Current treatments for wound healing engage in passive healing processes and rarely participate in stimulating skin cell behaviors for active wound healing. Electric potential difference‐derived ...electrical fields (EFs) are known to modulate skin cell behaviors. Here, a piezoelectric dermal patch is developed that can be applied on skin wound site and EF is generated to promote wound healing. The one‐directionally aligned zinc oxide nanorod‐based piezoelectric patch generates piezoelectric potential upon mechanical deformations induced by animal motion, and induces EF at the wound bed. In vitro and in vivo data demonstrate that the piezoelectric patch promotes the wound healing process through enhanced cellular metabolism, migration, and protein synthesis. This modality may lead to a clinically relevant piezoelectric dermal patch therapy for active wound healing.
A piezoelectric patch that can be applied on skin wounds and generate electric fields (EFs) to promote wound healing is developed. The zinc oxide nanorod‐based patch generates piezoelectric potential upon skin movements, and induces EF at the wound bed. In vitro and in vivo data suggest the patch promotes skin regeneration through enhanced cellular metabolism, migration, and protein synthesis.
Skin color is determined by the processes of melanin synthesis and distribution. Problems in various molecules or signaling pathways involved in melanin synthesis contribute to skin pigmentation ...defects. Several trials have been conducted on the production of pigmentation-regulating agents, and drug repositioning has emerged as a modern technique to identify new uses for existing drugs. Our research team has researched substances or drugs associated with pigmentation control and, as a result, nilotinib, sorafenib, and ICG-001 have been found to promote pigmentation, while 5-iodotubercidin inhibits pigmentation. Therefore, these substances or medications were suggested as potential therapeutics for pigmentation disorders by drug repositioning.
We report the chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) obtained by next-generation sequencing technology and compared this with the previously reported common ...buckwheat (F. esculentum ssp. ancestrale) cp genome. The cp genome of F. tataricum has a total sequence length of 159,272 bp, which is 327 bp shorter than the common buckwheat cp genome. The cp gene content, order, and orientation are similar to those of common buckwheat, but with some structural variation at tandem and palindromic repeat frequencies and junction areas. A total of seven InDels (around 100 bp) were found within the intergenic sequences and the ycf1 gene. Copy number variation of the 21-bp tandem repeat varied in F. tataricum (four repeats) and F. esculentum (one repeat), and the InDel of the ycf1 gene was 63 bp long. Nucleotide and amino acid have highly conserved coding sequence with about 98% homology and four genes--rpoC2, ycf3, accD, and clpP--have high synonymous (Ks) value. PCR based InDel markers were applied to diverse genetic resources of F. tataricum and F. esculentum, and the amplicon size was identical to that expected in silico. Therefore, these InDel markers are informative biomarkers to practically distinguish raw or processed buckwheat products derived from F. tataricum and F. esculentum.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Predicting the risk of cardiovascular disease is the key to primary prevention. Machine learning has attracted attention in analyzing increasingly large, complex healthcare data. We assessed ...discrimination and calibration of pre-existing cardiovascular risk prediction models and developed machine learning-based prediction algorithms. This study included 222,998 Korean adults aged 40-79 years, naïve to lipid-lowering therapy, had no history of cardiovascular disease. Pre-existing models showed moderate to good discrimination in predicting future cardiovascular events (C-statistics 0.70-0.80). Pooled cohort equation (PCE) specifically showed C-statistics of 0.738. Among other machine learning models such as logistic regression, treebag, random forest, and adaboost, the neural network model showed the greatest C-statistic (0.751), which was significantly higher than that for PCE. It also showed improved agreement between the predicted risk and observed outcomes (Hosmer-Lemeshow χ
= 86.1, P < 0.001) than PCE for whites did (Hosmer-Lemeshow χ
= 171.1, P < 0.001). Similar improvements were observed for Framingham risk score, systematic coronary risk evaluation, and QRISK3. This study demonstrated that machine learning-based algorithms could improve performance in cardiovascular risk prediction over contemporary cardiovascular risk models in statin-naïve healthy Korean adults without cardiovascular disease. The model can be easily adopted for risk assessment and clinical decision making.
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) play significant roles in various cancer cells such as functional heterogeneity, microenvironmental differences, and reversible changes in cell properties (e.g., ...chemotherapy). There is a lack of targets for processes involved in tumor cellular heterogeneity, such as metabolic clampdown, cytotoxicity, and genotoxicity, which hinders microenvironmental biology. Proteogenomics and chemical metabolomics are important tools that can be used to study proteins/genes and metabolites in cells, respectively. Chemical metabolomics have many advantages over genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics in anticancer therapy. However, recent studies with AgNPs have revealed considerable genomic and proteomic changes, particularly in genes involved in tumor suppression, apoptosis, and oxidative stress. Metabolites interact biochemically with energy storage, neurotransmitters, and antioxidant defense systems. Mechanobiological studies of AgNPs in cancer metabolomics suggest that AgNPs may be promising tools that can be exploited to develop more robust and effective adaptive anticancer therapies. Herein, we present a proof-of-concept review for AgNPs-based proteogenomics and chemical metabolomics from various tumor cells with the help of several technologies, suggesting their promising use as drug carriers for cancer therapy.
Introduction/Aims
There are limited studies on the association of COVID‐19 vaccination with neuralgic amyotrophy (NA). Therefore, we evaluated the association between COVID‐19 vaccination and the ...occurrence of NA.
Methods
We explored unexpected safety signals for NA related to COVID‐19 vaccination through disproportionality analysis using VigiBase, the World Health Organization's pharmacovigilance database.
Results
On October 15, 2021, 335 cases of NA were identified in the database. The median time to onset of NA after vaccination was around 2 weeks. A significant signal of disproportionality of NA was observed for the ChAdOx1 nCoV‐19 vaccine (AstraZeneca) (information component IC025 = 0.33, reporting odds ratio ROR025 = 1.30) and two mRNA‐based COVID‐19 vaccines (BNT162b2 Pfizer and BioNTech and mRNA‐1273 Moderna) (IC025 = 1.74, ROR025 = 3.82) compared with the entire database. However, when compared with influenza vaccines, we did not detect any signal of disproportionality of NA for both the ChAdOx1 nCoV‐19 vaccine (IC025 = −2.71, ROR025 = 0.05) and mRNA‐based COVID‐19 vaccines (IC025 = −1.38, ROR025 = 0.13).
Discussion
A weak association was observed between NA and COVID‐19 vaccines. However, the risk did not surpass that of influenza vaccines.
Monocyte infiltration into the subintimal space and its intracellular lipid accumulation are the most prominent features of atherosclerosis. To understand the pathophysiology of atherosclerotic ...disease, we need to understand the characteristics of lipid-laden foamy macrophages in the subintimal space during atherosclerosis.
We sought to examine the transcriptomic profiles of foamy and nonfoamy macrophages isolated from atherosclerotic intima.
Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of CD45
leukocytes from murine atherosclerotic aorta revealed that there are macrophage subpopulations with distinct differentially expressed genes involved in various functional pathways. To specifically characterize the intimal foamy macrophages of plaque, we developed a lipid staining-based flow cytometric method for analyzing the lipid-laden foam cells of atherosclerotic aortas. We used the fluorescent lipid probe BODIPY493/503 and assessed side-scattered light as an indication of cellular granularity. BODIPY
SSC
foamy macrophages were found residing in intima and expressing CD11c. Foamy macrophage accumulation determined by flow cytometry was positively correlated with the severity of atherosclerosis. Bulk RNA sequencing analysis showed that compared with nonfoamy macrophages, foamy macrophages expressed few inflammatory genes but many lipid-processing genes. Intimal nonfoamy macrophages formed the major population expressing IL (interleukin)-1β and many other inflammatory transcripts in atherosclerotic aorta.
RNA sequencing analysis of intimal macrophages from atherosclerotic aorta revealed that lipid-loaded plaque macrophages are not likely the plaque macrophages that drive lesional inflammation.
Ideophones are believed to exhibit distinct phonotactic patterns compared to regular language, in their expressiveness. Vowel harmony can be observed in ideophones in Modern Korean. However, over ...time, Korean has gradually lost its regular vowel harmony process, due to the influx of foreign words, especially from Chinese, and historical sound changes like the vowel shift of /ɔ/ to different vowel types. Previous studies have mainly focused on the vowel patterns of ideophones without necessarily comparing the degree of vowel harmony between ideophones and other lexical strata. This lack of comparison makes it challenging to assess the level of corruption in vowel harmony specifically within ideophones, relative to other components of the lexicon. To address this gap, this paper examines vowel patterns extracted from the online dictionary of Korean, developed by the National Institute of the Korean Language (NIKL) with contributions from anonymous users and specialists. The analysis specifically explores vowel patterns across lexical items with varying syllable lengths, focusing on the lexical stratum, adverbial parts of speech, and the semantic meaning of the adverbials. This examination aims to assess the regularity of vowel sequencing and determine the extent of purity in vowel harmony patterns. The quantitative analysis of the compiled dictionary provides valuable insights into the degree of irregular phonotactics and its relationship to sound symbolism in Modern Korean.
Background:
Concomitant full-thickness tear of the subscapularis tendon is often neglected during primary posterosuperior rotator cuff repair, and its significance has not been investigated by any ...previous clinical study.
Purpose:
To investigate (1) the clinical and radiological outcomes of revision arthroscopic rotator cuff repair and (2) the number of neglected concomitant subscapularis full-thickness tears in the revision of posterosuperior rotator cuff retears and their structural integrity after repair.
Study Design:
Case series, Level of evidence, 4.
Methods:
This study retrospectively examined 58 patients who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff revision for a retear of a previously repaired posterosuperior rotator cuff. Preoperative and postoperative functional scores and active range of motion (ROM) were assessed. The initial and most recent follow-up magnetic resonance imaging scans before revision and arthroscopic findings at the time of primary repair were reviewed to determine whether the concomitant subscapularis tear was newly developed or preexisting. Final confirmation of the tendon’s full-thickness tear was made during the revision procedure.
Results:
At final follow-up, mean functional shoulder scores and ROM improved significantly compared with the preoperative values (P < .001). Among the 58 revision cases, 25 (43.1%) had a neglected full-thickness tear of the subscapularis tendon. The fatty infiltration grade of the neglected subscapularis tear progressed from a mean of 1.1 before primary repair to a mean of 1.6 before revision, and the change indicated statistically significant deterioration (P < .001). Despite clinical improvement after revision surgery, the retear rate was considerable in the re-repaired cuff tendons (37.9%) as well as for the repaired concomitant subscapularis tears (24%).
Conclusion:
Among revision rotator cuff repairs, 43.1% had neglected subscapularis tears, and fatty infiltration of these initially neglected subscapularis tendons showed further progression at the time of revision. The retear rate after the repair of neglected subscapularis tears was higher than expected. Thus, detecting and treating subscapularis tear via meticulous preoperative evaluation and thorough inspection during primary arthroscopy are essential.
The therapeutic efficacy of drugs often depends on the drug delivery carrier. For efficient delivery of therapeutic proteins, delivery carriers should enable the loading of large doses, sustained ...release, and retention of the bioactivity of the therapeutic proteins. Here, it is demonstrated that graphene oxide (GO) is an efficient carrier for delivery of therapeutic proteins. Titanium (Ti) substrates are coated with GO through layer‐by‐layer assembly of positively (GO‐NH3+) and negatively (GO‐COO−) charged GO sheets. Subsequently, a therapeutic protein (bone morphogenetic protein‐2, BMP‐2) is loaded on the GO‐coated Ti substrate with the outermost coating layer of GO‐COO−(Ti/GO‐). The GO coating on Ti substrate enables loading of large doses and the sustained release of BMP‐2 with preservation of the structure and bioactivity of the drug. The extent of in vitro osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells is higher when they are cultured on Ti/GO‐ carrying BMP‐2 than when they are cultured on Ti with BMP‐2. Eight weeks after implantation in mouse models of calvarial defects, the Ti/GO‐/BMP‐2 implants show more robust new bone formation compared with Ti, Ti/GO‐, or Ti/BMP‐2 implants. Therefore, GO is an effective carrier for the controlled delivery of therapeutic proteins, such as BMP‐2, which promotes osteointegration of orthopedic or dental Ti implants.
The delivery of bone morphogenetic protein‐2 (BMP‐2) into mouse calvarial defect is demonstrated using graphene oxide (GO)‐coated titanium implant. The GO‐coated titanium shows successfully regenerated bone on the mouse calvarial, which is analyzed by micro‐CT and histomorphometery.
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