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Yanwu Zhang,1,* Buasiyamu Abudunaibi,2,* Yunkang Zhao,2 Dongliang Zhang,1 Yanru Chu,1 Song Lei,1 Xiaomin Gu,1 Xuying Lao,1 Xianhao Wu,1 Weitao Yao,1 Yi Chen,1 Feng Tong1 1Department of Infectious Disease Control and Prevention, Ningbo Prefectural Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China; 2State Key Laboratory of Vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Xiang’ an Biomedicine Laboratory, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian Province, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Feng Tong; Yi Chen, Ningbo Prefectural Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China, Email tongfeng1031@163.com; 30279068@qq.comObjective: To conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Dengue Fever Surveillance and Early Warning System deployed in Ningbo City during 2023, focusing on its capacity for timely identification and reporting of dengue fever cases, particularly imported cases from endemic regions.Methods: A detailed data of patient clinical features and blood profile trends was collected from clinical records and surveillance reports, focusing on the rapid diagnostic processes and surveillance rigor. This study assessed the effectiveness of the system in identifying and reporting dengue cases and identified the limitations of the existing framework through a basic statistical approach.Results: The system demonstrated timely identification and reporting of dengue fever cases, with a particular emphasis on imported cases. However, several limitations were identified, including the need for more precise monitoring criteria and improved coordination with medical entities.Conclusion: The study underscores the critical role of public health bodies in managing disease outbreaks and advocates for enhanced methodologies to refine epidemic control efforts. The findings contribute to the advancement of early warning mechanisms and the improvement of proactive infectious disease monitoring in metropolitan environments, providing valuable insights for fortifying the Dengue Fever Surveillance and Early Warning System in Ningbo City.Keywords: Dengue fever, Imported, Surveillance, Early-warning

Tong F, Liu S, Yan B, Li X, Ruan S, Yang S. Int J Nanomedicine. 2018;13:2507–2520. At the authors request, the Editor and Publisher of the journal International Journal of Nanomedicine have retracted the published article. Following publication of the article, the authors raised concerns about the duplication of images from Figure 4. Specifically, The images for Figure 4A, NK-κB, I/R and Insulin/PEG-CMCS+DFMO-EGBG, have been duplicated. The authors were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for how the images came to be duplicated or provide satisfactory original data for the study. The authors wished to apologize for this oversight and given the situation, the authors no longer have confidence in the data and corresponding findings. To maintain academic standards, the authors requested to retract the article and the Editor and Publisher agreed with this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and COPE guidelines. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.

Yuxi He,1,* Shike Geng,1,* Qing Mei,1,* Lei Zhang,1,* Tianjun Yang,1 Chunyan Zhu,1 Xiaoqin Fan,1 Yinzhong Wang,1 Fei Tong,1 Yu Gao,1 Xiaowei Fang,1 Renren Bao,2 Ximei Sheng,3 Aijun Pan1– 3 1Department of Intensive Care Unit, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Intensive Care Unit, the Affiliated Provincial Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Intensive Care Unit, the Training Center of Anhui Provincial Hospital, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Aijun Pan; Qing Mei, Department of Intensive Care Unit, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, No. 17, Lu Jiang Road, Hefei, Anhui Province, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-0551-62286175, Email aijunpan868@ustc.edu.cn; meiqing@ustc.edu.cnObjective: To evaluate the diagnostic value and clinical application of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) for infections in critically ill patients.Methods: Comparison of diagnostic performance of mNGS and conventional microbiological testing for pathogens was analyzed in 234 patients. The differences between immunocompetent and immunocompromised individuals in mNGS-guided anti-infective treatment adjustment were also analyzed.Results: The sensitivity and specificity of mNGS for bacterial and fungal detection were 96.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 93.5%– 99.6%) and 83.1% (95% CI, 75.2%– 91.1%), and 85.7% (95% CI, 71.9%– 99.5%) and 93.2% (95% CI, 89.7%– 96.7%), respectively. Overall, 152 viruses were detected by mNGS, but in which 28 viruses were considered causative agents. The proportion of mNGS-guided beneficial anti-infective therapy adjustments in the immunocompromised group was greater than in the immunocompetent group (48.5% vs 30.1%; P=0.008). In addition, mNGS-guided anti-infective regimens with peripheral blood and BALF specimens had the highest proportion (39.0%; 40.0%), but the proportion of patients not helpful due to peripheral blood mNGS was also as high as 22.0%.Conclusion: mNGS might be a promising technology to provide precision medicine for critically ill patients with infection.Keywords: next-generation sequencing, critically ill patients, community-acquired infection, hospital-acquired infection, immunosuppression

Fei Tong,1– 4 Pei Wang,1,3,4 Ziqiang Chen,1,3,4 Yifan Liu,1,3,4 Lianguo Wang,1,3,4 Jun Guo,1,3,4 Zhihua Li,1,3,4 Hu Cai,2,4 Junchao Wei1– 4 1School of Stomatology, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, 330031, People’s Republic of China; 3The Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, 330006, People’s Republic of China; 4Jiangxi Province Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Nanchang, 330006, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Hu Cai, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanchang University, 999# Xuefu Road, Honggutan District, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330031, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 791 83969514, Email caihu@ncu.edu.cn Junchao Wei, School of Stomatology, Nanchang University, 49# Fuzhou Road, Donghu District, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 791 86236950, +86 791 6361141, Email weijunchao@ncu.edu.cnIntroduction: The critical challenge for periodontitis therapy is thoroughly eliminating the dental plaque biofilm, particularly penetrating the deep periodontal tissue. Regular therapeutic strategies are insufficient to penetrate the plaque without disturbing the commensal microflora of the oral cavity. Here, we constructed a Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticle loading minocycline (FPM NPs) to penetrate the biofilm physically and effectively eliminate periodontal biofilm.Methods: In order to penetrate and remove the biofilm effectively, Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles were modified with minocycline using a co-precipitation method. The particle size and dispersion of the nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering. The antibacterial effects were examined to verify the magnetic targeting of FPM NPs. Confocal laser scanning microscopy was employed to check the effect of FPM + MF and develop the best FPM NPs treatment strategy. Additionally, the therapeutic effect of FPM NPs was investigated in periodontitis rat models. The expression of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α in periodontal tissues was measured by qRT-PCR and Western blot.Results: The multifunctional nanoparticles exhibited intense anti-biofilm activity and good biocompatibility. The magnetic forces could pull FMP NPs against the biofilm mass and kill bacteria deep in the biofilms both in vivo and in vitro. The integrity of the bacterial biofilm is disrupted under the motivation of the magnetic field, allowing for improved drug penetration and antibacterial performance. The periodontal inflammation recovered well after FPM NPs treatment in rat models. Furthermore, FPM NPs could be monitored in real-time and have magnetic targeting potentials.Conclusion: FPM NPs exhibit good chemical stability and biocompatibility. The novel nanoparticle presents a new approach for treating periodontitis and provides experimental support for using magnetic-targeted nanoparticles in clinic applications.Keywords: ferromagnetic nanoparticle, periodontitis, biofilm, magnetic targeting

Shan F, Liu Y, Jiang H, Tong F. Int J Nanomedicine. 2017;12:7613–7625. The Editor and Publisher of International Journal of Nanomedicine wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarding the alleged manipulation of the in vitro transfection images shown in Figure 4C and the duplication of histopathological images shown in Figure 5A. The authors responded to our queries and explained the fluorescent images collected for Figure 4C had mistakenly been superimposed on top of each other and the duplication of images in Figure 5Ab and 5Ac had occurred inadvertently during the figure preparation. The authors also provided original data for the figures in question. However, the author’s explanation and the provided data was not satisfactory, and the Editor requested for the article to be retracted. The authors were notified of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”. This retraction relates to this paper

Tong F, Liu S, Yan B, Li X, Ruan S, Yang S. Int J Nanomedicine. 2017;12:7799-7813. The authors requested that the kidney images for Figure 2 on page 7804 be replaced due to a misunderstanding around the use of the images. The 17 kidney images were only intended as representative images to help emphasize the drug dispersity data shown in the corresponding bar graph was collected from kidneys. The bar graph represented the distribution of QUE/P via measurement of kidney homogenate radioactivity, but there was no intention to provide any morphological analysis of the kidneys and the authors apologize for any confusion this may have caused. The kidney images have been replaced with a representative image showing the kidney sample collection procedure used. The corrected version of Figure 2 is shown in Download Article. Read the original article

Fei Tong,1 Xiangyuan Tang,2 Daojun Liu2 1Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Provincial Key Discipline of Pharmacology, Jiaxing University Medical College, Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, PR China; 2Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Medical College, Shantou University, Shantou, PR China Background: Hepatic ischemia/reperfusion-induced pancreatic islet injury (HI/RIPII) was an important pathophysiological phenomenon in clinics. In the present study, we observed the effects of phycocyanin on HI/RIPII. However, the half-life of phycocyanin was extremely short and limited its use in vivo. Materials and methods: In order to overcome this shortcoming, poly(ethylene glycol)-b-(poly(L-glutamic acid)-g-polyethylenimine) (PEG-b-(PG-g-PEI)) was synthesized and estimated as a nanocarrier for lengthening delivery of phycocyanin through the abdominal subcutaneous injection in rats. Phycocyanin (isoelectric point=4.3) was encapsulated with PEG-b-(PG-g-PEI) via electrostatic interactions at pH 7.4. Results: In vitro phycocyanin was fast and efficiently encapsulated and showing efficient loading and sustained release. In vivo the anti-HI/RIPII function of phycocyanin/PEG-b-(PG-g-PEI) complex was surveyed in rats using free phycocyanin as the controls, and the results showed that phycocyanin/PEG-b-(PG-g-PEI) complex reduced HI/RIPII property and enlarged islet functionality. Conclusion: These results suggested that PEG-b-(PG-g-PEI) might be treated as a potential phycocyanin nanocarrier. Keywords: phycocyanin, PEG-b-(PG-g-PEI), HI/RIPII, pancreatic islets

Bo Hu,1 Ying Yan,2 Fei Tong,1 Long Xu,1 Jia Zhu,1 Guangtao Xu,1 Ruilin Shen1 1Department of Oncopathology, Institute of Diabetes and Urological Disease, Jiaxing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, 2Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China Background: Lumbrokinase (LK) is an enzyme complex with antithrombotic, antioxidant, antitumor, and immunomodulatory effects. It has been extensively studied and used in clinical anti-tumor therapy. However, its half-life is short, its bioavailability is low, and its toxicity and side effects are great, which greatly limit its clinical application. Therefore, LK is often combined with other drugs (such as immune agents, hormones, or Chinese herbal medicine) to reduce its dosage and side effects and to improve its anti-tumor effects. Methods and results: Here, we described an LK/paclitaxel (PTX) nanocarrier based on poly(ethylene glycol)-b-(poly(ethylenediamine l-glutamate)-g-poly(ε-benzyoxycarbonyl-l-lysine)-r-poly(l-lysine)) (PEG-b-(PELG-g-(PZLL-r-PLL))). In the present study, LK and PTX were loaded by electrostatic and/or hydrophobic effects under mild conditions, thereby increasing the half-life and bioavailability of the drugs via the sustained release and enhancement of tumor site enrichment by the LK/PTX/PEG-b-(PELG-g-(PZLL-r-PLL)) complex through passive targeting. In this study, using bladder cancer cells (J82 cells) and rat bladder cancer model as the object, the structure of the nanocarrier, the relationship between drugs composition and antitumor properties were systematically studied. Conclusion: We propose that the block copolymer PEG-b-(PELG-g-(PZLL-r-PLL)) may function as a potent nanocarrier for augmenting anti-bladder cancer pharmacotherapy, with unprecedented clinical benefits. Keywords: copolymer nanoparticles, lumbrokinase, paclitaxel, bladder cancer, microvessel density, p53, cyclin B1

Fei Tong, Rongkui Chai, Haiying Jiang, Bo DongDepartment of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Provincial Key Discipline of Pharmacology, Jiaxing University Medical College, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China Background: The objective of this study was to survey the therapeutic function of curcumin-encapsulated poly(gamma-benzyl l-glutamate)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(gammabenzyl l-glutamate) (PBLG-PEG-PBLG) (P) on diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) via cross regulation effect of calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) and endogenous cystathionine-γ-lyase (CSE)/hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Methods: Diabetic rats were preconditioned with 20 mg/kg curcumin or curcumin/P complex continuously for 8 weeks. The blood and myocardiums were collected, the level of serum H2S was observed, and the [Ca2+]i content was measured in myocardial cells, and hematoxylin-eosin, CaSR, CSE, and calmodulin (CaM) expression were detected. Results: Both curcumin and curcumin/P pretreatment alleviated pathological morphological damage of myocardium, increased H2S and [Ca2+]i levels, and upregulated the expression of CaSR, CSE, and CaM as compared to DCM group, while curcumin/P remarkably augmented this effect. Conclusion: PBLG-PEG-PBLG could improve water-solubility and bioactivity of curcumin and curcumin/PBLG-PEG-PBLG significantly alleviated diabetic cardiomyopathy.Keywords: PBLG-PEG-PBLG, curcumin, diabetic cardiomyopathy, CaSR, CSE

Fei Tong,1,2 Suhuan Liu,1 Bing Yan,1 Xuejun Li,1 Shiwei Ruan,3 Shuyu Yang1 1Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China; 2Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Provincial Key Discipline of Pharmacology, Jiaxing University Medical College, Jiaxing, China; 3Academy of Integrative Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, China Introduction: Insulin has shown antioxidation and cytoprotective effects to decrease heart ischemia/reperfusion injury (HI/RI) in diabetes mellitus (DM), but the role of insulin/poly(ethylene glycol)-carboxymethyl chitosan (PEG-CMCS) on HI/RI in DM is not known. This research explored whether insulin/PEG-CMCS revealed a protective effect on HI/RI in DM through ornithine decarboxylase (ODC)/polyamine systems. Materials and methods: Diabetes was induced via streptozotocin (STZ) in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats, which suffered from HI via blocking the left circumflex artery for 45 minutes, followed by 2 hours of reperfusion. α-Difluoromethylornithine-ethylglyoxal bis (guanylhydrazone) (DFMO-EGBG) and insulin/PEG-CMCS were administered to diabetic rats to explore their roles on severity of HI/RI. Results: Insulin could be fleetly and efficiently loaded via the nanocarrier PEG-CMCS at pH =6, showing efficient loading and stable release. In addition, insulin/PEG-CMCS showed significant hypoglycemic activity in diabetic rats. On the other hand, ischemia/reperfusion obviously augmented the contents of creatine kinase (CK), lactic dehydrogenase (LDH), putrescine (Pu), myocardial infarct size, and NF-κB and spermidine/spermine N′-acetyltransferase (SSAT) expressions and decreased the levels of spermine (Sp), polyamine pools (PAs), heart rate (HR), coronary blood flow (CF), left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP), and ODC expression, compared with Sham. Administration of insulin and insulin/PEG-CMCS both reduced the contents of CK, LDH, Pu, myocardial infarct size, and NF-κB and SSAT expressions and increased the levels of Sp, PAs, HR, CF, LVDP, and ODC expression, while insulin/PEG-CMCS significantly indicated the protective results, and DFMO-EGBG showed the opposite effects. Conclusion: The research showed that insulin/PEG-CMCS could play a protective effect on HR/RI in diabetic rats via its antioxidative, antiapoptotic, and anti-inflammatory roles and modulating ODC/polyamine systems. Keywords: heart ischemia/reperfusion injury, PEG-CMCS, diabetes mellitus, heart function, ODC/polyamine, NF-κB, apoptosis

Fei Tong,1,2 Suhuan Liu,1 Bing Yan,1 Xuejun Li,1 Shiwei Ruan,3 Shuyu Yang1 1Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 2Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Provincial Key Discipline of Pharmacology, Jiaxing University Medical College, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, 3Academy of Integrative Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China Abstract: The purpose of the study was to reveal the therapeutic effect of quercetin (QUE) nanoparticle complex on diabetic nephropathy (DN) by regulating the expression of intercellular adhesion molecular-1 (ICAM-1) on endothelium as compared to free QUE. QUE 10 mg/kg as a single abdominal subcutaneous injection daily for 8 weeks continuously in diabetic rats and 10 mg/kg QUE nanoparticle complex as a single abdominal subcutaneous injection every 5 days, continuously administered for 8 weeks to diabetic rats. Blood and left kidneys were collected; pathological change of kidney, renal function, oxidative stress level, blood glucose level, serum lipid, urine protein, and albumin/creatinine ratio were measured; and neutrophil adhesion, ICAM-1 expression, and CD11b+ cells infiltration were observed. Both QUE and QUE nanoparticle complex preconditioning ameliorated the pathological damage of kidney and improved renal function, alleviated renal oxidative stress injury, restricted inflammatory cells infiltration, and downregulated the ICAM-1 expression as compared to DN group, while QUE nanoparticle complex significantly alleviated this effect. Keywords: nanoparticle complex, quercetin, DN, ICAM-1, CD11b+, endothelium

Fang Shan,1 YuJuan Liu,1 Haiying Jiang,2 Fei Tong2 1Department of Physiology, Hexi University Medical College, Zhangye, 2Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Provincial Key Discipline of Pharmacology, Jiaxing University Medical College, Jiaxing, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Here, we describe a bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) nanocarrier based on glycyrrhetinic acid (GA)-poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-b-poly(L-lysine) (PLL). A protein nanocarrier was synthesized, characterized and evaluated as a BMP-2 delivery system. The designed nanocarrier was synthesized based on the ring-opening polymerization of amino acid N-carboxyanhydride. The final product was measured with 1H nuclear magnetic resonance. GA-PEG-b-PLL nanocarrier could combine with BMP-2 through electrostatic interaction to form polyion complex (PIC) micelles. BMP-2 could be rapidly and efficiently encapsulated through the GA-PEG-b-PLL nanocarrier under physiological conditions, exhibiting efficient encapsulation and sustained release. In addition, the GA-PEG-b-PLL-mediated BMP-2 delivery system could target the liver against hepatic diseases as it has GA-binding receptors. The anti-hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury (anti-HI/RI) effect of BMP-2/GA-PEG-b-PLL PIC micelles was investigated in rats using free BMP-2 and BMP-2/PEG-b-PLL PIC micelles as controls, and the results showed that BMP-2/GA-PEG-b-PLL PIC micelles indicated significantly enhanced anti-HI/RI property compared to BMP-2 and BMP-2/PEG-b-PLL. All results suggested that GA-PEG-b-PLL could be used as a potential BMP-2 nanocarrier. Keywords: GA-PEG-b-PLL, PIC micelles, BMP-2, HI/RI

Fei Tong Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Provincial Key Discipline of Pharmacology, Jiaxing University Medical College, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China Abstract: The poly(ethylene glycol)-b-brush poly(l-lysine) polymer (PEG-b-(PELG50-g-PLL3)) was synthesized and evaluated as a nanocarrier for prolonging delivery of exenatide through the abdominal subcutaneous injection route. The isoelectric point of exenatide was 4.86, and exenatide could combine with PEG-b-(PELG50-g-PLL3) polymers via electrostatic interactions at pH 7.4. This polymer was a good candidate for achieving prolonged drug delivery for exenatide, considering its high molecular weight. Besides the physicochemical characterization of the polymer, in vitro and in vivo applications were researched as a sustained exenatide delivery system. In the in vitro release research, 20.16%–76.88% of total exenatide was released from the PEG-b-(PELG50-g-PLL3) polymer within 7 days. The synthesized block-brush polymers and exenatide–block-brush polymers were analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticle size instrument, and scanning electron microscopy. The best formulation was selected for in vivo experimentation to achieve blood glucose control in diabetic rat models using free exenatide as the control. The hypoglycemic action of the formulation following subcutaneous injection in diabetic rats lasted 7 days, and the results indicated that exenatide–block-brush polymers demonstrate enhanced long-acting hypoglycemic action. Besides the hypoglycemic action, exenatide–block-brush polymers significantly alleviated diabetic nephropathy via improving renal function, decreasing oxidative stress injury, decreasing urinary albumin excretion rate, mitigating albumin/creatinine ratio, reducing blood lipids, abating kidney index, weakening apoptosis, and downregulating expression of connective tissue growth factor. All of the results suggested that PEG-b-(PELG50-g-PLL3) polymers could be used as potential exenatide nanocarriers, with efficient encapsulation and sustained release. Keywords: block copolymer, PELG50-g-PLL3, exenatide, hypoglycemic action, diabetic nephropathy

Guangtao Xu,1,2 Huan Gu,1,3 Bo Hu,4 Fei Tong,2 Daojun Liu,1 Xiaojun Yu,1 Yongxia Zheng,1,2 Jiang Gu1 1Department of Pathology and Chemistry, Provincial Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Immunopathology, Collaborative and Creative Center, Molecular Diagnosis and Personalized Medicine, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, 2Department of Pathology, Provincial Key Discipline of Pharmacology, Jiaxing University Medical College, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Annapolis, MD, USA; 4Department of Chemical Pathology, Jiaxing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Brain ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury (BI/RI) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. However, the outcome of pharmacotherapy for BI/RI remains unsatisfactory. Innovative approaches for enhancing drug sensitivity and recovering neuronal activity in BI/RI treatment are urgently needed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the protective effects of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-loaded poly(ethylene glycol)-b-(poly(ethylenediamine l-glutamate)-g-poly(l-lysine)) (TNF-α/PEG-b-(PELG-g-PLL)) nanoparticles on BI/RI. The particle size of PEG-b-(PELG-g-PLL) and the loading and release rates of TNF-α were determined. The nanoparticle cytotoxicity was evaluated in vitro using rat cortical neurons. Sprague Dawley rats were preconditioned with free TNF-α or TNF-α/PEG-b-(PELG-g-PLL) polyplexes and then subjected to 2 hours ischemia and 22 hours reperfusion. Brain edema was assessed using the brain edema ratio, and the antioxidative activity was assessed by measuring the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the brain tissue. We further estimated the inflammatory activity and apoptosis level by determining the levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and nitric oxide (NO), as well as the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), and cysteine aspartase-3 (caspase-3), in the brain tissue. We provide evidence that TNF-α preconditioning attenuated the oxidative stress injury, the inflammatory activity, and the apoptosis level in I/R-induced cerebral injury, while the application of block copolymer PEG-b-(PELG-g-PLL) as a potential TNF-α nanocarrier with sustained release significantly enhanced the bioavailability of TNF-α. We propose that the block copolymer PEG-b-(PELG-g-PLL) may function as a potent nanocarrier for augmenting BI/RI pharmacotherapy, with unprecedented clinical benefits. Further studies are needed to better clarify the underlying mechanisms. Keywords: PEG-b-(PELG-g-PLL), TNF-α, ischemia/reperfusion, brain

Fei Tong,1 Bo Dong,1 Rongkui Chai,1 Ke Tong,2,3 Yini Wang,4 Shipiao Chen,1 Xinmei Zhou,1 Daojun Liu5 1Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Provincial Key Discipline of Pharmacology, Jiaxing University Medical College, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, 2College of Life Science and Engineering, 3State Defense Key Laboratory of Fundamental Science on Nuclear Wastes and Environment, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan, 4Department of Nursing, Zhejiang Rongjun Hospital, The Third People’s Hospital of Jiaxing, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, 5Department of Pharmacochemistry, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China Abstract: The purpose of the research was to explore the therapeutic action of simvastatin-loaded poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(gamma-benzyl l-glutamate) (PEG-b-PBLG50) on intestinal ischemia/reperfusion injury (II/RI) through downregulating bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4)/cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) pathway as compared to free simvastatin (Sim). Sprague Dawley rats were preconditioned with 20 mg/kg Sim or simvastatin/PEG-b-PBLG50 (Sim/P) compounds, and then subjected to 45 min of ischemia and 1 h of reperfusion. The blood and small intestines were collected, serum levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-α, and nitric oxide (NO) were checked, and the dry/wet intestine ratios, superoxide dismutase activity, myeloperoxidase content, reactive oxygen species, endothelial nitric oxide synthase, protein 47 kDa phagocyte oxidase (p47phox), BMP4, COX-2, and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) expressions were measured in intestinal tissues. Both Sim and Sim/P pretreatment reduced intestinal oxidative damnification, restricted inflammatory harm, and downregulated the BMP4 and COX-2 expressions as compared to II/RI groups, while Sim/P remarkably improved this effect. Keywords: PEG-b-PBLG50, II/RI, simvastatin, BMP4, COX-2

Fei Tong, Xiangyuan Tang, Xin Li, Wenquan Xia, Daojun Liu Department of Chemistry, Medical College, Shantou University, Shantou, People’s Republic of China Abstract: The aim of this study was to observe the therapeutic effect of insulin-loaded linear poly(ethylene glycol)-brush-like poly(L-lysine) block copolymer poly(ethylene glycol)-b-(poly(ethylenediamine L-glutamate)-g-poly(L-lysine)) (PEG-b-(PELG-g-PLL) on renal ischemia/reperfusion-induced lung injury through downregulating hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) as compared to free insulin. Sprague Dawley rats were pretreated with 30 U/kg insulin or insulin/PEG-b-(PELG-g-PLL) complex, and then subjected to 45 minutes of ischemia and 24 hours of reperfusion. The blood and lungs were collected, the level of serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen were measured, and the dry/wet lung ratios, the activity of superoxide dismutase and myeloperoxidase, the content of methane dicarboxylic aldehyde and tumor necrosis factor-α, and the expression of HIF-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were measured in pulmonary tissues. Both insulin and insulin/PEG-b-(PELG-g-PLL) preconditioning improved the recovery of renal function, reduced pulmonary oxidative stress injury, restrained inflammatory damage, and downregulated the expression of HIF-1α and VEGF as compared to ischemia/reperfusion group, while insulin/PEG-b-(PELG-g-PLL) significantly improved this effect. Keywords: insulin, block copolymer, RI/RILI, HIF-1α, VEGF

The transportation sector is the largest contributor to CO2 emissions and a major source of criteria air pollutants in the United States. The impact of climate change and that of air pollution differ in space and time, but spatially-explicit, systematic evaluations of the effectiveness of alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies in mitigating both climate change and air pollution are lacking. In this work, we estimate the life cycle monetized damages due to greenhouse gas emissions and criteria air pollutant emissions for different types of passenger-moving vehicles in the United States. We find substantial spatial variability in the monetized damages for all fuel-vehicle technologies studied. None of the fuel-vehicle technologies leads simultaneously to the lowest climate change damages and the lowest air pollution damages across all U.S. counties. Instead, the fuel-vehicle technology that best mitigates climate change in one region is different from that for the best air quality (i.e. the trade-off between decarbonization and air pollution mitigation). For example, for the state of Pennsylvania, battery-electric cars lead to the lowest population-weighted-average climate change damages (a climate change damage of 0.87 cent/mile and an air pollution damage of 1.71 cent/mile). In contrast, gasoline hybrid-electric cars lead to the lowest population-weighted-average air pollution damages (a climate change damage of 0.92 cent/mile and an air pollution damage of 0.77 cent/mile). Vehicle electrification has great potential to reduce climate change damages but may increase air pollution damages substantially in regions with high shares of coal-fired power plants compared to conventional vehicles. However, clean electricity grid could help battery electric vehicles to achieve low damages in both climate change and air pollution.

While it has been recognized that the multipath structure of the underwater acoustic (UWA) channel offers the potential for compressed sensing (CS) sparsity exploitation, the rapidly time varying arrivals induced by highly dynamic surfaces unfortunately pose significant difficulties to channel estimation. From the viewpoint of underwater acoustic propagation, with the exception of the highly time varying arrivals caused by dynamic surface, generally there exist relatively stationary or slowly changing arrivals caused by direct path or bottom reflection, which imply the adoption of a discriminate estimation method to handle sparse components with different time variation scale. By modeling the time varying UWA channels as a sparse set consisting of constant and time-varying supports, in this paper, estimation of time varying UWA channel is transformed into a problem of dynamic compressed sensing sparse recovery. The combination of a Kalman filter and compressed sensing is adopted to pursue the solution of it. Numerical simulations demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm. In the form of a channel-estimation-based decision-feedback equalizer, the experimental results with the field data obtained in a shallow water acoustic communication experiment indicate that the proposed dynamic compressed sensing algorithm outperforms classic algorithms as well as CS algorithms.

Distributed compressed sensing techniques are applied to enhance sparse channel estimation performance in underwater acoustic multiband systems. The core idea is to use receptions from multiple sub-bands to enhance the detection of channel tap positions. A known variant of the orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithm based on the distributed compressed sensing principle is simultaneous orthogonal matching pursuit (SOMP). However, the impulse responses across multiple sub-bands may have different arrival structures, although they often show a certain level of similarity. To address such differences at the sub-bands, a multiple selection strategy is applied to select multiple candidates at individual sub-bands at each iteration. This is different from the conventional OMP and SOMP algorithms that select only one candidate at each iteration. When the multiple selection strategy is combined with the SOMP algorithm, the proposed algorithm is referred to as JB-MSSOMP algorithm. To take advantage of channel coherence between adjacent data blocks from different sub-bands, the multiple selection strategy is further used over time. This leads to JBT-MSSOMP algorithm. Computer simulations show improved channel estimation performance of the proposed JB-MSSOMP and JBT-MSSOMP algorithms over the OMP or SOMP algorithms. Communication data from a recent acoustic experiment demonstrates improved receiver performance with the proposed channel estimators.