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Background: This study aimed to investigate the long-term effects of maternal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) with or without vitamin D supplementation on the renal microvasculature in adult rat offspring. Methods: Pregnant Sprague–Dawley rats were exposed to normal saline, PM2.5, and PM2.5 with vitamin D for one month during nephrogenesis. Male offspring kidneys were taken for analyses on postnatal day 56. Results: Adult offspring rats exposed to maternal PM2.5 exhibited lower body weights and greater glomerular and tubular injury scores compared to control rats. Semi-quantitative analysis revealed a significant reduction in glomerular and peritubular capillary endothelial cells, along with a decrease in the number of glomeruli in the PM2.5 group. Maternal vitamin D supplementation reduced these changes. In offspring rats exposed to maternal PM2.5, intrarenal expression of renin, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), cytochrome P450 27B1, and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) increased, while expression of the vitamin D receptor, Klotho, VEGF receptor 2, angiopoietin-1, and Tie-2 decreased. Maternal vitamin D supplementation restored VEGF receptor 2 and angiopoietin-1 activities and reduced ACE and VEGF-A protein expression in adult offspring kidneys. Conclusions: Early-life exposure to PM2.5 may lead to long-term alterations in renal microvasculature and nephron loss. Maternal vitamin D supplementation during renal development can ameliorate PM2.5-induced capillary rarefaction and nephron loss in the kidneys of adult offspring.

BackgroundTo determine whether urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) might be superior to pyuria for detecting urinary tract infection (UTI) regardless of urine specific gravity (SG) in young children.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective analysis of children aged < 3 years who were evaluated for UTI with urinalysis, urine culture, and uNGAL measurements during a 5-year period. Sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios (LRs), predictive values (PVs), area under the curves (AUCs) of uNGAL cut-off levels, and various microscopic pyuria thresholds for detecting UTI were calculated for dilute (SG < 1.015) and concentrated urine (SG ≥ 1.015).ResultsOf 456 children included, 218 had UTI. The diagnostic value of urine white blood cell (WBC) concentration to define UTI changed with urine SG. For detecting UTI, uNGAL cut-off of 68.4 ng/mL had higher AUC values than pyuria ≥ 5 WBCs/high power field (HPF) for dilute and concentrated urine samples (both P < 0.05). Positive LR and PV and specificity of uNGAL were all greater than those of pyuria ≥ 5 WBCs/HPF regardless of urine SG, although the sensitivity of pyuria ≥ 5 WBCs/HPF was higher than that of uNGAL cut-off for dilute urine (93.8% vs. 83.5%) (P < 0.05). At uNGAL ≥ 68.4 ng/mL and ≥ 5 WBCs/HPF, posttest probabilities of UTI were 68.8% and 57.5% for dilute urine and 73.4% and 57.3% for concentrated urine, respectively.ConclusionsUrine SG can affect the diagnostic performance of pyuria for detecting UTI and uNGAL might be helpful for identifying UTI regardless of urine SG in young children.

We demonstrate here that several different graphene nanoribbon (GNR) samples can be separated from the GNR mixture synthesized by conventional methods. The sheet resistance of the purified GNR gradually decreased with decreasing pressure at 30 °C, whereas it increased at 100 °C. A hypothesis based on van der Waals attractive interactions between GNR sheets was introduced to explain this finding. This hypothesis verified by the shifted main peaks in vacuum X-ray diffraction spectra: 0.022 nm and 0.041 nm shifts were observed for reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and GNR, respectively. Theoretical calculations indicated that, for RGO, the shifted distance was similar to the calculated distance. The response of the GNR sensor to pressure changes occurred rapidly (in seconds). The normalized response time of each sample indicated that sensor using GNR reduced the tailing of the response time by shortening the diffusion path of gas molecules. The sensitivity of the GNR sensor was three times that of RGO in the given pressure range. Moreover, the sensitivity of GNR was much larger than those of the most popularly studied pressure sensors using Piezoresistivity, and the sensor could detect vacuum pressures of 8 × 10 –7  Torr.

: This study aimed to investigate the long-term effects of maternal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM ) with or without vitamin D supplementation on the renal microvasculature in adult rat offspring. : Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to normal saline, PM , and PM with vitamin D for one month during nephrogenesis. Male offspring kidneys were taken for analyses on postnatal day 56. : Adult offspring rats exposed to maternal PM exhibited lower body weights and greater glomerular and tubular injury scores compared to control rats. Semi-quantitative analysis revealed a significant reduction in glomerular and peritubular capillary endothelial cells, along with a decrease in the number of glomeruli in the PM group. Maternal vitamin D supplementation reduced these changes. In offspring rats exposed to maternal PM , intrarenal expression of renin, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), cytochrome P450 27B1, and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) increased, while expression of the vitamin D receptor, Klotho, VEGF receptor 2, angiopoietin-1, and Tie-2 decreased. Maternal vitamin D supplementation restored VEGF receptor 2 and angiopoietin-1 activities and reduced ACE and VEGF-A protein expression in adult offspring kidneys. : Early-life exposure to PM may lead to long-term alterations in renal microvasculature and nephron loss. Maternal vitamin D supplementation during renal development can ameliorate PM -induced capillary rarefaction and nephron loss in the kidneys of adult offspring.

Background : This study aimed to investigate the long-term effects of maternal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM[sub.2.5] ) with or without vitamin D supplementation on the renal microvasculature in adult rat offspring. Methods : Pregnant Sprague–Dawley rats were exposed to normal saline, PM[sub.2.5] , and PM[sub.2.5] with vitamin D for one month during nephrogenesis. Male offspring kidneys were taken for analyses on postnatal day 56. Results : Adult offspring rats exposed to maternal PM[sub.2.5] exhibited lower body weights and greater glomerular and tubular injury scores compared to control rats. Semi-quantitative analysis revealed a significant reduction in glomerular and peritubular capillary endothelial cells, along with a decrease in the number of glomeruli in the PM[sub.2.5] group. Maternal vitamin D supplementation reduced these changes. In offspring rats exposed to maternal PM[sub.2.5] , intrarenal expression of renin, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), cytochrome P450 27B1, and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) increased, while expression of the vitamin D receptor, Klotho, VEGF receptor 2, angiopoietin-1, and Tie-2 decreased. Maternal vitamin D supplementation restored VEGF receptor 2 and angiopoietin-1 activities and reduced ACE and VEGF-A protein expression in adult offspring kidneys. Conclusions : Early-life exposure to PM[sub.2.5] may lead to long-term alterations in renal microvasculature and nephron loss. Maternal vitamin D supplementation during renal development can ameliorate PM[sub.2.5] -induced capillary rarefaction and nephron loss in the kidneys of adult offspring.

To establish a pre-plating method of chicken satellite cells with high purity, pre-plating was performed under culture conditions of 37℃ and 41℃, and the pre-plating time was set from a total of 3 hours to 6 hours in consideration of the cell attachment time. The purity of the cells was confirmed by staining paired box protein 7 (Pax7) after proliferation, and Pax7 expression was the highest in culture flasks shaken for 2 hours after incubation at 41℃ for 2 hours to prevent the attachment of satellite cells (p<0.05). Also, when pre-plating and proliferation were performed at 37℃ and 41℃, the Pax7 expression rate was higher at 41℃. The differentiation capabilities of the three groups (T3, T6, and T7) with high Pax7 expression were compared and the fusion index (%) and myotube formation area (%) determined by myosin heavy chain (MHC) staining was calculated. The T6 and T7 groups, which were cultured at 41℃, showed significantly higher values than the T3 group (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the expression of Pax7 and MHC between the T6 and T7 groups (p>0.05). These results suggest that pre-plating at 41℃ for a total of 4 hours was the most efficient in terms of cost and time for purifying chicken satellite cells for cultured meat.

Rat hippocampal precursor cells isolated from hippocampi of embryonic day 16.5 (E16.5) rat embryos were found to proliferate in the presence of basic fibroblast growth factor. Addition of soluble neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) to these precursor cells reduced cell proliferation in a dose dependent manner and enhanced the induction of precursor cells' differentiation to the neuronal lineage. Given these findings that NCAM induces the differentiation of hippocampal precursor cells, we investigated possible effects of NCAM on the expression of basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors during the differentiation. Soluble NCAM upregulated the transcription of bHLH transcription factors, neurogenin1 and NeuroD, but decreased HES5. Western blot analysis showed that NCAM increased the expression levels of CaMKII, p-MAPK, GluR1 and NR1 but decreased p-STAT3. These results support a role for NCAM in the inhibition of proliferation and the induction of neural differentiation of hippocampal neural precursor cells, and act as developmental regulators of the bHLH families, ultimately leading to the generation of glutamatergic neural cell types in the differentiation of hippocampal precursor cells.

Perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs) are globally distributed synthetic compounds that are known to adversely affect human health. Developmental toxicity assessment of PFCs is important to facilitate the evaluation of their environmental impact. In the present study, we assessed the developmental toxicity and teratogenicity of PFCs with different numbers of carbon atoms on Xenopus embryogenesis. An initial frog embryo teratogenicity assay-Xenopus (FETAX) assay was performed that identified perfluorohexanoic (PFHxA) and perfluoroheptanoic (PFHpA) acids as potential teratogens and developmental toxicants. The mechanism underlying this teratogenicity was also investigated by measuring the expression of tissue-specific biomarkers such as phosphotyrosine-binding protein, xPTB (liver); NKX2.5 (heart); and Cyl18 (intestine). Whole-mount in situ hybridization, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and histologic analyses detected severe defects in the liver and heart following exposure to PFHxA or PFHpA. In addition, immunoblotting revealed that PFHpA significantly increased the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), while PFHxA slightly increased these, as compared with the control. These results suggest that PFHxA and PFHpA are developmental toxicants and teratogens, with PFHpA producing more severe effects on liver and heart development through the induction of ERK and JNK phosphorylation.

The objectives of this present study were to assess the effects of varying dilutions, pH, temperature and cations on spermatozoa motile parameters (SMPs) in fish Larimichthys polyactis. Optimal SMPs were observed when emen was diluted in artificial seawater (ASW) at a ratio of 1 to 100, with temperature of 10 degreesC and pH 8.0. The spermatozoa of L. polyactis were immotile in distilled water and motile in solution containing different cations. Maximum SMPs were obtained in each solution containing 0.4 mol NaCI, 0.4 mol KCI, 0.2 mol CaCI2 and 0.2 mol MgCl2. This study provides baseline knowledge of L. polyactis spermatozoa sensitivity of pH, temperature and cationic effects.