In the treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI), the complex process of secondary injury is mainly responsible for preventing SCI repair or even exacerbating the injury. In this experiment, we ...constructed the 8-gingerol (8G)-loaded mesoporous polydopamine (M-PDA), M@8G, as the in vivo targeting nano-delivery platform, and investigated the therapeutic effects of M@8G in secondary SCI and its related mechanisms. The results indicated that M@8G could penetrate the blood-spinal cord barrier to enrich the spinal cord injury site. Mechanism research has shown that all of the M-PDA,8G and M@8G displayed the anti-lipid peroxidation effect, and then M@8G can inhibit the secondary SCI by suppressing the ferroptosis and inflammation. In vivo assays showed that M@8G significantly diminished the local injury area, reduced axonal and myelin loss, thus improving the neurological and motor recovery in rats. Based on the analysis of cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients, ferroptosis occurred locally in SCI and continued to progress in patients during the acute phase of SCI as well as the stage after their clinical surgery. This study showcases effective treatment of SCI through the aggregation and synergistic effect of M@8G in focal areas, providing a safe and promising strategy for the clinical treatment of SCI.
Piwi proteins are modified by symmetric dimethylation of arginine (sDMA), and the methylarginine-dependent interaction with Tudor domain proteins is critical for their functions in germline ...development. Cocrystal structures of an extended Tudor domain (eTud) of Drosophila Tudor with methylated peptides of Aubergine, a Piwi family protein, reveal that sDMA is recognized by an asparagine-gated aromatic cage. Furthermore, the unexpected Tudor-SN/p100 fold of eTud is important for sensing the position of sDMA. The structural information provides mechanistic insights into sDMA-dependent Piwi-Tudor interaction, and the recognition of sDMA by Tudor domains in general.
Increasing absorption efficiency and decreasing total thickness of the acoustic absorber is favorable to promote its practical application. Four compressed porous metals with compression ratios of ...0%, 30%, 60%, and 90% were prepared to assemble the four-layer gradient compressed porous metals, which aimed to develop the acoustic absorber with high-efficiency and thin thickness. Through deriving structural parameters of thickness, porosity, and static flow resistivity for the compressed porous metals, theoretical models of sound absorption coefficients of the gradient compressed porous metals were constructed through transfer matrix method according to the Johnson-Champoux-Allard model. Sound absorption coefficients of four-layer gradient compressed porous metals with the different permutations were theoretically analyzed and experimentally measured, and the optimal average sound absorption coefficient of 60.33% in 100-6000 Hz was obtained with the total thickness of 11 mm. Sound absorption coefficients of the optimal gradient compressed porous metal were further compared with those of the simple superposed compressed porous metal, which proved that the former could obtain higher absorption efficiency with thinner thickness and fewer materials. These phenomena were explored by morphology characterizations. The developed high-efficiency and thin-thickness acoustic absorber of gradient compressed porous metal can be applied in acoustic environmental detection and industrial noise reduction.
Embryonic rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS) is the most common soft-tissue tumor in children. Here, we report the identification of the minor groove DNA-binding factor high mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) as ...a driver of ERMS development. HMGA2 was highly expressed in normal myoblasts and ERMS cells, where its expression was essential to maintain cell proliferation, survival in vitro, and tumor outgrowth in vivo. Mechanistic investigations revealed that upregulation of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) mRNA-binding protein IGF2BP2 was critical for HMGA2 action. In particular, IGF2BP2 was essential for mRNA and protein stability of NRAS, a frequently mutated gene in ERMS. shRNA-mediated attenuation of NRAS or pharmacologic inhibition of the MAP-ERK kinase (MEK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) effector pathway showed that NRAS and NRAS-mediated signaling was required for tumor maintenance. Taken together, these findings implicate the HMGA2-IGFBP2-NRAS signaling pathway as a critical oncogenic driver in ERMS.
Onset electric field of soil ionisation is one of the basic parameters to analyse the lightning impulse performance of a grounding electrode, which has been fully investigated based on experiments on ...hemispherical electrode or rod-to-rod gap. Until now, there has been lack of onset electric field of rod-to-plane gap, which is the real situation for grounding electrode. In this study, the soil ionisation around the grounding electrode is studied by experiment. Method to judge the start of ionisation is discussed. Both the effect of the soil resistivity and that of the radius of the grounding electrode on the onset electric field of soil ionisation are investigated. It shows that the onset electric field decreases as the radius of the electrode increases, while increases as the soil resistivity increases. A formula to predict the onset field with respect to soil resistivity and the radius of the grounding electrode is proposed.
Objective
This study was performed to examine the clinical outcomes of epidural and intradural decompression for degenerative cervical myelopathy.
Methods
The data for 13 patients who underwent ...epidural and intradural decompression for treatment of degenerative cervical myelopathy (study group) and 20 patients who underwent only cervical laminoplasty, fusion, and epidural decompression (historical control group) were retrospectively reviewed. The preoperative and postoperative neurological status was evaluated using the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score.
Results
All patients’ neurological symptoms were significantly improved at the final follow-up. In the study group, the patients’ mean preoperative JOA score was 8.07 ± 1.80, and the final score improved by 70.88% ± 21.18%. The blood loss and operation time were significantly greater in the study group than control group. The recovery time was shorter in the study group than control group. The improvement rate was not significantly different between the two groups.
Conclusions
A pia mater incision with separation of the arachnoid adhesion can significantly improve the cerebrospinal fluid flow and spinal blood flow in degenerative cervical myelopathy. Arachnoid adhesion can lead to intradural spinal scar compression. The surgical intervention described herein can achieve satisfactory neurological outcomes and shorten the recovery time.
► The immunoenhancement of APS–sEPS was observed in immunosuppressed model chicken. ► APS–sEPS could promote T-lymphocyte proliferation and raise serum antibody titers. ► APS–sEPS could enhance serum ...IFN-γ, IL-2, IgG and IgM level. ► APS and sEPS could synergistically resist the immunosuppression. ► APS–sEPS was an effective immunopotentiator.
The immunoenhancement of compound polysaccharides, APS–sEPS composed with astragalus polysaccharide (APS) and sulfated epimedium polysaccharide (sEPS), was observed in immunosuppressed model chicken induced by cyclophosphamide (Cy). 11-day-old chickens were injected with Cy once a day for three successive days except vaccine control group. At day-14-old, all chickens were vaccinated with ND vaccine, and in experimental groups simultaneously administrated with APS–sEPS at three dosages, APS and sEPS once a day for three successive days. On days 7, 14, 21 and 28 after the administration, the peripheral T-lymphocyte proliferation, serum antibody titers, IFN-γ, IL-2, IgG and IgM were determined. The results displayed that APS–sEPS could overcome Cy-induced immunosuppression, significantly promote T-lymphocyte proliferation and raised serum antibody titers, IFN-γ, IL-2, IgG and IgM levels, its high and medium doses were superior to single APS or sEPS. This demonstrated that APS and sEPS could synergistically resist the immunosuppression and APS–sEPS was an effective immunopotentiator.
The order Nymphaeales, consisting of three families with a record of eight genera, has gained significant interest from botanists, probably due to its position as a basal angiosperm. The phylogenetic ...relationships within the order have been well studied; however, a few controversial nodes still remain in the Nymphaeaceae. The position of the
genus and the monophyly of the Nymphaeaceae family remain uncertain. This study adds to the increasing number of the completely sequenced plastid genomes of the Nymphaeales and applies a large chloroplast gene data set in reconstructing the intergeneric relationships within the Nymphaeaceae. Five complete chloroplast genomes were newly generated, including a first for the monotypic
genus. Using a set of 66 protein-coding genes from the chloroplast genomes of 17 taxa, the phylogenetic position of
was determined and a monophyletic Nymphaeaceae family was obtained with convincing statistical support from both partitioned and unpartitioned data schemes. Although genomic comparative analyses revealed a high degree of synteny among the chloroplast genomes of the ancient angiosperms, key minor variations were evident, particularly in the contraction/expansion of the inverted-repeat regions and in RNA-editing events. Genome structure, and gene content and arrangement were highly conserved among the chloroplast genomes. The intergeneric relationships defined in this study are congruent with those inferred using morphological data.
Diverse γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic interneurons provide different modes of inhibition to support circuit operation in the neocortex. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying ...the systematic generation of assorted neocortical interneurons remain largely unclear. Here we show that NKX2.1-expressing radial glial progenitors (RGPs) in the mouse embryonic ventral telencephalon divide progressively to generate distinct groups of interneurons, which occupy the neocortex in a time-dependent, early inside-out and late outside-in, manner. Notably, the late-born chandelier cells, one of the morphologically and physiologically highly distinguishable GABAergic interneurons, arise reliably from continuously dividing RGPs that produce non-chandelier cells initially. Selective removal of Partition defective 3, an evolutionarily conserved cell polarity protein, impairs RGP asymmetric cell division, resulting in premature depletion of RGPs towards the late embryonic stages and a consequent loss of chandelier cells. These results suggest that consecutive asymmetric divisions of multipotent RGPs generate diverse neocortical interneurons in a progressive manner.
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