Tanshinone IIA Promotes Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cell Apoptosis in Vitro

Background: Tanshinone IIA inhibits the proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs), but the potential mechanisms of its effects on PASMCs apoptosis remain unclear. Methods: Rat were subjected to hypoxia for 9 days with or without Tanshinone IIA treatment. PASMCs were exposed to the conditions of 2% O2 and 93% N2 for 24 h in vitro. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was used to evaluate vascular remodeling. The Cell viability was determined using cell fluorescence staining and MTT assays, and apoptosis was assessed using flow cytometry. Protein expression was quantified by Western blotting. Results: Our results showed that Tanshinone IIA treatment reduced pulmonary artery media thickening in hypoxic rats. Tanshinone IIA reduced PASMC viability in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, Tanshinone IIA promoted PASMC apoptosis, lowered Hsp60 levels, and upregulated caspase-3 expressions under hypoxic conditions. This pro-apoptotic effect of Tanshinone IIA might be due to the reduction of the phosphorylation of JAK2/STAT3 signaling markers and the increase in the levels of the downstream target, Cx43 in PASMCs. Conclusion: These data suggest that Tanshinone IIA promotes PASMC apoptosis during hypoxia and reverses vascular remodeling. This effect is mediated by modulating the expression of Hsp60, caspase-3, and Cx43 via the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. These results might provide a new therapeutic target to explore a novel strategy for hypoxia-induced vessel remodeling

A systematic study on the intradiffusion and structure of N,N-dimethylformamide–water mixtures: by experiment and molecular dynamics simulation

Intradiffusion coefficients of N, N-dimethylformamide (D-DMF) and water (D-W) in DMF-water mixtures were measured as a function of temperature, pressure and composition for the first time using the pulsed field gradient spin echo nuclear magnetic resonance technique. Then, molecular dynamics simulations for the abovementioned system at the same conditions were also conducted. The experimental D-DMF and D-W exhibited minimums at a DMF mole fraction (x(DMF)) of 0.250-0.328, which indicates that two kinds of DMF-water complexes formed, namely DMF center dot 3H(2)O and DMF center dot 2H(2)O. The simulated D-DMF and D-W achieved a good agreement with the experimental values of this work, except at x(DMF) = 0.250 or 0.328 that the overestimation is considerably large. We believe this phenomenon is due to the extremely strong DMF-water hydrogen bonding at such compositions, which is further supported by the followed calculation results of radial distribution functions, average number of hydrogen bonds and total potential energies. Finally, molecular dynamics trajectories of present simulation have successfully captured the hydrogen-bonded DMF-water complexes at the atomic level

CT-Angiography-Based Outcome Prediction on Diabetic Foot Ulcer Patients: A Statistical Learning Approach

The purpose of our study is to predict the occurrence and prognosis of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) by clinical and lower extremity computed tomography angiography (CTA) data of patients using the artificial neural networks (ANN) model. DFU is a common complication of diabetes that severely affects the quality of life of patients, leading to amputation and even death. There are a lack of valid predictive techniques for the prognosis of DFU. In clinical practice, the use of scales alone has a large subjective component, leading to significant bias and heterogeneity. Currently, there is a lack of evidence-based support for patients to develop clinical strategies before reaching end-stage outcomes. The present study provides a novel technical tool for predicting the prognosis of DFU. After screening the data, 203 patients with diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) were analyzed and divided into two subgroups based on their Wagner Score (138 patients in the low Wagner Score group and 65 patients in the high Wagner Score group). Based on clinical and lower extremity CTA data, 10 predictive factors were selected for inclusion in the model. The total dataset was randomly divided into the training sample, testing sample and holdout sample in ratio of 3:1:1. After the training sample and testing sample developing the ANN model, the holdout sample was utilized to assess the accuracy of the model. ANN model analysis shows that the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and area under the curve (AUC) of the overall ANN model were 92.3%, 93.5%, 87.0%, 94.2% and 0.955, respectively. We observed that the proposed model performed superbly on the prediction of DFU with a 91.6% accuracy. Evaluated with the holdout sample, the model accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV were 88.9%, 90.0%, 88.5%, 75.0% and 95.8%, respectively. By contrast, the logistic regression model was inferior to the ANN model. The ANN model can accurately and reliably predict the occurrence and prognosis of a DFU according to clinical and lower extremity CTA data. We provided clinicians with a novel technical tool to develop clinical strategies before end-stage outcomes

Effects of Side-Chain Engineering with the S Atom in Thieno[3,2-b]thiophene-porphyrin to Obtain Small-Molecule Donor Materials for Organic Solar Cells

To explore the effect of the introduction of heteroatoms on the properties of porphyrin materials, a new porphyrin-based derivative small-molecule donor named as PorTT-T was designed and synthesized based on alkyl-thieno[3,2-b]thiophene(TT)-substituted porphyrins. The linker bridge and end groups of PorTT-T were the same as those of XLP-II small-molecule donor materials, while the side-chain attached to the core of thieno[3,2-b]thiophene(TT)-substituted porphyrin was different. Measurements of intrinsic properties showed that PorTT-T has wide absorption and appropriate energy levels in the UV-visible range. A comparison of the morphologies of the two materials using atomic force microscopy showed that PorTT-T has a better surface morphology with a smaller root-mean-square roughness, and can present closer intermolecular stacking as compared to XLP-II. The device characterization results showed that PorTT-T with the introduced S atom has a higher open circuit voltage of 0.886 eV, a higher short circuit current of 12.03 mAcm−2, a fill factor of 0.499, a high photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 5.32%, better external quantum efficiency in the UV-visible range, and higher hole mobility

Structure influence of alkyl chains of thienothiophene-porphyrins on the performance of organic solar cells

Two new A-D-A porphyrin derivatives, denoted as XLP-I and XLP-II, were prepared through extending the π-conjugation of thienothiophene-porphyrin center with phenylethynyl bridges and electron-deficient ethylrhodanine terminal units, and varying the structures of alkyl chain (linear vs branched) on peripheral thienothiophene substitutions of porphyrin rings. Both molecules show strong absorption in UV–visible–near-infrared region, good thermal stability, suitable energy levels, and ordered molecular packing in solid state. In organic solar cells, PC71BM was used as electron acceptor, and porphyrin small molecules were used as electron donors. The device based on XLP-I exhibits a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.30%, an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.894 ​eV, and a fill factor (FF) of 62.1%. In contrast, the device based on XLP-II presents an inferior performance with a PCE of 3.14%, a Voc of 0.847 ​eV, and a FF of 49.3%. The better performance of XLP-I based device is mainly attributed to its optimized film morphology, excellent absorption, and well-balanced charge transport properties