Wuhan University of Science & Technology

Prolonged periods of ischemia and hypoxia pose significant challenges to exogenous stem cell transplantation, including minimal cell survival, varied differentiation, and poor integration with existing neural networks. Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) are an important choice for stem cell treatment for their excellent potential of neural differentiation and easy accessibility. Stable overexpression of miR-138 in DPSCs were injected into MCAO model mice via brain stereotaxic localization to explore the therapeutic effect on stroke and the related mechanisms by trans-synaptic viral tracing, immunostaining, bioinformatics analysis, behavioral tests and electrophysiological assays. DPSCs transfected with miR-138 can treat stroke by reducing neuroinflammation, decreasing neuronal apoptosis, and promoting neural regeneration, resulting in structural and functional repair of post-stroke neural networks. Among them, miR-138 can regenerate nerves because it can break down GATA zinc finger domain-containing protein 2B (GATAD2B), disrupt nucleosome remodeling complex (NuRD), and transfer MTA from nucleus to cytoplasm. The MTA3 was then transferred from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, activating the Wnt signaling pathway, which finally led to the differentiation of DPSCs into GABAergic neurons and the repair of neuronal death caused by stroke. Within this study, we introduce a novel DPSCs reprogramming approach designed to enhance the differentiation of GABAergic neurons and bolster their viability within the ischemic stroke context, and delineate the regulatory mechanism involving miR-138, which initiates GABAergic neuronal differentiation via modulation of the GATAD2B/MTA3/WNTs signaling pathway.

In the context of large-scale operation and low-coke-ratio smelting in blast furnaces, clarifying the consumption behavior of coke and its microstructural evolution within a blast furnace is highly important for achieving the efficient utilization of coke.This study investigated the structural evolution and consumption mechanisms of coke from the charging area to the tuyere region via a blast furnace dissection system.Findings revealed within the lump zone′s upper region, coke primarily undergoes mech. wear, with no significant changes in composition or structure.In the lower part of the lump zone, coke begins to undergo gasification reactions, leading to a marked expansion in the number of micropores and a carbon loss of 12.39 %.In the cohesive zone, gasification reactions are catalyzed by alkali metals, and coke consumption accelerates, with carbon loss increasing to 38.95 %.The small and medium pores merge, and the proportion of large pores increases, accompanied by the formation and propagation of cracks.In the upper region of the tuyere, owing to the synergistic effects of gasification reactions, direct reduction, and high temperatures, the carbon loss of coke reaches 63.56 %.The carbon matrix is severely eroded, with significant pore interconnections, and the porosity increases to 70.03 %.Concurrently, the coke′s optical texture index (OTI) demonstrates enhancement, evidenced by strengthened crystallog. alignment within its carbon matrix and elevated graphitic ordering.

Conventional sintering process for municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash is associated with significant disadvantages, including extremely high energy requirements and the volatilization of heavy metals in chlorinated forms.To address these challenges, the incorporation of blast furnace slag and waste glass into the fly ash was proposed in this work, followed by pressure pretreatment prior to low-temperature sintering.The results suggested that the leaching concentration of heavy metals in the sintered products of mech. pressurized fly ash decreased significantly compared to those without pressure pretreatment at 800 °C.Specifically, the leaching concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn were reduced by 25.1 %, 22 %, 5.3 %, and 16.2 %, resp.Under a pressure of 20 MPa, the silicate content associated with immobilized heavy metals in the sintered products increased by 3 %, while the carbonate content rose by 2.7 %.Through XRD characterization anal., it is demonstrated that the reason why pressure pretreatment enhances the immobilization of heavy metals is through mechanisms including microstructure densification, promotion of new mineral phase formation, and enhancement of the driving force for heavy metal immobilization reactions.