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Objective This study aims to investigate the status of fertility preservation (FP) in young breast cancer patients. Materials and methods A clinical database of six women with breast cancer who wished to undergo FP before starting chemotherapy were analyzed between January 2018 and December 2019 in our hospital. Among the six women, three were unmarried and three were married. Results Three patients chose oocyte preservation and obtained 23, 7, and 17 MII oocytes, respectively. One patient chose embryo freezing, and three embryos were frozen. Fertility preservation failed for two patients, one of whom had premature ovulation, while the other patient abandoned egg retrieval on the human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) day. Conclusion The present results indicate that oocyte and embryo cryopreservation are effective optional methods for young breast cancer patients. However, a lack of knowledge, the urgency of cancer treatment, and financial constraints are causes for a low access rate regarding this process.

Sleep deprivation (SD) has detrimental effects on the physiological function of the brain. However, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. In the present study, we investigated the expression of candidate plasticity-related gene 15 (cpg15), a neurotrophic gene, and its potential role in SD using a REM-SD mouse model. Immunofluorescent and Western blot analysis revealed that the expression of cpg15 protein decreased in the hippocampus, ventral group of the dorsal thalamus (VENT), and somatosensory area of cerebral cortex (SSP) after 24–72 h of REM-SD, and the oxidative stress in these brain regions was increased in parallel, as indicated by the ratio of glutathione (GSH) to its oxidative product (GSSG). Over-expression of cpg15 in thalamus, hippocampus, and cerebral cortex mediated by AAV reduced the oxidative stress in these regions, indicating that the decrease of cpg15 might be a cause that augments oxidative stress in the sleep deprived mouse brain. Collectively, the results imply that cpg15 may play a protective function in the SD-subjected mouse brain via an anti-oxidative function. To our knowledge, this is the first time to provide evidences in the role of cpg15 against SD-induced oxidative stress in the brain.

Intestinal mucositis (IM) is one of the common side effects of chemotherapy with Cytarabine (Ara-C) and contributes to the major dose-limiting factor of chemotherapy, while the effective drug for IM is little. Astragalus, one of the main active components extrated from the roots of Astragalus membranaceus (AS-IV), is a common Chinese herbal medicine used in gastrointestinal diseases. However, the effect and mechanism of AS-IV on IM is unclear. Accumulating evidence suggests that M1 macrophages play a pivotal role in IM progression.The purpose of the study was to explore the protection of AS-IV and its potential molecular mechanism on intestinal mucositis injury induced by Ara-C.The protective effect of AS-IV was investigated in LPS-induced macrophages and Ara-C-induced intestinal mucositis mouse model. HE, immunofluorescence and western blotting were used to evaluate the damage in different doses of Ara-C. Silencing AKT targeted by siRNA was performed to explore the potential mechanisms regulating macrophage polarization effect of Ara-C, which was investigated by CCK-8, immunofluorescence and western blotting. Flow cytometry, immunofluorescence and Western blotting were used to detect macrophage surface marker proteins and inflammatory genes to explore the potential molecular mechanism of AS-IV regulating macrophage polarization.The Cytarabine intervention at dose of 100mg/kg significantly induced IM in mice, with the ileum the most obvious site of injury, accompanied by decreased intestinal barrier, intestinal macrophage polarization to M1 and inflammation response. The administration of AS-IV improved weight loss, food intake, ileal morphological damage, intestinal barrier destruction and inflammatory factor release in mice induced by Ara-c, and also suppressed macrophage polarization to M1, regulating in phenotypic changes in macrophages. In vitro, the expression of M1 macrophage surface marker protein was markedly decreased in LPS-induced macrophages after silencing AKT. Similarly, the western blotting of intestinal tissues and molecular docking indicated that the key mechanisms of AS-IV were remodel AKT signaling, and finally regulating M1 macrophages and decrease inflammation response.Our study highlights that AS-IV exerts protective effect in Ara-C-induced IM through inhibit polarization to M1 macrophages based on AKT, and AS-IV may serve as a novel AKT inhibitor to counteract the intestinal adverse effects of chemotherapeutic agents.

Starting from renewable Cardanol, a novel inherently fire-retardant UV curable bio-based prepolymer (AEHCPP) with phosphazene core and six Cardanol arms are prepared in this report. The chemical structure of all newly prepared intermediates compounds and AEHCPP are well-characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). UV-curable mixture consisting of AEHCPP and different diluents were formulated and their photopolymerization dynamics were investigated on Photo-calorimetry (photo-DSC). The thermal properties of crosslinked coatings were estimated using thermal analysis technology. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) results show that glass transition temperatures of all cured films are above room temperature (>30 °C), the 5% weight loss temperature in nitrogen is higher than 266 °C. The fire-retardant properties are estimated by TGA and all calculated Limiting Oxygen Index (LOI) values are over 24, implying the excellent fire-resistance of cured films.

Light induced deposition of metallic Zn, Fe, Co, Ni, Bi, and Cu on crystalline Si solar cell cathodes has been studied as a part of developing self-powered devices. The direct metal deposition relies on the relative position of Si Fermi level and the equilibrium potential of the metal/ion and H+/H2 in electrolyte. Direct deposition of above mentioned metals shows three types of light-induced plating (LIP) behavior. Even with a relative large potential barrier, Cu2+/Cu and Bi3+/Bi could be deposited by the induced plating of the hydrogen evolution. The current density of the Co2+/Co and Ni2+/Ni have been reduced by the light absorption of the electrolyte impact on the solar cell. This work demonstrated the Si solar cells can be used to provide self-powered for metal deposition which can be used in the heavy metal treatment for the polluted water.

Gastric cancer (GC) is a globally important disease. Targeted therapies licensed to treat gastric cancer include trastuzumab, which targets HER2, and nivolumab or pembrolizumab, which block PD-1/PD-L1. The main challenge of tumor molecule-targeted drugs is resistance. Based on the multicomponent and multitarget characteristics of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and our previous research on Guiqi Baizhu Prescription (GQBZP) in targeting HER2/PD-L1, we used different cell models to verify the effect of quercetin targeting of HER2 and formononetin targeting of PD-L1. The results show that quercetin can inhibit MKN-45 cell proliferation by targeting HER2 to inhibit the PI3K-AKT pathway, and formononetin can regulate T-cell function by inhibiting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway. We also used gastric cancer MKN-45 cells in a T lymphocyte co-culture model to show that quercetin and formononetin co-treatment can regulate T cell function and inhibit MKN-45 cell proliferation. More importantly, quercetin with formononetin treatment had a greater effect than treatment with either quercetin or formononetin alone. We believe that quercetin and formononetin may be useful to target HER2 and inhibit PD-1/PD-L1 in gastric cancer.

In vitro developmental competence of sheep oocytes is still relatively low. In this study, we investigated cathepsin B activity in sheep cumulus-oocyte complexes, the expression of cathepsin B and apoptosis rates in sheep cumulus cells, and the correlations between these indicies and in vitro developmental competence of sheep oocytes. The present result suggested that the active form of cathepsin B in cumulus-oocyte complexes was predominantly present in cumulus cells rather than oocytes. Cathepsin B activity in cumulus-oocyte complexes was strongly inhibited by cathepsin inhibitor E-64. RT-PCR analysis showed that cathepsin B expression in cumulus cells decreased during in vitro maturation. TUNEL staining and flow cytometry of cumulus cells showed that the apoptosis rate increased after in vitro maturation, and treatment with E-64 reduced both cathepsin B expression and apoptosis levels. Furthermore, E-64 treatment increased blastocyst rates of sheep.

This paper reports our recent work on nanofabrication of air-spaced field-plate (ASFP) gates with ultra-short foot-print using one step electron beam lithography (EBL) combined with reactive ion etch (RIE) for which are suitable for GaN based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). Electron beam lithography on a tri-layer stack with PMMA350K/PMMA100K/Al/UVIII is carried out to form the required profile in resist. A low damage RIE dry-etch process is developed to create two different kinds of shapes in the 100 nm SiNx layer which serves as a footprint definition and mechanical support to the field-plate. The process enables us to fabricate air spaced field-plates with 60 nm foot-print and 50 nm air gap. Its advantages over traditional field-plates as well as T shape gate are discussed.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of meiotic status, cumulus cells and cytoskeleton stabilizer on ovine oocyte vitrification. Oocytes at various developmental stages including GV (germinal vesicle), GVBD (GV breakdown), MI (metaphase I) and MII (metaphase II) were vitrified using open pulled straw (OPS) method. After warming, the survival rates were determined based on the morphological appearance and 3′,6′-diacetyl fluorescein staining. The developmental potential of treated oocytes was evaluated by their ability to undergo successful in vitro fertilization (IVF) and support embryo development in culture after in vitro maturation. In the first experiments, we evaluated the effect of meiosis status on oocytes vitrification. Survival rates of oocytes after warming were not different among all groups. However, significantly higher proportion of cleavages and blastocysts were obtained from vitrified MII oocytes than those from vitrified immature oocytes. Next, we selected MII oocytes to determine the influence of cumulus cells on vitrification and the results showed that survival rates were not affected by the absence of cumulus cells. Furthermore, the cleavage rates and blastocyst rates were not different with or without cumulus cells. Lastly, we examined the effect of cytoskeleton stabilizer on MII oocyte vitrification. Compared with the vehicle treated controls, pretreatment with Taxol significantly improved the survival rates (81.91% vs. 66.00%), cleavage rates ((52.29% vs . 34.25%) and blastocyst rates (9.72% vs. 4.86%). Pretreatment of MII oocytes with another cytoskeleton stabilizer Cytochalansin B had no effect on oocyte survival and in vitro embryo development. Collectively, the meiotic status affected the developmental potential of oocytes after vitrification. MII stage oocytes showed better resistance to cryopreservation compared with the oocytes at immatured stages. Taxol treatment prior to vitrification was beneficial to vitrified/warmed ovine matured oocytes.

Three new molecular magnets [DiFBzPid][Ni(mnt)2]·0.5CH3COCH3(1), [DiBrBzPid][Ni(mnt)2](2) and [DiNO2BzPid][Ni(mnt)2](3) have been obtained by self-assembly of the [Ni(mnt)2]− (mnt2− = maleonitriledithiolate) anion and [DiRBzPid]+ ([DiRBzPid]+ = N,N′-diRbenzylpiperidinium; R = F, Br, NO2) cation. The Ni(III) ions of the anions in 1 and 3 form a 1D alternating magnetic chain within a [Ni(mnt)2]− column through Ni⋯S, S⋯S, S⋯N, S⋯C or C⋯N short interactions, while the anions in 2 form a dimer. The cations in three compounds stack into a 1D column in different shapes via p⋯π, F⋯F, Br⋯Br, and O⋯O weak interactions or C H⋯π hydrogen bonds. In addition, the [DiNO2BzPid]+ cations (C) and [Ni(mnt)2]− anions (A) of 3 stack into a 1D alternative column with a A–CC–A–CC–A sequence. The change of the substituent group in the benzyl ring from F(1) to Br(2) and NO2(3) results in the significant differences in the anion–anion, anion–cation and cation–cation stacking modes of 1, 2 and 3. Magnetic susceptibility measurements in the temperature range of 2–300 K show that 1 and 3 show characteristic of spin-gap (Δ/kb = 524.6 K or 1706.6 K), while 2 exhibits a strong antiferromagnetic coupling feature with J/kb = −663.2 K.

Compelling evidence suggests that acetylation at histone H4 lysine 12 and 16 (acH4K12 and acH4K16) influence oocyte competence. The current study was conducted to determine the effect of vitrification on acH4K12 and acH4K16 patterns in sheep oocytes. Vitrified/warmed oocytes or fresh oocytes were collected at GV, GVBD, MI and MII, and acH4K12 and acH4k16 were assessed using fluorescent staining. Confocal microscopy analyses revealed that acH4K12 and acH4K16 at GV, MI and MII were significantly higher in vitrified/warmed oocytes than in fresh oocytes ( P P > 0.05). In summary, vitrification alters the acH4K12 and acH4K16 levels in mature and immature sheep oocytes, which likely contributes to the impaired development of vitrified oocytes after fertilization.

The objective was to determine whether adding L-carnitine in IVM/IVC medium enhanced maturation and developmental competence of porcine oocytes in vitro. Oocyte maturation rates did not differ significantly among groups supplemented with 0, 0.25, 0.5, or 1 mg/mL of L-carnitine added during IVM (although 2 mg/mL of L-carnitine reduced maturation rate). Compared with control oocytes, those treated with 0.5 mg/mL of L-carnitine during IVM had greater (P < 0.05) rates of blastocyst formation after parthenogenetic activation, and these blastocysts had less (P < 0.05) apoptosis. Adding 0.5 mg/mL of L-carnitine during IVM also significantly reduced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and increased glutathione (GSH) concentrations. With or without glucose supplementation, 0.5 mg/mL of L-carnitine in the IVM medium significantly hastened nuclear maturation of oocytes. Moreover, supplementing the IVM medium with either glucose or L-carnitine increased (P < 0.05) percentages of oocytes that reached the metaphase II (MII) stage, relative to a control group. Final maturation rates in IVM medium containing either glucose or L-carnitine were not significantly different. Adding L-carnitine (0 to 2 mg/mL) to IVC medium for activated porcine oocytes did not significantly affect development. However, 0.5 mg/mL of L-carnitine in IVC medium significantly reduced reactive oxygen species levels and apoptosis in activated blastocysts, although glutathione concentrations were not significantly altered. In conclusion, adding L-carnitine during IVM/IVC improved developmental potential of porcine oocytes, and also the quality of parthenogenetic embryos, probably by accelerating nuclear maturation, and preventing oxidative damage and apoptosis.

In order to examine its effect on oocyte lipid content and cryosurvival, Forskolin was added to the medium for in vitro maturation of porcine oocytes. Treatments were control (IVM without Forskolin during the 42 h incubation period), addition of 10 μM Forskolin for the entire 42 h (0-42) and addition of 10 μM Forskolin between 24 and 42 h only (24-42). In Experiment 1, treatments did not differ significantly in cleavage rate, but the blastocyst formation rate was lower in the 0-42 group than for control and 24-42 group oocytes (17, 32 and 40%, respectively; P0.05). It was shown in Experiment 2 that Forskolin treatment from 0-42 h and from 24-42 h significantly reduced lipid content of oocytes compared to that of control cells (65 and 99 vs. 140 μm(2) intensity of fluorescence, respectively; P0.05). In Experiment 3, the percentage of oocyte survival after cryopreservation and thawing was significantly higher in both Forskolin treatment groups than in control oocytes (72% for 0-42, 65% for 24-42 and 52% for control; P0.05). However, Forskolin treatment did not increase cleavage rates of vitrified in vitro matured porcine oocytes (Control group 28%, 0-42 h group 0%, 24-42 h group 26.67%). Addition of Forskolin affected the nuclear maturation of porcine oocytes. The percentage of PBE (polar body extrusion) were significantly reduced in the 0-42 h group (0-42 h group 42.00 ± 2.08 vs. Control group 79.70 ± 2.82 and 24-42 h group 70.60 ± 2.83; P0.05). The 24-42 h group showed similar nuclear status to that of the Control group. We propose that delipation engendered by incubation with 10 μM Forskolin during 24-42 hours of maturation increased cryosurvival of in vitro-maturated porcine oocytes and that attendant chemical lipolysis did not impair their further development as it may have done in oocytes incubated with Forskolin for the full 42 h.

Recent advances in optical detection methods and techniques applied in cell-based microfluidic systems are reviewed, and these methods mainly focused on microsystems that integrate on-chip cell culture, real-time detection, and recent advances in correlated detection methods and techniques. The comparison of six optical detection methods and techniques are summarized, and their research applicability for cell study is proposed. The trend and the development perspective of each technique applied for label-free, real-time detection and sensing of living cell are discussed. Finally, an assessment of future directions for lab chip-based cell research and sensing microsystem is concluded.

Systematic studies on noncovalent functionalization of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were assisted by a series of aromatic dye molecules with different structural characteristics. The effects of molecular structure on the affinities of different dyes to the MWNTs were evaluated. Two main factors have been found to play the key roles for the dye–MWNTs interactions, which are molecular geometry and charge. It was found that molecules with planar structures and high charge load are favored for the adsorption. This work not only demonstrates a simple and effective method to functionalize the sidewalls of carbon nanotubes but also give insight to the adsorption mechanism between the carbon nanotubes and aromatic molecules.

Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) films have been successfully deposited on metal alloy substrates by radio-frequency magnetron reactive sputtering in an Ar+O 2 gas mixture. The effects of gas total pressure on the structure and phase transition of TiO 2 films were studied by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectra. It is suggested that the film structure changes from rutile to anatase while work gas total pressure changes from 0.2 to 2 Pa. The structure of TiO 2 films is not affected by the film thickness.

We are concerned with nonnegative solutions to the Cauchy problem u t −Δu+b(x,t)|u| p−1 u=0 in R N ×(0,∞), u(x,0)=u 0 (x) in R N . Here 0 0, α⩾2, A>0). We investigate the dependence of such phenomena as comparison principle, instantaneous shrinking of the support and existence on the behaviour of b(x,t).

The conductivity of nanometer TiO2 thin films was presented in this paper. The dependence of the conductivity of TiO2 thin films on the thickness of the film and the substrate material were educed. The TiO2 films were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering of a Ti targets in an Ar+O2 mixture in a conventional sputtering reactor. The thickness of the films deposited on Ti varied in the range from 15 to 225 nm. The resistivity of the films was measured at room temperature in the air. It was found that the conductivity of TiO2 thin films varies in the range from conductor, semiconductor to nonconductor. This was attributed to electrons transfer at the interface between the TiO2 and substrates, and the depth of electrons transfer was determined by the difference of work function.

Background/Aims : Chronic ethanol consumption results in the induction of hepatic cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1) in man, which is believed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease. However, the amount and duration of alcohol intake associated with CYP2E1 induction is not known but limited information is available on the disappearance of CYP2E1 following alcohol withdrawal. Methods : To study these questions, five healthy male volunteers received ethanol daily (40g/day) over 4 weeks. CYP2E1 induction was monitored by using the chlorzoxazone test before and every week following the start of alcohol ingestion. In addition, CYP2E1 was also determined in five alcoholics 1, 3, 8 and 15 days following ethanol withdrawal and in five patients with non-alcoholic liver disease. Results : A significant CYP2E1 induction occurred 1 week following the ingestion of 40g ethanol per day and increased further after 4 weeks. The disappearance of CYP2E1 was found to be significant 3 days following ethanol withdrawal and further decreased up to day 8. Thereafter, no significant change occurred and CYP2E1 activities were comparable with those in patients with non-alcoholic liver disease. Conclusions : These data show a significant and quick induction of CYP2E1 activity, already at moderate alcohol consumption, which may be of importance in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease, of ethanol, drug and vitamin A interactions and in alcohol associated carcinogenesis.