Environmental efficiency assessment of coastal ports in China: Implications for sustainable port management.

By employing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) and DEA-Undesirable Output models, this study aims to investigate the operational and environmental efficiency of 26 major ports across China's Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Focusing on the interplay between operation performance and environmental sustainability, this research evaluates how well these ports manage their operational activities while minimizing their environmental impact. The results indicate that the ports in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Southwest Coast significantly outperform others.

Small heterodimer partner-interacting leucine zipper protein suppresses pain and cartilage destruction in an osteoarthritis model by modulating the AMPK/STAT3 signaling pathway.

Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease caused by the breakdown of joint cartilage and adjacent bone. Joint injury, being overweight, differences in leg length, high levels of joint stress, abnormal joint or limb development, and inherited factors have been implicated in the etiology of OA. In addition to physical damage to the joint, a role for inflammatory processes has been identified as well.

A Pressure-Sensitive, Repositionable Bioadhesive for Instant, Atraumatic Surgical Application on Internal Organs.

Pressure-sensitive adhesives are widely utilized due to their instant and reversible adhesion to various dry substrates. Though offering intuitive and robust attachment of medical devices on skin, currently available clinical pressure-sensitive adhesives do not attach to internal organs, mainly due to the presence of interfacial water on the tissue surface that acts as a barrier to adhesion. In this work, a pressure-sensitive, repositionable bioadhesive (PSB) that adheres to internal organs by synergistically combining the characteristic viscoelastic properties of pressure-sensitive adhesives and the interfacial behavior of hydrogel bioadhesives, is introduced.

Lubricant-Coated Organ-on-a-Chip for Enhanced Precision in Preclinical Drug Testing.

In drug discovery, human organ-on-a-chip (organ chip) technology has emerged as an essential tool for preclinical testing, offering a realistic representation of human physiology, real-time monitoring, and disease modeling. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is commonly used in organ chip fabrication owing to its biocompatibility, flexibility, transparency, and ability to replicate features down to the nanoscale. However, the porous nature of PDMS leads to unintended absorption of small molecules, critically affecting the drug response analysis.

Organ-on-a-Chip Approach for Accelerating Blood-Brain Barrier Nanoshuttle Discovery.

Organ-on-a-chip, which recapitulates the dynamics of vasculature, has emerged as a promising platform for studying organ-specific vascular beds. However, its practical advantages in identifying vascular-targeted drug delivery systems (DDS) over traditional models remain underexplored. This study demonstrates the reliability and efficacy of the organ-on-a-chip in screening efficient DDS by comparing its performance with that of a conventional transwell, both designed to simulate the blood-brain barrier (BBB).

MicroRNA-21a-5p inhibition alleviates systemic sclerosis by targeting STAT3 signaling.

Background: MicroRNA (miRNA)-21-5p participates in various biological processes, including cancer and autoimmune diseases. However, its role in the development of fibrosis in the in vivo model of systemic sclerosis (SSc) has not been reported. This study investigated the effects of miRNA-21a-5p overexpression and inhibition on SSc fibrosis using a bleomycin-induced SSc mouse model.

A newly developed PLD1 inhibitor ameliorates rheumatoid arthritis by regulating pathogenic T and B cells and inhibiting osteoclast differentiation.

Phospholipase D1 (PLD1), which catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine to phosphatidic acid and choline, plays multiple roles in inflammation. We investigated the therapeutic effects of the newly developed PLD1 inhibitors A2998, A3000, and A3773 in vitro and in vivo rheumatoid arthritis (RA) model. A3373 reduced the levels of LPS-induced TNF-α, IL-6, and IgG in murine splenocytes in vitro.

Facile and adhesive-free method for bonding nanofiber membrane onto thermoplastic polystyrene substrate to fabricate 3D cell culture platforms.

Nanofiber (NF) membranes have been highlighted as functional materials for biomedical applications owing to their high surface-to-volume ratios, high permeabilities, and extracellular matrix-like biomimetic structures. Because many platforms for biomedical applications are made of thermoplastic polymers (TP), a simple and leak-free method for bonding NF membranes onto TP platforms is essential. Here, we propose a facile but leak-free localized thermal bonding method for integrating 2D or 3D-structured NF membrane onto a TP supporting substrate while preserving the pristine nanofibrous structure of the membrane, based on localized preheating of the substrate.

Aptamer Nanoconstructs Crossing Human Blood-Brain Barrier Discovered via Microphysiological System-Based SELEX Technology.

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) remains one of the critical challenges in developing neurological therapeutics. Short single-stranded DNA/RNA nucleotides forming a three-dimensional structure, called aptamers, have received increasing attention as BBB shuttles for efficient brain drug delivery owing to their practical advantages over Trojan horse antibodies or peptides. Aptamers are typically obtained by combinatorial chemical technology, termed Systemic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential Enrichment (SELEX), against purified targets, living cells, or animal models.

Co-Treatments of Gardeniae Fructus and Silymarin Ameliorates Excessive Oxidative Stress-Driven Liver Fibrosis by Regulation of Hepatic Sirtuin1 Activities Using Thioacetamide-Induced Mice Model.

Gardeniae Fructus (GF, the dried ripe fruits of Gardenia jasminoides Ellis) has traditionally been used to treat various diseases in East Asian countries, such as liver disease. Silymarin is a well-known medicine used to treat numerous liver diseases globally. The present study was purposed to evaluate the synergistic effects of GF and silymarin on the thioacetamide (TAA)-induced liver fibrosis of a mouse model.

Rebamipide treatment ameliorates obesity phenotype by regulation of immune cells and adipocytes.

Obesity is a medical term used to describe an over-accumulation of adipose tissue. It causes abnormal physiological and pathological processes in the body. Obesity is associated with systemic inflammation and abnormalities in immune cell function.

Soluble CCR2 gene therapy controls joint inflammation, cartilage damage, and the progression of osteoarthritis by targeting MCP-1 in a monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced OA rat model.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of degenerative arthritis and affects the entire joint, causing pain, joint inflammation, and cartilage damage. Various risk factors are implicated in causing OA, and in recent years, a lot of research and interest have been directed toward chronic low-grade inflammation in OA. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1; also called CCL2) acts through C-C chemokine receptor type 2 (CCR2) in monocytes and is a chemotactic factor of monocytes that plays an important role in the initiation of inflammation.

Sphingosylphosphorylcholine ameliorates experimental sjögren's syndrome by regulating salivary gland inflammation and hypofunction, and regulatory B cells.

Sjögren syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease in which immune cells infiltrate the exocrine gland. Since SS is caused by a disorder of the immune system, treatments should regulate the immune response. Sphingosylphosphorylcholine (SPC) is a sphingolipid that mediates cellular signaling.

B Cell-Specific Deletion of CR6-Interacting Factor 1 Drives Lupus-like Autoimmunity by Activation of Interleukin-17, Interleukin-6, and Pathogenic Follicular Helper T Cells in a Mouse Model.

Objective: CR6-interacting factor 1 (CRIF1) is a nuclear transcriptional regulator and a mitochondrial inner membrane protein; however, its functions in B lymphocytes have been poorly defined. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of CRIF1 on B cell metabolic regulation, cell function, and autoimmune diseases.

Methods: Using mice with B cell-specific deletion of CRIF1 (Crif1 mice), we assessed the relevance of CRIF1 function for lupus disease parameters, including anti-double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA), cytokines, and kidney pathology.

The Impact of Imposing Equality Constraints on Residual Variances Across Classes in Regression Mixture Models.

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of constraining class-specific residual variances to be equal by examining and comparing the parameter estimation of a free model and a constrained model under various conditions. A Monte Carlo simulation study was conducted under several conditions, including the number of predictors, class-specific intercepts, sample size, class-specific regression weights, and class proportion to evaluate the results for parameter estimation of the free model and the restricted model. The free model yielded a more accurate estimation than the restricted model for most of the conditions, but the accuracy of the free model estimation was impacted by the number of predictors, sample size, the disparity in the magnitude of class-specific slopes and intercepts, and class proportion.

Methotrexate-loaded nanoparticles ameliorate experimental model of autoimmune arthritis by regulating the balance of interleukin-17-producing T cells and regulatory T cells.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a progressive systemic autoimmune disease that is characterized by infiltration of inflammatory cells into the hyperplastic synovial tissue, resulting in subsequent destruction of adjacent articular cartilage and bone. Methotrexate (MTX), the first conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD), could alleviate articular damage in RA and is implicated in humoral and cellular immune responses. However, MTX has several side effects, so efficient delivery of low-dose MTX is important.

Vitronectin-derived bioactive peptide prevents spondyloarthritis by modulating Th17/Treg imbalance in mice with curdlan-induced spondyloarthritis.

Purpose: Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a systemic inflammatory arthritis mediated mainly by interleukin (IL)-17. The vitronectin-derived bioactive peptide, VnP-16, exerts an anti-osteoporotic effect via β1 and αvβ3 integrin signaling. SpA is associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis, and we investigated the effect of VnP-16 in mice with SpA.

Supplementation Exerts a Synergistic Effect on Tacrolimus Efficacy by Modulating Th17/Treg Balance in Lupus-Prone Mice the SIGNR3 Pathway.

Objective: Tacrolimus (Tac) is an immunosuppressant used in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); however, it induces T cell subset imbalances by reducing regulatory T (Treg) cells. (LA) is reported to have therapeutic efficacy in immune-mediated diseases T cell regulation.

Methods: This study investigated whether a combination therapy of LA and Tac improves the therapeutic efficacy of Tac by modulating T cell subset populations in an animal model of SLE.

Therapeutic Potential of a Novel Identified Through Microbiome Profiling of RA Patients With Different RF Levels.

The potential therapeutic effects of probiotic bacteria in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remain controversial. Thus, this study aimed to discover potential therapeutic bacteria based on the relationship between the gut microbiome and rheumatoid factor (RF) in RA. Bacterial genomic DNA was extracted from the fecal samples of 93 RA patients and 16 healthy subjects.

IL-17 and CCR9α4β7 Th17 Cells Promote Salivary Gland Inflammation, Dysfunction, and Cell Death in Sjögren's Syndrome.

Previous studies have evaluated the roles of T and B cells in the pathogenesis of Sjögren's syndrome (SS); however, their relationships with age-dependent and metabolic abnormalities remain unclear. We examined the impacts of changes associated with aging or metabolic abnormalities on populations of T and B cells and SS disease severity. We detected increased populations of IL-17-producing T and B cells, which regulate inflammation, in the salivary glands of NOD/ShiLtJ mice.

Condensed ECM-based nanofilms on highly permeable PET membranes for robust cell-to-cell communications with improved optical clarity.

The properties of a semipermeable porous membrane, including pore size, pore density, and thickness, play a crucial role in creating a tissue interface in a microphysiological system (MPS) because it dictates multicellular interactions between different compartments. The small pore-sized membrane has been preferentially used in an MPS for stable cell adhesion and the formation of tissue barriers on the membrane. However, it limited the applicability of the MPS because of the hindered cell transmigration via sparse through-holes and the optical translucence caused by light scattering through pores.

Effect of Low FODMAPs Diet on Irritable Bowel Syndromes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinical Trials.

We conducted a meta-analysis exploring the effect of a low fermentable oligo-, di-, monosaccharides, and polyols diet (LFD) on the overall symptoms, quality of life, and stool habits of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients. The meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects method. The effect size was presented as weighted standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

Metformin-Inducible Small Heterodimer Partner Interacting Leucine Zipper Protein Ameliorates Intestinal Inflammation.

Small heterodimer partner interacting leucine zipper protein (SMILE) is an orphan nuclear receptor and a member of the bZIP family of proteins. We investigated the mechanism by which SMILE suppressed the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) using a DSS-induced colitis mouse model and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Metformin, an antidiabetic drug and an inducer of AMPK, upregulated the level of SMILE in human intestinal epithelial cells and the number of SMILE-expressing cells in colon tissues from DSS-induced colitis mice compared to control mice.

Flat hardness distribution in AA6061 joints by linear friction welding.

It is known that one of the main concerns associated with the conventional welding of precipitation-strengthened Al alloys is the formation of softening regions, resulting in the deterioration of mechanical properties. In this study, we show that linear friction welding (LFW) can completely suppress softening regions in precipitation-strengthened AA6061-T6 alloy by introducing a large shear strain and by controlling the interfacial temperature. We found that the LFW process resulted in an extremely low interfacial temperature; it decreased as the applied pressure increased from 50 to 240 MPa.