The ectomycorrhizal fungus Scleroderma bovista improves growth of hazelnut seedlings and plays a role in auxin signaling and transport

IntroductionScleroderma bovista can form symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi with hazel roots. The mechanism through which S. bovista promotes hazelnut growth remains unclear.MethodsThis study aimed to evaluate the effect of ectomycorrhizal fungus S. bovista on the growth and development of hazel roots and gene expression changes through comparative transcriptome analysis.ResultsAfter inoculation with S. bovista, the fungus symbiotically formed ectomycorrhiza with hazel roots. The fresh weights of the aboveground and underground parts of My treatment (inoculated with S. bovista and formed mycorrhiza) were much higher than those of the control, respectively. The length, project area, surface area, volume, forks, and diameter of the inoculated seedlings root were 1.13 to 2.48 times higher than those of the control. In the paired comparison, 3,265 upregulated and 1,916 downregulated genes were identified. The most significantly enriched Gene Ontology term for the upregulated Differentially Expressed Genes was GO:0005215 (transporter activity). Immunohistochemical analysis suggested that the expression levels of auxin and Auxin Response Factor9 were significantly increased by S. bovista after the formation of mycorrhizal fungi in hazelnut root tips.DiscussionThese results indicate that genes related to auxin biosynthesis, transport and signaling, and transport of nutrients may contribute to root development regulation in hazel ectomycorrhiza

The treatment efficacy of bone tissue engineering strategy for repairing segmental bone defects under diabetic condition

BackgroundDiabetes mellitus is a systematic disease which exert detrimental effect on bone tissue. The repair and reconstruction of bone defects in diabetic patients still remain a major clinical challenge. This study aims to investigate the potential of bone tissue engineering approach to improve bone regeneration under diabetic condition.MethodsIn the present study, decalcified bone matrix (DBM) scaffolds were seeded with allogenic fetal bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and cultured in osteogenic induction medium to fabricate BMSC/DBM constructs. Then the BMSC/DBM constructs were implanted in both subcutaneous pouches and large femoral bone defects in diabetic (BMSC/DBM in DM group) and non-diabetic rats (BMSC/DBM in non-DM group), cell-free DBM scaffolds were implanted in diabetic rats to serve as the control group (DBM in DM group). X-ray, micro-CT and histological analyses were carried out to evaluate the bone regenerative potential of BMSC/DBM constructs under diabetic condition.ResultsIn the rat subcutaneous implantation model, quantitative micro-CT analysis demonstrated that BMSC/DBM in DM group showed impaired bone regeneration activity compared with the BMSC/DBM in non-DM group (bone volume: 46 ± 4.4 mm3 vs 58.9 ± 7.15 mm3, *p < 0.05). In the rat femoral defect model, X-ray examination demonstrated that bone union was delayed in BMSC/DBM in DM group compared with BMSC/DBM in non-DM group. However, quantitative micro-CT analysis showed that after 6 months of implantation, there was no significant difference in bone volume and bone density between the BMSC/DBM in DM group (199 ± 63 mm3 and 593 ± 65 mg HA/ccm) and the BMSC/DBM in non-DM group (211 ± 39 mm3 and 608 ± 53 mg HA/ccm). Our data suggested that BMSC/DBM constructs could repair large bone defects in diabetic rats, but with delayed healing process compared with non-diabetic rats.ConclusionOur study suggest that biomaterial sacffolds seeded with allogenic fetal BMSCs represent a promising strategy to induce and improve bone regeneration under diabetic condition

Erratum to “Enhanced Effects of Intermittent Fasting by Magnetic Fields in Severe Diabetes”

In the Research Article “Enhanced effects of intermittent fasting by magnetic fields in severe diabetes”, an error was inadvertently introduced during the production process [1]. The unit of measurement in Fig. 1B is “KGs”, not “kg”. The publisher apologizes for this error, which is corrected in the figure below

Accelerating wound healing by biomineralizing crystallization formed from ZIF-8/PLA nanofibers with enhanced revascularization and inflammation reduction

IntroductionPolylactic acid (PLA) is a synthetic polymer material with good biodegradability, biocompatibility, and bioabsorbability, electrospinning is a convenient and efficient method for preparing PLA nanofibers as wound dressing. However, PLA nanofibers as wound dressings lack biological functions, including promoting angiogenesis, extracellular matrix secretion and regulating inflammation, which are crucial for skin regeneration. Herein, we aimed to develop an effectively methods to enhance biological activity of PLA nanofibers through biomimetic mineralized induced by Zeolite imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) for promoting wound healing.MethodsThe ZIF-8/PLA nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning and immersed in simulated body fluids (SBF) to obtain mineralized PLA nanofibers (mZIF-8/PLA). The physicochemical and mechanical properties, Ions releases, and biocompatibility of the mZIF-8/PLA nanofibers were evaluated in vitro. The regeneration capability of the nanofibers was systemically investigated in vivo using the excisional wound-splinting model in Rats.ResultsHydroxyapatite-like crystals was observed on the surface of nanofibers, EDS-mapping confirmed that the crystal deposits in mZIF-8/PLA nanofibers are composed of calcium, phosphorus, and zinc elements. The mineralized crystallization increased the roughness of PLA nanofibers by altering its surface topography, and significantly improved its mechanical property and hydrophilicity. Biomimetic mineralized mZIF-8/PLA nanofibers significantly improve the biological activity for promoting fibroblast proliferations. The Zinc and calcium ions released from hydroxyapatite-like crystals induced by ZIF-8 also promotes angiogenesis, enhances extracellular matrix deposition and reduces inflammatory infiltration in wound healing model.ConclusionsIn summary, this study demonstrates that mineralized ZIF-8/PLA nanofibers could promote wound healing through regulating angiogenesis and reducing inflammatory response

Identification of key genes induced by platelet-rich plasma in human dermal papilla cells using bioinformatics methods

Dermal papilla cells (DPCs) are located at the base of hair follicles, and are known to induce hair follicle regeneration. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) functions in hair follicle regeneration. To investigate the influence of PRP on DPCs, the present study analyzed RNA-seq data of human hair dermal papilla cells (HHDPCs) that were treated or untreated by PRP. The data included in the RNA-seq were from two normal and two treated HHDPC samples. Following identification by Cuffdiff software, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) underwent enrichment analyses, and protein-protein interaction networks were constructed using Cytoscape software. Additionally, transcription factor (TF)-DEG and TF-long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) regulatory networks were constructed. A total of 178 differentially expressed lncRNA were screened, 365 were upregulated and 142 were downregulated. Notably, upregulated cyclin dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) (degree=76), polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) (degree=65), cell division cycle 20 (degree=50), cyclin B1 (degree=49), aurora kinase B (degree=47), cyclin dependent kinase 2 (degree=46) and downregulated v-myc avian myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog (MYC) (degree=12) had higher degrees in networks. In addition, CCAAT/enhancer binding protein β, E2F transcription factor 1 (E2F1), early growth response 1 and MYC may be key TFs for their target genes, and were enriched in pathways associated with the cell cycle. They may also be involved in cell proliferation via various interactions with other genes, for example CDK1-PLK1 and E2F1→CDK1. These dysregulated genes induced by PRP may affect proliferation of HHDPCs

Cross-Domain Kernel Induction for Transfer Learning

The key question in transfer learning (TL) research is how to make model induction transferable across different domains. Common methods so far require source and target domains to have a shared/homogeneous feature space, or the projection of features from heterogeneous domains onto a shared space. This paper proposes a novel framework, which does not require a shared feature space but instead uses a parallel corpus to calibrate domain-specific kernels into a unified kernel, to leverage graph-based label propagation in cross-domain settings, and to optimize semi-supervised learning based on labeled and unlabeled data in both source and target domains. Our experiments on benchmark datasets show advantageous performance of the proposed method over that of other state-of-the-art TL methods

Effect of the frequency of weight-free vibration training on the isokinetic strength of knee muscles in juvenile football players

BACKGROUND: Vibration training can affect strength improvement. However, the role of the vibration frequency, in terms of knee muscle strength, is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of vibration training with the same amplitude and different frequencies on the isokinetic muscle strength of the knee in juvenile football players. METHODS: Juvenile football players were divided into four groups: low frequency (n= 13, 25 Hz), medium frequency (n= 14, 40 Hz), high frequency (n= 14, 50 Hz), and control (n= 13). The frequency groups completed 12 weeks of weight-free vibration training (three times/week) with the same amplitude (3 mm) but different frequency. RESULTS: Compared with baseline, the peak extension torque of the knee at 60∘/s and 240∘/s increased by 8.4% and 12.9%, respectively, in the medium-frequency group, and by 8.9% and 15.5%, respectively, in the high-frequency group. The extensor endurance (the ability of joint muscle groups to maintain a force output over time) of the knee in the high-frequency group increased by 4.3%. At 12 weeks, the high-frequency group had greater knee extensor endurance than the low- and medium-frequency groups. CONCLUSION: In juvenile football players, weight-free vibration training at 40 Hz and 50 Hz improves peak torque of the knee extensors at 60∘/s and 240∘/s, while training at 50 Hz improves endurance of the knee extensors.</jats:p