Multiple sclerosis is characterized by inflammatory demyelination and irreversible axonal injury leading to permanent neurological disabilities. Diffusion tensor imaging demonstrates an improved capability over standard magnetic resonance imaging to differentiate axon from myelin pathologies. However, the increased cellularity and vasogenic oedema associated with inflammation cannot be detected or separated from axon/myelin injury by diffusion tensor imaging, limiting its clinical applications. A novel diffusion basis spectrum imaging, capable of characterizing water diffusion properties associated with axon/myelin injury and inflammation, was developed to quantitatively reveal white matter pathologies in central nervous system disorders. Tissue phantoms made of normal fixed mouse trigeminal nerves juxtaposed with and without gel were employed to demonstrate the feasibility of diffusion basis spectrum imaging to quantify baseline cellularity in the absence and presence of vasogenic oedema. Following the phantom studies, in vivo diffusion basis spectrum imaging and diffusion tensor imaging with immunohistochemistry validation were performed on the corpus callosum of cuprizone treated mice. Results demonstrate that in vivo diffusion basis spectrum imaging can effectively separate the confounding effects of increased cellularity and/or grey matter contamination, allowing successful detection of immunohistochemistry confirmed axonal injury and/or demyelination in middle and rostral corpus callosum that were missed by diffusion tensor imaging. In addition, diffusion basis spectrum imaging-derived cellularity strongly correlated with numbers of cell nuclei determined using immunohistochemistry. Our findings suggest that diffusion basis spectrum imaging has great potential to provide non-invasive biomarkers for neuroinflammation, axonal injury and demyelination coexisting in multiple sclerosis.

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BackgroundChemotherapy-induced premature ovarian failure (POF) is a severe complication affecting tumor patients at a childbearing age. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can partially restore the ovarian structure and function damaged by chemotherapy. miR-21 is a microRNA that can regulate cell apoptosis. This study discusses the repair effect and mechanism of MSCs overexpressing miR-21 on chemotherapy-induced POF.MethodsRat MSCs and granulosa cells (GCs) were isolated in vitro. MSCs were transfected with miR-21 lentiviral vector (LV-miR-21) to obtain MSCs stably expressing miR-21 (miR-21-MSCs). The microenvironment of an ovary receiving chemotherapy was mimicked by adding phosphamide mustard (PM) into the cellular culture medium. The apoptosis rate and the mRNA and protein expression of target genes PTEN and PDCD4 were detected in MSCs. Apoptosis was induced by adding PM into the culture medium for GCs, which were cocultured with miR-21-MSCs. The apoptosis rate and the mRNA and protein expression of PTEN and PDCD4 were detected. The chemotherapy-induced POF model was built into rats by intraperitoneal cyclophosphamide injection. miR-21-MSCs were transplanted into the bilateral ovary. The rats were sacrificed at 15, 30, 45, and 60 days after the last injection. The ovarian weights, follicle count, estrous cycle, and sex hormone levels (estradiol (E2) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)) were detected. Apoptosis of GCs was determined by TUNEL assay. The miR-21 and mRNA and protein expression of PTEN and PDCD4 were determined.ResultsThe apoptosis decreased in MSCs transfected with miR-21. The mRNA and protein expression of target genes PTEN and PDCD4 was downregulated. GCs cocultured with miR-21-MSCs showed a decreased apoptosis, an upregulation of miR-21, and a downregulation of PTEN and PDCD4. Following the injection of miR-21-MSCs, the ovarian weight and follicle counts increased; E2 levels increased while FSH levels decreased, with less severe apoptosis of GCs. The miR-21 expression in the ovaries was upregulated, while the mRNA expression and protein expression of PTEN and PDCD4 were downregulated.ConclusionsOverexpression of miR-21 in MSCs promoted efficacy against chemotherapy-induced POF and its improvement of the repair effect was related to the inhibition of GC apoptosis by targeting PTEN and PDCD4.

All treatments for CSDs other than the levonorgestrel intrauterine system shortened menstrual periods. Laparoscopic surgery was effective for patients with fertility requirements.

Icosahedron Cu8Zr5, derived from the Cu8Zr3 phase structure, corresponds to the deepest eutectic Cu0.618Zr0.382. Near this composition is the best glass-forming Cu–Zr composition, Cu0.64Zr0.36. (Cu0.64Zr0.36)1−xMx and (Cu0.618Zr0.382)1−xMx were examined for glass formation, where M represents Nb, Sn, Mo, Si, V, Ag, or Ta. A series of Cu–Zr based bulk metallic glasses are discovered with minor Nb, Sn, Mo, Ag, and Ta additions (lower than 3at.%). The minor alloying mechanism was discussed in the light of atomic size and electron concentration factors.

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The molecular structural information on a kerogen isolated from Huadian oil shale was obtained using solid-state 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Then, a series of Huadian kerogen isomers were constructed on the basis of these structural data. The possible carbon skeleton isomer and the substituted position effects of the aromatic ring, aliphatic ether bond, carboxylic acid, and carboxylic acid derivative as well as the quantity of tertiary and quaternary carbons on Huadian kerogen model stability have been systematically studied on the basis of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. For the carbon skeleton isomer, the calculated total energy decreases with the increasing number of the closed annular space (grid), which is constituted by connecting the aliphatic chain to the aromatic cluster or other aliphatic chain. DFT calculations show an about 16.8 kcal mol −1 decrease in total energy for every grid increase when the number of grids increases from 2 to 11. A significant break in the decrease of the total energy has been obtained for an isomer with 11 grids, which means that a proper number of grids (11 grids is appropriate in this paper) in carbon skeleton should be considered for building the chemical structure of Huadian kerogen. For the substituted position effects, aliphatic ether bonding to quaternary carbon, carboxylic acid attaching to secondary carbon, and carboxylic acid derivative bonding to quaternary carbon seem to give a lower energy structure than other connections. Besides, a high quantity of tertiary and quaternary carbons is conducive to a stable model for Huadian kerogen. The aromatic cluster dispersed distribution also makes a contribution to improve the stability of the model. According to these results, we proposed a relatively stable Huadian kerogen three-dimensional (3D) model. Moreover, this 3D model was testified reasonablely through the match between calculated and experimental 13 C NMR spectra.