Search Results (17)

Background/Objectives: We investigated whether palmitic acid (PA) induced the expression of inflammatory cytokines and was involved in pyroptosis in a human dental pulp cell line. Methods: Human dental pulp cells cultured in Minimum Essential Medium Alpha (αMEM) were treated with 1 µg/mL LPS and/or PA (100, 300 and 500 µM). As a control, αMEM was added in the culture medium. The WST-1 assay was performed to assess cell proliferation, and morphological changes in cells were examined. RNA expression of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, caspase-4 and gasdermin d were detected by quantitative RT-PCR (qPCR). Results: The WST-1 assay showed that cell viability decreased by 36% at 300 µM and 47% at 500 µM PA compared to the control (p < 0.05). Cell morphology revealed slight shrinkage in 100, 300 and 500 µM PA groups. RNA expression of IL-1β and IL-6 in the PA groups was significantly higher than that in the control groups (p < 0.05), while RNA expression of TNF-α in the PA group was the same as that of control group. The mRNA expression of caspase-4 and gasdermin d in PA groups was significantly higher than that in control group (p < 0.05). Likewise, the concentration of IL-1β and IL-6 was significantly higher in both LPS and PA groups than that in the LPS or PA groups (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that PA induces the expression of inflammatory cytokines and is involved in pyroptosis in a human dental pulp cell line. Full article

Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) delivers outstanding durability and strength but typically relies on high Portland cement content. This study evaluates a 20% cement replacement with limestone powder (LP) in UHPC and benchmarks performance under two curing regimes: moist curing (MC) and warm bath curing at 90 °C (WB). Metrics include workability, compressive and flexural behavior, shrinkage, freeze–thaw resistance, chloride transport (surface resistivity, RCPT), material cost, and embodied CO₂. LP improved fresh behavior: flow increased by 14.3% in plain UHPC and 33% in fiber-reinforced UHPC (FR-UHPC). Compressive strengths remained in the UHPC range at 28–56 days (approximately 142–152 MPa with LP), with modest penalties versus 0%-LP controls (about 2–5% depending on age and curing). Under WB at 56 days, controls reached 154 MPa (plain) and 161 MPa (FR-UHPC), while LP mixes achieved 145.2 MPa (plain) and 152.0 MPa (FR-UHPC). Flexural performance was reduced with LP: for FR-UHPC, 28-day MOR under MC was reduced from 15.5 MPa to 12.7 MPa and under WB from 14.3 MPa to 10.3 MPa; toughness under MC was reduced from 74.4 J to 51.1 J. Durability indicators were maintained or improved despite these moderate strength reductions. After 300 rapid freeze–thaw cycles, all mixtures retained relative dynamic modulus near 100–103%, with negligible MOR losses in LP mixes (plain UHPC: −1.1% with LP versus −4.7% without; FR-UHPC: −3.7% versus −8.1%). Chloride transport resistance improved: at 56 days under MC, surface resistivity increased from 558 to 707 kΩ·cm in plain UHPC and from 252 to 444 kΩ·cm in FR-UHPC; RCPT for LP mixes was 139 C (MC) and 408 C (WB), about 14–23% lower than respective controls. Drying shrinkage was reduced by roughly 23% (plain) and 28% (FR-UHPC). Sustainability and cost outcomes were favorable: embodied CO₂ was reduced by 18.8% (plain) and 15.5% (FR-UHPC), and material cost was reduced by about 4.5% and 2.0%, respectively. The main shortcomings are moderate reductions in compressive and flexural strength and toughness, particularly under WB curing, which should guide application-specific limits and design factors. Full article

The injection of CO₂ into coal reservoirs occurs in its supercritical state (ScCO₂), which significantly alters the pore structure and chemical composition of coal, thereby influencing the adsorption and diffusion behavior of methane (CH₄). Understanding these changes is crucial for optimizing CH₄ extraction and improving CO₂ sequestration efficiency. This study aims to investigate the effects of ScCO₂ on the pore structure, chemical bonds, and CH₄ diffusion mechanisms in bituminous coal to provide insights into coal reservoir stimulation and CO₂ storage. By utilizing high-pressure CO₂ injection adsorption, low-pressure CO₂ gas adsorption (LP-CO₂-GA), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and reactive force field molecular dynamics (ReaxFF-MD) simulations, this study examines the multi-scale changes in coal at the nano- and molecular levels. The following results were found: Pore Structure Evolution: After ScCO₂ treatment, micropore volume increased by 19.1%, and specific surface area increased by 11.2%, while mesopore volume and specific surface area increased by 14.4% and 5.7%, respectively. Chemical Composition Changes: The content of aromatic structures, oxygen-containing functional groups, and hydroxyl groups decreased, while aliphatic structures increased. Specific molecular changes included an increase in (CH₂)_n, 2H, 1H, and secondary alcohol (-C-OH) and phenol (-C-O) groups, while Car-Car and Car-H bonds decreased. Mechanisms of Pore Volume Changes: The pore structure evolves through three distinct phases: Swelling Phase: Breakage of low-energy bonds generates new micropores. Aromatic structure expansion reduces intramolecular spacing but increases intermolecular spacing, causing a decrease in micropore volume and an increase in mesopore volume. Early Dissolution Phase: Continued bond breakage increases micropore volume, while released aliphatic and aromatic structures partially occupy these pores, converting some mesopores into micropores. Later Dissolution Phase: Minimal chemical bond alterations occur, but weakened π-π interactions and van der Waals forces between aromatic layers result in further mesopore volume expansion. Impact on CH₄ Diffusion: Changes in pore volume directly affect CH₄ migration. In the early stages of ScCO₂ interaction, pore shrinkage reduces the mean square displacement (MSD) and self-diffusion coefficient of CH₄. However, as the reaction progresses, pore expansion enhances CH₄ diffusion, ultimately improving gas extraction efficiency. This study provides a fundamental understanding of how ScCO₂ modifies coal structure and CH₄ transport properties, offering theoretical guidance for enhanced CH₄ recovery and CO₂ sequestration strategies. Full article

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a key component of Gram-negative bacterial membranes, plays a central role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory liver diseases. In this review, we aimed to explore the role of LPS in hepatic injury. Upon hepatic infiltration, LPS activates Kupffer cells via toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling, inducing proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β. These mediators amplify hepatocyte apoptosis, endothelial damage, and platelet aggregation, thereby contributing to sinusoidal thrombosis and tissue ischemia. Pathological features, such as hepatocyte shrinkage, sinusoidal expansion, and fibrin deposition, are hallmark indicators of LPS-induced hepatic inflammation. Therapeutically, aspirin shows promise for attenuating cytokine release, protecting endothelial integrity, and reducing thrombogenesis. Emerging strategies include targeting TLR4 pathways, modulating the gut–liver axis, and utilizing biomolecular approaches such as RNA interference for LPS suppression. The integration of public health interventions, such as dietary optimization and microbiome regulation, offers additional preventive measures. In this review, the dual roles of LPS in inflammation and thrombosis have been emphasized. Advancing our understanding of LPS-driven mechanisms and enhancing treatment strategies are pivotal for managing hepatic inflammation and its systemic implications. Future research should focus on refining biomarkers, optimizing therapeutic efficacy, and addressing safety concerns for clinical applications. Full article

In this study, the effect of the pre-infiltration temperature (T_i) on the liquid-phase infiltration characteristics and its effect on the magnetic properties of single-domain GdBCO bulks prepared by the top-seeded infiltration growth (TSIG) method are comprehensively investigated. The results reveal that (1) the liquid Ba-Cu-O phase (LP) did not uniformly infiltrate into the Gd₂BaCuO₅ (Gd-211) solid-phase pellet (SPP). (2) The initial melting and infiltration of the LP occurred at approximately 920 °C. The average infiltration depth and amount of LP that infiltrated the SPP increased with increasing T_i accompanied by the shrinkage and depletion of the LP pellet. (3) The LP penetrated up to the top surface of the SPP and uniformly infiltrated throughout the SPP when the T_i was approximately 960 °C and 1020 °C, respectively. (4) The mean Gd-211 particle size of the pre-infiltrated SPP increased from 1.94 µm at 920 °C to 2.52 µm at 1040 °C as the T_i rose. (5) The magnetic properties and microstructure of the single-domain GdBCO bulks were significantly influenced by the microstructure of the pre-infiltrated SPP. The largest levitation force of 35.64 N and trapped field of 0.23 T were obtained in the single-domain GdBCO bulks at an infiltration T_i of 960 °C. Full article

The disease neonatal sepsis (NS) poses a serious threat to life, and its pathogenesis remains unclear. Using the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified and functional enrichment analyses were conducted. Three machine learning algorithms containing the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE), and random forest (RF) were applied to identify the optimal feature genes (OFGs). This study conducted CIBERSORT to present the abundance of immune infiltrates between septic and control neonates and assessed the relationship between OFGs and immune cells. In total, 44 DEGs were discovered between the septic and control newborns. Throughout the enrichment analysis, DEGs were primarily related to inflammatory signaling pathways and immune responses. The OFGs derived from machine learning algorithms were intersected to yield four biomarkers, namely Hexokinase 3 (HK3), Cystatin 7 (CST7), Resistin (RETN), and Glycogenin 1 (GYG1). The potential biomarkers were validated in other datasets and LPS-stimulated HEUVCs. Septic infants showed a higher proportion of neutrophils (p < 0.001), M0 macrophages (p < 0.001), and regulatory T cells (p = 0.004). HK3, CST7, RETN, and GYG1 showed significant correlations with immune cells. Overall, the biomarkers offered promising insights into the molecular mechanisms of immune regulation for the prediction and treatment of NS. Full article

High-altitude environments are characterized by low air pressures and temperature variations. Low-heat Portland cement (PLH) is a more energy-efficient alternative to ordinary Portland cement (OPC); however, the hydration properties of PLH at high altitudes have not been previously investigated. Therefore, in this study, the mechanical strengths and levels of the drying shrinkage of PLH mortars under standard, low-air-pressure (LP), and low-air-pressure and variable-temperature (LPT) conditions were evaluated and compared. In addition, the hydration characteristics, pore size distributions, and C-S-H Ca/Si ratio of the PLH pastes under different curing conditions were explored using X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). Compared with that of the PLH mortar cured under the standard conditions, the compressive strength of the PLH mortar cured under the LPT conditions was higher at an early curing stage but lower at a later curing stage. In addition, drying shrinkage under the LPT conditions developed rapidly at an early stage but slowly at a later stage. Moreover, the characteristic peaks of ettringite (AFt) were not observed in the XRD pattern after curing for 28 d, and AFt transformed into AFm under the LPT conditions. The pore size distribution characteristics of the specimens cured under the LPT conditions deteriorated, which was related to water evaporation and micro-crack formation at low air pressures. The low pressure hindered the reaction between belite and water, which contributed to a significant change in the C-S-H Ca/Si ratio in the early curing stage in the LPT environment. Full article

To investigate the effects of limestone powder and gypsum on the early hydration of ye’elimite, the hydration behavior of C₄A₃$\overline{\mathrm{S}}$-LP-CaSO₄·2H₂O-H₂O systems are researched. The hydration behavior of systems are researched by employing isothermal calorimetry, XRD technique and chemical shrinkage. The thermodynamic modelling method is employed to predict the equilibrium phase assemblages. The results show that the system with 5 wt.% LP has a comparable hydration heat evolution to limestone powder-free systems. Limestone powder can take part in the reaction to produce monocarboaluminate in the system with M-value (molar ratio of gypsum to ye’elimite) of 1, but monocarboaluminate is not found in the system with M-value of 2. The level off time of chemical shrinkage shortens with the increase of limestone powder dosage. Thermodynamic modelling results show that monocarboaluminate is no longer formed in all systems when M-value exceeds 1.27, which corresponds to the XRD results. This study can provide theoretical guidance for the rational utilization of limestone powder in calcium sulphoaluminate cement. Full article

The use of a high amount of calcined clays as cement replacement presents a great challenge in designing self-consolidating concrete. This current attempt evaluates the influence of cement replacement with up to 40 vol.% by a calcined common clay (CC), dominated by 2:1 phyllosilicates in combination with a fixed limestone powder (LP) content on fresh and hardened properties of self-consolidating mortar (SC-M). The fresh properties of SC-M were investigated by mini-slump flow, V-funnel and rotational viscometer measurements. Setting and hardening behavior were observed via dynamic modulus of elasticity and plastic shrinkage. Hydration mechanisms were determined by isothermal calorimetry and thermal analysis. Hardened properties of SC-M were evaluated using compressive strength tests and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). The results revealed a decreased rate of deformability in SC-M when cement is substituted increasingly by CC and a rising superplasticizer (SP) demand, but indicated an improved stability of SC-M even at a higher dosage of SP and hardly any impact on the setting behavior. CC enhanced the precipitation of monocarboaluminate phases and thereby refined the pore size distribution of the binder matrix. SC-M can be produced with up to 40 vol.% CC as cement replacement without having effect on its 28 days mechanical properties. Full article

Growing demand for treatment options against acute lung injury (ALI) emphasizes studies on plant extracts harboring anti-inflammatory effects. According to GC-MS analysis, Angiopteris cochinchinensis de Vriese consists of various flavonoids with anti-inflammatory activities. Thus, in this study, the anti-inflammatory effects of an extract of Angiopteris cochinchinensis de Vriese (Ac-EE) were assessed using RAW264.6 murine macrophages and a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI model. Ac-EE reduced the nitric oxide production in murine macrophages increased by LPS induction. Moreover, protective effects of Ac-EE on lung tissue were demonstrated by shrinkage of edema and lung injury. Reduced neutrophil infiltration and formation of hyaline membranes were also detected in lung tissues after H&E staining. Semiquantitative RT-PCR, quantitative real-time PCR, and ELISA showed that Ac-EE inhibits the production of proinflammatory mediators, including iNOS and COX-2, and cytokines, such as TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6. An Ac-EE-mediated anti-inflammatory response was derived from inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway, which was evaluated by luciferase reporter assay and Western blotting analysis. A cellular thermal shift assay revealed that the prime target of Ac-EE in alleviating inflammation was Src. With its direct binding with Src, Angiopteris cochinchinensis de Vriese significantly mitigates lung injury, showing possibilities of its potential as an effective botanical drug. Full article

Maternal immune activation (MIA) increases the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring. Microbial dysbiosis is associated with ASD symptoms. However, the alterations in the brain–gut–microbiota axis in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced MIA offspring remain unclear. Here, we examined the social behavior, anxiety-like and repetitive behavior, microbiota profile, and myelination levels in LPS-induced MIA rat offspring. Compared with control offspring, MIA male rat offspring spent less time in an active social interaction with stranger rats, displayed more anxiety-like and repetitive behavior, and had more hypomyelination in the prefrontal cortex and thalamic nucleus. A fecal microbiota analysis revealed that MIA offspring had a higher abundance of Alistipes, Fusobacterium, and Ruminococcus and a lower abundance of Coprococcus, Erysipelotrichaies, and Actinobacteria than control offspring, which is consistent with that of humans with ASD. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method was applied to determine the relative importance of the microbiota, which indicated that the abundance of Alistipes and Actinobacteria was the most relevant for the profile of defective social behavior, whereas Fusobacterium and Coprococcus was associated with anxiety-like and repetitive behavior. In summary, LPS-induced MIA offspring showed an abnormal brain–gut–microbiota axis with social behavior deficits, anxiety-like and repetitive behavior, hypomyelination, and an ASD-like microbiota profile. Full article

In recent years, with the development of compressed sensing theory, sparse representation methods have been concerned by many researchers. Sparse representation can approximate the original image information with less space storage. Sparse representation has been investigated for hyperspectral imagery (HSI) detection, where approximation of testing pixel can be obtained by solving $l_1$-norm minimization. However, $l_1$-norm minimization does not always yield a sufficiently sparse solution when a dictionary is not large enough or atoms present a certain level of coherence. Comparatively, non-convex minimization problems, such as the $l_p$ penalties, need much weaker incoherence constraint conditions and may achieve more accurate approximation. Hence, we propose a novel detection algorithm utilizing sparse representation with $l_p$-norm and propose adaptive iterated shrinkage thresholding method (AISTM) for $l_p$-norm non-convex sparse coding. Target detection is implemented by representation of the all pixels employing homogeneous target dictionary (HTD), and the output is generated according to the representation residual. Experimental results for four real hyperspectral datasets show that the detection performance of the proposed method is improved by about $10\%$ to $30\%$ than methods mentioned in the paper, such as matched filter (MF), sparse and low-rank matrix decomposition (SLMD), adaptive cosine estimation (ACE), constrained energy minimization (CEM), one-class support vector machine (OC-SVM), the original sparse representation detector with $l_1$-norm, and combined sparse and collaborative representation (CSCR). Full article

The quality of infrared images is affected by various degradation factors, such as image blurring and noise pollution. Anisotropic total variation (ATV) has been shown to be a good regularization approach for image deblurring. However, there are two main drawbacks in ATV. First, the conventional ATV regularization just considers the sparsity of the first-order image gradients, thus leading to staircase artifacts. Second, it employs the L1-norm to describe the sparsity of image gradients, while the L1-norm has a limited capacity of depicting the sparsity of sparse variables. To address these limitations of ATV, a high-order total variation is introduced in the ATV deblurring model and the Lp-pseudonorm is adopted to depict the sparsity of low- and high-order total variation. In this way, the recovered image can fit the image priors with clear edges and eliminate the staircase artifacts of the ATV model. The alternating direction method of multipliers is used to solve the proposed model. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method does not only remove blurs effectively but is also highly competitive against the state-of-the-art methods, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Full article

(1) Background: Plant flavonoids are efficient in preventing and treating various diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of hesperidin, a flavonoid found in citrus fruits, in inhibiting lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced inflammation, which induced lethal toxicity in vivo, and to evaluate its importance as an antitumor agent in breast cancer. The in vivo experiments revealed the protective effects of hesperidin against the negative LPS effects on the liver and spleen of male mice. (2) Methods: In the liver, the antioxidant activity was measured by estimating the concentration of glutathione (GSH) and catalase (CAT), whereas in spleen, the concentration of cytokines including IL-33 and TNF-α was measured. The in vitro experiments including MTT assay, clonogenity test, and sulforhodamine 101 stain with DAPI (4′, 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) were used to assess the morphological apoptosis in breast cancer cells. (3) Results: The results of this study revealed a significant increase in the IL-33 and TNF-α cytokine levels in LPS challenged mice along with a considerable elevation in glutathione (GSH); moreover, the catalase (CAT) level was higher compared to that of the control group. Cytotoxicity of the MCF-7 cell line revealed significant differences among the groups treated with different concentrations when compared to the control groups, in a concentration-dependent manner. Hesperidin significantly inhibited the colony formation of MCF7 cells when compared to that of control. Clear changes were observed in the cell shape, including cell shrinkage and chromatin condensation, which were associated with a later apoptotic stage. (4) Conclusion: The results indicate that hesperidin might be a potential candidate in preventing diseases. Full article

Image deblurring under the background of impulse noise is a typically ill-posed inverse problem which attracted great attention in the fields of image processing and computer vision. The fast total variation deconvolution (FTVd) algorithm proved to be an effective way to solve this problem. However, it only considers sparsity of the first-order total variation, resulting in staircase artefacts. The L1 norm is adopted in the FTVd model to depict the sparsity of the impulse noise, while the L1 norm has limited capacity of depicting it. To overcome this limitation, we present a new algorithm based on the Lp-pseudo-norm and total generalized variation (TGV) regularization. The TGV regularization puts sparse constraints on both the first-order and second-order gradients of the image, effectively preserving the image edge while relieving undesirable artefacts. The Lp-pseudo-norm constraint is employed to replace the L1 norm constraint to depict the sparsity of the impulse noise more precisely. The alternating direction method of multipliers is adopted to solve the proposed model. In the numerical experiments, the proposed algorithm is compared with some state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity (SSIM), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), operation time, and visual effects to verify its superiority. Full article