The effect of long‐term hormonal treatment on voiding patterns during filling cystometry and on urethral histology in a postpartum, ovariectomized female rat

ObjectiveTo study whether long-term treatment with oestrogen (E(2) ), selective E(2) receptor modulators (SERMs), or growth hormone (GH) can prevent the development of abnormal voiding patterns during filling cystometry (CMG) in a postpartum, ovariectomized (Ovx) female rat.Materials and methodsImmediately after spontaneous delivery, 60 primiparous Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into six equal groups. One group served as uninjured sham controls and five groups underwent intravaginal balloon dilatation. On day seven, previously dilated rats underwent bilateral Ovx and implantation of a subcutaneous hormone-delivery pump. The five treatment groups received normal saline (control), E(2) , raloxifene, levormeloxifene, or GH for 7 weeks. Conscious CMG was performed 7 weeks after Ovx. Urethral sphincter tissue was harvested for elastin immunohistochemistry and real-time polymerase chain reaction of α(1A) -adrenoceptor mRNA.ResultsNo abnormal voiding patterns were detected in the group treated with GH. The E(2) , raloxifene and levormeloxifene groups had greater detrusor overactivity and urethral relaxation incontinence than control rats. The raloxifene group had a significantly lower baseline bladder pressure and opening pressure. GH-treated rats had higher elastin content in the urethra. Urethral α(1A) -adrenoceptor mRNA concentration was significantly lower in the SERM-treated rats compared with controls.ConclusionsGH prevents the development of abnormal voiding patterns during filling CMG in a rat model of parturition-induced incontinence; E(2) and SERMs may worsen voiding patterns

A Compact Dual-Band MIMO Antenna for Sub-6 GHz 5G Terminals

In this paper, a dual-band multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna is proposed for fifth-generation (5G) wireless communication terminals. The measured −10 dB impedance bandwidths of 380 MHz (3.34–3.72 GHz) and 560 MHz (4.57–5.13 GHz) can cover the 3.4–3.6 GHz and 4.8–5 GHz 5G bands. The single antenna element of this proposed MIMO is composed of an F-shaped feed strip and an inverted L-shaped radiation strip. A defected ground structure is employed to obtain a good isolation performance, whereby the measured isolation between the antenna elements is observed to be larger than 23 dB. The measured total radiation efficiencies at 3.5 GHz and 4.9 GHz are 76.65% and 71.93%, respectively. Besides, the calculated envelope correlation coefficients (ECC) are less than 0.00125 and 0.01164 at the low-frequency and high-frequency bands, respectively. Furthermore, the specific absorption ratio (SAR) analysis of the antenna verifies that it qualifies for 5G terminals

Enhanced Myogenesis by Silencing Myostatin with Nonviral Delivery of a dCas9 Ribonucleoprotein Complex

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and pelvic floor disorder (PFD) are common conditions with limited treatment options in women worldwide. Regenerative therapy to restore urethral striated and pelvic floor muscles represents a valuable therapeutic approach. We aim to determine the CRISPR interference-mediated gene silencing effect of the nonviral delivery of nuclease-deactivated dCas9 ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex on muscle regeneration at the cellular and molecular level. We designed four myostatin (MSTN)-targeting sgRNAs and transfected them into rat myoblast L6 cells together with the dCas9 protein. Myogenesis assay and immunofluorescence staining were performed to evaluate muscle differentiation, while CCK8 assay, cell cycle assay, and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine staining were used to measure muscle proliferation. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were also performed to examine cellular signaling. Myogenic factors (including myosin heavy chain, MSTN, myocardin, and serum response factor) increased significantly after day 5 during myogenesis. MSTN was efficiently silenced after transfecting the dCas9 RNP complex, which significantly promoted more myotube formation and a higher fusion index for L6 cells. In cellular signaling, MSTN repression enhanced the expression of MyoG and MyoD, phosphorylation of Smad2, and the activity of Wnt1/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway. Moreover, MSTN repression accelerated L6 cell growth with a higher cell proliferation index as well as a higher expression of cyclin D1 and cyclin E. Nonviral delivery of the dCas9 RNP complex significantly promoted myoblast differentiation and proliferation, providing a promising approach to improve muscle regeneration for SUI and PFD. Further characterization and validation of this approach in vivo are needed

Multiple Conformations of Phosphodiesterase-5: IMPLICATIONS FOR ENZYME FUNCTION AND DRUG DEVELOPMENT

Phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) is the target for sildenafil, vardenafil, and tadalafil, which are drugs for treatment of erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension. We report here the crystal structures of a fully active catalytic domain of unliganded PDE5A1 and its complexes with sildenafil or icarisid II. These structures together with the PDE5A1-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine complex show that the H-loop ( residues 660-683) at the active site of PDE5A1 has four different conformations and migrates 7-35 angstrom upon inhibitor binding. In addition, the conformation of sildenafil reported herein differs significantly from those in the previous structures of chimerically hybridized or almost inactive PDE5. Mutagenesis and kinetic analyses confirm that the H-loop is particularly important for substrate recognition and that invariant Gly(659), which immediately precedes the H-loop, is critical for optimal substrate affinity and catalytic activity

Economic analysis of rice fish culture

Meeting: National Rice Fish Farming Systems Symposium, 4-8 Oct. 1988, Wuxi, CNIn IDL-1614

Allogeneic and Xenogeneic Transplantation of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells in Immunocompetent Recipients Without Immunosuppressants

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are well known for their immunomodulatory capabilities. In particular, their immunosuppressive property is believed to permit their allogeneic or even xenogeneic transplantation into immunocompetent recipients without the use of immunosuppressants. Adipose-derived stem cell (ADSC), owing to its ease of isolation from an abundant tissue source, is a promising MSC for the treatment of a wide range of diseases. ADSC has been shown to lack major histocompatibility complex-II expression, and its immunosuppressive effects mediated by prostaglandin E2. Both preclinical and clinical studies have shown that allogeneic transplantation of ADSCs was able to control graft-versus-host disease. In regard to xenotransplantation a total of 27 preclinical studies have been published, with 20 of them performed with the investigators' intent. All 27 studies used ADSCs isolated from humans, possibly due to the wide availability of lipoaspirates. On the other hand, the recipients were mouse in 13 studies, rat in 11, rabbit in 2, and dog in 1. The targeted diseases varied greatly but all showed significant improvements after ADSC xenotransplantation. For clinical application in human medicine, ADSC xenotransplantation offers no obvious advantage over autotransplantation. But in veterinary medicine, xenotransplantation with porcine ADSC is a practical alternative to the costly and inconvenient autotransplantation

Potential application of adipose tissue-derived stem cells for urological Disease

Adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) are a somatic stem cell population contained in fat tissue that may be utilized in the treatment of urologic disease. ADSCs are excellent candidates for these therapies as they are easily obtained in large quantities from adipose tissue, and possess the potential to undergo long-term proliferation, self-renewal and multipotent differentiation. We reviewed the available evidence from 1964 through 2014 concerning ADSC availability, differentiation, and potentiality in the context of treatment forurologic diseases.</jats:p