Dual Self-Amplification Homogeneous Electrochemiluminescence Biosensor for Terminal Deoxynucleotidyl Transferase Activity Based on Controlling the Surface Morphology and Charge of Reporter Nanoparticles.

Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) is upregulated in several types of leukemia and is considered a disease biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for leukemia. In this research, a homogeneous electrochemiluminescence (ECL) method based on the control of surface charge and morphology of tris (2,2'-bipyridine) ruthenium(II) chloride hexahydrate-doped silica nanoparticles (Ru@SiO2 NPs) has been designed for TdT activity detection. A small amount of short single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) was modified onto the surface of Ru@SiO2 NPs, and the nanoparticles with a slight positive charge experienced electrostatic attraction with the indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode with a negative charge, so relatively high ECL signals had been detected. Under the action of TdT, the ssDNA was significantly elongated, carrying numerous negative charges on its phosphate backbone, so the overall negative charge of the reporter nanoparticles was enhanced, resulting in a strong electrostatic repulsion with the ITO electrode. Simultaneously, the long ssDNA wrapped around the nanoparticles hindered the approach of the coreactant. Due to the dual effects, the ECL response of the system decreased. The constructed biosensor exhibited excellent sensitivity toward TdT over a range spanning from 1 to 100 U/L. The limit of detection is as low as 1.78 U/L. The developed approach was effectively applied to detect TdT activity in leukemic patients' leukocyte extracts.

Experimental study of miR-503 regulating the activity as well as the function of degenerated human nucleus pulposus cells of the intervertebral disc through inhibiting Wnt pathway.

OBJECTIVES: To preliminarily explore miR-503 in human degenerative disc nucleus pulposus cell effects as well as mechanisms. METHODS: We utilized bioinformatics analysis to determine the miRNA differential expression as well as key signal pathways existing in human nucleus pulposus cells of the degenerative intervertebral discs. Human degenerative disc nucleus pulposus cell model was cultured and established in vitro. miR-503 and TNIK-related genes are knocked down and overexpressed by lentiviral infection, then we added Wnt signaling pathway agonists; CCK-8, ELISA, RT-PCR, Western blot were used to detect proliferation, apoptosis, and activity of cells. RESULTS: Bioinformatics results demonstrated that miR-503 was significantly down-regulated in human nucleus pulposus cells of the degenerated intervertebral discs. The targeted differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in Wnt signaling pathway. However, after screening differential genes in the Wnt pathway, it was demonstrated that miR-503 mainly regulates TNIK to achieve Wnt pathway regulation. Cell experiments in vitro showed that cell activity and function were decreased while apoptosis was increased in the degenerative cell model. CONCLUSIONS: miR-503 can improve the function and activity of human nucleus pulposus cells of degenerated intervertebral disc by inhibiting Wnt expression. miR-503 mainly regulates the Wnt pathway through targeted binding with TNIK.

MiRNA-206 Affects the Recovery of Sciatic Function by Stimulating BDNF Activity through the Down-regulation of Notch3 Expression.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects and mechanisms of microRNA 206 (miRNA-206) on neurological recovery through Notch receptor 3 (Notch3). METHODS: The sciatic functional index (SFI), nerve conduction velocity (NCV), tricipital muscle wet weight (TWW) and cross-sectional area of the muscular fiber, and grip strength of posterior limbs were detected by establishing a model of the sciatic nerve to evaluate the effect of sciatic nerve injury model. miRNA-206 expression in the model was detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), to regulate the effects of miRNA-206 on the proliferation of gastrocnemius myocytes by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8). RESULTS: SFI of the model established by immediate epineurium suture after sciatic nerve resection was in the range of -150% to -100% and TWW, the average area of gastrocnemius myocytes, the NCV, and the grasping power of the hind limbs in the model were all lower than those in the normal group. And in the model, TWW, the average area of gastrocnemius myocytes, NCV, and grip strength of posterior limbs were lower in the normal group, which verified the successful establishment of the model. CONCLUSION: Over-expression of miRNA-206 can down-regulate Notch3 expression, and then stimulate brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) activity to promote the repair and functional recovery of sciatic nerve injury.

Performance of tidal and non-tidal mangrove constructed wetlands in treating maricultural wastewater.

This study aims to evaluate the removal efficiency of nitrogen and phosphorus in the tidal and non-tidal constructed wetlands with typical mangrove (Aegiceras corniculatum) as a wetland plant model to treat simulated marine wastewater. The results showed that the average removals of NO2--N, NO3--N, NH4+-N, TN and TP were 88.4, 80.5, 81.4, 79.7 and 40.8%, respectively, in the non-tidal subsurface flow (HF) mangrove wetland, and 65.3, 61.3, 90.6, 60.1 and 19.2% in the tidal (TF) mangrove wetland, and 11.4, 64.6, 68.7, 56.6 and 16.3% in the non-tidal free water surface (FWS) mangrove wetland, respectively. Moreover, it was observed that the composition of microbial communities in the HF mangrove wetland was beneficial to the nitrogen cycle and has more quantitative associations of N-metabolism genes. The results indicated that non-tidal HF mangrove wetland has a stable and an effective capacity for potential treatment of marine wastewater compared with the non-tidal FWS mangrove wetland and tidal TF mangrove wetland.

The mechanism of medial collateral ligament repair in knee osteoarthritis based on the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB inflammatory signaling pathway.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the role of medial collateral ligament repair in knee osteoarthritis based on TLR4/ MyD88/ NF-κ inflammatory signaling pathway. METHODS: The modified Hulth method was used to establish models, which were divided into a repair group, a model group, and a sham operation group. The repair group was treated with medial ligament repair technology. Synovium and cartilage morphological changes were evaluated by hematoxylin-eosin staining to determine the degree of reparation. The cartilage was evaluated by the Mankin's score, and inflammatory factors in cartilage tissues were determined by ELISA. The changes in TLR4, MyD88, and NF-κB levels were analyzed using the real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot assays. RESULTS: The synovial and cartilage damages in the repair group and the sham operation group were significantly alleviated compared to the model group. The Mankin's score of the model group was significantly lower than the other two groups. The expression of inflammatory factors in the repair group and the sham operation group were significantly lower than in the model group. The expressions of those factors in the repair group and the model group were higher than those in the model group. CONCLUSIONS: Medial ligament repair can improve the cartilage morphology and delay the development and progression of knee osteoarthritis by inhibiting the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Higher Temperatures Do Not Always Achieve Better Antibiotic Resistance Gene Removal in Anaerobic Digestion of Swine Manure.

This study employed high-throughput quantitative PCR and 16S rRNA sequencing to evaluate the effect of temperature and residual antibiotics on the dynamics of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and microbial communities during anaerobic digestion of swine manure. The abundances of total ARGs and 16S rRNA genes significantly decreased in all of four treatments (25°C, 37°C, and 37°C with 50 mg of wet weight antibiotics of body weight, and 55°C). The abundances of most ARG types were significantly correlated with those of the 16S rRNA gene and transposase gene (P < 0.01). However, the abundances of total ARGs at 55°C were much higher than those of other treatments. Meanwhile, the microbial communities at 55°C, where the Streptococcus pathogen remained at a relatively high abundance and cellulose degraders and hydrogen producers, such as Ethanoligenens and Coprococcus bacteria, increased, were markedly different from those of other treatments. Redundancy analysis indicates that temperature, pH, and the genus Streptococcus had the highest explanation for ARG variation among experimental factors, chemical properties, and representative genera, respectively. Network analysis further showed that the genus Streptococcus contributed greatly to the higher ARG abundance at 55°C. The moderate antibiotic residue only caused a slight and transitory inhibition for microbially diverse populations and promotion for ARG abundance, probably due to the degradation of antibiotics and microbial adaptability. Our results clarify the cooperativity of gene transfer-related items on ARG variation and intensively prove that higher temperature cannot always achieve better ARG removal in anaerobic digestion unless pathogens and gene transfer elements are more efficiently inhibited.IMPORTANCE Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are frequently detected with high abundance in manure-applied soils. Anaerobic digestion is one of widely used processes for animal waste treatment. Thus, it is critical to understand the potential of anaerobic digestion to attenuate ARGs. Although some previous studies recommended thermophilic digestion for ARG removal, they did not get sufficient evidence to support this view. The antibiotics applied to animals are mostly excreted through feces and urine because of incomplete metabolism. It is indispensable to know whether residual antibiotics in manure will hinder ARG attenuation in anaerobic digesters. The significance of our research is in comprehensively understanding the evolution and mechanism of ARGs in anaerobic digestion of swine manure affected by temperature and residual antibiotics, which will allow the development of an ARG elimination strategy before their release into the environment.

Comprehensive nursing based on feedforward control and postoperative FMA and SF-36 levels in femoral intertrochanteric fracture.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of comprehensive nursing based on the concept of feedforward control on postoperative FMA (Fugl-Meyer Assessment) and SF-36 (health status questionnaire) in patients with femoral trochanteric fracture. METHODS: 114 patients with femoral intertrochanteric fracture were enrolled in the study. Patients were divided into control group and observation group according to order of admission, 57 cases in each group. Both groups of patients received proximal femoral nail antirotation surgery, conventional nursing and feedforward control based comprehensive nursing. Nursing effects of the two groups of patients were compared. RESULTS: Anus first exhaust time, the time of getting out of bed and hospitalization time, and after nursing, SAS (Self-Rating Anxiety) and SDS (Self-Rating Depression) score of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group (p<0.05). FMA and SF-36 score of the observation group after surgical nursing were significantly higher than those of the control group (p<0.05). The total incidence of complications in the observation group was lower than that in the control group (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Comprehensive care based on the concept of feedforward control has a better nursing effect for patients with intertrochanteric fracture, which can shorten the time of patient getting out of bed and hospitalization and reduce the incidence of post-complications.

Damage Detection Based on Static Strain Responses Using FBG in a Wind Turbine Blade.

The damage detection of a wind turbine blade enables better operation of the turbines, and provides an early alert to the destroyed events of the blade in order to avoid catastrophic losses. A new non-baseline damage detection method based on the Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) in a wind turbine blade is developed in this paper. Firstly, the Chi-square distribution is proven to be an effective damage-sensitive feature which is adopted as the individual information source for the local decision. In order to obtain the global and optimal decision for the damage detection, the feature information fusion (FIF) method is proposed to fuse and optimize information in above individual information sources, and the damage is detected accurately through of the global decision. Then a 13.2 m wind turbine blade with the distributed strain sensor system is adopted to describe the feasibility of the proposed method, and the strain energy method (SEM) is used to describe the advantage of the proposed method. Finally results show that the proposed method can deliver encouraging results of the damage detection in the wind turbine blade.

Evaluation of rice straw and its transformation products on norfloxacin degradation and antibiotic resistome attenuation during soil incorporation.

Straw incorporation into reclaimed soils has been demonstrated to increase soil nutrients and has the potential to efficiently increase crop production. However, which incorporation mode is more helpful in the control of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) remains unknown. In this study, we systematically compared the occurrence of antibiotic resistome in norfloxacin contaminated soils amended with rice straw (RS) and the transformation products, biochar (RSB) and ash (RSA). RS significantly promoted the degradation of norfloxacin (0.0648 d-1, 3 times faster than control), whereas RSB had little effect and RSA hindered the degradation. Based on metagenomic analysis, RS and RSB significantly reduced the ARGs relative abundance (0.1421 and 0.1991 compared to 0.2540 in control) at the end of soil incubation. Adonis test indicated that all of amendment treatments significantly affect the microbial communities in soils, whereas only RS and RSB significantly affect the variation of antibiotic resistome. Procrustes analysis confirmed the association of microbial communities and ARGs. Network analysis further revealed that the reduction in Actinobacteria was the main reason for the general decrease of ARGs relative abundance during soil incorporation, whereas Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were responsible for temporary promotion of ARGs in RS and RSB at the early stage. Finally, scientifically setting up the usage of rice straw and optimizing the preparation process of biochar are suggested for the synchronous control of the risk of antibiotics and ARGs during soil incorporation.

A Novel Blade Vibration Monitoring Experimental System Based on Blade Tip Sensing.

Due to its non-intrusive manner, blade tip timing (BTT) is considered a potential tool for the condition monitoring of turbomachinery. The challenge of BTT relates to significant under-sampled signal processing, which is induced by a lower number of probes. Signal processing assumes that the ability of the hardware system can meet the requirements of the software algorithm. The abilities of the hardware, including the time resolution of the data acquisition system (DAS) and the dynamic characteristics of rigs, are compromised, particularly when the rotating speed increases. This increase in speed causes two problems for BTT: (1) the rig is less stable, due to the reduction of dynamic stiffness; (2) the time resolution of the DAS can be inadequate for identification. To promote the performance of the hardware system, here a BTT rig was designed with high dynamic performance, including a new DAS with a time resolution of 10 ns. A variety of commonly used BTT signal processing methods are used to analyze the experimental data and verify the good reliability and validity of the experimental platform.

Evaluation of clinical safety and efficacy of left bundle branch area pacing in comparison with right ventricular septal pacing.

ABSTRACT: Left bundle branch area pacing (LBBaP) has recently emerged as a new physiological pacing strategy. The purpose of this study is to compare LBBaP with right ventricular sepal pacing (RVSP) in terms of their clinical safety and efficacy.From February 2019 to May 2020, consecutive pacing-indicated patients were prospectively enrolled and divided into 2 groups. Ventricular synchrony indexes such as QRS duration (QRSd), interventricular mechanical delay and septal-posterior wall motion delay, left ventricular function such as left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), pacing parameters, and complications were evaluated in the perioperative period and during follow-up.LBBaP was successful in 45 patients (88.2%), and finally 46 patients underwent RVSP. With LBBaP, ventricular electricalmechanical synchrony were similar to those of native-conduction system (P = .78). However, the ventricular electrical synchrony (QRSd, 108.47±7.64 vs 130.63±13.63ms, P < .001) and mechanical synchrony (interventricular mechanical delay, 27.68±4.33 vs 39.88±5.83, P < .001; septal-posterior wall motion delay, 40.39±23.21 vs 96.36±11.55, P < .001) in the LBBaP group were significantly better than those in the RVSP group. No significant differences in LVEDD (46 [44-48.5] vs 47 [44-52] mm, P = .49) and LVEF% (66 [62.5-70] vs 64 [61-68], P = .76) was observed between 2 groups at last follow-up. But, in the subgroup analysis, LVEDD was shorter (46 [44-49] vs 50 [47-58] mm, P = .03) and the LVEF% was higher (65 [62-68] vs 63 [58-65], P = .02) in the LBBaP-H (high ventricular pacing ratio >40%) group compared with RVSP-H group at last follow-up. There were lower capture thresholds (0.59±0.18V vs 0.71 ± 0.26 V, P = 0.01) at implantation in the LBBaP group than those in the RVSP group, with R-wave amplitudes and pacing impedances showing no significant difference between 2 groups. No serious complications were found in both 2 groups at implantation and follow-ups.This study confirms the clinical safety and efficacy of LBBaP, and it produces better ventricular electrical-mechanical synchrony than RVSP. The event of pacing-induced left ventricular dysfunction is lower in the LBBaP-H group than RVSP-H group.

Preparation of Drug Sustained-Release Scaffold with De-Epithelized Human Amniotic Epithelial Cells and Thiolated Chitosan Nanocarriers and Its Repair Effect on Spinal Cord Injury.

The disability rate of spinal cord injury (SCI) is extremely high, and stem cell inhibition is one of the most effective schemes in treating the spinal cord, but the survival rate is extremely low after stem cell transplantation, so it cannot be widely used in clinic. Studies have revealed that loading stem cells with biological scaffolds can effectively improve the survival rate and effect after stem cell transplantation. Therefore, this research was devised to analyze the repair effect of thiolated chitosan nanocarriers scaffold carrying de-epithelized human amniotic epithelial cells (HAECs) on SCI. And we used thiolated chitosan as nanocarriers, aiming to provide a reliable theoretical basis for future clinical practice. Through experiments, we concluded that the Tarlov and BBB scores of rats with SCI were raised under the intervention of thiolated chitosan carrying HAECs, while the inflammatory factors in serum, oxidative stress reaction in spinal cord tissue, apoptosis rate of nerve cells, and autophagy protein expression were all suppressed. Thus, the thiolated chitosan carrying HAECs may be applied to treat SCI by suppressing autophagy protein expression, oxidative stress response, and release of inflammatory factors in spinal cord tissue, which may be a new clinical therapy for SCI in the future. Even though we cannot understand exactly the therapeutic mechanism of thiolated chitosan carrying HAECs for SCI, the real clinical application of thiolated chitosan carrying HAECs needs to be confirmed by human experiments.

Fitness reduction of antibiotic resistome by an extra carbon source during swine manure composting.

This study employed high-throughput quantitative polymerase chain reaction to evaluate the effects of specific co-substrate and additive on the fitness of antibiotic resistome during swine manure composting. The results showed that corncob particle as a co-substrate significantly reduced the relative abundances of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) simultaneously. The diversity of ARGs was also reduced more effectively by corncob addition. Brick granule as an additive reduced the concentrations of bioavailable Cu and Zn. However, the relative abundances of ARGs and MGEs were not reduced by the addition of brick granule subsequently. Redundancy analysis indicated a negative effect of the C content and positive effects of class I integrase gene (intI) and bioavailable metals on the variation of the relative abundance of ARGs (p < 0.01). The Procrustes test showed a higher goodness-of-fit between the relative abundance of ARGs and 16S rRNA genes (r = 0.8166; p < 0.0001). Our results suggests that the effect of corncob particle on the relative abundance of ARGs was achieved by driving the changes in physicochemical properties and microbial communities. This study confirmed the hypothesis of fitness cost and demonstrated the contribution of extra C source to ARG attenuation during composting.

Safety and efficacy of left bundle branch pacing in comparison with conventional right ventricular pacing: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Right ventricular pacing (RVP) has been widely accepted as a traditional pacing strategy, but long-term RVP has detrimental impact on ventricular synchrony. However, left bundle branch pacing (LBBP) that evolved from His-bundle pacing could maintain ventricular synchrony and overcome its clinical deficiencies such as difficulty of lead implantation, His bundle damage, and high and unstable thresholds. This analysis aimed to appraise the clinical safety and efficacy of LBBP. METHODS: The Medline, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases from inception to November 2020 were searched for studies comparing LBBP and RVP. RESULTS: Seven trials with 451 patients (221 patients underwent LBBP and 230 patients underwent RVP) were included in the analysis. Pooled analyses verified that the paced QRS duration (QRSd) and left ventricular mechanical synchronization parameters of the LBBP capture were similar with the native-conduction mode (P > .7),but LBBP showed shorter QRS duration (weighted mean difference [WMD]: -33.32; 95% confidence interval [CI], -40.44 to -26.19, P < .001), better left ventricular mechanical synchrony (standard mean differences: -1.5; 95% CI: -1.85 to -1.14, P < .001) compared with RVP. No significant differences in Pacing threshold (WMD: 0.01; 95% CI: -0.08 to 0.09, P < .001), R wave amplitude (WMD: 0.04; 95% CI: -1.12 to 1.19, P = .95) were noted between LBBP and RVP. Ventricular impedance of LBBP was higher than that of RVP originally (WMD: 19.34; 95% CI: 3.13-35.56, P = .02), and there was no difference between the 2 groups after follow-up (WMD: 11.78; 95% CI: -24.48 to 48.04, P = .52). And follow-up pacing threshold of LBBP kept stability (WMD: 0.08; 95% CI: -0.09 to 0.25, P = .36). However, no statistical difference existed in ejection fraction between the 2 groups (WMD: 1.41; 95% CI: -1.72 to 4.54, P = .38). CONCLUSIONS: The safety and efficacy of LBBP was firstly verified by meta-analysis to date. LBBP markedly preserve ventricular electrical and mechanical synchrony compared with RVP. Meanwhile, LBBP had stable and excellent pacing parameters. However, LBBP could not be significant difference in ejection fraction between RVP during short- term follow-up.

A novel fractional order PID navigation guidance law by finite time stability approach.

In this paper, a novel fractional order proportional-integral-differential navigation guidance law utilizing finite time stability approach is presented in order to achieve robust performance for intercepting incoming targets. The proposed guidance law is designed following three-loop guidance and control scheme, considering the interceptor's nonlinear 6 degrees-of-freedom model. In the outer loop, normal acceleration commands are generated by the proposed guidance law. In the intermediate loop, these commands are converted into equivalent body rate commands, which are tracked by dynamic inversion based autopilot in the inner loop. A fractional order circle criterion is developed for the finite time stability analysis of this proposed guidance law, whose stability conditions give an analytical bound for the flight up time in which stability can be insured. Extensive 6 degrees-of-freedom simulations and a variety of comparison studies against maneuvering targets are implemented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed guidance law. The simulation results show that the proposed guidance law has better performance when comparing with the proportional navigation and proportional-integral-differential navigation guidance laws.

The inhibition of microRNA-203 on ischemic reperfusion injury after total knee arthroplasty via suppressing MYD88-mdiated toll-like receptor signaling pathway.

Ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI), a complex phenomenon often encountered in surgery, can lead to local and distant tissue destruction and sometimes even death. microRNA-203 (miR-203) has been reported to negatively regulate ischemia induced microglia activation with a feedback to myeloid differentiation primary-response gene 88 (MYD88). Accordingly, our study is to verify the effect of miR-203 and MYD88 on mice in IRI after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). After establishment of IRI mouse model, heart rate (HR) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) in mice were determined. The functional role of miR-203 in IRI was determined using ectopic expression, knockdown and reporter assay experiments. Levels of interferon γ (IFN-γ), interleukin 10 (IL-10), interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were detected, and expression of miR-203, MYD88, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), Faslg, Cleaved-Caspase-3, B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) was evaluated. Initially, HR and MAP were decreased in IRI mice. Forced expression of miR-203 and silencing of MYD88 increased levels of SOD and IL-10 but decreased levels of MDA, CK, LDH, TNF-α, IL-6 and IFN-γ. Additionally, forced expression of miR-203 and silencing of MYD88 increased Bcl-2 expression but decreased MYD88, TLR4, Cleaved-Caspase-3, Falsg and Bax expression. MYD88, a target gene of miR-203, was decreased following miR-203 promotion, while the TLR signaling pathway inactivation occurred following MYD88 silencing. Generally, our study demonstrated the protective effects of miR-203 on mice with IRI after TKA through inhibiting TLR signaling pathway by negatively regulating MYD88.

Expression of microRNA-21 in osteoporotic patients and its involvement in the regulation of osteogenic differentiation.

Expression of microRNA-21 in bone tissue and serum of patients with osteoporosis (OP) and its involvement in the regulation of osteogenic differentiation of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) were investigated. Bone tissue and serum were collected from 48 patients with OP and 48 normal subjects. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to detect the expression of six microRNAs. Among these microRNAs, the expression level of microRNA-21 in bone tissue and serum of OP patients was the lowest. In addition, BMSCs of SD rats were isolated and cultured. Subculture was performed 3 times, transfection of microRNA-21 was performed and osteogenic differentiation was induced. Control group [negative control (NC)] was transfected with microRNA-21 mimics followed by osteogenic induction. Experimental groups were transfected with microRNA-21 analogue (mimics) and microRNA-21 inhibitor (inhibitor) followed by osteogenic induction. Ten days after osteogenic induction, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining and alizarin red staining were performed to measure the mineralized stained area and the number of mineralized nodules in each treatment group. RT-qPCR was used to detect the expression of osteogenic genes in each group of cells. RT-qPCR results showed that microRNA-21 expression was lower in bone tissue and serum of patients with OP than that of normal subjects. Moreover, compared with control group, BMSCs showed increased stained mineralized areas, deeper color and increased number of mineralized nodules. In addition, increased mRNA expression of osteogenic genes was evident after microRNA-21 mimics transfection and osteogenic induction (p<0.05). Compared with control group, BMSCs showed decreased stained mineralized areas, lighter color, decreased number of mineralized nodules, and decreased mRNA expression of osteogenic genes after microRNA-21 inhibitor transfection and osteogenic induction (p<0.05). MicroRNA-21 is expressed at low level in bone tissue and serum in patients with OP, and microRNA-21 can promote osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. Our study provided theoretical basis for drug treatment of OP.

Analysis and Modelling of Non-Fourier Heat Behavior Using the Wavelet Finite Element Method.

Non-Fourier heat behavior is an important issue for film material. The phenomenon is usually observed in some laser induced thermal responses. In this paper, the non-Fourier heat conduction problems with temperature and thermal flux relaxations are investigated based on the wavelet finite element method and solved by the central difference scheme for one- and two-dimensional media. The Cattaneo-Vernotte model and the Dual-Phase-Lagging model are used for finite element formulation, and a new wavelet finite element solving formulation is proposed to address the memory requirement problem. Compared with the current methodologies for the Cattaneo-Vernotte model and the Dual-Phase-Lagging model, the present model is a direct one which describe the thermal behavior by one equation about temperature. Compared with the wavelet method proposed by Xiang et al., the developed method can be used for arbitrary shapes. In order to address the efficient computation problems for the Dual-Phase-Lagging model, a novel iteration updating methodology is also proposed. The proposed iteration algorithms on time avoids the use the global stiffness matrix, which allows the efficient calculation for title issue. Numerical calculations have been conducted in the manner of comparisons with the classical finite element method and spectral finite element method. The comparisons from accuracy, efficiency, flexibility, and applicability validate the developed method to be an effective and alternative tool for material thermal analysis.

The dynamics of hippocampal sensory gating during the development of morphine dependence and withdrawal in rats.

The effects of morphine on hippocampal sensory gating (N40) during the development of morphine dependence and withdrawal were investigated in the double click auditory evoked potential (EP) suppression paradigm. Rats were made dependent upon morphine hydrochloride by a series of injections (every 12 h) over 6 days, followed by withdrawal after stopping morphine administration. Hippocampal gating was examined during the development of dependence and withdrawal. Moreover, the DA antagonist haloperidol was used to assess the contribution of dopamine to hippocampal gating induced by morphine. Our results showed that the morphine-treated rats exhibited significantly disrupted hippocampal gating during the development of morphine dependence and this disrupted gating was partially reversed by haloperidol pretreatment. In contrast, there was significantly enhanced hippocampal gating at the fifth and sixth days of withdrawal. The dynamics of hippocampal gating during the development of morphine dependence and withdrawal suggests the interaction between the hippocampus and opioids.