Macrophage colony-stimulating factor and its receptor signaling augment glycated albumin-induced retinal microglial inflammation in vitro

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Microglial activation and the proinflammatory response are controlled by a complex regulatory network. Among the various candidates, macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) is considered an important cytokine. The up-regulation of M-CSF and its receptor CSF-1R has been reported in brain disease, as well as in diabetic complications; however, the mechanism is unclear. An elevated level of glycated albumin (GA) is a characteristic of diabetes; thus, it may be involved in monocyte/macrophage-associated diabetic complications.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The basal level of expression of M-CSF/CSF-1R was examined in retinal microglial cells <it>in vitro</it>. Immunofluorescence, real-time PCR, immunoprecipitation, and Western blot analyses revealed the up-regulation of CSF-1R in GA-treated microglial cells. We also detected increased expression and release of M-CSF, suggesting that the cytokine is produced by activated microglia via autocrine signaling. Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we found that GA affects microglial activation by stimulating the release of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β. Furthermore, the neutralization of M-CSF or CSF-1R with antibodies suppressed the proinflammatory response. Conversely, this proinflammatory response was augmented by the administration of M-CSF.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that GA induces microglial activation via the release of proinflammatory cytokines, which may contribute to the inflammatory pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy. The increased microglial expression of M-CSF/CSF-1R not only is a response to microglial activation in diabetic retinopathy but also augments the microglial inflammation responsible for the diabetic microenvironment.</p

SCALE method for single-cell ATAC-seq analysis via latent feature extraction.

Single-cell ATAC-seq (scATAC-seq) profiles the chromatin accessibility landscape at single cell level, thus revealing cell-to-cell variability in gene regulation. However, the high dimensionality and sparsity of scATAC-seq data often complicate the analysis. Here, we introduce a method for analyzing scATAC-seq data, called Single-Cell ATAC-seq analysis via Latent feature Extraction (SCALE). SCALE combines a deep generative framework and a probabilistic Gaussian Mixture Model to learn latent features that accurately characterize scATAC-seq data. We validate SCALE on datasets generated on different platforms with different protocols, and having different overall data qualities. SCALE substantially outperforms the other tools in all aspects of scATAC-seq data analysis, including visualization, clustering, and denoising and imputation. Importantly, SCALE also generates interpretable features that directly link to cell populations, and can potentially reveal batch effects in scATAC-seq experiments

Review on the application of lateral flow chromatographic assay in Escherichia coli O157:H7 detection

As a common foodborne pathogen， Escherichia coli （E. coli） O157：H7 can cause serious diseases in human body at low infectious doses. Lateral flow chromatographic assay （LFCA） can meet the requirement of detecting E. coli O157：H7 in food samples rapidly due to its efficient separation property. At present， the widely-used LFCA methods generate weak signal strength and possess low detection sensitivity， which can hardly detect low concentration of E. coli O157：H7. Therefore， this review focuses on the newly published LFCA literature， and a systematic induction is performed concerning the detection efficiency and sensitivity of the above studies. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are compared in this review， which will provide important conclusive guidance for the development of LFCA in E. coli O157：H7 detection

Yangian description for decays and possible explanation of XX in the decay KL0→π0π0XK^0_L\to \pi^0 \pi^0 X

In this letter, hadronic decay channels of light pseudoscalar mesons are realized in Yangian algebra. In the framework of Yangian, we find that these decay channels can be formulated by acting transition operators, composed of the generators of Yangian, on the corresponding pseudoscalar mesons. This new description of decays allows us to present a possible interpretation of the new unknown particle $X$ in the decay $K^0_L\to \pi^0 \pi^0 X$: it is an entangled state of $\pi^0$ and $\eta$

Effect of Baicalin on inflammatory mediator levels and microcirculation disturbance in rats with severe acute pancreatitis

Objective: To investigate the effect of Bacailin on inflammatory mediator levels and microcirculation disturbance in severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) rats and explore its therapeutic mechanism on this disease. Methods: SAP model rats were randomly divided into model control group and Baicalin treated group, 45 rats in each group. The same number of normal rats were included in sham-operated group. These groups were further subdivided into 3 h, 6 h and 12 h subgroups, respectively (15 rats in each subgroup). At 3, 6 and 12 hours after operation, rats were killed to conduct the following experiments: (1) to examine the mortality rates of rats, the ascites volume and pancreatic pathological changes in each group; (2) to determine the contents of amylase, PLA~2~, TXB~2~, PGE~2~, PAF and IL-1[beta]; in blood as well as the changes in blood viscosity.Results: (1) Compared to model control group, treatment with Baicalin is able to improve the pathological damage of the pancreas, lower the contents of amylase and multiple inflammatory mediators in blood, decrease the amount of ascitic fluid and reduce the mortality rates of SAP rats; (2) at 3 hours after operation, the low-shear whole blood viscosity in Baicalin treated group was significantly lower than that in model control group;at 12 hours after operation, both the high-shear and low-shear whole blood viscosity in Baicalin treated group were also significantly lower than those in model control group.Conclusion: Baicalin, as a new drug, has good prospects in the treatment of SAP since it can exert therapeutic effects on this disease through inhibiting the production of inflammatory mediators, lowering blood viscosity, improving microcirculation and mitigating the pathological damage of the pancreas

Increased Serum S100B Levels in Patients With Epilepsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Study

Importance: Accumulating evidence suggests that serum levels of S100B may play a role in epilepsy.Objective: We performed a meta-analysis to quantitatively summarize the serum S100B data available for patients with epilepsy.Data source: Two independent researchers conducted a systematic investigation of the Harvard Hollis+, Open Gray, Clinicaltrials, Wanfangdata, and CNKI databases through Dec 6, 2018, for all studies published in English and Chinese. The search terms included S100B and calcium-binding protein B in combination with epilepsy.Study selection: Original studies and reported data from these search terms are included. Studies where data overlapped with other studies were excluded.Data extraction and synthesis: investigators extracted, pooled and analyzed data from the included studies using a fixed-effects model in the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis3.3 and R software.Main outcomes and measures: Peripheral blood levels of S100B in patients with epilepsy compared with controls. Aberrations in peripheral blood levels of S100B were hypothesized to be related to epilepsy.Results: a fixed-effects meta-analysis of all 18 studies, including 1,057 unique participants, indicated that patients with epilepsy had significantly increased peripheral blood levels of S100B compared to controls (Hedges g = 1.568, 95% CI =1.431–1.706, P &lt; 0.001). Sensitivity analysis showed that no single study significantly influenced the overall association of peripheral blood levels of S100B and epilepsy. Most of the subgroup analyses, including those of country, assay type and publication language, demonstrated a statistically significant association between peripheral blood levels of S100B and epilepsy. Meta-regression analyses indicated that gender (regression coefficient [SE], −0.2524 [0.0641]; 95%CI, −0.3781 to −0.1267; P = 0.0001) and mean age (regression coefficient [SE], −0.1224 [0.0426]; 95% CI, −0.2058 to −0.0390; P = 0.0040) might present serum S100B reductions, but sample size, years, assay type, publication language and country did not show moderating effects on the effect sizes. Furthermore, the trim-and-fill method used to adjust for funnel plot asymmetry in our meta-analysis confirmed that a positive outcome is unlikely to be due to publication bias.Conclusion and relevance: the results of this meta-analysis provide evidence for a significant increase in serum S100B levels in patients with epilepsy. Serum S100B is the most worthwhile biomarker of epilepsy, which is helpful for the clinical diagnosis and prognosis of epilepsy

Corticosteroids for the prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm infants: a network meta-analysis

Objective: To determine the comparative efficacy and safety of corticosteroids in the prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in preterm infants.  Study design: We systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library. Two reviewers independently selected randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of postnatal corticosteroids in preterm infants. A Bayesian network meta-analysis and subgroup analyses were performed.  Results: We included 47 RCTs with 6747 participants. The use of dexamethasone at either high dose or low dose decreased the risk of BPD (OR 0.29, 95% credible interval (CrI) 0.14 to 0.52; OR 0.58, 95% CrI 0.39 to 0.76, respectively). High-dose dexamethasone was more effective than hydrocortisone, beclomethasone and low-dose dexamethasone. Early and long-term dexamethasone at either high dose or low dose decreased the risk of BPD (OR 0.11, 95% CrI 0.02 to 0.4; OR 0.37, 95% CrI 0.16 to 0.67, respectively). There were no statistically significant differences in the risk of cerebral palsy (CP) between different corticosteroids. However, high-dose and long-term dexamethasone ranked lower than placebo and other regimens in terms of CP. Subgroup analyses indicated budesonide was associated with a decreased risk of BPD in extremely preterm and extremely low birthweight infants (OR 0.60, 95% CrI 0.36 to 0.93).  Conclusions: Dexamethasone can reduce the risk of BPD in preterm infants. Of the different dexamethasone regimens, aggressive initiation seems beneficial, while a combination of high-dose and long-term use should be avoided because of the possible adverse neurodevelopmental outcome. Dexamethasone and inhaled corticosteroids need to be further evaluated in large-scale RCTs with long-term follow-ups

Design and synthesis of TiO2/C nanosheets with a directional cascade carrier transfer

Directed transfer of carriers, akin to excited charges in photosynthesis, in semiconductors by structural design is challenging. Here, TiO2 nanosheets with interlayered sp2 carbon and titanium vacancies are obtained by low-temperature controlled oxidation calcination. The directed transfer of carriers from the excited position to Ti-vacancies to interlayered carbon is investigated and proven to greatly increase the charge transport efficiency. The TiO2/C obtained demonstrates excellent photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical activity and significant lithium/sodium ion storage performance. Further theoretical calculations reveal that the directional excited position/Ti-vacancies/interlayered carbon facilitate the spatial inside-out cascade electron transfer, resulting in high charge transfer kinetics. © 2022 The Royal Society of Chemistry

Multi-radial cyclone suction dust removal technology at coal mine belt transfer points

The dust hazard and management at the belt transfer point is one of the most important issues in achieving efficient, safe and clean production in coal mines. To address the problem of dust pollution at the transfer point and to reduce the dust hazard at the transfer point, a multi-radial cyclone suction dust removal technology is proposed for the belt transfer point based on the cyclone suction theory. The technology is based on a certain number of inlets and jet angles on the side wall of the vertical drop pipe, with the suction outlet set above the drop pipe. The principle of operation is that the incoming air-flow from the side wall of the drop pipe changes direction when it meets the side wall and the inlet jets interact with each other to form an upward flowing cyclone in the drop pipe. A simulated 3D solid model and a test platform for multi-radial cyclone suction dust removal at the belt transfer point are built. A combination of numerical simulations and experimental tests is used to study the distribution of air-flow and dust transport in the transfer point. In the numerical simulation and experimental tests, eight air inlets are provided on each of the four-side walls of the drop pipe at an angle of 10° to the horizontal, and four-air inlets are provided on the guide chute, with the air inlets oriented tangential to the circle of the particle release position on the lower belt. According to the cyclonic suction theory, the greater the inlet air velocity on the drop pipe, the greater the pressure difference between the boundary of the drop pipe and the center, and the better the effect on dust collection. The simulation results show that the best inlet air speed for the multi-radial cyclone suction technology is 8 m/s, where the dust of less than 50 μm and the dust of less than 30 μm from the impact of the coal with the lower belt can be collected during the drop. Comparing the dispersion of the coal before and after falling in the test, it is concluded that the proportion of particles smaller than 50 μm in the coal on the lower belt is reduced by 47.96%, and the proportion of particles smaller than 5 μm is reduced by 44.62% after the application of the dust removal technology. It reduces the proportion of harmful particles in the coal. By measuring the dust concentration at the ends of the guide chute and at the inlet, the test determines that the best inlet air speed for the multi-radial cyclone suction dust removal technology is 8 m/s. At this time, the dust concentrations at the left and right ends of the guide chute and at the inlet are the lowest, and the dust removal efficiency is 97.71% and 99.92% respectively, and the overall dust removal efficiency at the transfer point can reach more than 95%. The study proves that the multi-radial cyclone suction dust removal technology at the transfer point can solve the problem of dust pollution , improve the working environment