Dexmedetomidine promotes the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma through hepatic stellate cell activation

Dexmedetomidine (DEX) is an anesthetic that is widely used in the clinic, and it has been reported to exhibit paradoxical effects in the progression of multiple solid tumors. In this study, we sought to explore the mechanism by which DEX regulates hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression underlying liver fibrosis. We determined the effects of DEX on tumor progression in an orthotopic HCC mouse model of fibrotic liver. A coculture system and a subcutaneous xenograft model involving coimplantation of mouse hepatoma cells (H22) and primary activated hepatic stellate cells (aHSCs) were used to study the effects of DEX on HCC progression. We found that in the preclinical mouse model of liver fibrosis, DEX treatment significantly shortened median survival time and promoted tumor growth, intrahepatic metastasis and pulmonary metastasis. The DEX receptor (ADRA2A) was mainly expressed in aHSCs but was barely detected in HCC cells. DEX dramatically reinforced HCC malignant behaviors in the presence of aHSCs in both the coculture system and the coimplantation mouse model, but DEX alone exerted no significant effects on the malignancy of HCC. Mechanistically, DEX induced IL-6 secretion from aHSCs and promoted HCC progression via STAT3 activation. Our findings provide evidence that the clinical application of DEX may cause undesirable side effects in HCC patients with liver fibrosis.Subject terms: Cancer microenvironment, Cell growth     

Crystallization behavior and biodegradation of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and poly(ethylene glycol) multiblock copolymers

Block copolymerization by using isocyanates is an effective method for incorporating PHB and PEG because it can prepare copolymers with good properties, such as toughness, strength, and so on. In this study, we adopted soil suspension system to estimate the biodegradability of a series of PHB/PEG multiblock copolymers with different compositions and block lengths. In the degradation process, the changes in weight loss, molecular weight, and tensile strength were periodically measured to determine the biodegradability, and the surface morphology was also observed by SEM. In contrast to pure PHB, the weight loss of the copolymer was relatively lower. On the other hand, the tensile strength and molecular weight experienced apparent decrease, and for BHG1000-3-1, they reached 46.7% and 77.7% of the initial value, respectively. SEM observation showed that the surface was covered with numerous erosion pits. All these indicate that the degradation indeed took place and long-chain molecules have been hydrolyzed into shorter ones. The crystallization behavior was also investigated by DSC and WAXD. The results showed that both the segments, PEG and PHB, can form crystalline phases at lower PHB contents ranging from 29% to 44%, and when PHB component was more than 60%, only PHB phase can crystallize.     

产母及新生儿血铅水平及影响因素的研究

为了解佛山市产母、新生儿血铅水平及其相关影响因素 ,采用电感耦合高频等离子体发射光谱法 ,于 2 0 0 2年 5～ 9月 ,取本院产科产母静脉血及其新生儿脐血 1 5 2例 ,进行血铅、钙、锌、铁、铜和锰水平测定 ,按妇幼保健管理卡内容 ,进行相关记录。结果表明 ,产母血铅水平90 1± 3 4 8μg/L ,BPb≥ 1 0 0 μg/L者占 2 0 3 9% ;新生儿脐血铅水平 89 2± 3 1 6μg/L ,铅中毒率为2 2 3 7% ;母子血铅值呈显著正相关 (r=0 85 7,P <0 0 1 ) ,产母血铅值与其血钙、铁值显著负相关 (r=0 2 66,-0 3 0 1 ,P <0 0 5 ) ;城郊产母及新生儿血铅水平显著高于城区。揭示市郊孕妇、新生儿血铅较高 ,血钙、锌、铁含量影响血铅水平     

主链含硅聚芳酯的合成及气体透过性能的研究

以双［对－酰氯苯基］二甲基硅烷和酚酞、四溴酚酞以及双酚Ａ为原料，合成了三种主链含硅聚芳酯，并对聚合物相关的物理性质进行了表征，制成了均质透明的薄膜．采用低真空法测定这些聚合物对Ｈ２、Ｏ２、Ｎ２、ＣＯ２、ＣＨ４的气体透过速率，并计算出气体透过系数、扩散系数、溶解系数、分离系数．从气体透过性能与聚合物分子结构关系的角度，按照气体透过的溶解－扩散机制，对聚合物的气体透过性能进行了研究，而且着重讨论了聚合物的堆积密度对气体扩散系数的影响，以及聚合物主链中极性链段的百分含量对气体溶解系数和溶解选择性的影响。     

肝素化聚甲基硅氧烷-聚氧乙烯接枝物的合成及其体外抗凝血性能评价

以二甲基硅油接枝端羟基聚氧乙烯（ＰＤＭＳ ｇ ＰＥＯ ＯＨ）为基材，用二环己基碳二亚胺（ＤＣＣＩ）作脱剂，研究了羟基（ＯＨ）与肝素上的羧基（—ＣＯＯＨ）之间的脱水缩合反应，制备出肝素化的抗血栓材料ＰＤＭＳ ｇ ＰＥＯ Ｈｅｐ，并对其涂覆表面的肝素含量和体外抗凝血性能进行了初步评价．实验结果表明，肝素接枝的共聚物具有优良的抗凝血性能和一定的应用前景．     

BaCe1—xRExO3—0.5x的溶胶—凝胶法合成及离子导电性

用溶胶－凝胶法合成了系列钙钛矿结构的ＢａＣｅ１－ｘＲＥｘＯ３－０．５ｘ（ＲＥ＝Ｌａ，Ｎｄ，Ｓｍ，Ｅｕ，Ｇｄ，Ｄｙ，Ｈｏ，Ｅｒ和Ｙ）复合氧化物，通过ＸＲＤ和热分析对样品结构及生成过程进行了研究．测定了不同温度下样品的交流阻抗谱，讨论了稀土离子掺杂对ＢａＣｅＯ３电性质的影响．溶胶－凝胶法比固相反应法合成温度降低了６００～８００℃，稀土掺杂使ＢａＣｅＯ３离子导电率提高了１０～４０倍．     

Cover Picture: A Stepwise Annulation for the Transformation of Cyclic Ketones to Fused 6 and 7‐Membered Cyclic Enimines and Enones (Chin. J. Chem. 4/2019)

The cover picture shows a typical building within the Campus of Xiamen University displaying Chen Jiageng (Tan Kah Kee)'s style. Just like many beautiful buildings designed and constructed by human, Nature “designs and constructs” a huge number of useful molecules with fascinating structures called natural products. Many natural products possess a fused six or seven‐membered carbocyclic unity. On page 315–322, the Huang's group disclosed a three‐step “[2+n]” annulation method for the construction of fused six and seven‐membered carbocyclic enimines and enones. The method starts from simple cyclic ketones and terminal olefinic amides, and relies on both the Suzuki coupling reaction and the olefin‐amide based Friedel‐Crafts type acylating reaction, a method developed by Huang and coworkers.

     

Highly Efficient Pd/C-Catalyzed Suzuki Coupling Reaction of p-（un）Substituted Phenyl Halide with （p-Substituted phenyl） Boronic Acid

A highly efficient Pd/C-catalyzed ligandless, heterogeneous Suzuki reaction of p-（un）substituted phenyl halide with （p-substituted phenyl）boronic acid in DMF/H2O solvent in a short reaction time （0.5 h） at 75 ℃ was developed. The key for such a catalytic system was the addition of 1 equivalent of tetrabutylammonium bromide. A wide variety of substituents can be tolerated and high yields of cross coupling products were achieved. The palladium catalyst can be easily recovered and reused without significantly decreasing its efficiency.     

Bis(crown-6)calix[4]arene/Cs+ Coordination Chemistry in NPME Solution

NMR spectroscopy was used to show that the symmetry of the crown ether bis(C6) is increased by an increase of the alkali metal cation radius. The EXAFS spectrum demonstrates that a seven oxygen atom coordinated configuration is present in the bis(C6)/Cs⁺/NPME system, where NPME denotes o-nitrophenylmethyl ether. The seventh oxygen in this complex, besides the six crown ether oxygens of bis(C6), may come either from a H₂O molecule or an NO₃⁻ ion.     

利用LB技术以寡聚DNA为模板构建CdS纳米结构

利用Langmuir-Blodgett技术制备了十八胺（ODA）／十聚腺嘌呤（oligo-A10)单分子膜，并以其为模板制备了不同形状的Cds纳米结构，结果表明以在低膜压下转移的寡聚DNA单层为模板可诱导生成线形的Cds纳米结构，而以在主膜压下转换的寡聚DNA单层膜板得到的是Cds的球形结构聚集体。