Treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease with Extracellular Vesicles from Mesenchymal Stem Cells and CD133+ Expanded Cells: A Comparative Preclinical Analysis

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is characterized by structural abnormalities and the progressive loss of kidney function. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) from human umbilical cord tissue (hUCT)-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and expanded human umbilical cord blood (hUCB)-derived CD133⁺ cells (eCD133⁺) maintain the characteristics of the parent cells, providing a new form of cell-free treatment. We evaluated the effects of EVs from hUCT-derived MSCs and hUCB-derived CD133⁺ cells on rats with CDK induced by an adenine-enriched diet. EVs were isolated by ultracentrifugation and characterized by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) and electron microscopy. The animals were randomized and divided into the MSC-EV group, eEPC-EV group and control group. Infusions occurred on the seventh and 14th days after CKD induction. Evaluations of kidney function were carried out by biochemical and histological analyses. Intense labeling of the α-SMA protein was observed when comparing the control with MSC-EVs. In both groups treated with EVs, a significant increase in serum albumin was observed, and the increase in cystatin C was inhibited. The results indicated improvements in renal function in CKD, demonstrating the therapeutic potential of EVs derived from MSCs and eCD133⁺ cells and suggesting the possibility that in the future, more than one type of EV will be used concurrently.     

CircRNAs as Potential Blood Biomarkers and Key Elements in Regulatory Networks in Gastric Cancer

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common type of cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death in the world. It is a disease that encompasses a variety of molecular alterations, including in non-coding RNAs such as circular RNAs (circRNAs). In the present study, we investigated hsa_circ_0000211, hsa_circ_0000284, hsa_circ_0000524, hsa_circ_0001136 and hsa_circ_0004771 expression profiles using RT-qPCR in 71 gastric tissue samples from GC patients (tumor and tumor-adjacent samples) and volunteers without cancer. In order to investigate the suitability of circRNAs as minimally invasive biomarkers, we also evaluated their expression profile through RT-qPCR in peripheral blood samples from patients with and without GC (n = 41). We also investigated the predicted interactions between circRNA-miRNA-mRNA and circRNA-RBP using the KEGG and Reactome databases. Overall, our results showed that hsa_circ_0000211, hsa_circ_0000284 and hsa_circ_0004771 presented equivalent expression profiles when analyzed by different methods (RNA-Seq and RT-qPCR) and different types of samples (tissue and blood). Further, functional enrichment results identified important signaling pathways related to GC. Thus, our data support the consideration of circRNAs as new, minimally invasive biomarkers capable of aiding in the diagnosis of GC and with great potential to be applied in clinical practice.     

Composites based on high-density polyethylene,polylactide and calcium carbonate: effect of calcium carbonate nanoparticles as co-compatibilizers

Polymer Bulletin - Investigating the compatibility mechanism of hybrid composites based on two polymers and one mineral nanofiller is a challenge that needs to be better understood. This study...     

Peaceful,Pleasant and Private: The British Domestic Garden as an Ordinary Landscape

This paper uses narrative accounts of private gardens in Britain from the Mass-Observation Archive (MO) to explore ideas of landscape, privacy and attachment that emerge from daily practices and routines in these ordinary domestic spaces. We argue for the domestic garden as a vernacular or ordinary landscape that displays tensions between the private and the public nature of home within ambivalent emotional responses. Extended personal narratives offer privileged access to a site of intense engagement and carefully guarded privacy, yet with varying levels of attachment. The garden is a space well described in Britain in its public form but less well known as a private, everyday landscape. In this way a cultural landscape study becomes a contemporary critical geography of an ordinary space.     

Cold sintering process: A new era for ceramic packaging and microwave device development

Cold sintering process (CSP) is an extremely low‐temperature sintering process (room temperature to ~200°C) that uses aqueous‐based solutions as transient solvents to aid densification by a nonequilibrium dissolution‐precipitation process. In this work, CSP is introduced to fabricate microwave and packaging dielectric substrates, including ceramics (bulk monolithic substrates and multilayers) and ceramic‐polymer composites. Some dielectric materials, namely Li₂MoO₄, Na₂Mo₂O₇, K₂Mo₂O₇, and (LiBi)_0.5MoO₄ ceramics, and also (1?x)Li₂MoO₄?xPTFE and (1?x)(LiBi)_0.5MoO₄?xPTFE composites, are selected to demonstrate the feasibility of CSP in microwave and packaging substrate applications. Selected dielectric ceramics and composites with high densities (88%‐95%) and good microwave dielectric properties (permittivity, 5.6‐37.1; Q × f, 1700‐30 500 GHz) were obtained by CSP at 120°C. CSP can be also used to potentially develop a new co‐fired ceramic technology, namely CSCC. Li₂MoO₄?Ag multilayer co‐fired ceramic structures were successfully fabricated without obvious delamination, warping, or interdiffusion. Numerous materials with different dielectric properties can be densified by CSP, indicating that CSP provides a simple, effective, and energy‐saving strategy for the ceramic packaging and microwave device development.     

Physicochemical,nutritional and functional properties of marama bean flour

Marama bean is a protein-rich, underutilised, drought-tolerant legume in sub-Saharan Africa. Its utilisation may be increased through value addition into protein-rich flours. Defatted flour from unheated and dry-heated (150 °C/20 min) whole marama beans (UMF and HMF) were analysed for physicochemical and protein-based functional properties. Heating significantly increased in vitro protein digestibility of marama bean flour. Of functional importance are the high levels of tyrosine present in marama bean flours. Heating significantly reduced protein solubility and emulsifying capacity of marama bean flours whilst water absorption capacity was improved. Foaming capacity was not affected by heating. UMF could be useful in food systems requiring high emulsifying capacity, but would not be suitable for applications requiring high water absorption and foaming capacity. Due to its high protein contents, marama bean flour could be used to increase the protein quality of cereal-based foods to help alleviate protein-energy nutrition in the region.     

Neurodevelopmental Disorders Associated with PSD-95 and Its Interaction Partners

The postsynaptic density (PSD) is a massive protein complex, critical for synaptic strength and plasticity in excitatory neurons. Here, the scaffolding protein PSD-95 plays a crucial role as it organizes key PSD components essential for synaptic signaling, development, and survival. Recently, variants in DLG4 encoding PSD-95 were found to cause a neurodevelopmental disorder with a variety of clinical features including intellectual disability, developmental delay, and epilepsy. Genetic variants in several of the interaction partners of PSD-95 are associated with similar phenotypes, suggesting that deficient PSD-95 may affect the interaction partners, explaining the overlapping symptoms. Here, we review the transmembrane interaction partners of PSD-95 and their association with neurodevelopmental disorders. We assess how the structural changes induced by DLG4 missense variants may disrupt or alter such protein–protein interactions, and we argue that the pathological effect of DLG4 variants is, at least partly, exerted indirectly through interaction partners of PSD-95. This review presents a direction for functional studies to elucidate the pathogenic mechanism of deficient PSD-95, providing clues for therapeutic strategies.     

Effect of simulated gastrointestinal digestion on phenolic composition and antioxidant capacity of cooked cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) varieties

Consumption of diets rich in phenolic compounds has been associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases. The effect of cooking and simulated gastrointestinal digestion on phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties of two cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) types was determined. Phenolic acids, flavan‐3‐ols and flavonols were the main groups of phenolic compounds identified. Cooking and simulated enzyme digestion of the cooked cowpea samples rendered some phenolics less extractable (possibly by promoting binding with other food components) or more extractable (possibly by release of bound forms). Total phenolic contents and radical scavenging properties of the cowpeas were reduced upon cooking, but increased upon simulated enzyme digestion. Cowpea extracts inhibited human LDL oxidation at a concentration of 2 mg mL^?1 possibly due to their phenolic content. Phenolic compounds in cowpea can potentially protect against cardiovascular diseases for which LDL oxidation is a risk factor.