Meta-analysis of preclinical studies of mesenchymal stromal cells to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

BackgroundThis study aims to evaluate the quality of preclinical data, determine the effect sizes, and identify experimental measures that inform efficacy using mesenchymal stromal (or stem) cells (MSC) therapy in animal models of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).MethodsLiterature searches were performed on MSC preclinical studies to treat RA. MSC treatment effect sizes were determined by the most commonly used outcome measures, including paw thickness, clinical score, and histological score.FindingsA total of 48 studies and 94 treatment arms were included, among which 42 studies and 79 treatment arms reported that MSC improved outcomes. The effect sizes of RA treatments using MSC, when compared to the controls, were: paw thickness was ameliorated by 53.6% (95% confidence interval (CI): 26.7% -80.4%), histological score was decreased by 44.9% (95% CI: 33.3% -56.6%), and clinical score was decreased by 29.9% (95% CI: 16.7% -43.0%). Specifically, our results indicated that human umbilical cord derived MSC led to large improvements of the clinical score (-42.1%) and histological score (-51.4%).InterpretationTo the best of our knowledge, this meta-analysis is to quantitatively answer whether MSC represent a robust RA treatment in animal models. It suggests that in preclinical studies, MSC have consistently exhibited therapeutic benefits. The findings demonstrate a need for considering variations in different animal models and treatment protocols in future studies using MSC to treat RA in humans to maximise the therapeutic gains in the era of precision medicine.FundsNIH [1DP2CA195763], Baylx Inc.: BI-206512, NINDS/NIH Training Grant [Award# NS082174]

Interpersonal Information Platform Reinforces The Significant Nature of Structure Cost in Latent Terrorist Activities—A Trial of The Biggest IM & Web Portal From China

This paper empirically examines a state to emerge objectively a “structure” characteristic in communicating with each latent terrorist on an Interpersonal Information Platform (IIP), and examines what factors lead to the “structure” characteristic intensified, drawing on two tests that guides the phenomenon of “structure” characteristic in disseminating and sharing of terrorism information through IIP of QQ group and NETEASE web portal from China. The interesting research results are informed of the administering authority could optimize the structure cost and value of posting to adjust the structure characteristic and behavior of posting in order to keep within limits in latent terrorist activities

FastLLVE: Real-Time Low-Light Video Enhancement with Intensity-Aware Lookup Table

Low-Light Video Enhancement (LLVE) has received considerable attention in recent years. One of the critical requirements of LLVE is inter-frame brightness consistency, which is essential for maintaining the temporal coherence of the enhanced video. However, most existing single-image-based methods fail to address this issue, resulting in flickering effect that degrades the overall quality after enhancement. Moreover, 3D Convolution Neural Network (CNN)-based methods, which are designed for video to maintain inter-frame consistency, are computationally expensive, making them impractical for real-time applications. To address these issues, we propose an efficient pipeline named FastLLVE that leverages the Look-Up-Table (LUT) technique to maintain inter-frame brightness consistency effectively. Specifically, we design a learnable Intensity-Aware LUT (IA-LUT) module for adaptive enhancement, which addresses the low-dynamic problem in low-light scenarios. This enables FastLLVE to perform low-latency and low-complexity enhancement operations while maintaining high-quality results. Experimental results on benchmark datasets demonstrate that our method achieves the State-Of-The-Art (SOTA) performance in terms of both image quality and inter-frame brightness consistency. More importantly, our FastLLVE can process 1,080p videos at $\mathit{50+}$ Frames Per Second (FPS), which is $\mathit{2 \times}$ faster than SOTA CNN-based methods in inference time, making it a promising solution for real-time applications. The code is available at https://github.com/Wenhao-Li-777/FastLLVE.Comment: 11pages, 9 Figures, and 6 Tables. Accepted by ACMMM 202

The Fungus Aspergillus aculeatus Enhances Salt-Stress Tolerance, Metabolite Accumulation, and Improves Forage Quality in Perennial Ryegrass

Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) is an important forage grass with high yield and superior quality in temperate regions which is widely used in parks, sport field, and other places. However, perennial ryegrass is moderately tolerant to salinity stress compared to other commercial cultivars and salt stress reduces their growth and productivity. Aspergillus aculeatus has been documented to participate in alleviating damage induced by salinity. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the mechanisms underlying A. aculeatus-mediated salt tolerance, and forage quality of perennial ryegrass exposed to 0, 200, and 400 mM NaCl concentrations. Physiological markers and forage quality of perennial ryegrass to salt stress were evaluated based on the growth rate, photosynthesis, antioxidant enzymes activity, lipid peroxidation, ionic homeostasis, the nutritional value of forage, and metabolites. Plants inoculated with A. aculeatus exhibited higher relative growth rate (RGR), turf and forage quality under salt stress than un-inoculated plants. Moreover, in inoculated plants, the fungus remarkably improved plant photosynthetic efficiency, reduced the antioxidant enzymes activity (POD and CAT), and attenuated lipid peroxidation (decreased H2O2 and MDA accumulation) induced by salinity, compared to un-inoculated plants. Furthermore, the fungus also acts as an important role in maintaining the lower Na/K ratio and metabolites and lower the amino acids (Alanine, Proline, GABA, and Asparagine), and soluble sugars (Glucose and Fructose) for inoculated plants than un-inoculated ones. Our results suggest that A. aculeatus may be involved in modulating perennial ryegrass tolerance to salinity in various ways

Tunable vortex Majorana zero modes in LiFeAs superconductor

The recent realization of pristine Majorana zero modes (MZMs) in vortices of iron-based superconductors (FeSCs) provides a promising platform for long-sought-after fault-tolerant quantum computation. A large topological gap between the MZMs and the lowest excitations enabled detailed characterization of vortex MZMs in those materials. Despite those achievements, a practical implementation of topological quantum computation based on MZM braiding remains elusive in this new Majorana platform. Among the most pressing issues are the lack of controllable tuning methods for vortex MZMs and inhomogeneity of the FeSC Majorana compounds that destroys MZMs during the braiding process. Thus, the realization of tunable vortex MZMs in a truly homogeneous compound of stoichiometric composition and with a charge neutral cleavage surface is highly desirable. Here we demonstrate experimentally that the stoichiometric superconductor LiFeAs is a good candidate to overcome these two obstacles. Using scanning tunneling microscopy, we discover that the MZMs, which are absent on the natural surface, can appear in vortices influenced by native impurities. Our detailed analysis and model calculations clarify the mechanism of emergence of MZMs in this material, paving a way towards MZMs tunable by controllable methods such as electrostatic gating. The tunability of MZMs in this homogeneous material offers an unprecedented platform to manipulate and braid MZMs, the essential ingredients for topological quantum computation.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures. Suggestions and comments are welcom

Two distinct superconducting states controlled by orientation of local wrinkles in LiFeAs

We observe two types of superconducting states controlled by orientations of local wrinkles on the surface of LiFeAs. Using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy, we find type-I wrinkles enlarge the superconducting gaps and enhance the transition temperature, whereas type-II wrinkles significantly suppress the superconducting gaps. The vortices on wrinkles show a C2 symmetry, indicating the strain effects on the wrinkles. A discontinuous switch of superconductivity occurs at the border between two different wrinkles. Our results demonstrate that the local strain effect could affect superconducting order parameter of LiFeAs with a possible Lifshitz transition, by alternating crystal structure in different directions.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figure

Protective Roles of Gadd45 and MDM2 in Blueberry Anthocyanins Mediated DNA Repair of Fragmented and Non-Fragmented DNA Damage in UV-Irradiated HepG2 Cells

Peer reviewe

Protective Roles of Gadd45 and MDM2 in Blueberry Anthocyanins Mediated DNA Repair of Fragmented and Non-Fragmented DNA Damage in UV-Irradiated HepG2 Cells

Peer reviewe