Search

Quasi‐solid and composite polymer electrolytes (QSPEs and CPEs) used in lithium‐ion battery (LIB) have recently been a novel strategy owing to their high‐safety comparing to traditional liquid counterparts. This study reported the preparation of CPEs based on boron moiety, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), and octahedral polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) via in situ thermal polymerization method directly onto the lithium anode to improve the interfacial contact and electrochemical performance. The synergistic effect between the incorporation of anion‐trapping boron moiety and in situ polymerization rendered the QSPEs exhibiting higher electrochemical voltage window, ionic conductivity, and transference number as well as better electrochemical performance than the PEG‐based counterpart. Due to the Lewis acid effect, anion‐trapping boron moiety could promote the dissociation of lithium salts, allowing more lithium ions to be in the free state, thereby enhancing the lithium‐ion conductivity. With an optimal addition of POSS, the as‐prepared CPEs exhibited lower overpotential during the lithium plating‐stripping test and better electrochemical performance than the QSPE counterparts. The optimal POSS addition could facilitate the lithium‐ion conduction and establishment of continuous ion pathways, further improving their electrochemical performance. This study pointed a promising approach for developing high performance lithium‐ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic vascular disease is a major complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). Chemokine C-C motif ligand 7 (CCL7) attracts macrophages and monocytes, amplifying inflammatory processes in the vasculature. We hypothesized a causal role for CCL7 in diabetic vasculopathy. CCL7 concentrations were higher in the plasma of patients with type 2 DM, as well as in supernatants from their endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). High-glucose stimulation increased the secretion of CCL7 from human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMECs) through the c-Fos and c-Jun signaling pathways. CCL7 inhibition using knockdown or neutralization antibody treatment reversed the high glucose–induced impaired tube formation and migration abilities of EPCs, human aortic endothelial cells, human coronary artery endothelial cells, and HDMECs. Administration of recombinant human CCL7 protein impaired tube formation and migration abilities by down-regulating the AKT–endothelial nitric oxide synthase and AKT/nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2/heme oxygenase–1/vascular endothelial growth factor/stromal cell–derived factor–1 pathways and by up-regulating ERK/phosphorylated p65/interleukin-1β/interleukin-6/tumor necrosis factor–α pathways through CC chemokine receptor 3 in endothelial cells. Ccl7 knockout in streptozotocin-treated mice showed improved neovasculogenesis in ischemic limbs and accelerated wound repair, with increased circulating EPCs and capillary density. CCL7 antibody treatment in db/db mice and high-fat diet–induced hyperglycemia mice showed improved neovasculogenesis in ischemic limbs and wound areas, accompanied by up-regulation of angiogenic proteins and down-regulation of inflammatory proteins. Endothelial cell–specific Ccl7-knockout mice showed ameliorated diabetic vasculopathy in streptozotocin-induced DM. This study highlights the potential of CCL7 as a therapeutic target for diabetic vasculopathy. Editor's summary: Diabetes can result in harmful vascular complications. It is not fully understood how inflammatory cells contribute to diabetic vasculopathy. Chang et al. showed that CCL7, an immune cell–recruiting factor, could be inhibited to improve vascular function in diabetes models. Inhibiting CCL7 in human cells promoted endothelial functions under high-glucose stress. In mouse models of diabetes including streptozotocin treatment, leptin receptor mutation, or high-fat diet feeding, CCL7 neutralization antibody treatment or genetic knockout improved blood flow recovery after experimental limb ischemia. Wound closure was also accelerated by CCL7 inhibition in each mouse model. Endothelial-specific CCL7 knockout had similar protective effects in streptozotocin-treated mice. These data suggest that CCL7 inhibition could be a therapeutic target for diabetic vasculopathy. —Brandon Berry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare, usually slow-growing yet aggressive head and neck malignancy. Despite its clinical significance, our understanding of the cellular evolution and microenvironment in ACC remains limited. We investigated the intratumoral microbiomes of 50 ACC tumor tissues and 33 adjacent normal tissues using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. This allowed us to characterize the bacterial communities within the ACC and explore potential associations between the bacterial community structure, patient clinical characteristics, and tumor molecular features obtained through RNA sequencing. The bacterial composition in the ACC was significantly different from that in adjacent normal salivary tissue, and the ACC exhibited diverse levels of species richness. We identified two main microbial subtypes within the ACC: oral-like and gut-like. Oral-like microbiomes, characterized by increased diversity and abundance of Neisseria, Leptotrichia, Actinomyces, Streptococcus, Rothia, and Veillonella (commonly found in healthy oral cavities), were associated with a less aggressive ACC-II molecular subtype and improved patient outcomes. Notably, we identified the same oral genera in oral cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. In both cancers, they were part of shared oral communities associated with a more diverse microbiome, less aggressive tumor phenotype, and better survival that reveal the genera as potential pancancer biomarkers for favorable microbiomes in ACC and other head and neck cancers. Conversely, gut-like intratumoral microbiomes, which feature low diversity and colonization by gut mucus layer-degrading species, such as Bacteroides, Akkermansia, Blautia, Bifidobacterium, and Enterococcus, were associated with poorer outcomes. Elevated levels of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron were independently associated with significantly worse survival and positively correlated with tumor cell biosynthesis of glycan-based cell membrane components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Excess glucose alone depress young mesenchymal stromal/stem cell osteogenesis and mitochondria activity within hours/days via NAD+/ SIRT1 axis" published in the Journal of Biomedical Science. The correction addresses two figures in the original paper that still have revision red lettering on some legends. Additionally, the funding section of the article has been updated to reflect the correct year-based numbering of two grants. The original publication has been corrected. [Extracted from the article]

Nowadays, national governments and international organizations are increasingly interested in the sustainable development of the cultural and creative industries through the integration of culture, art, science, and education and their influence on local economic and cultural development and promotion. However, to the best of our knowledge, only few studies have proposed a comprehensive framework based on the multi-criteria decision-making concept for evaluating the sustainable development of such industries. The main purpose of this paper is to determine which criteria are important for sustainable development, how these criteria interact, and how the sustainability performance of the evaluated subjects can be measured. Four sustainability perspectives are incorporated into the framework, economic, social, environmental, and governmental institutional, and 17 evaluation criteria. In the methodology, the neutrosophic decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (N-DEMATEL) method is first used to identify the influential relationships between the sustainability criteria. Then, a modified technique for order priority by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method is used to calculate the performance of the sustainable cultural and creative industries. Neutrosophic fuzzy logic is applied to reflect the ambiguity of the expert evaluations, with the three parameters of truth, falsity, and indeterminacy incorporated to obtain more potential uncertainty information for neutrosophic decision support. The validity and practicality of the proposed model are demonstrated through a real-world example for the National Museum of Natural Science located in Central Taiwan. The results show that local government involvement, policy promotion and marketing, and the promotion of concept of sustainability are the most influential criteria for sustainability in the cultural and creative industries. The research findings can be used to guide the long-term development of the cultural and creative industries for industry and government and the method can be adapted for other performance evaluation issues. Government agencies can use the model to encourage the development of the cultural and creative industries through financial support, promotion, and partnerships with other agencies using its resources and allocation capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess the association between atrial fibrillation (AF) and sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). Methods: This study was conducted by searching the longitudinal health insurance database of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program for relevant information from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2011. Patients with AF were matched with non-AF controls with a 1:1 strategy according to propensity scores. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the risk of SSNHL. Results: In total, 14 698 patients with AF were matched with the same number of non-AF patients as controls. After propensity score matching, the use of antiplatelet or anticoagulation medications and the occurrence of SSNHL were found to have a significant difference between AF and non-AF patients. The occurrence of SSNHL was found to be higher in men, those of 45 to 74 years old, and patients with hypertension in both AF and non-AF groups. Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that male gender, age between 45 and 74 years, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension are risk factors for SSNHL. The use of aspirin was found to reduce the rate of SSNHL (odds ratio [OR]: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.49-0.94, P =.019), but AF was not found to be a risk factor for SSNHL (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.64-1.23, P =.467). Conclusion: The association between AF and SSNHL is not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The impact of global overconsumption of simple sugars on bone health, which peaks in adolescence/early adulthood and correlates with osteoporosis (OP) and fracture risk decades, is unclear. Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) are the progenitors of osteoblasts/bone-forming cells, and known to decrease their osteogenic differentiation capacity with age. Alarmingly, while there is correlative evidence that adolescents consuming greatest amounts of simple sugars have the lowest bone mass, there is no mechanistic understanding on the causality of this correlation., Methods: Bioinformatics analyses for energetics pathways involved during MSC differentiation using human cell information was performed. In vitro dissection of normal versus high glucose (HG) conditions on osteo-/adipo-lineage commitment and mitochondrial function was assessed using multi-sources of non-senescent human and murine MSCs; for in vivo validation, young mice was fed normal or HG-added water with subsequent analyses of bone marrow CD45 - MSCs., Results: Bioinformatics analyses revealed mitochondrial and glucose-related metabolic pathways as integral to MSC osteo-/adipo-lineage commitment. Functionally, in vitro HG alone without differentiation induction decreased both MSC mitochondrial activity and osteogenesis while enhancing adipogenesis by 8 h' time due to depletion of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD + ), a vital mitochondrial co-enzyme and co-factor to Sirtuin (SIRT) 1, a longevity gene also involved in osteogenesis. In vivo, HG intake in young mice depleted MSC NAD + , with oral NAD + precursor supplementation rapidly reversing both mitochondrial decline and osteo-/adipo-commitment in a SIRT1-dependent fashion within 1 ~ 5 days., Conclusions: We found a surprisingly rapid impact of excessive glucose, a single dietary factor, on MSC SIRT1 function and osteogenesis in youthful settings, and the crucial role of NAD + -a single molecule-on both MSC mitochondrial function and lineage commitment. These findings have strong implications on future global OP and disability risks in light of current worldwide overconsumption of simple sugars., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess the association between atrial fibrillation (AF) and sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL)., Methods: This study was conducted by searching the longitudinal health insurance database of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program for relevant information from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2011. Patients with AF were matched with non-AF controls with a 1:1 strategy according to propensity scores. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the risk of SSNHL., Results: In total, 14 698 patients with AF were matched with the same number of non-AF patients as controls. After propensity score matching, the use of antiplatelet or anticoagulation medications and the occurrence of SSNHL were found to have a significant difference between AF and non-AF patients. The occurrence of SSNHL was found to be higher in men, those of 45 to 74 years old, and patients with hypertension in both AF and non-AF groups. Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that male gender, age between 45 and 74 years, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension are risk factors for SSNHL. The use of aspirin was found to reduce the rate of SSNHL (odds ratio [OR]: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.49-0.94, P = .019), but AF was not found to be a risk factor for SSNHL (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.64-1.23, P = .467)., Conclusion: The association between AF and SSNHL is not significant., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.