From vulnerable plaque to blood healthy therapy.

Cardiovascular atherosclerotic disease is the leading cause of death in China and in Western nations. People with plaque or stenosis in the coronary artery or the carotid artery are the most susceptible population to suffer from acute events. Current investigations showed that plaque with the characteristics of intra-plaque hemorrhage or a thin cap with a large lipid core was causally associated with vulnerable plaque and plaque rupture. Of the many plaque ruptures occurring in patients with atherosclerotic disease, very few will trigger symptomatic events, rendering it exceedingly difficult to predict adverse outcomes. The assumption that identifying lesions prone to rupture will prevent acute coronary events was unrealistic. Factors in blood, especially those risk factors associated with thrombosis, play an important role as a bridge between plaque rupture and subsequent clinical events. Since there is little management to efficiently decrease the frequency of plaque rupture or erosion, blood healthy therapy, as a therapeutic apheresis to decrease the blood hypercoagulability to modulate the blood to be thrombosis resisting, should be considered as a potential therapeutic approach to reducing the incidence of acute coronary syndrome and stroke.

Enhanced field-emission from a mixture of carbon nanotubes, ZnO tetrapods and conductive particles.

We report the enhancement of field-emission current from a mixture of carbon nanotubes, ZnO tetrapod-like nano structures, and conductive particles. Carbon nanotubes are deposited on the electrode as the field emitters. A MgO layer is printed around the cathode electrode, and ZnO tetrapod-like nano structures are deposited on this layer for the generation of secondary emission electrons. A few conductive particles are also distributed on the MgO layer by spraying or screen-printing. These conductive particles enhance the transverse electric field around the cathode electrode. Consequently, more primary electrons emitted from the carbon nanotubes bombard on the ZnO tetrapods, and secondary emission electrons and scattered electrons are yielded. Finally, the field-emission current is enhanced obviously. As experimental results shown, a high field-emission current about 32 mA in a direct current emission mode has been obtained from a 0.5 cm2 emission site when an electric field of 9 V/microm is applied between cathode and anode. Compared with a conventional carbon nanotube cathode, the field-emission current has been improved about 80%.