Extensive supporting cell proliferation and mitotic hair cell generation by in vivo genetic reprogramming in the neonatal mouse cochlea

Subject Code:H13With the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,the research team led by Prof.Li Huawei(李华伟)at the Otorhinolaryngology Department,Affiliated Eye and ENT hospital,State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of Fudan University,achieved the mitotic hair cell generation through agenetic reprogramming procedure,which was published in the Journal of Neuroscience(2016,36(33):8734—8745).

Universal Intelligent Small Cell （UnISCell） for next generation cellular networks

Exploring innovative cellular architectures to achieve enhanced system capacity and good coverage has become a critical issue towards realizing the next generation of wireless communications. In this context, this paper proposes a novel concept of Universal Intelligent Small Cell （UnISCell） for enabling the densification of the next generation of cellular networks. The proposed novel concept envisions an integrated platform of providing a strong linkage between different stakeholders such as street lighting networks, landline telephone networks and future wireless networks, and is universal in nature being independent of the operating frequency bands and traffic types. The main motivating factors for the proposed small cell concept are the need of public infrastructure re-engineering, and the recent advances in several enabling technologies. First, we highlight the main concepts of the proposed UnISCell platform. Subsequently, we present two deployment scenarios for the proposed UnISCell concept considering infrastructure sharing and service sharing as important aspects. We then describe the key future technologies for enabling the proposed UnISCell concept and present a use case example with the help of numerical results. Finally, we conclude this article by providing some interesting future recommendations.

Preface to Special Issue on New Generation Solar Cells

Photovoltaic solar cells have been recognized as one of the most promising ways to ease the increasingly serious energy shortages and solve the related environmental problems in the power generation industry. To accelerate the wider application of these photovoltaic devices, it is particularly important to realize low-cost and environmentally-friendly photovoltaic materials and technologies. Therefore, some new generation solar cells, including sensitized, organic heterojunction-based, perovskite and inorganic thin fihn solar cells, have been developed and continue to develop rapidly. These new generation solar cells are currently hot research topics in both the scientific and industrial fields, and are promoting deeper understanding of the charge generation, transport and storage processes in these complex semiconductor and photo-electrochemical systems, which is beneficial for interdisciplinary research among the various light-to-electricity conversion subjects.

Generation of diverse neural cell types through direct conversion

A characteristic of neurological disorders is the loss of critical populations of cells that the body is unable to replace,thus there has been much interest in identifying methods of generating clinically relevant numbers of cells to replace those that have been damaged or lost.The process of neural direct conversion,in which cells of one lineage are converted into cells of a neural lineage without first inducing pluripotency,shows great potential,with evidence of the generation of a range of functional neural cell types both in vitro and in vivo,through viral and non-viral delivery of exogenous factors,as well as chemical induction methods.Induced neural cells have been proposed as an attractive alternative to neural cells derived from embryonic or induced pluripotent stem cells,with prospective roles in the investigation of neurological disorders,including neurodegenerative disease modelling,drug screening,and cellular replacement for regenerative medicine applications,however further investigations into improving the efficacy and safety of these methods need to be performed before neural direct conversion becomes a clinically viable option.In this review,we describe the generation of diverse neural cell types via direct conversion of somatic cells,with comparison against stem cell-based approaches,as well as discussion of their potential research and clinical applications.

Effect of Antioxidants on Endothelial Cell Reactive Oxygen Species (ROD Generation and Adhesion of Leukocytes to Endothelial Cells

Objective To investigatewhether antioxidants inhibit adhesion of leukocytes to endothelium and furthermore, whether all antioxidants regulate NF-KB activation through a redox sensitive mechanism. Methods The effect of the antioxidative substances pyrrolidin dithiocarbamat (PDTC), dichloroisocumarin (DCI), chrysin and probucol on the endothelial leukocyte adhesion were examined under near physiological flow conditions. The antioxidative activity of antioxidants was measured in a DCF fluorescence assay with flow cytometry. The activation of NF-kB in endothelial cells was investigated in a gel shift assay. Results PDTC and probucol did not show an inhibitory effect to the formation of intracellular H2O2 in TNFa activated human vascular endothelial cells (HUVEC) . Chrysin showed a moderate effect. DCI showed a strong antioxidative effect. In contrast, PDTC and chrysin inhibited the adhesion of HL 60 cells to TNFa-stimulated HUVEC. DCI and probucol did not have influence on the adhesion within the area of the examined shear stresses. Only PDTC inhibited the TNFa-induced activation of NF-KB in endothelial cells. Conclusion The inhibition of the endothelial leukocyte adhesion by antioxidative substances is not to be explained by its antioxidative characteristics only. The inhibitory effect of PDTC on NF-KB activation was probably not related to its antioxidative properties. Endothelial cell Antioxidants NF-kappa-B

Changes in proteins related to early nerve repair in a rat model of sciatic nerve injury

Peripheral nerves have a limited capacity for self-repair and those that are severely damaged or have significant defects are challenging to repair. Investigating the pathophysiology of peripheral nerve repair is important for the clinical treatment of peripheral nerve repair and regeneration. In this study, rat models of right sciatic nerve injury were established by a clamping method. Protein chip assay was performed to quantify the levels of neurotrophic, inflammation-related, chemotaxis-related and cell generation-related factors in the sciatic nerve within 7 days after injury. The results revealed that the expression levels of neurotrophic factors(ciliary neurotrophic factor) and inflammationrelated factors(intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1, interferon γ, interleukin-1α, interleukin-2, interleukin-4, interleukin-6, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, prolactin R, receptor of advanced glycation end products and tumor necrosis factor-α), chemotaxis-related factors(cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1, L-selectin and platelet-derived growth factor-AA) and cell generation-related factors(granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor) followed different trajectories. These findings will help clarify the pathophysiology of sciatic nerve injury repair and develop clinical treatments of peripheral nerve injury. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Peking University People's Hospital of China(approval No. 2015-50) on December 9, 2015.

Differential DNA methylation profiles of human B lymphocytes and Epstein-Barr virus-immortalized B lymphocytes

Objective： This study aimed to comprehensively assess Epstein-Barr virus（EBV）-induced methylation alterations of B cell across whole genome.Methods： We compared DNA methylation patterns of primary B cells and corresponding lymphoblastoid cell lines（LCLs） from eight participants. The genome-wide DNA methylation profiles were compared at over 850,000 genome-wide methylation sites.Results： DNA methylation analysis revealed 87,732 differentially methylated Cp G sites, representing approximately 12.41% of all sites in LCLs compared to primary B cells. The hypermethylated and hypomethylated Cp G sites were about 22.75% or 77.25%, respectively. Only 0.8% of hypomethylated sites and 4.5% of hypermethylated sites were located in Cp G islands, whereas 8.0% of hypomethylated sites and 16.3% of hypermethylated sites were located in shore（N_shore and S_shore）. Using principal component analysis of the DNA methylation profiles, primary B cells and LCLs could be accurately predicted. Gene Ontology（GO） and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes（KEGG） analysis of differently methylated genes revealed that most of the top GO biological processes were related to cell activation and immune response, and some top enrichment pathways were related with activation and malignant transformation of human B cells.Conclusions： Our study demonstrated genome-wide DNA methylation variations between primary B cells and corresponding LCLs, which might yield new insight on the methylation mechanism of EBV-induced immortalization.

Generation of rat-mouse chimeras by introducing single cells of rat inner cell masses into mouse blastocysts

In the field of developmental biology and regenerative medicine,mammalian interspecific chimeras have been proved very useful for investigating early embryonic development and the immune system establishment,and extended to a promising potential for human organ generation（Rossant et al.,1982）.

Performance and recent improvement in microbial fuel cells for simultaneous carbon and nitrogen removal: A review

Microbial fuel cells（MFCs） have become a promising technology for wastewater treatment accompanying electricity generation. Carbon and nitrogen removal can be achieved by utilizing the electron transfer between the anode and cathode in an MFC. However,large-scale power production and high removal efficiency must be achieved at a low cost to make MFCs practical and economically competitive in the future. This article reviews the principles, feasibility and bottlenecks of MFCs for simultaneous carbon and nitrogen removal, the recent advances and prospective strategies for performance improvement, as well as the involved microbes and electron transfer mechanisms.

Effect of air-exposed biocathode on the performance of a Thauera-dominated membraneless single-chamber microbial fuel cell (SCMFC)

To investigate the effect of air-exposed biocathode（AEB） on the performance of singlechamber microbial fuel cell（SCMFC）, wastewater quality, bioelectrochemical characteristics and the electrode biofilms were researched. It was demonstrated that exposing the biocathode to air was beneficial to nitrogen removal and current generation. In Test 1 of 95%AEB, removal rates of ammonia, total nitrogen（TN） and chemical oxygen demand（COD）reached 99.34% ± 0.11%, 99.34% ± 0.10% and 90.79% ± 0.12%, respectively. The nitrogen removal loading rates were 36.38 g N/m3/day. Meanwhile, current density and power density obtained at 0.7 A/m3 and 104 m W/m3 respectively. Further experiments on opencircuit（Test 2） and carbon source（Test 3） indicated that this high performance could be attributed to simultaneous biological nitrification/denitrification and aerobic denitrification, as well as bioelectrochemical denitrification. Results of community analysis demonstrated that both microbial community structures on the surface of the cathode and in the liquid of the chamber were different. The percentage of Thauera, identified as denitrifying bacteria, maintained at a high level of over 50% in water, but decreased gradually in the AEB. Moreover, the genus Nitrosomonas, Alishewanella, Arcobacter and Rheinheimera were significantly enriched in the AEB, which might contribute to both enhancement of nitrogen removal and electricity generation.

Highly active iridium catalyst for hydrogen production from formic acid

Formic acid（FA） dehydrogenation has attracted a lot of attentions since it is a convenient method for H_2 production. In this work, we designed a self-supporting fuel cell system, in which H_2 from FA is supplied into the fuel cell, and the exhaust heat from the fuel cell supported the FA dehydrogenation. In order to realize the system, we synthesized a highly active and selective homogeneous catalyst Ir Cp＊Cl_2 bpym for FA dehydrogenation. The turnover frequency（TOF） of the catalyst for FA dehydrogenation is as high as7150 h^（-1）at 50°C, and is up to 144,000 h^（-1）at 90°C. The catalyst also shows excellent catalytic stability for FA dehydrogenation after several cycles of test. The conversion ratio of FA can achieve 93.2%, and no carbon monoxide is detected in the evolved gas. Therefore, the evolved gas could be applied in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell（PEMFC） directly. This is a potential technology for hydrogen storage and generation. The power density of the PEMFC driven by the evolved gas could approximate to that using pure hydrogen.