Recently, various strain-sensing yarns have been developed without ideal stitchability. Herein, we used spherical carbon black particles (CBs), linear carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and lamellar graphene ...flakes (GRs) as conductive nanofillers to construct multi-element conductive networks inside a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) matrix. First, a highly stretchable and conductive multidimensional carbon-based nanomaterial/TPU composite nanofiber yarn was fabricated using electrospinning, which could be used as a flexible strain sensor without post-processing. Accordingly, the effects of nanomaterials’ dimensionality and synergy on yarns’ conductivity, mechanical properties, and strain sensing performances were explored. The yarn containing multiple networks formed by CB/CNT/GR ternary hybrid networks, CNT and GR auxiliary networks exhibited the best performances. Subsequently, the structural evolution of the ternary conductive network under stretching was revealed to further analyze the sensing mechanism. Finally, the yarn endowed a medicated plaster with an intelligent function to detect motions in the rehabilitation of joint pain by simple sewing.
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•An anti-interference and washable strain-sensing composite nanofiber yarn•Synergy of carbon black particles, carbon nanotubes, and graphene flakes•Strain-sensing mechanism of ternary conductive networks are revealed•A smart medicated plaster can detect motions in the rehabilitation of joint pain
Sensor; Nanotechnology; Bioelectronics
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a human herpesvirus associated with B-cell and epithelial cell malignancies. EBV lytically infects normal differentiated oral epithelial cells, where it causes a tongue ...lesion known as oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL) in immunosuppressed patients. However, the cellular mechanism(s) that enable EBV to establish exclusively lytic infection in normal differentiated oral epithelial cells are not currently understood. Here we show that a cellular transcription factor known to promote epithelial cell differentiation, KLF4, induces differentiation-dependent lytic EBV infection by binding to and activating the two EBV immediate-early gene (BZLF1 and BRLF1) promoters. We demonstrate that latently EBV-infected, telomerase-immortalized normal oral keratinocyte (NOKs) cells undergo lytic viral reactivation confined to the more differentiated cell layers in organotypic raft culture. Furthermore, we show that endogenous KLF4 expression is required for efficient lytic viral reactivation in response to phorbol ester and sodium butyrate treatment in several different EBV-infected epithelial cell lines, and that the combination of KLF4 and another differentiation-dependent cellular transcription factor, BLIMP1, is highly synergistic for inducing lytic EBV infection. We confirm that both KLF4 and BLIMP1 are expressed in differentiated, but not undifferentiated, epithelial cells in normal tongue tissue, and show that KLF4 and BLIMP1 are both expressed in a patient-derived OHL lesion. In contrast, KLF4 protein is not detectably expressed in B cells, where EBV normally enters latent infection, although KLF4 over-expression is sufficient to induce lytic EBV reactivation in Burkitt lymphoma cells. Thus, KLF4, together with BLIMP1, plays a critical role in mediating lytic EBV reactivation in epithelial cells.
When confronted with poor oxygenation, cells adapt by activating survival signaling pathways, including the oxygen-sensitive transcriptional regulators called hypoxia-inducible factor alphas ...(HIF-αs). We report here that HIF-1α also regulates the life cycle of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Incubation of EBV-positive gastric carcinoma AGS-Akata and SNU-719 and Burkitt lymphoma Sal and KemIII cell lines with a prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor, L-mimosine or deferoxamine, or the NEDDylation inhibitor MLN4924 promoted rapid and sustained accumulation of both HIF-1α and lytic EBV antigens. ShRNA knockdown of HIF-1α significantly reduced deferoxamine-mediated lytic reactivation. HIF-1α directly bound the promoter of the EBV primary latent-lytic switch BZLF1 gene, Zp, activating transcription via a consensus hypoxia-response element (HRE) located at nt -83 through -76 relative to the transcription initiation site. HIF-1α did not activate transcription from the other EBV immediate-early gene, BRLF1. Importantly, expression of HIF-1α induced EBV lytic-gene expression in cells harboring wild-type EBV, but not in cells infected with variants containing base-pair substitution mutations within this HRE. Human oral keratinocyte (NOK) and gingival epithelial (hGET) cells induced to differentiate by incubation with either methyl cellulose or growth in organotypic culture accumulated both HIF-1α and Blimp-1α, another cellular factor implicated in lytic reactivation. HIF-1α activity also accumulated along with Blimp-1α during B-cell differentiation into plasma cells. Furthermore, most BZLF1-expressing cells observed in lymphomas induced by EBV in NSG mice with a humanized immune system were located distal to blood vessels in hypoxic regions of the tumors. Thus, we conclude that HIF-1α plays central roles in both EBV's natural life cycle and EBV-associated tumorigenesis. We propose that drugs that induce HIF-1α protein accumulation are good candidates for development of a lytic-induction therapy for treating some EBV-associated malignancies.
To improve the power generation efficiency of offshore wind turbines and address the problem of high fire monitoring and warning costs, we propose a data-driven fire warning method based on transfer ...learning for wind turbines in this paper. This paper processes wind turbine operation data in a SCADA system. It uses an extreme gradient-boosting tree (XGBoost) algorithm to build an offshore wind turbine unit fire warning model with a multiparameter prediction function. This paper selects some parameters from the dataset as input variables for the model, with average cabin temperature, average outdoor temperature, average cabin humidity, and average atmospheric humidity as output variables. This paper analyzes the distribution information of input and output variables and their correlation, analyzes the predicted difference, and then provides an early warning for wind turbine fires. This paper uses this fire warning model to transfer learning to different models of offshore wind turbines in the same wind farm to achieve fire warning. The experimental results show that the prediction performance of the multiparameter is accurate, with an average MAPE of 0.016 and an average RMSE of 0.795. It is better than the average MAPE (0.051) and the average RMSE (2.020) of the prediction performance of a backpropagation (BP) neural network, as well as the average MAPE (0.030) and the average RMSE (1.301) of the prediction performance of random forest. The transfer learning model has good prediction performance, with an average MAPE of 0.022 and an average RMSE of 1.469.
Latent Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection and cellular hypermethylation are hallmarks of undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, EBV infection of normal oral epithelial cells is ...confined to differentiated cells and is lytic. Here we demonstrate that the EBV genome can become 5-hydroxymethylated and that this DNA modification affects EBV lytic reactivation. We show that global 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC)-modified DNA accumulates during normal epithelial-cell differentiation, whereas EBV+ NPCs have little if any 5hmC-modified DNA. Furthermore, we find that increasing cellular ten–eleven translocation (TET) activity which converts methylated cytosine (5mC) to 5hmC decreases methylation, and increases 5hmC modification, of lytic EBV promoters in EBV-infected cell lines containing highly methylated viral genomes. Conversely, inhibition of endogenous TET activity increases lytic EBV promoter methylation in an EBV-infected telomerase-immortalized normal oral keratinocyte (NOKs) cell line where lytic viral promoters are largely unmethylated. We demonstrate that these cytosine modifications differentially affect the ability of the two EBV immediate-early proteins, BZLF1 (Z) and BRLF1 (R), to induce the lytic form of viral infection. Although methylation of lytic EBV promoters increases Z-mediated and inhibits R-mediated lytic reactivation, 5hmC modification of lytic EBV promoters has the opposite effect. We also identify a specific CpG-containing Z-binding site on the BRLF1 promoter that must be methylated for Z-mediated viral reactivation and show that TET-mediated 5hmC modification of this site in NOKs prevents Z-mediated viral reactivation. Decreased 5-hydroxymethylation of cellular and viral genes may contribute to NPC formation.
EBV causes human B-cell lymphomas and transforms B cells in vitro. EBNA3C, an EBV protein expressed in latently-infected cells, is required for EBV transformation of B cells in vitro. While EBNA3C ...undoubtedly plays a key role in allowing EBV to successfully infect B cells, many EBV+ lymphomas do not express this protein, suggesting that cellular mutations and/or signaling pathways may obviate the need for EBNA3C in vivo under certain conditions. EBNA3C collaborates with EBNA3A to repress expression of the CDKN2A-encoded tumor suppressors, p16 and p14, and EBNA3C-deleted EBV transforms B cells containing a p16 germline mutation in vitro. Here we have examined the phenotype of an EBNAC-deleted virus (Δ3C EBV) in a cord blood-humanized mouse model (CBH). We found that the Δ3C virus induced fewer lymphomas (occurring with a delayed onset) in comparison to the wild-type (WT) control virus, although a subset (10/26) of Δ3C-infected CBH mice eventually developed invasive diffuse large B cell lymphomas with type III latency. Both WT and Δ3C viruses induced B-cell lymphomas with restricted B-cell populations and heterogeneous T-cell infiltration. In comparison to WT-infected tumors, Δ3C-infected tumors had greatly increased p16 levels, and RNA-seq analysis revealed a decrease in E2F target gene expression. However, we found that Δ3C-infected tumors expressed c-Myc and cyclin E at similar levels compared to WT-infected tumors, allowing cells to at least partially bypass p16-mediated cell cycle inhibition. The anti-apoptotic proteins, BCL2 and IRF4, were expressed in Δ3C-infected tumors, likely helping cells avoid c-Myc-induced apoptosis. Unexpectedly, Δ3C-infected tumors had increased T-cell infiltration, increased expression of T-cell chemokines (CCL5, CCL20 and CCL22) and enhanced type I interferon response in comparison to WT tumors. Together, these results reveal that EBNA3C contributes to, but is not essential for, EBV-induced lymphomagenesis in CBH mice, and suggest potentially important immunologic roles of EBNA3C in vivo.
As people pay more attention to physical health, smart textiles with motion detection functions are favored by consumers. Up to now, developing conductive composite yarns with high strain sensing ...performance that can be directly integrated into fabrics through textile technology is still a challenge. Here, we prepared a highly-stretchable carbon nanotube (CNT)/thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composite nanofiber yarn with a breaking elongation of up to 476% by dispersing CNTs uniformly into flexible TPU matrix and multi-needle liquid-bath electrospinning. The parameters about the preparation of the composite solution, electrospinning, and twisting were discussed and analyzed. On this basis, a highly-conductive dip-coating CNT/TPU composite nanofiber yarn (1.02 kΩ/cm) was developed by simply dip-coating CNT ink. The effects of coating methods on strain sensing performance and mechanism were explored according to the twisting structure of the yarn. This yarn-based strain sensor exhibited a high relative resistance change (440%) under 140% strain with satisfactory linearity and repeatability (1250 cycles). Finally, a smart sports bandage with sports auxiliary functions for badminton, basketball, running, and medical monitoring functions for heartbeat, respiration was developed by directly sewing the composite yarn into an elastic self-adhesive bandage. In the future, this yarn will be able to endow ordinary sportswears “intelligence” through simple sewing or embroidery.
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EBV causes infectious mononucleosis and is associated with certain malignancies. EBV nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1) mediates EBV genome replication, partition, and transcription, and is essential for ...persistence of the viral genome in host cells. Here we demonstrate that Hsp90 inhibitors decrease EBNA1 expression and translation, and that this effect requires the Gly-Ala repeat domain of EBNA1. Hsp90 inhibitors induce the death of established, EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines at doses nontoxic to normal cells, and this effect is substantially reversed when lymphoblastoid cell lines are stably infected with a retrovirus expressing a functional EBNA1 mutant lacking the Gly-Ala repeats. Hsp90 inhibitors prevent EBV transformation of primary B cells, and strongly inhibit the growth of EBV-induced lymphoproliferative disease in SCID mice. These results suggest that Hsp90 inhibitors may be particularly effective for treating EBV-induced diseases requiring the continued presence of the viral genome.
Background Epstein-Barr virus is associated with lymphoid and epithelial malignancies and has been reported to infect thyroid cells. The Epstein-Barr virus protein, EBNA2, regulates viral and ...cellular promoters by binding to RBP-jκ. Similarly, NOTCH1, a tumor suppressor protein in thyroid epithelial cells, competes with EBNA2 for binding to overlapping sites on RBP-jκ. EBNA2 activates a subset of NOTCH-responsive genes in lymphocytes and myocytes; however, the effect of EBNA2 expression on NOTCH targets in epithelial cells is unknown. Here we have explored whether EBNA2 activates NOTCH1 targets in thyroid cancer lines and examined its effect on cellular proliferation. Methods Two human thyroid cancer lines, follicular FTC-236 and anaplastic HTh7, were transfected with EBNA2 , NOTCH1 , or control vectors. Notch targets were measured using quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Cellular proliferation was measured by MTT analysis. Results EBNA2 activated only a subset of NOTCH1 targets. Expression of HES1 and HEY1 were increased 10-fold in FTC-236 and HTh7 cells, respectively, but the majority of NOTCH1 targets examined were not affected. In contrast to NOTCH1, EBNA2 did not suppress proliferation. Conclusion EBNA2 does not activate most Notch1-responsive genes or suppress proliferation in human thyroid cancer cells. Instead, EBNA2 may compete with NOTCH1 for limiting amounts of RBP-jκ in epithelial cells and inhibit certain aspects of NOTCH1 signaling.