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Background: Cancer is the most common cause of death and is still a serious public health problem. Alkaloids, a class of bioactive compounds widely diffused in plants, especially Chinese herbs, are used as functional ingredients, precursors, and lead compounds in food and clinical applications. Among them, aporphine alkaloids (AAs), as an important class of isoquinoline alkaloids, exert a strong anticancer effect on multiple cancer types. Aim of review: This review aims to comprehensively summarize the phytochemistry, pharmacokinetics, and bioavailability of seven subtypes of AAs and their derivatives from various plants and highlight their anticancer bioactivities and mechanisms of action.Key Scientific Concepts of Review.The chemical structures and botanical diversity of AAs are elucidated, and promising results are highlighted regarding the potent anticancer activities of AAs and their derivatives, contributing to their pharmacological benefits. This work provides a better understanding of AAs and combinational anticancer therapies involving them, thereby improving the development of functional food containing plant-derived AA and the clinical application of AAs.

ObjectiveTo examine the disease burden of cervical cancer in 127 countries along the Belt and Road. MethodsThe 127 countries involved in the analysis were determined based on the information from the website of China's Belt and Road Initiative and the countries were assigned into one of the 6 World Health Organization (WHO) regions. The country-specific data of 2018 on world population based age standardized incidence and mortality rate and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) of cervical cancer were extracted from WHO cancer registry database for analyzing and comparing between country disparities in disease burden of cervical cancer using descriptive statistics. Cluster analysis was used to assess prevalence intensity of cervical cancer among the countries in different WHO regions. ResultsThe disease burden of cervical cancer in 2018 was significantly different among the 127 countries in various WHO regions along the Belt and Road. The mean age-standardized incidence rate (32.4/100 000) and mortality rate (21.9/100 000) of cervical cancer were the highest for the countries in the WHO African region; while, those for the countries in the WHO Mediterranean region were the lowest (age-standardized incidence and mortality rate: 4.4/100 000 and 2.9/100 000). The mean DALYs of cervical cancer was the highest (458.2/100 000) for the countries in the WHO region of America but the lowest (69 /100 000) for countries in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region. The results of cluster analysis showed that the prevalence of cervical cancer was at medium-high level for countries in WHO African region and at low level for countries in the WHO European, Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean regions. Conclusion Geographical region is the main, but not the only factor affecting the disease burden of cervical cancer for countries along the Belt and Road and the influences of country-specific social and economic development, natural and social environment should be considered in cervical cancer control.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is considered as one of the most effective short-term solutions in reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. A key of CCS technology is to seek the absorbent with low cost, fast absorption rate, and high stability. In this study, we show that 2-ethyl-4-methylimidazole is particularly suitable for efficient CO2 capture. The aqueous solution of 2-ethyl-4-methylimidazole displays a maximum CO2 molar absorption capacity of 1.0 mol∙mol−1 and the absorbed CO2 can be completely released through heating the solution at a relatively low temperature (in-situ attenuated total reflection infrared absorption spectroscopy and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies reveal that the intermediates are HCO3− and H2CO3 in the process of CO2 absorption–desorption. These intermediates are easily decomposed, which are responsible for the low CO2 desorption temperature and high desorption efficiency of the system. Moreover, the aqueous solution of 2-ethyl-4-methylimidazole is able to separate and purify CO2 from flue gas and even ambient air. Consequently, 2-ethyl-4-methylimidazole is a promising low-cost CO2 absorbent for industrial implementation.

Soft sensors are essential for robotic systems to safely interact with humans and the environment. Although significant research has been carried out in the field of soft tactile sensing, most of these sensors are restricted to a predefined geometry and a fixed measurement range, hence limiting their application. This paper introduces a novel approach to soft sensing by proposing a soft load-sensing unit with an adjustable mechanical compliance achieved using an elastically inflatable fluidic dome. The sensor consists of a three-dimensional Hall-effect sensor, above which is a magnet whose movement is modulated by an intermediate elastomeric dome structure. Sensor configurations were designed and fabricated using three different silicone rubbers to cover ‘00–10’ and ‘20A’ durometer shore hardness scales. We demonstrated that the compliance of the sensor could be dynamically tuned by changing the internal pressure of the inflatable fluidic dome in all configurations. We performed finite element simulations to determine the reaction force of the sensor under load as well as the stresses within the internal structural behavior, which are not possible to capture experimentally. The proposed soft sensor has the potential to be readily adapted for use in various soft robotic applications of differing size, compliance range, and safety requirements.