Lack of cross-transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between passenger's cabins on the Diamond Princess cruise ship

An outbreak of COVID-19 occurred on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in January and February 2020 in Japan. We analysed information on the cases of infection to infer whether airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, had occurred between cabins. We infer from our analysis that most infections in passengers started on 28 January and were completed by 6 February, except in those who shared a cabin with another infected passenger. The distribution of the infected cabins was random, and no spatial cluster of the infected can be identified. We infer that the ship's central air-conditioning system for passenger's cabins did not play a role in SARS-CoV-2 transmission, i.e. airborne transmission did not occur between cabins during the outbreak, suggesting that the sufficient ventilation was provided. We also infer that the ship's cabin drainage system did not play a role. Most transmission appears to have occurred in the public areas of the cruise ship, likely due to crowding and insufficient ventilation in some of these areas.

Application of machine learning methods for the development of antidiabetic drugs

Diabetes is a chronic non-communicable disease caused by several different routes, which has attracted increasing attention. In order to speed up the development of new selective drugs, machine learning (ML) technology has been applied in the process of diabetes drug development, which opens up a new blueprint for drug design. This review provides a comprehensive portrayal of the application of ML in antidiabetic drug use.

Anatase porous titania nanosheets for resonant-gravimetric detection of ppb-level NO2 at room-temperature

The trace-level detection of harmful NO2 gas at room-temperature is very important for environmental protection and public health. This paper reports the resonant-gravimetric detection of ppb-level NO2 at room-temperature using two-dimensional porous TiO2 nanosheets (PTNSs) as highly active sensing materials. They are synthesized by a facile high-temperature calcination approach based on a graphene oxide self-sacrificial template. The PTNS sample prepared at 500 °C (TiO2-500 °C) show an anatase structure, while the sample prepared at 800 °C (TiO2-800 °C) contains an impurity rutile phase. By loading pure anatase PTNSs onto resonant microcantilevers, the sensors exhibit high sensitivity to NO2 gas with a limit of detection as low as 15 ppb. Compared with the TiO2-800 °C sample, the much higher sensitivity of the TiO2-500 °C sample can be attributed to the bigger adsorption enthalpy (-ΔH°) of pure anatase TiO2 to NO2 gas molecules (21.7 and 57.8 kJ mol-1, respectively). Density functional theory calculations further demonstrate that the existence of the rutile impurity phase in the TiO2-800 °C sample results in its significantly decreased adsorption activity to NO2. This work approves the great application potential of anatase PTNSs for the highly sensitive resonant-gravimetric detection of NO2 gas at room-temperature.

Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Blockade Corrects Monocyte/Macrophage Imbalance in Primary Immune Thrombocytopenia

Primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an acquired autoimmune bleeding disorder. Monocytes and macrophages are the major cells involved in autoantibody-mediated platelet clearance in ITP. In the present study, we found increased percentages of peripheral blood proinflammatory CD16+ monocytes and elevated frequencies of splenic tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-expressing macrophages in ITP patients compared with healthy controls. Concurrently, we observed elevated TNF-α secretion in plasma as well as higher TNF-α mRNA expression in total peripheral blood mononuclear cells and CD14+ monocytes of ITP patients. Of note, in vitro TNF-α blockade with neutralizing antibody remarkably reduced polarization to M1 macrophages by inhibiting the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway. Moreover, TNF-α blockade dampened macrophage phagocytosis and T cell stimulatory capacity. Finally, in passive and active murine models of ITP, anti-TNF-α therapy reduced the number of nonclassical monocytes and M1 macrophages, ameliorated the retention of platelets in spleen and liver, and increased the platelet count of ITP mice. Taken together, TNF-α blockade decreased the number and function of proinflammatory subsets of monocytes and macrophages by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway, leading to remarkable attenuation of antibody-mediated platelet destruction. Thus, TNF-α blockade may be a promising therapeutic strategy for the management of ITP.

Integrated Resonant Micro/Nano Gravimetric Sensors for Bio/Chemical Detection in Air and Liquid

Resonant micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) with on-chip integrated excitation and readout components, exhibit exquisite gravimetric sensitivities which have greatly advanced the bio/chemical sensor technologies in the past two decades. This paper reviews the development of integrated MEMS/NEMS resonators for bio/chemical sensing applications mainly in air and liquid. Different vibrational modes (bending, torsional, in-plane, and extensional modes) have been exploited to enhance the quality (Q) factors and mass sensing performance in viscous media. Such resonant mass sensors have shown great potential in detecting many kinds of trace analytes in gas and liquid phases, such as chemical vapors, volatile organic compounds, pollutant gases, bacteria, biomarkers, and DNA. The integrated MEMS/NEMS mass sensors will continuously push the detection limit of trace bio/chemical molecules and bring a better understanding of gas/nanomaterial interaction and molecular binding mechanisms.

Obstruction of the formation of granulation tissue leads to delayed wound healing after scald burn injury in mice

BACKGROUND

Delayed wound healing remains a common but challenging problem in patients with acute or chronic wound following accidental scald burn injury. However, the systematic and detailed evaluation of the scald burn injury, including second-degree deep scald (SDDS) and third-degree scald (TDS), is still unclear. The present study aims to analyze the wound-healing speed, the formation of granulation tissue, and the healing quality after cutaneous damage.

METHODS

In order to assess SDDS and TDS, the models of SDDS and TDS were established using a scald instrument in C57BL/6 mice. Furthermore, an excisional wound was administered on the dorsal surface in mice (Cut group). The wound-healing rate was first analyzed at days 0, 3, 5, 7, 15 and 27, with the Cut group as a control. Then, on the full-thickness wounds, hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, Masson staining, Sirius red staining, Victoria blue staining and immunohistochemistry were performed to examine re-epithelialization, the formation of granulation tissue, vascularization, inflammatory infiltration and the healing quality at different time points in the Cut, SDDS and TDS groups.

RESULTS

The presented data revealed that the wound-healing rate was higher in the Cut group, when compared with the SDDS and TDS groups. H&E staining showed that re-epithelialization, formation of granulation tissue and inflammatory infiltration were greater in the Cut group, when compared with the SDDS and TDS groups. Immunohistochemistry revealed that the number of CD31, vascular endothelial growth factor A, transforming growth factor-β and α-smooth muscle actin reached preferential peak in the Cut group, when compared with other groups. In addition, Masson staining, Sirius red staining, Victoria blue staining, Gordon-Sweets staining and stress analysis indicated that the ratio of collagen I to III, reticular fibers, failure stress, Young's modulus and failure length in the SDDS group were similar to those in the normal group, suggesting that healing quality was better in the SDDS group, when compared with the Cut and TDS groups.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the investigators first administered a comprehensive analysis in the Cut, SDDS and TDS groups through in vivo experiments, which further proved that the obstacle of the formation of granulation tissue leads to delayed wound healing after scald burn injury in mice.

Comprehensive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of LPV/r drugs in the treatment of SARS and MERS to provide potential treatment options for COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) experienced an outbreak that expanded worldwide. Lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r), which is used effectively for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus infections, was applied for COVID-19 treatment given similarities in the molecular structures of these viruses. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of lopinavir/ritonavir antiviral treatment in patients with SARS, MERS, and COVID-19. After registration with INPLASY, a search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Cochrane Library, WanFang Data, China Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) and other databases for all relevant literature on lopinavir/ritonavir treatment of SARS, MERS and COVID-19. The Cochrane Collaboration’s bias risk assessment tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) were used to evaluate the quality of the literature, and RevMan 5.3 software was used to evaluate the relevant outcome indicators of the efficacy and safety of lopinavir/ritonavir in the treatment of COVID-19. A total of 18 eligible studies (including randomized controlled studies, cohort studies, and case-control studies) were retrieved and included with a total of 2273 patients. The lopinavir/ritonavir group exhibited an increased nucleic acid conversion rate (P=0.004), higher virus clearance rate (P<0.0001), lower mortality rate (P=0.002), and reduced incidence of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (P=0.02) compared with the control group. No significant benefit in the improvement rate of chest CT (P=0.08) or incidence of adverse events (P=0.45) was noted. The lopinavir/ritonavir group had a lower incidence of acute respiratory distress syndrome (P=0.02). According to the clinical prognostic results, the incidence of adverse events between the two groups was not statistically significant (P<0.0001). The efficacy of lopinavir/ritonavir in the treatment of patients with SARS, MERS and COVID-19 was significantly better than that of the control. Furthermore, the incidence of adverse events did not significantly increase. Lopinavir/ritonavir is effective in the treatment of COVID-19, and this combination should be further assessed in RCT studies. In addition, when we analyzed the differences in age and sex, we found that the differences were statistically significant in the safety and effectiveness of lopinavir/ritonavir in patients with COVID-19, and both of these factors played a significant role in the trial.

A composite hydrogel with co-delivery of antimicrobial peptides and platelet-rich plasma to enhance healing of infected wounds in diabetes

Diabetic wound healing remains a major challenge due to its vulnerability to bacterial infection, as well as the less vascularization and prolonged inflammatory phase. In this study, we developed a hydrogel system for the treatment of chronic infected wounds, which can regulate inflammatory (through the use of antimicrobial peptides) and enhance collagen deposition and angiogenesis (through the addition of platelet-rich plasma (PRP)). Based on the formation of Schiff base linkage, the ODEX/HA-AMP/PRP hydrogel was prepared by mixing oxidized dextran (ODEX), antimicrobial peptide-modified hyaluronic acid (HA-AMP) and PRP under physiological conditions, which exhibited obvious inhibition zones against three pathogenic bacterial strains (E. coli, S. aureus and P. aeruginosa) and slow release ability of antimicrobials and growth factors. Moreover, CCK-8, live/dead fluorescent staining and scratch test confirmed that ODEX/HA-AMP/PRP hydrogel could facilitate the proliferation and migration of L929 fibroblast cells. More importantly, in vivo experiments further demonstrated that the prepared hydrogels could significantly improve wound healing in a diabetic mouse infection by regulating inflammation, accelerating collagen deposition and angiogenesis. In addition, prepared hydrogel showed a significant antibacterial activity against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa, inhibited pro-inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6), enhanced anti-inflammatory factors (TGF-β1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) production. The findings of this study suggested that the composite hydrogel with AMP and PRP controlled release ability could be used as a promising candidate for chronic wound healing and infection-related wound healing.

Interferometric control of magnon-induced nearly perfect absorption in cavity magnonics

The perfect absorption of electromagnetic waves has promoted many applications, including photovoltaics, radar cloaking, and molecular detection. Unlike conventional methods of critical coupling that require asymmetric boundaries or coherent perfect absorption that require multiple coherent incident beams, here we demonstrate single-beam perfect absorption in an on-chip cavity magnonic device without breaking its boundary symmetry. By exploiting magnon-mediated interference between two internal channels, both reflection and transmission of our device can be suppressed to zero, resulting in magnon-induced nearly perfect absorption (MIPA). Such interference can be tuned by the strength and direction of an external magnetic field, thus showing versatile controllability. Furthermore, the same multi-channel interference responsible for MIPA also produces level attraction (LA)-like hybridization between a cavity magnon polariton mode and a cavity photon mode, demonstrating that LA-like hybridization can be surprisingly realized in a coherently coupled system.

Phosphoproteome and Biological Evidence Revealed Abnormal Calcium Homeostasis in Keloid Fibroblasts and Induction of Aberrant Platelet Aggregation

Keloid is a benign tumor characterized by persistent inflammation, increased fibroblast proliferation, and abnormal deposition of collagen in the wound. The etiology of keloid is unclear. Here, we explored the phospho-signaling changes in human keloid fibroblasts via phosphoproteome mass spectrometry analysis. We found that comparative phosphoproteomics could statistically distinguish keloid from control fibroblasts. Differentially expressed phosphoproteins could predict the activation of known keloid-relevant upstream regulators including transforming growth factor-β1, interleukin (IL)-4, and IL-5. With multiple bioinformatics analyses, phosphorylated FLNA, TLN1, and VCL were significantly enriched in terms of calcium homeostasis and platelet aggregation. We biologically verified that keloid fibroblasts had a higher level of Ca²⁺ influx than the control fibroblasts upon ionomycin stimulation. Via co-cultivation analysis, we found that human keloid fibroblasts could directly promote platelet aggregation. As suggested by PhosphoPath and gene set enrichment analysis, pFLNA was centered as the top phosphoproteins associated with keloid phenotypes. We validated that pFLNA was upregulated both in keloid fibroblasts and keloid tissue section, implicating its biomarker potential. In conclusion, we reported the first phosphoproteome on keloid fibroblasts, based on which we revealed that keloid fibroblasts had aberrant calcium homeostasis and could directly induce platelet aggregation.

Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship of Nanowire Adsorption to SO2 Revealed by In Situ TEM Technique

A quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) is revealed based on the real-time sulfurization processes of ZnO nanowires observed via gas-cell in situ transmission electron microscopy (in situ TEM). According to the in situ TEM observations, the ZnO nanowires with a diameter of 100 nm (ZnO-100 nm) gradually transform into a core-shell nanostructure under SO₂ atmosphere, and the shell formation kinetics are quantitatively determined. However, only sparse nanoparticles can be observed on the surface of the ZnO-500 nm sample, which implies a weak solid-gas interaction between SO₂ and ZnO-500 nm. The QSAR model is verified with heat of adsorption (-ΔH°) and aberration-corrected TEM characterization. With the guidance of the QSAR model, the following adsorbing/sensing applications of ZnO nanomaterials are explored: (i) breakthrough experiment demonstrates the application potential of the ZnO-100 nm sample for SO₂ capture/storage; (ii) the ZnO-500 nm sample features good reversibility (RSD = 1.5%, n = 3) for SO₂ sensing, and the detection limit reaches 70 ppb.

Palladium-catalyzed dearomative cyclocarbonylation of allyl alcohol for the synthesis of quinolizinones

An approach for the synthesis of quinolizinone with potential bioactivity has been developed via palladium-catalytic dearomative cyclocarbonylation of allyl alcohol. Diverse quinolizinone compounds could be attained with good efficiencies. A feasible reaction pathway could be a successive procedure of allylation, dearomatization, CO insertion and the Heck reaction.

Low-Dose Decitabine Inhibits Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes-Mediated Platelet Destruction via Modulating PD-1 Methylation in Immune Thrombocytopenia

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs)-mediated platelet destruction plays an important role in the pathogenesis of primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). The programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) signaling can turn off autoreactive T cells and induce peripheral tolerance. Herein, we found that the expression of PD-1 and its ligand PD-L1 on CD8⁺ T cells from ITP patients was decreased. Activating PD-1 pathway by PD-L1-Fc fusion protein inhibited CTLs-mediated platelet destruction in ITP in vitro. PD-1 promoter hypermethylation in CD8⁺ T cells was found in ITP patients, resulting in decreased PD-1 expression. The demethylating agent decitabine at a low dose was proved to restore the methylation level and expression of PD-1 on CD8⁺ T cells and reduce the cytotoxicity of CTLs of ITP patients. The phosphorylation levels of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and AKT in CD8⁺ T cells were significantly downregulated by low-dose decitabine. Furthermore, blocking PD-1 could counteract the effect of low-dose decitabine on CTLs from ITP patients. Therefore, our data suggest that the aberrant PD-1/PD-L1 pathway is involved in the pathophysiology of ITP and enhancing PD-1/PD-L1 signaling is a promising therapeutic approach for ITP management. Our results reveal the immunomodulatory mechanism of low-dose decitabine in ITP by inhibiting CTLs cytotoxicity to autologous platelets through PD-1 pathway.

Differences in Calcium Clearance at Inner Hair Cell Active Zones May Underlie the Difference in Susceptibility to Noise-Induced Cochlea Synaptopathy of C57BL/6J and CBA/CaJ Mice

Noise exposure of a short period at a moderate level can produce permanent cochlear synaptopathy without seeing lasting changes in audiometric threshold. However, due to the species differences in inner hair cell (IHC) calcium current that we have recently discovered, the susceptibility to noise exposure may vary, thereby impact outcomes of noise exposure. In this study, we investigate the consequences of noise exposure in the two commonly used animal models in hearing research, CBA/CaJ (CBA) and C57BL/6J (B6) mice, focusing on the functional changes of cochlear IHCs. In the CBA mice, moderate noise exposure resulted in a typical fully recovered audiometric threshold but a reduced wave I amplitude of auditory brainstem responses. In contrast, both auditory brainstem response threshold and wave I amplitude fully recovered in B6 mice at 2 weeks after noise exposure. Confocal microscopy observations found that ribbon synapses of IHCs recovered in B6 mice but not in CBA mice. To further characterize the molecular mechanism underlying these different phenotypes in synaptopathy, we compared the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 with the expression of cytochrome-C and found increased activity in CBA mice after noise exposure. Under whole-cell patch clamped IHCs, we acquired two-photon calcium imaging around the active zone to evaluate the Ca²⁺ clearance rate and found that CBA mice have a slower calcium clearance rate. Our results indicated that excessive accumulation of calcium due to acoustic overexposure and slow clearance around the presynaptic ribbon might lead to disruption of calcium homeostasis, followed by mitochondrial dysfunction of IHCs that cause susceptibility of noise-induced cochlear synaptopathy in CBA mice.

Thermodynamic Phase-like Transition Effect of Molecular Self-assembly

The technique of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) is frequently applied for grafting functional groups or area-selective deposition of thin films on a material surface. The formation and quality of SAMs are fundamentally determined by thermodynamic data, which are difficult to measure with available experimental methods. This work quantitatively extracted thermodynamic parameters including ΔH°, ΔG°, and ΔS° during the SAMs construction process with an ultrasensitive resonant microcantilever as molecule-surface interactions real-time recording tool. By correlating the thermodynamic parameters with self-assembling temperatures, a new thermodynamic phase-like transition effect of molecular self-assembly has been first revealed. The sharp transition of the thermodynamic parameters defines the critical condition for SAMs formation. The thermodynamic data further provide optimized reaction conditions for constructing high-quality SAMs. The explored quantitative thermodynamic analysis method not only plays as criterion for SAM growth but also helps to fundamentally elucidate physicochemical mechanism of spontaneous self-assembly.

Severity and Consolidation Quantification of COVID-19 From CT Images Using Deep Learning Based on Hybrid Weak Labels

Early and accurate diagnosis of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is essential for patient isolation and contact tracing so that the spread of infection can be limited. Computed tomography (CT) can provide important information in COVID-19, especially for patients with moderate to severe disease as well as those with worsening cardiopulmonary status. As an automatic tool, deep learning methods can be utilized to perform semantic segmentation of affected lung regions, which is important to establish disease severity and prognosis prediction. Both the extent and type of pulmonary opacities help assess disease severity. However, manually pixel-level multi-class labelling is time-consuming, subjective, and non-quantitative. In this article, we proposed a hybrid weak label-based deep learning method that utilize both the manually annotated pulmonary opacities from COVID-19 pneumonia and the patient-level disease-type information available from the clinical report. A UNet was firstly trained with semantic labels to segment the total infected region. It was used to initialize another UNet, which was trained to segment the consolidations with patient-level information using the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed method, multi-institutional CT datasets from Iran, Italy, South Korea, and the United States were utilized. Results show that our proposed method can predict the infected regions as well as the consolidation regions with good correlation to human annotation.

A polyoxyethylene sorbitan oleate modified hollow gold nanoparticle system to escape macrophage phagocytosis designed for triple combination lung cancer therapy via LDL-R mediated endocytosis

Presently, a combination of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, thermotherapy, and other treatments has become a hot topic of research for the treatment of cancer, especially lung cancer. In this study, novel hollow gold nanoparticles (HGNPs) were used as drug carriers, and in order to improve the targeting ability of HGNPs to a lung tumor site, polyoxyethylene sorbitol oleate (PSO) was chosen here as a target ligand since it can be specifically recognized by the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor which is usually over expressed on A549 lung cancer cells. In this way, a PSO-modified doxorubicin-loaded HGNP drug delivery system (PSO-HGNPs-DOX) was constructed and its physicochemical properties, photothermal conversion ability, and drug release of PSO-HGNPs-DOX was investigated. Further, the effects of triple combination therapy, the intracellular uptake, and the ability to escape macrophage phagocytosis of PSO-HGNPs-DOX were also studied using A549 cells in vitro. In addition, an in vivo mouse model was also used to study the targeting of PSO-HGNPs-DOX to lung cancer. PSO-HGNPs-DOX demonstrated a good triple therapeutic effect for lung cancer (A549 cell viability was only 10% at 500 μM) by LDL receptor mediated endocytosis and was able to escape macrophage phagocytosis to enhance its accumulation at the target site. Therefore, PSO-HGNPs-DOX is a novel, safe, promising, and targeted drug carrier designed for triple combination lung cancer therapy which should be further studied for such applications.

Erythrocyte-mimicking paclitaxel nanoparticles for improving biodistributions of hydrophobic drugs to enhance antitumor efficacy

Recent decades have witnessed several nanocrystal-based hydrophobic drug formulations because of their excellent performance in improving drug loading and controlling drug release as mediate drug forms in tablets or capsules. However, the intravenous administration of drug nanocrystals was usually hampered by their hydrophobic surface properties, causing short half-life time in circulation and low drug distribution in tumor. Here, we proposed to enclose nanocrystals (NC) of hydrophobic drug, such as paclitaxel (PTX) into erythrocyte membrane (EM). By a series of formulation optimizations, spherical PTX nanoparticles (PN) with the particle size of around 280 nm were successfully cloaked in erythrocyte membrane, resulting in a PTX-NP-EM (PNM) system. The PNM could achieve high drug loading of PTX (>60%) and stabilize the particle size significantly compared to PN alone. Besides, the fluorescence-labeling PNM presented better tumor cell uptake, stronger cytotoxicity, and higher drug accumulation in tumor compared to PN. Finally, the PNM was found to be the most effective against tumor growth among all PTX formulations in tumor-bearing mice models, with much lower system toxicity than control formulation. In general, the PNM system with high drug-loading as well as superior bio-distributions in vivo could be served as a promising formulation.

Bioaerosol in a typical municipal wastewater treatment plant: concentration, size distribution, and health risk assessment

An investigation on bioaerosol in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) located in Xi'an, China, was conducted to understand the characteristics of bioaerosol released from wastewater and sludge treatment facilities because the bioaerosols may pose a threat to human health. Using the Andersen impactor sampler collection and colony-counting method, bioaerosol concentrations and size distributions were detected. The risk quotient method was used to evaluate the health risks associated with inhalation of bioaerosol for WWTP staff, based on the average daily dose rates of exposure. The health risk in relation to Legionella pneumophila was quantitatively calculated using quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA), based on the assumption of the percentage. The maximum concentration of airborne bacteria (3,767 ± 280 colony forming units (CFU)/m³) and fungi (8,775 ± 406 CFU/m³) occurred from the aerated grit chamber and sludge thickening house, respectively, which all exceeded 500 CFU/m³ as the acceptable guideline proposed by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. The particle size of airborne bacteria was mainly distributed in the first three stages (>3.3 µm), while that of airborne fungi was from the second to the fourth stage (2.1-7.0 µm). The hazard index exposure to bioaerosol for adult males and females by inhalation were higher than 1. The proportion of L. pneumophila should be strictly controlled below 10^-8, based on the QMRA approach.

Long-Circulating Thermosensitive Liposomes for the Targeted Drug Delivery of Oxaliplatin

Introduction

Oxaliplatin (L-OHP) is a well-known third-generation platinum anticancer drug with severe systemic- and neuro-toxicity. The main objective of the current research was to develop a targeted long-circulating thermosensitive smart-release liposome (LCTL) system for better therapeutic efficacy and less toxicity.

Methods

The reverse-phase evaporation method (REV) was used to prepare L-OHP loaded LCTL (L-OHP/LCTL). The physical characteristics were evaluated including encapsulation efficiency (EE), size, zeta potential and stability. The release behavior, cytotoxicity and in vivo evaluation were also carried out.

Results

EE of LCTL was around 25% with a uniform size distribution, and LCTL achieved almost complete release at 42°C while it was only 10% at 37°C. Moreover, the LCTL showed significantly higher cytotoxicity at 42°C than that at 37°C. The in vivo results indicated LCTL could target tumors and enhance retention for more than 24 h, thereby enhancing anti-tumor efficacy on 4T1-bearing mice.

Discussion

These results indicated that LCTL not only possessed a prolonged circulation time but it also enhanced accumulation and achieved selective release at the tumor sites. Conclusively, LCTL could serve as a promising carrier for oxaliplatin delivery to treat solid tumors.

Bacterial viability and diversity in a landscape lake replenished with reclaimed water: a case study in Xi'an, China

To understand the characteristics of bacterial viability and diversity in landscape waters replenished with reclaimed water, the typical landscape lake using reclaimed water was investigated in this study. Samples were collected from a reclaimed water inlet (P1), a reclaimed water distribution outlet (P2), and a landscape lake replenished by reclaimed water (P3). By means of measuring adenosine triphosphate (ATP), flow cytometry (FCM), and 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing, the bacterial viability and diversity in reclaimed water distribution system and landscape lake were illustrated. The bacterial ATP contents at P1, P2, and P3 were 3.55 ± 1.79 ng/L, 3.31 ± 1.43 ng/L, and 18.97 ± 6.39 μg/L, and the intact bacterial cell concentrations were 5.91 ± 0.52 × 10⁴ cells/mL, 7.95 ± 2.58 × 10⁴ cells/mL, and 5.65 ± 2.10 × 10⁶ cells/mL, respectively. These results indicated a significant increase of bacterial viability in the landscape lake. The Shannon diversity index of 6.535, 7.05, and 6.886 at P1, P2, and P3, respectively, demonstrated no notable change of bacterial diversity from reclaimed water distribution system to landscape lake. However, the relative abundance of Pseudomonas sp. at P3 was significantly higher than that at P1. These findings indicated that viable but non-culturable (VBNC) bacteria could be revived in the landscape lake. The bacterial viability during reclaimed water reuse should deserve special attention.