The bone protective effects of the hydrogen molecule (H2) have been demonstrated in several osteoporosis models while the underlying molecular mechanism has remained unclear. Osteoclast differentiation is an important factor related to the pathogenesis of bone-loss related diseases. In this work, we evaluated the effects of incubation with H2 on receptor activator of NFκB ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclast differentiation. We found that treatment with H2 prevented RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation in RAW264.7 cells and BMMs. Treatment with H2 inhibits the ability to form resorption pits of BMMs stimulated by RANKL. Treatment with H2 reduced mRNA levels of osteoclast-specific markers including tartrate resistant acid phosphatase, calcitonin receptor, cathepsin K, metalloproteinase-9, carbonic anhydrase typeII, and vacuolar-type H(+)-ATPase. Treatment with H2 decreased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, suppressed NADPH oxidase activity, down-regulated Rac1 activity and Nox1 expression, reduced mitochondrial ROS formation, and enhanced nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 nuclear translocation and heme oxygenase-1 activity. In addition, treatment with H2 suppressed RANKL-induced expression of nuclear factor of activated T cells c1 and c-Fos. Furthermore, treatment with H2 suppressed NF-κB activation and reduced phosphorylation of p38, extracellular signal-regulated kinase, c-Jun-N-terminal kinase, and protein kinases B (AKT) stimulated with RANKL. In conclusion, hydrogen molecules prevented RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation associated with inhibition of reactive oxygen species formation and inactivation of NF-κB, mitogen-activated protein kinase and AKT pathways.

This mini review summarises the progress in the field of MOFs and their use in biomedical applications, from their early discovery and conception, to more recent achievements including promising in...

We employ the self-consistent field theory to study phase structures of brush-rod systems composed of two chemically distinct linear homopolymers. The polymer chains are uniformly grafted on the surface of a nanorod particle of finite length and comparable radius to the polymer radius of gyration. A "masking" technique treating the cylindrical boundary is introduced to solve the modified diffusion equations with an efficient and high-order accurate pseudospectral method involving fast Fourier transform on an orthorhombic cell. A rich variety of structures for the phase separated brushes is predicted. Phase diagrams involving a series of system parameters, such as the aspect ratio of the nanorod, the grafting density, and the chain length are constructed. The results indicate that the phase structure of the mixed brush-rod system can be tailored by varying the grafted chain length and/or the aspect ratio of the rod to benefit the fabrication of polymeric nanocomposites.

Background: Subcortical structures, including the basal ganglia, have been proposed to be crucial for arousal, consciousness, and behavioural responsiveness. How the basal ganglia contribute to the loss and recovery of consciousness during anaesthesia has, however, not yet been well characterised. Methods: Twelve patients with advanced Parkinson's disease, who were undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrode implantation in the subthalamic nucleus (STN), were included in this study. Local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded from the DBS electrodes and EEG was recorded from the scalp during induction of general anaesthesia (with propofol and sufentanil) and during tracheal intubation. Neural signatures of loss of consciousness and of the expected arousal during intubation were sought in the STN and EEG recordings. Results: Propofolesufentanil anaesthesia resulted in power increases in delta, theta, and alpha frequencies, and broadband power decreases in higher frequencies in both STN and frontal cortical areas. This was accompanied by increased STNefrontal cortical coherence only in the alpha frequency band (119 [68]%; P¼0.0049). We observed temporal activity changes in STN after tracheal intubation, including power increases in high-beta (22e40 Hz) frequency (98 [123]%; P¼0.0064) and changes in the power-law exponent in the power spectra at lower frequencies (2e80 Hz), which were not observed in the frontal cortex. During anaesthesia, the dynamic changes in the high-gamma power in STN LFPs correlated with the power-law exponent in the power spectra at lower frequencies (2e80 Hz). Conclusions: Apart from similar activity changes in both STN and cortex associated with anaesthesia-induced unresponsiveness, we observed specific neuronal activity changes in the STN in response to the anaesthesia and tracheal intubation. We also show that the power-law exponent in the power spectra in the STN was modulated by tracheal intubation in anaesthesia. Our results support the hypothesis that subcortical nuclei may play an important role in the loss and return of responsiveness.

Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) are considered to be an ideal cell source for cell therapy of many diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of the microenvironment to the hepatic differentiation potential of hUCMSCs in vitro and in vivo and to explore their therapeutic use in acute liver injury in rats. We established a new model to simulate the liver tissue microenvironment in vivo using liver homogenate supernatant (LHS) in vitro. This induced environment could drive hUCMSCs to differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells within 7 days. The differentiated cells expressed hepatocyte-specific markers and demonstrated hepatocellular functions. We also injected hUCMSCs into rats with CCl4-induced acute hepatic injury. The hUCMSCs were detected in the livers of recipient rats and expressed the human hepatocyte-specific markers, suggesting that hUCMSCs could differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells in vivo in the liver tissue microenvironment. Levels of biochemistry markers improved significantly after transplantation of hUCMSCs compared with the nontransplantation group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the liver tissue microenvironment may contribute to the differentiation of hUCMSCs into hepatocytes both in vitro and in vivo.

Video object tracking is an important research topic of computer vision, which finds a wide range of applications in video surveillance, robotics, human-computer interaction and so on. Although many moving object tracking algorithms have been proposed, there are still many difficulties in the actual tracking process, such as illumination change, occlusion, motion blurring, scale change, self-change and so on. Therefore, the development of object tracking technology is still challenging. The emergence of deep learning theory and method provides a new opportunity for the research of object tracking, and it is also the main theoretical framework for the research of moving object tracking algorithm in this paper. In this paper, the existing deep tracking-based target tracking algorithms are classified and sorted out. Based on the previous knowledge and my own understanding, several solutions are proposed for the existing methods. In addition, the existing deep learning target tracking method is still difficult to meet the requirements of real-time, how to design the network and tracking process to achieve speed and effect improvement, there is still a lot of research space.

The aim of this study was to validate the advantages of the intrafascial nerve-sparing technique compared with the interfascial nerve-sparing technique in extraperitoneal laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. From March 2010 to August 2011, 65 patients with localized prostate cancer (PCa) underwent bilateral intrafascial nerve-sparing extraperitoneal laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. These patients were matched in a 1:2 ratio to 130 patients with localized PCa who had undergone bilateral interfascial nerve-sparing extraperitoneal laparoscopic radical prostatectomy between January 2008 and August 2011. Operative data and oncological and functional results of both groups were compared. There was no difference in operative data, pathological stages and overall rates of positive surgical margins between the groups. There were 9 and 13 patients lost to follow-up in the intrafascial group and interfascial group, respectively. The intrafascial technique provided earlier recovery of continence at both 3 and 6 months than the interfascial technique. Equal results in terms of continence were found in both groups at 12 months. Better rates of potency at 6 months and 12 months were found in younger patients (age ≤ 65 years) and overall patients who had undergone the intrafascial nerve-sparing extraperitoneal laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. Biochemical progression-free survival rates 1 year postoperatively were similar in both groups. Using strict indications, compared with the interfascial nerve-sparing technique, the intrafascial technique provided similar operative outcomes and short-term oncological results, quicker recovery of continence and better potency. The intrafascial nerve-sparing technique is recommended as a preferred approach for young PCa patients who are clinical stages cT1 to cT2a and have normal preoperative potency.

Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is promising for treatment of acute kidney injury (AKI), but their therapeutic effects are often limited under normal conditions. In this study, we prepared the co-gels of decellularized vascular matrix and collagen, and investigated whether the co-gels increase the therapeutic potentials of MSCs on AKI. In vitro studies indicated that the co-gels enhanced the paracrine effects of MSCs, and significantly reduced the apoptosis of MSCs under oxidative environments. When the co-gels were co-transplanted with MSCs into the kidney of model rats with ischemia-reperfusion (I/R)-induced AKI, the survival and paracrine effects of MSCs were enhanced in the injured kidney. More importantly, the co-gels increased the therapeutic effects of MSCs for AKI, as indicated by cell apoptosis, tissue damage, vascularization and renal function. Therefore, the co-gels of decellularized vascular matrix and collagen improved the therapeutic effects of MSCs, and might be promising for AKI treatment.