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.     

Congratulations to Vladimir Viktorovich Baulin

Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering -     

Hybridization of acoustic waves in piezoelectric plates

The conditions for hybridization of the zero-order and high-order acoustic waves propagating in a piezoelectric crystal plate have been studied. The dependence of the phase velocity of the hybrid waves on the parameter hf (h is the plate thickness and f is the wave frequency) is established for the potassium niobate and lithium niobate plates possessing various crystallographic orientations and conductivities. It is found that hybridization takes place when the conductivity of a thin surface layer exceeds a certain critical value, which can vary within broad limits depending on the plate material and orientation. The degree of dispersive repulsion of the coupled modes grows with increasing electromechanical coupling coefficient.     

The standard impact factor as an evaluation tool of science fields and scientific journals

The standard impact factor for particular fields of science (Ig) and the relative impact factor K for scientific journals are introduced. The technique of calculation of standard impact factor (Ig) for a field is an inherent part of a method which allows a cross-field evaluation of scientific journals. This method for evaluating scientific journals elaborated in 1988 was aimed at the analysis of Russian journals covered by the SCI database, it was also used for chemical journals (more that 300) and for journals in the Life sciences (more than 1000). The results are discussed.     

Quantum-mechanical reaction rate constants from centroid molecular dynamics simulations: Barrier crossing in an asymmetrical double-well

Quantum-mechanical reaction rate constants were calculated from centroid molecular dynamics (CMD) simulations, for the case of barrier crossing in an asymmetrical double-well potential bilinearly coupled to a harmonic bath. The calculation is based on a recently proposed formulation of the reaction rate constant in terms of the position—flux correlation function, which can be approximated via CMD in a well-defined manner. The predictions of CMD and various simplified versions of it are compared to exact results, which were obtained via the quasi-adiabatic propagator path integral (QUAPI) method, and/or path integral quantum transition state theory (PI-QTST). The predictions based on CMD are found to be in good agreement with both.     

Generalized Bose–Lin Codes, a Class of Codes Detecting Asymmetric Errors

Bose and Lin introduced a class of systematic codes for detection of binary asymmetric errors. In this note, we describe a generalization to q-ary asymmetric error detecting codes. For these codes, the possible undetectable errors are characterized and the undetectable errors of minimum weight are determined     

Shock-induced phase transitions of C70 fullerite

Shock-induced phase transitions of C₇₀ fullerite were studied at the pressure range up to 52 GPa with use of recovery assemblies of planar geometry. The starting material consists of two crystalline phases: phase with hexagonal close-packed (HCP) and phase with rhombohedral structure. We have found that C₇₀ fullerite undergoes a series of polymorphic phase transitions in conditions of step-like shock-wave compression. In the specimens, recovered from 9, 14 and 19 GPa, a dominant phase was fullerite C₇₀ with cubic structure. Also, some amount of C₇₀ with HCP structure was observed. The quantity of HCP phase was decreasing with increasing of intensity of shock loading. With further growth of shock pressure, destruction of C₇₀ molecules occurs. In the samples, recovered after shock loading, the main phase was graphite with a low degree of three-dimensional regularity.     

Towards a Dual-Tip STM Application in Mesoscopic Electron Transport

A new design for a dual-tip scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is presented. The design is a variation on the mechanically controllable break-junction with two electron beam-induced deposition nano-tips. The new design enables one to scan surfaces simultaneously with two probes having a nano-gap separation. By collecting the lateral current flowing between the tips, the transconductance map can then be compared with the STM images for local characterizations of the electron transport. Since the lateral beam carries the property of the density of states of the surface at momentum space, the dispersion of the electronic structure should give an orientation and position dependence of the local transconductance current. In addition, the reduced terminal separation, on the order of the characteristic mesoscopic length scales, is likely to be sensitive to a variety of typically observed interactions and interference effects.