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Electrospinning is a simple and affordable method of producing nanofibers, offering a large specific surface area and highly porous structures with diameters ranging from nanometers to micrometers. This process relies on an electrostatic field, providing precise control over the fiber dimensions and morphologies through parameter optimization and the use of specialized spinnerets and collectors. The paper extensively covers the electrospinning process and parameters, shedding light on the factors influencing electrospinning. It addresses the morphological and structural aspects of electrospun fibers that are used in different applications. Additionally, this paper explores various polymeric and non-polymeric materials used in electrospinning. Furthermore, it investigates the incorporation of fillers during electrospinning, using an electric field to enhance properties and functionality. The review concludes by offering insights into upscaling electrospinning production.

The dentate gyrus is critical for spatial memory formation and shows task-related activation of cellular ensembles considered as memory engrams. Semilunar granule cells (SGCs), a sparse dentate projection neuron subtype, were reported to be enriched among behaviorally activated neurons. By examining SGCs and granule cells (GCs) labeled during contextual memory formation in TRAP2 mice, we empirically tested competing hypotheses for GC and SGC recruitment into memory ensembles. Consistent with more excitable neurons being recruited into memory ensembles, SGCs showed greater sustained firing than GCs. Additionally, labeled SGCs showed less adapting firing than unlabeled SGCs. The lack of glutamatergic connections between behaviorally labeled SGCs and GCs in our recordings is inconsistent with SGC-driven local circuit feedforward excitation underlying ensemble recruitment. Moreover, there was little evidence for individual SGCs or labeled neuronal ensembles supporting lateral inhibition of unlabeled neurons. Instead, labeled GCs and SGCs received more spontaneous excitatory synaptic inputs than their unlabeled counterparts. Labeled neuronal pairs received more temporally correlated spontaneous excitatory synaptic inputs than labeled-unlabeled neuronal pairs. These findings challenge the proposal that SGCs drive dentate GC ensemble refinement, while supporting a role for intrinsic excitability and correlated inputs in preferential SGC recruitment to contextual memory engrams.

The present study aimed to determine the association between pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) and Gestational Diabetes Methods (GDM) to detect a risk factor for predicting GDM at gestational weeks 11-14. This analytical prospective study recruited 284 pregnant women presenting to six healthcare centers of Qazvin, Iran from February to December 2016. PAPP-A was measured at gestational weeks 11-14 and glucose tolerance test was conducted at gestational weeks 24-28. The participants were assigned into two groups of exposure (reduced PAPP-A) and non-exposure (normal PAPP-A). The association between GDM and PAPP-A was studied. The number of women in exposure group were 201 and 83 in the non-exposure group. Differences between groups were assessed by the Mann-Whitney, Chi-square, T test, logistic regression analysis and ROC Curve with a significance level of 0.05. Twenty eight (33.73%) patients of the exposure group and 17 (8.46%) of non-exposure group developed GDM. There was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of GDM (p<0.001) and the risk of GDM was 3.98 fold higher in the exposure group (reduced PAPPA ) than that of the non-exposure group (CI=2.39-6.65, p<0.001). Also, 53.3% of the exposure group and 46.7% of the nonexposure group were diagnosed with GDM (p=0.02). There was a significant difference in GDM between the groups and the risk of GDM was 1.85 times higher in the exposure group (reduced PAPPA MOM) than that in the control group (CI=1.09-3.15, p=0.020). According to the ROC curve results, PAPP-A and MOM are acceptable indicators for predicting GDM. A low PAPP-A level (MOM, MU/L) as a new risk factor for GDM can help early prediction and prevent maternal and fetal complication by timely treatment.

The dentate gyrus is critical for spatial memory formation and shows task-related activation of cellular ensembles considered as memory engrams. Semilunar granule cells (SGCs), a sparse dentate projection neuron subtype, were reported to be enriched among behaviorally activated neurons. By examining SGCs and granule cells (GCs) labeled during contextual memory formation in TRAP2 mice, we empirically tested competing hypotheses for GC and SGC recruitment into memory ensembles. Consistent with more excitable neurons being recruited into memory ensembles, SGCs showed greater sustained firing than GCs. Additionally, labeled SGCs showed less adapting firing than unlabeled SGCs. The lack of glutamatergic connections between behaviorally labeled SGCs and GCs in our recordings is inconsistent with SGC-driven local circuit feedforward excitation underlying ensemble recruitment. Moreover, there was little evidence for individual SGCs or labeled neuronal ensembles supporting lateral inhibition of unlabeled neurons. Instead, labeled GCs and SGCs received more spontaneous excitatory synaptic inputs than their unlabeled counterparts. Labeled neuronal pairs received more temporally correlated spontaneous excitatory synaptic inputs than labeled-unlabeled neuronal pairs. These findings challenge the proposal that SGCs drive dentate GC ensemble refinement, while supporting a role for intrinsic excitability and correlated inputs in preferential SGC recruitment to contextual memory engrams.

Cajal–Retzius cells (CRs) are a class of transient neurons in the mammalian cortex that play a critical role in cortical development. Neocortical CRs undergo almost complete elimination in the first two postnatal weeks in rodents and the persistence of CRs during postnatal life has been detected in pathological conditions related to epilepsy. However, it is unclear whether their persistence is a cause or consequence of these diseases. To decipher the molecular mechanisms involved in CR death, we investigated the contribution of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway as it plays a critical role in cell survival. We first showed that this pathway is less active in CRs after birth before massive cell death. We also explored the spatio-temporal activation of both AKT and mTOR pathways and reveal area-specific differences along both the rostro–caudal and medio–lateral axes. Next, using genetic approaches to maintain an active pathway in CRs, we found that the removal of either PTEN or TSC1, two negative regulators of the pathway, lead to differential CR survivals, with a stronger effect in the Pten model. Persistent cells in this latter mutant are still active. They express more Reelin and their persistence is associated with an increase in the duration of kainate-induced seizures in females. Altogether, we show that the decrease in PI3K/AKT/mTOR activity in CRs primes these cells to death by possibly repressing a survival pathway, with the mTORC1 branch contributing less to the phenotype.

The dentate gyrus is critical for spatial memory formation and shows task related activation of cellular ensembles considered as memory engrams. Semilunar granule cells (SGCs), a sparse dentate projection neuron subtype distinct from granule cells (GCs), were recently reported to be enriched among behaviorally activated neurons. However, the mechanisms governing SGC recruitment during memory formation and their role in engram refinement remains unresolved. By examining neurons labeled during contextual memory formation in TRAP2 mice, we empirically tested competing hypotheses for GC and SGC recruitment into memory ensembles. In support of the proposal that more excitable neurons are preferentially recruited into memory ensembles, SGCs showed greater sustained firing than GCs. Additionally, SGCs labeled during memory formation showed less adapting firing than unlabeled SGCs. Our recordings did not reveal glutamatergic connections between behaviorally labeled SGCs and GCs, providing evidence against SGC driven local circuit feedforward excitation in ensemble recruitment. Contrary to a leading hypothesis, there was little evidence for individual SGCs or labeled neuronal ensembles supporting lateral inhibition of unlabeled neurons. Instead, labeled GCs and SGCs received more spontaneous excitatory synaptic inputs than their unlabeled counterparts. Moreover, pairs of GCs and SGCs within labeled neuronal cohorts received more temporally correlated spontaneous excitatory synaptic inputs than labeled-unlabeled neuronal pairs, validating a role for correlated afferent inputs in neuronal ensemble selection. These findings challenge the proposal that SGCs drive dentate GC ensemble refinement, while supporting a role for intrinsic active properties and correlated inputs in preferential SGC recruitment to contextual memory engrams.

Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) have a unique facet of synthetic biology and offer a paradigm shift in personalized medicine as they can use and redirect the patient's immune cells to attack cancer cells. CAR‐natural killer (NK) cells combine the targeted specificity of antigens with the subsequent intracellular signaling ability of the receptors to increase their anti‐cancer functions. Importantly, CAR‐NK cells can be utilized as universal cell‐based therapy without requiring human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching or earlier contact with tumor‐associated antigens (TAAs). Indeed, CAR‐NK cells can be adapted to recognize various antigens, hold higher proliferation capacity, and in vivo persistence, show improved infiltration into the tumors, and the ability to overcome the resistant tumor microenvironment leading to sustained cytotoxicity against tumors. Accumulating evidence from recent in vivo studies rendering CAR‐NK cell anti‐cancer competencies renewed the attention in the context of cancer immunotherapy, as these redirected effector cells can be used in the development of the “off‐the‐shelf” anti‐cancer immunotherapeutic products. In the current review, we focus on the therapeutic efficacy of CAR‐NK cell therapies for treating various human malignancies, including hematological malignancies and solid tumors, and will discuss the recent findings in this regard, with a special focus on animal studies. In the current review, we focus on the therapeutic efficacy of CAR‐NK cell therapies for treating various human malignancies, including hematological malignancies and solid tumors, and will discuss the recent findings in this regard, with a special focus on animal studies.

In this paper, a new chaotic steganography method based on Fuzzy Inference System (FIS), using Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) on color and grayscale images is proposed. The proposed algorithm is designed in three different approaches to have important factors of robustness, imperceptibility, and transparency with respect to applications. In order to achieve this goal, important parameters in the Human Visual System (HVS), such as texture and luminance, using DCT coefficients are computed. For more precision and flexibility in selecting host blocks for embedding, FIS system is used. Due to the importance of robustness and transparency in different applications, the best target host blocks are intelligently determined using the degree defined in the fuzzy system. This flexibility greatly enhances the efficiency of the algorithm in various using goals. One of the outstanding aspects of the proposed method is error controlling with increasing capacity. At first, embedding is done on middle frequency (MF) then to increase the capacity, coefficients in high frequency are also considered with two different zigzag scanning directions in selection, middle to high (MHF) and high to middle (HMF). The ordering selection of different color channels (for color image), blocks, coefficients in embedding phase, and encryption algorithm of secret message are done by chaotic sequences which has a positive impact on security level. Providing an efficient integration technique (synchronization) in the number of coefficients of each block leads to increasing the security of the proposed method. One of best novelty which causes decreasing bit error rate (BER) beside increasing capacity, is approximating of the distortion during DCT and IDCT operations in embedding phase. The experimental results demonstrate that high level of transparency and robustness for MF, and if more capacity is needed, although both algorithms HMF and MHF have desirable results, but HMF provides higher level of transparency and MHF more robustness against noises and attacks which can be used with respect to applications.

Background We compared the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in Iran based on two hypertension guidelines; the 2017 ACC/AHA –with an aggressive blood pressure target of 130/80 mmHg- and the commonly used JNC8 guideline cut-off of 140/90 mmHg. We shed light on the implications of the 2017 ACC/AHA for population subgroups and high-risk individuals who were eligible for non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic therapies. Methods Data was obtained from the Iran national STEPS 2016 study. Participants included 27,738 adults aged ≥25 years as a representative sample of Iranians. Regression models of survey design were used to examine the determinants of prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension. Results The prevalence of hypertension based on JNC8 was 29.9% (95% CI: 29.2–30.6), which soared to 53.7% (52.9–54.4) based on the 2017 ACC/AHA. The percentage of awareness, treatment, and control were 59.2% (58.0–60.3), 80.2% (78.9–81.4), and 39.1% (37.4–40.7) based on JNC8, which dropped to 37.1% (36.2–38.0), 71.3% (69.9–72.7), and 19.6% (18.3–21.0), respectively, by applying the 2017 ACC/AHA. Based on the new guideline, adults aged 25–34 years had the largest increase in prevalence (from 7.3 to 30.7%). They also had the lowest awareness and treatment rate, contrary to the highest control rate (36.5%) between age groups. Compared with JNC8, based on the 2017 ACC/AHA, 24, 15, 17, and 11% more individuals with dyslipidaemia, high triglycerides, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease events, respectively, fell into the hypertensive category. Yet, based on the 2017 ACC/AHA, 68.2% of individuals falling into the hypertensive category were eligible for receiving pharmacologic therapy (versus 95.7% in JNC8). LDL cholesterol< 130 mg/dL, sufficient physical activity (Metabolic Equivalents≥600/week), and Body Mass Index were found to change blood pressure by − 3.56(− 4.38, − 2.74), − 2.04(− 2.58, − 1.50), and 0.48(0.42, 0.53) mmHg, respectively. Conclusions Switching from JNC8 to 2017 ACC/AHA sharply increased the prevalence and drastically decreased the awareness, treatment, and control in Iran. Based on the 2017 ACC/AHA, more young adults and those with chronic comorbidities fell into the hypertensive category; these individuals might benefit from earlier interventions such as lifestyle modifications. The low control rate among individuals receiving treatment warrants a critical review of hypertension services.