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Fatty acid-binding protein 5 (FABP5) is an important member of the FABP family and plays a vital role in the metabolism of fatty acids. However, few studies have examined the role of FABP5 in pathological cardiac remodeling and heart failure. The aim of this study was to explore the role of FABP5 in transverse aortic constriction (TAC)-induced pathological cardiac remodeling and dysfunction in mice. Quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blotting (WB) analysis showed that the levels of FABP5 mRNA and protein, respectively, were upregulated in hearts of the TAC model. Ten weeks after TAC in FABP5 knockout and wild type control mice, echocardiography, histopathology, qRT-PCR, and WB demonstrated that FABP5 deficiency aggravated cardiac injury (both cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis) and dysfunction. In addition, transmission electron microscopy, ATP detection, and WB revealed that TAC caused severe impairment to mitochondria in the hearts of FABP5-deficient mice compared with that in control mice. When FABP5 was downregulated by siRNA in primary mouse cardiac fibroblasts, FABP5 silencing increased oxidative stress, reduced mitochondrial respiration, and increased the expression of myofibroblast activation marker genes in response to treatment with transforming growth factor-β. Our findings demonstrate that FABP5 deficiency aggravates cardiac pathological remodeling and dysfunction by damaging cardiac mitochondrial function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clear aligners are removable orthodontic appliances that cover the tooth surface. The microbial composition and pH of the inner surface of aligners directly affect the enamel health. In this study, eight subjects who used the same type of clear aligners were instructed to brush their teeth normally and to not clean their aligners until sampling. Saliva and the contents of the inner surface of the aligners (liquid and plaque) were collected at 0 h (T0), 4 h (T4), 8 h (T8), 12 h (T12), and 24 h (T24) after usage, and pH values and microbial compositions were measured. The microbial composition was analyzed with 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and changes were assessed based on operational taxonomic unit abundance. The pH, alpha diversity values, and abundance of specific microbes on the inner surface of the aligners gradually decreased from T0 to T24 (P < 0.05). An insignificant increase in microbial community beta diversity was observed from T0 to T24. Principal component analysis revealed that the microbial composition at T0 was different from at T12 and T24. The relative abundances of phylum Firmicutes (P < 0.01), orders Lactobacillales and Bacteroidales (P < 0.05), and genus Streptococcus and species Streptococcus infantis increased significantly, while those of genera Actinomyces and Rothia and species Rothia aeria decreased significantly at T24 (P < 0.05). These findings reveal that uncleaned aligners might lead to enamel damage, especially after continuous usage for 12 h. Thus, clear aligners should be cleaned after 12 h of usage or at least within 24 h of usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product design is greatly influenced by product configuration processes and can be suspended or result in failure if the configuration process consumes too much time, cost, or resources; such results can also occur if the end products manufactured based on configurations failed to satisfy customers. Therefore, a configuration approach that saves time, cost, and resources, as well as highly satisfies customers, is necessary and significant. Against the background, this study proposes a configuration approach that uses online data to map customer requirements into product configurations, including the product transaction data and customer review data. The approach generates feasible configurations initially by using transaction data. Next, the approach produces training samples based on positive customer review data. Lastly, the intelligent classifier is trained by the training samples and is utilized to select final configurations from feasible configurations to satisfy customer requirements. A real-world design case of smartphones is used to illustrate the proposed approach, and the results indicate that this approach saves time, cost, and resources and is competitive compared with other product configuration methods. This novel configuration approach provides designers and companies with a superior and efficient method to complete configuration tasks with competiveness and low risk and adds value to the usability and analysis of online data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the developed market, time-to-market and market shares require companies to provide products that satisfy customer requirements in a timely manner, and the variety in product configurations has been analyzed thoroughly. Against this background, this study addresses an integration model for generating feasible configuration plans based on market transaction data and for selecting the optimal configuration plan(s) based on customer requirements. Transaction data can be used for clustering products to analyze the characteristics of segmented markets and yield the probabilities of configuration plans; along with the constraint conditions, feasible configuration plans can be generated, as well as market strategies for different segmented markets. In addition, a probabilistic classifier, the Naïve Bayes Classifier, is applied to map the customer requirements to the configuration plan with the highest probability. The classifier is suitable for handling imprecise and uncertain information, such as product requirements expressed by customers. A case study of a mouse device is illustrated, and the results indicate the integration model can achieve a good performance in terms of time advantages in project design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are the largest subfamily of the transforming growth factor-β superfamily, and they play important roles in the development of numerous organs, including the inner ear. The inner ear is a relatively small organ but has a highly complex structure and is involved in both hearing and balance. Here, we discuss BMPs and BMP signaling pathways and then focus on the role of BMP signal pathway regulation in the development of the inner ear and the implications this has for the treatment of human hearing loss and balance dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reduce the impacts of configuration change in complex product design, a dynamic optimization method for configuration change in complex product design is proposed. First, a network model for characteristic relationships of complex product (CPCR) is built to describe the configuration scheme of complex product, with characteristics as nodes and relationships between characteristics in the configuration scheme as edges. Then, the impacts of change to different types of characteristics on other characteristics are analyzed to reveal the impact process of configuration change in complex product design. Next, according as the effects of change on upstream and downstream characteristics can be optimized and cannot be optimized, the dynamic optimization method for configuration change in complex product design is put forth, which integrates dynamic optimization for upstream characteristic changes and dynamic search of downstream characteristic changes. Finally, a practical application of the proposed method and a comparison of the proposed method with existing ones are suggested to verify the validity and applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycomb repressive complex 2 and the epigenetic mark that it deposits, H3K27me3, are evolutionarily conserved and play critical roles in development and cancer. However, their roles in cell fate decisions in early embryonic development remain poorly understood. Here we report that knockout of polycomb repressive complex 2 genes in human embryonic stem cells causes pluripotency loss and spontaneous differentiation toward a meso-endoderm fate, owing to de-repression of BMP signalling. Moreover, human embryonic stem cells with deletion of EZH1 or EZH2 fail to differentiate into ectoderm lineages. We further show that polycomb repressive complex 2-deficient mouse embryonic stem cells also release Bmp4 but retain their pluripotency. However, when converted into a primed state, they undergo spontaneous differentiation similar to that of hESCs. In contrast, polycomb repressive complex 2 is dispensable for pluripotency when human embryonic stem cells are converted into the naive state. Our studies reveal both lineage- and pluripotent state-specific roles of polycomb repressive complex 2 in cell fate decisions.Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) plays an essential role in development by modifying chromatin but what this means at a cellular level is unclear. Here, the authors show that ablation of PRC2 genes in human embryonic stem cells and in mice results in changes in pluripotency and the primed state of cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]