Recent advances in understanding the biochemical and molecular mechanism of diabetic cardiomyopathy.

Cardiovascular complications account for significant morbidity and mortality in the diabetic population. Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM), a prominent cardiovascular complication, has been recognized as a microvascular disease that may lead to heart failure. During the past few decades, research progress has been made in investigating the pathophysiology of the disease; however, the exact molecular mechanism has not been elucidated, making therapeutic a difficult task. In this review article, we have discussed a number of diabetes-induced metabolites such as glucose, advanced glycation end products, protein kinase C, free fatty acid and oxidative stress and other related factors that are implicated in the pathophysiology of the DCM. An understanding of the biochemical and molecular changes especially early in the DCM may lead to new and effective therapies toward prevention and amelioration of DCM, which is important for the millions of individuals who already have or are likely to develop the disease before a cure becomes available.

Carbon Nanocoil-Based Fast-Response and Flexible Humidity Sensor for Multifunctional Applications.

Carbon nanocoils (CNCs) are employed to fabricate fast, high-resolution, and reversible humidity sensor based on a flexible liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrate. The humidity sensor displays fast-response (1.9 s) and recovery time (1.5 s), a broad relative humidity (RH) detection range (4-95%), linearity, repeatability, and stability. The rapid response and recovery are considered to benefit from the hydrophobic effect of the LCP substrate and high purity of the CNCs, which give rise to weak physical adsorption. Meanwhile, the high sensitivity results from both the unique helical structure of CNCs and the microporous structure of the LCP substrate. The distinctive structure-related properties enable the sensor to reliably perceive an extremely small RH variation of 0.8%, which is too small to be detected by most humidity sensors reported previously. These features allow the sensor to monitor a variety of important human activities, such as respiration, speaking, blowing, and noncontact fingertip sensation, accurately. Furthermore, different human physical conditions can be distinguished by recognizing the respiration response patterns. In addition, the long-term operation and mechanical bending do not adversely affect the sensing performance.