Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells inhibit coronary artery injury in mice with Lactobacillus casei wall extract-induced kawasaki disease

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a serious threat to children’s physical and mental health. This study investigated the effect of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) on KD coronary arteritis induced by Lactobacillus casei wall extract (LCWE) in an animal model. Sixty BALB/C mice were randomly assigned to three groups (n = 20 mice per group). Mice in the model and stem-cell groups were injected with LCWE, while the control-group mice were injected with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) for 2 days. At day 16 of modeling, PBS was injected into the control and model-group mice, and hUC-MSCs were injected into the stem-cell group mice for 10 days. At days 4, 15, 26, and 32 of modeling, echocardiography and histopathology were performed to examine the cardiac structure and the morphological changes in the coronary arteries in each group. B-ultrasonography showed that 57.5% (23/40) of the mice had coronary artery lesions, of which 5% (2/40) had right coronary artery aneurysm, 27.5% (11/40) had coronary artery wall thickening, a widened inner diameter of the main artery of the left coronary artery, and thickened intima. Histopathology showed slight swelling of the epicardium of the aortic valve, mitral valve, right ventricle, and atrium, as well as scattered infiltration of a few neutrophils. Following hUC-MSCs intervention treatment, B-ultrasonography showed a decrease in the main coronary artery diameter, while histopathology showed no obvious vascular inflammatory reaction or other obvious abnormalities. These findings highlight that hUC-MSCs inhibit coronary artery injury in animal models of KD induced by LCWE

What Role Should Government Play in the Personal Carbon Trading Market: Motivator or Punisher?

With increasing downstream carbon emissions, the implementation of a personal carbon trading scheme is urgently required. In order to facilitate the progress, government departments are supposed to adopt a motivating or punitive policy to make guidance for downstream carbon emissions reduction. This study determined and verified the evolutionarily stable strategies (ESSs) of government departments and individuals whose carbon emissions exceeded the initial carbon allowance (CEEICA individuals) by using the evolutionary game and numerical simulation methods, respectively. The findings show that the ESS of government departments is always a punitive policy during the variation of strategies of CEEICA individuals. The ESS of CEEICA individuals is an active plan when the added cost (the difference between emissions reduction cost and trading earning) is less than the carbon tax; otherwise, it is a passive plan. Furthermore, the rate of convergence can be significantly influenced by the probabilistic distances between initial strategies and the ESSs. On the basis of these findings, this study suggested implementing a “punishment first, motivation-supplemented” policy, and developing a stable operational mechanism for a personal carbon trading market

Factors Influencing the Waste Separation Behaviors of Urban Residents in Shaanxi Province during the 14th National Games of China

The behaviors of urban residents in terms of waste separation at source are crucial to achieve the reduction and recycling of waste in urban governance. In this study, the data were collected from 1008 respondents in Shaanxi province, the host of China’s 14th National Games; theoretical and empirical analyses were conducted to determine the factors influencing waste separation behaviors, and specific policy suggestions are proposed. The results show that the waste separation behaviors of urban residents are positively influenced by their cognition of waste pollution, ecological values, sense of social responsibility, perceived knowledge, and perceived utilities of waste separation. Moreover, the residents’ waste separation intentions partially mediate the relationships between their cognition of waste pollution, ecological values, perceived utilities, and waste separation behaviors, which almost totally mediate the relationship between their sense of social responsibility and waste separation behaviors. In addition, it was shown that the cost of waste separation can weaken the effect of waste separation intention on behavior, while waste separation facilities, social norms, and the publicity for China’s 14th National Games have the opposite effect. Finally, policy suggestions are proposed to encourage urban residents to adopt waste separation behaviors, contributing to transforming Shaanxi into a zero-waste province

A Co-Word Analysis of Organizational Constraints for Maintaining Sustainability

A good understanding of organizational constraints is vital to facilitate organizational development as the sustainable development of organizations can be constrained by the organization itself. In this study, bibliometric methods were adopted to investigate the research status and trends of organizational constraints. The findings showed that there were 1138 articles and reviews, and 52 high-frequency keywords related to organizational constraints during the period 1980–2016. The research cores were “constraints”, “learning”, “institution”, and “behavior” in the co-occurrence network, and “constraints” played the most significant role. The 52 high-frequency keywords were classified into six clusters: “change and decision-making”, “supply chain and sustainability”, “human system and performance”, “culture and relations”, “entrepreneur and resource”, and “learning and innovation”. Furthermore, the indicators of organizational development (e.g., innovation, supply chain, decision-making, performance, sustainability, and employee behavior) were found to be significantly related to the organizational constraints. Based on these findings, future trends were proposed to maintain the sustainability of organizations. This study investigated the state of the art in terms of organizational constraints and provided valuable references for maintaining the sustainable development of organizations

Establishment of a mode casei wall extract in mice with effect of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells coronary artery injury and pathological and ultrasound changes

Objective: To investigate the establishment of a model of Kawasaki disease mouse coronary artery injury caused by Lactobacillus Casei Wall Extract (LCWE) and the effect of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) on coronary artery injury and pathological and ultrasound changes. Methods: Sixty BALB/c mice were randomly assigned to 3 groups, each with 20 mice. The control group was given phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) intraperitoneally for 2 consecutive days; the model group and the stem cell group were immunized with the prepared LCWE for 2 consecutive days. From the 16th day of the immunological model, the control group and model group were injected with 300 μL PBS daily; the stem cell group was injected with 300 μL (105/mL) of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells daily for 10 consecutive days.  The mice were killed in batches on the 4th, 15th, 26th, and 32nd day of immunization, and the morphological changes of the coronary arteries of the mice were observed by echocardiography and histopathology.  Results: LCWE can induce coronary artery damage similar to Kawasaki disease in mice. B-ultrasound showed that 57.5% (23/40) mice had coronary artery disease, of which 5% (2/40) had a right coronary artery aneurysm and 27.5% (11/40). Thickening of the coronary artery wall, widening of the inner diameter of the left coronary artery trunk, and thickening of the intima; histopathology showed mild swelling of the epicardium of the aortic valve, mitral valve, right ventricle and atrium, and a few neutral granulocytes were scattered and infiltrated, the coronary artery lumen within it was dilated and a small amount of myocardial cells died and collapsed, and the local fibrous connective tissue was significantly proliferated and accompanied by solid calcium salt deposition. After hUC-MSCs intervention treatment, the ultrasound showed that the inner diameter of the main coronary artery was reduced. Histopathology showed that there was a large amount of lymphocytes, eosinophils, and monocytes in the outer membrane of the left atrial appendage of the mouse. There was no obvious vasculitis and other infiltrations; obviously abnormal.  Conclusion: 1. Lactobacillus Casei Wall Extract (LCWE) can induce coronary arteritis in an animal model of Kawasaki Disease (KD).  2. Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells have a therapeutic effect on coronary artery disease in animal models of Kawasaki disease