MicroRNA-499a-5p Promotes Differentiation of Human Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Cardiomyocytes

Since the adult mammalian heart has limited regenerative capacity, cardiac trauma, disease, and aging cause permanent loss of contractile tissue. This has fueled the development of stem cell-based strategies to provide the damaged heart with new cardiomyocytes. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) are capable of self-renewal and differentiation into cardiomyocytes, albeit inefficiently. MicroRNAs (miRNAs, miRs) are non-coding RNAs that have the potential to control stem cell fate decisions and are employed in cardiac regeneration and repair. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that overexpression of miR-499a induces cardiomyogenic differentiation in BM-MSCs. Human BM-MSCs (hBM-MSCs) were transduced with lentiviral vectors encoding miR-499a-3p or miR-499a-5p and analyzed by immunostaining and western blotting methods 14 days post-transduction. MiR-499a-5p-transduced cells adopted a polygonal/rod-shaped (myocyte-like) phenotype and showed an increase in the expression of the cardiomyocyte markers α-actinin and cTnI, as cardiogenic differentiation markers. These results indicate that miR-499a-5p overexpression promotes the cardiomyogenic differentiation of hBM-MSCs and may thereby increase their therapeutic efficiency in cardiac regeneration.     

Fischer–Tropsch synthesis: evaluation of Gd and Ru promoters effect on Co/<Emphasis Type="Italic">γ</Emphasis>-Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> catalyst at different conditions

In this study, the effect of Ru and Gd promoters on 15Co/\(\gamma\)-Al₂O₃ catalyst in the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis is investigated. The catalysts were synthesized by dry impregnation method and characterized by XRD, adsorption/desorption of nitrogen, TPR, TEM, ICP and XPS analyses. Activity and selectivity of the catalysts were examined in a fixed bed reactor at 210–230 °C with a H₂/CO ratio of 2 and atmospheric pressure. The results showed that the Ru-promoted catalyst has the highest activity and methane selectivity which reduce the chain growth probability. The Gd-promoted catalyst was shown smaller particle size and higher dispersion of cobalt particles in compared with unpromoted catalyst. The smaller particles have more interaction and thus show the lower catalyst reducibility. The presence of Gd in the catalyst cause higher chain growth probability compared to the unpromoted one. The Ru–Gd-promoted catalysts were shown a synergic effect in the catalyst reducibility. Based on the screening of the catalysts in the atmospheric pressure; the unpromoted, 0.1Ru/15Co/Al₂O₃, and 0.1Ru1Gd/15Co/Al₂O₃ catalysts were selected to test at high pressure conditions, which the 0.1Ru1Gd/15Co catalyst showed the highest C₅ ⁺ selectivity (75%) compared with the 0.1Ru/15Co/Al₂O₃ and the unpromoted one.     

Effect of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and its gemini homologue bis(cetyldimethylammonium)butane dibromide on activity of xanthine oxidase

Spectrophotometry is employed to study the effect cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and bis(cetyldimethylammonium)butane dibromide (C₁₆C₄C₁₆Br₂) on the activity of xanthine oxidase (XO), a key enzyme in purine metabolism, at pH 7.4 and 25°C. The spectrophotometric results revealed that the Gemini surfactant interact strongly with the XO than its conventional single chain counterpart and unfold it to a greater extent as compared to CTAB. The effectiveness of the Gemini in interacting/unfolding the XO are justified owing to peculiar structural features of C₁₆C₄C₁₆Br₂ owing to the presence of two charged headgroups and two hydrophobic tails and hence enhanced competence for electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions.     

A high-performance and environment-friendly gel polymer electrolyte for lithium ion battery based on composited lignin membrane

A biodegradable composite polymer membrane is fabricated by synthesizing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on the matrix of lignin, and then the corresponding gel polymer electrolyte (LP-GPE) is further prepared by absorbing the liquid electrolyte. The morphology, mechanical property, and thermal stability of the composite lignin-PVP membrane and the electrochemical properties of LP-GPE are investigated. The results of the investigation present that the mechanical property of the membrane is remarkable improved (670%) and the composite membrane exhibits a better thermal security. For electrochemical properties, a high ionic conductivity of 2.52 × 10^?3 S cm^?1 at room temperature, excellent lithium-ion transference number of 0.56, and outstanding electrochemical stability of LP-GPE are confirmed. Moreover, the C-rate performance and capacity retention based on Li/LP-GPE/LiFePO₄ cell are superior to that of the commercial Celgard 2730 cell. Consequently, all these results demonstrate that LP-GPE can be applied as a novel electrolyte for lithium ion battery with high-performance, low-cost, and environment-friendly properties.

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Practical and efficient synthesis of tetrahydrobenzo[<Emphasis Type="Italic">b</Emphasis>]pyran using caffeine supported on silica as an ionic liquid solid acid catalyst

The new catalyst silica-caffeine hydrogen sulfate [SiO₂-caff.]HSO₄ was conveniently prepared from commercially available 3-chloropropyltriethoxysilane via immobilization on silica followed by reaction with caffeine. The catalyst prepared was then characterized by the FT-IR spectroscopy, TGA, EDX, and SEM techniques. It was found that this heterogeneous catalyst was a highly efficient one for the synthesis of tetrahydrobenzo[b]pyrans in good-to-high yields, and could be recovered by a simple filtration of the reaction solution and reused for five consecutive runs. The attractive features of this method are simple procedure, clean reaction, easy work-up, use of a reusable catalyst, and performing a multi-component reaction.     

Zeolite-catalyzed synthesis of pyrazolo[1,2-<Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis>][1,2,4]triazole-1,3-dione derivatives as anti-breast cancer agents

A series of pyrazolo[1,2-a][1,2,4]triazole-1,3-dione derivatives were synthesized under the catalytic effect of Natrolite zeolite, and their cytotoxic effects on three human breast cancer cell lines viz. breast cancer (BT-474), triple negative breast cancer (MDA-MB 231), and breast carcinoma (MCF-7) were explored using MTT assay. Apoptotic effects of the compounds were investigated by western blot analysis on the caspase-3 protein. Moreover, we examined the level of reactive oxygen species in all three cell lines. The most promising compound, 7-Amino-1,3-dioxo-5-(4-nitrophenyl)-2-phenyl-1,2,3-trihydropyrazolo[1,2-a][1,2,4]triazole-6-carbonitrile (4c), showed high levels of cytotoxicity against all cell lines with IC₅₀ values of 2.3, 2.5 and 3 μg/ml, respectively.     

Dft Study of the Structural and Electronic Properties of Conducting Oligo(<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Fluorophenylthiophene)

A comprehensive theoretical study on the conducting oligomeric systems is carried out in view of their potential application in electrochemical charge storage. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations are carried out on a series of oligomers made up of 3-(p-fluorophenyl)-thiophene (FPT) to estimate the geometric and electronic structures, conjugated lengths, bandwidths, and energetic properties of polymeric systems. The calculations are performed on the dimer up to octamer chains in the ground state and both pand n-doped phases. The results obtained show that the conjugated system in p- and n-doped oligo(FPT)s has a higher distance with more planar chains with respect to their neutral forms. The band gap energy between the frontier molecular orbitals decreases dramatically for both ionic states, and approaches a low limiting value with increasing oligomer length. The charge delocalization through the monomer rings along the backbone oligo(FPT)s reveals that the p- and n-doped states had more suitable properties, reflecting the electron and hole transport characteristics for conductivity, respectively. The calculated first excitation energies for oligo(FPT)s at the time-dependent B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level of theory indicate that both doped oligomers have lower excitation energies, which display a red shift in their absorption spectra. For polymeric systems, the evolution of ionization potential, electron affinity, electron chemical potential, molecular hardness, and thermodynamic stability is made through the extrapolated oligomer ones.     

Utilization of tetrazolium blue for the colorimetric assay of tannins in tea

A simple, rapid and accurate colorimetric method is proposed for the determination of tannins, based on the reduction of tetrazolium blue in alkaline medium by tannins at 90 ± 2 °C for 15 min, leading to the formation of a highly coloured formazan derivative. Absorbance measurements were made at 527 nm and the calibration graph was linear for 0.2-9.0 g/ml of tannic acid. For more accurate analysis, the Ringbom optimum concentration range was found to be 0.5–8.2 g/ml. The relative standard deviation for the determination in a tea sample containing 7.55% tannins was 1.65%. Most of the ingredients commonly found in tea samples do not interfere with the determination. Several tea samples were analysed using the proposed method.     

900-nm Nd:Ti:LiNbO(3) waveguide laser

We report what is to our knowledge the first laser operation of Nd(3+) -doped LiNbO(3) near 900 nm. An absorbed power threshold of 26 mW was obtained when the device was pumped at 814 nm. The design of the waveguide geometry to favor laser operation at this wavelength is demonstrated.