Preparation of Esterified Starches with Different Amylose Content and Their Blending with Polybutylene Succinate.

Three types of starch with different amylose content were esterified and blended with polybutylene succinate (PBS) to obtain esterified manioc starch/PBS (EMS/PBS), esterified corn starch/PBS (ECS/PBS), and esterified waxy corn starch/PBS (EWS/PBS) composites. The EMS/PBS and ECS/PBS composites with high amylose content displayed typical V-type crystal structures. The original crystals of EWS, which had low amylose content, were disrupted during the esterification process. EWS exhibited the strongest interaction with PBS and the most favorable interface compatibility. The pyrolysis temperature was in order of EMS/PBS < ECS/PBS < EWS/PBS. The elongation at break of the three blends was higher than that of pure PBS. The esterification and plasticization of the EWS/PBS composite were the most comprehensive. The EWS/PBS composite showed the lowest storage modulus (G') and complex viscosity (η*). The interfacial bonding force of the composite materials increased with more amylopectin, decreasing intermolecular forces and destroying crystal structures, which decreased G' and η* and increased toughness. The EWS/PBS composite, with the least amylose content, had the best hydrophobicity and degradation performance.

Tailored Fluorosurfactants through Controlled/Living Radical Polymerization for Highly Stable Microfluidic Droplet Generation.

Droplet-based microfluidics represents a disruptive technology in the field of chemistry and biology through the generation and manipulation of sub-microlitre droplets. To avoid droplet coalescence, fluoropolymer-based surfactants are commonly used to reduce the interfacial tension between two immiscible phases to stabilize droplet interfaces. However, the conventional preparation of fluorosurfactants involves multiple steps of conjugation reactions between fluorinated and hydrophilic segments to form multiple-block copolymers. In addition, synthesis of customized surfactants with tailored properties is challenging due to the complex synthesis process. Here, we report a highly efficient synthetic method that utilizes living radical polymerization (LRP) to produce fluorosurfactants with tailored functionalities. Compared to the commercialized surfactant, our surfactants outperform in thermal cycling for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, and exhibit exceptional biocompatibility for cell and yeast culturing in a double-emulsion system. This breakthrough synthetic approach has the potential to revolutionize the field of droplet-based microfluidics by enabling the development of novel designs that generate droplets with superior stability and functionality for a wide range of applications.

Management strategies of dental anxiety and uncooperative behaviors in children with Autism spectrum disorder.

BACKGROUND: Children with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was frequently experienced dental anxiety and uncooperative behaviors during dental treatment. Oral health care was necessary because of the poor oral hygiene and prevalent dental diseases in this population. AIM: In this systematic review, we evaluated the effectiveness and feasibility for pediatric dentist to manage the dental anxiety in children with ASD. DESIGN: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were systematically performed on the literature search. The date of eligible publications was from inception to January 2023. After that, the quality of eligible studies was assessed by the Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS). Review findings were summarized using the PRISMA Statement for reporting. RESULTS: A total of six studies were systematically evaluated according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Five studies were conducted to evaluate ASD Children's anxiety and uncooperative performance in the progressive oral examination, oral disease prophylaxis and fluoride application. The other one study evaluated the success rate of treatment in decayed permanent tooth treatment. In the included studies, four studies indicated that it was extremely necessary to reduce dental anxiety of ASD children to increase the cooperation in sensory-adapted dental environment (SADE). CONCLUSION: It is not always effective and feasible for pediatric dentist to manage the dental anxiety in children with autism during routine oral examination. Meanwhile, it is necessary for ASD children to conduct preoperative psychological assessment, to investigate parents' expectations and cooperation, and to determine whether to start corresponding dental treatment.

Simple, low-cost fabrication of semi-circular channel using the surface tension of solder paste and its application to microfluidic valves.

This work presents a simple, low-cost method to fabricate semi-circular channels using solder paste, which can amalgamate the cooper surface to form a half-cylinder mold using the surface tension of Sn-Pd alloy (the main component in solder paste). This technique enables semi-circular channels to be manufactured with different dimensions. These semi-circular channels will then be integrated with a polymethylmethacrylate frame and machine screws to create miniaturized, portable microfluidic valves for sequential liquid delivery and particle synthesis. This approach avoids complicated fabrication processes and expensive facilities and thus has the potential to be a useful tool for lab-on-a-chip applications.

A rapid, maskless 3D prototyping for fabrication of capillary circuits: Toward urinary protein detection.

Proteinuria is an established risk marker for progressive renal function loss and patients would significantly benefit from a point-of-care testing. Although extensive work has been done to develop the microfluidic devices for the detection of urinary protein, they need the complicated operation and bulky peripherals. Here, we present a rapid, maskless 3D prototyping for fabrication of capillary fluidic circuits using laser engraving. The capillary circuits can be fabricated in a short amount of time (<10 min) without the requirements of clean-room facilities and photomasks. The advanced capillary components (e.g., trigger valves, retention valves and retention bursting valves) were fabricated, enabling the sequential liquid delivery and sample-reagent mixing. With the integration of smartphone-based detection platform, the microfluidic device can quantify the urinary protein via a colorimetric analysis. By eliminating the bulky and expensive equipment, this smartphone-based detection platform is portable for on-site quantitative detection.

Liquid metal enabled pump.

Small-scale pumps will be the heartbeat of many future micro/nanoscale platforms. However, the integration of small-scale pumps is presently hampered by limited flow rate with respect to the input power, and their rather complicated fabrication processes. These issues arise as many conventional pumping effects require intricate moving elements. Here, we demonstrate a system that we call the liquid metal enabled pump, for driving a range of liquids without mechanical moving parts, upon the application of modest electric field. This pump incorporates a droplet of liquid metal, which induces liquid flow at high flow rates, yet with exceptionally low power consumption by electrowetting/deelectrowetting at the metal surface. We present theory explaining this pumping mechanism and show that the operation is fundamentally different from other existing pumps. The presented liquid metal enabled pump is both efficient and simple, and thus has the potential to fundamentally advance the field of microfluidics.

Clodronate liposomes reduce excessive scar formation in a mouse model of burn injury by reducing collagen deposition and TGF-ß1 expression.

Clodronate liposome injection is an effective approach to selectively and specifically depleting macrophages. Macrophages play a crucial role in cutaneous wound healing and are associated with excessive scar formation. Use of clodronate liposomes to enhance cutaneous wound healing and reduce scar formation could represent a major advance in wound therapy and hypertrophic scar treatment. This study aimed to investigate the effects of subcutaneous or intraperitoneal injection of clodronate liposomes on cutaneous wound healing and scar formation. A burn injury mouse model was used. Mice were treated with subcutaneous or intraperitoneal injection of clodronate liposomes. Wound healing time was analyzed and scar tissues were harvested for hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot analyses. Wound healing time in treated mice was extended. HE showed that the basal layer of the epidermis in treated scars was flattened, the dermis layer was not significantly thickened, and collagen fibers were well arranged, with few cells and micro vessels. RT-PCR and Western blot analyses showed that the levels of TGF-ß1 and collagen I-α2 were decreased in treated mice. Clodronate liposomes reduce excessive scar formation and delay cutaneous wound healing possibly by reducing collagen deposition and macrophage-derived TGF-ß1 expression.

Poor oral health was associated with higher risk of gastric cancer: Evidence from 1431677 participants.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the association between oral health and the risk of gastric cancer (GC) has gradually attracted increased interest. However, in terms of GC incidence, the association between oral health and GC incidence remains controversial. Periodontitis is reported to increase the risk of GC. However, some studies have shown that periodontitis has no effect on the risk of GC. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess whether there is a relationship between oral health and the risk of GC. AIM: To assess whether there was a relationship between oral health and the risk of GC. METHODS: Five databases were searched to find eligible studies from inception to April 10, 2023. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale score was used to assess the quality of included studies. The quality of cohort studies and case-control studies were evaluated separately in this study. Incidence of GC were described by odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Funnel plot was used to represent the publication bias of included studies. We performed the data analysis by StataSE 16. RESULTS: A total of 1431677 patients from twelve included studies were enrolled for data analysis in this study. According to our analysis, we found that the poor oral health was associated with higher risk of GC (OR = 1.15, 95%CI: 1.02-1.29; I2 = 59.47%, P = 0.00 < 0.01). Moreover, after subgroup analysis, the outcomes showed that whether tooth loss (OR = 1.12, 95%CI: 0.94-1.29; I2 = 6.01%, P > 0.01), gingivitis (OR = 1.19, 95%CI: 0.71-1.67; I2 = 0.00%, P > 0.01), dentures (OR = 1.27, 95%CI: 0.63-1.19; I2 = 68.79%, P > 0.01), or tooth brushing (OR = 1.25, 95%CI: 0.78-1.71; I2 = 88.87%, P > 0.01) had no influence on the risk of GC. However, patients with periodontitis (OR = 1.13, 95%CI: 1.04-1.23; I2 = 0.00%, P < 0.01) had a higher risk of GC. CONCLUSION: Patients with poor oral health, especially periodontitis, had a higher risk of GC. Patients should be concerned about their oral health. Improving oral health might reduce the risk of GC.

White light from a single-emitter light-emitting electrochemical cell.

We report a novel and generic approach for attaining white light from a single-emitter light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC). With an active-layer comprising a multifluorophoric conjugated copolymer (MCP) and an electrolyte designed to inhibit MCP energy-transfer interactions during LEC operation, we are able to demonstrate LECs that emit broad-band white light with a color rendering index of 82, a correlated-color temperature of 4000 K, and a current conversion efficacy of 3.8 cd/A. It is notable that this single-emitter LEC configuration eliminates color-drift problems stemming from phase separation, which are commonly observed in conventional blended multiemitter devices. Moreover, the key role of the electrolyte in limiting undesired energy-transfer reactions is highlighted by the observation that an electrolyte-free organic light-emitting diode comprising the same MCP emits red light.

A Non-Newtonian liquid metal enabled enhanced electrography.

Biopotential signals, like electrocardiography (ECG), electromyography (EMG), and electroencephalography (EEG), can help diagnose cardiological, musculoskeletal and neurological disorders. Dry silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes are commonly used to obtain these signals. While a conductive hydrogel can be added to Ag/AgCl electrodes to improve the contact and adhesion between the electrode and the skin, dry electrodes are prone to movement. Considering that the conductive hydrogel dries over time, the use of these electrodes often creates an imbalanced skin-electrode impedance and a number of sensing issues in the front-end analogue circuit. This issue can be extended to several other electrode types that are commonly in use, in particular, for applications with a need for long-term wearable monitoring such as ambulatory epilepsy monitoring. Liquid metal alloys, such as eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn), can address key critical requirements around consistency and reliability but present challenges on low viscosity and the risk of leakage. To solve these problems, here, we demonstrate the use of a non-eutectic Ga-In alloy as a shear-thinning non-Newtonian fluid to offer superior performance to commercial hydrogel electrodes, dry electrodes, and conventional liquid metals for electrography measurements. This material has high viscosity when still and can flow like a liquid metal when sheared, preventing leakage while allowing the effective fabrication of electrodes. Moreover, the Ga-In alloy not only has good biocompatibility but also offers an outstanding skin-electrode interface, allowing for the long-term acquisition of high-quality biosignals. The presented Ga-In alloy is a superior alternative to conventional electrode materials for real-world electrography or bioimpedance measurement.

Tumor targetable and pH-sensitive polymer nanoparticles for simultaneously improve the Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and malignant breast cancer.

In the recent study, we have developed novel tumor targetable and pH-sensitive PLGA nanoparticles co-loaded with camptothecin (CPT) and metformin (Metf) to simultaneously improve the Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and malignant breast cancer. To improve the drug loading efficiency, the hydrophobic CPT was conjugated with PLGA polymer by the pH-sensitive hydrazone bonds (hyd). Then, the Metf was physically loaded into the hydrophobicity inner core of CPT-conjugated PLGA nanocomplex to form the dual drugs-loaded nanoparticles (NP/CPT-Metf). Furthermore, on the surface of NP/CPT-Metf was modified with tumor-homing CGKRK peptides to obtain the tumor targetable and pH-sensitive polymer nanoparticles (CNP/CPT-Metf). It was demonstrated that the developed CNP/CPT-Metf displayed sufficient sensitivity to the weak acidic tumor microenvironment. Besides, excellent ability of CNP/CPT-Metf to mediate accumulation of drugs in cells and tumor tissues finally in turn resulted in a signal enhanced anti-tumor effect. Furthermore, it was demonstrated as well that CNP/CPT-Metf was able of significantly alleviating the type 2 diabetes mellitus in diabetic mice. In summary, the developed multifunctional polymer nanoparticles might represent a promising strategy for simultaneously improve the T2DM and treat malignant breast cancer.

Nanomaterial integrated 3D printing for biomedical applications.

3D printing technology, otherwise known as additive manufacturing, has provided a promising tool for manufacturing customized biomaterials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. A vast variety of biomaterials including metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites are currently being used as base materials in 3D printing. In recent years, nanomaterials have been incorporated into 3D printing polymers to fabricate innovative, versatile, multifunctional hybrid materials that can be used in many different applications within the biomedical field. This review focuses on recent advances in novel hybrid biomaterials composed of nanomaterials and 3D printing technologies for biomedical applications. Various nanomaterials including metal-based nanomaterials, metal-organic frameworks, upconversion nanoparticles, and lipid-based nanoparticles used for 3D printing are presented, with a summary of the mechanisms, functional properties, advantages, disadvantages, and applications in biomedical 3D printing. To finish, this review offers a perspective and discusses the challenges facing the further development of nanomaterials in biomedical 3D printing.

Gallium-Based Liquid Metal Particles for Therapeutics.

Gallium (Ga) and Ga-based liquid metal (LM) alloys offer low toxicity, excellent electrical and thermal conductivities, and fluidity at or near room temperature. Ga-based LM particles (LMPs) synthesized from these LMs exhibit both fluidic and metallic properties and are suitable for versatile functionalization in therapeutics. Functionalized Ga-based LMPs can be actuated using physical or chemical stimuli for drug delivery, cancer treatment, bioimaging, and biosensing. However, many of the fundamentals of their unique characteristics for therapeutics remain underexplored. We present the most recent advances in Ga-based LMPs in therapeutics based on the underlying mechanisms of their design and implementation. We also highlight some future biotechnological opportunities for Ga-based LMPs based on their extraordinary advantages.

Focusing of sub-micrometer particles in microfluidic devices.

Sub-micrometer particles (0.10-1.0 µm) are of great significance to study, e.g., microvesicles and protein aggregates are targets for therapeutic intervention, and sub-micrometer fluorescent polystyrene (PS) particles are used as probes for diagnostic imaging. Focusing of sub-micrometer particles - precisely control over the position of sub-micrometer particles in a tightly focused stream - has a wide range of applications in the field of biology, chemistry and environment, by acting as a prerequisite step for downstream detection, manipulation and quantification. Microfluidic devices have been attracting great attention as desirable tools for sub-micrometer particle focusing, due to their small size, low reagent consumption, fast analysis and low cost. Recent advancements in fundamental knowledge and fabrication technologies have enabled microfluidic focusing of particles at sub-micrometer scale in a continuous, label-free and high-throughput manner. Microfluidic methods for the focusing of sub-micrometer particles can be classified into two main groups depending on whether an external field is applied: 1) passive methods, which utilize intrinsic fluidic properties without the need of external actuation, such as inertial, deterministic lateral displacement (DLD), viscoelastic and hydrophoretic focusing; and 2) active methods, where external fields are used, such as dielectrophoretic, thermophoretic, acoustophoretic and optical focusing. This article mainly reviews the studies on the focusing of sub-micrometer particles in microfluidic devices over the past 10 years. It aims to bridge the gap between the focusing of micrometer and nanometer scale (1.0-100 nm) particles and to improve the understanding of development progress, current advances and future prospects in microfluidic focusing techniques.

[Research on thymopentin-loaded N-trimethyl chitosan nanoparticles administered through mouth].

OBJECTIVE: To prepare a peroral thymopentin-loaded N-trimethyl chitosan chloride-nanoparticle (Tp5-TMC-NP) ,and observe the pharmacodynamic action when the Tp5-TMC-NP is taken by way of the mouth. METHODS: N-trimethyl chitosan chloride was first synthesized, and then Tp5-TMC-NP was prepared with the formulation technology optimized by the Central Composite Design. The influence of Tp5-TMC-NP on the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ of T-lymphocytes were determined by flow cytometer. RESULTS: The regular global Tp5-TMC-NP prepared with the optimized formulation craft had the mean diameter of 110.6 nm and got the entrapment efficiency of 78.8%. The ratio of lymphocyte CD4+/CD8+ of Wistar rat administered with Tp5-TMC-NP perfusing stomach had 2.59 times higher than that with Tp5. CONCLUSION: Taken orally the Tp5-TMC-NP has much higher efficiency than Tp5.

Epidemiology of 45,616 suspect cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease in Chongqing, China, 2011-2015.

Epidemiology and etiology of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) based on large sample size or evaluation of detection for more enterovirus serotypes are not well investigated in Chongqing of China. 45,616 suspect HFMD patients were prospectively enrolled among whom 21,615 were laboratory confirmed HFMD cases over a 5-year period (January 2011 to December 2015). Their epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory data were extracted and stratified by month, age, sex, disease severity, and enterovirus serotype. Subsequently 292 non-EV-A71/CV-A16 HFMD confirmed cases were randomly selected in three consecutive outbreaks to detect CV-A6 and CV-A10, using RT-PCR. Results showed that the HFMD epidemic peaked in early summer and autumn. The median age of onset was 2.45 years with a male-to-female ratio of 1.54:1, and with children under 5 years of age accounting for 92.54% of all confirmed cases. EV-A71 and CV-A16 infection accounted for only 36.05% (7793/21615) of total confirmed cases while EV-A71 accounted for 59.64% (232/389) of severe cases. Importantly, the proportion of EV-A71 infection generally increased with age which showed rapid growth in severe cases. CV-A6 and CV-A10 were tested positive in Chongqing, but CV-A6 had greater positive rates of 62.33% while CV-A10 had 4.79% in non-EV-A71/CV-A16 HFMD confirmed cases.

Photodegradation of polyfluorene and fluorene oligomers with alkyl and aromatic disubstitutions.

The stability of fluorene-based compounds and polymers, especially at the bridged C-9 position under photoirradiation and thermal treatment, has claimed wide attention. We report the electronic, vibrational, and MALDI-TOF mass spectral combined studies for the fluorene oligomers with alkyl and aromatic substitutions under UV-light irradiation. The low-energy emission and the formation of ketonic defects after degradation highly depend on the proportion of alkyl substitution. The oligomer with fully aromatic substitution shows good stability, but when the proportion of alkyl substitution increases, their photostability rapidly decreases. The mass spectra show not only the mass of the fluorenone-fluorene trimer but also another new degradation product with a large mass (pristine oligomer plus 14) from alkyl oxidation, which testify to the assistance of alkyl side chain during degradation. We propose that the degradation of fluorene is a radical chain process propagated by alkyl side chains, and then the different stability between alkyl and aromatic substitution can be well explained.

White light-emitting electrochemical cell.

We report a light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) with air-stable electrodes and a solution-processed single-layer active material that emits warm-white light (CIE coordinates = (0.39, 0.43); color rendering index =83) with significant brightness (B) at a low voltage. The carefully tuned trichromatic device exhibits a short turn-on time (∼5 s to B > 100 cd/m(2)), high efficiency (3.1 cd/A at B = 240 cd/m(2)) and good operational stability (17 h at B > 100 cd/m(2)). We also report a blue LEC with a highly respectable set of device properties in the form of a turn-on time of ∼5 s, an efficiency of 3.6 lm/W and 5.6 cd/A, and an uninterrupted operational lifetime of 25 h. Finally, by analyzing data from trichromatic and monochromatic devices as well as from the constituent fluorescent CPs, we are able to point out a viable path toward further improvements in the performance of the white-emitting LEC.