Artiles
Meeting Report
20 February 2024The Cellular and Metabolic Bases of Organ Fibrosis: UNIA Workshop 2023 in Baeza, Spain
Fibrosis is defined by scarring and tissue hardening caused by excess deposition of extracellular matrix components, mainly collagens. A fibrotic response can occur in any tissue of the body and is the final outcome of an unbalanced reaction to inflammation and wound healing induced by a variety of insults, including persistent infections, autoimmune reactions, allergic responses, chemical exposure, radiation, and tissue injury. The accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins replaces the living tissue and disrupts the architecture leading to organ malfunction. Fibrosis remains a major clinical and therapeutic challenge and has been estimated to account for 45% of deaths in the developed world. While major advances regarding mechanistic knowledge on the underlying cell biology alterations in fibrosis have helped to characterize the main phases and mediators involved, this knowledge has not yielded significant progress in treatment. Only recently, the metabolic features associated to fibrosis have begun to emerge. This information, likely representing only the tip of the iceberg, suggests that metabolic derangement is a key culprit in the pathophysiology of fibrogenesis. The Workshop on The Cellular and Metabolic Bases of Organ Fibrosis, International University of Andalusia, Baeza, Spain, October 8–11, 2023 aimed to discuss the current knowledge and novel perspectives on the mechanisms contributing to the development of fibrosis in different organs and tissues, with particular focus on new methodological developments in metabolomics and therapeutic strategies.
Article
20 February 2024Wind Influence on the Electrical Energy Production of Solar Plants
Solar energy, as a clean source of energy, plays a relevant role in this much desired (r)evolution. When talking about photovoltaics, despite the multiple studies on parameters that affect the panels operation, concrete knowledge on this matter is still in an incipient stage and precise data remains dispersed, given the mutability of outer factors beyond technology-related properties, hence the difficulties associated with exploration. Wind is one of them. Wind loads can affect the temperature of photovoltaics, whose efficiency is reduced when higher temperatures are reached. The viability of wind as natural cooling mechanism for solar plants and its influence on their electrical energy production is studied in this research work. Some appropriate results were achieved: depending on the module temperature prediction model used and on the photovoltaic technology in question, solar panels are foreseen to be up to approximately 3% more productive for average wind speeds and up to almost 7% more productive for higher speeds. Taking into consideration that wind speed values were collected in the close vicinity of the modules, these results can be proven to be even higher. That being said, this article contributes with accurate insights about wind influence on electrical energy production of solar plants.
Article
19 February 2024Single Cell Analysis of Lung Lymphatic Endothelial Cells and Lymphatic Responses during Influenza Infection
Tissue lymphatic vessels network plays critical roles in immune surveillance and tissue homeostasis in response to pathogen invasion, but how lymphatic system per se is remolded during infection is less understood. Here, we observed that influenza infection induces a significant increase of lymphatic vessel numbers in the lung, accompanied with extensive proliferation of lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs). Single-cell RNA sequencing illustrated the heterogeneity of LECs, identifying a novel PD-L1+ subpopulation that is present during viral infection but not at steady state. Specific deletion of Pd-l1 in LECs elevated the expansion of lymphatic vessel numbers during viral infection. Together these findings elucidate a dramatic expansion of lung lymphatic network in response to viral infection, and reveal a PD-L1+ LEC subpopulation that potentially modulates lymphatic vessel remolding.
Article
18 February 2024The Sustainable Development Concept in the Polish Legal Space from a Legal-Dogmatic Perspective
The sustainable development concept is of crucial importance for the socioeconomic development processes, not only at the international community level, but also—or, perhaps, particularly—at the national or even local levels. The aim of the article is to demonstrate, from a legal-dogmatic perspective, the place, role and significance of the sustainable development concept in the Polish legal space. This perspective applies to both the state policy intended to formulate a strategy which provides a basis for law-making processes and to find normative solutions making it possible to reconcile legally protected values which sometimes compete with one another, with account taken of the needs of future generations. The sustainable development concept has been very broadly followed in Poland not only in the legal doctrine, but also in the doctrine of economic and social sciences. This term has turned out to be such an effective political catchword that it has been commonly abused and, therefore, it has lost a good deal of its social importance; this makes it substantially more difficult to apply a normative approach to the issues related to the implementation of the concept in legislative practice. In the Polish legal space, the sustainable development concept has become the leading theme of many documents and legal acts, particularly those concerned with environmental protection, but also, although to a much more modest extent, those addressing the issues of socioeconomic development.
Review
13 February 20243D Printing Technology for Rapid Response to Climate Change: Challenges and Emergency Needs
Providing rapid, efficient, inexpensive, and resilient solutions is an eminent and urgent need for emergency relief conditions, mainly and increasingly driven by the impacts of climate change. Under such disastrous circumstances, the current practice involves preparation, dispatching and managing significant amounts of materials, resources, manpower, and transportation of basic needs, which can be hindered remarkably by infrastructure damage and massive loss of lives. However, an emerging technology known as 3D printing (3DP) can play a significant role and rapidly bring unlimited innovative solutions in such conditions with much lesser resources to meet the necessities of large populations affected. Considering the recent progress of 3DP technology and applications in different industrial and consumer sectors, this study aims to provide an analysis of the status and current progress of 3DP technology in various fields to understand and present its potential for readiness and response to disasters, emergency and relief need driven by climate change. Secondly, this study also presents a sustainability assessment of 3DP technology for such cases to evaluate economic, environmental, and social impacts. Finally, policies and strategies are suggested to adapt 3DP technology in different sectors to prepare for large-scale emergencies.
Review
13 February 2024Development and Perspective of Production of Terpenoids in Yeast
Terpenoids are a large class of secondary metabolites known for their remarkable diverse biological activities, making them widely utilized in the pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic, biofuel and agricultural fields. However, the current production of terpenoids heavily relies on plant extraction and chemical synthesis, which brings about concerns regarding infield, environmental and ecological issues. With the advancements in metabolic engineering and emerging synthetic biology tools, it is now possible to sustainably produce these high value-added terpenoids using microbial chassis. Among them, yeast has emerged as a promising candidate for the heterologous biosynthesis of terpenoids due to its inherent advantages, including robustness, safety, and the availability of sufficient precursor. This review focuses on the diverse strategies employed to enable terpenoids production in yeasts. These strategies encompass metabolic engineering approaches to optimize the mevalonate pathway, protein engineering techniques to improve terpenoid biosynthesis, the applications of organelles compartmentalization, high throughput screening and global approaches for the development of efficient cell factories. Furthermore, this review discusses the future prospects and challenges associated with yeast-based terpenoid production, while also emphasizing guidelines for future studies in this field.
Article
06 February 2024Geographical Discrepancies in Higher Education in Sweden
There is a growing awareness of the importance of higher education in Sweden to reduce social differences in society. There are also various mechanisms that individuals relate to that favour either the status quo or change based on an ideal of higher education. Individuals live in a geographical context with a number of ‘key actors’ who influence the perception of higher education with varying degrees of intensity. Paradoxically, despite several reforms to broaden recruitment, it can be seen that relative inequalities persist in terms of residents with higher education in Sweden, not least from a regional perspective. The purpose of this article is to shed light on geographical differences in the higher education level of the population over time from a Swedish perspective. The study shows that higher education has a geographical centre-periphery perspective, but not exclusively. There are thus additional influencing factors that in various ways relate to the social context in which the individual is located. We can conclude from our empirical data that the reforms implemented to broaden recruitment have not had the desired effect, especially for the group of men. We find it likely that what differentiates women and men is who their individual ‘key players’ are and how they interact. From an academic education perspective and as an intermediary of higher education, there is therefore a challenge to be able to identify who these “key players” are in order to be able to be an important actor in contributing to the desired broader recruitment that the government is striving to achieve.
Article
06 February 2024Bio-Based Production of Uroporphyrin in Escherichia coli
Uroporphyrin (UP) is a porphyrin compound with medical applications and a key precursor for heme biosynthesis. However, there is no biosynthetic strategy for UP production. In this study, we present a novel bioprocess for enhanced production of UP in engineered Escherichia coli. We first implemented the Shemin/C4 pathway heterologously in an E. coli strain with an enlarged intracellular pool of succinyl-CoA. Using a plasmid with the trc promoter regulating the expression of a synthesized gene operon, the effects of key pathway genes, including hemA, hemB, hemC, and hemD, on UP biosynthesis were characterized. By cultivating the resulting engineered E. coli strains in a batch bioreactor with 30 g/L glycerol under aerobic conditions, up to 901.9 mg/L UP was produced. Most of the synthesized UP was extracellularly secreted with a high purity more than 80 wt%, facilitating its downstream purification. The study paves the way for large-scale bio-based production of UP using synthetic biology and metabolic engineering strategies.
Article
01 February 2024Molecular Regulation of Transforming Growth Factor-β1-induced Thioredoxin-interacting Protein Ubiquitination and Proteasomal Degradation in Lung Fibroblasts: Implication in Pulmonary Fibrosis
Thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) plays a critical role in regulation of cellular redox reactions and inflammatory responses by interacting with thioredoxin (TRX) or the inflammasome. The role of TXNIP in lung fibrosis and molecular regulation of its stability have not been well studied. Therefore, here we investigated the molecular regulation of TXNIP stability and its role in TGF-β1-mediated signaling in lung fibroblasts. TXNIP protein levels were significantly decreased in lung tissues from bleomycin-challenged mice. Overexpression of TXNIP attenuated transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)-induced phosphorylation of Smad2/3 and fibronectin expression in lung fibroblasts, suggesting that decrease in TXNIP may contribute to the pathogenesis of lung fibrosis. Further, we observed that TGF-β1 lowered TXNIP protein levels, while TXNIP mRNA levels were unaltered by TGF-β1 exposure. TGF-β1 induced TXNIP degradation via the ubiquitin-proteasome system. A serine residue mutant (TNXIP-S308A) was resistant to TGF-β1-induced degradation. Furthermore, downregulation of ubiquitin-specific protease-13 (USP13) promoted the TGF-β1-induced TXNIP ubiquitination and degradation. Mechanistic studies revealed that USP13 targeted and deubiquitinated TXNIP. The results of this study revealed that the decrease of TXNIP in lungs apparently contributes to the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis and that USP13 can target TXNP for deubiquitination and regulate its stability.
Article
31 January 2024Design of Intelligent and Sustainable Manufacturing Production Line for Automobile Wheel Hub
The wheel hub is an important part of the automobile, and machining affects its service life and driving safety. With the increasing demand for wheel productivity and machining accuracy in the automotive transport sector, automotive wheel production lines are gradually replacing human production. However, the technical difficulties of conventional automotive wheel production lines include insufficient intelligence, low machining precision, and large use of cutting fluid. This paper aims to address these research constraints. The intelligent, sustainable manufacturing production line for automobile wheel hub is designed. First, the machining of automotive wheel hubs is analyzed, and the overall layout of the production line is designed. Next, the process equipment system including the fixture and the minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) system are designed. The fixture achieves self-positioning and clamping functions through a linkage mechanism and a crank–slider mechanism, respectively, and the reliability of the mechanism is analyzed. Finally, the trajectory planning of the robot with dual clamping stations is performed by RobotStodio. Results show the machining parameters for a machining a wheel hub with a diameter of 580 mm are rotational speed of 2500 rpm, cutting depth of 4 mm, feed rate of 0.5 mm/r, and minimum clamping force of 10881.75 N. The average time to move the wheel hub between the roller table and each machine tool is 27 s, a reduction of 6 s compared with the manual handling time. The MQL system effectively reduces the use of cutting fluid. This production line can provide a basis and reference for actual production by reasonably planning the wheel hub production line.
