Aged bone marrow macrophages drive systemic aging and age-related dysfunction via extracellular vesicle-mediated induction of paracrine senescence.

The accumulation and systemic propagation of senescent cells contributes to physiological aging and age-related pathology. However, which cell types are most susceptible to the aged milieu and could be responsible for the propagation of senescence has remained unclear. Here we found that physiologically aged bone marrow monocytes/macrophages (BMMs) propagate senescence to multiple tissues, through extracellular vesicles (EVs), and drive age-associated dysfunction in mice.

Exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells in diabetes and diabetic complications.

Diabetes, a group of metabolic disorders, constitutes an important global health problem. Diabetes and its complications place a heavy financial strain on both patients and the global healthcare establishment. The lack of effective treatments contributes to this pessimistic situation and negative outlook.

Senescent immune cells release grancalcin to promote skeletal aging.

Skeletal aging is characterized by low bone turnover and marrow fat accumulation. However, the underlying mechanism for this imbalance is unclear. Here, we show that during aging in rats and mice proinflammatory and senescent subtypes of immune cells, including macrophages and neutrophils, accumulate in the bone marrow and secrete abundant grancalcin.

Metal Oxy-Hydroxides with a Hierarchical and Hollow Structure for Highly Efficient Solar-Thermal Water Evaporation.

Solar-thermal water evaporation is a promising technology for pure water production. However, the design of low-cost systems for efficient antifouling solar-thermal water evaporation remains a challenge. Herein, an evaporator based on metal oxy-hydroxides with a hierarchical and hollow structure is rationally designed through material selection and structural engineering.

High-Strength, Self-Healable, Temperature-Sensitive, MXene-Containing Composite Hydrogel as a Smart Compression Sensor.

As a new two-dimensional material similar to graphene, MXene has attracted extensive attention in the field of electrochemical materials such as supercapacitors because of its excellent mechanical properties, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity. What is better than graphene is that the few-layer MXene material obtained by proper treatment has good water dispersibility and can be used as an ideal nanomaterial to enhance the conductivity of hydrogels. However, the articles about the few-layer MXene material used in the preparation of composite hydrogels are rare.

Predicted high thermoelectric performance in a two-dimensional indium telluride monolayer and its dependence on strain.

In recent years, another two-dimensional (2D) family, monolayer metal monochalcogenides (group IIIA-VIA), has attracted extensive attention. In this work, we adopt density functional theory (DFT) and the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method to systematically investigate the ballistic thermoelectric properties of the IIIA-VIA family, including GaS, GaSe, GaTe, InS, InSe, and InTe. Among others, the InTe monolayer possesses the highest figure of merit, ZT = 2.

WSe2 nanoribbons: new high-performance thermoelectric materials.

In this work, for the first time, we systematically investigate the ballistic transport properties of WSe2 nanoribbons using first-principles methods. Armchair nanoribbons with narrow ribbon width are mostly semiconductive but the zigzag nanoribbons are metallic. Surprisingly, an enhancement in thermoelectric performance is discovered moving from monolayers to nanoribbons, especially armchair ones.

Downregulation of rho-associated protein kinase 1 by miR-124 in colorectal cancer.

Aim: To investigate the roles and interactions of rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK)1 and miR-124 in human colorectal cancer (CRC).

Methods: Expression of ROCK1 protein was examined by Western blotting, and quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR was performed to measure expression of ROCK1 mRNA and miR-124. Two cancer cell lines were transfected with pre-miR-124 (mimic) and anti-miR-124 (inhibitor) and the effects on ROCK1 protein and mRNA expression were observed.