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Objective To investigate the effects of adiponectin on human FAS and HSL gene promoter activities in human hepatocarcinoma cell line HepG2 transfected with plasmids containing human FAS or HSL promoters fused to a luciferase reporter gene. Methods The luciferase reporter gene expression plasmids pGL3-hFAS625-Luc(hFAS 625-Luc) and pGL3-hHSL750-Luc (hHSL 750-Luc) were constructed. HepG2 cells were then transfected with these plasmids by lipofectamine method. The FAS and HSL promoter activities was evaluated by testing the luciferase activity through incubation with 0.5-10.0 μg/mL adiponectin) for 24 h or 5 μg/mL adiponectin for 2-32 h. Results Both hFAS 625-Luc and hHSL 750-Luc plasmids were well expressed in HepG2 cells. 1.0-10.0 μg/mL adiponectin could progressively increase the luciferase expression in HepG2 cells transfected with hFAS 625-Luc and hHSL 750-Luc plasmids with the maximum effect of 1.76 folds (P＜0.01) and 1.37 folds of the controls, respectively, at the concentration of 10.0 μg/mL(P＜0.01). Moreover, 5 μg/mL adiponectin promoted the expression of luciferase in HepG2 cells transfected with hFAS 625-Luc plasmids at 4 h and 8 h (P＜0.01), and inhibited the expression of luciferase at 16 h and 32 h (P＜0.01). Adiponectin promoted the expression of luciferase in HepG2 cells transfected with HSL 750-Luc within different durations(2~32 h), and the highest was 1.37 times of the control group at 2 h (P＜0.01). Conclusions The luciferase reporter gene plasmids containing human FAS and HSL promoters are successfully constructed. Adiponectin promotes FAS and HSL promoter activities in HepG2 cells with a dose-dependent manner. Adiponectin has a double effect on FAS promoter activity in different times, while it has a promoting effect on HSL promoter activity with different incubation durations.

A broad scope of quinazolin-4(3H)-ones or benzothiadiazine 1,1-dioxides was obtained via a transition-metal free and convenient method. This approach involving KHSO4 promoted cyclization and dehydration between diverse functionalized 2-aminobenzamides or 2-aminobenzenesulfonamides and N, N-dimethylformamide derivatives. The protocol offers moderate to excellent yields (45%-93%) under mild condition in a short of reaction time of 6 hours. The use of an environment-friendly and less expensive catalyst KHSO4 also makes this protocol more attractive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrate (NO3−), a nitrogen-containing pollutant, is prevalent in aqueous solutions, contributing to a range of environmental and health-related issues. The electrocatalytic reduction of NO3− holds promise as a sustainable approach to both eliminating NO3− and generating valuable ammonia (NH3). Nevertheless, the reduction reaction of NO3− (NO3−RR), involving 8-electron transfer process, is intricate, necessitating highly efficient electrocatalysts to facilitate the conversion of NO3− to NH3. In this study, Fedoped Co3O4 nanowire strutted three-dimensional (3D) pinewood-derived carbon (Fe-Co3O4/PC) is proposed as a high-efficiency NO3−RR electrocatalyst for NH3 production. Operating within 0.1 M NaOH containing NO3−, Fe-Co3O4/PC demonstrates exceptional performance, obtain an impressively large NH3 yield of 0.55 mmol·h−1·cm−2 and an exceptionally high Faradaic efficiency of 96.5% at −0.5 V, superior to its Co3O4/PC counterpart (0.2 mmol·h−1·cm−2, 73.3%). Furthermore, the study delves into the reaction mechanism of Fe-Co3O4 for NO3−RR through theoretical calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The non‐homogeneous gamma process can exhibit a convex average trend with a non‐linear shape parameter, providing significant flexibility in fitting an accelerated degradation process. However, few studies have been conducted on the maintenance modeling of systems undergoing a non‐homogeneous gamma degradation process despite its versatility. Meanwhile, most maintenance studies adopt a periodic inspection policy to reveal the degradation level. However, it is reasonable to inspect less frequently when the degradation level of the system is low and to perform inspections more frequently when the degradation level increases. Therefore, we conduct a study on the inspection/replacement policy of systems undergoing a non‐homogeneous gamma degradation process, where three non‐periodic inspection policies are investigated. We formulate the problem as a SMDP framework and present a value iteration algorithm to obtain the optimal action at each decision epoch that minimizes the long‐term average cost. A comprehensive numerical study is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To explore the relationship between MRI types and epilepsy control following tumor removal of dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNT). Methods The clinical and follow ⁃ up data of DNT cases were retrospectively collected from January 2012 to July 2019, and the data were further analyzed with respect to prognostic factors. Results Epilepsy occurred in all cases. According to MRI⁃based classification, 8 patients belonged to type Ⅰ, 4 patients were type Ⅱ, and the other 2 patients were type Ⅲ. Tumor total removal was performed in all cases. Postoperative pathological HE staining confirmed each tumor simple contained specific neuronal components in all cases, and in 13 cases, synaptin (Syn), oligodendrocyte transcription factor 2 (Olig ⁃ 2) and neuronal nuclear antigen (NeuN) were positive in routine immunohistochemical staining. In the postoperative follow ⁃up period from 6-84 months, Engel Ⅰ outcome was achieved in all type Ⅰ cases and 2 type Ⅱ cases, Engel Ⅲ was in 2 type Ⅱ cases, Engel Ⅱ was in 2 type Ⅲ cases. Conclusions Postoperative seizure control in PNT may be closely associated with the MRI types, and type Ⅰ may have a better prognosis in seizure control following tumor removal than type Ⅱ and type Ⅲ. DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1672⁃6731.2020.03.014

Chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is often suboptimal due to multiple involved signaling and lack of effective drugs. Arsenic trioxide (ATO) is a potent chemotherapeutic agent, which can target multiple signaling and have substantial efficacy on HCC. However, its usage is limited due to systemic toxicity. Using ATO-eluting beads/microspheres for chemoembolization can have locoregional drug delivery and avoid systemic exposure but will require high drug load, which has not been achieved due to low solubility of ATO. Through an innovative approach, we generated the transiently formed ATO microcrystals via micronization and stabilized these microcrystals by solvent exchange. By encapsulating ATO microcrystals, but not individual molecules, with poly(lactide-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), we developed microspheres cored with extremely high dense ATO. The molar ratio between ATO and PLGA was 157.4:1 and drug load was 40.1%, which is 4–20 fold higher than that of reported ATO nano/microparticles. These microspheres sustainably induced reactive oxygen species, apoptosis, and cytotoxicity on HCC cells and reduced tumor growth by 80% via locoregional delivery. Chemoembolization on mice model showed that ATO-microcrystal loaded microspheres, but not ATO, inhibited HCC growth by 60–75%, which indicates ATO within these microspheres gains the chemoembolizing function via our innovative approach.

Abstract HLH is a catastrophic and likely underdiagnosed pathology with multiple triggers including infection. PVB19 can cause persistent marrow infection leading to HLH despite negative acute serologic markers making timely diagnosis difficult. Increased awareness of PVB19‐HLH is warranted given its potentially lethal nature and the careful interpretation required with serologic markers.