Experimental Study on the Effect of Pitch Sloshing on the Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of an LNG Spiral-Wound Heat Exchanger.

With the development and utilization of offshore liquefied natural gas, it is increasingly important to study the influence of the heat transfer performance of a spiral-wound heat exchanger under sloshing conditions. This study focused on the effects of different sloshing amplitudes and sloshing periods on the heat transfer and pressure drop performance of a heat exchanger. Through experimental research, the results showed that the fluctuation of the UA ( is the heat transfer coefficient; is the heat exchange area) value first increased and then decreased with an increase in the sloshing amplitude.

The accumulation of miR-125b-5p is indispensable for efficient erythroblast enucleation.

Erythroblast enucleation is a precisely regulated but not clearly understood process. Polycythemia shows pathological erythroblast enucleation, and we discovered a low miR-125b-5p level in terminal erythroblasts of patients with polycythemia vera (PV) compared to those of healthy controls. Exogenous upregulation of miR-125b-5p levels restored the enucleation rate to normal levels.

Therapeutic use of red blood cells and platelets derived from human cord blood stem cells.

Red blood cells (RBCs) and platelets derived from stem cells are possible solutions to the increasing demand for blood transfusion. Based on the availability of stem cells, their relatively defined differentiation mechanisms, and the massive exploration of induction systems, the generation of RBCs or platelets in vitro from cord blood hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (CB-HSPCs) has potential for clinical applications. However, information on the clinical translation of stem cell-derived RBCs and platelets in the literature and at the ClinicalTrials.

Involvement of RhoA/ROCK in insulin secretion of pancreatic β-cells in 3D culture.

Cell-cell contacts and interactions between pancreatic β-cells and/or other cell populations within islets are essential for cell survival, insulin secretion, and functional synchronization. Three-dimensional (3D) culture systems supply the ideal microenvironment for islet-like cluster formation and functional maintenance. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

[Study on the induction and differentiation of megakaryocyte progenitor cell derived from umbilical cord blood].

Objective: To build a protocol of separation and induction of megakaryocytes derived from cord blood mononuclear cells.

Methods: Red blood cells were precipitated by hydroxyethyl starch (HES). Mononuclear cells were obtained by density gradient centrifugation with Ficoll.

CAPE promotes the expansion of human umbilical cord blood-derived hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in vitro.

Due to the low number of collectable stem cells from single umbilical cord blood (UCB) unit, their initial uses were limited to pediatric therapies. Clinical applications of UCB hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) would become feasible if there were a culture method that can effectively expand HSPCs while maintaining their self-renewal capacity. In recent years, numerous attempts have been made to expand human UCB HSPCs in vitro.

Wnt3a is involved in the early stage of miPSC and mESC haemopoietic differentiation.

The Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway is important in regulating not only self-renewal of haemopoietic progenitors and stem cells but also haemopoietic differentiation of ESCs (embryonic stem cells). However, it is still not clear how it affects haemopoietic differentiation. We have used a co-culture system for haemopoietic differentiation of mouse ESCs and iPSCs (induced pluripotent stem cells) in which the Wnt3a gene-modified OP9 cell line is used as stromal cells.

Role of epimorphin in bile duct formation of rat liver epithelial stem-like cells: involvement of small G protein RhoA and C/EBPβ.

Epimorphin/syntaxin 2 is a high conserved and very abundant protein involved in epithelial morphogenesis in various organs. We have shown recently that epimorphin (EPM), a protein exclusively expressed on the surface of hepatic stellate cells and myofibroblasts of the liver, induces bile duct formation of hepatic stem-like cells (WB-F344 cells) in a putative biophysical way. Therefore, the aim of this study was to present some of the molecular mechanisms by which EPM mediates bile duct formation.

Neuronal restrictive silencing factor silencing induces human amniotic fluid-derived stem cells differentiation into insulin-producing cells.

Islet cell replacement represents the most promising approach for the treatment of type I diabetes. However, it is limited by a shortage of pancreas donors. Here, we report that human amniotic fluid-derived stem cells (hAFSCs) can be induced to differentiate into functional insulin-producing cells by knocking down neuronal restrictive silencing factor (NRSF).

Epimorphin regulates bile duct formation via effects on mitosis orientation in rat liver epithelial stem-like cells.

Understanding how hepatic precursor cells can generate differentiated bile ducts is crucial for studies on epithelial morphogenesis and for development of cell therapies for hepatobiliary diseases. Epimorphin (EPM) is a key morphogen for duct morphogenesis in various epithelial organs. The role of EPM in bile duct formation (DF) from hepatic precursor cells, however, is not known.

RhoA promotes differentiation of WB-F344 cells into the biliary lineage.

When cultured on Matrigel, liver precursor epithelium WB-F344 cells could be induced to differentiate into biliary cells in which RhoA expression was upregulated. To further investigate the role of RhoA in WB cell differentiation initiated by Matrigel treatment, we constructed constitutively active RhoA-expressing vectors and stably transfected them into WB-F344 cells. Accompanying upregulation of biliary lineage markers and morphological changes, cells with ectopically active RhoA expression were found to form bile-duct-like structures even without Matrigel treatment.

Legume lectin FRIL preserves neural progenitor cells in suspension culture in vitro.

In vitro maintenance of stem cells is crucial for many clinical applications. Stem cell preservation factor FRIL (Flt3 receptor-interacting lectin) is a plant lectin extracted from Dolichos Lablab and has been found preserve hematopoietic stem cells in vitro for a month in our previous studies. To investigate whether FRIL can preserve neural progenitor cells (NPCs), it was supplemented into serum-free suspension culture media.