Short- and Long-Term Effects of Adding Topical Cosmetics to a Dermatological Procedure (Thermage): A Randomized Controlled Comparative Study Exploring the Synergistic Effects.

Background: Dermatological procedures improve skin changes caused by aging. However, few studies have focused on the effect of improving various skin characteristics compared with the concurrent use of cosmetics. We aimed to confirm changes in skin characteristics owing to anti-aging dermatological procedures in the short- and long-term and to determine the efficacy of the procedure when products with anti-aging and repair effects are used together.

Fragile skin microbiomes in megacities are assembled by a predominantly niche-based process.

Given the higher incidence of skin diseases in more urbanized populations and its association with the skin microbiome, we questioned how the skin microbiome differed depending on the degree of urbanization. Skin microbiomes of 231 healthy subjects in five large cities in China varied mainly with environment and socioeconomic status of the cities in question. The differences among microbiomes could be explained by the predominantly niche-based assembly of microbial communities, which was supported by a dominance test, β-null deviation, and edge-length abundance distribution.

Effect of Antioxidant Flavonoids (Quercetin and Taxifolin) on In vitro Maturation of Porcine Oocytes.

Quercetin (QT) and taxifolin (TF) are structurally similar plant-derived flavonoids that have antioxidant properties and act as free radical scavengers. The objective of this study was to investigate effects of QT and TF on nuclear maturation of porcine oocytes. Effects of TF at 0, 1, 10, and 50 μg/mL on oocyte nuclear maturation (polar body extrusion) were investigated.

Oct4 overexpression facilitates proliferation of porcine fibroblasts and development of cloned embryos.

Octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (Oct4) is a critical molecule for the self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells. Recent reports have shown that Oct4 also controls cell-cycle progression and enhances the proliferation of various types of cells. As the high proliferation of donor fibroblasts is critical to the production of transgenic pigs, using the somatic cell nuclear transfer technique, we analysed the effect of Oct4 overexpression on the proliferation of porcine fibroblasts and embryos.

Production of Mutated Porcine Embryos Using Zinc Finger Nucleases and a Reporter-based Cell Enrichment System.

To facilitate the construction of genetically-modified pigs, we produced cloned embryos derived from porcine fibroblasts transfected with a pair of engineered zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) plasmids to create targeted mutations and enriched using a reporter plasmid system. The reporter expresses RFP and eGFP simultaneously when ZFN-mediated site-specific mutations occur. Thus, double positive cells (RFP(+)/eGFP(+)) were selected and used for somatic cell nuclear transfer.

Production of CMAH Knockout Preimplantation Embryos Derived From Immortalized Porcine Cells Via TALE Nucleases.

Although noncancerous immortalized cell lines have been developed by introducing genes into human and murine somatic cells, such cell lines have not been available in large domesticated animals like pigs. For immortalizing porcine cells, primary porcine fetal fibroblasts were isolated and cultured using the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene. After selecting cells with neomycin for 2 weeks, outgrowing colonized cells were picked up and subcultured for expansion.

Production and characterization of soluble human TNFRI-Fc and human HO-1(HMOX1) transgenic pigs by using the F2A peptide.

Generation of transgenic pigs for xenotransplantation is one of the most promising technologies for resolving organ shortages. Human heme oxygenase-1 (hHO-1/HMOX1) can protect transplanted organs by its strong anti-oxidative, anti-apoptotic, and anti-inflammatory effects. Soluble human TNFRI-Fc (shTNFRI-Fc) can inhibit the binding of human TNF-α (hTNF-α) to TNF receptors on porcine cells, and thereby, prevent hTNF-α-mediated inflammation and apoptosis.

Relationship between pregnancy rate and serum progesterone concentration in cases of porcine embryo transfer.

The level of P4 at the time of embryo transfer (ET) is important. P4 concentrations and numbers of corpora lutea for 126 recipients were evaluated. Nuclear transfer embryos were transferred into 126 surrogates.

Effect of 7,8-dihydroxyflavone as an antioxidant on in vitro maturation of oocytes and development of parthenogenetic embryos in pigs.

One of the factors that impairs in vitro produced porcine embryos is the oxidative stress that is mainly caused by the imbalance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and antioxidants activity, especially that of glutathione (GSH). Here, we examined the effect of 7,8-dihydroxyflavone (7,8-DHF), a kind of flavonoid antioxidant, on porcine oocyte maturation and its developmental competence. Porcine oocytes were cultured in media supplemented with 0, 1, 5 and 10 μM 7,8-DHF during both in vitro maturation (IVM) and in vitro culture (IVC) after parthenogenetic activation.

Oxamflatin improves developmental competence of porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos.

Abstract Aberrant epigenetic nuclear reprogramming of somatic nuclei is a major cause of low success in cloning. It has been demonstrated that treatment of histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) enhances developmental potential of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos by alteration of epigenetic status. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of oxamflatin, a novel HDACi, on the developmental competence of porcine SCNT embryos.