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Lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a growing global health problem. New methods to diagnose PAD have been explored in recent years. At present, the majority of imaging methods for PAD focus on the macrovascular blood flow, and the exploration of microcirculation and tissue perfusion of PAD remains largely insufficient. In this report, we applied three new imaging technologies, i.e., second near-infrared region (NIR-II, 900-1,880 nm wavelengths) imaging, optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), and laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG), in a PAD patient with a healthy human subject as control. Our results showed that the PAD patient had poorer tissue perfusion than the control without observed adverse effects. Moreover, compared with the first near-infrared region (NIR-I, 700-900 nm wavelengths) imaging results, NIR-II imaging had a higher signal-to-background ratio and resolution than NIR-I imaging and detected microvessels that were not detected by NIR-I imaging. These observations suggested that NIR-II imaging, OCTA, and LSFG are potentially safe and effective methods for diagnosing PAD.

RESUMO

Few studies have been conducted on the relationship between the crosslinking ability of dialdehyde polysaccharides (DPs) with different structures and the structure and properties of hydrogels. Herein, the effects of dialdehyde sodium alginate (DSA), dialdehyde guar gum (DGG), and dialdehyde dextran (DDE) as crosslinking agents for gelatin (GE)-based hydrogels were comparatively studied. First, the structure and aldehyde content of DPs were evaluated. Subsequently, the structure, crosslinking degree, and physicochemical properties of GE/DP hydrogels were characterized. Compared with pure GE hydrogels, GE/DP hydrogels had higher thermal stability and mechanical properties. Moreover, the aldehyde content of DPs was ordered as follows: DSA < DGG < DDE. The higher crosslinking degree of the hydrogels formed by DPs with a higher aldehyde content resulted in smaller hydrogel pores, higher mechanical strength, and a lower equilibrium swelling rate. These observations provide a theoretical basis for selecting crosslinking candidates for hydrogel-specific applications.

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This work investigated the physical stability, microstructure, and oxidative stability of the emulsions prepared by soy protein hydrolysate (SPH) after modification with different concentrations of l-arginine and l-lysine. l-Arginine and l-lysine significantly increased the absolute zeta potential values, and decreased droplet sizes of the emulsions, thereby improving the physical stability of the emulsions. Meanwhile, l-arginine and l-lysine markedly decreased the apparent viscosity of the emulsions. The measurement of interfacial protein adsorption percentage showed that l-arginine (≤0.5 %) promoted the adsorption of SPH at the oil-water interface, whereas l-lysine (≤1%) reduced the adsorption of SPH at the oil-water interface. In addition, l-arginine and l-lysine (≤0.5 %) could retard lipid and protein oxidation. Correlation analysis indicated that the improvement in the physical stability of the emulsions by l-arginine and l-lysine also enhanced the oxidative stability of the emulsions. In summary, l-arginine and l-lysine could be effective modifiers for the protein-based emulsion systems.

Assuntos

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Controlling bioactive ingredients release by modulating the 3D network structure of cross-linked hydrogels is important for functional food development. Hereby, oxidized sodium alginate (OSA) with varying aldehyde contents was formed by periodate oxidation of sodium alginate (SA) with different ß-d-mannuronic acid (M) and α-l-guluronic acid (G) ratios (M/G = 1:2, 1:1, and 2:1) and its structure was characterized. Moreover, hydrogels were prepared via Schiff base and electrostatic interactions between quaternized chitosan (QCS) and OSA. The properties of hydrogels such as microstructure, thermal stability, swelling and controlled release were investigated. The results showed that OSA with M/G = 1:2 had the highest content of aldehyde groups, and the hydrogel formed by it and QCS had higher thermal stability and a denser network structure with the lowest equilibrium swelling rate, which could better control the release of curcumin. Additionally, it had good self-healing and can recover rapidly after the rupture of its network structure.

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Food-grade Pickering emulsions stabilized by protein microgel particles have received increasing attentions owing to their potential applications in the food industry. Herein, soy protein hydrolysate microgel particles (SPHMs) produced at various pH (3, 5, 7, and 9) with and without ultrasonication were used to stabilize Pickering emulsions. Compared with those prepared using ultrasonication at pH 3-7, SPHMs prepared using ultrasonication at pH 9 showed excellent amphiphility at the oil-water interface and a superior ability to reduce interfacial tension. The Pickering emulsion stabilized by the latter SPHMs displayed a small particle size and a high net charge on the droplet surface, formed a dense honeycomb network interfacial layer with high viscoelasticity and adsorbed protein content, and experienced no visually detectable creaming during storage for 21 days, i.e., exhibited optimum colloidal stability. Furthermore, the above emulsion featured a quercetin encapsulation efficiency of 89.45 % and was capable of sustainable release, achieving a low free fatty acid release efficiency of 61 % and a relatively high quercetin bioaccessibility of 65 % in in vitro simulated digestion experiments. Thus, this work inspires the use of SPHMs in emulsion-based functional foods.

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This study aimed to evaluate the gelation characteristics of soybean protein hydrolysate (SPH) extracted by enzyme-assisted aqueous extraction. Specifically, the changes in gelation behaviors for heat-induced (95 °C, 20 min) SPH dispersions treated with pH (pH 3, 5, 9; pH 7 as control) and ultrasound (U; 240 W, 30 min) were investigated. The results showed that typical gel behavior with high elastic nature in the viscoelasticity and network structures were observed during the heating process, where the disulfide bond played a dominant role in the gel network formation of all the samples. Notably, the heat-induced aggregation in the SPH gels was mainly formed by the association of the basic B polypeptide in 11S and ß subunit in 7S. The most superior SPH gel was formed at pH 7 when assisted by ultrasonication during the heating process. This as-synthesized gel showed a uniform filamentous structure and exhibited the more excellent textural, rheological and thermal properties than those of the samples formed under acidic and alkaline conditions. These results are of great value in revealing the gelation mechanism of SPH.

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Background: Annexin A2 (ANXA2) belongs to the Annexin A family and plays a role in epithelial-mesenchymal transition, fibrinolysis, and other physiological processes. Annexin A2 has been extensively implicated in tumorigenesis and development in previous studies, but its precise role in pan-cancer remains largely unknown. Methods: We adopted bioinformatics methods to explore the oncogenic role of Annexin A2 using different databases, including the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) biobank, the Human Protein Atlas (HPA), the Gene Expression Profiling Interaction Analysis (GEPIA) and cBioPortal. We analyzed the differential expression of Annexin A2 in different tumors and its relationship with cancer prognosis, immune cell infiltration, DNA methylation, tumor mutation burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI) and mismatch repair (MMR). Furtherly, we conducted a Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to identify the Annexin A2-related pathways. Results: Annexin A2 expression was upregulated in most cancers, except in kidney chromophobe (KICH) and prostate adenocarcinoma (PRAD). Annexin A2 showed a good diagnostic efficacy in twelve types of cancer. The high expression of Annexin A2 was significantly associated with a reduced overall survival, disease-specific survival and progression-free interval in seven cancers. The Annexin A2 expression was variably associated with infiltration of 24 types of immune cells in 32 tumor microenvironments. In addition, Annexin A2 expression was differently associated with 47 immune checkpoints, immunoregulators, DNA methylation, tumor mutation burden, microsatellite instability and mismatch repair in pan-cancer. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis revealed that Annexin A2 was significantly correlated with immune-related pathways in fifteen cancers. Conclusion: Annexin A2 widely correlates with immune infiltration and may function as a promising prognostic biomarker in many tumors, showing its potential as a target for immunotherapy in pan-cancer.