Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells ameliorates secondary osteoporosis through interleukin-17-impaired functions of recipient bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in MRL/lpr mice.

Introduction: Secondary osteoporosis is common in systemic lupus erythematosus and leads to a reduction in quality of life due to fragility fractures, even in patients with improvement of the primary disorder. Systemic transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells could ameliorate bone loss and autoimmune disorders in a MRL/lpr mouse systemic lupus erythematosus model, but the detailed therapeutic mechanism of bone regeneration is not fully understood. In this study, we transplanted human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) and stem cells from exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) into MRL/lpr mice and explored their therapeutic mechanisms in secondary osteoporotic disorders of the systemic lupus erythematosus model mice.

S100B and ADMA in cerebral small vessel disease and cognitive dysfunction.

Background: Glial cell activation and endothelial dysfunction are thought to contribute to the pathophysiology of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD). The purpose of the present study was to determine if levels of S100B, a protein highly expressed in glial cells, and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), which promotes endothelial dysfunction, are elevated in the serum of patients with SVD and correlate with their cognitive functioning.

Methods: The serum levels of S100B and ADMA were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays in 210 patients with SVD and 207 controls.

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor as a Prognostic Parameter in Subjects with "Plateau Red Face".

Unlabelled: Ma, Lan, Ying Chen, Guoen Jin, Yingzhong Yang, Qin Ga, and Ri-Li Ge. Vascular endothelial growth factor as a prognostic parameter in subjects with "plateau red face." High Alt Med Biol 16:147-153, 2015.

CYP17A1 and CYP2E1 variants associated with high altitude polycythemia in Tibetans at the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Tibetans adapt to high altitude environments through low blood hemoglobin concentrations. Previous work has identified that CYP17A1 and CYP2E1 genes exhibit evidence of local positive selection for this Tibetan high-altitude adaptation. Nevertheless, despite this apparent genetic advantage, some Tibetans still develop high altitude polycythemia (HAPC) yet the reasons for this remain unknown.

Echinacoside induces rat pulmonary artery vasorelaxation by opening the NO-cGMP-PKG-BKCa channels and reducing intracellular Ca2+ levels.

Aim: Sustained pulmonary vasoconstriction as experienced at high altitude can lead to pulmonary hypertension (PH). The main purpose of this study is to investigate the vasorelaxant effect of echinacoside (ECH), a phenylethanoid glycoside from the Tibetan herb Lagotis brevituba Maxim and Cistanche tubulosa, on the pulmonary artery and its potential mechanism.

Methods: Pulmonary arterial rings obtained from male Wistar rats were suspended in organ chambers filled with Krebs-Henseleit solution, and isometric tension was measured using a force transducer.

β-Arrestin-biased signaling mediates memory reconsolidation.

A long-standing hypothesis posits that a G protein-coupled signaling pathway mediates β-adrenergic nervous system functions, including learning and memory. Here we report that memory retrieval (reactivation) induces the activation of β1-adrenergic β-arrestin signaling in the brain, which stimulates ERK signaling and protein synthesis, leading to postreactivation memory restabilization. β-Arrestin2-deficient mice exhibit impaired memory reconsolidation in object recognition, Morris water maze, and cocaine-conditioned place preference paradigms.

Cu and Cr enhanced the effect of various carbon nanotubes on microbial communities in an aquatic environment.

Environmental impacts of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) arise both from the characteristics of CNTs as well as from their sorbed contaminants from aquatic environments. In this work, we employed pristine, carboxyl-, hydroxyl- and amino-functionalized multi-walled CNTs and pristine single-walled CNTs to quantify and compare their impacts on aquatic microbial communities in the absence and presence of Cu or Cr. Aliquots of samples were set up to 10 and 40 days for culture-dependent analyses, namely, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis.

Histamine downregulates aquaporin 5 in human nasal epithelial cells.

Background: Aquaporin 5 (AQP5) is a water-specific channel protein. It is thought to be a key participant in fluid secretion and a rate-limiting barrier to the secretion seen during allergic inflammation. We sought to determine the effect of histamine on AQP5 expression in human nasal epithelial cells (HNEpC).

Genome-wide association study identifies a new susceptibility locus for cleft lip with or without a cleft palate.

Nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without a cleft palate (NSCL/P) is among the most common human congenital birth defects and imposes a substantial physical and financial burden on affected individuals. Here, we conduct a case-control-based GWAS followed by two rounds of replication; we include six independent cohorts from China to elucidate the genetic architecture of NSCL/P in Chinese populations. Using this combined analysis, we identify a new locus at 16p13.

No association of TP53 codon 72 SNP with male infertility: a study in a Chinese population and a meta-analysis.

Genetic polymorphisms may affect human male fertility. Even though TP53 plays a role in spermatogenesis we know little about the association of the functional polymorphism at codon 72 of TP53 with respect to susceptibility to male infertility. We conducted a case-control study to investigate this association in a Chinese population and performed a meta-analysis in different populations to clarify this association.

Charge separation between polar {111} surfaces of CoO octahedrons and their enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity.

Crystal facet engineering of semiconductors has been proven to be an effective strategy to increase photocatalytic performances. However, the mechanism involved in the photocatalysis is not yet known. Herein, we report our success in that photocatalytic performances of the Cl(-) ion capped CoO octahedrons with exposed {111} facets were activated by a treatment using AgNO3 and NH3·H2O solutions.

Trap Effect of Three-Dimensional Fibers Network for High Efficient Cancer-Cell Capture.

Cells are trapped: The 3D fibrous interfaces, including microfibers, nanofibers, and nanofibers/microbeads composite interfaces, are fabricated by electrospinning. After coated with anti-EpCAM, these 3D fibrous interfaces allow cancer cells to be firmly trapped into the networks that show the outstanding capability for cancer cell capture from real blood.

Effects of metal-soil contact time on the extraction of mercury from soils.

To investigate the mercury aging process in soils, soil samples were spiked with inorganic mercury (Hg(II)) or methylated mercury (MeHg) and incubated for 2, 7, 14 or 28 days in the laboratory. Potential availability of mercury, assessed by bovine serum albumin (BSA) or calcium chloride (CaCl2) extraction, decreased by 2-19 times for Hg(II) or 2-6 times for MeHg, when the contact time increased from 2 to 28 days. Decreased Hg(II) extraction could be explained by Hg(II) geochemical fractionation, i.

Automatic image analysis of multicellular apoptosis process.

Apoptotic programmed cell death (PCD) is a common and fundamental aspect of developmental maturation. Image processing techniques have been developed to detect apoptosis at the single-cell level in a single still image, while an efficient algorithm to automatically analyze the temporal progression of apoptosis in a large population of cells is unavailable. In this work, we have developed an ImageJ-based program that can quantitatively analyze time-lapse microscopy movies of live tissues undergoing apoptosis with a fluorescent cellular marker, and subsequently extract the temporospatial pattern of multicellular response.

Proteasome-mediated degradation of FRIGIDA modulates flowering time in Arabidopsis during vernalization.

Winter-annual accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana require either exposure to cold stress or vernalization to initiate flowering via FRIGIDA (FRI). FRI acts as a scaffold protein to recruit several chromatin modifiers that epigenetically modify flowering genes. Here, we report that proteasome-mediated FRI degradation regulates flowering during vernalization in Arabidopsis.

Comparative proteomic analysis reveals the role of hydrogen sulfide in the adaptation of the alpine plant Lamiophlomis rotata to altitude gradient in the Northern Tibetan Plateau.

We found the novel role of hydrogen sulfide in the adaptation of the alpine plant to altitude gradient in the Northern Tibetan Plateau. Alpine plants have developed strategies to survive the extremely cold conditions prevailing at high altitudes; however, the mechanism underlying the evolution of these strategies remains unknown. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an essential messenger that enhances plant tolerance to environmental stress; however, its role in alpine plant adaptation to environmental stress has not been reported until now.

Dual regulation of tumor necrosis factor-α on myosin light chain phosphorylation in vascular smooth muscle.

We previously demonstrated that inhibitor κB kinase 2 (IKK2) is a myosin light chain kinase (MLCK). In the present study, we assess whether the prototypical activator of IKK2 tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) regulates the MLCK activity of IKK2 and thus MLC phosphorylation in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Kinase activity assay revealed that TNF-α downregulated the MLCK activity of IKK2 in human VSMCs (HVSMCs).

A novel method to detect Listeria monocytogenes via superparamagnetic lateral flow immunoassay.

A novel strip test system combining immunomagnetic separation with lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) was established for the accurate detection of Listeria monocytogenes. In this system, a pair of matched monoclonal antibodies was used to construct a sandwich immunoassay, in which superparamagnetic particles were coupled with one of the antibodies as a labeled antibody to capture the target bacteria, while the other antibody was immobilized on the detection zone. After a 20-min reaction, the strips were analyzed by a novel instrument which could detect the magnetic signal of the immunocomplex in a magnetic field.

Transcriptome analysis reveals diversified adaptation of Stipa purpurea along a drought gradient on the Tibetan Plateau.

Natural selection drives species adaptations to biotic and abiotic stresses. Species distributed along a moisture gradient, such as Stipa purpurea, a dominant grass in alpine arid and semi-arid meadows on the Tibetan Plateau, provide an opportunity to evaluate the effects of long-term adaptation to differing degrees of drought stress on gene expression. However, the genetic basis of this divergence remains largely unknown.

Combined use of vitamin D3 and metformin exhibits synergistic chemopreventive effects on colorectal neoplasia in rats and mice.

Vitamin D3 and metformin are widely used in humans for regulating mineral metabolism and as an antidiabetic drug, respectively; and both of them have been shown to have chemopreventive effects against various tumors. This study was designed to investigate the potential synergistic chemopreventive effects of vitamin D3 and metformin against the development of early colon neoplasia in two models. The first model was a 1,2-dimethylhydrazine dihydrochloride (DMH)-induced colon cancer rat model and the second, a DMH-dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis-associated colon neoplasia mouse model.

[Reasons for the changes in anthropogenic lead flows of China].

In recent years, accompanied by a series of comprehensive improvement actions on lead pollution, anthropogenic lead flows of China have somewhat changed; by exploring the reasons, some references can be provided for further improvement in resource utilization and environment quality. In this paper, based on the framework of lead flow analysis, the causes of changes in lead flows were identified and divided into scale factors and technical factors. Based on that and taking indices such as the quantities of lead production and recovered lead scraps, and lead recycling rate and emission rates as the scale and technical indices, respectively, the reasons for the changes of lead flow in our country were analyzed from the aspects of consumption, trade, technology, management and so on.

[Voluntary wheel running enhances cell proliferation and expression levels of BDNF, IGF1 and WNT4 in dentate gyrus of adult mice].

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis plays important roles in learning, memory and mood regulation. External factors, such as physical exercise, have been found to modulate adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Voluntary running enhances cell proliferation in subgranular zone (SGZ) and increases the number of new born neurons in rodents, but underlying mechanisms are not fully understood.

[Neurons in NAc core and BLA are activated during cocaine context-associated reward memory retrieval in mice].

The intense associative memories that develop between cocaine-paired contexts and rewarding stimuli make addiction hard to cure by contributing to cocaine seeking and relapse. So it's of great importance to examine the neurobiological basis of addiction memory. Cocaine conditioned place preference (CPP) used in this study is a form of Pavlovian conditioning which can establish associations between drug and contextual factors.