Exosomes derived from endothelial progenitor cells ameliorate LPS-induced brain microvascular endothelial cells injury by delivering miR-126a-5p.

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play a crucial role in maintaining vascular health and aiding in the repair of damaged blood vessels. However, the specific impact of EPCs-derived exosomes on vascular endothelial cell injury caused by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) remains inadequately understood. This study aims to explore the potential benefits of EPC-exosomes in mitigating LPS-induced vascular injury and to elucidate the underlying mechanism. Initially, EPCs were isolated from mouse peripheral blood, and their identity was confirmed through flow cytometry and immunocytochemistry. Subsequently, the exosomes derived from EPCs were identified using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and western blot analysis. A sepsis model was induced by subjecting brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) to LPS-induced injury. Both EPC and their exosomes demonstrated a significant increase in BMECs proliferation, reduced apoptosis, decreased levels of pro-inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-6, and caspase-3), and enhanced sprouting and angiogenesis of BMECs. Notable, the Exosomes demonstrated a more pronounced impact on these parameters. Furthermore, both EPCs and Exosomes exhibited significantly increased levels of miR-126a-5p, with the Exosomes showing a more substantial enhancement. These findings suggest that supplementing exosomal miR-126a-5p from EPCs can provide protective effects on BMECs, offering a potential therapeutic option for treating sepsis-induced microvascular endothelial cell injury.

Vacancy engineering in Co-doped CuS1-x with fast Electronic/Ionic migration kinetics for efficient Lithium-Ion batteries.

Slow Li ion diffusion kinetics and disordered migration of electrons are two most crucial obstacles to be resolved in electrode material design for higher rate capability of Li-ion batteries. Herein, the Co-doped CuS1-x with abundant high active S vacancies is proposed to accelerate the electronic and ionic diffusion during the energy conversion process, because contraction of Co-S bond can cause the expansion of atomic layer spacing, thus promoting the Li ion diffusion and directional electron migration parallel to the Cu2S2 plane, and also induce the increasing of active sites to improve the Li+ adsorption and electrocatalytic conversion kinetics. Especially, the electrocatalytic studies and plane charge density difference simulations demonstrate that electron transfer near the Co site is more frequent, which is conducive to more rapid energy conversion and storage. Those S vacancies formed by Co-S contraction in CuS1-x structure obviously increase Li ion adsorption energy in Co-doped CuS1-x to 2.21 eV, higher than the 2.1 eV for CuS1-x and 1.88 eV for CuS. Taking these advantages, the Co-doped CuS1-x as anode of Li-ion batterie shows an impressive rate capability of 1309 mAh·g-1 at 1A g-1, and long cycling stability (retaining 1064 mAh·g-1 capacity after 500 cycles). This work provides new opportunities for the design of high-performance electrode material for rechargeable metal-ion batteries.

Genetic diversity of Prunus armeniaca L. var. ansu Maxim. germplasm revealed by simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers.

The genetic diversity and genetic structure of P. armeniaca var. ansu were analyzed based on SSR markers. The aim was to provide scientific basis for conservation, efficient utilization, molecular marker assisted breeding and improved variety selection of P. armeniaca var. ansu germplasm resources. The results showed that the level of genetic diversity within the population was high. Among the 30 SSR markers, the mean number of observed alleles was 11.433, the mean number of effective alleles was 4.433, the mean of Shannon information index was 1.670, and the mean of polymorphic information content was 0.670. Among the eight provenances, Tuanjie Township, Xinyuan County, Xinjiang had the highest genetic diversity. The observed alleles, effective alleles, Shannon information index and Nei's gene diversity index among provenances were higher than those within provenances. Based on Bayesian mathematical modeling and UPGMA cluster analysis, 86 P. armeniaca var. ansu accessions were divided into three subpopulations and four groups, which reflected individual differences in provenances. Subpopulations classified by Bayesian mathematical modeling and groups classified by UPGMA cluster analysis were significantly correlated with geographical provenance (Sig<0.01) and the provenances significantly impacted classification of groups. The provenances played an important role in classification of groups. The genetic distance between Tuanjie Township of Xinyuan County and Alemale Township of Xinyuan County was the smallest, while the genetic relationship between them was the closest and the degree of genetic differentiation was small.

Association between the international index of erectile function-15 and female sexual function index in Chinese infertile couples.

Infertility has a detrimental impact on the sexual function of involuntarily childless couples. However, the effect of male sexual function on female partner's sexual function in infertile couples remains unknown. In order to explore the association between these couples' sexual function, 324 consecutive couples with infertility and 326 female-age-matched fertile couples were enrolled in this study. The female sexual function index (FSFI) and sexual history were evaluated in female partners. In addition to the international index of erectile function-15 (IIEF-15) and sexual history, self-reported intravaginal ejaculation latency time was evaluated in male partners. The demographics and depression status of couples were also recorded. We observed a higher occurrence of female sexual dysfunction (FSD) in infertile females than in fertile females (58.6% vs. 50.3%, p = 0.033). FSD was associated with a number of risk variables, including partner's erectile dysfunction (ED), depression and sexual frequency. The overall FSFI score was positively associated with the IIEF-15 score (r = 0.347, p < 0.001). Besides, six FSFI domains were positively correlated with five IIEF-15 domains (p < 0.05). In conclusion, it is critical to assess and address FSD as well as the sexual problems in male partners in infertile couples.