Christietran4609

Technology for the transformation of waste feathers to quality regenerated filaments has been developed. learn more Regardless of superior properties of natural keratin materials, previously developed regenerated materials from keratin had tensile properties much lower than their natural counterparts due to backbone hydrolysis and inefficient reconstruction of disulfide crosslinkages. In this work, tough keratin filaments have been regenerated from white duck feathers via efficient restoration of disulfide crosslinkages using a dithiol reducing agent. Dithiol substantially reserves free thiol groups in the extraction and formed lengthy intermolecular crosslinkages in regenerated keratin filaments. Due to the high degree of intermolecular reconstruction of disulfide bonds and formation of lengthy crosslinkages via dithiol chain-extension, the keratin filaments exhibited considerable improvements in mechanical properties, especially for ductility and water stability. The tenacity and elongation at break were 160.7 MPa and 14%, respectively. The filaments retained about 80% of the tenacity of natural feathers at either dry or wet conditions and demonstrated stretchability 150% higher than natural feathers. The fiber regeneration technology makes it possible to substitute primary fiber sources by renewable poultry feathers. Successful filament substitution or addition can bring more than 88-billion-dollar revenue. The technology not only contributes to a sustainable fiber and poultry industry but adds substantial values to poultry feathers.There is an urgent need for the introduction of novel and better (i.e., improved risk-benefit profile) compounds for the treatment of major psychiatric disorders, in particular mood and psychotic disorders. However, despite increased societal awareness and a rising public and professional demand for such agents from patients and physicians, the pharmaceutical industry continues to close down its psychopharmacology research facilities in reaction to the lack of success with the search for new psychotropics. It is high time to stop this untoward trend and explore "new" lines of investigation to solve the current crisis in psychopharmacological research. In line with the prevailing molecular view in drug research in general, also in psychopharmacology mechanistic explanations for drug effects are "traditionally" looked for at the level of molecular targets, like receptors and transporters. Also, more recent approaches, although using so-called systems- and function-based approaches to model the multidimensional lecular, paradigm may offer "new" options for lead discovery in psychopharmacological research.

Panacis majoris Rhizoma, which is a member of herbal medicine, is known for many years to remove blood stasis, promote blood circulation, and enrich the blood. The active ingredients of this plant are mainly attributed to saponins.

The total saponins from Panacis majoris Rhizoma (TSPJ), and the degradation products of TSPJ (DTSPJ), were designed in this study to compare the protective effects on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, and the aim of this approach is to discover more effective agents for the treatment of ischemic heart diseases. We analyzed the main constituents of TSPJ and DTSPJ, aiming to make clear which saponins played important roles in this protective effect, and also investigated the possible mechanisms.

DTSPJ was prepared by the method of alkaline hydrolysis. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were used to analyze the main chemical constituents of TSPJ and DTSPJ, which were isolated by chromatographic techniques and identified by comparison with the Nuclear Magnetic Rehemia-reperfusion injury. The underlying mechanisms may be closely related to its enhancing anti-oxidative properties, modifying blood viscosity, and inhibiting platelet aggregation and platelet adhesion. As a whole, the protection of DTSPJ against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury was a little stronger than those of TSPJ. The results display the prospect of DTSPJ as a drug candidate for treating ischemic heart disease.

Both TSPJ and DTSPJ can guard cardiomyocytes against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. The underlying mechanisms may be closely related to its enhancing anti-oxidative properties, modifying blood viscosity, and inhibiting platelet aggregation and platelet adhesion. As a whole, the protection of DTSPJ against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury was a little stronger than those of TSPJ. The results display the prospect of DTSPJ as a drug candidate for treating ischemic heart disease.

Tumor-associated antigens are a promising target of immunotherapy approaches for cancer treatments but rely on sufficient expression of the target antigen. This study investigates the expression of the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) on the surface of irradiated lung cancer cells in vitro using gold nanoparticles as radio-enhancer.

Human lung carcinoma cells A549 were irradiated and expression of CEA on the cell surface measured by flow cytometry 3h, 24h, and 72h after irradiation to doses of 2Gy, 6Gy, 10Gy, and 20Gy in the presence or absence of 0.1mg/ml or 0.5mg/ml gold nanoparticles. CEA expression was measured as median fluorescent intensity and percentage of CEA-positive cells.

An increase in CEA expression was observed with both increasing radiation dose and time. There was doubling in median fluorescent intensity 24h after 20Gy irradiation and 72h after 6Gy irradiation. Use of gold nanoparticles resulted in additional significant increase in CEA expression. Change in cell morphology included swelling of cells and increased internal complexity in accordance with change in CEA expression.

This study showed an increase in CEA expression on human lung carcinoma cells following irradiation. Increase in expression was observed with increasing radiation dose and in a time dependent manner up to 72h post irradiation. The results further showed that gold nanoparticles can significantly increase CEA expression following radiotherapy.

This study showed an increase in CEA expression on human lung carcinoma cells following irradiation. Increase in expression was observed with increasing radiation dose and in a time dependent manner up to 72 h post irradiation. The results further showed that gold nanoparticles can significantly increase CEA expression following radiotherapy.Large area electron microscopy (EM) imaging has long been difficult due to fundamental limits in throughput for conventional electron microscopes. New developments in transmission electron microscopy and multi-beam scanning electron microscopy (MBSEM) imaging have however made it possible to generate large EM datasets [1,2,3]. This article describes a transmission imaging technique that is suitable for a MBSEM as it allows for a relatively straightforward way of separating the signals generated by each beam. The technique places a thin (50nm-200nm) tissue section directly on top of a coated scintillator. The electrons that are transmitted through the section generate light in the scintillator which is collected by a high NA objective and imaged onto a photon detector. This article gives a model for the contrast-to-noise (CNR) and signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio that is to be expected for this imaging technique. These parameters were calculated using Monte-Carlo simulations. It was found that the CNR increases when decreasing landing energy and SNR increases with increasing landing energy. These two trends cause that there is an intermediate energy where imaging performance is best. The energy of this optimum was calculated for various levels of heavy metal staining, section thickness, coating material, coating thickness and light collection efficiency. The model was verified experimentally on a synthetic sample.Atom probe tomography (APT) allows measurement of the three-dimensional structure and composition of materials, but specific sample preparation procedures are required for challenging materials such as aggregates of nanoparticles. Indeed, the presence of porosity within the specimen affects both the stability of the sample and the accuracy of the data. Here, aggregates of nanoparticles were transferred onto a micromanipulator tip and embedded via electron-beam-assisted deposition of Pt. Successive FIB-millings and Pt-depositions are needed to create suitable APT tips. The 3D reconstruction reveals the presence of 15-20 nm nanoparticles, and mass-spectral analysis shows the absence of trace elements within the catalyst, thus serving as quality control for the synthesis of nanoparticles with specific compositions.Rubia species are one of the important multi-origin phytomedicines having both economical and medicinal values in many countries. Quinones are the predominant bioactive constituents of these species. Therefore, accurate analysis of these quinones is critical to quality control, clinical, and commercial applications of Rubia species. In this study, a sensitive and efficient ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS) method in positive and negative multiple reaction monitor (+/-MRM) modes was firstly developed for the characterization of 45 quinones and the quantification of 24 quinones from Rubia plants. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC® BEH C18 column by using a gradient elution with a mobile phase consisting of 0.1 % formic acid in water and acetonitrile. The results indicated that quinones in multi-origin Rubia samples were different, but 10 quinones existed in all samples. R. cordifolia, which is a unique official medicinal material in Chinese Pharmacopeia, contained the most number of quinones among all the Rubia species. R. podantha and R. sylvatica had the next highest number of quinones, implying that these species could be used as alternatives for R. cordifolia. Chemometric approaches were applied to evaluate the chemical relationship between the Rubia samples based on the constituent quinones. In this study, a UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS method in the MRM mode has been developed for the analysis of Rubia species-derived quinones, which not only contributes to quality control and discrimination of Rubia species, but also suggests the potential of these species in clinical and commercial applications.This paper aimed to investigate the postmortem ageing process of beef M. semitendinosus (ST, just slaughtered muscles) using ultrasound-assisted l-histidine treatment. The treatments with different concentrations of l-histidine solutions (0.1%, 0.15%, and 0.2%, w/v) at 4 °C for 60 min were labeled "LH", "MH" and "HH", respectively. Furthermore, the corresponding treatments with the above l-histidine solutions for 55 min after ultrasound pretreatment for 5 min were labeled "ULH", "UMH" and "UHH", respectively. The results showed that the UMH group had the lowest Warner-Bratzler shear stress. The pH value of the HH and UHH groups was higher than that of the other groups (HH 6.39 ± 0.02, UHH 6.52 ± 0.03, P less then 0.05). The MH and UMH groups showed large fiber spacing, cavities and fractures as well as obviously damaged myofibrils. In the UMH group, the soluble protein concentration (SPC) and caspase-3 activity were the highest, and the turbidity of actomyosin was the lowest. Surprisingly, the Ca2+-ATPase activity of actomyosin increased gradually with increasing concentrations of l-histidine solution.