Widespread variation in molecular interactions and regulatory properties among transcription factor isoforms.

Most human Transcription factors (TFs) genes encode multiple protein isoforms differing in DNA binding domains, effector domains, or other protein regions. The global extent to which this results in functional differences between isoforms remains unknown. Here, we systematically compared 693 isoforms of 246 TF genes, assessing DNA binding, protein binding, transcriptional activation, subcellular localization, and condensate formation. Relative to reference isoforms, two-thirds of alternative TF isoforms exhibit differences in one or more molecular activities, which often could not be predicted from sequence. We observed two primary categories of alternative TF isoforms: "rewirers" and "negative regulators", both of which were associated with differentiation and cancer. Our results support a model wherein the relative expression levels of, and interactions involving, TF isoforms add an understudied layer of complexity to gene regulatory networks, demonstrating the importance of isoform-aware characterization of TF functions and providing a rich resource for further studies.

Appropriately Reduced Nitrogen and Increased Phosphorus in Ratooning Rice Increased the Yield and Reduced the Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Southeast China.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions while improving productivity is the core of sustainable agriculture development. In recent years, rice ratooning has developed rapidly in China and other Asian countries, becoming an effective measure to increase rice production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in these regions. However, the lower yield of ratooning rice caused by the application of a single nitrogen fertilizer in the ratooning season has become one of the main reasons limiting the further development of rice ratooning. The combined application of nitrogen and phosphorus plays a crucial role in increasing crop yield and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The effects of combined nitrogen and phosphorus application on ratooning rice remain unclear. Therefore, this paper aimed to investigate the effect of combined nitrogen and phosphorus application on ratooning rice. Two hybrid rice varieties, 'Luyou 1831' and 'Yongyou 1540', were used as experimental materials. A control treatment of nitrogen-only fertilization (187.50 kg·ha-1 N) was set, and six treatments were established by reducing nitrogen fertilizer by 10% (N1) and 20% (N2), and applying three levels of phosphorus fertilizer: N1P1 (168.75 kg·ha-1 N; 13.50 kg·ha-1 P), N1P2 (168.75 kg·ha-1 N; 27.00 kg·ha-1 P), N1P3 (168.75 kg·ha-1 N; 40.50 kg·ha-1 P), N2P1 (150.00 kg·ha-1 N; 13.50 kg·ha-1 P), N2P2 (150.00 kg·ha-1 N; 27.00 kg·ha-1 P), and N2P3 (150.00 kg·ha-1 N; 40.50 kg·ha-1 P). The effects of reduced nitrogen and increased phosphorus treatments in ratooning rice on the yield, the greenhouse gas emissions, and the community structure of rhizosphere soil microbes were examined. The results showed that the yield of ratooning rice in different treatments followed the sequence N1P2 > N1P1 > N1P3 > N2P3 > N2P2 > N2P1 > N. Specifically, under the N1P2 treatment, the average two-year yields of 'Luyou 1831' and 'Yongyou 1540' reached 8520.55 kg·ha-1 and 9184.90 kg·ha-1, respectively, representing increases of 74.30% and 25.79% compared to the N treatment. Different nitrogen and phosphorus application combinations also reduced methane emissions during the ratooning season. Appropriately combined nitrogen and phosphorus application reduced the relative contribution of stochastic processes in microbial community assembly, broadened the niche breadth of microbial communities, enhanced the abundance of functional genes related to methane-oxidizing bacteria and soil ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in the rhizosphere, and decreased the abundance of functional genes related to methanogenic and denitrifying bacteria, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the ratooning season. The carbon footprint of ratooning rice for 'Luyou 1831' and 'Yongyou 1540' decreased by 25.82% and 38.99%, respectively, under the N1P2 treatment compared to the N treatment. This study offered a new fertilization pattern for the green sustainable development of rice ratooning.

CRISPR-Cas12a based target recognition initiated duplex-specific nuclease enhanced fluorescence and colorimetric analysis of cell-free DNA (cfDNA).

The significant role of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) for disease diagnosis, including cancer, has garnered a lot of attention. The challenges of creating target-specific primers and the possibility of false-positive signals make amplification-based detection methods problematic. Fluorescent biosensors based on CRISPR-Cas have been widely established, however they still require an amplification step before they can be used for detection. To detect cfDNA, researchers have created a CRISPR-Cas12a-based nucleic acid amplification-free fluorescent biosensor that uses a combination of fluorescence and colorimetric signaling improved by duplex-specific nuclease (DSN). DSN-assisted signal recycling is initiated in H1@MBs when the target cfDNA activates the CRISPR-Cas12a complex, leading to the degradation of single-strand DNA (ssDNA) sequences. This method has an extremely high detection limit for the BRCA-1 breast cancer gene. In addition to measuring viral DNA in a field-deployable and point-of-care testing (POCT) platform, this fast and highly selective sensor can be used to evaluate additional nucleic acid biomarkers.

Microneedle Patch Delivery of PLCG1-siRNA Efficient Enhanced Temozolomide Therapy for Glioblastoma.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) and drug resistance present challenges for chemotherapy of glioblastoma (GBM). A microneedle (MN) patch with excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability was designed to bypass the BBB and release temozolomide (TMZ) and PLCG1-siRNA directly into the tumor site for synergistic treatment of GBM. The codelivery of TMZ and PLCG1-siRNA enhanced DNA damage and apoptosis. The potential mechanism behind this enhancement is to knockdown of PLCG1 expression, which positively regulates the expression of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 genes, thereby preventing DNA repair and enhancing the sensitivity of GBM to TMZ. The MN patch enables long-term sustainable drug release through in situ implantation and increases local drug concentrations in diseased areas, significantly extending mouse survival time compared to other drug treatment groups. MN drug delivery provides a platform for the combination treatment of GBM and other central nervous system diseases.

Integrating transcriptomics and network pharmacology to reveal the mechanisms of total Rhizoma Coptidis alkaloids against nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has emerged as a major cause of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, posing a significant threat to public health. Rhizoma Coptidis, a traditional Chinese medicinal herb has been shown to have significant curative effects on liver diseases. Total Rhizoma Coptidis Alkaloids (TRCA) is a primarily alkaloid mixture extracted from Rhizoma Coptidis, and its constituents are widely accepted to have hepatoprotective effects. AIM OF THE STUDY: This work aimed to investigate the efficacy and potential mechanisms of TRCA in ameliorating NASH through both in vitro experiments and in vivo mouse models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study employed a mice model induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) to evaluate the effectiveness and pharmacological mechanisms of TRCA in alleviating NASH. Transcriptomic sequencing and network pharmacology were used to explore the possible targets and mechanisms of TRCA to ameliorate NASH. Further validation was performed in free fatty acid (FFA)-induced human hepatocytes (LO2) and human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2). RESULTS: TRCA effectively ameliorated the main features of NASH such as lipid accumulation, hepatitis and hepatic fibrosis in the liver tissue of mice induced by HFD, as well as improved glucose tolerance and insulin resistance in mice. Combined with transcriptomic and network pharmacological analyses, 68 core targets associated with the improvement of NASH by TRCA were obtained. According to the KEGG results, the core targets were significantly enriched in the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway whereas TRCA ameliorated the aberrant down-regulation of the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway induced by HFD. Furthermore, the five highest-ranked genes were obtained by PPI network analysis. Moreover, our findings suggest that TRCA may impede the progression of HFD-induced NASH by regulating the expression of PPARG, MMP9, ALB, CCL2, and EGFR. CONCLUSIONS: TRCA can ameliorate HFD-induced liver injury by modulating aberrant downregulation of the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. Key proteins such as PPARG, MMP9, ALB, CCL2, and EGFR may be critical targets for TRCA to ameliorate NASH. This finding supports using Rhizoma Coptidis, a well-known herbal medicine, as a potential therapeutic agent for NASH.

Collaborative governance effects of carbon market on GHG and air pollutants emission reduction in 3E model -- analysis based on System Dynamics.

The carbon market is regarded as one of the important means to achieve China's dual carbon target. It has ancillary effect for reducing air pollution while regulating carbon emissions since climate change and air pollution share the same origin and homology. Research on how to design the carbon market mechanism in order to maximize the synergistic effect of reducing greenhouse gas and air pollution will have a very important practical impact for China. This study conducts a theoretical analysis of the collaborative emission reduction path of China's carbon market, and constructs an Energy-Economy-Environment (3E) model of the collaborative emission reduction effect of carbon trading system based on System Dynamics. After analyzing the feedback path of the core cycle of the model and verifying its performance, three main policy factors in the carbon market are explored, and their effects under the dual objectives of emission control and economic development are comprehensively evaluated. This study suggests that the exploration of the potential of carbon market for collaborative governance should be accelerated, and ensure the orderly expansion of coverage and precise setting of limits, so as to ensure the smooth achievement of carbon reduction targets while guaranteeing the social and economic development.

A high-speed current source for magnetorheological applications.

Current source is an indispensable component of magnetorheological (MR) systems. Though MR fluid has a phase change as fast as in 1 ms, the response of MR damper (MRD) to generate the damping force may be two orders of magnitude longer. Therefore, the rapid response of current source is a key to realize the real-time semi-active control of MR devices. This study proposes a programmable high-speed, low-cost current source exclusively for MR devices based on the synergy between supercapacitor and Buck converter (i.e., SSBC current source). SSBC current source features a strategy consisting of a lifting phase of supercapacitor and a following maintaining phase of Buck converter. Specifically, the high power density of supercapacitor contributes to rapidly lifting/raising the initial current, and then, like a "relay race", the expected output is maintained through a Buck converter. Theoretical modeling and experiments are performed systematically. The response times (@ 95% of expected outputs) measured are 0.44, 0.84 and 1.88 ms for the outputs of 3, 6 and 9 A, respectively; these values are highlighted as the fastest level in this field. Besides, the response can be up to 24.6 and 43.7 times faster than the cases using supercapacitor and Buck converter to directly drive the MRD, respectively. SSBC current source is employed to generate a sequence of currents/magnetic inductions, only four variables of which need to be controlled programmatically: the order of lifting and maintaining phases, switching time of lifting phase, PWM duty cycle of Buck converter and duration of maintaining phase. The response time stability is verified by 100 cycles of on/off tests, showing a fluctuation of only 1.1%, which indicates a very reliable high-speed response. This study provides an exclusive power supply with a novel strategy for MR devices, which is believed to be an important promotion for MR technologies.

Numerical calculation and experimental analysis of thermal environment in industrialized aquaculture facilities.

With the increasing market demand for high-quality aquatic products, the application of industrialized aquaculture facilities may get more attention. In order to improve the poor performance of thermal insulation, the accuracy of the numerical model was verified in this study through actual measured data. The model verification results shown that the average relative errors of the measured and calculated values of indoor air temperature, water temperature and roof inner surface temperature in the industrialized aquaculture workshop is within 2.5%, it suggested that the numerical calculation results are accurate. Furthermore, the thermal environment and thermal insulation performance of industrialized aquaculture facilities in winter were conducted based on the numerical calculations. After optimized the thermophysical parameters of the workshop enclosure structure, we found that the water body temperature could reach 21°C (which was close to the breeding temperature of grouper (Epinephelinae). Therefore, the numerical calculation method was further used to analyze the energy consumption of aquaculture water in January of a typical year in this area by heating to three constant temperatures (22, 25, and 28°C). When the aquaculture water was heated to the three constant temperature states, it needed to consume 8.56×105, 1.02×106 and 1.22×106 MJ of energy respectively, which were equal to the amount of energy released by the complete combustion of 29.3, 35.1 and 41.8 t standard coal. Moreover, it is concluded that the artificial temperature increase in winter maintains the temperature in the range of 22~25°C to provide the highest heating efficiency. This conclusion can provide theoretical basis and application reference for industrialized aquaculture in winter.

Global risk factor analysis of myopia onset in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: This work aimed to comprehensively assess the risk factors affecting myopia in children to develop more effective prevention and treatment strategies. To this end, data from database were employed to assess the relationship between the incidence of myopia and its risk factors. METHODS: We searched eight databases online in June 2022. Cohort studies were included that measured the connection between risk factors and myopia. Eligibility was not restricted by language. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to measure the risk of bias and conducted GRADE evaluation to determine the certainty of evidence. Potential risk factors with positive or negative results were seen. Inplasy Registration: https://inplasy.com/inplasy-2022-4-0109/. RESULTS: Evidence that risk factors for myopia are mixed, comprising both positive (20) and null (17) findings. In 19 cohort studies on 3578 children, girls were more likely to develop myopia (RR: 1.28 [1.22-1.35]). Myopia can occur at any age, from early childhood to late adulthood. Children whose parents had myopia were more likely to develop myopia. Longer outdoor activities time (RR: 0.97 [0.95-0.98]) and less near-work time (RR: 1.05 [1.02-1.07]) appeared to be significantly decrease the incidence of myopia. Children with lower SE, longer AL, a lower magnitude of positive relative accommodation, worse presenting visual acuity, deeper anterior chamber, and thinner crystalline lens may be related to myopia onset. The burden of myopia in underprivileged countries is higher than in developed countries (RR: 5.28 [2.06-13.48]). The quality of evidence for the evaluated factors was moderate to low or very low. CONCLUSIONS: Genetic factors, environmental factors (such as excessive use of electronic products, and poor study habits) and lifestyle factors (such as lack of outdoor activities, poor nutrition, etc.) are the main risk factors for myopia in children. Myopia prevention strategies should be designed based on environmental factors, gender, parental myopia and eye indicators in order to explore a lifestyle that is more conducive to the eye health of children.

Squaraine-linked zwitterionic COF modified LLZTO nanoparticles for high performance polymer composite electrolytes in Li-S batteries.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are severely restricted for practical application due to the polysulfide shuttle effect, Li dendrites and thermal runaway. The use of PEO-based polymer composite electrolytes (PCEs) as an alternative strategy suffers from limited lithium-ion conductivity with deficient long-range transfer route. Herein, Li6.4La3Zr1.4Ta0.6O12 (LLZTO) nanoparticles modified with an in situ-synthesized zwitterionic covalent organic framework layer (denoted as LLZTO@HUT4) were introduced into PEO-based PCEs. Zwitterionic HUT4 modified the lithiophobic LiOH/Li2CO3 layer on the surface of LLZTO nanoparticles, which could notably promote Li+ ion transport for superior electrochemical performance of PCEs. Additionally, the intermediate layer HUT4 located between LLZTO and PEO could further improve the mechanical properties of electrolytes due to the enhanced inorganic/organic interface compatibility and intermolecular interaction. As a result, the obtained LLZTO@HUT4-15%/PEO electrolyte exhibited a competent ionic conductivity of 0.73 mS cm-1 with a Li+ transference number of up to 0.74 at 60 °C. The assembled S@CNT|LLZTO@HUT4-15%/PEO|Li coin cell delivered a considerable initial discharge capacity of 1018 mA h g-1 at 0.2 C, with approximately 92.1% capacity retention after 100 cycles, elucidating an obviously suppressed shuttle effect.

Keyframe Control of Music-driven 3D Dance Generation.

For 3D animators, choreography with artificial intelligence has attracted more attention recently. However, most existing deep learning methods mainly rely on music for dance generation and lack sufficient control over generated dance motions. To address this issue, we introduce the idea of keyframe interpolation for music-driven dance generation and present a novel transition generation technique for choreography. Specifically, this technique synthesizes visually diverse and plausible dance motions by using normalizing flows to learn the probability distribution of dance motions conditioned on a piece of music and a sparse set of key poses. Thus, the generated dance motions respect both the input musical beats and the key poses. To achieve a robust transition of varying lengths between the key poses, we introduce a time embedding at each timestep as an additional condition. Extensive experiments show that our model generates more realistic, diverse, and beat-matching dance motions than the compared state-of-the-art methods, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Our experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the keyframe-based control for improving the diversity of the generated dance motions.

A Riemannian Framework for Structurally Curated Functional Clustering of Brain White Matter Fibers.

White matter (WM) consists of fibers that transmit information from one brain region to another, and functional fiber clustering that combines diffusion and functional MRI provides a novel perspective for exploring the functional architecture of axonal fibers. However, existing methods only concern functional signals in gray matter (GM), whereas the connecting fibers may not transmit relevant functional signals. There has been growing evidence that neural activity is encoded in WM BOLD signals as well, which provides rich multimodal information for fiber clustering. In this paper, we develop a comprehensive Riemannian framework for functional fiber clustering using WM BOLD signals along fibers. Specifically, we derive a novel metric that is highly discriminative of different functional classes while reducing the variability within classes and, in the meantime, enables low-dimensional coding of high-dimensional data. Our in vivo experiments show that the proposed framework is able to achieve clustering results with inter-subject consistency and functional homogeneity. In addition, we develop an atlas of WM functional architecture for standardizable yet flexible use and exemplify a machine-learning-based application for the classification of autism spectrum disorders, which further demonstrates the great potential of our approach in practical applications.

Disrupted subcortical functional connectome gradient in drug-naïve first-episode schizophrenia and the normalization effects after antipsychotic treatment.

Antipsychotics are thought to improve schizophrenia symptoms through the antagonism of dopamine D2 receptors, which are abundant mainly in subcortical regions. By introducing functional gradient, a novel approach to identify hierarchy alterations by capturing the similarity of whole brain fucntional connectivity (FC) profiles between two voxels, the present study aimed to characterize how the subcortical gradient is associated with treatment effects and response in first-episode schizophrenia in vivo. Two independent samples of first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients with matched healthy controls (HC) were obtained: the discovery dataset included 71 patients (FES0W) and 64 HC at baseline, and patients were re-scanned after either 6 weeks (FES6W, N = 33) or 12 months (FES12M, N = 57) of antipsychotic treatment, of which 19 patients finished both 6-week and 12-month evaluation. The validation dataset included 22 patients and 24 HC at baseline and patients were re-scanned after 6 weeks. Gradient metrics were calculated using BrainSpace Toolbox. Voxel-based gradient values were generated and group-averaged gradient values were further extracted across all voxels (global), three systems (thalamus, limbic and striatum) and their subcortical subfields. The comparisons were conducted separately between FES0W and HC for investigating illness effects, and between FES6W/FES12M and FES0W for treatment effects. Correlational analyses were then conducted between the longitudinal gradient alterations and the improvement of clinical ratings. Before treatment, schizophrenia patients exhibited an expanded range of global gradient scores compared to HC which indicated functional segregation within subcortical systems. The increased gradient in limbic system and decreased gradient in thalamic and striatal system contributed to the baseline abnormalities and led to the disruption of the subcortical functional integration. After treatment, these disruptions were normalized and the longitudinal changes of gradient scores in limbic system were significantly associated with symptom improvement. Similar illness and treatment effects were also observed in the validation dataset. By measuring functional hierarchy of subcortical organization, our findings provide a novel imaging marker that is sensitive to treatment effects and may make a promising indicator of treatment response in schizophrenia.

Role of bioactive peptides derived from food proteins in programmed cell death to treat inflammatory diseases and cancer.

Bioactive peptides are specific peptide which usually contains 2-20 amino acid residues and actively exerts various functions and biological activities and ultimately affect health. Programmed cell deaths are some styles of cell death discovered in recent years, which is the key to tissue development and balance, eliminating excess, damaged or aging cells. More importantly, programmed cell death is a potential way to treat inflammatory diseases and cancer. In this review, through screening references from 2015 to present, we introduce the effect of bioactive peptides derived from food proteins on inflammatory diseases or cancer through regulating programmed cell deaths, including apoptosis, autophagy, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, and necroptosis. And this review also introduces the targets of these bioactive peptides to regulate programmed cell death. The purpose of this review is to help to expand the prospective applications of bioactive peptides in the field of inflammatory disease and cancer to provide some guidance.

Multi-function hollow nanorod as an efficient sulfur host accelerates sulfur redox reactions for high-performance Li-S batteries.

The "shuttle effect" of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) leads to loss of active materials and the deterioration of cycle stability, which seriously restricts the practical progress of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. The diffusion of soluble discharge intermediate is the root cause of the above problems. Herein, we synthesized a porous organic framework material (HUT-8) based on triazine network, the polar groups above the hollow structure can not only adsorb LiPSs through electron donating effect, but also anchored cobalt (II) ions provide a large number of binding sites for the in-situ growth of CoS2. This ensured maximized exposure of catalytic centre and improve their interactions with sulfur redox species under the confinement of mesopores, which can catalytically accelerate capture/diffusion of LiPSs and precipitation/decomposition of Li2S. Based on the synergistic effect of the composite materials, the CoS2-HUT-8/S cathode maintained a capacity of 583 mAh g-1 after 500 cycles at 1 C, and a minimum capacity fading rate of 0.046% per cycle. A freestanding CoS2-HUT-8/S cathode with sulfur loading of 5.2 mg cm-2 delivered a high areal capacity of 4.01 mAh cm-2 under a lean electrolyte, which would provide great potential for the practical progress of Li-S batteries.

Application of family-involved smart medication management system in rural-dwelling middle-aged and older adult participants with chronic diseases: Management of chronic diseases in rural areas.

Management of patients with chronic diseases in rural areas and the use of medications need to be urgently addressed. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a family-involved smart medication management system for rural patients with chronic diseases. Between June and August 2021, 82 patients with chronic diseases were selected using convenience sampling from 2 county towns in Hebei Province, China. They were randomly divided into control (41 participants) and experimental (41 participants) groups. The control group was managed using a routine medication management model for chronic diseases. The experimental group was managed using a family-involved smart medication management system, in addition to the control group interventions. The groups were graded using the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8), the Self-efficacy for Appropriate Medication Use Scale (SEAMS), the Medication Knowledge Assessment Questionnaire, and the Family Support Scale before the intervention and at 8 and 24 weeks after the intervention. Pre-intervention group differences were not statistically significant. At 8 weeks after the intervention, the control group showed no statistically significant differences in the MMAS-8, SEAMS, and Medication Knowledge Assessment scores pre-and post-intervention. These scores were higher in the experimental group than in the control group, with the post-intervention scores being higher than the pre-intervention scores. The MMAS-8, SEAMS, and Medication Knowledge Assessment scores for the experimental group were higher at 24 weeks than at 8 weeks; these scores were higher in the experimental group than in the control group. The experimental group also had higher family support scores than the control group; these scores were higher pre-intervention than post-intervention. A family-involved smart medication management system can effectively improve medication adherence, self-efficacy for appropriate medication use, medication knowledge assessment scores, and family support for rural middle-aged and older adult patients with chronic diseases.

S. boulardii Early Intervention Maintains Gut Microbiome Structure and Promotes Gut Mucosal Barrier Function in Early-Weaned Rats.

Early weaning leads to the disorder of the gut microbiome and gut mucosal barrier injury. Early intervention of gut microbiome colonization contributes to the development of the gut microbiome and gut function. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of Saccharomyces boulardii (S. boulardii) early intervention on the gut microbiome structure and gut mucosal barrier function of early-weaned rats. The results showed that S. boulardii early intervention improved growth performance along with a decrease in pathogenic bacteria, an increase in beneficial bacteria, a stable and complex microbiome, and a high level of microbial metabolism. Moreover, S. boulardii upregulated the mucosal barrier function including goblet cells and relative gene expression, tight junction, and sIgA level. Furthermore, S. boulardii suppressed the inflammatory response and promoted the anti-inflammatory response. Our study may provide a possible early intervention strategy for preventing an early weaning-induced disorder of the gut microbiome and loss of gut mucosal barrier function.

Functional Epoxy Elastomer Integrating Self-Healing Capability and Degradability for a Flexible Stretchable Strain Sensor.

With the rapid development of flexible electronics and the increasing deterioration of the natural environment, functional and environmentally friendly flexible strain sensors have become one of the frontier research hotspots. Here, we propose a novel strategy to synthesize a functional epoxy elastomer integrating self-healing capability and degradability for flexible stretchable strain sensors. A carboxyl-terminated epoxy prepolymer was first synthesized using carboxyl-terminated PEG (PEG-COOH), 2,2'-dithiodibenzoic acid (DTSA), and 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDE), and then crosslinked by epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) to yield an epoxy elastomer. The obtained elastomer exhibited not only high tensile stress (5.07 MPa), large stretchability (477%), and high healing efficiency (92.5%) but also superior degradability in alkaline aqueous solution. The elastomer-based stretchable strain sensor with microstructure showed high sensitivity (GF = 176.71) and was successfully applied for detecting human motions and recognizing objects with various shapes. Moreover, the healed sensor could restore stable sensing ability. The prepared functional epoxy elastomer is of great significance for the preparation of environmentally friendly and high-performance sensors and is promising for applications in the fields of healthcare monitoring, intelligent robots, and wearable electronics.

Factors correlated with targeted prevention for prediabetes classified by impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, and elevated HbA1c: A population-based longitudinal study.

Background: There is still controversy surrounding the precise characterization of prediabetic population. We aim to identify and examine factors of demographic, behavioral, clinical, and biochemical characteristics, and obesity indicators (anthropometric characteristics and anthropometric prediction equation) for prediabetes according to different definition criteria of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in the Chinese population. Methods: A longitudinal study consisted of baseline survey and two follow-ups was conducted, and a pooled data were analyzed. Prediabetes was defined as either impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), or elevated glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) according to the ADA criteria. Robust generalized estimating equation models were used. Results: A total of 5,713 (58.42%) observations were prediabetes (IGT, 38.07%; IGT, 26.51%; elevated HbA1c, 23.45%); 9.66% prediabetes fulfilled all the three ADA criteria. Among demographic characteristics, higher age was more evident in elevated HbA1c [adjusted OR (aOR)=2.85]. Female individuals were less likely to have IFG (aOR=0.70) and more likely to suffer from IGT than male individuals (aOR=1.41). Several inconsistency correlations of biochemical characteristics and obesity indicators were detected by prediabetes criteria. Body adiposity estimator exhibited strong association with prediabetes (D10: aOR=4.05). For IFG and elevated HbA1c, the odds of predicted lean body mass exceed other indicators (D10: aOR=3.34; aOR=3.64). For IGT, predicted percent fat presented the highest odds (D10: aOR=6.58). Conclusion: Some correlated factors of prediabetes under different criteria differed, and obesity indicators were easily measured for target identification. Our findings could be used for targeted intervention to optimize preventions to mitigate the obviously increased prevalence of diabetes.