Suppression of Ribose-5-Phosphate Isomerase a Induces ROS to Activate Autophagy,Apoptosis, and Cellular Senescence in Lung Cancer

Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase A (RPIA) regulates tumorigenesis in liver and colorectal cancer. However, the role of RPIA in lung cancer remains obscure. Here we report that the suppression of RPIA diminishes cellular proliferation and activates autophagy, apoptosis, and cellular senescence in lung cancer cells. First, we detected that RPIA protein was increased in the human lung cancer versus adjust normal tissue via tissue array. Next, the knockdown of RPIA in lung cancer cells displayed autophagic vacuoles, enhanced acridine orange staining, GFP-LC3 punctae, accumulated autophagosomes, and showed elevated levels of LC3-II and reduced levels of p62, together suggesting that the suppression of RPIA stimulates autophagy in lung cancer cells. In addition, decreased RPIA expression induced apoptosis by increasing levels of Bax, cleaved PARP and caspase-3 and apoptotic cells. Moreover, RPIA knockdown triggered cellular senescence and increased p53 and p21 levels in lung cancer cells. Importantly, RPIA knockdown elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. Treatment of ROS scavenger N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) reverts the activation of autophagy, apoptosis and cellular senescence by RPIA knockdown in lung cancer cells. In conclusion, RPIA knockdown induces ROS levels to activate autophagy, apoptosis, and cellular senescence in lung cancer cells. Our study sheds new light on RPIA suppression in lung cancer therapy.     

Effect of pulverization on the antioxidant activity of water caltrop (Trapa taiwanensis Nakai) pericarps

This study was to investigate the effect of pulverization treatment on the antioxidant properties of water caltrop pericarps. The results showed that crude fiber was the largest proportional constituent of water caltrop pericarps, comprising 72.3 g/100 g (dry basis). After 10 min milling, five fractions were obtained 1-5 different particle sizes (285, 211, 138, 62 and 41 μm, respectively). Comparing the effect of pulverization on the fiber component of each fraction, the fraction 1 exhibited higher hemi-cellulose but lower lignin than smaller particle size fraction except fraction 5. At a dosage of 250 μg/mL methanol extracts, the highest free radical-scavenging ability is obtained in the fraction 5, which is found to be 78.3 g/100 g, followed by the fractions 1-4. The same tendency was observed in the reducing power and cupric ions chelating ability. The fractions 1 and 5 contained significantly higher total phenolics and total flavonoids than fraction 2-4 (p < 0.05).     

Foam Properties and Detergent Abilities of the Saponins from Camellia oleifera

The defatted seed meal of Camellia oleifera has been used as a natural detergent and its extract is commercially utilized as a foam-stabilizing and emulsifying agent. The goal of this study was to investigate the foam properties and detergent ability of the saponins from the defatted seed meal of C. oleifera. The crude saponin content in the defatted seed meal of C. oleifera was 8.34 and the total saponins content in the crude saponins extract was 39.5% (w/w). The foaming power of the 0.5 crude saponins extract solution from defatted seed meal of C. oleifera was 37.1 of 0.5 SLS solution and 51.3% to that of 0.5% Tween 80 solution. The R5 value of 86.0% represents good foam stability of the crude saponins extracted from the defatted seed meal of the plant. With the reduction of water surface tension from 72 mN/m to 50.0 mN/m, the 0.5% crude saponins extract solution has wetting ability. The sebum-removal experiment indicated that the crude saponins extract has moderate detergency. The detergent abilities of the saponins from C. oleifera and Sapindus mukorossi were also compared.     

Effect of micronization on functional properties of the water caltrop (Trapa taiwanensis Nakai) pericarp

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of micronization on the functional properties of the water caltrop (Trapa taiwanensis Nakai) pericarp (WCP). Three different micronization treatments were carried out, including wet milling (WM), freeze-dried milling (FDM) and hot-air dried milling (HDM). Seven fractions of micro-sized WCP were obtained for each treatment, using hammer and ball milling, consecutively. The ball milling treatment of WCP resulted in an increase of hydration properties (solubility, water-holding capacities, and swelling capacity) and oil-holding capacities due to the redistribution of fibre components from insoluble to soluble fractions. The cation-exchange capacity of WCP increased significantly with decreases in particle size after micronization by ball milling. The findings suggested that different micronization treatments could improve functional properties of the fibre components of WCP, which provide a good source of dietary fibre in food applications.     

A real-time rule-based method of stenosis evaluation for arteriovenous fistula care by multiple sites blood flow measurement

Microsystem Technologies - Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) care is crucial for hemodialysis patients. Neglecting the care of patients on strict AVF care may cause stenosis and affect hemodialysis...     

Ti3C2 MXene Paper for the Effective Adsorption and Controllable Release of Aroma Molecules

Olfactory sensing and perception play an important role in people's daily lives and greatly affects senses, emotions, and behavior. In particular, the development of the controlled release of aroma enhances human's well‐being and strengthens interactions with surroundings through olfactory display, especial when combined with visual and audial cues. Here, Ti₃C₂ MXene plays a dual‐function role as the adsorption site of aroma molecules and the heating source for the controlled release of aroma molecules. Due to abundant termination groups on the surface and the metallic nature, Ti₃C₂ MXene provides abundant active sites for the interaction with aroma molecules; simultaneously, MXene can be electrically heated to thermally desorb the aroma molecules from the interaction sites. This approach eliminates the interface incompatibility issues between the heating source and the molecular encapsulation layer in conventional olfactory display system. This work presents the controlled release of the aroma molecule phenethyl alcohol (PA) using Ti₃C₂ MXene paper. Ti₃C₂ MXene paper serves as the adsorption material and a heating source that achieves 100 °C within 1 s. The relative amount of PA released reaches nearly 100% after 1 min of heating.     

Voltammetric study of polyviologen and the application of polyviologen-modified glassy carbon electrode in amperometric detection of vitamin C

The voltammetric behavior of viologen oligomers prepared from butylviologen dibromide and the factors influencing polyviologen film formation were investigated at a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Based on the voltammetric observations, phosphoric acid is crucial to the formation of a stable polyviologen film on a GCE. The polyviologen-modified glassy carbon electrode (PVGCE) was employed to determine vitamin C (i.e., ascorbic acid) in order to demonstrate the electroanalytical application of the electropolymerized polyviologen film. The PVGCE was found capable of accumulating vitamin C at electrode surface in a slightly basic solution (pH = 7.8) and induce a negative shift of oxidation potential of vitamin C. Vitamin C was detected by hydrodynamic amperometry at +0.1 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) in a batch-injection cell; no accumulation time is required. The dependence of oxidation current on concentration was linear from 5.00 × 10⁻⁷ M to 1.22 × 10⁻⁴ M with a regression coefficient of 0.9993. Several real samples were analyzed and the results exhibit good agreement with those determined by iodimetric titration.     

Effect of pH value on the synthesis and characterization of Ba<Subscript>0.5</Subscript>Sr<Subscript>0.5</Subscript>Co<Subscript>0.8</Subscript>Fe<Subscript>0.2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3−δ</Subscript> powders prepared by the citrate–EDTA complexing method

This study reports the successful preparation of potential candidate Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.8Fe_0.2O_3−δ (BSCF) oxides for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs) by a combined citrate-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) complexing method. The resulting crystal properties, chemical composition, conductivity, and electrochemical properties were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS), energy dispersive spectrum (EDS), four-point DC measurement and AC impedance. The X-ray diffraction results of all samples with different pH values reveal a basic perovskite structure. Although samples prepared from different pH solutions have a similar structure, their chemical composition and grain morphologies are different. The optimized composition of BSCF is the sample prepared from the precursor solution with a pH value of 6; this produced highest conductivity at 50.2 S/cm at 400 °C, which is 1.3 times higher than the sample prepared from the precursor solution with a pH value of 9. Electrochemical impedance spectra at an intermediate temperature reveal the better electrochemical performance of BSCF electrode prepared from the solution with pH of 6. The lowest polarization resistance values for charge transfer and oxygen diffusion are 0.07 and 0.11 Ω cm² at 800 °C, respectively.     

Using gold nanoclusters as selective luminescent probes for phosphate-containing metabolites

Glutathione-bound gold nanoclusters (AuNCs@GSH) can emit reddish photoluminescence under illumination of ultraviolet light. The luminescence of the AuNCs@GSH is quenched when chelating with iron ions (AuNCs@GSH-Fe(3+)), presumably resulting from the effective electron transfer between the nanoclusters and iron ions. Nevertheless, we found that the luminescence of the gold nanoclusters can be restored in the presence of phosphate-containing molecules, which suggested the possibility of using AuNCs@GSH-Fe(3+) complexes as the selective luminescent switches for phosphate-containing metabolites. Phosphate-containing metabolites such as adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) and pyrophosphate play an important role in biological systems. In this study, we demonstrated that the luminescence of the AuNCs@GSH-Fe(3+) is switched-on when mixing with ATP and pyrophosphate, which can readily be observed by the naked eye. It results from the high formation constants between phosphates and iron ions. When employing fluorescence spectroscopy as the detection tool, quantitative analysis for phosphate-containing metabolites such as ATP and pyrophosphate can be conducted. The linear range for ATP and pyrophosphate is 50 μM to sub-millimolar, while the limit of detection for ATP and pyrophosphate are ～43 and ～28 μM, respectively. Additionally, we demonstrated that the luminescence of the AuNCs@GSH-Fe(3+) can also be turned on in the presence of phosphate-containing metabolites from cell lysates and blood plasma.     

Ultra-precision surface finish of the hardened stainless mold steel using vibration-assisted ball polishing process

A vibration-assisted spherical polishing system driven by a piezoelectric actuator has been newly developed on a machining center to improve the burnished surface roughness of hardened STAVAX plastic mold stainless steel and to reduce the volumetric wear of the polishing ball. The optimal plane surface ball burnishing and vibration-assisted spherical polishing parameters of the specimens have been determined after conducting the Taguchi's L₉ and L₁₈ matrix experiments, respectively. The surface roughness R_a=0.10 μm, on average, of the burnished specimens can be improved to R_a=0.036 μm (R_max=0.380 μm) using the optimal plane surface vibration-assisted spherical polishing process. The improvement of volumetric wear of the polishing ball was about 72% using the vibration-assisted polishing process compared with the non-vibrated polishing process. A simplified kinetic model of the vibration-assisted spherical polishing system for the burnished surface profile was also derived in this study. Applying the optimal plane surface ball burnishing and vibrated spherical polishing parameters sequentially to a fine-milled freeform surface carrier of an F-theta scan lens, the surface roughness of R_a=0.045 μm (R_y=0.65 μm), on average, within the measuring range of 149 μm×112 μm on the freeform surface, was obtainable.