The as-prepared HAP nanowire aerogel scaffold shows promising potential for biomedical applications such as bone defect repair.Controlled electrical stimulation is essential for evaluating the physiology of cardiac tissues engineered in heart-on-a-chip devices. However, existing stimulation techniques, such as external platinum electrodes or opaque microelectrode arrays patterned on glass substrates, have limited throughput, reproducibility, or compatibility with other desirable features of heart-on-a-chip systems, such as the use of tunable culture substrates, imaging accessibility, or enclosure in a microfluidic device. In this study, indium tin oxide (ITO), a conductive, semi-transparent, and biocompatible material, was deposited onto glass and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-coated coverslips as parallel or point stimulation electrodes using laser-cut tape masks. ITO caused substrate discoloration but did not prevent brightfield imaging. ITO-patterned substrates were microcontact printed with arrayed lines of fibronectin and seeded with neonatal rat ventricular myocytes, which assembled into aligned cardiac tissues. ITO deposited as parallel or point electrodes was connected to an external stimulator and used to successfully stimulate micropatterned cardiac tissues to generate calcium transients or propagating calcium waves, respectively. ITO electrodes were also integrated into the cantilever-based muscular thin film (MTF) assay to stimulate and quantify the contraction of micropatterned cardiac tissues. To demonstrate the potential for multiple ITO electrodes to be integrated into larger, multiplexed systems, two sets of ITO electrodes were deposited onto a single substrate and used to stimulate the contraction of distinct micropatterned cardiac tissues independently. Collectively, these approaches for integrating ITO electrodes into heart-on-a-chip devices are relatively facile, modular, and scalable and could have diverse applications in microphysiological systems of excitable tissues.Tea polyphenols (TP) are the most bioactive components in tea extracts. It has been reported that TP can regulate the composition and the function of the intestinal flora. Meanwhile, intestinal microorganisms improve the bioavailability of TP, and the corresponding metabolites of TP can regulate intestinal micro-ecology and promote human health more effectively. The dysfunction of the microbiota-gut-brain axis is the main pathological basis of depression, and its abnormality may be the direct cause and potential influencing factor of psychiatric disorders. The interrelationship between TP and intestinal microorganisms is discussed in this review, which will enable us to better evaluate the potential preventive effects of TP on psychiatric disorders by modulating host intestinal microorganisms.Nobiletin, a polymethoxyflavone widely present in the peel of citrus fruits, has significant anti-inflammatory activity. Autophagy plays a critical role in maintaining cell homeostasis by promoting the degradation of intracellular structures in response to various stress. Recent research suggests the involvement of autophagy in the inflammatory process and therefore some inflammation-related diseases. However, the "cross-talk" between autophagy and nobiletin's anti-inflammation response remains not well elucidated. Therefore, this study was initiated with the aim of investigating the role of autophagy in nobiletin's protective effect against inflammation in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Results showed that nobiletin significantly (P less then 0.05) inhibited the release of nitric oxide (NO) and decreased the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, nobiletin significantly (P less then 0.05) promoted autophagy as evidenced by the appearance of more autophagosomes, up-regulated LC3II protein, low-regulated p62 protein, and increased autophagy-related (Atg) genes' expression compared with the control treated with LPS alone. Addition of chloroquine, an autophagy inhibitor, alleviated nobiletin's anti-inflammatory effect, further supporting the requirement of an active autophagy process for the citrus peel flavonoid's biological activity. Mechanistically, we found that nobiletin treatment leads to activation of the IL-6/STAT3/FOXO3a signal pathway through the down-regulation of IL-6 and STAT3 phosphorylation and the upregulation of FOXO3a phosphorylation in the cell nucleus, which is responsible for induction of macrophage autophagy. Taken together, our study provides evidence that nobiletin suppresses inflammatory response through enhancing autophagy through activating the IL-6/STAT3/FOXO3a pathway in macrophage cells.Encapsulation of metal nanoparticles just below the surface of a prototypical layered material, graphite, is a recently discovered phenomenon. These encapsulation architectures have potential for tuning the properties of two-dimensional or layered materials, and additional applications might exploit the properties of the encapsulated metal nanoclusters themselves. The encapsulation process produces novel surface nanostructures and can be achieved for a variety of metals. Given that these studies of near-surface intercalation are in their infancy, these systems provide a rich area for future studies. This Review presents the current progress on the encapsulation, including experimental strategies and characterization, as well as theoretical understanding which leads to the development of predictive capability. The Review closes with future opportunities where further understanding of the encapsulation is desired to exploit its applications.Lasing particles are emerging tools for amplifying light-matter interactions at the biointerface by exploiting its strong intensity and miniaturized size.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/nmda-n-methyl-d-aspartic-acid.html  Recent advances in implementing laser particles into living cells and tissues have opened a new frontier in biological imaging, monitoring, and tracking. Despite remarkable progress in micro- and nanolasers, lasing particles with surface functionality remain challenging due to the low mode-volume while maintaining a high Q-factor. Herein, we report the novel concept of bioresponsive microlasers by exploiting interfacial energy transfer based on whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microdroplet cavities. Lasing wavelengths were manipulated by energy transfer-induced changes of a gain spectrum resulting from the binding molecular concentrations at the cavity surface. Both protein-based and enzymatic-based interactions were demonstrated, shedding light on the development of functional microlasers. Finally, tunable lasing wavelengths over a broad spectral range were achieved by selecting different donor/acceptor pairs.