3′5-Dimaleamylbenzoic Acid Attenuates Bleomycin-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis in Mice

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic lung disease characterized by parenchymal scarring, leading progressively to alveolar architecture distortion, respiratory failure, and eventually death. Currently, there is no effective treatment for IPF. Previously, 3′5-dimaleamylbenzoic acid (3′5-DMBA), a maleimide, demonstrated pro-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties; however, its potential therapeutic effects on IPF have not been addressed. Bleomycin (BLM) 100 U/kg was administered to CD1 mice through an osmotic minipump. After fourteen days of BLM administration, 3′5-DMBA (6 mg/kg or 10 mg/kg) and its vehicle carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) were administered intragastrically every two days until day 26. On day 28, all mice were euthanized. The 3′5-DMBA effect was assessed by histological and immunohistochemical staining, as well as by RT-qPCR. The redox status on lung tissue was evaluated by determining the glutathione content and the GSH/GSSG ratio. 3′5-DMBA treatment re-established typical lung histological features and decreased the expression of BLM-induced fibrotic markers: collagen, α-SMA, and TGF-β1. Furthermore, 3′5-DMBA significantly reduced the expression of genes involved in fibrogenesis. In addition, it decreased reduced glutathione and increased oxidized glutathione content without promoting oxidative damage to lipids, as evidenced by the decrease in the lipid peroxidation marker 4-HNE. Therefore, 3′5-DMBA may be a promising candidate for IPF treatment.     

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Mass Spectrometry Proteomics Applied to Human Peripheral Fluids to Assess Potential Biomarkers of Schizophrenia

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques can be a powerful tool to identify neuropsychiatric disorder biomarkers, improving prediction and diagnosis ability. Here, we evaluate the efficacy of MS proteomics applied to human peripheral fluids of schizophrenia (SCZ) patients to identify disease biomarkers and relevant networks of biological pathways. Following PRISMA guidelines, a search was performed for studies that used MS proteomics approaches to identify proteomic differences between SCZ patients and healthy control groups (PROSPERO database: CRD42021274183). Nineteen articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria, allowing the identification of 217 differentially expressed proteins. Gene ontology analysis identified lipid metabolism, complement and coagulation cascades, and immune response as the main enriched biological pathways. Meta-analysis results suggest the upregulation of FCN3 and downregulation of APO1, APOA2, APOC1, and APOC3 in SCZ patients. Despite the proven ability of MS proteomics to characterize SCZ, several confounding factors contribute to the heterogeneity of the findings. In the future, we encourage the scientific community to perform studies with more extensive sampling and validation cohorts, integrating omics with bioinformatics tools to provide additional comprehension of differentially expressed proteins. The produced information could harbor potential proteomic biomarkers of SCZ, contributing to individualized prognosis and stratification strategies, besides aiding in the differential diagnosis.     

Effects of Low-Intensity and Long-Term Aerobic Exercise on the Psoas Muscle of mdx Mice: An Experimental Model of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a muscle disease characterized by the absence of the protein dystrophin, which causes a loss of sarcolemma integrity, determining recurrent muscle injuries, decrease in muscle function, and progressive degeneration. Currently, there is a need for therapeutic treatments to improve the quality of life of DMD patients. Here, we investigated the effects of a low-intensity aerobic training (37 sessions) on satellite cells, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator (PGC)-1α protein (PGC-1α), and different types of fibers of the psoas muscle from mdx mice (DMD experimental model). Wildtype and mdx mice were randomly divided into sedentary and trained groups (n = 24). Trained animals were subjected to 37 sessions of low-intensity running on a motorized treadmill. Subsequently, the psoas muscle was excised and analyzed by immunofluorescence for dystrophin, satellite cells, myosin heavy chain (MHC), and PGC-1α content. The minimal Feret’s diameters of the fibers were measured, and light microscopy was applied to observe general morphological features of the muscles. The training (37 sessions) improved morphological features in muscles from mdx mice and caused an increase in the number of quiescent/activated satellite cells. It also increased the content of PGC-1α in the mdx group. We concluded that low-intensity aerobic exercise (37 sessions) was able to reverse deleterious changes determined by DMD.     

Efficient implementation of the implicit error correction nVoD schema

Implicit Error Correction is a near Video-on-Demand (nVoD) schema that trades bandwidth utilization for initial playback delay while potentially allowing an infinite number of users. Additionally, it provides error protection without further bandwidth increase by exploiting the implicit redundancy of nVoD protocols, using linear combinations of the segments transmitted in a given time slot. This paper introduces a new implementation that outperforms the original schema by adding two new mechanisms: redundancy channels and feedback error correction.     

Generalized Hermitian Radial Basis Functions Implicits from polygonal mesh constraints

In this work we investigate a generalized interpolation approach using radial basis functions to reconstruct implicit surfaces from polygonal meshes. With this method, the user can define with great flexibility three sets of constraint interpolants: points, normals, and tangents; allowing to balance computational complexity, precision, and feature modeling. Furthermore, this flexibility makes possible to avoid untrustworthy information, such as normals estimated on triangles with bad aspect ratio. We present results of the method for applications related to the problem of modeling 2D curves from polygons and 3D surfaces from polygonal meshes. We also apply the method to problems involving subdivision surfaces and front-tracking of moving boundaries. Finally, as our technique generalizes the recently proposed HRBF Implicits technique, comparisons with this approach are also conducted.     

Exact corotational shell for finite strains and fracture

The corotational method for frame-invariant elements is generalized to obtain a consistent large-strain shell element incorporating thickness extensibility. The resulting element allows arbitrary in-plane deformations and is distinct from the traditional corotational methods (either quadrature-based or element-based) in the sense that the corotational frame is exact. The polar decomposition operation is performed in two parts, greatly simplifying the linearization calculations. Expressions for the strain-degrees-of-freedom matrices are given for the first time. The symbolic calculations are performed with a well-known algebraic system with a code generation package. Classical linear benchmarks are shown with excellent results. Applications with hyperelasticity and finite strain plasticity are presented, with asymptotically quadratic convergence and very good benchmark results. An example of finite strain plasticity with fracture is solved successfully, showing remarkable robustness without the need of enrichment techniques.