Warnerbernard0636

The local spatial heterogeneity of the material properties of the cortical and trabecular bone extracted from the mouse tibia is not well-known. Nevertheless, its characterization is fundamental to be able to study comprehensively the effect of interventions and to generate computational models to predict the bone strength preclinically. The goal of this study was to evaluate the nanoindentation properties of bone tissue extracted from two different mouse strains across the tibia length and in different sectors. Left tibiae were collected from four female mice, two C57BL/6, and two Balb/C mice. click here Nanoindentations with maximum 6 mN load were performed on different microstructures, regions along the axis of the tibiae, and sectors (379 in total). Reduced modulus (Er) and hardness (H) were computed for each indentation. Trabecular bone of Balb/C mice was 21% stiffer than that of C57BL/6 mice (20.8 ± 4.1 GPa vs. 16.5 ± 7.1 GPa). Moreover, the proximal regions of the bones were 13-36% less stiff than the mid-shaft and distal regions of the same bones. No significant differences were found for the different sectors for E r and H for Balb/C mice. The bone in the medial sector was found to be 8-14% harder and stiffer than the bone in the anterior or posterior sectors for C57BL/6 mice. In conclusion, this study showed that the nanoindentation properties of the mouse tibia are heterogeneous across the tibia length and the trabecular bone properties are different between Balb/C and C57BL/6 mice. These results will help the research community to identify regions where to characterize the mechanical properties of the bone during preclinical optimisation of treatments for skeletal diseases.Endophytes are abundant in plants and studies are continuously emanating on their ability to protect plants from pathogens that cause diseases especially in the field of agriculture. The advantage that endophytes have over other biocontrol agents is the ability to colonize plant's internal tissues. Despite this attributes, a deep understanding of the mechanism employed by endophytes in protecting the plant from diseases is still required for both effectiveness and commercialization. Also, there are increasing cases of antibiotics resistance among most causative agents of diseases in human beings, which calls for an alternative drug discovery using natural sources. Endophytes present themselves as a storehouse of many bioactive metabolites such as phenolic acids, alkaloids, quinones, steroids, saponins, tannins, and terpenoids which makes them a promising candidate for anticancer, antimalarial, antituberculosis, antiviral, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antiarthritis, and immunosuppressive properties among many others, even though the primary function of bioactive compounds from endophytes is to make the host plants resistant to both abiotic and biotic stresses. Endophytes still present themselves as a peculiar source of possible drugs. This study elucidates the mechanisms employed by endophytes in protecting the plant from diseases and different bioactivities of importance to humans with a focus on endophytic bacteria and fungi.Atrophic age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common form of AMD accounting for 90% of patients. During atrophic AMD the waste/exchange pathway between the blood supply (choroid) and the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is compromised. This results in atrophy and death of the RPE cells and subsequently the photoreceptors leading to central blindness. Although the mechanisms behind AMD are unknown, the growth of fatty deposits known as drusen, have been shown to play a role in the disease. There is currently no treatment or cure for atrophic AMD. Much research focuses on developing a synthetic substrate in order to transplant healthy cells to the native Bruch's membrane (BM), however, the diseased native BM and related structures still leave potential for transplanted cells to succumb to disease. In this proof-of-concept work we electrospun poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) to fabricate a nanofibrous cytocompatible synthetic BM. The apical surface of the membrane was cultured with ARPE-19 cells treatment for atrophic AMD that would function two-fold deliver the required monolayer of healthy RPE cells to the macula on a synthetic BM and remove diseased structures within the retina, restoring the waste/exchange pathway and preventing vision loss.The introduction of inorganic nano-materials may endow microbial cells with unique new features, including greater resistance to adverse abiotic stress. The aim of this work was to enhance the acid tolerance of Clostridium tyrobutyricum ATCC 25755 by coating cells with self-assembled Fe3O4@chitosan (Fe3O4@CS) microspheres, and thereby increase the production of butyric acid. The optimal coating efficiency of 81.19% was obtained by systematically optimizing the three operational parameters temperature, rpm and mass ratio, which were determined to be 37°C, 80 rpm and 12, respectively. Physicochemical characterization was used to assess the superparamagnetism, thermostability and subsize of Fe3O4@CS attached to the cells. Compared to free cells, C. tyrobutyricum coated with Fe3O4@CS (CtFC) exhibited stronger acid tolerance at low pH. At a pH of 4 or 5, the levels of ROS, MDA, LDH, and SOD caused by the acid environment in free cells were significant higher than in CtFC. Moreover, without adding NaOH, CtFC fermentation showed a higher butyric acid titer (37.60 vs. 31.56 g/L) compared to free-cell fermentation. At the same time, an average butyric acid yield of 0.46 g/g in each repeated-batch fermentation was also obtained by taking advantage of the biocatalyst's reusability and convenient separation from the fermentation broth via an external magnetic force. Overall, the developed CtFC illustrates a new paradigm for developing an economical and reusable biocatalyst for industrial application in butyric acid production.Body size is often assumed to determine how successfully an individual can lead others with larger individuals being better leaders than smaller ones. But even if larger individuals are more readily followed, body size often correlates with specific behavioral patterns and it is thus unclear whether larger individuals are more often followed than smaller ones because of their size or because they behave in a certain way. To control for behavioral differences among differentially-sized leaders, we used biomimetic robotic fish (Robofish) of different sizes. Live guppies (Poecilia reticulata) are known to interact with Robofish in a similar way as with live conspecifics. Consequently, Robofish may serve as a conspecific-like leader that provides standardized behaviors irrespective of its size. We asked whether larger Robofish leaders are preferentially followed and whether the preferences of followers depend on own body size or risk-taking behavior ("boldness"). We found that live female guppies followed larger Robofish leaders in closer proximity than smaller ones and this pattern was independent of the followers' own body size as well as risk-taking behavior.