《亚洲男性学杂志》“21世纪精液分析特刊”前言

精液分析成为不育研究的重要部分经历了一个极其漫长的历史变迁过程，并声名狼藉，曾经被排除在常规的病理学检查之外，直到近些年才引起学术界的重视。精液分析起源于19世纪，那时对精子的认识仅仅局限于检测性交后宫颈黏液中是否存在精子，曾认为是“有失体面的，不自重的^[1]。”     

Hippocampus development and function: role of epigenetic factors and implications for cognitive disease

Lagali PS, Corcoran CP, Picketts DJ. Hippocampus development and function: role of epigenetic factors and implications for cognitive disease. The hippocampus is a primary region of the brain controlling the formation of memories and learned behaviours. The ability to learn or form a memory requires a neuron to translate a transient signal into gene expression changes that have a long‐lasting effect on synapse activity and connectivity. Numerous studies over the past decade have detailed changes in epigenetic modifications under various learning paradigms to support a role for chromatin remodelling in these processes. Moreover, the identification of mutations in epigenetic regulators as the cause of mental retardation or intellectual disability (MR/ID) disorders further strengthens their importance to learning and memory. Animal models for many of these disorders are emerging and advancing our understanding of the molecular mechanisms linking epigenetic regulation and cognitive function. Here, we review how chromatin remodelling proteins implicated in MR/ID contribute to the development of the hippocampus and memory formation.     

Nanoparticle Deposition onto Biofilms

We develop a mathematical model of nanoparticles depositing onto and penetrating into a biofilm grown in a parallel-plate flow cell. We carry out deposition experiments in a flow cell to support the modeling. The modeling and the experiments are motivated by the potential use of polymer nanoparticles as part of a treatment strategy for killing biofilms infecting the deep passages in the lungs. In the experiments and model, a fluid carrying polymer nanoparticles is injected into a parallel-plate flow cell in which a biofilm has grown over the bottom plate. The model consists of a system of transport equations describing the deposition and diffusion of nanoparticles. Standard asymptotic techniques that exploit the aspect ratio of the flow cell are applied to reduce the model to two coupled partial differential equations. We perform numerical simulations using the reduced model. We compare the experimental observations with the simulation results to estimate the nanoparticle sticking coefficient and the diffusion coefficient of the nanoparticles in the biofilm. The distributions of nanoparticles through the thickness of the biofilm are consistent with diffusive transport, and uniform distributions through the thickness are achieved in about four hours. Nanoparticle deposition does not appear to be strongly influenced by the flow rate in the cell for the low flow rates considered.