Combination of asprosin and adiponectin as a novel marker for diagnosing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have insulin resistance and are at an increased risk of diabetes. Recent evidence suggests that asprosin-a novel hormone secreted by white adipose tissue-may play a role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance. However, the role of asprosin in NAFLD remains unclear. This study aimed to determine whether serum asprosin level could be used as a biochemical marker for NAFLD diagnosis. METHODS: Forty-three untreated NAFLD patients and 50 sex- and age-matched healthy controls were included. Circulating serum asprosin and adiponectin (another adipokine) levels were detected by ELISA. Other metabolic parameters related to NAFLD were also determined. RESULTS: Increased circulating serum asprosin and decreased serum adiponectin levels were found in NAFLD patients unlike in healthy controls. A positive correlation was observed between asprosin and platelet counts (PLT) (r = 0.3653, p = 0.015), fasting blood glucose (FBG) (r = 0.3592, p = 0.017), triglyceride (TG) levels (r = 0.3383, p = 0.025), serum albumin (ALB) levels (r = 0.3273, p = 0.030), and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (r = 0.4799, p = 0.001), whereas a negative correlation existed between adiponectin and TG levels in the NAFLD group. Multivariate linear regression showed that FBG and HOMA-IR were independently related to asprosin levels. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed that asprosinAUC and adiponectinAUC were 0.735 (95%CI 0.633-0.836, P < 0.0001) and 0.702 (95%CI 0.597-0.807, p = 0.0007) respectively. Moreover, the combination of both biomarkers showed good sensitivity and specificity with AUC of 0.827, which was better than the single detection of asprosin or adiponectin. CONCLUSION: High serum asprosin and low adiponectin level might be associated with the presence of insulin resistance in NAFLD, and the combination of asprosin and adiponectin could be a novel biomarker for diagnosing NAFLD. These data needed to be confirmed and extended in further large-population, well-designed clinical studies.

Two-Dimensional Omnidirectional Wind Energy Harvester with a Cylindrical Piezoelectric Composite Cantilever.

To improve the response-ability of the energy harvester to multidirectional wind, this paper proposes a wind energy harvester to scavenge wind-induced vibration energy. The harvester comprises a cylindrical beam instead of conventional thin rectangular cantilevers, a bluff body (square prism or circle cylinder), and a piezoelectric tube bonded to the bottom side of the beam for energy conversion. Benefiting from the symmetry of the cylindrical structure, this harvester can respond to airflow from every direction of the two-dimensional plane. The performance of the harvester under a wind speed range of 1.5-8 m/s has been tested. The results demonstrate that the proposed harvester can respond to the wind from all directions of the two-dimensional plane. It provides a direction for the future in-depth study of multidirectional wind energy harvesting.

Wind energy harvester using piezoelectric materials.

Wireless sensor networks play a very important role in environmental monitoring, structural health monitoring, smart city construction, smart grid, and ecological agriculture. The wireless sensor nodes powered by a battery have a limited service life and need periodic maintenance due to the limitation of battery capacity. Fortunately, the development of environmental energy harvesting technology provides an effective way to eliminate the needs and the replacement of the batteries. Among the environmental stray energy, wind energy is rich, almost endless, widely distributed, and clean. Due to the advantages of simple structure, miniaturization, and high power density, wind energy harvesters using piezoelectric materials (PWEHs) have attracted much attention. By the ways of principal exploration, structure design, and performance optimization, great and steady progress has been made in the research of PWEH. This Review is focused on the review of PWEHs. After introducing the basic principle of PWEHs, the structural performance and research status of PWEHs based on different mechanisms, such as a rotating turbine, vortex-induced vibration, flutter, and galloping, are analyzed and summarized. Finally, the development trend of PWEHs has been prospected.

VEGF promotes diabetic retinopathy by upregulating the PKC/ET/NF-κB/ICAM-1 signaling pathway.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a common microvascular complication in patients with diabetes mellitus. DR is caused by chronic hyperglycemia and is characterized by progressive loss of vision because of damage to the retinal microvasculature. In this study, we investigated the regulatory role and clinical significance of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/protein kinase C (PKC)/endothelin (ET)/nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)/intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) signaling pathway in DR using a rat model. Intraperitoneal injections of the VEGF agonist, streptozotocin (STZ) were used to generate the DR model rats. DR rats treated with the VEGF inhibitor (DR+VEGF inhibitor) were used to study the specific effects of VEGF on DR pathology and the underlying mechanisms. DR and DR+VEGF agonist rats were injected with the PKCß2 inhibitor, GF109203X to determine the therapeutic potential of blocking the VEGF/PKC/ET/NF-κB/ICAM-1 signaling pathway. The body weights and blood glucose levels of the rats in all groups were evaluated at 16 weeks. DR-related retinal histopathology was analyzed by hematoxylin and eosin staining. ELISA assay was used to estimate the PKC activity in the retinal tissues. Western blotting and RT-qPCR assays were used to analyze the expression levels of PKC-ß2, VEGF, ETs, NF-κB, and ICAM-1 in the retinal tissues. Immunohistochemistry was used to analyze VEGF and ICAM-1 expression in the rat retinal tissues. Our results showed that VEGF, ICAM-1, PKCß2, ET, and NF-κB expression levels as well as PKC activity were significantly increased in the retinal tissues of the DR and DR+VEGF agonist rat groups compared to the control and DR+VEGF inhibitor rat groups. DR and DR+VEGF agonist rats showed significantly lower body weight and significantly higher retinal histopathology scores and blood glucose levels compared to the control and DR+VEGF inhibitor group rats. However, treatment of DR and DR+VEGF agonist rats with GF109203X partially alleviated DR pathology by inhibiting the VEGF/ PKC/ET/NF-κB/ICAM-1 signaling pathway. In summary, our data demonstrated that inhibition of the VEGF/ PKC/ET/NF-κB/ICAM-1 signaling pathway significantly alleviated DR-related pathology in the rat model. Therefore, VEGF/PKC/ET/NF-κB/ICAM-1 signaling axis is a promising therapeutic target for DR.

Rotational speed sensor based on the magnetoelectric effect of composite FeSiB/Pb(Zr,Ti)O3.

This paper proposes a rotational speed sensor based on the magnetoelectric coupling effect. The sensor is composed of a permanent magnet array and a magnetoelectric composite FeSiB/Pb(Zr,Ti)O3. The permanent magnet array rotates with the gear to provide a stable sinusoidal alternating magnetic field in its surrounding space, which is simulated and analyzed by using the finite element simulation software. Based on the magnetoelectric coupling effect, the composite FeSiB/Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 senses the magnetic field information and transforms it into electrical information so as to realize the rotating speed measurement. The experiments of sensing distance and linearity are carried out. The proposed sensor is compared and verified by a coil sensor. The results show that the proposed speed sensor has good linearity in the speed measured range, and the sensing distance can reach 15 mm. At the same time, it can be used for low-speed measurement. This kind of speed sensor has broad application prospects in the field of rotational speed measurement.

Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell-exosomal miR-627-5p ameliorates non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by repressing FTO expression.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a spectrum of liver disorders. Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs)-based therapy is currently considered to be an effective treatment for NAFLD. The present study aimed to determine whether hUC-MSCs-exosomes have a hepatoprotective effect on NAFLD. We constructed NAFLD rat model by high-fat high-fructose feeding. Liver cells (L-O2) were treated with palmitic acid (PA) to mimic NAFLD model. NAFLD rats and PA-treated L-O2 cells were treated with hUC-MSCs-exosomes, and then we determined the influence of exosomes on liver damage and glucose and lipid metabolism in vivo and in vitro. We found that hUC-MSCs-exosomes exhibited an up-regulation of miR-627-5p. Exosomal miR-627-5p promoted cell viability and repressed apoptosis of PA-treated L-O2 cells. Exosomal miR-627-5p also enhanced the expression of G6Pc, PEPCK, FAS and SREBP-1c and suppressed PPARα expression in PA-treated L-O2 cells. Moreover, miR-627-5p interacted with fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) and inhibited FTO expression in L-O2 cells. MiR-627-5p-enriched exosomes improved glucose and lipid metabolism in L-O2 cells by targeting FTO. In vivo, exosomal miR-627-5p ameliorated insulin tolerance, liver damage, glucose and lipid metabolism and reduced lipid deposition in NAFLD rats. Exosomal miR-627-5p also reduced body weight, liver weight, and liver index (body weight/liver weight) in NAFLD rats. In conclusion, these data demonstrate that HUC-MSCs-derived exosomal miR-627-5p improves glucose and lipid metabolism and alleviate liver damage by repressing FTO expression, thereby ameliorating NAFLD progression. Thus, hUC-MSCs-exosomes may be a potential treatment for NAFLD.

IncRNA MAPKAPK5-AS1 promotes proliferation and migration of thyroid cancer cell lines by targeting miR-519e-5p/YWHAH.

Thyroid cancer is a common malignant tumour of the endocrine system and ranks ninth in cancer incidence worldwide. An extensive body of evidence has demonstrated that lncRNAs play a critical role in the progression of thyroid cancer. The lncRNA MAPKAPK5-AS1 has been reported to be abnormally expressed and to play a role in the development of various human cancers. However, MAPKAPK5-AS1's potential role in thyroid cancer progression remains unknown. The objective of our study was to explore the role and mechanism of MAPKAPK5-AS1 in thyroid cancer cells and provide a potential target for its biological diagnosis and treatment. We transfected sh-MAPKAPK5-AS1 and sh-NC into BCPAP and TPC-1 cells for loss-of-function assays. Results of RT-qPCR analysis demonstrated that MAPKAPK5-AS1 was more highly expressed in thyroid cancer cells compared to normal cells. Functional assays demonstrated that interfering with the expression of MAPKAPK5-AS1 notably repressed proliferation and invasion and accelerated apoptosis of BCPAP and TPC-1 cells. Mechanistically, we found that miR-519e-5p was negatively regulated by MAPKAPK5-AS1 and that tyrosine 3-monooxygenase/tryptophan 5-monooxygenase activation protein eta (YWHAH) was a target of miR-519e-5p. Additionally, rescue assays demonstrated that downregulation of MAPKAPK5-AS1 expression inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and promoted apoptosis by sponging miR-519e-5p, thereby increasing YWHAH expression. Ultimately, our study revealed that MAPKAPK5-AS1 promotes proliferation and migration of thyroid cancer cells by targeting the miR-519e-5p/YWHAH axis, which provides novel insight into the development and progression of thyroid cancer.

Analysis of Magneto-Mechanical Response for Magnetization-Graded Ferromagnetic Material in Magnetoelectric Laminate.

This paper analyzes the dynamic magneto-mechanical response in magnetization-graded ferromagnetic materials (MGFM) comprised of high-permeability Finemet and traditional magnetostrictive materials. The theoretical modeling of the piezomagnetic coefficient that depends on the bias magnetic field of MGFM is proposed by using the nonlinear constitutive model of a piezomagnetic material, the magnetoelectric equivalent circuit method, and the simulation software Ansoft. The theoretical variation of piezomagnetic coefficients of MGFM on the bias magnetic field is in good agreement with the experiment. Using the piezomagnetic coefficient in the magnetoelectric voltage model, the theoretical longitudinal resonant magnetoelectric voltage coefficients have also been calculated, which are consistent with the experimental values. This theoretical analysis is beneficial to comprehensively understand the self-biased piezomagnetic response of MGFM, and to design magnetoelectric devices with MGFM.