Sodium alginate/carboxymethyl chitosan/gelatin-naringenin pH-responsive hydrogel beads for oral delivery of traditional Chinese herbal medicines.

Stomach disorders are a common category of digestive system diseases. With the increasing emphasis on traditional medicine, the use of herbal medicines in treating gastric diseases has attracted much attention. However, direct administration of herbal medicines with short half-life leads to low drug utilization.

Preparation of cellulose based hydrogel 3D SERS flexible substrate for the detection of urea in sweat.

Au NRs/HA/CMC-PVA hydrogel membranes were successfully prepared by mixing sodium hyaluronate (HA) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solutions for immersion crosslinking on the basis of freeze-thaw crosslinking of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with gold nanorods (Au NRs). By adjusting the density of Au NRs and the concentrations of CMC and HA, more 'hot spots' could be generated to enhance the SERS signals, thus improving the sensitivity and homogeneity of the hydrogels (low detection limit of 10 mol/L Rhodamine 6G (R6G), RSD = 3.04 %).

Interface self-assembly preparation of Nylon66-Ag for monitoring of HO and AA in serum.

Monitoring the redox status in vivo is important for maintaining redox homeostasis and understanding related pathological processes. In this study, based on an interfacial self-assembly method, a silver-coated nylon film (Nylon66-Ag) was prepared as a SERS substrate and a single-molecule specific SERS probe, 2-mercapto-1,4-diphenol (2-MHQ), was modified on the silver nanoparticles for sensitive detection of HO and AA in human serum. Remarkably, this method, without the introduction of internal standard signaling molecules, only one Raman signaling reporter molecule, 2-MHQ, was able to sensitively detect HO and AA, and thus monitor the redox reactions in human serum, with LODs as low as 4.

Effects of dietary protein level on liver lipid deposition, bile acid profile and gut microbiota composition of growing pullets.

The current study investigated the effects of dietary crude protein (CP) level on the liver lipid metabolism, gut microbiota, and bile acids (BA) profiles of growing pullets. Roman growing pullets (N = 180, 13-wk-old) were divided into 3 treatments groups with 6 replicates in each group and 10 hens in each replicate and provided 3 different dietary CP level diet treatments. The diet treatments included: a high-protein diet (15.

Role of DCLK1 in oncogenic signaling (Review).

Doublecortin‑like kinase 1 (DCLK1) has been identified as a novel biomarker of cancer stem cells among several different cancer types, including colon, breast, pancreas, kidney, liver, stomach and esophageal cancers. Studies have demonstrated that DCLK1 regulates tumorigenesis and epithelial‑mesenchymal transformation via several important pathways, such as Notch, Wnt/β‑catenin, RAS and multiple microRNAs. The function and biological mechanisms, including their association with the molecular structure and isoforms of DCLK1, are gradually being elucidated.

Effects of embryo injected with ochratoxins A on hatching quality and jejunum antioxidant capacity of ducks at hatching.

Numerous studies have shown that ochratoxins A (OTA) exerts diverse toxicological effects, namely, hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, genotoxicity, enterotoxicity, and immunotoxicity. The main objective of this study was to investigate the influence of embryonic exposure to OTA by different injection times and OTA doses on hatching quality and jejunal antioxidant capacity of ducks at hatching. In total, 480 fertilized eggs were weighed and randomly assigned into a 4 × 4 factorial design including four OTA doses (0, 2, 4, and 8 ng/g egg) on 8, 13, 18, and 23 of embryonic development (E8, E13, E18, and E23).

Inhibition of DCLK1 with DCLK1-IN-1 Suppresses Renal Cell Carcinoma Invasion and Stemness and Promotes Cytotoxic T-Cell-Mediated Anti-Tumor Immunity.

The approval of immune checkpoint inhibitors has expanded treatment options for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), but new therapies that target RCC stemness and promote anti-tumor immunity are needed. Previous findings demonstrate that doublecortin-like kinase 1 (DCLK1) regulates stemness and is associated with RCC disease progression. Herein, we demonstrate that small-molecule kinase inhibitor DCLK1-IN-1 strongly inhibits DCLK1 phosphorylation and downregulates pluripotency factors and cancer stem cell (CSC) or epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-associated markers including c-MET, c-MYC, and N-Cadherin in RCC cell lines.

Efficacy and safety of retention enema with traditional Chinese medicine for ulcerative colitis: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of retention enema with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for ulcerative colitis (UC) through a meta-analysis of published studies.

Methods: Literatures were retrieved from five electronic databases. Quality evaluation and meta-analysis were respectively conducted using the Cochrane collaboration and RevMan5.

Efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine for chronic gastritis: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: To systematically evaluate efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in treating chronic gastritis (CG).

Methods: Data sources from PubMed, Embase, Springer Link, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Scientific Journals Database, Chinese Biomedicine Database, and Wan-fang database were searched up to July 5, 2018. Review Manager software version 5.

Columbamine suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma cells through down-regulation of PI3K/AKT, p38 and ERK1/2 MAPK signaling pathways.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as primary liver cancer in adults is the most common cause led to internal cirrhosis responsible for patients' death, which resulted in nearly a million deaths worldwide on both males and females in the developing and developed countries. Unfortunately, up to date, there are no highly effective treatment of medicine on HCC as lack of comprehensive cellular and molecular mechanism. According to the sources of human ancient history of medicine, traditional medicine could provide unique treatment to discontinue the challenging HCC.

IL-17A inhibits autophagic activity of HCC cells by inhibiting the degradation of Bcl2.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is associated with poor prognosis due to many unknowns about its inflammatory microenvironment. As a pivotal proinflammatory cytokine, IL-17A exerts a protective effect on the survival and function of HCC cells. It is widely accepted that IL-17A plays an important role in regulating autophagy.

The mTOR Pathway Regulates PKM2 to Affect Glycolysis in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Objectives: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is a highly prevalent cancer withpoor survival rate and prognosis. Increasing evidence suggests an important role for metabolic regulation in treating esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The pyruvate kinase M2 isoform is a key enzyme in the energy production process, and the upregulation of pyruvate kinase M2 isoform also plays a crucial role in gene transcription and tumorigenesis.

The modified cone reconstruction in the treatment of Ebstein's anomaly: Case reports.

Rationale: To investigate the early and mid-term clinical outcomes of the modified cone reconstruction in the treatment of Ebstein's anomaly (EA) which provide appropriate surgical treatment for clinical and reduce the incidence of re-operation and valve replacement.

Patient Concerns: Clinical data of 18 consecutive patients with EA in our hospital between May 2008 and August 2015 were analyzed retrospectively. All patients were diagnosed by echocardiography.

Acute arterial embolism of left lower extremity caused by paradoxical embolism in Ebstein's anomaly: A case report.

Introduction: Ebstein's anomaly is a benign and stable congenital heart disease for asymptomatic patients. Despite a low incidence of Ebstein's anomaly (EA), patients' quality of life can be badly affected by EA without positive surgical intervention. Especially EA is associated with other congenital heart disease, such as the atrial septal defect, patent foramen ovale, and arterial embolism exclude other reasons, it is often considered to be the consequence of paradoxical embolism, and surgical intervention must be conducted.

Effect of myocardial protection during beating heart surgery with right sub-axiliary approach.

Background: Cardiac troponin-I (cTnI) is one of the three regulatory subunits of the cardiac troponin which has the high sensibility and specificity of responding to myocardial injury. Studies have demonstrated that cTnI is released into the blood stream within hours following acute myocardial reperfusion injury. The clinical utility of cTnI for the assessment of myocardial damage is that it is more specific than creatine kinase MB (CKMB).