Therapeutic effect of co-administered salvianolate and atorvastatin calcium on coronary heart disease patients with angina pectoris, and their blood lipid levels

Purpose: To investigate the clinical effect of combination of salvianolate and atorvastatin on blood lipids of coronary heart disease patients with angina pectoris (CHD-AP).Method: Patients with CHD-AP (n = 104) from January 2016 to January 2017 were randomly assigned to two groups: control group treated with atorvastatin (10 mg/day), and study group was administered atorvastatin (10 mg/day, oral) plus salvianolate (200 mg/day in 5 % glucose, iv). Palpitation, chest distress, improvement in myocardial ischemia, myocardial function, and hemodynamics were determined and used to assess treatment effectiveness in the two groups. Differences in blood lipid profiles were also investigated.Results: Improvement in palpitation, chest distress, myocardial ischemia and myocardial function in the study group were significantly higher than in the control group (p < 0.05). In the study group, total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triacylglycerols (TGs) significantly decreased, relative to the control group (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Treatment of CHD-AP patients with combination of salvianolate and atorvastatin significantly ameliorates coronary heart disease and angina pectoris, and also reduces their blood lipid levels.Keywords: Salvianolate, Atorvastatin, Coronary heart disease, Angina pectoris, Blood lipid

Design and Synthesis of Diverse Functional Kinked Nanowire Structures for Nanoelectronic Bioprobes

Functional kinked nanowires (KNWs) represent a new class of nanowire building blocks, in which functional devices, for example, nanoscale field-effect transistors (nanoFETs), are encoded in geometrically controlled nanowire superstructures during synthesis. The bottom-up control of both structure and function of KNWs enables construction of spatially isolated point-like nanoelectronic probes that are especially useful for monitoring biological systems where finely tuned feature size and structure are highly desired. Here we present three new types of functional KNWs including (1) the zero-degree KNW structures with two parallel heavily doped arms of U-shaped structures with a nanoFET at the tip of the “U”, (2) series multiplexed functional KNW integrating multi-nanoFETs along the arm and at the tips of V-shaped structures, and (3) parallel multiplexed KNWs integrating nanoFETs at the two tips of W-shaped structures. First, U-shaped KNWs were synthesized with separations as small as 650 nm between the parallel arms and used to fabricate three-dimensional nanoFET probes at least 3 times smaller than previous V-shaped designs. In addition, multiple nanoFETs were encoded during synthesis in one of the arms/tip of V-shaped and distinct arms/tips of W-shaped KNWs. These new multiplexed KNW structures were structurally verified by optical and electron microscopy of dopant-selective etched samples and electrically characterized using scanning gate microscopy and transport measurements. The facile design and bottom-up synthesis of these diverse functional KNWs provides a growing toolbox of building blocks for fabricating highly compact and multiplexed three-dimensional nanoprobes for applications in life sciences, including intracellular and deep tissue/cell recordings.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog

Fast Ionic Diffusion-Enabled Nanoflake Electrode by Spontaneous Electrochemical Pre-Intercalation for High-Performance Supercapacitor

Layered intercalation compounds Na$_{x}$MnO$_{2}$ (x = 0.7 and 0.91) nanoflakes have been prepared directly through wet electrochemical process with Na$^{+}$ ions intercalated into MnO$_{2}$ interlayers spontaneously. The as-prepared Na$_{x}$MnO$_{2}$ nanoflake based supercapacitors exhibit faster ionic diffusion with enhanced redox peaks, tenfold-higher energy densities up to 110 Wh·kg$^{-1}$ and higher capacitances over 1000 F·g$^{-1}$ in aqueous sodium system compared with traditional MnO$_{2}$ supercapacitors. Due to the free-standing electrode structure and suitable crystal structure, Na$_{x}$MnO$_{2}$ nanoflake electrodes also maintain outstanding electrochemical stability with capacitance retention up to 99.9% after 1000 cycles. Besides, pre-intercalation effect is further studied to explain this enhanced electrochemical performance. This study indicates that the suitable pre-intercalation is effective to improve the diffusion of electrolyte cations and other electrochemical performance for layered oxides, and suggests that the as-obtained nanoflakes are promising materials to achieve the hybridization of both high energy and power density for advanced supercapacitors.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog

Fatty acid metabolites of Dendrobium nobile were positively correlated with representative endophytic fungi at altitude

IntroductionAltitude, as a comprehensive ecological factor, regulates the growth and development of plants and microbial distribution. Dendrobium nobile (D. nobile) planted in habitats at different elevations in Chishui city, also shows metabolic differences and endophytes diversity. What is the triangular relationship between altitude, endophytes, and metabolites?MethodsIn this study, the diversity and species of endophytic fungi were tested by ITS sequencing and metabolic differences in plants were tested by UPLC–ESI–MS/MS. Elevation regulated the colonization of plant endophytic fungal species and fatty acid metabolites in D. nobile.ResultsThe results indicate that and high altitude was better for the accumulation of fatty acid metabolites. Therefore, the high-altitude characteristic endophytic floras were screened, and the correlation with fatty acid metabolites of plants was built. The colonization of T. rubrigenum, P. Incertae sedis unclassified, Phoma. cf. nebulosa JZG 2008 and Basidiomycota unclassified showed a significantly positive correlation with fatty acid metabolites, especially 18-carbon-chain fatty acids, such as (6Z,9Z,12Z)-octadeca-6,9,12-trienoic acid, 3,7,11,15-tetramethyl-12-oxohexadeca-2,4-dienoic acid and Octadec-9-en-12-ynoic acid. What is more fascinating is these fatty acids are the essential substrates of plant hormones.DiscussionConsequently, it was speculated that the D. nobile- colonizing endophytic fungi stimulated or upregulated the synthesis of fatty acid metabolites and even some plant hormones, thus affecting the metabolism and development of D. nobile

Downregulation of TGF-beta receptor types II and III in oral squamous cell carcinoma and oral carcinoma-associated fibroblasts

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to assess the expression levels for TβRI, TβRII, and TβRIII in epithelial layers of oral premalignant lesions (oral leukoplakia, OLK) and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), as well as in oral carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), with the final goal of exploring the roles of various types of TβRs in carcinogenesis of oral mucosa.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Normal oral tissues, OLK, and OSCC were obtained from 138 previously untreated patients. Seven primary human oral CAF lines and six primary normal fibroblast (NF) lines were established successfully via cell culture. The three receptors were detected using immunohistochemical (IHC), quantitative RT-PCR, and Western blot approaches.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>IHC signals for TβRII and TβRIII in the epithelial layer decreased in tissue samples with increasing disease aggressiveness (P < 0.05); no expression differences were observed for TβRI, in OLK and OSCC (P > 0.05); and TβRII and TβRIII were significantly downregulated in CAFs compared with NFs, at the mRNA and protein levels (P < 0.05). Exogenous expression of TGF-β1 led to a remarkable decrease in the expression of TβRII and TβRIII in CAFs (P < 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study provides the first evidence that the loss of TβRII and TβRIII expression in oral epithelium and stroma is a common event in OSCC. The restoration of the expression of TβRII and TβRIII in oral cancerous tissues may represent a novel strategy for the treatment of oral carcinoma.</p

Magnetoelectric interaction and transport behaviours in magnetic nanocomposite thermoelectric materials

How to suppress the performance deterioration of thermoelectric materials in the intrinsic excitation region remains a key challenge. The magnetic transition of permanent magnet nanoparticles from ferromagnetism to paramagnetism provides an effective approach to finding the solution to this challenge. Here, we have designed and prepared magnetic nanocomposite thermoelectric materials consisting of BaFe12O19 nanoparticles and Ba0.3In0.3Co4Sb12 matrix. It was found that the electrical transport behaviours of the nanocomposites are controlled by the magnetic transition of BaFe12O19 nanoparticles from ferromagnetism to paramagnetism. BaFe12O19 nanoparticles trap electrons below the Curie temperature (TC) and release the trapped electrons above the TC, playing an ‘electron repository’ role in maintaining high figure of merit ZT. BaFe12O19 nanoparticles produce two types of magnetoelectric effect—electron spiral motion and magnon-drag thermopower—as well as enhancing phonon scattering. Our work demonstrates that the performance deterioration of thermoelectric materials in the intrinsic excitation region can be suppressed through the magnetic transition of permanent magnet nanoparticles

The Construction of Sodium Alginate/Carboxymethyl Chitosan Microcapsules as the Physical Barrier to Reduce Corn Starch Digestion

To enhance the resistant starch (RS) content of corn starch, in this work, carboxymethyl chitosan/corn starch/sodium alginate microcapsules (CMCS/CS/SA) with varying concentrations of SA in a citric acid (CA) solution were designed. As the SA concentration increased from 0.5% to 2%, the swelling of the CMCS/CS/SA microcapsule decreased from 15.28 ± 0.21 g/g to 3.76 ± 0.66 g/g at 95 °C. Comparatively, the onset, peak, and conclusion temperatures (To, Tp, and Tc) of CMCS/CS/SA microcapsules were higher than those of unencapsulated CS, indicating that the dense network structure of microcapsules reduced the contact area between starch granules and water, thereby improving thermal stability. With increasing SA concentration, the intact and dense network of CMCS/CS/SA microcapsules remained less damaged after 120 min of digestion, suggesting that the microcapsules with a high SA concentration provided better protection to starch, thereby reducing amylase digestibility. Moreover, as the SA concentration increased from 0.5% to 2%, the RS content of the microcapsules during in vitro digestion rose from 42.37 ± 0.07% to 57.65 ± 0.45%, attributed to the blocking effect of the microcapsule shell on amylase activity. This study offers innovative insights and strategies to develop functional starch with glycemic control properties, holding significant scientific and practical value in preventing diseases associated with abnormal glucose metabolism.</p

The Main Controlling Factors of Glutenite Development and Their Impacts on Oil Energy Extraction

The glutenite reservoirs discovered in the Jiyang depression in Bohai Bay contribute greatly to proven oil and gas resources, which have reached 1.27 billion cubic meters. Both insufficient studies on the glutenite distribution and incomplete understanding of the corresponding geology restrict further oil energy extraction. Hence, it is necessary to study the controlling factors of glutenite development. Sedimentation, tectonic faults, geophysical data, etc., was used in this paper to study these factors. Four main controlling factors involved in the development of glutenite fan bodies have been studied and summarized: the fault ramp controls the glutenite fan, the fault characteristics control the glutenite acreage, the fault throw controls the thickness of the glutenite, and the dimensions of the incised valleys control the glutenite transport capacity. Based on this geological understanding, this paper analyzes the relationship between oil productivity data and the factors controlling conglomerate development. With this, the reservoir in the study area is divided into a high production area, medium production area, and low production area. The C913 well was deployed in the predicted high production area. The daily oil production reached 88 t/d, and the energy exploitation effect was good. Therefore, this study provides important guidance for the further extraction of oil energy