Inflammation-targeted nanomedicine prevents tumor metastasis following photodynamic therapy by reversing epithelial-mesenchymal transition and ROS-mediated immunosuppression.

Background: Prolonging the duration of photodynamic therapy (PDT) enhances the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), thereby facilitating tumor ablation. However, our findings indicated that excessive ROS not only induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) but also creates an immunosuppressive microenvironment in tumor, thereby triggering tumor metastasis.

Methods: We initially developed neutrophil membrane hybrid liposomes (NLs) that can specifically target inflamed tumor tissues following PDT.

Precision Synthesis and Antiliver Fibrosis Activity of a Highly Branched Acidic 63-Mer Pectin Polysaccharide.

Natural polysaccharides possess various biological functions and have become increasingly important as drug candidates for biomedical development. However, the accessibility to multiple-branched and large-sized acidic polysaccharides with well-defined structures and the identification of related active glycan domains remain challenging. Here, we report the precision synthesis of a highly branched acidic pectin polysaccharide up to a 63-mer containing 10 different glycosidic linkages from .

Complanatoside A disrupts copper homeostasis and induces cuproptosis via directly targeting ATOX1 in prostate cancer.

Complanatoside A (CA), a flavonoid derived from the Chinese medicinal herb Semen Astragali Complanati, exhibits anticancer activity. However, its effects on prostate cancer (PCa) remain unclear. We aimed to elucidate the anti-PCa effects and underlying mechanisms of action of CA, both in vitro and in vivo.

Salvaging donated kidneys from prolonged warm ischemia during ex vivo hypothermic oxygenated perfusion.

Prolonged warm ischemic is the main cause discarding donated organs after cardiac death. Here, we identified that prolonged warm ischemic time induced disseminated intravascular coagulation and severe capillary vasospasm after cardiac death of rat kidneys. Additionally, we found a significant accumulation of fibrinogen in a hypoxic cell culture of human umbilical vein epithelial cells and in isolated kidneys exposed to prolonged warm ischemic following flushing out of blood.

Aligned lovastatin-loaded electrospun nanofibers regulate collagen organization and reduce scar formation.

Excessive scar formation caused by cutaneous injury leads to pruritus, pain, contracture, dyskinesia, and unpleasant appearance. Functional wound dressings are designed to accelerate wound healing and reduce scar formation. In this study, we fabricated aligned or random polycaprolactone/silk fibroin electrospun nanofiber membranes with or without lovastatin loading, and then evaluated their scar-inhibitory effects on wounds under a specific tension direction.

Chemoenzymatic Total Synthesis of Lipooligosaccharide Core Octasaccharides Containing Natural and Unnatural Sialic Acids.

The first total synthesis of lipooligosaccharide core octasaccharides containing natural and unnatural sialic acids has been achieved by an efficient chemoenzymatic approach. A highly convergent [3 + 3] coupling strategy was developed to chemically assemble a unique hexasaccharide bearing multiple rare higher-carbon sugars d-glycero-d-manno-heptose (d,d-Hep), l-glycero-d-manno-heptose (l,d-Hep), and 3-deoxy-α-d-manno-oct-2-ulosonic acid (Kdo). Key features include sequential one-pot glycosylations for oligosaccharide assembly and the construction of the challenging α-(1 → 5)-linked Hep-Kdo glycosidic bond by gold-catalyzed glycosylation with a glycosyl -alkynylbenzoate donor.

Convergent Synthesis and Anti-Pancreatic Cancer Cell Growth Activity of a Highly Branched Heptadecasaccharide from Carthamus tinctorius.

Bioactive polysaccharides from natural resources target various biological processes and are increasingly used as potential target molecules for drug development. However, the accessibility of branched and long complex polysaccharide active domains with well-defined structures remains a major challenge. Herein we describe an efficient first total synthesis of a highly branched heptadecasaccharide moiety of the native bioactive galectin-3-targeting polysaccharide from Carthamus tinctorius L.

Chemiluminescence of 3-aminophthalic acid anion-hydrogen peroxide-cobalt (II).

The 3-aminophthalic acid anion is a light emitter in luminol chemiluminescence. In the present study, the chemiluminescence of the 3-aminophthalic acid anion itself in the presence of hydrogen peroxide-cobalt (II) was studied. The results indicated that 3-aminophthalic acid anion is highly chemiluminescent in the typical hydrogen peroxide-cobalt (II) system.

Design, synthesis and structure-based optimization of novel isoxazole-containing benzamide derivatives as FtsZ modulators.

Antibiotic resistance among clinically significant bacterial pathogens is becoming a prevalent threat to public health, and new antibacterial agents with novel mechanisms of action hence are in an urgent need. Utilizing computational docking method and structure-based optimization strategy, we rationally designed and synthesized two series of isoxazol-3-yl- and isoxazol-5-yl-containing benzamide derivatives that targeted the bacterial cell division protein FtsZ. Evaluation of their activity against a panel of Gram-positive and -negative pathogens revealed that compounds B14 and B16 that possessed the isoxazol-5-yl group showed strong antibacterial activity against various testing strains, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and penicillin-resistant S.

Synthesis and antibacterial activity of novel 3-O-arylalkylcarbamoyl-3-O-descladinosyl-9-O-(2-chlorobenzyl)oxime clarithromycin derivatives.

A novel series of 3-O-arylalkylcarbamoyl-3-O-descladinosyl-9-O-(2-chlorobenzyl)oxime clarithromycin derivatives, were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antibacterial activity. These derivatives were found to have strong activity against susceptible and resistant bacteria strains. Among them, compounds 7a and 7q showed the most potent activity (0.

Recent development of lipoxygenase inhibitors as anti-inflammatory agents.

Inflammation is favorable in most cases, because it is a kind of body defensive response to external stimuli; sometimes, inflammation is also harmful, such as attacks on the body's own tissues. It could be that inflammation is a unified process of injury and resistance to injury. Inflammation brings extreme pain to patients, showing symptoms of rubor, swelling, fever, pain and dysfunction.

Synthesis and antibacterial evaluation of novel 11-O-aralkylcarbamoyl-3-O-descladinosylclarithromycin derivatives.

A series of novel 11-O-aralkylcarbamoyl-3-O-descladinosylclarithromycin derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antibacterial activity. The results showed that the majority of the target compounds displayed potent activity against erythromycin-susceptible S. pyogenes, erythromycin-resistant S.

Novel 5-methyl-2-phenylphenanthridium derivatives as FtsZ-targeting antibacterial agents from structural simplification of natural product sanguinarine.

A novel series of 5-methyl-2-phenylphenanthridium derivatives were displayed outstanding activity against a panel of antibiotic-sensitive and -resistant bacteria strains compared with their precursor sanguinarine, ciprofloxacin and oxacillin sodium. Compounds 7 l, 7m and 7n were found to display the most effective activity against five sensitive strains (0.06-2 μg/mL) and three resistant strains (0.

Anterior chamber depth measurement in phakic and pseudophakic eyes.

Purpose: To compare anterior chamber depth (ACD) measurements using two non-contact optical devices, Pentacam and IOLMaster, and a contact device, ultrasonic A-scan in phakic and pseudophakic eyes.

Methods: Ninety phakic and 94 pseudophakic eyes were enrolled in this prospective study. The difference between ACD measurements by the three devices was analyzed using the repeated-measures analysis of variance, and agreement among the three measurements was investigated.

Intraocular lens power calculation using the IOLMaster and various formulas in eyes with long axial length.

Purpose: To evaluate the predictability of intraocular lens (IOL) power calculations using the IOLMaster (Carl Zeiss) and different IOL power calculation formulas in eyes with a long axial length (AL).

Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.

Methods: This study included 68 eyes with an AL longer than 25.

Managing keratoconus with reverse-geometry and dual-geometry contact lenses: a case report.

Purpose: To present a case of keratoconus successfully managed with various rigid gas-permeable contact lenses with reverse-geometry and dual-geometry designs.

Methods: Case report.

Results: The steepest topographic keratometric readings of a 30-year-old woman with keratoconus were 62.

Egr1 gene knockdown affects embryonic ocular development in zebrafish.

Purpose: To identify the changes in zebrafish embryonic ocular development after early growth response factor 1 (Egr1) gene knockdown by Egr1-specific translation inhibitor, morpholino oligonucleotides (MO).

Methods: Two kinds of Egr1-MO were microinjected separately with various dosages into one to four celled zebrafish embryos to find an optimal dose generating an acceptable mortality rate and high frequency of specific phenotype. Chordin-MO served as the positive control; a 5 mismatch MO of Egr1-MO1 and a nonspecific MO served as negative controls.

Analysis of crystalline lens position.

Purpose: To study normal crystalline lens position to provide a comparative baseline for future studies of crystalline lens or intraocular lens shift.

Setting: Taipei Municipal Yang-Ming Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.

Methods: A Scheimpflug anterior segment analyzer (EAS-1000, Nidek) was prospectively applied to measure the cycloplegic crystalline lens position in subjects who had not had previous ocular surgeries or who had been diagnosed previously with major ocular diseases such as glaucoma, retinal detachment, or cataract.

Clinical characteristics and leakage of functioning blebs after trabeculectomy with mitomycin-C in primary glaucoma patients.

Purposes: To describe the clinical characteristics of functioning blebs in Japanese glaucoma patients after primary trabeculectomy with adjunctive mitomycin-C (MMC) and to correlate their associations with postoperative bleb leakage.

Design: A prospective, observational case series.

Participants: One hundred sixty-two glaucoma patients who had undergone primary trabeculectomy with MMC at the University of Tokyo Hospital at least 3 months before were examined between December 1997 and February 1998.