CaCO3 crystals with different hierarchical structure were fabricated by the precipitation of CaCO3 in an aqueous solution containing guar gum (GG). Through adjusting a range of parameters, the size ...distribution and microstructure of CaCO3 were well controlled. Results showed that GG facilitated the formation of the hierarchical hollow sphere through assembling of nanocrystals, while inhibited the growth of CaCO3 crystals and restrained phase transition from calcite to vaterite at high concentration of GG (CGG) condition; Moreover, increasing reaction temperature led to larger particles and stable crystalline phase formed. According to the results, a morphology map was presented. Furthermore, Drug loading and releasing results ensured porous CaCO3 microspheres a promising vector for drug delivery.
Exposure to diesel exhaust particles (DEPs) is associated with acute inflammatory responses in the lung and exacerbation of respiratory diseases. However, the mechanism by which DEPs trigger the ...inflammatory responses remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated that the IFN response factors IRF3 and IRF7 played pivotal roles in DEP‐induced pulmonary inflammation. DEPs could not directly induce inflammatory cytokine expression in mouse cells, whereas DEPs triggered autophagy both in vitro and in vivo. The DEP‐induced autophagy was augmented in the absence of IRF3 and IRF7, but not in the absence of IFNAR. The expression of Raptor was induced by IRF3 and IRF7 in response to DEPs treatment. Furthermore, administration of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor alleviated the inflammatory responses in the lung during DEP exposure. Our findings define an IFNAR‐independent role of increased autophagy in the absence of IRF3 and IRF7 during pulmonary DEP exposure, and provide the basis to develop new therapeutic approaches to counteract the adverse effects of DEPs and possibly other ambient particulate matters.
IRF3 and IRF7 negatively regulate autophagy through inducing mTORC1 activity upon diesel exhaust particles exposure, which is not dependent on IFNAR signaling. The increased autophagy in the absence of IRF3 and IRF7 significantly attenuates the diesel exhaust particles induced pulmonary inflammation in mice.
An injectable calcium phosphate cement (CPC) containing 30 wt.% poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microspheres was developed in the present study. Sodium citrate solution was used as the cement ...liquid phase. The effects of sodium citrate concentration on the injectability, rheological properties, mechanical strength and self-setting properties of CPC containing PLGA microspheres were systematically investigated. The in vitro degradation behavior of the composite during immersion in phosphate buffer solution was also studied. With an increase in sodium citrate concentration, the viscosity and yield stress of the paste were reduced, thereby improving the injectability. At a sodium citrate concentration of 15%, the injectability of the paste reached 95%. The compressive strength of the specimen was also enhanced by the addition of sodium citrate. The specimens had a compressive strength of 32.24+/-2.72 MPa at 15% sodium citrate concentration, compared to 22.15+/-3.60 MPa for the specimen without sodium citrate. The in vitro degradation results demonstrate that incorporated PLGA microspheres can provide the required high strength to CPC in the early stage, which would gradually degrade to create macropores for bone ingrowth. In conclusion, an in situ macropore-generable CPC exhibited excellent injectability and high early strength, and should be a promising material for bone repair and bone reconstruction.
•Major reassortment and transmission features of H7N9 were summarized.•Structural bases of interspecies transmission/drug resistance of H7N9 were proposed.•We summarized the major immunological ...characteristics of H7N9 infection.•The major strategies for vaccine development were proposed.•The disease burden of H7N9 infection was calculated.
Human infections by the newly reassorted avian influenza A (H7N9) virus were reported for the first time in early 2013, and the virus was confirmed to be a low pathogenic avian influenza virus in poultry. Because continuously reported cases have been increasing since the summer of 2013, this novel virus poses a potential threat to public health in China and is attracting broad attention worldwide. In this review, we summarize and discuss the characteristics of the H7N9 virus revealed by the recent timely studies from the perspectives of epidemiology, host preference, clinical manifestations, immunopathogenesis, drug resistance, vaccine development, and burden of disease. This knowledge about the novel avian-origin H7N9 virus will provide a useful reference for clinical interventions of human infections and help to rapidly pave the way to develop an efficient and safe vaccine.
An inflammasome is an intracellular multiprotein complex that plays important roles in host defense and inflammatory responses. Inflammasomes are typically composed of the adaptor protein ...apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC), cytoplasmic sensor protein, and the effector protein pro-caspase-1. ASC assembly into a protein complex termed ASC speck is a readout for inflammasome activation. Here, we provide a step-by-step protocol for the detection of ASC speck by confocal microscopy in Bone marrow derived macrophages (BMBDs) triggered by chemical stimuli and bacterial pathogens. We also describe the detailed procedure for the generation of BMDMs, stimulating conditions for inflammasome activation, immunofluorescence cell staining of ASC protein, and microscopic examination. Thus far, this method is a simple and reliable manner to visualize and quantify the intracellular localization of ASC speck. Graphic abstract: Figure 1. Confocal microscopy detection of ASC speck formation in untreated WT BMDMs and WT BMDMs stimulated with LPS and ATP, transfected with dsDNA, and infected with
or
as indicated. Arrow indicates the ASC speck. Scale bars: 10 μm.
In this work we report, for the first time, on the preparation of ZnO nanorod-SnO2 nanoparticle (ZnO NR-SnO2 NP) heterostructures by a simple two-step thermal evaporation approach. Systematical ...characterization of the product reveals that the rutile SnO2 NPs, with a diameter of about 20 nm, are uniformly and tightly decorated on the entire ZnO NRs. Photoluminescence (PL) investigation on the ZnO NR-SnO2 NP heterostructures shows that they exhibit a significantly decreased UV emission compared with the bare ZnO NRs, revealing an efficient charge separation arising from the type-II band alignment. Enlightened by this merit, photocatalytic behavior of the synthesized heterostructures is studied, which shows a remarkably enhanced photodegradation performance of rhodamine B (RhB) in contrast to the pure ZnO NRs. We also carry out the stability test of the ZnO NR-SnO2 NP heterostructures and the result indicates an extremely high adhesion nature between the ZnO NR and the coated SnO2 NPs. This advantage endowed with the thermal evaporation approach can lead to an efficient spatial charge separation between the ZnO NR and the SnO2 NPs and thus effectively minimize the charge recombination along three-dimensional heterointerfaces, which makes such ZnO NR-SnO2 NP architectures highly promising for a wide range of photovoltaic and photocatalytic applications.
Both theory and experiment show that sp2 carbon nanomaterials doped with N have great potential as high-efficiency catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR). At present, there are theoretical ...studies that believe that C-sites with positive charge or high-spin density values have higher adsorption capacity, but there are always some counter examples, such as the N-doped graphene nanoribbons with edge defects (ND-GNR) of this paper. In this study, the ORR mechanism of ND-GNR was studied by density functional theory (DFT) calculation, and then the carbon ring resonance energy was analyzed from the perspective of chemical graph theory to elucidate the cause and distribution of active sites in ND-GNR. Finally, it was found that the overpotential of the model can be adjusted by changing the width of the model or dopant atoms while still ensuring proper adsorption energy (between 0.5 and 2.0 eV). The minimum overpotential for these models is approximately 0.36 V. These findings could serve as guidelines for the construction of efficient ORR carbon nanomaterial catalysts.
Neutral/Alkaline invertases are unique to plant and photosynthetic bacteria. The function of Neutral/Alkaline invertases in plant development is not clear so far. In this study, we isolated an ...Arabidopsis (Col-0) mutant insensitive to osmotic stress-induced inhibition on lateral root growth. Map-based cloning reveals that a neutral invertase gene (AtCYT-INV1) was point-mutated. The mutant Atcyt-inv1 showed short primary root, smaller size of leaves and siliques, and promotion of the reproductive compared to the wild type (WT). Carbohydrate measurement showed that sucrose is accumulated and glucose is reduced in the mutant Atcyt-inv1 under normal and 3% mannitol treatments. Taken together, AtCYT-INV1 plays multiple roles in plant development and is involved in osmotic stress-induced inhibition on lateral root growth by controlling the concentration of hexose in cells.
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