Allergen detection and logistic multifactor analysis of allergic rhinitis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the allergens in children with allergic rhinitis (AR) and AR-related influencing factors. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The clinical data of 230 children with AR admitted to our hospital from June 2020 to June 2021 were retrospectively analyzed and included in the observation group. The clinical data of 230 healthy children during the same time period were included as the control group. All children had been tested for allergens using serum allergens, and the clinical data were collected by telephone questionnaires. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the risk factors affecting AR. RESULTS: A total of 230 children with AR was included in this study, and some of them had two or more allergens. The proportion of house dust mite was the highest among the inhaled allergens, about 75.22%. Shrimp accounted for the highest proportion of food allergens, about 40.87%. Compared with the control group, the proportion of floating population, home heating, allergy history, asthma and other general information in the observation group was higher. At the same time, the proportion of environmental factors such as second-hand smoke, number of residents (≤ 3), daily ventilation and cleaning (no), domestic animals, domestic plants, decoration within 2 years, and living environment (rural) in the observation group was higher. In addition, the proportion of family factors such as delivery mode (cesarean section), family history of allergic rhinitis, parents' education level (middle school and above) in the observation group was higher (p < 0.05). Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that allergic history, asthma, second-hand smoke, floating population, number of residents, domestic animals, decoration within 2 years, delivery mode, and family history of allergic rhinitis were the risk factors affecting the incidence of AR in children (p < 0.05), and daily window ventilation and cleaning were the protective factors (p < 0.05). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that asthma, second-hand smoke, floating population, decoration within 2 years, family history of allergic rhinitis and domestic animals were independent risk factors for the occurrence of AR (p < 0.05), and daily ventilation and cleaning were protective factors for the occurrence of AR in children (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of house dust mite in inhalation allergens and shrimp in food allergens were the highest in AR children. The incidence of AR was closely related to asthma, second-hand smoke, floating population, decoration within 2 years, family history of AR and domestic animals, etc. Targeted measures could effectively prevent the occurrence and recurrence of AR. At the same time, daily ventilation and cleaning were the protective factors which could reduce the incidence and occurrence of AR in children.

Changes of wound area and inflammatory factors in diabetic foot patients after comprehensive nursing of traditional Chinese medicine.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to analyze the application effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) comprehensive nursing in diabetic foot patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 230 patients with diabetic foot admitted to Third people's Hospital of Haikou from January 2019 to April 2022 were classified as two groups, which consisted of a control group (n = 95) and an experimental group (n = 135). The control group took routine nursing intervention, while the experimental group took TCM comprehensive nursing intervention. The effect of intervention was compared by inflammatory factors (B-FGF, EGF, VEGF, and PDGF), wound area, self-rated anxiety scale (SAS), and self-rated depression scale (SDS). RESULTS: After nursing, the levels of B-FGF, EGF, VEGF, and PDGF were higher in the experimental group (all p < 0.05). The total effective rate of diabetic foot recovery in the experimental group was 94.87% (74/78), higher than 87.67% (64/73) in the control group (p = 0.026). After nursing, the scores of SAS and SDS in the experimental group were lower than those in the control group (all p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The application of TCM comprehensive nursing in diabetic foot patients can greatly change the levels of B-FGF, EGF, VEGF, and PDGF in wound tissue, promote the healing of ulcer surface, improve patients' anxiety and depression, and enhance the quality of life of patients.

Ultralight Programmable Bioinspired Aerogels with an Integrated Multifunctional Surface for Self-Cleaning, Oil Absorption, and Thermal Insulation via Coassembly.

Creating a configurable and controllable surface for structure-integrated multifunctionality of ultralight aerogels is of significance but remains a huge challenge because of the critical limitations of mechanical vulnerability and structural processability. Herein, inspired by Salvinia minima, the facile and one-step coassembly approach is developed to allow the structured aerogels to spontaneously replicate Salvinia-like textures for function-adaptable surfaces morphologically. The in situ superimposed construction of bioinspired topography and intrinsic topology is for the first time performed for programmable binary architectures with multifunctionality without engendering structural vulnerability and functional disruption. By introducing the binding groups for hydrophobicity tailoring, functionalized nanocellulose (f-NC) is prepared via mechanochemistry as a structural, functional, and topographical modifier for a multitasking role. The self-generated bioinspired surface with f-NC greatly maintains the structural unity and mechanical robustness, which enable self-adaptability and self-supporting of surface configurations. With fine-tuning of nucleation-driving, the binary microstructures can be controllably diversified for structure-adaptable multifunctionalities. The resulting ultralight S. minima-inspired aerogels (e.g., 0.054 g cm-3) presented outstanding temperature-endured elasticity (e.g., 90.7% high-temperature compress-recovery after multiple cycles), durable superhydrophobicity, anti-icing properties, oil absorbency efficiency (e.g., 60.2 g g-1), and thermal insulating (e.g., 0.075 W mK-1), which are superior to these reported on the overall performance. This coassembly strategy offers the opportunities for the design of ultralight materials with topography- and function-tailorable features to meet the increasing demands in many fields such as smart surfaces and self-cleaning coatings.

Thermal and mechanical enhancements of polyetherimide/multi-walled carbon nanotube composite performance using "Solid Nano-Nectar" assisted melt dispersion.

Manufacturing industrial-volume composites with well controlled uniform dispersion can be challenging, and is especially true for high performance polymers, such as polyetherimide (PEI). Toward that end, we report here a simple and versatile 2-Step processing approach which is based on formation of a high concentration of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) filled PEI, which we call "Solid Nano-Nectar" (SNN). In this study we found surprisingly strong influences of the solvents that were used in the SNN preparation for dispersion of MWCNTs on the properties of the composites. The thermal conductivity of the SNN (made using DMF solvent) incorporated composites was about 72% higher than pure PEI, and 50% higher than that from 1-Step processing at same loading of 0.5 wt%. The thermal stability increased by 13 degrees C from this composite prepared by 1-Step processing, but a more noticeable change in thermal stability of 33 degrees C was observed at same loading using the 2-Step process. Such improvement was also observed in dynamic mechanical properties.

Structure-induced high dielectric constant and low loss of CNF/PVDF composites with heterogeneous CNF distribution.

The enhancement of dielectric constant in a polymer while maintaining low loss through composite methods has been challenging. In this paper, we report that through designing multi-layered structures with carbon nanofiber (CNF)/poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) composites intercalated by a pure PVDF layer, enhanced dielectric constant and low loss were achieved. The dielectric loss was similar to that of pure PVDF at high frequencies and even lower than pure PVDF at low frequencies. The results were achieved by designing special multi-layered structures including CNF/PVDF composite layers. The multi-layered sandwich-like or laminate structure composites with transversely heterogeneous CNF distributions were prepared using a simple two-step processing including solution casting and compression molding methods. The dielectric constant obtained from the sandwich structure containing 5, 7 and 15 wt% CNF/PVDF composite layers is even more independent of the frequency in a wide range from 10(2) to 10(6) Hz. Furthermore, the effects of the heterogeneous CNF distribution on the dielectric properties were studied by designing different multi-layered composite structures with varying architecture while maintaining the same CNF concentration level. It is shown that varying this stack-up architecture of different CNF distributions plays an important role in the enhancement level of the dielectric constant while having negligible effect on the dielectric loss of the nanocomposite, which is determined mainly by the CNF loading content.

Dynamic synergy of graphitic nanoplatelets and multi-walled carbon nanotubes in polyetherimide nanocomposites.

Hybridizing graphitic nanoplatelets (GNP) with commercially functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in a polyetherimide (PEI) composite at a total loading of 0.5 wt% resulted in considerable improvements in electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and dynamic mechanical properties, compared to solely GNP or solely MWCNT composites at the same total loading. The results reveal a synergistic interaction between the GNPs and MWCNTs based on GNP protection against fragmentation of the MWCNTs during high power sonication, while still allowing full dispersion of both fillers, by providing a shielding mechanism against MWCNT damage during dispersion processing. A new process for molecular level dispersion of exfoliated GNPs in PEI is also reported. Field emission scanning electron microscopy revealed strong interactions between PEI and the flat surfaces of GNPs and effectively intercalated GNP morphology within the matrix. GNPs alone can also produce excellent electrical conductivity improvements: at 1.0 wt% of GNP, electrical conductivity of the composite increased by 11 orders of magnitude and the percolation threshold was determined to be between 0.5 and 1.0 wt% of GNP.

A plant fiber reinforced polymer composite prepared by a twin-screw extruder.

Polypropylene (PP) composites reinforced using a novel plant fiber, sunflower hull sanding dust (SHSD), were prepared using a twin-screw extruder. Thermal and mechanical properties of the SHSD/PP composites were characterized and compared to an organically modified clay (organo-clay)/PP composite. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed that the crystallization temperature and the degree of crystallinity of PP exhibited changes with addition of SHSD and organo-clay. Mechanical properties of the PP were enhanced with the addition of SHSDs. Both the flexural strength and flexural modulus of the PP composites containing 5% (w/w) SHSD were comparable to that of the 5% (w/w) organo-clay reinforced PP. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation showed that no obvious agglomeration of SHSD existed in the PP matrix. Compared to the neat PP and organo-clay/PP, the SHSD/PP composites exhibited a relatively decreasing rate of thermal degradation with increase in temperature. Experimental results suggest that SHSD, as a sunflower processing byproduct, may find promising applications in composite materials.

Wettability of nano-epoxies to UHMWPE fibers.

Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers have a unique combination of outstanding mechanical, physical, and chemical properties. However, as reinforcements for manufacturing high performance composite materials, UHMWPE fibers have poor wettability with most polymers. As a result, the interfacial bonding strength between the fibers and polymer matrices is very low. Recently, developing so-called nano-matrices containing reactive graphitic nanofibers (r-GNFs) has been proposed to promote the wetting of such matrices to certain types of fiber reinforcements. In this work, the wettability of UHMWPE fibers with different epoxy matrices including a nano-epoxy, and a pure epoxy was investigated. Systematic experimental work was conducted to determine the viscosity of the epoxies, the contact angle between the epoxies and the fibers. Also obtained are the surface energy of the fibers and the epoxies. The experimental results show that the wettability of the UHMWPE fibers with the nano-epoxy is much better than that of the UHMWPE fibers with the pure epoxy.