Potential of Milk-Derived Extracellular Vesicles as Carriers for Oral Delivery of Active Phytoconstituents.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a crucial role in intercellular communication and have the potential to serve as in vivo carriers for delivering active molecules. The biocompatibility advantages of EVs over artificial nanocarriers create new frontiers for delivering modern active molecules. Milk is a favorable source of EVs because of its high bioavailability, low immunogenicity, and commercial producibility. In this review, we analyzed the advantages of milk-derived EVs in the oral delivery of active molecules, discussed their research progress in delivering active phytoconstituents, and summarized the necessary technologies and critical unit operations required for the development of an oral delivery system based on EVs. The review aims to provide innovative ideas and fundamental quality control guidelines for developing the next-generation oral drug delivery system based on milk-derived EVs.

Structural characterization, antioxidant and antibacterial activity of three pectin polysaccharides from blueberry.

In this study, three pectin polysaccharides BP1, BP2 and BP3, were purified from blueberries. The weight-average molecular weight (Mw) of BP1, BP2, and BP3 were detected to be 9.027 × 104, 9.313 × 104, and 1.223 × 106 Da, respectively. The structures of the three pectin polysaccharides were characterized and compared based on the results of molecular weight, monosaccharide composition, GC-MS and NMR analysis. Structural characterization revealed that BP1, BP2, and BP3 all contain homogalacturonan (HG) and rhamnogalacturonan I (RG-I) domains, and the rhamnose residues in RG-I domains are substituted at C-4 with side chains such as araban and galactosan. BP2 had the highest degree of esterification and HG domain ratio, followed by BP3 and BP1. In addition, BP1, BP2 and BP3 showed great antioxidant and antibacterial activities, and could destroy the cell membrane of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Moreover, the better DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging and antibacterial activities of BP1 and BP2 than BP3 might be related to their lower molecular weight. The results of this study will provide essential information for the structure-activity relationship of pectin polysaccharides and research basis for development and application of blueberry pectin polysaccharides.

Complex Modal Characteristic Analysis of a Tensegrity Robotic Fish's Body Waves.

A bionic robotic fish based on compliant structure can excite the natural modes of vibration, thereby mimicking the body waves of real fish to generate thrust and realize undulate propulsion. The fish body wave is a result of the fish body's mechanical characteristics interacting with the surrounding fluid. Thoroughly analyzing the complex modal characteristics in such robotic fish contributes to a better understanding of the locomotion behavior, consequently enhancing the swimming performance. Therefore, the complex orthogonal decomposition (COD) method is used in this article. The traveling index is used to quantitatively describe the difference between the real and imaginary modes of the fish body wave. It is defined as the reciprocal of the condition number between the real and imaginary components. After introducing the BCF (body and/or caudal fin) the fish's body wave curves and the COD method, the structural design and parameter configuration of the tensegrity robotic fish are introduced. The complex modal characteristics of the tensegrity robotic fish and real fish are analyzed. The results show that their traveling indexes are close, with two similar complex mode shapes. Subsequently, the relationship between the traveling index and swimming performance is expressed using indicators reflecting linear correlation (correlation coefficient (Rc) and p value). Based on this correlation, a preliminary optimization strategy for the traveling index is proposed, with the potential to improve the swimming performance of the robotic fish.

Swimming Performance of a Tensegrity Robotic Fish.

We described a tensegrity robotic fish and detailed its overall structure, stiffness, and mechatronics. The main flexible structure of the robotic fish body was composed with a series of rigid segments linked with tensegrity joints by means of tension elements. Each rigid segment can rotate around tensegrity-compliant joint and have no direct contact with each other. The dominant vibrational mode of the tensegrity robotic fish can be excited by a single harmonic input to mimic the desired kinematics of locomotion. For our tensegrity robotic fish, the experimental results showed that its maximum stride length was about 0.5 body length per cycle; its Strouhal number was roughly between 0.45 and 0.55 near the biological data of carangiform swimmers. Two different vibrational modes that can be achieved would be demonstrated by the harmonic analysis technique. The results indicated that the swimming performance can be improved by using tensegrity joints.

Efficacy analysis of 33 cases with epidural hematoma treated by brain puncture under CT surveillance.

AIM: To study the clinical value and efficacy of computerized tomography (CT)-monitored microinvasive craniopuncture for traumatic epidural hematoma. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty-three cases of traumatic epidural hematoma patients were selected at our hospital. YL-1-type disposable intracranial hematoma smash needle puncture and drainage of hematoma were used under CT monitoring and urokinase was used for intermittent flushing, and the residual blood clot was then drained. The improvement rate, cure rate, precision and accuracy of the puncture, incidence of bleeding, puncture infection rate, average length of stay, clinical efficacy, and long-term follow-up were evaluated. RESULTS: The improvement rate was 100%, the cure rate was 100% accurate, the precise puncture rate was 100%, the re-bleeding rate was 0%, the local infection rate was 0%, the average length of stay was 7.5 days, and the average medical cost was two thousand U.S. dollars. CONCLUSION: Under CT surveillance, the YL-1-type disposable intracranial hematoma smash puncture needle aspiration in the treatment of traumatic epidural hematoma is a simple, fast, and accurate positioning procedure. Without craniotomy and blood transfusion, the YL-1-type disposable intracranial hematoma smash puncture needle aspiration is a safe and effective operation, but close attention is needed during the operation.

Quantitative assessment of the association between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and hemorrhagic stroke risk.

Many studies have investigated the association between methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T polymorphism and hemorrhagic stroke, but the impact of MTHFR C677T on hemorrhagic stroke is unclear owing to the obvious inconsistence among those studies. This study aimed to quantify the strength of the association between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and hemorrhagic stroke risk. We searched Pubmed, Emabse and Wangfang databases for studies investigating the association between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and hemorrhagic stroke risk. We estimated the pooled odds ratio (OR) with its 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) to assess this possible association. Meta-analysis of included studies suggested that TT genotype was obviously associated with increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke (OR (TT versus CC) = 1.84, 95 % CI 1.45-2.34; OR (TT versus CT) = 1.53, 95 % CI 1.23-1.90; OR (TT versus CT/CC) = 1.64, 95 % CI 1.24-2.00) compared with CC or CT genotypes of MTHFR C677T polymorphism. Subgroup analyses by ethnicity further identified the association above in both Asians and Caucasians. No evidence of publication bias was observed. Thus, meta-analyses of available data suggest an obvious association between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and hemorrhagic stroke risk, and TT genotype contributes to increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke.

Light-induced self-assembly of nanofibers inside liposomes.

Spatially confined self-assembly of peptide amphiphile nanofibers inside liposomes is triggered by light.

The internal structure of self-assembled peptide amphiphiles nanofibers.

The self-assembly of peptide amphiphiles (PAs) into nanofibers and their bioactivity as well as physical properties have been investigated by our laboratory over the past few years. We report here on the use of transmission infrared spectroscopy (IR) and polarization modulation-infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS) to characterize the internal structure of the nanofibers. Depositing nanofibers flat on surfaces, and using the surface selection rules in PM-IRRAS, we demonstrate that peptide amphiphiles form ß-sheets oriented parallel to the long-axis of nanofibers that pack radially from the nanofiber core. We show also that the extent of internal order depends on the molecular architecture and peptide sequence of PAs, with branched PAs yielding nanofibers with the lowest degree of internal order. Measurements of intensity and spectral position of the alkyl bands suggest that the hydrophobic core of these nanofibers can have internal order to an extent that correlates with order in their peptidic domains. We expect that bioactivity and physical properties will be controlled by the degree of internal order in these self-assembling nanostructures.

Dip-pen patterning and surface assembly of peptide amphiphiles.

This paper presents results on controlling the surface morphology of evaporation-driven self-assembly of peptide amphiphile (PA) nanofibers by dip-pen nanolithography. These PA nanofibers, which measure only a few nanometers in diameter, can be oriented perpendicularly to the receding edge of a solution. Dragging a meniscus of PA ink with an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip creates reproducibly aligned arrays of isolated and close-packed PA nanofiber patterns on silicon substrates, utilizing surface coating of poly(ethylene glycol) to suppress the self-assembly of nanofibers on AFM tips. We also demonstrate the ability to construct double-layer patterns of differing nanofiber orientations at the same position. This result could be important in producing a complex, multilayer pattern of these peptide-based supramolecular nanostructures.