The Ti-30Zr-5Al-3V (TZ30) alloy, having a low elastic modulus close to biological bones, promises great application potential for implant biomaterials. Surface performance of an implant plays a key ...role in tissue growth and long-life safe service. The surface micro/nanostructure on the TZ30 alloy is prepared and adjusted by using the electrochemical etching (ECE) method. Effects of main parameters (current density, electrolyte concentration, and etching time) of the ECE method on surface morphology are investigated. The size of all etch pits after ECE treatment is on the micrometer scale. Current density most influences the average pit diameter. Electrolyte concentration (NaBr in this work) is the dominant factor in pit depth. The size of etch pits is from 4.7 to 97.4 μm for diameter and from 3.6 to 27.8 μm for depth. A nearly “ideal” surface is obtained after ECE treatment at 0.5 mol/L NaBr, 300 mA/cm
2
, and lasting for 3 min. The etching structure inside pits is on a micro/nano-scale. Decreasing electrolyte concentration and extending etching time help to form the tiny and uniform micro/nanostructure. The minimum size of the equiaxed structure inside pits is approximately 0.27 μm. It would help to promote applications of Ti alloys as hard tissue implants.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is thought to result from susceptibility genotypes and environmental risk factors. The offspring of women who experience pregnancy infection have an increased risk for ...autism. Maternal immune activation (MIA) in pregnant animals produces offspring with autistic behaviors, making MIA a useful model for autism. However, how MIA causes autistic behaviors in offspring is not fully understood. Here, we show that NKCC1 is critical for mediating autistic behaviors in MIA offspring. We confirmed that MIA induced by poly(I:C) infection during pregnancy leads to autistic behaviors in offspring. We further demonstrated that MIA offspring showed significant microglia activation, excessive dendritic spines, and narrow postsynaptic density (PSD) in their prefrontal cortex (PFC). Then, we discovered that these abnormalities may be caused by overexpression of NKCC1 in MIA offspring's PFCs. Finally, we ameliorated the autistic behaviors using PFC microinjection of NKCC1 inhibitor bumetanide (BTN) in MIA offspring. Our findings may shed new light on the pathological mechanisms for autism caused by pregnancy infection.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a common clinical problem in orthopedics with a lack of effective treatments and drug targets. In the present study, we performed bioinformatic analysis of SCI datasets ...GSE464 and GSE45006 in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) public database and experimentally validated CCL2 expression in an animal model of SCI. This was followed by stimulation of PC-12 cells using hydrogen peroxide to construct a cellular model of SCI. CCL2 expression was knocked down using small interfering RNA (si-CCL2), and PI3K signaling pathway inhibitors and activators were used to validate and observe the changes in downstream inflammation. Through data mining, we found that the inflammatory chemokine CCL2 and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways after SCI expression were significantly increased, and after peroxide stimulation of PC-12 cells with CCL2 knockdown, their downstream cellular inflammatory factor levels were decreased. The PI3K/Akt signaling pathway was blocked by PI3K inhibitors, and the downstream inflammatory response was suppressed. In contrast, when PI3K activators were used, the inflammatory response was enhanced, indicating that the CCL2-PI3K/Akt signaling pathway plays a key role in the regulation of the inflammatory response. This study revealed that the inflammatory chemokine CCL2 can regulate the inflammatory response of PC-12 cells through the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, and blocking the expression of the inflammatory chemokine CCL2 may be a promising strategy for the treatment of secondary injury after SCI.
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•A glucanase with high activity and substrate specificity for KGM was identified.•High selenium content selenium-modified glucomannan oligosaccharides was prepared.•Selenium-modified ...glucomannan oligosaccharides have high antitumor activity.•Antitumor activity induced apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway.
Konjac glucomannan is safely and widely used in the functional food industry. Compared with glucomannan, glucomannan oligosaccharides have higher water solubility making them easier to absorb and utilize. These oligosaccharides are also associated with many biological activities. A novel glucomannan hydrolase PpGluA with high activity and substrate specificity which releases a series of konjac glucomannan oligosaccharides having DP 2–9 is described here. Selenium is one of the essential trace elements for humans. The selenium-modified glucomannan oligosaccharides were prepared by the sodium selenite-nitric acid method for the first time. Antitumor activity studies demonstrated that selenium-modified glucomannan oligosaccharides had better activity than inorganic sodium selenite and glucomannan oligosaccharides and inhibited tumor by inducing apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway. This study suggests that selenium-modified glucomannan oligosaccharides may be have potential as a new functional food for inhibition of tumors.
Coronary slow flow (CSF) is characterized by delayed opacification of distal epicardial coronary arteries without significant coronary stenosis. In addition, The changes of lipoprotein-associated ...phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA
) as a significant predictive factor for CSF remain controversial. The study aims to investigate the association between plasma Lp-PLA
and CSF.
In this retrospective study, 170 consecutive patients who underwent coronary angiography were enrolled in Beijing Anzhen Hospital from January 2017 to September 2019, and were divided into CSF group and normal control groups. According to coronary blood flow rate measured by the thrombolysis in myocardial infarction frame count (TFC) method, CSF was defined as TFC > 27. Serum Lp-PLA
levels were measured in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Lp-PLA
levels were higher in the CSF group than in the control group (288.6 ± 50.3 versus 141.9 ± 49.7, P < 0.001) and were significantly correlated with the mean coronary artery thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) frame count (r = 0.790, P<0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that high Lp-PLA
was independently associated with CSF after adjustment for conventional risk factors (OR = 1.040, CI = 1.022-1.059, P<0.001). Male sex (OR = 2.192, CI = 1.161-4.140, P = 0.016) and hypertension (OR = 1.965, CI = 1.034-3.736, P = 0.039) were also CSF risk factors. Receiver-operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis showed that Lp-PLA
levels can predict CSF severity; the predictive power was higher than the other risk factors.
Our study demonstrated that patients with CSF had higher circulating levels of Lp-PLA
than normal controls. After adjustment for potential confounders, increased Lp-PLA
was independently associated with presence of CSF.
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•The retention of Ag2S-NPs was investigated in 11 natural soils.•More than 99% of Ag2S-NPs were retained in soil solids.•Ag2S-NPs showed higher retention in most soils relative to Ag+ ...or AgNPs.•Iron-rich acidic soil had a high dissolution of Ag2S-NPs in porewater.
Silver, either in ionic or nanoparticulate form, is widely used in consumer products. However, silver sulfide (Ag2S) are more likely to be the form that Ag enters the environment. The retention of silver sulfide nanoparticles (Ag2S-NPs) in natural soils is critical for bioavailability and toxicity but remains unclear. Here, we examined the retention of Ag2S-NPs in 11 natural soils with varying properties using batch assays. More than 99% of Ag2S-NPs were retained in soil solids, irrespective of soil properties. Such high retention of Ag2S-NPs, at least partially, explained the distinct differences in phytoavailability performed in soil vs. liquid media in the literature. Nanoparticles containing Ag and S were identified in representative soil solids by high resolution transmission electron microscopy equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer. Iron-rich acidic soil had a high dissolution of Ag2S-NPs ranging from 47.1% to 61.7% in porewater. In contrast to Ag2S-NPs, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and Ag+ in these soils were less retained (as described by Freundlich model) and the retention was closely associated with soil properties. These findings highlight the unique behaviors of Ag2S-NPs in natural soils.
In August 2017, a serious disease causing high mortality occurred in a Myxocyprinus asiaticus aquaculture farm. According to necropsy findings, bacteriology experiments and phylogenetic analysis ...based on 16S rRNA, cpn60, gyrB and rpoB genes and concatenated alignment sequences (cpn60, gyrB and rpoB genes), two isolates, that is, BBAh1 and BBAv1, were identified as Aeromonas hydrophila and Aeromonas veronii respectively. Artificial infection experiments were carried out, showing that the BBAh1 and BBAv1 strains can cause similar symptoms and have LD50 values of 1.93×105 and 8.77×105 cfu/g respectively. In addition, some virulent genes coding for AerA, Alt, Ast, AscV, AexT, AspA, HlyA, OmpA, Lip and FlaA were detected in the two strains. Furthermore, BBAh1 and BBAv1 showed the same sensitivities to 28 antibiotics, some of which, such as cefotaxime, aztreonam, ceftriaxone and tetracycline, may be used to control the disease. However, the strains were also resistant to many antibiotics. These results provide a scientific reference for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of motile Aeromonas septicaemia caused by A. hydrophila or A. veronii in cultured Chinese sucker.
The catalytic asymmetric halocyclization of alkene is a powerful and straightforward strategy for the synthesis of chiral heterocyclic compounds. Herein, an effective approach to chiral benzoxazine ...derivatives through organocatalyzed chlorocyclization of o-vinylanilides was reported. This method provides facile access to a series of chiral benzoxazines in good to excellent yields (up to 99% yield) and with high-level enantiocontrol (up to 92% ee).
Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular apicomplexan parasite that affects humans and various vertebrate livestock and causes serious economic losses. To develop an effective vaccine against ...T. gondii infection, we constructed a DNA vaccine encoding the T. gondii rhoptry protein 17 (TgROP17) and evaluated its immune protective efficacy against acute T. gondii infection in mice. The DNA vaccine (p3×Flag-CMV-14-ROP17) was intramuscularly injected to BALB/c mice and the immune responses of the vaccinated mice were determined. Compared to control mice treated with empty vector or PBS, mice immunized with the ROP17 vaccine showed a relatively high level of specific anti-T. gondii antibodies, and a mixed IgG1/IgG2a response with predominance of IgG2a production. The immunized mice also displayed a specific lymphocyte proliferative response, a Th1-type cellular immune response with production of IFN-γ and interleukin-2, and increased number of CD8+ T cells. Immunization with the ROP17 DNA significantly prolonged the survival time (15.6 ± 5.4 days, P < 0.05) of mice after challenge infection with the virulent T. gondii RH strain (Type I), compared with the control groups which died within 8 days. Therefore, our data suggest that DNA vaccination with TgROP17 triggers significant humoral and cellular responses and induces effective protection in mice against acute T. gondii infection, indicating that TgROP17 is a promising vaccine candidate against acute toxoplasmosis.
Toxoplasma gondii est un Apicomplexa parasite intracellulaire obligatoire, qui affecte l’homme et divers animaux domestiques et provoque de graves pertes économiques. Pour développer un vaccin efficace contre l’infection par T. gondii, nous avons construit un vaccin à ADN codant pour la protéine 17 des rhoptries de T. gondii (TRAP17) et avons évalué son efficacité protectrice immunitaire contre une infection aiguë par T. gondii chez la souris. Le vaccin à ADN (p3×Flag-CMV-14-ROP17) a été injecté par voie intramusculaire à des souris BALB/c et les réponses immunitaires des souris vaccinées ont été déterminées. Par comparaison avec des souris témoins traitées avec le vecteur vide ou du PBS, les souris immunisées avec le vaccin contre la ROP17 ont montré un niveau relativement élevé d’anticorps spécifiques anti-T. gondii et une réponse IgG1/IgG2a mixte avec prédominance de la production d’IgG2a. Les souris immunisées ont également montré une réponse proliférative lymphocytaire spécifique, une réponse immunitaire cellulaire de type Th1 avec production d’IFN-γ et d’interleukine-2, et une augmentation du nombre de cellules T CD8+. L’immunisation avec l’ADN ROP17 a prolongé de façon significative le temps de survie (15.6 ± 5.4 jours, P < 0.05) des souris après infection d’épreuve avec la souche virulente de T. gondii RH (type I), par rapport aux groupes de contrôle qui sont morts dans les 8 jours. Par conséquent, nos données suggèrent que la vaccination par ADN avec TgROP17 déclenche des réponses humorale et cellulaire importantes et induit une protection efficace chez la souris contre une infection aiguë par T. gondii, indiquant que TgROP17 est un candidat vaccin prometteur contre la toxoplasmose aiguë.
Brucellosis is an important zoonotic disease that causes great economic losses. Vaccine immunisation is the main strategy for the prevention and control of brucellosis. Although live attenuated ...vaccines play important roles in the prevention of this disease, they also have several limitations, such as residual virulence and difficulty in the differentiation of immunisation and infection. We developed and evaluated a new bacterial ghost vaccine of
A19 by a new double inactivation method. The results showed that the bacterial ghost vaccine of
represents a more safe and efficient vaccine for brucellosis. We further characterised the antigenic components and signatures of the vaccine candidate A19BG. Here, we utilised a mass spectrometry-based label-free relative quantitative proteomics approach to investigate the global proteomics changes in A19BGs compared to its parental A19. The proteomic analysis identified 2014 proteins, 1116 of which were differentially expressed compared with those in A19. The common immunological proteins of OMPs (Bcsp31, Omp25, Omp10, Omp19, Omp28, and Omp2a), HSPs (DnaK, GroS, and GroL), and SodC were enriched in the proteome of A19BG. By protein micro array-based antibody profiling, significant differences were observed between A19BG and A19 immune response, and a number of signature immunogenic proteins were identified. Two of these proteins, the BMEII0032 and BMEI0892 proteins were significantly different (P < 0.01) in distinguishing between A19 and A19BG immune sera and were identified as differential diagnostic antigens for the A19BG vaccine candidate. In conclusion, using comparative proteomics and antibody profiling, protein components and signature antigens were identified for the ghost vaccine candidate A19BG, which are valuable for further developing the vaccine and its monitoring assays.
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