Bilayer Amniotic Membrane/Nano-fibrous Fibroin Scaffold Promotes Differentiation Capability of Menstrual Blood Stem Cells into Keratinocyte-Like Cells

The skin provides a dynamic barrier separating and protecting human body from the exterior world, and then immediate repair and rebuilding of the epidermal barrier is crucial after wound and injury. Wound healing without scars and complete regeneration of skin tissue still remain as a clinical challenge. The demand to engineer scaffolds that actively promote regeneration of damaged areas of the skin has been increased. In this study, menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) have been induced to differentiate into keratinocytes-like cells in the presence of human foreskin-derived keratinocytes on a bilayer scaffold based on amniotic membrane and silk fibroin. Based on the findings, newly differentiated keratinocytes from MenSCs successfully expressed the keratinocytes specific markers at both mRNA and protein levels judged by real-time PCR and immunostaining techniques, respectively. We could show that the differentiated cells over bilayer composite scaffolds express the keratinocytes specific markers at higher levels when compared with those cultured in conventional 2D culture system. Based on these findings, bilayer amniotic membrane/nano-fibrous fibroin scaffold represents an efficient natural construct with broad applicability to generate keratinocytes from MenSCs for stem cell-based skin wounds healing and regeneration.     

Implied Spatial Meaning and Visuospatial Bias: Conceptual Processing Influences Processing of Visual Targets and Distractors

Concepts with implicit spatial meaning (e.g., "hat", "boots") can bias visual attention in space. This result is typically found in experiments with a single visual target per trial, which can appear at one of two locations (e.g., above vs. below). Furthermore, the interaction is typically found in the form of speeded responses to targets appearing at the compatible location (e.g., faster responses to a target above fixation, after reading "hat"). It has been argued that these concept-space interactions could also result from experimentally-induced associations between the binary set of locations and the conceptual categories with upward and downward meaning. Thus, rather than reflecting a conceptually driven spatial bias, the effect could reflect a benefit for compatible cue-target sequences that occurs only after target onset. We addressed these concerns by going beyond a binary set of locations and employing a search display consisting of four items (above, below, left, and right). Within each search trial, before performing a visual search task, participants performed a conceptual task involving concepts with implicit upward or downward meaning. The search display, in addition to including a target, could also include a salient distractor. Assuming a conceptually driven visual bias, we expected to observe, first, a benefit for target processing at the compatible location and, second, an increase in the cost of the salient distractor. The findings confirmed both predictions, suggesting that concepts do indeed generate a spatial bias. Finally, results from a control experiment, without the conceptual task, suggest the presence of an axis-specific effect, in addition to the location-specific effect, suggesting that concepts might cause both location-specific and axis-specific spatial bias. Taken together, our findings provide additional support for the involvement of spatial processing in conceptual understanding.     

The Effect of a Yeast Probiotic on Acute Diarrhea in Children

A probiotic is a living micro-organism administered to promote the health of the host by treating or preventing infections owing to strains of pathogens. Saccharomyces boulardii is a nonpathogen yeast that has a direct inhibitory effect on the growth of many pathogens, an anti-secretory effect and a trophic effect on enterocytes. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of S. boulardii on diarrhea in children. The children from 6 months to 6 years of age with acute watery diarrhea admitted in pediatric clinic in Kashan in 2012 were included in this trial. Exclusion criteria were high fever (T > 38.5 °C), severe dehydration, bloody diarrhea, severe malnutrition, using of antibiotics, anti-diarrheal or antifungal drugs and children with more than one complain. Two hundred patients were assigned into two groups: A total of 100 patients were treated with S. boulardii in addition to ORS (case group) and 100 patients were given placebo in addition to ORS (control group). The duration of diarrhea and frequency of stools were recorded by asking the mothers of the children every day. The results showed that the defecation frequency after second day of treatment in the case group was significantly less than the control group (P = 0.001) and the mean numbers of days of diarrhea was significantly lower in the case group (P = 0.001). The result of this study confirms that S. boulardii reduces the frequency of stool and duration of illness in children.     

Correction to: Effect of Chromium Nanoparticles on Physiological Stress Induced by Exogenous Dexamethasone in Japanese Quails

Biological Trace Element Research - Chromium (Cr), as an essential trace element, plays a critical role in carbohydrate, protein, and lipid metabolism in animals. It has been suggested that the...     

The effects of somatic mutations on EGFR interaction with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies: Implication for acquired resistance

A number of mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) have been identified that imparts resistance to anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in clinical and preclinical samples. Primary or acquired resistance to targeted therapy will eventually limit the clinical benefit of anticancer mAbs. The aim of the current study was to perform computational analysis to investigate the structural implications of the EGFR somatic mutations on its complexes with the four anti-EGFR mAbs (Cetuximab, Panitumumab, Necitumumab, and Matuzumab). Docking analysis and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed to understand the plausible structural and dynamical implications caused by somatic mutations available in the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer database on the EGFR and anti-EGFR mAbs. We found that EGFR^S492R and EGFR^V441I in complex with Cetuximab, EGFR^R377S and EGFR^S447Y in complex with Panitumumab, and EGFR^V441I in complex with Necitumumab have a weakest binding affinity in comparison to EGFR^WT in complex with the relevant mAb. Taken together with the results obtained from docking analysis and MD simulations, the present findings may suggest that, the S492R and V441I mutations confer resistance to Cetuximab, R377S and S447Y mutations mediate resistance to Panitumumab and finally, V441I mutation also confers resistance to Necitumumab.     

Combination effects of mesenchymal stem cells transplantation and anodal transcranial direct current stimulation on a cuprizone-induced mouse model of multiple sclerosis

Journal of Molecular Histology - Multiple sclerosis (MS) has no absolute treatment, and researchers are still exploring to introduce promising therapy for MS. Transcranial direct current...     

Thermal coefficients of the methyl groups within ubiquitin

Physiological processes such as protein folding and molecular recognition are intricately linked to their dynamic signature, which is reflected in their thermal coefficient. In addition, the local conformational entropy is directly related to the degrees of freedom, which each residue possesses within its conformational space. Therefore, the temperature dependence of the local conformational entropy may provide insight into understanding how local dynamics may affect the stability of proteins. Here, we analyze the temperature dependence of internal methyl group dynamics derived from the cross-correlated relaxation between dipolar couplings of two CH bonds within ubiquitin. Spanning a temperature range from 275 to 308 K, internal methyl group dynamics tend to increase with increasing temperature, which translates to a general increase in local conformational entropy. With this data measured over multiple temperatures, the thermal coefficient of the methyl group order parameter, the characteristic thermal coefficient, and the local heat capacity were obtained. By analyzing the distribution of methyl group thermal coefficients within ubiquitin, we found that the N-terminal region has relatively high thermostability. These results indicate that methyl groups contribute quite appreciably to the total heat capacity of ubiquitin through the regulation of local conformational entropy.     

CCR5-Delta32 Allele is Associated with the Risk of Developing Multiple Sclerosis in the Iranian Population

The 32-base pair deletion on the C–C chemokine receptor 5 gene (CCR5-delta32) is known as a protective allele against immune system disorders. We have studied this variation in Iranian multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and healthy controls. DNA samples were prepared from the whole blood of 254 patients with MS and 380 healthy controls. We amplified the fragment including the CCR5-delta32 polymorphism and visualized the products in a documentation system after agarose gel electrophoresis. Data were analysed using one-way ANOVA and Fisher’s exact tests with SPSS-v13 and STATA-v8 software. The delta32 allele was more frequent in MS patients when compared with controls (OR = 2.3, P < 0.0001). Also, we found a significant difference in the frequency of the delta32/delta32 genotype among patients and controls (OR = 7.4, P < 0.001). The mean age at onset and progression index was not significantly different between patients with various genotypes. According to our study, the delta32 allele of the CCR5 gene might be a predisposing factor for MS development in the Iranian population. However, there were no associations between this polymorphism and the clinical course of the disease in this study.     

Enrichment of regulatory CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells by inhibition of phospholipase D signaling

Antigen stimulation of lymphocytes induces upregulation of phospholipase D (PLD) activity, but the biological significance of PLD-mediated signaling in T cells has not been well established. Here we demonstrate that PLD signaling is essential for proliferation of mouse CD8(+) T cells and CD4(+)CD25(-) T cells, but is not required for proliferation of CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells. We exploited this observation to develop an efficient method to enrich for regulatory T cells starting from preparations of total CD4(+) T lymphocytes. Inhibition of PLD signaling blocked effector T-cell proliferation after T cell-antigen receptor (TCR) engagement, but had no significant effect on the proliferation of CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells with regulatory functions. Consequently, cells expanded in vitro for one week by antigen receptor stimulation with PLD signal inhibition were markedly enriched for regulatory T cells.