Local icariin application enhanced periodontal tissue regeneration and relieved local inflammation in a minipig model of periodontitis

Periodontitis is an inflammatory autoimmune disease. Treatment should alleviate inflammation, regulate the immune reaction and promote periodontal tissue regeneration. Icariin is the main active ingredient of Epimedii Folium, and it is a promising compound for the enhancement of mesenchymal stem cell function, promotion of bone formation, inhibition of bone resorption, alleviation of inflammation and regulation of immunity. The study investigated the effect of icariin on periodontal tissue regeneration in a minipig model of periodontitis. The minipig model of periodontitis was established. Icariin was injected locally. The periodontal clinical assessment index, a computed tomography(CT) scan, histopathology and enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay(ELISA)were used to evaluate the effects of icariin. Quantitative analysis results 12 weeks post-injection demonstrated that probing depth,gingival recession, attachment loss and alveolar bone regeneration values were(3.72 ± 1.18) mm vs.(6.56 ± 1.47) mm,(1.67 ± 0.59)mm vs.(2.38 ± 0.61) mm,(5.56 ± 1.29) mm vs.(8.61 ± 1.72) mm, and(25.65 ± 5.13) mm3 vs.(9.48 ± 1.78) mm3 in the icariin group and0.9% NaCl group, respectively. The clinical assessment, CT scan, and histopathology results demonstrated significant enhancement of periodontal tissue regeneration in the icariin group compared to the 0.9% NaCl group. The ELISA results suggested that the concentration of interleukin-1 beta(IL-1β) in the icariin group was downregulated compared to the 0.9% NaCl group, which indicates that local injection of icariin relieved local inflammation in a minipig model of periodontitis. Local injection of icariin promoted periodontal tissue regeneration and exerted anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory function. These results support the application of icariin for the clinical treatment of periodontitis.

SPM-IS: An auto-algorithm to acquire a mature soybean phenotype based on instance segmentation

Mature soybean phenotyping is an important process in soybean breeding;however, the manual process is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, a novel approach that is rapid, accurate and highly precise is required to obtain the phenotypic data of soybean stems, pods and seeds. In this research, we propose a mature soybean phenotype measurement algorithm called Soybean Phenotype Measure-instance Segmentation(SPM-IS). SPM-IS is based on a feature pyramid network, Principal Component Analysis(PCA) and instance segmentation. We also propose a new method that uses PCA to locate and measure the length and width of a target object via image instance segmentation. After 60,000 iterations, the maximum mean Average Precision(m AP) of the mask and box was able to reach 95.7%. The correlation coefficients R^(2) of the manual measurement and SPM-IS measurement of the pod length, pod width, stem length, complete main stem length, seed length and seed width were 0.9755, 0.9872, 0.9692, 0.9803,0.9656, and 0.9716, respectively. The correlation coefficients R^(2) of the manual counting and SPM-IS counting of pods, stems and seeds were 0.9733, 0.9872, and 0.9851, respectively. The above results show that SPM-IS is a robust measurement and counting algorithm that can reduce labor intensity, improve efficiency and speed up the soybean breeding process.

miR-4651 inhibits cell proliferation of gingival mesenchymal stem cells by inhibiting HMGA2 under nifedipine treatment

Drug-induced gingival overgrowth(DIGO) is recognized as a side effect of nifedipine(NIF);however, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown. In this study, we found that overexpressed mi R-4651 inhibits cell proliferation and induces G0/G1-phase arrest in gingival mesenchymal stem cells(GMSCs) with or without NIF treatment. Furthermore, sequential window acquisition of all theoretical mass spectra(SWATH-MS) analysis, bioinformatics analysis, and dual-luciferase report assay results confirmed that high-mobility group AT-hook 2(HMGA2) is the downstream target gene of mi R-4651. Overexpression of HMGA2 enhanced GMSC proliferation and accelerated the cell cycle with or without NIF treatment. The present study demonstrates that mi R-4651 inhibits the proliferation of GMSCs and arrests the cell cycle at the G0/G1 phase by upregulating cyclin D and CDK2 while downregulating cyclin E through inhibition of HMGA2 under NIF stimulation. These findings reveal a novel mechanism regulating DIGO progression and suggest the potential of mi R-4651 and HMGA2 as therapeutic targets.

Topology optimization method of metamaterials design for efficient enhanced transmission through arbitrary-shaped sub-wavelength aperture

The electromagnetic wave enhanced transmission(ET)through the sub-wavelength aperture was an unconventional physical phenomenon with great application potential.It was important to find a general design method which can realize efficient ET for arbitrary-shaped apertures.For achieving ET with maximum efficiency at specific frequency through arbitrary-shaped subwavelength aperture,a topology optimization method for designing metamaterials(MTM)microstructure was proposed in this study.The MTM was employed and inserted vertically in the aperture.The description function for the arbitrary shape of the aperture was established.The optimization model was founded to search the optimal MTM microstructure for maximum enhanced power transmission through the aperture at the demanded frequency.Several MTM microstructures for ET through the apertures with different shapes at the demanded frequency were designed as examples.The simulation and experimental results validate the feasibility of the method.The regularity of the optimal ET microstructures and their advantages over the existing configurations were discussed.