Angiotensin II mediates the high-glucose-induced endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in human aortic endothelial cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Substantial evidence suggests that high glucose (HG) causes endothelial cell damage; however, the potential mechanism therein has yet to be clarified. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of HG on the endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) and its relevance to the activation of the renin-angiotensin system.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Primary human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) were divided into three groups: a normal glucose (NG) group, HG group, and irbesartan (1 μM)-treated (HG+irbesartan) group. The concentration of angiotensin II in the supernatant was detected by radioimmunoassay. Pathological changes were investigated using fluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy. Immunofluorescence staining was performed to detect the co-expression of CD31 and fibroblast markers, such as fibroblast-specific protein 1 (FSP1). The expressions of FSP1 and α-SMA were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The treatment of HAECs in the HG group resulted in significant increases in the expressions of FSP1 and angiotensin II in dose-and time-dependent manners. The incubation of HAECs exposure to HG resulted in a fibroblast-like phenotype, wherein increased microfilamentation and a roughened endoplasmic reticulum structure were observed in the cytoplasm. The expressions of FSP1 and α-SMA were significantly increased in the HG group, and these changes were inhibited by irbesartan treatment (<it>P </it>< 0.05). Double staining of the HAECs indicated a co-localization of CD31 and FSP1 and that some cells acquired spindle-shaped morphologies and a loss of CD31 staining; however, treatment with irbesartan attenuated the expression of EndMT (<it>P </it>< 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings suggest a novel mechanism in HG-induced endothelial damage via the mediation of the EndMT by angiotensin II, which was inhibited by Irbesartan.</p

Study of ‘Fingerprints’ for Green Tea from Different Planting Areas in Eastern China

Green tea is one of the main teas in China, which is unfermented and retains more natural substances of fresh tea leaves. This is the preliminary study of&nbsp; application of ‘fingerprints’ based on differences in component composition of green tea. Five green teas from different areas in eastern China are&nbsp; analyzed, which are processed by microwave-assisted solvent (ethanol) extraction method to obtain tea polyphenols, flavonoids, polysaccharides,&nbsp; pigments (thearubigins, theaflavins, theabrownins). The results show that the component composition of five green teas are varied from each other;&nbsp; based on these contents varieties, we have constructed a ‘fingerprint’ and applied linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and hierarchical cluster analysis&nbsp; (HCA) to assist in the identification of these five green teas. This method does not require large, expensive instruments (such as high performance liquid&nbsp; chromatograph, gas chromatograph, mass spectrometer, etc.), and is easy to use, which provides a new avenue for the identification of tea.&nbsp

Directional enhancement of selected high-order-harmonics from intense laser irradiated blazed grating targets

Relativistically intense laser solid target interaction has been proved to be a promising way to generate high-order harmonics, which can be used to diagnose ultrafast phenomena. However, their emission direction and spectra still lack tunability. Based upon two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we show that directional enhancement of selected high-order-harmonics can be realized using blazed grating targets. Such targets can select harmonics with frequencies being integer times of the grating frequency. Meanwhile, the radiation intensity and emission area of the harmonics are increased. The emission direction is controlled by tailoring the local blazed structure. Theoretical and electron dynamics analysis for harmonics generation, selection and directional enhancement from the interaction between multi-cycle laser and grating target are carried out. These studies will benefit the generation and application of laser plasma-based high order harmonics

Simultaneous polarization transformation and amplification of multi-petawatt laser pulses in magnetized plasmas

With increasing laser peak power, the generation and manipulation of high-power laser pulses become a growing challenge for conventional solid-state optics due to their limited damage threshold. As a result, plasma-based optical components that can sustain extremely high fields are attracting increasing interest. Here, we propose a type of plasma waveplate based on magneto-optical birefringence under a transverse magnetic field, which can work under extremely high laser power. Importantly, this waveplate can simultaneously alter the polarization state and boost the peak laser power. It is demonstrated numerically that an initially linearly polarized laser pulse with 5 petawatt peak power can be converted into a circularly polarized pulse with a peak power higher than 10 petawatts by such a waveplate with a centimeter-scale diameter. The energy conversion efficiency of the polarization transformation is about 98%. The necessary waveplate thickness is shown to scale inversely with plasma electron density n e and the square of magnetic field B 0, and it is about 1 cm for n e = 3 × 10 20 cm −3 and B 0 = 100 T. The proposed plasma waveplate and other plasma-based optical components can play a critical role for the effective utilization of multi-petawatt laser systems

A comprehensive overview of exosome lncRNAs: emerging biomarkers and potential therapeutics in endometriosis

Endometriosis is a gynecological condition that significantly impacting women’s daily lives. In recent years, the incidence of endometriosis has been rising yearly and is now an essential contributor to female infertility. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles (EVs) that carry long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and shield lncRNA from the outside environment thanks to their vesicle-like structure. The role of exosome-derived lncRNAs in endometriosis is also receiving more study as high-throughput sequencing technology develops. Several lncRNAs with variable expression may be crucial to the emergence and growth of endometriosis. The early diagnosis of endometriosis will be considerably improved by further high specificity and sensitivity Exosome lncRNA screening. Exosomes assist lncRNAs in carrying out their roles, offering a new target for creating endometriosis-specific medications. In order to serve as a reference for clinical research on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment options of endometriosis, this paper covers the role of exosome lncRNAs in endometriosis and related molecular mechanisms

Tuning electronic structure of PdZn nanocatalyst via acid-etching strategy for highly selective and stable electrolytic nitrogen fixation under ambient conditions

Abstract(#br)Although ambient nitrogen fixation powered by renewable electricity is emerging as a highly attractive alternative to the classical Haber–Bosch process, it still remains extremely challenging. In this work, a facile acid-etching strategy was employed to synthesize defect-rich PdZn nanoparticles (NPs) supported on N-doped hollow carbon polyhedrons (etched-PdZn/NHCP), which could serve as an attractive and efficient electrocatalyst for the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR). The synthesized etched-PdZn/NHCP electrocatalyst achieved higher NH 3 yields (5.28 μg mg -1 cat. h -1 ) than pristine PdZn NPs in a phosphate buffer solution. Remarkably, the existence of abundant defects in the etched PdZn NPs favored N 2 adsorption and activation, resulting in significantly high Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 16.9% towards NH 3 and outperforming previously reported Pd-based NRR electrocatalysts. Furthermore, the etched-PdZn/NHCP cathode exhibited good long-term electrochemical durability with both the NH 3 production and the FE remaining practically stable after 50 h of electrolysis

Diffusion entropy analysis on the scaling behavior of financial markets

In this paper the diffusion entropy technique is applied to investigate the scaling behavior of financial markets. The scaling behaviors of four representative stock markets, Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard&Poor 500, Heng Seng Index, and Shang Hai Stock Synthetic Index, are almost the same; with the scale-invariance exponents all in the interval $[0.92, 0.95]$. These results provide a strong evidence of the existence of long-rang correlation in financial time series, thus several variance-based methods are restricted for detecting the scale-invariance properties of financial markets. In addition, a parsimonious percolation model for stock markets is proposed, of which the scaling behavior agrees with the real-life markets well.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Control of laser light by a plasma immersed in a tunable strong magnetic field

The interaction between laser light and an underdense plasma immersed in a spatio-temporally tunable magnetic field is studied analytically and numerically. The transversely nonuniform magnetic field can serve as a magnetic channel, which can act on laser propagation in a similar way to the density channel. The envelope equation for laser intensity evolution is derived, which contains the effects of magnetic channel and relativistic self-focusing. Due to the magnetic field applied, the critical laser power for relativistic self-focusing can be significantly reduced. Theory and particle-in-cell simulations show that a weakly relativistic laser pulse can propagate with a nearly constant peak intensity along the magnetic channel for a distance much longer than its Rayleigh length. By setting the magnetic field tunable in both space and time, the simulation further shows that the magnetized plasma can then act as a lens of varying focal length to control the movement of laser focal spot, decoupling the laser group velocity from the light speed c in vacuum