Toward Green Synthesis of Graphene Oxide Using Recycled Sulfuric Acid via Couette-Taylor Flow

Developing eco-friendly and cost-effective processes for the synthesis of graphene oxide (GO) is essential for its widespread industrial applications. In this work, we propose a green synthesis technique for GO production using recycled sulfuric acid and filter-processed oxidized natural graphite obtained from a Couette-Taylor flow reactor. The viscosity of reactant mixtures processed from Couette-Taylor flow was considerably lower (???200 cP at 25 ??C) than that of those from Hummers' method, which enabled the simple filtration process. The filtered sulfuric acid can be recycled and reused for the repetitive GO synthesis with negligible differences in the as-synthesized GO qualities. This removal of sulfuric acid has great potential in lowering the overall GO production cost as the amount of water required during the fabrication process, which takes a great portion of the total production cost, can be dramatically reduced after such acid filtration. The proposed eco-friendly GO fabrication process is expected to promote the commercial application of graphene materials into industry shortly

The Prevalence of Concomitant Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm and Cancer

Cancers and abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) cause substantial morbidity and mortality and commonly develop in old age. It has been previously reported that AAA patients have a high prevalence of cancers, which has raised the question of whether this is a simple collision, association or causation. Clinical trials or observational studies with sufficient power to prove this association between them were limited because of the relatively low frequency and slow disease process of both diseases. We aimed to determine whether there is a significant association between AAA and cancers using nationwide data. The patients aged > 50 years and diagnosed with AAA between 2002 and 2015, patients with heart failure (HF) and controls without an AAA or HF matched by age, sex and cardiovascular risk factors were enrolled from the national sample cohort from the National Health Insurance claims database of South Korea. The primary outcome was the prevalence rate of cancers in the participants with and without an AAA. The secondary outcome was cancer-related survival and cancer risk. Overall, 823 AAA patients (mean (standard deviation) age, 71.8 (9.4) years; 552 (67.1%) men) and matching 823 HF patients and 823 controls were identified. The prevalence of cancers was 45.2% (372/823), 41.7% (343/823) and 35.7% (294/823) in the AAA, HF and control groups, respectively; it was significantly higher in the AAA group than in the control group (p < 0.001). The risk of developing cancer was higher in the AAA patients than in the controls (adjusted odds ratio (OR), 1.52 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.24–1.86), p < 0.001) and in the HF patients (adjusted OR, 1.37 (1.24–1.86), p = 0.006). The cancer-related death rate was 2.64 times higher (95% CI, 2.22–3.13; p < 0.001) for the AAA patients and 1.63 times higher (95% CI, 1.37–1.92; p < 0.001) for the HF patients than for the controls. The most common causes of death in the AAA patients were cancer and cardiovascular disease. There was a significantly increased risk of cancer in the AAA than in the HF and control groups. Therefore, appropriate screening algorithms might be necessary for earlier detection of both diseases to improve long-term survival

Translocator protein (TSPO): the new story of the old protein in neuroinflammation

Translocator protein (TSPO), also known as peripheral benzodiazepine receptor, is a transmembrane protein located on the outer mitochondria membrane (OMM) and mainly expressed in glial cells in the brain. Because of the close correlation of its expression level with neuropathology and therapeutic efficacies of several TSPO binding ligands under many neurological conditions, TSPO has been regarded as both biomarker and therapeutic target, and the biological functions of TSPO have been a major research focus. However, recent genetic studies with animal and cellular models revealed unexpected results contrary to the anticipated biological importance of TSPO and cast doubt on the action modes of the TSPO-binding drugs. In this review, we summarize recent controversial findings on the discrepancy between pharmacological and genetic studies of TSPO and suggest some future direction to understand this old and mysterious protein. © 2020 by the The Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.1

Effects of bacillus subtilis wb60 and lactococcus lactis on growth, immune responses, histology and gene expression in nile tilapia, oreochromis niloticus

An eight-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of a basal control diet (CON), Bacillus subtilis at 107 (BS7) and at 108 CFU/g diet (BS8), Lactococcus lactis at 107 CFU/g (LL7) and at 108 CFU/g diet (LL8), and oxytetracycline (OTC) at 4 g/kg diet on Nile tilapia. Fish with initial body weight of 2.83 ± 0.05 g (mean ± SD) were fed two times a day. Weight gain, specific growth rate, feed efficiency, protein efficiency ratio and lysozyme activity of fish fed BS8, LL8 and LL7 diets were significantly higher than those of fish fed CON diet (p < 0.05). Superoxide dismutase and myeloperoxidase activity of fish fed BS8, LL8, BS7, LL7 and OTC diets were significantly higher than those of fish fed CON diet. Intestinal villi length and muscular layer thickness of fish fed BS8, LL8 and LL7 diets were significantly higher than those of fish fed CON and OTC diets. Also, heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), interleukin (IL-1β), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and tumour necrosis factor (TNF-α) gene expression of fish fed BS8 and LL8 diets were significantly higher than those of fish fed CON diet. After 13 days of challenge test, cumulative survival rate of fish fed BS8 and LL8 diets were significantly higher than those of fish fed CON, BS7 and OTC diets. Based on these results, B. subtilis and L. lactis at 108 (CFU/g) could replace antibiotics, and have beneficial effects on growth, immunity, histology, gene expression, and disease resistance in Nile tilapia

Piceatannol Is Superior to Resveratrol at Suppressing Adipogenesis in Human Visceral Adipose-Derived Stem Cells

Resveratrol (3,4′,5-trans-trihydroxystilbene) and piceatannol (3,3′,4′,5-trans-tetraphydroxystilbene) are major stilbene compounds that are predominantly present in various natural foods, such as berries and fruits. Both phytochemical compounds are consumed as dietary supplements to prevent various metabolic diseases and for their anti-aging properties. Adipose-derived stem cells from human visceral adipose tissue (vASCs) are a useful in vitro model for evaluating their adipogenic effect. Treatment with resveratrol and piceatannol significantly inhibited lipid accumulation in vASCs. Their effective concentrations were 5, 10, and 20 μM for inhibiting adipogenesis of vASCs. Interestingly, despite the similar chemical structures of the two compounds, piceatannol showed a higher anti-adipogenic effect at 20 μM than resveratrol in vASCs. Moreover, the inhibitory capacity of lipid droplet generation was higher for piceatannol at 20 μM than that of resveratrol. Piceatannol significantly attenuated the expression level of adipogenic markers (e.g., CCAAT/enhanced binding protein α (C/EBPα), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), and adipocyte fatty acid binding protein (aP2)) compared to resveratrol at the mRNA and protein levels. These results suggest that piceatannol is a superior anti-adipogenic compound compared to resveratrol in the vASC model of visceral obesity

Impact of transvenous cardiac implantable electronic devices in chronic hemodialysis patients: a single-center, observational comparative study

Abstract Background We investigated the impact of a transvenous cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) placement on outcomes and arteriovenous vascular access (VA) patency among chronic hemodialysis patients. Methods This is a single-center, observational comparative study between chronic hemodialysis patients with ipsilateral and contralateral CIED and VA. Forty-two consecutive patients who underwent both CIED placement and upper-extremity VA for hemodialysis, regardless of the sequence and time interval between these 2 procedures, were identified between January 2001 and December 2017. Patients with ipsilateral (n = 22, 52%, the ipsilateral group) and contralateral (n = 20, 48%, the contralateral group) CIED and VA were compared retrospectively; the primary outcome was any-cause mortality and cardiac mortality or the composite of any systemic complications, defined as central venous stenosis or occlusion, any device infections or tricuspid regurgitation; the secondary outcome was CIED or VA malfunction. Results During the median follow-up period of 101 months, primary outcome incidence was significantly higher in the ipsilateral group than the contralateral group (73% vs 40%, P = 0.03), although the incidences of any-cause mortality (P = 0.28) and cardiac mortality (P > 0.99) were similar between the groups. Secondary outcome incidence did not differ significantly between the 2 groups (55% vs 30%, P = 0.36). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis revealed similar primary and secondary VA patency rates in both groups. On subgroup analysis, patients with upper arm VA had similar primary and secondary patency to those with forearm VA. Conclusions Despite some notable limitations of the study, the retrospective study design and small sample size, we found that the any-cause mortality incidence and VA patency did not differ between the 2 groups, but primary outcome incidence was significantly higher among patients with ipsilateral CIED and VA

Patency rates of arteriovenous fistulas created before versus after hemodialysis initiation.

In an incident hemodialysis (HD) population, we aimed to investigate whether arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation before HD initiation was associated with improved AVF patency compared with AVF creation from a central venous catheter (CVC), and also to compare patient survival between these patients. Between January 2011 and December 2013, 524 incident HD patients with identified first predialysis vascular access with an AVF (pre-HD group, n = 191) or an AVF from a CVC (on-HD group, n = 333) were included and analyzed retrospectively. The study outcome was defined as AVF patency and all-cause mortality (time to death). On Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, primary and secondary AVF patency rates did not differ significantly between the two groups (P = 0.812 and P = 0.586, respectively), although the overall survival rate was significantly higher in the pre-HD group compared with the on-HD group (P = 0.013). On multivariate analysis, well-known patient factors were associated with decreased primary (older age and diabetes mellitus [DM]) and secondary (DM and peripheral arterial occlusive disease) AVF patency, whereas use of a CVC as the initial predialysis access (hazard ratios, 1.84; 95% confidence intervals, 1.20-2.75; P = 0.005) was significantly associated with worse survival in addition to well-known patient factors (older age, diabetes mellitus, and peripheral arterial occlusive disease). Worse survival in the on-HD group was likely confounded by selection bias because of the retrospective nature of our study. Therefore, the observed lower mortality associated with AVF creation before HD initiation is not fully attributable to CVC use, but rather, affected by other patient-level prognostic factors. There were no CVC-related complications in the pre-HD group, whereas 10.2% of CVC-related complications were noted in the on-HD group. In conclusion, among incident HD patients, compared with patients who underwent creation of an AVF from a CVC, initial AVF creation showed similar primary and secondary AVF patency rates, but lower mortality risk. We also observed that an initial CVC use was an independent risk factor associated with worse survival. A fistula-first strategy might be the best option for incident HD patients who are good candidates for AVF creation

Shot-Noise-Limited Two-Color Stimulated Raman Scattering Microscopy with a Balanced Detection Scheme

© 2020 American Chemical Society Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy has been considered a useful technique for investigating chemical components by selectively targeting the vibration mode of chemical structures. Its practical application to the observation of molecular structures and dynamics in complicated biological environments requires broad spectral coverage with both high resolution and a high signal-to-noise ratio. Here, we demonstrate a two-color SRS microscopy employing a balanced detection scheme and a spectral focusing method. Two different SRS signals are generated with pump and Stokes laser pulse pairs in perpendicular polarization, where each of them acts as an intensity reference for the other, significantly reducing the background noise level close to the shot-noise limit even with a fiber-based femtosecond laser system. The high spectral resolution comparable to that of spontaneous Raman scattering spectroscopy is achieved with the spectral focusing method. The two-color SRS images are obtained for a mixture of polymer beads and for the distributions of lipids and proteins in U2OS cells © 2020 American Chemical Society11Nsciescopu

Conditional Controlled Light/Dark Cycle Influences Exercise-Induced Benefits in a Rat Model with Osteoarthritis: In Vitro and In Vivo Study

Physical exercise has long been recommended as a treatment for osteoarthritis (OA), though its effects vary based on the exercise protocol. Here, we examined whether environmental lighting conditions influence the anti-inflammatory benefits of exercise in a rat model of OA. Moderate-intensity treadmill exercise (Ex) was performed for six weeks under a 12:12 h light/dark (L/D) cycle, and compared against rats housed in a 24 h continuous light (L/L) environment. L/L conditions were associated with serological changes shortly after OA induction, which exacerbated the inflammatory microenvironment in the joint. Differentiation capacity was also impaired in bone precursor cells isolated from normal rats maintained under L/L conditions, despite elevated inflammatory responses. Exercise training under L/L conditions led to increased corticosterone levels in the blood, which exacerbated the progression of cartilaginous and synovial lesions. Osteoporotic phenomena were also observed in exercise-trained rats maintained under L/L conditions, along with inflammation-induced catabolism in the gastrocnemius muscle. Aberrant light/dark cycle conditions were also found to be associated with suppression of splenic Cry1 expression in exercise-trained rats, leading to dysregulation of immune responses. Taken together, these data suggest that lighting condition may be an important environmental factor influencing the exercise-induced benefits on OA