Fabrication of multianalyte CeO2 nanograin electrolyte–insulator–semiconductor biosensors by using CF4 plasma treatment

Multianalyte CeO2 biosensors have been demonstrated to detect pH, glucose, and urine concentrations. To enhance the multianalyte sensing capability of these biosensors, CF4 plasma treatment was applied to create nanograin structures on the CeO2 membrane surface and thereby increase the contact surface area. Multiple material analyses indicated that crystallization or grainization caused by the incorporation of flourine atoms during plasma treatment might be related to the formation of the nanograins. Because of the changes in surface morphology and crystalline structures, the multianalyte sensing performance was considerably enhanced. Multianalyte CeO2 nanograin electrolyte–insulator–semiconductor biosensors exhibit potential for use in future biomedical sensing device applications

Analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Methanol Extract of Ficus pumila L. in Mice

This study investigated possible analgesic and anti-inflammatory mechanisms of the methanol extract of Ficus pumila (FPMeOH). Analgesic effects were evaluated in two models including acetic acid-induced writhing response and formalin-induced paw licking. The results showed FPMeOH decreased writhing response in the acetic acid assay and licking time in the formalin test. The anti-inflammatory effect was evaluated by λ-carrageenan-induced mouse paw edema and histopathological analyses. FPMeOH significantly decreased the volume of paw edema induced by λ-carrageenan. Histopathologically, FPMeOH abated the level of tissue destruction and swelling of the edema paws. This study indicated anti-inflammatory mechanism of FPMeOH may be due to declined levels of NO and MDA in the edema paw through increasing the activities of SOD, GPx, and GRd in the liver. Additionally, FPMeOH also decreased the level of inflammatory mediators such as IL-1β, TNF-α, and COX-2. HPLC fingerprint was established and the contents of three active ingredients, rutin, luteolin, and apigenin, were quantitatively determined. This study provided evidence for the classical treatment of Ficus pumila in inflammatory diseases

Infections Caused by Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae: An Update on Therapeutic Options

Carbapenems are considered as last-resort antibiotics for the treatment of infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. With the increasing use of carbapenems in clinical practice, the emergence of carbapenem-resistant pathogens now poses a great threat to human health. Currently, antibiotic options for the treatment of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are very limited, with polymyxins, tigecycline, fosfomycin, and aminoglycosides as the mainstays of therapy. The need for new and effective anti-CRE therapies is urgent. Here, we describe the current understanding of issues related to CRE and review combination therapeutic strategies for CRE infections, including high-dose tigecycline, high-dose prolonged-infusion of carbapenem, and double carbapenem therapy. We also review the newly available antibiotics which have potential in the future treatment of CRE infections: ceftazidime/avibactam, which is active against KPC and OXA-48 producers; meropenem/vaborbactam, which is active against KPC producers; plazomicin, which is a next-generation aminoglycoside with in vitro activity against CRE; and eravacycline, which is a tetracycline class antibacterial with in vitro activity against CRE. Although direct evidence for CRE treatment is still lacking and the development of resistance is a concern, these new antibiotics provide additional therapeutic options for CRE infections. Finally, we review other potential anti-CRE antibiotics in development: imipenem/relebactam and cefiderocol. Currently, high-dose and combination strategies that may include the new β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitors should be considered in severe CRE infections to maximize treatment success. In the future, when more treatment options are available, therapy for CRE infections should be individualized and based on molecular phenotypes of resistance, susceptibility profiles, disease severity, and patient characteristics. More high-quality studies are needed to guide effective treatment for infections caused by CRE

CHIP promotes Runx2 degradation and negatively regulates osteoblast differentiation

Runx2, an essential transactivator for osteoblast differentiation, is tightly regulated at both the transcriptional and posttranslational levels. In this paper, we report that CHIP (C terminus of Hsc70-interacting protein)/STUB1 regulates Runx2 protein stability via a ubiquitination-degradation mechanism. CHIP interacts with Runx2 in vitro and in vivo. In the presence of increased Runx2 protein levels, CHIP expression decreases, whereas the expression of other E3 ligases involved in Runx2 degradation, such as Smurf1 or WWP1, remains constant or increases during osteoblast differentiation. Depletion of CHIP results in the stabilization of Runx2, enhances Runx2-mediated transcriptional activation, and promotes osteoblast differentiation in primary calvarial cells. In contrast, CHIP overexpression in preosteoblasts causes Runx2 degradation, inhibits osteoblast differentiation, and instead enhances adipogenesis. Our data suggest that negative regulation of the Runx2 protein by CHIP is critical in the commitment of precursor cells to differentiate into the osteoblast lineage

Opposing roles of TGFβ and BMP signaling in prostate cancer development

SMAD4 constrains progression of Pten-null prostate cancer and serves as a common downstream node of transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) pathways. Here, we dissected the roles of TGFβ receptor II (TGFBR2) and BMP receptor II (BMPR2) using a Pten-null prostate cancer model. These studies demonstrated that the molecular actions of TGFBR2 result in both SMAD4-dependent constraint of proliferation and SMAD4-independent activation of apoptosis. In contrast, BMPR2 deletion extended survival relative to Pten deletion alone, establishing its promoting role in BMP6-driven prostate cancer progression. These analyses reveal the complexity of TGFβ-BMP signaling and illuminate potential therapeutic targets for prostate cancer

Improved Breath Phase and Continuous Adventitious Sound Detection in Lung and Tracheal Sound Using Mixed Set Training and Domain Adaptation

Previously, we established a lung sound database, HF_Lung_V2 and proposed convolutional bidirectional gated recurrent unit (CNN-BiGRU) models with adequate ability for inhalation, exhalation, continuous adventitious sound (CAS), and discontinuous adventitious sound detection in the lung sound. In this study, we proceeded to build a tracheal sound database, HF_Tracheal_V1, containing 11107 of 15-second tracheal sound recordings, 23087 inhalation labels, 16728 exhalation labels, and 6874 CAS labels. The tracheal sound in HF_Tracheal_V1 and the lung sound in HF_Lung_V2 were either combined or used alone to train the CNN-BiGRU models for respective lung and tracheal sound analysis. Different training strategies were investigated and compared: (1) using full training (training from scratch) to train the lung sound models using lung sound alone and train the tracheal sound models using tracheal sound alone, (2) using a mixed set that contains both the lung and tracheal sound to train the models, and (3) using domain adaptation that finetuned the pre-trained lung sound models with the tracheal sound data and vice versa. Results showed that the models trained only by lung sound performed poorly in the tracheal sound analysis and vice versa. However, the mixed set training and domain adaptation can improve the performance of exhalation and CAS detection in the lung sound, and inhalation, exhalation, and CAS detection in the tracheal sound compared to positive controls (lung models trained only by lung sound and vice versa). Especially, a model derived from the mixed set training prevails in the situation of killing two birds with one stone.Comment: To be submitted, 31 pages, 6 figures, 5 table

Experimental Quantum Simulation of Dynamic Localization on Curved Photonic Lattices

Dynamic localization, which originates from the phenomena of particle evolution suppression under an externally applied AC electric field, has been simulated by suppressed light evolution in periodically-curved photonic arrays. However, experimental studies on their quantitative dynamic transport properties and application for quantum information processing are rare. Here we fabricate one-dimensional and hexagonal two-dimensional arrays, both with sinusoidal curvature. We successfully observe the suppressed single-photon evolution patterns, and for the first time measure the variances to study their transport properties. For one-dimensional arrays, the measured variances match both the analytical electric field calculation and the quantum walk Hamiltonian engineering approach. For hexagonal arrays, as anisotropic effective couplings in four directions are mutually dependent, the analytical approach suffers, while quantum walk conveniently incorporates all anisotropic coupling coefficients in the Hamiltonian and solves its exponential as a whole, yielding consistent variances with our experimental results. Furthermore, we implement a nearly complete localization to show that it can preserve both the initial injection and the wave-packet after some evolution, acting as a memory of a flexible time scale in integrated photonics. We demonstrate a useful quantum simulation of dynamic localization for studying their anisotropic transport properties, and a promising application of dynamic localization as a building block for quantum information processing in integrated photonics.Comment: 4 figure

A Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Network Gas Sensing Device

The goal of this research was to develop a chemical gas sensing device based on single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) networks. The SWCNT networks are synthesized on Al2O3-deposted SiO2/Si substrates with 10 nm-thick Fe as the catalyst precursor layer using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD). The development of interconnected SWCNT networks can be exploited to recognize the identities of different chemical gases by the strength of their particular surface adsorptive and desorptive responses to various types of chemical vapors. The physical responses on the surface of the SWCNT networks cause superficial changes in the electric charge that can be converted into electronic signals for identification. In this study, we tested NO2 and NH3 vapors at ppm levels at room temperature with our self-made gas sensing device, which was able to obtain responses to sensitivity changes with a concentration of 10 ppm for NO2 and 24 ppm for NH3