Fabrication of cell penetrating peptide-conjugated bacterial cellulose nanofibrils with remarkable skin adhesion and water retention performance.

Bacterial cellulose nanofibrils (BCNFs), possessing excellent biocompatibility as well as hygroscopicity, are receiving high interest as a biomaterial for biomedical and healthcare treatments, since they exert various interactions with tissues after surface modification with biochemicals such as peptides, proteins, and catechols. Herein, we report a BCNF-based skin adhesion system, wherein cell penetrating peptide (CPP)-conjugated BCNFs were employed to enhance the attraction to the skin under wet conditions. For this, we conjugated Bac7, a type of CPP, with the carboxylate of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical (TEMPO)-oxidized BCNFs.

Ginsenoside Rg3 up-regulates the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in human dermal papilla cells and mouse hair follicles.

Crude Panax ginseng has been documented to possess hair growth activity and is widely used to treat alopecia, but the effects of ginsenoside Rg3 on hair growth have not to our knowledge been determined. The aim of the current study was to identify the molecules through which Rg3 stimulates hair growth. The thymidine incorporation for measuring cell proliferation was determined.

Whitening effect of Sophora flavescens extract.

Context: Sophora flavescens Ait. (Leguminosae) has been proposed as a new whitening agent for cosmetics, because it has a strong ability to inhibit tyrosinase, a key enzyme in the formation of melanin.

Objective: We conducted a study to determine whether ethanol extract of the roots of S.

Bio-oil upgrading via catalytic pyrolysis of waste mandarin residue over SBA-15 catalysts.

Mesoporous SBA-15-based catalysts were applied, for the first time, to the pyrolysis of waste mandarin residue. Si-SBA-15 with few acid sites, Al-SBA-15 with a significant amount of acid sites owing to the alumination treatment, and Pt/Al-SBA-15, which was synthesized by incorporating 7.1-nm Pt nanoparticles on Al-SBA-15, were used.

Economic feasibility of ethanol production from biomass and waste resources via catalytic reaction.

An economic evaluation of ethanol (EtOH) production from a thermo-chemical process derived from biomass/waste feedstocks was conducted. The influence of feed amounts, catalytic conversions, and EtOH selling prices was examined as these are the major variables for the economic evaluation of biomass/wastes conversion to EtOH. Among the three feedstock systems of biomass, high-moisture municipal solid waste (MSW), and plastic waste, the plastic waste has far better economic feasibility, with a payback period of 2-5 years at maximum CO conversion (40%) from syngas to ethanol, due to its higher heating value in comparison with biomass and high-moisture MSW.

Effects of ginsenoside Rg2 on the ultraviolet B-induced DNA damage responses in HaCaT cells.

Our previous study demonstrated the increase in the repair of UVB damage by mRg2, a mixture of ginsenosides containing 60% Rg2 in NIH3T3 cells. In the present study, the effects of purified Rg2 on the repair and apoptosis in ultraviolet B (UVB)-exposed HaCaT cells were investigated on gene expression levels. When cells were exposed to UVB and post-incubated in normal medium for 24 h, the cell viability decreased to about 50% of that in nontreated control.

Expression of RANKL and OPG in middle ear cholesteatoma tissue.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate how the expression of the RANK-RANKL-OPG system mediates the formation and differentiation of osteoclasts and causes bone resorption in cholesteatoma.

Methods: An immunohistochemical analysis was carried out in 22 cholesteatoma tissues obtained during middle ear surgery and 15 normal postauricular skin tissues to examine the expression of RANKL and OPG.

Results: All 22 cases of cholesteatoma and the 15 cases of normal postauricular skin expressed RANKL and OPG.

Characteristics of liquid product from the pyrolysis of waste plastic mixture at low and high temperatures: influence of lapse time of reaction.

Pyrolysis of a waste plastic mixture (high-density polyethylene: low-density polyethylene: polypropylene: polystyrene = 3:2:3:1) into a liquid product was carried out in a stirred semi-batch reactor at low (350 degrees C) and high (400 degrees C) temperatures. The effect of lapse time of reaction in the reactor and also degradation temperature on the characteristics of the liquid product from pyrolysis of the mixture was investigated. Liquid products were described by cumulative amount distribution, paraffin, olefin, naphthene and aromatic (PONA) distribution and molecular weight distribution.