Cell Sheet Comprised of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Overexpressing Stem Cell Factor Promotes Epicardium Activation and Heart Function Improvement in a Rat Model of Myocardium Infarction

Cell therapy of the post-infarcted myocardium is still far from clinical use. Poor survival of transplanted cells, insufficient regeneration, and replacement of the damaged tissue limit the potential of currently available cell-based techniques. In this study, we generated a multilayered construct from adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) modified to secrete stem cell factor, SCF. In a rat model of myocardium infarction, we show that transplantation of SCF producing cell sheet induced activation of the epicardium and promoted the accumulation of c-kit positive cells in ischemic muscle. Morphometry showed the reduction of infarct size (16%) and a left ventricle expansion index (0.12) in the treatment group compared to controls (24–28%; 0.17–0.32). The ratio of viable myocardium was more than 1.5-fold higher, reaching 49% compared to the control (28%) or unmodified cell sheet group (30%). Finally, by day 30 after myocardium infarction, SCF-producing cell sheet transplantation increased left ventricle ejection fraction from 37% in the control sham-operated group to 53%. Our results suggest that, combining the genetic modification of MSCs and their assembly into a multilayered construct, we can provide prolonged pleiotropic effects to the damaged heart, induce endogenous regenerative processes, and improve cardiac function.     

Search for Solving the Problem of Conditioning the Reactor Graphite

Radiochemistry - Spent reactor graphite constitutes a significant part of the accumulated solid radioactive wastes, and a search for its isolation from the biosphere is a topical task. Radioactive...     

改善硫精矿浓密机溢流跑浑试验研究

本文旨在改善某选厂硫精矿浓密机溢流跑浑问题,对生产现场进行勘察和分析,分析浓密机溢流跑浑的原因,并开展原矿配比和沉降试验研究。对采场原矿矿样和硫精矿矿浆进行系统的试验研究,分别采用不同沉降方案进行条件试验,考察絮凝剂种类、絮凝剂用量、pH调整剂用量、不同药剂之间的配比等条件对沉降的影响,确定合适的原矿配比及合理药剂制度,有效地控制金属在溢流中的损失,充分获取现有产品的蕴含价值。     

Ni,Cr, and Fe surfaces corroded by molten ZnCl2

Understanding the corrosion of molten ZnCl₂ on metal surfaces is significant for the corrosion protection of metals, sustainable use of molten salts, preparation of ZnO coatings, and so on. In this paper, surfaces of pure Ni, Cr, and Fe corroded by molten ZnCl₂ were investigated. The results show that Ni suffered very slight corrosion, while Cr experienced more serious corrosion than Ni, but lighter corrosion than Fe. The morphology of the corrosion of Cr and Fe, respectively, presented pitting and intergranular corrosion characteristics. Furthermore, nanostructured ZnO coatings were obtained on the surfaces of Ni and Fe, but not on the surface of Cr. The ZnO coating on the Ni surface was doped with a small amount of Zn₅(OH)₈Cl₂, and the ZnO coating on the Fe surface was doped with ZnFe₂O₄ and Zn₂OCl₂. The coatings on the Ni and Fe surfaces had an average thickness of 1.5 and 50 μm, respectively.     

Collection efficiency of liquid‐based samplers for fungi in indoor air

This study assessed the collection efficiency (CE) of two popularly used sampling devices (BioSampler and Coriolis sampler) for fungal aerosols. Phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS) supplemented with or without surfactant (Tween‐20, Tween‐80, or Triton X‐100) and antifoam agent was prepared and used as collection liquids. The agar impactor (BioStage) was simultaneously operated with liquid‐based samplers to collect fungi from seven sites located at a university building, public library, and animal farming. Fungal concentrations determined by liquid samplers were divided by those by BioStage, and the ratio values represented CE. Results indicate that the CE of BioSampler was superior to that of Coriolis (P = 0.0001) and the PBS containing surfactant collected fungi better than that without surfactant (P < 0.0001), whereas antifoam agent showed no influence (P = 0.8). Moreover, fungal concentrations determined by BioSampler with surfactant‐added PBS were statistically indifferent from those by BioStage (P > 0.05) with a Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.81‐0.83 (P < 0.01). In addition to sampler and collection liquid, sampling location was also identified as a significant CE factor (P = 0.006), implying potential influences by fungal genera in the studied fields. Overall, BioSampler with surfactant‐supplemented PBS (eg, Triton X‐100) is recommended considering the great CE and compatibility with a variety of analytical assays.     

On Application of Carbon-Containing Electrode Materials in Technology of Electrospark Alloying: Part 1. Peculiarities of Coating Formation Using Electrospark Treatment of Titanium Alloy OT4-1

Electrospark treatment of OT4-1 titanium alloy was performed sequentially with a STIM-20N hard-alloy electrode (TiC–20% Ni) and carbon-containing material (graphite and carbon-based composite materials). Kinetics of the mass transfer of the hard-alloy electrode was studied. The cathode mass loss during the first minute of the treatment was established. The kinetics results were processed using the methods of mathematical statistics. The erosion resistance of the applied carbon-containing materials was determined. Phase composition and relief of the coatings formed were analyzed. It was found that the application of the carbon-containing material increases the content of refractory phases in the coatings. Increase in the time of the treatment using the carbon-containing materials decreases the roughness of the coatings.     

Automatic breast tumor detection in ABVS images based on convolutional neural network and superpixel patterns

Breast cancer is one of the most common female malignancies, as well as the second leading cause of mortality for women. Early detection and treatment can dramatically decrease the mortality rate. Recently, automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) has become one of the most frequently used diagnose methods for breast tumor screening because of its operator-independent and reproducible advantages. However, it is a challenging job to obtain the tumors’ accurate locations and shapes by reviewing hundreds of ABVS slices. In this paper, a novel computer-aided detection (CADe) system is developed to reduce clinicians’ reading time and improve the efficiency. The CADe system mainly contains three parts: tumor candidate acquisition, false-positive reduction and tumor segmentation. Firstly, a local phase-based approach is built to obtain breast tumor candidates for further recognition. Subsequently, a convolutional neural network (CNN) is applied to reduce false positives (FPs). The introduction of CNN can help to avoid complicated feature extraction as well as elevate the accuracy and efficiency. Finally, superpixel-based segmentation is used to outline the breast tumor. Here, superpixel-based local binary pattern (SLBP) is proposed to assist the segmentation, which improves the performance. The methods were evaluated on a clinical ABVS dataset whose abnormal cases were manually labeled by an experienced radiologist. The experiment results were mainly composed of two parts. At the FP reduction stage, the proposed CNN achieved 100% and 78.12% sensitivity with FPs/case of 2.16 and 0. At the segmentation stage, our SLBP obtained 82.34% true positive, 15.79% false positive and 83.59% Dice similarity. In summary, the proposed CADe system demonstrated promising potential to detect and outline breast tumors in ABVS images.