Quercetin (Que) is known to have biological benefits including an anticancer effect, but low water solubility limits its clinical application. The aim of this study was to develop a lecithin-based mixed polymeric micelle (LMPM) delivery system to improve the solubility and bioavailability of Que. The optimal Que-LMPM, composed of Que, lecithin, Pluronic(®) P123, and 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-...

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanofibers have been widely applied in various fields including photocatalysis, energy storage and solar cells due to the advantages of low cost, high abundance and nontoxicity. However, the low conductivity of ions and bulk electrons hinder its rapid development in lithium-ion batteries (LIB). In order to improve the electrochemical performances of TiO2 nanomaterials as...

Current concerns of the pressing environmental pollution issues and limited fossil energy resources have increased the R&D interest and investment in clean energy technologies. LIBs, as commonly used clean energy storage devices, have transformed portable electronic devices and electric transportation greatly, but have limitations of high cost and relatively low specific energy [1]. Due to adva...

The origins of tick toxicoses remain a subject of controversy because no molecular data are yet available to study the evolution of tick-derived toxins. In this study we describe the molecular structure of toxins from the soft tick, Ornithodoros savignyi. The tick salivary gland proteins (TSGPs) are four highly abundant proteins proposed to play a role in salivary gland granule biogenesis of th...

Intravenous colistin is used to treat resistant Gram-negative infections and is associated with nephrotoxicity. In overweight and obese adults, a paucity of data exists regarding the incidence and predictors of such toxicity. A retrospective nested case-control study was performed over 35 months for patients receiving intravenous colistin for ≥ 72 h with a body mass index (BMI) of ≥ 25 kg/m(2)....

Lithium-sulfur battery is one of promising candidates for next-generation energy storage device due to the sulfur cathode material with low cost and nontoxicity, super high theoretical density (nearly 2600Wh kg−1) specific (2567Wh kg−1). Sulphur, however, poses a few interesting challenges before it can gain widespread utilisation. The...

Albumin-based nanoparticles (NPs) as a drug delivery system have attracted much attention owing to their nontoxicity, non-immunogenicity, great stability and ability to bind to many therapeutic drugs. Herein, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was utilized as a template to prepare Au-BSA core/shell NPs. The outer layer BSA was subsequently conjugated with cis-aconityl doxorubicin (DOX) and folic acid (...

Structure-function studies have revealed that the region between amino acids 115 and 141 of toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1) constitutes a biologically active domain. A critical residue appears to be histidine 135, since a site-directed mutation that alters the histidine to alanine (H135A) results in a loss of mitogenic activity and an absence of toxicity as measured in a rabbit infection ...

This study addresses, in an animal tumor model, the clinical problem of "escape from castration inhibition." Somatuline (BIM-23014C), an octapeptide analogue of somatostatin with enhanced potency and longer duration of biological activity was administered as a therapeutic agent, over a period of 90 and 197 days, to male Copenhagen rats bearing syngeneic Dunning R-3327-H prostate tumors. Androge...