It is accepted that biomimetic supply of signaling molecules during bone regeneration can provide an appropriate environment for accelerated new bone formation. In this study, we developed a growth ...factor delivery system based on porous particles and a thermosensitive hydrogel that allowed fast, continuous, and delayed/continuous release of growth factors to mimic their biological production during bone regeneration. It was observed that the Continuous group (continuous release of growth factors) provides a better environment for the osteogenic differentiation of hPDCs than the Biomimetic group (biomimetic release of growth factors), and thus is anticipated to promote bone regeneration. However, contrary to expectation, the Biomimetic group promoted significant new bone formation compared to the Continuous group. From the systematic cell culture experiments, the initial supply of VEGF was considered to have more favorable effects on the osteoclastogenesis than osteogenesis, which may hinder bone regeneration. Our results indicated that the continuous supply of VEGF (in particular, at early stage) from VEGF-loaded biomaterial might not be conducive to new bone formation. Therefore, we suggest that a biomimetic supply of growth factors is a more pivotal parameter for sufficient tissue regeneration. Its use as a molecular delivery system may also serve as a useful tool for the investigation of biological processes and molecules during tissue regeneration processes.
Novel composite films made of polyurethane (PU) and defatted Chlorella biomass (DCB) at different mass proportions (10–70 wt%) were prepared using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a model polyol and ...hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI) as a coupling agent. Increasing DCB content led to a respective increase in tensile strength and elongation at break of the composites in the range of 33.9–116% and 69.6–248%, compared to the neat PU‐PEG film. As confirmed by Fourier transform infrared and scanning electron microscopy analysis, such improvement in mechanical properties can be attributed to the establishment of hydrogen bonds and other molecular interactions between isocyanate groups of PEG‐HMDI prepolymer and hydroxyl groups of DCB biofiller along with the uniform distribution of the incorporated DCB into the PU‐PEG based matrix. DCB incorporation at the highest content of 70% increased both antioxidant activity and bulk hydrophilicity of the composites by more than 69.3 and 85.0%, respectively, compared to the neat PU‐PEG.
We investigated the effects of nilotinib plus multiagent chemotherapy, followed by consolidation/maintenance or allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) for adult patients with newly ...diagnosed Philadelphia-positive (Ph-pos) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Study subjects received induction treatment that comprised concurrent vincristine, daunorubicin, prednisolone, and nilotinib. After achieving complete hematologic remission (HCR), subjects received either 5 courses of consolidation, followed by 2-year maintenance with nilotinib, or allo-HCT. Minimal residual disease (MRD) was assessed at HCR, and every 3 months thereafter. The molecular responses (MRs) were defined as MR3 for BCR-ABL1/G6PDH ratios ≤10−3 and MR5 for ratios <10−5. Ninety evaluable subjects, ages 17 to 71 years, were enrolled in 17 centers. The HCR rate was 91%; 57 subjects received allo-HCT. The cumulative MR5 rate was 94%; the 2-year hematologic relapse-free survival (HRFS) rate was 72% for 82 subjects that achieved HCR, and the 2-year overall survival rate was 72%. Subjects that failed to achieve MR3 or MR5 were 9.1 times (P = .004) or 6.3 times (P = .001) more prone to hematologic relapse, respectively, than those that achieved MR3 or MR5. MRD statuses just before allo-HCT and at 3 months after allo-HCT were predictive of 2-year HRFS. Adverse events occurred mainly during induction, and most were reversible with dose reduction or transient interruption of nilotinib. The combination of nilotinib with high-dose cytotoxic drugs was feasible, and it effectively achieved high cumulative complete molecular remission and HRFS rates. The MRD status at early postremission time was predictive of the HRFS. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00844298.
•Nilotinib plus multiagent chemotherapy was feasible and showed a comparable outcome to previous results with imatinib for Ph-pos ALL.•The achievement of deep MR with nilotinib at postremission correlated well with the clinical outcomes for Ph-pos ALL.
The skin microbiome, especially the axillary microbiome, consists of odor-causing bacteria that decompose odorless sweat into malodor compounds, which contributes to the formation of body odor. ...Plant-derived products are a cheap source of bioactive compounds that are common ingredients in cosmetics. Microbial bioconversion of natural products is an ecofriendly and economical method for production of new or improved biologically active compounds. Therefore, in this study, we tested the potential of a Lactobacillus acidophilus KNU-02-mediated bioconverted product (BLC) of Lotus corniculatus seed to reduce axillary malodor and its effect on the associated axillary microbiota. A chemical profile analysis revealed that benzoic acid was the most abundant chemical compound in BLC, which increased following bioconversion. Moreover, BLC treatment was found to reduce the intensity of axillary malodor. We tested the axillary microbiome of 18 study participants, divided equally into BLC and placebo groups, and revealed through 16S rRNA gene sequencing that Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium, and Anaerococcus were the dominant taxa, and some of these taxa were significantly associated with axillary malodor. After one week of BLC treatment, the abundance of Corynebacterium and Anaerococcus, which are associated with well-known odor-related genes that produce volatile fatty acids, had significantly reduced. Likewise, the identified odor-related genes decreased after the application of BLC. BLC treatment enhanced the richness and network density of the axillary microbial community. The placebo group, on the other hand, showed no difference in the microbial richness, odor associated taxa, and predicted functional genes after a week. The results demonstrated that BLC has the potential to reduce the axillary malodor and the associated odor-causing bacteria, which makes BLC a viable deodorant material in cosmetic products.
In South Korea, where there are no resources such as natural gas or crude oil, research on alternative fuels has been actively conducted since the 1990s. The research on synthetic oil is subdivided ...into Coal to Liquid (CTL), Gas to Liquid (GTL), Biomass to Liquid (BTL), etc., and was developed with the focus on catalysts, their preparation, reactor types, and operation technologies according to the product to be obtained. In Fischer–Tropsch synthesis for synthetic oil from syngas, stability, CO conversion rate, and product selectivity of catalysts depends on the design of their components, such as their active material, promoter, and support. Most of the developed catalysts were Fe- and Co-based catalysts and were developed in spherical and cylindrical shapes according to the reactor type. Recently, hybrid catalysts in combination with cracking catalysts were developed to control the distribution of the product. In this review, we survey recent studies related to the design of catalysts for production of light hydrocarbons and middle distillates, including hybrid catalysts, encapsulated core–shell catalysts, catalysts with active materials with well-organized sizes and shapes, and catalysts with shape- and size-controlled supports. Finally, we introduce recent research and development (R&D) trends in the production of light hydrocarbons and middle distillates and in the catalytic processes being applied to the development of catalysts in Korea.
Twenty weaned piglets with initial body weight of 6.83 ± 0.33 kg (21 day of age, LYD) were randomly assigned to four treatments for a two-week feeding trial to determine the effects of different ...dietary zinc on nutrient digestibility, intestinal health, and microbiome of weaned piglets. The dietary treatments included a negative control (CON), standard ZnO (ZnO, 2500 ppm), zinc chelate with glycine (Chelate-ZnO, 200 ppm), and nanoparticle-sized ZnO (Nano-ZnO, 200 ppm). At 0 to 1 week, the diarrhea score was decreased in the CON group compared with the ZnO, Chelate-ZnO, and Nano-ZnO group. In overall period, the ZnO and Nano-ZnO groups exhibited improved diarrhea scores compared to the CON group. The apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter and gross energy was the lowest in the CON group after one week. Compared to the ZnO group, the chelate-ZnO group exhibited higher proportion of T-bet+ and FoxP3+ T cells and the nano-ZnO group had higher numbers of RORgt+ and GATA3+ T cells in the mesenteric lymph nodes. ZnO group increased IL-6 and IL-8 levels in the colon tissues and these positive effects were observed in both chelate ZnO and nano-ZnO groups with lower level. The 16S rRNA gene analysis showed that the relative abundance of Prevotella was higher in the ZnO-treated groups than in the CON group and that of Succinivibrio was the highest in the nano-ZnO group. The relative abundance of Lactobacillus increased in the ZnO group. In conclusion, low nano-ZnO levels have similar effects on nutrient digestibility, fecal microflora, and intestinal immune profiles in weaning pigs; thus, nano-ZnO could be used as a ZnO alternative for promoting ZnO utilization and intestinal immunity.
High efficiency and flexible inverted organic solar cells have been fabricated using solution-processed silver nanowire/zinc oxide composite transparent electrodes. The transparent electrodes showed ...a low sheet resistance of -13 ff）.sq-1 and high transmittance of -93% as well as superior mechanical flexibility. Power conversion efficiencies of -7.57% and -7.21% were achieved for devices fabricated on glass and plastic substrate, respectively. Moreover, the flexible devices did not show any degradation in their performance even after being folded with a radius of-480 μm.
We present a 40-nm CMOS 70-GHz frequency quadrupler based on a phase-controlled push-push (PCPP) topology that provides high efficiency and harmonic suppression. Since MOSFETs in the PCPP stack turn ...off alternately, the quadrupler can provide high energy efficiency even for fourth-order frequency multiplication. One major problem related to even-order harmonic suppression was mitigated by using a transformer-based output amplifier with no degradation in energy efficiency. The fabricated quadrupler provides the 3-dB bandwidth and peak output power of 65.6-75.2 GHz and −0.2 dBm at 70 GHz, respectively, with an 8.9-dBm fundamental input power. The peak dc-to-RF efficiency was measured to be 8.3% with 11.4-mW dc power consumption, including an output amplifier. At 70 GHz, measured harmonic suppression was around 51.1, 41.0, and 43.1 dBc at first, second, and third harmonic frequencies, respectively.
This letter presents a wideband two-stage full Ka-band power amplifier (PA) with transformer-based matching networks (TMNs) in 28-nm CMOS fully depleted silicon on insulator (FD-SOI) technology. By ...considering the loss of the transformer, which has usually been ignored in previous works, methods to compensate for the nonflat gain in TMNs are studied and based on that, the initial guess for wideband TMNs design is extracted. Wideband performance in terms of gain and output power is delivered by designing wideband TMNs in the PA design and frequency-independent optimum load selection for the power cell. Measurement results show that the PA achieves 19 dB maximum gain with 13.8 GHz (42%) 3-dB bandwidth (BW), 16.1 dBm <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\text{P}_{\mathbf {out-1dB}} </tex-math></inline-formula> with 13 GHz 1-dB BW, 17.1 dBm <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\text{P}_{\mathbf {sat}} </tex-math></inline-formula> with 12 GHz 1-dB BW, and 25.3% peak power-added efficiency.
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