Hypes and Hopes of Stem Cell Therapies in Dentistry: a Review

One of the most exciting advances in life science research is the development of 3D cell culture systems to obtain complex structures called organoids and spheroids. These 3D cultures closely mimic in vivo conditions, where cells can grow and interact with their surroundings. This allows us to better study the spatio-temporal dynamics of organogenesis and organ function. Furthermore, physiologically relevant organoids cultures can be used for basic research, medical research, and drug discovery. Although most of the research thus far focuses on the development of heart, liver, kidney, and brain organoids, to name a few, most recently, these structures were obtained using dental stem cells to study in vitro tooth regeneration. This review aims to present the most up-to-date research showing how dental stem cells can be grown on specific biomaterials to induce their differentiation in 3D. The possibility of combining engineering and biology principles to replicate and/or increase tissue function has been an emerging and exciting field in medicine. The use of this methodology in dentistry has already yielded many interesting results paving the way for the improvement of dental care and successful therapies. Graphical abstract

Editorial for the Special Issue on “Nanoalloy Electrocatalysts for Electrochemical Devices”

Nanoscale science and technology dealing with materials synthesis, nanofabrication, nanoprobes, nanostructures, nanoelectronics, nano-optics, nanomechanics, nanodevices, nanobiotechnology, and nanomedicine is an exciting field of research and development in Europe, the United States, and other countries around the world [...]

Regulation of Mitochondrial Function by the Actin Cytoskeleton

The regulatory role of actin cytoskeleton on mitochondrial function is a growing research field, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Specific actin-binding proteins (ABPs), such as Gelsolin, have also been shown to participate in the pathophysiology of mitochondrial OXPHOS disorders through yet to be defined mechanisms. In this mini-review, we will summarize the experimental evidence supporting the fundamental roles of actin cytoskeleton and ABPs on mitochondrial trafficking, dynamics, biogenesis, metabolism and apoptosis, with a particular focus on Gelsolin involvement in mitochondrial disorders. The functional interplay between the actin cytoskeleton, ABPs and mitochondrial membranes for the regulation of cellular homeostasis thus emerges as a new exciting field for future research and therapeutic approaches.

The Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Syntax

Experimental syntax is an area that is rapidly growing as linguistic research becomes increasingly focused on replicable language data, in both fieldwork and laboratory environments. The first of its kind, this handbook provides an in-depth overview of current issues and trends in this field, with contributions from leading international scholars. It pays special attention to sentence acceptability experiments, outlining current best practices in conducting tests, and pointing out promising new avenues for future research. Separate sections review research results from the past 20 years, covering specific syntactic phenomena and language types. The handbook also outlines other common psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic methods for studying syntax, comparing and contrasting them with acceptability experiments, and giving useful perspectives on the interplay between theoretical and experimental linguistics. Providing an up-to-date reference on this exciting field, it is essential reading for students and researchers in linguistics interested in using experimental methods to conduct syntactic research.

Preface

2021 3rd Asia Conference on Automation Engineering (ACAE 2021) was held as a virtual event August 27-29, 2021. The conference provided an opportunity to highlight recent developments and to identify emerging and future areas of growth in this exciting field. As coronavirus spreads worldwide, after careful consideration and following some participants’ advices, the organizing committees decided to convert ACAE 2021 into a fully virtual conference. It has been a very difficult decision, but it has also given to all of us an opportunity to innovate and to test a new style of conference in a safer and convenient way in this special period. Researchers from all the world attended the Conference from home and saw the live broadcast of the invited and contributed speeches. The success of the conference is due to the high scientific level of all the contributions as well as to the enthusiasm of all the attendees. The member of the Technical Committee did a precious job in selecting the papers that were accepted for presentation and for inclusion in this book of proceedings among those that were initially submitted. Beside the authors, the attendees and the TC members, we would like to thank members of the organizing committee, anonymous reviewers and volunteers, whose work was fundamental for assuring the smooth running of the Conference. Without their contribution, dedication and commitment, we would not have achieved so much. We hope this success can develop into persistent success in future years, involving attendees and speakers from all corners of the globe and all countries. And we believe with the strong support of all participants, professors, scholars, etc., this conference will be more distinctive. ACAE 2021 Organizing Committee August 27-29, 2021 List of Statement of Peer Review, Conference Committee and this titles are available in this pdf.

The contributions of model studies for fundamental understanding of polymer mechanochemistry

The exciting field of polymer mechanochemistry has made great empirical progress in discovering reactions in which a stretching force accelerates scission of strained bonds using single molecule force spectroscopy and ultra-sonication experiments. Understanding why these reactions happen, i.e., the fundamental physical processes that govern coupling of macroscopic motion to chemical reactions, as well as discovering other patterns of mechanochemical reactivity require complementary techniques, which permit a much more detailed characterization of reaction mechanisms and the distribution of force in reacting molecules than are achievable in SMFS or ultrasonication. A molecular force probe allows the specific pattern of molecular strain that is responsible for localized reactions in stretched polymers to be reproduced accurately in non-polymeric substrates using molecular design rather than atomistically intractable collective motions of millions of atoms comprising macroscopic motion. In this review, we highlight the necessary features of a useful molecular force probe and describe their realization in stiff stilbene macrocycles. We describe how studying these macrocycles using classical tools of physical organic chemistry has allowed detailed characterizations of mechanochemical reactivity, explain some of the most unexpected insights enabled by these probes and speculate how they may guide the next stage of mechanochemistry.

Water-powered self-propelled magnetic nanobot for rapid and highly efficient capture of circulating tumor cells

Nanosized robots with self-propelling and navigating capabilities have become an exciting field of research, attributable to their autonomous motion and specific biomolecular interaction ability for bio-analysis and diagnosis. Here, we report magnesium (Mg)-Fe3O4-based Magneto-Fluorescent Nanorobot (“MFN”) that can self-propel in blood without any other additives and can selectively and rapidly isolate cancer cells. The nanobots viz; Mg-Fe3O4-GSH-G4-Cy5-Tf and Mg-Fe3O4-GSH-G4-Cy5-Ab have been designed and synthesized by simple surface modifications and conjugation chemistry to assemble multiple components viz; (i) EpCAM antibody/transferrin, (ii) cyanine 5 NHS (Cy5) dye, (iii) fourth generation (G4) dendrimers for multiple conjugation and (iv) glutathione (GSH) by chemical conjugation onto one side of Mg nanoparticle. The nanobots propelled efficiently not only in simulated biological media, but also in blood samples. With continuous motion upon exposure to water and the presence of Fe3O4 shell on Mg nanoparticle for magnetic guidance, the nanobot offers major improvements in sensitivity, efficiency and speed by greatly enhancing capture of cancer cells. The nanobots showed excellent cancer cell capture efficiency of almost 100% both in serum and whole blood, especially with MCF7 breast cancer cells.

New Methods for Studying Materials Under Shear with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

<p>For over 30 years, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques have been used to study materials under shear. Collectively referred to as Rheo-NMR, these methods measure material behaviour due to external stimuli and provide spatially and temporally resolved maps of NMR spectra, intrinsic NMR parameters (e.g. relaxation times) or motion (e.g. diffusion or flow). As a consequence, Rheo-NMR has been established as a complementary technique to conventional rheological measurements. In this thesis, new hardware and experimental methods are presented with the goal of advancing this exciting field through further integration of traditional rheometry techniques with NMR experiments. Three key areas of hardware development have been addressed, including: 1) integrating torque sensing into the Rheo-NMR experiment for simultaneous bulk shear stress measurements, 2) constructing shear devices with geometric parameters closer to those used on commercial rheometers and 3) implementing an advanced drive system which allows for new shear profiles including oscillatory shear. In addition to presenting the design and construction of various prototype instruments, results from validation and proof of concept studies are discussed. This information demonstrates that the hardware operates as expected and establishes an experimental parameter space for these new techniques. Furthermore, these methods have been applied to open questions in various physical systems. This includes exploring the influence of shear geometry curvature on the onset of shear banding in a wormlike micelle surfactant system, observing shear induced structural changes in a lyotropic nonionic surfactant simultaneously via deuterium spectroscopy and bulk viscosity as well as studying interactions of flowing granular materials. The interpretation and implication of these observations are discussed in addition to motivating further studies.</p>

New Methods for Studying Materials Under Shear with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

<p>For over 30 years, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques have been used to study materials under shear. Collectively referred to as Rheo-NMR, these methods measure material behaviour due to external stimuli and provide spatially and temporally resolved maps of NMR spectra, intrinsic NMR parameters (e.g. relaxation times) or motion (e.g. diffusion or flow). As a consequence, Rheo-NMR has been established as a complementary technique to conventional rheological measurements. In this thesis, new hardware and experimental methods are presented with the goal of advancing this exciting field through further integration of traditional rheometry techniques with NMR experiments. Three key areas of hardware development have been addressed, including: 1) integrating torque sensing into the Rheo-NMR experiment for simultaneous bulk shear stress measurements, 2) constructing shear devices with geometric parameters closer to those used on commercial rheometers and 3) implementing an advanced drive system which allows for new shear profiles including oscillatory shear. In addition to presenting the design and construction of various prototype instruments, results from validation and proof of concept studies are discussed. This information demonstrates that the hardware operates as expected and establishes an experimental parameter space for these new techniques. Furthermore, these methods have been applied to open questions in various physical systems. This includes exploring the influence of shear geometry curvature on the onset of shear banding in a wormlike micelle surfactant system, observing shear induced structural changes in a lyotropic nonionic surfactant simultaneously via deuterium spectroscopy and bulk viscosity as well as studying interactions of flowing granular materials. The interpretation and implication of these observations are discussed in addition to motivating further studies.</p>

The Complex Molecular Picture of Gut and Oral Microbiota–Brain-Depression System: What We Know and What We Need to Know

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a complex mental disorder where the neurochemical, neuroendocrine, immune, and metabolic systems are impaired. The microbiota-gut-brain axis is a bidirectional network where the central and enteric nervous systems are linked through the same endocrine, immune, neural, and metabolic routes dysregulated in MDD. Thus, gut-brain axis abnormalities in MDD patients may, at least in part, account for the symptomatic features associated with MDD. Recent investigations have suggested that the oral microbiome also plays a key role in this complex molecular picture of relationships. As on one hand there is a lot of what we know and on the other hand little of what we still need to know, we structured this review focusing, in the first place, on putting all pieces of this complex puzzle together, underlying the endocrine, immune, oxidative stress, neural, microbial neurotransmitters, and metabolites molecular interactions and systems lying at the base of gut microbiota (GM)–brain-depression interphase. Then, we focused on promising but still under-explored areas of research strictly linked to the GM and potentially involved in MDD development: (i) the interconnection of GM with oral microbiome that can influence the neuroinflammation-related processes and (ii) gut phageome (bacteria-infecting viruses). As conclusions and future directions, we discussed potentiality but also pitfalls, roadblocks, and the gaps to be bridged in this exciting field of research. By the development of a broader knowledge of the biology associated with MDD, with the inclusion of the gut/oral microbiome, we can accelerate the growth toward a better global health based on precision medicine.