Bone defect caused by trauma, neoplasia, congenital defects, or periodontal disease is a major cause of disability and physical limitation. The transplantation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) promotes bone repair and regeneration. However, it has been shown that most BMSCs die within a short period after transplantation. During apoptosis, BMSCs generate a large number of apoptotic cell-derived extracellular vesicles (ApoEVs). This study aims to understand the potential role of ApoEVs in craniofacial bone defect repair and regeneration. First, we confirmed that BMSCs undergo apoptosis within 2 d after transplantation into the defect of the cranium. Abundant ApoEVs were generated from apoptotic BMSCs. Uptake of ApoEVs efficiently promoted the proliferation, migration, and osteogenic differentiation of recipient BMSCs in vitro. ApoEVs from cells in the middle stage of apoptosis were the most efficient to enhance the regenerative capacity of BMSCs. Moreover, a critical size bone defect model in rats was used to evaluate the osteogenic property of ApoEVs in vivo. Local transplantation of ApoEVs promoted bone regeneration in the calvarial defect. Mechanistically, ApoEVs promoted new bone formation by increasing intracellular reactive oxygen species to activate JNK signaling. This study reveals a previously unknown role of the dying transplanted BMSCs in promoting the viability of endogenous BMSCs and repairing the calvarial defects. Since it could avoid several adverse effects and limits of BMSC cytotherapy, treatment of ApoEVs might be a promising strategy in craniofacial bone repair and regeneration.

In this work, a thin and smooth PEI/Dopamine coating layer was immobilized onto the PP separator skeleton via co-deposition of dopamine and polyethyleneimine (PEI, 600 Da). The PEI/Dopamine decorated separator was characterized by SEM, FT-IR/ATR, XPS, UV, EDX, DSC, contact angle and electrochemical methods. The PEI/Dopamine decorated separator showed stable thermal performance. The pure water contact angle was reduced after PEI/Dopamine coating modification. The electrolyte uptake was improved by reason of the boosted compatibility between separator and liquid electrolyte. Meanwhile, the high absorption rate of electrolytes and the introduction of polar functional groups promote the desolvation of lithium ions and the dissociation of lithium salts, thereby improving the ionic conductivity. Batteries assembled with PEI/Dopamine decorated separator displayed more stable cycle performance and the C-rate performance was greatly enhanced. These results demonstrate that PEI/Dopamine decorated separator is expected to be an ideal choice for high power lithium-ion batteries.

Plenty of oily wastewater discharged from industrial and domestic sewage has deteriorated the environment severely, so stimuli-responsive membranes with switchable wettability have been of considerable attraction for its potential application in oil/water separation. In this work, a novel pH-dependent thermoresponsive membrane fabricated by grafting the poly[2-(diethylamino)ethyl acrylamide] (PDEAEAM) from the poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization is explored to achieve the oil/water separation. The PDEAEAM-g-PVDF membrane shows hydrophilicity at room temperature under neutral condition while hydrophobicity at 50 degrees C under alkaline condition. Wettability of the membrane at different temperatures is dominated by the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of PDEAEAM, and the LCST of PDEAEAM is pH dependent. Due to the LCST of PDEAEAM, the membrane shows a variation of separation efficiency for separating hexadecane/water emulsion with temperature and pH. Typical separation efficiencies are 97.10% at 25 degrees C under neutral condition and 30.26% at 50 degrees C under alkaline condition.

Facing the environmental crisis to leakage of oil spills and chemicals, multifunctional absorbent with high oil absorption and selectivity urgently need to solve this matter. In our work, a high oil sorbent was designed and favorably fabricated by two simple immersions using melamine sponge as pristine and a series of oils were used to evaluate the oil absorption performances of the absorbent. Two immersions include adhesion of dopamine and grafting of the long chain hydrophobic agent. The prepared material is superhydrophobic with water contact angle is 165.9 degrees +/- 2.17 and high oil absorption to chloroform is 174 times by own weight, other oils are close to or over 100 times, but to water is only 0.5 times. The reusability reveals that the average recovery can keep more than 95% after 20 cycles. These advantages make it really potential to use in oil spill clean.

ABSTRACTThis work provides a novel approach to improve not only water flux but also fouling resistance of Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes. PVDF/Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)‐blended nanofiber membranes were prepared via electrospinning method. The structure and performance of blended nanofiber membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), attenuated total reflection‐Fourier‐transform infrared (ATR‐FTIR) spectroscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), contact angle measurement, tensile mechanical measurement, and filtration experiments. These results indicate that PVA was uniformly blend in the PVDF matrix. This blended nanofiber membranes with the ridge‐and‐valley structure and bicontinuous phase exhibited the hydrophilic performance and super‐wettability, which is reflected in a drop of water fully spread within 1.44 s. Filtration experiments showed that the blended nanofiber membranes have ultrahigh flux and low irreversible fouling ratio. In general, this work enhances the possibility of hydrophilic modification of hydrophobic PVDF membranes. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020, 137, 48416.

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts are of significances for energy storage or conversion. However, the preparation of excellent electrocatalysts and their utilizations are still great challenges. In this paper, the in situ enrichment of cobalt by sulfate-reducing bacteria (IEC-SRB-Xs) with more uncovered by-production was successfully cultured and carbonized to serve as the OER electrocatalysts triumphantly. The carbonized remains of IEC-SRB-1.00 (named SRB-1.00) showed an excellent potential 1.553 V at current density 10 mA cm−2, and Tafel slope was 47 mV dec−1. Moreover, the SRB-1.00 performed constant activity and without any decline of activity after 24 h of OER testing. In addition, the SRB-1.00 exhibited high electron transfer efficiency of 0.803. Therefore, The IEC-SRB-Xs have potential to be a new approach to prepare OER electrocatalyst for water oxidation.

Delivering ionizing radiation to thoracic region in NSCLC patients faces a major limitation known as the radiation-induced lung injuries (RILIs). During this process, DNA damage to exposed cells could lead to cellular senescence. Accumulating evidence suggests that cellular senescence may play an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory and fibrotic lung diseases. Our group has previously established that, through the lysophosphatidic acid (LPA)-LPA receptor 1 (LPA1) signaling pathway, high levels of LPA in irradiated lungs play an important role in the development of RILIs. This study is designed to discover whether selectively blocking the LPA-LPA1 signaling in the early phase can effectively ameliorate the cellular senescence caused by IR treatment. Firstly, SPF C57BL/6J mice were exposed to X-rays (16 Gy/f) on the whole thorax. Irradiated mouse lungs were analyzed at different points of time to understand the development of cellular senescence. Then AM966 (30 mg/kg, qod, intraperitoneal injection), a selective antagonist to LPA1, was prescribed to irradiated mice from the 1st day to the 7th day and from the 1st day to the 30th day after irradiation. Finally, to explore the relations between cellular senescence and LPA- LPA1 signaling, HBE and HUVEC cells were exposed to the combinatory treatment of irradiation (16 Gy/f) and LPA (10 μM) to simulate the conditions in vivo. The effects of AM966 (40 μΜ), Akt inhibitor MK 2006 (5 μM), and Akt stimulator SC79 (5 μM) on cells were studied 48 hours after irradiation. The irradiated lung tissue had been substantially expressing senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) and p21 from the 14th day after irradiation, both of which culminated on the 60th day with extensive pulmonary fibrosis. AM966 prescription effectively reduced SA-β-gal activity on the 7th and 30th day as well as the levels of senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) factors and p21. The expression of Ki-67 was well-maintained in the AM966 group. At the 48-hour time point after irradiation, more than 80 percent of the HBE and HUVEC cells were arrested in the G2/M phase, and exhibited high activity of SA-β-gal, significantly increased γH2AX foci and ROS production. All above were ameliorated by AM966 or MK2206 pretreatment, while SC79 could counteract the effect of AM966. LPA in high concentrations participates in the radiation-induced pulmonary cellular senescence through the LPA-LPA1-Akt signaling. Selectively blocking LPA1 by AM966 in the early stage could significantly ameliorate pulmonary cellular senescence and injuries.

Approximately 60% of newly diagnosed cancer patients receive radiotherapy to accomplish neoadjuvant, definitive, adjuvant or palliative purpose as required. However, radiotherapy may trigger host-mediated proangiogenic and proinflammatory effects that lead to tumor recurrence. Angiogenesis and inflammation are crucial processes, through which tumor microenvironment (TME) influences tumor growth, invasiveness and metastasis. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) agonist rosiglitazone has anti-inflammatory, antiangiogenic and antineoplastic activities from preclinical data. We hypothesize that rosiglitazone and radiation therapy synergistically amplify the antitumor effect, which is based on the evidence that rosiglitazone remodels tumor vasculature and limits tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) infiltration. The aim of this study is to evaluate the synergistic effect of PPARγ agonist rosiglitazone combined with radiation therapy. Each female Balb/c mouse was inoculated with 5X105 murine colon carcinoma cell line CT26 or breast cancer 4T1. When tumor size approximately reached 250-300 mm3, 12Gy in a fraction as hypofractionated irradiation therapy (HFRT) or 12Gy in 4 daily fractions of 3Gy as conventional fractionated irradiation therapy (CFRT) was delivered to the tumor, meanwhile administration of 100mg/kg rosiglitazone was started daily for 2 weeks. Tumors were harvested according to the schedule. Flow cytometry, ELISA, immunofluorescence, western blot, and so forth were performed to test the synergistic mechanisms. We presented that rosiglitazone has antiangiogenic effect by inhibiting VEGF-VEGFR2 signaling pathways. Immunofluorescence work identified that rosiglitazone can remodel tumor vasculature contributing to decrease of microvessel density, promotion of pericyte coverage, reduction of TAMs infiltration, and even further accompanied improvement of intratumoral hypoxia and vessel perfusion compared with the control (P<0.05). 4T1 or CT26 tumor-bearing mice treated with rosiglitazone in combination with HFRT or CFRT showed a significant reduction in lesion size and lung metastases compared with the control (P<0.001), rosiglitazone(P<0.001) or radiotherapy group (P<0.05). Analysis of ELISA, immunofluorescence and flow cytometry showed that tumor-derived chemokine CCL2 in reaction to HFRT facilitates the recruitment of migrating CD11b+ myeloid monocytes and TAMs into irradiated sites that initiates vasculogenesis and allows tumor recurrence after HFRT. We found that rosiglitazone decreased CCL2 and suppressed CD11b+ myeloid monocytes and TAMs infiltrations after HFRT, which delayed tumor recurrence. Rosiglitazone may elicit normalization of tumor vasculature and limit TAMs infiltration, and thereby delay tumor progression with a fresh perspective. Rosiglitazone, as an adjuvant therapy to HFRT, inhibits CCL2 mediating tumor recurrence.

Schizophrenia is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder where changes in both hippocampus and memory-related cognitive functions are central. However, the exact relationship between neurodevelopmental-genetic factors and hippocampal-cognitive dysfunction remains unclear. The general aim of our study is to link the occurrence of rare damaging mutations involved in susceptibility gene pathways to the structure and function of hippocampus in order to define genetically and phenotypically based subgroups in schizophrenia. In the present study, by analyzing the exome sequencing and magnetic resonance imaging data in 94 first-episode treatment-naive schizophrenia patients and 134 normal controls, we identified that a cluster of rare damaging variants (RDVs) enriched in DNA repair and cell cycle pathways was present only in a subgroup including 39 schizophrenic patients. Furthermore, we found that schizophrenic patients with this RDVs show increased resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between left hippocampus (especially for left dentate gyrus) and left inferior parietal cortex, as well as decreased rsFC between left hippocampus and cerebellum. Moreover, abnormal rsFC was related to the deficits of spatial working memory (SWM; that is known to recruit the hippocampus) in patients with the RDVs. Taken together, our data demonstrate for the first time, to our knowledge, that damaging rare variants of genes in DNA repair and cell cycle pathways are associated with aberrant hippocampal rsFC, which was further relative to cognitive deficits in first-episode treatment-naive schizophrenia. Therefore, our data provide some evidence for the occurrence of phenotypic alterations in hippocampal and SWM function in a genetically defined subgroup of schizophrenia.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of miR-26a on Beclin 1 expression in retinoblastoma (RB) cell lines (Y79 and WERi-RB-1). RB cells were transfected with miR-26a mimic, antagomir-26a, or control mimic. The Beclin 1 mRNA and protein levels were detected by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot, respectively. The activity of Beclin 1 3ꞌ-UTR reporter gene was detected with the luciferase assay. After transfection with miR-26a mimic, Beclin 1 mRNA and protein levels as well as the activity of the 3'-UTR reporter gene decreased. However, all were increased upon inhibition of miR-26a with antagomir-26a. Beclin 1 is the target of miR-26a in human RB cell lines Y79 and WERi-RB-1, and miR-26a inhibits the expression of Beclin 1 by reducing its mRNA and protein levels.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the overall diagnostic performance of the p16 methylation for diagnosing malignant pleural effusion (MPE). METHODS All published literature in English and Chinese were reviewed. Sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were pooled by using random-effects model or fixed-effects model. Summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was used to evaluate the overall diagnostic value. RESULTS Six studies were included with a total of 378 cases. The sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR) and DOR of p16 methylation in the diagnosis of MPE were 0.41 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.35, 0.48], 0.97 [95% CI 0.93, 0.99], 9.57 [95% CI 4.53, 20.20], 0.61 [95% CI 0.45, 0.82] and 19.82 [95% CI 8.35, 47.04], respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.864. CONCLUSION Pleural p16 methylation test plays a useful role in the diagnosis of MPE.

OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study was to investigate effects of mechanical compressive force on differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) in vitro.MATERIALS AND METHODS:Mice ASCs were treated with compressive force (2000 με, 1 Hz) for 2 or 6 h after adipogenic induction for 3 days, then oil red O staining was used to examine oil droplet-filled cells. Adipogenic genes, PPAR-γ1 and APN, were examined by real-time PCR and immunofluorescence (IF) staining was performed to test expression of de-PPAR-γ and ph-PPAR-γ at the protein level.RESULTS:Our data showed that mechanical compressive force reduced numbers of oil droplet-filled cells, and down-regulated mRNA levels of both PPAR-γ1 and APN and protein level of PPAR-γ, in ASCs.CONCLUSIONS:In culture medium containing adipogenic stimuli, mechanical compressive force inhibited adipogenesis of ASCs.

OBJECTIVES this study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between radiographic appearance and epithelial cell proliferations in keratocystic odontogenic tumours (KCOTs). METHODS a retrospective radiographic analysis was performed on 284 cases of KCOT to gain insight into the radiographic characteristics. Expression of Ki-67 in 30 of the 284 cases was detected by the labelled streptavidin-biotin (LSAB) method and evaluated by an image analysis system. RESULTS the radiographic presentation of KCOT was divided into four types: unilocular, multilocular, multiple and naevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS). The expression of Ki-67 in NBCCS was significantly different from the solitary and multiple KCOTs (P = 0.018, 0.002). In multilocular KCOTs it was also significantly different from the unilocular and syndrome-associated lesions (P = 0.000). In contrast, no significant differences were observed between the solitary and multiple lesions (P = 0.220). CONCLUSIONS a high correlation exists in KCOT between its biological behaviour and imaging features. The solitary KCOT seems less biologically aggressive and it should be classified as a cyst rather than a tumour. This means that more than half of KCOTs manifest themselves as ordinary cysts.

Aiming at the chaotic time series,this paper presents the model of Kalman filter in the chaotic phase space combined with the chaotic theory and real-time adjustment technique of Kalman filter.The phase spots are looked as states and described in state space.Using Kalman filter model,the evolution law about the phase spots is predicted and revised on real-time.Then application on short term forecasting of daily power load of Sichuan province is discussed.Because it follows complex nonlinear locus well,the new combined model gets good forecasting precision.The prediction result shows that the method is effective.

Monthly load is possessed of the property of increase trend and seasonal fluctuation simultaneously,so its behavior appears as the characteristic of complex non-linearity.A combined model based on chaos and trend analysis for monthly load forecast is presented.Decomposing the original monthly load time series of Sichuan province into a part of trend and a part of surplus and based on chaos theory,chaotic characteristic of the surplus series is extracted,and it is concluded that surplus series is a chaotic one.Then combined model is used to forecast monthly load,and the predicted result indicates that the combined model is effective for monthly load forecast.

通过计算四川全省电网小时负荷时间序列的混沌特征量:饱和关联维数、最大Lyapunov指数和Kolmogorov熵,论证了该小时负荷序列属于混沌时间序列.以负荷相空间重构为前提,分别应用混沌分析法的相似点模型、线性回归模型及Lyapunov指数模型对其短期负荷预测,并对比了三种模型预测的效果,预测结果表明了混沌预测方法的有效性.

Now the problem of hydrological scale is one of the forward fields in hydrological science.In this paper, new method to analyze hydrological downscaling is discussed based on the chaos theory.The basic principle and essentials about new method are presented in detail,and an example about downscaling calculation of runoff is given.After comparision of the chaotic characteristics of decomposition coefficient of annual runoff with large scale with decomposed monthly runoff with small scale,it concludes that decomposition coefficient series belongs to chaotic series.Finally, phase space model is used in forecasting decomposition coefficient,and the predicted result is used in calculating monthly runoff.The study shows that the method is effective.