A Novel, Controllable, and Efficient Method for Building Highly Hydrophobic Aerogels.

Aerogels prepared using freeze-drying methods have the potential to be insulation materials or absorbents in the fields of industry, architecture, agriculture, etc., for their low heat conductivity, high specific area, low density, degradability, and low cost. However, their native, poor water resistance caused by the hydrophilicity of their polymer matrix limits their practical application. In this work, a novel, controllable, and efficient templating method was utilized to construct a highly hydrophobic surface for freeze-drying aerogels. The influence of templates on the macroscopic morphology and hydrophobic properties of materials was investigated in detail. This method provided the economical and rapid preparation of a water-resistant aerogel made from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and montmorillonite (MMT), putting forward a new direction for the research and development of new, environmentally friendly materials.

Optimal postoperative surveillance strategies for cancer survivors with gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma based on individual risk: a multicenter real-world cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The best follow-up strategy for cancer survivors after treatment should balance the effectiveness and cost of disease detection while detecting recurrence as early as possible. Due to the low incidence of gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma and mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma [G-(MA)NEC], high-level evidence-based follow-up strategies is limited. Currently, there is a lack of consensus among clinical practice guidelines regarding the appropriate follow-up strategies for patients with resectable G-(MA)NEC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included patients diagnosed with G-(MA)NEC from 21 centers in China. The random forest survival model simulated the monthly probability of recurrence to establish an optimal surveillance schedule maximizing the power of detecting recurrence at each follow-up. The power and cost-effectiveness were compared with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society, and European Society for Medical Oncology Guidelines. RESULTS: A total of 801 patients with G-(MA)NEC were included. The patients were stratified into four distinct risk groups utilizing the modified TNM staging system. The study cohort comprised 106 (13.2%), 120 (15.0%), 379 (47.3%), and 196 cases (24.5%) for modified groups IIA, IIB, IIIA, and IIIB, respectively. Based on the monthly probability of disease recurrence, the authors established four distinct follow-up strategies for each risk group. The total number of follow-ups 5 years after surgery in the four groups was 12, 12, 13, and 13 times, respectively. The risk-based follow-up strategies demonstrated improved detection efficiency compared to existing clinical guidelines. Further Markov decision-analytic models verified that the risk-based follow-up strategies were better and more cost-effective than the control strategy recommended by the guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: This study developed four different monitoring strategies based on individualized risks for patients with G-(MA)NEC, which may improve the detection power at each visit and were more economical, effective. Even though our results are limited by the biases related to the retrospective study design, we believe that, in the absence of a randomized clinical trial, our findings should be considered when recommending follow-up strategies for G-(MA)NEC.

Adaptable Phosphate Networks towards Robust, Reprocessable, Weldable, and Alertable-Yet-Extinguishable Epoxy Vitrimer.

Covalent adaptable networks (CANs) combine the uniqueness of thermoplastics and thermosets to allow for reprocessability while being covalently crosslinked. However, it is highly desirable but rarely achieved for CANs to simultaneously demonstrate reversibility and mechanical robustness. Herein, we report a feasible strategy to develop a novel epoxy vitrimer (EV) composed of adaptable phosphate networks (APNs), by which the EVs exhibit promising mechanical properties (tensile strength of 62.5 ~ 87.8 MPa and tensile modulus of 1360.1 ~ 2975.3 MPa) under ambient conditions. At elevated temperatures, the topology rearrangement occurs relied on phosphate transesterification, which contributes to the shape memory performance, self-healing, reprocessing, and welding behaviors. Moreover, the incorporation of APNs allows for improvements in anti-ignition and also the inhibition of both heat release and smoke generation to avoid empyrosis, asphyxiation, and toxication during burning, showing expected intrinsic fire safety. Thermal, mechanical properties, and flame retardancy of the reprocessed EVs after hot pressing are very close to those of the original EVs, which is attributed to the sufficient reversibility of APNs. Accordingly, combining the aforementioned features, EVs are manufactured as flame-triggered switches for fire alarms, which symbolizes the innovative development of high-performance covalent adaptable polymeric materials.

A sponge heated by electromagnetic induction and solar energy for quick, efficient, and safe cleanup of high-viscosity crude oil spills.

Frequent oil spills have caused severe environmental and ecological damage. Effective cleanup has become a complex challenge owing to the poor flowability of viscous crude oils. The current method of solar heating to reduce the viscosity of heavy oil is only suitable during sunny days, while the use of Joule heating is limited by the risk of direct exposure to high-voltage electricity. Herein, we demonstrate a noncontact electromagnetic induction and solar dual-heating sponge for the quick, safe, and energy-saving cleanup of ultrahigh-viscosity heavy oil. The resulting sponge with magnetic, conductive, and hydrophobic properties can be rapidly heated to absorb heavy oil under alternating magnetic fields, solar irradiation, or both of these conditions. By constructing theoretical models and fitting the actual data, an in-depth analysis of induction and solar heating processes is carried out. The sponge has excellent resilience and stability, indicating its reusability, fast and continuous adsorption (16.17 g in 10 s), and large capacity (75-81 g/g, the highest value ever) for soft asphalt (a highly viscous crude oil). This work provides a new noncontact dual-heating strategy for heavy oil cleanup, in which absorbents use induction heating during an emergency and then switch to partial or full solar heating to save energy in sunny conditions. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATION: Heavy oils stranded on the beach or floating on water can kill underwater plants by blocking sunlight, or trap water birds and other animals. Heavy oil also contains aromatic substances that are toxic to aquatic organisms. Although oil spills near shallow water cannot be cleaned up by fences or other machinery, an oil adsorbent can deal with this problem. However, common adsorbents cannot effectively absorb high-viscosity oils, such as heavy oil. In this paper, an induction and solar dual-heating sponge is developed for the effective cleanup of high-viscosity oil.

Ultralight Biomass Aerogels with Multifunctionality and Superelasticity Under Extreme Conditions.

Biomass aerogels are highly attractive candidates in various applications due to their intrinsic merits of high strength, high porosity, biodegradability, and renewability. However, under low-temperature harsh conditions, biomass aerogels suffer from weakened mechanical properties, become extremely brittle, and lose functionality. Herein, we report a multifunctional biomass aerogel with lamella nanostructures (∼1 µm) fabricated from cellulose nanofibers (∼200 nm) and gelatin, showing outstanding elasticity from room temperature to ultralow temperatures (repeatedly bent, twisted, or compressed in liquid nitrogen). The resultant aerogel exhibits excellent organic solvent absorption, thermal infrared stealth, and thermal insulation performance in both normal and extreme environments. Even at dry ice temperature (-78 °C), the aerogel can selectively and repeatedly absorb organic solvents in the same way as room temperature with high capacities (90-177 g/g). Excellent heat insulation and infrared stealth performances are achieved in a wide temperature range of -196 to 80 °C. Further, this aerogel combines with the advantages of ultralow density (∼6 mg/cm3), biodegradability, flame retardancy, and performance stability, making it a perfect candidate for multifunctional applications under harsh conditions. This work greatly broadens application temperature windows of biomass aerogels and sheds light on the development of mechanically robust biomass aerogels for various applications under extreme conditions.

Multifunctional Photothermal Conversion Nanocoatings Toward Highly Efficient and Safe High-Viscosity Oil Cleanup Absorption.

Efficient and safe cleanup for the high-viscosity heavy oil spill has been a worldwide challenge due to its sluggish flowability, while classic absorption methods by electric/solar heating are seriously limited by low efficiency and high fire hazards during heating of highly flammable oil. Facing this dilemma, we reported a novel flame-retardant photothermal conversion nanocoating to endow commercial foams with highly efficient and safe heavy oil cleanup absorption. This multifunctional nanocoating consisting of nano-Fe3O4 and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) that both showed photothermal conversion ability and non-flammable nature can be firmly deposited on the polymer foam skeletons via facile coprecipitation and dip-coating processes. The composite foam showed a tough morphology with high hydrophobicity and low density, thus leading to selective high absorption for various oils and organic solvents. Due to the double photothermal conversion effects of nano-Fe3O4 and rGO, the temperature of the foam can be rapidly heated at a rate of ∼103.5 °C/min (the fastest rate ever) under 1 sun irradiation. Consequently, the foam with a high absorption capacity of 75.1 times its weight demonstrated a rapid absorption rate of 9000 g m-2 min-1 for large-viscosity oil under 1 sun irradiation, which was 3 times faster than previously reported. Furthermore, benefitting from high flame retardancy, elasticity, and magnetism, the foam can be safely and repeatedly used for magnetically controllable oil cleanup absorption, which effectively avoids oil spill hazards.

Fully bio-based, low fire-hazard and superelastic aerogel without hazardous cross-linkers for excellent thermal insulation and oil clean-up absorption.

Elastic biomass aerogels have attracted widespread attention but are seriously hindered by environmentally unfriendly cross-linkers and fire hazards for functional applications. This study outlines the fabrication of a fully bio-based, low fire-hazard and superelastic aerogel without any cross-linkers for excellent thermal insulation and oil absorption, via creating highly oriented wave-shaped layer microstructures and subsequently depositing nonflammable siloxane coating on the surface of the aerogel skeleton. The resultant environmental-safety aerogel showed the combined advantages of anisotropic super-elasticity, hydrophobicity, low density and high flame retardancy (limiting oxygen index value of 42%, UL-94 V-0 rating, and extremely low heat release), thus leading to many benefits for solving environmental hazards. For instance, this fire-safety biomass aerogel can be used as the high-performance thermal insulator with low thermal conductivity and high shielding efficiency. The aerogel also exhibited a great selectively oil clean-up absorption with a high absorption capacity of 117 times its own weight and excellent recyclability. Especially, due to the highly oriented microstructures, the aerogel as a filter showed the fastest separation rates of oil/water mixture (flux rate of 145.78 L h-1 g-1) ever reported. Such a method of preparing super-elastic biomass aerogels will provide new insights into their multifunctional applications with high environmental safety.

Banana Leaflike C-Doped MoS2 Aerogels toward Excellent Microwave Absorption Performance.

We describe the design and manufacturing method of a lightweight C-doped MoS2 aerogel with a special regular banana leaflike microstructure used for high-performance microwave absorbers. The aerogel precursor was first fabricated by a self-assembly process between alginate (Alg) and ammonium thiomolybdate (ATM), where Alg as a template was assembled with ATM into regular banana leaflike architectures along the ice growth direction during oriented freezing. After pyrolysis at 900 °C, the C-doped MoS2 aerogels maintained low densities and porous hierarchal banana leaflike structures, where the banana leaves ranged in diameter from about 2 to 5 µm with the growth of small branches. Benefitting from these features, the C-doped MoS2 aerogel possessed excellent microwave absorption performance in the frequency range of 2-18 GHz. The minimum reflection loss (RL) reached -43 dB at 5.4 GHz with a matching thickness of 4 mm, and the effective microwave absorption band (RL < -10 dB) reached 4 GHz (14-18 GHz) at a thickness of 1.5 mm. Our findings also provide strategies for designing MoS2 aerogel nanostructures for electronic devices, catalysis, and other potential applications.

Effects of silencing the DUSP1 gene using lentiviral vector-mediated siRNA on the release of proinflammatory cytokines through regulation of the MAPK signaling pathway in mice with acute pancreatitis.

The present study investigated the effects of dual specificity phosphatase 1 (DUSP1) gene silencing using lentiviral vector-mediated small interfering (si)RNA on the release of proinflammatory cytokines through the regulation of the mitogen­activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway in mice with acute pancreatitis (AP). Two siRNA­DUSP1 sequences and one scramble siRNA sequence were designed, and the expression of DUSP1 was detected using western blot analysis to screen for the one with a higher interference rate. An AP mouse model was established, and KM mice were assigned to either a control, siRNA, AP, AP+PD98059, AP+scramble, AP+siRNA or AP+PD98059+siRNA group. The expression of proinflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)­α, interleukin (IL)­1ß and IL­6, high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), and S100A12 in serum samples were detected using an enzyme­linked immunosorbent assay at 12, 24 and 48 h post­modeling. The serum amylase levels were also detected. The expression levels of DUSP1, TNF­α, IL­1ß, IL­6, HMGB1, S100A12, phosphorylated (p­) extracellular signal­regulated kinase (ERK), p­c­Jun N­terminal kinase (JNK), p­p38, ERK, JNK and p38 in pancreatic, liver, kidney and lung tissues were detected using reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis. Compared with the control group, the siRNA group demonstrated marginally upregulated serum amylase, lipase, urinary trypsinogen­2, and proinflammatory cytokines, HMGB1 and S100A12 in serum and tissues, with no statistically significant difference, elevated expression levels of p­ERK, p­JNK and p­p38, and decreased expression of DUSP1. The other five groups demonstrated increased expression levels of TNF­α, IL­1ß, IL­6, HMGB1, S100A12, amylase, lipase and urinary trypsinogen­2 in serum, and increased expression levels of DUSP1, TNF­α, IL­1ß, IL­6, HMGB1, S100A12, p­ERK, p­JNK and p­p38 in tissues. Compared with the AP group, the AP+PD98059+siRNA group had decreased expression of DUSP1 in tissues, whereas the AP+PD98059 group had decreased serum expression levels of TNF­α, IL­1ß, IL­6, HMGB1, S100A12 and amylase, lipase and urinary trypsinogen­2. The expression levels of TNF­α, IL­1ß, IL­6, HMGB1, S100A12, p­ERK, p­JNK, p­p38 in tissues, and edema of pancreatic tissue were alleviated, whereas the opposite results were observed in the AP+siRNA group with the decreased expression of DUSP1. The results suggested that DUSP1 gene silencing promoted the release of proinflammatory cytokines through activation of the MAPK signaling pathway in mice with AP.

Low 25(OH) D serum levels are related with hip fracture in postmenopausal women: a matched case-control study.

PURPOSE: There is limited information on the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among patients diagnosed with hip fracture in the Chinese Han population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effects of change in the serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH) D] and intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) among postmenopausal women in North China with confirmed hip fracture. METHODS: This study was done from May 1, 2012 to April 30, 2014. Three hundred and forty-nine postmenopausal women who were diagnosed with first-ever hip fracture and 349 matched controls without fracture were used for this study. The 25(OH) D, iPTH, alkaline phosphatase, calcium, and phosphorus levels were measured in fasting venous blood samples collected from the subjects. A predesigned questionnaire was used to collect information on covariates for multivariate analyses to evaluate the hypothesized relationship between vitamin D deficiency and fracture risk. RESULTS: The serum 25(OH) D levels were found to be significantly (P < 0.0001) lower in hip fracture patients than in the controls [37.0 (interquartile range [IQR] 28.0-48.0) nmol/L vs. 41.3 (IQR 32.0-54.5) nmol/L; P < 0.0001], and the iPTH levels were significantly higher in the former group [10.2 (IQR 6.3-14.9) pmol/L vs. 5.8 (IQR 4.1-6.6) pmol/L; P < 0.0001]. Further, a 25(OH) D level ≤50 nmol/L was found to independently indicate the occurrence of hip fracture [odds ratio (OR), 3.023; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 2.154-4.298], as well as hip fracture with concomitant upper limb fracture (OR 4.473; 95 % CI 2.984-10.532). Similarly, a serum iPTH level ≥6.8 pmol/L independently indicated the development of hip fracture (OR 2.498; 95 % CI 1.764-3.942), as well as hip fracture with concomitant upper limb fracture (OR 3.254; 95 % CI 1.998-7.984). CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D insufficiency and secondary hyperparathyroidism were found to be common problems in the sample of postmenopausal women who had experienced hip fracture. Monitoring the alterations in the serum levels of 25(OH) D and iPTH could be applied clinically as independent risk factors for hip fracture.

Sphenopalatine ganglion stimulation with one acupuncture needle for moderate-severe persistent allergic rhinitis: study protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Allergic rhinitis is a symptomatic allergic disease of the nose that affects 10 to 20% of the global population. Chinese otolaryngologists use one acupuncture needle to stimulate the sphenopalatine ganglion because of its potential advantages for treating moderate-severe persistent allergic rhinitis compared with traditional Chinese acupuncture (verum acupuncture); however, little evidence is available to support the wide clinical use thus far. Therefore, we propose a protocol for a parallel, multicenter, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled trial to evaluate sphenopalatine ganglion stimulation with one acupuncture needle compared to verum acupuncture for treatment of moderate-severe persistent allergic rhinitis. METHODS: In the trial, 96 patients previously diagnosed with moderate-severe persistent allergic rhinitis and meeting all inclusion criteria will be allocated to one of two equal therapeutic groups by using a computer-generated randomization list. The interventional group will receive sphenopalatine ganglion stimulation with one acupuncture needle for 4 weeks (once or twice weekly, total four to eight sessions); attending physicians will decide whether the second session is required in a week by examining signs and symptoms. The control group will receive individualized verum acupuncture for 4 weeks (twice weekly, total eight sessions). Follow-up evaluations will be performed 1 month later. The primary outcome measure is the change in the total nasal symptom score from the baseline to week 4. The secondary outcome measures include onset time and duration of effectiveness in every session, change in number of days with moderate-severe persistent allergic rhinitis from the baseline to week 8, change in total immunoglobulin E level and eosinophil count in venous blood from the baseline to week 4, change in Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire score from the baseline to week 4, and clinical waiting time. DISCUSSION: The trial should provide evidence for the benefits of sphenopalatine ganglion stimulation with one acupuncture needle for treating moderate-severe persistent allergic rhinitis, including better change in total nasal symptom score, faster onset time, longer duration of effectiveness, and shorter treatment time. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials: ISRCTN21980724 (registered on 27 March 2014).