Proteomic Insights into Cardiac Fibrosis: From Pathophysiological Mechanisms to Therapeutic Opportunities

Cardiac fibrosis is a common pathophysiologic process in nearly all forms of heart disease which refers to excessive deposition of extracellular matrix proteins by cardiac fibroblasts. Activated fibroblasts are the central cellular effectors in cardiac fibrosis, and fibrotic remodelling can cause several cardiac dysfunctions either by reducing the ejection fraction due to a stiffened myocardial matrix, or by impairing electric conductance. Recently, there is a rising focus on the proteomic studies of cardiac fibrosis for pathogenesis elucidation and potential biomarker mining. This paper summarizes the current knowledge of molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac fibrosis, discusses the potential of imaging and circulating biomarkers available to recognize different phenotypes of this lesion, reviews the currently available and potential future therapies that allow individualized management in reversing progressive fibrosis, as well as the recent progress on proteomic studies of cardiac fibrosis. Proteomic approaches using clinical specimens and animal models can provide the ability to track pathological changes and new insights into the mechanisms underlining cardiac fibrosis. Furthermore, spatial and cell-type resolved quantitative proteomic analysis may also serve as a minimally invasive method for diagnosing cardiac fibrosis and allowing for the initiation of prophylactic treatment.     

The Role of Taraxacum mongolicum in a Puccinellia tenuiflora Community under Saline–Alkali Stress

Coexisting salt and alkaline stresses seriously threaten plant survival. Most studies have focused on halophytes; however, knowledge on how plants defend against saline–alkali stress is limited. This study investigated the role of Taraxacum mongolicum in a Puccinellia tenuiflora community under environmental saline–alkali stress to analyse the response of elements and metabolites in T. mongolicum, using P. tenuiflora as a control. The results show that the macroelements Ca and Mg are significantly accumulated in the aboveground parts (particularly in the stem) of T. mongolicum. Microelements B and Mo are also accumulated in T. mongolicum. Microelement B can adjust the transformation of sugars, and Mo contributes to the improvement in nitrogen metabolism. Furthermore, the metabolomic results demonstrate that T. mongolicum leads to decreased sugar accumulation and increased amounts of amino acids and organic acids to help plants resist saline–alkali stress. The resource allocation of carbon (sugar) and nitrogen (amino acids) results in the accumulation of only a few phenolic metabolites (i.e., petunidin, chlorogenic acid, and quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside) in T. mongolicum. These phenolic metabolites help to scavenge excess reactive oxygen species. Our study primarily helps in understanding the contribution of T. mongolicum in P. tenuiflora communities on coping with saline–alkali stress.     

Natural Polyphenols for Treatment of Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a prevalent and serious gastrointestinal malignancy with high mortality and morbidity. Chemoprevention refers to a newly emerged strategy that uses drugs with chemopreventive properties to promote antioxidation, regulate cancer cell cycle, suppress proliferation, and induce cellular apoptosis, so as to improve cancer treatment outcomes. Natural polyphenols are currently recognized as a class of chemopreventive agents that have shown remarkable anticarcinogenic properties. Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies have elucidated the anti-CRC mechanisms of natural polyphenols, such as regulation of various molecular and signaling pathways. Natural polyphenols are also reportedly capable of modulating the gut microbiota and cancer stem cells (CSCs) to suppress tumor formation and progression. Combined use of different natural polyphenols is recommended due to their low bioavailability and instability, and combination treatment can exert synergistical effects, reduce side effects, and avoid drug resistance in CRC treatment. In summary, the application of polyphenols in the chemoprevention and treatment of CRC is promising. Further clinical evaluation of their effectiveness is warranted and anticipated.     

Recent Advances of Ti/Zr-Substituted Polyoxometalates: From Structural Diversity to Functional Applications

Polyoxometalates (POMs), a large family of anionic polynuclear metal–oxo clusters, have received considerable research attention due to their structural versatility and diverse physicochemical properties. Lacunary POMs are key building blocks for the syntheses of functional POMs due to their highly active multidentate O-donor sites. In this review, we have addressed the structural diversities of Ti/Zr-substituted POMs based on the polymerization number of POM building blocks and the number of Ti and Zr centers. The synthetic strategies and relevant catalytic applications of some representative Ti/Zr-substituted POMs have been discussed in detail. Finally, the outlook on the future development of this area is also prospected.     

KDP晶体的点状籽晶法生长及其缺陷研究

研究了溶液Ph值对KDP晶体生长形态的影响,进行了晶体生长实验和参数对比.以提高溶液Ph值为主要手段在低过饱和度下进行KDP晶体点状生长.对点状法生长的晶体进行了缺陷分析,测定了晶体不同区域的金属离子含量并进行了对比分析.实验表明溶液Ph值对晶体各向的相对生长速度有显著的影响.在Ph=5.0、低过饱和度(σ＜0.02)条件下生长出50×50×50mm3的晶体.     

Pharmacophore features for machine learning in pharmaceutical virtual screening

Molecular Diversity - Methods of three-dimensional molecular alignment generally treat all pharmacophore features equally when superimposing. However, some pharmacophore features can be more...     

机械力固相法制备纳米α-FeOOH及其光催化性能研究

采用机械力固相法以FeCl3和Fe(NO3)3分别作为铁源.在铁源与碱1∶5摩尔比的条件下,先球磨3h,再经过60℃水浴陈化得到纳米针铁矿(α-FeOOH).用X-射线衍射仪(XRD)、场发射扫描电子显微镜(FE-SEM)、比表面和孔隙度分析仪(BET)、紫外-可见分光光度计以及电化学工作站对其物相、微观形貌、比表面、光催化和光电化学性能进行表征.结果 表明:不同铁源的阴离子会诱导合成形貌和性能差异的纳米针铁矿,以FeCl3为原料合成的纳米α-FeOOH粒径较小、比表面积及孔容较大、对有机染料罗丹明B的降解率较以Fe(NO3)3为原料的α-FeOOH提高了48.7;.     

Ag@CH3NH3PbI3等离激元效应增强钙钛矿太阳能电池性能的数值研究

由于银纳米粒子结构的表面等离激元共振特性对有机无机卤化物钙钛矿的新型太阳能电池性能有一定影响,利用comsol mutiphysics多物理场仿真软件对Ag@CH3 NH3 PbI3纳米粒子等离激元效应增强钙钛矿太阳能薄膜电池性能进行研究,对粒子半径和粒子间距对于能量的影响进行了计算;对光敏层能量增强的机理进行了解释;并对电场分布进行了详细说明.依据实验数据,给出优化后的银纳米粒子阵列和钙钛矿光敏层的厚度以及强度,为实验制备高效稳定的钙钛矿太阳能电池提供理论指导.     

The System Profile of Renal Drug Transporters in Tubulointerstitial Fibrosis Model and Consequent Effect on Pharmacokinetics

With the widespread clinical use of drug combinations, the incidence of drug–drug interactions (DDI) has significantly increased, accompanied by a variety of adverse reactions. Drug transporters play an important role in the development of DDI by affecting the elimination process of drugs in vivo, especially in the pathological state. Tubulointerstitial fibrosis (TIF) is an inevitable pathway in the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) to end-stage renal disease. Here, the dynamic expression changes of eleven drug transporters in TIF kidney have been systematically investigated. Among them, the mRNA expressions of Oat1, Oat2, Oct1, Oct2, Oatp4C1 and Mate1 were down-regulated, while Oat3, Mrp2, Mrp4, Mdr1-α, Bcrp were up-regulated. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between transporters and Creatinine (Cr), OCT2 and MATE1 showed a strong negative correlation with Cr. In contrast, Mdr1-α exhibited a strong positive correlation with Cr. In addition, the pharmacokinetics of cimetidine, ganciclovir, and digoxin, which were the classical substrates for OCT2, MATE1 and P-glycoprotein (P-gp), respectively, have been studied. These results reveal that changes in serum creatinine can indicate changes in drug transporters in the kidney, and thus affect the pharmacokinetics of its substrates, providing useful information for clinical use.     

Thermal Conductance of Graphene-Titanium Interface: A Molecular Simulation

Titanium is a commonly used material in aviation, aerospace, and military applications, due to the outstanding mechanical properties of titanium and its alloys. However, its relatively low thermal conductivity restricts its extended usage. The use of graphene as a filler shows great potential for the enhancement of thermal conductivity in titanium-based metal-matrix composites (MMCs). We used classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulation methods to explore the thermal conductance at the titanium–graphene (Ti/Gr) interface for its thermal boundary conductance, which plays an important role in the thermal properties of Ti-based MMCs. The effects of system size, layer number, temperature, and strain were considered. The results show that the thermal boundary conductance (TBC) decreases with an increasing layer number and reaches a plateau at n = 5. TBC falls under tensile strain and, in turn, it grows with compressive strain. The variation of TBC is explained qualitatively by the interfacial atomic vibration coupling factor. Our findings also provide insights into ways to optimize future thermal management based on Ti-based MMCs materials.