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Numerous reported bioinspired osmotic energy conversion systems employing cation‐/anion‐selective membranes and solutions with different salinity are actually far from the biological counterpart. The iso‐osmotic power generator with the specific ionic permselective channels (e.g. K+ or Na+ channels) which just allow specific ions to get across and iso‐osmotic solutions still remain challenges. Inspired by nature, we report a bioinspired K+‐channel by employing a K+ selective ligand, 1,1,1‐tris{[(2′‐benzylaminoformyl)phenoxy]methyl}ethane (BMP) and graphene oxide membrane. Specifically, the K+ and Na+ selectivity of the prepared system could reach up to ≈17.8, and the molecular dynamics simulation revealed that the excellent permselectivity of K+ mainly stemmed from the formed suitable channel size. Thus, we assembled the K+‐selective iso‐osmotic power generator (KSIPG) with the power density up to ≈15.1 mW/m2 between equal concentration solutions, which is higher than traditional charge‐selective osmotic power generator (CSOPG). The proposed strategy has well shown the realizable approach to construct single‐ion selective channels‐based highly efficient iso‐osmotic energy conversion systems and would surely inspire new applications in other fields, including self‐powered systems and medical materials, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the epidemiology, clinical features, treatment and outcome of Noninvasive ventilation (NIV)‐treated acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) patients in secondary hospitals of Shanghai. Method: Relying on Shanghai alliances for respiratory diseases, a retrospective observational study was performed in 34 secondary hospitals of Shanghai. The AECOPD patients treated with NIV and admitted to the respiratory department or respiratory intensive care unit were recruited between December 1, 2016, and November 30, 2017. Results: There were 555 patients finally recruited in this study. The age was 75.8 ± 9.6 years old and 380 patients (68.5%) were male. 70.5% of all patients had respiratory acidosis (pH <7.35). 55.3% of all patients received nebulised bronchodilator and 77.7% were treated with systemic or inhaled corticosteroids during hospitalisation. 525 patients (94.6%) recovered successfully and the mortality was 3.2%. The hospitalisation was 15.3 ± 6.7 days and hospital expenses were 22 911 ± 13 595 RMB. Inadequate and nonstandard drug treatments were the most important problems during management. Conclusion: The NIV can be successfully used for AECOP patients in local hospitals of Shanghai, but accompanied by high costs and long hospital stays. However, the treatments for exacerbation and stable COPD patients are still insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-codingRNAscan exert significant roles various cancers, includingNSCLC.Previously, weindicated that lncRNADGCR5 can promote lung cancer progression through inhibiting hsa-mir-22-3p. In our current study, we investigated the role of DGCR5 in cancer stem cell-like properties of NSCLC. CSCs have been recognized as the frequent cause of tumor metastasis, tumor recurrence, and chemotherapy resistance. Here, lung cancer stem cells were successfully enriched from the parental NSCLC A549, H460, and H1299 cells by using tumor sphere formation assays and side population (SP) assays. We observed that DGCR5 was up-regulated in the enriched CSCs of NSCLC. DGCR5 can inhibit the stemness of NSLCLwhile overexpression ofDGCR5 promotedCSC-like traits. In addition, miR-330-5p was predicted as target of DGCR5 and the correlation between them was validated by dual-luciferase reporter assay, RIP assay, and RNA pull-down assay. Meanwhile, it was found that miR-330-5p was decreased in CSCs ofNSCLC. miR-330-5p mimics repressed the stemness while miR-330-5p inhibition enhanced CSC-like properties by targeting CD44. Taken these together, DGCR5 can act as a crucial regulator of CSCs in NSCLC by modulating miR-330-5p/CD44 axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of new 1,3,4‐oxadiazin‐5(6H)‐one derivatives (6a–n) of dehydroabietic acid were designed and synthesized as potential antimicrobial and antitumor agents. Their structures were characterized by IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, MS, and elemental analyses. All the title compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against four bacterial and three fungal strains using the serial dilution method. Among them, compound 6e showed the highest antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 1.9 μg/mL. In addition, the in vitro cytotoxic activities of the title compounds were also assayed against three human carcinoma cell lines (MCF‐7, SMMC‐7721, and HeLa) through the MTT colorimetric method. As a result, compounds 6b, 6g, 6k, and 6m exhibited significant inhibition against at least one cell line with IC50 values below 10 μM. Compound 6m was especially found to be the most potent derivative with IC50 values of 2.26 ± 0.23, 0.97 ± 0.11, and 1.89 ± 0.31 μM against MCF‐7, SMMC‐7721, and HeLa cells, respectively, comparable to positive control etoposide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) serve critical roles in the pathogenesis of various cancers, including lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Herein, in this study, we aimed to investigate the biological and clinical significance of lncRNA DiGeorge syndrome critical region gene 5 (DGCR5) in LUAD. It was observed that DGCR5 was upregulated in LUAD tissues and LUAD cell lines. Inhibition of DGCR5 can prevent LUAD progression via playing anti‐apoptosis roles. Both mRNA expression and protein levels of BCL‐2 were increased by DGCR5 downregulation while reversely BAX was increased. Additionally, a novel microRNA target of DGCR5, hsa‐mir‐22‐3p was identified through bioinformatics search and confirmed by dual‐luciferase reporter system. Gain and loss‐of‐function studies were performed to verify whether DGCR5 exerts its biological functions through regulating hsa‐mir‐22‐3p in vitro. Overexpression of DGCR5 was able to reverse the tumor inhibitory effect of hsa‐mir‐22‐3p mimics. Furthermore, in vivo tests tumor xenografts were established to detect the function of DGCR5 in LUAD tumorigenesis. Downregulated DGCR5 expression was greatly associated with smaller tumor size, implying a favorable prognosis of LUAD patients. Taken these together, DGCR5 could be considered as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in LUAD diagnosis and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]