© the authors; licensee ecancermedicalscience.Although sleep is ubiquitous, its evolutionary purpose remains elusive.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/vu661013.html  Though every species of animal, as well as many plants sleep, theories of its origin are purely physiological, e.g. to conserve energy, make repairs or to consolidate learning. An evolutionary reason for sleep would answer one of biology's fundamental unanswered questions. When environmental conditions change on a periodic basis (winter/summer, day/night) organisms must somehow confront the change or else be less able to compete in either niche. Seasonal adaptation includes the migration of birds, changes in honeybee physiology and winter abscission in plants. Diurnal adaptation must be more rapid, forcing changes in behavior in addition to physiology. Since organisms must exist in both environments, evolution has created a way to force a change in behavior, in effect creating "different" organisms (one awake, one asleep) adapted separately to two distinct niches. We sleep to allow evolving into two competing niches. The physiology of sleep forces a change to a different state for the second niche. The physiological needs for sleep are mechanisms that have evolved to achieve this goal. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s).Stem cell therapy is a promising option for treating functional deficits in the stroke-damaged brain. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are attractive sources for cell therapy as they can be efficiently differentiated into neural lineages. Episomal plasmids (EPs) containing reprogramming factors can induce nonviral, integration-free iPSCs. Thus, iPSCs generated by an EP-based reprogramming technique (ep-iPSCs) have an advantage over gene-integrating iPSCs for clinical applications. However, there are few studies regarding the in vivo efficacy of ep-iPSCs. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of intracerebral transplantation of neural precursor cells differentiated from ep-iPSCs (ep-iPSC-NPCs) in a rodent stroke model. The ep-iPSC-NPCs were transplanted intracerebrally in a peri-infarct area in a rodent stroke model. Rats transplanted with fibroblasts and vehicle were used as controls. The ep-iPSC-NPC-transplanted animals exhibited functional improvements in behavioral and electrophysiological tests. A small proportion of ep-iPSC-NPCs were detected up to 12 weeks after transplantation and were differentiated into both neuronal and glial lineages. In addition, transplanted cells promoted endogenous brain repair, presumably via increased subventricular zone neurogenesis, and reduced poststroke inflammation and glial scar formation. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that intracerebral transplantation of ep-iPSC-NPCs is a useful therapeutic option to treat clinical stroke through multimodal therapeutic mechanisms. Copyright © 2020 Seung-Hun Oh et al.Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4- (CTLA4-) modified human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBMMSCs) might be promising seed cells for bone tissue engineering. However, the underlying mechanism is not clear. In the present study, we investigated whether CTLA4-modified hBMMSCs are involved in the migration of allogeneic hBMMSCs (allo-hBMMSCs) by maintaining POSTN secretion. hBMMSCs were isolated from different groups, named hBMMSCs and allo-hBMMSCs. hBMMSCs that were infected with the negative control (NC), empty adenovirus- or recombinant adenovirus-expressing CTLA4, POSTN, or CTLA4 plus the shRNA of POSTN were named NC hBMMSCs, CTLA4-modified hBMMSCs, POSTN-modified hBMMSCs, or CTLA4+shPOSTN-modified hBMMSCs, respectively. They were then cocultured with PBMCs in a 1  5 ratio with 2.5 μg/mL phytohemagglutinin (PHA). The coculture supernatant was collected to treat allo-hBMMSCs with anti-integrin αvβ3 IgG, or negative control IgG, as a control. Following this, ELISA, Transwell assays, wound healing assays, and western blotting were performed. We found that the POSTN level was higher in the culture supernatant of CTLA4- and POSTN-modified hBMMSCs than in NC hBMMSCs cocultured with PBMCs treated with PHA. The migration capability of allo-hBMMSCs was enhanced, and the integrin αvβ3/FAK/ERK signaling pathway in allo-hBMMSCs was activated by the culture supernatant of CTLA4- and POSTN-modified hBMMSCs cocultured with PBMCs treated with PHA. Additionally, these induced effects can be weakened by POSTN knockdown, and the migration capability of allo-hBMMSCs was blocked by anti-integrin αvβ3 IgG. In conclusion, hCTLA4-gene-modified hBMMSCs maintain POSTN secretion to enhance the migration capability of allogeneic hBMMSCs through the integrin αvβ3/FAK/ERK signaling pathway in the T cell immune activation environment. Copyright © 2020 Lei Song et al.in English, Spanish Objetivo Investigar si el manejo de los residuos sólidos y los indicadores socioeconómicos municipales están asociados con las tasas de incidencia de dengue, zika y chikunguña en los municipios del estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Métodos Estudio exploratorio, cuantitativo y transversal que incluyó los 853 municipios de Minas Gerais. Sólo se utilizaron datos secundarios, recopilados y agrupados según las regiones de planificación. Las variables independientes incluyeron la recolección urbana regular de residuos sólidos, la recolección separada de residuos y la masa de residuos sólidos urbanos, además de un indicador de calidad de la eliminación final de desechos, el desarrollo humano municipal y los índices de Gini, el ingreso mensual per cápita y el porcentaje de población vulnerable a la pobreza. Los factores potencialmente asociados con los resultados –incidencia municipal de dengue, zika y chikunguña– se seleccionaron inicialmente mediante un análisis univariado, seguido de un análisis anificación de las medidas de salud pública.Background Myopia is a common eye disorder that is approaching epidemic proportions worldwide. A genome-wide association study identified AREG (rs12511037), GABRR1 (rs13215566), and PDE10A (rs12206610) as being associated with refractive error in Asian populations. The present study investigated the associations between these three genetic variants and the occurrence and development of myopia, spherical equivalent refraction (SER), axial length (AL), and corneal curvature (CC) in a cohort of southeastern Chinese schoolchildren. Methods We examined and followed 550 children in grade 1 enrolled in the Wenzhou Epidemiology of Refractive Error (WERE) project. During the 4-year follow-up, non-cycloplegic refraction was evaluated twice each year, and the AL and CC were measured once every year. Age, sex, and the amounts of time spent on near work and outdoors were documented with a questionnaire. Sanger DNA sequencing was used to genotype single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). SNPtest software was used to identify potential genetic variants associated with myopia, SER, AL, and CC.