Suchergebnisse

Tong Lin,1 Lan Gong,1 Xing-huai Sun,1 Nai-qing Zhao,2 Wei Chen,3 Hui-ping Yuan,4 Yan Shao,5 Ming-hong Gao,6 Hai Tang71Department of Ophthalmology, Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China; 2Department of Biostatistics and Social Medicine, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China; 3The School of Ophthalmology and Optometry Affiliated with Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, People's Republic of China; 4The Second Affiliated Hospital of Haerbin Medical University, Haerbin, People's Republic of China; 5The Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, People's Republic of China; 6General hospital of Shenyang Military Command, Shenyang, People's Republic of China; 7Shenyang SINQI Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, Shenyang, People's Republic of ChinaObjectives: Parallel comparison with 0.15% ganciclovir (GCV) ophthalmic gel to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of 0.15% GCV in situ ophthalmic gel for the treatment of herpes simplex keratitis (HSK).Methods: This was a multicenter, randomized, investigator-masked, parallel group study. HSK patients were randomly divided into two groups, with the corresponding treatment of 0.15% GCV ophthalmic gel or 0.15% GCV in situ ophthalmic gel. Symptoms and signs were observed before administration, and 3 (±1), 7 (±1), 14 (±2), and 21 (±3) days after the administration. The clinical effective rate was considered as the primary outcome. The safety profile was evaluated by AEs, visual acuity, and ocular tolerance.Results: The clinical effective rate in the per-protocol (PP) dataset for the treatment group and the control group were 95.10% and 93.00%, respectively (P = 0.5282). The noninferiority test showed significant differences (P = 0.000305, P < 0.025), indicating that the tested drug was noninferior to the control. Patients in the PP dataset of both groups experienced decreases in the total scores of clinical indicators. Ocular AEs were few but similar between the two groups. There were no significant differences between patients' visions between the two groups before and after administration in the safety analysis set. In terms of drug tolerance, the rates of patients without transient blurred vision during all the visits in the treatment group were higher than those for the control group (P < 0.05). During the third and fourth visits, the rates of patients with eye itching were 4.08% and 1.22% in the treatment group, and 13.59% and 8.14% in the control group, respectively (P < 0.05). During the second visit, the rates of patients with eye irritation were 14.42% in the treatment group and 25.71% in the control group (P < 0.05).Conclusion: The 0.15% GCV in situ ophthalmic gel was effective and safe for the treatment of HSK, and was not inferior to 0.15% GCV ophthalmic gel. The 0.15% GCV in situ ophthalmic gel presented superior ocular tolerance.Keywords: virus keratitis, herpes simplex virus 1, ganciclovir in situ ophthalmic gel, treatment

Nestlé is one of the largest food companies in the world, with a presence in 191 countries and solid loyal customers. Nevertheless, a big organization like this cannot escape adverse ethical behavior in their company. Business ethics is the study of an organization's corporate governance and initiatives related to corporate social responsibility. Businesses are morally obligated to give the public, stakeholders, customers, and the government the real worth of their money. Every firm engages in unethical practices for personal gain. This study aims to determine whether Nestlé will be able to survive in the long run if it is involved in unethical practices. Furthermore, this study intends to determine whether their involvement affects the customer's purchase intention to buy their product. An online survey has been conducted to gather more information and provide evidence to support the conclusions. One hundred respondents from Malaysia, Indonesia, and India participated in this study. The analysis demonstrated that brand awareness, business ethics, and business ethics impact the intention of customers to buy Nestlé products. This study offers insightful information about how consumers view Nestlé, which could help them increase consumer trust in their brand.

Cancer and antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics are two of the most worrying healthcare concerns that humanity is facing nowadays. Some of the most promising solutions for these healthcare problems may come from nanomedicine. While the traditional synthesis of nanomaterials is often accompanied by drawbacks such as high cost or the production of toxic by-products, green nanotechnology has been presented as a suitable solution to overcome such challenges. In this work, an approach for the synthesis of tellurium (Te) nanostructures in aqueous media has been developed using aloe vera (AV) extracts as a unique reducing and capping agent. Te-based nanoparticles (AV-TeNPs), with sizes between 20 and 60 nm, were characterized in terms of physicochemical properties and tested for potential biomedical applications. A significant decay in bacterial growth after 24 h was achieved for both Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli at a relative low concentration of 5 µg/mL, while there was no cytotoxicity towards human dermal fibroblasts after 3 days of treatment. AV-TeNPs also showed anticancer properties up to 72 h within a range of concentrations between 5 and 100 µg/mL. Consequently, here, we present a novel and green approach to produce Te-based nanostructures with potential biomedical applications, especially for antibacterial and anticancer applications. ; This work was supported by the Chemical Engineering Department at Northeastern University. M.K., L.D.G., and G.G. would like to thank the Center for Integrative Nanotechnology Sciences (CINS) of UA Little Rock for the use of their T.E.M. J.L. C.-D. thanks the School of Engineering and Sciences at Tecnológico de Monterrey through the Research Group on Photonics and Quantum Systems for financial support. A.D.J. was supported by the Northeastern Future Faculty Fellowship. L.M. acknowledges the European Union (grant number ERC-2013-SyG 610256 NANOCOSMOS) and Comunidad de Madrid (S2018/NMT-4367 FotoArt-CM). The groups at CSIC and Tecnológico de Monterrey acknowledge the i-Link+2019 program (ref. LINKB20024 "NANOBIO-ROJA") for financial support. The authors also acknowledge the service from the MiNa Laboratory at IMN funded by Comunidad de Madrid (S2018/NMT-4291 TEC2SPACE), MINECO (CSIC13-4E-1794), and the EU (FEDER, FSE). ; Peer reviewed

Nan-bo Liu,1,* Jun-hua Zhang,2,* Yu-fan Liu,1,* Jun Li,3,* Zhen-zhong Zhang,1 Ji-wei Li,1 Wen-yue Liu,1 Chen Huang,1,4 Tao Shen,5 Cheng-wei Gu,6 Dong-yun Gao,7 Xia Wu,8 Xu Wu1 1Department of Thoracic Surgery, 2Department of Anesthesiology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, 3Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 4Department of Thoracic Surgery, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou, 5Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jiangmen Central Hospital, Jiangmen, 6Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 7Department of Oncology, Dongtai People's Hospital, Dongtai, 8Department of Breast Cancer, Affiliated Hospital, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Objective: The disheveled, Egl-10, and pleckstrin (DEP) domain containing mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)-interacting protein (DEPTOR) is a binding protein containing mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1), mTOR complex 2 (mTORC2), and an endogenous mTOR inhibitor. DEPTOR shows abnormal expressions in numerous types of solid tumors. However, how DEPTOR is expressed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains elusive. Methods: The expression of DEPTOR in 220 cases of ESCC and non-cancerous adjacent tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. DEPTOR levels in ESCC and paired normal tissue were quantified using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis to verify the immunohistochemical results. The relationship between DEPTOR expression and the clinicopathological features of ESCC was analyzed based on the results of immunohistochemistry. Finally, we analyzed the relationship between DEPTOR expression and the prognosis of patients with ESCC. Results: Immunohistochemical staining showed that the expression rate of DEPTOR in ESCC tissues was significantly increased. DEPTOR mRNA and protein expression was significantly higher in ESCC tissues than in normal adjacent esophageal squamous tissues. High DEPTOR expression was significantly correlated with regional lymph node status in the TNM stage of patients with ESCC. Kaplan–Meier survival curves showed that the rate of overall survival was significantly lower in patients with high DEPTOR expression than in those with low DEPTOR expression. Additionally, high DEPTOR expression was an independent prognostic predictor for ESCC patients. Conclusion: High DEPTOR expression is an independent prognostic biomarker indicating a worse prognosis for patients with ESCC. Keywords: DEPTOR, ESCC, prognosis

The laurel family within the Magnoliids has attracted attentions owing to its scents, variable inflorescences, and controversial phylogenetic position. Here, we present a chromosomelevel assembly of the Litsea cubeba genome, together with low-coverage genomic and transcriptomic data for many other Lauraceae. Phylogenomic analyses show phylogenetic discordance at the position of Magnoliids, suggesting incomplete lineage sorting during the divergence of monocots, eudicots, and Magnoliids. An ancient whole-genome duplication (WGD) event occurred just before the divergence of Laurales and Magnoliales; subsequently, independent WGDs occurred almost simultaneously in the three Lauralean lineages. The phylogenetic relationships within Lauraceae correspond to the divergence of inflorescences, as evidenced by the phylogeny of FUWA, a conserved gene involved in determining panicle architecture in Lauraceae. Monoterpene synthases responsible for production of specific volatile compounds in Lauraceae are functionally verified. Our work sheds light on the evolution of the Lauraceae, the genetic basis for floral evolution and specific scents. ; The Fundamental Research Funds of Chinese Academy of Forestry, China; the Science and Technology Major Program on Agricultural New Variety Breeding of Zhejiang, China; the Ten Thousand People Plan of Science and Technology Innovation Leading Talent of Zhejiang, China; the National Key R&D Program of China; the Special Research Fund of Ghent University; the National Key Research and Development Program of China; the Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Orchid Conservation and Utilization Construction Funds and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program. ; http://www.nature.com/ncomms ; am2021 ; Biochemistry ; Genetics ; Microbiology and Plant Pathology