An Experimental Model of Neuro–Immune Interactions in the Eye: Corneal Sensory Nerves and Resident Dendritic Cells

The cornea is an avascular connective tissue that is crucial, not only as the primary barrier of the eye but also as a proper transparent refractive structure. Corneal transparency is necessary for vision and is the result of several factors, including its highly organized structure, the physiology of its few cellular components, the lack of myelinated nerves (although it is extremely innervated), the tightly controlled hydration state, and the absence of blood and lymphatic vessels in healthy conditions, among others. The avascular, immune-privileged tissue of the cornea is an ideal model to study the interactions between its well-characterized and dense sensory nerves (easily accessible for both focal electrophysiological recording and morphological studies) and the low number of resident immune cell types, distinguished from those cells migrating from blood vessels. This paper presents an overview of the corneal structure and innervation, the resident dendritic cell (DC) subpopulations present in the cornea, their distribution in relation to corneal nerves, and their role in ocular inflammatory diseases. A mouse model in which sensory axons are constitutively labeled with tdTomato and DCs with green fluorescent protein (GFP) allows further analysis of the neuro-immune crosstalk under inflammatory and steady-state conditions of the eye.     

污染土壤/底泥电动修复研究进展

修复污染土壤/底泥对改善生态环境质量极为重要,通过对污染土壤/底泥施加电场,可使污染物定向迁移、富集并去除.综述了电动修复的发展历程,比较了重金属、有机污染物及复合污染物的电动修复机理及其限制因素,分析了土壤预处理(加入酸、氧化剂、共溶剂、表面活性剂,搅拌,升温等)、电极优化(交换电极、阳极逼近、电极矩阵等)、多技术(...     

Study on electrokinetic remediation of cadmium contaminated soils

Kaolinite from a lead-zinc mining district,which was spiked with cadmium,has been treated by electrokinetics to investigate effects of treatment time and applied voltage gradient.The results showed that the increased test duration had induced a higher removal rate of cadmium.Being treated for 7 days,cadmium was removed from kaolinite dramatically.It was also found that higher removal rate happened when a higher voltage gradient was applied and cadmium accumulated near the cathode because pH increased.Increase of pH near the cathode caused accumulation of cadmium.Moreover,it was observed that cation exchange membrane which was placed between kaolinite and cathode could make pH lower than the initial value and avoid the higher pH near the cathode.As a result,the high concentration accumulation of cadmium near the cathode was avoided.     

农村污水处理中的主要难点与对策分析

农村污水的处理涉及建设与运营两方面的工作,具有专业性和复杂性的特点。本文先从污水收集系统建设、污水收集管网建设、污水处理技术及污水处理投入资金四个方面来分析论述农村污水处理中的主要难点,进而提出针对性的优化对策,最后论述了农村污水处理的未来探索思路与方向。     

Site-Directed Immobilization of an Engineered Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 (BMP2) Variant to Collagen-Based Microspheres Induces Bone Formation In Vivo

For the treatment of large bone defects, the commonly used technique of autologous bone grafting presents several drawbacks and limitations. With the discovery of the bone-inducing capabilities of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2), several delivery techniques were developed and translated to clinical applications. Implantation of scaffolds containing adsorbed BMP2 showed promising results. However, off-label use of this protein-scaffold combination caused severe complications due to an uncontrolled release of the growth factor, which has to be applied in supraphysiological doses in order to induce bone formation. Here, we propose an alternative strategy that focuses on the covalent immobilization of an engineered BMP2 variant to biocompatible scaffolds. The new BMP2 variant harbors an artificial amino acid with a specific functional group, allowing a site-directed covalent scaffold functionalization. The introduced artificial amino acid does not alter BMP2′s bioactivity in vitro. When applied in vivo, the covalently coupled BMP2 variant induces the formation of bone tissue characterized by a structurally different morphology compared to that induced by the same scaffold containing ab-/adsorbed wild-type BMP2. Our results clearly show that this innovative technique comprises translational potential for the development of novel osteoinductive materials, improving safety for patients and reducing costs.     

Decision rules for determining terrestrial movement and the consequences for filtering high-resolution global positioning system tracks: a case study using the African lion (Panthera leo)

The combined use of global positioning system (GPS) technology and motion sensors within the discipline of movement ecology has increased over recent years. This is particularly the case for instrumented wildlife, with many studies now opting to record parameters at high (infra-second) sampling frequencies. However, the detail with which GPS loggers can elucidate fine-scale movement depends on the precision and accuracy of fixes, with accuracy being affected by signal reception. We hypothesized that animal behaviour was the main factor affecting fix inaccuracy, with inherent GPS positional noise (jitter) being most apparent during GPS fixes for non-moving locations, thereby producing disproportionate error during rest periods. A movement-verified filtering (MVF) protocol was constructed to compare GPS-derived speed data with dynamic body acceleration, to provide a computationally quick method for identifying genuine travelling movement. This method was tested on 11 free-ranging lions (Panthera leo) fitted with collar-mounted GPS units and tri-axial motion sensors recording at 1 and 40 Hz, respectively. The findings support the hypothesis and show that distance moved estimates were, on average, overestimated by greater than 80% prior to GPS screening. We present the conceptual and mathematical protocols for screening fix inaccuracy within high-resolution GPS datasets and demonstrate the importance that MVF has for avoiding inaccurate and biased estimates of movement.     

用固定化Oil-56黄杆菌修复地表水菌体形态变化

利用聚乙烯醇-海藻酸钠(PVA-Na.A lg)联合包埋固定化一株黄杆菌O il-56,进行污染地表水修复实验研究,结果表明固定化细菌的修复效果明显好于游离细菌。同时利用扫描电子显微镜观察了固定化颗粒内部细菌形态的变化,解释了由于Na.A lg溶解导致水体CODC r升高的原因,并分析了固定化颗粒传质扩散性能的缺陷,指出PVA-Na.A lg固定化工艺尚需改进。     

Experimental Animal Model Systems for Understanding Salivary Secretory Disorders

Salivary secretory disorders are life-disrupting pathologic conditions with a high prevalence, especially in the geriatric population. Both patients and clinicians frequently feel helpless and get frustrated by the currently available therapeutic strategies, which consist mainly of palliative managements. Accordingly, to unravel the underlying mechanisms and to develop effective and curative strategies, several animal models have been developed and introduced. Experimental findings from these models have contributed to answer biological and biomedical questions. This review aims to provide various methodological considerations used for the examination of pathological fundamentals in salivary disorders using animal models and to summarize the obtained findings. The information provided in this review could provide plausible solutions for overcoming salivary disorders and also suggest purpose-specific experimental animal systems.     

基于EMD与分批估计的动态称量快速融合方法

活体动物动态称量在生物医学实验中具有举足轻重的作用。为实现活体动物快速、准确的称量,提出基于EMD与分批估计相结合的动态称量信息融合方法:首先利用经验模态分解(EMD)方法解析活体动物动态称量的采样信号,提取表征采样信号的趋势或均值的残余量,计算各阶本征模函数(IMF)与采样信号的相关系数,根据相关系数分辨虚假IMF,并将虚假IMF和原残余量之和作为新残余量;然后对新残余量进行分批估计,消除各种噪声、扰动对称量结果的影响,获得准确的动态称量值。通过建立动态称量系统的仿真模型,对基于EMD与分批估计相结合的动态称量信息融合方法进行了仿真实验,仿真结果表明该算法准确度高。为了验证基于EMD与分批估计相结合的动态称量方法的有效性,进行标准砝码的静态称量和小鼠的动态称量试验,实测结果表明该方法稳定、可靠,称量误差≤±0.5%。     

Degradation of soil-sorbed trichloroethylene by stabilized zero valent iron nanoparticles: effects of sorption, surfactants, and natural organic matter

Zero valent iron (ZVI) nanoparticles have been studied extensively for degradation of chlorinated solvents in the aqueous phase, and have been tested for in-situ remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater. However, little is known about its effectiveness for degrading soil-sorbed contaminants. This work studied reductive dechlorination of trichloroethylene (TCE) sorbed in two model soils (a potting soil and Smith Farm soil) using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) stabilized Fe-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles. Effects of sorption, surfactants and dissolved organic matter (DOC) were determined through batch kinetic experiments. While the nanoparticles can effectively degrade soil-sorbed TCE, the TCE degradation rate was strongly limited by desorption kinetics, especially for the potting soil which has a higher organic matter content of 8.2%. Under otherwise identical conditions, ∼44% of TCE sorbed in the potting soil was degraded in 30 h, compared to ∼82% for Smith Farm soil (organic matter content = 0.7%). DOC from the potting soil was found to inhibit TCE degradation. The presence of the extracted SOM at 40 ppm and 350 ppm as TOC reduced the degradation rate by 34% and 67%, respectively. Four prototype surfactants were tested for their effects on TCE desorption and degradation rates, including two anionic surfactants known as SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate) and SDBS (sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate), a cationic surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammonium (HDTMA) bromide, and a non-ionic surfactant Tween 80. All four surfactants were observed to enhance TCE desorption at concentrations below or above the critical micelle concentration (cmc), with the anionic surfactant SDS being most effective. Based on the pseudo-first-order reaction rate law, the presence of 1×cmc SDS increased the reaction rate by a factor of 2.5 when the nanoparticles were used for degrading TCE in a water solution. SDS was effective for enhancing degradation of TCE sorbed in Smith Farm soil, the presence of SDS at sub-cmc increased TCE degraded by ∼10%. However, effect of SDS on degradation of TCE in the potting soil was more complex. The presence of SDS at sub-cmc decreased TCE degradation by 5%, but increased degradation by 5% when SDS dosage was raised to 5×cmc. The opposing effects were attributed to combined effects of SDS on TCE desorption and degradation, release of soil organic matter and nanoparticle aggregation. The findings strongly suggest that effect of soil sorption on the effectiveness of Fe-Pd nanoparticles must be taken into account in process design, and soil organic content plays an important role in the overall degradation rate and in the effectiveness of surfactant uses.