Renew

The contamination of aquatic environments with microplastics (MPs) has spurred an unprecedented interest among scientific communities to investigate their impacts on biota. Despite the rapid growth in the number of studies on the aquatic toxicology of MPs, controversy over the fate and biological impacts of MPs is increasingly growing mainly due to the absence of standardized laboratory bioassays. Given the complex features of MPs, such as the diversity of constituent polymers, additives, shapes and sizes, as well as continuous changes in the particle buoyancy as a result of fouling and defouling processes, it is necessary to modify conventional bioassay protocols before employing them for MP toxicity testings...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this observational, multi-center study was to reveal epidemiologic, etiological and clinical aspects of hospitalized children with thermal injuries in Germany and Austria and the workup of a renewed web-based pediatric burn registry. METHODS: From 2006 to 2015, comprehensive patient data of thermally injured children in Germany and Austria were collected prospectively. Retrospective analysis of age, gender, mechanism of injury, total body surface area burned, way of admission and length of stay was performed, followed by the comparative analysis between designated burn centers and other pediatric hospitals...

Accumulating evidence has revealed the importance of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in chemoresistance and recurrence. BORIS, a testes-specific CTCF paralog, has been shown to be associated with stemness traits of embryonic cancer cells and epithelial CSCs. We previously reported that BORIS is correlated with the expression of the CSC marker CD90 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). These results encourage us to wonder whether BORIS exerts functions on CSC-like traits of human liver cancer cells. Here, we report that BORIS was enriched in HCC tissues...

Multiple studies have demonstrated that ALDH1A1 is elevated in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). As a means to better characterize such cells, we previously developed the fluorescent ALDH1A1 substrate Aldefluor to facilitate HSC identification and isolation. This has proven useful for counting and isolating HSCs from human bone marrow, peripheral blood and cord blood as well as stem cells in other tissues and organisms. Given the high level expression of ALDH1A1, we explored its biology and that of other ALDHs in HSCs and found that ALDH1A1 and ALDH3A1 were important in metabolizing reactive aldehydes (RAlds) and reactive oxygen species (ROS)...

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the sixth most frequent malignant tumor of the head and neck region. Despite advances in therapeutic options over the last decades, the rate of mortality and morbidity has not been improved markedly. A small subset of cells, cancer stem cells (CSCs), with self-renewal properties have become a major focus of current cancer research. CD44 and p63 are identified as candidate stem cell markers in normal squamous epithelium and SCC. The role of these markers in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is still debatable...

The role of Ras signaling during tooth development is poorly understood. Ras proteins-which are activated by many upstream pathways, including receptor tyrosine kinase cascades-signal through multiple effectors, such as the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and PI3K pathways. Here, we utilized the mouse incisor as a model to study how the MAPK and PI3K pathways regulate dental epithelial stem cells and amelogenesis. The rodent incisor-which grows continuously throughout the life of the animal due to the presence of epithelial and mesenchymal stem cells-provides a model for the study of ectodermal organ renewal and regeneration...

C-H bonds are ubiquitous structural units of organic molecules. Although these bonds are generally considered to be chemically inert, the recent emergence of methods for C-H functionalization promises to transform the way synthetic chemistry is performed. The intermolecular amination of C-H bonds represents a particularly desirable and challenging transformation for which no efficient, highly selective, and renewable catalysts exist. Here we report the directed evolution of an iron-containing enzymatic catalyst-based on a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase-for the highly enantioselective intermolecular amination of benzylic C-H bonds...

The current era of healthcare reform emphasizes the provision of effective, safe, equitable, high-quality, and cost-effective care. Within the realm of gastrointestinal endoscopy in adults, renewed efforts are in place to accurately define and measure quality indicators across the spectrum of endoscopic care. In pediatrics, however, this movement has been less-defined and lacks much of the evidence-base that supports these initiatives in adult care. A need, therefore, exists to help define quality metrics tailored to pediatric practice and provide a toolbox for the development of robust quality improvement (QI) programs within pediatric endoscopy units...

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The study of topology in solids is undergoing a renaissance following renewed interest in the properties of ferroic domain walls as well as recent discoveries regarding skyrmionic lattices. Each of these systems possess a property that is `protected' in a symmetry sense, and is defined rigorously using a branch of mathematics known as topology. In this article we review the formal definition of topological defects as they are classified in terms of homotopy theory, and discuss the precise symmetry-breaking conditions that lead to their formation...

The loss of functional β cells leads to development of diabetes. Several studies have shown that β cells are specified through several stages of progenitors during pancreas development, each stage defined by the expression of specific transcription factors (TFs). Understanding signalling pathways that control the differentiation and specification processes during embryogenesis will facilitate efforts to obtain functional β cells in vitro. Our current knowledge of the mechanisms involved in pancreatic β cell development and survival under normal or diabetic conditions has come largely from animal studies...

Mitochondria are classically known to be the cellular energy producers, but a renewed appreciation for these organelles has developed with the accumulating discoveries of additional functions. The importance of mitochondria within the brain has been long known, particularly given the high-energy demanding nature of neurons. The energy demands imposed by neurons require the well-orchestrated morphological adaptation and distribution of mitochondria. Recent studies now reveal the importance of mitochondrial dynamics not only in mature neurons but also during neural development, particularly during the process of neurogenesis and neural stem cell fate decisions...

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common cancers and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Only a small proportion of patients benefit from curative treatment and the prognosis is very poor for the majority of cases due to late presentation, resistance to chemotherapy and high recurrence rate. In recent years, progress in stem cell biology allowed us to explain that hierarchically organized cancer stem cells (CSCs) drive histological and functional heterogeneity of hematological malignancies and solid tumors...

The renewable energy sector is growing at a rapid pace in northern Chile and the solar energy potential is one of the best worldwide. Therefore, many types of solar power plant facilities are being built to take advantage of this renewable energy resource. Solar energy is considered a clean source of energy, but there are potential environmental effects of solar technology, such as landscape fragmentation, extinction of local biota, microclimate changes, among others. To be able to minimize environmental impacts of solar power plants, it is important to know what kind of environmental conditions solar power plants create...

Observational studies entail making several decisions before data collection, such as the observational design to use, the sampling of sessions within the observational period, the need for time sampling within the observation sessions, as well as the observation recording procedures to use. The focus of the present article is on observational recording procedures different from continuous recording (i.e., momentary time sampling, partial and whole interval recording). The main aim is to develop an online software application, constructed using R and the Shiny package, on the basis of simulations using the alternating renewal process (a model implemented in the ARPobservation package)...

ATMs have a metabolic impact in mammals as they contribute to metabolically harmful AT inflammation. The control of the ATM number may have therapeutic potential; however, information on ATM ontogeny is scarce. Whereas it is thought that ATMs develop from circulating monocytes, various tissue-resident Mϕs are capable of self-renewal and develop from BM-independent progenitors without a monocyte intermediate. Here, we show that amphibian AT contains self-renewing ATMs that populate the AT before the establishment of BM hematopoiesis...

  A novel approach toward chemically modified cellulose bearing active chelating Schiff base with hydroxyl group (Cell-Hy) was synthesized. The modified cellulose was examined for its heavy metal ion uptake potential from aqueous solution. The chemical and structural features of the adsorbent were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), solid state 13C-NMR, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive analysis of X-ray (EDAX) observations. The experimental conditions and adsorption parameters, including pH, initial metal ion concentration, adsorbent dosage, temperature, and contact time were optimized for the removal of Cu(II) and Pb(II) ions...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of asymmetric division in leukemia cells through detection of expression and asymmetric division of Numb in differentiated and undifferentiated K562 cells. METHODS: Firstly, Hemin was used to induce K562 cell differentiation, and the expression of Numb was detected by the real-time quantitative RT-PCR and flow cytometry. After K562 cells were synchronized by nocodazole, the Numb protein was labeled by immunohistochemical staining, followed by the determination of the terminally differentiated cells through confocal microscopy...

The spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are unique in mammals because they can transmit genetic information from generation to generation and it is of significant importance. In testes, Sertoli cells, peritubular myoid cells, Leydig cells and other interstitial cells contribute to the spermatogonial stem cell "niche". So, creation of niche in in vitro condition that mimics in vivo environment is essential to maintain functional characteristic of SSCs. Nanofiber matrices mimic the architecture and size scale of the natural extracellular matrix (ECM)...

Protein nanocarriers possess unique merits including minimal cytotoxicity, numerous renewable sources, and high drug-binding capability. In opposition to delivery carriers utilizing hydrophilic animal proteins, hydrophobic plant proteins (e.g, zein) have great tendency in fabricating controlled-release particulate carriers without additional chemical modification to stiffen them, which in turn evades the use of toxic chemical crosslinkers. Moreover, zein is related to a class of alcohol-soluble prolamins and generally recognized as safe (GRAS) carrier for drug delivery...