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Previous studies showed little CD137 expressed in normal vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and it is important to find a valid way to elevate it before studying its function. The level of CD137 was detected by RT-PCR, western blot, and flow cytometry, respectively. CD137 signaling activation was activated by agonist antibody and measured through phenotype transformation indicators and cell functions. Proteins in supernatants were detected by ELISA. The total CD137 elevates under different concentrations of CM treatment. Among these, 25 ng/ml CM treatment increases the CD137 expression mostly. However, flow cytometry demonstrates that 10 ng/ml CM elevates surface CD137 more significantly than other concentrations and reaches the peak at 36 h. At 10 ng/ml, but not 25 ng/ml CM pretreatment, the levels of phenotype related proteins such as SM-MHC, α-SMA, and calponin decrease while vimentin and NFATc1 increase, suggesting that VSMCs undergo phenotype transformation. Transwell, CCK-8 assay, and ELISA showed that the ability of VSMCs viability, migration, and IL-2 and IL-6 secretion induced by CD137 signaling was significantly enhanced by the pretreatment of 10 ng/ml CM. This research suggested that 10 ng/ml CM pretreatment is more reasonable than other concentrations when exploring CD137 function in VSMCs.

As a therapeutic modality, low power laser irradiation (LPLI) has been used clinically in the treatment of skeletal muscle injuries and other myopathic conditions, but the cellular and molecular mechanisms attributed to this therapy were still unclear. Myoblasts are a type of myogenic stem cells quiescence in mature skeletal muscle fibers and are considered as the source cells during the regenerating process. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effects of LPLI on the proliferation and myogenic differentiation of the cultured myoblasts and to find out the major candidates responsible for LPLI-induced muscle regeneration in vivo. In this study, primary rat myoblasts were exposed to helium-neon (He-Ne) laser. Cell proliferation, differentiation, and the cellular responses to LPLI were monitored by using morphological observation and molecular biological methods. It was found that LPLI at a certain fluence could increase the cell growth potential for myoblasts and further induce more cells entering into S phase of the mitotic cycle as indicated by high levels of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation, while at the same time inhibiting their in vitro differentiation and decreasing the expression of myogenic regulatory genes to a certain extent. Taken together, these results provide experimental evidence for the clinical applications of LPLI in regenerating skeletal muscle.

Purpose. To explore the value of intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging (IVIM-DWI) and texture analysis on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) for evaluating pathological differentiation of cervical squamous cell carcinoma. Method. This retrospective study included a total of 138 patients with pathologically confirmed poor/moderate/well-differentiated (71/49/18) who underwent conventional MRI and IVIM-DWI scans. The values of ADC, D, D*, and f and 58 T2WI-based texture features (18 histogram features, 24 gray-level co-occurrence matrix features, and 16 gray-level run length matrix features) were obtained. Multiple comparison, correlation, and regression analyses were used. Results. For IVIM-DWI, the ADC, D, D*, and f were significantly different among the three groups (p < 0.05). ADC, D, and D* were positively correlated with pathological differentiation (r = 0.262, 0.401, 0.401; p < 0.05), while the correlation was negative for f (r = -0.221; p < 0.05). The comparison of 52 parameters of texture analysis on T2WI reached statistically significant levels (p < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis incorporated significant IVIM-DWI, and texture features on T2WI showed good diagnostic performance both in the four differentiation groups (poorly vs. moderately, area under the curve (AUC) = 0.797; moderately vs. well, AUC = 0.954; poorly vs. moderately and well, AUC = 0.795; and well vs. moderately and poorly, AUC = 0.952). The AUCs of each parameters alone were smaller than that of each regression model (0.503~0.684, 0.547~0.805, 0.511~0.712, and 0.636~0.792, respectively; pairwise comparison of ROC curves between regression model and individual variables, p < 0.05). Conclusions. IVIM-DWI biomarkers and T2WI-based texture features had potential to evaluate the pathological differentiation of cervical squamous cell carcinoma. The combination of IVIM-DWI with texture analysis improved the predictive performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liupao tea, a drink homologous to medicine and food. It can treat dysentery, relieve heat, remove dampness, and regulate the intestines and stomach. The objective of this study is to explore the material basis and mechanism of Liupao tea intervention in COVID‐19 and to provide a new prevention and treatment programme for COVID‐19. We used high performance liquid chromatography to analyze the extract of Liupao tea and establish its fingerprint. The main index components of the fingerprint were determined using SARS‐COV‐2 3‐chymotrypsin‐like protease (3CLpro), and an in vitro drug screening model based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer was used to evaluate its inhibitory activity in vitro. The fingerprint results showed that the alcohol extract of Liupao tea contained gallic acid, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), caffeine, epicatechin gallate, rutin, and ellagic acid. The molecular docking binding energies of the six index components of SARS‐CoV‐2 3Clpro were all less than −5.0 kJ/mol and showed strong binding affinity. The results of in vitro activity showed that the IC50 of EGCG was 8.84 μmol/L, which could inhibit SARS‐CoV‐2 3Clpro to a certain extent. This study unleashed that EGCG has a certain inhibitory effect on SARS‐CoV‐2 3CLpro, and Liupao tea has a certain significance as a tea drink for the prevention of COVID‐19. Practical applications: The objective of this study was to explore the material basis and mechanism of Liupao tea intervention in COVID‐19 and to provide a new prevention and treatment programme for COVID‐19. The molecular docking binding energies of the six index components of Liupao tea with SARS‐CoV‐2 3CLpro were all less than −5.0 kJ/mol, among them, the enzyme activity experiment shows that EGCG has a certain inhibitory effect on SARS‐CoV‐2 3CLpro, it can be used as a potential SARS‐CoV‐2 3CLpro inhibitor. We predicted that the understandings gained in the current research may evidence that Liupao tea has a certain significance as a tea drink for the prevention of COVID‐19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research was to optimize ozone treatment concentration and investigate the one‐time ozone treatment (OOT) and intermittent ozone treatment (IOT) on the physicochemical characteristics and enzyme activity of Shiitake mushroom (Lentinus edodes). The results indicated that the optimal ozone‐treated concentration was 3.21 mg/m3. IOT effectively delayed mushroom browning through the inhibition of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity, and promotion of phenylalanine ammonia‐lyase (PAL), peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) activities. It also maintained high levels of total phenolic and soluble protein content, and reduced the accumulation of free amino acids in mushrooms. The treatment reduced the total number of colonies, molds, and yeasts. Statistical analysis indicated that L* was remarkably positively correlated with POD, CAT, PAL, SOD activity, total phenolic content, and was negatively correlated with the total number of colonies, yeast, and mold. It was concluded that IOT was effective in maintaining mushroom quality and prolong storage life. Practical applications: Lentinus edodes are one of the most popular edible fungi due to its high nutrition value; however, they are prone to quality deterioration during storage. This study presents the application of one‐time ozone treatment (OOT) and intermittent ozone treatment (IOT) to improve the physicochemical characteristics and antioxidant enzyme activities of mushrooms. The finding revealed that IOT could effectively improve the quality of mushrooms by maintaining high level of nutrients, improving the antioxidant enzyme activities, and inhibiting the growth of the microorganisms. This work may provide a potential preservative for maintaining quality and extending the shelf‐life in the processing and preservation of shiitake mushrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The graphene oxide-coated SnO2-Li1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 (GO-SnO2-NCM) cathode material was successfully synthesized via a facile wet chemical method. The pristine NCM and GO-SnO2-NCM were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results showed that the double-coating layer did not destroy the NCM crystal structure, with multiple nano-SnO2 particles and GO uniformly covering the NCM surface. Electrochemical tests indicated that GO-SnO2-NCM exhibited excellent cycling performance, with 90.7% capacity retention at 1 C after 100 cycles, which was higher than 74.3% for the pristine NCM at the same cycle. The rate capability showed that the double-coating layer enhanced surface electronic–ionic transport. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results confirmed that the GO-SnO2-coating layer effectively suppressed the increased electrode polarization and charge transfer resistance during cycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low intensity laser irradiation (LILI) was found to promote the regeneration of skeletal muscle in vivo but the cellular mechanisms are not fully understood. Myoblasts, normally quiescent and inactivated in adult skeletal muscle, are a type of myogenic progenitor cells and considered as the major candidates responsible for muscle regeneration. The aim of the present study was to study the effect of LILI on the growth potential and cell-cycle progression of the cultured myoblasts. Primary myoblasts isolated from rat hind legs were cultured in nutrient-deficient medium for 36 hours and then irradiated by helium-neon laser at a certain energy density Immunohistochemical and flow cytometric analysis revealed that laser irradiation could increase the expression of cellular proliferation marker and the amount of cell subpopulations in the proliferative phase as compared with the nonirradiated control group. Meanwhile, the expressions of cell-cycle regulatory proteins in the laser-treated myoblasts were markedly upregulated as compared to the unirradiated cells, indicating that LILI could promote the reentry of quiescent myoblasts into the cell division cycle. These results suggest that LILI at certain fluences could promote their proliferation, thus contributing to the skeletal muscle regeneration following trauma and myopathic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the generator excitation control system which is equipped with static var compensator (SVC) and unknown parameters, a novel adaptive dynamic surface control scheme is proposed based on neural network and tracking error transformed function with the following features: (1) the transformation of the excitation generator model to the linear systems is omitted; (2) the prespecified performance of the tracking error can be guaranteed by combining with the tracking error transformed function; (3) the computational burden is greatly reduced by estimating the norm of the weighted vector of neural network instead of the weighted vector itself; therefore, it is more suitable for the real time control; and (4) the explosion of complicity problem inherent in the backstepping control can be eliminated. It is proved that the newscheme can make the systems emiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded. Simulation results show the effectiveness of this control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional connectivity has been correlated with a patient's level of consciousness and has been found to be altered in several neuropsychiatry disorders. Absence epilepsy patients, who experience a loss of consciousness, are assumed to suffer from alterations in thalamocortical networks; however, previous studies have not explored the changes at a functional module level. We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the alteration in functional connectivity that occurs in absence epilepsy patients. By parcellating the brain into 90 brain regions/nodes, we uncovered an altered functional connectivity within and between functional modules. Some brain regions had a greater number of altered connections and therefore behaved as key nodes in the changed network pattern; these regions included the superior frontal gyrus, the amygdala, and the putamen. In particular, the superior frontal gyrus demonstrated both an increased value of connections with other nodes of the frontal default mode network and a decreased value of connections with the limbic system. This divergence is positively correlated with epilepsy duration. These findings provide a new perspective and shed light on how functional connectivity and the balance of within/between module connections may contribute to both the state of consciousness and the development of absence epilepsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]