Triiodothyronine participates in odontoblast differentiation of apical papilla stem cells through regulation of ERK and p38MAPK signaling pathways

Purpose: To investigate the effect of triiodothyronine (T3) in odontoblast differentiation of apical papilla stem cells, and the mechanism of action involved. Methods: Apical unclosed permanent molars extracted from patients due to orthodontics and impaction were selected. The extracted teeth were cultured in the isolation stage of SCAP cells. The cells were exposed to different concentrations of T3. The effects of ERK and p38 MAPK signaling pathways on activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were determined. Calcium deposition was measured using a calcium determination kit, while the expression of BMP - 2 protein by T3 was determined by Western blot assay. Fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (FqPCR) method was used to determine the mRNA expression of BMP. Results: The ALP activities were significantly higher in T3 groups than in control group. Relative to control, there were marked differences in ALP activity and calcium deposition in T3 group, T3 + PD group and T3 + SB group (p < 0.05). Relative to control, the mRNA and protein expressions of BMP-2 in T3 group were increased significantly (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Triiodothyronine regulates the differentiation of apical papilla stem cells into dentin through ERK and p38MAPK signaling pathways. This provides the mechanism underlying odontoblast differentiation of apical papilla stem cells

Soft Sediment Deformation Structures Triggered by the Earthquakes: Response to the High Frequent Tectonic Events during the Main Tectonic Movements

Typical cases of the soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDSs), triggered by the modern earthquakes to the oldest of paleo-earthquakes in the Mesoproterozoic, have been observed in China. These deformation structures have various geometry morphology, different interior structural architectures and sediment compositions, in centimetre to metre-scales. They are intercalated with the undeformed layers, which are composed of similar sediments of lithology and sedimentary environments. SSDSs are formed during sediments deposited but incompletely consolidated. And they exist in different periods and are closely related to the active or paleo-active faults. They occur nearby the faults and usually have the characteristics nearer to the faults and more. And they distribute parallel to the trending of the active faults and have the characters of the vertical duplication. They have responded to the high-frequency activity of different faults in tectonic movement and are the perfect records of the paleo-active faults

Usability Test of Personality Type within a Roommate Matching Website: A Case Study

We designed and built a roommate matching website, exclusively for students, which allow students to have a central point in which they can meet credible roommate candidates, search for verified housing, and easily reach out to these individuals to further their relationship, and eventually share living space. Our website aims to allow a user to search for compatible roommates not just by living habits, but by tying in the personality of candidates in reference to their own personality type. This type of personality matching in conjunction with a standard behavioral survey is the basis of the algorithm used for roommate matching. In addition to designing and building this website, we also conducted a research around two questions. First, does the idea of personality type in conjunction with living habits have the capacity to form a stronger foundation on which roommates can be selected? Second, is there a means in which we can collect this information from a user and apply it, while avoiding the typical result of survey fatigue that is inherent in existing personality quizzes? We found that majority of our respondents felt that knowing the personality compatibility would influence their decision of sharing a living space with someone. Our respondents also preferred a more visual and interactive quiz to determine personality type in comparison to questionnaires

A Systematic Study of Dysregulated MicroRNA in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that modulate the cellular transcriptome at the post-transcriptional level. miRNA plays important roles in different disease manifestation, including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Many studies have characterized the changes of miRNAs in T2DM, a complex systematic disease; however, few studies have integrated these findings and explored the functional effects of the dysregulated miRNAs identified. To investigate the involvement of miRNAs in T2DM, we obtained and analyzed all relevant studies published prior to 18 October 2016 from various literature databases. From 59 independent studies that met the inclusion criteria, we identified 158 dysregulated miRNAs in seven different major sample types. To understand the functional impact of these deregulated miRNAs, we performed targets prediction and pathway enrichment analysis. Results from our analysis suggested that the altered miRNAs are involved in the core processes associated with T2DM, such as carbohydrate and lipid metabolisms, insulin signaling pathway and the adipocytokine signaling pathway. This systematic survey of dysregulated miRNAs provides molecular insights on the effect of deregulated miRNAs in different tissues during the development of diabetes. Some of these miRNAs and their mRNA targets may have diagnostic and/or therapeutic utilities in T2DM

Laser-Induced Damage Initiation and Growth of Optical Materials

The lifetime of optical components is determined by the combination of laser-induced damage initiation probability and damage propagation rate during subsequent laser shots. This paper reviews both theoretical and experimental investigations on laser-induced damage initiation and growth at the surface of optics. The damage mechanism is generally considered as thermal absorption and electron avalanche, which play dominant roles for the different laser pulse durations. The typical damage morphology in the surface of components observed in experiments is also closely related to the damage mechanism. The damage crater in thermal absorption process, which can be estimated by thermal diffusion model, is typical distortion, melting, and ablation debris often with an elevated rim caused by melted material flow and resolidification. However, damage initiated by electron avalanche is often accompanied by generation of plasma, crush, and fracture, which can be explained by thermal explosion model. Damage growth at rear surface of components is extremely severe which can be explained by several models, such as fireball growth, impact crater, brittle fracture, and electric field enhancement. All the physical effects are not independent but mutually coupling. Developing theoretical models of multiphysics coupling are an important trend for future theoretical research. Meanwhile, more attention should be paid to integrated analysis both in theory and experiment

Circular RNAs in extracellular vesicles: Promising candidate biomarkers for schizophrenia

As one of common and severe mental illnesses, schizophrenia is difficult to be diagnosed exactly. Both its pathogenesis and the causes of its development are still uncertain because of its etiology complexity. At present, the diagnosis of schizophrenia is mainly based on the patient’s symptoms and signs, lacking reliable biomarkers that can be used for diagnosis. Circular RNAs in extracellular vesicles (EV circRNAs) can be used as promising candidate biomarkers for schizophrenia and other diseases, for they are not only high stability and disease specificity, but also are rich in contents and easy to be detected. The review is to focus on the research progress of the correlation between circRNAs and schizophrenia, and then to explores the possibility of EV circRNAs as new biomarkers for the schizophrenia diagnosis

Impact of alirocumab/evolocumab on lipoprotein (a) concentrations in patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Introduction: Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a common hereditary genetic disorder, characterized by elevated circulating low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] concentrations, leading to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Two types of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors — alirocumab and evolocumab — are efficient drugs in the treatment of FH, which can effectively reduce Lp(a) levels. Material and methods: Embase, MEDLINE, and PubMed up to November 2022 were searched for randomized clinical trials (RCTs) evaluating the effect of alirocumab/evolocumab and placebo treatment on plasma Lp(a) levels in FH. Statistics were analysed by Review Manager (RevMan 5.3) and Stata 15.1. Results: Eleven RCTs involved a total of 2408 participants. Alirocumab/evolocumab showed a significant efficacy in reducing Lp(a) [weighted mean difference (WMD): –20.10%, 95% confidence interval (CI): –25.59% to –14.61%] compared with placebo. In the drug type subgroup analyses, although the efficacy of evolocumab was slightly low (WMD: –19.98%, 95% CI: –25.23% to –14.73%), there was no difference with alirocumab (WMD: –20.54%, 95% CI: –30.07% to –11.02%). In the treatment duration subgroup analyses, the efficacy of the 12-week duration group (WMD: –17.61%, 95% CI: –23.84% to –11.38%) was lower than in the group of ≥ 24 weeks’ duration (WMD: –22.81%, 95% CI: –31.56% to –14.07%). In the participants’ characteristics subgroup analyses, the results showed that no differential effect of alirocumab/evolocumab therapy on plasma Lp(a) concentrations was observed (heterozygous FH [HeFH] WMD: –20.07%, 95% CI: –26.07% to –14.08%; homozygous FH [HoFH] WMD: –20.04%, 95% CI: –36.31% to –3.77%). Evaluation of all-cause adverse events (AEs) between alirocumab/evolocumab groups and placebo groups [relative risk (RR): 1.05, 95% CI: 0.98–1.12] implied no obvious difference between the 2 groups. Conclusions: Anti-PCSK9 drugs (alirocumab and evolocumab) may be effective as therapy for reducing serum Lp(a) levels in FH, and no differences were observed in treatment durations, participant characteristics, and other aspects of the 2 types of PCSk9 inhibitors. However, further experimental studies and RCTs are warranted to clarify the mechanism of PSCK9 inhibitors to lowering Lp(a) concentrations in FH

Optimised phase disposition pulse-width modulation strategy for hybrid-clamped multilevel inverters using switching state sequences

This study describes an optimised modulation strategy based on switching state sequences for the hybrid-clamped multilevel converter. Two key control variables defined as 'phase shift angle' and 'switching state change' for a five-level hybrid-clamped inverter are proposed to improve all switches' operation, and by changing their values, different control methods can be obtained for modulation optimisation purposes. Two example methods can solve the voltage imbalance problem of the dc-link capacitors and furthermore avoid two switches' simultaneous switching transitions and improve the inverter's performance as compared with the traditional phase disposition pulse-width modulation strategy. A 6 kW prototype inverter is developed and a range of simulation and experiments are carried out for validation. It is found that simulation and experimental results are in a good agreement and the proposed modulation strategy is verified in terms of low-order harmonic reduction

Paleoproteomic evidence reveals dairying supported prehistoric occupation of the highland Tibetan Plateau

The extreme environments of the Tibetan Plateau offer considerable challenges to human survival, demanding novel adaptations. While the role of biological and agricultural adaptations in enabling early human colonization of the plateau has been widely discussed, the contribution of pastoralism is less well understood, especially the dairy pastoralism that has historically been central to Tibetan diets. Here, we analyze ancient proteins from the dental calculus (n = 40) of all human individuals with sufficient calculus preservation from the interior plateau. Our paleoproteomic results demonstrate that dairy pastoralism began on the highland plateau by ~3500 years ago. Patterns of milk protein recovery point to the importance of dairy for individuals who lived in agriculturally poor regions above 3700 m above sea level. Our study suggests that dairy was a critical cultural adaptation that supported expansion of early pastoralists into the region’s vast, non-arable highlands, opening the Tibetan Plateau up to widespread, permanent human occupation

The energy spectrum of all-particle cosmic rays around the knee region observed with the Tibet-III air-shower array

We have already reported the first result on the all-particle spectrum around the knee region based on data from 2000 November to 2001 October observed by the Tibet-III air-shower array. In this paper, we present an updated result using data set collected in the period from 2000 November through 2004 October in a wide range over 3 decades between $10^{14}$ eV and $10^{17}$ eV, in which the position of the knee is clearly seen at around 4 PeV. The spectral index is -2.68 $\pm$ 0.02(stat.) below 1PeV, while it is -3.12 $\pm$ 0.01(stat.) above 4 PeV in the case of QGSJET+HD model, and various systematic errors are under study now.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, accepted by Advances in space researc