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Abstract Renowned for their role in haemostasis and thrombosis, platelets are also increasingly recognized for their contribution in innate immunity, immunothrombosis and inflammatory diseases. Platelets express a wide range of receptors, which allows them to reach a variety of activation endpoints and grants them immunomodulatory functions. Activated platelets release extracellular vesicles (PEVs), whose formation and molecular cargo has been shown to depend on receptor‐mediated activation and environmental cues. This study compared the immunomodulatory profiles of PEVs generated via activation of platelets by different receptors, glycoprotein VI, C‐type lectin‐like receptor 2 and combining all thrombin‐collagen receptors. Functional assays in vivo in zebrafish and in vitro in human macrophages highlighted distinct homing and secretory responses triggered by the PEVs. In contrast, omics analyses of protein and miRNA cargo combined with physicochemical particle characterization found only subtle differences between the activated PEV types, which were insufficient to predict their different immunomodulatory functions. In contrast, constitutively released PEVs, formed in the absence of an exogenous activator, displayed a distinct immunomodulatory profile from the receptor‐induced PEVs. Our findings underscore that PEVs are tunable through receptor‐mediated activation. To truly comprehend their role(s) in mediating platelet functions among immune cells, conducting functional assays is imperative.

For the application of composite materials to become more widespread and replace traditional materials their manufacturing processes and final products will need to be competitive and be e.g. lighter, stronger or stiffer and quicker, easier or more cost-efficient to produce than traditional materials. The state of the art for pick-and-place operations for the manufacturing of composite parts focuses on handling single lab-sized layers at undisclosed speeds. The process could however be more competitive by being able to handle more and larger layers in a faster manner than currently presented in research. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the existing pick-and-place strategies on their suitability for the swift automated handling of multiple large-sized layers of reinforcement. The review shows that many of the existing techniques could be suitable for different scenario’s and discusses which factors are to be taken into account when dealing with large layers, more than one layer or rapid handling.

Cancer therapy using oncolytic virus has shown pre-clinical and clinical efficacy. Here, the authors report ExtraCRAd, an oncolytic virus cloaked with tumour cell membrane and report its therapeutic effects in vitro and in vivo in multiple mouse tumour models.

Non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) associates with an elevated risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, the authors find that Nogo-B, an endoplasmic reticulum resident protein, is upregulated by lipid uptake and acts as an oncogene in NAFLD-associated HCC by promoting lipid droplet breakdown by lipophagy and triggering Hippo pathway dysregulation

The protein corona around artificial nanoparticles is known to influence activity and biological fate, the formation around viruses is less well understood. Here, the authors observe the formation of protein corona on viruses and study the effects this corona has on viral infectivity and on amyloid protein assembly.

There are distinct hypermethylation patterns in gene promoters in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). Here, the authors show that the enhancer of C/EBPβ is recurrently hypomethylated in human HCCs, recapitulating this in a transgenic murine model and linking aberrant enhancer hypomethylation to hepatocarcinogenesis.

Light-activated liposomes permit site and time-specific drug delivery to ocular and systemic targets. We combined a light activation technology based on indocyanine green with a hyaluronic acid (HA) coating by synthesizing HA–lipid conjugates. HA is an endogenous vitreal polysaccharide and a potential targeting moiety to cluster of differentiation 44 (CD44)-expressing cells. Light-activated drug release from 100 nm HA-coated liposomes was functional in buffer, plasma, and vitreous samples. The HA-coating improved stability in plasma compared to polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated liposomes. Liposomal protein coronas on HA- and PEG-coated liposomes after dynamic exposure to undiluted human plasma and porcine vitreous samples were hydrophilic and negatively charged, thicker in plasma (~5 nm hard, ~10 nm soft coronas) than in vitreous (~2 nm hard, ~3 nm soft coronas) samples. Their compositions were dependent on liposome formulation and surface charge in plasma but not in vitreous samples. Compared to the PEG coating, the HA-coated liposomes bound more proteins in vitreous samples and enriched proteins related to collagen interactions, possibly explaining their slightly reduced vitreal mobility. The properties of the most abundant proteins did not correlate with liposome size or charge, but included proteins with surfactant and immune system functions in plasma and vitreous samples. The HA-coated light-activated liposomes are a functional and promising alternative for intravenous and ocular drug delivery.

Renowned for their role in haemostasis and thrombosis, platelets are also increasingly recognized for their contribution in innate immunity, immunothrombosis and inflammatory diseases. Platelets express a wide range of receptors, which allows them to reach a variety of activation endpoints and grants them immunomodulatory functions. Activated platelets release extracellular vesicles (PEVs), whose formation and molecular cargo has been shown to depend on receptor‐mediated activation and environmental cues. This study compared the immunomodulatory profiles of PEVs generated via activation of platelets by different receptors, glycoprotein VI, C‐type lectin‐like receptor 2 and combining all thrombin‐collagen receptors. Functional assays in vivo in zebrafish and in vitro in human macrophages highlighted distinct homing and secretory responses triggered by the PEVs. In contrast, omics analyses of protein and miRNA cargo combined with physicochemical particle characterization found only subtle differences between the activated PEV types, which were insufficient to predict their different immunomodulatory functions. In contrast, constitutively released PEVs, formed in the absence of an exogenous activator, displayed a distinct immunomodulatory profile from the receptor‐induced PEVs. Our findings underscore that PEVs are tunable through receptor‐mediated activation. To truly comprehend their role(s) in mediating platelet functions among immune cells, conducting functional assays is imperative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pitted impact deposits on Vesta show higher reflectance and pyroxene absorption band strengths compared to their immediate surroundings and other typical Vestan materials. We investigated whether heating to different temperatures for different durations of Vestan regolith analog materials can reproduce these spectral characteristics using mixtures of HEDs, the carbonaceous chondrite Murchison, and terrestrial analogs. We find no consistent spectral trend due merely to temperature increases, but observed that the interiors of many heated samples show both higher reflectance and pyroxene band I strength than their heated surfaces. With electron probe microanalysis, we additionally observe the formation of hematite, which could account for the higher reflectance. The presence of hematite indicates oxidation occurring in the sample interiors. In combination with heat, this might cause the increase of pyroxene band strengths through migration of iron cations. The effect grows larger with increasing temperature and duration, although temperature appears to play the more dominant role. A higher proportion of Murchison or the terrestrial carbonaceous chondrite analog within our mixtures also appears to facilitate the onset of oxidation. Our observations suggest that both the introduction of exogenic material on Vesta as well as the heating from impacts were necessary to enable the process (possibly oxidation) causing the observed spectral changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]