Rubber Seed Oil-Based UV-Curable Polyurethane Acrylate Resins for Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D Printing.

Novel UV-curable polyurethane acrylate (PUA) resins were developed from rubber seed oil (RSO). Firstly, hydroxylated rubber seed oil (HRSO) was prepared via an alcoholysis reaction of RSO with glycerol, and then HRSO was reacted with isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) and hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) to produce the RSO-based PUA (RSO-PUA) oligomer. FT-IR and 1H NMR spectra collectively revealed that the obtained RSO-PUA was successfully synthesized, and the calculated C=C functionality of oligomer was 2.27 per fatty acid. Subsequently, a series of UV-curable resins were prepared and their ultimate properties, as well as UV-curing kinetics, were investigated. Notably, the UV-cured materials with 40% trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) displayed a tensile strength of 11.7 MPa, an adhesion of 2 grade, a pencil hardness of 3H, a flexibility of 2 mm, and a glass transition temperature up to 109.4 °C. Finally, the optimal resin was used for digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing. The critical exposure energy of RSO-PUA (15.20 mJ/cm2) was lower than a commercial resin. In general, this work offered a simple method to prepare woody plant oil-based high-performance PUA resins that could be applied in the 3D printing industry.

Chinese Herbal Medicine Xingnaojing Injection for Acute Ischemic Stroke: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.

Background: Xingnaojing injection (XNJ) is the only Chinese herbal injection approved for both intracerebral hemorrhage and ischemic stroke (IS) first-aid on ambulances in China; many systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) of XNJ on stroke have been published. The purpose of this research was to evaluate and summarize the current evidence on XNJ for IS. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted for SRs and MAs of XNJ on IS in seven databases up to January 1, 2021. Two authors independently identified SRs and MAs, extracted data, assessed the quality of the included SRs and MAs using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR 2), and assessed quality of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE). Results: A total of 10 SRs met the inclusion criteria. The quality of included SRs using AMSTAR 2 was critically low as the critical items were poorly reported. Only 10% of SRs reported 50% of the 16 items, while the remaining 90% SRs reported just less than half of the items on AMSTAR 2. For GRADE, 7 (35%) of outcomes had low-quality evidence, 10 (50%) with very low, and 3 (15%) with moderate quality evidence. Very low to low quality of evidence indicated XNJ plus conventional therapy (CT) alleviated the neurological deficits of acute IS. Moderate-quality evidence showed XNJ plus CT reduced mortality when compared to Danshen injection plus CT, and very low-quality evidence showed XNJ plus CT could not improve the degree of coma, while low-quality evidence indicated the opposite. Mild adverse events in the CT group were less than those in the XNJ plus CT group, and there were no serious adverse events, but there was no statistical difference between the two groups. The included 10 SRs indicated that XNJ was used for acute IS, but only four SRs (40%) reported the course of disease. Conclusion: XNJ appears to be effective and safe for acute IS in improving the neurological deficits, but the evidence is not robust enough. However, whether administering XNJ immediately after or within 24 h of IS is best remains unknown due to the lack of data. Well-designed large-scale randomized controlled trials with measurable outcomes are required in future studies.

Preparation and Properties of Plant-Oil-Based Epoxy Acrylate-Like Resins for UV-Curable Coatings.

Novel oil-based epoxy acrylate (EA)-like prepolymers were synthesized via the ring-opening reaction of epoxidized plant oils with a new unsaturated carboxyl acid precursor (MAAMA) synthesized by reacting maleic anhydride (MA) with methallyl alcohol (MAA). Since the employed epoxidized oils including epoxidized soybean oil (ESO), epoxidized rubber seed oil (ERSO), and epoxidized wilsoniana seed oil (EWSO) possessed epoxy values of 7.34-4.38%, the obtained epoxy acrylate (EA)-like prepolymers (MMESO, MMERSO, and MMEWSO) indicated a C=C functionality of 7.81-4.40 per triglyceride. Furthermore, effects of the C=C functionality and the addition of hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) diluent on the ultimate properties of the resulting UV-cured EA-like materials were investigated and compared with those of commercially available acrylated ESO (AESO) resins. As the C=C functionality increased, the storage modulus at 25 °C (E'25), glass transition temperature (Tg), 5% weight-loss temperature (T5), tensile strength and modulus (σ and E), and hardness of the coating for both the pure EA and EA/HEMA resins increased significantly as well. These properties indicated similar trends when comparing the EA materials with 30% of HEMA with those pure EA materials. Specially, although ERSO had a clearly lower epoxy value that ESO, both the UV-cured pure MMERSO and MMERSO/HEMA materials showed much better E'25, Tg, σ, and E than their AESO counterparts, indicating that the MAAMA modification of epoxidized plant oils was much more effective than the modification of acrylic acid to achieve high-performance oil-based epoxy acrylate resins.

[Acupuncture of intraorbital and extraorbital acupoints reduces apoptosis of retinal ganglion by down-regulating expression of Caspase-3 and ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 in rabbits with nonarteritis anterior ischemic optic neuropathy].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of acupuncture of intraorbital and extraorbital acupoints on apoptosis and expression of Bax, Bcl-2 and Caspase-3 proteins of retinal ganglion tissue in rabbits with nonarteritis anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), so as to reveal its mechanism underlying improvement of NAION. METHODS: Female New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into four groups: model, intraocular needling (ION), extraocular needling (EON), ION＋EON groups (n＝5 per group), and the 5 healthy eyes of those rabbits in the model group were selected to be used as the control group. The NAION model of the right eye was established by photodynamic stroke method. For ION group, acupoints "Jingming" (BL1), "Chengqi" (ST1) and "Qiuhou" (EX-HN7) were needled, and for EON group, "Cuanzhu" (BL2), "Yuyao" (EX-HN4) and "Qiaoming" (EX) were needled with filiform needles, followed by retaining the needles for 30 min. For ION＋EON group, the 6 acupoints were needled simutaneously. The treatment was conducted once daily for 3 days. The apoptosis of retinal ganglion tissue was detected by using TUNEL fluorescence labeling, and the expression of Bax, Bcl-2 and active Caspase-3 in the retinal ganglion were detected by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Following modeling and compared with the control group, the number of the apoptotic cells, and the expression levels of Bax and Caspase-3 proteins, as well as the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 were significantly increased in the model group (P<0.01), while the expression of Bcl-2 was significantly decreased (P<0.01). After intervention, the number of the apoptotic cells in the ION, EON and ION＋EON groups, and the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 in EON and ION＋EON groups, and the expression of Caspase-3 proteins in the ION and ION＋EON groups were significantly down-regulated (P<0.01, P<0.05), and the expression levels of Bcl-2 in both EON and ION＋EON groups were significantly up-regulated in comparison with the model group (P<0.01). No significant changes were found in the expression levels of Bax in the 3 needling groups relevant to the model group (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture of intraorbital and extraorbital acupoints can reduce apoptosis of retinal ganglion in NAION rabbits via inhibiting the activation of Caspase-3 protein and ratio of Bax/Bcl-2, and up-regulating the expression of Bcl-2 protein.