Search

Many neuroimaging studies have reported that stroke induces abnormal brain activity. However, little is known about resting-state networks (RSNs) and the corresponding white matter changes in stroke patients with hemiplegia. Here, we utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure neural activity and related fibre tracts in 14 ischaemic stroke patients with hemiplegia and 12 healthy controls. Fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) calculation and correlation analyses were used to assess the relationship between regional neural activity and movement scores. Tractography was performed using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data to analyse the fibres passing through the regions of interest. Compared with controls, stroke patients showed abnormal functional connectivity (FC) between some brain regions in the RSNs. The fALFF was increased in the contralesional parietal lobe, with the regional fALFF being correlated with behavioural scores in stroke patients. Additionally, the passage of fibres across regions with reduced FC in the RSNs was increased in stroke patients. This study suggests that structural remodelling of functionally relevant white matter tracts is probably an adaptive response that compensates for injury to the brain., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

A fully π-conjugated nitrogen-rich three-dimensional covalent organic framework ( PYTRI-COF-2 ) containing both pyrazine and triazine units was prepared through a post-synthetic strategy. The imine linkages in the pre-prepared PYTRI-COF-1 were converted into heterocyclic quinoline by the Povarov reaction. The obtained PYTRI-COF-2 displayed high Li-ion storage capacity and excellent cycling stability when it was used as the lithium (Li)-ion battery electrode.

Introduction: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) is one of the most common acute symptoms in the otolaryngology department. Etiological diagnosis is the premise of effective treatment of SSNHL, and prognostic evaluation is the key. However, most of the patients are diagnosed as idiopathic due to a lack of overall assessment, while prognostic factors of SSNHL are numerous and controversial. Our purpose was to validate the potential value of a novel three-dimensional fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (3D-FLAIR) MR protocol in SSNHL and to establish a clinical-image prognostic model for unilateral SSNHL., Methods: This prospective study included consecutive patients from May 2019 to November 2021. Pathogenic diagnosis relied on expertise-based estimation and the associations of MR findings with clinical features of unilateral SSNHL were assessed. The prognostic evaluation of unilateral SSNHL was adopted for recovery and no recovery groups and complete and incomplete recovery groups. Significant clinical and MR features were compared and screened out by single-factor analyses. The primary clinical-image prognosis assessment model was built by multifactor logistic regression analyses., Results: A total of 101 patients were enrolled in our study who acquired the correct etiological diagnosis based on the novel 3D-FLAIR MR combined with clinical examination. Among the 93 patients with unilateral SSNHL, 30.1% (28/93) showed labyrinthine abnormalities on 3D-FLAIR images. The severity of initial hearing loss in the MR+ group was worse than that in the MR- group (p < 0.05), and patients with positive MR findings tended to have poor recovery. An excellent prognostic model was built for hearing complete recovery and no recovery. The combination of three independent risk factors, including abnormal distortion products otoacoustic emission and transient evoked otoacoustic emission, the period from onset to treatment, and PTA at the onset, was adopted for hearing recovery/no recovery (accuracy = 90.2%, AUC = 0.820). Furthermore, adding the factor of positive MRI findings could improve the confidence for the judgment of hearing no recovery. The only independent risk factor, PTA at the onset, was adopted for complete/incomplete hearing recovery (accuracy = 86.1%, AUC = 0.874)., Conclusion: The novel MR protocol had a good advantage in pathogenic diagnosis. Labyrinthine MR 3D-FLAIR signal abnormalities were related to the severity of an initial hearing loss and had a greater tendency to be found in patients with no recovery. A prognostic model with two main steps of unilateral SSNHL, mainly for SSNHL with no recovery and complete recovery, was built successfully and needed further verification by larger series of patients., (© 2022 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background & Aims: Non-invasive stratification of the liver decompensation risk remains unmet in people with compensated cirrhosis. This study aimed to develop a non-invasive tool (NIT) to predict hepatic decompensation., Methods: This retrospective study recruited 689 people with compensated cirrhosis (median age, 54 years; 441 men) from 5 centres from January 2016 to June 2020. Baseline abdominal computed tomography (CT), clinical features, and liver stiffness were collected, and then the first decompensation was registered during the follow-up. The spleen-based model was designed for predicting decompensation based on a deep learning segmentation network to generate the spleen volume and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO)-Cox. The spleen-based model was trained on the training cohort of 282 individuals (Institutions I-III) and was validated in 2 external validation cohorts (97 and 310 individuals from Institutions IV and V, respectively) and compared with the conventional serum-based models and the Baveno VII criteria., Results: The decompensation rate at 3 years was 23%, with a 37.6-month median (IQR 21.1-52.1 months) follow-up. The proposed model showed good performance in predicting decompensation (C-index ≥0.84) and outperformed the serum-based models (C-index comparison test p <0.05) in both the training and validation cohorts. The hazard ratio (HR) for decompensation in individuals with high risk was 7.3 (95% CI 4.2-12.8) in the training and 5.8 (95% CI 3.9-8.6) in the validation (log-rank test, p <0.05) cohorts. The low-risk group had a negligible 3-year decompensation risk (≤1%), and the model had a competitive performance compared with the Baveno VII criteria., Conclusions: This spleen-based model provides a non-invasive and user-friendly method to help predict decompensation in people with compensated cirrhosis in diverse healthcare settings where liver stiffness is not available., Lay Summary: People with compensated cirrhosis with larger spleen volume would have a higher risk of decompensation. We developed a spleen-based model and validated it in external validation cohorts. The proposed model might help predict hepatic decompensation in people with compensated cirrhosis when invasive tools are unavailable ., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest to declare. Please refer to the accompanying ICMJE disclosure forms for further details., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

In the context of the energy crisis and global warming, developing clean and sustainable energy is receiving increasing attention. Photocatalytic processes including water splitting, CO 2 reduction, coenzyme regeneration, etc., provide ideal ways to utilize renewable solar resources. The photocatalyst plays a central role in photocatalytic processes. Organic porous polymers have recently gained extensive attention in photocatalysis. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), as one of the organic porous polymers, have the characteristics of high crystallinity, porosity, and structural designability that make them perfect platforms for photocatalysis. In this minireview, the recent progress of 2D COFs as photocatalysts is summarized including the recent work. The synthesis of the diversified structures of the COFs including the different linkages is first introduced. Then, the photocatalytic applications of the 2D COFs including photocatalytic hydrogen evolution, CO 2 conversion, coenzyme regeneration, and other traditional organic reaction are then discussed. Finally, conclusions and prospects are provided in the last section., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

There is concrete evidence that lncRNA-MINCR is involved in tumorigenesis of a number of human cancers through modulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. However, the characterization of regulatory role of lncRNA-MINCR has not been worked out in osteosarcoma yet. The present study was undertaken to explore the role of lncRNA-MINCR in human osteosarcoma. The osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines were found to exhibit significant (P<0.05) over-expression of lncRNA-MINCR. Silencing of lncRNA-MINCR in osteosarcoma cells suppressed their cell viability through the induction of apoptosis. The Saos-2 osteosarcoma cells exhibited significant (P<0.05) decline in migration and invasion rate together with inhibition of EMT under transcriptional knockdown of lncRNA-MINCR. Western blot analysis revealed that lncRNA-MINCR operated through Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway to control the growth and metastasis of osteosarcoma cells. In vivo mice tumorigenesis was significantly (P<0.05) restricted under lncRNA-MINCR repression. The study clearly indicated that lncRNA-MINCR exhibits crucial growth regulatory role in osteosarcoma together with its ability to control the metastasis of cancer cells through Wnt/β-catenin signal.

Developing a facile strategy for the construction of vinylene-linked fully π-conjugated covalent organic frameworks (COFs) remains a huge challenge. Here, a versatile condition of Knoevenagel polycondensation for constructing vinylene-linked 2D COFs was explored. Three new examples of vinylene-linked 2D COFs (BTH-1, 2, 3) containing benzobisthiazoles units as functional groups were successfully prepared under this versatile and mild condition. The electron-deficient benzobisthiazole units and cyano-vinylene linkages were both integrated into the π conjugated COFs skeleton and acted as acceptor moieties. Interestingly, we found the construction of a highly ordered and conjugated D-A system is favorable for photocatalytic activity. BTH-3 with benzotrithiophene as the donor with a strong D-A effect exhibited an attractive photocatalytic HER of 15.1 mmol h -1 g -1 under visible light irradiation., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Purpose: We aimed to assess the feasibility of radiomics analysis based on non-contrast-enhanced thoracic CT images in predicting synchronous brain metastasis (SBM) in lung cancer patients at initial diagnosis., Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 371 lung cancer patients (with SBM n=147, without SBM n=224) confirmed by histopathology. Patients were allocated to the training set (n=258) and testing set (n=113). The optimal radiomics features were selected by using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm. The radiomics, clinicoradiologic, and combined models were developed to predict SBM using multivariable logistic regression. Then the discrimination ability of the models was assessed. Furthermore, the prediction performance of the abovementioned three models for oligometastatic (1-3 lesions) or multiple (>3 lesions) brain metastases in SBM, metachronous brain metastasis (MBM), and total (SBM and MBM) groups were investigated., Results: Six radiomics features and two clinicoradiologic characteristics were chosen for predicting SBM. Both the radiomics model (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] = 0.870 and 0.824 in the training and testing sets, respectively) and the combined model (AUC = 0.912 and 0.859, respectively) presented better predictive ability for SBM than the clinicoradiologic model (AUC = 0.712 and 0.692, respectively). The decision curve analysis (DCA) demonstrated the clinical usefulness of the radiomics-based models. The radiomics model can also be used to predict oligometastatic or multiple brain metastases in SBM, MBM, and total groups (P = .045, P = .022, and P = .030, respectively)., Conclusion: The radiomics model and the combined model we presented can be used as valuable imaging markers for predicting patients at high risk of SBM at the initial diagnosis of lung cancer. Furthermore, the radiomics model can also be utilized as an indicator for identifying oligometastatic or multiple brain metastases.

This study investigated associations between chest computed tomography (CT) pulmonary opacity score on admission and clinical features and outcomes in COVID-19 patients. The retrospective multi-center cohort study included 496 COVID-19 patients in Jiangsu province, China diagnosed as of March 15, 2020. Patients were divided into four groups based on the quartile of pulmonary opacity score: ≤ 5%, 6-20%, 21-40% and 41% +. CT pulmonary opacity score was independently associated with age, single onset, fever, cough, peripheral capillary oxygen saturation, lymphocyte count, platelet count, albumin level, C-reactive protein (CRP) level and fibrinogen level on admission. Patients with score ≥ 41% had a dramatic increased risk of severe or critical illness [odds ratio (OR), 15.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.82-63.53), intensive care unit (ICU)] admission (OR, 6.26, 95% CI 2.15-18.23), respiratory failure (OR, 19.49, 95% CI 4.55-83.40), and a prolonged hospital stay (coefficient, 2.59, 95% CI 0.46-4.72) compared to those with score ≤ 5%. CT pulmonary opacity score on admission, especially when ≥ 41%, was closely related to some clinical characteristics and was an independent predictor of disease severity, ICU admission, respiratory failure and long hospital stay in patients with COVID-19., (© 2021. Società Italiana di Medicina Interna (SIMI).)

Objectives: To construct a distribution atlas of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia on computed tomography (CT) and further explore the difference in distribution by location and disease severity through a retrospective study of 484 cases in Jiangsu, China., Methods: All patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from January 10 to February 18 in Jiangsu Province, China, were enrolled in our study. The patients were further divided into asymptomatic/mild, moderate, and severe/critically ill groups. A deep learning algorithm was applied to the anatomic pulmonary segmentation and pneumonia lesion extraction. The frequency of opacity on CT was calculated, and a color-coded distribution atlas was built. A further comparison was made between the upper and lower lungs, between bilateral lungs, and between various severity groups. Additional lesion-based radiomics analysis was performed to ascertain the features associated with the disease severity., Results: A total of 484 laboratory-confirmed patients with 945 repeated CT scans were included. Pulmonary opacity was mainly distributed in the subpleural and peripheral areas. The distances from the opacity to the nearest parietal/visceral pleura were shortest in the asymptomatic/mild group. More diffused lesions were found in the severe/critically ill group. The frequency of opacity increased with increased severity and peaked at about 3-4 or 7-8 o'clock direction in the upper lungs, as opposed to the 5 or 6 o'clock direction in the lower lungs. Lesions with greater energy, more circle-like, and greater surface area were more likely found in severe/critically ill cases than the others., Conclusion: This study constructed a detailed distribution atlas of COVID-19 pneumonia and compared specific patterns in different parts of the lungs at various severities. The radiomics features most associated with the severity were also found. These results may be valuable in determining the COVID-19 sub-phenotype., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43657-021-00011-4., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose., (© International Human Phenome Institutes (Shanghai) 2021.)

Human connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is a secreted cysteine-rich peptide that stimulates cell proliferation, migration, and extracellular matrix production during tissue development, differentiation, angiogenesis, implantation, wound healing, and fibrosis processes, with broad application in the medical and cosmetic medical fields. However, the production of CTGF is currently limited by its low yield and purity in current bioreactors. In this study, two genetically modified silkworm strains were generated harboring artificially designed CTGF-8ht and pepCTGF-8ht genes, respectively, that contain an enhanced His-tag with eight histidine residues with or without a transdermal peptide (pep). Both recombinant CTGF-8ht and pepCTGF-8ht proteins were successfully expressed in the silkworm silk gland and cocoon, and could be easily extracted and purified from the cocoon by single-affinity immunoprecipitation column chromatography, achieving a purity of more than 95%. Moreover, compared with CTGF-8ht protein, pepCTGF-8ht protein exhibited better cell proliferation activity by activating the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway and enhanced hyaluronic acid synthesis activity by upregulating hyaluronan synthase 3 expression; moreover, the addition of pep significantly improved the transmembrane ability of CTGF-8ht protein. These results should help to promote the application prospects of CTGF and further guide the design and development of protein drugs from silkworm and other bioreactor systems. KEY POINTS : A silkworm bioreactor was optimized to produce connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) The transgene contained an enhanced 8-His-tag and transmembrane peptide (pep) Recombinant CTGF was easily purified with maintained or higher biological activity.

The efficient conversion of CO 2 to chemical fuels driven by solar energy is still a challenging research area in photosynthesis, in which the conversion efficiency greatly relies on photocatalytic coenzyme NADH regeneration. Herein, a photocatalyst/biocatalyst synergetic system based on a conjugated microporous polymer (CMP) was prepared for sustainable and highly selective photocatalytic reduction of CO 2 to methanol. Two thiazolo[5,4- d ]thiazole-linked CMPs ( TZTZ-TA and TZTZ-TP ) were designed and synthesized as photocatalysts. Slight skeleton modification led to a great difference in their photocatalytic performance. Triazine-based TZTZ-TA exhibited an unprecedentedly high NADH regeneration efficiency of 82.0% yield within 5 min. Furthermore, the in situ photocatalytic NADH regeneration system could integrate with three consecutive enzymes for efficient conversion of CO 2 into methanol. This CMP-enzyme hybrid system provides a new avenue for accomplishing the liquid sunshine from CO 2 .

Amorphous silicon nitride (α-SiN x ) films were coated on a photonic crystal-laser diode by the radio frequency magnetron sputtering method. Sputtering deposition conditions were changed to obtain α-SiN x films with different properties. The optical parameters and morphologies of the products were systemically characterized by spectroscopic ellipsometry fitting, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and performance of LDs coated with α-SiN x films were tested at 25 °C. Physical mechanisms of sputtering were explained in detail. α-SiN x with a band gap of 4.4 eV and a refractive index of 2.03 at 980 nm were grown. The extinction coefficient equal to 0 at 980 nm, and the surface morphology tended to be homogeneous and dense. The main influencing factors related to the catastrophic optical mirror damage (COMD) phenomenon were investigated. Then plasma pretreatment was implemented to eliminate defects and improve the cavity surface quality and further optimized by measuring the intensity of photoluminescence. Afterward, a rapid annealing method was also carried out to improve coating performance. Finally, α-SiN x acted as a passivation layer in the antireflection film coated on the LD facet, and the COMD threshold increased from 5 to 15.2 W, which led to a higher reliability than nonoptimized LDs and elimination of the COMD phenomenon., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society.)

The multigene expression system is highly attractive to co-express multiple genes or multi-subunit complex-based genes for their functional studies, and in gene therapy and visual tracking of expressed proteins. However, the current multiple gene co-expression strategies usually suffer from severe inefficiency and unbalanced expression of multiple genes. Here, we report on an improved 2A self-cleaving peptide (2A)-based multigene expression system (2A-MGES), by introducing an optimized Kozak region (Ck) and altering the gene arrangement, both of which contributed to the efficient expression of two fluorescent protein genes in silkworm. By co-expressing DsRed and EGFP genes in insect cells and silkworms, the potent Ck was first found to improve the translation efficiency of downstream genes, and the expression of the flanking genes of 2A were improved by altering the gene arrangement in 2A-MGES. Moreover, we showed that combining Ck and an optimized gene arrangement in 2A-MGES could synergistically improve the expression of genes in the cell. Further, these two flanking genes, regulated by modified 2A-MGES, were further co-expressed in the middle silk gland and secreted into the cocoon, and both achieved efficient expression in the transgenic silkworms and their cocoons. These results suggested that the modified Ck-2A-MGES will be a potent tool for multiple gene expression, for studies of their functions, and their applications in insect species.

Functional silk is a promising material for future medical applications. These include fabrication of diverse silk fiber and silk protein-regenerated biomaterials such as silk sutures, hydrogel, films, and 3D scaffolds for wound healing and tissue regeneration and reconstruction. Here, a novel bi-functional silk with improved cell proliferation and anti-inflammatory activities was created by co-expressing the human basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF&#95;β1) genes in silkworm. First, both FGF2 and TGF&#95;β1 genes were confirmed to be successfully expressed in silk thread. The characterization of silk properties by SEM, FTIR, and mechanical tests showed that this new silk (FT silk) had a similar diameter, inner molecular composition, and mechanical properties as those of normal silk. Additionally, expressed FGF2 and TGF&#95;β1 proteins were continuously and slowly released from FT silk for one week. Most importantly, the FGF2 and TGF&#95;β1 contained in FT silk not only promoted cell proliferation by activating the ERK pathway but also significantly reduced LPS-induced inflammation responses in macrophages by mediating the Smad pathway. Moreover, this FT silk had no apparent toxicity for cell growth and caused no cell inflammation. These properties suggest that it has a potential for medical applications. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Silk spun by domestic silkworm is a promising material for fabricating various silk protein regenerated biomaterials in medical area, since it owes good biocompatibility, biodegradability and low immunogenicity. Recently, fabricating various functional silk fibers and regenerated silk protein biomaterials which has ability of releasing functional protein factor is the hot point field. This study is a first time to create a novel bi-functional silk material with the improved cell proliferation and anti-inflammatory activity by genetic engineered technology. This novel silk has a great application potential as new and novel medical material, and this study also provides a new strategy to create various functional or multifunctional silk fiber materials in future., (Copyright © 2018 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Sericin, as the major component of Bombyx mori silk, is a useful biomaterial for tissue engineering due to its hydrophilicity, biocompatibility and biodegradability. Here, we report the fabrication of a human acidic fibroblast growth factor (FGF1)-functionalized sericin hydrogel using a transgenic silkworm spun silk with FGF1 incorporated in its sericin layer. Sericin, together with FGF1, were simultaneously extracted from the silk fiber and then exposed to cold-induced hydrogel formation without additional crosslinking. The fabricated FGF1 sericin hydrogels demonstrated injectability, useful mechanical properties and a porous microstructure, which contributed to cell adhesion and survival. In addition, FGF1 achieved long-term storage in the sericin hydrogels over a wide range of temperatures. Further, the sericin-FGF1 demonstrated sustained release to promote cell proliferation and wound healing. Furthermore, cellular inflammatory responses showed that the FGF1 sericin hydrogels exhibited biocompatibility and no immunogenicity. This study revealed the successful exploration of FGF1-functionalized sericin hydrogels as a new protein-based biomaterial to expand applications of FGF1 and sericin in tissue and medical engineering. Further, we demonstrated a strategy for the predesign of exogenous protein-functionalized sericin hydrogels through genetically modifying silk fibers as sources for their cost effective production at a large scale., Statement of Significance: Sericin from the Bombyx mori silk, is regarded as a desirable biomaterial for tissue engineering due to its hydrophilicity, biocompatibility and biodegradability. Genetically engineering the sericin with functional exogenous proteins would enhance its biofunctions and further expand its application in tissue engineering. In this study, we demonstrated a method to fabricate a human acidic fibroblast growth factor (FGF1)-functionalized sericin hydrogel using a transgenic silkworm spun silk with FGF1 incorporated in its sericin layer. The fabricated FGF1 sericin hydrogels demonstrated injectability, porous microstructure, biocompatibility and no immunogenicity which contributed to cell adhesion and survival. Remarkably, FGF1 could achieve a long-term stability in the sericin hydrogels over a wide range of temperatures and sustained release to promote cell proliferation and wound healing. This study revealed the successful exploration of FGF1-functionalized sericin hydrogels as a new protein-based biomaterial in tissue and medical engineering application, and provided a strategy for the predesign of exogenous protein-functionalized sericin hydrogels through genetically modifying silk fibers as sources for their cost effective production at a large scale., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

A new selective and sensitive fluorescence turn-on detection of ClO - is reported by taking advantage of the specific reaction between a 1-methyl-1,2-dihydropyridine-2-thione unit and ClO - and the aggregation induced-emission (AIE) behavior of the tetraphenylethylene unit.

Purpose: To prospectively investigate age- and gender-related changes in the fast-twitch (tibialis anterior, TA) and slow-twitch (soleus, SOL) skeletal muscle of healthy rats and volunteers and to compare the exercise-related difference in health volunteers with T 1 ρ magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)., Materials and Methods: In all, 18 rats and 70 humans were involved in this study. For the animal study, T 1 ρ relaxation times were measured in the TA and SOL rat muscle with a 3.0T MRI scanner and compared to histological data. For the human study, three groups (young, middle-aged, and elderly) of volunteers underwent T 1 ρ MRI scans (3.0T) of their calves. To further differentiate the human scans, 18 volunteers were recruited, half of them (n = 9) routinely trained with high-intensity sports, while the other half (n = 9) with no physical training. Statistical analysis was performed via paired t-test, independent-sample t-test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Correlations between T 1 ρ and age/gender/physical endurance were calculated., Results: The average T 1 ρ relaxation times of the TA and SOL of female rats were higher than that of male rats (P < 0.001). The T 1 ρ relaxation time of TA was significantly lower compared to SOL (P < 0.001). A significant linear correlation was observed between T 1 ρ and the type I slow-twitch fiber proportion (%) in SOL (R 2  = 0.837, P < 0.001). Similarly, in human studies the average T 1 ρ relaxation times of TA were significantly lower than SOL for all age groups (P < 0.001). The higher T 1 ρ relaxation times of TA and SOL in the elderly volunteers (P < 0.001) and in the females (P < 0.05) indicated significant age- and gender-dependent differences. In high-intensity sports groups, the higher T 1 ρ in SOL (P < 0.01) and lower in TA (P < 0.05) were observed compared with the control group., Conclusion: This study demonstrated that T 1 ρ MRI can be used to display the differences in fast- and slow-twitch skeletal muscle as well as potentially age-, gender-, and exercise-related differences., Level of Evidence: 2 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1 J. MAGN. RESON. IMAGING 2017;46:61-70., (© 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

Apart from sensing and imaging, luminogens with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) are also interesting for photosensitizing. The photosensitizing behavior and bacteria-killing performance of a pyridinium-substituted tetraphenylethylene with an alkyne group (TPE-A-Py + ) is reported herein. Interestingly, TPE-A-Py + exhibits higher photosensitizing efficiency than TPE-Py + (without alkyne group) when I - was used as a counteranion. This is well explained by the fact that the ΔΕ ST between the excited singlet state (S 1 ) and triplet state (T 1 ) was lower for TPE-A-Py + than for TPE-Py + , according to theoretical calculations. Moreover, replacement of I - with other anions (PF 6 - , N(SO 2 CF 3 ) 2 - and BPh 4 - ) led to a decrease of photosensitizing efficiency for TPE-A-Py + . Notably, TPE-A-Py + could be used as an efficient photosensitizer to photo-inactivate ampicillin-resistant (amp r ) E. coli at low concentration under white-light irradiation very quickly., (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Oxidized Low Density Lipoprotein (Ox-LDL)-induced overproduction of the prosclerotic cytokine transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta(1)) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of renal fibrosis and sclerosis. Because Ox-LDL increases TGF-beta(1) mRNA levels in rat mesangial cells, our investigation was designed to characterize these effects on the rat TGF-beta(1) promoter activity. We transfected luciferase reporter gene constructs containing TGF-beta(1) 5'-flanking sequence (from -1550 to +57 bp) into mesangial cells. By assaying progressively deleted mutations in the promoter, we found two regions that were responsible for the induction. One is a negative regulatory region (-422 to -629) which represses the transcription of the TGF-beta(1) gene, the other is a positive regulatory region (-845 to -1550) which enhances the transcription unit efficiently. There is an activating protein-1(AP-1) binding site in the latter region. Mutagenesis in the AP-1 binding sites abolished the Ox-LDL effect. Furthermore, addition of the AP-1 inhibitor curcumin obliterated the Ox-LDL response. The Ox-LDL-induced TGF-beta(1) promoter activation was also prevented by inhibitors of protein kinase C, but not by p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays with oligonucleotides containing AP-1 binding sites showed that Ox-LDL treatment significantly enhanced the binding activity of nuclear proteins of mesangial cells. Supershift assays demonstrated that c-Jun was present in the protein-DNA complexes under stimulation of Ox-LDL. The functional and structural results show that Ox-LDL regulates rat TGF-beta(1) gene expression through AP-1 binding sites and gives rise to the involvement of protein kinase C in Ox-LDL-induced TGF-beta(1) gene expression., (Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Objective: To clarify whether the activating protein-1 (AP-1) is involved in the transcriptional regulation of expression of oxidized low density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL) induced transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta(1) gene and further to investigate the possible signal transduction pathway in the cultured mesangial cells (MsCs)., Methods: Firstly, a deletion analysis of SD rat renal mesangial TGF-beta(1) promoter (pRT)--luciferase reporter genes was adopted to identify the possible regulatory regions responding to Ox-LDL. With mutation of AP-1 binding site and addition of the c-Jun/AP-1 inhibitor curcumin, the changes of relative luciferase of pRT stimulated by Ox-LDL were assayed, respectively. Furthermore, the phosphorylation of p38MAPK was detected by Western blotting. Pre-treatment with the different specific kinase inhibitors, the activities of AP-1 induced by Ox-LDL were determined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA)., Results: Relative luciferase activity showed two regions responding to stimulation by Ox-LDL in rat TGF-beta(1) promoter: one positive regulatory region (-1 550 to -845) containing an accurate AP-1 binding site, and one negative (-629 to -422) regulatory region. Both mutation of AP-1 binding site and addition of curcumin markedly decrease of activity of TGF-beta(1) promoter. The phosphorylation, but not total protein, of p38MAPK was significantly enhanced by Ox-LDL stimulation. The inhibitor of PKC remarkably reduced the activity of AP-1 induced by Ox-LDL. Reversely, the activity of AP-1 didn't significantly change with the inhibitor of p38MAPK., Conclusion: In the cultured rat mesangial cells, the AP-1 complex regulates Ox-LDL induced-overproduction of TGF-beta(1) at the transcriptional level. Furthermore, the functional and structural results showed that Ox-LDL regulates rat TGF-beta(1) gene expression through AP-1 binding site and c-Jun/AP-1 complex, it gives rise to the involvement of protein kinase C, but not p38MAPK, in Ox-LDL-induced TGF-beta(1) gene expression.