Mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes: Toward cell-free therapeutic strategies in regenerative medicine

Mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs)are multipotent stem cells with marked potential for regenerative medicine because of their strong immunosuppressive and regenerative abilities.The therapeutic effects of MSCs are based in part on their secretion of biologically active factors in extracellular vesicles known as exosomes.Exosomes have a diameter of 30-100 nm and mediate intercellular communication and material exchange.MSC-derived exosomes(MSC-Exos)have potential for cell-free therapy for diseases of,for instance,the kidney,liver,heart,nervous system,and musculoskeletal system.Hence,MSC-Exos are an alternative to MSCbased therapy for regenerative medicine.We review MSC-Exos and their therapeutic potential for a variety of diseases and injuries.

Topical halometasone cream combined with fire needle pretreatment for treatment of primary cutaneous amyloidosis:Two case reports

BACKGROUND Primary cutaneous amyloidosis(PCA)is a chronic metabolic skin disease that has a detrimental impact on physical and mental health.It appears as mossy papules and severe itching,which is long-term and recurrent.Traditional treatments are unsatisfactory,especially for refractory cases.Fire needle therapy,which is widely used in China,has shown good clinical efficacy,as well as advantages concerning safety and cost.Clinical reports about fire needle treatment of this disease are few at present.CASE SUMMARY We report two older men who had developed maculopapules with itchiness on the trunk and arms for more than 10-15 years.Due to the dermatopathological findings,PCA was our primary consideration.They received topical halometasone cream and pretreatment with fire needle for 8-16 wk.Both patients showed significant improvement of lesions.Neither patient had recurrence with a minimum of 2 years of follow-up.CONCLUSION Topical halometasone cream and pretreatment with fire needle could be a fast,safe,and economic treatment for PCA.

The intermittent excitation of geodesic acoustic mode by resonant Instanton of electron drift wave envelope in L-mode discharge near tokamak edge

There are two distinct phases in the evolution of drift wave envelope in the presence of zonal flow.A long-lived standing wave phase,which we call the Caviton,and a short-lived traveling wave phase(in radial direction) we call the Instanton.Several abrupt phenomena observed in tokamaks,such as intermittent excitation of geodesic acoustic mode(GAM) shown in this paper,could be attributed to the sudden and fast radial motion of Instanton.The composite drift wave-zonal flow system evolves at the two well-separate scales:the micro-scale and the meso-scale.The eigenmode equation of the model defines the zero-order(micro-scale) variation;it is solved by making use of the two-dimensional(2 D) weakly asymmetric ballooning theory(WABT),a theory suitable for modes localized to rational surface like drift waves,and then refined by shifted inverse power method,an iterative finite difference method.The next order is the equation of electron drift wave(EDW) envelope(containing group velocity of EDW) which is modulated by the zonal flow generated by Reynolds stress of EDW.This equation is coupled to the zonal flow equation,and numerically solved in spatiotemporal representation;the results are displayed in self-explanatory graphs.One observes a strong correlation between the Caviton-Instanton transition and the zero-crossing of radial group velocity of EDW.The calculation brings out the defining characteristics of the Instanton:it begins as a linear traveling wave right after the transition.Then,it evolves to a nonlinear stage with increasing frequency all the way to 20 kHz.The modulation to Reynolds stress in zonal flow equation brought in by the nonlinear Instanton will cause resonant excitation to GAM.The intermittency is shown due to the random phase mixing between multiple central rational surfaces in the reaction region.

Carbon Monoxide Promotes Lateral Root Formation in Rapeseed

Carbon monoxide （CO）, an odorless, tasteless and colorless gas, has recently proved to be an important bioactive or signal molecule in mammalian cells, with its effects mediated mainly by nitric oxide （NO）. In the present report, we show that exogenous CO induces lateral root （LR） formation, an NO-dependent process. Administration of the CO donor hematin to rapeseed （Brassica napus L. Yangyou 6） seedlings for 3 days, dose-dependently promoted the total length and number of LRs. These responses were also seen following the application of gaseous CO aqueous solutions of different saturated concentrations. Furthermore, the actions of CO on seedlings were fully reversed when the CO scavenger hemoglobin （Hb） or the CO-specific synthetic inhibitor zinc protoporphyrin-IX（ZnPPIX） were added. Interestingly, depletion of endogenous NO using its specific scavenger 2-（4-carboxyphenyl）-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide potassium salt （cPTIO） or the nitric oxide synthase （NOS） inhibitor N^G-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester （L-NAME）, led to the complete abolition of LR development, illustrating an important role for endogenous NO in the action of CO on LR formation. However, the induction of LR development by 200 μmol/L sodium nitroprusside （SNP）, an NO donor, was not affected by the presence or absence of ZnPPIX. Furthermore, using an anatomical approach combined with laser scanning confocal microscopy with the NO-specific fluorophore 4,5-diaminofluorescein diacetate, we observed that both hematin and SNP increased NO release compared with control samples and that the NO signal was mainly distributed in the LR primordia （LRP）, especially after 36 h treatment. The LRP were found to have similar morphology in control, SNP- and hematin-treated seedlings. Similarly, the enhancement of the NO signal by CO at 36 h was differentially quenched by the addition of cPTIO, L-NAME, ZnPPIX and Hb. In contrast, the induction of NO caused by SNP was not affected by the application of ZnPPIX. Therefore, we further deduced that CO induces LR formation probably mediated by the NO/NOS pathway and NO may act downstream of CO signaling, which has also been shown to occur in animals.

Deep drawing of 6A16 aluminum alloy for automobile body with various blank-holder forces

Based on the ABAQUS/explicit finite element method,the deep drawing of 6A16 alloy pre-aged and then storaged at room temperature for 1 week with various blank-holder forces(10,14,18 kN) was studied.The distribution and variation of stress and strain in deformation zones were investigated to drive the forming property and process of the alloy.Besides,the simulation result was verified combined with the deep drawing experiments.The results show that the stress and strain of the deformation zone have an incremental trend with the blank-holder force increasing while the deformation degree and grain size within a certain deformation zone have an obvious increase and an enlargement,respectively.After the deep drawing,the hardness of products also increases with the enhancement of blank-holder force.The blank-holder force of 18 kN is certified as the preferential one by the analysis of microstructure and simulation results.

Influence Factors of the Generation and Accumulation of Electric Charge on the Oil-Delivery Metal Pipelines

The interfacial electrification properties play an important role in the electrochemical corrosion reaction which leads the electrostatic charge to generate and accumulate on the metal surface when the insulating oil flows through a metal pipe. In this paper, the interfacial electrification properties resulted by the oil flow rate and the action of electric charge trapper are investigated by measuring the current and potential on the surface of the test metal pipe. The measured results showed that the current and potential between the metal pipe and the earth increased with the rise of flow rate; and as the flow rate increased, the growth trends of the current and potential difference between two close flow rates increased and decreased, respectively, while there was an electric charge trapper set in the radial direction of the pipe, the measured current and potential decreased compared with that of without electric charge trapper, which was because it captured and caught part of charge in the oil flow bulk to neutralize the opposite charge on the surface of the metal pipe.

Influence of pre-synthesized Al_(2)O_(3)-SiC composite powder from clay on properties of low-carbon MgO-C refractories

To improve the properties of low-carbonization of MgO–C refractories,the introduction of composite additives is an effective strategy.Al_(2)O_(3)–SiC composite powder was prepared from clay using electromagnetic induction heating and carbon embedded methods.Further,the Al_(2)O_(3)–SiC composite powder synthesized by electromagnetic induction heating at 600 A was added into low-carbon MgO–C refractories(4 wt.%)to improve their properties.The results showed that when the addition amount of Al_(2)O_(3)–SiC composite powder is within the range of 2.5–5.0 wt.%,the properties of low-carbon MgO–C samples were significantly improved,e.g.,the apparent porosity of 7.58%–8.04%,the bulk density of 2.98–2.99 g cm-3,the cold compressive strength of 55.72–57.93 MPa,the residual strength after three air quenching at 1100°C of 74.86%–78.04%,and the decarburized layer depth after oxidized at 1400°C for 2 h of 14.03–14.87 mm.Consequently,the idea for the rapid synthesis of Al_(2)O_(3)–SiC composite powder provides an alternative low-carbon MgO–C refractories performance optimization strategy.