppression. Additionally, NM/PPcDG/D also suppressed the formation of PMN to inhibit pulmonary metastasis by reducing the recruitment of MDSCs, decreasing the permeability of pulmonary vessels and inhibiting the implantation of circulating tumor cell (CTCs). Eventually, this fabricated NM/PPcDG/D NPs significantly inhibited tumor recurrence and metastasis on postoperative triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) model, presenting a promising therapeutic strategy on postoperative malignant tumors. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) play important roles in accelerating tumor recurrence and metastasis by promoting the establishment of immunosuppression in postoperative inflammatory regions and facilitating the formation of pulmonary pre-metastasis niche (PMN). In order to achieve enhanced suppression of recurrence and metastasis, a sponge-like NM/PPcDG/D nano-system was designed and fabricated. This nano-system is also the first attempt to integrate the regulation effects of a nano-sponge and anti-inflammatory agent to achieve enhanced multi-mode manipulation of MDSCs. Ultimately, NM/PPcDG/D powerfully restrained the recurrence and spontaneous metastasis on TNBC model. This article also revealed the particular roles of MDSCs involved in the regulation networks of postoperative recurrence and metastasis, immunosuppression and inflammation. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid-liquid separation is a critical step for the treatment of dairy manure, and the separator screen size plays an important role in determining the separation. Despite its importance, the impact of screen size on subsequent resource recovery and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction remains largely undetermined and varied. In this study, the influence of separator screen size for solid-liquid separation on resources recovery (bedding materials, biogas and nutrients) and GHG emissions reduction was evaluated. Taking a dairy farm with a stock of 1000 cows as an example, with the increasing of separator screen size from 0.5 mm to 5 mm, the results show that the annual bedding materials production decreased from 987.0 tons to 597.6 tons (dry basis), the annual biogas production increased from 32.5 × 104 m³ to 50.9 × 104 m³, the annual total nitrogen (TN) recovery increased from 35.8 tons to 44.4 tons, and the annual total phosphorus (TP) recovery increased from 8.2 tons to 10.1 tons. The annual economic benefits from resource recovery ranged from 28.7 × 104 ¥ to 34.8 × 104 ¥. Annual total GHG emissions increased with the increasing separator screen size and reached approximately 0.7 t CO 2 equivalent/cow·year. These findings provide guidance for the selection of separator screen size for the solid-liquid separation of dairy manure. [Display omitted] • Particle size of dairy manure exhibits a bimodal distribution. • Increasing of screen size results in decrease of bedding material recovery. • Increasing of screen size causes increase in biogas and nutrients recovery. • Separator screen size of 1 mm has the highest economic benefit. • GHG emissions reduction increases with increasing separator screen size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A series of thiourea derivatives were designed and synthesized as antitumor and antiangiogenic agents. • Excellent anti-proliferative effects against HUVECs and multiple cancer cell lines. • The inhibition of cancer cell malignant transformation and angiogenesis. • Excellent antiangiogenic activities. A series of novel thiourea derivatives were synthesized and evaluated by biological activities. Among them, compound 10e containing 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl moiety (R 1) at the terminal thiourea and phenylamino (R 2) at the terminal acyl position showed the best cytotoxic activities against seven cancer cell lines (NCI-H460, Colo-205, HCT116, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, HepG2, PLC/PRF/5) and HUVECs. Moreover, compound 10e moderately inhibited various RTKs such as VEGFR2, VEGFR3, and PDGFRβ. Notably, 10e exhibited much better inhibitory effect of tumor formation and antiangiogenic activities than Sorafenib and Regorafenib at the same concentration. Further docking studies suggested that 10e could serve as potential candidate for cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Objective: To evaluate the effects of Sanyinjiao (SP6) with electroacupuncture on labour pain in women during the labour process. Methods: A total of 350 women in labour from three centres were randomly divided into the electroacupuncture group (acupuncture group), the sham electroacupuncture group (sham group) and the control group. Women in labour in the electroacupuncture group received the electroacupuncture on the point Sanyinjiao (SP6). The analgesic effect was self-rated by women in labour, using visual analogue scale (VAS). The duration and paralysis time of uterine contraction, uterine contraction regularity, degree of cervical extension, presentation of foetal descent, the condition of intra-partum haemorrhage and postpartum haemorrhage, labour manner, lochia, involution of uterus, milk secretion, neonate Apgar Score and neonate body height and weight were also measured. All data were analysed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 12.0. Results: Labour pain scores from women in the acupuncture group were less than in the control group at needle retaining at 30min, 2 and 4h after needle withdrawal. Other evaluated indices did not show significant differences among the three groups. No adverse events were observed during the labour process. Conclusion: SP6 with electroacupuncture could be an effective way for decreasing labour pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract High level expression of lipocalin 2 (LCN2) usually indicates poor prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and many other cancers. Our previous study showed LCN2 promotes migration and invasion of ESCC cells through a novel positive feedback loop. However, the key transcription activation protein (KTAP) in the loop had not yet been identified. In this study, we first predicted the most probable KTAPs by bioinformatic analysis. We then assessed the transcription regulatory regions in the human LCN2 gene by fusing deletions of its 5′-flanking region to a dual-luciferase reporter. We found that the region −720/−200 containing transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) (−273/−209) and early growth response 1 (EGR1) (−710/−616) binding sites is crucial for LCN2 promoter activity. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiments demonstrated that TCF7L2 and EGR1 bound directly to their binding sites within the LCN2 promoter as KTAPs. Mechanistically, overexpression of TCF7L2 and EGR1 increased endogenous LCN2 expression via the ERK signaling pathway. Treatment with recombinant human LCN2 protein enhanced activation of the ERK pathway to facilitate endogenous LCN2 expression, as well as increase the expression level of TCF7L2 and EGR1. Treatment with the MEK inhibitor U0126 inhibited the activation by TCF7L2 or EGR1 overexpression. Moreover, overexpression of TCF7L2 or EGR1 accelerated the migration and invasion of ESCC cells. A synergistic effect was observed between TCF7L2 and EGR1 in amplifying the induction of LCN2 and enhancing migration and invasion. Taken together, our study indicates that TCF7L2 and EGR1 are the KTAPs of LCN2, within a positive "LCN2 → MEK/ERK → LCN2" path, to promote the migration and invasion of ESCC cells. Based on their clinicopathological significance, LCN2 and its two expression regulators TCF7L2 and ERG1 might be therapeutic targets for ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]