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To further assess the efficacy and safety of recombinant human endostatin (rh‐endostatin), a Phase III, multicenter, prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial was conducted. Patients to be treated with neoadjuvant docetaxel and epirubicin (DE) or DE plus rh‐endostatin (DEE) were eligible for this trial. The primary endpoint was clinical/pathological response. Secondary endpoints included adverse events and quality of life (QOL). Finally, 803 patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive DE (n = 402) or DEE (n = 401) regimen. After three cycles of neoadjuvant therapy, “complete response” achieved in 14.2% of patients in DEE group versus 6.7% in DE group, “partial response” achieved in 76.8% versus 71.1%, while “stable disease” in 6.0% versus 18.9%, “progressive disease” in 3.0% versus 3.2% of patients. The rate of objective response in DEE and DE group was 91.0% and 77.9%, respectively (p < 0.001). In spite of a relatively higher pathological complete response achieved following the combination therapy, no significant difference was found between two arms. Adverse events were mostly of Grades 1–2. No significant difference in adverse event and QOL was found between the two arms. In conclusion, the combination of chemotherapy and rh‐endostatin achieved better outcomes than chemotherapy alone, and thus can be considered as a promising therapeutic strategy for breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of immediate breast reconstruction with free or pedicled laparoscopically harvested omental flaps (LHOFs). Methods: Between March 2011 and 2021, 82 patients who underwent immediate breast reconstruction with free or pediculated omental flaps were enrolled. Breast total or partial mastectomy, laparoscopic greater omentum harvest, and breast reconstruction were carried out in an orderly manner. Postoperative operative results, cosmetic outcomes, and complications were investigated. Results: Seventeen cases of free LHOF and 65 cases of pedicled LHOF were performed. Cosmetic results were mostly satisfactory (61% excellent, 35% good), with a soft breast that was natural in appearance. Satisfaction investigation showed that 96.2% of patients were satisfied with the reconstructed breast. Uneventful follow-up showed no abdominal complications at the donor site, and the surface skin displayed no swelling. No major complications were found, except for three cases of necrosis. One patient developed slight hematoma. Two patients were found to have local recurrence, and one had distant metastasis. Twenty-four patients accepted radiotherapy, but no size reduction was noted after radiotherapy. We followed the patients to determine their survival status. All patients were alive, except for 1 in the free LHOF group who died 31.2 months after surgery. Conclusion: Immediate breast reconstruction with LHOF provides a soft reconstructed breast with relatively little donor-site deformity and is useful for breast tumor-specific immediate reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activated carbon coated silica sand (AC@sand) was successfully synthesized by hydrothermal carbonization of glucose with the addition of ethylenediamine (EDA), followed by the activation with KOH. The sample was characterized by XRD, SEM, N 2 -sorption, FTIR, XPS measurements. It is shown that EDA not only influenced the carbon coating on the silica sand but also introduced amino groups to the AC@sand. The microporous carbon coating and the introduced amino groups improved the adsorption performance of the composite toward Cr(VI) in water. The adsorbed Cr(VI) retained in the spent adsorbent was used as a colorant in glass preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is significant interest in developing new catalyst supports such as metal carbides to overcome the electrochemical corrosion problem of traditional high surface area carbon. A key challenge is the dispersion and stability of the catalysts on the non-carbon based materials. This paper reports a new approach to functionalize titanium carbide by poly (diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA), investigated as a new catalyst support for Pd catalyzed electrochemical reaction. Thermal gravimetric analysis confirmed the successful noncovalent functionalization of TiC by PDDA. Pd nanoparticles are deposited in situ on the PDDA-wrapped TiC surface through electrostatic interactions mechanism. According to transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations, Pd nanoparticles with a mean size of ∼2.9 nm are homogeneously deposited on TiC(P). Among all the samples tested, the Pd/TiC(P) catalysts exhibit the highest resistance to CO poisoning, catalytic activity and stability towards formic acid electrooxidation. This performance was attributed to a strong Pd↔TiC interaction and the formation of oxygenated species on the TiC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Front Cover: Catalyst- and Light-free S-H Insertion between Phosphorodithioic Acids and Diazo Compounds: Rapid Access to Dialkylphosphorodithioates (Asian J. Org. Keywords: diazo compound; pesticide; phosphorodithioate; phosphorodithioic acid; S-H insertion EN diazo compound pesticide phosphorodithioate phosphorodithioic acid S-H insertion 1 1 1 07/27/23 20230701 NES 230701 B C-S bond formation b has attracted considerable interest for a long time. The cover picture shows a straightforward and efficient C-S bond formation reaction via S-H insertion of phosphorodithioic acids with diazo compounds under catalyst-, and light-free conditions. [Extracted from the article]

CD209 plays significant roles in pathogen recognition, innate and adaptive immunity, and cell-cell interactions. In the present study, a CD209 antigen-like protein E from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) (designated as OnCD209E) was identified and characterized. OnCD209E contains an open reading frame (ORF) of 771 bp encoding a 257 amino acid protein, as well as the carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD). Multiple sequence analysis exhibits that the amino acid sequence of OnCD209E was relatively high homologous to that of partial fish, especially the highly conserved CRD, in which four conserved disulfide-bonded cysteine residues, WIGL conserved motif and two Ca2+/carbohydrate-binding sites (EPD and WFD motifs) were founded. Quantitative real-time PCR and Western Blot revealed that OnCD209E mRNA/protein is generally expressed in all tissues examined, but with wealth in head kidney and spleen tissues. The mRNA expression of OnCD209E was significantly increased in brain, head kidney, intestine, liver, and spleen tissues in response to the stimulation with polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid, Streptococcus agalactiae and Aeromonas hydrophila in vitro. Recombinant OnCD209E protein exhibited detectable bacterial binding and agglutination activity against different bacteria as well as inhibited the proliferation of tested bacteria. Subcellular localization analysis revealed that OnCD209E was mostly localized in the cell membrane. Moreover, overexpression of OnCD209E could activate nuclear factor-kappa B reporter genes in HEK-293T cells. Collectively, these results demonstrated that CD209E may potentially involve in immune response of Nile tilapia against bacterial infection. • CD209E was identified in the Nile tilapia. • The expression of OnCD209E was upregulation after being challenged by PolyI:C , S. agalactiae and A. hydrophila. • The rOnCD209E exhibited detectable bacterial binding, agglutination and antibacterial activity against different bacteria. • Overexpression of OnCD209E could activate NF-κB reporter genes in HEK-293T cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microporous activated carbon (AC) was used to absorb Cr(VI) ions in aqueous solutions. To avoid the secondary pollution which might be caused by the spent absorbent, the AC which had absorbed Cr(VI) was applied as colorants in preparing Na 2 O–CaO–SiO 2 glasses. XPS analysis results indicate that Cr(VI) ions are partially reduced to Cr(III) ions during the adsorption. It is demonstrated that the adsorbed Cr ions in AC are effective for glass colorization. The color of the glasses varies from dark brown to light green depending on the dosage of the spent AC. In addition, with the same concentrations of Cr ions in glass batches, the color of the resultant glasses significantly depends on the amounts of AC included rather than the valence of the Cr ions, suggesting the above color variations are mainly due to the presence of the AC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly compressible three-dimensional graphene aerogels with anisotropic porous structure are fabricated by directional freezing of graphene hydrogel using anisotropically grown ice crystals as templates followed by freeze–drying. The directional freezing approach endows the graphene aerogel with a high compressive strength in the axial direction and good compressibility in both axial and radial directions. The anisotropic graphene aerogel also exhibits ultralow density, excellent flexibility in liquids, satisfactory fire-resistance, and strain-sensitive electrical conductivity. After absorbing organic liquids, the aerogel can be well recycled by burning, distilling, or squeezing, which makes it promising for oil absorption with a good recyclability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of appealing storage patterns of solar energy, the efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water splitting has great potentiality in sustainable development for renewable energy, but it still suffers the low conversion level due to sluggish spatial behavior of photocarriers. Herein, on the basis of phase engineering theory, a novel conceptual design of energy band-gradient distribution is presented to consolidate the spatial transportation continuity of photocarriers, which is realized in the phase junction of CdS for the first time. Further being integrated with black phosphorus (BP) nanodots, the utilization of incident photons is extended to cover broad solar light-responsive window, and the p-n junctions with powerful internal electric fields resemble many accelerators distributed on the energy band-gradient pathway, thus furnishing sufficient internal dynamical transfer force for separation and migration of photocarriers with prolonged lifetime. The peculiar compound photocatalyst exhibits an excellent hydrogen evolution activity of 163.65 μmol·h−1·g−1 and 5.72 mmol·h−1·g−1, as well as high apparent quantum yields (0.73 % and 25.7 % at 420 nm) under different conditions (with or without sacrificial agents). This study proposes a new exploitation strategy for the manipulation of energy band-gradient configuration in designing superior photocatalytic systems with available solar conversion efficiency. [Display omitted] • A novel energy band-gradient distribution is realized in the phase junction of CdS. • P-n junctions are established in BP/CdS system by introducing BP nanodots. • The transfer continuity of photocarriers is enhanced by the internal electric fields. • Excellent water reduction ability is reflected on this photocatalytic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]