Water shortage is one of the most concerning global challenges in the 21st century. Solar‐inspired vaporization employing photothermal nanomaterials is considered to be a feasible and green technology for addressing the water challenge by virtue of abundant and clean solar energy. 2D nanomaterials aroused considerable attention in photothermal evaporation‐induced water production owing to their large absorption surface, strong absorption in broadband solar spectrum, and efficient photothermal conversion. Herein, the recent progress of 2D nanomaterials‐based photothermal evaporation, mainly including emerging Xenes (phosphorene, antimonene, tellurene, and borophene) and binary‐enes (MXenes and transition metal dichalcogenides), is reviewed. Then, the optimization strategies for higher evaporation performance are summarized in terms of modulation of the intrinsic photothermal performance of 2D nanomaterials and design of the complete evaporation system. Finally, the challenges and prospective of various kinds of 2D photothermal nanomaterials are discussed in terms of the photothermal performance, stability, environmental influence, and cost. One important principle is that solutions for water challenges should not introduce new environmental and social problems. This Review aims to highlight the role of 2D photothermal nanomaterials in solving water challenges and provides a viable scheme toward the practical use in photothermal materials selection, design, and evaporation systems building.

Background: A novel coronavirus was identified in December, 2019 in Wuhan, China, and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) played an active role in combating the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) caused by this fast-spreading virus COVID-19. Thus, we aimed to explore TCM characteristics of clinical efficacy to NCP, as well as to optimize Qingfei Paidu decoction (QFPDD) and the recommended formulas to NCP by National Health Commission (NHC). Methods:Chinese medical sciences theory and clinical application of TCM were analyzed. A total of 54 NCP patients were observed in a hospital from Wuhan, whose clinical characteristics and utilization of Chinese Medicines (CMs) were described. Paired t test was used to measure the change of patients' hemogram during hospitalization period, indicating the effect of CMs. Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to explore the factors affecting the length of hospital stay. Network pharmacology analysis was applied to figure out the performance of NHC-recommended formulas of five disease stages at levels of compounds, targets and pathways. Result:The average length of hospital stay was 8.96 days. Patients over 45 stayed 9.79 days in hospital in average, longer than 7.64 days of patients under 45. Comparing the hemograms between admission and discharge of hospital, the number of leukocytes, neutrophil, lymphocyte and platelet increased, while the numbers of erythrocytes, hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit decreased. According to the standard coefficients of regression, the factor affecting the length of stay for the most was CMs in category of invigorating spleen and removing dampness (ISRD), followed by administrating CMs, male, and cough. Thirty-two CMs were screened after deleting duplication from QFPDD and NHC-recommended formulas. Compound quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, acacetin etc., were all involved in the treatment of various disease stages on the compound level both in generality and individuality.Conclusion: TCM has a systemic theoretical understanding on the pathological evolution and a positive clinical efficacy on NCP. The CMs of ISRD improved patients' recovery, suggesting the importance of regulating intestinal function and keeping microenvironmental balance in TCM treatment of NCP. The active compounds from QFPDD and NHC-recommended formulas contribute to recovery of varied disease progresses during TCM treating NCP. © The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article' s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article'

The development of novel photosensitizing agents with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties has fueled significant advances in the field of photodynamic therapy (PDT). An electroporation method was used to prepare tumorexocytosed exosome/AIE luminogen (AIEgen) hybrid nanovesicles (DES) that could facilitate efficient tumor penetration. Dexamethasone was then used to normalize vascular function within the tumor microenvironment (TME) to reduce local hypoxia, therebys ignificantly enhancing the PDT efficacy of DES nanovesicles,a nd allowing them to effectively inhibit tumor growth. The hybridization of AIEgen and biological tumor-exocytosed exosomes was achieved for the first time, and combined with PDT approaches by normalizing the intratumoral vasculature as am eans of reducing local tissue hypoxia. This work highlights anew approach to the design of AIEgen-based PDT systems and underscores the potential clinical value of AIEgens.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is spreading rapidly around the globe. By the establishment of an integrative system combining both traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and western medicine, China has achieved good clinical efficacy in the prevention and control of the pandemic. The advantages of TCM in the treatment of COVID-19 include effective relief of symptoms, retarding the development from mild and moderate to severe, improvement of cure rate, reducing death rates, and promotion of rehabilitation. Besides, according to the different severity levels of individual cases, the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China issued treatment guidelines that provide corresponding prescriptions for patients. From the perspective of TCM, this review aims to analyze the role of a variety of TCM prescriptions in the treatment of COVID-19, focusing on the analysis of the "Three TCM prescriptions and three medicines" recommended by the Chinese authorities during the pandemic. We expect that this review will provide insights into the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 with TCM.

BackgroundObesity paradox refers to lower mortality in subjects with higher body mass index (BMI), and has been documented under a variety of condition. However, whether obesity paradox exists in adults requiring mechanical ventilation in intensive critical units (ICU) remains controversial.MethodsMEDLINE, EMBASE, China Biology Medicine disc (CBM) and CINAHL electronic databases were searched from the earliest available date to July 2017, using the following search terms: “body weight”, “body mass index”, “overweight” or “obesity” and “ventilator”, “mechanically ventilated”, “mechanical ventilation”, without language restriction. Subjects were divided into the following categories based on BMI (kg/m2): underweight, < 18.5 kg/m2; normal, 18.5–24.9 kg/m2; overweight, BMI 25–29.9 kg/m2; obese, 30–39.9 kg/m2; and severely obese > 40 kg/m2. The primary outcome was mortality, and included ICU mortality, hospital mortality, short-term mortality (<6 months), and long-term mortality (6 months or beyond). Secondary outcomes included duration of mechanical ventilation, length of stay (LOS) in ICU and hospital. A random-effects model was used for data analyses. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale.ResultsA total of 15,729 articles were screened. The final analysis included 23 articles (199,421 subjects). In comparison to non-obese patients, obese patients had lower ICU mortality (odds ratio (OR) 0.88, 95% CI 0.0.84–0.92, I2 = 0%), hospital mortality (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.74–0.93, I2 = 52%), short-term mortality (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.74–0.88, I2 = 0%) as well as long-term mortality (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.60–0.79, I2 = 0%). In comparison to subjects with normal BMI, obese patients had lower ICU mortality (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.82–0.93, I2 = 5%). Hospital mortality was lower in severely obese and obese subjects (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.53–0.94, I2 = 74%, and OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.73–0.89, I2 = 30%). Short-term mortality was lower in overweight and obese subjects (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.75–0.90, I2 = 0%, and, OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.66–0.84, I2 = 8%, respectively). Long-term mortality was lower in severely obese, obese and overweight subjects (OR 0.39, 95% CI 0.18–0.83, and OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.46–0.86, I2 = 56%, and OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.57–0.77, I2 = 0%). All 4 mortality measures were higher in underweight subjects than in subjects with normal BMI. Obese subjects had significantly longer duration on mechanical ventilation than non-obese group (mean difference (MD) 0.48, 95% CI 0.16–0.80, I2 = 37%), In comparison to subjects with normal BMI, severely obese BMI had significantly longer time in mechanical ventilation (MD 1.10, 95% CI 0.38–1.83, I2 = 47%). Hospital LOS did not differ between obese and non-obese patients (MD 0.05, 95% CI -0.52 to 0.50, I2 = 80%). Obese patients had longer ICU LOS than non-obese patients (MD 0.38, 95% CI 0.17–0.59, I2 = 70%). Hospital LOS and ICU LOS did not differ significantly in subjects with different BMI status.ConclusionsIn ICU patients receiving mechanical ventilation, higher BMI is associated...

As extracellular vesicles secreted by cells, exosomes are intercellular signalosomes for cell communication and pharmacological effectors. Because of their special properties, including low toxicity and immunogenicity, biodegradability, ability to encapsulate endogenous biologically active molecules and cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), exosomes have great therapeutic potential in cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. However, the poor targeting ability of natural exosomes greatly reduces the therapeutic effect. Using engineering technology, exosomes can obtain active targeting ability to accumulate in specific cell types and tissues by attaching targeting units to the membrane surface or loading them into cavities. In this review, we outline the improved targeting functions of bioengineered exosomes, tracing and imaging techniques, administration methods, internalization in the BBB, and therapeutic effects of exosomes in cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases and further evaluate the clinical opportunities and challenges in this research field.

Photochemically induced cerebral ischemia is an easy-manipulated, reproducible, relatively noninvasive, and lesion controllable model for translational study of ischemic stroke. In order to longitudinally investigate the characterization of the model, magnetic resonance imaging, 18F-2-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography, fluorescence, and bioluminescence imaging system were performed in correlation with triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC), hematoxylin-eosin staining, and immunohistochemistry examinations of glial fibrillary acidic protein, CD68, NeuN, von willebrand factor, and α-smooth muscle actin in the infarct zone. The results suggested that the number of inflammatory cells, astrocytes, and neovascularization significantly elevated in peri-infarct region from day 7 and a belt of macrophage/microglial and astrocytes was formed surrounding infarct lesion at day 14. Both vasogenic and cytotoxic edema, as well as blood brain-barrier leakage, occurred since day 1 after stroke induction and gradually attenuated with time. Numerous cells other than neuronal cells infiltrated into infarct lesion, which resulted in no visible TTC negative regional existence at day 14. Furthermore, recovery of cerebral blood flow and glucose utilization in peri-infarct zone were noted and more remarkably than that in infarct core following the stroke progression. In conclusion, these characterizations may be highly beneficial to the development of therapeutic strategies for ischemic stroke.

Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) is a kind of multi-functional nuclear transcription factor involved in regulating gene transcription to influence pathological evolution of inflammatory and immune diseases. Numerous literature evidence that NF-κB pathway plays an essential role in pathogenic development of ulcerative colitis (UC). UC is a chronic non-specific inflammatory bowel disease, and until now, therapeutic agents for UC including aminosalicylates, corticosteroids and immune inhibitors still cannot exert satisfied effects on patients. In recent years, Chinese medicines suggest the advantages of alleviating symptoms and signs, decreasing side-effects and recurrence, whose one of mechanisms is related to regulation of NF-κB pathway. In this review, we categorize Chinese medicines according to their traditional therapeutic functions, and summarize the characteristics of Chinese medicines targeting NF-κB pathway in UC treatment. It indicates that 85 kinds of Chinese medicines' compounds and formulae can directly act on NF-κBp65; while 58 Chinese medicines' ingredients and formulae indirectly suppress NF-κBp65 by regulation of its upstream or other related pathways. Moreover, by the analysis of Chinese medicines' category based on their traditional functions, we conclude the category of dampness-drying and detoxificating medicine targeting NF-κB pathway accounts for primary status for amelioration of UC. Simultaneously, this review also contributes to the choices of Chinese medicine category and provides curative potential of Chinese medicines for clinical UC treatment.