High-intensity Focused Ultrasound-A New Choice to Conduct Pulmonary Artery Denervation.

This research aimed to explore whether high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) could conduct pulmonary artery denervation (PADN). HIFU was performed in pulmonary arteries of 6 normotensive rabbits at dose of 250W, 6 times for each rabbit, and an additional 6 rabbits served as controls. Then ATEPH was induced in both groups by intravenous infusion of autogeneic thrombus. Hemodynamics and ultrasonography parameters were measured by right heart catheter and echocardiography pre- and post-establishment of ATEPH models in both groups. Histological analysis and immunohistochemistry of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) were also performed. After PADN procedures, 5 rabbits were successfully conducted PADN, of which ablation zone was also observed in right auricle or right lung in 4 rabbits. Ablation zone was detected only in right lung in 1 rabbit. Compared with control group, milder right heart hemodynamic changes were found in PADN group, accompanied by improved ultrasound parameters in PADN group. HIFU can acutly damage SNs around pulmonary artery successfully, which may be a new choice to conduct PADN. However, the accuracy of HIFU with PADN needs to be improved.

The prognostic value of prognostic nutritional index in postoperative onset of PAH in children with isolated VSD: a prospective cohort study based on propensity score matching analysis.

Background: The mechanism of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) after surgery/intervention for isolated venticlular septal defect (VSD) in children is unknown. Reliable prognostic indicators for predicting postoperative PAH are urgently needed. Prognostic nutration index (PNI) is widely used to predict postoperative complications and survival in adults, but it is unclear whether it can be used as an indicator of prognosis in children. Methods: A total of 251 children underwent VSD repair surgery or interventional closure in Hunan Children's Hospital from 2020 to 2023 were collected. A 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was performed using the nearest neighbor method with a caliper size of 0.2 Logistics regression analysis is used to examine factors associated with the development of PAH. Results: The cut-off value for PNI was determined as 58.0. After 1:1 PSM analysis, 49 patients in the low PNI group were matched with high PNI group. Children in the low PNI group had higher risk of postoperative PAH (P = 0.002) than those in the high PNI group. Multivariate logistics regression analysis showed that PNI (RR: 0.903, 95% CI: 0.816-0.999, P = 0.049) and tricuspid regurgitation velocity (RR: 4.743, 95% CI: 1.131-19.897, P = 0.033) were independent prognostic factors for the development of PAH. Conclusion: PNI can be used as a prognostic indicator for PAH development after surgery/intervention in children with isolated VSD.

Harmine exerts anxiolytic effects by regulating neuroinflammation and neuronal plasticity in the basolateral amygdala.

Increasing evidence indicates that an altered immune system is closely linked to the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders, and inhibition of neuroinflammation may represent an effective therapeutic strategy to treat anxiety disorders. Harmine, a beta-carboline alkaloid in various medicinal plants, has been widely reported to display anti-inflammatory and potentially anxiolytic effects. However, the exact underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Our recent study has demonstrated that dysregulation of neuroplasticity in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) contributes to the pathological processes of inflammation-related anxiety. In this study, using a mouse model of anxiety challenged with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS), we found that harmine alleviated LPS-induced anxiety-like behaviors in mice. Mechanistically, harmine significantly prevented LPS-induced neuroinflammation by suppressing the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-1ß and TNF-α. Meanwhile, ex vivo whole-cell slice electrophysiology combined with optogenetics showed that LPS-induced increase of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)-driven excitatory but not inhibitory synaptic transmission onto BLA projection neurons, thereby alleviating LPS-induced shift of excitatory/inhibitory balance towards excitation. In addition, harmine attenuated the increased intrinsic neuronal excitability of BLA PNs by reducing the medium after-hyperpolarization. In conclusion, our findings provide new evidence that harmine may exert its anxiolytic effect by downregulating LPS-induced neuroinflammation and restoring the changes in neuronal plasticity in BLA PNs.

One-Pot Synthesis of Amphiphilic Biopolymers from Oxidized Alginate and Self-Assembly as a Carrier for Sustained Release of Hydrophobic Drugs.

In this paper, we developed an organic solvent-free, eco-friendly, simple and efficient one-pot approach for the preparation of amphiphilic conjugates (Ugi-OSAOcT) by grafting octylamine (OCA) to oxidized sodium alginate (OSA). The optimum reaction parameters that were obtained based on the degree of substitution (DS) of Ugi-OSAOcT were a reaction time of 12 h, a reaction temperature of 25 °C and a molar ratio of 1:2.4:3:3.3 (OSA:OCA:HAc:TOSMIC), respectively. The chemical structure and composition were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry analyser (TGA), gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and elemental analysis (EA). It was found that the Ugi-OSAOcT conjugates with a CMC value in the range of 0.30-0.085 mg/mL could self-assemble into stable and spherical micelles with a particle size of 135.7 ± 2.4-196.5 ± 3.8 nm and negative surface potentials of -32.8 ± 0.4--38.2 ± 0.8 mV. Furthermore, ibuprofen (IBU), which served as a model poorly water-soluble drug, was successfully incorporated into the Ugi-OSAOcT micelles by dialysis method. The drug loading capacity (%DL) and encapsulation efficiency (%EE) of the IBU-loaded Ugi-OSAOcT micelles (IBU/Ugi-OSAOcT = 3:10) reached as much as 10.9 ± 0.4-14.6 ± 0.3% and 40.8 ± 1.6-57.2 ± 1.3%, respectively. The in vitro release study demonstrated that the IBU-loaded micelles had a sustained and pH-responsive drug release behavior. In addition, the DS of the hydrophobic segment on an OSA backbone was demonstrated to have an important effect on IBU loading and drug release behavior. Finally, the in vitro cytotoxicity assay demonstrated that the Ugi-OSAOcT conjugates exhibited no significant cytotoxicity against RAW 264.7 cells up to 1000 µg/mL. Therefore, the amphiphilic Ugi-OSAOcT conjugates synthesized by the green method exhibited great potential to load hydrophobic drugs, acting as a promising nanocarrier capable of responding to pH for sustained release of hydrophobic drugs.

Chemical regulation of carbon quantum dots from synthesis to photocatalytic activity.

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) were synthesized by heating various carbon sources in HNO3 solution at reflux, and the effects of HNO3 concentration on the size of the CQDs were investigated. Furthermore, the oxygen-containing surface groups of as-prepared CQDs were selectively reduced by NaBH4 , leading to new surface states. The experimental results show that the sizes of CQDs can be tuned by HNO3 concentration and then influence their photoluminescent behaviors; the photoluminescent properties are related to both the size and surface state of the CQDs, but the photocatalytic activities are determined by surface states alone. The different oxygen-containing groups on the surface of the CQDs can induce different degrees of the band bending upward, which determine the separation and combination of the electron-hole pairs. The high upward band bending, which is induced by C=O and COOH groups, facilitates separation of the electron-hole pairs and then enhances high photocatalytic activity. In contrast, the low upward band bending induced by C-OH groups hardly prevents the electron-hole pairs from surface recombination and then exhibits strong photoluminescence. Therefore, both the photocatalytic activities and optical properties of CQDs can be tuned by their surface states.

One-step synthesis of graphitic nanoplatelets that are decorated with luminescent carbon nanoparticles as new optical-limiting materials.

Graphitic nanoplatelets (GNPs) and luminescent carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) are simultaneously synthesized by controlling the laser parameters and the size of the graphite flakes. Because luminescent CNPs are attached onto GNPs, a new carbon nanostructure is obtained. Compared with carbon black, GNPs, and luminescent CNPs alone, this nanostructure shows better optical-limiting (OL) effects. The OL mechanism of GNPs that are decorated with luminescent CNPs can mainly be attributed to nonlinear scattering. The role of luminescent CNPs is to promote the formation and growth of nonlinear scattering bubbles, thereby enhancing their optical-limiting effects.

Thermodynamics of face-centered-cubic silicon nucleation at the nanoscale from laser ablation.

The thermodynamic nucleation and the phase transition of the face-centered-cubic structure of Si (fcc-Si) on the nanoscale are performed by taking the effect of nanosize-induced additional pressure on the fcc-Si formation under the conditions generated by laser ablation in liquid into account. The thermodynamic analyses showed that the formation of fcc-Si nanocrystals with sizes of 2-6 nm would take place prior to that of large fcc-Si nanocrystals, and the phase transition probability from diamond-like structure Si (d-Si) to fcc-Si is rather high, up to 10(-3)-10(-2), under the conditions created by laser ablation of an Si target in water. These theoretical results suggest that laser ablation in liquid would be an effective industrial route to prepare ultrasmall fcc-Si nanocrystals.