Administration of exosomes derived from mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) could improve some neurologic conditions by transferring functional biomolecules to recipient cells. Furthermore, exosomes ...from hypoxic progenitor cells exerted better therapeutic effects in organ injury through specific cargoes. However, there are no related reports about whether exosomes derived from MSCs or hypoxia‐preconditioned MSCs (PC‐MSCs) could prevent memory deficits in Alzheimer disease (AD). In this study, the exosomes derived from MSCs or PC‐MSCs were systemically administered to transgenic APP/PS1 mice. The expression of miR‐21 in MSCs was significantly increased after hypoxic treatment. Injection of exosomes from normoxic MSCs could rescue cognition and memory impairment according to results of the Morris water maze test, reduced plaque deposition, and Aβ levels in the brain; could decrease the activation of astrocytes and microglia; could down‐regulate proinflammatory cytokines (TNF‐α and IL‐1β); and could up‐regulate anti‐inflammatory cytokines (IL‐4 and ‐10) in AD mice, as well as reduce the activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and NF‐κB. Compared to the group administered exosomes from normoxic MSCs, in the group administered exosomes from PC‐MSCs, learning and memory capabilities were significantly improved; the plaque deposition and Aβ levels were lower, and expression of growth‐associated protein 43, synapsin 1, and IL‐10 was increased; and the levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein, ionized calcium‐binding adaptor molecule 1, TNF‐α, IL‐1β, and activation of STAT3 and NF‐κB were sharply decreased. More importantly, exosomes from PC‐MSCs effectively increased the level of miR‐21 in the brain of AD mice. Additionally, replenishment of miR‐21 restored the cognitive deficits in APP/PS1 mice and prevented pathologic features. Taken together, these findings suggest that exosomes from PC‐MSCs could improve the learning and memory capabilities of APP/PS1 mice, and that the underlying mechanism may lie in the restoration of synaptic dysfunction and regulation of inflammatory responses through regulation of miR‐21.—Cui, G.‐H., Wu, J., Mou, F.‐F., Xie, W.‐H., Wang, F.‐B., Wang, Q.‐L., Fang, J., Xu, Y.‐W., Dong, Y.‐R., Liu, J.‐R., Guo, H.‐D. Exosomes derived from hypoxia‐preconditioned mesenchymal stromal cells ameliorate cognitive decline by rescuing synaptic dysfunction and regulating inflammatory responses in APP/PS1 mice. FASEB J. 32, 654–668 (2018). www.fasebj.org
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common complication of diabetes mellitus that affects approximately half of patients with diabetes. Current treatment regimens cannot treat DPN effectively. ...Schwann cells (SCs) are very sensitive to glucose concentration and insulin, and closely associated with the occurrence and development of type 1 diabetic mellitus (T1DM) and DPN. Apoptosis of SCs is induced by hyperglycemia and is involved in the pathogenesis of DPN. This review considers the pathological processes of SCs apoptosis under high glucose, which include the following: oxidative stress, inflammatory reactions, endoplasmic reticulum stress, autophagy, nitrification and signaling pathways (PI3K/AKT, ERK, PERK/Nrf2, and Wnt/β-catenin). The clarification of mechanisms underlying SCs apoptosis induced by high glucose will help us to understand and identify more effective strategies for the treatment of T1DM DPN.
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Conversion of levulinic acid to valuable chemicals: a review Xu, Wen‐Ping; Chen, Xue‐Fang; Guo, Hai‐Jun ...
Journal of chemical technology and biotechnology (1986),
November 2021, 2021-11-00, 20211101, Letnik:
96, Številka:
11
Journal Article
The COVID-19 outbreak is a global crisis that has placed small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under huge pressure to survive, requiring them to respond effectively to the crisis. SMEs have adopted ...various digital technologies to cope with this crisis. Using a data set from a survey with 518 Chinese SMEs, the study examines the relationship between SMEs’ digitalization and their public crisis responses. The empirical results show that digitalization has enabled SMEs to respond effectively to the public crisis by making use of their dynamic capabilities. In addition, digitalization can help improve SMEs’ performance. We propose a theoretical framework of digitalization and crisis responses for SMEs and present three avenues for future research.
The ability to leverage private investment is a key selling point of infrastructure public-private partnerships (PPPs). Research has shown that to attract private capital to infrastructure projects ...government support is needed. However, the specific instruments of government support and their configurations remain unclear. Drawing insights from institutional theories and the public finance literature, this paper examines the government's institutional and financial tools for leveraging private capital. Based on a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of 34 road projects in the U.S. we reveal the multiple configurations of government support strategies that are consistent with high private investment.
Studies have shown that HSP20 (heat-shock protein 20) genes play important roles in regulating plant growth, development, and stress response. However, the grape HSP20 gene family has not been well ...studied.
A total of 48 VvHSP20 genes were identified from the grape genome, which were divided into 11 subfamilies (CI, CII, CIII, CV, CVI, CVII, MI, MII, ER, CP and PX/Po) based on a phylogenetic analysis and subcellular localization. Further structural analysis showed that most of the VvHSP20 genes (93.8%) had no intron or only one intron, while genes that clustered together based on a phylogenetic tree had similar motifs and evolutionarily conserved structures. The HSP20s share a conservedα-crystalline domain (ACD) and the different components of the ACD domain suggest the functional diversity of VvHSP20s. In addition, the 48 VvHSP20 genes were distributed on 12 grape chromosomes and the majority of VvHSP20 genes were located at the proximal or distal ends of chromosomes. Chromosome mapping indicated that four groups of VvHSP20 genes were identified as tandem duplication genes. Phytohormone responsive, abiotic and biotic stress-responsive, and plant development-related cis-elements were identified from the cis-regulatory elements analysis of VvHSP20s. The expression profiles of VvHSP20s genes (VvHSP20-1, 11, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 28, 31, 39, 42, and 43) were largely similar between RNA-Seq and qRT-PCR analysis after hydrogen peroxide (H
O
) treatment. The results showed that most VvHSP20s were down-regulated by H
O
treatment during fruit development. VvHSP20s genes were indeed found to be involved in the grape berry development and differences in their transcriptional levels may be the result of functional differentiation during evolution.
Our results provide valuable information on the evolutionary relationship of genes in the VvHSP20 family, which is useful for future studies on the functional characteristics of VvHSP20 genes in grape.
Exosomes are lipid-bilayer enclosed nano-sized vesicles that transfer functional cellular proteins, mRNA and miRNAs. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived exosomes have been demonstrated to prevent ...memory deficits in the animal model of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the intravenously injected exosomes could be abundantly tracked in other organs except for the targeted regions in the brain. Here, we proposed the use of central nervous system-specific rabies viral glycoprotein (RVG) peptide to target intravenously-infused exosomes derived from MSCs (MSC-Exo) to the brain of transgenic APP/PS1 mice. MSC-Exo were conjugated with RVG through a DOPE-NHS linker.
RVG-tagged MSC-Exo exhibited improved targeting to the cortex and hippocampus after being administered intravenously. Compared with the group administered MSC-Exo, in the group administered RVG-conjugated MSC-Exo (MSC-RVG-Exo) plaque deposition and Aβ levels were sharply decreased and activation of astrocytes was obviously reduced. The brain targeted exosomes derived from MSCs was better than unmodified exosomes to improve cognitive function in APP/PS1 mice according to Morris water maze test. Additionally, although MSC-Exo injected intravenously reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators TNF-α, IL-β, and IL-6, but the changes of anti-inflammatory factors IL-10 and IL-13 were not obvious. However, administration of MSC-RVG-Exo significantly reduced the levels of TNF-α, IL-β, and IL-6 while significantly raised the levels of IL-10, IL-4 and IL-13.
Taken together, our results demonstrated a novel method for increasing delivery of exosomes for treatment of AD. By targeting exosomes to the cortex and hippocampus of AD mouse, there was a significant improvement in learning and memory capabilities with reduced plaque deposition and Aβ levels, and normalized levels of inflammatory cytokines.
Non-contact temperature sensors based on up-conversion photoemission with quick response and in situ monitoring exhibits scientific and technological potential. However, to achieve highly efficient ...up-conversion and good temperature sensing performance from doped disordered glass matrix has led to limited success. Here, we report a nano-structured NaY2F7:Yb3+/Tm3+ glass ceramic for intense up-conversion in the first bio-window and sensitive optical response on temperature. Evidenced by detailed structural and optical characterization, the incorporation of Yb3+/Tm3+ into NaY2F7 nano-crystals results in the greatly enhanced and long-lived photoluminescence with noteworthy Stark splitting. More interestingly, the emission intensity ratio of thermally coupled 3F2,3 → 3H6 and 1G4 → 3F4 transition of Tm3+ is highly temperature dependent and repeatable due the protection of silicate glass network. Thus, NaY2F7:Yb3+/Tm3+ glass ceramic shows excellent temperature sensing performances, including high sensitivity, and excellent repeatability. In particular, the maximal relative and absolute sensitivity reach 1.63 %K−1 (415 K) and 10.01 %K−1 (567 K), respectively. These results reveal that Yb3+/Tm3+ co-doped NaY2F7 GC could be promising in the application of up-converting materials for high performance optical temperature sensor.
•Highly transparent bulk NaY2F7:Yb3+/Tm3+ glass ceramic was successfully manufactured.•The formation of NaY2F7 nano-crystals and the enrichment of Yb/Tm into nano-crystals were confirmed.•SR-MAX reaches 1.63 %K−1 (415 K) and SA-MAX is 10.01 %K−1 (567 K).•NaY2F7:Yb3+/Tm3+ glass ceramic could be potential candidate for highly sensitive optical thermometry.
Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common and highly malignant pathological type of kidney cancer. We sought to establish a metabolic signature to improve post‐operative risk ...stratification and identify novel targets in the prediction models for ccRCC patients. A total of 58 metabolic differential expressed genes (MDEGs) were identified with significant prognostic value. LASSO regression analysis constructed 20‐mRNA signatures models, metabolic prediction models (MPMs), in ccRCC patients from two cohorts. Risk score of MPMs significantly predicts prognosis for ccRCC patients in TCGA (P < 0.001, HR = 3.131, AUC = 0.768) and CPTAC cohorts (P = 0.046, HR = 2.893, AUC = 0.777). In addition, G6PC, a hub gene in PPI network of MPMs, shows significantly prognostic value in 718 ccRCC patients from multiply cohorts. Next, G6Pase was detected high expressed in normal kidney tissues than ccRCC tissues. It suggested that low G6Pase expression significantly correlated with poor prognosis (P < 0.0001, HR = 0.316) and aggressive progression (P < 0.0001, HR = 0.414) in 322 ccRCC patients from FUSCC cohort. Meanwhile, promoter methylation level of G6PC was significantly higher in ccRCC samples with aggressive progression status. G6PC significantly participates in abnormal immune infiltration of ccRCC microenvironment, showing significantly negative association with check‐point immune signatures, dendritic cells, Th1 cells, etc. In conclusion, this study first provided the opportunity to comprehensively elucidate the prognostic MDEGs landscape, established novel prognostic model MPMs using large‐scale ccRCC transcriptome data and identified G6PC as potential prognostic target in 1,040 ccRCC patients from multiply cohorts. These finding could assist in managing risk assessment and shed valuable insights into treatment strategies of ccRCC.
We consider the scalar induced gravitational waves from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations and the gravitational wave observations. In the
Λ
CDM+
r
model, we constrain the ...cosmological parameters within the evolution of the scalar induced gravitational waves by the additional scalar power spectrum. The two special cases called narrow power spectrum and wide power spectrum have influence on the cosmological parameters, especially the combinations of Planck18+BAO+BK15+LISA. We also compare these numerical results from four datasets within LIGO, LISA, IPTA and FAST projects, respectively. The constraints from FAST have a significant impact on tensor-to-scalar ratio. Besides, we only consider the relic density of induced gravitational waves with respect to different frequencies from CMB scale to high frequencies including the range of LIGO and LISA.