Intraocular Pressure Changes: An Important Determinant of the Biocompatibility of Intravitreous Implants

Background: In recent years, research efforts exploring the possibility of using biomaterial nanoparticles for intravitreous drug delivery has increased significantly. However, little is known about the effect of material properties on intravitreous tissue responses. Principal Findings: To find the answer, nanoparticles made of hyaluronic acid (HA), poly (l-lactic acid) (PLLA), polystyrene (PS), and Poly N-isopropyl acrylamide (PNIPAM) were tested using intravitreous rabbit implantation model. Shortly after implantation, we found that most of the implants accumulated in the trabecular meshwork area followed by clearance from the vitreous. Interestingly, substantial reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP) was observed in eyes implanted with particles made of PS, PNIPAM and PLLA, but not HA nanoparticles and buffered salt solution control. On the other hand, based on histology, we found that the particle implantation had no influence on cornea, iris and even retina. Surprisingly, substantial CD11b+ inflammatory cells were found to accumulate in the trabecular meshwork area in some animals. In addition, there was a good relationship between recruited CD11b+ cells and IOP reduction. Conclusions: Overall, the results reveal the potential influence of nanoparticle material properties on IOP reduction and inflammatory responses in trabecular meshwork. Such interactions may be critical for the development of future ocula

Review of environmental fate of chiral antibiotics in the vadose zone

To date, the systematic summarization and comprehensive review of analysis, distribution, migration, and degradation of chiral antibiotics in the vadose zone are limited. This review indicates that the physicochemical characteristics of chiral antibiotics are quite different, for instance, the solubility and octanol-water partition coefficient (lg Kow) of S-gemifloxacin are 301 times and 9.8 times larger than the values of R-gemifloxacin, which will affect their migration and degradation in the environment. High performance liquid chromatography with chiral column and chiral ligand-exchange chromatography are the common methods on the chiral antibiotics analysis. The concentrations of chiral antibiotics in soils, waters, and agricultural products in China and abroad are reported; flumequine, lomefloxacin and ofloxacin are the most common antibiotics. The adsorption rate and partition coefficient (Kd) of chiral antibiotics during their adsorption on minerals and microplastics are different, especially in the presence of natural organic matter (NOM); however, there is no relationship among the various types of chiral antibiotics. Chiral antibiotics can be complexed with the common cations, and their stability constants are quite different in the groundwater, for instance, the stability constant of Mg2+-levofloxacin is 22.9 times larger than that of Mg2+-ofloxacin. During the biodegradation process, the degradability and rate of chiral antibiotics are also different. Additionally, the chiral antibiotics can be transformed reciprocally. In this review, the distribution, migration, and degradation of chiral antibiotics in the vadose zone are investigated, which is beneficial to the study on the chiral antibiotics in the groundwater. As to the environmental fate of chiral antibiotics in the vadose zone, the following researches are recommended: (1) the resolution, analysis, toxicology, and standard establishment of chiral antibiotics; (2) the investigation, migration, and degradation of multiple chiral antibiotics; (3) the environmental processes of chiral antibiotics in the multi-interface

Ultrasensitive label-free detection of circulating tumor cells using conductivity matching of two-dimensional semiconductor with cancer cell

Abstract(#br)The excellent conductivity matching of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor nanomaterials (e.g. MoS 2 ) with cancer cell plays an important role in ultrasensitive label-free impedimetric detection of circulating tumor cells (CTC) (<1 cell/mL). Firstly, 2D semiconductor materials (e.g. 2D MoS 2 ) exfoliated by folic acid (FA) is used to construct MoS 2 /FA-modified gold electrode (AuE/MoS 2 /FA). Then, the fabricated electrode is applied for HeLa cell detection in a linear range from 1 to 10 5 cell/mL with a detection limit of 0.43 cell/mL (S/N = 3). The detection mechanism of high sensitivity might be owing to the electric conductivity matching of MoS 2 (0.14 S/m) to cancer cell (0.13–0.23 S/m). A negligible conductivity change induced by cancer cell will produce a large impedance change of semiconductor electrode. Furthermore, HeLa cells dispersed in healthy blood samples are detected by suggested cytosensor in a linear range from 50 to 10 5 cell/mL with a detection limit of 52.24 cell/mL (S/N = 2). Finally, we demonstrate that the cytosensor is capable of differentiating patients of cervical and liver cancers by the real CTC analysis from healthy control

Competition or cooperation? Research on the spatial game relationship of regional carbon emission efficiency

The gradient differences of economic development and industrial structure differences in Jing-Jin-Ji Region are significant. The ability of Jing-Jin-Ji Region to pay for environmental protection is imbalanced. The above two situations make it difficult to achieve coordinated pollution reduction and carbon reduction governance. Accurately measuring carbon emission efficiency and thoroughly analyzing the cooperation and competition relationship of regional carbon emission reduction based on fully considering stakeholders are of great significance for the joint construction, prevention and control of regional ecological environment. The research is also of great significance for promoting high-quality economic development and ensuring effective protection of the regional ecological environment. This study combines game theory and DEA theory to measure the carbon emission efficiency of the Jing-Jin-Ji Region, and then uses spatial game theory to analyze the average degree of being attacked, anti-attack ability, strongest attacker, and optimal partner for the carbon emission efficiency of different DMUs. The study concluded that: 1) Xicheng District and Hedong District have higher carbon emission efficiency, while Mentougou District, Fengtai District, Changping District, Fangshan District, Shijingshan District, Pinggu District and Yanqing County have the lowest carbon emission efficiency. 2) From an analysis of the degree of being attacked, it can be observed that economically developed areas experience a higher average degree of being attacked compared to economically underdeveloped areas. In regions with lower economic development, the influence of the local government on reducing carbon emissions is not significant, whether acting independently or in collaboration. Regions with contrasting industrial structures could be ideal partners, and areas with higher carbon emission efficiency could collaborate with regions with lower carbon emission efficiency to achieve greater reduction potential

Microwave-assisted one-step rapid synthesis of folic acid modified gold nanoparticles for cancer cell targeting and detection

National Natural Science Foundation of China [30900350, 81171453]In this study, folic acid-protected gold nanoparticles (FA-GNPs) were fabricated by one-step reduction of HAuCl(4) by folic acid under microwave irradiation. FA-GNPs were successfully used to target and detect human cervical carcinoma cells

Robust Amphiphobic Few-Layer Black Phosphorus Nanosheet with Improved Stability.

Few-layer black phosphorus (FL-BP) has been intensively studied due to its attractive properties and great potential in electronic and optoelectronic applications. However, the intrinsic instability of FL-BP greatly limits its practical application. In this study, the amphiphobic FL-BP is achieved by functionalization of 1 H ,1 H ,2 H ,2 H -perfluorooctyltrichlorosilane (PFDTS) on the surface of FL-BP. The obtained PFDTS coated FL-BP (FL-BP/PFDTS) demonstrates enhanced stability, which is not observed during significant degradation for 2 months in high moisture content environment (95% humidity). Particularly, attributing to the surface amphiphobicity, FL-BP/PFDTS exhibits strong surface water repellency in the presence of oleic acid (as the contaminant), while other passivation coating layers (such as hydrophilic or hydrophobic coating) become hydrophilicity under such conditions. Owing to this advantage, the obtained FL-BP/PFDTS demonstrates enhanced stability in high moisture content environment for 2 months, even though the surface is contaminated by oil liquid or other organic solvents (such as oleic acid, CH2Cl2, and N -methyl-2-pyrrolidone). The passivation of FL-BP by amphiphobic coating provides an effective approach for FL-BP stabilization toward future applications

Effect of pH on the Interaction of Gold Nanoparticles with DNA and Application in the Detection of Human p53 Gene Mutation

Science and Technology Innovation Project of Fujian Province for Young Scientific Researchers, China [2006F3128]; Open Fund of State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Xiamen University [200602]Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are widely used to detect DNA. We studied the effect of pH on the assembly/disassembly of single-stranded DNA functionalized GNPs. Based on the different binding affinities of DNA to GNPs, we present a simple and fast way that uses HCl to drive the assembly of GNPs for detection of DNA sequences with single nucleotide differences. The assembly is reversible and can be switched by changing the solution pH. No covalent modification of DNA or GNP surface is needed. Oligonucleotide derived from human p53 gene with one-base substitution can be distinguished by a color change of the GNPs solution or a significant difference of the maximum absorption wavelength (lambda(max)), compared with wildtype sequences. This method enables detection of 10 picomole quantities of target DNA

Prognostic impact of TP53 mutations and tumor mutational load in colorectal cancer

The DNA damage response (DDR) is critical for maintaining genome stability, and abnormal DDR—resulting from mutations in DNA damage-sensing and repair proteins—is a hallmark of cancer. Here, we aimed to investigate the predictive power of DDR gene mutations and the tumor mutational load (TML) for survival outcomes in a cohort of 22 rectal cancer patients who received pre-operative neoadjuvant therapy. Univariate analysis revealed that TML-high and TP53 mutations were significantly associated with worse overall survival (OS) with TML-high retaining significance in multivariate analyses. Kaplan–Meier survival analyses further showed TML-high was associated with worse disease-free (p = 0.036) and OS (p = 0.024) results in our patient cohort. A total of 53 somatic mutations were identified in 22 samples with eight (36%) containing mutations in DDR genes, including ATM, ATR, CHEK2, MRE11A, RAD50, NBN, ERCC2 and TP53. TP53 was the most frequently mutated gene, and TP53 mutations were significantly associated with worse OS (p = 0.023) in Kaplan–Meier survival analyses. Thus, our data indicate that TML and TP53 mutations have prognostic value for rectal cancer patients and may be important independent biomarkers for patient management. This suggests that prognostic determination for rectal cancer patients receiving pre-operative neoadjuvant therapy should include consideration of the initial TML and tumor genetic status