Pretreatment Donors after Circulatory Death with Simvastatin Alleviates Liver Ischemia Reperfusion Injury through a KLF2-Dependent Mechanism in Rat

Objective. Severe hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) can result in poor short- and long-term graft outcome after transplantation. The way to improve the viability of livers from donors after circulatory death (DCD) is currently limited. The aim of the present study was to explore the protective effect of simvastatin on DCD livers and investigate the underlying mechanism. Methods. 24 male rats randomly received simvastatin or its vehicle. 30 min later, rat livers were exposed to warm ischemia in situ for 30 min. Livers were removed and cold-stored in UW solution for 24 h, subsequently reperfused for 60 min with an isolated perfused rat liver system. Liver injury was evaluated during and after warm reperfusion. Results. Pretreatment of DCD donors with simvastatin significantly decreased IRI liver enzyme release, increased bile output and ATP, and ameliorated hepatic pathological changes. Simvastatin maintained the expression of KLF2 and its protective target genes (eNOS, TM, and HO-1), reduced oxidative stress, inhibited innate immune responses and inflammation, and increased the expression of Bcl-2/Bax to suppress hepatocyte apoptosis compared to DCD control group. Conclusion. Pretreatment of DCD donors with simvastatin improves DCD livers’ functional recovery probably through a KLF2-dependent mechanism. These data suggest that simvastatin may provide a potential benefit for clinical DCD liver transplantation

Characterization of Sn-xIn Solders and Thermomigration-Induced Interfacial IMC Growth of Cu/Sn-xIn/Cu Micro Solder Joints

The melting behavior and microstructure of bulk Sn-xIn (x = 6, 12 and 24, wt.%) solders and the thermomigration, elemental distribution and intermetallic compound (IMC) growth in Cu/Sn-xIn/Cu micro solder joints during soldering and aging under temperature gradient (TG) were investigated. The results indicate that In addition effectively decreased the melting temperature of the bulk solders. Only the InSn4 phase was detected when In addition was increased to 24 wt.%. During soldering under TG, the growth rate of the interfacial IMC layer at the cold end interfaces gradually decreased as the In content increased. The mechanism of microstructure evolution and elemental distribution in the micro solder joints was revealed based on the TG-induced atomic thermomigration (TM). The chemical potential gradient of atoms was enhanced by TM, and the rapid diffusion of atoms in the liquids resulted in a uniform distribution of In element in both solders and the IMC phase during soldering. While during aging under TG, there was a smaller chemical potential gradient due to the slow atomic diffusion rate. At this time, TG dominated the atomic migration, which resulted in a nonuniform distribution of the In element in the whole joints. This study provides further insight into the application of In-containing solders in electronic packaging

Hub genes in adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction based on weighted gene co-expression network analysis and immunohistochemistry

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common malignant tumor, and it is usually fatal. Adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG) accounts for about 50% of all GC cases. However, the systematic co-expression analysis of this tumor does not fully explain its pathogenesis. This study aimed to identify hub genes based on weighted gene co-expression networks and immunohistochemistry analyses. Methods: The RNA-seq data of 22 AEG patients were processed using weighted gene co-expression network analysis. We differentiated the modules with clinical tumor markers and performed Gene Ontology and pathway enrichment analysis. We identified the hub genes related to the biological processes of tumorigenesis based on weighted gene co-expression network analysis and immunohistochemistry analysis. Results: Twenty-five distinct co-expression gene modules were identified; the tumorigenic genes CD93, TRIM28, SLC3A2, CBX4, PATL1, and ZNF473 had high intramodular connectivity. Immunohistochemistry confirmed that these hub genes are upregulated in AEG. Statistical analysis indicated that the expression of CD93 was correlated with the T stage and maximum tumor diameter. Conclusion: Weighted gene co-expression network analysis and immunohistochemistry identified CD93 as a hub gene that might be critical for AEG biology

Unveiling the synergistic effect of precursor stoichiometry and interfacial reactions for perovskite light-emitting diodes

Metal halide perovskites are emerging as promising semiconductors for cost-effective and high-performance light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Previous investigations have focused on the optimisation of the emissive perovskite layer, for example, through quantum confinement to enhance the radiative recombination or through defect passivation to decrease non-radiative recombination. However, an in-depth understanding of how the buried charge transport layers affect the perovskite crystallisation, though of critical importance, is currently missing for perovskite LEDs. Here, we reveal synergistic effect of precursor stoichiometry and interfacial reactions for perovskite LEDs, and establish useful guidelines for rational device optimization. We reveal that efficient deprotonation of the undesirable organic cations by a metal oxide interlayer with a high isoelectric point is critical to promote the transition of intermediate phases to highly emissive perovskite films. Combining our findings with effective defect passivation of the active layer, we achieve high-efficiency perovskite LEDs with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 19.6%.Funding Agencies|ERC Starting Grant [717026]; European Commission Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions [691210]; National Key Research and Development Program of China [2016YFA0202402]; Jiangsu High Educational Natural Science Foundation [18KJA430012]; Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions; 111 program; Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology (NANO-CIC); China Scholarship Council; National Natural Science Foundation of China [61704077]; Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province [BK20171007]</p

Simultaneous Isolation and Identification of Largemouth Bass Virus and Rhabdovirus from Moribund Largemouth Bass (<i>Micropterus salmoides</i>)

Largemouth bass is an important commercially farmed fish in China, but the rapid expansion of its breeding has resulted in increased incidence of diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites. In this study, moribund largemouth bass containing ulcer foci on body surfaces indicated the most likely pathogens were iridovirus and rhabdovirus members and this was confirmed using a combination of immunohistochemistry, cell culture, electron microscopy and conserved gene sequence analysis. We identified that these fish had been co-infected with these viruses. We observed bullet-shaped virions (100–140 nm long and 50–100 nm in diameter) along with hexagonal virions with 140 nm diameters in cell culture inoculated with tissue homogenates. The viruses were plaque purified and a comparison of the highly conserved regions of the genome of these viruses indicated that they are most similar to largemouth bass virus (LMBV) and hybrid snakehead rhabdovirus (HSHRV), respectively. Regression infection experiments indicated fish mortalities for LMBV-FS2021 and HSHRV-MS2021 were 86.7 and 11.1%, respectively. While co-infection resulted in 93.3% mortality that was significantly (p 100-fold. Overall, we simultaneously isolated and identified LMBV and a HSHRV-like virus from diseased largemouth bass, and our results can provide novel ideas for the prevention and treatment of combined virus infection especially in largemouth bass