Robust nanoparticles growth in the interior of porous sponges for efficient dye adsorption and emulsion separation.

Emulsified oils and dye contaminants already pose a huge threat to global ecosystems and human health. It is a significant research topic to develop efficient, rapid, versatile methods for emulsion separation and dye adsorption. The membrane material modified with common methods only modified the outer surface of the membrane, while the interior is hardly fully decorated. In this investigation, a solvent exchange method was used to in situ grow nanoparticles in the interior of a porous sponge. These nanoparticles were obtained with polyethyleneimine, gallic acid, and tannic acid via Michael addition and Schiff base reaction. The prepared nanoparticle-coated sponges provided efficient separation of dyes, emulsions, and complex contaminants. The separation efficiency of the dye reached 99.49%, and the separation efficiency of the emulsion was as high as 99.87% with a flux of 11140.3 L m-2 h-1. Furthermore, the maximum adsorption capacity reached 486.8 mg g-1 for cationic dyes and 182.1 mg g-1 for anionic dyes. More importantly, the nanoparticles were highly robust on the surface of the porous sponge, and the modified sponge could have long-term applications in hazardous environments. Overall, it is envisioned that the nanoparticles-modified porous sponge exhibited considerable potential for emulsion and dye wastewater treatment.

Optical feedback noise-immune cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectrometry for sub-Doppler-broadened detection of C2H2: publisher's note.

This publisher's note contains a correction to Opt. Lett.49, 202 (2024)10.1364/OL.507004.

Anti-aging and rejuvenating effects and mechanism of Dead Sea water in skin.

OBJECTIVE: External environmental stressors and internal factors have a significant impact on the skin, causing inflammation, aging, reduced immunity and other adverse responses. Dead Sea Water (DSW) is well known for its dermatological benefits and has been widely used in dermatological therapy and skin care for conditions such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and photoaging. However, the anti-aging and rejuvenating effects of DSW and the related biological pathways involved, which have attracted increasing attention, are not fully understood. The aim of this study is to investigate the anti-aging and rejuvenating effects of DSW and to explore the related potential biological mechanisms of DSW under different environmental conditions. METHODS: The effects of DSW were investigated using in vitro human dermal cells and reconstructed skin models. Extracellular matrix (ECM) components and the morphological changes at the dermal-epidermal junction (DEJ) in a 3D human skin model were evaluated after DSW treatment. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis of human dermal fibroblast models after DSW treatment was performed to explore the potential mechanisms of action of DSW under normal and UV stress conditions. RESULTS: The novel findings in this work present the biological functions of DSW, including procollagen-1 and elastin secretion, hemidesmosome increase and the epidermal basal cell regeneration. In addition, GO, KEGG and Reactome analyses reveal the activation of pathways related to ion transmembrane transporter activity, ECM component biosynthesis, senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), DNA repair and autophagy, which are associated with the anti-aging activities of DSW. CONCLUSION: Our work provides new perspectives for understanding the anti-aging and rejuvenating effects and mechanisms of DSW. The new findings also provide a theoretical basis for the further development of age-related strategies.

OBJECTIF: Les facteurs de stress environnementaux externes et les facteurs internes ont un impact significatif sur la peau, provoquant une inflammation, le vieillissement, une baisse de l'immunité et d'autres réactions indésirables. L'eau de la mer Morte est bien connue pour ses bienfaits dermatologiques, et a été largement utilisée dans le traitement dermatologique et les soins de la peau pour des affections telles que le psoriasis, la dermatite atopique et le photovieillissement. Cependant, les effets antivieillissement et rajeunissants de l'eau de la mer Morte et les voies biologiques connexes impliquées, qui font l'objet d'une attention croissante, ne sont pas entièrement compris. L'objectif de cette étude est d'étudier les effets antivieillissement et rajeunissants de l'eau de la mer Morte, et d'étudier les mécanismes biologiques potentiels liés à l'eau de la mer Morte dans différentes conditions environnementales. MÉTHODES: Les effets de l'eau de la mer Morte ont été étudiés à l'aide de cellules dermiques humaines in vitro et de modèles cutanés reconstruits. Les composants de la matrice extracellulaire (MEC) et les changements morphologiques au niveau de la jonction dermo­épidermique (JDE) dans un modèle 3D de peau humaine ont été évalués après le traitement avec de l'eau de la mer Morte. Une analyse de séquençage de l'ARN (ARN­seq) de modèles de fibroblastes dermiques humains après un traitement avec de l'eau de la mer Morte a été réalisée pour étudier les mécanismes d'action potentiels de l'eau de la mer Morte dans des conditions de stress normales et par UV. RÉSULTATS: Les nouveaux résultats de ce travail présentent les fonctions biologiques de l'eau de la mer Morte, y compris la sécrétion de procollagène­1 et d'élastine, l'augmentation des hémidesmosomes et la régénération des cellules basales épidermiques. En outre, les analyses GO, KEGG et Réactome révèlent l'activation de voies liées à l'activité des transporteurs transmembranaires d'ions, à la biosynthèse des composants de la MEC, au phénotype sécrétoire associé à la sénescence (Senescence­Associated Secretory Phenotype, SASP), à la réparation de l'ADN et à l'autophagie, qui sont associés aux activités antivieillissement de l'eau de la mer Morte. CONCLUSION: Notre travail apporte de nouvelles perspectives pour comprendre les effets et les mécanismes antivieillissement et rajeunissants de l'eau de la mer Morte. Les nouveaux résultats fournissent également une base théorique pour le développement ultérieur de stratégies liées à l'âge.

Optical feedback noise-immune cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectrometry for sub-Doppler-broadened detection of C2H2.

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, noise-immune cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectrometry (NICE-OHMS) has been developed, utilizing optical feedback for laser-to-cavity locking with a common distributed-feedback diode laser. The system incorporates active control of the feedback phase and feedforward control of the laser current, allowing for consecutive laser frequency detuning by scanning a piezoelectric transducer (PZT) attached to the cavity. To enhance the fidelity of the spectroscopic signal, wavelength-modulated (wm) NICE-OHMS is implemented. Benefiting from the optical feedback, a modulation frequency of 15 kHz is achieved, surpassing the frequencies typically used in traditional NICE-OHMS setups. Then, the sub-Doppler-broadened wm-NICE-OHMS signal of acetylene at 1.53 µm is observed. A seven-fold improvement in signal to noise ratio has been demonstrated compared to NICE-OHMS alone and a limit of detection of 6.1 × 10-10cm-1 is achieved.

Potent pigmentation inhibitory activity of incensole-enriched frankincense volatile oil-identification, efficacy and mechanism.

BACKGROUND: Frankincense volatile oil (FVO) has long been considered a side product in pharmaceutical industry since frankincense of large molecular weight is the prime target. However, the volatile oil recycled in the extract process might contain a series of functional actives, serving as promising ingredients in the cosmetic field. METHODS: Gas chromatography-mass spectrometer was utilized to determine the species and amount of active ingredients in FVO. Subsequently, zebrafish models were used to evaluate pigmentation inhibition, ROS elimination and neutrophil activation. In vitro DPPH test was also conducted to consolidate the anti-oxidation efficacy. Based on the test results, network pharmacology was incorporated, where GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were performed to discover the interrelations between active ingredients. RESULTS: About 40 actives molecules were identified, including incensole, acetate incensole, and acetate incensole oxide. The FVO demonstrated great depigmentation activity by suppressing melanin synthesis, as well as providing free radical scavenging and anti-inflammation effect. In network pharmacology analysis, 192 intersected targets were identified. By enrichment analysis and network construction, a series of whitening signal pathways, and hub genes, containing STAT3，MAPK3，MAPK1 were identified. CONCLUSION: The current study quantified the components of FVO, evaluated its efficacy in skin depigmentation, and give pioneering insights on the possible mechanism. The results confirmed that the FVO could serve as whitening agent in topical uses.

Self-calibrated NICE-OHMS based on an asymmetric signal: theoretical analysis and experimental validation.

As an ultra-sensitive detection technique, the noise-immune cavity enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectroscopy (NICE-OHMS) technique has great potential for assessment of the concentration of trace gases. To determine gas concentrations at the ppt or lower level with high accuracy, it is desirable that the technique exhibits self-calibration (or calibration-free) capabilities. Although being sensitive, NICE-OHMS has so far not demonstrated any such ability. To remedy this, this paper provides a self-calibrated realization of NICE-OHMS that is based on a switching of the feedback target of the DeVoe-Brewer (DVB) locking procedure from the modulation frequency of the frequency modulation spectroscopy (FMS) to the cavity length, which creates an asymmetrical signal whose form and size can be used to unambiguously assess the gas concentration. A comprehensive theoretical model for self-calibrated NICE-OHMS is established by analyzing the shift of cavity modes caused by intracavity absorption, demonstrating that gas absorption information can be encoded in both the laser frequency and the NICE-OHMS signal. To experimentally verify the methodology, we measure a series of dispersion signals under different levels of absorbance using a built experimental setup. An instrument factor and the partial pressure are obtained by fitting the measured signal through theoretical expressions. Our results demonstrate that fitted values are more accurate for higher partial pressures than for lower. To improve on the accuracy at low partial pressures, it is shown that the instrument factor obtained by fitting the signal at large partial pressures (in this case, above 7.8 µTorr) can be set to a fixed value for all fits. By this, the partial pressures can be assessed with a relative error below 0.65%. This technique has the potential to enable calibration-free ultra-sensitive gas detection.

User Pairing for Delay-Limited NOMA-Based Satellite Networks with Deep Reinforcement Learning.

In this paper, we investigate a user pairing problem in power domain non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme-aided satellite networks. In the considered scenario, different satellite applications are assumed with various delay quality-of-service (QoS) requirements, and the concept of effective capacity is employed to characterize the effect of delay QoS limitations on achieved performance. Based on this, our objective was to select users to form a NOMA user pair and utilize resource efficiently. To this end, a power allocation coefficient was firstly obtained by ensuring that the achieved capacity of users with sensitive delay QoS requirements was not less than that achieved with an orthogonal multiple access (OMA) scheme. Then, considering that user selection in a delay-limited NOMA-based satellite network is intractable and non-convex, a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithm was employed for dynamic user selection. Specifically, channel conditions and delay QoS requirements of users were carefully selected as state, and a DRL algorithm was used to search for the optimal user who could achieve the maximum performance with the power allocation factor, to pair with the delay QoS-sensitive user to form a NOMA user pair for each state. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate that the proposed DRL-based user selection scheme can output the optimal action in each time slot and, thus, provide superior performance than that achieved with a random selection strategy and OMA scheme.

Nitrate Quantification in Fresh Vegetables in Shanghai: Its Dietary Risks and Preventive Measures.

To investigate nitrate and nitrite content in fresh vegetables, 264 samples were randomly collected in the farmers' markets in Shanghai, Southeast China. The results indicate that 25.0% of the fresh vegetables were critically or more contaminated by nitrate [>1440 mg/kg FW (Fresh weight)]. Generally, leafy vegetables were more highly enriched in nitrate than root-tuber and fruit vegetables. About 22.6% of the leafy vegetables had a nitrate content exceeding the limit for edible permission (>3000 mg/kg FW). Nitrite content in the fresh vegetables was all within the safe level (<1 mg/kg FW). It was estimated that the daily nitrate intake through eating vegetables in Shanghai exceeded the WHO/FAO allowable limit. The field experiment indicated that the hyper-accumulation of nitrate and nitrite in the vegetables was mainly attributed to the excessive application of chemical fertilizers. The maxima of nitrate and nitrite in the vegetables were attained one week after applying chemical fertilizer, and thus they cannot be picked for dietary use. Applying organic manure can effectively lower the risk of nitrate and nitrite contamination in vegetables. The old leaves and leaf petioles were more easily enriched in nitrate due to their weaker metabolic activity. Vegetables with high nitrate content had a high risk of nitrite toxicity during storage due to the biological conversion of nitrate into nitrite, which is easily triggered by suitable temperature and mechanical damage processing. Therefore, fresh vegetables should be stored by rapid cooling and in undamaged forms to prevent nitrite accumulation.

Fiber pigtailed DFB laser-based optical feedback cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy with a fiber-coupled EOM for phase correction.

A novel technique for performing fiber pigtailed DFB laser and linear Fabry-Pérot cavity based optical feedback cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy (OF-CEAS) is proposed. A fiber-coupled electro-optic modulator (f-EOM) with x-cut y-propagation LiNbO3 waveguide is employed, instead of PZT used in traditional OF-CEAS, to correct the feedback phase, which improves the compactness and applicability of OF-CEAS. Through the efficient and real-time control of the feedback phase by actively changing the input voltage of the f-EOM, a good long-term stability of the signal has been achieved. Consequently, a detection sensitivity down to 7.8×10-10 cm-1, better than the previous by PZT based OF-CEAS, has been achieved over the integration time of 200 s, even by use of a cavity with moderate finesse of 2850.

Distinct Metagenomic Signatures in the SARS-CoV-2 Infection.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can cause gastrointestinal symptoms in the patients, but the role of gut microbiota in SARS-CoV-2 infection remains unclear. Thus, in this study, we aim to investigate whether SARS-CoV-2 infection affects the composition and function of gut microbiota. In this study, we demonstrated for the first time that significant shifts in microbiome composition and function were appeared in both SARS-CoV-2-infected asymptomatic and symptomatic cases. The relative abundance of Candidatus_Saccharibacteria was significantly increased, whereas the levels of Fibrobacteres was remarkably reduced in SARS-CoV-2-infected cases. There was one bacterial species, Spirochaetes displayed the difference between patients and asymptomatic cases. On the genus level, Tyzzerella was the key species that remarkably increased in both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases. Analyses of genome annotations further revealed SARS-CoV-2 infection resulted in the significant 'functional dysbiosis' of gut microbiota, including metabolic pathway, regulatory pathway and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites etc. We also identified potential metagenomic markers to discriminate SARS-CoV-2-infected symptomatic and asymptomatic cases from healthy controls. These findings together suggest gut microbiota is of possible etiological and diagnostic importance for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Cryopreservation of human T lymphocytes under fast cooling with controlled ice nucleation in cryoprotective solutions of low toxicity.

Cryopreservation of human T lymphocytes has become an essential tool for some cell-based immunotherapy. However, the cryopreservation procedure of the cells has not been systematically studied. In particular, the key factors of ice seeding and cryoprotective agents (CPA) driving the success of cryopreservation remain unclear. We systematically investigated the key factors, including cooling rate, ice-seeding temperature, CPA concentration, and types of CPA, during cryopreservation of human T lymphocytes with controlled ice nucleation. We found that ice seeding at below -10 °C could enable human T lymphocytes to be cooled at 90 °C min-1 with high relative viability and recovery after rewarming, 94.9% and 90.2%, respectively, which are significantly higher than those without ice seeding (P < 0.001). After optimization, the concentration of dimethyl sulphoxide was as low as 2% (v/v) with relative viability and recovery of 95.4% and 100.8%, respectively, at the cooling rate of 90 °C min-1 after ice seeding at -16 °C. The cryopreservation procedure developed in this study could facilitate the understanding of the mechanism for ice seeding and cell injury and offer a promising cryopreservation method with a high cooling rate and extremely low toxicity for extensive clinical application of immunotherapy.

Investigating solution effects injury of human T lymphocytes and its prevention during interrupted slow cooling.

Cooling rate is a critical parameter affecting the success of cell cryopreservation. Fast cooling can result in intracellular ice formation (IIF), while slow cooling can bring solution effects injury, both are detrimental to the cells. Whilst most of the studies have investigated how IIF affects cells, solution effects injury has received little attention. Here, we studied the solution effects injury of human T lymphocytes by cryomicroscopy and tested the osmoprotective ability of some frequently used cryoprotective agents (CPAs) such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), glycerol, trehalose, urea and l-proline. We further investigated the relationship between cell volume, latent heat and solution effects cell injury. We found that solution effects injury during interrupted slow cooling was caused by high concentration of the extracellular solution rather than eutectic formation and solutes precipitation. DMSO, glycerol and trehalose can protect cells from solution effects injury, while l-proline and urea cannot under the same condition. The cell volume and latent heat are not crucial for causing solution effects injury in cells. This work confirms that high osmotic pressure, rather than eutectic formation, leads to cell injury. It also suggests that cell volume and latent heat may not be a key factor for explaining solution effects injury and its prevention in the cryopreservation of human T lymphocytes.

Analysis of risk factors for vasovagal syncope in children / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To analyze the related factors of the onset of vasovagal syncope (VVS) in children, and to provide basis for the early prevention, early diagnosis and early treatment of VVS.@*Methods@#A total of 126 children with syncope admitted to Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University from October 2018 to September 2019 were invited in the study. Totally 73 cases of children diagnosed with VVS by HUTT were selected as VVS group, and 53 HUTT negative children were selected as control group. Related factors were retrospectively investigated, and risk factors for VVS were analyzed by univariate and multivariate regression.@*Results@#The VVS group showed statistically significant difference in age distribution with the control group ( χ 2=19.22, P <0.05). The VVS group showed statistically significant differences of proportion in family history, syncope history, prolonged standing, electrocardiogram abnormalities, and vitamin D deficiency (43.84%，31.51%，47.95%，34.25%， 30.14 %) compared with the control group (15.09%，13.21%，20.75%，15.09%，9.43%) ( χ 2=11.71,5.67,9.79,5.83,7.82, P < 0.05 ). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that age and family historywere risk factors for VVS( χ 2=3.13, 11.06, P < 0.05 ).@*Conclusion@#Age and family history may be risk factors for the onset of VVS. Active attention should be paid to the high risk factors of child patient, early identification and diagnosis can prevent the occurrence and development of VVS in children.

In Silico Analysis Identifies Differently Expressed lncRNAs as Novel Biomarkers for the Prognosis of Thyroid Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Thyroid cancer (TC) is one of the most common type of endocrine tumors. Long noncoding RNAs had been demonstrated to play key roles in TC. Material and Methods. The lncRNA expression data were downloaded from Co-lncRNA database. The raw data was normalized using the limma package in R software version 3.3.0. The differentially expressed mRNA and lncRNAs were identified by the linear models for the microarray analysis (Limma) method. The DEGs were obtained with thresholds of ∣logFC∣ > 1.5 and P < 0.001. The hierarchical cluster analysis of differentially expressed mRNAs and lncRNAs was performed using CLUSTER 3.0, and the hierarchical clustering heat map was visualized by Tree View. RESULTS: In the present study, we identified 6 upregulated and 85 downregulated lncRNAs in TC samples. Moreover, we for the first time identified 16 downregulated lncRNAs was correlated to longer disease-free survival time in patients with TC, including ATP1A1-AS1, CATIP-AS1, FAM13A-AS1, LINC00641, LINC00924, MIR22HG, NDUFA6-AS1, RP11-175K6.1, RP11-727A23.5, RP11-774O3.3, RP13-895J2.2, SDCBP2-AS1, SLC26A4-AS1, SNHG15, SRP14-AS1, and ZNF674-AS1. CONCLUSIONS: Bioinformatics analysis revealed these lncRNAs were involved in regulating the RNA metabolic process, cell migration, organelle assembly, tRNA modification, and hormone levels. This study will provide useful information to explore the potential candidate biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and drug targets for TC.

[Ammonia Oxidation in a Neutral Purple Soil Measured by the 13C-DNA-SIP Method].

Increasing evidence suggests that ammonia oxidation in acidic soils is primarily catalyzed by ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), while ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) drive ammonia oxidation in neutral and alkaline soils in which AOA overwhelmingly outnumber AOB. Therefore, neutral purple soil with a pH of 7.2 was selected to study the composition of the active ammoxidation microbial community with a stable isotope nucleic acid probe technique combined with cloning sequencing. Results showed that the nitrification rate was 9.68 mg·(kg·d)-1, and AOA and AOB were abundant in neutral purple soils. By using DNA-based stable isotope probing (SIP), we gathered strong evidence of archaeal ammonia oxidation by AOA and AOB. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the Nitrosospira Cluster 3a.1 AOB was dominant in terms of quantity at 0 days, and the Nitrosospira Cluster 3a.2 only accounted for a small part. After 56 days of cultivation, the Nitrosospira Cluster 3a.2 replaced the Nitrosospira Cluster 3a.1 as the active AOB that dominated ammonia oxidation. The AOA that predominated quantitatively at day 0 was Nitrososphaera Subcluster 9, but after cultivation this became Nitrososphaera Subcluster 3.2/3.3. Thus, the community structure of AOA and AOB changed. Active autotrophic nitrification was found in this neutral purple soil. Sequencing analysis of the 13C-labeled DNA provided robust evidence that both archaea and bacteria played important roles in the nitrification and not all ammonia oxidizers in native soil were active in the nitrification. Phylogenetic analysis clearly showed that the dominant active archaea and bacteria during the incubation were affiliated with Nitrososphaera Subcluster 3.2/3.3 within the soil group 1.1b lineage and Nitrosospira Cluster 3a.2, respectively, which were different from the dominant ammonia oxidizers at the beginning of the incubation. These results suggest that the community structure of ammonia oxidizers can shift quickly upon changes in the substrate availability in soils.

Study of the interactions of forsythiaside and rutin with acetylcholinesterase (AChE).

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors have been considered as candidates for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and have been utilized in clinical trials. In the present study, the interactions of forsythiaside and rutin with AChE have been investigated, after discovering the inhibitory AChE activity of the two compounds. Forsythiaside and rutin both can bind to AChE to form forsythiaside-AChE and rutin-AChE complex, and thus quench the intrinsic fluorescence of AChE. The quenching mechanism, the binding sites, the binding forces, the binding constants and the energy transfer involved were studied in details. Forsythiaside and rutin show some properties in common, including the stoichiometric binding ratio of 1:1 with AChE and the full quenching of AChE fluorescence. At the same time, the two compounds distinctly present some different characters, for example, the binding constant of rutin is less than that of forsythiaside, and the interaction force and the affinity between forsythiaside and AChE are much bigger than that of rutin. Spectroscopy data and docking analysis powerfully support the findings that forsythiaside inhibit AChE activity more strongly than rutin. The current study will provide the better understanding on the nature of the possible interactions between forsythiaside and rutin with AChE.

Protective effects of Forsythoside A on amyloid beta-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells by downregulating acetylcholinesterase.

Increasing the acetylcholine level and fighting the neuroinflammation has always been taken as a treatment strategy for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Forsythoside A is a major component in Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl (F. suspensa, Lianqiao in Chinese) that has been traditionally used as Chinese herbal medicine to treat the inflammation in China. This study examined the inhibitory acetylcholinesterase activities of Forsythoside A at chemical and biological level. Forsythoside A inhibited acetylcholinesterase in a mixed type of inhibition, with Ki of 47.68µM. Docking analysis strongly supported these findings. In PC12 cells Forsythoside A increased cell viability and suppressed acetylcholinesterase increased by Aß25-35, thus alleviated the corresponding apoptosis. Taken together, these results suggest that Forsythoside A has the protective effects on Aß25-35-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells by downregulating acetylcholinesterase, making it a potential functional food ingredient or drug candidate for the treatment of AD.

Optimizing bioconversion of ferulic acid to vanillin by Bacillus subtilis in the stirred packed reactor using Box-Behnken design and desirability function.

A stirring bioreactor packed with a carbon fiber textiles (FT) biofilm formed by Bacillus subtilis was used to produce vanillin from ferulic acid. Biofilm formation was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The interactive effects of three variables on vanillin molar yield (M) and conversion efficiency of ferulic acid (E) were evaluated by response surface methodology (RSM) with a Box-Behnken design (BBD). The optimal conversion conditions with a maximum overall desirability D of 0.983 were obtained by a desirability function. Considering the actual operation, the confirmation tests were performed using the slightly modified optimal conditions (initial ferulic acid concentration 1.55 g/L, temperature 35°C, stirring speed 220 rpm). The results showed that M and E were 57.42 and 93.53%, respectively. This was only 1.03% and 1.87%, respectively, different from the predicted values, confirming the validity of the predicted models. These revealed that the stirred packed reactor could be successfully used in vanillin bioconversion from ferulic acid.

Effects of mir-21 on Cardiac Microvascular Endothelial Cells After Acute Myocardial Infarction in Rats: Role of Phosphatase and Tensin Homolog (PTEN)/Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Signal Pathway.

BACKGROUND This study investigated how miR-21 expression is reflected in acute myocardial infarction and explored the role of miR-21 and the PTEN/VEGF signaling pathway in cardiac microvascular endothelial cells. MATERIAL AND METHODS We used an in vivo LAD rat model to simulate acute myocardial infarction. MiR-21 mimics and miR-21 inhibitors were injected and transfected into model rats in order to alter miR-21 expression. Cardiac functions were evaluated using echocardiographic measurement, ELISA, and Masson staining. In addition, lenti-PTEN and VEGF siRNA were transfected into CMEC cells using standard procedures for assessing the effect of PTEN and VEGE on cell proliferation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis. MiR-21, PTEN, and VEGF expressions were examined by RT-PCR and Western blot. The relationship between miR-21 and PTEN was determined by the luciferase activity assay. RESULTS We demonstrated that miR-21 bonded with the 3'-UTR of PTEN and suppressed PTEN expressions. Established models significantly induced cardiac infarct volume and endothelial injury marker expressions as well as miR-21 and PTEN expressions (P<0.05). MiR-21 mimics exhibited significantly protective effects since they down-regulated both infarction size and injury marker expressions by increasing VEGF expression and inhibiting PTEN expression (P<0.05). In addition, results from in vitro research show that lenti-PTEN and VEGF siRNA can notably antagonize the effect of miR-21 on cell proliferation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS MiR-21 exerts protective effects on endothelial injury through the PTEN/VEGF pathway after acute myocardial infarction.