An overview and visual analysis of research on government regulation in healthcare.

Objective: During the period of COVID-19, government regulation (GR) played an important role in healthcare. This study examines the current research situation of GR in healthcare, discusses the research hotspots, the most productive authors and countries, and the most common journals, and analyzes the changes in GR in healthcare before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. Methods: This study followed PRISMA guidelines to collect literature on GR in healthcare. And the VOSviewer software was used to perform a quantitative analysis of these documents to obtain a visual map, including year, country, institution, journal, author, and research topic. Results: A total of 1,830 papers that involved 976 academic journals, 3,178 institutions, and 133 countries were identified from 1985 to 2023. The United States was the country with the highest production (n = 613), followed by the United Kingdom (n = 289). The institution with the largest number of publications was the University of London in the UK (n = 103); In the author collaboration network, the biggest cluster is Bomhoff M, Bouwman R, Friele R, et al. The top five journals in terms of the number of articles were BMC Health Services Research (n = 70), Plos One (n = 35), Health Policy (n = 33), Social Science & Medicine (n = 29), Health Policy and Planning (n = 29), and Frontiers in Public Health (n = 27). The existing literature mainly focused on "health policy," "public health," "China," "mental health," "India," "qualitative research," "legislation," and "governance," et al. Since 2020, research on "COVID-19" has also become a priority in the domain of healthcare. Conclusion: This study reveals the overall performance of the literature on GR published in healthcare. Healthcare needs GR, especially in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, which has played an irreplaceable role. The outbreak of COVID-19 not only tested the health systems of various countries, but also changed GR in healthcare. With the end of COVID-19, whether these changes will end remains to be further studied.

Challenges and Strategies of Low-Cost Aluminum Anodes for High-Performance Al-Based Batteries.

The ever-growing market of electric vehicles and the upcoming grid-scale storage systems have stimulated the fast growth of renewable energy storage technologies. Aluminum-based batteries are considered one of the most promising alternatives to complement or possibly replace the current lithium-ion batteries owing to their high specific capacity, good safety, low cost, light weight, and abundant reserves of Al. However, the anode problems in primary and secondary Al batteries, such as, self-corrosion, passive film, and volume expansion, severely limit the batteries' practical performance, thus hindering their commercialization. Herein, an overview of the currently emerged Al-based batteries is provided, that primarily focus on the recent research progress for Al anodes in both primary and rechargeable systems. The anode reaction mechanisms and problems in various Al-based batteries are discussed, and various strategies to overcome the challenges of Al anodes, including surface oxidation, self-corrosion, volume expansion, and dendrite growth, are systematically summarized. Finally, future research perspectives toward advanced Al batteries with higher performance and better safety are presented.

Gambogic Acid Shows Anti-Proliferative Effects on Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Cells by Activating Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)-Induced Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) Stress-Mediated Apoptosis.

BACKGROUND Gambogic acid (AG) is believed to be a potent anti-cancer agent. ER (endoplasmic reticulum) stress-induced cell apoptosis was identified as one of the anti-proliferative mechanisms of several anti-cancer agents. In this study, we investigated the involvement of ER stress-induced apoptosis in the anti-proliferative effect of GA on NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer) cells. MATERIAL AND METHODS GA at 0, 0.5, and 1.0 µmol/l was used to treat A549 cells. We also used the ER stress-specific inhibitor 4-PBA (4-phenylbutyric acid) (1 µmol/l) to co-treat the cells incubated with GA. Cell viability was assessed by MTT (methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium) assay. Cell apoptosis was evaluated by MTT (methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium) assay. Intracellular ROS (reactive oxygen species) production was detected by DCFH-DA (2,7- dichloro-dihydrofluorescein diacetate) florescent staining. Western blotting was used to assess the expression and phosphorylation levels of protein. RESULTS GA treatment significantly reduced cell viabilities of NSCLC cells in a concentration-dependent manner. GA treatment increased intracellular ROS level, expression levels of GRP (glucose-regulated protein) 78, CHOP (C/EBP-homologous protein), ATF (activating transcription factor) 6 and caspase 12, as well as the phosphorylation levels of PERK (protein kinase R-like ER kinase) and IRE (inositol-requiring enzyme) 1alpha. Co-treatment of 4-PBA dramatically impaired the inhibitory effect of GA on cell viability. 4PBA co-treatment also decreased expression levels of GRP78, CHOP, ATF6, and caspase12, as well as the phosphorylation levels of PERK and IRE1alpha, in GA-treated NSCLC cells, without affecting ROS levels. CONCLUSIONS GA inhibited NSCLC cell proliferation by inducing ROS-induced ER stress-medicated apoptosis of NSCLC cells.

Synthesis of amphiphilic aminated inulin via 'click chemistry' and evaluation for its antibacterial activity.

Inulins are a group of abundant, water-soluble, renewable polysaccharides, which exhibit attractive bioactivities and natural properties. Improvement such as chemical modification of inulin is often performed prior to further utilization. We hereby presented a method to modify inulin at its primary hydroxyls to synthesize amphiphilic aminated inulin via 'click chemistry' to facilitate its chemical manipulation. Additionally, its antibacterial property against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) was also evaluated and the best inhibitory index against S. aureus was 58% at 1mg/mL. As the amphiphilic aminated inulin is easy to prepare and exhibits improved bioactivity, this material may represent as an attractive new platform for chemical modifications of inulin.

Synthesis and antifungal activity of thiadiazole-functionalized chitosan derivatives.

A groups of novel water soluble chitosan derivatives containing 1,3,4-thiadiazole group were synthesized including 1,3,4-thiadiazole (TPCTS), 2-methyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole (MTPCTS), and 2-phenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole (PTPCTS). Their antifungal activity against three kinds of phytopathogens was estimated by hypha measurement in vitro, and the fungicidal assessment shows that the synthesized chitosan derivatives have excellent activity against tested fungi. Of all the synthesized chitosan derivatives, MTPCTS inhibited the growth of the tested phytopathogens most effectively with inhibitory indices of 75.3%, 82.5%, and 65.8% against Colletotrichum lagenarium (Pass) Ell.et halst, Phomopsis asparagi (Sacc.) Bubak, and Monilinia fructicola (Wint.) Honey respectively at 1.0 mg/mL. These indices are higher than those of chitosan. These data also demonstrate that the hydrophobic moiety (alkyl and phenyl) and the length of alkyl substituent in thiadiazole tend to affect the antifungal activity of chitosan derivatives. It is hypothesized that thiadiazole groups enable the synthesized chitosan to possess obviously better antifungal activity and good solubility in water.

Phenolic antioxidants-functionalized quaternized chitosan: synthesis and antioxidant properties.

In this work, two kinds of phenolic antioxidants-functionalized quaternized chitosan were synthesized in order to develop aqueous soluble antioxidant-polymer conjugates. Quaternized chitosan conjugated with gallic acid or caffeic acid was carried out and the antioxidant properties of the products (namely gallic acid-quaternized chitosan and caffeic acid-quaternized chitosan) against hydroxyl-radical, superoxide-radical and DPPH-radical were evaluated in vitro, respectively. The scavenging activities of the obtained gallic acid-quaternized chitosan and caffeic acid-quaternized chitosan exhibit a remarkable improvement over those of either chitosan or quaternized chitosan. And the scavenging effect indices of the products were all higher than 90% at a concentration of 1000 µg/mL. Because gallic acid-quaternized chitosan and caffeic acid-quaternized chitosan are convenient to prepare and possess improved potential activities, these materials may represent an attractive new platform for utilizations of chitosan.

2-Methoxyoestradiol inhibits glucose transport in rodent skeletal muscle.

2-Methoxyoestradiol (2-ME) is an oestrogen derivative that inhibits superoxide dismutase (which converts superoxide anions to H(2)O(2)). Since reactive oxygen species have been implicated in glucose transport, we determined the effect of 2-ME on glucose transport in skeletal muscle. Experiments were performed on isolated mouse extensor digitorum longus (EDL, glycolytic, fast-twitch) muscle. Glucose uptake was measured using 2-deoxy-d-[1,2-(3)H]glucose. 2-Methoxyoestradiol (50 microm) reduced glucose uptake induced by insulin, contraction and hypoxia by approximately 60%. Exogenous H(2)O(2) activated glucose uptake, and this effect was also blocked by 2-ME, demonstrating that 2-ME was exerting its inhibitory effect on glucose uptake at a site other than superoxide dismutase. When glucose uptake was stimulated by insulin, followed by addition of 2-ME, there was also an attenuation of the effect of insulin (approximately 60%). Moreover, basal glucose uptake was decreased by 2-ME (approximately 50%). In contrast, insulin-mediated translocation of glucose transporter type 4 protein to the plasma membrane was not affected by 2-ME. Similar results were obtained in soleus (oxidative, slow-twitch) muscle. In conclusion, 2-ME appears to decrease glucose transport in skeletal muscle by directly interfering with the function of glucose transport proteins in surface membranes.