Understanding Challenges and Coping Strategies Experienced by Chinese American Family Caregivers of Persons with Dementia.

The purpose of this study was to explore the caregiving experience of Chinese American family caregivers of persons with dementia with a focus on challenges and coping strategies. Using a qualitative study design, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 Chinese American family caregivers and analyzed the data using thematic analysis. We also identified their caregiving experience specific to the COVID-19 pandemic. First, four themes were discovered: (1) filial obligations, (2) preference for utilizing home- and community-based supports, (3) relying on primary care doctors, and (4) helping behaviors. Two additional COVID-19-related themes were identified: (1) social isolation and (2) perceived discrimination. We suggested interventions at the individual, community, and societal level not only to support various challenges experienced by this ethnic group but also to promote their coping strategies.

A mini-review on building insulation materials from perspective of plastic pollution: Current issues and natural fibres as a possible solution.

As plastic pollution is eroding our ecological environment at an alarming rate around the world, tracking the origins is a necessity for putting forward effective measures to prevent it. The building industry, as an important sector consuming plastic products and producing plastic wastes, is increasing application of thermal insulations to improve energy efficiency. However, most insulation materials have negative impact on the environment. With the strategies to boost sustainability of buildings, natural fibres have occurred in the market as promising raw materials for thermal insulations. This mini-review aims to describe the extent building insulations contributed to plastic pollution, and a possible solution to plastic pollution from natural fibres and their current shortcomings. Hopefully, the mini-review could advance the current knowledge on contribution of building materials, especially thermal insulations to the ubiquitous plastic pollution, and the potential of natural fibres for replacing the plastic insulations, which could accordingly help future development of sustainable green insulations.

Optimizing Bleaching Operating Conditions Based on Mathematical Programming to Reduce AOX Emissions.

This study describes the optimization of a eucalyptus elemental chlorine-free (ECF) bleach plant to reduce adsorbable organic halogen (AOX). The correlations between operating conditions of each stage and pulp quality indices as well as the AOX content in wastewater are analyzed, taking an ECF bleaching technology (D0EpPD1) as an example. The calculation models of pulp quality indices and AOX content in wastewater are established. Then, an optimization model aiming at minimizing AOX emission is structured. The model shows a good simulation effect because the errors between the calculated and experimental values are within 6.3%. By analyzing the impact of various operating conditions on AOX emissions, it was found that chlorine dioxide reduced in the D0 stage has the greatest impact on AOX. The optimization results show that AOX can be reduced from 90.84 to 79.58 kg/h, a decrease of 12.5%. The verification experiment results based on the optimized operating conditions showed that the experimental results are in good agreement with the calculated results of the optimization model, and the effect of reducing AOX based on the optimization model is obvious.

Preparation and Performance of Lignin-Based Multifunctional Superhydrophobic Coating.

Superhydrophobic coatings have drawn much attention in recent years for their widespread potential applications. However, there are challenges to find a simple and cost-effective approach to prepare superhydrophobic materials and coatings using natural polymer. Herein, we prepared a kraft lignin-based superhydrophobic powder via modifying kraft lignin through 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorodecyl-triethoxysilane (PFDTES) substitution reaction, and constructed superhydrophobic coatings by direct spraying the suspended PFDTES-Lignin powder on different substrates, including glass, wood, metal and paper. The prepared lignin-based coatings have excellent repellency to water, with a water contact angle of 164.7°, as well as good friction resistance, acid resistance, alkali resistance, salt resistance properties and quite good self-cleaning performance. After 30 cycles of sand friction or being stayed in 2 mol/L HCl, 0.25 mol/L NaOH and 2 mol/L NaCl solution for 30 min, the coatings still retain super hydrophobic capability, with contact angles higher than 150°. The superhydrophobic performance of PFDTES-Lignin coatings is mainly attributed to the constructed high surface roughness and the low surface energy afforded by modified lignin. This lignin-based polymer coating is low-cost, scalable, and has huge potential application in different fields, providing a simple way for the value-added utilization of kraft lignin.

The impact of formal and informal support on emotional stress among non-co-resident caregivers of persons with dementia.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of formal and informal support between non-co-resident and co-resident family caregivers of persons with dementia and to investigate the impact of receiving formal or informal assistance on family caregivers' residential status and their perceived emotional stress. METHOD: We used secondary data from the 2018 National Survey of Older American Act conducted by the Administration for Community Living. We selected 751 primary family caregivers of persons with dementia and conducted regression analyses to explore our research questions. RESULTS: Non-co-resident caregivers of persons with dementia were younger, racially and ethnically diverse, employed, and had higher income than co-resident caregivers. They were less likely to utilize formal support, such as caregiver training or education (p = .005) and respite care (p = .019) but more likely to rely on informal support in their social networks (p = .002), compared to co-resident caregivers. Non-co-resident caregivers who had better informal support systems showed less emotional stress than co-resident caregivers (p = .024). CONCLUSION: Findings from our study suggest the importance of engaging informal networks to alleviate emotional stress of non-co-resident caregivers of persons with dementia. Furthermore, it is critical to help them utilize adequate caregiver training and education as well as respite care before their loved ones experience dramatic functional and health declines.

A genomic signature for accurate classification and prediction of clinical outcomes in cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint blockade immunotherapy.

Tumor mutational burden (TMB) is associated with clinical response to immunotherapy, but application has been limited to a subset of cancer patients. We hypothesized that advanced machine-learning and proper modeling could identify mutations that classify patients most likely to derive clinical benefits. Training data: Two sets of public whole-exome sequencing (WES) data for metastatic melanoma. Validation data: One set of public non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) data. Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) machine-learning and proper modeling were used to identify a set of mutations (biomarker) with maximum predictive accuracy (measured by AUROC). Kaplan-Meier and log-rank methods were used to test prediction of overall survival. The initial model considered 2139 mutations. After pruning, 161 mutations (11%) were retained. An optimal threshold of 0.41 divided patients into high-weight (HW) or low-weight (LW) TMB groups. Classification for HW-TMB was 100% (AUROC = 1.0) on melanoma learning/testing data; HW-TMB was a prognostic marker for longer overall survival. In validation data, HW-TMB was associated with survival (p = 0.0057) and predicted 6-month clinical benefit (AUROC = 0.83) in NSCLC. In conclusion, we developed and validated a 161-mutation genomic signature with "outstanding" 100% accuracy to classify melanoma patients by likelihood of response to immunotherapy. This biomarker can be adapted for clinical practice to improve cancer treatment and care.

Cellulose-based colorimetric sensor with N, S sites for Ag+ detection.

A novel cellulose-based colorimetric sensor (DAC-Tu) with N, S sites for Ag+ was prepared. The DAC-Tu exhibited excellent selectivity and sensitivity for Ag+ with a naked eyes color change from white to black in mixed metal ions aqueous solutions. The naked-eye in-situ detection limit of DAC-Tu for Ag+ was 10-6 mol/L within 10 min. The cellulose matrix and the grafted functional groups (CS, NH2) of DAC-Tu all contributed to the low naked-eye in-situ detection limit. The mechanism of the visual recognition of DAC-Tu sensor for Ag+ was proposed, the N and S atoms of DAC-Tu preferentially coordination chelated with Ag+ to form NAg, SAg, and Ag2S, and enriched on the cellulose matrix, thus the DAC-Tu presented different color change in response to different concentrations of Ag+. The as-prepared DAC-Tu colorimetric sensor showed a great application prospect for in-situ naked eyes detection of Ag+.

Facile preparation of iron oxide doped Fe-MOFs-MW as robust peroxydisulfate catalyst for emerging pollutants degradation.

A novel catalyst (Fe-MOFs-MW) was facilely synthesized under microwave-assisted with NaOH as modulator for activating peroxydisulfate (PDS). The accelerated nucleation process was confirmed by Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (JMA) model. There were abundant reactive sites on prepared Fe-MOFs-MW while maintaining high Space-Time-Yield value up to 2300 kg/m3·d. Degradation performance of Fe-MOFs-MW as PDS catalyst on sulfamethoxazole (SMX) removal was evaluated. Results indicated that Fe-MOFs-MW with more Fe element anchored (10%) exhibited excellent catalytic capacity for PDS. Besides, the fantastic stability and reusability were confirmed through recycle experiment. After recycled for 4 times, the removal efficiency of SMX and TOC was 88% and 31.3% compared to 98% and 38% without recycling, respectively. An accurate prediction model on the degradation effect with water matrices coexisted was established by response surface methodology (RSM) method. Moreover, SO4·-, O2·- and ·OH were confirmed as the main reactive species through chemical quenching and EPR tests. The mechanism of Fe-MOFs-MW/PDS process mainly based on electron circulation theory was proposed. As the robust PDS catalyst, facile prepared Fe-MOFs-MW was promising in the treatment of emerging pollutants.

Ubiquitin E3 ligase FIEL1 regulates fibrotic lung injury through SUMO-E3 ligase PIAS4.

The E3 small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) protein ligase protein inhibitor of activated STAT 4 (PIAS4) is a pivotal protein in regulating the TGFß pathway. In this study, we discovered a new protein isoform encoded by KIAA0317, termed fibrosis-inducing E3 ligase 1 (FIEL1), which potently stimulates the TGFß signaling pathway through the site-specific ubiquitination of PIAS4. FIEL1 targets PIAS4 using a double locking mechanism that is facilitated by the kinases PKCζ and GSK3ß. Specifically, PKCζ phosphorylation of PIAS4 and GSK3ß phosphorylation of FIEL1 are both essential for the degradation of PIAS4. FIEL1 protein is highly expressed in lung tissues from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), whereas PIAS4 protein levels are significantly reduced. FIEL1 overexpression significantly increases fibrosis in a bleomycin murine model, whereas FIEL1 knockdown attenuates fibrotic conditions. Further, we developed a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor toward FIEL1 that is highly effective in ameliorating fibrosis in mice. This study provides a basis for IPF therapeutic intervention by modulating PIAS4 protein abundance.

The proinflammatory role of HECTD2 in innate immunity and experimental lung injury.

Invading pathogens may trigger overactivation of the innate immune system, which results in the release of large amounts of proinflammatory cytokines (cytokine storm) and leads to the development of pulmonary edema, multiorgan failure, and shock. PIAS1 is a multifunctional and potent anti-inflammatory protein that negatively regulates several key inflammatory pathways such as Janus kinase (JAK)-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB). We discovered a ubiquitin E3 ligase, HECTD2, which ubiquitinated and mediated the degradation of PIAS1, thus increasing inflammation in an experimental pneumonia model. We found that GSK3ß phosphorylation of PIAS1 provided a phosphodegron for HECTD2 targeting. We also identified a mislocalized HECTD2 polymorphism, HECTD2(A19P), that was present in 8.5% of the population and functioned to reduce inflammation. This polymorphism prevented HECTD2/PIAS1 nuclear interaction, thus preventing PIAS1 degradation. The HECTD2(A19P) polymorphism was also protective toward acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We then developed a small-molecule inhibitor, BC-1382, that targeted HECTD2 and attenuated lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- and Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced lung inflammation. These studies describe an unreported innate immune pathway and suggest that mutation or antagonism of the E3 ligase HECTD2 results in reduced severity of lung inflammation by selectively modulating the abundance of the anti-inflammatory protein PIAS1.

A kinetic model for oxidative degradation of bagasse pulp fiber by sodium periodate.

In this paper, some key parameters, such as the system pH, the periodate concentration, and the reaction temperature, on the influence of the bagasse fiber degradation were studied based on the oxygenant of periodate. And the feasible reaction mechanism was also discussed through the FTIR characterization for bagasse fiber before and after the oxidizing reaction. As the results shown, the crystallinity of bagasse fiber decreased with the oxidation level increasing. It was interesting that the aldehyde content of the reaction system rose gradually along with cellulose degradation. Based on this result, the selective oxidation kinetics was constructed by introducing of variable factor R (the ratio of aldehyde content to the degradation of cellulose fiber), and the results shown that there was a better correlation between the dynamic model and the experimental data, so the oxidation degree of bagasse fiber oxidized by periodate can be quantitative evaluated based on this model.

Data-based hybrid tension estimation and fault diagnosis of cold rolling continuous annealing processes.

The continuous annealing process line (CAPL) of cold rolling is an important unit to improve the mechanical properties of steel strips in steel making. In continuous annealing processes, strip tension is an important factor, which indicates whether the line operates steadily. Abnormal tension profile distribution along the production line can lead to strip break and roll slippage. Therefore, it is essential to estimate the whole tension profile in order to prevent the occurrence of faults. However, in real annealing processes, only a limited number of strip tension sensors are installed along the machine direction. Since the effects of strip temperature, gas flow, bearing friction, strip inertia, and roll eccentricity can lead to nonlinear tension dynamics, it is difficult to apply the first-principles induced model to estimate the tension profile distribution. In this paper, a novel data-based hybrid tension estimation and fault diagnosis method is proposed to estimate the unmeasured tension between two neighboring rolls. The main model is established by an observer-based method using a limited number of measured tensions, speeds, and currents of each roll, where the tension error compensation model is designed by applying neural networks principal component regression. The corresponding tension fault diagnosis method is designed using the estimated tensions. Finally, the proposed tension estimation and fault diagnosis method was applied to a real CAPL in a steel-making company, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method.