Digital printing of enzymes on textile substrates as functional materials

Recently, there have been significant developments in inkjet printing for applications in various fields such as medicine, biomaterials and sensors. In this research, enzymes like horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and glucose oxidase (GOx) were directly printed by inkjet printer onto flexible textile fabric in predefined patterns to produce a functional material. The functionality of the printed enzymes (bioink) was investigated by chemical reaction after printing fresh and stored bio-ink in a digital printer. The results indicated that these enzymes can be effectively printed individually or in combination, which retains their functionality after printing. Furthermore, HRP was coupled and printed with fluorescent group, the result confirmed that the printed enzyme was still active and retained its functionality despite the printing process. Hence, the digital printing technique can be used as a novel method for producing functional textiles for advanced applications in monitoring health and security

Gender Differences of the Mastication Patterns in Humans

Nineteen young healthy subjects were offered a morsel of the hard (walnut) and soft (cake) food, while surface EMG was recorded bilaterally from the masseter muscles. The duration of the entire sequence of chewing, chewing rate, number of chewing cycles, time/cycle ratio, and mean and maximum EMG amplitudes of the above muscles were compared in women and men (n = 12 and 7, respectively). The duration of the whole chewing sequence for the soft food and duration of a single chewing cycle for both food types were significantly longer in women (P = 0.000). The masticatory frequencies for both food types were significantly greater in men (soft food: 0.98 ± 0.18 and 1.79 ± 0.18 sec–1, hard food: 1.25 ± 0.29 and 2.03 ± ± 0.32 sec–1 in women and men, respectively; P = 0.000). The numbers of chewing cycles for both food types were statistically similar (P = 0.38 and P = 0.67). The mean and maximum EMG amplitude were found to be nearly similar in women and men, except for the mean amplitude of the right EMG at soft food chewing was significantly higher in men (P = 0.02). Thus, chewing in women occurs, in general, more slowly, while masseter muscle activities are rather similar. The food consistency exerts a mild overall influence on the gender differences of chewing.19 молодим здоровим випробуваним пропонували з’їсти невелику порцію твердої (волоський горіх) або м’якої (торт) їжі; в цей час відводили білатерально ЕМГ-активність жувальних м’язів. Тривалість усього епізоду жування, частота жувальних рухів, кількість жувальних циклів, тривалість окремого циклу, а також середні та максимальні амплітуди ЕМГ, відведених від вказаних м’язів, порівнювали у жінок і чоловіків (n = 12 і 7 відповідно). Тривалість усього епізоду жування м’якої їжі та тривалості окремого циклу для їжі обох типів були вірогідно більшими у жінок (P = 0.000). Частоти жувальних рухів для їжі обох типів були значно вищими у чоловіків (м’яка їжа: 0.98 ± 0.18 і 1.79 ± 0.18 с–1, тверда їжа: 1.25 ± 0.29 і 2.03 ± 0.32 с–1 у жінок і чоловіків відповідно; P = 0.000). Число циклів жування для їжі обох типів не демонструвало вірогідної різниці (P = 0.38 і P = 0.67). Середня і максимальна амплітуди ЕМГ були майже однаковими у жінок і чоловіків. Єдиним винятком була вища амплітуда ЕМГ справа у чоловіків при жуванні м’якої їжі (P = 0.02). Таким чином, жування у жінок відбувається в цілому повільніше, в той час як м’язова жувальна активність у представників різних статей є досить подібною. Консистенція їжі в цілому слабко впливає на гендерні відмінності процесу жування

Neutrophils Suppress Intraluminal NK Cell-Mediated Tumor Cell Clearance and Enhance Extravasation of Disseminated Carcinoma Cells

Immune cells promote the initial metastatic dissemination of carcinoma cells from primary tumors. In contrast to their well-studied functions in the initial stages of metastasis, the specific roles of immunocytes in facilitating progression through the critical later steps of the invasion–metastasis cascade remain poorly understood. Here, we define novel functions of neutrophils in promoting intraluminal survival and extravasation at sites of metastatic dissemination. We show that CD11b+/Ly6G+neutrophils enhance metastasis formation via two distinct mechanisms. First, neutrophils inhibit natural killer cell function, which leads to a significant increase in the intraluminal survival time of tumor cells. Thereafter, neutrophils operate to facilitate extravasation of tumor cells through the secretion of IL1β and matrix metalloproteinases. These results identify neutrophils as key regulators of intraluminal survival and extravasation through their cross-talk with host cells and disseminating carcinoma cells. SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides important insights into the systemic contributions of neutrophils to cancer metastasis by identifying how neutrophils facilitate intermediate steps of the invasion–metastasis cascade. We demonstrate that neutrophils suppress natural killer cell activity and increase extravasation of tumor cells.Human Frontier Science Program (Strasbourg, France) (fellowship LT00728/2008-L)Charles King Trust FoundationMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Ludwig Center for Cancer ResearchCancer Research Institute (New York, N.Y.) (Irvington Fellowship)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant P01 CA080111)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant CA163109

The effects of CRF antagonists, antalarmin, CP154,526, LWH234, and R121919, in the forced swim test and on swim-induced increases in adrenocorticotropin in rats

Exposure to extreme stress has been suggested to produce long-term, detrimental alterations in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis leading to the development of mental disorders such as depression. Therefore, compounds that block the effects of stress hormones were investigated as potential therapeutics for depression.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46365/1/213_2005_Article_2164.pd

Structural damage detection and localization using a hybrid method and artificial intelligence techniques

© The Author(s) 2019. In this article, an intelligent scheme for structural damage detection and localization is introduced by implementing a hybrid method using the Hilbert–Huang transform and the wavelet transform. First, the second derivatives of the Discrete Laplacian are computed on Hilbert spectrum parameters at each frequency coordinate, and then, in order to highlight the influence of damage on signals, the data are rescaled and weighted with respect to the variance to adjust the differences in amplitude at different scales. Afterwards, the anti-symmetric extension is applied to deal with the boundary distortion phenomenon. A two-dimensional map is created using the multi two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform. This generates the coefficient matrices of level 2 approximation and horizontal, vertical and diagonal details. Horizontal detail coefficients are used to localize damages due to its sensitiveness to any perturbation. Finally, the validity of the algorithm corresponding to various damage states, the single state damage and multiple state damage, is examined through experimental analysis. The results indicate that the proposed framework can effectively localize cracks on concrete and reinforced concrete beams and can provide reliable crack localization in the presence of noise up to 5% more than the expected noise. In addition, the detection problem is mapped to machine learning tasks (support vector machine, k-nearest neighbours and ensemble methods) to automate the damage detection process. The quality of the models is evaluated and validated using the features extracted from the horizontal detail coefficients. The numerical results show that the ensemble models outperform the other models with respect to accuracy, prediction speed and training time