Physicochemical analysis of non-fermented probiotic milk with probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum Ln1 isolated from Korea traditional fermented food

Food Science and Biotechnology - The objective of this study was to develop a non-fermented probiotic milk that maintains its physicochemical properties, microbial properties, antioxidant activity,...     

Poly(cyclodextrin)‐Polydrug Nanocomplexes as Synthetic Oncolytic Virus for Locoregional Melanoma Chemoimmunotherapy

Despite the approval of oncolytic virus (OV) therapy for advanced melanoma, its intrinsic limitations that include the risk of persistent viral infection and cost‐intensive manufacturing motivate the development of analogous approaches that are free from the disadvantages of virus‐based therapies. Herein, reported is a nanoassembly comprised of multivalent host–guest interactions between polymerized paclitaxel (pPTX) and nitric oxide‐incorporated polymerized β‐cyclodextrin (pCD‐pSNO) that through its bioactive components and when used locoregionally recapitulates the therapeutic effects of OV. The resultant pPTX/pCD‐pSNO exhibits significantly enhanced cytotoxicity, immunogenic cell death, dendritic cell (DC) activation, and T cell expansion in vitro compared to free agents alone or in combination. In vivo, intratumoral administration of pPTX/pCD‐pSNO results in activation and expansion of DCs systemically, but with a corresponding expansion of myeloid‐derived suppressor cells and suppression of CD8⁺ T cell expansion. When combined with antibody targeting cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen‐4 that blunts this molecule's signaling effects on T cells, intratumoral pPTX/pCD‐pSNO treatment elicits potent anticancer effects that significantly prolong animal survival. This formulation thus leverages the chemo‐ and immunotherapeutic synergies of PTX and nitric oxide and suggests the potential for virus‐free nanoformulations to mimic the therapeutic action and benefits of OVs.     

Multimedia content recommendation in social networks using mood tags and synonyms

Multimedia Systems - The preferences of Web information purchasers are changing. Cost-effectiveness (i.e., an emphasis on performance with respect to price) is becoming less regarded than...     

Highly Bendable and Rotational Textile Structure with Prestrained Conductive Sewing Pattern for Human Joint Monitoring

Human joints have respective ranges of motion and joint forces corresponding to each kind of joint; this necessitates considerations of the characteristics of human joints to fabricate wearable strain sensors conformable to the human body, and capable of precisely monitoring complex motions of the human body. In the present study, the “all textile‐based highly stretchable structure” that is capable of precisely sensing motions (folding and rotation) of the human joints (finger, wrist, elbow, spine, and knee) is fabricated by optimizing patterns (straight, blind, and zigzag) of conductive yarns employed as the conductive part of the strain sensor, and several textile substrates (braided elastic fabric, knit fabric, and woven fabric), having preferable elasticity and conformability employed for the fabrication of strain sensors suitable for human joints. In particular, the technology, enabling the prestraining of textile substrate, is exploited to fabricate a strain sensor that is capable of outputting selective signals corresponding to the folding motion of the spinal joint over a predetermined angle of motion, and the gait pattern of the wearer of the sensor, attached to his or her knee joint doing folding and rotational motions, is analyzed.     

Phenotypic Discovery of SB1501, an Anti-obesity Agent,through Modulating Mitochondrial Activity

Obesity has become a pandemic that threatens the quality of life and discovering novel therapeutic agents that can reverse obesity and obesity-related metabolic disorders are necessary. Here, we aimed to identify new anti-obesity agents using a phenotype-based approach. We performed image-based high-content screening with a fluorogenic bioprobe (SF44), which visualizes cellular lipid droplets (LDs), to identify initial hit compounds. A structure-activity relationship study led us to yield a bioactive compound SB1501, which reduces cellular LDs in 3T3-L1 adipocytes without cytotoxicity. SB1501 induced the expression of gene products that regulate mitochondrial biogenesis and fatty acid oxidation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Daily treatment with SB1501 improved the metabolic states of db/db mice by reducing body fat mass, adipose tissue mass, food intake, and increasing glucose tolerance. The anti-obesity effect of SB1501 may result from perturbation of the PGC-1α–UCP1 regulatory axis in inguinal white adipose tissue and brown adipose tissue. These data suggest the therapeutic potential of SB1501 as an anti-obesity agent via modulating mitochondrial activities.     

Charge Transportation and Chirality in Liquid Crystalline Helical Network Phases of Achiral BTBT-Derived Polycatenar Molecules

First examples of multichain (polycatenar) compounds, based on the π-conjugated [1]benzothieno[3,2-b]benzothiophene unit are designed, synthesized, and their soft self-assembly and charge carrier mobility are investigated. These compounds, terminated by the new fan-shaped 2-brominated 3,4,5-trialkoxybenzoate moiety, form bicontinuous cubic liquid crystalline (LC) phases with helical network structure over extremely wide temperature ranges (>200 K), including ambient temperature. Compounds with short chains show an achiral cubic phase with the double network, which upon increasing the chain length, is at first replaced by a tetragonal 3D phase and then by a mirror symmetry is broken triple network cubic phase. In the networks, the capability of bypassing defects provides enhanced charge carrier mobility compared to imperfectly aligned columnar phases, and the charge transportation is non-dispersive, as only rarely observed for LC materials. At the transition to a semicrystalline helical network phase, the conductivity is further enhanced by almost one order of magnitude. In addition, a mirror symmetry broken isotropic liquid phase is formed beside the 3D phases, which upon chain elongation is removed and replaced by a hexagonal columnar LC phase.     

Efficient fault diagnosis method of PEMFC thermal management system for various current densities

The temperature of a fuel cell has a considerable impact on the saturation of a membrane, electrochemical reaction speed, and durability. So thermal management is considered one of the critical issues in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Therefore, the reliability of the thermal management system is also crucial for the performance and durability of a fuel cell system. In this work, a methodology for component-level fault diagnosis of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell thermal management system for various current densities is proposed. Specifically, this study suggests fault diagnosis using limited data, based on an experimental approach. Normal and five component-level fault states are diagnosed with a support vector machine model using temperature, pressure, and fan control signal data. The effects of training data at different operating current densities on fault diagnosis are analyzed. The effects of data preprocessing method are investigated, and the cause of misdiagnosis is analyzed. On this basis, diagnosis results show that the proposed methodology can realize efficient component-level fault diagnosis using limited data. The diagnosis accuracy is over 92% when the residual basis scaling method is used, and data at the highest operating current density is used to train the support vector machine.