Search

Postbiotics are inanimate microbial cells and/or their components as well as microecological preparations made from their metabolites, which are beneficial to the health of the host. Postbiotics can regulate intestinal microbial balance, enhance immunity, and have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. Compared with probiotics, living bacterial cells, postbiotics are safer, and more stable, effective and convenient. This article summarizes the origin, microbial sources, preparation methods and advantages of postbiotics, and elucidates the mechanisms of action of postbiotics in comparison with those of probiotics. In addition, it introduces readers to the applications of postbiotics as functional food supplements, food quality improvers, food preservatives and detoxifying agents in foods. We believe that as the definition, classification, and functional components of postbiotics become clearer, they will be more widely used in the fields of foods, nutraceuticals, foods for special medical purpose, infant foods, and personal care products. The development of postbiotics will also promote the leapfrog development of basic and applied science.

Radiotherapy (RT) is the major modality for control of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive brain tumor in adults with poor prognosis and low patient survival rate. To improve the RT efficacy on GBM, the mechanism causing tumor adaptive radioresistance which leads to the failure of tumor control and lethal progression needs to be further elucidated. Here, we conducted a comparative analysis of RT-treated recurrent tumors versus primary counterparts in GBM patients, RT-treated orthotopic GBM tumors xenografts versus untreated tumors and radioresistant GBM cells versus wild type cells. The results reveal that activation of STAT3, a well-defined redox-sensitive transcriptional factor, is causally linked with GBM adaptive radioresistance. Database analysis also agrees with the worse prognosis in GBM patients due to the STAT3 expression-associated low RT responsiveness. However, although the radioresistant GBM cells can be resensitized by inhibition of STAT3, a fraction of radioresistant cells can still survive the RT combined with STAT3 inhibition or CRISPR/Cas9-mediated STAT3 knockout. A complementally enhanced activation of ERK1/2 by STAT3 inhibition is identified responsible for the survival of the remaining resistant tumor cells. Dual inhibition of ERK1/2 and STAT3 remarkably eliminates resistant GBM cells and inhibits tumor regrowth. These findings demonstrate a previously unknown feature ofSTAT3-mediated ERK1/2 regulation and an effective combination of two targets in resensitizing GBM to RT.

Traditional optical imaging technique used as an analysis method for microstructure can only observe surface and can't achieve 3D characterization of the material interior, which greatly limits its application in textile field. In order to promote the application and development of 3D CT in textile field,a description of the test equipment, test methods, influencing factors of image quality of X-ray computed tomography (XCT) in textile application were introduced. Further, the applications of XCT technology in the characterization of internal structure of fabrics, aided modelling to predict fabric properties (heat transmitting, compressibility) and yarn research were reviewed. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of XCT technology in textile applications were summarized, while the potential applications of XCT technology in future were prospected in view of lack of research in the textile field based on XCT.

As non-noble metal co-catalysts, Nitrides have received extensive attention for their high efficiency and low cost in photocatalytic hydrogen production. In this study, we develop a novel composite co-catalyst of Au/Ta3N5 that significantly enhanced the photocatalytic hydrogen production activity of CdS. The activity of photocatalyst (Au/Ta3N5)/CdS is 7.3 times of bare CdS and 2.2 times of Ta3N5/CdS. The proper capacitance and enhanced activity of Ta3N5 demonstrates the capacitance catalysis effect of Ta3N5, which improves the charges separation and storing of the photoexcited electrons from CdS. Au acts as an active site for proton reduction to further improve the activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]