Hypermongone C Accelerates Wound Healing through the Modulation of Inflammatory Factors and Promotion of Fibroblast Migration

The physiology of wound healing is dependent on the crosstalk between inflammatory mediators and cellular components of skin regeneration including fibroblasts and endothelial cells. Therefore, strategies to promote healing must regulate this crosstalk to achieve maximum efficacy. In light of the remarkable potential of natural compounds to target multiple signaling mechanisms, this study aims to demonstrate the potential of hypermongone C, a polycyclic polyprenylated acylphloroglucinol (PPAP), to accelerate wound closure by concurrently enhancing fibroblast proliferation and migration, promoting angiogenesis, and suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokines. This compound belongs to a family of plants (Hypericum) that traditionally have been used to treat injuries. Nevertheless, the exact biological evidence to support the claims is still missing. The results were obtained using a traditional model of cell scratch assay and endothelial cell tube formation, combined with the analysis of protein and gene expression by macrophages. In summary, the data suggest that hypermongone C is a multi-targeting therapeutic natural compound for the promotion of tissue repair and the regulation of inflammation

Wound Healing Potential of Chlorogenic Acid and Myricetin-3-O-β-Rhamnoside Isolated from Parrotia persica

Wound healing is a complex physiological process that is controlled by a well-orchestrated cascade of interdependent biochemical and cellular events, which has spurred the development of therapeutics that simultaneously target these active cellular constituents. We assessed the potential of Parrotia persica (Hamamelidaceae) in wound repair by analyzing the regenerative effects of its two main phenolic compounds, myricetin-3-O-β-rhamnoside and chlorogenic acid. To accomplish this, we performed phytochemical profiling and characterized the chemical structure of pure compounds isolated from P. persica, followed by an analysis of the biological effects of myricetin-3-O-β-rhamnoside and chlorogenic acid on three cell types, including keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells. Myricetin-3-O-β-rhamnoside and chlorogenic acid exhibited complementary pro-healing properties. The percentage of keratinocyte wound closure as measured by a scratch assay was four fold faster in the presence of 10 µg/mL chlorogenic acid, as compared to the negative control. On the other hand, myricetin-3-O-β-rhamnoside at 10 µg/mL was more effective in promoting fibroblast migration, demonstrating a two-fold higher rate of closure compared to the negative control group. Both compounds enhanced the capillary-like tube formation of endothelial cells in an in vitro angiogenesis assay. Our results altogether delineate the potential to synergistically accelerate the fibroblastic and remodelling phases of wound repair by administering appropriate amounts of myricetin-3-O-β-rhamnoside and chlorogenic acid

Bulk and Interfacial Shear Thinning of Immiscible Polymers

Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the shear thinning behavior of immiscible symmetric polymer blends. The phase separated polymers are subjected to a simple shear flow imposed by moving a wall parallel to the fluid-fluid interface. The viscosity begins to shear thin at much lower rates in the bulk than at the interface. The entire shear rate dependence of the interfacial viscosity is consistent with a shorter effective chain length $s^*$ that also describes the width of the interface. This $s^*$ is independent of chain length $N$ and is a function only of the degree of immiscibility of the two polymers. Changes in polymer conformation are studied as a function of position and shear rate.Shear thinning correlates more closely with a decrease in the component of the radius of gyration along the velocity gradient than with elongation along the flow. At the interface, this contraction of chains is independent of $N$ and consistent with the bulk behavior for chains of length $s^*$. The distribution of conformational changes along chains is also studied. Central regions begin to stretch at a shear rate that decreases with increasing $N$, while shear induced changes at the ends of chains are independent of $N$.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

7-epi-Clusianone, a Multi-Targeting Natural Product with Potential Chemotherapeutic, Immune-Modulating, and Anti-Angiogenic Properties

Targeted therapies have changed the treatment of cancer, giving new hope to many patients in recent years. The shortcomings of targeted therapies including acquired resistance, limited susceptible patients, high cost, and high toxicities, have led to the necessity of combining these therapies with other targeted or chemotherapeutic treatments. Natural products are uniquely capable of synergizing with targeted and non-targeted anticancer regimens due to their ability to affect multiple cellular pathways simultaneously. Compounds which provide an additive effect to the often combined immune therapies and cytotoxic chemotherapies, are exceedingly rare. These compounds would however provide a strengthening bridge between the two treatment modalities, increasing their effectiveness and improving patient prognoses. In this study, 7-epi-clusianone was investigated for its anticancer properties. While previous studies have suggested clusianone and its conformational isomers, including 7-epi-clusianone, are chemotherapeutic, few cancer types have been demonstrated to exhibit sensitivity to these compounds and little is known about the mechanism. In this study, 7-epi-clusianone was shown to inhibit the growth of 60 cancer cell types and induce significant cell death in 25 cancer cell lines, while simultaneously modulating the immune system, inhibiting angiogenesis, and inhibiting cancer cell invasion, making it a promising lead compound for cancer drug discovery

Lattice Boltzmann simulations in microfluidics: probing the no-slip boundary condition in hydrophobic, rough, and surface nanobubble laden microchannels

In this contribution we review recent efforts on investigations of the effect of (apparent) boundary slip by utilizing lattice Boltzmann simulations. We demonstrate the applicability of the method to treat fundamental questions in microfluidics by investigating fluid flow in hydrophobic and rough microchannels as well as over surfaces covered by nano- or microscale gas bubbles.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Surface Nano-structured Coating for Improved Performance of Axial Piston Pumps

The work starts from the consideration that most of the power losses in a hydraulic pump is due to frictional losses made by the relative motion between moving parts. This fact is particularly true at low operating velocities, when the hydraulic lift effect must be able to maintain a minimum clearance in meatus to limit the volumetric losses. The potential of structured coatings at nanoscale, with super-hydrophobic and oleophobic characteristics, has never been exploited before in an industrial application. The work studies the potential application of nano-coating on piston slippers surface in a real industrial case. The aim is to develop a new industrial solution to increase the energetic efficiency of hydraulic pump used in earthmoving machines. The proposed solution is investigated using a dedicated test bench, designed to reproduce real working conditions of the pump. The results showa reduction of friction coefficient while changing working pressure and rotation velocity

Resilient Strategies and Sustainability in Agri-Food Supply Chains in the Face of High-Risk Events

[EN] Agri-food supply chains (AFSCs) are very vulnerable to high risks such as pandemics, causing economic and social impacts mainly on the most vulnerable population. Thus, it is a priority to implement resilient strategies that enable AFSCs to resist, respond and adapt to new market challenges. At the same time, implementing resilient strategies impact on the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. The objective of this paper is twofold: analyze resilient strategies on AFSCs in the literature and identify how these resilient strategies applied in the face of high risks affect the achievement of sustainability dimensions. 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Construction of large-volume tissue mimics with 3D functional vascular networks

We used indirect stereolithography (SL) to form inner-layered fluidic networks in a porous scaffold by introducing a hydrogel barrier on the luminal surface, then seeded the networks separately with human umbilical vein endothelial cells and human lung fibroblasts to form a tissue mimic containing vascular networks. The artificial vascular networks provided channels for oxygen transport, thus reducing the hypoxic volume and preventing cell death. The endothelium of the vascular networks significantly retarded the occlusion of channels during whole-blood circulation. The tissue mimics have the potential to be used as an in vitro platform to examine the physiologic and pathologic phenomena through vascular architecture.ope

Compensating control participants when the intervention is of significant value: experience in Guatemala, India, Peru and Rwanda

The Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial is a randomised controlled trial in Guatemala, India, Peru and Rwanda to assess the health impact of a clean cooking intervention in households using solid biomass for cooking. The HAPIN intervention—a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stove and 18-month supply of LPG—has significant value in these communities, irrespective of potential health benefits. For control households, it was necessary to develop a compensation strategy that would be comparable across four settings and would address concerns about differential loss to follow-up, fairness and potential effects on household economics. Each site developed slightly different, contextually appropriate compensation packages by combining a set of uniform principles with local community input. In Guatemala, control compensation consists of coupons equivalent to the LPG stove’s value that can be redeemed for the participant’s choice of household items, which could include an LPG stove. In Peru, control households receive several small items during the trial, plus the intervention stove and 1 month of fuel at the trial’s conclusion. Rwandan participants are given small items during the trial and a choice of a solar kit, LPG stove and four fuel refills, or cash equivalent at the end. India is the only setting in which control participants receive the intervention (LPG stove and 18 months of fuel) at the trial’s end while also being compensated for their time during the trial, in accordance with local ethics committee requirements. The approaches presented here could inform compensation strategy development in future multi-country trials

Dynamic temporary blood facility location-allocation during and post-disaster periods

The key objective of this study is to develop a tool (hybridization or integration of different techniques) for locating the temporary blood banks during and post-disaster conditions that could serve the hospitals with minimum response time. We have used temporary blood centers, which must be located in such a way that it is able to serve the demand of hospitals in nearby region within a shorter duration. We are locating the temporary blood centres for which we are minimizing the maximum distance with hospitals. We have used Tabu search heuristic method to calculate the optimal number of temporary blood centres considering cost components. In addition, we employ Bayesian belief network to prioritize the factors for locating the temporary blood facilities. Workability of our model and methodology is illustrated using a case study including blood centres and hospitals surrounding Jamshedpur city. Our results shows that at-least 6 temporary blood facilities are required to satisfy the demand of blood during and post-disaster periods in Jamshedpur. The results also show that that past disaster conditions, response time and convenience for access are the most important factors for locating the temporary blood facilities during and post-disaster periods