Osteoporosis is widely regarded as one of the typical aging-related diseases due to the impairment of bone remodeling. The silent information regulator of transcription1 (SIRT1) is a vital regulator ...of cell survival and life-span. SIRT1 has been shown to be activated by resveratrol treatment, and also has been proved to prevent aging-related diseases such as osteoporosis. However, the role of SIRT1 about autophagy or mitophagy of osteoblasts in resveratrol-regulated osteoporotic rats remains unclear. This study seeks to investigate the role of SIRT1 about autophagy or mitophagy in osteoblasts through PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in resveratrol-regulated osteoporotic rats. The vivo experiment results have revealed that resveratrol treatment significantly improved bone quality and reduced the levels of serum alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin in osteoporotic rats. Moreover, Western bolt analysis showed that expression of SIRT1, LC3, and Beclin-1 in osteoblasts increased, while p-AKT and p-mTOR were downregulated in osteoporosis rats with high dose resveratrol treatment. On the other hand, resveratrol treatment increased the SIRT1 activity, LC3 and Beclin-1 mRNA expression in the dexamethasone (DEX)-treated osteoblasts. More mitophagosomes were observed in the DEX-treated osteoblasts with resveratrol. Meanwhile, the TOM20, Hsp60, p-Akt and p-mTOR activities were decreased in the DEX-treated osteoblasts with resveratrol. Resveratrol treatment did not change the p-p38 and p-JNK activities in the osteoblasts. These results revealed that resveratrol treatment protected osteoblasts in osteoporosis rats by enhancing mitophagy by mediating SIRT1 and PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.
An increasing number of studies have been conducted to determine a possible linkage between maternal exposure to ambient fine particulate matter and effects on the developing human fetus that can ...lead to adverse birth outcomes, but, the present results are not consistent. A total of 23 studies published before July 2016 were collected and analyzed and the mean value of reported exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) ranged from 1.82 to 22.11 We found a significantly increased risk of preterm birth with interquartile range increase in PM2.5 exposure throughout pregnancy (odds ratio (OR) = 1.03; 95% conditional independence (CI): 1.01–1.05). The pooled OR for the association between PM2.5 exposure, per interquartile range increment, and term low birth weight throughout pregnancy was 1.03 (95% CI: 1.02–1.03). The pooled ORs for the association between PM2.5 exposure per 10 increment, and term low birth weight and preterm birth were 1.05 (95% CI: 0.98–1.12) and 1.02 (95% CI: 0.93–1.12), respectively throughout pregnancy. There is a significant heterogeneity in most meta-analyses, except for pooled OR per interquartile range increase for term low birth weight throughout pregnancy. We here show that maternal exposure to fine particulate air pollution increases the risk of preterm birth and term low birth weight. However, the effect of exposure time needs to be further explored. In the future, prospective cohort studies and personal exposure measurements needs to be more widely utilized to better characterize the relationship between ambient fine particulate exposure and adverse birth outcomes.
Display omitted
•The results had shorter intervals indicate and smaller heterogeneity by using IQR increment increase as selected standard.•The manuscript included the latest research results and updated the previous systematic review and meta-analysis.
Meta-analysis of preterm birth and term low birth weight of PM2.5
We conducted a scoping review to map available evidence about the health impact of gut microbiota-derived metabolites. We searched PubMed and Embase for studies that assessed the health impact of ten ...metabolites on any health condition: deoxycholate or deoxycholic acid (DCA), lithocholate or lithocholic acid (LCA), glycolithocholate or glycolithocholic acid, glycodeoxycholate or glycodeoxycholic acid, tryptamine, putrescine, d-alanine, urolithins, N-acetylmannosamine, and phenylacetylglutamine. We identified 352 eligible studies with 168,072 participants. Most (326, 92.6%) were case-control studies, followed by cohort studies (14, 4.0%), clinical trials (8, 2.3%), and cross-sectional studies (6, 1.7%). Most studies assessed the following associations: DCA on hepatobiliary disorders (64 studies, 7976 participants), colorectal cancer (19 studies, 7461 participants), and other digestive disorders (27 studies, 2463 participants); LCA on hepatobiliary disorders (34 studies, 4297 participants), colorectal cancers (14 studies, 4955 participants), and other digestive disorders (26 studies, 2117 participants); putrescine on colorectal cancers (16 studies, 94,399 participants) and cancers excluding colorectal and hepatobiliary cancers (42 studies, 4250 participants). There is a need to conduct more prospective studies, including clinical trials. Moreover, we identified metabolites and conditions for which systemic reviews are warranted to characterize the direction and magnitude of metabolite-disease associations.
In this article, we explore three Daoist concepts in East Asian historical and cultural contexts, addressing Daoism and its educational significance in connecting with new materialism theory. We ...argue that Daoism's nonaction, the interdependence of things and concepts, and nonlinguistic learning allow us to expand art education from the Cartesian focus on the mind to a balanced art education practice of including affects and nonlinguistic ways of exploration. We also provide suggestions for art education pedagogy and practice reflecting on both Daoism and new materialism's theoretical constructs.
Drawing from the rich philosophical traditions of East Asia, we redress the questions and inquiry methods of teaching about East Asian artists and their works in the classroom, rejecting European ...White master frameworks when appreciating the arts of East Asia. To illustrate our approach, we have chosen two contemporary Asian artists, Do-ho Suh and Wou-Ki Zao, and we discuss why and how European White pedagogy has limitations in appreciating these works. As an alternative, we focus on a holistic lens of viewing East Asian artistic expressions, which is one of the key methods to understand artworks by many East Asian artists (Sullivan & Vainker, 2018; Stanley-Baker, 2014). To make East Asian art curriculum culturally responsive and authentic, we suggest that art educators adopt the holistic approach of teaching the East Asian art, in which art is seamlessly weaved with worldview, culture, and philosophy as one.
An unconventional inchworm actuator for precision positioning based on piezoelectric (PZT) actuation and electrorheological fluids (ERFs) control technology is presented. The actuator consists of ...actuation unit (PZT stack pump), fluid control unit (ERFs valve), and execution unit (hydraulic actuator). In view of smaller deformation of PZT stack, a new structure is designed for actuation unit, which integrates the advantages of two modes (namely, diaphragm type and piston type) of the volume changing of pump chamber. In order to improve the static shear yield strength of ERFs, a composite ERFs valve is designed, which adopts the series-parallel plate compound structure. The prototype of the inchworm actuator has been designed and manufactured in the lab. Systematic test results indicate that the displacement resolution of the unconventional inchworm actuator reaches 0.038 μm, and the maximum driving force and velocity are 42 N, 14.8 mm/s, respectively. The optimal working frequency for the maximum driving velocity is 120 Hz. The complete research and development processes further confirm the feasibility of developing a new type of inchworm actuator with high performance based on PZT actuation and ERFs control technology, which provides a reference for the future development of a new type of actuator.
Enabling the living capability of secreting liquids dynamically triggered by external stimuli while maintaining the bulk frame is a significant challenge for mucosa‐inspired hydrogels. A ...mucosa‐inspired electro‐responsive hydrogel is developed in this study using the synergy between electro‐responsive silk fibroin supramolecular non‐covalent networks and covalent polyacrylamide and polyvinyl alcohol polymer networks. The formed supramolecular‐covalent hydrogel exhibits a partial gel‐sol transition upon the application of an electric field, and the liquid layer on the hydrogel surface near the cathode is used to mimic the mucus‐secreting capability to regulate lubrication. The electro‐responsive lubricating process can operate under a safe voltage and exhibits good reversibility. It is also a universal strategy to construct an electro‐responsive hydrogel by introducing an electro‐responsive supramolecular network into the polymer network. This mucosa‐inspired electro‐responsive supramolecular‐covalent hydrogel offers a promising method for designing soft actuators or robots that can regulate lubrication using an electric strategy.
Mucosa‐inspired electro‐responsive lubricating hydrogel is developed based on the synergy of electro‐responsive supramolecular non‐covalent silk fibroin and covalent polyacrylamide and polyvinyl alcohol polymer network. It demonstrates partial gel‐sol transition under the electric field to regulate the lubricating property.
•Evolution of pore structure during char gasification in H2O/CO2 is experimentally studied.•H2O and CO2 atmospheres seem to favor formation of mesopores and micropores, respectively.•Mesopores formed ...by H2O gasification facilitate access of CO2 to interior of char matrix.•Alternating CO2/H2O sweeping reveals synergetic interactions between the two gasifying agents.
Increasing studies focus on gasification of coal char in mixed H2O/CO2 atmospheres, but quite controversial results were obtained on this issue. Char porosity and pore size distribution affect the reactant gas diffusion inside the char, reaction on the char active sites and gas product diffusion out of the particle. Hence, this study aims to understand the surface morphology and pore structure characteristics of the coal chars obtained from gasification in H2O/CO2 atmospheres. The raw coal was heated to 800–1000 °C in a fixed bed reactor to produce coal chars. The resulting chars were gasified under 40% H2O, 40% CO2, and 20% CO2 + 20% H2O atmospheres at the same temperatures to obtain a series of residual chars with different carbon conversion levels. The morphology and pore characteristics of chars were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and N2 adsorption method. The results show that CO2 char has an uneven surface with irregular potholes, whereas that the surface of H2O char is relatively smooth and distributed on the surface with honeycomb pores. CO2 and H2O play different role in creating the char porous structure. The CO2 chars are mainly micropores and along with some small mesopores. Under H2O and H2O/CO2 atmosphere, the char are rich in micropores, mesopores, and macropores, the pore size distribution is continuous. The total pore volume of gasified chars prepared under H2O/CO2 atmosphere was not significantly changed compared with H2O atmosphere, indicating there has positive interaction between H2O/CO2 in developing the coal char pore structures during gasification. H2O could create a wider porous structure that facilitates the access of CO2 to the coal char matrix to further develop the pore structure.
PTH has been shown to enhance fracture repair; however, exactly when and where PTH acts in this process remains to be elucidated. Therefore, we conducted a longitudinal, region-specific analysis of ...bone regeneration in mature, osteopenic rats using a cortical defect model. Six-month-old rats were ovariectomized, and allowed to lose bone for 2 months, before being subjected to bilateral 2-mm circular defects in their femoral diaphyses. They were then treated for 5 wk with hPTH1–38 at doses of 0, 3, 10, or 30 μg/kg · d and scanned weekly by in vivo quantitative computed tomography. Quantitative computed tomography analyses showed temporal, dose-dependent increases in mineralization in the defects, intramedullary (IM) spaces, and whole diaphyses at the defect sites. Histomorphometry confirmed PTH stimulation of primarily woven bone in the defects and IM spaces, but not the periosteum. After necropsy, biomechanical testing identified an increase in strength at the highest PTH dose. Serum procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide concentration showed a transient increase due to drilling, but procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide also increased with PTH treatment, whereas tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase unexpectedly decreased. Analyses of lumber vertebra confirmed systemic efficacy of PTH at a nonfracture site. In summary, PTH dose dependently induced new bone formation within defects, at endocortical surfaces, and in IM spaces, resulting in faster and greater bone healing, as well as efficacy at other skeletal sites. The effects of PTH were kinetic, region specific, and most apparent at high doses that may not be entirely clinically relevant; therefore, clinical studies are necessary to clarify the therapeutic utility of PTH in bone healing.
Parathyroid hormone treatment of rat cortical defects induces kinetic, region-specific new bone formation and enhances healing, but only at higher doses with uncertain clinical relevance.
To prepare the gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with uniform sizes, fine morphology, and good monodispersity, a pulsed mixing microfluidic system based on PZT actuation was presented. The system includes ...PZT micropump and Y type micromixer. By adjusting voltage (entrance flow rate), pulsed frequency, phase, and other parameters, a variety of mixing modes can be achieved, so as to realize the controllable synthesis of nanoparticles in a certain range. By numerical simulation and analysis, the channel section size, entrance angle, and pulse frequency were optimized. Based on the optimized structure and working parameters, the test prototype has been manufactured in lab, and the related synthesis tests of AuNPs were carried out. The test results indicate that AuNPs with uniform morphology and good monodispersity can be synthesized using the system with the section size (0.4 mm × 0.4 mm), the entrance channel angle (60°) under condition of the pulsed frequency (300 Hz), and the entrance flow rate (4 mL/min). The average diameter and its standard deviation of AuNPs synthesized were 21.6 nm, 4.83 nm, respectively. The research work above can be applied to the fields such as the controlled synthesis of noble metal nanoparticles, biomedicine, and microchemical system.
PDF
