Glycolytic reprogramming is involved in tissue remodeling on chronic rhinosinusitis.

BACKGROUND: Glycolytic reprogramming is a key feature of chronic inflammatory disease. Extracellular matrix (ECM) produced by myofibroblasts plays an important role in tissue remodeling of nasal mucosa in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). This study aimed to determine whether glycolytic reprogramming contributes to myofibroblast differentiation and ECM production in nasal fibroblasts. METHODS: Primary nasal fibroblasts were isolated from the nasal mucosa of patients with CRS. Glycolytic reprogramming was assessed by measuring the extracellular acidification and oxygen consumption rates in nasal fibroblast, with and without transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-ß1) treatment. Expression of glycolytic enzymes and ECM components was measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, and immunocytochemical staining. Gene set enrichment analysis was performed using whole RNA-sequencing data of nasal mucosa of healthy donors and patients with CRS. RESULT: Glycolysis of nasal fibroblasts stimulated with TGF-B1 was upregulated along with glycolytic enzymes. Hypoxia-inducing factor (HIF)-1α was a high-level regulator of glycolysis, and increased HIF-1α expression promoted glycolysis of nasal fibroblasts, and inhibition of HIF-1α down-regulated myofibroblasts differentiation and ECM production. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that inhibition of the glycolytic enzyme and HIF-1α in nasal fibroblasts regulates myofibroblast differentiation and ECM generation associated with nasal mucosa remodeling.

Eosinophil-Derived Osteopontin Induces the Expression of Pro-Inflammatory Mediators and Stimulates Extracellular Matrix Production in Nasal Fibroblasts: The Role of Osteopontin in Eosinophilic Chronic Rhinosinusitis.

Background: Eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis (ECRS) is a subtype of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and is a refractory or intractable disease. However, a reliable clinical marker or an effective treatment strategy has not yet been established. ECRS is accompanied by excessive eosinophil infiltration and Th2 inflammatory response, which is closely related to tissue remodeling in the upper airways. Objectives: We sought to investigate the effect of eosinophils on tissue remodeling in ECRS. The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of eosinophils on the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators and extracellular matrix (ECM) in nasal fibroblasts and the key mediators that stimulate them. Methods: Butyric acid was used to differentiate EOL-1 cells into eosinophils. We co-cultured differentiated EOL-1 cells and fibroblasts to measure the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators and ECM in fibroblasts. Among the cytokines secreted from the differentiated EOL-1 cells, factors that induced tissue remodeling of fibroblasts were identified. Results: Treatment with butyric acid (BA) differentiated EOL-1 cells into eosinophils. Differentiated EOL-1 cells induced fibroblasts to produce pro-inflammatory mediators, IL-6 and IL-8, and tissue remodeling factor, VEGF. It also induced myofibroblast differentiation and overexpression of ECM components. Differentiated EOL-1 cells overexpressed osteopontin (OPN), and recombinant OPN increased the expression of IL-6, IL-8, VEGF, and ECM components in nasal fibroblast. OPN was overexpressed in the nasal tissue of patients with ECRS and was associated with the severity of CRS. Conclusions: Eosinophil-derived OPN stimulated nasal fibroblasts and contributed to inflammation and tissue remodeling in ECRS. Moreover, the expression level of OPN was proportional to the severity of ECRS. Therefore, OPN regulation is a potential treatment for ECRS.

Implementation of a pulse-type laser detection and ranging system based on heterodyne detection for long-range measurement with high repetition rate.

This paper presents the implementation of a pulse-type LAser Detection And Ranging (LADAR) system based on heterodyne detection for long-range measurement. A pulse-type LADAR based on an intensity direct-detection is certainly simple and mature, but it requires a high peak-power laser and a low-noise avalanche photodiode for long-range measurement, which restricts the scope of the application due to the weight, power consumption, and cost of the laser and the photodetector. In this work, heterodyne detection using a PIN photodiode is implemented to increase receiver sensitivity instead of using a low-noise avalanche photodiode. An optical phase-locked loop is adopted to generate an optical local oscillator signal for heterodyne detection. The proposed heterodyne detection scheme achieves a minimum detectable signal level of -52.6 dBm at a bandwidth of 1.2 GHz, and it is adopted in a pulse-type LADAR system for long-range measurement. The pulse-type LADAR system can measure a distance of 2.77 km at a repetition rate of 40 kHz, and it demonstrates great advantages for realizing real-time 3D imaging for long-range measurement with a high frame rate.

Development and characterization of piezoelectrically actuated corner cube retroreflectors for applications in free-space optical sensor network.

In this paper, we report the development of an optical sensor network (OSN) based on piezoelectrically actuated corner cube retroreflectors (PA-CCRs). PA-CCRs were fabricated by microelectromechanical systems processes and assembled by aligning horizontally actuated mirrors and vertical side walls in a holder, which allows mass production. Fabricated PA-CCRs showed a tilting angle by more than 1.5 deg at 5 V bias voltage. A 3 dB cutoff frequency was measured to be in the range of 3.5 kHz. To show the feasilbility, an OSN was established based on fabricated PA-CCRs for on-off keying passive transmission links. The results demonstrated data transmission at a rate up to 5 kb/s.