Label-Free Detection of Folate Receptor (+) Cells by Molecular Recognition Mediated Electrochemiluminescence of CdTe Nanoparticles

Molecular recognition based rapid and simple techniques for identifying subtypes of cancer cells are essential in molecular medicine. In this work, we have designed a molecular recognition mediated electrochemiluminescent (ECL) strategy for label-free and sensitive detection of folate receptor (FR) (+) cells (HeLa cell as a model) on folic acid-functionalized and red emitting CdTe/GSH nanoparticle-modified indium–tin oxide (ITO) electrodes. The ECL emission selectively responses to the rapid binding of FR (+) cells on the modified ITO electrodes due to the block of electron exchange between CdTe nanoparticles and coreacted dissolved oxygen. Microscopic observation verifies that the binding of HeLa cells is more favored than that for HepG2 cells [FR (−) type], resulting in a great difference in ECL intensity. The proposed platform allows the detection of ∼35 cells from 10 μL of cell suspension. This study has laid the foundation for building rapid and low-cost ECL diagnostic devices for specific detection of FR (+) cancer cells, with potential applications in profiling of cancer cell subtypes

One Step Synthesis of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube/Gold Nanocomposites for Enhancing Electrochemical Response

One Step Synthesis of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube/Gold Nanocomposites for Enhancing Electrochemical Respons

DataSheet2_Establishment and Validation of a 5 m6A RNA Methylation Regulatory Gene Prognostic Model in Low-Grade Glioma.CSV

Background: The prognosis of low-grade glioma (LGG) is different from that of other intracranial tumors. Although many markers of LGG have been established, few are used in clinical practice. M6A methylation significantly affects the biological behavior of LGG tumors. Therefore, establishment of an LGG prognostic model based on m6A methylation regulatory genes is of great interest.Methods: Data from 495 patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and 172 patients from the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) were analyzed. Univariate Cox analysis was used to identify methylation regulatory genes with prognostic significance. LASSO Cox regression was used to identify prognostic genes. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and Kaplan–Meier curves were used to verify the accuracy of the model. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were used to identify cellular pathways that were significantly associated with the prognosis of LGG.Results: A glioma prognostic model based on five methylation regulatory genes was established. Compared with low-risk patients, patients identified as high risk had a poorer prognosis. There was a high degree of consistency between the internal training and internal validation CGGA cohorts and the external validation TCGA cohort. Furthermore, KEGG and GSEA analyses showed that the focal adhesion and cell cycle pathways were significantly upregulated in high-risk patients. This signature could be used to distinguish among patients with different immune checkpoint gene expression levels, which may inform immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) immunotherapy.Conclusion: We comprehensively evaluated m6A methylation regulatory genes in LGG and constructed a prognostic model based on m6A methylation, which may improve prognostic prediction for patients with LGG.</p

Thiols-Induced Rapid Photoluminescent Enhancement of Glutathione-Capped Gold Nanoparticles for Intracellular Thiols Imaging Applications

The rapid detection and imaging of intracellular thiols is of great importance during the occurrence and development of some chronic diseases. Here we demonstrate the rapid thiols-induced photoluminescence (PL) enhancement of the low luminescent glutathione (GSH) stabilized Au nanoparticles, AuGSH (low). The dynamic PL investigation reveals that the PL enhancement fits a first-order reaction model. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic and mass spectroscopic results indicate that AuGSH (low) are mainly comprised of “thiols-insufficient” Au species and the additional thiols can efficiently attach to the “unsaturated” surface of Au nanoparticles, accompanied by significant PL enhancement. The noncytotoxic AuGSH (low) probe can be successfully applied for imaging of intracellular thiols. Generally, this work illustrates the great prospects of facile-prepared AuGSH (low) as a candidate for thiols labeling and imaging

DataSheet1_Establishment and Validation of a 5 m6A RNA Methylation Regulatory Gene Prognostic Model in Low-Grade Glioma.CSV

Background: The prognosis of low-grade glioma (LGG) is different from that of other intracranial tumors. Although many markers of LGG have been established, few are used in clinical practice. M6A methylation significantly affects the biological behavior of LGG tumors. Therefore, establishment of an LGG prognostic model based on m6A methylation regulatory genes is of great interest.Methods: Data from 495 patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and 172 patients from the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) were analyzed. Univariate Cox analysis was used to identify methylation regulatory genes with prognostic significance. LASSO Cox regression was used to identify prognostic genes. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and Kaplan–Meier curves were used to verify the accuracy of the model. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were used to identify cellular pathways that were significantly associated with the prognosis of LGG.Results: A glioma prognostic model based on five methylation regulatory genes was established. Compared with low-risk patients, patients identified as high risk had a poorer prognosis. There was a high degree of consistency between the internal training and internal validation CGGA cohorts and the external validation TCGA cohort. Furthermore, KEGG and GSEA analyses showed that the focal adhesion and cell cycle pathways were significantly upregulated in high-risk patients. This signature could be used to distinguish among patients with different immune checkpoint gene expression levels, which may inform immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) immunotherapy.Conclusion: We comprehensively evaluated m6A methylation regulatory genes in LGG and constructed a prognostic model based on m6A methylation, which may improve prognostic prediction for patients with LGG.</p

QM/MM Study on the Catalytic Mechanism of Cellulose Hydrolysis Catalyzed by Cellulase Cel5A from Acidothermus cellulolyticus

Cellulase Cel5A from Acidothermus cellulolyticus is an endoglucanase which features the retention mechanism for the cleavage of the β-1,4-glycosidic bond. In this work, we investigated the detailed catalytic steps in the formation of two cellobiose units from the hydrolysis of a cellotetraose molecule using a combined QM/MM approach. The understanding of the catalysis process at the atomistic level may help further protein engineering research. Molecular dynamics, potentials of mean force (PMFs), and reaction path calculations confirmed that the hydrolysis of cellotetraose has a retention mechanism via oxocarbenium-like transition states for both the glycosylation and deglycosylation steps

Additional file 1 of Relationship between the number of hospital pharmacists and hospital pharmaceutical expenditure: a macro-level panel data model of fixed effects with individual and time

Additional file 1. The data is constituted of two sheets. Sheet 1 named ‘panel data for analysis’ which included all variables using for empirical analysis. Sheet 2 named ‘original data’ which included the original data abstracted from yearbooks and website of the National Bureau of Statistics of China. The first two rows were individual and time terms then came to the value of variable

An overview of RNA splicing and functioning of splicing factors in land plant chloroplasts

RNA splicing refers to a process by which introns of a pre-mRNA are excised and the exons at both ends are joined together. Chloroplast introns are inherently self-splicing ribozymes, but over time, they have lost self-splicing ability due to the degeneration of intronic elements. Thus, the splicing of chloroplast introns relies heavily on nuclear-encoded splicing factors, which belong to diverse protein families. Different splicing factors and their shared intron targets are supposed to form ribonucleoprotein particles (RNPs) to facilitate intron splicing. As characterized in a previous review, around 14 chloroplast intron splicing factors were identified until 2010. However, only a few genetic and biochemical evidence has shown that these splicing factors are required for the splicing of one or several introns. The roles of splicing factors are generally believed to facilitate intron folding; however, the precise role of each protein in RNA splicing remains ambiguous. This may be because the precise binding site of most of these splicing factors remains unexplored. In the last decade, several new splicing factors have been identified. Also, several splicing factors were found to bind to specific sequences within introns, which enhanced the understanding of splicing factors. Here, we summarize recent progress on the splicing factors in land plant chloroplasts and discuss their possible roles in chloroplast RNA splicing based on previous studies.</p

PM_2.5-Bound Organophosphate Flame Retardants in Hong Kong: Occurrence, Origins, and Source-Specific Health Risks

Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) are emerging organic pollutants in PM2.5, which have caused significant public health concerns in recent years, given their potential carcinogenic and neurotoxic effects. However, studies on the sources, occurrence, and health risk assessment of PM2.5-bound OPFRs in Hong Kong are lacking. To address this knowledge gap, we characterized 13 OPFRs in one-year PM2.5 samples using gas chromatography–atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Our findings showed that OPFRs were present at a median concentration of 4978 pg m–3 (ranging from 1924 to 8481 pg m–3), with chlorinated OPFRs dominating and accounting for 82.7% of the total OPFRs. Using characteristic source markers and positive matrix factorization, we identified one secondary formation and five primary sources of OPFRs. Over 94.0% of PM2.5-bound OPFRs in Hong Kong were primarily emitted, with plastic processing and waste disposal being the leading source (61.0%), followed by marine vessels (14.1%). The contributions of these two sources to OPFRs were more pronounced on days influenced by local pollution emissions (91.9%) than on days affected by regional pollution (44.2%). Our assessment of health risks associated with human exposure to PM2.5-bound OPFRs indicated a low-risk level. However, further source-specific health risk assessment revealed relatively high noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks from chlorinated OPFRs emitted from plastic processing and waste disposal, suggesting a need for more stringent emission control of OPFRs from these sources in Hong Kong

Acid-Responsive Multifunctional Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework‑8 (ZIF-8) Nanocomposites for Tumor Chemo-Photothermal Synergistic Therapy

Camptothecin (CPT), a broad-spectrum anticancer drug, has been extensively used clinically. However, its hydrophobic properties seriously hinder its antitumor therapeutic effect. Herein, we synthesized acid-degradable Fe3O4@poly­(vinylpyrrolidone) (Fe3O4@PVP)/gold nanoclusters@zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 composite nanoparticles (ZIF-8CNPs) via a facile method and utilized them as carriers to efficiently load CPT. The excellent fluorescence properties of gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) and the photothermal properties of Fe3O4@poly­(vinylpyrrolidone) (Fe3O4@PVP) endowed the nanocomposites with excellent cell imaging and photothermal functions. In addition, the surface modification of the composite nanoparticles with folic acid-grafted bovine serum albumin (FA–BSA) enables them to efficiently target tumor cells. Once FA–BSA/ZIF-8CNPs-CPT are taken up by tumor cells and irradiated with a near-infrared laser, the nanoparticles show a highly effective inhibitory effect against various tumor cells through a chemo-photothermal synergistic effect. Hence, it is conceivable that this acid-responsive multifunctional ZIF-8 nanocomposite has promising bioapplication prospects in cancer treatment