Cytotoxicity and cell migration evaluation of a strontium silicate-based root canal sealer on stem cells from rat apical papilla: an in vitro study.

BACKGROUND: Calcium silicate-based bioceramics have been applied in endodontics as advantageous materials for years, many chemical components and new synthesizing methods were used to improve the base formulation of the materials for positively affecting the sealers properties. Recently, a novel biomaterial formulation, grounded in strontium silicate, has been introduced to the market, offering potential advancements in the field. OBJECTIVE: To comparatively analyze the cytotoxicity and cell migration effects of a novel strontium silicate-based bioceramic material (CRoot SP) and those of calcium silicate-based (iRoot SP) and epoxide amine resin (AH Plus) sealers on stem cells derived from rat apical papilla(rSCAPs). METHODS: rSCAPs were isolated and characterized in vitro and subsequently cultured in the presence of various concentrations of CRoot SP, iRoot SP and AH Plus extracts. Cytotoxicity was assessed by CCK-8 assay, and cell-migration capacity was assessed by using wound healing assays . RESULTS: No significant differences in cell viability were observed in the 0.02 mg/mL and 0.2 mg/mL sealer groups. The cell viability of CRoot SP was consistently greater than that of iRoot SP at concentrations of 5 mg/mL and 10 mg/mL across all time points. Maximum cytotoxic effect was noted on day 5 with 10 mg/mL AH Plus.The scratch was partly healed by cell migration in all groups at 24 h, and the 0.02 mg/mL, and 0.2 mg/mL CRoot SP exerted beneficial effects on rSCAPs migration. CONCLUSIONS: CRoot SP exhibited less cytotoxic than the iRoot SP and AH Plus extracts after setting. A lower concentration of CRoot SP thus promotes the cell migration capacity of rSCAPs, and it may achieve better tissue repair during root canal treatment.

CMTM7 inhibits breast cancer progression by regulating Wnt/ß-catenin signaling.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the major cause of death in females globally. Chemokine-like factor like MARVEL transmembrane domain containing 7 (CMTM7) is reported as a tumor suppressor and is involved in epidermal growth factor receptor degradation and PI3K/AKT signaling in previous studies. However, other molecular mechanisms of CMTM7 remain unclear. METHODS: The expression level of CMTM7 in breast cancer cells and tissues was detected by qRT-PCR and western blot, and the methylation of CMTM7 promoter was detected by BSP sequencing. The effect of CMTM7 was verified both in vitro and in vivo, including MTT, colony formation, EdU assay, transwell assay and wound healing assay. The interaction between CMTM7 and CTNNA1 was investigated by co-IP assay. The regulation of miR-182-5p on CMTM7 and TCF3 on miR-182-5p was detected by luciferase reporter assay and ChIP analysis. RESULTS: This study detected the hypermethylation levels of the CMTM7 promoter region in breast cancer tissues and cell lines. CMTM7 was performed as a tumor suppressor both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, CMTM7 was a direct miR-182-5p target. Besides, we found that CMTM7 could interact with Catenin Alpha 1 (CTNNA1) and regulate Wnt/ß-catenin signaling. Finally, transcription factor 3 (TCF3) can regulate miR-182-5p. We identified a feedback loop with the composition of miR-182-5p, CMTM7, CTNNA1, CTNNB1 (ß-catenin), and TCF3, which play essential roles in breast cancer progression. CONCLUSION: These findings reveal the emerging character of CMTM7 in Wnt/ß-catenin signaling and bring new sights of gene interaction. CMTM7 and other elements in the feedback loop may serve as emerging targets for breast cancer therapy.

Inkjet printer prediction under complicated printing conditions based on microscopic image features.

A novel technique is introduced to predict the printer model used to produce a given document. Samples containing only a few letters printed under varying conditions (i.e., different printing modes, letter types, fonts) were collected to establish a dataset of 41 inkjet printer models from common manufacturers, such as HP, Canon, and Epson. Morphological features were analyzed by extraction of image features using several algorithms in a series of microscopic images and a Wilcoxon test was used to measure the significance of variations between printed samples. Significant differences between various printing conditions might post potential challenge to questioned document examination. Discriminant analysis and the k-nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm were also employed for source printer prediction under varying printing condition on 30% images with the rest images as training dataset. The results of a validation experiment demonstrated that while quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) achieved an accuracy of 96.3%, a combination of KNN and QDA reached 98.6%. As such, this technique could aid in the forensic examination of printed documents.

Experimental study on damage characteristics of Beishan granite under single loading and multiple loading with AE techniques.

An insight into the damage characteristics of host rock is important for permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). Single loading and multiple loading tests for Beishan granite were carried out. The acoustic emission (AE) monitoring system was utilized simultaneously to measure the damage evolution in the specimens. The results show that, during single loading the AE signal has been maintained at a very high level after dilatancy. But a decreasing trend of AE signals can be observed when the axial stress approaches the peak stress. While during multiple loading, AE signals are mainly generated in the loading period in the elastic stage. However, in the failure and residual stages, AE signals generated in the unloading period are considerable. Most of the AE waveforms have a dominant frequency of less than 200 kHz and amplitude of less than 80 dB, and three frequency bands are obtained. In addition, the amplitude increases with the increase of loading stress. Furthermore, the obtained AE b-values indicate that the relative proportion of micro- to macro-cracks increases first and then decreases with increasing confining pressure. And the AE a-values and b-values confirms that micro cracks develop rapidly in the damage stage and lead to the formation of macro cracks in the residual stage for the specimens experienced multiple loading.

Study on the mechanism and response law of fracture movement on the super-high position hard-thick strata.

In this paper, a thick plate structural mechanical model was established for the hard-thick rock strata in the Ordos region, which was characterized by the occurrence of high-energy strong earthquakes caused by the fracture of hard-thick rock strata. Subsequently, based on Vlasov's theory, the evolution process of hard-thick rock strata was analyzed. And the paper validated the analysis results using high-energy mine earthquake and surface subsidence data. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) The hard-thick strata in the cretaceous system will not be broken during the advancing and mining process of the test panel of the Shilawusu coal mine. (2) When the test panel is mined to a distance of two panel widths, no fracture occurred in the lower part of the hard-thick strata, because no separated space was formed. (3) When the test panel was advanced to about 856 m, the hard-thick strata have fractured in a vertical direction. (4) No high-energy mine earthquake event has occurred during mining at test panel, and the amount of surface subsidence is approximately 200 mm. (5) In the mining at test panel, two high-energy mining earthquakes occurred at 837 m, 1153 m away from the initial position of the panel, respectively, and the maximum amount of surface subsidence increased to 1397 mm, which accords with the results of the first and periodic breaks calculated by theory. The research results of this paper are of guiding significance for the study of the breaking law of hard-thick strata under similar engineering geological conditions and disaster pre-control.

miR-92a-3p promotes breast cancer proliferation by regulating the KLF2/BIRC5 axis.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer remains the most common malignancy in females around the world. Recently, a growing number of studies have focused on gene dysregulation. In our previous study, Krüppel-like factors (KLFs) were found to play essential roles in breast cancer development, among which KLF2 could function as a tumor suppressor. Nevertheless, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. METHODS: miR-92a-3p was identified as the upstream regulator of KLF2 by starBase v.3.0. The regulation of KLF2 by miR-92a-3p was verified by a series of in vitro and in vivo assays. Further exploration revealed that Baculoviral IAP Repeat Containing 5 (BIRC5) was the target of KLF2. ChIP assay, dual-luciferase reporter analysis, quantitative real-time PCR, and western blot were performed for verification. RESULTS: miR-92a-3p functioned as a tumor promoter by inhibiting KLF2 by binding to its 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR). In addition, KLF2 could transcriptionally suppress the expression of BIRC5. CONCLUSION: Collectively, our results uncovered the miR-92a-3p/KLF2/BIRC5 axis in breast cancer and provided a potential mechanism for breast cancer development, which may serve as promising strategies for breast cancer therapy.

Studies about quantitative examination of laser printed documents based on image physical metric.

In the field of questioned document examinations, the disadvantages of qualitative examination based on expert experience are becoming more and more obvious. In the source determination of laser-printed documents, the quantitative evaluation based on image quality is more and more important. In this paper, the ImageXpert was used to measure 33 characteristic parameters which are used to characterize the characteristics of laser-printed documents. The laser-printed documents were effectively distinguished using the random forest algorithm and the scatter plots. The data of random forest algorithm and scatter plots were derived from the measurement of the ImageXpert. The results showed that it was feasible to determine the source of the laser-printed documents according to the physical metrics of images and lines. The different brands of printers used in the experiment could be distinguished according to 33 characteristic parameters, and most laser printers of the same brand with different models can also be distinguished. The research results lay a certain foundation for the quantitative examination of laser-printed documents, especially in the determination of page-substitution document and content-addition document.

Determining Line-Crossing Sequences Between Laser Printing and Writing Pen Using Coaxial Light.

Determining the application sequence of hand-written pen ink and printer toner lines has attracted significant interest in questioned document examination. This study uses coaxial light to determine line-crossing sequences, with intersections observed under a VSC600 forensic document workstation and a Leica M205A Stereo-microscope. Results show that reflected light at intersections and color contrast between intersections and nonintersections was observed when a hand-written ink line passes over a toner line, while a toner line passing over a written line appeared dull, with no color contrast. The procedure was tested under a range of conditions, such as types of writing pens and laser printers, the writer, and writing pressure, with the latter playing an important role in the evaluation. To validate the results, a 90% detection rate and 98% accuracy rate were achieved from 50 samples of blind testing, which is more effective than optical microscopy.