Discrimination of Lung Cancer and Benign Lung Diseases Using BALF Exosome DNA Methylation Profile.

Benign lung diseases are common and often do not require specific treatment, but they pose challenges in the distinguishing of them from lung cancer during low-dose computed tomography (LDCT). This study presents a comprehensive methylation analysis using real-time PCR for minimally invasive diagnoses of lung cancer via employing BALF exosome DNA. A panel of seven epigenetic biomarkers was identified, exhibiting specific methylation patterns in lung cancer BALF exosome DNA. This panel achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.97, with sensitivity and specificity rates of 88.24% and 97.14%, respectively. Each biomarker showed significantly higher mean methylation levels (MMLs) in both non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) compared to non-cancer groups, with fold changes from 1.7 to 13.36. The MMLs of the biomarkers were found to be moderately elevated with increasing patient age and smoking history, regardless of sex. A strong correlation was found between the MMLs and NSCLC stage progression, with detection sensitivities of 79% for early stages and 92% for advanced stages. In the validation cohort, the model demonstrated an AUC of 0.95, with 94% sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity for early-stage NSCLC detection improved from 88.00% to 92.00% when smoking history was included as an additional risk factor.

Fabrication of Tungsten Oxide Nanowalls through HFCVD for Improved Electrochemical Detection of Methylamine.

In this study, well-defined tungsten oxide (WO3) nanowall (NW) thin films were synthesized via a controlled hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) technique and applied for electrochemical detection of methylamine toxic substances. Herein, for the thin-film growth by HFCVD, the temperature of tungsten (W) wire was held constant at ~1450 °C and gasification was performed by heating of W wire using varied substrate temperatures ranging from 350 °C to 450 °C. At an optimized growth temperature of 400 °C, well-defined and extremely dense WO3 nanowall-like structures were developed on a Si substrate. Structural, crystallographic, and compositional characterizations confirmed that the deposited WO3 thin films possessed monoclinic crystal structures of high crystal quality. For electrochemical sensing applications, WO3 NW thin film was used as an electrode, and cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) were measured with a wide concentration range of 20 µM~1 mM of methylamine. The fabricated electrochemical sensor achieved a sensitivity of ~183.65 µA mM-1 cm-2, a limit of detection (LOD) of ~20 µM and a quick response time of 10 s. Thus, the fabricated electrochemical sensor exhibited promising detection of methylamine with considerable stability and reproducibility.

Mitogenomic Characterization and Phylogenetic Placement of African Hind, Cephalopholis taeniops: Shedding Light on the Evolution of Groupers (Serranidae: Epinephelinae).

The global exploration of evolutionary trends in groupers, based on mitogenomes, is currently underway. This research extensively investigates the structure of and variations in Cephalopholis species mitogenomes, along with their phylogenetic relationships, focusing specifically on Cephalopholis taeniops from the Eastern Atlantic Ocean. The generated mitogenome spans 16,572 base pairs and exhibits a gene order analogous to that of the ancestral teleost's, featuring 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), and an AT-rich control region. The mitogenome of C. taeniops displays an AT bias (54.99%), aligning with related species. The majority of PCGs in the mitogenome initiate with the start codon ATG, with the exceptions being COI (GTG) and atp6 (TTG). The relative synonymous codon usage analysis revealed the maximum abundance of leucine, proline, serine, and threonine. The nonsynonymous/synonymous ratios were <1, which indicates a strong negative selection among all PCGs of the Cephalopholis species. In C. taeniops, the prevalent transfer RNAs display conventional cloverleaf secondary structures, except for tRNA-serine (GCT), which lacks a dihydrouracil (DHU) stem. A comparative examination of conserved domains and sequence blocks across various Cephalopholis species indicates noteworthy variations in length and nucleotide diversity. Maximum likelihood, neighbor-joining, and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses, employing the concatenated PCGs and a combination of PCGs + rRNAs, distinctly separate all Cephalopholis species, including C. taeniops. Overall, these findings deepen our understanding of evolutionary relationships among serranid groupers, emphasizing the significance of structural considerations in mitogenomic analyses.

Naturally manufactured biochar materials based sensor electrode for the electrochemical detection of polystyrene microplastics.

In recent times, microplastics have become a disturbance to both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and the ingestion of these particles can have severe consequences for wildlife, aquatic organisms, and even humans. In this study, two types of biochars were manufactured through the carbonization of naturally found starfish (SF-1) and aloevera (AL-1). The produced biochars were utilized as sensing electrode materials for the electrochemical detection of ∼100 nm polystyrene microplastics (PS). SF-1 and AL-1 based biochars were thoroughly analyzed in terms of morphology, structure, and composition. The detection of microplastics over biochar based electrodes was carried out by electrochemical studies. From electrochemical results, SF-1 based electrode exhibited the detection efficiency of ∼0.2562 µA/µM∙cm2 with detection limit of ∼0.44 nM whereas, a high detection efficiency of ∼3.263 µA/µM∙cm2 was shown by AL-1 based electrode and detection limit of ∼0.52 nM for PS (100 nm) microplastics. Process contributed to enhancing the sensitivity of AL-1 based electrode might associate to the presence of metal-carbon framework over biochar's surfaces. The AL-1 biochar electrode demonstrated excellent repeatability and detection stability for PS microplastics, suggesting the promising potential of AL-1 biochar for electrochemical microplastics detection.

Porous MgNiO2 Chrysanthemum Flower Nanostructure Electrode for Toxic Hg2+ Ion Monitoring in Aquatic Media.

A simple hydrothermal synthesis approach was used to synthesize porous MgNiO2 Chrysanthemum Flowers (CFs) nanostructures and applied as a sensing electrode for quick detection of hazardous mercury (Hg2+ ions). The morphological, structural, and electrochemical properties of MgNiO2 CFs were investigated. The morphological characteristic of MgNiO2 CFs, with a specific surface area of 45.618 m2/g, demonstrated strong electrochemical characteristics, including cations in different oxidation states of Ni3+/Ni2+. Using a three-electrode system for electrochemical detection, the MgNiO2 CFs based electrode revealed a good correlation coefficient (R2) of ~0.9721, a limit of detection (LOD) of ~11.7 µM, a quick response time (10 s), and a sensitivity of 8.22 µA∙µM-1∙cm-2 for Hg2+ ions over a broad linear range of 10-100 µM. Moreover, the selectivity for Hg2+ ions in tap water and drinking water was determined, and a promising stability of 25 days by MgNiO2 CFs electrode was exhibited. The obtained results indicate that the developed MgNiO2 CFs are a promising electrode for detecting hazardous Hg2+ ions in water and have the potential to be commercialized in the future.

Catalytic oxidation of ibuprofen over bulk heterojunction photocatalysts based on conjugated donor-acceptor configured benzoselenadiazole molecule.

The use of photocatalysts for acquiring direct photon energy from sunlight is a promising way to clean the environment, particularly the remediation of contaminants from water. In this work, firstly π-conjugated organic semiconductor configuring benzoselenadiazole, 4-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl) phenyl)-7-(5'-hexyl-[2,2'-bithiophen]-5-yl)-benzo [c] (Kümmerer, 2009; Chen et al., 2018; Randeep et al., 201) selenadiazole, abbreviated as (RTh-Se-F), was synthesized. The designed RTh-Se-F with an extended π-conjugation showed good optical properties in the visible region and estimated a low optical band gap of ∼2.02 eV . The molecular orbitals i.e. HOMO (-5.33 eV) and LUMO (-3.31 eV) for RTh-Se-F organic semiconductor were suitably aligned to energy levels of (Madhavan et al., 2010Madhavan et al., 2010)-Phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl esters (PC71BM) which resulted in the broadening of absorption and covering of entire visible region. RTh-Se-F was integrated with varied weight percentages (wt %) of PC71BM to obtain bulk heterojunction (BHJ) and applied as efficient visible light driven BHJ photocatalyst for an effective oxidation of ibuprofen. RTh-Se-F@PC71BM (1:2, wt %) BHJ photocatalyst showed the superior ibuprofen degradation of ∼93% within 90 min under visible light illumination. The maximum degradation rate by BHJ photocatalyst might be accredited to the broadening of absorption capacity and improved lifetime of photogenerated electron-hole pairs which might be resulted from high absorption properties of RTh-Se-F organic semiconductor.

The complete mitochondrial genome of deep-sea ophiuroid Ophioleila elegans (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from the Shkolnik Guyot, a northwest Pacific seamount.

Ophiuroids are a diversified benthic taxon in the deep sea. Given their various dispersal strategies, they are considered an adequate group to assess genetic connectivity, especially in the seamounts that function as islands. Ophioleila elegans A.H. Clark, 1949, in the family Ophiothamnidae, was previously reported from the Caiwei Guyot, a seamount in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Here, we described the mitochondrial genome of O. elegans collected from another seamount in the northwest Pacific. The whole mitogenome is 16,376 bp in length and encodes 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, and 22 transfer RNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis based on the mitogenome sequences showed that O. elegans was clustered with Histampica sp., the only species for which mitogenome sequence has been reported within the family Ophiothamnidae. The complete mitogenome of O. elegans first reported in the present study provides useful information for population genetics and evolutionary relationship of this taxon, especially in the northwest Pacific seamounts.

Laparoscopic systemic restaging surgery for women with unexpected uterine malignancy.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the feasibility of laparoscopic restaging surgery in patients with unexpected uterine cancer. METHODS: This retrospective study included eight patients who underwent laparoscopic restaging surgery for Iran University uterine cancer after a prior hysterectomy or myomectomy. RESULTS: The median age of the patients and their body mass index were 55 years (range, 44-78) and 23.8 kg/m2 (range, 20.75- 31.89), respectively. The median interval between the prior hysterectomy and the restaging surgery was 21 days (range, 10-35). The median operating time and time for the return of bowel activity were 325 minutes (range, 200-475) and 35 hours (range, 18-50), respectively. The median numbers of harvested pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes were 17.5 (range, 14-29) and 20.5 (range, 7-36), respectively. In seven of the eight patients, uterine extraction was performed with vaginal or electronic morcellation. The final International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage was IA in all patients. Intraoperative and postoperative complications did not occur in any of the patients, except for the need for transfusion. Patient 4 had synchronous primary cancer (stage IA) of the endometrium and left ovary. Two of the eight patients with clear cell carcinoma received chemotherapy, and none received radiotherapy. All patients survived without disease recurrence. CONCLUSION: Restaging surgery might be necessary for highly selective patients with unexpected uterine malignancies. This would be an alternative surgical modality for complete staging and planning tailored adjuvant treatments. However, lymphadenectomy might not be performed in patients with early uterine cancer.

Nanoparticles as Next-Generation Tooth-Whitening Agents: Progress and Perspectives.

Whitening agents, such as hydrogen peroxide and carbamide peroxide, are currently used in clinical applications for dental esthetic and dental care. However, the free radicals generated by whitening agents cause pathological damage; therefore, their safety issues remain controversial. Furthermore, whitening agents are known to be unstable and short-lived. Since 2001, nanoparticles (NPs) have been researched for use in tooth whitening. Importantly, nanoparticles not only function as abrasives but also release reactive oxygen species and help remineralization. This review outlines the historical development of several NPs based on their whitening effects and side effects. NPs can be categorized into metals or metal oxides, ceramic particles, graphene oxide, and piezoelectric particles. Moreover, the status quo and future prospects are discussed, and recent progress in the development of NPs and their applications in various fields requiring tooth whitening is examined. This review promotes the research and development of next-generation NPs for use in tooth whitening.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the Korean endemic species Cobitis hankugensis (Kim, Park, Son & Nalbant, 2003).

As one of efforts to conserve a genetic resource of the endemic cobitid species in the Korean peninsula, the complete mitogenome of Cobitis hankugensis (Kim, Park, Son & Nalbant, 2003) was determined using Illumina MiSeq system. The circular mitogenome was 16,557 bp length and encoded 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and a control region. Only the COX1 gene was identified with an aberrant initiation codon GTG, and an incomplete termination codon (T-/TA-) was identified in six PCGs including COX2, COX3, ND2, ND3, ND4, and Cytb genes. Phylogenetic analysis using 30 mitochondrial genomes belonging to Cobitidae, Botiidae, and Gyrinocheilidae showed that the highest identity (92.38%) with Kichulchoia brevifasciata (NC_027166). The complete mitogenome of C. hankugensis, an endemic species in Korea, will provide fundamental data on the evolutionary relationship of Cobitidae species.