Enhanced Assembling of N-and-K-Riched Macroalgae as Carbon Adsorbent for CO2 Capture with Ni(NO3)2/KOH as Co-Catalysts.

Porous-activated carbons have drawn great attention due to their important role in CO2 capture. Ni(NO3)2/KOH, as co-catalysts under different temperatures, were studied to obtain porous graphitized carbon from Sargassum horneri feedstock. The results indicated that the properties of the porous graphitized carbon generated at 850 °C were greatly enhanced, showing a large specific surface area of 1486.38 cm3·g-1 with narrowly distributed micropores (~0.67 nm) and abundant functional groups, which endowed high CO2 uptake; moreover, the high CO2 uptake was mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of Ni(NO3)2 and KOH, both in chemical modification and pore formation. The fitted values of the four kinetic models showed that the double exponential model provided the best description of carbon adsorption, indicating both physical and chemical adsorption. It is worth noting that carbon could be reused four times in the adsorption/desorption procedure in this research with good stability. This work focuses on the high-value-added comprehensive utilization of macroalgae, which not only is important for high-performance adsorbent preparation but also has positive benefits for the development and utilization of macroalgae resources.

Extracellular vesicle­delivered miR­505­5p, as a diagnostic biomarker of early lung adenocarcinoma, inhibits cell apoptosis by targeting TP53AIP1.

Lung adenocarcinoma (LA) is the most commonly occurring histological type of non­small cell lung cancer. Diagnosis and treatment of LA remain a major clinical challenge. In the present study, to identify early LA biomarkers, extracellular vesicles (EVs) were separated from the plasma samples from 153 patients with LA and 75 healthy controls. microRNA (miRNA) expression profiling was performed at the screening stage (5 patients with LA vs. 5 controls), followed by verification at the validation stage (40 patients with LA vs. 20 controls) using reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT­qPCR). The four disordered miRNAs (miR­505­5p, miR­486­3p, miR­486­3p and miR­382­3p) identified in the plasma EVs were further evaluated at the testing stage (108 patients with LA vs. 50 controls) by RT­qPCR. It was revealed that miR­505­5p was upregulated, whereas miR­382­3p was downregulated, in the EVs from patients with LA. Furthermore, miR­505­5p was also upregulated in tumor tissues, compared with adjacent non­tumor control tissues. Subsequently, the direct targets of miR­505­5p were predicted using bioinformatics analyses, and verified by luciferase assay and immunoblotting. The present study determined that miR­505­5p functions as an oncogene, promoting lung cancer cell proliferation and inhibiting cancer cell apoptosis via the targeting of tumor protein P53­regulated apoptosis­inducing protein 1 (TP53AIP1). Finally, it was confirmed that miR­505­5p in plasma EVs could be delivered to lung cancer cells, inhibiting cell apoptosis and promoting cell proliferation by targeting TP53AIP1. In conclusion, the present study indicated that miRNA­505­5p functions as an oncogene that may be used as a novel biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of LA.

[Changes in pulmonary function in SARS patients during the three-year convalescent period].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the patterns of pulmonary function in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients during three-year convalescent period, and to investigate the changes and the medium and long term effects on pulmonary function of SARS patients. METHODS: Pulmonary function tests were conducted for four times in 37 SARS patients during three-year convalescent period. They were discharged from hospital within one month, three months, one year and three years respectively. At the same time, pulmonary function of 15 healthy persons was examined as controls to be used for comparison. RESULTS: Compared with the healthy controls, there were significant decrease in forced vital capacity (FVC), vital capacity (VC), one second forced expiratory volume (FEV1), 25%-75% forced expiratory flow (25%-75%FEF) of SARS patients within three years after their discharge from hospital (all P<0.05). There were no significant differences in FEV1/FVC, total lung capacity (TLC), diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) between the two groups (all P>0.05). Abnormality rate of DLCO in the SARS patients within three years after discharge was significantly decreased (32.4% vs. 5.4%,P<0.05), but no significant differences in FVC, VC, 25%-75%FEF among SARS patients discharged one month and three years from the hospital (all P>0.05). Ten SARS patients showed lower FVC (mild degree in 9 cases, severe degree in 1 case) three years later, 2 patients showed mildly lowered DLCO. CONCLUSION: The lung diffusion function of the SARS patients had recovered after they were discharged from hospital within three years, but in 20%-30% patients there is still mild or moderate restrictive ventilation function abnormality and small airway function impairment. The lung functions of most patients have recovered gradually, but in a minority of patients they may be impaired.