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Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive disease with rapid progression and poor prognosis due to multidrug resistance (MDR). Piperine (PIP) shows promise as a P-gp inhibitor, capable of sensitizing chemotherapeutic drugs and exhibiting antitumor properties. This study explores the inhibitory mechanism of PIP on P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and its capacity to enhance the sensitivity of paclitaxel (PTX). We subsequently evaluated the efficacy and safety of albumin nanoparticles that co-encapsulate PTX and PIP (PP@AN). The results demonstrated that PIP enhanced the accumulation of PTX intracellularly, as determined with HPLC/MS/MS analysis. PIP was also found to increase cell sensitivity to PTX. Furthermore, we explored the inhibitory mechanism of PIP on P-gp, utilizing molecular docking simulations, RT-qPCR, and Western blot analysis. PIP appears to compete with the active paclitaxel binding site on P-gp, affecting ATPase activity and downregulating the MDR1 gene and P-gp expression. In summary, PIP could inhibit P-gp and act as a sensitizer in the treatment of TNBC with PTX. Moreover, stable and uniform PP@AN was successfully formulated, resulting in a significant increase in drug accumulation within cells as well as the downregulation of P-gp in tumors at the optimal ratio (PTX:PIP = 1:2). This led to an improvement in the antitumor effect in vivo while also reducing hepatotoxicity and hemototoxicity following chemotherapy. This study comprehensively investigated PIP's inhibitory effect and mechanism on P-gp. We present a new approach for co-delivering PIP and PTX using albumin nanoparticles, which reduced toxicity and improved therapeutic efficacy both in vivo and in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shortage of freshwater resources caused by heavy metal pollution is an acute global issue, which has a great impact on environmental protection and human health. Therefore, the exploitation of new strategies for designing and synthesizing green, efficient, and economical materials for the detection and removal of heavy metal ions is crucial. Among the various methods for the detection and removal of heavy ions, advanced functional systems including nanomaterials, polymers, porous materials, and biomaterials have attracted considerable attention over the past several years due to their capabilities of real-time detection, excellent removal efficiency, anti-interference, quick response, high selectivity, and low limit of detection. In this tutorial review, we review the general design principles underlying the aforementioned functional materials, and in particular highlight the fundamental mechanisms and specific examples of detecting and removing heavy metal ions. Additionally, the methods which enhance water purification quality using these functional materials have been reviewed, also current challenges and opportunities in this exciting field have been highlighted, including the fabrication, subsequent treatment, and potential future applications of such functional materials. We envision that this tutorial review will provide invaluable guidance for the design of functional materials tailored towards the detection and removal of heavy metals, thereby expediting the development of high-performance materials and fostering the development of more efficient approaches to water pollution remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar steam generation is an efficient way to address global freshwater shortages. However, water evaporation suffers from either inefficient heat conduction or relies on expensive materials and complex equipment. Herein, a porous hydrogel (AC‐H) with molecular meshes, micron channels, and internal gaps is fabricated and used for metal ion adsorption. AC‐H exhibits excellent uptake ability and can attain the levels required by industrial water safety standards. Subsequently, the exhausted AC‐H hydrogel is vulcanized in situ (AC‐MS) and upcycled for solar steam generation resulting in ≈1.41 kg m−2 h−1 evaporation rate under one sun irradition, which reduces costs and converts the waste into a resource. Furthermore, a heat management strategy is developed where a cold surface of specific area is introduced between the AC‐MSx and bulk water to adsorb the heat loss. When the cold area is increased, the energy in the bulk water can be extracted by the coldsurface. which enhances the water evaporation rate. Significantly, the theoretical simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results. Therefore, this research provides a novel strategy to upcycle exhausted materials for photothermal technologies and reduces the heat conduction during solar‐to‐thermal evaporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The well-known Bragg resonance in periodic waveguides always leads to the creation of the so-called Bragg gap, within which sound propagations are effectively forbidden. Here we report the possibility of sound energy transmission in the Bragg gap via the high-order transverse modes, which penetrate through the forbidden band due to the interactions between different sound modes in an acoustic duct with periodically corrugated walls. The theoretical analysis indicates that in the waveguides with transverse scales comparable to its period, the guided wave modes can interact with the Bragg gap so that the forbidden band undergoes an abnormal change, giving rise to both a considerable compression in the band width and a sharp descent of the transmission loss on the upper edge of the stopband. The experiment confirms the existence and the significance of the interacting effect, and the measurements of the transmission loss and the radial distribution of sound fields agree quite well with the theoretical predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the children's oral health habits and oral-health-related quality of life following treatment under dental general anesthesia (DGA) and passive restraint (PR)., Methods: In the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, twenty eight 2 to 4-year-old patients treated under DGA and thirty five treated under PR were collected in this non-randomized controlled trial. The general information including age and decayed, missed and filled teeth(dmft), dental plaque index was recorded preoperatively. Two questionnaires, questionnaire of oral health habits and early childhood oral health impact scale (ECOHIS) were completed by parents before and 6 months after treatment (including restoration, root canal treatment, stainless steel crown, tooth extraction, etc.). Six months after treatment, dental plaque index and restoration were reexamined., Results: The patients were significantly elder in DGA group [(3.1 ± 0.6) years old, P < 0.05], and the mean dmft was significantly higher (13.1 ± 4.1, P < 0.001) in DGA group. The postoperative dietary habits and brushing habits significantly improved in PR group, but not in the DGA group. However, according to the results of ECOHIS, the occurrence of pain, the impacts of patients on daily life, psychology and family due to the oral diseases significantly decreased in DGA group (P < 0.05), while in PR group, only the occurrence of pain reduced (P < 0.05). No statistical difference was found between the two groups in new caries or recurrent caries (PR group: 37.1%, DGA group: 39.3%), secondary caries (PR group: 4.1%, DGA group: 2.3%), and failure of the restoration (PR group:1.5%, DGA group: 2.7%)., Conclusions: Each behavior management technique has advantages and drawbacks, and no statistical differences were found in the treatment results between the two techniques.