Monolithically Structured van der Waals Materials for Volume-Polariton Refraction and Focusing.

Polaritons, hybrid light and matter waves, offer a platform for subwavelength on-chip light manipulation. Recent works on planar refraction and focusing of polaritons all rely on heterogeneous components with different refractive indices. A fundamental question, thus, arises whether it is possible to configure two-dimensional monolithic polariton lenses based on a single medium.

Polariton Microfluidics for Nonreciprocal Dragging and Reconfigurable Shaping of Polaritons.

Dielectric environment engineering is an efficient and general approach to manipulating polaritons. Liquids serving as the surrounding media of polaritons have been used to shift polariton dispersions and tailor polariton wavefronts. However, those liquid-based methods have so far been limited to their static states, not fully unleashing the promise offered by the mobility of liquids.

Anti-apoptotic and anti-fibrotic efficacy of exercise training in hypertensive hearts: A systematic review.

Background: This review aims to summarize the antiapoptotic, pro-survival, and antifibrotic effects of exercise training in hypertensive hearts.

Methods: Keyword searches were conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus in May 2021. Research published in English on the effects of exercise training on the apoptosis, survival, and fibrosis pathways in hypertension was included.

Psychophysiological factors as predictors of second language writing achievement in a computer-based test.

Sleep quality, personality, and cognitive load potentially increase second language writing (SLW) anxiety and subsequently affect SLW achievement. This study investigates the predictions of sleep quality, personality (social inhibition/ negative affectivity), and cognitive load (content/ computer) toward SLW anxiety and achievement in a computer-based test. Participants included 172 voluntary undergraduates majoring in English as foreign language.

Effect of exercise training on cardiac mitochondrial respiration, biogenesis, dynamics, and mitophagy in ischemic heart disease.

Objective: Cardiac mitochondrial dysfunction was found in ischemic heart disease (IHD). Hence, this study determined the effects of exercise training (ET) on cardiac mitochondrial respiration and cardiac mitochondrial quality control in IHD.

Methods: A narrative synthesis was conducted after searching animal studies written in English in three databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE) until December 2020.

Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker Irbesartan Enhanced SIRT1 longevity Signaling Replaces the Mitochondrial Biogenetic Survival Pathway to Attenuate Hypertension-Induced Heart Apoptosis.

Background: The present study investigated whether angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker irbesartan (ARB) and partial agonist of PPAR-γ prevents heart apoptosis by suppressing cardiac Fas/FasL-mediated to mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in the hearts of hypertensive rat model.

Methods: Cardiac function using echocardiography, H&E staining, TUNEL assay, and Western blotting were measured in the excised hearts from three groups, i.e.

Neuroprotective Effects of a Small Mitochondrially-Targeted Tetrapeptide Elamipretide in Neurodegeneration.

Neural mitochondrial dysfunction, neural oxidative stress, chronic neuroinflammation, toxic protein accumulation, and neural apoptosis are common causes of neurodegeneration. Elamipretide, a small mitochondrially-targeted tetrapeptide, exhibits therapeutic effects and safety in several mitochondria-related diseases. In neurodegeneration, extensive studies have shown that elamipretide enhanced mitochondrial respiration, activated neural mitochondrial biogenesis mitochondrial biogenesis regulators (PCG-1α and TFAM) and the translocate factors (TOM-20), enhanced mitochondrial fusion (MNF-1, MNF-2, and OPA1), inhibited mitochondrial fission (Fis-1 and Drp-1), as well as increased mitophagy (autophagy of mitochondria).

Cerebral Cortex Apoptosis in Early Aged Hypertension: Effects of Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate.

This study aimed to investigate cerebral cortex apoptosis on the early aged hypertension and the effects of green tea flavonoid epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). Twenty-four rats were divided into three groups: a control Wistar-Kyoto group (WKY, = 8), a spontaneously early aged hypertensive group (SHR, = 8), and an early aged hypertension with EGCG treatment group (SHR-EGCG, = 8; daily oral EGCG 200 mg/kg-94%, 12 weeks). At 48 weeks old, blood pressures (BPs) were evaluated and cerebral cortexes were isolated for TUNEL assay and Western blotting.

Anti-apoptotic and pro-survival effect of exercise training on early aged hypertensive rat cerebral cortex.

The anti-apoptotic and pro-survival effects of exercise training were evaluated on the early aged hypertensive rat cerebral cortex. The brain tissues were analysed from ten sedentary male Wistar Kyoto normotensive rats (WKY), ten sedentary spontaneously 12 month early aged hypertensive rats (SHR), and ten hypertensive rats undergoing treadmill exercise training (60 min/day, 5 days/week) for 12 weeks (SHR-EX). TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells, the expression levels of endonuclease G (EndoG) and apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) (caspase-independent apoptotic pathway), Fas ligand, Fas death receptor, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, TNF receptor 1, Fas-associated death domain, active caspase-8 and active caspase-3 (Fas-mediated apoptotic pathways) as well as t-Bid, Bax, Bak, Bad, cytochrome c, active caspase 9 and active caspase-3 (mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathways) were reduced in SHR-EX compared with SHR.

Voluntary exercise training attenuated the middle-aged maturity-induced cardiac apoptosis.

Aims: Voluntary exercise training has cardioprotective effects in humans, but the underlying mechanism is unknown. This research was done to estimate the effect of voluntary exercise training to attenuate middle-aged maturity-induced cardiac apoptosis.

Materials And Methods: The study was designed to divide 64 male mice randomly into four groups, consisting of a 9-month sedentary pre-middle-aged group (9M), 15-month sedentary middle-aged group (15M), and two exercise groups using a voluntary wheel running respectively (9M+EX, 15M+EX).

Lipid fermentation of corncob residues hydrolysate by oleaginous yeast Trichosporon cutaneum.

Corncob residues (CCR) are cellulose residues of corncob after xylan (hemicellulose) is extracted for production of xylitol. Here, an oleaginous yeast Trichosporon cutaneum ACCC 20271 was screened for lipid fermentation using CCR hydrolysate. The initial carbon-to-nitrogen molar ratio (C/N ratio) and the initial sugar concentration of the CCR hydrolysate were investigated in the lipid fermentation of T.