This study presents a groundbreaking approach to modeling the Hall-Héroult cathode used in aluminum production. Our innovative model is grounded in a sophisticated porous electrode methodology coupled with state-of-the-art numerical simulations. This enables us to capture the intricate physicochemical processes within the system precisely, encompassing the migration, diffusion, and convection of ionic species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHigh-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) has attracted considerable attention for its influence on electrical equipment. HEMP is divided into three parts: early time HEMP (E1), intermediate-time HEMP (E2), and late-time HEMP (E3). Most studies focused on E1 alone, while few investigated others.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Wnt5a, which regulates the activities of osteoblasts and osteoclasts, is reportedly overexpressed in osteoarthritis (OA) tissues. The purpose of this study was to elucidate its role in the development of OA by deleting Wnt5a in osteocalcin (OCN)-expressing cells.
Materials And Methods: Knee OA was induced by anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) in knockout (Wnt5a-cKO) mice and control littermates.
The Omicron variant is currently ravaging the world, raising serious concern globally. Monitoring genomic variations and determining their influence on biological features are critical for tracing its ongoing transmission and facilitating effective measures. Based on large-scale sequences from different continents, this study found that: (i) The genetic diversity of Omicron is much lower than that of the Delta variant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Neuropathic pain can cause significant physical and economic burden, and there are no effective long-term treatments. We conducted a bioinformatics analysis to identify mechanisms to determine strategies for more effective treatments of neuropathic pain.
Method: GSE24982 and GSE63442 microarray datasets were extracted from the Gene Expression Omnibus database to analyze transcriptome differences of neuropathic pain in the dorsal root ganglions (DRGs).
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
November 2021
Vascular endothelial cells are exposed to shear stresses with disturbed vs. laminar flow patterns, which lead to proinflammatory vs. antiinflammatory phenotypes, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Neuropathic pain (NP) severely affects the quality of life; however, there is no effective long-term treatment. The spinal dorsal horn (SDH) is an essential target for studying NP mechanisms and clinical treatments.
Materials And Methods: We searched the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) for the datasets of SDH microarray changes in mice NP models.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
November 2020
Conductive textiles (CTs) are promising electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials. Nevertheless, limited stretchability and poor reliability restrict their potential applications in stretchable electronic devices because of the rigid conductive networks. Herein, a highly stretchable and reliable CT is developed for effective EMI shielding by designing a deformable liquid-metal (LM) coating and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) protective layer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Stearoyl-coenzyme A desaturase-1 (SCD1) can inhibit the development of diabetic bone disease by promoting osteogenesis. In this study, we examined whether this regulation by SCD1 is achieved by regulating the expression of related miRNAs.
Methods: SCD1 expression levels were observed in human bone-marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and the effect of SCD1 on osteogenesis was observed in human adipose-derived MSCs transfected with the SCD1 lentiviral system.
Purpose: To develop a risk prediction model for postoperative sarcopenia in elderly patients with patellar fractures in China.
Patients And Methods: We conducted a community survey of patients aged ≥55 years who underwent surgery for patellar fractures between January 2013 and October 2018, through telephone interviews, community visits, and outpatient follow-up. We established a predictive model for assessing the risk of sarcopenia after patellar fractures.
Vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) from arterial stenotic-occlusive diseases is featured with deficiency in mitochondrial respiration and loss of cell contractility. However, the regulatory mechanism of mitochondrial genes and mitochondrial energy metabolism in SMC remains elusive. Here, we described that DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) translocated to the mitochondria and catalyzed D-loop methylation of mitochondrial DNA in vascular SMCs in response to platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFShanghai Kou Qiang Yi Xue
August 2019
Purpose: To explore the effect of rutin on osteogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament stem cells under inflammatory microenvironment.
Methods: Periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) were obtained by limited dilution method in vitro. PDLSCs were identified by flow cytometery.
Macrophage-mediated inflammatory responses occur throughout all stages of atherosclerosis. DNA methylation is one of the critical epigenetic mechanisms and is associated with the development of atherosclerosis. The underlying mechanism of epigenetic regulation of macrophage inflammation (M1 activation) remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate the accuracy and safety of freehand pedicle screw placement in surgical correction for thoracolumbar kyphosis caused by ankylosing spondylitis (AS).
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 266 consecutive patients with AS who underwent osteotomy for kyphosis correction with freehand screw insertion from January 1998 to April 2015 at our institution. A total of 2314 pedicle screws in 158 patients with AS with postoperative computed tomography scans were included in the study.
The analogous β-carboline alkaloids, harmaline (HAL) and harmine (HAR), possess a variety of biological properties, including acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and many others, and have great potential for treating Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, studies have showed that the two compounds have similar structures and AChE inhibitory activities but with significant difference in bioavailability. The objective of this study was to comparatively investigate the effects of HAL and HAR in memory deficits of scopolamine-induced mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCells perceive the physical cues such as perturbations of extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness, and translate these stimuli into biochemical signals controlling various aspects of cell behavior, which contribute to the physiological and pathological processes of multiple organs. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that during arterial stiffening, vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) sense the increase of ECM stiffness, which modulates the cellular phenotype through the regulation in DNA methyltransferases 1 (DNMT1) expression. Moreover, we hypothesized that the mechanisms involve intrinsic stiffening and deficiency in contractility of vascular SMCs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate biological pathways by inhibiting gene expression. However, most current analytical methods fail to consider miRNAs, when inferring functional or pathway activities. In this study, we developed a model called sPAGM to infer subpathway activities by integrating gene and miRNA expressions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe earliest atherosclerotic lesions preferentially develop in arterial regions experienced disturbed blood flow, which induces endothelial expression of pro-atherogenic genes and the subsequent endothelial dysfunction. Our previous study has demonstrated an up-regulation of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) and a global hypermethylation in vascular endothelium subjected to disturbed flow. Here, we determined that DNMT1-specific inhibition in arterial wall ameliorates the disturbed flow-induced atherosclerosis through, at least in part, targeting cell cycle regulator cyclin A and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVascular endothelial cells (ECs) at arterial branches and curvatures experience disturbed blood flow and induce a quiescent-to-activated phenotypic transition of the adjacent smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and a subsequent smooth muscle hyperplasia. However, the mechanism underlying the flow pattern-specific initiation of EC-to-SMC signaling remains elusive. Our previous study demonstrated that endothelial microRNA-126-3p (miR-126-3p) acts as a key intercellular molecule to increase turnover of the recipient SMCs, and that its release is reduced by atheroprotective laminar shear (12 dynes/cm) to ECs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo date, only a few reports described the potential factors influencing the position of conus medullaris. One previous study revealed no significant change of conus locations in patients with idiopathic scoliosis; however, the effect of ankylosing spondylitis (AS)-related thoracolumbar kyphosis on conus position remains unexplored. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the variation of conus medullaris terminations in patients with thoracolumbar kyphosis secondary to AS when compared with normal subjects, and evaluated the relationship between conus positions and the magnitude of kyphosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudy Design: This is a retrospective study.
Objective: To identify the relationship between global sagittal alignment and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients with thoracolumbar kyphosis.
Summary Of Background Data: Little data are available on correlation between global sagittal alignment and HRQoL in AS.
Purpose: To evaluate whether acetabular orientation (abduction and anteversion) can be restored by lumbar pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO) in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients with thoracolumbar kyphosis.
Materials And Methods: A total of 33 consecutive AS patients with thoracolumbar kyphosis undergoing one-level lumbar PSO were retrospectively reviewed. Radiographical measurements included sagittal vertical axis, global kyphosis, thoracic kyphosis, local kyphosis, lumbar lordosis, pelvic incidence, sacral slope, and pelvic tilt.
The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the visible imaging of gastric adenocarcinoma cells in vitro by targeting tumor-associated glycoprotein 72 (TAG-72) with near-infrared quantum dots (QDs). QDs with an emission wavelength of about 550 to 780 nm were conjugated to CC49 monoclonal antibodies against TAG-72, resulting in a probe named as CC49-QDs. A gastric adenocarcinoma cell line (MGC80-3) expressing high levels of TAG-72 was cultured for fluorescence imaging, and a gastric epithelial cell line (GES-1) was used for the negative control group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this experiment, we developed a bioprobe label for immunofluorescence using gastric tumor-specific quantum dots (QDs) to detect gastric tumor cells in vitro. The fluorescent probe, which is capable of specifically labeling gastric tumor cells, was constructed by taking advantage of the unique and superior properties of QDs. We grafted primary QDs onto the tumor-associated glycoprotein 72 (TAG-72) monoclonal antibody CC49 to produce CC49-QDs that specifically label tumor cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSynergistic regulations among multiple microRNAs (miRNAs) are important to understand the mechanisms of complex post-transcriptional regulations in humans. Complex diseases are affected by several miRNAs rather than a single miRNA. So, it is a challenge to identify miRNA synergism and thereby further determine miRNA functions at a system-wide level and investigate disease miRNA features in the miRNA-miRNA synergistic network from a new view.
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