Sea ice is a key element of the global Earth system, with a major impact on global climate and regional weather. Unfortunately, accurate sea ice modeling is challenging due to the diversity and complexity of underlying physics happening there, and a relative lack of ground truth observations. This is especially true for the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ), which is the area where sea ice is affected by incoming ocean waves.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of atmospheric ultrafine particulate matter (UPM) on respiratory allergic diseases has been investigated for decades; however, the precise molecular mechanisms underlying these effects remain poorly understood. In this study, we used a simulated UPM (sUPM) generated via the spark discharge method to refine black carbon, a core particle that closely mimics real-world UPM, including the size (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough there is consensus among dentists that visual aids not only improve vision but also help improve posture, evidence is scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of visual aids (loupe and microscope) on the muscle workload of dentists during crown preparation on dentiform first molars in each quadrant of a phantom head, considering dentists' muscles, patients' tooth positions and surfaces. Six right-handed dentists from a single tertiary hospital participated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTumors intricately shape a highly immunosuppressive microenvironment, hampering effective antitumor immune responses through diverse mechanisms. Consequently, achieving optimal efficacy in cancer immunotherapy necessitates the reorganization of the tumor microenvironment and restoration of immune responses. Bladder cancer, ranking as the second most prevalent malignant tumor of the urinary tract, presents a formidable challenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInnate lymphoid cells (ILCs) play an important role in maintaining tissue homeostasis and various inflammatory responses. ILCs are typically classified into three subsets, as is the case for T-cells. Recent studies have reported that IL-10-producing type 2 ILCs (ILC2s) have an immunoregulatory function dependent on IL-10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContact urticaria (CU) is an inflammatory skin disorder triggered by specific substances upon skin contact, leading to immediate acute or chronic manifestations characterized by swelling and redness. While mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are increasingly recognized for their therapeutic potential in immune diseases, research on the efficacy and mechanisms of stem cell therapy for urticaria remains scarce. This study investigates the regulatory role of embryonic-stem-cell-derived multipotent MSCs (M-MSCs) administered in a CU mouse model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study is to evaluate intratubular crystal formation from the experimental material consisting of dicalcium silicate (CS) and tricalcium silicate (CS) with nano-scaled particle size. A total of twenty-four specimens were made by isolating 8 mm of the cervical part centered at the cementoenamel junction of extracted premolars. Twelve specimens were not treated and considered as control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA; IVA) is the most widely used method for postoperative pain management. An appropriate IVA regimen is required, depending on the expected intensity of pain after surgery. This study expected that a decrease in the second prescription rate of IVA after elective cesarean section (CS) would help establish an appropriate regimen for the initial IVA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: This study evaluated the microtensile bond strength of calcium silicate-based sealers and epoxy resin-based sealer, depending on the use of phosphoric acid (PA) etching before immediate resin restoration.
Methods: Exposed dentin surfaces of extracted human third molars were randomly assigned to 3 groups depending on sealer type (AH Plus [Dentsply DeTrey], CeraSeal [Meta Biomed Co.], and EndoSeal MTA [Maruchi]).
The early detection of initial dental caries enables preventive treatment, and bitewing radiography is a good diagnostic tool for posterior initial caries. In medical imaging, the utilization of deep learning with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to process various types of images has been actively researched, with promising performance. In this study, we developed a CNN model using a U-shaped deep CNN (U-Net) for caries detection on bitewing radiographs and investigated whether this model can improve clinicians' performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim was to evaluate the physical properties and anti-bacterial activity of resin cement containing ursolic acid (UA) and determine the optimal concentration of UA. Five types of experimental resin cement were prepared according to UA concentration (0, 0.1, 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPropionate is a short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) mainly produced from carbohydrates by gut microbiota. Sodium propionate (SP) has shown to suppress the invasion in G protein-coupled receptor 41 (GPR41) and GPR43-overexpressing breast cancer cells. In this study we investigated the effects of SP on the proliferation, apoptosis, autophagy, and antioxidant production of breast cancer cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe current study evaluated the hypothesis that the administration of spheroidal adipose-derived stromal/stem cells (ASCs) promotes cell survival and arrests the progression of surgically induced osteoarthritis (OA) in a rat model. We also tested the optimal conditions for spheroid production from ASCs using microwell methods. The formation of ASC spheroids was optimized at a well diameter of 600 μm under cell concentrations of 10 cell/ml.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHere, we validated the clinical utility of our previously developed microfluidic device, GenoCTC, which is based on bottom magnetophoresis, for the isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from patient whole blood. GenoCTC allowed 90% purity, 77% separation rate, and 80% recovery of circulating tumor cells at a 90 μL/min flow rate when tested on blood spiked with epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM)-positive Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF7) cells. Clinical studies were performed using blood samples from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCommunity Dent Oral Epidemiol
October 2020
Objective: Food security is important to health maintenance and disease prevention. The aim of this study was to identify the association between household food insecurity and dental caries in Korean adults.
Method: Data from 14 770 adults included in the 2013-2015 Korea National Health and Nutritional Survey were analysed.
To define the functional role of Krüppel-like factor (KLF) 10 as a modulator of chondrocyte hypertrophy in developing skeleton, the developmental features in the long bone of KLF10 knockout (KO) mice were investigated and the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from KLF10 KO mice were characterized regarding chondrogenesis and osteogenesis. Delayed long bone growth and delayed formation of primary ossification center were observed in an early embryonic stage in KLF10 KO mouse along with very low Indian hedgehog expression in epiphyseal plate. While the chondrogenic potential of mouse MSCs from KLF10 KO mice appeared normal or slight decreased, hypertrophy and osteogenesis were extensively suppressed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA subpopulation of cancer stem cells (CSCs) with capacity for self-renewal is believed to drive initiation, progression, and relapse of breast tumors. Since the thyroid hormone receptor β (TRβ) appears to suppress breast tumor growth and metastasis, we have analyzed the possibility that TRβ could affect the CSC population using MCF-7 cells grown under adherent conditions or as mammospheres, as well as inoculation into immunodeficient mice. Treatment of TRβ-expressing MCF-7 cells (MCF7-TRβ cells) with the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3) decreased significantly CD44/CD24 and ALDH cell subpopulations, the efficiency of mammosphere formation, the self-renewal capacity of CSCs in limiting dilution assays, the expression of the pluripotency factors in the mammospheres, and tumor initiating capacity in immunodeficient mice, indicating that the hormone reduces the CSC population present within the bulk MCF7-TRβ cultures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile bone has the capability to heal itself, there is a great difficulty in reconstituting large bone defects created by heavy trauma or the resection of malignant tumors. Also, osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH), which is caused by obstruction of the blood supply to bone cells and occurs in the young, is not amenable for successful bone regeneration. We developed VEGF- and BMP2-transfected adipose stem cells (ASCs) using electroporation that can effectively treat bone defects by providing rapid angiogenesis and osteogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Ther Nucleic Acids
September 2019
We investigated the functional role of miR-892b as a novel inhibitor of chondrocyte hypertrophy during TGF-β-mediated chondrogenesis of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). The expression of miR-892b during TGF-β-mediated chondrogenesis of hMSCs and the effects of miR-892b overexpression on chondrogenic and hypertrophic marker genes in the chondrogenesis of hMSCs were investigated. Targets of miR-892b were identified and verified by overexpression of synthetic miRNA mimics and luciferase assays.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study was designed to analyze the crystal growth of synthetic hydroxyapatite (HA) particles in pH 7.0 supersaturated solutions with different fluoride concentrations by FE-SEM, FE-TEM, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and FTIR.
Design: Eight groups of pH 7.
J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater
January 2020
In our previous studies, we found that adult stem cells transfected with sex-determining region Y-box (SOX)-9, -6 and -5 genes (SOX trio) enhanced chondrogenesis and suppressed the progression of osteoarthritis (OA). The inhibition of angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPT4) is known to reduce levels of cartilage damaging enzymes, such as, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). In this study, we designed nanoparticles comprising dexamethasone-conjugated polyethylenimine ( PEI) complexed with minicircle plasmid (MC) harboring SOX duo (SOX-9, -6) and ANGPTL4 small hairpin RNA (shANG) [ SOX9/6/shANG] in the expectation that transfection of these nanoparticles would enhance chondrogenesis of stem cells and suppress inflammation in OA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground & Objectives: C-type lectin receptors (CLRs) are a family of pattern recognition receptors (PRPs). The expression of CLRs has been analyzed in other diseases but has not yet been compared in patients with otitis media with effusion (OME), chronic otitis media (COM) and COM with cholesteatoma (Chole OM). This study therefore evaluated the levels of expression of mRNAs encoding Dectin-1, MR1, MR2, DC-SIGN, Syk, Card-9, Bcl-10, Malt-1, Src, DEC-205, Tim-3, Trem-1, and DAP-12 in patients with OME, COM, and Chole OM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA selective biosensing platform for the determination of hypoxanthine (Hx) and uric acid (UA) concentrations in both buffer and human serum sample solutions was developed. The biosensor features the layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly of negatively charged xanthine oxidase (XOD) and positively charged poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride) (PDDA) wrapped oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes and graphene (CNTs-G) complexes (PDDA-CNTs-G) on screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE) surfaces. Catalytic responses of the XOD modified biosensor with the chosen optimum number of layers for LbL assembly on SPCE towards Hx in buffer solutions were first investigated using both cyclic and square wave voltammetries.
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