Thermochromic Conductive Fibers with Modifiable Solar Absorption for Personal Thermal Management and Temperature Visualization.

Thermal management textiles provide an energy-efficient strategy for personal thermal comfort by regulating heat flow between the human body and the environment. However, textiles with a single heating or cooling mode cannot realize temperature regulation under dynamic weather. Furthermore, monocolor textiles do not satisfy aesthetic requirements in a garment. Here, we develop a thermochromic (TC) conductive fiber with a coaxial structure composed of a conductive core and thermochromic shell. The TC conductive fiber-woven fabric has the ability of low-energy dynamic thermal management by combining Joule heating and modulation of solar absorption. Compared with commercial white fabrics, TC conductive fabrics exhibit a maximum temperature drop of 2.5 K, while the temperature of colored commercial fabrics is 7.5-16 K higher than that of commercial white fabrics in the hot. In the cold, the combination of Joule heating and the photothermal effect can provide desired thermal comfort for humans. Meanwhile, heat obtained from solar absorption brings the temperature of a fabric to a predetermined level, which saves energy of 625 W/m2 compared to a conductive-fiber-based textile. In addition, TC conductive fabrics with trichromatic evolution provide a sensitive and instant temperature visualization capable of identification of invisible and intense infrared radiation. These results provide another path to expand potential applications of wearable, flexible electronics.

Comparison of the efficacy and safety between rivaroxaban and dabigatran in the treatment of acute portal vein thrombosis in cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND: New oral anticoagulants (NOACs) have been becoming prevalent in recent years and are increasingly used in the treatment of port vein thrombosis. The difference of the efficacy and safety between rivaroxaban and dabigatran remains unclear in the treatment of cirrhotic patients with acute portal vein thrombosis (PVT). METHODS: This retrospective study included all consecutive cirrhotic patients with acute portal vein thrombosis in our institute from January 2020 to December 2021. The patients received oral anticoagulation with rivaroxaban or dabigatran. The demographic, clinical, and imaging data of patients were collected. The diagnosis of acute PVT was confirmed by imaging examinations. The severity of liver cirrhosis was assessed using Child-Pugh score and Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score. Outcomes included recanalization (complete, partial, and persistent occlusion), liver function, bleedings, and survival. The log-rank test was used to compare Kaplan-Meier distributions of time-to-event outcomes. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: A total of 94 patients were included, 52 patients (55%) received rivaroxaban and 42 (45%) with dabigatran. The complete and partial recanalization of PVT was observed in 41 patients. There was no significant difference in complete recanalization, partial recanalization, and persistent occlusion between the two groups. With multivariate analysis, D-dimer (HR 1.165, 95% CI 1.036-1.311, p = 0.011) was independent predictors of complete recanalization. The Child-Pugh score (p = 0.001) was significantly improved in both two groups after anticoagulation, respectively. However, there was no difference between the two groups. The probability of survival was 94%, 95% in the rivaroxaban and dabigatran groups (log-rank p = 0.830). Major bleedings were reported in 3 patients (6%) in rivaroxaban group and 1 patient (2%) in dabigatran group (p = 0.646). Six patients (12%) in rivaroxaban group experienced minor bleeding, and five (12%) from dabigatran group (p = 0.691). CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy and safety were comparable between rivaroxaban and dabigatran in the treatment of cirrhotic patients with acute portal vein thrombosis. And D-dimer can contribute to the prediction of PVT recanalization in cirrhotic patients.

RNA 3D Structure Prediction: Progress and Perspective.

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules play vital roles in numerous important biological functions such as catalysis and gene regulation. The functions of RNAs are strongly coupled to their structures or proper structure changes, and RNA structure prediction has been paid much attention in the last two decades. Some computational models have been developed to predict RNA three-dimensional (3D) structures in silico, and these models are generally composed of predicting RNA 3D structure ensemble, evaluating near-native RNAs from the structure ensemble, and refining the identified RNAs. In this review, we will make a comprehensive overview of the recent advances in RNA 3D structure modeling, including structure ensemble prediction, evaluation, and refinement. Finally, we will emphasize some insights and perspectives in modeling RNA 3D structures.

cgRNASP: coarse-grained statistical potentials with residue separation for RNA structure evaluation.

Knowledge-based statistical potentials are very important for RNA 3-dimensional (3D) structure prediction and evaluation. In recent years, various coarse-grained (CG) and all-atom models have been developed for predicting RNA 3D structures, while there is still lack of reliable CG statistical potentials not only for CG structure evaluation but also for all-atom structure evaluation at high efficiency. In this work, we have developed a series of residue-separation-based CG statistical potentials at different CG levels for RNA 3D structure evaluation, namely cgRNASP, which is composed of long-ranged and short-ranged interactions by residue separation. Compared with the newly developed all-atom rsRNASP, the short-ranged interaction in cgRNASP was involved more subtly and completely. Our examinations show that, the performance of cgRNASP varies with CG levels and compared with rsRNASP, cgRNASP has similarly good performance for extensive types of test datasets and can have slightly better performance for the realistic dataset-RNA-Puzzles dataset. Furthermore, cgRNASP is strikingly more efficient than all-atom statistical potentials/scoring functions, and can be apparently superior to other all-atom statistical potentials and scoring functions trained from neural networks for the RNA-Puzzles dataset. cgRNASP is available at https://github.com/Tan-group/cgRNASP.

Predicting 3D structures and stabilities for complex RNA pseudoknots in ion solutions.

RNA pseudoknots are a kind of important tertiary motif, and the structures and stabilities of pseudoknots are generally critical to the biological functions of RNAs with the motifs. In this work, we have carefully refined our previously developed coarse-grained model with salt effect through involving a new coarse-grained force field and a replica-exchange Monte Carlo algorithm, and employed the model to predict structures and stabilities of complex RNA pseudoknots in ion solutions beyond minimal H-type pseudoknots. Compared with available experimental data, the newly refined model can successfully predict 3D structures from sequences for the complex RNA pseudoknots including SARS-CoV-2 programming-1 ribosomal frameshifting element and Zika virus xrRNA, and can reliably predict the thermal stabilities of RNA pseudoknots with various sequences and lengths over broad ranges of monovalent/divalent salts. In addition, for complex pseudoknots including SARS-CoV-2 frameshifting element, our analyses show that their thermally unfolding pathways are mainly dependent on the relative stabilities of unfolded intermediate states, in analogy to those of minimal H-type pseudoknots.

Is catheter-based foam sclerotherapy more effective than direct foam sclerotherapy when combined with high ligation for the treatment of primary great saphenous vein incompetence?

BACKGROUND: To retrospectively analyze the short-term outcomes of catheter-based versus direct foam sclerotherapy when combined with high ligation (HL) for the treatment of great saphenous vein (GSV) incompetence. METHODS: From July 2018 to October 2019, a total of 82 lower limbs of 70 patients with GSV incompetence received HL combined with catheter-based foam sclerotherapy (CFS group) or direct foam sclerotherapy (DFS group) for GSV proximal trunk. Among them, 40 limbs of 36 patients were treated with CFS, and 42 limbs of 34 patients were treated with DFS. The occlusion of GSV proximal trunk was evaluated with venous duplex ultrasound examinations; Venous Clinical Severity Scores (VCSS) was used to assess clinical improvement; Aberdeen Varicose Veins Questionnaire (AVVQ) was used to assess quality-of-life scores; and Complications was used for the safety evaluation. RESULTS: At day 7 post-operatively, complete occlusion of proximal trunk of the GSV was achieved in 92.5% legs of the CFS group and 71.4% of the DFS group (p = 0.014). Additionally, anterograde flow was found in 7.5% legs of the CFS group and 26.2% of the DFS group (p = 0.025). No significant differences in the occurrence of complications were observed between the two groups. The median follow-up was 285.5 days in the DFS group and 318 days in the CFS group (p = 0.140). VCSS and AVVQ reduction were significant in both CFS group and DFS group (5.3 ± 2.5, 5.5 ± 2.4, p < 0.001 for VCSS; 15.9 ± 8.0, 16.3 ± 8.6, p < 0.001 for AVVQ), but no significant difference were observed between two groups (p = 0.655 for VCSS, p = 0.934 for AVVQ). CONCLUSIONS: Although the occlusion of great saphenous vein proximal trunk were different, two modalities result in similar clinical and quality-of-life improvements. DFS is a feasible alternative to CFS when combined with HL.

Bioinspired zero-energy thermal-management device based on visible and infrared thermochromism for all-season energy saving.

Radiative thermal management provides a zero-energy strategy to reduce the demands of fossil energy for active thermal management. However, whether solar heating or radiative cooling, one-way temperature control will exacerbate all-season energy consumption during hot summers or cold winters. Inspired by the Himalayan rabbit's hair and Mimosa pudica's leaves, we proposed a dual-mode thermal-management device with two differently selective electromagnetic spectrums. The combination of visible and infrared "thermochromism" enables this device to freely switch between solar heating and radiative cooling modes by spontaneously perceiving the temperature without any external energy consumption. Numerical prediction shows that a dual-mode device exhibits an outstanding potential for all-season energy saving in terms of thermal management beyond most static or single-wavelength, range-regulable, temperature-responsive designs. Such a scalable and cost-efficient device represents a more efficient radiative thermal-management strategy toward applying in a practical scenario with dynamic daily and seasonal variations.

FebRNA: An automated fragment-ensemble-based model for building RNA 3D structures.

Knowledge of RNA three-dimensional (3D) structures is critical to understanding the important biological functions of RNAs. Although various structure prediction models have been developed, the high-accuracy predictions of RNA 3D structures are still limited to the RNAs with short lengths or with simple topology. In this work, we proposed a new model, namely FebRNA, for building RNA 3D structures through fragment assembly based on coarse-grained (CG) fragment ensembles. Specifically, FebRNA is composed of four processes: establishing the library of different types of non-redundant CG fragment ensembles regardless of the sequences, building CG 3D structure ensemble through fragment assembly, identifying top-scored CG structures through a specific CG scoring function, and rebuilding the all-atom structures from the top-scored CG ones. Extensive examination against different types of RNA structures indicates that FebRNA consistently gives the reliable predictions on RNA 3D structures, including pseudoknots, three-way junctions, four-way and five-way junctions, and RNAs in the RNA-Puzzles. FebRNA is available on the Web site: https://github.com/Tan-group/FebRNA.

Temperature-dependent dual-mode thermal management device with net zero energy for year-round energy saving.

Reducing needs for heating and cooling from fossil energy is one of the biggest challenges, which demand accounts for almost half of global energy consumption, consequently resulting in complicated climatic and environmental issues. Herein, we demonstrate a high-performance, intelligently auto-switched and zero-energy dual-mode radiative thermal management device. By perceiving temperature to spontaneously modulate electromagnetic characteristics itself, the device achieves ~859.8 W m-2 of average heating power (∼91% of solar-thermal conversion efficiency) in cold and ~126.0 W m-2 of average cooling power in hot, without any external energy consumption during the whole process. Such a scalable, cost-effective device could realize two-way temperature control around comfortable temperature zone of human living. A practical demonstration shows that the temperature fluctuation is reduced by ~21 K, compared with copper plate. Numerical prediction indicates that this real zero-energy dual-mode thermal management device has a huge potential for year-round energy saving around the world and provides a feasible solution to realize the goal of Net Zero Carbon 2050.

Photonic-Structure Colored Radiative Coolers for Daytime Subambient Cooling.

Daytime subambient radiative cooling provides a powerful strategy for realizing sustainable thermal management without any external energy consumption. However, in practical situations a dazzling white or silver appearance is undesirable for aesthetic and functional reasons. Therefore, developing colored radiative cooling materials is greatly significant for more potential applications but remains a big challenge so far. Here, we reported a flexible colored radiative cooler based on interferometric retroreflection-induced structural color, which resolves the conflict between a colorful appearance for aesthetics and high solar reflection for cooling. All colored radiative coolers achieve subambient cooling of 4 K even under sunshine stronger than 1000 W/m2, while the same color commercial paints are 9-27 K higher than the ambient. Such a flexible, scalable, and low cost colored radiative cooler is expected to replace commercial paint in a practical scenario with aesthetic and cooling requirements, enabling substantial reduction in carbon emission and energy consumption.

Polarization-Dependent Ultrasensitive Dynamic Wrinkling on Floating Films Induced by Photo-Orientation of Azopolymer.

Ubiquitous surface wrinkling has been well-studied theoretically and experimentally. How to modulate the stress state of a liquid-supported system for the unexploited wrinkling capabilities remains a challenge. Here we report a simple linearly-polarized-light illumination to spatiotemporally trigger ultrasensitive in situ dynamic wrinkling on a floating azo-film. The smart combination of the liquid substrate with photoresponsive azo-moieties leads to the light-induced ultrafast wrinkling evolution, accompanied by unprecedented sequential wrinkling orientation conversion (from polarization-parallel to polarization-perpendicular). The involved different polarization-dependent sequential photo-orientation for azo side chains and azo-grafted main chains of azopolymers is disclosed experimentally for the first time. Meanwhile, programmable dynamic wrinkling with all-optical switchable surface topographies is available, which has wide application potentials in photoresponsive soft photonics.

Direct coherent multi-ink printing of fabric supercapacitors.

Coaxial fiber-shaped supercapacitors with short charge carrier diffusion paths are highly desirable as high-performance energy storage devices for wearable electronics. However, the traditional approaches based on the multistep fabrication processes for constructing the fiber-shaped energy device still encounter persistent restrictions in fabrication procedure, scalability, and mechanical durability. To overcome this critical challenge, an all-in-one coaxial fiber-shaped asymmetric supercapacitor (FASC) device is realized by a direct coherent multi-ink writing three-dimensional printing technology via designing the internal structure of the coaxial needles and regulating the rheological property and the feed rates of the multi-ink. Benefitting from the compact coaxial structure, the FASC device delivers a superior areal energy/power density at a high mass loading, and outstanding mechanical stability. As a conceptual exhibition for system integration, the FASC device is integrated with mechanical units and pressure sensor to realize high-performance self-powered mechanical devices and monitoring systems, respectively.

Effect of statins on the risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have suggested that statins may be associated with a lower risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE). METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Library from inception until May 2020 to identify any eligible studies that reported the association between statin use and the risk of recurrent VTE, and conducted a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020190169) on this matter. RESULTS: A total of 14 observational studies were included for qualitative review and 12 of them qualified for meta-analyses. The main meta-analysis found that statin use was associated with a lower risk of disease recurrence among patients with VTE (pooled adjusted HR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.69-0.83), which was robust in sensitivity analyses and free of significant publication bias. Additionally, such association was present when restricting to periods after anticoagulation withdrawal (pooled adjusted HR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.70-0.88) and when separately analyzing recurrent deep vein thrombosis (pooled adjusted HR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.62-0.81) and recurrent pulmonary embolism (pooled adjusted HR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.66-0.97; P = 0.027). Furthermore, statin use in patients with VTE was also found to be associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality (adjusted HR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.56-0.77), and possibly an even lower risk of bleeding (adjusted HR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.73-1.07), albeit not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Statins have the potential to reduce recurrent events among patient with VTE. Randomized clinical trials to better explore the effect of statins in secondary prevention of VTE are warranted.

Characteristics and clinical indicators of concomitant venous thromboembolism in acute limb ischemia.

BACKGROUND: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) concomitant to acute limb ischemia (ALI) is rarely reported. The aim of the study was to investigate characteristics and identify clinical indicators of VTE in patients with ALI. METHODS: Electronic medical record was used to identify patients diagnosed with ALI from January 2013 to June 2019. Eligible patients were categorized as VTE or non-VTE based on the presence or absence of concomitant VTE. Univariate analysis and multivariate analysis for indicators of VTE were performed. RESULTS: A total of 153 patients with 161 ischemic limbs were enrolled. Venous duplex ultrasound (DUS) for 149 patients (157 ischemic limbs) revealed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in 38 (24.2%) ischemic limbs of 37 (24.8%) patients. Five femoral DVTs were found intraoperatively. Six patients had pulmonary embolism (PE) and three of them died. In all, 43 (28.1%) ALI patients were diagnosed with VTE. They were treated with trans-arterial catheter-directed thrombolysis (N.=22), embolectomy (N.=9), primary amputation (N.=4) and anticoagulation alone (N.=8). The univariate analysis indicated that symptoms ≥ 2 days [odds ratio (OR): 3.42, 95%CI:1.54-7.62], Rutherford classification IIb-III (OR: 9.17, 95%CI: 2.10-40.12), leg swelling (OR: 4.44, 95%CI: 2.07-9.53), neutrophil ratio ≥0.80 (OR: 3.92, 95%CI: 1.72-8.93) and positive D-dimer (OR: 8.44, 95%CI: 3.65-19.53) were indicators of VTE concomitant to ALI. In the multivariate analysis, leg swelling and positive D-dimer appeared to be independent indicators. CONCLUSIONS: VTE commonly occurs to ALI. Venous DUS for DVT screening should be considered for ALI patients who present one or more of these indicators.

Risk of post-thrombotic syndrome after deep vein thrombosis treated with rivaroxaban versus vitamin-K antagonists: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) is a burdensome long-term complication of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Recent studies have suggested that rivaroxaban may reduce PTS events compared to vitamin-K antagonists (VKAs). We, therefore, systematically reviewed available literature that compared rivaroxaban versus VKAs on the risk of PTS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis using PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library for all related studies from inception until March 2020. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data, and appraised the quality of included studies. The primary outcome was overall risk of PTS. The secondary outcomes were risks of each PTS category (mild, moderate, severe) and venous ulcer. RESULTS: Seven comparative studies, comprising 2364 participants, qualified for this meta-analysis. The use of rivaroxaban for DVT treatment was associated with a lower risk of PTS compared with conventional VKAs [pooled unadjusted odds ratio (OR): 0.53, 95%CI: 0.43-0.65, P < 0.00001]. This effect was maintained after adjustment of potential confounders (pooled adjusted OR: 0.44, 95%CI: 0.35-0.56, P < 0.00001). Furthermore, rivaroxaban therapy was found to be associated with reduced risk of mild PTS (OR: 0.64, 95%CI: 0.50-0.82, P = 0.0005), moderate PTS (OR: 0.64, 95%CI: 0.45-0.91, P = 0.01), and severe PTS (OR: 0.52, 95%CI: 0.33-0.82, P = 0.005). There was also a similar trend towards reduced risk for venous ulcer, albeit not statistically significant (OR: 0.41, 95%CI: 0.15-1.08, P = 0.07). CONCLUSION: In comparison to VKAs, the use of rivaroxaban for DVT treatment has the potential to reduce PTS events. However, well-designed studies with larger sample sizes are needed to corroborate these findings.