Negatively interactive effect of chromium and cadmium on obesity: Evidence from adults living near ferrochromium factory.

BACKGROUND: Researchers have reported that chromium (Cr) exposure may be associated with metabolism of glucose and lipids in residents living in a long-term Cr polluted area. Previous statistical analysis is mainly focused on individual chromium exposure. Furtherly, we aim to investigated the independent, combined, and interaction effects of the co-exposure of urine Cr (UCr) with cadmium (UCd), lead (UPb) and manganese (UMn) on body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and the risk of overweight and abdominal obesity. METHOD: We enrolled 1187 participants from annual surveys between 2017 and 2019. Heavy metal concentrations in urine were standardized using covariate-adjusted urine creatinine levels. Multiple linear/logistic regression models were applied to measure the single effect of urine heavy metal concentration on the outcomes. The quantile-based g-computation (g-comp) model was used to evaluate the combined effect of metal mixture on the outcomes and to compare the contribution of each metal. Both additive and multiplicative interactions were measured for UCr with UCd, UPb, UMn on the outcomes. Analysis was performed on the overall population and stratified by smoking habit. RESULTS: For the overall study population, UCr was positively associated with BMI (p trend = 0.023) and waist circumference (p trend = 0.018). For smoking participants, the g-comp model demonstrated that the metal mixture was negatively associated with BMI, with UCr and UCd contributing the most in the positive and negative direction. A negative additive interaction was observed between UCr and UCd on BMI and abdominal obesity. We did not observe a significant interaction effect of UCr with UPb or UMn. CONCLUSION: Our study indicated that Cr and Cd exposure may be associated with BMI and waist circumference, with combined and interaction effects of the heavy metals noted. Further epidemiological and experimental researches could simultaneously consider single and complex mixed exposure to verify the findings and biological mechanisms.

Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale.

BACKGROUND: The Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) is a commonly used questionnaire that measures children's dental fears. AIM: This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the CFSS-DS. DESIGN: The CFSS-DS was translated into Chinese and administered to children in a dental office. The sample comprised 206 child patients aged 6-10 years, 42 of whom were selected for test-retest analysis. The behaviors of all 206 children were rated during their dental appointments and compared to their questionnaire results. RESULTS: The internal consistency (Cronbach's α) was 0.85, and the test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation) was 0.71. The Chinese version of the CFSS-DS showed good criterion validity; children who were uncooperative on the Frankl Scale had higher mean CFSS-DS scores (Z = 5.79). Through factorization, three factors emerged: (1) dental treatment, (2) hospital personnel, and (3) invasive dental procedures. Girls reported more fear than boys (21.79 vs 19.91), and children who had painful dental experiences reported more fear (30.87 vs 20.00). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the CFSS-DS is reliable and valid and operates in China as it does in other cultures. Further studies should include school samples to evaluate children who may not go to the dentist.

Combination of hyaluronic acid hydrogel scaffold and PLGA microspheres for supporting survival of neural stem cells.

PURPOSE: To develop a biomaterial composite for promoting proliferation and migration of neural stem cells (NSCs), as well as angiogenesis on the materials, to rescue central nervous system (CNS) injuries. METHODS: A delivery system was constructed based on cross-linked hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogels, containing embedded BDNF and VEGF-loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microspheres for controlled delivery and support for NSCs in the CNS. The surface morphologies were evaluated by SEM and AFM, mechanical property was investigated by rheological tests, and release kinetics were performed by ELISA. Bioactivity of released BDNF and VEGF was assessed by neuron and endothelial cell culture, respectively. Compatibility with NSCs was studied by immunofluorescent staining. RESULTS: Release kinetics showed the delivery of BDNF and VEGF from PLGA microspheres and HA hydrogel composite were sustainable and stable, releasing ~20-30% within 150 h. The bioactivities preserved well to promote survival and growth of the cells. Evaluation of structure and mechanical properties showed the hydrogel composite possessed an elastic scaffold structure. Biocompatibility assay showed NSCs adhered and proliferated well on the hydrogel. CONCLUSIONS: Our created HA hydrogel/PLGA microsphere systems have a good potential for controlled delivery of varied biofactors and supporting NSCs for brain repair and implantation.

Caries-Preventive Effect of a Public Health Programme for Pit and Fissure Sealant.

PURPOSE: The caries-preventive effect of pit and fissure sealant was found to be related to the incidence of caries in the population. The rate of caries in China has been very low, and a pit and fissure sealant public health programme has been widely carried out since 2005. This study aims to evaluate the caries-preventive effect of this dental public health programme in Beijing, the capital of China. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 3-year longitudinal study was conducted from 2012 to 2015. All students (n = 2973) in one district of Beijing were included. Children who received a sealant were categorised into the sealant group (n = 1648), and the other children were categorised into the no sealant group (n = 1325). RESULTS: The dental caries risk levels in the sealant group and the no sealant group were balanced at baseline. The caries incidences of children only counting four first molars after 28 months were 18.1% and 13.6% for the sealant group and the no sealant group, respectively (Chi-square test, p = 0.001). The risk ratio in the sealant group versus the no sealant group for caries yes/no (only four molars) at 28 months was 0.73 (95% CI, 0.60-0.90; p = 0.001), based on binary logistic regression. CONCLUSIONS: The pit and fissure sealant dental public health programme implemented in Beijing was effective in preventing dental caries in the first permanent molars.

Layer-by-layer assembly of polyelectrolyte films improving cytocompatibility to neural cells.

The using of layer-by-layer assembly polyelectrolyte (PE) films has been suggested as a new versatile technique for surface modification aimed at tissue engineering and cell-based chips. In this study, we investigated the surface morphology of the hyaluronic acid (HA)-based PE films deposited on the amino-functionalized glass slides using atomic force microscopy. These thin films (bilayer number <9) were measured to have nanoscale roughness ranging from 10 to 100 nm. Then the primary hippocampal and cortical neural cells were cultured on the PE films, respectively. After 5 days of culturing, the cytocompatibility to neural cells was evaluated by cellular morphology, neurite outgrowth, and microtubule-associated protein 2 expressions. From the present results, the HA-based PE films were found to be able to support neural cell adhesion and neurite development, especially for the polycation-ending films. It is suggested these HA-based multilayer PE films or similar build-ups could thus be used in the future as a way to modify surfaces for nerve scaffolds and neuron-based chips.

Porous TiO(2)/SiO(2) composite prepared using PEG as template direction reagent with assistance of supercritical CO(2).

Titania-silica mesoporous composites have been prepared using polyethylene glycol (PEG) 20,000 as a template direction reagent with the assistance of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC CO(2)). For this preparation method, the composite precursors of tetrabutyl titanate (TBTT) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) were dissolved in supercritical CO(2) and impregnated into PEG 20,000 using SC CO(2) as swelling agent and carrier. After removal of the PEG template by calcination in air at suitable temperatures, porous titania-silica composites were obtained. Effects of CO(2) pressure and temperature have been studied on the impregnation ratio during the supercritical fluid condition. The composite products were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR spectroscopy, nitrogen sorption-desorption experiments, scanning electronic microscope (SEM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). XRD and nitrogen sorption-desorption experimental results indicate that the titania-silica composite crystallized in anatase phase and has a preferable BET surface area up to 301.98 m(2)/g. It was also demonstrated that the microstructure and macroproperty of TiO(2)/SiO(2) composites depend strongly on the experimental pressure during the impregnation process in SC CO(2). At suitable CO(2) pressure, silica even can be found in a single crystalline structure in nature by observation of TEM. At the same time, SEM indicates that the composite product existed in a spheric form or a cubic form inserted with many holes. So this work provides a new route to control and obtain the special micrography of TiO(2)/SiO(2) composites with the aid of suitable polymer templates in supercritical CO(2).

Selective adsorption and separation of organic dyes from aqueous solution on polydopamine microspheres.

Polydopamine (PDA) microspheres, synthesized by a facile oxidation polymerization route, were evaluated as a potential adsorbent for selective adsorption and separation of organic dyes. The adsorption processes towards nine water-soluble dyes (anionic dyes: methyl orange (MO), eosin-Y (EY), eosin-B (EB), acid chrome blue K (ACBK), neutral dye: neutral red (NR), and cationic dyes: rhodamine B (RhB), malachite green (MG), methylene blue (MB), safranine T (ST)) were thoroughly investigated. The adsorption selectivity of organic dyes onto PDA microspheres was successfully applied for the separation of dyes mixtures. Various influential factors such as solution pH, temperature, and contact time were employed to ascertain the optimal condition for adsorption of representative organic dyes including MB, MG and NR. The pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetics models were used to fit the adsorption kinetics process. Five isothermal adsorption models (Langmuir, Dubnin-Radushkevich, Temkin, Freundlich and Harkins-Jura) were used to investigate the adsorption thermodynamics properties. The results showed that the PDA microspheres owned good selective adsorption ability towards cationic dyes. The adsorption kinetics process conformed to the pseudo-second-order kinetics model and the Langmuir isotherm model was more appropriate for tracing the adsorption behavior than other isotherm models. Thus, we can conclude PDA microspheres may be a high-efficiency selective adsorbent towards some cationic dyes.

Magnetically separable and recyclable Fe3O4-polydopamine hybrid hollow microsphere for highly efficient peroxidase mimetic catalysts.

Magnetic Fe3O4-polydopamine (PDA) hybrid hollow microspheres, in which Fe3O4 nanoparticles were firmly incorporated in the cross-linked PDA shell, have been prepared through the formation of core/shell PS/Fe3O4-PDA composites based on template-induced covalent assembly method, followed by core removal in a tetrahydrofuran solution. The morphology, composition, thermal property and magnetic property of the magnetic hybrid hollow microspheres were characterized by SEM, TEM, FT-IR, XRD, TGA, and vibrating sample magnetometer, respectively. Results revealed that the magnetic hybrid hollow microspheres had about 380 nm of inner diameter and about 30 nm of shell thickness, and 13.6 emu g(-1) of magnetization saturation. More importantly, the Fe3O4-PDA hybrid hollow microspheres exhibited intrinsic peroxidase-like activity, as they could quickly catalyze the oxidation of typical substrates 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Compared with PDA/Fe3O4 composites where Fe3O4 nanoparticles were loaded on the surface of PDA microspheres, the stability of Fe3O4-PDA hybrid hollow microspheres was greatly improved. As-prepared magnetic hollow microspheres might open up a new application field in biodetection, biocatalysis, and environmental monitoring.

Thermoresponsive Photonic Crystal: Synergistic Effect of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-acrylic Acid and Morpho Butterfly Wing.

In this work, we report a simple method to fabricate smart polymers engineered with hierarchical photonic structures of Morpho butterfly wing to present high performance that are capable of color tunability over temperature. The materials were assembled by combining functional temperature responsivity of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-acrylic acid (PNIPAm-co-AAc) with the biological photonic crystal (PC) structure of Morpho butterfly wing, and then the synergistic effect between the functional polymer and the natural PC structure was created. Their cooperativity is instantiated in the phase transition of PNIPAm-co-AAc (varying with the change of temperature) that can alter the nanostructure of PCs, which further leads to the reversible spectrum response property of the modified hierarchical photonic structures. The cost-effective biomimetic technique presented here highlights the bright prospect of fabrication of more stimuli-responsive functional materials via coassembling smart polymers and biohierarchical structures, and it will be an important platform for the development of nanosmart biomaterials.

Vacancy ion-exclusion/adsorption chromatography of aliphatic amines on a polymethacrylate-based weakly basic anion-exchange column.

Vacancy ion-exclusion/adsorption chromatography has been applied to investigate the separation behavior of five aliphatic amines (ethylamine, propylamine, butylamine, pentylamine and hexylamine) on a polymethacrylate-based weakly basic anion-exchange column (Tosoh TSKgel DEAE-5PW). This system is consisted of analytes as a mobile phase and water as an injected sample. In the vacancy ion-exclusion/adsorption chromatography, the elution order was as follows: ethylamine < propylamine < butylamine < pentylamine < hexylamine, depending on their hydrophobicity. The retention times of the amines were decreased with decreasing their concentrations in the mobile phase. The retention times and resolutions of the amines were increased by adding a basic compound (e.g., lithium hydroxide or heptylamine) and by increasing the pH of mobile phase (pH > 11). This was because the dissociations of amine samples in the mobile phase were suppressed and thus the hydrophobic adsorption effects were enhanced. The linearity of calibration graphs could be obtained from the peak areas of the amine samples injected to the 0.05, 0.5 and 5 mM of amine mobile phase at pH 11 by heptylamine. The detection limits of aliphatic amines as injected samples were around 1 microM for five aliphatic amines at three different amine mobile phases. From these results, the retention behaviors of aliphatic amines on vacancy ion-exclusion/adsorption chromatography were concluded to be governed by the hydrophobic adsorption effect.

Ion-exclusion chromatography with conductimetric detection of aliphatic carboxylic acids on a weakly acidic cation-exchange resin by elution with benzoic acid-beta-cyclodextrin.

In this study, an aqueous solution consisting of benzoic acid with low background conductivity and beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) of hydrophilic nature and the inclusion effect to benzoic acid were used as eluent for the ion-exclusion chromatographic separation of aliphatic carboxylic acids with different pKa values and hydrophobicity on a polymethacrylate-based weakly acidic cation-exchange resin in the H+ form. With increasing concentration of beta-cyclodextrin in the eluent, the retention times of the carboxylic acids decreased due to the increased hydrophilicity of the polymethacrylate-based cation-exchange resin surface from the adsorption of OH groups of beta-cyclodextrin. Moreover, the eluent background conductivity decreased with increasing concentration of beta-cyclodextrin in 1 mM benzoic acid, which could result in higher sensitivity for conductimetric detection. The ion-exclusion chromatographic separation of carboxylic acids with high resolution and sensitivity was accomplished successfully by elution with a 1 mM benzoic acid-10 mM cyclodextrin solution without chemical suppression.

Selective determination of ammonium ions by high-speed ion-exclusion chromatography on a weakly basic anion-exchange resin column.

This paper describes an ion-exclusion chromatographic system for the rapid and selective determination of ammonium ion. The optimized ion-exclusion chromatographic system was established with a polymethacrylate-based weakly basic anion-exchange resin column (TSKgel DEAE-5PW) as the separation column, an aqueous solution containing 0.05 mM tetramethylammonium hydroxide (pH 9.10) as eluent with conductimetric detection for the analyte determination. Under the optimum chromatographic conditions, ammonium ion was determined within 2.3 min with a detection limit (S/N=3) better than 0.125 microM. Ammonium ion in rain and river waters was precisely determined using this ion-exclusion chromatographic system.

Silver nanoparticles-decorated polyphosphazene nanotubes: synthesis and applications.

Herein, we report the preparation of poly (cyclotriphosphazene-co-4,4'-sulfonyldiphenol) (PZS) nanotubes decorated with Ag nanoparticles (NPs). The PZS nanotubes have been synthesized firstly via an in situ template approach, and then Ag nanoparticles were prepared via in situ reduction of AgNO3 with NaBH4 as the reductant, supported on the surface of the PZS nanotubes. The as-obtained PZS nanotubes and PZS@Ag NPs composites were characterized by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and UV-vis spectroscopy. Characterization results showed that Ag NPs with good dispersibility were well anchored onto the surface of the PZS nanotubes with superior thermal stability. In addition, the catalytic activities and reusability of these composites were investigated by employing the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) into 4-aminophenol (4-AP) by NaBH4 as a model reaction.

Steric hindrance colloidal microsphere approach to fabricate ordered and interconnected Pt or Pt/Ag hollow hemispheres.

A steric hindrance colloidal microspheres approach (SHCMA) has been developed for the fabrication of ordered Pt or Pt/Ag nanoparticles composite interconnected hollow hemispheres via colloidal lithography and physical vapor deposition. Monolayer ordered silica or silica/Ag nanoparticles composite microspheres partly embedded into the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) were used as template, and Pt was sputtered on it. Due to the PDMS stamp functionalized as a steric hindrance substrate, which guaranteed that the ordered silica or silica/Ag nanoparticles composite microspheres were only coated with Pt film on the sides that exposed in air. After removing the template particles, large area ordered interconnected Pt or Pt/Ag nanoparticles composite hollow hemispheres were generated. The fabricated Pt hollow hemispheres have flat bottoms and are flexible and robust enough to be easily folded. In addition to successfully solving the challenge about ordered structure construction of the hollow Pt or Pt/Ag nanoparticles composite hemispheres here, we also could finely control the wall thickness of these hemispheres easily by changing the sputtering time or current.

[The investigation and analysis of children with dental fear].

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate and analyze the clinical behavior and factors causing dental fear (DF) in children of different ages to provide some valuable information for preventing and reducing the incidence of DF in clinical practice. METHODS: 571 cases of children patients receiving treatment in the pedodontics were evaluated and analyzed according to the evaluation standards of DF. RESULTS: The results suggested that the incidence of DF differed in different age groups. The ratio was higher in younger groups while it was lower in elder groups. The ratio also varied with living conditions,education level of mothers,past experience of dental treatment and other children's response at the clinic. CONCLUSION: The DF caused by various factors can be reduced by the combined effort of children, parents and the medical practitioners.