Splenectomy improves liver fibrosis via tumor necrosis factor superfamily 14 (LIGHT) through the JNK/TGF-β1 signaling pathway

Splenectomy has been reported to improve liver fibrosis in patients with cirrhosis and hypersplenism. However, the mechanisms remain unclear. Tumor necrosis factor superfamily 14 (TNFSF14; also known as LIGHT) is highly expressed in the context of fibrosis and promotes disease progression in patients with fibrotic diseases such as pulmonary and skin fibrosis. Here, we determined whether splenectomy controls the production of LIGHT to improve liver fibrosis. Splenectomy reduced serum LIGHT levels in cirrhotic patients with hypersplenism and a ConA-induced liver fibrosis mouse model. Blocking LIGHT resulted in the downregulation of TGF-β1 in RAW264.7 cells. LIGHT treatment of RAW264.7 and JS1 cells in coculture regulated transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) expression through the activation of JNK signaling. Small interfering RNA-mediated silencing of lymphotoxin β receptor (LTβR) in macrophages resulted in pronounced decreases in the levels of fibrosis and αSMA in JS1 cells. These results indicated that LIGHT bound to LTβR and drove liver fibrosis in vitro. Blocking TGF-β1 abolished the effect of LIGHT in vitro. Furthermore, the administration of recombinant murine LIGHT protein-induced liver fibrosis with splenectomy, while blocking LIGHT without splenectomy improved liver fibrosis in vivo, revealing that the decrease in fibrosis following splenectomy was directly related to reduced levels of LIGHT. Thus, high levels of LIGHT derived from the spleen and hepatic macrophages activate JNK signaling and lead to increased TGF-β1 production in hepatic macrophages. Splenectomy attenuates liver fibrosis by decreasing the expression of LIGHT.Subject terms: Tumour-necrosis factors, Liver fibrosis, Hepatic stellate cells, Liver cirrhosis, Experimental models of disease     

Photodynamic therapy based on organic small molecular fluorescent dyes

This review aims to provide a summary of the progress in organic small molecular fluorescent dyes for photodynamic therapy in recent years and it is classified according to the structures of dyes including cyanines, phthalocyanine, BODIPYs and other agents.     

Terephthalamide derivatives as mimetics of helical peptides: disruption of the Bcl-x(L)/Bak interaction

A series of Bcl-x(L)/Bak antagonists, based on a terephthalamide scaffold, was designed to mimic the alpha-helical region of the Bak peptide. These molecules showed favorable in vitro activities in disrupting the Bcl-x(L)/Bak BH3 domain complex (terephthalamides 9 and 26, K(i) = 0.78 +/- 0.07 and 1.85 +/- 0.32 microM, respectively). Extensive structure-affinity studies demonstrated a correlation between the ability of terephthalamide derivatives to disrupt Bcl-x(L)/Bak complex formation and the size of variable side chains on these molecules. Treatment of human HEK293 cells with the terephthalamide derivative 26 resulted in disruption of the Bcl-x(L)/Bax interaction in whole cells with an IC(50) of 35.0 microM. Computational docking simulations and NMR experiments suggested that the binding cleft for the BH3 domain of the Bak peptide on the surface of Bcl-x(L) is the target area for these synthetic inhibitors.     

Facile solvent-free synthesis of pure-phased AlN nanowhiskers at a low temperature

Pure hexagonal aluminum nitride (AlN) nanowhiskers have been successfully synthesized by directly reacting AlCl₃ with NaN₃ in non-solvent system at the low temperature of 450 °C for 24 h. The obtained products are characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction, which show that the obtained products are hexagonal phase AlN nanowhiskers with width from 10 to 80 nm and length up to several micrometers. The influencing factors of the formation of AlN nanowhiskers were discussed and a possible growth mechanism for AlN nanowhiskers was proposed. Additionally, the study on the corresponding optical properties and catalytic properties is also carried out.     

LyP-1 peptide-functionalized gold nanoprisms for SERRS imaging and tumor growth suppressing by PTT induced-hyperthermia

The gold nanoprisms (GNPs) have exhibited special plasmonic properties for biomedical applications because of their unique shapes and dimensions. Based on their optical performance, the NIR dye IR780 not only enabled the GNPs-based nanosystem as SERRS nanoparticles for Raman-encoded molecular imaging, but also enhanced the plasmonic photothermal property by laser irradiation. Meanwhile, the GNPs/IR780-Lyp-1 by introduction of tumor-homing peptide segment LyP-1, which presents high affinity to p32 protein, demonstrated the increased enrichment in tumor region and enhanced photothermal therapy efficacy.     

Determination of rare earth impurities in high purity gadolinium oxide by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry after 2-ethylhexylhydrogen-ethylhexy phosphonate extraction chromatographic separation

A method was developed for the determination of rare earth impurities in high purity Gd(2)O(3) by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The matrix suppression effect of Gd(2)O(3) on signals of rare earth impurities was compensated for by Re internal standardization. The spectra overlap interferences from GdH, GdO, GdOH(n) (n=1-3) on Tb, Tm, Yb and Lu were eliminated by 2-thylhexylhydrogen-2-ethylhexy phosphonate (EHEHP) extraction chromatographic separation. The detection limits for REEs were 0.005-0.017 ng ml(-1) in solution and 0.002-0.05 mug g(-1) in solid. Recoveries of spiked sample for REEs were from 88 to 121% with the precision of 1.0-7.5% RSD. Determination of trace REEs in two Gd(2)O(3) samples were performed. The method can be applied to analysis of 99.99-99.9999% high purity Gd(2)O(3).     

等压试验中平衡过程的理论研究

本文分析了等压实验中温度因素的影响和各种单独过程的平衡方程,理论研究得到了实验设备中的温度差和测定的平衡浓度误差的关系以及平衡方程,平衡方程也表明了各单独过程的平衡速度大小顺序为气相中的水蒸气扩散过程＜气相中的水蒸气循环流动过程＜试样溶液中热传导过程＜热传导体中的热传导过程和试样溶液中由搅拌产生的热传递过程＜溶质在溶液中的扩散过程＜气液相之间的平衡过程和由压强差产生的气相的水蒸气对流过程.同时,研究表明总的平衡方程可以近似由dln|△me,b/m0|/dt=-k·mb2/(ma·wa)描述.此外研究也表明排除等压实验设备中的空气成分可以有效的加快总的平衡速度.并且实验容器与热传导体之间的接触也非常重要.     

氢气对氯硅烷功能化非共轭α,ω-双烯烃和丙烯共聚物链结构的影响

基于Ziegler-Natta催化剂的氯硅烷功能化非共轭α,ω-双烯烃与丙烯共聚,在水的引发下脱水缩合可有效地形成长支链结构的聚丙烯树脂.而氢气常作为丙烯聚合中的链转移剂,调控聚丙烯的分子量,基于此,研究了氢气对氯硅烷功能化非共轭α,ω-双烯烃与丙烯共聚物链结构的影响.核磁共振氢谱(~1H-NMR)测试结果表明,氢气抑制了氯硅烷功能化非共轭α,ω-双烯烃的插入,随着氢气用量的增加,共聚物分子链中端基乙烯基含量由0.12 mol%降低到0.05 mol%.熔体流变行为测试结果显示,聚合物熔体的储能模量、损耗模量和零剪切黏度均随着氢气用量增加而降低,这主要是由于相对分子质量减小和长支链密度的减少.     

影响苯胺电化学计量聚合因素的探讨

本文对影响苯胺电化学计量聚合的因素进行了探讨，这些因素包括：电化学聚合方法、电极电位（Ｅ）、电流密度（Ｉ），以及苯胺单体和酸溶液的浓度等，实验结果表明，最合适的聚合方法为恒电流法，其条件为：电极电位不大于０．７０Ｖ（ｖｓ．ＳＣＥ）聚合电流密度（Ｉ）约为０．０５ｍＡ／ｃｍ＾２，苯胺单体浓度为１．１ｍｏｌ／Ｌ，酸（ＨＣｌ）的浓度则为２．２ｍｏｌ／Ｌ     

Photodissociation of Cycloketones by Ultraintense Femtosecond Laser Pulses

ThestudyofphotoionizationandphotodissociationprocessesinducedbyintensefemtosecondlaserpuIses(>lo"W/cm')withpolyatomicmoleculesbecomesofinterestbecausesomenewphenomenahavebeenobserved'-3.Sofar,mostoftheinvestigationsfocusontheexperimentalexplorationofphotoionizationprocesses'-'.Butthephotoionizationmechanismofpolyatomicmoleculesinanintensefslaserfieldisstillambiguous'.,.Incontrasttothephotoionizationprocesses,theunderstandingoffragmentationofmolecularionisevenpoorer.Corkumetal,'.,'reportedthef…