Combination of radiotherapy and flap reconstruction for cancer treatments (Review).

Flaps are commonly used to repair large tissue defects caused by tumor resection and are often combined with radiotherapy. Relevant explanations for the mechanism underlying the effect of radiotherapy on flaps and the selection of the sequence of flaps and radiotherapy plan have emerged. The combination of flap and radiotherapy is most widely used in breast, head and neck cancers, while free flaps are the most widely used. Although, reduction of the incidence of complications of flap reconstruction, prevention of flap reconstruction failure and best integration of flap reconstruction with radiation therapy remains controversial. In the present review, these questions and debates were addressed by reviewing the literature on radiotherapy and flap reconstruction in cancer treatment.

Key changes in the future clinical application of ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy.

Ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy (FLASH-RT) is an external beam radiotherapy strategy that uses an extremely high dose rate (≥40 Gy/s). Compared with conventional dose rate radiotherapy (≤0.1 Gy/s), the main advantage of FLASH-RT is that it can reduce damage of organs at risk surrounding the cancer and retain the anti-tumor effect. An important feature of FLASH-RT is that an extremely high dose rate leads to an extremely short treatment time; therefore, in clinical applications, the steps of radiotherapy may need to be adjusted. In this review, we discuss the selection of indications, simulations, target delineation, selection of radiotherapy technologies, and treatment plan evaluation for FLASH-RT to provide a theoretical basis for future research.

Spraying exogenous hormones alleviate impact of weak-light on yield by improving leaf carbon and nitrogen metabolism in fresh waxy maize.

Insufficient light during the growth periods has become one of the main factors restricting maize yield with global climate change. Exogenous hormones application is a feasible measure to alleviate abiotic stresses on crop productivity. In this study, a field trial was conducted to investigate the effects of spraying exogenous hormones on yield, dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) accumulation, leaf carbon and N metabolism of fresh waxy maize under weak-light stress in 2021 and 2022. Five treatments including natural light (CK), weak-light after pollination (Z), spraying water (ZP1), exogenous Phytase Q9 (ZP2) and 6-benzyladenine (ZP3) under weak-light after pollination were set up using two hybrids suyunuo5 (SYN5) and jingkenuo2000 (JKN2000). Results showed that weak-light stress significantly reduced the average fresh ear yield (49.8%), fresh grain yield (47.9%), DM (53.3%) and N accumulation (59.9%), and increased grain moisture content. The net photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration rate (Tr) of ear leaf after pollination decreased under Z. Furthermore, weak-light decreased the activities of RuBPCase and PEPCase, nitrate reductase (NR), glutamine synthetase (GS), glutamate synthase (GOGAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) in ear leaves, and increased malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation. And the decrease was greater on JKN2000. While ZP2 and ZP3 treatments increased the fresh ear yield (17.8%, 25.3%), fresh grain yield (17.2%, 29.5%), DM (35.8%, 44.6%) and N (42.5%, 52.4%) accumulation, and decreased grain moisture content compared with Z. The Pn, Tr increased under ZP2 and ZP3. Moreover, the ZP2 and ZP3 treatments improved the activities of RuBPCase, PEPCase; NR, GS, GOGAT; SOD, CAT, POD in ear leaves, and decreased MDA content during grain filling stage. The results also showed the mitigative effect of ZP3 was greater than ZP2, and the improvement effect was more significant on JKN2000.

Shading Stress at Different Grain Filling Stages Affects Dry Matter and Nitrogen Accumulation and Remobilization in Fresh Waxy Maize.

Shading stress caused by plum rain season, which overlapped with grain filling process of fresh waxy maize in Southern China, significantly affected crop productivity. In order to investigate the effects of shading at different stages after pollination on the yield, accumulation, and remobilization of dry matter and nitrogen (N) in fresh waxy maize, field experiments were conducted, including shading at 1-7 (Z1), 8-14 (Z2), 15-21 (Z3), and 1-21 (Z4) days after pollination in 2020 and 2021. The results showed that shading reduced the fresh ear and grain yield and increased moisture content in Suyunuo5 (SYN5) and Jingkenuo2000 (JKN2000) compared to natural lighting treatment (CK). The ear yield decrease was more severe in Z4 (43.5%), followed by Z1 (29.7%). Post-silking dry matter and N accumulation and remobilization were decreased under shading stress, and those were lowest in Z4, followed by Z1. The remobilization of pre-silking dry matter and N were increased by shading stress, and the increase was highest in Z4, followed by Z1. The harvest index of dry matter and N was lowest in Z4 and second-lowest in Z1. In conclusion, shading decreased yield by affecting accumulation and remobilization of post-silking dry matter and N, and the impact was more serious when it introduced early during grain filling stage in fresh waxy maize production.

Self-contained soft electrofluidic actuators.

Soft robotics revolutionized human-robot interactions, yet there exist persistent challenges for developing high-performance soft actuators that are powerful, rapid, controllable, safe, and portable. Here, we introduce a class of self-contained soft electrofluidic actuators (SEFAs), which can directly convert electrical energy into the mechanical energy of the actuators through electrically responsive fluids that drive the outside elastomer deformation. The use of special dielectric liquid enhances fluid flow capabilities, improving the actuation performance of the SEFAs. SEFAs are easily manufactured by using widely available materials and common fabrication techniques, and display excellent comprehensive performances in portability, controllability, rapid response, versatility, safety, and actuation. An artificial muscle stretching a joint and a soft bionic ray swimming in a tank demonstrate their effective performance. Hence, SEFAs offer a platform for developing soft actuators with potential applications in wearable assistant devices and soft robots.

Customizing a self-healing soft pump for robot.

Recent advances in soft materials enable robots to possess safer human-machine interaction ways and adaptive motions, yet there remain substantial challenges to develop universal driving power sources that can achieve performance trade-offs between actuation, speed, portability, and reliability in untethered applications. Here, we introduce a class of fully soft electronic pumps that utilize electrical energy to pump liquid through electrons and ions migration mechanism. Soft pumps combine good portability with excellent actuation performances. We develop special functional liquids that merge unique properties of electrically actuation and self-healing function, providing a direction for self-healing fluid power systems. Appearances and pumpabilities of soft pumps could be customized to meet personalized needs of diverse robots. Combined with a homemade miniature high-voltage power converter, two different soft pumps are implanted into robotic fish and vehicle to achieve their untethered motions, illustrating broad potential of soft pumps as universal power sources in untethered soft robotics.

Effects of Morphologies of Thermosensitive Electrospun Nanofibers on Controllable Drug Release.

Electrospun nanofibers is a promising and versatile avenue for building controlled drug release system because of the facile fabrication and the broad range of polymer materials. This research systematically studied the morphological effect of thermosensitive electrospun nanofibers, including porous and coaxial structures, on controllable drug release. Three types of drugs, nicotinamide, paracetamol, and ibuprofen, with different hydrophilicity were applied in this study. The data of drug release were all fitted to the first-order kinetic model regardless of the drug properties, and the release rates paralleled with their hydrophilicity. Sol-gel phase transition of the thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) hydrogel led to slower drug release at 37°C compared with those at 25°C. Regarding morphology, coaxial nanofibers could provide higher loading efficiency and slower drug release rather than porous nanofibers. Our research highlighted the overall effects of compound property, temperature, and the morphological structures of thermosensitive electrospun nanofibers on the controlled drug release. Our results concluded that hydrophobic drug encapsulated in the core-shell PNIPAAm nanofibers could perform excellent sustained release and also controllable release under temperature stumuli. Impact statement The behaviors for the controlled release of drugs loaded in the thermosensitive electrospun nanofibers could be affected by various factors including the properties of loaded drug, morphologies of nanofibrous, and lower critical solution temperatures of thermosensitive hydrogels. However, few systematical investigations have been performed in this area. In this article, we designed and fabricated porous and coaxial thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) electrospun nanofibers with different drug loading to study the comprehensive effect. This study suggested when adopting thermosensitive electrospun hydrogel nanofibers as the controllable drug release carrier, the hydrophilicity of loaded compounds and the morphologies of nanofibers are necessary to be optimized.

Effective start-up biofiltration method for Fe, Mn, and ammonia removal and bacterial community analysis.

Three identical lab-scale biofilters were employed to optimize the start-up process for simultaneous removal of iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and ammonia from potable water supplies. Nitrifying sludge and backwashing sludge containing Mn-oxidizing bacteria (MnOB) were used as the inocula. The start-up strategies consisted of simultaneous and separate inoculation of the two kinds of sludge. The influent Fe was removed immediately when the biofilters began to operate. The effects of nitrification for ammonia removal showed no significant difference between these biofilters. However, the beginning of Mn removal with separate inoculation was faster than that of simultaneous inoculation. The Mn removal can be described by using first order reaction; and the k (rate constant, min(-1)) values were 0.147±0.007 (mean±standard deviation) and 0.153±0.006. Besides the commonly reported MnOB genus Crenothrix, MnOB genera were also found to be related to the genera rarely reported in the potable water treatment systems.

Umbilical cord blood immunology: relevance to stem cell transplantation.

Because of its easier accessibility and less severe graft-versus-host disease, umbilical cord blood (UCB) has been increasingly used as an alternative to bone marrow for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Naiveté of UCB lymphocytes, however, results in delayed immune reconstitution and infection-related mortality in transplant recipients. This review updates the phenotypic and functional deficiencies of various immune cell populations in UCB compared with their adult counterparts and discusses clinical implications and possible therapeutic strategies to improve the outcome of stem cell transplantation.

Azithromycin inhibits IL-5 production of T helper type 2 cells from asthmatic children.

BACKGROUND: Childhood asthma is a type 2 helper T (Th2) cell-driven inflammatory airway disease characterized by recurrent episodes of airway obstruction. Azithromycin (AZM), a macrolide antibiotic exhibiting anti-inflammatory activity aside from its antibacterial effect, may prove beneficial for asthmatic children. This study aimed to determine the effect of AZM on Th2 cells from atopic asthmatic children and non-atopic controls. METHODS: CD4+ cells were isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 9 patients with asthma and 9 non-atopic individuals. Cells were activated as Th0 and differentiated into Th2 cells. The effect of AZM on activated CD4+ cells was evaluated with respective cell proliferation and cytokine production. RESULTS: Th0 and Th2 CD4+ T cells from atopic asthmatic children produced greater interleukin (IL)-5 (Th2 cytokine) but lower interferon (IFN)-γ (Th1 cytokine) compared to the non-atopic controls, respectively. AZM inhibited IL-5 production of Th0 and Th2 cells from atopic asthmatics in a dose-dependent fashion, without significantly affecting their IL-13 and IFN-γ production. A similar effect was observed in non-atopic controls except that AZM did inhibit IFN-γ production of their Th0 cells. AZM at a higher dose decreased cell viability by inhibiting CD4+ T cell proliferation and enhanced their apoptosis, an effect similarly observed in Th0 and Th2 cells, and did not differ between asthmatic children and controls. CONCLUSION: Our finding that AZM preferentially downregulates IL-5 production suggests its therapeutic potentials in controlling childhood asthma.