Characterization of vascular endothelial progenitor cells from chicken bone marrow

BACKGROUND: Endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) are a type of stem cell used in the treatment of atherosclerosis, vascular injury and regeneration. At present, most of the EPCs studied are from human and mouse, whereas the study of poultry-derived EPCs has rarely been reported. In the present study, chicken bone marrow-derived EPCs were isolated and studied at the cellular level using immunofluorescence and RT-PCR. RESULTS: We found that the majority of chicken EPCs were spindle shaped. The growth-curves of chicken EPCs at passages (P) 1, -5 and -9 were typically “S”-shaped. The viability of chicken EPCs, before and after cryopreservation was 92.2% and 81.1%, respectively. Thus, cryopreservation had no obvious effects on the viability of chicken EPCs. Dil-ac-LDL and FITC-UAE-1 uptake assays and immunofluorescent detection of the cell surface markers CD34, CD133, VEGFR-2 confirmed that the cells obtained in vitro were EPCs. Observation of endothelial-specific Weibel-Palade bodies using transmission electron microscopy further confirmed that the cells were of endothelial lineage. In addition, chicken EPCs differentiated into endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells upon induction with VEGF and PDGF-BB, respectively, suggesting that the chicken EPCs retained multipotency in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that chicken EPCs not only have strong self-renewal capacity, but also the potential to differentiate into endothelial and smooth muscle cells. This research provides theoretical basis and experimental evidence for potential therapeutic application of endothelial progenitor cells in the treatment of atherosclerosis, vascular injury and diabetic complications

Toward the Theoretical Constructs of East Asian Cultural Psychology

The core values of traditional Chinese Confucian culture such as “five virtues”, “five cardinal relationships”, and the thought of “golden mean” exert significant influence on East Asian culture, including Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cultures. In recent years, with the rapid development of the studies of cultural psychology in East Asian cultural circles, it is necessary to conduct the theoretical constructs to integrate the common psychological characteristics in East Asian cultural circle. The theoretical constructs of East Asian Cultural Psychology regard the impacts of traditional Confucian culture on East Asian culture and the individual as its core, and focus on self-construal, self-esteem, self-enhancement, collectivism, the differences of relationship and class, and the thinking of “golden mean” among the East Asians as the key constructs of the theoretical framework

Numerical study on the nucleation law of water vapor condensation in laval nozzle.

In order to explore the formation of condensed droplets and the process of agglomeration into droplets during the gas-liquid separation in the Laval nozzle, the wet gas is taken as the research object, and the numerical simulation model and control equations for the condensation of wet gas are established, which are simulated by Fluent software the effects of three parameters, the inlet relative humidity, the inlet and outlet pressure ratio and the inlet temperature, on the law of water vapor condensation and nucleation in the supersonic nozzle were analyzed. The results show that the higher the relative humidity is, the greater the peak value of the nucleation rate is, and the location of water vapor nucleation is getting closer to the throat of the nozzle; as the pressure ratio increases, the peak value of the nucleation rate becomes larger, and the pressure ratio is. It has an impact on the peak value of the nucleation rate; the lower the inlet temperature, the greater the peak value of the nucleation rate, and the inlet temperature has the greatest influence on the nucleation rate. When the inlet temperature is 285K, the nucleation rate reaches the maximum value and the nucleation position is closest to Throat, that is, the time of nucleation is the shortest, and the position of nucleation is the most forward. Therefore, in the actual application process, the length of the expansion section can be adjusted by the relative humidity of the wet gas, and the equipment can be simplified; at the same time, the dehydration efficiency of the Laval nozzle can be improved by increasing the inlet and outlet pressure ratio or reducing the inlet temperature of the nozzle

Preparation and properties of adhesives based on phenolic resin containing lignin micro and nanoparticles: A comparative study

This work investigated, for the first time, the role of nanosized lignin (LNP), in comparison with microlignin (LMP), when introduced at two different weight amounts (5% and 10 wt%) in bulk phenol–formaldehyde resol as adhesive. Morphological analysis was performed to check out the dispersion and interfacial bonding of lignin in the phenolic resin. The curing process has been examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), while the thermal stability of the composites has been evaluated by using thermogravimetric (TGA) and thermo-mechanical (TMA) analysis. Results exhibited that small amount of lignin could both favor the thermal cure reaction, due to its abundance of phenylpropane units, and the initial thermal resistance could be consequently improved, especially when the nano-sized lignin was used. Meanwhile, the effect of micro- and nano-modification on tensile shear strength of wood lap joints based on lignin-phenol–formaldehyde resol adhesives was also analyzed. Results showed that 5 wt% of LNP could positively increase the shear strength from 8.7 to 10.9 MPa, opening the possibility of using environmental friendly nanoscale lignin in cross linked traditional phenol wood adhesives with enhanced adhesion performance, strongly related to nanoparticles higher specific surface area and reactivity. Keywords: A. Resol resin, A. Lignin micro/nanoparticles, B. Thermal properties, D. Shear tes

Research Progress on the Effect of Oil Preparation Technology on Lipid Concomitants in Rapeseed Oil

The major route of rapeseed utilization is by the preparation of rapeseed oil. Different oil preparation technologies have a significant influence on lipid concomitants (including polyphenols, phytosterols, tocopherols, and β-carotene) in rapeseed oil. Lipid concomitants are an important part in rapeseed oil quality, so it is crucial to understand the changes of lipid concomitants during rapeseed oil production. The aim of this review is to summarize the major outcomes of recent research on the influence of different oil preparation technologies on lipid concomitants in rapeseed oil with a focus on pretreatment technologies (including pulsed electric field, microwave, and roasting/steaming), oil extraction technologies (including supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, aqueous enzymatic extraction, and solvent extraction) and refining processes (including degumming, deacidification, decolorization, and deodorization). We hope that this review will provide a theoretical basis for the development of green and efficient technology for rapeseed processing

Preparation of modified whey protein isolate with gum acacia by ultrasound maillard reaction

peer-reviewedEffect of ultrasound treatment on whey protein isolate (WPI)-gum Acacia (GA) conjugation via Maillard reaction was investigated. And the physicochemical properties of the conjugates obtained by ultrasound treatment were compared with those obtained by classical heating. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, high-performance size exclusion chromatography and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy provided evidence on the formation of the Maillard type conjugation. Compared with classical heating, ultrasound treatment could accelerate the glycation reaction between WPI and GA. A degree of graft of 11.20% was reached by classical heating for 48 h, whereas only 20 min was required by ultrasound treatment. Structural analyses suggested that the conjugates obtained by ultrasound treatment had less α-helix content, higher surface hydrophobicity and fluorescence intensity than those obtained by classical heating. Significantly lower level of browning intensity and significantly higher (p < 0.05) level of solubility (under alkaline conditions), thermal stability, emulsifying activity and emulsifying stability were observed for the conjugates obtained by ultrasound treatment as compared with those obtained by classical heating

Portable broadband cavity-enhanced spectrometer utilizing Kalman filtering: application to real-time, in situ monitoring of glyoxal and nitrogen dioxide

This article describes the development and field application of a portable broadband cavity enhanced spectrometer (BBCES) operating in the spectral range of 440-480 nm for sensitive, real-time, in situ measurement of ambient glyoxal (CHOCHO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The instrument utilized a custom cage system in which the same SMA collimators were used in the transmitter and receiver units for coupling the LED light into the cavity and collecting the light transmitted through the cavity. This configuration realised a compact and stable optical system that could be easily aligned. The dimensions and mass of the optical layer were 676 × 74 × 86 mm3 and 4.5 kg, respectively. The cavity base length was about 42 cm. The mirror reflectivity at λ = 460 nm was determined to be 0.9998, giving an effective absorption pathlength of 2.26 km. The demonstrated measurement precisions (1σ) over 60 s were 28 and 50 pptv for CHOCHO and NO2 and the respective accuracies were 5% and 4%. By applying a Kalman adaptive filter to the retrieved concentrations, the measurement precisions of CHOCHO and NO2 were improved to 8 pptv and 40 pptv in 21 s