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Background: Skeletal muscles are vital for daily function, yet assessing their injuries remain challenging. We aimed to elucidate the effectiveness of 68Ga-FAPI-04 in evaluating skeletal muscle remodeling. Results: C2C12 cells were subjected to graded H2O2 stimulation in vitro, revealing an initial rise and subsequent decline in fibroblast activation protein (FAP) expression as H2O2 concentration increased. In vivo, a murine triceps surae injury model was created using various solutions to simulate normal repair, mild repair failure, and severe repair failure. Assessments were conducted on days 1, 3, 7, and 14 using PET, MRI, and ultrasound. With 68Ga-FAPI-04, the normal and mild repair failure groups showed significantly higher SUVmax and T/B ratios on day 1 compared to the severe repair failure group. These values gradually decreased in the normal repair group, becoming negligible after day 7. MRI results for the normal repair group showed low to moderate signal intensity by day 7. A clinical study retrospectively evaluated post-hip arthroplasty patient images at intervals of 1 month, 2–3 months, 5–6 months, and over 7 months. In these patients, 18F-FDG SUVmax and volume remained relatively stable over time, while 68Ga-FAPI-04 SUVmax initially increased, then decreased, with a consistent reduction in volume. Conclusion: In skeletal muscle injuries, FAP demonstrates a distinctive mechanism of action, and 68Ga-FAPI-04, in comparison to other tests, more precisely captures alterations in lesion site uptake intensity and volume. Trial registration: Trial registration: ChiCTR2000041204. Registered 22 December 2020, https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=66211 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main conclusion: TaZAT8-5B, a C2H2 zinc finger protein transcription factor, positively regulates drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis. It promotes root growth under drought stress via the Aux/IAA-ARF module in the auxin signaling pathway. C2H2 zinc finger proteins (C2H2-ZFPs) represent the largest but relatively unexplored family of transcription factors in plants. This is particularly evident in wheat, where the functions of only a few C2H2-ZFP genes have been confirmed. In this study, we identified a novel C2H2-ZFP gene, TaZAT8-5B. This gene shows high expression in roots and flowers and is significantly induced by heat, drought, and salt stress. Under drought stress, overexpressing TaZAT8-5B in Arabidopsis resulted in increased proline content and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in leaves. It also led to reduced stomatal aperture and water loss, while inducing the expression of P5CS1, RD29A, and DREB1A. Consequently, it alleviated drought stress-induced malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation and improved drought tolerance. Additionally, TaZAT8-5B promoted lateral root initiation under mannitol stress and enhanced both lateral and primary root growth under long-term drought stress. Moreover, TaZAT8-5B was induced by indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Overexpressing TaZAT8-5B under drought stress significantly inhibited the expression of auxin signaling negative regulatory genes IAA12 and IAA14. Conversely, downstream genes (ARF7, LBD16, LBD18, and CDKA1) of IAA14 and IAA12 were upregulated in TaZAT8-5B overexpressing plants compared to wild-type (WT) plants. These findings suggest that TaZAT8-5B regulates root growth and development under drought stress via the Aux/IAA-ARF module in the auxin signaling pathway. In summary, this study elucidates the role of TaZAT8-5B in enhancing drought tolerance and its involvement in root growth and development through the auxin signaling pathway. These findings offer new insights into the functional analysis of homologous genes of TaZAT8-5B, particularly in Gramineae species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films are widely used as electrodes in photovoltaic devices, such as perovskite solar cells and heterojunction solar cells. However, in the conventional physical vapor deposition process, there may be ion bombardment damage to the underlayer coatings, and high deposition temperature also have an adverse effect on perovskite and amorphous silicon layers during TCO deposition. Herein, reactive plasma deposition was effectively utilized for cerium-doped indium oxide (ICO) film as an ultra-transparent electrode. The effects of plasma gun current and the oxygen ratio on the optical and electrical properties, and also on the structure of the ICO films, were investigated. With an industry-scale reactive plasma deposition tool, an outcome of 140-nm ICO film can be achieved within 50 s, which represents a good throughput with the average growth rate of 2.8 nm/s. When the working current was 165 A and the oxygen ratio was 12%, the average transmittance of ICO films reached the highest value (93.09%) in the wavelength range of 400–1200 nm. The average transmittance in the visible wavelength range was 94.23%. The peak transmittance was up to 99.67% at 515 nm, and the corresponding resistivity was 4.68 × 10−4 Ω cm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People often change their evaluations upon learning about their peers' evaluations, i.e., social learning. Given sleep's vital role in consolidating daytime experiences, sleep may facilitate social learning, thereby further changing people's evaluations. Combining a social learning task and the sleep-based targeted memory reactivation technique, we asked whether social learning-induced evaluation updating can be modulated during sleep. After participants had indicated their initial evaluation of snacks, they learned about their peers' evaluations while hearing the snacks' spoken names. During the post-learning non-rapid-eye-movement sleep, we re-played half of the snack names (i.e., cued snack) to reactivate the associated peers' evaluations. Upon waking up, we found that the social learning-induced evaluation updating further enlarged for both cued and uncued snacks. Examining sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) activity revealed that cue-elicited delta-theta EEG power and the overnight N2 sleep spindle density predicted post-sleep evaluation updating for cued but not for uncued snacks. These findings underscore the role of sleep-mediated memory reactivation and the associated neural activity in supporting social learning-induced evaluation updating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collagen possesses high biocompatibility with all tissue and cell types in the body, enabling the creation of multifunctional composite materials for medical applications. In biomedical engineering, naturally-sourced collagen is often combined with diverse organic and inorganic bioactive components to eliminate defects and disorders in fields including orthopedics, dermatology, and more. At the same time, medical-related infection issues and the precise treatment needs of patients require collagen composite biomaterials to have antibacterial properties and customized structures. This paper reviews the antibacterial functionalization of collagen composite biomaterials in recent years, including the combination with inorganic or organic antibacterial agents, which is beneficial for preventing and controlling biological contamination in medical applications. Then, the existing problems and future development directions for the architecturalization of collagen composite materials with 3D printing were discussed, providing guidance for personalized customization of multifunctional materials to meet the specific needs of patients in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have shown that the microplastics in waste activated sludge (WAS) can directly reduce the microbial activity and influence the performance of anaerobic digestion. Unfortunately, few studies paid attention on the interactions between WAS and MPs, since MPs could impact the contact between sludge flocs and microorganisms. We found that PVC-MP changed the interfacial energy properties of the WAS surface and affected methane production. Low concentration (40 mg/L) of PVC-MP changed the water affinity and greatly reduced the energy barrier of interfacial reaction. Simultaneously, WAS surface charge characteristics changed with increasing MPs concentration, which made the sludge difficult to contact with microorganisms. The change process of WAS surface functional groups also indicated that PVC-MP first cover the sludge surface to prevent from being utilized by microorganisms, and then affect the surface protein structure before toxic substances leaching. Our study provides new insights into how MPs affect anaerobic digestion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-time imaging of transient structure of the electronic excited state is fundamentally critical to understand and control ultrafast molecular dynamics. The ejection of electrons from the inner-shell and valence level can lead to the population of different excited states, which trigger manifold ultrafast relaxation processes, however, the accurate imaging of such electronic state-dependent structural evolutions is still lacking. Here, by developing the laser-induced electron recollision-assisted Coulomb explosion imaging approach and molecular dynamics simulations, snapshots of the vibrational wave-packets of the excited (A) and ground states (X) of D2O+ are captured simultaneously with sub-10 picometre and few-femtosecond precision. We visualise that θDOD and ROD are significantly increased by around 50∘ and 10 pm, respectively, within approximately 8 fs after initial ionisation for the A state, and the ROD further extends 9 pm within 2 fs along the ground state of the dication in the present condition. Moreover, the ROD can stretch more than 50 pm within 5 fs along autoionisation state of dication. The accuracies of the results are limited by the simulations. These results provide comprehensive structural information for studying the fascinating molecular dynamics of water, and pave the way towards to make a movie of excited state-resolved ultrafast molecular dynamics and light-induced chemical reaction. Capturing the detailed structural evolution of electronic excited states is a challenging but critical step to understand and control ultrafast molecular dynamics. Here, combining a Coulomb explosion imaging approach and molecular dynamics simulations, the authors retrieve the transient geometry of the ground and excited states of D2O mono- and dication with few femtosecond, few picometre accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of molecular valence electron dynamics and their coupling with nuclear motion is one of the frontiers of ultrafast physics and ultrafast chemistry. With time-resolved strong-field ion momentum spectroscopy, we study electron valence and nucleus wavepacket evolution on a femtosecond timescale. Two orientation-dependent bond-breaks of N2O molecules from the same electronic state are studied, and the influence of orbital hybridization and polarization effect during molecular breaking is analyzed based on the measured time-resolved asymmetric Pzsum distributions, allowing a visual representation of electron localization during the dissociation of molecules into ions and atoms. Comparison of experimental and theoretical results on orientation-dependent dissociation dynamics allows us to understand how nuclear motions evolve during fragmentation and to control ultrafast molecular reactions. Ultrafast spectroscopy allows for the real-time observation of molecular processes and enables a better understanding of the electron dynamics and nuclear evolution that occur during a chemical reaction. Here, the authors study, experimentally and theoretically, the electron localization that occurs on a femtosecond timescale during the dissociation of N2O. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-throughput sequencing technology has been widely used and continuously optimized. As one kind of high-throughput sequencing technology, RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) can effectively detect complete transcriptome information, which brings prospects for plant researches. Conifers are a family of Coniferopsida, mainly including Cupressaceae, Taxodiaceae, Pinaceae and Taxaceae trees. Presently, the whole genome sequencing (WGS) of many crops and broadleaf trees have been completed, while that of conifer species are limited due to huge data volume and complicated repeat sequences. Therefore, RNA-seq is one of the most important and practical methods for exploring conifers genes. This review introduced the analysis processes of RNA-seq, and highlighted the applications and prospects of RNA-seq in conifers molecular genetics, which might provide references for future genetic improvement and molecular breeding in conifer species. Key message: The review presented RNA-seq applications in conifers, including comparative transcriptome, exploring functional genes, developing molecular markers, and detecting miRNAs. Moreover, the future perspectives were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper incorporates the players' risk attitudes into a green supply chain (GSC) consisting of a supplier and a retailer. The supplier conducts production and determines the green level and wholesale price as a game leader; the retailer sells green products to consumers and determines the retail price as a follower. Equilibrium solutions are derived, and the influence of risk aversion on the GSC is examined. Our results show that, for the centralized GSC, risk aversion lowers the green level and the retail price, while for the decentralized GSC, risk aversion lowers the wholesale price and the retail price, but it may induce the supplier to increase the green level given a high-risk tolerance of the supplier. Meanwhile, the risk-averse decentralized GSC may obtain more expected profit than the risk-neutral decentralized GSC. Furthermore, this paper designs a revenue-and-cost-sharing joint contract to coordinate the risk-neutral GSC, and such a contract can improve the risk-averse GSC under specific conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have shown that Tai Chi and conventional exercise can modify the brain through distinct mechanisms, resulting in different brain adaptations. Therefore, it is conceivable to speculate that these two exercise modalities may have different effects on improving cognitive function. This study was a parallel group, assessor-blinded, pilot randomized controlled trial comparing the effects of Tai Chi and conventional exercise on improving cognitive function in older persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A total of 34 adults aged ≥ 50 years with MCI were randomized (1:1:1) to the Tai Chi group (TC, n = 10, 3 sessions of 60-min Yang-style Tai Chi training per week for 24 weeks), conventional exercise group (EX: n = 12, 3 sessions of 60-min fitness training per week for 24 weeks), or control group (CON: n = 12, no intervention). Global cognitive function assessed by the Hong Kong version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-HK) and performance in various cognitive domains were examined at baseline, and 12 and 24 weeks of the intervention. Both exercise groups showed improved global cognitive function as measured by MoCA-HK compared with the control group after 12 and 24 weeks of the intervention, (all P < 0.001). Only TC achieved clinically relevant improvement on global cognitive function at week 12. Both exercise groups achieved clinically relevant improvements at the end of the interventions at week 24. Compared with EX, TC exhibited greater improvements on global cognitive function indicated by MoCA-HK after 12 weeks of the intervention (P < 0.001) and cognitive flexibility indicated by part B/A ratio score of the Trail Making Test throughout the study (all P < 0.05). Both interventions were equally effective in improving the other examined cognitive domains. Further studies are needed to substantiate the superior long-term benefits of Tai Chi on global cognitive function compared with conventional exercise, and dissect the underlying mechanisms of the two exercises on improving cognitive domains and the corresponding brain adaptations. Trial registration: This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov (Trial registration number: NCT04248400; first registration date: 30/01/2020). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corynebacterium glutamicum is widely used as microbial cell factory for various bioproducts, but its genomic editing efficiency needs to be improved. In this study, a highly efficient CRISPR/Cas9-assisted genomic editing system for C. glutamicum was constructed. This system mainly involves a plasmid and can be used for both gene insertion and deletion in the chromosome of C. glutamicum. The recombinant plasmid for the target gene containing all the editing elements, and first constructed it in E. coli, then purified and transformed it into C. glutamicum. This temperature-sensitive plasmid was cured at high temperature after the genomic editing was completed in C. glutamicum. Using this genetic editing system, the genetic editing efficiency in C. glutamicum ATCC 13032 could reach 95%. The whole work of editing could be done in 8–9 days and showed most time-saving compared to the reported. Using this system, the native promoter of gdhA1 in ATCC 13032 has been replaced with the strong promoter PtacM, and more than 10 genes in ATCC 13032 have been deleted. The results demonstrate that this CRISPR/Cas9-assisted system is highly efficient and very suitable for genome editing in C. glutamicum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomechanical risk factors associated with the alignment and position of the knee for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury are still not conclusive. As bone bruises identified on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) following acute ACL injury could represent the impact footprint at the time of injury. To improve understanding of the ACL injury mechanism, we aimed to determine the knee kinematics during ACL injury based on the bone bruises. Knee MRI scans of patients who underwent acute noncontact ACL injuries were acquired. Numerical optimization was used to match the bone bruises of the femur and tibia and predict the knee positions during injury. Knee angles were compared between MRI measured position and predicted position. The knee flexion, abduction, and external tibial rotation angles were significantly greater in the predicted position than that in MRI measured position. Relative to MRI measured position, patients had a mean of 34.3 mm of anterior tibial translation, 4.0 mm of lateral tibial translation, and 16.0 mm superior tibial translation in the predicted position. The results suggest that knee valgus and external tibial rotation accompanied by knee flexion are high-risk movement pattern for ACL injury in patients with lateral compartment bone bruising in conjunction with ACL injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burkholderia pyrrocinia B1213, a novel microbe isolated from a Baijiu-producing environment, displayed strong cellulolytic activity on agar plates with glucan as the carbon source and had an activity of 674.5 U/mL after culturing with barley. Genome annotation of B. pyrrocinia identificated a single endoglucanase (EG)-encoding gene, designated as BpEG01790. The endoglucanase BpEG01790 shows 98.28% sequence similarity with an endo-β-1,4-glucanase (EC 3.2.1.4) from Burkholderia stabilis belonging to glycoside hydrolase family 8 (GH8). The gene BpEG01790 has an open reading frame of 1218 bp encoding a 406 amino acid (AA) residue protein (43.0 kDa) with a 40-AA signal peptide. BpEG01790 was successfully cloned into pET28a(+) with and without the signal peptide; however, attempts to overexpress this protein in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) cells using this expression system failed. BpEG01790 was also cloned into the pCold TF vector. Active BpEG01790 was successfully overexpressed with or without the signal peptide using the pCold TF vector expression system and E. coli BL21 (DE3) cells. Overexpression of recombinant BpEG01790 without the signal peptide was higher compared with the construct that included the signal peptide. Optimization of culture conditions improved the enzyme activity by 12.5-fold. This is the first report describing the heterologous soluble overexpression of an EG belonging to GH8 from B. pyrrocinia using TF as a molecular chaperone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Van der Waals clusters are weakly bound atomic/molecular systems and are an important medium for understanding micro-environmental chemical phenomena in bio-systems. The presence of neighboring atoms may open channels otherwise forbidden in isolated atoms/molecules. In hydrogen-bond clusters, proton transfer plays a crucial role, which involves mass and charge migration over large distances within the cluster and results in its fragmentation. Here we report an exotic transfer channel involving a heavy N+ ion observed in a doubly charged cluster produced by 1 MeV Ne8+ ions: (N2Ar)2+→N++NAr+. The neighboring Ar atom decreases the N 2 2 + barrier height and width, resulting in significant shorter lifetimes of the metastable molecular ion state N 2 2 + ( X 1 Σ g + ). Consequently, the breakup of the covalent N+−N+ bond, the tunneling out of the N+ ion from the N 2 2 + potential well, as well as the formation of an N−Ar+ bound system take place almost simultaneously, resulting in a Coulomb explosion of N+ and NAr+ ion pairs. There are multiple ways by which energy and charge transfer occur in weakly bound systems. Here the authors reveal a heavy ion N+ transfer in a doubly charged Van der Waals cluster produced in collisions of the highly charged Ne8+ ion with N2Ar, leading to fragmentation of N+ and NAr+ via Coulomb explosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lignin is an aromatic polymer and macromolecular organic material and is one of the major components of plant cellular walls. It provides mechanical support for plants and protection against pathogen invasion. Caffeoyl-CoA O-methyltransferase (CCoAOMT) is recognized to be involved in phenylpropanoid metabolism and lignin synthesis, and plays an important role in precursor synthesis of G-lignin units. In this study, a gene encoding CCoAOMT (Genbank ID: AY860952) was isolated from birch (Betula platyphylla Suk.). The predicted BpCCoAOMT polypeptide had high affinity with CCoAOMT from other species. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) results revealed that BpCCoAOMT is most highly expressed in young stems. To study its function in vivo, antisense BpCCoAOMT complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) was transformed into tobacco (SR-1) by the Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated method. The expression of NtCCoOAMT in antisense BpCCoAOMT transgenic tobacco was down-regulated and total lignin content of transgenic plants decreased by 39% compared to control plants. Maüle reagent was used to distinguish lilac lignin and guaiac wood lignin in situ, which enables S-lignin to exhibit a specific red response. Results revealed that all transgenic tobacco plants were dark brown, while controls were dark red. This indicated that S-lignin content in the xylem was reduced. Compared to wild-type (WT) plants, transgenic tobacco plants had delayed flowering and some had slender stems, curling, and easy lodging. This indicates that the decrease in lignin content interferes with the normal growth of plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: BplSPL1 gene was identified in Betula platyphylla Suk, and its sequence features and gene function expression have provided useful information for further studies on function. SQUAMOSA promoter-binding protein-like (SPL) are plant-specific transcription factors that play an important regulatory role in plant growth and development. In this study, an SPL gene, BplSPL1, was cloned from Betula platyphylla Suk. (white birch). Sequence analysis revealed that BplSPL1 has a 405 bp open reading frame (ORF) and encodes a protein of 134 amino acids, which contains a highly conserved SQUAMOSA promoter-binding protein (SBP) domain belonging to the SPL family. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that BplSPL1 was more highly expressed in mature leaf as well as male and female inflorescences. The ectopic expression of BplSPL1 in Arabidopsis led to early flowering, reduced number of rosette leaves, and increased number of lateral branches. We also found that plant height of the transgenic plants decreased, and length of the siliques was shorter in the 35S::BplSPL1 transgenic plants. Further studies showed that the early-flowering phenotype in 35S::BplSPL1 transgenic plants was related to changes in the expression of flowering time genes and flower meristem identity genes, including CUC, FUL, DCL, and SOC1. Therefore, the above results indicate that: (1) BplSPL1 may be involved in regulating flowering time and phase transition, and (2) BplSPL1 may interact with other genes to regulate plant height and the development of lateral branches and fruit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male-sterile mutants are ideal materials for studying the gene regulatory pathway of anther development. Here, the cytological morphology of mutant and wild-type anthers during the whole development stage was analyzed. At the microspore developmental stage, the tapetum cells of two types of mutants (mutant male inflorescences (MM), normal-like male inflorescences (NLM) showed additional vacuoles and a reduced cytoplasm, while the wild-type tapetum cells began to degenerate. Before pollination, compared with formed mature pollen grains in wild-type male inflorescences, collapsed microspores were discovered in mutants. Based on the transcriptome data of wild-type male inflorescence (NM) and mutant MM, ten key differentially expressed genes (ABORTED MICROSPORES (AMS), MYB38, MALE STERILITY 1 (MS1), MYB32, ODORANT1 (ODO1), QUARTET3 (QRT3) and CYTOCHROME P450 77A3 (CYP77A3), ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter G26 (ABCG26), FIL1, LIPID-TRANSFER PROTEIN 14 (LTP14)) related to anther development were selected for further study. Furthermore, MYB32, MYB38, AMS, MS1, and ABCG26 were highly expressed at the tetrad stage in MM and NLM, along with ODO1, QRT3, and CYP77A3, which were significantly upregulated at the tetrad stage in NLM, FIL1 and LTP14 were upregulated at the tetrad stage in MM. These events suggested that these genes may accelerate the abortion process in mutant birch anther. Tissue-specific expression analysis of ten genes indicated diverse spatiotemporal expression patterns. QRT3 and CYP77A3 were expressed in all five tissues, including leaves, stems, roots, female inflorescences, and male inflorescences, while the other eight genes had high transcription levels during male development, indicating that these genes may play different roles in these developmental processes. These results facilitate further investigation of the functional and molecular mechanisms underlying anther and microspore development in Betula platyphylla. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SEPALLATA (SEP) genes, members of a family of MADS-box transcription factors, have essential roles in floral organ development and flowering time. In this study, a novel SEP gene, BpSEP4, was identified from Betula platyphylla Suk. The full-length BpSEP4 cDNA was 928 bp, and it contained highly conserved MADS and K domains characteristic of the SEP subfamily. Subcellular location analysis demonstrated that BpSEP4 localized in the nucleus. qRT-PCR analysis showed that BpSEP4 expression was highest in reproductive organs, where it played an essential role in inflorescence development. The ectopic expression of BpSEP4 in Arabidopsis thaliana caused early flowering and aberrant floral organ development. Moreover, delayed flower senescence and abscission were also observed in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Further studies demonstrated that the early-flowering phenotype in 35S::BpSEP4 transgenic plants was caused by changes in the expression of flowering time genes and flower meristem identity genes, including CO, FT, SOC1, and TFL1. These results indicate that BpSEP4 is a SEP ortholog that may be involved in controlling flowering time and floral development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: 20SPLgenes were identified inBetula platyphyllaSuk., and their sequence features and expression profiles provide useful information for further studies on their function. SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE (SPL), a family of plant-specific transcription factors, plays a vital regulatory role in plant growth and development. However, information on SPL genes is largely undefined in Betula platyphylla Suk., an economically important tree species in China. Twenty full-length open read frames of SPL genes in B. platyphylla were identified and designated BplSPL1 to BplSPL20. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the genes were divided into eight groups. In addition, 12 BplSPL genes were suggested to be putative targets of miR156. Tissue-specific expression analysis of BplSPL genes indicated diverse spatiotemporal expression patterns. Most BplSPL genes had high transcription levels in leaves, female inflorescences, and male inflorescences. BplSPLs showed significant differences in male development, indicating that these genes may play different roles in this development process. Most miR156-targeted BplSPLs genes were gradually downregulated as female development progressed, whereas the expression levels of miR156 increased during female inflorescence development. This indicated that the miR156/SPL module plays an important role in female development. We also discussed the possible roles that BplSPL genes may play in leaves. Taken as a whole, these results provide a molecular basis for the further functional study of SPL genes in B. platyphylla and are a supplement to the systematic analysis of SPL genes in forest tree species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a flattened bone tunnel has a positive effect on the tendon-bone healing (TBH) process in the early period after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.Methods: Seventy-two New Zealand White rabbits were randomly allocated into two groups, the flattened tunnel (FT) group and the conventional round tunnel (RT) group. We compared the cross-sectional areas and diameters of the bone tunnels between the two groups through computed tomography (CT) scanning. TBH results between the two groups were assessed by histological analysis, micro-CT scanning and biomechanical tests at 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 12 weeks after operation.Results: The cross-sectional areas of the bone tunnels between the two groups were almost the same. However, the shape of bone tunnels in the FT group was more flattened. A faster cellular and collagen remoulding process were found in the FT group. Semiquantitative histological analysis of Safranin O staining showed that there was more fibrocartilage formation in the interface region in the FT group (P < 0.05). Sirius Red staining showed that the tissues in the interface areas were more intense in the FT group. Micro-CT scanning showed that more new bone formation could be found in the interface region in the FT group. The biomechanical tests also showed that FT ACL reconstruction will result in a stronger regenerated tendon-bone interface.Conclusions: Our study found that a flattened bone tunnel accelerated TBH in the early period after ACL reconstruction surgery in a rabbit model, which lays the groundwork for further clinical practice of this ACL reconstruction method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cartilage repair presents a challenge to clinicians and researchers. A more effective procedure that can produce hyaline-like cartilage is needed for articular cartilage repair. Mosaic osteochondral grafts for large osteochondral defects often show poor integration between the grafts and the surrounding normal cartilage, leading to defective cracks filled with fibrous tissue instead of hyaline-like cartilage. In the present study, we aimed to repair the defective cracks with a calcium alginate (CaAlg) hydrogel containing bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4)-enhanced adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs).Methods: ADSCs were transduced with BMP4 (B-ADSCs). The expression of BMP4 and type II collagen was confirmed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Swine models of large cartilage defects of the knee were constructed and received one of the four treatments: mosaicplasty only, mosaicplasty with the CaAlg hydrogel, mosaicplasty with the CaAlg hydrogel containing ADSCs, or mosaicplasty with the CaAlg hydrogel containing B-ADSCs injected into the defective cracks. Outcomes were evaluated at 12 and 24 weeks after surgery.Results: The in vitro study showed that the osteogenic and chondrogenic activities of the B-ADSCs were enhanced compared with those of the control. In vivo, in the group that received mosaicplasty-containing B-ADSCs, osteochondral tissue was completely integrated with an intact surface. Additionally, the histological scores of the mosaicplasty-containing B-ADSCs group were significantly higher than those of the other groups. Biomechanical examination confirmed that the neocartilage possessed properties similar to those of normal cartilage.Conclusions: Mosaicplasty and hydrogel containing B-ADSCs promoted the repair of large cartilage defects by regenerating hyaline cartilage and repairing dead spaces between osteochondral grafts and donor-site defects, thus improving the feasibility and success rate of one-stage complete repair surgery for large osteochondral defects. This proposed method provides a novel and effective means for the repair of large articular osteochondral defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proanthocyanidins (PAs) are the most broadly distributed secondary metabolites that play important roles in various aspects of plant development and response to biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study, we cloned a R2R3 MYB gene LoMYB29, which has a full-length coding sequence of 921 bp identified in Larix olgensis. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis indicates that LoMYB29 is expressed under mechanical wounding, high light intensity, and NaCl, PEG6000, Methyl Jasmonate, and abscisic acid treatments. Subcellular localization analysis and yeast two-hybrid assay localized LoMYB29 to the nucleus, acting as a transcriptional activator. Staining with 4-dimethylaminocinnamaldehyde showed a darker blue-purple color in LoMYB29-overexpressing Arabidopsis seeds compared to that of wild seeds. LoMYB29-overexpression resulted in a significant increase in leaf PA content. The expression of early flavonoid biosynthesis-related gene CHI and late flavonoid biosynthesis-related genes, including DFR, LDOX, and ANR (PA branch gene), were also activated in transgenic plants overexpressing LoMYB29. The results indicate that LoMYB29 plays a positive role in the regulation of PA biosynthesis by activating the expression of PA biosynthetic genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selective marker in the plasmid-based expression system is usually a gene that encodes an antibiotic-resistant protein; therefore, the antibiotic has to add to maintain the plasmid when growing the bacteria. This antibiotic addition would lead to increase of production cost and the environment contamination. In this study, a novel Escherichia coli expression system, the lpxA deletion mutant harboring an lpxA-carrying vector, was developed. To develop this system, three plasmids pCas9Cre, pTF-A-UD, and pRSFCmlpxA were constructed. The plasmid pCas9Cre produces enzymes Cas9, λ-Red, and Cre and can be cured by growing at 42 °C; pTF-A-UD contains several DNA fragments required for deleting the chromosomal lpxA and can be cured by adding isopropyl-D-thiogalactopyranoside; pRSFCmlpxA contains the lpxA mutant lpxA123 and CamR. When E. coli were transformed with these three plasmids, the chromosomal lpxA and the CamR in pRSFCmlpxA can be efficiently removed, resulting in an E. coli lpxA mutant harboring pRSFlpxA. The lpxA is essential for the growth of E. coli; its relocation from chromosome to a constitutive expression vector is an ideal strategy to maintain the vector without antibiotic addition. The lpxA123 in pRSFlpxA can complement the deletion of the chromosomal lpxA and provide a strong selective pressure to maintain the plasmid pRSFlpxA. This study provides an experimental evidence that this novel expression system is convenient and efficient to use and can be used to improve l-threonine biosynthesis in the wild type E. coli MG1655 and an l-threonine producing E. coli TWF006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present Letter responded to the Letter to the Editor on "Prediction of Knee Kinematics at Time of Noncontact Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries Based on Bone Bruises" from Grassi et al. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dehydration-responsive element binding (DREB) transcription factors (TFs) play a significant role in the response to many abiotic stresses, and they can regulate the downstream expression of some defense genes. In this study, a novel DREB TF gene, designated as LoERF017, was identified from Larix olgensis. The ORF of the LoERF017 gene is 624 bp and it contains an AP2/EREBP domain belonging to a typical DREB TF. Sub-cellular location analysis showed that LoERF017 was located in the nucleus. QRT-PCR analysis indicated that LoERF017 could be induced by NaCl, PEG6000, sodium nitroprusside (SNP), and ABA treatment. Moreover, an analysis of the survival rate and the development of transgenic plants under mannitol and NaCl revealed that the overexpression of LoERF017 in Arabidopsis could improve tolerance to osmotic and salt stress. Compared with wild-type (WT) plants, the overexpression of LoERF017 resulted in higher superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) activities and lower malondialdehyde (MDA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels under osmotic stress. Downstream stress-responsive genes, including COR, rd29A, and ERD10, were also activated in transgenic plants overexpressing LoERF017. In brief, the overexpression of the LoERF017 gene may directly or indirectly induce antioxidant enzyme systems and downstream stress-response genes to enhance osmotic resistance capacity in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SQUAMOSA-promoter binding protein-like (SPL) proteins are plant-specific transcription factors and participate in different pathways, including the vegetative to reproductive transition, male sterility, biosynthesis of gibberellic acid (GA), plant morphogenesis and response to environmental stress. In this study, we generated transgenic Arabidopsis that overexpressed Betula BplSPL8 and confirmed that BplSPL8 is a transcription factor with transcriptional activation activity and is located in the nucleus. Functional analysis of BplSPL8 showed that it is involved in regulating different development processes: (1) BplSPL8 can delay flowering by reducing sensitivity to GA under short days; (2) BplSPL8 controls the number and morphogenesis of leaves, including up-rolling leaves under long days and folded leaves mediated by GA under short days; (3) BplSPL8 can promote root elongation during late development of roots and inhibit lateral root formation; (4) BplSPL8 may be involved in regulating carotenoid biosynthesis and secretion metabolism. These results show that there is a complex regulatory network for the SPL family genes that is mediated by other components and may provide a new insights for the functional research of SPL genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomass-derived xylose is an economically interesting substrate for the sustainable microbial production of value-added compounds. Escherichia coli could barely use xylose to directly produce gamma-aminobutyric acid. In this study, E. coli strains that could directly produce gamma-aminobutyric acid were developed through the deletion of eight genes sucA, puuE, gabT, gabP, xylA, xylB, waaC, and waaF, and the overexpression of two E. coli genes gadB and gdhA, as well as five Caulobacter crescent genes CcxylA, CcxylB, CcxylC, CcxylD, and CcxylX. Both E. coli strains W3110 and JM109 could directly produce gamma-aminobutyric acid from xylose after either overexpression of the seven genes or deletion of the eight genes. Overexpression of the seven genes of in the multiple deletion mutants further increased gamma-aminobutyric acid production. Among the 28 recombinant E. coli strains constructed in this study, the highest gamma-aminobutyric acid was produced by JWZ08/pWZt7-g3/pWZt7-xyl. JWZ08/pWZt7-g3/pWZt7-xyl could produce 3.95 g/L gamma-aminobutyric acid in flask cultivation, using xylose as the sole carbon source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Escherichia coli overexpressing glutamate decarboxylase GadB can produce gamma-aminobutyric acid with addition of monosodium glutamate. The yield and productivity of gamma-aminobutyric acid might be significantly improved if the overexpressed GadB in E. coli cells can be excreted outside, where it can directly transforms monosodium glutamate to gamma-aminobutyric acid. In this study, GadB was fused to signal peptides TorA or PelB, respectively, and overexpressed in E. coli BL21(DE3). It was found that TorA could facilitate GadB secretion much better than PelB. Conditions for GadB secretion and gamma-aminobutyric acid production were optimized in E. coli BL21(DE3)/pET20b- torA- gadB, leading the secretion of more than half of the overexpressed GadB. Fed-batch fermentation for GadB expression and gamma-aminobutyric acid production of BL21(DE3)/pET20b- torA- gadB was sequentially performed in one fermenter; 264.4 and 313.1 g/L gamma-aminobutyric acid were obtained with addition of monosodium glutamate after 36 and 72 h, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C3HC4-type RING finger genes belong to a large gene family in plants and play crucial roles in diverse stress responses. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the poplar ( Populus trichocarpa) C3HC4-type RING finger gene family was performed, including analysis of phylogenetic relationships, chromosomal locations, gene structures, motif compositions, possible cis-elements, and expression profiles. Ninety-one poplar C3HC4-type RING finger genes were identified, which were clustered phylogenetically into seven distinct subfamilies and distributed predominantly across 17 linkage groups. Motif analysis revealed the presence of 15 conserved motifs with unknown functions within the predicted proteins. Promoter cis-element analysis indicated that most of the C3HC4-type RING finger genes contained abiotic stress-related cis-elements. Further, expression profiling showed that a number of genes were expressed differentially across disparate tissues and under various stresses, such as wood formation and drought. Additionally, quantitative real-time RT-PCR was performed on 24 selected C3HC4-type RING finger genes to confirm their responses to drought stress treatment. We found that PtrRHC7, 20 and 70 were not only abundantly transcribed in leaves, but also were upregulated in roots under drought stress. These results represent the foundation for further investigation of the roles of these candidate genes and for future genetic engineering and gene functional studies in Populus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has begun to examine the neurocognitive processes underlying voluntary moral decision making, which involves engaging in honest or dishonest behavior in a setting in which the individual is free to make his or her own moral decisions. Employing event-related potentials, we measured executive control-related and reward-related neural processes during an incentivized coin-guessing task in which participants had the opportunity to voluntarily engage in dishonest behavior, by overreporting their wins to maximize earnings. We report four primary findings: First, the opportunity to deceive recruited executive control processes involving conflict monitoring and conflict resolution, as evidenced by a higher N2 and a smaller P3. Second, processing the outcome of the coin flips engaged reward-related processes, as evidenced by a larger medial feedback negativity (MFN) for incorrect (loss) than for correct (win) guesses, reflecting a reward prediction error signal. Third, elevated executive control-related neural activity reflecting conflict resolution (i.e., an attenuated executive control P3) predicted a greater likelihood of engaging in overall deceptive behavior. Finally, whereas elevated reward-related neural activity (the reward P3) was associated with a greater likelihood of engaging in overall deceptive behavior, an elevated reward prediction error signal (MFN difference score) predicted increased trial-by-trial moral behavioral adjustment (i.e., a greater likelihood to overreport wins following a previous honest loss than following a previous honest win trial). Collectively, these findings suggest that both executive control- and reward-related neural processes are implicated in moral decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ribosome elongation factor G encoded by fusA promotes the translocation step of protein synthesis in bacteria; ribosome recycling factor encoded by frr, together with the elongation factor G, dissociates ribosomes from messenger RNA after the termination of translation. Both factors play important roles during protein synthesis in bacteria. In this study, we found that overexpression of fusA and/or frr led to the increase of l-isoleucine production in Corynebacterium glutamicum IWJ001, an l-isoleucine production strain generated by random mutagenesis. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that transcriptional levels of genes lysC, hom, thrB, ilvA, ilvBN, and ilvE encoding the key enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway of l-isoleucine increased in C. glutamicum IWJ001 when fusA and/or frr were overexpressed. Co-overexpression of fusA and frr, together with genes ilvA, ilvB, ilvN, and ppnk in C. glutamicum IWJ001, led to 76.5 % increase of l-isoleucine production in flask cultivation and produced 28.5 g/L l-isoleucine in 72-h fed-batch fermentation. The results demonstrate that overexpressing ribosome elongation factor G and ribosome recycling factor is an efficient approach to enhance l-isoleucine production in C. glutamicum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactobacillus buchneri strain WPZ001 that could efficiently produce gamma-aminobutyric acid was isolated from Chinese fermented sausages. Optimal cultivation conditions for gamma-aminobutyric acid production in L. buchneri WPZ001 were determined, and xylose was found to be the best carbon source. Using xylose as the sole carbon source, 70 g/L gamma-aminobutyric acid was produced by flask fermentation of L. buchneri WPZ001 for 48 h, and the harvested cells could continue to convert monosodium glutamate to gamma-aminobutyric acid in buffer and produce 59 g gamma-aminobutyric acid after eight runs of biotransformation; the total yield of gamma-aminobutyric acid reached 129 g/L. This combination strategy also worked well when the low-cost corncob hydrolysate was used as the sole carbon source, and the yield of gamma-aminobutyric acid reached 117 g/L. The results indicate that L. buchneri WPZ001 has great potential for industrial production of gamma-aminobutyric acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pichia pastoris is a successful system for expressing heterologous proteins and its fermentation pH is always maintained below 7.0. However, particular proteins are unstable under acidic conditions, such as methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT), and thus fermentation under acidic pH conditions is unsuitable because protein activity is lost owing to denaturation. Here, a strategy employing alkaline pH in the late fermentation period was developed to improve MAT production. Initially, P. pastoris KM71 was transformed with the mat gene to overexpress MAT. After 72 h of in vitro incubation at different pH values, the expressed MAT displayed highest stability at pH 8.0; however, pH 8.0 inhibited cell growth and induced cell rupture, thus affecting protein production. To balance MAT stability and Pichia cell viability, different pH control strategies were compared. In strategy A (reference), the induction pH was maintained at 6.0, whereas in strategy B, it was gradually elevated to 8.0 through a 25 h transition period (80 ∼ 105 h). MAT activity was 0.86 U/mg (twofold higher than the control). However, MAT content was reduced by 50% when compared with strategy A, because of proteases released upon cell lysis. To improve cell viability under alkaline conditions, glycerol was added in addition to methanol (strategy C). When compared with strategy B, the MAT-specific activity remained nearly constant, whereas the expression level increased to 1.27 g/L. The alkaline pH control strategy presented herein for MAT production represents an excellent alternative for expressing proteins that are stable only under alkaline conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first of two experiments, we compared the accuracy of the P300 concealed information test protocol as a function of numbers of trials experienced by subjects and ERP averages analyzed by investigators. Contrary to Farwell et al. (Cogn Neurodyn 6(2):115-154, ), we found no evidence that 100 trial based averages are more accurate than 66 or 33 trial based averages (all numbers led to accuracies of 84-94 %). There was actually a trend favoring the lowest trial numbers. The second study compared numbers of irrelevant stimuli recalled and recognized in the 3-stimulus protocol versus the complex trial protocol (Rosenfeld in Memory detection: theory and application of the concealed information test, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 63-89, ). Again, in contrast to expectations from Farwell et al. (Cogn Neurodyn 6(2):115-154, ), there were no differences between protocols, although there were more irrelevant stimuli recognized than recalled, and irrelevant 4-digit number group stimuli were neither recalled nor recognized as well as irrelevant city name stimuli. We therefore conclude that stimulus processing in the P300-based complex trial protocol-with no more than 33 sweep averages-is adequate to allow accurate detection of concealed information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our previous work has shown that L-isoleucine production in Corynebacterium glutamicum IWJ001 could be increased by overexpressing ilvA1 encoding a feedback-resistant threonine dehydratase, ilvBN1 encoding a feedback-resistant acetohydroxy acid synthase, lrp encoding the global regulator Lrp, brnFE encoding the two-component export system BrnFE, or ppnk1 encoding NAD kinase. The main purpose of this study is to further increase the L-isoleucine production in C. glutamicum IWJ001 by overexpressing the above genes in various combinations. Several C. glutamicum strains IWJ001/pDXW-8- ppnk1- lrp-brnFE, IWJ001/pDXW-8- ilvBN1- ilvA1- lrp-brnFE, IWJ001/pDXW-8- ilvBN1- ilvA1- ppnk1, and IWJ001/pDXW-8- ppnk1- ilvBN1- ilvA1- lrp-brnFE were constructed, and L-isoleucine production and activities of several key enzymes in these strains were analyzed. Compared with the control strain IWJ001/pDXW-8, L-isoleucine production increased in all of the four strains. IWJ001/pDXW-8- ilvBN1- ilvA1- ppnk1 showed the highest L-isoleucine production and produced 32.3 g/L L-isoleucine in 72 h fed batch fermentation. The results indicate that L-isoleucine production in C. glutamicum could be increased by enhancing the carbon flux and NADPH supply in the biosynthetic pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the reappraisal and the time course of negative emotion regulation by performing event-related potential (ERP) recordings. We found that negative pictures elicited more positive P2 and late positivity potential (LPP) deflections than neutral pictures. This effect occurred between 150-2000 ms post-stimulus. Compared to the emotion maintaining condition, the emotion enhancing condition was associated with higher arousal ratings and displayed increased P2 and LPP amplitudes. The decrease condition was also associated with reduced picture-induced arousal; however, it led to increased P2 and LPP amplitudes. Furthermore, when compared with the maintain condition, both the enhancing and decrease conditions significantly enhanced LPP in the early stage (350-750 ms). Compared to previous studies using western subjects, the negative emotion LPP effects of the present study were shorter in duration and the decrease-emotion condition elicited larger LPPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) may cause similar adverse effects, one of which is diplopia. However, the AEDs causing diplopia and the dose-response effect of each drug remains uncertain. In this study, we compared several second-generation AEDs to find out whether they would contribute to the risk of diplopia and their effect-causing dose. A meta-analysis was performed on 19 studies in agreement with our inclusion criteria. The results showed that eight commonly used second-generation AEDs (gabapentin, levetiracetam, oxcarbazepine, lamotrigine, pregabalin, topiramate, vigabatrin and zonisamide) could cause diplopia. The reported odds ratios (ORs) ranged from 1.406 to 7.996. Ranking risks from the highest to the lowest ORs of the eight AEDs of any dose resulted in the following order: use of oxcarbazepine (7.996), levetiracetam (7.472), lamotrigine (5.258), vigabatrin (3.562), pregabalin (3.048), topiramate (2.660), gabapentin (1.966), zonisamide (1.406). Taking into account the ORs above, we can conclude that second-generation AEDs of any dose may cause diplopia. However, the levetiracetam-caused diplopia needs to be further studied according to the data (OR, 7.472; 95% confidence interval, 0.375-148.772). These findings ask for better concerns about patients' quality of life when giving antiepileptic treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The erosion of loose beds by submerged circular impinging vertical turbulent jets is simulated using an Eulerian two-phase model which implements Euler-Euler coupled governing equations for fluid and solid phases, and a modified k-ɛ turbulence closure for the fluid phase. Both flow-particle and particle-particle interactions are considered in this model. The predictions of eroded bed profiles agree well with previous laboratory measurements and self-designed experiments. Analysis of the simulated results reveals that the velocity field of the jet water varies with various scouring intensities, that the scour depth and shape are mainly influenced by the driving force of the water when the density, diameter and porosity of the sand are the same, and that the porosity is an important contributor to sediment erosion. In this study, the scour depth, the height of dune and the velocity of the pore water increase with increasing porosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical simulation of water flow over the stepped spillway is conducted using Mixture multiphase flow model. Different turbulence models are chosen to enclose the controlling equations. The turbulence models investigated are realizable k- ɛ model, SST k- ω model, v 2- f model and LES model. The computational results by the four turbulence models are compared with experimental ones in the following aspects: mean velocity, the spanwise vorticity and the growth of the turbulent boundary layer thickness in the streamwise direction. It is found from the comparison that the realizable k- ɛ model, in which the rotation tensor is included, shows good performance for simulation of flows involving rotation, boundary layer and recirculation. The realizable k- ɛ model is the most efficient in simulating flow over stepped spillways. Further, the characteristics of water flow on the stepped spillway are studied in terms of the mean velocity profile normal to the pseudo-bottom and the pressure field on the steps based on the simulation results using realizable k- ɛ model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the application of nueroelectrophysiological tests in early diagnosis of sub-clinical neuropathy in diabetes mellitus (DM), The routine nerve conductive velocity (NCV), F-wave and sympathetic skin response (SSR) were detected in 27 patients with diabetes mellitus but without symptoms and signs of lesions of nerve system. Our results showed that 48.1%, 44.4%, 51.9% of the patients were found to have abnormal NCV, F-wave and SSR respectively. The abnormalities were mainly characterized by prolonged latency, reduced velocity and absence of wave-form. There were significant differences between the controls and the DM group ( P<0.05). Both the distal and proximal segments of nerves were affected and the distal lesions took place earlier than proximal ones and the changes in low extremities were more severe than those of upper extremities. F-wave can be used as a sensitive indicator for the early diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy and it can help to detect the subclincial lesions. SSR can be used for the evaluation of functional status of autonomic nerves in DM patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a new process for fabricating a polymer microneedles (MNs) patch integrated with an LED light source (LED-HEMA/MN, LH-MN) using ultraviolet (UV) curing technology. Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) is used as the base material, with a focus on studying the active integrated fabrication process of the MNs patch. The study also investigates the morphology, size, mechanical properties, ex vivo skin penetration performance, operating temperature, and performance optimization of the LH-MN. The experimental results show that the LH-MN fabricated using the optimal process has a good appearance, high molding rate, short production cycle, and excellent mechanical properties. It can effectively penetrate the skin without the risk of thermal injury. In addition, the MNs patch (LED-HEMA/HEA-MN, LHH-MN) prepared by optimizing and modifying with hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) possesses good flexibility and mechanical properties. It can adapt to different shapes and locations of the affected area, greatly enhancing the practicality of the MNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) underlies loss of cartilage tissue in osteoarthritis, a common disease for which no effective disease-modifying therapy currently exists. Here we describe BNTA, a small molecule with ECM modulatory properties. BNTA promotes generation of ECM components in cultured chondrocytes isolated from individuals with osteoarthritis. In human osteoarthritic cartilage explants, BNTA treatment stimulates expression of ECM components while suppressing inflammatory mediators. Intra-articular injection of BNTA delays the disease progression in a trauma-induced rat model of osteoarthritis. Furthermore, we identify superoxide dismutase 3 (SOD3) as a mediator of BNTA activity. BNTA induces SOD3 expression and superoxide anion elimination in osteoarthritic chondrocyte culture, and ectopic SOD3 expression recapitulates the effect of BNTA on ECM biosynthesis. These observations identify SOD3 as a relevant drug target, and BNTA as a potential therapeutic agent in osteoarthritis. Loss of cartilage tissue is a hallmark of osteoarthritis. Here the authors show that BNTA, a small molecule identified in a chemical screen, promotes ECM generation in human osteoarthritic chondrocytes and cartilage explants, and suppresses pathology in a rat model of osteoarthritis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical factors play a key role in regulating the development of cartilage degradation in osteoarthritis. This study aimed to identify the influence of mechanical stress in cartilage and chondrocytes. To explore the effects of mechanical stress on cartilage morphology, we observed cartilages in different regions by histological and microscopic examination. Nanoindentation was performed to assess cartilage biomechanics. To investigate the effects of mechanical stress on chondrocytes, cyclic tensile strain (CTS, 0.5 Hz, 10%) was applied to monolayer cultures of human articular chondrocytes by using Flexcell-5000. We quantified the mechanical properties of chondrocytes by atomic force microscopy. Chondrocytes were stained with Toluidine blue and Alcian blue after exposure to CTS. The expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules was detected by qPCR and immunofluorescence analyses in chondrocytes after CTS. Our results demonstrated distinct morphologies and mechanical properties in different cartilage regions. In conclusion, mechanical stress can affect the chondrocyte phenotype, thereby altering the expression of chondrocyte ECM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]