Noteworthy, we show that hiPSC-EC+MC survival was promoted by the co-culture with hiPSC-CM as compared to the control single-cell culture. Additionally, the presence of the hiPSC-EC+MC induced changes in the physical properties of the biomaterial, as observed by an increase in the elastic modulus of the cardiac microtissue when compared to the hiPSC-CM control culture. Detailed characterization of the 3D cardiac microtissues revealed that the crosstalk between hiPSC-CM, hiPSC-EC+MC, and extracellular matrix induced the maturation of hiPSC-CM. The cardiac microtissues displayed functional calcium signaling and respond to known cardiotoxins in a dose-dependent manner. This study is a step forward on the development of novel 3D cardiac microtissues that recapitulate features of the human cardiac microenvironment and is compliant with the larger numbers needed in preclinical research for toxicity assessment and disease modeling.Three upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) pilot scale reactors with different configurations and inocula flocculent biomass (F-UASB), flocculent biomass and membrane solids separation (F-AnMBR) and granular biomass and membrane solids separation (G-AnMBR) were operated to compare start-up, solids hydrolysis and effluent quality. The parallel operation of UASBs with these different configurations at low temperatures (9.7 ± 2.4°C) and the low COD content (sCOD 54.1 ± 10.3 mg/L and pCOD 84.1 ± 48.5 mg/L), was novel and not previously reported. A quick start-up was observed for the three reactors and could be attributed to the previous acclimation of the seed sludge to the settled wastewater and to low temperatures.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/sp2509.html  The results obtained for the first 45 days of operation showed that solids management was critical to reach a high effluent quality. Overall, the F-AnMBR showed higher rates of hydrolysis per solid removed (38%) among the three different UASB configurations tested. Flocculent biomass promoted slightly higher hydrolysis than granular biomass. The effluent quality obtained in the F-AnMBR was 38.0 ± 5.9 mg pCOD/L, 0.4 ± 0.9 mg sCOD/L, 9.9 ± 1.3 mg BOD5/L and less then 1 mg TSS/L. The microbial diversity of the biomass was also assessed. Bacteroidales and Clostridiales were the major bacterial fermenter orders detected and a relative high abundance of syntrophic bacteria was also detected. Additionally, an elevated abundance of sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) was also identified and was attributed to the low COD/SO42- ratio of the wastewater (0.5). Also, the coexistence of acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis was suggested. Overall this study demonstrates the suitability of UASB reactors coupled with membrane can achieve a high effluent quality when treating municipal wastewater under psychrophilic temperatures with F-AnMBR promoting slightly higher hydrolysis rates.Electrical pulse stimulation (EPS) has been suggested to be a useful method to investigate the mechanisms underlying the adaptations of human skeletal muscle to both endurance and resistance exercise. Although different myotube stimulation protocols mimicking acute and chronic endurance exercise have been developed, no convincing protocol mimicking resistance exercise exists. Adaptations to resistance exercise mainly ensue via the Akt/mTOR pathway. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a high frequency EPS protocol mimicking resistance exercise both acutely (100 Hz, 15 V, 0.4 ms with 4 s rest between each contraction for 30 min) and chronically (acute EPS protocol repeated on three consecutive days) on human myotubes. Compared to control conditions, the acute EPS protocol increased the phosphorylation of AktSer473 at 0 h (+91%, p = 0.02) and 3 h (+95%, p = 0.01), and mTORSer2448 at 0 h (+93%, p = 0.03), 1 h (+129%, p = 0.01), and 3 h (+104%, p = 0.0250) post-stimulation. The phosphorylation of ERK1/2Thr202/Tyr204 was increased at 0 h (+69%, p = 0.02) and 3 h (+117%, p = 0.003) post-stimulation compared to control conditions. In addition, both S6K1Thr389 (+157%, p = 0.009) and S6Ser240/244 (+153%, p = 0.003) phosphorylation increased 1 h after EPS compared to control conditions. Chronic EPS protocol increased the phosphorylation of S6K1Thr389 1 h (+105%, p = 0.03) and 3 h (+126%, p = 0.02) and the phosphorylation of S6Ser240/244 1 h (+32%, p = 0.02) after the end of the last stimulation. In conclusion, the present work shows that human muscle cells subjected to EPS can be used as an in vitro model of acute and chronic resistance exercise.Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative pathogen for coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), which has posed an increasing serious public health threat. However, still there are no approved antiviral agents or vaccines available yet. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are emerging as a novel promising adjuvant therapy for the attenuation of COVID-19 based on its putative pathogenesis. MSCs may exert anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anti-apoptotic, as well as regenerative effects through a series of mechanisms. Remarkably, MSCs may be resistant to virus infection, which is fundamental for the treatment of COVID-19. The beneficial therapeutic effects of MSCs have been preliminarily proved to be safe and efficacious for the treatment of COVID-19 in current clinical trials. This work aims to review the beneficial effects of MSCs in treating ALI/ARDS, which provides novel insight into the potential therapeutic strategies against COVID-19. However, further research is warranted regarding both safety and efficacy of MSCs.Apathy is a disease characterized by diminished motivation not attributable to a diminished level of consciousness, cognitive impairment, or emotional distress. It is a serious problem facing the elderly in today's society. The diagnosis of apathy needs to be done at a clinic, which is particularly inconvenient and difficult for elderly patients. In this work, we examine the possibility of using doppler radar imaging for the classification of apathy in the elderly. We recruited 178 elderly participants to help create a dataset by having them fill out a questionnaire and submit to doppler radar imaging while performing a walking action. We selected walking because it is one of the most common actions in daily life and potentially contains a variety of useful health information. We used radar imaging rather than an RGB camera due to the greater privacy protection it affords. Seven machine learning models, including our proposed one, which uses a neural network, were applied to apathy classification using the walking doppler radar images of the elderly.