[Effects of end time of night feeding on the growth and development of infants/toddlers].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of end time of night feeding on body height, body weight, nutritional status, and prevalence rate of dental caries in children at the age of 30 months. METHODS: A total of 416 children who were born from January 2014 to September 2015 and had completed a physical examination as required were enrolled. During the physical examination performed at the age of 30 months, the comprehensive child care record and a self-made questionnaire were used. The children who continued to receive night feeding after the age of 6 months were enrolled as study group (n=269), and those for whom night feeding was ended at the age of 6 months were enrolled as control group (n=147). The two groups were compared in terms of body height, body weight, incidence rate of overweight/obesity, and prevalence rate of dental caries at the age of 30 months. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the study group had a significantly lower body height (92.4±3.0 cm vs 93.3±2.8 cm; P<0.05), a significantly higher incidence rate of overweight/obesity (23.8% vs 12.2%; P<0.05), and a significantly higher prevalence rate of dental caries (14.9% vs 7.5%; P<0.05) at the age of 30 months. CONCLUSIONS: Night feeding continued after the age of 6 months can affect the growth and development of infants/toddlers, cause overnutrition, and increase the prevalence rate of dental caries.

Biomass-derived lightweight SiC aerogels for superior thermal insulation.

Silicon carbide (SiC) aerogels, which possess unique porous structure and high ablation resistance, show great potential as thermal insulation materials, but their wide application is limited by expensive and cumbersome synthetic procedures. Therefore, it is pivotal to develop a facile, versatile, and cost-effective method for producing SiC aerogels. Herein, we have successfully prepared ultra-light SiC nanowire aerogels (SNWAs) boasting remarkably low thermal conductivity, using biomass-derived carbon templates (BCTs) through a direct carbothermal reduction method. The BCTs obtained by simply carbonizing freeze-dried eggplants can serve not only as the carbon sources but also as the templates for the in situ growth of SiC nanowires. The resultant three-dimensional (3D) SNWAs possess various porous structures, incorporating the original micro-sized pores inherited from the eggplant and nano-sized pores constructed from interconnected SiC nanowires. These multi-scale pore structures bestow SNWAs with lower gas-phase heat conduction characteristics. Besides, the numerous stacking faults and heterojunctions present in the SiC nanowires play a key role in obstructing the solid-phase heat transfer and reinforcing the SiC skeleton. As a result, the SNWAs show an exceptionally low thermal conductivity, measuring 0.0149 W m-1 K-1 at room temperature, and maintain this low value (0.0256 W m-1 K-1) even at 500 °C. Remarkably, even after being exposed to air at 1200 °C for 2 h, the SNWAs maintain a low thermal conductivity of 0.0226 W m-1 K-1. Such low-cost and effective preparation of biomass-derived SiC aerogels is anticipated to pave a new avenue for the development of advanced thermal insulators.

Flexible 3D Substrate of Ag Nanoparticle-Loaded Carbon Aerogels with Outstanding Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Performance.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), an ultra-sensitive and non-destructive analytic technique, has attracted wide attention from the scientific community. Despite its rapid development, limited hotspots on the SERS substrates have restricted their potential in practical applications. Herein, we developed a facile method to fabricate a flexible three-dimensional (3D) SERS substrate composed of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs)-loaded carbon aerogels (CAs). Such a flexible Ag NPs/CAs substrate exhibited numerous hotspots, which can facilely be adjusted not only by tuning the density of Ag NPs but also by controlling the bending degree of the flexible substrate. In addition, the influence of hotspots on the local electric field enhancement was investigated by theoretical calculations. Moreover, the 3D network structure of the CAs with a large specific surface area and strong adsorption ability can improve the capture of target molecules. Consequently, the optimal Ag NPs/CAs substrate has a low detection limit of 10-12 M for rhodamine 6G molecules as well as good repeatability. Furthermore, based on the good performance of SERS detection of the Ag NPs/CAs substrate, it can also be practically used for the detection of thiram molecules on the surface of cherry tomatoes. Such a flexible 3D Ag NPs/CAs substrate has great potential for practical environmental monitoring applications.

A split-type structure of Ag nanoparticles and Al2O3@Ag@Si nanocone arrays: an ingenious strategy for SERS-based detection.

Herein, we report a facile strategy of combined SERS measurements based on a split-type SERS substrate, which exhibits excellent SERS activity, detection signal reproducibility and chemical stability. The SERS substrate consists of an ordered Al2O3@Ag@Si nanocone array and Ag nanoparticles (Ag-NPs), both of which are fabricated individually. The Al2O3@Ag@Si nanocone array is obtained by ion-sputtering Ag on an Si nanocone array and then coating an ultrathin (∼2 nm) Al2O3 dielectric layer via atomic layer deposition (ALD). Ag-NPs are synthesized via the liquid phase method and then immersed in an organic solvent for liquid seal. For the SERS measurement, Ag-NPs are dispersed in a liquid containing the probe molecules and then, they self-assemble on the surface of the Al2O3@Ag@Si nanocones. Subsequently, the ultrathin Al2O3 dielectric layer separates Ag-NPs from the Ag@Si nanocones, forming massive gap-introduced hot spots. This substrate is sensitive to 1 pM Rhodamine R6G with an average enhancement factor of up to 109, exhibiting excellent SERS activity. Moreover, due to the protection of the Al2O3 dielectric layer and the organic solvent for the Ag@Si nanocones and Ag-NPs against oxidation, the split-type SERS substrate achieves an SERS signal with almost no attenuation after five months, indicating its good chemical stability.

[Expression of hOCT1 in patients with chronic myelogeneous leukemia treated by imatinib mesylate].

OBJECTIVE: To measure the expression of hOCT1 gene in patients with Chronic Myelogeneous Leukemia (CML) and to explore its role in the progress of the disease and responding to Imatinib Mesylate (IM) treatment. METHODS: Sixty three peripheral blood or bone marrow samples were taken from 30 patients with CML (20 in chronic phase, 10 in advanced phase). The samples were divided into two groups: responding (optimal and suboptimal) and non-responding according to effectiveness of the IM treatment. The mRNA levels of hOCT1 gene were detected with RT-PCR (SQ-PCR), 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 months after the IM therapy. The associations between hOCT1 gene levels and clinical presentations, laboratory indicators and cytogenetic findings were analysed. RESULTS: No significant difference in the expression levels of hOCT1 gene was found before and after the IM treatment (0.5110+/-0.1629 vs 0.5207+/-0.1909, P=0.5840). No significant difference in the expression levels of hOCT1 genes was found between the patients in chronic phase and the patients in advanced phase before the IM treatment (0.5525+/-0.1985 vs 0.4490+/-0.1717, P=0.1090). The levels of hOCT1 did not have significant changes 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 months after the IM treatment (P=0.3412). No significant difference in the expression levels of hOCT1 genes was found between the 15 patients with optimal and suboptimal responding to IM and the 5 patients with no responding to IM (0.5820+/-0.1460 vs 0.4640+/-0.1781, P=0.127). Although the hOCT1 levels of the 16 chronic patients increased after IM treatment compared to the baseline (0.5207+/-0.1909 vs 0.5110+/-0.1629, P=0.001), there was no significant correlation between the increase of hOCT1 and the decrease of BCR-ABL (P=0.821). CONCLUSION: hOCT1 has no association with the stage and course of CML, nor with the effectiveness of IM therapy.