The era of nano-bionic: 2D materials for wearable and implantable body sensors

Nano-bionics have the potential of revolutionizing modern medicine. Among nano-bionic devices, body sensors allow to monitor in real-time the health of patients, to achieve personalized medicine, and even to restore or enhance human functions. The advent of two-dimensional (2D) materials is facilitating the manufacturing of miniaturized and ultrathin bioelectronics, that can be easily integrated in the human body. Their unique electronic properties allow to efficiently transduce physical and chemical stimuli into electric current. Their flexibility and nanometric thickness facilitate the adaption and adhesion to human body. The low opacity permits to obtain transparent devices. The good cellular adhesion and reduced cytotoxicity are advantageous for the integration of the devices in vivo. Herein we review the latest and more significant examples of 2D material-based sensors for health monitoring, describing their architectures, sensing mechanisms, advantages and, as well, the challenges and drawbacks that hampers their translation into commercial clinical devices

Withaferin A induces apoptosis in rat C6 glioma cells through regulating NF-ΚB nuclear translocation and activation of caspase cascade

Background: The demand for the chemopreventive drug from the plant source is increasing in recent times, owing to its various biological activities without any adverse effect. The intention of this current study was to examine the antiglioma effect of Withaferin A (WFA) on C6 glioma cell line model.Materials and Methods: C6 glioma cells were administrated with different concentration of WFA (50, 100, 200 and 500 μg/mL) and DMSO (control) group to examine its anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic activities.Results: Treatment with WFA showed a significant decline in the glioma cell count in a dose-dependent manner and thus proving its anti-proliferative effect. Similarly, inflammatory markers were also substantially lowered upon treatment with different concentration of WFA. However, DNA fragmentation and apoptotic markers like Caspase-3 and 9 were concomitantly enhanced after co-cultured with different concentration of WFA and thus exhibiting its cytotoxicity efficacy. Furthermore, the protein expression of Bcl2 and Bax were markedly downregulated and upregulated respectively; upon treatment with WFA on C6 glioma cells.Conclusion: The outcome of this study evidently demonstrates that C6 glioma cells co-cultured with increased concentration of WFA, showed an anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic effect in a dose-dependent fashion.Keywords: Withaferin A, C6 glioma cells, anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory, caspase, apoptosi

Linking nutrient strategies with plant size along a grazing gradient: Evidence from Leymus chinensis in a natural pasture

AbstractStudying the changes in nutrient use strategies induced by grazing can provide insight into the process of grassland degradation and is important for improving grassland quality and enhancing ecosystem function. Dominant species in meadow steppe can optimize their use of limiting resources; however, the regulation of nutrient use strategies across grazing gradients is not fully understood. Therefore, in this study, we report an in situ study in which the impact of grazing rates on nutrient use strategies of Leymus chinensis, the dominant plant species in eastern Eurasian temperate steppes, was investigated. We conducted a large randomized controlled experiment (conducted continuously for five years in grassland plots in a natural pasture in Hailar, eastern Mongolia Plateau, China) to assess the effects of grazing rate treatments (0.00, 0.23, 0.34, 0.46, 0.69, and 0.92 adult cattle unit (AU) ha−1) on L. chinensis along a grazing gradient and employed a random sampling approach to compare the accumulation, allocation, and stoichiometry of C, N, and P in leaves and stems. Our findings demonstrated the follows: (i) The height of L. chinensis decreased with an increase in the grazing gradient, and the concentrations of C, N, and P significantly increased; (ii) the accumulation of C, N, and P per individual was negatively correlated with the concentration of aboveground tissues, suggesting that there was a tradeoff in L. chinensis between nutrient accumulation and concentration at the individual scale; (iii) the leaf-to-stem ratio of C, N, and P accumulation increased with grazing intensity, indicating a tradeoff in nutrient allocation and plant size at the individual plant level; and (iv) grazing rates were negatively correlated with the ratios of C:N and C:P in the stem; however, these ratios in leaves significantly increased with grazing intensity. Our findings suggest that L. chinensis in meadow steppe adapts to grazing disturbance through tradeoffs between plant size and nutrient use strategies. Moreover, our results imply that grazing produces a compensatory effect on nutrient use efficiency between the stems and leaves of L. chinensis

Hsa_circ_0006571 promotes spinal metastasis through sponging microRNA-138 to regulate sirtuin 1 expression in lung adenocarcinoma

Copyright © 2009 - 2021 AME Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Open Access Statement:This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Background: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are known to participate in lung cancer. However, their role in spinal metastasis (SM) of lung adenocarcinoma remains elusive. In this study, we determined that hsa_circ_0006571 serves as a sponge for miR-138, which targets sirtuin 1 (Sirt1) in the development of SM. Methods: A human circRNA microarray was performed to compare SM and lung adenocarcinoma samples. The expression of hsa_circ_0006571 and miR-138 was determined using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in vitro and in vivo. Cell proliferation was performed by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and apoptosis was analyzed by Annexin V/PI staining. RNA-pulldown and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) were used to analyze the interaction between hsa_circ_0006571. Tumor metastasis was determined through a xenograft experiment in vivo. Results: Hsa_circ_0006571 was observed to be significantly upregulated in SM tissues through circRNA microarray and qPCR. We detected a lower expression of miR-138 in SM tissues compared with lung adenocarcinoma. Hsa_circ_0006571 silencing suppressed lung cancer cell proliferation and migration while promoting apoptosis. Hsa_circ_0006571 interacted with miR-138 to promote expression of Sirt1, leading to activation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Xenograft experiments showed that downregulation of hsa_circ_0006571 delayed the SM of lung adenocarcinoma cells via the miR-138-Sirt1 axis. Conclusions: Hsa_circ_0006571 promoted tumor cell migration and invasion via the miR-138/Sirt1 pathway. Our observations indicate that circRNAs are possible novel therapeutic targets for SM of lung adenocarcinoma.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81572629, 81772855 and 81701370).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Increased serum myeloid-related protein 8/14 level is associated with atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetic patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Myeloid-related protein 8/14 (MRP8/14) is a stable heterodimer formed by two different calcium-binding proteins (MRP8 and MRP14). Studies have identified that MRP8/14 regulates vascular inflammation and serves as a novel marker of acute coronary syndrome. In this study, we evaluated the correlation between serum levels of MRP8/14, hsCRP, endogenous secretory receptor for advanced glycation end-products (esRAGE) and the occurrence of coronary artery disease (CAD), or carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) when CAD was not yet developed in diabetic patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Serum levels of MRP8/14, esRAGE and hsCRP were measured in 375 diabetic patients. Then the results of those who had CAD were compared against who had not. Also, we investigated the associations between above-mentioned indicators and IMT of subjects without CAD in both diabetic group and non-diabetic one.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Serum MRP8/14 was significantly higher in CAD than in non-CAD group (9.7 ± 3.6 ug/ml vs. 8.2 ± 3.0 ug/ml, <it>P </it>< 0.001). It was associated with severity of CAD (<it>r </it>= 0.16, <it>P </it>= 0.026). In non-CAD group, MRP8/14 was associated with IMT in patients with (<it>r </it>= 0.30, <it>P </it>< 0.001) or without diabetes (<it>r </it>= 0.26, <it>P </it>= 0.015). The areas under the curves of receiver operating characteristic for CAD were 0.63 (95% CI 0.57-0.68) for MRP8/14, 0.76 (95% CI 0.71-0.81) for hsCRP and 0.62 (95% CI 0.56 -0.67) for esRAGE.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In summary, we report that diabetic patients with CAD had elevated plasma MRP8/14 levels which were also positively correlated with the severity of CAD and carotid IMT in patients without clinically overt CAD.</p

A novel in situ diffusion strategy to fabricate high performance cathodes for low temperature proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cells

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.: 21676261, U1632131 and 51602238). The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for a RSE BP Hutton Prize in Energy Innovation and EPSRC Platform grant, EP/K015540/1. We also would like to thank the support from the China Scholarship Council (No. 201606340101).Developing new low-cost high-performance cobalt-free cathode materials for low temperature proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cells (H-SOFCs) has been an imperative topic. In response to this challenge, we herein develop a novel in situ Pr diffusion strategy based on a Sm0.2Ce0.8O2-δ-Pr(Pr0.5Ba1.5)Cu3O7-δ (SDC-PBCu, 3:7 wt%) compound, to achieve a perovskite-related proton-blocking composite cathode (PBCC) Ce1-xPrxO2-δ-Ba2CeCu3O7.4-Sm2Ba1.33Ce0.67Cu3O9-CuO (PDC-BCC-SBCC-CuO) for BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.2O3-δ-based H-SOFCs. The single cell achieves a remarkable performance with a maximum power density (MPD) of 1000 and 566 mW cm-2, corresponding to the interfacial polarization resistance (RP) of 0.037 and 0.188 Ω cm2 at 700 and 600 °C, respectively. The XRD results demonstrate that the PBCu phase disappears after the calcination of the mixed SDC-PBCu composite powder at 900 °C, with the formation of four new phases including fluorite structured PDC, orthorhombic layered material BCC, tetragonal perovskite-related SBCC and a small quantity of metallic oxide CuO, being favorable for a superior cathode performance. The ascendant electrochemical performance including the very high MPD and the lower RP obtained here indicate that the quaternary cobalt-free PBCC PDC-BCC-SBCC-CuO is a preferable alternative for high-performance low-temperature H-SOFCs.PostprintPostprintPeer reviewe