Caspase Inhibition Restores Collagen I α1 and Fibronectin Release in Cigarette Smoke Extract-Exposed Human Lung Fibroblasts.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive lung disease characterized by obstructed airflow, airway remodeling, and inflammation, with cigarette smoke (CS) exposure being the main risk factor. While CS extract (CSE) has been shown to activate caspases in various cell types, the role of caspases in human lung fibroblasts (hLFs), in COPD remains poorly understood. Recent studies have linked caspases to extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling in skin and kidney fibrosis.

Do plant biostimulants affect the survival of in lettuce?

Introduction: Considering that plant biostimulants can be sprayed multiple times on leafy crops even just before harvest, it is relevant to know the impact of biostimulant applications on population dynamics of lettuce leaves to ensure food safety. Two trials were carried out to investigate whether the applications of a seaweed extract and a vegetal-derived protein hydrolysate (PH) could affect the growth in shake flasks (Exp. 1) and plant growth and survival of artificially inoculated on the leaf surface of lettuce grown in a floating system (Exp.

Search for Soft Unclustered Energy Patterns in Proton-Proton Collisions at 13 TeV.

The first search for soft unclustered energy patterns (SUEPs) is performed using an integrated luminosity of 138  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data at sqrt[s]=13  TeV, collected in 2016-2018 by the CMS detector at the LHC. Such SUEPs are predicted by hidden valley models with a new, confining force with a large 't Hooft coupling. In events with boosted topologies, selected by high-threshold hadronic triggers, the multiplicity and sphericity of clustered tracks are used to reject the background from standard model quantum chromodynamics.