The cornea is a transparent tissue devoid of blood and lymphatic vessels. However, various inflammatory conditions can cause hemangiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in the cornea, compromising transparency and visual acuity. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) have therapeutic potentials in a variety of diseases because of anti-inflammatory properties. Herein, we investigated the effects of MSCs on corneal angiogenesis using a model of suture-induced inflammatory corneal neovascularization. Data demonstrated that an intravenous administration of MSCs suppressed corneal inflammation and neovascularization, inhibiting both hemangiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. MSCs reduced the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C, VEGF-D, Tek, MRC1, and MRC2 in the cornea, which are expressed by pro-angiogenic macrophages. Moreover, the number of CD11b+ monocytes/macrophages in the cornea, spleen, peripheral blood, and draining lymph nodes was decreased by MSCs. Depletion of circulating CD11b+ monocytes by blocking antibodies replicated the effects of MSCs. Importantly, knockdown of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)-stimulated gene/protein 6 (TSG-6) in MSCs abrogated the effects of MSCs in inhibiting corneal hemangiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis and monocyte/macrophage infiltration. Together, the results suggest that MSCs inhibit inflammatory neovascularization in the cornea by suppressing pro-angiogenic monocyte/macrophage recruitment in a TSG-6-dependent manner.
Summary: Wide local excision remains the main treatment modality for primary lip cancer, which often results in considerable deficits of lip tissue and requires reconstruction using free tissue transfer. Although diverse free flaps, such as radial forearm flap or anterolateral thigh flap, have been used, their application is often limited by their inherent limitations, including donor-site morbidity and flap bulkiness. This report details the authors’ experience of lower lip reconstruction using a superthin superficial circumflex iliac artery perforator (SCIP) free flap. Two patients with primary squamous cell carcinoma spanning their lower lip underwent wide local excision with an 8-mm lateral excision margin and superficial layer of orbicularis oris muscle. To cover the shallow but extensive lower lip defects, a superthin SCIP flap elevating along the intraadipose tissue layer and a pure-skin perforator SCIP flap elevating along the subdermal layer were harvested. The thickness of the harvested SCIP flap was 3 mm in both cases. The microvascular anastomoses of pedicles were conducted using the inferior labial artery and adjacent subcutaneous vein as recipient vessels, and the flaps were inset. The flaps survived completely without any perfusion-related complications. The patients were discharged uneventfully. Postoperatively, both patients displayed complete functional recovery with good lip competence and aesthetically pleasing results, without requiring secondary debulking operations. The authors’ results suggest that the superthin or pure-skin perforator SCIP flap might be considered as an effective method for covering shallow and wide lower lip defect.
Abstract Organic polymer‐based dielectrics with intrinsic mechanical flexibility and good processability are excellent candidates for the dielectric layer of flexible electronics. These polymer films can become even more rigid and electrically robust when modified through cross‐linking processes. Moreover, the composites formed by dispersing nanoscale inorganic fillers in a polymer matrix can exhibit further improved polarization property. However, these strategies can be challenging as homogeneous dispersion of nanomaterials in the matrix is difficult to achieve; thus, degradation of electrically insulating properties of nanocomposite layers is often observed. Here, a high‐ k , pinhole‐free, and flexible poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)‐based nanocomposite dielectric is presented, incorporating 2D TiO 2 nanosheets (NSs) for the first time. Despite the attractive dielectric constant, exceptional flexibility, and electrically insulating property of PVA‐TiO 2 nanocomposites, only few studies on these materials have been reported. The organic/inorganic nanosheet hybrid layer, which reaches an unprecedentedly high dielectric constant of 43.8 (more than four times higher than that of cross‐linked PVA), also exhibits an outstanding leakage current density as low as 10 −9 A cm −2 . Furthermore, the repeated bending tests for nanocomposite capacitors reveal their capability of operating without any deterioration of their performances even after 1000 iterations of bending cycles at a bending radius of 3 mm.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the trends of research in music therapy through the analysis of studies from 1997 to 2005, and to make some directions for the future development of music therapy research in Korea. In this study, a total of 488 theses including master's and doctoral degrees, were analyzed by researchers' degree, publication resources, client population, research methods, and research objectives. The results of this study were listed as follows. First, the target theses were categorized as follows; 5 doctoral and 483 master's theses. In other respect, 276 were theses from music therapy programs and 212 were those from other programs. Second, regarding client population, 228 theses were about client with disabilities, 190 with non-disabilities, 29 with medical patients, and 41 others. Third, research methods of each thesis were categorized as 411 quantitative studies, 64 literature studies, 2 qualitative studies, and 11 quantitative-qualitative mixed studies. Fourth, in the target number of research, the field of emotion was the highest with 35%.
Despite the encouraging properties and research of 2D MoS2 , an ongoing issue associated with the oxidative instability remains elusive for practical optoelectronic applications. Thus, in-depth understanding of the oxidation behavior of large-scale and homogeneous 2D MoS2 is imperative. Here the structural and chemical transformations of large-area MoS2 multilayers by air-annealing with altered temperature and time via combinatorial spectro-microscopic analyses (Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy) are surveyed. The results gave indications pertaining to temperature- and time-dependent oxidation effects: i) heat-driven elimination of redundant residues, ii) internal strain stimulated by the formation of MoO bonds, iii) deterioration of the MoS2 crystallinity, iv) layer thinning, and v) morphological transformation from 2D MoS2 layers to particles. Photoelectrical characterization of the air-annealed MoS2 is implemented to capture the link between the oxidation behavior of MoS2 multilayers and their photoelectrical properties. The photocurrent based on MoS2 air-annealed at 200 °C is assessed to be 4.92 µA, which is 1.73 times higher than that of pristine MoS2 (2.84 µA). The diminution in the photocurrent of the photodetector based on MoS2 air-annealed above 300 °C in terms of the structural, chemical, and electrical conversions induced by the oxidation process is further discussed.
An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.
Accumulating evidence shows that extracellular vesicles (EVs) produced by mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) exert their therapeutic effects in several disease models. We previously demonstrated that MSCs suppress autoimmunity in models of type 1 diabetes (T1D) and experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU). Therefore, here, we investigated the therapeutic potential of MSC-derived EVs using our established mouse models for autoimmune diseases affecting the pancreas and the eye: T1D and EAU. The data demonstrate that MSC-derived EVs effectively prevent the onset of disease in both T1D and EAU. In addition, the mixed lymphocyte reaction assay with MSC-derived EVs indicated that EVs inhibit activation of antigen-presenting cells and suppress development of T helper 1 (Th1) and Th17 cells. These results raise the possibility that MSC-derived EVs may be an alternative to cell therapy for autoimmune disease prevention.
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