In this study,polyacrylic acid(PAA)films were employed as a model system,and a series of PAA films with tunable water wettability was systematically prepared by varying molecular weight and curing temperature.Using at...In this study,polyacrylic acid(PAA)films were employed as a model system,and a series of PAA films with tunable water wettability was systematically prepared by varying molecular weight and curing temperature.Using attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy(ATR-FTIR),the molecular configurations of surface carboxyl groups(COOH),free carboxyl(COOH_(f))and hydrogen-bonded carboxyl(COOH_(HB),were directly correlated with the polar component of surface energy(γ^(s,p)).By decomposing theγ^(s,p)values of the PAA thin films as a sum of the contributions of COOH_(f)and COOH_(H B),the intrinsic polar component of surface energy of COOH_(H B)(γ_(H B)^(s,p*))was quantified for the first time as 8.34 mN/m,significantly lower than that of COOH_(f)(γ_(f)^(s,p*)=34 mN/m).This result highlights that hydrogen bonding markedly reduces theγ^(s,p),providing a rational explanation for the relatively large water contact angle observed on PAA thin films.Furthermore,it establishes a thermodynamic basis for estimating the fraction of surface COOH_(H B)groups(f H B)from wettability measurements.Further extension of the model to carboxyl-terminated self-assembled monolayers(COOH-SAMs)revealed that surface COOH density(ΣCOOH)critically regulates wetting behavior:whenΣCOOH ranges from 4.30 to 5.25 nm^(-2),COOH groups predominantly exist in a free state and facilitate effective hydration layers,thereby promoting superhydrophilicity.Overall,this study not only establishes a unified thermodynamic framework linking surface COOH configurations to macroscopic wettability,but also validates its universality by extending it to COOH-SAMs systems,thereby providing a unified theoretical framework for the controllable design of hydrophilicity in various COOH-functionalized surfaces.展开更多
BACKGROUND The treatment technology of liver cancer is progressing.In addition to traditional surgical resection,combined therapies of immunotherapy based on immune checkpoint inhibitors,chemotherapy,and transcatheter...BACKGROUND The treatment technology of liver cancer is progressing.In addition to traditional surgical resection,combined therapies of immunotherapy based on immune checkpoint inhibitors,chemotherapy,and transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma are more and more widely used.Accurate preoperative diagnosis of liver cancer will provide important information for comprehensive treatment and prognosis evaluation of liver cancer.Sonazoidcontrast-enhanced ultrasound is not only helpful for the qualitative diagnosis of liver lesions,but also has great potential in the diagnosis of histological differentiation of liver cancer.AIM To assess the differentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)by utilizing the parameters and imaging features of Sonazoid-contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS).METHODS A retrospective analysis was conducted on the CEUS data of 239 lesions through case-control study.These patients received Sonazoid-CEUS within one week before surgery and were confirmed as HCC by postoperative pathology.Within the cases,patients were further categorized into well-differentiated and poorlydifferentiated group.Time-intensity curves of the region of interest in both arterial and Kupffer phases were generated,allowing for the acquisition of quantitative parameters to assess the diagnostic efficacy in distinguishing lesions between these two groups and determining an appropriate cut-off value.RESULTS Univariate analysis showed that the absolute value of enhancement intensity(EIAV),intensity ratio(IR)and intensity difference(ID)in Kupffer phase were statistically different between the groups with different degree(P=0.015,P=0.000,P=0.000).The sensitivity and specificity were 40.2%,82.4%,80.4% and 78.1%,86.9% and 74.5%,respectively,for differentiating HCC lesions with EIAV≥56.384 dB,IR≥1.215 and ID≥9.184 dB.The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.590,0.877,0.815.There was no significant difference in the parameters of arterial phase,including peak time,initial growth time,rise time and the absolute value of peak intensity of lesions between the two groups(P>0.05).Multivariate analysis showed that the level of alphafetoprotein(AFP)and IR were risk factors for poor differentiation(P=0.001).CONCLUSION Among the parameters of Sonazoid-CEUS,IR in Kupffer phase exhibits superior diagnostic efficacy with high sensitivity and specificity in the diagnose of pathological differentiation of HCC.Combined with preoperative AFP level,a more accurate diagnosis will be obtained.Compared with portal vein phase,Kupffer phase showed the ability to identify HCC lesions more sensitive.These findings hold significant guiding implications and reference value for clinical practice.展开更多
Mesenchymal stromal cell transplantation is an effective and promising approach for treating various systemic and diffuse diseases.However,the biological characteristics of transplanted mesenchymal stromal cells in hu...Mesenchymal stromal cell transplantation is an effective and promising approach for treating various systemic and diffuse diseases.However,the biological characteristics of transplanted mesenchymal stromal cells in humans remain unclear,including cell viability,distribution,migration,and fate.Conventional cell tracing methods cannot be used in the clinic.The use of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as contrast agents allows for the observation of transplanted cells using magnetic resonance imaging.In 2016,the National Medical Products Administration of China approved a new superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle,Ruicun,for use as a contrast agent in clinical trials.In the present study,an acute hemi-transection spinal cord injury model was established in beagle dogs.The injury was then treated by transplantation of Ruicun-labeled mesenchymal stromal cells.The results indicated that Ruicunlabeled mesenchymal stromal cells repaired damaged spinal cord fibers and partially restored neurological function in animals with acute spinal cord injury.T2*-weighted imaging revealed low signal areas on both sides of the injured spinal cord.The results of quantitative susceptibility mapping with ultrashort echo time sequences indicated that Ruicun-labeled mesenchymal stromal cells persisted stably within the injured spinal cord for over 4 weeks.These findings suggest that magnetic resonance imaging has the potential to effectively track the migration of Ruicun-labeled mesenchymal stromal cells and assess their ability to repair spinal cord injury.展开更多
文摘In this study,polyacrylic acid(PAA)films were employed as a model system,and a series of PAA films with tunable water wettability was systematically prepared by varying molecular weight and curing temperature.Using attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy(ATR-FTIR),the molecular configurations of surface carboxyl groups(COOH),free carboxyl(COOH_(f))and hydrogen-bonded carboxyl(COOH_(HB),were directly correlated with the polar component of surface energy(γ^(s,p)).By decomposing theγ^(s,p)values of the PAA thin films as a sum of the contributions of COOH_(f)and COOH_(H B),the intrinsic polar component of surface energy of COOH_(H B)(γ_(H B)^(s,p*))was quantified for the first time as 8.34 mN/m,significantly lower than that of COOH_(f)(γ_(f)^(s,p*)=34 mN/m).This result highlights that hydrogen bonding markedly reduces theγ^(s,p),providing a rational explanation for the relatively large water contact angle observed on PAA thin films.Furthermore,it establishes a thermodynamic basis for estimating the fraction of surface COOH_(H B)groups(f H B)from wettability measurements.Further extension of the model to carboxyl-terminated self-assembled monolayers(COOH-SAMs)revealed that surface COOH density(ΣCOOH)critically regulates wetting behavior:whenΣCOOH ranges from 4.30 to 5.25 nm^(-2),COOH groups predominantly exist in a free state and facilitate effective hydration layers,thereby promoting superhydrophilicity.Overall,this study not only establishes a unified thermodynamic framework linking surface COOH configurations to macroscopic wettability,but also validates its universality by extending it to COOH-SAMs systems,thereby providing a unified theoretical framework for the controllable design of hydrophilicity in various COOH-functionalized surfaces.
文摘BACKGROUND The treatment technology of liver cancer is progressing.In addition to traditional surgical resection,combined therapies of immunotherapy based on immune checkpoint inhibitors,chemotherapy,and transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma are more and more widely used.Accurate preoperative diagnosis of liver cancer will provide important information for comprehensive treatment and prognosis evaluation of liver cancer.Sonazoidcontrast-enhanced ultrasound is not only helpful for the qualitative diagnosis of liver lesions,but also has great potential in the diagnosis of histological differentiation of liver cancer.AIM To assess the differentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)by utilizing the parameters and imaging features of Sonazoid-contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS).METHODS A retrospective analysis was conducted on the CEUS data of 239 lesions through case-control study.These patients received Sonazoid-CEUS within one week before surgery and were confirmed as HCC by postoperative pathology.Within the cases,patients were further categorized into well-differentiated and poorlydifferentiated group.Time-intensity curves of the region of interest in both arterial and Kupffer phases were generated,allowing for the acquisition of quantitative parameters to assess the diagnostic efficacy in distinguishing lesions between these two groups and determining an appropriate cut-off value.RESULTS Univariate analysis showed that the absolute value of enhancement intensity(EIAV),intensity ratio(IR)and intensity difference(ID)in Kupffer phase were statistically different between the groups with different degree(P=0.015,P=0.000,P=0.000).The sensitivity and specificity were 40.2%,82.4%,80.4% and 78.1%,86.9% and 74.5%,respectively,for differentiating HCC lesions with EIAV≥56.384 dB,IR≥1.215 and ID≥9.184 dB.The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.590,0.877,0.815.There was no significant difference in the parameters of arterial phase,including peak time,initial growth time,rise time and the absolute value of peak intensity of lesions between the two groups(P>0.05).Multivariate analysis showed that the level of alphafetoprotein(AFP)and IR were risk factors for poor differentiation(P=0.001).CONCLUSION Among the parameters of Sonazoid-CEUS,IR in Kupffer phase exhibits superior diagnostic efficacy with high sensitivity and specificity in the diagnose of pathological differentiation of HCC.Combined with preoperative AFP level,a more accurate diagnosis will be obtained.Compared with portal vein phase,Kupffer phase showed the ability to identify HCC lesions more sensitive.These findings hold significant guiding implications and reference value for clinical practice.
基金supported by the National Key R&D Program of China,Nos.2017YFA0104302(to NG and XM)and 2017YFA0104304(to BW and ZZ)
文摘Mesenchymal stromal cell transplantation is an effective and promising approach for treating various systemic and diffuse diseases.However,the biological characteristics of transplanted mesenchymal stromal cells in humans remain unclear,including cell viability,distribution,migration,and fate.Conventional cell tracing methods cannot be used in the clinic.The use of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as contrast agents allows for the observation of transplanted cells using magnetic resonance imaging.In 2016,the National Medical Products Administration of China approved a new superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle,Ruicun,for use as a contrast agent in clinical trials.In the present study,an acute hemi-transection spinal cord injury model was established in beagle dogs.The injury was then treated by transplantation of Ruicun-labeled mesenchymal stromal cells.The results indicated that Ruicunlabeled mesenchymal stromal cells repaired damaged spinal cord fibers and partially restored neurological function in animals with acute spinal cord injury.T2*-weighted imaging revealed low signal areas on both sides of the injured spinal cord.The results of quantitative susceptibility mapping with ultrashort echo time sequences indicated that Ruicun-labeled mesenchymal stromal cells persisted stably within the injured spinal cord for over 4 weeks.These findings suggest that magnetic resonance imaging has the potential to effectively track the migration of Ruicun-labeled mesenchymal stromal cells and assess their ability to repair spinal cord injury.
