Inhibition of RANKL-Induced Osteoclastogenesis by Novel Mutant RANKL

Background: Recently, it was reported that leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 4 (LGR4, also called GPR48) is another receptor for RANKL and was shown to compete with RANK to bind RANKL and suppress canonical RANK signaling during osteoclast differentiation. The critical role of the protein triad RANK–RANKL in osteoclastogenesis has made their binding an important target for the development of drugs against osteoporosis. In this study, point-mutations were introduced in the RANKL protein based on the crystal structure of the RANKL complex and its counterpart receptor RANK, and we investigated whether LGR4 signaling in the absence of the RANK signal could lead to the inhibition of osteoclastogenesis.; Methods: The effects of point-mutated RANKL (mRANKL-MT) on osteoclastogenesis were assessed by tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), resorption pit formation, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), western blot, NFATc1 nuclear translocation, micro-CT and histomorphological assay in wild type RANKL (mRANKL-WT)-induced in vitro and in vivo experimental mice model. Results: As a proof of concept, treatment with the mutant RANKL led to the stimulation of GSK-3β phosphorylation, as well as the inhibition of NFATc1 translocation, mRNA expression of TRAP and OSCAR, TRAP activity, and bone resorption, in RANKL-induced mouse models; and Conclusions: The results of our study demonstrate that the mutant RANKL can be used as a therapeutic agent for osteoporosis by inhibiting RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis via comparative inhibition of RANKL. Moreover, the mutant RANKL was found to lack the toxic side effects of most osteoporosis treatments.     

Nacre-Inspired,Liquid Metal-Based Ultrasensitive Electronic Skin by Spatially Regulated Cracking Strategy

The realization of liquid metal-based wearable systems will be a milestone toward high-performance, integrated electronic skin. However, despite the revolutionary progress achieved in many other components of electronic skin, liquid metal-based flexible sensors still suffer from poor sensitivity due to the insufficient resistance change of liquid metal to deformation. Herein, a nacre-inspired architecture composed of a biphasic pattern (liquid metal with Cr/Cu underlayer) as “bricks” and strain-sensitive Ag film as “mortar” is developed, which breaks the long-standing sensitivity bottleneck of liquid metal-based electronic skin. With 2 orders of magnitude of sensitivity amplification while maintaining wide (>85%) working range, for the first time, liquid metal-based strain sensors rival the state-of-art counterparts. This liquid metal composite features spatially regulated cracking behavior. On the one hand, hard Cr cells locally modulate the strain distribution, which avoids premature cut-through cracks and prolongs the defect propagation in the adjacent Ag film. On the other hand, the separated liquid metal cells prevent unfavorable continuous liquid-metal paths and create crack-free regions during strain. Demonstrated in diverse scenarios, the proposed design concept may spark more applications of ultrasensitive liquid metal-based electronic skins, and reveals a pathway for sensor development via crack engineering.     

Single image dehazing using a new color channel

Images with hazy scene suffer from low-contrast, which reduces the visible quality of the scene, thus making object detection a more challenging task. Low-contrast can result from foggy weather conditions during image acquisition. Dehazing is a process of removal of haze from the photography of a hazy scene. Single-image dehazing based on dark channel priors are well-known techniques in this field. However, the performance of such techniques is limited to priors or constraints. Moreover, this type of method fails when images have sky-region. So, a method is proposed, which can restore the visibility of hazy images. First, a hazy image is divided into blocks of size 32 × 32, then the score of each block is calculated to select a block having the highest score. Atmospheric light is calculated from the selected block. A new color channel is considered to remove atmospheric scattering, obtained channel value and atmospheric light are then used to calculate the transmission map in the second step. Third, radiance is computed using a transmission map and atmospheric light. The illumination scaling factor is adopted to enhance the quality of a dehazed image in the final step. Experiments are performed on six datasets namely, I-HAZE, O-HAZE, BSDS500, FRIDA, RESIDE dataset and natural images from Google. The proposed method is compared against 11 state-of-the-art methods. The performance is analyzed using fourteen quantitative evaluation metrics. All the results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms 11 state-of-the-art methods in most of the cases.     

剪切解络-超滤分离金属关键指标预测与验证

根据剪切解络-超滤过程中金属离子的动态浓度关系和质量守恒定律,采用CodeBlocks17.12软件编写程序,建立了剪切解络-超滤工艺关键指标预测模型,实现了金属离子浓度、回收率、体积稀释倍数等指标的预测,并用实验加以验证。依次在转速800 r/min、1 400 r/min、3 000 r/min下回收模拟废水中43 μg/L的Co²⁺、995 μg/L的Ni²⁺和88 μg/L的La³⁺,3种金属的回收率均达99.8%以上时,超滤过程体积稀释倍数的预测值分别为7.0、7.5、5.75,实验值分别为7.5、7.25、6.25,可见预测值与实验值基本一致。本模型对研究方案制定和调整有实际指导意义。     

空间曲线的特征识别与高质量非均匀采样

为避免传统均匀采样方法因忽视曲线重要特征而生成不理想的采样结果,获得给定数量且由特征点和辅助点组成的采样点序列,提出基于特征识别的高质量空间曲线非均匀采样方法.首先使用抛物线插值法得到曲线上所有曲率极大值点和挠率极大值点的近似位置,经筛选后产生特征点,以更好地抓住空间曲线的轮廓特征.然后定义基于弧长、曲率和挠率加权组合的特征函数,并以此自适应地选取曲线上的辅助点.与3种主流采样方法比较的实验结果表明,该方法能够获得更高质量的采样结果且具有更好的实用性,从而进一步改善空间曲线的B样条拟合效果.     

基于形态审美的产品基因网络造型研究

目的 利用产品形态审美基因网络，对台灯外轮廓曲线的相关性进行综合分析，析出产品优化与创新设计的关键要素。方法 以三次贝塞尔曲线对台灯的外轮廓曲线进行基因编码，规律性调整控制点的坐标生成新曲线形态，进行曲线视觉力感知识别，挖掘曲线间的相关性;以曲线基因为节点，相关性为边构建产品形态审美基因网络，并对网络进行拓扑分析，析出关键设计节点辅助设计者进行产品设计。结果 运用产品形态基因网络的理论找到原型设计的关键性节点，并进行设计优化，使产品造型设计更符合消费者的审美习惯和偏好。结论 通过对台灯外轮廓线的案例实践，证实了产品形态基因网络在产品细节优化和造型创新设计方面具有实用性和可靠性，能够辅助设计者找到关键设计节点并协调设计的基因集团。     

双对苯醌的抗氧化活性分析及其固体发酵条件优化

为探索生物活性未知的双对苯醌（2,7-dihydroxy-3,6,9-trimethyl-9H-xanthene-1,4,5,8-tetraone，DTXT）的抗氧化活性，并提高其发酵产量，考察DTXT的还原力以及对超氧阴离子自由基、羟自由基、1,1-二苯基-2-三硝基苯肼（1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl，DPPH）自由基的清除效果，在单因素试验基础上，采用响应面法优化了DTXT产生菌瓶生顶孢霉（Acremonium cavaraeanum）CA022菌株的固体发酵培养基。结果表明：在200 μg/mL质量浓度下，DTXT的还原力与芦丁差异不显著，高于VE和2,6-二叔丁基-4甲基苯酚，对超氧阴离子自由基清除率达到67.00%，对羟自由基清除率达到78.83%，对DPPH自由基清除率达到76.53%。通过响应面试验，得到最佳培养基配方为葡萄糖0.773%、硝酸钠0.185%、H3BO3 0.032%、VB1 100 μg/100 g，在此条件下实际获得的DTXT产量为4 150.8 mg/kg，是优化前产量的（2 864.83 mg/kg）1.45 倍。