Mechanical Performance of Simple Supported Concrete Beam-Cable Composite Element with External Prestress

A new reinforcement technology of external prestress based on stretch tilted belly poles has been presented. Taking simply supported beam, which is reinforced by three titled belly poles, as a research object to establish a model of reinforced simply supported beam. Relationship expressions about deflection and internal force increment of external cable or about load and deflection have been deduced. Finite element model is established by ABAQUS. The influence of structure performance of reinforced simply supported beam with cable section, cable sag and initial internal force value was investigated. Three tests are carried out to testify the results of theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. The results show that the redistributions of internal force and sectional stress have occurred, and the stiffness, crack load, ultimate load, and structure ductility are all improved with the increase of three design parameters. For example, the crack load, ultimate load, and structure ductility have increased, respectively, by 24%~40%, 15%~42%, and 14%~40%. High initial internal force, small section, and big cable sag should be avoided, because the probability of brittle failure of structure will increase. The analytical result shows that the reliability of internal increment expression of external cable and carrying capacity expression can be used in the engineering practice

miR-21 Protects Against Ischemia/Reperfusion-Induced Acute Kidney Injury by Preventing Epithelial Cell Apoptosis and Inhibiting Dendritic Cell Maturation

Renal tubular injury and innate immune responses induced by hypoxia contribute to acute kidney injury. Accumulating evidence suggests that miR-21 overexpression protects against kidney ischemia injury. Additionally, miR-21 emerges as a key inhibitor in dendritic cell maturation. Thus, we hypothesized that miR-21 protects the kidney from IR injury by suppressing epithelial cell damage and inflammatory reaction. In this study, we investigated effects of miR-21 and its signaling pathways (PTEN/AKT/mTOR/HIF, PDCD4/NFκ-B) on kidney ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury in vitro and in vivo. The results revealed that IR increased miR-21, HIF1α, and 2α expression in vivo and in vitro. MiR-21 interacted with HIF1α and 2α through the PTEN/AKT/mTOR pathway. Moreover, inhibition of miR-21 activated PDCD4/NFκ-B pathways, which are critical for dendritic cell maturation. Renal IR triggers local inflammation by inducing the dendritic cell maturation and promoting the secretion of IL-12, IL-6, and TNF-α cytokines. Knockdown of miR-21 intensified the effect of IR on tubular epithelial cell apoptosis and dendritic cell maturation. Our results suggested that IR-inducible miR-21 protects epithelial cells from IR injury via a feedback interaction with HIF (PTEN/AKT/mTOR/HIF/miR-21) and by inhibiting maturation of DCs through the PDCD4/NF-κB pathway. These findings highlight new therapeutic opportunities in AKI

Overexpression of the Glutathione Peroxidase 5 (RcGPX5) Gene From Rhodiola crenulata Increases Drought Tolerance in Salvia miltiorrhiza

Excessive cellular accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to environmental stresses can critically disrupt plant development and negatively affect productivity. Plant glutathione peroxidases (GPXs) play an important role in ROS scavenging by catalyzing the reduction of H2O2 and other organic hydroperoxides to protect plant cells from oxidative stress damage. RcGPX5, a member of the GPX gene family, was isolated from a traditional medicinal plant Rhodiola crenulata and constitutively expressed in Salvia miltiorrhiza under control of the CaMV 35S promoter. Transgenic plants showed increased tolerance to oxidative stress caused by application of H2O2 and drought, and had reduced production of malondialdehyde (MDA) compared with the wild type. Under drought stress, seedlings of the transgenic lines wilted later than the wild type and recovered growth 1 day after re-watering. In addition, the reduced glutathione (GSH) and total glutathione (T-GSH) contents were higher in the transgenic lines, with increased enzyme activities including glutathione reductase (GR), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and GPX. These changes prevent H2O2 and O2- accumulation in cells of the transgenic lines compared with wild type. Overexpression of RcGPX5 alters the relative expression levels of multiple endogenous genes in S. miltiorrhiza, including transcription factor genes and genes in the ROS and ABA pathways. In particular, RcGPX5 expression increases the mass of S. miltiorrhiza roots while reducing the concentration of the active ingredients. These results show that heterologous expression of RcGPX5 in S. miltiorrhiza can affect the regulation of multiple biochemical pathways to confer tolerance to drought stress, and RcGPX5 might act as a competitor with secondary metabolites in the S. miltiorrhiza response to environmental stimuli

Neovasculature in 3D-PLGA/nHAp Scaffolds for Murine Critical Sized Bone Defect Regeneration by Photoacoustic Imaging: A Preliminary Study

Abstract: Reconstruction of large bone defects remains a challenge in the orthopaedic clinic. Genetic modification of biomaterial scaffold provides the opportunity to control the cellular microenvironment by inducing expression of tissue inductive factors to promote angiogenesis and osteogenesis. Angiogenesis in tissue-engineering scaffolds is essential for supplying oxygen and nutrients to the cells, removing waste products, and ultimately functionalizing implanted scaffolds. However, it was difficult to visualize and measure angiogenesis in three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds or new bone in bone tissue engineering in vivo and non-invasively. Photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) is a novel imaging modality that can acquire volumetric data in a non-invasive manner. In this study, we fabricated lentivirus-mediated genetic modification of 3D-PLGA/nHAp scaffold (PH), which can deliver recombinant lentivirus carrying cytokine gene-pdgfb (LV-pdgfb). In vitro, the modified scaffolds (PHp) continuously released bioactive LV-pdgfb particles for up to 5 days, and expressed PDGF-BB and significantly promoted migration of bone marrow-derived MSCs (BMSCs). In vivo, we detected that there were significant increasing of expressing of pdgfb and angiogenesis related genes. In this preliminary study, by using acoustic-resolution PAM (AR-PAM) and optical-resolution PAM (OR-PAM), we have investigated the blood vessels pattern in mouse calvaria in vivo. We have confirmed that PAM is a useful tool in evaluating neovasculature in bone tissue. In the future, we will quantify the neovasculature in 3D-scaffold which assisted bone regeneration by PAM scanning, and correlate the neovasculature with new bone regeneration in a murine calvarial critical bone defect model in the future work