DNA from macrophages induces fibrosis and vasculopathy through POLR3A/STING/type I interferon axis in systemic sclerosis.

Objective: To clarify the role of RNA polymerase III A (POLR3A)/type I IFN in the pathogenesis of SSc.

Methods: Cytosolic DNA and stimulator of IFN genes (STING) pathway in skin or serum of SSc patients were detected by immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry and western blotting. DNA from human macrophages was transfected to SSc fibroblasts or human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and then markers of POLR3A/STING pathway were detected by real-time qPCR, western blotting and confocal microscopy.

Risk factors for foot ulcer recurrence in patients with comorbid diabetic foot osteomyelitis and diabetic nephropathy: A 3-year follow-up study.

This study aimed to explore the risk factors for foot ulcer recurrence in patients with comorbid diabetic foot osteomyelitis (DFO) and diabetic nephropathy (DN). This is a prospective cohort study. Between May 2018 and May 2021, we selected 120 inpatients with comorbid severe diabetic foot infection (PEDIS Grade 3 or above) and DN for inclusion in our study.

[Effects of Sertoli cells and peritubular myoid cells on testosterone synthesis in Leydig cells: Analysis based on the testicular microenvironment].

Recent progress in the studies of testicular microenvironment has provided some new ideas on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of related diseases. Testosterone, as an important androgen in men, regulates the physiological functions of males. The synthesis of testosterone is an extremely complex process, which mainly takes place in Leydig cells.

Small Noncoding RNAome Changes During Human Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells Senescence .

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) have been used in stem cell-based therapy for various diseases due to their self-renewing ability and differentiation potential to various types of cells and immunoprivileged properties. However, the proliferation capability and functionality of BMSCs are known to decline with aging, which severely limits the extensive applications of BMSC-based therapies. To date, the exact mechanism involved in the cellular senescence of BMSCs remains unclear.

Changes in the Small Noncoding RNAome During M1 and M2 Macrophage Polarization.

Macrophages belong to a special phagocytic subgroup of human leukocytes and are one of the important cells of the human immune system. Small noncoding RNAs are a group of small RNA molecules that can be transcribed without the ability to encode proteins but could play a specific function in cells. SncRNAs mainly include microRNAs (miRNAs) and piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) and repeat RNAs.

Berberine alleviates NLRP3 inflammasome induced endothelial junction dysfunction through Ca signalling in inflammatory vascular injury.

Background: Berberine has received rising attention for its application in cardiovascular disease because of its relationship with inflammation. The endothelial NLRP3 inflammasome triggers inflammatory vascular injury which would lead to cardiovascular disease. Endothelial calcium signalling plays a crucial role in both the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome and endothelial cells dysfunction.

High- Two-Dimensional Ferroelectric CuCrS Grown Chemical Vapor Deposition.

Two-dimensional (2D) ferroelectrics have attracted intensive attention. However, the 2D ferroelectrics remain rare, and especially few of them represent high ferroelectric transition temperature (), which is important for the usability of ferroelectrics. Herein, CuCrS nanoflakes are synthesized by salt-assisted chemical vapor deposition and exhibit switchable ferroelectric polarization even when the thickness is downscaled to 6 nm.

Tailoring Functional Terminals on Solution-Processable Fullerene Electron Transporting Materials for High Performance Perovskite Solar Cells.

Widely known as an excellent electron transporting material (ETM), pristine fullerene C plays a critical role in improving the photovoltaic performance of inverted structure perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, the imperfect perovskite/C interface significantly limits the promotion of device performance and stability due to the weak coordination interactions between bare carbon cages and perovskite. Here, we designed and synthesized three functionalized fulleropyrrolidine ETMs (abbreviated as CEP, CEPE, and CECB), each of which was modified with the same primary terminal (cyanoethyl) and various secondary terminals (phenyl, phenethyl, and chlorobutyl).

CircESRP1 enhances metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in endometrial cancer via the miR-874-3p/CPEB4 axis.

Background: Metastasis is critical for endometrial cancer (EC) progression and prognosis. Accumulating evidence suggests that circular RNAs (circRNAs) can operate as independent functional entities. However, the functional regulatory mechanisms of circRNAs in EC remain unclear.

3BDO inhibits the proliferation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and stemness via suppressing survivin in human glioblastoma cells.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a tumor of the central nervous system with an extremely poor prognosis. Stemness and EMT play important roles in GBM progression. 3-benzyl-5-((2-nitrophenoxy) methyl) dihydrofuran-2(3H)-one (3BDO), an autophagy inhibitor, has been reported to exert anti-cancer activities on lung carcinoma.

High PPT1 expression predicts poor clinical outcome and PPT1 inhibitor DC661 enhances sorafenib sensitivity in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Adaptive resistance and side effects of sorafenib treatment result in unsatisfied survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Palmitoyl-protein thioesterase 1 (PPT1) plays a critical role in progression of various cancers. However, its role on prognosis and immune infiltrates in HCC remains unclarified.

Recent Progress of Novel Nanotechnology Challenging the Multidrug Resistance of Cancer.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) of tumors is one of the clinical direct reasons for chemotherapy failure. MDR directly leads to tumor recurrence and metastasis, with extremely grievous mortality. Engineering a novel nano-delivery system for the treatment of MDR tumors has become an important part of nanotechnology.

Cryoprotective agents influence viral dosage and thermal stability of inhalable dry powder vaccines.

Increasing viral dosage within dry powder vaccines reduces the powder mass required to elicit an immune response through pulmonary delivery. This work analyzes how cryoprotective agents affect viral activity, particle properties and thermal stability of a spray dried, inhalable vaccine vector under high viral loading. Stock suspensions of a human serotype 5 adenovirus (AdHu5) vector in either neat phosphate buffered saline (PBS), 10% glycerol in PBS, or 5% trehalose in PBS were added to a mannitol-dextran formulation prior to spray drying.

Characterization of the Antimicrobial Edible Film Based on Grasshopper Protein/Soy Protein Isolate/Cinnamaldehyde Blend Crosslinked With Xylose.

A composite material based on a new insect-based grasshopper protein (GP)/soy protein isolate (SPI) blend has been studied by solution casting using xylose as a crosslinker and cinnamaldehyde (CIN) as an antimicrobial agent to develop a novel antimicrobial edible packaging. In this paper, the effects of SPI, xylose, and CIN content on the properties of edible film were studied. The tensile test confirmed that 30% SPI incorporation content had the best blending effect with the mechanical properties and barrier properties improving obviously.

Universal p-Type Doping via Lewis Acid for 2D Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides.

Developing spatially controlled and universal p-type doping of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) is critical for optoelectronics. Here, a facile and universal p-doping strategy via Sn ions exchanging is proposed and the p-doping of PdSe is demonstrated systematically as the example. The polarity of PdSe can be modulated from n-type to bipolar and p-type precisely by changing the concentration of SnCl solution.

The RapidIO Routing Strategy Based on the Double-Antibody Group Multi-Objective Artificial Immunity Algorithm.

The RapidIO standard is a packet-switching interconnection technology similar to the Internet Protocol (IP) conceptually. It realizes the high-speed transmission of RapidIO packets at the transport layer, but this greatly increases the probability of network blocking. Therefore, it is of great significance to optimize the RapidIO routing strategy.

A Simple and Efficient Embolization-Combined Therapy for Solid Tumors by Smart Poly(amino acid)s Nanocomposites.

Interventional embolization and minimally invasive thermal ablation are common clinical methods for treatment of unresectable solid tumors, but they both have many insurmountable disadvantages. Inspired by pH-responsive drug delivery systems, we report the tumor microenvironment-gelled nanocomposites with poly[(l-glutamic acid--l-tyrosine)--l-threonine--l-cysteine]s (PGTTCs) coating nanoparticles (NPs, Au or FeO) for noninterventional targeted embolization combined with noninvasive thermal ablation therapy of solid tumors by intravenous injection without catheter use. The results of the animal trial in vivo with tumor-bearing mice and rabbits showed superior targeted embolization and therapy and fluorescence/single-photon emission computed tomography/magnetic resonance multimodal imaging effects.

Is there a place for extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) in the endoscopic era?

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate whether there was still a place for ESWL therapy in the endourological era. From 1988 to 2018, ESWL therapy was performed with 3 successive types of lithotripters in our hospital. From 1988 to 1998, the electrohydraulic lithotripter NS-15 was used, and the electromagnetic lithotripter HK-V was put to use in 1999.

Enzymatically functionalized RGD-gelatin scaffolds that recruit host mesenchymal stem cells in vivo and promote bone regeneration.

Critical-size bone defects are imposing a substantial biomedical burden. Despite being long regarded as a potential approach to mitigate this burden or an alternative to bone grafts, bone tissue engineering (BTE) has virtually not proceeded to widespread clinical practices. In the BTE field, it is highly required to find a facile method to prepare active scaffolds with tailored biological functions.

Aerosol delivery, but not intramuscular injection, of adenovirus-vectored tuberculosis vaccine induces respiratory-mucosal immunity in humans.

BackgroundAdenovirus-vectored (Ad-vectored) vaccines are typically administered via i.m. injection to humans and are incapable of inducing respiratory mucosal immunity.

Shu-Di-Huang and Gan-Cao Herb Pair Restored the Differentiation Potentials of Mesenchymal Stem Progenitors in Treating Osteoporosis via Downregulation of NF-B Signaling Pathway.

Background: Shu-Di-Huang (Radix Rehmanniae Praeparata, RR) and Gan-Cao (liquorice, L) are frequently used traditional Chinese herb pair in treating osteoporosis (OP). However, the exact mechanism of the RR and L herb pair (RR-L) remains unclear. To explore the efficacy and possible mechanisms of RR-L in treating OP, in silico, in vitro, and in vivo experiments were conducted in the current study.

Intercalation Strategy in 2D Materials for Electronics and Optoelectronics.

Intercalation is an effective approach to tune the physical and chemical properties of 2D materials due to their abundant van der Waals gaps that can host high-density intercalated guest matters. This approach has been widely employed to modulate the optical, electrical, and photoelectrical properties of 2D materials for their applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices. Thus it is necessary to review the recent progress of the intercalation strategy in 2D materials and their applications in devices.