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By combining the effects of defect engineering, band convergence, and carrier concentration tuning, we successfully suppress the lattice thermal conductivity to ultra-low 0.35 W m−1 K−1 and realize one of the highest ZT values of 1.75 at 833 K.

Thermoelectric technology is an effective strategy to convert low–grade waste heat to electrical energy directly. Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) have been extensively studied in various waste heat scenarios, such as vehicle exhaust, metal casting processes and more. However, industrial pipelines also possess high levels of heat and wide distribution, yet there is limited research on TEGs for use in these pipes. The challenge in designing a TEG lies in the heat collector, which is complicated by the distinct structural differences between pipe and plate–shaped TEMs. Ultimately, we propose an arch bridge–shaped heat collector for the pipe to recover wasted thermal energy. The effects of some key factors, such as topology of TEMs, heat source temperature, cooling water temperature and velocity, on the generating performance are studied. The TEG achieved a temperature difference of 65.98 °C across the two ends of the TEM, resulting in an output power of 17.89 W at an open–circuit voltage of 133.35 V. This provides evidence that the designed heat collector is a feasible solution for recovering waste heat from pipes using TEG technology. This work provides reliable experimental data and efficient design for the application of TEGs in industrial pipes.

Thermoelectric generator (TEG) has important applications in automotive exhaust waste heat recovery. The Back propagation neural network (BP) can predict the electrical generating performance of TEG efficiently and accurately due to its advantage of being good at handing nonlinear data. However, BP algorithm is easy to fall into local optimum, and its training data usually have deviation since the data are obtained through the simulation software. Both of the problems will reduce the prediction accuracy. In order to further improve the prediction accuracy of BP algorithm, we use the genetic algorithm (GA) to optimize BP neural network by selection, crossover, and mutation operation. Meanwhile, we create a TEG for the heat waste recovery of automotive exhaust and test 84 groups of experimental data set to train the GA−BP prediction model to avoid the deviation caused by the simulation software. The results show that the prediction accuracy of the GA−BP model is better than that of the BP model. For the predicted values of output power and output voltage, the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) increased to 2.83% and 2.28%, respectively, and the mean square error (MSE) is much smaller than the value before optimization, and the correlation coefficient (R2) of the network model is greater than 0.99.

Surface modification and functionalization is typically required to engineer upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) for biosensing and bioimaging applications. Nevertheless, despite various antibody conjugation methods having been applied to UCNPs, no consensus has been reached on the best choice, as the results from individual studies are largely unable to be compared due to inadequate assessment of the properties of the conjugated products. Here, we introduce a systematic approach to quantitatively evaluate the biological activity of antibody-conjugated UCNPs. We determine that the optimal antibody conjugation efficiency to our colominic acid polysaccharide-coated UCNPs via 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide/N-hydroxy succinimide (EDC/NHS) coupling is approximately 70%, corresponding to 16 antibodies per nanoparticle of 63 nm hydrodynamic diameter, with on average 12 of the 16 antibodies maintaining their affinity to the target antigens. The binding ability of the antibody-conjugated UCNPs to the antigen was well preserved, as verified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), flow cytometry, and cellular imaging. This is the first study to quantitate the active antibody binding capacity of polysaccharide coated UCNP nanoparticles, offering a practical guideline for benchmarking functionalised UCNPs in future studies.

Link Prediction, which aims to infer the missing or future connections between two nodes, is a key step in many complex network analysis areas such as social friend recommendation and protein function prediction. A majority of existing efforts are devoted to define the influence of neighbor nodes. However, even though recent studies show that node attributes have an added value to network structure for accurate link prediction, it still remains ignoring the real node influence. To address this problem, in this paper we investigate influential node identification technique to formulate a node ranking-based link prediction metric. The general idea of our approach is to exploit the ranking score as the contribution of a common neighbor. Such fundamental mechanism preserve both local structure and global information. Experimental results on real-world networks with two scenario demonstrate that our proposed metrics achieves better performance than existing state-of-the-art local and global similarity methods.

To discuss the effect of optimized catheter management strategy on reducing the incidence of catheter-related adverse events in interhospital patients transition with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).A historical control trial was conducted. The patients transferred with ECMO to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from January 2018 to December 2020 were enrolled. From January 2019 to December 2020, 38 patients with interhospital transport using optimized catheter management strategy were as observation group; from January to December in 2018, 30 patients with routine catheter management method were selected as the control group. The incidence of catheter-related adverse events during transition was compared between the two groups.There were no significant differences in clinical data such as age, number of catheters, transit time, transit distance, ECMO operation time between the observation group and the control group [age (years old): 58.26±10.38 vs. 54.00±16.61, number of catheters (roots): 6.03±1.32 vs. 5.51±1.37, transit time (hours): 2.48±0.30 vs. 2.51±0.39, transfer distance (kilometers): 155.27±20.45 vs. 165.56±25.62, ECMO operating time (days): 8.47±1.28 vs. 9.11±1.99, all P0.05]. The incidence of catheter-related adverse events in the control group was 26.67% (8/30), among them, 2 patients had ECMO catheter discount after getting over the bed, causing the flow alarm; 1 patient's central venous catheter (CVC) was not placed with U-shape and twisted, the vasopressors were not entered in time, which caused hypotension; 3 patients had more bleeding at the puncture points and film crimping; the urinary catheters were clamped in 2 patients and not opened in time. In the observation group, the patients did not have catheter-related adverse events during transition. There was statistically significant difference in the incidence of catheter-related adverse events between the two groups (χThe implementation of optimized catheter management strategy can greatly reduce the incidence of catheter-related adverse events and provide an effective safety guarantee for the interhospital transit of ECMO patients.

Compared with microorganisms and mammalian tissues, information is scant on the enzymes responsible for arsenic metabolism in plants. This study investigated the arsenic methylation activities extractable from leaves and roots of Agrostis tenuis Sibth. plants grown in complete nutrient media and exposed to arsenate (135–538 M) for 3 d before harvesting. Methylation activity was determined in leaf and root extracts using an in vitro assay based onS-[3H-methyl]adenosyl-L-methionine (3H-SAM) with either arsenite or arsenate as substrate. Arsenite methylation activity was low in leaf extracts from plants not exposed to arsenate, but was greatly enhanced after acute exposure, with the induced methylation activity greatest in extracts from plants exposed to 269 M arsenate. Monomethylarsonate (MMA) was the predominant early product, but over longer assay times dimethylarsinate (DMA) accumulated at the rate of 660 amol mg protein–1 min–1 to levels exceeding MMA. With arsenate as substrate, methylation activity was much lower than with arsenite, implying that arsenite is the preferred substrate for methylation. Root extract assays exhibited no DMA, however small amounts of MMA were formed with arsenite as substrate. In contrast to leaves, the methylation activity did not increase in root extracts from plants exposed to arsenate. These findings suggest that arsenate in the plant growth medium was taken up by the roots and converted to arsenite before methylation proceeded in the leaves, accompanied by induction of arsenic methyltransferase activities.

Background Photoimmunotherapy (PIT) is an emerging method of cancer treatment based on the use of a photosensitizer near-infrared dye IRDye700DX (IR700) conjugated to a monoclonal antibody. The antibody selectively delivers IR700 to cancer cells, which can then be killed after photoexcitation. Glypican-1 (GPC-1) is a novel target expressed specifically in malignant tumors. We aimed to investigate whether anti-GPC-1 antibody Miltuximab® (Glytherix Ltd., Sydney, Australia) can be conjugated with IR700 for PIT of solid tumors. Methods The dye IR700 was conjugated with Miltuximab® and characterized by spectrophotometry and flow cytometry. Miltuximab®-IR700-mediated PIT was tested in prostate (DU-145), bladder (C3 and T-24), brain (U-87 and U-251) and ovarian (SKOV-3) cancer cell lines. After 1 h incubation with Miltuximab®-IR700, the cells were washed by PBS and illuminated using a 690-nm light-emitting diode. The viability of the cells was assessed by a CCK-8 viability kit 24 h later. Results Miltuximab®-IR700-mediated PIT caused 67.3–92.3% reduction in viability of cells with medium-high GPC-1 expression and did not affect the viability of GPC-1-low cells. Cytotoxicity was attributed to the targeted binding of the conjugate with subsequent photoactivation, as the conjugate or light exposure alone had no effect on the cell viability. Miltuximab®-IR700 did not induce cytotoxicity in cells blocked by unconjugated Miltuximab®. Conclusions PIT with Miltuximab®-IR700 appears to be highly specific and effective against GPC-1-expressing cancer cells, indicating that it holds promise for an effective and safe treatment of early stage solid tumors or as adjuvant therapy following surgical resection. These findings necessitate further investigation of PIT with Miltuximab®-IR700 in other GPC-1-expressing cancer cell lines in vitro and in vivo in xenograft tumor models.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most aggressive tumors and its 5-year survival is approximately 5%. Fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) improves the extent of resection and leads to better prognosis. Molecular near-infrared (NIR) imaging appears to outperform conventional FGS, however, novel molecular targets need to be identified in GBM. Proteoglycan glypican-1 (GPC-1) is believed to be such a target as it is highly expressed in GBM and is associated with poor prognosis. We hypothesize that an anti-GPC-1 antibody, Miltuximab®, conjugated with the NIR dye, IRDye800CW (IR800), can specifically accumulate in a GBM xenograft and provide high-contrast in vivo fluorescent imaging in rodents following systemic administration. Miltuximab® was conjugated with IR800 and intravenously administered to BALB/c nude mice bearing a subcutaneous U-87 GBM hind leg xenograft. Specific accumulation of Miltuximab®-IR800 in subcutaneous xenograft tumor was detected 24 h later using an in vivo fluorescence imager. The conjugate did not cause any adverse events in mice and caused strong fluorescence of the tumor with tumor-to-background ratio (TBR) reaching 10.1 ± 2.8. The average TBR over the 10-day period was 5.8 ± 0.6 in mice injected with Miltuximab®-IR800 versus 2.4 ± 0.1 for the control group injected with IgG-IR800 (p = 0.001). Ex vivo assessment of Miltuximab®-IR800 biodistribution confirmed its highly specific accumulation in the tumor. The results of this study confirm that Miltuximab®-IR800 holds promise for intraoperative fluorescence molecular imaging of GBM and warrants further studies.

OBJECTIVE Disc degeneration and associated low-back pain are major causes of suffering and disability. The authors examined the potential of mesenchymal precursor cells (MPCs), when formulated with pentosan polysulfate (PPS), to ameliorate disc degeneration in an ovine model. METHODS Twenty-four sheep had annular incisions made at L2–3, L3–4, and L4–5 to induce degeneration. Twelve weeks after injury, the nucleus pulposus of a degenerated disc in each animal was injected with ProFreeze and PPS formulated with either a low dose (0.1 million MPCs) or a high dose (0.5 million MPCs) of cells. The 2 adjacent injured discs in each spine were either injected with PPS and ProFreeze (PPS control) or not injected (nil-injected control). The adjacent noninjured L1–2 and L5–6 discs served as noninjured control discs. Disc height indices (DHIs) were obtained at baseline, before injection, and at planned death. After necropsy, 24 weeks after injection, the spines were subjected to MRI and morphological, histological, and biochemical analyses. RESULTS Twelve weeks after the annular injury, all the injured discs exhibited a significant reduction in mean DHI (low-dose group 17.19%; high-dose group 18.01% [p < 0.01]). Twenty-four weeks after injections, the discs injected with the low-dose MPC+PPS formulation recovered disc height, and their mean DHI was significantly greater than the DHI of PPS- and nil-injected discs (p < 0.001). Although the mean Pfirrmann MRI disc degeneration score for the low-dose MPC+PPS–injected discs was lower than that for the nil- and PPS-injected discs, the differences were not significant. The disc morphology scores for the nil- and PPS-injected discs were significantly higher than the normal control disc scores (p < 0.005), whereas the low-dose MPC+PPS–injected disc scores were not significantly different from those of the normal controls. The mean glycosaminoglycan content of the nuclei pulposus of the low-dose MPC+PPS–injected discs was significantly higher than that of the PPS-injected controls (p < 0.05) but was not significantly different from the normal control disc glycosaminoglycan levels. Histopathology degeneration frequency scores for the low-dose MPC+PPS–injected discs were lower than those for the PPS- and Nil-injected discs. The corresponding high-dose MPC+PPS–injected discs failed to show significant improvements in any outcome measure relative to the controls. CONCLUSIONS Intradiscal injections of a formulation composed of 0.1 million MPCs combined with PPS resulted in positive effects in reducing the progression of disc degeneration in an ovine model, as assessed by improvements in DHI and morphological, biochemical, and histopathological scores.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most aggressive tumors and its 5-year survival is approximately 5%. Fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) improves the extent of resection and leads to better prognosis. Molecular near-infrared (NIR) imaging appears to outperform conventional FGS, however, novel molecular targets need to be identified in GBM. Proteoglycan glypican-1 (GPC-1) is believed to be such a target as it is highly expressed in GBM and is associated with poor prognosis. We hypothesize that an anti-GPC-1 antibody, Miltuximab&reg, conjugated with the NIR dye, IRDye800CW (IR800), can specifically accumulate in a GBM xenograft and provide high-contrast in vivo fluorescent imaging in rodents following systemic administration. Miltuximab&reg, was conjugated with IR800 and intravenously administered to BALB/c nude mice bearing a subcutaneous U-87 GBM hind leg xenograft. Specific accumulation of Miltuximab&reg, IR800 in subcutaneous xenograft tumor was detected 24 h later using an in vivo fluorescence imager. The conjugate did not cause any adverse events in mice and caused strong fluorescence of the tumor with tumor-to-background ratio (TBR) reaching 10.1 &plusmn, 2.8. The average TBR over the 10-day period was 5.8 &plusmn, 0.6 in mice injected with Miltuximab&reg, IR800 versus 2.4 &plusmn, 0.1 for the control group injected with IgG-IR800 (p = 0.001). Ex vivo assessment of Miltuximab&reg, IR800 biodistribution confirmed its highly specific accumulation in the tumor. The results of this study confirm that Miltuximab&reg, IR800 holds promise for intraoperative fluorescence molecular imaging of GBM and warrants further studies.

(A–E) Surface antigen expression of MPCs derived from three donors (RAH1, RAH2, and RAH) when cultured for 24 and 48 h with and without priming with 5.0 μg/ml PPS. Delta change represents the percentage change in antigen levels mediated by the PPS priming step. (DOCX 18 kb)

Object Following microdiscectomy, discs generally fail to undergo spontaneous regeneration and patients may experience chronic low-back pain and recurrent disc prolapse. In published studies, formulations of mesenchymal progenitor cells combined with pentosan polysulfate (MPCs+PPS) have been shown to regenerate disc tissue in animal models, suggesting that this approach may provide a useful adjunct to microdiscectomy. The goal of this preclinical laboratory study was to determine if the transplantation of MPCs+PPS, embedded in a gelatin/fibrin scaffold (SCAF), and transplanted into a defect created by microdiscectomy, could promote disc regeneration. Methods A standardized microdiscectomy procedure was performed in 18 ovine lumbar discs. The subsequent disc defects were randomized to receive either no treatment (NIL), SCAF only, or the MPC+PPS formulation added to SCAF (MPCs+PPS+SCAF). Necropsies were undertaken 6 months postoperatively and the spines analyzed radiologically (radiography and MRI), biochemically, and histologically. Results No adverse events occurred throughout the duration of the study. The MPC+PPS+SCAF group had significantly less reduction in disc height compared with SCAF-only and NIL groups (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). Magnetic resonance imaging Pfirrmann scores in the MPC+PPS+SCAF group were significantly lower than those in the SCAF group (p = 0.0213). The chaotropic solvent extractability of proteoglycans from the nucleus pulposus of MPC+PPS+SCAF-treated discs was significantly higher than that from the SCAF-only discs (p = 0.0312), and using gel exclusion chromatography, extracts from MPC+PPS+SCAF-treated discs also contained a higher percentage of proteoglycan aggregates than the extracts from both other groups. Analysis of the histological sections showed that 66% (p > 0.05) of the MPC+PPS+SCAF-treated discs exhibited less degeneration than the NIL or SCAF discs. Conclusions These findings demonstrate the capacity of MPCs in combination with PPS, when embedded in a gelatin sponge and sealed with fibrin glue in a microdiscectomy defect, to restore disc height, disc morphology, and nucleus pulposus proteoglycan content.

Irradiation-induced UV–VIS absorptance spectra and electron paramagnetic resonance X-band spectra of some cerium (Ce)-doped borosilicate glasses and alumino-borosilicate glasses were studied, and it was found that the addition of calcium oxide could reduce irradiation resistance of Ce-doped (alumino-)borosilicate glass. As a result, the concentration of calcium oxide in the Ce-doped irradiation-resistant (alumino-)borosilicate glass should be reduced.

Optical absorption spectra, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra, Raman spectra of a borosilicate glass after irradiation by 10 MeV proton, 1.85 MeV electron and 60 Co-γ ray were studied. The process of irradiation inducing color centers in the glass was discussed. The band gap of the glass before and after 60 Co-γ ray irradiation was studied using Mott and Davis's theory, and it was found that calculated change of the band gap introduced a paradox, because Mott and Davis's theory on the band gap cannot be adopted in the study on the irradiated glass.

Before and after 11 kGy 60Co-γ irradiation as well as after 150°C bleaching, reflectivity and absorption coefficient of a borosilicate glass were calculated from the intensity of transmitted light and the intensity of reflected light measured using an integrating sphere. The irradiation induced absorption in the studied wavelength range, while it only made the reflectivity change obviously in the range 4.5–5.6 eV (275–221 nm). The absorption coefficient spectrum and the reflectivity spectrum of the irradiated glass both recovered to a degree after 150°C bleaching. The relative error of irradiation-induced absorption coefficient calculated neglecting reflectivity change was studied, and the relative errors in the studied wavelength range theoretically increase when the thickness of glass sheet decreases, so if irradiation-induced absorption coefficients are studied using a thin glass sheet, reflectivity changes should be considered. The band gap of the glass was studied using Mott and Davis's theory, and i...

Tantalum pentoxide films were deposited on BK7 glass substrates using oxygen plasma enhanced pulsed laser deposition (OPE-PLD). X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, ultraviolet–visible–near infrared scanning spectrophotometry, and spectroscopic ellipsometry were used to characterize the crystallinity, microscopic morphology and optical properties of films. Results show that the film roughness increased with the increase of oxygen pressure, and decreased with the application of OPE. Meanwhile the use of oxygen plasma in a 2 Pa O2 pressure resulted in the transmittance of the thin film of 91.8% at its peak position (the transmittance of bare substrate). Moreover, the root-mean-square roughness as low as 0.736 nm, and refractive index of 2.18 at 633 nm wavelength, close to the refractive index of bulk Ta2O5 (~ 2.20 at 633 nm wavelength), were obtained.

A series of ceramics (1−2x)K0.47Na0.47Li0.06NbO3 −x(BaCO3 and SrCO3) (0≤x≤0.6%), were prepared by the solid state reaction method. The structures, dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the ceramics were investigated. The ceramics show pure perovskite phase with typical orthorhombic structure when x≤0.4%. As doped with BaCO3 and SrCO3, the phase transition temperature of tetragonal→cubic (Tc) decreases and the dielectric constant (er) increases, and a diffuse phase transition is induced. The ferroelectric properties (Pr and Ec), piezoelectric constant (d33) and electromechanical coupling factor (kp) increase with increasing x, and then decrease. The optimumpiezoelectric properties of er =570, Tc =485℃, d33 = 235 pC/N and kp = 0.415 were obtained at x = 0.1%. The increase in piezoelectric properties might be due to the donor-doping of Ba and Sr.

Silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) thin films were deposited on BK7 substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method using ceramic SiO 2 targets (C-SiO 2 -Ts), which was sintered by solid state sintering. The reason for using C-SiO 2 -T instead of the silicon target is to reduce the oxygen-deficiency phenomenon in deposited SiO 2 thin films. The influence of substrate-temperatures, oxygen-pressures and oxygen-plasma-assistance on the properties of synthesized films was studied. X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, ultraviolet–visible–near-infrared scanning spectrophotometry were used to characterize the crystallinity, morphology and optical properties of deposited films. Results show that the root-mean-square roughness of films increased with the increase of oxygen-pressure, substrate-temperature and with the employment of oxygen-plasma. The transmittance of films increased with the increase of oxygen-pressure and decreased with the increase of substrate-temperature and with the employment of oxygen-plasma. Stoichiometric SiO 2 thin film with high optical quality was synthesized at room-temperature and 20 Pa oxygen-pressure using C-SiO 2 -T.

Hydrogen- and hydroxyl-doped CsBr:Eu 2+ storage phosphors were investigated by photostimulated luminescence (PSL) spectra, absorption spectra and PSL lifetime spectra. Hydrogen- and hydroxyl-doping plays an active role related to the trap centers in CsBr:Eu 2+ storage phosphors. A sharp increase in the PSL yield was observed for non-hydroxyl-doped CsBr:Eu 2+ annealed in 5%H 2 +95%Ar atmosphere. For hydroxyl-doped CsBr:Eu 2+ , the PSL lifetime (361 ns) is obviously shorter than that of typical CsBr:Eu 2+ storage phosphors.

Tantalum oxide films were synthesized by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The influences of annealing temperatures and oxygen pressures on the crystalline, morphological and optical properties were investigated. Experimental results indicate that annealed film became crystallized in orthorhombic structure at 700 °C. The root-mean-square (RMS) roughness of the film became higher with the increase of annealing temperature. The transmittance and the optical band gap of the film increased with the increase of annealing temperature and the increase of annealing oxygen pressure. In addition and interestingly, crystallinity led to a decrease of transparency due to the increase of scattering losses, which resulted from the polycrystalline structure and the increase of RMS roughness. At the optimized ambience of 600 °C and 20 Pa, the transmittance of the annealed film achieved about 93% (the transmittance of bare substrate) at its peak values. And its optical band gap was 4.18 eV, which was close to the theoretical value of 4.2 eV.

In this work, tantalum oxide (TaO x ) films were deposited on quartz glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and ionized plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition (IPA-PLD). The effects of oxygen pressures and ionized oxygen plasma-assistance (IOPA) on the optical properties of deposited films have been studied. Ultraviolet–visible–near infrared (UV–VIS–NIR) scanning spectrophotometry was used to measure the transmittance of deposited films and to determine the optical band gap and absorption coefficient. Results show that the transmittance, absorption coefficient, band gap and chemical composition of deposited films reveal a strong dependence on the oxygen pressures and IOPA. Under optimum condition of IOPA, the refractive index of the synthesized film was 2.22 (at 633 nm wavelength), while an optical band gap of 4.18 eV was obtained. These two values compare very favorably with films produced by other methods.

The amorphous silicon oxide SiO 2− x thin films were prepared by the plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method. X-ray diffraction spectrometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), UV-VIS-NIR scanning spectrophotometry and ellipsometry were used to characterize the crystallinity, microscopic morphology and optical properties of obtained thin films. The influences of substrate temperatures, oxygen partial pressures and oxygen plasma assistance on the compositions of silicon oxide (SiO 2− x ) thin films were investigated. Results show that the deposited thin films are amorphous and have high surface quality. Stoichiometric silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) thin film can be obtained at elevated temperature of 200 °C in an oxygen plasma-assisted atmosphere. Using normal incidence transmittance, a novel and simple method has been proposed to evaluate the value of x in transparent SiO 2− x thin films on a non-absorbing flat substrate.

Al2O3 coatings, with a Ni-based buffer layer (Ni or NiAl), were deposited on a Cu substrate by electron beam evaporation (EBE). The Al2O3 coatings were amorphous of good stoichiometry and their surface was undulated and continuous. The Ni-based buffer layer played a key role on improving the adhesion of the Al2O3 coatings to the substrate. The diffusion of Cu from the substrate into the Al2O3 coating at high temperature was suppressed by the buffer layer. Excellent resistivity (1015 Ω cm) and high breakdown voltage (110 kV/mm) have been obtained.

Objective To compare circulating microRNA (miRNA) profiles between unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA) and normal early pregnancies (NEP) and to evaluate the potential role of circulating miRNA as a biomarker for URSA. Design Laboratory study using human plasma samples. Setting Special hospital and research institutes. Patient(s) From September 2012 to April 2013, samples of plasma were obtained from 27 URSA patients and 28 NEP patients at 6–10 weeks of gestation at the Department of Reproductive Immunology in Family Planning Special Hospital of Guangdong Province. Intervention(s) Differential miRNA profiling analysis of plasma collected from URSA and NEP patients was performed with the use of microarray. Main Outcome Measure(s) The circulating miRNA expression profile was assessed by means of microarray and real-time quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis. Result(s) Twenty-five circulating miRNAs were expressed differentially in URSA compared with NEP. Of these, nine were overexpressed and 16 down-regulated. Six differentially expressed circulating miRNAs were selected to validate the microarray results, and qRT-PCR data confirmed the reliability of the microarray results. Further analysis showed that four circulating miRNAs (miR-320b, miR-146b-5p, miR-221-3p, miR-559) were up-regulated. In URSA, one circulating miRNA (miR-101-3p) was down-regulated in other larger scale samples according to qRT-PCR. Based on target gene analysis, we speculate that these circulating miRNAs regulate URSA by targeting immune, apoptosis, and angiogenic gene functions. Conclusion(s) Circulating microRNAs may be involved in URSA pathogenesis and provide a promising new diagnostic biomarker for URSA.

Circumferential tears of the Annulus Fibrosus (AF) are frequently observed pathological features of degenerate lumbar discs and have been associated with vascular propagation and the generation of low back pain. In order to evaluate the potential of novel biological agents to repair annular defects and arrest disc degeneration we required an animal model that would permit injection of cells or their cryoprotectant into adjacent lumbar discs of the same animal. Three lumbar discs (L2/3, L3/4 and L4/5) of 6 sheep were subjected to a peripheral lateral annular surgical incision. The adjacent uninjured lumbar L1/2 and L5/6 discs served as uninjured controls. After three months the spines were radiographed and disc height indices (DHI) calculated and Pfirrmann disc degeneration scores determined from MRI spinal images. Isolated lumbar discs were analysed morphologically, histologically and biochemically using published procedures. Disc height index measurements of injured discs revealed an average decrease of 23.67% relative to baseline values (p

Following microdiscectomy, discs generally fail to undergo spontaneous regeneration and patients may experience chronic low-back pain and recurrent disc prolapse. In published studies, formulations of mesenchymal progenitor cells combined with pentosan polysulfate (MPCs+PPS) have been shown to regenerate disc tissue in animal models, suggesting that this approach may provide a useful adjunct to microdiscectomy. The goal of this preclinical laboratory study was to determine if the transplantation of MPCs+PPS, embedded in a gelatin/fibrin scaffold (SCAF), and transplanted into a defect created by microdiscectomy, could promote disc regeneration.A standardized microdiscectomy procedure was performed in 18 ovine lumbar discs. The subsequent disc defects were randomized to receive either no treatment (NIL), SCAF only, or the MPC+PPS formulation added to SCAF (MPCs+PPS+SCAF). Necropsies were undertaken 6 months postoperatively and the spines analyzed radiologically (radiography and MRI), biochemically, and histologically.No adverse events occurred throughout the duration of the study. The MPC+PPS+SCAF group had significantly less reduction in disc height compared with SCAF-only and NIL groups (p0.05 and p0.01, respectively). Magnetic resonance imaging Pfirrmann scores in the MPC+PPS+SCAF group were significantly lower than those in the SCAF group (p = 0.0213). The chaotropic solvent extractability of proteoglycans from the nucleus pulposus of MPC+PPS+SCAF-treated discs was significantly higher than that from the SCAF-only discs (p = 0.0312), and using gel exclusion chromatography, extracts from MPC+PPS+SCAF-treated discs also contained a higher percentage of proteoglycan aggregates than the extracts from both other groups. Analysis of the histological sections showed that 66% (p0.05) of the MPC+PPS+SCAF-treated discs exhibited less degeneration than the NIL or SCAF discs.These findings demonstrate the capacity of MPCs in combination with PPS, when embedded in a gelatin sponge and sealed with fibrin glue in a microdiscectomy defect, to restore disc height, disc morphology, and nucleus pulposus proteoglycan content.

The present investigation examines the effect of buffer layer and film thickness on the thermal fatigue behaviour of Al2O3 films. Al2O3 films with a Ni-based buffer layer were deposited on Cu substrates by plasma ion assisted deposition (PIAD) technique. SEM image and AES depth profile indicated that the Ni-based buffer layer effectively improved the adhesion of the Al2O3 film to the Cu substrate and suppressed the diffusion of Cu from the substrate into the Al2O3 film at 600 °C, which was beneficial for the insulating properties of Al2O3 films and therefore was favored for the improvement of thermal fatigue behaviour. The thermal cycle test results demonstrated that the Ni-based buffer layer greatly enhanced the thermal fatigue behaviour with decreasing buffer layer thickness and the increasing Al2O3 film thickness, therefore increasing the lifetime of Al2O3 films.

Using a laser monitoring observation technique, the solubilities of cefazolin sodium pentahydrate in binary 2-propanol + water solvent mixtures were determined by the synthetic method from 273.15 K to 308.15 K. The results of these measurements were correlated by the combined nearly ideal binary solvent (CNIBS)/Redlich−Kister equation. For the eight group data studied, the combined ideal binary solvent (CNIBS)/Redlich−Kister equation was found to provide an accurate mathematical representation of the experimental data.