Electrospun Scaffold of Collagen and Polycaprolactone Containing ZnO Quantum Dots for Skin Wound Regeneration

Nanofibers(NFs)have been widely used in tissue engineering such as wound healing.In this work,the antibacterial ZnO quantum dots(ZnO QDs)have been incorporated into the biocompatible poly(ε-caprolactone)/collagen(PCL/Col)fibrous scaffolds for wound healing.The as-fabricated PCL-Col/ZnO fibrous scaffolds exhibited good swelling,antibacterial activity,and biodegradation behaviors,which were beneficial for the applications as a wound dressing.Moreover,the PCL-Col/ZnO fibrous scaffolds showed excellent cytocompatibility for promoting cell proliferation.The resultant PCL-Col/ZnO fibrous scaffolds containing vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)also exhibited promoted wound-healing effect through promoting expression of transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β)and the vascular factor(CD31)in tissues in the early stages of wound healing.This new electrospun fibrous scaffolds with wound-healing promotion and antibacterial property should be convenient for treating wound healing.     

Traveling wave solutions in a two-group SIR epidemic model with constant recruitment

Journal of Mathematical Biology - Host heterogeneity can be modeled by using multi-group structures in the population. In this paper we investigate the existence and nonexistence of traveling waves...     

Natural variation in the promoter of OsHMA3 contributes to differential grain cadmium accumulation between Indica and Japonica rice

Rice is a major source of cadmium(Cd) intake for Asian people. Indica rice usually accumulates more Cd in shoots and grains than Japonica rice. However, underlying genetic bases for differential Cd accumulation between Indica and Japonica rice are still unknown. In this study, we cloned a quantitative trait locus(QTL) grain Cd concentration on chromosome 7(GCC7) responsible for differential grain Cd accumulation between two rice varieties by performing QTL analysis and map-based cloning. We found that the two GCC7 alleles, GCC7~(PA64s) and GCC7~(93-11), had different promoter activity of OsHMA3,leading to different OsHMA3 expression and different shoot and grain Cd concentrations. By analyzing the distribution of different haplotypes of GCC7 among diverse rice accessions, we discovered that the high and low Cd accumulation alleles, namely GCC7~(93-11) and GCC7~(PA64s), were preferentially distributed in Indica and Japonica rice,respectively. We further showed that the GCC7~(PA64s)allele can be used to replace the GCC7~(93-11) allele in the super cultivar 93-11 to reduce grain Cd concentration without adverse effect on agronomic traits. Our results thus reveal that the QTL GCC7 with sequence variation in the OsHMA3 promoter is an important determinant controlling differential grain Cd accumulation between Indica and Japonica rice.     

Inhibition of the Notch1 pathway induces peripartum cardiomyopathy

Increased expression and activity of cardiac and circulating cathepsin D and soluble fms‐like tyrosine kinase‐1 (sFlt‐1) have been demonstrated to induce and promote peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) via promoting cleavage of 23‐kD prolactin (PRL) to 16‐kD PRL and neutralizing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), respectively. We hypothesized that activation of Hes1 is proposed to suppress cathepsin D via activating Stat3, leading to alleviated development of PPCM. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of Notch1/Hes1 pathway in PPCM. Pregnant mice between prenatal 3 days and postpartum 3 weeks were fed with LY‐411575 (a notch inhibitor, 10 mg/kg/d). Ventricular function and pathology were evaluated by echocardiography and histological analysis. Western blotting analysis was used to examine the expression at the protein level. The results found that inhibition of Notch1 significantly promoted postpartum ventricular dilatation, myocardial hypertrophy and myocardial interstitial fibrosis and suppressed myocardial angiogenesis. Western blotting analysis showed that inhibition of Notch1 markedly increased cathepsin D and sFlt‐1, reduced Hes1, phosphorylated Stat3 (p‐Stat3), VEGFA and PDGFB, and promoted cleavage of 23k‐D PRL to 16‐kD PRL. Collectively, inhibition of Notch1/Hes1 pathway induced and promoted PPCM via increasing the expressions of cathepsin D and sFlt‐1. Notch1/Hes1 was a promising target for prevention and therapeutic regimen of PPCM.     

Activity Characteristics and Tyrosinase Inhibition Mechanism of a Silk Fibroin Oligopeptide and Cordyceps Polysaccharide Composite

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Silk fibroin is an excellent raw material for medical products as it shows remarkable biocompatibility, water-based processing, and...     

Novel mutations in ADAMTS13 CUB domains cause abnormal pre-mRNA splicing and defective secretion of ADAMTS13

Hereditary thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is an autosomal recessive thrombosis disorder, caused by loss-of-function mutations in ADAMTS13. Mutations in the CUB domains of ADAMTS13 are rare, and the exact mechanisms through which these mutations result in the development of TTP have not yet been fully elucidated. In this study, we identified two novel mutations in the CUB domains in a TTP family with an acceptor splice-site mutation (c.3569−1, G>A, intron 25) and a point missense mutation (c.3923, G>A, exon 28), resulting in a glycine to aspartic acid substitution (p.G1308D). In vitro splicing analysis revealed that the intronic mutation resulted in abnormal pre-mRNA splicing, and an in vitro expression assay revealed that the missense mutation significantly impaired ADAMTS13 secretion. Although both the patient and her brother displayed significantly reduced ADAMTS13 activity and increased levels of ultra-large VWF (ULVWF) multimers in plasma, only the female developed acute episodes of TTP. Our findings indicate the importance of the CUB domains for the protein stability and extracellular secretion of ADAMTS13.     

MiR‐155 promotes interleukin‐1β‐induced chondrocyte apoptosis and catabolic activity by targeting PIK3R1‐mediated PI3K/Akt pathway

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common joint disease characterized by progressive cartilage degradation, in which elevated chondrocyte apoptosis and catabolic activity play an important role. MicroRNA‐155 (miR‐155) has recently been shown to regulate apoptosis and catabolic activity in some pathological circumstances, yet, whether and how miR‐155 is associated with OA pathology remain unexplored. We report here that miR‐155 level is significantly up‐regulated in human OA cartilage biopsies and also in primary chondrocytes stimulated by interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β), a pivotal pro‐catabolic factor promoting cartilage degradation. Moreover, miR‐155 inhibition attenuates and its overexpression promotes IL‐1β‐induced apoptosis and catabolic activity in chondrocytes in vitro. We also demonstrate that the PIK3R1 (p85α regulatory subunit of phosphoinositide 3‐kinase (PI3K)) is a target of miR‐155 in chondrocytes, and more importantly, PIK3R1 restoration abrogates miR‐155 effects on chondrocyte apoptosis and catabolic activity. Mechanistically, PIK3R1 positively regulates the transduction of PI3K/Akt pathway, and a specific Akt inhibitor reverses miR‐155 effects on promoting chondrocyte apoptosis and catabolic activity, phenocopying the results obtained via PIK3R1 knockdown, hence establishing that miR‐155 promotes chondrocyte apoptosis and catabolic activity through targeting PIK3R1‐mediated PI3K/Akt pathway activation. Altogether, our study discovers novel roles and mechanisms of miR‐155 in regulating chondrocyte apoptosis and catabolic activity, providing an implication for therapeutically intervening cartilage degradation and OA progression.     

Membrane‐Free Zn/MnO2 Flow Battery for Large‐Scale Energy Storage

The traditional Zn/MnO₂ battery has attracted great interest due to its low cost, high safety, high output voltage, and environmental friendliness. However, it remains a big challenge to achieve long‐term stability, mainly owing to the poor reversibility of the cathode reaction. Different from previous studies where the cathode redox reaction of MnO₂/MnOOH is in solid state with limited reversibility, here a new aqueous rechargeable Zn/MnO₂ flow battery is constructed with dissolution–precipitation reactions in both cathodes (Mn²⁺/MnO₂) and anodes (Zn²⁺/Zn), which allow mixing of anolyte and catholyte into only one electrolyte and remove the requirement for an ion selective membrane for cost reduction. Impressively, this new battery exhibits a high discharge voltage of ≈1.78 V, good rate capability (10C discharge), and excellent cycling stability (1000 cycles without decay) at the areal capacity ranging from 0.5 to 2 mAh cm^‐2. More importantly, this battery can be readily enlarged to a bench scale flow cell of 1.2 Ah with good capacity retention of 89.7% at the 500th cycle, displaying great potential for large‐scale energy storage.     

Serologic Response to SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 Patients with Different Severity

Virologica Sinica - The immense patient number caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic brings the urge for more knowledge about its immunological features, including the...