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Acute lung injury (ALI) is a severe respiratory disease with a high mortality rate. The integrity of the pulmonary endothelial barrier influences the development and prognosis of ALI. Therefore, it has become an important target for ALI treatment. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are promising nanotherapeutic agents against ALI. Herein, endothelium‐derived engineered extracellular vesicles (eEVs) that deliver microRNA‐125b‐5p (miRNA‐125b) to lung tissues exerting a protective effect on endothelial barrier integrity are reported. eEVs that are modified with lung microvascular endothelial cell‐targeting peptides (LET) exhibit a prolonged retention time in lung tissues and targeted lung microvascular endothelial cells in vivo and in vitro. To improve the efficacy of the EVs, miRNA‐125b is loaded into EVs. Finally, LET‐EVs‐miRNA‐125b is constructed. The results show that compared to the EVs, miRNA‐125b, and EVs‐miRNA‐125b, LET‐EVs‐miRNA‐125b exhibit the most significant treatment efficacy in ALI. Moreover, LET‐EVs‐miRNA‐125b is found to have an important protective effect on endothelial barrier integrity by inhibiting cell apoptosis, promoting angiogenesis, and protecting intercellular junctions. Sequencing analysis reveals that LET‐EVs‐miRNA‐125b downregulates early growth response‐1 (EGR1) levels, which may be a potential mechanism of action. Taken together, these findings suggest that LET‐EVs‐miRNA‐125b can treat ALI by protecting the endothelial barrier integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfur mustard (SM) is a blister‐producing chemical warfare agent which could lead to a cascade of systemic damage, especially severe acute lung injury. Oxidative stress is considered to be vital processes for the SM toxicity mechanism. We previously proved the therapeutic effect of exosomes derived from bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells in promoting the repair of alveolar epithelial barrier and inhibiting apoptosis. However, the key functional components in exosomes and the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elaborated. This research shed light on the function of the key components of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell‐derived exosomes (HMSCs‐Ex). We noted that HMSCs‐Ex‐derived miR‐199a‐5p played a vital role in reducing pneumonocyte oxidative stress and apoptosis by reducing reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation products and increasing the activities of antioxidant enzymes in BEAS‐2B cells and mouse models after exposure to SM for 24 h. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the overexpression of miR‐199a‐5p in HMSCs‐Ex treatment induced a further decrease of Caveolin1 and the activation of the mRNA and protein level of NRF2, HO1 and NQO1, compared with HMSCs‐Ex administration. In summary, miR‐199a‐5p was one of the key molecules in HMSCs‐Ex that attenuated SM‐associated oxidative stress via regulating CAV1/NRF2 signalling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problem that the toe cap and upper part of the sole of a shoe easily appear missing when using binocular vision to reconstruct the shoe sole in the industrial production process, an improved matching cost calculation method is proposed to reconstruct shoe soles in three dimensions. Firstly, a binocular vision platform is built, and Zhang's calibration method is used to obtain the calibration parameters. Secondly, the method of fusing Census and BT costs is used to calculate the matching cost of the image, so that the matching cost calculation result is more accurate. On this basis, 4-path aggregation is performed on the obtained cost, and the optimal matching cost is selected in combination with the WTA algorithm. Finally, left–right consistency detection and median filtering are used to optimize the disparity map and combine the camera calibration parameters to reconstruct the shoe sole in three dimensions. The experimental results show that the average mismatch rate of the four images on the Middlebury website in this method is about 6.57%, the reconstructed sole point cloud contour information is complete, and there is no material missing at the toe and heel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Streptococcosis, a bacterial disease for multiple fish species, especially tilapia, caused more disruption to the fish culture industry. However, the underlying mechanisms for the occurrence of streptococcosis remain unclear. The aim of this study was to study the effects of streptococcus on the liver of tilapia. In this study, tilapia were injected streptococcal solution (0.05 ml/10 g body weight) and collected blood and liver at 4, 8, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120 and 144 hr after injection. The results showed that the activities of glutamate oxalate transaminase (GOT), glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT), alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the serum of tilapia exhibited irregular changes: increase at first, then decrease and increase again. The levels of total antioxidant capacity (T‐AOC), glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) showed a decreasing tendency in serum after injection, except GSH at 4 hr. The activity of catalase (CAT) decreased in serum at 4, 24, 120 and 144 hr after injection of streptococcal solution, while the content TP enhanced in serum at 48, 72 and 120 hr after injection. Observations of pathological sections showed obvious damage to the liver tissue structure in response to streptococcal infection. Western blotting revealed an increase in ikkbeta (Ikkβ) protein with prolonged infection time and a decrease in NF‐kappa‐B inhibitor alpha (IkB‐α) and ikappab kinase alpha (Ikkα) proteins. The gene expression of cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A) was downregulated in liver at 24 and 48 after injection, while the mRNA levels of heat stress protein 70 (HSP70) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α) increased at 48 and/or 72 hr. Taken together, our findings confirmed that streptococcus can cause serious damage to the liver of tilapia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a biomorphic mesoporous Ni-NiO microtube was successfully prepared by a facile and cost-effective synthesis strategy using cotton as a biotemplate. The morphology and textural characterization of as-obtained Ni-NiO materials were analyzed by X-ray diffraction patterns, scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption-desorption technology. The results suggested the as-prepared Ni-NiO samples owned uniform micro-tubular morphology and prominent mesoporous structure. Meanwhile, the effect of annealing temperature on morphology and porosity of Ni-NiO was also investigated. The optimal sample, Ni-NiO-4, exhibited a uniform microtube morphology with an ideal mesoporous structure of a high surface area (15.8 m2 g) and suitable mesopore size (9.28 nm). Furthermore, these as-obtained Ni-NiO materials showed enhanced electrochemical property as electrodes for pseudocapacitors. Especially, the Ni-NiO-4 electrode displayed the outstanding capacitive performance, including a high specific capacitance of 98.7 F g at 0.5 A g and satisfactory rate capacity. More importantly, Ni-NiO-4 electrode owned an excellently long-term cycling stability. In this paper, a biomorphic mesoporous Ni-NiO microtube was successfully prepared by a facile and cost-effective synthesis strategy using cotton as a biotemplate. The optimal sample, Ni-NiO-4, exhibited uniform microtube morphology with ideal mesoporous structure of high surface area (15.8 m2 g−1) and suitable mesopore size (9.28 nm). More importantly, Ni-NiO-4 electrode owned an excellently long-term cycling stability [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we develop a convenient route to obtain shape-controllable porous Co 3 O 4 nanostructure from nanosheets to nanowires, which is realized with the assistance of additive glucose by a hydrothermal synthesis. Hydrothermal temperature, calcination temperature and additive glucose dosage significantly determine the morphologies of the final products. Upon the enhancement of additive glucose dosage, the shape of Co 3 O 4 evolves from nanosheets in high aspect-ratio to dendritic nanowires. Meanwhile, a probable growth mechanism is proposed to explain the generation of various morphologies. Acting as electrode materials for pseudocapacitor application in 3 M KOH, the electrochemical performance of as-prepared Co 3 O 4 nanomaterials are evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiometry tests. Compared with the resultant Co 3 O 4 nanosheets materials, the obtained Co 3 O 4 nanowires exhibit preferable pseudo-capacitive property with a higher specific capacitance and more satisfactory cycle stability. The optimal porous Co 3 O 4 nanowire sample is prepared by heat-treatment at 300 °C with a cobalt salt/glucose mass ratio of 1:2, which exhibits a highest capacitance value of 471.8 F g −1 at 0.5 A g −1 and an excellent cycling stability with a ca . 94.8% capacitance retention after 1000 cycles at 2 A g −1 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]