In vivo Kinetic Biodistribution of Nano‐Sized Outer Membrane Vesicles Derived from Bacteria

Evaluation of kinetic distribution and behaviors of nanoparticles in vivo provides crucial clues into their roles in living organisms. Extracellular vesicles are evolutionary conserved nanoparticles, known to play important biological functions in intercellular, inter‐species, and inter‐kingdom communication. In this study, the first kinetic analysis of the biodistribution of outer membrane vesicles (OMVs)—bacterial extracellular vesicles—with immune‐modulatory functions is performed. OMVs, injected intraperitoneally, spread to the whole mouse body and accumulate in the liver, lung, spleen, and kidney within 3 h of administration. As an early systemic inflammation response, increased levels of TNF‐α and IL‐6 are observed in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. In addition, the number of leukocytes and platelets in the blood is decreased. OMVs and cytokine concentrations, as well as body temperature are gradually decreased 6 h after OMV injection, in concomitance with the formation of eye exudates, and of an increase in ICAM‐1 levels in the lung. Following OMV elimination, most of the inflammatory signs are reverted, 12 h post‐injection. However, leukocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid are increased as a late reaction. Taken together, these results suggest that OMVs are effective mediators of long distance communication in vivo.     

Isolated hepatic tuberculosis mimicking liver tumors in a dialysis patient

Cases of isolated hepatic tuberculosis (TB) are rare. The diagnosis is often delayed or missed because of nonspecific symptoms and laboratory findings. Besides, the disease is extremely rare even in a country where TB is an alarming public health problem. This report demonstrates the difficulty in correctly diagnosing local hepatic TB. We report the case of a 62‐year‐old male patient with end‐stage renal disease treated with hemodialysis, who developed 2 months of abdominal distension and general anorexia, with hyperechoic hepatic lesions on ultrasound. Computed tomography suspected multiple liver tumors. The liver biopsy finally led to the diagnosis of TB of the liver without other involvements. We conclude that isolated hepatic TB is one of the rare forms of extrapulmonary TB in dialysis patients. A greater awareness of this rare clinical entity may prevent needless surgical interventions.     

陕南山地烟田不同植烟年限土壤养分的变化

为给陕南山地烟草生产布局及有针对性的施肥措施提供依据,分析了陕南山地烟田不同植烟年限(0~15年)与土壤养分含量的关系。结果表明:随着植烟年限延长,有机质线性下降,全氮和速效钾显著上升,有效磷先上升后下降;氯、有效铁、有效锰、有效硼和有效铜无显著变化或变化很小,有效锌则在第1年急剧下降,之后保持稳定,10年后再次显著下降。认为陕南山地烟区烟叶生产中应适当增加有机肥的施用而合理控制氮肥、磷肥和钾肥的施用,并要注意锌肥的补充。     

Combination of heat treatment and chitosan coating to improve postharvest quality of wolfberry (Lycium barbarum)

The synergistic application of hot water dip at 42 °C for 30 min and 1% chitosan coating on differentiation in postharvest quality traits, microstructure as well as microbiological evolution of wolfberry fruits was investigated. Fresh wolfberry fruits were stored at 2 ± 0.5 °C and 90% relative humidity (RH) for 28 days. Results indicated the combination of prestorage heat treatment and chitosan coating maintained higher levels of ascorbic acid, total phenolic contents and antioxidant capacity as well as lower decay, compared with untreated wolfberry fruits. The possible mechanism was that the heat treatment almost sealed open stomata to limit the sites of pathogen penetration into fruits independently, followed by the biofilm formed by chitosan which controlled secondary infections as well as slowed changes in fruit respiration and metabolic activity in wolfberries. The synergistically treated fruit also exhibited a higher acceptability obtained by sensory analysis after cold storage. In this sense, the integrated application of heat treatment and chitosan coating could be regarded as an effective strategy to extend storage life and maintain the postharvest quality of wolfberry fruits.     

Metal-polyphenol-network coated CaCO3 as pH-responsive nanocarriers to enable effective intratumoral penetration and reversal of multidrug resistance for augmented cancer treatments

Construction of multifunctional stimuli-responsive nanotherapeutics enabling improved intratumoral penetration of therapeutics and reversal of multiple-drug resistance (MDR) is potent to achieve effective cancer treatment. Herein, we report a general method to synthesize pH-dissociable calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) hollow nanoparticles with amorphous CaCO₃ as the template, gallic acid (GA) as the organic ligand, and ferrous ions as the metallic center via a one-pot coordination reaction. The obtained GA–Fe@CaCO₃ exhibits high loading efficiencies to both oxidized cisplatin prodrug and doxorubicin, yielding drug loaded GA–Fe@CaCO₃ nanotherapeutics featured in pH-responsive size shrinkage, drug release, and Fenton catalytic activity. Compared to nonresponsive GA–Fe@silica nanoparticles prepared with silica nanoparticles as the template, such GA–Fe@CaCO₃ confers significantly improved intratumoral penetration capacity. Moreover, both types of drug-loaded GA–Fe@CaCO₃ nanotherapeutics exhibit synergistic therapeutic efficacies to corresponding MDR cancer cells because of the GA–Fe mediated intracellular oxidative stress amplification that could reduce the efflux of engulfed drugs by impairing the mitochondrial-mediated production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). As a result, it is found that the doxorubicin loaded GA–Fe@CaCO₃ exhibits superior therapeutic effect towards doxorubicin-resistant 4T1 breast tumors via combined chemodynamic and chemo-therapies. This work highlights the preparation of pH-dissociable CaCO₃-based nanotherapeutics to enable effective tumor penetration for enhanced treatment of drug-resistant tumors.

     

面向航空通信应用的边沿触发器教学设计

研究和分析了面向航空通信应用的边沿触发器教学设计。以边沿触发电路实现原理为核心,引导边沿触发机制的探究式学习；以航空机载网络通信为具体应用背景,引入科学研究和工程实现中实际问题,设计曼切斯特码检测系统实验；使得边沿触发器教学成为“知识再创造”的过程和创新实践的新载体,以期培养新工科背景下的独立、创新和实践精神。     

Precise Extraction of Charge Carrier Mobility for Organic Transistors

Unreliable mobility values, and particularly greatly overestimated values and severely distorted temperature dependences, have recently hampered the development of the organic transistor field. Given that organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) have been routinely used to evaluate mobility, precise parameter extraction using the electrical properties of OFETs is thus of primary importance. This review examines the origins of the various mobilities that must be determined for OFET applications, the relevant extraction methods, and the data selection limitations, which help in avoiding conceptual errors during mobility extraction. For increased precision, the review also discusses device fabrication considerations, calibration of both the specific gate‐dielectric capacitance and the threshold voltage, the contact effects, and the bias and temperature dependences, which must actually be handled with great care but have mostly been overlooked to date. This review serves as a systematic overview of the OFET mobility extraction process to ensure high precision and will also aid in improving future research.     

Cerebral microbleeds and cognitive decline in a hemodialysis patient: Case report and review of literature

Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) are small hemosiderin deposits indicative of prior cerebral microscopic hemorrhage and previously thought to be clinically silent. Recent population‐based cross‐sectional studies and prospective longitudinal cohort studies have revealed association between CMB and cognitive dysfunction. In the general population, CMBs are associated with age, hypertension, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. In the chronic kidney disease (CKD) population, diminished estimated glomerular filtration rate has been found to be an independent risk factor for CMB, raising the possibility that a uremic milieu may predispose to microbleeds. In the end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) population on hemodialysis, the incidence of microbleeds is significantly higher compared with a control group without history of CKD or stroke. We present an ESRD patient on chronic hemodialysis with a history of gradual cognitive decline and progressive CMBs. Through this case and literature review, we illustrate the need to develop detection and prediction models to treat this frequent development in ESRD patients.