Confinement of Oligopeptides by Terminally Functionalized Polyisoprene to Improve Their Mechanical Strength, Creep Resistance, and Antifatigue Properties.

A small amount of terminal polar phase endows natural rubber (NR) with excellent comprehensive properties superior to those of synthetic isoprene rubber. In this work, the comprehensive properties of synthetic rubber were remarkably improved by introducing a stable terminal nanoconfinement structure by combining terminal hydroxyl groups and pentapeptide molecules noncovalently into the same phases. The results show that the stable terminal phases hardly affect the free chain motion but enhance the entanglement. Under cyclic loading, the terminal polar phases undergo hierarchically structural changes such as reversible dissociation of the weak bonds, phase deformation, and crystalline reorganization, all of which dissipate the stress and are beneficial for high strength and extensibility. At the same time, synthetic rubbers demonstrate much superior fatigue resistance and lower hysteresis relative to NR and maintain comparable dimensional stability. This strategy suggests that the comprehensive properties of elastomers can be regulated and upgraded by facile terminal noncovalent interactions.

[The objectification of ashi point diagnosis and treatment].

Ashi points play a significant role in the clinical localization and qualitative diagnosis of acupuncture, as well as in selecting acupoints along the meridians and applying tonifying or reducing techniques. This paper introduces the theoretical basis and existing technical methods of objectification of ashi point diagnosis and treatment. It proposes that using sensory quantitative testing to determine the temperature and tenderness thresholds of ashi points could help to identify the pathological characteristics of "cold" "heat" "deficiency" or "excess" of ashi points. In addition, the possibility of objectification of ashi point diagnosis-treatment plan is explored from three perspectives, precision of selection of ashi point therapy, objectification of effect evaluation of ashi point analgesia, and differentiation of the studies on ashi point analgesic mechanism, aiming to provide new research ideas for the modernization of traditional Chinese acupuncture.

Ultrasound-guided acupotomy for trigger finger: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Trigger finger is a common condition in the hand, and ultrasound-guided acupotomy for trigger finger has been widely used in recent years. PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the efficacy and safety of ultrasound-guided acupotomy for trigger finger. METHODS: We searched for relevant studies in the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Embase, PubMed, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Wanfang Data, and other resources from their inception to January 2023. Randomized controlled trials of ultrasound-guided acupotomy for trigger finger were included. The meta-analysis was carried out using Review Manager 5.4 and Stata 15.1. RESULTS: Overall, 15 studies with 988 patients were included. The experimental group was treated with ultrasound-guided acupotomy, and the Control group received traditional acupotomy, traditional operation or injection of medication. Meta-analysis showed that the overall clinical effectiveness (OR = 4.83; 95% CI 2.49-9.37; I2 = 73.1%; P < 0.001) in the experimental group was significantly better than that of the control group. And the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score (WMD = - 1; 95% CI - 1.24, - 0.76; I2 = 99%; P < 0.001), the QuinneII classification (WMD = - 0.84; 95% CI - 1.28, - 0.39; I2 = 99.1%, P < 0.001), the incidence of complications (RR = 0.26; 95% CI 0.11, 0.63; I2 = 0%, P = 0.003), and the recurrence rate (RR = 0.14; 95% CI 0.03, 0.74; I2 = 0%; P = 0.021) were significantly lower in the experimental group. CONCLUSION: Our systematic review and meta-analysis can prove the effectiveness and safety of ultrasound-guided acupotomy in the treatment of trigger finger, but this still needs to be verified by a clinical standard large sample test.

Influence of Oligopeptide Length and Distribution on Polyisoprene Properties.

The tuning of binding modes of polar groups is the key step to mimicking the structure and properties of natural rubber through the molecular design of synthetic polyisoprenes. Herein, the ordering and binding distances of oligopeptides could be altered systematically by changing their lengths and distribution along the polyisoprene chain, which impose huge impacts on the mechanical properties and chain dynamics of green rubber. In detail, a series of peptide-functionalized polyisoprenes with terminal blocks (B-2A-PIP, B-3A-PIP) or random sequences (R-2A-PIP, R-3A-PIP) are fabricated by using dipeptides (2A) or tripeptides (3A) as crosslinkers to explore the mechanism of terminal interaction on mechanism properties and chain dynamics. B-4A-PIP and R-4A-PIP served as control samples. It is found that the increased oligopeptide length and the block distribution improves the mechanical properties and confine the chain movement by elevate the contents of ordered and compact microstructures, which is indicated by XRD, broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) and consistent with the result of molecular dynamics simulation. New relaxation signals belonging to oligopeptide aggregates are found which showed elevated dielectric strengths upon temperatures increase. Additionally, it also reveals that the binding modes of oligopeptide do not significantly influence the entanglements of polyisoprene.

Non-Fullerene Acceptors with an Optical Response over 1000 nm toward Efficient Organic Solar Cells.

Non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) with near-infrared (NIR) absorption show promising advantages in organic solar cells (OSCs). However, only a few NFAs can extend the absorption spectra over 1000 nm, and their photovoltaic performance has been unsatisfactory so far. To address this issue, three new NFAs, namely, 6-IFIC, 6-IF2F, and 6-IF4F, were synthesized by simultaneously introducing π-bridge units and different end groups. The π-bridge unit enlarges the conjugation and planarizes the molecular geometry, leading to intense absorption in the NIR range. The asymmetric configuration provides a large dipole moment, enhances the intermolecular interaction, and tunes the miscibility, consequently being beneficial for achieving a favorable morphology in OSCs. When blended with a donor polymer PTB7-Th, the 6-IF2F-based OSC yields the best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.20%, which is among the highest PCEs based on NFAs with absorption over 1000 nm. More importantly, the absorption of the blend film provides a transparency window in the visible range from 400 and 650 nm. Therefore, the semitransparent OSCs based on these three NFAs can achieve over 28% average visible transmittance.

Safety of Thread Embedding Acupuncture Therapy: A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety of thread embedding acupuncture therapy (TEAT) and discuss the prevention and treatment of some adverse events (AEs). METHODS: Review of databases, including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), CBMdisc, Wanfang, VIP databases and English literature published in PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science, were searched from their inception to January 2020, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and case reports in which AEs with TEAT were included. Cochrane Collaboration's tool and RevMan V.5.3.3 software were used to evaluate the quality of the studies. RESULTS: A total of 61 studies (45 RCTs and 16 case reports) with 620 cases of AEs were included in this review. These studies were published in two countries: China and South Korea. Twenty eight kinds of AEs were summarized. The most common AEs were induration, bleeding and ecchymosis, redness and swelling, fever, and pain. They were accounted for 75.35% (425/564) in the review, and most of them were mild. The rarest AEs were epilepsy, irregular menstruation, skin ulcer, thread malabsorption, and fat liquefaction, with 1 case each. But not all of them had clear causal relationship with TEAT. Most of the AEs were local reactions [with incidence of 9.83% (480/4,882)] and systemic reactions accounted for only 1.27% (62/4,882). Although the included studies showed that AEs were very commonly encountered (11.09%), only 5 cases of severe AEs reported from 2013 to 2017 (0.1%) by using catgut thread, which are rarely seen nowdays with the wide use of new absorbable surgical suture. All of the severe AEs were recovered after symptomatic treatment with no sequelae. CONCLUSIONS: The evidence showed that TEAT is a relatively safe and convenient therapy especially since application of new absorbable surgical suture. Improving practitioner skills, regulating operations, and paying attention to the patients' conditions may reduce the incidence of AEs and improve safety of TEAT.

[Professor CHEN Gui-zhen's experience of acupuncture for perimenopausal panic disorder].

Professor CHEN Gui-zhen's experience of acupuncture for perimenopausal panic disorder was summarized. Professor CHEN believes that the etiology and pathogenesis of perimenopausal panic disorder are the deficiency of congenital kidney essence and the injury of acquired spleen and stomach, leading to mental dysfunction. The clinical treatment should be based on the principle of "nourishing the congenital, tonifying the acquired, and regulating thoroughfare vessel and conception vessel". As for the acupoint selection, the combination of back-shu point and the front-mu point is valued; as for the acupuncture technique, quick needling and skillful application of catgut embedding are recommended. The combination of acupuncture and medicine shows synergistic effect. In addition, emotional therapy is also applied for this condition. In conclusion, it is advocated to treat perimenopausal panic disorder with the combination of acupuncture, catgut embedding, herbs and emotional therapy.

Modulation of charge transport through single-molecule bilactam junctions by tuning hydrogen bonds.

Bilactam derivatives with different side groups were synthesized and the twisting angle tuning effect induced by the intramolecular hydrogen bond on the charge transport through their single-molecule junctions was investigated. Molecules with strong intramolecular hydrogen bonds exhibited twice higher conductance because of the reduced dihedral twisting, which was reversible with the addition of hydrogen bond destroying solvent. Our findings reveal that the presence of intramolecular hydrogen bonds promotes the planarization of the molecular structure without additional transmission channels, offering a new strategy for controlling molecular switches via tuning the molecular twisting.

[Effects of biochar on ammonia volatilization from farmland soil: A review.] / ç”Ÿç‰©ç‚­å¯¹å†œç”°åœŸå£¤æ°¨æŒ¥å‘çš„å½±å“æœºåˆ¶ç ”ç©¶è¿›å±•.

Reducing soil ammonia volatilization is one of the key ways to reduce soil nitrogen loss and improve nitrogen utilization efficiency in farmlands. Biochar has unique physico-chemical pro-perties, which can change soil physical and chemical properties, affect soil nitrogen cycle, and affect ammonia volatilization in farmland soil. Firstly, we reviewed the ammonia volatilization process and its influencing factors (climatic condition, soil environment, and fertilization management, etc.) in paddy fields and upland fields. Then, research progress on the impacts of biochar on ammonia volatilization from farmland ecosystem was reviewed. Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying the responses of ammonia volatilization to biochar intervention were discussed from the aspects of physical adsorption, gas-liquid equilibrium, and biochemical progress regulation. The reduction of soil ammonia volatilization is mainly based on the adsorption of soil NH4+ and NH3 by oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of biochar and the promotion of soil nitrification. How-ever, the increases of soil ammonia volatilization are mainly related to the increases of soil pH, air permeability, activities of microorganisms related with soil organic nitrogen mineralization. Finally, the research direction of reducing soil ammonia volatilization and improving nitrogen utilization efficiency by biochar was prospected.

Ladder-Type Dye with Large Transition Dipole Moment for Solvatochromism and Microphase Visualization.

A large transition dipole moment is usually pursued by strategies of twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) or planar intramolecular charge transfer (PICT) to obtain obvious Stokes shifts and dramatic color changes with tuning of polarities. However, both strategies have their drawbacks and suffer from fluorescence quenching in solid states. Herein, a ladder-type molecule ISOAA-H with an intramolecular hydrogen bond is designed, which undergoes intramolecular charge transfer and proton shift to harvest a large transition dipole moment under light irradiation. Thanks to its out-of-plane side chains, the intermolecular π-π stacking of backbones is prohibited and solid emission is generated. ISOAA-H exhibits outstanding solvatochromic behavior with polarity changes of solvents or polymer matrixes and is successfully used to detect the microphase separation of polymer blends. These results indicate that a strategy combining the advantages of TICT and PICT is established for environment-sensitive dyes used in both solution and solid state.

Plasmonic Metal Nanoparticles with Core-Bishell Structure for High-Performance Organic and Perovskite Solar Cells.

To maximize light coupling into the active layer, plasmonic nanostructures have been incorporated into both active layers of organic solar cells (OSCs) and perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with the aim of increasing light absorption, but reports have shown controversial results in electrical characteristics. In this work, we introduce a core-bishell concept to build plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) with metal-inorganic semiconductor-organic semiconductor nanostructure. Specifically, Ag NPs were decorated with a titania/benzoic-acid-fullerene bishell (Ag@TiO2@Pa), which enables the NPs to be compatible with fullerene acceptors or a perovskite absorber. Moreover, coating the Ag@TiO2 NP with a fullerene shell can activate efficient plasmon-exciton coupling and eliminate the charge accumulation, thus facilitating exciton dissociation and reducing the monomolecular recombination. The improved light absorption and enhanced carrier extraction of devices with Ag@TiO2@Pa nanoparticles are responsible for the improved short-circuit current and fill factor, respectively. On the basis of the synergistic effects (optical and electrical), a series of plasmonic OSCs exhibited enhancement of 12.3-20.7% with a maximum power conversion efficiency of 13.0%, while the performance of plasmonic PSCs also showed an enhancement by 10.2% from 18.4% to 20.2%. This core-bishell design concept of plasmonic nanostructures demonstrates a general approach to improving the photovoltaic performance with both optical and electrical contributions.

[Effects of biochar addition on enzyme activity and fertility in paddy soil after six years]. / 施用生物炭6å¹´åŽå¯¹ç¨»ç”°åœŸå£¤é ¶æ´»æ€§åŠè‚¥åŠ›çš„å½±å“.

A field experiment was conducted to examine the effects on soil fertility and enzyme activities in paddy field after six years of one-split rice straw-derived biochar [0 (BC0), 7.5(BC1), 15(BC2), 22.5(BC3) t·hm-2] and rice straw (3.75 t·hm-2, STR) application. The results showed that soil organic carbon, available phosphorus and rapidly available potassium concentrations significantly increased, by 34.6%, 12.4% and 26.2%, respectively. Soil pH and soil bulk density were significantly reduced, but total nitrogen content had no significant difference compared with BC0. Biochar addition significantly increased the activities of soil urease and acid phosphatase. The soil fluorescein diacetate (FDA hydrolase) and arylsulfatase activity were inhibited to varying degrees. Among them, BC2 treatment increased soil urease activity by 36.5%. The soil acid phosphatase activity increased with the increases of biochar application rate, which was positively correlated with soil available phosphorus concentration. FDA hydrolase and urease activity had positive correlation with soil available potassium content, while soil acid phosphatase and arylsulfatase activity had positive correlation with soil bulk density. After six years, soil dehydrogenase and polyphenol oxidase activity significantly increased by 48.8% and 27.5%, respectively, while catalase activity significantly decreased when compared with control BC0. STR treatment increased activities of soil urease, FDA hydrolase, dehydrogenase, acid phosphatase and arylsulfatase significantly, while decreased the catalase and polyphenol oxidase activities by 23.4% and 15.9%, respectively.

[The key issues and corresponding strategy of acupoint medicated catgut embedding therapy].

Acupoint medicated catgut embedding therapy is a new type of acupuncture combined with medicine，which has great potential in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. This paper describes the clinical application of acupoint medicated catgut embedding in the treatment of common disease, medicated thread productionmethods and acupoints selection.To analyze the problems of the unclear mechanism, the lack of standardization of medicated thread production, the lag of the embedding tool, and the unclear adverse reaction. It is expected to promote the further development of acupoint medicated catgut embedding therapy by strengthening the mechanism of action, optimizing medicated catgut thread, rational design experiments, standardizing medicated thread production, innovating embedding tools, rational formulation, and optimizing acupoint selection.

Towards a Supertough Thermoplastic Polyisoprene Elastomer Based on a Biomimic Strategy.

Natural rubber is one of most famous self-reinforced rubbers thanks to the phenomenon of strain-induced crystallization. It is usually used in a vulcanized form to enhance the mechanical strength but this results in recycling issues. Herein a thermoplastic analogue of vulcanized natural rubber is obtained as a structural mimic. Terminally functionalized polyisoprene rubber B-4A-PIP was prepared by using tetra-analine as physical crosslinking units. The strong binding of tetra-analine groups gave B-4A-PIP a high tensile strength (15 MPa) and breaking strain of 890 %, which is much higher than those of undecorated copolymer B-OH-PIP. B-4A-PIP has a similar onset strain of crystallization and crystallization index to vulcanized natural rubber. Randomly functionalized polyisoprene R-4A-PIP showed a much lower mechanical strength and SIC properties although R-4A-PIP and B-4A-PIP possessed similar molecular weights and amounts of tetra-analine groups.

Synergistic Effects of Selenophene and Extended Ladder-Type Donor Units for Efficient Polymer Solar Cells.

Two pairs of polymer donor materials based on indacenodithiophene (IDT) and indacenodithieno[3,2-b]thiophene (IDTT) as the donor units are synthesized. Thiophene or selenophene is introduced as the π-bridge units and electron-deficient fluorine-substituted quinoxaline is used as acceptor unit. Selenophene-containing polymers PIDT-DFQ-Se and PIDTT-DFQ-Se show redshifted absorption and narrower bandgaps. Combined with IDTT donor unit, PIDTT-DFQ-Se shows the highest absorption coefficient. Both the IDTT unit and selenophene unit have positive effects on the hole mobilities, making PIDTT-DFQ-Se the highest one. The best power conversion efficiency of 7.4% is obtained from devices based on PIDTT-DFQ-Se:[6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC71 BM) with a Jsc of 12.6 mA cm-2 , a Voc of 0.89 V, and a fill factor (FF) of 0.66.

The Influence of Oxygen Atoms on Conformation and π-π Stacking of Ladder-Type Donor-Based Polymers and Their Photovoltaic Properties.

A novel ladder-type donor pyran-bridged indacenodithiophene (IDTP) is developed by introducing two oxygen atoms into indacenodithiophene unit. IDTP possesses a twisted backbone and leads to facially asymmetric arrangement of side chains, resulting in enhanced local π-π stacking of according polymer poly[(5,5,11,11-tetrakis(4-octylphenyl)-5,11-dihydrothieno[2',3':5,6]pyrano[3,4-g]thieno[3,2-c]isochromene)-alt-4,7-(5-fluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)] (PIDTP)-FBT, which shows extended absorption range. Moreover, oxygen atoms render deeper highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) levels of poly[indacenodithiophene-alt-4,7-(5-fluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)] (PIDTP)-FBT compared with PIDT-FBT, therefore bringing a higher open-circuit voltage (Voc ).

Microcavity-enhanced light-trapping for highly efficient organic parallel tandem solar cells.

A high-performance parallel tandem solar cell employing ultra-thin Ag as the intermediate anode is demonstrated, which comprises a semitransparent front sub-cell and a microcavity assisted back sub-cell. In addition to the extended optical field as a result of the tandem architecture, the prominent microcavity resonance formed in the back sub-cell enables such a parallel tandem configuration to possess high light utilization efficiency (the peak EQE value is over 80%) and a high photovoltaic performance of 9.2%. This study establishes an effective architecture that can be generally applicable to all organic materials for improving their performance.

Strong photocurrent enhancements in highly efficient flexible organic solar cells by adopting a microcavity configuration.

Organic solar cells often show inefficient light harvesting due to a short absorption path length limited by the low charge mobility of organic semiconductors. We demonstrate a flexible organic solar cell in a microcavity configuration using a TeO2/Ag semitransparent electrode to confine the optical field within the device with significant performance improvements and reaching a power conversion efficiency of 8.56%.

Ventricular hypertrophy abrogates intralipid-induced cardioprotection by alteration of reperfusion injury salvage kinase/glycogen synthase kinase 3ß signal.

Recent studies have demonstrated that intralipid (ILP) conferred myocardial protection against ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury through activation of reperfusion injury salvage kinase (RISK) pathway. As RISK signal has been shown to be impaired in hypertrophied myocardium, we investigated whether ILP-induced cardiac protection was maintained in hypertrophied rat hearts. Transverse aortic constriction was performed on male Sprague-Dawley rats to induce left ventricular hypertrophy, then sham-operated or hypertrophied rat hearts were isolated and perfused retrogradely by the Langendorff for 30 min (equilibration) followed by 40 min of ischemia and then 120 min of reperfusion. The isolated hearts received 15-min episode of 1% ILP separated by 15 min of washout or three episodes of 5-min ischemia followed by 5-min reperfusion before ischemia. The hemodynamics, infarct size, apoptosis, phosphorylated protein kinase B (p-Akt), phosphorylated extracellular regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), phosphorylated glycogen synthase kinase 3ß (GSK3ß), Bcl-2, phosphorylated Bad, and Bax were determined. We found that ILP significantly improved left ventricular hemodynamics and reduced infarct size and the number of TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling)-positive cells in the sham-operated rat hearts exposed to IR. However, such myocardial infarct-sparing effect of ILP was completely blocked by phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase inhibitor wortmannin, but only partially by mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase inhibitor PD98059 in sham-operated hearts. Intralipd upregulated the phosphorylation of Akt, extracellular regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), and their downstream target of GSK3ß and antiapoptotic Bcl-2 expression in healthy rat hearts. Nonetheless, ILP failed to improve left ventricular hemodynamics and reduced infarct size and apoptosis and increase the phosphorylated Akt, ERK1/2, GSK3ß, and antiapoptotic Bcl-2 in hypertrophied myocardium. In contrast, ischemic preconditioning increased the phosphorylation of Akt, ERK1/2 and GSK3ß, improved heart pump function, and reduced myocardial necrosis in sham-operated hearts, a phenomenon partially attenuated by ventricular hypertrophy. Interestingly, GSK inhibitor SB216763 conferred cardioprotection against IR injury in sham-operated hearts, but failed to exert cardioprotection in hypertrophied myocardium. Our results indicated that ventricular hypertrophy abrogated ILP-induced cardioprotection against IR injury by alteration of RISK/GSK3ß signal.

Improved charge transport and absorption coefficient in indacenodithieno[3,2-b]thiophene-based ladder-type polymer leading to highly efficient polymer solar cells.

A novel ladder-type donor (IDTT) is developed by substituting the two outward thiophenes of the IDT donor with two thieno[3,2-b]thiophenes. The polymer derived from this donor possesses longer effective conjugation and better planarity, which improves electron delocalization along the polymer backbone and charge mobility. The polymer solar cell device using PIDTT-DFBT shows a high power conversion efficiency of 7.03% with a large open-circuit voltage of 0.95 V without using any additives or post-solvent/thermal annealing processes.