Probing Förster Resonance Energy Transfer in Carbon Quantum Dots for High-Sensitivity Aflatoxin B1 Detection.

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs), with their remarkable optical properties such as strong fluorescence and biocompatibility, are emerging as versatile tools in biosensing and food safety monitoring. This study investigates binding-induced Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between CQDs as donors and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a highly toxic mycotoxin, as the acceptor. Spherical CQDs, averaging 4.

Antifibrotic effects of specific targeting of the 5-hydroxytryptamine 2B receptor (5-HTR) in murine models and ex vivo models of scleroderma skin.

Objective: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease with fibrotic remodeling of the skin and various internal organs. SSc is associated with the highest case-specific mortality of all rheumatic autoimmune diseases with limited antifibrotic treatment options. Here, we evaluated the therapeutic effects of the highly selective 5-hydroxytryptamine 2B receptor (5-HTR) inhibitor AM1476.

Avenciguat: a novel soluble guanylate cyclase activator that affects multiple cell types to inhibit IFN-1 signalling and fibrosis.

Objectives: The soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) stimulator riociguat is approved for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension and may have antifibrotic effects. However, in fibrotic tissues, oxidative stress and hypoxia can render sGC insensitive to sGC stimulators. sGC activators overcome this limitation.

Self-Assembly of Colloidal Dumbbell Isomers and Plasmonic Properties for Optical Metamaterials.

In this study, we explore the self-assembly of various colloidal symmetric dumbbell (DB) isomers, including dipole Janus, cis-Janus, trans-Janus, apolar-inward and polar-inward perpendicular Janus, and alternating perpendicular Janus DBs. Using dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations under conditions mimicking experimental setups, we investigate cluster formation driven by emulsion droplet evaporation. Our findings reveal a diverse set of cluster structures, which are in good agreement with experimental and simulation results reported in the literature while also predicting the formation of novel cluster configurations.

Noncanonical WNT5A controls the activation of latent TGF-β to drive fibroblast activation and tissue fibrosis.

Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) signaling is a core pathway of fibrosis, but the molecular regulation of the activation of latent TGF-β remains incompletely understood. Here, we demonstrate a crucial role of WNT5A/JNK/ROCK signaling that rapidly coordinates the activation of latent TGF-β in fibrotic diseases. WNT5A was identified as a predominant noncanonical WNT ligand in fibrotic diseases such as systemic sclerosis, sclerodermatous chronic graft-versus-host disease, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, stimulating fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition and tissue fibrosis by activation of latent TGF-β.

Combined inhibition of IL-1, IL-33 and IL-36 signalling by targeting IL1RAP ameliorates skin and lung fibrosis in preclinical models of systemic sclerosis.

Background: The interleukin (IL)-1 receptor accessory protein (IL1RAP) is an essential coreceptor required for signalling through the IL-1, IL-33 and IL-36 receptors. Here, we investigate the antifibrotic potential of the combined inhibition of these cytokines by an anti-IL1RAP antibody to provide a scientific background for clinical development in systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Methods: The expression of IL1RAP-associated signalling molecules was determined by data mining of publicly available RNA sequencing (RNAseq) data as well as by imaging mass cytometry.

Attenuation of fibroblast activation and fibrosis by adropin in systemic sclerosis.

Fibrotic diseases impose a major socioeconomic challenge on modern societies and have limited treatment options. Adropin, a peptide hormone encoded by the energy homeostasis-associated () gene, is implicated in metabolism and vascular homeostasis, but its role in the pathogenesis of fibrosis remains enigmatic. Here, we used machine learning approaches in combination with functional in vitro and in vivo experiments to characterize adropin as a potential regulator involved in fibroblast activation and tissue fibrosis in systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Effect of Anti-S100A4 Monoclonal Antibody Treatment on Experimental Skin Fibrosis and Systemic Sclerosis-Specific Transcriptional Signatures in Human Skin.

Objective: S100A4 is a DAMP protein. S100A4 is overexpressed in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), and levels correlate with organ involvement and disease activity. S100A4 mice are protected from fibrosis.

Evaporation-driven assembly of colloidal nanoparticles into clusters: A dissipative particle dynamics study.

In this work we consider a simulation strategy for assembling Janus nanoparticles in oil-in-water emulsion droplets by evaporation based on the dissipative particle dynamics method. Our simple method reproduces all the observed cluster configurations that have been explored experimentally. In addition, the kinetic process of cluster formation is systematically investigated.

Dynamic changes in O-GlcNAcylation regulate osteoclast differentiation and bone loss via nucleoporin 153.

Bone mass is maintained by the balance between osteoclast-induced bone resorption and osteoblast-triggered bone formation. In inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), however, increased osteoclast differentiation and activity skew this balance resulting in progressive bone loss. O-GlcNAcylation is a posttranslational modification with attachment of a single O-linked β-D-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) residue to serine or threonine residues of target proteins.

Impaired Mitochondrial Transcription Factor A Expression Promotes Mitochondrial Damage to Drive Fibroblast Activation and Fibrosis in Systemic Sclerosis.

Objective: Mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) controls the transcription of core proteins required for mitochondrial homeostasis. This study was undertaken to investigate changes in TFAM expression in systemic sclerosis (SSc), to analyze mitochondrial function, and to evaluate the consequences for fibroblast activation.

Methods: TFAM expression was analyzed by immunofluorescence and Western blotting.

Targeting of canonical WNT signaling ameliorates experimental sclerodermatous chronic graft-versus-host disease.

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is a major life-threatening complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The molecular mechanisms underlying cGVHD remain poorly understood, and targeted therapies for clinical use are not well established. Here, we examined the role of the canonical WNT pathway in sclerodermatous cGVHD (sclGVHD).

Two-Dimensional Clusters of Colloidal Particles Induced by Emulsion Droplet Evaporation.

The minimization principle of the second moment of the mass distribution ( M 2 ) is responsible for the unique structure of three-dimensional clusters by using emulsion droplet evaporation. Herein we study the structure of two-dimensional clusters of colloidal particles bound at the interface of liquid droplets in the plane. We found that, differently from the three-dimensional system, the two-dimensional clusters have multiple degenerate configurations (isomers).

Vascularised human skin equivalents as a novel in vitro model of skin fibrosis and platform for testing of antifibrotic drugs.

Objectives: Fibrosis is a complex pathophysiological process involving interplay between multiple cell types. Experimental modelling of fibrosis is essential for the understanding of its pathogenesis and for testing of putative antifibrotic drugs. However, most current models employ either phylogenetically distant species or rely on human cells cultured in an artificial environment.