Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Daniel S. Yang, Edward E. Dickerson, Ling X. Zhang, Holly Richendrfer, Padmini N. Karamchedu, Gary J. Badger, Tannin A. Schmidt, Alger M. Fredericks, Khaled A. Elsaid, Gregory D. Jay
Summary: Camptodactyly-arthropathy-coxa vara-pericarditis (CACP) syndrome is characterized by joint arthropathy and is caused by the absence of lubricin (proteoglycan 4-PRG4). This study used Prg4-deficient mice as a model to investigate the effects of intra-articular injection of recombinant human PRG4 (rhPRG4) on gait changes and mitochondrial dyscrasia. The results showed that rhPRG4 injection improved gait alterations and reduced caspase-3 activation in the cartilage of the mice. RNA-Seq analysis also revealed upregulation of genes involved in cytoskeletal stabilization. This suggests that IA rhPRG4 may mitigate chondrocyte mitochondrial dyscrasias associated with CACP.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Ophthalmology
Nikhil G. Menon, Adam P. Tanguay, Libo Zhou, Ling X. Zhang, Cedric E. Bobst, Mingyu Han, Mallika Ghosh, George W. Greene, Alix Deymier, Benjamin D. Sullivan, Yupeng Chen, Gregory D. Jay, Tannin A. Schmidt
Summary: This study characterized and compared the structure and function of rhPRG4 and ECF843. The results demonstrated significant differences between ECF843 and rhPRG4 in terms of their structure and function, which may explain the disparate clinical trial results in dry eye disease.
EXPERIMENTAL EYE RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Nikhil G. Menon, Yasir Suhail, Ruchi Goyal, Wenqiang Du, Adam P. Tanguay, Gregory D. Jay, Mallika Ghosh, Kshitiz, Tannin A. Schmidt
Summary: Dry Eye Disease (DED) is a complex pathology that affects millions of people with significant impact on quality of life. Research has shown that recombinant human proteoglycan 4 (rhPRG4) may act as a therapeutic for DED by inhibiting inflammatory pathways in corneal epithelial cells, although the underlying mechanism is still not fully understood.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Nabangshu Das, Nikhil G. Menon, Luiz G. N. de Almeida, Paige S. Woods, Miriam L. Heynen, Gregory D. Jay, Barbara Caffery, Lyndon Jones, Roman Krawetz, Tannin A. Schmidt, Antoine Dufour
Summary: The study compared tear and saliva proteomes of SS patients and healthy controls, identifying alterations in protein levels and pathways. Dysregulated protease activity and differential expression of PRG4 in tears and saliva were found to be important in SS. These findings provide insights into the disease mechanism and potential drug targets.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yun Jin Ashley Sin, Rebecca MacLeod, Adam P. Tanguay, Andrew Wang, Olivia Braender-Carr, Teraesa M. Vitelli, Gregory D. Jay, Tannin A. Schmidt, Mary K. Cowman
Summary: The size, conformation, and organization of glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan affect its interactions with proteins. AlphaLISA assay technology can be used to study protein-mediated networking of hyaluronan. The study identified several substances, including heparin and proteoglycan 4, as inhibitors of HA crosslinking.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Ophthalmology
Nikhil G. Menon, Ruchi Goyal, Carolina Lema, Paige S. Woods, Adam P. Tanguay, Alyssa A. Morin, Nabangshu Das, Gregory D. Jay, Roman J. Krawetz, Antoine Dufour, Linda H. Shapiro, Rachel L. Redfern, Mallika Ghosh, Tannin A. Schmidt
Summary: The study demonstrates that rhPRG4 has anti-inflammatory properties on corneal epithelial cells, particularly in mitigating chemokine production, and it is an inhibitor of MMP-9 activity. In mouse models, EDE significantly decreased the immunolocalization of PRG4 on the corneal epithelium and trended towards a reduction in lacrimal gland lysate.
EXPERIMENTAL EYE RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Biology
Cheng-Hai Zhang, Yao Gao, Unmesh Jadhav, Han-Hwa Hung, Kristina M. Holton, Alan J. Grodzinsky, Ramesh A. Shivdasani, Andrew B. Lassar
Summary: Zhang et al. identify Creb5 as a critical transcription factor required for the induction of Prg4 expression by TGF beta and EGFR signaling. They demonstrate that Creb5 directly binds to two proximal regulatory elements of the Prg4 promoter, working in conjunction with a distal regulatory element to drive Prg4 induction by TGF beta. These findings offer new insights into the regulatory mechanisms underlying Prg4 expression in superficial zone articular chondrocytes.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Hong Hu, Xuyun Guo, Yaokang Zhang, Zijian Chen, Lei Wang, Yuan Gao, Ziran Wang, Yuqi Zhang, Wenshuo Wang, Mingming Rong, Guoqiang Liu, Qiyao Huang, Ye Zhu, Zijian Zheng
Summary: A strategy called elasto-plastic design of an ultrathin interlayer is proposed to enhance the strain tolerance of flexible electronics. By inserting an ultrathin, stiff, and elastic interlayer between a rigid film/device and a soft substrate, the actual strain applied on the film/device can be significantly reduced when the substrate is bent.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Nicola Manca, Gaia Tarsi, Alexei Kalaboukhov, Francesco Bisio, Federico Caglieris, Floriana Lombardi, Daniele Marre, Luca Pellegrino
Summary: In this study, suspended micro-mechanical structures were successfully fabricated from nanometer-thick ETO films, and their mechanical properties were characterized. Temperature-dependent measurements revealed a non-monotonic and hysteretic mechanical response in the ETO films. Additionally, the influence of oxygen vacancies on the mechanical properties was investigated by comparing stoichiometric and oxygen-deficient samples.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Hui Ji, Shubao Shao, Kaiyuan Liu, Tonghui Wu, Shengping Shen, Shuwen Zhang, Minglong Xu
Summary: This study presents a mechanical design approach to enhance flexoelectricity by creating an elastic modulus gradient, and combining material design with non-uniform geometric shape, resulting in a significant improvement of the flexoelectric effect.
MECHANICS OF MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Clayton S. Manasa, Saimon M. Silva, Lilith M. Caballero-Aguilar, Anita F. Quigley, Robert M. I. Kapsa, George W. Greene, Simon E. Moulton
Summary: This study demonstrates the surface modification of polypyrrole with lubricin glycoprotein to prevent biofouling and serve as a reservoir for cationic drugs. The tethered lubricin nano brush layers on gold and electroactive polymer surfaces can increase the release of cationic drugs, and they show antifouling ability when loaded with drugs. This research could lead to the development of versatile biomaterials for drug delivery and other biomedical applications.
JOURNAL OF CONTROLLED RELEASE
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Chunxi Hao, Yu Wang, Teng Lu, Felipe Kremer, Ray Withers, Chang Liu, Aqun Zheng, Sen Yang, Xiaoping Song, Xiaobing Ren, Yun Liu
Summary: Large magnetostriction with low saturation magnetic field is observed in Fe-Pd ferromagnetic strain glass alloys, which is highly desirable for miniaturized sensor and actuator applications. The high performance magnetostriction is found to originate from the structure of ferromagnetic strain glass, which consists of local chemical order forming tetragonal martensitic nanodomains with local crystal symmetry breaking. The combination of martensitic nanodomains and low modulus is necessary to achieve both large magnetostriction and a low saturation field.
Article
Engineering, Geological
A. Perbawa, E. Gramajo, T. Finkbeiner, J. C. Santamarina
Summary: This study focuses on compliance at specimen-endcap interfaces and variations in triaxial conditions using different instrumentation protocols. The results show that surface roughness at these interfaces affects measurement accuracy, while cap-to-cap deformation measurements accentuate hysteretic behavior and affect the estimation of rock parameters.
ROCK MECHANICS AND ROCK ENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Orthopedics
Wen-qing Xie, Miao He, Yu-qiong He, Deng-jie Yu, Hong-fu Jin, Fang Yu, Yu-sheng Li
Summary: Complete rupture of the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) has no significant immediate effect on the mechanical and histological properties of the medial collateral ligament (MCL) under physiological loading, but these properties of MCL decrease over time.
JOURNAL OF ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY AND RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Hannelore Boey, Sam van Rossom, Stefaan Verfaillie, Jos Van der Sloten, Ilse Jonkers
Summary: In this study, the strain and loading of ankle ligaments during different movements were evaluated using a new index. The findings provide objective data for progressively staging ligament loading during rehabilitation and can help prevent ankle sprains.
CLINICAL BIOMECHANICS
(2022)
Article
Biophysics
Nathan D. Camarillo, Rafael Jimenez-Silva, Frances T. Sheehan
Summary: This article discusses the statistical dependence between multiple measurements from the same participant and provides recommendations for using these measurements when they are not independent.
JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS
(2024)
Article
Biophysics
J. Huet, A. -S. Boureau, A. Sarcher, C. Cornu, A. Nordez
Summary: Standard compression in freehand 3D ultrasound induces a bias in volume calculations, but minimal compression and gel pad methods have similar results. With a trained examiner and precautions, the bias can be minimized and become acceptable in clinical applications.
JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS
(2024)
Article
Biophysics
C. Lariviere, A. H. Eskandari, H. Mecheri, F. Ghezelbash, D. Gagnon, A. Shirazi-Adl
Summary: Recent developments in musculoskeletal modeling have focused on model customization. Personalization of the spine profile may affect estimates of spinal loading and stability. This study investigates the biomechanical consequences of changes in the spinal profile and finds that personalizing the spine profile has medium to large effects on trunk muscle forces and negligible to small effects on spinal loading and stability.
JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS
(2024)
Article
Biophysics
Luke T. Mattar, Arash B. Mahboobin, Adam J. Popchak, William J. Anderst, Volker Musahl, James J. Irrgang, Richard E. Debski
Summary: Exercise therapy fails in about 25.0% of cases for individuals with rotator cuff tears, and one reason for this failure may be the inability to strengthen and balance the muscle forces that keep the humeral head in the correct position. This study developed computational musculoskeletal models to compare the net muscle force before and after exercise therapy between successfully and unsuccessfully treated patients. The study found that unsuccessfully treated patients had less inferiorly oriented net muscle forces, which may increase the risk of impingement.
JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS
(2024)
Article
Biophysics
Natsuki Sado, Takeshi Edagawa, Toshihide Fujimori, Shogo Hashimoto, Yoshikazu Okamoto, Takahito Nakajima
Summary: The existing methods for predicting hip and lumbosacral joint centres in Japanese adults are biased and differ between sexes. We propose new regression equations that consider soft-tissue thickness, sex differences, and a height-directional measure, and validate them using leave-one-out cross-validation.
JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS
(2024)
Article
Biophysics
Peimin Yu, Xuanzhen Cen, Qichang Mei, Alan Wang, Yaodong Gu, Justin Fernandez
Summary: This study aimed to explore the intra-foot biomechanical differences among individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI), copers, and healthy individuals during dynamic tasks. The study found that copers and CAI individuals had smaller dorsiflexion angles and copers presented a more eversion position compared to healthy participants. Copers also had greater dorsiflexion angles in the metatarsophalangeal joint and more inversion moments in the subtalar joint during certain tasks. These findings can help in designing interventions to restore ankle joint functions in CAI individuals.
JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS
(2024)
Article
Biophysics
Jon Skovgaard Jensen, Anders Holsgaard-Larsen, Anders Stengaard Sorensen, Per Aagaard, Jens Bojsen-Moller
Summary: This study investigates the biomechanical effects of robot-assisted body weight unloading (BWU) on gait patterns in healthy young adults. The results show that dynamic robot-assisted BWU enables reduced kinetic requirements without distorting biomechanically normal gait patterns during overground walking.
JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS
(2024)