SummaryInnate immune and inflammatory responses are involved in myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Interleukin (IL)-37 is a newly identified member of the IL-1 family, and functions as a fundamental inhibitor of innate immunity and inflammation. However, its role in myocardial I/R injury remains unknown. I/R or sham operations were performed on male C57BL/6J mice. I/R mice received an injection of recombinant human IL-37 or vehicle, immediately before reperfusion. Compared with vehicle treatment, mice treated with IL-37 showed an obvious amelioration of the I/R injury, as demonstrated by reduced infarct size, decreased cardiac troponin T level and improved cardiac function. This protective effect was associated with the ability of IL-37 to suppress production of proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines and neutrophil infiltration, which together contributed to a decrease in cardiomyocyte apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. In addition, we found that IL-37 inhibited the up-regulation of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 expression and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) activation after I/R, while increasing the anti-inflammatory IL-10 level. Moreover, the administration of anti-IL-10R antibody abolished the protective effects of IL-37 in I/R injury. In-vitro experiments further demonstrated that IL-37 protected cardiomyocytes from apoptosis under I/R condition, and suppressed the migration ability of neutrophils towards the chemokine LIX. In conclusion, IL-37 plays a protective role against mouse myocardial I/R injury, offering a promising therapeutic medium for myocardial I/R injury.

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NCT01355887 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov).

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The real-space resolving of the encapsulated overlayer in the well-known model and industry catalysts, ascribed to the advent of dedicated transmission electron microscopy, enables us to probe novel nano/micro architecture chemistry for better application, revisiting our understanding of this key issue in heterogeneous catalysis. In this review, we summarize the latest progress of real-space observation of SMSI in several well-known systems mainly covered from the metal catalysts (mostly Pt) supported by the TiO2 , CeO2 and Fe3 O4 . As a comparison with the model catalyst Pt/Fe3 O4 , the industrial catalyst Cu/ZnO is also listed, followed with the suggested ongoing directions in the field.

SummaryThe role of mast cells (MCs) in the generation of adaptive immune responses especially in the transplant immune responses is far from being resolved. It is reported that mast cells are essential intermediaries in regulatory T cell (Treg) transplant tolerance, but the mechanism has not been clarified. To investigate whether bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs) can induce Tregs by expressing transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-b1) in vitro, bone marrow cells obtained from C57BL/6 (H-2 b ) mice were cultured with interleukin (IL)-3 (10 ng/ml) and stem cell factor (SCF) (10 ng/ml) for 4 weeks. The purity of BMMCs was measured by flow cytometry. The BMMCs were then co-cultured with C57BL/6 T cells at ratios of 1:2, 1:1 and 2:1. Anti-CD3, anti-CD28 and IL-2 were administered into the co-culture system with (experiment groups) or without (control groups) TGF-b1 neutralizing antibody. The percentages of CD4 + CD25 + forkhead box P3 (FoxP3) + Tregs in the co-cultured system were analysed by flow cytometry on day 5. The Treg percentages were significantly higher in all the experiment groups compared to the control groups. These changes were deduced by applying TGF-b1 neutralizing antibody into the co-culture system. Our results indicated that the CD4 + T cells can be induced into CD4+ CD25 + FoxP3 + T cells by BMMCs via TGF-b1.

Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 (hereafter GST) chalcogenide is of great importance as a key material for the emerging nonvolatile phasechange random access memory (PRAM) [1][2][3] and the optical data storage. [4,5] This chalcogenide exhibits three phases: amorphous, metastable rocksalt face-centered cubic (FCC) and stable hexagonal (Hex) crystalline phases. The crystalline FCC and Hex phases are found to be electrically distinguishable in GST. [6] A switching memory was demonstrated by using (Ge 1 Sb 2 Te 4 ) 0.8 (Sn 1 Bi 2 Te 4 ) 0.2 alloy recently, based on its reversible phase changes between FCC and Hex phases. [7] The whole switching operation in PRAM and phase change optical disk is based on the following cyclic process: amorphous solid → crystalline FCC → crystalline Hex → liquid (melt) → amorphous solid. Therefore, sound understanding of the phase-change between the two GST crystalline phases will lead to improved phase-change devices. Stimulated by the fact that FCC and hexagonal phases of GST are with identical composition and of independent existence, one may think the possibility of martensitic transformation between them, just as the martensitic transformation between FCC and hexagonal close-packed phases in metallic cobalt. [8] Known as rapid diffusionless phase transitions, martensitic transformations are found in many metals, alloys and ceramics. [9][10][11] Moreover, the rapid phase-change in GST is well consistent with the ultra-fast nature of martensitic transformation. Acknowledging these strong implications, it is exciting to conduct theoretical investigation of the applicability of martensitic transformation concept to GST system. In this paper, we will prove that the martensitic transformation from FCC to Hex occurs favorably in Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 alloy during phase transition from FCC to Hex, by taking both structure and energy into consideration. Crystallographic Model of Martensitic Transformation in GSTIn terms of the metastable FCC phase (space group: Fm 3 m) with a lattice parameter a FCC = 6.02 Å, 4(a) sites are fully occupied by Te atoms as one FCC sublattice backbone with Ge, Sb and 20 % vacancies at the 4(b) sites forming the other FCC sublattice (see Fig. 1(a)). [6] The stable hexagonal phase shown in Figure 1(c) consists of cycling 9 layers in one unit cell with a space group of P 3 m 1, e.g., -Te-Ge-Te-Sb-TeTe-Sb-Te-Ge-stacking order with lattice parameters a Hex = 4.2 Å and c Hex = 16.96 Å. [12] This hexagonal structure can be divided into 3 components: the middle Te-rich -Sb-TeTe-Sb-, the mirror-symmetrical lower -Te-Ge-Te-Sb-and upper -Sb-Te-Ge-Te-blocks. The outlined triangle in Figure 1(c) represents a (113) plane.Recently, the ab initio total energy calculation showed that the vacancies are concentrated, [1] highly ordered and layered in FCC owing to the cubic structure symmetry. [13] Thus the ordered distribution of Ge, Sb and vacancies can be formed, more advantageous than their random positions, at least as an intermediate state during the phase transition from FCC to Hex phases as tempe...