172 research outputs found
Modulation of Autophagy by Free Fatty Acids
Fatty acids are important molecules with multiple biological properties. Emerging evidence suggests that fatty acids can modulate autophagy. Saturated fatty acids contribute to pancreatic β-cell dysfunction in type 2 diabetes. Palmitic acid, one of the long-chain saturated fatty acids (LCFA), induces autophagy of β-cells which protects them from dysfunctions and apoptotic cell death. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) possess antitumor activity in colon cancer cells by promoting autophagy. SCFAs can induce autophagy by suppressing the activity of mTOR signaling. As the most common monosaturated fatty acid (MUFA) in daily nutrition, oleic acid could induce autophagy, which is responsible for the regulation of lipids metabolism in hepatocytes. The ω-3 and ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are essential in normal physiology and metabolism and play a contributory role in the incidence and progress of a series of disease including cancer. Autophagy triggered by ω-3 PUFAs contributes to the cytotoxicity in cancer cells by enhancing apoptosis, while autophagy mediated by ω-6 PUFAs led to the increase in Caenorhabditis elegans lifespan. The recent findings illustrate the potential involvement of autophagy regulation by fatty acids in a number of biological and pathological processes
Coagulation Behavior of Aluminum Salts in Eutrophic Water: Significance of Al13Species and pH Control
The coagulation behavior of aluminum salts in a eutrophic source water was investigated from the viewpoint of Al(III) hydrolysis species transformation. Particular emphasis was paid to the coagulation effect of Al-13 species on removing particles and organic matter. The coagulation behavior of Al coagulants with different basicities was examined through jar tests and hydrolyzed Al(III) speciation distribution characterization in the coagulation process. The results showed that the coagulation efficiency of Al coagulants positively correlated with the content of Al-13 in the coagulation process rather than in the initial coagulants. Aluminum chloride (AlCl3) was more effective than polyaluminum chloride (PACT) in removing turbidity and dissolved organic matter in eutrophic water because AlCl3 could not only generate Al-13 species but also function as a pH control agent in the coagulation process. The solid-state Al-27 NMR spectra revealed that the precipitates formed from AlCl3 and PACT were significantly different and proved that the preformed Al-13 polymer was more stable than the in situ formed one during the coagulation process. Through regulating Al speciation, pH control could improve the coagulation process especially in DOC removal, and AlCl3 benefited most from pH control
Tocilizumab (monoclonal anti-IL-6R antibody) reverses anlotinib resistance in osteosarcoma
PurposeAnlotinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) has been in clinical application to inhibit malignant cell growth and lung metastasis in osteosarcoma (OS). However, a variety of drug resistance phenomena have been observed in the treatment. We aim to explore the new target to reverse anlotinib resistance in OS.Materials and MethodsIn this study, we established four OS anlotinib-resistant cell lines, and RNA-sequence was performed to evaluate differentially expressed genes. We verified the results of RNA-sequence by PCR, western blot and ELISA assay. We further explored the effects of tocilizumab (anti- IL-6 receptor), either alone or in combined with anlotinib, on the inhibition of anlotinib-resistant OS cells malignant viability by CCK8, EDU, colony formation, apoptosis, transwell, wound healing, Cytoskeletal stain assays, and xenograft nude mouse model. The expression of IL-6 in 104 osteosarcoma samples was tested by IHC.ResultsWe found IL-6 and its downstream pathway STAT3 were activated in anlotinib-resistant osteosarcoma. Tocilizumab impaired the tumor progression of anlotinib-resistant OS cells, and combined treatment with anlotinib augmented these effects by inhibiting STAT3 expressions. IL-6 was highly expressed in patients with OS and correlated with poor prognosis.ConclusionTocilizumab could reverse anlotinib resistance in OS by IL-6/STAT3 pathway and the combination treatment with anlotinib rationalized further studies and clinical treatment of OS
Fungal Community as a Bioindicator to Reflect Anthropogenic Activities in a River Ecosystem
The fungal community interacts with the ambient environment and can be used as a bioindicator to reflect anthropogenic activities in aquatic ecosystems. Several studies have investigated the impact of anthropogenic activities on the fungal community and found that community diversity and composition are influenced by such activities. Here we combined chemical analysis of water properties and sequencing of fungal internal transcribed spacer regions to explore the relationship between water quality indices and fungal community diversity and composition in three river ecosystem areas along a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance (i.e., less-disturbed mountainous area, wastewater-discharge urban area, and pesticide and fertilizer used agricultural area). Results revealed that the level of anthropogenic activity was strongly correlated to water quality and mycoplankton community. The increase in organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations in water improved the relative abundance of Schizosaccharomyces, which could be used as a potential biomarker to reflect pollutant and nutrient discharge. We further applied a biofilm reactor using water from the three areas as influent to investigate the differences in fungal communities in the formed biofilms. Different community compositions were observed among the three areas, with the dominant fungal phyla in the biofilms found to be more sensitive to seasonal effects than those found in water. Finally, we determined whether the fungal community could recover following water quality restoration. Our biofilm reactor assay revealed that the recovery of fungal community would occur but need a long period of time. Thus, this study highlights the importance of preserving the original natural aquatic ecosystem
Extracellular vesicles as a new frontier of diagnostic biomarkers in osteosarcoma diseases: a bibliometric and visualized study
The use of liquid biopsy in cancer research has grown exponentially, offering potential for early detection, treatment stratification, and monitoring residual disease and recurrence. Exosomes, released by cancer cells, contain tumor-derived materials and are stable in biofluids, making them valuable biomarkers for clinical evaluation. Bibliometric research on osteosarcoma (OS) and exosome-derived diagnostic biomarkers is scarce. Therefore, we aimed to conduct a bibliometric evaluation of studies on OS and exosome-derived biomarkers. Using the Web of Science Core Collection database, Microsoft Excel, the R “Bibliometrix” package, CiteSpace, and VOSviewer software, quantitative analyses of the country, author, annual publications, journals, institutions, and keywords of studies on exosome-derived biomarkers for OS from 1995 to 2023 were performed. High-quality records (average citation rate ≥ 10/year) were filtered. The corresponding authors were mainly from China, the USA, Australia, and Canada. The University of Kansas Medical Center, National Cancer Center, Japan, and University of Kansas were major institutions, with limited cooperation reported by the University of Kansas Medical Center. Keyword analysis revealed a shift from cancer progression to mesenchymal stem cells, exosome expression, biogenesis, and prognostic biomarkers. Qualitative analysis highlighted exosome cargo, including miRNAs, circRNAs, lncRNAs, and proteins, as potential diagnostic OS biomarkers. This research emphasizes the rapid enhancement of exosomes as a diagnostic frontier, offering guidance for the clinical application of exosome-based liquid biopsy in OS, contributing to the evolving landscape of cancer diagnosis
Preparation and characteristic of triolein-embedded composite sorbents for water purification
Formation of disinfection by-products in the chlorination of ammonia-containing effluents: Significance of Cl2/N ratios and the DOM fractions
Determination of rapid chlorination rate constants by a stopped-flow spectrophotometric competition kinetics method
k-Value-based ferron assay and its application
Al(13) is notable for its promising application in many fields. It has been believed that Al(13) could be assayed in term of Al(b) derived from traditional ferron assay. But the inherent relation between Al(13) and Al(b) is not clear. Here, the new k-value-based ferron assay using nonlinear least squares analysis is suggested to resolve the ambiguity. The experimental results reveal that the moderate kinetics (k value) around 0.001 s(-1) can be ascribed to Al(13). In the short-term aging of freshly neutralized aluminum solutions with OH/Al molar ratio of 2.2, the rapid progress of Al(13)-like transformation into Al(13) can be traced by this method, whereas it may be masked by traditional ferron assay because the metastable intermediates also contribute absorbance to Al(b) fraction. Al(b) can only be regarded as Al(13) when Al(13) forms completely and becomes the stable specie in the matured solution. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
- …