[Correlation Analysis of Peripheral Blood B Cell Count with Clinical Features and Prognosis in Patients Newly Diagnosed with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the correlation between peripheral blood B cell count and clinical features and prognosis of patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). METHODS: The relationship of peripheral blood B cell count with clinical features, laboratory indexes and prognosis in 67 patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL was retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: Patients were divided into low B-cell count group (B cell＜0.1×109/L, n=34) and high B-cell count group (B cell≥0.1×109/L, n=33) according to the median B cell count values. Compared with the high B cell count group, the low B cell count group had a higher proportion of patients with Lugano stage III-IV, elevated LDH, elevated ß2-MG and IPI score 3-5 and increased CRP (P =0.033, 0.000, 0.023, 0.001, 0.033). The peripheral CD3+ and CD4+ cell counts of patients in the low B cell count group were significantly lower than those in the high B cell count group (P =0.010, 0.017). After initial treatment, overall response rate (ORR) and complete remission (CR) rate in high B cell count group were significantly higher than those in low B cell count group (P =0.032, 0.013). The median follow-up time of patients was 23(2-77) months, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients in the high B cell count group were significantly better than those in the low B cell count group (P =0.001, 0.002). Univariate analysis showed that pretreatment low B cell count in the peripheral blood was associated with shortened PFS and OS (HR=4.108, P =0.002; HR=8.218, P =0.006). Multivariate analysis showed that low B cell count was an independent prognostic factor for shortened PFS (HR=3.116, P =0.037). CONCLUSION: Decreased peripheral blood B cell count in newly diagnosed DLBCL patients is associated with high-risk clinical features and may affect the efficacy of immunochemotherapy, which is associated with poor clinical prognosis.

Regulating microstructures of aerogels by controlling phase separation mechanism for improving specific surface area and energy harvesting.

Aerogels with 3D porous structures have been attracting increasing attention among functional materials due to their advantages of being lightweight and high specific surface area. Precise control of the porous structure of aerogel is essential to improve its performance. In this work, polylactic acid (PLA) aerogels with distinctly different microstructures were fabricated by precisely controlling the phase separation behavior of the ternary solution system. Rheological and theoretical analyses have revealed that the interactions between polymer molecules, solvents and non-solvents play a crucial role in determining the nucleation and growth of poor olymer and rich polymer phases. By adjusting the non-solvent type and the solution composition, aerogels with spider network structure, bead-like connected microsphere structure, and cluster petal structure were obtained. Ideal spinodal phase separation conditions were obtained to produce aerogels with a homogeneous fiber network structure. The optimum PLA aerogel achieved an extremely porosity of 96 % and a high specific surface area of 114 m2/g, which rendered it with excellent triboelectric generation performance. Thus, this work provides fundamental insights into the precise regulation of the phase separation behavior and the structure of the aerogel, which can help boost the performance and expand the applications of PLA aerogels.

A Multifunctional Asymmetric Fabric for Sustained Electricity Generation from Multiple Sources and Simultaneous Solar Steam Generation.

Harvesting electrical energy from water and moisture has emerged as a novel ecofriendly energy conversion technology. Herein, a multifunctional asymmetric polyaniline/carbon nanotubes/poly(vinyl alcohol) (APCP) that can produce electric energy from both saline water and moisture and generate fresh water simultaneously is developed. The constructed APCP possesses a negatively charged porous structure that allows continuous generation of protons and ion diffusion through the material, and a hydrophilicity-hydrophobic interface which results in a constant potential difference and sustainable output. A single APCP can maintain stable output for over 130 h and preserve a high voltage of 0.61 V, current of 81 µA, and power density of 82.4 µW cm-3 with 0.15 cm3 unit size in the water-induced electricity generation process. When harvesting moisture energy, the APCP creates dry-wet asymmetries and triggers the spontaneous development of electrical double layer with a current density of 1.25 mA cm-3 , sufficient to power small electronics. A device consisting of four APCP can generate stable electricity of 3.35 V and produce clean water with an evaporation rate of 2.06 kg m-2  h-1 simultaneously. This work provides insights into the fabrication of multifunctional fabrics for multisource energy harvesting and simultaneous solar steam generation.

A science mapping-based review of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among construction workers.

INTRODUCTION: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are recognized as a leading cause of nonfatal injuries in construction, but no review of existing studies has systematically analyzed and visualized the trends of WMSDs among construction workers. The current science mapping-based review summarized research published between 2000 and 2021 related to WMSDs among construction workers through co-word, co-author, and citation analysis. METHOD: A total of 63 bibliographic records retrieved from the Scopus database were analyzed. RESULTS: The results identified influential authors with high impacts in this research domain. Moreover, the results indicated that MSDs, ergonomics, and construction not only had the highest occurrence of been studied, but also the highest impact in terms of total link strength. In addition, the most significant contributions to research relating to WMSDs among construction workers have originated primarily from the United States, Hong Kong, and Canada. Furthermore, a follow-up in-depth qualitative discussion was conducted to focus on summarizing mainstream research topics, identifying existing research gaps, and proposing directions for future studies. CONCLUSIONS: This review provides an in-depth understanding of related research on WMSDs among construction workers and proposes the emerging trends in this research field.

Construction and validation of a COVID-19 pandemic trend forecast model based on Google Trends data for smell and taste loss.

Aim: To explore the role of smell and taste changes in preventing and controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, we aimed to build a forecast model for trends in COVID-19 prediction based on Google Trends data for smell and taste loss. Methods: Data on confirmed COVID-19 cases from 6 January 2020 to 26 December 2021 were collected from the World Health Organization (WHO) website. The keywords "loss of smell" and "loss of taste" were used to search the Google Trends platform. We constructed a transfer function model for multivariate time-series analysis and to forecast confirmed cases. Results: From 6 January 2020 to 28 November 2021, a total of 99 weeks of data were analyzed. When the delay period was set from 1 to 3 weeks, the input sequence (Google Trends of loss of smell and taste data) and response sequence (number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases per week) were significantly correlated (P < 0.01). The transfer function model showed that worldwide and in India, the absolute error of the model in predicting the number of newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases in the following 3 weeks ranged from 0.08 to 3.10 (maximum value 100; the same below). In the United States, the absolute error of forecasts for the following 3 weeks ranged from 9.19 to 16.99, and the forecast effect was relatively accurate. For global data, the results showed that when the last point of the response sequence was at the midpoint of the uptrend or downtrend (25 July 2021; 21 November 2021; 23 May 2021; and 12 September 2021), the absolute error of the model forecast value for the following 4 weeks ranged from 0.15 to 5.77. When the last point of the response sequence was at the extreme point (2 May 2021; 29 August 2021; 20 June 2021; and 17 October 2021), the model could accurately forecast the trend in the number of confirmed cases after the extreme points. Our developed model could successfully predict the development trends of COVID-19. Conclusion: Google Trends for loss of smell and taste could be used to accurately forecast the development trend of COVID-19 cases 1-3 weeks in advance.

Novel genetic associations with five aesthetic facial traits: A genome-wide association study in the Chinese population.

Background: The aesthetic facial traits are closely related to life quality and strongly influenced by genetic factors, but the genetic predispositions in the Chinese population remain poorly understood. Methods: A genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and subsequent validations were performed in 26,806 Chinese on five facial traits: widow's peak, unibrow, double eyelid, earlobe attachment, and freckles. Functional annotation was performed based on the expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) variants, genome-wide polygenic scores (GPSs) were developed to represent the combined polygenic effects, and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) heritability was presented to evaluate the contributions of the variants. Results: In total, 21 genetic associations were identified, of which ten were novel: GMDS-AS1 (rs4959669, p = 1.29 × 10-49) and SPRED2 (rs13423753, p = 2.99 × 10-14) for widow's peak, a previously unreported trait; FARSB (rs36015125, p = 1.96 × 10-21) for unibrow; KIF26B (rs7549180, p = 2.41 × 10-15), CASC2 (rs79852633, p = 4.78 × 10-11), RPGRIP1L (rs6499632, p = 9.15 × 10-11), and PAX1 (rs147581439, p = 3.07 × 10-8) for double eyelid; ZFHX3 (rs74030209, p = 9.77 × 10-14) and LINC01107 (rs10211400, p = 6.25 × 10-10) for earlobe attachment; and SPATA33 (rs35415928, p = 1.08 × 10-8) for freckles. Functionally, seven identified SNPs tag the missense variants and six may function as eQTLs. The combined polygenic effect of the associations was represented by GPSs and contributions of the variants were evaluated using SNP heritability. Conclusion: These identifications may facilitate a better understanding of the genetic basis of features in the Chinese population and hopefully inspire further genetic research on facial development.

A Weighted Symmetric Graph Embedding Approach for Link Prediction in Undirected Graphs.

Link prediction is an important task in social network analysis and mining because of its various applications. A large number of link prediction methods have been proposed. Among them, the deep learning-based embedding methods exhibit excellent performance, which encodes each node and edge as an embedding vector, enabling easy integration with traditional machine learning algorithms. However, there still remain some unsolved problems for this kind of methods, especially in the steps of node embedding and edge embedding. First, they either share exactly the same weight among all neighbors or assign a completely different weight to each node to obtain the node embedding. Second, they can hardly keep the symmetry of edge embeddings obtained from node representations by direct concatenation or other binary operations such as averaging and Hadamard product. In order to solve these problems, we propose a weighted symmetric graph embedding approach for link prediction. In node embedding, the proposed approach aggregates neighbors in different orders with different aggregating weights. In edge embedding, the proposed approach bidirectionally concatenates node pairs both forwardly and backwardly to guarantee the symmetry of edge representations while preserving local structural information. The experimental results show that our proposed approach can better predict network links, outperforming the state-of-the-art methods. The appropriate aggregating weight assignment and the bidirectional concatenation enable us to learn more accurate and symmetric edge representations for link prediction.

Development and Applications of Hydrogel-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerators: A Mini-Review.

In recent years, with the appearance of the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), there has been a wave of research on small energy harvesting devices and self-powered wearable electronics. Hydrogels-as conductive materials with excellent tensile properties-have been widely focused on by researchers, which encouraged the development of the hydrogel-based TENGs (H-TENGs) that use the hydrogel as an electrode. Due to the great feasibility of adjusting the conductivity and mechanical property as well as the microstructure of the hydrogels, many H-TENGs with excellent performance have emerged, some of which are capable of excellent outputting ability with an output voltage of 992 V, and self-healing performance which can spontaneously heal within 1 min without any external stimuli. Although there are numerous studies on H-TENGs with excellent performance, a comprehensive review paper that systematically correlates hydrogels' properties to TENGs is still absent. Therefore, in this review, we aim to provide a panoramic overview of the working principle as well as the preparation strategies that significantly affect the properties of H-TENGs. We review hydrogel classification categories such as their network composition and their potential applications on sensing and energy harvesting, and in biomedical fields. Moreover, the challenges faced by the H-TENGs are also discussed, and relative future development of the H-TENGs are also provided to address them. The booming growth of H-TENGs not only broadens the applications of hydrogels into new areas, but also provides a novel alternative for the sustainable power sources.

MXene/Polylactic Acid Fabric-Based Resonant Cavity for Realizing Simultaneous High-Performance Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Shielding and Efficient Energy Harvesting.

Proliferation in telecommunications and integrated/intelligent devices entails an intense concern for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and versatility. It remains an activated passion to launch infusive EMI shielding materials integrated with self-powered peculiarities. Herein, a double-layered MXene/polylactic acid (PLA) fabric resonance cavity (D-MPF-RC) comprised of two MXene/PLA fabrics (MPFs) with alternating MXene and PLA structures that are separated by a poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) frame is developed. The D-MPF-RC achieved 48.5 and 74.8% improvement in SET and SEA, and 24.6% reduction in SER by introducing the double-layered structure and increasing the resonance cavity (RC) distance without varying the material composition and cost. A high shielding efficiency (SE) of 92.3 dB was obtained at an RC distance of 6 mm owing to the synergetic effects of multiple reflections and destructive EM wave interference. The tribopolarity difference between PLA and MXene and the RC structure made the D-MPF-RC a readily available triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) that could convert mechanical energy into electricity. The D-MPF-RC TENG demonstrated an open-circuit voltage of 88 V and achieved a peak power density of 35.4 mW m-2 on a 6.6 MΩ external resistor, which made it possible to charge capacitors and serve as a self-powered tactile sensor. This report offers new insights into the design of high-performance EMI shielding shields with a resonance cavity and proposes a feasible pathway to integrate them with energy harvesting capabilities.

Design and Optimization Principles of Cylindrical Sliding Triboelectric Nanogenerators.

Reciprocating motion is a widely existing form of mechanical motion in the natural environment. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) that work in sliding mode are ideal for harnessing large-distance reciprocating motion, and their energy conversion efficiency could be greatly enhanced by adding springs to them. Herein, we focused on investigating the design and optimization principles of sliding mode TENGs by analyzing the effects of spring parameters and vibration frequency on the triboelectric output performance of typical cylindrical sliding TENGs (CS-TENGs). Experimental study and finite elemental analysis were carried out based on a CS-TENG model assembled using a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film as the negative layer and an aluminum film as the positive layer. The energy output was found to be mainly affected by the change of relative displacement between the two friction layers, rather than the reactive force applied by the springs or the velocity of the sliding motion. However, the frequency of the output signals could be improved when the stiffness coefficient of the springs and the CS-TENG vibration frequency were increased. This study provides valuable directions for the design and optimization of sliding mode TENGs containing springs, and will motivate in-depth research on the fundamental principles of TENG operation.

Versatile Janus Composite Nonwoven Solar Absorbers with Salt Resistance for Efficient Wastewater Purification and Desalination.

Solar steam generation is an efficient way of harvesting solar energy for water purification. Developing a versatile solar absorber with salt resistance and the capability to purify an oil-in-water emulsion is a grand challenge. Herein, a polypropylene (PP) nonwoven fabric-based photothermal absorber is fabricated by the combination of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), polypyrrole (PPy), and a fluorinated hydrophobic coating in a layer-by-layer approach. The specially designed architecture displays a hierarchical microstructure and Janus wetting properties, facilitating solar absorption and heat generation on the evaporation surface, and can effectively prevent salt crystallization. The water layer formed on the superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic bottom surface could repel oil droplets and form a channel to advect concentrated salt back into bulk water, which enabled high purity separation of an oil-in-water emulsion and continuous desalinization of seawater without the reduction of the evaporation rate. As a result, the solar absorber can achieve a remarkable evaporation rate of 1.61 kg m-2 h-1 and an energy efficiency of 91.2% under 1 sun irradiation and shows extraordinary performance in the purification of contaminated wastewater (over 99.8% purity). The strategy proposed provides a pathway for developing versatile high-performance solar absorbers for the sustainable treatment of saline water, wastewater, and oil-containing water.

Enhancing the Performance of Fabric-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerators by Structural and Chemical Modification.

Fabric-based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are promising candidates as wearable energy-harvesting devices and self-powered sensors. Booting the power generation performance is an eternal pursuit for TENGs. Herein, an efficient approach was proposed to enhance the triboelectric performance of commercial velvet fabric by enriching the fiber surface with hierarchical structures and amide bonds through chemical grafting of carbon nanotube (CNT) and poly(ethylenimine) (PEI) via a polyamidation reaction. With an optimized modifier concentration, the fabric-based TENG easily achieved over 10 times improvement in output voltage and current at a low modifier content of less than 1 wt %. The modified-fabric-based TENG was fully washable and exhibited excellent robustness and long-term stability. With a maximum power density of 3.2 W/m2 achieved on a 5 × 106 Ω external resistor, the TENG was able to serve as a power source for various small electronics such as pedometer, digital watch, calculator, and digital timer. In addition, the TENG demonstrated capability in self-powered tactile and pressure sensing and promising potential in human-computer interface applications. The approach proposed provides a feasible path for boosting the triboelectric performance of fabric-based TENGs and gives insights into the design of fabric-based nanogenerators and smart textiles.

Study on binocular visual quality after bifocal and astigmatic bifocal intraocular lens hybrid implantation / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

@#AIM: To compare binocular visual quality of bilateral implantation of a toric bifocal intraocular lens(IOL)or a nontoric bifocal IOL and mix-and-match implantation of a toric bifocal IOL and a nontoric bifocal IOL.<p>METHODS: A cross-sectional study. One hundred and eight eyes of 54 cases were included from January 2020 to January 2021. All participants were divided into three groups according to preexist corneal astigmatism and IOL type. In group A, cornea astigmatism was less than 1.0D in both eyes of 21 cases and bifocal IOLs were implanted. In group B, cornea astigmatism was more than 1.0D in both eyes of 15 cases and toric bifocal IOLs were implanted. In group C, 18 cases of one eye with cornea astigmatism less than 1.0D were implanted with bifocal IOLs, and the other eye with astigmatism more than 1.0D were implanted with toric bifocal IOLs. Preoperative intraocular pressure(IOP), monocular uncorrected distance visual acuity(UDVA), equivalent spherical, postoperative binocular corrected distance visual acuity(CDVA), UDVA, uncorrected intermediate visual acuity(UIVA), uncorrected near visual acuity(UNVA), residual astigmatism, defocus curve and contrast sensitivity were compared among the three groups. Postoperative questionnaire was conducted to evaluate the visual quality of the three groups.<p>RESULTS: There were no significant differences in preoperative UDVA and IOP among the three groups(<i>P</i>>0.05). The postoperative residual astigmatism in group A was significantly higher than the other two groups(<i>P</i>=0.012, <i>P</i><0.05). Binocular UDVA of group B and group C were better than those of group A(all <i>P</i><0.05), binocular UNVA of group B and group C were better than those of group A(all <i>P</i><0.01), but the binocular UIVA of group A was better than that of group B and group C(all <i>P</i><0.01). Contrast sensitivity of group A was significantly lower than that of groups B and C in bright light glare of 6, 12c/d, dark light of 6, 12, 18c/d and dark light glare of 1.5, 3, 6, 12, 18c/d(all <i>P</i><0.05). There was no statistical difference in the postoperative visual function questionnaire among the three groups(<i>P</i>>0.5).<p>CONCLUSION: Mix-and-match implantation of a toric bifocal IOL and nontoric bifocal IOL can effectively improve postoperative binocular visual quality in cataract patients. Correcting astigmatism helps improve the visual contrast sensitivity, however, when astigmatism is completely corrected, it may result in a loss of intermediate vision in patients after surgery.

Shish-Kebab-Structured UHMWPE Coating for Efficient and Cost-Effective Oil-Water Separation.

High-performance low-cost superhydrophobic sponges are desired for selective recycling of leaking oils from open water. Herein, an ingenious method is proposed to fabricate an ultrathin superhydrophobic coating layer on a commercial sponge. The coating layer is composed of a shish-kebab-structured porous ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) film that is fabricated from a UHMWPE/xylene solution by shear flow-induced crystallization. A strong relationship between the shish-kebab crystallite morphology and the superwetting performance is confirmed. The UHMWPE coating layer fabricated at a 900 rpm rotation rate possesses a lamellae size of 95.1 nm and a lamellae distance of 27.4 nm, which lead to a high water contact angle of 157° and a low contact angle hysteresis of 4.5°. The UHMWPE layer prepared in 4 min of treatment is thick enough to prevent the intrusion of water even under vacuum and remain superoleophilic. The developed UHMWPE-coated sponge (UCS) exhibited a high absorption capability of 70-191 g/g toward various oils and solvents, which is comparable with the neat melamine sponge. Its excellent compressibility and durability enabled fast recovery of absorbed oil with a high recovery rate (over 85%) by mechanical squeezing. The UCS could be assembled into small devices to selectively collect oil from open water and a water/oil mixture using a pump, which manifests its promising practical applicability. Apart from these extraordinary properties, the approach developed has the lowest material cost and the shortest processing time hitherto.

Effects of Diets Containing Finger Millet Straw and Corn Straw on Growth Performance, Plasma Metabolites, Immune Capacity, and Carcass Traits in Fattening Lambs.

As the byproduct of finger millet, millet straw is a new forage resource of ruminants. The effect of the combined utilization of millet straw with corn straw on fattening lamb production is seldom reported. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different proportions of millet straw instead of corn straw on the growth performance, blood metabolites, immune response, meat yield, and quality of fattening lamb. Sixty-three-month-old healthy Small-Tailed Han sheep crossbred rams with an average initial weight of 19.28 ± 2.95 kg were randomly divided into four groups, with three replicates in each group and five lambs in each replicate. The replacement ratio of millet straw of each group (Group I, II, III, IV) was 0%, 25%, 35%, 50% at the first stage (the first two months) and 0%, 20%, 28%, 40% in the second period (final two months), respectively. The experiment lasted 4 months 10 days of the pre-feeding period. The results indicated that the body weight gain and average daily gain of group Ⅱ were significantly higher than those of group Ⅰ and group Ⅳ (p < 0.05). The concentration of total protein in group Ⅳ was significantly increased compared to those of the other three groups at the second stage (p < 0.05), which proved that the protein synthesis metabolism capacity was improved with the addition of millet straw. The concentration of the plasma glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase and lactic dehydrogenase of lambs was significantly decreased in group Ⅱ (p < 0.05). The combination of millet straw and corn straw had no impact on the glucose, total cholesterol, and triglycerides metabolism (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference in the pre-slaughter weight, carcass weight, dressing percentage, loin-eye area, and GR value among the four groups (p > 0.05). Furthermore, the immune response and meat quality were not impacted by the different proportions of millet and corn forage diets. The results showed that the combined utilization of millet straw with corn straw could improve the blood biochemistry metabolism capability of fattening lambs. The replacement of 50% of corn straw with millet straw could improve the growth performance and be an application in fattening lamb production.

Enhancing the Performance of a Stretchable and Transparent Triboelectric Nanogenerator by Optimizing the Hydrogel Ionic Electrode Property.

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) with high transparency and stretchability are desired for invisible and adaptable energy harvesting and sensing. Hydrogel-based TENGs (H-TENG) have shown promising attributes toward flexible and transparent devices. However, the effect of hydrogel property on the triboelectric performance of H-TENG is rarely investigated. Herein, dual-network hydrogels composed of dual-cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and sodium alginate (SA) were synthesized and used as ionic electrodes in H-TENGs. The elasticity of the hydrogel was controlled by varying the concentration of SA, and the distinct influence of hydrogel viscoelastic property on H-TENG performance was verified for the first time. By tuning the conductivity and viscoelasticity of PVA/SA hydrogel, the optimum H-TENG exhibited high transparency (over 90%) and stretchability (over 250%) and peak output voltage and current of 203.4 V and 17.6 µA, respectively. A specially designed polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) bag effectively prevents hydrogel dehydration and maintains a stable output in continuous operation. The H-TENG achieved a power density of 0.98 W/m2 on a 4.7 MΩ external resistor. The H-TENG could easily light 240 green and blue LEDs simultaneously and demonstrated capability to power small electronics, such as a digital timer and pedometer. This study provides insights into the influence of hydrogel property on H-TENG performance and gives guidance for designing and fabricating highly stretchable and transparent TENGs.

Reprogramming of sugar transport pathways in Escherichia coli using a permeabilized SecY protein-translocation channel.

In the initial step of sugar metabolism, sugar-specific transporters play a decisive role in the passage of sugars through plasma membranes into cytoplasm. The SecY complex (SecYEG) in bacteria forms a membrane channel responsible for protein translocation. The present work shows that permeabilized SecY channels can be used as nonspecific sugar transporters in Escherichia coli. SecY with the plug domain deleted allowed the passage of glucose, fructose, mannose, xylose, and arabinose, and, with additional pore-ring mutations, facilitated lactose transport, indicating that sugar passage via permeabilized SecY was independent of sugar stereospecificity. The engineered E. coli showed rapid growth on a wide spectrum of monosaccharides and benefited from the elimination of transport saturation, improvement in sugar tolerance, reduction in competitive inhibition, and prevention of carbon catabolite repression, which are usually encountered with native sugar uptake systems. The SecY channel is widespread in prokaryotes, so other bacteria may also be engineered to utilize this system for sugar uptake. The SecY channel thus provides a unique sugar passageway for future development of robust cell factories for biotechnological applications.

Ultrastable and Durable Silicone Coating on Polycarbonate Surface Realized by Nanoscale Interfacial Engineering.

Delamination of coating layer from polymer substrate limits the lifetime and functionality of the protective films. Silicone coating is especially vulnerable to photo irradiation, hydrothermal degradation, and mechanical deformation due to the low interfacial adhesion and mechanical robustness. Herein, an ingenious approach is developed to fabricate ultrastable and durable silicone coating on polycarbonate (PC) substrate through well-controlled nanoscale interfacial engineering. A nanopillar array is fabricated on the PC surface by vacuum-assisted hot embossing using anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates. Significant improvement in interfacial shear strength (ISS) is achieved for the silicone coating on the nanostructured PC surface. The delamination mechanism can be controlled by tuning the nanopillar size, and the maximum ISS of 9.9 MPa was reached on a surface with a nanopillar diameter of 320 nm. Attributed to the increased interfacial area and mechanical interlocking structure, the nanostructured interface can effectively dissipate interfacial stress and prevent cracking; therefore, maintaining excellent transparency and performance in the harsh environment. The coating exhibits extraordinary stability and durability when subjected to UV irradiation for 168 h, hydrothermal aging for 120 h, mechanical bending for 1000 cycles, and even surface damage. Thus, the tough silicone coating on polymer substrate realized by nanoscale interfacial engineering is a promising technique for highly stable and durable transparent surface protection.

Modulation of Helper T Cytokines in Thymus during Early Pregnancy in Ewes.

There is an immune tolerance in maternal immune system during pregnancy, and thymus is a main organ of the immune system. Helper T (Th)1 and Th2 cytokines are involved in the regulation of immune system, but the modulation of Th cytokines in the thymus during early pregnancy is unclear in ewes. Thymuses were collected on day 16 of the estrous cycle, and on days 13, 16, and 25 of pregnancy in ewes. qRT-PCR, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry were used to analyze the expression of Th1 and Th2 cytokines in the thymuses. There was a peak in the expression of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) on day 16 of pregnancy, an upregulation of tumor necrosis factor beta (TNF-ß), and a sustained expression of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and IL-4. Furthermore, there was a peak in the expression of IL-6 on day 13 of pregnancy, no expression of IL-6 on day 16 of the estrous cycle and day 25 of pregnancy, and an upregulation of IL-5 and IL-10 in the thymuses during early pregnancy. The immunohistochemistry results revealed that the IFN-γ and IL-6 proteins were limited to the stromal cells, capillaries, and thymic corpuscles. In conclusion, early pregnancy influenced the production of Th1 and Th2 cytokines of maternal thymus in sheep.

Fabrication of triple-layered vascular grafts composed of silk fibers, polyacrylamide hydrogel, and polyurethane nanofibers with biomimetic mechanical properties.

Mimicking the mechanical properties of native tissue is an important requirement for tissue engineering scaffolds. Blood vessels are subject to repetitive dilation and contraction and possess a special nonlinear mechanical property due to their triple-layered structure. Fabrication of vascular grafts consisting of bioresorbable materials with biomimetic mechanical properties is an urgent demand, as well as a critical challenge. Inspired by the configuration and function of collagen and elastin in native blood vessels, a new type of triple-layered vascular graft (TLVG) was developed in this study. The TLVGs were composed of braided silk as the inner layer, polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogel as the middle layer, and electrospun thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) as the outer layer. The woven-structured silk fibers were able to mimic the properties of the loosely distributed collagen fibers, while the highly elastic PAM hydrogel and TPU nanofibers mimicked the elasticity of elastin in the blood vessel. With this specially designed microstructure and combination of rigid and elastic materials, the TLVGs successfully mimicked the nonlinear mechanical property of native blood vessels. Moreover, TLVGs possess sufficient suture retention strength for surgical implantation. The introduction of a PAM hydrogel layer effectively solved the leaking issue for conventional porous vascular grafts and greatly enhanced the burst pressure. In addition, all materials used have high biocompatibility to human endothelial cells, which indicates that the developed TLVGs have high potential to be used as readily available vascular grafts.