Effect of Bacteria on the Wound Healing Behavior of Oral Epithelial Cells

Wounded tissue offers opportunity to microflora to adhere, colonize, invade and infect surrounding healthy tissue. The bacteria of the oral cavity have the potential to alter the wound healing process by interacting with keratinocytes. The aim of this study was to investigate mechanisms through which oral bacteria may influence re-epithelialization by interacting with gingival keratinocytes. By an in vitro scratch assay we demonstrate that primary gingival keratinocytes have impaired closure when exposed to two well characterized oral bacteria, P. gingivalis, and to a lesser extent, F. nucleatum. P. gingivalis reduced wound closure by ~40%, which was partially dependent on proteolytic activity, and bacteria was still present within infected cells 9 days later despite exposure to bacteria for only 24 h. Both oral bacteria caused keratinocyte apoptosis at the wound site with cell death being greatest at the wound edge. P. gingivalis and F. nucleatum adversely affected cell proliferation and the effect also had a spatial component being most striking at the edge. The impact of the bacteria was long lasting even when exposure was brief. Cell migration was compromised in bacteria challenged keratinocytes with P. gingivalis having more severe effect (pF. nucleatum. Quantitative real time PCR of bacteria challenged cells showed that P. gingivalis and to a lesser extent F. nucleatum significantly downregulated cell cycle genes cyclin1, CDK1, and CDK4 (pP. gingivalis (p\u3c0.05)

Tunneling Magnetoresistance in Noncollinear Antiferromagnetic Tunnel Junctions

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) spintronics has emerged as a subfield of spintronics driven by the advantages of antiferromagnets producing no stray fields and exhibiting ultrafast magnetization dynamics. The efficient method to detect an AFM order parameter, known as the N\'eel vector, by electric means is critical to realize concepts of AFM spintronics. Here, we demonstrate that non-collinear AFM metals, such as Mn3Sn, exhibit a momentum dependent spin polarization which can be exploited in AFM tunnel junctions to detect the N\'eel vector. Using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory, we predict a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) effect as high as 300% in AFM tunnel junctions with Mn3Sn electrodes, where the junction resistance depends on the relative orientation of their N\'eel vectors and exhibits four non-volatile resistance states. We argue that the spin-split band structure and the related TMR effect can also be realized in other non-collinear AFM metals like Mn3Ge, Mn3Ga, Mn3Pt, and Mn3GaN. Our work provides a robust method for detecting the N\'eel vector in non-collinear antiferromagnets via the TMR effect, which may be useful for their application in AFM spintronic devices

Endothelial Cells Promote Calcification in Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells from Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Background/Aims: Vascular calcification and hypertension are intimately linked, and the progression of hypertension is closely correlated with endothelial dysfunction. However, the role of endothelial cells (ECs) in vascular calcification of hypertension remains unclear. Therefore, the present study explored the effects of ECs on calcification of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) from aortas of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Methods: Aortic ECs and SMCs were isolated from SHR and Wistar rats, respectively. The roles of ECs in the regulation of SMCs calcification were investigated by co-culture and conditioned culture model. Calcium deposition of SMCs was detected by von Kossa staining. Quantization of calcium content in SMCs was determined colorimetrically by the o-cresolphthalein complexone method. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was measured colorimetrically by p-nitrophenol. The expression levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and the calcification-promoting proteins were analyzed by Western blot. Results: Calcium deposition, ALP activity and the expression levels of calcification-promoting proteins in SMCs of SHR were significantly higher than that cultured without ECs after 6 days of co-culture with ECs or conditioned culture with the medium of ECs, however, there were no statistical differences between SMCs of Wistar rats. MMP-2 and MMP-9 in co-cultured ECs from SHR were dramatically higher than that cultured without SMCs, nevertheless, there were no statistical differences between ECs from Wistar rats and between SMCs from SHR or Wistar rats. Moreover, SB-3CT, a specific inhibitor of gelatinases, decreased calcium content and the expression levels of calcification-promoting proteins in both co-cultured and conditionally cultured SMCs from SHR. Conclusion: ECs have the ability to promote calcification of aortic SMCs of SHR, and elevated expressions of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in ECs of SHR might facilitate the calcification of SMCs

Alkali Metal-Promoted LaxSr2-xFeO4-delta Redox Catalysts for Chemical Looping Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane

Chemical looping oxidative dehydrogenation (CL-ODH) represents a redox approach to convert ethane into ethylene under an autothermal scheme. Instead of using gaseous oxygen, CL-ODH utilizes lattice oxygen in transition metal oxides, which acts as an oxygen carrier or redox catalyst, to facilitate the ODH reaction. The oxygen-deprived redox catalyst is subsequently regenerated with air and releases heat. The current study investigated alkali metal (Li, Na, and/or K)-promoted LaxSr2-x,FeO4-delta (LaSrFe) as redox catalysts for CL-ODH of ethane. While unpromoted LaSrFe exhibited poor ethylene selectivity, addition of Na or K promoter achieved up to 61% ethane conversion and 68% ethylene selectivity at 700 degrees C. The promotional effect of K on LaSrFe was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low-energy ion scattering spectroscopy (LEIS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), O-2-temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), H-2-temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), and O-18(2) surface exchange. XPS and XRD showed that K incorporates into the mixed-oxide structure at low loading levels (e.g., 0.1K-LaSrFe), whereas the surface of LaSrFe was enriched with K cation at high loading levels. LEIS indicates that the outermost surface layer was covered by potassium oxide. This surface layer was characterized to be amorphous under TEM. It was further determined that the surface layer increased the resistance for O2- diffusion from the bulk and its subsequent evolution into electrophilic oxygen species on the surface. As such, nonselective oxidation of ethane is inhibited. The synergistic effect of copromoting LaSrFe with Li and K was also investigated. Li and K copromotion improved the redox catalyst performance to 86% ethylene selectivity and 60% ethane conversion while maintaining an oxygen capacity of ca. 0.65 wt %, making it a promising candidate for CL-ODH

Evaluation and Analysis on Textile Industry Technological Innovation Ability based on DEA Keywords-technological innovation ability；DEA； textile and garment industry； industry value chain

Abstract-With economic development, China has become one of the largest textile producer in the world. In the international market, China's textile and apparel products have obvious advantages in price, capabilities of production and export continue to increase; but the product value-added and technology content are low, lacking seriously in the self-owned brands, which earns the least part of the processing costs in the international value chain, So it is very important that improve China's technical innovation capability of textile and apparel industry, and rely on innovation to improve the operational capabilities of the whole industrial chain. In this paper, DEA method applied to analyze the technological innovation of China's top ten textile and apparel provinces in goods exported, and propose the countermeasures to improve the efficiency of input and output in technological innovation

Intensification of Ethylene Production from Naphtha via a Redox Oxy-Cracking Scheme: Process Simulations and Analysis

Ethylene production by the thermal cracking of naphtha is an energy-intensive process (up to 40 GJ heat per tonne ethylene), leading to significant formation of coke and nitrogen oxide (NOx), along with 1.8–2 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission per kilogram of ethylene produced. We propose an alternative process for the redox oxy-cracking (ROC) of naphtha. In this two-step process, hydrogen (H2) from naphtha cracking is selectively combusted by a redox catalyst with its lattice oxygen first. The redox catalyst is subsequently re-oxidized by air and releases heat, which is used to satisfy the heat requirement for the cracking reactions. This intensified process reduces parasitic energy consumption and CO2 and NOx emissions. Moreover, the formation of ethylene and propylene can be enhanced due to the selective combustion of H2. In this study, the ROC process is simulated with ASPEN Plus® based on experimental data from recently developed redox catalysts. Compared with traditional naphtha cracking, the ROC process can provide up to 52% reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The upstream section of the process consumes approximately 67% less energy while producing 28% more ethylene and propylene for every kilogram of naphtha feedstock. Keywords: Ethylene, Naphtha cracking, Process intensification, Chemical looping, Process simulation

Identification of human UDP-glucuronosyltransferase isoforms involved in the isofraxidin glucuronidation and assessment of the species differences of the reaction

Isofraxidin, 7-Hydroxy-6.8-dimethoxy-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one, is a major active component of Acanthopanax senticosus, which has been used as Acanthopanax (Ciwujia) injection to treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in China for more than thirty years. The purpose of this study was to identify the roles of human UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) in isofraxidin glucuronidation in the liver and intestinal microsomes and to reveal the potential species differences by comparing the liver microsomal glucuronidation from different experimental animals. One metabolite was biosynthesized and characterized as isofraxidin-7-O-glucuronide by liquid chromatography tandeirt mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The intrinsic clearances in human liver and intestinal microsomes were 63.8 and 16.4 mu L/min/mg, respectively. Human liver microsomes displays higher potential for isofraxidin elimination than human intestinal microsomes. The reaction phenotyping analysis Was conducted using cDNA-expressed human UGTs and chemical inhibitors. The results indicated that UGT1A1 and UGT1A9 were the main isoforms involved in the formation of isofraxidin-7-O-glucuronide. The isofraxidin glucuronidation in liver microsomes from human (HLM), rat (RLM), mouse (MLM), dog (DLM), monkey (CyLM), minipig (PLM), and guinea pig (GpLM) followed the Michealis-Menten model. The isofraxidin glucuronidation displays species differences in terms of catalytic activities. GpLM had the highest clearance with the CLint value of 152 mu L/min/mg. CyLM, RLM and MLM exhibit similar catalytic activities in isofraxidin glucuronidation with the intrinsic clearance values of 54.6, 58.0 and 50.2 mu L/min/mg, respectively, which are higher than those of PLM and DLM (23.9 and 37.7 mu L/min/mg, respectively). Rat exhibits the most similar intrinsic metabolic clearance (CLint) to human. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V

Enhanced Phase Retrieval Method Based on Random Phase Modulation

The phase retrieval method based on random phase modulation can wipe out any ambiguity and stagnation problem in reconstruction. However, the two existing reconstruction algorithms for the random phase modulation method are suffering from problems. The serial algorithm from the spread-spectrum phase retrieval method can realize rapid convergence but has poor noise immunity. Although there is a parallel framework that can suppress noise, the convergence speed is slow. Here, we propose a random phase modulation phase retrieval method based on a serial–parallel cascaded reconstruction framework to simultaneously achieve quality imaging and rapid convergence. The proposed serial–parallel cascaded method uses the phased result from the serial algorithm to serve as the initialization of the subsequent parallel process. Simulations and experiments demonstrate that the superiorities of both serial and parallel algorithms are fetched by the proposed serial–parallel cascaded method. In the end, we analyze the effect of iteration numbers from the serial process on the reconstruction performance to find the optimal allocation scope of iteration numbers